- Woman Wearing Charlie Hebdo T-Shirt Stabbed At London Park In Broad Daylight
Woman Wearing Charlie Hebdo T-Shirt Stabbed At London Park In Broad Daylight
A woman was attacked with a knife in broad daylight at a section of Hyde Park in London known as a venue for demonstrations specially protected as a “free speech” zone. The 39-year old victim was wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt. Thankfully she survived the horrific broad daylight attack.
The Daily Mail reports she suffered multiple stab wounds after a masked attacker started slashing at her. Blood was seen pouring down her face as the assailant fled, with Westminster Metropolitan Police later seeking the public’s help in identifying the black-clad attacker.
Woman wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt has been stabbed at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park
So we’ve got a teacher in hiding fearing for his life and people being stabbed on the streets pic.twitter.com/noj9mMKVf4
— Jamie Rightly 🇬🇧 (@JamieRightly) July 25, 2021
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Police later described it as a “minor slash injury” for which she was treated at the scene and then transported to the hospital. The shocking attack was caught on multiple cell phone videos, and members of the public reportedly gave chase but the assailant got away.
According to one local media report, the woman appears to be well-known for street preaching and ministry activities geared toward a Muslim audience, which points to a likely or even obvious motive in the attack, though police have yet to name one.
“Speakers’ Corner is a historic place for open-air debate where people are allowed to make speeches on any lawful subject,” the report said of the Sunday attack. “Police did not identify the victim by name but social media said she was Hatun Tash, a preacher from a group called DCCI Ministries that says it seeks to preach the Christian Gospel to Muslims. Detectives said they had recovered a knife at the scene and the victim gave an account of what happened.”
Via The Post Millennial Police issued the following statement: “We know that this assault was witnessed by a number of people, many of whom captured it on their phones. I would ask them, if they have not already done so, to contact [the] police.”
Her identity was later widely confirmed on social media as indeed being Hatun Tash.
Christian preacher Hatun Tash has been stabbed in Speaker’s Corner. She is a prominent critic of Islam. We must defend freedom of speech and expression in the UK, and not cede the public square to those who wish to censor us intimidate us. pic.twitter.com/Z8aMo1UnP6
— Adrian Hilton (@Adrian_Hilton) July 25, 2021
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Close-up video of the moments leading up to the attack showed a group of Christians and Muslims holding an intense, but peaceful, debate before chaos erupted due to the stabbing attack…
A Christian preacher has been stabbed at Speakers Corner by an Islamic extremist.
We were supposed to be there today and we thank Hashem we cancelled at the last minute.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Hatun Tash.
We are praying for her speedy recovery.
Video: @el_soco pic.twitter.com/HJYAvhWzCu
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) July 25, 2021
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As evidenced by the sirens blaring nearby the scene in the video, police appeared to be nearby, so it’s unclear as to why they weren’t able to arrest the attacker, who fled on foot. One video showed a police car giving chase.
The Charlie Hebdo shirt worn by the woman featured a Muslim cleric kissing a cartoonist with the French satirical magazine with the words “L’amour plus fort que la haine” (love is stronger than hate).
Tyler Durden
Tue, 07/27/2021 – 02:45 - UK Labour Councillor Ridiculed For Bragging About Wearing A Mask On An Empty Train
UK Labour Councillor Ridiculed For Bragging About Wearing A Mask On An Empty Train
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,
A Labour Councillor faced ridicule after she bragged on Twitter about wearing a face mask on an empty train.
Not all heroes wear capes.
“Going to keep wearing my mask on public transport. Even when it’s just me on the tube,” tweeted Alice Perry.
Going to keep wearing my mask on public transport. Even when it’s just me on the tube. pic.twitter.com/0Ttsg3c9hT
— Alice Perry (@aliceperryuk) July 19, 2021
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Numerous respondents pointed out that Perry must have been disappointed that no one on the train could see how compliant and virtuous she was, which is why she decided to take selfie and post it to Twitter.
“This pandemic has provided an opportunity for normies to feel like heroes for being absolutely useless, and they endlessly gloat about it too,” reacted one person.
“This is evidence of irrational though, psychological trauma and human conditioning. People need leadership to break this cycle, not encourage it,” opined lawyer Viva Frei.
“What bravery and sacrifice,” remarked Aubrey Huff.
Perry’s bizarre tweet underscores once again how the mask has little to do with virus protection and everything to do with signaling subservience to the cult of conformity.
As previously highlighted, Dr Colin Axon, a SAGE advisor for the government, dismissed face masks as “comfort blankets” that do virtually nothing, noting that the COVID-19 virus particle is up to 5,000 times smaller than the holes in the mask.
“The small sizes are not easily understood but an imperfect analogy would be to imagine marbles fired at builders’ scaffolding, some might hit a pole and rebound, but obviously most will fly through,” Axon said.
* * *
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Tyler Durden
Tue, 07/27/2021 – 02:00 - Escobar: China's BRI Battles The 'New Quad' For Afghanistan's Coming Boom
Escobar: China’s BRI Battles The ‘New Quad’ For Afghanistan’s Coming Boom
Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,
The race is already on to build and extend Afghanistan’s shattered infrastructure as rival powers advance competing initiatives…
Afghan security forces deployed and start operations against Taliban around Torkham border point between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on July 23, 2021. Photo: AFP via Anadolu Agency / Stringer
Over a week ago the excruciatingly slow Doha peace talks between the Kabul government and the Taliban resumed, and then they dragged on for two days observed by envoys from the EU, US and UN.
Nothing happened. They could not even agree on a ceasefire during Eid al-Adha. Worse, there’s no road map for how negotiations might pick up in August. Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada duly released a statement: the Taliban “strenuously favors a political settlement.”
But how? Irreconcilable differences rule. Realpolitik dictates there’s no way the Taliban will embrace Western liberal democracy: They want the restoration of an Islamic emirate.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, for his part, is damaged goods even in Kabul diplomatic circles where he’s derided as too stubborn, not to mention incapable of rising to the occasion. The only possible solution in the short term is seen as an interim government.
Yet there is no leader around with national appeal – no Commander Massoud figure. There are only regional warlords – whose militias protect their own local interests, not distant Kabul.
While facts on the ground spell out balkanization, the Taliban, even on the offensive, know they cannot possibly pull off a military takeover of Afghanistan.
And when the Americans say they will continue to “support Afghan government forces,” that means still bombing, but from over the horizon and now under new Centcom management in Qatar.
Russia, China, Pakistan and the Central Asian “stans” – everyone is trying hard to circumvent the stalemate. Shadow play, as usual, has been in full effect. Take for instance the crucial meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (former Soviet states) – nearly simultaneous with the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Dushanbe and the subsequent Central Asia-South Asia connectivity conference in Tashkent.
The CSTO summit was 100% leak-proof. And yet, previously, they had discussed “possibilities of using the potential of the CSTO member states” to keep the highly volatile Tajik-Afghan border under control.
That’s very serious business. A task force headed by Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov, the chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, is in charge of “joint measures” to police the borders.
Now enter an even more intriguing shadowplay gambit – met with a non-denial denial by both Moscow and Washington.
The Kommersant newspaper revealed that Moscow offered some “hospitality” to the Pentagon at its military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan (both SCO member states). The objective: keep a joint eye on the fast-evolving Afghan chessboard – and prevent drug mafia cartels, Islamists of the ISIS-Khorasan variety and refugees from crossing the borders of these Central Asian ‘stans.
What the Russians are aiming at – non-denial denial withstanding – is not to let the Americans off the hook for the “mess” (copyright Sergey Lavrov) in Afghanistan while preventing them from reestablishing any offshoot of the Empire of Bases in Central Asia.
They established bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan after 2001, although they had to be abandoned later in 2004 and 2014. What is clear is there’s absolutely no chance the US will re-establish military bases in SCO and CSTO member nations.
Birth of a new Quad
At the Central Asia-South Asia 2021 meeting in Tashkent, right after the SCO meeting in Dushanbe, something quite intriguing happened: the birth of a new Quad (forget that one in the Indo-Pacific).
