• How NATO Empire-Building Set The Stage For Crisis Over Ukraine
  How NATO Empire-Building Set The Stage For Crisis Over Ukraine

  Authored by Brian McGlinchey via Stark Realities,

  In his farewell address, George Washington said, “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” What an offensive notion to Pentagon generals, weapon industry execs, DC think tankers and State Department bureaucrats, who, rather than avoiding permanent alliances, have been relentless in their quest to pile on new ones.

  That impulse is vividly exemplified by the dangerously provocative post-Cold War expansion of NATO, and its consequences are apparent in today’s Ukraine-centered tensions with Russia. NATO was created to oppose a Soviet empire that no longer exists. Had American presidents followed Washington’s sage counsel, they’d have spearheaded the dismantling of NATO upon the end of the Cold War. Instead, with America’s encouragement, NATO has nearly doubled its membership—from 16 countries when the Berlin Wall fell to 30 today.

  With each new member, the U.S. government and American service members are tied to another far-off tripwire: Under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, an attack on any member country compels other treaty members to come to its aid. It’s the epitome of what Thomas Jefferson called an “entangling alliance.”

  

  While the growth in the number of NATO countries and U.S. war commitments is unsettling, it’s the direction that’s been most troublesome: NATO expansion has marched the alliance relentlessly eastward, right up to Russia’s border.

  To get a sense of how that’s perceived in Russia, imagine if, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia set out to reinvigorate the Warsaw Pact by inviting Mexico to join a military alliance created in 1955 to oppose NATO during the Cold War. Americans would find such a move equally perplexing and unsettling.

  The way NATO expansion proceeded, however, was even worse than that.

  An International Promise Broken, Over Emphatic Domestic Objections

  During the diplomatic maneuvers leading up to the reunification of Germany and the withdrawal of Soviet forces, Western leaders gave repeated assurances to Moscow that NATO wouldn’t grow eastward.

  The most prominent and emphatic assurance came from U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, in a 1990 meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Baker said, “If the United States keeps its presence in Germany within the framework of NATO, not an inch of NATO’s present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction.”

  Several years later, however, NATO and President Clinton began considering just such an expansion—but not without controversy. American diplomat George Kennan, a towering figure in Cold War strategy who authored the policy of Soviet “containment,” was unequivocal in his opposition.

  In a 1997 essay published by The New York Times, Kennan said, “Expanding NATO would be the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-cold-war era…Such a decision may be expected…to restore the atmosphere of the cold war to East-West relations, and to impel Russian foreign policy in directions decidedly not to our liking.”

  Kennan wasn’t alone. A bipartisan group of 50 foreign policy luminaries—including Cold War hawks like Paul Nitze and Robert McNamara—signed an open letter to President Clinton opposing NATO expansion.

  “Russia does not now pose a threat to its western neighbors and the nations of Central and Eastern Europe are not in danger…we believe that NATO expansion is neither necessary nor desirable and that this ill-conceived policy can and should be put on hold,” the group declared.

  Open Letter to President Clinton Against NATO Expansion, June 26, 1997; signed by former hawks Robert McNamara, Paul Nitze, Stansfield Turner, Richard Pipes, Edward Luttwak and many othershttps://t.co/unFqNtZZB0 pic.twitter.com/AL2QqeMath

  — Scott Horton (@scotthortonshow) January 31, 2022

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  In 1999, Clinton and NATO plunged forward anyway—reneging on the assurances given to Moscow by their predecessors—and the first round of NATO’s post-Cold War expansion brought Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into the military treaty.

  Subsequent expansion waves added another 11 countries, and the mutually beneficial buffer of states between NATO and Russia grew ever slimmer, vanishing in part with the addition of Estonia and Latvia. Though Russia may have grudgingly accepted NATO’s membership nearly doubling since the end of the Cold War, it views the prospect of Ukraine membership far more gravely.

  That central factor in today’s tensions first came to prominence in 2008, when, at a summit in Bucharest, NATO officials considered bringing Ukraine and Georgia into the pact. “The George W. Bush administration supported doing so, but France and Germany opposed the move for fear that it would unduly antagonize Russia,” wrote University of Chicago professor and foreign policy expert John Mearsheimer.

  No invitations were extended, but in a compromise that tilted toward America’s position, NATO issued a full-throated endorsement of Ukraine and Georgia membership as an eventuality: “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agree today that these countries will become members of NATO.”

  William Burns—who was then U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and is now Biden’s CIA director—warned Washington about Russia’s deep unease over the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO. In a 2008 cable titled “Nyet Means Nyet: Russia’s NATO Enlargement Redlines,” Burns wrote:

  “Ukraine and Georgia’s NATO aspirations not only touch a raw nerve in Russia, they engender serious concerns about the consequences for stability in the region. Not only does Russia perceive encirclement, and efforts to undermine Russia’s influence in the region, but it also fears unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences which would seriously affect Russian security interests.

  Experts tell us that Russia is particularly worried that the strong divisions in Ukraine over NATO membership, with much of the ethnic-Russian community against membership, could lead to a major split, involving violence or at worst, civil war. In that eventuality, Russia would have to decide whether to intervene; a decision Russia does not want to have to face.”

  2014: A U.S.-Encouraged Coup in Ukraine

  As NATO flirted with Ukraine as a military partner, the European Union courted the former Soviet country as an economic one. These are divisive ideas within Ukraine, with a majority of ethnic Ukrainians supporting EU and NATO memberships and most ethnic Russians opposing them.

  

  In 2013 and 2014, the EU’s courtship would lead to bloodshed and the West-encouraged overthrow of democratically-elected, Russia-friendly Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych had been negotiating an economic deal with the EU, but scrapped it in favor of a counteroffer from Russia that included Moscow buying $15 billion of Ukrainian government bonds and slashing the price of Russian natural gas.

  Protests ensued and about a hundred protesters were killed. Western governments sensed an opportunity for a regime change that would install a government aligned with the West against Russia. Senator John McCain flew to Kiev and joined protestors in the streets, as did Obama Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and ambassador to Ukraine Geoffey Pyatt.

  As Yanukovych’s hold on power neared its end, Nuland and Pyatt were heard on a leaked phone call working to maneuver their favored politician, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, into power.

  “Yats is the guy,” said Nuland, who’d weeks earlier boasted that the United States had spent $5 billion after Ukraine’s 1991 independence to shape the country’s politics. When Yanukovych fled to Russia, Nuland’s goal was realized: Yatsenyuk became prime minister.

  Just two days after the coup, Ukraine’s parliament alarmed the country’s ethnic Russians by pushing through a bill—without debate—withdrawing permission for the use of Russian as an additional official language in regions where Russian minorities comprise at least 10% of the population.

  The anxiety of Russian and other ethnic minorities was compounded by the substantial presence of neo-Nazi elements in the Ukrainian nationalist movement. Given the devastating toll of Russia’s fight with Nazism in World War II, one can see how that’s a cause for unease in Moscow too.

  Ukraine’s abrupt transfer of power gave Russia something else to worry about: the Crimea peninsula, which is not only home to a majority-Russian population, but also Russia’s strategically vital warm-water navy base at Sevastopol.

  In 1954, Crimea was casually transferred from Russia to Ukraine by Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev, as a gift of sorts on the 300th anniversary of Ukraine’s unification with Russia. At the time, moving governance of Crimea from one part of the USSR to another seemed relatively inconsequential. The transfer became extremely consequential in February 2014, with the prospect that the new, Ukrainian nationalist government might move to terminate Russia’s lease of the navy base.

  Preempting that possibility, Putin ordered his forces to incorporate Crimea into Russia. With thousands of Russian troops already there on the navy base—and with the majority-Russian local population preferring Russian rule—the actual seizure was less dramatic than the media may have led you to believe.

  Elsewhere in Ukraine, however, the post-coup experience has been marked by violence and thousands of deaths, as Russian separatists in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions seek to establish independent republics.

  The Russian concerns about the destabilizing effects of Western overtures to Ukraine, which were laid out by then-ambassador William Burns in his 2008 cable, have been substantiated. Meanwhile, though hapless U.S. interventionists may have hoped Ukrainian regime change would pry the Sevastopol navy base out of Russian hands, it’s only had the effect of giving Russia a firmer hold on it than before.

  NATO expansion illustrates an intrinsic drive of any governmental body—to continuously enlarge its power and budget.

  And in the Ukraine crisis, we vividly see what Richard Sakwa calls “a fateful geographical paradox: that NATO exists to manage the risks created by its existence.”

  Make no mistake, NATO also exists to enrich the weapons industry, at the expense of citizens whose lives are put in greater jeopardy by NATO’s empire-building, which fosters antagonism with a country armed with 4,500 nuclear weapons.

  To fully appreciate how intertwined NATO and weapons manufacturers are, consider this split-screen vignette from a 1997 New York Times story:

  “At night, Bruce L. Jackson is president of the U.S. Committee to Expand NATO, giving intimate dinners for senators and foreign officials. By day, he is director of strategic planning for Lockheed Martin Corporation, the world’s biggest weapons maker.”

  Poland joined NATO about two years after that story was published, and would go on to sign a deal to replace its Soviet-built fighter jets with 32 F-35A’s built by Lockheed Martin—at a price of $4.6 billion. That’s just one representative example. As NATO’s expansion and needless antagonism toward Russia continues fostering tensions, the arms money keeps flowing.

  Just last week, House Democrats—eager to demonstrate their firm resolve against an allegedly imminent Russian invasion that not even Ukraine anticipates—pushed for rapid passage of a military aid package, authorizing the spending of half a billion dollars the U.S. Treasury doesn’t have.

  The counterproductive NATO-EU flirtation with Ukraine has been winding on for 14 years. With Ukraine ranking 122nd-worst in the world in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, NATO and the EU may wring their hands for years to come before ever tying the knot.

  Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky seems exasperated with it all. Speaking on Friday about the lingering uncertainty of Ukraine membership in NATO, he said, “We want specifics, we need to have something that we can count on… Well, give us the reasons. Okay, we are not in NATO—okay, tell us that we are not in NATO. Tell it openly: we will never be there.”

  Let’s tell Ukraine exactly that, and once again pursue Jefferson’s ideal of “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.”

  Stark Realities undermines official narratives, demolishes conventional wisdom and exposes fundamental myths across the political spectrum. Read more and subscribe at starkrealities.substack.com

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/03/2022 – 02:00

• China Is Undermining The US Through Elite Capture: Author
  China Is Undermining The US Through Elite Capture: Author

  Authored by Frank Fang and David Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The United States is currently traveling down a losing path in its battle against China because the communist regime has co-opted many American elites in Washington, Wall Street, corporate America, and the U.S. tech sector, warned author Peter Schweizer.

  

  Schweizer, who recently released his new book “Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win,” said that his book shows how appalling it is that some of the elites have been willing to “kowtow to the regime” just so that they have access to the Chinese market.

  “They should be embarrassed,” he added. “They seem to be all too happy to do the bidding for Beijing when it comes to American politics.”

  Schweizer made the remarks during a recent interview with EpochTV’s “China Insider” program. He is also the president of U.S.-based think tank Government Accountability Institute.

  “I think what’s important for people to keep in mind is that Beijing doesn’t have to lobby for its own interest, because there are so many powerful interests in the United States that will lobby on their behalf,” he said.

  The present course will only mean that China will replace the United States as the world’s top superpower, according to Schweizer.

  “Unless we start to take radical action, we will lose, there is no question in my mind,” he said. “We will lose because our elites will be happy to sell out, collect their money, and position themselves in elite positions for generations to come.”

  That outcome does not necessarily mean that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would occupy the United States, he added, but America as people know it will be very different.

  “For some people who say, ‘Look, that’s not my concern,’ this should be their concern,” he said. “Life here is going to be heavily influenced by what the regime in Beijing wants.”

  Washington

  One of the U.S. government officials named in the book is Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and how the longtime senator has come to the defense of the CCP while her husband, Richard Blum, reaped profits by inking business deals with Chinese firms with ties to the Chinese regime.

  In defending the Chinese regime, Feinstein compared the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre—where at least 10,000 people were killed by Chinese tanks and soldiers—to the 1970 Kent State shootings and the 1993 Waco siege in Texas, according to Schweizer’s book.

  “I was appalled as anyone by the tanks at [Tiananmen] Square, but three tanks of this government went into Waco and killed 29 children,” Feinstein said during a Senate hearing. “Now those are not analogous; they are different situations. It was wrong of our government, and it was wrong of the Chinese government.”

  In 1994, when the U.S. Senate was contemplating rescinding most-favored-nation trading status with China, Feinstein objected and said such a move would be “counterproductive” and would “inflame Beijing’s insecurities.”

  The book also explores the relationship between Feinstein and former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, going back to the days when they were mayors in San Francisco and Shanghai, respectively. The book quotes the Los Angeles Times saying the relationship gave Blum “access to the normally impenetrable Beijing political system.”

  In 2000, Kam Kuwata, who was Feinstein’s then-spokesperson, was quoted in SFGate saying that Blum “has a right to do business and he’s never done anything wrong.”

  Silicon Valley

  “Beijing is very sophisticated in appealing not only to the pocketbooks of these players, but also to their egos,” Schweizer said, pointing to Microsoft founder Bill Gates as an example of the latter.

  In 2006, China’s state-run media outlet People’s Daily Online named Gates as one of 50 foreigners shaping “China’s modern development.” According to his book, Gates was the only true technologist on the list.

  “He’s a member of something called the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), which sounds sort of friendly and nonpolitical. It’s actually, of course, an organization run by the [Chinese] Communist Party, and its goal is to advise the Chinese government on technology policy,” Schweizer said.

  Gates was one of 18 foreigners selected by the CAE to be one of its lifetime members in 2017, according to People’s Daily Online. The media outlet explained that the foreigners would be to “improve CAE’s status in the field of engineering.”

  The CAE supports the Chinese regime’s policies. In a 2018 article published on its website, CAE’s party committee stated that it provided “important scientific support” to the regime’s industrial blueprint of “Made in China 2025,” while endorsing its “Military-Civil Fusion” strategy and “Belt and Road” initiative.

  In June last year, Microsoft was in the middle of controversy when its search engine Bing yielded no results when users in several countries including the United States entered the query “tank man,” the iconic unidentified man who was pictured standing in front of a line of tanks leaving Tiananmen Square in 1989. Microsoft’s explanation for the empty search result, “accidental human error,” drew criticism from human rights organizations.

  The CCP

  In short, the Chinese regime doesn’t care if American politicians are Republicans or Democrats, as long as they are willing to do Beijing’s bidding, Schweizer said.

  “They don’t mind if American politicians talk about the Uyghurs occasionally, or say we should have a diplomatic boycott,” Schweizer said. “They’re fine with that.”

  “As long as you’re helping them on the main tenets of what they want, which is access to American finance and access to American technology, and a few other things.”

  Schweizer added: “That is the strategy they’re employing.”

  The Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property estimated in 2017 (pdf) that the U.S. economy suffers an annual loss of between $225 billion and $600 billion due to China’s intellectual property theft each year.

  Last year, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the agency is opening one new China-related counterintelligence case every 10 hours, and has about 2,500 active investigations across the United States.

  “My sense of what people have to understand is, the nature of the Chinese regime is such that it cannot be trusted,” Schweizer said. “And I don’t think it can be trusted in its relationship with us and we need to keep that in mind with everything.”

  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Feinstein’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 23:50

• Pentagon Sends Destroyer, Stealth Jets To Defend UAE Amid Houthi Attacks
  Pentagon Sends Destroyer, Stealth Jets To Defend UAE Amid Houthi Attacks

  Following on the heels of the latest Houthi ballistic missile and drone attack to target the UAE, which was timed during the Israeli president’s first ever official visit, and which was the third major attack in under a month, the United States has announced it is deploying military assets to help defend its gulf ally.

  “The United States will send a guided-missile destroyer and fifth-generation fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the wake of recent missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Washington’s top military official has said,” according to Al Jazeera.

  

  US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin informed Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Abu bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a Tuesday phone call that the Pentagon is deploying the “guided-missile destroyer USS Cole to partner with the UAE Navy before making a port call in Abu Dhabi.”

  The Pentagon phone transcript included a pledge for US fifth-generation fighter aircraft to defend and “assist against the current threat”. This will include F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lighting II stealth fighter jets. Austin stressed that it sends a “clear signal that the United States stands with the UAE as a longstanding strategic partner.”

  Prior attacks from Yemen came on January 17 and January 24, which left three foreign workers dead and multiple injured in the UAE capital. The Houthis have meanwhile vowed to expand their military operations against the country. Washington has long accused Iran of delivering increasingly sophisticated missiles and drones to the Shia Houthis, which is giving the militant group longer reach to hit places like Dubai. 

  One of the January missile and drone attacks launched out of Yemen reportedly resulted in a projectile impacting a facility that was a mere miles from a base where American troops were stationed. During that attack, which came last week, the US fired patriot missiles to intercept the inbound threat.

  

  Meanwhile, the Houthis have vowed to destabilize the UAE, once thought among the safest and economically prosperous places in the Middle East: “The UAE ceases to be a safe place so long as the tools of the Israeli enemy in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are used against our people and our country,” said Houthi spokesman Yahya Al Saree in a televised announcement. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 23:30

• America's $30 Trillion Debt In One Stunning Visualization
  America’s $30 Trillion Debt In One Stunning Visualization

  Earlier today we reported that for the first time ever, total US debt surpassed $30 trillion, and rising exponentially because at this point there is no way on earth this number will ever be contained, let alone drop contrary to the naive dreams of clueless politicians:

  Our national debt has tripled since 2010 and is now approaching $30 trillion. Both parties have engaged in reckless borrowing and spending that now contribute to high inflation and constrained federal budgets. It needs to end.

  — Evan McMullin 🇺🇸 (@EvanMcMullin) February 2, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Since these numbers are simply too big for most to comprehend, here is a helpful visualization for what we are talking about courtesy of Demonocracy.info.

  

  

  

  

  

  And here again in video format:

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 23:30

• Has The Red Carpet Been Rolled Out For A Mainstream Pivot On Ivermectin?
  Has The Red Carpet Been Rolled Out For A Mainstream Pivot On Ivermectin?

  Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

  Just yesterday even more ivermectin controversy started: this time around joint nonclinical research being done with the drug by Japanese company Kowa Co Ltd.

  Except, instead of the “normal” ivermectin controversy – which consists of arguing over whether or not the drug is “horse paste” despite its discovery being nominated for a Nobel Prize for use in humans, it being including on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines and being dosed hundreds of millions of times to human beings by doctors – this week’s controversy was about how Kowa’s research was reported on Tuesday.

  Reuters initially ran the headline:

  “Japan’s Kowa says ivermectin effective against Omicron in phase III trial”.

  That headline was incorrect, and Reuters was forced to retract it. They re-ran the story with a title congruent with the facts:

  Ivermectin shows ‘antiviral effect’ against COVID, Japanese company says

  Both ivermectin advocates and detractors claimed victory on the day.

  

  Advocates claimed victory because it was yet another study – despite being a nonclinical joint study – that showed antiviral effects from the medicine in vitro. Ivermectin is already a well-known antiviral.

  Ivermectin skeptics like the Washington Post claimed the article was “botched”, but still were forced to admit the truth: the “actual news” was that ivermectin was found to carry an “antiviral effect” against Omicron and other coronavirus variants in joint non-clinical research.

  

  The facts as put forth in the corrected version of the Reuters article still seemed to be a net positive:

  Japanese trading and pharmaceuticals company Kowa Co Ltd on Monday said that anti-parasite drug ivermectin showed an “antiviral effect” against Omicron and other coronavirus variants in joint non-clinical research.

  The company, which has been working with Tokyo’s Kitasato University on testing the drug as a potential treatment for COVID-19, did not provide further details

  Kowa and Kitasato University appear to be in the midst of a clinical trial studying whether or not ivermectin is effective, though it was difficult to confirm the details due to a language barrier at the source of the information.

  A translated version of Kowa’s Japanese PR seems to confirm that ivermectin is in the midst of a clinical trial for Covid. Included in the translated PR were the following lines:

  It is expected to be applied as a therapeutic drug (tablet) for all new coronavirus infectious diseases.

  In this clinical trial, the dosage and administration already approved as a therapeutic agent for parasitic infections

  Although it is different, we are confirming its efficacy and safety in clinical trials.

  Kowa confirmed the clinical effect of ivermectin on SARS-CoV-2 and was one of the first to the public.

  

  But, let’s put aside the Kowa study for a second.

  What most people don’t know is that this Japanese trial, whether successful or not – whether clinical or nonclinical – would only serve to supplement robust data already available about ivermectin’s effectiveness on Covid-19.

  The website c19ivermectin.com keeps a running tally of such studies, and aggregates the data as it comes in.

  

  The website keeps a chronological log of studies, news, theories, of all types of information available about ivermectin that can be aggregated, including meta analyses, dating back to April of 2020. At most recent update, it includes 147 studies, 96 peer reviewed, 77 with results comparing treatment and control groups. (It currently includes the Kowa writeup, but has yet to correct the Reuters headline as of the time of this writing.)

  

  The website also notes that Ivermectin has been officially adopted for early treatment in all or part of 22 countries (39 including non-government medical organizations).

  

  And when the left undoubtedly writes this collection of data off as “anti-vaxx” (a label that is being tossed around with less care for its meaning than ‘white supremacy’ nowadays), remind them that the site also encourages the use of vaccines, stating:

  “Vaccines and treatments are both valuable and complementary. All practical, effective, and safe means should be used. Elimination of COVID-19 is a race against viral evolution. No treatment, vaccine, or intervention is 100% available and effective for all current and future variants. Denying the efficacy of any method increases mortality, morbidity, collateral damage, and the risk of endemic status.”

  

  Today’s blog post has been published without a paywall because I believe the content to be far too important to deny to anyone. However, if you have the means and would like to support my work by subscribing, I’d be happy to offer you 22% off for 2022:

  Get 22% off forever

  

  I don’t want to rehash the geographic locations that have had success using ivermectin against Covid – with Uttar Pradesh probably being the most obvious – but I do want to point out that it isn’t just this collection of data suggesting there may be efficacy.

  

  People are more than welcome to make up their own minds on what they think about ivermectin. Personally, regardless of whether or not the Japanese study was presented accurately or inaccurately at first by Reuters, it’s still my belief that it’s not going to matter in the future, because history will eventually side with the truth.

  And the truth, I believe, is that ivermectin very likely works to treat early stage Covid, as was suggested in Uttar Pradesh and as has been claimed by doctors like Pierre Kory. It may not be a “cure” or “work like magic”, but I believe through rigorous clinical studies in the years to come, it will be found to have had efficacy in early stage Covid.

  One thing is for sure: the truth is coming in the form of future data from clinical trials. There’s no getting around the fact that the controversy over ivermectin has led to a deluge of studies and that the results of these will eventually start pouring in.

  This leads me to the thought that if the powers that be know that ivermectin will likely show some efficacy, they also know the clock is ticking on how long they can hang on the “horse paste” narrative.

  

  I couldn’t help but think when this Japanese study popped up yesterday that the timing sure would be convenient now for the mainstream media to start a pivot on ivermectin.

  Now that Moderna has received official FDA approval for its vaccine and Pfizer is happily seeking Emergency Use Authorization to jab kids as young as 6 months – and now that major drug manufacturers have had their antiviral Covid pills approved – maybe it can finally be time to pump the brakes on the ivermectin hysteria and allow the truth and reason to nudge their way in.

  In other words, the fat pigs are finally finished stuffing their gluttonous faces at the trough of the FDA, stocked with newly-printed U.S. dollars. Unable to physically consume anymore, and noticing that all but a few molecules of feed are even left, they can now reluctantly relinquish their positions at the front of the line and waddle away, leaving the rest of the animals a chance to squabble over the remains.

  All of the major pharmaceutical companies (and their lobbyists) finally getting the approvals that they want for all of their Covid drugs may roll out the red carpet for us to finally embrace reality and the truth, which I believe is that ivermectin has efficacy.

  

  What we’re seeing now in the media is a massive pivot regarding Covid.

  With the emergence of omicron and many geographic locations around the world lifting their Covid restrictions – and most notably politicians understanding they can’t win an election by locking us in our homes, as George Gammon elaborated on for my subscribers the other day – the media pivot on Covid has been pronounced since 2022 began.

  And not unlike the pivot we’ve already seen on the lab leak and whether or not vaccines would end the virus, I’m expecting we see a similar pivot on ivermectin.

  Of course, I could be wrong. I don’t mind being wrong. I exist on the fringe, as my readers know. In the words of Peter Venkman:

  “If I‘m wrong, nothing happens! We go to jail – peacefully, quietly. We‘ll enjoy it!”

  

  But if I’m not…and the narrative on ivermectin does in fact change to wind up as “Duh, of course ivermectin works and we’ve known it all along, it just doesn’t work as well as [insert big pharma drug here]” everybody responsible for suppressing over the last 2 years needs to be held accountable for what, in my opinion, may wind up amounting to crimes against humanity.

  At the highest levels, those perpetuating the narrative on Covid and what is and is not an acceptable treatment will need to face consequences. Useless mainstream media automatons like human hot air balloon Brian Stelter and lobotomized mimbo Don Lemon are almost too meaningless to even worry about at this point. Their viewers have already given up on them, and with good reason. Irrelevance is consequence enough.

  

  

  Look: this is all hypothetical. I’m assuming that the media and the mainstream will embrace ivermectin, which they may never do.

  There’s many of us out there that have looked at the facts on our own and understand that the drug likely has efficacy, but that doesn’t make us right.

  And I’m sure that, one more time, we can deal with the unpleasant circumstances of being right, but unheard or suppressed – it’s the way of the world when you challenge the global elitist narrative.

  But mark my words: if they try to shove it back in our face and act as though we all should’ve known it all along with an arrogance that only central planners can bring to the table – it’s then that I can assure you I will peacefully do my part to ensure that those in power are held accountable.

  

  Disclaimer: This is not a recommendation to seek any type of medical treatment. Always consult your medical professional for any and all Covid-19 questions. I exist on the fringe and I get shit wrong a lot. Do not make decisions based on my blog. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. 

  Now read:

  1. Bill Maher Is Right: The Left Has Lost Its Mind

  2. George Gammon: Covid Is In The “Rearview Mirror” Only Because Politicians Know They “Can’t Win Votes Locking You In A Cage”

  3. This Potentially Generational Sector Opportunity Still Looks Ripe

  4. Millionaire Book-Writer And Professional Board-Sitter Chelsea Clinton Attacks Substack Authors As “Grifters”

  5. Spotify Has Officially Become The Battleground For Big Tech’s Censorship Civil War

  6. Waking Up And Derailing The Great Reset

  7. Inflation Is The Kryptonite That Will End Our Decades-Long Monetary Policy Ponzi Scheme

  8. Why Mainstream Media Is “Being Swallowed” By Joe Rogan: Interview

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 23:10

• ECB Preview: Lagarde In The Hot Seat As Euro Inflation Has Never Been Hotter
  ECB Preview: Lagarde In The Hot Seat As Euro Inflation Has Never Been Hotter

  Submitted by Newsquawk

  The ECB policy announcement is due Thursday, February 3 with the rate decision at 12:45GMT/07:45EST, and press conference from 13:30GMT/08:30EST. Policy settings are set to be left unchanged after the path of tapering was announced in December. Focus will be on the press conference and how the Bank characterizes the inflation outlook over the short and medium-term, especially after Euro area inflation just hit an unexpected all time high.

  OVERVIEW: After a blockbuster release in December which saw the central bank announce a conclusion to PEPP at the end of March and subsequent beefed up APP, the upcoming meeting (not accompanied by economic projections) is set to see policymakers take stock of the Eurozone economic outlook whilst maintaining the current parameters of their policy tools. With the statement of the release set to be relatively unchanged, focus instead will fall on the accompanying press conference and how President Lagarde judges the inflationary outlook. With the Bank moving further away from its transitory inflation stance seen last year, ING judges that the ECB will need to convey its ability to tame inflationary pressures whilst avoiding a rush from “inflation patience” to “inflation panic”, as a move towards the latter could lead to an aggressive hawkish repricing in the market which is already at odds with ECB comms. Accordingly, it is no coincidence that a lot of the commentary in recent weeks has suggested that although the transitory narrative has moved on since last year, policymakers still expect inflation to decline throughout the coming year. It remains to be seen whether or not the ECB will leave the door open to a potential faster tapering of asset purchases under APP should inflation impulses prove to be more durable.

  PRIOR MEETING: As expected, policymakers opted to stand pat on rates. As had been signaled by the ECB, purchases under PEPP will cease at the end of March 2022. Reinvestments were extended until 2024 and purchases under PEPP could also be resumed, if necessary, to counter negative shocks related to the pandemic. On APP, as of Q2 2022, monthly purchases will be beefed up to EUR 40bln from EUR 20bln and then subsequently lowered to EUR 30bln in Q3 and back down to EUR 20bln in Q4 “for as long as necessary to reinforce the accommodative impact of its policy rates”. Elsewhere, policymakers opted to maintain the linkage between APP and rate increases whereby the Governing Council expects net purchases to end shortly before it starts raising the key ECB interest rates. At the press conference, President Lagarde noted that although there are near-term headwinds, activity in the Eurozone is expected to pick up strongly in 2022. On inflation, Lagarde stated that in the medium-term, inflation is expected to come in below target. This was reflected in the subsequent staff economic projections which penciled in 2023 and 2024 inflation at 1.8%. In the near-term, 2021 was upgraded to 2.6% from 2.4% and 2022 to 3.2% from 1.7%. In terms of the policy decisions made, Lagarde revealed that more than one member did not agree on the parameters, but there was a very large majority. On rates, the President continued to reaffirm that rates are unlikely to rise in 2022. Following the press conference, ECB sources revealed that it was the Austrian, Belgian and German governors who disagreed with parts of the ECB’s decision. The hawks were reportedly unhappy with extending the PEPP reinvestment to 2024 and not setting an APP end-date. They also disagreed on the inflation outlook and some stressed risks were to the upside.

  RECENT DATA: December CPI rose to 5.0% from 4.9%, whilst the core (ex-food & energy) ticked higher to 2.7% from 2.6%. The January headline metric is seen cooling to 4.4% from 5.0% with the core rate seen moving to the 2% mark. Q4 GDP slowed to 0.3% from the 2.2% growth seen in Q3 as the impact of Omicron and supply chain woes hampered growth. Timelier survey data from IHS Markit saw the EZ-wide Composite PMI slow to 52.4 from 53.3 with IHS noting “The Omicron wave has led to yet another steep drop in spending on many consumer-facing services at the start of the year, with tourism, travel and recreation especially hard hit”. On the employment front, the EZ-wide unemployment rate fell from 7.1% to 7.0% in December vs. a COVID peak of 8.4% in October 2020.

  

  RECENT COMMUNICATIONS: Since the prior meeting, a speech on January 8th by Germany’s Schnabel drew a lot of attention by noting that the green transition poses upside risks to medium-term inflation and suggesting that rising energy prices could require the ECB to act on policy. Schnabel added there have not been signs so far of broader second round effects from higher inflation. Elsewhere, President Lagarde on several occasions has remarked that the ECB does not see inflation spiraling out of control and that supply bottlenecks will stabilize throughout the course of the year. Chief Economist Lane also envisages a decline in inflation in 2022 whilst flagging expectations that inflation will move below the target in 2023 and 2024, adding that he is not seeing behavior that would indicate above-target inflation in the medium-term. Weidmann’s replacement Nagel commented on the inflation outlook noting that risks are skewed to the upside and the price surge is not entirely as a result of temporary factors. At the more hawkish end of the spectrum, Latvia’s Kazaks suggested on January 5th that the ECB is ready to raise rates and cut stimulus if necessary, adding the ECB will take action if the inflation outlook picks up and an early 2023 rate hike is a possible scenario. Interestingly, Simkus of Lithuania said that Russian-related tensions are a bigger cause for uncertainty than Omicron.

  BALANCE SHEET: In December, the ECB announced that purchases under PEPP will cease at the end of March 2022. Reinvestments were extended until 2024 and purchases under PEPP could also be resumed, if necessary, to counter negative shocks related to the pandemic. On APP, as of Q2 2022, monthly purchases will be beefed up to EUR 40bln from EUR 20bln and then subsequently lowered to EUR 30bln in Q3 and back down to EUR 20bln in Q4 “for as long as necessary to reinforce the accommodative impact of its policy rates”. Despite ongoing inflation angst in the Eurozone, there has been no indication from policymakers that the current plan is set to change. As it stands, UBS expects purchases under APP to conclude in Q1 2023. Although it will likely not be a feature for the upcoming meeting, there are clearly risks of an earlier than envisaged taper with policymakers likely to find the justification for continuing with asset purchases at current inflation levels a difficult one. Interestingly, in a recent research piece, ING found that EUR 187bln reduction in the ECB’s portfolio would impact 10Y Italian yields as much as a 25bp hike. At the other end of the spectrum, ING finds that German government bonds would care a lot more about a 25bp increase in the ECB’s deposit rate. So-much-so that quantitative tightening would largely be irrelevant in comparison.

  RATES/TIERING/TLTRO: The ECB is expected to stand pat on rates with the deposit, main refi and marginal lending rates to be held at -0.5%, 0.0% and 0.25% respectively with policymakers at pains to communicate that 2022 is unlikely to see a move on rates by the Bank despite markets pricing in a 10bps hike to the deposit rate by November. As it stands, the ECB’s current forward guidance reads that policymakers expect APP “to end shortly before it starts raising the key ECB interest rates”. Some desks are of the view that the inclusion of the word “shortly” is too restrictive and in the event that the GC has fulfilled its inflation objective, removing the word “shortly” could allow a quicker conclusion to asset purchases without having to commit to a subsequent rate hike. However, it is doubtful whether such a development will take place at the upcoming meeting. In terms of the rate path, RBC see a first 10bp deposit rate hike in March 2023, followed by a 15bp rate hike in September. RBC assumes that the ECB would indicate at that point that they could also start lifting rates by 25bps at a later stage in 2024. Elsewhere, policymakers will need to make a decision on the future of its TLRO programme. UBS expects this to be more of a factor for its March or April meeting with the Bank of the view that “the ECB will offer another series of TLTRO auctions as of/after June, albeit on somewhat less attractive terms, with the TLTRO pricing rising from as low as 50bp below the depo rate to in line with the depo rate.”. On tiering, the current multiplier will likely be hiked from the current level of six at some point, however, this will likely not be a feature of the upcoming meeting.

  PRESS CONFERENCE: With the statement of the release set to be relatively unchanged, focus instead will fall on the accompanying press conference which will offer President Lagarde an opportunity to take stock of recent economic developments. More specifically, markets will be eyeing how Lagarde judges the inflationary outlook. With the Bank moving further away from its transitory inflation stance seen last year, ING judges that the ECB will need to convey its ability to tame inflationary pressures whilst avoiding a rush from “inflation patience” to “inflation panic”, as a move towards the latter could lead to an aggressive hawkish repricing by the market which is already at odds with ECB comms. As it stands, markets fully price in a 10bps hike to the deposit rate by the October meeting, whilst ECB officials have been at pains to state that a hike is unlikely to take place until 2023. Lagarde will likely continue to suggest that this remains the plan, perhaps of greater interest will be whether or not she hints that asset purchases could be wound down at a faster rate than currently envisaged. ING suggests that doing this could help policymakers address the overall balancing act facing the ECB. From a more medium-term perspective, market participants will be cognizant of upside risks to the inflation outlook in lieu of recent comments from Germany’s Schnabel who cautioned that the green transition poses upside risks to medium-term inflation.

  SocGen raises two questions that it is looking to be addressed by the ECB on the inflation outlook:

  • 1) will core inflation be more closely anchored to the target than in the past?
  • 2) how far away is a neutral policy stance?

  SocGen suggests that the answer to these questions will be “contingent on the policymakers’ confidence that a shift has occurred, making tight labor markets generate higher wage growth”. SocGen does not believe that there will be sufficient evidence of this before the autumn.

  Elsewhere, some elements of the Q&A will likely center on how the potential Ukraine-Russia conflict could impact the ECB’s near-term price outlook, however, Lagarde will likely try and play down these potential impulses given that there is great uncertainty over how the situation will play out.

  Finally, here is the familiar ECB cheat sheet from ING

  

   

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 22:50

• Trudeau Is Playing With Fire
  Trudeau Is Playing With Fire

  Authored by Laura Rosen Cohen via The Brownstone Institute,

  Canadian coronavirus lockdown policies have been, and remain, some of the most stringent and restrictive in the entire Western world. It may be a Commonwealth thing, given that Australia and New Zealand have also descended into unrecognizable islands of cruel and capricious public health tyranny. 

  

  In Ontario, citizens are now allowed to eat popcorn at movie theaters that only opened up again earlier this week on Monday at fifty percent capacity, and only because of comprehensive drubbing that the government was subjected to regarding this ridiculous, make-believe public health directive. 

  Life in Canada has been tedious, tyrannical, and indescribably punitive. That is why for many months throughout the pandemic, ordinary Americans and pundits alike have been looking north from the land of the free (red states at least) and pretty much sneering at Canadians, bereft as they are of the First and Second Amendments. The polite Canadians, they scoffed, without their guns and their freedom of speech, were a lost cause.

  And then one day, Prime Minister Trudeau pushed the nice Canadians a rule too far. 

  On January 15th, his minority government enacted a vaccine mandate for Canadian cross-border truckers – 80% of whom are already estimated to be vaccinated. So the truckers said the buck stops here. They quickly organized a grassroots campaign, set up a GoFundMe and sent a 40-mile long convoy to Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. It’s not an anti-vaccine thing, it’s an anti-mandates thing. And though the media would claim it’s a racist thing, the organizers are a Jewish guy named Benjamin Dichter and a Metis woman named Tamara Lich. The mandates for truckers were the straw that broke the Canadians’ back. The Truckers For Freedom Convoy is now camped out in Ottawa, demanding an end to all vaccine mandates, and to restore Canadian freedoms. 

  Interestingly, as the 50,000 truck convoy approached Ottawa from Vancouver, Trudeau Tweeted that he would need to self-isolate for five days because he had been in close contact with someone who had tested positive. And as the truckers and their supporters descended upon the city, he was whisked away with his family to an undisclosed location “for security purposes” and then promptly announced that he had tested positive for coronavirus (more isolation).  

  With over one million citizens at their capital demonstrating for freedom, and thousands of determined truckers saturating every single road around Parliament Hill, Trudeau offered no olive branch to the protesters. No, he would not meet with them, those racist, misogynists. Those Canadians with “unacceptable views” (like these guys here).

  No, instead of calming the waters and speaking with the people, he doubled down and began a series of grotesque verbal attacks on the multiethnic, multicultural demonstrators, with members of Indigenous peoples very highly represented. To add insult to injury, his federal Minister of Transportation concurrently announced that not only would the vaccine and cross border mandates remain, but plans were well underway for the government to implement an interprovincial vaccine mandate especially for truckers. Revenge, served cold. After all he has done for us, the peasants are ingrates! How dare the people not appreciate their Dear Leader? 

  Taking a page from the American January 6th playbook, the Canadian mainstream media (largely subsidized by the Canadian taxpayers) has chosen to highlight the lone kooks in the crowd with bad flags (precisely one Confederate and one Nazi) and added additional hatred toward the peaceful, orderly and patriotic protesters. Their American media counterparts are sneering with equal disdain. 

  With the Prime Minister still in hiding, whoops, sorry, “isolation,” one would think it would be the opportunity of a lifetime for Conservatives, particularly Her Majesty’s Loyal Leader of the Opposition, to, as Professor Jordan Peterson exhorted, to seize the day and put the screws to the Prime Minister, to rise to the occasion and lead. 

  Alas, there would be no Carpe Dieming from the blander than margarine O’Toole. And by flip-flopping at a time of national need, and not reading the political tea leaves has secured his political demise. He’s digging in his heels, but it’s over. The truckers haven’t gotten rid of the mandates yet, but they now have one notably political scalp to their credit: Erin O’Toole, the guy who impossibly lost to Justin Trudeau. 

  Government rhetoric against the demonstrators is escalating. The Liberal government and liberal Mayor of Ottawa are urging protesters to leave, but the truckers say they have enough supplies for a two-year campaign and will not be coming home until freedom has been returned and all mandates are canceled. 

  The tides are changing in Canada and public opinion appears to be with the convoy. Inspired by the Canadian truckers, American, European and Australian truckers are also starting their own freedom convoys. As unimaginable as it would have seemed just a few weeks ago, Canadians are now seen internationally as a “ray of sunshine” and an inspiration. 

  Will Justin Trudeau back down and negotiate? Capitulate? Or will Trudeau’s classless verbal attacks morph into physical retaliation against the mostly working class truckers, their supporters on the ground in Ottawa and the millions of Canadians who also disagree with him and his sweeping mandates and are demanding their freedom? Stay tuned. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 22:30

• Hypocrisy At The Highest Levels: ATF Asks Judge To Close Hunter Biden Gun Inquiry
  Hypocrisy At The Highest Levels: ATF Asks Judge To Close Hunter Biden Gun Inquiry

  Submitted by The Machine Gun Nest (TMGN)., 

  A story not being covered by the corrupt corporate media over the past few years has been the story of Joe Biden’s Son, Hunter. Or maybe, more specifically, the story of Hunter Biden’s Handgun.

  Hunter Biden purchased a .38 Revolver from a Delaware gun shop on October 12, 2018. If you’re familiar with gun law or have bought a gun yourself, you’ll know that to purchase a firearm; you’ll have had to fill out an ATF Form 4473, also known as a Firearms Transaction Record. More on that later.

  

  Days later, on October 23, Hallie Biden (widow to Joe Biden’s son Beau) searched Hunter’s truck and found the handgun. She apparently feared for Hunter’s safety and decided to put the gun in a shopping bag and throw it in the trash outside a grocery store. During the same day, Hunter finds out about the gun disposal and notifies law enforcement of the missing firearm. The investigation that followed involved the Delaware State Police, Secret Service, the FBI, and later on, the ATF.

  Eventually, the revolver was found, turned into authorities by a man who routinely searched garbage cans in the area for recyclables. Interestingly according to a report from Politico, the Secret Service visited the gun shop where Hunter had purchased the firearm and asked to take the 4473 associated with the gun. The shop owner wisely refused this request, apparently “suspecting that the Secret Service officers wanted to hide Hunter’s ownership of the missing gun if it were ever to be involved in a crime.” Eventually, the gun shop owner did turn in the firearm transaction record to the ATF.

  Here’s where it gets interesting. Back in 2018, when this event occurred, Hunter Biden was famously addicted to drugs. (According to his memoir, he was smoking crack in 2018)

  On a Firearms Transaction Record, there’s a question on the form about drug addiction. It’s a yes or no question, and answering yes leads to disqualification of being able to purchase a firearm.  

  

  Now, we don’t know for sure how he filled out the form, and we certainly don’t know if he lied, but he did buy the gun and leave with it. The entire situation raises many questions, especially when you add that (as reported by TheBlaze) Hunter Biden’s Secret Service Protection ended in 2014.

  In November of 2020, David Codrea of AmmoLand did some real journalism and filed an FIOA request with the ATF & Secret Service to see if there was any firearms prosecution for this event or why there was no prosecution brought if not. The Secret Service and ATF attempted to deny Mr. Codrea’s FIOA request in different ways. The Secret Service provided an affidavit under penalty of perjury denying involvement, dismissing the FOIA case.

  The ATF, on the other hand, argued first that Mr. Codrea didn’t qualify as a journalist. (Which is on its face an admission that the powers that be only really take the astroturf corporate media seriously.) Then, they claimed that Hunter Biden’s privacy interests take precedence over the public’s need to know about the case.

  Mr. Codrea’s lawyer appealed the decision, but the DOJ backed the ATF in denying the appeal. Mr. Codrea’s lawyer filed a complaint to compel the ATF to answer the FIOA request. On January 30, 2022, the ATF asked for this FOIA request to be dismissed, asking for summary judgment. Here’s what they had to say:

  “Plaintiff seeks any records ATF might have about a firearms prosecution or about why no prosecution has been brought. Because confirming or denying the existence of any responsive records would reveal whether or not ATF conducted a criminal investigation involving Mr. Biden, and because Mr. Biden has a significant privacy interest in that information that is not outweighed by the public’s interest in disclosure, ATF followed its standard approach in such a case and properly asserted what is known as a Glomar response to the FOIA request based on FOIA’s privacy exemptions (…) Accordingly, ATF is entitled to summary judgment, as its Glomar response is the sole issue for resolution in this case.”

  This is one of the most powerful examples of how in the world of anti-gun politicians and their associates, the law only applies to the little guy and not to the ruling class.

  Take the Rare Breed FRT-15 situation we covered the other day. The ATF changes its mind, and all of a sudden average people become felons in possession of unregistered machine guns overnight. But if you are part of the ruling class, you might just get away with your “mistake.”

  The Hunter Biden situation raises some serious questions, but it definitely doesn’t come as a surprise for gun owners. We’ll be watching this situation to see the result; it’s good to see that people like Mr. Codrea are trying to hold those in power accountable.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 21:50

• Chinese Scientists Discover "Godsend" Antibody Cocktail That Can "Neutralize" Omicron
  Chinese Scientists Discover “Godsend” Antibody Cocktail That Can “Neutralize” Omicron

  After a long silence while Beijing insisted – more or less successfully – that SARS-CoV-2 had been annihilated in China, Chiese researchers have once again been producing a flurry of research on the virus’s origins, while also claiming new breakthroughs in treatment. They even went so far as to propose a new zoonotic link between the omicron variant and mice.

  On Wednesday, we saw that trend continue as a team of scientists from Fudan University claimed to have found a new “godsend” antibody that would magically neutralize omicron and all future strains.

  

  The “surprise” discovery was reportedly made while the team was investigating other strains of the virus, according to their research, which was published on Biorxiv.

  According to the leader of the team that carried out the research, the scientists crafted a new antibody cocktail synthesized from human cells produced in response to infections with other variants. To their complete and utter surprise, they found that the cocktail produced an antibody that can magically combat omicron.

  Professor Huang Jinghe of Fudan University said in an interview with the SCMP that the new cocktail fought omicron using a series of “combo moves” like in a video game. His team has developed eight different antibody cocktails that they claim are “highly potent” in a short period of time.

  As for what the Chinese intend to do with this research, that’s not clear – yet.

  “There are very few antibodies that can neutralize Omicron in the world. I feel like I’ve been hit by God’s grace,” Huang said.

  Despite being from different natural antibodies, “have collaborative roles in the neutralization process,” Huang and colleagues said in the paper. The team claims that it developed the cocktail for use on another illness which they refused to identify, before deciding that it had worked “pretty well” and so they should “give it a try” on omicron.

  The SCMP noted that antibody treatments have been widely used to fight the pandemic and treat millions of Americans using monoclonal antibody medicines produced by Regeneron and Eli Lilly.

  And while we applaud the Chinese for this experimental breakthrough, we can’t help but wonder if this antibody combo has been in the back of a lab refrigerator somewhere for the last 2 years.

  Readers can find their full report below:

  2022.01.30.478305v1.full(1) by Joseph Adinolfi on Scribd

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 21:30

• Tens Of Thousands Of Tons Of Medical Waste Produced During COVID-19 Pandemic Threatens Health: WHO
  Tens Of Thousands Of Tons Of Medical Waste Produced During COVID-19 Pandemic Threatens Health: WHO

  Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The tens of thousands of tons of medical waste produced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic poses a threat to human and environmental health, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in a report on Tuesday.

  

  The extra waste is “threatening human and environmental health and exposing a dire need to improve waste management practices,” the United Nations health agency said.

  According to the agency’s report, approximately 87,000 tons of personal protective equipment (PPE) was ordered between March 2020 and November 2021 through a joint U.N. emergency initiative and shipped to countries, the majority of which ended up as waste.

  Authors note that over 140 million test kits have been shipped, with the potential to generate 2,600 tons of mainly plastic, non-infectious waste and 731,000 liters of chemical waste, which is the equivalent of one-third of an Olympic-size swimming pool.

  Furthermore, over 8 billion doses of vaccine have been administered globally, which has created 144,000 tons of additional waste in the form of syringes, needles, and safety boxes.

  The report only takes into account COVID-19 commodities procured through the joint U.N. emergency initiative and not the waste generated by the public or via other initiatives.

  The WHO noted that as the U.N. and countries across the world raced to secure supplies of PPE amid the pandemic, officials were less focused on safely and sustainably managing the waste that resulted from COVID-19 related health care.

  The agency is calling for “effective management systems” to be implemented, which includes guidance for health workers on how to safely and sustainably dispose of PPE and other health commodities after they have been used, noting that 30 percent of health care facilities are not equipped to handle existing waste loads.

  That figure was around 60 percent in less developed countries, the agency said.

  “It is absolutely vital to provide health workers with the right PPE. But it is also vital to ensure that it can be used safely without impacting on the surrounding environment,” said WHO emergencies director Dr. Michael Ryan.

  The risks associated with the lack of sufficient handling of such waste can lead to needle stick injuries, burns, and pathogenic microorganisms in health workers, and also impact communities living in areas near poorly managed waste disposal sites, increasing the risk of poor water quality and contaminated air when the waste is burned.

  “Significant change at all levels, from the global to the hospital floor, in how we manage the health care waste stream is a basic requirement of climate-smart health care systems, which many countries committed to at the recent U.N. Climate Change Conference, and, of course, a healthy recovery from COVID-19 and preparedness for other health emergencies in the future,” said Dr. Maria Neira, director of environment, climate change, and health at the WHO.

  The authors of the report set out a series of recommendations to help stem the threat to human and environmental health, including using eco-friendly packaging and shipping, safe and reusable PPE, and recyclable or biodegradable materials.

  They also called for more investment into ways to get rid of the waste without the need to burn it, such as autoclaves, a machine that is used to heat and destroy medical equipment, as well as investments in the recycling sector so that certain materials can be reused.

  The WHO’s report comes amid the Biden administration’s whole-of-government effort to tackle the climate crisis via the Build Back Better (BBB) initiative, a program that would see Washington invest around $550 billion in renewable energy and climate change initiatives.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 21:10

• It's Not The 1970s, It's Worse: This Is The Strongest Recovery In Commodity Prices On Record
  It’s Not The 1970s, It’s Worse: This Is The Strongest Recovery In Commodity Prices On Record

  As first discussed last June in “Will ESG Trigger Energy Hyperinflation” and again today “Woke Capital Won’t Save the Planet – But It Will Crash the Economy“, the “green”/ESG shift in politician thinking has unleashed an epic surge in commodity prices, which are propelling inflation higher and will likely force central banks to keep tightening until they trigger a recession and/or a market crash (probably both).

  Unfortunately, as Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid writes in his chart of the day, given the start seen in 2022, there is no simply solution to what has been a broad-based social shift toward environmental “virtue signaling” and commodity prices will continue to cause increasing headaches for policy makers.

  As Reid notes, while these things can turn on a dime “there is no evidence that commodity prices are mean reverting as policy makers hoped in 2022 and are likely to continue to show strong YoY gains for some time to come even if they flatline from here.”

  So as today’s Chart of the Day from the Deutsche Bank strategist shows, of the 20 US economic cycles since 1914, this is the strongest recovery in commodity prices on record at this stage: it eclipses the two 1970s cycles largely due to the spikes back then occurring beyond year three of the 1970- and 1975- expansions (and also has a broader commodity composition beyond energy). In other words, this is not your grandparents’ 1970s inflation shock: it is way worse (for now).

  

  Meanwhile, as noted earlier, today’s Euro Area flash CPI at 5.1% YoY (vs initial expectations at 4.4%) wasn’t just a commodity story as core was up too.

  

  The danger, according to Reid, is that the longer commodity prices remain elevated the more second round effects kick in and expectations build.

  Surely, inflation will be the biggest theme at tomorrow’s ECB meeting, where Deutsche Banker says to expect a challenging press conference as the ECB is unlikely to change much as this is a non-forecast meeting. As a reminder DB expect lift off in December 2022 as one of four hikes over the subsequent year and a 1% terminal rate (more in our full ECB preview due out shortly).

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 20:50

• Biden Ukraine 'Dealings' Back In Spotlight: NYT Sues For Emails; Memo Accuses Hunter Of 'Undercutting' Corruption Fight
  Biden Ukraine ‘Dealings’ Back In Spotlight: NYT Sues For Emails; Memo Accuses Hunter Of ‘Undercutting’ Corruption Fight

  As the 2020 election drew to a crescendo, bombshell reports of Biden family corruption were deemed verboten misinformation. 

  Both legacy, and social media, refused to cover credible reports of Joe and Hunter Biden’s involvement in everything from CCP-linked Chinese energy companies (10 for the big guy!), to footage of the now-president bragging about withholding $1 billion in a quid-pro-quo with Ukraine unless they fired their chief prosecutor, Victor Shokin.

  

  Which brings us to the first order of business – that a key component of Democrats’ impeachment thesis against President Trump was just debunked.

  Shokin, as it were, was investigating Ukrainian energy giant Burisma – which had hired Hunter Biden to the tune of $80,000 per month to sit on its board and act as a middle man between the company and DC lobbying firm, Blue Star Strategies.

  In January, 2019, Shokin stated that there were five criminal cases against Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevesky, including money laundering, corruption, illegal funds transfers, and profiteering through shell corporations while he was a sitting minister.

  Yet, *poof* – Shokin is fired. When the story entered the 2020 US election, Democrats insisted that Shokin was corrupt – and that “The firing of Shokin was universally urged by Ukraine’s benefactors,” as the Washington Post‘s Glenn Kessler dutifully reported three weeks before the 2020 US election.

  Shokin’s alleged corruption – for which there was zero evidence – was a key aspect of Democrats’ impeachment argument against former President Donald Trump – who had asked Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden’s dealings. Shokin’s successor, Yiuri Lutsenko, said in a January 2019 deposition that Shokin is ‘honest.”

  Yet during Trump’s impeachment, Democrats perpetuated claims that Shokin was corrupt, that his removal was justified, and then-Vice President Biden was simply carrying out official US policy.

  “Biden was carrying out official U.S. policy in calling for Shokin’s removal. Shokin was corrupt. And these witnesses explained the U.S. was not alone… There is simply no evidence, nothing, nada, in the record to support this baseless allegation.” – @RepSylviaGarcia pic.twitter.com/VkCuXC8gZf

  — House Intelligence Committee (@HouseIntel) January 23, 2020

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Shokin’s alleged corruption was fabricated, however – as a leaked phone call between former Secretary of State John Kerry and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko not only confirmed that Shokin wasn’t corrupt, but explicitly detailed the quid-pro-quo for the $1 billion in loan guarantees.

  

  Part 6 of Biden, Kerry, Poroshenko calls leaked by Ukrainian MP Andrii Derkach. In this call Poroshenko details the quid pro quo explicitly. Earlier in the calls he says there’s no evidence of Shokin being corrupt but they demanded his resignation anyways for Biden.

  Biden #4 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/lz36xEn3cn

  — Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 19, 2020

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Now, according to newly released State Department memos obtained by Just the News, six months before Biden had Shokin fired, the US State Department told the Ukrainian official that they were “impressed” with his anti-corruption efforts and fully supportive of his work.

  “We have been impressed with the ambitious reform and anti-corruption agenda of your government,” wrote then-Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland to Shokin in a June 9, 2015 letter that was delivered to Shokin two days later by former US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt.

  Nuland, now President Biden’s undersecretary of state, wrote that “Secretary Kerry asked me to reply on his behalf” to let Shokin know he enjoyed the full support of the United States as he set out to fight endemic corruption in the former Soviet republic.

  “The ongoing reform of your office, law enforcement, and the judiciary will enable you to investigate and prosecute corruption and other crimes in an effective, fair, and transparent manner,” Nuland added. “The United States fully supports your government’s efforts to fight corruption and other crimes in an effective, fair and transparent manner.” -Just the News

  Trump’s impeachment defense never received this letter, according to GOP congressional investigators and Trump’s former impeachment defense lawyers.

  “We did not receive this. We should have received it. President Trump’s defense attorneys also should have received it,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who investigated Hunter and Joe Biden’s business dealings. “This just underscores how congressional oversight has really diminished over the years mainly because we don’t have enforcement powers,” he added.

  In other Biden family news, the New York Times is suing the State Department  to obtain emails from Romanian embassy officials sent between 2015 and 2019 which mention several international business people – including Hunter Biden and Tony Bobulinski – who made worldwide news in the home stretch of the 2020 US election when he revealed his business dealings with the Bidens, according to Politico.

  In May, 2017, Bobulinski agreed to spearhead a deal between the Bidens and a CCP-linked Chinese company – meeting with Hunter Biden and Rosemont Seneca partner Rob Walker “multiple times,” and meeting with former Vice President Joe Biden (‘the big guy’) twice.

  

  Speaking with Fox News‘ Tucker Carlson, Bobulinski described a May 2nd meeting at the Los Angeles Beverly Hilton with Hunter and Jim Biden. A short while later, Joe Biden reportedly showed up to the meeting “because they were sort of, wining and dining me, and presenting the strength of the Biden family to get me more engaged” in their China deal with CEFC “both in the United States and around the world.”

  Tony Bobulinski on Tucker says it is a “blatant lie” when Joe Biden says he had no knowledge of his son’s business dealings:

  “There was no other reason for me to be in that bar meeting Joe Biden then to discuss what I was doing with his family’s name and the Chinese.” pic.twitter.com/famy4WaxOk

  — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 28, 2020

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  In Tucker Carlson’s interview with Hunter Biden’s ex-business partner Tony Bobulinski, they play a tape of Rob Walker, a self-described Biden family representative, telling him “you’re just gonna bury all of us” if he went through with his plan to go public on business dealings pic.twitter.com/zbfvaXtw13

  — Daniel Chaitin (@danielchaitin7) October 28, 2020

  The Times‘ FOIA request also seeks information on Rudy Giuliani – who Trump sent hunting for dirt on Hunter’s dealings in Ukraine.

  And in a final bit of Bidengate developments, Just the News also reports that an email concealed from public view for more than five years reveals that a top US State Department official in Kyiv told his DC superiors that Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine “undercut” US efforts to fight corruption in the country.

