Aug 30

Today’s News 30th August 2022

  • Sweden's Leftist Leader Vows To Put A Stop To Ethnic Ghettos
    Sweden’s Leftist Leader Vows To Put A Stop To Ethnic Ghettos

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

    Sweden’s leftist Prime Minister has vowed to abolish ethnic ghettos, asserting that she doesn’t want to see the emergence of “Somali-towns” in the Scandinavian country.

    Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson made the comments during an interview with the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

    “We don’t want Chinatowns in Sweden, we don’t want ‘Somali-towns’ or Little Italys,” she said in reference to migrant ghetto areas where one particular ethnic groups becomes concentrated.

    Skeptics have suggested that Andersson’s comments are merely a ploy to erode support for anti-mass migration party the Sweden Democrats, which is likely to become the second biggest in parliament after the September 11 elections.

    However, she made similar remarks following ethnic riots earlier this year that left more than 100 police officers injured.

    Acknowledging that integration had failed, Andersson stated, “Segregation has gone so far that we have parallel societies in Sweden. We live in the same country, but different realities.”

    “Integration was poor, and alongside, we have experienced intense immigration. Our society was too weak, while money for the police and social services too little,” she added.

    Andersson was part of the government that accepted around 180,000 migrants during the “refugee crisis,” a decision she later said she “regretted.”

    Having been one of the safest countries in Europe 20 years ago before mass uncontrolled immigration, Sweden is now the continent’s second most dangerous in terms of gun crime behind only Croatia.

    Last year, Germany’s Bild newspaper ran the headline: ‘Sweden is the most dangerous country in Europe.’

    Ukrainian refugees also expressed the desire to avoid being sent to Sweden, feeling that it was too unsafe.

    Ukrainian women in Sweden were also warned not to dress in a way that could “provoke” Muslim men.

    As we highlighted earlier this month, Swedish Migration Minister Anders Ygeman has suggested that Sweden should follow the example of Denmark in seeking to place a limit on the population of non-Nordic migrants living in troubled areas.

    The Danish government has enacted a policy which has seen parts of migrant ghettos demolished, with residents moved elsewhere in a bid to put a stop to ‘parallel societies’ that breed crime and social dislocation.

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    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/30/2022 – 02:00

  • Document Outlines Biden Admin's Plan To Give IDs To Illegal Immigrants
    Document Outlines Biden Admin’s Plan To Give IDs To Illegal Immigrants

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

    A newly obtained document outlines the Biden administration’s plan to give identification cards to illegal immigrants.

    A Border Patrol agent organizes a large group of illegal immigrants near Eagle Pass, Texas, on May 20, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

    The document describes how a pilot program called the “Secure Docket Card” would give some illegal aliens a card with a photograph, counterfeit-resistant security features, and a quick response (QR) code.

    The card would replace “the current ad-hoc system” and could save Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) time and resources by enabling officials to more quickly verify an illegal immigrant’s status and help immigrants make it to court hearings, according to the document.

    Biden administration officials already confirmed that such a pilot program was being prepared, but the document sheds more light on details on the program, including its scheduled start date and estimated cost.

    Key components of the program were slated to begin on Aug. 1, according to the document, including designing the identification card, developing an online portal with information for the immigrants such as court dates, and identifying personnel who will work on the program.

    Those components are slated to be completed by March 1, 2023. After that, the plan calls for temporary cards to start being produced in two ICE field offices and permanent cards to start being produced at an unidentified central location.

    The program is slated to run through Sept. 30, 2023.

    The following month, a feasibility study is scheduled to take place to evaluate whether the pilot can be expanded. Also planned: looking at whether illegal immigrant cardholders can access basic information on the online portal without assistance; whether the pilot was having an effect on the “Fugitive Rate,” or rate of illegal immigrants who skipped their court hearing; how much the program was increasing the workload for officials; and whether any forged cards were appearing.

    The estimated total costs were pegged at $2.5 million.

    “It is outrageous and absurd that the Biden administration intends to spend millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money designing and issuing identity cards for the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens they are waving in at the border,” Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that studies immigration, told The Epoch Times after reviewing the document.

    “Instead of issuing these documents, they should be sending them back to their home countries,” she added.

    No Update

    After obtaining the document through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, The Epoch Times asked ICE for updates on the pilot, including whether parts of it began in August as scheduled and whether the estimated costs remained the same.

    An ICE spokeswoman sent the exact same statement as she did in July, when the agency confirmed the pilot’s existence.

    The program “is still in its infancy,” a spokesperson for the agency said when pressed on whether it had started. “There is nothing further to add at this time.”

    “The ICE secure docket card concept is a pilot program that would modernize documentation provided to some noncitizens. While the specifics of the program are under development, it is important to note the secure card will not be an official form of federal identification. The secure card will indicate it is for use by DHS agencies and would be provided only after national security background checks have been performed,” ICE said in its previous statement.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 23:40

  • One Of China's Biggest Commodity Traders Faces Liquidity Crisis
    One Of China’s Biggest Commodity Traders Faces Liquidity Crisis

    Citing “temporary difficulties in logistics, transportation and product sales due to Covid flareups in China,” one of China’s most influential commodities traders is pushing for a government bailout as a deepening property market collapse and ongoing Zero-COVID policy shutdowns has pressured many commodity companies as credit conditions tighten.

    As Bloomberg reports, He Jinbi – founder and chairman of Maike Metals International – has asked the government and financial institutions for help after liquidity issues forced his company to delay some payments for imported copper. Additionally, He admitted that some suppliers have canceled deliveries due to concerns over the company’s ability to pay.

    The company “is suffering temporary difficulties in logistics, transportation and product sales due to Covid flareups in China,” company founder and Chairman He Jinbi said in an interview on Friday

    Bloomberg reports that, according to people familiar with the matter, BHP Group, the world’s biggest miner, is among suppliers that are diverting shipments away from Maike for now. Additionally, Chile’s Codelco, the biggest global copper producer, has reportedly paused sales to Maike.

    For now, Maike’s chairman claims the problems are only affecting 10,000 to 20,000 tons of refined copper, which accounts for a very small portion of the company’s supply, but one wonders why he would be urging government aid if this were a one-off, or a mere hiccup?

    The company – which historically has been one of the biggest traders of copper in China – holds a substantial amount of the metal in Shanghai’s bonded zone, which is the center of refined copper trading in China. Copper rpices have been rather more volatile in the last week or so, spiking as Maike’s news made headlines and tumbling after The Fed’s hawkishness…

    …but, as Bloomberg notes, this instance of financial stress comes after growing caution around commodities financing in the wake of high-profile losses – especially in the nickel market – and huge price volatility fueled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In China, several alleged scandals this year involving missing aluminum and copper ores have further reduced liquidity to the industry.

    Watch this space…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 23:20

  • Legal Challenges To Pentagon's Vaccine Mandate Just Getting Started, Military Insiders Say
    Legal Challenges To Pentagon’s Vaccine Mandate Just Getting Started, Military Insiders Say

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

    The Department of Defense’s (DoD) requirement that all members of the Armed Forces receive COVID-19 vaccinations, even if they’ve already had the virus and developed immunity, has had a severely disruptive effect within military ranks, resulting in the denial of promotions and assignments to those who refused vaccination and in thousands of service members having to leave the military.

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, on June 16, 2022. (Valeria Mongelli/AFP via Getty Images)

    The vaccination order has given rise to a spate of lawsuits and is likely to spur more challenges as more people come to see that officials who grant exemptions on other grounds are unwilling to accommodate those who file religious accommodation requests (RARs), service members and military experts have told The Epoch Times.

    “I have talked to military members and no one likes this policy; no one thinks it’s a good idea. I agree with them that this policy is going to backfire in a big way. It’s going to force out people who are moral, ethical service members out of the military and will leave a readiness gap. But the other problem is this is a relatively untested vaccine and we’re all just now starting to see what the health effects are,” Susan Katz Keating, a journalist specializing in military affairs and the editor and publisher of Soldier of Fortune magazine, told The Epoch Times.

    The vaccine mandate has been enshrined in DoD policy as a consequence of President Joe Biden’s July 29, 2021, order to the department to add COVID-19 to its list of required vaccinations. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s subsequent memorandum on Aug. 24, 2021, required each branch of the military to vaccinate all service members.

    The order quickly met with resistance from military personnel seeking exemption on various grounds, from concerns about the safety and unknown long-term side effects of vaccines that they felt had been rushed through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process, to religious objections on the part of those who take issue with the use of fetal cell lines in the development of the drugs.

    A Professional Soldier’s View

    Active-duty military personnel who spoke to The Epoch Times acknowledged broad disapproval of the DoD’s stance on vaccinations, and some of them signaled that, no matter how mixed the results so far, legal challenges to the policy are just getting started.

    Opposition runs high among military personnel, Rob Green, an active-duty Navy commander (O5) currently serving with Maritime Expeditionary Security Group Two, told The Epoch Times.

    “I don’t want to speak for 2.1 million of my friends, but I’ll say that there are many who did not want to get vaccinated. They’re being told that they have to, but common sense told these people that if a pandemic has a 99.99 percent survivability rate, and you’re in the healthiest possible age group in America, ‘Why am I going to take this risk?’” Green said.

    Green described Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty vaccine as an emergency-use product that never went through the twelve-year cycle of approval and review which a vaccine would ordinarily be subject to, but instead was rushed through the process in one year, with important testing left undone.

    He noted that Comirnaty-labeled vaccines—the drug that received full Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval—became available for the DoD to order only as of May 20 this year. According to Green, this means that, going back as far as Aug. 24, 2021, the DoD had been illegally pushing the use of a drug that still had the status of an Emergency Use Authorized (EUA) product, and one that service members, therefore, had every legal right to refuse.

    “The order to vaccinate is not a lawful order. As a matter of fact, in federal court, the Department of Justice, on behalf of the Department of Defense, admitted on May 20 that basically they had no licensed product before then,” Green said.

    No statutory basis exists for denying any American the right to refuse to a EUA drug, Green believes. Under EUA law 21 USC § 306bbb, the government has far-reaching responsibilities when it comes to advising people of their rights concerning the administration of vaccines and other drugs, according to a whistleblower report circulated by Green and obtained by The Epoch Times.

    While the military can make use of a presidential waiver process under 10 USC §1107a, this waiver does not mean that service members are legally required to use a EUA product, only that the requirement to inform them of their right to refuse does not apply, the report states.

    The vaccines forced on service personnel before May 20, 2022, were not Comirnaty-labeled, and hence did not meet a fundamental legal obligation, Green argued.

    “Labeling is a legal requirement in order to have a licensed product. You can’t waive proper labeling. That amounts to fraudulent labeling, which actually has its own statute law. They knew what they did was illegal,” Green said.

    The Pentagon has issued a policy (pdf) saying the FDA-approved Comirnaty and EUA Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are interchangeable, but the legality of this directive is contested by service members opposing the mandate.

    Green said he knows many service members who have been unfairly, and illegally, penalized for their refusal to take the vaccine, including one young man who he identified for purposes of this article as Owen. In Green’s telling, Owen enlisted under a delayed entry program. The DoD rolled out its vaccine mandate after Owen had signed up, but before he arrived at boot camp. When Owen put in an RAR, he was told that the process required him to confer with a chaplain, but, being in boot camp, he had no access to a chaplain. In the end, the military kicked Owen out after only 39 days of service.

    A New Challenge

    Military personnel are not lying dormant in the face of what they view as an illegal and selectively enforced mandate.

    Last week, 14 Marines residing in the states of Texas, Washington State, Louisiana, Minnesota, and North Carolina filed a class-action lawsuit in a federal court in Texas against Defense Secretary Austin. In their complaint, the plaintiffs, citing “sincerely held religious beliefs,” claim that military officials have been inconsistent in their treatment of service members seeking exemptions. While, in theory, it is possible to seek an exemption on medical, administrative, or religious grounds, the last category does not carry any weight with DoD officials, the plaintiffs allege. “Religious accommodation requests are universally denied unless the requester is already imminently leaving the Marines,” the complaint charges.

    Military officials’ refusal to grant exemptions on religious grounds is not only inconsistent with their willingness to exempt service members on other grounds but violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 and the Administrative Procedure Act, the plaintiffs claim.

    The complaint lists a number of negative consequences for the careers and lives of those service members who refuse vaccinations. The DoD threatened those who refused to comply with court martials, involuntary separation from the services, negative performance evaluations, the loss of leadership positions, removal from consideration for promotions, the inability to retire in good standing, non-deployable status, denial of benefits and special pay, and the loss of leave and travel privileges, among other penalties and punishments.

    Its legality aside, the DoD’s vaccination push has been largely successful—with the overwhelming majority of active-duty Marines now vaccinated—and recent developments in related cases do not look promising for the plaintiffs in the Texas class-action suit.

    In March, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that the Navy had the authority to decide whether or not to deploy personnel who refused the vaccine mandate. That case, too, was originally filed in Texas before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals took it up.

    Readiness and Morale

    As of the end of April, the military had expelled 3,400 troops for refusing vaccine shots, and the numbers continue to rise.

    For the military to lose so many personnel so abruptly, and with more involuntary separations likely as the legal challenges play out, is reckless from a security standpoint, Elaine Donnelly, founder and president of the Center for Military Readiness, a Livonia, Michigan-based public policy institute, told The Epoch Times.

    “Of course the size of the All-Volunteer Force matters, and anyone claiming otherwise should be held accountable. Short-handed units put heavy work burdens on others, making deployments more difficult and weakening deterrence, morale, and overall readiness. The military services and academies keep pushing an inflexible, unreasonable ‘get vaccinated or get out’ policy, which has become a national security issue,” Donnelly said.

    In Donnelly’s view, the traditional criteria that guided military leaders’ decision-making—namely, what is in the best interests of American readiness and security—have been eclipsed by a tendency to assert their own absolute power in a context where service members are expected to obey commands without question.

    “Military vaccinations have little to do with the health of the force and everything to do with the power of military officials to implement policy. The military is uniquely vulnerable to power plays such as this because personnel are not truly free to dissent, and federal courts are reluctant to second-guess military judgments and decisions,” she said.

    Military Priorities

    Donnelly pointed out the irony that DoD officials should take such an inflexible, and coercive, stance toward those who dissent on religious grounds, given the overall orientation of the military today toward accommodating all who say they want to serve, without regard for such traditional standards and requirements as physical strength and endurance.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 23:00

  • Miami's Gun Buyback Program Preys On Residents To Hand Over Firearms To Support Fight Against Russia
    Miami’s Gun Buyback Program Preys On Residents To Hand Over Firearms To Support Fight Against Russia

    The City of Miami has become very creative in an attempt to disarm residents through a voluntary gun buyback program that will supposedly help “provide safety and defense equipment to Ukraine.” 

    Called “Guns 4 Ukraine,” the flyer on the Miami government website reads: 

    Your donations will be used to assist the Ukraine support efforts. Receive a gift card starting at $50 for an old, unused, or found weapons, no questions asked. Do your part to make our streets safer. Visa Gift Cards will be exchanged for the weapons in the following amounts: $50 Firearm, $100 Shotgun or Rifle, and $150 High-powered assault rifle (.223 Caliber, AR-15, AK-47). 

    City officials outlined how no “homemade firearms” will be accepted in exchange for gift cards. It appears they learned a valuable lesson from a Houston, Texas, gun buyback program earlier this month when a man 3D-printed 62 pistols and was able to collect thousands of dollars. 

    While the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that most Americans support helping Ukraine fight against Russian aggression, Miami is preying on the sentiment of its residents to give up their guns for NATO’s proxy fight against Russia in one of the most corrupt countries in the world, located in Eastern Europe. 

    Miami’s gun buyback program sounds like a very cunning scheme to disarm residents under the guise of helping Ukraine. 

    Ukrainians don’t need guns from Miami residents when they have billions of dollars in weapons supplied by the US military-industrial complex, courtesy of the war hawks in the Biden administration. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 22:40

  • American Drivers Go Deeper Into Debt As Inflation Pushes Car Loans To Record Highs
    American Drivers Go Deeper Into Debt As Inflation Pushes Car Loans To Record Highs

    Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    As vehicle prices rise amid inflationary pressure, Americans buying new cars are taking on higher loans and pushing themselves deeper into debt, according to credit-monitoring company Experian.

    Used cars for sale are on display, on June 24, 2021, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

    Both the average loan amount and monthly payments for new and used cars have risen over the recent quarters, the firm said in an Aug. 25 news release. In second quarter 2022, the average loan amount for a new vehicle rose 13.21 percent year over year, to $40,290. During this period, monthly payments rose from $582 to $667, an increase of 14.6 percent.

    For used vehicles, average loans jumped 18.66 percent, to $28,534, while the average monthly payment rose from $440 to $515.

    Experian also found that consumers were shifting back to used vehicles, accounting for 61.78 percent of all vehicle financing during second quarter 2022, which is up from 58.48 percent during the year-ago period.

    “Between the inventory shortage and rising vehicle costs, consumers are looking to make the most cost-effective decision, which is often a used vehicle,” said Melinda Zabritski, Experian’s senior director of automotive financial solutions.

    “The benefit of higher vehicle values is that consumers are able to get more for their trade-ins, which can help offset the increased cost of their next vehicle.”

    According to market research firm J.D. Power, the average transaction price for a new vehicle is expected to hit a record high of $46,259 in August, up 11.5 percent from a year back.

    The 12-month Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation, registered an 8.5 percent increase in July, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices of new vehicles rose by 10.4 percent. while used cars and trucks saw prices jump by 6.6 percent.

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

    Rising Auto Loans, Slowing Sales

    The jump in average car loan amounts and monthly payments are happening amid an increase in auto loans. According to an Aug. 2 report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data, household auto loans in Q2 rose by $33 billion to $199 billion, continuing an upward trajectory that has been in place since 2011.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 22:20

  • Unvaxxed Coast Guard Cadets Given 24 Hours To Leave Campus
    Unvaxxed Coast Guard Cadets Given 24 Hours To Leave Campus

    Coast Guard Academy cadets who have refused the Covid-19 vaccine on religious grounds were ordered to vacate the campus within 24 hours of receiving notification that their cases had undergone final military adjudication, after their religious accommodation requests (RAR) for exemptions were denied in May.

    In June, the Coast Guard Academy gave notice that the unvaccinated cadets would be disenrolled, while the appeals were formally rejected on Aug. 15. They failed to notify the cadets for three days, after which they gave them just one day to vacate the campus, according to Just the News.

    After being ordered to leave within 24 hours of being notified that their disenrollment appeals were denied, the seven unvaccinated Coast Guard cadets had to pack up everything and figure out how to get themselves and all their belongings home before the deadline, one cadet told Just the News on Monday.

    The cadets are still enrolled in the academy and receive pay — which the cadet said is like “pennies,” anyway — as they’re on temporary duty at their home addresses. Thus, they are required to attend their military trainings online, despite being unable to attend classes that started on Aug. 22. -Just the News

    What’s more, because they’re still technically enrolled, they can’t leave the Coast Guard to seek other options for education or work. One cadet told JTN that it’s too late to transfer to another college at this point in the semester, and that only part of their credits would transfer over to another institution anyway. 

    Two of those told to leave are seniors, one is a junior and four are sophomores.

    According to the caadet, the academy claims they aren’t violating a protected stay order in a class action lawsuit against the vaccine mandate, Clements v. Austin, which allows the unvaccinated cadets to remain enrolled at the academy through Sept. 1, after which they can be disenrolled.

    Attorneys for the cadets have requested a temporary restraining order against the vaccine mandate for the duration of litigation. The lawsuit claims that because the COVID-19 vaccine was ordered under emergency use authorization (EUA) – vs. full FDA approval – that the military can’t force them to take it.

    “The steps taken by the Coast Guard Academy are clear religious discrimination against Christians and reflect a total disdain for the faith and constitutional rights of cadets,” Military attorney R. Davis Younts told Just the News on Tuesday. “The actions of the Coast Guard continue to have a devastating impact on morale and military readiness. Worse, these actions appear to be based on a lack of moral courage among the leaders of the Coast Guard. With the new CDC guidance, there is simply no medical or scientific justification for treating young men and women who have worked so hard to earn a commission like pariahs.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 22:00

  • Bitcoin Aligns Incentives In The Perfect Way
    Bitcoin Aligns Incentives In The Perfect Way

    Authored by Conor Chepenik via BitcoinMagazine.com,

    When a nocoiner asks me about Bitcoin, it’s hard not to take a “Michael Saylor breath” and embark on a four-hour conversation about how there is no second best.

    My Bitcoin elevator pitch has become better over time, but it’s hard explaining why the world so desperately needs an honest monetary ledger in 30 seconds. Proof-of-work is required to have the glorious experience of going down the Bitcoin rabbit hole. In this piece I attempt to lay out why the incentives of the network are so well thought out at every level.

    Humanity has never before had such a fair game. A truly free market ledger that anyone can access, verify and update if they play by the rules. From individuals to small businesses, followed by grid operators and energy companies, and finally nation-states, everyone benefits in the long run by playing fairly with electricity rather than through coercion and violence. While I’m most hopeful that Bitcoin can help empower sovereign individuals, it appears we are entering the point where institutions start stacking sats.

    As the network continues to grow in size, Bitcoin will reach a point where every company and nation-state will adopt the technology in some form or fashion, just like they have with TCP/IP. The Bitcoin rabbit hole makes learning fun and teaches people about energy, finance, philosophy, physics, history, game theory, economics, computer science and a bunch of other subjects. At my local Bitcoin meetups in Massachusetts, I’ve heard many similar stories of people starting to study and learn about subjects they otherwise would never have bothered to study. In order to have a good understanding of Bitcoin you must commit hundreds, if not thousands of hours. At which point you are just getting started because “no one has found the bottom of the Bitcoin rabbit hole.” Once you start to grasp what Bitcoin means for humanity, it almost feels like a cheat code for life. An apolitical, censorship-resistant, truly scarce, decentralized ledger that is being adopted by the masses from the ground up. It’s a blessing that the anonymous person or group named Satoshi Nakamoto solved the Byzantine generals problem. 

    (Source)

    INDIVIDUALS

    Socialism doesn’t work because people are self-interested. I’d love to live in a utopia where everyone cooperates and helps their neighbor. I firmly believe that when you give via your own free will, it is one of the best feelings in the world. However, it does not feel very good to give when you are forced to do so in order to avoid violence. Throughout history, taking away the ability for people to keep the fruits of their labor has always ended poorly. Telling people they must produce for “the greater good” is a recipe for disaster. One example of this is what happened in China between 1959-1961. The country experienced what is now referred to as the Great Famine under Mao Zedong.

    “Taking away all means of private food production (in some places even cooking utensils), forcing peasants into mismanaged communes, and continuing food exports were the worst acts of commission. Preferential supply of food to cities and to the ruling elite was the deliberate act of selective provision.” 

    – Vaclav Smil

    This is just one example of what happens when the government takes away the ability for its citizens to work on what they themselves deem worthy. It ruins the incentive structure for productive people to work on meaningful tasks. The world is not a utopia no matter how badly socialists want it to be. It is one thing to demonize monopolistic practices because they hinder the free market from operating properly. It is a completely different thing to demonize profit. If people can’t make a profit they won’t spend their time and resources making something of value. That is unless they are forced to do so by the threat of violence. The more coercion is applied, the less value is created because someone working for profit is a lot more motivated than someone working because they are being forced to do so.

    One monopolistic practice hindering our modern world today is the monopoly central banks have on fiat currency. By centrally planning interest rates and having the ability to create fiat money without facing an opportunity cost for doing so, the free market becomes corrupted. This leads to distorted price signals and individuals being pushed out on the risk curve.

    “Every day that goes by and Bitcoin hasn’t collapsed due to legal or technical problems, that brings new information to the market. It increases the chance of Bitcoin’s eventual success and justifies a higher price.” — Hal Finney

    While bitcoin becomes less risky every day it exists, I tip my hat to the individuals who understood its importance before buying bitcoin was a mainstream thing. Before exchanges like Mt. Gox, people were not using fiat currency to buy bitcoin. They were using electricity and computers to mine it, which is what made Bitcoin so special. A new system that is completely outside the traditional one of relying on credit and growth. Many projects that came before Bitcoin failed in the long run, but various ideas from these projects were referenced in Nakamoto’s white paper. Logically, over time, more people will come to the Bitcoin network to protect their purchasing power as long as the network keeps adding blocks of transactions approximately every 10 minutes.

    The more people who see the impact that fiat currency debasement has on their purchasing power, the more likely they are to look for alternatives to protect said purchasing power. This is what initially attracted me to buy some bitcoin in early 2017. My friend told me about this new form of currency that had appreciated greatly since its inception. I watched the documentary “Banking On Bitcoin,” which I still highly recommend because it helped open my eyes to the fact that money is just a ledger. Unfortunately, I didn’t fully go down the rabbit hole at that time. I spent the first couple of years of my journey looking at my exchange balances as my bitcoin and altcoins multiplied 10 times, only to be depressed when my gains came crashing down after the bull market ended. Like most who are initially attracted to cryptocurrency for the speculation, I obsessed over the fiat price. Doing so caused me to miss the whole point of not having to rely on any counterparties to verify and hold bitcoin. While it sucked losing all the fiat gains I had made, it taught me some very valuable lessons.

    “The danger is if people are buying bitcoins in the expectation that the price will go up, and the resulting increased demand is what is driving the price up. That is the definition of a BUBBLE, and as we all know, bubbles burst.” 

    – Hal Finney

    As Finney so eloquently pointed out in those early days, when something goes parabolic superfast it will likely crash just as fast. Pain is the best teacher and this was my first hint at why having a low time-preference is so important. It also served as a lesson for myself to focus on Bitcoin, not crypto. I kept an interest in Bitcoin, but it wasn’t until 2020 that I really started digging into the rabbit hole. When I got a stimulus check in the mail for doing nothing, that set off an alarm inside my mind. While free money is always nice, it was obvious that there would be consequences to the United States government handing out cash to its citizens. I didn’t fully understand why at the time. It was annoying me that I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong so I started down the Bitcoin rabbit hole which led me to Austrian economics and how money actually works. It was both frustrating and enlightening to learn about Bretton Woods, 1971 and why central banks are in a race to debase their currency.

    When I learned that most U.S. dollars are held on a server (in an SQL database) at the Federal Reserve, I was shocked. These people can press buttons on a keyboard and print trillions. By granting 12 unelected officials the privilege to centrally plan the cost of borrowing money we have hindered the free market’s ability to effectively tell market participants what the cost of capital is. Fiat is latin for “by decree”; thus, it makes a lot of sense why central bankers will fight tooth and nail to keep the ability to control money. The Fed claims to be an apolitical organization, but as debt levels increase to numbers typically seen during times of war, central bankers are pressured politically to debase their currency. The other option is to default on the debt and that is never politically viable. The silver lining is that more people are waking up because they get frustrated watching their purchasing power decline rapidly in inflationary environments. Being self-interested is not a bad thing. It is what motivates individuals to work hard so they can enjoy the fruits of their labor. Bitcoin optimizes for this, while the Keynesian economic models of ever-expanding credit steal the fruits of people’s labor. No one knows how it ends but over time it makes sense more people would end up saving their “fruits” in the harder money. 

    Figures with a Bitcoin flag, walking on the U.S. dollar

    SMALL BUSINESSES

    Visa and Mastercard have a combined market capitalization of about $775 billion dollars at the time of this writing. They charge around 3% of retailers’ revenue for their services which eats into the profits or get passed onto consumers of the companies accepting debit and credit cards. While cards make it much easier to transact, many businesses and consumers would be happy to avoid these fees if possible. There is an option of going cash-only for final settlement, but that means missing out on business from younger generations who don’t carry cash. By accepting bitcoin, these companies not only avoid the fees, but they also receive final settlement transactions just like cash. No more waiting 90 days to make sure a credit card doesn’t get charged back. Bitcoin will massively disrupt many financial rails we have today. Many in the Western world might not appreciate what a big deal this is because our financial rails are pretty well established. However, those in less developed countries know perfectly well what a pain it is to have hucksters butting in to take a cut. It won’t be instant, but bitcoin can help wean small businesses off middlemen who are no longer necessary. Bitcoin can also serve as an incredible marketing tool. I’d gladly spend some satoshis at any local small businesses that took bitcoin. Tahinis is a great example of a small business who leveraged bitcoin to get some brand awareness. I’ve never been to Canada, but if I ever go, I’d like to eat at Tahinis so I can use bitcoin to buy shawarma. Bitcoin forms a special bond between people to the point where you literally want to support their business because you know they have taken the orange pill.

    (Source)

    ENERGY COMPANIES AND GRID OPERATORS

    Energy companies and grid operators also have a massive incentive to adopt a bitcoin strategy. Rather than just having one buyer on the grid that demands more energy during the day than at night, the grid could have a second buyer who is willing to consume energy 24/7, 365 days/year. Bitcoin miners can monetize energy that would otherwise go to waste. There is the up-front cost of buying an ASIC and having the technical whereabouts to maintain and run said ASIC. This means more jobs for the talented individuals who understand how to do so. More talented workers creating value means more energy efficient grids. It amazes me how much fear, uncertainty and doubt gets spread about Bitcoin’s energy usage, when the reality is Bitcoin can stabilize grids and make the capital put up to build green energy infrastructure much less risky. 

    If you wanted to build a massive hydro plant in a rural area before there was Bitcoin, it would be very hard to raise the capital. Investors would not want to put up their money for a power plant that did not have buyers for the power being generated. With Bitcoin, the investors can rest assured there is always a buyer for that power. While I think there will be a point when miners just keep the bitcoin, they can also sell them for fiat at any point in time. Unlike traditional markets, bitcoin never stops trading. Since fiat depreciates over time, the most efficient miners will be able to hold and accumulate their bitcoin, while the less efficient miners will have to sell for money that is constantly being debased by the money printer. The best companies will thrive over the long run, while the inefficient operators will have to adapt or die. It is the free market doing its job. 

    The more I learn about how grids operate, the more apparent it becomes that bitcoin can help usher in an abundant energy future where energy prices aren’t going parabolic because of poor decisions made by central planners who are printing money at unheard-of rates. The whole green energy and environmental, social and governance (ESG) narrative is an antihuman farce meant to hide the disaster that the central banks have created. These greeniacs claim that CO2 is going to suffocate the world, but this chart in Alex Epstein’s “Fossil Future” shows why more fossil fuel use is needed.

    (Source)

    Energy is the base layer of society. Without reliable and reasonably priced energy, things will get ugly fast. Just look at what happened to Sri Lanka who had one of the highest ESG ratings in the world before their economy collapsed. Every example of hyperinflation stems from irresponsible monetary policy. Calling currency debasement “quantitative easing” doesn’t change the fact that it results in more money chasing the same number of goods. People joke that Bitcoiners are psychopaths who can’t stop talking about magic internet money, but the truth is we just want others to take the orange pill so we can stop suffering from the central planners. Bitcoin Maximalists have a reputation of being mean online for calling out bad actors, but almost every Bitcoiner I’ve met in person turns out to be one of the most genuine, kind and intelligent people I meet. In person, I’ve seen that Bitcoiners are willing to help onboard as many people as they can because we all strongly believe Bitcoin is the best way to achieve a pro-human future where we have an abundance of food, energy and choice.

    In my opinion, helping people understand that bitcoin is the life raft is one of the most noble things a person can do. History has shown that the free market will ultimately end up with one form of money winning out. Before bitcoin that was gold and then we ended up with fiat to keep up with the speed of commerce. Now that we have bitcoin, I believe fiat will continue to rapidly lose its purchasing power as more people and businesses realize that bitcoin can’t be debased by a single entity.

    NATION-STATES

    This one is a double-edged sword. I want as many individual people to adopt bitcoin before the nation-states start accumulating. I’m hopeful that the nation-states who do end up adopting bitcoin will be able to utilize its fiat price appreciation to create a more abundant society for the individuals that live there. At the time of writing, two countries have adopted bitcoin as legal tender. According to the World Population Review’s prosperity index, El Salvador ranks 98 and the Central African Republic ranks 165 out of 167 countries. Neither of these countries is in the top 50% of prosperous nation-states and they were the first to adopt bitcoin. I believe this trend will continue since the most prosperous countries have much more to lose by not being able to “decree” what happens with their country’s money. Before bitcoin, El Salvador was a dollarized economy. Now they allow both USD and BTC to operate as legal tender. The Central African Republic had the CFA franc as its currency. According to Wikipedia:

    “Critics point out that the currency is controlled by the French treasury, and in turn African countries channel more money to France than they receive in aid and have no sovereignty over their monetary policies.” 

    Top: Central African Republic flag. Bottom: El Salvador flag

    It is encouraging to see nation-states that are at the mercy of foreign central banks adopt bitcoin to get around these monopolies. I imagine at some point the richest nation-states will be forced to adopt bitcoin if their currency is hyperinflated because it will be the only viable way to trade with other countries. These wealthy nations will fight for as long as they can to keep control of their monopoly on fiat currency. It is the poorer nations who don’t have complete sovereignty over their money that will look to bitcoin to protect their purchasing power because they have the least to lose. 

    If you are a nation-state and you can’t create your own money to fund government spending, you are much more likely to invest in a truly scarce currency than another nation-state that can create more of its own currency out of thin air. While El Salvador might not be in the green in terms of where they bought bitcoin on the spot market, they have made up for it with the massive boost in tourism and interest in their country. Personally, I would love the opportunity to visit El Salvador and use bitcoin to buy stuff. El Salvador will likely continue to experience a massive influx of tourism as more Bitcoiners, like myself, start to plan trips there so they can use this new form of money. The cyber hornets don’t mess around and as more countries notice the impact bitcoin can have on their local economies, the logical conclusion is to adopt it as legal tender and attract tourists to bolster their economy.

    (Source)

    CONCLUSION

    It might get messy. Rich nations, the World Bank and The International Monetary Fund aren’t just going to toss up their hands and go, “Well, it was fun controlling fiat while it lasted.” Just look at the U.S. who passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes hiring and arming an additional 87,000 IRS agents. The United States is planning on printing money out of thin air so they can pay citizens to do this.

    (Archived source)

    It is quite ironic that the nation which was created because we demanded no taxation without representation is doubling down on its tax force.

    The people in power will fight tooth and nail to protect their interests and hinder bitcoin’s adoption. Top-down controls can only go so far. Individuals, companies and nation-states are all self-interested. No one likes a parasite when they are the one dealing with the consequences that are draining their resources, time and value. Over a long enough time horizon, it seems bitcoin will bleed these parasites dry as they lash out and try to impose top-down controls across the world. The truth can only be hidden so long; it always comes out in the end. Bitcoin can fix energy, monopolistic central banks, credit-based systems and massive surveillance states. It can help disincentivize violence because if someone stores their private keys in their head, no one can steal that bitcoin. They can kill the person who holds the keys, but if they were not able to torture those private keys out of the victim’s head, that just results in a donation to the rest of the network since that person’s bitcoin will never be moved.

    If enough people adopt bitcoin and use solid safety practices, powerful entities stand to gain more by cooperating with these sovereign individuals rather than killing them. I don’t want it to get messy and I truly believe the best way to avoid conflict is by getting more people to take the orange pill and showing them how to run a node. Individuals, companies and nation-states theoretically no longer need banks to transact.

    As a U.S citizen, I hate to see America in disarray. Ray Dalio makes some excellent and terrifying points about the state of our republic in his book “The Changing World Order.” The U.S is a declining empire at this point and China is on the rise. This chart from Dalio really helped me understand what it means to have world reserve currency status.

    Estimates of ‘power’ levels of empires relative to others.

    The Netherlands had reserve currency status and lost it to the British, who lost it to the United States. Now it looks like China is getting ready to gain world reserve currency status over the U.S. There is little hope of reversing the trend of USD no longer being a global reserve currency. While losing reserve status is never a fun experience, the U.S could benefit greatly from having bitcoin as a neutral world reserve currency rather than the Chinese yuan. Having a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the reserve currency would serve as the ultimate tool for central planners to corrupt the free market and wreak havoc on value creation. As a country, China has a deep, rich history and a nation full of hardworking people. However, their massive surveillance state and CBDCs are not something that will ever fly in a free country. It is up to the masses to say “enough!” and opt out.

    Future generations deserve a better world than one where the government can turn off access to its citizens’ money with the flick of a switch. These past two years have been absolutely insane. We are seeing people get their bank accounts frozen because they donated to a peaceful protest put on by truckers in Canada. We are seeing an attack on farmers across the globe to meet antihuman ESG agendas that will destroy countries in the same way it did Sri Lanka. We are even seeing the greatest nation on the planet come after its own citizens by devaluing their currency at unprecedented levels, hiring more IRS agents and raising taxes during a recession. All of this is what is at stake if the masses don’t wake up and peacefully opt out from these corrupt regimes with bitcoin.

    All we have to do is use an old computer or a Raspberry Pi and run Bitcoin Core. Now, it is that easy to transact with anyone in a peer-to-peer manner and verify that only 21 million bitcoin will ever be created. It brings a warm, tingly feeling to my heart thinking about the freedom, prosperity and abundance bitcoin can bring to the world.

    “Abundance in money creates scarcity everywhere else, and scarcity in money creates abundance.” 

    – Jeff Booth

    Once the masses understand this, they will understand why the phrase “Fix the money; Fix the world,” is the embodiment of the Bitcoin ethos.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 21:40

  • US Embassy Anti-Air Defenses Activated Over Baghdad As Death Toll Rises In Night Of Chaos
    US Embassy Anti-Air Defenses Activated Over Baghdad As Death Toll Rises In Night Of Chaos

    Update(2140ET): The American embassy in Baghdad has reportedly engaged inbound rocket attacks with its air defense system, the C-RAM which protects aerial threats against the Green Zone.

    Some reports suggest the streets have finally grown calmer in the early morning hours (local time), but this is after an evening and overnight death toll of at least 15, including unconfirmed reports of police casualties. AFP citing local medical sources also says some 350 protesters were injured. 

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    Currently the Kuwaiti embassy in Iraq is urging all of its citizens to leave the country, and its likely that more regional and gulf states will follow, especially if violence spreads to other provinces. 

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    Below: a brief collection of videos from some of the night’s chaotic scenes of clashes between pro-Sadr protesters, rival militant factions, and security forces…

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    * * *

    Update(1702ET): By all accounts the situation into the overnight hours (local time) Baghdad has continued to spiral, with one well-known regional Mideast correspondent describing a “full implosion” – despite security forces attempting to enforce a strict curfew meant to clear the streets. The Republican Palace, which is where Iraq’s gridlocked parliament meets (though which has now been suspended by acting prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi), was occupied by armed protesters earlier in the evening.

    CNN reports of the latest, “At least five people have been killed and more than 40 have been injured in violent clashes that erupted in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Monday, following an announcement by powerful Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr that he was withdrawing from political life, medical sources told CNN.” Earlier, though unconfirmed reports, said at least eight had died amid clashes with police. These numbers were quickly updated and the death toll is expected to go higher into the night: At least 12 protestors killed (AFP), 2 security members killed (Arabiya). State trying to impose a curfew but situation is out of hand. Protestors aggravated by status quo, militias roaming Baghdad, Gov MIA… Long night for Iraq,” Joyce Karam summarizes.

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    “Several witnesses told CNN the security forces pushed protesters out of Iraq’s Republican Palace by firing tear gas and live bullets. Hundreds of protesters stormed the building inside the Green Zone following al-Sadr’s announcement, Iraqi security officials told CNN on Monday.”

    The White House previously denied widespread claims that an embassy “evacuation” was in progress – but at this point it seems more than likely that key personnel are being whisked to safety given the crumbling security situation in the supposedly ‘high-secure’ Green Zone.

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    In a twisted bit of tragic irony, all of this is of course happening the very week, almost to the day, of another anniversary and grim legacy of America’s two-decade long ‘war on terror’…

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    Pro-Sadr protesters were earlier seen taking over the swimming pool at the iconic Republican Palace built by Saddam and kept in tact after the 2003 US invasion.

    More video to emerge showing just how intense ongoing clashes among political factions and with police are:

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    * * * 

    Update(1337ET): The White House is addressing viral video which purported to show a military helicopter on top of the US Embassy in Baghdad following Iraqi protesters breaching the high-secure Green Zone.

    “Reports of an Embassy evacuation are false. Ensuring the safety of US government personnel, US citizens, and the security of our facilities remains our highest priority,” a White House official said in the hours after the security situation unraveled. The official called reports of violent confrontation with police “disturbing” after a curfew for the Iraqi capital went into effect.

    “Now is the time for dialogue, not escalated confrontation,” the official said. “We join the call by parties across the Iraqi political spectrum to remain calm, abstain from violence, and resolve their political differences through a peaceful process guided by the Iraqi constitution.”

    Though little is confirmed, there are reports of several killed as videos of gun fights continue to emerge. Currently there are reports that pro-Sadr militants are roaming around Tahrir Square and near the Green Zone at the moment, with key government buildings also having been breached.

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    * * *

    Days of pro-Muqtada Sadr protests and unrest have reportedly resulted in Baghdad’s high secure Green Zone being breached Monday, placing international diplomatic missions and foreign embassies under threat.

    AFP is reporting that an exchange of gunfire has been observed as dozens or possibly hundreds of supporters riot, with police using riot control measures like water cannons to repel an attack on the Green Zone. There are unconfirmed reports that the sprawling and iconic Iraqi Republican Palace has been forcibly breached with protesters inside.

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    The fresh unrest appears to be in response to Sadr being pressured to exit politics, with the influential Shia cleric tweeting earlier in the day, “Earlier I decided that I would not interfere in political affairs. And now I announce my final retirement (from politics) and the closure of all institutions (belonging to the Sadr movement).”

    The past months have witness periodic unrest as Shia factions struggle to form a government, which has also resulted in sporadic violence amid gridlock in parliament. Against this backdrop, for the last two years pro-Iran militia groups have launched occasional rocket attacks on US bases and even at times the heavily fortified American embassy. Sadr’s supporters believe there’s a conspiracy against him.

    Though as yet unconfirmed from the US side, there are widespread reports that the United States Embassy which is located inside the Green Zone is currently being evacuated.

