• Biden Belatedly Invites Ukraine's President For White House Visit…After Putin Summit
  Biden Belatedly Invites Ukraine’s President For White House Visit…After Putin Summit

  When last month it became clear that the Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin face to face summit would happen – now set for June 16 in Geneva – Kiev made its anger clear, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urging Biden to meet with him prior to any direct Putin talks. Zelensky further recently went on the attack slamming the White House for cutting Kiev out of key decisions on Nord Stream 2, particularly after weeks ago Biden agreed to drop existing sanctions against the German company overseeing the natural gas pipeline which bypasses Ukraine – and with it badly needed transit fees.

  In an interview this past weekend with Axios, Zelensky said he was blindsided by Biden’s U-turn on the Russia to Germany pipeline after Biden gave him “direct signals” that the US was preparing to block the pipeline. The Ukrainian leader further called it “a weapon, a real weapon in the hands of the Russian Federation,” and that he doesn’t understand how “the bullets to this weapon can possibly be provided by such a great country as the US” – as he described it.

  

  Just after giving the interview, on Monday Biden belatedly phoned Zelensky, also amid widespread anger within his Democratic base over “caving” to Putin, especially over Nord Stream 2, which is said to be a mere month or two away from completion, according to recent statements from Putin. 

  In this call Zelensky finally scored the desired meeting with Biden, but it looks like it will take place after the US president first meets with Putin, with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan subsequently telling reporters:

  “They had the opportunity to talk at some length about all of the issues in the U.S.-Ukraine relationship and President Biden was able to tell president Zelensky that he will stand up firmly for Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and its aspirations as we go forward.”

  And significantly: “He also told President Zelensky that he looks forward to welcoming him to the White House in Washington this summer after he returns from Europe,” according to Sullivan’s statement.

  The Hill noted additionally that “Despite Zelensky’s appeal for a meeting, Sullivan did not say that Biden would meet with him before the summit with Putin.”

  Thank you @POTUS @JoeBiden for inviting me to visit the @WhiteHouse in July during our phone conversation. I look forward to this meeting to discuss ways to expand strategic cooperation between Ukraine and #USA

  — Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 7, 2021

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

  It is indeed looking like that meeting, which will mark Zelensky’s first White House visit since being elected to office in 2019, will come significantly after the Biden-Putin summit – in July according to follow-up confirmation by Zelensky.  

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/09/2021 – 02:45

• Denmark Cracks Down On Mass Migration
  Denmark Cracks Down On Mass Migration

  Authored by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,

  The Danish Parliament has passed a new law that will allow the government to deport asylum seekers to countries outside of the European Union to have their cases considered abroad. The legislation is widely seen as a first step toward moving the country’s asylum screening process beyond Danish borders.

  

  The law, proposed by the Social Democrat-led government, is aimed at discouraging frivolous asylum applications. It has been greeted with fury by those who favor mass migration, presumably out of fear that other EU countries may now follow Denmark’s lead.

  Denmark, which already has some of the most restrictive immigration policies in Europe, is at the vanguard of European efforts to preserve local traditions and values in the face of mass migration, runaway multiculturalism, and the systematic encroachment of political Islam.

  An amendment to the Aliens Act, approved on June 3 by 70 votes to 24, authorizes the government to enter into agreements with non-EU countries (so-called third countries) to allow it to “transfer third-country nationals and stateless persons who apply for asylum in Denmark to the third country in question for the purpose of substantive processing of asylum applications.”

  Danish Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye, a Social Democrat and the son of an Ethiopian immigrant, told the Financial Times that Denmark had “identified a handful of countries,” mostly in Africa, that might be open to hosting migrant reception centers.

  In April, Tesfaye signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” with Rwanda regarding “cooperation on asylum and migration issues.” The document raised speculation that Denmark wants to transfer migrants to the East African country, which has a tradition of hosting refugees. The memorandum spelled out the Danish government’s long-term objective:

  “Denmark is committed to finding new and sustainable solutions to the present migration and refugee challenges that affect countries of origin, transit and destination. The current asylum system is unfair and unethical by incentivizing children, women and men to embark on dangerous journeys along the migratory routes, while human traffickers earn fortunes.

  “There is a need to finding new ways of addressing the migration challenges by promoting a fairer and more humane asylum system based on a comprehensive approach. This includes addressing the root causes of irregular migration, providing more and better protection of refugees in the regions of conflict and increasing assistance to host nations, countries of origin and transit — along the migratory routes — in order to improve border management, strengthen asylum systems and fight human smuggling.

  “It is also the vision of the Danish Government that the processing of asylum applications should take place outside of the EU in order to break the negative incentive structure of the present asylum system.”

  Advocates of mass migration have criticized Denmark’s new law. The European Commission, the EU’s powerful administrative arm, said that it had “fundamental concerns” about deporting asylum seekers to countries outside of Europe:

  “External processing of asylum claims raises fundamental questions about both the access to asylum procedures and effective access to protection. It is not possible under existing EU rules or proposals under the new pact for migration and asylum.”

  Others have accused Denmark of seeking to “export” the asylum process. Gillian Triggs, assistant high commissioner of UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, warned that “such practices undermine the rights of those seeking safety and protection, demonize and punish them and may put their lives at risk.”

  UNHCR global spokesperson Shabia Mantoo added that the agency “remains firmly opposed to national initiatives that forcibly transfer asylum-seekers to other countries and undermine the principles of international refugee protection.”

  In an interview with Euronews, Nikolas Feith Tan, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, said that Denmark’s plan to house asylum seekers outside its borders represents “a fundamental shift” in how the international protection system functions:

  “Up until now, refugee protection has been primarily territorial. If you reach Denmark, then Denmark is responsible for both assessing whether you are a refugee or not, and if you are a refugee, then for granting you protection. The new legislation shifts that idea of territorial asylum.”

  Tan said that transferring asylum seekers abroad in principle does not violate international law, but that the government should still expect be sued in Danish courts and at the European Court of Human Rights.

  Tesfaye said that “a key aim” was to reduce the number of “spontaneous” asylum seekers to Denmark:

  “The current asylum system has failed. It is inefficient and unfair. Children, women and men are drowning in the Mediterranean or are abused along the migratory routes, while human traffickers earn fortunes.”

  Other Measures to Curb Mass Migration

  Since assuming power in June 2019, the government of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has introduced a raft of measures aimed at curbing mass migration. The measures build on those implemented by previous governments.

  June 3, 2021. The Danish Parliament approved by 78 votes to 16 a new law that authorizes the government to revoke Danish citizenship from immigrants who are members of criminal gangs. The law is aimed at tackling a surge in migration-linked violent crime. The amendment to the Citizenship Act allows for the “denial of citizenship for certain forms of serious gang crimes considered detrimental to the vital interests of the State.” The law applies only to dual nationals and not to gang members who, by losing their Danish citizenship, would become stateless. The new law, which is not retroactive, enters into force on July 1, 2021.

  Minister of Justice Nick Hækkerup said:

  “Gang crime in no way belongs in Denmark. When foreigners or persons to whom we in Denmark have granted Danish citizenship participate in the gangs’ ruthless crime, it is a fundamental expression of contempt for the society of which they are a part. Therefore, it is good news that Parliament has today passed the government’s bill to provide the opportunity to revoke citizenship in the event of serious gang crime to the serious detriment of the state’s vital interests. It is a goal for the government to ensure that Danes can be safe in their everyday lives. When the gangs challenge that security, it must have noticeable consequences.”

  May 26, 2021. The Danish Parliament approved by 67 votes to 26 a first-ever Repatriation Law which authorizes the government to deport failed asylum seekers and other migrants illegally in the country. The law allows the government to monitor foreigners’ mobile phones in order to more easily identify and deport them.

  The law was approved amid reports that migrants who had been paid between 100,000 and 225,000 Danish kroner ($16,000 and $37,000) by the Danish government to leave the country took the money but then disappeared without actually leaving. Others took the money and left the country and later returned.

  Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration Mattias Tesfaye said:

  “We have too many foreigners without legal residence in Denmark who do not return home. It is unsustainable. Both for the individual and for the Danish state, which must spend money on accommodating these people…. The penalties have been increased for those with deportation orders who do not comply with their control obligations. Now we have taken the next step towards a coherent repatriation policy. It is intended to help more foreigners without legal residence to return to their home countries. I am glad that there is broad support for this in the parliament.”

  May 6, 2021. The Danish government tightened citizenship rules. In future, individuals with criminal records will be excluded from obtaining Danish citizenship. Individuals found guilty of committing immigration or social security fraud must wait for six years for their citizenship application to be considered. The new rules also introduced an employment requirement. Applicants must have been in full-time employment or have been self-employed for at least three years and six months within the previous four years. Five questions about Danish values ​​have been added to the citizenship test. Applicants will be required to correctly answer four out of the five questions. “There is great agreement among the parties to the agreement that it is crucial that an applicant has adopted Danish values,” the government said in a statement.

  Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration Mattias Tesfaye said:

  “We have to draw a line in the sand. People who have been imprisoned must not have Danish citizenship.”

  Spokesman for the Liberal Party, Morten Dahlin, added:

  “Danish citizenship is a gift to be earned. Therefore, we must make an effort when handing out passports. Those we welcome in the Danish family must have embraced Denmark and stayed on the right side of the law. That is why we in the Liberal Party are happy that there is now a greater focus on Danish values ​​and that there is a crackdown on foreigners who have committed crimes. These have been important demands on our part.”

  Conservative Rapporteur Marcus Knuth said:

  “The Conservatives have been fighting for new rules for Danish citizenship for over a year. It is especially important to us that criminal foreigners with a prison sentence can never apply for Danish citizenship, and it is important to us that there is now an employment requirement, so one must now have worked the last 3½ out of four years. We also worked on a ceiling on the number of citizenships for applicants outside the EU and the Nordic countries, but unfortunately the government would not. In return, we now have an audit provision, so the government shall call for discussions if there is a significant increase in the number of applicants.”

  Liberal Alliance Rapporteur Henrik Dahl said:

  “I am first and foremost happy that, as something new, we demand that new citizens have worked for some years before they can get a Danish passport. It is only reasonable that one has contributed to the Danish economy before one gets full rights in Denmark.”

  March 17, 2021. The Danish government announced a package of new proposals aimed at fighting “religious and cultural parallel societies” in Denmark. A cornerstone of the plan includes capping the percentage of “non-Western” immigrants and their descendants dwelling in any given residential neighborhood. The aim is to preserve social cohesion in the country by encouraging integration and discouraging ethnic and social self-segregation.

  March 9, 2021. The Danish Parliament approved a new law that bans foreign governments from financing mosques in Denmark. The measure is aimed at preventing Muslim countries, particularly Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, from promoting Islamic extremism in Danish mosques and prayer facilities.

  March 9, 2021. The Danish Parliament approved by 96 votes to 0 a new law that bans religious marriages of minors and forced marriages. Islamic preachers and others who conduct such marriages now face up to two years in prison and deportation from Denmark. The same goes for parents who allow their children enter into a Sharia marriage. The penalty for detaining a person in a forced marriage was increased to four years in prison. The law also authorizes the government to withdraw the passports of children if there is reason to believe that they are being sent abroad to be married, regardless of whether the marriage is legally valid. The law bans the use of Islamic nikah marriage contracts which often make it difficult for Muslim women to seek a divorce. The new law entered into force on March 15, 2021.

  February 18, 2021. The Danish government announced that it would review the residency status of 350 Syrian migrants from Syria. The move came after the Danish Refugee Board decided that the Rif Damascus region of Syria is now safe and that there is no longer a basis for granting or extending temporary residence permits.

  Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration Mattias Tesfaye said:

  “Denmark has been open and honest from day one. We have made it clear to the Syrian refugees that their residence permit is temporary. It can be withdrawn if protection is no longer needed. With the Refugee Board’s decisions this week, the authorities will now review the pile of cases from the same province. This is good. We must give people protection for as long as it is needed. But when conditions in the home country improve, a former refugee should return home and re-establish a life there.”

  October 3, 2020. The government proposed a new Repatriation Law to ensure that more rejected asylum seekers were sent home. At least 1,100 rejected asylum seekers in Denmark do not have the right to reside in the country, and more than 200 rejected asylum seekers have remained Denmark for a more than five years. The measures include paying failed asylum seekers 20,000 Danish kroner (€2,700; $3,600) to leave the country.

  September 11, 2020. The government proposed an amendment to the Foreigners’ Citizenship Act that would deny Danish citizenship to Danish jihadists — so-called foreign fighters. Cabinet Minister Kaare Dybvad said:

  “The government will go to great lengths to prevent foreign fighters who have turned their backs on Denmark from returning to Denmark. We are talking about men and women who have committed or supported outrageous crimes. Therefore, it must also be possible in the future to deprive them of their citizenship.”

  September 10, 2020. The government created a new ambassadorial post and a task force to work to establish migrant reception centers in third countries outside of the European Union — in Libya, Tunisia or Morocco.

  May 31, 2018. The Danish Parliament approved a ban on Islamic full-face veils in public spaces. The law, sponsored by the center-right government in power at the time, and backed by the Social Democrats and the Danish People’s Party, passed by 75 votes to 30. Anyone found wearing a burka (which covers the entire face) or a niqab (which covers the entire face except for the eyes) in public in Denmark is subject to a fine of 1,000 Danish kroner (€134; $163); repeat offenders could be fined 10,000 Danish kroner. In addition, anyone found to be requiring a person through force or threats to wear garments that cover the face could be fined or face up to two years in prison.

  January 26, 2016. The Danish Parliament adopted several measures aimed at reducing the number of asylum seekers arriving in Denmark: The reintroduction of the requirement that only refugees with the highest potential for integration into Danish society be accepted; an increase in time requirement to three years for family reunifications for asylum seekers; an increase in time requirement before the awarding of permanent residency status; additional integration requirements, including the ability to prove language skills, before permanent residency can be attained; permanent and temporary residency status were made easier to lose; the introduction of fees to apply for family reunification and to convert temporary residence permit to permanent residence permit; a 10% reduction in economic aid to asylum seekers; police were given power to confiscate from asylum seekers items of value to support the cost of their stay; asylum seekers were required to live in special housing centers.

  Changing Demographics

  Denmark, which has a population of 5.8 million, received approximately 40,000 asylum applications during the past five years, according to data compiled by Statista. Most of the applications received by Denmark, a predominately Lutheran country, were from migrants from Muslim countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

  In recent years, Denmark has also permitted significant non-asylum immigration, especially from non-Western countries. Denmark is now home to sizeable immigrant communities from Syria (35,536); Turkey (33,111); Iraq (21,840); Iran (17,195); Pakistan (14,471); Afghanistan (13,864); Lebanon (12,990) and Somalia (11,282), according to Statista.

  Muslims currently comprise approximately 5.5% of the Danish population, according to the Pew Research Center. Under a “zero migration scenario,” the Muslim population is projected to reach 7.6% by 2050; with a “medium migration scenario,” it is forecast to hit 11.9% by 2050; and under a “high migration scenario,” Muslims are expected to comprise 16% of the Danish population by 2050, according to Pew.

  As in other European countries, mass migration has resulted in increased crime and social tension. Danish cities have been plagued by shootings, car burnings and gang violence.

  During a recent EU review of the Schengen Agreement, the treaty that regulates the EU’s system of open borders, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration Mattias Tesfaye said:

  “The possibility of reintroducing temporary border control is crucial for the security of Danes. This was shown by the refugee and migrant crisis in 2015. And the corona crisis has recently reaffirmed this. There is a need for changes to the Schengen rules so that member states have more flexibility to decide. We in Denmark know best when there is a need for control of Denmark’s borders.”

  On January 22, during a parliamentary hearing on Danish immigration policy, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that she was determined to reduce the number of asylum approvals:

  “Our goal is zero asylum seekers. We cannot promise zero asylum seekers, but we can establish the vision for a new asylum system, and then do what we can to implement it. We must be careful that not too many people come to our country, otherwise our social cohesion cannot exist. It is already being challenged.”

  In an interview with Danish broadcaster DR on June 3, MP Rasmus Stoklund said that if someone seeks refuge in Denmark in the future, he or she must expect to be deported to a third country: “Therefore, we hope that people will stop seeking asylum in Denmark.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/09/2021 – 02:00

• Why A Judge Has Georgia Vote Fraud On His Mind: "Pristine" Biden Ballots That Looked Xerox'd
  Why A Judge Has Georgia Vote Fraud On His Mind: “Pristine” Biden Ballots That Looked Xerox’d

  Authored by Paul Sperry via RealClearInvestigations.com,

  When Fulton County, Ga., poll manager Suzi Voyles sorted through a large stack of mail-in ballots last November, she noticed an alarmingly odd pattern of uniformity in the markings for Joseph R. Biden. One after another, the absentee votes contained perfectly filled-in ovals for Biden — except that each of the darkened bubbles featured an identical white void inside them in the shape of a tiny crescent, indicating they’d been marked with toner ink instead of a pen or pencil.

  

  Adding to suspicions, she noticed that all of the ballots were printed on different stock paper than the others she handled as part of a statewide hand recount of the razor-thin Nov. 3 presidential election. And none was folded or creased, as she typically observed in mail-in ballots that had been removed from envelopes.

  In short, the Biden votes looked like they’d been duplicated by a copying machine.

  “All of them were strangely pristine,” said Voyles, who said she’d never seen anything like it in her 20 years monitoring elections in Fulton County, which includes much of Atlanta.

  She wasn’t alone.

  At least three other poll workers observed the same thing in stacks of absentee ballots for Biden processed by the county, and they have joined Voyles in swearing under penalty of perjury that they looked fake.

  Now election watchdogs have used their affidavits to help convince a state judge to unseal all of the 147,000 mail-in ballots counted in Fulton and allow a closer inspection of the suspicious Biden ballots for evidence of counterfeiting. They argue that potentially tens of thousands may have been manufactured in a race that Biden won by just 12,000 votes thanks to a late surge of mail-in ballots counted after election monitors were shooed from State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

  “We have what is almost surely major absentee-ballot fraud in Fulton County involving 10,000 to 20,000 probably false ballots,” said Garland Favorito, the lead petitioner in the case and a certified poll watcher who runs VoterGa.org, one of the leading advocates for election integrity in the state.

  He said the suspect ballots remain in the custody of the election officials and inaccessible from public view.

  “We have confirmed that there are five pallets of shrink-wrapped ballots in a county warehouse,” Favorito said in an interview with RealClearInvestigations.

  He and other petitioners were ordered to meet at the warehouse May 28 to settle the terms of the inspection of the absentee ballots. But the day before the scheduled meeting, the county filed a flurry of motions to dismiss the case, delaying the inspection indefinitely.

  “We will be in court on June 21 to resolve these motions,” said Favorito, calling them another “roadblock” the county has tried to throw in their way. He expects talks over the logistics of the inspection to resume after the Fourth of July holiday.

  As part of his May 21 order, Superior Court Judge Brian Amero requested officials guard the warehouse around the clock until an inspection date can be set. But just eight days later, a breach in security was reported after sheriff’s deputies left their post for a couple of hours.

  “The front door was [found] unlocked and wide open in violation of the court order,” Favorito said.

  County officials confirmed that a motion-detection alarm was triggered Saturday, May 29, shortly after the deputies drove away from the building in their patrol cars around 4 p.m. But they said a locked room where the ballots are kept “was never breached or compromised.”

  Favorito is not convinced, and his lawyer is seeking to obtain the video footage from building security cameras. “How do we know for certain there was no tampering with the ballots?” asked Favorito, who said he did not vote for Trump. News of the security lapse caught the attention of former President Trump, who has claimed his loss to Biden was marred by fraud. In a statement, he implied election officials in the Democratic-controlled county are trying to hide evidence of fraud.

  “They are afraid of what might be found,” he asserted.

  Trump is also closely monitoring the ongoing election audit in Arizona, another red state that turned blue in 2020. If evidence of fraud is found in these key swing states, it might help confirm suspicions the election was “stolen” from Trump and the 74 million who voted for him — as a recent poll found 61% of Republicans believe — as well as provide the proof of voter fraud that Democrats and major media have long claimed doesn’t exist.

  The cases could potentially give other battleground states incentive to take steps to tighten election security and root out fraud, including passing legislation to limit the use of controversial mail-in drop boxes and require the verification of signatures on such ballots. In Georgia, relatively few mail-in ballots were rejected for invalid signatures in the November general election, even though several thousand had been disqualified for signature issues in the primary election.

  In a move that inspired national boycotts alleging voter “suppression,” Georgia recently passed a law limiting, but not removing, the drop boxes. The state had installed them for the first time in 2020 under pressure from Democratic groups, who argued officials needed to make voting easier for minorities who didn’t trust the mail and feared going to the polls during the COVID scare.

  The 38 drop boxes Fulton distributed throughout the county in the November election will be cut to eight in the future. The boxes had been largely unregulated and unattended — located outdoors, open 24 hours a day and available for drop-offs until the evening of Election Day, prompting complaints of ballot stuffing and double voting. But now they have to be located inside election offices or early voting locations, and can only be available during the hours when early voting is permitted. The new law also requires ballots be printed on special security paper.

  Voting by mail traditionally was limited to voters who had clearly defined and well-documented reasons to be absent from the polls. But Democrats in key swing states lobbied to relax the rules in the middle of the election and amid the coronavirus pandemic.

  Mail-in or drop-off ballots create opportunities for voter error and fraud. In a typical election, one in 20 mailed ballots are rejected, according to recent studies. More than 534,000 mail-in ballots were rejected during the 2020 Democratic primaries alone.

  Still, both Republican and Democratic officials in Georgia say they have found no credible evidence of widespread fraud in the general election. Democrats, as well as many major media outlets, have written off Favorito’s group’s allegations of fraud as “conspiracy theories.”

  “This is nothing more than a circus that’s being put on by those who promote the ‘big lie’ ” that Trump won the election, said Robb Pitts, the Democratic chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

  “Where does it end? The votes have been counted. The elections have been certified. It’s over.”

  Pitts effectively controls the county elections board through his Democratic appointee Mary Carole Cooney, who runs the board. They are in charge of securing the pallets of disputed Biden mail-in ballots awaiting inspection in the county warehouse.

  But Judge Amero, who federal elections records show is a Democratic donor, felt compelled to unseal the ballots for a forensics review after reading the sworn affidavits submitted by election monitors. Here are key witnesses in the case:

  Suzi Voyles, a veteran Fulton poll manager who audited the Nov. 14 recount at Georgia World Congress Center, testified she examined several stacks of ballots of about 100 ballots each from a cardboard box marked “Box No. 5 — Absentee — Batch Numbers 28-36.” She said these ballots “came from the ballot [drop] boxes that had been placed throughout Fulton County.”

  “Most of the ballots had already been handled; they had been written on by people, and the edges were worn. They showed obvious use,” she wrote in her Nov. 17 affidavit. “However, one batch stood out. It was pristine. There was a difference in the texture of the paper,” and these mail-in ballots hadn’t been folded even though they ostensibly had been removed from envelopes.

  All but three of the 110 ballots in the bundle — which had been labeled “State Farm Arena” — were marked for Biden and appeared to be “identical ballots.”

  The most “alarming peculiarity” was the identically marked ovals next to Biden’s name. In every ballot, “The bubble next to ‘Joseph R. Biden’ had a slight white eclipse in the bubble,” she said, leading her to believe that the batch of 107 Biden ballots had been “copied” from a single ballot.

  Voyles speculated that “additional absentee ballots had been added [for Biden] in a fraudulent manner” at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta on election night.

  The void she and other auditors witnessed in the exact same spot of the oval filled in on 107 ballots for Biden “was alarming to us,” Voyles said in an RCI interview. “Every single bubble was precisely alike. I had never seen that before in 20 years” of election monitoring.

  But when she and other recount workers raised concerns with county election officials, “we were told not to worry about it,” she said. “They seemed uninterested in the [integrity of the] ballots.”

  After Voyles later blew the whistle in affidavits and state election hearings, she was fired as a poll manager by the Fulton County Department of Elections. “I got the boot for speaking the truth,” she told RCI.

  Robin Hall, a certified Fulton County recount observer, also testified she witnessed a number of boxes of absentee ballots marked “100% for Biden” that appeared to be “perfectly filled out as if they were pre-printed with the presidential candidate selected.” She stated: “They did not look like a person had filled this out at home.  All of them looked alike.”

  Judy Aube also worked at the World Congress Center on Nov. 14 where she observed the same thing: “suspicious batches” of mail-in ballots for Biden whose markings appeared identical, as if they had been duplicated by a machine and not filled out by a voter at home.

  Barbara Hartman, another election official auditor, also doubted the authenticity of absentee ballots she handled that she said were never folded, as would normally be the case for ballots returned in an envelope by mail or dropped in a box. “The absentee ballots looked as though they had just come from a fresh stack,” she swore in her affidavit. “I could not observe any creases in the ballots and [it] did not seem like they were folded and put into envelopes or mailed out.”  Also, “The majority of the mail-in ballots that I reviewed contained suspicious black perfectly bubbled markings for Biden,” Hartman stated, adding that “they looked as if they were stamped.”

  The veteran poll watchers found no plausible explanation for the anomalies other than possible fraud.

  However, election officials have offered an explanation for why the mail-in ballots examined in the stacks did not have folds or creases. They say ballots are sometimes copied onto other paper when they are too damaged to be fed through one of the scanning machines during tabulation. The mailed ballots can be torn or crumpled by postal workers during delivery or by poll workers while opening them and removing them from envelopes, which could prevent the machines from reading them.

  

  From controversial video at State Farm Arena, Atlanta, showing ballots being pulled from under tables. WSB-TV/YouTube

  But Favorito suspects the hundreds, if not thousands, of allegedly duplicate absentee ballots for Biden might be connected to spikes in votes for Biden he observed late on election night in Fulton County after election officials cleared monitors from State Farm Arena and pulled cases full of ballots out from under tables and began scanning them.

  “There’s always the chance it was an inside job,” said Favorito, a career IT professional who’s been a leading advocate for Georgia election integrity over the past two decades.

  On Nov. 3, Fulton County elections officials informed monitors that they were shutting down the State Farm tabulation center before midnight, only to continue counting throughout the night while no one was watching.

  “Election workers don’t bring ballots in after the supervisor has delayed processing until the morning, hide them under a table and then bring them out for scanning and tabulation after the supervisor tells [monitors] they are done scanning for the evening and they go home,” Favorito said.

  “Once scanning [was] completed, an election line feed showed an unprecedented vote spike that turned the election in favor of Biden,” he added. In fact, “just over a half hour after workers scanned the potentially fraudulent ballots, an election line feed showed a 100,000-plus vote spike for Biden.”

  “Where did those ballots come from and why did they handle them so suspiciously?” Favorito asked.

  Voyles noted that the county elections supervisor who oversaw the secret scanning of the cases full of ballots also helps run the warehouse where the suspect ballots are being stored.

  Phone calls and emails to Fulton County went unanswered.

  Similar Anomalies, Other Counties

  Favorito pointed out that the potential for counterfeit ballots exists in other Georgia counties, not just Fulton.

  In fact, two Democrat poll workers blew the whistle on similar anomalies they witnessed in neighboring DeKalb and Cobb counties, where the election process also is controlled by Democrats.

  Carlos E. Silva, for one, declared in a Nov. 17 affidavit that he observed a similar “perfect black bubble” in absentee ballots for Biden during the recount he worked in DeKalb County. And while overseeing the Cobb County recount, he swore he “observed absentee ballots being reviewed with the same perfect bubble that I had seen the night before in DeKalb. All of these ballots had the same characteristics: they were all for Biden and had the same perfect bubble.”

  Added Silva, a registered Democrat: “There were thousands of [mail-in] ballots that just had the perfect bubble marked for Biden and no other markings in the rest of the ballot.”

  Another registered Democrat, Mayra Romera, testified that while monitoring the Cobb County recount, she noticed that “hundreds of these ballots seemed impeccable, with no folds or creases. The bubble selections were perfectly made … and all happened to be selections for Biden.”

  In a recent article pooh-poohing complaints of fraud in Georgia, as well as Arizona, the New York Times portrayed Favorito as “a known conspiracy theorist” and suggested he was a 9/11 truther. As evidence, it cited a 2002 book he published “questioning the origin of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”

  Asked about it, Favorito responded: “My book did not propose any theories on what happened on 9/11. I don’t mention anything about explosives” planted in the World Trade Center, as truthers have baselessly speculated. Rather, he said, he questioned Bush family business connections with the bin Laden family and other wealthy Saudis, and argued that the war on terror benefited the Bushes. He also faulted the Bush administration for “obstructing” FBI investigations into the attacks.

  Favorito says he is a “constitutionalist” and neither a Republican nor a Trump supporter.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/09/2021 – 00:05

• "National Exotic Dancer Shortage" Forces New Orleans Strip Club To Offer Signing Bonuses 
  “National Exotic Dancer Shortage” Forces New Orleans Strip Club To Offer Signing Bonuses 

  Joe Biden’s Universal Basic Income is worsening the unprecedented nationwide labor shortage that even strip clubs face difficulties in hiring. 

  According to local news Fox 8 New Orleans, Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club New Orleans is experiencing what they say is a “national exotic dancer shortage.” Like any business facing difficulties filling positions, the club is offering signing bonuses. 

  “We look forward to reverting back to a seven-day per week operation, just as we were prior to COVID,” said Ann Kesler, General Manager of Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club New Orleans.

  

  Kesler said, “In order to do so, we need to ensure that we have an ample number of entertainers to sustain our guests, which is why we are implementing a signing incentive to both local and out of state entertainers.”

  She said the club is offering up to a $1,000 signing bonus to any new or returning “entertainer,” or commonly known as a stripper. 

  “Believe it or not, New Orleans has everything besides exotic dancers at this time,” Kesler added. “I urge entertainers to contact me for their signing bonus as the city quickly gears towards full capacity.”

  

  The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on sex workers was some of the hardest hit. The stripping industry was decimated for more than a year as direct physical contact and gatherings were limited or banned by states and or cities. Some strippers had enough savings and clientele to weather the pandemic, and others resorted to webcam modeling as supplemental income. Meanwhile, some slipped through the cracks and either left the industry to retool their skills in another industry or have been collecting Biden checks, unwilling to go back to work. 

  After trillions in Biden stimulus, millions of people are not seeking gainful employment but sitting back waiting for the next stimmy check. 

  Strip clubs are no exception to the nationwide labor shortage as they must offer signing bonuses. The dancer shortage is also hitting Las Vegas’ Little Darlings strip club, which recently posted a sign that read: “Stripper Shortage! Now Accepting Ugly Girls.” 

  The stripper shortage threatens to derail our economic recovery pic.twitter.com/c6MM947i4l

  — Las Vegas Locally 🌴 (@LasVegasLocally) June 2, 2021

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 23:45

• What Is The FBI Hiding About The DC Pipe Bomb Suspect?
  What Is The FBI Hiding About The DC Pipe Bomb Suspect?

  Authored by Techno Fog via The Reactionary

  

  It has been over five months and the FBI still has not apprehended the hooded suspect who placed pipe bombs near the RNC and DNC headquarters in Washington, D.C. on the evening of January 5, 2021.

  The FBI’s latest wanted poster provides photographs and few identifying characteristics of the suspect:

  

  There are, however, some curious omissions in the FBI’s description. By now, we assume the FBI (if it has done a thorough investigation) has the suspect’s height, approximate weight, and shoe size.

  Why not disclose that information to the public?

  Calculating height from video footage is a simple matter of geometry. I won’t get into the details of the calculations. But in general, this graphic from the FBI’s Best Practices for Forensic Image Analysis shows the analysis done to determine the height of a bank robbery suspect.

  

  In the DC pipe bomb case, the suspect was seen on video standing on a DC street on South Capitol Street on the night of January 5. From this camera angle, the suspect’s height is roughly even with the height of a nearby handrail. Not a complicated problem for the FBI’s experts to solve.

  

  Once the suspect’s height is measured against the fixed object, it could be compared against and confirmed by use of the measurements from the resident seen on video walking his dog. (We assume that the FBI has located and interviewed this resident.)

  

  By now the FBI also likely has a shoe size. Again, based on video footage this would be a simple measurement. Photograph for reference.

  

  Currently, the FBI has a $100,000 reward for information leading to the identification of this suspect.

  The FBI has pleaded with the public, saying “We need your help to identify the individual responsible for placing these pipe bombs to ensure that they will not harm themselves or anyone else.”

  We reached out to the FBI, asking if they would release the suspect’s height and weight and shoe size. This information is essential to help the public identify the suspect.

  The FBI’s response: “The FBI has no further information to supply on this matter other than what has already been released.”

  

  Why keep the suspect’s identifying information under wraps?

  A couple possibilities. First, the FBI’s investigation is probably further along than any of us know. They’re collecting data on purchases of the suspect’s Nike Air Max Speed Turf and the timers, etc. used to make the pipe bombs. From that data they cross-reference travel, locations on 1/5/2021, height, shoe size, etc.

  Second, maybe there’s something else to this story. The FBI has always been sensitive to its public perception and controls information to serve that purpose. For example, the FBI has never been forthcoming about its agents’ involvement with terror suspects. Or, consider whether the pipe bomb investigation would cut against the politics of January 6. I take no pleasure in skepticism of the FBI, but this is a reputation the FBI has earned.

  Either way, this outside observer can’t help but notice that one group of targets – those who entered the Capitol Building on January 6 – are pursued in the public sphere more aggressively than the person who set out pipe bombs the night before.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 23:25

• "Joints For Jabs": Washington State Bribes Residents To Get Covid Vaccine With Marijuana
  “Joints For Jabs”: Washington State Bribes Residents To Get Covid Vaccine With Marijuana

  The great state of Washington has given permission to licensed retailers to hand out free marijuana to residents who get vaccination at in-store clinics.

  While we have documented numerous other states offering up lottery-style cash prizes for residents getting vaccinated, Washington has been the first to try and entice people by using a drug that still isn’t legal on a federal level. 

  The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board is calling the program “Joints for Jabs”, according to a Newsweek report. The WA Liquor and Cannabis board Tweeted out the news Monday night. 

  Media Release: LCB Allows “Joints for Jabs” Promotions to Support Vaccinations https://t.co/v9bvcnuIJw

  — WA Liquor & Cannabis Board (@WSLCB) June 7, 2021

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  “In an effort to support COVID-19 vaccinations, the Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) today announced that it would provide a temporary allowance to state licensed cannabis retailers to provide one joint to adult consumers who receive a vaccination at an in-store vaccination clinic,” the press release reads. 

  It continues: “Participating cannabis retailers may only provide a pre-roll joint, and no other product may be provided as part of this allowance.”

  

  Other rules include:

  • Any cannabis joint provided to a customer must be associated with an active vaccine clinic event at the retail location.
  • Only one complimentary joint may be provided to a customer who receives a first or second COVID-19 vaccine dose at the event.
  • Receipt of the complimentary joint must occur during the same visit as receiving the vaccination, and may not be delayed, postponed, or otherwise acquired at a later date or time.
  • Retailers may only provide the complementary joint to persons 21 years of age and older.
  • Any vaccine clinic held inside a licensed retail location must comply with all age restriction requirements for the cannabis retailer.
  • The cannabis joint must be provided by a retailer, and not a producer or processor.

  And if you’re a drinker, and not a smoker, it doesn’t look like Washington’s LCB discriminates. The board also recently “provided an allowance for a beer, wine or cocktail to be provided at no cost for those vaccinated by June 30.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 23:05

• Texas Bans Businesses From Requiring "Vaccine Passports"
  Texas Bans Businesses From Requiring “Vaccine Passports”

  Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times,

  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed into law a bill to ban government entities and private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination as a condition for service or entry amid the CCP virus pandemic.

  “Texas is open 100 percent, and we want to make sure you have the freedom to go where you want without limits,” the Republican governor announced in a video post on Twitter.

  The Lone Star state in March ended its statewide mask mandate and allowed all businesses to open at full capacity after having implemented mandates and restrictions due to the pandemic caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

  

  Abbott announced on Monday with the signing of the legislation that “No business or government entity can require a person to provide a vaccine passport or any other vaccine information as a condition of receiving any service or entering any place.”

  The new law SB 968 covers many aspects of the public health disaster and public health emergency preparedness and response. It was approved unanimously in April and was passed by a vote of 146-2 by the state House in May.

  Effective immediately, Texas businesses “may not require a customer to provide any documentation certifying the customer ’s COVID-19 vaccination or post-transmission recovery on entry to, to gain access to, or to receive service from the business,” the legislation states. State agencies in charge of different business sectors can require that businesses comply with the new law as a condition to be authorized to conduct business in Texas.

  Furthermore, businesses that don’t comply with the law will not be able to enter any state contracts and will be ineligible to receive a grant.

  Businesses can still implement their own COVID-19 infection control protocols “in accordance with state and federal law to protect public health.”

  Abbott had signed an executive order in April that banned government entities from requiring vaccine passports as a condition to receive services or gain entry to premises. The order included any private businesses that receive public funding. But the executive order did not apply to entirely private businesses, which the new law covers with regard to vaccine passports.

  The Carnival Cruise Line said in its latest announcement on Monday that “current CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] requirements for cruising with a guest base that is unvaccinated will make it very difficult to deliver the experience our guests expect.” Therefore, it said it would be restarting its operations for vaccinated passengers with its cruise ship leaving from Texas’s Port of Galveston on July 3.

  

  The cruise ships “Carnival Sunrise” (L) and “Carnival Vista” (R) part of the Carnival Cruise Line, are seen moored at a quay in the port of Miami, Florida, on Dec. 23, 2020. (Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images)

  The cruise liner’s decision is in accordance with federal guidelines published by the CDC, which recently stipulated that if cruise liners are to obtain a conditional sailing certificate for simulated (“trial”) voyages amid the CCP virus pandemic, their volunteer passengers must have proof of being fully vaccinated, or written documentation that the passenger has no medical conditions to be at high risk for severe COVID-19 as defined by the CDC’s guidelines.

  It is unclear as of Monday how the new law will affect the cruise liner’s plans.

  “We are evaluating the legislation recently signed into law in Texas regarding vaccine information,” Carnival spokesperson Vance Gulliksen told the Houston Chronicle in an email. “The law provides exceptions for when a business is implementing COVID protocols in accordance with federal law, which is consistent with our plans to comply with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s guidelines.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 22:45

• WHO Chief Scientist Served Legal Notice In India For Allegedly Suppressing Data On Drug To Treat COVID-19
  WHO Chief Scientist Served Legal Notice In India For Allegedly Suppressing Data On Drug To Treat COVID-19

  Authored by Meiling Lee via The Epoch Times,

  The Indian Bar Association has taken legal action against the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan for her alleged role in spreading disinformation on the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19.

  

  World Health Organization’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan looks on during an interview with AFP in Geneva on May 8, 2021. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

  The association served a legal notice (pdf) on Swaminathan on May 25, claiming that she was “spreading disinformation and misguiding the people of India, in order to fulfill her agenda” and sought to prevent her from “causing further damage.”

  They further say that Swaminathan, in her statements against the use of ivermectin, ignored research and clinical trials from two organizations – the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care (FLCCC) Alliance and the British Ivermectin Recommendation Development (BIRD) – who have presented solid data showing ivermectin prevents and treats COVID-19.

  “Dr. Soumya Swaminathan has ignored these studies/reports and has deliberately suppressed the data regarding effectiveness of the drug Ivermectin, with an intent to dissuade the people of India from using Ivermectin,” the plaintiff said in a statement (pdf).

  In a May 10 tweet that has since been deleted after the notice was issued, Swaminathan wrote, “Safety and efficacy are important when using any drug for a new indication. WHO recommends against the use of ivermectin for COVID-19 except within clinical trials.”

  Swaminathan made the Twitter post soon after Goa’s health minister announced that every Goa resident 18 and older would be given ivermectin as prevention regardless of their COVID-19 status, as part of the state government’s effort to stop the transmission of the virus. India has been hit hard in the second wave of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic beginning in March 2021.

  The legal notice calls for a clear response from Swaminathan on a number of key points, and the association said that in the case of a failure to provide a clear response, it reserves the right to initiate prosecution under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Disaster Management Act, 2005.

  The WHO’s chief scientist didn’t reply to a request for comment.

  

  A health worker shows a box containing a bottle of Ivermectin, a medicine authorized by the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (INVIMA) to treat patients with mild, asymptomatic, or suspicious COVID-19, as part of a study of the Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases Studies, in Cali, Colombia, on July 21, 2020. (Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images)

  A link to Merck’s statement on ivermectin was also included in Swaminathan’s tweet. The pharmaceutical company that developed the anti-parasitic drug in the 1980s and held a patent until 1996 said in February of this year that the available data did not support the efficacy and safety of ivermectin beyond what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved it for.

  Merck, in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is conducting a Phase 3 trial of an investigational anti-viral drug molnupiravir, which the company says has shown to reduce infectious viruses quicker in COVID-19 outpatients. But unlike ivermectin, molnupiravir demonstrated no clinical benefit in hospitalized patients.

  The trial is expected to complete later this October and Merck said it will apply for an emergency authorization use for the drug if results are favorable.

  Researchers are hoping that molnupiravir will impair the CCP virus’s ability to replicate so as to prevent severe illness and hospitalization, something that ivermectin has demonstrated to do in a meta-analysis of 57 clinical trials involving more than 18,000 patients, according to ivmmeta.com, a website that provides real-time meta-analysis of ivermectin studies.

  In 23 early treatment studies, there was a 78 percent improvement in patients given ivermectin, and in 14 preventative trials, an 85 percent improvement was shown. As for the studies involving late treatment, there was a 45 percent improvement in 20 studies.

  Proponents of ivermectin say the drug can treat all stages of COVID-19 and reduce hospitalization and mortality rates due to its anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties. But there has been pushback on approving the drug as a COVID-19 treatment by the United States federal health authorities and the WHO.

  The FDA says it hasn’t approved ivermectin for COVID-19 and issued a warning in early March informing people to not take the drug meant for animals, as the larger doses intended for animals may be harmful to humans.

  While the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest medical research agency, is neither recommending for or against using ivermectin to treat COVID-19 in its updated guideline in February. This comes after members of the FLCCC Alliance presented their data to the agency at the beginning of the year.

  In April, the NIH announced it would fund a large randomized, controlled study of seven repurposed drugs to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 patients. The research agency said it will begin enrolling for its Phase 3 trial on ivermectin this month.

  “Trial enrollment is expected to open this month, and the trial is expected to run for up to 2 years,” an NIH spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

  The WHO, in its Living Guideline, has advised against the use of ivermectin except in a clinical setting, citing inconclusive data similar to both the FDA and the NIH.

  “The current evidence on the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 patients is inconclusive,” the WHO said in a press release.

  “Until more data is available, WHO recommends that the drug only be used within clinical trials.”

  Dr. Pierre Kory, President and Chief Medical Officer of the FLCCC Alliance claims there is a concerted effort to censor information on the effectiveness of ivermectin against COVID-19, a disease caused by the CCP virus.

  “There are forces that are seeking to make sure that ivermectin is not accepted widely as an effective therapy,” Kory said in an interview on June 1.

  “We have randomized [trials], you have observational [studies], you have case series, you have epidemiologic analyses, and then the clinical experience of doctors. You can’t find a doctor who has incorporated ivermectin into their treatments who will come back and say my patients didn’t get better, you can’t find that doctor,” he added.

  

  A screenshot of the results of a meta-analysis of 57 clinical trials on the use of ivermectin in COVID-19 patients, from ivemmeta.com. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

  While ivermectin is yet to be approved as a treatment for COVID-19, doctors around the world, including in the United States, are offering the drug to their patients. And for doctors who refuse to administer the drug to patients suffering severe COVID-19, judges have had to order them to do so.

  In their legal notice, the Indian Bar Association cited the case of 80-year-old Judith Smentkiewicz, who made a full recovery after being on a ventilator and told she only had a 20 percent chance of survival. Her family obtained a court order that allowed her to receive additional doses of ivermectin after doctors were hesitant to give her more than one dose, according to Buffalo News.

  Smentkiewic’s family and attorneys say they believe that ivermectin saved her life.

  Ivermectin is on the WHO’s list of essential medicines and has a high safety profile with more than 3.7 billion doses having been distributed in over 30 years.

  Since the drug was first given to humans in 1987, there have only been 4,600 adverse events and 16 deaths reported on the pharmacovigilance database, according to Dr. Tess Lawrie in an interview on March 6. Lawrie is director of Evidence-based Medicine Consultancy Ltd. and co-founder of the BIRD panel, which includes international expert scientists and doctors who are advocating for the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19.

  Remdesivir, an anti-viral drug, is the only FDA-approved therapy for treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The drug has shown no effect on mortality and a minuscule benefit on time of recovery that even the WHO has recommended against its use last November.

  A treatment course of remdesivir is a little over $3,000, while ivermectin ranges between $3 to $12 a treatment, according to Kory.

  He also said that places in India where ivermectin is used preventatively or as early treatment, such as Goa and Uttar Pradesh, are seeing COVID-19 cases declining versus states that have banned the drug.

  “Every one of those states, the curves are now precipitously declining,” said Kory.

  “But there’s a state in India called Tamil Nadu whose minister there basically effectively outlawed ivermectin and went all-in on remdesivir, bought a whole bunch of remdesivir, [and] the cases and deaths in that state are skyrocketing,” he added.

  The Epoch Times has reached out to the chief minister in Tamil Nadu for comment.

  According to data by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, Tamil Nadu saw 20,421 new cases and 434 deaths on June 6, while Goa recorded 403 new cases and 16 deaths, and Uttar Pradesh reported 1,037 cases and 85 deaths.

  Uttar Pradesh, one of the most populous states in India with over 200 million people, has been handing out free medical kits containing seven days’ worth of medication, one of which is ivermectin, for COVID-19 positive patients under home isolation.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 22:25

• China Launches Price Controls After Red Hot Inflation, Highest PPI Since Lehman Collapse
  China Launches Price Controls After Red Hot Inflation, Highest PPI Since Lehman Collapse

  Update 10:00pm ET: moments after reporting a red hot PPI which was the highest since Lehman, China effectively launched price controls, with China’s economic planning agency vowing to increase supply of key consumer goods to stabilize prices, according to a statement on NDRC website on a national video meeting Tuesday.

  • *CHINA VOWS TO CONTROL CORN, WHEAT, PORK PRICES AFTER PPI SURGE
  • *CHINA TO KEEP PRICES OF GOODS LINKED TO LIVELIHOOD STABLE: NDRC

  From the NDRC statement:

  It was recently approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Market Supervision, Food and Reserves Bureau and other 6 departments jointly issued and implemented. In order to do a good job of implementation, on June 8, the National Development and Reform Commission held a national video conference…

  The meeting pointed out that the Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the price control of important livelihood commodities. In recent years, the price control mechanism for important livelihood commodities has been continuously improved, and remarkable results have been achieved in the work of ensuring supply and stabilizing prices. However, the production, supply, storage and sales of important livelihood commodities have a long chain, many links, and a wide range of coverage. The characteristics of “small production and large market” are prominent. In the face of natural disasters, market risks, and emergencies, prices are prone to rise and fall. It is necessary to speed up the improvement of the price control mechanism of important livelihood commodities, continuously improve the ability to maintain supply and stabilize prices, effectively resolve the impact of livelihood commodity supply and price fluctuations on people’s lives, better meet the people’s growing needs for a better life, and effectively enhance the people’s sense of gain, sense of happiness and security.

  Production, distribution, consumption and other links, give full play to the role of government, market, society, etc., use economic, legal, administrative and other means to improve the ability and level of price control, and effectively guarantee the effective supply of important livelihood commodities and the overall stability of prices.

  The meeting also analyzed the current and future price situation, made comprehensive arrangements for this year’s work to ensure the supply and price stabilization of important livelihood commodities, combined with the improvement of the price control mechanism of important livelihood commodities, and focused on key points such as corn, wheat, edible oil, pork, and vegetables. Promote the effective connection of production, supply, storage, and sales. At the same time, we will actively do a good job in the regulation of the bulk commodity market, strengthen market supervision, and make every effort to ensure sufficient supply of important people’s livelihood commodities and basically stable prices.

  And now that China is officially setting prices, expect black markets for everything which the government is micromanaging to emerge and lead shortages that will make the current batch of supply-chain bottlenecks look like a walk in the park.

  * * *

  As noted in the preview of today’s potentially “shocking” China inflation data, moments ago Beijing reported that while CPI came in just softer than expected at 1.3% Y/Y, below the 1.6% consensus, or PPI – or factory-gate inflation – came in at a scorching 9.0% as a result of surging commodity prices. That number was higher than the consensus estimate of 8.5% and was the highest since September 2008, just around the time Lehman collapsed. Also of note, the spread between the CPI and PPI growth rates, a metric highlighted earlier today in Gundlach’s Doubleline call, rose further and hit the highest level since 1993.

  

  Looking at the CPI side, the number came in less than expected thanks to a mute core component which rose just 0.90%, while the food inflation tracker rose a modest 1.65%, a far cry from the soaring, double-digit food inflation from one year ago when sky high pork prices nuked the food basket.

  

  The bigger problem for China is that PPI came in just shy of the record print of 10%…

  

  … and since CPI remains dormant, it is clear that Chinese factories are still absorbing rising costs rather than passing them on, which means it is only a matter of time before industrial profits plummet.

  

  From China’s perspective, as long as CPI remains subdued, there is no crisis. As for soaring PPIs, as noted earlier, the prevailing view is that such sharp gains in producer prices are a short-term phenomenon driven by the restarting of economies and supply constraints, although increasingly more analysts are issuing loud warnings that higher prices may become more sustained.

  It is the concern that the PBOC will sooner or later have to intervene and contain imported inflation by tightening conditions further (and/or hiking rates), that has depressed local markets, and has sent the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index falling for five straight days, the longest losing streak since September. In June, the gauge is among the worst performing global benchmarks, along with the CSI 300 Index of mainland-listed firms. Meanwhile, the government bond market also starting to lose altitude, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note increasing the most in six months on Friday.

  And while we don’t expect any activity from the PBOC for the near future, the big question is how can Chinese companies pretend all is well, before the surge in commodity prices which is not passed on to consumers (courtesy of repeated taps on the shoulder from Beijing) sends profit margins plunging and sparks yet another Chinese crash.

  

  * * *

  Authored by Sofia Horta e Costa, Bloomberg reporter and commentator

  China is about to unveil closely-watched inflation data, and, as in much of the world, policy makers will be hoping accelerating prices are transitory.

  Figures due 9:30 a.m. local time will show China’s producer-price index rose to 8.5% in May, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists, the highest reading since Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008.

  

  Economists are sanguine about the risks right now. Chinese factories are still absorbing rising costs rather than passing them on. The result is the consumer price index probably only rose to 1.6%, the survey shows.

  That’s good news for a central bank that, according to ANZ Banking, lacks tools to deal with such supply-side price pressures. Globally, the prevailing view is that such sharp gains in producer prices is a short-term phenomenon driven by the restarting of economies and supply constraints, although warnings are growing that higher prices may become more sustained.

  Beijing is dealing with a number of fronts at once as a result of pandemic-era stimulus. Much of the money pumped by central banks around the world is making its way into China’s borders, complicating Beijing’s efforts to put a lid on prices without abandoning market reforms. This has led to a tricky balance of using strong rhetoric and market expectation management instead of blunt intervention when it comes to tackling overheating in the yuan, crypto, housing and raw materials.

  Wariness is creeping into the nation’s financial markets. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index has fallen for five straight days, the longest losing streak since September. In June, the gauge is among the worst performing global benchmarks, along with the CSI 300 Index of mainland-listed firms.

  China’s currency too has turned bearish after a strong rally pushed the PBOC to act to curb gains. The offshore yuan has lost 0.5% this month, the most in Asia. The government bond market is equally losing altitude, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note increasing the most in six months on Friday.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 21:58

• 40M Americans Bracing For End Of Student Loan Moratorium As Politicians Acknowledge "Unsustainable" Debt
  40M Americans Bracing For End Of Student Loan Moratorium As Politicians Acknowledge “Unsustainable” Debt

  President Joe Biden is still reportedly mulling whether to cancel up to $10K in student debt per borrower, a plan that, as we have pointed out in the past, would mostly benefit the Democrats’ wealthier, college-educated voters.

  In Congress, several plans were kicked around earlier his year before President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus was ultimately passed. But analysts at Goldman Sachs believe a more scaled-down plan is the most likely. With the moratorium on student loan payments set to expire on Oct. 1, a critical headwind that has allowed (mostly middle-class) Americans to bolster their savings substantially.

  

  According to Bloomberg, “there’s an unwelcome side of the return of business-as-usual after the pandemic: They’ll have to start repaying their student loans again.”

  “More than 40 million holders of federal loans are due to start making monthly installments again on Oct. 1, when the freeze imposed as part of Covid-19 relief measures is due to run out. It covered payments worth about $7 billion a month, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimated. Their resumption will eat a chunk out of household budgets, in a potential drag on the consumer recovery.”

  The problem is that even before the pandemic started, Americans were starting to slack on their student loan payments. In a sense, politicians were fortunate when COVID-19 hit, if only because it gave the government cover to impose the moratorium.

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Politicians already recognize that America’s student debt burden is already unsustainable. Of the government’s $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio, almost one-third is unpaid. That $435 billion is comparable to the $535 billion that private lenders lost on subprime mortgages during the 2008 financial crisis.

  Repaying is especially difficult when recent graduates are finding trouble earning high wages in the labor market And with the US economy is still 7.6 million jobs short of pre-pandemic levels, many more of them are likely to be out of work now..

  Minority borrowers and older borrowers also struggled to keep up with payments before the pandemic.

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  And with today’s desperate drop in bitcoin along with several meme stocks, a critical lifeline for retail traders is now in jeopardy. Young people who are already living with their parents because of their onerous student debt are wondering if they’ll soon need to get a second (or, for some, a first).

  The notion that college degrees have become an asset with diminishing returns (given the proliferation of low-value Liberal Arts degrees) has started to spread.

  Many Democrats like Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have called for write-offs of $50,000 or more per borrower. Local leaders are pressuring the Biden administration to take action. Even some Republicans have joined the cause, including  Wayne Johnson, the Trump Administration’s first student-aid chief, who said the student-loan system is fundamentally broken. He proposed not just $50K in debt relief, but also a similar sum in tax credits to those who paid off their loans already.

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Of course, none of this will fix the overall system, and instead could encourage students to irresponsibly pile on more education-related debt.

  For this reason, Biden has resisted calls to cancel loans via EO. In early April, he asked Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to prepare a memo on the president’s legal authority to cancel debt.

  Still, as millions struggle, a few students who spoke with Bloomberg talked about feeling like they’re “in a relationship” with their student debt.

  Other steps the government has taken include allowing employers to contribute toward monthly student loan payments as a tax-free benefit. The pandemic relief bill in March last year allowed firms to reimburse employees up to $5,250 annually.

  Malia Rivera, a 46-year old marketing executive with Austin, Texas-based Innovetive Petcare, says her employer has partnered with GiftofCollege.com, a platform that bridges automatic payroll deductions to student loans and college savings accounts.

  Rivera says she’s made sure to keep up the payments on her own student loan even through the freeze. She says she’s learned after “racking up late fees over the years and navigating the trials and tribulations of career advancement” that automatic deductions as soon as she gets paid are the best route — and it’s helped lower her balance to about $8,000 from $38,000. 

  That took time. “I have been in a ‘long-term relationship’ with my student loan,” says Rivera, recalling the initial payment that she made in the first month of her marriage. “My husband is celebrating his 15-year anniversary with me…and my student loan.”

  The year-plus loan-payment moratorium was a welcome respite. But the debt for most borrowers is still there. Fortunately, with Dems still in the driver’s seat, it’s likelier than ever a jubilee will arrive eventually – just like reparations –  once all the studies have been finished and the reports are in.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 21:45

• Watch: Kamala Harris Snaps At NBC Host After Being Caught In Border Lie
  Watch: Kamala Harris Snaps At NBC Host After Being Caught In Border Lie

  Things aren’t going so well for Vice President Kamala Harris during her Guatemala trip, where as we observed earlier she went full Trump mode in a speech before Guatemalan press: “…I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States Mexico border: Do not come, do not come,” she said.

  Simultaneously NBC News published a sit-down interview between Harris and news anchor Lester Holt which took place during the trip. He pressed her on why she hadn’t visited the border and that’s where things quickly got testy…

  Given she was recently “put in charge” of the crisis, Holt had asked simply whether she had any near future plans to visit the US-Mexico border – a line of inquiry which she clearly took offense to.

  “We are going to the border, we’ve been to the border. So this whole – this whole thing about the border, we’ve been to the border, we’ve been to the border,” Harris said

  “You haven’t been to the border,” Holt accurately shot back.

  A visibly upset Harris then came back with a retort that was awkward at best: “And I haven’t been to Europe, and I don’t understand the point that you’re making,” she snapped. “I’m not discounting the importance of the border,” she claimed while continuing to lose her cool.

  WATCH → Kamala Harris jokes that she hasn’t been to Europe either when even NBC News confronted her about why she still hasn’t visited the border.

  This is a crisis we’re talking about—not a vacation. pic.twitter.com/YTMhtP6s1F

  — Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) June 8, 2021

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  Her irritation appeared to stem from being caught in the lie, given the whole tense exchange had been kicked off with the following: 

  “The question that has come up and you heard it here and you’ll hear it again I’m sure, is, ‘Why not visit the border? Why not see what Americans are seeing in this crisis?'” Holt wondered aloud.

  “Well, we are going to the border,” Harris responded. “We have to deal with what’s happening at the border, there’s no question about that. That’s not a debatable point. But we have to understand that there’s a reason people are arriving at our border and ask what is that reason and then identify the problem so we can fix it.”

  As we noted earlier, Kamala Harris’s enormous ego and disturbing lack of self-awareness had quite the weekend.

  I thought someone gave Kamala cookies that look like her.

  That would’ve been a cute gift.

  Instead, she gave cookies that look like her to other people.

  That’s a narcissistic AF and a totally weird gift. https://t.co/cyeW2ZvmFK

  — Lauren Chen (@TheLaurenChen) June 7, 2021

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  For one, while en route to Guatemala she walked to the back of Air Force 2 on D-Day and handed out cookies of herself donning a distinctive pearl necklace and frosted face, prompting condemnation and ridicule from Twitter users far and wide.

  Then, upon touching down in Guatemala to meet with foreign leaders about what can be done to stem the influx of illegal immigrants into the United States, the Vice President was greeted by protesters bearing signs. “Trump Won” , “Stop Funding Criminals” , and “Kamala Go Home” were among them, according to the Floridian Press.

  * * *

  Fixed that faceless Kamala Harris cookie. pic.twitter.com/vHpZwmGBxz

  — ForAmerica (@ForAmerica) June 7, 2021

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 21:44

• Anti-Pipeline Activists Including Jane Fonda Seize Minnesota Construction Site, Strap Selves To Bulldozers
  Anti-Pipeline Activists Including Jane Fonda Seize Minnesota Construction Site, Strap Selves To Bulldozers

  A group of young climate activists met shortly after sunrise in Mahnomen, Minnesota to conduct several ‘missions’ in a civil disobedience campaign to try and stop a border-crossing oil pipeline which will run across the wetlands and forests of northern Minnesota.

  People chained themselves to equipment and occupied a pump station in Minnesota as part of protests against the Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline being built from Canada to the U.S.

  Critics say the project would worsen the climate emergency, risk oil spills & infringe on tribal land. pic.twitter.com/wYlHpM5Rpe

  — AJ+ (@ajplus) June 8, 2021

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  Using various code names – and operations “marmalade” and “peanut butter” being of particularly high risk, according to the Washington Post – the protesters planned to descend on an undisclosed location along a pipeline route known as “Line 3.”

  

  Dozens of cars were soon caravanning down dusty dirt roads amid corn and soybean fields in the largest salvo yet in an ongoing civil disobedience campaign to try to stop a border-crossing oil pipeline running from Canada across the wetlands and forests of northern Minnesota.

  By midmorning, hundreds of protesters, led by Native American women and joined by celebrities such as Jane Fonda and Catherine Keener, had marched into a construction site operated by Enbridge, the Canadian company behind the pipeline, and strapped themselves to bulldozers and other heavy machinery. -WaPo

  “Good morning water protectors!” shouted Native American attorney Tara Houska – a leader of the Line 3 protests, as she addressed the group and crossed into a pump station used to electrify the pipeline, according to organizers.

  Indigenous activists have been a driving force in the conflict over Line 3, as they see a two-pronged threat, “a carbon-producing fossil fuel project at a time of worsening climate change and one that also risks polluting tribal lands in the headwaters of the Mississippi River.” The group has been emboldened by victories such as the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, as well as gatherings at Standing Rock. They hope to similarly pressure the Biden administration into suspending the pipeline permit before Enbridge can complete the project.

  

  “Biden has taken a very clear and very beautiful position on the climate crisis,” said activist and Vietnam-era traitor Jane Fonda during her second trip to protest Line 3. “But we are really facing a potential catastrophe, and the science is very clear: it’s not enough to do something good here — like shutdown Keystone XL, shut down drilling on the Arctic national refuge — and then allow Line 3 to go through.”

  “We can’t do this in bits and pieces,” she added.

  Jane Fonda encouraging ppl to mess w/ critical US infrastructurepic.twitter.com/xKA6uL50XG

  — maggie battles (@maggiebattlesxo) June 8, 2021

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  The activists have thus far made little progress in impeding the $4 billion project to replace a decades-old pipeline, as well as add new portions to various endpoints. The 350-mile Line 3 project stands at around 60% complete, while some 4,000 construction workers (a growing figure) are spread between five different areas of the project.

  Enbridge director of tribal engagement in the US, Paul Elberth, said that the ongoing protests haven’t “had a significant impact on construction,” adding “Obviously it’s stressful when people are out protesting or if they’re doing damage to equipment or being disrespectful for the workforce.”

  “Construction largely has proceeded as planned.”

  Enbridge responded to the protest, saying in a statement: “We recognize people have strong feelings about the energy we all use, and they have the right to express their opinions legally and peacefully,” adding “We hoped all parties would come to accept the outcome of the thorough, science-based review and multiple approvals of the project.”

  The protesters unsurprisingly pushed back, saying that the seriousness of the climate crisis demands more dramatic action to stop fossil fuel projects.

  [A side note: despite the pandemic-driven lockdown which ground travel to a halt, C02 levels continued to climb to record highs.]

  “I’m sick and tired of these corporations busting through all these sacred lands, trying to take up everybody’s livelihoods and take away the sacredness this earth carries. And I’m done,” said protesters Kerry Labrador, a 39-year-old Native American from Boston, who had chained himself to the tire of a crane-type machine inside the Enbridge facility, adding “I traveled out here two days so I can sit here and do what I’m doing now.”

  By midafternoon, a Department of Homeland Security helicopter flew circles over the pump station telling the protesters to leave and that they were on the site illegally. Protestors said it hovered low above them, kicking up clouds of dirt. A few hours later, police arrived in riot gear and began arresting dozens of people.

  “Our security guard force is armed with a cellphone,” Eberth said. “From here it’s up to law enforcement.”

  Enbridge officials said that one of the two companies involved in building the pump station that protesters occupied is Native American-owned. That company, Gordon Construction, had “numerous employees who needed to be evacuated this morning” when the protest began, Eberth said.

  The occupation of the pump station appeared to be largely peaceful, with protesters climbing onto machinery and chanting such slogans as “Hey hey, ho ho, Line 3 has got to go.”

  Houska took a bullhorn and urged the crowd to “protect the sacred”— “For our daughters, for our sons, for the animals, for the water.” -WaPo

  Department of Homeland Security is using a helicopter to clear out indigenous activists trying to stop the installation of a $3 billion new oil pipeline in Minnesota. 24 activists have chained themselves to a piece of equipment. #StopLine3 pic.twitter.com/kUxhqVghHm

  — ᒍOSᕼᑌᗩ ᒍEᖇEᗪ (@Joshuajered) June 8, 2021

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  Given that he majority of global pollution is caused by China, India and the ocean freight industry, perhaps the pipeline protesters should be looking beyond their own backyard if they’re really interested in the global issue they claim to stand for.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 21:25

• Senate Passes Sweeping Bipartisan Legislation To Counter And Compete With China
  Senate Passes Sweeping Bipartisan Legislation To Counter And Compete With China

  In a rare show of bipartisan solidarity in the deeply polarized US Congress, the Senate came together on Tuesday to pass sweeping $250 billion legislation designed to strengthen Washington’s hand in its escalating geopolitical and economic competition with China. The bill touches on nearly every aspect of the nations’ complex relationship, including semiconductors, Taiwan, Xinjiang and the 2022 Winter Olympics.

  In a 68 to 32 vote, the 2,400-page US Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 brought together a coalition of progressives, moderates and conservatives who, despite their intense disagreements on virtually every other policy issue, were united in their view the Chinese government under the rule of Xi Jinping has become a threat to global stability and American power.

  “The world is more competitive now than at any time since the end of the second world war,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said on the Senate floor moments before the vote. “If we do nothing, our days as the dominant superpower may be ending.”

  “This bill could be the turning point for American leadership in the 21st century, and for that reason, this legislation will go down as one of the most significant bipartisan achievements of the US Senate in recent history.”

  The bill includes about $250 billion worth of spending, and touches on nearly every aspect of the complex and increasingly tense relationship between Washington and Beijing.

  According to SCMP, it includes billions of dollars to increase American semiconductor manufacturing, a sign of growing urgency in Washington that the US has become dangerously reliant on Chinese supply chains. It bans American officials from attending the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights concerns, and declares Beijing’s policies in China’s far-west Xinjiang region a genocide, echoing the position of the US State Department and multiple parliaments around the world.

  Some US$2 billion of spending would be earmarked solely as incentives “to solely focus on legacy chip production to advance economic and national security interests, as these chips are essential to the auto industry, the military, and other critical industries”.

  The bill also contains a range of provisions meant to strengthen US ties with Taiwan and US military alliances in the Pacific, including the Quad, a quasi-formal pact between the US, Australia, India and Japan, as well as others to crack down on Chinese influence on US campuses, in international organizations and online.

  “This is an opportunity to compete with China at the research level,” Senator Roger Wicker, a Tennessee Republican, said before the vote. “This bill will strengthen our country‘s innovation in key technology fields of the future, areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing and communications, and this bill also is a game changer in terms of giving universities all over the United States an opportunity to participate in game-changing research.”

  The legislation also authorises new sanctions on Chinese officials for a range of crimes, including cyberattacks, intellectual property theft and, in Xinjiang
  – where human rights groups cite United Nations reports and witness accounts that as many as 1 million Uygurs and other Muslim minorities are held in “re-education camps” – against perpetrators of “systematic rape, coercive abortion, forced sterilisation or involuntary contraceptive implantation policies and practices”.

  Beijing has repeatedly denied the allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang and insists that the camps are vocational training facilities.