  The email, obtained by Just the News, was written on Nov. 22, 2016 by former U.S. embassy official George Kent, one of the Democrats’ star witnesses in their first effort to impeach former President Donald Trump.

  It was classified “confidential,” the lowest level of secrecy, by then-U.S. Ambassador to Kiev Marie Yovanovitch, another of the Democrats’ impeachment witnesses, and was not produced as evidence to House lawmakers during impeachment. Contrary to federal law, the State Department failed to acknowledge the existence of the document to the court or to Just the News in its multiple Freedom of Information Act lawsuits against the State Department seeking records on Hunter and Joe Biden’s dealings in Ukraine.

  Most importantly, the email’s stark message directly conflicts with the narrative the mainstream media, State Department witnesses and Democratic congressmen gave the public two years ago, when they insisted Hunter Biden’s lucrative job with the allegedly corrupt Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings — while creating the appearance of a conflict of interest — had no impact on U.S. efforts to fight corruption in that country. -Just the News

  “The real issue to my mind was that someone in Washington needed to engage VP Biden quietly and say that his son Hunter’s presence on the Burisma board undercut the anti-corruption message the VP and we were advancing in Ukraine,” wrote Kent to multiple high-ranking officials in the State Department.

  Kent’s email also described “an intense pressure campaign by advocates for Burisma — including a former U.S. ambassador — to rehabilitate the Ukrainian company’s corrupt reputation and to get Ukraine prosecutors to drop their criminal investigations of the company,” according to the report.

  The email chain also showed that State officials were acutely aware that Hunter Biden had an affiliation with an American business partner also accused — and eventually convicted of — corruption.

  “I should note that there were two American members of the Burisma board: Hunter Biden and Devon Archer,” another State official on the email chain wrote Kent and Andrews. “Archer was recently indicted in a federal fraud case.” -Just the News

  For a complete list of Hunter Biden’s ‘crony-connected’ jobs, click here.

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  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 20:30

• $320 Million In Limbo After Second Largest DeFi Hack Ever
  $320 Million In Limbo After Second Largest DeFi Hack Ever

  One of the biggest bridges between Solana and other blockchains, Wormhole, has been hacked to the tune of around $320 milion – or 120,000 ETH potentially stolen, which would make it the second largest DeFi hack to date, according to Blockworks.

  

  In a Wednesday evening tweet, Wormhole confirmed the exploit, and pledged that “ETH will be added over the next hours to ensure wETH is backed 1:1.” The company did not elaborate on where they would get the Ether.

  The wormhole network was exploited for 120k wETH.

  ETH will be added over the next hours to ensure wETH is backed 1:1. More details to come shortly.

  We are working to get the network back up quickly. Thanks for your patience.

  — Wormhole🌪 (@wormholecrypto) February 2, 2022

   The announcement came approximately 90 minutes after they announced that the wormhole network was “down for maintenance,” as they “look into a potential exploit.”

  ‼️ The wormhole network is down for maintenance as we look into a potential exploit.

  📢 We will provide updates here as soon as we have them.

  🙏 Thank you for your patience.

  — Wormhole🌪 (@wormholecrypto) February 2, 2022

  As Blockworks explains:

  Wormhole is a protocol that allows users to bridge assets across blockchains. It has over $1 billion in total value locked and supports six blockchains: Terra, Solana, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche and Polygon. 

  When a user transfers assets from one blockchain to another, the bridge steps in to lock the transaction and mint a wrapped version, such as wrapped ether (wETh), to its final chain.

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js“This demonstrates once again that the security of DeFi services has not reached a level that is appropriate for the huge sums being stored within them,” said Tom Robinson, co-founder of blockchain analysis firm Elliptic (via Bloomberg). “The transparency of the blockchain is allowing attackers to identify and exploit major bugs.”

  According to another forensics provider, TRM labs, around 96,000 of wETH tokens have been sent to the Ethereum blockchain.

  “No onward movement yet, but we are tracking the situation,” said TRM.

  Wormhole developers offered the hacker a $10 million bug bounty for exploit details and the return of the funds.

  Jump Trading Group announced in August that it bought Certus One, which helped develop Wormhole. Jump has said it is a founding code contributor to Wormhole. Certus One offers infrastructure services for proof-of-stake blockchains and has been an active participant in decentralized networks including Cosmos, Terra, Solana and next-generation Ethereum. -Bloomberg

  “As far as we can tell now, only wETH has been affected, no other tokens,” said a Wormhole admin who goes by d321d in a Telegram group, adding that the portal bridge is down before asking members to cease further action on the network.

  More via Blockworks‘ Jacquelyn Melinek:

  Some users reported stuck transactions, but the admin said that “as soon as the network is back up, you will be able to redeem the tokens you sent into the bridge.”

  

  While it’s not known how the hacker exploited the network, it took place over three different transactions around 2:00 pm EST on Wednesday, according to Etherscan data. 

  Wormhole sent an on-chain message to the hacker about an hour after the exploit, offering a reward for the return of the tokens. 

  “We noticed you were able to exploit the Solana VAA verification and mint tokens,” the message said. “We’d like to offer you a whitehat agreement, and present you a bug bounty of $10 million for exploit details, and returning the wETH you’ve minted.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 20:10

• 3 Babbitt Shooting Witnesses Removed From FBI Most-Wanted List
  3 Babbitt Shooting Witnesses Removed From FBI Most-Wanted List

  Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Three witnesses who were in the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby of the U.S. Capitol when Ashli Babbitt was shot were once wanted by the FBI, but their photos have disappeared from the FBI’s January 6 Most Wanted page.

  

  The men, including one who tried to administer first aid to Babbitt while she lay bleeding on the floor, were initially listed on the most wanted page on April 16, 2021. They were assigned numbers 310, 311, and 312.

  On April 29, sometime after 6:45 p.m., their photos were scrubbed from the FBI list, according to an archived version of the FBI.gov website stored by the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive. It is not clear why the photos were removed.

  The listing of “wanted” photos now skips from 309 to 313.

  It has been the FBI’s practice to leave photos on the page and label them with a red banner that says “ARRESTED” any time a person is taken into custody.

  

  One of the three men removed from the FBI list is a journalist who has covered riots and unrest around the country, according to journalist Tayler Hansen, who stood next to the man in the hallway on Jan. 6.

  “He is media. He’s a photojournalist,” Hansen told The Epoch Times.

  When Babbitt was shot by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd at 2:44 p.m. Jan. 6, the photojournalist immediately rendered first aid, Hansen said.

  “Right as she got shot, he was the only one that reacted, and he immediately reached for his medical bag,” Hansen said. “He had a med bag on him, and started digging in it.

  

  “He was the one who told me to grab a flashlight. He told me to turn my flashlight on so he could find her wounds,” Hansen said. “He was trying to help Ashli throughout the whole thing. He was one of the people the cops told to stop rendering medical aid to her.”

  The man told Hansen he had substantial emergency medical training and carried a first-aid kit in his backpack.

  “The way he handled that situation, I’ve never seen anything like it. He knew exactly what to do. He was the first one to react out of everybody,” Hansen said.

  After a few minutes, police ordered everyone to move away from Babbitt so they had room to render proper emergency medical care.

  

  The man has covered rioting in Portland and was present in Kenosha, Wis., the night Kyle Rittenhouse shot three men in self-defense during rioting over the police shooting of a black man armed with a knife in the summer of 2020, Hansen said.

  “I can imagine he’s seen some stuff and dealt with something like that in the past and that’s why he was so level-headed compared to everyone else in that room,” Hansen said.

  One of the other men removed from the FBI Most Wanted list is a still photographer, Hansen said. The third man, who carried a United States flag in the Speaker’s Lobby hallway, was among the first people to leave the area after Byrd shot Babbitt.

  Aaron Babbitt, Ashli’s husband, said the situation leaves him wondering.

  “I’d like an explanation as to why they’ve been removed,” Babbitt told The Epoch Times. “If there’s nothing nefarious, then that shouldn’t be a problem. The silence is, and has been, deafening.”

  The Epoch Times contacted the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the three men, but did not receive any response.

  

  This was not the first time a wanted person was removed from the FBI’s Jan. 6 Most Wanted list.

  A few days after the riot, the FBI placed a photo of Ray Epps on a “Seeking Information” poster, asking the public’s help identifying those who breached the Capitol. He was listed as Photograph #16. That photo has since been scrubbed from the FBI website. There is no longer a No. 16 on the list, which now skips from Photograph #15 to Photograph #17.

  Epps is seen on multiple videos on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, encouraging Trump supporters to go into the U.S. Capitol before and after President Donald Trump’s speech. Epps has not been arrested or charged but met twice with the Congressional Jan. 6 select committee. His attorney has denied that Epps was an FBI informant or government agent.

  Most Witnesses Still Unidentified

  An analysis by The Epoch Times of footage from four videographers in the Speaker’s Lobby hallway indicates only about 25 percent of people present when Babbitt was shot have been identified by the FBI or charged by the U.S. Department of Justice.

  Twelve of the 55 people who were close enough to see and hear the shooting face charges for their involvement at the Capitol on Jan. 6, records show. They are among the more than 725 people arrested by the FBI in nearly every state on charges stemming from Jan. 6.

  

  Those present in the hallway who were charged for alleged violations of federal law include Zachary Alam, John Sullivan, Thomas Baranyi, Christopher Grider, Chad Jones, Samuel Montoya, Robert Packer, Uliyahu Hayah, Brian Bingham, Kurt Peterson, Alexander Sheppard, and Jason Comeau.

  Less than one-third of the 55 are listed as wanted by the FBI. The rest do not appear to be among the nearly 1,560 people on the FBI’s Jan. 6 Most Wanted website. Nearly 70 percent remain unidentified, more than a year after the fact.

  Columbus Doors Opened for Protesters

  Analysis of more Jan. 6 video shot inside the historic Columbus Doors showed at least five people who ended up in the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby first accessed the Capitol through the Columbus Doors.

  Surveillance video shows a protester—the FBI alleges it is George A. Tenney III— unsuccessfully tried to open the inner Columbus Doors from the inside by pushing his shoulder against them. When that failed, he turned around and appeared to be listening to someone off-camera. He then returned and was able to open the left door.

  Police rushed in and fought to stem the flow of protesters into the Rotunda. A high-pitched entry alarm rang. Protesters forced their way past two police officers at the door. “Open the other door!” someone boomed off camera.

  A female officer in riot gear was thrown to the ground to the left of the open door. A few protesters went to help her up, but another officer rushed and warned the protesters, “Get back! Get back!” The female officer was helped to the Rotunda, where she was seen leaning over with her hands on her knees.

  Back at the doors, a protester is ranted at a police officer guarding the inside of the Columbus Doors.

  “‘We’ve got a job to do?’ I don’t care what you said. That’s a poor excuse!”

  The officer asks the man, “You serve your country?”

  “Yeah I did, for five years, and that’s a poor excuse!”

  “So did I, for 25 years.”

  “That’s a poor excuse, ‘I’ve got a job to do.’ Give me a [expletive] break!”

  Agent of Chaos

  One of the men the Babbitt family is most interested in identifying is known online as #RedOnRed.

  He is seen on video in numerous places on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. On the ground level, he launched a long 2-by-4 through a window. On his way to the Speaker’s Lobby, he is seen doing martial arts kicks into wooden office doors. He was standing to the left of Babbitt when she climbed into a broken window and was shot.

  One video shows him with two hands on the arm of a police officer. “We’re not against you, we’re not against your family,” he says. “We love this country. You love your country. You love your family. We’re standing up together.”

  “Thank you,” the officer replies.

  “You’re welcome. We’re not the enemy.”

  #RedOnRed also appears on video by John Sullivan taken after Babbitt was shot.

  He approaches the camera and said, “It’s the second guy on the left shot her.”

  Sullivan replied, “Nobody else had a gun,” to which #RedOnRed said, “It’s the second guy on the left.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 19:50

• White House Awkwardly Walks Back Warning Of "Imminent" Ukraine Invasion
  White House Awkwardly Walks Back Warning Of “Imminent” Ukraine Invasion

  On Wednesday the White House walked back its prior consistent assertions that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was “imminent”. Spokeswoman Jen Psaki and other admin had in the last week or more doubled down on the word (which included Blinken in media statements) even as Ukraine’s President Zelensky openly disputed the alarmist assessment, essentially telling Biden directly to ‘calm down’ the hyped rhetoric.

  Moscow too, blasted Washington’s “hysteria” – with Putin on Tuesday saying the US is trying to goad Russia and Ukraine into war in order to justify far-reaching sanctions and isolating the Russian economy. Here’s Psaki, straight-faced, awkwardly trying to explain her own sudden narrative shift after weeks of “the Russians are coming!”… 

  ❗️Russian invasion of Ukraine no longer “imminent”, says the White House, which had promised a Russian invasion every day for near enough two months

  For a government that missed the Taliban offensive, foretelling a Russian invasion wasn’t going to be easy pic.twitter.com/TjAerpVu7m

  — Murad Gazdiev (@MuradGazdiev) February 2, 2022

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  “I used it once. I think others have used that once, and we stopped using it because I think it sent a message that we weren’t intending to send, which was that we knew that President Putin had made a decision,” Psaki said at an afternoon press briefing.

  “I would say the vast majority of times I’ve talked about it, I’ve said he could invade ‘at any time,’” she added, trying to obfuscate her own unambiguous prior messaging.

  Her reference of “others have used that once” is a clear attempt to shift blame. And obviously the ‘we didn’t intend to send this message’ half-hearted explanation and with no apology is absurd, given the clear meaning of the words, centered on “imminent”.

  CNN reviews of the fact that the administration was called out by its own allies: 

  The discrepancy caused some frustrations to break into the open. Last week, Psaki’s description of an attack as “imminent” drew anger in Kyiv. Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky, disagreed, and said the descriptions could cause panic and economic turmoil.

  “There is a feeling abroad that there is war here. That’s not the case,” Zelensky said during a news conference last Friday.

  White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reversed her previous comment that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is “imminent” after United Nations ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told NPR she wouldn’t use the word to describe the current situation. pic.twitter.com/0R0RtE6BFS

  — Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 2, 2022

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  It wasn’t just in Ukraine, but mainstream US media a week ago issued a flood of fearmongering headlines suggesting WW3 with Russia was on the horizon. Based on the fake news coming from the White House of an “imminent” Russian invasion, the American public began bracing for yet another major foreign conflict which the beltway establishment seemed itching to get involved in.

  But now it’s being exposed increasingly as a classic “wag the dog” scenario. 

  * * * 

  Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson was the only major prime time network pundit to expose the “imminent” Russian invasion of Ukraine as fake news in real time…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 19:30

• Woke Capital Won't Save The Planet – But It Will Crash The Economy
  Woke Capital Won’t Save The Planet – But It Will Crash The Economy

  Submitted by Rupert Darwall, originally published in Real Clear Energy,

  Judged by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s latest letter, January 2022 might turn out to be the highwater mark of woke capitalism. Stakeholder capitalism is not “woke,” Fink says, because capitalism is driven by mutually beneficial relationships between businesses and their stakeholders. He’s right. What Fink describes is capitalism pure and simple, the stakeholder modifier adding nothing to the uniqueness of capitalism in harnessing competition and innovation for the benefit of all.

  

  Fink’s shift is more than rhetorical. Just three years ago, in his 2019 “Profit and Purpose” letter, Fink told CEOs that the $24 trillion of wealth Millennials expect to inherit from their Boomer parents meant that ESG (environment, social, governance) issues “will be increasingly material to corporate valuations.” Now Fink tells them that “long-term profitability” is the measure by which markets will determine their companies’ success, dumping the ESG valuation metrics he’d previously championed.

  Why, then, launch a Center for Stakeholder Capitalism, as BlackRock intends, and not simply a Center for Capitalism? “Your company’s purpose is its north star,” Fink says, echoing the Big Idea of his “Profit & Purpose” letter. BlackRock is the largest shareholder in Unilever. London-based Terry Smith, a top 15 Unilever shareholder, slammed Unilever’s top management for being obsessed with public displays of sustainability credentials at the expense of focusing on business fundamentals. In his letter to Fundsmith shareholders, Smith wrote, “a company which feels it has to define the purpose of Hellmann’s mayonnaise has in our view clearly lost the plot.” Ouch.

  The days of woke CEOs criticizing democratically elected politicians for, say, not mandating unisex bathrooms, also seem to be drawing to a close. CEOs should be thoughtful in how they address social issues, Fink says, advising them to show humility and stay grounded. But Fink himself has some way to travel along the humility road. He requires all companies BlackRock invests in to set short-, medium-, and long-term targets for greenhouse gas reductions – as if BlackRock is an enforcement arm of government and net zero is a done deal. “Incumbents need to be clear about their pathway [to] succeeding in a net zero economy,” he writes.

  Successful investing – the deployment of capital based on expectations of future returns – is grounded in realism, not make-believe. The failure of last year’s UN climate summit in Glasgow – the summit does not rate a single mention in Fink’s 3,000-word letter – makes it plain to any objective observer that the world will not reach net zero anywhere close to the prescribed date. Forcing companies to conform to a scenario that has virtually no chance of materializing destroys more than shareholder value: it makes all stakeholders worse off. In this respect, ESG investing is antisocial because it is detrimental to society.

  ESG investing won’t help the environment, either. Cutting off capital to publicly traded oil and gas companies will not reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Fink knows this. “Any plan that focuses solely on limiting supply and fails to address demand for hydrocarbons will drive up energy prices,” he admits. Congress has not passed legislation to cap demand and is extremely unlikely to do so – a reality he is unwilling to accept.

  Three months ago, former Treasury secretary Larry Summers made a stunning intervention when he criticized central bankers for defining themselves by their wokeness, by their social and environmental concerns. “We’re in more danger than we’ve been during my career of losing control of inflation,” Summers said.

  High inflation is now the biggest threat to the economy. Woke central bankers and multitrillion-dollar institutional investors are peas in a pod when it comes to their culpability for rising prices. “We need to be honest about the fact that green products often come at a higher cost,” Fink admits. ESG pushes up the cost of energy, and central bankers’ ultra-loose monetary policies accommodate it.

  BlackRock’s embrace of woke investing puts it in an awkward and untenable position, as Fink’s partial retreat demonstrates. In November, Riley Moore, the state treasurer of West Virginia, and 15 other state treasurers wrote an open letter threatening collective action against financial institutions that boycott traditional energy industries in their states. Last week, Moore announced that West Virginia would not use BlackRock as part of its banking operations.

  BlackRock is also feeling the heat in Texas. On January 3 of this year (though it misdated the letter 2021), BlackRock wrote to Texas state legislators to say that it supports hydrocarbon producers because of their crucial role in supporting a successful energy transition – one that would put those companies out of business.

  The letter did not explain BlackRock’s vote to put anti-hydrocarbon directors proposed by Engine No. 1 – a tiny activist fund claiming to use ESG to drive economic value – on the board of Texas-based Exxon Mobil. Commenting on Exxon Mobil’s recent emissions pledges, Charlie Penner, who led the Engine No. 1 campaign, remarked that the company should not pursue projects that “only make economic sense if the world fails to meet its climate targets.” The world is on track to miss these targets by a country mile. Engine’s activism is not about investing; it is politics by other means.

  Wall Street billionaires make for improbable green revolutionaries. Credit Suisse fired chairman António Horta-Osório for breaking Covid quarantine rules. His transgressions, Brooke Masters commented, highlighted the common attitude among the world’s elite that rules are for other people. “Hundreds of supposedly green business executives and celebrities never seem to understand the hypocrisy of taking their fuel-guzzling yachts and private jets to climate change conferences,” she wrote. At some level, Fink seems to recognize the difficulty. Ensuring access to reliable, affordable energy is necessary, he says, “to avoid societal discord.” That means more investment in oil and gas.

  Thus, Larry Fink finds himself warning of the very danger that BlackRock’s woke investment policies will bring about. High inflation and squeezed living standards make it a safe bet that come this time next year, he will be running even faster in the opposite direction.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 19:10

• BLM Has 60 Days To Come Clean About Financials After California DOJ Sends Scorching Demand Letter
  BLM Has 60 Days To Come Clean About Financials After California DOJ Sends Scorching Demand Letter

  The leaders of Black Lives Matter have 60 days to produce information about the charity’s $60 million bankroll, according to a letter from the California DOJ to the activist organization obtained by the Washington Examiner.

  

  And as the Examiner notes, the letter comes just days after they uncovered that BLM has no known leader in charge of its giant war chest since its co-founder resigned in May – and that the Los Angeles address they list on their tax filings is wrong.

  “The organization BLACK LIVES MATTER GLOBAL NETWORK FOUNDATION, INC. is delinquent with The Registry of Charitable Trusts for failing to submit required annual report(s),” reads the letter from California AG Rob Bonta.

  BLM is also prohibited from “soliciting or disbursing charitable funds” in California until it submits its 2020 Form 990 and other financial records to the state, the California DOJ informed the charity Monday. The letter added that the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the legal entity that represents the national BLM movement, faces fines for “each month or partial month for which the report(s) are delinquent.”

  “Charitable assets cannot be used to pay these avoidable costs,” the California DOJ warned BLM. “Accordingly, directors, trustees, officers and return preparers responsible for failure to timely file the above-described report(s) are personally liable for payment of all penalties, interest and other costs incurred to restore exempt status.” -Washington Examiner

  If they fail to come clean, California may revoke BLM tax-exempt status and impose fees, in addition to holding directors personally liable.

  Meanwhile, the state of Washington ordered BLM to “immediately cease” fundraising in the far-left state until they similarly come clean about their finances. 

  In February of last year, BLM reported that it had closed out 2020 with $60 million in its bank accounts, however the charity refuses to say who’s been in control of its funds for the last eight months.

  In May, BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigned amid a controversy over a homebuying spree. While Cullors co-founded BLM with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi in the wake of George Zimmerman’s not guilty verdict in the Trayvon Martin death, she was the only one who remained with the foundation that took in $90 million last year, in the wake of George Floyd’s death while in police custody.  

  Cullors, a self-proclaimed Marxist – was branded a “fraud” after buying a $1.4 million home in a posh California neighborhood that’s 88% white.

  For somebody that claims to love Black people, it’s kinda strange that she chose a place to live that’s practically devoid of Black people🤔 pic.twitter.com/UluZTLfxNs

  — Sheikh Judd Hashisho (@glubokiy_boy) April 9, 2021

  Various BLM chapters have been complaining about the organization’s lack of transparently as well. 

  In a December 2020 statement, the local chapters said:

  “Since the establishment of [Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation], our chapters have consistently raised concerns about financial transparency, decision making, and accountability … we believe public accountability has become necessary.”

  The local chapters also said the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation appointed Cullors as its executive director against their wishes and without their knowledge, rendering her leadership illegitimate.

  “We, the undersigned chapters, believe that all of these events occurred without democracy, and assert that it was without the knowledge of the majority of Black Lives Matters chapters across the country and world,” the statement read.

  “Patrisse Cullors … became Executive Director against the will of most chapters and without their knowledge.”

  And now, they have 60 days to come clean or face consequences in the state of California.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 18:50

• The Ultimate Mashup Of The MSM Lab Leak 'Conspiracy' Shaming
  The Ultimate Mashup Of The MSM Lab Leak ‘Conspiracy’ Shaming

  Authored by Matt Taibbi and Matt Orfalea via TK News,

  After Covid-19 hit America’s shores, a question naturally arose: how did this happen? Most of us assumed the mystery would soon be unraveled, that the society of epidemiological detectives who found everything from the rat that transmitted Lassa Fever to the leak that caused viral outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt would nail down the origin of the pandemic.

  It didn’t happen. We were initially told something about bats, a weird animal called a pangolin, and a Chinese “wet market,” but never heard the full story. A combination of the virus originating in an authoritarian state and a sudden seizure of incuriosity among the international press corps led to a strange coverage détente, in which we weren’t told exactly what happened, but we were told all sensible people were sure of what didn’t happen. 27 scientists in The Lancet put it this way in mid-2020: “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.”

  As TK contributor Matt Orfalea pieces together in his latest hilariously disturbing trip to our recent past, the notion that Covid-19 did not originate in a lab became a mandatory talking point. This might have made sense, if epidemiologists had definitively identified the source of the disease. But they hadn’t, making the intensity of the press reaction both comical and suspicious.

  A common explanation for the propaganda is that once Donald Trump suggested the disease might have had a laboratory origin, it became mandatory to denounce the idea for political reasons.

  The Trump-said-it-so-it-must-be-wrong angle was also ubiquitous, as Orfalea shows here:

  In the main mashup, in a series of revealing montages, press figures are also shown wasting no time embracing the word-for-word conclusion of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) that the disease was “not manmade or genetically modified.” The sections involving denunciations of Senator Tom Cotton are particularly interesting because Cotton was accused of “fanning the embers of a coronavirus conspiracy theory” just for including lab origin among the possible causes, even as he said natural origin was “most likely.” This showed that even considering a lab-origin hypothesis was, to press critics, now the same as advancing or embracing an idea they considered “debunked.”

  The idea that the disease may have originated in a lab suddenly became acceptable again last spring, when the likes of Dr. Anthony Fauci began entertaining the idea in public. Fact-checkers who’d issued fierce declarations about “conspiracy theories” backtracked. Internet platforms like Facebook that had been banning such assertions announced, “We will no longer remove the claim that Covid-19 is man-made or manufactured from our apps.”

  We still don’t know what caused the pandemic, but that’s not the issue here. The concept of telling the public you’re this certain of something when you quite obviously are not is at least somewhat new, both in politics and in media. The crucial problem shown in this reel is the complete absence of humility about the possibility of error. The most well-meaning scientists make mistakes — even the famous tale of the discovery of HIV’s “Patient Zero” later fell into question thanks to genetic analysis — and there was a time not long ago when no responsible press outlet would have declared any hypothesis off-limits before the mystery had been solved.

  Orfalea does a great job here using everything from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure to Fahrenheit 451 to show the dangerously moronic certainty of modern propaganda. The origins of Covid-19 remain a mystery, but another Whodunit is why curiosity and the spirit of free inquiry have been made taboo in a business where those qualities were once prerequisites.

  *  *  *

  Subscribe to TK News by Matt Taibbi

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 18:30

• Melinda French Gates Will No Longer Give Bulk Of Her Wealth To Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  Melinda French Gates Will No Longer Give Bulk Of Her Wealth To Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

  Maybe it was a constant reminder of Bill Gates’ friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, or maybe she’s just made too many promises to too many pool boys – but Melinda French Gates is no longer going to donate the bulk of her wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

  

  French Gates made the change in late 2021 Giving Pledge letter following her divorce from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, however at the time she didn’t specify that it would go to the Gates Foundation, according to the Wall Street Journal.

  “I think philanthropy is most effective when it prioritizes flexibility over ideology—and why in my work at the foundation and Pivotal Ventures I’ll continue to seek out new partners, ideas, and perspectives,” she wrote.

  Still, French Gates says she still plans to give most of her fortune away, spreading it among various philanthropic endeavors, according to people familiar with the matter.

  She launched Pivotal Ventures in 2015 to focus on issues affecting women and families, including paid-leave policies and an effort to get more women into technology and public office. She has committed to give $1 billion over 10 years to Pivotal to promote gender equality.

  “I recognize the absurdity of so much wealth being concentrated in the hands of one person, and I believe the only responsible thing to do with a fortune this size is give it away—as thoughtfully and impactfully as possible,” she wrote in her new letter.

  The Gates Foundation is one of the world’s largest philanthropies with an endowment topping $50 billion. In July, Mr. Gates and Ms. French Gates said they would commit a further $15 billion to the endowment. It is possible that Ms. French Gates makes additional donations to the foundation even as she gives to other charities, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

  …

  The foundation recently added four members to its board of trustees in an effort to boost governance following its co-founders’ divorce. Ms. French Gates and Mr. Gates are the foundation’s co-chairs, though she has agreed to resign in 2023 if either of them decides they can no longer work together. Billionaire Warren Buffett, another major donor, was a trustee until he resigned in June 2021. -WSJ

  Bill Gates, meanwhile reiterated in his most recent Giving Pledge letter that most of his wealth will go to the Gates Foundation.

  

  “The foundation is my top philanthropic priority, even as my giving in other areas has grown over the years—primarily in mitigation of climate change and tackling Alzheimer’s disease,” he wrote.

  In July, there was talk of Bill Gates buying out Melinda’s share of the foundation which bears their name, according to the New York Times.

  Mark Suzman, the CEO of the Gates Foundation (which is the largest charitable foundation in the world) broke the news, while revealing that the foundation had been gifted an additional $15 billion in assets to be added to the $50 billion previously amassed in its endowment over two decades.

  Suzman added that if French decides she can’t continue to work with Gates after two years, that she would be gifted her own pool of capital to start her own foundation. In other words, if the two decide they can’t peaceably co-parent the foundation, Bill will buy out his ex-wife.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/02/2022 – 18:10

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• NATO – Strategic Asset Or Liability?
  NATO – Strategic Asset Or Liability?

  Authored by Pat Buchanan,

  Is the territorial integrity of Ukraine a cause worth America’s fighting a war with Russia?

  

  No, it is not. And this is why President Joe Biden has declared that the U.S. will not become militarily involved should Russia invade Ukraine.

  Biden is saying that, no matter our sentiments, our vital interests dictate staying out of a Russia-Ukraine war.

  But why then does Secretary of State Antony Blinken continue to insist there is an “open door” for Ukraine to NATO membership — when that would require us to do what U.S. vital interests dictate we not do: fight a war with Russia for Ukraine?

  NATO’s “open door policy” is based on Article 10, which declares that NATO members, “may, by unanimous agreement, invite any other European State … to accede to this Treaty.”

  Moreover, membership is open to “any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area.”

  Note that NATO admission requires “unanimous” consent of all 30 present members.

  Blinken has often stated this as U.S. policy:

  “From our perspective, NATO’s door is open and remains open, and that is our commitment.”

  What Blinken is saying is this:

  While America will not fight for Ukraine today, America remains open to Ukraine’s accession to NATO, in which event we would have to fight for Ukraine tomorrow, were it attacked by Russia.

  What the U.S. needs to do is to say with clarity that while Ukraine is free to apply to NATO, NATO is free to veto that application, and the enlargement of NATO beyond its present eastern frontiers is over, done.

  In this crisis, we need to recall how and why NATO was created.

  In 1949, the year China fell to Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin exploded an atom bomb, we formed NATO as a defensive alliance to prevent a Russian drive west, from the Elbe to the Rhine to the Channel.

  Of the original 12 members of NATO, the U.S. and Canada were on the western side of the Atlantic. Iceland and the U.K. were islands in the Atlantic. France and Portugal were on the Atlantic’s eastern shore.

  Denmark, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg were astride the avenue of attack the Red Army would have to take to reach the Channel.

  Norway was the lone original NATO nation that shared a border with the USSR itself. Italy was the 12th member.

  Clearly, this was a defensive alliance to prevent a Soviet invasion of Western Europe such as Hitler had executed in the spring of 1940, when Nazi Germany overran Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and France, and threw the British off the continent at Dunkirk.

  Nations that joined NATO during the Cold War were Greece and Turkey in 1952, Germany in 1955, and Spain in 1982.

  But, with the end of the Cold War, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the overthrow of Soviet Communism, and the breakup of the USSR into 15 nations by 1991, NATO, its goal — the defense of Central and Western Europe — achieved, its job done, did not go out of business.

  Instead, NATO added 14 new members and moved almost 1,000 miles east, into Russia’s front yard and then onto Russia’s front porch.

  The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined in 1999. Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia became NATO nations in 2004. Albania and Croatia joined in 2009, Montenegro in 2017, and North Macedonia in 2020.

  Understandably, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked himself: To what end, and for what beneficent purpose, was this doubling in size of an alliance that was formed to contain us, and, if necessary, fight a war against Mother Russia?

  Alliances, which involve war guarantees, commitments to fight in defense of the allied nations, invariably carry costs and risks as well as rewards and benefits in terms of strengthened security.

  But when we brought Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia into NATO, what benefits in added strength did we receive to justify the provocation this would be to Russia, and the risk it might entail if Moscow objected and, one fine day, walked back into these Baltic states?

  If we will not fight for the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the second largest nation in Europe with a population of over 40 million people, why would we go to war with a nuclear-armed Russia over Estonia, a tiny and almost indefensible nation with a population of 1.3 million?

  Besides Ukraine, two nations have been considering membership in NATO: Finland and Georgia. Accession of either would put NATO on yet another border of Russia, with the usual U.S. bases and forces.

  While this would enrage Russia, how would it make us stronger?

  Perhaps, instead of adding new nations on whose behalf we will go to war with a great power like Russia, we consider reducing the roster of NATO and restricting the number of nations for whom we must fight to those nations that are vital to our security and bring added strength to the alliance.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 23:40

• US Grocery Shoppers Have Their Eyes On The Price
  US Grocery Shoppers Have Their Eyes On The Price

  Norwegian online grocer Oda has reportedly seen a drop in sales of carbon-intensive products after introducing sustainability scores to its receipts. As Statista’s Felix Richter reports, each product is given a rating based on its carbon footprint, aiming to raise awareness among customers, who are responding well to the initiative, according Oda’s sustainability director Louise Fuchs.

  “Our customers told us that they find it close to impossible to know what is climate-friendly. We thought it was an important challenge to solve so we started looking for easy ways to communicate emissions,” she said.

  Would a similar model be an option for the U.S. as well? According to findings from Statista’s Global Consumer Survey, it seems unlikely.

  A December 2021 survey among grocery shoppers found that U.S. consumers have their eyes on the price first, revealing that sustainability criteria (e.g. buying seasonal, regional, fairtrade) play a smaller role in the purchase decision.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Raising awareness of products’ different carbon footprints could certainly be a first step towards creating more conscious shoppers, but for the millions of families just trying to make ends meet, price will always trump conscience.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 23:20

• George Soros Outlines Dangers Posed By CCP Authoritarian Rule In 2022
  George Soros Outlines Dangers Posed By CCP Authoritarian Rule In 2022

  Authored by Michael Washburn via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The year 2022 will be a turning point where much of the world will pivot sharply in the direction of either authoritarianism and repression or openness, and events in China will play a decisive role, said billionaire financier George Soros at a virtual event hosted by the Hoover Institution think tank on Jan. 31.

  “2022 will be a critical year in the history of the world. In a few days, China, the most powerful authoritarian state, will be hosting the Winter Olympics, and like Germany in 1936, it will attempt to use the spectacle to score a propaganda victory for its system of state controls,” Soros, 91, said.

  

  Along other political contests such as the French elections and the Hungarian elections in April, and the U.S. mid-term elections in November, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) 20^th Party Congress—an all-important twice-a-decade Party meeting —in October makes 2022 a year with few parallels in history, Soros said.

  But he made a clear distinction between the CCP congress and elections in open societies with democratic legitimacy. Unlike the elections in France, Hungary, or the United States, the outcome of the CCP congress is seen as a fait accompli. Xi Jinping is widely expected to gain a third term as CCP leader through heavy-handed, coercive means.

  The stakes could not be higher as tensions between the CCP and Taiwan veer ever more in the direction of a military showdown. The reason this geopolitical crisis is different from another one dominating the headlines at the moment—Vladimir Putin’s designs on Ukraine—has partly to do with President Joe Biden’s reaction to these respective crises, Soros emphasized.

  “Biden has generally pursued the right policies. He has told Putin that Russia will pay a heavy price for invading Ukraine, but that the U.S. will not go to war,” Soros said.

  

  By contrast, Biden has sent a strong message to Xi that the use of military force against Taiwan will come up against an alliance of pro-Taiwan nations including the United States, the UK, Australia, India, and Japan, along potentially with a number of not-yet fully committed nations such as South Korea and the Philippines, Soros said. But the formidable array of defenders does not lessen the gravity of the crisis given Xi’s stated willingness to assert China’s claims over Taiwan by force if necessary, Soros warned.

  “He is devoting enormous resources to armaments. He surprised the world by introducing a hypersonic missile. The U.S. has nothing comparable,” Soros said.

  Xi’s aggressiveness on the global stage would be quite enough by itself to make 2022 a year unlike any other. Complementing this foreign policy stance is a dictatorial approach at home that has progressively undone the tentative market reforms ushered in by earlier CCP leaders, Soros noted. Economic reforms initiated by then-leader Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s invited foreigners to invest in China and fostered economic growth that spilled over, for a brief time, into the reign of the current leader, he added.

  In contrast to his predecessor, Xi Jinping has brought companies firmly under state control, come down heavily in favor of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) over private companies, and generally pursued what Soros called “total control.”

  “This has had disastrous consequences. In contrast to Deng, Xi Jinping is a true believer in communism. Marx and Lenin are his idols,” Soros stated.

  Chinese citizens have gotten the worst of both worlds under Xi’s rule, as authoritarianism has stifled many enterprises even while troubles in the real estate sector have swelled to dangerous levels based on what Soros called an unsustainable model. It is a system based excessively on credit, where people are now forced to start paying for apartments not yet even built, and subcontractors who have not been paid are simply ceasing to work.

  Matt Pottinger, a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and deputy national security advisor during the Trump administration, said he agreed with Soros that Xi wants total control and is unlikely to concede power peacefully. “I think he will do everything he can to stay in power for life,” Pottinger said.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 23:00

• Whoopi Goldberg Suspended From 'The View' After Doubling Down On Holocaust Comments
  Whoopi Goldberg Suspended From ‘The View’ After Doubling Down On Holocaust Comments

  Liberal ‘The View’ commentator Whoopi Goldberg (born Caryn Elaine Johnson) has been suspended for two weeks after claiming twice that the Holocaust was “not about race.”

  

  On Tuesday evening, ABC President Kim Godwin called Goldberg’s comments “wrong and hurtful,” and that the suspension would be “effective immediately,” according to Variety.

  “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities,” the statement continues.

  Goldberg’s comments on “The View” reached the highest level of decision makers at Disney, Variety can confirm. According to sources, Peter Rice, the chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content, was consulted on the public fallout for Goldberg.

  Goldberg’s remarks emerged during a conversation on Monday’s broadcast of “The View,” in which the co-hosts discussed a Tennessee school board’s ban of “Maus,” a nonfiction graphic novel about cartoonist Art Spiegelman’s father’s experience surviving the Holocaust. -Variety

  Goldberg apologized in a Monday evening statement, saying “On Today’s show, I said the Holocaust ‘is not about race, but about man’s inhumanity to man.’ I should have said it is about both.”

  “As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people—who they deemed to be an inferior race.’ I stand corrected.”

  Except then she went on Stephen Colbert and effectively doubled down.

  #BREAKING: Whoopi Goldberg Appears To Double Down On Her Comments That The Holocaust “Wasn’t About Race” Following Attempted Apology On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. She Later Apologized Again On This Morning’s Episode Of The View. #BreakingNews pic.twitter.com/JBzA5NHH0j

  — BREAKING NEWS (@Breaking_4_News) February 1, 2022

  Would you like to know more? 

  The Epoch Times‘ Bill Pan expounds:

  Goldberg first argued that the Holocaust went beyond race during a discussion on “The View” about a Tennessee school district’s decision to pull from its 8th-grade curriculum the graphic memoir “Maus,” which depicts author Art Spiegelman learning his Polish Jew parents’ experiences in the Auschwitz death camp, and famously portrays the Jews as mice, Germans as cats, and Poles as pigs.

  Although the removal has been widely reported as a permanent ban on the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, members of the McMinn County School Board explicitly said during the board meeting (pdf) that they wanted to find a better book to teach the Holocaust, and that they would reinstate Maus to the required reading list for 8th graders if they don’t find a good alternative.

  Despite the fact that neither Maus nor any other Holocaust book has been actually banned at McMinn County Schools, the discussion turned to an alleged conservative-led effort to prevent certain parts of history about race and racism from being taught in classrooms.

  “If you’re going to do this, then let’s be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn’t about race,” Goldberg asserted, to which co-host Ana Navarro disagreed, saying that the Holocaust was about “white supremacy” and “going after Jews and Gypsies.”

  “But these are two groups of white people,” Goldberg told Navarro. “You’re missing the point. The minute you turn it into race, it goes down this alley. Let’s talk about it for what it is. It’s how people treat each other. It’s a problem. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white because black, white, Jews, Italians, everybody eats each other.”

  Goldberg’s comments drew immediate backlash, including from Anti-Defamation League CEO Greenblatt, whom Goldberg addressed in her apology.

  According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Nazi regime did define Jews as a “race.” Embracing a social Darwinist “survival of the fittest” view on human society, the Nazis attributed a wide variety of negative stereotypes about Jews to an unchanging, biologically determined heritage that supposedly drove the “Jewish race” to struggle to survive by expansion at the expense of other races.

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 22:46

• Meatflation To Stick Around As US Cattle Herds Drop Amid Severe Drought
  Meatflation To Stick Around As US Cattle Herds Drop Amid Severe Drought

  A severe drought grips the Western U.S. has caused an unexpected plunge in the cattle herd, indicating ‘meatflation’ will be sticking around this year as consumers pay near record-high beef prices. 

  U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) biannual cattle inventory report for the second half of 2021 shows that the U.S. herd fell 2% a year ago. Bloomberg’s survey estimated a 1% decline. 

  

  “Plains squeezed supplies of hay and feed for cattle, prompting some ranchers to sell to slaughterhouses animals usually held for breeding. Now, deepening drought in the southern part of the Plains — where most cattle in the U.S. are raised — could force another round of herd reductions later this year,” Bloomberg said. 

  Derrell Peel, an extension livestock marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University, warned a “drought is looming large.” 

  “The cycle we are in right now is a liquidation phase,” Peel said. He means that worsening drought conditions will likely lead to more herd reductions. 

  According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the Western U.S. is plagued with a severe drought, reminiscent of the 1930s Dust Bowl era. The unrelenting drought will likely worsen in the months ahead. 

  

  Declining herd count is a significant concern for beef packers who face tighter markets that could send meat prices even higher. Consumers are already paying near-record high prices and could result in another price shock ahead of summer.

  Meanwhile, the misguided Biden administration is approaching the meat crisis entirely wrong, blaming greedy meat processors for meatflation. But the fact is, there’s a lot more to the story than the White House admits. From declining herds, labor shortages, soaring shipping costs, snarled supply chains, and rising commodity costs, many of these inputs are increasing costs than greedy meat processors. 

  

  As shown below, Americans pay some of the highest costs ever for ground beef at the supermarket. Still, under President Biden’s plan to tame meatflation, prices have yet to come down. 

  

  Worst comes to worst, the Biden administration could just tell Americans who can no longer afford beef just to eat protein-packed bugs. Ultimately, that’s what the elites want us peasants to eat.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 22:41

• AOC Takes Break From Twitter After Mean Tweets Trigger Anxiety
  AOC Takes Break From Twitter After Mean Tweets Trigger Anxiety

  Say it ain’t so!

  Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) announced on Monday that she’s taking a break from Twitter due to the amount of “negativity” on the platform.

  

  When asked on Monday night when she’ll come back, the 32-year-old Rep. responded via Instagram – saying she had turned off all her devices and wasn’t active on social media while recovering from Covid-19 earlier this month.

  “…I found that when I went to open Twitter up again, it just like wasn’t making me feel. So I mean literally I would go to open the app and almost felt like anxious,” she said, adding “People kinda fight and gossip and all sort of stuff so much. And there is a lot of negativity on there.”

  

  That said, AOC won’t be gone forever!

  “But I’ll be back, don’t worry. Just feel like a break,” she told her nearly 9 million followers.

  The Democrat announced earlier on 16 January that she had contracted Covid-19 has experienced debilitating symptoms even given the added protection provided by her vaccine.

  “Welp, so it happened. Got COVID, probably omicron. As of today I am thankfully recovered and wrapping up quarantine, but COVID was no joke,” she had written.

  Since then her response on her own Twitter account has been sparse and was last seen retweeting her interview with MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan on 27 January. -Independent

  Hopefully we won’t have to wait long for more entertainment, AOC style. In December, AOC interpreted criticism of hypocritical photos of her maskless in Miami as Republicans expressing their ‘sexual frustrations.’

  If Republicans are mad they can’t date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend’s feet.

  Ya creepy weirdos https://t.co/Z7bZCgXpWJ

  — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 31, 2021

   Hilarious!

  Still thinking about how @AOC’s response to being a hypocrite was, “Ooh I bet he wants to sex me up.” https://t.co/hmqz1CEv4p

  — Raheem J. Kassam (@RaheemKassam) December 31, 2021

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 22:21

• Natural Immunity Lasts For At Least 18 Months: Study
  Natural Immunity Lasts For At Least 18 Months: Study

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The protection people experience after recovering from COVID-19, known widely as natural immunity, lasts for at least 18 months, according to a recently published study.

  

  Researchers in Italy analyzed the level of antibodies in 36 patients who were documented as contracting COVID-19 in March 2020. About half of the patients went on to get COVID-19 vaccines, but the rest remained unvaccinated. Samples from all but two were tested at timed intervals, ending in September 2021, using assays that have received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

  “At 18 months, 97% participants tested positive for anti-NCP, hinting towards the persistence of infection-induced immunity even for the vaccinated individuals,” researchers wrote in the preprint paper, which was published on the medrxiv website.

  NCP stands for nucleocapsid, a part of SARS-CoV-2. Antibodies are believed to protect people against against infection from the virus.

  “Antibodies against nucleocapsid will be present only in recovered individuals and not vaccinated,” Dr. Asiya Zaidi, a research fellow at the Associazione Naso Sano and one of the authors, told The Epoch Times in an email.

  That means even the people who got vaccinated received protection from natural immunity.

  Researchers did find that vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines gave those with prior infection a significant boost, but that the increase in protection waned relatively quickly.

  “Our study findings demonstrate that while double dose vaccination boosted the IgG titers in recovered individuals 161 times, this “boost” was relatively short-lived. The unvaccinated recovered individuals, in contrast, continued to show a steady decline but detectable antibody levels. We do believe that further studies are required to re-evaluate the timing and dose regimen of vaccines for an adequate immune response in recovered individuals,” Zaidi said.

  Limitations of the longitudinal observational study include the small number of patients.

  The researchers, who fund their own research, said the limited sample size was due to a lack of funding because repeated serology tests for each patient for 18 months was expensive and because following up with all the patients and reminding them of the testing was difficult.

  Its strengths include the remarkable length of time.

  “This is the longest observation (March 2020-September 2021) for the presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in recovered individuals along with the impact of 2 dose-BNT162b2 vaccination on the titers,” the researchers wrote.

  SARS-CoV-2, also known as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, causes COVID-19. BNT162b2 is the trade name for the Pfizer jab.

  Previous studies have demonstrated the powerful effect of natural immunity against the virus, including a study published in Nature in mid-January that found that the response of memory B cells, a marker of protection against severe COVID-19, evolved in the months following infection “in a manner that is consistent with antigen persistence.”

  Other markers of protection were observed in studies in 2021 to last at least over 7 months, at least 8 months, at least 10 months, at least 11 months, at least 13 months, and at least 14 months. The studies were completed before the emergence of the Omicron virus variant, which early data indicate is better at evading both natural immunity and vaccine-derived protection.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 22:20

• Buzzfeed Freezes Hiring As Investors Flee Following Rocky Market Debut
  Buzzfeed Freezes Hiring As Investors Flee Following Rocky Market Debut

  After going on an ill-advised shopping spree that saw it gobble up the Huffington Post and Complex, it appears Buzzfeed is being forced to tighten the belt, the latest signal that the company’s last-ditch effort to spend its way to profitability is backfiring.

  As Axios reported Tuesday, the company is under serious financial pressure after high levels of redemptions by investors. The firm’s journalists greeted Buzzfeed’s post-SPAC debut with a walkout, and looking back, it’s too bad the company doesn’t have any business reporters to lecture management on the pitfalls of SPAC financing – though its rivals did try to warn them.

  

  Investor redemptions have occurred concurrently with a massive and broad-based drawdown in shares of (mostly unprofitable) companies that went public via the SPAC route.

  The drawdowns are particularly troubling for Buzzfeed because the share price is its stock in trade, and without a robust valuation, Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti’s planned-for buying binge can’t continue.

  So, if Buzzfeed doesn’t find a way to turn things around today, not tomorrow, and – more importantly – convince investors to buy in, it’s in real trouble. For now, the result is cutbacks: the company has reportedly frozen hiring for all but “essential” positions. And it’s pretty hard to grow if you can’t hire anybody.

  Hilariously, Peretti tried to blame the company’s losses as the result of his acquisition-focused strategy, and blamed “integration”-related troubles. Bizarrely, he also found a way to blame “supply chain issues”. Apparently, “commerce” is now an important part of Buzzfeed’s business.

  What’s worse is that some of Buzzfeed’s investors were apparently taken aback by the news. One told an Axios reporter that it “[didn’t] track with anything else we have been told.”

  Shares of the company have barely budged off their all-time post-debut low below $4 a share.

  Turns out, Buzzfeed employees have plenty to complain about. Many are stuck with shares they currently can’t sell, and some who joined before it became a unicorn are even underwater on their investments in the firm, according to Axios. Buzzfeed has yet to release quarterly earnings, or even set a date for release of its first round of financials as a public company.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 22:00

• 150 Meat Trucks Stranded At US-Canada Border As Protests Continue
  150 Meat Trucks Stranded At US-Canada Border As Protests Continue

  The U.S. is Canada’s largest export buyer for beef and Canada’s largest importer supplier. Any disruption to the meat trade between both countries would have severe consequences for meat processors in Canada and consumers in the US. 

  Days after the “Freedom Convoy” of truckers protesting vaccine mandates in Ottawa, the country’s capital, protests are spreading to US-Canadian border crossings and furthering logistical headaches. 

  Bloomberg reports 150 trucks packed with beef, bound for the US, are stuck in a traffic jam at the border at Coutts, Alberta, the Canadian Meat Council said. Since the weekend, a convoy of truckers has slowed processing times between Alberta and Montana. 

  We reported as of Monday, more than 100 truckers blocked the US-Canadian border between Alberta and Montana. 

  BREAKING: Massive convoy of truckers have blockaded the US-Canada border crossing in Alberta pic.twitter.com/A4KHrzETbv

  — Truckistan Amb. Poso 🏁 (@JackPosobiec) January 31, 2022

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  On Sunday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney called for an end to the blockade, stating: “Canadians have a democratic right to engage in lawful protests. I urge those involved in this truck convoy protest to do so as safely as possible, and not to create road hazards that could lead to accidents or unsafe conditions for other drivers.”

  “It is not yet clear what the provincial or federal government is doing to facilitate a resolution. The longer this takes, it will cause more supply chain issues and this will affect everyone from producer to consumer,” Marie-France MacKinnon, a spokesperson for the council, said. 

  

  What sparked convoys across border crossings and the capital is a new measure imposed by the Canadian government on Jan. 15 requiring unvaccinated cross-border truckers to quarantine upon returning home, making it virtually impossible for them to work.

  Trucker convoys are so disruptive to trade between the US-Canada that local officials are expected to take action to resolve the protest revolt. 

  Every truck taken out of the supply chain is one less truck that can haul goods. This comes as virus-related worker absenteeism and labor shortages have prolonged supply chain woes. Snarling chains, even more, has been an answer by the people to band together against medical tyranny by the government. There’s just one problem, blocking cross-border trade or at least slowing it down will further supply chain issues and could spark meat shortages in the US. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 21:55

• 'Someone Opened The Doors From The Inside,' Jan. 6 Defense Attorney Says
  ‘Someone Opened The Doors From The Inside,’ Jan. 6 Defense Attorney Says

  Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Kelly Meggs and other members of the Oath Keepers couldn’t have done one of the major things of which they’re accused by federal prosecutors: forcing their way into the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 6, 2021, through the famous Columbus Doors, a defense attorney says.

  The two sets of historic doors that lead into the Rotunda were opened by someone on the inside and not his client, according to defense attorney Jonathon Moseley.

  

  Department of Justice video widely circulated on Twitter since last week shows a man trying to open the inner doors by leaning against them, before turning around as if listening to someone, then returning to the entrance and opening the left door for protesters.

  “The outer doors cast from solid bronze would require a bazooka, an artillery shell, or C4 military-grade explosives to breach,” Moseley wrote in a letter to federal prosecutors. “That of course did not happen. You would sooner break into a bank vault than to break the bronze outer Columbus Doors.”

  The 20,000-pound Columbus Doors that lead into the Rotunda on the east side of the U.S. Capitol are secured by magnetic locks that can only be opened from the inside by using a security code controlled by Capitol Police, Moseley wrote in an eight-page memo.

  ‘Impossible and Cannot Be Done’

  “Imagine how the prosecution will prove at trial what cannot be proven because it is not true,” Moseley wrote to prosecutors Jeffrey S. Nestler and Kathryn Leigh Rakoczy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. “Who is going to testify that the defendants entered the Columbus Doors when the U.S. Capitol Police will begrudgingly testify that that is impossible and cannot be done?”

  In a superseding indictment on Jan. 12, Meggs and 10 other members of the Oath Keepers were charged with seditious conspiracy, destruction of government property, obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder, tampering with documents, and other counts related to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

  The indictment charges that Meggs led a “stack formation” up the Capitol steps and to the entrance at the Columbus Doors. At 2:39 p.m., the doors were breached, and stack one entered the Capitol with the mob, according to the indictment.

  Moseley said there’s one big problem with that accusation: It’s impossible to force entry from the outside. Only someone with the security code could release the locks—and only from the inside.

  Video evidence submitted in the case shows the glass panes in the inner doors were cracked, but intact, so no one accessed the building through the windows or by reaching for the inside door handles, he said.

  “Therefore, nobody opened the Rotunda doors from the outside,” Moseley wrote. “Someone opened the doors from the inside.”

  Video footage shot by multimedia journalist Michael Nigro shows the outer bronze doors were partially retracted before a large crowd gathered outside of the entrance. The inner doors were closed, and U.S. Capitol Police were stationed outside. Protesters sprayed police with pepper spray, threw items at them, and hit them with flagpoles.

  A short time later, the inner doors were opened and hundreds of protesters streamed into the Rotunda, the video footage shows. A protester in the Rotunda is heard shouting, “Don’t vandalize the property!”

  Capitol Tour Confirms Door Security

  U.S. sculptor Randolph Rogers designed the solid-bronze doors to depict scenes from the life of explorer Christopher Columbus. The doors were first installed in 1863, moved in 1871 to the central east entrance, and moved to their current location in 1961.

  The doors are 17 feet high and weigh 20,000 pounds, according to the Architect of the Capitol. Once opened, the giant doors retract into pockets in the walls via built-in tracks.

  Moseley asked federal prosecutors for “any and all specifications, details and operational information about the so-called Columbus Doors.”

  He and an assistant took a tour of the Capitol on Jan. 22, along with other attorneys and investigators. The U.S. Capitol Police officers on duty were emphatic that the doors couldn’t be opened from the outside, he said.

  “These are facts that in the supposedly largest nationwide investigation in the history of the U.S. since the kidnapping of the Charles Lindbergh baby or the search for Al Capone could easily have been investigated, [checked], and determined before the U.S. Attorney’s Office presented false information to the grand jury,” Moseley wrote.

  “For these purposes, I don’t care who opened the Columbus Doors from the inside, or why, or who they worked for. History will reveal all of that. History will care very much. But all I care about is that it wasn’t my client or any of these defendants, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office knows that or should have discovered it upon reasonable investigation.”

  The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia didn’t respond to a request for comment on Moseley’s letter by press time.

  The superseding indictment states that Meggs and four other Oath Keepers became part of a mob that “aggressively advanced toward the Rotunda Doors, assaulted the law enforcement officers guarding the doors, threw objects and sprayed chemicals toward the officers and the doors and pulled violently on the doors.”

  The mob breached the Rotunda entrance at about 2:39 p.m., according to the indictment.

  Nigro’s video footage from outside the entrance shows a group of Oath Keepers near the Columbus Doors, which are clearly open at the time the men got near the threshold. By the time they entered the Capitol, dozens if not more than 100 people had flowed into the building, the footage shows.

  ‘Baseless Prosecution’

  Moseley accused prosecutors of crafting a “fabricated case” against the Oath Keepers that’s “false and reprehensible.”

  “This baseless prosecution is the greatest threat to the Republic since 1812. This prosecution is not about an attack on our Republic. This prosecution IS the attack on our Republic,” Moseley wrote, “seeking to criminalize political dissent, free speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of political association, and the right to petition government for the redress of grievances.”

  Moseley criticized federal authorities for “dishonestly trying to deceive the public” for eight months by concealing the fact that six demonstration permits had been issued for the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. Implicit in those permits is the permission for people to have ingress and egress across the grounds to reach each event, he said.

  This baseless prosecution is the greatest threat to the Republic since 1812.

  — Jonathon Moseley

  Moseley proposed a stipulation that both sides in the case agree that none of the demonstrators or the defendants opened the Columbus Doors on Jan. 6, 2021, and that the government strike three paragraphs of the indictment that refer to the defendants entering the Capitol because they’re “untrue and withdrawn.” Prosecutors refused that proposal, he said.

  News of the Columbus Doors issue comes as more video footage released from protective court seal shows large groups of Jan. 6, 2021, protesters peacefully streaming into the U.S. Capitol through wide-open doors. Among them was Rabbi Mike Stepakoff, who spent about five minutes inside the Capitol, doing nothing more than looking around and taking photos.

  On his way out, Stepakoff stopped to shake hands with a police officer and “told him ‘thank you for his service, we love you, and God bless you,’” according to his attorney, Marina Medvin.

  Stepakoff was charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, all misdemeanors.

  Stepakoff pleaded guilty to the parading charge and received 12 months of probation. The other charges were dismissed, Medvin said in a statement. The government sought to punish him with a jail term “for events he did not partake in, for destruction and violence he did not witness, for severity he did not experience, and for an effect he did not cause nor could foresee,” she said.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 21:40

• COVID Testing Company Faked Results, Lied To Patients And Improperly Stored Samples: Lawsuit
  COVID Testing Company Faked Results, Lied To Patients And Improperly Stored Samples: Lawsuit

  An Illinois-based Covid-19 testing company which operates at least 13 sites in Washington state has been accused of faking, delaying, or failing to provide test results, lying to patients, and improperly storing test samples, according to a lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court by Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the Seattle Times reports.

