Boeing

• Facebook Researchers Manipulated News Feeds in 2012 Study (BBG)
• Argentina at Brink of Default as $539 Million Payment Due (BBG)
• Hedge fund correlation risk alarms investors (FT)
• As China Flexes Muscle, Obama Frets Over Rival’s Weakness (BBG)
• As caliphate declared, Iraqi troops battle for Tikrit (Reuters)
• Dubai Caps Worst Month Since 2008 as Real Estate Stocks Tumble (BBG)
• Russian Advisers Ready Iraq to Use New Combat Aircraft (BBG)
• Blackstone Readies Big-Bet Hedge Fund (WSJ) - so what was GSO?
• Pope says communists are closet Christians (Reuters)
• Thomson Reuters revising FX trading standards (Reuters)

• Yellen Spending Recipe Lacking Key Ingredient: Bigger Wage Gains (BBG)
• Ukraine signs trade agreement with EU, draws Russian threat (Reuters)
• GM Documents Show Senior Executive Had Role in Switch (WSJ)
• Australian Report Postulates Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Lost Oxygen (WSJ)
• World’s Biggest Debt Load Lures Distressed Funds to China  (BBG)
• GPIF Rushing Into Riskier Assets Before Ready, Okina Says (BBG)
• Japan Prices Rise Most Since ’82 on Tax, Utility Fees (BBG)
• Italian Debt Swells to Rival Germany as Bond Yields Slide (BBG)
• China’s Manhattan Project Marred by Ghost Buildings (BBG)
• BOE's Carney Says Rates Won't Rise to Levels Previously Considered Normal (WSJ)

• The Kerry Konfusion Kontinues: Kerry urges Kurds to save Iraq from collapse (Reuters)
• Abe Unveils Japan’s New Growth Strategy (WSJ)
• Because the recovery: Avon to Cut 600 Jobs as CEO McCoy Seeks to Trim Expenses (BBG)
• Iraqi Parties Pressure Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to Step Down (WSJ)
• Ukraine Rebels Call Cease-Fire to Match Government Truce (BBG)
• IRS accused of obstruction over lost emails in Tea Party affair (Reuters)
• IRS chief scorched as 'liar' (WND)
• Big Investors Missed Stock Rally (WSJ)
• U.K. Jury Finds Coulson Guilty of Conspiracy to Intercept Phone Voice-Mail Messages (WSJ)
• HSBC to halve countries served by private bank, sells assets (Reuters)
• Bond Market Has $900 Billion Mom-and-Pop Problem When Rates Rise (BBG)

What happens when huge, reckless buyers with nearly endless resources cut back after a phenomenal binge? Well, we know what happened in 2008.

• Currency Probe Widens as U.S. Said to Target Markups (BBG)
• Battle for Iraq refinery as U.S. hesitates to strike (Reuters)
• Ukraine forces battle separatists after truce 'refused' (Reuters)
• Fed Dots Ignored as Investors Focus on Yellen’s Message (BBG)
• Retirees Suffer as $300 Billion 401(k) Rollover Boom Enriches Brokers (BBG)
• American Apparel ousts CEO; source says Dov Charney 'will fight like hell' (LA Times)
• House Panel Is Subpoenaed as Trading Probe Heats Up (WSJ)
• GM Officials Ignored Alert on Car Stalling (WSJ)
• Russia’s $20 Billion Bond Void Filled by China to Mexico (BBG)

• Obama to tout manufacturing gains, highlight economic progress (Reuters)
• Iraq Gunmen Attack North of Baghdad as Obama Weighs Plan (BBG)
• Chinese Regulators Block Shipping Alliance Abandoned Deal (WSJ)
• Russian $8.2 Trillion Oil Trove Locked Without U.S. Tech (BBG)
• Ukrainian forces, rebels clash near Russian border (Reuters)
• M&A talk lifts stocks, Iraq tensions ease slightly (Reuters)
• Wealthy Clintons Use Trusts to Limit Estate Tax They Back (BBG)
• Argentina vows to service debt despite new legal blow (Reuters)
• Allergan's Bitter Pill for Morgan Stanley (WSJ)
• Islamists kill 50 in Kenya, some during World Cup screening (Reuters)
• American Express Revs Up Pursuit of the Masses (WSJ)

It's possible to describe Rep.Eric Cantor as a serial sell-out. But that would be giving an unprincipled politician driven by an unalloyed ambition to climb the greasy pole of Washington power too much credit. In truth, Cantor never campaigned for any recognizable principle; he merely maneuvered his way to the top of the House GOP hierarchy by following in the tawdry footsteps of modern GOP bagmen like Tom DeLay and Roy Blunt. Eric Cantor made a career of milking the Warfare State and pandering to Wall Street. This brought him nearly to the top of the Washington heap. But in the end, it did not fool his constituents. And most certainly it set back the conservative cause immeasurably.