  Now the issue shifts to the House of Representatives, which has already begun considering a number of China-related bills, the largest being the Eagle Act. Eventually, if the House passes its own legislation, the two chambers will have to reconcile any differences in their respective bills before they can send them to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

  Biden has used the US competition with China as justification for a range of domestic and foreign policies, and is almost certain to sign a final bill once it reaches his desk.

  For various reasons, including stated concerns about rising US debt and individual amendments not being added to the bill, a handful of the Senate’s frequent critics of Beijing voted against the legislation. They included Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida, who said the cost of the legislation was too high despite “the threat [the Chinese government] poses to our national security”.

  The Chinese embassy in Washington has yet to issue an official statement.

  “I think the bill is important, whether or not we’re talking about the competition with China,” said Elizabeth Economy, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. “It’s clear that the United States needs to do more, and I think this is a really important effort and it sends an important message as well.”

  “I think there is widespread acknowledgement among both Democrats and Republicans that we need to be smarter and do better in terms of meeting the broad array of challenges that China presents to our political, economic and security interests,” she said. “There‘s a sense that China poses a clear and present danger, if not an existential threat, and that if the US fails to step up and meet this challenge at this particular moment in time, it may not have another opportunity.”

  The Senate vote followed months of debate in the chamber. In February, Schumer asked numerous Senate committees to draft China legislation of their own, which he ultimately combined into the expansive bill that passed on Tuesday.

  Asked in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday whether he would support the funding requests in the bill, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would “welcome” the opportunity. “I have to tell you again that we really applaud this initiative,” Blinken said.

  “It‘s going to give us new tools, new resources to deal more effectively with the competition, and I very much welcome the opportunity to work closely with you, members of this committee, other relevant committees to put this into practice,” he said.

  Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have already agreed to some changes to the Eagle Act, including adding clearer language calling for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Politico reported, citing people involved in the discussions.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 20:45

• China Mulls Unprecedented Legislation To Counter Western Sanctions
  China Mulls Unprecedented Legislation To Counter Western Sanctions

  Beijing is poised to take an unprecedented step in its latest efforts to combat US and Western sanctions which have recently been ratcheted up particularly surrounding the Uyghur issue in Xinjiang. A draft law is now being examined by the National People’s Congress (NCP) which would shield Chinese entities and institutions from “the unilateral and discriminatory measures imposed by foreign countries” and ultimately the “long arm jurisdiction” of the United States, according to state media. 

  Called the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, a vote by lawmakers is expected soon after a series of reviews by committees under the NPC, it will allow or possibly even require quick retaliatory measures in instances a foreign country targets a Chinese company, entity or individual with punitive legal measures – ensuring a greater level of tit-for-tat escalation. In short it would mean the power of the Chinese government to sanction all who comply with US/EU sanctions by drawing a bright red line, forcing entities to choose whether to comply to Washington’s side or Beijing’s side. Or in even simpler terms, it’s something which the United States has already long practiced – for example in the case of far-reaching Iran sanctions which blacklisted European or other companies which had dealings with the Islamic Republic.

  

  According to an expert quoted by the state-run Global Times, the law “will deter foreign governments, notably the US and the EU, from resorting to long-arm jurisdiction,…if Chinese entities are hit with unjustified sanctions, the proposed law is supposed to crystallize actionable countermeasures against the foreign governments and institutions…expecting the legal effort to make up for losses that Chinese entities would suffer.“

  It’s intended to further boost Beijing’s legal firepower in hitting back – again which practically translates to any future measures out of the US or EU like to be automatically met with escalation in terms of trade disruptions or immediate measures targeting US or Western companies wishing to do business in China. 

  “Legal experts said that speeding up legislation in foreign-related fields is necessary as it’s important to use legal measures to safeguard the legitimate rights of Chinese institutions, enterprises and citizens,” GT comments further. “Especially in recent years, the US government has been imposing sanctions on some Chinese entities such as high-tech firms Huawei and ZTE for so-called national security risks, and sanctioned a number of senior Chinese officials under the US’ so-called Xinjiang and Hong Kong bills last year.”

  And here’s more from the state publication: 

  While the EU has a regulation to protect against the effects of the extraterritorial application of legislation adopted by a third country and the US owns a large number of “legal ammunition” in terms of long-arm jurisdiction, China lacks relevant laws in response to the external legal weapons, Qi Kai, an associate professor of the Institute of Globalization and Global Issues at China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Monday. 

  If passed, China could sanction those who comply with US/EU sanctions. Companies and individuals would need to choose between whether to follow US/EU law or that of China. https://t.co/ba622uYei6

  — Emily Feng 冯哲芸 (@EmilyZFeng) June 8, 2021

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  Chinese commentators are treating it as a necessary ‘deterrence’ measure, but Rabobank details… 

  The example of the Australian government’s decision to tear up Victoria’s Belt and Road agreements with China is given as a “wake-up call” for China to “broaden the extraterritorial reach of its own legislation.” In other words, the proposed law would have allowed China to impose countermeasures on Australia, or demand compensation, for Canberra following Australian federal law within its own territory – because it harmed Chinese interests. Of course, the US, and now EU and UK –and Hong Kong– extend their legal remits outside their geographical territory. Now China is going to join in – and in the opposite direction to the West’s legal moves.  This potentially leaves Western firms damned-if-they-do and damned-if-they-don’t, which is a wake-up call for those who haven’t heard any of the alarm bells so far. It’s also another factor likely to play into supply-chains and inflation over time, even if mentioning it is as popular as Invermectin.

  * * *

  In particular Chinese media has highlighted the West’s using stories of Xinjiang-related human rights abuse to “spread rumors and suppress China.”

  The timing of the new legislation’s likely near-future passage will be interesting, given that as it’s being mulled over the G-7 summit will be underway in the UK (starting Friday), where it’s expected that Joe Biden and other world leaders representing the US, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, France and Italy – and other guess countries – will produce a statement that’s heavily critical of China especially on the human rights front.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 20:25

• SCOTUS Unanimously Denies Green Cards To TPS Illegal Immigrants
  SCOTUS Unanimously Denies Green Cards To TPS Illegal Immigrants

  Authored by Maryellen Fullerton via SCOTUSblog.com,

  The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that noncitizens who have been granted temporary humanitarian relief from deportation cannot use the process known as “adjustment of status” to obtain lawful permanent residency in the United States without leaving the country.

  

  The court ruled in Sanchez v. Mayorkas that adjustment of status is reserved for those who were inspected at the border and admitted to the United States by an immigration officer, thus disqualifying the majority of those granted Temporary Protected Status.

  Justice Elena Kagan wrote the opinion for the court.

  Jose Sanchez and Sonia Gonzalez came to the United States from El Salvador without authorization in the 1990s. The U.S. government granted them temporary protection in 2001 when the United States designated El Salvador as part of the TPS program in the wake of devastating earthquakes in that country. Under the TPS program, foreign nationals living in the United States are permitted to remain here due to unsafe conditions in their home countries. 

  Sanchez and Gonzalez have maintained TPS status for 20 years, during which Sanchez’s employer filed an immigration-visa petition for Sanchez as a skilled worker. Immigration officials approved this petition, authorizing Sanchez to be admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident. They simultaneously approved Gonzalez, his wife, for admission as a lawful permanent resident.

  The government, however, denied the couple’s subsequent application to use the adjustment-of-status process in order to transition from temporary to permanent residency without leaving the United States. Immigration officials ruled that the couple’s original unauthorized entry disqualified them from adjustment of status.

  The government relied on the text of Immigration and Nationality Act Section 1255(a), which restricts the in-country adjustment-of-status process to noncitizens who were “inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States.” 

  Sanchez and Gonzalez argued that the TPS statute includes a provision making TPS holders eligible for adjustment of status even if they had not been inspected and admitted or paroled when they originally entered the United States. Specifically, Section 1254a(f)(4) states that “for purposes of adjustment of status under Section 1255 …, the [TPS holder] shall be considered as being in, and maintaining, lawful status as a nonimmigrant.” They asserted that the phrase “considered as being in … lawful status” makes the grant of TPS the equivalent of being inspected and admitted as a lawful nonimmigrant. Sanchez and Gonzalez argued the detailed vetting that accompanies applicants for TPS is equivalent to the vetting that accompanies inspection and admission at a port of entry.

  The court sided with the government and rejected the interpretation advanced by Sanchez and Gonzalez.

  “Section 1255 generally requires a lawful admission before a person can obtain LPR status,” Kagan wrote.

  “Sanchez was not lawfully admitted, and his TPS does not alter that fact. He therefore cannot become a permanent resident of this country.”

  Cases: Sanchez v. Mayorkas

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 20:05

• Northeast Power Prices Jump As Heat Wave Forces Millions To Crank Up Air-Conditioning 
  Northeast Power Prices Jump As Heat Wave Forces Millions To Crank Up Air-Conditioning 

  With the latest heat wave subsiding in the northeastern U.S., after several days of dangerously high temperatures above 90 degrees, power prices skyrocketed as tens of millions turned down their thermostats. 

  According to Bloomberg, electricity prices in New England tripled on Monday from a year ago. Since the weekend, a heat wave blanketed the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast but will subside by midweek. 

  Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tradition Energy, said energy demands are way “above normal” for this time of year because of increasing air-conditioning use. New England’s grid operator could reach its summer peak in June instead of August, typically the hottest part of summer.

  Monday’s highs were 90-95 degrees in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area to New York City to Boston. 

  Grid operator PJM Interconnection LLC, a regional transmission organization serving all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, issued a hot weather alert Monday. PJM requested owners of transmission lines and power plants to delay maintenance. 

  On-peak electricity prices for Bloomingdale, Massachusetts, energy prices per megawatt-hour spiked on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. 

  

  Peak energy prices for New York City also spiked. 

  

  The heat wave is expected to dissipate by mid-week as Mid-Atlantic and Northeast temperatures will be around average or slightly below normal as a cold front rolls in through the weekend. 

  

   

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 19:45

• 78% Of Those Not Planning To Get Vaccinated Unlikely To Change Their Mind: Gallup
  78% Of Those Not Planning To Get Vaccinated Unlikely To Change Their Mind: Gallup

  By Jeffrey Jones of Gallup

  Seventy-six percent of U.S. adults say they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or plan to be, a number that has been stable over the past three months but is higher than in late 2020 and early 2021.

  

  As of the May 18-23 survey, 60% of U.S. adults report they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, 4% have been partially vaccinated, 12% plan to be vaccinated and 24% do not plan to be vaccinated.

  Among those not planning to be vaccinated, 78% say they are unlikely to reconsider their plans, including 51% who say they are “not likely at all” to change their mind and get vaccinated. That leaves one in five vaccine-reluctant adults open to reconsidering, with 2% saying they are very likely and 19% saying they are somewhat likely to change their mind and get vaccinated — equivalent to 5% of all U.S. adults.

  Last week, the Biden administration announced plans to increase efforts to achieve its goal of having 70% of adults at least partially vaccinated by the Fourth of July holiday. With 64% already vaccinated, that goal seems within reach if half of the 12% planning to get vaccinated follow through, even if none of those not planning to get vaccinated change their mind. The administration’s efforts include outreach to citizens, offers of free childcare, and incentives such as free air travel and free sports tickets.

  States are also trying creative approaches to encourage those who are reluctant to get vaccinated, including offering lottery prizes of varying amounts, savings bonds, free amusement park tickets and free hunting and fishing licenses.

  The brewer Anheuser-Busch is offering Americans free beer if the nation meets Biden’s goal.

  Gallup’s data suggest the ceiling on vaccination could be about 80% of U.S. adults. That would include the 76% who are already vaccinated or plan to be plus the 5% who do not plan to get vaccinated but say they are at least somewhat likely to change their mind.

  A steady 53% of U.S. adults say they are worried about people choosing not to get vaccinated, including 25% who are very worried. It is now the public’s greatest worry about the virus by a wide margin, surpassing concerns about lack of social distancing in their area (27%), availability of local hospital resources and supplies (11%), and availability of coronavirus tests in their area (5%),

  Reasons for Not Getting Vaccinated Vary

  Gallup’s March and April COVID-19 surveys found no dominant reason among vaccine-reluctant individuals for their intention not to get vaccinated. The most common reasons given were wanting to confirm the vaccine was safe (23%) and a belief they would not get seriously ill from the virus (20%). Slightly fewer expressed concerns about the timeline for developing the vaccine (16%) or mistrust of vaccines in general (16%). Ten percent said they already have immunity because they have had COVID-19, while 10% cite allergies or concern about allergies as the reason they do not plan to get vaccinated.

  The one in four vaccine-reluctant adults are not distributed equally across major demographic groups:

  • About half of Republicans, 46%, compared with 31% of independents and 6% of Democrats, do not plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

  • Americans without a college degree are much more likely than college graduates to be vaccine-hesitant, 31% to 12%.

  • Vaccine hesitancy is more common among middle-aged Americans (33% of those between the ages of 35 and 54) than among younger (22%) and older Americans (20%).

  Bottom Line

  Widespread COVID-19 vaccination has undoubtedly been a major reason behind the steep decline in infections and deaths from the disease in the U.S. in recent months. The rate of vaccinations has slowed down considerably in recent weeks, now that most Americans who wanted to get vaccinated have done so. Further increasing the proportion of vaccinated adults in the population will be a challenge, as the remaining vaccine-willing population may be less eager to get their shots. They may also face practical or logistical challenges to getting vaccinated, something vaccine administrators are attempting to overcome by offering walk-in appointments at pharmacies and health centers, on-site vaccination for employees at work sites, travelers at airports, and in churches. Incentives may also encourage those who are less motivated to get the vaccine to do so.

  

  However, these efforts seem unlikely to convince the nearly one in five Americans who do not plan to get vaccinated and say they are unlikely to change their mind. Still, having somewhere between 65% and 80% of the public vaccinated, in addition to the unvaccinated Americans who have had and recovered from COVID-19, may be enough to ensure that Americans can largely return to their pre-pandemic lives without fear of getting sick or contributing to further spread of the disease.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 19:25

• NASA Satellites Spot Dust-pocalypse Headed To Americas 
  NASA Satellites Spot Dust-pocalypse Headed To Americas 

  The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite attached to NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite spotted what appears to be a dust storm blowing off the Sahara Desert and into the waters of the Atlantic Basin, where it could eventually end up in the Americas. 

  

  NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite took the image on June 4. A more recent update shows the dust is well over the central Atlantic Ocean by Tuesday. 

  💨Big outbreak of Saharan dust across the MDR of the Atlantic.

  Sleepy in the tropics this week thanks to this. 🌀🚫 pic.twitter.com/zcAhg7M7tR

  — Griffin Hardy (@GriffinHardyWX) June 8, 2021

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  Weather modeling via meteorologist John Gerard suggests this is “the beginning of the Saharan Dust season soon, satellite indicates the first large plume of the summer has emerged off the coast of Africa now and should arrive in Florida by next week.”

  

  Texas Division of Emergency Management’s meteorologist John Honoré says, “It’s that time of year again. Saharan dust is working its way across the Atlantic this week.” 

  It’s that time of year again. Saharan Dust working its way across the Atlantic this week. #OrangeHaze #TXwx pic.twitter.com/185wLom8zD

  — John Honoré (@JohnHonore) June 8, 2021

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  “The African easterly jet [stream] exports the dust from Africa towards the Atlantic region,” Bing Pu, a geologist and atmospheric scientist at the University of Kansas, said in a NASA press release. “Then the North Atlantic subtropical high, which is a high-pressure system sitting over the subtropical North Atlantic, can further transport it towards the Caribbean region. The Caribbean low-level jet, along with the subtropical high, can further transport the dust from the Caribbean region towards the [U.S.].”

  The storm comes about one year after a massive dust storm from the Sahara blanketed the Caribbean region and the Gulf of Mexico. 

  So it appears the Sahara dust is back, and it’s already approaching parts of the Caribbean Sea. Next stop the U.S.? 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 19:05

• "A Matter Of Public Concern": Virginia Judge Orders Reinstatement Of Teacher Who Criticized Gender Policy
  “A Matter Of Public Concern”: Virginia Judge Orders Reinstatement Of Teacher Who Criticized Gender Policy

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  We recently discussed the case of Loudoun County teacher Byron “Tanner” Cross who was suspended for speaking against gender policies. In a major victory for the free speech rights of teachers, Twelfth Circuit Judge James E. Plowman ordered LCPS to restore Cross’ position as a physical education teacher at Leesburg Elementary School. In a letter, the court found a basis for a temporary injunction to allow Cross to return until Dec. 31 pending further orders of the court.

  

  Cross ran into trouble when he appeared at a meeting of the school board.

  He began by stating “My name is Tanner Cross and I am speaking out of love for those who are suffering from gender dysphoria.”

  He goes on to reference that he is a teacher but would not follow the policies:

  “It’s not my intention to hurt anyone, but there are certain truths that we must face when ready. We condemn school policies [that] would damage children, defile the holy image of God. I love all of my students but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences. I’m a teacher but I serve God first and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it’s against my religion. It’s lying to a child, it’s abuse to a child, and it’s sinning against our God.”

  Cross was making reference to a “60 Minutes” program interviewing people who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria as young children and quickly put through gender changing procedures with little time or serious review. Those interviewed described how they were harmed by the transitioning procedures and felt that little was done to protect them.

  Cross’ statement appeared to refuse to comply with Policy 8040, which requires Loudoun staff to use preferred pronouns.

  “LCPS staff shall allow gender-expansive or transgender students to use their 18 chosen name and gender pronouns that reflect their gender identity without any substantiating evidence, regardless of the name and gender recorded in the student’s permanent educational record. School staff shall, at the request of a student or parent/legal guardian, when using a name or pronoun to address the student, use the name and pronoun that correspond to their gender identity.”

  Notably, the rule extends to other students who can be punished for failing to use the required pronouns:

  “The use of gender-neutral pronouns are appropriate. Inadvertent slips in the use of names or pronouns may occur; however, staff or students who intentionally and persistently refuse to respect a student’s gender identity by using the wrong name and gender pronoun are in violation of this policy.”

  The punishment of a student for failing to use the pronouns could create the most difficult constitutional challenges under the First Amendment. That could be deemed as compelled speech in contravention of their religious and political views.

  However, now Cross appears likely to prevail as a teacher. The ruling in his favor required a finding that he was likely to prevail in seeking the injunctive relief.

  The county notably stressed that the basis for the suspension was the disruption caused by Cross’ comments.  That was a major blunder by the county and its counsel.

  Notably, the school district did not find that the national controversy surrounding the remarks of another teacher presented similar disruption.

  Loudoun County teacher Andrea Weiskopf called for book bans and attacked those supporting classics like To Kill A Mocking Bird as advocating harmful “White Saviorism.”

  It would have been wiser to focus on a refusal to comply with school policy, though it would need to confirm with Cross that he would do so. Accordingly, “[T]he Court has found … that the disruption relied upon was insufficient.” Plowman further found that  Cross’ “interest in expressing his First Amendment speech outweigh the Defendant’s interest in restricting the same and the level of disruption that Defendant asserts did not serve to meaningfully disrupt the operations or services of Leesburg Elementary School.”

  The Court also noted that at least five teachers submitted declarations that they would like to speak publicly but are afraid to do so because of the retaliation against Cross.  By focusing on the likely “disruption” caused by Cross’ views, the county undermined its position by focusing on the content of his views. The suspension occurred within 24 hours of his remarks, so there was little time to establish his position on carrying out his duties in light of the policy. The court distinguished between the “expectations” and the “mandate” of the policy.  It found that Cross may not satisfy the expectations but still not violate the policy. Thus, the suspension was viewed as premature and the evidence insufficient.

  That is a remarkable win for a teacher in the current environment. There has been growing pressure to monitor and sanction teachers for public comments. Last year, Winthrop University Professor, April Mustian threatened K-12 teachers that they are being watched for any “rhetoric” deemed pro-police or anti-Black. We previously discussed the Vermont principal who was removed for  expressing her opinion of Black Lives Matter on her personal Facebook page. We also recently discussed the firing of a Michigan coach who expressed support for President Trump. However, this did not begin with the recent protests.  We have previously seen teachers (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here) students (here, here and here) and other public employees (here and here and here) fired for their private speech or conduct, including school employees fired for posing in magazines (here), appearing on television shows in bikinis (here), or having a prior career in the adult entertainment industry (here).

  The school could appeal but it would be wise to reframe its position before it reenters litigation. Better yet, it could work out a compromise to protect free speech rights. As I discussed earlier, the rule does state that “School staff shall, at the request of a student or parent/legal guardian, when using a name or pronoun to address the student, use the name and pronoun that correspond to their gender identity.” Yet, this is “when using a name or pronounce to address the student.” What if a teacher simply does not use a pronoun?  If Cross refers to such students by their last name and avoids any pronoun, would that be considered compliance? If so, the board should clearly lay out such options in writing. Indeed, if Cross is fired, such questions could be soon before a court.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 18:45

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• COVID Outbreaks At Taiwanese Chipmakers Is Latest Threat To Global Supplies
  COVID Outbreaks At Taiwanese Chipmakers Is Latest Threat To Global Supplies

  The past few weeks have seen Taiwan’s semiconductor industry hit by a variety of disasters that are creating more problems at a time when an international semiconductor shortage is creating problems around the world, including in the US, where a shortage of critical chips has hurt production of new vehicles. A worsening drought and rolling blackouts are also terrorizing the island.

  Now, two more Taiwan tech suppliers have been hit by new clusters of COVID-19 cases, creating another disruption to production that’s threatening to have an outsize impact on the global supply chain. According to Nikkei, King Yuan Electronics Co suspended all domestic production on Friday, while chip packaging and testing supplier Greatek Electronics and networking gear provider Accton Technology have also reported clusters among employees that have impacted production.

  

  Both Greatek and Accton have production sites near a King Yuan plant in Miaoli County which has confirmed at least 263 cases as of Sunday (219 involving foreign workers mainly from the Philippines. Around 30% of the company’s workers are migrants). Most of the cases have been linked to workplace outbreaks, with King Yuan workers accounting for half the infections. As a result, the company and local government officials are asking all foreign workers to shelter in place inside their dormitories (typically cramped environments).

  King Yuan has finished testing and has so far reported 195 positive infections out of its workforce of more than 7,000 employees. The final number of cases will be finalized in a few days, a Miaoli health official told Nikkei Asia. The two other companies are still testing their employees.

  Local health authorities have told the companies to ask all of their migrant workers to stay inside dormitories.

  All the new cases prompted the government on Sunday to order King Yuan, which is a key supplier for Nvidia, Intel, MediaTek and many other top global chip developers, to stop all of its foreign laborers from working. The order was effective immediately, regardless of COVID test results.

  “Foreign workers at King Yuan will have to stop working and begin quarantine for at least seven days. Only foreign workers with negative results of PCR tests after the quarantine can return to work,” the CDC director general Chuang Jen-hsiang told Nikkei Asia. “We will have another meeting to decide whether or not King Yuan can resume production later today.”

  The company said it expects the two-day halt to reduce its expected revenue and output for June by up to 6%, while other down-stream companies that rely on King Yuan’s product are also struggling.

  King Yuan on Friday said that its planned 48-hour production suspension was estimated to reduce revenue and output in June by around 4% to 6%. MediaTek, a customer and a leading mobile chip developer, said its revenue will be hit by King Yuan’s production halt.

  “If our foreign workers could not come to work, that will further hit our production output for this month but the scale will need to be further calculated,” a King Yuan spokesperson told Nikkei Asia.

  Taiwanese public-health officials must decree the working environment to be “safe” before production can ramp back up to 100%. Greatek is testing 4K of its employees, more than 1K of whom are migrant workers, while Accton is also testing its 1,500-strong staff.

  As of Sunday, 11 workers at both Greatek and Accton, had been confirmed to have contracted the virus. A majority of these were migrant workers.

  “We haven’t stopped our production lines, but the testing of all employees and some prevention measures will surely affect our production utilization and output,” Chen Sheng, vice president and spokesperson of Greaktek, told Nikkei Asia.

  Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park, widely recognized as the most important hub for Taiwanese chipmakers, has set up a testing station and is testing around 4K out of the roughly 10K migrant workers who work in the area.

  As a reminder, the chart below illustrates how production hiccups in Taiwan can quickly impact supply chains in the US and Europe.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 02:45

• UK Border Force "Little More Than Taxi Service For Illegal Migrants": Lawmaker
  UK Border Force “Little More Than Taxi Service For Illegal Migrants”: Lawmaker

  Authored by Alexander Zhang via The Epoch Times,

  Britain’s Border Force is “little more than a taxi service for illegal migrants,” a Conservative MP said on Monday, as he urged the government to take action to put an end to the “horrible trade” of people smuggling.

  

  The Home Office is investigating an incident in which migrants attempting to cross the English Channel were reportedly picked up in French waters by the UK Border Force and taken to the English port of Dover.

  The move was orchestrated between senior crew members of UK Border Force ship HMC Valiant and French patrol ship Athos on May 29, the Daily Mail reported.

  Asking in the House of Commons what the Home Office is doing to tackle human smuggling, Sir Edward Leigh said: “Does the minister recognise the public anger at us being made fools of with this? Border Force is little more than a taxi service for illegal migrants, it’s ridiculous.

  “So will the minister assure me that he will use his powers under the 1971 Immigration Act to arrest all illegal immigrants, put them in detention, prosecute them, imprison them, and deport them so that we can stop this horrible trade dead in its tracks?”

  Responding to the question, Home Office minister Chris Philp said that he “completely” shares Sir Edward’s anger.

  “We are actively prosecuting the facilitators. And in the forthcoming Sovereign Borders Bill, as part of the new plan for immigration, we plan to significantly strengthen the Section 24 illegal entry offence that he refers to in the 1971 act to make it easier to use and easier to implement in practice.

  “And at the same time we are going to be increasing the sentence for illegal entry and the sentence for facilitation under Section 25 of that same act.”

  According to the Home Office, the French authorities dealt with eight incidents involving 130 people on June 4, with the UK dealing with four boats involving 83 people.

  This follows 201 people being stopped by Border Force officers in eight incidents on June 3.

  In addition, the French authorities intercepted nine crossings on June 2 and 3, preventing 171 people from reaching the UK.

  This makes a total of 585 attempting to make the crossing in just three days.

  On Monday, migrants continued to arrive in Dover after crossing the English Channel.

  Kent County Council has threatened legal action against Home Secretary Priti Patel, saying it faces extreme pressure on its services for unaccompanied child migrants.

  The dangerous sea journey from France—made by more than 3,000 people including children so far in 2021—has claimed many lives.

  Police confirmed on Monday that the body of a baby found on a Norwegian beach is that of a Kurdish-Iranian boy who went missing in the English Channel last year.

  Fifteen-month-old Artin was onboard an overcrowded migrant boat heading for the UK with his parents and two siblings when it capsized on Oct. 27, 2020, claiming all five of their lives.

  Artin’s family had sold their house before leaving Iran and paid £14,000 ($20,000) to get on to the boat, with a further £8,200 ($11,600) supposed to be due when they arrived safely in the UK.

  Patel said at the time that the deaths were “an ultimate tragedy” and one that “could have been avoided.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 06/08/2021 – 02:00

• Response To Fauci's Emails Proves Everything Is Fake, Narrative Management Trumps Reality, And Those In Power Want It That Way
  Response To Fauci’s Emails Proves Everything Is Fake, Narrative Management Trumps Reality, And Those In Power Want It That Way

  Authored by Nebojsa Malic via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

  Watching the media coverage – or lack thereof – of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s emails and what they mean for the origin of the coronavirus, one is struck by how relentlessly fake everything is, from public health experts to science.

  

  One of the things the emails suggest is that Fauci colluded with Peter Daszak – head of the EcoHealth Alliance, which channeled US research funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology – to suppress and dismiss any notion that the virus causing Covid-19 may not have evolved naturally.

  Thing is, Daszak actually went around giving interviews about his work in China throughout last year, and nobody in the media thought to connect the dots. Simply put, Donald Trump said the virus came from China and might have come from a lab, therefore that had to be wrong and racist, end of story, case closed.

  That’s just one, most recent and most acute example of Narrative trumping reality at all cost. Millions of deaths, widespread destruction of the economy, tectonic changes in society itself? Small price to pay for “progress” and ensuring the “correct” outcome of the 2020 election, the fortifiers of Our Democracy might say, without anyone batting an eye. “Build back better!” the press parrots instead.

  Trump disagreeing with CNN is a mortal threat to democracy and free speech, but Biden telling a reporter he’d rather run her over with an electric truck than answer a question about the war currently going on in Israel is a funny joke, haha, how hilarious. What flavor of ice cream did you order, sir?

  This may seem partisan at first blush, but let’s remember this is the same media that once proudly carried water for the narrative about “Saddam’s WMDs.” So the old Democrat-vs-Republican dichotomy doesn’t really work here, and misses the bigger picture to boot.

  A truly free society would have no official narratives, Australian columnist Caitlin Johnstone wrote earlier this week. Thing is, modern societies are not free, and official narratives are all they really have. Where would Joe Biden’s legitimacy be without the January 6 Capitol “insurrection” narrative?

  American founders codified the First Amendment because they regarded a free press necessary for a free republic. Yet the corporate media complex and their Big Tech counterparts have become a lapdog, not a watchdog, of power. Even the agencies, once thought neutral and objective, are in on it. AP literally rewrote its stylebook to limit the use of “riot” last summer. Reuters “fact-checked” Biden’s eulogy for Robert Byrd as false because the Democrat senator wasn’t a “grand wizard” of the KKK but merely an “exalted cyclops.”

  What this Orwellian replacement of facts with narratives does is condition the public to echo Hillary Clinton’s infamous Benghazi defense: “What difference, at this point, does it make?”

  “Facts” mean nothing to this crowd. “Science” isn’t a rigorous process of finding the truth, but a word-totem invoked to grant authority and banish dissent. “Truth” is whatever they declare it is at the moment, and when it stops being convenient they’ll shamelessly go back and rewrite their own words, pretending all along that that’s what they’ve always believed. Yes, it’s literally Orwellian behavior, but they don’t seem to care.

  After all, what are you going to do, change the channel? Actually, that’s happening. Month after month, ratings reports show CNN and MSNBC getting their clock cleaned by Fox News – and Tucker Carlson in particular. The response is to triple down on wokeness and Democrat talking points, while waging a veritable jihad against Fox for “misinformation.”

  To think that the media will come to their senses when the reality of ratings hits them in the face, therefore, is foolish. They simply don’t give a damn. Could it be that they don’t care for money as much as they care about power? And not just proximity to political power, but the power to shape and control reality itself, to remake society according to their utopian ideas. Even assuming those ideas are good – and that’s debatable at best – having that sort of power corrupts absolutely, to borrow the expression from Lord Acton.

  The media were meant to be a means through which the public collectively perceives reality – not the creators of reality itself! Yet they act as if the latter is true and intended. That’s dangerous. They believe themselves in control of reality, to the point where they’re impossible to reason with. Confront them with actual facts, or principles, or laws of physics, and they either censor you – or cackle and carry on.

  Biden’s behavior starts making sense when you understand he exists in a fantasy world, entirely conjured by the press and his staff. As do thousands of activists, ‘NGOs’ and cultist consumers of US government grants around the world. How does one reach these people, who have internalized the “logic” of Who/Whom? That might be the most important question facing not just the US, but the world, very soon.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 23:40

• China Beefs Up Latest COVID Lockdown In Guangzhou As New Cases Climb
  China Beefs Up Latest COVID Lockdown In Guangzhou As New Cases Climb

  Despite having doled out nearly 800MM doses of its home-made COVID-19 vaccines, Chinese authorities are struggling with yet another stubborn outbreak in the city of Guangzhou. A week ago, we reported that local authorities had ordered China’s first lockdown since January. But while initial restrictions were relatively mild compared to the lockdowns imposed in Wuhan, and elsewhere, last year, authorities have decided to tighten restrictions as new cases have continued to be identified.

  The AP reports that residents of the southern Chinese city will no longer be able to leave unless they can show that it is absolutely necessary to do so, following an outbreak of COVID-19 that has sickened dozens of people in recent days.

  According to local authorities, anyone who is given permission to leave must show a negative test for the virus taken in the previous 2 days, according to rules issued by the city government that take effect Monday. The same rule applies to anyone seeking to leave the surrounding province of Guangdong.

  

  The city also is restricting indoor dining, conducting mass testing and banning residents in high-risk neighborhoods from leaving their homes. At least two districts in the city of 18 million people have been closed off entirely. And any residents who have traveled through the Nansha, Huadu and Conghua districts of the city have been ordered to be tested for COVID immediately. Reuters added that authorities in Nansha also ordered restaurants to stop offering dine-in services while calling on gyms, pools and other public venues to temporarily cease operations.

  Meanwhile, about a dozen subway stops throughout the city were also closed.

  The variant causing the Guangzhou outbreak (the “delta” strain which was first identified in India and has since spread across the US and Europe and Asia) is believed to be more infectious because those who carry it are slower to display symptoms while shedding more virus particles.

  And although Guangzhou hasn’t reported any deaths from the outbreak, the city reported another four locally transmitted cases in the 24 hours to Monday morning, bringing its recent total to more than 100 cases since May 21.

  Nationally, the CCP has been focused on rolling out COVID-19 vaccines to an increasingly younger group of patients. And on Monday, the country revealed that it has authorized the emergency use of one of the Chinese-developed jabs, CoronaVac, for children aged between 3 and 17 years. Coronavac vaccine is being manufactured by the Beijing-based pharmaceutical firm, Sinovac Biotech. Study data show the vaccine has been found to be 51% effective against symptomatic disease and 100% effective at preventing severe COVID-19 and hospitalization on adults 18 years and above.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 23:20

• CIA (Dis)Information Operations Come Home To The US
  CIA (Dis)Information Operations Come Home To The US

  Via WeMeantWell.com,

  Reporters joke the easiest job in Washington is CIA spokesman. You need only listen carefully to questions and say “No comment’ before heading to Happy Hour. The joke, however, is on us. The reporters pretend to see only one side of the CIA, the passive hiding of information about itself. They meanwhile choose to profit from the other side of the equation, active information operations designed to influence events in America. It is 2021 and the CIA is running an op against the American people.

  Leon Panetta, the Director CIA from 2009 to 2011 explained bluntly his CIA did influence foreign media outlets ahead of elections in order to “change attitudes within the country.” The method, Panetta said, was to “acquire media within a country or within a region that could very well be used for being able to deliver a specific message or work to influence those that may own elements of the media to be able to cooperate, work with you in delivering that message.”

  The CIA has been running such information ops to influence foreign elections since the end of WWII. Richard Bissell, who ran the agency’s operations during the Cold War, wrote of “exercising control over a newspaper or broadcasting station, or of securing the desired outcome in an election.” A report on the CIA in Chile boasts the Agency portrayed its favored candidate in one election as a “wise, sincere and high-minded statesman” while painting his leftist opponent as a “calculating schemer.” At one point in the 1980s foreign media insertions ran 80 a day.

  The goal is to control information as a tool of influence. Sometimes the control is very direct, simply paying a reporter to run a story, or, as was done in Iraq, simply operating the media outlet yourself (known as the Orwellian Indigenous Media Project.) The problem is such direct action is easily exposed, destroying credibility.

  A more effective strategy is to become a source for legitimate media such that your (dis)information inherits their credibility. The most effective is an operation so complex one CIA plant is the initial information source while a second CIA plant acts seemingly independently as a confirming source. At that point you can push information to the mainstream media, who can then “independently” confirm it, sometimes unknowingly, through your secondary agents. You can basically write tomorrow’s headlines.

  Other techniques include exclusive true information mixed with disinformation to establish credibility, using official sources like Embassy spokesmen to appear to inadvertently confirm sub details, and covert funding of research and side gigs to promote academics and experts who discredit counter-narratives. The academics may never know where their money comes from, adding to their credibility.

  From the end of WWII to the Church Committee in 1976, this was all just a conspiracy theory. Of course the US would not use the CIA to influence elections, especially in fellow democracies. Except it did. By its nature reporting on intelligence always requires one to work with limited information. Always give time a chance to explain.

  Through Operation Mockingbird the CIA ran over 400 American journalists as direct assets. Almost none have ever discussed their work publically. CIA documents show journalists were engaged to perform tasks for the CIA with the consent of the managements of America’s leading news organizations. The New York Times alone willingly provided cover for about ten CIA officers over decades and kept quiet about it. Such long term relationships are a powerful tool, so feeding a true big story to a young reporter to get him promoted is part of the game. Don’t forget the anonymous source who drove the Watergate story was an FBI official who through his actions made the careers of  cub reporters Woodward and Bernstein. Bernstein went on to champion the Russiagate story. Woodward became a Washington hagiographer. Ken Dilanian, formerly with the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and now working for NBC, maintains a “collaborative relationship” with the CIA.

  

  That’s the tradecraft and the history. The problem for America is once again the tools of war abroad have come home. The intelligence community is currently operating against the American people using established media.

  Some of it can’t be more obvious. The CIA always planted stories in foreign media for American outlets to pick up. The Agency works directly with Hollywood to control movies about itself. Turn on any of the advocacy media outlets and you see panels of former CIA officials. Journalist Matt Taibbi even created a list (and since ex-‘s need agency clearance to speak, all are of the officially approved class.) None is more egregious than John Brennan, former Director CIA, who for years touted Russiagate when he knew from information gathered while he was still in office it was all a lie.  The uber-lie that Trump was dirty with Russia was leaked to the press most likely by Brennan in January 2017 as the kick off event to the info op still running today.

  Brennan’s role is more than speculation. John Durham, the US attorney leading the ongoing “how it happened” Russiagate investigation into the intelligence community, has requested Brennan’s emails and call logs from CIA. Durham is also examining whether Brennan changed his story between his public comments (not under oath, say anything) and his May 2017 testimony to Congress (under oath, watch out for perjury) about the dossier. Reporter Aaron Mate is less delicate, laying out the evidence Brennan was “a central architect and promoter of the conspiracy theory from its inception.” Even blunter is Senator Rand Paul, who directly accuses Brennan of trying “to bring down a sitting president.”

  Let’s see how that worked to understand how info ops intertwine with covert ops. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report shows the FBI unleashed a full-spectrum spying campaign based on the root of the information op, the Dossier. Horowitz’s report shows it was a team effort among the 5 Eyes — Australian diplomat Alexander Downer, a man with ties to his nation’s intel services, arranged a meeting with Trump staffer George Papadopoulos to set in motion FBI FISA surveillance. Trump officials were also monitored by British GCHQ. The op used CIA assets, the shadowy academics Mark Halper and Joseph Mifsud, as dangles. We see a honey trap run in classic style, with a female FBI undercover agent inserted into social situations with a Trump staffer. Dossier author and ex-British intel officer Christopher Steele created a textbook officer’s information loop, secretly becoming his own corroborating source.

  It was all based on nothing but disinformation and the American press swallowed every bit of it, turning the op into a three year tantrum falsely convincing a vast number of citizens their nation was run by a Russian asset. Robert Mueller, whose investigation was supposed to propel all this nothing into impeachment hearings, ended up exercising one of the last bits of political courage Americans will ever see in walking right to the edge of essentially a coup and refusing to step off into the abyss.

  The CIA is a learning institution, and recovered well from Russiagate. Details can be investigated. That’s where the old story fell apart. The dossier wasn’t true. But the a-ha discovery was since you’ll never formally prosecute anyone, why bother with evidence. Just throw out accusations and let the media fill it all in for you. The new paradigm included let the nature of the source — the brave lads of the intelligence agencies — legitimize the accusations this time, not facts. Go overt and use the new, unexpected prestige of the CIA as progressive heros to substantiate things.

  So in December 2017 CNN reported Donald Trump, Jr. had advance access to the WikiLeaks archive. Within an hour, NBC’s Ken Dilanian and CBS both claimed independent confirmation. It was a complete lie, based on fabricated documents. How do you confirm a lie? Ask another liar.

  In February 2020, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) briefed the House Intelligence Committee the Russians were election meddling again to favor Trump. A few weeks earlier, the ODNI briefed Bernie Sanders the Russians were also meddling in the Democratic primaries in his favor. Both briefings were leaked, the former to the New York Times to smear Trump for replacing his DNI, the latter to the Washington Post ahead of the Nevada caucuses to damage Sanders.

  In June 2020 The New York Times stated CIA officials concluded the Russians “secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops.”  The story ran near another claiming Trump had spoken disrespectfully about fallen soldiers. Neither story was true. But they broke around the same time Trump announced his plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, aimed at discouraging pro-military voters.

  Earlier this month The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, claimed the FBI gave a defensive briefing to Rudy Giuliani in 2019, before he traveled to Ukraine. Giuliani supposedly ignored the warning. The story was “independently confirmed” by both NBC and The New York Times. It was totally false.

  The American system always envisioned an adversarial role for the media. One of the earliest challenges to freedom of the press was the Colonial-era Peter Zenger case, which established the right of the press to criticize politicians free from libel charges. At times when things really mattered and even as other journalists hid under their beds, men like Edward R. Murrow worked their craft to preserve democracy. Same for Walter Cronkite finally reaching his opposition to the Vietnam War, and the New York Times reporters weighing imprisonment to publish the Pentagon Papers.

  In each of those instances the handful of reporters who risked everything to tell the truth were held up as heroes. Seeing the Times fighting for its life, the Washington Post co-published the Pentagon Papers to force the government to make its case not just against a rival newspaper, but the 1A itself.

  Not today. Journalism is today devoted to eliminating practitioners unwilling to play the game. Few have been targeted more than Glenn Greenwald (with Matt Taibbi as runner up.) Greenwald exploded into a journalistic superhero for his reporting on Edward Snowden’s NSA archive, founding The Intercept to serve as a platform for that work (Greenwald’s downfall parallels Julian Assange, who went from liberal hero for exposing the foundational lies of the Iraq War to zero when his Wikileaks was demonized for supposedly helping Donald Trump.)

  Greenwald’s criticism of the media for accepting Deep State lies as truth, particularly concerning Russiagate, turned him into a villian for progressives. MSNBC banned him, and other media outlets ran stories critical of him. Then something very, very odd happened to make it appear The Intercept outed one of its own whistleblower sources. Evidence suggests the source was a patsy, set up by the intel community, and exposed via Matt Cole, one of The Intercept journalists on this story. Cole was also involved in the outing of source CIA officer John Kiriakou in connection with torture claims. Either way new whistleblowers will think twice before turning to The Intercept. Greenwald recently quit the site after it refused to publish his article on Hunter Biden’s ties to China unless he deleted portions critical of Joe Biden.

  Greenwald seems to have figured out the intel community’s game, writing “the most significant Trump-era alliance is between corporate outlets and security state agencies, whose evidence-free claims they unquestioningly disseminate… Every journalist, even the most honest and careful, will get things wrong sometimes, and trustworthy journalists issue prompt corrections when they do. That behavior should be trust-building. But when media outlets continue to use the same reckless and deceitful tactics — such as claiming to have ‘independently confirmed‘ one another’s false stories when they have merely served as stenographers for the same anonymous security state agents while ‘confirming’ nothing — that strongly suggests a complete indifference to the truth and, even more so, a willingness to serve as disinformation agents.”

  Democracy has no meaning if people simply vote uninformed, as they are propagandized. It will be sport for future historians to mark the thing that most pushed America into decline. Seeing decades of success abroad in using info ops, the CIA and others turned those weapons inward. So seeing her Deep State meddle in presidential politics, simultaneously destroying (albeit mostly with their cooperation) the adversarial media, while crushing faith in both our leaders and in the process of electing them, will certainly be a top qualifier.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 23:00

• India's Hunger For Gold Extinguished By Covid Lockdowns
  India’s Hunger For Gold Extinguished By Covid Lockdowns

  As cryptos resume their ascent, more bad news has emerged for long-suffering gold bugs, this time out of India.

  As the Nikkei reports, while India’s gold retailers had put all their hopes on the annual festival season last month, they have been disappointed by sluggish sales after most parts of the country were locked down to fight an explosion of COVID infections. They now pin their hopes on the next big peak period after India’s Monsoon season ends, hoping that the COVID crisis eases and that gold prices – which have rebounded from lows in March – remain favourable to encourage buying. Demand for gold from Indian buyers usually helps to underpin the gold price.

  Just two months ago, India’s jewelers were optimistic about demand ahead of the May 14 Akshaya Tritiya, which is a holy day for Hindus, during which gold-buying spikes. In March, benchmark gold prices fell to a nine-month low of below $1,700 an ounce, which spurred hopes that Indians would take advantage of low prices during Akshaya Tritiya.

  But then the COVID situation quickly deteriorated. “Things were looking positive earlier this year, but the rapid surge in COVID-19 cases and subsequent lockdown have changed everything,” said Vijay Soni, who runs a small jewelry store in New Delhi. India, the world’s second largest gold consumer after China, now also has the world’s second highest number of total infections [behind the U.S.] that crossed the grim mark of 400,000 per day several times in May.

  Sunil Jain, who owns a jewelry store in New Delhi, says he has not done any business since the capital city was locked down on April 20.

  “Until early April this year, the business was good as gold prices had come down to around 45,000 rupees ($619) per 10 gram and COVID cases were also not that high. We were hoping to do good business on the Akshaya Tritiya festival on May 14, but now it’s been over a month that we have not sold anything,” Jain told Nikkei Asia.

  

  “It will take some time for the business to recover,” Jain said, pointing out that sales may pick up from November onward when the wedding season starts. “There’s always demand during the wedding season.”

  Jain is not the only one suffering. Gold sales rose above 100 billion rupees ($1.36 billion) over the Akshaya Tritiya festival in 2019, but tumbled to just five billion rupees last year due to the pandemic and lockdowns.

  Physical gold dealers in India have been offering discounts of up to $19 an ounce compared with the $5 premiums they were charging in March, according to World Gold Council.

  “Having Akshaya Tritiya under [a] lockdown… for two continuous years, the gold and jewelry trade has suffered a big setback,” said Pankaj Arora, national secretary of the Confederation of All India Traders and national convener of All India Jewelers and Goldsmith Federation.

  Demand in China also remains subdued after the Lunar New Year holidays, an auspicious time for many to purchase jewelry, in February.

  Gold retailers in China have also been complaining that they missed the good opportunity to capture sales when prices were lower. “We haven’t seen the demand that we had been hoping for with the decline in gold prices,” said a salesperson at a Shanghai shopping mall branch of a popular jewelry retailer. Maybe it’s because everyone is buying cryptos?

  

  As a result of the numerous recent setbacks, jewelers are now looking to the end of the year for recovery. Indians typically get married between November and May, but given the COVID situation in India now, many have postponed their weddings to later this year.

  “In general also, people in India prefer to buy gold as a safe haven asset. So, once the lockdown is over, customers may gradually begin to buy again despite the fact that prices have now started going upward,” Jain said.

  Gold prices have risen 13% to $1,900 an ounce by early June from the nine-month low in March. Gold market analyst Koichiro Kamei said falling real interest rates have triggered investors to buy gold again.

  As there is speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve is mulling rolling back its bond-purchasing program, gold is likely to face selling pressure as Treasury yields are expected to rise. Kamei sees gold prices falling to $1,800 if the Fed actually starts talking about tapering.

  

  In the meantime, India’s jewelers are reaching out to their customers to weather this storm.

  “We have a database of nearly 100,000 customers, and I asked my 50-member staff to call each one of them over [the] phone to just enquire about their well-being [amid rising COVID cases] and not to talk business at all with them,” said G. V. Sreedhar, a jeweler based in Bangalore, the capital city of the southern Karnataka state.

  He added that during these calls, about 2-3% buyers voluntarily said they wanted to invest in gold. “It’s not a small figure. It means that there are over 2,000 customers who genuinely want to buy from us.”

  However, he added, he can only make delivery after lockdown is lifted. “We are only sending them a receipt [electronically] for the items they have blocked to purchase, based on the gold rate of that particular day.

  “I remain optimistic about the gold demand in India,” Sreedhar added.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 22:40

• Ted Cruz: Facebook Could Be Held Liable For Actions And Correspondence With Dr. Fauci
  Ted Cruz: Facebook Could Be Held Liable For Actions And Correspondence With Dr. Fauci

  Authored by Masooma Haq via The Epoch Times,

  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Facebook could be taken to court by those users that had their posts about the Wuhan lab (China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology) leak censored, since recently disclosed emails from Dr. Anthony Fauci show there was correspondence between him and Mark Zuckerberg, after which Facebook started censoring such information.

  “But these latest breakthroughs have real consequence because it is now clear that Facebook was operating at the direction of and in the direct benefit of the federal government and operating as the government censor, utilizing their monopoly position to censor on behalf of the government,” Cruz told Maria Bartiromo the host of Fox News’s, Sunday Morning Futures.

  

  Cruz made the comment in response to Bartimoro asking, “will these companies ever be held to account for this corporate dominance and misleading of information to the American people?”

  “Well, they certainly should be. Unfortunately, I don’t expect the Biden administration will do anything to hold them to account,” Cruz said.

  “Maria, that’s a very dangerous admission that is now out there for Facebook because it means anybody in the country, or anybody in the world, whose statements, whose speech was censored by Facebook—if you went out and posted the facts that led a year ago, to the very strong likelihood that the COVID virus escaped from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan, China—if you posted that a year ago and they took it down, I think there’s a very good argument you have a cause of action against Facebook.”

  Recently revealed emails from Fauci show that he corresponded with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, after which Facebook changed its censorship policy about what information was true and what was “misinformation.”

  

  Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees Joint Hearing in Washington, D.C., on April 10, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

  In February, the social media company stated in a blog post that it would take down posts that contained what it called false claims about COVID-19, including that COVID-19 is man-made and that experimental vaccines could be dangerous. Facebook said at the time that it would remove accounts, pages, and groups that share the claims repeatedly.

  On May 26 Facebook announced that posts pushing the hypothesis that COVID-19 is man-made will no longer be banned on the platform. “In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that COVID-19 is man-made from our apps,” a Facebook statement said.

  “Facebook would ordinarily say we’re a private company we’re not liable. Well, You know what, when they act at the behest of the government, when they contact Fauci, when they say, ‘should we censor this?’ and Fauci says yes, and they censor it for the federal government—and then magically when the government changes its mind and says, oh, all those facts that were there a year ago now you’re allowed to talk about it, [and] they stopped censoring it with a flip of a switch, that lays a very strong argument that Facebook is operating as a state agency, and that opens very significant legal liability,” Cruz said.

  Meanwhile on Monday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called for an investigation into Fauci’s actions. “Well, what we do know is that definitely Dr. Fauci and Mark Zuckerberg were in cahoots on this, and it certainly deserves a look and an investigation from Congress,” said Blackburn.

  Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) recently told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program that the censorship that social media companies like Facebook and YouTube have engaged in needs to be addressed.

  “Now the media and social media have an awful lot to account for,” Johnson said speaking of the censorship by YouTube that he experienced for talking about alternative treatments for COVID.

  The calls to investigate the pandemic’s origins were magnified after the Wall Street Journal reported that three researchers at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology exhibited symptoms severe enough to seek hospital treatment.

  The disclosure led to President Joe Biden directing his national security adviser to develop a report on the virus’s origins, including the possibility that it emerged after a laboratory accident.

  Fauci’s office and Facebook were contacted for comment about Senator Ted Cruz’s comments. The Epoch Times has not heard back from either office yet.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 22:20

• White House Faces "Tough Sell" Pushing Corporate Tax Reform Through Congress After G-7 Deal
  White House Faces “Tough Sell” Pushing Corporate Tax Reform Through Congress After G-7 Deal

  Following news this afternoon that Amazon likely won’t be able to dodge a proposed new global minimum corporate tax being pushed by Janet Yellen and the Biden Administration. However, there’s a long road ahead for this plan, not just because to truly be effective it must be adopted by the entirety of the OECD, but also the Democrat-held US Congress.

  

  Although the Dems control the legislative and executive branches of federal government power, the disagreement within their ranks has already resulted in one critical compromise: The negotiators have dropped the minimum rate for the international plan once already from 21% to 15%, and made other adjustments designed to make it more palatable to GOP lawmakers Id I

  The G-7 committed to seek a global minimum corporate tax rate of “at least 15%.” That leaves a potential gap with the 21% rate that Biden has pitched to Congress for U.S. companies’ profits logged abroad. Any discrepancy could mean American firms effectively paying a surtax on profits in some nations.

  “It’s very difficult, and maybe impossible, to call for 15% for an international standard and somehow convince lawmakers on Capitol Hill on 21%,” said Rohit Kumar, a principal at PwC’s Washington National Tax Services. “I would not want to be the person to convince Congress — that is a beyond heroic task.”

  Biden’s tax plans also include a domestic corporate rate of 28%, up from 21% today. All three elements of the levies on businesses face strong opposition from Republican lawmakers, and even Democratic members have cautioned against any rush to legislate, pending a final global deal on a new corporate minimum rate.

  Of course, as BBG reminds us, The G-7 pact is just a prelude to talks with the broader G-20, which Biden is hoping to make significant progress on by late this year. After all that,  Yellen and Biden hope they can eventually push the deal through the OECD (several dozen members) and, finally, tailor a final agreement via the OECD that will be acceptable to some 139 nations, according to the FT (that’s larger than the OECD’s membership).

  

  To successfully finance President Biden’s spending ambitions without further blowing out the federal budget deficit, Biden won’t only need to raise taxes on American corporations: he will need to block off their ability to flee the US. Back in Obama’s day, many of these deals were carried out via “inversions,” mergers that involved an American company and a foreign shell company.

  Should the deal succeed, it will lead to billions of dollars’ worth of new tax revenue raised by more than 100 countries.

  

  Top GOP leaders from the Congressional tax-writing committees are already mobilizing to scupper the deal, or at least greatly limit any new taxes for American firms, indicating it might be a “tough sell” in Congress, as BBG put it.

  Senator Mike Crapo and Representative Kevin Brady, the top Republicans on the congressional tax-writing committees, are already mobilizing their members to oppose a deal, and framing it as an issue they could talk about during an upcoming campaign.

  “We continue to caution against moving forward in a way that could adversely affect U.S. businesses, and ultimately harm American workers and jobs at a critical time in our country’s economic recovery,” the pair said in a statement.

  Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise, the second-ranking House Republican, called the G-7 deal “part of a flawed $3.5 trillion tax hike that will crush American jobs and embolden China and Russia, who would cheat if they even agreed to go along with this radical proposal.”

  Finally, as the FT reminds us, there is still a long way to go before the deal becomes the new international corporate tax framework.

  “This is a starting point,” said French finance minister Bruno Le Maire, pledging that “in the coming months we will fight to ensure that this minimum corporate tax rate is as high as possible.”

  Remember, the essence of this deal involves Washington letting foreign governments in on a revenue bonanza in the form of spreading some of big tech’s tax dollars around. In the end, governments like Singapore and Ireland must give up one of their major competitive advantages – their low minimum corporate tax rates.

  

  Though it’s not clear whether any enticements will be enough to convince countries like Ireland to abandon one of the biggest policy boons to GDP.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 22:00

• Liberals' Bizarre Fear Of An Unmasked Nation
  Liberals’ Bizarre Fear Of An Unmasked Nation

  Authored by Ted Rall,

  During last year’s campaign, Joe Biden promised to “listen to the scientists.” He repeatedly said his coronavirus-response policy would be “informed by science and by experts.”

  On issues from the environment to teaching evolution in public schools to the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, liberals often accuse conservatives of putting emotions ahead of facts. While recognizing that the scientific process of acquiring knowledge and putting hypotheses to an empirical test can and often does lead to shifts in consensus, we on the left claim to trust scientists such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert and unlikely media icon.

  After Fauci and other authorities like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told us to wear masks, Blue America listened.

  As of late June 2020, 86% of Democrats wore a face mask whenever they left home, compared with 48% of Republicans.

  Now scientific consensus has changed. But lefties are choosing to ignore the new reality — not that it’s new. Beginning nearly a year ago , in July 2020, the CDC stated that wearing a mask outdoors was unnecessary unless one was less than six feet away from someone else. Aside from crowded events like rallies, sports and concerts, risk of outdoor transmission is lower than a rounding error.

  Clarifying its long-held stance, the CDC said on May 13 that people need not wear a mask outdoors, unless they are in a crowd of strangers, or inside with their “pod” of friends and family members. Masking outside is “optional,” Paul Sax, clinical director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told The Washington Post — optional as in unnecessary.

  Let’s pivot toward hope. Nearly half of American adults have been fully vaccinated, and Pfizer is vaccinating children ages 12 to 15. We can go outside, have fun and socialize within the new liberalized guidelines, yet too many people remain traumatized and grimly coasting on paranoid inertia. “It’s the return of freedom,” said Dr. Mike Saag, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

  Weeks after the latest CDC guidelines were issued, however, normalcy and freedom are still in short supply in liberal bastions like my neighborhood in Manhattan, where Biden won 91% of the vote. In compliance with the CDC, I walk outside without a mask because it’s unnecessary. Moreover, I’m fully vaccinated. Rules require that I put one on when I go into a store or ride the subway.

  Furrowed brows, glares and general stink eyes still abound. My neighbors are ignoring the CDC as much as right-wingers in West Virginia did last summer.

  

  One would expect attitudes to evolve with the passage of time, but that hasn’t been the case so far. When a fellow tenant confronted me recently about my masklessness in the lobby — where I’d been alone prior to her arrival — I informed her that I’d been fully vaccinated. “Everyone in the building has probably been vaccinated,” she said, “but here we still wear them.” I asked why. “It’s just the right thing to do,” she replied.

  At a full-serve gas station in Manhattan, the attendant demanded that I put on my mask before giving me a fill-up.

  “We’re outside,” I pointed out.

  It was windy to boot.

  “The CDC says you don’t need a mask.”

  “I don’t care what the CDC says,” he told me. “I’m going to keep wearing a mask forever, like in Asia.”

  Half-empty streets in majority-Democratic areas — where people are far more likely to get vaxxed — are still, CDC be damned, dotted with people wearing one or two masks on sidewalks where no one can be seen for hundreds of feet. Many of the bemasked will tell you that they have been fully vaccinated. You’ll see people jogging down lonely country roads, riding bikes and driving cars while wearing masks.

  “You can understand that when people have been following a certain trend for a considerable period of time that it may take time for them to adjust” to the new mask rules, Fauci said on May 21.

  “So I would not say that that’s irrational. I’d say that’s understandable.”

  Go ahead, wear a mask indoors if you want to, despite being vaccinated. Wear one outside if you feel like it. However, you are — sorry, Dr. Fauci — acting irrationally. What’s the point of the jab if you behave the same way as a year ago when we wiped down our groceries, bleached our counters and wore plastic gloves out of since-debunked worries over surface transmission?

  Masks have devolved from medical imperative to virtue signaling. According to a May 5 Ipsos poll, 63% of vaccinated Americans were still wearing masks outdoors, down from 74% in April but still a surprisingly high number. That number ticked up to 65% the following week. President Biden has begun appearing in public with his face fully exposed, yet his supporters are not following his example.

  What’s the harm in a fashion accessory that, as the vaxxed-yet-masked crowd informs you, merely tries to make other people feel more comfortable while also sending a subtle anti-MAGA message? It’s about thinking straight. Democrats can’t credibly claim the scientific high ground unless they adapt to the latest medical consensus.

  You have the right to be anxious and illogical, not the right to be catered to. No one should wear a mask outside. Vaxxed Americans shouldn’t wear them at all.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 21:40

• Russia Hits Canada With Mirroring Sanctions: 9 Officials Barred From Country Indefinitely
  Russia Hits Canada With Mirroring Sanctions: 9 Officials Barred From Country Indefinitely

  Russia has hit back at Canada after March 24 sanctions which saw nine Russian officials banned from Canada over “gross and systematic violations of human rights in Russia” related to the Alexey Navalny saga.

  At that time senior Russian officials had been accused over “the attempted murder” of Navalny last August, which saw the anti-Putin activist hospitalized in Berlin. Moscow had vowed it would prepare retaliatory sanctions in return, and that moment has come Monday, with the foreign ministry announcing a ban on precisely nine Canadian citizens from indefinitely entering its territory. 

  

  Canada has been among multiple countries, including the US and EU, to level sanctions on Moscow in relation to Navalny, who since his return from Germany to Moscow has been serving a couple year stint at a prison outside the Russian capital stemming from a prior embezzlement case. 

  Also on Monday Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin had some interesting words testifying before Russia’s State Duma (lower house) on Monday.

  “The sanctions regime has always been in place. And it will remain so forever, let us be realistic. Sanctions have been enshrined in many legal acts, in the US and other states, and it is impossible to roll them back,” the diplomat stated.

  “All of them are illegitimate, they were slapped under very shaky pretexts, without any proof, but those facts, which are deemed as committed, cannot be rolled back,” Pankin added. 

  Pankin emphasized that he “would not ask anyone to lift sanctions and would not say sorry for what it is not doing” – which appears a response to the currently hyped accusations of everything from election interference to cyberattacks on US infrastructure to “aggression” in Eastern Ukraine.

  On the latter point, the high-ranking diplomat said, “It’s clear that we won’t give up Crimea. If Crimea is part of Russia, we will always be under sanctions like there were sanctions against the Baltic Region until it separated and became three different states. This is a tough idea, but we need to be realistic.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 21:20

• Supreme Court Asked To Halt CDC Eviction Moratorium
  Supreme Court Asked To Halt CDC Eviction Moratorium

  Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

  Alabama and Georgia real estate agents have asked the Supreme Court to block a federal moratorium on evictions that was imposed last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) amid the pandemic.

  

  Congress enacted a nationwide moratorium on evictions and extended its life through Jan. 31, 2021. The Atlanta-based CDC, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, then imposed its own moratorium at the behest of then-President Donald Trump, the current iteration of which is set to run out on June 30. The theory was that uprooting tenants would spread the virus, which now appears to be in decline. Violators could face criminal penalties and six-figure fines.

  The real estate agents argue in their emergency application in Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Services, filed on June 3, that the CDC’s moratorium “shifted the economic burdens of the pandemic from renters to landlords.”

  “In doing so, the CDC shifted the pandemic’s financial burdens from the nation’s 30 to 40 million renters to its 10 to 11 million landlords—most of whom, like applicants, are individuals and small businesses—resulting in over $13 billion in unpaid rent per month. Since then, the CDC has twice extended its moratorium, which is currently set to expire on June 30, 2021 (unless extended, yet again),” the application states.

  “The total effect of the CDC’s overreach may reach up to $200 billion if it remains in effect for a year. And due to the government’s sovereign immunity, its inability to provide timely rental assistance, and the judgment-proof nature of the tenants covered by the moratorium, that massive wealth transfer (and accompanying government-sanctioned unlawful occupation of property) will never be fully undone.”

  A month ago, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich vacated the moratorium, finding it exceeded the authority that Congress gave the CDC in federal public health laws.

  The Public Health Service Act “authorizes the Department to combat the spread of disease through a range of measures, but these measures plainly do not encompass the nationwide eviction moratorium set forth in the CDC Order,” Friedrich, a Trump appointee, wrote in a memorandum opinion on May 5.

  “Thus, the Department has exceeded the authority provided in § 361 of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. § 264(a).”

  The real estate agents referred to the Public Health Service Act as “a rarely-used statute from 1944 dealing with quarantines and inspections for purposes of stopping the spread of disease on an international or interstate basis.”

  They say the CDC claims the statute “bestowed upon it the unqualified power to take any measure imaginable to stop the spread of communicable disease—whether eviction moratoria, worship limits, nationwide lockdowns, school closures, or vaccine mandates.”

  Friedrich stayed her order pending the government’s appeal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit left the stay in place.

  “The stay order cannot stand,” the real estate agents argue in their application.

  “Congress never gave the CDC the staggering amount of power it now claims. Nor do this Court’s precedents permit unlawful agency actions to persist throughout the pendency of an appeal merely because the government has raised serious questions on the merits—a standard that will be satisfied in nearly every case where the government’s authority has been challenged.”

  Chief Justice John Roberts asked the government to respond to the application by 5 p.m. on June 10.

  Acting Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 21:00

• China Will Use "Coercive Power" To Force Digital Yuan On Population
  China Will Use “Coercive Power” To Force Digital Yuan On Population

  It was supposed to be the biggest threat to the reserve status of the dollar (China’s denial that it has no desire to replace the USD with the digital yuan only confirms it) since the failed experiment that is the “whatever it takes” euro, but instead it is turning out to be one giant yawn.

  While many pundits have argued that China’s digital yuan would be a “potentially fatal challenge” to American hegemony according to historian Niall Ferguson, Templeton’s Hasenstab saying it could undermine the dollar’s role as a reserve currency and even Biden’s White House studying the potential threats to the US currency, one month ago we reported that those who’ve actually used the digital yuan in China offer a vastly different response: big shrugs of indifference.

  After interviewing users of China’s digital currency, Bloomberg noted that they showed little interest in switching from mobile payment systems run by Ant Group and Tencent that have already replaced cash in much of the country, with some openly balking the digital yuan – which recall is programmable and comes with an ad hoc expiration date – and which gives authorities access to real-time data on their financial lives.

  “I’m not at all excited,” said Patricia Chen, a 36-year-old who works in the telecom industry and was one of the more than 500,000 people in Shenzhen eligible to take part in the trial. The lukewarm responses of the seven participants in China’s great monetary experiment underscored the major challenge facing President Xi’s government as it lays the groundwork for adoption at home and abroad. And, as we noted last month, “even if authorities ultimately convince – or rather force – citizens to embrace the digital yuan, it’s unclear how they can do the same with international consumers and businesses already wary of China’s capital controls, Communist Party-dominated legal system and state surveillance apparatus.”

  It’s also why with the Yuan’s share of global payments seemingly capped at around 3% in recent years – in no small part due to China’s closed capital account and great monetary firewall – a digital version of the currency is unlikely to boost its share by much more than 1 percentage point, according to Zennon Kapron, managing director of Singapore-based consulting firm Kapronasia.

  “The global impact will be very small” barring structural changes to China’s economy and financial system, said Kapron, author of “Chomping at the Bitcoin: The Past, Present and Future of Bitcoin in China.”

  Those familiar with China’s grand ambitions suspect that Xi has high hopes for international use of the digital yuan as he tries to lessen his country’s reliance on the U.S.-led global financial system. But so far at least, Chinese policy makers have given mixed signals about their ambitions in public.

  As Bloomberg reports, Zhu Jun, head of the central bank’s international department said in an article last month that China faces an “important window” to promote global use of yuan as U.S.-China decoupling threatens to spread to finance from trade, technology and investment. She said China “should take advantage of the early progress” in the digital yuan’s development to explore potential areas for internationalization.

  There is just one problem: nobody can figure out why they need to use a digital currency which allows authorities to snoop on their every activity, when existing alternatives offer everything the digital yuan can do.