  

  The defendant is the Center for COVID control, which has expanded to roughly 300 locations across the Untied States – taking advantage of residents when frequent Covid-19 testing was in high demand as a “critical tool in the fight against COVID-19,” the filing reads.

  “Center for COVID Control contributed to the spread of COVID-19 when it provided false negative results,” said Ferguson in a statement, adding “These sham testing centers threatened the health and safety of our communities. They must be held accountable.“

  The suit also alleges the Center for COVID Control stored tests in garbage bags for more than a week, rather than properly refrigerating them; backdated sample-collection dates so stale samples would still be processed; and instructed its employees to “lie to patients on a daily basis” when Washingtonians asked about delayed results.

  Ferguson also named Akbar Syed, Aleya Siyaj and Doctors Clinical Laboratory in the lawsuit.

  Syed and Siyaj, who are married, co-founded the testing company and live in Illinois, according to the suit. Doctors Clinical Laboratory is also based in Illinois and tests samples collected in Washington, though it’s not registered with the Washington Secretary of State’s Office, the suit says. -Seattle Times

  For the last several weeks, customers across the country have been complaining about delayed or missing test results, causing health authorities in multiple states – including CA and IL, to launch investigations.

  According to the Washington AG’s office, the company failed to procure a license to operate in Washington (aside from Yakima), and plans to file for a preliminary injunction to stop them “soon,” the statement reads.

  One former Illinois-based employee quit the Center for COVID Control after they said they saw “trash bags of tests piled up and (their) team was instructed to lie to patients on a daily basis.”

  

  As the company fell further behind on processing samples, the statement said, they were “flooded” with calls asking about results — leading to hourslong wait times. Employees were then told to tell patients to expect results in 24 hours, even if there was no information about the particular sample, or that their results were inconclusive, which would require the patient to get another test.

  As of Monday, the company had also billed the federal government $124 million for tests for “uninsured” patients, the statement said. -Seattle Times

  “The company frequently marked patients as ‘uninsured,’ even if they were insured,” said Ferguson’s office. “Employees were instructed to mark patients as ‘uninsured’ if the patient didn’t provide their insurance information by the time of testing or if their insurance company wasn’t listed on the company’s data entry form.”

  Read the rest of the report here.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 21:20

• "Ill-Founded" Lockdowns Had "Little To No Public Health Effect"; Analysis Of 24 Studies Concludes
  “Ill-Founded” Lockdowns Had “Little To No Public Health Effect”; Analysis Of 24 Studies Concludes

  Authored by Ivan Pentchoukov via The Epoch Times,

  Lockdown measures used by governments worldwide to reduce the death toll from the pandemic had little or no impact on COVID-19 mortality, according to three researchers who analyzed 24 studies.

  

  The researchers, led by Steve Hanke, the co-founder of The Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise, screened 18,590 studies to select the 24 papers used for the final analysis.

  They concluded that lockdowns in Europe and the United States reduced the mortality from COVID-19 by 0.2 percent on average. Shelter-in-place orders reduced mortality by 2.9 percent on average, they found.

  “While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted,” the researchers wrote.

  “In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”

  The study specifically looked at mandated government measures, including mask mandates and travel bans, rather than voluntary measures.

  Of all the lockdown measures analyzed, the closure of non-essential business appeared to have the largest impact, reducing COVID-19 mortality by 10.6 percent on average, the study found. The researchers speculate that this is largely due to the closure of bars.

  “Only business closure consistently shows evidence of a negative relationship with COVID-19 mortality, but the variation in the estimated effect is large. Three studies find little to no effect, and three find large effects. Two of the larger effects are related to closing bars and restaurants,” the study states.

  The study found that lockdowns and limiting gatherings slightly increased COVID-19 mortality by 0.6 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.

  “Overall, we conclude that lockdowns are not an effective way of reducing mortality rates during a pandemic, at least not during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the researchers wrote.

  The finding of the meta-analysis is in line with an analysis of 100 COVID-19 studies published in September last year, which concluded “that lockdowns have had, at best, a marginal effect on the number of Covid-19 deaths.”

  Meanwhile, the conclusion contrasts with a late 2020 meta-analysis that found that lockdowns successfully reduced COVID-19 mortality. The researchers in the Johns Hopkins study point out that the 2020 analysis used several modeling studies “which we have explicitly excluded.”

  While having little to no impact on COVID-19 mortality, lockdowns had a significant effect on people suffering from other ailments.

  Lockdowns led to some 40 percent of American adults delaying or avoiding getting urgent medical care in June 2020. In the U.K., lockdown-related delays to lung cancer diagnoses could lead to 2,500 extra deaths, according to an analysis by the UK Lung Cancer Coalition.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 21:00

• Taibbi: The British Medical Journal Story That Exposed Politicized "Fact-Checking"
  Taibbi: The British Medical Journal Story That Exposed Politicized “Fact-Checking”

  Authored by Matt Taibbi via TK News,

  In February of 2010, the New York Times released a front-page story entitled, “Research Ties Diabetes Drug to Heart Woes.” The lede read:

  Hundreds of people taking Avandia, a controversial diabetes medicine, needlessly suffer heart attacks and heart failure each month, according to confidential government reports that recommend the drug be removed from the market.

  The Times piece quoted an internal F.D.A. report that said the GlaxoSmithKline diabetes drug Avandia, also known as Rosiglitazone, was “linked” to 304 deaths in 2009, adding the conclusion of the two doctors who authored the report: “Rosiglitazone should be removed from the market.” The story was released in advance of a Senate Finance Committee study that produced a series of damning internal documents, including one in which an FDA safety officer expressed concern that Avandia presented such serious cardiovascular risks that “the safety of the study itself cannot be assured, and is not acceptable.”

  One of the chief investigators on that study was Paul Thacker, at the time a committee aide under Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley. Multi-year document hauls like the Avandia report were Thacker’s stock in trade. I first met him around then because his committee frequently dealt with financial crisis issues I covered. Thacker, who went on to work at ProPublica and contribute to a number of commercial and academic journals, was trained in a tradition of bipartisan committee reporting that relies heavily on documents and on-the-record testimony, i.e. the indisputable stuff both sides are comfortable backing.

  

  Thacker has an in-your-face style and a dark sense of humor, and talking to him can feel like being lost in a Bill Hicks routine, but his information is good. Both in his years in the Senate and in his time with ProPublica, his job was publicizing damaging information about the world’s most litigious companies. Certain Washington jobs require a healthy fear of the $1000-an-hour lawyers that every Fortune 500 company has on speed dial, and Thacker has always retained the Beltway investigator’s usefully paranoid approach to publishing.

  “I know how to do these things,” he says. “I know how to work with whistleblowers.”

  It was more than a little surprising, then, when Thacker’s name appeared in the middle of a bizarre international fact-checking controversy. In an article for one of the world’s oldest academic outlets, the British Medical Journal, Thacker wrote a piece entitled, “Covid-19: Researcher blows the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer’s vaccine trial.” He did what he’d done countless times, shepherding into print the tale of an apparent whistleblower with an unsettling story. Brook Jackson worked for a Texas firm called Ventavia that conducted a portion of the research trials for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. This is the same vaccine that Thacker himself, who now lives in Spain and is married to a physician, had taken.

  After going through both legal and peer review, but without contacting Ventavia — apparently, they feared an injunction — the BMJ published Thacker’s piece on November 2nd, 2021. The money passage read:

  A regional director who was employed at the research organization Ventavia Research Group has told The BMJ that the company falsified data, unblinded patients, employed inadequately trained vaccinators, and was slow to follow up on adverse events reported in Pfizer’s pivotal phase III trial.

  Beginning on November 10th, 2021, the editors began receiving complaints from readers, who said they were having difficulty sharing it. As editors Fiona Godlee and Kamran Abbassi later wrote in an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg:

  Some reported being unable to share it. Many others reported having their posts flagged with a warning about “Missing context … Independent fact-checkers say this information could mislead people.” Those trying to post the article were informed by Facebook that people who repeatedly share “false information” might have their posts moved lower in Facebook’s News Feed. Group administrators where the article was shared received messages from Facebook informing them that such posts were “partly false.”

  Facebook has yet to to queries about this piece. Meanwhile, the site that conducted Facebook’s “fact check,” Lead Stories, ran a piece dated November 10th whose URL used the term “hoax alert” (Lead Stories denies they called the BMJ piece a hoax). Moreover, they deployed a rhetorical device that such “checking” sites now use with regularity, repeatedly correcting assertions Thacker and the British Medical Journal never made. This began with the title: “The British Medical Journal Did NOT Reveal Disqualifying And Ignored Reports Of Flaws In Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Trials.”

  The British Medical Journal never said Jackson’s story revealed “disqualifying flaws” in the vaccine. Nor did it claim the negative information “calls into question the results of the Pfizer clinical trial.” It also didn’t claim that the story is “serious enough to discredit data from the clinical trials.” The BMJ’s actual language said Jackson’s story could “raise questions about data integrity and regulatory oversight,” which is true.

  The real issue with Thacker’s piece is that it went viral and was retweeted by the wrong people. As Lead Stories noted with marked disapproval, some of those sharers included the likes of Dr. Robert Malone and Robert F. Kennedy. To them, this clearly showed that the article was bad somehow, but the problem was, there was nothing to say the story was untrue.

  In a remarkable correspondence with BMJ editors, Lead Stories editor Alan Duke explained that the term “missing context” was invented by Facebook:

  To deal with content that could mislead without additional context but which was otherwise true or real… Sometimes Facebook’s messaging about the fact checking labels can sound overly aggressive and scary. If you have an issue with their messaging you should indeed take it up with them as we are unable to change any of it.

  “Missing context” has become a term to disparage reporting that is true but inconvenient. As Thacker notes in the Q&A below, “They’re checking narrative, not fact.”

  The significance of the British Medical Journal story is that it showed how easily reporting that is true can be made to look untrue or conspiratorial. The growing bureaucracy of “fact-checking” sites that help platforms like Facebook decide what to flag is now taking into account issues like: the political beliefs of your sources, the presence of people of ill repute among your readers, and the tendency of audiences to draw unwanted inferences from the reported facts. All of this can now become part of how authorities do or do not define reporting as factual.

  “But that’s not a fact check,” says Thacker. “You just don’t like the story.”

  Click here to subscribe.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 20:20

• Ford To Invest Up To $20 Billion To Accelerate Shift To Electric Vehicles
  Ford To Invest Up To $20 Billion To Accelerate Shift To Electric Vehicles

  Ford has announced today it plans to spend as much as $20 billion to accelerate its shift to electric vehicles.

  The company’s newest reorganization efforts are being spearheaded by Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley and Doug Field, the former head of Apple’s car project.

  Under the plane, Ford will spend $10 billion to $20 billion over the next 5 to 10 years to convert factories from traditional ICE production infrastructure to buildings with EV production capabilities, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. 

  The report said that Farley wants to “challenge Tesla’s dominance in EVs”. Already, investors have rewarded Ford’s initiative, with its stock touching multi-decade highs near $25 per share and a $100 billion market cap earlier this month. 

  The reorganization is also going to result in a hiring binge, according to the Bloomberg report, which said that the company will sport “a reworked Ford organizational chart, including the hiring of an unspecified number of engineers specializing in disciplines relatively new to the company, such as battery chemistry, artificial intelligence and EV software.”

  Ford has also considered spinning off some of its EV business in order to capture some of the valuations that the market is assigning to EV companies. The spin-off would involve lower-volume EVs while the legacy company would continue its focus on mass market EVs. 

  

  A Ford spokesman said Tuesday: “We are executing our Ford Plus plan to transform the company and thrive in this new era of electric and connected vehicles. We would not comment on speculation.”

  The shift doesn’t necessarily portend a quick exit from ICE vehicles, however. Bloomberg wrote:

  Farley sees gasoline-fueled vehicles as a core part of the company for many years to come and still intends to invest enough to keep it competitive with rivals, he said in a seperate
  interview last week. One way is to boost the services Ford sells to car owners — a business that could generate $20 billion a year in revenue. That could include selling drivers software to upgrade their car’s performance or enhance dashboard touchscreens. Or it may involve getting more business in the service bays at Ford’s dealers, which see 90% of owners go elsewhere for maintenance after their warranties expire, Farley said.

  In addition to Apple, Field was also a former executive at Tesla. Farley has overseen Ford tripling its output of its electric Mustang Mach-E and doubling production of its coming F-150 Lightning. 

  “I really admire, frankly, the difficulties they had and the way they managed those difficulties into the success they had,” Farley has previously said of Tesla. “They are now making more than $10,000 a vehicle, because of their scale. I like that kind of business.”

  The CEO commented last week: “What it takes to succeed in this digital, connected, electric product are talents and know-how and a way of managing the business that’s different than what we’ve done in 118 years. It’s kinda like snowboarding and skiing. We both share the lift, but as soon as you get off the lift the intuitions are wrong between both businesses. You have to really relearn to how to get down the slope.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 20:00

• 500 Dead In Northeast Syria "Major ISIS Comeback Plot"
  500 Dead In Northeast Syria “Major ISIS Comeback Plot”

  Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com,

  The latest statement from the Kurdish SDF on over a week of fighting against ISIS in Hasakeh put the overall death toll at nearly 500, including 77 prison staff and 374 prisoners.

  The prison was holding ISIS detainees, so the labels of prison staff and prisoners could be meant to include SDF forces defending the prison, and ISIS attackers trying to help prisoners escape. The SDF arrested a number of attackers, and has also captured 27 in nearby Raqqa, suggesting that they are worried about a growing ISIS presence.

  

  The US is praising the SDF, but also crediting America’s own involvement in the fighting. This was seen as a “major ISIS comeback plot,” and indeed this was the biggest ISIS fight in Syria since 2019.

  According to the Associated Press account of the nearly two week-long ordeal: “The Syrian Democratic Forces said more than 120 of their fighters and prison workers died in the 10-day standoff at the Gweiran prison, also known as al-Sinaa prison, which houses at least 3,000 Islamic State group detainees. Some 374 IS militants, including the initial attackers, were also killed, it added.”

  “The Jan. 20 assault on one of the largest detention facilities in Syria has turned the city of Hassakeh into a conflict zone and forced thousands of residents to flee,” the report added. “The fighting drew in the U.S.-led coalition, which carried out airstrikes and deployed American personnel in Bradley Fighting Vehicles to the scene.”

  

  Where the ISIS situation goes from here remains to be seen, but the group is probably not going to give up after one failed raid, and has shown that it has recovered some of its power.

  Up to hundreds of ISIS terrorists may have escaped the prison which was located in a US-occupied area of Syria.

  NEW – #SDF announce initial, more reliable numbers from #ISIS’s attack on al-Sina Prison:

  – 400 #ISIS “missing”
  – 374 #ISIS killed
  – 77 #SDF-linked prison staff killed
  – 40 #SDF killed

  FWIW, if 400 #ISIS escaped, that’s a big deal for NE #Syria dynamics.

  — Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) January 31, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  That said, the Raqqa arrest raids show the SDF is also going to be proactive in trying to stamp down any ISIS presence.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 19:40

• Quebec Scraps Planned Tax On Unvaccinated Residents Amid Growing Backlash
  Quebec Scraps Planned Tax On Unvaccinated Residents Amid Growing Backlash

  Perhaps seeing the massive response to the Canadian truckers’ “Freedom Convoy” this weekend – and, more importantly, their prime ministers’ cowering response before he conveniently tested positive for COVID himself just weeks after receiving his booster – was enough to make the provincial government in Quebec rethink its plans to tax any adult who refuses the vaccine.

  

  Plans for the “health tax” have reportedly been scrapped, according to Francois Legault, the premier of the French-speaking province, who made the announcement during a news conference earlier on Tuesday. Even Legault acknowledged that the planned tax had “deeply divided Quebecers.”

  “Right now we have to build bridges,” he added. “To move Quebec forward in a calm social climate, I am announcing that the government will not introduce this bill on the health contribution.”

  In early January, Legault had announced plans to tax residents who had not yet taken the COVID vaccine, citing a “burden” they were placing on the province’s health-care networks.

  “Those who refuse to receive their first dose in the coming weeks will have to pay a new health contribution,” Legault said at the time. “I know the situation is tough, but we can get through this together. We need to focus our efforts on two things: Getting the first, second, and third doses of vaccine and reducing our contacts, especially with older people.”

  As a reminder, Quebec has faced levels of oppression and encroachment on personal liberty that are unmatched anywhere outside of China. /p>

  Last week, Quebec’s Health Ministry required “anyone without a vaccination passport must be accompanied at all times by a store employee and cannot purchase products other than those related to the pharmaceutical service they are receiving.”

  While MSM reports didn’t mention them until lower in the story, it’s clear the reaction to the Canadian truckers, who held a “Freedom rally” in Ottawa over the weekend, likely contributed to the governor’s decision.

  Of course, public opinion polling has shown that a majority of Canadians want all COVID restrictions removed, as the Epoch Times has reported.

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Meanwhile, RCMP units have reportedly been called in to arrest truckers blocking the border between the US and Canada in Alberta, according to the CBC. Police are reportedly moving in ready to make arrests and seize equipment.

  Update (1600ET): The RCMP has reportedly started with “enforcement actions

  Although some local towing companies have reportedly refused service.

  Alberta towing companies reject requests to supply trucks to RCMP to Tow Truckshttps://t.co/5KXH7Btow8#CouttsCrisis #BorderCrisis #abpoli #AbLeg #truckers

  — KHAN 🇨🇦🇺🇲🇮🇱 (@WrathOfRed) February 1, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Monday’s announcement marked the second time the Quebec government has walked back public health measures meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus. It also nixed compulsory inoculations for all health care workers last year fearing it would lead to thousands of nurses quitting their jobs, worsening an already severe worker shortage in the sector.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 19:20

• Bill Maher Is Right: It's The Left That Has Gotten More Radical
  Bill Maher Is Right: It’s The Left That Has Gotten More Radical

  Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

  The left is increasingly growing angry with Bill Maher for the comedian’s accurate, common sense take that Covid has become a hysteria in the country.

  For Bill, it’s a case of “better late than never” – he certainly wasn’t around criticizing the hysteria a year ago, as Adam Corolla pointed out this weekend:

  

  But hey, at least we know he has a learning curve.

  

  On his show last week, Maher stunned many on the left by publicly reading off facts that are inconvenient to those pushing the Covid hysteria narrative.

  “I asked for the COVID deaths by state, this is per 100,000 people,” Maher said, according to The Daily Wire. “The worst is Mississippi. My home state New Jersey, four, fourth worst. New York, sixth worst. West Virginia and Massachusetts are 10 and 11, right together. Could there be two states who are more unalike than West Virginia and Massachusetts? And the poster boy for keeping s*** open was Florida, they’re down at 17. So New York and New Jersey did worse than Florida.”

  He continued: “Florida is home to all the old people in America. What this is saying – Florida, like, stayed open. I mean, I was just in Florida. I’ve been there a few times since this started. The atmosphere is just different. I’m not moving to Florida, I’m not promoting Florida. I’m just saying AOC just went to Florida and had a good time without a mask.”

  

  In fact, in proving that most of the right just seeks out common sense, Maher has said that “he’s become a ‘hero’ at Fox News because he’s willing to call out progressive leftists, who he says ‘have their head up their ass,’” according to The Daily News.

  Maher then accurately stated that it is the left that has changed, not him.

  “Let’s get this straight. It’s not me who changed — it’s the left, who is now made up of a small contingent who’ve gone mental, and a large contingent who refuse to call them out for it. But I will. That’s why I’m a hero at Fox these days. Which shows just how much liberals have their head up their a–, because if they really thought about it, they would have made me a hero on their media.”

  

  Today’s blog post has been published without a paywall because I believe the content to be far too important to deny to anyone. However, if you have the means and would like to support my work by subscribing, I’d be happy to offer you 22% off for 2022:

  Get 22% off forever

  

  And you know Maher is really onto something because he prompted this indignant meltdown by Whoopi Goldberg, who, by the end of her exasperated diatribe, doesn’t really even seem to remember what she was complaining about in the first place.

  Goldberg even places special emphasis on children, either knowingly or unknowingly trying to shoehorn her argument in, in favor of “the kids”, who are disproportionately not affected by Covid.

  But the facts, relative to the hysteria, once again don’t hold water. No one wants to trivialize the death of children, but the fact of the matter is that this hysteria we are trying to blanket 350 million Americans with is unwarranted.

  In 2018, the last year this data was made available by the CDC (I wonder why), almost 2,700 kids aged 1-14 (not 18) died of “unintentional injuries”. About 640 died from homicide and about 240 died from influenza and pneumonia. Another 6,800 people between the age of 10-24 died from suicide.

  Meanwhile, the American Academy of Pediatrics has said this year between 0.00%-0.02% of all child COVID-19 cases have resulted in death. That means that 99.98% to 100% of all child COVID-19 cases do not result in death.

  Throughout the entire pandemic – the millions and millions of cases logged over the course of almost two years, not one – 789 total children since the beginning of 2020 (and this counts up to 18 years old) have been counted as Covid deaths.

  From them, the amount of children that have died with Covid versus from Covid – and those who unfortunately had preexisting conditions – remains to be seen.

  

  “Little kids under the age of 5!” Goldberg screamed in her rant.

  But CDC data updated last week shows that just 280 deaths have occurred in children “under the age of 5” in the last two years as Goldberg crows about.

  That’s an average of 140 deaths per year: less than all of the above mentioned causes of death from 2018.

  

  Meanwhile, overall childhood deaths in total were actually lower in 2020, despite the pandemic.

  

  Look, deaths are a terrible tragedy and deaths of children are even more devastating. No one wants children to die. No one wants anyone to die. But we must come to terms with the fact that it’s a part of the sacred gamble that is life and we must look at this data relative to the drastic steps we are taking.

  When considering the hysteria relative to the narrative being pushed on 350 million Americans, it just doesn’t make common sense – and that’s why Maher is starting to “get it” and catch on, while the hysterical fringe of his left-wing audience sits at home sketching up ways of how they’re now going to cancel him.

  

  Now read:

  1. George Gammon: Covid Is In The “Rearview Mirror” Only Because Politicians Know They “Can’t Win Votes Locking You In A Cage”

  2. This Potentially Generational Sector Opportunity Still Looks Ripe

  3. Millionaire Book-Writer And Professional Board-Sitter Chelsea Clinton Attacks Substack Authors As “Grifters”

  4. Spotify Has Officially Become The Battleground For Big Tech’s Censorship Civil War

  5. Waking Up And Derailing The Great Reset

  6. Inflation Is The Kryptonite That Will End Our Decades-Long Monetary Policy Ponzi Scheme

  —

  Today’s blog post has been published without a paywall because I believe the content to be far too important to deny to anyone. However, if you have the means and would like to support my work by subscribing, I’d be happy to offer you 22% off for 2022: Get 22% off forever

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 19:00

• San Francisco Residents Flocking To Montana As Demand Has "Exploded"
  San Francisco Residents Flocking To Montana As Demand Has “Exploded”

  The great exodus out of California continues!

  

  Specifically, in today’s episode we note that people from San Francisco are flocking to Montana, which has seen a 140% increase from Fog City when comparing total moves from 2018-2019 and 2020-2021, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

  

  “I have a vacation rental [in Bozeman],” said Bozeman real estate broker Cancis Dorsch, who’s spent years selling vacation homes to Bay Area residents and says that demand from the Bay Area has ‘exploded.’

  “It became slam-booked for the entire summer. Buyers were making phone calls, buyers were buying properties, sight unseen, to get out of the Bay Area. It really happened in the very beginning, and never really stopped.”

  During the same time period as above, overall moves from the Bay Area to Montana increased by 51% according to data on migration patterns produced by the California Policy Lab based out of the University of California.

  The data tracks movements of all Californian adults with active credit information. In order to analyze moves over the same time periods, we looked at data from the first seven quarters of 2020-2021 and compared them to the same period in 2018-2019. -SF Chronicle

  

  That said, while the percentage increase from SF to Montana may have jumped – in terms of raw numbers, there were only 360 total moves from San Francisco to Montana in 2020 and the first three quarters of 2021. Still, “while San Francisco saw the biggest pandemic-era percent increase to Montana, all 10 of California’s most populous counties saw move-outs to the state increase significantly,” according to the report, which notes that based on the 32 counties with enough data to track movements, at least 13,000 Californians moved to Montana over the last two years.

  

  Fewer people moving to California

  During the pandemic, the rate of people migrating out of the Golden State accelerated – contributing to a decade-long trend of out-migration, according to California Policy Lab Executive Director, Evan White.

  “There’s been a slow decline in net entrances for a long time,” he said, adding “What appears to have happened in the pandemic was the slope of the line changed.”

  

  This statewide trend is driven largely by a decrease in moves into California, not moves out of it. Moves into California decreased by about 35% between the pre-pandemic period we looked at and the pandemic period, while moves out increased by only about 7% during that same period. -SF Chronicle

  

  According to the report, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara saw the biggest net move-outs as a percentage of the population during the pandemic.

  

  Of course, the state which takes the cake when it comes to ex-Californians in general is Texas, one of nine states which doesn’t have an individual income tax.

  

  Will it be enough to eventually turn these red states blue?

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 18:40

• Fidelity Explains Why We Live In A Bitcoin-First World, Plain & Simple
  Fidelity Explains Why We Live In A Bitcoin-First World, Plain & Simple

  Authored by Eduardo Próspero vias Bitcoinist.com,

  Fidelity, the multinational brokerage giant, released a paper on Bitcoin titled Bitcoin First.

  The asset manager thinks “bitcoin should be considered first and separate from all other digital assets that have come after it.” This is huge, considering the Fidelity Digital Assets division’s website opens with “We envision a future where all types of assets are issued natively on blockchains or represented in tokenized format.” That multichain-focused company recognized Bitcoin’s inherent superiority in their latest report.

  

  According to Fidelity, “Bitcoin is best understood as a monetary good” and not as a technology.

  

  This is key.

  They also “believe it is highly unlikely for bitcoin to be replaced by an “improved” digital asset for several reasons.”

  The rest of the document, more or less, consists of stating and analyzing those reasons.

  The Fidelity report is exactly what Paul Krugman needs to understand the difference between Bitcoin and the rest of crypto. It starts with a fairly basic and non-technical overview of how the Bitcoin network works. It explains its “enforceable scarcity,” and how Bitcoin’s “monetary network effects” are unbeatable. It goes as far as claiming that “any subsequent monetary good would be “reinventing the wheel.”

  It explains classic Bitcoin-related concepts like “The blockchain trilemma” and its trade-offs. It goes into “The Lindy Effect, also known as Lindy’s Law, is a theory that the longer some non-perishable thing survives, the more likely it is to survive in the future.” And more, much more.

  How Did Fidelity Arrive At A Bitcoin-First Stance?

  This paragraph summarizes the report’s main thesis:

  “Investors should hold two distinctly separate frameworks for considering investment in this digital asset ecosystem.

  • The first framework examines the inclusion of bitcoin as an emerging monetary good,

  • and the second considers the addition of other digital assets that exhibit venture capital-like properties.”

  A question arises, why does Fidelity consider Bitcoin a monetary good in the first place? They list four reasons:

  1. A monetary good is something that has value attributed to it above and beyond its utility or consumption value. Although Bitcoin’s payment network certainly has utility value, people are also ascribing a monetary premium value to the bitcoin tokens.

  2. One of the primary reasons investors attribute value to bitcoin is its scarcity. Its fixed supply is the reason it has the ability to be a store of value. 

  3. Bitcoin’s scarcity is underpinned by its decentralization and censorship-resistant characteristics. 

  4. These characteristics are hardcoded into bitcoin and almost certainly will never be changed because the same people that ascribe value to bitcoin and own it have no incentive to do so. In fact, network participants are incentivized to defend these very characteristics of a scarce asset and an immutable ledger. 

  Risks And Possible Scenarios

  The report doesn’t go deep into any subject, but it’s comprehensive.

  Fidelity covers the blocksize war and even does an Ethereum case study.

  They say ETH’s monetary policy “has changed and is expected to change again.”

  The report considers two possible scenarios;  “A multi-chain world” and “A winner-take-all or most world.”

  

  In both of those, Bitcoin is perfectly positioned to dominate. 

  On the risks side, they consider a few, but they make clear that they plague every digital asset.

  Fidelity considers “Protocol Bugs,” “Nation-State Attacks,” “Growth of the Digital Asset Ecosystem,” and “Potential Instability of Traditional Macro Conditions.”

  In the end, Fidelity concludes: 

  “Bitcoin’s proof of work algorithm, governance structure, and fair launch created the grounds for a decentralized project with minimal trust required. Other tokens have alternative consensus mechanisms, governance structures and token launches, which often reduce their level of decentralization.”

  Fidelity’s Actual Conclusion

  We have to reproduce the report’s last paragraph, the actual conclusion, in its entirety:

  “Traditional investors typically apply a technology investing framework to bitcoin, leading to the conclusion bitcoin as a first-mover technology will easily be supplanted by a superior one or have lower returns. However, as we have argued here, bitcoin’s first technological breakthrough was not as a superior payment technology but as a superior form of money. As a monetary good, bitcoin is unique. Therefore, not only do we believe investors should consider bitcoin first in order to understand digital assets, but that bitcoin should be considered first and separate from all other digital assets that have come after it.”

  Mic drop.

  *  *  *

  Read the full Fidelity note below:

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 18:20

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• The Tangled Tale Of NATO Expansion At The Heart Of The Ukraine Crisis
  The Tangled Tale Of NATO Expansion At The Heart Of The Ukraine Crisis

  Authored by Joe Lauria via Consortium News

  The U.S. response to winning the Cold War set the stage for the current crisis with Russia…

  

  The end of the Cold War with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Soviet Union two years later presented the United States with a choice: triumphalism or reconciliation.

  There was hope of a “peace dividend” because the fortune spent on armaments for so long could now be spent on domestic needs. The Warsaw Pact dissolved and there was hope that its counterpart, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, would also pass into history.  Rather its expansion has become a flashpoint in the current standoff over Ukraine. 

  To assent to the reunification of Germany, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ultimately agreed to a proposal from then U.S. Secretary of State James Baker that a reunited Germany would be part of NATO but the military alliance would not move “one inch” to the east, that is, absorb any of the former Warsaw Pact nations into NATO. 

  On Feb. 9, 1990, Baker said: “We consider that the consultations and discussions in the framework of the 2+4 mechanism should give a guarantee that the reunification of Germany will not lead to the enlargement of NATO’s military organization to the East.” On the next day, then German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said: ““We consider that NATO should not enlarge its sphere of activity.”

  Gorbachev’s mistake was not to get it in writing as a legally-binding agreement.  For years it was believed there was no written record of the Baker-Gorbachev exchange at all, until the National Security Archive at George Washington University in December 2017 published a series of memos and cables about these assurances against NATO expansion eastward.  The archive reported:

  “U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous ‘not one inch eastward’ assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by Western leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents …

  The documents show that multiple national leaders were considering and rejecting Central and Eastern European membership in NATO as of early 1990 and through 1991, that discussions of NATO in the context of German unification negotiations in 1990 were not at all narrowly limited to the status of East German territory, and that subsequent Soviet and Russian complaints about being misled about NATO expansion were founded in written contemporaneous memcons and telcons at the highest levels.  … The documents reinforce former CIA Director Robert Gates’s criticism of ‘pressing ahead with expansion of NATO eastward [in the 1990s], when Gorbachev and others were led to believe that wouldn’t happen.’ …

  President George H.W. Bush had assured Gorbachev during the Malta summit in December 1989 that the U.S. would not take advantage (‘I have not jumped up and down on the Berlin Wall”) of the revolutions in Eastern Europe to harm Soviet interests.’”

  One Jan. 31, 1990 cable from the U.S. embassy in Bonn informed Washington that German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher’s speech that day made clear “that the changes in Eastern Europe and the German unification process must not lead to an ‘impairment of Soviet security interests.’ Therefore, NATO should rule out an ‘expansion of its territory towards the east, i.e. moving it closer to the Soviet borders.’”  

  

  Baker and Gorbachev. (The Baker Institute)

  Drinks With Boris

  On Tuesday, The New Yorker magazine published a detailed analysis of what transpired at that time. The piece reveals that H.W. Bush “strongly opposed Baker’s proposal [with Gorbachev], which was quickly abandoned.” What Gorbachev thought was a “deal” back in Washington was reduced to a “proposal” cast aside,  despite Bush’s vow that the U.S. would not engage in triumphalism.  Even then Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the piece says, eventually rejected NATO expansion, but not after first agreeing to it after Lech Walesa plied him with drinks:

  “One night in Warsaw, over dinner and drinks, the Polish President at the time, Lech Walesa, managed to persuade Yeltsin to issue a joint statement that the prospect of Poland joining NATO was ‘not contrary to the interest of any state, also including Russia.’ But, faced with a domestic political backlash, Yeltsin quickly retracted that statement. In fact, Yeltsin and his diplomats eventually argued, the 1990 agreement on German reunification prohibited any further eastward NATO expansion … “

  President Bill Clinton’s administration investigated the matter and concluded that Yeltsin was wrong and that no NATO expansion eastward was ever promised. The New Yorker reported:

  “At a summit in Helsinki, Clinton promised to give Yeltsin four billion dollars in investment in 1997, as much as the U.S. had provided in the five years prior, while also dangling W.T.O. membership and other economic inducements. In return, Russia would effectively allow unencumbered NATO enlargement. Yeltsin worried that these measures could be perceived as ‘sort of a bribe,’ but, given Russia’s empty coffers and his uphill prospects for reëlection, he relented.”

  NATO was set up in 1949 as a 12-nation military alliance against the hyped fear of an invasion of Western Europe by a devastated Soviet Union. In the 1950s, Greece, Turkey and Germany joined, and Spain in 1982, bringing the total of members to 16. But since 1997 when Yeltsin agreed to with “sort of a bribe,” NATO has added 14 new members, including nine that had been behind the “Iron Curtain.”   

  The “peace dividend” had turned into an expansion payoff, as arms contractors lobbied hard for these new NATO members to be accepted, as The New York Times reported in 1998.

  Brzezinski Weighed In

  As the NATO expansion debate was playing out, Jimmy Carter’s former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, who still wielded influence in Washington, wrote a piece in 1995 for Foreign Affairs, entitled “A Plan for Europe,” in which he said:

  “As a practical matter, the issue of formally widening the alliance  .. can no longer be avoided. … The absence of a longer-range design for Europe can deprive the alliance of its historical raison d’être. … It is not carping criticism to point out that, so far, the Clinton administration has projected neither a strategic vision nor a clear sense of direction on a matter of such salience to Europe’s future as enlarging NATO. … Continued U.S. waffling could also consolidate Russian opposition to any expansion of NATO so that any eventual move to widen the alliance will unavoidably be seen as conveying a hostile message to Moscow.”

  Ever focused on control of Eurasia, Brzezinski appeared to favor post-Soviet Russia drawing closer to Europe as opposed to Eurasia. “Fundamentally, the political struggle within Russia is over whether Russia will be a national and increasingly European state or a distinctively Eurasian and once again an imperial state,” he wrote.

  

  Brzezinski at the chess board, 1978. (White House photo/Wikimedia)

  Brzezinski worried what Moscow’s reaction would be if it were eventually denied an offer to join NATO. “If excluded and rejected, they will be resentful, and their own political self-definition will become more anti-European and anti-Western,” he wrote. It was an offer never made. 

  According to a 2014 article in Foreign Affairs: “’You say that NATO is not directed against us, that it is simply a security structure that is adapting to new realities,’ Gorbachev told Baker in May, according to Soviet records. ‘Therefore, we propose to join NATO.’ Baker refused to consider such a notion, replying dismissively, ‘Pan-European security is a dream.’”

  Brzezinski urged that an announcement of expansion be made quickly, with the details to be worked out later. “The longer this is delayed, the more vociferous Moscow’s objections are likely to be,” Brzezinski wrote.

  He added, however, that “talk of a … Russian military threat is not justified, either by actual circumstances or even by worst-case scenarios for the future. The expansion of NATO should, therefor, not be driven by whipping up anti-Russian hysteria that could eventually become a self-fulfilling prophecy.” 

  Brzezinski called for “‘no forward deployment’ of NATO forces in Central Europe [that] would underline the nonantagnonistic character of the expansion. This should mitigate some of Russia’s legitimate concerns.” 

  Anti-Russian feeling in the U.S. began to rise with the ascension of Vladimir Putin to power on the last day of 1999 after Wall Street and Washington had had dominant influence over Yeltsin’s post-Soviet Russia. It built into full-blown, anti-Russia hysteria by 2014 and has been cresting ever since, reaching new peaks with Russiagate (despite it having been proven false.) NATO forward deployments in Central Europe have been routine for years and are growing by the day in the midst of the current crisis.

  Brzezinski, however, put a huge caveat in his understanding of Moscow’s position, saying that “not all of Russia’s concerns are legitimate — and the alliance should not shrink from making that known.” Brzezinski agreed with H.W. Bush scotching Baker’s agreement with Gorbachev:

  “Just five years ago [1990], the alliance had to overcome Russian objections to the inclusion of the reunited Germany in NATO. Wisely, the Bush administration spurned those who favored acquiescence to the Kremlin. Face with U.S. determination to include the united Germany in NATO, with or without Russia’s assent, Moscow wisely assented.” 

  He said the issue of NATO expansion calls for “a similar display of constructive firmness. The Kremlin must be made to understand that bluster and threats will be neither productive nor effective and may even accelerate the process of expansion.” 

  In view of the current Russian demand for a treaty that would preclude Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO, Brzezinski said Russia does not have “the right” to “veto NATO expansion.”

  Nevertheless, Brzezinski  was more forward thinking than the Biden administration today.  He said the “independent decision of the alliance to enlarge its membership should be accompanied by a simultaneous invitation to Russia to help create a new transcontinental system of collective security, one that goes beyond the expansion of NATO proper.”  Putin is demanding a new “security architecture” for Europe.

  Drawing the Line

  It is difficult to fathom that the U.S. leaders in power in the 1990s would not understand future problems with Russia over this expansion, as even their man Yeltsin voiced concerns. They were confronted with those problems in Putin’s 2007 Munich speech: “We have the right to ask: against whom is this [NATO] expansion intended? And what happened to the assurances our western partners made after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact? Where are those declarations today? No one even remembers them.” 

  Putin spoke three years after the Baltic States, former Soviet republics bordering on Russia, joined the Western Alliance.  A year after his speech, NATO said Ukraine and Georgia would become members, which has not yet happened, but four more eastern European states joined in 2009.

  Since then NATO has held many military exercises Russia has found threatening. TASS reported in December that NATO holds 40 exercises a year near Russian territory. It said: 

  “US strategic aviation has considerably increased flights along Russian borders. During such flights the planes simulated launches of cruise missiles against targets inside Russian territory. ‘Over the past month alone there have been 30 flights, twice more than in the same period last year,’ [chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery] Gerasimov said.”

  In 2016, a 10-day maneuver was carried out in Poland with 31,000 NATO troops from 24 nations and thousands of  tanks and other vehicles. The exercise was the first time German troops taking part crossed Poland towards Russia since the Nazi invasion of 1941.

  These moves led then German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to accuse NATO of “saber-rattling” and “war-mongering.” Steinmeier told Bild am Sontag newspaper:

  “‘What we shouldn’t do now is inflame the situation further through saber-rattling and warmongering. Whoever believes that a symbolic tank parade on the alliance’s eastern border will bring security is mistaken. We are well-advised to not create pretexts to renew an old confrontation,”  saying it would be ‘fatal to search only for military solutions and a policy of deterrence.’”

  That year NATO also installed a missile base in Romania that can strike Russia, claiming it was only “defensive” against incoming missiles from Iran, though the weapons can also be used offensively. A similar missile base, previously canceled, is slated to be operational in Poland later this year.   

  Six years after NATO promised Ukraine would one day become a member, the U.S. led a coup in Kiev that overthrew a democratically-elected president who leaned towards Moscow. The U.S. move seemed to come from Brzezinski’s playbook. In his 1997 book, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, he wrote:

  “Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire. Russia without Ukraine can still strive for imperial status, but it would then become a predominantly Asian imperial state.”

  Thus U.S. “primacy,” or world dominance, which still drives Washington, is not possible without control of Eurasia, as Brzezinski argued, and that’s not possible without control of Ukraine by pushing Russia out.  What Brzezinski and U.S. leaders still view as Russia’s “imperial ambitions” are in Moscow seen as imperative defensive measures against an aggressive West.

  Pushed Too Far

  Nearly 15 years after Putin’s Munich speech, in which he began to draw the line with the West, Russia has had enough. It chose this moment to confront the U.S. and demand a resolution to these issues in draft treaties that would halt NATO expansion, prevent Ukraine and Georgia from joining, and prohibit NATO states from deploying “ground-launched intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles outside their national territories from which such weapons can attack targets in the national territory of the other Party.” 

  

  Public opening session between Lavrov and Blinken on Jan. 21. (Ruptly screenshot.)

  The treaty proposal makes a clear reference to Ukraine, saying, “The Parties shall not use the territories of other States with a view to preparing or carrying out an armed attack against the other Party or other actions affecting core security interests of the other Party.” 

  As Western arms pour into Ukraine ostensibly to defend against the “invasion,” but quite possibly to arm a Kiev offensive in the east, the draft with the U.S. says:

  “The Parties shall refrain from deploying their armed forces and armaments, including in the framework of international organizations, military alliances or coalitions, in the areas where such deployment could be perceived by the other Party as a threat to its national security, with the exception of such deployment within the national territories of the Parties.”

  Last week, after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Geneva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said NATO “was set up against the Soviet Union and for some reason it still works against Russia.” 

  In the draft treaty with the U.S., Russia argues, among other points, that NATO’s insistence that it can admit any member that it wants clashes with its members’ obligations under the 1975 Helsinki Accords that the national security interests of one or more states parties should not threaten the security of another. 

  The proposed treaty says: “The United States of America shall undertake to prevent further eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and deny accession to the Alliance to the States of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.”

  Russia sees itself as finally standing up to a bully. Often a bully will back down when finally challenged.  But other times the bully, who’s been falsely accusing his victim of being the aggressor, twists this challenge into a new opportunity to play the victim and go on the attack.

  Russia’s troop deployments on its territory near Ukraine and its vow to resort to “technical-military” means is not seen publicly by the U.S. as a Russian negotiating tactic to pressure Washington to take its draft treaties seriously, but as an “imminent” threat of invasion.

  The U.S. portrays its talks this month with Russia not as an effort to create a new European security arrangement, which even Brzezinski had called for, but only to prevent a Russian invasion.

  The war mania being drummed up in U.S. and British media recalls Brzezinski‘s warning that “whipping up anti-Russian hysteria … could eventually become a self-fulfilling prophecy.” 

  It is not a new trick.  Mark Twain warned:

  “The statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/01/2022 – 02:00

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• The Globalist Reset Agenda Has Failed – Is Ukraine Plan B?
  The Globalist Reset Agenda Has Failed – Is Ukraine Plan B?

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  There are people in the liberty movement that attribute FAR too much intelligence to the global power elites, to the point that they seem to think the globalists are always planning “ten steps ahead.” The funny thing about planning ten steps ahead though is that if anything goes wrong with steps 1-9 then getting to step number 10 will be impossible and you just wasted a whole lot of energy on an elaborate plan that ended up going nowhere. The globalists are NOT the smartest people around; not even close. They aren’t even all that effective when their plans actually function and there are no surprises. Their ideas fail constantly.

  There is only one reason that centralizing criminals have not been brought down, and that is because no one has ever targeted them directly. Every time there is a governmental shake up or rebellion or mass movement for change people target “the system”; they blame the system for all our problems (or they blame a handful of political puppets) and they seek to add a fresh coat of paint or change some of its basic functions, but the men behind the curtain always end up back behind the curtain. The problem is never “the system”, it’s the people running and influencing the system while enjoying the comfort of the shadows.

  

  Here is how the globalists seem to operate the best that I can tell – They aim a fist full of darts at a board and throw as hard as they can and whatever sticks is what sticks. When a plan does stick, well the globalists appear to be brilliant, don’t they? In reality they were just throwing around schemes blindfolded and half of those schemes landed in the gutter. The problem is that while the globalists are fumbling around in the dark searching for a plan that works they can do a lot of damage and draw a lot of attention.

  Every once in a while it becomes obvious when they have invested an immense amount of time and planning into a single unique scheme, a fulcrum point that many of their other plans will rely on in the future. There is no doubt that the response to the covid outbreak was meant to bulldoze over numerous social and legal conventions and achieve full bore centralization before the vast majority of people even knew what hit them.

  The pure excitement and adrenaline on display by the globalists at the onset of the pandemic was palpable. They were practically dancing in the streets, jabbering about how many worldwide socialist programs they were about to railroad through, not to mention how many individual liberties they were about to erase.

  That said, when a plan doesn’t stick the way they want, sometimes they try to force it to work and this never goes well for them. We’ve seen this multiple times with their attempts to institute gun control in the US and they have failed over and over again. More recently, the covid agenda and by extension the globalist “Reset” has fallen apart in the US and this has led to problems for them in other parts of the world.

  American resistance to the vax mandates and lockdowns was key to everything, more so than I think many people realize. Even if the globalists could implement medical tyranny through much of the rest of the world, with conservative red states blocking the agenda at every turn this created a focal point for resistance. Meaning, all the people in the world can still see that there is another way to do things that does not involve authoritarianism. Life in the red states goes on as if covid barely existed. Conservatives are not “dying in the streets” like the lunatic liberals said would happen. In fact, millions of people have been LEAVING blue states and coming to red states just to be free.

  When you offer people alternatives, you offer them a glimpse of freedom, and sometimes a glimpse is all that is needed to inspire rebellion.

  I believe that it was red state resistance that led directly to the Supreme Court blocking Biden’s illegal and unconstitutional vaccine mandates. If the red states had not take such an aggressive stand, the whole country might be under Biden’s thumb right now as he hands out dictates from on high, or, we would be at war. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that the UK government decided to remove all covid mandates right after the US Supreme Court dropped restrictions in the US. When freedom is visible it spreads.

  It’s hard for western governments to explain to their people why they should be enslaved over the covid virus when so many other people across the ocean live their lives normally in the face of the same illness. This doesn’t mean that some of the worst offenders will not try to maintain their wretched grip on their populations. It would seem that the Australian government has been lost to globalist tyranny forever, but they still will not be able to deny the reality that conservative Americans are free. There will always be a chance for revolt within Australia exactly because we are living proof that covid mandates do not need to exist.

  Since the very beginning of the covid pandemic I have argued that the virus itself was a lab engineered bioweapon, most likely created in the bowels of the Level 4 facilities in Wuhan right down the street from what is widely recognized as ground zero. I have also argued from the very beginning that evidence shows that the NIH and Anthony Fauci have been involved in the funding of manipulation of coronaviruses at the Wuhan Lab for many years. Meaning, there has been collusion between western elitists and Chinese scientists to weaponize covid through gain of function research. This is now exposed as FACT.

  What I don’t know for certain is if the virus was released deliberately, or accidentally. What I can say, though, is that the globalists at the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation held a “simulation” of a global coronavirus pandemic only two months before the real thing happened. The simulation, called “Event 201”, seemed to predict almost everything that would eventually happen with the real coronavirus outbreak that started in China, right down to news companies and social media giants locking down all information that didn’t fit the narrative. There was just one problem – The virus wasn’t as deadly as they had hoped.

  Event 201 predicted 65 million initial deaths worldwide and the WHO predicted a much higher infection fatality rate of 3% of the population or more. This never happened. The globalists and the media have been scrambling for the past couple years to convince the public that the death rate of covid is much higher higher than it is, but the fact remains that dozens of studies show covid’s average IFR is a mere 0.27%.

  It’s not going to change for the worse, it is only going to decline as covid continues to mutate into less deadly forms of itself.

  Why did this happen?

  It’s impossible to say. Maybe the virus performed differently in the lab but then changed dramatically once it was let out into the wild? That would be my guess. Maybe it was divine intervention? For whatever reason, the globalists invested an intense amount of energy into the covid virus and it let them down, and now they are stuck trying to create mass panic over a nothing-burger.

  So, what happens next?

  It makes sense that they will need a distraction as a means to redirect momentum, and the globalists will do what they always do, which is create war tensions. This does not mean that large scale war is the intended outcome, but limited regional wars that could grow into something more are always on the table. It is not a mistake that the US could potentially be caught up in not one but two major regional conflicts at this time, including a Chinese invasion of Taiwan as well as a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

  For now, Ukraine is the most hyped. We have seen such spill over with Ukraine many times in the past and it’s hard to say if this is yet another false start or if a full blown Russian attack is going to happen. With constant US influence, funding and arming being pursued in the region I suppose getting the Russians to invade would not be that hard. I’m not really interested in trying to read the dice on this one. My only interest in Ukraine is in how it might benefit the overall globalist agenda.

  • First, the economic instability that has been growing exponentially the past couple years will now hit overdrive. Inflation, gas prices, the supply chain, all the threats that are already looming over us will expand tenfold with two nuclear powers at odds. Even if Ukraine saber rattling was to choke out into nothing just the existence of the danger is enough to inspire widespread economic fear.

  • Second, the pandemic issue can be cast to the wayside with little fanfare. The globalists know its going nowhere for them but they need a way to exit without explaining the numerous lies they have peddled in the past two years. War is a way to wipe the slate clean on the news cycle.

  • Third, heightened tensions with Russia open the door to a different form of paranoia at home. How many times have we heard media claims of “Russian influence” on US elections? There is ZERO proof of this, but the narrative has already been planted among leftists. It would not surprise me in the slightest if US elections were “postponed” or the outcomes ignored because of unverified claims of Russian “interference.” What better way to prevent a complete conservative sweep in the US than to simply stop the elections altogether?

  • Fourth, by extension, it is only a matter of time before a conservative rebellion arises in the US to unseat the globalists from power. It is already happening in may forms today, for those who are paying attention. The most common way for corrupt governments to undermine a rebellion for freedom is to accuse it of being an astroturf revolution created by a foreign enemy. That is to say, the corrupt government seeks to take away the heart and soul of the rebellion by claiming they aren’t fighting for freedom, they are only fighting in exchange for money or power from a foreign nation. Their reason for fighting is “fake.”

  We saw this with the Chinese CCP when they brutally took over Hong Kong. We also saw this in Kazakhstan when the people rioted in the streets over price inflation and Russian troops were sent in to quell what was called a “foreign created color revolution.” Nothing could have been further from the truth.

  Make no mistake, when the fighting starts in the US, our rebellion will not be called a fight for freedom. We will be accused as “Russian agents”, traitors, insurrectionists, etc, etc.

  They’ll say we’re fighting to support foreign governments, not to bring liberty and sanity back to our society. We’ll be the villains; it’s important to understand this and not be bogged down by 4th generation warfare. It is for this reason primarily that conflict with Russia makes a lot of sense for the globalists. Perhaps not on the scale of a global war, but enough to keep their prospective populations in line. Whether or not this plan succeeds is another matter entirely. As already mentioned, these people fail regularly.

  *  *  *

  If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch.  Learn more about it HERE.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 23:40

• Ivermectin Has 'Antiviral Effect' Against Omicron And All Other 'Mutant Strains' Of Covid-19
  Ivermectin Has ‘Antiviral Effect’ Against Omicron And All Other ‘Mutant Strains’ Of Covid-19

  A Japanese pharmaceutical company, Kowa Co, said on Monday that the drug ivermectin has an “antiviral effect” against Omicron and other Covid-19 variants.

  

  The finding was made with Tokyo’s Kitasato University on a joint non-clinical research project, which has been testing the drug as a potential treatment for the disease, according to Reuters.

  Kowa says that ivermectin showed the “same antiviral effect” on all “mutant strains,” including Alpha, Delta and Omicron. The company also noted that ivermectin suppresses invasion of the virus and inhibits its replication.

  “[Ivermectin] is expected to be applied as a therapeutic drug (tablet) for all new coronavirus infectious diseases,” reads the report.

  Of note, Reuters changed their original headline from “effective” against Omicron to having an “antiviral effect,” and corrected a statement that the finding occurred during “Phase III clinical trials.”

  UPDATE – Reuters has updated the title after initial publishing. Now says ivermectin showed “antiviral effect” instead of “effective” against Omicron. pic.twitter.com/YCIz38msjv

  — Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) January 31, 2022

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  Ivermectin is at the heart of an ongoing ‘medical misinformation’ campaign surrounding podcaster Joe Rogan and several expert guests who have advocated for the use of the anti-parasitic drug as an early treatment option for Covid-19 patients. Rogan himself used ivermectin as part of a cocktail of treatments when he contracted Covid-19.

  Controversy over free speech erupted last week after singers Neil Young and Joni Mitchell demanded that Spotify remove their music catalog unless Rogan was silenced.

  Rogan responded to the drama on in a Monday Instagram video, in which he said he only seeks to have conversations on his podcast with people who have “differing opinions,” and that he isn’t “trying to promote misinformation.”

  He noted that he’s booked experts from all sides, including CNN‘s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Michael Osterholm, who is a member of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, and Dr. Peter Hotez from Baylor College of Medicine.

  Rogan also pointed out that many previously-verboten Covid claims have turned out to be true.

   

   

   

   

  View this post on Instagram

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  A post shared by Joe Rogan (@joerogan)

  According to ivmmeta.com, Ivermectin showed an average 64% improvement as an early treatment, a 39% improvement as a late treatment and an 83% improvement as a prophylaxis, across 77 studies.

  

  As The Epoch Times notes;

  Ivermectin has been used by the World Health Organization for over 30 years to treat parasitic infections. Volunteers have distributed the drug in African countries where it has been found to be extremely effective, said the Kowa report.

  However, the treatment has been mired in controversy during recent times as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19, even though the drug is used in humans to treat a variety of conditions.

  The FDA has refused to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) asking for details about any reports of side effects related to the use of ivermectin in treating COVID-19 while publicly denouncing its usage.

  The federal government pays hospitals across the country to treat COVID-19 patients, but the payment is tied to approved methods, and ivermectin is not part of the protocol.

  However, families desperate to save their loved ones are resorting to secretly sneaking the drug into hospitals as a last-ditch effort that often ends up helping the infected person recover.

  All or part of 22 countries around the globe have approved the use of ivermectin in the treatment of COVID-19, based on multiple studies. Japan has not yet approved ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19.

  A bill has been presented to make New Hampshire the first state in the country to make ivermectin part of the approved COVID-19 treatments and offer it as an over-the-counter medication.

  //www.instagram.com/embed.js

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 23:20

• CCP May Collect Top American Athletes’ DNA At Beijing Olympics, Experts Say
  CCP May Collect Top American Athletes’ DNA At Beijing Olympics, Experts Say

  Authored by Dorothy Li and Joshua Philipp via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Sealed from the rest of Beijing in a “closed-loop” bubble, over 200 American athletes are receiving daily COVID screening for the Winter Olympics. But some experts worry that U.S. Olympians’ DNA might be collected by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

  

  Patricia Adams, executive director of Canada-based non-profit Probe International, said “it’s a very likely possibility” that the CCP will be collecting top-performing athletes’ DNA at the Games.

  “They [CCP] are doing the testing every day … and [there’s] absolutely no oversight over the use of the products that they’re getting,” Adams said during a Jan. 26 webinar on EpochTV’s “Unmasking Communist China” program.

  In the online event, Stephen Yates, chief executive of consultancy firm DC International Advisory, spoke of the threat posed by the Chinese regime’s mass collection of personal information and health data. U.S. officials and experts have previously sounded the alarm that Beijing is amassing a large database that includes Americans’ personal and health information, which could be used to enhance artificial intelligence systems and fields of medicine, as well as assist in espionage and military operations.

  The danger, Yates said, lies in the CCP using the mass data set for unethical purposes.

  “China has weaponized artificial intelligence and a lot of other studies of the human process in ways that civilized countries wouldn’t even allow, so we don’t have any way to really know what this dark window of the future might be,” he said.

  According to Yates, CCP may use the massive data set to give their athletes a competitive advantage or increase opportunities for psychological warfare.

  The Winter Olympics is set to open in Beijing on Feb 4. The diplomatic boycotts announced by the United States and a spate of other countries, which is meant to hold the communist regime accountable for its human rights violations in Xinjiang, don’t keep athletes from competing at the Games.

  The U.S. athletes arrived in Beijing on the evening of Jan. 28, and were sent straight to hotels situated in a closed-loop system surrounded by wire fences. Everyone in the bubble can only leave via special vehicles, and staff in full protective suits carry out mouth swabs on them every day.

  

  In the online event, Adams suggested that the CCP may “get rid of an American who’s the likely winner of the gold” through what she described as “nefarious means using false positive COVID test.”

  Beijing’s Olympic organizers on Jan. 29 denied reports that they may potentially manipulate COVID test results, saying that the tests are up to international standards, according to state media China Daily.

  Adams said that “at the end of the day, it’s all being done by the Chinese government, and nobody really knows what’s going to happen to the data.”

  She noted the problem is “nobody trusts the Chinese government.”

  “The Chinese government has demonstrated to the world over and over and over again that they don’t follow rules. They follow their own rules. They don’t follow international rules. They don’t follow treaties that they’ve signed.”

  The CCP’s known record of cyber espionage has led several countries, including the United States, UK, and Canada to tell their athletes to bring a burner phone for the Games. Cyber security experts warned that Beijing 2022, a compulsory health app for the Games, may spy on users through encryption flaws.

  “I think that athletes are very, very nervous. And they’re not happy,” said Adams.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 23:00

• Russian Navy Holds Anti-Submarine Drills Near NATO Country, Prepares For More
  Russian Navy Holds Anti-Submarine Drills Near NATO Country, Prepares For More

  On Monday in New York top diplomats traded accusations in a rare United Nations National Security Council debate over the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The US and its allies, particularly Britain, have also raised the sanctions pressure – now threatening hard hitting punitive measures on Putin’s “inner circle” – as well as targeting banks and energy companies in the event of a Ukraine offensive. 