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    Convoys of international vehicles have also been seen speeding from the areas of unrest, exiting the confines of the Green Zone.

    Below are some developments according to Iraqi war correspondent Ali Almikdam:

    • closure of the shrine of Imam Al Kadhim
    • Intense security deployment near Baghdad International Airport.
    • Sadr’s supporters storm the government palace & the Republican Palace.
    • Curfew in Baghdad.
    • US embassy is evacuating

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    Purported footage of protesters breaching the symbolic seat of government for the Iraqi state, which is at the heart of the walled Green Zone:

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    developing…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 21:40

  • Student Loan Forgiveness May Result In A State Tax Bill In Over A Dozen States
    Student Loan Forgiveness May Result In A State Tax Bill In Over A Dozen States

    Those excited about the forthcoming student loan forgiveness are now finding out that they may wind up getting hit with a state tax bill on forgiven loans. 

    While the student loan forgiveness is set to be tax-free on federal returns, some experts have said that the cancellation may wind up triggering a state tax bill, as some states may count the cancelled debt as income. 

    The rules could affect borrowers in more than 12 states, according to a writeup by CNBC. They may also add a state liability of roughly $300 to $1,100, the report says. The states that may be included are Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, the report says.

    As a result of the American Rescue Plan of 2021, the forgiveness is Federally Tax Free through 2025. 

    Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation, said: “Generally speaking, states use the federal tax code as a baseline for how they define taxability.” States use “conformity” to follow Federal legislation, he said. In rare cases states may decouple from Federal guidelines and make their own. 

    He said of handling the forgiveness: “States could come back very early in the next legislative session, update their conformity statute and make it effective immediately. This is not a niche issue that only affects a few people. It affects a very large number of people and hopefully, there will be clarity provided on it.”

    Many borrowers making under $125,000 per year individually or $250,000 per year married will qualify for up to $10,000 of forgiveness under the bill. Pell Grant recipients will receive up to $20,000 in forgiveness. 

     

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 21:20

  • Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration's Transgender Medical Mandate
    Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s Transgender Medical Mandate

    Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A federal appeals court on Friday struck down a Biden administration statute that forced doctors to perform medical procedures, including gender-transition procedures, against their religious beliefs.

    Jean Ballard protests Fairfax County school board’s pro-transgender policy outside of the Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, Va., on June 16, 2022. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously upheld a lower court’s ruling in Franciscan Alliance v. Becerra which protected around 19,000 health care professionals in Franciscan Alliance, a Catholic health care network, from performing medical procedures against their conscience.

    The lower court’s ruling had permanently prohibited the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) “from requiring Franciscan Alliance to perform gender-transition surgeries or abortions in violation of its sincerely held religious beliefs.”

    Becket, the legal counsel representing Franciscan Alliance, said the court explained that permanent protection from the statute was appropriate for health care workers.

    “This ruling is a major victory for conscience rights and compassionate medical care in America,” said Joseph Davis, counsel at Becket, in a statement. “Doctors cannot do their jobs and comply with the Hippocratic Oath if the government requires them to perform harmful, irreversible procedures against their conscience and medical expertise.” 

    The court noted that the Biden administration argued for more chances to show why it needed religious health care providers to participate in gender-transition surgeries, but that the ACLU, a co-appellant, cited a previous case that worked against their argument, according to court documents (pdf).

    “For years, our clients have provided excellent medical care to all patients who need it,” Davis said. “Today’s ruling ensures that these doctors and hospitals may continue to do this critical work in accordance with their conscience and professional medical judgment.”  

    Mandate

    The mandate was first issued six years ago as part of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Becket noted that this applied to “virtually every doctor nationwide.”

    Section 1557 of Obamacare prohibits health care programs that receive federal funds from discriminating against patients on the basis of sex.

    In May 2016, HHS issued a rule interpreting Section 1557’s prohibition of “discrimination on the basis of sex.” It defined sex discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of “termination of pregnancy” and the disputed concept of “gender identity.”

    Franciscan Alliance claimed the 2016 rule violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by defining “sex discrimination” inconsistently with Title IX, which protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.

    This rule was swiftly challenged by nine states and a group of religious organizations and received protection from federal courts in North Dakota and in Texas.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 21:00

  • Iran Gives West Ultimatum On Nuclear Deal As It Starts Enriching Uranium At Natanz
    Iran Gives West Ultimatum On Nuclear Deal As It Starts Enriching Uranium At Natanz

    Iran has issued an ultimatum which further suggests that at a moment a restored nuclear deal is reportedly at the ‘finish line’ (or hanging by a thread, depending on the source) – it could be on the brink of unraveling in this final crucial stage. 

    “Iran’s president warned Monday that any roadmap to restore Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers must see international inspectors end their probe on man-made uranium particles found at undeclared sites in the country,” the AP reports.

    AFP via Getty Images

    This has been a key demand of the Iranian side particularly over the past months, but the US and its ally Israel in the background have claimed the withdraw of inspectors will only more easily allow the Islamic Republic to pursue a covert nuclear weapons program under cover of a restored JCPOA.

    The IAEA has long demanded answers after man-made uranium particles were found at undeclared sites inside Iran. President Ebrahim Raisi addressed this in his Monday speech:

    As a member of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Iran is obligated to explain the radioactive traces and to provide assurances that they are not being used as part of a nuclear weapons program. Iran found itself criticized by the IAEA’s Board of Governors in June over its failure to answer questions about the sites to the inspectors’ satisfaction.

    Raisi mentioned the traces — referring to its as a “safeguards” issue using the IAEA’s language.

    “Without settlement of safeguard issues, speaking about an agreement has no meaning,” Raisi said.

    Thus his words point to an agreement on the “final text” being anything but a done deal.

    Complicating things further, Reuters in a Monday afternoon report, citing the IAEA, says:

    Iran has started enriching uranium with one of three cascades, or clusters, of advanced IR-6 centrifuges recently installed at its underground enrichment plant at Natanz, a report by the U.N. atomic watchdog to member states seen by Reuters said on Monday.

    Iran is using the cascade of up to 174 machines to enrich uranium to up to 5% purity, the confidential report said.

    Critics of the negotiations and a restored JCPAO will be sure to pounce on this, particularly at a moment that top Israeli officials are in Washington seeking to lobby the White House against a deal. 

    Meanwhile, Iranian state media is reporting that Tehran is still reviewing Washington’s response to the ‘final text’ after the EU delivered it last week, and is not expected to give formal reply until Friday, September 2.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 20:40

  • The Fed Is Openly Cheering The Stock Market Plunge Following Jackson Hole
    The Fed Is Openly Cheering The Stock Market Plunge Following Jackson Hole

    Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

    After actively promoting bubbles in housing and the stock market for years, the Fed is now rooting for a price crash…

    Neel Kashkari ‘Happy’ to See the Stock Market’s Reaction to Jackson Hole

    Bloomberg reports Neel Kashkari ‘Happy’ to See the Stock Market’s Reaction to Jackson Hole

    “I was actually happy to see how Chair Powell’s Jackson hole speech was received,” Kashkari said in an interview with Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast on Monday, reflecting on the steep drop after Powell spoke. “People now understand the seriousness of our commitment to getting inflation back down to 2%.”

    “I certainly was not excited to see the stock market rallying after our last Federal Open Market Committee meeting,” he said. “Because I know how committed we all are to getting inflation down. And I somehow think the markets were misunderstanding that.”

    “One of the biggest mistakes they made in the 1970s at the Fed is they thought that inflation was on its way down. The economy was weakening. And then they backed off and then inflation flared back up again before they had finally quashed it,” Kashkari said. “We can’t repeat that mistake.”

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    Actively Promoting Bubbles

    The Fed actively promoted a housing bubble to bail out banks following the DoCom crash. Of course, the DotCom bubble was openly embraced by Greenspan as a productivity miracle.

    Not understanding bubbles and crashes, the Fed promoted the “Everything Bubble” as it is now called in response to the housing crash and great recession. 

    Finally, the Fed actively promoted the biggest bubble of them all in response to the Covid pandemic by the most QE and monetary stimulus ever coupled with the biggest fiscal stimulus in history.

    Actively Popping Bubbles

    Now, the Fed has decided it does not like the inflation it created.

    The only way it knows how to fix inflation is via demand destruction. The way to do that is to kill the wealth impact from the bubbles it created. 

    So now the Fed is cheering the stock market decline. 

    Gaps Galore on the Stock Market, Where Is the Market Headed and When?

    Earlier today, I commented Gaps Galore on the Stock Market, Where Is the Market Headed and When?

    I think the S&P is headed to the 2400 level and the Nasdaq to the 6,000 level. 

    That’s roughly a 50% decline from the top on the S&P 500 and a 64% decline from the to on the Nasdaq.  

    Fed Pivot? Forget It!

    The Fed has eliminated any talk of a pivot. It might do so, but only if there is a credit event.

    We cannot rule that out, but this is not 2008. 

    Housing is in a bigger bubble from a price perspective, but this time there is not the underlying liar loan problem. Nor is there a huge wave of layoffs coming. 

    The job market is tight and unlike most other economic bears, I expect this recession will have a minimum unemployment rate rise.

    Employment Levels in Retirement Age Groups 

    With over 22 million people aged 60 or over and roughly half of them 65 or over, millions of boomers will be retiring in the next couple years.

    Employment lost due to retirement will not add to the unemployment rate. 

    Powell has plenty of room to hike at will especially given the massive number of openings in the Leisure and Hospitality sector. 

    Expect a Long Period of Weak Growth, Whether or Not It’s Labeled Recession

    On August 19, I commented Expect a Long Period of Weak Growth, Whether or Not It’s Labeled Recession

    On August 26, at Jackoson Hole, Fed Chair Jerome Powell Pledges to “Act With Resolve” to Beat Inflation

    Key comments: “Reducing inflation is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth.”

    Stocks are priced for perfection, not a long period of weak growth, and with the Fed openly cheering their demise.

    *  *  *

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    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 20:20

  • "Get The F*** Out Of This Province!" Canadian Deputy PM Pounced On In Alberta
    “Get The F*** Out Of This Province!” Canadian Deputy PM Pounced On In Alberta

    Canadian deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland received an icy welcome to Alberta on Friday, as a man accosted her in a city hall building, calling her a traitor and a “fucking bitch.” Video of the incident has been circulated on social media. 

    When the Canadian government confronted “freedom convoy” truckers paralyzing downtown Ottawa earlier this year in protest against vaccine mandates, Freeland — who is also finance minister — was the smiling face of the country’s alarmingly tyrannical response.  

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    After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act for the first time in the country’s history, Freeland orchestrated the freezing of financial accounts of hundreds of protesters — without any due process. 

    On Friday, Freeland — who was born in Alberta — was about to board an elevator in a Grand Prairie city hall building when a man in blue jeans and a sleeveless t-shirt called her first name. Freeland turned and cheerfully replied, “Yes?”

    Then came a blistering verbal tirade that carried on until the elevator doors closed, with Freeland, surrounded by three other women, smiling and hugging the corner of the car: 

    “The fuck you doing in Alberta? You fucking traitorous fucking bitch. Get the fuck out of this province! You’re a fucking traitor, you fucking bitch!”  

    A woman who was accompanying the man and recording the action chimed in, “You don’t belong here.” 

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    After that, another man approached the outspoken man and told him to “get.” 

    “Don’t tell me to ‘get.’ I’ll walk off on my own power, ok, so back off, fucking back off,” he replied. “That fucking cunt shouldn’t be even allowed be allowed in Alberta. She’s destroying this country and your kids are gonna have no future. Ok? I hope you get it. Somebody’s gotta get it, because we’re the only ones fighting for this country right now!” 

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    According to CTV News, the man who accosted Freeland may be Grand Prairie resident Elliot McDavid, who “has been an active organizer of freedom convoy events in his area.”

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    “What happened yesterday was wrong,” Freeland tweeted on Saturday. “Nobody, anywhere, should have to put up with threats and intimidation.” 

    In a Sunday address, Trudeau condemned the verbal attack and, in true leftist style, predictably portrayed it as an act of intolerance: 

    “We are seeing increasingly people in public life and people in positions of responsibility, particularly women, racialized Canadians, people of minority or different community groups, being targeted almost because of the increasing strength of your voices.”  

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 20:00

  • US Hints At Preparing Military Option Against Iran To Israeli Officials
    US Hints At Preparing Military Option Against Iran To Israeli Officials

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    An Israeli official said that the US hinted it was preparing a military option against Iran during a meeting between Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Friday, The Times of Israel reported.

    The Israeli official said that Gantz told Sullivan that Israel “needs” the US to have a credible military option against Iran. The meeting came as Washington and Tehran are engaged in negotiations to revive the nuclear deal.

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Defense Minister Benny Gantz in a June 2021 meeting, via AP.

    The official said that Gantz received “good hints” that the US was preparing a military option. The official didn’t offer details but said the idea of the military option that Israel wants would be to get Iran to make more concessions in negotiations. If not, the US could potentially take military action against the Islamic Republic alongside Israel.

    Gantz expressed his opposition to the nuclear deal in the meeting with Sullivan, and the Israelis are stepping up pressure on the Biden administration to abandon the talks. As part of the pressure campaign, the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, David Barnea, is heading to Washington next week.

    Barnea is expected to brief members of the House and Senate intelligence committees on Israel’s opposition to reviving the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA. He will also meet with CIA Director William Burns and other Biden administration officials.

    On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid slammed the EU’s recent proposal to revive the JCPOA, calling it a “bad deal.” Iran is currently reviewing the US response to the EU proposal, which came after Tehran gave a response of its own.

    Lapid said that the EU proposal is not something President Biden said he would pursue during his trip to Israel in July. “We told the Americans: ‘This is not what President Biden wanted.’ This is not what he talked about during his visit to the country,” he said.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 19:40

  • Student Loan Forgiveness Proves All Those College Degrees Really Are Worthless
    Student Loan Forgiveness Proves All Those College Degrees Really Are Worthless

    What is a college degree actually worth?  We know what secondary schools charge for the “opportunity” to study with them, but this does not really tell us much about the value of the services they offer.

    On average, college tuition costs around $10,000 per year for a person studying in their home state, and $25,000 a year for those studying out-of-state.  Federal student loans can cover these costs, but this is the application of public tax dollars with the expectation of returns; it is not supposed to be free money.  And to be clear, NO ONE is entitled to a secondary education, let alone for free.  

    The average interest rate on a student loan is around 5% these days, and such loans include stipulations that they cannot be erased through bankruptcy.  The argument among people who support loan forgiveness is that the cost of a degree is too high and the loans are impossible to pay or escape.  On top of that, many of these graduates can’t even get a job once they leave college.  

    Surveys over the past couple years show that at least 45% of college graduates are unable to find a job once they enter the private sector.  Those that can find a job usually end up working outside the scope of their field of study.  Keep in mind this is happening during a period of very low official unemployment.   

    The result?  Four year or eight year degree holders end up working side-by-side with high school graduates in lower wage jobs.  This is extremely common and is fueling a rise in worker discontent.  Their fantasies of six-figure incomes and a life of prestige suddenly hit a wall called reality, and now these students are angry and in debt to the tune of $36,000 or more on average.

    But do they have a right to be angry?  No, not really.  

    The problem with this line of thinking is once again about real world value.  When these students chose their field of study, were they considering the value of the work they would eventually be able to do?  Were they considering the job that their degree would afford them, or were they only thinking about how easy it would be to take those particular classes?

    As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently noted:  “It’s very unfair to have a truck driver have to pay back a loan for somebody that got a PhD in gender studies. That’s not fair. That’s not right.”              

    This is an accurate assessment.  The loan could have been used for anything – Any field of study with limitless potential for job growth and success, but 45% of these kids chose idiotic majors with zero earning potential.  The money was wasted on nothing, and now, many of these graduates that made foolish decisions are being rewarded for it with loan forgiveness by the Biden Administration.

    What’s worse is that these same children now act as if they were “victimized” by receiving the loans in the first place.  No one made them take the loans, and no one made them pick a field of study that was lazy and worthless.  They can’t use the excuse that the jobs market is unfavorable, because according to Joe Biden this is the “best employment environment ever.”

    So what is the root disconnect?  What is the question that no one is asking?  Well, if the degrees were worth the cost of the loans then wouldn’t it be easy for graduates to pay them off as high level producers and money makers?  Why does the federal government need to step in at all?  Shouldn’t graduates be able to pay off their loans with the vast number of jobs available under Joe Biden?  Why would they need the help if the economy is flying?  

    There are multiple points to make here:

    1)  Someone has to pay for the debt that is created, it doesn’t disappear because Joe Biden says so.  It gets added directly to the national debt and the deficit and every taxpayer has to take on that cost, along with the increased drag on the economy.  Why should we pay for the mistakes of a bunch of low expectation college kids, or for educational services that add no value to the financial system?  

    2)  Is it legal for Joe Biden to essentially buy votes from college students by offering them free tuition as long as he stays in office?  Isn’t this what he is doing, or is this really Joe giving the kids a break from the goodness of his heart?  Because we all know if Joe can do this successfully once, he will do it again.      

    3)  Loan forgiveness only confirms what many of us already suspected; that at least half of all degrees are worthless and pointless.  If they were worth something, then there would be no need for forgiveness because the graduates would be able to pay off their loans without aid.

    4)  If we accept the fact that half of student loans are for worthless degrees, then we also have to then ask why they were given out in the first place?  Shouldn’t student loans for necessary fields such as STEM fields or business fields be prioritized and loans for meaningless fields like social sciences be turned down?  Why not only give loans in fields where there are insufficient applicants and a high demand for trainees?  Why not incentivize students to take on a field of study that is difficult and needed?  Wouldn’t this be smarter than adding hundreds of billions (potentially trillions) of dollars onto the national debt with the stroke of a pen?

    5)  Finally, maybe it is good to make people pay for their mistakes?  Maybe this builds character and forces them to work harder to rectify their lives.  If we subsidize their mistakes, then won’t they simply learn that they can continue doing whatever they please without consequences?  Doesn’t this incentivize stupidity?   

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 19:20

  • DeSantis Suspends Four Broward County School Board Members
    DeSantis Suspends Four Broward County School Board Members

    Authored by Jannis Falkenstern via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended four Broward County School Board members on Aug. 26, following a grand jury recommendation citing “incompetence, neglect of duty, and misuse of authority.”

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis talks to the media in Miami, in April 2022. (Courtesy, The Florida Governor’s Office)

    A Statewide Grand Jury released a 122-page report accusing the four of a range of “inexcusable actions… and unacceptable behavior” relating to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on Feb. 14, 2018, when 17 students and staff lost their lives.

    The governor said he took the report’s recommendations and decided to act on his constitutional authority as governor.

    “It is my duty to suspend people from office when there is clear evidence of incompetence, neglect of duty, misfeasance or malfeasance,” DeSantis said in a written statement. “We hope this suspension brings the Parkland community another step towards justice. This action is in the best interest of the residents and students of Broward County and all citizens of Florida.”

    In announcing the suspensions, DeSantis said, “These are inexcusable actions by school board members who have shown a pattern of emboldening unacceptable behavior, including fraud and mismanagement, across the district.”

    In 2019. the governor asked the Supreme Court to convene the grand jury to look into safety and security issues statewide in the aftermath of the Parkland tragedy.

    The grand jury’s report, which was completed in April 2021, but was not released until Aug. 19, 2022, details accounts of mismanagement within Broward schools after the shooting.

    Former Broward Superintendent Robert Runcie was indicted on perjury charges by the grand jury in April 2021. He stepped down in August 2021. Much of the report was highly critical of Runcie’s leadership, but the four now-suspended board members continued to support him.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 19:00

  • Airline Ticket Sales Unexpectedly Tumble
    Airline Ticket Sales Unexpectedly Tumble

    One of the big drivers of inflation during the late spring and early summer was – in addition to the relentless meltup in energy and commodities – the surge in airplane ticket prices amid seemingly endless demand, as millions of Americans were willing to pay anything after two years of quarantine, just to go travel anywhere and feel normal again.

    But now that prices have more than caught up with travel enthusiasm, demand is tumbling, and as BofA airline analyst Andrew Didora writes today, system net sales (i.e., total bookings) took a sizable step back this week to -23.6% vs 2019 for the week ending 8/21 (compared to last week’s down -9.3%) the biggest drop since February. System volumes and pricing decelerated to -23.5% vs 2019 (vs -11.5% last week) and -0.1% vs 2019 (vs +2.5% last week).

    As Didora explains, “we typically only see this type of weekly change around holidays, so the change is surprising. The only comp issue we have found is that in 2019 Hurricane Dorian was approaching the US at the end of August, which could have pulled forward some bookings.”

    Some more details on the recent plunge in bookings:

    • Domestic/int’l volumes decline with international pricing still > 2019
    • Overall international net sales (-21.1% vs 2019) remain ahead of domestic net sales (26.0%) relative to 2019.

    • However, international volumes declined to down -24.0% vs 2019 (vs -9.8% last week) and are now slightly behind domestic volumes for the first time since mid-May (excluding choppy comps), which were down -23.3% vs 2019 (vs -12.4% last week).

    • Both channels saw pricing step back with domestic and international pricing now down -3.5% vs 2019 (vs -1.9% last week) and +3.8% vs 2019 (vs +6.3% last week), respectively. 

    Finally, in a peculiar divergence, while leisure tickets slumped a notable 22%, it was corporate travel that really cratered, tumbling 37% Y/Y.

    Looking ahead, the BofA strategists caution that if this softness is not reversed in the next 1-2 weeks, “that would indicate more of an underlying demand problem and create risk to 3Q22 outlooks, which call for 100-200bps of sequential total revenue improvement.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 18:40

  • The Strangest Thing About "Semi-Fascist" Trump
    The Strangest Thing About “Semi-Fascist” Trump

    Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via AmGreatness.com,

    Of the last three presidents, Trump was either the most indifferent or the most obstructed when it came to using government agencies for his own partisan political advantages or to neuter his enemies.

    For the Left, Donald Trump is synonymous with “fascism” (or “semi-fascism,” as Joe Biden put it the other day). And for Liz Cheney and most of the NeverTrumpers, he remains an existential threat to democracy. 

    But to quantify those charges, what exactly has Trump done extralegally – as opposed to his bombast and braggadocio about what he might have wished to have done? 

    And what are the standards by which to judge this supposed menace?

    Did Trump illegally and with a mere signature nullify over $300 billion of contracted student loans—to firm up his college-student and college-graduate base nine weeks before the midterm elections?

    Did Donald Trump weaponize the feared IRS, the logical place to find fascistic tendencies of any president bent on using government to punish his enemies? Did he push through a plan to add 87,000 new IRS investigative agents at a time of national discord?

    For the last five years, Trump was rumored to be under investigation by the IRS. Currently, his accountant is facing felony sentencing for advising improper write-offs. 

    Certainly, from the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop and the remarks of Hunter’s associates like Tony Bobulinksi, the Biden family raked in millions of foreign dollars. Evidence so far suggests Joe Biden was a recipient (as the “Big Guy”) of 10 percent of these quid pro quo payments. At times, Bobulinksi may have sent a strapped and broke Hunter thousands of dollars in cash gifts. Were any of these stealthy transactions taxed? Does the recently heavily Biden-endowed IRS care?

    If Trump wished to abuse his power over the IRS, he would have followed the Obama model of weaponizing it during a reelection year to go after his ideological enemies. 

    In Obama’s case, the tax agency slow-walked or denied nonprofit status for groups whose ideology was deemed not helpful to Obama’s campaign in 2012. There was a reason Lois Lerner invoked the Fifth Amendment, and it was not to protect Donald Trump.

    Politicized National Security

    Did Trump blatantly use the national security apparatus of the government to enhance his own reelection bid in 2020?

    That is, did he do anything analogous to Obama’s gambit with Vladimir Putin in 2011? 

    Was Trump ever caught on a hot mic promising a Russian president that he would try to ease Russian worries about Eastern European missile defense if only the Russians would give him space during his 2012 campaign for president against Mitt Romney?  

    What we forget about the 2011 Seoul, South Korea hot-mic Obama exchange with then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was that all the conditions outlined in their hushed 2011 recap were adhered to by both parties: Obama did dismantle plans for a joint U.S.-Eastern European long-range missile defense—a system that might be now of advantage to the U.S. and its allies. Putin did stay quiet during the Obama campaign cycle. Obama did get reelected. And Putin did invade Ukraine and Crimea only after Obama was elected (or, a cynic might put it, because Obama was reelected). 

    A current Trump “collusion” critic, mutatis mutandis, might have surmised that a colluding Barack Obama put the national security of the United States and its allies at risk in order to use his office to massage campaign advantages over Mitt Romney in 2012. And the ultimate result of such machinations was a loss of U.S. deterrence that in part explained Russian aggression in 2014.

    Weaponizing Justice

    Did Trump weaponize the FBI? That is, did the FBI go after journalists, former Obama officials, or Democratic Party activists who variously were attacking Don Jr. or Ivanka on the pretenses of retrieving one of their lost laptops or diaries? 

    Did Trump use Republican National Committee firewalls to transfer money to private lobbyists and law firms to find dirt on Hillary Clinton in 2016, and then turn it all over to the FBI to launch a Crossfire Hurricane investigation of Clinton, centered around a Trump-hired ex-spy who became a paid FBI informant? 

    Are there texts of Trump-era FBI agents talking about how to “stop” Hillary Clinton’s or Biden’s election bid?

    Did Trump’s FBI, in the predawn hours, burst into the homes of New York Times reporters—in James O’Keefe -style—and march them outside in their underwear, all for the possible “crime” of receiving a stolen draft of the Supreme Court early draft of the Dobbs decision? Which is the greater “crime”—trafficking in clearly stolen confidential Supreme Court papers or looking at the abandoned, lost, and lurid diary of a wayward presidential daughter?

    Did the Trump Justice Department start an investigation of the suspected illegal lobbying of Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, who used the former’s political connections to win large cash payments from foreign governments? Were there Trump officials in the permanent Justice Department who went after his various political opponents on the pretexts of the Logan Act?  Or did the Trump Administration help spread the allegations of any hired anti-Clinton ex-spies and salt them around the bureaucracies?

    Speaking of Trump and threats to the democratic order, did any Trump attorney general refuse a congressional subpoena, as former Attorney General Eric Holder did? Was anyone held in contempt of Congress, as Holder was? Did any simply refuse to honor subpoenas and withhold requested documents from Congress, as the Obama Administration did time and again?

    Did Trump order an FBI raid on the Obama home, on rumors that there were thousands of documents under dispute with the National Archives in his possession, especially given the Obama record of fiercely fighting any Freedom of Information Act lawsuits to release his documents? 

    Was a John Podesta put in leg irons by the FBI? Was Robbie Mook’s house stormed to learn of what he knew about Hillary Clinton’s missing emails? 

    Was Jake Sullivan’s phone grabbed by the FBI at an airport to determine his role in the Russian collusion hoax? 

    Or, with a look ahead to his own reelection, did Trump in 2018 order a raid on the Biden home, in search of “lost” Biden vice presidential documents, supposedly improperly removed after Biden’s tenure that might have shed light on the Biden family’s extracurricular foreign lobbying?

    Where Is Trump’s Deep State?

    Are there now any former Trump loyalists who, as “anonymous” officials in cabinet agencies or obstructionists on the National Security Council, are writing op-eds about their stealthy daily efforts to undermine Biden’s executive orders or his administration’s action?

    Is anyone listening to Biden’s phone calls with foreign leaders while working with Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee and while prepping a “whistleblower” to find grounds for impeachment based on some of the things Biden has allegedly said to foreign leaders? 

    Did Pfizer rush prematurely to announce a viable COVID-19 vaccination to aid Trump’s reelection—or in contrast, did it slow walk a viable vaccination’s rollout until after the election to massage the result?

    Are there now “50 former intelligence officials” who signed affidavits in support of Trump’s allegations about the authenticity of Hunter’s laptop? Are there dozens of retired four-stars now opportunely blasting Joe Biden’s historic humiliation of the United States in Kabul? Have any retired admirals mocked the Uniform Code of Military Justice to write New York Times op-eds suggesting a befuddled Biden leave office “the sooner, the better”?

    Are there former Trump officials writing in Foreign Policy that Biden is a disaster who could be removed by impeachment or the 25th Amendment—or more rapidly by a military coup? Are retired officers writing to General Mark Milley urging him to act should he feel in the next election that a likely Republican loss seems suspicious?

    Election Interference and Denial? 

    Between 2017 and 2020, did Trump’s team systematically seek to change the voting laws in key states to radically transform traditional balloting, in a mail-in or early voting revolution, in which only 30 percent of the electorate would vote on Election Day?

    If Trump improperly questioned the ballot result of the 2020 election, then he sinned in the long tradition of presidential ballot objectors, including former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), January 6 committee chairman himself Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and Hillary Clinton, who claimed Trump was an illegitimately elected president and advised Biden not to concede if he lost the 2020 popular vote. A defeated Stacey Abrams toured the country claiming she was the “real” governor of Georgia, yet nobody smears her as an “election truther.”

    Was there any “dark money” effort analogous to the efforts of corporate and tech money along with DNC activists and Biden operators in what Time magazine’s Molly Ball described as a “conspiracy” to ensure the defeat of Trump’s opponent? 

    Did Trump’s team coordinate with right-wing billionaires to infuse hundreds of billions of dollars to modulate street protests, to absorb the work of state and local registrars in key precincts, and to censor unfavorable stories on social media? 

    Trump impotently railed and bayed to the wind about the “fake news” reporters at his rallies. By contrast, the Left, both private elites and public officials, kept quiet and injected half a billion dollars to alter the way people voted and effectively to censor the way people produced and consumed the news.

    Restoring Our Norms?

    How about Trump’s efforts to revolutionize the very system of government? Did he promote a court-packing scheme to ensure he might not just get a 5-4 majority, but perhaps an 11-4 conservative advantage in a new 15-justice Supreme Court? 

    Did he keep mum while right-wing demonstrators swarmed the homes of Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan? Did his attorney general ignore the obvious felonies involved in such threatening tactics? Did Trump work with his Republican Congress in 2017 to end the filibuster to ensure his legislation would not be stonewalled? Did he dream up ways of getting rid of the Electoral College so the “blue wall” might never return? 

    It’s alleged that Trump was insincere when he approved the request for thousands of federal troops to be available to local law enforcement on January 6, or that he did not really mean it when he instructed pro-Trump demonstrators on January 6 to “Peacefully and patriotically march to the Capitol.” 

    Perhaps even the hint of encouraging any type of protest was reckless in such partisan times. But just days after violent protestors attacked Secret Service agents manning barricades and had sought to storm onto the White House grounds, did Trump boast to the nation of the ongoing demonstrations, as did Kamala Harris, soon to be a vice presidential candidate?

    They’re not going to stop. And everyone beware, because they’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop before Election Day in November, and they’re not going to stop after Election Day. And that should be—everyone should take note of that, on both levels, that they’re not going to let up, and they should not, and we should not.

    Was that a sober or insurrectionary thing to advise in a summer of rioting that saw 120 days of violence, $2 billion in damage, 35 dead, and hundreds of police officers injured?

    Did Trump as president meet with CIA and FBI directors who, in their weekly and daily briefings, apprised him of efforts to monitor, spy, and infiltrate the campaign of Joe Biden?

    Was there, after 2017, a Republican majority committee investigating the former Obama role in launching Operation Crossfire Hurricane, or Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s secret meeting with Bill Clinton while she was investigating Hillary Clinton? And if there were, would Obama loyalists in the House be excluded by the Republican speaker from participating in House investigations that also would allow no hostile or even neutral witnesses, no general counsel’s report, and no cross-examinations?

    The strange thing about Trump was that he did not use extraordinary powers to investigate anyone unlawfully. He boasted, he railed, he screamed, he whined, he became at times crude and obnoxious. But he did not use the FBI, the CIA, the Justice Department, or the IRS to go after the Obamas, the Clintons, or the Bidens. 

    Instead, he became the most investigated, probed, smeared, and autopsied president in modern history. Trump’s legislative agenda did not include revolutionary changes in the Electoral College or the filibuster, or radical changes to the Supreme Court.

    In fact, of the last three presidents, Trump was either the most inept or indifferent, or the most obstructed concerning any issue of using government agencies for his own partisan political advantages or to neuter his enemies. 

    In truth, the entire apparatus of permanent government—the Pentagon hierarchy, the Washington elites at the FBI and CIA, the permanently entrenched at the Justice Department, and the apparat at the IRS all despised Donald Trump. And they did not just hate him but acted on their antipathy by using their powers of government to destroy his campaign in 2016, to undermine his transition, to either obstruct or sabotage his initiatives while president, and to hound him as an ex-president. As ex-felon and FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith put it of his own illegal effort to destroy a president, “Viva le [sic] resistance.” Is that the sort of FBI we want—a cadre of self-described revolutionaries?

    Donald Trump was impeached for raising the question of Biden family corruption in Ukraine with the Ukrainian president and delaying offensive military aid that had never been approved by a Democratic president.

    Evidence since Trump’s impeachment suggests he was prescient in his warning to the Kyiv government to stay out of domestic American politics. Everything thing we know since that 2021 impeachment vote solidifies—not contradicts—Trump’s point that the Biden family was corrupt, and Hunter Biden was receiving large sums of money from Ukraine and China solely because Joe Biden had been vice president and was seen as a possible or even likely future president worthy of such corrupt investment. Or to put it another way, why would those with contacts with the Ukrainian government ever pay millions to an incompetent, drug-addicted miscreant like Hunter Biden, if not for pay-for-play influence?

    In that context, Joe Biden’s early boast that he got a Ukrainian attorney general fired, most likely for probing too deeply matters involving his family, gives credence to Trump’s instincts. So does the fact that both Obama and Biden for a time stopped shipments of offensive weapons to Ukraine, while Trump for a time only delayed them but eventually gave them what they wished.

    The result of this unprecedented effort to accuse Trump of using government fascistically while fascistically using government to destroy a president is all too clear in the destroyed careers who sought to undermine constitutional government. What John Brennan, James Clapper, Kevin Clinesmith, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Bruce Ohr, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and a host of retired flag officers and intelligence operatives share is not just their venomous antipathy toward an elected president and their efforts rhetorically and often concretely to neuter him, but their subsequent disgrace even among those who once cheered them on.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/29/2022 – 18:20

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Aug 29

Today’s News 29th August 2022

  • Escobar: All The Way To Odessa
    Escobar: All The Way To Odessa

    Authored by Pepe Escobar,

    Dmitry Medvedev, relishing his unplugged self, has laid down the law on the Special Military Operation (SMO). Bluntly, he affirmed there is a “one and a half” scenario: either to go all the way, or a military coup d’Etat in Ukraine followed by admitting the inevitable. No tertium applies.

    That’s as stark as it gets: the leadership in Moscow is making it very clear, to internal and international audiences, the new deal consists in slow cooking the Kiev racket inside a massive cauldron while polishing its status of financial black hole for the collective West. Until we reach boiling point – which will be a revolution or a putsch.

    In parallel, The Lords of (Proxy) War will continue with their own strategy, which is to pillage an enfeebled, fearful, Europe, then dressing it up as a perfumed colony to be ruthlessly exploited ad nauseam by the imperial oligarchy.

    Europe is now a runaway TGV – minus the requisite Hollywood production values. Assuming it does not veer off track – a dicey proposition – it may eventually arrive at a railway station called Agenda 2030, The Great Narrative, or some other NATO/Davos denomination du jour.

    As it stands, what’s remarkable is how the “marginal” Russian economy hardly broke a sweat to “end the abundance” of the wealthiest region on the planet.

    Moscow does not even entertain the notion of negotiating with Brussels because there’s nothing to negotiate – considering puny Eurocrats will only be hurled away from their zombified state when the dire socio-economic consequences of “the end of abundance” will finally translate into peasants with pitchforks roaming the continent.

    It may be eons away, but inevitably the average Italian, German or Frenchman will connect the dots and realize it is their own “leaders” – national nullities and mostly unelected Eurocrats – who are paving their road to poverty.

    You will be poor. And you will like it. Because we are all supporting freedom for Ukrainian neo-nazis. That brings the concept of “multicultural Europe” to a whole new level.

    The runaway train, of course, may veer off track and plunge into an Alpine abyss. In this case something might be saved from the wreckage – and “reconstruction” might be on the cards. But reconstruct what?

    Europe could always reconstruct a new Reich (collapsed with a bang in 1945); a soft Reich (erected at the end of WWII); or break with its past failures, sing “I’m Free” – and connect with Eurasia. Don’t bet on it.

    Get back those Taurian lands

    The SMO may be about to radically change – something that will drive the already clueless denizens of US Think Tankland and their Euro vassals even more berserk.

    President Putin and Defense Minister Shoigu have been giving serious hints the only way for the pain dial is up – considering the mounting evidence of terrorism inside Russian territory; the vile assassination of Darya Dugina; non-stop shelling of civilians in border regions; attacks on Crimea; the use of chemical weapons; and the shelling of Zaporizhzhya power plant raising the risk of a nuclear catastrophe.

    This past Tuesday, one day before the SMO completing six months, Crimea’s permanent representative to the Kremlin, Georgy Muradov, all but spelled it out.

    He stressed the necessity to “reintegrate all the Taurian lands” – Crimea, the Northern Black Sea and the Azov Sea – into a single entity as soon as “in the next few months”. He defined this process as “objective and demanded by the population of these regions.”

    Muradov added, “given not only the strikes on Crimea, but also the continuous shelling of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, the dam of the Kakhovka reservoir, peaceful facilities on the territory of Russia, the DNR and LNR, there are all preconditions to qualify the actions of the Banderite regime as terrorist.”

    The conclusion is inevitable: “the political issue of changing the format of the special military operation” enters the agenda. After all, Washington and Brussels “have already prepared new anti-Crimean provocations of the NATO-Bandera alliance”.

    So when we examine what the “restoration of the Taurian lands” implies, we see not only the contours of Novorossiya but most of all that there won’t be any security for Crimea – and thus Russia – in the Black Sea without Odessa becoming Russian again. And that, on top of it, will solve the Transnistria dilemma.

    Add to it Kharkov – the capital and top industrial center of Greater Donbass. And of course Dnipropetrovsk. They are all SMO objectives, the whole combo to be later protected by buffer zones in Chernihiv and Sumy oblasts.

    Only then the “tasks” – as Shoigu calls them – of the SMO would be declared fulfilled. The timeline could be eight to ten months – after a lull under General Winter.

    As the turbo-charged SMO rolls on, it’s a given the Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder will continue to prop up and weaponize the Kiev racket till Kingdom Come – and that will apply especially after the Return of Odessa. What’s unclear is who and what gang will be left in Kiev posing as the ruling party and doing specials for Vogue while duly fulfilling the mass of imperial diktats.

    It’s also a given the CIA/MI6 combo will be refining non-stop the contours of a massive guerrilla war against Russia in multiple fronts – crammed with terror attacks and all sorts of provocations.

    Yet in the Bigger Picture it’s the inevitable Russian military victory in Donbass and then “all the Taurian lands” that will hit the collective West like a lethal asteroid. The geopolitical humiliation will be unbearable; not to mention the geoeconomic humiliation for vassalized Europe.

    As Eurasian integration will become an even stronger vector, Russian diplomacy will be solidifying the new normal. Never forget that Moscow had no trouble normalizing relations, for instance, with China, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Israel. All these actors, in different ways, directly contributed to the fall of the USSR. Now – with one exception – they are all focused on The Dawn of the Eurasian Century.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 23:30

  • TikTok Is "A Weaponized Military Application" In The Hands Of Our Kids: Casey Fleming
    TikTok Is “A Weaponized Military Application” In The Hands Of Our Kids: Casey Fleming

    In the following clip, China-In-Focus’ Tiffany Meier sat down with Casey Fleming, CEO of intelligence and security strategy firm BlackOps Partners.

    He sheds light on the recent reports that TikTok can monitor keystrokes, what kind of information TikTok is getting, and what the Chinese regime can do with that.

    Fleming said:

    “What people need to understand is that TikTok is a military application.

    It’s a weaponized espionage application to get every bit of information they possibly can off the phone, which they do – your whereabouts, how you go about your day, your access to other people, access to technology, intellectual property, and things that you can be blackmailed on, and so on.

    So people need to understand that TikTok is a weaponized military application in the hands of our middle schoolers, our kids, our high school kids, and our young adults.”

    He added the Chinese regime “can use that information really, number one, the most important thing is to steal intellectual property. Secondly, to blackmail. Thirdly, it’s a propaganda platform.”

    “You can see all these TikTok challenges, and most of them are very dangerous to our children – to steal cars, to do challenges … we’ve lost a lot of kids to these TikTok challenges that come up about once a month.

    You have to understand it’s a propaganda platform completely owned, operated, and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. And it’s under the guise of this fun app that everybody loves to use, and it’s spread like wildfire, and it’s a lot of fun…

    So there’s a lot of fun content on it, but you have to understand it’s a military application, and it’s going to achieve military results under the guise and under this facade of being a fun app.”

    Watch the full interview below:

     

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 23:00

  • Before The October 'Surprise' Comes The August-September PSYOP Polls
    Before The October ‘Surprise’ Comes The August-September PSYOP Polls

    Authored by Rajan Laad via AmericanThinker.com,

    For every election cycle, a few months prior to voting day, pollsters release surveys that show Democrats leading with wide margins. The media gleefully amplify these polls.

    This isn’t a recent phenomenon.

    Back in 1980, Reagan was trailing Carter trailing by 8% even in some mid-October polls. Reagan ended up winning the 1980 general election in a landslide.

    In 2016, pollsters said with certitude that Hillary Clinton would be the next president. The New York Times proclaimed she has a 91 percent chance of winning. Trump won that election by a respectable margin in the electoral college.

    In 2020, Trump was supposed to lose to Biden by a landslide. In reality, Trump secured 10 million more votes than in 2016, despite the media onslaught for four years, Democrat electoral malpractice, and suppression of all anti Biden stories. Trump received 7 million more votes than any sitting president in American history.

