Pitcher

That sounds like a “suitable environment to me or is it now an “ environment that is suitable”.

Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Iraqi President Fuad Masum has stressed that both Baghdad and Erbil are now on good terms following a few months’ conflict over a referendum Kurdistan Region held in September for independence from Iraq. In an interview with the London-based al-Hayat newspaper, Masum said there were “calm and unannounced talks between Baghdad Erbil” over the past period to solve pending issues, stressing that ties between Iraq and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region “were back to normal”. “The two sides (referring to Baghdad and Erbil) need each other and none of them can get along without the other,” Masum said, stressing that both the Federal and Kurdish governments are based in the same country and have the same interests. He also hailed as a “good step” a decision recently taken by the federal government to send salaries to Kurdish employees working in the health and education sectors. Kurds voted overwhelmingly to break away from Iraq in a referendum held on Sept. 25, defying the central government in Baghdad as well as neighboring Turkey and Iran who have their own Kurdish minorities. In November, the Supreme Federal Court in Iraq issued a verdict considering Kurdistan’s independence referendum “unconstitutional” and cancelled all results of the controversial vote, which sparked outrage between Baghdad and Erbil. http://www.iraqnow.news/articles/10996-iraqi-president-says-relations-between-baghdad,-erbil-were-back-to-

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Following Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s suggestion that his country could send forces to Syria to combat the Islamic State (IS), there have been conflicting reports about the deployment of Iraqi troops across the border. During a press conference earlier in the week, Abadi highlighted the presence of IS militants in neighboring Syria as “a real danger.” He also noted that any operation to combat the extremists would be done in coordination with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “Our plan is to move from fighting terrorism in Iraq to fighting terrorism in the region,” Abadi explained, adding that the Iraqi military leadership was considering the proposal. “We are not trespassing over our border or attacking neighboring countries.” In a statement, Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesperson Tahseen Ibrahim denied rumors circulating online and said that “security forces had not conducted any military operations inside the Syrian borders.” However, he noted that Baghdad had begun “tracking IS elements on the intelligence level by sharing information with other countries.” Last year, Iraqi warplanes were responsible for at least one airstrike targeting IS militants in Syria, in coordination with the US-led anti-IS coalition and approval of the Syrian government. An archive photo of an Iraqi army warplane. Hisham al-Hashimi, a terrorism and extremism expert who advises several governments on IS, including the central government in Baghdad, told Reuters on Wednesday that the Iraqi government could carry out “special operations” against the extremist group inside Syria. “While troops could be dropped into Syria, the plan did not at this stage involve sending ground forces over the border,” he explained. Meanwhile, a top Syrian Kurdish politician suggested the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Iraqi government could work together to defeat IS on the neighboring countries’ borders. Aldar Xelil, the co-chair of the Movement for a Democratic Society, said Turkey’s offensive in Afrin had affected the fight against IS in Syria, mainly in the east on the border with Iraq. “[IS] is present in the shared area between us [Syria-Iraq], and this points to the possibility of conditions arising that would pave the way for joint actions against” the extremist group, he told Reuters. Despite Abadi’s “final victory” announcement against IS last December, he recently admitted that the group is still present in the country. http://www.iraqnow.news/articles/11037

Don’t blame you Chuck. Shoveling snow in March or April is horrible. Come down to H-town Tx in July or August and you’ll appreciate your cold weather more. That’s why I’m moving to Maui, awesome weather year around. Best to you!!

One of the guru guys was claiming the rate change would happen last night or today but he didn’t want to call it. Haha, those guys crack me up with their BS Sorry, I got nothing, slow news day.

Just went thru all my news outlets. I don’t see where he has died.

It’s hard to put together a working government in Iraq. There are a lot of fractions and I guess he didn’t want to come across as someone who is rigging the elections. They should have done this last year like they said they would. All bets are off for me now. If this doesn’t get done this summer I’m going back in my cave to hibernate. I’m spending way to much time with what if’s.

Ramadan will be over by mid June. Elections, Abadi wins, and is able to cobble together a working government. I’m now hoping for July 1 2018. Not holding my breath either. These guys move at the speed of a slow snail with 6 broken legs.

Thanks for sharing your story. Fun.