  Simultaneously, Russia’s Northern Fleet conduced anti-submarine drills in the Norwegian Sea, not far from NATO member Norway, at a moment of broader and rival naval movements in places like the Black Sea. 

  

  Russia’s military described the northern drills as involving ships “hunting down a notional enemy’s submarine using sonars and data from military pilots,” according to TASS news agency.

  “As part of the drills with the Arctic expeditionary task force, a group of the Northern Fleet’s combat ships and support vessels practiced anti-submarine assignments in the Norwegian Sea,” the defense ministry described. 

  “The crews of the missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov and the frigate Fleet Admiral Kasatonov hunted down the notional enemy’s submarines with the help of an anti-submarine warfare helicopter,” the military press office added.

  The exercise involved a Russian missile cruiser, a frigate, and helicopters – and is said to be one of many drills happening across all fleets from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans, and in the Mediterranean. 

  

  At a moment the West is closely monitoring Russian military movements related to the Ukraine border build-up, TASS writes, “Overall, the sweeping drills will bring together over 140 warships and support vessels, more than 60 aircraft, 1,000 items of military hardware and about 10,000 troops.”

  In the past days there have even been Russian naval drills happening off Ireland’s coast, which have been source of major controversy, given it’s a ‘live fire’ exercise initially staged within the Republic of Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone. After a government protest to Russia, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney over the weekend issued an update to say the exercises would be “relocated outside of Ireland’s EEZ”.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 22:40

• Hedge Fund Trade That Blew Up The Repo Market Is Making A Comeback
  Hedge Fund Trade That Blew Up The Repo Market Is Making A Comeback

  A popular hedge fund trade – known as the Treasury Basis Trade which, reminiscent of what LTCM did back in the day seeks to profit from minuscule differences between prices in the futures and cash markets for Treasuries by using massive amounts of borrowed money – is set to make a comeback as the Federal Reserve plots to shrink its footprint in the U.S. Treasury market, even though it nearly blew up the financial world in late 2019.

  The strategy, which as we explained in detail most recently here, involves taking leveraged positions in Treasury notes and bonds in order to exploit price differences with the corresponding futures contracts, backfired both in Sept 2019 (leading to the repo market crisis which ushered in the Fed’s “NOT QE” phase of reserve replenishment) as well as the March 2020 liquidity crisis, when the normal relationships between cash and futures broke down completely.

  Since then, the Fed’s relentless and gigantic buying of Treasury notes and bonds had stripped the volatility out of the cash-futures relationship, while also bidding up the value of the older Treasuries normally used in basis trades, effectively eliminating any monetizable arb in the basis trade.

  But that is changing, and with the Fed set to end QE by March (until the next crisis that is) and to start QT later this year, arbitrage opportunities are set to return, Citigroup strategists Raghav Datla and Jason Williams said in a note late Friday, according to Bloomberg.

  The policy shift “should remove the dampening effect that Fed purchases had on the futures net-basis” and yield relationships between older and new Treasuries, they wrote. Also, financing rates for Treasuries should rise “and drive more dislocations in cash/futures markets.”

  In short: the trade that prompted the Fed to step in in 2019 and 2020 and bail out countless hedge funds (as we explained in “The Fed Was Suddenly Facing Multiple LTCMs”: An Explanation Of What Really Happened On Repocalypse Day“), is about to come back with a vengeance precisely because the Fed is about to step away and allow markets to return to normal.

  Sure enough, as shown in the chart below, since the start of the year, the yield differential between the newest 10-year note maturing in November 2031 and the second-newest, maturing three months earlier in August 2031, has shrunk. The older note’s yield is lower, but by a smaller margin than previously. That trend should continue as the increased supply of Treasuries in private hands leads to higher financing rates, the Citi strategists said.

  

  As for the futures basis, it remains depressed for now despite strong investor demand for Treasury futures. The latest weekly CFTC data showed asset managers were net long almost 1.5 million five-year note contracts, near the highest level of the past two years. Expect this to change as well in coming weeks as the Fed’s footprints in the bond market fade leaving the bond market to crash at its leisure now that the buyer of first resort has stepped away if only until the next market crash.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 22:20

• Goldman Slashes 2022 GDP Forecast Again, Warns Of "Sharp Deceleration" In Growth"
  Goldman Slashes 2022 GDP Forecast Again, Warns Of “Sharp Deceleration” In Growth”

  Two months after we warned that the Fed is hiking into a recession, The downgrades of the US economy are now coming in fast and furious.

  What time is Jean-Claude Trichet speaking to explain why the Fed is hiking rates into a recession

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 2, 2021

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  One day after Goldman raised its Fed funds forecast from 4 to 5 rate hikes in 2022, the bank did what it had done on at least 4 previous occasions in the past 3 months: it cut its US GDP forecast for both Q1 and the full year, perhaps prompted by a similar action by JPMorgan on Friday as well as the Atlanta Fed which as a reminder now sees the US economy “growing” at just 0.1% in the first quarter.

  

  Of course, this should not come as a surprise: Goldman’s economics team has been atrocious in its forecasts over the past year (similar to the “inflation is transitory” Fed), not just when it comes to inflation, where the bank increased its year-end 2021 CPI forecast by 0.4% every single month starting in April of last year…

  

  … but also when it comes to being overly optimistic about the state of the US economy, to wit:

  • Jul 26, 2021: Goldman Sees Sharp Deceleration In US Economic Growth In 2022
  • Aug 17, 2021: US Economic Growth Suddenly Collapses, As Even Goldman Says “Not Good”
  • Aug 18, 2021: Here Comes Stagflation: Goldman Slashes GDP Estimate For Second Time In 3 Weeks, Sees “Bigger Inflation Surge”
  • Sept 6, 202: Goldman Cuts Its US GDP Forecast For The Third Time In The Past Month
  • Oct 10, 2021: Goldman Slashes 2021, 2022 GDP Forecasts Again, Blames Fiscal Drag, Slowing Consumer Spending
  • Dec 4, 2021: Goldman Cuts GDP Forecast Due To Omicron, Setting The Stage For More Central Banks Stimulus

  You get the picture. It was in one of these multiple GDP cuts where we said that while it remains to be seen just how positive the impact from reopenings will be “one area where we disagree profoundly with Goldman is the bank’s generous modeling of an upside boost to growth from “pent-up savings” which the bank expects to offset a substantial portion of the fiscal hit… The excess savings – in as much as they still exist – mostly benefit the top 1%, with the bulk of the population benefiting from only 30% of the total accumulated amount. As such the contribution to consumption from excess savings will end up being far smaller than most Wall Street strategists predict (since the propensity of the top 1% to spend their savings which are instead invested in the market, is far less than the broader population). The result: expect even more aggressive cuts to GDP growth in coming quarters – from both Goldman and its peers – even as inflation continues to rise, cementing a painful period of non-transitory stagflation for the US as the mid-term elections approach.”

  Just a few weeks later, our bearish take was once again validated to the detriment of Goldman’s predictive acumen, when today the Vampire Squid admitted that it had greatly overestimated the spending capacity of the US households – that key driver behind 70% of US GDP – when in a note from Goldman’s econ team, the bank wrote that after last week’s GDP report which saw the US economy grow at the fastest annual pace since the 1980s, “growth is likely to slow abruptly in 2022, as fiscal support fades and, in the near-term, virus spread weighs on services spending and prolongs supply chain disruption.”

  Specifically, the bank slashed its Q1 GDP forecast from 2.0% to just 0.5%, and while the bank fudged the other quarters modestly higher, it lowered its 2022 annual average GDP forecast by 0.2% to +3.2% (vs. +3.8% consensus) while warning that “the annual average masks the sharp deceleration in growth from 2021 into 2022, which is better captured by the 2022 Q4/Q4 rate, which we now expect will be +2.2% (previously +2.4%).”

  And while Goldman has yet to admit that the significant contribution to GDP from “pent up savings” will prove to be the latest fiasco by one of the country’s most respected economist teams, it had conceded that growth in 2022 will be fast slower due to three key reasons: i) the lack of extended stimmies, in this case the expiration of child tax credits; ii) drop in service spending due to the Omicron panic and iii) continued supply-chain disruptions of domestic production, which will weigh on inventory accumulation and exports in Q1.

  Some more details on these three factors:

  • 1. Fiscal Impulse slowing: Goldman calculates that fiscal support boosted real disposable income to 5% above the pre-pandemic trend on average in 2021, but following the lapse of the expanded child tax credit this month, disposable income has likely dipped below trend and will remain an average of 1% below the pre-pandemic trend in2022—even after penciling in strong gains in labor income. As Goldman’s Jan Hatzius writes, “this decline should weigh on consumer spending—and is a large part of why we expect growth to slow to only slightly above potential by the end of the year—but the impact should be cushioned by spending of excess savings built up during the pandemic that still total nearly $2½ tn.“

  

  • 2. Omicron hit to service spending. Goldman writes that Q1 growth is likely to be particularly soft because the fiscal drag will be accompanied by a hit from Omicron: “High frequency data indicate that spending on virus-sensitive services has declined sharply since early December, and overall real services spending declined by 0.6% in January.” The good news is that the rebound from Omicron is expected to be quick, and the bank estimates that consumption will grow at a modest 1.5% annualized pace in Q1.

  

  3. Continued supply-chain disruptions. Virus spread has also hit the supply side of the economy, according to Goldman which notes that “worker absenteeism appears to have peaked at 3.5% of the adult population in early January, and renewed foreign virus restrictions will likely prolong supply chain disruptions and interrupt domestic production. This is likely to weigh on inventory accumulation and exports in Q1.”

  The lack of continued inventory restocking will also hit Q1 GDP, as we said after last week’s GDP report. According to Goldman’s estimate, Q1 will see +$65bn (annualized) in inventory growth (vs. +$173bn in Q4), which would subtract 2% from Q1 GDP growth. This reflects an expected drawdown in auto inventories based on production schedules and recent company commentary. The bank also assumes moderately slower growth in broader manufacturing and trade inventories, in part because Omicron has already caused a disruptive wave of worker absenteeism in the US and threatens to be more disruptive abroad, especially in China.

  

  Putting it all together, Goldman writes that it “lowered our Q1 GDP forecast by 1.5pp to +0.5% (qoq)—mainly reflecting our expectation for a large negative contribution from the inventories component of GDP—and we have nudged up our Q2 forecast by ½pp to +3.5%, which will benefit from the post-Omicron rebound. We have raised Q3 slightly to +3% (from +2.75%) and left Q4 unchanged (at +2.0%), which lowers our 2022 annual average GDP forecast by 0.2pp to +3.2% (vs. +3.8% consensus). However, the annual average masks the sharp deceleration in growth from 2021 into 2022, which is better captured by the 2022 Q4/Q4 rate, which we now expect will be +2.2% (previously +2.4%).”

  Ironically, despite this admission that all of its previous rosy growth forecasts were wrong, and that the US is facing a “sharp deceleration” in growth, the bank raised its forecast for the total number of Fed rate hikes in 2022 to 5. Needless to say, something will give – either the US economy will have to grow much faster, or the Fed will have to capitulate in a few months and pivot dovishly away from its aggressive tightening path which will send the US into recession, something which the bond market is already saying is virtually certainly.

  

  And since the US economy will not find some deus ex engine for faster growth, the Fed is facing two stark choices as Morgan Stanley explained yesterday: a recession or years of very high inflation.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 22:00

• ATF Admits To Secret Database Of "Nearly One Billion Gun Records"
  ATF Admits To Secret Database Of “Nearly One Billion Gun Records”

  Submitted by The Machine Gun Nest (TMGN).,

  What always proceeds gun confiscation historically? A Registry.

  A Registry of guns and gun owners is a tool that the federal government, the DOJ, and the ATF have had on their wish list for decades now. Anti-gun politicians and lobbyists have sold a registry as a tool for stopping crime, enforcing universal background checks, and ensuring public safety.

  In reality, a Registry guarantees that large-scale confiscation will happen at some point. That’s why the ATF is forbidden explicitly from keeping a searchable database by law.

  Today, Gun Owners of America announced that the ATF has nearly 1 Billion records of firearm purchases, with over 850 million of those records in digital format. These records contain all sorts of personal information on gun owners in addition to the gun they’ve purchased. Important personal information, including their names, addresses, place of birth, sometimes even social security numbers, can all be found on these records.

  The firearm transaction records that the ATF is referring to is the ATF Form 4473. Federal law currently states that a firearms dealer can destroy 4473 forms after 20 years. If a firearms dealer goes out of business or closes before those 20 years, federal law says dealers must hand over those forms to the ATF.

  ATF Form 4473

  

  So the ATF currently is in possession of nearly 1 Billion of these records. Here’s the direct quote attributed to the ATF from GOA: “In total, ATF manages 920,664,765 OBR as of November 2021. This includes digital and an estimated number of hard copy records that are awaiting image conversion. It is currently estimated that 865,787,086 of those records are in a digitalized format.”

  So over 850 million of those records are in digital format, making them easier to search. GOA claims this constitutes a “partially complete database of guns and gun owners.”

  So how does the ATF justify this massive privacy invasion of gun owners? They claim that “the vast majority of criminal firearms traces are done for state and local law enforcement agencies pertaining to active investigations.” But interestingly, in true Federal Government style, they also mention that they have no idea how effective this system is and if any of the information leads to the successful prosecution of gun crimes. 

  This lack of information is especially interesting considering that the Biden DOJ wants to change the regulation on firearms dealers so that they can never destroy gun transaction records. It should be exceedingly obvious that their goal is, of course, a complete registry of all firearms in the United States. What we are witnessing are small steps towards that goal. 

  We here at TMGN have been warning people about this change back in 2020 when the ATF changed form 4473 to include both firearm & personal information on the front page. I felt that the only reason for this change was data collection and the ease of digitizing a paper form, but now it’s exceedingly evident that theory was correct. 

  This is why it is crucial for gun owners to get involved and make sure they’re calling their members of Congress, getting out and making their voices heard, or even donating to a group that will fight on their behalf. If we don’t push back on these infringements, the ATF will track gun owners down the road and move to confiscate our firearms.

  This database is especially worrying with the current situation with the ATF classifying Rare Breed Firearms’ Forced Reset Triggers as machine guns and working to confiscate them from dealers and citizens alike. 

  Keep in mind that with the push to regulate semi-automatic firearms as machine guns, a registry would be a handy tool for confiscation. When you consider that confiscation of firearms is the end goal, it’s no wonder the ATF is pushing so hard to keep a database of gun owners.

  We explain more about today’s startling developments here: 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 21:40

• Colorado State Snowflakes Melt Down Over 'Free Speech' Events, Offered Trauma Counseling
  Colorado State Snowflakes Melt Down Over ‘Free Speech’ Events, Offered Trauma Counseling

  Students at Colorado State University who have been traumatized by free speech events held on campus now have 17 different counseling resources to help them cope.

  The future of America, ladies and gentlemen…

  “If you (or someone you know) are affected by a free speech event on campus, here are some resources,” reads a sign posted to Instagram by Turning Point USA Rockies.

  

  As Campus Reform notes, the university’s sign points to 17 departments that can help students who have been “affected.”

  Departments and programs were also designated for minority students, including Student Diversity Program centers for Asian Pacific, Black/African, and Native Americans. Service and Cultural resources provided spaces for LGBTQ+ students, students with disabilities, and included the Women and Gender Advocacy Center.

  The Rockies account called out the school for “intolerance,” noting, “And we haven’t even had an event yet gotta love the intolerance of @coloradostateuniversity.”

  Colorado State University has consistently been a hostile environment for conservative organizations, particularly in the fall 2021 semester. -Campus Reform

  CSU seems to have no problem with left-wing students harassing conservative students, however.

   

   

   

   

  View this post on Instagram

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

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  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 21:20

• Protesters Gather In Front Of Australian Parliament In Solidarity With Ottawa Truck Convoy
  Protesters Gather In Front Of Australian Parliament In Solidarity With Ottawa Truck Convoy

  Submitted by Daniel Teng of The Epoch Times

  Hundreds of protestors have gathered in front of Australia’s Parliament House in solidarity with the massive Convoy to Ottawa that converged on the Canadian capital around the weekend of Jan. 29.

  Calls for a similar movement have been echoing Down Under for days, and on Jan. 31, a crowd organised under a “Convoy to Canberra” campaign gathered in front of the national legislature, according to videos circulating on social media.

  Australian Parliament House. pic.twitter.com/TcEltQ38zk

  — Tony (@mrtdogg_1) January 31, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  The crowd can be heard chanting, “What do you want? Freedom! When do we want it? Now!” One individual addressed the crowd saying they had “every right to be here peacefully.”

  “They have told us that they have passed the message on that we demand that a representative of this Parliament comes out and addresses the people of Australia and our demands,” he said in a video circulating online.

  

  Social media has been awash with footage of drivers making their way to the Australian capital. The grassroots movement has begun gathering steam as a four-day-old GoFundMe campaign already garnered AU$167,539 in donations, as of Jan. 31.

  According to the ABC, the funds have been frozen by the website until details are provided regarding how the organiser will disperse them.

  A similar issue occurred with the Canadian protest when GoFundMe froze access to CA$4.5 million in funds. Those funds have since been released.

  U.S. truckers are now planning their own version of the protest from California to Washington D.C.

  The movement, which has seen thousands to tens of thousands of truckers mobilise, is in response to ongoing vaccine mandates and harsh government-mandated restrictions.

  In Australia, mandates have been widely enforced across the country with largely bipartisan support politically and from the business and medical community; it has, however, remained a contentious issue.

  On Jan. 22, protests broke out across Australia’s major capital cities with government-mandated restrictions.

  Vaccine developer Nikolai Petrovsky has criticised the mixed government messaging on the benefits of the jab, saying it only protects individuals and does not stop transmission of the virus—undermining the reasoning for mandates.

  “Every individual should be making decisions about their own health, and it is completely inappropriate to demonise or suggest someone who’s unvaccinated is in any way different to anyone else,” the lead researcher behind Spikogen told The Epoch Times.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 21:00

• Inflation Comes For Your Closet: Cotton Prices Hit Decade High Amid Global Deficit
  Inflation Comes For Your Closet: Cotton Prices Hit Decade High Amid Global Deficit

  The global fashion industry is on the rebound as BMO Capital boosted Under Armour’s rating to Outperform from Sector Perform. Fashion retailers breathe a sigh of relief as demand picks up but comes at a high price for consumers. 

  This year, about two-thirds of fashion executives expect to increase costs due to snarled supply chains. Average prices are expected to rise about 3% across all clothing and apparel, according to the State of Fashion 2022 report by the Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Co.

  About 15% of respondents said clothing and apparel prices could jump by more than 10%. 

  Inflation in fashion hasn’t just been due to transportation bottlenecks and rising shipping costs but also rocketing commodity prices. Bloomberg reports cotton futures have soared to a decade high on Monday due to a “global deficit of the fiber squeezing mills holding huge short positions.” 

  March cotton futures in New York rose as much as 2% to $1.26 per pound, the highest since June 2011. Prices are up for the seventh straight quarter, the longest streak since 1959. 

  

  “Supply disruptions and soaring costs pushed the industry to draw on stockpiles, which have practically vanished at ICE Futures U.S., with higher prices unable to lure supplies into the exchange-tracked warehouses,” Bloomberg said. 

  High prices for the fiber indicate inflation is coming to shirts, blue jeans, dresses, sweats, and so much more. 

  Demand for cotton worldwide “is simply not being met,” said O.A. Cleveland, a consultant and professor emeritus at Mississippi State University. 

  “Industry group Cotlook on Friday shifted its global outlook for 2021-22 back to a deficit, the second shortfall in a row, citing diminished production in top exporter U.S. and India. More plantings in the coming season have been put into question by soaring costs for crop inputs including fertilizer,” Bloomberg continued. 

  Cleveland said the cotton dynamics are “extremely bullish,” and the “last time I recalled such a situation, I stopped forecasting futures prices once the market reached $1.50 a pound. Will the May or July futures price ascend to such a level? I do not know. This is a no man’s land.”

  It’s still unclear how consumers will act when their favorite clothing brand prices continue to rise. But since clothes are considered discretionary spending, there will be a point where consumers will buy fewer of them due to higher prices. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 20:40

• COVID Is In The "Rearview" Because Politicians "Can't Win Votes Locking You In A Cage": George Gammon
  COVID Is In The “Rearview” Because Politicians “Can’t Win Votes Locking You In A Cage”: George Gammon

  Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance 

  A couple days ago, my kind friend George Gammon from Rebel Capitalist took the time to answer a couple of exclusive Fringe Finance questions for me. George is one of my favorite economic commentators and has been a friend of mine, and my podcast, for years. I often describe his podcast as similar to mine, just more well thought out, more educational and more useful with less childish humor.

  I thought this week would be a good time to tap into George’s head, given that the last time I spoke to George was well before the current market volatility. George prepared two, twenty minute-long exclusive videos for Fringe Finance to try and tackle a list of questions I had for him. 

  I reviewed George’s first video in this writeup for Zero Hedge, where he talked about everything from volatility in markets, to gold, to the Fed. 

  On Being Censored By YouTube

  In his second video George talks about one of his channel’s bans from YouTube: “Rebel Capitalist did get taken down by YouTube about two months ago. I actually wasn’t that surprised. I looked, couldn’t find it and got an email from YouTube saying they had taken down my account without any strikes or warnings.”

  “I went on Twitter and mentioned the YouTube email and got overwhelming support,” George says. Then, after Joe Rogan re-tweeted George’s tweet, his account mysteriously wound up back on YouTube. 

  

  “Maybe four hours later, Joe Rogan re-tweeted me. Then it went completely viral. About 2 hours later I got an email from YouTube saying ‘Whoops! Sorry! Our mistake! We reinstated your channel!'”

  It’s encouraging to see competition from other social media platforms, George says. “If they continue this draconian censorship around free speech, maybe YouTube will go the way of Myspace,” George says. 

  On Who He Follows During Market Volatility 

  George also explains who he listens to when the market is volatile: “Lyn Alden, I’m always paying attention to what she’s doing. She’s got a very very special talent, even compared to other people who are incredibly intelligent. I think Lyn is the best out there, personally. But I’m always listening to Jeff Snyder, and then I try to look at what’s happening in the stock market through the lens of people I talk to.”

  

  “I try to listen to the old school guys – Chanos, Druckenmiller, Jim Rogers, Marc Faber – and kind of those old school type of guys. Gundlach, too.”

  “My base case is at the end of 2022, I think we’ll be between 90 and 100 on the DXY,” George adds when asked about whether or not the dollar would crash this year. 

  On The Future Of Covid And The Stock Market

  “I think especially in the red states, Covid is going to be in the rearview mirror by the summer, maybe even by the spring,” George says. “It is possible we have another variant, but it’s unlikely, because another variant would have to be more transmissible. We’ll probably be stuck with omicron for quite some time.”

  He continues: “Is it priced into the market? I think it is. I think Covid is still going to be a thing in other countries and some of the blue states. The tell will be what countries are still under the influence of the World Economic Forum and the global elite.”

  

  “I’ve seen a pivot in the mainstream media,” George says. “Politicians know they can’t run and win on a platform of locking you in a cage and vaccine passports and making your kids inject a foreign substance into their body. That’s not a winning platform and I think the politicians are starting to realize that. Then they call the media and say ‘hey, you need to do a 180′”. 

  In George’s second video, he also talks about:

  • How lesser known content creators get screwed because they don’t have a following

  • The free market’s response to censorship

  • How he has learned the global monetary system by educating others

  • Thoughts on Covid variants and natural immunity

  • Why countries closest to the World Economic Forum will likely perpetuate the Covid narrative more than others

  • Why he doesn’t think the big crash for the dollar is coming in 2022

  You can watch Parts 1 and 2 of George’s full video response here. 

  

  Now read:

  1. Millionaire Book-Writer And Professional Board-Sitter Chelsea Clinton Attacks Substack Authors As “Grifters”

  2. Spotify Has Officially Become The Battleground For Big Tech’s Censorship Civil War

  3. Waking Up And Derailing The Great Reset

  4. Inflation Is The Kryptonite That Will End Our Decades-Long Monetary Policy Ponzi Scheme

  5. Rogan 2024

  6. For Robinhood, Firing Vlad Tenev Is The First Step To Redemption

  7. Why Mainstream Media Is “Being Swallowed” By Joe Rogan: Interview

  DISCLAIMER: 

  All content is George Gammon’s opinion. I own physical silver, GLD, GDX, GDXJ, PAAS, PSLV and a number of other metals/miners/gold/silver equities as well as numerous companies with exposure to oil and uranium. Readers should assume George also has positions in all trends/equities/etc. mentioned in this interview – as do I. We will likely stand to benefit if prices of commodities rise and/or our prognostications come true. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. It is only a look into personal opinions and personal portfolios. Positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I get shit wrong a lot. I’m not a financial advisor, I hold no licenses or registrations and am not qualified to give advice on anything, let alone finance or medicine. Talk to your doctor, talk to your financial advisor or your therapist. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 20:20

• Pregnant Reporter Forced To Stay In Kabul After Home Country Of New Zealand Denies Her Entry Due To COVID Protocols
  Pregnant Reporter Forced To Stay In Kabul After Home Country Of New Zealand Denies Her Entry Due To COVID Protocols

  Pregnant 35 year old reporter Charlotte Bellis is not being allowed to return home from Afghanistan to her home country of New Zealand because of the archipelago’s strict Covid-19 protocols. 

  She had been covering “the difficult conditions mothers and babies face” in the country, and has now herself been forced to take up shelter in Kabul, according to AP. She is 25 weeks pregnant and has been vaccinated three times. 

  She was working as an Afghanistan correspondent for Al Jazeera, where she resigned in November because it is based in Qatar, where “it is illegal to be pregnant and unmarried in Qatar”.

  She then went o Belgium to try and get residency, but the length of time it would have taken her to get in would have left her visa to expire. She then returned to her partner, who is a freelance photographer that has lived in Afghanistan for two years, figuring she could fight to get home using Kabul as a “home base”. 

  She had considered hopping from country to country on tourist visas until she had her baby, but couldn’t spend on the jet-setting and hotels that would be necessary. She says she is giving herself until she is 30 weeks pregnant to try and engineer a solution from Kabul.

   “I am giving myself to the end of February,” she said. “She will still have more than a month left on her Belgium visa so that she can re-enter the country” at that time, AP reported. 

  

  “Each day is a battle,” she told AP this weekend. “This is ridiculous. It is my legal right to go to New Zealand, where I have health care, where I have family. All my support is there.”

  After she wrote about her plight to return home, New Zealand’s COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins reportedly asked officials if they had followed protocol in her case and found that her situation appeared to “warrant further explanation.”

  She has a lawyer than has submitted over 60 documents to New Zealand’s government to try and get her home, but they have been rejected twice.

  On Sunday, she received a response from the New Zealand government telling her that her pregnancy didn’t meet the criteria of “threshold of critical time threat.”

  “If I don’t meet the threshold as a pregnant woman then who does?” she concluded. 

  Interestingly enough, she said she was welcomed back to Kabul by the Taliban. She checked with them to make sure it was okay for her to come back despite the fact that she was pregnant and unmarried.

  “I appreciate this isn’t official Taliban policy, but they were very generous and kind. They said ‘you are safe here, congratulations we welcome you’,” she told AP. 

   

   

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 20:00

• American Mom, School Teacher Was ISIS Batallion Leader, Prosecutors Allege
  American Mom, School Teacher Was ISIS Batallion Leader, Prosecutors Allege

  Authored by Alice Giordano via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  Federal authorities arrested a former Kansas school teacher and mother of five and charged her with plotting terrorist attacks on American soil, including a shopping mall and a college campus.

  Allison Elizabeth Fluke-Ekren, 42, was apprehended in Syria late Thursday, according to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.

  Fluke-Ekren began her stint as a terrorist shortly after leaving the U.S. in 2008, according to the DOJ. In a statement released Friday on Fluke-Ekren’s arrest and extradition back to the U.S., the DOJ detailed her intense involvement with the ISIS terrorist group over the course of three years.

  Fluke-Ekren allegedly served as a leader of an all-women military battalion of ISIS known as Khatiba Nusayba.

  Six eyewitnesses gave detailed accounts to U.S. federal agents of Fluke-Ekren’s alleged terrorist activity starting in 2016, which was about eight years after she moved to the Middle East. One of the witnesses described Fluke-Ehren’s alleged plot to park a vehicle full of explosives in the basement or parking garage level at a U.S. shopping mall and detonate the explosives in the vehicle using a cell phone with a triggering device.

  One witness said that the former Kansas school teacher fantasized about large-scale attacks and only considered a location a good one for the attack “if it contained large amounts of congregating people.”

  According to another eyewitness account, Fluke-Ekren said she considered any attack that did not kill a large number of individuals to be a waste of resources and campaigned for attacks to occur on American soil.

  Fluke-Ekren’s battalion, which included young children, was trained in the handling of AK-47s, grenades, and improvised explosive devices. They were also taught how to prep a “go bag” with rifles and other military supplies.

  The DOJ also had information that members of the all-women ISIS group often expressed they were especially proud to have an American leading them.

  Under the blog entitled 4kansaskids.blogspot.com, Fluke-Ekren wrote about family exploits in the Middle East before joining ISIS. There are several pictures of her, her first husband, and her children riding camels. Posts dating back to Christmas day in 2008 by friends include well wishings and hugs to the kids.

  “Everyone asks about you here in Wichita and KC,” wrote one friend. “Take care and I hope to read much, much more about your adventures!!!!”

  Fluke-Ekren replied back stating “Please give everyone in both places my best regards and salaams.”

  Several new posts now appear on her blog with a very different tone. One person wrote just yesterday “When you were planning to put a bomb under a shopping mall, did you think of the kids that would be murdered? Kids like your kids?”

  The blog posts predate the birth of her fifth child, who is believed, based on information from the DOJ, to be around 13. Her other children would be young adults.

  Terrorism appears to have become a family affair, replacing camel-riding activity with toting AK-47s. According to one witness in the federal complaint, one of Fluke-Ekren’s children, estimated to be about 5 or 6 years old, was seen outside the family home in Syria toting one of the gas-fueled assault weapons. Fluke-Ekren’s American husband died in 2016 while leading ISIS snipers in an airstrike. She remarried a Bangladeshi described as a prominent ISIS leader.

  According to the federal complaint against her, the ISIS battalion led by the American mom included children about the age of her children seen in pictures on her blog.

  Under federal sentencing guidelines, if convicted, the maximum prison sentence faced by Fluke-Ekren is 20 years.

  Her arraignment is scheduled for Monday afternoon at the federal courthouse in Eastern District of Virginia federal courthouse in Alexandria. Under federal sentencing guidelines, if convicted, the maximum prison sentence faced by Fluke-Ekren is 20 years.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 19:40

• Shareholders Sue McDonald's For Allowing Ex-CEO To Keep $40 Million Severance Package
  Shareholders Sue McDonald’s For Allowing Ex-CEO To Keep $40 Million Severance Package

  McDonald’s institutional shareholders have McF**king had it with generous payouts to executives forced out over improper conduct.

  More than two years since firing CEO Steve Easterbrook over an inappropriate relationship he had with a subordinate, McDonald’s is now facing a lawsuit from a group of shareholders – including at least one major union pension funds – who believe Easterbrook should reimburse the company for the legal fees it spent trying to oust him.

  Easterbrook was fired in 2019 after four years in the top job where he won praise for innovations like all-day breakfast and other initiatives that supposedly bolstered sales.

  

  A trio of pension funds tied to the Teamsters’ union said in a court filing released Friday that McDonald’s should have demanded reimbursement for the millions of dollars in legal fee that it was forced to pay during its battle with Easterbrook. Instead, the company allowed him to walk out the door with almost $40 million.

  According to Bloomberg, disgruntled shareholders are also criticizing Micky D’s chairman Rick Hernandez and other board members over allegedly misleading the board about the extent of Easterbrook’s deceptions.

  For example, Hernandez and other members of the board were criticized for paying Easterbrook severance after he allegedly misled them about the nature and duration of his allegedly “inappropriate” relationship with a subordinated.

  Here’s more on what shareholders had to say:

  Board members weren’t acting in the best interest of shareholders by keeping “secret such salacious misconduct and paying Easterbrook a lavish severance package to quietly leave the company,” the investors said in the court filing.

  The McDonald’s board will fight the request, its lawyer said Monday. “Plaintiffs’ allegations do not support a derivative claim, and the board will move to dismiss the case,” Ron Olson said in an emailed statement.

  Court papers show McDonald’s accused the former CEO of lying about his sexual liaisons with underlings and sending dozens of sexually explicit pictures of women using his company email.

  The company originally sought to recoup his severance package, which it valued at $37 million, but eventually caved, as Easterbrook and his legal team fought back.

  At this point, even if the shareholders win in their suit against McDonald’s, the money won’t come from Easterbrook, but from McDonald’s insurance coverage.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 19:20

• Democrats Finally Reach Out To Manchin, Is It Too Late?
  Democrats Finally Reach Out To Manchin, Is It Too Late?

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

  Control of Build Back Better was always in Senator Joe Manchin’s hands. Stewing Progressives finally admit that. But what’s next?

  

  Ball in Manchin’s Court

  The Wall Street Journal reports Democrats Put Build Back Better in Joe Manchin’s Court, emphasis mine.

  Democrats are increasingly willing to accept whatever child-care, healthcare and climate package that Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) would support as they return to Washington this week, hoping to salvage elements of the party’s economic agenda after months of failed negotiations.

  Party lawmakers have started to change their attitude toward the package as they grapple with the possibility of failing to convert their narrow control of Congress into progress on major party goals. Some have moved away from insisting that the package include particular priorities, instead advocating for the party to notch a result with Mr. Manchin ahead of the midterm elections.

  “Democrats can’t let our disappointment get in the way of progress on something we’ve worked hard to achieve,” said Rep. Peter Welch (D., Vt.), who is running for Senate. Many Democrats are eager to start piecing together legislation after Mr. Manchin’s rejection of the House-passed Build Back Better bill put talks on ice for weeks. In a West Virginia broadcast interview, Mr. Manchin said talks had restarted on the bill, adding that he was primarily focused on a separate effort on bipartisan elections legislation.

  “There’s a lot of conversations going on, they’ve been reaching out. We haven’t sat down physically and started any negotiations,” Mr. Manchin said on Thursday. “I think taking care of our voting and protecting our right to vote and protecting the ballot box is the most important, urgent thing we have right now.”

  Reasons Time May Have Passed   

  1. Senator Bernie Sanders is calling for up or down votes on every idea. “The current direction that we have followed for the past five months has failed. We’ve got to move in a new direction,” Mr. Sanders said.

  2. Senator Manchin has other priorities, especially voting.

  3. The House Progressive Caucus will be loathe to accept some of Manchin’s requirements. 

  4. Another potential government shutdown is in the works. The 2021 settlement extended government funding through February 18. That will be the top priority for the next two weeks. 

  5. Biden pledged to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court but has of yet selected anyone. The Senate confirmation hearings will  take a while. 

  6. Some Democrats still insist on removing the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deductions and the expanded child tax credit. A group of Senate Democrats wrote a letter to Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris last week calling on them to continue an expansion of the child tax credit in the legislation.

  2022 Congressional Calendar

  

  2022 Congressional calendar from Rational360.Com

  Deal Still Possible 

  Whatever gets done will likely have to get done by the end of July. 

  In August and October the House is not in session although Speaker Nancy Pelosi could call them back. 

  There is still time, but the best shots are March, May, June, and July. There is too much other business in February. 

  Bipartisan Group Targets Election Reform

  Please note Senators Seek Changes to Electoral Count Act to Firm Up Presidential Elections

  Republicans in recent weeks have started talking about making changes to the Electoral Count Act in an effort to stop a repeat of what happened following the 2020 election. Then-President Donald Trump, a Republican, had urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject the Electoral College votes from some states, which he declined to do. That same day, the Capitol was overrun by a pro-Trump mob seeking to stop the certification of the election victory of President Biden, a Democrat.

  Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), who is leading the bipartisan effort, said Thursday she was encouraged by the interest from colleagues from both parties in overhauling the law. Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), who is leading the bipartisan effort, said Thursday she was encouraged by the interest from colleagues from both parties in overhauling the law.

  Overturning the Next Election

  If the concern is stealing the Presidency, then fix the Electoral Count Act said the WSJ in Overturning the Next Election on January 4, 2022.

  The anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is Washington’s theme of the week, and waves of righteous anger will roll across the Mall. We agree the riot was disgraceful, but then why not rewrite the law that encouraged Donald Trump’s supporters to think Congress could overturn the 2020 election?

  We’re referring to the Electoral Count Act, the ambiguous 19th-century statute that purports to allow for a majority of Congress to disqualify a state’s electors after the Electoral College has voted. Congress’s certification of presidential election results should be a technicality, but Mr. Trump misled supporters into believing Vice President Mike Pence and Congress could overturn Joe Biden’s victory, leading to the Jan. 6 march on the Capitol.

  The effort wasn’t close to succeeding, with only eight Senators objecting to the results in any states, though 139 Republicans did in the House. No Senators voted to object to enough states to deprive President Biden of the 270 electoral votes he needed to win. Presiding over the Senate, Mr. Pence properly understood his limited constitutional role and resisted Mr. Trump’s pressure to intervene. He was one of the heroes of that day.

  Still, Jan. 6 was the most significant abuse of the law to date and part of a growing trend. A smaller number of congressional Democrats used the Electoral Count Act to object to both of George W. Bush’s victories as well as Donald Trump’s in 2016.

  The Electoral Count Act was an attempt to avoid the mess that followed the contested 1876 Hayes-Tilden election, but its ambiguous language has made it open to abuse. In these polarized times, both parties could use the law in the future as an excuse to attempt to overturn an election in the House and Senate.

  Congress shouldn’t have even the appearance of this power. The Framers didn’t want the executive branch beholden to Congress, which is why they designed an Electoral College to elect the President. They gave state legislatures the power to certify electoral votes, as they do according to the popular vote count in each state. Though the Electoral Count Act has never been tested in court, in our view it is unconstitutional.

  That’s what needs to be fixed, but what Progressives demand is far removed. 

  And it’s unclear what Manchin is actually referring to when he says “I think taking care of our voting and protecting our right to vote and protecting the ballot box is the most important, urgent thing we have right now.”

  Fixing the Voting Rights Act should be a simple process. But somehow these things never are.

  Look for Elizabeth Warren and the Senate Progressives to possibly demand more than Senators Manchin and Krysten Sinema are willing to go along with. 

  This could be done in a week, or two months. 

  Meanwhile, Senator Sanders wants to try something new. The House is torn on the environment, on child care, and on on removing the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deductions.

  Has Time Realistically Expired?

  If the bickering and demands continue, yes it has. Will Democrats salvage something?

  This is what it comes down to.

  Whether they pass anything at all depends on two things.

  1: How long they continue bickering

  2: Whether they would rather bitch at Republicans and Manchin for blocking everything than pass something.

  It’s possible #2 is more important and it only takes a handful in the House

  — Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) January 30, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  I still think “something” is likely, but depending on what that something is, I’d rather see nothing.

  *  *  *

  Please Subscribe to MishTalk Email Alerts.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 19:00

• Buttigieg To Usher In Speed Camera Nightmare Across US
  Buttigieg To Usher In Speed Camera Nightmare Across US

  The U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s plan to roll out a sprawling network of speed and surveillance cameras across America’s highways raises troubling questions of mass surveillance, according to DailyMail. 

  Buttigieg’s 42-page plan to improve highway safety will receive a whopping $17 billion from President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which would be used to install speed and surveillance cameras on highways. The plan says the use of automated speed cameras is a more “equitable” way to patrol highways than the police. 

  

  Last Thursday, Buttigieg told the Associated Press that an alarming amount of highways deaths began after 2020, reversing a three-decade downtrend. 

  “It doesn’t look good, and I continue to be extremely concerned about the trend,” he said in an interview.

  “Somehow it has become over the years and decades as normal, sort of the cost of doing business,” Buttigieg continued. “Even though a pandemic that led to considerably less driving, we continue to see more danger on our roads.”

  Speed cameras have drawn immense criticism from progressive lawmakers, who are furious that speeding fines will help fund police departments. On the other side of the political aisle, conservatives are troubled by mass surveillance. 

  At the moment, eight states have prohibited speed cameras. But 18 states plus D.C. operate speed cameras, with other states having no laws authorizing their use.

  

  The DailyMail spoke with New Jersey State Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, who is concerned about Buttigieg’s plan. He said speed cameras in New Jersey are illegal and said automated enforcement doesn’t make roads safer and “amounts to government-sanctioned theft.”

  “These systems’ negative impact falls particularly hard on the poor,” O’Scanlon added. “The fines are a regressive tax. Any elected official that supports these systems is supporting screwing every one of his/her constituents that drives a car.”

  Early last year, the ACLU of Iowa said the speeding cameras are an illusion of enhancing safety and have made some highways more dangerous. 

  “In some places, for example, traffic cameras have led to an increase in rear-end accidents because they cause drivers to slam on the brakes to avoid an automatically generated ticket,” ACLU said. 

  Besides speed and surveillance cameras, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a part of the Transportation Department, intends to make automatic emergency braking mandatory for all new cars. 

  Buttigieg’s strategy is direct evidence that the government plans to scale up their surveillance network, and what’s to stop them from using facial recognition systems? 

  Under the guise of safety, a Chinese-style surveillance state continues to expand. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 18:40

• Peak Irony? University Puts Trigger-Warning On George Orwell's '1984'
  Peak Irony? University Puts Trigger-Warning On George Orwell’s ‘1984’

  Authored by Jennifer Kabbany via The College Fix,

  In an Orwellian turn of events, the University of Northampton has put a trigger warning on George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984,” citing “explicit material” that some students may find “offensive and upsetting,” the Daily Mail reports.

  

  The Mail verified the existence of the trigger warning through a freedom of information request filed with the UK campus.

  “There’s a certain irony that students are now being issued trigger warnings before reading Nineteen Eighty-Four,” Tory MP Andrew Bridgen told the Mail.

   “Our university campuses are fast becoming dystopian Big Brother zones where Newspeak is practised to diminish the range of intellectual thought and cancel speakers who don’t conform to it.”

  The novel “1984” was published in 1949 “as a warning against totalitarianism,” according to Britannica.

  “The chilling dystopia made a deep impression on readers, and [Orwell’s] ideas entered mainstream culture in a way achieved by very few books.”

  “The book’s title and many of its concepts, such as Big Brother and the Thought Police, are instantly recognized and understood, often as bywords for modern social and political abuses.”

  A university spokesman said told the Mail that while “it is not university policy, we may warn students of content in relation to violence, sexual violence, domestic abuse and suicide. In these circumstances we explain to applicants as part of the recruitment process that their course will include some challenging texts.”

  In addition to “1984” getting a trigger warning at the University of Northampton, the UK-based Salford University has put trigger warnings on Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” and Charles Dickens’s “Great Expectations,” which are marked as “distressing,” the Daily Mail reports:

  The warnings accompany a reading list given to students on Salford’s BA English literature course, and have been revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request.

  The university warns undergraduates: “There are scenes and discussions of violence and sexual violence in several of the primary texts studied on this module. Some students may find the content of the following texts distressing.”

  Not to be outdone, students in America recently took trigger warnings to a whole new level.

  The student-staffed Prevention, Advocacy and Resource Center at Brandeis University last year listed the term “trigger warning” itself as “oppressive” and among those the campus community should avoid.

  “The word ‘trigger’ has connections to guns for many people,” the center’s website stated. “We can give the same heads-up using language less connected to violence.”

  And in 2020, Baylor University put up a trigger warning for a swath of American flags planted in the grass as a Sept. 11 memorial.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 18:20

• Biden To Designate Qatar A Major Non-NATO Ally Amid Efforts To Blunt Putin's 'Energy Weapon'
  Biden To Designate Qatar A Major Non-NATO Ally Amid Efforts To Blunt Putin’s ‘Energy Weapon’

  On Monday we learn that “North Atlantic Treaty Organization” will extend to include formally designated “major” allies all the way in the Persian Gulf…

  “US President Joe Biden said on Monday he plans to designate Qatar as a major non-Nato ally, granting a special status to the Middle East partner,” the UAE-based The National reports. The announcement was made while Biden hosted Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in the Oval Office. Biden stressed he’s soon to notify Congress of the designation “to reflect the importance of our relationship.” The State Department says the designation “provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation.”

  

  Crucially this special relationship was solidified in recent years, it should be recalled, during the Syrian proxy war in which intelligence services from both countries teamed up in an attempt to overthrow the Assad government. Qatar even hosted US training camps in the desert for fanatical jihadists “secular freedom fighters”. 

  And the tiny oil and gas rich monarchy had for years been widely accused of seeking to destabilize Syria while eyeing energy transit opportunities, as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wrote in a 2016 lengthy Politico piece: 

  While the compliant American press parrots the narrative that our military support for the Syrian insurgency is purely humanitarian, many Arabs see the present crisis as just another proxy war over pipelines and geopolitics. Before rushing deeper into the conflagration, it would be wise for us to consider the abundant facts supporting that perspective.

  In their view, our war against Bashar Assad did not begin with the peaceful civil protests of the Arab Spring in 2011. Instead it began in 2000, when Qatar proposed to construct a $10 billion, 1,500 kilometer pipeline through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey.

  It should also be recalled that Qatar was among the first Arab gulf states to essentially confess that it supported al-Qaeda during the height of the Syria conflict. 

  We detailed in our 2017 analysis of a rare “confession” by Qatar’s former top intelligence official…

  In an interview with Qatari TV Wednesday, bin Jaber al-Thani revealed that his country, alongside Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United States, began shipping weapons to jihadists from the very moment events “first started” (in 2011).

  Al-Thani even likened the covert operation to “hunting prey” – the prey being President Assad and his supporters – “prey” which he admits got away (as Assad is still in power; he used a Gulf Arabic dialect word, “al-sayda”, which implies hunting animals or prey for sport). Though Thani denied credible allegations of support for ISIS, the former prime minister’s words implied direct Gulf and US support for al-Qaeda in Syria (al-Nusra Front) from the earliest years of the war, and even said Qatar has “full documents” and records proving that the war was planned to effect regime change.

  In large part al-Thani was at the time seeking to throw the Saudis under the bus for spearheading the whole sordid Syrian regime change saga on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council (during the years of the GCC schism and Saudi-Qatar diplomatic war).

  More than this, Hillary’s emails would confirm the gulf allies funded and supported the rise of ISIS.

  #Qatar‘s ex PM says that Qatari support for jihadists including Nusra in #Syria was in coordination w/ KSA, Turkey & the US via @BBassem7 pic.twitter.com/tu8IMRI7IP

  — Ibn Walid (@walid970721) October 27, 2017

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  So congrats to Joe Biden’s newest declared major non-Nato ally of Qatar, with a confirmed history of supporting ISIS, al-Qaeda, and other terrorists across the region… (though to be fair the same can be said of NATO member Turkey and the US itself)…

  Citing Western intelligence, Clinton email acknowledges US-backed regimes in Saudi Arabia and Qatar supported ISIS https://t.co/f7lNytahd2 pic.twitter.com/4BWV3Sti5v

  — Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) October 11, 2016

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  The Pentagon is optimistic about the opportunities presented with deeper security ties: “It opens up a whole new range of opportunities — essential relationships — not just with the United States bilaterally but with other allies,” spokesman John Kirby said Monday about Qatar’s impending status.

  But Syria and so-called ‘Arab Spring’ conflicts aside, the new geopolitical standoff which appears to be driving the Biden administration’s deepening energy and security relationship with Qatar is seen in the following:

  Now, with about 100,000 Russian troops massed at the Ukraine border, experts say Qatar — the world’s second-biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, or LNG — is eager to help Mr Biden again but might only be able to offer limited assistance if Russia further disrupts the flow of energy supplies to Europe.

  Qatar is already producing at full capacity, with much of its supply under contract to Asia. Even if some Pacific allies of the US — including India, Japan and South Korea — are persuaded to divert some contracted LNG orders to Europe, it will only slightly soften the blow, energy analysts say.

  The initiative appears part of broader attempts of team Biden to reach out to countries and energy firms in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa as the administration preps potential far-reaching sanctions against Moscow in the event of an offensive against Ukraine. 

  The expectation is that Putin would use Russia’s ‘energy weapon’ and leverage over Europe – simply he’d “turn off the gas” – as a natural response to any hard-hitting Western sanctions. Washington is now scrambling to put in place plans to mitigate the inevitable extreme natural gas supply crunch that would result, hoping countries like Qatar could be part of contingency plans for assisting Europe in such a nightmare scenario.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 18:00

• Cartels Have Operational Control Of US Border, Are "Terrorizing" The US, Says Rep. Chip Roy
  Cartels Have Operational Control Of US Border, Are “Terrorizing” The US, Says Rep. Chip Roy

  Submitted by Charlotte Cuthbertson and Steve Lance of The Epoch Times

  Mexican cartels are making billions of dollars from drug trafficking, human smuggling, and exploiting the U.S. border, said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).

  

  Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 1.3 million illegal immigrants crossing into Texas from Mexico in 2021. Hundreds of thousands more weren’t captured. Seizures of the deadly synthetic opioid, fentanyl, have sharply increased, as have overdose deaths in the United States.

  “We have 100,000 Americans die from opioid poisonings. They’re not really overdoses—they’re poisonings,” Roy told NTD’s Capitol Report on Jan. 28.

  “China is moving it through Mexico, cartels are making money, China is getting empowered, America’s getting hammered—all because this administration refuses to do its job of securing the border.”

  The chemicals to make fentanyl are produced in China and shipped to Mexico, where counterfeit pills are manufactured, heroin is spiked, and other products are laced before being sent across the southern border.

  U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a 1,066 percent increase in fentanyl seized at south Texas ports of entry during fiscal year 2021.

  

  The cartels, which fight over the lucrative territory that abuts the United States, have expanded their reach, profits, and power through a massive increase in human smuggling and trafficking over the past year.

  They often send large groups through in one area of the border to tie up Border Patrol resources, which leaves nearby areas unpatrolled and open for illicit transport, said Rodney Scott, former U.S. Border Patrol Chief.

  “They simply overwhelm agents with those massive numbers, and that creates other areas where there’s no law enforcement at all,” Scott told Capitol Report on Dec. 16.

  “That’s where they’re bringing the narcotics, the criminal aliens, the people that want to avoid arrest, for whatever reason, and they’re just pouring across at will. This is a crisis and it is real.”

  

  Illegal immigrants have to pay a cartel to cross into the United States, and the amount varies on the country of origin and the destination in the United States. Often, the illegal immigrant doesn’t have the money and will enter the United States indebted to the cartel.

  “These are human beings. They are put into the labor or sex trafficking trade and they’re basically held as slaves to enrich the worst elements of our society—cartels, but also just illegal illicit organizations that are perfectly happy to use the cartel network to get the people that they’re going to abuse. It’s absolutely horrific,” Roy said.

  “One boy thought he was paying $4,000 to go pick grapes in California. Instead he was going to be held for ransom in a stash house in Houston.”

  Recently, eight illegal immigrants were discovered in a vehicle in Boerne, Texas, just north of San Antonio.

  “The driver of the car was an American citizen employee of one of those cartels, moving those eight people—two of whom were bound in the trunk—heading to a stash house in Houston,” Roy said.

  “How is the most powerful nation in the history of the world allowing our borders to be operationally controlled by cartels, while Democrats pat themselves on the back for compassion, using asylum as an excuse for wide open borders that do nothing good for the American people?”

  

  Roy has introduced a bill that seeks to designate two cartels as terrorist organizations in the last two congressional legislative sessions.

  The bill directs the State Department to designate the Reynosa/Los Metros faction of the Gulf Cartel and the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas as foreign terrorist organizations. It also requires the state department to produce a report on those cartels, as well as any others that meet the criteria.

  The bill has the support of 45 co-sponsors, all Republicans. But he’s not confident it will get passed during Biden’s administration.

  “They don’t give a rat’s rear end about securing the border or trying to go after cartels,” Roy said. But the bill also faces opposition from some Republicans.

  “You have some Republicans who hand-wring and go, ‘Well, you can’t call them cartels, because you elevate them to something that’s the same as the Taliban, or Al-Qaeda, or ISIS,” Roy said.

  “But to me, they are terrorizing the United States, they’re terrorizing people in Mexico. They’re doing it purposely, they’re doing it for political power, they’re doing it to enrich themselves.

  “They hang people, they bury people alive. They kill people and send videos to their families, so that they can terrorize people.”

  Roy said the United States needs to go after the cartels and reclaim operational control of the southern border.

  Meanwhile, he’s preparing to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for dereliction of duty.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 17:40

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• Is It Time For The US To Engage With The Taliban?
  Is It Time For The US To Engage With The Taliban?

  Authored by James Dorso,

  Afghanistan’s Taliban recently proposed it take a role in aid distribution via the creation of a joint mechanism with international aid organizations to coordinate the distribution of food aid to the country. According to the Taliban, “The goal of this committee is coordination on a higher level for facilitating humanitarian aid of the international community and to distribute aid for needy people.”

  

  Taliban representatives recently met with Western government officials and Afghan women’s rights and human rights activists in Norway. The U.S. delegation addressed “the formation of a representative political system; responses to the urgent humanitarian and economic crises; security and counterterrorism concerns; and human rights, especially education for girls and women.”

  Afghanistan’s neighbors Central Asia and India aren’t dallying. They recently met and agreed to create working groups to address Afghanistan’s food emergency, recognition of the Taliban, and the development of the Iranian port of Chabahar. The U.S. and Europe can help by holding their fire as the neighbors of heavily-sanctioned Iran and Afghanistan attempt to stabilize the region and create economic opportunity that will allow them to distance themselves from China’s thrust into the region.

  The West needs to get a move on as the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)  have declared that 19 million people in Afghanistan are experiencing “high levels of acute food insecurity” and that that number will climb to 22.8 million this winter unless action is taken.

  Washington’s priorities of a satisfactory (to the U.S.)  representative government, and its desires for Afghan women girls should take a back seat to averting a humanitarian catastrophe this winter. Afghans are being forced to sell their children for food, so more public engagement along will U.S. food aid will rebound to Washington’s benefit.

  U.S. policymakers no doubt feel anger and humiliation at the public failure of their two-decade project to reform Pashtun culture.

  But refusing practical steps to engage now with the new government in Kabul as disaster looms will show the U.S. and its confederates to be both incompetent and spiteful, a massive in-kind donation to the Taliban’s PR campaign internally and aimed at the wider Muslim world.

  Recent visitors to Kabul report the Taliban want Americans to return to the country (“Even Erik Prince can come here!”), one reason being to counter Chinese expansion in the region.

  A good start would be visits by U.S. officials to Kabul, as limiting their contacts to the Taliban political office in Doha, Qatar may also be interpreted as a lack of physical courage, which won’t inspire confidence in Kabul’s new chiefs. It will also give U.S. officials an opportunity to meet the Taliban out of earshot of Qatari officials who, while they have been helpful to the U.S., have their own agenda.

  According to the visitors, the roads are open, free of roadblocks, and repair crews are at work. As the country was historically a trading crossroads, now is the time to again make it the connector between Central and South Asia, and a trade partner with Iran’s 80 million people.

  Fortunately, leaders from Central Asia and South Asia — Uzbekistan and Pakistan — previously acted to connect the regions to increase trade and opportunity. In July, Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan met in Tashkent where they signed agreements to upgrade their countries’ economic relations. The leaders may have been racing the clock, but their project requires an Afghan crossroads where their businesses can trade with without fear of the U.S.

  The U.S. attempt to export identity politics to Afghanistan (via demands for a “representative government”) may be obliged by the Taliban if they introduce the world to the Afghan Margot Honecker, which will cause wails of “We didn’t mean a woman like that!” The Taliban aren’t neglecting girls’ education as private schools – for boys and girls – are open, and the government  promised public schools will all be open after the Afghan New Year in late March.

  After the Taliban’s August victory, there were few revenge killings and no one has been sent to a reeducation camp. If the Taliban deliver on their promise to open girls’ schools in March, the way should be open to consider releasing some Afghan funds seized by the U.S. or waiving sanctions against Taliban leaders so foreign businessmen can start to explore just how ready the Taliban are to engage with them and meet their demands for security and transparency.

  The U.S. will have concerns about what the Taliban is doing to repress the Pakistan Taliban (the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)), Al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K). If the Taliban follow through on the girls’ schools, the U.S. should grant concessions that will facilitate regional trade, then ask Kabul to take action against the three extremist groups. The Taliban may then be likely to move against Al-Qaeda and IS-K, but not against the TTP, and the U.S. will know this if it is clear-eyed, though it should call for action against the TTP, at least to keep Pakistan on-side when Islamabad goes into a funk over the latest American “abandonment.”.

  Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, described the Afghan Taliban and the TTP as “two sides of the same coin.” The Afghan Taliban see the TTP as their Pashtun allies in a conflict with Pakistan over the nominal border, the contested Durand Line. It is a scrap the U.S. will be wise to otherwise avoid, and instead focus on strengthening local economies as a counter to Beijing’s designs for Central and South Asia.

  The Taliban aren’t the baddest actors America ever dealt with.

  After World War II, the U.S. quickly hired German scientists and former Nazi officials. The U.S. also gave a pass to leaders of Unit 731, Japan’s germ warfare unit that experimented on Allied POWs.

  The difference between then and now is that then the U.S. was the victor, so it was easy to be generous, especially as the West was rapidly retooling to confront Communism.

  The question for America now is, as it faces a Communist regime in Beijing instead of Moscow, can it be magnanimous in defeat?

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/31/2022 – 02:00

• "Think Twice Before You Vaccinate Your Kids", Dr. Robert Malone Warns Parents On COVID-19 Shots
  “Think Twice Before You Vaccinate Your Kids”, Dr. Robert Malone Warns Parents On COVID-19 Shots

  Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly and Jan Jekielek via The Epoch Times,

  Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist and immunologist who has contributed significantly to the technology of mRNA vaccines, issued a strong caution for those who seek to have their children vaccinated against COVID-19.

  “Think twice before you vaccinate your kids. Because if something bad happens, you can’t go back and say, ‘whoops, I want a do-over,’” Malone told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program in an interview, Part 1 of which premiered on Sunday.