  

  And speaking of China’s “coercive” tactics to force its currency upon the population, over the weekend Bloomberg penned an op-ed about the digital Yuan that suggests it might be soft launched with the 2022 Winter Olympics; and that it may operate more like the Hong Kong Dollar than a Central Bank Digital Coin, in that the liability may sit on the commercial issuer’s balance sheet, fully backed by CNY reserves. This – as Rabobank’s Michael Every writes – obviously won’t make it very attractive to banks, businesses, or consumers happy with current e-payment systems. As the op-ed notes, one would then have to *compel* them to use it via “the state’s coercive power.” For example, paying civil servants in e-CNY; or, more importantly, demanding tax payment in e-CNY to force people to earn them, so creating a natural demand.

  The full op-ed from Bloomberg’s Andy Mukherjee is below:

  Digital Yuan May Prove Hong Kong Dollar’s Cousin

  The stronger the interest in China’s coming digital currency, the less we seem to know about it. Sifting through comments by officials thought to be the brains behind the project, Capital Economics’ chief Asia economist Mark Williams has raised an interesting question: What if the e-CNY, as some are beginning to call the new electronic cash, is not at all a central bank digital currency?

  Most of us are by now familiar with electronic money, but popular apps like PayPal or Alipay are linked to bank accounts. A true central bank digital currency will bypass lenders and make us directly the customers of monetary authorities. We’ll use the liability of a central bank to pay for coffee or a book.

  The excitement with the digital yuan — or the FedCoin or BritCoin — is precisely because of this: Tokenized money is supposed to be an IOU of a central bank, just like physical cash. We may use an ATM to draw down our accounts, but as soon as we do, the bank owes us less. The state owes us more. Digital cash has been conceptualized the same way. When we transfer funds from a savings account into our digital wallets, the commercial bank goes out of the picture, and the central bank steps in. Tokens make credit risk disappear from settlements. Transactions can remain anonymous unless the monetary authority wants to lift the hood to check for money-laundering.
  However, if Williams is right, then e-CNY, which is believed to be heading for a soft launch coinciding with the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, may not be a claim on the People’s Bank of China. Then, “It isn’t strictly a CBDC at all,” he says. It may, in fact, be a digital relative of the Hong Kong dollar.

  Since 1846, banknotes in the city have been the liability of commercial issuers. The three banks that supply everyday money maintain full reserves with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. That’s why nobody sitting on a pile of Hong Kong dollars is anxious about the creditworthiness of HSBC Holdings Plc, Standard Chartered Plc or Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd.

  Digital yuan may have a similar design, according to Williams’s reading of former PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan’s statements. The e-CNY will be the liability of the bank or fintech sponsor of digital wallets. They will issue tokens, each worth 1 yuan, and they will maintain reserve assets in their accounts with the central bank in the ratio of 1:1.

  Customers sleep easy, though there’s a cost for intermediaries. Suppose a saver has 100 yuan in a Chinese bank. The major institution that holds her money has to keep 12.5% in required reserves with the PBOC. The rest is free for the lender to seek the best possible return. If the user moves funds to her e-CNY wallet, the bank would have to keep the full 100 yuan with the PBOC. In a pure digital currency model, the bank would have lost the entire deposit, something that no central bank running a digital cash pilot or experiment wants. However, if to retain a deposit, the lender has to put up cash for the entire amount, it may still be forced to curb advances. What bank would embrace a product like that?

  That’s one reason why Williams seems to think that the digital yuan will be a hard sell. Consumers in China are already getting all the flexibility they want with Alipay or WeChat Pay, which are entrenched and offer highly innovative uses. Similarly, banks will be loath to lock 100% of even a part of their deposits in idle reserves. The duopoly of Alipay and WeChat Pay, which processes 94% of China’s third-party mobile-phone payments, will be reluctant to give up their rich harvest of consumer data.

  So how to make the digital yuan work?

  A neat solution — as with every form of money, according to the Chartalist theory — is to use the state’s coercive power. All that authorities need to do is to pay civil servants and demand tax payments only in official digital currency. Payment platforms will then have no option except to offer an e-CNY alternative. In a few years, offering customers such a choice might even become mandatory.

  As Williams says, “Left to the market, e-CNY is unlikely to succeed. But the government doesn’t have to leave it to the market.”

  China’s long-standing ambition to challenge the dollar’s hegemony in global commerce hasn’t gone anywhere. A digital yuan that’s a popular means of payment overseas, especially in the Belt-and-Road network, would reinforce that goal. But before that, Beijing has to ensure widespread domestic use. So policy makers’ more immediate motivation may be to curb the sway of local tech titans, with minimum damage to banks’ deposit base.

  The final architecture of the new currency is still unknown, but conceiving e-CNY as a cousin of the Hong Kong dollar — a synthetic central bank digital currency issued by banks and payment firms — and flexing the muscles of state power might tick most of the boxes.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 20:40

• The Mysterious $85 Billion Surge In China's FX Reverse Repo
  The Mysterious $85 Billion Surge In China’s FX Reverse Repo

  By Ye Xie, Bloomberg reporter and Markets Live commentator

  A mysterious surge in dollar lending by Chinese banks in an arcane corner of the financial market is leading some investors to wonder whether it’s somehow related to the “stealth intervention” by the PBOC to slow yuan appreciation.

  For years, Chinese banks had little use for foreign-currency reverse repo, which is effectively collateralized lending. That has dramatically changed since the pandemic. Banks’ FX reverse repos surged to a record $87 billion in April, from less than $2 billion a year earlier.

  “Historically, Chinese banks FX assets and liabilities have consisted almost exclusively of loans and deposits,” Alex Etra, a senior strategist at Exante Data who previously worked at the New York Fed, wrote in a blog post. “But the surge in interbank lending (via reverse repo) in recent quarters is quite stark.”

  It’s unclear why there’s this sudden surge. But what we do know is that:

  1. There’s a lot of dollar inflows to China through trade and portfolio investment over the past year.
  2. A lot of these flows have been absorbed by Chinese banks, while the PBOC shows few signs of intervention on its balance sheet. Without commercial banks’ activities, the yuan would have appreciated more.
  3. As a result, commercial banks have taken more currency risks. For example, Bank of China, one of the largest state lenders, used to be a net borrower in the FX swap market, but has become a net lender, according to Etra. The bank’s net open foreign-currency position on and off-balance sheet rose to $19 billion last year, the highest level since 2014.

  

  It’s debatable whether Chinese banks are accumulating dollar assets and taking on more currency risks for commercial reasons, or if they are acting on behalf of the central bank to engage in “stealth intervention.”

  But as Etra noted, so long as China runs a current account surplus, and global investors continue to purchase more Chinese assets, “someone somewhere in China is going to have plenty of dollars to lend.”

  Janet Yellen’s Treasury Department has been keen to learn more about activities by Chinese state banks in the currency market. The curious surge in dollar lending in the derivative market could be a good starting point.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 20:20

• Blinken Says Biden Will Put "Future Cyberattacks" Front & Center In Putin Summit
  Blinken Says Biden Will Put “Future Cyberattacks” Front & Center In Putin Summit

  Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an appearance on “Axios on HBO” previewed what he expects to come out of the Putin-Biden summit set for June 16 in Geneva. The short answer is: not much except for vague warnings and threats, it appears. Blinken said during the interview that the US president intends to warn Putin “directly and clearly what he can expect from the United States if aggressive, reckless actions toward us continue.”

  While explaining that Washington would prefer a “more stable” relationship with Russia, Blinken also sought to distance the White House from growing criticism that Biden is getting ‘weak’ on promises to “stand up” to Putin, particularly after recently dropping sanctions on the German company overseeing completion of the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 2 pipeline. 

  

  Blinken tried to assure Axios’ Mike Allen that Biden is meeting with Putin face to face to deliver a tough message: 

  Biden is meeting with Vladimir Putin nine days from now “not in spite of” the cyberattacks that disrupted U.S. meat and gas supplies: “It’s because of them.”

  He further repeated the prior common assessment of US officials which don’t see any “breakthrough” coming from the meeting.

  “I can’t tell you whether I’m optimistic or not about the results,” Blinken said. “I don’t think we’re going to know after one meeting, but we’ll have some indications… We’re prepared either way.”

  His comments on US leadership in the world and China seeking opportunity to take over where Washington influence is absent or waning were also interesting…

  “We’ve certainly seen China … try to fill voids where we’ve been relatively disengaged.” And he added the caveat –  “and maybe not in a way that advances our interests or values.”

  “Our partners see the same thing that we do,” he explained. “If you’re looking at all of the really big problems that we’re trying to solve — … like the pandemic, like climate change, like emerging technologies … — no one country can do it alone.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 20:00

• The Currency Story Has Undergone A Silent, Subtle Curve Shift
  The Currency Story Has Undergone A Silent, Subtle Curve Shift

  By Ven Ram, Bloomberg reporter and macro commentator

  Front-end yields held hostage by central banks around the world have engendered a silent shift in currency pricing: exchange movements are being increasingly influenced by changes in the intermediate and longer segments of the yield curve.

  Currencies that were typically more responsive to relative changes in yields at, say, the two-year part of the curve are now responding more and more to shifts at the five- and 10-year segments, with the dollar being a case in point.

  

  The chart above shows how closely the Dollar Index has tracked five-year real yield spreads between the U.S. and Germany (hat tip to J. Paul Knight, assistant portfolio manager of U.S. large-cap equity at the Employees Retirement System of Texas for his observation). Indeed, the correlation between the spreads and the dollar in the past year is running at 0.57, reflecting its influence on the currency. Taken together with 10-year differentials , the two points of the curve delineate the trajectory of the dollar by more than four-fifths.

  

  To be sure, it wasn’t always like this. Take a look at this chart above that encompasses a longer time frame, which shows the Dollar Index ignoring the movement in spreads. That was a time clearly before the pandemic when the U.S. economy was still in the midst of its longest post-war expansion, with central banks not anywhere near controlling the yield curve, de facto or de jure.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 19:40

• MTA Inspector General "Furious" After Probe Finds Seven Track Inspectors "Skipped" And "Falsified" Inspection Reports
  MTA Inspector General “Furious” After Probe Finds Seven Track Inspectors “Skipped” And “Falsified” Inspection Reports

  It looks like much to the surprise of no one, there’s considerable waste and malfeasance taking place at the perpetually-taxpayer-bailed-out MTA.

  A new MTA inspector general’s report has revealed that MTA track engineers – to quote Rep. Al Green talking about Citadel earlier this year – “have been naughty for some time”.

  The inspector general is reportedly “furious” after the findings of an 11 month investigation found that seven NYC Transit track inspectors were skipping inspections and falsifying inspection reports. The employees in question have been suspended, according to an RT&S report.

  But rather than fire all seven employees – in true taxpayer funded fashion – only one was fired while “six of the track inspectors received a final warning that similar conduct could result in termination and are prohibited from performing track inspections for five years,” the report says.

  The MTA Inspector General (OIG) also, as part of the probe, performed an audit to determine how such deception could occur without management’s knowledge. The answer? There could be “significant, systemic issues with how supervisors and managers at NYC Transit oversee the work of track inspectors”.

  MTA Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny said: “It is appalling that so many track inspectors, on so many occasions, skipped safety inspections, filed false reports to cover their tracks, and then lied to OIG investigators about it. Management needs to utilize a technology that will ensure supervisors can verify when inspectors do their job – and when they do not.”

  

  You can read the full MTA/OIG report here. Its findings were summarized as follows:

  • Supervisors did not verify track inspectors’ walks, either in real time or after the fact. Track supervisors until recently were expected to rely on a series of self-reported status updates from the inspectors to confirm that inspections were occurring daily. Supervisors were not expected to directly observe inspectors in the field and thus did not know that some inspectors were not actually performing their inspections as assigned.
  • Interim controls that Track put in place after the OIG investigation report was issued create records that could be analyzed retroactively with much effort but do not provide assurance in real time.
  • The new IT application (Infor EAM) rolled out in the first quarter of 2021 for track inspections does not take full advantage of the technology’s capability to quickly place the inspector at a given location at the appropriate time. One limitation is that the application cannot make use of the GPS feature on cellphones to track employees directly due to a pre-existing agreement between management and the union not to do so except for certain circumstances.
  • Track’s policies, oversight, and monitoring of workers’ cellphone usage are inadequate.

  The inquiry was opened back in January 2020 after reports of track debris large enough to cause damage and injury were reported. The failure to spot the debris had the OIG “concerned that inspectors might not be walking their assigned sections”. A follow up investigation “repeatedly found inspectors, who work with limited oversight, absent from their duties.”

  In addition to simply not doing their jobs, track inspectors were also found to be using their personal cell phones when they were supposed to be inspecting, creating a “safety hazard for themselves, other employees, and customers; and further illustrating their lack of attention to their duties”.

  And it starts with the tone at the top: track supervisors did not verify track inspectors’ walks, either, the report also revealed.

  Looks like it’s time for another fare hike!

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 19:20

• Malaysian Police Use Heat Drones To Check People's Temperatures From Above
  Malaysian Police Use Heat Drones To Check People’s Temperatures From Above

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

  Malaysian police are using drones which can check temperatures from as high as 20 meters above ground in the latest example of coronavirus population control.

  

  The drones alert authorities if someone has a high temperature reading by emitting a red light, according to Bernama, Malaysia’s state news agency.

  “Malaysian police have previously warned they will use drones to enforce earlier travel restrictions, with officers in some areas also stating they would carry out surprise home visits to ensure people were following rules,” reports the Guardian.

  There have been numerous previous examples of authorities deploying surveillance drone technology to enforce COVID-19 rules.

  Authorities in Spain have used surveillance drones to make sure people who visit beaches are complying with social distancing regulations.

  In Brussels, Belgium, police used drones fitted with loudspeakers to bark orders to people to “stay at home.”

  Police drones are being used in Brussels to warn the public that lockdown is in force, and that social distancing regulations must be adhered to.

  For the latest updates on #coronavirus, click here: https://t.co/nINriV0Bo4 pic.twitter.com/M3JNMNJhCH

  — Sky News (@SkyNews) March 23, 2020

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

  In Australia, more expensive drones were used to catch people not wearing masks while also scanning for vehicles that were parked more than 5km from their owner’s home.

  Police are preparing to launch their aerial arsenal as part of a crackdown on COVID rule breakers. High powered drones will be used to find people not wearing masks, and cars too far from home. https://t.co/5zYfOfohG3 @tdolling #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/Yy84UBTH0V

  — 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) August 17, 2020

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

  In the UK, authorities were blasted for using surveillance drones to keep tabs on dog walkers in remote areas to check if they were hiking too far from home.

  Despite posts yesterday highlighting issues of people still visiting the #PeakDistrict despite government guidance, the message is still not getting through. @DerPolDroneUnit have been out at beauty spots across the county, and this footage was captured at #CurbarEdge last night. pic.twitter.com/soxWvMl0ls

  — Derbyshire Police (@DerbysPolice) March 26, 2020

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  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 19:00

• Senior Japanese Olympic Official Jumps In Front Of Train In Suspected Suicide
  Senior Japanese Olympic Official Jumps In Front Of Train In Suspected Suicide

  Tokyo Police are investigating an apparent suicide on Monday morning (local time) of a senior official at the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) who jumped in front of a subway train. 

  Nippon TV’s News24 channel reports Yasushi Moriya, who led JOC’s accounting department, apparently ended his own life in the Tokyo Metro system. Police have yet to release details surrounding the death of the official. 

  Latest update of Yasushi Moriya’s death from our correspondent Phoebe Amoroso. Yasushi is a senior official of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC). #Tokyo2020 https://t.co/DjYGUpZf3C pic.twitter.com/GMQrHJagzi

  — CGTN Global Watch (@GlobalWatchCGTN) June 7, 2021

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

  The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which were canceled last summer due to the virus pandemic, are expected to begin on July 23 and end on August 8.

  A staff member of #Japan‘s #Olympic Committee died on Monday in a suicide in #Tokyo’s subway, local broadcaster Nippon Television said. Yasushi Moriya, 52, who worked as an accounting manager with the committee, jumped in front of a train from a subway platform in the morning. pic.twitter.com/f60cMcibt6

  — China Daily World (@ChinaDailyWorld) June 7, 2021

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  Despite recent objections from government scientists and prominent business people, Japan is moving forward with the postponed 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo next month. In an interview with the Japanese press, the president of the 2020 Games, Seiko Hashimoto, declared that the event would move ahead as planned, with the Japanese government taking certain precautions to prevent an outbreak of mutant COVID.

  “We cannot postpone again,” Hashimoto told the Nikkan Sports newspaper via Reuters. This is happening as a recent rise in Japan’s coronavirus numbers.

  

  Even if the Games are held, the entire event will be a financial disaster for the country who went well over budget to stage it. This is because foreign fans have been barred from entering all sporting events, and those who are eligible to enter will need a negative COVID-19 test or vaccination history. Once inside, spectators might be forbidden from eating, drinking, and cheering. 

  A recent study by Britain’s Oxford University said the Tokyo Olympics are the most expensive summer games ever. With no foreign fans allowed, the alleged suicide of the JOC’s accounting department head makes you wonder just how bad of investment the Games will turn out to be. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 18:40

• Imagine Being A Central Banker In June 2021
  Imagine Being A Central Banker In June 2021

  By Larry McDonald, author of the Bear Traps Report

  Imagine sitting in the seat of a central banker in June of 2021. You are looking down the barrel of millions of AMC nutjobs making up 9% of all U.S. equity market option volume on Friday and 8.2 million jobless Americans.

  Since Jackson Hole (August 2020) you have been lecturing most of the planet ́s inhabitants that ridding the world of inequality is closest to your heart. Above all your message has been, “we did it all wrong in previous hiking cycles in pulling back accommodation too soon, this time we are going to let it run hot and lift all Americans up into the heavens.”

  After the loud song and dance messaging, we have a moral hazard overdose and a job market that won’t normalize at the current pace until October 2022 (837k jobs created the last TWO months vs. 8.2-million-person shortfall in the labor force vs. January 2020 levels).

  U.S. central bankers have two choices:

  • a) stay dovish and sow the seeds of a Lehman, LTCM event, while manufacturing more Bernie Madoffs and Al Dunlaps monthly or
  • b) arrest accommodation and throw your social justice mantra out the window.

  You want that job? NO thanks.

  Over the last week it looks a lot like last month. Payrolls miss, bonds are bid with a HOT CPI waiting in the wings this coming Thursday. Clients we respect in the Bloomberg chat are talking up the U.S. Rates (lower) vs. Brent Oil (higher) divergence. This speaks to the power of the global re-opening catchup, fleeting American exceptionalism.

  We continue to be oil bulls with India and Europe coming on strong with surprise demand upside. Since May 12, the copper – gold ratio has reversed favoring the precious metal. This is important to monitor, right on the 14-month trend line.

  What is hyperinflation? From 1993 to 2020, the Fed ́s favorite inflation measure (PCE YoY) has ranged from 0.97% to 2.46%, with no exceptions.

  After walking through this long valley, asset prices have been highly conditioned for “beyond tame” data. By this definition, anything near 3.00% is hyper. Today, PCE YoY is at 3.06% with $5T of U.S. GDP (California CA –NY New York), locked down for most of Q1 and Q2.

  We see a meaningful inflation shock in the weeks/months ahead. Rents are rising fast across the U.S., and heretofore they have held back CPI and PCE inflation data. A mean-reversion is in the works and will drive inflation expectations higher – gold bullish.

  We make the case; 1) wage pressures are vastly underestimated, 2) labor as a political power base is surging, and 3) a colossal secular shift is upon us.

  The G7 “Global Minimum Tax” agreement still has some wood left to chop, BUT do NOT underestimate the importance of this trend. There are bills to pay and FAANGMT have a target on their back.

  In the growth vs. value tug of war, the former has seen six months of failed rallies with lower highs. We will use pullbacks in commodity sector longs to add to positions and sell tech rallies.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 18:20

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• British Army's New Ajax Tank Makes Troops Sick 
  British Army’s New Ajax Tank Makes Troops Sick 

  The British Army is modernizing its forces with new armored fighting vehicles. One vehicle, in particular, called the “Ajax,” produced by General Dynamics UK, has been in testing with the service after a multi-billion dollar deal. But there’s a problem, the vehicles are so noisy and vibrate violently during operations that tank crews are becoming sick, according to The Times. 

  The UK government ordered 589 Ajax tanks, formerly known as the Scout SV (Specialist Vehicle), a family of armored fighting vehicles being developed by General Dynamics. A deal between the service and the defense firm was inked in 2014 for $4.5 billion, and after trials in November, it appears these tanks are far from battle-ready. 

  

  It prompted the service to pause testing from late November to March. Over 20 mph, tank crews experience extreme vibrations and loudness, resulting in some troops suffering from swollen joints and ringing in their ears.

  A defense industry source told The Times the tanks were so loud during operation that up the chain of command, there were fears that long-term use of these new tanks, crews would develop “neurological issues.” 

  The military has issued special noise-canceling headsets to correct the issue. 

  When the tank is underway, extreme vibrations have caused a much larger problem – tank crews cannot fire the cannon on the move with precision. 

  General Dynamics issued a statement and said it “continues to work closely with the British Army and Ministry of Defence to complete the remaining demonstration phase activities.” 

  “A small number of remaining issues are being reviewed and closed out in partnership with the British Army.”

  The Ministry of Defence also issued a statement: 

  “We are committed to the Ajax program, which will form a key component in the Army’s modernized war-fighting division, with current plans for initial operating capability scheduled for summer 2021.

  “The MoD can confirm some training on the Ajax vehicles was paused as a precautionary measure. This is a normal measure for the demonstration phase of projects.

  “The health and safety of our personnel is of the utmost importance.”

  Meanwhile, Russian forces are being equipped with fifth-generation fighter jets and hypersonic missiles, and a “revolutionary” new main battle tank called the T-14 Armata. 

  Some Western military experts are concerned that the Armata could outclass NATO’s tank fleets, such as the US’ M-1 Abrams, Germany’s Leopard 2, and Britain’s Challenger 2.

  The UK modernization efforts with faulty tanks don’t seem like a winning success if the West taunts the Russian bear. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 02:45

• Putin Says That First Line Of Nord Stream 2 Is Now Complete
  Putin Says That First Line Of Nord Stream 2 Is Now Complete

  Via OilPrice.com,

  Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that laying the pipes for the first of two lines of the prospective Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany has now been “successfully completed.”

  

  Addressing an economic forum in St. Petersburg on June 4, Putin also said that “work on the second line is continuing.”

  While the underwater section still needs to be linked to the section on German territory, Russian energy giant Gazprom “is ready to start filing Nord Stream 2 with gas,” he added.

  Gazprom shares went up 0.6 percent after Putin’s comments, reaching 273.80 rubles ($3.74) — their highest level since mid-2008.

  The United States, which has strongly opposed construction of the new Russian pipeline, last month announced new sanctions against Russian companies and ships involved in the project.

  But the administration of President Joe Biden decided to waive sanctions against the company overseeing the project and its CEO.

  In Washington, the move was met with criticism from Republicans and some Democrats, while the Kremlin hailed it as a “positive signal” ahead of a June 16 summit between Biden and Putin.

  The Baltic Sea pipeline was at the center of a political tussle between Berlin and Washington during the previous administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump. Since coming into office in January, Biden has sought to heal relations with Europe after they were bruised under his predecessor.

  U.S. officials have warned the pipeline will make Europe more dependent on Russian energy supplies and bypass Ukraine, which relies on gas transit fees.

  The German government has refused to halt the project, arguing that it is a commercial venture and sovereign issue.

  Putin told the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that Russia will continue pumping 40 billion cubic meters of gas via Ukraine a year in line with the existing five-year contract.

  Kyiv is locked in a confrontation with Moscow over Russia’s 2014 seizure of Ukraine’s Black Sea Crimean Peninsula and the Kremlin’s support of separatists in eastern Ukraine.

  Describing the U.S. use of the dollar as a political weapon, Putin also said that European states should pay for Russian gas in euros, a day after Moscow said it would remove dollar assets from its National Wealth Fund while increasing the share of the euro, Chinese yuan, and gold.

  “The euro is completely acceptable for us in terms of gas payments. This can be done, of course, and probably should be done,” he said.

  Russia has long moved to reduce the dollar’s share in its hard-currency reserves as it has faced waves of U.S. sanctions amid heightened tensions with the West over issues including the conflict in Ukraine, cyberattacks allegedly by Russian hackers, and Russia’s treatment of jailed opposition activist Aleksei Navalny.

  In an interview with state-run Channel One television on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg forum, Putin said he expected “no breakthrough” from his meeting with Biden, but expressed hope that the talks will be held in a “positive atmosphere.”

  “But the very fact of our meeting, that we will speak about possibilities for restoring bilateral relations, about matters of mutual interest, and, by the way, there are a lot of them, is quite good as such,” he added.

  Late last month, Biden said he would press his Russian counterpart to respect human rights when the two leaders meet.

  The U.S. president in March said he believed Putin was a “killer,” which prompted a diplomatic row that led to Moscow recalling its ambassador to Washington for consultations.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 06/07/2021 – 02:00

• The DARPA-Taped Letters
  The DARPA-Taped Letters

  Via Harvard2TheBigHouse Subsatck,

  Why have several researchers with close ties to the CCP been undermining the dissemination of peer reviewed research which looks at a lab origin of the COVID-19 Pandemic and gain-of-function research?

  

  Few things are as nerve-racking as your first day at a brand-new school in a brand-new state, that’s on the other side of the country.

  And so I was beyond relieved when the teacher of my second grade class Mrs. Mongelluzzo – easy to spell with the Mickey Mouse Club cadence – told everyone at the end of a rough first day that to help break the ice, everyone should try and bring a joke back to class the next day as their only homework. Knowing my dad seemed to at least think he was pretty hilarious, I waddled home so fast that I almost started rolling at one point, eager to call my dad at work to get the joke to help me fit in with a class of eight and nine year-olds the next day.

  I’m not sure I’ve ever raised my hand faster in my life that next day, when Mrs. Mongelluzzo asked if anyone had remembered their homework and returned with a joke. Brand news class, all eyes on me, time to show I can fit in:

  “Alright, so… how do you tell a male chromosome, from a female chromosome?

  (At this point I assumed the confused looks meant my classmates were deeply pondering this profound genomic kaon.)

  “Well… of course – YOU JUST PULL DOWN ITS GENES!!”

  And so I learned my first hard lesson in the school of having a Microbiology PhD father trying to help you navigate through novel social situations. Or any social situations. But I digress. 

  However the good news was that although my dad’s job might not have made fitting in among my peers any easier, he more than made up for it during my first Take-Your-Kid-to-Work Day a few weeks later. Riding the Red Line from the Shady Grove Metro decades later while living in a halfway house as an ex-con and felon for the rest of my life, GPS anklet banging around underneath my extra-long khakis, I had a hard time imagining myself back then, staring out the window, oblivious to so much of the world that prison would later reveal to me.

  But for eight-year-old me, the metro was the first part of the most incredible adventure of my life up to that point. 

  After the metro it was just one science-fiction escalator ride towards an impossibly distant windy pinpoint, stopping to ask the friendliest pair of glasses I could find for directions to the right building, and then one elevator later – I stepped into a massive slew of cubicles, absolutely terrible haircuts and pocket-protectors as far as the eye could see – but most importantly for me, a crowd that would appreciate my sense of humor.

  After the laughs and smiles it was kaleidoscopic protein models that spun and danced on screens and the same microscopic structures that I remembered from my dad’s t-shirts blow-up to preposterous proportions and popping up on office walls and projector screens, I felt like I’d walked into a movie set – watching discoveries and knowledge get summoned into existence in real-time, and being able to poke around and find a community that loved the fact I had something of a precious science vocabulary and wasn’t afraid to ask what might be a stupid question… since the other hand of that is it just might be a really good one too.

  

  So all of these happy formative memories swirled back to the surface when shortly after our paper examining a laboratory origin of the COVID-19 Pandemic was published in August 2020, the end of a journey that’d started with its submission back in April, a handful of random folks emailed us. My assumption initially and for several weeks afterwards was that at least one of them had been an old colleague of my father’s, since I mean – after you have your PhD for about 40 years you tend to build up a fairly long list of contacts.

  However once a bit of time had passed and I thought about it, I wasn’t aware of my dad ever significantly interacting with a former Secretary of the Navy and Obama advisor directly attached to defense work, a federal global technology S&T researcher interested in engaging with China and who it’s hard to imagine hasn’t been extensively involved with defense programs, an MIT artificial intelligence and cyber-security wonk with extensive ties to the defense industry, and a scientist part of another team which denigrated my father’s career and said he never should’ve written a paper like ours also with extensive ties to DARPA and the defense industry.

  Even more bizarre, that former Secretary of the Navy spent much of 2020 directly lobbying with the help of Johns Hopkins for more scientific and academic engagement and cooperation with the CCP, alongside the sitting Director of National Intelligence (and soon to be oxymorons), Avril Haines. And so maybe it should raise a few eyebrows that the sitting Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, attempted to scrub existence of his company’s efforts to aid and abet the CCP placing students and researching into American institutions and especially key STEM programs via multi-million dollar contracts from the internet. 

  This company, WestExec Advisors, is also tied to the current Press Secretary, Jen Psaki.

  And it was only co-founded by Blinken, it’s other founder writes whitepapers alongside Avril Haines, since it’s all one big happy not-even-vaguely-corrupt-and-compromised mob family.

  Oh and Ms. Psaki just spent today telling the American people that there’s no grounds whatsoever that would cause President Biden to fire Tony Fauci. Not even treason? 

  In a time of war? Because the punishment for that very clearly isn’t losing your job – it’s losing your life via state execution. And so aiding and abetting the the Chinese Military in covering up the worst war-crime in human history would certainly be nominal groups for a bullet to the head, or however the government is doing it these days. 

  And in case any of this sounds a bit outlandish, turns out there’s been a high-level defector from China in America for several months, working alongside the DIA exclusively since “DIA leadership believes there are Chinese spies or sources inside the FBI, CIA, and several other federal agencies.”

  The idea that there’s even a discussion as to whether or not SARS-CoV-2 was engineered is entirely absurd, the only people acting like this is in doubt at all are looking to cover as many asses as they possibly can while directly aiding and abetting a disinformation campaign being run by the Chinese Military, and simultaneously keep the door open to violate as many Natural Laws as they possibly can.

  Most notably, Alina Chan, who’s already designed a protocol to insert freaking Ebola into human cells, and has been falsely presenting herself as some sort of honest actor while literally attempting to bribe other scientists to hide the truth.   

  And so as our emails with this giant wildly corrupt and conflicted cabal of DARPA-JHU-WestExec squad of fuckbois below recounts, their contact with us has become even stranger considering what’s happened since… and what hasn’t happened. Instead of our ideas being embraced by the wider scientific community like I would’ve expected from my childhood, they’ve been marginalized and our voices largely ignored.

  My father wouldn’t even let me take the super-cool U.S. Government pens to use in school since it could technically considered stealing, he’s never sniffed anything resembling defense work or the hundreds of millions of dollars of funding to do it, been anywhere near Big Pharma, or sought membership in some sort of international group or organization that’s supposed to somehow give one credibility since you can say you’re a part of it and it allows you to claim expertise you simply do not have. 

  And maybe my dad’s existence as just a simple scientist a good thing.

  Because if this pandemic has demonstrated anything, it’s that our international institutions have not only failed us as they’ve enabled the profiteering of public citizens that’s turned what was once a historic wealth gap in human history into one that’s only ever been demonstrated before in science-fiction movies, all the while we die off in the worst ongoing mass casualty event in generations. And these international organizations and their false sense of authority enable charlatans like Peter Daszak to corrupt and defile the scientific process by hiding behind imaginary xenophobia, when all he’s really been doing is running interference for the people providing the funding for his work.

  Because if one thing is certain, it’s that he has no interest in anything other than preserving the many hundreds of millions of dollars of funding he collects a six-figure salary to coordinate – as opposed to being worried about saving human life or getting to the bottom of this pandemic. And yet he doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and the “dual-use” side of the gain-of-function methodologies like serial passage refer to their possible uses in the defense industry, and now by those wishing to continue playing God and attempting to directly alter the human genome in at attempt to cheat nature’s basic strictures.

  Maybe it’s more than a coincidence that the last point made by the biggest cinematic franchise in history is that playing games with reality and attempting to manipulate the popular media’s perception of it can put an enormous number of lives at risk, and that there’s a lot of money to be made and power to be seized when seemingly benign international groups present themselves with authority they do not have, and with responsibilities they refuse to uphold.

  Maybe those movies were on to something.

  However, sure, maybe my dad and I are mistaken and there is something wrong with our paper which accounts for so many seeking to exclude it from the discussion at this point and keep our voices out of the media.

  We’re waiting.

  

  From: Karl Sirotkin PhD Date: Fri, Jan 22, 2021 at 10:51 AM

  Mr. Danzig, Dr. Kwik-Gronvall, Mr. Triolo, Dr. Leighton, and Mr. Mallery:

  When you all initially contacted my son and I about our paper, Might SARS‐CoV‐2 Have Arisen via Serial Passage through an Animal Host or Cell Culture? my initial thoughts went to fond memories I have from much earlier in my career when I was publishing more.

  On both occasions, scientists reached out to me after a paper I’d written was published, excited about my work, and asked me to present it at conferences.

  However, since your group initially contacted us to point out that we hadn’t properly supported one of our assertions, to which we replied with the citation which we had mistakenly left out, we have heard nothing at all from any of you since. Unlike my previous experiences, your group doesn’t seem at all interested in helping what you called “a real contribution” to the discussion around the origins of COVID-19 gain any traction anywhere, either among fellow professionals or the popular press.

  Your contact seems different and outside my normal experience as a professional.  If Mr. Danzig was simply curious about the 1977 influenza incident, I would have simply expected him to ask, so the rest of the distribution seems a bit mysterious, and frankly we are curious about the motivation especially considering the silence since and where things now stand.

  The larger distribution seems odd to me, since the four of you come from such diverse backgrounds. And it was made ever stranger after Dr. Kwik-Gronvall’s team at John Hopkins asserted that I was not qualified to write our paper, as part of a team with extensive ties to DARPA and the defense industry. A characteristic that, to an outsider, would also seem to bind your group together as well?

  Unless I am mistaken and the four of you have some other longstanding interest in gain-of-function work outside of DARPA and other defense work that brought you together to email us about the use of serial passage in our paper?

  Finally, are you aware of Alina Chan, who is attached to the Broad Institute and MIT as many of you are, actively telling reporters to ignore the peer review process, and presenting herself as some kind of expert after this article which reads like badly-researched fan-fiction from a lovesick writer was published? This article was published nearly a month after our peer reviewed paper was. And long after Zero Hedge made international headlines getting kicked off Twitter for asserting the possibility of a laboratory origin. Events this Boston Magazine article ignores entirely as it attempts to create a parallel universe. Since you were so concerned about an incorrect citation in a peer reviewed paper published from strangers, certainly you’re concerned about someone with ties to the same institutions as many of you denigrated the scientific process, and allowing herself and her research to be misrepresented in the press.

  So my question is: Why did the four of you contact me and my son? If it was to make sure the science is presented and communicated correctly, why has there been only silence since? And Dr. Kwik-Gronvall, why did your team assert I was unqualified to write this paper after you were already so familiar with it? I appreciate the fact JHU retracted that statement, but I assume that was only after my son emailed asking very politely for a correction.

  With the entire globe in the grips of this pandemic, accurate and honest scientific reporting and research has never ever been more important. It is already looking as if continually updated vaccines might be required to control COVID-19 as it mutates, and with confidence in vaccines already low – aren’t the four of you concerned with the potential damage that can be done when the scientific peer review process is not respected?  Such lack of respect causes lowered belief in the entire scientific enterprise.

  Alina presented herself as superior to out peer reviewed paper by telling journalists that it would be ok to ignore it, but of which we have yet to see specific criticisms other that Richard’s excellent question. When four scientists as accomplished and connected as you take all that time to reach out about our paper, but then remain silent afterwards which this implied criticism by one with which you seem to have an association?

  So maybe you can help us understand your motivations and the larger context of your interest? Since I’m baffled that this even seems to be a question when reviewing a field, in any context, scientific or journalistic: Is it professional and appropriate to ignore or encourage others to ignore a peer reviewed article? The clear answer is, “No,” unless specific criticisms are part of that assertion.  And we are happy to discuss this, if there is any question about this being appropriate behavior for a scientist, since Alina is rather young and perhaps hasn’t been properly trained.

  And since all of this is so bizarre, and since several articles have already appeared in the popular press which ignore the peer reviewed science, and so many others with backgrounds in finance and politics seem to be coming out of the woodwork writing articles and pretending to have the ability to address the science when all they hold no relevant degrees and have only ever written popular pieces, acting like their research and work should be considered with the same seriousness as ours – this email will be posted to a public forum for open discussion.

  Dr. Karl Sirotkin

  

  Richard Danzig responded to that email chain below:

  Saturday, Jan 23, 10:14 AM

  Karl,

  When I read your and your son’s paper I wrote to you about what seemed a mistaken description of a previous paper. You quite properly wrote back acknowledging the mistake. I haven’t written further because there doesn’t seem more that I can contribute. I am not a scientist, but rather simply someone with some expertise on national security questions who wants to understand what is happening in relevant domains of science and technology. As shown in my message, I copied several scientists who I knew were interested in this topic. They do not constitute “a group” and hadn’t seen my message before I sent it. I cannot speak for them. I have copied these others on this email and also included John Mallery who ably supervises the “biosecurity analysis” mailing list. As John has said he does not want these communications directly circulating on that list, I leave to him whether he wants to circulate this further. I hope this addresses your concerns about my original message and why you have heard no more (save for this!) from me. 

  Sincerely,

  Richard

  Since all this seemed to do was dodge any sort of explanation, Dr. Sirotkin tried again below:

  Sunday, Jan 31, 9:37 PM

  Dr. Danzig, Dr. Kwik-Gronvall, Mr. Triolo, Dr. Leighton, and Mr. Mallery:

  Dr Danzig, Your courtesy is appreciated, but not of the questions I’ve asked have been addressed, so apparently, I need to be more direct.

  I’m including the bio-security mailing list in this distribution since there are unanswered questions here that go well beyond SARS2’s origins and affect National Security from the biotechnology perspective. Dr. Danzig, you sent the first email to a handful of people as well as a email list of anonymous recipients in what seemed to be an attempt to sideline our work and push aside questions about gain of function research – we should be able to answer to that same distribution, especially because in your follow up to that same distribution, you seemed to say we agreed we were mistaken in the context of pandemic influenzas viruses. But the only mistake was a missing citation, we neveragreed that any of the conclusions were mistaken, nor have we seen any criticism of the logic and conclusion of our August 2020 Bioessays peer reviewed publication. A letter is in press that adds the citation, and goes into more signs regarding serial passage and this novel coronavirus.

  And we address you along with everyone else, Dr. Danzig, because these questions don’t relate to granular scientific issues but instead are more ones of integrity and the common public good. By the way, for a non-scientist you really must have been following the scientific field closely both to spot our paper and notice it was missing a citation.

  Due to the number of lives on the line, and that fundamental issues of scientific and professional integrity seem to be in question, I hope you can provide direct answers to the following questions which I’ve tried to make as clear as possible. Some questions only a few on the initial distribution will be able to answer, but I hope those on the mailing list will respond as well since these questions obviously relate to biosecurity and go way beyond SARS2’s origins.

  In my more than four decades as a practicing scientist I have never felt this sense of bewilderment and concern over the conduct of other professionals, and especially now in the middle of a pandemic that has no end in sight – to have the scientific community act with such apparent duplicitous intent, in a possible effort to secure their own access to billions of dollars of funding is truly disconcerting, a feeling I would expect to be shared by everyone who considers themselves a part of the wider scientific community.

  Question 1:  What were the context of the discussions were that led you to initially use the rather broad email distribution that you used as well as the national security list? I also want to restate for this question that the missing citation did not cause any of our logic or conclusions to be compromised, it did not affect our analysis of the current pandemic, instead only provided a nice narrative parallel to it. However, you decided to contact us in the first place, and include others on that initial email distribution which also included a broad anonymous list, so out of professional courtesy and transparency I’m simply asking how the decision was made to contact us, with such a broad distribution list and then to avoid answering our questions? 

  Question 2: At least two of you appear associated with the Johns Hopkins team which stated that I was unqualified to write a paper covering the origins of SARS2. Why did your team make that judgment? What made your group more qualified than myself when my experience includes teaching molecular virology, molecular biology, and performing nearly two decades of genetic engineering wet-work, and as a bioinformatics scientist I have much longer tenure in the field than anyone on that report’s author list. Why has the entire John Hopkins COVID-19 tracking unit been either pretending that our paper does not exist, or actively trying to undermine its credibility – when they’re obviously entirely aware of it, and how sound it is? To the point of not even citing us in their list of peer reviewed literature citations?

  Question 3: How much more death is needed before the discussion around gain-of-function work is opened back up and the moratorium against it (or at the very least monitoring by those who do not have a conflict of interest) is reconsidered? And shouldn’t there be intense, independent scientific scrutiny of all gain-of-function genome-altering work that asks, not only: “What might be the benefit?” but also, “What can possibly go wrong?” We cannot help but wonder if the DARPA-funded Foundry , or work on the recent Apollo report, played a role in what appeared to be an attempt to discredit us, and if this distribution list has an interest in that work going forward, and is part of the efforts to minimize such moratoriums or safety monitoring?

  I sincerely hope everyone on this list has National Security interests foremost in your priorities and we are wrong to be worried about your desire to continue the inadequately monitored gain-of-function work which puts humanity at such terrible risk.

  Question 4: How is it that all of you are concerned enough about academic integrity to contact us about a missing citation, but have sat back and done nothing as our peer-reviewed work is appropriated in the popular press? And since this is so obviously a public health issue, do you believe that journalists should report on the peer reviewed science, or be encouraged to make their own opinions about what the state of the science really is?  This would not be an issue for me, if any honest detailed criticism of our paper at all was known to me, however since it is not – If academic integrity was at the heart of your initial contact with us, why have you been sitting back spectating as our ideas have been stolen and misrepresented to the general public at large by multiple mainstream outlets?

  We look forward to your responses.

  Karl Sirotkin, PhD

  

  Strangely enough, they were never heard from again!!

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 23:30

• US Troops In Iraq Targeted By Increasingly Sophisticated Combat Drones
  US Troops In Iraq Targeted By Increasingly Sophisticated Combat Drones

  The thousands of US troops still in Iraq are increasingly monitoring the threat from the skies, as a series of combat drones from an unknown source have reportedly targeted American bases over the past few months, according to a Friday report in The New York Times. The report blames “Iran-backed militia” for deployments of sophisticated small drones, citing the usual anonymous sources.

  The following day on Saturday, a new attack on Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq was reported: “The air defense system at Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq, where American forces are stationed, shot down two drones that attempted to attack the base on Saturday night, according to the Iraqi Security Media Cell.”

  

  In Saturday’s incident the base’s C-RAM anti-air system was activated and shot down the pair of drones as they reportedly tried to attack the base. There were also Saturday incidents involving rocket attacks targeting a US-run diplomatic center in Baghdad, as well as Baghdad’s international airport. 

  The Associated Press details the string of incidents believed to involve Iran-backed militias as follows:

  The Iraqi army said Sunday that two drones were destroyed above a base housing US troops, one month after the same base was targeted by an armed drone.

  The US military’s C-RAM defense system was activated to shoot down the drones above the Ain al-Assad base, located in Iraq’s western desert, the Iraqi military said.

  Several hours earlier, a rocket was shot down above Baghdad airport, “without causing casualties or damage,” said Colonel Wayne Marotto, spokesman for the US-led military coalition in Iraq.

  The Times report had underscored that pro-Iranian militias are now in possession of “more sophisticated weaponry, including armed drones,” given that at least “three times in the past two months” they’ve been able to deploy “small, explosive-laden drones that divebomb and crash into their targets in late-night attacks on Iraqi bases.”

  #BREAKING: U.S.’ C-RAM downed two drones above the Ain al-Assad base in #Iraq on Sunday. If they were armed, this would mark the second such drone incident above Ain al-Assad in a month and at least the fourth in the past two months in Iraq, generally.https://t.co/JbXMoOv0Fd

  — Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) June 6, 2021

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

  Both the pro-Iranian Iraqi paramilitaries and much of the Iraqi public have long pressured Baghdad government officials to order foreign troops out of the country, which like Afghanistan could soon reach two whole decades of American occupation.

  This new small drone threat appears part of the direct pressure campaign on the US military with the goal of inducing a quicker Pentagon departure. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 23:00

• The Cotton Controversy: The Dark Anniversary Of The Surrender Of The New York Times
  The Cotton Controversy: The Dark Anniversary Of The Surrender Of The New York Times

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  This week is the one-year anniversary of one of the lowest points in the history of modern American journalism.

  During the week of June 6, 2020, the New York Times forced out an opinion editor and apologized for publishing the editorial of Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) calling for the use of the troops to restore order in Washington after days of rioting around the White House.  While Congress would “call in the troops” six months later to quell the rioting at the Capitol on January 6th, New York Times reporters and columnists called the column historically inaccurate and politically inciteful. Reporters insisted that Cotton was even endangering them by suggesting the use of troops and insisted that the newspaper cannot feature people who advocate political violence.

  One year later, the New York Times published a column by an academic who has previously declared that there is nothing wrong with murdering conservatives and Republicans.

  

  As I observed at the time of the Cotton column, I disagree with the basis or wisdom of invoking to the Insurrection Act to address the rioting in Washington.  (The Act was not invoked to deploy national guard to end the Capitol riot). However, I also noted that the column was historically accurate. Critics never explained what was historically false (or outside the range of permissible interpretation) in the column. Moreover, writers Taylor Lorenz, Caity Weaver, Sheera Frankel, Jacey Fortin, and others said that such columns put black reporters in danger and condemned publishing Cotton’s viewpoint.

  In a breathtaking surrender, the newspaper apologized and not only promised an investigation in how such an opposing view could find itself on its pages but promised to reduce the number of editorials in the future.  In a statement that will go done in journalistic infamy, the newspaper announced:

  “We’ve examined the piece and the process leading up to its publication. This review made clear that a rushed editorial process led to the publication of an Op-Ed that did not meet our standards. As a result, we’re planning to examine both short term and long term changes, to include expanding our fact-checking operation and reduction the number of op-eds we publish.”

  One of the writers who condemned the decision to publish Cotton was New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones.  Hannah-Jones applauded the decision of the Times to apologize for publishing such an opposing viewpoint and denounced those who engage in what she called “even-handedness, both sideism” journalism. Opinion editor James Bennet was rustled out to make a pleading apology. That however was not enough. He was later compelled to resign for publishing a column that advocates an option used previously in history with rioting.

  Notably, not long after Bennet was thrown under the bus, Hannah-Jones herself tweeted out a bizarre anti-police conspiracy theory that injuries and destruction caused by fireworks was not the fault of protesters but actually part of a weird police conspiracy. She later deleted the tweet but there was no hue and cry over accuracy or “both sideisms.”

  Nor was there such calls for reexamining standards when Hannah-Jones’ famous “1619 project” (which earned her a Pulitzer Prize) was found to have fundamental historical flaws and researchers claimed the New York Times ignored them in raising the errors.  Hanna-Jones will soon be teaching journalism at the University of North Carolina.

  The sacking of Bennet had its intended effect. Writers and columnists with opposing or critical views were soon forced off newspapers around the country, including at the New York Times.

  Cotton and conservatives are also rarely seen on the pages of the New York Times unless it is to criticize the party or Trump. The writers have condemned the “both sideism” of allowing conservative viewpoints in the newspaper and insisted that Cotton and others must be banned as favoring potential violent actions against protesters. Yet, the newspaper has published people with anti-free speech and violent viewpoints in the last year. While the New York Times stands by its declaration that Cotton should never have been published, it had no problem in publishing “Beijing’s enforcer” in Hong Kong as Regina Ip mocked freedom protesters who were being beaten and arrested by the government.

  Indeed, just before the anniversary of the Cotton controversy, the New York Times published a column by University of Rhode Island professor  Erik Loomis, who defended the murder of a conservative protester and said that he saw “nothing wrong” with such acts of violence.  (Loomis has also been ridiculed for denouncing statistics, science, and technology as inherently racist).

  Loomis’ article on “Why The Amazon Workers Never Stood A Chance” did not include his violent philosophy. It was in my view a worthy and interesting column for publication. So was Cotton’s column. However, NYT reporters and columnists have insisted that figures like Cotton should not be published because they have supported violence against protesters.  Yet, they have no apparent problem in publishing someone who has declared that there is nothing wrong with actually murdering conservatives.  The paper also has no problem with someone who is partially responsible for the systemic and violent suppression of democracy protesters.

  As I said on the publication of Regina Ip, I would like to see all of these writers published. Even if I find some of their views wrong or even grotesque, newspapers should be forums where readers are exposed to different and even unsettling viewpoints. Self-censoring does not extinguish such views. It only fuels an appetite to control and censor opposing views.

  I was hoping against experience that the media, and particularly the New York Times, would run a self-critique of its actions on the one-year anniversary of the Cotton controversy. Such a review would have allowed for a critical look at many of the assumptions of that week. For example, virtually every news outlet in the country ran stories that week on the clearing of Lafayette Park. Indeed, many justified the Cotton action in light of the Lafayette operation, which used an unnecessary level of force.  However, the media reported, as a fact, that Attorney General Bill Barr cleared the park to allow for Trump’s much-maligned photo op in front of St. John’s church.  That allegation was quickly refuted and there is now ample evidence that the clearing operation was ordered before any plans for the photo op. It was ordered due to the high level of violence and destruction over the weekend protests around the White House. Yet, news organizations have never corrected their reporting.  Indeed, legal experts like University of Texas professor and CNN contributor Steve Vladeck continue to claim that Barr ordered federal officers “to forcibly clear protestors in Lafayette Park to achieve a photo op for Trump.”

  Likewise, much of the media lionized D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for her stance at the time. She received national acclaim for painting “Black Lives Matter” on the street next to the park and renaming it “Black Lives Matter Plaza.” Bowser denounced the force used by the Trump administration, including the use of tear gas. It now turns out (as revealed last week in court filings) that the District used tear gas a block away to enforce Bowser’s curfew. The debate over the denial of using tear gas by the federal operation raged for a year (the federal government insists that it used pepper balls, which has basically the same effect on protesters). Yet, over that year,, neither Bowser nor her government stepped forward to say that D.C.’s Metropolitan Police used tear gas in their operations a block or so from Lafayette Park. The District is now arguing that the use of tear gas was entirely reasonable and the BLM lawsuit should be dismissed.

  In the meantime, the Biden administration agrees that the BLM case should be dismissed entirely. The Department of Justice (DOJ) maintains that “Presidential security is a paramount government interest that weighs heavily in the Fourth Amendment balance.” The DOJ’s counsel, John Martin, added that “federal officers do not violate First Amendment rights by moving protesters a few blocks, even if the protesters are predominantly peaceful.”

  The media has virtually blacked out coverage of the change in the position of Bowser, the admission of the District, or the position of the Biden Administration.  Over the last year, the media has instead plunged headlong into advocacy journalism. This includes academics rejecting the very concept of objectivity in journalism in favor of open advocacy. Columbia Journalism Dean and New Yorker writer Steve Coll denounced how the First Amendment right to freedom of speech was being “weaponized” to protect disinformation.

  Not surprisingly,  over this year, the faith in the media has continued to plummet. A survey by the global communications firm Edelman (via Axios) found only 46 percent of Americans trust traditional media.  That mirrors polls by Gallup showing an even lower level of trust.  We are living in a new age of yellow journalism at a time when real journalism has never been more needed.

  Once again, they would be wise to heed the words of Louis Brandeis in his concurring opinion in Whitney v. California (1927) when he declared “If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the process of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”

  So, for what it is worth, happy anniversary to the staff and writers of The New York Times.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 22:30

• Soaring Used Car Prices May Result In "Shocking" Inflation Report Next Week
  Soaring Used Car Prices May Result In “Shocking” Inflation Report Next Week

  Used car prices in the US continue to surge due to both the country’s economic recovery and an ongoing supply crunch.

  There are two components to watch in the core inflation report due next week. First is, and most importantly, are used car prices and second is the rent of shelter.

  Core inflation in April saw a more significant contribution to used car prices pushing inflation upwards of 2% YoY mainly because prices of used vehicles on the month jumped 21% YoY.

  

  For those who haven’t seen what is going on in the used car space, here is a chart of the Mannheim used car index:

  

  “Prices on used vehicles increased by an astonishing 21 % YoY in April (contributing 0.8% to the yearly change in core inflation). According to Manheim Consulting, prices on used cars and trucks are expected to climb further to 50 pct YoY in May or June (3 months lag). If we assume a 50% yearly increase in used cars in May (Manheim may exaggerate the yearly price increase a bit), then core inflation will potentially surpass 4%. Supply chain disruptions, shortage of semiconductors and Covid-19 restrictions have all played a part in disturbing the price action in the car market, but bottlenecks are not always the root cause of inflation – they can also be seen as a symptom,” said Nordea. 

  

  This means that the May inflation report next week (due June 10) could be an absolute shocker.

  “We see clear risks of a big positive surprise to the May inflation report as well with core inflation around or just above 4%. The market is still buying the transitory inflation narrative but for how long? Lately, increasing (US) inflation has been the main concern of markets,” Nordea said, adding that, “We are likely in for another inflation shocker in June, but the question is whether the market will explain it away as a transitory effect.” 

  Peering into the real world, Financial Times speaks with people within the industry and in financial markets about what’s fueling used car prices. 

  Carey Cherner, a 36-year-old used car dealer in Maryland, sold a 2001 Ford F-150 pick-up truck with close to 200k miles for $7,500, more than 50% higher than pre-pandemic prices. 

  “There are more people buying cars than there are cars in the market, which makes it go kind of crazy,” Cherner said.

  Policymakers, such as Federal Reserve members, continue to soothe the market with the word “transitory” almost daily, as a form of a communication tool to admit there are inflationary pressures but avoid market participants from panicking. 

  Lael Brainard, a Fed governor, said earlier this week that used car cost pressures “may persist over the summer months, I expect them to fade and likely reverse somewhat in subsequent quarters”.

  But the problem here is that policymakers have been telling us that these pressures are “transitory” for months and keep pushing out the goalposts of when they want everyone to believe inflation diminishes. 

  Nathan Sheets, the chief economist at PGIM Fixed Income and a former under-secretary at the US Treasury, said there is an “unprecedented level of stimulus plus other forms to support spending” floating around the economy. A combination of helicopter drops by the federal government and supply chain disruptions resulted in the quickest “V-shaped” recovery that ultimately sparked supply constraints, driving up prices. 

  “How sure am I that I am right that inflation is going to dissipate? Probably 80 percent, but that is still a pretty fat tail,” Sheets said. 

  “It’s incredibly tight right now: you have more demand . . . that is supported by fiscal stimulus, so it’s just like a perfect storm. And we see that clearly in prices,” said Laura Rosner, a senior economist at MacroPolicy Perspectives. 

  But Jonathan Smoke of Cox Automotive, a consultancy for automobile dealers, noted that “several leading indicators of what’s happening at our auctions” suggest “the price appreciation streak is likely going to end.”

  However, in Maryland, Cherner doesn’t believe there will be a “steep drop-off [in prices] until there’s way more supply than there is demand. They [automakers] still have to build the new cars and get the chips in them and get them out. I just think it’s going to last.”

  So the main driver in next week’s inflation report will most likely be surging used car prices, and the red hot numbers may cause the Fed to start tapering or at least continue to communicate a future wind-down of its emergency pandemic policies this summer. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 22:00

• Unthinkable Thoughts…
  Unthinkable Thoughts…

  Authored by Josh Mitteldorf,

  This essay is inspired by Dr Mercola’s announcement last week that [May] (reading between the lines) his life and his family’s have been threatened if he doesn’t remove from his web site a peer-reviewed study demonstrating the benefits of vitamin D and zinc in prevention of the worst COVID outcomes. In the present Orwellian era, where propaganda and deception are ubiquitous, one of the signposts of truth that I have learned to respect is that the most important truths are the most heavily censored.

  

  This is not what I enjoy writing about, but as I find dark thoughts creeping into my consciousness, perhaps it is better to put them on paper with supporting logic and invite my readers to help me clarify the reasoning and, perhaps, to point a way out of the darkness.

  Already in January, 2020, two ideas about COVID were emerging.

  One is that there were people and institutions who seemed to have anticipated the event, and were planning for it for a long time. Gates, Fauci, the World Economic Forum, and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine were among the prescient. (I credit the (now deleted) videos of Spiro Skouras.)

  Second was the genetic evidence suggesting that COVID had a laboratory origin. Funders of the scientific establishment have lost their bid to ridicule this idea, and it has now leaked into the mainstream, where it is fused with the classical yellow peril propaganda: “China did it!”. I have cited evidence that America is likely equally culpable.

  The confluence of these two themes suggests the dark logic that I take for my topic today: Those who knew in advance, not only that there would be a pandemic but that it would be a Coronavirus, were actually responsible for engineering this pandemic.

  Immediately, I think: How could people capable of such sociopathic enormities be occupying the most powerful circles of the world’s elite? And what would be their motivation? I don’t have answers to these questions, and I will leave speculation to others. But there’s one attractive answer that I find less compelling: that it’s a money-maker for the large and criminal pharmaceutical industry. The new mRNA vaccines are already the most profitable drugs in history, but I think that shutdown of world economies, assassinations of world leaders, deep corruption of science, and full-spectrum control of the mainstream narrative imply a larger power base than can plausibly be commanded by the pharma industry.

  Instead, I’ll try to follow the scientific and medical implications of the hypothesis that COVID is a bioweapon.

  The Spike Protein

  The spike protein is the part of the virus structure that interfaces with the host cell. SARS 1 and SARS 2 viruses both have spike proteins that bind to a human cell receptor called ACE-2, common in lung cells but also present in other parts of the body. Binding to the cell’s ACE-2 receptor is like the wolf knocking at the door of Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother. “Hello, grandmama. I’m your granddaughter. Please let me in.” The virus is a wolf wearing a red cape and hood, pretends to be an ACE-2 enzyme molecule seeking entrance to the cell.

  In order to enter the cell, the virus must break off from the spike protein and leave it at the doorstep, so to speak. This is an important and difficult step, as it turns out. Unique to the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a trick for making the separation. Just at the edge of the protein is a furin cleavage site. Furin is an enzyme that snips protein molecules, and it is common in our bodies, with legitimate metabolic uses. A furin cleavage site is a string of 4 particular amino acids that calls to furin, “hey — come over here. I’m a protein that needs snipping.”

  The most compelling evidence for a laboratory origin of COVID is that coronaviruses don’t have furin cleavage sites, and until last year, this trick has never evolved naturally.

  

  How we think about natural disease

  The classical understanding of a viral or bacterial disease is this: A parasite is an organism that uses the host’s resources for its own reproduction. It is evolved to reproduce efficiently. If it has co-evolved with the host, it may be evolved to spare the host’s health, or even to promote it, because this is the optimal long-term strategy for any predator or parasite. But newly-emerged parasites can do well for awhile even if they disable or kill their hosts, and this is the kind of disease that is most damaging to us. The damage is done because the (young) virus’s strategy is to reproduce rapidly and disperse itself into the environment where it can find new hosts. The virus has no interest in harming the host, and was not evolved to this end, but this is a side-effect of commandeering the body’s resources for its own reproduction.

  How engineered diseases can be different

  A bioweapon virus is designed to cause a certain kind of harm.

  • What kind of harm? It depends on the projected use for the weapon.

  • Doesn’t the virus have to reproduce? Probably, for most weapon applications; but a bioweapon is not necessarily designed for rapid reproduction. A bioweapon can be designed as a “sleeper” to remain dormant for months or years, or to cause incremental disability over a long period.

  If COVID had evolved naturally, we would expect that its spike protein would be adapted to mate well with the human ACE-2 receptor. There’s no reason to suspect it being otherwise biologically active. But if COVID is engineered, it may be that the spike protein itself has been designed to make us sick.

  One reason this is significant is that the vaccines have all been designed around the spike protein, assuming that the spike protein were metabolically neutral. If the virus had been naturally evolved, this is a reasonable assumption. But if it came from a laboratory (whether it leaked or was deliberately released) the spike protein might be actually be the agent of damage. There are several reasons to suspect that this is the case.

  The Spike Protein as an Active Pathogen

  Back in February, 2020, this article noted that the spike protein was not perfectly optimized to bind to human ACE-2 and put this forward as an proof that “SARS-CoV-2 is not a purposefully manipulated virus.” But if someone were designing the virus to cause harm, the spike protein would be a convenient locus for the damage vector, so the spike might have been designed with twin purposes in mind, binding and toxicity. The spike protein appears in many copies around the “crown” of the coronavirus. Since each copy has a furin cleavage site at its base, many spike proteins will break off into the bloodstream. We now have several reports and hypotheses concerning the spike protein as an active agent of damage. The spike protein is suspected of causing blood clots, of inducing long-lasting neurological damage, and of causing infertility. Many anecdotes describe injuries to un-vaccinated people who have been in close proximity to vaccinated, prompting speculation about “shedding” the spike protein.

  “Individuals with COVID-19 experience a vast number of neurological symptoms, such as headaches, ataxia, impaired consciousness, hallucinations, stroke and cerebral hemorrhage. But autopsy studies have yet to find clear evidence of destructive viral invasion into patients’ brains, pushing researchers to consider alternative explanations of how SARS-CoV-2 causes neurological symptoms….

  If not viral infection, what else could be causing injury to distant organs associated with COVID-19? The most likely culprit that has been identified is the COVID-19 spike protein released from the outer shell of the virus into circulation. Research cited below* has documented that the viral spike protein is able to initiate a cascade of events that triggers damage to distant organs in COVID-19 patients.

  Worryingly, several studies have found that the spike proteins alone have the capacity to cause widespread injury throughout the body, without any evidence of virus.

  What makes this finding so disturbing is that the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer and currently being administered throughout the U.S. program our cells to manufacture this same coronavirus spike protein as a way to trigger our bodies to produce antibodies to the virus.” 

  [Global Research article, Feb 2021]

  Note: the Astra-Zeneca and J&J vaccines are also based on the spike protein, and cause the spike protein to be created in the vaccinated person.

  “Research cited below” refers to this study in Nature which reports that the spike protein, injected into mice, crosses into the brain, where it causes neurological damage.

  Bigger news came just this week from a study in which researchers from California’s Salk Institute collaborated with Chinese virologists. They have found that the bare spike protein without the virus (injected in mice) can cause damaged arteries of the kind that lead to heart disease and strokes in humans. The original paper was published in Circulation Research, and the Salk Institute issued a news report describing the research.

  One of the most credible dangers of the spike protein involves fertility. None of the vaccines were tested in pregnant women, and yet many government and other authorities are recommending it as safe for pregnant women. VAERS has reported 174 miscarriages to date after COVID vaccination. VAERS is notoriously underreported. I find the anecdotes less concerning than the fact that no one is taking this seriously, and research is being actively discouraged in the best-respected science journals.

  There is a credible mechanism, in that the spike protein is partially homologous to syncytin. Syncytin, in fact, was originally a retroviral protein, inserted into the mammalian genome many aeons ago, and evolved over the ages to play an essential role in reproduction, binding the placenta to the fetus. An immune response that attacks syncytin might be expected to be impose a danger of spontaneous abortion. In any ordinary times, this would be a subject that medical researchers would jump on, with animal tests and field surveys to assess the danger. But these are no ordinary times, and the risk is being dismissed on theoretical grounds without investigation. This is especially suspicious in the context of history: a Gates Foundation vaccination program in 1995 was allegedly promoted to young women, causing infertility. (Yes, I know there are many fact-checkers eager to “debunk” this story, but I don’t find them convincing, and some of these fact-checkers are compromised by Gates funding.)

  Even doing what the spike protein is supposed to do — tying up ACE2 — can be a problem for our lungs and arteries, which are routinely protected by ACE2.

  The most dangerous possibility, suspected but not verified, is that the spike protein causes a prion cascade. Prions are paradoxical pathogens, in that they are misfolded proteins that cause misfolded proteins. Their evolutionary etiology is utterly mysterious, so much so that it took Stanley Prusiner a decade after describing the biology of prions before the scientific community would take prion biochemistry seriously. But prions make potent bioweapons, which laboratories can design outside of natural evolutionary dynamics. The possibility of prion-like structures in the spike protein was noted very early in the pandemic based on a computational study. This recent review combines theoretical, laboratory, and observational evidence to make a case for caution. Once again, I find it disturbing that this possibility is being dismissed on theoretical grounds rather than investigated in the lab and the field.

  Where did the idea come from that all vaccines are automatically safe? Why do so many journalists dismiss the suggestion that vaccines should be placebo-tested individually, like all other drugs? Why has it become routine to ridicule and denigrate scientists who ask questions about vaccine safety as politically-motivated luddites, or “anti-vaxxers”? How did we get to a situation where the “precautionary principle” means pressuring young people who are at almost no risk for serious COVID to accept a vaccine which has not been fully tested or approved? I don’t have answers, but I do know who benefits from this culture.

  Putting together all the evidence

  • Knowledge beforehand

  • Suppression of treatments and cures

  • Toxicity of the spike protein which, if it had been made by nature, should have been benign

  • Inclusion of the spike protein

  • Heavy promotion of scantily-tested vaccines and

  • Censorship of scientists and doctors who question the vaccines’ safety

  … putting together all this evidence, it is difficult to escape the inference that powerful people and organizations have engineered this pandemic with deadly intent.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 21:30

• Mach 30 Wind Tunnel Propels China Decades Ahead In Global Hypersonic Race 
  Mach 30 Wind Tunnel Propels China Decades Ahead In Global Hypersonic Race 

  Following conflicts over trade, technology, and capital markets, the US and China are locked in a great power competition, as some describe it as Thucydides Trap. We believe the battleground for global supremacy is heating up on the hypersonic front. 

  According to South China Morning Post (SCMP), researcher Han Guilai, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said a new wind tunnel in Beijing will “soon be unveiled” and put China decades ahead of the West in hypersonic technology. 

  Guilai told an online lecture in late May that the JF-22 wind tunnel, in Beijing’s Huairou district, was capable of simulating flights at 30 times the speed of sound. He said this would put China “about 20 to 30 years ahead” of the West.

  

  Such technology could propel China’s aerospace sector to test and quickly develop, sometime in this decade, hypersonic aircraft and weapons that could fly anywhere in the world in two hours or less. This would be an essential technology for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force to embrace because it would allow President Xi Jinping to challenge the US in the Indo-Pacific region. 

  Already, China has the DF-17 “carrier killer” missile that can travel at Mach 10 and sink a US aircraft carrier, while traditional missile defense systems would be utterly useless in defending against a weapon that is extremely fast and maneuverable. 

  Guilai explained how the new hypersonic wind tunnel operates. He said instead of using mechanical compressors, Beijing uses chemical explosions to produce high-speed airflow. 

  At America’s most advanced wind tunnel, named the LENS II, simulated flights are conducted only between Mach 3 and 9. 

