U.S. senator and Air Force veteran McSally says she was raped by a superior officer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Martha McSally, the first female combat pilot in the U.S. Air Force, said on Wednesday she had been raped by a superior officer but did not report it because she blamed herself and did not trust the system.

“The perpetrators abuse their position of power in profound ways, and in one case I was preyed upon and then raped by a superior officer,” McSally said during a Senate hearing on sexual assault in the military.

“But unlike so many brave survivors, I didn’t report being sexually assaulted,” she added. “Like so many women and men, I didn’t trust the system. I blamed myself. I was ashamed and confused. I thought I was strong but felt powerless.”

Sexual assault and harassment in the U.S. military is largely under-reported and came under renewed scrutiny two years ago after a scandal involving Marines sharing nude photos of women online came to light.

“I stayed silent for many years, but later in my career as the military grappled with scandals and their wholly inadequate responses, I felt the need to let some people know: I too was a survivor,” McSally said at the Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing.

“I was horrified at how my attempt to share generally my experiences were handled,” she said, adding that she came close to leaving the Air Force after 18 years.

“Like many victims, I felt the system was raping me all over again.”

The Air Force did not immediately comment.

McSally’s disclosure came less than two months after Senator Joni Ernst, an Army veteran, said publicly that she had been raped in college by someone she knew and that her ex-husband had physically abused her. An attorney for her former husband declined to comment at the time.

Ernst, a Republican, has in the past worked with Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to combat sexual assault in the military.

McSally, 52, an Arizona Republican who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, was appointed in December by the state’s governor to take over the Senate seat once held by the late John McCain. A special election will be held in 2020 to fill the remaining two years of McCain’s six-year term.

In November’s congressional elections, McSally lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in the contest for Arizona’s other U.S. Senate seat, formerly held by Republican Jeff Flake.

>https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-mcsally/u-s-senator-and-air-force-veteran-mcsally-says-she-was-raped-by-a-superior-officer-idUSKCN1QN2LB?il=0

Fed thinking about growing balance sheet again: K.C. Fed paper

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is considering when to stop reducing bank reserves and start building up its balance sheet again, according to a paper from the Kansas City Fed released on Wednesday.

Analysts and traders worry that a shrinking Fed balance sheet is making it expensive for banks to finance loans and trading positions, restricting their lending to companies and consumers.

U.S. monetary policymakers bulked up their books with bank reserves in order to buy trillions of bonds and stimulate the economy further once rates neared zero after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. To restore policy to normal, the Fed began shrinking its balance sheet in late 2017 by not replacing as many bonds when they mature.

But investors have been critical, and U.S. President Donald Trump even urged the Fed in a tweet in December to “Stop with the 50 B’s.” Balance sheet reductions are capped at $50 billion a month.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last month that the bond shrinkage would stop this year, citing banks’ growing demand to keep cash with the Fed and technical factors regarding how policymakers currently set rates.

The Fed may need to hold as much as $1.5 trillion in bank reserves on its balance sheet to properly implement monetary policy, according to the research by Kansas City Fed Senior Economist A. Lee Smith released on Wednesday.

That would be a relatively small decline from less than $1.7 trillion now, implying as little as a few more months of reductions. Fed officials have mostly been citing lower estimates of what level of reserves would be needed, some not produced by the bank’s own researchers.

GRAPHIC-Bank reserves held at the Fed: tmsnrt.rs/2UQn2dJ

Asked about the estimate by Reuters on Wednesday, New York Fed President John Williams said the Kansas City figure is at the high end of analysts’ estimates.

“There’s a range of estimates out there about what’s the level of reserves consistent with there being abundant reserves in the system so that interest rates really are being controlled not by scarcity of reserves but by the interest rates that we set,” said Williams, who had not read the paper.

“There is no clear answer to this. … Personally my view is we’re nowhere near the point” where reserves are scarce, he added.

The New York Fed is charged with implementing the balance sheet policy.

Smith’s estimate is based on an assumption that the Fed will continue to operate, as now, with a near-zero gap between two bank borrowing rates, the federal funds rate and the interest rate the Fed pays on reserves. Were that spread to expand, the reserves estimate would fall to $1.1 trillion.

The “effective” or average fed funds rate has been running at 2.40 percent since mid-December, which is at parity with the interest rate on reserves.

Smith wrote last month that the shrinkage of the U.S. balance sheet has played a significant role in exerting upward pressure on borrowing costs.

GRAPHIC-U.S. federal funds activity: tmsnrt.rs/2EcJkRq

>https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-balancesheet/fed-thinking-about-growing-balance-sheet-again-k-c-fed-paper-idUSKCN1QN2DG?il=0

Ending the FED?