This is how it was spun by the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs: a “historic opportunity to open flourishing international trade routes, [and] the parties intend to cooperate to expand trade, build transit links and strengthen business-to-business ties.”
If that sounds like something straight out of the Belt and Road Initiative, well, here’s the confirmation by the Pakistani Foreign Office:
“Representatives of the United States, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed in principle to establish a new quadrilateral diplomatic platform focused on enhancing regional connectivity. The parties consider long-term peace and stability in Afghanistan critical to regional connectivity and agree that peace and regional connectivity are mutually reinforcing.”
The US doing Belt and Road right into China’s alley? A State Department tweet confirmed it. Call it a geopolitical case of “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”
Now this is probably the only issue that virtually all players on the Afghanistan chessboard agree: a stable Afghanistan turbo-charging the flow of cargo across a vital hub of Eurasia integration.
Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen has been very consistent: the Taliban regard China as a “friend” to Afghanistan and are eager to have Beijing investing in reconstruction work “as soon as possible.”
The question is what Washington aims to accomplish with this new Quad – for the moment just on paper. Simple: to throw a monkey wrench into the works of the SCO, led by Russia-China, and the main forum organizing a possible solution for the Afghan drama.
In this sense, the US versus Russia-China competition in the Afghan theater totally fits the Build Back Better World (B3W) gambit, which aims – at least in thesis – to offer an alternative infrastructure plan to Belt and Road and pitch it to nations from the Caribbean and Africa to the Asia-Pacific.
What is not in question is that a stable Afghanistan is essential in terms of establishing full rail-road connectivity from resource-rich Central Asia to the Pakistani ports of Karachi and Gwadar, and beyond to global markets.
For Pakistan, what happens next is a certified geoeconomic win-win – whether via the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is a flagship Belt and Road project, or via the new, incipient Quad.
China will be funding the highly strategic Peshawar-Kabul motorway. Peshawar is already linked to CPEC. The completion of the motorway will symbolically seal Afghanistan as part of CPEC.
And then there’s the delightfully named Pakafuz, which refers to the trilateral deal signed in February between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan to build a railway – a fundamentally strategic connection between Central and South Asia.
Full connectivity between Central Asia and South Asia also happens to be a key plank of the Russian master strategy, the Greater Eurasia Partnership, which interacts with Belt and Road in multiple ways.
Lavrov spent quite some time in the Central Asia-South Asia summit in Tashkent explaining the integration of the Greater Eurasia Partnership and Belt and Road with the SCO and the Eurasia Economic Union.
Lavrov also referred to the Uzbek proposal “to align the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Europe-West China corridor with new regional projects.” Everything is interlinked, any way you look at it.
Watching the geoeconomic flow
The new Quad is in fact a latecomer in terms of the fast-evolving geopolitical transmutation of the Heartland. The whole process is being driven by China and Russia, which are jointly managing key Central Asian affairs.
Already in early June, a very important China-Pakistan-Afghanistan joint statement stressed how Kabul will be profiting from trade via the CPEC’s port of Gwadar.
And then, there’s Pipelineistan.
On July 16, Islamabad and Moscow signed a mega-deal for a US$3 billion, 1100-kilometer gas pipeline between Port Qasim in Karachi and Lahore, to be finished by the end of 2023.
The pipeline will transport imported LNG from Qatar arriving at Karachi’s LNG terminal. This is the Pakstream Gas Pipeline Project – locally known as the North-South Gas project.
The interminable Pipelineistan war between IPI (India-Pakistan-Iran) and TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) – which I followed in detail for years – seems to have ended with a third-way winner.
As much as the Kabul government, the Taliban seem to be paying very close attention to all the geoeconomics and how Afghanistan is at the heart of an inevitable economic boom.
Perhaps both sides should also be paying close attention to someone like Zoon Ahmed Khan, a very bright Pakistani woman who is a research fellow with the Belt and Road Initiative Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University.
Pakistani naval personnel stand guard near a ship carrying containers at the Gwadar port, 700kms west of Karachi, where a trade program between Pakistan and China operates. Photo: AFP/Aamir Qureshi
Zoon Ahmed Khan notes how “one significant contribution that China makes through the BRI is emphasizing on the fact that developing countries like Pakistan have to find their own development path, rather than follow a Western model of governance.”
She adds, “The best thing Pakistan can learn from the Chinese model is to come up with its own model. China does not wish to impose its journey and experience on other countries, which is quite important.”
She is adamant that Belt and Road “is benefiting a much greater region than Pakistan. Through the initiative, what China tries to do is to present the partner countries with its experience and the things it can offer.”
All of the above definitely applies to Afghanistan – and its convoluted but ultimately inevitable insertion into the ongoing process of Eurasia integration.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 07/27/2021 – 00:20 - Majority Of Hospitalized Covid Patients In UK Only Tested Positive After Admission: Leaked NHS Data
Majority Of Hospitalized Covid Patients In UK Only Tested Positive After Admission: Leaked NHS Data
Over half of those hospitalized with Covid-19 in the UK only tested positive after admission – suggesting that “vast numbers are being classed as hospitalised by Covid when they were admitted with other ailments, with the virus picked up by routine testing,” according to The Telegraph, citing leaked government figures.
The takeaway? Oft-cited statistics published daily may far overstate Covid hospitalizations – and consequently, pressures on the National Health Service (NHS).
The leaked data – covering all NHS trusts in England – show that, as of last Thursday, just 44 per cent of patients classed as being hospitalised with Covid had tested positive by the time they were admitted.
The majority of cases were not detected until patients underwent standard Covid tests, carried out on everyone admitted to hospital for any reason.
Overall, 56 per cent of Covid hospitalisations fell into this category, the data, seen by The Telegraph, show.
Crucially, this group does not distinguish between those admitted because of severe illness, later found to be caused by the virus, and those in hospital for different reasons who might otherwise never have known that they had picked it up. -Telegraph
In June, UK health officials instructed NHS trusts to provide “a breakdown of the current stock of Covid patients” between those who were hospitalized primarily for Covid and those admitted for other reasons. Thus far, the NHS has failed to publish this now-leaked information.
Breaking it down, out of more than 780 hospitalizations dated last Thursday, 44% tested positive within 14 days prior to admission, while 43% tested positive within two days of admission, and 13% tested positive ‘in the days and weeks that followed’ – including those likely to have caught the virus in the hospital.
“Experts said the high number of cases being detected belatedly – at a time when PCR tests were widely available – suggested many such patients had been admitted for other reasons,” according to the report.
“This data is incredibly important, and it should be published on an ongoing basis,” said Prof Carl Heneghan, director of the Center for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford. “When people hear about hospitalizations with Covid, they will assume that Covid is the likely cause, but this data shows something quite different – this is about Covid being detected after tests were looking for it.”
Heneghan has urged UK officials to be more transparent with this data – including whether or not the virus was the primary cause of hospital admission.
“This needs to be fixed as a matter of urgency,” he said, adding that the currently published data could lead the public “towards false conclusions,” which exaggerate the true level of pressure on the UK medical system.
“Nearly 18 months into the Covid crisis, it is absurd that data breaking down hospital admissions still isn’t publicly available on a regular basis,” said Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory MPs. “Counting all patients who test positive as Covid hospitalisations is inevitably misleading and gives a false picture of the continuing health impact of the virus.”
Greg Clark, the chairman of Commons science and technology select committee, on Monday night said he would write to Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, asking him to publish the breakdown on a regular basis following The Telegraph’s disclosure.
“If hospitalisations from Covid are a key determinant of how concerned we should be, and how quickly restrictions should be lifted, it’s important that the data is not presented in a way that could lead to the wrong conclusions being drawn,” he said.
“While some of these people may be being admitted due to Covid, we currently do not know how many. And for those who are not, there is a big distinction between people who are admitted because of Covid and those are in for something else but have Covid in such a mild form that it was not the cause of their hospitalisation.”
The leaked statistics come from NHS daily situation reports, collected by all hospital trusts in England. -Telegraph
“It creates an impression that all these people are going into hospital with Covid, and that simply is not the case. People are worried and scared and not really understanding the true picture – that is what I find despicable,” one NHS data expert told the Telegraph.