On a boat in the middle of a lake with fog. Hahaha. Classic LMAO

Ya me too, I don’t like people messing with me. If they do, they will get that famous Irish temper.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: Cryptocurrency is here to stay, will be an 'important driver' for our business "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer hears from Nvidia founder, President and CEO Jensen Huang in a wide-ranging interview on cryptocurrency, self-driving cars and Nvidia's graphics business. Huang says that he doesn't expect cryptocurrencies to go away anytime soon. Elizabeth Gurdus | @lizzygurdus Published 5:37 PM ET Thu, 29 March 2018 Updated 7:46 PM ET Thu, 29 March 2018CNBC.com NVDA CEO: Cryptocurrency an 'important driver' for us 7:42 PM ET Thu, 29 March 2018 | 01:03 Even though Nvidia's stock has fallen under pressure for the chipmaker's ties to cryptocurrency mining, Nvidia founder, President and CEO Jensen Huang doesn't expect the crypto craze to die down anytime soon. "Cryptocurrency will be here. The ability for the world to have a very low-friction, low-cost way of exchanging value is going to be here for a long time," Huang told CNBC on Thursday in an interview with "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer. Huang's company is less a chipmaker now than a catch-all computing company producing high-powered graphics processing units, or GPUs. For months, Nvidia rode the wave of cryptocurrency popularity before Wall Street analysts soured on the volatile trend. "Blockchain's going to be here for a long time and it's going to be a fundamental new form of computing," Huang told Cramer. "I expect blockchain, I expect cryptocurrency to be an important driver for GPUs." Huang admitted that Nvidia's processors were the "perfect" vessels for employing the capabilities needed to mine cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. "The reason why cryptocurrency became such a popular thing on top of our GPUs is our GPUs is the world's largest installed base of distributed supercomputing," Huang explained. "Blockchain requires cryptography and the ability to have a public ledger that is completely immutable, perfectly safe, distributed all over the world," he continued. "Our processor serves as the perfect processor to enable this supercomputing capability to be distributed. And that's the reason why it's used." However, even with the crypto craze fueling GPU demand, Huang emphasized that it's far from being a growth driver for Nvidia. The majority of Nvidia's growth comes from the video game business, professional graphics visualization, the multi-billion-dollar data center business and the encroaching self-driving car business, the CEO said. "Gaming is a much bigger business, data center is a much bigger business, our professional graphics is a much bigger business and, of course, in the future, everything that moves will be autonomous and we'll have autonomous capabilities and that's going to be a much bigger market," Huang said. "Cryptocurrency just gave it that extra bit of juice that caused all of our GPUs to be in such great demand. But I think over the long term, ... our fourth growth drivers is what's going to make Nvidia 10 times larger than it is today." Watch Jensen Huang's full interview here: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: Uber accident made us realize the importance of self- driving tech https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/29/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-cryptocurrency-blockchain-are-here-to-stay.html

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Influential Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Sunday expressed his rejection to the presence of foreign troops in Iraq, vowing resistance against them. In a hand-written letter released to the media by his office, Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist Movement in Iraq, warned against the presence of the US or any other foreign military in the country. “Our position regarding the presence of the invading US forces, under the pretext of military advisers, and with the endorsement and knowledge of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is clear,” he wrote. “Everyone knows our position, we reject and resist” the presence of the US troops in Iraq. Sadr had previously accused the US of allowing the Islamic State (IS) to emerge in Iraq and had warned against any foreign military involvement in the country. “The US or any other nation which deploys troops to the country will be considered aggressors.” Several Shia militias under the umbrella of the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi have also voiced their opposition to the presence of US troops in Iraq. (Photo: Archive) Politicians and military units in Iraq have also expressed their opinions regarding the presence of foreign militaries on their soil. Mohammed al-Sayhoud, an Iraqi MP from the previous Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law bloc, described the current Iraqi administration’s policies toward American and foreign military presence in the country as “a conspiracy.” Several Shia militias under the umbrella of the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi have also voiced their opposition to the presence of US troops in Iraq, even vowing to target them if they remain. The US also has troops stationed in neighboring Syria, where they support Kurdish forces against IS. (Photo: Kurdistan 24) There are over 5,000 US troops in Iraq. In February, the US-led coalition against IS stated its focus in Iraq would shift from combat operations to sustaining military gains against the extremist group. Despite threats from the Shia militia groups, the coalition statement revealed its troops would remain in Iraq as IS extremists “continue to pose a threat” to the country’s security and risk transition back into an insurgency. That same point was emphasized by US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander General Joseph Votel on a panel at a conference in Washington on Tuesday when he said the US-led coalition remains committed to its defeat of the extremist group in both Syria and Iraq. http://www.iraqnow.news/articles/10983