  He also said, “It is clear that parents should think twice about vaccinating their child,” adding that serious adverse events can occur and can be “so severe that it puts your child in the hospital.”

  

  Malone noted that with regard to myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart, “there’s a good chance that if your child takes the vaccine, they won’t be damaged, they won’t show clinical symptoms—[but] they may have subclinical damage.”

  “But the question is, do you want to take that chance with your child? Because if you draw the short straw and your child was damaged, most of these things, if not all of them, are irreversible. There is no way to fix it,” he said.

  “And I get these emails all the time: ‘Doctor, doctor, what can we do? This has happened.’ And that once it’s happened, there’s … you can’t go back you can’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”

  He pointed to information compiled on his website, which includes a list of peer-reviewed studies related to COVID-19 vaccine adverse events in children, the main one being myocarditis. The website also includes a collection of adverse events reports as well as death reports in the pediatric community, submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

  “They’re there as links to the VAERS database, and if you click on them, you can see the actual VAERS report that was filed by a physician saying this is what happened,” Malone said.

  “And you can make your own decision about whether or not you think that that’s vaccine-related. So all of those data are there.”

  

  A 5-year-old girl looks at her arm after getting a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in New York City on Nov. 8, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

  One page on Malone’s website points to a paper published in the Toxicology Reports journal in which authors noted, using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that normalized data on COVID-19 deaths per capita are “negligible in children,” while deaths after COVID-19 vaccination are “small, but not negligible, in children.”

  “For children the chances of death from COVID-19 are negligible, but the chances of serious damage over their lifetime from the toxic inoculations are not negligible,” the authors wrote in the paper, titled “Why are we vaccinating children against COVID-19?”

  Malone’s latest warning comes after he issued a prepared statement in mid-December 2021 aimed at parents, in which he said that with regard to mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, “a viral gene will be injected into your children’s cells” that “forces your child’s body to make toxic spike proteins.”

  “These proteins often cause permanent damage in children’s critical organs, including their brain and nervous system, their heart and blood vessels, including blood clots, their reproductive system, and this vaccine can trigger fundamental changes to their immune system.”

  Malone is strongly opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates for children. He is the chief science officer and regulatory officer for The Unity Project, a movement seeking to resist COVID-19 vaccine mandates for K–12 children.

  “The Unity Project’s position is one based on the logic of informed consent versus forced vaccination—that mandates should not happen,” Malone told EpochTV. “The state should not be forcing itself into the family. The decisions belong at the level of parents not at the level of the state or the school board. School boards and schools and teachers have no right to understand and seek out medical information about their students‚ that’s illegal. And yet, it’s being done all the time. And students are being bullied if they haven’t taken vaccine.”

  Malone is also the president of the International Alliance of Physicians and Medical Scientists—a group of 16,000 professionals who have signed a declaration that says healthy children “shall not be subject to forced vaccination.”

  “Mandates are illegal based on the Nuremberg Code, Helsinki Accord, the Belmont Report,” Malone said.

  “These continued to be unlicensed products, they’re only available through emergency use authorization … These are not licensed products, and they’re being forced on your children, and they have risks. And the media—through its censorship—and Big Tech, is blocking your ability to even learn what those risks are so you can make an informed decision for your children yourself. That is a huge crime in my mind.”

  

  Municipal workers hold placards and shout slogans as they march across Brooklyn Bridge during a protest against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, in New York on Oct. 25, 2021. (Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images)

  Two mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines are currently available in the United States under emergency use authorization (EUA)—one from Pfizer-BioNTech and the other from Moderna.

  The only COVID-19 vaccine that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for people 16 and older is Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, which is marketed as Comirnaty. Doses are to be produced in the future, according to FDA documents.

  A separate, existing supply of COVID-19 vaccines under Pfizer-BioNTech continue to be available under an updated EUA for those over 16. The FDA has also granted an EUA for Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for those aged 12–15 in May 2021, and for children aged 5–11 in October 2021.

  California in October 2021 became the first state to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for children, followed by Louisiana in December 2021. Both states said they will only enforce the mandate if the FDA fully authorizes the vaccines for children.

  The Pfizer vaccine remains the only jab against COVID-19 available for people aged under 18 in the United States. The FDA in October 2021 delayed a decision on whether to grant Moderna an EUA for its COVID-19 vaccine for those aged 12 to 17, saying it needs more time to further review the vaccine’s risk for myocarditis in this population.

  The Epoch Times has reached out to Pfizer-BioNTech and the FDA for comment.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 23:30

• With The Next CPI Print Critical For Stocks, Here's What Is Pushing Inflation Higher
  With The Next CPI Print Critical For Stocks, Here’s What Is Pushing Inflation Higher

  The earlier comments from Atlanta Fed president Bostic, who was clear in his readiness for a 50bps hike but also said that he was encouraged by the latest employment cost index (ECI) report which showed a sequential decline, and which prompted Bostic to expect a moderation in wage growth going forward, suggests that the coming CPI print on Feb 10 will be market-moving especially if it comes well below expectations, as it could also force the Fed to rethink its hawkish reversal.

  And while we wait, let’s take a look at what the latest inflation data shows, and what are the key drivers of inflation at this moment.

  As a reminder, the core PCE price index rose 0.50% month-over-month in December to a new four-decade high of 4.85% year-on-year, and core CPI inflation rose to 5.49%. Core inflation was again boosted by rapid shelter inflation — which has run at the highest level since 1990 over the last four months, just as we warned would happen in mid-2021 — and another jump in the prices of durable goods impacted by temporary shortages.

  

  The role of outliers over the last year is illustrated by the gap between core PCE inflation at 4.85% year-on-year and the Goldman trimmed core PCE at just 2.78% year-on-year. However, the breadth of inflation has continued to increase and the bank’s trimmed core PCE has run at an annualized pace of 4.02% over the last three months (vs. 5.84% for corePCE).

  

  Here is a look at component-level trends:

  • Used cars, hotels, new cars, nonprofit services, furniture, and transportation services are much stronger than usual on a year-on-year basis, boosted by supply constraints and base effects.

  

  • Used car auction prices increased 0.6% to 56% above the pre-pandemic level in the first half of January, after adjusting for depreciation, which could push consumer prices even higher.

  

  • Goldman’s shelter inflation tracker increased to +6.3%, pointing to a pickup in the official shelter series from its current +3.7% year-over-year rate.

  

  • On the other hand, a High-frequency tracker of hotel prices and airfares has dropped to 18% below the two-year ago level amidst elevated virus spread.

  

  Here are the key key inflation drivers:

  The Goldman composition-corrected wage tracker increased to +4.3% year-on-year and the GS wage survey leading indicator stands at+3.8% — each series’ highest level since the early 2000s.

  

  The GS low-wage wage tracker increased to +7.5% year-on-year, its highest level in at least three decades.

  

  Industrial metals prices increased to 161% of the pre-pandemic level and energy prices rebounded sharply to 141% of the pre-pandemic level. Goldman expects the boost from commodity prices to year-on-year core PCE inflation to decline from a peak of 80bp in 2021Q4 to 40bp by 2022Q4.

  

  

  Supply chain disruptions:

  Supply chain disruptions measured by supplier delivery times and indicators of port congestion remained near record-high levels in January.

  

  Supply-constrained categories boosted core PCE inflation by 140bp in December, and that contribution is expected to grow to 145bp in January before shrinking to -25bp by year-end.

  

  Inflation expectations:

  The Goldman monthly version of the Fed’s Index of Common Inflation Expectations remained unchanged at 2.10% in January, roughly in line with the pre-2014 level.

  

  Household inflation expectations increased on net and remain near multi-year highs. The University of Michigan’s 5-10y measure increased to3.1% in January and the NY Fed’s 3y measure remained at 4.0% in December. One-year expectations in both surveys remained a couple percentage points above their longer-run equivalents.

  

  Financial market-implied CPI inflation expectations increased by 30bp on average in each 2022 and 2023.

  

  The composite of seven business inflation expectations series edged up to the highest level in its two-decade history.

  

  Goldman’s index of company price announcements is at the highest level since the series began in 2010, and mentions of the word “inflation” have been the most frequent since at least 2010 so far in this quarter’s Russell 3000 earnings calls.

  

  GS inflation forecast:

  After completely fumbling its inflation forecasts in 2021, Goldman expects that ongoing supply chain disruptions will raise the prices of some goods further above the pre-pandemic trend and boost sequential inflation through mid-year. However, declines in durable goods prices are likely to drive inflation lower by year-end, more than offsetting a sharp acceleration in year-on-year shelter inflation.

  

  The bank now forecasts core PCE inflation of 2.9% at end-2022 (vs. 2.5% previously), 2.2% at end-2023 (vs. 2.15% previously), and 2.25% at end-2024 based onour bottom-up inflation model.

  

  The bank’s top-down model projects that inflation will rise modestly above 2% in 2023-2024.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 23:00

• Wokeism Is A Cruel And Dangerous Cult
  Wokeism Is A Cruel And Dangerous Cult

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via AmGreatness.com,

  Wokeism’s natural logic is to destroy the lives of people of both genders, of all races, and – if need be – of those of every age, all to leverage an otherwise unworkable ideological agenda…

  

  Wokeism has been described by its critics as the omnipresent use of race—and to a lesser extent, gender—to replace meritocracy and thus ensure equality of result. What follows from implementing that ideology are reparatory actions to reward those of the present by atoning for the injustices done to others in the past. 

  Some see it as an update of 1960s cultural Marxism fads. Others scoff that it is just a return to 1980s-style political correctness. 

  Still more see it as the logical successor to 1990s-type race, class, and gender obsessions—albeit with a shriller and more dangerous Jacobin, Soviet, and Maoist twist. Wokeism’s hysteria also invites comparisons to the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism. 

  But few have described wokeism as the cruel creed that it is. 

  Wokeism’s natural logic is to destroy the lives of people of both genders, of all races, and—if need be—those of every age, all to leverage an otherwise unworkable ideological agenda. It is nihilist and destroys everything it touches. It tears apart foes and friends alike, whether by fueling media-driven hatred of Donald Trump or faux-deification of the disaster that is now Joe Biden. 

  Woke’s Victims 

  Defunding law enforcement and defaming police resulted in record numbers of murders in 12 U.S. cities. A wave of violent crime is even hitting America’s suburbs. 

  Without much fear of arrest, indictment, conviction, and incarceration, emboldened violent career criminals for the past year have robbed, assaulted, and killed the innocent with impunity. 

  The victims at the bus stop, the subway, or in the furniture store do not seem to warrant media or progressive attention, much less sympathy. 

  They are the ignored—the unnamed, and the forgotten collateral damage from the grand experiment of redefining crime as a social construct. The guilty are the elite academics, activists, and billionaires like George Soros who are untouched by what they birthed.

  We have all seen videos of the vast expanse of flotsam and jetsam strewn by train thieves along the Union Pacific tracks in Los Angeles. Yet the Wild West mess is still more than just the concrete manifestations of Los Angeles County district attorney George Gascón’s unhinged efforts to excuse criminals from legal consequences. 

  The packages thrown along the ground by thugs and gangsters represent, among other things, lost COVID-19 test results of the ill. Presumably, they unknowingly are waiting still by the window for the delivery of results that never arrive. The package in the dirt was, perhaps, a key tractor part eagerly awaited, in vain, by the broke farmer in the Central Valley. The mess included the life-saving medicines shipped to the sick that disappeared. 

  And our elected leaders did what in response? Governor Gavin Newsom apologized for using the insensitive word “gangs” to describe those who plunder, loot, and trash railcars.

  Always In Search of Targets 

  It is a cruel thing to indoctrinate children with the lie that they are innately guilty of oppression due to their skin color. One accurate definition of racism is collective ill-treatment of an individual due to his innate appearance—on the pretext that such bias is deserved, given the target is deemed mentally, spiritually, or morally inferior because of said traits. But that, in a nutshell, is the essence of critical race theory: the destruction of all human traits and unique characteristics, as demonized individuals are reduced to stereotyped, faceless members of a collective.  

  For over a half-century, female athletes have sought to achieve parity in society’s attitudes to sports. Title IX forced universities to ensure rough equality for both female and male sports. 

  But the woke effort to redefine transitioning biological males as identical to biological women will assuredly destroy the life work of thousands of pioneer athletes. 

  Ironically, the sexist woke movement has allowed men to take hormones and undergo surgery to become females—even as their immutable skeleton frames, muscularity, or organ characteristics ensure an unfair and asymmetrical contest. 

  The lives of thousands of young female athletes will likely be diminished. Each sprinter, every swimmer, and all female pole-vaulters will now inevitably at some future date have a rendezvous with career implosion—defined by losing to a transgendered female/biological male. 

  Records are being rewritten, the very nature of individual women’s sports changed, and soon there will no longer remain an idea of “women’s sports” at all. 

  The Forgotten Broken Eggs of the Woke Omelet 

  The green wokeists postulate that they are saving lives by radical efforts to restrict gas and oil production, to raise fuel prices. They want to force Americans to buy high-priced alternative sources of wind- and solar-generated power and battery-powered cars. But away from the faculty lounge, millions of Americans are colder and less mobile this winter, paying far more to heat their homes and to drive to work. 

  Most of the woke climate change activists rarely see the poor trying to empty their purses to scrounge combinations of cash and credit cards to leverage over $100 to fill their cars’ gas tanks. Tesla drivers might be the architects of last year’s war on carbon fuels. But real-life victims pay for their piety—those who have no such options to buy high-priced electric cars. 

  For the cosmopolitan woke, the border is many things: a mere xenophobic construct, a racist barrier, a nationalist tic. 

  But the thousands who live near the Mexican border see their homes and farms overrun with drug traffickers—and during a pandemic thousands of unvaccinated and possibly sick illegal aliens. They suffer firsthand from daily violence as all security disappears. 

  For the American poor, who rely on government health clinics and state entitlements, the influx of thousands of illegal aliens into their communities becomes a zero-sum game. The more noncitizens put demands on such already oversubscribed services, the fewer citizens there are who will have access to quality care. 

  The woke lecture that colleges and universities must now go beyond their former de facto racial quotas for admissions and hiring, already mostly based on proportional representation and disparate impact. But now a sort of reparations system emerges. It is what the Left itself used to call in derision “overrepresentation.”

  Equity in our Orwellian world is not equality, but payback. Again, it is the idea of making the current generation pay for the supposed sins of the long dead of centuries past. 

  Aside from the destruction of merit by the substitution of racial criteria, millions from a discarded generation will have doors slammed on their careers—simply because of the color of their skin. And they will never forget that. 

  The woke do not even make the effort to admit that class matters as much as, or more than, race. By doing so, they doom millions of poor white and Asian students, who managed in poverty to achieve excellent grades and test scores, from being admitted to top-tier schools. Their actual achievement, despite their absence of wealthy, college-educated, or well-connected parents, means little. 

  Once a morally bankrupt society—for naïve, utopian, or ignoble reasons—begins to calibrate graduation ceremonies, dorm space, roommate selection, achievement, and grading standards based on race, then it not only will lose its standard of living, but it will deserve to. And it may have a future date with the violence of Rwanda, Iraq, or the Balkans. 

  Power, Not “Equity,” Is the Creed 

  In sum, wokeness is not about kindness, equality, fairness, or morality. 

  It is the power agenda of the elite of all races. For differing reasons, they rig the game in their own interests, without a care about who suffers. 

  Rich white people assume that they possess the money, the influence, the networking skills, and the connections to navigate around the very exclusionary rules they make for others. For them, there are seldom costs. But they win apparent psychological gain at feeling spiritually superior while driving a Range Rover.

  They get high on the sense of power they wield to engineer the lives of millions deemed less important than they. And to the degree they feel guilty about their own monopoly of wealth and leisure, such transient superficial remorse is alleviated by abstract caring for the “other.” 

  If they can ensure that 50 percent of TV commercials highlight African Americans, then they worry little about the nation’s existential crisis of 800 blacks murdered in Chicago last year. And no such television execs have a clue—or likely a concern—about how to stop it. 

  The woke take out a medieval contract that all their material indulgences can be balanced by virtue-signaling caring for the less fortunate—although always at someone else’s expense. 

  Woke = Wealthy Careerists 

  And for the millions of the affluent, elite nonwhite? The resurgence of racial obsessions conveniently destroys the old idea of class, even though now it is the far more precise calibration of inequality. 

  For all the woke talk about “constructs” of gender, race is somehow alone exempted and declared innate, definable, and immutable. One’s appearance becomes the permanent victimized refuge—even of NBA multibillionaires and billionaire rappers alike.

  A Ward Churchill or Elizabeth Warren can desperately seek to leverage a career in becoming Native American, apparently as if they were almost trapped in their own white bodies. Yet they can still not manage to construct such assumed identities in the manner of Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner. 

  If race is now the sole immutable barometer of who is a victim, who a victimizer, then LeBron James, Jay-Z, Kayne West, Chris Rock, Michelle Obama, and Oprah Winfrey are always to be among the eternally oppressed. The enormous influence, power, status, and wealth they wield never negates their victimhood, despite a nation three generations into affirmative action. 

  In the immoral calculus of woke, the poor white or Southeast Asian offspring of poorly paid high-school dropouts constitute “the privileged.” And a multimillionaire racist like the TV anchorwoman Joy Reid claims to be the perpetual victim, not the inner-city African American retiree who in 2021 has lost local police protection. 

  No wonder the woke elite and the affluent leftists fixate on race, given they are now the ruling class. Otherwise, their own privilege would be the obvious target of the once-beloved “Revolution.”  

  So, they fear that by their own prior left-wing standards, they too could end up on the wrong side of their moral Maginot Line. Wokeism’s obsessions with ferreting out “white privilege” are a way for rich people to head off (so to speak) the fate of Marie Antoinette. 

  Totalitarian Wokeism 

  A final note. We know wokeism is both contrary to human nature and antithetical to democracy and constitutional government. 

  Without public support, it has instead embraced an entire array of cruel, Soviet, and Maoist means to achieve its own self-interested ends. Woke talk about “racists” eerily emulates Soviet boilerplate about “counterrevolutionaries.” Today’s wokeist spouts things that could come right out of the mouth of the novelist Boris Pasternak’s character Army Commissar Strelnikov, or Mao’s Little Red Book concerning “suppression of counterrevolutionaries.”

  No wonder the woke, so-called “humanists” are the first to resort to Trotskyization and iconoclasm. They are masters of censoring, blacklisting, scapegoating, deplatforming, ritual humiliation, doxxing, cancel-culture, ostracism, and disbarring. 

  Wokeism’s logic is the eternal one of the bully Jacobin with his guillotine lists of the revolutionary unpure, the 19th-century lynch mob storming the frontier jail, the Red Guards hounding the counterrevolutionary, and the forced mental hospitalizations of the Soviet Union. 

  But above all, wokeism is a cruel cult—created by and for the careerist benefit of the privileged.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 22:30

• Meteorologists Warn Of "High Impact Snow And Ice Event" Around Groundhog Day
  Meteorologists Warn Of “High Impact Snow And Ice Event” Around Groundhog Day

  While millions of people along the North East recover from the “bomb cyclone” that dumped feet of snow in several coastal cities, there’s a new storm that readers should be monitoring that could unleash disruptive weather ranging from snow, ice, and severe thunderstorms next week. 

  Meteorologists at private weather forecaster BAMWX are warning about a potential “high impact snow and ice event” that may occur around Groundhog Day on Wednesday across the central Rockies to the Eastern Seaboard. 

  Kirk Hinz, the meteorologist with BAMWX, outlined the highest threat areas for winter weather, including parts of Northeast Oklahoma; St. Louis, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Detroit, Michigan, and Northern Maine. 

  

  

  Hinz said the impending storm would have “cold air in place,” and there will be heavy bands of snow for specific areas that could receive north of one foot of snow. He said the timing and exact snow amounts on a metro by metro basis are still unknown. 

  The potential storm is projected to occur around the anniversary of the Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2011, a powerful and historic winter storm that affected large swaths of the US and Canada. The Chicago metro area was buried in 21 inches of snow and had blizzard conditions for days. 

  Here are some of the latest snowfall totals from this weekend’s bomb cyclone. 

  Final snowfall reports from the January 28-29, 2022 blizzard. Highest totals by state:
  MA-Stoughton 30.9″
  NY-Islip 24.7″
  RI-Warren 24.6″
  CT-Norwick 22″
  ME-Veazie 22″
  NJ-Bayville 21″
  DE- Lewes 14.2″
  MD-Ocean Pines 14″
  NH-Rye 13.5″
  VA-Wallops Island 9.5″
  PA-Lower Makefield 9″ pic.twitter.com/qIzPHUM4pD

  — NWS Eastern Region (@NWSEastern) January 30, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Forecasts are not locked in and will most likely change in the next 24 hours. There could be widespread flight cancellations and delays if the winter storm materializes — continuing the chaos from this weekend.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 22:00

• If Unrest Soars In America Will Looters Be Shot?
  If Unrest Soars In America Will Looters Be Shot?

  Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Time blog,

  An interesting question to ponder centers on social unrest and whether those with the job to protect property would follow orders if told to shoot looters. Of course, the type of violence I’m alluding to extends far beyond anything we have seen in America or most western countries. Why people loot and how governments react is the issue. You can call it martial law if you like, but whatever name you place on it, those holding the power and the guns make the final decision.

  

  Progressive leaders in some areas are no longer treating theft of $950 or less as felonies but as misdemeanors. This has led to a wave of smash-and-grab robberies. How do you stop this sort of growing social disorder from getting out of hand? Of course, the flaw in thinking you can create a goon squad to control the masses is that your enforcers may begin to sympathize with those they are employed to suppress. 

  Considering how the military is moving towards more automated weapons that kill, it is difficult to think these weapons will not eventually find their way into law enforcement. To those in power, the great thing about robots and mechanical autonomous guards is they will carry out their missions as programed. Rest assured when push comes to shove those displaced from the job market and only able to scrape by will find they are only given enough to ensure they remain docile and behave. If and when this becomes an issue conflict and violence will rise.

  Before his death, famed physicist Stephen Hawking warned that Earth is headed for a “catastrophic ending” as a result of rising inequality fueled by robots that grow increasingly smarter by the day. Hawking’s dire prediction came as robots and artificial intelligence started to take over human jobs. The McKinsey Global Institute predicts some 800 million people around the world will be displaced out of their jobs by 2030 as a result of automation. 

  Without jobs, we stand the risk of losing our relevance in society. This creates a scenario of misery and conflict with many people displaced and those with little to lose fighting to merely survive. The topic of our future and culture always circles back to and is directly linked to the issue of jobs vanishing as automation and an army of robots march into our workplace. This can result in a future that takes on a very grim dystopian appearance. The fear of being replaced by a robot or seeing your job being outsourced or eliminated is on the rise.

  

  Africa Has Witnessed Looting And Unrest   

  Many issues get swept under the rug or are often under-reported by mainstream media this includes the number of protests over lockdowns and mask mandates. Many Americans have paid little attention to the rampant looting and violence in South Africa in July of 2021.  In short, most people are ill-informed about what is happening across the world. This shocking video of the looting in South Africa signals the country is on the path to social and economic collapse.

  Sadly, South Africa is just one of many countries where social unrest has been escalating. This makes it a more exaggerated version of what is playing out in many areas. In the case of South Africa, the government under the control of the African National Congress (ANC) already had a strong communist tilt before Covid-19 hit. Amendments being proposed to its constitution demanded that “reparations” be taken from white farmers which would then be redistributed to black citizens.

  A similar movement is being pursued here in America as socialists/Marxists in the Democratic Party push some cities and states in the direction of  reparations. The tiny movement demanding reparations for blacks be written into law because of slavery nearly 200 years ago is real. At a time when we are witnessing growing economic inequality, this idea has a small but vocal base. Such social justice initiatives are often backed by those politicians and corporations interested in dividing us so they can gain more control.

  

  This Is Also Happening Here In America

  Circling back to the focus of this article, the question of “would they shoot?” The answer is after people cross a tipping point, they probably would. This creates a new question, where is that tipping point? The answer to this is a bit muddy but falls into the area of when authorities can get away with it. History shows genocide is far more common than people think but is rapidly hidden after it occurs.

  Several signs have recently surfaced that scream problems ahead. What has become known as flash looting or smash and grab incidents are on the rise, this is especially true in areas where low-level crimes are not enforced. In these areas, it seems organized retail crime gangs are no longer content to just target large department or boutique stores where they can snatch high-value merchandise from shelves.

  In places such as Mexico where criminal cartels run wild, it is not uncommon to see delivery trucks  hijacked in broad daylight. If you think America could never slip into such a dysfunctional state, already we are seeing shipments raided in transit. CBS Los Angeles recently reported that a section of train tracks in downtown Los Angeles has been littered with thousands of shredded boxes, packages stolen from cargo containers that stop in the area.

  

  Destroyed Packages Left On Tracks By Looters

  The raiding of containers double stacked on train cars has been documented by Photojournalist John Schreiber. He has tweeted shocking videos of packages torn apart and left on the tracks by looters after they raided trains stopped to be integrated into a shipping facility. Many of the boxes on the ground were from Amazon and UPS. The point is, the looters are people seeking easy-to-hit targets that can be easily converted to cash. 

  The ugly truth is that once the genie of disorder gets out of the bottle it is difficult to get him back in. Sadly, the media and current culture has turned this into an issue where people focus on the color or race of the person committing these crimes rather than their actions and the consequences flowing from them. With all this the above in mind, it is important to remember that high-tech solutions are not the gift of freedom many people think. 

  

  Those In Power May Secretly Develop New Weapons

  We are being boxed in and many of our options are vanishing. Many people claim they have nothing to hide and use that as the reason they don’t object to the expanding web of surveillance being weaved over them. These people ignore the fact we are surrendering our right to freedom when society moves down this path. With around seven and a half billion people living on Planet Earth today and 10 billion predicted by 2050 even feeding our population may not be easy, especially if climate change adds to our problems. This brings us back to the prediction of famed physicist Stephen Hawking, that Earth is headed for a “catastrophic ending” in the near future.

  Not only do those in power watch bad people, they decide who is bad and they watch everyone. So the point is, when does the shooting start? Throughout history, we have seen new weapons are often only revealed when those in power wish to make a statement. It is reasonable that in a scenario where it rapidly becomes clear the plant has too many people vying for dwindling resources that the huddled masses will be considered “the odd man out” and it is time to cull the herd to reduce the world’s population for “the greater good!”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 21:30

• Chinese EVs Aren't Retaining Their Value Like ICE Vehicles
  Chinese EVs Aren’t Retaining Their Value Like ICE Vehicles

  On one hand, we’ve done nothing but talk about how the price of used cars has skyrocketed as a result of depleted inventory, combined with supply chain and semiconductor woes. 

  But in China, they’re having the opposite discussion when it comes to EVs: the vehicles just can’t seem to hold their value, according to a new writeup by Caixin. 

  The writeup profiled companies like XPeng, who have been forced to buy back older versions of their models from customers who worry about the speed with which EV makers are coming out with new models. “Several” other automakers had to take similar measures over the past few years, the article notes. 

  In fact, a new survey from Geek NEV shows that new cars “sold for 100,000 yuan or less in China hold on to 67.8% on their value on average after their first year, while cars running on the old internal combustion engine retain 74.3% of their value after three years on the road”. 

  EVs have trouble holding onto their value because of how unpredictably their batteries degrade and how China’s subsidies for EV have led to higher prices for the vehicles than there ever should have been in the first place. 

  Caixin notes that “there is no easily accessible data or commonly accepted standard for valuing the quality of used batteries”. On top of this, batteries have been evolving faster than automakers can keep up. The report says that the “average range an EV can travel on a single charge increased from 212 kilometers (131.7 miles) in 2017 to 391 kilometers in 2020”. 

  

  And what would a Chinese industry be without the government interfering with the economics of it?

  Subsidies that started in 2010 and will be phased out in coming year used to offer as much as 70,000 yuan to automakers. Those numbers moved to “100,000 yuan for a car that could travel 150 kilometers to 250 kilometers on a single charge, and 120,000 yuan for a car with the range of more than 250 kilometers.”

  Automakers were incentivized to price vehicles higher because subsidies from the government weren’t allowed to exceed 60% of the vehicle’s sticker price. 

  When the government cut subsidies by 50% in June, many vehicles ended up on used car lots where they were sold at prices “far below retail,” the report says. 

  As the industry evolves, there are some optimistic signs that EVs are holding onto their value for slightly longer. Caixin wrote:

  The Wuling Mini EV and Tesla Model 3, the two best-selling EVs on Chinese market since 2020, have managed to maintain their second-hand price after one year on the road at the same level as conventional vehicles, according to data released by the CADA in November.

  Automakers are also starting to phase out their buyback programs, the report says. At the same time, there have been calls to re-sell EVs separately from their batteries in an effort to help them maintain their value. EVs can have lifespan of at least 15 years, when the battery isn’t taken into account, the report concludes. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 21:00

• The Cult Of Safety
  The Cult Of Safety

  Authored by Thomas Buckley via the Point

  It was the 1970s.  Dry cleaning bags lurked quietly behind couches waiting patiently for the opportunity to pounce on the hapless child who dropped a Lego nearby.  Unguarded five-gallon buckets stood brazenly in the middle of basement floors hoping to entice their next drowning victim.  Discarded refrigerators prowled the land looking for unsuspecting eight-year-olds to gobble up.  GI Joes and Barbies, with the help of their little owners, were making out everywhere.

  It is the 2020s.  Entire schools ban peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because maybe one kid might have an allergy.  Parents get visits from county protective services for letting their children play unsupervised in the park across the street.  Jungle gyms are an endangered species.  And third-graders are taught to not impose cisnormative constructs, let alone behaviors, on anyone or anything.

  

  The odd thing is that the events described in the first paragraph (except the GI Joe one) were not actually happening on any grand scale.  The sad thing is that the events in the second paragraph are.
  There has to be a middle ground.

  Admittedly there were children – one assumes – who did manage to trap themselves inside random refrigerators, hence the televised public service announcements (seriously, and such a seventies solution) asking the public to at least take the handle off of the appliance before heaving it over an embankment or leaving it in a burned-lot in the Bronx.  And admittedly – again, one assumes – a child somewhere somehow managed to get themselves tangled up in a dry cleaning bag.  As to the bucket problem, that one is rather hard to fathom but it must have happened at least once to spawn the lawsuit that forced manufacturers to put drowning warnings – complete with a graphic depiction of the inept toddler – on their buckets.

  Whether it was caused by the misadventures of Darwin’s children, the ever-burgeoning personal injury litigation field, a cherry-picking sensationalist media, humanity’s inability to comprehend statistics or some combination thereof, society has clearly shifted drastically from a relatively laissez faire approach to common hazards to – not just a risk aversion or risk reduction model – the codified elimination of risk.

  There was once a feeling that hard cases make bad law; it now appears that the concept that any case must make immediate law holds sway.

  The process started with some actually pretty necessary common sense notions – drunk driving is not actually cool, dumping toxic waste in salmon brooks might not be a good thing, smoking really can kill you so quit, don’t eat lead paint, etc.  But these were the easy bits and the organizations and forces behind their implementation soon came to realize that if people started to be more sensible in general, society’s need for their input, expertise, and services – their guiding hand – would by definition decrease.

  Take, for example, the March of Dimes.  Originally started as an effort to both find a vaccine against polio and to help those already stricken, the organization in the early 1960s was facing a dilemma.  With the vaccines pretty much eradicating the disease, the group was faced with a choice: declare victory and essentially close up shop or continue forward and not waste the fundraising and organizational skills and capital they had built up over the previous 20-odd years.  They chose the latter and continue to this day as a very well-respected and important group, leading various initiatives to fight numerous childhood maladies – just not polio.

  In the March of Dimes case, they unquestionably made the right call and they continue to serve a vital function.  But, respectfully, to state that there were no, shall we say, personal motivations involved in that decision strains credulity.

  This pattern – whether with good and righteous intent or not – was and is being repeated over and over again as lesser people and groups actively search out something – anything – that could theoretically possibly be misused or can even remotely be deemed questionable (everything is questionable – all someone has to do is ask the question) to latch onto and save us from.  Whether out of true concern or some other nefarious motive – power, profit, societal purchase – the inexorable march towards the bubble-wrap of today that was launched by the professional caring class continues all the way from the classroom to the living room to the newsroom to the board room.

  Obviously, we can see this process in real time in the pandemic effort.  From “two weeks to stop the spread” to fully vaccinated people being shame/told to wear two masks a year later, this continuing impact is a perfect example of a “gain of function” experimental research principle being implemented not in a lab but in society at large.

  This form of – or bastardization of – progress is in fact antithetical to the tenets of a free society.  By worshiping at the altar of the safe we denigrate, delay, and deny the myriad possibilities for human advancement that are inherent in the concept of risk.

  It may seem to be a bit of leap to claim that the proposition that children should be warned to stop eating lead paint led inevitably to having children ask people what their preferred pronouns are so as to avoid even the semblance of giving offense, but this form of incrementalism – whether intentional or not – cannot be easily controlled once started.

  And this is one slippery slope on which a Cuidado Piso Mojado sign is nowhere in sight.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 20:30

• Something Stinks In The Illinois Governor's Office
  Something Stinks In The Illinois Governor’s Office

  Authored by Don Tracy via RealClearPolitics.com,

  The more we learn about the Jenny Thornley affair, the more it appears that senior members of the Pritzker administration, including potentially the governor and his wife, may have facilitated a fraud on the state by a now-indicted former campaign aide to enrich her and then obstructed efforts to bring her to justice.

  

  This is a tangled web, so stay with me as I set forth a timeline of events and characters, according to the Chicago Tribune.

  The former executive director of  the Illinois State Police Merit Board, Jack Garcia, discovered evidence that one of the employees under his direction, Jenny Thornley, was stealing money from the people of the state 

  Garcia is a well-known, skilled investigator who previously supervised the divisions of internal investigations and forensic services, before becoming the first deputy director of the Illinois State Police. Thornley was a campaign aide for Gov. J.B. Pritzker (her husband, Jared, was also a senior political appointee at the Illinois comptroller’s office) and close enough to Pritzker and his wife, M.K., that she had their personal telephone numbers.

  After assembling the evidence and building the case, Garcia scheduled meetings to fire Thornley and refer her for prosecution on the morning of Feb. 3, 2020. However, on the eve of that day, Thornley contacted (at least) the governor’s wife (pictured, at left) and asked her to intervene, alleging that Garcia had assaulted her sexually a week or so earlier.

  The governor’s chief counsel promptly called the merit board (which is an independent agency created “to remove political influence” from State Police hiring, promotion and discipline) to “advise” it to: (a) cancel her firing and the referral for prosecution, (b) suspend Garcia (the experienced investigator who uncovered the Thornley fraud) and (c) retain an outside counsel proposed by the governor’s office. The merit board went along, but also suspended Thornley, and Garcia voluntarily took and passed a lie detector test.

  Then Thornley sued to stop the investigation of her own claim of sexual harassment.

  The outside counsel, Christina Egan, nonetheless completed an investigation by July 2020 (at the cost of $500,000 paid by the people of Illinois), confirming the evidence Garcia assembled that Thornley had stolen money and committed forgery, and finding no evidence of Thornley’s sexual assault allegation. The State Police Merit Board then reinstated Garcia, fired Thornley, referred her for prosecution. She has now been indicted for theft and forgery.

  However, after Thornley was fired, someone with clout in the Pritzker administration somehow granted her disability payments reserved for people that are actually state employees. These payments (amounting to some $71,000) went on for more than a year, ending days before she was indicted for theft and fraud.  These extensive payments were for “injuries” sustained from an “assault” that Egan determined had not occurred.

  From the Tribune: “The merit board unsuccessfully called on the executive inspector general to investigate Thornley’s workers’ comp claim and then turned to anti-fraud investigators at the Illinois Department of Insurance. Brad Lucchini, assistant deputy director of the agency’s fraud unit, called the Thornley matter a ‘clear case of fraud,’ according to a July 27 memo to Garcia written by Emily Fox, the merit board’s program director.” But, apparently the investigators did nothing.

  Indeed, no one did anything about Thornley’s disability payments until days before another agency (outside the Pritzker Administration’s control) indicted her in September 2021.

  In the meantime, someone in the Pritzker administration worked with Democrat members in the legislature to insert — in the middle of the night, moments before it was passed – a provision into legislation to fire Jack Garcia. He was actually fired by the Democrat-controlled Illinois legislature!

  Then, just a few weeks ago after Thornley was indicted, the administration removed two members of the five-member merit board, including the chairman who oversaw much of this investigation and who had been appointed by Pritzker himself in 2019.

  This fact pattern raises numerous questions with respect to theft and fraud perpetrated on the people of Illinois and an apparent pattern of obstruction of justice.

  1) Who effectuated Thornley’s enrollment in the disability program over the objections of the merit board — and on whose orders did that person or persons act?

  2) Why did the inspector general refuse to look into this blatant abuse?  What role has the attorney general played — what were his or his staff’s communications with the governor and his staff?

  3) What did the governor, Mrs. Pritzker and their staff do, and when did they do it, to help Jenny Thornley? Did they continue to protect her even after Egan’s independent investigation affirmed the evidence of her theft and forgery?

  4) What did the administration know about the evidence assembled by Garcia that has led to Thornley’s indictment before it intervened on her behalf over Super Bowl weekend in 2020?  Was any of this information considered, along with the timing of the claim, before intervening to stop her from being fired and being immediately referred for prosecution?

  The Tribune story also puts a further gloss on the curious late-night insertion of language in a legislative bill to cause the dismissal of the distinguished Jack Garcia from his position at the merit board, as well as the dismissal in October of the merit board chairman who oversaw the investigation into these matters.  Is this a campaign of retribution against fraud fighters?

  This smells like another episode in Illinois’ unfortunately long history of political corruption and shenanigans.

  Did high government officials actively facilitate and participate in obstruction of justice and fraud by and with Thornley, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars?  Did Democrat legislators participate, wittingly or unwittingly, in a Pritzker campaign to “get” fraud fighters because they uncovered and pursued fraud by someone close to the first family?

  The people have a right to know.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 19:30

• Spotify Says Rogan Interview Did Not Violate Policies; Will Add "Content Advisory" Warnings
  Spotify Says Rogan Interview Did Not Violate Policies; Will Add “Content Advisory” Warnings

  Spotify has responded to growing cries from the left to censor medical information which challenges or refutes official government bodies regarding Covid-19. Last week, artists Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removed their music from the platform to protest Joe Rogan over an interview with mRNA inventor and early treatment advocate Dr. Robert Malone, while others have been threatening to follow suit.

  

  In a Sunday public letter, Founder and CEO Daniel Ek tried to strike a compromise between free speech advocates and those who want to eliminate wrongthink from public discourse under the guise of protecting the public from ‘dangerous concepts.’

  “We know we have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of our users,” wrote Ek – who made no specific mention of Rogan. “In that role, it is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.“

  There’s been a lot of conversation about information regarding COVID-19 on Spotify. We’ve heard the criticism and we’re implementing changes to help combat misinformation. https://t.co/ic8jfR1RNR

  — Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) January 30, 2022

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  Ek also said that Spotify would add a “content advisory” to any podcast episode which includes any mention of Covid-19, and will direct listeners to a “Covid-19 hub” where they can consume mainstream information regarding the virus.

  

  Where does this leave Rogan?

  A company spokesperson told Bloomberg that none of Rogan’s episodes currently on the platform (which includes the Malone interview) violate Spotify’s policies – a decision which risks fueling further outrage on the left, who may accuse the company of circling wagons around one of the most powerful voices in media to protect their bottom line.

  Rogan has presented a public relations conundrum for Spotify ever since the company paid more than $100 million for the exclusive rights to his show. He offers a hospitable environment for guests with controversial points of view about the pandemic, politics and just about every other topic. 

  The criticism and controversy has thus far been worth it to the company’s leadership: Spotify’s stock price jumped the day they announced the deal, and Rogan hosts the single most popular podcast on its service. Spotify moved into podcasting hoping it would turn its popular but unprofitable music service into a more lucrative business. Investors cheered the efforts, though they have cooled on the company in recent months. Its stock has fallen 48% in the past 12 months, closing at $172.98 on Jan. 28 with a stock-market value of $33 billion. -Bloomberg

  A cadre of aging leftist musicians vs…

  Joe Rogan has completely disrupted the legacy media. pic.twitter.com/rBLCYweag0

  — Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) January 3, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Spotify has also made public its rules governing acceptable content on the platform, but only made them available to employees.

  Their ‘medical misinformation’ section pertains to “content that promotes dangerous false or dangerous deceptive medical information that may cause offline harm or poses a direct threat to public health.’ Examples include:

  • asserting that AIDS, COVID-19, cancer or other serious life threatening diseases are a hoax or not real
  • encouraging the consumption of bleach products to cure various illnesses and diseases
  • promoting or suggesting that vaccines approved by local health authorities are designed to cause death
  • encouraging people to purposely get infected with COVID-19 in order to build immunity to it (e.g. promoting or hosting “coronavirus parties”)

  Read the entire policy below:

  Dangerous Content

  Spotify is home to communities where people can create, express themselves, listen, share, learn, and be inspired. Don’t promote violence, incite hatred, harass or engage in any other behavior that may place people at risk of serious physical harm or death. What to avoid:

  Content that advocates or glorifies serious physical harm towards an individual or group includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • encouraging, promoting, or glorifying suicide and self-harm (if you or someone you know is struggling or thinking about self-harm, please see here for ways to get help)
    • inciting or threatening serious physical harm or acts of violence against a specific target or specific group
    • content that promotes or supports violent extremist organizations

  Content that targets an individual or identifiable group for harassment or related abuse includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • repeatedly targeting specific individuals with sexual advances
    • sharing, threatening to share, or encouraging others to share someone’s private information, including credit card or banking information, National Identity numbers, etc.

  Content that incites violence or hatred towards a person or group of people based on race, religion, gender identity or expression, sex, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, age, disability or other characteristics associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • praising, supporting, or calling for violence against a person or group of people based on the characteristics listed above
    • dehumanizing statements about a person or group based on the protected characteristics listed above
    • promoting or glorifying hate groups and their associated images, and/or symbols

  Content that promotes dangerous false or dangerous deceptive medical information that may cause offline harm or poses a direct threat to public health includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • asserting that AIDS, COVID-19, cancer or other serious life threatening diseases are a hoax or not real
    • encouraging the consumption of bleach products to cure various illnesses and diseases
    • promoting or suggesting that vaccines approved by local health authorities are designed to cause death 
    • encouraging people to purposely get infected with COVID-19 in order to build immunity to it (e.g. promoting or hosting “coronavirus parties”)

  Content that illicitly promotes the sale of regulated or illegal goods includes, but may not be limited to: 

  • • selling illegal firearms or firearm parts
    • selling illegal drugs
    • selling endangered species or products derived from endangered species

  Content that promotes, solicits, or facilitates child sexual abuse or exploitation includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • visual depictions of a minor engaged in a sexual act or lascivious depictions of a nude minor
    • promoting acts of sexual abuse against a child in exchange for money
    • encouraging or promoting sexual attraction by adults towards minors
    • promoting, normalizing, or glorifying child grooming behaviors

  Deceptive Content

  Creating great experiences on Spotify requires trust that people are who they say they are, that they won’t be scammed, and that no one is trying to manipulate our platform. Don’t use malicious practices to deceive others. What to avoid:

  Content that impersonates others in order to deceive includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • replicating the same name, image, and/or description as another existing creator
    • posing as another person, brand, or organization in a misleading manner

  Content that promotes manipulated and synthetic media as authentic in ways that pose the risk of harm includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • audio or video recording that comes from a real and valid source that has been altered in a way that changes the meaning or context of the original media and is purported to be true, thus posing a risk of harm to the speaker or other individuals
    • audio or visual media artificially created through the use of technology that’s purported to be true, such as digitally manufactured sexual audio and video content or content falsely suggesting that someone committed a crime

  Content that attempts to manipulate or interfere with election-related processes includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • misrepresentation of procedures in a civic process that could discourage or prevent participation
    • misleading content promoted to intimidate or suppress voters from participating in an election

  Content that attempts to take advantage of the Spotify community includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • posting, sharing, or providing instructions on implementing malware or related malicious practices that seek to harm or gain unauthorized access to computers, networks, systems, or other technologies
    • phishing or related attempts to deceptively solicit or collect sensitive information
    • promoting investment and financial scams like “get rich quick” and pyramid schemes, or otherwise encouraging others to part with money under false pretenses

  Sensitive Content

  We have tons of amazing content on Spotify, but there are certain things that we don’t allow on our platform. Don’t post excessively violent or graphic content, and don’t post sexually explicit content. What to avoid:

  Content that promotes graphic or gratuitous depictions of violence, gore, or other shocking imagery includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • severely mutilated or dismembered bodies 
    • promoting animal cruelty or torture 

  Content that contains sexually explicit material includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • pornography or visual depictions of genitalia or nudity presented for the purpose of sexual gratification
    • advocating or glorifying sexual themes related to rape, incest, or beastiality

  Illegal Content

  The law is the law. No matter who you are, it is your responsibility to comply with applicable laws and regulations. What to avoid:

  Content that violates applicable laws and regulations includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • content that does not comply with applicable sanctions and export regulations
    • content that is intended to promote or commit an illegal act of any kind

  Content that infringes the intellectual property rights of others includes, but may not be limited to:

  • • content provided to Spotify without obtaining necessary permissions
    • content that infringes third-party copyrights or trademarks

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 19:11

• Los Angeles Tackles Zombies Ahead Of Super Bowl
  Los Angeles Tackles Zombies Ahead Of Super Bowl

  Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,

  “What the hell is going on?” California Governor, Gavin Newsom

  Gender X?

  The sun always shines bright over the Golden State.  Even in January.  But, beneath the sunshine, darkness rages in the land of fruits and nuts.

  For example, State Senator Scott Wiener – a monster – recently introduced a bill that would permit children 12 and older to be vaccinated against COVID-19 without their parent’s knowledge or consent.  According to Wiener, this bill is consistent with current state law that allows teens to have abortions and obtain birth control without telling their parents.

  Yet Wiener’s bill may be finished.  Because his cohort, State Senator Dick Pan, has introduced a bill that would require all children to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend K-12 schools regardless of personal beliefs.  Not vaccination?  Then no school.

  Perhaps, this is for the best.  Getting kicked out of school at this late stage in the decline and fall of western civilization is a major blessing.  What kid deserves an institutional education from freaks and rejects?

  Before we pulled our son out of the local Long Beach public high school, he was learning history from someone that went by Mx.  Apparently, the teacher – a dude with a green beard – was uncertain if he was male or female.  So he used Mx. instead of Mr. or Ms.

  This all may seem a little ridiculous, we know.  However, in California, many people are confused about what gender they are.  It’s a real problem.

  Several years ago the state Department of Motor Vehicles attempted to simplify things by adding a nonbinary gender designation (X, as opposed to M or F) to driver licenses and identification cards.  But, alas, this further complicated things…

  Because if you’re gender X, what locker room do you use when changing into your swimsuit?

  All logic was lost to absurdity.

  To solve the matter, at least in our local hamlet, the Long Beach Unified School District is using school repair and safety bond measure funds to build high school aquatic centers with all-gender locker rooms.  That way, if you’re confused about your biology, you can don your swimsuit without having to decide what sex you are.

  And even if you’re in full agreement with how God made you, you’ll still have to use an all-gender locker room…because that’s the only option.

  What could possibly go wrong?

  Zombie Apocalypse

  California, no doubt, has been in a worsening state of decay for decades.  Public displays of gender confusion are but one of many signs of degeneration.

  The recent rash of flash mob smash and grab robberies and freight train plunderings has garnered what local public officials consider to be unwanted national attention.  Quite frankly, for many Americans across the nation, this offers a preview of what tomorrow will bring.

  Zombies may be coming to a city or town near you, eventually.  But in California’s urban centers, the zombie apocalypse is already here.  In fact, it’s been here for many years.

  

  As of 2020, according to something called the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, there’s a homeless population in Los Angeles County of precisely 66,463.  For perspective, SoFi Stadium, the posh new home of the Los Angeles Rams, which was constructed in Inglewood several years ago at a price tag of $5 billion, has a capacity of 70,000.

  So if you tune in to watch the Rams play the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, or to watch the Super Bowl in a few weeks, the number of zombies roaming around LA County represents 95 percent capacity of SoFi Stadium.  What’s more, the homeless count was not conducted in 2021 because of COVID-19.  By now, the number of zombies is easily over 70,000.

  They’re everywhere.  Haphazard urban campsites litter the bank tops of the colossal, concrete Los Angeles River Channel between Downtown Los Angeles and Downtown Long Beach.  Bidenvilles extend along sidewalks and beneath highway bridge abutments.  When you spare a zombie a dollar, they gripe, “that’s all?!”…confirming that price inflation is totally out of control.

  The massive army of zombies roaming about the LA LA land paradise – screaming at the air and defecating on residential driveways – has become a significant embarrassment for local leaders.  The massive collection of tents and makeshift shelters has become too much for public officials to ignore.

  

  What to do…

  Los Angeles Tackles Zombies Ahead of Super Bowl

  Dirty jobs require trained professionals.  Planet Green, from what we gather, is a company that specializes in emergency disaster and biohazard waste cleanup.  Early Monday morning, Planet Green workers donned hazmat suits and cleared away several homeless encampments near SoFi Stadium.

  

  Is this because the Super Bowl is just a few weeks away or merely a coincidence?

  The Mayor of Inglewood, James Butts, said the clearing of Bidenvilles had to do with safety and is part of regular cleanups around the city.  Jass Singh, a local business owner, offered another perspective:

  “Finally it’s cleared, they should have done it five, ten years ago.”

  Clearing out LA zombie camps before primetime affairs has been a classic playbook for local leaders since at least the 1980s.  One local advocacy group, “Services Not Sweeps”, provided a statement, saying in part:

  “This is the same strategy politicians use any time a major event comes to LA, whether it’s the Super Bowl or the Oscars or the Olympics.  They use cops and criminalization to sweep away evidence of their failure to address Los Angeles’ affordable housing crisis.”

  Services Not Sweeps has compassionate sentiments.  And while politics certainly caused this manmade disaster, there’s no way politics can fix it.  The fact is, LA’s zombie apocalypse is too great to reverse.  Once a city’s slipped into decay and disrepair, it keeps on sliding.

  We don’t like it.  We can’t change it.  Still, there’s an immediate challenge at hand.  Here’s the situation:

  Super Bowl Sunday is February 13.  Century Boulevard, between LAX and SoFi Stadium, is roughly 4 miles.  Will Planet Green clear all the zombie camps from this corridor in time?

  Consider it a Hail Mary.

  *  *  *

  Silver is an industrial metal with many different applications.  Most important of all, however, is that silver can be stacked.  By this, silver stacking is an important way to subvert government policies of extreme dollar debasement.  If you enjoy stacking silver, and if you’re interested in discovering other means to protect your wealth and profit during the zombie apocalypse, then consider giving the Wealth Prism Letter a try.  Take a look, and join our burgeoning club of silver stacking subscribers today!

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 18:30

• Atlanta Fed President Pours Gasoline On Fire With 50Bps Hike Comment, But There Are Reasons To Fade It
  Atlanta Fed President Pours Gasoline On Fire With 50Bps Hike Comment, But There Are Reasons To Fade It

  Here we go again.

  After we saw a veritable rollercoaster in market last week, after Powell’s shockingly hawkish FOMC presser which spooked Wall Street into predicting that 5 (as JPM and Goldman now expect), six or even seven rate hikes (as per the latest Bank of America forecast) are on deck in 2022 alone, tensions have also remained elevated after Powell refused to refute speculation of a 50bps rate hike this year.

  Of course, tensions eased on Friday after the latest set of dismal economic data, which led the Atlanta Fed to come out with a 0.1% Q1 GDP estimate which will turn negative in the coming days after just a few more incrementally negative datapoints…

  

  … suggested that inflation will fade far sooner and the US economy will slide into contraction long before the Fed can hike even a handful of times, let along go the way to 2.50% or 3.00% or whatever strategists believe the neutral rate is these days. This, together with tens of billions in month end mutual fund rebalancing, sent futures soaring on Friday in the latest violent intraday reversal.

  But with futures set to open in just a few hours, we may get another sharp drop at 6pm ET when traders punt risk after yet another Fed official – we would say hawk but that’s meaningless now that even the uber-doves have turned hawkish to appease Biden and his imploding approval rating…

  Monetary policy 4 parts pic.twitter.com/eibcu5nNKo

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 28, 2022

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  … hinted at a 50bps rate hike in March.

  In an interview with the Financial Times, Raphael Bostic, president of the Fed’s Atlanta branch, said the Fed could “supersize a rate increase to half a percentage point if inflation remains stubbornly high.“

  Curiously, while not jumping on the latest Wall Street bandwagon calling for 5 or more hikes in 2022, Bostic instead stuck to his call for only three quarter-point interest rate increases in 2022, with the first coming in March, but he said a more aggressive approach was possible if warranted by the economic data.

  That, the FT notes, could mean rate rises at each of the seven remaining policy meetings in 2022, or even the possibility of the Fed increasing the federal funds rate by half a percentage point, double its typical amount and a tool it has not used in roughly two decades.

  “Every option is on the table for every meeting,” Bostic said on Friday. “If the data say that things have evolved in a way that a 50 basis point move is required or [would] be appropriate, then I’m going to lean into that . . . If moving in successive meetings makes sense, I’ll be comfortable with that.”

  “I do think that a view has emerged that we have some meetings that we really just dial it in and that there’s no ability of action at, and that’s just never been my mindset.

  Bostic added that he would be watching closely for a deceleration in monthly consumer price gains and further evidence that rising wages are not feeding meaningfully into higher inflation when thinking about his forecast for interest rates. Which means that the next CPI print will be especially important.

  And, as we noted on Friday, the Atlanta Fed president said he was encouraged by the latest employment cost index (ECI) report, which was published on Friday and which showed a sequential decline, which prompted Bostic to expect a moderation in wage growth going forward.

  That said, Bostic expressed little concern about the recent market gyrations, and said it was a natural response to a Fed that was beginning to withdraw its support.

  “The reduction of accommodation should translate into tighter financial markets,” Bostic said. “The developments that we’ve seen on that front are comforting in the sense that markets are still functioning the way they’re supposed to, and they are responding to conditions in ways that are rational and appropriate.”

  He said, however, that he was closely monitoring overnight borrowing markets, in particular, for signs of stress akin to the episode in 2018 when financial markets seized up as the Fed tightened monetary policy further despite fears of a growth slowdown.

  Bostic, who also supports the Fed reducing its $9tn balance sheet “as quickly as” possible without impairing market functioning, said he was “optimistic” about how the economy was going to perform in the coming months, despite elevated inflation.

  Throwing a bone to the market bulls, Bostic rejected claims that the Fed would raise interest rates far too aggressively and in a manner that would prove damaging.

  “Our policy path is not a constriction path. It’s a less accommodative path,” he said. “If we do the three [interest rate increases] that I have in mind, that’ll still leave our policy in a very accommodative space. I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of constraint on growth as we remove these emergency actions.”

  Of course, while the kneejerk response to Bostic is that this is another telegraphing of a 50bps hike, the reality is that all the Fed president is saying is what Powell said earlier, namely that the Fed will now have to be much more reactive to continued price pressures. And yes, while that could include faster rate hikes, it could also lead to a slowdown or even reversal if we hit a recession in the second half, something which BofA’s CIO Michael Hartnett has been pounding the table on in recent weeks…

  Hartnett: “Fed won’t end up tightening many times as just few rates hikes & QT are enough to unwind excesses and threaten H2 recession”

  He is usually 3-6 months ahead of the herd

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 28, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  … although the bigger danger, as Hartnett also revealed, is that the Fed will hike until the market breaks. Of course, if his own Atlanta Fed shows GDP has turned negative, we expect Bostic to be among the first to push back on aggressive tightening as the last thing the Fed will do is hike into a clear and present recession.

  

  Meanwhile, even the sellside is starting to turn, with BofA writing on Friday that based on recent data trends, the “risk of a negative growth quarter” is “significant”, and the bank slashed its Q1 GDP forecast from 4.0% to just 1.0%.

  Economic conditions aside, there are at least two more fundamental reasons to ignore what Bostic has to say: first, he has always been among the Fed’s more outspoken hawks.

  

  Secondly, even if Bostic is dead set on hiking into a recession (which he isn’t) he won’t have the opportunity to do so for years: as a reminder, he is a non-voter until 2024, by which point not only will the Republican part control Congress…

  

  … but the US will likely already long be in a recession.

  Finally, even if the Fed is using Bostic’s FT interview as a way to telegraph what is coming, there are almost two months until the March FOMC, and a lot can change by then, not least the next CPI print which if it comes (well) below expectations, will be viewed as a key dovish reversal by the market, especially if the current downbeat economic trends fail to reverse, pushing the economy straight into a contraction.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 18:00

• Hedge Fund CIO: An Asset With Finite Supply, But No Intrinsic Value, Can Become Priceless
  Hedge Fund CIO: An Asset With Finite Supply, But No Intrinsic Value, Can Become Priceless

  By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

  “The Fed bought $130bln of bonds so far this year. And global central banks bought $300bln already,” said Biggie Too, global chief strategist for one of Wall Street’s too-big-to-fail affairs.

  “We have a rate shock, yet they’re still doing QE,” bellowed Biggie. “There really are just two camps now: sheepish equity longs and stubborn equity longs,” he barked.

  “So you gonna buy 30yr treasuries with 7% inflation? Or buy gold when the dollar is going up? Who wants to buy emerging markets when the Fed is about to tighten?” asked Biggie, working himself up, bouncing.

  “Maybe that’s why equities have gone from being this thoroughbred, racing beautifully around the track, to a bucking bronco – and yet no one can get off.”

  * * *

  Infrared tests of the ancient artwork reveal that Botticelli initially started painting Christ as a young child, hugged by his mother. But for reasons long since lost, during the year 1500 AD, the 55yr old artist entered his studio, turned the canvas upside down, started over, and produced The Man of Sorrows.