Wonder how many US Covid hospitalizations were only diagnosed post-admission, keeping in mind of course that US hospitals are paid more for Covid patients under the CARES Act.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 07/27/2021 – 00:00 - Cincinnati Tops List Of Cities Where Renters Can Afford To Live Alone In 2021: Report
Cincinnati Tops List Of Cities Where Renters Can Afford To Live Alone In 2021: Report
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,
Cincinnati has once again topped the list of major U.S. cities where renters can afford to live alone, according to a recent report.
SmartAsset, an online resource for personal financial advice, said in its most recent annual report on the most affordable cities for solo renters that Ohio’s third most populous city not only has the fifth-lowest average rent ($612 per month) for a unit with fewer than two bedrooms, but it also offers renters relatively low living costs at $22,721 per year.
With two cities each in the top 10, Nebraska and Kentucky were the top states for solo renters, according to the study. The two Nebraska cities—Omaha and Lincoln—and the two from Kentucky—Lexington and Louisville—had an average rent cost for units with fewer than two bedrooms of $724 per month, while the average annual cost of living was less than $24,000 per year.
The study compared the 100 largest cities in the United States across five metrics, including average rent for smaller units—the kind preferred by solo renters—as well as the cost of living, median earnings, unemployment rates, and the percentage of housing units with fewer than two bedrooms.
Cincinnati, which took the top spot for the fourth consecutive year, had an unemployment rate of 4.6 percent in April 2021, while more than 28 percent of its occupied housing units have fewer than two bedrooms, according to the report.
According to SmartAsset, the 10 top cities, ranked in order, where renters can afford to live alone are Cincinnati; Minneapolis; Omaha; St. Louis; Lexington; Lincoln; Pittsburgh; Louisville; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Boise, Idaho.
Top 10 major U.S. cities ranked according to affordability for solo renters in 2021. (Table: ET; Data source: SmartAsset)
The report comes as the cost of renting a home continues to rise in the United States, as more people return to work in metro areas, boosting demand for rental apartments. While rents dropped significantly across the country during the pandemic, as of June, the median national rent was up by 8.4 percent year-over-year, according to Apartment List, an online rental marketplace.
The most recent inflation data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (pdf), released on July 13, showed hotter-than-expected June inflation, with the consumer price index (CPI) rising by 0.9 percent month-over-month in June, hitting at a 13-year high. In the 12 months through June, inflation was up by 5.4 percent, the largest 12-month increase in the measure since 2008.
Republicans, and some economists, have been raising the alarm about inflation, while the Biden administration has insisted the upward price pressures are transitory and will fade as the pandemic-related supply chain dislocations get ironed out.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 23:40 - BLM Group Demands White Parents 'Pledge' Not To Send Their Kids To Ivy League Schools So Black Students Can Attend Instead
BLM Group Demands White Parents ‘Pledge’ Not To Send Their Kids To Ivy League Schools So Black Students Can Attend Instead
A Texas Black Lives Matter group called Dallas Justice Now (DJN) has sent a letter to white Democrats in two wealthy Texas neighborhoods demanding that white parents pledge not to let their kids attend Ivy League schools so that black students can attend instead.
“We are writing to you because we understand you are white and live within the Highland Park Independent School District and thus benefit from enormous privileges taken at the expense of communities of color,” the letter begins.
“You live in the whitest and wealthiest neighborhood in Dallas. Whether you know it or not, you earned or inherited your money through oppressing people of color. However, it is also our understanding that you are a Democrat and supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement which makes you one of our white allies and puts you in a position to help correct these cruel injustices. We need you to step up and back up your words with action and truly sacrifice to make our segregated city more just.“
“We are asking you to pledge that your children will not apply or attend any Ivy League School or US News & World Report Top 50 School.”
For those without children under the age of 18, the letter asks white Democrats to “hold your white privileged friends, family, and neighbors with children to this standard,” as “These schools have afforded white families privilege for generations.”
According to the Daily Mail, DJN appears to have been recently organized.
DJN said in a press release it has sent the pledge out to the ’95 percent white Highland Park and University Park neighborhoods’.
Data from the US Census Bureau shows 88 percent of residents in University Park are white, with just 1.5 percent of people being black or African American. In Highland Park, 91 percent are white and less than 1 percent black or African American.
Both areas are among the richest in the state, with residents enjoying a median household income above $200,000 and Highland Park ranking in the 10 wealthiest communities in America back in 2018.
The average house price stood at $1.3 million in University Park and $1.5 million in Highland Park between 2015 and 2019, with some mansions along the iconic Beverly Drive currently on the market for $10 million.
The group has threatened on their website to publicly doxx white people who haven’t signed the pledge.
“Many wealthy white folks including those who live in the 95% white Park Cities think they are allies because they put up a Black Lives Matter sign or parade black people like animals at their charity galas that somehow they aren’t part of the problem,” DJN spokeswoman and founder, Michele Washington, told Dallas City Wire.
“Since their creation, top educational institutions have been vehicles for the perpetuation of white supremacy,” she added. “Ivy League and other Top 50 Schools provide the best vehicles for upward mobility, particularly for marginalized communities. Yet, a vast majority of the spots at these institutions are taken by wealthy white folks.”
Maybe DJN could send black parents a letter encouraging their kids to study for 3 hours a day and forego a social life so they can get into Ivy League schools by themselves?
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 23:19 - Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Sighting In South Carolina Stirs MUFON Interest
Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Sighting In South Carolina Stirs MUFON Interest
Authored by Matt McGregor via The Epoch Times,
While at a stoplight in Goose Creek, South Carolina, Shaneika Joyner and her daughter watched an amorphous, cloud-like body glide across the sky.
“Is it a ship?” Joyner’s daughter asked in the video, filmed early in July.
Joyner told The Epoch Times she watched it for several seconds before she began recording it with her phone.
Though the video only lasted 45 seconds, she said the object was in their line of sight for around 2 minutes, adding that the video doesn’t accurately portray the size, which she said appeared to be much larger when seen with the naked eye.
As it disappeared behind a tree, traffic going to wait, so they had to go.
Although only one object can be seen clearly in the video, Joyner said “there were more.”
The other two, she said, were moving too rapidly to track.
“When I look back at the video, there are three, but the other two are moving so fast that you’ve got to really look at it, and play the video back to catch them,” Joyner said.
She’s heard suggestions as to what it could have been, such as a large, plastic bag, or a flock of birds, but Joyner, having seen it with own eyes, maintains uncertainty.
“I have never seen anything like that before,” Joyner said. “I still don’t know what it was.”
Mutual UFO Network
Cheryl Ann Gilmore, state director for the South Carolina chapter of the Mutual UFO Network, or MUFON, told The Epoch Times that in July they received six reports of unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP), which is the updated term for unidentified flying objects (UFOs), with a current total of 69 reports to date.
MUFON is a multi-national nonprofit organization that investigates and researches UAP.
Established in 1969 and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, it has chapters in each state, as well as in 43 countries.
Gilmore, who’s investigated “hundreds of cases over the years,” is no stranger to Joyner’s experience.
Her interest in the field of Ufology began in 1959.
The Flying Saucer Kid
While walking through a pasture with her cousin, Gilmore, then 14, and her cousin, witnessed a silver disk quietly hovering against the blue sky.
When they ran back home, she told her grandmother and aunt.
“I can remember my aunt saying, ‘Oh yea, that’s one of those flying saucers,’” Gilmore said.
From there, she began her research, though back then not much was written about UFOs.
That next day in school, she told her science teacher that she had something to share.
When he asked if what she had to say had anything to do with science, she said—categorizing the subject in her mind as astronomy—that it did.
“I can remember to this day clear as a bell, he sat on the edge of his desk with one foot on the floor and the other leg swinging, and I was about halfway back in the class,” Gilmore recollected.
When she told everyone what she saw, they laughed, as did the teacher, Gilmore said.
It was then that her nickname became the Flying Saucer Kid, a name that followed her until high school graduation.
“You grow a thick skin after a while,” she said.