While Eric Cantor may have been nothing but a Wall Street pawn, eager to appease whoever the highest lobbying bidder du jour was, the biggest loser from his dramatic fall from grace at the hand of the tea party is not a Wall Street company at all, but Boeing. The reason, as Bloomberg explains is that Cantor's defeat threatens congressional reauthorization of low-cost lending that benefits the world’s largest planemaker. The name of the entity whose fate is at stake: the US Export-Import, or Ex-Im bank.

• World Bank Cuts Global Growth Forecast After ‘Bumpy’ 2014 Start (BBG)
• Al-Qaeda Offshoot Threatens Iraq Oil Site After Taking Mosul (BBG)
• Fed Prepares to Keep Record Balance Sheet for Years to Come (BBG)
• EU investigates tax rulings on Apple, Starbucks, Fiat unit (Reuters)
• Cantor Loss Shocks Republicans, Dims Immigration Changes (BBG)
• More surveillance: Google to Buy Satellite-Imaging Startup for $500 Million (WSJ)
• Tea Party activist who defeated Cantor focused on budget, immigration (Reuters)
• Airbus Suffers Worst Order Loss as Emirates Deal Scrapped (BBG)
• Amazon.com plans local services marketplace this year (Reuters)
• Amazon Stops Taking Advance Orders for ‘Lego’ and Other Warner Videos (NYT)

It seems like it was only yesterday when the US, under the guise of a fabricated WMD threat, was invading Iraq to liberate its oil deposits. Fast forward to this week, when as Reuters reports, the US will deliver the first of 36 F-16 fighter jets to Iraq in what Baghdad's envoy to the United States called a "new chapter" in his country's ability to defend its vast borders with Iran and other neighbors. Which merely shows that since the US has "sanctioned" virtually every other potential customer of US weapons, it now has no choice but to invoice defense machinery deliveries (and boost factory orders and GDP) to former enemies. It also means that in several years, when Iraq reverts to a posture that is unfriendly to the US, and when the US shale boom is long gone and foreign sources of petroleum are once again all the rage, the US will have to fight its own fighter jets in the name of yet another war of democratic liberation and emancipation.

While Russia's "Top Gun" drills were underway on the borders of eastern Europe, it appears the Russian air force was practicing "unusually close flying" in another continent. As Bloomberg reports, the U.S. RC-135U Combat Sent electronic intelligence plane was "conducting a routine mission off Russia's east coast near Japan on April 23 when the Russian fighter flew within about 100 feet (30 meters) of its nose. Asked why the Pentagon didn’t disclose the incident until it was reported today by the Washington Free Beacon, spokesman Army Colonel Steve Warren said, “I don’t have a good answer for you.” China and Japan did a similar "Top Gun" move in May.

• Unstoppable $100 Trillion Bond Market Renders Models Useless (BBG)
• Afghan president fumes at prisoner deal made behind his back (Reuters)
• Spain to Unveil $8.6 Billion Stimulus Package (AP)
• How fracking helps America beat German industry (Reuters)
• Obama to Urge European Allies to Stay Tough on Russia (WSJ)
• Frenchman 'admits' Brussels shooting in video (AFP)
• Heloc Payment Jump to Take Bite Out of Consumer Spending (WSJ)
• Obama Said to Propose Deep Cuts to Power-Plant Emissions (BBG)
• Lehman Lesson Lost as Bank Lobby Gains Clout (BBG)
• WSJ reports that WSJ reporting on Icahn insider trading probe may have killed it (WSJ)
• KKR liquidates former Goldman Sachs traders-run hedge fund (Reuters)

• Ukraine Rebels Outfox Army to Dent Poroshenko Troop Goal (BBG)
• Russia Withdraws Most of Forces From Ukraine Border: U.S. (BBG)
• Super-Size Me! China’s ’Mini’ Stimulus Starts Expanding (BBG)
• Option B: The blueprint for Thailand's coup (Reuters)
• Big investors replace banks in $4.2tn repo market (FT)
• Draghi Shields Catalan Independence Bid From Market (BBG)
• U.S. companies seek cyber experts for top jobs, board seats (Reuters)
• Parsley CEO Emerges as One of Youngest U.S. Billionaires (BBG)

• Snowden: 'no relationship' with Russian government (Reuters)
• Bond Surge Worldwide Drives Index Yield to One-Year Low (BBG)
• Shares flirt with record highs on ECB easing bets (Reuters)
• Goldman Shuns Bonds Pimco’s Gross Favors in ‘New Neutral’  (BBG)
• Porn may be messing with your head (Reuters)
• Dish to Become Largest Company to Accept Bitcoin (AP)
• To Make a Killing on Wall Street, Start Meditating (BBG)
• Apple to get Beats, music mogul Iovine for $3 billion (Reuters)
• Fink Says Leveraged ETFs May ‘Blow Up’ Industry  (BBG)

One of the many civil liberties related themes we have focused on over the past several years has to do with how emerging technologies can pose a threat, first to our basic 4th Amendment rights, and then ultimately to freedom itself. Two of the most high profile technologies in this regard, and which have extremely high potential for abuse, are license plate readers and drones.