Or just HOPING to end the FED?

At what point do we start asking just how in control is this thing?

>>5543336

Well…aren't elections and campaigns about to start?

Never really looked much at McSally, just thought the content was important at this stage.

Said the accuser was a person in power and she didn't trust the system.

Could be cop out or saving for the right time.

Agreed if she can be talked into shutting up then the same could be said about talking.

For the anon asking if there was any new reports re: Iran.

Here's the latest from one sauce.

Iran bypassing sanctions, secretly smuggling oil, Netanyahu claims

PM calls on international community to block Tehran’s attempts to skirt restrictions, tours US deployment of advanced anti-missile system in Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday accused Iran of secretly smuggling oil to get past economic sanctions, and called on the international community to take action against the activity.

“Iran is trying to bypass the sanctions on it through the covert smuggling of petroleum via the sea,” the prime minister said at a graduation ceremony for an Israeli Navy cadets course, held at the Haifa naval base. “As these attempts expand, the navy will have a more important role in efforts to block these Iranian actions.

“I call on the international community to halt, by any means, Iran’s attempts to bypass the sanctions via the sea,” Netanyahu said.

Israel, he added, constantly carries out sea-based operations against its enemies, “most of [which] are unknown.”

Last May the US pulled out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal that saw stiff economic sanctions on Iran lifted in return for the dismantling of the weapons-capable elements of its nuclear development program. US President Donald Trump has said the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, doesn’t go far enough in preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and does not restrict the Iranian missile development program.

Although the other parties to the deal — Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany — are working to keep the pact alive with Iran, the US reimposed strict sanctions and Iran’s economy has suffered, with rising inflation and a devaluation of its rial currency.

In his remarks at the base, Netanyahu also revealed that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, along with the leaders of Cyprus and Greece, will arrive in Israel in the coming days to advance a gas pipeline project that would supply Europe with natural gas from Israel’s offshore fields. “The navy will also protect this pipeline,” he said.

Earlier Wednesday Netanyahu toured an advanced US anti-missile system deployed in Israel as part of a military exercise, declaring that the presence of system was evidence of the strength of the military bond between the US and Israel.

He was accompanied on the visit by American ambassador David Friedman, the US Embassy said in a statement.

“The two officials received a briefing from the commanders in the field, and held a tour at the site,” the embassy said.

“This is a testament to the strength of the alliance between Israel and the United States. It’s never been stronger, and the coalition for common defense that is expressed here, not merely in expressed intentions, but in actual forces on the ground — I think is remarkable,” Netanyahu said. “So we’re very, very happy with the cooperation and with the American commitment often expressed by President Trump to Israel’s security.”

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, known as THAAD, was deployed earlier this month as part of a joint exercise with Israeli forces and to practice deployment of the system, considered one of the most advance in the world, at different locations around the globe. It was the first time the system had been brought to Israel.

Friedman said it showed “the incredibly close and important cooperation between Israel and the United States.”

“This is an outstanding example of how the American forces have made a commitment to Israel’s safety and security,” he said. “They’ve done this in many other ways, but I can’t think of a better single example than what we are looking at right now. It’s a testament to the really unbreakable bound between Israel and the United States on so many different levels — including of course, most importantly, mutual safety and security.”

Netanyahu also used the visit to take a selfie photo with US troops operating the THAAD system, and then posted the image to his Twitter feed along with a poke at Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who last month forbade the prime minister from taking election campaign photos with Israeli troops.

“I took a photo with soldiers… Americans,” Netanyahu tweeted. “The alliance between the US and Israel is stronger than ever.”

>https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-bypassing-sanctions-secretly-smuggling-oil-netanyahu-claims/

I believe when this Movie is over that everyone deserves to know exactly what happened to these people who are "dying of cancer" etc.

Just as we have a right to know our accusers in a court of law, we should know who(exactly) our enemies are, and exactly how they are dealt with.

It's only right.

>>5543736

Very aware of that drop, anon.

The choice should not be coded messages.

It should directly state the No Name was an enemy and traitor to the United States of America and was executed for Treason on XX/XX/XXXX.

I understand the need for optics and disinfo in a war(movie).

When it's over though, no excuse.

>>5543753

Makes sense.

Wondered why Feinstein won too, probably same type of 'deal'.

I just want people to uphold the Constitution of the US and do away with all the bullshit.

No need for two-party duopoly when it should just be called the American party.

D vs R is one the most divisive things known to man.

So much so, large majority of the world don't even care about it and feel they have no control anyway.

>>5543889