A Sighting in Gaffney
At MUFON, Gilmore reviews cases and then assigns them to field investigators.
If one’s not available, she’ll do it herself.
In winter 2000, a couple reported that they were driving down the highway when they saw a “translucent balloon, with sparklers,” fly over power lines and into a wooded gulley.
Though there had been a freeze, the trees caught on fire and the object charred the ground.
With boots on the ground, Gilmore—a retired emergency medical technician—and her team investigated the site after the fire department cleared it.
She recollected the fire chief being perplexed by the burned ground.
“It had been icy and raining, so they were amazed,” Gilmore said.
Using a Geiger counter, they tested the area for radiation—finding none—and took soil samples, revealing nothing unusual.
If there were any artifacts from the crash, they were missing when her team investigated.
She classified the case as an “unknown,” determining that it might have been a magnesium balloon that had escaped a nearby college science experiment.
It was a good case for the deployment of all resources and training, even though it turned up nothing conclusive.
UAP Shapes
When one reports a UAP to MUFON, there is a multiple-choice option on the form for choosing the shape of the craft seen: triangle, round, rectangle, or cigar-shaped.
However, the most reported objects aren’t craft, but what she called orbs, something she said is a global phenomenon.
“Nobody can figure out what in thunder they are,” she said, adding that the common trajectory of an orb is to “come to a dead stop, then shoot into another direction.”
“There have been 13 cases of orbs this year, and ten of spheres, which are either orange, clear, or white,” Gilmore said. “We get a lot of those over the Myrtle Beach area, but we also take into account the Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter.”
Reverse engineering of recovered UAP craft for military and other technological purposes is one of the theories behind what is seen today. The theory was strengthened by the late Col. Philip Corso’s 1997 autobiography, “The Day After Roswell,” in which he alleges that when he was a member of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s National Security Council and head of the Foreign Technological desk at the U.S. Army’s Research and Development department, he headed the Army’s reverse-engineering project that took recovered technology from the 1947 Roswell crash and seeded the information out to major corporate firms.
Using the provided information, these firms were able to manufacture “integrated circuit chips, fiber optics, laser technology, and super-tenacity fibers.”
The Intelligence Report
In June, the Office of the Director on National Intelligence (DNI) presented a nine-page report on UAPs before Congress.
According to its conclusion in the executive summary, because of the “limited amount of high-quality reporting” on UAPs, the DNI said it can’t “draw firm conclusions,” but that UAPs “clearly pose a safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to U.S. national security.”
The investigation relied on reports that occurred between 2004 and 2021 that were recorded by “multiple sensors, to include radar, infrared, electro-optical, weapon seekers, and visual observation.”
“It’s pretty much what I expected it to be,” Gilmore said on the report. “No commitment. It could be this; it could be that. It went the way I expected it would go.”
An Easier Conversation to Have
Still, the report—in its acknowledgement of not knowing—is considered progress by many in the field, given that for years, just bringing the subject up could lead to what Gilmore experienced in the science classroom back in 1959: ridicule.
On Joyner’s sighting, after Gilmore watched the video she said, “Interesting.”
“In one frame it looks like a plane in nosedive coming down at a steep angle, but then, it starts morphing,” Gilmore said. “It looks like a cloud, but it’s not moving like the other clouds.”
A pair of binoculars might have ended the mystery, Gilmore said, but she ruled out the likeliness of the nebulous object being bugs or a flock of birds.
“I get the impression it’s morphing from one thing to the other, but it could be a large bag in an upper air current getting turned and twisted,” Gilmore said. “When it goes down through the trees, it is almost like a disk shape.”
She uses the word “morphing” because once a person reported what was initially perceived to be a commercial jet transform into a flying saucer, then back to a commercial jet, she explained.
For Joyner’s sighting, Gilmore considers the backdrop: the clouds, the movement of the object in relation to them, how it appears to be changing shapes, and the fact that the Joint Base Charleston—the U.S. Air Force facility that operates in conjunction with the Charleston International Airport—is nearby.
“This is really hard to discern, and I can’t give any definite answer,” Gilmore said. “It seems to be moving, tumbling, and changing shapes, but it could be an illusion.”
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 22:52 - Goldman Applies For Blockchain And DeFi ETF
Goldman Applies For Blockchain And DeFi ETF
Just days after we learned that Goldman is quietly clearing and settling cryptocurrency exchange-traded products for some hedge fund clients in Europe, on Monday the bank which has been increasingly ramping up its exposure to crypto currencies in recent months, filed an application with the SEC for a crypto ETF, and not just any ETF but one that would offer exposure to public companies in decentralized finance (defi) and blockchain around the globe.
Yes, Goldman very unironically wants to offer clients exposure to the same defi technology whose only purpose is to make banks such as Goldman Sachs obsolete by decentralizing all financial transformation functions and services.
It just hit me the irony of Goldman investing in DeFi.
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) July 26, 2021
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According to the the filing, the fund will invest at least 80% of its assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) in securities included in the Solactive Decentralized Finance and Blockchain Index, which will deliver exposure to companies that are aligned with two key themes, the implementation of Blockchain Technology and the Digitalization of Finance.
- Blockchain Technology is defined as the technology underlying distributed ledgers applicable to payments, currencies and other fields and industries that depend on a trusted intermediary.
- Digitalization of Finance is defined as the digital transformation of traditional financial services, including the support and delivery of payments, transaction services, lending and insurance.
“The Goldman Sachs Innovate DeFi and Blockchain Equity ETF (the ‘Fund’) seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Solactive Decentralized Finance and Blockchain Index (the ‘Index’),” the filing said, adding that it would focus at markets in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.
While it is unclear which names will comprise the Solactive Decentralized Finance and Blockchain Index, a quick look at the Solactive Blockchain Technology Performance-Index reveals the following constituents. One can hope that Solactive and/or Goldman are a bit more selective in their stock picking.
With its filing, Goldman joins a long line of Wall Street entities hoping to be the first to market with a blockchain ETF. According to CoinDesk, the SEC is currently reviewing over a dozen bitcoin ETF applications and has delayed decisions on several of them. And while both VanEck and WisdomTree have filed for Ethereum ETFs, Goldman’s filing is the first DeFi-related ETF application.
Goldman’s filing comes just days after Goldman’s inaugural survey of more than 150 family office decision makers found that only about 15% of respondents globally have indicated to have existing investments in cryptocurrencies, while almost half are considering initiating exposure not only to cryptocurrencies but also to innovation in the digital assets ecosystems through private investments.
“Of the approximately two-thirds of family offices that are actively thinking about an increase in inflation, digital assets emerged as one portfolio solution. Currency debasement has also been top of mind for about 40% of global respondents, with more than 40% of the subset indicating they would consider investing in digital assets“
And sure enough, if clients want exposure to digital assets, Goldman is happy to deliver it to them.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 22:15 - Here's Why the New COVID Relief Program Will Turn The Working Class Into Serfs…
Here’s Why the New COVID Relief Program Will Turn The Working Class Into Serfs…
Authored by Chris Macintosh via InternationalMan.com,
“This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal that absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.”
George Orwell, Animal Farm
Everything is now political.
ESG, climate change, racism, gender, vaccines. Ask yourself why is it that all of these things are non-negotiable? Why can’t they be discussed? Why is there no room for dissent, questioning, and discourse?
Something is amiss. Think about it.
The pointy shoes at the IMF tell us that the pandemic will cost the world $28 trillion by 2025, which means it’ll be much, much more.
The truth is the pandemic isn’t the cause. The lockdowns, however, are.
Understanding what exactly this “pandemic” is, is really critical to understanding everything taking place globally and in financial markets both now and in the future.
This virus is statistically as dangerous to the population as a bad flu. “No, not possible, Chris. Look at the response by governments. Surely that’s disproportionate.” Yes, it is, but there is a reason.
To understand the answer to this more fully we need to go back to 2008 and then walk forward tracking the unfolding events.
Following the housing crash and subsequent banking crisis QE was brought in as the tool to “fix” what could have and should have been fixed by letting the banks fail and putting on trial and jailing Wall Street bankers as well as regulatory agencies who were all willfully and knowingly involved in a massive fraud.