  

  From a few ounces of unremarkable paint, emerged a masterpiece, a haunting work. His earlier paintings were mainly mythological, The Birth of Venus, his most famous. Later, his work turned more Gothic, perhaps a reflection of the darkness that briefly descended on Florence. Dictatorship. Botticelli lived in a time resembling ours, rhyming, the Renaissance — a period of breathtaking creativity, expressed with the tools of time, brushes, chisels, pens.

  But even in periods that favor the uninhibited expression of human creativity, we wrestle with our eternal demons. Political conflict, rivalry, false pride, greed, stupidity. We see it manifest today in Russia/Europe, US/China, Republicans/Democrats, climate-change, crushing inequality. The Man of Sorrows changed hands over five centuries, watching our triumphs, defeats, in silence.

  An anonymous buyer purchased the painting in 1963. It re-emerged this week, selling for 45,400,000 dollars; a currency invented 282yrs after Botticelli died.

  The Sotheby’s auction price is +1,621-times the 28,000 dollars paid in 1963. Such a return is almost inconceivable.

  The S&P 500 in those 59yrs is +68-times. Gold +51-times. The US consumer price index is +9-times. But high art is unlike other assets, connecting us to genius, the sublime. And it reveals this truth: an asset with finite supply, but no intrinsic value, can become priceless, if only we imagine it so.

  Which leads back to our present Renaissance. We live in a period of utterly stunning human advance, expressed with the technological tools of our time. Today’s greatest creations will barely resemble those of the past. Yet all this is obscured from most by the distractions streaming across the newsfeeds. And our highest calling, of course, is to navigate the rising volatility, while quietly creating and investing in the treasures of tomorrow. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 17:30

• Meet The 29 Year Old Woman Teaming Up With Cathie Wood To Launch A Bitcoin ETF In The US
  Meet The 29 Year Old Woman Teaming Up With Cathie Wood To Launch A Bitcoin ETF In The US

  A 29 year old crypto “expert” that already manages $2.5 billion is coming to an ARK near you.

  Ophelia Snyder, whose firm 21Shares manages $2.5 billion from her office in Switzerland’s “Crypto Valley”, is teaming up with ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood to try and launch a bitcoin ETF in the United States, according to Bloomberg. 

  She has already opened an office in New York, where crypto-friendly Mayor Eric Adams has publicly proclaimed his support for the asset class. She’s now going to be tasked with the difficult proposition of getting regulators to look favorably upon the idea of a bitcoin ETF. It’s an idea the SEC hasn’t seemed to warm up to just yet. 

  

  But that hasn’t stopped her. She told Bloomberg: “We really want to make people feel confident when they enter the space. That’s the whole game for us — lowering the barriers to entry and making people feel excited about what we feel is revolutionary technology.”

  Wood and Snyder first met at a conference, the report says, where they “bonded over their mutual interest in crypto”. Now, Wood sits on the board of Amun, another of Snyder’s crypto-related companies. 

  Todd Rosenbluth, head of ETF and mutual fund research at CFRA Research, told Bloomberg that risks of these ETFs “are elevated relative to traditional equity or fixed income products, so it’s easy to see how investors could lose money faster.”

  Snyder’s current company tries to minimize risk of crypto “by purchasing the actual coins that underlie its funds and storing them in an offline wallet, known as cold storage”, the report says. While this adds to fees, it adds a layer of security. However, it doesn’t do much to protect investors from the volatile swings in crypto pricing. 

  

  She has also been a critic of bitcoin futures ETFs: “The futures products are much more financially complex outside of the Bitcoin exposure. My worst nightmare is people start buying these products not understanding these nuances.”

  21Shares charges between 1.49% and 2.5%. 

  Snyder has “an enormous amount” of her own money in crypto, Bloomberg writes. 

  She concluded about the asset class: “This is my life. This is the thing I think is going to change the entire world.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 17:05

• "Some Unpleasant Math" – The Fed Has Two Options: A Recession,Or Years Of Very High Inflation
  “Some Unpleasant Math” – The Fed Has Two Options: A Recession,Or Years Of Very High Inflation

  By Seth Carpenter, Morgan Stanley global chief economist

  The Fed, Inflation, and Some Unpleasant Math

  At last week’s FOMC press conference, Chair Powell was unequivocal about his discomfort with persistently high inflation. Had the January FOMC been a forecast meeting, he told us, he would have revised up his inflation forecast for 2022 by “a few tenths.” The Fed is set on tightening policy this year. Bringing down inflation through monetary policy means slower growth, but how much inflation and growth will decline is the question.

  A dirty little secret about the economics profession is how imprecisely we understand the inflation-generating process. The Fed and most mainstream economists have in mind a version of an “expectations-augmented Phillips curve” to describe cyclical inflation. Inflation is driven by inflation expectations and whether the economy has slack and inflation falls or is overextended and inflation rises. That cyclical component ignores other short-term factors, like swings in oil prices or the current supply chain frictions, that can temporarily push inflation up or down. Framing inflation this way has some thorny implications for the next few years, particularly if most of current inflation is cyclical, not temporary.

  Core PCE inflation just hit roughly 5%, or about 3 percentage points above the Fed’s target. If the extra inflation is cyclical, policy will have to slow the economy to create enough slack to bring it down. If it is mostly Covid driven and temporary, inflation will come down on its own. Our house view is that the majority of the extra inflation is Covid driven, not cyclical, but what if we are wrong?

  Suppose two-thirds of the extra inflation (2 percentage points) is cyclical and only one-third is temporary. The Fed’s baseline estimate of the Phillips curve has a slope of about 0.1, that is, a 1-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate lowers core PCE inflation by only one-tenth of a percentage point. Simple arithmetic says that a 20-percentage-point increase in unemployment is needed to bring inflation down by 2 percentage points. But even if the relationship is 5 times larger, as may have been the case decades ago, the Fed would need to orchestrate a 4-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate to wring out those 2 percentage points of inflation. Any time unemployment has risen by 50bp, we have had a recession.

  Of course, the Fed does not want to intentionally cause a recession, so something would have to give. The other refuge, of course, is inflation expectations. If the Fed can convince everyone that inflation will get back to 2%, the trade-off is much less painful. But some measures of inflation expectations are highly sensitive to realized inflation, whereas others barely budge. (Others have criticized the prominence of inflation expectations in macro analysis, see Rudd, 2021) .The real question is whether under the current circumstances, the inflation expectations that matter will move simply because the Fed acts, or if inflation has to come down first. If the latter is true, we are still stuck.

  So if the bulk of current inflation is cyclical … a recession or years of high inflation. Chair Volcker opted for recession, but inflation in the 1970s was much, much higher. I suspect Chair Powell will not deliberately engineer a recession. The challenge, of course, is knowing how much policy tightening is too much. To be clear, our baseline view is that most of the inflation will prove temporary, but it always pays to ask “what if we are wrong?”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 16:43

• Here's Why US Truckers Staging Convoy To DC Will Face Soaring Diesel Prices
  Here’s Why US Truckers Staging Convoy To DC Will Face Soaring Diesel Prices

  U.S. truckers celebrate the recent Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) canceled vaccine mandate and their Candian counterparts who have rolled into Canada’s capital, Ottawa, this weekend, demanding an end to cross-border vaccine rules. Truckers are on the frontlines fighting against medical tyranny as the next convoy could be soon headed to Washington, D.C. 

  A Facebook group called “Convoy To DC 2022” has more than 63k members and is preparing a convoy of truckers to ride from California to Washington, D.C., to tell the Biden administration and progressives they’re are done with overreaching health mandates. 

  

  Dates and planned routes for Convoy To DC 2022 are expected to be released in the near term on a website and various social media platforms, and a GoFundMe page will be set up. The funds raised will help fund fuel costs and lodging for truckers participating in the movement. 

  For truckers considering to partake in the convoy, we wanted to explain what’s happening with diesel markets. 

  Bloomberg reports ultra-low sulfur diesel futures have entered backwardation, a market condition where prices today are higher than future contracts trading months out. This is a bullish structure and the first time materializing since 2015. 

  

  The backwardation comes as a powerful winter storm and cold weather have plagued the Eastern U.S., boosting heating demand. Diesel stockpiles in the central Atlantic region decreased to 19.7 million barrels last week, a seven-year seasonal low. Total US stockpiles are well under a 5-year average. 

  

  Dwindling stockpiles and high demand have pressured spot diesel prices, jumping to an 8-year high this month, trading around $2.68 per gallon. 

  

  Putting this all together for the organizers of the Convoy To DC 2022, the most significant expense for truckers will be soaring fuel costs. With backwardation in full swing, diesel prices are likely to move higher. A GoFundMe campaign could greatly alleviate expenses for those planning to make the cross-country drive. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 16:15

• Speech Therapist: 364% Surge In Baby And Toddler Referrals Thanks To Mask Wearing
  Speech Therapist: 364% Surge In Baby And Toddler Referrals Thanks To Mask Wearing

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

  A speech therapist says that mask wearing during the pandemic has caused a 364% increase in patient referrals of babies and toddlers.

  

  Jaclyn Theek told WPBF News that before the pandemic, only 5 per cent of patients were babies and toddlers, but this has soared to 20 per cent.

  Parents are describing their children’s speech problems as “COVID delayed,” with face coverings the primary cause of their speaking skills being seriously impaired.

  As young as 8 months old, babies start learning how to speak by reading lips, a thankless task if parents and carers smother themselves with masks to comply with mandates.

  A speech therapist says her clinic has seen a “364% increase in patient referrals of babies and toddlers”.

  “It’s very important kids do see your face to learn, so they’re watching your mouth.”

  What the hell have we done?!

  End this cruel insanity. pic.twitter.com/DN6J4yQfju

  — Darren Grimes (@darrengrimes_) January 26, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  “It’s very important kids do see your face to learn, so they’re watching your mouth,” said Theek.

  The news report featured one such mother, Briana Gay, who is raising five children but having speech problems with her youngest.

  “It definitely makes a difference when the world you’re growing up in you can’t interact with people and their face, that’s super important to babies,” said Gay.

  According to Theek, since the pandemic, autism symptoms are also skyrocketing.

  “They’re not making any word attempts and not communicating at all with their family,” she said.

  As we previously highlighted, Forbes deleted an article written by an education expert who asserted that forcing schoolchildren to wear face masks was causing psychological trauma.

  A study by researchers at Brown University found that mean IQ scores of young children born during the pandemic have tumbled by as much as 22 points while verbal, motor and cognitive performance have all suffered as a result of lockdown.

  Michael Curzon noted that two of the primary causes for this are face masks and children being atomized as a result of being kept away from other children.

  “Children born over the past year of lockdowns – at a time when the Government has prevented babies from seeing elderly relatives and other extended family members, from socialising at parks or with the children of their parent’s friends, and from studying the expressions on the faces behind the masks of locals in indoor public spaces – have significantly reduced verbal, motor and overall cognitive performance compared to children born before, according to a new U.S. study. Tests on early learning, verbal development and non-verbal development all produced results that were far behind those from the years preceding the lockdowns,” he wrote.

  Perhaps all the virtue signalers who think of themselves as such morally upstanding people for wearing masks will change their behavior given they are literally contributing to causing major cognitive problems in children.

  Or maybe they simply won’t care, given that the mask is now a political status symbol above anything else.

  *  *  *

  Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

  In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. I need you to sign up for my free newsletter here. Support my sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Get early access, exclusive content and behinds the scenes stuff by following me on Locals.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 15:50

• China PMIs Show Economy On Verge Of Contraction Amid Continued Growth Slowdown
  China PMIs Show Economy On Verge Of Contraction Amid Continued Growth Slowdown

  While China’s credit impulse recently bottomed and is already starting its next major upcycle, the remnant of the current slowdown are still hitting the economy and overnight the latest PMI data showed that China’s manufacturing sector expanded at a slower pace in January amid a seasonal slowdown, Covid-19 outbreaks and a housing market drop which dragged activity at small firms to the weakest since the depth of the pandemic.

  In keeping with China’s penchant for always beating expectations, Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that the official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index declined to 50.1 from 50.3 in December, just above the median estimate of 50.0 which separates expansion from contraction. Likewise, the non-manufacturing PMI, which measures activity in the construction and services sectors, fell to 51.1, also just fractionally above the consensus forecast. Meanwhile, the non-government Caixin manufacturing PMI fell to 49.1 in January from 50.9 in December, likely due to local outbreaks.

  

  Some details from the NBS report:

  • Among major manufacturing sub-indexes, the output index fell to 50.9 from 51.4, and the new orders sub-index decreased to 49.3 from 49.7.
  • The new export order sub-index increased to 48.4 in January vs. 48.1 in December, and the import sub-index fell to 47.2 in January vs. 48.2.
  • The manufacturing employment sub-index decreased to 48.9 in January from 49.1. The raw material inventories sub-index edged down to 49.1 from 49.2, and the finished goods inventories sub-index fell to 48.0 from 48.5 in December.
  • The suppliers’ delivery times sub-index fell to 47.6 from 48.3, suggesting slower suppliers’ delivery likely due to local outbreaks and related restrictions.
  • By enterprise size, the PMI of large enterprises rose to 51.6 (vs. 51.3 in December), the highest in six months while the PMIs of small enterprises fell to 46.0 (vs. 46.5 in October),  the lowest since February 2020 and taking a contracting streak to a ninth month.

  Price indicators in the NBS manufacturing survey suggest inflationary pressures picked up in January with the input cost sub-index rebounding significantly to 56.4 (vs. 48.1 in December), and the output prices sub-index rose to 50.9 (vs. 45.5 in December), both are higher than November levels. NBS mentioned both input cost and output price sub-indexes of petroleum, coking and other fuels, and smelting and pressing of nonferrous metals were above 60.

  The official non-manufacturing PMI – comprised of the services and construction sectors – also fell in January to 51.1 vs. 52.7 in December, driven by a decline in services sectors – the services PMI fell to 50.3 (vs. 52.0 in December), and the lowest since August. According to the survey, the PMIs of monetary and financial services were above 60 in January, while the PMIs of high-contact consumer services, including accommodation and transportation, were below 50 due to local outbreaks in January.

  The Caixin manufacturing PMI was released later in the morning. The headline index fell to 49.1 in January from 50.9 in December: this was the lowest print since the Covid crash in March 2020.

  

  Sub-indexes in the Caixin manufacturing PMI showed themes were mostly consistent with NBS PMIs except new export orders (stronger in NBS, weaker in Caixin): 

  • deceleration in output and new orders in January (48.4 and 48.5 vs. 52.7 and 50.9 in December),
  • weaker employment (47.9 vs. 48.7 in December),
  • falling inventories in both raw inputs and finished goods (49.8 and 48.7 vs. 50.3 and 50.1 in December),
  • renewed inflationary pressures in input and output prices (both rose to 52.6 in January vs. 50.8 and 49.2 in December),
  • slower suppliers’ delivery (47.5 vs. 48.7 in December), while new export orders sub-index in Caixin fell to 46.5 in January (vs. 49.9). Caixin survey mentioned the recent uptick of COVID cases home and abroad impacted sales and supply chains in January.

  

  Despite the traditional fudging of PMI numbers especially on the NBS side, the numbers signaled a clear slowdown in the economy – with weaker output and new orders, weaker employment, falling inventories, slower supplier’s delivery, heightened inflationary pressures – although to be expected not just due to local outbreaks and related restrictions but because Chinese factories often see a production lull in January and February as workers head home for the Lunar New Year holidays. The divergence between NBS and Caixin in new export orders could be related to potentially geographic coverage differences and sector bias – NBS closely linked to raw materials, Caixin tilted towards machinery – between the two surveys. Activity has also been affected this year by the government’s orders for steel plants to trim output to reduce air pollution ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing which begin Friday.

  “Industrial activities slowed due to weak domestic demand,” Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd., wrote in a note. “The slowdown is particularly severe for the small firms.”

  The disruptions have added to the woes facing the Chinese economy, with home sales falling and consumption sluggish due to tightened restrictions to contain the spread of the highly-contagious omicron virus variant. Residents in places where there have been recent Covid-19 outbreaks, including Beijing, Shanghai and the northern port city of Tianjin, have been urged to not leave the cities unless necessary.

  Manufacturers were also squeezed by higher costs, with input prices rising at the fastest rate in three months, according to the official data.

  “That could drive the producer price index up and narrow the room for monetary policy,” said Bruce Pang of China Renaissance Securities Hong Kong, although in light of the recent commitment to easing policy, we doubt that even a solid bounce in the PPI will derail Beijing’s new-found monetary generosity.

  To spur growth, the central bank has cut key interest rates, lowered reserve requirements for lenders and vowed to open its toolbox wider, in response to top leaders’ call for prioritizing stability. Still, a set of earliest available indicators tracked by Bloomberg sent mixed signals about the state of the economy in January, with the housing market and consumer spending staying weak and business confidence and stocks tumbling.

  Elsewhere, construction activity continued to cool this month, with the NBS sub-index falling to 55.4, suggesting sentiment remained subdued given the property downturn and the limited effect that government spending on infrastructure is having so far. The approaching holiday and cold winter may have also had some impact on building.

  “The weak PMI indicates the policy easing measures from the government have not yet been passed to the real economy,” according to Pinpoint’s Zhang. “We expect the government will step up policy supports in coming months, particularly through more fiscal spending.”

  Translation: China’s all important credit impulse will soar, perhaps hitting its cycle high around the US midterm elections.

  

   

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 15:25

• Stockman Says "This Goes Way Beyond Wag-The-Dog 2.0" As Ukraine Pushes Back Against American Hawks
  Stockman Says “This Goes Way Beyond Wag-The-Dog 2.0” As Ukraine Pushes Back Against American Hawks

  Authored by David Stockman via AntiWar.com,

  It looks like we have plunged so deeply into the theater of the absurd that we now have a case of “Albania don’t want the ball!”.

  Our reference, of course, is to the apocryphal football story about a coach repeatedly signaling a play from the sidelines, only to have the quarterback keep breaking huddle while frantically waving his arms and shouting,

  “But Leroy don’t want the ball!”

  That is to say, Ukrainian president Zelensky, a former television comic, apparently knew all about the 60- year old American story, at least according to the geniuses at CNN who reported it below. That the White House quickly disavowed the “Ukraine” story is undoubtedly your authentication:

  A call between US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday “did not go well,” a senior Ukrainian official told CNN…… Biden warned Zelensky an imminent invasion is a “distinct possibility”

  On the “long and frank call, Biden warned his Ukrainian counterpart……that an invasion was now virtually certain, once the ground had frozen later in February…..

  Zelensky, however, restated his position that the threat from Russia remains “dangerous but ambiguous,” and it is not certain that an attack will take place, the official said.

  Zelensky urged his American counterpart to “calm down the messaging,” warning of the economic impact of panic, according to to the official.

  You might think so. For instance, it is apparently not just president Zelensky who is not seeing the white of those Russian eyes. The country’s defense minister also recently weighed in to that effect. So let’s pierce the fog of hysteria by asking Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov what’s going on:

  “I can absolutely say that to date, the Russian armed forces have not created a strike group that could make a forceful invasion of Ukraine.”

  It must be comical for Russia to sit back and watch the Keystone Kops at the helm of US foreign policy blunder and bluster, with Biden’s press secretary insisting that a Russian invasion is “imminent” even as the Ukrainians – who are in a position to know and also in a position to benefit if it was true – pour cold water on the Biden war-fear-porn.

  Then again, if this purportedly “beleaguered ally” doesn’t see the danger, so what?

  The Washington and NATO neocons do – they are literally foaming at the mouth with war fever. Kiev is obviously not aware that the White House, with access to arguably “privileged intel”, is convinced that Russia will invade “any-minute-now”.

  So, yes, we can cut to the transcript of the must re-watch Wag the Dog. After all, when it comes to America’s security and prosperity, what’s really the difference between Albania and Ukraine, anyway.

  So, as Hollywood was still bold enough back in 1998 to say,

  Wait. We can’t afford a war.

  We’re not having a war. We’re having the appearance of a war.

  We cannot afford it. -What’ll it cost? –

  But they would find out.

  Who’s gonna find out? The American people? Who’s gonna tell them? What did they find out about the Gulf War? One video of one bombfalls down a chimney.

  The building could have been made out of Legos.

  You want us to go to war?

  That’s the general idea.

  With who?

  I’m working on it. Albania?

  Why?

  Why not?

  What do you know about them?

  Nothing.

  Precisely. They seem shifty, standoffish. Who knows from Albania? Who trusts Albanians?

  What did Albania ever do to us?

  What did they do for us? This is why we have to mobilize the B-3 bomber.

  You really want to go to war with Albania?

  We don’t have a choice. This is what you do to make it real. Get your press office right now to deny it. It didn’t happen.

  “There is no report of Albanian activity.”

  They have to deny it. It didn’t happen.

  Deny. …news from the president on his visit to China.

  Another sort of news, however… has emerged from the presidential quarter. We turn to Melissa Gardner at KZAB in Santa Fe… with this breaking news.

  Thanks, Richard. Today a local Firefly Girl… accused the president of *** misconduct. This photo of the girl claims that the *** misconduct… occurred inside the Oval Office. Her attorney says there are no plans yet… to hold a press conference.

  There you have it. There is no imminent war, threat of war, even tiny specter of war, in the Ukraine. It’s all White House theater, and its about nothing more than–like director Barry Levinson’s “suitcase nukes” from Albania – distracting from Biden’s plunging poll figures.

  So it needs be said: Compared to Donald Trump’s statists excesses and pretensions, the Biden team’s disgusting War Movie would have made Dustin Hoffman so proud at the end that they would not have had the gall to kill him with a heart attack!

  Unfortunately, however, this goes way beyond Wag The Dog 2.0. It’s not simply that there are no meaningful, historically validated Ukrainian borders to defend – if that made a difference for national security, which it doesn’t. More importantly, however, is that the underlying policy architecture – preserving the rule of law which Washington claims to have scrupulously advanced since, say 1917–is a complete and unmitigated crock.

  

  As we indicated in the previous article, Ukraine is, and always has been, a patchwork of morsels that belonged until recently to different empires – Austro-Hungarian and Russian – as well as several nations, such as Russia, Poland and Romania. It regroups Catholicism and Orthodoxy, and has millions of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers with deep historical, cultural and economic links with Russia.

  So Ukraine was a de facto new Yugoslavia.

  The fatal mistake committed by Washington in 2014, therefore, was to force Kiev as well as the Ukrainian population as a whole to make an impossible choice between Europe and Russia. Or as Aaron Mate astutely observed,

  The inevitable result would have to be Maidan, completely manipulated by American intel, even as Russians clearly saw how the EU switched from the position of honest broker to the lowly role of American chihuahuas.

  Russo-phobic U.S. hawks will never renounce the spectacle of their historical adversary bogged down in a slow-burning fratricidal war in the post-Soviet space. As much as they will never renounce Divide and Rule imposed over a discombobulated Europe. And as much as they will never concede “spheres of influence” to any geopolitical player.

  Without their toxic imprint, 2014 could have played in quite a different manner.

  To dissuade Putin to restore Crimea to its rightful place – Russia – it would have taken two things: for Ukraine to be decently managed after 1992, and not to force it to choose the Western camp, but to make it a bridge, Finland or Austria-style.

  After Maidan, the Minsk agreements were as close as possible to a viable solution: let’s end the conflict in Donbass; let’s disarm the protagonists; and let’s re-establish control of the borders of Ukraine while providing real autonomy to Eastern Ukraine.

  For all that to happen, Ukraine would have needed a neutral status, and a double security guarantee, by Russia and NATO. And to render the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU compatible with the close links between Eastern Ukraine and the Russian economy.

  All that would have perhaps configured a European vision of decent future relations with Russia.

  Yet the Russo-phobic Deep State would never allow it. And the same applied to the White House. Barack Obama, that cynical opportunist, was too engulfed by the dodgy Polish context in Chicago and not free from the exceptionalist obsession with deep antagonism to be able to build a constructive relationship with Russia.

  Then there’s the clincher, revealed by a high-level US Intel source.

  In 2013, the late Zbigniew “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski was presented with a classified report on Russian advanced missiles. He freaked out. And responded by conceptualizing Maidan 2014 – to draw Russia into a guerrilla war then as he had done with Afghanistan in the 1980s.

  And here we are now: it’s all a matter of unfinished business.

  In the meanwhile, here is the spoiler alert for the next article: The idea that what is happening on the Washington orchestrated TV stage has anything to do with standing up to dictators and Munich 2.0 is so blithering stupid that it deserves to be torn asunder limb-for-limb.

  Which is exactly what we intend to do.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 15:00

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• Greenwald: Pressure Campaign To Remove Joe Rogan From Spotify Reveals Liberal Religion Of Censorship
  Greenwald: Pressure Campaign To Remove Joe Rogan From Spotify Reveals Liberal Religion Of Censorship

  Authored by Glenn Greenwald,

  American liberals are obsessed with finding ways to silence and censor their adversaries. Every week, if not every day, they have new targets they want de-platformed, banned, silenced, and otherwise prevented from speaking or being heard (by “liberals,” I mean the term of self-description used by the dominant wing of the Democratic Party).

  

  For years, their preferred censorship tactic was to expand and distort the concept of “hate speech” to mean “views that make us uncomfortable,” and then demand that such “hateful” views be prohibited on that basis. For that reason, it is now common to hear Democrats assert, falsely, that the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech does not protect “hate speech.” Their political culture has long inculcated them to believe that they can comfortably silence whatever views they arbitrarily place into this category without being guilty of censorship.

  Constitutional illiteracy to the side, the “hate speech” framework for justifying censorship is now insufficient because liberals are eager to silence a much broader range of voices than those they can credibly accuse of being hateful. That is why the newest, and now most popular, censorship framework is to claim that their targets are guilty of spreading “misinformation” or “disinformation.” These terms, by design, have no clear or concise meaning. Like the term “terrorism,” it is their elasticity that makes them so useful.

  When liberals’ favorite media outlets, from CNN and NBC to The New York Times and The Atlantic, spend four years disseminating one fabricated Russia story after the next — from the Kremlin hacking into Vermont’s heating system and Putin’s sexual blackmail over Trump to bounties on the heads of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, the Biden email archive being “Russian disinformation,” and a magical mystery weapon that injures American brains with cricket noises — none of that is “disinformation” that requires banishment. Nor are false claims that COVID’s origin has proven to be zoonotic rather than a lab leak, the vastly overstated claim that vaccines prevent transmission of COVID, or that Julian Assange stole classified documents and caused people to die. Corporate outlets beloved by liberals are free to spout serious falsehoods without being deemed guilty of disinformation, and, because of that, do so routinely.

  This “disinformation” term is reserved for those who question liberal pieties, not for those devoted to affirming them. That is the real functional definition of “disinformation” and of its little cousin, “misinformation.” It is not possible to disagree with liberals or see the world differently than they see it. The only two choices are unthinking submission to their dogma or acting as an agent of “disinformation.” Dissent does not exist to them; any deviation from their worldview is inherently dangerous — to the point that it cannot be heard.

  The data proving a deeply radical authoritarian strain in Trump-era Democratic Party politics is ample and have been extensively reported here. Democrats overwhelmingly trust and love the FBI and CIA. Polls show they overwhelmingly favor censorship of the internet not only by Big Tech oligarchs but also by the state. Leading Democratic Party politicians have repeatedly subpoenaed social media executives and explicitly threatened them with legal and regulatory reprisals if they do not censor more aggressively — a likely violation of the First Amendment given decades of case law ruling that state officials are barred from coercing private actors to censor for them, in ways the Constitution prohibits them from doing directly.

  Democratic officials have used the pretexts of COVID, “the insurrection,” and Russia to justify their censorship demands. Both Joe Biden and his Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, have “urged” Silicon Valley to censor more when asked about Joe Rogan and others who air what they call “disinformation” about COVID. They cheered the use of pro-prosecutor tactics against Michael Flynn and other Russiagate targets; made a hero out of the Capitol Hill Police officer who shot and killed the unarmed Ashli Babbitt; voted for an additional $2 billion to expand the functions of the Capitol Police; have demanded and obtained lengthy prison sentences and solitary confinement even for non-violent 1/6 defendants; and even seek to import the War on Terror onto domestic soil.

  Given the climate prevailing in the American liberal faction, this authoritarianism is anything but surprising. For those who convince themselves that they are not battling mere political opponents with a different ideology but a fascist movement led by a Hitler-like figure bent on imposing totalitarianism — a core, defining belief of modern-day Democratic Party politics — it is virtually inevitable that they will embrace authoritarianism. When a political movement is subsumed by fear — the Orange Hitler will put you in camps and end democracy if he wins again — then it is not only expected but even rational to embrace authoritarian tactics including censorship to stave off this existential threat. Fear always breeds authoritarianism, which is why manipulating and stimulating that human instinct is the favorite tactic of political demagogues.

  And when it comes to authoritarian tactics, censorship has become the liberals’ North Star. Every week brings news of a newly banished heretic. Liberals cheered the news last week that Google’s YouTube permanently banned the extremely popular video channel of conservative commentator Dan Bongino. His permanent ban was imposed for the crime of announcing that, moving forward, he would post all of his videos exclusively on the free speech video platform Rumble after he received a seven-day suspension from Google’s overlords for spreading supposed COVID “disinformation.” What was Bongino’s prohibited view that prompted that suspension? He claimed cloth masks do not work to stop the spread of COVID, a view shared by numerous experts and, at least in part, by the CDC. When Bongino disobeyed the seven-day suspension by using an alternative YouTube channel to announce his move to Rumble, liberals cheered Google’s permanent ban because the only thing liberals hate more than platforms that allow diverse views are people failing to obey rules imposed by corporate authorities.

  It is not hyperbole to observe that there is now a concerted war on any platforms devoted to free discourse and which refuse to capitulate to the demands of Democratic politicians and liberal activists to censor. The spear of the attack are corporate media outlets, who demonize and try to render radioactive any platforms that allow free speech to flourish. When Rumble announced that a group of free speech advocates — including myself, former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, comedian Bridget Phetasy, former Sanders campaign videographer Matt Orfalea and journalist Zaid Jilani — would produce video content for Rumble, The Washington Post immediately published a hit piece, relying exclusively on a Google-and-Facebook-aligned so-called “disinformation expert” to malign Rumble as “one of the main platforms for conspiracy communities and far-right communities in the U.S. and around the world” and a place “where conspiracies thrive,” all caused by Rumble’s “allowing such videos to remain on the site unmoderated.” (The narrative about Rumble is particular bizarre since its Canadian founder and still-CEO, Chris Pavlovski created Rumble in 2013 with apolitical goals — to allow small content creators abandoned by YouTube to monetize their content — and is very far from an adherent to right-wing ideology).

  The same attack was launched, and is still underway, against Substack, also for the crime of refusing to ban writers deemed by liberal corporate outlets and activists to be hateful and/or fonts of disinformation. After the first wave of liberal attacks on Substack failed — that script was that it is a place for anti-trans animus and harassment — The Post returned this week for round two, with a paint-by-numbers hit piece virtually identical to the one it published last year about Rumble. “Newsletter company Substack is making millions off anti-vaccine content, according to estimates,” blared the sub-headline. “Prominent figures known for spreading misinformation, such as [Joseph] Mercola, have flocked to Substack, podcasting platforms and a growing number of right-wing social media networks over the past year after getting kicked off or restricted on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube,” warned the Post. It is, evidently, extremely dangerous to society for voices to still be heard once Google decrees they should not be.

  This Post attack on Substack predictably provoked expressions of Serious Concern from good and responsible liberals. That included Chelsea Clinton, who lamented that Substack is profiting off a “grift.” Apparently, this political heiress — who is one of the world’s richest individuals by virtue of winning the birth lottery of being born to rich and powerful parents, who in turn enriched themselves by cashing in on their political influence in exchange for $750,000 paychecks from Goldman Sachs for 45-minute speeches, and who herself somehow was showered with a $600,000 annual contract from NBC News despite no qualifications — believes she is in a position to accuse others of “grifting.” She also appears to believe that — despite welcoming convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to her wedding to a hedge fund oligarch whose father was expelled from Congress after his conviction on thirty-one counts of felony fraud — she is entitled to decree who should and should not be allowed to have a writing platform:

  

  This Post-manufactured narrative about Substack instantly metastasized throughout the liberal sect of media. “Anti-vaxxers making ‘at least $2.5m’ a year from publishing on Substack,” read the headline of The Guardian, the paper that in 2018 published the outright lie that Julian Assange met twice with Paul Manafort inside the Ecuadorian Embassy and refuses to this day to retract it (i.e., “disinformation”). Like The Post, the British paper cited one of the seemingly endless number of shady pro-censorship groups — this one calling itself the “Center for Countering Digital Hate” — to argue for greater censorship by Substack. “They could just say no,” said the group’s director, who has apparently convinced himself he should be able to dictate what views should and should not be aired: “This isn’t about freedom; this is about profiting from lies. . . . Substack should immediately stop profiting from medical misinformation that can seriously harm readers.”

  ---

  The emerging campaign to pressure Spotify to remove Joe Rogan from its platform is perhaps the most illustrative episode yet of both the dynamics at play and the desperation of liberals to ban anyone off-key. It was only a matter of time before this effort really galvanized in earnest. Rogan has simply become too influential, with too large of an audience of young people, for the liberal establishment to tolerate his continuing to act up. Prior efforts to coerce, cajole, or manipulate Rogan to fall into line were abject failures. Shortly after The Wall Street Journal reported in September, 2020 that Spotify employees were organizing to demand that some of Rogan’s shows be removed from the platform, Rogan invited Alex Jones onto his show: a rather strong statement that he was unwilling to obey decrees about who he could interview or what he could say.

  On Tuesday, musician Neil Young demanded that Spotify either remove Rogan from its platform or cease featuring Young’s music, claiming Rogan spreads COVID disinformation. Spotify predictably sided with Rogan, their most popular podcaster in whose show they invested $100 million, by removing Young’s music and keeping Rogan. The pressure on Spotify mildly intensified on Friday when singer Joni Mitchell issued a similar demand. All sorts of censorship-mad liberals celebrated this effort to remove Rogan, then vowed to cancel their Spotify subscription in protest of Spotify’s refusal to capitulate for now; a hashtag urging the deletion of Spotify’s app trended for days. Many bizarrely urged that everyone buy music from Apple instead; apparently, handing over your cash to one of history’s largest and richest corporations, repeatedly linked to the use of slave labor, is the liberal version of subversive social justice.

  Spotify chose Joe Rogan over Neil Young.

  I’ll choose Apple Music over Spotify.

  — Jack Cocchiarella (@JDCocchiarella) January 27, 2022

  Obviously, Spotify is not going to jettison one of their biggest audience draws over a couple of faded septuagenarians from the 1960s. But if a current major star follows suit, it is not difficult to imagine a snowball effect. The goal of liberals with this tactic is to take any disobedient platform and either force it into line or punish it by drenching it with such negative attacks that nobody who craves acceptance in the parlors of Decent Liberal Society will risk being associated with it. “Prince Harry was under pressure to cut ties with Spotify yesterday after the streaming giant was accused of promoting anti-vax content,” claimed The Daily Mail which, reliable or otherwise, is a certain sign of things to come.

  One could easily envision a tipping point being reached where a musician no longer makes an anti-Rogan statement by leaving the platform as Young and Mitchell just did, but instead will be accused of harboring pro-Rogan sentiments if they stay on Spotify. With the stock price of Spotify declining as these recent controversies around Rogan unfolded, a strategy in which Spotify is forced to choose between keeping Rogan or losing substantial musical star power could be more viable than it currently seems. “Spotify lost $4 billion in market value this week after rock icon Neil Young called out the company for allowing comedian Joe Rogan to use its service to spread misinformation about the COVID vaccine on his popular podcast, ‘The Joe Rogan Experience,’” is how The San Francisco Chronicle put it (that Spotify’s stock price dropped rather precipitously contemporaneously with this controversy is clear; less so is the causal connection, though it seems unlikely to be entire coincidental):

  

  It is worth recalling that NBC News, in January, 2017, announced that it had hired Megyn Kelly away from Fox News with a $69 million contract. The network had big plans for Kelly, whose first show debuted in June of that year. But barely more than a year later, Kelly’s comments about blackface — in which she rhetorically wondered whether the notorious practice could be acceptable in the modern age with the right intent: such as a young white child paying homage to a beloved African-American sports or cultural figure on Halloween — so enraged liberals, both inside the now-liberal network and externally, that they demanded her firing. NBC decided it was worth firing Kelly — on whom they had placed so many hopes — and eating her enormous contract in order to assuage widespread liberal indignation. “The cancellation of the ex-Fox News host’s glossy morning show is a reminder that networks need to be more stringent when assessing the politics of their hirings,” proclaimed The Guardian.

  Democrats are not only the dominant political faction in Washington, controlling the White House and both houses of Congress, but liberals in particular are clearly the hegemonic culture force in key institutions: media, academia and Hollywood. That is why it is a mistake to assume that we are near the end of their orgy of censorship and de-platforming victories. It is far more likely that we are much closer to the beginning than the end. The power to silence others is intoxicating. Once one gets a taste of its power, they rarely stop on their own.

  Indeed, it was once assumed that Silicon Valley giants steeped in the libertarian ethos of a free internet would be immune to demands to engage in political censorship (“content moderation” is the more palatable euphemism which liberal corporate media outlets prefer). But when the still-formidable megaphones of The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, CNN and the rest of the liberal media axis unite to accuse Big Tech executives of having blood on their hands and being responsible for the destruction of American democracy, that is still an effective enforcement mechanism. Billionaires are, like all humans, social and political animals and instinctively avoid ostracization and societal scorn.

  Beyond the personal interest in avoiding vilification, corporate executives can be made to censor against their will and in violation of their political ideology out of self-interest. The corporate media still has the ability to render a company toxic, and the Democratic Party more now than ever has the power to abuse their lawmaking and regulatory powers to impose real punishment for disobedience, as it has repeatedly threatened to do. If Facebook or Spotify are deemed to be so toxic that no Good Liberals can use them without being attacked as complicit in fascism, white supremacy or anti-vax fanaticism, then that will severely limit, if not entirely sabotage, a company’s future viability.

  The one bright spot in all this — and it is a significant one — is that liberals have become such extremists in their quest to silence all adversaries that they are generating their own backlash, based in disgust for their tyrannical fanaticism. In response to the Post attack, Substack issued a gloriously defiant statement re-affirming its commitment to guaranteeing free discourse. They also repudiated the hubristic belief that they are competent to act as arbiters of Truth and Falsity, Good and Bad. “Society has a trust problem. More censorship will only make it worse,” read the headline on the post from Substack’s founders. The body of their post reads like a free speech manifesto:

  That’s why, as we face growing pressure to censor content published on Substack that to some seems dubious or objectionable, our answer remains the same: we make decisions based on principles not PR, we will defend free expression, and we will stick to our hands-off approach to content moderation. While we have content guidelines that allow us to protect the platform at the extremes, we will always view censorship as a last resort, because we believe open discourse is better for writers and better for society. 

  A lengthy Twitter thread from Substack’s Vice President of Communications, Lulu Cheng Meservey was similarly encouraging and assertive. “I’m proud of our decision to defend free expression, even when it’s hard,” she wrote, adding: “because: 1) We want a thriving ecosystem full of fresh and diverse ideas. That can’t happen without the freedom to experiment, or even to be wrong.” Regarding demands to de-platform those allegedly spreading COVID disinformation, she pointedly — and accurately — noted: “If everyone who has ever been wrong about this pandemic were silenced, there would be no one left talking about it at all.” And she, too, affirmed principles that every actual, genuine liberal — not the Nancy Pelosi kind — reflexively supports:

  People already mistrust institutions, media, and each other. Knowing that dissenting views are being suppressed makes that mistrust worse. Withstanding scrutiny makes truths stronger, not weaker. We made a promise to writers that this is a place they can pursue what they find meaningful, without coddling or controlling. We promised we wouldn’t come between them and their audiences. And we intend to keep our side of the agreement for every writer that keeps theirs. to think for themselves. They tend not to be conformists, and they have the confidence and strength of conviction not to be threatened by views that disagree with them or even disgust them.

  This is becoming increasingly rare.

  The U.K.’s Royal Society, its national academy of scientists, this month echoed Substack’s view that censorship, beyond its moral dimensions and political dangers, is ineffective and breeds even more distrust in pronouncements by authorities. “Governments and social media platforms should not rely on content removal for combatting harmful scientific misinformation online.” “There is,” they concluded, “little evidence that calls for major platforms to remove offending content will limit scientific misinformation’s harms” and “such measures could even drive it to harder-to-address corners of the internet and exacerbate feelings of distrust in authorities.”

  As both Rogan’s success and collapsing faith and interest in traditional corporate media outlets proves, there is a growing hunger for discourse that is liberated from the tight controls of liberal media corporations and their petulant, herd-like employees. That is why other platforms devoted to similar principles of free discourse, such as Rumble for videos and Callin for podcasts, continue to thrive. It is certain that those platforms will continue to be targeted by institutional liberalism as they grow and allow more dissidents and heretics to be heard. Time will tell if they, too, will resist these censorship pressures, but the combination of genuine conviction on the part of their founders and managers, combined with the clear market opportunities for free speech platforms and heterodox thinkers, provides ample ground for optimism.

  None of this is to suggest that American liberals are the only political faction that succumbs to the strong temptations of censorships. Liberals often point to the growing fights over public school curricula and particularly the conservative campaign to exclude so-called Critical Race Theory from the public schools as proof that the American Right is also a pro-censorship faction. That is a poor example. Censorship is about what adults can hear, not what children are taught in public schools. Liberals crusaded for decades to have creationism banned from the public schools and largely succeeded, yet few would suggest this was an act of censorship. For the reason I just gave, I certainly would define it that way. Fights over what children should and should not be taught can have a censorship dimension but usually do not, precisely because limits and prohibitions in school curricula are inevitable.

  There are indeed examples of right-wing censorship campaigns: among the worst are laws implemented by GOP legislatures and championed by GOP governors to punish those who support a boycott of Israel by denying them contracts or other employment benefits. And among the most frequent targets of censorship campaigns on college campuses are critics of Israel and activists for Palestinian rights. But federal courts have been unanimously striking down those indefensible red-state laws punishing BDS activists as an unconstitutional infringement of free speech rights, and polling data, as noted above, shows that it is the Democrats who overwhelmingly favor internet censorship while Republicans oppose it.

  In sum, censorship — once the province of the American Right during the heydey of the Moral Majority of the 1980s — now occurs in isolated instances in that faction. In modern-day American liberalism, however, censorship is a virtual religion. They simply cannot abide the idea that anyone who thinks differently or sees the world differently than they should be heard. That is why there is much more at stake in this campaign to have Rogan removed from Spotify than whether this extremely popular podcast host will continue to be heard there or on another platform. If liberals succeed in pressuring Spotify to abandon their most valuable commodity, it will mean nobody is safe from their petty-tyrant tactics. But if they fail, it can embolden other platforms to similarly defy these bullying tactics, keeping our discourse a bit more free for just awhile longer.

  NOTE: Tonight at 7 pm EST, I will discuss the Rogan censorship campaign and the broader implications of the liberal fixation with censorship on my live Callin podcast. For now, live shows can be heard only with an iPhone and the Callin app — the app will be very shortly available on Androids for universal use — but all shows can be heard by everyone immediately after they are broadcast on the Callin website, here.

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  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/30/2022 – 00:37

• China Will Play Major Role In Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Experts
  China Will Play Major Role In Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Experts

  Authored by Andrew Thornbrooke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  

  Tensions are mounting throughout the world concerning the possibility of a war between Russia and Ukraine. One question that has experts on edge is what role China might play in such a conflict, and how such an event could set a dangerous precedent for China’s global ambitions—particularly in relation to Taiwan.

  Russia has demanded that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO. As of this week, it has amassed 130,000 troops at the eastern border of Ukraine to intimidate Western nations into disallowing Ukraine from ever joining the alliance and to pressure the global community away from further militarizing the region.

  The Chinese leadership has joined in the effort, urging cool heads while also giving cover for Russia and its history of illegal expansion.

  The regime’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke about the situation during a telephone call on Jan. 27. Wang used the call to tell Blinken to “stay calm” and warned the United States to stop creating “anti-China cliques.”

  The interaction could signal a much-increased role for China as a diplomatic go-between for Russia and the rest of the world.

  A Different World than 2014

  Despite the temptation to compare the current crisis to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, experts say that the geopolitical and economic landscape is quite different in 2022.

  Perhaps the most notable difference, they say, is that China will play a prominent, if not dominant, role in any potential conflict and its eventual resolution.

  This state of affairs is in stark contrast to 2014 when, given the chance to support Russia’s claims to Crimea, the Chinese regime’s leadership demurred.

  “China did not recognize the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea because it did not want to get implicated,” said Sam Kessler, a geopolitical analyst at North Star Support Group, a multinational risk management firm. “They didn’t condemn it either, which is important to know.”

  “The Chinese delegation abstained twice when initiatives to officially condemn the [annexation] were introduced at the United Nations,” Kessler added.

  There were multiple reasons for declining to recognize the Crimean Peninsula as Russian territory at the time, according to Giselle Jamison, associate professor of political science and international relations at St. Thomas University.

  In the first, it interfered with plans for a deep-water port in Ukraine that China had invested in, Jamison told EpochTV’s “China Insider” program. In the second, China did not have the depth of economic ties with Russia that it has now.

  In fact, the increasing interconnectedness of the Chinese and Russian economic spheres owes largely to the 2014 annexation, which Kessler said changed nearly everything about the U.S.-China-Russia trilateral relationship and its balance of power.

  

  “The sanctions imposed in 2014 enabled Moscow to abandon most of their Western economic interests and pivot to China and the rest of Asia,” Kessler said.

  “This has streamlined significant economic, security, defense, political, and good neighbor agreements that previously had either been stalled or gradual processes.”

  This interconnectedness means that China stands to lose much more to sanctions on Russia in 2022 than in 2014.

  The potential knock-on effects of Russian sanctions on Chinese markets may thus necessitate that China’s communist leadership will engage heavily in the Ukraine crisis.

  “A conflict between Russia and Ukraine would force Beijing to take a more solid stance than they did in 2014,” Kessler said.

  “The current circumstances and diplomatic environment are more evolved and strained between all parties involved than they were in 2014. It would impact China both politically and economically because their strategic positioning is now more direct and transparent than it had been.”

  Kessler’s comments were in line with the findings of a recent report on the issue by Christopher Miller, an assistant professor of international history at Tufts University, and co-director of the school’s Russia and Eurasia program.

  “Because China is deeply intertwined with Russia in terms of trade and, to a lesser extent, finance, it would be unable to sit on the sidelines,” Miller wrote. “Beijing would either have to reject US sanctions and export controls, help enforce them, or do some mix of both.”

  “Either way, China would be forced to choose.”

  China is Key to Russian Success, or Failure

  That power over the effectiveness of U.S. economic coercion methods is new territory for China and means that Beijing could make or break any attempt by the United States to punish Russia for its actions.

  There are two key reasons, according to analysts, that indicate that Beijing would not support Western sanctions on Russia. The first is that its dependence on international trade with Russia has grown. The second is that its leadership is not incentivized to promote U.S. goals or ways of doing business.

  Concerning the first, Russia currently imports and exports more goods with China than any other nation. Sanctions would majorly disrupt China’s state-owned firms and Russian-based corporations.

  Specifically, Miller’s report warns that commodity markets for aluminum, nickel, copper, and palladium could be significantly disrupted, leading to price hikes which would further compound supply chain woes for critical technologies, to say nothing of energy supplies and other sectors.

  Likewise, enforcing such measures would require China to go against its longstanding dedication to national sovereignty, by serving as an enforcer of the United States’ vision for a liberal international order, which is unlikely.

  There is also a tertiary problem for Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders, according to Jamison, which is pride. Pride that would prevent the regime from promoting export controls that could be used to imply that China somehow needs U.S. permission to trade with whomever it wishes.

  “This time, if the West carries through on its most severe threats, the impact on China could be profound, in terms of economics, but also in terms of reputation,” Miller wrote. “If China adheres to US sanctions against Russia, Beijing’s economic heft will seem less significant and America’s financial power will be enhanced,” Miller wrote.

  “This raises the stakes for Beijing, which in a crisis might conclude it has no choice but to stand up to America’s extraterritorial sanction power. If so, Russia would find a valuable friend amid the crisis—and the West could find itself embroiled in a two-front financial war.”

  

  China Signaling Support for Russia

  The Chinese regime, in fact, may gain influence if the United States attempts to leverage heavier sanctions on Russia, analysts note. This is due in no small part to the fact that Beijing has made leveraging loans a strategic priority for garnering influence worldwide.

  If the United States sanctioned Russia, China could offer loans to cover the lost revenues, thereby simultaneously helping Russia to evade the heft of the sanctions while also increasing its own economic sway over Russia.

  “China is very likely to not obey any Western sanctions that would be imposed on Russia since they already firmly opposed the ones placed on Iran,” Kessler said.

  “If the West imposed more export controls and sanctions on Russia, then China could find ways to violate them while imposing blame on the West for having caused it,” Kessler added.

  To that end, Chinese state-run media has already broken with the precedent of 2014, and suggested support for Russia. The Global Times, a hawkish CCP-controlled outlet, tweeted an editorial that said the crisis stemmed from NATO cannibalizing Russia’s strategic space.

  In recent times, as the United States and its allies have taken an increasingly tough stance towards Beijing’s malign activities, China and Russia have grown closer. Putin is expected to visit China in February, and the two nations have implemented joint military drills on an unprecedented scale over the last year.

  While China is key to Russian success, however, its communist leadership is not as altruistic as Russia might like to believe. And China’s slow shift into the leading role in the Sino-Russian relationship could carry its own price to pay for Russia.

  “Chinese philosophy and politics, in my opinion, is a lot more long term and, in a way, [more] clever, than the abrupt nature of Putin,” Jamison said.

  While Beijing is unlikely to directly aid in a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Jamison said, it would help Russia sidestep any punishments, and carefully calculate the United States’ response.

  “China is watching,” Jamison said.

  Ukraine: A Precedent for War with Taiwan?

  The Russia-Ukraine crisis is something of a litmus test, then, for the viability of an alternative framework to the U.S.-led international order. It is an opportunity for CCP leadership to measure the effectiveness of authoritarian governance as a counter vision to the liberal-democratic ideals enshrined by the U.S.-led rules-based international order.

  According to Miller, China will use the crisis in Ukraine to gauge the effectiveness of the United States in responding to regional issues throughout Eurasia, and determine what the corollary responses should be.

  “The success or failure of U.S. efforts to impose meaningful costs on Russia if it escalates will be seen as a test of whether the U.S. could do something similar in Asia … Because of this, China will not see a new phase of war between Russia and Ukraine as a peripheral issue in its foreign policy, even though China has no core issues at stake in Ukraine itself,” Miller wrote.

  In this way, Kessler said, China’s observations of the Ukraine crisis will inform how it proceeds in its ambition to unite Taiwan with the mainland.

  “Russia and China are very likely engaged in observing every little move the West is making and testing them to see how it responds,” Kessler said.

  “This will greatly impact China’s future decisions regarding Taiwan, especially since Xi Jinping is facing reelection,” he added, referring to the Chinese leader’s bid for an unprecedented third term in power to be determined at a twice-in-a-decade Communist Party Congress to be held this autumn.

  China’s ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, in an unusually direct statement, said in an interview on Jan. 27 that the United States would face “military conflict” over Taiwan if the island’s democratic government continued to seek independence from the regime’s communist government.

  According to Kessler, what lessons the CCP ultimately derives from U.S. efforts to sanction Russia could have profound implications for the continued success of the United States in the Indo-Pacific and abroad, as CCP officials consider the ongoing tensions to a test of American power itself.

  “Other than Ukraine, this could lead to future military and economic decisions relating to Taiwan as well,” Kessler said.

  “The endgame for Russia and China is to very likely figure out the potency of Western commitment and resolve.”

  David Zhang contributed to this report. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 23:30

• 71% Of Americans Believe 'We Are Not Alone' In The Universe
  71% Of Americans Believe ‘We Are Not Alone’ In The Universe

  Do you think of “Life on Mars?” as not just a song by David Bowie but as a legitimate question? Is “I want to believe” not just another pop culture quote to you but a personal conviction? Then, as Statista’s Florian Zandt details below, you’re a part of the majority of people in the United States at least.

  In a survey conducted by scientists at the transnational Outer Space Institute (OSI) at the University of British Columbia and the Angus Reid Forum USA, 71 percent of respondents claimed they believe in intelligent life in the Milky Way. As the chart shows, the hardline skeptics make up only a fraction of the representative sample surveyed.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  While the OSI’s survey mainly revolved around militarization of space, satellite launches and orbital debris, it also included some more colorful questions. For example, 26 percent of respondents thought that current NASA missions were not ambitious enough and that humanity should aim to travel to Mars, while 30 percent saw the Moon as a viable target. Interestingly, 71 percent wouldn’t go on a trip to Mars when offered a one-way ticket.

  When pressed further on life forms in space, 75 percent thought it was likely to detect living microorganisms in our solar system and 77 percent saw a high-to-medium probability of discovering living microorganisms in our galaxy.

  The issue of satellite light pollution and debris in the Earth’s orbit has become more pressing in the last couple of years. According to ESA estimates, 30,000 pieces of debris are floating through orbit as of now, and Elon Musk’s company SpaceX has been launching more than 1,700 Starlink satellites over the course of two years. In 2022, Starlink satellites alone are likely to surpass the total number of 2,000 satellites in orbit in 2019.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 23:00

• National Concealed Carry? It Might Be Sooner Than You Think
  National Concealed Carry? It Might Be Sooner Than You Think

  Submitted by The Machine Gun Nest (TMGN).,

  If you’re unaware of the most recent 2nd amendment case in the supreme court, let me give you a quick refresher. NYSRPA v. Bruen deals with the “may-issue” scheme plaguing liberal states. Essentially the government decides whether you can carry a firearm based on specific criteria or an atypical need from the general population. Suspiciously missing from this criteria is “self-defense.”

  Maryland has a scheme very similar to New York’s. The Machine Gun Nest is a Maryland-based company, and I grew up in Maryland. I recently received my concealed carry permit from Maryland State Police after submitting to an intensive background check which required me to prove (with tax forms, bank account statements, and more) that I was indeed a business owner. If I had merely said that I was a humble tax-paying, law-abiding citizen who was concerned about their safety on my evening walks through Baltimore city, I would have denied that permit.

  See the issue here?

  Well, so does the Supreme Court.

  Oral Arguments for NYSRPA v. Bruen took place on Nov. 3rd, and afterward, it seemed like the majority of Justices were staunchly on the 2nd amendment side. We’ll have to wait until summer 2022 to get the verdict, but it appears that the State of New York has seen the future and has already started crafting legislation to render a concealed carry permit useless.

  New York Bill A08684 is an apparent reaction to the almost certainty that the Supreme Court will rule New York’s permitting scheme as unconstitutional. The bill itself states that no firearms can be possessed anywhere on “public” transportation (including rideshares, trains, and taxis), in restaurants, or anywhere where 15 or more people are gathered.

  While this bill may be depressing to read for the New Yorkers who are desperate for the ability to defend themselves, the evidence is clear that even the Government of New York seems to be confident that they’re going to lose NYSRPA v. Bruen.

  What does this mean for the rest of the country? Well, it means the end of “may-issue” schemes, which means that all 50 states would switch to a shall-issue system. We saw a similar occurrence in 2017 when Washington DC lost in DC Circuit Court for the case Wrenn v. District of Columbia. If you want to carry a firearm in DC and complete the required training, you are guaranteed to receive a permit to carry a gun. Interestingly enough, DC Government did not appeal the case to the Supreme Court probably because they didn’t want an NYSRPA v. Bruen situation on their hands. 

  

  The firearms industry certainly is preparing for an explosion of concealed carry. We were at SHOT Show in Las Vegas and heard much talk about the case, especially from dealers and firearms instructors in more liberal states. In addition, many new products for 2022 are personal protection and carry focused, like Federal’s new 30 Super Carry, S&W’s new CSX handgun, and many more. 

  So, what should we expect?

  Later this year, when the court announces their verdict, they also may decide to clear up a big problem in gun law right now. There’s only been a handful of 2nd Amendment cases that the Supreme Court has ruled on. Because of this, 2nd Amendment law isn’t exactly crystal clear to some courts. (How you could misinterpret “shall not be infringed is beyond me) The result of this uncertainty is that lower courts like the liberal-leaning 9th Circuit essentially rubber stamp unconstitutional gun control like assault weapon bans and more because the Supreme Court hasn’t explicitly ruled on one way or another on an issue. 

  NYSRPA v. Bruen may serve as an excellent opportunity for the Supreme Court to clear up some bad lower court rulings. 

  At the very least, here in Maryland, we’re expecting an explosion in concealed carry permits. To give you an example of the disparity between a free state and a liberal state, Maryland and Indiana have similar populations. Still, the percentage of residents with carrying permits in Maryland is 0.4%, while Indiana is 18%. That’s a significant disparity, and this disparity has likely grown larger as the statistics on carry permits were last recorded in 2017. 2020 & 2021 saw a considerable rise in concealed carry permit applications at the rate of 10.5% growth in permit applications year over year. 

  Needless to say. We’re excited to be delivering some good news when it comes to gun law, but only time will tell what the Supreme Court has to say for NYSRPA v. Bruen. But if there’s any indication of victory, it’s when the blue state governments start to panic. That’s clear from the pending legislation in New York. So, we’re predicting a victory for the 2nd Amendment. The only thing yet to be shown is how far that victory will go. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 22:30

• NY Nurses Arrested After Selling $1.5 Million In Fake Vaccine Cards
  NY Nurses Arrested After Selling $1.5 Million In Fake Vaccine Cards

  Two New York nurses were busted after having made a reported $1.5 million selling fake Covid-19 vaccination cards.

  

  Two Long Island nurses, 49-year-old Julie Devuono and 44-year-old Marissa Urraro, had forged vaccine cards between November 2021 and January 2022.

  Law enforcement officers seized around $900,000 during a search of DeVuono’s home, and a ledger showing more than $1.5 million from the scheme, according to NBC4NY.