    We are months before an election and various Democrat mouthpieces are doing the very same thing.

    Vanity Fair magazine is claiming that Maybe Democrats Aren’t Totally Screwed in the midterms. The Atlantic is claiming that the Democrats might avoid a midterm wipeout. The New York Times reports “growing evidence against a Republican wave.” The Washington Post opines that Democrats are showing momentum coming out of special elections. NPR is claiming that Biden’s recent wins could give Democrats a boost heading into November. Even ‘conservative’ Fox News is claiming that midterms looking ‘much better’ for Democrats because of Trump.

    The media is also pushing the narrative that Biden has had a resurgence. They are citing Biden’s ‘legislative accomplishments’ on tech manufacturing, guns, infrastructure, and climate change. They are lauding Biden for canceling $10,000 in student debt for borrowers making under $125,000 per year. They are even claiming his poll numbers are high. 

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

    Now for the facts.

    None of his ‘legislative accomplishments’ will have any positive impact on the ground. On the contrary, they are likely to worsen the suffering. 

    Pardoning student loans is discriminatory to people who have the burden of other kinds of loans such as home loans, vehicle loans, business loans, etc., plus high taxes. These people are unlikely to be pleased with Biden.

    The annual inflation may have dropped marginally but it still remains at a high 8.5 percent causing the prices of regular items to skyrocket, adding to the struggle of regular Americans. The media is claiming that the Inflation Reduction Act addresses inflation, however, experts say it would only reduce annual inflation by 0.1 percentage point over the next five years. 

    A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll shows only 37% of Americans approve of Joe Biden’s handling of the economy while 70% thought the economy under Biden had worsened.

    The Democrats are the party of open borders causing an influx of illegal immigrants some among whom are violent criminals, human traffickers, terrorists, and smugglers of illicit drugs. 

    Since Biden took office, over 4.9 million illegal migrants have crossed the southern border. This is the equivalent of the combined population of states such as Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, both North and South Dakota, and Biden’s home state of Delaware.

    The Democrats have also shown totalitarian propensities.

    They called parents who opposed the teaching of critical race theory in school domestic terrorists.

    They used COVID-19 to impose lockdowns that destroyed lives not only economically but psychologically. The Democrats advocated vaccine mandates that rendered many jobless. Some who reluctantly took the vaccine to remain employed, are suffering from health issues.

    The Democrats attempted to set up the Orwellian ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ that sits in judgment of the utterances of regular citizens.

    The Democrats plan to hire 87,000 new IRS agents who will obviously harass the middle class quite likely in states that don’t vote Democrat. The same Democrats have no funds to hire new Border Patrol agents to protect the border.

    The January 6 Committee exists to persecute political opponents and their supporters. 

    Democrats have shown themselves to be out of touch, bragging about expensive electric cars that are hard to recharge.

    The situation abroad is catastrophic.

    Biden’s withdrawal has made Afghanistan unstable and al-Qaida is once again in control. The media focused on lauding Biden for the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri, but what the ignored was the fact that he was living comfortably in Kabul.

    A Department of Defense whistleblower report noted that 324 of the individuals the Biden administration evacuated from Afghanistan and welcomed into the U.S. have appeared on the terror watchlist.

    There is a raging war in Ukraine. The Democrats have splurged $10.6 billion and pledged $40 billion more in aid to Ukraine. All transparency and accountability measures were blocked. Recently Biden announced $3 billion in new weapons and equipment to Ukraine, once again there is no proper tracking of these weapons, let alone the money — the weapons could be sold on the black market and end up in the wrong hands.

    There are also considerable tensions between China and Taiwan.

    There is nothing that the Democrats can point to and claim as their accomplishment.

    Yet they focus on the trivial and attempt to project themselves in favorably.

    A perfect example is the senate race in Pennsylvania which is a microcosm of the entire U.S.

    The race is between Republican Dr. Memet Oz and Democrat John Fetterman. 

    Fetterman pledged to ban fracking which supports thousands of jobs, especially in western Pennsylvania which is the fourth-largest energy producer in America. Fetterman plans to release one-third of the state’s prisoners which will place Pennsylvanians in deep peril. Fetterman suffered a stroke that kept him away from the campaign for three months and now has impaired cognitive abilities.

    But the media is focused on Dr. Oz unknowingly using the wrong word to describe a vegetable tray. The polls show Oz consistently trailing Fetterman by 11 percentage points. They are even carrying reports that Trump thinks Oz will lose, and obviously, the sources are unnamed.

    Back to Biden.

    There are a few polls that the media don’t like to talk about.

    Axios recently ran a poll early this month that showed a startling number of Democrats are been unwilling to support Biden’s re-election in 2024 since he is old and unpopular. The New York Times carried a piece urging Biden to step aside in favor of young talent in the Democrat party. The Washington Post ran a column that revealed that few candidates want Biden to campaign for them in their state or district.

    Now about those polls.

    The goal behind these new polls favoring the Democrats and accompanying the media blitzkrieg is to dispirit the Republican voters and prompt them to skip voting. This is a voter suppression tactic.

    The truth is the Democrats were and are behind every major suffering that regular Americans are facing from crime to inflation to dangers from abroad. The voters are unlikely to forget their past and their present.

    Former U.S. representative and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA),who knows a thing or two about politics, wrote “November realities are going to be a lot friendlier to Republicans than August news media fantasies.”

    All you have to do is vote.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 22:30

  • US Adults Are 'Suffering' At Record Rates
    US Adults Are ‘Suffering’ At Record Rates

    Adults in the United States are suffering in their lives at a record level. That’s according to the latest in a survey series from Gallup.

    As Statista’s Martin Armstrong details below, the share of adults rating their lives poorly enough to be considered ‘suffering‘, according to Gallup’s methodology, hit a new high of 5.6 percent this July.

    The survey, which goes back as far as 2008, asks respondents to rate the current and expected future state of their lives on a scale of 0 to 10, with answers in the range of 0 to 4 classified as ‘suffering, 5 to 6 ‘struggling, and 7-10 ‘thriving.

    As reported, the latest result “exceeds the previous high of 4.8 percent measured in April and is statistically higher than all prior estimates in the Covid-19 era.”

    Infographic: U.S. Adults 'Suffering' at Record Rate | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    Gallup suggest that “economic conditions are likely a major contributing factor to these worsening scores”, adding: “Dovetailing with economic headwinds is a rising discontentment with U.S. moral values, which has reached a record high, with 50% of Americans reporting the state of moral values is “poor” and 37% “only fair,” a sentiment that could be negatively influencing life ratings generally.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 22:00

  • Bitcoin Is Freedom From The Fiat System's Walled-Garden
    Bitcoin Is Freedom From The Fiat System’s Walled-Garden

    Authored by Andrew Keir via BitcoinMagazine.com,

    The fiat system is a walled garden surrounded by armed guards. Bitcoin penetrates and dissolves these walls, and helps humanity flourish in the process.

    The concept of a walled garden is not a new one; they have been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years. A precious garden enclosed by high walls serves many purposes, including providing protection from animal or human intruders. These walled gardens also create microclimates, which allow for specific things to grow and flourish that may not otherwise be able to due to the temperate climate outside the walls.

    It’s no secret that walled gardens lay at the core of every major software company’s strategy, and they are built around it to generate and sustain a network effect.

    Any Apple user knows first hand the way you get trapped within the ecosystem, because of the way their products interact together, but also because of the friction that is introduced when using a non-Apple product. This gives Apple incredible power as we can see with their App Store, where they have total control over who can enter and who cannot. It also creates the need for new Apple-specific products in order for you to maintain a consistent user interface, which is central to the walled garden approach. The same is true for Google, Microsoft, Facebook and most other software company giants. Many people use social media platforms as if they were the internet itself. These platforms are masterful at keeping you inside their gardens, and do everything they can to extend the amount of time you spend within their walls. If it were up to them, you would never leave.

    Fundamentally, they do this by designing incentives. Presumably they try to add value, by making their products as good and as easy-to-use as possible, so you simply want to use them over others. It would seem that they also allow a certain amount of friction to exist by not using their products to disincentivize you from exploring other options and therefore exiting their ecosystem. Apple software interfaces is one of the best examples of this, where many people fear having to “learn” how to navigate a different company’s interface and migrate their images, contacts, messages, etc. The reality is that as humans, we’re (in most cases) lazy animals, and a dominant majority of people will follow the path of least resistance. Thus, due to the incentives, they stay inside Apple’s walls. Over time, the walls begin to look more like a cage.

    In the same way that these software giants create walled gardens and work to keep us inside them, so too do governments and central banks with political fiat monetary systems. Central banks issue money, and the government insists this money be accepted. The fiat system is a classic example of a walled garden. The difference is that outside the walls of the fiat garden of governments and their central banks there are armed soldiers.

    Software giants — while they do everything to incentivize you to stay inside their garden and prey on all your vulnerabilities to make it as unattractive to leave as possible — cannot stop you, and if you exercise your agency, you can leave and never return. Not so with the fiat walled garden. If you try to leave and venture off to explore outside the walls or even to explore a different fiat walled garden, they want to know where you have been, the reasons for leaving and every possible detail about your interactions while you were gone. To the fiat masters, it is their business. You are not simply free to explore.

    The fiat standard is a walled garden, and unlike software companies it is one you are kept within by decree. By force. Outside of this garden is the open, permissionless, abundant environment of bitcoin. The fiat masters are counting on the height of the walls, and men with guns on the other side being able to perturb you from scaling the walls and exploring the vast abundant land outside. What they weren’t counting on however, was the invisible force of bitcoin being able to penetrate and then dissolve these walls, and help humanity flourish both inside the garden and outside of it. This invisible force is everywhere and it is nowhere, and it is the key to an abundant future. With bitcoin there are no walls. No borders. The very notion of a walled garden ceases to be possible. Or conversely, it is the ultimate garden in which no walls exist.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 21:30

  • "The Biggest News By Far Out Of Jackson Hole Was Coming Out Of The ECB NOT The Fed"
    “The Biggest News By Far Out Of Jackson Hole Was Coming Out Of The ECB NOT The Fed”

    One never forgets that smell of an Amtrak coach car at 5 am – rumbling into Manhattan. At the wise old age of 18, the bags were packed for a long journey with most of my worldly possessions in tow. Coming into New York for the first time with no parents – no siblings, was a very big day indeed. When the train stopped at Penn Station, I could hardly wait to get off. It was a feeling of heart-pounding excitement with every step. With dreams, goals, and opportunities everywhere, the only thing missing was the free lollipops and candy canes. The next thing I knew, this nice gentleman with a blue coat, gold cufflinks, and even a pressed handkerchief in his top right pocket approached me. “Let me help you with all that luggage, young man. If you ́re hungry, the best 24-7 diner in this part of town is right over there.”

    Famished, I glanced over toward the restaurant. Now turned around – in a full 360, I looked down and all my bags were gone with that man into a mob of humanity. Robbed right out of a scene from Trading Places, welcome to the big city.

    On Friday, nearly every human being on earth with capital to invest had their eyes on the Fed. It was a “look here”, “NOT over there” kind of day. Steve Jobs always said – “it’s the scar tissue from mistakes that keeps us focused on all the pieces across the chess board – NOT just one or two.”

    Surprise, the biggest news by far out of Jackson hole was coming out of the ECB NOT the Fed – who would have guessed? As the day moved on Friday, it was clear Don McLean ‘s “American Pie” was longer than Jay Powell’s torpedo of a speech – BUT more and more clients we respect in the live chat on the Bloomberg terminal – kept pointing to Europe as the driver of U.S. equity volatility.

    • CIO 1: “Larry – The point is missed. Fed fund futures didn’t move that much on Powell. The afternoon pain today pain caused by ECB that signaled 75bp hike possibility for September and enhanced QT (balance sheet reduction). The reason for the hawkish signals is the explosion of energy prices in Europe in August. It’s a real problem for them that Wall St and Fed largely ignore.“
    • LGM: “Heading into Powell – everyone long stocks was looking – praying for any kind of dovish shift (equity players) – the fact that Fed fund futures were unched after Powell’s 8 min song was very bearish; rate hike expectations have been ripping higher since Aug 11th! From roughly, 25bps of 1H 2023 cuts to now hikes are priced in), there was no reversal – NO profit taking on the news. This was bearish for equities. Plus – the ECB news came out at 5am, U.S. equities were higher all morning, then puked lower after Powell. look at the explosive volume past 1pm ET, especially in the 3-4pm hour, WOW. Agree 100% – energy prices – gas — are screwing the Fed, nearly guaranteeing 8% + CPI to Q2 2023 – the natural gas crisis is a massive sustainable inflation driver with countless follow-on side effects – inflation will be elevated 6% + for years. — Swiss National Bank President, Jordan latest warning – stubborn price gains are here to stay”
    • CIO 2: ”It was the ECB QT piece came out in the afternoon, and the ECB officials Holzmann and Knot confirming the morning leak from Reuters when they said Friday afternoon that 75bp should be considered at the Sept meeting that fueled the ECB angst in equities. It is clear now – on September 8th the ECB is going to hike and signal QT at the same time Italy is having elections a few weeks later – is just a very bad idea. I think people finally starting to pay attention to energy crisis in Europe and how the ECB needs to fight the resulting inflation with tools that do nothing to help the underlying problem (no more gas). This speaks to near term Euro strength vs. USD.”

    For most of the last 10 days, even with the much talked up “China economic slowdown” and a surge in recession certainty in Europe – global bond yields kept moving higher. In just a few weeks, Italian 10s marched from 296 to 370bps.

    Since Q4 2020, negative yielding bonds on the planet have plunged from $18T to almost $2T, and much of those are in Japan.

    Sovereign credit risk is on the rise in Europe – we have the ECB on September 8, the Fed on the 21st, and the all-important Italian elections on the 25th. The ECB has yet to pick its poison:

    1. a plunge in the Euro is fueling runaway inflation in the periphery – this risk could place a right-leaning coalition in control of Italy for the first time in decades. Putin would be all smiles – from Moscow to Vladivostok – with that outcome.
    2. aggressive rate hikes force more price discovery in Europe and put colossal pressure on a banking system – stuffed to the gills with sour loans. The tell – Jamie Dimon doesn’t suspend stock buybacks every day, he’s playing defense. Apple and Tesla are nearly 10% of the S&P (SPY) and 20% of the QQQs – have roughly $100B in sales coming out of the EU.

    On August 11th – we distributed our largest – take down risk – “high conviction” trade alert sell since February of 2020, eleven positions with new shorts on the Nasdaq. U.S. equities have been priced for an American economy on Mars or Venus, NOT Earth. Into this mess – we have a Fed that is expected to do $1T of QT over the next 12 months, NO way. Bullish gold.

    Bottom line: Near term inflation expectations are coming down with economic risks on the rise and a still hawkish Powell. The Fed is talking a tough game but risks a Lehman like event in Europe. Our highest conviction call looking out 6-9 months – is long the gold miners – GDX names GOLD, NEM, AEM.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 21:17

  • Solomon Islands Denying Port Calls To US Military Vessels As China Influence Grows
    Solomon Islands Denying Port Calls To US Military Vessels As China Influence Grows

    At a moment the Solomon Islands continues pursuing deeper ties with China, and following a bilateral security cooperation agreement between the two countries signed in April which set off alarm bells in Washington, the island nation is taking the unprecedented decision to deny US military vessels the ability to dock. 

    The US Coast Guard said in an official statement on Friday that its vessel, the USCG Oliver Henry was denied a “routine logistics port call” by the Solomon Islands government. The US statement didn’t indicate the precise day that the port call request was rejected. 

    USCG Cutter Oliver Henry in prior exercise in the South Pacific, via US Navy/US Coast Guard

    Authorities “did not respond to the US government’s request for diplomatic clearance for the vessel to refuel and provision” in the capital city of Honiara, said the Coast Guard – which in prior years had been normative and easily granted. The vessel had reportedly been on patrol in South Pacific waters looking for illegal fishing at the request of a regional fisheries agency.

    Following the denial, which is somewhat unprecedented and now being widely interpreted as a sign of deepened security ties and cooperation with China, the State Department said it put the Solomon Islands on notice and in the future expects “all future clearances will be provided to US ships.” The Coast Guard cutter was further described as “part of a patrol headed south to assist partner nations in upholding and asserting their sovereignty while protecting US national interests.”

    Currently the US and Chinese navies are jockeying to assert competing visions of what constitutes territorial vs. international waters in the South China Sea and elsewhere in the South Pacific. This is especially a tense issue at the moment near Taiwan.

    Regarding the Taiwan issue, and a huge indicator of increasing Chinese influence over the Solomons, which has been going on for years, the tiny island-chain country had switched its diplomatic relations and formal recognition from Taipei and Beijing starting in 2019. US officials also close watched large-scale and at times violent anti-corruption protests break out in 2021 – which many observers said was sparked by Beijing’s growing reach in the country’s internal affairs.

    All of this was the lead-in to what Western officials and pundits dubbed a “secretive” April 1st security pact, summarized and described by the US government institution and think tank United States Institute of Peace as follows: 

    A leaked draft of a Solomon Islands-China security agreement has led to heightened concern over the island nation’s turn toward China. Washington dispatched a high-level delegation in late April to the island nation, days after China said the pact had been signed, saying it would “intensify engagement in the region.”

    The United States and its regional partners, particularly Australia and New Zealand, are worried about the potential of Chinese military bases on the islands, although the details of the agreement remain vague — which is itself a source of concern. As part of its Indo-Pacific Strategy, the Biden administration aims to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific, an objective that could be complicated by China’s prospective new arrangement with Solomon Islands.

    The prime minister of the Solomon Islands Manasseh Sogavare sought to reassure his population (and Western leaders) in mid-July remarks, saying there is no intent to ever allow a Chinese military base in his country, which could make “our people as targets for potential military strikes” – akin to what played out there between global powers in WWII.

    But he did say at the time that he remains open to Chinese security personnel acting under a peace-keeping mission to be deployed to the islands, in the scenario where the “security partner of choice” Australia couldn’t meet these commitments.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 20:00

  • Postal Service Is Chasing Freight Brokers As The Agency Scrambles To Slash Costs
    Postal Service Is Chasing Freight Brokers As The Agency Scrambles To Slash Costs

    By Rachel Premack of FreightWaves

    The phrase “freight broker” is rather boring, I will admit it. As snoozy as those words may make you feel, these brokers are key to making sure stuff gets on trucks and across the country. 

    Since deregulation wrested trucking from the control of the federal government in 1980, freight brokerages have become a trucking necessity. Every imaginable company — ranging from General Mills to Amazon to Starbucks — relies on freight brokers to place loads on trucks every day. 

    One major transporter has tried to eschew freight brokers for years: the U.S. Postal Service. The Postal Service spent nearly $10 billion moving letters and boxes in fiscal year 2021. Most of that expense is on trucks, but there are also FedEx and UPS planes, trains and even ships. 

    It’s not known when exactly the Postal Service started to use freight brokers, but attorney David P. Hendel only began including brokers like C.H. Robinson on his essential top 150 Postal Service contractor list in 2013. 

    A FreightWaves analysis of the Postal Service’s top suppliers reveals that the agency’s reliance on brokers has boomed in the past nine years. The Postal Service counted three brokerage firms among its top 150 suppliers in fiscal year 2013, totaling $85 million. By fiscal year 2021, at least 11 firms that primarily provide brokerage services were on that list, representing a spend of more than $620 million.

    “The Postal Service is re-examining its network both long-haul and even local,” said Hendel, a partner at Culhane Meadows who specializes in government contracting work. “I think the Postal Service now views the carriage of mail as a commodity, rather than as a special service. It feels like it maybe should be taking advantage of the larger commercial marketplace.”

    By using brokers, outsiders believe the Postal Service can save cash. Public data indicates that the Postal Service has intensified its freight broker spend under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who assumed his role in June 2020. DeJoy was previously CEO of New Breed Logistics, a long-time USPS contractor, which was sold to XPO Logistics in 2014. 

    This cost-saving tactic won’t surprise those who have followed DeJoy’s tenure. Under his leadership, the Postal Service has doubled down on “modernizing” its transportation network. This partially means implementing tools that private-sector shippers have used for years, like a digital load board where freight bids are posted and a digital transportation management system. 

    A USPS spokesperson declined to answer answers to a list of questions about the Postal Service’s new brokerage strategy, but provided a statement.

    “The Postal Service continues to onboard new carriers to help us deliver as part of our Delivering for America 10-year plan for achieving financial sustainability and service excellence,” the spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. “These carriers are both asset based and non-asset based providers. The Postal Service also has one of the largest private fleets in the industry that we rely on to move freight in certain regions. When our fleet cannot handle the volume, we tender to our partner carriers. Depending on the specific circumstances to move the load, we will use either a contracted carrier or move via a spot market transaction.”

    Outsiders have characterized DeJoy as a fella who wants to run the Postal Service like a corporation, not a government service. That’s a good thing if you’re, say, Nevada-based ITS Logistics, which saw its Postal Service contract nearly double from fiscal year 2020 to 2021. But it’s not so good if you’re one of the Postal Service’s hundreds of long-haul trucking partners — which are likely set to lose business as the Postal Service reimagines its trucking network. 

    “I think his impact is a sea change in terms of the way in which the Postal Service thinks about transportation,”  said Greg Reed, who is the executive director of the National Star Route Mail Contractors Association, which is the trade organization that represents Postal Service transportation contractors. ”It’s obviously driven from his background in logistics and in the brokerage world. It’s driven from his knowledge and experience that there is no sophisticated supply chain that doesn’t incorporate brokers into their model. That’s about effiency, capacity and pricing.”

    Wait, what the heck is a freight broker?

    For the logistics neophytes among us, let’s briefly talk about what a freight broker is. 

    The phrase freight broker usually refers to trucking. There are brokers, of course, to place freight on airplanes, rail and ships. Especially for international movements, they’re usually called “freight forwarders.” The trucking industry, through sheer force of will, has mostly claimed the phrase “freight broker” for itself, even though there are indeed many types of transportation brokers. 

    Brokers handle most varieties of trucking freight, whether it was picked up on the so-called “spot market” or was contracted out months in advance. But it wasn’t always like this. Before 1980, regular, scheduled runs were the norm, in part because the federal government dictated the rate of each trucking route. 

    Decades ago, brokers were an anomaly. The former head of the Transportation Intermediaries Association estimated that there were only 14 licensed brokers in 1980. That exploded to more than 10,000 in 2005, he said at the time. 

    Nearly two decades ago, the truck brokerage market was worth some $50 billion. Today, it’s worth around $186 billion, according to the TIA. 

    One reason that freight brokers have become so common is that there are way too many trucking companies for each retailer, manufacturer, farmer or whatever to form relationships with. So they turn to brokers to figure out who to work with. 

    There were some 17,000 trucking companies by the end of the 1970s, when brokers were still unusual. But today, hundreds of thousands of firms comprise trucking. Many have a whopping single truck. These small companies, also called “owner-operators,” mostly run on what’s called the spot market, where they pick up jobs as it’s convenient. They don’t have regular schedules or customers. 

    The other side is the contract market, where a trucking company pledges to execute, say, eight runs a week shuttling goods between Des Moines, Iowa, and Detroit for a year. 

    These contracts are kind of lies, though — and both sides know it when they sign it. The retailer, manufacturer, farmer or whatever might need far more or far fewer trucks running between Des Moines and Detroit on a given week. What really ends up happening is uncertain.

    The Postal Service’s old-timey transportation system

    Over the decades, it’s become the norm for trucking companies and their customers to ditch the stipulations of their contracts. The Postal Service hasn’t kept up with that trend. And, as a result, its transportation network is unusually redundant. Reed said the complication of separating letter mail versus boxes has left some Postal Service trucks shuttling down the highway empty or with a single box or two inside. 

    Not only does the Postal Service actually stick to its contracts, it works with a lot more contractors than other shippers. Rather than heavily relying on brokerage firms to allocate spot or contract freight, the Postal Service maintains decades-long contracts with trucking firms that mostly just haul freight for the mail agency. The agency allocates about 10% of its total transportation spend on in-house truck drivers, all of whom are unionized. 

    One example of that is 10 Roads Express, which says on its website that it grew from a one-truck operation in 1946 to a 3,500-truck operation today through hauling U.S. mail. In the fiscal year 2021, the Iowa trucker made $540 million off its Postal Service business. 

    Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is perhaps thinking about potential cost savings through working with transportation intermediaries. (Graeme Jennings/Pool via AP)

    Regular routes seemed to allow Postal Service carriers to eschew technologies that other carriers had to adopt upward of a decade ago. As of the past two years, the Postal Service has pushed features including a digital load board and an online transportation management system, Reed said. 

    Another major factor of DeJoy’s cost-saving tactics is moving freight that would normally end up on a cargo plane to a truck instead. DeJoy recently hired a former New Breed Logistics executive to help lead this transformation. 

    The Postal Service is trying to get better at not following its contracts, though. It has devised a new type of contract with a feature called “dynamic routing optimization.” With those contracts, the Postal Service assesses each week if it needs more or fewer trucks on a certain route. 

    The other side of the Postal Service’s move away from contract freight is, of course, working with brokers.

    The Postal Service could save a lot of money with freight brokers, but it’s a knock on its longtime carriers

    Implementing new contracts and other technologies could mean cost savings at the Postal Service, but it’s spooky for long-time carriers — especially because these new products aren’t always perfect. One trucking contractor told the Washington Post last year that the Postal Service’s new software has cost them $110 million and sparked hundreds of layoffs. 

    “The biggest burden in general is implementing that technology and those practices,” Reed said of long-time contractors.

    The Postal Service has already ditched thousands of carriers as it’s streamlined operations, according to longtime parcel expert Satish Jindel. In 2014, the Postal Service worked with about 4,000 highway contractors. Now that’s around 1,700. That’s not because the Postal Service is trying to reduce its reliance on trucking; the Postal Service is actually focused on moving more freight off pricey cargo planes and onto trucks.

    “They need larger carriers,” Jindel said. “They don’t have the ability to use small mom-and-pop carriers to rely on in the past.”

    That explains why the Postal Service has turned to brokers to work with smaller trucking companies. In 2021, the Postal Service counted XPO Logistics, C.H. Robinson and ITS Logistics among its largest truck broker providers. (XPO and C.H. Robinson declined to comment for this piece, while Eve and ITS did not respond to a request for comment.)

    What’s more, leaning on the spot market means you can bid truck space as needed, rather than needing a yearslong contract with carriers all over the country. That should seemingly push the Postal Service toward an efficient, modernized transportation network. 

    However, perhaps 2021, famously the year that spot market rates shot to the moon, was a very bad year to turbocharge the usage of freight brokers. According to one analysis of public data, the Postal Service paid more than $50 million in extra trip dollars in January 2022, more than tenfold the spend from 2021 or 2020. 

    “Anytime they can have a direct contract with a carrier, that is always a better service at a better price, because they are then buying that service through the spot market,” Jindel said. 

    But, Hendel said he believes it’s unlikely that the cost-conscious Postal Service would continue to pursue freight brokerage if it didn’t have the potential to slash costs. 

    Even amid the move to modernize the Postal Service, Hendel doubts the agency would ever want to ditch its old-fashioned contract carrier model — just as UPS or FedEx hasn’t opened itself entirely up to the spot market. The risk to the mail system would be too large.

    “I think that could be a dangerous thing because you don’t have the dedicated reliable providers you have today and you open yourself up to spot market issues,” Hendel said. “I don’t think the Postal Service will ever be well-served by relying exclusively on brokers — that would be a recipe for disaster.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 19:30

  • Sale Of Mickey Mantle Card Breaks All Records For Sports Memorabilia
    Sale Of Mickey Mantle Card Breaks All Records For Sports Memorabilia

    A mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for $12.6 million Sunday – making it the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia in history.

    The 1952 card is widely regarded as one of just a handful of near-perfect cards of the baseball legend. It was bought in 1991 for $50,000 by New Jersey waste management entrepreneur, Anthony Giordano, at a New York City show.

    “As soon as it hit 10 million I just turned in. I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore,” said the 75-year-old Giordano on Sunday morning. “They stayed up and called me this morning bright and early to tell me that it reached where it reached.”

    The card eclipsed the previous record from May, when someone paid $9.3 million for the jersey worn by Diego Maradona when he scored the famous “Hand of God” goal in soccer’s 1986 World Cup, according to AP.

    Prior to that, someone paid $7.25 million for a 100-year-old Honus Wagner baseball card in a private sale, and another buyer bought Muhammad Ali’s heavyweight boxing belt from the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” for almost $6.2 million.

    As AP notes, “Prices have risen not just for the rarest items, but also for pieces that might have been collecting dust in garages and attics. Many of those items make it onto consumer auction sites like eBay, while others are put up for bidding by auction houses.”

    Because of its near-perfect condition and its legendary subject, the Mantle card was destined to be a top seller, said Chris Ivy, the director of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions, which ran the bidding.

    Some saw collectibles as a hedge against inflation over the past couple years, he said, while others rekindled childhood passions.

    Ivy said savvy investors saw inflation coming down the road — as it has. As a result, sports memorabilia became an alternative to traditional Wall Street investments or real estate — particularly among members of Generation X and older millennials. -AP

    “There’s only so much Netflix and ‘Tiger King’ people could watch (during the pandemic). So, you know, they were getting back into hobbies, and clearly sports collecting was a part of that,” said Ivy, adding that a ‘confluence of factors’ including interest from wealthy overseas collectors, have made sports collectibles particularly attractive.

    “We’ve kind of started seeing some growth and some rise in the prices that led to some media coverage. And I think it all it all just kind of built upon itself,” he added. “I would say the beginning of the pandemic really added gasoline to that fire.”

    Prior to the pandemic, the sports memorabilia market was estimated at just $5.4 billion – according to a 2018 comment by David Yoken, founder of Collectable.com

    Just three years later, that market is estimated to be at $26 billion according to research firm Market Decipher, which thinks it will grow to $227 billion within the next decade.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 19:00

  • What Will The I-Bond Interest Rate Be In November 2022?
    What Will The I-Bond Interest Rate Be In November 2022?

    Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

    Let’s go over how you can project I-bond rates based on semi-annual CPI estimates.

    Image from Diamond NestEgg (DNE) video with Mish alternate calculations

    I Bond Interest Rate November 2022 Prediction

    Assuming a base fixed rate of 0%, the formula for the next I-bond rate is ((September CPI-U Minus March CPI-U) Divided by March CPI-U) * 2.

    The CPI numbers are unadjusted. 

    DNE estimates a whopping 12.4% annualized yield. I arrive at 7.9%. 

    The difference is in CPI projections. DNE assumed 1.0% inflation for July, August, and September. 

    We already know July was 0.0% (technically slightly negative). 

    The Cleveland Fed projects 0.09% month-over-month inflation for August.  My assumption based on utilities and rent, with gasoline mostly flat is 0.40%. 

    For lack of a better number, I used 0.40% for September as well.

    Mish vs DNE CPI Projections

    July (subject to revision) is a known value. Tacking on 0.40 percent to July and then again for August yields a CPI-U of 298.851. 

    Plugging that into the lead chart formula gets an annualized yield of 7.9%. That’s far under DNE’s calculation but a very nice yield that everyone should take advantage of.

    I-Bond Details

    • The limit for purchasing I-bonds is per person, so a married couple can each put up to $10,000 in the investment annually, or up to $15,000 each if they both also elect to get tax refunds in paper I-bonds.

    • Also, you can purchase I bonds for each child and if you have a trust, the trust can buy them.

    • An investor must hold the bonds for 12 months, and if they sell the bonds before five years, they lose three months of interest.

    • You must hold the bonds for 5 years to collect all of the interest and the rates will change semi-annually.

    Treasury Direct has more details on Buying Series I Savings Bonds

    In a calendar year, you can acquire:

    • up to $10,000 in electronic I bonds in TreasuryDirect

    • up to $5,000 in paper I bonds using your federal income tax refund

    Is it worth the hassle given the above limits? 

    They make great gifts. But hassle is in the eyes of the beholder.

    *  *  *

    Like these reports? I hope so, and if you do, please Subscribe to MishTalk Email Alerts.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 18:30

  • "Zero Hour Approaches": NASA To Launch Most Powerful Rocket To Moon
    “Zero Hour Approaches”: NASA To Launch Most Powerful Rocket To Moon

    NASA’s most massive rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), is slated for a Monday morning launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida that will propel an Orion capsule on a month-long journey around the moon. 

    SLS is set for the 0833 ET launch from Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, with a two-hour launch window. In the event of weather or technical issues, NASA will reschedule the launch for Sept. 2 and Sept. 5.

    SLS sitting on pad. Source: Maxar

    “As our zero hour approaches for the Artemis generation, we do have a heightened sense of anticipation, and there is definitely excitement among the team members,” Mike Sarafin, NASA’s Artemis 1 mission manager, told reporters on Saturday, quoted by Space.com. 

    “We’ve noticed that the overall mood and focus within the team is definitely positive,” Sarafin said. 

    “Buckle up, everybody. We are going to the moon,” Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist for NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, said. 

    The SLS rocket is a monstrous 322 feet tall. It has 15% more thrust than the Saturn V rockets used in the Apollo program for human exploration of the moon more than half a century ago. 

    “This is a very risky mission … a lot things that could go wrong during the mission in places where we may come home early, or we may have to have to abort to come home,” said Jim Free, NASA’s associate director for exploration systems development.

    The first of the Artemis missions will fly the uncrewed spacecraft around the moon in a 42-day mission. Onboard will be an array of sensors to collect data on what astronauts will experience in future moon trips. 

    If all goes well, NASA will conduct Artemis 2 mission sometime in 2024, sending four astronauts on a flyby mission around the moon. Then by 2025, Artemis 3 mission would allow for the first crewed moon landing on the moon. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 18:00

  • Fauci's COVID Disaster: A Summary
    Fauci’s COVID Disaster: A Summary

    Authored by Ian Miller via Brownstone Institute,

    News that Dr. Anthony Fauci is finally leaving his post after what seemed like an endless reign at the helm of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases should be a time for celebration.

    But it’s not.

    Fauci has caused such tremendous damage throughout the past few years that it’s almost impossible to comprehend.

    In nearly every area of life in the United States, as well as in many other parts of the world, Fauci’s influence has been a key contributor to massive amounts of human suffering.

    Fauci inexplicably had particular ire for children.

    Long after it was abundantly clear that closing schools had no significant health benefit, Fauci continued to support shutdowns and restrictions on normal life for millions of children at little to no risk from the virus.

    His capacity for outright political advocacy and activism has been breathtaking to behold and contributed to the extreme collapse of trust in public health “experts” and authorities.

    So it seems worth revisiting some of the greatest hits of Fauci’s reign of incompetence. 

    Unmasked is entirely reader supported. Paid subscriptions allow the work to continue in this format, and any readership is greatly appreciated.

    Masks

    Perhaps one of Fauci’s biggest and most dramatic failings has been on masks.

    Early on, he famously opined on 60 Minutes that he was confident that masks didn’t work, that they might only block “a droplet or two,” but didn’t provide the protection people thought they did.

    He then confirmed the same information to people privately asking for advice on whether they should wear masks when traveling.

    He later absurdly claimed that his initial comments were made out of a desire to protect supply for healthcare workers. Except, of course, healthcare workers would never wear the types of cloth masking that Fauci and his allies at the CDC were recommending.

    Not to mention that his claim is made even more ridiculous by the fact that he told people privately not to wear masks.

    Had he believed they worked but wanted to protect limited availabilities, he could have easily told those who asked to wear a mask without jeopardizing any large scale supply for hospital workers.

    Of course, that’s not what he did.

    His claim that masking would lower transmission and would demonstrate clearly beneficial results compared to areas that didn’t mask has been proven false repeatedly:

    Well after it had been confirmed, by copious amounts of data, that masks don’t work, Fauci continued to advocate for universal masking. 

    Even today, he’s remained completely steadfast that masks work, despite the conclusive evidence to the contrary.

    Recently, after his incessant mask-wearing was completely ineffective at preventing him from being infected with the virus, Fauci continued to recommend people wear masks while lying about their effectiveness, saying they were “recommending people when they are in indoor congregate settings to wear a mask.”

    “Those are simple, doable things that can help prevent us from having even more of a problem than we’re having right now.”

    Just like the mask mandates during winter 2021-2022 were able to prevent the spread of the virus, right?

    Lockdowns

    The incomprehensible amount of lying that Fauci has done over the past few years extends past masks to lockdowns and business closures and capacity restrictions.

    Fauci now claims that he never said to lock down the country. 

    Except, of course, that’s exactly what he said on the record in 2020:

    In September of 2020, Fauci claimed that states like Florida that reopened were “asking for trouble,” while praising New York for having one of the “best” responses.

    Almost immediately afterwards, hospitalizations in California and New York shot past Florida with businesses closed, capacity restricted, and universal masking.

    His bewildering lack of awareness is bad enough, but even as late as 2021, long after lockdowns and business closures were disproven, he continued to suggest that areas that reopened were engaging in extremely risky behavior by going against his dictates.

    The headline of a story out of Jacksonville in April 2021 read: “Fauci: Opening Florida for business as COVID-19 variants surge a ‘risky proposition.’”

    Just a few months prior to this remark, he had pointedly criticized Florida for reopening, only to see other states that followed his advice have significantly worse results. 

    You’d think that being proven wrong would create some humility, uncertainty, and willingness to admit mistakes.

    But that’s not what Dr. Fauci does. 

    Instead, he doubled down, and said that Florida reopening in April 2021, months after vaccines had been available, was “risky.”

    Except that California reported significantly higher rates of age-adjusted COVID mortality than Florida for all of the first and second quarters of 2021, with mask mandates and capacity limits for part of that time frame:

    He pulled the same thing nationally, claiming inaccurately that the country would risk a new surge due to “relaxed” restrictions and new variants:

    Remember too that Fauci claims to be the singular representative of “science.” If this is what “science” is, it clearly doesn’t deserve the respect it’s been given.

    Of course, even into this year, Fauci is defending his recommendations, all evidence to the contrary, while denying that lockdowns, which permanently harmed tens of millions of people, didn’t irreparably damage anyone:

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

    Children

    Perhaps Fauci’s most damaging recommendations were related to schools. 

    Jordan Schachtel compiled perhaps the best timeline of his advocacy to keep schools closed or excuse those who wanted to keep them closed. 

    In his capacity as a masking fanatic, Fauci’s also promoted school masking, saying children over 2 should be forced to mask in school if local officials decided it was necessary. 

    No matter how many times masking in schools is disproven, he’ll never admit these statements were baseless nonsense.

    Between school closures and forced masking, the damage he’s caused to children is quite literally incalculable.

    Vaccinations

    There’s also his incomparable track record of inaccuracies on what the vaccines would do.

    Among many other issues, his prediction that reaching certain levels of vaccination would eliminate the potential for future surges was, like everything else he’s done, almost immediately proven wrong.

    His failures in this area are endless.

    Obviously this is nowhere close to a comprehensive list of the incomprehensible stupidity that Fauci’s demonstrated over the past few years. A full list would require a book, or several books to chronicle.

    His incompetence, hubris, awe-inspiring ego and commitment to being wrong in every possible circumstance is quite literally incomparable.

    The tremendous amount of flip-flopping and backtracking to defend his prior ineptitude is continuously defended by Fauci as “The Science™” changing.

    Except the CDC guidelines he continuously defended and promoted were never based on changing science, as evidenced by the fact that they never ran high-quality randomized controlled trials to justify their decision-making.

    “Science” can’t change when one of the key tenets of it, evidence-based recommendations, was never updated.

    But that didn’t matter to Fauci. What mattered is endless media appearances, praise from the left, and maintaining a veneer of infallibility propped up by a fawning press.

    While it might be tempting to think that this retirement will signal a dramatic shift in thinking about COVID at a federal level, that seems far too optimistic.

    As with everything else COVID-related, the Biden Administration has committed to ensuring that whoever replaces outgoing officials will be even worse. Ashish Jha and Rochelle Walensky are shining examples.

    At the very least, there’s a glimmer of hope that Fauci will still be called before Congress and be held accountable for the damage he’s caused and for his blatant, world-altering agenda.

    *  *  *

    Originally posted at Ian Miller’s ‘Unmasked’ Substack,

    Ian Miller is the author of “Unmasked: The Global Failure of COVID Mask Mandates.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 17:30

  • Belgian F1 Fans Stunned By Man Flying Over Track; Could This Be Mysterious 'Jetpack Man'?
    Belgian F1 Fans Stunned By Man Flying Over Track; Could This Be Mysterious ‘Jetpack Man’?

    Formula One fans were stunned ahead of Saturday’s qualifying session for the Belgian Grand Prix when a man on a flying device flew at a low altitude over the track at a high rate of speed. 

    ESPN F1 tweeted someone just flew over the circuit. The ten-second video shows the man on what appears to be a flyboard traveling very fast above the track, keeping up with a single-seater formula racing car. 

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

    UK newspaper Daily Express said the man operating the flyboard was French inventor Franky Zapata. He said:

    “I’ve done a lot of challenges from zero to 400 metres or with a u-turn. This is an area in which I feel comfortable with the flyboarder. 

    “It accelerates very fast and turns very well. On the other hand, over long distances, such as here, with a very huge top speed, I don’t go beyond 200m/h. So it can be complicated. It’s always a pleasure to fly here. I love flying on F1 circuits.The view is amazing. 

    “Of course I don’t have much time to admire the view. I have to stay focus on my turns. The flyboarder requires a lot of concentration. But the circuit is magnificent, the scenery is exceptional.”

    Other fans at the Belgian GP captured video of Zapata flying above the racetrack. 

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

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

    Zapata’s company develops and manufactures flyboards and jetpacks — some are capable of 125 mph and altitudes of nearly 10,000 feet.

    The question remains if Zapata’s technology is the same being used in Los Angeles after commercial airline pilots have observed what they believe is a man with a jetpack. It was only June when a pilot approaching Los Angeles International Airport spotted “an object that might have resembled a jetpack.” FAA is still mystified about the numerous sightings and has no explanation. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 17:00

  • Denver Public Schools Show Video Telling Kids To Avoid Police "As Perpetrators Of Violence"
    Denver Public Schools Show Video Telling Kids To Avoid Police “As Perpetrators Of Violence”

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    There is a controversy in the Denver Public School system as students were shown a video telling them not to call police if they see a violently racist or homophobic incident because police are perpetrators of such violence.