The economy has been hanging by a thread ever since.
Then in 2019 the money market seized up with the overnight lending rate shooting up, causing the pointy shoes at the Fed (and the ECB in coordination with the BOE, too) to step in to “fix” it.
They printed upwards of 100 million smackaroos PER NIGHT.
Bankers should have been screaming… but they’re not. Why?
Since the beginning of 2020 the major central banks around the world have expanded the money supply by anywhere from 30% to… how do I even say this without my throat catching? Better yet a visual to display the situation.
The central banks would have struggled to do this without drawing attention to their scandalous behaviour if it weren’t for the scapegoat of Covid. “This is unprecedented,” they tell us. “We have to do something,” they say.
To convince the public of the absolute necessity for the tyranny now imposed, they have used every lying trick in the book, and when found out and revealed quickly and mercilessly acted to ensure the truth is “canceled”.
Breach of community guidelines. No mention made of what this community is or what the guidelines are. The level of distraction availed by the Covid fraud is breathtaking and has allowed for the most egregious transfer of wealth in history.
This money has been printed not to provide “covid relief” as is being sold to a gullible public but to bail out the banks in a more palatable fashion.
If direct bailouts were enacted, the outrage would have likely been of far greater magnitude than the 1% protests that followed the 2008 debacle. Instead, they chose to funnel the capital directly to the consumer.
Make no mistake about it though, without this we’d be in a full-blown banking crisis. This is why we don’t have banks failing and the fat cats on Wall Street chewing their fingernails.
Less than 3% of money supply is in physical format. The balance is all debt-based money. Money is brought into circulation by the creation of debt. This debt burden has grown to uncontrollable eye watering levels. It will collapse and was in the process of doing so back in 2008. It was about to do so again in 2019 when the money market seized up.
The desperate need to hold this ball of wax together was why in 2014, bank bailouts not being enough, they enacted laws to allow bank bail-ins. Meaning that they can (and will when necessary) seize customer deposits in order to bail out the bankers.
That it is legalized theft won’t matter. As is always the case the average Joe has no idea about any of this and gleefully plonks his hard-earned wages in the bank believing that he is a customer and that the bank is there to serve him. Customers of Cypriot banks thought the same thing right up until they received a shocking jolt of reality back in 2013.
One thing to remember is that you can’t have a collapse like this without taking the currency down with it. Never happened before in history and it isn’t going to happen this time around either.
The coming problem is this. We have a truly monstrous increase in money supply, and if we open the global economy back up, we’re going to then get an increase in velocity. I.N.F.L.A.T.I.O.N.
While the money conjured up and given to the banks in 2008 led to an explosion in “growth assets,” the money now printed has been fed to the general populace (who then don’t default on their debts to the bankers).
It solves two problems for the pointy shoes. Firstly, it ensures the bankers don’t go bankrupt. And secondly, it turns a working class into a slave class.
You see, when you work for a living and vote for your government, they are reliant on you. But when you don’t work for a living and are reliant on your government then you are a slave to them. The roles are completely reversed.
To sum it up
We have entered a period of time where ideologies are driving literally everything.
Ideas and opinions are becoming weaponized.
What is important to understand is that this absolutely is and will drive capital flows more than ever.
This will impact economies and sectors.
This is the fourth turning, and it will run until it collapses or implodes on itself.
* * *
The Fed has already pumped enormous distortions into the economy and inflated an “everything bubble.” The next round of money printing is likely to bring the situation to a breaking point. If you want to navigate the complicated economic and political situation that is unfolding, then you need to see this newly released video from Doug Casey and his team. In it, Doug reveals what you need to know, and how these dangerous times could impact your wealth. Click here to watch it now.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 21:55 - 59 Million Americans Prohibited From Buying High-End Dell Gaming PCs
59 Million Americans Prohibited From Buying High-End Dell Gaming PCs
Approximately 59 million Americans spanning five states can’t buy Dell’s high-end Alienware brand desktop PCs “due to power consumption regulations.”
When one goes to the Dell Alienware online configurator to buy an Aurora R12 gaming desktop, a special notice appears which reads:
This product cannot be shipped to the states of California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont or Washington due to power consumption regulations adopted by those states. Any orders placed that are bound for those states will be canceled.
Screenshot dell.com Among other state policies, the prohibition puts Dell in compliance with California’s Energy Commission regulations which took effect on July 1. Under the new guidelines, annual energy consumption cannot consume more than 75 kWh/year, and cannot exceed an “expandability score” (ES) of 690, which includes idle power consumption.
In order to comply with California’s requirement, Alienware now offers a special version which adheres to the new regulations.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 21:35 - Record Coral Cover Of Great Barrier Reef Shames Climate Alarmists, Media
Record Coral Cover Of Great Barrier Reef Shames Climate Alarmists, Media
Authored by Peter Ridd via ClimateChangeDispatch.com,
The annual data on coral cover for the Great Barrier Reef, produced by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, was released on Monday showing the amount of coral on the reef is at record high levels.
Record high, despite all the doom stories by our reef science and management institutions.
Like all other data on the reef, this shows it is in robust health.
For example, coral growth rates have, if anything, increased over the past 100 years, and measurements of farm pesticides reaching the reef show levels so low that they cannot be detected with the most ultra-sensitive equipment.
This data is good news. It could hardly be better.
This data series, which started in 1985, is taken from the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s yearly long-term monitoring of the Reef. Source: Peter Ridd
But somehow, our science organizations have convinced the world that the reef is on its last legs. How has this happened?
One reason is that occasionally colossal amounts of coral are killed, mostly by cyclones, but also by the crown of thorns starfish and bleaching.
So the media, with its predilection for bad news, can be fed a regular diet of doom. Our scientists are always happy to oblige.
The quiet recovery is generally downplayed or ignored.
Growing up in Innisfail, adjacent to the reef, in the early 1970s, I recall the initial doom stories about the reef.
The scientific study of the reef had only just started, and plagues of starfish that eat the coral had just been discovered and were making headlines worldwide. The reef had, supposedly, only a decade left.
It was reasonable in the ’70s to be concerned about these plagues and they ultimately precipitated AIMS’ long-term monitoring of coral and starfish in the ’80s.
I was working at AIMS when this important work started, and it is interesting to look back on what has changed.
The coral cover is no less, the number of starfish is no more, but the number of scientists and managers working on the reef has exploded. Perhaps this is the problem.
In 50 years we have now learned a great deal about the cycles of coral death and regrowth. The data reported every year by AIMS shows all areas go through these cycles every decade or two.
Remarkably, even the excellent news of record coral still has the scientists pessimistic. The reef is, apparently, still doomed from climate change and this is just a temporary reprieve. How well does the data need to be to make them admit the reef is fine?
The science institutions have been claiming that there have been three disastrous bleaching events in the past five years, which does not accord with the latest statistics.
Record coral cover means there was no disaster on the reef. The only disaster is the quality assurance at the science organizations.
An examination of the data shows that, while there have been three events, they occurred in largely different regions in each year. The reef has thus effectively had one major bleaching event in the past five years and the previous major event was in 2002.
So the reef has had roughly one event in 15 years, and most of the coral on the reef did not bleach and most that bleached did not die. Therefore, it is not surprising that the reef is in good shape.
The science institutions have been caught out by their own deception. They exaggerated the bleaching events – as usual.
Luckily, we have the AIMS long-term coral monitoring surveys, which are done professionally with good-quality protocols, to demonstrate the state of the reef.
The bad news is that the record high coral cover means it is likely that coral cover will decline in the next few years.
Prepare for the headlines saying the reef has lost much of its coral and is indicative of climate change and farmers polluting the reef. And the reef will be predicted to be gone by 2050 – or whenever.
When will these doom stories about the reef, which have been going for 50 years, cease? Will it be like the Ancient Greek legend of Prometheus, who was chained alive to a rock so that his liver could be eaten by an eagle, only for the liver to grow overnight so that it could be eaten again and again? Will the agony ever end?