  He said hypersonic technology tested in the JF-22 would be more advanced than the West’s, and “this determines our leading position in the world.”

  Guilai did not provide any information on when the JF-22 will begin testing hypersonic technologies. 

  He added: “There is a Chinese saying, it takes 10 years to sharpen a sword. “We have spent 60 years sharpening two swords. And they are the best.”

  China is coming for the US – they’re quickly modernizing their military for an Indo-Pacific fight with the US. We’ve learned nothing from history, and the US and China are falling into Thucydides Trap. 

  Our take, if a future conflict breaks out, fifth-generation fight jets and bombers, along with hypersonic weapons, would dominate the modern battlefield on either side. China is quickly gaining on the US in terms of military might. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 21:00

• Top Pennsylvania Senator Says He Supports Election Audit
  Top Pennsylvania Senator Says He Supports Election Audit

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

  A top senator in Pennsylvania said Saturday that he supports an audit of the 2020 presidential election.

  “I support the call for an election audit, in order to answer any lingering questions that still remain about the fairness of the 2020 elections in Pennsylvania. This is the best path forward to address the legitimate concerns of the large majority of my constituents who voted to reelect President [Donald] Trump, as well as all Pennsylvanians,” state Sen. David Argall, a Republican who chairs the Pennsylvania Senate’s State Government Committee, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

  “This is just one of many election reform efforts which I hope to see approved here in the next few weeks,” he added.

  Argall had earlier said he was reviewing the pros and cons of a potential audit.

  

  A spokesman for the senator declined to say whether he had spoken with state Sens. Doug Mastriano or Cris Dush, who recently returned from touring the forensic audit taking place in Maricopa County, Arizona.

  Both Mastriano and Dush support an audit in Pennsylvania.

  The Arizona audit started after an Arizona Senate panel issued subpoenas for election equipment and ballots.

  Because Republicans control the Pennsylvania Legislature, the state Senate’s State Government Committee has seven Republicans and four Democrats. Mastriano and Dush are two of the GOP members.

  “This was the most impressive audit I’ve ever seen. This level of voter integrity here, of forensically analyzing ballots, it’s all science, it’s not subjective at all. It’s going through every ballot and seeing if ballots were thrown on the copy machine and they could tell that forensically,” Mastriano told supporters in a Facebook Live video this week.

  “The people overwhelmingly want an audit. I think just a county or two would do. My preference would be a Democrat and a Republican County, and let the chips fall where they may,” he added.

  

  Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 General Election are examined and recounted by contractors working for Florida-based company, Cyber Ninjas, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Ariz., on May 6, 2021. (Matt York/Pool/AP Photo)

  The Pennsylvania House of Representatives in November 2020 approved a resolution that called for the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, a bipartisan committee, to conduct an audit or contract with an outside firm to carry one out.

  The resolution said that there were “a litany of inconsistencies” in the election stemming from orders and guidance, such as some counties not segregating ballots that were received after Election Day.

  After the resolution was approved, the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee voted 2-1 against performing an audit.

  State Rep. Jake Wheatley, who joined state Sen. Jim Brewster in voting against conducting an audit, told a meeting before the vote that an audit would be a waste of time, considering the Pennsylvania Department of State planned to do an election review.

  “I’m at a loss as to what the purpose of the resolution is and why it’s even necessary, if the work’s going to be done,” added Brewster.

  Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Mensch, a Republican, voted yes. Pennsylvania Rep. Stephen Barrar, a Republican who later retired, missed the vote. A tie vote would have failed.

  Pennsylvania House State Government Chairman Seth Grove, a Republican, mentioned the vote this week before adding:

  “The PA House of Representatives will not be authorizing any further audits on any previous election. We are focused on fixing our broken election law to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.”

  Mensch in April introduced legislation that would require Pennsylvania’s auditor general to perform an audit of ballots cast in the 2020 election. Argall referenced the bill while speaking to The Associated Press.

  “There’s an enormous amount of election-related bills pending for the month of June, and this is one of them,” Argall said.

  The Pennsylvania Department of State later carried out what was described as a statewide risk-limiting audit pilot, which featured a review of over 45,000 randomly-selected ballots. Pennsylvania’s former Secretary of State, Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, said in February that the audit showed “strong evidence” that the ballot count was correct.

  An election assessment was recently completed in Fulton County, Pennsylvania. Wake Technology Services Inc., a firm involved in the Maricopa County audit, performed the assessment, which found errors in ballot scanning and four other issues.

  Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf was among the Democrats this week condemning efforts to do another audit.

  “What they’re calling for isn’t an ‘audit.’ It’s a taxpayer-funded disinformation campaign and a disgrace to democracy,” Wolf said in a Twitter post. “Pennsylvania had a free and secure election. That’s a fact. Pennsylvanians deserve better from their elected officials.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 20:30

• Yellen Admits Inflation Is About To Surge, Says It Will Be A "Plus For Society"
  Yellen Admits Inflation Is About To Surge, Says It Will Be A “Plus For Society”

  Last week, when Biden released his $6 trillion budget, we asked if it was a joke that the BIden budget saw just 2.1% inflation in 2021 and 2022.

  Is this a joke: the BIden budget sees 2.1% CPI in 2021 and 2022

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 28, 2021

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

  Fast forward to this weekend, when Fed Chair Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen addressed our rhetorical concern, and following the G7 finmin meeting in London where the world’s most advanced nations agreed to impose a 15% minimum corporate tax rate (with zero enforcement provisions), said that contrary to the Biden Budget, inflation could climb as high as 3% this year in what the WaPo said was “the first time the Biden administration projected what inflation could be through 2021″, which by the way is dead wrong since Biden’s budget just last week predicted only 2.1% CPI in 2021.

  

  What the pathologically misleading Bezos Post meant to say is that this was the first time the Biden administration actually told the truth about how high the galloping US inflation will rise. And the only reason it did so is that in a time when home prices – and pretty much all other prices – are soaring at the fastest pace in US history, adhering to the laughable 2.1% CPI forecast would crush the credibility of everyone in this progressive administration.

  Of course, the admission that inflation is about to turn red hot led to many other unpleasant questions that need to be answered, such as what will this to the economy, to purchasing intentions (which as we reported at the end of May just crashed the most on record), and last but not least, to the market, where the tiniest hint of inflation leads to immediate selloffs.

  So, scrambling to preempt the barrage of questions come Monday, on Sunday Janet Yellen said that even though inflation is now at the highest level since Paul Volcker hiked rates to 20% and the US is about to issue another $3 trillion or so in debt just to fund existing stimulus programs, Joe Biden should push forward with his $4 trillion spending plans even if they trigger inflation that persists into next year and higher interest rates.

  Why? Because soaring inflation is good for you.

  “If we ended up with a slightly higher interest rate environment it would actually be a plus for society’s point of view and the Fed’s point of view,” Yellen said in an interview with Bloomberg. And yes, she really said that.

  It wasn’t immediately clear why rising rates, hence inflation and a drop in one’s purchasing power is “a plus for society’s point of view” but needless to say, this is the kind of idiotic drivel that Rudy von Havenstein and his cronies said some time in 1921, just around the time Weimer hyperinflation kicked in.

  The debate around inflation has intensified in recent months, between those who, like Yellen, argue that current price increases are being driven by transitory anomalies created by the pandemic — such as supply-chain bottlenecks and a surge in spending as economies reopen — and critics who say trillions in government aid will fuel a lasting spike in costs.

  Just to make sure there was no doubt which side of the argument Yellen is on, she said the recent rise in prices will subside and the U.S. labor market still has a ways to go before returning to pre-pandemic strength.

  “We’re seeing some inflation but I don’t believe it’s permanent,” Yellen said at a press conference Saturday after the G-7 finance meeting in London. “We at least on a year-over-year basis will continue, I believe, through the rest of the year to see higher inflation rates — maybe around 3%.”

  Yet even Yellen admitted that she could be wrong (narrator: “she is”) and that officials are still watching price increases closely. “I don’t want to say this is mind absolutely made up and closed. We’ll watch this very carefully, keep an eye on it and try to address issues that arise if it turns out to be necessary,” she said, although again she added that personally she believes “this represents transitory factors,” and that “policy should look past such factors.”

  Yellen also made it clear that even though the world is now more indebted than at any time since World War II, it is about to take on even more debt, because you see, it’s contained: “There is a concern among some about fiscal sustainability and an evident desire to begin to withdraw accommodation when things are back on track,” Yellen said, eyeing her former democrat buddy Larry Summers who has emerged as one of the biggest critics of “Biden’s trillions.” Yellen dismissed his concerns simply by saying that “we think that most countries have fiscal space.”

  “I will not give up on the next packages,” Yellen said. “They’re not meant as stimulus, they’re meant as investments to address long-standing needs of our economy.”

  Yes, she really said that, and yes she better be right about the “transitory” inflation part because we are about to get a whole lot more of it. Biden’s packages would add up to roughly $400 billion in spending per year, Yellen said, contending that’s not enough to cause an inflation over-run. Any “spurt” in prices resulting from the rescue package will fade away next year.  And, if she is wrong, well… it will be someone else’ problem to mop it up.

  And speaking of what’s coming, keep in mind that last month we learned that headline CPI rose 4.2%, but it is the May print that could be an “absolute shocker”, as discussed last week.

  

  Yet despite surging prices, and despite soaring wages, the Fed has committed to only begin scaling back the $120 billion monthly pace of its asset purchases after there’s “substantial further progress” on inflation and employment. It is unclear how much higher inflation should rise for the Fed to be happy, but one thing is clear: we are now at a point where the government’s welfare handouts and weekly unemployment benefits are distorting the picture dramatically, and the job market is growing far below expectations precisely because of Biden’s ruinous fiscal policies, policies that keep the Fed’s QE in play even longer and assure that not only is the wealth divide the widest it has ever been, but that when inflation really hits, it will truly be an “AAAAAAH!!!” moment.

  But none of that is a concern to the phlegmatic 74-year-old: Yellen said that monetary policy makers can handle any potential rise in inflation if it sticks. “I know that world – they’re very good,” Yellen said in the interview. “I don’t believe they’re going to screw it up.”

  This is the same clueless hack who in 2017 said she doesn’t expect another financial crisis in “our lifetimes.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 20:00

• More Than One-Third Of Small Businesses "In Jeopardy" Of Closing This Summer
  More Than One-Third Of Small Businesses “In Jeopardy” Of Closing This Summer

  As small businesses complain that it has never been harder for them to hire workers according to a recent NFIB survey, many are facing growing pressure to survive. As the American economy continues to reopen, some fear it might not happen soon enough to save thousands of small businesses. Data from Alignable’s June Revenue Poll shows that 35% of all small business owners are still at risk of closing permanently by the end of the summer.

  Among the 3,772 small business owners in the 10 days ended June 1, Alignable’s June Revenue Poll showed a myriad of factors – including the remaining closures and restrictions, growing inflationary pressures on prices, rising gas and transportation prices and labor shortages – are creating problems that affect small businesses more intensely than their corporate partners.

  

  The biggest increase in the survey was trouble finding employees, which was identified as a potential closure risk by 55% of respondents, up from just 5% the prior month.

  For the record, Alignable calculates the percentage of small business owners who believe their businesses are in jeopardy by combining the answers to two of its questions: what percentage of last summer’s revenue will these businesses make this summer? And what percentage of last year’s revenue do they need to earn to ensure their business stays afloat. If the first is smaller than the second, then businesses are deemed to be in jeopardy.

  

  Beyond this, several respondents complained about the lingering impact of not being able to fully reopen. Some say they’ve had to take a second job to keep their small business afloat long enough to see if it actually has a chance to recover after COVID subsides.

  Based on the answers to the first question, only 22% of small business owners said they expected to make as much or more than they earned last summer. Considering that 40-50% of small businesses weren’t even fully open last summer, this figure alone is cause for alarm.

  Retailers and restaurant owners were also feeling slightly better about their prospects, but many are still concerned about their prospects. Some expressed worries about whether to impose mandatory masking policies and other precautions since a significant slice of the population remains unvaxxed.

  

  Amid these frustrating insights, there is an important silver lining: 33% of business owners said they had fully recovered to their pre-COVID monthly revenue numbers, adding more support for the “two recoveries” narrative that’s also encapsulated by the recent winnings of “meme stock” traders who have come into sudden financial windfalls by betting on hot stocks like AMC, which soared past $70 a share last night.

  For many small business owners, watching millions of Americans collect “enhanced” unemployment checks, while others make thousands of dollars betting on stocks, feels like salt in their wounds.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 19:30

• Goldman's Clients Are Asking How Various Inflation Regimes Affect Stocks: Here Is The Answer
  Goldman’s Clients Are Asking How Various Inflation Regimes Affect Stocks: Here Is The Answer

  Picking up on a joke we made earlier this week when we called Joe Biden the Six Trillion Dollar Man (in homage to a very deflationary Lee Majors) in response to the 12 zeroes contained in his budget, in his latest Weekly Kickstart note Goldman’s David Kostin writes that…

  by at least one measure, inflation has been rampant during the past 50 years, noting that in 1973, Steve Austin was the most powerful man in the world, with super strength in his right arm, a bionic eye, and artificial legs that could run 60 mph. It cost the federal government $6 million to re-build the NASA astronaut into the bionic man, played by Lee Majors in the hit TV series, “The Six Million Dollar Man.”

  Fast forward to today, often sporting his trademark 1970s-style aviator sunglasses, President Joe Biden is the most powerful man in the world.Biden is the $6 trillion man when his three 2021 fiscal spending plans are combined: the $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan that was passed in March, the $2.0 trillion American infrastructure plan proposed in April, and the $1.8 trillion American families plan proposed in May. If all three proposals are passed by Congress, it would represent an unprecedented level of peacetime spending in relation to the size of the underlying economy. Of course, it remains to be seen whether the latter two plans pass Congress.

  And while it increasingly looks like Biden’s original $6 trillion proposal will be substantially reduced – and may even collapse should it not gather the required support from centrist democrats – Goldman’s economists did not wait to find out what happens and recently raised their near-term inflation forecasts even as they maintained their expectation that inflation will begin to abate later in the year. In April, both core PCE (+3.1% y/y) and core CPI (+3.0% y/y) exceeded expectations and notched highs not seen in more than two decades. In turn, Goldman’s economists expect that core PCE will register 2.5% at the end of 2021 and decline to 2.1% during 2022.

  To be sure, after initially freaking out about a deluge of inflation, the growing likelihood that Biden’s stimulus package will be materially diluted is why equity market performance has already shown a recent unwinding of inflation concerns. As Goldman notes, In March, amidst fears about rising inflation, stocks with high pricing power

  

  … began to outperform those with low pricing power, reversing 5 months of low pricing power outperformance as the economy recovered. However, during the past few weeks, low pricing power stocks have outperformed again (7% vs. 3%). At the same time, the interest rate 10-year inflation breakevens has declined by 14 bps to 2.4%, suggesting inflation fears priced by both equity and debt markets are easing.

  Not surprisingly, this whiplash has prompted most of Goldman’s recent client discussions to focus on inflation and its implications for equities.And, as Kostin explains, investors ask just one thing: “how does inflation affect corporate earnings and stock valuations?”

  Answering this recurring question, Goldman’s Kostin notes that while inflation has mixed implications for earnings, it is generally a positive (as long as it is not hyperinflation in which case all bets are off of course). Kostin then reveals that in the bank’s top-down sector-level earnings models, inflation consistently has positive coefficients for sales and negative coefficients for margins. On net, however, Goldman argues that “the boost to nominal sales growth through rising prices typically more than offsets inflation-driven margin compression.” While one can debate this, it is certainly the case that companies with revenues tied to commodities, like Energy, or interest rates, such as Financials, are the largest beneficiaries from strong inflation regimes.

  That said, inflation becomes a headwind to valuations if it leads to expectations of Fed tightening and thus higher real interest rates. And as Morgan Stanley has argued as part of its mid-cycle transition thesis, S&P 500 returns have been consistently positively correlated with breakeven inflation but valuations have typically contracted alongside sharp increases in real interest rates (as a reminder, MS expects PE multiples to shrink 15% in the next 6 months).

  On the other hand, and adding to the complexity, the Fed has indicated it will not tighten the funds rate before seeing prolonged labor market improvement resulting in broad wage gains, particularly at the lower end of the income spectrum. In the past, the S&P 500 P/E multiple has typically expanded during periods of falling inflation and interest rates.

  For the record, Goldman’s economists forecast the yield curve will steepen in 2021 and 2022, with the funds rate unchanged while the 10-year yield rises from 1.6% today to 1.9% and 2.1% at year-end 2021 and 2022.

  Here Kostin makes another valiant attempt to ease worries about runaway inflation, claiming that although inflation is generally a negative impulse for valuation multiples, “recent popular investor focus on earnings yield less the inflation rate is misplaced” and here’s why:

  Investors concerned by this metric note that it has fallen to its lowest point since the peak of the Tech Bubble in 2000 and suggests the return from owning equities is erased by inflation. We disagree with this interpretation. First, equity earnings and the prices tied to them are nominal and typically rise with inflation. Second, even inflation hawks agree that the most recent prints are biased by base effects and reopening dynamics. In contrast to the gap between the earnings yield and inflation, the EPS yield gap versus the 10-year US Treasury yield, which is commonly used as a proxy for equity risk premium, actually remains above its long-term average. See Exhibit 1.

  

  Kostin’s spin aside, it is undisputable that overall, stocks perform better during periods of low inflation than when inflation is high. Goldman categorizes periods since 1962 into those of high and low inflation by comparing year/year core CPI to the Fed’s estimate of consensus long-term inflation expectations. Exhibit 2 clearly shows two inflationary regimes during the past 60 years: The first 20 years (1962-1980) and the past 40 years.

  

  During the first period – which culminated with Volcker hiking rates to 20% – core CPI averaged 5.3% and registered above the long-term estimate 69% of the time.

  

  Since 1962, both pre-and post-1980, the median monthly US equity market real return during high inflation environments has been an annualized 9% vs. 15% during periods of low inflation. As shown in the chart below, periods of high inflation have corresponded with the outperformance of Health Care, Energy, Real Estate, and Consumer Staples sectors, while Materials and Technology stocks have fared the worst in high inflation environments. Surprisingly, Value and Size factors have not performed very differently in periods of high versus low inflation.

  

  Finally, drilling down a little deeper, equity performance has differed greatly in periods where inflation was high and rising versus high and falling.The median monthly market real return has been 2% annualized in phases where inflation was high and rising vs. 15% when inflation was high and falling. At the factor level, Value has generally fared better when inflation was high and rising than when it was high and falling. Among sectors, although Energy and Health Care have outperformed in periods of high inflation, they have performed much better when inflation was rising than falling.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 19:00

• Building Your Dream Home Has Never Been More Expensive 
  Building Your Dream Home Has Never Been More Expensive 

  Surging construction costs to build a new home is not sustainable and is becoming a pain in the arse for homebuilders and prospective homebuyers. From concrete to lumber to copper pipes to paint and even appliances, costs have surged over the past year. 

  

  The housing boom sparked by the Federal Reserve during the virus pandemic was built on historically low mortgage rates (thanks to Powell) and accelerated by a combination of record-low inventory as city-dwellers moved to rural areas amid the remote-work phenomenon. 

  According to Zillow Group Inc, the past year has been the hottest real estate market since 2007. Economist Robert Shiller, the co-founder of the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index, recently told CNBC that “in real terms, home prices have never been so high. My data goes back over 100 years, so this is something.” 

  Making matters worse is a shortage of materials as there is just too much demand from builders and not enough supplies due to supply chain disruptions. There’s also the issue of not enough buildable land. All of this has manifested into dangerous inflationary pressures vibrating not just through the housing market but the entire economy that may force Federal Reserve to announce tapering at Jackson Hole. It wouldn’t be surprising if MBS purchases from the Fed would be some of the first to be reduced. 

  Bloomberg provides an example of surging housing costs in one of the hottest housing markets in the country: Boise, Idaho.

  Steve Martinez, the operator of Tradewinds General Contracting Inc., said his company had to raise costs on some of its new builds to offset high raw material and labor costs. 

  Martinez said the sale price of a 3,000 sqft, which excludes the lot but includes costs, labor, and profit, was $746,671 this spring. He said that’s 58% higher than two years ago in 2019. These costs are primarily the reason why home prices are surging. 

  

  Foundation costs for the builder jumped 104% since 2019. 

  

  Lumber costs are one of the most significant issues for the builder. Prices have nearly surged 262% since 2019. 

  

  Timber roof trusses to frame a structure to support the roof have more than doubled since pre-pandemic levels. 

  

  Meanwhile, drywall, used for interior walls and ceilings, has only risen 26% since 2019. 

  

  With plastic and base metal prices soaring, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical costs are up 49% since 2019. 

  

  Interior and exterior paint have risen 68% since 2019. 

  

  Custom millwork, such as trim around doors, paneling, and cabinetry, has surged 68% since 2019. 

  

  Appliances are up 65% from 2019 levels due to increasing demand and not enough supply. 

  

  Factor this all together, the Boise homebuyer purchasing a 3,000 sqft home from the builder is forking over $950,000, up 61% from 2019. 

  

  … and here’s the final product. 

  

  The cost of building a home has rocketed higher in a post-pandemic world that could soon be an industry killer as housing affordability becomes a significant issue. This is why the Fed needs to get a hold of inflationary pressures by unleashing tapering. 

  “This could be industry killing if things continue going the way they’re going,” said Martinez, who has had to tack on price increases during construction of anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000, primarily due to rising lumber costs. “We’re putting projects off. We’ve got clients that are hitting their price ceiling.”

  Record-high housing prices have already begun to dent homebuyer confidence as prices become unaffordable. 

  

  It’s time for the Fed to end their grand experiment in juicing the economy and let the price of everything normalize. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 18:30

• Georgia GOP Approves Resolution Censuring Secretary Of State Brad Raffensperger
  Georgia GOP Approves Resolution Censuring Secretary Of State Brad Raffensperger

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

  The Georgia Republican Party on Saturday approved a resolution censuring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, local media reported.

  The Georgia GOP during a convention approved a resolution that says Raffensperger, a Republican, failed to perform his duties in “accordance with the laws of the Constitution of the State of Georgia,” WSB-TV reported.

  

  The document says the failure stemmed from Raffensperger entering into a settlement agreement with the Democratic Party of Georgia, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

  The agreement saw Raffensperger agree to promote and enforce regulations regarding prompt notification if a mail-in ballot was rejected and regarding county clerks’ signature reviews of absentee ballot envelopes and ballots.

  Georgia Republicans accused Raffensperger of “undermining the security of our elections by allowing mass mailings of absentee applications by his office and third parties which created opportunities for fraud and overwhelmed election offices; rendering accurate signature matching nearly impossible; allowing ballot drop boxes without proper chain of custody; and ignoring sworn affidavits and disregarding evidence of voter fraud.”

  “It’s obvious that there was fraud,” Michael Ovitz, an attendee at the convention, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

  “A civilized society depends upon truths and facts, not deception and deceit.”

  The Georgia Republican Party did not respond to a request for comment.

  Raffensperger has said there is no evidence of widespread fraud occurring in the 2020 election. The State Election Board, which he chairs, has sent dozens of election fraud cases to prosecutors in the wake of the election, including allegations that voters failed to register and vote or registered to vote while living outside the state.

  Raffensperger’s office told WSB-TV: “The secretary of state’s office, county election directors, and the tens of thousands of poll workers across the state worked to ensure that democracy was upheld. It is the job of counties to run elections and the secretary of state’s office’s job to report those election results—it is the job of the political parties to deliver wins for their candidates. Let’s not confuse the two.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 18:00

• Outrage After FBI Subpoenas IP Addresses Of All Individuals Who Accessed USA Today Child Porn Article
  Outrage After FBI Subpoenas IP Addresses Of All Individuals Who Accessed USA Today Child Porn Article

  In the latest surreal and brazen example of federal government overreach, the FBI is demanding that USA Today turn over the IP addresses of all individuals who accessed a public online article during a specific time period. 

  The subpoena was issued in April but is only in recent days being made public after the newspaper’s parent company Gannett sought to fight it in court. It’s being widely condemned as an outrageous instance of abuse not only of press freedom, but of the public’s right to access information and media as well as breach of both the 1st and 4th Amendments. Underscoring this, WikiLeaks was among the first to highlight the case which seeks to sweep up info on all individuals who accessed the article in question during a 35-minute window on February 2nd, 2021. 

  FBI Demands identifying Info including IP addresses and telephone numbers of readers of a USA Today articlehttps://t.co/WVDlA8PnIo pic.twitter.com/VUgYeczcuV

  — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 4, 2021

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  A statement given from USA Today to The Verge said, “We were surprised to receive this subpoena particularly in light of President Biden’s recent statements in support of press freedom. The subpoena is also contrary to the Justice Department’s own guidelines concerning the narrow circumstances in which subpoenas can be issued to the news media.”

  USA Today’s legal team is further seeking to fight the subpoena in order to “protect the important relationship and trust between USA TODAY’s readers and our journalists.”

  According to the details known about what the FBI is asking and who it could impact, The Verge report details that “The article in question was one published on February 2nd, 2021, about a shootout that occurred when FBI agents tried to execute a search warrant in a child pornography case, resulting in the deaths of two FBI agents and the suspect.”

  But strangely the suspect written about in the article was already literally dead (reportedly by self-inflicted gunshot wound) significantly before the USA Today article was published.

  

  Here’s a snippet of the article in question:

  Two FBI agents were killed and three were wounded in a shooting early Tuesday while agents were serving a warrant in a child exploitation case in Florida, according to the FBI. The suspect died of an apparent self-inflicted gun shot wound, a person familiar with the matter said.

  Authorities are investigating whether the suspect had cameras rigged at the apartment to provide an outside view of people who might be approaching at the time of the incident, said the source, who is not authorized to comment publicly.

  The FBI is essentially asking for a large data dump covering that entire time frame the article was live and the public was accessing it.

  In response to the FBI’s demand for info that could identify readers of a USA Today story, @rcfp Exec. Director Bruce Brown is calling on DOJ & FBI to explain how officials applied policies that limit when the government can seek records from news outlets. https://t.co/vFEbktBk4K

  — Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (@rcfp) June 5, 2021

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  The government has since kept mum on just why it needs the data. There remains the possibility that the FBI is potentially eyeing an accomplice to the crime, or a broader conspiracy, and has knowledge that another suspect or suspects had accessed that particular article. 

  One of USA Today’s attorney’s confirmed that the government refused to answer reasonable questions over just why it’s essential to be given everyone’s IP address who read the article. “Despite these attempts, we never received any substantive reply nor any meaningful explanation of the asserted basis for the subpoena,” Washington Post quoted the lawyer as saying.

  

  Later over the weekend USA Today announced the following: “The FBI has withdrawn a subpoena demanding records from USA TODAY that would identify readers of a February story about a southern Florida shootout that killed two agents and wounded three others.”

  But it remains that the FBI’s request is somewhat unprecedented and a huge threat to press as well as individual freedom, given that if granted it would mean all citizens could at any time unwittingly be treated as suspects merely for reading an online news article. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 17:30

• California County COVID-19 Death Toll Lowered By 25% After Counting Method Change
  California County COVID-19 Death Toll Lowered By 25% After Counting Method Change

  Authored by Alex Wu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)

  

  The number of COVID-19 deaths in Alameda County, California, fell by about 25 percent after health officials changed their methodology for total mortality count, removing those that were not a “direct result” of the disease, or “in whom death caused by COVID-19 could not be ruled out.”

  The county’s COVID-19 dashboard, following an update on June 4 to reflect the total number of COVID-19 deaths using the state’s death reporting definition, shows 1,223 deaths were caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, 411 fewer than what it previously reported.

  “Alameda County previously included any person who died while infected with the virus in the total COVID-19 deaths for the County,” the county’s public health department said in a press release (pdf). For example, someone who tested positive for the virus before dying in a car accident would still have been counted toward the COVID-19 death toll .

  “Aligning with the State’s definition will require Alameda County to report as COVID-19 deaths only those people who died as a direct result of COVID-19, with COVID-19 as a contributing cause of death, or in whom death caused by COVID-19 could not be ruled out,” the health officials said, noting that their system of reporting COVID-19 deaths on the dashboard and to the state was implemented early in the pandemic, before the state established guidelines for how deaths should be classified.

  Alameda County Health Officer Dr. Nicholas Moss told the Mercury News that his department was aware of the inconsistency between the county and state’s numbers, but they had to put off the change because of a major surge in infections during the winter.

  “We just weren’t able to move as quickly on this as we would’ve liked, but we felt it was important and sometimes better late than never,” he said.

  Moss also admitted that some people may use the revision to argue that the pandemic isn’t as severe as it’s made out to be, and he strongly disputes that idea.

  “There are going to be people who make hay out of it and use it to question things about the pandemic, but it’s irrefutable, the severity of the pandemic,” he told Mercury News. “I think anyone who would use this to make the argument that this is somehow overblown is really turning a blind eye to some of the simple truths of the pandemic.”

  As of June 6, California has 3,689,994 confirmed cases of COVID-19, resulting in 62,470 deaths, according to the state’s health department. In the United States, more than 33 million cases have been confirmed and there have been more than 600,000 reported deaths.

  *  *  *

  The overcounting fed the panic that produced the lockdowns, school closings and other regrettable decisions. https://t.co/he5rYLlAy1

  — Brit Hume (@brithume) June 6, 2021

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  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 17:11

• After Capitol Riot "Pause", Arms Companies Are Showering Money On Both Sides Of Aisle Again
  After Capitol Riot “Pause”, Arms Companies Are Showering Money On Both Sides Of Aisle Again

  Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com,

  Political rancor and tensions surround the 2020 election had many US companies trying to distance themselves from the process by halting political donations. This included one of the biggest sectors for buying influence, the arms industry.

  After a few months to reexamine things, the arms companies are back to throwing money around, donating in large quantities to members of both parties involved in military spending, and trying to ensure that they stay on good terms with everyone responsible for their business’ contracts.

  

  While it isn’t shocking that the post-election pause didn’t last, it is noteworthy that some of the biggest donations are going to some in Congress who were big proponents of the “stolen election” narrative, despite that supposedly driving those companies to hold off in the first place.

  Recall what BAE systems previously pledged:

  “In response to the deeply disturbing violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, our U.S. political action committee has suspended all donations while we assess the path forward,” BAE Systems spokeswoman Tammy Thorp said in a statement at the time.

  In reality, it seems that the Biden Administration and Congress have been signaling that the massive military spending part of the status quo will remain more or less untouched, and that seems to be all the companies needed to hear to start the spigot on their donations again.

  One Third of Biden’s Pentagon Transition Team Hails From Organizations Financed by the Weapons Industry @inthesetimesmag https://t.co/ts518OkxAg

  — Rachel Pirani (@Liberty5380) November 12, 2020

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  Military analysis site Defense News details that “Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Leidos and BAE are all giving again, while Honeywell, General Electric, Raytheon and Booz Allen Hamilton are not giving, according to their most recent filings.”

  And further: “Honeywell and GE had said they would suspend donations to the 147 members of Congress who voted against certifying Biden’s win.” In terms of these latter companies, we’ll see just how long that actually lasts.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 17:00

• Virologist Who Told Fauci SARS-CoV-2 'Potentially Engineered' Just Nuked His Twitter Account
  Virologist Who Told Fauci SARS-CoV-2 ‘Potentially Engineered’ Just Nuked His Twitter Account

  Update (1650ET):

  Aaaand, it’s gone:

  Well, well, well.. h/t @PrometheusAM pic.twitter.com/2uhQrRmh32

  — Lab leak (@lab_leak) June 6, 2021

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

  At least he won’t have to keep blocking pesky questions from inquiring minds…

  Dear Kristian Andersen @K_G_Andersen what exactly in our question prompted you to block us? https://t.co/dKM5aTmHzc pic.twitter.com/cs9OEn2Oas

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 2, 2021

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

  *  *  *

  A California virologist who told Anthony Fauci that COVID-19 looks ‘potentially engineered’ and ‘inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory’ – only to later reverse course and publish a ‘natural origin’ paper 8 weeks later (before receiving a multi million-dollar NIH grant) has deleted more than 5,000 tweets.

  

  Kristian G. Anderson who runs the Andersen Lab in La Jolla, CA, wrote in a Feb. 1 email to Fauci “The unusual features of the virus make up a really small part of the genome, less than 0.1 percent, so one has to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered,” adding that he and his team found “the genome inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory.”

  

  Anderson was responding to an article sent to him by Fauci exploring the origins of the virus. The next day, Fauci sent an urgent email to his deputy, Hugh Auchincloss, with the subject “IMPORTANT,” writing “Hugh, it is essential that we speak this a.m. Keep your cell phone on. … Read this paper as well as the email that I will forward. You will have tasks today that must be done.”

  The document attached was titled “Baric, Shi, et al – Nature medicine – SARS gain of function.pdf.”

  So right after one of Fauci’s trusted scientific advisers suggests COVID-19 could be man-made (while Fauci and associates publicly dismissed the possibility as a conspiracy theory), he shot a research paper concerning gain of function research – which Fauci was funding at the Wuhan Institute of Virology – to his deputy.

  And now Anderson has deleted more than half of his tweets.

  That little shit Andersen has just deleted 5000 Tweets
  says @lab_leak and @vid_colin saw he deleted all his tweets before 07th March 2021 and suggests saving them via Google Cache (see 3rd image below)

  What’s the Natural Origin Pope trying to hide? https://t.co/wk1JPOVwAF pic.twitter.com/vbocJN5pp3

  — Billy Bostickson 🏴👁&👁 🆓 (@BillyBostickson) June 6, 2021

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

  Anderson claims that his old tweets are ‘auto deleted’ – which would suggest a rolling, automated process – not the sudden disappearance of over 5,000 tweets preceding March 7, 2021.

  This is a lie, because all tweets preceding March 7th, 2021 are deleted. This isn’t some tool to auto-delete tweets after n time elapses… pic.twitter.com/JMS9PcFLiw

  — CHT (@PrometheusAM) June 6, 2021

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

  The deleted tweets come as internet sleuths begin to unravel Anderson’s involvement with Fauci and the NIH.

  2 months later he reverses course and publishes his “Proximal Origin” paper, helping shield NIH/NIAID from potential probes into its GOF funding.

  5 months after that, he gets $1.88 million in CREID funding, along with Daszak who gets $1.54 million more.https://t.co/PFPIMxZd7o pic.twitter.com/7JmapgRNTm

  — Radical Centrist, wrathful tantric deity (@RadCentrism) June 2, 2021

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  Supes weird that Kristian deleted his anti-lab-leak reply here after he saw my thread above. 🧐 🤔 🤨 🤔 pic.twitter.com/zdMA3pRF03

  — Radical Centrist, wrathful tantric deity (@RadCentrism) June 6, 2021

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

  Yeah, like of a sudden 5000 of your tweets go *poof* because they were auto-deletes? Wouldn’t *auto*-deletes be deleted on a rolling bases? Or did you just change 5000 of your old tweets to be auto-deleted today?

  Maybe you should auto-delete your Proximal Origins paper? 🤣 pic.twitter.com/YvPIy37ylI

  — Yuri Deigin (@ydeigin) June 6, 2021

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

  Maybe Kristian was advised by his lawyer to do this? Given the “pending investigation” redactions in the Fauci emails. 🤔 https://t.co/bWKVb7TdBT

  — Yuri Deigin (@ydeigin) June 6, 2021

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

  Meanwhile, Fauci has denied funding gain of function research in Wuhan, yet…

  Subcontract awards from the NIAID -> Wuhan Institute of Virology from 2014 – 2019. pic.twitter.com/fxi23krqYg

  — L 🤺 (@LHatesYouALot) June 6, 2021

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 16:50

• NASA's Mars Helicopter Prepares For 7th Flight On Sunday
  NASA’s Mars Helicopter Prepares For 7th Flight On Sunday

  Liftoff of NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity will occur no later than today if all goes to plan, according to a NASA press release. 

  Ingenuity, a small robotic helicopter weighing no more than 4 pounds, is preparing for its seventh flight today. The mission is to fly Ingenuity 350 feet south from its current location on the floor of Jezero Crater. 

  “This will mark the second time the helicopter will land at an airfield that it did not survey from the air during a previous flight,” NASA wrote. “Instead, the Ingenuity team is relying on imagery collected by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that suggests this new base of operations is relatively flat and has few surface obstructions.”

  On May 22, Ingenuity flew its sixth mission that did not go so well. The solar-powered helicopter experienced glitches that interrupted internal systems. There was no mention of what caused the glitches; the craft was able to land safely. 

  

  Ingenuity has marvelously performed five flights and beamed incredible images from Mars back to Earth. 

  NASA also has the Perseverance rover conducting land-based missions in the search for life. 

  In the last couple of months, the Red Planet has become a hotspot for the US and China, with China landing a rover of its own on the planet.

  Sudden interest in Mars between both countries is because the planet allegedly has an abundance of rare metals that will power tomorrow’s economy. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 06/06/2021 – 16:30

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Cyber Polygon: Will The Next Globalist War Game Lead To Another Convenient Catastrophe?
  Cyber Polygon: Will The Next Globalist War Game Lead To Another Convenient Catastrophe?

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  Back in April I published an article titled ‘Globalists Will Need Another Crisis In America As Their Reset Agenda Fails’. In it I noted an odd trend which many of us in the liberty media have become aware of over the years – Almost every major man-made catastrophe in the US and in many other parts of the world in the past couple decades has been preceded by a government or globalist “exercise”. These exercises and war games tend to mimic the exact disaster that would eventually strike the public only days or weeks later. Sometimes the mock disaster exercises and the real events happen at the same time.

  

  The covid pandemic was no exception. It’s quite miraculous…

  I have specifically outlined the bizarre “coincidence” of the World Economic Forum’s Event 201 exercise, a war game co-funded by Bill Gates and Johns Hopkins and launched in October of 2019. Event 201 simulated a global novel zoonotic coronavirus pandemic (supposedly spread from bats to people) that “required” a global lockdown response. Only two months later the real thing actually happened. Almost every aspect of the Covid event has played out exactly as was practiced during the WEF war game.

  One very disturbing element of the covid response has been the coordinated suppression campaign by Big Tech platforms from YouTube to Facebook and Twitter. This campaign has sought to undermine or destroy any facts, data and opinions which run contrary to the government narrative on covid, even if the official narrative on covid ends up being completely wrong. The strategy was described in detail during Event 201 and it was executed with extreme efficiency among supposedly disconnected companies and governments around the world. It’s almost as if they KNEW a coronavirus pandemic was about to happen, and they were already staged to control the public reaction well in advance.

  And let’s be clear because I do not want to seem ambiguous; the World Economic Forum and their globalist partners have been the prime beneficiaries during the pandemic. As WEF head Klaus Schwab has excitedly noted over and over again, the pandemic is a perfect “opportunity” for globalists to fast track what they call the “Great Reset” agenda – A plan to completely dismantle the current political and economic framework of the world and rebuild it into a highly centralized socialist civilization in which they are in complete control and personal freedom is a faded memory.

  This is why recent revelations of Covid’s probable lab origins are not at all surprising. Just mentioning this idea a year ago in social media was enough to get you banned. And, if you want to know where to find the truth, always look first to the subjects you are not allowed to discuss. As I stated in my article ‘How Viral Pandemic Benefits The Globalist Agenda’, published in January of 2020 at the very beginning of the outbreak:

  “I have a hard time ignoring the strange “coincidence” of the high level biohazard labs in Wuhan in favor of the idea that the virus was launched by chance due to the odd diets of central Chinese people. Given the evidence it appears that the coronavirus was gestated in a lab, not in someone’s bat and snake soup.  In 2017, scientists outside of China warned that these labs were not secure and that a virus might escape one of the facilities…..I would use the term “escape” loosely, as there is a possibility that this event was created intentionally…”

  Elites like Dr. Anthony Fauci (a close associate of Bill Gates and Bill Gates SR.) directly funded studies at the Wuhan Lab through the NIAID since 2015, and specifically funded the study of the infectious transfer of coronaviruses from bats to other mammals including humans. And yes, the NIAID was in fact involved in “gain of function” experiments using SARS and coronavirus variants at this time, despite Anthony Fauci claiming otherwise. The National Institute Of Health’s own website confirms this.

  All of these facts support the argument that covid is a lab created bioweapon, and in my view according to the evidence so far it was released deliberately in close alliance with the Chinese government. Fauci even somehow “predicted” in 2017 that Donald Trump would face a “surprise infectious disease outbreak” during his presidency, stating that “We will definitely get surprised in the next few years…”

  The scheme has certainly worked to an extent. In large portions of Europe, Asia and Australia the WEF is getting what it always wanted.

  That said, some things did not go as planned. For example, Event 201 predicted an initial 65 million people dead within the first year of the pandemic; this did not happen, and it was not because governments saved any lives. In fact, government lockdowns and restrictions did nothing to stave off the spread of covid and independent studies have proven mask mandates to be completely ineffective in stopping the virus. The reason for the comparatively small body count is the fact that Covid’s death rate is only 0.26% among otherwise healthy people. The only place wear covid is a true threat is in nursing homes among elderly people with preexisting conditions.

  Because of the miscalculations of the elites, the reset agenda appears to be failing in some parts of the world. In the US, resistance to the lockdowns as well as the experimental vaccines has grown exponentially to the point that dozens of states are now passing laws which prohibit enforcement of covid restrictions and “medical passports”.

  The alternative media has also proven resilient against censorship and information suppression, and we have been proven to be right time and time again. We were the first people to warn that the death rate of covid was being exaggerated (the WHO and other establishment institutions predicted a death rate of at least 3%, FAR above the reality). We were the first people to warn that the lockdowns and mask rules did nothing to stop the spread (states that removed restrictions ended up with FALLING infections and deaths). And, we were the first people to warn that the virus was behaving more like a bioweapon, and that its origin was more likely the Level 4 lab in Wuhan, China, right down the street from the animal market that the Chinese government originally claimed was the source of the outbreak.

  We were also the first people to warn that the pandemic would be used as a rationale for the enforcement of vaccine passports, which would create a two tear society designed to force people who do not want to take the mRNA vaccines into compliance. We have been proven right once again as the state of Oregon has become the first in the US to demand proof of vaccination (a passport) before residents are able to enter any businesses or establishments.

  We have consistently been called “conspiracy theorists” throughout this event by government bureaucrats and the media. But, we were were right about almost everything, and the mainstream media has been wrong about almost everything. Either that, or they have been knowingly lying about almost everything.

  This dynamic is important to understand because I believe the situation is far from over and that more crisis events are about to be engineered (or they will magically happen by coincidence).

  My biggest concern right now is the upcoming ‘Cyberpolygon’ exercise being headed by the WEF this July. The war game is meant to “simulate” a cyberattack on vital infrastructure that would lead to a shutdown of the global supply chain, or at least the supply chains within certain nations. As I warned in April, the timing of Cyberpolygon is suspicious. As the covid lockdown agenda is breaking down in the US and the vaccine passports are not winning favor among a large percentage of Americans, the globalists will need another crisis even if they hope to achieve their goals for their Great Reset.

  Only weeks after I published my initial concerns about Cyberpolygon, a massive cyberattack was reported which struck the 5,500 mile Colonial Pipeline. The pipeline supplies gasoline to most of the eastern seaboard and after a week of being shut down numerous states were reporting gas shortages. The story has since quietly faded from mainstream news cycles.

  In the past few days, yet another major cyberattack has been reported against JBS, a meat company that supplies around 23% of all US beef and pork. Production at JBS has shut down, and now there is the possibility of meat shortages across the country if the problems are not solved soon.

  Again, is it just coincidence that these large scale cyberattacks are happening with greater frequency in the lead-up to a WEF’s Cyberpolygon simulation? Or, is Cyberpolygon another Event 201? Is it a beta test for a disaster that is planned for the near future? The WEF is openly comparing future cyber attacks to covid outbreaks, so I’m inclined to suspect the latter:

  The supply chain issue has come to the forefront in the wake of the pandemic as retailers have had to deal with intermittent shortages, and manufacturers are facing a lack of components. Not only that, but inflationary troubles are also weighing on supplies. That said, a cyberattack is another animal entirely; whether or not the event is real or staged, the supply chain is fragile because of global interdependency. In the US, there are many necessities that rely on foreign manufacturers or the “just in time” freight system. Preparedness and long term storage are not a part of the vocabulary of the common US business.

  I don’t really know if the supply chain could be shut down completely using a cyberattack, but in combination with inflation and draconian pandemic restrictions, it is possible to disrupt the flow of goods for weeks at a time. It is also impossible to predict how many people are prepared for such a calamity. My hope is that more than 30% of Americans have at least begun the path to prepping, but undoubtedly a majority of the country has not. All it would take is a couple weeks of shortages or a grid down scenario and most people would be facing starvation, among other things.

  If Event 201 is any indication, then we should remain vigilant and watch carefully for another major cyberattack affecting the supply chain within two months of the WEF’s Cyberpolygon exercise in July.

  *  *  *

  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
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 23:30

• AI 'Smart Potty' Monitors Bowel Health For Gastro Issues 
  AI ‘Smart Potty’ Monitors Bowel Health For Gastro Issues 

  According to Duke Today, researchers at Duke announced an artificial intelligence tool that could easily be mounted on a standard toilet to analyze patients’ stools and give gastroenterologists suggestions about bowel health. 

  Associate Research Professor for Duke University Dr. Sonia Grego is working on the ‘smart toilet’ that takes stool images and sends them directly to a doctor for review. 

  

  The device uses an algorithm to monitor a patient’s stool (i.e., loose, normal, or constipated) and the presence of blood, allowing them to diagnose the patient and provide proper treatment.

  To develop the artificial intelligence image analysis device, researchers had to train a deep learning algorithm with 3,328 unique stool images and accurately classify anomalies in the stool that would suggest a patient is experiencing gastrointestinal problems. 

  

  “Researchers found that the algorithm accurately classified the stool form 85 percent of the time and gross blood detection was accurate in 76 percent of the images,” Duke Today said. 

  “We are optimistic about patient willingness to use this technology because it’s something that can be installed in their toilet’s pipes and doesn’t require the patient to do anything other than flush,” said Sonia Grego, PhD, founding director of the Duke Smart Toilet Lab and a lead researcher on the study. “This could be especially useful for patients who may not be able to report their conditions, such as those who live in a long-term care facility.”

  The prototype smart toilet is promising but has yet to be commercialized as it must undergo more testing. 

  In some respect, this technology makes a lot of sense, considering more people can’t remember what their stool looked like a day before or don’t regularly record their bowel movements. But like any smart device, there are privacy issues and risks that private stool data could be hacked. 

  If Duke researchers ever get to the commercialization stage, these smart toilets will likely be installed at long-term care facilities and hospitals. Now convincing the everyday person, such as a baby boomer, that an algorithm will monitor their stool and automatically send pictures to their doctor is a whole other challenge. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 23:00

• Bovard: Will Treason Mania Destroy America?
  Bovard: Will Treason Mania Destroy America?

  Authored by James Bovard via The Future of Freedom Foundation,

  At the start of the Biden era, America is being torn apart by more allegations of treason than at any time since the Civil War. Historian Henry Adams observed a century ago that politics “has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.” And few things spur hatred more effectively than tarring all political opponents as traitors.

  

  The Founding Fathers carved the Constitution in light of the horrific political abuses that had proliferated in England in prior centuries. That was why there was a narrow definition of treason in the Constitution: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.”

  After the end of Reconstruction, treason charges became relatively rare in American politics. Wars were probably the biggest propellants, with anyone who opposed American intervention abroad being tagged with the scarlet T. But by the late 1960s, when the futility of the Vietnam War was becoming clear, treason charges had largely lost their political clout. Gen. Alexander Haig, who later became Richard Nixon’s last White House chief of staff, denounced the Pentagon Papers as “devastating … a security breach of the greatest magnitude of anything I’ve ever seen … it’s treasonable” But the Nixon administration’s protests failed to sway the Supreme Court to block the New York Times from publishing the secret official records of decades of U.S. government deceit on Indochina.

  Unfortunately, the political exploitation of the 9/11 attacks included reviving treason accusations against anyone who did not cheer George W. Bush’s promise to “rid the world of evil.” On December 6, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft informed the Senate Judiciary Committee, “To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and … give ammunition to America’s enemies.” At that point, Bush had already suspended habeas corpus and his underlings were busy sabotaging laws limiting federal surveillance of American citizens. But regardless of how many civil liberties were actually destroyed, critics were traitors.

  Run-up to 2016

  While Bush was rehabilitated by the mainstream media in recent years as a reward for criticizing Donald Trump, his 2004 reelection campaign relied on tacit treason accusations to tarnish Democrats, liberals, and even a few libertarians. At the 2004 Republican National Convention, keynote speaker Democratic Sen. Zell Miller implied that political opposition was treason: “Now, at the same time young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats’ manic obsession to bring down our commander in chief.”

  There was no evidence that such criticism of Bush’s foreign policy was ripping America asunder — but trumpeting the accusation made Bush critics appear a pox on the land. Other Republicans used the same theme. John Thune, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in South Dakota, denounced Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle: “His words embolden the enemy.” Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman condemned the Kerry campaign for “parroting the rhetoric of terrorists” and warned, “The enemy listens. All listen to what the president said, and all listen to what Senator Kerry said.” Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, stumping for Bush, told audiences, “Political criticism is our enemy’s best friend.” Six weeks before the 2004 election, the Washington Post noted, “President Bush and leading Republicans are increasingly charging that Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry and others in his party are giving comfort to terrorists and undermining the war in Iraq — a line of attack that tests the conventional bounds of political rhetoric.”

  In 2006, the New York Times revealed that the Bush administration was illegally seizing personal financial information of millions of Americans. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, declared, “We’re at war, and for the Times to release information about secret operations and methods is treasonous.” Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) also labeled the Times guilty of “treason.” Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.) suggested that the Times had become the “Benedict Arnold Press.”

  After Barack Obama was elected in 2008, treason allegations simmered down, except for occasional allegations that Obama was a secret Muslim scheming to impose Sharia law on America. Former NSA employee Edward Snowden’s leak of NSA documents was the biggest treason boomlet of that era. Numerous congressmen called for Snowden to be charged with treason, though the Founding Fathers neglected to include “embarrassing the government” in the Constitution’s definition of treason. House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and former NSA chief Michael Hayden publicly joked about putting Snowden on a government kill list.

  But the Snowden uproar was a kerfuffle compared to the Pandora’s box opened by the 2016 presidential campaign. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton repeatedly effectively asserted that Republican nominee Donald Trump was a Russian tool, betraying the nation.

  Treason in the White House

  After Trump’s surprise victory in November 2016, treason became the coin of the realm for denigrating political opposition. Democratic politicians, activists, and their media allies responded to Hillary Clinton’s surprise defeat by smearing Donald Trump for colluding with Russia. Leaks to the media from the FBI, CIA, and other federal agencies spurred raging controversies that contributed to Trump’s firing FBI chief James Comey. That resulted in the appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to investigate Trump. Endless wrangling followed, including a claim by prominent Democrats claiming that Republicans would be guilty of treason if they released a memo detailing the FBI’s abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

  Mueller quickly became sacrosanct; liberals even bought votary candles with his likeness. A piece I wrote for The Hill on Mueller’s lawless record as FBI chief spurred 1,500 comments, including denunciations of me as a treason weasel, bearded grifter, Alt-moron, lackey, lickspittle, and librarian (some folks can’t spell “libertarian”). In April 2019, Mueller finally admitted that there was no substantive evidence of collusion but that did not stop the endless “RussiaGate” refrain and treason accusations from Trump critics. Most of Trump’s presidency was permeated by charges of treason against him.

  But the Mueller-induced treason prattle was child’s play compared to what followed disputes over the 2020 presidential election. As law professor Jonathan Turley noted, after the media announced Biden won, “All court challenges [to election results] then became unethical for lawyers and all congressional challenges became sedition for members.” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro this past December denounced one challenge to the election results as a “seditious abuse of the judicial process” that was guilty of “misleading the public about a free and fair election and tearing at our Constitution.” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wailed, “The most serious attempt to overthrow our democracy in the history of our country is under way.” Twitter’s left-wing tilt has helped spur hashtags such as #GOPSeditiousTraitors and #TreasonAgainstAmerica. One leftist activist got 65,000 “likes” when he declared that “Donald Trump should replace Benedict Arnold in history as America’s most reviled traitor.”

  On the other side of the political divide, some Republicans sounded equally hellbent on demonizing any opposition to their demands. Republican lawyer Lin Wood declared that Vice President Pence would be guilty of treason for certifying the election results and that he “will face execution by firing squad.” The Pro-Trump duo Diamond and Silk tweeted, “After listening to the leaked call put out by the Washington Post we are convinced that Georgia’s secretary of state and his lawyer need to be arrested for Treason!”

  After protesters crashed into the U.S. Capitol on January 6 (some crashed into the building while others sauntered in), treason accusations went into overdrive. The definition of treason was vastly expanded to include members of Congress who filed a lawful challenge against the 2020 electoral tally. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that Republicans who signaled they would not ratify the Electoral College results earlier that month “gave aid and comfort to [protesters] with the idea that they were embracing a lie … that the election did not have legitimacy.” A court of law would never convict Republican members of treason, but Pelosi can convict them in the court of public opinion, thanks to the hanging judges at CNN and MSNBC.

  Civil War politics

  Many Trump opponents are invoking 1861, denouncing any Republican challenges to the election as the same type of treason supposed to have been committed by states that exited the union. But the Civil War illustrates the catastrophic damage that can result from broad-brush definitions of treason. Northern politicians quickly persuaded their supporters that all Southerners were traitors — a capital offense. In 1864, Gen. William Sherman wired the War Department in Washington, “There is a class of people — men, women, and children — who must be killed or banished before you can hope for peace and order.” Union armies in Virginia, Georgia, and elsewhere late in the war intentionally devastated civilian populations who were considered collectively guilty of secession and treason.

  Unfortunately, many pundits and politicians know only a fairy-tale version of the Civil War. The fact that Trump had high support in many southern states is spurring bizarre proposals that would be the final coffin nails into any hope for a semblance of peaceful coexistence between Americans with different views and values. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the media’s favorite progressive congresswoman, declared, “The only way our country is going to heal is through the actual liberation of southern states.” She didn’t specify whether she favored the type of military dictatorship that was ended only by a historic compromise after the fraud-ridden 1876 presidential election. Politico, one of the most respected Washington publications, printed a piece titled, “What Ulysses Grant Can Teach Joe Biden about Putting Down Violent Insurrections.” The piece stressed, “Grant’s approach relied on a combination of brute military force and a drastic curtailment of civil liberties, yet it nevertheless has relevance for the current moment.” The article stressed the need for “overwhelming force” to suppress the type of people who violated the sacred space of the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

  Any federal attempt to expunge political dissent in America with “brute military force and a drastic curtailment of civil liberties” would very likely provoke a civil war. But that could be the end result of current trends of presuming that political opponents are traitors who must be exterminated. While Democratic members of Congress and some Biden officials are comforted by the thousands of National Guard troops now occupying Washington at their behest, they would be unwise to presume the troops would obey orders to scourge their countrymen in every nook of the land.

  Perhaps the ultimate cause of the proliferation of treason accusations is that politicians have captured far too much control over Americans’ lives. The more power politicians seize, the more unhinged political rhetoric becomes.

  American politics is increasingly becoming toxic because presidents nowadays are elective dictators. Rather than a process of selecting a chief executive who will uphold the Constitution and enforce the laws, elections nowadays confer a license to run amok over the lives and property of practically anyone who falls under federal sway. Government has amassed so much power that the vast majority of Americans no longer trust Washington.

  The surest recipe for curtailing political vitriol is to reduce political power so elections are not demolition derbies that doom losing sides. Thomas Jefferson in 1799 offered the ideal that can rescue America from strife today: “In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” And if presidents and members of Congress choose to openly scorn their oaths of office and constitutional constraints on their power — well, many Americans would consider that to be treason.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 22:30

• A Map Of The Online World In Incredible Detail
  A Map Of The Online World In Incredible Detail

  The internet is intangible, and, as Visual Capitalist’s Carmen Ang points out, because you can’t see it, it can be hard to comprehend its sheer vastness. As well, it’s difficult to gauge the relative size of different web properties. However, this map of the internet by Halcyon Maps offers a unique solution to these problems.

  

  Inspired by the look and design of historical maps, this graphic provides a snapshot of the current state of the World Wide Web, as of April 2021. Let’s take a closer look!

  But First, Methodology

  Before diving into an analysis, it’s worth touching on the methodology behind this graphic’s design.

  This map highlights thousands of the world’s most popular websites by visualizing them as “countries.” These “countries” are organized into clusters that are grouped by their content type (whether it’s a news website, search engine, e-commerce platform, etc).

  

  The colored borders represent a website’s logo or user interface. In terms of scale, each website’s territory size is based on its average Alexa web traffic ranking. The data is a yearly average, measured from January 2020 to January 2021.

  Along the borders of the map, you can find additional information, from ranked lists of social media consumption to a mini-map of average download speeds across the globe.

  According to the designer Martin Vargic, this map took about a year to complete.

  Top 10 Most Popular Websites

  Google and YouTube take up a lot of space, which is unsurprising—they’re the two highest-ranked websites on the list:

  

  Google has held the title as the internet’s most popular website since 2010. While Google’s popularity is well understood, the company’s dominance might be even more widespread than you’d think—across all Google-owned platforms (including YouTube) the company accounts for 90% of all internet searches.

  The third highest ranked website is Tmall. For those who don’t know, Tmall is a Chinese e-commerce platform, owned by Alibaba Group. It focuses on Business-to-Consumer (B2C) transactions, and has established itself as the most popular e-commerce website in China—in Q1 2021, Tmall accounted for more than 50% of China’s B2C online transactions.

  A High Level Look

  When it comes to the top 50 websites overall, a majority are either social networking platforms, search engines, or online marketplaces—while this may not come as a surprise, it’s still powerful to see visualized. For instance, even a huge, well-known website like the New York Times is just a tiny country on this map.

  And of course, a map of the internet isn’t complete without mention of the dark web.

  While it’s challenging to determine its true size, research indicates that the dark web accounts for a large portion of the internet’s true size. And apparently, it’s growing steadily, with the help of anonymous cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

  For the most part, it’s believed that the dark web is used for unsavory reasons – however, it’s not all bad. Because of its anonymous nature, it can be used as a safe space for whistleblowing or activism.

  Overall, this map, and the internet as a whole, has many places for us to explore. When you dive in, what “countries” catch your eye?

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 22:00

• CJ Hopkins: Covidian Push Toward A New Totalitarian 'Normal'
  CJ Hopkins: Covidian Push Toward A New Totalitarian ‘Normal’

  In a recent interview with Fox News, author and playwright C.J. Hopkins describes the current pandemic paradigm as a worrying prelude to the normalization of  a brutal technocratic brand of authoritarianism.

  https://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=6257082211001&w=466&h=263Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

  Fox News reports…

  As millions of vaccines are distributed around the world each day, mask mandates are lifted, and daily life takes on a semblance of normalcy, one German-based satirist is ringing the alarm bells about what he views as “nascent totalitarianism” seeping its way into society. 

  C.J. Hopkins is an American playwright and author living in Berlin and a self-described “creature of the left.” Over the past year and a half, Hopkins has been increasingly concerned about long-term implications of what he deemed the “radical restructuring of human society” toward a post-COVID “New Normal,” a term often used by the political class.

  “I’m a free speech advocate, against racism, discrimination – anti-authoritarian, basically. And watching our societies transform into this type of authoritarianism, and I go so far as to call it nascent totalitarianism, is horrifying,” Hopkins said in an interview with Fox News.

  While Hopkins’ ideological beliefs have aligned with the political left more often than not throughout his career, he has never been one to silently fall in line.

  In fact, Hopkins has been openly critical of the lies and deceit coming from the left since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016.

  “It was fascinating to watch and track the reaction of the establishment to Donald Trump. He became a figurehead for this populist push back against global capitalist ideology,” said Hopkins.

  This “global capitalist ideology” he described, or “GloboCap” as he’s taken to calling it in his writings, is an ideologically monolithic global-capitalist societal structure. Essentially, a ruling class made up of globalist oligarchs.

  “It was just so clear they set out to destroy him, make an example of him, and demonize everybody who put him in office,” said Hopkins.

  He claimed the demonization of Trump during his four years in office was this ruling class “reminding us who’s in charge and what happens if we elect unauthorized presidents who haven’t been approved by the system.”

  Admittedly not a fan of Trump, Hopkins couldn’t help but laugh at all of the ways in which the former president was vilified. “First, he was a Russian intelligence asset, then he was literally Hitler and was going to overthrow the U.S. government with some underground White supremacist militia,” Hopkins recalled, claiming the accusations were “pure fantasy that was taken seriously.”

  According to Hopkins, this push toward a post-COVID “New Normal” society in which people are willing to lockdown in their homes when told, wear masks when asked, and carry around their COVID-19 vaccination cards in order to be allowed into public spaces is a continuation of the invisible ruling class asserting its dominance.

  “One thing that I’ve been saying to try to get through to people,” said Hopkins, “is just the whole idea of lockdowns. ‘Lockdown,’ this is a prison term, right? And when do you lock down the prison? When the prisoners are rioting and getting rebellious. It’s a way of reminding everyone, ‘Hey, you’re in prison and we’re in charge.’”

  “It isn’t really about the vaccines or the tests,” he said in regards to newly implemented guidelines.

  “What it’s about is training us, conditioning us to live in a society where we accept this type of control.”

  Another aspect of this “synchronization of culture,” as Hopkins called it, and which he finds particularly terrifying is the ideological uniformity being spread by “big supranational entities and corporate media” on behalf of the establishment.

  “It’s tearing societies apart, it’s tearing relationships apart, it’s tearing families apart, this extreme polarization and intolerance of dissent and differing views,” he said.

  “I feel like if I start questioning or challenging the official COVID narrative, if I start pointing out facts, I’m treated like a suppressive person in the Church of Scientology.”

  “The reaction is not one of strong disagreement, anger or to prove me wrong,” he continued.

  “The reaction is to shut me up, silence me and make me go away. When a society gets to that place, where dissent is treated that way, that is a really dangerous development.”

  Hopkins compared the “suffocating” atmosphere in Berlin to a German word, Gleichschaltung, which arose in the Nazi era and was used to describe the process by which Nazi Germany established a system of totalitarian control over the individual, as well as close coordination of all aspects of society.

  All is not doomed, however, according to the American political satirist, who said he has been greatly encouraged by the pushback exhibited in parts of the U.S., naming states like Florida and Texas. Sadly, no such rebellion against the shift toward totalitarianism exists in Germany.

  As an artist and a creature of the left, speaking out about the left wing’s authoritarian power grab has been particularly painful for C.J. Hopkins.

  “I’m an artist and 99% of the art world has just gone completely ‘New Normal,’” he said, admitting many of his personal relationships have been ruined by him sharing his unpopular opinions.

  “Most often I get attacked by folks on the left and liberals who are now telling me that I’m some kind of far-right extremist, but I haven’t changed.”

  For Hopkins, remaining silent and falling into line is no longer an option.

  “There are some times in history when you need to put those types of career considerations and personal considerations aside because the stakes are that high, and I feel like the stakes are that high this time.”

  *  *  *
  C.J. Hopkins is an award-winning American playwright, novelist and political satirist, and is author of the dystopian classic, Zone 23. His plays have been produced and have toured at theatres and festivals in North America and Europe, and is a featured writer at The Consent Factory.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 21:30

• "We Took Out The June 2007 Highs": Morgan Stanley's Sell Signal Just Hit An All Time High
  “We Took Out The June 2007 Highs”: Morgan Stanley’s Sell Signal Just Hit An All Time High

  For the past several months, Morgan Stanley’s fundamental analysts have been turning increasingly bearish on stocks, with the pessimistic sentiment plateauing earlier this week when chief equity strategist Michael Wilson said that there is far too much optimism in the market, and that while earnings are slowly rising, forward PE multiples are far too high and are set to slide, with “the de-rating about 75% to go or an approximate 15% decline in P/Es from here.” As a result, in Wilson’s view – which is rapidly emerging as the most bearish on Wall Street – “earnings revisions will not be able to offset that de-rating, leaving the overall market vulnerable to a 10-15 % correction over the next 6 months.”

  

  It now appears that Morgan Stanley’s fundamental bearishness has spilled over into the bank’s technical analyst team and as the bank’s chief Euro equity Strategist Matthew Garman writes, for only the fifth time in over 30 years, each of Morgan Stanley’s five market timing indicators are giving a sell signal at the same time.

  Not only that, but the bank’s Combined Market Timing Indicator – which has been in sell territory since March – just hit a new all time high of 1.19, surpassing the previous record high seen in June-2007, right around the time of the first great quant crash and before the market collapsed.

  According to Garman, the only time equities have risen after a “Full House” Sell Signal was in Feb 17, shortly after the Shanghai Accord kicked in to prevent a global recession. The other previous occasions where there was a “Full House” Sell Signal were Mar-90, May-92, Jun-07. According to MS, “in the 6M post the initial Full House Sell Signal, MSCI Europe has fallen on average 6%.”

  

  So with every in house risk indicator screaming sell, does that mean that Morgan Stanley will have the balls to tell its clients to sell? Why of course not, because in this market where stuff like the AMC, GameStop and Bed Bath squeezes force analysts to admit they no longer have any idea what’s going on…

  

  … Morgan Stanley is keeping the hope and assuming that the current period will be similar to 2017 – the only other time when a massive sell signal did not result in a market plunge.

  Back in 2017, we remained constructive despite the signal given i) strong EPS growth, ii) an early cycle environment, iii) EU inflows, iv) low sentiment and v) a rise in M&A. Sentiment metrics may look more elevated than in 2017, but many of those factors remain in place today. While we see a trickier risk-reward for equities globally, we maintain our view that there is a compelling case for Europe to outperform global peers.

  Yet even Morgan Stanley is forced to admit that while Defensives may just scrape by after a record sell signal, cyclicals are about to be hammered. The next chart shows the relative performance of Cyclicals versus Defensives after a Full House Sell Signal on. As MS notes, “perhaps unsurprisingly, given the poor performance at the market level, Cyclicals have struggled. In the 6M post the four initial Full House Sell Signals, Cyclicals have underperformed Defensives on average 12%, and this drops to -15% looking at any day
  when the MTIs have all said sell at the same time.”

  This was true even in 2017 when equity markets rose: “we previously cited similarities with the 2017 Full House Sell Signal as reasons to not get overly cautious on equity markets in aggregate at this moment in time. After the February-2017 Full House Sell Signal, MSCI Europe continued to rise pretty consistently through the rest of the year. However, despite strong performance from the market in aggregate, the performance of Cyclicals versus Defensives was much poorer. Between February and June 2017 Cyclicals underperformed Defensives by 6%.”