    What is particularly shocking, however, was the response of the school district to the showing of this insulting and dangerous film.

    The district said that nobody at Denver South High School actually watched the video before showing it to the students under their charge.

    The video titled “Don’t be a Bystander: 6 Tips for Responding to Racist Attacks,” tells students what to do if they see a racial attack. It states that “in our current political moment, White supremacists and White nationalists have been emboldened, and as a result, public attacks are on the rise.”  It then gives tips on what to do including do “not call the police” because it “escalates, rather than reduces” violence.  It explains “[b]ecause police have been trained to see people of color, gender-nonconforming folks, and Muslims as criminals, they often treat victims as perpetrators of violence. So, if the victim hasn’t asked you to call the police, do not — I repeat, do not — call the police.”

    It is a dangerous message for children not only in getting them to view police as threats but not to report racial incidents to the police to allow rapid intervention.

    What really stood out, however, was this line in the coverage:

    “A district spokesperson told Fox News Digital the video was chosen because of its title and theme, but no one viewed the video before it was shown to students.”

    This makes “the dog ate my homework” look perfectly credible. I am not sure which is worse: watching and assigning the video or assigning a video without watching it. Notably, to download the video from YouTube, the school official would have seen this description directly under the video:

    Barnard Center for Research on Women

    Created by BCRW and members of Project NIA, this video offers an abolitionist approach to bystander intervention that does not rely on the police.

    We have all been burned by videos in social media where you think you are sending a funny or relevant video but fail to watch the whole thing to spot foul or offensive content. However, posting a video for school children to see is a bit different from an errant tweet.

    It hardly conveys the seriousness of this anti-racism program that the teachers do not even watch the videos being assigned or posted.

    The school district offered little beyond a shrug and did not indicate any degree of discipline for the posting of this offensive video.

    There is also little response from the Barnard Center for Research on Women which posted the video to YouTube in 2017. It has posted this video for years.  The group’s website displays a series of posts on abolition and “Defund the Police” measures.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 16:30

  • Rockefeller Foundation Wants Behavioral Scientists To Come Up With More Convincing COVID Vaxx Narratives
    Rockefeller Foundation Wants Behavioral Scientists To Come Up With More Convincing COVID Vaxx Narratives

    In yet another sign that the covid vaccination agenda of globalist institutions did not do quite as well as they had originally hoped, the Rockefeller Foundation has revealed that it (along with other non-profits) has been pumping millions of dollars into a behavioral science project meant to figure out why large groups of people around the world refuse to take the jab.

    The “Mercury Project” is a collective of behavioral scientists formed by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), a non-profit group which receives considerable funding from globalist organizations and governments.  The stated goals of the project are rather non-specific, using ambiguous language and mission statements.  However, the root intentions appear to be focused on using behavioral psychology and mass psychology elements to understand the global resistance to the recent covid compliance efforts.

    Mercury groups will be deployed in multiple nations and regions and will study vaccine refusal and the medical “disinformation” that leads to it.  They are operating with the intent to tailor vaccination narratives to fit different ethnic and political backgrounds, looking for the key to the gates of each cultural kingdom and convincing them to take the jab.  

    The Rockefeller Foundation and the SSRC note:

    “Following the characterization of inaccurate health information by the U.S. Surgeon General as an “urgent threat,” and by the World Health Organization as an “infodemic,” the SSRC issued a call for proposals to counter the growing global threats posed by public health mis- and disinformation and low Covid-19 vaccination rates, and received nearly 200 submissions from around the world.

    …With Covid-19 prevalent and rapidly evolving everywhere, there is a pressing need to identify interventions with the potential to increase vaccination take-up.”

    The SSRC and the Mercury Project are not only receiving funding from foundations, but also government based institutions.  In June of 2022 the Mercury Project received another $20 million from the National Science Foundation, which claims to be an “independent” agency of the United States government.  Meaning, fabricating effective covid propaganda is becoming a money train for the small groups of behavioral researchers and psychologists that jump onboard.

    The purpose of the NSF partnership with the Mercury Project is outlined on the SSRC website:

    “This innovative partnership will support research teams seeking to evaluate online or offline interventions to increase Covid-19 vaccination demand and other positive health behaviors, including by targeting the producers and/or consumers of inaccurate health information and/or by increasing confidence in reliable health information.”

    The Mercury Project lists these bullet points as their focus:

    “Funded projects will provide evidence about what works–and doesn’t–in specific places and for specific groups to increase Covid-19 vaccination take-up, including what is feasible on the ground and has the potential to be cost-effective at scale. Each of the 12 teams will have access to findings from the other teams while exploring interventions including, but not limited to:

    Conducting literacy training for secondary school students in partnership with local authorities to help students identify Covid-19 vaccine misinformation.  

    Equipping trusted messengers with communication strategies to increase Covid-19 vaccination demand.

    Using social networks to share tailored, community-developed messaging to increase Covid-19 vaccination demand.”

    In other words, their focus is propaganda, propaganda and propaganda.  The very basis of the existence of the Mercury Project presupposes that individuals cannot be trusted to make up their own minds about the information they are exposed to, and that they must be molded to accept the mainstream narrative.  It also presupposes that mainstream or establishment information is always trustworthy and unbiased.     

    The widespread non-compliance against covid vaccination mandates despite extensive government pressure is perhaps one of the most underappreciated events of the past century.  It is likely the reason why political elites and the corporate media went from a non-stop fear campaign against the public to almost no mention of covid within a matter of weeks.  It was as if the populace was being put through two years of waterboarding and then one day the torture simply stopped without explanation.

    If vaccine passport laws had been implemented through western nations on the scale that governments and globalists were demanding, then the last vestiges of personal freedom would now be erased permanently.  All individual rights would become privileges granted by authorities and contingent on your submission to whatever covid booster shots or medical procedures happen to be in vogue at the time.  Think about it:  If they had gotten what they wanted, the west would look exactly like China does right now, or worse, with no economic participation without an up-to-date covid pass.    

    And, the threat still lingers.  Why the Mercury Project feels the need to compose vaccine propaganda for a virus with a mere 0.23% median Infection Fatality Rate is not explained.  And, if vaccination numbers from agencies like the CDC are accurate, then the population has already achieved herd immunity anyway (perhaps their numbers are not accurate?).  Why are globalist groups so obsessed with 100% vaccination for covid?  This is never explained.  

    They will say it’s all about saving lives, but if only 0.23% of people on average are at risk regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not, then public health is not really a believable explanation.  It would seem that the Mercury Project’s purpose is more about influencing people to vaccinate despite the science rather than in the name of science. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 16:00

  • Federal Judge Indicates Intent To Appoint Special Master For Mar-a-Lago Document Review
    Federal Judge Indicates Intent To Appoint Special Master For Mar-a-Lago Document Review

    Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org,

    Since the start of the controversy over the Mar-a-Lago raid, I have called for the release of a redacted affidavit and the appointment of a special master to sort through the seized material, including alleged attorney-client privileged material. Indeed, I felt that this was one of the four failures of Attorney General Merrick Garland in not taken proactive steps to assure that public that this was not a pretextual raid to collect sensitive material for other investigative purposes. Now, District Judge Aileen Cannon has indicated an intent to make such an appointment. It was a belated request from the Trump team but, as I wrote yesterday, it would still have considerable value in the case.

    Judge Cannon filed an order Saturday morning that “The Court hereby provides notice of its preliminary intent to appoint a special master in this case.”

    Such an appointment should have been done before the Justice Department reviewed the material. The Department sought a ridiculously broad search warrant and Magistrate Paul Reinhart simply signed off on the order without considering the wide array of privileged material that could be seized. It adopted language so broad that it was the legal version of Captain Jack Sparrow’s “Take what you can … Give nothing back.” It allowed the seizure of any box containing any document with any classification of any kind — and all boxes stored with that box. It also allowed the seizure of any writing from Trump’s presidency.

    However, a special master could still serve the same interests of transparency and legitimacy. The special master could divide these documents in classified material, unclassified but defense information, and unclassified material outside of the scope of the alleged crimes. The last category would then be returned.

    That accounting could also offer basic descriptive information on the material without revealing their precise content or titles. The special master could describe material as related to national defense or nuclear weapons (as was previously leaked government sources). The government has already leaked that there was nuclear weapons material being sought. Confirming such general details can be done without giving details on the specific information or even titles for the documents to protect national security. In national security cases, including cases where I have served as counsel, such indexes and summaries are common.

    Once again, as with the release of the redacted affidavit, Garland could have taken these steps to assure the public that the Department was not acting for political or improper purposes — or using excessive means to achieve those goals. He has refused every opportunity to do so while chastising those who question the integrity of his Department.

    The release of the redacted affidavit shows that what Garland and his Department told the public was untrue about the inability to release a redacted affidavit without endangering the case or national security. As discussed yesterday, the redacted affidavit confirmed various key points on the legal and factual background. After opposing the release of even a single line, the government released whole pages that were manifestly suitable for public disclosure.

    Once again, Garland waited to be forced to take this step rather than act on his own to address widespread concerns. His department has a documented history of officials misleading courts and filing false material in Trump-related investigations. This is yet another example of how Attorney General Garland has done little to earn the trust of almost half of the country. In this and other controversies, he has demanded respect but refused to take even modest measures to justify it.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 15:30

  • Russian Diamonds Flow Back On Global Market As Western Sanctions Fail
    Russian Diamonds Flow Back On Global Market As Western Sanctions Fail

    The U.S. and its Western allies have unleashed a barrage of economic sanctions to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. A critical element in that strategy is to limit Russian exports of commodities, such as crude oil to diamonds, to cause maximum economic pain in Moscow. Though the strategy has backfired as Russia’s oil revenues soar, the diamond trade is the latest export to be revived near pre-war levels. 

    Bloomberg reported that Russian mining giant Alrosa PJSC ramped up its diamond exports to near pre-Ukraine invasion levels. 

    Readers may recall the +$80 billion industry diamond industry was thrown into chaos earlier this year when the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) hit Alrosa with sanctions, reducing 30% of the world’s rough stones supplies. 

    Alrosa is one of the world’s largest diamond miners, responsible for 90% of Russia’s rough stone output. OFAC’s sanctions on the miner resulted in all of its clients and other counterparties immediately halting transactions in early April. 

    By late April, we noted that Russian rough stone supplies had stopped flowing to Surat, India, the mecca of diamond cutting and polishing. We pointed out that traders and manufacturers were searching for workarounds due to OFAC’s sanctions disrupting payments via Indian banks to Alrosa. 

    So fast forward to late August, and Alrosa is back, selling more than $250 million of diamonds a month, which is approximately $50 to $100 million below pre-war levels. It appears Indian banks have figured out ways to bypass OFAC’s sanctions and are “more comfortable with how to facilitate transactions in currencies other than U.S. dollars,” Bloomberg said. 

    “There is no indication that any sales have breached sanctions or laws. But there is still a widespread unease about the implications of dealing in Russian goods,” Bloomberg noted. 

    The return of one of the world’s top diamond producers is another sign that Western sanctions against Russia are failing. Six months after the invasion, Russia’s economy has yet to nosedive and implode, though sanctions entirely backfired on Europe amid energy hyperinflation and mounting recession risks. 

    The biggest takeaway is that Russia and the rest of the world are finding workarounds to the Western economic blockade, which shows the era of America’s unipolar world order is nearing its end.  

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 15:00

  • DeSantis' Campaigning Could Influence Midterms And Beyond
    DeSantis’ Campaigning Could Influence Midterms And Beyond

    Authored by Todd Carney via RealClear Florida,

    Florida governor Ron DeSantis made headlines for agreeing to campaign for Republican candidates, including some controversial ones whom the Republican establishment has abandoned – Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, Arizona senatorial nominee Blake Masters, and Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake. Perhaps DeSantis is campaigning for these candidates to build support for his likely 2024 presidential bid. Even if that’s the case, DeSantis’s campaign efforts could help the Republican Party in 2022 and beyond.

    Lake and Mastriano matter because Arizona and Pennsylvania will be swing states in 2024. Much of the 2020 voting disputes occurred in states with Democratic governors. Lake and Mastriano are the only people standing between Democratic control of the governorships of Arizona and Pennsylvania. If Masters wins his Senate race in Arizona, it would be hard to imagine Democrats holding onto control of the chamber. And the 2024 Senate map looks very promising for Republicans.

    Only in recent years have major parties run candidates with good chances of winning their races but whom many leaders in the party refuse to support. Donald Trump, on the other hand, has already endorsed Lake, Mastriano, and Masters, and helped them get their nominations. Trump still stands strong in the 2024 Republican presidential primary polls, at 51 percent support, giving him about a 28 percent lead over his nearest competitor, DeSantis.

    But Trump’s standing among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents is diminished. If a portion of the 49 percent of Republicans who do not want Trump for president also feel skeptical about candidates like Lake, they will need some more convincing to vote for these Trump-like candidates. This is where DeSantis’s endorsements matter.

    While DeSantis and Trump account for the choices of about 75 percent of the GOP electorate, Senator Ted Cruz, former Vice President Mike Pence, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and a few others account for the other 25 percent. Some of these politicians represent radically different wings of the GOP than DeSantis or Trump – so the Trump-like candidates might need some of the other potential 2024 candidates to endorse them more than they need support from DeSantis or Trump.

    Many Republicans are feeling confident about 2024, given that President Joe Biden’s reelection chances (if he runs) don’t look particularly good. But win or lose, Biden has two years left in his term, so how Republicans perform in the 2022 midterms will determine how much of his agenda they can block. Moreover, the midterm results could set the stage for a Republican presidential candidacy and administration. In the last few cycles, politicians on both sides have forgotten that. Ron DeSantis has not, and this likely bodes well for his future ambitions.

    Todd Carney is a lawyer and frequent contributor to RealClearPolitics. He earned his juris doctorate from Harvard Law School. The views in this piece are his alone and do not reflect the views of his employer.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 14:30

  • US Sends Two Warships Through Taiwan Strait In 1st Since Pelosi Visit
    US Sends Two Warships Through Taiwan Strait In 1st Since Pelosi Visit

    The US Navy has sent two warships through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, in a significant first sail through since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s provocative visit to Taiwan early this month.

    The guided-missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville traversed “through waters where high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law,” according to the US 7th Fleet in Japan.

    USS Chancellorsville file image, via US Navy

    Calling the transit “ongoing,” the statement emphasized “no interference from foreign military forces so far” – which is a concern given the heavy PLA naval presence in waters off Taiwan this month, also given repeat Chinese breaches of the median line by air and sea.

    “These ships (are transiting) through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state. The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows,” the 7th Fleet statement continued.

    The Pentagon previewed the sail through pf the strait, announcing over a week ago that the Navy is preparing to do such amid Chinese warnings, but didn’t specify a date.

    Eastern Theater Command slammed the “provocation” and said it is actively monitoring the US vessels. 

    “Troops of the (Eastern) Theater Command are on high alert and ready to foil any provocation at any time,” a spokesperson for the People Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command said.

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    The White House has accused Beijing of using the early August Pelosi visit to manufacture a crisis. Chinese state media had at the same time expressly stated the PLA drills were a “rehearsal” for forced reunification.

    For now, it looks like Congressional delegations to the self-ruled island, in some instances led by some of the most outspoken anti-China hawks, will continue unabated, given a Thursday-Friday trip by Senator Marsha Blackburn marked the fourth US delegation trip in under a month.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/28/2022 – 14:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Aug 28

Today’s News 28th August 2022

  • Chang: China Is Weaponizing Chinese Worldwide To Support The CCP
    Chang: China Is Weaponizing Chinese Worldwide To Support The CCP

    Authored by Gordon Chang via The Gatestone Institute,

    • To make matters worse, the Chinese state has been open about its hostility to the United States. Among other things, in May 2019 People’s Daily, the Party’s self-described “mouthpiece” and therefore most authoritative publication in China, declared a “people’s war” on America.

    • Many of those “different social systems”—especially the United States—are squeamish when it comes to singling people out because of their race. Yet American policymakers cannot ignore the fact that the Communist Party’s appeal to overseas Chinese is overtly race-based.

    • In February… the Justice Department ended its Trump-era “China Initiative,” which concentrated law enforcement efforts on Chinese espionage. Yet given Xi Jinping’s call on overseas Chinese to work for the Chinese Communist Party, it is time to reinstitute that program and devote more resources to it.

    • Can Americans of Chinese descent be loyal to both America and China?

    • No. China’s Communist Party has made itself an existential threat to America and every other society…. The promotion of tianxia [ruling “All under Heaven”] means, among other things, that the Party views the U.S. government as illegitimate and America as nothing more a tributary society or colony.

    • Although we [“Chinese-Americans”] technically do not have an obligation to prove our loyalty to America, we must, as a group, understand that a hostile power is trying to weaponize us. Xi Jinping has openly called on us to become a subversive force, to help him destroy the country we now call home.

    • It is time, therefore, for us to begin cleaning our own ranks…. Moreover, it means not shouting “racism” every time law enforcement arrests someone of Chinese descent.

    • We may think it unfair, but we now have to make a choice.

    • After all, our country—the United States of America—is in peril because a foreign state—the People’s Republic of China—is attacking it and hoping to use us to take it down.

    • The Communist Party of China refers to us as “overseas patriotic forces.” People in our communities will want to know to which country we feel patriotic.

    “Promoting the great unity of the Chinese people is the historic responsibility of China’s patriotic united front work in the new era,” said Chinese ruler Xi Jinping at the end of last month to Communist Party cadres in Beijing. “To do the job well, we must… truly unite all Chinese people in different parties, nationalities, classes, groups, and with different beliefs, and those who are living under different social systems.”

    “Different social systems” is Party lingo for “other countries.”

    Xi’s words sound benign, but the intent is not. In short, Xi, at the Party’s United Front Work Conference, said he hoped to unite—in other words, mobilize—ethnic Chinese everywhere to support the CCP, to effectively make every Chinese individual a CCP agent.

    “The Chinese Communist Party just doesn’t accept that people who adopt foreign citizenship are no longer beholden to the motherland as represented by the Chinese Communist Party,” said Charles Burton of the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute to “CBS Eye on the World” on August 17. “There is no escape from this ethnic identification based on being descendants of the Yellow Emperor.”

    Xi’s predecessors also appealed to overseas Chinese, so in one sense there was nothing new in his words last month. Yet there is nonetheless cause for great concern. Mao Zedong in fact tried to use ethnic Chinese populations outside China to overthrow their governments. Xi reveres Mao, has adopted many of Mao’s tactics, and is surely as determined as Mao in using Chinese people to do his bidding. Xi is serious in seeing all the world’s Chinese as a single unified force.

    Many of those “different social systems”—especially the United States—are squeamish when it comes to singling people out because of their race. Yet American policymakers cannot ignore the fact that the Communist Party’s appeal to overseas Chinese is overtly race-based.

    “We all share the same ancestors, history, and culture, we all are sons and daughters of the Chinese nation and descendants of the dragon,” said Yang Jiechi, now China’s top diplomat, in 2013 to a group of overseas ethnic Chinese children attending a government-sponsored “roots-tracing” tour event.

    The regime sponsors these tours to indoctrinate. Foreign children, in Taishan in Guangdong province during a tour late last decade, were asked to sing the 1980s-era “Descendants of the Dragon.” The appeal to race is unmistakable, as this portion of the lyrics makes clear: “With brown eyes, black hair, and yellow skin, we are forever descendants of the dragon.”

    In fact, China’s regime asks, cajoles, threatens, and intimidates dragon descendants to commit crimes for “the Motherland.” As successful American prosecutions indicate, some ethnic Chinese are especially susceptible to those appeals.

    In February, however, the Justice Department ended its Trump-era “China Initiative,” which concentrated law enforcement efforts on Chinese espionage. Yet given Xi Jinping’s call on overseas Chinese to work for China, it is time to reinstitute that program and devote more resources to it.

    Many have called the initiative “racist,” but any new program would be merely responding to the Communist Party’s race-based appeals.

    The overwhelming majority of Americans of Chinese descent—especially those who have fled China recently— are loyal to America, but some Chinese in America flaunt their support for Chinese communism. The flying of flags of the People’s Republic of China in Chinatowns across the U.S.—especially San Francisco’s before the pandemic—was particularly disturbing and suggestive of disloyalty to the American republic.

    Can Americans of Chinese descent be loyal to both America and China?

    No. China’s Communist Party has made itself an existential threat to America and every other society. The Chinese regime, especially in recent years under General Secretary Xi, has been pushing the notion that it holds the Mandate of Heaven to rule tianxia, “All Under Heaven.” The promotion of tianxia means, among other things, that the Party views the U.S. government as illegitimate and America as nothing more than a tributary society or colony.

    To make matters worse, the Chinese state has been open about its hostility to the United States. Among other things, in May 2019 People’s Daily, the Party’s self-described “mouthpiece” and therefore most authoritative publication in China, declared a “people’s war” on America.

    Let me end on a personal note, as dragon blood proudly flows in my veins. My dad, who arrived in this country in early 1945, came from a small farming village in Jiangsu province, across the mighty Yangtze River from Shanghai. My mother’s family traces its roots to Dundee, in Scotland, but I have not identified with that half of my heritage. I grew up in New Jersey, steeped in Dad’s stories of the Yellow Emperor and of course tales of dragons.

    Nonetheless, my story-telling dad never missed an opportunity to vote or tell his four children how wonderful his adopted country was. He always said “China is my birthplace but America is my home.”

    We “Chinese-Americans”—I abhor the term—need to remember where we now live. We cannot remain oblivious, as we so far have had the luxury of doing.

    Although we technically do not have an obligation to prove our loyalty to America, we must, as a group, understand that a hostile power is trying to weaponize us. Xi Jinping has openly called on us to become a subversive force, to help him destroy the country we now call home.

    It is time, therefore, for us to begin cleaning our own ranks. This means, among other things, not tolerating displays promoting Chinese communism in our country. Moreover, it means not shouting “racism” every time law enforcement arrests someone of Chinese descent. If we do not take the lead in these tasks, others will naturally do that for us.

    We may think it unfair, but we now have to make a choice.

    After all, our country—the United States of America—is in peril because a foreign state—the People’s Republic of China—is attacking it and hoping to use us to take it down.

    The Communist Party of China refers to us as “overseas patriotic forces.” People in our communities will want to know to which country we feel patriotic.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 23:30

  • San Francisco Shop Owners Threaten To Stop Paying Taxes Unless City Tackles Crime, Homelessness
    San Francisco Shop Owners Threaten To Stop Paying Taxes Unless City Tackles Crime, Homelessness

    Business owners in San Francisco’s Castro district have absolutely had it with the city’s inaction over burglaries, vandalism, and violent homeless people camping on the sidewalks in front of storefronts and residences.

    As the American Thinker‘s Olivia Murray notes:

    San Francisco has an established reputation as a capital for fringe culture and leftism, much of which converges in the enclave of Castro.  The first “Drag Queen Story Hour” event ever took place in the Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library in the neighborhood and was “well received.”

    Now, under Democrat leadership, the iconically left community is ready to take drastic measures toward radical American patriotism.  Three days ago, the San Francisco Chronicle reported:

    For years, business owners in San Francisco’s Castro district have complained to city officials that homeless people struggling with mental illness and drug addiction have wreaked havoc on the neighborhood. Now, merchants say the situation has gotten so bad that they’re threatening to possibly stop paying city taxes and fees [emphasis added].

    The threat arises from a letter drafted and sent to city officials by the Castro Merchants Association on August 8.  According to co-president Dave Karraker, if the calls are neglected, the response will be civil disobedience, including refusal to pay taxes.

    Karraker said:

    If the city can’t provide the basic services for them [businesses] to become a successful business, then what are we paying for? You can’t have a vibrant, successful business corridor when you have people passed out high on drugs, littering your sidewalk.

    No, no, you can’t, which is why conservatives suggest not incentivizing criminality and drug use, nor electing D.A.s who hail from domestic terrorists and despise law and order like Chesa Boudin.

    Needless to say, it’s likely the irony is lost upon the residents and proprietors of Castro.  The very spirit they oppose in policy — revolutionary freedom from the yoke of taxation and anti-tyrannical government — is the very spirit they’re on the verge of embracing.

    The leftists in Castro appear to be halfway there. The government exists for one purpose, and that is to secure unalienable rights. One of those rights is property ownership, and between 2019 and 2020, storeowners saw a distinct rise in “burglaries and vandalism”, and in Castro, “the merchants association recorded more than 90 incidents totaling over $170,000 in repair costs since 2020[.]” When the government fails to safeguard our rights, it forfeits its legitimacy and authority to govern.

    Karraker added, “Until we see demonstrable change, everything is on the table, including civil disobedience[.]”  I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I actually have something in common with the San Francisco Marxists, and I applaud their initiative.

    And as Silvio Canto Jr. writes in the Thinker:

    I spoke with a friend who went to San Francisco, and he couldn’t believe the general decay of a once wonderful city.  He did not like Los Angeles, either.

    So it’s great to see that business owners are drawing the line.  Put the issue in the laps of the elected officials, and use your taxes as a weapon.  After all, you are paying for the police, and it’s the political class tying their hands.

    Thumbs up for these business owners in Castro.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 23:00

  • 8 In 10 Americans Think Hunter Biden Laptop Cover-Up Changed Election Outcome; Poll Finds
    8 In 10 Americans Think Hunter Biden Laptop Cover-Up Changed Election Outcome; Poll Finds

    Authored by Paul Sperry via The Epoch Times,

    A whopping 79 percent of Americans suggest President Donald Trump likely would have won reelection if voters had known the truth about Hunter Biden’s laptop – that it was real and not “Russian disinformation,” as intelligence officials aligned with Joe Biden falsely led the public to believe, a new national poll reveals.

    The survey of 1,335 adults was conducted earlier this month by New Jersey-based Technometrica Institute of Policy and Politics. The vast majority of those following the issue said they believe that the laptop is real, while only 11 percent still believe it was created by Russia.

    The Washington Post and The New York Times recently confirmed that the laptop and contents found on it are, in fact, authentic, after initially pooh-poohing the idea the device belonged to the president’s son. In October 2020, the New York Post broke the story that Hunter Biden had abandoned the Apple computer at a Wilmington, Del., repair shop. The newspaper exposed emails from the hard drive indicating the Biden family may have participated in illicit business deals in Ukraine, China, and other countries. Social media censored the story, denying voters critical information on the eve of the election.

    Among those following the topic, almost three-quarters (74 percent) believe that the FBI and Intelligence Community deliberately misled the public—and voters—when they claimed the laptop was “disinformation” and part of a Kremlin plot to hurt Biden’s candidacy.

    On Oct. 19, 2020, more than 50 former U.S. intelligence officials, including CIA Director John Brennan, signed a public letter claiming the material published by the Post from Hunter’s hard drive “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” although none of them had seen it. Joe Biden cited their letter in the presidential debates to deflect questions about the laptop.

    “Terming the laptop ‘disinformation’ by the FBI, Intelligence Community, Congress, and the Biden campaign, along with Big Tech, impacted voters,” said Technometrica President Raghavan Mayur, who’s been recognized as the most accurate pollster in recent presidential elections. “A significant majority—78 percent—believe that access to the correct information could have been critical to their decision at the polls.”

    In fact, 47 percent said that knowing before the election that the laptop contents were real and not “disinformation” would have changed their voting decision—including more than two-thirds (71 percent) of Democrats.

    Almost 8 of 10 respondents said that a truthful interpretation of the laptop would have likely changed the election’s outcome more in favor of Trump.

    The poll also found that more than half—51 percent—give the media failing grades (D or F) for their coverage of the topic of the laptop.

    Also, 81 percent of Americans said they want the attorney general to appoint an independent special counsel to investigate possibly incriminating email and other evidence contained on Hunter Biden’s laptop. Federal investigators in Delaware have been investigating Hunter for possible money laundering, tax fraud, and other alleged crimes, but the probe has dragged on for years, and the FBI has yet to issue a warrant to search his home for evidence.

    The Senate Judiciary Committee revealed last month that FBI whistleblowers recently came forward to expose a “scheme” by FBI honchos in Washington to throttle the investigation of Hunter Biden in the run-up to the 2020 election by claiming that allegations of Biden influence-peddling in Ukraine was “Russian disinformation.”

    Former National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe recently said there is growing evidence the FBI politically interfered in both the 2016 and 2020 elections while claiming they were worried about Russian interference.

    “The names have changed, but the allegations are the same, that these FBI agents were attempting to influence the outcome of the 2020 election by suppressing derogatory information about Hunter Biden and potentially Joe Biden,” Ratclifffe said.

    “It is the FBI that is the primary domestic authority for investigating and leading to the prosecution of election influence and election interference. It’s really a problem when the agency that is responsible for investigating those things is engaged in those things.”

    Ratcliffe in late October 2020 issued a forceful denial against the prevailing spin about “disinformation” after prominent Democrat leader Adam Schiff of the House Intelligence Committee proclaimed the Hunter Biden laptop story was “a smear on Joe Biden [that] comes from the Kremlin.”

    “I very clearly came out and said, ‘Look, Adam Schiff is making this information up. There is no Russian disinformation involved here. It is Hunter Biden’s laptop, and the investigation is real,’ “ he said. “And that has proven to be true.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 22:30

  • "Get A Warrant" – ATF Agents Attempt To Confiscate Solvent Trap Components
    “Get A Warrant” – ATF Agents Attempt To Confiscate Solvent Trap Components

    A new report from the gun blog website AmmoLand Shooting Sports News claims that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents are paying visits to law-abiding gun owners’ houses to confiscate solvent trap components. 

    AmmoLand’s John Crump claims, “multiple law-abiding gun owners have contacted me about visitations by ATF agents attempting to get the individuals to hand over solvent trap components purchased on GunBroker.”

    This is a solvent trap. 

    Solvent traps are devices that can be used when cleaning firearms to catch the cleaning solution if poured down the barrel. The device helps prevent mess and if in the field, can help prevent harmful chemicals from being dumped into the environment. They can also be used as makeshift silencers.

    We pointed out earlier this year that ATF considered solvent traps as suppressors. This comes as some gun owners legally bought the devices and manufactured them into homemade suppressors, then filed a National Firearms Act “Form 1” with the ATF and paid a $200 tax to own them legally. 

    Crump provides an example of ATF agents showing up at a man’s house earlier this month. Agents demanded he turn over solvent trap components:

    “On the week of August 14th, a Louisiana man was visited by an ATF agent who demanded he turn over solvent trap components that were acquired through GunBroker Auction seller RifleRemedy2000. The ATF agent produced the Warning Notice pictured below. The man, fearing retribution and unwanted persecution by the rogue agency, agreed to sign a letter stating he had destroyed the items and no longer possessed the items the ATF has now deemed to be suppressors regulated by the NFA.”

    Source AmmoLand: The ATF agent delivered this Warning Notice to a Louisiana man regarding his purchase of solvent traps from Gunbroker.com account “RifleRemedy2000.” 

    Source:AmmoLand: The second page of the Warning Notice purchase of solvent traps from Gunbroker.com account “RifleRemedy2000.”

    Then there’s this. On Thursday, a Florida man recorded ATF agents demanding he turn over the device. 

    “This video was captured by Nick, a Charlotte County, Florida man who multiple ATF agents visit his home. Nick had purchased solvent trap components through GunBroker seller RifleRemedy2000 and had paid for the tax stamp to complete a form 1 self-made suppressor.

    “Apparently, the man had enough solvent trap components to make more than one, self-manufactured suppressor, and the ATF was demanding that he hand over the materials to the ATF for confiscation and destruction. This man exercised his right to remain silent and asked the ATF to “come back with a warrant.” — Crump

    The video provides a unique view of an encounter between a private citizen and federal agents who deliberately intimidated the man. Gun Owners of America (GOA) posted the video of the conversation. 

    Here’s commentary from GOA on the video above. 

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    ATF agents showing up at homes of gun owners have recently been making national headlines. We reported last week that agents are showing up at homes of people who bought legal forced reset triggers for AR-15-style rifles that were recently classified as “machine guns.” 

    Also, video footage last month captured a Delaware man stunned when special agents rang his doorbell and asked if they could do an inventory audit of his legally-obtained firearms.

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    And last summer, we told readers that the “puzzle pieces were all laid out” – in terms of how the ATF, weaponized under the Biden administration, would try to ban semi-automatic rifles. 

    Here’s what Biden said this week about banning guns:

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    The rise in the ATF’s door-to-door operations at homes of law-abiding citizens is disturbing as Second Amendment appears to be under attack. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 22:00

  • The Worst & The Stupidest?
    The Worst & The Stupidest?

    Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via AmGreatness.com,

    Our elites are now viewed with the disdain they have earned on their own merits. And they are none too happy about it…

    Elites have always been ambiguous about the muscular classes who replace their tires, paint their homes, and cook their food. And the masses who tend to them likewise have been ambivalent about those who hire them: appreciative of the work and pay, but also either a bit envious of those with seemingly unlimited resources or turned off by perceived superciliousness arising from their status and affluence. 

    Yet the divide has grown far wider in the 21st century. Globalization fueled the separation in a number of ways. 

    One, outsourcing and offshoring eroded the rust-belt interior, while enriching the two coasts. The former lost good-paying jobs, while the latter found new markets in investment, tech, insurance, law, media, academia, entertainment, sports, and the arts making them billions rather than mere millions. 

    So, the problem was one of both geography and class. Half the country looked to Asia and Europe for profits and indeed cultural “diversity,” while the other half stuck with tradition, values, and custom—as they became poorer. 

    The elite found in the truly poor—neglecting their old union-member, blue-collar Democratic base—an outlet for their guilt, noblesse oblige, condescension at a safe distance, call it what you will. The poor if kept distant were fetishized, while the middle class was demonized for lacking the taste of the professional classes, and romance of the far distant underclass.

    Second, race became increasingly divorced from class—a phenomenon largely birthed by guilty, wealthy, white elites and privileged, diverse professionals. For the white bicoastal elite, it became a mark of their progressive fides to champion woke racialism that empowered the non-white of their own affluent class, while projecting their own discomfort with and fears of the nonwhite poor onto the middle class as supposed “racists,” despite the latter’s more frequently living among, marrying within, and associating with the “other.” 

    The net result was more privilege for the elite and wealthy nonwhites, more neglect of the inner-city needy, and more disdain for the supposedly illiberal clingers, dregs, deplorables, chumps, and irredeemables. 

    The results of these contortions were surreal. The twentysomething who coded a video game that went viral globally became a master of the universe, while the brilliant carpenter or electrical contractor was seen as hopelessly trapped in a world of muscular stasis. Oprah and LeBron James were victims. So were the likes of Ibram X. Kendi, Ilhan Omar, and the Obamas, while the struggling Ohio truck driver, the sergeant on the frontline in Afghanistan, and Indiana plant worker became their oppressors. Or so the progressive bicoastal elite instructed us. 

    Globalization and its geography, along with the end of ecumenical class concerns, certainly widened the ancient mass-elite divide. But there was a third catalyst that explained the mutual animosity in the pre-Trump years. The masses increasingly could not see any reason for elite status other than expertise in navigating the system for lucrative compensation. 

    An Incompetent Elite

    In short, money and education certification were no longer synonymous with any sense of competency or expertise. Just the opposite often became true. Those who thought up some of the most destructive, crackpot, and dangerous policies in American history were precisely those who were degreed and well-off and careful to ensure they were never subject to the destructive consequences of their own pernicious ideologies. 

    The masses of homeless in our streets were a consequence of various therapeutic bromides antithetical to the ancient, sound notions of mental hospitals. The new theories ignored the responsibilities of nuclear families to take care of their own, and the assumption that hard-drug use was not a legitimate personal-choice, but rather a catastrophe for all of society. 

    From universities also came critical race theory and critical legal theory, which were enshrined throughout our institutions. The bizarre idea that “good” racism was justified as a get-even-response to “bad” racism, resonated as ahistorical, illogical, and plain, old-fashioned race-based hatred. 

    The masses never understood why their children should attend colleges where obsessions with superficial appearances were celebrated as “diversity,” graduation ceremonies matter-of-factly were segregated by race, dorms that were racially exclusive were lauded as “theme houses,” Jim-Crow-style set-aside zones were rebranded “safe spaces,” and racial quotas were merely “affirmative action.” 

    Ancient notions such as that punishment deters crime were laughed at by the degreed who gave us the current big-city district attorneys. Their experiments with decriminalizing violent acts, defunding the police, and delegitimizing incarceration led to a Lord of the Flies-style anarchy in our major cities. Note well, those with advanced or professional degrees who dreamed all this up did not often live in defunded police zones, did not have homeless people on their lawns, and found ways for their children to navigate around racial quotes in elite college admissions. 

    So, the credentialed lost their marginal reputations for competency. Were we really to believe 50 former intelligence heads and experts who claimed Hunter Biden’s laptop was “Russian disinformation”? Even if they were not simply biased, did any of them have the competence to determine what the laptop was? 

    Or were we to take seriously the expertise of “17 Nobel Prize winners” who swore Biden’s “Build Back Better” debacle would not be inflationary as the country went into 9 percent plus inflation? Did we really believe our retired four-stars that Trump was a Nazi, a Mussolini, and someone to be removed from office “the sooner the better”? 

    Or were we to trust the 1,200 “health care professionals” who assured us that, medically speaking, while the rest of society was locked down it was injurious for the health of people of color to follow curfews and mask mandates instead of thronging en masse in street protests?

    Or were we to believe Kevin Clinesmith’s FISA writ, or Andrew McCabe’s four-time assertion that he did not leak to the media, or that James Comey under oath really did not know the answers to 245 inquiries? Did Robert Mueller really not know what either the Steele dossier or Fusion GPS was? 

    Middle Class Competence

    On the operational level, the elite proved even more suspect. Militarily, the middle classes in the armed forces proved as lethal as ever, despite being demonized as racists and white supremacists. But their generals, diplomats and politicians proved so often incompetent in translating their tactical victories in the Middle East and elsewhere into strategic success or even mere advantage. 

    Nationally, the failure of the elite that transcends politics is even more manifest. The country is $30 trillion in debt. No one has the courage to simply stop printing money. The border is nonexistent, downtown America is a No Man’s Land, and our air travel is a circus—and not an “expert” can be found willing or able to fix things. Is Pete Buttigieg the answer to thousands of canceled flights or backed-up ports? Is Alejandro Mayorkas to be believed when he assures the border is “closed” and “secure” as millions flood across? 

    The universities are turning out mediocre graduates without the skills or knowledge of a generation ago, but certainly with both greater debt and arrogance. 

    Our bureaucratic fixers can only regulate, stop, retard, slow-down, or destroy freeways, dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, ports, and refineries—and yet never seem to give up their own driving, enjoyment of stored water, or buying of imported goods. 

    Is it easier to topple than to sculpt a statue? 

    A generation from now, in the emperor has no clothes fashion, someone may innocently conclude that most “research” in the social sciences and humanities of our age is as unreliable as it is unreadable, or that the frequent copy-cat Hollywood remakes of old films were far worse than the originals. 

    Does anyone think a Jim Acosta is on par with a John Chancellor? That Mark Milley is equal to a Matthew Ridgway? Is Anthony Fauci like a Jonas Salk or an Albert Sabin? 

    Yet this lack of competence and taste among the elite is not shared to the same degree in a decline of middle-class standards. 

    Homes are built better than they were in the 1970s. Cars are better assembled than in the 1960s. The electrician, the plumber, and the roofer are as good or better than ever. The soldier stuck in the messy labyrinth of Baghdad or on patrol in the wilds of Afghanistan was every bit as brave and perhaps far more lethal than his Korean War or World War II counterpart. 

    How does this translate to the American people? They navigate around the detritus of the elite, avoiding big-city downtown USA. 

    They are skipping movies at theaters. They are passing on watching professional sports. They don’t watch the network news. They think the CDC, NIAID, and NIH are incompetent—and fear their incompetence can prove deadly.  

    Millions increasingly doubt their children should enroll in either a four-year college or the military, and they assume the FBI, CIA, and Justice Department are as likely to monitor Americans as they are unlikely to find and arrest those engaged in terrorism or espionage. 

    When the elite peddles its current civil-war or secession porn—projecting onto the middle classes their own fantasies of a red/blue violent confrontation, or their own desires to see a California or New York detached from Mississippi and Wyoming—they have no idea that America’s recent failures are their own failures. 

    The reason why the United States begs Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia to pump more oil is not because of lazy frackers in Texas or incompetent rig hands in North Dakota, but because of utterly incompetent diplomats, green zealots, and ideological “scientists.” 

    Had the views of majors and colonels in Afghanistan rather than their superiors in the Pentagon and White House prevailed, there would have been no mass flight or humiliation in Kabul. 

    Crime is out of control not because we have either sadistic or incompetent police forces but sinister DAs, and mostly failed, limited academics who fabricated their policies. 

    Current universities produce more bad books, bad teaching, bad ideas, and badly educated students, not because the janitors are on strike, the maintenance people can’t fix the toilets, or the landscapers cannot keep the shrubbery alive, but because their academics and administrators have hidden their own incompetence and lack of academic rigor and teaching expertise behind the veil of woke censoriousness. 

    The Naked Emperors’ Furious Search for Fig Leaves

    The war between blue and red and mass versus elite is really grounded in the reality that those who feel they were the deserved winners of globalization and who are the sole enlightened on matters of social, economic, political, and military policy have no record of recent success, but a long litany of utter failure. 

    They have become furious that the rest of the country sees through these naked emperors. Note Merrick Garland’s sanctimonious defense of the supposed professionalism of the Justice Department and FBI hierarchies—while even as he pontificated, they were in the very process of leaking and planting sensational “nuclear secrets” narratives to an obsequious media to justify the indefensible political fishing expedition at a former president’s home and current electoral rival to Merrick Garland’s boss. 