According to legend, Heracles saved Prometheus. Who will be our Heracles, and support a better quality assurance of the science?
It should be the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, but so far it has not been interested. The various ministers could also take an interest.
In the meantime, don’t forget we have record-high levels of coral. It is time to stop scaring the children with doom stories about the reef.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 21:15 - Afghan Civilian Casualties Hit Record High Amid Rapid Taliban Gains
Afghan Civilian Casualties Hit Record High Amid Rapid Taliban Gains
A United Nations monitor issued figures on Monday showing that civilian casualties in Afghanistan have soared over the period the United States began rapidly withdrawing forces ahead of Biden’s declared full exit, which is to be accomplished before the symbolic date of September 11.
Civilian casualties in the war-torn country hit record highs for the first half of the year, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in its report. “In May and June alone, when the Taliban began its surge of attacks, 783 civilians were killed and 1,609 were injured,” the group indicated according to The Hill, which notes further: “In just those two months, the civilian casualties neared the total from January through April, when 876 civilians were killed and 1,915 were injured, the mission added.”
Via Reuters Just last week Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley admitted the Taliban now has “strategic momentum” against Afghan national forces. He said the Taliban holds roughly half of all the country’s districts, yet also held out hope for national forces’ ability to push the Islamic fighters back, saying “I don’t think the end game is yet written.” Washington has lately pledged continuing air strikes in support of the national army.
The new UN report indicates the majority of civilian casualties were caused by the Taliban, the Afghan ISIS branch, and other terrorist insurgents, while a big portion were also caused by being “caught in the crossfire”.
The Hill summarizes of the report’s findings:
- More than 60 percent of civilian casualties documented by the U.N. mission were caused by “anti-government elements,” which includes the Taliban, the Afghan branch of ISIS and other “undetermined” groups, according to the report.
- The leading cause of civilian casualties was improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used by the Taliban and ISIS, according to the report. Pressure-plate IEDs used mostly by the Taliban have killed and injured 42 percent more civilians this year than the same period last year.
- Another 33 percent of the civilian casualties were people caught in ground fighting between the Taliban and Afghan forces, the report said.
- The number of women and girls killed and injured nearly doubled this year compared to last, the report added.
President Biden in his big early July Afghan exit speech said he believed it’s “highly unlikely” the Afghan government will ultimately retain “unified” control of the country.
Since that July 8 speech the terror group has continued advancing at lightning pace, lately also with the majority of border areas in Taliban control (the Taliban itself boasts control of at least 90% of major border crossings as areas). The Taliban has also lately overrun prisons where they’ve freed hundreds or possibly thousands of detained jihadists which have rejoined Taliban ranks.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 20:55 - America Is A Moral Cesspool, And Student Loans Prove It
America Is A Moral Cesspool, And Student Loans Prove It
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
If America somehow managed to educate millions of college students without burdening them with $2 trillion in debt in 1993, why is it now “impossible” to do so, even as America’s wealth and gross national product (GDP) have both rocketed higher over the past 27 years?
Predators thrive on Americans’ short memories. Student loans in their present scale did not exist prior to 1994. According to the Federal Reserve FRED database, the student loan balance was zero in 1993.
From zero in 1993 to $1.728 trillion in 2021: this is the predatory financialization of higher education which has enriched lenders, Wall Street and the Higher Education Cartel. As I’ve noted before, such parasitic rapaciousness would have been criminal a few generations ago; now it’s cheered as a reliable source of profits by Wall Street and treated as business as usual by the corporate-owned media.
If America somehow managed to educate millions of college students without burdening them with $2 trillion in debt in 1993, why is it now “impossible” to do so, even as America’s wealth and gross national product (GDP) have both rocketed higher over the past 27 years?
America is now a moral cesspool, and student loans prove it. Note that the $1.728 trillion isn’t the entire load of debt crushing students; that’s only the securitized student loans. Wily sharpsters have found all sorts of private-debt niches which they sell as “student loans” but which are actually consumer loans. Then there’s the credit card debt from card issuers giving students “student-only cards.” Add it all up and the total likely exceeds $2 trillion.
Monopolies, cartels, profiteers and insiders always have a raft of excuses and justifications for their exploitation of the powerless, and all those profiting from the $2 trillion have the usual excuses plus a novel set of noble-sounding academic rationalizations.
Journalist Matt Taibbi lays waste to one slice of the student loan racket in The Trillion-Dollar Lie (courtesy of correspondent Joel W.), the legal foundation of the entire parasitic swindle: “students can’t escape student loans in bankruptcy court.” But suppose the legal edifice were to recognize that universities are not “non-profits” but are instead a racketeering cartel?
While crying poor, universities have pursued a construction boom of trophy buildings without precedent and piled up slush funds with hundreds of millions of dollars extracted from student debt-serfs. If this doesn’t make your blood boil, then you must be swimming laps in America’s moral cesspool, praising the putrid stench as “the smell of money.”
It doesn’t have to be this way. Way back in 2012 I laid out a way to offer 4-year university degrees for 10% of the current cost (minus living expenses, which accrue whether you’re a student or not) in my book The Nearly Free University. There are models which would produce better educational results at a fraction of the current bloated cost.
To all those swimming laps in America’s moral cesspool, a few words of warning:
1. America has run out of powerless people who can be exploited and turned into debt-serfs.
2. The pendulum of exploitation, racketeering and greed that’s been pushed to near-infinity is about to swing to the other extreme. The banquet of consequences will soon be served, and the doors to the banquet hall will be locked. The courses in karma and Divine Retribution will be especially enlightening.
* * *
If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.
* * *
My recent books:
A Hacker’s Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet (Kindle $8.95, print $20, audiobook $17.46) Read the first section for free (PDF).
Will You Be Richer or Poorer?: Profit, Power, and AI in a Traumatized World (Kindle $5, print $10, audiobook) Read the first section for free (PDF).
Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic ($5 (Kindle), $10 (print), ( audiobook): Read the first section for free (PDF).
The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake $1.29 (Kindle), $8.95 (print); read the first chapters for free (PDF)
Money and Work Unchained $6.95 (Kindle), $15 (print) Read the first section for free (PDF).
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 20:35 - "Vehicles All Over" – Freak Sandstorm Causes 22-Vehicle Pileup In Utah
“Vehicles All Over” – Freak Sandstorm Causes 22-Vehicle Pileup In Utah
A freak sandstorm two hours south of Salt Lake City caused a deadly 22-vehicle pileup on Sunday, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS).
The accident occurred on Interstate 15 in Millard County on Sunday afternoon. Twenty-two vehicles were involved in the crash “after high winds caused a sand or dust storm and impaired visibility on the roadway,” said DPS.
The “series of crashes” resulted in seven deaths and ten others injured, DPS said, adding that “some children” were among the deaths.
“The Utah Highway Patrol summoned troopers from Richfield and Beaver to assist,” DPS said. “Multiple ground and air ambulances also responded to transport victims.”
This was the chilling scene on I-15 south of Fillmore after a sandstorm caused a 20-car pileup that killed at least six people and critically injured several others. [Video: Kym Woodward] pic.twitter.com/C8goHtF4fw
— KUTV2news (@KUTV2News) July 26, 2021
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Sgt. Cameron Roden with the Utah Highway Patrol told local news KUTV that he “can’t remember in recent memory of (a crash) being this large, with this many vehicles and this many fatalities.”
“We have vehicles all over. Several vehicles tried to swerve off the roadway. We have vehicles that are flipped up on their sides,” he added. “One of the vehicles that was pulling a trailer, the trailer has pretty much completely been destroyed and is on the freeway.”
“We’re stunned and saddened by the horrific accidents in Millard County,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a statement on Twitter. “We fervently pray for the loved ones of those who perished and for those fighting for their lives.”
The sandstorm comes as Utah is experiencing dangerous drought conditions and sweltering heat.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 20:15 - Leveling Down To Utopia
Leveling Down To Utopia
Authored by Caroline Breashears via The American Institute for Economic Research,
Decades ago, F. A. Hayek warned that socialism was the Road to Serfdom. He explained not only why central planning was impossible but how the attempt destroys morality: planning leads to misery and increasing control, then totalitarianism, the corruption of truth, and finally even the ability to articulate it.