  

  It’s not just the bank’s sell signal that is prompting concerns about the future returns of cyclicals: Borrowing a page from our own warnings (see “China’s Credit Impulse Just Turned Negative, Unleashing Global Deflationary Shockwave“), Morgan Stanley looks at “a number of China data points which are giving warning signs” first and foremost the collapse in China’s credit impulse, to wit:

  While credit tightening has been front-loaded in 1H21, as outlined here, our economists remain constructive on China’s growth recovery. Having said that, a number of Chinese data points do suggest the Cyclical bounce looks overextended. China’s credit impulse has just turned negative, and historically this has provided a lead indicator for the year-on-year performance of European Cyclicals (Exhibit 5). Similarly, the relative performance of Cyclicals versus Defensives has closely tracked moves in Chinese 10Y bond yields, which are now at their lowest levels since September 2020, standing in sharp contrast to the performance of Cyclicals.

  

  Putting it all together, readers have to ask themselves if what is coming will be an analog of the one and only episode on history when the market did not plunge after all Morgan Stanley market timing indicators hit a sell (and were at an all time high), or will this case be similar to Mar-90, May-92, Jun-07 when the outcome was anything but a happy ending.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 21:00

• High-Ranking Chinese Defector Reportedly Working With DIA Has "Direct Knowledge" Of China's Bioweapons Program
  High-Ranking Chinese Defector Reportedly Working With DIA Has “Direct Knowledge” Of China’s Bioweapons Program

  Authored by Jennifer Van Laar via RedState.com,

  A person believed to be among the highest-ranking defectors ever to the United States from the People’s Republic of China has been working with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for months, sources inside the intelligence community have told RedState on condition of anonymity.

  

  The defector has direct knowledge of special weapons programs in China, including bioweapons programs, those sources say.

  The information provided to RedState corroborates and clarifies Thursday evening’s reporting by journalist Adam Housley.

  Being told the increased pressure on China in recent days is due to a defector with intimate knowledge. In fact, Wray didn’t know right away because they wanted to make sure they got all they needed before telling him.

  — Adam Housley (@adamhousley) June 4, 2021

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

  RedState’s sources say that’s partially true. FBI Director Christopher Wray was “ambushed” with the information, they say, and Langley was also unaware. Sources say DIA leadership kept the defector within their Clandestine Services network to prevent Langley and the State Department from accessing the person, whose existence was kept from other agencies because DIA leadership believes there are Chinese spies or sources inside the FBI, CIA, and several other federal agencies.

  Also…US intelligence believes China is trying to produce variants that suggest it came from bats to cover up that it originally came from a lab. The belief is still that it escaped accidentally, but was allowed to spread.

  — Adam Housley (@adamhousley) June 4, 2021

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

  Again…what I reported tonight. US intelligence has a Chinese defector with Wuhan info. AND China is trying to produce variants that suggest it came from bats to cover up that coronavirus originally came from a lab

  — Adam Housley (@adamhousley) June 4, 2021

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

  More information will be published as it becomes available to RedState.

  *  *  *

  UPDATE 12:30 PM PDT, June 4, 2021

  Sources tell RedState the defector has been with the DIA for three months and that he has provided an extensive, technically detailed debrief to US officials. In DIA’s assessment, the information provided by the defector is legitimate.

  Sources say the level of confidence in the defector’s information is what has led to a sudden crisis of confidence in Dr. Anthony Fauci, adding that U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) personnel detailed to DIA have corroborated very technical details of information provided by the defector.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 20:30

• An Inconvenient Truth: EVs May Offer A "Negligible" CO2 Difference From ICE Vehicles
  An Inconvenient Truth: EVs May Offer A “Negligible” CO2 Difference From ICE Vehicles

  Are the carbon footprints of EVs really as drastically lower than that of internal combustion engine vehicles? When considering the amount of carbon and CO2 created from assembling lithium ion batteries, one firm thinks the difference could be “negligible”.

  Such was the topic of a new blog post by natural resource investors Goehring & Rozencwajg (G&R), a “fundamental research firm focused exclusively on contrarian natural resource investments with a team with over 30 years of dedicated resource experience.”

  The firm, established in 2015, posted a blog entry entitled “Exploring Lithium-ion Electric Vehicles’ Carbon Footprint” this week, where they call into question a former ICE vs. EV comparison performed by the Wall Street Journal and, while citing work performed by Jefferies, argue that there could literally be “no reduction in CO2 output” in some EV vs. ICE comparisons. 

  Their analysis “details the tremendous amount of energy (and by extension CO2) needed to manufacture a lithium-ion battery.” Because a typical EV is on average 50% heavier than a similar internal combustion engine, the analysis notes that the “embedded carbon” in an EV (i.e., when it rolls off the lot) is therefore 20–50% more than an internal combustion engine.

  

  The report notes:

  Our analysis suggests a modern lithium-ion battery has approximately 135,000 miles of range before it degrades to the point of becoming unusable. An extended-range Tesla Model 3 has an 82 kWh battery and consumes approximately 29 kWh per 100 miles. Assuming each charge cycle has a ~95% round-trip efficiency and a battery can achieve 500 cycles before starting to degrade, we conclude a Model 3 can drive 134,310 miles before dramatically losing range.

  Incidentally, Tesla’s Model 3 warranty covers the battery for the lesser of eight years or 120,000 miles and does not apply until the battery has degraded by at least 30%. If the Jefferies analysis is correct (and we believe it is), then an EV will reach carbon-emission parity with an internal-combustion vehicle just as its battery requires replacement. This will come as a huge disappointment for those believing that EV adoption will have significant impacts on CO2 reduction.

  The blog post then goes on to critique a WSJ analysis that concluded it would only take 20,000 miles to “break-even” with an internal combustion engine:

  First, it compares a Tesla Model 3 (a sedan) with a Toyota Rav4 (an SUV). An entry-level Honda Civic, which we believe is a more appropriate comparison, would improve the ICE fuel efficiency by 20%. Next, after consulting the footnotes, The Wall Street Journal article assumes 80 kg of CO2 emission per of battery. This estimate appears to come from a 2019 Swedish Energy Agency report in which they reduce their carbon intensity by half compared with the year prior.

  The motivation for lowering their estimates was the use of “close to 100 percent fossil free energy […] which is not common yet, but likely will be in the future.” In other words, the cost and carbon-intensity of lithium-ion batteries is predicated on renewable energy which itself requires cheap and carbon-efficient lithium-ion batteries. 

  “Even if The Wall Street Journal figures are accurate, we believe most investors still do not appreciate how little the magnitude of potential carbon savings from lithium-ion EVs is,” G&R writes. 

  The post concludes with some starkly “inconvenient truths”: that if a global analysis was performed using figures put together by Jefferies, instead of those used by the Wall Street Journal analysis, “the difference would be negligible — there would be no reduction in CO2 output.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 20:00

• 3 Points The Media Is Still Getting Wrong About Wuhan Lab Theory (& The Documents To Prove It)
  3 Points The Media Is Still Getting Wrong About Wuhan Lab Theory (& The Documents To Prove It)

  Authored by Sharyl Attkisson, op-ed via The Epoch Times,

  

  1. U.S. Taxpayer Money Did Go to Controversial ‘Gain of Function’ Research

  Thanks to some confusing verbal gymnastics by Dr. Anthony Fauci, some in the media are giving the impression that there’s no proof U.S. tax money funded “gain of function” research or that, perhaps, the research didn’t qualify as gain of function. However, the evidence on this point is clear cut.

  A 2015 published study specifically discloses that the research is gain of function research that took bat coronavirus that was harmless to people—and made it infectious in humans. The study further states that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) approved continuation of the research even amid a general ban on such studies. (See study excerpt below.)

  

  Excerpt from controversial 2015 gain of function study funded by NIH and approved to continue beyond publication date. (Screenshot via Nature.com)

  The research was conducted by numerous U.S. scientists including Ralph Baric at the University of North Carolina with the lead virologist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology: Shi Zhengli. (See study authors below.)

  

  Excerpt from controversial 2015 gain of function study funded by NIH and approved to continue beyond publication date. (Screenshot via Nature.com)

  2. The Gain of Function Research with China Did Not Only Receive U.S. Support and Money Through the Nonprofit ‘EcoHealth Alliance,’ but Also Directly

  Many media reports refer to several millions of dollars in tax money sent from the NIH to the Wuhan lab via the New York-based nonprofit “EcoHealth Alliance.” However, research with the lab, and the lab itself, received significant additional U.S. support including:

  • Grants directly from the NIH.

  • Grants directly from Dr. Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the NIH. (See grant numbers highlighted below.)

  

  Excerpt from controversial 2015 gain of function study funded by NIH and approved to continue beyond publication date. (Screenshot via Nature,com)

  • Additional funds from EcoHealth Alliance that were initially undisclosed. (See correction to the study below.)

  

  Excerpt from a correction issued on the controversial 2015 gain of function study. (Screenshot via Nature.com)

  • Assistance from the University of Texas. (See excerpt from study below.)

  

  Excerpt from controversial 2015 gain of function study. (Screenshot via Nature.com)

  • Resources from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (See study disclosure below.)

  

  Excerpt from controversial 2015 gain of function study. (Screenshot via Nature.com)

  3. The Chinese Wuhan Lab Received Direct U.S. Support, in Addition to the Indirect Grants From EcoHealth Alliance

  State Department cables from January 2018 detail assistance from the University of Texas Medical Branch, including university “researchers … helping train technicians who work” in the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab. The Texas lab is supported by Dr. Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under NIH. (See excerpt from cable below.)

  

  Excerpt from State Department cables from January 2018. (Screenshot via Washington Post)

  *  *  *

   Sharyl Attkisson is the New York Times bestselling author of “Stonewalled,” a five-time Emmy Award winner, and the host of Sinclair’s national investigative television program “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 19:30

• IRS To Ultra Rich Looking To Dodge Taxes In Puerto Rico: 'We're Waiting For You'
  IRS To Ultra Rich Looking To Dodge Taxes In Puerto Rico: ‘We’re Waiting For You’

  Last month we noted how hedge fund managers have been descending on Puerto Rico in the hopes of dodging Biden tax hikes, and to take advantage of tax incentives rolled out in 2012 which have lured high net-worth individuals, corporations and cryptocurrency traders alike.

  

  If you fall under any of the above and you’re falsely claiming to be a resident of Puerto Rico, the IRS has a message for you: ‘We’re waiting for you…’

  According to Bloomberg Tax, the agency has been the focus of a “sweeping” review to examine individuals who took advantages of the tax incentives. According to the report, “More than 4,000 mainland U.S. residents and firms have moved to the territory between 2012 and 2019, revealing potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tax revenue to the U.S. government, according to an IRS report delivered to Congress.”

  At issue are taxpayers who may have excluded income subject to U.S. tax, or failed to file and report income altogether when they moved to Puerto Rico, according to the IRS notice. The agency is also targeting those who claim to be bona fide residents of Puerto Rico but may be “erroneously reporting” U.S. income to evade taxes.

  The IRS’s push is taking place as Biden’s proposed tax increases have triggered moves by America’s wealthiest from high-tax states like New York and California, while hedge funds like Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management and ExodusPoint Capital Management have moved to establish subsidiaries on the island. An ExodusPoint spokesman declined to comment, while a representative for Millennium did not respond. -Bloomberg Tax

  Tax attorneys who advise HNW clients on Puerto Rican tax incentives are already reporting that they’ve received requests for information from the IRS, while more audits are expected now that the US tax filing deadline has passed.

  “The IRS doesn’t start a campaign and not follow through,” said international tax layer J. Clark Armitage. “There are going to be a lot of audits.”

  

  The Puerto Rico crackdown is part of a wider sweep by the Treasury Department, which estimated that wealthy taxpayers are hiding billions of dollars in income. According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the tax gap between what’s owed and what’s collected could grow to $7 trillion over the next decade if nothing is done.

  “One of the purposes of a campaign is to stop whatever fraud is going on while you’re doing the investigations and audits,” said former IRS commissioner John Koskinen. “You like to stop people in their tracks.”

  Campaigns by the IRS often take years to organize, as agents begin to detect factual patterns that indicate a significant loss of revenue due to non-compliance. In the case of Puerto Rico, much of the focus will be on establishing whether individuals are truly island residents and whether they properly sourced income to Puerto Rico.

  Unlike previous IRS efforts, the campaign’s origins began in Congress after lawmakers requested a report from the agency in their 2020 appropriations bill over concerns Puerto Rico’s tax laws may be enabling tax avoidance and that federal and state governments were being shorted revenue.

  “Every revenue authority everywhere is facing the same issue of needing to find an efficient process when there are fewer resources and budget constraints,” said Sharon Katz-Pearlman, global head of dispute resolution and controversy for KPMG.

  The IRS’ report to Congress calculated that more than 1,924 applicants—corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and other types—had been granted tax benefits under the Exports Services Act (formerly known as Act 20) as of March 2020 based on partial information provided by Puerto Rico. Act 20 offers entities a 4% corporate rate on business income and 100% tax exemption on dividends. That provision along with the Individual Investors Act have now been consolidated into a new incentive law to attract individuals and investments to the island.

  Read the rest of the report here.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 19:00

• Watch Live: Trump Returns To Political Stage At NC GOP Convention
  Watch Live: Trump Returns To Political Stage At NC GOP Convention

  Donald Trump will return to the political stage Saturday night with a speech at the North Carolina Republican Convention – his first major speech since CPAC in February, but more importantly – his first since he was vindicated over the possibility that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

  

  It also comes after anti-Trump GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney (WY) was outed from her leadership position due to her frequent criticism of Trump.

  In a Friday statement, the former president said that it would be “a great honor to be speaking at the North Carolina GOP convention,” adding “I understand the place will be packed, all records broken!”

  Trump carried North Carolina during both of his presidential bids – visiting the state 14 times during the final year of his presidency. He’s scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. to a sold out audience of 1,250 people.

  Watch:

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 18:45

• COVID, Learned Helplessness, And Control
  COVID, Learned Helplessness, And Control

  Via WeMeantWell.com,

  In the post-vaccination era, why don’t people remove their masks? Learned helplessness, employed as a control tool.

  

  Learned helplessness is well-documented. It takes place when an individual believes he continuously faces a negative, uncontrollable situation and stops trying to improve his circumstances, even when he has the ability to do so. Discovering the loss of control elicits a passive reaction to a harmful situation. Psychologists call this a maladaptive response, characterized by avoidance of challenges and the collapse of problem-solving when obstacles arise. You give up trying to fight back.

  An example may help: you must keep up with ever-changing mask and other hygiene theatre rules, many of which make no sense (mask in the gym, but not the pool; mask when going to the restaurant toilet but not at your table, NYC hotels are closed while Vegas casinos are open, Disney California closed while Disney Florida was open) and comply. You could push back, but you have been made afraid at a core level (forget about yourself rascal, you’re going to kill grandma if you don’t do what we say) and so you just give in. Once upon a time we were told a vaccine would end it all, yet the restrictions remain largely in place. You’re left believing nothing will fix this. Helpless to resist, you comply “out of an abundance of caution.”

  American psychologists Martin Seligman and Steven Maier created the term “learned helplessness” in 1967. They were studying animal behavior by delivering electric shocks to dogs (it was a simpler time.) Dogs who learned they couldn’t escape the shock simply stopped trying, even after the scientists removed a barrier and the dog could have jumped away.

  Learned helplessness has three main features: a passive response to trauma, not believing that trauma can be controlled, and stress.

  Example: you are being stalked by a killer disease which often has no outward symptoms. There is nothing you can do but hide inside and buy things from Amazon. The government failed to stop the virus initially, failed to warn you, failed to supply ventilators and PPE gear, and failed to produce a vaccine quick enough. You may die. You may kill your family members along the way. You have lost your job by government decree and are forced to survive on unemployment and odd stimulus check, manufactured dependence. It is all very real: WebMD saw a 251 percent increase in searches for anxiety this April.

  Americans, with their cult-like devotion to victimhood, are primed for learned helplessness. Your problems are because you’re a POC, or fat, or on some spectrum. You are not responsible, can’t fix something so systemic, and best do what you are told.

  The way out is to allow people to make decisions and choices on their own. This therapy is used with victims of learned helplessness such as hostages. During their confinement all the important decisions of their life, and most of the minor ones, were made by their captors. Upon release, many hostages fear things as simple as a meal choice and need to be coaxed out of helplessness one micro-choice at a time.

  Example: you cannot choose where to stand, so follow the marks on the floor. Ignore the research saying three feet apart is as useful/useless as six feet apart. Don’t think about why the rules are the same inside a narrow hallway and outside in the fresh air but don’t apply at all on airplanes.

  Kin to learned helplessness are enforcers. Suddenly your waitress transitions from someone serving you into someone ordering you to wear a mask, sit alone, eat outside, etc. Flight attendants morph from delivering drinks to holding the power to have security haul you to jail for unmasking when not actively eating. Companies once run by entrepreneurs are today controlled by the harassment stalking undead from HR. We’ve become a republic of hall monitors. And there it is. The wrong people are in charge.

  One of the better examples of learned helplessness is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a great book made into an impressive movie starring a lean Jack Nicholson. Nurse Ratched cows a group of mentally ill men into complete learned helplessness, encouraging them to rat each other out for small offenses, and to follow her every order no matter how absurd. The kicker comes near the end when we learn all of the men (except Nicholson) are free to leave the hospital at any time. They just… can’t.

  It is amazing how fast people stepped into the Nurse Ratched roll. Within moments of COVID’s arrival in the national conscience, officials like California’s Gavin Newsom, and New York’s power bottom twins Andrew Cuomo and Bill De Blasio raced to assume dictatorial emergency powers. They spent not one moment assessing the impact of their decisions to lock down against the effects of the lockdown. They ignored information questioning the value of lockdown. They turned topsy-turvy the idea in a free society the burden of proof is on those who would restrict freedom and not on those who resist such restrictions.

  They were aided in manufacturing learned helplessness by the most sophisticated propaganda operation ever created. Already engorged with the coin of three years of fake news, the legacy media saw the value of a new crisis toward their two real goals: make as much money as possible garnering clicks, and defeating Donald Trump. Previous shows, Russiagate with a hat tip to 9/11 when Americans demanded fewer freedoms to feel safer, illustrated the way. On a 24/7 basis America were injected: you are helpless and Donald “COVID” Trump will kill you. Your only hope is to comply fully with the people at CNN who are administering the electric shocks.

  Truth is useless to propagandists, actually a threat. Look at what turned out to be false (in addition to Russiagate): we never ran out of ventilators or PPE or nurses or ICU beds or morgues. Masks were not really needed outdoors. We did in fact develop a vaccine, several in fact, in less than a year. Almost everyone who died was elderly or had serious comorbidities but we salivated over “new case numbers” as the primary metric anyway because they went up so much faster. When people questioned the real world view against the media portrayal, they were told about “asymptomatic COVID” or shunned as hoaxers. Everyone makes mistakes. But just as with Russiagate, all the media mistakes swung one way.

  It worked. Condo boards boarded up their gyms. Restaurants forced diners to eat outside in the rain. Entire industries, such as tourism and hospitality, disappeared overnight. New groups were shoved into poverty and unemployment. Children were denied education, criminals released from jails. People were told not to hug their loved ones. Saving Grandma meant she died untouched in a hospital room. The government denied you the chance to say one final goodbye to the person who raised you and you didn’t fight back? Now that’s control.

  Every time a bit of dissenting information popped up — Florida opening its beaches for Spring Break, for example — the media rushed in to declare everyone was gonna die. Texas was declared dead, South Dakota was declared dead, and Americans believed it all even when reports of survivors started drifting out of Disney World. Learned helplessness is hard to unlearn. One Harvard professor explains our brains evolved to encode fear so well, it’s hard to turn off.

  Americans are not comfortable accepting their lives being manipulated at this level, the way for example many Russians assume it to be so. We tend to dismiss such things as conspiracy theories and make an Oliver Stone joke. But ask yourself how many of the temporary security and surveillance measures enacted after 9/11 are still controlling our lives almost 20 years later. Is the terror threat still so real the FBI needs to monitor our social media in bulk? Was it ever?

  Nothing here is to say vaccines don’t work, or are themselves dangerous. That’s another debate. This is about the politics of mass control. Add up the “doesn’t really make sense but we do it anyway” COVID rules and try to make sense of them. Why would otherwise smart leaders implement such rules, for example in New York’s case, purposely impoverishing a city or seeking to defund the police in the midst of triple digit rises in crime? Every time your answer is “it just doesn’t make sense” consider a scenario beyond coincidence where it would make sense however out there that might be. It might be the most important thing you can do.

  Then look out the window. Remember “10 days to flatten the curve?” With no voting or debate, a system based on a medical procedure capable of controlling our travel, which businesses we can visit, which hotels we can stay in, what jobs we can hold, what education we can access, at which point it is no more “voluntary” than breathing, was put into place. We no longer need to ask what is happening. The real question is always why.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 18:30

• Watch: Delta Fight Attendant Tackles Would-Be Hijacker 
  Watch: Delta Fight Attendant Tackles Would-Be Hijacker 

  Delta Flight 386 from Los Angeles to Nashville on Friday was diverted to New Mexico after a passenger attempted to breach the cockpit and hijack the plane.

  Albuquerque International Sunport received distress calls from the plane after a passenger attempted to breach the cabin, airport spokeswoman Stephanie Kitts, who was quoted by USA Today. 

  Cellphone video captured the incident and one brave flight attendant who “tackled and zip-tied the man before anyone was harmed,” said Fox 11 Los Angeles. 

  pic.twitter.com/rc1zXEbRTL

  — 💡 (@1WaySuggs) June 4, 2021

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

  Another video shows the would-be hijacker was zip-tied with his hands behind his back. 

  pic.twitter.com/A1ylgdkmMY

  — 💡 (@1WaySuggs) June 4, 2021

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

  Twitter handle “@1WaySuggs” uploaded both videos to Twitter which have since gone viral. He tweeted, “y’all a n**ga tried to hijack my plane on God we just had to emergency land the done hogtied this nigga up on God my life wild.” 

  A photo of the flight attendant who apprehended the passenger was later seen seated with hands together and his head down after the incident. He must have had so much adrenaline running through his body after his heroic action. 

  @Delta this man needs an award.. just saved the plane. LA flight to Nashville.. pic.twitter.com/WZWO7bK4L5

  — rich (@NoKapRich) June 4, 2021

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

  When the flight landed in New Mexico, airport police took the man into custody, who was later turned into the Albuquerque FBI. 

  On Friday evening, Albuquerque FBI tweeted: “The #FBI is responding to a report of a diverted flight at @ABQSunport . There is no threat to the public at this time.” 

  Delta released a statement but left out the fact that a passenger attempted to hijack the plane. Delta spokesman Anthony Black said Flight 386 landed without incident in Albuquerque, and he praised the crew and passengers on the flight for “detaining an unruly passenger.” 

  At the time, the 737-900 had 162 passengers and six crew members. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 18:00

• A Couple Things About Inflation
  A Couple Things About Inflation

  Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

  The higher they push phantom “assets” based on exponential increases in leverage, the greater the air gap between essential tangibles and fantasy.

  Inflation is in the news, but there are a couple of things about inflation that don’t get much coverage. Let’s start with the trope that inflation is always a monetary phenomenon. Actually, no.

  When nutrient-rich soil and fresh water reserves are depleted, crop yields decline and as human population and appetites for animal protein soar, food becomes scarce. When food becomes scarce, prices rise accordingly. It doesn’t matter what you do with money supply, prices will rise in relation to everything used as “money:” gold, shells, paper with colorful pictures printed on it, giant stone disks, quatloos, cryptocurrencies, etc.

  You could eliminate “money” entirely and the relative cost of food would rise even in a barter-only system.

  What few seem to grasp is that there is a hierarchy of needs that ruthlessly separates “needs” from “wants,” and the value of “wants” quickly drops to zero in real scarcities. When you’re hungry, I mean really hungry, the value of your yacht, collectible muscle car, NFT, etc. falls to zero if those with food have zero interest in your “valuables.” An ounce of gold for an egg? It all depends on what’s actually a need.

  In a similar fashion, real scarcity separates phantom intangible assets from real assets. If you glance at the chart of tangible and intangible assets below, you’ll note that phantom intangible assets are now the overwhelming majority of what’s laughably called “assets.”

  

  You want to trade your shares in XYZ Corporation for a 50-pound bag of rice? How do I know the “value” of shares in XYZ Corporation won’t be zero tomorrow? No, thank you. Come back when you have something tangible and tangibly useful (i.e. it will hold its value tomorrow) to trade for the rice.

  We inhabit a fantasy world in which scarcity has been banished by the gods of globalized markets and phantom assets built on sandcastles of leverage are the most valuable assets on the planet. Global stocks are now worth $115 trillion, woo-hoo.

  Meanwhile, back in the real world, the vast majority of humanity trades their labor for food and other essentials. The funny thing about human labor is that thanks to population growth, globalization and financialization, the relative value of labor has been in decline for decades. (see chart below) This means that as prices of essentials rise due to scarcities, the quantities of tangibles that labor can buy decline, meaning those trading their labor for essentials can afford fewer essentials.

  

  In other words, their prosperity is in a free-fall as scarcities push up prices of essentials.

  This free-fall of labor’s value and thus of prosperity is visible in the RAND chart of income 1975-2018 and in the Federal Reserve database chart of the wealth held by the bottom 50% of American households. The RAND chart of income by the top 1%, top 9% and bottom 90% shows that 25% of the bottom 90%’s income–virtually all from labor–has been transferred to the top 1% (the share of taxable income going to the top 1% rose 2.5-fold) and to a lesser degree, to the top 9%. (Recall that the top 9% mostly rely on earnings from labor, hence their modest increase compared to the top 1%.)

  

  The pathetically thin slice of wealth held by the bottom 50% of American households has fallen to near-zero. It’s fallen by 2/3 since the recent peak in the mid-1990s, the last “boom” that trickled down to the bottom 90%.

  

  The bottom 50% have no reserves to draw upon as prices of tangible essentials rise. They have no wealth to sell, and the value of their labor as measured in purchasing power of essentials is in an accelerating decline.

  This is a longstanding reality of civilization. As productivity rises, the human population expands up to the carrying capacity of the biosphere. Labor’s earnings rise as producers expand production to meet rising demand. Human population and appetites for goodies keep expanding, overshooting sustainable supply while labor expands to the point that it is in oversupply. Wages decline and labor thus loses purchasing power just as prices of essentials soar. Discontent and disorder increase and states and civilizations fall.

  I’ve long recommended these books on the fundamental cycle of civilization:

  The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History

  Ages of Discord

  This leads us to the last chart of diminishing returns on the phantom fixes of monetary manipulation and bread and circuses free money. The Federal Reserve can create currency out of thin air but it can’t conjure up productive land, fresh water, copper ore, oil, or food.

  

  The Fed can conjure up phantom “wealth” based on leverage but this relies on a heavily hyped faith in a fantasy world in which all tangible scarcities are magically turned to abundance by central bank money creation and low interest rates, and a splash of technocrat pixie dust: carbon taxes, windmills and drones flitting about.

  The returns on fantasies and phantom “assets” are also in a free-fall. Monetary and fiscal stimulus is skyrocketing to keep the travesty of a mockery of a sham “prosperity” from collapsing into a putrid sinkhole of failed financial farce.

  The higher they push phantom “assets” based on exponential increases in leverage, the greater the air gap between essential tangibles and fantasy.

  *  *  *

  If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

  *  *  *

  My recent books:

  A Hacker’s Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet (Kindle $8.95, print $20, audiobook $17.46) Read the first section for free (PDF).

  Will You Be Richer or Poorer?: Profit, Power, and AI in a Traumatized World (Kindle $5, print $10, audiobook) Read the first section for free (PDF).

  Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic ($5 (Kindle), $10 (print), ( audiobook): Read the first section for free (PDF).

  The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake $1.29 (Kindle), $8.95 (print); read the first chapters for free (PDF)

  Money and Work Unchained $6.95 (Kindle), $15 (print) Read the first section for free (PDF).

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 17:30

• Hong Kong Parking Spot Sells For Record-Breaking $1.3 Million
  Hong Kong Parking Spot Sells For Record-Breaking $1.3 Million

  Even as thousands of Hong Kongers flee to the UK or elsewhere to escape China’s crackdown on political freedoms, the city-state’s property market is breaking yet another record.

  Citing a report in the Hong Kong Economic Times, Bloomberg reports that Wharf Holdings and Nan Fung Group sold a parking space for HK$10.2 million ($1.3 million) at the luxury Mount Nicholson residential project, according to a source. The price beat the previous record of HK$7.6 million for a spot in an office tower set back in 2019, before Hong Kong’s protest movement triggered a crackdown by Beijing that has engulfed the territory’s future in uncertainty, especially since China can simply snatch anyone – foreign nationals or otherwise – from Hong Kong’s jurisdiction.

  

  Mount Nicholson has a reputation for being one of the most iconic upscale projects in Hong Kong. At one point, an apartment in the project was the most expensive in Asia before the title was taken by CK Asset Holdings Ltd.’s 21 Borrett Road in February.

  As that record-breaking sale might suggest, the parking spot record isn’t a total surprise. HK has been seeing a comeback in the luxury home market in recent months, seeing record-breaking transactions as buyer’s confidence returns. A house on Hong Kong’s famous Peak (a luxury residential area overlooking the rest of the city) just rented for HK$1.6 a month in May.

  Still, despite its recent sharp rebound, Hong Kong’s economy “isn’t out of the woods just yet,” according to Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau. HK’s economy grew 7.9% in the first quarter of 2021 vs. a year ago, marking the first economic expansion after six consecutive quarters of contraction. Yau appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” Thursday morning to discuss it.

  While retail sales have seen a strong rebound, tourism remains weak, and the expansion is on uneven footing, Yau said.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 17:00

• The Case Of Joe Rogan: Vaccine Policy And Freedom Of Speech
  The Case Of Joe Rogan: Vaccine Policy And Freedom Of Speech

  Authored by Finn Andersen via The Mises Institute,

  Recently, Joe Rogan, one of the largest podcast hosts in the United States (10.6 million YouTube subscribers), expressed the following opinion about the vaccination of young adults:

  If you are 21 and ask me if you should get the vaccine, I would say “no”. If you are a healthy person and exercise all the time, and are young and eat well, I don’t think you have to worry about this.

  Joe Rogan is correct about the COVID vaccine for kids & young healthy people.pic.twitter.com/AxGwFxAMVB

  — Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) April 27, 2021

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

  This comment created a furor in the United States, where the government’s target is vaccination of the entire adult population.

  For these few sentences he received a sharp reprimand from the White House and Dr. Fauci, who accused Rogan of being selfish and endangering vulnerable members of society. 

  

  Given the very low covid risk for this age group, Rogan’s comments seem to make some sense. Wouldn’t it be more altruistic, rather than selfish, to let a vaccine dose first go to someone who needs it more? Either way, such criticism is ludicrous when it comes from a government that so often acts contrary to the interests of society.

  Additionally, considering the way in which the covid vaccines were launched, some skepticism on the part of Joe Rogan, and the general population, seems warranted. Indeed, these vaccines have become available so quickly that their Phase II and the Phase III development has been conducted in parallel and is not yet completed. In the US, the covid vaccines are currently approved only as emergency measures by the FDA, though nearly 260 million Americans have already been vaccinated.

  In the case of AstraZeneca, the pressure to get a vaccine out as quickly as possible caused an issue in the dosage during the first distributions. In many European countries this vaccine has not been recommended to young people because of a perceived risk of blood clots. In Russia, an antibody test is recommended before vaccination to ensure that the patient is not already immune, in order to avoid wasting doses and to avoid overloading the body with antibodies.

  In this context, it does not certainly seem shocking to suggest, like Joe Rogan, that healthy young adults may not really need to get vaccinated.

  Government Agents Attacking the Opinions of Private Citizens

  In reality, the real question is not whether Joe Rogan was right or wrong in saying what he said. Criticism of a citizen by the US government is disturbing regardless of the comments that were made. What about freedom of speech when the state criticizes an individual’s speech? 

  The protection of freedom of speech and of the press in the USA is among the strongest that exists. The First Amendment to the Constitution in theory offers extremely robust protection with its famous words: “Congress will not make any law curtailing freedom of speech, or of the press.”

  But this implies that it is not unconstitutional for the authorities to publicly judge the speech of its citizens, such as Rogan.

  As reported by Glenn Greenwald, this represents in practice a government control of speech. He quotes a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner who notes that:

  Politicians have realized that they can silence the speech of those with different political viewpoints by public bullying.

  For politically “sensitive” subjects, authorities do not accept deviations from their official story. This deleterious situation has existed since long before the pandemic. Today, it is about vaccine policy, but yesterday, about the war on terrorism, about Russiagate, about the corruption of Joe Biden, and many other topics. Greenwald explains:

  When it comes to censorship of politically adverse content, sometimes explicit censorship demands are unnecessary. Where a climate of censorship prevails, companies anticipate what those in power want them to do by anticipatorily self-censoring to avoid official retaliation. Speech is chilled without direct censorship orders being required.

  Concretely, this means that when Joe Rogan is publicly criticized by the authorities, countless other content is never published. This process of media self-censorship, without open and direct coercion from the state, is of course part of the propaganda system that Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky famously called “manufacturing consent.”

  For intrepid journalists who still take the risk of publicly challenging the official consensus, the lucrative and prestigious positions in mainstream media are no longer accessible. As shown by Greenwald, the risk to their reputation that they incur is real, because they are also then systematically victims of unscrupulous practices, such as being accused of being a conspiracy theorist or of inciting terrorism. These accusations, usually completely unfounded, can destroy careers in the toxic politically correct environment that exists in the United States. 

  Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there. The authorities go much further than these mafia methods of intimidation. The main social networks in the US are now filled with reliable servants of the state, who filter and censor persons or publications at the request of various state institutions, the same way that mainstream media has behaved for ages.

  With respect to covid vaccine policy, for example, Facebook and YouTube today systematically censor comments and videos that are not in line with the official version of governments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the World Health Organization (WHO). The fact that these institutions have often changed their opinion about which health policy to recommend does not seem to be a problem.

  A Constitution Is Not Sufficient Protection

  This situation with Joe Rogan should remind everyone that the fight for individual freedoms, including freedom of speech and of the press, is a permanent struggle. No document, be it the US Constitution or the Declaration of Human Rights, gives an absolute guarantee against the violations of these freedoms by the state, as shown by many historical examples.

  The authoritarian tendencies of nominally democratic governments are nothing new. Indeed, these governments have a natural interest in trying to influence—not to say shape—public opinion. Recent history shows that in collaboration with traditional mainstream media and now social networks, the government is willing to do almost anything to prevent the electorate from understanding its real behavior. The fame of Joe Rogan will at least have contributed a little to exposing this truth.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 16:30

• "Unloading A Revolver Into The Head Of Any White Person": Yale Features Violent, Racist Diatribe By Psychiatrist
  “Unloading A Revolver Into The Head Of Any White Person”: Yale Features Violent, Racist Diatribe By Psychiatrist

  An official event at the Yale School of Medicine featured a New York-based psychiatrist telling students she fantasizes about “unloading a revolver into the head of any white person that got in my way.”

  Disturbingly the talk entitled “The Psychopathic Problem of the White Mind” was held as part of the continuing program, the Child Study Center Grand rounds. The event was held in April, but audio only late this week of New York-based Dr. Aruna Khilanani gleefully musing about murdering white people became available and was posted on journalist Bari Weiss’s Substack.

  

  The presentation by Khilaniani, who is described in a separate interview as a “Forensic Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst, with expertise in violence, racism, and marginalized identities” has since gone viral and earned widespread condemnation for its brazen and overt racism, which includes expressing a desire to commit genocide. 

  “I had fantasies of unloading a revolver into the head of any white person that got in my way, burying their body, and wiping my bloody hands as I walked away relatively guiltless with a bounce in my step. Like I did the world a fucking favor,” Khilanani said at one point in the talk.

  Prior to this, she had told the Yale students, “This is the cost of talking to white people at all. The cost of your own life, as they suck you dry. There are no good apples out there. White people make my blood boil.”

  And more…

  We are now in a psychological predicament, because white people feel that we are bullying them when we bring up race. They feel that we should be thanking them for all that they have done for us. They are confused, and so are we. We keep forgetting that directly talking about race is a waste of our breath. We are asking a demented, violent predator who thinks that they are a saint or a superhero, to accept responsibility. It ain’t gonna happen. They have five holes in their brain. It’s like banging your head against a brick wall. It’s just like sort of not a good idea.

  NEW – NYC psychiatrist tells Yale University panel she fantasizes about shooting dead white people. Audio of her 50-minute “lecture” was published on Substack on Friday.https://t.co/POCjatbd8r

  — Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) June 5, 2021

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

  She further advocated not even talking directly to white people about racial issues, calling the endeavor “useless” as all white people “sound demented” according to her.

  We need to remember that directly talking about race to white people is useless, because they are at the wrong level of conversation. Addressing racism assumes that white people can see and process what we are talking about. They can’t. That’s why they sound demented. They don’t even know they have a mask on. White people think it’s their actual face. We need to get to know the mask, Khilanani said.

  A poster from the event confirmed the whole thing was officially sponsored by Yale.

  

  This kind of extremist rhetoric has seemed commonplace of late at Yale and other Ivy League institutions. Over the past years there’s further been a number of firings of faculty or staff who dare to question it, or what it has to do with giving students an authentic academic formation and experience. 

  Rod Dreher at The American Conservative observed of audio of the event that “it’s hard to come up with a better example of the woke totalitarian capture of elite institution.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 16:00

• Undetected Chinese Fishing Fleets Suspected Of Invading Argentina's Waters: Report
  Undetected Chinese Fishing Fleets Suspected Of Invading Argentina’s Waters: Report

  Authored by Rita Li via The Epoch Times,

  A recent report documented up to 6,000 foreign fishing vessels that disabled their public tracking devices for more than 24 hours along the border of Argentina’s national waters, sounding the alarm that they could be illegally fishing in the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

  “The Chinese fleet was responsible for 66 percent of these incidents,” said the June report by Oceana, a Washington-based non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the global oceans. The report claims that hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels mainly target shortfin squid, which is vital to both Argentina’s economy and ecosystem.

  

  A Chinese-flagged ship is seized in the Galapagos Marine Reserve for carrying some 300 tons of fish, including several endangered species such as the hammerhead shark, on Aug. 25, 2017. (Juan Cevallos/AFP via Getty Images)

  The analysis concludes that from January 2018 to April this year, undetected fishing activities took up more than 600,000 total hours, and many vessels turned off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) within one mile of Argentina’s EEZ.

  The AIS from Global Fishing Watch, an online technology platform launched in 2016 by Oceana, SkyTruth, and Google, monitors and records data of the vessel’s name, flag state, and location.

  

  Oceana’s report showing Chinese vessels along Argentina’s national waters. (Courtesy of Oceana)

  “To me, it is particularly concerning and suspicious when fishing vessels have these gaps in tracking data so close to the edge of another country’s EEZ,” Marla Valentine, Oceana’s illegal fishing and transparency campaign manager, told The Epoch Times in an email.

  “When vessels disable their AIS devices it can hide activities such as fishing, transshipment, and vessel locations from public view and could mask potentially illegal behavior, such as crossing into Argentina’s EEZ to fish,” she wrote.

  These foreign fleets mainly fish for Illex argentinus, commonly known as the Argentine shortfin squid. The economically important species is found along the Argentinean coast, Uruguay, and Brazil, contributing an average of $597 million and sometimes up to $2.4 billion per year for South America’s economy.

  Shortfin squid is also the food for fish such as tuna and swordfish. The report warns that losses of these populations can result in ecological devastation.

  The report also found that more than 800 foreign vessels have engaged in about 900,000 hours of reported fishing, 69 percent of which were taken up by over 400 Chinese vessels. Others came from Taiwan, Korea, and Spain.

  In contrast, Argentina’s local fishing vessels conducted less than one percent of the fishing operations in the same waters.

  China, the world’s largest fishing nation, owns a quarter of the world’s fishing vessels and more than a third of the world’s total catch, according to VOA News.

  “Our oceans need protection, not reckless fishing from China and other distant water fleets,” Valentine said in a June 2 press release.

  She suggests governments to better control the imported seafood to ensure product safety and legality.

  “Being able to trace the path of a fish from the boat it was caught on [and] to the time it lands on a consumer’s plate is key to reducing the chance of products of IUU [Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated] fishing being imported,” she said.

  China’s fisheries authorities set penalties for illegal and abusive fishing in 2020, yet experts say it is unclear how these measures are being enforced, VOA reported.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 15:30

• Three US Senators Visit Taiwan Sunday In Another Shot Across China's Bow
  Three US Senators Visit Taiwan Sunday In Another Shot Across China’s Bow

  Taiwan is about to be front and center again this coming week as Washington prepares for its next shot across China’s bow – this time by another high level US delegation, something which China has long condemned as “signaling pro-democracy forces” on the island in contradiction to the official One China policy. 

  Reuters has confirmed in a weekend report that “Three US senators will visit Taiwan on Sunday and will meet President Tsai Ing-wen to discuss security and other issues, Taiwan’s government and the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei said on Saturday, a trip that will likely irritate China.” The meeting is expected to be held at a military wing of the island’s main international airport.

  

  But “irritate” is an understatement given Beijing’s fierce reaction over prior such trips, which had increased under the Trump administration. Biden appears to be continuing Trump’s policy of approving high level delegations to Taipei, despite having no official or formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan given the One China status quo. 

  The senators making the trip include Tammy Duckworth and Dan Sullivan of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Christopher Coons of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

  “The bipartisan congressional delegation will meet with senior Taiwan leaders to discuss U.S.-Taiwan relations, regional security, and other significant issues of mutual interest,” a statement issued by the American Institute in Taiwan said. 

  

  And a Taiwan presidential office statement on the visit noted it will be the “first international visit planned by the Federal Senate Armed Services Committee since the global epidemic broke out last year.”

  “The Presidential Office sincerely welcomes the three senators who firmly support Taiwan to visit Taiwan at this moment,” it added. 

  Washington has typically referenced these an “unofficial delegations” in order to claim adherence to international norms amid accusations of violating Chinese “sovereignty” over the island. It also comes after ramped up US naval sail throughs of the contested Taiwan Strait since Biden took office in January. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 06/05/2021 – 15:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Tiananmen Square: The Massacre The Chinese Regime Tries To Erase
  Tiananmen Square: The Massacre The Chinese Regime Tries To Erase

  Authored by Dorothy Li via The Epoch Times,

  Thirty-two years later, the Chinese communist regime still tries to repress the memory of the bloody massacre of June 4, censoring all mentions, detaining outspoken dissents, and keeping younger generations unaware of what actually happened that night.

  

  A student displays a banner with one of the slogans chanted by the crowd of some 200,000 pouring into Tiananmen Square in Beijing on April 22, 1989. (Catherine Henriette/AFP/Getty Images)

  Much of the world has been aware of the truth that the communist regime’s leader sent troops to quash the protesting students who called for a more open society at Tiananmen Square, the center of the capital Beijing, on June 4, 1989, resulting in the killing of thousands of Chinese students. But in the land controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), censorship continues.

  Chen Siming, who posted a photo memorializing the bloody event, was given a 15-day administrative detention by authorities of Zhuzhou city of the southern province of Hunan on May 31.

  For years, Chen has persisted in memorializing the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. In 2018, he was detained for taking photos in a park with a tank in the background on June 4.

  “I had been detained four times since 2017, three for memorizing the June 4,” said Chen in the tweet on May 30.

  “But I still want to memorize the most important day in contemporary history, which is a citizen’s responsibility.”

  Huang Xiaomin, a supporter of the student-led pro-democratic movement, is being held in detention, said his daughter on May 29, for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a frequent charge used by the CCP to silence critics, the Weiquanwang blog first reported.

  The reason is still unknown, Huang’s friend, surnamed Xie, told The Epoch Times in an interview, but he mentioned that the local authorities summoned Huang on the phone while he had tea with Huang on May 28.

  Meanwhile, another outspoken dissident is missing in southwestern China. Yang Shaozheng’s wife has lost contact with him for over two weeks, his friend Yang Zili, told NTD on May 31.

  The former economics professor, Yang Shaozheng, who was fired for criticizing the CCP in 2018, had been summoned by authorities several times, said Yang Zili, a friend and fellow activist. His wife believes that Yang is probably being detained by the authorities, the friend added.

  Another activist from southwestern Sichuan Province told The Epoch Times that the police came to his home on Thursday, warning him to be silent on June 4 and July 1, the ruling CCP’s anniversary day. An activist in Beijing, who also prefers not to disclose their name, told The Epoch Times that the local authorities informed him that he should travel to other cities on June 4 and July 1.

  Unconcerned Youths

  The continued censorship has repressed references to Tiananmen from the Chinese internet and erased them from students’ history books, including the name of the then top leader of the regime, Zhao Ziyang.

  Many young Chinese grew up unaware of the brutal event 32 years ago, as teachers fear touching sensitive topics defined by the CCP. Media outlets controlled by the state are not allowed to report on it. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson only described it as a “political disturbance” when asked by Western journalists.

  A middle school teacher in Hunan Province, surnamed Huang, admitted that young people in mainland China, under the pervasive censorship of information, have become indifferent.

  “The young generation limits their attention to money, good wine, savory dishes, and having fun. They are indulging in Douyin on the phone,” Huang said in an interview with Radio Free Asia. Douyin is a popular social media platform, TikTok’s sister app in China.

  “For equality and justice, they don’t have such ideas. They only want enjoyment,” Huang said.

  The young Chinese people’s growing lie-down movement—a careless attitude toward work, career, marriage, friendships, child-raising, and consumerism—has become a headache to the authorities.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 23:40

• Watch: Futuristic Backpack Helicopter 'CopterPack' Takes Flight For First Time 
  Watch: Futuristic Backpack Helicopter ‘CopterPack’ Takes Flight For First Time 

  Australian-based startup CopterPack published a new video on YouTube of what appears to be an electric backpack helicopter flying for the first time. 

  The lightweight airframe is constructed from a carbon fiber honeycomb, with two propellers on either side of the operator, lifting the person into the air. 

  

  The video shows the flight and how remarkably stable the electric backpack helicopter is, all thanks to its self-leveling autopilot. 

  Judging by the video, there is no tail rotor, as the two main propellers are adjusted by the operator with a joystick for control. 

  

  The futuristic form of personal transportation is quite impressive, but there is very limited information on the specs of the electric backpack helicopter. For instance, flight time, maximum altitude height, and top speed are critical pieces of information the company has yet to release. Meanwhile, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been searching for an Iron Man-style jet suit per its solicitation on website Sam.Gov (System for Award Management). DARPA is calling on private industry to deliver jet suits or “Portable Personal Air Mobility System.” 

  Perhaps we found the perfect fit? 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 23:20

• As The Big Lie About Sicknick Persists, Alleged Attackers Languish In Jail
  As The Big Lie About Sicknick Persists, Alleged Attackers Languish In Jail

  Authored by Julie Kelly via AmGreatness.com,

  No one killed Brian Sicknick. But that isn’t stopping the Biden Justice Department, the media, every Democratic politician, and now Sicknick’s loved ones from perpetuating the lie.

  

  On August 26, 2020, Kevin Phomma was arrested in Portland for assaulting several police officers with bear spray during that city’s nonstop siege by Antifa and Black Lives Matters protesters. Phomma and others surrounded the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, blocked traffic, and fought with law enforcement.

  In a press release announcing his arrest, the Justice Department said, “Phomma doused several officers with pepper spray while they attempted to arrest him. Once in custody, officers discovered the pepper spray was in fact a powerful bear deterrent pepper spray.”

  Phomma, 26, also had a three-inch dagger in a sheath strapped to his left hip.

  He was charged with a dozen counts ranging from civil disorder—a felony—to unlawful use of mace. He appears to contribute little to society except for his skills as a professional protester.

  A few days after his arrest, Phomma was released on bail.

  His trial is still pending; his lawyers claim the civil disorder charge is “a vestige of opposition to civil rights for Black Americans.” (He does not appear to be black.)

  While Phomma roams free, acting as the aggrieved party rather than the aggressor, the two men who allegedly sprayed officer Brian Sicknick with a chemical irritant on January 6 are not so lucky.

  George Tanios and Julian Khater were arrested in March and accused of “attacking” Sicknick with a chemical spray; the indictment, not coincidentally, was filed just a few weeks after the initial account of Sicknick’s death—the murder-by-fire-extinguisher story—was exposed as a lie.

  Desperate to sustain the lie that a police officer was killed by bloodthirsty Trump cultists on January 6, the media and Democrats quickly pivoted to the idea Sicknick died from an allergic reaction to the bear spray.

  Tanios and Khater, who traveled together to hear Donald Trump’s speech that day, face four charges of using and carrying the “dangerous and deadly weapon” on January 6.

  Unlike Kevin Phomma, one charge filed against Tanios and Khater is “assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.”

  Unlike Phomma and his accomplices, Tanios and Khater also are charged with conspiracy for allegedly pre-planning the assault on a federal officer.

  Also unlike Phomma, neither man has been able to post bail; a federal judge last month agreed with Joe Biden’s Justice Department to keep the pair behind bars awaiting trial. D.C. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan, a Reagan appointee, even rejected a $15 million bond package backed by 16 relatives of Julian Khater—an amount three times higher than the court-ordered bail for Harvey Weinstein, as one reporter noted.

  “They attacked uniformed police officers and I can’t get around that,” Hogan said in a May 11 hearing. Hogan, 83, repeatedly claimed Sicknick was “violently attacked.”

  Even though Hogan acknowledged their “excellent backgrounds,” the men are a danger to their community, the judge argued, because they attempted to “halt democratic processes in their attack on Congress.”

  Since they didn’t get the Kevin Phomma treatment, Tanios and Khater, like dozens of Capitol defendants, now languish under solitary confinement conditions in a D.C. jail specifically used to house January 6 detainees.

  Neither man has a criminal record. Tanios, 39, is a business owner in Morgantown, West Virginia, and has three children under the age of five. Khater, 32, is a college graduate who worked for the family’s restaurant business until one was forced to shut down last year due to the pandemic.

  But because of their involvement in the events of January 6, they are being treated as hardened criminals. “[W]ithout the violent efforts of these specific individuals to injure and/or incapacitate law enforcement officers who were executing their duties and protecting our democracy, the barrier lines would never have been breached, and rioters would likely not have gained entry into the Capitol Building,” prosecutors wrote to the court in April seeking pre-trial detention. “The defendants were spokes in the wheel that caused the historic events of January 6, 2021, and they are thus a danger to our society and a threat to the peaceful functioning of our community.”

  Those accusations, on their face, are preposterous. Barrier lines, mostly made of bike racks, already had been crossed by the time Tanios and Khater arrived and neither man entered the Capitol building. If their intent was to help the mob siege the building, why didn’t they go in?

  Further, the government’s evidence against the men is inconclusive if not nonexistent. The FBI investigator in charge of the case couldn’t give a clear depiction of how the spray was used or prove the chemical hit any of the officers, including Sicknick. Also, it wasn’t bear spray.

  Videos purporting to show the assault do nothing of the sort, in fact, the cherry-picked clips should work in favor of the defense since there is no proof Khater used the can of spray or that its contents hit officer Sicknick. (Tanios is not accused of spraying the chemical but faces the same charges as Khater; the pair also have been charged with conspiracy.) Moreover, unless we accept the word of the government, it’s not even clear that the officer in the video actually is Brian Sicknick.

  Again, not coincidentally, the government released its selective footage a week after the D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office finally released a long-delayed autopsy report on Sicknick. The officer, age 42, died of natural causes, a stroke caused by blood clots near his brain.

  No one killed Brian Sicknick. But that isn’t stopping Joe Biden’s Justice Department, the news media, every Democratic politician, and now Sicknick’s loved ones from perpetuating the lie that Trump supporters contributed to his untimely death.

  Gladys Sicknick, the officer’s mother, appeared on Capitol Hill this week, demanding to meet with U.S. senators opposed to the 9/11-style commission on January 6. “Because of what [U.S. Capitol Police] did, the people in the building were able to go home that evening and be with their families,” she said in a statement. “Brian and many other officers ended up in the hospital. I suggest that all congressmen and senators who are against this bill visit my son’s grave in Arlington National Cemetery and, while there, think about what their hurtful decisions will do to those officers who will be there for them going forward.”

  “Clearly they’re not backing the blue,” Sandra Garza, Sicknick’s longtime partner, told Jake Tapper in a CNN interview Friday afternoon after the Senate rejected legislation creating the commission. Garza also insisted, without evidence, that “people had handguns on them” during the protest.

  This misleading rhetoric does more than help bolster Democrats’ false narrative about January 6; it has very dangerous consequences for two men, still presumed innocent until proven guilty, trapped in the hyperpartisan Beltway judicial system. They are accusing Julian Khater and George Tanios, essentially, of murder and using them as human props in a destructive crusade against the Right.

  Both men have appealed Hogan’s ruling. Their appeal will make its way to the D.C. Circuit Court, which has a mixed record on authorizing the release of January 6 defendants.

  If only George Tanios and Julian Khater could get the Kevin Phomma treatment.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 23:00

• Houseboats Evacuated From California's Lake Oroville Amid Megadrought 
  Houseboats Evacuated From California’s Lake Oroville Amid Megadrought 

  In Northern California’s Butte County, at least 130 houseboats were evacuated from Lake Oroville as water levels fell to dangerously low levels.

  

  The lake’s record low is 646 feet, and the state’s Department of Water Resources expects that level to be breached in August. If that happens, public boat ramps would be inaccessible for the first due to low water levels. According to Aaron Wright, public safety chief for the Northern Buttes District of California State Parks, who spoke with AP, the only boat access point to the lake would be an old dirt road constructed in the late 1960s. 

  Eric Smith, an Oroville City Council member and president of its chamber of commerce, said the lake would not be usable this year. Over a million visitors visit the area each year. Without visitors, enjoying boat parties, wakeboarding, or relaxing in the sun, the local economy could take a hit as it attempts to recover from the virus pandemic. 

  As of Wednesday, The Weather Channel states the lake was at 38% of capacity and 45% of the average early June water level. Low water levels forced park officials to order 130 houseboats to exit the lake in recent weeks. 

  

  The mighty lake provides drinking water to 27 million people and water to 4-5 million acres of farmland. Severe drought conditions plague the area, and low snowpack levels from the Sierra Nevada have culminated into a perfect storm. 

  According to Jay Lund, co-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California-Davis, the state’s 1,500 reservoirs are 50% lower than average for this time of year. 

  Last month, Governor Gavin Newsom spoke about the urgent action needed to address possible water shortages. 

  “With the reality of climate change abundantly clear in California, we’re taking urgent action to address acute water supply shortfalls in northern and central California while also building our water resilience to safeguard communities in the decades ahead,” Newsom said on May 10. “We’re working with local officials and other partners to protect public health and safety and the environment, and call on all Californians to help meet this challenge by stepping up their efforts to save water.”

  As a historic megadrought, likely produced by La Nina, decimates the western half of the US, the federal government could declare the first-ever water shortage in the coming months, which would prompt cutbacks in water usage for several western states. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 22:40

• H.R. 1: A Cautionary Tale of Unintended Consequences
  H.R. 1: A Cautionary Tale of Unintended Consequences

  Authored by Ken Cuccinelli II and Dominic Rapini via RealClearPolitics.com,

  For as long as politicians have been passing legislation, there have been measurable consequences to that legislation – both intentional and unintentional. Usually, the final impact is not known for years after a law is passed. We could write a book predicting problems with the proposed federal bill, H.R.1, the so-called For the People Act, but the state of Connecticut has given American taxpayers a timely preview of the burdens and waste we can expect from just one of the bill’s many government mandates. Specifically, the requirement that states must mail out ballot applications to all registered voters will unnecessarily spend, and ultimately waste, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

  

  The 2020 elections in Connecticut provide a cautionary preview of this proposed requirement in H.R. 1 to send absentee ballot applications (ABR) to every registered voter. Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise W. Merrill (pictured) did exactly that, spending $7.1 million in federal taxpayer money sending out unsolicited ABRs for the primary and general elections. A total of 3.6 million applications were mailed, yet only 865,000 were converted to actual votes. That’s a cost of $8.20 per ballot returned – by any measure, a poor yield on that investment.

  The sad irony about this waste of taxpayers’ money is that the applications were available to voters free of charge either at town halls or on the State of Connecticut website. One had only to pick up the form in person or download and print it in the comfort of his own home. Other states have similarly convenient options for obtaining ABRs and provide for ballot applications to be requested online, by email or by phone. Citizens in these states take responsibility for their right to vote, and the states facilitate their doing so, rather than mandate it.

  Connecticut’s effort also came with a much greater and intangible cost. In 2020, election officials processed 10 times the normal amount of absentee-ballot applications. Experienced town clerks and registrars from 169 towns remarked that the 2020 election was like “drinking through a fire hose.” Municipal election officials were unprepared and understaffed to handle the heavy volume of unsolicited mail-in ballots. As a result, normal ballot-vetting practices were abandoned in the deluge, and clerk offices could not fulfill their normal duties for weeks before the election. How do you measure the impact of that kind of disruption? The simple process of voters requesting ballots indicates to election officials the workload that they are facing and allows for proper planning and staffing.

  Aside from being another punch line to long-running jokes about government waste, Connecticut’s $8.20 ballots revealed another flaw: More than 8% were undeliverable. In the August primary alone, dated voter rolls accounted for 100,000 undeliverable applications. For the general election, an estimated 184,000 ballot applications could not be delivered. Add that number to the 197,000 inactive voters who failed to vote in the last two federal elections, and the total pool of voters on the rolls who might be dead, moved, or duplicate swells to 381,000. This amounts to a clear invitation for fraud.

  At the national level, H.R. 1 would mandate the mailing of absentee-ballot applications to 168 million registered voters. The Brennan Center for Justice conservatively estimates that a mail-in option for all American voters would cost upward of $1.4 billion, including investments in postage, printing, ballot-tracking systems, and many other logistical and ballot-security technologies. If these ballots were returned at a similar rate as those in Connecticut, most of these tax dollars would simply be wasted.

  While the financial costs of H.R. 1 are certainly concerning and undeniable, the dangers it poses to election integrity should be front and center. Incredibly, using Connecticut’s 2020 experience as a guide, under H.R. 1, the 8% of unsolicited ballots that revealed dead, duplicate, or moved voters would not be enough to clean the voter rolls. H.R. 1 makes that task much more difficult –presenting another tempting opportunity for fraud.

  The 2020 elections were the most frenetic in recent American history. Election officials expanded convenience at the expense of election security and spent monies for short-term objectives like unsolicited mailings with poor cost-benefit results. We learned (again) from Connecticut’s experience that government doesn’t always get it right and that taxpayer money is often wasted. H.R. 1 would solidify these short-term mistakes into a law with broad long-term consequences that would increase threats to the integrity of American elections. States have run their own elections for over 230 years – never perfectly, but certainly better than an H.R. 1 federal takeover would achieve. The misnamed For the People Act should be rejected.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 22:20

• McDonald's Tests AI-Powered Automated Drive-Thrus At 10 Chicago Restaurants
  McDonald’s Tests AI-Powered Automated Drive-Thrus At 10 Chicago Restaurants

  As fast-food restaurants and small businesses struggle to find low-skilled workers to staff their kitchens and cash registers, America’s biggest fast-food franchise is seizing the opportunity to field test a concept it has been working toward for some time: 10 McDonald’s restaurants in Chicago are testing automated drive-thru ordering using new artificial intelligence software that converts voice orders for the computer.

  McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said Wednesday during an appearance at Alliance Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions conference that the new voice-order technology is about 85% accurate and can take 80% of drive-thru orders. The company obtained the technology during its 2019 acquisition of Apprente.

  Over the last decade, restaurants have been leaning more into technology to improve the customer experience and help save on labor. In 2019, under former CEO Steve Easterbrook, McDonald’s went on a spending spree, snapping up restaurant tech. Now, it’s commonplace to see order kiosks in most McDonald’s locations. The company has also embraced Uber Eats for delivery. Elsewhere, burger-flipping robots have been introduced that can be successfully operated for just $3/hour (though “Flippy” had a minor setback after its first day in use).

  

  The concept of automation is currently being used, in some places, as a gimmick. And with the dangers that COVID-19 can pose to staff (who can then turn around and sue), we suspect more “fully automated” bars will pop up across the US.

  One upscale bistro in Portland has even employed Robo-waiters to help with contactless ordering and food delivery.

  The introduction of automation and artificial intelligence into the industry will eventually result in entire restaurants controlled without humans – that could happen as early as the end of this decade. As for McDonald’s, Kempczinski said the technology will likely take more than one or two years to implement.

  “Now there’s a big leap from going to 10 restaurants in Chicago to 14,000 restaurants across the US, with an infinite number of promo permutations, menu permutations, dialect permutations, weather — and on and on and on,” he said.

  McDonald’s is also exploring automation of its kitchens, but that technology likely won’t be ready for another five years or so – even though it’s capable of being introduced soooner.

  McDonald’s has also been looking into automating more of the kitchen, such as its fryers and grills, Kempczinski said. He added, however, that that technology likely won’t roll out within the next five years, even though it’s possible now.

  “The level of investment that would be required, the cost of investment, we’re nowhere near to what the breakeven would need to be from the labor cost standpoint to make that a good business decision for franchisees to do,” Kempczinski said.

  And because restaurant technology is moving so fast, Kempczinski said, McDonald’s won’t always be able to drive innovation itself or even keep up. The company’s current strategy is to wait until there are opportunities that specifically work for it.

  “If we do acquisitions, it will be for a short period of time, bring it in house, jumpstart it, turbo it and then spin it back out and find a partner that will work and scale it for us,” he said.

  On Friday, Americans will receive their first broad-based update on non-farm employment in the US since last month’s report, which missed expectations by a wide margin, sparking discussion about whether all these “enhanced” monetary benefits from federal stimulus programs have kept workers from returning to the labor market.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 22:00

• Buchanan: Were The Wars Wise? Were They Worth It?
  Buchanan: Were The Wars Wise? Were They Worth It?

  Authored by Pat Buchanan,

  Through the long Memorial Day weekend, anyone who read the newspapers or watched television could not miss or be unmoved by it: Story after story after story of the fallen, of those who had given the “last full measure of devotion” to their country.

  Heart-rending is an apt description of those stories; and searing are the videos of those who survived and returned home without arms or legs.

  But the stories could not help but bring questions to mind.

  While the service and sacrifice were always honorable and often heroic, never to be forgotten, were the wars these soldiers were sent to fight and die in wise? Were they necessary?

  

  What became of the causes for which these Americans were sent to fight in the new century, with thousands to die and tens of thousands to come home with permanent wounds?

  And what became of the causes for which they were sent to fight?

  The longest war of this new century, the longest in our history, the defining “endless war” or “forever war” was Afghanistan.

  In 2001, we sent an army halfway around the world to exact retribution on al-Qaida for 9/11, an attack that rivaled Pearl Harbor in the numbers of dead and wounded Americans.

  Because al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden had been given sanctuary by the Taliban in Kabul, who refused to give him up, we invaded, overthrew that Islamist regime and cleansed Tora Bora of al-Qaida.

  Mission accomplished. But then the mission changed.

  In control of a land that had seen off British and Soviet imperialists, we hubristically set about establishing a democracy and sent hundreds of thousands of Americans to hold off the rebel resistance for two decades while we went about nation-building.

  We did not succeed. All U.S. troops are to be gone by the 20th anniversary of 9/11. And the Taliban we ousted has never been closer to recapturing power in Kabul.

  Today’s issue: How do we save the Afghans who allied with us in this war, so that they do not face the terrible vengeance of a victorious Taliban.

  The second American war of this century was the invasion and occupation of Iraq, to strip its dictator, Saddam Hussein, of weapons of mass destruction with which he intended to attack the United States.

  Begun in 2003, the war has lasted 18 years. No WMD were ever found. Most U.S. troops have come and gone. And today, the Baghdad regime rules at the sufferance of Shiite militia who look to Tehran for guidance and support.

  Afghanistan and Iraq cost us 7,000 dead and 40,000 wounded.

  Were they necessary wars? Were they wise? Were they worth it?

  In the second decade of this century, we intervened in Syria to back the “good rebels” seeking to overthrow Bashar Assad and became the indispensable ally in Saudi Arabia’s murderous air war to stop the Houthi rebels from consolidating power in Yemen.

  In both Syria and Yemen, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians have been wounded, killed, uprooted or driven into exile. Both countries are listed among the humanitarian catastrophes of the 21st century.

  Having helped to inflict so much damage on those countries, did we succeed in our missions?

  Today, after six years of fighting, the Houthi still control the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, and Assad just won a fourth term as president with 95% of the vote.

  In 2011, President Barack Obama ordered U.S. air attacks on Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s forces in Libya, beginning a NATO intervention that would lead to his overthrow and lynching.

  In 2020, however, the future of Libya was not being decided by the European Union or U.S. but fought over by proxy forces supported and supplied by Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia. And Barack Obama had conceded that the worst mistake of his presidency was not to plan for the aftermath of his 2011 decision to topple the Libyan dictator.

  Again, the men and women sent to the Middle East to fight these wars did their duty and deserve the gratitude of their countrymen that they received this Memorial Day weekend.

  But where is the accounting from those who sent them to fight, bleed and die in what turned out to be unwinnable wars — or, at the least, wars they were not given the requisite weapons or forces to win?

  What makes these questions of importance, and not only to historians, is that the cry of the hawk may be heard again in the land.

  We hear calls to confront Iran before the mullahs build an atom bomb, and to challenge Putin and arm Ukraine to retake Crimea and push Russia out of the Donbass. We hear talk of the American Navy contesting Beijing’s claims in the East and South China Seas, including to Taiwan.

  The stories of Memorial Day should make us think long and hard before we launch any more unnecessary, unwise, or unwinnable wars.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 21:40

• Louis Vuitton Under Fire For "Absolutely Disgusting" Palestinian Headscarf Knockoff
  Louis Vuitton Under Fire For “Absolutely Disgusting” Palestinian Headscarf Knockoff

  Popular Instagram account “Diet Prada,” with close to 3 million followers, called out LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, commonly known as LVMH, for selling an overpriced headscarf inspired by the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh. 

  “So LVMH’s stance on politics is “neutral,” but they’re still making a $705 logo-emblazoned keffiyeh, which is a traditional Arab headdress that’s become a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. Hmmmm…” Diet Prada said. The post includes multiple hashtags in support of “Free Palestine.” 

  

  “A jacquard weave technique is used to create the intricate Monogram patterns on its base of blended cotton, wool and silk,” the description of LVMH’s $705 “monogram keffieh stole” read. “Soft and lightweight with fringed edges, this timeless accessory creates an easygoing mood.”

  

  Diet Prada, with such a vast audience, sparked backlash for LVMH’s headscarf across social media. It appears, as of Thursday, the product listing on the company’s website doesn’t exist anymore. 

  

  The timing of the product release comes after the Israeli–Palestinian conflict erupted last month. Louis Vuitton’s color choices appear similar to Israel’s flag and perhaps taking a political position. 