  The #Suffolk County DA arrested two people including the owner of an Amityville pediatric office for selling fake Covid-19 vaccine cards. $220 for adults, $85 for children. Ledgers show they may have made $1.5 million dollars from this illegal scheme #NBC4NY pic.twitter.com/jm0bcOkCeX

  — Pei-Sze Cheng (@PeiSzeCheng4NY) January 28, 2022

  “I hope this sends a message to others who are considering gaming the system that they will get caught and that we will enforce the law to the fullest extent,” said Suffolk County DA Raymond Tierney.

  The pair reportedly charged between $220 and $440 for adults and $85 for children. After selling the cards, the women would then allegedly add the information to the NY State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS).

  According to prosecutors, the pair – who worked at Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville (owned by DeVuono) – forged vaccine cards for undercover detectives.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 22:00

• Taiwan Says Its Athletes Will Not Participate In Beijing Olympics Ceremonies
  Taiwan Says Its Athletes Will Not Participate In Beijing Olympics Ceremonies

  Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Taiwan’s 15-member athletic delegation, which includes athletes and coaches, will not take part in the opening or closing ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, its Sports Ministry said on Friday.

  “According to the event’s pandemic prevention and entry policy, flights have been adjusted and delayed, and not all could arrive in Beijing by the opening ceremony on Feb. 4,” the ministry said in a statement.

  

  Only four Taiwanese athletes will compete in the Beijing Winter Olympics next month, including Huang Yu-ting in the women’s 500m, 1000m, and 1500m races, Lin Si Rong in the luge women’s single, Ho Ping-jui and Lee Wen-yi in the men’s and women’s slalom.

  They will be traveling to the Games separately from the United States, Switzerland, and Taiwan, according to the Sports Ministry.

  “Based on the protection of the athletes, high-standard pandemic prevention and control measures have been adopted to prevent any risk of infection; to accumulate combat strength, our delegation will not participate in the opening ceremony,” it stated.

  The ministry further stated that because Taiwan’s team is small, athletes and team officials will return home after completing their events, skipping the closing ceremony as well.

  Taiwan has also decided not to send any government officials to the Games, citing the limited number of athletes competing.

  A senior Taiwan official claimed that Taiwan refused to send any delegation due to concern that Beijing could “downgrade” Taiwan’s status by putting its athletes alongside those from the Chinese “special administrative region” of Hong Kong at the opening ceremony.

  China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday referred to Taiwan’s team as “China, Taipei,” rather than the official designation “Chinese Taipei,” prompting Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council to rebuke China for using the wrong name.

  Taiwan competes in most sporting events, including the Olympics, under the name “Chinese Taipei” at the request of Beijing, which regards democratically-ruled Taiwan as part of “one China” and inviolable Chinese territory.

  Tensions between the self-ruled island Taiwan and the regime in Beijing have been escalating, with the most recent Chinese incursion involving 39 aircraft and a bomber. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to conquer the island by force if necessary.

  Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council has also called on Beijing not to tamper with the tournament through “political factors.”

  “We call on this year’s organizers to abide by the ‘Olympic Charter’ and not use political factors to interfere with the competition and suppress and belittle our side. Relevant government units will also be prepared to respond to various emergencies,” it stated, without elaborating.

  Reuters contributed to this report.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 21:30

• Bacon Shortage? US Pork Supplies Tumble To 11-Year Low
  Bacon Shortage? US Pork Supplies Tumble To 11-Year Low

  Bacon lovers might be in for a sizzling surprise as pork supplies in cold storage tumble to an 11-year low as prices rise due to declining hog herds. 

  The latest United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) pork data in cold storage as of Dec. 1 was approximately 399 million pounds, a drop of 4.1% from a year ago and now at the lowest point since 2010. 

  

  “The drop came before the spreading omicron virus variant prompted slaughterhouses to slow down in recent weeks as more workers called in sick, further limiting meat production and likely keeping prices for the meat high,” Bloomberg explains. 

  Slumping cold storage has sent USDA bacon prices per pound (as of late December) to around $7.21, a record high and up 39% since the beginning of the virus pandemic. 

  

  More importantly, what this means is breakfast is becoming a lot more expensive for Americans as some of the highest inflation in four decades has wiped out their real wage gains. 

  Food prices are at the highest in a decade, from coffee to oranges to wheat, among other popular breakfast items. Americans are very concerned about inflation. High inflation has spurred discontent for the president, reflected in record low polling numbers ahead of the midterms. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 21:00

• Did Powell Just Burst The ESG Megabubble
  Did Powell Just Burst The ESG Megabubble

  Over the past few years we have been quite vocal in our disdain for the widespread virtue-signaling scam that is ESG:

  • Behold The “Green” Scam: Here Are The Most Popular ESG Fund Holdings
  • ESG Investing – The Great Wall Street Money Heist
  • More ESG Fraud: BofA Finds That Tech Is One Of The Dirtiest Industries
  • SEC Cracks Down On “Dubious” ESG Labels Tied To $35 Trillion In Assets
  • Wall Street ‘Wins’ Again As ESG Scam Infiltrates Retirement Plans

  Well, we are happy to report that a silver lining of the recent market crash, or as DB’s Jim Reid puts it, “one of the side effects of the hawkish pivot from the Fed in 2022, that continued this week” is that it could finally crack the facade of ESG and make January a catastrophic month for ESG investors; this is shown in Reid’s Chart of the Day which lays out the 1-month rolling difference between S&P 500 Energy sector returns and the NASDAQ.

  

  Clearly this is a very crude measure of ESG under-performance but the nature of the US market means that ESG funds in the US market are very tech heavy.

  A look the tables below (courtesy of DB’s Luke Templeman’s ESG monthly) reveals the largest holdings in the big US…

  

  … and European ESG ETF funds.

  

  Note the big European funds are far less tech exposed and also that overall some funds are buying into energy companies because of their environmental transition plans. So as the market develops, Reid notes that ESG is becoming increasingly nuanced and complicated.

  Back to the Fed and this hawkish pivot has occurred at a point where the US Energy sector is up +18% YTD and the only positive performance of the 11 top level sectors within the S&P. With just a day to go in the month, could January mark the biggest divergence between this and the Nasdaq on record? The 30-day rolling difference in returns is within 2% of the highs seen since we have sector data from 1989 onwards.

  

  And while ESG is (unfortunately) here to stay – especially since Wall Street collectively needs to periodically wash its conscience in hollow but expensive acts of virtue signaling which will mean much more money flows toward the three letters – January is proving that performance can be influenced by bigger picture themes.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 20:00

• How Regular Exercise Restructures The Brain
  How Regular Exercise Restructures The Brain

  Authored by Ross Pomeroy via RealClear Science (emphasis ours),

  Physical activity can do wonders for the body. Exercise can trim weight, chisel muscles, and strengthen the lower back, among many other benefits. Less overt, but no less consequential, physical activity can also buff up your brain. Science is increasingly revealing that the brains of those who regularly work out can look very different compared to the brains of people who don’t.

  

  Changes can start to occur in adolescence. Reviewing the scientific literature in 2018, researchers from the University of Southern California found that for teens aged 15-18, regular exercisers tended to have larger hippocampal volumes as well as larger rostral middle frontal volumes compared to healthy matched control teenagers. The hippocampus is most commonly associated with memory and spatial navigation, while the rostral middle frontal gyrus has been linked to emotion regulation and working memory. Studies suggest that these structural changes translate to improved cognitive performance and better academic outcomes.

  Exercise’s brain augmenting qualities extend into adulthood, even though the brain tends to be less ‘plastic’ (easily changed) as we get older. Rutgers University scientists beautifully demonstrated this in a study published early last year:

  The researchers recruited older African Americans, all previously sedentary, to complete twenty weeks of twice-weekly cardio-dance exercise classes held at local churches and senior centers. As compared to the control group comprised of community members of similar age and background who did not exercise, those in the program showed significant improvements in dynamic brain connectivity (or “neural flexibility”) in their hippocampus and surrounding medial temporal lobe, as measured using resting-state functional MRI.

  In another study, published in August 2019, scientists looked at 45 sets of adult identical twins, who, within their pair, all differed greatly in physical activity levels. “More active co-twins showed larger gray matter volumes in striatal, prefrontal, and hippocampal regions, and smaller gray matter volumes in the anterior cingulate area than less active co-twins,” the researchers found.

  The scientists also probed the twins’ cognitive abilities.

  “More physical activity may expedite preconscious processing of visual stimuli and, in somatosensory domain, improve selective attentional processing by dampening the strength of unattended deviant somatosensory signals,” they added.

  The brain alterations do appear beneficial, but current twin studies are too small, and the participants too young, to find whether exercise-induced changes can actually reduce the risk of cognitive disorders or improve outcomes such as education or income.

  Researchers have also tried exercise interventions on much older adults, even those with Alzheimer’s disease, to see if physical activity could repair their stricken brains. In 2016, a team of scientists recruited 68 older individuals with probable Alzheimer’s disease to determine whether moving more could help with their symptoms. Some subjects aerobically exercised for 150 minutes per week while others underwent a less rigorous control regimen of stretching and toning for 26 weeks. Compared to the control group, the aerobic exercise group improved more on the Disability Assessment for Dementia at the study’s conclusion. Boosts to cardiorespiratory fitness were also linked to improvements in memory and reduced atrophy of the hippocampus.

  Working out also augments the brains of otherwise healthy older adults. Getting thirty minutes of physical activity each day does seem to preserve brain volumes in adults over age 70 compared to sedentary individuals, according to a study published in August of last year. Moreover, higher cardiorespiratory fitness was linked to lower levels of brain atrophy in the research.

  One way exercise can induce changes in the brain is by increasing levels of the protein brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the blood, which is linked to neurogenesis. More BDNF may mean more new neurons in the brain. Regular exercise also increases the growth of additional blood vessels in the brain and helps maintain current ones, leading to boosted blood flow for the oxygen-hungry organ. Lastly, physical activity seems to keep microglia in good working order. Microglia “constantly check the brain for potential threats from microbes or dying or damaged cells and clear any damage they find,” Áine Kelly, a Professor in Physiology at Trinity College Dublin wrote for The Conversation.

  Regularly moving one’s body may be the closest thing there is to a health panacea, for both outside the skull and inside.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 19:30

• Opportunity Knocks: Ukraine Seeks US Money, Loans, Weapons While Downplaying 'Russian Invasion'
  Opportunity Knocks: Ukraine Seeks US Money, Loans, Weapons While Downplaying ‘Russian Invasion’

  At a moment Ukraine’s top defense leadership, as well as President Volodymyr Zelensky himself, is urging the Biden administration to calm its dangerous and hyped rhetoric regarding a possibly “imminent” Russian invasion of Ukraine (Kiev has said all week that all indicators suggest this just isn’t so), it seems the Zelensky government will at least use the occasion to get what it wants from Washington. Or, put another way, perhaps the quid pro quo now emerges after the Ukrainians long kept mum on the Biden family and Burisma scandal.

  We could add that Kiev is now so openly pushing back against White House assessments as to the actual level of the ‘Russia threat’ on Ukraine’s borders, that it’s proving quite awkward and embarrassing for team Biden. As Northeastern University political science professor Max Abrahms put it this week (while generally addressing mainstream media and pundits), “You guys aren’t making a big enough deal of this weird dynamic that American leaders are more worried than Ukrainian leaders of Russia invading Ukraine. This needs to be explained.”

  Now Axios is reporting in an exclusive: “The chairman of Ukraine’s parliament has sent a letter to eight U.S. senators outlining four specific requests for security assistance and sanctions that Kyiv believes will help deter a Russian invasion.”

  Zelensky doubled down on his insistence that a Russian invasion is not “imminent,” as the US has repeatedly warned.

  “I’m the President of Ukraine, I’m based here, and I think I know the details deeper than any other president,” Zelensky told reporters.https://t.co/XWs5NcspNH

  — Bryan MacDonald (@27khv) January 29, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Again, it appears the logic for Ukraine’s government is that it might as well make use of the tense situation, understanding full well the “threat” is hugely inflated, to get what it wants out of the US hawks. After all, the opportunity for US billions to pour in has never been hotter.

  Thus far Biden has only prepared far-reaching anti-Russia sanctions only in the scenario of a Putin-ordered offensive into Ukraine. As Axios observes…

  • Like the Ukrainian government, Republicans are pushing for the bill to impose some sanctions now, before Russia invades.
  • But Ukraine’s intervention in yet another U.S. legislative fight is unlikely to please a Biden administration already frustrated with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

  The awkward but advantageous quid pro quo is fast becoming apparent to many…

  “Ukraine denies”

  “We understand the difficult position President Zelensky is in and the pressure he’s under,” a White House official said Saturday. “But at the same time he’s downplaying the risk of invasion, he’s asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons to defend against one.”

  — Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 29, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  CNN’s White House correspondent Natasha Bertrand cited a top admin official who complained that Zelensky is contradicting Biden’s assessment of the Russia threat, “But at the same time” is busy “asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons to defend against one.”

  Here are the four specific requests in the new letter sent by Ukraine to the US administration, said to be approved by Zelensky’s himself, according to Axios sources:

  1. “Expedited and higher-impact security assistance, including air defense, anti-ship and anti-armor capabilities, and flexible loans and financing mechanisms.”
  2. “Immediate, mandatory sanctions” against the operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which the letter calls “no less an existential threat to Ukraine’s security and democracy than the Russian troops on our border.”
  3. “A clear trigger” for sanctions based on Russia’s actions, with a lower threshold than what has been outlined in the current Democratic-sponsored legislation under consideration.
  4. “Mandatory pre-trigger and post-trigger sanctions against all of Russia’s most significant financial institutions.”

  The eight senators who were directly appealed to (all Russia hawks, it should be noted), are as follows: Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.)

  Sen. Menendez, it should be noted, is pushing his “mother of all sanctions” bill as a threat to hold over Putin’s head. 

  Meanwhile…

  I don’t think Zelensky needs to worry about the Russians – I think he needs to worry about the US overthrowing him for going against their narrative. https://t.co/Zn8oBkqyFm

  — Leith Bou Phadel (@leithfadel) January 29, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  New on MoA:
  Why Washington Will Soon Dump Ukraine’s President Zelenskyhttps://t.co/SScChquvbU pic.twitter.com/hqG27A2O4v

  — Moon of Alabama (@MoonofA) January 28, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Ukraine’s letter can be read here.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 19:00

• Waking Up And Derailing The Great Reset
  Waking Up And Derailing The Great Reset

  Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

  This week, I had to opportunity to speak to one of my all time favorite podcasters, Tom Bodrovics from Palisades Gold Radio about my arguments from my latest article on inflation, called “Inflation Is The Kryptonite That Will End Our Decades-Long Monetary Policy Ponzi Scheme”.

  The Age Of Censorship

  First, on the podcast, I talk about how we live in an age where narratives can’t be questioned without you being considered a conspiracy theorist and how Substack is filling an important free market demand for uncensored content. I first touched on this when I started writing on Substack back in August of 2021 in this article called “Ending Social Media Censorship And The Meteoric Rise of Substack”.

  On the podcast, I also point out that there are two narrative shifts occurring right now: Covid and inflation.

  

  Inflation Marks An Impasse For the Fed

  Regarding inflation, the Fed is at a fork in the road between popping the stock market bubble or allowing persistent inflation to brutalize the middle and lower class (or, as Jerome Powell put it this week, ‘some people are prone to suffer more’). 

  I tell Tom that the Fed is trapped, and unlike in the past, they don’t have a viable way out. In the past they were able to avoid inflation and the Fed was able to pretend to successfully engineer the appearance of monetary prosperity, I told Tom. Now, there is no way for the average person to ignore Fed policy with high inflation. The Fed is running out of excuses and room to wiggle.

  “The Fed’s feet are being held to the fire in a way that has never occurred before…politicians aren’t going to be able to overpromise anymore, as reality takes hold. Inflation is now the number one political issue in the country,” I tell Tom.

  

  I also tell Tom that crypto has brought financial understanding to a new generation who want to understand monetary policy. Despite my criticisms of crypto, namely that (1) many of its advocates are charlatans, (2) it is most certainly a risk asset and (3) we can never be certain a cataclysm in crypto won’t occur, it is helping a younger generation quickly understand the flawed nature of our existing system.

  This, in turn, is a huge problem for the Fed because the new generation understands the Central Banking ponzi scheme.

  A Hyperinflationary Mindset Is Right Around The Corner

  I also tell Tom that we’re not far from a hyperinflationary mindset in the country and that our leaders, who believe they can micromanage the economy and are stunned when their actions don’t work, are terribly ignorant. I wrote about this months ago when President Biden shut down the nation’s oil pipeline projects and then mulled the high price of gas in the coming months.

  Instead, Harris Kupperman in a recent interview with me told me that oil traders “will break the Fed” and will make Jerome Powell “cry uncle”. Kupperman thinks oil prices are going higher and simply cannot be stopped.

  The Covid Pivot Is Next, And Beware Of The Great Reset

  I also spoke to Tom about why I think capitalism and common sense are going to end vaccine mandates and intrusion into our lives – something I wrote about at length just hours ago.

  Finally I talk about Klaus Schwab’s “Great Reset” idea. I note that a large amount of people are seeing the global elite’s future plans for a system that will strip us of civil liberties while enriching central planners. I tell Tom that I don’t believe globalists have a viable way out of the system as it stands today.

  

  This runs hand-in-hand with Part 1 of an interview with George Gammon I did this week, where George reminded us that the global only care about “usurping control”.

  The more educated people become to the system, the fewer options will be left for the elite, I tell Tom.

  “We’re all just in different stages of waking up.”

  You can listen to my entire interview with Palisades Gold Radio, for free, here:

  

  If you are still not a Fringe Finance subscriber and would like to read any of the above content – and because I know many of you are coming over from PGR – I’d love to have you on board and can offer you 35% off your first year as a subscriber. This is the steepest discount I can reasonably offer and this coupon only lasts for the next few days: Get 35% off for 1 year

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 18:30

• Less Than Half Of Americans Trust Business "To Do The Right Thing"
  Less Than Half Of Americans Trust Business “To Do The Right Thing”

  A strong level of trust with customers is going to prove hugely important for recovering businesses when the pandemic finally comes to an end (or at least progresses to a stage closer to normality). As Statista’s Martin Armstrong details below, a survey by Edelman Research polled 36,000 respondents in 28 countries about their trust in business to “do the right thing” in November 2021.

  The research found that people in China, Indonesia and India have the highest trust at 84 percent, 81 percent and 79 percent, respectively.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  The figure was far lower in the United States at 49 percent while it was lower still in Russia at just 34 percent. In all, eleven countries saw an increase in trust in business, while eleven recorded a decrease. Interestingly, business is trusted more than government in 23 out of the 28 countries surveyed. Average trust in business globally was 61 percent, compared to 52 percent in government.

  Tech, pharma and car companies were the only organizations in 2021 with a net positive trustworthiness rating worldwide. 34, 31 and 27 percent of participants in the annual Ipsos Global Trustworthiness Monitor deemed these types of corporations to be deserving of their trust. As our chart shows, governments, media companies and social media corporations have the worst trust-to-mistrust ratio of all sectors.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  The positive attitude towards pharmaceutical companies, which gained six percent on the results of 2018, can be explained with the handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the rapid and effective production of vaccines, although the decision to not lift patent restrictions on illness-preventing and potentially life-saving inoculations has come under scrutiny by activists and medical professionals over the past years. We wonder what will happen to this pharma cred now that vaccines are failing to live up to their promises?

  The banking sector managed to gain even more ground with an increase of eight percent to a total of 28 percent deeming banks trustworthy, with 62 percent of Chinese respondents claiming banking organizations can be trusted. This is contrasted by 32 percent of respondents claiming to not trust banking companies, netting the sector fifth place when viewed through the lens of the most untrustworthy organization types. Mistrust in the media and social media companies has potentially been exacerbated by the coverage of the pandemic and, in the case of social media giant Meta, the scandal surrounding whistleblower Frances Haugen furthering calls for regulation of Big Tech due to its negative influence on its users.

  It’s not just business, Statista’s Martin Armstrong took a look at the global levels of trust in government. When Joe Biden moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, one of his administration’s most important promises was to bolster trust in the American government and the healing of social divisions. Unfortunately, as his approval rating has collapse, along with distrust inside of government, the nation is more divided than ever though, and a new survey has found that a mere 39 percent of the U.S. public trusted the government in late 2021 – a 3 percentage point decrease on 2020.

  The findings come from Edelman Research’s latest Trust Barometer which polled 36,000 people in 28 countries about their trust in various institutions in November 2021. The U.S. figure is far lower than many other countries, with trust in government in Canada and Australia standing at 53 percent and 52 percent, respectively. It is also slightly lower than the UK where the government’s Brexit strategy has proven highly controversial with public approval of the institution 42 percent in late 2021.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Some of the highest levels of trust in government were seen in Asia where 91 percent of Chinese respondents said they had trust, along with 82 percent of people polled in Saudi Arabia and 74 percent in India. The lowest rating was found in Argentina, where just 22 percent of respondents said they trusted their government there.
   

  While the share of respondents mistrusting government and media might seem high, they have been largely consistent with minor swings over the years according to Ipsos experts. Since its initial run in 2018, the Ipsos Global Trustworthiness Monitor aims to dispel the idea that general trust in institutions and organizations is in crisis by surveying more than 20,000 adults in over 20 countries per year.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 18:00

• The Wild Card To Watch For Oil Markets In 2022
  The Wild Card To Watch For Oil Markets In 2022

  By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

  As talks on reviving the so-called Iranian nuclear deal enter a critical stage with the window of opportunity for a comprehensive agreement closing, oil markets are on edge once again about how the outcome of the ongoing negotiations would impact supply and demand balances later this year and early next year. 

  

  The Biden Administration launched in April 2021 indirect talks with Iran, via the partners in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), about a possible return of the United States and Iran to the deal. Talks have been struggling since the start. They were suspended for months until a new Iranian president and administration took office and were relaunched at the end of last year, with little progress made so far. 

  At the start of the talks in April, oil analysts first expected a legitimate return of Iranian oil to the market at some point in late 2021. As the negotiations dragged on and were suspended during the summer, the market pushed back the timeline for a return of Iranian barrels to 2022. This year, many analysts again pushed back that timeline to early 2023 if talks result in an agreement, considering that there would likely be a gap of six to nine months—and possibly more—before Iran starts to export oil without U.S. sanctions. 

  Whether a deal could be reached in the coming weeks and months would influence estimates of oil market balances because Iran could raise its oil exports by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) within the first year of no-sanction exports. 

  A full return to the deal and the removal of American sanctions would push oil prices lower as the surplus on the market would rise, upending current estimates. The longer the nuclear talks drag on, the longer it would take Iran to start ramping up its oil exports in case of an agreement.  

  However, there could be very little time left to reach a deal. 

  U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken warned earlier this month that the window of opportunity for a deal is closing. 

  “We have, I think, a few weeks left to see if we can get back to mutual compliance,” Secretary Blinken told NPR in an interview on January 13. 

  “This negotiation is urgent, and progress has not been fast enough. We continue to work in close partnership with our allies, but the negotiations are reaching a dangerous impasse,” British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss told the UK Parliament on Tuesday.  

  “Iran must now choose whether it wants to conclude a deal or be responsible for the collapse of the JCPOA. If the JCPOA collapses, all options are on the table,” Truss added. 

  Earlier this week, Iran suggested that it may consider direct talks with the United States.

  “If during the negotiation process we get to a point that reaching a good agreement with solid guarantees requires a level of talks with the US, we will not ignore that in our work schedule,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, quoted by AFP. 

  U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday: “We do believe that it would be more productive to engage directly with Iran when it comes to JCPOA, when it comes to other issues.”  

  Still, progress is not being made, and the Western countries in the JCPOA and the United States are concerned that dragging on talks further would allow Iran to advance its nuclear-weapon activities.

  If the ongoing talks in Vienna collapse, it would likely be very bullish for oil prices as it would not only tighten expected market balances for 2023 and 2024, but it could also additionally increase the tension in the Middle East with a renewed U.S.-Iran standoff. 

  “So much has changed since 2015,” Helima Croft, Global Head of Commodity Strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told Bloomberg.

  “Iran is now a nuclear-threshold state. Would they be willing to relinquish that status? It’s not guaranteed,” Croft added, commenting on the possibility that talks could collapse.  

  The oil market will continue to keep a close eye on the talks, which seem like the wild card for prices later this year and next. Last week, Goldman Sachs said it was pushing its Iran ramp-up forecast to the second quarter of 2023 due to lack of progress in the negotiations, as it joined other Wall Street banks in predicting $100 oil as soon as this year. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 17:30

• Progressive Dems Distance Themselves As Biden Turns Radioactive
  Progressive Dems Distance Themselves As Biden Turns Radioactive

  With his approval ratings at an all-time low…

  

  …and before what’s setting up to be a midterm bloodbath, progressive Democrats don’t want any part of the blame for President Biden’s status as top Democrat non grata.

  According to The Hill, progressives are “pushing back at the idea that they are to blame at all for President Biden’s dismal poll numbers, arguing the White House’s problems have more to do with it moving away from a progressive agenda.”

  Key progressives think instead that Biden’s polls reflect a disillusionment among the base over his unwillingness to deliver on key issues ranging from voting ‘rights,’ to gun control, to healthcare and beyond.

  “Biden’s popularity was high when he ran on a progressive agenda — and it dropped when he let corporate Democrats take the reins,” said Varshini Prakash, executive director of climate PAC The Sunrise Movement. “It shouldn’t be a surprise that voters are becoming impatient.“

  …progressives argue Biden is playing into GOP hands by not fully embracing progressive priorities. They see the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law by Biden last fall as a lost opportunity that cut into their leverage for pressuring Manchin and Sinema on the Build Back Better legislation — which is also their top priority.

  And they think a closer look at the polls shows that Biden’s real problems lie in a demoralized base — which they fear could also cost the party this fall.  

  “They’re standing in the way of the president’s promises, and it will be mostly their fault if Democrats lose Congress in November,” Prakash said of moderate Democrats. -The Hill

  According to a Pew Research Center survey released on Wednesady, Biden’s approval rating now stands at 41% – plummeting from 59% last April.

  Biden’s horrible polling comes after Democrats were unable to advance his ‘signature economic package’ – as moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) oppose several aspects of the spending bill – from the overall cost, to a filibuster carve-out which would give Democrats virtually unlimited power to pass legislation. Moderates, meanwhile, have long argued that progressive Democrats are pulling Biden too far to the left, harming the party. Case-in-point, Sinema rejected proposals to hike taxes on corporations and wealthy households tacked onto the Build Back Better bill – while Manchin opposed further spending given inflation.

  

  Also under fire from moderate Democrats is White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain – who has been accused of being in lockstep with far-left elements of the party.

  The Washington Post reported that some think Klain is too deferential toward Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.  

  Progressives held up a House vote on the infrastructure bill for months to try to move the Build Back Better bill forward.  

  Eventually, under pressure from Biden, they relented and voted for the infrastructure bill. That gave Biden a political victory, but it is one that hasn’t really showed up in the polls so far.  -The Hill

  According to Democratic operative Eddie Vale, the far-left isn’t to blame for Biden’s polling – as they’re the ones who ultimately bent the knee on Biden’s infrastructure bill.

  “For the specific argument folks are currently having and the spate of stories going after Jayapal and Klain, blaming progressives doesn’t really make any sense because in the end they went along with the ‘pass infrastructure only’ strategy and almost all voted for both bills,” he said.

  Another progressive, Camille Rivera of New Deal Strategies, said that “People are just really exhausted by moderate Democrats continuously eating their young,” adding “Conservative and moderate Democrats need to start taking responsibility for their own messaging.”

  Whoever’s to blame, Democrats have a hard road ahead into this year’s midterm elections.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 17:00

• "The Elites Don't Care About The Temperature Rising, They Care About Usurping Control": George Gammon
  “The Elites Don’t Care About The Temperature Rising, They Care About Usurping Control”: George Gammon

  Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance 

  This week, my kind friend George Gammon from Rebel Capitalist took the time to answer a couple of exclusive Fringe Finance questions for me. George is one of my favorite economic commentators and has been a friend of mine, and my podcast, for years. I often describe his podcast as similar to mine, just more well thought out, more educational and more useful with less childish humor.

  I thought this week would be a good time to tap into George’s head, given that the last time I spoke to George was well before the current market volatility. George prepared two, twenty minute-long exclusive videos for Fringe Finance to try and tackle a list of questions I had for him. 

  First, I asked George and his team how they were changing their outlook for investing heading into this volatility this year. 

  George responded: “All of us are really just trying to pay attention to what the Fed is doing. In order to answer economic questions, you’ve got to start by answering political questions. I don’t really like that because I don’t like politicians.”

  “But unfortunately there’s a bigger cross current at play right now – and that’s what the Fed is going to do with monetary policy and maybe even what the government is going to do with fiscal policy. All our pros are fixated on what the Fed is going do right now,” he continued.

  

  “You look at gold, you look at the dollar, you look at the 10 year, and I think everything revolves around trying to figure out if the Fed is going to go through what they say they’re going to do in 2022. Another interesting question is that inflation is kryptonite and a lot of talking heads think that if inflation comes down, it’ll buy them time. I don’t necessarily know if that’s true. Prices aren’t going back down to where they were in 2019. They might stop going up. They might go up at a lesser rate, but it doesn’t mean they’re going back down. The average voter knows this.”

  I asked George what sectors he likes heading into 2022: “I think gold miners are interesting at these levels. I like things when they’re cheap and when they’re unloved. I don’t know if we’re seeing panic yet in the gold miners, but they’re definitely unloved. I think the Fed tightening is kind of baked into the price of miners. The market has taken the Fed seriously, therefore, if we see a dovish pivot, then I think miners could have a lot of upside.”

  “There are some foreign markets I find interesting. For example, the UAE just came out and said they’re going to put up a 1,000 room casino. They’re not a bastion of freedom and liberty, but I’m looking for countries heading in the right direction. They’re looking to liberalize and move in a more free market direction. I think they have more tailwind than the U.S,” he said.

  “Also I like that area because its a bit of a reprieve until the next crisis the global elite try and take advantage of. I think that’s most likely going to be climate change,” George continues. 

  

  “I’m not here to say whether [climate change] is real or not, but I am here to say the elites don’t care about the quality of the air, they don’t care about the temperatures rising 2 degrees, the only thing they care about is usurping power and control. They see 2020 and 2021 as a big win in terms of ‘Wow, look at what we were able to make people do!’ During the next crisis, we can add to the power we obtained from 2020 and 2021.”

  Countries like Russia, Brazil and the UAE all push back on this agenda due to their dependance on oil. “They’ll be less likely to follow Klaus,” George says. “I’m putting them on a watchlist and paying close attention to them.”

  George also talks about:

  • His take on why lower inflation may not stop the bleeding for markets

  • Why prices aren’t going back down to where they were in 2019

  • Why midterm elections bode poorly for the Democrats and why the Biden administration may try to distract the voter with war

  • Why gold miners and hotels in New York City are his favorite types of investments

  • Why the Covid pandemic is coming to an end

  • Why he doesn’t think vaccine passports and mandates will be permanent

  • Where the U.S. economy is heading compared to places like the U.A.E. or Dubai

  • That he thinks climate change will be the next crisis that the global elite take advantage of

  • Why price controls are coming

  Finally, he also gives his thoughts on whether or not Powell will hold his nerve this year and taper as expected and his bull and bear case for gold. In the second part of the interview series, which will be released here this coming week, I ask George about YouTube and social media trying to censor him, the commentators and fund managers he reads and listens to and his take on how the government will navigate Covid this coming year.

  You can watch George’s full video response here.

  

  Now read:

  1. Inflation Is The Kryptonite That Will End Our Decades-Long Monetary Policy Ponzi Scheme

  2. When The Global Monetary Reset Happens, Don’t You Dare Forget Why

  3. The Fed Is Fucked And So Are The Lobotomized “Genius” Fund Managers It Has Created

  4. Rogan 2024

  DISCLAIMER: 

  All content is George Gammon’s opinion. I own physical silver, GLD, GDX, GDXJ, PAAS, PSLV and a number of other metals/miners/gold/silver equities as well as numerous companies with exposure to oil and uranium. Readers should assume George also has positions in all trends/equities/etc. mentioned in this interview – as do I. We will likely stand to benefit if prices of commodities rise and/or our prognostications come true. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. It is only a look into personal opinions and personal portfolios. Positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I get shit wrong a lot. I’m not a financial advisor, I hold no licenses or registrations and am not qualified to give advice on anything, let alone finance or medicine. Talk to your doctor, talk to your financial advisor or your therapist. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 16:30

• Contrary To ESPN Reports, Tom Brady Is Not Retiring
  Contrary To ESPN Reports, Tom Brady Is Not Retiring

  Update (6:30pm ET): Shortly after it made Bloomberg’s top 4 news events of the day…

  

  … just moments later we learn that the ESPN report about Tom Brady’s retirement that shook the world and was based on “anonymous source” was fake news, which in light of everything that has taken place in the past five years coming from “anonymous sources” is precisely what one should have expected.

  Tom Brady called the Bucs late this afternoon to inform them he’s not even close to making a decision about retirement, according to a source.

  — Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) January 29, 2022

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  Ironically, even ESPN is refuting the ESPN “scoop”:

  Tom Brady hasn’t informed the Bucs that he’s retiring. Bruce Arians told me, “He hasn’t. Not even close to making up his mind yet. He told us.”

  — JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) January 29, 2022

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  * * *

  Update (5:10pm):  Despite reports that he is retiring, Tom Brady has told the Tampa Bay Buccaneers he hasn’t made up his mind, two people familiar with the details told The Associated Press.

  ESPN first reported Brady’s retirement on Saturday, citing unidentified sources. Brady’s company posted a tweet indicating he’s retiring, and reaction came from around the world congratulating Brady on his career. But the tweet was later deleted, and Brady’s agent, Don Yee, said the 44-year-old quarterback would be the only person to accurately express his future.

  Brady called Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht to say he has not made a decision, according to two people who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the conversations.

  After ESPN’s report, TB12sports Twitter account wrote: “7 Super Bowl Rings. 5 Super Bowl MVPs. 3 League MVP Awards. 22 Incredible Seasons. Thank you for it all, @TomBrady”, but as we noted earlier, that post was removed…

  Lol did literally everyone just fumble this story? https://t.co/0iUD7IXUyy

  — Daniel Chaitin (@danielchaitin7) January 29, 2022

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  … and Yee released this statement: “I understand the advance speculation about Tom’s future. Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what’s being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon.”

  * * *

  Update (420pm ET): In what may either be a historic troll or a fake news report for the ages, moments ago – with all main news services reporting Tom Brady’s retirement following an early EPSN report and subsequent confirmation from a now deleted tweet from Brady’s TB12 sport Twitter account…

  Lol did literally everyone just fumble this story? https://t.co/0iUD7IXUyy

  — Daniel Chaitin (@danielchaitin7) January 29, 2022

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  … moments ago Tom Brady’s dad, Tom Brady Sr, told San Fran’s kron4news that his son is not retiring. Brady Sr. says an online  publication started circulating an unsubstantiated rumor…

  JUST IN: Tom Brady Sr. tells @kron4news that his son is not retiring. Brady Sr. says an online publication started circulating an unsubstantiated rumor. However a number of NFL insiders are now reporting it. @kron4news #TomBrady #NFL

  — Kylen Mills (@KylenMills) January 29, 2022

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  … even though a number of NFL insiders are now reporting it, not to mention all the majors such as AP, Bloomberg, etc.

  

  Furthermore, it now appears

  * * *

  Earlier: Tom Brady is retiring from the NFL after an unprecedented career in which he won seven Super Bowls and set numerous passing records, his company’s Twitter account said Saturday. ESPN first reported Brady’s retirement on Saturday, citing unidentified sources.

  Tom Brady is retiring from football after 22 extraordinary seasons, multiple sources tell @JeffDarlington and me.

  More coming on https://t.co/rDZaVFhcDQ. pic.twitter.com/6CHWmMlyXg

  — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 29, 2022

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  Brady’s TB12sports Twitter account wrote; “7 Super Bowl Rings. 5 Super Bowl MVPs. 3 League MVP Awards. 22 Incredible Seasons. Thank you for it all, @TomBrady”

  The 44-year-old Brady goes out after leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title last season and NFC South championship this season. And, as stat freaks point out, Tom Brady has won 12.7% of all Super Bowls in history. He has also thrown more touchdown passes in his 40s (168) than in his 20s (147).

  Tom Brady has won 12.7% of all Super Bowls in history. pic.twitter.com/EaXP9R4neG

  — StatMuse (@statmuse) January 29, 2022

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  Brady led the NFL in yards passing (5,316), touchdowns (43), completions (485) and attempts (719), but the Buccaneers lost at home to the Los Angeles Rams last Sunday in the divisional round. As the AP notes, Brady had cited a desire to spend more time with his wife and children despite still playing at the top of his game.

  Brady won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots in 20 seasons playing for coach Bill Belichick. He joined the Buccaneers in 2020 and led them to the second Super Bowl title in franchise history.

  Brady leaves the games as the career leader in yards passing (84,520) and TDs (624). He’s the only player to win more than five Super Bowls and was MVP of the game five times.

  Widely considered the greatest quarterback to play the game, Brady won three NFL MVP awards, was a first-team All-Pro three times and was selected to the Pro Bowl 15 times. He was 243-73 in his career in the regular season and 35-12 in the playoffs.

  Brady had an inauspicious start: as the AP reports, overlooked by every team coming out of Michigan, Brady was eventually selected by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft with the 199th overall pick. He replaced an injured Drew Bledsoe as the starter in 2001 and led New England to a Super Bowl victory over the heavily favored Rams that season.

  Brady went on to lead the Patriots to Super Bowl victories over the Panthers following the 2003 season and Eagles after the 2004 season. No team has since repeated as champions. But New England wouldn’t win another one for a decade, twice losing to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, including a 17-14 defeat.

  Brady earned his fourth ring when the Patriots held off Seattle thanks to Malcolm Butler’s interception at the goal line in the Super Bowl after the 2014 season. Two years later, in the biggest Super Bowl comeback, he led the Patriots out of a 28-3 deficit in the third quarter against Atlanta to win in overtime. After losing to the Eagles and backup quarterback Nick Foles the following year, Brady got his sixth championship when New England shut down the Rams following the 2018 season.

  He joined the Buccaneers in 2020 amid a pandemic, instilling a winning culture to a franchise that hadn’t won a playoff game in 18 years. With his old friend Rob Gronkowski joining him in Tampa, Brady helped the Buccaneers become the first team to play in a Super Bowl in its stadium. Naturally, Brady won again.

  In recent years, Tom Brady emerged as one of the more prominent crypto-evangelists, taking an equity stake in cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX. He then fully embraced the cryptocurrency bandwagon, from his “laser eyes” tweet to his recent commercial for FTX; in September 2021 he even discussed about getting paid in tokens for carving up NFL defenses. Appearing on SiriusXM’s “Let’s Go” podcast with Jim Gray, Brady acknowledged that other NFL players have requested to be paid a portion of their salaries in crypto, and it’s a trend he would love to join:

  “I’d love to request that to get paid in some crypto and, you know, to get paid in some Bitcoin or Ethereum or Solana tokens,” Brady said. “I think it’s an amazing thing that’s happening in the world with the way the world is becoming more digital. And these digital currencies, along with a lot of, if you look how the way the world is going, with all these different digital mediums and how they’re impacting currencies.”

  It’s unclear if Brady plans on focusing more on his crypto cheerleading now that he will have much more free time or if, as some have speculated, he will turn toward politics. Or he may just pull a Michael Jordan…

  Tom Brady in three years pic.twitter.com/hPcVrUs0Ok

  — Chase Hughes (@ChaseHughesNBCS) January 29, 2022

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  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 16:00

• Former CDC Director: Fauci-Shaped Paper On Origins Of COVID-19 'Antithetical To Science'
  Former CDC Director: Fauci-Shaped Paper On Origins Of COVID-19 ‘Antithetical To Science’

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The claim that the virus that causes COVID-19 definitely was not from a laboratory, put forth in a paper quietly shaped by Dr. Anthony Fauci that was cited by other scientists who called the lab idea a “conspiracy theory,” was “antithetical to science,” a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director says.

  “The purpose of science is to have rigorous debate about different hypotheses. I’ve never really experienced in my life where there was private telephone calls among scientists that had a decision on what position they would take collectively, and to see that position then published in a scientific journal like Lancet, to say that individuals that thought like myself, had a different scientific hypothesis, somehow had to be put down and viewed as conspirators, this is really antithetical to science,” Dr. Robert Redfield, the agency’s head until Jan. 20, 2021, said during a Jan. 26 appearance on Fox News.

  

  Emails recently made public show that Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), played a key role in shaping a paper published by Nature in early 2020.

  The authors, most of whom messaged repeatedly with Fauci, joined him on a teleconference shortly before the paper was published, and have since received millions from Fauci’s agency, claimed that their analyses “clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.”

  The Nature article was one of those cited by EcoHealth Alliance founder Peter Daszak and a separate group of scientists in an article later published in The Lancet. “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin,” wrote Daszak, whose group funneled money from Fauci’s agency to scientists in Wuhan, China, and the other authors.

  Many experts later acknowledged there’s no clear evidence that the CCP virus has a natural origin, and some have said the bulk of the evidence points to it coming from the set of laboratories in Wuhan.

  Redfield is one of them.

  “I don’t think it’s biologically plausible that this virus emerged from a bat to some intermediate species into humans and became one of the most transmissible viruses that we know in human disease. This virus clearly had a detour and that detour was being educated how to infect human tissue in the laboratory. I think that’s the most plausible explanation,” he told Fox.

  Dr. Francis Collins, Fauci’s boss when he was the head of the National Institutes of Health, and Fauci were trying to “protect science” by suppressing debate over the virus origins, Redfield posited. The problem is, “there’s very limited data” to support their position, he told Fox.

  Asked if Fauci, who has been in his position since 1985, should be fired, Redfield demurred but said he did think Fauci should “reflect on this and then provide the science leadership that we need to move forward.”

  “I have a lot of respect for him over the years. I think he needs to step back and not try to second guess and make things a way that he thinks the world can hear. We should just tell the truth,” Redfield said.

  NIAID didn’t respond to requests for comment.

  Redfield also said that he believes scientists will eventually solve the mystery of the origin of the virus.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 15:30

• With Trudeau In Hiding, CBC Suggests Putin Behind Truckers' Freedom Convoy
  With Trudeau In Hiding, CBC Suggests Putin Behind Truckers’ Freedom Convoy

  Update (1500ET): While in a normal world this would be beyond satire and ridicule, it is perhaps of no surprise whatsoever that the blame for instigation of the “Freedom Convoy” is already being placed on so-called ‘Russian actors’…

  “…given Canada’s support of Ukraine… I don’t know it it’s far-fetched to ask but there is concern that Russian actors could be continuing to fuel things as this protest grows… perhaps even instigating it…”

  A lot of strange coverage by the media on this thing but this one wins the prize.pic.twitter.com/bLauTjI9NG

  — Jim Burnett (@jamesfburnett) January 29, 2022

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  As Brian Lilley writes at The Toronto Sun, “the media in this country is not acting as a neutral observer and conduit for news on this matter, most have decided the trucker convoy is the enemy and are treating it as such. Watch any of the news networks or, more importantly, read the Twitter accounts of supposedly objective journalists, or listen to the contempt in their voices as they ask questions to see that they have clearly taken sides.”

  “Apparently, the journalists on Parliament Hill these days think their job is to hold the opposition and not the government to account. It also appears their job to support some protest movements and attack others based on the personal preferences of the journalists.”

  The propaganda seems to have reached some, but not others…

  This is by far the best moment of the day. 👇 pic.twitter.com/1QeIY3cQVE

  — Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) January 29, 2022

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  In other news, while Trudeau hides in isolation, the Premier of Saskatchewan, a Canadian province that borders the US, calls for an end of the cross-border ban on unvaccinated truckers.

  Today, trucker rallies are being held at many locations across the country, including on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and in various communities in Saskatchewan.

  Here is my message to Saskatchewan and Canadian truckers: pic.twitter.com/LifQ2FK23b

  — Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) January 29, 2022

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  Ottawa city center is blocked…

  

  Source

  *  *  *

  The world’s largest truck convoy rolled into Canada’s capital, Ottawa, late Friday night and continues today to stage a protest against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cross-border vaccine mandates (or as some call it: medical tyranny). 

  The so-called “Freedom Convoy” – coming from all corners of Canada and even the US, has been traveling all week and is leading the charge in a massive demonstration against government overreach. Truckers from around the world are uniting and staging protests of their own. 

  

  As Enrico Trigoso reports at The Epoch Times, Brian Von D, the administrator at “Convoy to DC 2022” announced that they will “join forces” to ride from California to Washington, adding that “America is next.”

  “As [the Canadian convoy] moved from the west to the east, [the American truckers] have been filtering into this convoy, and it is absolutely massive. It is known worldwide, it is the largest thus far,” he said in a live video on Facebook.

  He added that dates and planned routes would be released soon on a website and various social media platforms, and a GoFundMe page would only be released on their CONVOY TO DC 2022 Facebook page.

  “We’re done with the mandates, were done with the government telling us what to do, we will continue and we will follow just like the rest of the world on these trucker protests, and they will be 100 percent legal, they will abide by the law.”

  The Parliamentary Protective Service expects as many as 10,000 protesters this weekend in Ottawa, but that figure could be significantly higher. A day ago, we noted 50,000 trucks in a 70km (43.5 miles) long convoy are headed to the capital. 

  Aerial view of the Freedom Truckers near Winnipeg.
  The massive convoy is now over 70km long.
  It’s the largest convoy in HISTORY.#TruckersForFreedoi #TruckerConvoy2022#FreedomConvoy2022 pic.twitter.com/1cP0XAAapj

  — Мike – 🇨🇦 fringe minority 🇨🇦 (@mike092013) January 28, 2022

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  According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Freedom Convoy is “the largest parade of trucks” ever in the world. 

  “It’s 70 km (43.5 miles) long,” says Freedom Convoy 2022 spokesperson Benjamin Dichter to the Toronto Sun.

  “I have seen footage from an airplane. It’s impressive.”

  The trucker convoy has been arriving in the capital for the past 12 hours. Additional waves of the convoy will arrive later this afternoon. 

  This might be one of the best Canadian Anthem videos ever created!! 🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦❤️#TruckersForFreedom2022 pic.twitter.com/hVcKrw69HF

  — Regulator22 (@Regulator221) January 29, 2022

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  Canadian truckers have parked in front of parliament for the night. The main convoy reaches Ottawa in the morning. pic.twitter.com/tPWtMM5O51

  — Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2019) January 29, 2022

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  Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau called the convoy a “small fringe minority” of those who “do not represent the views of Canadians.” Judging by the pictures and videos so far, Trudeau is a liar, and a revolt is underway in the country. Corporate media and government have spent the better part of the week downplaying the convoy ( because they are scared). 

  On Friday, Trudeau told the Canadian Press that he was worried about the protest turning violent. Organizers of the event have told truckers and anyone else participating in the demonstration to remain peaceful. 

  just one of the many faces of the small fringe majority 🙂 #TruckersForFreedom pic.twitter.com/XzO8Prtg8y

  — fringe kaiya 🇨🇦 (@kaizyaa) January 28, 2022

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  CBC said Trudeau and his family left downtown Ottawa on Saturday morning (due to close contact with someone infected with COVID – although he tested negative and triple-jabbed) as the trucker convoy descended on the area. The local news said he left town due to security concerns. 

  OTTAWA – A “few” truckers with “unacceptable opinions” now lead the world in the fight to end discrimination and division.

  It’s time 🔥#TruckersForFreedom2022 #TruckerforFreedom pic.twitter.com/IiUSX4frJ5

  — Bernie’s Tweets (@BernieSpofforth) January 29, 2022

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  Whoa, check out this drone footage, Justin! pic.twitter.com/9wlcXaGCao

  — Bret 🍁 (@Bret_Sears) January 29, 2022

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  The convoy is expected to bring parts of the metro area to a standstill and block roads in front of parliament until lawmakers repeal a vaccine mandate for truckers hauling freight across the border. 

  Despite Trudeau calling the protest “small,” Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly said they planned a “massive” demonstration on Friday. 

  Watch Live here…

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 15:04

• New Jersey And New York Ranked 'Worst States To Retire'
  New Jersey And New York Ranked ‘Worst States To Retire’

  As a generation of baby boomers weighs where they should retire, one popular survey has just proclaimed New Jersey – home to Bruce Springsteen and open sewer that is the Jersey Shore – the worst state in America for retirees.

  The Garden State ranks last, with Mississippi and New York rounding out the bottom three.

  

  Unsurprisingly, the No. 1 factor in Jersey’s low ranking was was the fact that NJ and NY are the two least affordable states in the US to live in, according to the survey released Monday by personal-finance website WalletHub.

  They both scored slightly higher in terms of quality of life and health-care. But in both cases cost is still a serious factor.

  Once again, Florida was ranked the best state to retire. It ranked fourth for affordability and fifth for quality of life, although surprisingly – considering the state’s large population of seniors – health-care ranked 27.

  Virginia, Colorado, Delaware and Minnesota rounded out the top five states to retire, with each of these states boasting high marks on affordability.

  WalletHub, the authors of the survey, compared all 50 states on different categories from affordability, quality of life and healthcare. Then these categories were divided into 47 metrics including tax-friendliness, risk of social isolation, elderly friendly labor market, life expectancy and health-care facilities per capita.

  All of this was condensed down into a scale of 100 possible points, with each state being assigned a unique ranking.

  Bloomberg took the WalletHub rankings and imposed them on a map of the US:

  

  * * *

  Source: Bloomberg

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/29/2022 – 15:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Authoritarian Madness: The Slippery Slope From Lockdowns To Concentration Camps
  Authoritarian Madness: The Slippery Slope From Lockdowns To Concentration Camps

  Authored by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “All the Dachaus must remain standing. The Dachaus, the Belsens, the Buchenwald, the Auschwitzes—all of them. They must remain standing because they are a monument to a moment in time when some men decided to turn the Earth into a graveyard. Into it they shoveled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worst of all, their conscience. And the moment we forget this, the moment we cease to be haunted by its remembrance, then we become the gravediggers.”

  – Rod Serling, Deaths-Head Revisited

  In the politically charged, polarizing tug-of-war that is the debate over COVID-19, we find ourselves buffeted by fear over a viral pandemic that continues to wreak havoc with lives and the economy, threats of vaccine mandates and financial penalties for noncompliance, and discord over how to legislate the public good without sacrificing individual liberty.

  

  The discord is getting more discordant by the day.

  Just recently, for instance, the Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board suggested that government officials should mandate mass vaccinations and deploy the National Guard “to ensure that people without proof of vaccination would not be allowed, well, anywhere.”

  In other words, lock up the unvaccinated and use the military to determine who gets to be “free.”

  These tactics have been used before.

  This is why significant numbers of people are worried: because this is the slippery slope that starts with well-meaning intentions for the greater good and ends with tyrannical abuses no one should tolerate.

  For a glimpse at what the future might look like if such a policy were to be enforced, look beyond America’s borders.

  In Italy, the unvaccinated are banned from restaurants, bars and public transportation, and could face suspensions from work and monthly fines. Similarly, France will ban the unvaccinated from most public venues.

  In Austria, anyone who has not complied with the vaccine mandate could face fines up to $4100. Police will be authorized to carry out routine checks and demand proof of vaccination, with penalties of as much as $685 for failure to do so.

  In China, which has adopted a zero tolerance, “zero COVID” strategy, whole cities—some with populations in the tens of millions—are being forced into home lockdowns for weeks on end, resulting in mass shortages of food and household supplies. Reports have surfaced of residents “trading cigarettes for cabbage, dishwashing liquid for apples and sanitary pads for a small pile of vegetables. One resident traded a Nintendo Switch console for a packet of instant noodles and two steamed buns.”

  For those unfortunate enough to contract COVID-19, China has constructed “quarantine camps” throughout the country: massive complexes boasting thousands of small, metal boxes containing little more than a bed and a toilet. Detainees—including children, pregnant women and the elderly— were reportedly ordered to leave their homes in the middle of the night, transported to the quarantine camps in buses and held in isolation.

  If this last scenario sounds chillingly familiar, it should.

  Eighty years ago, another authoritarian regime established more than 44,000 quarantine camps for those perceived as “enemies of the state”: racially inferior, politically unacceptable or simply noncompliant.

  While the majority of those imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps, forced labor camps, incarceration sites and ghettos were Jews, there were also Polish nationals, gypsies, Russians, political dissidents, resistance fighters, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals.

  Culturally, we have become so fixated on the mass murders of Jewish prisoners by the Nazis that we overlook the fact that the purpose of these concentration camps were initially intended to “incarcerate and intimidate the leaders of political, social, and cultural movements that the Nazis perceived to be a threat to the survival of the regime.”

  As the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum explains:

  “Most prisoners in the early concentration camps were political prisoners—German Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats—as well as Roma (Gypsies), Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and persons accused of ‘asocial’ or socially deviant behavior. Many of these sites were called concentration camps. The term concentration camp refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy.”

  How do you get from there to here, from Auschwitz concentration camps to COVID quarantine centers?

  Connect the dots.

  You don’t have to be unvaccinated or a conspiracy theorist or even anti-government to be worried about what lies ahead. You just have to recognize the truth in the warning: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  This is not about COVID-19. Nor is it about politics, populist movements, or any particular country.

  This is about what happens when good, generally decent people—distracted by manufactured crises, polarizing politics, and fighting that divides the populace into warring “us vs. them” camps—fail to take note of the looming danger that threatens to wipe freedom from the map and place us all in chains.

  It’s about what happens when any government is empowered to adopt a comply-or-suffer-the-consequences mindset that is enforced through mandates, lockdowns, penalties, detention centers, martial law, and a disregard for the rights of the individual.

  The slippery slope begins in just this way, with propaganda campaigns about the public good being more important than individual liberty, and it ends with lockdowns and concentration camps.

  The danger signs are everywhere.

  Claudio Ronco, a 66-year-old Orthodox Jew and a specialist in 18th-century music, recognizes the signs. Because of his decision to remain unvaccinated, Ronco is trapped inside his house, unable to move about in public without a digital vaccination card. He can no longer board a plane, check into a hotel, eat at a restaurant or get a coffee at a bar. He has been ostracized by friends, shut out of public life, and will soon face monthly fines for insisting on his right to bodily integrity and individual freedom.

  For all intents and purposes, Ronco has become an undesirable in the eyes of the government, forced into isolation so he doesn’t risk contaminating the rest of the populace.

  This is the slippery slope: a government empowered to restrict movements, limit individual liberty, and isolate “undesirables” to prevent the spread of a disease is a government that has the power to lockdown a country, label whole segments of the population a danger to national security, and force those undesirables—a.k.a. extremists, dissidents, troublemakers, etc.—into isolation so they don’t contaminate the rest of the populace.

  The world has been down this road before, too.

  Others have ignored the warning signs. We cannot afford to do so.

  As historian Milton Mayer recounts in his seminal book on Hitler’s rise to power, They Thought They Were Free:

  “Most of us did not want to think about fundamental things and never had. There was no need to. Nazism gave us some dreadful, fundamental things to think about—we were decent people‑—and kept us so busy with continuous changes and ‘crises’ and so fascinated, yes, fascinated, by the machinations of the ‘national enemies’, without and within, that we had no time to think about these dreadful things that were growing, little by little, all around us.”

  The German people chose to ignore the truth and believe the lie.

  They were not oblivious to the horrors taking place around them. As historian Robert Gellately points out, “[A]nyone in Nazi Germany who wanted to find out about the Gestapo, the concentration camps, and the campaigns of discrimination and persecutions need only read the newspapers.”

  The warning signs were there, blinking incessantly like large neon signs.

  “Still,” Gellately writes, “the vast majority voted in favor of Nazism, and in spite of what they could read in the press and hear by word of mouth about the secret police, the concentration camps, official anti-Semitism, and so on. . . . [T]here is no getting away from the fact that at that moment, ‘the vast majority of the German people backed him.’”

  Half a century later, the wife of a prominent German historian, neither of whom were members of the Nazi party, opined: “[O]n the whole, everyone felt well. . . . And there were certainly eighty percent who lived productively and positively throughout the time. . . . We also had good years. We had wonderful years.”

  In other words, as long as their creature comforts remained undiminished, as long as their bank accounts remained flush, as long as they weren’t being locked up, locked down, discriminated against, persecuted, starved, beaten, shot, stripped, jailed or killed, life was good.

  Life is good in America, too, as long as you’re able to keep cocooning yourself in political fantasies that depict a world in which your party is always right and everyone else is wrong, while distracting yourself with bread-and-circus entertainment that bears no resemblance to reality.

  Indeed, life in America may be good for the privileged few who aren’t being locked up, locked down, discriminated against, persecuted, starved, beaten, shot, stripped, jailed or killed, but it’s getting worse by the day for the rest of us.

  Which brings me back to the present crisis: COVID-19 is not the Holocaust, and those who advocate vaccine mandates, lockdowns and quarantine camps are not Hitler, but this still has the makings of a slippery slope.

  The means do not justify the ends: we must find other ways of fighting a pandemic without resorting to mandates and lockdowns and concentration camps. To do otherwise is to lay the groundwork for another authoritarian monster to rise up and wreak havoc.

  If we do not want to repeat the past, then we must learn from past mistakes.

  January 27 marks Remembrance Day, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, a day for remembering those who died at the hands of Hitler’s henchmen and those who survived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps.

  Yet remembering is not enough. We can do better. We must do better.

  As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, the world is teetering on the edge of authoritarian madness.

  All it will take is one solid push for tyranny to prevail.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 23:40

• Visualizing The Russia-Ukraine Military Imbalance
  Visualizing The Russia-Ukraine Military Imbalance

  The fact that Russia has a larger military than Ukraine will hardly come as a surprise to most, but the extent to which the smaller nation is outnumbered in virtually every area may not be immediately clear.