    The masses increasingly view the elites’ money, their ZIP codes, their degrees and certificates, and their titles not just with indifference, but with the disdain they now have earned on their own merits. 

    And that pushback has made millions of our worst and stupidest quite mad.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 21:30

  • 'Triple Threat'? Man Diagnosed With HIV, COVID, & Monkeypox At Same Time
    ‘Triple Threat’? Man Diagnosed With HIV, COVID, & Monkeypox At Same Time

    An Italian man on a ‘condomless’ sex escapade with men in Spain tested positive for HIV, Covid-19, and monkeypox simultaneously – the first known case to have all three viral diseases, according to a case study in the Journal of Infection.

    Researchers stated the 36-year-old male spent five days in Spain between June 16-20 and developed a fever (up to 39°C), accompanied by sore throat, fatigue, headache, and right inguinal lymphadenomegaly about nine days after his trip. He tested positive for Covid on July 2 — and his symptoms worsened that day. 

    “On the afternoon of the same day, a rash started to develop on his left arm. The following day small, painful vesicles surrounded by an erythematous halo appeared on the torso, lower limbs, face, and glutes. On July 5, due to a progressive and uninterrupted spread of vesicles that began to evolve into umbilicated pustules, he went to the emergency room” in Catania, Italy, and then was immediately transferred to an Infectious Diseases Unit at the Policlinico G. Rodolico – San Marco University Hospital,” researchers said. 

    By July 6, the man was diagnosed with monkeypox and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while still Covid positive. By this time, he had overlapping symptoms from all three viral diseases. Researchers noted he was double jabbed against Covid with Pfizer’s BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (last December). 

    Researchers said: 

    “As this is the only reported case of monkeypox virus, SARS-CoV-2 and HIV co-infection, there is still not enough evidence supporting that this combination may aggravate patient’s condition.

    “Given the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the daily increase of monkeypox cases, healthcare systems must be aware of this eventuality, promoting appropriate diagnostic tests in high-risk subjects, which are essential to containment as there is no widely available treatment or prophylaxis.” 

    The double jabbed man disclosed to researchers he had “condomless intercourse with men during his stay in Spain.” According to medical records, the man also had syphilis in 2019, though he tested negative last September. 

    Images of the man who was not identified were taken and shared in the medical study. 

    The fact that this man received two doses of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine and then tested positive for all three viral diseases at once is an eyecatcher. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 21:00

  • The 'Great Reset': A Blueprint For Destroying Freedom, Innovation, & Prosperity
    The ‘Great Reset’: A Blueprint For Destroying Freedom, Innovation, & Prosperity

    Authored by J.B.Shurk via The Gatestone Institute,

    • Notice that no nation has managed merely to print money and tax its citizens on the path to prosperity. Real wealth cannot simply be conjured from thin air. There must be recognized value in what a nation and its citizens possess.

    • More than any other source for national wealth, however, one towers above the rest: innovation. The ability of the human mind to create something new and valuable provides society with endless wealth creation…. Innovation is the magic sauce for generating wealth.

    • Humans struggling merely to survive in the world do not waste time, labor, or resources on projects that offer no prospect for future reward. Humans working as servants to the state under centrally controlled economies have no incentive to innovate. Only when private ownership and personal liberty combine can human innovation flourish. Freedom is the secret ingredient to innovation’s magic sauce for increasing wealth.

    • A country whose institutions do not respect property rights or whose customs do not value freedom will remain a barren desert for human innovation. In this way, nations have a great incentive to liberalize over time. Should they not, they quickly become financially and militarily vulnerable to more innovative and wealthier nations. Observing this simple truth, classical liberals have always understood free markets as the gateway to human emancipation. Economic self-interest, in other words, ultimately leads to expansive human rights and liberties across the planet.

    • Nothing about Western politicians’ embrace of the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” or “Build Back Better” paradigms protects property rights or liberty in the slightest. The WEF’s agenda promotes radically anti-liberal programs… [that] will smother human innovation by first depriving Westerners of their freedoms.

    • Wealthy free nations are a threat to the WEF’s New World Order. If censorship must be embraced to control the “narrative,” then so be it. If citizens must be denied freedom of movement under the guise of a “health emergency,” no big deal. If private bank accounts must be seized to intimidate protesters, then such threats are the price for ensuring compliance. In this way, the WEF’s plans for a controlled economy intentionally reverse centuries of liberal progress. Political leaders today are dragging the West into the past.

    • First, individual liberties will continue disappearing. Then, the greatest economic engine of all, innovation, will dry up. Finally, wealth will return solely to the hands of a small “ruling class” minority. This is the future the World Economic Forum hails as “progress.” It is not. It is a recipe for human bondage.

    How do nations become wealthy? Many are blessed with abundant natural resources. Others conquer foreign lands. Some specialize in unique trade skills and crafts. Timber, mining, fishing, sugar, rum, narcotics, cotton, silk, agriculture, conquest, human slavery, manufacturing, oil, industry, banking, and so on — depending on the century and the region, nations have attained tremendous wealth in myriad ways. Notice that no nation has managed merely to print money and tax its citizens on the path to prosperity. Real wealth cannot simply be conjured from thin air. There must be recognized value in what a nation and its citizens possess.

    More than any other source for national wealth, however, one towers above the rest: innovation. The ability of the human mind to create something new and valuable provides society with endless wealth creation. Unlike central bank quantitative easing and other monetary tools (or tricks?), the brain really is a money-printing machine. Whether an innovator alters existing farming, mining, or manufacturing techniques to make production cheaper and more efficient, or an inventor designs something entirely unique, value that did not exist yesterday materializes the next. Innovation is the magic sauce for generating wealth.

    If innovation produces wealth, why aren’t all nations wealthy? Because too many nations fail to value innovators or encourage innovation. Without fundamental property rights, strong social institutions, and a dependable legal system, potential inventors have few incentives to build anything new. Humans struggling merely to survive in the world do not waste time, labor, or resources on projects that offer no prospect for future reward. Humans working as servants to the state under centrally controlled economies have no incentive to innovate. Only when private ownership and personal liberty combine can human innovation flourish. Freedom is the secret ingredient to innovation’s magic sauce for increasing wealth.

    When economists crunch gross domestic product numbers to see whether a nation’s economy is rising or sinking, a measure of innovation becomes quantifiable. Embedded within that number is something that encapsulates human ingenuity, personal freedom, and property ownership. In this way, economic innovation directly reflects the human condition at any point in time. It provides a measurement of a nation’s freedom.

    Now “liberalism” as it is classically understood — as a political philosophy embracing natural rights, limited government, free markets, political and religious freedoms, and freedom of speech, all promoted and protected by an impartial and just rule of law — has always grasped this fundamental truth. Liberty and property rights spawn creativity. Where both are soundly valued, great writers, artists, and inventors produce novelties that would not otherwise exist. It is why medieval Florence birthed at once both modern-day banking and the European Renaissance. The personal freedom to create, build, invest, and own property generates tremendous innovation and national wealth.

    Conversely, when today’s central planners argue for socialized control over markets and the substitution of “collective rights” in place of “individual rights” while calling their agenda “progressive liberalism,” they co-opt and subvert liberalism’s historic meaning.

    From this recognition that a nation’s freedom directly affects a nation’s wealth arises an even more remarkable truth: any nation that fails to embrace and protect human liberty will be the poorer for it. A country whose institutions do not respect property rights or whose customs do not value freedom will remain a barren desert for human innovation. In this way, nations have a great incentive to liberalize over time. Should they not, they quickly become financially and militarily vulnerable to more innovative and wealthier nations. Observing this simple truth, classical liberals have always understood free markets as the gateway to human emancipation. Economic self-interest, in other words, ultimately leads to expansive human rights and liberties across the planet.

    Now with all that as a bit of rudimentary background, how is it that today we have entities such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) pushing for a radical “Great Reset” of Western society that promises to handcuff free markets with economic regulation while concentrating power into the hands of a small international coalition of central economic planners — most notably their own? How could promising a future where people will “own nothing and be happy” possibly be conducive to a free and productive society — or even a happy one? How can a future in which all energy is controlled by international governing bodies and multinational corporations possibly provide individuals with the institutional building blocks for endless innovation? How can farmers sustain larger and more prosperous populations when Western governments continue to stifle agricultural production through regulation and eminent domain?

    The questions answer themselves. The WEF’s agenda promotes radically anti-liberal programs such as the use of artificial intelligence to censor dissent, regulate free speech, and even erase ideas from the Internet. Its repressive efforts to control all hydrocarbon energy and cattle and crop farm production will smother human innovation by first depriving Westerners of their ability to create, invent, and grow food. Its policies betray millennia of Western civilizational advancement by replacing respect for individual choice and free will with top-down management of human activity through the blunt instruments of force and coercion. Its motivations are indisputably anti-human at their core because each individual human life is treated as nothing more than a cog or input that can be manipulated as part of a centrally-controlled social machine. When Westerners are reduced to ones and zeroes that are sorted and shifted by the WEF’s social programming codes for a “better future,” builders obey but no longer create.

    Whereas personal liberty has unleashed the human mind and generated tremendous Western prosperity, the World Economic Forum’s push for a centrally controlled economic system will crush rights, stifle creativity, and mass-produce poverty and servitude. Its proponents, in fact, seem mostly committed to using a combination of pandemic, famine, and fear to centralize dominance for themselves.

    In order to persuade Westerners to give up more and make do with less, the WEF and its globalist allies promise Westerners a future Utopia. As with every similar lie ever told to justify the extraordinary acquisition of power, though, they will fail to deliver. No society, after all, was ever promised more than in Stalin’s 1936 Constitution of the USSR — or subsequently treated more abysmally. Despite its claims to the contrary, the WEF’s mission directives intentionally reverse Western trends toward greater human freedom, social mobility, and more broadly obtainable wealth — or what, in another era, would have been rightly regarded as true, liberal progress.

    Although the WEF and its sister organizations claim to be “saving the planet,” their efforts seem primarily an ignoble design to control the planet. “Clean” energy, after all, is controlled energy; and the more that energy is controlled by centralized governments, the more completely once-free markets become centrally controlled. If every potential entrepreneur must first receive permission to use electricity before producing anything new, then no entrepreneur can thrive without the central authorities’ blessing. If all manufacturing is viewed as a “threat to the planet,” then no independent upstart can innovate or build wealth without first seeking and obtaining government approval. If consumers are forbidden from buying anything unless it is first pre-approved, then free markets are transformed into controlled markets.

    Taking this trend to its logical yet communist conclusion, private property becomes antithetical to the state’s goals. We already see the ominous subversion of private ownership today with so-called ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) standards used to strong-arm industry goals and manipulate free markets. Because control over information makes control over markets more manageable, the more economic uncertainty that results from market manipulation, the more censorship we’ll continue to see. Recently, even a senior economist who correctly stated that the American economy had entered into a recession found his research “fact checked” and “corrected” by the U.S. government’s friends at Facebook. Where free markets are under attack, free speech is inevitably under attack, too. The individual blessings of liberalism are not easily dissected from the body politic without inevitably rendering liberalism’s death, as a whole.

    The issue today may be “climate change” or COVID-19 or “sustainable food supplies,” but the stated issue never seems anything more than a public relations campaign for fooling the masses. It always appears to be merely a disposable excuse designed to seduce Westerners into handing a small cabal of “elites” power and control over everyone else. Convincing mankind to believe that free markets will inevitably lead to some kind of apocalypse increasingly looks like the only policy goal that matters. It may well be the most diabolical trick those with power have ever played against those with no power at all. Fear is used expertly as a torturer’s tool to convince Westerners to forsake willingly their own freedom. The innocent mantra whispered into their ears is simple: Trust us, humanity, we will save you. The implication, however, is far more sinister: For your own good, you must be made to enjoy your new chains.

    Notice that for the World Economic Forum to succeed in its mission to control all human activity, it must first destroy the sovereignty of nation states. Why? Because, as noted above, liberal nations that embrace freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and free market entrepreneurship foster innovation and great wealth. Any nation not encumbered by the WEF’s market proscriptions will most likely continue to prosper, while those shackled to the “Great Reset” will most likely languish. This is why Western politicians have worked so hard together to push their “Build Back Better” proposals irrespective of the wishes of any one nation’s voting citizens.

    Wealthy free nations are a threat to the WEF’s New World Order. If censorship must be embraced to control the “narrative,” then so be it. If citizens must be denied freedom of movement under the guise of a “health emergency,” no big deal. If private bank accounts must be seized to intimidate protesters, then such threats are the price for ensuring compliance. In this way, the WEF’s plans for a controlled economy intentionally reverse centuries of liberal progress. Political leaders today are dragging the West into the past.

    First, individual liberties will continue disappearing. Then, the greatest economic engine of all, innovation, will dry up. Finally, wealth will return solely to the hands of a small “ruling class” minority. This is the future the World Economic Forum hails as “progress.” It is not. It is a recipe for human bondage.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 20:30

  • Visualizing The State Of Central Bank Digital Currencies
    Visualizing The State Of Central Bank Digital Currencies

    Central banks around the world are getting involved in digital currencies, but some are further ahead than others.

    In this map, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Ku uses data from the Atlantic Council’s Currency Tracker to visualize the state of each central banks’ digital currency effort.

    Digital Currency – The Basics

    Digital currencies have been around since the 1980s, but didn’t become widely popular until the launch of Bitcoin in 2009. Today, there are thousands of digital currencies in existence, also referred to as “cryptocurrencies”.

    A defining feature of cryptocurrencies is that they are based on a blockchain ledger. Blockchains can be either decentralized or centralized, but the most known cryptocurrencies today (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) tend to be decentralized in nature. This makes transfers and payments very difficult to trace because there is no single entity with full control.

    Government-issued digital currencies, on the other hand, will be controlled by a central bank and are likely to be easily trackable. They would have the same value as the local cash currency, but instead issued digitally with no physical form.

    Central Bank Digital Currencies Worldwide

    105 countries are currently exploring centralized digital currencies. Together, they represent 95% of global GDP.

    When aggregated, we can see that the majority of countries are in the research stage.

    We’ve also divided the map by region to make viewing easier.

    Africa

    Asia

    Europe

    Middle East

    South America

    North America

    What are the Benefits?

    A major benefit of government-issued digital currencies is that they can improve access for underbanked people.

    This is not a huge issue in developed countries like the U.S., but many people in developing nations have no access to banks and other financial services (hence the term underbanked). As the number of internet users continues to climb, digital currencies represent a sound solution.

    To learn more about this topic, visit this article from Global Finance, which lists the world’s most underbanked countries in 2021.

    The 9%

    Just 9% of countries have launched a digital currency to date.

    This includes Nigeria, which became the first African country to do so in October 2021. Half of the country’s 200 million population is believed to have no access to bank accounts.

    Adoption of the eNaira (the digital version of the naira) has so far been relatively sluggish. The eNaira app has accumulated 700,000 downloads as of April 2022. That’s equal to 0.35% of the population, though not all of the downloads are users in Nigeria.

    Conversely, 33.4 million Nigerians were reported to be trading or owning crypto assets, despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s attempts to restrict usage.

    Status in the U.S.

    America’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, has not decided on whether it will implement a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

    Our key focus is on whether and how a CBDC could improve on an already safe and efficient U.S. domestic payments system.

    – FEDERAL RESERVE

    To learn more, check out the Federal Reserve’s January 2022 paper on the pros and cons of CBDCs.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 20:00

  • Canada Set To Miss Out On A Massive LNG Opportunity
    Canada Set To Miss Out On A Massive LNG Opportunity

    By Alex Kimani of Oilprice.com

    Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, dozens of Eurozone countries pledged to heavily cut Russian natural gas imports or halt them completely as soon as they could afford to. These countries took several aggressive measures to replenish their natural gas stockpiles ahead of the winter season, including reaching a political agreement to cut gas use by 15% through next winter. It’s, therefore, little wonder that Germany–the country’s worst hit by the Russian energy crisis– is currently on a mad dash to secure alternate sources of gas before the onset of winter. But here’s the biggest irony of them all: Germany and Europe are more likely to secure future gas supplies from Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest nations with scant infrastructure, riddled with terrorism and located 8,140km away from Germany, than Canada, one of the biggest producers of the stuff, with more than a dozen potential LNG sites and a ‘mere’ 6,400km away.

    Indeed, this might turn out to be one of the biggest missed opportunities in Canadian history considering that at current prices, just one Canadian port exporting superchilled gas could be adding nine figures to the Canadian GDP each day. 

    Love-Hate Relationship

    Canada is the planet’s fifth largest producer of natural gas and ranks 15th in the world for proven natural gas reserves. The country’s biggest problem simply is lack of infrastructure–and political goodwill.

    It’s somewhat shocking to learn that Canada does not own a single LNG export terminal, with virtually all the country’s natural gas exports delivered to the United States via pipeline. It’s not for lack of trying though. In recent years, Natural Resources Canada says it has received proposals for 18 LNG export projects, including five on the East Coast. Currently, just one terminal is under construction, with a second not quite poised to break ground.

    In sharp contrast, Mozambique is gearing up for a $100B LNG windfall, with the country poised to ship its first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) overseas at a time when prices have soared to record highs with Europe desperately trying to cut energy ties with Russia. 

    According to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, the BP-operated LNG tanker British Mentor was slated to arrive this week at a new floating terminal that Italian energy giant Eni S.p.A. is completing off Mozambique’s northern coastline. Eni has said that commissioning activities at the Coral-Sul FLNG vessel were progressing well, with first exports to be communicated in due course. The Italian company is already planning a second floating export platform in the southern African country that could be completed in less than four years. 

    All that progress despite the fact that Mozambique has been plagued by terrorism, civil strife and rampant systemic corruption for decades, to a point where it has been unable to exploit its vast fossil fuel reserves leading to its status as the world’s third poorest nation.

    You can blame this state of affairs on Canada’s love-hate relationship with fossil fuels.

    Despite the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement in 1988, a sense of ambivalence towards fossil fuels prevails to this day. In the current geopolitical climate, oil and gas are both hated and adored. Hated because of their outsized role as the number one climate change pariah. Adored as an alternative source of natural gas, especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the attendant threat that Moscow might cut off gas supplies to Europe.

    Back in March, Canadian Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced that Canada has the capacity to increase oil & gas exports by up to 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of this year to help improve global energy security. He also added that Canada is looking at ways it may be able to displace Russian gas with liquified natural gas (LNG) after requests for help from Europe. Currently, a Shell-led consortium is building a large LNG facility on the west coast at Kitimat which is due for completion around 2025, but the country exports zero LNG.

    But it need not be this way. Canada’s energy regulatory framework is notorious for scaring away oil and gas projects, and in February turned down a $10-billion LNG export facility planned for Saguenay, Quebec largely on the grounds that it would increase greenhouse-gas emissions. All five of the now-languishing East Coast projects were in the planning stages as early as 2015 but have been held back by a hostile and byzantine regulatory climate.

    At this stage, it’s not 100% clear whether Canada is ready to relax its attitude towards fossil fuels. 

    Recently, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went on record saying that exporting LNG  from Canada’s east coast to Germany could ease Europe’s gas crunch: “It’s doable, we have infrastructure around that,” he said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz though he failed to offer a timeline when asked for one. 

    However, as Politico notes, doable doesn’t necessarily mean realistic, especially given that Europe wants to slash Russian gas purchases by two-thirds by the end of the year. 

    In the same vein, Trudeau conceded that weak business cases have kept proposed export facilities from moving forward: “Right now our best capacity is to continue to contribute to the global market to displace gas and energy that then Germany and Europe can locate from other sources,” Trudeau has conceded.

    Recent comments by Canadian gas producers are also quite telling. In an interview this week, Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB) CEO Al Monaco hinted at Canada’s infamous industry red tape when he said the country needs to “get out of our own way when it comes to energy and building infrastructure.”

    Perhaps not even sky-high natural gas and LNG prices are enough to persuade Trudeau’s administration to change its stance on oil and gas. But as they say, you never really know, considering that the U.S. only began exporting LNG in 2016, and has managed to become the world’s leading LNG exporter in such a short space of time.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 19:30

  • FBI Responds To Zuckerberg Claim It Helped Suppress Hunter Biden Laptop Story
    FBI Responds To Zuckerberg Claim It Helped Suppress Hunter Biden Laptop Story

    By Tom Ozimek of The Epoch Times

    The FBI has responded to an explosive claim by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg that Facebook algorithmically censored references to Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election after receiving a warning from the agency about “Russian propaganda.”

    Zuckerberg said on an Aug. 25 episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” that Facebook actively reduced the reach of social media posts discussing Hunter Biden’s laptop in response to an advisory from the FBI to some Facebook staffers to be on guard for Russian disinformation ahead of the presidential election.

    “The background here is the FBI I think basically came to some folks on our team [and] were like, ‘Hey, just so you know, you should be on high alert. We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election, we have it on notice that basically there’s about to be some kind of dump similar to that, so just be vigilant,’” Zuckerberg told Rogan.

    Clips featuring Zuckerberg’s response to Rogan quickly went viral, prompting a flurry of takes critical of the FBI, with some accusing the agency of engaging in election interference.

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

    “This isn’t just insane, it’s election interference,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) said in a statement, while calling on Zuckerberg to testify before Congress “about the FBI’s attempts to circumvent the First Amendment.”

    A similarly scathing take was expressed by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

    “The same FBI who lied about Russian ‘collusion’ and raided President Trump’s home asked Facebook to manipulate its feed to bury the Hunter Biden story,” Jordan said in a statement.

    FBI Reacts

    As the controversy swirled, the FBI issued a statement to media outlets on Friday, saying that its warning to Facebook was of a general nature and did not include a call to action.

    The FBI said it “routinely notifies U.S. private sector entities, including social media providers, of potential threat information, so that they can decide how to better defend against threats” and that the agency “has provided companies with foreign threat indicators to help them protect their platforms and customers from abuse by foreign malign influence actors.”

    The FBI added, however, that it “cannot ask, or direct, companies to take action on information received.”

    Meta also issued a clarifying statement, saying in a Twitter post that the remarks Zuckerberg made to Rogan were basically the same as what he told Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) in 2020.

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

    “The FBI shared general warnings about foreign interference—nothing specific about Hunter Biden,” Meta said in the statement.

    Zuckerberg told Rogan as much on the podcast when asked whether the FBI specified that Facebook needed to “be on guard” about the Hunter Biden laptop story.

    “No. I don’t remember if it was that specifically. But it was, it basically fit the pattern,” Zuckerberg replied.

    Hunter Biden’s Laptop

    The laptop of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, became the subject of scandal and scrutiny in October 2020 after the New York Post broke the story on its contents, which included information about the younger Biden’s foreign dealings and sordid personal life.

    After the story broke, much of its coverage by legacy media outlets was focused on the possibility that the laptop was Russian disinformation meant to damage Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

    The laptop story was also suppressed by Facebook and Twitter, while a group of former intelligence officials came forward and said in a letter (pdf) that it had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

    John Ratcliffe, then-director of national intelligence, said at the time that there was no intelligence that supported the claim that the laptop was Russian disinformation.

    More recently, Ratcliffe told Fox News in an interview on Friday that, if the FBI did indeed try to suppress information about Hunter Biden’s laptop, this would amount to election interference.

    “It is election interference, to the extent that these allegations are true that FBI agents were knowingly putting bad information out there, absolutely,” Ratcliffe said.

    Polling has indicated that if the public had been aware of the suppressed story ahead of the election, it may have cost the elder Biden several percentage points of voters—possibly enough to thwart his bid for the White House.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 19:00

  • Mossad Chief Vows Continued Ops Against Iran If Nuclear Deal Finalized
    Mossad Chief Vows Continued Ops Against Iran If Nuclear Deal Finalized

    While the world still awaits Tehran and Washington’s final verdicts on the finalized text of a restored JCPOA (so far all signs point to it unraveling as things once again appear to stall), Israel has said that its military and intelligence is prepared to act against Iran even if a deal is signed. 

    While this isn’t the first time Israeli officials have issued such a threat, it is a rare moment that the head of the Mossad intelligence agency publicly spoke out this bluntly and revealingly: 

    Criticizing the United States for rushing into a terrible deal, Mossad Director David Barnea said on Thursday that a new nuclear pact with Iran would not block his agency from acting against the Islamic Republic to protect Israel’s security interests.

    Mossad chief David Barnea

    The remarks came in a top level government meeting with Prime Minister Yair Lapid and other officials amid fears in Israel that a final restored nuclear deal is imminent. 

     Barnea, who has been the country’s spy chief for a little over a year, stressed that given “Israel has not signed on to the deal” it remains that “Israel is permitted to defend itself in any way possible – and will act this way.”

    “We cannot sit quietly and just watch as the danger grows closer,” Barnea said further. His stark assessment and preparatory warnings that Israel is prepared for the ‘day after’ a deal strongly suggests that it’s Mossad’s assessment that a final agreement is just around the corner. 

    Further emphasizing Israel’s freedom to act, he said: 

    “We deal with Hezbollah, not the US. We deal with Islamic Jihad, not the US; and with militias and the IRGC in Syria. We need to deal with this. Clearly, the US can get up and leave [the region] one day; we cannot leave. We are here. There are also conceptual differences and in our worldviews.”

    The top spy continued: “The strategic leaning by both the US and Iran to sign on to a new JCPOA [nuclear deal] does not change Iran’s long-term desire to obtain a nuclear weapon.”

    As for his mention of Syria, it remains the place where Israeli airstrikes have picked up in frequency and intensity of late, earning condemnation from Russia. Israel has said it is a security “red line” for Iranians to be operating in Syria, or also Iran-backed Hezbollah.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 18:00

  • America Wouldn't Be In A Recession Now If We'd Stuck With Trump: Stephen Moore
    America Wouldn’t Be In A Recession Now If We’d Stuck With Trump: Stephen Moore

    Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Stephen Moore, former economic adviser to the Trump White House, told Newsmax in a recent interview that he’s convinced that if former President Donald Trump had been reelected for a second term, America’s economy would not now be in what he described as a “mild recession.”

    Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Casper, Wyoming, on May 28, 2022. (Chet Strange/Getty Images)

    In the interview that aired on Aug. 25, Moore was asked to comment on the revised gross domestic product (GDP) numbers released earlier in the day, which confirmed that the U.S. economy contracted in the second quarter.

    While the number was revised slightly upward to minus 0.6 percent from a prior estimate of minus 0.9 percent, the government data showed that America’s economy experienced negative growth for two consecutive quarters, the common rule-of-thumb definition for a recession.

    Even though the two-quarter rule is not the official definition of a recession in the world’s biggest economy, numerous economists—including Moore—have insisted that the United States has, in fact, fallen into a recessionary downturn.

    “We are in a mild recession right now, no question about that,” Moore told the outlet.

    ‘Getting Worse, Not Better’

    What’s more concerning, however, is where the economy is headed, he added, pointing to deteriorating economic data in housing, manufacturing, consumer spending, and business confidence.

    “I would have to say that things are getting worse, not better,” Moore said, arguing that if Trump had won reelection and his policies were guiding U.S. economic policy, the picture would be reversed.

    “I believe that if we had just stuck with the Trump policies, the U.S. economy would be booming right now,” Moore told the outlet.

    “There’s no reason why the U.S. economy isn’t in an incredible skyrocketing fashion, except for the fact that Biden has put in place all of these policies in taxing and spending and regulating that hurt economic growth,” he argued.

    Moore’s view builds on previous remarks made to EpochTV’s “Fresh Look America” program, in which he said that if Trump were still in power, “we would have the economy flying high right now.”

    Key to his thesis that the United States would be in a much better position economically under Trump policies is the fact that the former president sought to unlock domestic energy production, in contrast to Biden’s crackdown on fossil fuels.

    Under Trump, the United States had low unemployment and low inflation at the same time, while enjoying energy independence, he said.

    “Now we have a president who has to go hat in hand to the Saudis and beg them to produce more oil. It’s humiliating, it’s a threat to America’s national defense, it makes the country look weak,” he said.

    Tackling Inflation

    Moore’s remarks come as inflation has soared to multi-decade highs, driven in part by spiking energy costs, prompting the Federal Reserve to hike rates to quell price pressures.

    Markets are bracing for Friday’s key speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Kansas City Federal Reserve’s annual monetary policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

    Last year at roughly the same time, Powell insisted that the inflationary jump would likely be “transitory,” a prediction he later acknowledged was wrong.

    The Fed has since embarked on an aggressive tightening cycle to ease inflationary pressures, which have shown some signs of abating, along with mounting signals of economic weakness.

    Despite a number of weak patches in the U.S. economy, the labor market remains resilient and inflationary pressures remain high, prompting Fed officials to send hawkish signals about the future path of monetary policy.

    As the Fed seeks to shape market expectations, a number of Fed officials in recent days have sought to hammer home the point that they will push interest rates up and hold them high until inflation has been squeezed out from the economy.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 17:30

  • Motorcyclist In Florida Killed After Being Hit From Behind In Tesla
    Motorcyclist In Florida Killed After Being Hit From Behind In Tesla

    If the NHTSA is investigating Tesla’s Autopilot use around motorcycles, as we reported it was just days ago, they may want to hurry up.

    That’s because yet another motorcyclist has died as a result of a an accident with a Tesla, this time in Boca Raton, Florida. It is unclear whether or not Autopilot was involved in the accident. 

    51 year old biker Ingrid Eva Noon was traveling west on Southwest 18th Street on her Kawasaki Vulcan, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, when, shortly after 2AM, a driver in a Tesla “struck her motorcycle from behind”.

    The Sheriff’s office did confirm that the driver “had drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the crash” and it isn’t yet clear whether or not the vehicle was on Autopilot at the time of the accident. An investigation is ongoing. 

    However, the incident is eeriliy similar to other incidents the NHTSA is already investigating wherein Teslas on Autopilot potentially fail to recognize motorcycles in front of them. In the incidents the NHTSA is looked at, “Teslas collided with motorcycles on freeways in the darkness.”

    Recall, about 20 days ago we wrote that the NHTSA was investigating potential Autopilot crashes that left two motorcyclists dead. 

    The Tesla’s were “apparently running on Autopilot”, according to APs coverage of the story. The accidents wound up killing 2 motorcyclists, the report says. The NHTSA is looking at whether or not Tesla vehicle automation stops the vehicles for motorcycles. 

    Both accidents were similar in nature: the NHTSA said it “sent investigation teams to two crashes last month in which Teslas collided with motorcycles on freeways in the darkness”. In both instances, the motorcyclists were killed. 

    The agency now has suspicions “that Tesla’s partially automated driver-assist system was in use” during both accidents. 

    The first accident was at 4:47am, July 7 on State Route 91, on a freeway in Riverside, California, the report says. A Model Y collided with a green Yamaha V-Star motorcycle that was ahead of it and the driver of the bike was ejected from his motorcycle. 

    Another crash happened at 1:09am on July 24,  on Interstate 15 near Draper, Utah. A Model 3 was behind a Harley Davidson, the Utah Department of Public Safety said. 

    “The driver of the Tesla did not see the motorcyclist and collided with the back of the motorcycle, which threw the rider from the bike,” the statement says. The rider of the Harley was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver told authorities he had Autopilot on, the report says. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 17:00

  • Pfizer Vaccine Whistleblower Responds To Motion To Dismiss False Claims Suit
    Pfizer Vaccine Whistleblower Responds To Motion To Dismiss False Claims Suit

    Authored by Alex Giordano via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Pfizer cannot use the government as a shield from liability for making false claims about its COVID-19 vaccine, lawyers for a whistleblower argued in response to Pfizer’s motion to dismiss a False Claims Act lawsuit.

    “Respondents claim fraudulent certifications, false statements, doctored data, contaminated clinical trials, and firing of whistleblowers can be ignored based on the theory that they contracted their way around the fraud,” lawyers for Brook Jackson, who worked as regional director at one of the clinical trials used to develop the Pfizer vaccine, wrote in their Aug. 22 response.

    “A drug company cannot induce the taxpayers to pay billions of dollars for a product,” they countered, “that honest data would show poses more risks than benefits, and that ignores the actual contract and the law itself.”

    A person walks past a Pfizer logo amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York on April 1, 2021. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

    Jackson’s lawsuit alleges that Pfizer and two of its subcontractors violated the False Claims Act by providing bogus clinical trial results to garner the FDA approval of its COVID-19 vaccine.

    Under federal law, individuals can sue on behalf of the government and win treble damages if they can prove an individual or company deliberately lied to the government.

    One of Jackson’s attorneys, Warner Mendenhall, told The Epoch Times that the payout could be as much as $3.3 trillion.

    “It would be enough to bankrupt Pfizer,” Mendenhall said.

    Mendenhall, whose law firm has won multimillion-dollar False Claims Act cases, based his estimates on the more than $2 billion the U.S. government has paid Pfizer for more than 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.

    In motions to dismiss the lawsuit, Pfizer and its subcontractors argued that besides Jackson’s allegations being false, the government, not a private citizen, can initiate a False Claims Act complaint and that the lawsuit against them should, therefore, be dismissed.

    “The Relator may not pursue the claims against Pfizer without the Government first pursuing them in an administrative proceeding,” Pfizer’s motion states.

    The companies also argued that the FDA was well aware of Jackson’s claims for at least two years before the lawsuit was filed against them and that it publicly responded to Jackson’s allegations by expressing the agency’s “full confidence” in the data used to support the vaccine.

    However, Mendenhall said a false claims action is independent of the government’s knowledge and that Jackson only has to prove Pfizer and its subcontractors presented fraudulent information to the FDA.

    Jackson was third in command of the clinical trials conducted by Ventavia Research Group as part of Pfizer’s application for emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine. She was there for only 18 days before being fired by Ventavia after reporting what she called “absolute mayhem” and an utter disregard for safety protocols and federal regulations in developing the vaccine.

    Jackson has submitted over 400 exhibits as part of her complaint. Jackson said that a former Taco’s cashier was among those tasked with injecting patients with the experimental jab. She alleged that the trial staff falsified patient signatures on informed consent paperwork. And she has described a daily mess of unsanitary conditions.

    Jackson also responded for the first time to Pfizer’s characterization of her as an anti-vaccine, anti-government individual out for money as vengeance for her firing.

    Jackson has worked on a long list of government-run clinical trials for vaccines and said she is pro-vaccine. She pointed out that her children have had all their childhood vaccines and that her entire family gets the flu vaccine yearly. Jackson received the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it was available and was initially one of its biggest cheerleaders.

    While she is seeking compensation for her termination as part of her actions against Pfizer and the other companies, Jackson said she plans to donate any money she receives under her legal action against the companies to those injured by the vaccine.

    “As far as I’m concerned, it’s blood money,” she said. “The world should be disgusted by what went on here with the shameful actions behind this dangerous vaccine.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 16:30

  • World's Most Popular Password Manager, With More Than 33 Million Users, Discloses "Security Incident"
    World’s Most Popular Password Manager, With More Than 33 Million Users, Discloses “Security Incident”

    LastPass, one of the world’s most popular password managers, has confirmed it has been hacked…err, has had a “security incident”. 

    Last week the company started notifying its users of a “recent security incident” where an “unauthorized party” gained access to a developer account and accessed parts of its password manager’s source code and “some proprietary LastPass technical information,” according to The Verge. 

    The company said that some source code was stolen, but that no passwords were taken. 

    It wrote a letter to its users on Wednesday which stated: “Two weeks ago, we detected some unusual activity within portions of the LastPass development environment. After initiating an immediate investigation, we have seen no evidence that this incident involved any access to customer data or encrypted password vaults.”

    It continued: “We have determined that an unauthorized party gained access to portions of the LastPass development environment through a single compromised developer account and took portions of source code and some proprietary LastPass technical information. Our products and services are operating normally.”

    “In response to the incident, we have deployed containment and mitigation measures, and engaged a leading cybersecurity and forensics firm. While our investigation is ongoing, we have achieved a state of containment, implemented additional enhanced security measures, and see no further evidence of unauthorized activity,” the letter concluded. 

    In a FAQ attached to the bottom of the letter, the company says that users Master passwords had not been compromised: “This incident did not compromise your Master Password. We never store or have knowledge of  your Master Password. We utilize an industry standard Zero Knowledge architecture that ensures LastPass can never know or gain access to our customers’ Master Password.”

    The company also said that no data from clients vaults had been taken because the hack happened in the developer environment. The letter wrote: “This incident occurred in our development environment. Our investigation has shown no evidence of any unauthorized access to encrypted vault data.  Our zero knowledge model ensures that only the customer has access to decrypt vault data.”

    LastPass is used by more than 33 million clients worldwide. 

    According to the Verge report, the company has explained to its users that they don’t have to do anything specific to respond to the hack. And, as long as this week’s disclosure covered the extent of it, and there’s no additional details about the breach that come out over the next few days, maybe LastPass (and its users) can move forward from the incident…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 16:00

  • The (Heavily Redacted) Trump Search Warrant Affidavit Has Been Released
    The (Heavily Redacted) Trump Search Warrant Affidavit Has Been Released

    Authored by Techno Fog via The Reactionary (emphasis ours),

    The DOJ just released the affidavit submitted in support of the search warrant of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

    Here it is for download.

    As expected, the judge allowed the Government to heavily redact the affidavit before it went public. In yesterday’s order, the judge found that parts of the affidavit must remain sealed because:

    disclosure would reveal (1) the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, and uncharged parties, (2) the investigation’s strategy, direction, scope, sources, and methods, and (3) grand jury information protected by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e).

    This aligns with the DOJ representations that (1) information in the affidavit “could be used to identify many, if not all” of the witnesses; (2) the affidavit would provide a “roadmap for anyone intent on obstructive the investigation.”

    Affidavit allegations:

    • Classified materials and “evidence of obstruction”

    • The contents of the boxes reviewed by the FBI

    • Discussions of declassification.

     

    • Allegations of improper storage of materials.

    • Details regarding the search of Trump’s office.

    Other thoughts.

    Some aren’t so convinced. According to The Wall Street Journal, Kash Patel, one of the foremost experts on Russiagate, has stated he didn’t know what was in the boxes taken from Mar-A-Lago by the FBI. The New York Times also has doubts about whether the documents included Russiagate materials:

    None of those documents or any other materials pertaining to the Russia investigation were believed to be in the cache of documents recovered by the F.B.I. during the search of Mar-a-Lago, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

    In fact, many of the Russiagate documents declassified by Trump may already be in possession of the National Archives. According to June 2022 reporting from Politico:

    Former President Donald Trump has told the National Archives to grant journalist John Solomon access to non-public administration records, according to Solomon and a spokesperson for the former president.

    Solomon said Trump specifically directed the Archives to give him access to documents related to the Russia probe that were declassified in the final days of his administration. And he said the Archives have been cooperative and accommodating.

    Then there’s the issue of classification. Does it matter if the documents at Mar-A-Lago were classified or unclassified?

    As we stated when the warrant was released, the statutes in question do not necessarily require the documents to be classified. One of the statutes mentioned in the warrant – 18 USC § 2071 – prohibits the removal of “any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office. . .” Prosecution under § 2071 does not depend on the classification of the document.

    The Espionage Act (18 USC § 793) is also referenced in the warrant. Over at Lawfare they guessed that “the part of the Espionage Act that is likely most relevant in this case is § 793(d).” They ended up being wrong. The affidavit cites to 793(e), which prohibits the unauthorized possession and retention of documents “relating to the national defense.”

    The Espionage Act does not contain the term “classified.” And although the law’s application considers the status of classification, there’s a question of whether the documents must be classified for charges to be brought. See US v. Morison, 844 F.2d 1057, 1076 (4th Cir. 1988) (discussing the narrowing of the definition of documents “relating to the national defense” to those documents “which had been ‘closely held’ by the government and was ‘not available to the general public’”). This leads us to ask whether the government can consider a document to be “closely held” if it isn’t classified.

    The affidavit answers that question, stating “information related to the national defense” has been construed broadly by the courts.

    Make no mistake: the Garland DOJ would see no issue with prosecuting for the retention of unclassified documents. But maybe they don’t need to go that far, as they’re alleging the materials at Mar-a-Lago were classified. From the DOJ’s April 29, 2022 letter to Trump’s attorneys: “among the materials in the boxes are over 100 documents with classification markings, comprising more than 700 pages.” And back in May 2022, NARA stated it had “identified items marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials.” And now we have the affidavit’s allegations that the materials were classified.

    Read more here…

    [ZH: Some hot takes from The Federalist‘s Sean Davis and others]

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 15:55

  • 4 Ways The "Inflation Reduction Act" Could Impact Supply Chains
    4 Ways The “Inflation Reduction Act” Could Impact Supply Chains

    By Alyssa Sporrer, by American Shipper

    As its name suggests, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) signed into law by President Joe Biden earlier this month is designed to reduce inflation, but it also includes $300 billion worth of grants and incentives for clean energy and initiatives to combat climate change. 

    The goal of the incentives is to accelerate electric vehicle adoption, green ports, increase renewable energy capacity and support products made in the U.S. There are also tax reforms and provisions for health care.

    The climate legislation is supposed to help the U.S. lower greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

    1. Incentives for electric trucks

    The tax credit for purchasing an EV covers the price difference between a diesel truck and an electric truck, or 30% of the truck’s purchase price, whichever is lower. But it’s capped at $40,000 per vehicle purchase.

    New heavy-duty electric trucks can cost over $300,000, so it’s unclear how much this tax credit would incentivize fleet owners to invest in EVs.

    The tax credit may be “geared more toward incentivizing the purchase of smaller vehicles, such as cargo vans or box trucks used for short-haul package delivery in urban areas,” Beia Spiller, director of the transportation program at the nonprofit research group Resources for the Future, which studies the implications of vehicle electrification, told FreightWaves in a previous interview.

    The IRA also includes a credit for building EV charging infrastructure of up to $100,000 per charger.

    2. Renewable energy incentives

    The IRA includes production and investment tax credits for battery storage and renewable wind and solar energy. This should make it greener and cheaper for supply chain companies to power their warehouses, distribution centers and stores.

    Independent environmental and energy research nonprofit Resources for the Future projects the act will reduce electricity costs for the retail industry by 5.2% to 6.7% over the next decade, saving electricity consumers $209 billion to $278 billion. 