Today we are heading down a similar path, recast as the freeway toward “equity” and “justice.” No student should be forced to repay loans, no retiree should be deprived of free hearing aids, and no Asian-Americans should have an advantage in college admissions based on outstanding records.
This is not, we are reassured by Democratic Socialists, the route mapped by the old, mean authoritarians, but a new way toward equal outcomes planned by the Enlightened and the Majority.
Never mind how slim the Congressional Majority might be. Never mind that some of the Enlightened promoting equity are unable to master basic grammar (“CRT is a verb”), much less math. These experts know how to fix things.
Let’s grant the possibility that they do. Let’s grant that democratically elected officials could magically solve the knowledge problem and lead us down this road in which equal outcome would follow equal outcome until no disparities existed in health, wealth, or achievement. Where would we be? What would we be?
One answer appears in “The New Utopia” (1891), Jerome K. Jerome’s response to similar socialist visions in the late nineteenth century. Jerome captures not only the appeal of those visions but their inevitable result: the leveling down of the human race.
Equitable Dreams, Nightmarish Results
Jerome’s tale begins with delicious irony. While savoring stuffed pheasant and a bottle of Chateau Lafitte at the Nationalist Socialist Club, the narrator learns of “the coming equality of man and the nationalization of capital.” With what Hayek would later call fatal conceit, the narrator’s friends declare that while the world had been going wrong for millennia, “in the course of the next few years or so, they mean to put it right.”
Back home, the narrator reflects on the beauty of this vision:
There would be no more of this struggling and striving against each other, no more jealousy, no more disappointment, no more fear of poverty! The State would take charge of us from the hour we were born until we died. . . . There would be no more hard work . . . no poor to pity, no rich to envy. . . nothing to think about except the glorious destiny (whatever that might be) of Humanity!
The narrator, in a satirical twist on Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward (1888), falls asleep and awakens a thousand years later to the New Utopia. Gone is the “massive wealth and income inequality” censured by socialists then and millionaire socialist Senator Sanders now. Everything is equal.
That’s right: everything. As the narrator’s guide explains, to prevent inequalities, every person sleeps in a block of a thousand citizens, rises at the same time, dons the same grey ensemble, and eats the same vegetarian meal. If Pheasant and a glass of Bordeaux are forbidden, at least one can savor the equal privation of 999 roommates.
Furthermore, everyone’s hair is the same (black, of equal length). “What would become of our equality if one man or woman were allowed to swagger about in golden hair, while another had to put up with carrots?” the narrator’s guide demands. “Men have not only got to be equal in these happy days, but to look it, as far as can be.”
And when cosmetic adjustments are insufficient, bodies must be altered, not simply handicapped as in Kurt Vonnegut’s later “Harrison Bergeron” (1961). The government equalizes strong, handsome men by lopping off their arms, while surgically softening the brains of the intelligent.
Such strategies are certainly more direct than current attempts to eliminate disparities in education: eliminating accelerated classes, reducing standards for college programs, handicapping certain races in college admissions. Jerome’s tale is also more direct in acknowledging the envy driving such assaults on excellence.
In the New Utopia, however, the narrator’s guide admits they have few problems with superiority anymore: “I have sometimes thought . . . that it was a pity we could not level up sometimes, instead of levelling down; but, of course, that’s impossible.”
The Tyranny of the Majority
Indeed. To level up would require individual thought and achievement, impossibilities in a society determined to minimize hurt feelings and maximize the majority’s power.
For make no mistake: in Jerome’s tale, every decision is made by vote. “The MAJORITY” determines what is correct, even if it means literally cutting people down to size. As the guide explains, “A minority has NO rights.”
And that majority never ceases to find sources of envy and discomfort. Once everyone was equal in wealth and appearance, sports had to go, because “competition led to inequality.” Then any books reminding people of “the wrong notions” had to be destroyed, just as educators drop Shakespeare and Homer today. New art and literature were banned, too, “as such things tended to undermine the principles of equality. They made men think, and the men that thought grew cleverer than those that did not want to think.”
In fact, people did not want to do much of anything and made sure their neighbors didn’t, either. Even marriage was banned for its “antisocialistic”– what the Smithsonian recently called “White”–tendencies: “Each house was a revolutionary centre for the propagation of individualism and personality.”
Waking Up to Life
In such a “Utopia” without love or art or individuality, what is left?
Certainly not choice. The State manages all activities, from the propagation of the species (every spring, like cattle) to bathing, since unequal habits led to “two distinct classes, the Clean and the Dirty.”
Nor is progress conceivable. Apart from three hours of work a day, the citizens sit around discussing the Destiny of Humanity, which is “to go on being like we are now, only more so—everybody more equal . . . and everybody to have two votes instead of one.”
In fact, the narrator sees “a patient, almost pathetic, expression upon” all their faces. It then occurs to him why it was familiar: “It was just the quiet, troubled, wondering expression that I had always noticed upon the faces of the horses and oxen that we used to breed and keep in the old world.”
This is Jerome’s greatest insight: even if a society could miraculously create equal outcomes, the process of doing so would dehumanize the race.
The alternative is what the narrator faces when he awakens from the nightmare. Outside his window are men striving, “laughing, grieving, loving, doing wrong deeds, doing great deeds,—falling, struggling, helping one another—living!” It is these individual, human choices that make us alive.
As Hayek concludes in The Road to Serfdom, “A policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.” Even if the problems of planning could be solved, even if equality could be achieved through democracy, we would only be lumbering down a far worse path: the Road to Stupidity.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 19:55 - "Sky Has Fallen" – Chinese Farmers Reel After Floodwaters Devastate Pig Herds
“Sky Has Fallen” – Chinese Farmers Reel After Floodwaters Devastate Pig Herds
A week later, after heavy rains hammered Henan province in central China, hog farmers in the pork-producing region are reeling over their herds drowning in floodwaters. There’s also a risk of the deadly pig disease African swine fever returning.
Small to medium-sized farmers have been severely impacted by floodwaters.
Reuters spoke with Chinese farmers who expressed despair after their pig herds drowned.
Chinese farmer Cheng said he’s been pulling out dead pigs lodged in mud after floodwaters devastated his property. He said at least 100 pigs had drowned so far.
“I’m waiting for the water levels to go down to see what to do with the remaining pigs,” said the farmer from Wangfan village, who is located 55 north of Zhengzhou.
“They’ve been in the water for a few days now and can’t eat at all. I don’t think even one pig will be left.”
Cheng is one of the many farmers in Henan that were heavily impacted by floodwaters. Not just livestock farms but also agricultural farms saw their fields flooded.
In an instant, we now have no way of surviving. We have no other skills. We have no more money to raise pigs again,” Cheng said, adding, “the sky has fallen.”
China is still rebuilding its pig herds following African swine fever swept the country during 2018 and 2019. However, the latest floods could impact hog populations in the province.
Now there’s a significant risk of an outbreak of African swine fever – floods increase the risk of disease as feces, blood, and tissue can transmit the virus. Contaminated feed and water can easily infect healthy hogs.
Henan province is the top wheat-producing province in the country, accounting for about 30% of output, and the second-largest hog producer.
There have also been logistical issues with transportation for farmers due to floodwaters destroying infrastructure in the province.
To sum up, China may have to continue buying US farm goods due to an already devastating flood season.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 19:35 - Boxer Mugged: 80-Year-Old Former Dem Senator Robbed In Oakland
Boxer Mugged: 80-Year-Old Former Dem Senator Robbed In Oakland
Former California Senator Barbara Boxer (D) was mugged in Oakland on Monday, after an assailant pushed her, stole her cell phone, and jumped into a waiting car.
The 80-year-old Democrat’s twitter account announced the news later in the day, adding that Boxer “is thankful that she was not seriously injured.”
Earlier today former Senator Barbara Boxer was assaulted in the Jack London Square neighborhood of Oakland. The assailant pushed her in the back, stole her cell phone and jumped in a waiting car. She is thankful that she was not seriously injured.”