  Over the years, the keffiyeh headscarf has come to symbolize Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation

  

  Social media users were outraged by the brand’s insensitivity, calling it out for “cultural appropriation.” 

  this is so wrong on so many levels. the palestinian genocide is not something for you to capitalise on?! @LouisVuitton pic.twitter.com/YiN5ba8bMP

  — tazzy (@Tastastickk) June 1, 2021

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

  So Google’s search engines associates the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh as a “symbol of terrorism”, yet @LouisVuitton has no shame to culturally appropriate it omg. Guess it’s a “cool accessory” if rich white people wear it, eh? pic.twitter.com/N3UlSX6RyA

  — Anita Zsurzsan 🇵🇸 (@iamjourjean) June 2, 2021

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

  Absolutely disgusting @LouisVuitton Cultural appropriation of a land under oppression and using the colours of the oppressors! No info about its history either! #PalestineWillBeFree pic.twitter.com/gR52yM6O9M

  — Dr. Noshin ✨ (@Nosh09) June 2, 2021

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

  Louis Vuitton is not the only fashion designer selling overpriced knockoffs of Palestinian keffiyehs. Fendi, an Italian luxury fashion brand, has released its own take on the headscarf, selling it for $835. This is capitalism at work. 

  At least Louis Vuitton’s “monogram keffieh stole” had to word stole(n) in it…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 21:20

• COVID-19 Has Forever Destroyed Americans' Trust In Ruling Class 'Experts'
  COVID-19 Has Forever Destroyed Americans’ Trust In Ruling Class ‘Experts’

  Authored by Josh Hammer via The Epoch Times,

  As even many casual observers of America’s fractious politics are aware, the overwhelming majority of lawmaking at the federal level no longer takes place in Congress as the Constitution’s framers intended. Instead, the vast majority of the “rulemaking” governing Americans’ day-to-day lives now takes place behind closed doors, deep in the bowels of the administrative state’s sprawling bureaucracy. The brainchild of progressive President Woodrow Wilson, arguments on behalf of the modern administrative state are ultimately rooted in, among other factors, a disdain for the messy give-and-take of republican politics and an epistemological preference for rule by enlightened clerisy.

  Put more simply, the most straightforward version of the argument offered by partisans of the administrative state amounts to, “Trust the experts.” And over the century-plus since Wilson’s presidency, the “trust the experts” leitmotif has moved well beyond the realm of prevailing dogma for mandarins in such agencies as the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Rather, for large swaths of the citizenry and the elected official class, “trust the experts” now reigns supreme for everything from the military (“Trust the generals!”) to public health (“Trust the epidemiologists!”).

  And therein lies the rub.

  

  The trials and tribulations of COVID-19 in America have dealt an irreparable blow to the credibility of America’s ruling class and the ruling class’s implicit appeal to its authority as a coterie of highly trained and capable experts. No single person exemplifies this more than Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has attained celebrity status during the pandemic as the nation’s leading immunologist and forward-facing spokesman for our public policy response. As Steve Deace and Todd Erzen detail in their new book, “Faucian Bargain: The Most Powerful and Dangerous Bureaucrat in American History,” Fauci has repeatedly contradicted himself throughout the pandemic, waffling on what the “science” demands at any given moment while still always seeming to err on the side of draconian overreaction.

  Recent Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, requests by BuzzFeed and The Washington Post only underscore the point.

  Perhaps most damningly, the FOIA requests revealed a February 2020 email to former Obama-era Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell explaining that store-bought face masks are “really for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection to people who are not infected rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infection.”

  He also added that the “typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material.”

  Of course, barely over a month after Fauci’s unearthed email to Burwell, Americans were required to wear masks pretty much every time they left their house—and mask-skeptical posts were censored or deleted by the ruling class’s preferred private-sector enforcement arm, Big Tech. And none of this is to even broach the separate issue of the extensive COVID-19-era societal lockdowns, which were never justified on the scientific metrics despite being ubiquitously promoted by those excoriating lockdown-skeptical conservatives to just shut up and “trust the science.”

  In addition to the Fauci FOIA cache, there is also the Democratic Party and the media’s inexplicable 180-degree turn on the plausibility of the Wuhan lab leak theory—that is, the idea that the COVID-19 pandemic has as its origins not a zoonotic transmission at a local “wet market” but an escape from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was conducting dangerous coronavirus research (partially subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer) and happens to be located within the immediate vicinity of the then-novel virus’s first confirmed cases. The lab leak theory was always plausible, if not probable, but those who promoted it as a possibility from the onset—such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and then-President Donald Trump—were routinely lambasted as Sinophobic conspiracy theorists.

  There was never any compelling reason to dismiss the lab leak theory out of hand, and in retrospect, it seems that those who did so were likely motivated more by “orange man bad!”-style anti-Trump personal animus than anything else. The Biden administration has recently called for a 90-day intelligence community review into the origins of the pandemic, which is welcome news for those of us who have called COVID-19 a “Chinese Chernobyl” demanding serious geopolitical accountability since day one—but sad news for those who may have presumed a modicum of intellectual honesty from our political elites.

  American politics is currently in the throes of a populist moment. That populist moment is characterized by widespread distrust of elites and a perceived ever-widening chasm between the ruling class’s prerogatives and the wishes of the American people at large. As we finally begin to emerge from COVID-19, that chasm will only grow wider. The ruling class has finally sullied itself one time too many.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 21:00

• Cargill Taps Startup Producing Smart Cow Masks To Trap Methane Burps 
  Cargill Taps Startup Producing Smart Cow Masks To Trap Methane Burps 

  Cows produce significant amounts of methane as part of their digestive processes. Cow belching, a source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, could be solved by a new methane-absorbing wearable device. 

  According to Bloomberg, agriculture behemoth Cargill Inc. tapped UK-based startup Zelp Ltd., which is dedicated to significantly reducing the environmental impact of the livestock industry through smart cow masks that filter methane burps. 

  

  Cargill said Tuesday the devices would be used for its European dairy farmers in 2022. The price of each mask has yet to be publicly discussed, but Zelp said each cow would cost $80 per year as part of an annual subscription fee. 

  Detailed on Zelp’s website under the technology tab, the smart cow mask neutralizes methane, records valuable statical data, and is integrated with mobile communication gear. Besides neutralizing methane, the mask also gathers many data points about the cow, including geo-location, early disease functions, heat detection, emission quantity, and oxidized volume of methane. 

  Cargill’s vast customer network could make smart masks for the livestock industry standard in the years ahead as the elites of the world attempt to transition the global economy to a much greener future (or at least that is what it appears). 

  “Cargill has an impressive reach across dairy farms in Europe,” said Zelp Chief Executive Officer Francisco Norris. “They are uniquely positioned to distribute our technology to a large number of clients, both farmers and dairy companies, maximizing the roll-out from the very first year we hit the market.”

  Bloomberg describes the smart mask almost like a “catalytic converter” on a car, filtering out the burps.

  A set of fans powered by solar-charged batteries sucks up the burps and traps them in a chamber with a methane-absorbing filter. Once the filter is saturated, a chemical reaction turns the methane into CO₂, which is then released. – Bloomberg

  Some 95% of methane released by cows comes out as burps and through the nose.

  

  Enteric fermentation is the digestive process that results in cow belching. 

  

  Global emissions from livestock account for about 14.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Cargill has joined the global push to cut carbon emissions across its supply chain by 30% by 2030. As we’ve previously discussed, many of these targets are “pie in the sky” figures. 

  Though there’s a big push by corporations and governments to cut carbon emissions in the years ahead, elites and politicians have no visible interest in curbing emissions of their fuel-guzzling private jets, superyachts, and supercars. 

  If we’re not careful, one day, we’ll all be wearing masks that monitor our methane output and will be taxed on that. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 20:40

• Pandemic Closures Cost NYC Construction Industry $9.8 Billion
  Pandemic Closures Cost NYC Construction Industry $9.8 Billion

  By Construction Dive,

  • Closures due to the Covid pandemic resulted in $9.8 billion in lost construction activity and 74,000 direct and indirect lost jobs in New York City, according to a report by the Building Trades Employers’ Association. The decline in jobs contributed to a $5.5 billion loss in total wages, the report said.

  • The decline in activity also affected the city’s Minority and Women Business Enterprises, as more than 85% of MWBEs are expected to be out of businesses in the next six months, according to a New York City Comptroller’s Office survey cited in the report.

  • “A decade of employment growth was wiped out in two months last year,” the report said, quoting the New York City Independent Budget Office, which noted that it will take at least five years to recover from the effects of the pandemic.

  

  The report also points out the importance of construction unions in New York City, calling them a major driver of the city’s economy.

  • Each $1 spent on construction yields $1.31 spent in the city.

  • Each $1 million spent on construction creates a total of eight jobs in the city.

  • Each job on a construction site results in a multiplier of 1.32 jobs.

  • Construction and real estate comprise 20% of the city’s GDP, while providing 10% of jobs and 5% of wages.

  BTEA put forth 14 public policy recommendations, 13 of which would cost no additional money, according to Louis J. Coletti, the organization’s president and CEO. Many of them suggest changes to the procurement process on the state and city level.

  “The public procurement process in New York is freaking broken,” Coletti told Construction Dive. The process to procure jobs and get them started takes far too long, he said.

  As a result, BTEA hopes to rebuild rapidly by encouraging legislation allowing every public authority in the state to use a design-build procurement process, establishing a public procurement reform task force and expediting the permitting process by the New York City Department of Buildings.

  The DOB, which handles regulations, inspections, permitting and licensing for the city, declined to comment on the report.

  BTEA also called attention to the general liability insurance cost under the city’s Scaffold Law, which imposes absolute liability on gravity-related injuries, even those to or caused by an impaired worker. Coletti described the Scaffold Law as “absurd.” He isn’t alone in that sentiment.

  In late April, three New York contractor groups and the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to do away with the Scaffold Law for contractors working on the $11.6 billion Hudson River Tunnel project.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 20:20

• Frenzied Crypto Traders In South Korea See Coins As Their "Last Chance Of Escape"
  Frenzied Crypto Traders In South Korea See Coins As Their “Last Chance Of Escape”

  South Korea has become ground zero for speculative crypto traders looking to try and build wealth by hoisting their life savings into bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

  This means wild successes when the price bitcoin and other coins moves higher, but also devastating mood swings when cryptos crash. 

  “I can’t think of anything… It’s completely unbearable,” one young woman told Nikkei after investing her life savings of about $900 into virtual currency “as a way to build a nest egg in a country where saving for the future”.

  She had been riding high in April when cryptos were making new highs, but has since experienced a 40% drawdown. She told Nikkei: “I’ll have to hold until the price goes up again. I’m not sure how many years that will take, though.”

  She’s a microcosm of a country which accounts for 10% of all trades in crypto. The massive volume sometimes means that cryptos can trade with premiums of up to 20% in South Korea. Trading is focused mostly on altcoins, with only about 10% of the virtual trade going to bitcoin.

  

  And the traders are mostly people in their 20s and 30s. 2.5 million new accounts were opened in the country during the first quarter of 2021. 33% of those were people in their 20s and 31% were people in their 30s. 

  53% of university students polled in a new survey this week “expressed a positive opinion about investing into cryptocurrency” while 24% said they have pulled the trigger.

  The biggest appeal was listed at 33% of participants drawn to the “high rate of return”. But even more of a stand out is the 15% who referred to crypto as the “last chance of escape” from their current social status.

  The “last chance of escape” is indicative of many South Korean traders who believe that the “conventional path to happiness their parents took — getting married, buying a home and having kids” no longer is attainable. Instead, they look to cryptos to try and “reverse their fortunes”. 

  And those who speak out against cryptos are ridiculed. Eun Sung-soo, chairman of the Financial Services Commission said last month that cryptos “are not securities bound by the Capital Market Acts, but are instead virtual assets with no known substance.” 

  Eun said: “The government has no duty to protect them. If they are walking down the wrong path, adults must warn them that they are making a mistake.”

  

  That touched off a “firestorm of criticism from young people.” Some called for Eun’s resignation, posting things online like: 

  “You have people in their 40s and 50s speculating on housing upon which our citizens livelihood depends, yet it is inappropriate for people in their 20s and 30s to invest in coins? There’s a whole lot we can learn from The Grown-Ups.”

  South Korea is implementing new rules for crypto come later this year, requiring crypto platforms to partner with banks to ensure legitimacy. Bithumb, Upbit, Coinone and Korbit have already struck banking deals, while most other banks are hesitant to strike deals. 

  Even more worrisome is the fact that many crypto trades are being financed with debt. The country’s central bank noted that household debt grew 8% at the end of 2020 from a year earlier – however, debt by those between 20-39 was up 17%.

  Kim So-young, professor of economics at Seoul National University, concluded: “The level of borrowing by young people is not that great, so a series of personal bankruptcies by that contingent will only have a minor effect on the financial system. However, young people who are about to enter the labor market are going bankrupt and being left unable to plan for the future, which will result in a loss for the economy as a whole.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 20:00

• Why Is There Such Reluctance To Discuss Natural Immunity?
  Why Is There Such Reluctance To Discuss Natural Immunity?

  Authored by Jon Sanders via The American Institute for Economic Research,

  If you’re among those of us who aren’t tribally invested in Covid politics but would like good information about when life will resume as normal, chances are you’re interested in herd immunity. You’re likely not interested in having to rely on the Internet Archive for good information on herd immunity. Alas, it’s become a go-to place for retrieving, as it were, previously published information on herd immunity that became inconvenient post-vaccine and then virtually Memory-Holed.

  

  Over the past 15 months, the litany of Experts’ True Facts and Science regarding various aspects of SARS-CoV-2 has changed more often than the starting lineup of a bad minor league ball club. Covid-19 is spread by droplets, especially from asymptomatic people, until one day it was airborne all along and people who weren’t sick in all likelihood weren’t even sick. Stay at home, you’re safer indoors, even stay away from parks and beaches; well, actually, outdoors is the place to be. Masks don’t work against viruses and are actually unhealthy to wear if you’re not sick, then suddenly they did work and without one you might as well be shooting people. Everyone knows and PolitiFact verified that the virus couldn’t have been created in the prominent infectious disease lab doing gain-of-function research on coronaviruses in bats coincidentally at Covid Ground Zero until, one day, PolitiFact had to retract the entire “Pants on Fire!” article. And so forth.

  Unfortunately, information about herd immunity has also not been immune to this kind of meddling. Until recent months, people readily understood that active immunity came about either by natural immunity or vaccine-induced immunity. Natural immunity comes from battling and defeating an actual infection, then having your immune system primed for the rest of your life to fight it off if it ever shows up again. This immunity is achieved at a sometimes very high personal price. 

  Vaccine-induced immunity is to prime your immune system with a weaker, non-threatening form of the invading infection, so that it’s ready to fight off the real thing should you ever encounter it, and without your having first to risk severe illness or death. 

  Those interested in herd immunity in itself likely don’t have a moral or political preference for one form of immunity to the exclusion of the other. Immunity is immunity, regardless of whether a particular person has it naturally or by a vaccine. All immunity contributes to herd immunity.

  Others, however, are much less circumspect. They seem to have forgotten the ultimate goal of the public campaign for people to receive vaccination against Covid-19. It’s not to be vaccinated; it’s to have immunity. People with natural immunity — i.e., people whose immune systems have faced Covid-19 and won — don’t need a vaccine.

  They do, however, need to be considered in any good-faith discussion of herd immunity. There are two prongs to herd immunity, as we used to all know, and those with natural immunity are the prong that’s being ignored. It’s not just mere oversight, however. Fostering such ignorance can lead to several bad outcomes:

  • People with natural immunity could be kept from employment, education, travel, normal commerce, and who knows what other things if they don’t submit to a vaccine they don’t need in order to fulfill a head count that confuses a means with the end

  • The nation could already be at herd immunity while governors and health bureaucrats continue to exert extreme emergency powers, harming people’s liberties and livelihoods

  • People already terrified of Covid — including especially those who’ve already had it — would continue to live in fear, avoiding human interaction and worrying beyond all reason

  • People could come to distrust even sound advice from experts about important matters, as they witness and grow to expect how what “the experts” counsel diverges from what they know to be wise counsel while it conforms to and amplifies the temporary needs of the political class

  Those of us wanting good information certainly don’t want any of those outcomes. But others seem perfectly fine to risk them. They include not only elected officials, members of the media, political talking heads, self-important bureaucrats, and their wide-eyed acolytes harassing shoppers, but strangely also highly prominent health organizations.

  For example, late last year Jeffrey Tucker showed that the World Health Organization (WHO) suddenly, and “for reasons unknown,” changed its definition of “herd immunity.” Using screenshots from a cached version on the Internet Archive, Tucker showed how the WHO altered its definition in such a way as to erase completely the role of natural immunity. Before, the WHO rightly said it “happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.” The WHO’s change stated that it happens “if a threshold of vaccination is reached.” Not long after Tucker’s piece appeared, the WHO restored natural immunity to its definition.

  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seemingly apropos of nothing, on May 19 issued a “safety communication” to warn that FDA-authorized SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests “should not be used to evaluate immunity or protection from COVID-19 at any time.” The FDA’s concern appears to be that taking an antibody test too soon after receiving a vaccination may fail to show vaccine-induced antibodies, but why preclude its use for “identifying people with an adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 from a recent or prior infection?” Especially after stating outright that “Antibody tests can play an important role in identifying individuals who may have been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and may have developed an adaptive immune response.”

  Then there is the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, that ubiquitous font of fatuous guidance. He had told people that herd immunity would be at 60 to 70 percent immunity, and then he started publicly cinching those numbers up: 75 percent, 80 percent, 85 percent, even 90 percent (as if Covid-19 were as infectious as measles). He is quoted in the New York Times admitting to doing so deliberately to affect people’s behavior:

  “When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75 percent,” Dr. Fauci said. “Then, when newer surveys said 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, ‘I can nudge this up a bit,’ so I went to 80, 85.“

  Now — or better put, as of this writing — Fauci has taken to arguing herd immunity is a “mystical elusive number,” a distracting “endgame,” and therefore not worth considering. Only vaccinations are worth counting. As he put it recently, “We don’t want to get too hung up on reaching this endgame of herd immunity because every day that you put 2 million to 3 million vaccinations into people [it] makes society be more and more protected.”

  While composing an article about natural immunity and herd immunity for my home state of North Carolina, I happened to notice that the Mayo Clinic had removed a compelling factoid about natural immunity. It’s something I had quoted in an earlier discussion of the matter and wanted to revisit it. 

  Here’s what the Mayo Clinic once wanted people to know in its page on “Herd Immunity and COVID-19” with respect to natural immunity: “[T]hose who survived the 1918 flu (influenza) pandemic were later immune to infection with the H1N1 flu, a subtype of influenza A.” The Mayo Clinic pointed out that H1N1 was during the 2009-10 flu season, which would be 92 years later. That finding attested to just how powerful and long-lived natural immunity could be.

  

  As can be seen from the Internet Archive, however, sometime after April 14 the Mayo Clinic removed that compelling historical aside:

  

  The Mayo Clinic also reoriented its page to feature vaccination over “the natural infection method” (method?) and added a section on “the outlook for achieving herd immunity in the U.S.” This new section stated that “it’s not clear if or when the U.S. will achieve herd immunity” but encouraged people nonetheless that “the FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at protecting against severe illness requiring hospitalization and death … allowing people to better be able to live with the virus.”

  Why, from people who know better, is there so much interest in downplaying or erasing natural immunity? 

  Is it because it’s hard to quantify how many people have natural immunity? Is it out of a mix of good intentions and worry, that discussing natural immunity would somehow discourage (“nudge,” in Fauci’s term) people from getting vaccines who otherwise would? Is it simple oversight, being so focused on vaccinations that they just plain forgot about natural immunity? Or is something else at work?

  Whatever the reason, it’s keeping Americans in the dark about how many people have active immunity from Covid-19. It’s keeping people needlessly fearful and suspicious of each other. It’s empowering executive overreach. Worst of all, it’s tempting people to consider government and business restrictions on the unvaccinated, regardless of their actual immunity.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 19:40

• Temple Business Dean Asks Judge To Dismiss Charges For Manipulating MBA Ranking Data
  Temple Business Dean Asks Judge To Dismiss Charges For Manipulating MBA Ranking Data

  Former Temple University business school dean Moshe Porat is defending inflating his school’s ranking to U.S. News and World Report by feeding the periodical false data. 

  Porat asked a judge to dismiss fraud charges against him in a May 28 court filing, claiming “that the government hadn’t sufficiently shown that he profited from the alleged scheme,” Bloomberg reports.

  This was, of course, while he was running the school’s Richard J. Fox School of Business, which he headed up for more than 20 years. 

  Porat’s lawyers argued that “the Supreme Court had previously established that a certain amount of monetary gain was necessary to sustain a wire fraud charge” and that such a gain could not be proven, despite whether or not prosecutors could prove he engaged in a deceitful scheme. 

  Recall, we reported back in April when Porat was charged federally for “manipulating data” to become the number one ranked MBA program in the country. He was indicted on one count each of conspiracy and wire fraud. 

  Isaac Gottlieb, a statistics professor, and Marjorie O’Neill, who submitted data to magazines that rank college programs, were also named in the indictment, according to the report. 

  Temple’s online MBA had been ranked top in the nation by U.S. News and World Report since 2015. The university stayed at the top of the list for 3 years after that and used its ranking to attract students and win donations. 

  

  Porat allegedly hand picked a small group of employees to focus on the rankings, including stat professor Gottleib, who was also to reverse engineer the magazine’s ranking criteria. Porat appointed O’Neill as the sole liaison between the university and the magazine. 

  The indictment “claims Fox manipulated data in its part-time MBA program, conflating its data with other programs to drive better rankings,” NBC reported.

  U.S. News called out Temple’s online MBA data and stripped the school of its ranking. Temple was then forced to pay the U.S. Department of Education $700,000 and later settled a class action suit by offering $250,000 in scholarships.

  Temple called Porat the “mastermind” of the fraud and asked him to resign. 

  Attorney Carolyn P. Short wrote in court papers: “He conceived it, controlled it and kept it hidden, only to try later to cover it up. M. Moshe Porat bears personal responsibility for the Fox School’s intentional submission of false ranking data.”

  Porat says he is being used as a scapegoat by Temple. His lawyer commented: “We are disappointed that, after cooperating with the government in its investigation, the United States Attorney’s Office decided to bring these charges, which Dr. Porat vigorously denies.”

  “Dr. Porat dedicated forty years of his life to serving Temple University, first as a faculty member, and ultimately as Dean of the Fox Business School, and he did so with distinction. He looks forward to defending himself against these charges and to clearing his name,” the statement continued.

  The kicker? Porat is still a tenured professor at the university and is making $316,000 per year. He hasn’t taught a class or published research since 2018. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 19:20

• How Facebook Turned Its Market Success Into A Culture War On America
  How Facebook Turned Its Market Success Into A Culture War On America

  Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

  In twenty-first century America, millions of Americans—Christians and social conservatives especially—are finding that the nation’s most influential institutions appear to be implacably hostile toward them.

  These institutions include universities, public schools, the news media, and government bureaucracies. Moreover, corporate America has increasingly embraced a posture of hostility toward groups considered to be “right wing” or conservative.

  

  Recent examples are numerous, to say the least. Major League Baseball, for instance, recently moved its all-star game out of the state of Georgia with the explicit purpose of punishing voters and policymakers who supported policies MLB didn’t like. These “objectionable” policies were mostly supported by conservatives. Meanwhile, YouTube—owned by Google corporation—bans content creators who express opinions Google’s employees and leaders disagree with. These opinions are usually ones we would consider to be “conservative” or at least “anti-Leftist.” Twitter and Facebook employ a similar bias when actively intervening to ban users and opinions deemed unacceptable by corporate personnel.

  In other words, corporate power is being used to wage ideological battles far beyond the usual issues of minimizing the firm’s tax burden or avoiding regulatory compliance costs. Corporate America has chosen a side in the culture war.

  This evolution from market entrepreneur to exploitive plutocrat illustrates a problem with the interventionist state in a mixed economy: economic power tends to be converted to political power.  Moreover, so long as consumers continue to pour resources into powerful firms through the marketplace, these firms’ exploitation of competitors, taxpayers, and ideological adversaries is likely to continue. 

  Market Democracy: How Firms Get Rich in the Marketplace

  Ludwig von Mises understood that in a market economy, the firms that are most successful are those that succeed in the “democracy” of the marketplace. Mises describes this “consumers’ democracy” in Socialism:

  “When we call a capitalist society a consumers’ democracy we mean that the power to dispose of the means of production, which belongs to the entrepreneurs and capitalists, can only be acquired by means of the consumers’ ballot, held daily in the marketplace.”

  In other words, the money goes where the consumers want it to go as directed in their daily spending decisions in the marketplace. Those business owners who convince consumers to willingly hand over their money are the business owners who end up controlling the most resources.1

  This is a frequent theme in Mises’s writing. If we imagine the market economy as an immense seafaring ship, Mises notes, the capitalists are only the “steersmen” of the ship. If they wish to succeed, the capitalists must ultimately take orders from the consumers who are the real captains of the ship.

  This is generally the case with most of the firms which we today find are increasingly and openly political and ideological. Firms like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and the like became mega-companies by delivering a product or service that a large number of people freely chose to use.

  This doesn’t make these firms superior on a moral or philosophical level, of course. Just because a firm is good at delivering what the consumers want doesn’t mean it is spiritually edifying, or morally upright. These firms’ success merely means people like to use their products. The end. That’s it.

  After all, we can point to plenty of successful enterprises that aren’t exactly laying the foundation for a virtuous and prosperous commonwealth. Pornographers, for instance, make boatloads of money. They’re very popular with consumers. At least with male ones. This doesn’t make pornographers national treasures. 

  Corporate Welfare Is Only Part of the Picture

  But it is hard to deny that firms like Google and Facebook got to where they are by winning “votes” in the “consumers’ democracy.” Nonetheless, some critics of today’s corporate jihad against ideological adversaries insist that these firms are only successful because they are “monopolies” or that they only gained so much market share by dirty tricks and corporate welfare schemes.

  These claims are generally unconvincing. Certainly, these firms are today able to gain some advantages by manipulating the policy environment through lobbying and other political efforts. Yes, these firms have likely managed to increase profits and diminish competition through intellectual property laws, through tax breaks, and through regulations that favor large firms over small firms. These are bad things, and these firms increase the profitability of their companies at the expense of both competitors and taxpayers. 

  But the primary and most fundamental reasons that these firms became large and powerful in the first place is the fact they were skilled at the game of market democracy. Direct competitors to Google and Facebook and Twitter exist. Few people choose to use them.  There are plenty of things to watch on television other than major league baseball—many of which are a lot less boring than baseball. Yet countless consumers continue to watch MLB games anyway. 

  Those who dislike these companies don’t like to hear it, but this is the reality: Google, MLB, Facebook, et al are powerful companies not simply because they are big and enjoy some regulatory advantages. They’re winning mostly because the general public either actively likes them or at least can’t be bothered with finding alternatives. 

  If we are upset with the fact that these companies command immense amounts of resources and can use these resources for political purposes, it’s easy to find who is most to blame: the American consumer. 

  The Losing Side of Market Democracy

  In a system of market democracy, the consumers chose the winners. But since we live in a mixed economy and under an interventionist regime, those winners are now using their resources to crush their ideological opponents. 

  This is very frustrating to those on the receiving end of this corporate political aggression, of course. Perhaps even more discouraging is the fact that everywhere they look, conservatives and Christians see relatives and neighbors continue to voluntarily pour their own money and resources into the firms that are avowed enemies of anyone skeptical of today’s corporate ideological zeitgeist. No matter how hostile of condescending these firms and their leaders get, hundreds of millions of consumers of all ideological bents just keep slavishly logging in to Facebook and watching many hours of videos on YouTube.  

  What Can Be Done?

  For those who keep losing to their ideological opponents in the marketplace, this raises a question: if a large number of consumers insist on supporting firms and CEOs who are openly hostile to a certain segment of the population, what can be done?

  There are three possibilities:

  1. Use the regime’s coercive power punitively against one’s ideological opponents.

  2. Use regime power to strip opponents of any advantages they may enjoy in terms of monopoly power, regulatory favors, tax advantages, and political influence.

  3. Deprive these ideological opponents of resources by successfully competing against them in the democracy of the marketplace.

  The first option is the most attractive to the average American playing a short-sighted game. It’s the usual political “solution”: I see a problem, so let’s pass new government regulations to “fix” things! In this case, we might envision laws designed to  make social media companies be “fair.” Of course, we’ve seen attempts at making media be “fair” before. Federal regulators spent much of the twentieth century regulating “fairness” in media. To see the success of that effort, we need only look at most TV news. Regulation fails again and again. Moreover, it only paves the way for larger amounts of bureaucratic control over the lives of ordinary Americans. When the other side again gains control of the regime, these regulatory powers are then used against those who naively thought the regulations would fix anything.

  The second option is more promising. It is always a good idea to seek out and destroy any regulations, statutes, or taxes that favor large firms over smaller firms and potential competitors. This means abolishing any tax “incentives” that can be accessed by large firms, but not by smaller firms. It means slashing the duration of patents and other forms of intellectual property. It means ending any special legal protections enjoyed by these firms—such as those in so-called Section 230. 

  But even with all those legal advantages and tricks removed, these firms may continue to be successful and influential firms for many years to come. So long as these firms enjoy the votes of consumers in the “consumers’ democracy” the firms are likely to be profitable. The firms will consequently have access to immense amounts of resources, with which they can buy political influence and promote their own vision for American society. 

  Only when these firms face real competition from successful competitors—or when consumers change their buying habits in other ways—will the situation change. That’s bound to happen eventually. But for those who fear the political clout of these corporate behemoths, it’s imperative to speed up the process. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 19:00

• Manhattan Office Supply Continues To Soar Even As City Reopens 
  Manhattan Office Supply Continues To Soar Even As City Reopens 

  More than a year since the virus pandemic began, New York City’s economy is roaring back open. But at least one segment of the metro area’s economy remains in dire straits: the office space market. 

  According to Bloomberg, citing a commercial real estate brokerage report by Colliers, Manhattan’s supply of office space continues to hit new records even as leasing increases. 

  The availability rate rose for a 12th straight month in May to 17%; inventory since the pandemic began jumped 70% to a whopping 92 million square feet. 

  Colliers had some good news. It said demand is coming back with leases increasing 8% versus last May, while the average asking rents rose 0.4% to $73.26 a square foot.

  Even before the pandemic, Manhattan’s office market was in a slump. Compound that work-at-home fad as becoming the “new normal” and the supply glut of corporate space in the borough could be a long-lasting trend, pressuring rents and eventually forcing building operators into financial distress. 

  

  According to data from Kastle Systems, approximately 18% of office workers in the metro area are back at work as of late May. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Facebook Inc. are some companies preparing to bring employees back to offices in the coming months. 

  Colliers said subleasing represented 23% of total availability, the lowest since last July. It said sublease inventory space is 75% more than since the pandemic began.

  Emptied skyscrapers across Manhattan don’t just apply to office buildings. There’s also surging residential inventory as people have been fleeing the liberal-run city in droves for suburbia. After all, who wants to be cooped up in a studio flat during a virus pandemic as the town descends into a socio-economic disaster. For the same price as a flat in Manhattan, one can purchase a home with acreage in the countryside. 

  Kastle’s data on Americans getting back to work on a nationwide basis show returning to the office is happening at a snail’s speed. 

  

  It seems like work-at-home is becoming permanent, and commercial real estate could be in for a reckoning once the Federal Reserve begins to taper.  

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 18:40

• Ron Paul: Bitcoin Must Be Taken Seriously In The Age Of "Free Money"
  Ron Paul: Bitcoin Must Be Taken Seriously In The Age Of “Free Money”

  Authored by Mathew Di Salvo via Decrypt.co,

  

  In brief

  • Miami’s Bitcoin 2021 conference kicked off today.

  • Ron Paul railed against the Federal Reserve and said it should be scrapped.

  • “Bitcoin better be considered seriously,” said the former Texas congressman. 

  The Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami kicked off today with libertarian and ex-presidential candidate Ron Paul slamming the Federal Reserve and saying that Bitcoin needs be “considered seriously,” given the current state of the economy and the Fed’s monetary policy.

  The former black sheep of the Republican Party told the Miami crowd that the US’s current monetary policy is a disaster and that the central bank should be scrapped entirely. Paul made a name for himself during the 2008 and 2012 US presidential elections with calls to “end the Fed.” 

  Touching on President Joe Biden’s $6 trillion budget proposal—which would be the biggest federal spending since World War 2—Paul said that current economic policy can’t go on for much longer. 

  “The problems are going to get worse,” he told an enthusiastic crowd.

  “There’s a lot of free money that’s circulating these days, and it’s all fake and it’s all political corruption that goes in. Free money means they either print it or steal it.” 

  He added:

  “If you know anything about me, I’ve been in politics a couple of years…I have a solution. One of my solutions for foreign policy was when we were in places we shouldn’t be in, I said, ‘We just marched in, let’s march out.’” 

  “And that’s what we should do with the Federal Reserve too—we don’t need the Federal Reserve, it’s built with corruption so what we need to do is get rid of it,” he said.

  Paul, a former Republican congressman for Texas, was referring to the US government’s stimulus package initiated last year to confront the economic effects of lockdowns and quarantines as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

  The US government has since pledged to spend more—something that the most ardent cryptocurrency enthusiasts think will eventually cause inflation, the downfall of the dollar and the mass adoption of Bitcoin.

  Paul, who previously said that Bitcoin should be free from government interference, added that he doesn’t know much about cryptocurrency, but that it could provide solutions to what he deems is problematic government spending. 

  “[Government spending is] going to work well for Bitcoin,” he said.

  “Bitcoin better be considered seriously.” 

  The 2021 Bitcoin conference in Miami started today and will run until tomorrow, with over 50,000 people expected to attend. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor and pro-skater Tony Hawk are all guest speakers.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 18:20

• Journalist Raises $65K To Help AOC's Abandoned Abuela
  Journalist Raises $65K To Help AOC’s Abandoned Abuela

  After Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) revealed this week that her grandmother is living in a dilapidated home in Puerto Rico, which she blamed on former President Trump, scores of people began wondering why the well-off Congresswoman (who lied about growing up poor) allowed her abuela to live in squalor while she lives it up in DC.

  this is gonna sound crazy but have you considered helping her https://t.co/0I8yzEirBR

  — Riva (@rivatez) June 2, 2021

  🤔Trumps fault? You have 2 apartments and a Tesla…maybe you can help her out? Just saying ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/TIIbaYy97D

  — Ed ☯️ The Obsolete Man…a Free Thinker (@DowdEdward) June 3, 2021

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

  Confronted with her own virtue-signaling, AOC spat out a word salad.

  You don’t even have a concept for the role that 1st-gen, first-born daughters play in their families.

  My abuela is okay. But instead of only caring for mine & letting others suffer, I’m calling attention to the systemic injustices you seem totally fine w/ in having a US colony. https://t.co/QN0ZVoyDt2

  — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 2, 2021

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttps://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAnd so, to help AOC’s neglected abuela, Daily Wire journalist Matt Walsh set up a GoFundMe page which has raised over $65,000 in a matter of hours, becoming GoFundMe’s “Top Fundraiser” for the day.

  

  The fundraiser reads:

  On June 2nd, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reported to Twitter  that her dear abuela has fallen ill and continues to live in squalid conditions since her home was ravaged by Hurricane María.

  One cannot be certain of the cost to repair grandma’s house, but surely most of the work could be completed for the price of AOC’s shiny Tesla Model 3.

  As AOC pointed out  to us, we “don’t even have a concept for the role that [incredibly successful children of two American citizens…] play in their families,” but clearly caring for their own grandparent isn’t part of it.

  Says the congresswoman, “…instead of only caring for [my own grandmother] & letting others suffer, I’m calling attention to the systemic injustices…”

  No, seriously. She really said that.

  Sadly, virtue-signaling isn’t going to fix abuela’s roof. So we are.

  Let’s all kick in to help save AOC’s abuela’s ancestral home. Any amount is appreciated, but the cost of a monthly lease payment on that Tesla is around $499…

  All proceeds will be donated to abuela, if she will accept them.

  The AOC Abuela fundraiser is now the number one “Top Fundraiser” on the GoFundMe homepage. @MattWalshBlog is a philanthropist the likes of which this world has never seen. pic.twitter.com/KgRqxmrMlE

  — Cabot Phillips (@cabot_phillips) June 4, 2021

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

  GoFundMe must be sweating bullets right now.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 18:00

• MSM Wastes No Time Using Senate UFO Report To Promote Arms Race
  MSM Wastes No Time Using Senate UFO Report To Promote Arms Race

  After more than two years of UFO ‘evidence’ via the New York Times detailing dozens of encounters between Navy pilots and unidentified aerial phenomena, the punchline – according to an upcoming government report, is: ‘we don’t think it’s aliens, but it’s not Americans‘ – and therefore America should probably spend untold billions on figuring out how to make 90-degree turns at mach 5 and disappear into the ocean, after disabling a nuclear installation.

  Or, as journalist Caitlin Johnstone puts it: The MSM is wasting no time using the UFO report to promote an arms race.

  Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via substack:

  

  The New York Times has published an article on the contents of the hotly anticipated US government report on UFOs, as per usual based on statements of anonymous officials, and as per usual promoting narratives that are convenient for imperialists and war profiteers.

  Together with one voice, the anonymous US officials and the “paper of record” which is supposed to scrutinize US officials assure us definitively that the mysterious aerial phenomena that have reportedly been witnessed by military personnel are certainly not any kind of secret US technology, but could totally be aliens and could definitely be a sign that the Russians or Chinese have severely lapped America’s lagging military development.

  “The report determines that a vast majority of more than 120 incidents over the past two decades did not originate from any American military or other advanced U.S. government technology,” NYT was reportedly told by the officials. “That determination would appear to eliminate the possibility that Navy pilots who reported seeing unexplained aircraft might have encountered programs the government meant to keep secret.”

  Oh well if the US government has ruled out secret US government weaponry programs, hot damn that’s good enough for me. Great journalism you guys.

  One senior official said without hesitation that U.S. officials knew it was not American technology.

  He said there was worry among intelligence and military officials that China or Russia could be experimenting with hypersonic technology https://t.co/bgYtohKC9O

  — Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) June 4, 2021

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

  “Intelligence officials believe at least some of the aerial phenomena could have been experimental technology from a rival power, most likely Russia or China,” the Times reports. “One senior official briefed on the intelligence said without hesitation that U.S. officials knew it was not American technology. He said there was worry among intelligence and military officials that China or Russia could be experimenting with hypersonic technology.”

  “Russia has been investing heavily in hypersonics, believing the technology offers it the ability to evade American missile-defense technology,” NYT adds. “China has also developed hypersonic weaponry, and included it in military parades. If the phenomena were Chinese or Russian aircraft, officials said, that would suggest the two powers’ hypersonic research had far outpaced American military development.”

  The article goes on to describe how the US military have been “unsettled” by aircraft moving and behaving in ways known technologies cannot explain. The implication of scary foreign adversaries having “outpaced American military development” to such an extent is of course that the US military is going to require a far bigger budget with far more intensive weapons development.

  This would be the same New York Times that has consistently supported all of the US military’s devastating acts of mass murder around the world, by the way.

  This won’t be the last time we hear the imperial media warning us that UFOs may be a sign of a frightening gap in technology leaving the US defenseless against far more powerful foreign foes, and they’ve already been priming us for it. Republican Rachel Maddow aka Tucker Carlson has been shrilly pushing this narrative for weeks now and demanding that the US government do more to address the fact that in alleged encounters with these aircraft, “our military was completely outmatched technologically by whatever these were.”

  “UFOs, it turns out, are real, and whatever else they are, they’re a prima facie challenge to the United States military,” Carlson said on a segment last month. “They’re doing things the U.S. military does not allow, and they’re doing it with impunity. And they appear to be focused on the U.S. military.”

  “Why isn’t the Pentagon more focused on this? It seems like a threat if there ever was one,” Carlson huffed.

  In another segment Carlson had on military intelligence veteran Luis Elizondo, a leading figure in the steadily intensifying new UFO narrative which kicked off in 2017, claiming the aforementioned Senate report on the subject will reveal “an intelligence failure on the part of the US intel community on the level of 9/11.”

  “If there’s a foreign adversary that can put a nuclear warhead within moments over Washington DC, okay, that’s a problem,” Elizondo told Carlson’s Fox News audience.

  All this over some completely unverifiable testimony, and a few videos being confirmed by the Pentagon which can all be explained by easily identifiable mundane phenomena.

  I can’t predict the future, but I won’t be at all surprised if we begin seeing this arms race angle become the dominant aspect of this UFO story in the coming months/years. It would certainly fit the pattern of the US war machine and mass media promoting completely unverifiable allegations about foreign governments to justify further cold war escalations.

  In the early sixties President John F Kennedy falsely promoted the “missile gap” narrative, telling the public that the Soviet Union had surpassed the United States in nuclear weapons when he knew full well the US nuclear arsenal had always far surpassed the USSR’s in number, quality and deployment. Kennedy used this hawkish narrative to win an election and advance the largest peacetime expansion of US military power ever, leading directly to the events which gave rise to the Cuban Missile Crisis which came far closer to ending our world than most of us like to think about.

  I have no idea what if anything is going on with these UFO phenomena, but I do know the world-threatening new cold war the US is waging against Russia and China is insane. There is no valid reason our planet’s dominant power structures cannot at the very least cease brandishing armageddon weapons at each other and begin collaborating toward a better world together.

  Reject the propagandists and cold warriors, no matter how elaborate or bizarre their manipulations become. Keep an eye on these bastards, and help spread awareness of what they’re about.

  _______________________

  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. 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. The best way to get around the internet censors and 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. 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, 06/04/2021 – 17:40

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• Russia Says NATO To Supply Ukraine With Advanced Weapons Under Guise Of Black Sea Drills
  Russia Says NATO To Supply Ukraine With Advanced Weapons Under Guise Of Black Sea Drills

  Russia’s Defense Ministry has lobbed an explosive accusation at a moment tensions with the West are soaring in the wake of the Belarus Ryanair incident on May 23rd. Spokesman for the ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov on Wednesday said that NATO is preparing to use upcoming summer Black Sea sea exercises to smuggle tons of weaponry to Ukraine and “extremist” paramilitaries allied with Kiev.

  Referencing the annual US-NATO Sea Breeze exercise in the Black Sea region, expected from June 28 through July 10 and including some 4,000 troops, Gen. Konashenkov claimed, “Advanced armaments, munitions and materiel are planned to be delivered precisely to that region for Ukrainian troops under the guise of holding the drills.”

  

  “Eventually, as was the case in previous years, all this weaponry will be delivered to the Ukrainian troops and nationalist formations stationed close to the areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions uncontrolled by Kiev,” he added.

  Russia is essentially the only major state bordering the Black Sea that will not take part or cooperate in some way with the exercises which further will involve at least 40 warships and other vessels, along with 30 aircraft – all with the involvement of 29 NATO member and ‘partner’ countries.

  Leading the way will be United States, Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Latvia and perhaps most notably other non-member allied or partner countries like Ukraine.

  Russia’s defense ministry spokesman made the explosive charge in a Wednesday statement…

  #Russia‘s General Exposes True Goal Of Sea Breeze 2021 Exercises In #Ukraine

  Its main participants are Ukraine, #USA, #Canada, #GreatBritain, #Netherlands, #Romania, #Bulgaria, #Greece, #Turkey, #Latvia and partner countries.
  #SeaBreeze

  ⚡️🔥💥NATO Playing with Fire? 💥🔥⚡️ pic.twitter.com/kvMAaQcq4Z

  — It@8848 Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil. (@Orpheus_111) June 3, 2021

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

  The Kremlin is more or less casting this year’s NATO drills as a dress rehearsal for future invasion of territory the West sees as “occupied” by pro-Russian forces, most notably Donbas and Crimea. And adding context to this suspicion is the fact that Sea Breeze war games prior to 2014 had been often conducted from Crimea.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 02:45

• China's Belt And Road Being Built With Forced Labor
  China’s Belt And Road Being Built With Forced Labor

  Authored by Judith Bergman via The Gatestone Institute,

  “The entire Belt and Road initiative is based on forced labor,” according to Li Qiang, director of China Labor Watch.

  “Chinese authorities want the Belt and Road projects for political gain and need to use these workers.”

  A new report, “Silent Victims of Labor Trafficking: China’s Belt and Road workers stranded overseas amid Covid-19 pandemic” by China Labor Watch, published on April 30, details the conditions of some of those overseas Chinese workers, who are building China’s Belt and Road infrastructure projects across the world. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forms a crucial part of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) foreign policy and is a key tool in China’s ambition to become a global superpower.

  

  China Labor Watch spoke to approximately 100 Chinese BRI workers in Indonesia, Algeria, Singapore, Jordan, Pakistan and Serbia. Many shared similar stories. According to the report:

  “They were promised a job with good pay to support their families back in China. Upon arriving in the host countries, however, Chinese employers confiscated their passports, and told them that if they wanted to leave early, they had to pay a penalty for breach of contract, which is often equivalent to several months’ worth of their salary.”

  China Labor Watch found that most of the indicators of forced labor in the definition used by the International Labour Organization (ILO) were present concerning the Chinese workers they interviewed.

  Almost all the workers had been deceptively recruited with promises of certain wages and legal work visas. Instead, their passports were confiscated right after they disembarked the plane, leaving them unable to leave unless they paid a heavy fine to the Chinese employer. They received no legal work permits, making them illegal workers. They were locked up in poor living and working conditions on the work premises, which were guarded by security guards. If they wanted to leave the premises, they needed permission from the guards. They suffered excessive work hours of up to 12 hours a day, 7 days a week with no holiday allowance and insufficient labor protection and safety equipment. Many workers were injured during work with no access to medical treatment, leading some to permanent disability. After a worker from a Chinese mining company in Indonesia was diagnosed positive for Covid-19 in November 2020, he was put in isolation in an empty dormitory room for more than 20 days without any medical treatment. Later other workers found his dead body. According to the report:

  “We have found that in some Chinese steel and mining companies, workers are frequently detained and beaten by the company’s security guards due to disobedience, attempting to strike, or other disputes with management. In a WeChat group of Chinese steel workers in Indonesia, someone posted a video of a worker being repeatedly reprimanded and slapped until the uniform was covered with blood from his nose. Then other members of the group commented that a factory’s translator was the one who beat them.

  “Intimidation and threats are common for controlling Chinese workers in forced labor at some BRI projects. The most commonly used threats include deportation, reprisal after returning home, high fines and penalties. It is also common to force workers to sign a waiver of rights to sue the employer and to force workers to delete evidence of labor rights violations on their phones.”

  Most workers received “late payments… and unexplained deductions.”

  “A worker who went to Jordan worked in the desert for five months but only received his salary for the first six days. In Algeria, when an installation project of a subcontracting company was close to completion in 2019 two workers were left behind for maintenance and installation. They could not refuse the arrangement because their employer threatened them with six months of salary that had not yet been paid.”

  There was no place where the workers could complain.

  “Several workers said they tried to call the Chinese Embassy to report that their passports were detained by their employing company. The embassy’s reply was that it had no right to intervene and the workers were told to file a report at the local police station. However, these workers, cannot even get out of the gate of the work site, and they also face language barriers. It is quite unrealistic for them to call the local police. Moreover, workers are afraid that they will be punished or fined if the police find out that they do not have legal work status.”

  The Chinese embassy also seems to have actively worked to suppress their complaints.

  “Two volunteers we interviewed who are concerned about stranded overseas Chinese workers told us that what they published on their personal accounts about overseas migrant workers were often deleted by WeChat [a Chinese messaging and social media app] admins within a few hours. Once, after publishing an article mentioning a specific company name, an author received a call from the Chinese Embassy and company executives, telling him to delete the article and not to continue to focus on these workers.”

  That the Belt and Road Initiative may be based on forced labor, as alleged by the report, is not surprising. Forced labor exists in two distinct forms in China. One form is modern slavery, not directly sanctioned by the state, as exemplified by the BRI workers mentioned above. According to the 2018 Global Slavery Index:

  “[O]n any given day in 2016 there were over 3.8 million people living in conditions of modern slavery in China, a prevalence of 2.8 victims for every thousand people in the country. This estimate does not include figures on organ trafficking.”

  The other form of forced labor is systematic and legal under China’s penal system. Communist China has used forced labor and labor camps, citing “reeducation”, since the 1950s. In 2013, the CCP claimed that it was abolishing the practice, only to reinstate it again some years later to “reeducate” Uyghurs. According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), the Chinese government has built nearly 400 detention camps in Xinjiang. “By most estimates, about 10% of Uighurs and other Muslim nationalities in Xinjiang have found themselves arbitrarily detained in these camps,” according to Nathan Ruser, a researcher at the ASPI.

  “Tens of thousands of former detainees are likely to have been transferred into forced labour programmes… Xinjiang’s continuing detention camps …underpin a vast network of labour programmes where consent is impossible. They contaminate the supply chains of hundreds of multinational companies with forced labour, and they implicate not only Chinese authorities, but much of the rest of the world in a concerted campaign of ethnic replacement that credible reports suggest may well amount to genocide”.

  While the forced labor of Uyghurs has received much international attention in recent years, a much less known fact is that China also subjects Tibetans to forced labor on a large and organized scale. In the first seven months of 2020, China drove more than half a million Tibetans into forced labor, according to a 2020 report, “Xinjiang’s System of Militarized Vocational Training Comes to Tibet,” by Adrian Zenz for the Jamestown Foundation. According to the report, the CCP has been “reeducating” Tibetans in Tibet in ways that are similar to the forced-labor to which it subjects Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The report states:

  “In 2019 and 2020, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) introduced new policies to promote the systematic, centralized, and large-scale training and transfer of ‘rural surplus laborers’ to other parts of the TAR, as well as to other provinces of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In the first 7 months of 2020, the region had trained over half a million rural surplus laborers through this policy…The labor transfer policy mandates that… farmers are to be subjected to centralized ‘military-style’… vocational training, which aims to reform ‘backward thinking’ and includes training in ‘work discipline,’ law, and the Chinese language…”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/04/2021 – 02:00

• Make Way For The Snitch State: The All-Seeing Fourth Branch Of Government
  Make Way For The Snitch State: The All-Seeing Fourth Branch Of Government

  Authored by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “It is just when people are all engaged in snooping on themselves and one another that they become anesthetized to the whole process. As information itself becomes the largest business in the world, data banks know more about individual people than the people do themselves. The more the data banks record about each one of us, the less we exist.”

  – Marshall McLuhan, From Cliche To Archetype

  We’re being spied on by a domestic army of government snitches, spies and techno-warriors.

  

  This government of Peeping Toms is watching everything we do, reading everything we write, listening to everything we say, and monitoring everything we spend.

  Beware of what you say, what you read, what you write, where you go, and with whom you communicate, because it is all being recorded, stored, and catalogued, and will be used against you eventually, at a time and place of the government’s choosing.

  This far-reaching surveillance has paved the way for an omnipresent, militarized fourth branch of government—the Surveillance State—that came into being without any electoral mandate or constitutional referendum.

  Indeed, long before the National Security Agency (NSA) became the agency we loved to hate, the Justice Department, the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration were carrying out their own secret mass surveillance on an unsuspecting populace.

  Even agencies not traditionally associated with the intelligence community are part of the government’s growing network of snitches and spies.

  Just about every branch of the government—from the Postal Service to the Treasury Department and every agency in between—now has its own surveillance sector, authorized to spy on the American people. For instance, the U.S. Postal Service, which has been photographing the exterior of every piece of paper mail for the past 20 years, is also spying on Americans’ texts, emails and social media posts. Headed up by the Postal Service’s law enforcement division, the Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) is reportedly using facial recognition technology, combined with fake online identities, to ferret out potential troublemakers with “inflammatory” posts. The agency claims the online surveillance, which falls outside its conventional job scope of processing and delivering paper mail, is necessary to help postal workers avoid “potentially volatile situations.”

  Then there are the fusion and counterterrorism centers that gather all of the data from the smaller government spies—the police, public health officials, transportation, etc.—and make it accessible for all those in power. And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the complicity of the corporate sector, which buys and sells us from cradle to grave, until we have no more data left to mine.

  It’s not just what we say, where we go and what we buy that is being tracked.

  We’re being surveilled right down to our genes, thanks to a potent combination of hardware, software and data collection that scans our biometrics—our faces, irises, voices, genetics, even our gait—runs them through computer programs that can break the data down into unique “identifiers,” and then offers them up to the government and its corporate allies for their respective uses.

  All of those internet-connected gadgets we just have to have (Forbes refers to them as “(data) pipelines to our intimate bodily processes”)—the smart watches that can monitor our blood pressure and the smart phones that let us pay for purchases with our fingerprints and iris scans—are setting us up for a brave new world where there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

  For instance, imagine what the government could do (and is likely already doing) with voiceprint technology, which has been likened to a fingerprint. Described as “the next frontline in the battle against overweening public surveillance,” the collection of voiceprints is a booming industry for governments and businesses alike. As The Guardian reports, “voice biometrics could be used to pinpoint the location of individuals.”

  We are now the unwitting victims of an interconnected, tightly woven, technologically evolving web of real-time, warrantless, wall-to-wall mass surveillance that makes the spy programs spawned by the USA Patriot Act look like child’s play.

  Fusion centers. See Something, Say Something. Red flag laws. Behavioral threat assessments. Terror watch lists. Facial recognition. Snitch tip lines. Biometric scanners. Pre-crime. DNA databases. Data mining. Precognitive technology. Contact tracing apps.

  These are all part and parcel of the widening surveillance dragnet that the government has used and abused in order to extend its reach and its power.

  The COVID-19 pandemic has succeeded in acclimating us even further to being monitored, tracked and reported for so-called deviant or undesirable behavior.  

  Consequently, we now live in a society in which a person can be accused of any number of crimes without knowing what exactly he has done. He might be apprehended in the middle of the night by a roving band of SWAT police. He might find himself on a no-fly list, unable to travel for reasons undisclosed. He might have his phones or internet tapped based upon a secret order handed down by a secret court, with no recourse to discover why he was targeted.

  This Kafkaesque nightmare has become America’s reality.

  Despite the fact that its data snooping has been shown to be ineffective at detecting, let alone stopping, any actual terror attacks, the government continues to operate its domestic spying programs largely in secret, carrying out warrantless mass surveillance on hundreds of millions of Americans’ phone calls, emails, text messages and the like.

  The question of how to deal with government agencies and programs that operate outside of the system of checks and balances established by the Constitution forces us to contend with a deeply unsatisfactory and dubious political “solution” to a problem that operates beyond the reach of voters and politicians: how do you hold accountable a government that lies, cheats, steals, sidesteps the law, and then absolves itself of wrongdoing?

  Certainly, the history and growth of the NSA tracks with the government’s insatiable hunger for ever-great powers.

  Since its official start in 1952, when President Harry S. Truman issued a secret executive order establishing the NSA as the hub of the government’s foreign intelligence activities, the agency—nicknamed “No Such Agency”—has operated covertly, unaccountable to Congress all the while using taxpayer dollars to fund its secret operations. It was only when the agency ballooned to 90,000 employees in 1969, making it the largest intelligence agency in the world with a significant footprint outside Washington, DC, that it became more difficult to deny its existence.

  In the aftermath of Watergate in 1975, the Senate held meetings under the Church Committee in order to determine exactly what sorts of illicit activities the American intelligence apparatus was engaged in under the direction of President Nixon, and how future violations of the law could be stopped. It was the first time the NSA was exposed to public scrutiny since its creation.

  The investigation revealed a sophisticated operation whose surveillance programs paid little heed to such things as the Constitution. For instance, under Project SHAMROCK, the NSA spied on telegrams to and from the U.S., as well as the correspondence of American citizens. Moreover, as the Saturday Evening Post reports, “Under Project MINARET, the NSA monitored the communications of civil rights leaders and opponents of the Vietnam War, including targets such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohammed Ali, Jane Fonda, and two active U.S. Senators. The NSA had launched this program in 1967 to monitor suspected terrorists and drug traffickers, but successive presidents used it to track all manner of political dissidents.”

  Senator Frank Church (D-Ida.), who served as the chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence that investigated the NSA, understood only too well the dangers inherent in allowing the government to overstep its authority in the name of national security. Church recognized that such surveillance powers “at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide.”

  Noting that the NSA could enable a dictator “to impose total tyranny” upon an utterly defenseless American public, Church declared that he did not “want to see this country ever go across the bridge” of constitutional protection, congressional oversight and popular demand for privacy. He avowed that “we,” implicating both Congress and its constituency in this duty, “must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.

  The result was the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and the creation of the FISA Court, which was supposed to oversee and correct how intelligence information is collected and collated. The law requires that the NSA get clearance from the FISA Court, a secret surveillance court, before it can carry out surveillance on American citizens. Fast forward to the present day, and the so-called solution to the problem of government entities engaging in unjustified and illegal surveillance—the FISA Court—has unwittingly become the enabler of such activities, rubberstamping almost every warrant request submitted to it.

  The 9/11 attacks served as a watershed moment in our nation’s history, ushering in an era in which immoral and/or illegal government activities such as surveillance, torture, strip searches, SWAT team raids are sanctioned as part of the quest to keep us “safe.”

  In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush secretly authorized the NSA to conduct warrantless surveillance on Americans’ phone calls and emails. That wireless wiretap program was reportedly ended in 2007 after the New York Times reported on it, to mass indignation.

  Nothing changed under Barack Obama. In fact, the violations worsened, with the NSA authorized to secretly collect internet and telephone data on millions of Americans, as well as on foreign governments.

  It was only after whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations in 2013 that the American people fully understood the extent to which they had been betrayed once again.

  Even so, nothing really changed.

  Since then, presidents, politicians, and court rulings have come and gone, but none of them have done much to put an end to the government’s “technotyranny.”

  At every turn, we have been handicapped in our quest for transparency, accountability and a representative democracy by an establishment culture of secrecy: secret agencies, secret experiments, secret military bases, secret surveillance, secret budgets, and secret court rulings, all of which exist beyond our reach, operate outside our knowledge, and do not answer to “we the people.”

  Yet the surveillance sector is merely one small part of a shadowy permanent government comprised of unelected bureaucrats who march in lockstep with profit-driven corporations that actually runs Washington, DC, and works to keep us under close watch and, thus, under control. For example, Google openly works with the NSA, Amazon has built a massive $600 million intelligence database for the CIA, and the telecommunications industry is making a fat profit by spying on us for the government.

  Most recently, the Biden Administration indicated it may be open to working with non-governmental firms in order to warrantlessly monitor citizens online.

  This would be nothing new, however. Vast quantities of the government’s digital surveillance is already being outsourced to private companies, who are far less restrained in how they harvest and share our personal data.

  In this way, Corporate America is making a hefty profit by aiding and abetting the government in its militarized domestic surveillance efforts.

  Cue the dawning of what The Nation refers to as “the rise of a new class in America: the cyberintelligence ruling class. These are the people—often referred to as ‘intelligence professionals’—who do the actual analytical and targeting work of the NSA and other agencies in America’s secret government. Over the last [20] years, thousands of former high-ranking intelligence officials and operatives have left their government posts and taken up senior positions at military contractors, consultancies, law firms, and private-equity firms. In their new jobs, they replicate what they did in government—often for the same agencies they left. But this time, their mission is strictly for-profit.”

  The snitch culture has further empowered the Surveillance State.

  As Ezra Marcus writes for the New York Times, “Throughout the past year, American society responded to political upheaval and biological peril by turning to an age-old tactic for keeping rule breakers in check: tattling.”

  This new era of snitch surveillance is the lovechild of the government’s post-9/11 “See Something, Say Something” programs combined with the self-righteousness of a politically correct, technologically-wired age.

  Marcus continues:

  “Technology, and our abiding love of it, is crucial to our current moment of social surveillance. Snitching isn’t just a byproduct of nosiness or fear; it’s a technological feature built into the digital architecture of the pandemic era — specifically when it comes to software designed for remote work and Covid-tracing… Contact tracing apps … have started to be adapted for other uses, including criminal probes by the Singaporean government. If that seems distinctly worrying, it might be useful to remember that the world’s most powerful technology companies, whose products you are likely using to read this story, already use a business model of mass surveillance, collecting and selling user information to advertisers at an unfathomable scale. Our cellphones track us everywhere, and our locations are bought and sold by data brokers at incredible, intimate detail. Facial recognition software used by law enforcement trawls Instagram selfies. Facebook harvests the biometric data of its users. The whole ecosystem, more or less, runs on snitching.”

  As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, what we are dealing with today is not just a beast that has outgrown its chains but a beast that will not be restrained.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 23:40

• New Details Emerge Of "Highly Modified Drone" Snooping On Critical Infrastructure 
  New Details Emerge Of “Highly Modified Drone” Snooping On Critical Infrastructure 

  The War Zone has released more information about a mysterious drone encounter in controlled airspace in Tucson, Arizona, on the night of Feb. 9.

  The Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, and the Tucson Police Department’s Air Support Unit tracked an unidentified drone that evaded both agencies’ helicopters. The FBI released a statement indicating it was a “highly modified drone.”

  A source with direct knowledge of the incident told The War Zone the drone was “highly unlikely to be battery-powered based on the altitude, distance, and speed at which it flew.” The source said the drone was equipped with high-tech sensors, such as an infrared camera, to operate at night. They added it’s “only logical that it was looking towards DM’s [Davis Monthan AFB] flight line” based on its location.

  The source said the drone penetrated Class C airspace surrounding the US Air Force’s Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, 5 miles south-southeast of downtown Tucson, Arizona, and was hovering near a complex of fuel tanks west of Runway 12. 

  “The description of the drone’s initial observed location would appear to match the location of a terminal owned by Kinder Morgan, an energy company that operates fuel pipelines and other energy infrastructure,” The War Zone said. About 40% of all natural gas flows through Kinder Morgan’s pipes. 

  

  A user of JetCareers.com wrote on the online airline community, dated Feb. 10, about the drone’s initial observed location:

  Last night, there was one just east of KTUS at about 1200′ AGL cruising eastbound. It passed about 30′ away co-altitude with a police helicopter flying the opposite direction. Helo made a 180 turn to give chase. The quad copter was described as approximately 5 feet long by about 3 feet wide, with a single green flashing LED light. It continued east into KDMAs airspace and began orbiting the base over the parallel taxiway near the fighter jet ramp. TUS and DMA towers were unaware of it, as was U90 [an FAA approach tower] controllers. The operator apparently realized by this time that the drone was being followed, because it then proceeded northwest at high speed and climbing, with the helo and another LE helo in trail. The copter began to climb and flew out of the TUS area about 50 miles to the northwest of town into the middle of nowhere desert out by the mine west of KAVQ. It was last seen climbing through 14,000′ and into the undercast, where it disappeared. The helos remained in VMC [Visual Meteorological Conditions] obviously, and one hung around for about an hour, to see if it would reappear descending, or if there was any vehicles driving through the middle of nowhere as either the operator or someone to potentially recover it. Neither appeared. U90 informed their FAA chain of command about it, but that’s as far as I’ve heard so far.

  Interesting in both the range and the altitude, both control-wise in terms of line of sight, as well as battery life as it comes to the endurance of the thing. The concerns with it being around air traffic and a near mid-air, as well as it being over an Air Force base with security-sensitive aircraft, are all concerning. Definitely not something commercial off-the-shelf that one would buy at the local store.

  Sources confirmed the radar track of the Tucson Police Department helicopter that pursued the drone, a Bell 206B JetRanger II, was the helicopter that supported CBP’s.

  

  Whatever the drone was, it had enough power to evade two helicopters, each capable of 150-180 mph. 

  Considering all the supply chain disruptions happening in the country, we wonder if an adversary state operating within the US or in Mexico was planning an attack on the Kinder Morgan terminal or surveilling Davis Monthan AFB.  

  Similar incidents have been reported over America’s largest nuclear power and near other sensitive structures. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 23:20

• Liberating Yourself From Faucism
  Liberating Yourself From Faucism

  Authored by Barry Brownstein via The American Institute for Economic Research,

  The deification of Anthony Fauci is unraveling; it is time to learn a meta lesson. The issue isn’t Anthony Fauci’s failings. The problem is Faucism, the fantastical belief that wise and beneficent experts should rule.

  

  Fauci will fall because of the one blunder that the public will never accept: Evidence is mounting that gain of function research in China, possibly funded by Fauci as head of NIAID, may have led to the pandemic. Worse for Fauci, he is on record as arguing the “benefits of such [gain of function] experiments and the resulting knowledge outweigh the risks” including the risk of pandemics. 

  In coming months few will continue to deify Fauci. Fauci’s veneer of charm and brilliance will chip away and the political flip-flopper will be revealed. Increasingly the public will become aware that Fauci and his apostle politicians used the shield of false science to lie about such issues as herd immunity, the dire need for school closings, and other destructive policies. 

  Michael Brendan Dougherty, writing in the National Review, offers two explanations for Fauci’s role.  Either he “purposely manipulated viral narratives and circumstances in order to assert his own authority” or Fauci is “just a big-mouth wannabe out over his skis.”  

  Blame and rejection may come Fauci’s way, but few will learn the real lesson of why it is wrong to give one person so much power.

  If Faucism is to die, the beliefs that give life to Faucism must be exposed and rejected.

  We need to understand why a concentration of power creates errors. All “experts” given the power to control others are over-their-head big-mouth wannabes. 

  The Nature of Knowledge, Risk, and Science

  Most Faucists have never read Hayek’s “The Use of Knowledge in Society.” They do not know why the idea of allowing one man to determine policy is absurd: 

  “The knowledge of the circumstances of which we must make use never exists in concentrated or integrated form but solely as the dispersed bits of incomplete and frequently contradictory knowledge which all the separate individuals possess.”

  “Our ignorance is sobering and boundless,” observed philosopher Karl Popper. Faucists don’t believe that about their beloved leader. Who else should decide, they proclaim, but our most learned expert? 

  Popper continued with what could be a credo for individuals willing to humbly explore their beliefs and admit the limits of individual knowledge: “With each step forward, with each problem which we solve, we not only discover new and unsolved problems, but we also discover that where we believed that we were standing on firm and safe ground, all things are, in truth, insecure and in a state of flux.” 

  If the world is full of challenging problems and individuals with boundless ignorance, it is not surprising that Popper believed, “There are no ultimate sources of knowledge.” We can only “hope to detect and eliminate error” by allowing criticism of the theories of others and our own. 

  To put it more succinctly, physicist Richard Feynman wrote, “Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.”

  Of course, in today’s world Faucists are busy censoring views that dissent from their beloved leader and his apostles

  University of Pennsylvania professor Philip Tetlock has been a skeptic of the ability of expert forecasters, who are “often mistaken but never in doubt.” Despite the poor track record of forecasters, they never lack followers. Tetlock writes, “We need to believe we live in a predictable, controllable world, so we turn to authoritative-sounding people who promise to satisfy that need.” 