  GlobalFirepower has assessed the military forces of both countries for 2022, and as Statista’s Martin Armstrong shows in the following infographic, Russia has everything in its favor on paper, and without the support of Ukraine’s allies, in practice surely, too.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Whether Russian President Putin makes the decision to invade the country, and on a far larger scale, remains to be seen.

  What we are being told by western media and warmongers is that there is a new and significant military build up on the Russian side of the border (while Ukraine President Zelensky said his intelligence officials, looking at satellite images, do not see such an unusual build up); diplomatic efforts have failed; and the West seems currently focused on warmongering, projecting solidarity, and threatening dire (economic, at least) consequences should an invasion occur.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 23:20

• Xi Jinping Seeking "Global Domination": Mike Pompeo
  Xi Jinping Seeking “Global Domination”: Mike Pompeo

  Authored by Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times,

  Mike Pompeo said Chinese leader Xi Jinping wants “global domination—hegemony for the Chinese Communist Party,” warning that the rise of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could destroy the rules-based international order in place since the end of World War II.

  “It’s not about putting a Chinese tank division in Taiwan. It’s about accreting political power and influence throughout the world,” Pompeo said.

  Pompeo, who served first as CIA director and later as Secretary of State under President Donald Trump, made the statement in an appearance at the Argus Americas Crude Summit 2022.

  

  He said his tenure as CIA director came at a time when U.S. attention had to shift from terrorism to other threats, foremost among them the CCP.

  He added that a “global awakening” is taking place about what he sees as the ambitions of the CCP.

  “Most of the credit goes to Xi Jinping. He foisted a virus on the world, for goodness’ sake, and refuses to let anybody go figure out where it came from,” Pompeo said.

  The CCP has met with international criticism for blocking access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and related facilities in Wuhan by the United Nations. Many scientists and journalists suspect the CCP virus that causes COVID-19 originated at the WIV.

  Pompeo also commented on ongoing trade-related conflict between the United States and China, raising questions about the United States’ initial decision to open up to China in the context of its primary Cold War conflict with China’s then-rival, the Soviet Union.

  “The trade war began maybe in 1972,” he said, referring to Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon’s visit to the People’s Republic of China in the context of restoring diplomatic ties.

  “Maybe it was the right thing to do in 1972—but the trade war long predates the Trump administration.”

  “We encouraged business together. I don’t fault the businesses who went there. Notice the past tense of this. America’s policy encouraged connectivity with the Chinese Communist Party. Today, that is an enormous liability for the world, and Xi Jinping knows that,” Pompeo said.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 23:00

• Watch: Sikorsky-Boeing Conduct First Army Air Assault Mission With Very Unusual Helicopter
  Watch: Sikorsky-Boeing Conduct First Army Air Assault Mission With Very Unusual Helicopter

  The Lockheed Martin Sikorsky-Boeing team completed mission profile flight tests for the Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition. 

  The flights were conducted with the Defiant X, a co-axial helicopter that derives most of its forward thrust from a tail-mounted propeller. Earlier this month, it flew its first mission profile of low-level flight operations and confined area landings.

  

  “We fully demonstrated Defiant’s ability to execute the FLRAA mission profile by flying 236 knots in level flight, then reducing thrust on the propulsor to rapidly decelerate as we approached the confined, and unimproved, landing zone,” said Bill Fell, Defiant chief flight test pilot at Sikorsky and a retired U.S. Army Master aviator.

  “This type of level body deceleration allowed us to maintain situational awareness and view the landing zone throughout the approach and landing without the typical nose-up helicopter deceleration. This confined area was extremely tight, requiring us to delay descent until nearly over the landing spot, followed by a near-vertical drop. We landed Defiant precisely on the objective with little effort as we descended into this narrow hole while maintaining clearance on all sides,” Fell said. 

  A YouTube video released by “Team Defiant,” dated Jan. 18, shows the helicopter flying at low-altitude operations in a wooded area at low-level speeds. It will fly soldiers and cargo into battle at more than double the speed of the Army’s current helicopters. 

  Defiant is competing with the Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft for the FLRAA program. By the end of the decade, one of these high-tech helicopters could replace the Army’s convention helicopters, like the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 22:40

• US Warns Against Travel To UAE After Drone Attacks From Yemen
  US Warns Against Travel To UAE After Drone Attacks From Yemen

  Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com,

  Missile and drone attacks on the UAE have killed three people in the past two weeks. Much more importantly, they changed the way people view the UAE, long a safe, stable country in the Middle East.

  Adding to that concern, the US State Department has issued a warning against travel to the UAE going forward. They warned attacks hitting US interests in the country remain a serious concern.

  

  “The possibility of attacks affecting US citizens and interests in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula remains an ongoing, serious concern,” the travel advisory said.

  It added: “Rebel groups operating in Yemen have stated an intent to attack neighboring countries, including the UAE, using missiles and drones. Recent missile and drone attacks targeted populated areas and civilian infrastructure.”

  If the UAE becomes too dangerous, the country could face staggering losses. The US warnings should be another warning sign for the UAE, suggesting they should find a way to extricate themselves from the conflict in Yemen, now that the damage is no longer confined to Yemen.

  UAE officials remain somewhat in denial about this, saying the threats will not be “the new normal.” Bragging about their advanced defense systems, the UAE is still convinced that with this war they can have their cake and eat it too. It’s a mistake more than a few nations have fallen into.

  U.S. Issues “Highest Level” Travel Warning to Dubai, UAE, Citing Yemeni Missile, Drone Threat, COVID-19 https://t.co/hPeFb3F7b2

  — Global UpFront Newspapers (@Global_Upfront) January 28, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  With no military solution to Yemen, spillover violence is only going to be a bigger concern going forward, with tit-for-tat escalations encouraging more strikes.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 22:20

• China Jails 50 Steel Mill Executives As Environmental Crackdown Intensifies
  China Jails 50 Steel Mill Executives As Environmental Crackdown Intensifies

  The CCP has just fired off a warning shot to anybody who even thinks about trying to undermine its “climate” agenda, while simultaneously putting on a show to the international community to try and convince them that it is serious about curbing emissions.

  According to Bloomberg, 47 steel company officials are being jailed for between six and 18 months following a “crackdown” on companies breaking environmental rules that went unenforced for a long time. The officials worked at four steel mills in Tangshan, not far from Beijing. The city is known as China’s biggest steelmaking hub.

  

  The ruling was handed down by the Tangshan Intermediate People’s Court, which said in a statement that the companies had also been fined millions of yuan and that fines had also been assessed against the defendants.

  Read the full statement – written in English, a sign that the CCP wants the international community to take notice – below:

  On January 27, 2022, the Tangshan Intermediate People’s Court organized four courts of Lunan, Lubei, Kaiping and Guye to pronounce judgments on 4 environmental pollution cases in our city. Courts in the four places sentenced 47 defendants in charge, directly responsible and directly involved in the four steel enterprises involved in the case, to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 6 months to 1 year and 6 months, and fined them. The two iron and steel enterprises that committed the crime of the environmental pollution crime unit were sentenced to fines of 4 million and 7 million yuan respectively. The courts of the four places invited deputies to the National People’s Congress, members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the principals of key iron and steel enterprises in their jurisdictions to participate in this centralized sentencing event.

  Tangshan Songting Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Hebei Xinda Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd., Tangshan City Medium and Thick Plate Co., Ltd., and Tangshan Jinma Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. are key pollutant discharge units in Tangshan City. In March 2021, in order to evade the supervision of the environmental protection department, the four companies carried out illegal production by interfering with automatic monitoring facilities and falsifying automatic detection data, and released a large amount of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. After the court trial, it was found that the four companies had falsified data, discharged pollutants in excess of the standard, seriously polluted the atmosphere, endangered the health and safety of the people, and constituted the crime of polluting the environment. Among them, Tangshan Songting Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. and Hebei Xinda Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. constituted the crime of environmental pollution crime units.

  In recent years, the Tangshan Intermediate People’s Court has given full play to the functions of criminal trial, punishment and education of environmental resources, and severely punished criminal acts that pollute the environment and cause serious consequences and subjective viciousness in accordance with the law. Through this centralized judgment, it can effectively deter potential polluting enterprises, educate and guide enterprises to consciously protect the ecological environment, and escort the construction of clear water and blue sky and the high-quality economic and social development of our city.

  All of the officials being jailed were found to be complicit in the faking of air pollution data submitted to the government.

  The jail sentences “underscore Beijng’s push to clean up a major source of air pollution”, Bloomberg reported.

  Over the past decade, Beijing has tried to tighten environmental controls to clean up China’s notoriously dirty air. Their goal is to have more than 530M tons of steelmaing capacity in the “ultra-low emissions” category by 2025.

  The sentences mark the end of a long-running environmental crackdown on the steelmaking hub. Tangshan Jinma and another three mills were found guilty last March of not complying with production cuts put in place to reduce pollution.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 22:00

• Shellenberger: Why San Francisco Is Denying Reality
  Shellenberger: Why San Francisco Is Denying Reality

  Authored by Michael Shellenberger via Substack,

  The San Francisco Chronicle has acknowledged that the city is operating a supervised drug site, but the city continues to deny it. Why?

  

  The San Francisco Chronicle today published an article confirming that San Francisco city government is operating a supervised drug use and drug dealing site on public property and within the auspices of a “Linkage Center” ostensibly to link homeless addicts to rehab. “The revelation that people are using drugs at the site was first reported on the Substack newsletter of Michael Shellenberger,” acknowledged The Chronicle.

  San Francisco city government officials are denying that they are operating a supervised drug consumption site.

  A “spokesperson for the Department running the linkage center denied the city was operating a supervised consumption site,” reported The Chronicle.

  “When asked by The Chronicle what happens if someone tries to use drugs in the outdoor or indoor areas of the linkage center, and whether staff will allow the practice to continue, [spokesperson] Zamora did not answer directly.”

  San Francisco Mayor London Breed and members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors have advocated a supervised drug consumption site, and purchased two properties in the Tenderloin to serve people suffering from addiction.

  There is a reasonable debate to be had about whether there should be supervised drug use sites for hard-core drug addicts. The Netherlands, which is a model nation for dealing with addiction and untreated mental illness among the homeless, has 28 drug consumption rooms.

  

  But San Francisco city government never approved the creation of a supervised consumption site at the linkage center and is moving forward with supervised drug consumption and drug dealing in ways that are totally inconsistent with the successful approach used by Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Vienna, and Zurich.

  There is no doubt that the city is operating a supervised drug site. City contractors not only confirmed it to reporters Erica Sandberg, Leighton Woodhouse, and me, we witnessed drug use, another reporter witnessed a drug deal, and the San Francisco Chronicle’s reporter witnessed drug use at the supervised site.

  But rather than be open about what it is doing, the San Francisco city government is denying it.

  This is curious because the operators of the supervised open drug scene claim to want to reduce stigma around drug use. And it is curious because, in addition to the coverage by my Substack and The San Francisco Chronicle, The Daily Mail has published a second long article with 44 horrifying photos of the scene.

  Why is that? Why is San Francisco’s city government denying that it is operating a supervised site for drug consumption and drug dealing?

  The Denial Of Humanity

  

  This is the view of the taxpayer-funded supervised drug consumption and drug dealing site in United Nations Plaza, a public space in downtown San Francisco. Around this site, which was taken over without authorization, are armed and violent drug dealers whose deadly, addictive, and intoxicating products kill two San Franciscans per day.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 21:40

• China Rips Off US Military With New "Mechanical Yak" Robot
  China Rips Off US Military With New “Mechanical Yak” Robot

  In what appears to be a direct ripoff of the US Army’s quadrupedal robot, China showed off its new “mechanical yak,” designed to go places deemed too risky for humans. 

  Footage published on state-run media outlet People’s Daily Online’s YouTube page shows the quadrupedal robot performing maneuvers on all sorts of rugged terrain. The yak can carry 160 kilograms (334 pounds) while operating at 10 kilometers (six miles) per hour.

  

  The robot is designed to haul military equipment in the most challenging terrains, such as cliffs, mountains, trenches, deserts, snowy areas, and muddy roads.

  According to the state media, the yak has highly-advanced sensors that sense its environment and can avoid obstacles. It could be a game-changer for military logistics and reconnaissance missions on the heavily contested China-India border. 

  The yak is nearly identical to the US Army’s Boston Dynamics-built Legged Squad Support System, a powerful quadrupedal robot meant to carry gear, weapons, and other equipment. However, there’s one big difference. The yak is battery powered while the US’ is very noisy with a two-stroke petrol engine. 

  

  In the age of killer robots, the modern battlefield will be fought with AI combat robots, fifth-generation fighter jets, jet packs, lasers, new main battle rifles, and whatever other new technology that can be easily molded into a killing machine. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 21:20

• Biden Admin To Regulate Bitcoin 'As A Matter Of National Security'; Report
  Biden Admin To Regulate Bitcoin ‘As A Matter Of National Security’; Report

  Authored by ‘NAMCIOS’ via BitcoinMagazine.com,

  The White House wants to bring order to the ‘haphazard approach’ that is currently being employed by regulators to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

  

  The White House wants to set out a cohesive set of policies to regulate Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as currently legislation and its enforcement are scattered across sectors and agencies, according to multiple reports.

  The Biden administration will release an executive order in the coming weeks to task federal agencies with assessing the risks and opportunities that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies pose, Bloomberg first reported.

  The order is set to come under the umbrella of national security efforts as the administration seeks to analyze cryptocurrencies and employ a cohesive regulatory framework that would cover Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and NFTs, Barron’s reported Thursday.

  “This is designed to look holistically at digital assets and develop a set of policies that give coherency to what the government is trying to do in this space,” a person familiar with the White House’s plan told Barron’s.

  “Because digital assets don’t stay in one country, it’s necessary to work with other countries on synchronization.”

  The regulatory efforts would reportedly involve the State Department, Treasury Department, National Economic Council, and Council of Economic Advisers, as well as the White House National Security Council as the administration gauges that cryptocurrencies have “economic implications for national security,” per the Barron’s report.

  The White House’s plan is to “bring order to the haphazard approach that the government is now using to regulate crypto,” the person told Barron’s. Currently, different aspects of the cryptocurrency market are dealt with by different agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but there’s little coordination and consensus when it comes to the classification of the many different assets in the market.

  According to the Bloomberg report, senior officials at the administration had held multiple meetings on the plan, and the directive is expected to be presented to President Joe Biden in the coming weeks.

  [ZH: So let’s just remind ourselves of how perceptions of bitcoin have changed over the years…]

  #Bitcoin over time:
  2010: No one uses it
  2011-2012: Only cypherpunks use it
  2013-2014: Only criminals use it
  2015-2016: Only nerds use it
  2017-2018: Only speculators use it
  2019-2020: Only small firms use it
  2021: Only small countries use it
  2022: Matter of US national security

  — Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs) January 28, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  [ZH: May we dare to suggest crypto has only become a ‘matter of national security’ for the US since the idea of Putin using it to get around US sanctions and the nuclear-threat of SWIFT-deactivation started to circulate.]

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 21:00

• Rare Breed Triggers Responds To Alleged Leaked ATF Memo To Seize FRT-15s From Dealers
  Rare Breed Triggers Responds To Alleged Leaked ATF Memo To Seize FRT-15s From Dealers

  Lawrence Demonico, the president of Rare Breed Triggers, has just released a YouTube video responding to the alleged leaked ATF memo circulating the internet in the last 24 hours. 

  “We have all seen the ATF letter that is spreading like wildfire across the internet, regarding the ATF plans to steal private property from dealers, and of course, I’m referring to the FRT-15 trigger,” Demonico said. 

  “All though I cannot authenticate this letter that is allegedly being circulated by the ATF. I can tell you we’ve received word from one dealer in Illinois late yesterday afternoon stating that the ATF visited him and handed him a cease and desist order and seized FRT-15 triggers,” he continued. 

  Demonico said he has a lot of experience dealing with the “corrupt and dirty practices of the ATF.” He said, “my jaw is absolutely on the floor in complete disbelief that they’re choosing to take action based on an illegitimate examination and report that was conducted by David Smith and approved by Earl Griffith at the ATF technology branch.”

  

  Demonico went on to say the report is full of “outright lies,” labeling the forced reset trigger as a machine gun. He pointed to a video on the Rare Breed website that demonstrates the FRT-15 trigger is not a machine gun.

  Demonico said the news of the alleged ATF memo was first put out by Gun Owners of America (GOA). He said the GOA has yet to support him but has a meeting with them, adding that since the ATF is attacking dealers, maybe the group will finally provide some assistance.

  Demonico ends the video by saying, “we’re not back down, and we’ll see this through to the end,” adding “if the ATF can simply just say the FRT-15 is a machine gun without a claim being based on actual laws in the US code — what’s to stop them from reinterpreting the AR-15 altogether is a machine gun — there’s nothing to stop them from doing that.” 

  Here’s Demonico’s full video responding to the alleged leaked ATF letter:

  Maryland-based gun advocacy group The Machine Gun Nest (TMGN) has pointed out this slippery slope numerous times. Here’s what they have to say about the latest alleged ATF memo: 

  The fact that the ATF is allowed on a whim to change the definition of a machine gun from “Any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger” to “any device that increases the rate of fire” sets an extremely dangerous precedent.

  In this video, TMGN sums up the entire current situation happening between the ATF and Rare Breed Triggers.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 20:40

• Florida Trucker In Canada Convoy: "We're Here To Join A Movement"
  Florida Trucker In Canada Convoy: “We’re Here To Join A Movement”

  By Nate Tabak of Freight Waves,

  Florida-based owner-operator DeAndre Mahadeo, like other truckers who rolled past throngs of supporters just outside Toronto, got a rousing send-off on Thursday as he prepared to head to the capital, Ottawa, in a protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates at the border.

  

  Hundreds of people of all ages called them heroes and even freedom fighters as 15 to 20 trucks and a few hundred passenger vehicles paraded through a mall parking lot in Vaughan. Some handed over boxes of cookies, brownies and other snacks. 

  “We’re here to join a movement,” said Mahadeo, 30, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen who regularly moves freight in both countries. “We need to end these restrictions once and for all.”

  

  Across the Toronto area, supporters on overpasses cheered on convoys as they made their way along Canada’s busiest freight routes. 

  Mahadeo is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so the mandates at the border haven’t affected his job. He continues to move auto parts back and forth between the countries.

  But the long-haul trucker — who considers both countries his home — believes more is going on behind the vaccination requirements.

  “There is a whole lot of overreach of the government, certainly in the U.S. and Canada and around the world,” said Mahadeo, who was born in Guyana. “Governments are using this as an opportunity to gain more leverage against the people.”

  Mahadeo spoke as he inched his truck forward as his convoy prepared to join a larger one that had come from Niagara, Ontario. Multiple convoys under the auspices of the Freedom Convoy have been making their way toward Ottawa since the weekend — with the largest coming from western Canada.

  A few trucks ahead of Mahadeo, Ontario owner-operator Tom Slawinski expressed frustration at the U.S. and Canadian governments. But for the unvaccinated driver, the consequences were more immediate since he can only run domestic freight now unless he gets the shot.

  “I can’t make money,” Slawinski said. 

  The protest convoys bound for Ottawa started in response to the vaccine mandates that the U.S. and Canada imposed on cross-border drivers earlier this month. But they have emerged as a rallying point for Canadians against pandemic-related restrictions and the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau itself.

  “I tried to join groups that have done this, but it’s always just kind of fizzled out. I feel now like it’s getting momentum,” said Carolyn Carey, of Newmarket, Ontario, one of the many nontruckers in the convoy.

  Carey said she identified with the unvaccinated cross-border drivers, having been fired from her job in housekeeping at a hospital after refusing to get the shot.

  “I should be able to choose and not have to be forced to take the vaccine,” she said.

  Huge crowd here in Vaughan to support the convoy of truckers who are en route to Ottawa to protest vaccine rules for cross-border drivers. pic.twitter.com/K3x3YZpASr

  — Meagan Fitzpatrick (@fitz_meagan) January 27, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Adding to the anger in the crowd were comments Trudeau made on Wednesday about the convoy.

  “The small fringe minority of people who are on their way to Ottawa, who are holding unacceptable views that they are expressing, do not represent the views of Canadians,” Trudeau said.

  Many in the crowd held signs calling out the prime minister, including some that read “Truck Frudeau.”

  Organizers of the Freedom Convoy say that 50,000 trucks will converge in Ottawa. As of yet, reports from across Canada point to a smaller figure, with individual convoys numbering in the hundreds of vehicles to over 1,000, in the case of one spotted in Saskatchewan. On Wednesday, Ottawa police said they are expecting 1,000 to 2,000 protesters. 

  A GoFundMe campaign for the Freedom Convoy continues to see donations pour in. As of Thursday evening, it had raised over CA$6.3 million (US$5 million). The organizers have reportedly withdrawn CA$1 million after submitting a distribution plan to GoFundMe, which had been withholding the funds.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 20:20

• George Soros Pledges 'Unprecedented' $125 Million To Help Democrats Win In November
  George Soros Pledges ‘Unprecedented’ $125 Million To Help Democrats Win In November

  With President Biden’s approval rating in the gutter and Democrats increasingly concerned about their chances of holding on to Congress (as evidenced by Justice Breyer’s decision to retire), the Democratic Party is turning once again to one of its most reliable megadonors for a massive influx of campaign cash, which it will need if it wants to stave off massive Congressional losses in November, not to mention at the state level.

  

  Politico reports that the nonagenerian billionaire is committing $125 million – an enormous and unprecedented (even for Soros) sum – to help Democrats win as many Congressional races of possible in November, and beyond.

  It appears Soros’s top issue is voting rights, which also happens to be near the top of President Biden’s agenda as he and his Congressional allies struggle to pass a new voting rights bill.

  The group, Democracy PAC, has served as Soros’ campaign spending vehicle since 2019, channeling more than $80 million to other Democratic groups and candidates during the 2020 election cycle.

  The new, nine-figure investment from Soros is aimed at supporting pro-democracy “causes and candidates, regardless of political party” who are invested in “strengthening the infrastructure of American democracy: voting rights and civic participation, civil rights and liberties, and the rule of law,” Soros said in a statement shared first with POLITICO.

  Soros added that the donation to the super PAC is a “long-term investment,” intended to support political work beyond this year.

  Democracy PAC, the PAC tasked with doling out Soros’s millions, will be led by his son, Alexander Soros.

  The donation places Soros among only a handful of donors who have managed to hit the 9-figure level. Already, his PAC has cut two large checks: one for $2.5 million to Senate Majority PAC, and the other for $1 million to House Majority PAC.

  Of course, news of Soros’ involvement always has the chance of becoming a political liability for Democrats. Take for instance the fact that the newly elected Manhattan DA, Alvin Bragg, has essentially ordered his prosecutors to stop seeking prison sentences for most low level felonies, including armed robberies and drug dealing.

  From here on out, “carceral” sentences will be reserved for “homicides and a handful of other cases.” Soros gave Bragg’s campaign $1 million. And he also supported the previous occupant, DA Cyrus Vance Jr., who was accused of going easy on Harvey Weinstein years before the NYT got involved. In Baltimore, a DA he backed ended up indicted on perjury charges.

  It’s not just the east coast: LA has seen a sharp 36% increase in crime since Soros-backed LA County DA George Gascón.

  And let’s not forget about San Francisco’s Chesa Boudin, who has become downright infamous as nary a week goes by without some new viral video portraying some egregious example of legalized shoplifting in the City by the Bay.

  And Soros’s political interests aren’t ending at the federal level. He has also donated $1 million to the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, a group dedicated to electing Democrats to be the chief official in charge of elections in a state. As Politico adds, once “little-known”, posts like these are drawing increasingly more attention from donors. We’ll let you, dear reader, take a guess as to why.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 20:00

• Censorship By Algorithm Does Far More Damage Than Conventional Censorship
  Censorship By Algorithm Does Far More Damage Than Conventional Censorship

  Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

  Journalist Jonathan Cook has a new blog post out on his experience with being throttled into invisibility by Silicon Valley algorithmic suppression that will ring all too familiar for any online content creators who’ve been sufficiently critical of official western narratives over the last few years.

  “My blog posts once attracted tens of thousands of shares,” Cook writes. “Then, as the algorithms tightened, it became thousands. Now, as they throttle me further, shares can often be counted in the hundreds. ‘Going viral’ is a distant memory.”

  “I won’t be banned,” he adds. “I will fade incrementally, like a small star in the night sky — one among millions — gradually eclipsed as its neighbouring suns grow ever bigger and brighter. I will disappear from view so slowly you won’t even notice.”

  Cook says this began after the 2016 US election, which was when a major narrative push began for Silicon Valley corporations to eliminate “fake news” from their platforms and soon saw tech executives brought before the US Senate and told that they must “quell information rebellions” and come up with a mission statement expressing their commitment to “prevent the fomenting of discord” online.

  My latest: Is it already too late to say goodbye? Because those independent voices in the new media you so value will wither and decay like autumn leaves once they have no audience https://t.co/X6wbmpgHBe

  — Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) January 22, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Arguably the most significant political moment in the United States since 9/11 and its immediate aftermath was when Democrats and their allied institutions concluded that Donald Trump’s election was a failure not of establishment politics but of establishment narrative control. From that point onwards, any online media creator who consistently disputes the narratives promoted by the same news outlets who’ve lied to us about every war has seen their view counts and new follows slashed.

  

  By mid-2017 independent media outlets were already reporting across ideological lines that algorithm changes from important sources of viewership like Google had suddenly begun hiding their content from people who were searching for the subjects they reported on.

  “In case anyone wants to know how Facebook suppression works — I have 330,000 followers there but they’ve stopped showing my posts to many people,” Redacted Tonight host Lee Camp tweeted in January 2018.

  “I used to gain 6,000 followers a week. I now gain 500 and FB unsubscribes people without their knowledge — so my total number never increases.”

  I saw my own shares and view counts rapidly diminish in 2017 as well, and saw my new Facebook page follows suddenly slow to a virtual standstill. It wasn’t until I started using mailing lists and giving indie media outlets blanket permission to republish all my content that I was able to grow my audience at all.

  And Silicon Valley did eventually admit that it was in fact actively censoring voices who fall outside the mainstream consensus. In order to disprove the false right-wing narrative that Google only censors rightist voices, the CEO of Google’s parent company Alphabet admitted in 2020 to algorithmically throttling World Socialist Website. Last year the CEO of Google-owned YouTube acknowledged that the platform uses algorithms to elevate “authoritative sources” while suppressing “borderline content” not considered authoritative, which apparently even includes just marginally establishment-critical left-of-center voices like Kyle Kulinski. Facebook spokeswoman Lauren Svensson said in 2018 that if the platform’s fact-checkers (including the state-funded establishment narrative management firm Atlantic Council) rule that a Facebook user has been posting false news, moderators will “dramatically reduce the distribution of all of their Page-level or domain-level content on Facebook.”

  In case anyone wants to know how Face book suppression works – I have 330,000 followers there but they’ve stopped showing my posts to many ppl. I used to gain 6,000 followers a week. I now gain 500 and FB unsubscribes ppl w/out their knowledge – so my total numbr never increases

  — Lee Camp [Redacted] (@LeeCamp) January 27, 2018

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  People make a big deal any time a controversial famous person gets removed from a major social media platform, and rightly so; we cannot allow such brazen acts of censorship to become normalized. The goal is to normalize internet censorship on every front, and the powerful will push for that normalization to be expanded at every opportunity. Whether you dislike the controversial figure being deplatformed on a given day is entirely irrelevant; it’s not about them, it’s about expanding and normalizing internet censorship protocols on monopolistic government-tied speech platforms.

  But far, far more consequential than overt censorship of individuals is censorship by algorithm. No individual being silenced does as much real-world damage to free expression and free thought as the way ideas and information which aren’t authorized by the powerful are being actively hidden from public view, while material which serves the interests of the powerful is the first thing they see in their search results. It ensures that public consciousness remains chained to the establishment narrative matrix.

  It doesn’t matter that you have free speech if nobody ever hears you speak. Even in the most overtly totalitarian regimes on earth you can say whatever you want alone in a soundproof room.

  That’s the biggest loophole the so-called free democracies of the western world have found in their quest to regulate online speech. By allowing these monopolistic megacorporations to become the sources everyone goes to for information (and even actively helping them along that path as in for example Google’s research grants from the CIA and NSA), it’s possible to tweak algorithms in such a way that dissident information exists online, but nobody ever sees it.

  At the Senate Commerce Committee hearing, when asked by Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah to provide the name of one left-wing “high profile person or entity” that has been censored by #Google, Pichai named the #WSWS.https://t.co/Nq4vXN4S4s

  — World Socialist Web Site (@WSWS_Updates) November 4, 2020

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  You’ve probably noticed this if you’ve tried to search YouTube for videos which don’t align with the official narratives of western governments and media lately. That search function used to work like magic; like it was reading your mind. Now it’s almost impossible to find the information you’re looking for unless you’re trying to find out what the US State Department wants you to think. It’s the same with Google searches and Facebook, and because those giant platforms dictate what information gets seen by the general public, that wild information bias toward establishment narratives bleeds into other common areas of interaction like Twitter as well.

  The idea is to let most people freely share dissident ideas and information about empire, war, capitalism, authoritarianism and propaganda, but to make it increasingly difficult for them to get their content seen and heard by people, and to make their going viral altogether impossible. To avoid the loud controversies and uncomfortable public scrutiny brought on by acts of overt censorship as much as possible while silently sweeping unauthorized speech behind the curtain. To make noncompliant voices “disappear from view so slowly you won’t even notice,” as Cook put it.

  The status quo is not working. Our ecosystem is dying, we appear to be rapidly approaching a high risk of direct military confrontation between nuclear-armed nations, and our world is rife with injustice, inequality, oppression and exploitation. None of this is going to change until the public begins awakening to the problems with the current status quo so we can begin organizing a mass-scale push toward healthier systems. And that’s never going to happen as long as information is locked down in the way that it is.

  Whoever controls the narrative controls the world. And as more and more people get their information about what’s happening in the world from online sources, Silicon Valley algorithm manipulation has already become one of the most consequential forms of narrative control.

  *  *  *

  My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube, or throwing some money into my tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here.

  Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 19:40

• US Asks Hungary To Host Troops Aimed At Russia, Despite Long Snubbing Orbán
  US Asks Hungary To Host Troops Aimed At Russia, Despite Long Snubbing Orbán

  It’s been revealed that the United States approached Hungary this week to ask the country to host a temporary troop deployment related to the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto “received an American request about temporary deployment of troops” – CNN reports. 

  Hungary’s Defense Ministry is said to be discussing the formal request; however, given the tense US administration relationship with the Viktor Orbán government since Biden took office – centered on seeking to isolate the conservative prime minister known for his unapologetic ‘Hungary first’ policies – the prospect remains highly unlikely. This comes as Biden announced Friday that he’ll be sending a small number of American forces to Eastern Europe: “I’ll be moving troops to eastern Europe in the NATO countries in the near term.” He qualified in the remarks reporters at Joint Base Andrews after returning from Pittsburg that this will be “not too many” troops. 

  This is public now: US has approached Hungary about temporary troop deployment, says Hungarian FM. Hungary “received an American request about temporary deployment of troops” in the country, FM Peter Szijjarto said Friday. Defense Ministry is conducting talks on the matter. https://t.co/PFm9Y7ZY5e

  — Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 28, 2022

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  A mere less than two months ago, Biden tried to humiliate Hungary’s “human rights backsliding” leader:

  On Thursday and Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden will gather leaders from over 100 countries to a virtual “Summit for Democracy.” He invited rule-of-law troublemaker Poland. He invited Serbia, despite some questionable democratic credentials. He invited every EU member but one. 

  That one was Hungary.

  CNN further reports that Romania and Bulgaria are also mulling the acceptance of additional US deployments. Both eastern European NATO countries are typically much more amenable to US security requests, and Romania already provocatively hosts coastal defense missiles on the Black Sea.

  Suddenly Washington wants something from Hungary, after seeking to isolate and humiliate Budapest…

  

  Among the security guarantees Russia is currently seeking from Washington and Brussels is precisely that NATO forces leave Bulgaria and Romania.

  Thus when it comes to Hungary, from the point of view of officials in Budapest they are unlikely to want to see their country thrust into the middle of the tense escalating Russia vs. West standoff. 

  “The deployments would number approximately 1,000 personnel to each country and would be similar to the forward battle groups currently stationed in the Baltic States and Poland,” CNN notes of the numbers under initial discussion – though without doubt this would be ramped up in the instance of any potential Russian incursion into Ukraine. 

  Russia: “We don’t want a war”

  Ukraine: “An invasion is not imminent”

  NATO: There is “no certainty” that Russia plans to invade

  The US: pic.twitter.com/mGkRAU74qS

  — Rachel Blevins (@RachBlevins) January 28, 2022

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  Meanwhile, in a Russian media interview FM Sergey Lavrov said Friday “If it’s up to the Russian Federation, there will be no war. We do not want wars. But we won’t allow the West to grossly ignore our interests, either,” according to Sputnik.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 19:20

• Durham Court Filing Reveals DOJ Inspector General Horowitz Withheld Key Evidence From Special Counsel
  Durham Court Filing Reveals DOJ Inspector General Horowitz Withheld Key Evidence From Special Counsel

  Authored by Jeff Carlson and Hans Mahncke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A new court filing by special counsel John Durham reveals that Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz concealed crucial information from Durham in connection with the ongoing prosecution of Michael Sussmann, a former attorney to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. 

  

  The filing also reveals that Horowitz failed to disclose that his office is in possession of two cellphones used by former FBI general counsel James Baker. The phones may contain information that’s important to the Sussmann case, as well as to a separate criminal leak investigation of Baker that Durham personally conducted between 2017 and 2019.

  Horowitz first came to public prominence in June 2018 when he issued a report on the FBI’s actions leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Horowitz followed up in December 2019 with another report on the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the bureau’s pursuit of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant on Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

  Durham’s filing on Jan. 25 involves discovery issues surrounding Sussmann’s upcoming trial for allegedly making a materially false statement to the FBI’s then-general counsel James Baker. As part of Durham’s discovery obligations, the Special Counsel’s Office met with Horowitz and his team on Oct. 7, 2021, and subsequently requested any materials, including any “documents, records, and information” regarding Sussmann that may have been in the possession of the Office of Inspector General (OIG). 

  On Dec. 17, 2021, Horowitz’s office provided Durham with information that Sussmann had given the OIG information in early 2017, that an OIG “employee’s computer was ‘seen publicly’ in ‘Internet traffic’ and was connecting to a Virtual Private Network in a foreign country.” It isn’t clear what this information was about, why Sussmann would know about this information, or why he would have been interested in the internet activities of OIG employees. 

  It also isn’t known why Sussmann, a private citizen, would have been seeking out the OIG shortly after he was pushing information detrimental to Trump to both the FBI and the CIA. 

  At the time of the Dec. 17 disclosure, “the OIG represented to [Durham’s] team that it had “no other file or other documentation” relating to this cyber matter.” However, last week, Sussmann’s attorneys informed Durham that there was additional information, including the fact that Sussmann had met with Horowitz in March 2017 to personally pass along the information about the OIG employee’s computer VPN use. This meeting between Horowitz and Sussmann hadn’t been disclosed by Horowitz to Durham during their previous meetings and interactions.

  It isn’t known why Horowitz would have taken a personal meeting from Hillary Clinton’s campaign lawyer. According to Bill Shipley, a former federal prosecutor, “[y]ou don’t generally just call the IG and get a meeting with him personally.” It also isn’t clear why Horowitz chose not to inform Durham of the meeting—particularly as it pertained directly to information that Horowitz’s office had been specifically requested to relay to Durham’s special counsel probe.

  Sussmann’s attorneys further informed Durham that the VPN information had come from Rodney Joffe, a computer expert with close connections to the FBI. This was another material fact that hadn’t been disclosed by Horowitz. Joffe is of great import to Durham’s case against Sussmann and to the wider investigation into the origins of the Russia collusion investigation, since he was alleged to have provided Sussmann with falsified data about contacts between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank.

  Those alleged contacts were used by Hillary Clinton and her campaign to push the narrative that Trump was compromised by the Kremlin. Durham had noted in a previous filing that “[Joffe’s] goal was to support an ‘inference’ and ‘narrative’ regarding Trump that would please certain ‘VIPs.’” A subsequent filing by Durham noted that these VIPs were “individuals at the defendant’s [Sussmann’s] law firm and the Clinton Campaign.” Joffe also is alleged to have been offered a high-ranking position in a Clinton administration.

  The omission of information by Horowitz didn’t end with his meeting with Sussmann or the information on Joffe. Durham’s office has since discovered that the OIG “currently possesses two FBI cell phones” that belonged to Baker, the former FBI general counsel. Durham’s discovery of Horowitz’s possession of Baker’s two phones does not appear to have come through Horowitz or his office.

  According to Durham’s filing, “in early January 2022, the Special Counsel’s Office learned for the first time that the OIG currently possesses two FBI cellphones of the former FBI General Counsel.”

  Sussmann is alleged to have lied to Baker when he tried to push incriminating data about Trump and Alfa Bank to the FBI; that data later turned out to be false.

  That makes Baker, and his cellphones, central to the case against Sussmann.

  There’s also another matter that relates directly to Baker and his undisclosed phones. Baker had been the subject of a criminal leak investigation for “unauthorized disclosures to the media” that was being conducted by Durham when he was the U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut.

  During this investigation, Durham or a member of his team reportedly questioned Baker’s credibility. That memo is currently being sought by Sussmann’s attorneys. Although it’s not known with certainty, it’s believed that the leak investigation into Baker ultimately was closed without any charges. The disclosure about Baker’s cellphones would appear to be material not only to the Sussmann case, but also to the Baker leak investigation.

  High Profile Investigations

  Horowitz was in charge of a sequence of highly influential investigations into events leading up to and following the 2016 presidential election. Horowitz examined the FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s private email server as well as the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign, alleged Russian collusion, and the resulting Carter Page FISA and abuse of the FISA court.

  The Clinton email investigation review resulted in a 2018 OIG report that outlined a number of failures on the part of the FBI and made recommendations such as improving the FBI’s media contact policy and clarifying guidelines on making public statements. However, certain crucial issues, such as the fact that then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was supervising the investigation while his wife was running for a Virginia state Senate seat and had received large sums of campaign funding from Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe, were glossed over by Horowitz.

  The IG merely recommended that “ethics officials include the review of campaign donations for possible conflict issues when Department employees or their spouses run for public office.”

  

  Horowitz’s 2018 review was followed by a deeper, more thorough investigation that resulted in the Carter Page FISA review report in 2019. Although this report detailed a litany of failures by the FBI and “at least 17 significant errors or omissions in the Page FISA applications,” the IG’s report concluded that there were valid grounds for opening the Crossfire Hurricane probe into the Trump campaign for alleged collusion with Russia. 

  Immediately following the release of the IG’s 2019 report, then-Attorney General William Barr and John Durham, the U.S. attorney who Barr appointed to run a parallel criminal investigation into the origins of the FBI’s investigation, issued statements disputing Horowitz’s conclusion regarding the opening of Crossfire Hurricane.

  Durham, who was later appointed special counsel by Barr, noted that, unlike the IG, his investigation wasn’t limited to “developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department” and included information from “other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.” Durham stated that based on the information he had collected, he advised Horowitz a few weeks before the IG’s report was made public that “we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.”

  

  The issue of whether the FBI’s Trump–Russia investigation was properly predicated is critical. If FBI leadership opened the investigation based on false pretenses, this would be direct evidence that the FBI’s top leadership had interfered in a presidential campaign. However, if the investigation was found to be properly predicated and legitimately opened, then the FBI’s leadership would effectively be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, and any blame for subsequent investigative failures could fall on mistakes by lower-level staff.

  Although it has never been entirely clear how or why Horowitz had determined that the information used by the FBI was sufficient to open the investigation, there had been speculation that Horowitz was hampered by the fact that an IG’s investigative reach is limited to their own department and therefore, he might have reached the wrong conclusion. But this explanation fails to account for the fact that Horowitz could have left his conclusion on the FBI’s opening of its investigation out of his report, precisely because of his limited investigative powers.

  Horowitz’s conclusion was all the more surprising, given the damning information contained within his 2019 report. It cited material failures of the FBI, including “not only the operational team, but also of the managers and supervisors, including senior officials, in the chain of command”—with regard to the FISA warrant application on Trump campaign aide Carter Page. 

  Horowitz’s findings were so significant that he recommended the FBI’s “entire chain of command” outlined in his report for “consideration of how to assess and address their performance failures.”

  During congressional testimony, Horowitz also appeared to directly contradict assertions regarding his own report’s conclusion of FBI exoneration.

  “It’s unclear what the motivations [of the FBI] were,” he noted. “On the one hand, gross incompetence, negligence? On the other hand, intentionality, and where in between? We weren’t in a position—with the evidence we had—to make that conclusion. But I’m not ruling it out.”

  New Questions

  However, the new disclosure of Horowitz’s failure to fully cooperate with Durham might raise new questions about the conclusions the IG drew in his reviews of the Clinton email investigation, the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane inquiry, and the Carter Page FISA warrant applications.

  Both of the Horowitz reports from 2018 and 2019 found significant errors on the part of the FBI, but in a manner that could be described as a “limited hangout,” his reports stopped short of formally declaring fundamental wrongdoing that would have invalidated the FBI probes—despite seemingly overwhelming evidence.

  Notably, despite the lengthy list of FBI errors and misdoings, only one individual was ultimately charged—and he received only probation, despite having fabricated evidence that allowed the Page FISA to go forward.

  Media organizations echoed the report’s 2019 conclusion with headlines such as “Justice Department watchdog finds Trump-Russia probe was not tainted by political bias” or “Report sharply criticizes FBI but finds no partisan bias in Russia probe.”

  To this day, there has been no resolution of Horowitz’s questionable finding that the Trump–Russia collusion investigation was properly predicated. Horowitz claimed that the investigation began because of a tip from the Australian ambassador in London that a Trump aide, George Papadopoulos, had made a “suggestion of a suggestion” that Russia might be able to help Trump get elected.

  At the time the tip was made, July 26, 2016, the author of a dossier on Trump, former MI6 agent Christopher Steele had already shared early dossier reports with his FBI handler, Michael Gaeta, who noted that those reports were already circulating within the FBI and at a “high level in our nation’s capital.” 

  The FBI’s investigation also immediately targeted Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, as well as Page, even though Papadopoulos had never mentioned either of the two. A few days later, the investigation added retired Gen. Michael Flynn—at that point an adviser to the Trump campaign—to its list of targets, again without Papadopoulos having ever mentioned Flynn. 

  It has long been suspected that the FBI’s Trump–Russia investigation had been underway for some time before it was formally opened on July 31, 2016. And we know that the FBI had previously opened a counterintelligence investigation into Carter Page months earlier, on April 6, 2016, immediately after his appointment to the Trump team was announced. The tip from the Australian ambassador appears to have been a convenient excuse to formalize the investigation, rather than to cause its inception. 

  Based on the limited information that can be gleaned from Durham’s latest filing, it isn’t yet clear what connection, if any, exists between Horowitz’s early contact with Clinton campaign lawyer Sussmann, and his subsequent findings on the Clinton email investigation, the larger Trump–Russia investigation, and the Page FISA application.

  Sussmann’s defense will no doubt use this latest revelation to cast doubt on Durham’s investigation. It appears his attorneys already are attempting to cast doubt on Baker’s character as a witness. 

  For Durham, the issue goes far beyond his investigation of Sussmann. It was already known that Durham was threading a political needle between pursuing his investigation and keeping the heads of the Justice Department at bay.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 19:00

• Russia-Ukraine War Would Be "Horrific", Civilians "Will Suffer Immensely": Pentagon
  Russia-Ukraine War Would Be “Horrific”, Civilians “Will Suffer Immensely”: Pentagon

  In a Friday briefing on the Russia-Ukraine situation, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine’ border is “larger in scale and scope than we have seen in recent memory” and that there’s been nothing like it since the Cold war. Austin said of Putin that he “clearly now has that capability” to invade Ukraine.

  However, this contradicts Ukrainian defense leaders’ own assessment. The head of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov told a foreign correspondent that “As of today, a full-scale invasion with the resources they have on our borders will be insufficient.”

  While standing alongside Joint Chiefs chairman Mark Milley, Secretary Austin still admitted it’s as yet unclear if Putin intends to order an invasion. Milley, for his part, was blunt in terms of what a full-scale war would mean: “the civilian population [of Ukraine] will suffer immensely” if war breaks out there, he said. 

  

  Gen. Milley for the first time gave a realist Pentagon view of what war would actually mean: 

  “If that was unleashed on Ukraine, it would be significant, very significant, and it would result in a significant amount of casualties,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said.

  “And you can imagine what that might look like in dense urban areas, along roads and so on and so forth. It would be horrific, it will be terrible.”

  The remarks are significant given the two top American generals have been quiet over the past week of bellicose statements and predictions coming from the White House. For example, both Jen Psaki and Antony Blinken have been using the sensational word “imminent” to describe the “Russian invasion threat”. In a Thursday phone call, Ukraine’s President Zelensky himself had to tell Biden to calm down the dangerous rhetoric. 

  The generals also took the opportunity to warn Russia, saying it too will suffer greatly duee to any aggression: 

  “If Russia chooses to invade Ukraine it will not be cost-free, in terms of casualties or other significant effects.”

  …However, they stressed, the United States was prepared to send troops to reinforce and protect NATO allies in eastern Europe that faced a potential threat from a Russian attack on Ukraine, which is not part of the Atlantic alliance.

  “An attack on one NATO ally is an attack against all,” Milley warned.

  …Though it’s hard to know exactly what’s meant by this, given Ukraine is not a NATO member and does not enjoy the benefits of the Article 5 collective defense treaty.

  Earlier on Friday, Zelensky in televised remarks said “we do see” the 100,000 Russian troops across the border (albeit still on Russia’s own sovereign territory) – “If it happens, it will be open war. A horrible war, and we understand these things.” But he also expressed hope that a diplomatic resolution remains, saying that Russia can take steps to clearly confirm it does not plan to attack Ukraine.

  #Russia‘s military buildup near #Ukraine has expanded to include supplies of blood along with other medical materials that would allow it to treat casualties, in yet another key indicator of Moscow’s military readiness, three US officials tell Reuters. https://t.co/4gzUT30Lfl

  — Dmitri Gorelov (@dimagorelov) January 28, 2022

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  Crucially the Ukrainian president also said he’s ready to meet Putin “in any format” to discuss the Donbas standoff:

  Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said that he is prepared for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in any format.

  “I do wish to have such a meeting. I am not afraid of any format, bilateral (with the Russian president – TASS) or whatever. It does not matter. I am ready,” he told a news conference attended by foreign mass media, telecast on the Ukraine-24 television channel.

  Statements in Russian media indicate that urgent communications may be taking place on this. Such a meeting, if it materializes, would without doubt indicate that there will be no Russia-Ukraine war anytime in the near future. 

  As for other comments of US Defense Secretary Austin, he appears to be in agreement that there’s a diplomatic way forward. “Conflict is not inevitable. There is still time and space for diplomacy,” he asserted.

  “We don’t believe that President Putin has made a final decision to use these forces against Ukraine, but he clearly now has that capability.”

  -US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin

  I thought Russia was planning to invade after the Winter Olympics?

  — Leith Bou Phadel (@leithfadel) January 28, 2022

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  Ukraine says that fake news from the West are destroying their economy — says Russian invasion is not imminent.

  — ASB News / MILITARY〽️ (@ASBMilitary) January 28, 2022

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  “Mr. Putin can do the right thing as well,” Austin added. “There is no reason that this situation has to devolve into conflict. He can choose to de-escalate. He can order his troops away.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 18:40

• Lax Prosecution Contributing To LA Cargo Theft Surge, Experts Say
  Lax Prosecution Contributing To LA Cargo Theft Surge, Experts Say

  By Cara Ding of The Epoch Times,

  In recent weeks, national attention became focused on photos and videos showing Union Pacific rail tracks littered with discarded cartons and boxes following organized looting just east of downtown Los Angeles.

  

  Many of the packages that hadn’t been stolen or damaged would head toward Chicago or Canada before they finally reach the doorsteps of their recipients, including one that contained a picture of a family dressed in festive attire.

  Many factors are said to be behind the cargo theft surge in Los Angeles, including the supply chain bottleneck that causes trains to pause longer on tracks, a lack of Union Pacific special agents patrolling along the tracks, the presence of homeless encampments near rail lines, and—according to several experts who spoke with The Epoch Times—the lax prosecution policies under Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.

  Between October and December of 2021, Union Pacific special agents and other law enforcement agencies made at least 100 arrests along the tracks in Los Angeles, according to a company statement.

  The Union Pacific Police Department has primary jurisdiction over crimes committed on the company’s rail tracks.

  Its special agents have arresting powers and work with local law enforcement agencies, such as the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and California Highway Patrol.

  

  Police can arrest people on tracks for trespassing, but not theft, often due to lack of evidence.

  “Theft is hard to prove unless you actually catch them in the act,” John Jay College of Criminal Justice adjunct professor Joseph Giacalone, a retired detective sergeant, told The Epoch Times. “If you did not catch them in the act, they say, ‘Well, I found this on the street.’ How do you prove or disprove that?”

  However, trespassing is one misdemeanor that Gascón has ordered his office to no longer prosecute.

  On Dec. 7, 2020, his first day in office, Gascón told his staff to stop prosecuting a group of misdemeanors including trespassing, disturbing the peace, loitering, being under the influence of a controlled substance, and resisting arrest.

  While each district attorney has the discretion to deviate from Gascón’s new policy, they must consult with a supervisor, document their reasoning in writing, and record the supervisor’s determination in the case file.

  Most of the 100 arrests made by Union Pacific and other agencies during the past three months didn’t go anywhere. Fewer than half of those arrested were booked, according to a Union Pacific spokesperson.

  “Gascón’s misdemeanor policy does not permit prosecutors to file trespass or loitering in most situations,” Kathleen Cady, a former Los Angeles prosecutor, told The Epoch Times. “Without these tools, criminals can trespass, loiter, steal, get arrested, get released, and repeat over and over again.”

  Giacalone thinks Gascón’s policy invites more people to commit crimes.

  “The problem that comes into this now is that people who would normally not partake in this type of behavior look at it and say, ‘There is really no risk to this. If I get caught, I’m just going to get let go. No big deal,’” he said.

  In 2021, Gascón’s office received only 47 cases from law enforcement in which Union Pacific was a victim. That number was 56 in 2020, according to the office.

  

  However, in 2021, Union Pacific saw a 160 percent increase in criminal rail theft in Los Angeles County compared to 2020, according to a company statement.

  John Jay College of Criminal Justice emerita professor Dorothy Schulz thinks that one of the reasons behind the drop in the number of cases brought to prosecutors in 2021 was a demoralized police force.

  “When prosecutors just won’t prosecute, after a while it becomes not sensible for police to continue to bring those cases to them,” Schulz told The Epoch Times.

  Out of the 47 cases, 27 were charged by Gascón’s office, including both felonies and misdemeanor offenses alleging burglary, theft, and receiving stolen property.

  Ten cases were declined for filing because of a lack of evidence.

  Another 10 were declined because Gascón’s office deemed the alleged offenses unfit for prosecution, such as a homeless person being within 20 feet of the tracks and simple possession of drugs for personal use, according to Gascón’s office.

  The Epoch Times reached out to Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for comment, but didn’t receive a reply by press time.

  In a public letter to Union Pacific, Gascón said the railroad company had done a poor job of securing containers and had lowered the number of agents patrolling the area in 2021.

  “We can ensure that appropriate cases are filed and prosecuted; however, my office is not tasked with keeping your sites secure and the District Attorney alone cannot solve the major issues facing your organization,” Gascón said.

  Union Pacific just transferred more special agents to the Los Angeles tracks, according to an email to The Epoch Times. The company also added drones, fencing, and trespass detection systems.

  California Gov. Gavin Newson plans to send $255 million to local law enforcement agencies to hire more officers to combat theft-related crimes, as part of his Real Public Safety Plan.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 18:20

• "Pulling The Plug": After Multiple Recalls, GM May Be On The Verge Of Ending Production Of Its Chevy Bolt
  “Pulling The Plug”: After Multiple Recalls, GM May Be On The Verge Of Ending Production Of Its Chevy Bolt

  After numerous recalls and the ensuing bad press that comes with them, it looks like General Motors could be set to literally “pull the plug” on its Chevy Bolt EV. 

  “GM announced a $35 billion investment in EVs by 2025, including $4 billion to build electric versions of its best-selling pickups,” CNN reported this week. Worth noting is that GM is planning to build those models at its plant in Orion Township, Michigan, the report says.

  That plant is currently the home to the GM Bolt and its cousin, the Bolt EUV. The company didn’t make any new announcement as to where, if anywhere, Bolt production would continue.

  GM spokesperson Dan Flores gave a statement this week that didn’t drip with optimism about the Bolt, either: “Production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV will continue during the plant’s conversion activities to prepare the facility for production of the Silverado EV and Sierra EV pickups. We are not disclosing any additional information at this time about Bolt EV or Bolt EUV production.”

  Recall, in September, we noted that after two recalls about fires, GM had finally resorted to telling Bolt owner just not to park their car within 50 feet of another car.

  Flores, who we we’re sure wasn’t getting paid enough to deliver this line with a straight face, said in Fall 2021: “In an effort to reduce potential damage to structures and nearby vehicles in the rare event of a potential fire, we recommend parking on the top floor or on an open-air deck and park 50 feet or more away from another vehicle. Additionally, we still request you do not leave your vehicle charging unattended, even if you are using a charging station in a parking deck.”

  

  “We are aware of 12 GM confirmed battery fires that have been investigated involving Bolt EVs vehicles in the previous and new recall population,” he continued, telling The Detroit News. “We’re still working with LG around the clock to resolve the issue. Both companies understand the urgency to move as quickly as possible, but, again, the most important thing here is we have to get this right.”

  Recall, back in July 2021, General Motors issued their second recall for the Chevy Bolt after it announced that two Bolts had caught fire without impact and that at least one of the two was related to the battery and happened despite the owner getting a fix from a previous recall.

  The second recall included all Bolt EVs from 2017 to 2019, encompassing 68,000 vehicles. 50,925 of those vehicles were located in the U.S. and they have batteries that are produced at LG Chem’s Ochang, South Korea, facility, the report notes.

  A spokesman for GM said last summer: “As part of GM’s commitment to safety, experts from GM and LG have identified the simultaneous presence of two rare manufacturing defects in the same battery cell as the root cause of battery fires in certain Chevrolet Bolt EVs. As part of this recall, GM will replace defective battery modules in the recall population. We will notify customers when replacement parts are ready.” 

  GM may have finally figured out that one way to stop the fires is to stop producing the vehicle that keeps combusting…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 18:00

• War On Cash: The Digital Dollar
  War On Cash: The Digital Dollar

  Via SchiffGold.com,

  Last week, the Federal Reserve released a “discussion paper” examing the pros and cons of a potential US central bank digital dollar. According to the Federal Reserve press release, the central bank hopes to get public feedback on the idea.

  “We look forward to engaging with the public, elected representatives, and a broad range of stakeholders as we examine the positives and negatives of a central bank digital currency in the United States,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell said.

  Government-issued digital currencies are sold on their promise of convenience and security. But there is a darker side – the promise of control.

  

  Digital dollars would be similar to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. They would exist as virtual banknotes or coins held in a digital wallet on your computer or smartphone. The difference between a government digital currency and bitcoin is the value of the digital currency is backed and controlled by the state, just like traditional fiat currency.

  The digital dollar could ultimately replace physical cash. Proponents tout its convenience and security. A Business Insider article gushed over the idea.

  A Fed-backed digital dollar would then provide many of the benefits touted by cryptocurrencies without their wild price swings and usage fees. In theory, a CBDC would meld the best aspects of physical and digital currencies for the average American.”

  Last year, China launched a digital yuan pilot program. The Chinese government-backed digital currency got a boost when the country’s biggest online retailer announced the first virtual platform to accept the Chinese digital currency. China isn’t the only government exploring the possibility of digital money. Sweden has developed a digital currency of its own. The European Central Bank is pushing for a digital euro. And Russian central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina told CNBC that digital currency is “the future of our financial system.”

  Ultimately, it would take a congressional act to establish a digital dollar as legal tender.

  US officials toyed with the possibility of a digital dollar at the height of the pandemic. A Democratic proposal for stimulus payments in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic featured digital currency deposited into digital wallets.

  Government digital currency is sold to the public as a safe and convenient alternative to physical cash. We’re also told it will help stop dangerous criminals who like the intractability of cash.

  But at the root of the move toward government digital currency is “the war on cash.” Fundamentally, it’s about control.

  The elimination of cash creates the potential for the government to track and even control consumer spending, and it would make it even easier for central banks to engage in manipulative monetary policy such as negative interest rates.

  Imagine if there was no cash. It would be impossible to hide even the smallest transaction from government eyes. Something as simple as your morning trip to Starbucks wouldn’t be a secret from government officials. As Bloomberg put it in an article published when China launched its digital yuan pilot program, digital currency “offers China’s authorities a degree of control never possible with physical money.”

  The government could even “turn off” an individual’s ability to make purchases. Bloomberg describes just how much control a digital currency could give Chinese officials.

  The PBOC has also indicated that it could put limits on the sizes of some transactions, or even require an appointment to make large ones. Some observers wonder whether payments could be linked to the emerging social-credit system, wherein citizens with exemplary behavior are ‘whitelisted’ for privileges, while those with criminal and other infractions find themselves left out. ‘China’s goal is not to make payments more convenient but to replace cash, so it can keep closer tabs on people than it already does,’ argues Aaron Brown, a crypto investor who writes for Bloomberg Opinion.”

  Economist Thorsten Polleit outlined the potential for Big Brother-like government control with the advent of a digital euro in an article published by the Mises Wire. As he put it, “the path to becoming a surveillance state regime will accelerate considerably” if and when a digital currency is issued.

  Governments around the world have quietly waged a war on cash for years. Back in 2017, the IMF published a creepy paper offering governments suggestions on how to move toward a cashless society even in the face of strong public opposition.

  As with most things the government does, you should be wary of the digital dollar. It has a dark side you can be sure the mainstream will mostly ignore.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/28/2022 – 17:40