    These estimations were based on expected natural gas prices. One of the benefits of more clean energy is it insulates electricity consumers from volatile natural gas prices.

    The nonprofit predicted the GHG emissions from the electricity sector would drop between 70% and 75% by 2030 below 2005 levels. Without the IRA, those emissions were estimated to decrease by about 49% in the same time frame.

    “As the nation looks to increase production of renewable energy and the sustainability of the supply chain, these new public investments will help support more solar, more electric trucks and new clean-energy technologies and infrastructure,” Susan Uthayakumar, chief energy and sustainability officer at Prologis, said in a statement.

    3. Supporting domestic supply chains

    The IRA is expected to drastically increase the demand for components needed in solar panels, wind turbines and EVs. This could create more jobs in the clean energy and manufacturing sectors. 

    But there’s a catch. Some of the incentives hinge on a certain amount of raw materials being sourced in the U.S., the final product being constructed in the U.S. or meeting worker training and competitive wage standards.

    While these conditions support domestic supply chains and labor rights, some experts think it may slow the adoption rate of EVs and renewable energy. Domestic supply chains for EV and solar panel production are not mature right now. 

    It’s unclear whether these incentives will spur the expansion of these domestic supply chains or how fast that may occur.

    The National Association of Manufacturers “remains staunchly opposed to the IRA. It increases taxes on manufacturers in America, undermining our competitiveness while we are facing harsh economic headwinds such as supply chain disruptions and the highest rate of inflation in decades.”

    4. Greening ports

    The IRA includes $3 billion in grants and rebates for port authorities and marine terminals to purchase zero-emission cargo-handling equipment until September 2027. The goal is to address air pollution in and around ports.

    But it defines zero-emission port equipment and technology as being “human-operated equipment or human-maintained technology” and therefore excludes automated technology from being grant eligible.

    Zero-emission cargo handling equipment or technology must emit no air pollutants or GHGs, or it must capture 100% of those emissions produced by vessels at berth to qualify for the grants.

    “This would go a long way to help seaports meet their emission reduction goals,” said Elaine Nessle, executive director of the Coalition for America’s Gateway and Trade Corridors. “Freight projects often have economic benefits for the entire country, but they can also negatively impact local communities, so it’s good to have resources at the federal level to offset those negative impacts.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 15:30

  • Mentor Of Jeffrey Epstein Found Dead In Connecticut Apartment
    Mentor Of Jeffrey Epstein Found Dead In Connecticut Apartment

    Steven Hoffenberg, known mentor to Jeffrey Epstein and a convicted Ponzi schemer, was found dead in an apartment in Derby, Connecticut on Friday morning.  Police could not identify the body initially due to extreme decomposition over the course of at least seven days.  The cause of death has not been released but autopsy reports indicate no signs of trauma.

    A private investigator for a woman who identified herself as a sexual assault victim of Epstein’s called police and requested a welfare check at the multifamily home on Tuesday, she had not heard from Hoffenberg for five days and that was unusual, police said.

    It should be noted that this suggests that Hoffenberg was in fact in contact with one of Epstein’s alleged victims for an extended period of time leading up to his death.   

    Hoffenberg was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1997 for his involvement in a financial scam that swindled thousands of investors out of $460 million, though Hoffenberg maintained that Epstein was the actual architect of the plan.  Epstein was never charged.

    While it is likely that Hoffenberg’s death will be connected to “natural causes” associated with his older age (77), it is yet another strange footnote in the saga of the highly politically connected Jeffrey Epstein and his “Lolita Express.”  The infamous plane ride which whisked numerous political leaders off to Epstein’s island of Little Saint James, where some of them would allegedly participate in sex with underage prostitutes and exploited minors in exchange for money and favors.

    The Department of Justice has apparently been in possession of Epstein’s client list for some time.  The demands have been growing for the release of this list ever since his “suicide” in jail, after Epstein told prison officials for weeks that he would never try to kill himself. 

    Close Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was recently convicted in December of helping Epstein groom teenage girls for prostitution, is in a position to confirm client details of any list that might be in the DOJ’s hands.  For now, Epstein’s client list remains unconfirmed.  Given the numerous political elites that visited his island over the decades, it might stay that way.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 15:00

  • Falling Military Recruitment Is Another Sign Of Waning Faith In The Regime
    Falling Military Recruitment Is Another Sign Of Waning Faith In The Regime

    Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

    The US Army reports it is having some serious problems when it comes to recruiting new soldiers. Last month, according to the AP: “Army officials … said the service will fall about 10,000 soldiers short of its planned end strength for this fiscal year, and prospects for next year are grimmer.”

    The army is not alone in missing recruitment goals:

    Senior Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps leaders have said they are hopeful they will meet or just slightly miss their recruiting goals for this year. But they said they will have to dip into their pool of delayed entry applicants, which will put them behind as they begin the next recruiting year.

    In fact, recruitment prospects are so grim that 2022 is looking to be the worst recruiting year for the army since 1973, when the US military transitioned to an all-volunteer—i.e., nonconscripted—force. The days of the post-9/11 surge in enlistments are long gone, and noted for two lost wars in recent years, the US military now faces a new environment of declining public support. Moreover, with its recent drive to showcase its commitment to so-called woke policy goals, the military may be alienating conservatives—a group that has long been a reliable source of recruits and political support.

    Ultimately, of course, the military can always get more troops by raising pay and lowering standards. The latter requires only a policy change. And, given the federal government’s ability to essentially print money, the former is unlikely to be an insurmountable problem for the Pentagon either.

    The good news, however, is that the military’s recruiting woes are likely yet another signal of declining support for the federal government and its institutions. The federal government has benefited immensely from the fact that the military has long been one of the most popular institutions within the central government. Even as many Americans claim they distrust the government or oppose “the bureaucracy,” widespread support for the government military bureaucracy has long helped to prop up the legitimacy of federal institutions. If falling enlistments are an indication of declining faith in the military overall, that would be a positive development, indeed.

    The Economics of Recruitment

    As has often been the case in the past, the military is now struggling to find enough willing recruits in an environment of low unemployment. After all, many recruits are motivated at least in part by promises of steady income, veterans’ benefits, and tuition reimbursement. These benefits look relatively less attractive when private-sector jobs are easy to find.

    As a result, the military has been “throwing cash” at the problem. All the services are now “leaning on record-level enlistment and retention bonuses” to attract recruits, with higher bonuses for riskier or more skill-intensive work.

    Military recruiting efforts, however, have long sought to “subsidize” salaries by promising psychic profits in the form of positive emotions obtained by fulfilling one’s supposed patriotic duty. Another benefit suggested by recruiters has been an alleged opportunity for “adventure.” Historically, recruitment efforts have relied on promising a variety of nonmonetary forms of “payment.”

    In their analysis of military recruitment efforts, Peter Padilla and Mary Riege Laner identified at least four different types of benefits promised to potential recruits. These include patriotism, adventure/challenge, job/career/education, social status, and money. Emphasis has differed based on social trends (such as the prevalence of antiwar sentiment) and, of course, on the personal preferences of individual recruits.

    The military, in any case, has recognized the need to appeal to all these aspects to meet recruitment goals. Even when military pay is generous, it is still necessary to get potential recruits to accept a job in which one cannot legally quit. Moreover, if a large number of potential recruits view the military as pursuing values and goals contrary to their own, monetary rewards would have to be raised quite high to overcome nonmonetary concerns.

    Another strategy that can increase recruitment is to lower (or change) standards for new recruits. This has been done in various ways. For example, as tattoos have become more fashionable among middle-class youth, the military has granted many more waivers. The Air Force is now considering allowing members to grow beards. These changes, however, are based largely on appearance. Broader changes that would qualify as truly lowering standards include efforts to lower physical fitness requirements for women, older members, and marijuana users. For more than a decade now, the army has also been accepting more and more recruits with lower scores on aptitude tests and with no high school diploma.

    Of course, there is no “correct” number of employees for the armed forces, and there is no functioning marketplace in the provision of “defense.” The size of the US military is arbitrarily determined by Congress and the White House based on political interests and goals. The military is nonetheless partly constrained by market realities, and by the subjective values of potential workers.

    Support for the Military Is Falling

    All else being equal, however, falling enlistment is evidence that workers are less interested in serving in the military outside mere economic considerations. This is reflected in the survey data suggesting that the military’s reputation among members of the general public has declined significantly.

    For example, as the Military Times reported last year, “About 56 percent of Americans surveyed said they have ‘a great deal of trust and confidence’ in the military, down from 70 percent in 2018.” Moreover, according to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who believe that military officers “have high ethics” dropped 10 percent from 2017 to 2021.

    As has long been the case, the military remains among the more trusted institutions in the US, but, as even the relentless promilitary Heritage Foundation admits:

    A more candid appraisal, however, would see this for what it is: a vote of declining confidence by America in its oldest and heretofore most trusted institution.

    More worrisome still—from the Pentagon’s perspective—is that much of this decline is coming from a drop in conservative and Republican support. Gallup reports that in its survey, military officers’ “image among the GOP is now the lowest Gallup has recorded since the first reading, in 2002, a period spanning Republican and Democratic presidencies.”

    Moreover, political rhetoric among many conservatives has decidedly turned against the Pentagon. This was noted last year in Foreign Policy:

    The long Republican romance with the military appears to have finally come to an end. And as conservative politicians and pundits have put the U.S. military—and especially the top brass—in their cross hairs, their supporters and listeners have taken note. The consequences for the U.S. military could be dire.

    Part of this is apparently due to the growing feeling among conservatives that military bureaucracy has committed itself to so-called woke politics. From Tucker Carlson to Ted Cruz to Sabastian Gorka, conservatives apparently are not nearly as enamored with the US military establishment as they once were. As Tucker Carlson complained back in May:

    Most of the generals we see quoted in the press seem more committed to meeting some counterproductive diversity goal—hiring more pregnant Air Force pilots, assembling the world’s first transgender SEAL team—than on defending the United States.

    The Effect on Enlistments

    These trends among historical supporters of the military may be finally showing up in recruitment realities. It’s difficult to directly measure the ideological leanings of new recruits. After all, enlistment forms don’t ask for one’s political and ideological beliefs. But we can indirectly make some guesses about who is joining the military based on where most of the recruits are coming from. For example, as the New York Times reported in 2018, military recruiters rely heavily on new recruits from the nation’s most politically conservative region—the South—to meet recruiting goals:

    In 2019, Fayetteville, N.C., which is home to Fort Bragg, provided more than twice as many military enlistment contracts as Manhattan, even though Manhattan has eight times as many people. Many of the new contracts in Fayetteville were soldiers signing up for second and third enlistments…. Military service was once spread fairly evenly—at least geographically—throughout the nation because of the draft. But after the draft ended in 1973, enlistments shifted steadily south of the Mason-Dixon line. The military’s decision to close many bases in Northern states where long winters limited training only hastened the trend.

    The significance of geography for new recruits can also be seen in the fact that politically conservative regions also tend to grant military recruiters better access to local schools. As school districts in many left-leaning urban areas restricted recruiters’ access to high school students in recent years, this has further increased the reliance on recruits from promilitary suburbs, exurbs, and rural towns. These are areas that tend to be more politically conservative. Moreover, new recruits lopsidedly come from families with a history of military service. While the extent to which military personnel support Republicans has been overstated, the military does nonetheless lean conservative. All this would suggest that new recruits come both from households and regions that lean conservative themselves.

    In other words, the military has becoming increasingly reliant on a dwindling number of communities and families. The military brass admits this model is not sustainable.

    The larger issue here is not whether or not the military can meet recruitment goals without big changes to current standards and pay. After all, if the economy continues to weaken and unemployment rises, this could bail out recruiters in a big way. Rather, the enlistment situation helps to illustrate what may be a developing and hopeful trend in which many conservatives are finally abandoning their long love affair with the US regime through its military institutions.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/27/2022 – 14:30

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Aug 27

Today’s News 27th August 2022

  • Trump Derangement Syndrome Is Going To Get Worse
    Trump Derangement Syndrome Is Going To Get Worse

    Authored by Mark Bauerlein via The Epoch Times,

    Never in my lifetime have so many people been so obsessed with one man.

    People despised Nixon; they cheered or reviled Reagan, and they revered or dismissed Obama, but none of those responses comes close to the mania attached to Donald Trump. I mean the hate side, not the adoration. The former feeling and the cult it spawns dwarfs the latter. Liberals mock the idol worship they find among Trump’s supporters, but while Trumpists smile and cheer and vote for the man, liberals abhor him with a passion three times as fierce. It’s visceral, fanatical, knee-jerk. If nearly the entire psychology profession didn’t suffer from the condition to greater or lesser degrees, it would be a likely subject for diagnosis, particularly given the unself-conscious way in which the victims of Trump Derangement Syndrome act out their animus. 

    It doesn’t occur to the diseased ones to ask why they can’t get the Orange-Haired Man out of their heads. They hate him; they loathe him; they fear him . . . We get it nonstop; we hear them; they can’t stop saying so. But the expression doesn’t bring them any relief—not that we can see. Their exasperation only grows and sputters. Voicing what one feels deep inside is supposed to ease the feeling, to externalize it and let the anger, love, bitterness, joy, etc. flow, not be dammed up within. One of Freud’s patients called it “the Talking Cure,” when he asked her to speak, just speak of anything that pops into her mind, and she and other patients found that they did feel a little better once the session concluded.

    But those with TDS don’t. He lingers in their heads. Like a bad penny, he won’t go away. Nothing that has happened has “disappeared” him. Jeb Bush couldn’t beat him, nor could Hillary, the Mueller Team, Avenatti and Stormy, Vindman and House Democrats, or The Washington Post, NPR, and MSNBC. Not even the 2020 defeat, January 6th, and Liz Cheney’s hearings have removed him from the body politic. If anything, the Mar-a-Lago raid will only ensure his continuance. Martyrs have sticking power. The prospect of Trump 2024 appears ever more likely, and if the inconceivable happened once (November 2016), it can happen again. 

    If Trumpist candidates for Congress do well in the midterms, the agony will only intensify. The media’s reaction as the results of that dark day six years ago unfolded was shock and incredulity.  This time, if Republicans take the House and lots of Trumpy types prevail, we will see a different reaction. Liberal elites now know that “it can happen here,” which leads them past incredulity and toward resolve.

    He must be stopped! He and his enablers are demons, cretins, bigots, and monsters. They are not fellow citizens and ordinary Americans. They are something else—odd, frightening, unenlightened, vandals, and barbarians. I have seen liberals of sterling egalitarian profile speak of the ones who go to Trump rallies in terms one usually reserves for bugs in the woodwork. Now, in 2022, liberals and progressives and Never Trumpers believe they have tolerated these dunces and villains long enough. They’re out of patience. No more generosity, no more pluralism.

    Hence, it’s OK with them to withhold from Trump the rights of free speech, due process, innocence-until-proven-guilty. It is downright extraordinary to see how liberals have flipped on principle now that Trump and his backers have persisted. The intelligence agencies liberals used to suspect and decry earn liberal praise when they target the ex-president. Traditional liberal sympathy with the working class dissipates when Trump wins the lion’s share of that voting bloc. Liberals flatter themselves as cosmopolitical and nonjudgmental, able to mingle with diverse others, jumping from culture to subculture with relaxed facility. But put them amidst a group of MAGA souls and the blood pressure rises—they can’t converse, and any escape route will do.

    It would be laughable if not for the power of the cancel. Irrationality rightly gets shuttled off for professional help, but when college students stomp into their president’s office irate at an essay a professor wrote against woke activism, and the president bows and commiserates, the tantrum worked. When a corporate chain bends to a few Twitter posts demanding that produce be withdrawn from its shelves because it’s offensive to the posters, the spirit of the First Amendment is broken.

    Donald Trump is the ultimate rationale for this abandonment of American tolerance. Liberals have made him into the embodiment of all the social evils of racism, nativism, etc. He’s done them a favor, offering them a concrete focus for resentments and worries otherwise hazy and fluctuating. Anxiety lessens when it can find an object. It wants to attach to something, and the attachment eases the uncertainty. Trump gives them psychological relief even as they huff and puff at the sound of his voice.

    Which means that liberals don’t want to give him up. Every day we watch the obsession continue, the conversation eventually turning to Orange-Man-Bad whether the topic be Biden, Russia, gas prices, or COVID.  No person, no thing, and no event in living memory has so unified and mobilized liberals and their institutions—not even 9/11. That attack 21 years ago produced ample debate and divisions on both sides—on the right and the left (for example, Bush conservatives vs. Pat Buchanan conservatives). This time, however, with Trump, there is no debate on the left, no dissenting voices. In their eyes, he is beyond discussion, outside the world of ideas and policy. The Overton Window doesn’t include him. To witness him still in the public sphere, drawing crowds to his rallies and endorsing candidates who proceed to win, is infuriating. They love to hate him, but the hate nonetheless takes a toll on their hearts. They know they’re being illiberal, and so they have to cast him as a demon to justify it.

    Don’t expect liberals to resolve this dilemma before November. The pain will only get worse—especially if Trump candidates poll well. Smart populist conservatives such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis aggravate the problem. He spotlights liberal illiberalism and moves forward to squelch it. His popularity, along with Trump’s, widens the public square to include them both, which means that liberals must address them as a political force, not a demonic one. I just read a Tweet from former-Clinton cabinet member Robert Reich calling DeSantis a fascist, but the charge has no force. Liberal outrage is spent. The rabid indignation gets chuckles from everyone except the True Believers, the ones who cling to their outrage as a psychological crutch. That will bring on more manic behavior, more delusion on the left.  Be ready for it.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 23:55

  • Billion Dollar "Ice Bust" Largest In Australian History As Meth Crisis Worsens
    Billion Dollar “Ice Bust” Largest In Australian History As Meth Crisis Worsens

    Australian police found a record 1.8 metric tons (2 tons) of methamphetamine concealed inside marble slabs from the Middle East in the country’s largest seizure of illicit drugs. 

    New South Wales Police said three men aged 24, 26, and 34 — have been arrested and charged in connection with 748 kilograms (1,649 pounds) of meth that arrived at Port Botany (a suburb in south-eastern Sydney) in 24 sea containers earlier this month. 

    Another 1,060 kilograms (2,337 pounds) of meth encased in marble stone arrived in 19 containers at the same port last week. The drugs were all shipped from the United Arab Emirates. 

    Police said in total, 1,800 kilograms (4,000 pounds) of meth were seized with an estimated street value of approximately 1.6 billion AUD ($1.1 billion). They said this was the “largest detection of the drug” ever to be seized as part of ongoing investigations by the Drug and Firearms Squad. 

    Police Detective Chief Supt. John Watson said this criminal drug organization “was extremely well connected in several corners of the globe.”

    “The fact that we have seized a further tonne – potentially ten million street deals – of this insidious drug just shows how little regard these types of groups have for the wellbeing of the community.

    “Combined with the seizure from earlier this month, NSW Police and ABF officers have stopped more than 1.8 tonnes of ‘ice’ at the border – this is now the largest’ ice’ bust in Australian history.

    “It’s once again proof that through the collaboration of all our partner law enforcement agencies, we will continue to stop this dangerous drug from hitting our streets,” Watson said. 

    Australian Border Force Assistant Commissioner Erin Dale said, “the audacity of these individuals to think they could import such vast quantities of harmful drugs into Australia is astounding … this is the largest seizure of meth at the Australian border and therefore a massive blow to organized criminals.” 

    Australia’s previous record meth bust was 1.6 metric tons (1.8 tons) in Melbourne from Bangkok in April 2019. 

    Meth is a huge issue in the land Down Under. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s (ACIC) most recent report found meth consumption in the country was the highest per capita compared with countries in Europe, Asia, and Oceania. 

    ACIC determined Perth, the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia, has the most meth use among rural Australians. 

    While alcohol and nicotine are the most popular substances, meth is Australia’s most popular illicit drug. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 23:30

  • CIA Paying Agents Who Suffer From A Likely Fake Illness
    CIA Paying Agents Who Suffer From A Likely Fake Illness

    Authored by Kyle Anzalone via The Libertarian Institute, 

    America’s spy agency is making compensation payments to agents who claim they suffer from “Havana Syndrome.” The alleged condition was first reported by government employees in Cuba who reported suffering various symptoms, including dizziness, headaches and memory loss.

    The New York Times reports that “About a dozen people suffering from debilitating symptoms that have become known as Havana syndrome have either received the payments or been approved to receive them, the people familiar with the program said.”

    US Embassy in Havana, AFP via Getty Images file

    “Several of the recipients are former C.I.A. officers who were injured while serving in Havana in 2016 and 2017,” the Times detailed further. “However, payments are also being processed for current and former officers whose injuries occurred elsewhere.”

    The CIA has studied over 1,000 potential cases of the mysterious ailment and has been unable to prove it exists. 

    Havana Syndrome was brought into the spotlight during the early Trump administration. In 2017, US officials stationed in Havana reported a vague set of symptoms. The White House responded by rolling back President Barak Obama’s policy of normalizing the US relationship with Cuba. 

    At the time, people who asserted they were suffering from Havana Syndrome claimed it was caused by a foreign power using sonic or microwave weapons. The official recorded the sound generated by the alleged weapon, which was later determined to be crickets.

    Multiple government agencies have examined 1,000 cases of people claiming to be Havana Syndrome victims. Natural causes have explained nearly all cases; many of the people were experiencing psychosomatic symptoms. There are a few cases where an alternative cause that cannot explain the symptoms. 

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    A few dozen people who work for the CIA and have unexplained symptoms are now receiving compensation payments. Congress authorized the funds through the HAVANA Act, which was signed into law last October.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 23:05

  • Uranium: The Fuel For Clean Energy
    Uranium: The Fuel For Clean Energy

    Global demand for electricity is set to grow around 50% by 2040.

    As the only energy source of low-carbon, scalable, reliable, and affordable electricity, nuclear is set to play a prominent role in meeting this growing demand while satisfying decarbonization objectives globally.

    In this infographic from Skyharbour Resources, Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti and Sabrina Fortin take a closer look at how uranium is shaping the future of energy.

    Nuclear Power to Backstop Clean Energy Transition

    Nuclear is considered an important source of clean energy, being the second largest source of low-carbon electricity in the world behind hydropower.

    Nuclear power plants produce no greenhouse gas emissions during operation, and over the course of their life cycle, they produce about the same amount of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions per unit of electricity as wind, and one-third of the emissions per unit of electricity when compared with solar.

    Nuclear fuel is extremely dense and generates minimal waste. All of the used nuclear fuel produced by the U.S. over the last 60 years could fit on a football field at a depth of fewer than 10 yards.

    To power up reactors, uranium demand is expected to rise ∼160% over the next decades.

    Several countries are going nuclear in a bid to reduce reliance on fossil fuels while building reliable energy grids. Not many, however, have uranium deposits that are economically recoverable.

     

    Canada has the world’s largest deposits of high-grade uranium with grades of up to 20% uranium.

     

    The Highest-Grade Uranium Deposits in the World

    Canada’s Athabasca Basin region in Saskatchewan and Alberta has the highest-grade uranium deposits in the world, with grades that are 10 to 100 times greater than the average grade of deposits elsewhere.

    Uranium was first discovered in the Athabasca Basin in 1934, and today the region remains a major hot spot for uranium exploration.

    Besides hosting the richest uranium grades in the world, the region is a top-tier mining jurisdiction, with the best practices for environmental protection.

    In recent years, a number of junior uranium companies have made exciting new discoveries in the basin, with Skyharbour Resources among them. The company holds an extensive portfolio of fifteen uranium exploration projects, ten of which are drill-ready, covering 450,000 hectares of mineral claims.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 22:40

  • Why Fathers Are Essential To Educating Children
    Why Fathers Are Essential To Educating Children

    Authored by Noah Wall via RealClear Education (emphasis ours),

    In recent years, America has seen parents fighting back against the indoctrination of their children in public schools. School board members have been ousted from their positions, and bills combating the influence of political ideology in classrooms have been signed into law. Teachers’ unions longstanding monopolization of education policy looks like it could finally be coming to an end. With the midterms approaching, the parental-choice movement has reason to feel encouraged.

    But raising our voices and electing the right leaders are only parts of the solution. Contrary to what many on the Left claim, parents must play a central role in educating our children. The recent progress we’ve witnessed is the start of a movement not only to keep political ideology out of classrooms but also to increase parental involvement in the education of the next generation. Mothers and fathers must lead this effort.

    It is not uncommon for fathers to feel like they don’t have a defined role to play in the education of their children. Even when fathers are involved, they often play second fiddle to mothers when it comes to many aspects of parenting, especially education. After all, if we look around at the parent-led education reform groups that exist today, we are more likely to see a mother- or mother-grandmother-led coalition than we are to see a father- or grandfather-father-led group. This needs to change. 

    We must encourage fathers not only to get involved but also to become leaders in their children’s lives when it comes to education. In an age when kids face so much pressure to embrace radical and destructive ideologies, fully engaged fathers can act as a bulwark against these ideas.

    Though progress has been made in some states to end the brainwashing that too often happens in classrooms, the fight is only beginning. Plentiful reports have emerged about lessons in schools trashing masculinity as “toxic” and shaming boys for being beneficiaries of “the patriarchy.” Does anyone – other than radicalized educators – believe this is what our kids should be taught?

    If fathers do not involve themselves in educating their children, nothing will prevent these kids from believing the falsehoods they might be exposed to in the classroom. We cannot allow these lies to take root in the minds of our children. They particularly hurt young men, who will be less likely to become fathers or stay present in their children’s lives as a result. This cycle will only continue if fathers and grandfathers don’t make it their business to stop it. 

    To break this cycle, we must make a concerted effort to encourage fathers to participate in the education of kids. For too long, the Left’s cultural dominance has undermined the role of fathers in the lives of our children. But even many advocates for parental involvement in education haven’t sufficiently emphasized fathers’ importance.

    Fathers must help instill the values in their children that will guide them throughout life. If we fail to do this, our kids will be molded instead by the bureaucrats who continue to exercise control over the education system. Do the same people who closed schools for two years really care about what’s best for our kids?

    Now more than ever, it is time for fathers to step up and become advocates for parental involvement in education. Fathers must be the protectors our kids deserve, and this starts by shielding them from the pernicious influence of political ideology in the classroom. Though it is remarkable to see the success of the parental-choice movement in recent years, we cannot become complacent when there is so much work left to do. That work will be much easier and more effective if fathers pick up the mantle and help lead the way.

    Noah Wall is an executive vice president at FreedomWorks and father of two boys.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 22:15

  • German Beastiality Buffs Demand Legalization Of Sex With Animals
    German Beastiality Buffs Demand Legalization Of Sex With Animals

    Germans beastialitists are protesting to eliminate the country’s animal protection law – which forbids having any sexual relations between humans and animals.

    To that end, Bavarian zoophiles held a public demonstration demanding recognition in a ‘Zoophilia Pride March.”

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    One of the protesters told Russia’s state-owned Ruptly that it’s possible to form a loving sexual relationship with animals – in fact, “it is much easier to build a relationship with animals than humans,” said the man who brought his dog.

    Germany’s animal protection law prohibits any sex acts with animals, or supplying animals to those who wish to bury the bone in fido (or vice versa). Offenders face a stiff penalty of 25,000 euros (US$24,910).

    Meanwhile in Australia, the upcoming “Festival of Dangerous Ideas” will host professor Joanna Burke, who will discuss the ethics of “humans loving animals,” according to The American Conservative.

    As the Daily Mail notes:

    The historian plans to present a modern history of sex between humans and animals and will invite audience members to look at the ‘changing meanings’ of bestiality and zoophilia and the ethics of ‘animal loving’.

    ‘It is only in very recent years that some people have begun to undermine the absolute prohibition on zoosexuality,’ the speaker is quoted on the website. ‘Are their arguments dangerous, perverted or simply wrongheaded?’

    Outraged Australians took to social media to lash festival organisers for allowing a presentation they argued was intellectualising animal abuse. 

    ‘Intellectualising about the abuse of animals isn’t edgy or cool. It IS abhorrent and anyone who attends this event is an immoral c***,’ another said. 

    Others took to Twitter to share their thoughts with the author and event organisers.  

    ‘This is not about ‘loving animals.’ If you’re going to be heinous at least be honest. This is about abusing animals. Shame on anyone involved in this session,’ one said. 

    ‘They are conflating having sex with animals with loving them. The first is not only unethical it is illegal,’ they tweeted.

    Remember folks, woof means woof…

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    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 21:50

  • Trump-McConnell Spat Distracting From GOP's Work To Defeat Democrats In Midterms, Strategists Say
    Trump-McConnell Spat Distracting From GOP’s Work To Defeat Democrats In Midterms, Strategists Say

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

    The swift escalation of the feud between former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) does not help inspire candidates or rally GOP voters in closely watched midterm races in swing states, some political strategists and analysts have told The Epoch Times. The Republican Party infighting may ultimately lead to more disappointing results in the midterms than have been predicted in recent months, unless party leaders can unite on the issues that the electorate cares about most to galvanize voters, they say.

    This combination of pictures created on Feb. 16, 2021, shows then U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 27, 2020, and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Capitol Hill on Feb. 5, 2020. (Saul Loeb, Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

    Over the weekend, the former president and expected 2024 candidate sent out a fiery post on Truth Social, in which he called McConnell “a broken down hack politician” and denounced the senator’s perceived tendency “to openly disparage hard working Republican candidates for the United States Senate.”

    “This is an affront to honor and to leadership,” Trump wrote, adding that McConnell “should spend more time (and money) helping them get elected” and less time helping his wife and family get “rich on China!”

    McConnell’s wife is Elaine Chao, who served as Secretary of Transportation during the Trump administration. Trump’s post was in response to McConnell having cast doubt on the quality of Republican candidates in the primaries that have taken place in recent weeks and in the ongoing midterm races. On Aug. 17, McConnell said, in the course of remarks at a luncheon in Kentucky, “I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different—they’re statewide, quality has a lot to do with the outcome.”

    McConnell went on to comment on what he sees as the likely razor-thin margins of victory for either side in November.

    “Right now, we have a 50-50 Senate and a 50-50 country, but I think, when all is said and done this fall, we’re likely to have an extremely close Senate, either our side up slightly or their side up slightly.”

    Trump may have been particularly sensitive to such comments given the close attention given to Senate races where insurgent candidates he has endorsed are competing against Democrats, such as in Pennsylvania, where TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz is running against Democratic candidate John Fetterman for the seat vacated by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey; Ohio, where author and personality J.D. Vance seeks to defeat the Democratic nominee Rep. Tim Ryan; Arizona, where venture capitalist Blake Masters seeks to oust incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly; and Georgia, where former football star Hershel Walker (also endorsed by McConnell) is running against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.

    Some of the GOP candidates are not doing nearly as well as hoped, according to recent polling. In Pennsylvania, a Trafalgar Group poll on Aug. 22 found Oz trailing Fetterman by nearly five points. In the Arizona race, the incumbent, Kelly, enjoys a nearly nine-point lead over Trump-endorsed Masters, according to FiveThirtyEight polling.

    An Unneeded Distraction

    The quarrel between Trump and McConnell is not only unnecessary, since the two politicians agree on more than they disagree on and both want to help defeat Democrats, but is also an increasing distraction from the issues of concern to ordinary voters. Public discontent with the Biden administration’s handling of economic and social matters could provide the groundwork for broad GOP victories in the absence of such a distraction, the analysts say.

    “I think voters are more concerned about issues like inflation, immigration, and crime, they’re not sitting there saying ‘Oh my gosh, Donald Trump is disparaging Mitch McConnell’s wife,’” John Feehery, a strategist, commentator, and former press secretary to Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), told The Epoch Times.

    Feehery finds it particularly ironic that, after having appointed Chao to a top cabinet position in 2017, Trump should single her out for criticism on the grounds of her involvement with her family’s business, Foremost Group, which has received financial support from Chinese state-run entities. Chao resigned her post five days after the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

    “It’s ironic that he’s disparaging McConnell’s wife, because she worked for Trump for four years. If he had known that McConnell’s wife is so involved in this stuff, why did he have her in his employ for so long?” Feehery asked.

    More importantly, Trump’s criticisms of McConnell are needlessly divisive and undermine the efforts that McConnell is making to help candidates in swing states where results may be extremely close, Feehery believes. Feehery contrasted the financial backing that McConnell has provided to candidates with the more symbolic support of an endorsement.

    “Frankly, McConnell is spending time and resources to get Senate candidates elected. It’s not clear to me where Trump’s money is going. He’s clearly making bets, but is he making large financial investments? He’s giving his good name to these candidates and that means something, there’s no doubt about that. But McConnell is buying in, his Super PAC is going in, in a big way,” Feehery continued.

    Economy Above All

    From the candidates’ point of view, the most practical thing is not to take sides with either Trump or McConnell in their current tiff but to present themselves as unifiers—at least within the GOP—willing and able to take on the policies of the Biden administration on the issues of concern to the average voter, Feehery believes.

    “I think it’s never a good thing when Republicans are fighting with one another. There also seems to be a spat going on between McConnell and Rick Scott,” the Florida senator, Feehery said.

    Such disunity can deprive candidates on the ground of votes they badly need and may even contribute to a scenario where disaffected Republican leaders are actively helping the other side.

    “You do have that. Liz Cheney and the Never Trump people, they’ve been trying to get people to vote against Republicans. She said terrible things against Josh Hawley, and said she couldn’t support Ted Cruz. She seems like someone who’d burn the party down on her way out,” Feehery said, alluding to Cheney’s recent remarks in which she said it would be “very difficult” for her to support Hawley or Cruz after they questioned the integrity of the 2020 election results.

    The infighting does not help Republican candidates who want to portray themselves as in a strong position to fix an economy derailed by President Joe Biden, Feehery believes.

    “I think the best thing these candidates can do is to keep their focus on Biden. The one thing that unites the party is Biden’s dismal performance,” he said.

    Struggling Campaigns

    Other observers and strategists echo the view that Republican candidates should keep their focus on Biden’s Achilles heel, namely inflation. Straying from the critical issues has been a tactical and logistical mistake, they argue.

    “The Republicans are united in their criticisms of President Biden and the direction in which the Democrats want to take the country. Clearly, what they ought to do is circle the wagons and do the best they can” on economic issues, D. Stephen Voss, a professor in the political science department at the University of Kentucky, told The Epoch Times.

    Given the widely criticized missteps of the Biden administration, and its association in the public mind with record inflation, the Senate races should not be as competitive as they are, Voss believes.

    “Not only have Trump’s attacks on other Republicans weakened the unity of the Republican Party, but the party’s organizations have had to spend massive amounts of election money in the primaries trying to hold off fairly weak candidates so that they could retake the senate,” Voss said.

    “So already, this clash between the Trump movement and the Republican establishment has hurt the party’s resources by causing campaign resources to dwindle,” he added.

    The infighting and a potential backlash against Trump could have bad practical consequences on the field, including disappointing results for Trump-endorsed candidates in swing states at a time when control of the Senate hangs in the balance, Voss believes.

    “The race everyone’s talking about now is Pennsylvania, where Dr. Oz received the nomination but now his campaign might end up costing the GOP a Senate seat that should have been theirs. We’re seeing how badly Oz is starting to trail in the polls. Oz is underperforming and may not get that seat,” he added.

    A similar phenomenon is at work in Ohio, where J.D. Vance currently looks weaker than an insurgent GOP Senate candidate in the state should look at this juncture, Voss said.

    Other examples abound. Normally, a popular GOP Senate candidate in Georgia would be doing quite well in the polls, given the political composition of the Georgia electorate and given how opposition parties historically have performed during midterms. But Voss called the Georgia race “one of McConnell’s headaches.” Voss also pointed to the Arizona Senate race, where Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly may end up handily defeating the GOP insurgent in what should have been a much more competitive race.

    Again, the possible results run counter to trusted historical models going back to the presidency of John F. Kennedy, Jr.

    “The party that holds the White House has not gained more than two Senate seats since JFK, yet the forecast now suggests that the Democrats could gain two or more seats. Prospects for the Republicans taking the Senate are poor, despite the fact that the president is unpopular,” Voss said.

    “You can’t blame Trump for this. Having unexpected candidacies has hurt the Republican Party, but so has the ruling on abortion, which has whipped up Democrat voters,” he added.

    David Carlucci, a former New York State senator who now works as a political commentator, also believes that the disunity is hurting the Republican candidates, and that the divides may grow as some who received Trump’s support during the primary races may now seek to identify more closely with McConnell.

    “Historically, the minority party, or the party opposing the president, does well in the midterms. And with all the criticism that the Democrats are getting, the Senate Republicans should be doing a lot better. But because they’ve endorsed these subpar candidates, things like this are eating away at the candidacies and giving Democrats a much better chance than they had before. McConnell was fun and easy to attack in the primary, but now they’re going to be sprinting to him,” Carlucci said.

    McConnell Lowering Expectations

    Keith Naughton, president of Silent Majority Strategies, a consultancy based in Germantown, Maryland, concurs about the political costs of the lack of Republican unity.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 21:25

  • China Launches Giant Cloud-Seeding Drones To Combat Record Drought
    China Launches Giant Cloud-Seeding Drones To Combat Record Drought

    With China’s water supply rapidly deteriorating to catastrophic levels – something which could have profound effects on the global food, energy and materials markets – officials in the southwestern province of Sichuan have deployed two giant cloud-seeding drones in the hopes of turning around a dire situation which is now affecting hydropower production.

    The Wing Loong-2H UAVs are deploying silver iodide flame bars during four-hour flights to create “artificial rain.”

    The move comes as almost half the country is suffering from a record heatwave, according to its National Climate Center – has has affected Sichuan province’s ability to deliver hydropower to cities like Jiangsu and Shanghi, located more than 1,000 miles away, Insider reports.

    To improve the situation, the two drones deployed on Thursday will eventually cover an area in Sichuan spanning 2,317 square miles, according to state-owned CCTV. The cloud seeding operation will be carried out until Monday.

    Communist Party-owned People’s Daily also reported the news.

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

    Since the beginning of the month, hydropower plants in Sichuan have been forced to operate below 50% of normal capacity, leading to power cuts in the province and forcing companies like Toyota and Apple supplier Foxconn to suspend operations, according to Caixin news.

    In some instances, groundwater levels have gotten so low that underground aquifers have collapsed – triggering a phenomenon called Land Subsidence, which can cause the ground to cave in over large areas, which in some case renders the aquifer unusable in the future.

    The drought has also damaged crops and threatened the fall harvest, forcing China to compete for exports in an already-inflated market. As we noted earlier this week, 60% of China’s wheat, 45% of its corn, 35% of its cotton and 64% of its peanuts come from the at-risk North China Plain – where, in the example of wheat, their annual production of more than 80 million tons is on par with Russia’s annual output, while their 125 million tons of corn is nearly 3x Ukraine’s prewar production.

    In order to sustain these harvests, water is being pumped to farms faster than nature can replenish it. According to satellite data, between 2003 and 2010, Northern China lost as much groundwater as Beijing consumes annually – leaving farmers struggling to find new sources.

    “In order to sustain these harvests, water is being pumped to farms faster than nature can replenish it. According to satellite data, between 2003 and 2010, Northern China lost as much groundwater as Beijing consumes annually – leaving farmers struggling to find new sources.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 21:00

  • The New Peer-Review: Why 'Unbiased' Science Is Now Often Misleading
    The New Peer-Review: Why ‘Unbiased’ Science Is Now Often Misleading

    Authored by Jennifer Margulis and Joe Wang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Peer-reviewed scientific publishing works like this: a scientist or a science team have a scientific question, they come together to design and conduct an experiment to try to answer that question. The experiment may take months, years, or even decades. Once the scientists have collected and analyzed the experiment’s results, they write up their findings, and draw conclusions based on the already accepted knowledge in the field, their new discovery, and their educated speculations of what is yet to be known. Then they send their article to scientific journals within their field of study.

    (JNT Visual/Shutterstock*)

    When a journal editor receives the article, the editor reads it carefully and either rejects it or sends it out to other known experts in the field, who were not involved with the study, to review the findings and the write-up. Once these experts weigh in, the editor then makes the decision about whether to reject the paper or to accept it, in most cases, with notes for the authors to revise their submission.

    Peer-reviewers will often ask the researchers insightful questions or query parts of the findings in the paper. These queries help the researchers refine their ideas, review their findings, and double check that their data, and their analyses, are correct.

    This sometimes quite lengthy peer-review process is to ensure that journals publish scientific articles that make a real contribution to our understanding to the field, whether it’s chemistry, biology, physics, social science, or any other subject.

    2.6 Million Studies a Year

    On the order of 2.6 million scientific studies are published every year, according to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. Given the explosion in published science—today there may be as many as 30,000 peer-reviewed journals providing scientists an outlet for their findings—it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between good science and bad science.   

    Good science is work that has a high level of integrity and transparency, is conducted in an unbiased way, and leads to findings that can be replicated by other scientists. 

    Bad science is often ego-driven or industry-sponsored: published not for the good of advancing knowledge or helping people, but to mislead the public, often for financial gain. For-profit industries have and continue to use bad science to convince consumers to buy their products.

    Junk Science

    Recent history shows how “junk science” can have negative repercussions that harm human and planetary health.

    • In 1948 a husband-wife team at Harvard University, Olive Watkins Smith and George Van Siclen Smith, published an article that asserted that a synthetic hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES) not only prevented miscarriage but also made a normal pregnancy “more normal.” Drug manufacturers copied and distributed the Smiths’ study to thousands of medical doctors to encourage them to prescribe DES. The Harvard research was shoddy at best: they used a sample size of pregnant women that was too small to draw statistically significant conclusions and had no control group. The Smiths also failed to disclose that their research was funded by the drug industry. Largely based on this junk science, an estimated 5 to 10 million pregnant women in America took DES. Yet DES was neither helpful nor benign. It caused miscarriages and an aggressive hormone-induced reproductive cancer in teens whose moms had taken it. DES was banned for use in pregnancy in 1971.
    • Starting in the 1950s the tobacco industry began a sophisticated public relations campaign to counteract the peer-reviewed science that showed that smoking was harmful to human health. Though it was known by 1953 that smoking caused lung cancer, industry-sponsored science so effectively muddied the scientific waters that the connection was not acknowledged by public health authorities until the early 1990s.
    • In the 1990s, when biologist Tyrone Hayes found out that a common pesticide, atrazine, was so endocrine-disrupting that it turned male frogs into females, Syngenta, the company that makes the pesticide, did everything it could to keep this information from the public. Two class-action lawsuits revealed that Syngenta had the goal of publicly discrediting the scientist’s reputation in order to make environmentalists question the validity of his research. Publishing poorly designed studies that could not be replicated was an effective strategy to keep the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating their $14 billion a year pesticide and seed sales. In 2014, as reported by The New Yorker, Syngenta was giving research money to 400 academic institutions around the world.