  Psychologist Paul Slovic is a leading authority on risk. He explains, “[T]here is no such thing as ‘real risk’ or ‘objective risk.’” Like the rest of us, experts suffer cognitive biases. Thus, Slovic concludes that the public’s view of risk should not be trumped by experts with greater political power. 

  Dougherty observed that, “The public-health consensus around COVID-19 and the proper or necessary interventions to take against it shifts all the time.” Once we understand the nature of knowledge and the subjective nature of risk, how can it be any other way? The problem is that this consensus is filtered and defined by few people, such as Fauci, and then translated into rigid rules. Alternative views are then suppressed. Dougherty continues,

  “This consensus shapes public policy and leaks out into respectable mainstream news outlets; most insidiously, it becomes encoded as a quasi-official public line that every individual on social media is obliged to repeat and share or else be subject to demonetization, warnings, censorship, and accusations of spreading disinformation. The polarization of our politics and of public-health elites has left us with two categories of thought on COVID: the Science, and dangerous (sometimes racist) conspiracy theories. Half the time, the conspiracy theories become the Science. Belief in the efficacy of masks or in the lab-leak theory made these transitions. But these shifts don’t happen upon the publication of credible new scientific studies. There is almost no public jousting and argument among scientists and researchers. There is just a sliding from one position to another when it becomes safe. Long after these shifts take place, CDC guidance often comes to incorporate them.”

  Dougherty illuminated what was paramount in Fauci’s mind in the early days of the crisis. In March 2020, during a briefing by economic advisors to President Trump, Vice President Pence, and the coronavirus task force, the severity of the impact of lockdowns on the economy “stunned everyone into silence” except for Fauci. Fauci “immediately turned to Vice President Pence and asked… ‘I’m still in charge, right?’”

  In his book The Wisdom of Crowds, journalist James Surowiecki, echoing Hayek on knowledge, explains “[T]here’s no real evidence that one can become expert in something as broad as ‘decision making’ or ‘policy.’”

  For those who believe in decision making by elite experts, Surowiecki has counterintuitive conclusions: “If you can assemble a diverse group of people who possess varying degrees of knowledge and insight, you’re better off entrusting it with major decisions rather than leaving them in the hands of one or two people, no matter how smart these people are.”

  Medical Hierarchies

  Dr. Peter Pronovost is a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. In his book Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals, Pronovost reveals a common mindset among physicians and medical professionals and explores why this mindset increases medical errors and compromises patient safety.

  Pronovost relates, “[Doctors] are taught to ignore the crowd and trust their own training and education.” Referring to Surowiecki’s book, Pronovost explains that doctors have no use for the wisdom of crowds—nurses, physicians from other specialties, and others. As you read, notice how Pronovost’s mindset is Hayekian:

  “Each of the members of a patient’s team, including a parent if the patient is a child, sees problems through a different set of lenses that is shaped by personal experiences and training. Each of those lenses provides valuable information, information that helps us make wise decisions. Nurses see things differently than doctors, junior doctors see things differently than senior doctors; patients see things differently than clinicians; and family members have their own lenses.” 

  Understanding that knowledge is dispersed leads to humility, not a desire to make your view supreme. Pronovost continues,

  “No lens is more accurate than the other; they are just different. Each has a partially incomplete view of a complex puzzle. The fewer the lenses the more distorted the view, the worse the decision, and the greater the risk for preventable harm. A team approach does not detract from the physician’s talent, authority, or power. It only enhances them by ensuring that he or she makes the best possible decisions.”

  Contrast the team approach Pronovost describes with the tenet of Faucism whereby the authority of the leader makes the leader’s view supreme. Pronovost relates many tales of white-coat supremacy resulting in harm, but who could have imagined a doctor with the power to harm millions?

  Tacit knowledge is knowledge gained from experience and wisdom that can be difficult to express. Pronovost explains how guidelines from central authorities, such as the CDC, suppress tacit knowledge. He writes, “One of the greatest sources of knowledge in medicine comes from what physicians and nurses learn on the job. This tacit knowledge develops and spreads into a ‘tribal knowledge’ of techniques at work and these techniques are soon practiced by a number of physicians and nurses.”

  Pronovost explains that much of “this [tacit] wisdom is not from the published literature, and some of it may not be very effective, but it is one of the ways physicians learn.” Pronovost adds “there is no existing system for capturing this knowledge and sharing it with the medical world.” Today, notice how tacit knowledge is stamped out as physicians developing effective treatments for Covid are ridiculed and censored.

  Pronovost’s work has helped to flatten medical hierarchies and deflate the egos of doctors resulting in improved medical practices, notably reducing central line infections in intensive care units resulting in many saved lives.

  Live Not by Lies

  Pronovost has faced challenges as he exposed white-coat supremacy, but he never had to contend with vested interests trying to defame him.

  During the pandemic, brave doctors such Scott Atlas, Martin Kulldorff, Sunetra Gupta, and Jay Bhattacharya have been vilified. These doctors have not been willing to, as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn would say, live by lies. 

  In 1974 when Solzhenitsyn was arrested, and exiled to the West, the text of his short essay “Live Not by Lies” was released. Solzhenitsyn railed against those who complained about the destructive policies of the ruling “they” while pretending they themselves were “helpless:” 

  “We are approaching the brink; already a universal spiritual demise is upon us; a physical one is about to flare up and engulf us and our children, while we continue to smile sheepishly and babble: ‘But what can we do to stop it? We haven’t the strength.’”

  Solzhenitsyn describes the mindset of helplessness, “We have internalized well the lessons drummed into us by the state; we are forever content and comfortable with its premise: we cannot escape the environment, the social conditions; they shape us, ‘being determines consciousness.’ What have we to do with this? We can do nothing.”

  Helplessness is a common state of mind today. One may say, If vaccine passports become mandatory, what can I do? I must keep my job. Another may say, I am a family physician with reservations about administering the experimental vaccine to those at low risk for Covid. Yet, I must keep my mouth shut or risk censure by the administration of my hospital-owned practice.  

  Solzhenitsyn writes, “But we can do—everything!—even if we comfort and lie to ourselves that this is not so. It is not ‘they’ who are guilty of everything, but we ourselves, only we!”

  Solzhenitsyn shows us the way; he provides a list of ways we can stop passively lying. Even if we are unwilling to risk our jobs, we can understand that authoritarians and totalitarians rule by lies. Through that understanding, we find “the most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies! Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!”

  Solzhenitsyn adds, 

  “For when people renounce lies, lies simply cease to exist. Like parasites, they can only survive when attached to a person.

  We are not called upon to step out onto the square and shout out the truth, to say out loud what we think—this is scary, we are not ready. But let us at least refuse to say what we do not think!”

  Our job is infinitely easier than was Solzhenitsyn’s. The big lie of Faucism is that rule by benign experts is possible when it is never possible. We must admit the limits of individual knowledge. Authoritarians and totalitarians rule by lies; their ignorance is as sobering and boundless as ours. Is it too much to ask of Americans that they learn why Faucism is a bankrupt philosophy? Is it too much to ask that they refuse to cooperate anymore in the censorship and canceling of others?

  In place of helplessness, we can choose not to participate in lies. “Let their rule hold not through me!” is the key to our liberation. We can be open and eager for public jousting and arguments from diverse points of view. If this is too much to ask, we will lose our remaining freedoms. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 23:00

• May Payrolls Preview: A 1 Million "Whisper"
  May Payrolls Preview: A 1 Million “Whisper”

  Up until this morning, the big risk heading into tomorrow’s payrolls report was for yet another subpar print (as a reminder last month’s jobs report showed a paltry 266K jobs were added, a huge miss to expectations), but then today’s blockbuster ADP report, which showed 978K private jobs far above the highest forecast, changed everything (even if the ADP report has a reputation of being chronically incorrect, with zero predictive power).

  Still, as Newsquawk notes, labor market indicators have generally been encouraging in May (if maybe not to the same degree as April and we know how that ended): ADP’s gauge of payroll growth surprised to the upside, initial jobless claims declined to a fresh pandemic low in the corresponding survey week, while continuing claims fell near to the post-pandemic low (both continued to make progress in the subsequent reports too). Business surveys like the ISM reports as well as the Fed’s own Beige Book allude to tight labor market conditions where firms are struggling to fill vacancies, and are having to offer financial incentives like signing-on fees and higher wages to attract staff. However, the Conference Board’s measure of consumer confidence was more mixed: although consumers’ view of the labour market improved, their views on wage growth are not quite as bullish as business surveys are signalling.

  Traders have suggested that the May jobs data is more important than other recent reports, since it will be influential in the market’s perceptions about the timing of the Fed’s taper of asset purchases; for what it is worth, even if the report comes in on the strong side, officials will likely highlight the great deal of slack that remains, while there are still multiple-millions that remain out of work vs pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, to catch up to the pre-covid trendline by mid/late-2022, the economy will need to add roughly 1 million jobs every month (which isn’t very likely).

  

  In his preview of tomorrow’s jobs number, JPM Chief Economist Mike Feroli has a sub-consensus forecast of +550k jobs while Economist Jesse Edgerton’s alternative data suggests +476k jobs. Both numbers are below the current consensus of +656k. If either  Mike or Jesse is correct this would be a disappointment, which would fail to push yields higher. A weak jobs print combined with higher commodity prices likely pushes real yields more negative. This would be positive for both gold and Tech stocks.

  Goldman’s economists are more optimistic, and estimate that nonfarm payrolls rose by an above consensus 750k in May. Following the surprisingly weak April report, Goldman believes the further easing of business restrictions more than offset a moderate drag from labor supply factors and seasonality. While Big Data measures were mixed between the April and May survey weeks, the signals Goldman tracks generally indicate sharply higher employment levels relative to March. Goldman’s optimistic goalseek narrative aside, the bank sees uncertainty ahead of tomorrow’s report to be higher than usual, and Goldman notes the possibility that the establishment survey undercounts job gains from reopening establishments, which other things equal would result in a relatively stronger household survey.

  These two banks aside, here is what consensus expects:

  • JOB GROWTH: Non-farm Payrolls (exp. 650k, prev. 266k); Private Payrolls (prev. 600k, prev. 218k); Government Payrolls (prev. 48k); Manufacturing Payrolls (exp. 24k, prev. -18k).
  • JOBLESSNESS: Unemployment Rate (exp. 5.9%, prev. 6.1%); Participation Rate (prev. 61.7%, vs 63.3% in Feb 2020); U6 Underemployment (prev. 10.4%, vs 7.0% in Feb 2020); Employment-Population Ratio (prev. 57.9%, vs 61.1% in Feb 2020).
  • WAGES: Average Earnings M/M (exp. +0.2%, prev. +0.7%); Average Earnings Y/Y (exp. +1.6%, prev. +0.3%); Average Workweek Hours (exp. 35.0hrs, prev. 35.0hrs)

  Job Gains

  • Initial jobless claims data that coincides with the BLS employment situation report survey period showed weekly claims falling to a post-pandemic low at 444k, and the data series continued to show progress the next week too; continuing claims also declined in the corresponding survey window to 3.64mln, although that was not a fresh pandemic low.
  • The ADP measure of nonfarm payrolls surprised to the upside, seeing 978k private payrolls added to the economy in May, above the forecast range, where the most optimistic forecast saw gains of 900k. ADP’s chief economist said that private payrolls had shown a marked improvement from recent months, and the strongest monthly gain since the early days of the recovery; “While goods producers grew at a steady pace, it is service providers that accounted for the lion’s share of the gains, far outpacing the monthly average in the last six months,” she added, “companies of all sizes experienced an uptick in job growth, reflecting the improving nature of the pandemic and economy.”
  • ISM’s manufacturing PMI saw the employment sub-component fall by 4.2ppts to 50.9, still in expansion for the sixth straight month, but with momentum cooling (a manufacturing employment index above 50.6, over time, is generally consistent with an increase in the BLS data on manufacturing employment). ISM said that continued strong new-order levels, low customer inventories and expanding backlogs continue to indicate employment strength, but panellists are struggling to meet labor-management plans, and the commentary indicates that an overwhelming majority of companies are hiring or attempting to hire, though more than 50% of manufacturing firms have expressed difficulty in doing so. Similarly, the employment sub-component within the Services ISM declined too, by 3.5 points to 55.3; respondents said that “competition for labor continues to intensify due to lack of available talent pool” and “working to fill vacant positions; difficulty in finding qualified candidates.”

  Slack

  • The Conference Board’s gauge of consumer confidence was mixed regarding the labour market; consumers’ assessment of current labour market conditions improved – with the number saying jobs are plentiful rising while those claiming that jobs are hard to get declining, which in aggregate bodes well for the May jobs report. However, optimism in the short-term outlook waned, CB said, with the number expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months falling, while the number expecting business conditions to worsen rose. CB also said that consumers were less upbeat about the job market ahead, with the proportion expecting more jobs in the months ahead falling, while those anticipating fewer jobs rose.
  • But even if the data surprises to the upside (range is 400k to 1mln), some desks expect Fed commentary to remain cautious, and continue to note that there remain a significant number of Americans out of work. Indeed, the aggregate nonfarm payroll additions since March last year still leaves a deficit of 8.2mln who remain out of work vs pre-pandemic levels, if you judge the amount purely based on the totals of the nonfarm payrolls figures, and potentially even more when accounting for underemployment.
  • Fed officials are looking beyond the headline unemployment rate to try and gauge the levels of slack that remains; accordingly, the U6 Underemployment metric, Participation Rate, as well as the Employment-toPopulation ratio have gained in importance; last month, U6 stood at 10.4% (vs 7.0% in February 2020), Participation was at 61.7% (vs 63.3% in February 2020), and the Employment-Population Ratio was at 57.9% (vs 61.1% in February 2020), all three of these indicating that there is still some way to go, and reclaiming this lost ground is not going to happen in the immediate short-term.

  Wages

  • Data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed monthly job cut announcements picking up a touch in May, to 24.6k from around 22.9k in April, but the trend remains solid, and announced job cuts were still some 93.8% lower vs May 2020 levels. “Many employers, especially those hit hard during the pandemic, such as Retailers and Hospitality and Leisure companies, are having a difficult time finding workers, and many are offering signing bonuses or higher wages to attract workers,” Challenger said, adding that “as the labour market tightens, workers may find employers offering more attractive perks and benefits, including higher starting wages, as they look for positions.”
  • However, according to Conference Board data, the number of consumers expecting incomes to rise over the next six-months pared back a touch in May (to +14.5% from +17.4%), though the number of Americans expecting incomes to decline in the next six-months also dropped back. Anecdotes leaning towards this were also noted in the Fed’s recent Beige Book (which was conducted before 25th May), which stated that while overall wage growth was moderate, a growing number of firms were offering signing bonuses and had increased starting wages to attract and retain workers.

  Arguing for a better-than-expected report:

  • Reopening. Sharply lower infection rates and a further easing in the severity of business restrictions likely supported job growth in virus-sensitive industries between the April and May survey period. For example, restaurant seatings on OpenTable rebounded to -17% during the May survey week, compared to -35% in that of April.

  

  • Big Data. High-frequency data on the labor market were mixed between the April and May survey weeks, with outright declines in three of the seven measures Goldman tracks (gray bars in Exhibit 2). However, most measures nonetheless indicate sharply higher employment levels relative to March. Taking into account last month’s divergence with nonfarm payrolls, the majority of the signals would argue for an above-consensus reading, on our estimates (blue bars below). We find that Homebase (75% directionally correct vs. consensus since May 2020), Dallas Fed(75%), the USC Understanding America Survey (67%), and the Census Small Business Pulse have been among the most reliable predictors of the jobs report over the last year. Given the diverging messages from these indicators, we believe uncertainty ahead of tomorrow’s report is higher than usual.

  

  • ADP. Private sector employment in the ADP report increased by 978k in May, well above consensus expectations for a 650k gain. We continue to believe the ADP panel methodology undercounted workers returning to their previous employers,and this would argue for a larger gain in tomorrow’s report.
  • Job availability. The Conference Board labor differential—the difference between the percent of respondents saying jobs are plentiful and those saying jobs are hard to get—surged to +34.6 in May (from +21.6 in April) and is now at pre-pandemic levels.Job cuts. Announced layoffs reported by Challenger, Gray & Christmas fell by 30%nin May after declining by 23% in April (mom, SA by GS). Announced layoffs reported by Challenger, Gray & Christmas fell by 30% in May after declining by 23% in April(mom, SA by GS). Layoffs were at the lowest level since 1989.e at the lowest level since 1989. Employer surveys.

  Arguing for a weaker-than-expected report:

  • Labor supply constraints. Labor supply appears to be tighter than the unemployment rate suggests, likely reflecting the impact of unusually generous unemployment benefits and lingering virus-related impediments to working. We also believe that the survey period of tomorrow’s report is too early to reflect state-level changes to UI benefit availability and generosity, as benefits will be curtailed in onehalf of US states starting in June.

  Neutral/mixed factors:

  • Seasonality. In April, reopening effects likely overlapped with normal seasonal hiringn patterns, resulting in less-impressive job gains on a seasonally-adjusted basis. In normal times, many service industries ramp up operations in the spring ahead of peak-season demand. This year, however, firms in heavily-impacted industries may simply have been more focused on bringing back their pre-crisis permanent workforces than on expanding their businesses and adding temporary seasonal labor. If so, seasonality should weigh on the May report as well, as the May BLS adjustment factors generally anticipate at least 300k of net hiring (vs. over 800k in April).
  • Employer surveys. The employment component of our manufacturing survey tracker decreased (-1.4pt to 58.5), while the employment component of our services survey tracker increased (+0.6pt to 56.6), but both remain around 2018 levels.
  • Jobless claims. Initial jobless claims declined during the May payroll month, averaging 505k per week vs. 656k in April. Across all employee programs including emergency benefits, continuing claims remained roughly unchanged between the payroll survey weeks.

  How will the market respond?

  The yield curve has failed to move materially over the last month as we received a disappointing NFP print but Fed Mins that show the FOMC is talking about talking about tapering. According to JPM, it may be the case that the bond market needs to see multiple NFP prints that approach the 700k – 1mm jobs range and/or actual tapering talk, before we see a sustained move higher, especially since the latest JPM Treasury survey found the most shorts since 2017. In other words, there is nobody left to short rates.

  Meanwhile, as Bloomberg notes, stronger data, including ADP and ISM services, sent real yields and the dollar higher. The risk of the payroll Friday is skewed favorably to the dollar. There’s a wide range of estimates for the payroll, making a clean read more difficult. The average forecast was 667k jobs. But with standard deviation of 147k, anything between 500k and 800k would be considered more or less in line with expectations.

  But, as BBG’s Ye Xie notes,  we know from various surveys that demand for labor isn’t an issue. It’s labor supply that is holding back job growth, because of the pandemic, child care and unemployment benefits. So, a low reading would be taken with a grain of salt. Any knee-jerk fall in yields or the dollar could be reversed soon after.

  But a higher figure, say close to 1 million, would put the tapering discussion on the table more urgently.

  Finally, it is worth noting that after several months of disappointment, the US economy is certainly in need of a strong jobs report and that may explain why moments ago we learned that the president, who already knows the number, is set to discuss it shortly after it is released:

  • BIDEN TO GIVE REMARKS ON THE MAY JOBS REPORT AT 10:15AM ET.

  That alone was enough to push the whisper number to 1 million.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 22:40

• Escobar: Mapping The Post-Unilateral World Order
  Escobar: Mapping The Post-Unilateral World Order

  Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,

  As Sino-Russo-Iranophobia dissolves in sanctions and hysteria, mapmakers carve the post-unilateral order…

  

  It’s the Nikolai Patrushev-Yang Jiechi show – all over again. These are the two players running an up and coming geopolitical entente, on behalf of their bosses Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

  Last week, Yang Jiechi – the director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee – visited Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev in Moscow. That was part of the 16thround of China-Russia strategic security consultations.

  What’s intriguing is that Yang-Patrushev happened between the Blinken-Lavrov meeting on the sidelines of the Arctic Council summit in Reykjavik, and the upcoming and highest-ranking Putin-Biden in Geneva on June 16 (possibly at the Intercontinental Hotel, where Reagan and Gorbachev met in 1985).

  The Western spin before Putin-Biden is that it might herald some sort of reset back to “predictability” and “stability” in currently extra-turbulent US-Russia relations.

  That’s wishful thinking. Putin, Patrushev and Lavrov harbor no illusions. Especially when in the G7 in London, in early May, the Western focus was on Russia’s “malign activities” as well as China’s “coercive economic policies.”

  Russian and Chinese analysts, in informal conversations, tend to agree that Geneva will be yet another instance of good old Kissingerian divide and rule, complete with a few seducing tactics to lure Moscow away from Beijing, an attempt to bide some time and probing openings for laying out geopolitical traps. Old foxes such as Yang and Patrushev are more than aware of the game in play.

  What’s particularly relevant is that Yang-Patrushev laid the groundwork for an upcoming Putin visit to Xi in Beijing not long after Putin-Biden in Geneva – to further coordinate geopolitically, once again, the “comprehensive strategic partnership”, in their mutually recognized terminology.

  The visit might take place on July 1, the hundredth anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party – or on July 16, the 20thanniversary of the China-Russia Treaty of Friendship.

  So Putin-Biden is the starter; Putin-Xi is the main course.

  That Putin-Luka tea for two

  Beyond the Russian president’s “outburst of emotions” comment defending his Belarusian counterpart’s action, the Putin-Lukashenko tea for two in Sochi yielded an extra piece of the puzzle concerning the RyanAir emergency landing in Minsk– starring a blogger from Belarus who is alleged to have lent his services to the ultra-nationalist, neo-Nazi-ridden Azov battalion, which fought against the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in the Ukrainian Donbass in 2014.

  Lukashenko told Putin he had “brought along some documents so you can understand what is going on.” Nothing has been leaked regarding the contents of these documents, but it’s possible they may be incandescent – related to the fact that sanctions were imposed by the EU against Belavia Airlines even though the carrier had nothing to do with the RyanAir saga – and potentially capable of being brought up in the context of Putin-Biden in Geneva.

  The Big Picture is always Eurasia versus the Atlanticist West. As much as Washington will keep pushing Europe – and Japan – to decouple from both China and Russia, Cold War 2.0 on two simultaneous fronts has very few takers.

  Rational players see that the 21st century combined scientific, economic and military power of a Russia-China strategic partnership would be a whole new ball game in terms of global reach compared with the former USSR/Iron Curtain era.

  And when it comes to appealing to the Global South, and the new iterations of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), emphasis on an international order upholding the UN Charter and the rule of international law is definitely sexier than a much-vaunted “rules-based international order” where only the hegemon sets the rules.

  In parallel to Moscow’s lack of illusions about the new Washington dispensation, the same applies to Beijing – especially after the latest outburst by Kurt Campbell, the former Obama-Biden 1.0 assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific who is now back as the head of Indo-Pacific Affairs on the National Security Council under Obama-Biden 3.0.

  Campbell is the actual father of the ‘pivot to Asia’ concept when he was at the State Department in the early 2010s – although as I pointed out during the 2016 US presidential campaign, it was Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State who claimed Mothership of the pivot to Asia in an October 2011 essay.

  At a gig promoted by Stanford University last week, Campbell said, “The period that was broadly described as engagement [with China] has come to an end.” After all, the “pivot to Asia” never really died, as there has been a clear Trump-Biden continuum.

  Campbell obfuscated by talking about a “new set of strategic parameters” and the need to confront China by working with “allies, partners and friends”. Nonsense: this is all about the militarization of the Indo-Pacific.

  That’s what Biden himself reiterated during his first address to a joint session of the US Congress, when he boasted about telling Xi that the US will “maintain a strong military presence in the Indo-Pacific” just as it does with NATO in Europe.

  The Iranian factor

  On a different but parallel track with Yang-Patrushev, Iran may be on the cusp of a momentous directional change. We may see it as part of a progressive strengthening of the Arc of Resistance – which links Iran, the People’s Mobilization Units in Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen and now a more unified Palestine.

  The proxy war on Syria was a tragic, massive fail on every aspect. It did not deliver secular Syria to a bunch of takfiris (aka “moderate rebels”). It did not prevent the expansion of Iran’s sphere of influence.  It did not derail the Southwest Asia branch of the New Silk Roads. It did not destroy Hezbollah.

  “Assad must go”? Dream on; he was reelected with 95% of Syrian votes, with a 78% turnout.

  As for the upcoming Iranian presidential election on June 18 – only two days after Putin-Biden – it takes place when arguably the nuclear deal revival drama being enacted in Vienna will have reached an endgame. Tehran has repeatedly stressed that the deadline for a deal expires today, May 31.

  The impasse is clear. In Vienna, through its EU interlocutors, Washington has agreed to lift sanctions on Iranian oil, petrochemicals and the central bank, but refuses to remove them on individuals such as members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

  At the same time, in Tehran, something very intriguing happened with Ali Larijani, former Parliament speaker, an ambitious member of a quite prominent family but discarded by the Guardian Council when it chose candidates to run for President. Larijani immediately accepted the ruling. As I was told by Tehran insiders, that happened with no friction because he received a detailed explanation of something much bigger: the new game in town.

  As it stands, the one positioned as the nearly inevitable winner on June 18 seems to be Ebrahim Raeisi, up to now the chief justice – and close to the Revolutionary Guards. There’s a very strong possibility that he will ask the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to leave Iran – and that means the end of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as we knew it, with unforeseen consequences. (From the Revolutionary Guards’ point of view, the JCPOA is already dead).

  An extra factor is that Iran is currently suffering from severe drought – when summer has not even arrived. The power grid will be under tremendous pressure. The dams are empty – so it’s impossible to rely on hydroelectric power. There’s serious popular discontent regarding the fact that Team Rouhani for eight years prevented Iran from obtaining nuclear power. One of Raeisi’s first acts may be to command the immediate construction of a nuclear power plant.

  We don’t need a weatherman to see which way the wind is blowin’ when it comes to the top three “existential threats” to the declining hegemon – Russia, China and Iran. What’s clear is that none of the good old methods deployed to maintain the subjugation of the vassals is working – at least when confronted by real sovereign powers.

  As Sino-Russo-Iranophobia dissolves in a fog of sanctions and hysteria, mapmakers like Yang Jiechi and Nikolai Patrushev relentlessly carve the post-unilateral order.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 22:20

• DoD Invests In "Rocket Cargo" To Deliver Weapons Anywhere On Earth In 1 Hour 
  DoD Invests In “Rocket Cargo” To Deliver Weapons Anywhere On Earth In 1 Hour 

  Ars Technica points out that deep within the Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Budget Estimates, a 462-page book, there is a section about the Air Force leveraging rocket technology to deliver massive amounts of advanced weaponry and military cargo to anywhere in the world within a short notice. 

  “The Department of the Air Force seeks to leverage the current multi-billion dollar commercial investment to develop the largest rockets ever, and with full reusability to develop and test the capability to leverage a commercial rocket to deliver AF cargo anywhere on the Earth in less than one hour, with a 100-ton capacity,” the document states.

  The section, titled “Rocket Cargo,” does not directly refer to Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship by name, but it’s the only vehicle at the moment with the capability described by the service. 

  

  Ars Technica says the Air Force plans to invest $47.9 million into the “Rocket Cargo” project in the coming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

  “The Air Force is not investing in the commercial rocket development, but rather investing in the Science & Technology needed to interface the capability with DoD logistics needs, and extend the commercial capability to DoD-unique missions. Provides a new, faster and cheaper solution to the existing TRANSCOM Strategic Airlift mission. Enables AFSOC to perform current Rapid-Response Missions at lower cost, and meet a one-hour response requirement. 

  “Rocket Cargo uses modeling, simulation, and analysis to conduct operational analysis, verify military utility, performance, and operational cost. S&T will include novel “loadmaster” designs to quickly load/unload a rocket, rapid launch capabilities from unusual sites, characterization of potential landing surfaces and approaches to rapidly improve those surfaces, adversary detectability, new novel trajectories, and an S&T investigation of the potential ability to airdrop,” the document concludes. 

  Even though SpaceX was not directly mentioned in the budget documents, we noted in October 2020 that the US military and Musk’s company were in talks about developing a 7,500 mph rocket to deliver weapons worldwide.

  From a logistical perspective, if this can be pulled off, the US may have the upper hand in deploying gear for quick reaction forces in hot zones. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 22:00

• As Tapering Nears, Beijing Drains Dollar Liquidity
  As Tapering Nears, Beijing Drains Dollar Liquidity

  By Ye Xie, Bloomberg reporter and Markets Live commentator

  Good economic news is bad news for markets now.

  A better-than-expected ADP jobs report sent the dollar and bond yields higher and stocks lower Thursday. A strong payroll report Friday would give more ammunition for folks calling for earlier QE tapering. In a sense, policy normalization has already started after the Fed announced plans to wind down its emergency corporate-credit facility. From that perspective, the peak of liquidity is near.

  In China, the authorities are already mopping up the dollar liquidity awash in its domestic market. On Thursday, two Chinese policy banks, China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, announced selling of dollar notes in the onshore market, the first such sales in years. It followed a move Monday when the PBOC required lenders to hold more foreign currencies in reserve.

  Both aim to reduce the dollar supply and ease pressure for yuan appreciation. As a result, one-year yuan swap points dropped to the lowest since January, reflecting higher dollar funding costs. The yuan rally has also stalled.

  

  Neither of these moves was large in size. It’s the signaling effect that matters. Beijing doesn’t want a currency overshoot so that when the Fed takes away the punch bowl, it will be less volatile and painful for Chinese markets.

  In other news, President Biden amended a ban on U.S. investment in Chinese companies, naming 59 companies with ties to China’s military or in the surveillance industry. Since many of the companies were already on the Trump administration’s list, the market impact was largely a shrug.

  It’s worth noting that the trade and economic dialog seem to be back on track after Vice Premier Liu He held “candid and constructive” talks with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Trade Representative Katherine Tai. The two moves — sanctions and dialog — are carried on separate tracks, as was during the trade war in the Trump era. In other words, sanctioning Chinese companies may not necessarily spoil trade talks.

  As far as the markets are concerned, the latter is more important.

   

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 21:40

• "We Cannot Postpone Again" – Olympics Chief Declares Games Won't Be Canceled As Public Opposition Grows
  “We Cannot Postpone Again” – Olympics Chief Declares Games Won’t Be Canceled As Public Opposition Grows

  Despite objections from government scientists and prominent businessmen, Japan is planning to move ahead with the postponed 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo next month. In an interview with the Japanese press, the president of the 2020 Games, Seiko Hashimoto, declared that the games would move ahead as planned, with the Japanese government taking certain precautions to prevent an outbreak of mutant COVID.

  

  “We cannot postpone again,” Hashimoto told the Nikkan Sports newspaper via Reuters.

  Hashimoto, who competed in seven summer and winter Olympics as a cyclist and skater, also told the BBC that while Japanese were understandably worried, they should be reassured that a “bubble situation” was being carefully constructed.

  “I believe that the possibility of these Games going on is 100% that we will do this,” she added. “One thing the organising committee commits and promises to all the athletes out there is that we will defend and protect their health.”

  Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is betting it all on pulling off the Games as he plans a critical snap election after the Games are over.

  Meanwhile, Shigeru Omi, the head of a panel of government experts that has been advising Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, issued his strongest warning yet about the potential risks of holding the games.

  “It’s not normal to have the Olympics in a situation like this,” Omi told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, adding that organizers of the Games should have an explanation for a skeptical public.

  Public opinion polls show most Japanese people do not want Tokyo 2020 to be held this year. Medical journals have questioned the wisdom of allowing 90K athletes, media, sponsors, officials and support staff to enter the country in July. Health officials worry this infusion of foreigners will place additional strain on Japan’s health-care system at a particularly vulnerable time.

  10K of the 80K volunteers who initially signed up to help with the Games have quit, according to Japanese Broadcaster NHK. But organizers say they won’t need as many volunteers as they once suspected

  Japan’s vaccine rollout has picked up over the last week, but it’s still way behind the US and Europe in terms of percentage of adults who have received at least one dose.

  Already postponed from last year at the cost of $3.5 billion, a stripped-down Olympics with no foreign spectators allowed is slated to begin July 23.

  Most of the capital city’s city council, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, are in agreement that the Games should be cancelled.

  But just last week, the Japanese government approved extending a state of emergency in Tokyo and eight other prefectures that’s slated to end roughly one month before the Games begin.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 21:20

• Shenzhen's Busiest Commercial Street Closed Due To COVID-19 Outbreak
  Shenzhen’s Busiest Commercial Street Closed Due To COVID-19 Outbreak

  Authored by Alex Wu via The Epoch Times,

  The COVID-19 epidemic in Guangdong province continues to worsen. The Epoch Times has learned that one of the busiest commercial streets in the mega city of Shenzhen has just been closed due to infection. Meanwhile, in the provincial capital of Guangzhou city, food and medicine shortages have been reported in locked down areas.

  

  Shenzhen’s busiest commercial street – the East Gate Pedestrian Mall and the Baima Clothing Wholesale City in Luohu District are closed due to COVID-19 outbreak. June 2, 2021. (Screenshot of online video)

  On June 2, posts about a COVID-19 case in the Baima clothing wholesale market in Luohu District, Shenzhen, were circulating on Chinese social media. They said that the customer was a visitor from Guangzhou. It has caused a major commercial street—the East Gate Pedestrian Mall where the clothing market is located—to be closed down.

  A shop owner in the East Gate Pedestrian Mall told The Epoch Times that the commercial street has a large number of visitors, and now all shops on the street have been required to close, with all customers told they have to get tested for COVID-19.

  The Epoch Times obtained a video showing the commercial street in locked down.

  

  On June 2, Shenzhen reported two more locally infected cases taking the official case reports to 15, while 16 more local cases were reported in Guangzhou taking the official case reports to 58.

  The actual number of infected people and the true scale of the pandemic in China still remain unclear. The large-scale lockdowns and testing have caused many residents to suspect the officially reported infection numbers given the Chinese communist regime’s history of downplaying or covering up crises.

  A netizen posted on Twitter that his friends in Guangzhou had told him that many cases were not being officially reported but that locals could tell that the situation was more severe that authorities were admitting from the semi-locked down state of the city and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) central authorities sending a special epidemic team to visit Guangdong on May 30.

  On June 2, 38 areas in Guangzhou were put under lockdown, with outbound travel restricted.

  

  A child is tested for COVID-19 in Guangzhou in China’s southern Guangdong province on May 30, 2021. (AFP via Getty Images)

  Some are also doubting the effectiveness of Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines against variants reported in the outbreak cases.

  According to Chinese state-run media, as of May 31, 10.11 million people in the city of 15.3 million have received their first vaccine, and another 3.25 million are fully vaccinated with two doses.

  A staff member from the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission told The Epoch Times on May 25 that Shenzhen residents were receiving the China-made CoronaVac and Sinopharm vaccines. They said that, like the non-Chinese vaccines, vaccination doesn’t guarantee full protection from COVID-19. They declined to comment on the efficacy of Chinese vaccines against COVID-19 variants.

  The director of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, also said of the recent outbreak that the vaccines are not used for preventing infection but to prevent severe symptoms and death. He said earlier that a third dose of the Chinese-made vaccines might needed to boost its efficacy. He also suggested mixing vaccines of different technologies, such as inactivated virus vaccines and mRNA ones.

  Food and Medicine Shortage

  On June 2, a number of posts were circulating on social media about the chaos and difficulties facing citizens in locked down areas of Guangzhou.

  Residents in Jushu Village in Liwan District told The Epoch Times on June 2 that there was no notice before the sudden lockdown of their village on May 28. People went to work in the morning and found out that they could not leave the village. It’s been six days, and food, medicine, and formula milk for babies are severely lacking.

  Zhao Li (alias) said that all stores in the village are out of stock, and things can’t be shipped in. People can only buy over-priced rationed food packages provided by the CCP’s village committee.

  A Jushu villager posted on social media, “So far, 90 percent of us have not received the so-called free food and supplies provided by the authorities. Now, the village committee has started to drive up prices for the rationed food, and many people trapped here cannot afford the high-priced vegetables. The boxed lunches that cost 15 yuan ($ 2.3) before are now selling for 60 yuan ($ 9.2).”

  

  Over-priced rationed food provided by the CCP’s Hainan village committee in Liwan District of Guangzhou on June 2, 2021. (Supplied to The Epoch Times)

  Wang Hua (alias), another villager in Jushu, told The Epoch Times that up to now, the CCP’s village officials have not effectively arranged food supplies for the community. She said, “They just lock us in here, and don’t care if we are alive or dead. Many tenants who don’t usually cook have no preparations, and now they only have porridge and snacks to stay alive.”

  She added, “I thought that after a whole year of fighting the epidemic, the state would not let me come to the situation that I have no food to eat, so I didn’t stock up much. However, I’ve found out that the supermarkets and food markets have all been closed. And nobody has ever told me where I can buy food and how can I get basic supplies. I can only depend on myself.”

  Wang revealed to The Epoch Times that the shortage of medicine is another serious problem facing lockdown areas. She said that her friend’s husband’s feet were ulcerated, bloody, and in need of urgent medical assistance. They had called emergency services, hospitals, pharmacies, and all other official channels but have received no help. When they tried to buy medicine online, their order got cancelled, as no deliveries are being allowed in the lockdown areas. Later, they posted to a group chat on social media asking for help. Someone in the group had a similar symptom and shared his medicine with them.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 21:00

• "It Pushed Me Over The Edge" – Vaccine Lotteries Credited With Enticing Millions To Accept Jabs
  “It Pushed Me Over The Edge” – Vaccine Lotteries Credited With Enticing Millions To Accept Jabs

  In the US, the first winners of the “vaccination lotteries” being adopted by a growing number of states – including West Virginia (which is offering guns, trucks & “piles of cash), California and a handful of others – are taking home life-changing money, all because they decided to get vaccinated.

  

  And according to WSJ, the incentives that these programs create are already having a positive impact on the vaccination rate, which has finally eclipsed 50% of American adults. The program is also having some success in Hong Kong.

  But while it’s impossible to determine exactly how many people are getting vaccinated because of the potential monetary rewards created by the vaccination lotteries, the anecdotal evidence is clear, as the Toledo Blade showed in a recent story about one of Ohio’s “Vax-a-Million” winners who happened to be a Toledo resident.

  “I kept hemming and hawing about it, and I work all the time, and when the Vax-a-Million thing started I immediately went down there and got it. It pushed me over the edge,” he said.

  Mr. Carlyle said after he hung up with the governor, he then called his girlfriend to let his family know he had won.

  “It’s overwhelming. I don’t know what to do. I’m still dreaming,” he said.

  In Ohio alone, 3.2MM people entered the drawing – all of whom hadn’t been previously vaccinated despite being eligible for weeks or months. And Ohio’s Gov. ike DeWine credited the lottery enticements for a recent spike in vaccinations in the Buckeye State.

  More than 3.2 million Ohioans entered the drawing to win the $1 million prize, and nearly 133,000 Ohioans ages 12 to 17 entered the college scholarship drawing, according to the Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Lottery. The entry period for the next Ohio Vax-a-Million drawing ends June 6, 2021 at 11:59:59 p.m.

  Governor DeWine credited the lottery enticement for a spike in new vaccinations after his initial announcement, but the numbers show the rate has again leveled off.

  WSJ’s Mike Bird added that the efficacy shown so far is evidence that vaccination lotteries create benefits that far outweigh their costs.

  It’s difficult to overstate just how small the lottery payouts are relative to the economies they cover. In Hong Kong’s case, a real-estate developer is offering an apartment valued at roughly $1.39 million. That prize, though highly valuable to the winner, is equivalent to 0.0004% of the city’s already-reduced 2020 GDP.

  Faster vaccinations enable more rapid economic normalization, especially in places that still have significant international travel restrictions in place. That normalization is worth far more than any plausible prizes. One percentage point of GDP growth for Hong Kong would be equivalent to around 2,500 such apartments. The same is true for Ohio’s million-dollar payouts, in an economy with output in the hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

  What’s more, there’s evidence from a study in Singapore showing financial incentives are effective at boosting vaccination rates.

  But there is evidence that financial incentives work. Vouchers worth just 10-30 Singapore dollars ($7.56 to $22.69) could boost take-up of influenza vaccines by 4.5% to 9.2% in one study, with the strongest effect among elderly recipients. A review of the literature by the U.S. Community Preventive Services Task Force showed vaccination rates rising by a median of 8 percentage points in the studies assessed.

  At the very least, using financial incentives is certainly more humane than coercing people by allowing employers to effectively require all new hires to be vaccinated, which risks excluding people who object to vaccination for religious or other reasons from the workforce.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 20:40

• Chinese Wind Farm Project In Texas A Threat To National Security: Kyle Bass
  Chinese Wind Farm Project In Texas A Threat To National Security: Kyle Bass

  Authored by Cathy He and Jen Jekielek via The Epoch Times,

  A proposed Chinese wind farm in Texas poses national security concerns, warned China-watcher and hedge fund manager Kyle Bass.

  

  The Blue Hills Wind development in southwest Texas’s Val Verde County has attracted heightened scrutiny in recent months, with lawmakers and experts signaling concern that the Chinese project could be used as a cover for espionage and to disrupt the state’s power grid.

  The proposed wind farm site is about 30 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border and near the Laughlin Air Force Base, the U.S. Air Force’s largest pilot training facility.

  The land for the wind farm is owned by a Chinese company called GH America Investments Group, which has since 2015 bought 130,000 acres of land—an area the size of Tulsa, Oklahoma—in Val Verde County. The man behind the firm is Sun Guangxin, a businessman from the northwestern Xinjiang region in China, who has strong ties to the communist regime.

  Sun, a former military officer, is currently the richest person in Xinjiang—where the regime is committing genocide against ethnic Muslim minorities. He has a net worth of $1.9 billion, according to Forbes, and was also the vice chairman of the Xinjiang Provincial Youth Federation.

  “My view is that is the reason that he bought the wind farm and wants to put up 700-foot turbines, is he plugs directly into our electric grid. Well, plugging directly into our electric grid is something that should never happen,” Bass, founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management, told Epoch TV’s “American Thought Leaders” program.

  Spurred by these security concerns, the Texas Legislature recently unanimously passed legislation that would ban individuals or companies connected with China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia from entering into contracts relating to the state’s critical infrastructure. The bill has been sent to the governor for signature. If it is signed, it will take effect immediately.

  The country’s critical infrastructure has been the target of several cyberattacks in recent months. An annual threat assessment (pdf) by the U.S. Intelligence Community said the Chinese regime’s cyber-capabilities “at a minimum, can cause localized, temporary disruptions to critical infrastructure within the United States.”

  Bass said the land was a curious site for a wind farm given that the area is not known to produce high levels of wind. The proposed height of the wind turbines are 700 feet—the height of the Washington Monument—meaning that they could be used to spy on activities at the Air Force base and border security operations at the U.S.-Mexico Border, he added.

  Republican state Sen. Donna Campbell, sponsor of the bill, has likened the project to a “Trojan horse.”

  “Why do they want to put this in Val Verde County, where the wind doesn’t really blow? Why is this area, where the turbine farm was going to be, 65 miles from our Laughlin Air Force Base, a strategic pilot training base?” Campbell said on the Senate floor in April.

  GH America is now reviewing its options in light of the passage of the legislation, News 4 San Antonio reported.

  Stephen Lindsey, a vice president of the company, told News 4 that the proposed wind farm was not a threat to the state’s security, and added that he didn’t know if Sun has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 20:20

• Ackman's SPAC Nears Deal To Take World's Largest Music Business Public
  Ackman’s SPAC Nears Deal To Take World’s Largest Music Business Public

  Bill Ackman’s massive SPAC is reportedly nearing a transaction to take public Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music business, at a valuation of about $40 billion, the WSJ reported citing sources.

  Back in July, Ackman’s special purpose acquisition company, called Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd., raised $4 billion in an initial public offering – a record amount for a SPAC to this day, as Ackman said that his firm was on the hunt for a “mature unicorn”:

  “We’re in a unicorn mating dance and we want to marry a very attractive unicorn on the other side that meets our characteristics,” he said in a Bloomberg Television interview at the time. “And we’ve designed ourselves to be a very attractive partner.”

  Ackman has now found his target. While it is unclear if Universal is a “mature unicorn”, the company has benefited from a jump in revenue from music streaming on services such as Spotify Technology SA. Universal had about €7.4 billion in revenue last year, accounting for nearly half of Vivendi’s total.

  The deal, which was hinted at last month when Vivendi said it was considering selling 10% of Universal’s shares to a U.S. investor without naming one, would have a €33 billion ($40 billion) equity value and a €35 billion enterprise value, which also accounts for net debt. A $40 billion deal for Universal Music would be the largest SPAC transaction on record, exceeding the $35 billion that Singaporean ride-hailing company Grab Holdings was valued at in a similar deal recently. It would have a so-called enterprise value, taking into consideration Universal’s debt, of about $42 billion.

  

  Universal, which is a subsidiary of French media conglomerate Vivendi SE, is the record label behind artists including Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and the Weeknd. Its stable also includes classic acts such as Queen and the Beatles, and last year it bought Bob Dylan’s entire publishing catalog. China’s Tencent owns about 20% of Universal after the Chinese internet conglomerate doubled its stake last year in a deal that valued the business at about €30 billion.

  A merger with Ackman’s SPAC would mean that Vivendi current plans to monetize its sub would be scrapped. In February the French media conglomerate planned to spin off the business and list it in the Netherlands later this year, with 60% of Universal’s shares distributed to the French company’s investors. As the WSJ notes, it isn’t clear how the Pershing Square transaction affects that plan, and other details couldn’t be learned.

  Going public also could give UMG more financial clout to compete with rivals Warner Music Group Corp. and Sony Music Entertainment. Vivendi had originally planned a 2023 IPO for UMG, but said earlier this year that it was now aiming for the business to go public by the end of 2021.

  While SPACs, or empty shells that raise money with the sole purpose of looking for a target to merge with and bring public, exploded in popularity in the second half of 2020 and early 2021 as companies sought alternatives to a traditional IPO, in recent months they hit a brick wall with deal flow slowing to a trickle amid a regulatory crackdown on vehicles that have come under fire for appearing to enrich sponsors at the expense of other shareholders. While so far in 2021, at least 330 SPACs have raised $104 billion, blowing through last year’s record of more than $80 billion, most of this activity took place in the first quarter with virtually no new SPACs in recent weeks. They typically have two years to find a target.

  
  As the WSJ notes, Ackman made a splash in July when he raised his SPAC and said he was on the hunt for a large private company to take public. Since then, one of the biggest guessing games on Wall Street has been predicting which company might strike a deal with him. He initially told investors a deal could be made public by the end of March, before recently telling The Wall Street Journal that he had been working on one transaction since November, but needed more time.

  It isn’t guaranteed Universal and the SPAC will reach a deal. If they do, it could be completed in the next few weeks and isn’t subject to any additional due diligence.

  While the deal may still be in doubt, Ackman’s expertise in the sector isn’t: the hedge fund billionaire is a veteran at using blank-check companies to do deals. He previously co-founded Justice Holdings which raised $1.44 billion in a 2011 listing in London. It merged with Burger King Worldwide Inc. in 2012.

  When discussing potential targets for his current SPAC last year, Ackman said he wanted “a simple, predictable” cash-flow-generating company. “We’re looking for the super durable great growth business that we can own for the next decade,” he said.

  That said, the news appears to have disappointed the market as the stock price of PSTH – Tontine’s publicly traded stolck – tumbled as much as 10% after hours as the unveil of Tontine’s “unicorn” was seen as less than exciting.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 19:59

• Greenwald: The FBI's Strange Anthrax Investigation Sheds Light On COVID Lab-Leak Theory And Fauci's Emails
  Greenwald: The FBI’s Strange Anthrax Investigation Sheds Light On COVID Lab-Leak Theory And Fauci’s Emails

  Authored by Glenn Greenwald via greenwald.substack.com,

  One of the most significant events of the last two decades has been largely memory-holed: the October, 2001 anthrax attacks in the U.S. Beginning just one week after 9/11 and extending for another three weeks, a highly weaponized and sophisticated strain of anthrax had been sent around the country through the U.S. Postal Service addressed to some of the country’s most prominent political and media figures. As Americans were still reeling from the devastation of 9/11, the anthrax killed five Americans and sickened another seventeen.

  

  As part of the extensive reporting I did on the subsequent FBI investigation to find the perpetrator(s), I documented how significant these attacks were in the public consciousness. ABC News, led by investigative reporter Brian Ross, spent a full week claiming that unnamed government sources told them that government tests demonstrated a high likelihood that the anthrax came from Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons program. The Washington Post, in November, 2001, also raised “the possibility that [this weaponized strain of anthrax] may have slipped through an informal network of scientists to Iraq.” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared on The David Letterman Show on October 18, 2001, and said: “There is some indication, and I don’t have the conclusions, but some of this anthrax may — and I emphasize may — have come from Iraq.” Three days later, McCain appeared on Meet the Press with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and said of the anthrax perpetrators: “perhaps this is an international organization and not one within the United States of America,” while Lieberman said the anthrax was so finely weaponized that “there’s either a significant amount of money behind this, or this is state-sponsored, or this is stuff that was stolen from the former Soviet program” (Lieberman added: “Dr. Fauci can tell you more detail on that”).

  In many ways, the prospect of a lethal, engineered biological agent randomly showing up in one’s mailbox or contaminating local communities was more terrifying than the extraordinary 9/11 attack itself. All sorts of oddities shrouded the anthrax mailings, including this bizarre admission in 2008 by long-time Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen: “I had been told soon after Sept. 11 to secure Cipro, the antidote to anthrax. The tip had come in a roundabout way from a high government official. I was carrying Cipro way before most people had ever heard of it.” At the very least, those anthrax attacks played a vital role in heightening fear levels and a foundational sense of uncertainty that shaped U.S. discourse and politics for years to come. It meant that not just Americans living near key power centers such as Manhattan and Washington were endangered, but all Americans everywhere were: even from their own mailboxes.

  

  The FBI first falsely cast suspicion on a former government scientist, Dr. Steven Hatfill, who had conducted research on mailing deadly anthrax strains. Following the FBI’s accusations, media outlets began dutifully implying that Hatfill was the culprit. A January, 2002, New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof began by declaring: “I think I know who sent out the anthrax last fall,” then, without naming him, proceeded to perfectly describe Hatfill in a way that made him easily identifiable to everyone in that research community. Hatfill sued the U.S. Government, which eventually ended up paying him close to $6 million in damages before officially and explicitly exonerating him and apologizing. His lawsuit against the NYT and Kristof was dismissed since he was never named by the paper, but the columnist also apologized to him six years later.

  A full seven years after the attack, the FBI once again claimed that it had found the perpetrator: this time, it was the microbiologist Bruce Ivins, a long-time “biodefense” researcher at the U.S. Army’s infectious disease research lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Yet before he could be indicted, Ivins died, apparently by suicide, to avoid prosecution. As a result, the FBI was never required to prove its case in court. The agency insisted, however, that there was no doubt that Ivins was the anthrax killer, citing genetic analysis of the anthrax strain that they said conclusively matched the anthrax found in Ivins’ U.S. Army lab, along with circumstantial evidence pointing to him.

  But virtually every mainstream institution other than the FBI harbored doubts. The New York Times quoted Ivins’ co-workers as calling into question the FBI’s claims (“The investigators looked around, they decided they had to find somebody”), and the paper also cited “vocal skepticism from key members of Congress.” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), one of the targets of the anthrax letters, said explicitly he did not believe Ivins could have carried out the attacks alone. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and then-Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), a physicist, said the same to me in interviews. The nation’s three largest newspapers — The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal — all editorially called for independent investigations on the grounds that the FBI’s evidence was inconclusive if not outright unconvincing. One of the country’s most prestigious science journals, Nature, published an editorial under the headline “Case Not Closed,” arguing, about the FBI’s key claims, that “the jury is still out on those questions.”

  

  When an independent investigation was finally conducted in 2011 into the FBI’s scientific claims against Ivins, much of that doubt converted into full-blown skepticism. As The New York Times put it — in a 2011 article headlined “Expert Panel Is Critical of F.B.I. Work in Investigating Anthrax Letters” —  the review “concludes that the bureau overstated the strength of genetic analysis linking the mailed anthrax to a supply kept by Bruce E. Ivins.” A Washington Post article — headlined: “Anthrax report casts doubt on scientific evidence in FBI case against Bruce Ivins” — announced that “the report reignited a debate that has simmered among some scientists and others who have questioned the strength of the FBI’s evidence against Ivins.”

  An in-depth joint investigation by ProPublica, PBS and McClatchy — published under the headline “New Evidence Adds Doubt to FBI’s Case Against Anthrax Suspect” — concluded that “newly available documents and the accounts of Ivins’ former colleagues shed fresh light on the evidence and, while they don’t exonerate Ivins, are at odds with some of the science and circumstantial evidence that the government said would have convicted him of capital crimes.” It added: “even some of the government’s science consultants wonder whether the real killer is still at large.” The report itself, issued by the National Research Council, concluded that while the components of the anthrax in Ivins’ lab were “consistent” with the weaponized anthrax that had been sent, “the scientific link between the letter material and flask number RMR-1029 [found in Ivins’ lab] is not as conclusive as stated in the DOJ Investigative Summary.”

  

  In short, these were serious and widespread mainstream doubts about the FBI’s case against Ivins, and those have never been resolved. U.S. institutions seemingly agreed to simply move on without ever addressing lingering scientific and other evidentiary questions regarding whether Ivins was really involved in the anthrax attacks and, if so, how it was possible that he could have carried out this sophisticated attack within a top-secret U.S. Army lab acting alone. So whitewashed is this history that doubts about whether the FBI found the real perpetrator are now mocked by smug Smart People as a fringe conspiracy theory rather than what they had been: the consensus of mainstream institutions.

  ---

  But what we do know for certain from this anthrax investigation is quite serious. And because it is quite relevant to the current debates over the origins of COVID-19, it is well-worth reviewing. A trove of emails from Dr. Anthony Fauci — who was the government’s top infectious disease specialist during the AIDS pandemic, the anthrax attacks, and the COVID pandemic — was published on Monday by BuzzFeed after they were produced pursuant to a FOIA request. Among other things, they reveal that in February and March of last year — at the time that Fauci and others were dismissing any real possibility that the coronavirus inadvertently escaped from a lab, to the point that the Silicon Valley monopolies Facebook and Google banned any discussion of that theory — Fauci and his associates and colleagues were privately discussing the possibility that the virus had escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, possibly as part of a U.S.-funded joint program with the scientists at that lab.

  Last week, BBC reported that “in recent weeks the controversial claim that the pandemic might have leaked from a Chinese laboratory — once dismissed by many as a fringe conspiracy theory — has been gaining traction.” President Biden ordered an investigation into this lab-leak possibility. And with Democrats now open to this possibility, “Facebook reversed course Thursday and said that it would no longer remove posts that claim the virus is man-made,” reported The Washington Post. Nobody can rationally claim to know the origins of COVID, and that is exactly why — as I explained in an interview on the Rising program this morning — it should be so disturbing that Silicon Valley monopolies and the WHO/Fauci-led scientific community spent a full year pretending to have certainty about that “debunked” theory that they plainly did not possess, to the point where discussions of it were prohibited on social media.

  What we know — but have largely forgotten — from the anthrax case is now vital to recall. What made the anthrax attacks of 2001 particularly frightening was how sophisticated and deadly the strain was. It was not naturally occurring anthrax. Scientists quickly identified it as the notorious Ames strain, which researchers at the U.S. Army lab in Fort Detrick had essentially invented. As PBS’ Frontline program put it in 2011: “in October 2001, Northern Arizona University microbiologist Dr. Paul Keim identified that the anthrax used in the attack letters was the Ames strain, a development he described as ‘chilling’ because that particular strain was developed in U.S. government laboratories.” As Dr. Keim recalled in that Frontline interview about his 2001 analysis of the anthrax strain:

  We were surprised it was the Ames strain. And it was chilling at the same time, because the Ames strain is a laboratory strain that had been developed by the U.S. Army as a vaccine-challenge strain. We knew that it was highly virulent. In fact, that’s why the Army used it, because it represented a more potent challenge to vaccines that were being developed by the U.S. Army. It wasn’t just some random type of anthrax that you find in nature; it was a laboratory strain, and that was very significant to us, because that was the first hint that this might really be a bioterrorism event.

  Why was the U.S. government creating exotic and extraordinarily deadly infectious bacterial strains and viruses that, even in small quantities, could kill large numbers of people? The official position of the U.S. Government is that it does not engage in offensive bioweapons research: meaning research designed to create weaponized viruses as weapons of war. The U.S. has signed treaties barring such research. But in the wake of the anthrax attacks — especially once the FBI’s own theory was that the anthrax was sent by a U.S. Army scientist from his stash at Fort Detrick — U.S. officials were forced to acknowledge that they do engage in defensive bioweapons research: meaning research designed to allow the development of vaccines and other defenses in the event that another country unleashes a biological attack.

  But ultimately, that distinction barely matters. For both offensive and defensive bioweapons research, scientists must create, cultivate, manipulate and store non-natural viruses or infectious bacteria in their labs, whether to study them for weaponization or for vaccines. A fascinating-in-retrospect New Yorker article from March, 2002, featured the suspicions of molecular biologist Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, who had “strongly implied that the F.B.I. was moving much more slowly in its anthrax investigation than it had any reason to.” Like The New York Times, the magazine (without naming him) detailed her speculation that Dr. Hatfill was the perpetrator (though her theory about his motive — that he wanted to scare people about anthrax in order to increase funding for research — was virtually identical to the FBI’s ultimate accusations about Dr. Ivins’ motives).

  But the key point that is particularly relevant now is what all of this said about the kind of very dangerous research the U.S. Government, along with other large governments, conducts in bioweapons research labs. Namely, they manufacture and store extremely lethal biological agents that, if they escape from the lab either deliberately or inadvertently, can jeopardize the human species. As the article put it:

  The United States officially forswore biological-weapons development in 1969, and signed the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, along with many other nations. But Rosenberg believes that the American bioweapons program, which won’t allow itself to be monitored, may not be in strict compliance with the convention. If the perpetrator of the anthrax attacks is who she thinks it is, that would put the American program in a bad light, and it would prove that she was right to demand that the program be monitored.

  If the government is saying that the perpetrator was probably an American, it’s hard to imagine how it couldn’t have been an American who worked in a government-supported bioweapons lab. Think back to the panicky month of October [2001]: would knowing that have made you less nervous, or more?

  Having extensively reported on the FBI’s investigation into the anthrax case and ultimate claim to have solved it, I continue to share all the doubts that were so widely expressed at the time about whether any of that was true. But what we know for certain is that the U.S. government and other governments do conduct research which requires the manufacture of deadly viruses and infectious bacterial strains. Dr. Fauci has acknowledged that the U.S. government indirectly funded research by the Wuhan Institute of Virology into coronaviruses, though he denies that this was for so-called “gain of function” research, whereby naturally occurring viruses are manipulated to make them more transmissible and/or more harmful to humans.

  We do not know for sure if the COVID-19 virus escaped from the Wuhan lab, another lab, or jumped from animals to humans. But what we do know for certain — from the anthrax investigation — is that governments most definitely conduct the sort of research that could produce novel coronaviruses. Dr. Rosenberg, the subject of the 2002 New Yorker article, was suggesting that the F.B.I. was purposely impeding its own investigation because they knew that the anthrax actually came from the U.S. government’s own lab and wanted to prevent exposure of the real bio-research that is done there. We should again ponder why the pervasive mainstream doubts about the F.B.I.’s case against Ivins have been memory-holed. We should also reflect on what we learned about government research into highly lethal viruses and bacterial strains from that still-strange episode.

  ---

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  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 19:40

• Iran's Zarif Gleefully Wishes Netanyahu Farewell "Into The Dustbin Of History"
  Iran’s Zarif Gleefully Wishes Netanyahu Farewell “Into The Dustbin Of History”

  With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu engaged in desperate 11th hour scrambling to try and pick off enough lawmakers on the right-wing to deny a power-sharing government under an unlikely coalition formed by Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid and Ra’am (United Arab List) chairman Mansour Abbas – Iran has taken a moment to mock Israel’s longest serving prime minister as he’s on his way out.

  Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in a Thursday tweet said farewell to Netanyahu and his “disgraceful” political journey which has taken he and his allies “into the dustbin of history”. He wrote provocatively that “Netanyahu has joined the disgraceful journey of his anti-Iran co-conspirators—Bolton, Trump and Pompeo—into the dustbin of history.”

  

  He continued in the social media message: “Iran continues to stand tall. This destiny has been repeated over several millennia for all those wishing Iranians harm. Time to change course.” The “changing course” could be a reference to positive momentum in Vienna as Tehran looks to be on the verge of striking a restored nuclear deal with world powers, which Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have sought to thwart at all costs.

  Indeed during Trump and Netanyahu’s tenures and close intelligence coordination, Iran very nearly saw itself in a full-blown war with the US and its allies, especially following the Trump-approved assassination of IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani on January 3rd, 2020.

  Zarif and Netanyahu throughout the years of the Trump administration often engaged in bellicose indirect verbal attacks via statements, also as it became clear Israel was behind a string of assassinations, including the Islamic Republic’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in November 2020.

  Netanyahu has joined the disgraceful journey of his anti-Iran co-conspirators—Bolton, Trump and Pompeo—into the dustbin of history.

  Iran continues to stand tall.

  This destiny has been repeated over several millennia for all those wishing Iranians harm.

  Time to change course.

  — Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 3, 2021

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

  On Thursday Netanyahu again accused his one-time close ally Naftali Bennet of being a traitor and “selling out” – saying that “All right-wing Knesset members must oppose this dangerous left-wing government.” He also called the newly proposed government the “fraud of the century” which will endanger citizens’ lives. 

  The new so-called “change coalition” is moving fast seeking Knesset approval, with The Hill noting that “Picking off right-wing coalition members is likely the only way to undermine the group before the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, holds a confidence vote in the coming days to confirm the coalition’s status as the ruling government.”

  

  If confirmed then Netanyahu would finally be out and is expected to become the opposition head, but is further expected to face criminal charges while no longer enjoying the immunity afforded by the PM’s office. Bennet would serve the first two years and prime minister, with Lapid serving the latter two of the four-year term.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 19:20

• Victor Davis Hanson: Never Let A Plague Go To Waste
  Victor Davis Hanson: Never Let A Plague Go To Waste

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via PJMedia.com,

  During America’s first-ever national lockdown, thousands of unelected bureaucrats, as well as federal and state governments, assumed enormous powers not usually accorded to them.

  

  They picked and chose which businesses could stay open without much rationale. They sent the infected into nursing homes occupied by the weak and vulnerable.

  Their rules for prosecuting those who violated social distancing, sheltering in place, mask wearing or violent protesting often hinged on political grounds. Their spending measures on “infrastructure” and “health care” were excuses to lard up redistributive entitlements.

  Conservatives moaned that left-wing agendas were at work beneath the pretenses of saving us from the pandemic. And the giddy left bragged that it was true.

  After the 2008 financial meltdown, Barack Obama spoke of “fundamentally transforming” the country.

  Now he’s back, weighing in on the panic-driven, multitrillion-dollar spending that has pushed America’s debt to nearly $30 trillion.

  “There’s a teachable moment about maybe this whole deficit hawk thing of the federal government,” Obama said in a recent interview with Ezra Klein of The New York Times.

  “Just being nervous about our debt 30 years from now, while millions of people are suffering — maybe that’s not a smart way to think about our economics.”

  He apparently means that borrowing tons of money in a pandemic and not worrying too much about paying it back is a new, better approach to economics.

  Last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom boasted about leveraging California’s statewide quarantine.

  “There is opportunity for reimagining a progressive era as it pertains to capitalism,” Newsom said. “So yes, absolutely, we see this as an opportunity to reshape the way we do business and how we govern.”

  Hillary Clinton said something similar early in the pandemic:

  “… This would be a terrible crisis to waste as the old saying goes. We’ve learned a lot about what our absolute frailties are in our country when it comes to health justice and economic justice …”

  The “old saying” she cited was actually a recycled quote from Rahm Emanuel, who was Obama’s chief of staff. His exact quote was: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”

  Later, Emanuel clarified that crises allow radical changes that had never been considered or were considered impossible. Without catastrophe, no one in his right mind would vote for far-left agendas.

  Manipulating COVID-19 is not just a left-wing effort. The Davos crowd responsible for the World Economic Forum has talked of using the global crisis to push “the Great Reset.” These self-appointed guardians wish to create global rules governing the world’s economy, energy, transportation, education, climate, wealth distribution and media. In other words, a few elites will seek to override local laws.

  What do all these efforts have in common?

  One, they are all top-down agendas. Polls show that average Americans are worried about massive borrowing. They fear the government gaining new powers under the pretext of a pandemic.

  Two, our elites are anti-democratic. They talk of forcing change down the throats of citizens through edicts, executive orders, court decisions or bureaucratic directives. Obama, Newsom, Clinton and the Great Resetters don’t want to put up their agendas for discussion before the people and their elected representatives.

  Three, behind fancy slogans about not wasting crises, teachable moments and resets is the panic-porn reality that these initiatives are not popular in normal times because they defy common sense. If Americans tried Obama’s economics with their family budgets, they would go broke or go to jail after piling up unpaid debts. Only elites, with their private security guards and the money and influence to remain safe, talk of defunding the police. Few of the woke elites who fly their carbon-spewing jets into Davos ever fly economy class.

  Four, our rich revolutionaries have no record of policy success. Massive borrowing, increasing government powers, restrictions on personal freedoms, higher taxes and more regulations don’t appeal to most Americans. Brexit and pushbacks against the European Union suggest that the same is true abroad.

  Many members of the left-wing elite became wealthy by monetizing their political careers through lucrative insider networking. A cynic might conclude they didn’t go full reset until they first got filthy rich — allowing them not to live like, think like or listen to the rest of us.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 19:00

• Starting Lawyer Bonuses Soar To Record $164,000 Amid Unprecedented Comp Surge
  Starting Lawyer Bonuses Soar To Record $164,000 Amid Unprecedented Comp Surge

  Think wage wars are only taking place among minimum wage workers, who (until September at least) are getting paid more from Uncle Sam to stay home and do nothing? Think again.

  Amid numerous anecdotes of sticky wages at the high-end of the jobs spectrum, one stands out: as Bloomberg reports today, in September 2020, the Palo Alto-based Cooley law firm announced it was handing out $2,500 to $7,500 in one-time payments to associates. The bonuses came as the firm –  along with many others in the legal industry – realized it was both flush with cash and facing worker burnout during the pandemic.

  And as frequently happens amid the top-paid jobs where competition for talent is furious, Cooley’s move was quickly matched by others, including Davis Polk & Wardwell and Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Meanwhile, even though most attorneys at larger firms expect to receive one annual bonus, one payout was becoming two and now potentially three in a single year.