Iraqi Industry Minister calls on Jordanian businessmen to build advanced industrial base in Iraq Minister of Industry and Minerals Al-Arafi, Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani, called on Jordanian businessmen and Jordanian companies to build a sophisticated industrial base in Iraq. This came during a meeting with the new Jordanian ambassador to Iraq Montaser Ja’far Aqla al-Zu’bi on Tuesday, The ministry said in a press statement that “the Minister of Industry and Minerals Mohammed Shi’a Sudanese met with his official office today the new Jordanian ambassador to Iraq, Montaser Jafar Aqla Zuabi to discuss ways to strengthen economic relations between the two countries.” Al-Sudani stressed the importance of bringing all the agreements with Jordan into effect in order to promote economic relations and increase the volume of trade exchange between the two parties, thus contributing to the development and development of the national economy. Al-Sudani called on Jordanian businessmen and Jordanian companies to “work with the companies of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals and make an active contribution to building a sophisticated industrial base in Iraq, in order to achieve industrial integration between them.” He said, “The success of the talks he held with Jordanian officials during his recent visit to Amman, Especially agreements on the establishment of a joint industrial city on the Iraqi-Jordanian border, which would contribute to the establishment of many industries and create new jobs and absorb unemployment, especially in Anbar province. ” The statement added that “the meeting touched on the subject of Jordanian goods and customs duties and procedures taken in this regard and the mechanism of entry of Jordanian trucks and other subjects of common interest.” For his part, the Jordanian ambassador expressed his country’s desire to work together with Iraq and increase cooperation and coordination in order to reach results that meet the interests of the two brotherly countries. He expressed the readiness of investors and businessmen to work in Iraq and establish promising future projects in order to realize the aspirations of the Iraqi and Jordanian peoples. http://en.economiciraq.com/2018/04/03/iraqi-minister-of-industry-called-on-jordanian-businessmen-to-build-a-sophisticated-industrial-base-in-iraq/

Some people are just screwed up....that's why I carry a gun. Nice, me too, GG. Especially when I’m in downtown Houston. H-town is a dynamic, awesome city but we have our fair share of bad actors or as you say, “ some people are just screwed up”.

I was thinking election May 12th with Abadi winning in a landslide ( he’s predicted to win 70%) May 13-15 RV and Ramadan begins May 16th. Everyone is happy!!!!! Unfortunately, no asked me to set up the schedule of events.

I evened u out synopsis.

Yes Floridian, I didn’t get that either. i guess I need the budget interpretation for dummies because I think I’m more confused now than I was yesterday. I don’t have the time to read all this with a fine tooth. And, when I do many times things get lost in the translation. Good luck to us all. I believe we are definitely getting closer.

I could see a scenario where Iraq does a redenomination and a release of the smaller notes. At a later date they do a revaluation. That would get the chunky money money off the streets. I don’t see where that would really help out the country other than they would have an international currency. Just thinking out loud. Go ahead and rip it up if I’m off base

Thank you to all who are posting the budget. Mucho appreciation. Now all I have to do is find out where it says RV.

Funny Thug, but I was ready for you this time. I put all food and coffee far away from spillage.

Only 31 points, haha. Ok. We wait.

Tell President Masum if he doesn’t sign the Kurds will lose 1% for every day he holds out.

That’s funny. I was thinking the same thing. Maybe they will RV noos

Watch the S&P500 today. Below 2532, yes it could get ugly. We are just a little below the 200ma so it will be interesting to see if they bounce us back up or continue the slide. I don’t really care which way they go, I can trade up or down. What I am hoping for is a big sell off in the 30-40% range so I can buy the best companies at sale prices. Companies with good earnings and good forward guidance. When you have been doing this as long as I have you learn to play the waves. I saw the train wreck coming in 2008. Was out 3 months before it happened. I closed all my current positions in mid Jan. Now I’m Day Trading and I’m actually making more than my passive investments were but it is one tough way to earn a buck. If we get a Bear market get your shopping list ready. It too will pass and there will be some good bargains and the PE rates will be much better than they are currently. I’m not seeing a lot of value in this current market, even with the sell off the last 2 months Good luck to you and your investments.