    ‘Sneer-Review’

    The research that scientists publish affects their job prospects, livelihood, reputation, and even friendships. Given the explosion of scientific publications, it is easy to see how the peer-review process can go awry. 

    The Epoch Times spoke with a professor who spent more than 25 years in a top 10 medical school. This scientist did not want to be named for fear of reprisals.

    “I call it sneer review,” the scientist said. “There is tremendous bias. Reviewers ignore data that doesn’t fit with what they already believe.” 

    The scientist said that certain fields have fewer problems with special interests than others, and certain topics—including the safety of modern medicine and, especially, the safety of vaccines—tend to push ideological buttons. 

    “The idea in science should be that we just push towards finding out the answer. We have a hypothesis, we ask questions, we test the hypotheses, we collect more data,” this scientist said. “That’s how we move forward. But when it gets polarized, the sneer-review phenomenon starts to happen. Then it becomes a more ideological confrontation.”

    “People will try to publish total nonsense for ideological reasons,” the scientist added.

    When Ideology Drives Decisions

    When peer-reviewed studies have the potential to harm multi-billion-dollar industries, they often get retracted, several scientists told The Epoch Times. 

    “Follow the silenced science,” said Dr. James Lyons-Weiler, CEO and Director of the Institute for Pure and Applied Knowledge (IPAK). Lyons-Weiler has published more than 50 peer-reviewed studies on a variety of topics. He recently had a controversial study retracted. 

    It is especially difficult to publish research that calls vaccine safety into question in the first place, Lyons-Weiler said, and these studies are often summarily retracted by controversy-adverse editors. 

    “They tend to be retracted after critique by anonymous critics,” Lyons-Weiler said. “This is a problematic new development. The journals are retracting based on criticism from anonymous reviewers, instead of publishing the critique and allowing the authors to rebut. That means the critics’ comments are not peer-reviewed.” 

    The retraction may happen a week after the science is published, or more than 10 years.

    Canceling Critics, a Technique to Silence Science

    A Danish medical doctor who worked for the pharmaceutical industry for almost a decade, Peter Gøtzsche saw firsthand how his bosses would manipulate data that did not fit their industry agenda. Largely as a result of that frustration, Gøtzsche co-founded the Cochrane Collaboration, a non-profit initiative with an explicit goal to keep bias out of science.

    For years the Cochrane Collaboration was considered the gold standard of unbiased information and Gøtzsche, who himself published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and eight books, hailed as a crusader for scientific integrity.

    In September of 2018, however, Gøtzsche was voted off Cochrane’s board (six in favor, five opposed, one abstention). This move led four board members to resign in protest. He was also fired from his position as director of the Nordic Cochrane Center and suspended from the hospital where he worked. 

    Gøtzsche told journalist and documentary filmmaker Bert Ehgartner that he believed his dismissal was because he and two co-authors criticized a Cochrane review that found “high-certainty evidence” that a vaccine against human papilloma virus (HPV) protected women and girls from cervical precancer. Gøtzsche critiqued the review, pointing out that Cochrane had excluded almost half the trials and ignored glaring safety signals about the vaccine. 

    A hero of scientific integrity to many, Gøtzsche is now being ostracized by his colleagues and characterized as “an industry scold.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 20:35

  • "Eliminate Dead Zones": Elon Musk Partners With T-Mobile For New Satellite-To-Cell-Service
    “Eliminate Dead Zones”: Elon Musk Partners With T-Mobile For New Satellite-To-Cell-Service

    Elon Musk’s SpaceX teamed up with T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert to beam cell service via Starlink satellites to “most places in the US,” including more than half a million square miles of dead zone areas that aren’t covered by cellular networks. 

    The two companies would create a new mobile network to broadcast T-Mobile’s existing mid-band spectrum via Starlink satellites to anywhere in the continental US, Hawaii, parts of Alaska, and Puerto Rico. 

    SpaceX and T-Mobile wrote in a press release that the new network would “provide near complete coverage in most places in the US — even in many of the most remote locations previously unreachable by traditional cell signals.”

    Musk tweeted that the new service, launching in 2023, will “eliminate dead zones worldwide.” 

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    Bloomberg explained how the new satellite-to-cellular service would work through powerful antennas attached to upgraded Starlink satellites: 

    The new network will be accessible thanks to large, powerful antennas attached to Starlink satellites. Musk said each antenna would measure some 25 square meters (269 square feet) and be “extremely advanced because they’ve got to pick up a very quiet signal from your cell phone and then be caught by a satellite that’s traveling 17,000 miles an hour.” The T-Mobile service will run in a similar way to data roaming, where a user’s mobile will scan for service and if it finds none it will connect to the satellite. 

    Musk, at an unveiling event at SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, along with T-Mobile Sievert, on Thursday evening, gave an “open invitation to carriers around the world” about adding the new service. 

    Bloomberg noted that most smartphones are already equipped with technology to beam a signal to space so that additional equipment won’t be required.

    But there are limitations, and the main issue is bandwidth, as Bloomberg pointed out:

    The main issue is bandwidth, which will at first limit the service to text messaging. The coverage area will be divided into large cell zones, with each zone’s connectivity limited to around 2-4 MBs. Musk said that would allow for some 1,000-2,000 voice calls per cell, or millions of text messages, but the service would not provide a substitute for ground cell stations.

    “This is really meant to provide basic coverage to areas that are currently completely dead,” Musk said, adding there could initially be a delay of “half an hour, maybe worse” for messages to pass through the system.

    Testing for the new satellite-to-cellular service is expected later this year after SpaceX launches the new satellites into low Earth orbit. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 20:10

  • Here's California Flooring It To The 'Clean' Energy Future… With Its Transmission Slipping Badly
    Here’s California Flooring It To The ‘Clean’ Energy Future… With Its Transmission Slipping Badly

    Authored by Steve Miller via RealClearInvestigations,

    California’s precariously out-of-date hybrid power grid can’t handle the state’s growing amounts of solar and wind energy coming online, with system managers already forcing repeated cutbacks in renewables and a continued reliance on conventional energy to keep the grid stable, according to state data.

    Taras Makarenko

    The shortcomings of the transmission grid, which energy consultants in this bellwether state have warned about for years, raise the prospect that marquee products of the growing battery economy such as electric vehicles – “emission free” on the road – will be recharged mainly from traditional electricity-generating power plants: energy from fossil fuels, some of it from out of state.

    Writ large, the transmission problem threatens the zero-carbon future envisioned by green advocates nationwide. “We’re headed toward duplicate systems whose only benefit is to permit the occasional use of ‘clean power,’” said Grant Ellis, an independent electrical engineering consultant in Texas.

    California, along with the rest of the desert Southwest, is adding solar and wind installations at a rapid pace. The state is projected to add four gigawatts of utility-scale solar energy this year alone, enough to power 2.8 million homes. The question is whether that’s going to be enough.

    So-called “curtailments” of renewable power have become much more frequent for the state’s blackout-prone power grid because the state hasn’t constructed enough transmission lines, transformers, poles, and other infrastructure to keep up. The amount of renewable energy curtailed in California tripled between 2018 and 2021, according to operator statistics.

    Curtailed renewable electricity is wasted energy because it can’t be stored.
    CAISO

    On top of the conventional power often deployed in its stead, that renewable power was thus wasted, since there is no place yet to store it. The state curtailed 596,175 megawatt hours in April, or 596,175 million kilowatt hours, according to several calculators. With 10,715 kilowatt hours the average annual electric consumption of a home in the U.S. in 2020, as calculated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, California’s curtailed wind and solar energy in April could power 55,000 homes for a year.  

    The cutbacks mean that electric power generation falls back on nuclear and hydroelectric power, natural gas, and other more traditional sources, which provided nearly 60% of California’s electric generation last year.

    The state also imported 30% of its electric energy last year from other states – 9.5% of it from coal, most of it from the Intermountain Power Project in Utah.

    The curtailments come at a crucial time in what the Biden administration insists is a “transition” from a fossil fuel-driven country to one that relies on renewable energy to save the planet from what believers warn will be a climate-change disaster. 

    Eric O’Shaughnessy, a renewable energy consultant who has worked with the federally funded Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, blames a stalemate between renewable energy providers and electric system operators over who will pay for any infrastructure buildout.

    “The system operators say, ‘We need this huge investment, and you are going to have to pay it,’ and the solar developer believes everyone should pay,” O’Shaughnessy said. Then politics comes into play “and that project gets shelved.”

    The government’s answer is more taxpayer funding for transmission, although it will take at least 10-15 years to develop a new project, according to the Transmission Agency of Northern California, a group of publicly owned utilities in the state.

    That’s been tried before: In 2011, the Obama administration created the Rapid Response Team for Transmission, which included five projects in the West. One is under way, while the others have been cancelled or delayed. A website created to track the projects has been defunct for years. 

    The messy process of connecting solar and wind plants to the grid is made more complicated by a maze of committees, panels, and lawyers that need to weigh in on the specifics of each project.

    “If an energy company in California wants a transmission line, it has to go to a public utility to build it, and to the California Energy Commission and a bunch of other commissions,” said Rajat Deb of energy consultant LCG. “And the cities also have to approve in some cases, so it takes all that to get a transmission line. That’s a lot of hoopla you have to go through.”

    There is less resistance to building individual solar plants in distinct locations than to transmission lines, often due to the wider geography needed for the latter. And so more solar plants get built while transmission projects languish.

    California’s leading in solar, lagging in transmission.
    “Utility-Scale Solar, 2021 Edition,” Berkeley Lab

    Still, the state aims to have a carbon-free electric grid by 2045, a goal set before President Biden took office and declared 2035 as a national objective. With its goal in mind, California has imposed restrictions and requirements that have adversely impacted businesses, home builders, and car makers as well as taxpayers, who pay the highest prices for fuel and the third highest rate for electricity in the U.S., behind Hawaii and Alaska. Electricity prices for residential customers in California have increased 19% in the past year compared with 7% nationally.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a 2020 executive order mandating that by 2035, all new vehicles sold in the state must be zero-emission. If that goal is reached, it would add a crushing demand to the state’s electric grid, according to some projection models.

    With multibillion-dollar development of massive wind farms and solar plants outpacing transmission capacity, the number of miles of new high-voltage transmission has declined over the last decade from an annual average of 2,000 miles nationally from 2012-2016 to an average of just 700 miles from 2017-2021, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

    A report issued by the department this year, titled “Queued Up…But in Need of Transmission,” acknowledges the problem: “A large amount of potential clean power capacity is struggling with the wait times and costs of connecting to the transmission grid. …”

    The Energy Department’s advocacy of de-carbonization includes technical reviews by representatives of big solar concerns as well as big oil corporations, most of the latter of whom also are investing in renewables.

    The department declined an interview request, but Becca Jones-Albertus, director of its Solar Energy Technologies Office, wrote in an email exchange: “DOE is working to improve transmission through the Better Grid initiative, and there are other tools available now to alleviate the long wait times and costs associated with connecting to the grid.”

    Jones-Albertus was referring to the Building a Better Grid program, launched in January as part of $20 billion in federal funding for upgrading and developing transmission nationwide. She did not respond to a question regarding the nation’s longstanding lack of ability to transmit solar and wind energy. 

    Jones-Albertus also downplayed the necessity of transmission in meeting the current government’s green goals.

    “While transmission expansion takes time, energy storage, active generation management, and demand flexibility are ready for deployment to help the nation achieve an emission-free electricity grid by 2035 without increasing energy prices,” Jones-Albertus said in the email. She was referring to the Biden administration’s nationwide push for “carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035,” according to a 2021 executive order from the White House.

    Encouraged by green advocates, state and federal lawmakers have plowed money into renewable sectors with grants, tax breaks, loans, and other funding mechanisms while often leaving the “how to” of energy transmission to fend for itself.

    This year transmission got more funding, including $2 billion in loans for infrastructure in the Democrats’ newly enacted Inflation Reduction Act.

    Today, 61% of electricity in the U.S. comes from coal, petroleum, natural gas, and other sources. Without transmission resources – power lines that cut through swaths of land, both public and private, or the much more expensive underground cables – there is little chance of a dramatic reduction of fossil fuel electricity.

    The recent rush into renewables has created a situation where solar and wind developers can end up with plants that have to wait a minimum of three years before securing approval to sell energy.

    “There are a lot of renewable projects waiting in these lines requesting to connect to the system and they are not getting connected,” said Elise Caplan, director of electricity at the American Council on Renewable Energy.

    “The vast majority of transmission has been local,” Caplan added. “The U.S. has done a bad job of building these critical larger-scale [projects].” Her group is among a growing number of renewable energy advocates asking the feds to examine the transmission problem at the local level.

    Rajat Deb, the LCG consultant, voiced the frustration of green advocates.

    “I am an environmentalist in my heart and the biggest problem we have right now is global warming,” he said. “I have been working on this for 40 years and nothing happens. And while they are talking about this, all these [non-governmental agencies] are making money and the state and federal government is spending money. Where is that going?”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 19:45

  • Which US States Are The Best To Do Business In?
    Which US States Are The Best To Do Business In?

    The United States often ranks as one of the best countries to start a business in, but, as Visual Capitalist’s Avery Koop details below, the ease with which one can do business varies state by state. There are many considerations that factor into starting a business like the available workforce, the condition of local infrastructure, access to investors, a culture that’s open to business, and so on.

    This map ranks America’s best states to do business in based on a study from CNBC which measured 88 factors across 10 broad categories.

    Methodology

    Here is a further breakdown of the weight given to each of the 10 categories:

    The Most Business Friendly States

    North Carolina—coming in first place in the ranking—attracts an extremely talented and innovative workforce, largely thanks to the state’s investment in its Research Triangle Regional Partnership (RTRP).

     

    Notably, there are three ties in the ranking: New York and South Carolina had the same score, tying for 36th, Connecticut and Nevada tied for 39th, and Hawaii and New Mexico tied for 46th.

     

    Other states ranking high on the list are Washington, Virginia, and Colorado. One of the newest individual metrics CNBC took into consideration was an openness to the cannabis industry, likely playing into Colorado’s move up from 8th to 4th compared to last year.

    Some states that perhaps surprisingly don’t crack the top 10 include California and New York, both often considered centers of finance and entrepreneurship. But with the high costs of living and of starting a business in those states, their overall score is reduced.

    A Look at the Scoring — North Carolina, California, and Nevada

    To better understand how this ranking works we’ve broken down three different states and how they ranked in all 10 categories that gave them their overall spot. Here’s a brief look at their place in each category:

    While North Carolina is the number one state to do business in and has an extremely strong economy, they are 26th when it comes to the Cost of Doing Business.

    Whereas California ranks low overall, the state ranks first in terms of Technology and Innovation, as well as Access to Capital.

    Although Nevada scored highly in the Infrastructure and Business Friendliness categories, the state scored poorly in Technology and Innovation, and was dead last in the Education category.

    Doing Business in America

    New business applications have actually decreased 4% this year in comparison to the same timeframe in 2021.

    Here’s a look at new business applications by region as of July 2022:

    • Northeast: 63,058

    • Midwest: 70,827

    • South: 197,663

    • West: 94,150

    New business applications in July were the highest in the retail trade industry, numbering around 69,000 new applications, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Applications for professional service businesses were the second highest at 53,000, followed closely by construction businesses at 43,000.

    Here’s a closer look at the industry breakdown:

    A potential looming recession, alongside rising interest rates and inflation, may be creating a sense of cautiousness among businesspeople, leading to the lower rate of business applications compared to last year. And, at existing companies, the economic situation has lead to cuts in growth forecasts and subsequently, major layoffs.

    But overall, the U.S. is a country which values entrepreneurship—even during the pandemic, massive spikes in new business formations were recorded—and certain industries and states will continue to flourish in any business environment.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 19:20

  • Victor Davis Hanson: Will The Republicans Really Win Back The Congress?
    Victor Davis Hanson: Will The Republicans Really Win Back The Congress?

    Authored by Victor Davis Hanson,

    The late spring scenario of a massive GOP win – in historic proportions analogous to 1938, 1994, or 2010 – is said now to be “iffy.”

    The Left boasts that it now has a chance at keeping the House, with even better odds for maintaining control over the Senate.

    Polls are all over the place. Now they show generic Republican leads, now Democratic.

    The general experience in polling is that they are more often conducted by left-leaning institutions and massaged to show Democratic “momentum.”

    Since the polling meltdown of 2016 — when most polls showed a Hillary Clinton Electoral College landslide — they have regained little credibility.

    Current progressive heartthrob and spoiler Representative Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was polled at only 20% behind in her recent primary, only to be crushed in the end, losing by over 37%.

    The corporate leftist media does its part by glorifying a now dynamic “Aviator Joe.”

    President Joe Biden in cool sunglasses is now constructed into a swaggering “Top Gun” Tom Cruise-like figure, rather than a cognitively challenged 79-year-old.

    Biden’s just-passed reconciliation “Inflation Reduction Act,” according to most experts, will raise taxes even on the middle class and spur inflation. So, the media euphemistically renames it a “climate change bill.”

    With a stroke of his pen before the midterms, Biden forgives $300 billion in student debt, without a care for the dutiful who paid their loans off or those who did not go to college but will now pay for those that did.

    If inflation is running at 8.5% over last July’s prices, the White House giddily announces inflation is “zero” because it did not climb at 9.1% over 2021 prices – as it did in June.

    That’s like saying someone entombed in a sinkhole 10 feet below ground is no longer trapped at all since he floated up one foot since falling.

    In California, when $6.50 a gallon gas dipped last month to $5.50 a gallon, Biden pronounced the end of high energy costs. He forgets that on his watch, gas prices doubled and remain $2.50 a gallon higher than they were on Inauguration Day.

    Despite the propaganda, the Republicans seem confident nonetheless because of the dismal 40% approval ratings of Biden and his even less popular agenda.

    Crime is out of control. The Left blew up the southern border. Biden has waged war on energy production and deliberately spiked gas costs.

    Foreign policy is in shambles. Racial relations are scary. Historically, presidents are shellacked in their first midterms.

    So, there should be a Republican tsunami.

    But will there be?

    So far, the Republicans have not nationalized congressional races with a uniform contract with America, an agenda that they will seek to enact the moment they take Congress.

    If all Republican candidates run on what the Left has done to America in less than two years and offer a systematic corrective, they will win. If they get bogged down in the 24-hour news cycle they will flounder.

    Conservatives seem oblivious to the current left-wing strategy. That is odd, since it is unchanged since the Russian collusion hoax and the psychodramatic Ukrainian phone call impeachment.

    The left-wing playbook is based on two pillars: the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s home, the January 6 “insurrection” investigation – and selective daily leaking about both.

    About every week, in efforts at mass distraction from the dismal record of Biden, we will hear of a new “bombshell” and “walls-are-closing-in” Justice Department or FBI leak to an obsequious media.

    In 24-hour cycles, we will hear more about how Trump supposedly stole “nuclear secrets”!

    And “informed but anonymous sources insist” that Trump is trying to sell memorabilia. Or is Trump trying to hide January 6 evidence at his home? Or was it those Russian collusion files?

    Sanctimonious Attorney General Merrick Garland will fight tooth and nail not to release an unredacted historic fishing-expedition affidavit for a warrant to meander through the closets of the Trump home. But he certainly will redact — and leak.

    The January 6 Committee will continue to subpoena and flip witnesses with threats of indictments, certain doom before biased Washington, D.C. juries, and crushing legal bills.

    Between the raid and the star-chamber House inquiry, we are supposed to forget unaffordable gas and food, dangerous U.S. cities, over 3 million people swarming the border, and the Afghanistan debacle.

    Big Tech in November as in 2020 will again flood registrars with billions of dollars in dark money — while denying it.

    They will censor and expunge anything unflattering to the Left on social media, and claim they do not.

    The Left will systematically try to ensure that, as in 2020, only 30% of the electorate vote in person on election day, as they plead they are underfunded and disorganized.

    Yet if the Republicans advance a coherent national plan of action to restore a pre-Biden America, if Trump will focus positively on national issues and not take the bait to obsess on the wrongs done to him, and if grass-roots conservatives this time around prepare to preempt massive left-wing vote harvesting, they will achieve their blowout.

    But that is a lot of ifs. And meanwhile, time grows short.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 18:55

  • Hawkish Senator Calls Taiwan A "Country" In 4th US Delegation Visit This Month Alone
    Hawkish Senator Calls Taiwan A “Country” In 4th US Delegation Visit This Month Alone

    Following the Nancy Pelosi visit which sparked unprecedent sea and aerial Chinese military live fire exercises, Taiwan on Thursday unveiled a huge defense budget increase of just shy of 14%.  Specifically at a 13.9% increase, Taiwan’s cabinet has already approved the spending boost and it will next be debated in parliament, and if approve would bring the island’s total military budge to about $19.41 billion for 2023. 

    The flow of weapons from Washington, which Beijing has vehemently condemned as a severe violation of the ‘One China’ principle, is thus expected to only increase, with provisions being made in the budget for more fighter jet funding and other major hardware. 

    Taiwan Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters

    Taiwan cabinet’s chief budget official Chu Tzer-ming indicated in statements that the bulk of next year’s defense spending will be toward the additional military readiness required to fend off a potential Chinese invasion, given the greatly bolstered PLA presence around the island: 

    “The budget for maintaining operations saw the biggest increase among the defense-spending categories this year in response to the cross-strait situation,” Chu said. “Warplanes need to take off and warships need to go to sea, which all lead to higher expenses.”

    The White House has accused Beijing of using the early August Pelosi visit to manufacture a crisis. Chinese state media had at the same time expressly stated the PLA drills were a “rehearsal” for forced reunification. 

    Meanwhile, the US clearly isn’t backing down, or so much as allowing tensions to cool for a while, given this week marked no less than the fourth Congressional delegation to Taiwan in August alone. 

    Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) arrived Thursday in Taipei on a US Air Force plane in an unannounced visit. She’s a well-known hawk when it comes to all things China, for example having posted on Twitter in 2020 that “China has a 5,000 year history of cheating and stealing. Some things will never change.” She more recently backed a proposed bill that would let the Biden administration lend weapons to Taiwan, akin to what’s already been authorized for Ukraine.

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

    Another well-known moment involved here labeling China as part of a “New Axis of Evil”…

    “It’s time we focus on rewarding Taiwan’s commitment to democratic values and ensure they have the necessary resources to combat Communist China and the New Axis of Evil.”

    Thus her visit is sure to set off outrage in Beijing, especially given that among Blackburn’s first words upon arrival featured calling for Taiwan pushing forward to become “an independent nation”. The Republican Senator said she “looked forward to continuing to support Taiwan as they push forward as an independent nation.”

    She also repeated the Axis of Evil line regarding China…

    Blackburn arrived in Taipei late Thursday after visiting Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea as part of a U.S. push to “expand our diplomatic footprint in the area,” her office said in a statement.

    “The Indo-Pacific region is the next frontier for the new axis of evil,” Blackburn, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, was quoted as saying. “We must stand against the Chinese Communist Party.”

    And on Friday, while meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, Blackburn referred to Taiwan as a “country”, per Axios: 

    Blackburn’s comment that she remembers her 2008 visit to Taiwan fondly “and the opportunity to get to see some of your country firsthand” is likely to further anger Beijing, which has warned of consequences for the U.S. if American officials continue to visit the island it sees as a breakaway province.

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

    Most likely, this is about to trigger a whole new round of major Chinese PLA drills threatening the island. Certainly Blackburn’s confrontation words just blew past Beijing’s “red lines” concerning the Taiwan crisis.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 18:30

  • IRS Waiving $1.2 Billion In Taxpayer Penalties; Here's Who Qualifies
    IRS Waiving $1.2 Billion In Taxpayer Penalties; Here’s Who Qualifies

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

    The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced on Aug. 24 that it will waive penalties levied against American taxpayers who failed to file their 2019 and 2020 returns in a timely manner during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    A copy of an IRS 1040 tax form is seen at an H&R Block office in Miami, Fla., on Dec. 22, 2017. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

    The agency will also issue over $1.2 billion in refunds or credits to taxpayers who received the fees.

    According to the IRS, roughly 1.6 million taxpayers, including individuals and businesses, will automatically receive the billions in refunds or credits by the end of September. Spread across 1.6 million taxpayers evenly, that would amount to an average refund of $750 per taxpayer.

    The penalty relief is automatic for people or businesses who qualify, meaning taxpayers won’t have to apply for it.

    For those who haven’t yet paid fines, the penalties will be abated.

    The agency previously extended the tax filing deadline in both 2020 and 2021 to give taxpaying individuals and businesses more time to pay what they owed amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

    “Throughout the pandemic, the IRS has worked hard to support the nation and provide relief to people in many different ways,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “The penalty relief issued today is yet another way the agency is supporting people during this unprecedented time.”

    The decision comes as the agency faces a huge backlog of tax returns and taxpayer correspondence prompted by the pandemic. The IRS said the move will help them to focus resources on addressing those backlogs and return to normal operations for the 2023 filing season.

    Who Qualifies?

    A failure-to-file penalty is charged when taxpayers do not file their return by the due date; the fine is a percentage of the taxes that weren’t paid on time. It is calculated at 5 percent of unpaid taxes for each month or part of a month that the return is filed late, up to a maximum of 25 percent.

    For example, unpaid taxes of $10,000 could see a penalty of $500 per month, up to a maximum of $2,500.

    To qualify for the refunds, taxpayers must file any 2019 or 2020 tax returns that were originally due in 2020 and 2021 by Sept. 30 of this year.

    The IRS will not forgive penalties in some situations, however, such as where fraudulent returns were filed and where the penalties are part of an accepted compromise or a closing agreement. They also won’t apply to cases where the penalties were finally determined by a court, the agency said.

    Other penalties, such as the failure to pay penalty, are also not eligible under the new relief program, although taxpayers in those cases can utilize other existing penalty relief procedures, such as applying for relief under the reasonable cause criteria or the First Time Abate program.

    A sign for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington on Sept. 28, 2020. (Erin Scott/Reuters)

    “Penalty relief is a complex issue for the IRS to administer,” Rettig said. “We’ve been working on this initiative for months following concerns we’ve heard from taxpayers, the tax community, and others, including Congress. This is another major step to help taxpayers, and we encourage those affected by this to review the guidelines.”

    Additionally, the IRS is providing penalty relief to banks, employers, and other businesses required to file various information returns.

    To qualify for relief, eligible 2019 returns must have been filed by Aug. 1, 2020, and eligible 2020 returns must have been filed by Aug. 1, 2021.

    However, because both of these deadlines fell on a weekend, a 2019 return will still be considered under the relief program if it was filed by Aug. 3, 2020, and a 2020 return will be considered if it was filed by Aug. 2, 2021.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 18:05

  • Biden Energy Secretary Quietly Bullies US Refiners To Reduce European Fuel Exports
    Biden Energy Secretary Quietly Bullies US Refiners To Reduce European Fuel Exports

    Back in June, we reported that overall US Nat Gas exports had exploded thanks to soaring LNG flows to Europe which has grown increasingly desperate for any “friendly” nat gas now that Russia has almost shut off all pipelines toward Europe, in the process pushing US nattie prices sharply higher – if nowhere near where they are in Europe currently. And while these exports fizzled after the Freeport LNG explosion in June, it was clear that nat gas prices (and to a lesser extent, inventory) in the US would be a factor not only of domestic demand, but increasingly also of European imports from the US.

    The same of course, can be said for oil, which is seeing growing demand in Europe – which finds itself increasingly locked out of Russian oil output, which is expected to shrink even more once a Russian oil ban is imposed at the end of the year – as part of gas-to-oil switching which is becoming increasingly prevalent in Europe, and is why US crude sales overseas are also set to hit fresh records through next year as American oil increasingly takes market share in Europe.

    Earlier this month, weekly government figures showed an unprecedented 5 million b/d of US crude being exported. Shipments are poised to average over 4 million b/d over the next few months and into next year, according to the most optimistic in the oil industry.

    And just like in the case of gas, rising oil exports to Europe mean not only higher US oil and gas prices – as supply/demand dynamics of the two asset classes converge – but also shrinking US inventories which end up in Europe. Which is a problem for US oil because while prices are dropping for now, they are oblivious of the fact that commercial US inventories have slumped to near record lows.

    So wouldn’t you know the Biden Administration – the same administration that has been draining record amount of oil from the US strategic petroleum reserve in hopes of pushing gas prices lower by the midterms – now wants to limit fuel exports to Europe.

    That’s the message Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm sent last week in a letter imploring seven major refiners to limit fuel exports. The WSJ obtained a copy of the letter (see below) which the Administration didn’t release publicly, but has since leaked courtesy of Bloomberg’s Javier Blas and others.

    Granholm warned that gasoline inventories on the East Coast are at a near-decade low, and diesel stocks are nearly 50% below the five-year average across the region. And while she didn’t address it – as the SPR drain is hardly something the White House is proud of – total crude oil inventories including the SPR have seen a spectacular collapse since the Ukraine war.

    “Given the historic level of U.S. refined product exports, I again urge you to focus in the near term on building inventories in the United States, rather than selling down current stocks and further increasing exports,” she writes.

    “It is our hope that companies will proactively address this need,” she adds. “If that is not the case, the Administration will need to consider additional Federal requirements or other emergency measures.” In New Jersey they call that an offer you can’t refuse.

    This, as the WSJ notes, is a political escalation from President Biden’s June command to refiners to immediately lower gasoline prices. As average gasoline prices nationwide have fallen to $3.88 from about $5 in mid-June, he has been taking a media victory tour. However, the drop in prices is largely a function of the market expecting an imminent recession, hardly something worthy of a victory tour, and in any case, Biden can thank Americans for driving less.

    Yet fuel storage levels are running low heading into hurricane season when it’s not unusual for Gulf Coast refineries to be damaged or shut down. The Administration fears a refinery outage that causes fuel prices to spike in the runup to the November election. Hence, Granholm’s threatening letter.

    But, as the WSJ editorial board explains, the problem isn’t U.S. exports. It’s the political and regulatory assault on U.S. production and refining. One culprit is the 2019 closure of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery, which removed about 335,000 barrels a day of refining capacity from the Northeast. This made the region more dependent on Gulf Coast and overseas refineries.

    Additionally, fuel storage levels would be much higher in the Northeast if not for New York state’s natural gas pipeline blockade, which has made the region more dependent on oil for energy. One-third of New England residents still use oil to heat their homes, and New York this month is generating more electricity from oil than from solar or wind.

    Most ironic, however, is that the Granholm export threat is also a slap in the face to European allies trying to diversify energy sources from Russia. Fuel supplies are tight globally amid sanctions on Russia, which had accounted for 40% of Europe’s oil imports. Europe has had to look elsewhere for diesel fuel, which some manufacturers and power generators are turning to as a substitute for natural gas. U.S. refiners have recently been exporting more fuel to Europe, but Granholm is now telling them to stop.

    Restricting fuel exports is one more counterproductive Biden policy on fossil fuels that would merely drive up global fuel prices, including U.S. imports. As the WSJ concludes, “Granholm’s bullying of energy companies shows how little she understands about energy markets.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 17:40

  • CDC Finally Admits COVID Mutations Hobbled Vaccine Effectiveness
    CDC Finally Admits COVID Mutations Hobbled Vaccine Effectiveness

    The CDC has admitted what was ban-worthy ‘fake news’ just months ago – that Covid mutated to evade current vaccines which were created for the original strains, after nearly 40% of the people hospitalized in the US with Omicron were vaxxed and boosted.

    As Bloomberg reports, from the end of March through May, when omicron BA.2 and BA.2.12.1 subvariants were the dominant strains, weekly hospitalization rates for all adults spiked, with those over 65 suffering the worst – though it should be noted that total omicron hospitalizations were far lower than when the delta variant was the dominant strain last fall.

    Of course, the CDC’s timing is suspect – as vaccine manufacturers are on the cusp of rolling out their omicron-targeted shots by Labor Day.

    We knew omicron evaded vaccines nearly 9 months ago, even if Fauci lied about it.

    According to the ‘new’ report, CDC scientists found that vaccines and boosters did a better job against Delta when it came to keeping people out of the hospital – with efficacy dropping slightly with the BA.1 variant, and then ‘significantly’ falling off when BA.2 hit the scene.

    Adults with at least two booster shots fared better than other people when BA.2 was dominant. The majority of those admitted to the hospital also had at least one underlying condition. Unvaccinated adults were more than three times as likely to be hospitalized, but breakthrough infections still represented a significant number of the severe Covid cases, the data show.

    US regulators have pushed Moderna Inc., Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE to expedite development of omicron-specific boosters for a September rollout. The drugmakers this week submitted early data to the US Food and Drug Administration seeking emergency clearance for updated shots that target the BA.4 and BA.5 virus strains. Scientists and vaccinemakers are already beginning to look toward next-generation shots that may provide longer-lasting protection against more variants.  -Bloomberg

    Stay tuned for more of tomorrow’s news today.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 16:50

  • Money Does Matter: The End Of The Gold Standard Led To A Lower Standard Of Living
    Money Does Matter: The End Of The Gold Standard Led To A Lower Standard Of Living

    Authored by André Marques via The Mises Institute,

    On August 15, 1971, Richard Nixon announced that the US dollar (USD) would no longer be redeemable in gold. This was supposed to be temporary. And yet, fifty-one years later, here we are. The gold standard was gradually destroyed in the twentieth century.

    Now people are experiencing the consequences: less purchasing power, more economic cycles, and a weaker economy.

    In the chapter 4 of his book What Has Government Done to Our Money?, Murray Rothbard goes over the steps the government took to end the gold standard over the twentieth century, from the end of the classical gold standard to the closing of the gold window in 1971.

    The Classical Gold Standard (1815–1914)

    The classical gold standard tended to prevent the government from running budget deficits and going into debt, as it could not easily create inflation. In 1913, the Federal Reserve (Fed) was born. When the US entered the World War I, US dollars were printed at an excess of the gold reserves. At this point, the US got off the classical gold standard and this money printing contributed to the depression of 1920–21.

    The Gold Exchange Standard (1926–31)

    In this regime, the USD and the pound sterling (GBP) were the two currencies of reference (“key currencies”). The US went back to the classical gold standard (converting USD into gold). GBP and other currencies were not convertible into gold (except for large bars). The Great Britain converted GBP to USD and the other European countries converted their currencies to GBP. So, the Great Britain inflated GBP and the other European countries did the same with their respective currencies (a “pyramiding” of GBP on USD and of other European currencies on GBP). Consequently, as Rothbard stated:

    Britain and Europe were permitted to inflate unchecked, and British deficits could pile up unrestrained by the market discipline of the gold standard…. Britain was able to induce the United States to inflate dollars so as not to lose many dollar reserves or gold to the United States. As sterling balances piled up in France, the United States, and elsewhere, the slightest loss of confidence in the … inflationary structure was bound to lead to general collapse. This is precisely what happened in 1931; the failure of inflated banks throughout Europe, and the attempt of “hard money” France to cash in its sterling balances for gold, led Britain to go off the gold standard completely. Britain was soon followed by the other countries of Europe.

    Fluctuating Fiat Currencies (1931–45)

    In 1933–34 the US abandoned the classical gold standard once again. The USD was defined as 1/35 of an ounce of gold and only foreign governments and central banks could convert it into gold. So, there was a certain link to gold, but the US was in a floating exchange rate regime. As Rothbard stated, by cutting the ties to gold, this regime

    leave[s] the absolute control of each national currency in the hands of its … government [which can] allow its currency to fluctuate freely with respect to all other fiat currencies … [The flaw] is to hand total control of the money supply to [the government], and then to … expect that it will refrain from using that power.

    the disastrous experience of … the 1930s world of fiat paper and economic warfare, led the United States authorities to [aim] the restoration of a viable international monetary order

    Bretton Woods and the New Gold Exchange Standard (1945–68)

    Thus, enter the Bretton Woods system (conceived and implemented by the US at a conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in 1944, and ratified by the US Congress in 1945). It was similar to the gold exchange standard, but with the USD being the only “key currency,” priced at $35 an ounce of gold and being redeemable in gold only by foreign governments and central banks.

    However, this system eventually met its end. The US inflated the USD (“pyramided” it on its gold reserves), and other governments held USD as their reserves and “pyramided” their currencies on those dollars. And throughout the 1960s, the US constantly inflated the dollar in absolute terms and relative to Europe and Japan. This decade was marked by the “War on Poverty,” the Vietnam War, and space programs.

    To finance all this, the US started running large budget deficits, with the Fed monetizing the debt (expanding the money supply). However, the Western European countries that had adopted more solid monetary policies (Western Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy), started to oppose the obligation to accumulate dollars. Europe began to redeem dollars in gold, and the Bretton Woods system began to collapse in 1968 (ending in 1971, when Nixon suspended the redemption of the USD in gold).

    The Closing of the Gold Window and the Rise of the Floating Exchange Rate Regime (1971–?)

    In order to keep the redemption of the USD in gold, the US government had two options:

    1. Cut spending and taxes to reduce the budget deficit. The supply of money would decrease, and the USD would appreciate, which would allow prices to fall to levels that would be consistent with an ounce of gold at $35 and restore demand for the currency.

    2. Dollar devaluation. This would mean that the price of an ounce of gold would have to rise to a level that would be consistent with the supply of USD and the higher prices for goods and services. But this would require the government to reduce the budget deficit to prevent future devaluations.

    Both options were inconvenient for the government. Thus, in February 1973, after two devaluations of the USD that raised the price of an ounce of gold to $42.22, the closing of the gold window became permanent. Therefore, the USD returned to the floating exchange rate regime (as in 1931–45, but with no link to gold).

    As a result, the USD devalued and the 1970s were marked by stagflation. In 1980, the price of an ounce of gold was $850. The price of oil rose from just under $3 a barrel in 1970 to just under $40 in 1980. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was over 14 percent in 1980 (chart 1). It was only in the early 1980s that the CPI began to decline, when Paul Volcker, Fed chairman at the time, raised the federal funds rate to almost 20 percent (chart 2).

    Chart 1: Consumer Price Index (1965–85)

    Source: Trading Economics; author’s own elaboration.

    Chart 2: Federal Funds Rate (1970–88)

    Source: FRED; author’s own elaboration.

    However, in 1980, the US federal debt was “only” $930.2 billion (chart 3). Thus, it was possible to significantly increase interest rates without causing major impacts on the economy. Today, the federal debt is above $30.5 trillion. The Fed can’t raise rates without crashing the economy. The US has gone from being the world’s biggest creditor in the early 1970s to the world’s biggest debtor today (the US has more debt than all other governments in the world combined).

    Chart 3: Federal Debt for the United States (1970–2021)

    Source: FRED; author’s own elaboration.

    As the federal funds rate rose, the USD appreciated and there was a restoration of confidence in the currency. This (along with the fact that the US dollar was already the currency in which oil and other commodities were priced) allowed the USD to remain the main world reserve currency. And this, along with the fact that the USD has been unbacked since 1971, has allowed the US to inflate it over time, destroying its value. As of August 3, 2022, the ounce of gold costs $1765:

    Chart 4: Price of Gold (In US Dollars)

    Price of 1 Kg – 1Kg = 2.20462 Pounds (Left Axis); Price of an Ounce (Right Axis).

    Source: goldprice.org; author’s own elaboration.

    Conclusion

    The consequences of the end of the gold standard began to be felt in the 1970s.

    The devaluation of the USD substantially reduced Americans’ real wages. 

    Before 1970, usually only one member of a family was able to support it.

    From the 1970s onwards, this began to change to the point where today this is only possible for wealthier people. Despite all the technological advancements, the standard of living today is lower than in the 1950s and the 1960s, as today, in order to live and to buy things they want or need, people need to work a lot more (and even go into debt).

    If the USD had not been devalued since 1913 (or even if it had been appreciated, which is what tends to occur when there is no monetary expansion), the standard of living would be much higher today.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 16:25

  • Watch: WH Press Secretary Refuses To Answer Question "What Is Semi-Fascism?"
    Watch: WH Press Secretary Refuses To Answer Question “What Is Semi-Fascism?”

    Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

    After Joe Biden declared that so called MAGA Republicans are “semi-fascists” and “a threat to our democracy,” and charged that they “embrace political violence,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to explain what Biden meant.

    Earlier in the day, a yelling Biden blurted “The MAGA Republicans don’t just threaten our personal rights and economic security,” and further declared that “MAGA Republicans” are “a threat to our very democracy. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace — embrace — political violence. They don’t believe in democracy.”

    “It’s not hyperbole,” he continued, adding “America is at a genuine inflection point. It occurs every six or seven generations in world history,” and further proclaiming “What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy… It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something — it’s like semi-fascism.”

    “I respect conservative Republicans,” Biden said, adding “I don’t respect these MAGA Republicans.”

    In a later appearance on CNN, Jean-Pierre attempted to word salad her way out of explaining what “semi-fascism” is.

    Host Don Lemon directly asked “the President likened what he called extreme MAGA philosophy to semi-fascism. What exactly is semi-fascism, Karine?” 

    When the Press Secretary immediately veered off the subject, Lemon interjected and stated “with all due respect. We have a short amount of time. I want to get to all those things  But if you’ll answer my question, we can get to those things.” 

    He again asked “what exactly is semi-fascism?” 

    Jean-Pierre again refused to answer and testily snapped “by having this back and forth we are actually taking away from the time.” 