  The result: bonuses soared to as much as $140,000 last year for a senior associate, and they’ve kept coming in 2021, with a potential windfall of $164,000 on top of salary by year end. Alongside the added cash, firms promised more time off and extended work-from-home arrangements, all part of an effort to retain and attract talent for what are often grueling 100-hour work weeks.

  

  With every firm rushing to match everyone else’s bonuses, an arms race has broken within in the industry, which has long had a tepid, coordinated, lockstep approach to salaries.

  Lawyers for the largest U.S. firms traditionally earn based on the “Cravath scale,” a historical practice of following the wages set each year by Cravath Swaine & Moore.

  According to Bloomberg, first-year associates joining a major firm in 2021 will be paid $190,000 in salary, an amount that hasn’t changed since 2018, according to Biglaw Investor, which tracks compensation. An associate entering her or his eighth year with a major firm should expect to be paid $340,000.

  While the industry has not nearly suffered as much from the labor shortage that has hammered much of corporate America (there are more than enough lawyers out there), the bonus windfall has been due largely to the feverish rush of corporate work that hit in the latter half of 2020, most notably a rash of restructuring filings, as well as new efforts to raise capital and the blank-check merger frenzy, the same drivers behind a frenzy of hiring for entry level bankers.

  To be sure, the US legal industry, which reported 2.3% unemployment in March, is far from the only one boosting pay and offering better working conditions to hold onto or attract workers. Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are also facing strong demand for investment bankers and offering junior workers more money, vacations and even forced Saturdays off. And while there are plenty of senior-level lawyers, the same is not true at the entry level: as a result, holding onto young lawyers is critical as the market for associates heats up, especially for those practicing corporate law.

  “We’re not seeing firms ask us for one or two associates. Some are coming to us saying we need 10,” said Summer Eberhard, West Coast-based managing director in the associate practice group at legal recruiter Major Lindsey & Africa.

  Paradoxically, the boom in legal services (and bonuses) comes after law firms had prepared for the worst last summer, in the wake of the coronavirus. Many firms cut salaries for lawyers and staff, while some furloughed their employees to get through what they thought would be a massive economic downturn.

  Instead, 2020 turned into a windfall year for the industry’s top 100 law firms by revenue, which brought in almost $111 billion in revenue, up 6.6% from 2019 and the biggest increase since 2018, according to data from the American Lawyer. Here are the details, courtesy of Bloomberg:

  • The highest-grossing law firm, Kirkland & Ellis brought in $4.8 billion in revenue last year, while the runner up, Latham & Watkins LLP, brought in $4.3 billion.
  • Across the industry, the average equity partner — a senior lawyer who shares in the firm’s profits — took home $2.23 million, an increase of 13% from the prior year.
  • Top performing associates at big U.S. law firms can earn potential payouts in excess of $500,000, based on seniority.

  What is unique about this cycle is that the ripple effects are unusually being felt beyond just New York City and Silicon Valley, as smaller firms and international firms now also find themselves in a battle to keep pace with Big Law’s richest to keep their younger talent. Remote work options have complicated local salaries.

  “The bonuses are more impacting the industry beyond the walls of what it typically has,” Eberhard said. “This has broken that barrier.” At the same time, Big Law firms are paying in top of the market in regions where it would have previously been completely unheard of, like Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Seattle, she said.

  And, as observed across the rest of the economy, the spending spree by big firms “has forced the hands of a lot of smaller markets to increase their compensation because in order to compete with talent, they have to compete with the big firms’ compensation because the firms are so much more willing to have people sit in other markets,” Eberhard said.

  Bloomberg then notes that this bonus bonanza has also made its way to international markets: U.S.-based firms including Milbank, Paul Hastings and others extended bonuses to their London associates. Some of the elite U.K.-based firms in the so-called “Magic Circle” have followed suit — handing out one-time payments amounting to 5% of salary.

  A newly qualified lawyer at one of London’s top firms can earn as much as 100,000 pounds ($142,000) a year. That mark is still well below what some U.S. firms pay in London. Houston-based Vinson & Elkins LLP, for example, offers their junior lawyers in London 147,500 pounds a year.

  Canada’s top firms, known colloquially as the “Seven Sisters,” as well as other national and international firms have instituted a pair of bonuses for their associates, each equaling 10% of their base salary as well as signing bonuses, said Dal Bhathal, legal recruiter and managing partner of the Canada-based Counsel Network. “Associates are very busy, and these bonuses help compensate them for the additional work that they’re doing coupled with trying to do it in a pandemic,” she said.

  Then there are the signing bonuses.

  Many top U.S. law firms are also handing out “exorbitant” signing bonuses, ranging from $20,000 up to $100,000 for corporate practice attorneys, Eberhard said. Business Insider reported that mergers and acquisitions associates at Kirkland & Ellis are getting signing bonuses as high as $250,000.

  “Firms are being much more willing to pay what they need to pay in order to get really quality associates in the door,” Eberhard said.

  But wait there’s even more, because after signing bonuses come the retention bonuses.

  Once they have the lawyers, some firms have turned to retention bonuses to entice associates to stay — splitting payments so that workers get one in the spring and another in the fall, or even in 2022. “It’s just about keeping associates at the firm,” said Joshua Holt, a former Goodwin Procter associate and founder of Biglaw Investor. “I think it has a huge impact on retention,” Holt said.

  And it’s not just money being used to keep workers happy. DLA Piper, a global law firm with offices in more than 40 countries, offered its lawyers a “one-week thank you,” allowing them to choose between one week’s extra pay or a further week of holiday.

  “Throughout the pandemic our people have been exceptional,” said Simon Levine, DLA Piper’s global co-CEO. “The extra week’s pay or holiday is just one small way of us saying thank you to them for everything they have achieved in such a challenging year.”

  Finally, let’s not forget vacations.

  Hard-working associates need some period of recovery because that’s where performance improvement happens, said Mitch Zuklie, chairman and chief executive officer of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, an international law firm founded in San Francisco. In order to avoid burnout, Orrick implemented recently implemented its “Unplug Time” policy, which gives its attorneys and staff 40 hours of additional vacation per year. So far, Zuklie said 15% of associates have used the program.

  “It is a big problem when very talented people are saying I won’t do this for all the tea in China,” said Zuklie. “You have to listen and think about it and take that seriously.”

  Other Big Law firms have begun experimenting with solutions to help their associates outside of just pure cash. Dentons and Baker McKenzie have both experimented with no meetings days, while Davis Polk is offering its associates luxury gifts as a reward for their work.

  “It’s about sustaining top performance,” Zuklie said. “I think if we don’t get that right Big Law could really face an existential crisis and we could lose the talent that we’re working so hard to identify and attract, to train and to advance.”

  One attorney who left a position doing securities work for a big law firm last year and went to a smaller firm was able to do that while matching compensation — not including bonus — while working more manageable hours doing more varied work.

  The associate resigned after billing 13- and 14-hour days, multiple days in a row. “At that point I just did not care about the prestige anymore. I was having such bad days and nights where I just felt like I wasn’t being treated as a human,” said the associate, who asked not to be named to preserve relationships.

  “We all know what we signed up for, but you can’t work 7 days a week, nonstop.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 18:40

• Can Australia Satisfy Tesla's Appetite For Battery Metals?
  Can Australia Satisfy Tesla’s Appetite For Battery Metals?

  By OilPrice.com

  Electric cars giant Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) said it expects to soon begin buying more than $1 billion a year of Australian lithium, nickel and other critical minerals for its batteries and engines. Chairman Robyn Denholm said the country has taken important steps towards cleaning its image of polluting commodities exporter and it is poised to become a globally significant supplier of climate change solutions.

  “Australia has the minerals to power the renewable energy age throughout the world in the coming years,” Denholm, an Australian, said in a speech during a Minerals Council of Australia event.

  “We expect our spend on Australian minerals to increase to more than $1 billion per annum for the next few years,” she said.

  Denholm’s remarks come as Australia’s minerals sector released its first progress report on climate action, which shows the industry has cut emissions and is on track to reach a 30% annual reduction.

  

  The document highlights 12 case studies on how the industry is taking practical climate action, including the rollout of renewables, carbon capture and storage development and investment in autonomous vehicles from major players such as BHP, Rio Tinto, Newcrest, Newmont, and Anglo American.

  Tesla already sources three-quarters of the lithium it uses from Australia and over a third of its nickel, Denham said, without specifying a dollar figure.

  $310 billion market by 2030

  Tesla chairman also noted that the country has the advantage of having resources in all three critical battery metals as well as other components at the heart of the clean energy transition.

  “To put it a simpler way: electric vehicles account for less than 1% of vehicles globally at the moment. To reach net zero emissions, that needs to be much closer to 100% within 30 years. So that’s at least a 100-fold increase ahead, just for vehicles,” she said.

  Denholm said that shift would, by 2030, generate a global lithium-ion battery market of A$400 billion ($310bn).

  “That’s eight times the revenue generated by Australia’s coal exports in 2020,” she said.

  Government figures forecast exports of spodumene to hit A$1 billion ($773m) this year while its nickel exports are expected to be valued at A$4 billion ($3bn).

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 18:20

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• Credit Suisse Mulls Lawsuit Against SoftBank Over Greensill Collapse
  Credit Suisse Mulls Lawsuit Against SoftBank Over Greensill Collapse

  Desperate to appease furious clients who have threatened to walk away from Credit Suisse after losing billions of dollars invested with Greensill’s trade finianf Switzerland’s second-largest bank by assets is reportedly preparing to sue the Japanese telecoms giant.

  

  As for why? well, the decision harkens back to SoftBank’s abuse of Credit Suisse’s trade-finance business, which ended up imploding right before the bank’s eyes, saddling it and many of its most valuable clients, with losses.

  Certain SoftBank portfolio companies, including Katerra, the Softbank-backed construction startup that shut down on Wednesday, were financed by the trade finance funds. As we first reported back in 2019, in some cases, SoftBank portfolio companies like Katerra were being financed by the fund, while SoftBank also invested in the fund alongside other clients. But this conflict of interest wasn’t disclosed to other investors, or CS.

  Now, the Swiss banking giant is preparing to sue SoftBank as it scrambles to find money to appease some of the firm’s most high-profile customers (including sovereign wealth funds and others) who are threatening to walk after being suckered out of billions of dollars after CS gated its trade finance fund following the collapse of Greensilll.

  Before they collapsed, the funds ballooned to $10 billion before the bank suspended them in March, helping precipitate Greensill’s collapse

  Furthermore: The Financial Times earlier this year revealed that when SoftBank agreed to provide an emergency cash injection into Greensill in November 2020 to cover Katerra’s debts, the money never made it to Credit Suisse.

  “The question is, what did SoftBank know?” said a person with knowledge of the Swiss bank’s plans. “[The dispute] could potentially end up in the courts.”

  Over the weekend, the WSJ reported that Gov. Jim Justice had also borrowed from Greensill, and still owes more than $700MM thanks to the firm’s collapse.

  Should CS follow through, this would likely create one of the biggest publicity battles between American firms

  CS has so far returned $4.8 billion and plans a further repayment in the coming days. However, it has flagged that $2.3 billion of fund assets will be hard to recover, including $440MM from Katerra, $1.2 billion from UK industrialist Sanjeev Gupta and $690 Million from Bluestone Resources, a US coal mining business owned by West Virginia governor Jim Justice.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 02:45

• Ukraine Between Biden And A Hard Place
  Ukraine Between Biden And A Hard Place

  Submitted by South Front,

  Joe Biden’s extensive interest in Ukraine during his tenure as Obama’s vice president meant that US attention towards the country would instantly be elevated once the new administration came into power. The Burisma scandal which implicated Hunter Biden and which became a problem for Joe Biden on the campaign trail, combined with Biden’s own apparent frailty and avoidance of extensive public engagements, have meant that Biden himself is in fact yet to have a telephone conversation with Zelensky. However, whether he deliberately chose to outsource Ukraine policy to his trusted advisors or they are taking initiative in order to fill the vacuum of power left by their boss’ incapacity, US Ukraine policy has taken a number of new twists and turns in the less than two months of the Biden Administration.

  The Biden Administration’s actions so far indicate a certain degree of impatience with the goings-on in Kiev which is behaving in an all too independent fashion on many issues. Kiev’s decision to nationalize Motor Sich, an aircraft engine manufacturer whose purchase was sought by Chinese investors thus robbing Ukraine of a significant influx of badly needed hard currency, took place after Washington had expressed displeasure at Chinese companies’ foothold in Ukraine which moreover brings with it access to Soviet-era technologies attractive to China’s aerospace industries. This action was taken in spite of the considerable risk of Chinese retaliation, which indeed occurred in the form of China’s Foreign Ministry informing its Ukrainian counterpart that it would no longer respect their wishes concerning economic activities in the Crimea, something that Chinese firms have thus far shied away from. The US Embassy in Kiev’s instant endorsement of Zelensky’s shutdown of three opposition TV stations and the placement of sanctions, in violation of Ukraine’s own laws, on one of Ukraine’s opposition leaders Medvedchuk on the grounds that these were involved in spreading so-called “Russian disinformation” suggests that Washington was at the very least aware of the move and may even have prompted it. US sanctioning of Igor Kolomoysky on the basis of his corrupting Ukraine’s politics indicates that Zelensky had not gone far enough in fulfilling Washington’s wishes. In doing this Washington demonstrated it is willing to publicly humiliate Zelensky should he fail to display appropriate deference to their wishes. The question at this point becomes, in which direction will Washington push Zelensky? How far, what means will Washington use to get its way, and to what extent will Zelensky resist?

  The greatest service that Ukraine could render Biden’s administration is to launch an all-out assault on Novorossia. A pitched battle between Ukrainian and DPR/LPR forces would instantly create the appropriate headlines and provide the necessary additional pretexts to condemn Russia and introduce more economic sanctions. It would then deliver the outcome that no amount of phony poisonings of Navalny could, namely the suspension or even shut-down of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which has become such a thorn in the side of the Anglo-Saxon powers. A major military campaign involving several brigades supported by airpower and the now-operational Bayraktar TB-2 drones in an effort to replicate Azerbaijan’s success against Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh would place Moscow before the unenviable choice of abandoning the Donbass to its fate or committing its regular military forces to battle in Novorossia’s defense.

  Whether Ukraine’s political leadership is willing to undertake such a desperate measure, in a country whose president suffers from a 20% approval rating and which has seen extensive protests against the recent sharp increase in utility costs, is another question. On the one hand, Ukrainian troop movements near the Donbass have generated considerable attention, and exchanges of fire between Ukrainian and Novorossian forces appear to have continued at an elevated pace over the past several weeks. At the same time, no extraordinary measures such as the recall of reservists or closure of borders in order to prevent military-age males from leaving the country have been observed. While Ukraine’s Rada is considering laws making draft evasion more harshly punishable, these laws will not have an immediate impact, and appear to be a reaction to the failure to build up a professional army of volunteers or even to give the draftees a positive reason to serve. It has even been pointed out that the Ukrainian troop movements have been so ostentatious and lacking in even elementary efforts to preserve concealment and surprise that they represent a “war of nerves”, an exercise in brinksmanship, and possibly an effort to simulate action for the benefit of Washington, rather than genuine preparations for an offensive. A train carrying a reinforced tank company that had been spotted slowly passing three different railroad crossings in eastern Ukraine over the course of several days looks much like an operation staged for the benefit of ubiquitous smart phone cameras.

  Therefore the likelihood of the Ukrainian military opting for a large-scale offensive remains low due to the fear of heavy and pointless losses which might cause Ukraine’s military morale to collapse, with unpredictable consequences. Small-scale raids to capture select positions, shelling of Novorossia’s towns and cities, even a staged atrocity, remain more plausible and attractive from the political point of view. Ukraine’s most dangerous military capability is represented by Bayraktar drones, cruise missiles like the Neptun, and short-range ballistic missiles currently in service and being developed, because their use would not entail the danger of major Ukrainian personnel losses. Moreover, Novorossia’s forces would be hard pressed to retaliate in kind against such strikes and Russian efforts to do so would be highly provocative internationally and would carry the risk of causing Ukrainian civilian casualties. Fortunately for Novorossia, the drone park remains fairly small and the drones themselves are vulnerable to Novorossia’s air defenses, while the cruise and ballistic missiles are still years from large-scale operational deployment. The sort of missile bombardment that would represent a genuine threat to Novorossia’s unrecognized republics is still years away. By the time such a serious threat could materialize, Novorossia’s forces would likely have their own means of retaliation in the form of barrage munitions, also referred to as “suicide drones” that could be produced on the spot in Donetsk and Lugansk. However, Ukraine’s current capabilities are sufficient to launch provocations, including the bombardment of civilian targets as was the case in Mariupol in 2014.

  That Ukraine’s military is unwilling to risk another misadventure against Novorossia is evident enough, as is Zelensky’s reluctance to go down in history as the president who destroyed Ukraine. These considerations are unlikely to be salient for decisionmakers in Washington, who need Ukraine to advance US interests and are rather less concerned about the US advancing Ukraine’s interests. But the lengths to which Washington is willing to go to pressure Zelensky are still unclear, though the possibility of outright blackmail raised its head when a prominent Maidan propagandist Dmitry Gordon announced that on March 15, the “Ides of March” immortalized by the assassination of Julius Caesar, Ukraine would face a trial of historic proportions once a certain bombshell news story was revealed. While March 15 came and went with no bombshells or even duds, Gordon did reveal that the event consisted of a Bellingcat “investigation” into the SBU plot to lure Wagner PMC contractors into Ukraine in order to have them put on trial. The “bombshell” aspect of the Bellingcat effort is that the plot failed because of a highly placed source in Zelensky’s own presidential cabinet, who leaked it to Russian intelligence services. Considering Bellingcat’s reputation as a firm which does info-warfare “hits” on designated targets and Gordon’s hyping of the potential impact of the film once it becomes public, one has to consider the possibility that Bellingcat is part of a campaign to blackmail or even oust Zelensky from office should he fail to satisfy Washington’s demands.

  As noted previously, Zelensky has taken a dim view of Washington’s meddling in Ukraine’s affairs, though it remains to be seen whether he is able to stand up to even his own national security officials who ostensibly are subordinate to him but in reality take orders from Washington. Lacking the independent power base that allowed Poroshenko to resist Washington’s initiatives for “reforming” Ukraine’s economy, Zelensky may yet prove the ideal president from Washington’s perspective, if not Ukraine’s.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 02:00

• Fulton County Election Officials Sure Are Acting Like They Have Something To Hide
  Fulton County Election Officials Sure Are Acting Like They Have Something To Hide

  Authored by ‘ShipwreckedCrew’ via RedState.com,

  Last week, I reported on the developments in post-election litigation underway in Fulton County, Georgia, in which plaintiffs had obtained an order from a Georgia State Court judge giving them the authorization to inspect copies of 145,000 mailed-in absentee ballots from the November 2020 election.

  Judge Amero has ordered that high-resolution copies be made of the 145,000 absentee ballots, while the originals will remain in the custody of election officials. But the copies should allow the plaintiffs to look for certain kinds of possible irregularities such as whether any ballots were machine marked and then copied in large numbers. Mailed-in absentee ballots should all be hand-marked by the voter.

  The lawsuits are being opposed by officials of Fulton County, but Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — who professed over and over again that the outcome of the Georgia Presidential election was was free of fraud — applauded Judge Amero’s decision.

  In a statement, Raffensperger cited “a longstanding history of election mismanagement” in Fulton County.

  “From day one I have encouraged Georgians with legitimate concerns about the election in their counties to pursue those claims through legal avenues,” Raffensperger said. “Fulton County has a longstanding history of election mismanagement that has understandably weakened voters’ faith in its system. Allowing this audit provides another layer of transparency and citizen engagement.”

  A little more than a week has now passed since Judge Amero’s order, and some disconcerting events have transpired during that time.

  

  Judge Amero’s order specified that the plaintiffs would be allowed to inspect high-resolution copies of the 145,000 ballots, but that the original ballots would remain in a secured county facility.  The details of the copying and inspection were to be worked out between the parties and the court.  In granting the motion to inspect the ballots, Judge Amero noted that no party had asked that the complaint be dismissed.

  But after Judge Amero’s Order, on May 26 Fulton County filed a motion to dismiss the complaint.  In addition to claiming that Fulton County itself should not be subject to the complaint since the elections were run by the County Board of Elections, Fulton County also alleged the plaintiffs failed to comply with the statutory requirements for filing an “election contest,” and on that basis, the complaint should be dismissed.

  Judge Amero had scheduled a meeting at the ballot storage warehouse to take place on May 27. In response to the motions filed on May 26, Judge Amero postponed the meeting.  He stated that the motions must be resolved prior to the court granting access and inspection to the ballots.

  That is where the court proceedings stood as of last Friday. 

  But that isn’t all that happened.

  On Saturday, May 29, at approximately 4:30, an alarm went off at the warehouse facility where the original ballots are stored in a locked room. Security responded – more on that below – and found the warehouse door unlocked and open.  The storage location is at 1365 English Street, in Atlanta, which is the address for the “Fulton County Election Preparation Center.”

  According to the website CreativeDestructionMedia.com, it conducted an interview with the attorney for the plaintiffs, Robert Cheeley regarding the events leading up to the alarm on Saturday.

  Back on May 21, not confident in the security provided by Fulton County, Cheeley had arranged for off-duty police to sit in police vehicles and watch over the storage location.  Cheeley claims Fulton County attorneys complained to Judge Amero that the off-duty police officers were “intimidating” Fulton County Election Board workers because they were parked in the parking lot of the county building.  He claimed the Fulton County officials told the judge they might arrest the off-duty officers for “trespassing”.

  To end the petty squabble, Judge Amero asked Cheeley to have his off-duty security park on the public street in front of the facility and not park in the parking lot.

  Starting on May 25, Fulton County began to have two on-duty Fulton County Sheriff’s Deputies provide security for the storage location pursuant to Judge Amero’s order that they provide 24/7 security of the ballots until they were copied and inspected.

  But on Saturday, May 29, both vehicles left the parking lot at 4:00 p.m. and were gone for two hours.  At 4:30, the alarm went off.

  The alarm was noticed by the off-duty private security sitting in their car on the street.  They went to investigate and found the door unlocked and open.

  This is a picture is that the attorney provided of the door left open at the supposedly secure building were the ballots are being kept. pic.twitter.com/jfqJ2zkdtt

  — Emerald Robinson ✝️ (@EmeraldRobinson) May 30, 2021

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

  According to Cheeley, it wasn’t until 8:00 pm that a Fulton County official arrived that the location to lock the door — a key was required to do so.

  Cheeley received an email from an individual named Bob Ferguson, who seems to be connected to Fulton County or the Sheriff’s Office based on the contents of the email:

  Two Fulton County deputies who were assigned to watch the secure building where the ballots were being kept appear to have the left the building 20 minutes before the alarm went off. pic.twitter.com/5B9Ej5nyul

  — Emerald Robinson ✝️ (@EmeraldRobinson) May 31, 2021

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

  [h/t to Emerald Robinson and Newsmax who have been on this story since it first broke on Saturday].

  May 22 and May 29 were both Saturdays, and the alarm went off both days.  If you look closely at pictures of the door, you can see there is no knob or handle on the inside, with only a deadbolt knob above the handle area of the door.  There is likely only a handle on the outside, without a latching mechanism, and the deadbolt on the outside is turned with a key.  If the deadbolt is not turned to the locked position, the door can simply be pulled open.

  Cheeley said in his interview that he intends to file motions for contempt of court this week with respect to the County’s failure to comply with the Court’s order that the ballots be kept in a secured location.  Whether or not anything actually happened with regard to the ballots stored inside is likely a question that won’t be answered until the motions filed by the County are resolved.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 06/03/2021 – 00:05

• These Are The World's 25 Richest Millennial Billionaires
  These Are The World’s 25 Richest Millennial Billionaires

  There are 2,755 billionaires globally – and combined, they are worth over $13 trillion.

  Of these ultra wealthy individuals, Visual Capitalist’s Avery Koop notes that just over 100 are millennials, born between the years 1981 and 1996. This young generation represents around 3.8% of all billionaires on a global basis with a combined net worth of $573.1 billion.

  This visualization, using data from Forbes, ranks the richest 25 millennial billionaires and details their source of wealth, total net worth, nationality, and age.

  

  Note: Forbes categorized billionaires by current age (2021). For those slightly over or under the age range of Millennials, meaning those who are currently 24 or 40 years old (i.e. they could have been born in either 1996/1997 or 1980/1981), if their birth year could not be accurately determined, they were left out of this ranking.

  Who are the Millennial Billionaires?

  The oldest millennials will be turning 40 in 2021, while the youngest are just turning 25. This means that millennial billionaires are generally the youngest billionaires in the world, save two Gen Zers: Wang Zelong of China, 24, and Kevin David Lehmann of Germany, 18.

  The U.S. is home to the most millennial billionaires at 33 total, with China coming in second at 23—most other countries fall far behind.

  In the U.S., millennial billionaires are often associated with notable tech companies like Snapchat, Airbnb, and Facebook. Others are heirs of massive family fortunes like Lukas Walton—grandson of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart and the original head of America’s richest family.

  In China, some millennial billionaires really stand out, like Relx founder, Kate Wang. The 39-year-old started her e-cigarette and vape company only three years ago, at age 36, and is expected to soon be vying for the title of richest woman in China.

  Billionaire Growth

  Overall, billionaires were up $8 trillion in combined net worth compared to 2020 with around 493 new people added to the list in 2021.

  In fact, 86% of all billionaires are richer than a year ago. But let’s look at how wealth changed for the millennials in the billionaires club. Here’s a look at the difference in net worth from 2020 to 2021 for the top five richest millennials:

  • Mark Zuckerberg: +$35 Billion

  • Zhang Yiming: +$19.4 Billion

  • Yang Huiyan: +$9.3 Billion

  • Dustin Moskovitz: +$8.5 Billion

  • Su Hua: +$14.9 Billion

  For each of the top 25 millennial billionaires, net worth either increased or was unchanged (or they were new to the title of billionaire). This is true for all except one person—Lukas Walton, whose net worth decreased by almost $3 billion from 2020 to 2021.

  The Average Millennial

  While there are around 106 millennial billionaires worldwide, their combined net worth is only a fraction of total billionaire wealth. So how much economic power and influence does this generation really hold?

  When looking at the average American millennial’s wealth, the Generational Power Index has determined that this young generation only holds 9.6% of economic power in the U.S. Here’s a quick look at millennial wealth metrics in the U.S.:

  • Millennials only make up 7% of American business leaders

  • They own $73 billion in equities and mutual fund shares

  • They represent 13% of small business leaders

  • They make up 7% of American billionaire wealth

  Globally, there are an estimated 1.8 billion millennials. Among that cohort, there are just over 100 people worth billions—and given that many are still in the early part of their careers, there is likely to be many millennial billionaires yet to come.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 23:45

• Tesla Establishes Data Center In China, With All Data To Be Kept In China
  Tesla Establishes Data Center In China, With All Data To Be Kept In China

  Authored by Jessica Mao via The Epoch Times,

  Tesla has established a data center in China, the company said last week, and data generated by all cars sold in the country will be stored domestically.

  

  A May 25 post on the Weibo social media site said that the data center has already been built and the company plans on expanding its data network in China.

  Tesla also said they want to start a platform where Tesla owners can make inquiries regarding their cars, and focus their efforts on ensuring the smooth operation of their databases as well as safeguarding customer data.

  The column Daily Car Watch on Chinese news portal Sohu wrote on May 26 that these data centers are a response to the Chinese regime’s agencies blocking Tesla from operating in China. They are also addressing incidents of data loss that led to car owners complaining the cars’ brakes were malfunctioning.

  According to Reuters, citing anonymous sources, employees in various Chinese Communist Party (CCP) departments were not allowed to park their Tesla cars in the vicinity of the regime’s offices due to the security risks presented by the cameras installed in Tesla vehicles. Despite many other cars also having similar technology installed in them, the ban only applies to Tesla, according to Reuters.

  The data centers also stirred up conversation among netizens in China.

  NeochaEDGE, which is recognized as one of the top 10 most influential Weibo accounts reporting on the digital world, said that Tesla is becoming another Guizhou-Cloud Big Data.

  Guizhou-Cloud Big Data refers to when Apple handed all of the data from its Chinese iCloud users over to Guizhou-Cloud Big Data for management and operation. The Guizhou State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission is the largest shareholder in Guizhou-Cloud Big Data. This move not only made the data of Chinese iCloud users vulnerable, but also involuntarily violated the freedom and safety of Chinese citizens.

  One Chinese netizen said that it was clear who was pushing for Tesla’s move behind the scenes, attempting to obtain control over Tesla’s data.

  Another netizen said that Tesla’s actions were inevitable and how leaving their data in China under CCP control was the company’s ticket into the Chinese market.

  On May 12, the CCP’s digital office issued “Provisions on the Management of Automobile Data Security (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)” that set the boundaries for automobile data security.

  Article two of the provision says how in the “process of design, production, sales, operation, maintenance, and management of automobiles within the territory of the People’s Republic of China, operators shall collect, analyze, store, transmit, query, utilize, delete, and provide (hereinafter collectively referred to as process) personal information or important data overseas in compliance with relevant laws and regulations and the requirements of this regulation.”

  Tesla reposted the regulation on its official Weibo account and stated, “We support this decision.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 23:25

• Baltimore City Homicide Rate Surpasses 2020 Rates Amid Rash Of Gun Violence 
  Baltimore City Homicide Rate Surpasses 2020 Rates Amid Rash Of Gun Violence 

  Baltimore City continues to slide into a socio-economic mess, with wealth inequality at record highs and violent crime surging. 

  Local news WJZ 13 reports Baltimore’s homicide rate is outpacing the 2020 rate. As of June 2, the city has reported 138 homicides, compared to 130 this time last year. Non-fatal shootings have also been on the rise, 269 so far, compared to 230 this time last year. 

  After a bloody weekend, newly elected Mayor Brandon Scott issued a statement: 

  “The gun violence witnessed this weekend shows us that there are cowards among us who are willing to take a life, no matter how small or insignificant the beef. We must hold them accountable and rid our streets of the weapons they use to take our daughters and sons away from us. I will be meeting with Commissioner Harrison to discuss what changes need to happen for the Baltimore Police Department to have a greater immediate impact on this violence. I will also be determining what other agencies can bring to the table to bolster these efforts.”

  This all comes as Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby halted prosecuting minor traffic violations, prostitution, drug possession, and other minor offenses during the virus pandemic. In March, she held a press conference to declare rough policing doesn’t work to prevent more violent crimes. 

  But months later, perhaps Mosby’s grand experiment is failing as Baltimore’s spending board approves police funding hikes. 

  If the pace of homicides continues, the metro area will experience more than 300 homicides by the end of the year. Shooting deaths have been elevated since the police killing of Freddie Gray in 2015. 

  

  Notice homicides by cause of death are primarily shootings and increase during warmer months. 

  

  Scott and Mosby might need a better policing plan as the liberal-run city, like many others across the country, descend into chaos. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 23:05

• Teacher Uses Concealed Gun To Stop Alleged Schoolyard Kidnapping Of Utah Girl
  Teacher Uses Concealed Gun To Stop Alleged Schoolyard Kidnapping Of Utah Girl

  Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A school teacher in Ogden, Utah has been hailed a hero for preventing the alleged kidnapping of an 11-year-old girl from a school playground by using his concealed firearm.

  

  Lt. Brian Eynon of the Ogden City Police Department described the incident to ABC4.

  “An employee was watching the kids from the inside and observed the suspect walk up to this 11-year-old girl [on the playground] and put his hands on her in an attempt to take her,” Lt. Eynon said. “He ran outside, the employee did, and confronted the suspect. At that same time, the girl had the ability to pull away from the suspect.”

  According to ABC4, the teacher got all 20 students away from the playground and into the school, which the suspect then tried to force his way into.

  After approaching the building, the suspect, 41-year-old Ira Cox-Berry, punched on the window trying to get through—that’s when the teacher reportedly produced a firearm and held the suspect off while calling 911.

  The teacher was a concealed carry permit holder.

  However, as of May 5, people over 21 who may legally possess a firearm are no longer required to have a concealed carry permit after the state legislature passed HB0060.

  Lt. Eynon thinks the actions of the “heroic employee” saved a life or at least prevented injury.

  “This employee is protected under the Second Amendment,” Lt. Eynon said. “He followed all policy and procedure at the school, and in this particular case, did everything that he should have done to protect the innocent lives of the children at the school.”

  Police took Cox-Berry, who they said was high on some type of narcotics, into custody after a brief struggle, ABC4 reported.

  Investigators say there is no link between Cox-Berry and the young girl.

  “This teacher, in particular, was very prepared emotionally to confront a suspect he didn’t know, that was most likely on drugs, could be dangerous, could have been armed, and he took it upon himself to protect and be a hero, frankly, for the children who were on scene there when this went down,” Lt. Eynon said.

  Ogden School District’s Jer Bates told ABC4 the teacher was “a hero” for keeping the students and staff safe.

  “A teacher intervened when there was a situation that threatened students’ safety,” Bates said. “This teacher, this school employee, is a hero.”

  “Yes, it was a very scary situation, something we take very seriously, but it came out with a good ending, meaning no students were physically harmed, no adults were physically harmed, that this was an incident where our emergency response protocols were acted out,” he added.

  The school district has provided counselors to help the students deal with the trauma, and Bates said the 11-year-old girl was “coping quite well considering the very traumatic experience that they endured.”

  Cox-Berry is in Weber County Jail on one count of child kidnapping, a first-degree felony. Police say more charges are pending.

  Follow Caden on Twitter: @cadenpearson

   

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 22:45

• More Workers Are Quitting Their Jobs Instead Of Returning To The Office
  More Workers Are Quitting Their Jobs Instead Of Returning To The Office

  A few hours ago, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, a longtime member on the FOMC (though he doesn’t have a vote this year), told the FT that the American labor market is tighter than it appears, and that he was “starting to advocate” for the Fed to look at “other measures of job market tightness”.

  As the market braces for the next monthly jobs number (the first since April’s historic miss on expectations), Bloomberg News has just published another post reminding investors that what motivates workers isn’t always straightforward, or the same for everyone, and that a surprising number of white collar workers are quitting their jobs instead of returning to the office. The takeaway from the post is that many workers who were hired with the promise that they remain 100% remote are bucking when they’re suddenly being pressured to return to the office.

  

  That could be bad news for JP Morgan and other banks who have pledged to keep workers coming into the office, especially as more tech firms embrace the ‘work from anywhere’ ethic.

  A six-minute meeting drove Portia Twidt to quit her job.

  She’d taken the position as a research compliance specialist in February, enticed by promises of remote work. Then came the prodding to go into the office. Meeting invites piled up.

  The final straw came a few weeks ago: the request for an in-person gathering, scheduled for all of 360 seconds. Twidt got dressed, dropped her two kids at daycare, drove to the office, had the brief chat and decided she was done.

  “I had just had it,” said Twidt, 33, who lives in Marietta, Georgia.

  With the coronavirus pandemic receding for every vaccine that reaches an arm, the push by some employers to get people back into offices is clashing with workers who’ve embraced remote work as the new normal.

  Some workers told Bloomberg that they’re worried mostly about the type of intensely hands-on management styles preferred by some bosses who, incidentally, are probably among the most vocal proponents of returning to the office.

  With the coronavirus pandemic receding for every vaccine that reaches an arm, the push by some employers to get people back into offices is clashing with workers who’ve embraced remote work as the new normal.

  Right now, it’s too early to tell how many workers are actually going to return to the office. It’s still too early to say how the post-pandemic work environment will look. Only about 28% of US office workers have returned to their buildings, according to an index of 10 metro areas compiled by security company Kastle Systems.

  JPM has already recalled most of its white collar workforce back to the office, but other banks and other firms, including tech giants like Google, are looking at allowing their workers to continue on remotely.

  For older workers, especially those with kids, the time that they save from not commuting has been critical. The lack of commutes, and associated cost savings are the top benefits of remote work, according to a FlexJobs survey of 2,100 people released in April. More than one-third of the respondents said they save at least $5K per year by working remotely.

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Another worker who spoke with Bloomberg is, like many others, using the time they saved to work on a small business.

  Jimme Hendrix, a 30-year-old software developer in the Netherlands, quit his job in December as the web-application company he worked for was gearing up to bring employees back to the office in February.

  “During Covid I really started to see how much I enjoyed working from home,” Hendrix said.

  Now he does freelance work and helps his girlfriend grow her art business. He used to spend two hours each day commuting; now the couple is considering selling their car and instead relying on bikes.

  One of the main benefits, he says, is more control over his own time: “I can just do whatever I want around the house, like a quick chore didn’t have to wait until like 8 p.m. anymore, or I can go for a quick walk.”

  Bosses who take a hard stance on remote work should prepare to lose workers, especially those with more marketable skills. According to a Jan. 12 PwC survey of 133 executives, fewer than 20% said they wanted to go back to pre-pandemic routines. But only 13% were prepared to abandon the office for good.

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  One previously anonymous IT worker set off a firestorm on Twitter when he commented that his colleagues “started quitting” when the bosses started talking about a return to the office. Gene Garland, 24, told Bloomberg that two of his colleagues handed in their resignation letters almost immediately.

  Bro, they said no more teleworking and my co-workers started QUITTING

  — Genie 🍎🦉🗽 (@GenieShinobi) May 3, 2021

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

  Twidt, the young woman who quit after being pushed to attend a brief in-person meeting said she quickly found a new all-remote position. When she asked the recruiter who approached her about being 100% remote, the recruiter replied: “We can do that for you immediately”.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 22:25

• China's "Artificial Sun" Sets World Record Running At 120 Million Degrees For 101 Seconds
  China’s “Artificial Sun” Sets World Record Running At 120 Million Degrees For 101 Seconds

  Authored by Elias Marat via TheMindUnleashed.com,

  China’s goal is to develop clean energy sources through next-generation nuclear fusion technology.

  

  Chinese researchers have achieved a new world record after scientists developing an “artificial sun” ran the device on Friday at a record-shattering temperature of 120 million degrees Celsius for over 100 seconds.

  The experiment was held at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, China.

  The exercise is a part of the China’s efforts to develop new clean energy sources through the development of next-generation nuclear fusion reactor technology.

  Known as the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), the “Chinese artificial sun” managed to generate plasma temperatures of 120 million degrees Celsius for 101 seconds before scientists also realized a temperature of 160 million degrees Celsius for an additional 20 seconds.

  The goal of EAST is to create Sun-like energy using deuterium, a hydrogen isotope that is plentiful in the ocean and can provide a steady flow of clean energy. According to estimates, one liter of seawater contains enough deuterium to produce energy equivalent to 300 liters of gasoline.

  China hopes that it can replace fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas with the fusion energy in order to achieve carbon neutrality and a more ecological society.

  “It’s a huge achievement in China’s physics and engineering fields. The experiment’s success lays the foundation for China to build its own nuclear fusion energy station,” ASIPP director Song Yuntao said, according to People’s Daily.

  The EAST artificial sun is also part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, a joint effort by global scientists that includes the input of scientists from China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States.

  Experts hope that if development proceeds at the current rate, successful nuclear fusion could be achieved within three decades.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 22:05

• "That Was A Lie": Tucker Carlson Levels Fauci After FOIA Emails Connect The Dots
  “That Was A Lie”: Tucker Carlson Levels Fauci After FOIA Emails Connect The Dots

  Fox News’ Tucker Carlson ripped “the utter fraudulence of Tony Fauci” Wednesday night, after BuzzFeed and the Washington Post obtained thousands of pages of emails through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, revealing that the nation’s top virologist was telling the public one thing, while furiously working on damage control and narrative-shaping as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded.

  

  According to Carlson, Americans assumed “that the man in charge of protecting the US from COVID must be rational and impressive,” adding “We also assumed he must be honest. But we were wrong.

  “It soon became clear that Tony Fauci was just another sleazy federal bureaucrat – deeply political and often dishonest. More shocking than that we then learned that Fauci himself was implicated in the very pandemic he’d been charged with fighting.”

  “Fauci supported the grotesque and dangerous experiments that appeared to have made COVID possible.” -Tucker Carlson

  Fauci’s emails collectively show that “from the beginning, Tony Fauci was worried that the public might conclude COVID had originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

  “Why would he be concerned that Americans would conclude that?” Tucker asked. “Possibly because Tony Fauci knew that he had funded gain-of-function experiments at that very same laboratory.“

  “The emails prove that Fauci lied about this under oath,” said Tucker, who highlighted an email from scientist Christian G. Anderson to Fauci, saying that he and his fellow scientists felt the virus looked ‘potentially’ engineered, and that members of his team “all find the genome inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory.”

  

  Fauci then sent an urgent email to his deputy – Hugh Auchincloss – with the subject “IMPORTANT,” and which read “Hugh, it is essential that we speak this AM. Keep your cell phone on … You will have tasks today that must be done.”

  BREAKING: Early Fauci emails from Feb 2020 about gain of function experiments ‘abroad’ #FauciLeaks pic.twitter.com/MwZ0DWaEOf

  — AntifaBook.com (@JackPosobiec) June 2, 2021

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

  Attached to that email was a document titled “Baric, Shi et al – Nature medicine – SARS Gain of function.pdf” referring to Dr. Ralph Baric, a US-based virologist who collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology under Dr. Shi Zhengly (“Bat lady”) known for manipulating bat coronaviruses to better-infect humans.

  Tucker then shows a clip of Fauci denying that Baric had conducted gain-of-function research, under oath.

  “In retrospect, that looks a lot like perjury,” said Carlson, adding that early last year a lot of people at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were worried that COVID-19 had not occurred naturally, and were concerned that it had been manipulated in a lab in China – facts they were ‘determined’ to hide from the Public.

  Tucker then notes that a group of top-level virologists were told to keep the contents of a teleconference discussion “in total confidence” and not to share information until next steps are agreed upon.

  

  Carlson then mentioned Zero Hedge, after UK virologist Jeremy Farrar passed along an article in which we suggested COVID-19 was man-made.

  “We now know that’s a more plausible explanation than the one we believed at first, and were told by the media – which is that corona came from a pangolin. And yet for the crime of saying that out loud, a more plausible explanation, Zero Hedge was banned from social media platforms. Until recently you were not allowed to suggest that COVID might be man-made. Why couldn’t you suggest that? The fact-checkers wouldn’t allow it. Why wouldn’t they? Because Tony Fauci assured the tech monopolies that the coronavirus could not have been man-made. And so the tech monopolies shut down the topic.” -Tucker Carlson

  

  Carlson then showed an April 17 press conference in which Fauci told the American public that COVID-19 was “totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.

  “At that point, what Tony Fauci just asserted as known, could not conclusively have been known. That was a lie.”

  Watch:

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 21:45

• New York City Paid 114,000 Highly-Compensated Public Employees Earning $100,000+
  New York City Paid 114,000 Highly-Compensated Public Employees Earning $100,000+

  Authored by Adam Andrzejewski via RealClear Policy (emphasis ours),

  New York City had more than 114,000 municipal workers earning $100,000 or more in 2019. That is up sharply from 76,166 employees with pay exceeding $100,000 in 2016.

  

  Data comes a year before the pandemic hit and is the latest year available.

  These were not just high-level employees like agency commissioners or deputy mayors. NYC employees included thermostat repairmen making up to $198,630; regular laborers hauling away $213,169; electricians taking home $253,132; and plumbers pocketing up to $286,245.

  The cost of benefits would be additional and is not included in these figures.

  These large paychecks are only sustainable because Congress bailed out New York City for $4.3 billion in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The federal bailout more than covered the overstated deficits of the city.

  City officials estimated a $5.5 billion gap, but actual revenues came in $2.7 billion higher. Using $1.2 billion from reserves, and finding $1 billion in unspecified labor savings, among other things closed the budget gap.

  Therefore, the federal money now exists for extra spending.

  In December, Fitch Ratings downgraded New York City’s bond rating and issued a negative outlook. That was after Moody’s Investors Service lowered the credit ratings of both the state and city in October.

  The #WasteOfTheDay is presented by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 21:26

• West Virginia Offers Gun, Trucks, & Piles Of Cash To Encourage Vaccinations
  West Virginia Offers Gun, Trucks, & Piles Of Cash To Encourage Vaccinations

  A handful of states, including California, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey, and Ohio, offer vaccine incentive programs as subtle ways to encourage reluctant adults to get vaccinated. The latest is West Virginia, offering residents who get immunized the chance to win a tricked-out truck, hunting rifle, college scholarship, and the opportunity to win a $1.588 million grand prize, according to CNN. 

  “The faster we get people across the finish line, the more lives we save. That’s all there is to it,” Gov. Jim Justice said on Tuesday. “If the tab just keeps running, the cost is enormous. The hospitalizations are enormous. We have to get all of our folks across the finish line.”

  “You could win something that would be phenomenal,” he said.

  

  The vaccination program, funded by federal pandemic relief funds, begins on June 20 through Aug. 4. As the state reports, 51.1% of its residents are vaccinated, peak levels of vaccine demand have already arrived. 

  What better way to get West Virginians out of the house and jabbed with a vaccine than to offer them a chance to win free trucks and guns. We’re surprised ammo isn’t on the list. 

  

  The vaccine incentive scheme also offers a $588,000-second prize, lifetime hunting, and fishing licenses, and weekend vacations to state parks. Justice hopes this will drive vaccination rates in the state higher as President Biden aims to vaccinate at least 70% of the US population by July 4. 

  As we mentioned above, California, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey, and Ohio are offering handouts and prizes to incentivize more vaccinations. These whacky programs come as peak vaccination rates were observed in late April. 

  

  According to Bloomberg, “the latest vaccination rate is 1,230,767 doses per day, on average. At this pace, it will take another 5 months to cover 75% of the population.” 

  So it’s plausible President Biden misses his July 4 vaccination target unless more states offer free money and prizes using federal funds. 

  Of course, what Biden, Fauci, and their big pharma friends are afraid to admit is that (as Johns Hopkins’ Dr. Marty Makary notes) around half of the unvaccinated have natural immunity from previous infection – and thus we are much closer to herd immunity than the bureaucrats would care to admit.

  Furthermore, as Dr. Harvey Risch of Yale and Dr. Peter McCullough of Texas A&M discuss with Fox’s Laura Ingraham, many Americans now have long-lasting natural immunity to COVID (and expose the needlessness and danger of vaccinating those with natural immunity, and mask mandates for children).

  As Makary noted in a recent op-ed, “Don’t buy the fearmongering: The COVID-19 threat is waning.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 21:05

• Drivers Of The New UFO Narrative Keep Absurdly Saying They Could Be Dangerous ETs
  Drivers Of The New UFO Narrative Keep Absurdly Saying They Could Be Dangerous ETs

  Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

  I’ve been learning as much as I can about the new UFO narrative the political/media class have been pushing in conjunction with the US military to prepare for the Senate report that’s due to be released this month.

  One of the disconcerting things I’ve been seeing again and again from all the major players in this new narrative like Lue Elizondo and Christopher Mellon is the absurd assertion that not only is it entirely possible that the unknown phenomena allegedly being regularly witnessed by military personnel are extraterrestrial in origin, but that if they are extraterrestrial they may want to hurt us.

  

  Mellon, the former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence who helped get the ball rolling on UFOs entering mainstream attention back in 2017 when he leaked three Pentagon videos to The New York Times, has stated that he sees extraterrestrial origin as an entirely possible explanation for these phenomena.

  “We don’t even understand how you could do something like that,” Mellon said in a recent interview with CTV News of the inexplicable maneuvers and features these aircraft supposedly demonstrate.

  “We don’t even understand the science behind it. Not like somebody’s a couple generations of fighter jet behind us; I mean this is a whole difference of kind, not degree.”

  In this new interview with CTV of Canada I had the opportunity to clarify my views on some of the current #UAP issues: https://t.co/zKxCGWi4NS

  — Christopher K. Mellon (@ChristopherKMe4) May 27, 2021

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  Asked why the pilots of mysterious aircraft with incomprehensible scientific advancement might want to monitor the US military, Mellon said the following:

  “Well probably for the same reason we do: to understand what kind of threat we could pose to them. Should a conflict arise they want to be able to engage us effectively, defeat us rapidly, at minimum cost of life and treasure, just as we would on the other side. We do similar kinds of things; we don’t have vehicles quite like this, but we’re certainly very actively monitoring military forces of other countries.”

  The notion that UFOs could pose a threat to humans whether their alleged operators are from our own world or from another is being promoted by the main drivers of this strange new plotline, and it is being enthusiastically lapped up by many UFO enthusiasts who see framing these phenomena as a national security threat as the best way to get mainstream power structures to take them seriously and disclose information to the public.

  This is bothersome for a couple of separate reasons.

  Firstly, it is of course bothersome because one ought to be bothered any time military and intelligence insiders make unsubstantiated claims that there’s a foreign threat to US security. The added notion that this foreign threat could be from another world carries all kinds of implications for what kinds of unprecedentedly radical policy and funding adjustments would have to be made in order to counter this supposed threat, and it would take an appalling amount of gullibility to believe that those adjustments would be made for that reason at this point in time instead of the very obvious reason that the US is in a new and escalating cold war with both Russia and China.

  Everything Keeps Getting Weirder And Weirder

  The Pentagon did not spontaneously evolve an interest in radical transparency, and it is not coincidental that this UFO stuff is coming out as we hurtle into a new cold war and a race to weaponize space.https://t.co/01PskO6yA6

  — Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) May 22, 2021

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  Secondly, it’s bothersome because it just says so much about human madness that people believe UFOs could simultaneously be the product of an immensely advanced extraterrestrial civilization, and also be a threat. They could be one or the other, but not both.

  Just in our own tiny blip of recorded history, humanity has matured mentally and emotionally during our time on this planet. We no longer accept it as normal for our governments to torture someone to death in the town square, for example, and owning another human being as property is now seen as reprehensible. We’ve still got a mountain of inner demons to conquer, but you also can’t deny that we’ve created a much more conscious and peaceful world for ourselves than the one we used to live in.

  Imagine how much further an intelligent life form would have progressed if it began maturing millions of years earlier than ours. Imagine how emotionally and intellectually developed a civilization would have to be to make it past all the self-imposed dangers its own intelligence posed to it like the dangers human intelligence poses to us now, if it had passed the great test and cleared that hurdle in its maturation process, and then gone on maturing for thousands or millions of years past the point we’re at now.

  When I bring this up online people tell me, “Well look at what the Europeans did when they met indigenous populations! That’s what happens when a more advanced civilization meets a less advanced one.”

  You see this ridiculous notion pushed everywhere, including by supposedly smart people like Stephen Hawking, that Europeans meeting the indigenous people of Africa, Australia and the Americas is a good model for what we could expect from an encounter with a civilization millions of years more advanced than our own. This reveals a fallacious assumption that genocidal Europeans were in fact “more advanced” than the other humans they met around the world; they were a bit more technologically advanced, but any research on the horrific things they did to those people will show you that they were emotionally infantile by today’s standards. It also looks at humans who began developing on the same planet at the same time as comparable to extraterrestrials who would have begun developing long before us.

  Beyond the fact that we have seen in our own experience that an intelligent consciousness will keep expanding its consciousness over time, the most glaring piece of evidence that UFOs could pose no threat to us if they are extraterrestrial is that if they did, they would have taken us out long ago. UFO encounters have been documented for generations; there is nothing humans could do to stop a sentient species that is orders of magnitude technologically superior to us, no matter what the movies say.

  If extraterrestrials are here they clearly don’t want to hurt us, and why would they? What could we possibly have that they’d want? In the unlikely event that there is some kind of element or resource here that they need, there’s no reason to believe they couldn’t get it elsewhere, or indeed that they couldn’t create it themselves at the level of scientific understanding they’d necessarily be operating from.

  The idea that a civilization could attain a level of advancement comparable to ours, successfully learn to share resources and collaborate enough to avoid wiping itself out, continue maturing for a very long time, master interstellar, intergalactic, and/or interdimensional travel, create aircraft that can operate in the way people who encounter them describe, and then fly across the universe to go kill a bunch of barely-evolved primates for some reason is just absurd on its face, and even if such a thing could happen it would have happened already. This is humans projecting their own particular madness onto a hypothetical species far more mature than our own, myopically assuming that our collective insanity is some kind of immutable quality of consciousness itself.

  I’ve sat through so much video footage on this subject, and I just get so frustrated listening to all these military-minded men talking about the need to know what the “capabilities” of these things are and how to prevent them from posing a threat to “national security”. If we are in fact not alone in this universe and are in fact being visited by other civilizations, these are the absolute stupidest questions we could possibly be asking ourselves about them. Not how can we contact them, not is it possible to communicate with them, not what could we learn from them, not where are they from and what is their story, but how can we kill them if we need to.

  I have no idea if we are being visited by ETs, but if we are the US military is literally the worst thing our species could possibly use to relate to them.

  *  *  *

  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. 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. The best way to get around the internet censors and 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. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here.

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  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 20:45

• Landlords Hosed After Appeals Court Tosses Bid To Resume Evictions
  Landlords Hosed After Appeals Court Tosses Bid To Resume Evictions

  Landlords across the country, the least-pitied group of Americans, were handed a loss on Wednesday after  a federal appeals court in Washington DC denied a request to resume evictions amid a contentious dispute over a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) moratorium during the pandemic.

  

  To recap, last month US District Judge Dabney Friedrich struck down the CDC moratorium on evictions, finding that the agency had overstepped its authority – yet agreeing to block her own ruling from taking immediate affect in order for the Biden administration to launch an appeal, according to The Hill.

  In response, the plaintiffs – which includes the Alabama Association of Realtors and several co-plaintiffs – asked the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to lift Freidrich’s stay, which was denied on Wednesday in an unsigned order. The court added that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had “made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed” in its appeal.

  “HHS has demonstrated that lifting the national moratorium will exacerbate the significant public health risks identified by the CDC because, even with increased vaccinations, COVID-19 continues to spread and infect persons, and new variants are emerging,” wrote the court.

  Enacted in September as a public health measure, the CDC order was designed to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus by helping cash-strapped tenants avoid homeless shelters or other crowded living spaces. The eviction pause was later extended through June.

  Renters can demonstrate their eligibility for CDC eviction protections by signing a sworn declaration under penalty of perjury, attesting that they would face overcrowded conditions if evicted and certifying that they have made partial rent payments to the best of their ability.

  A number of other judges across the country have ruled on the eviction ban’s lawfulness, with landlords holding a slight advantage in their win-loss record against the federal government. -The Hill

  Over 56,000 eviction actions have been filed since the pause took effect last September – almost half of which were filed this year according to a study by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project of seven states.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 20:25

• Biden & 'The 1-Percent'
  Biden & ‘The 1-Percent’

  Authored by Andy Puzder via RealClearPolitics.com,

  In a speech last week introducing his proposed $6 trillion 2022 budget, President Biden claimed that the benefits of the Republican Party’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “went to the wealthiest 1% of America.”

  It’s not the first time he’s made this claim.

  In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, Biden described the TCJA as a “huge windfall” for “those at the very top.”

  To right that wrong, he proposes getting rid of loopholes and raising the top tax rate from its current 37% to 39.6%.

  Why? So that “the wealthiest 1% of Americans” will “pay their fair share,” a phrase that the president and his fellow Democrats repeat with abandon.  

  

  But there’s a big problem with Biden’s claims: They are simply untrue. It’s time Republicans started more aggressively pointing that out.

  Let’s start with that supposedly “huge windfall” that went to the “wealthiest 1%” of America.

  While the TCJA reduced effective income tax rates for all income groups in 2018, the top 1% experienced no windfall. Rather, according to the most recent IRS income tax data, the top 1% of taxpayers paid $616 billion in 2018, roughly the same amount they paid in 2017. But the bottom 99% paid $65 billion less. Some “windfall.” If the TCJA was a tax cut for the rich, it was the weirdest one in the history of tax cuts for the rich.

  But did those evil 1-percenters pay their fair share? Turns out they did – and certainly a larger share than when tax rates were last at Biden’s proposed 39.6%.

  In 2018, while the top 1%’s share of adjusted gross income declined slightly to 20.9% (from 21.0% in 2017), its share of the income tax burden increased to 40.1% from 38.5%. “Fair” is in the eye of the beholder, but consider: The top 1%’s share of taxes paid nearly doubles its share of income. For more “fair share” perspective, consider that in 2018, the top 1% paid more in income taxes than the bottom 90% of taxpayers – combined.

  Biden also might be surprised to learn that the top 1% actually paid a higher percentage of income taxes in 2018 under the TCJA than in any year since at least 2001 – when it paid 33.2%. That includes each of the five years from 2013 to 2017 following the Obama tax hikes, when the top rate last stood at 39.6% – the rate Biden is currently proposing.  

  You read that right. The highest earners paid a greater share of income taxes after the Republicans’ 2017 tax cuts than they paid after the Democrats’ 2013 tax increase.  But how can that be if the top tax rate in 2018 was only 37%?

  Well, the TCJA increased taxable income for wealthier Americans by reducing the itemized deductions they could claim. High earners generally benefit more from itemizing deductions. Lower earners generally benefit more from the standard deduction. The TCJA increased the standard deduction and limited itemized deductions. 

  According to IRS data, following the TCJA, the amount taxpayers claimed for itemized deductions dropped by 55%, from about $1.46 trillion in 2017 to about $650 billion in 2018. That’s over $800 billion that was taxed in 2018 but not in 2017.

  The TCJA’s capping the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT) at $10,000 was responsible for $480 billion of that decrease – a whopping 59%. But Biden supports restoring the SALT deduction even though that deduction benefits mostly the upper-income taxpayers he so desperately wants to tax. Why would he want to do that?

  Well, the SALT deduction primarily benefits high earners in high-tax blue states. So Biden is not alone is seeking to restore it. Repealing the cap President Trump put on the SALT deduction is a top tax priority for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who want either to increase or eliminate the $10,000 cap as part of Biden’s infrastructure bill.

  Like Biden, these legislators also claim to favor closing tax loopholes for the wealthy – just not for their wealthy supporters. “Do you want to give the wealthiest people in America another tax cut?” Biden asked in his budget introduction speech. Apparently for the Democratic leadership, the answer is: Yes, we do.

  So, the TCJA was not a windfall for the rich, and it did not result in the rich paying less than their fair share of income taxes. It closed loopholes – the largest of which Democrat leadership would like to restore – that primarily benefit wealthy taxpayers. Raising the top tax rate to 39.6% under Obama resulted in the rich paying a smaller share of income taxes than they paid in 2018 under the TCJA. There is certainly no guarantee that they would pay a larger share if Biden repeated Obama’s tax-increase error – particularly if the Democrats start restoring tax loopholes for their wealthy backers.

  Republicans have the better part of this argument. They need to start making it.

  *  *  *

  Andy Puzder is the former CEO of CKE Restaurants, a board member of the Job Creators Network, and the author of “The Capitalist Comeback: The Trump Boom and the Left’s Plot to Stop It.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 20:05

• SoftBank-Backed Construction-Industry-"Transforming" Company Katerra Collapses After Billions In Investment
  SoftBank-Backed Construction-Industry-“Transforming” Company Katerra Collapses After Billions In Investment

  Oh how the mighty continue to fall.

  Katerra, the construction giant that was backed by SoftBank, has officially told its employees that it is shutting down its operations. Katerra “had promised to shake up the construction industry with its efficient factories, prefab parts and modular construction units,” Bloomberg had reported on the company in the past.

  But now the only thing it’s shaking up are the lives of the 8,000 employees it had globally, as of last year, according to TechCrunch, who pointed out that the company had already struggled “to find a viable business in cheaply building properties for real estate developers”.

  The company was then beset by climbing labor and material costs associated with the pandemic (and perhaps now, the hyperinflation that’s succeeding the pandemic). 

  

  SoftBank tried to bail out the struggling company, offering $200 million on top of the billions it had already invested in the company, to buy a majority stake. But, not unlike the WeWork IPO, Katerra couldn’t be saved. 

  Bloomberg reports that the company is now likely going to walk away from “dozens” of projects it has already committed to. 

  Among those being laid off are 117 workers in Seattle, according to The Seattle Times. The losses are expected to take effect on June 4. 

  CEO Masayoshi Son had called Katerra one of his “regrets” in an interview with Barron’s last month. The company had raised more than $2 billion since its founding in 2015. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 19:45

• Chamber Of Commerce Confirms US Labor Shortage Is A "National Economic Crisis"
  Chamber Of Commerce Confirms US Labor Shortage Is A “National Economic Crisis”

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

  A report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned that a recent labor shortage plaguing businesses nationwide is worsening, describing the situation as a “national economic crisis.”

  

  The Chamber’s report released Tuesday found that the United States had a record 8.1 million vacant job openings in March—the last month where data was available—noting it was an increase of 600,000 from February.

  But, the Chamber stressed that there “are approximately half as many available workers for every open job,” or 1.4 available workers per job opening, across the country “and the ratio continues to fall.” Compared with the previous 20 years, there were 2.8 available workers per job opening, according to the organization.

  “In several states and several industries, including hard-hit sectors like education and health services as well as professional and business services, there are currently fewer available workers than the total number of jobs open,” the report found, adding that more than 90 percent of local Chambers of Commerce have reported that worker shortages are hurting their economies.

  The report also pointed to an underwhelming April jobs report released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which found that just 266,000 jobs were created. Analysts had expected that more than 1 million would be created.

  “Even with 9.7 million unemployed at the beginning of April, workers’ reluctance to return to work and fill open positions was one reason for the lackluster job creation,” the Chamber of Commerce wrote.

  “Another could be that employees know just how easy it is to get a new job—the percent voluntarily leaving their current job is now above pre-pandemic levels.”

  The states with the lowest worker availability rate include Vermont, Nebraska, and South Dakota, the organization found. All three states had a ratio of less than 1.

  In the past several weeks, around two dozen GOP-led states have decided to opt out of the federal unemployment program that provided $300 per week during the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans have criticized the provision, which was first introduced in the March 2020 CARES Act and was extended several times in subsequent bills, as creating an incentive for people not to work.

  

  The issue was perhaps crystallized in April when a McDonald’s franchise owner in Tampa, Florida, authorized paying people $50 just to show up for job interviews but was still struggling to find employees.

  According to reports, Arizona, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma have authorized a return-to-work bonus between $500 and $2,000.

  “We’re going to use federal money to encourage people to work instead of paying people not to work,” Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said in May.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 19:25

• FBI Identifies Hacker Groups Behind JBS Ransomware Attack
  FBI Identifies Hacker Groups Behind JBS Ransomware Attack

  Update (1917): The FBI confirms Russian-linked “REvil and Sodinokibi” are behind the ransomware attack on JBS meat processing facilities. Here’s the complete statement:

  As the lead federal investigative agency fighting cyber threats, combating cybercrime is one of the FBI’s highest priorities. We have attributed the JBS attack to REvil and Sodinokibi and are working diligently to bring the threat actors to justice. We continue to focus our efforts on imposing risk and consequences and holding the responsible cyber actors accountable. Our private sector partnerships are essential to responding quickly when a cyber intrusion occurs and providing support to victims affected by our cyber adversaries. A cyber attack on one is an attack on us all. We encourage any entity that is the victim of a cyber attack to immediately notify the FBI through one of our 56 field offices.

  Despite JBS stating Tuesday night that “our systems are coming back online,” the world’s largest meat producer remains silent on the progress Wednesday. 

  * * * 

  JBS SA, the world’s largest meat producer, released a statement in the overnight session stating “significant progress” has been made to resolve a ransomware attack that paralyzed its US operations and some plants in other countries. 

  “Our systems are coming back online, and we are not sparing any resources to fight this threat,” JBS USA CEO Andre Nogueira said in a statement.

  “Given the progress, our IT professionals and plant teams have made in the last 24 hours, the vast majority of our beef, pork, poultry and prepared foods plants will be operational Wednesday“, Nogueira said.  

  The cyberattack forced the shutdown of all JBS’ US beef plants, which account for almost a quarter of American supplies. 

  “On Sunday, 30 May, JBS USA determined that it was the target of an organized cybersecurity attack, affecting some of the servers supporting its North American and Australian IT systems”, JBS said at the time. 

  JBS Facilities 

  

  The shuttering raises concern about food security as hackers increasingly target critical commodity-linked companies. 

  White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that the hacking group behind the attack is “likely” based in Russia.” 

  “The White House is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter, and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals,” she said.

  Three weeks ago, another ransomware attack brought down Colonial Pipeline Co., operator of fuel pipelines on the East Coast. It was targeted by a group called “DarkSide.” 

  While JBS soothes fears of potential meat shortages and soaring food prices – there has yet to be a statement released by the company indicating all systems are operational. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 19:19

• Housing Hubris: Mortgage Apps Plunge Despite Homebuilder Euphoria
  Housing Hubris: Mortgage Apps Plunge Despite Homebuilder Euphoria

  After a brief pause, mortgage applications tumbled again last week (-4.0% WoW after falling 4.2% WoW the prior week), to their lowest level since February 2020.

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  And while refis have now stagnated, home purchase applications have plunge to a new post-pandemic low as the ‘dopamine of collective euphoria’ in the housing market wears off…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  As Kara Cox recently wrote at WolfStreet.com, having lived both in the Bay Area during the dotcom explosion and NYC during the MBS explosion, I know a thing or two about financial bubbles. Or at least how they feel in the moment: akin to being at a frat party at 2 am. Everyone is spewing garbage but thinks they are a genius, and the only way to make sense of it all is to drink up or take yourself home.

  That’s bubbles.

  And while homebuilders remain euphorically optimistic, homebuyers (according to the latest sentiment surveys from UMich and The Conference Board) have hardly ever been more gloomy in their buying attitudes…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  As prices continue to roar ever higher on a bed of renewed lower mortgage rates and helicopter money…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  As Christophe Barraud wrote earlier in the week, coupled with a shortage of homes for sale, low mortgage rates are supporting housing prices. On Tuesday, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index (20-City Composite) soared 13.27 percent in March (up from 12 percent in February). In the meantime, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index of national property values climbed 13.19 percent YoY, the biggest jump since December 2005. Furthermore, the FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency) purchase-only price index rose 13.9 percent YoY in March, the largest jump on record.

  Even though housing prices growth will slow this summer (due to unfavourable base effects, a rebound in inventory, the end of foreclosure moratorium and mortgage forbearance), the trend will gain traction in the short term. According to my proxies, the S&P Corelogic index for April — that will be released on June 29th — should increase by more then 14 percent on a YoY basis.

  Focusing on monetary, the debate concerning MBS purchases from the Fed will gather more attention in the coming months. It will likely result in tapering before year-end… and go back up to the first chart above to see what happened then.

  

  As Kara Cox concludes so poignantly, it is only in retrospect in which everyone saw it coming, knew it couldn’t last, etc. We didn’t, for the most part. It is easy to look back with derision about the Dutch and their bout with overpriced tulips, but is that so much different than what happened with Pets.com? Or when folks rushed to own homes in 2005?

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 06/02/2021 – 19:05