— Barbara Boxer (@BarbaraBoxer) July 26, 2021
The mugging comes weeks after a NBC Bay Area news crew was held up by two armed men who demanded their equipment, only to leave without stealing any equipment after a good guy with a gun – the news crew’s security guard – ordered the would-be robbers to leave.
Earlier in the month, Oaklald Police announced an investigation into two similar incidents which were caught on camera – one in which two women were jumped by two suspects wearing hoodies, and a similar incident in which two men in hoodies pull the same routine with an elderly man holding a cane while standing in front of the Chinese Independent Baptist Church, pistol whipping him.
More white supremacists, we’re sure.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 19:15 - Did Today's Shockingly Bad Home Sales Data Just Derail The Fed's Tapering Plans
Did Today’s Shockingly Bad Home Sales Data Just Derail The Fed’s Tapering Plans
In previewing Wednesday’s FOMC meeting, DB’s Jim Reid pointed out that the bank’s economists are generally expecting the Fed to provide an update on the progress of taper discussions that will help refine the likely timeline for an announcement in the coming months. Their view is that there’ll be a clearer signal from the Fed’s leadership that the timeline is coming into view at the Jackson Hole economic symposium in August or at the September meeting, before an official announcement at the November meeting, though the incoming data will dictate the exact sequence. Basically the meeting can be simplified to working out which the committee sees as the biggest risk – the recent rise in inflation vs the recent rise in the delta variant.
Further to that, speculation is rife that that key debate topping the FOMC agenda on Wednesday is whether to taper the Fed’s purchases of mortgage-backed securities faster than its buying of Treasury debt. As Bloomberg wrote on Sunday, “policy hawks at the Federal Reserve are setting their sights on scaling back the U.S. central bank’s massive intervention in the mortgage market as home prices soar. But the Fed leadership doesn’t sound convinced by arguments in favor of a hasty exit strategy.”
Maybe not.
As today’s surprisingly weak new home sales data for the month of June showed, the housing market – record home prices notwithstanding…
.. suddenly finds itself in an unexpectedly weak spot as home sales tumbled by a whopping 6.6% M/M to a level not seen since April 2020…
… and not due to supply – as noted, there was a generous 6.3 months of housing supply, back to where it was just before the pandemic struck…
… but demand, the same lack of demand we highlighted recently which according to sentiment surveys has manifested itself in a buyer’s strike with US consumers reportedly balking at any future purchases of everything from Houses to Durable goods and cars due to soaring prices.
As UMichigan economist Richard Curtin elaborated, “Inflation has put added pressure on living standards, especially on lower and middle income households, and caused postponement of large discretionary purchases, especially among upper income households” adding that “consumers’ complaints about rising prices on homes, vehicles, and household durables has reached an all-time record.”
Which again brings us to today’s shockingly poor new home price sales report, which has not only pushed builder stocks lower, but according to Bloomberg’s Felize Maranz is also “adding to the case that the housing market may have peaked, potentially furthering expectations for slowing inflation across the board.”
And while sales of new homes dropped in June to the lowest since April 2020, indicating weaker demand amid high prices and tight supply, this follows last week’s mixed report on housing starts and permits, which also signaled that a hot market may be cooling.
So in light of the sharp slowdown in the housing market will this be enough to, pardon the pun, taper the Fed’s tapering language, and more specifically, will it end any debate that the Fed will focus on cutting its MBS purchases before it shifts to Treasurys?
“The agenda for this next meeting is probably to start hashing out some of the logistics,” said Aneta Markowska, chief financial economist at Jefferies LLC in New York. “On timing, it’s still too early to make decisions, but I think the focus is going to be on those operational details.”
The slowdown comes at a time when we are facing an “unprecedented spike” in US evictions as the foreclosure moratorium comes to an end, and also as households which no longer are receiving unemployment benefits saw their spending drop sharply…
… all of which has culminated with Goldman slashing its GDP forecast for next year (more in a subsequent post). In other words, not only has US economic growth peaked but it may be on the verge of contracting in just a few months.
So what does the Fed do: will it taper just as fears about the US economy resurface, sparking the market shock which Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and even Goldman have been warning about in recent weeks, or will it announce that it is no longer “talking about talking about tapering” at least until there is some clarity on the Biden infrastructure stimulus which is emerging as the most important variable whether the US economy enjoys a healthy tailwind into the end of the year?
The answer will be revealed in just over 48 hours…
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 18:55 - Big Tech Forms 'White Supremacist' Counterterror Database; PayPal Works With ADL To 'Fight Extremism And Hate'
Big Tech Forms ‘White Supremacist’ Counterterror Database; PayPal Works With ADL To ‘Fight Extremism And Hate’
Big tech – which overwhelmingly employs leftists who’ve casually called anyone right of Mao a ‘Nazi’ over the past five years – is banding together to monitor, track, and take action against ‘white supremacists and far-right militias,’ according to Reuters.
A counterterrorism organization formed by some of the biggest U.S. tech companies including Facebook and Microsoft is significantly expanding the types of extremist content shared between firms in a key database, aiming to crack down on material from white supremacists and far-right militias, the group told Reuters.
Until now, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism’s (GIFCT) database has focused on videos and images from terrorist groups on a United Nations list and so has largely consisted of content from Islamist extremist organizations such as Islamic State, al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Over the next few months, the group will add attacker manifestos — often shared by sympathizers after white supremacist violence — and other publications and links flagged by U.N. initiative Tech Against Terrorism. It will use lists from intelligence-sharing group Five Eyes, adding URLs and PDFs from more groups, including the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters and neo-Nazis. -Reuters
What kind of slippery slope are we on? And as long as we’re playing identity politics, where’s the counterterrorism organization trying to stop inner-city murders largely committed by blacks against other blacks? Wouldn’t big tech have all sorts of location data, emails and texts from murder suspects? Or don’t black lives actually matter to big tech?
Participating tech companies also include Twitter and YouTube, which routinely share ‘hashes’ – unique digital fingerprints – in order to remove content from their services.
Fourteen companies can access the GIFCT database, including Reddit, Snapchat-owner Snap, Facebook-owned Instagram, Verizon Media, Microsoft’s LinkedIn and file-sharing service Dropbox.
“Anyone looking at the terrorism or extremism landscape has to appreciate that there are other parts…that are demanding attention right now,” said said GIFCT’s Executive Director Nicholas Rasmussen.
And of course, Reuters connects the initiative to the Jan. 6 Capitol ‘insurrection’ led by an unarmed mentally ill man in a viking helmet (and no nukes or F-15s).
The tech platforms have long been criticized for failing to police violent extremist content, though they also face concerns over censorship. The issue of domestic extremism, including white supremacy and militia groups, took on renewed urgency following the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Meanwhile, the GIFTC has received criticism from human and digital rights groups over censorship.
“The group wants to continue to broaden its database to include hashes of audio files or certain symbols and grow its membership. It recently added home-rental giant Airbnb and email marketing company Mailchimp as members,” according to the report.
It doesn’t stop there. PayPal on Monday announced they’re teaming up with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Notably, PayPal owns Venmo.
The CCP financial system is here https://t.co/mUZg6f7NZU
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) July 26, 2021
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Meanwhile across the pond, the EU is coming for memes – and has unveiled a plan to “Quarantine extremist humor” and “Debunk harmful content of extremist humour.”
The EU has unveiled a plan to “Quarantine extremist humour” and to “Debunk the harmful content of extremist humour”.
They will also build partnerships with “social media influencers and progressive communities”.https://t.co/bDBh3d0aHJ pic.twitter.com/KcSjk0aDD1
— Secretary of Akkad (@AkkadSecretary) July 26, 2021
And China also on Monday announced a six-month “special campaign” to regulate its internet and crack down on “malicious internet company practices,” according to Disclose.tv.
JUST IN – China launches a six-months “special campaign” to regulate its internet sector and to crack down on “malicious internet company practices,” according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) July 26, 2021
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Where are we headed with all of this?
Tyler Durden
Mon, 07/26/2021 – 18:55
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