    Jean-Pierre repeated the claim that “this MAGA element of the Republican Party” is “attacking our democracy, they are taking away our freedom.”

    Despite not answering the question, Lemon thanked her for answering the question.

    *  *  *

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    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/26/2022 – 16:11

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Aug 26

Today’s News 26th August 2022

  • "Get Trump!" Damn The Constitution
    “Get Trump!” Damn The Constitution

    Authored by Alan Dershowitz via The Gatestone Institute,

    • Many of my friends on the left fear [Trumpism] as much as many on the right feared Communism in the 1950s. And they may have a point. But not enough of a point to destroy a century of progress in civil liberties, free speech, due process, and the rule of law.

    • Articles are now frequently appearing in the mainstream media demanding compromises with important rights in the name of “Getting Trump.”

    • My former colleague Laurence Tribe, who taught constitutional law for half a century now seems willing to weaponize the Constitution to serve his partisan end of “Getting Trump.” Incredibly, he has advocated prosecuting Trump for the “attempted murder” of former Vice President Pence. To do so would require retroactively and unconstitutionally expanding the law of attempts to fit Trump’s ill-advised actions and inactions with regard to Pence. But apparently that doesn’t matter to Tribe and his followers who care more about achieving their “noble” ends than they do about the ignoble means they are willing to employ.

    • The ACLU, which has long objected to the overuse of search warrants instead of subpoenas, is silent about the search of Mar-a-Lago. As long as the goal is to get Trump, anything goes including hypocrisy, inconstancy and unconstitutionality.

    • I would give everyone “the benefit of law,” but not only “for my own safety’s sake,” but for the sake of future generations. Once the Constitution and civil liberties are “cut down” it is difficult to regrow them and the “winds that would blow them” might prevent us from “standing upright” against new tyrannies from the extreme left and right.

    • This important right [to vote ] should not be taken away by unconstitutional means, even if the result were to be the unlikely re-election of Trump. That is the price of democracy.

    There is a movement afoot to “Get Trump,” at any cost.

    The goal is to prevent him from running in 2024. Many in this movement are willing to use any means to attain what they believe to be a necessary and admirable goal.

    “Democracy is at stake,” they claim. They are prepared to sacrifice constitutional rights, civil liberties, principles and the rule of law to stop Trump.

    This is a familiar argument to me. I fought against it in the 1950s, when decent people who believed that Communism was a grave danger to democracy were willing to trample on the Constitutional rights of alleged communists and fellow travelers in order to prevent them from destroying our democracy.

    Although back then the fear was more exaggerated than it may be now, there was genuine concern about the increasing influence of communism throughout the world. The Soviet Union controlled all of Eastern Europe and was making inroads in central Europe and Latin America. Communists controlled China. Khrushchev boasted “We will bury you.” There was concern, albeit exaggerated, about the influence of Communism in the American media, academia, and government bureaucracies. McCarthyism was intended to rout out these Communists and to prevent the spread of their anti-Democratic agenda. McCarthyites, and even some moderates, were prepared to trash the Constitution in order to achieve what they regarded as a noble pro-democracy goal.

    Today the fear is Trumpism. Many of my friends on the left fear it as much as many on the right feared Communism in the 1950s. And they may have a point. But not enough of a point to destroy a century of progress in civil liberties, free speech, due process, and the rule of law. Articles are now frequently appearing in the mainstream media demanding compromises with important rights in the name of “Getting Trump.” Sam Harris essentially said he was willing to break democracy to save democracy. His dangerous words speak for the actions of many on the hard left. My former colleague Laurence Tribe, who taught constitutional law for half a century now seems willing to weaponize the Constitution to serve his partisan end of “Getting Trump.” Incredibly, he has advocated prosecuting Trump for the “attempted murder” of former Vice President Pence. To do so would require retroactively and unconstitutionally expanding the law of attempts to fit Trump’s ill-advised actions and inactions with regard to Pence. But apparently that doesn’t matter to Tribe and his followers who care more about achieving their “noble” ends than they do about the ignoble means they are willing to employ.

    Leftists who railed against the breadth of the Espionage Act of 1917 now want to expand it to cover Trumps alleged misconduct. The ACLU, which has long objected to the overuse of search warrants instead of subpoenas, is silent about the search of Mar-a-Lago. As long as the goal is to get Trump, anything goes including hypocrisy, inconstancy and unconstitutionality.

    A scene from the film “A Man for All Seasons” well illustrates the current debate:

    William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”

    Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”

    William Roper: “Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!”

    Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!”

    Today on the left, there are more Ropers than Mores. Today’s devil is Trump, and today’s Ropers are willing to “cut a great road through the law to get after [today’s] devil.” Like More, I would give everyone “the benefit of law,” but not only “for my own safety’s sake,” but for the sake of future generations. Once the Constitution and civil liberties are “cut down” it is difficult to regrow them and the “winds that would blow them” might prevent us from “standing upright” against new tyrannies from the extreme left and right.

    There is a legitimate way to stop Trump from being elected in 2024, just as he was not elected in 2020: a fair election defeated him once, and it can do so again – without cutting down the Constitution and weakening the rule of law. But it will take hard work, not unconstitutional shortcuts.

    I voted against Trump twice. If he is renominated, I plan to vote against him a third time. That is my right in a democracy, just as it is the right of Trump supporters to vote for him. This important right should not be taken away by unconstitutional means, even if the result were to be the unlikely re-election of Trump. That is the price of democracy.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 23:40

  • China's Water Crisis Could Trigger Global Catastrophe
    China’s Water Crisis Could Trigger Global Catastrophe

    China’s water crisis is nothing new, but it’s gotten worse – and is now on the ‘brink of catastrophe‘ and could trigger a global catastrophe, according to Foreign Affairs.

    Dried-up riverbed of Jialing river, a Yangtze tributary, China, August 2022
    Thomas Peter / Reuters

    Given the country’s overriding importance to the global economy, potential water-driven disruptions beginning in China would rapidly reverberate through food, energy, and materials markets around the world and create economic and political turbulence for years to come. -Foreign Affairs

    For starters, there’s no substitute for water – which is essential for food production, electricity generation and sustaining all life on earth.

    In China, which consumes ten billion barrels of water per day (approximately 700x its daily oil consumption), decades of economic and population growth have pushed northern China’s water system to unsustainable levels.

    According to the report, the per-capita water supply around the North China Plain at the end of 2020 was nearly 50% below the UN’s definition of acute water scarcity at 253 cubic meters. Other major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, are at similar (or lower) levels. 

    For comparison, Egypt had per-capita freshwater resources of 570 cubic meters, and has nowhere near as large of a manufacturing base as China.

    Not fit for human consumption

    Also worrisome, is that 19% of China’s surface water is not fit for human consumption according to China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Roughly 7% was deemed unfit for any use at all.

    Groundwater was worse – with around 30% considered unfit for consumption, and 16% unfit for any use.

    In order to utilize this water, Beijing will need to make major investments in treatment infrastructure, which will require a significant increase in electricity usage in order to power the equipment.

    Working against progress is China’s farming and industrial industries, which dump contaminants into the country’s groundwater – potentially setting the stage for decades of additional impairments.

    Data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization indicate that China uses nearly two and a half times as much fertilizer and four times as much pesticide as the United States does despite having 25 percent less arable land.

    For decades, Beijing has generally chosen to conceal the full extent of China’s environmental problems to limit potential public backlash and to avoid questions about the competence and capacity of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This lack of transparency suggests that an escalation to acute water distress could be far closer than most outside observers realize—increasing the chances that the world will be ill prepared for such a calamity. -Foreign Affairs

    The core problem is the overpumping of aquifers under the Northern China Plain – which according to NASA GRACE satellites, are more overdrawn than those of the Ogallala Aquifer under the Great Plains in the US – which is one of the world’s most imperiled sources of agricultural water.

    In some instances, groundwater levels have gotten so low that underground aquifers have collapsed – triggering a phenomenon called Land Subsidence, which can cause the ground to cave in over large areas, which in some case renders the aquifer unusable in the future.

    In 2003, Beijing launched a $60 billion “South-to-North Water Transfer Project” to use waters from the Yangtze River to replenish the north.

    Meanwhile, China has deployed cloud seeding technologies to lace the clouds with silver iodide or liquid nitrogen in order to stimulate rainfall. It’s also relocated heavy industries away from dry regions.

    In April 2022, Vice Minister of Water Resources Wei Shanzhong estimated that China could end up spending $100 billion annually on water-related projects.

    It might not be enough, however.

    Despite highly innovative programs to improve water availability, some scholars estimate that water supply could fall short of demand by 25 percent by 2030—a situation that would by definition force major adjustments in society. Experiences to date on the North China Plain enhance concern and illustrate the scale of additional needed hydraulic intervention. Despite nearly a decade of importing Yangtze valley water supplies to high-stress areas such as Beijing, large-scale depletion of stored groundwater continues in other nearby areas, such as Hebei and Tianjin. -Foreign Affairs

    The result of a worsening drought will, of course, mean less food.

    60% of China’s wheat, 45% of its corn, 35% of its cotton and 64% of its peanuts come from the at-risk North China Plain – where, in the example of wheat, their annual production of more than 80 million tons is on par with Russia’s annual output, while their 125 million tons of corn is nearly 3x Ukraine’s prewar production.

    In order to sustain these harvests, water is being pumped to farms faster than nature can replenish it. According to satellite data, between 2003 and 2010, Northern China lost as much groundwater as Beijing consumes annually – leaving farmers struggling to find new sources.

    If the North China Plain suffers a 33% crop loss due to water insufficiency, China would need to import roughly 20% of the world’s internationally traded corn and 13% of the world’s wheat.

    Although China has stockpiled the world’s largest grain reserves, the country is not immune to a multiyear yield shortfall. This would likely force China’s food traders, including large state-owned enterprises such as COFCO and Sinograin, into global markets on an emergency basis to secure additional supplies. This in turn could trigger food price spikes in high-income countries, while rendering key food items economically inaccessible to hundreds of millions of people in poorer countries. The impacts of this water-driven food shortage could be far worse than the food-related unrest that swept across lower- and middle-income countries in 2007 and 2008 and would drive migration and exacerbate political polarization already present in Europe and the United States. -Foreign Affairs

    A shocking problem

    China’s water woes go beyond agriculture – with around 90% of the country’s electrical grid reliant on extensive water resources – “particularly hydro, coal, and even nuclear generation, which needs large and steady water supplies for steam condensers and to cool reactor cores and used fuel rods” according to the report.

    If China lost 15% of its hydropower production in any given year due to low water levels, it would have to increase electricity output via other means by an amount equal to what Egypt consumes in a year – something that only coal would be able to accomplish.

    Except – the process of mining and preparing coal is also highly water intensive. And while seawater can be used to cool the limited coastal coal sources, much of the sooty resource is located inland and rely on groundwater, rivers and lakes.

    Read the rest here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 23:20

  • LA Homeless Authority Doesn't Want Anyone Saying The Word "Homeless"
    LA Homeless Authority Doesn’t Want Anyone Saying The Word “Homeless”

    Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

    The LA Homeless Services Authority has put out a call for the word ‘homeless’ to be dropped, claiming that the term is ‘outdated and dehumanising’, and leads to ‘othering’.

    The Authority, which has the word Homeless in its name, wants to see it replaced with terms such as ‘people who live outside’ in order to “emphasize personhood over housing status.”

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

    What other terms are off limits now?

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

    Of course, none of this will actually do anything to improve the homelessness people living outside epidemic that is ravaging practically every city in the country and getting worse.

    Figures from January 2020 show that more than 580,000 people were homeless in the U.S. on a given night, with an estimated 226,000 of them sleeping outside, in cars, or in abandoned buildings. The real number is likely to be exponentially higher.

    in 2019, Los Angeles’ head of homelessness resigned after presiding over a 33% increase in homelessness over the course of just five years.

    Homelessness comes hand in hand with drug dependence, crime, mental illness, an increase in disease, and the ruination of communities.

    Don’t say ‘homeless’ though.

    This policing of language is now a common trait used as a way of avoiding dealing with major societal issues.

    Pedophiles are now to be described as “minor attracted persons”, while “women” or “mothers” are being replaced with “birthing people” or “pregnant people” to appease people with gender dysphoria or just straight up mental illness.

    The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine in the U.S. has issued a new guide, advising hospitals and health carers to change their language to be more “gender-inclusive”.

    The guide lists “traditional terms” such as ‘breast milk’ and then suggests woke alternatives including “human milk”, “parent’s milk”, and most ridiculously “father’s milk.”

    This trend has reached as far as dictionaries literally changing the definition of the word “female” to include anyone who identifies as one.

    We face a future where if you type the ‘wrong’ word, Google will correct your language to help you become more ‘inclusive’.

    *  *  *

    Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

    In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. We need you to sign up for our free newsletter here. Support our sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Also, we urgently need your financial support here.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 23:00

  • Major US Retailers Warn: Lower-Income Consumers Are In Trouble
    Major US Retailers Warn: Lower-Income Consumers Are In Trouble

    President Biden and his top advisers have been adamant that the consumer is exceptionally strong this summer despite the economy slumping into a technical recession. Well, maybe in aggregate, the consumer appears healthy, but numerous retailers pointed out that less-affluent ones are tapped out. 

    Earlier this summer, we saw the first signs of consumer cracking as people maxed out their credit cards and depleted savings amid 16 months of tumbling real wages due to the highest inflation in forty years. 

    Companies from McDonald’s Corp. to Costco Wholesale Corporation to Burlington Stores, Inc. to Nordstrom, Inc. to Macy’s to Advance Auto Parts, Inc. to AT&T Inc. to even Dollar Tree, Inc. have all echoed a very alarming message that low-tier consumers are scaling back purchases as inflation bites. 

    In July, McDonald’s offered a grim warning about the consumer’s state: Customers traded down for less expensive menu items. Lower-tier customers ditched combo meals for value offerings. 

    Also, in July, Costco CEO Craig Jelinek said, overall, “the consumer isn’t doing bad,” but also mentioned, “a lot of people, right now, they’re in a recession because they’re just trying to survive by just buying gas and making house and rent payments.” 

    Sounds confusing, right? But it’s not. With some clarification, Jelinek said wealthier households still have “discretionary income to buy goods,” which means the lower tier consumers are perhaps tapped out. 

    Clothing retailer Burlington Stores this week offered even more insight into the state of the consumer. Michael O’Sullivan, the CEO, stated:

    “We believe that the external factors – economic pressure on lower-to-moderate income shoppers, and very high levels of promotional activity – will continue well into the second half of the year. Accordingly, we are taking down our full-year sales and earnings outlook.”

    Another retailer Nordstrom outlined the impacts on inflation between affluent and less-affluent consumers, which was also echoed by Macy’s. 

    Then car-repair retailer Advanced Auto Parts said that soaring fuel prices and elevated inflation led to declines in do-it-yourself demand.

    Retailers are having a tough time as low-tier consumers appear exhausted. Even Dollar Tree slashed its full-year profit outlook, citing a higher cost of living and inventory woes due to economic pressure on low-tier consumers. 

    Remember that Walmart had already cut its profit outlook as consumers purchased less-profitable groceries.

    Also from the summer was AT&T when CEO John Stankey said customers are starting to put off paying their phone bills. 

    And then there’s the figure of at least 20 million households — or about 1 in 6 American homes — are behind on their power bills. 

    Retailers warning about the souring state of less-affluent consumers is troubling, despite Biden and his senior aides reaffirming every week that everything is wonderful ahead of the midterm elections in November. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 22:40

  • IRS Hiring Spree Is The Biggest Police-State Expansion In US History
    IRS Hiring Spree Is The Biggest Police-State Expansion In US History

    Authored by David Harsanyi via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The Democrats’ new reconciliation bill isn’t just going to be the largest-ever expansion of a government agency. It’s going to be the largest expansion of the domestic police state in American history. Only a statist could believe that a federal government, which already collects $4.1 trillion every year—or $12,300 for every citizen—supposedly needs 80 battalions of new IRS cops.

    White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answers questions during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington on Aug. 5, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

    The average American has less reason to be concerned about cops with guns—though the IRS is looking for special agents who can “carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary”—than they do bureaucrats armed with pens who are authorized to sift through their lives. If you pay your taxes you have nothing to worry about, Democrats claim. But most law-abiding citizens know they have something to fear from a state agency that doesn’t concern itself with your due process, has no regard for your privacy, and is empowered to target anyone it wants without any genuine oversight.

    And, please, spare us this nonsense about the IRS expansion focusing exclusively on “high earners.” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre promised that the IRS wouldn’t engage in new audits of anyone making under $400,000—a claim she has no authority to make and could not possibly predict even if she did. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy also said that the bill was passed to stop an “epidemic of tax cheating amongst the millionaires and billionaires” and promised that “audit rates won’t increase for anyone making under $400K.”

    This is a lie. Nothing in the bill that Democrats passed through the Senate limits audits. Murphy, along with every other Democrat in the Senate, voted against a Republican amendment that would have prevented new agents from auditing individuals and small businesses with less than $400,000 of taxable income. Not long ago, Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan Act—which had as much to do with rescuing as the Inflation Reduction Act has to do with reducing inflation—and changed tax code so that mobile payment apps like Venmo and Cash App were now required to report transactions totaling $600 or more per year to the IRS. Does that sound like a party aiming fire exclusively at high-earning Americans?

    Indeed, poor and middle-class Americans are far more likely to do their own taxes, and thus more prone to making mistakes. In 2021, those making $25,000 or less (often the young and elderly) were audited at a rate five times higher than everyone else. The wealthier you are the more likely it is that you can hire lawyers and accountants to work within the system. There aren’t enough millionaires and billionaires in the world to keep a potential new 87,000 IRS employees busy.

    There are other overlooked aspects of the Democrats’ IRS expansion. The bill, for instance, strengthens the federal public-sector union monopoly that funds Democrats’ political aspirations. IRS and Treasury Department employees spent 353,820 hours engaged in union activism—their PAC gives every cent to the Democrats—in 2019. One can imagine what another 87,000 employees would do for that effort. In the real world, laundering taxpayer funds through unions and using them on political campaigns is called racketeering.

    None of this is to say that everyone who works for IRS is corrupt or power-hungry or an ideologue. The unassailable rules of giant bureaucracies, however, are that they always experience mission creep, they always do enough to justify their funding, and sooner or later, their leaders become political operatives.

    With that said, it’s worth remembering that the IRS doesn’t simply collect taxes. It enforces speech codes. This is what empowered former IRS official Lois Lerner to target conservative groups—“crazies” and “a–holes”—who used words like “Tea Party” or “patriots” in their names. But, even at the time, leftists at The New York Times editorial board praised the IRS for going after conservative groups because they did not “primarily” engage in “social welfare,” and so did not deserve an exemption under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code. Has anything in the evolution of the Democratic Party given you confidence that such power would not be abused or that an engorged IRS would be immune from political pressure?

    Wrestling with an insanely complex tax code—nearly 8 million words—costs Americans billions every year. Rather than flattening and simplifying this astonishingly convoluted code, which not only would have saved citizens but the government money, Democrats decided we needed up to another 87,000 people to enforce it.

    Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or Zero Hedge

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 22:20

  • California Votes To Ban New Gas Vehicles By 2035 In Push For EV-Utopia
    California Votes To Ban New Gas Vehicles By 2035 In Push For EV-Utopia

    The California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted Thursday on a groundbreaking measure to approve a ban on new vehicle sales with internal combustion engines. It’s a move by the progressive state to combat climate change. By 2035, the state would only allow EVs – electric vehicle sales. 

    The plan is heralded as a major acceleration toward EV adoption to tackle what many leftist lawmakers in the state believe the world is rapidly descending into a climate disaster because of increasing carbon emissions:

    “It’s ambitious, it’s pioneering, it’s what we must do if we’re going to leave this planet better for future generations,” Lauren Sanchez, senior climate adviser to Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, said Wednesday on a conference call.

    California appears to be leading the rest of the US (and possibly the world) in the quest for EV-utopia:

    “California will now be the only government in the world that mandates zero-emission vehicles. It is unique,” said Margo Oge, an electric vehicles expert who headed the Environmental Protection Agency’s transportation emissions program under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. 

    CARB’s new rule is expected to require all new vehicles sold in the state by 2035 to be 100% electric. Currently, sales are about 12%. By 2026, the rule would require the state to have at least 35% of new passenger vehicles produce zero emissions and then 68% in 2030.  

    “The climate crisis is solvable if we focus on the big, bold steps necessary to stem the tide of carbon pollution,” Newsom said in a statement.

    The goal to increase the US’ largest EV market from 12% of all new sales to 100% looks pretty ambitious, considering China controls all the battery-making rare earth metals. Also, global supply chains are being rejiggered in a multi-polar world as US companies pull out of China and shift operations to friendlier countries. 

    Autotrader analyst Michelle Krebs told Axios that CARB’s new rule doesn’t sound “realistic” given “there are some hurdles:” 

    “Whether or not these requirements are realistic or achievable is directly linked to external factors like inflation, charging and fuel infrastructure, supply chains, labor, critical mineral availability and pricing, and the ongoing semiconductor shortage.

    “These are complex, intertwined and global issues well beyond the control of either CARB or the auto industry,” John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents the major automakers on policy issues, said in a statement.

    Another issue is cost — as The Epoch Times explained, only “the top tier of society” can afford new electric vehicles. As The Verge reported: 

    “One of the major barriers to mass adoption of electric vehicles is cost. EVs are just way too expensive, with the average price hitting an all-time high earlier this summer of $66,000. That’s disappointing because the auto industry has always promised that prices would come down as EV battery packs became more efficient to manufacture.

    “But even more disappointing is the rate that EV prices are increasing as compared to their gas equivalents. According to a recent analysis by car shopping database iSeeCars, electric car prices saw a year-over-year increase of 54.3 percent while gas-powered cars were up just 10.1 percent.”

    And so, what does that mean for the bottom tier of society who can’t afford new, expensive EVs? Well, as Epoch’s John Seiler opined:

    The Bottom Tier of car owners will be those who can’t afford new EVs, or even EVs a couple of years old. They will be forced to buy much older EVs at high prices, with mechanical problems that will strain family budgets even more.

    Or they will be forced to keep old, gas-powered flivvers running much longer than expected. 

    One can only imagine what the power demand situation in the state would look like with millions of new EVs on the road, requiring daily charges — if lawmakers in the state fail to beef up the already fragile grid with clean nuclear power generation to ensure the transition to a low-carbon economy, then the reliance on unreliable solar and wind could derail Newsom’s future EV-utopia. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 22:00

  • Drastic Increase In Non-Infectious Diseases In Military Explained As Data Glitch: Whistleblower
    Drastic Increase In Non-Infectious Diseases In Military Explained As Data Glitch: Whistleblower

    Authored by Ella Kietlinska and Joshua Phillip via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A medical Army officer who discovered a sudden increase in disease coinciding with reports of side effects alongside COVID-19 vaccines—which the Army has dismissed as a data glitch—said he faces involuntary separation after being convicted but not punished for disobeying COVID-19 protocol.

    First Lt. Mark Bashaw at his command relinquishment ceremony at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland on July 9, 2021. (Graham Snodgrass/Army Public Health Center)

    In January 2022, First Lt. Mark Bashaw, a preventive medicine officer at the Army, started noticing some “alarming signals” within the defense epidemiological database.

    The Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED), which tracks disease and injuries of 1.3 million active component service members, showed during the pandemic a significant increase in reports of cancers, myocarditis, and pericarditis; as well as some other diseases like male infertility, tumors, a lung disease caused by blood clots, and HIV, Bashaw said.

    All these illnesses are listed in FDA documentation as potential adverse reactions associated with COVID-19 vaccines, Bashaw told EpochTV’s “Crossroads” program in an interview on Aug. 1.

    Seeing increases in cases of these illnesses as high as 50 percent or 100 percent in some situations, Bashaw stepped forward as a whistleblower to raise concerns about his findings.

    Bashaw’s whistleblower declaration, submitted to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) who is facilitating the sharing of information from early investigations of COVID-19 products with Congress, said he saw the increasing incidence of these disorders observed in DMED as “very troubling.”

    Specifically, the number of cancer cases among active service members in 2021 nearly tripled in comparison with the average number of cancer instances per year from 2016 to 2020, Bashaw said in his declaration.

    Bashaw’s responsibilities as a preventive medicine officer, with a specialty in entomology, include “participating in fact-finding inquiries and investigations to determine potential public health risk to DoD [Department of Defense] personnel from diseases caused by insects and other non-battle related injuries.”

    Glitch in DMED

    A week after this information was brought out in January in a “COVID-19: Second Opinion” roundtable organized by Johnson, the data in DMED changed, Bashaw said, and all of these troubling spikes in diseases and injuries “seemed to have disappeared and been realigned with previous years.”

    Curiously, the glitch didn’t affect the data from 2021, which remained the same. Instead, the corrected data saw the data for prior years increased, which made the 2021 data look normal and in line with the running average, Bashaw explained.

    In response to the whistleblower claims, spokesperson for the health agency of the Department of Defense Peter Graves told PolitiFact that the data in DMED “was incorrect for the years 2016-2020,” so the system was taken offline to correct the root cause of the data corruption, which didn’t impact data from 2021.

    After the roundtable, Johnson sent three letters to the Department of Defense (DoD) requesting an explanation of the sudden increase in medical diagnosis and the changes in the DMED data.

    “The concern is that these increases may be related to the COVID-19 vaccines that our servicemen and women have been mandated to take,” Johnson said in one of his letters.

    The senator also sent a letter to the technology company that manages DMED asking for clarification of all data integrity issues uncovered in the database.

    Although Johnson received some responses from the tech company, there has not been still a “solid, rational explanation” as to why a glitch occurred in the database and what it was, Bashaw said.

    After the glitch, Bashaw pulled out data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) for injuries related to viral vaccines to compare to his findings on DMED. He compared the average of the last 24 years to data for 2021 and found an eleven-fold increase in the number of suspected adverse incidents reported in 2021.

    “I compared it to the average of the last 24 years, it’s a 1,100 percent increase in 2021. And the only difference we had in 2021 was the rollout of these experimental emergency use authorized COVID-19 vaccines,” Bashaw said.

    VAERS is managed by agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and serves as “a national early warning system to detect possible safety problems in U.S.-licensed vaccines,” according to HHS’s website.

    Though reporting to VAERS is voluntary for individuals, “healthcare professionals are required to report certain adverse events, and vaccine manufacturers are required to report all adverse events that come to their attention,” the website says. However, non-professionals are also able to make entries.

    Emergency Use Authorized Products

    A soldier watches another soldier receive his COVID-19 vaccination from Army Preventive Medical Services in Fort Knox, Ky., on Sept. 9, 2021. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

    Bashaw tried to raise his concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccines to his leadership at the army through the proper channels, recommending that it change its risk communication strategy for the vaccine from ”safe and effective “ to “there might be some problems.”

    However, his concerns were not addressed, Bashaw said. “And then, later, I was targeted due to my own [COVID-19] vaccination status.”

    Bashaw said he was “forced into an experimental emergency use authorized testing protocol, which was only for the unvaccinated.”

    He questioned the policy, saying that forcing unvaccinated individuals into such a testing regimen seems “coercive” and “kind of punitive.”

    Bashaw invoked the provisions of the United States Code, which gives liability protection for epidemic products authorized for emergency use to manufacturers and distributors of the product, the government, and medical personnel who administer the product.

    However, the perspective of the individual who chooses to use these products or to whom the product is administered is not considered by this law despite their taking on all the burden of risk. “For this reason, [they should have] the ability to accept or refuse these products,” Bashaw said.

    “It’s my job as a medical officer in general, to warn individuals, or at least try to communicate [to them] what they might be getting themselves into with these products.”

    Bashaw pointed out that the individual’s right to accept or refuse administration of these products and to informed consent has also been written down in the United States Code, specifically 21 U.S. Code § 360bbb–3.

    Individuals to whom the product is authorized for emergency use should be informed “of the significant known and potential benefits and risks of such use, and of the extent to which such benefits and risks are unknown,” the said law stipulates.

    This applies not only to the experimental vaccines but also to COVID-19 testing procedures and the wearing of masks, Bashaw said.

    Targeted for Disobeying COVID-19 Rules

    Bashaw has been court-martialed for disobeying the mandated COVID-19 protocol. He challenged the accusation saying that the order to follow the protocol disregarded the individual’s right to informed consent guaranteed by U.S. law.

    The court convicted Bashaw, but the judge did not hand down any punishment and recommended to the commanding general to drop the conviction, Bashaw said, but the general upheld the conviction.

    After the conviction, the Army initiated Bashaw’s involuntary separation from service after 17 years of honorable service. His expected promotion to captain was also withheld, the officer said.

    The justification for his discharge was that the army lost trust in his “capabilities as an officer over the past seven months,” Bashaw explained.

    Bashaw filed a rebuttal, hoping to reverse its course.

    In addition, Bashaw filed a whistleblower complaint at DoD, but the decision was made that there was no retaliation against him, and the case was closed out. He said that he then filed another complaint which exercises his right guaranteed by the code of military justice to challenge such decisions.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 21:40

  • Big Banks Build Loophole To Avoid Biden's Share-Buyback Tax
    Big Banks Build Loophole To Avoid Biden’s Share-Buyback Tax

    Share repurchases have been the backbone of the stock market’s rise over the last few years – and simultaneously, and purely coincidentally, the rise in C-Suite remunerations.

    Companies in the S&P 500 spent $281bn on share repurchases in the first three months of 2022, according to S&P Global, setting a new record high for the third consecutive quarter.

    Traders on the Goldman Sachs trading desk responsible for executing buybacks estimated companies have authorized $856bn worth of repurchases so far this year.

    That spendfest – helping stakeholders and not workers – has been an easy-win talking point for Democrats for years, and so, one of the main revenue generators in President Biden’s climate and health package is a tax on share buybacks sending millions of dollars from corporate coffers into the much-smarter and optimally-allocated arms of Washington bureaucrats.

    And so in order to avoid those taxes, The FT reports that bankers and lawyers on Wall Street are hunting for ways to help companies:

    At the center of their efforts is the use of accelerated share repurchase (ASR) programs, a commonly used mechanism allowing companies to complete buybacks that can be worth billions of dollars.

    Although the programmes are recorded as having been executed on a single day, it often takes several months for banks to complete the trades.

    The plans hinge on whether forthcoming Treasury guidance will count the day that the company forks over the cash and receives its shares as the date of the buyback, or whether they will have to wait until investment banks actually buy the stock in the open market.

    The new tax will generate $74bn in revenues over the next decade, according to official estimates, but bankers warn the number could balloon if the 1 per cent level is the thin end of the wedge and ends up being set higher in subsequent years.

    “The assumption, and it’s still pretty early… is that a 1 per cent tax in and of itself is not enough to significantly change behaviour,” said a New York-based banker who works on corporate share buybacks.

    “One per cent now is not a big deal, but what if that 1 becomes 3 or 5 or 10 per cent to raise revenue or score political points?”

    How does an ASR work?

    In a simplified accelerated share repurchase programme, an investment bank agrees to buy a publicly traded company’s outstanding stock in the future as part of a forward contract.

    The bank is paid upfront by the company to buy the stock.

    It then borrows stock in the public market from security lenders, delivering the shares to the company.

    The company can then treat those shares as retired, helping boost its earnings per share.

    The bank, which is effectively short the stock, will spend several months buying back the shares in public markets, ultimately returning it to the security lenders.

    As The FT concludes, equity trading desks have not yet seen a surge of interest in executing buybacks. However, bankers said they expected activity to increase in the final months of the year as companies planning buybacks in early 2023 move some purchases into 2022.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 21:20

  • Bonds Have Rarely Been This Anxious About Jackson Hole
    Bonds Have Rarely Been This Anxious About Jackson Hole

    By Garfield Reynolds, Bloomberg markets live commentator and reporter

    If you were thinking that this week’s Jackson Hole meeting may be one of the most pivotal the Federal Reserve has ever had, then the bond market looks to be agreeing with you.

    That makes it more likely that the reactions from all assets after the event will be violent, and that the impact of the speeches from Powell and others will be large and sustained.

    The MOVE index of implied bond volatility — at times seen as the Treasuries fear gauge — has rarely been this high in late August. In fact, the only other times it was around or above current levels at this time of the year was in 1990, 2002-03 and 2009. In 2008, it would later move a lot higher, of course, as the global financial crisis struck.

    It is noticeable that those prior occasions came either during or just after the Fed cut rates rapidly, rather than in the middle of steep hikes as is now the case.

    With the strongest inflation in 40 years and central banks’ policy response threatening to tip the world into recession, investors are right to be nervous. But that doesn’t mean that potential outcomes from Jackson Hole have been fully priced in.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 21:03

  • DeSantis Eliminates ESG From State Pension Investments
    DeSantis Eliminates ESG From State Pension Investments

    Authored by Jannis Falkenstern via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Gov. Ron DeSantis made good on his promise to take action against the environmental, social and corporate governance movement (ESG), which he called an “alarming trend” and a threat to the American economy.

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Aug. 18, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

    On Aug. 23  the governor, along with trustees of the State Board of Administration (SBA), passed a resolution directing Florida’s fund managers to make investments that do not involve the ideological agenda of the ESG.

    “Corporate power has increasingly been utilized to impose an ideological agenda on the American people through the perversion of financial investment priorities under the euphemistic banners of environmental, social, and corporate governance and diversity, inclusion, and equity,” said DeSantis said in a written statement.

    “With the resolution, we passed today, the tax dollars and proxy votes of the people of Florida will no longer be commandeered by Wall Street financial firms and used to implement policies through the board room that Floridians reject at the ballot box.”

    At a July 27 press conference in Tampa, the governor said that most Americans were not aware of what ESG was and what the goal is of “leveraging corporate power to impose an ideological agenda on society.” He promised to do something about it.

    Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), an investment research firm in New York, described ESG as “investing as the consideration of environmental, social and governance factors alongside financial factors in the investment decision-making process.”

    But some view the movement as a sinister force.

    James Lindsay, the author of “Race Marxism,” described ESG as a “weapon in the hands of ‘social justice warriors’ to shake down corporations and a tool in the hands of those seeking to impose ‘one world government.’”

    DeSantis’ resolution followed an action taken in December 2021 when he reclaimed the SBA’s proxy voting authority from “large financial firms,” and provided guidance to the SBA for proxy voting and investment decisions.

    “This guidance will ensure that the decisions made by these civil servants on behalf of the people of Florida are in accordance with the voters’ values as expressed through the democratic process rather than blindly in lockstep with the ESG mania taking hold of Wall Street and Washington,” the governor’s office said in a prepared statement.

    In the upcoming 2023 legislative session, the governor plans to propose laws that would amend Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices statute that would prohibit discriminatory practices by large financial institutions that incorporate the ESG social credit score metric.

    Incoming Florida House Speaker Paul Renner said that ESG is “a global elite weaponizing American capitalism against us” making it a national security issue as well as a “pocketbook issue.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 21:00

  • Two Plead Guilty To Stealing Ashley Biden's 'Inappropriate Showers With Dad' Diary
    Two Plead Guilty To Stealing Ashley Biden’s ‘Inappropriate Showers With Dad’ Diary

    Two Florida residents have pleaded guilty to stealing Ashley Biden’s diary and other belongings, before selling them to Project Veritas in the weeks leading up to the 2020 US election.

    Aimee Harris, 40, and Robert Kurlander, 58, admitted they took part in a conspiracy to transport stolen materials from Florida, where Ashley Biden had been living, to New York, according to the New York Times.

    “Harris and Kurlander stole personal property from an immediate family member of a candidate for national political office,” said Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

    And while Project Veritas declined to publish the diary (and were still raided by the Biden DOJ), the National File did publish excerpts on Oct. 24, 2020 – and the full diary two days later. While treated as potentially fake at the time, we now know that the contents are legit – including claims that Joe took ‘probably inappropriate’ showers with Ashley, and that she believes she was sexually molested as a child.

    Entries in the diary include the author revealing she believes she was sexually molested as a child and shared “probably not appropriate” showers with her father, some that detail the author’s struggle with drug abuse and the author’s crumbling marriage with multiple affairs, along with entries showing the family’s fears of a potential scandal due to her brother’s new home, and those that show a deep resentment for her father due to his money, control, and emotional manipulation. –National File

    Via National File

    How did it make its way to Project Veritas?

    In the spring of 2020, as Joe Biden was in the process of clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, Ashley was living in Delray Beach, FL with said friend “who had rented a two-bedroom house lined with palm trees with a large swimming pool and wraparound driveway,” according to people familiar with the matter.

    In June, however, Ashley visited the Philadelphia area as Joe’s campaign was ramping up.

    “She decided to leave some of her belongings behind, including a duffel bag and another bag,” according to the report.

    Enter Aimee

    Several weeks after Ashley left the Delray house, the friend who hosted her invited an ex-girlfriend named Aimee Harris and her two children to move in. Harris, in the middle of a custody dispute and financial woes, appears to have been a Trump supporter according to ‘social media postings and conversations.’ She learned that Ashley Biden had stayed there, and that some of her things had been left behind, according to two people familiar with the mater.

    Exactly what happened next remains the subject of the federal investigation. But by September, the diary had been acquired from Ms. Harris and a friend by Project Veritas, whose operations against liberal groups and traditional news organizations had helped make it a favorite of Mr. Trump.

    In a court filing, Project Veritas told a federal judge that around Sept. 3, 2020, someone the group described as “a tipster” called Project Veritas and left a voice message. The caller said “a new occupant moved into a place where Ashley Biden had previously been staying and found Ms. Biden’s diary and other personal items.”

    The “diary is pretty crazy,” the tipster said on the voice mail, according to a Project Veritas court filing. “I think it’s worth taking a look at.” -NYT

    Court filings reveal that Project Veritas bought the diary (though never published it), through an unnamed proxy identified as “A.H.” and “R.K.” – Harris and Robert Kurlander, a self-described venture capitalist, longtime friend, and former housemate of Harris. 27 years ago, Kurlander “pleaded guilty in federal court in Florida to a conspiracy count in a drug-related money laundering scheme” and was sentenced to 40 months in prison, per the Times, which added that the same case resulted in a guilty plea from David Witter – grandson of the founder of Dean Witter.

    Days before the 2020 election, Kurlander tweeted: “Where are Biden’s two kids?” adding “Ashley and Hunter are disasters. Reflection of the parents.”

    Are we allowed to talk about the ‘probably inappropriate showers’ now?

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 20:55

  • China Angrily Denounces Joint US-India Drills Near Contested 'Line of Actual Control'
    China Angrily Denounces Joint US-India Drills Near Contested ‘Line of Actual Control’

    China on Thursday expressed its anger over joint US-India military drills in a southern region of the Himalayas that Beijing officials say violates prior bilateral agreements regarding the contested border.

    Beijing has slammed the drills as third party “meddling” along its border, citing that it previously inked agreements with India to not hold provocative military exercises near the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Despite over a dozen peace talks occurring since a June 2020 border clash between Indian and Chinese forces, which left over 20 Indian soldiers dead, tensions have continued to soar in the contested region. 

    File image via PTI/IndiaTV

    China’s defense ministry issued a scathing denouncement of US military operators reportedly being near the LAC, saying, “We firmly oppose any third party to meddle in the China-India border issue in any form.”

    The PLA spokesman was further questioned on another planed US-India joint exercise: 

    Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defence (MND), made the comments while replying to question about reports of special forces of the US and India recently holding a joint combat exercise in the southern foothills of the Himalayas and their plans to conduct a joint military exercise code-named “War Exercise” (Yudh Abhyas) in October close to the border.

    He continued, “It is hoped that the Indian side will strictly abide by the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and the relevant agreements, uphold its commitment to resolving border issues through bilateral channels, and maintain peace and tranquility in the border area with practical actions.”

    India is a member of the “Quad” nations – a regional security pact also made up of Japan, the United States, and Australia. Last week India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said it was the Chinese side that’s a frequent violator of Line of Actual Control truce agreements that stretch back to the 1990s.

    “They (Chinese) have disregarded that. You know what happened in the Galwan Valley a few years ago. That problem has not been resolved and that is clearly casting a shadow,” Jaishankar said on Saturday.

    Simultaneously, on the clear other side of China the US has been in a simmering standoff with the PLA Navy which has had heavy deployments surrounding Taiwan ever since Nancy Pelosi’s visit in early August.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 20:40

  • Sen. Ernst Demands IRS Watchdog Audit Federal Agency's Hiring And Re-Hiring Tax Cheats
    Sen. Ernst Demands IRS Watchdog Audit Federal Agency’s Hiring And Re-Hiring Tax Cheats

    Authored by Mark Tapscott via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) wants Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) J. Russell George to audit the staff hiring and re-hiring practices of the IRS as the federal tax agency moves to double its workforce with President Joe Biden’s blessing.

    Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) talks to media during a break in the closing arguments of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in Washington on Feb. 3, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

    The Iowa Republican told George in an Aug. 24 letter that her request was prompted by the fact that “earlier this month, Congress passed and Biden signed legislation to double the size of the IRS workforce so the agency can more aggressively audit America’s taxpayers.

    “The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says with the supersized staff, the IRS audit rate ‘would rise for all taxpayers,’ regardless of income, which will ‘result in some audits of taxpayers who would later be determined not to owe additional taxes.’”

    Among the results of adding 87,000 new IRS agents to the 80,000 the agency presently employs, Ernst said, could be that “innocent, hardworking Americans” will be “subjected to unfair and costly IRS audits when the agency is ignoring tax cheats on its own payroll.”

    Ernst was referring to reports compiled and published by TIGTA investigators in 2017 and 2019 that found the IRS had hired and rehired thousands of employees who had not paid their taxes.

    “In April 2019, TIGTA released a report, ‘Improvements Are Needed to Ensure That Employee Tax Compliance Cases Are Adjudicated Consistently,’ that found 1,250 IRS employees had not paid their tax bills in full or on time, including hundreds of whom, were willfully delinquent or repeat offenders, and that the tax collecting agency had done little to discipline these tax cheats on its own payroll,” Ernst told George.

    “A 2017 TIGTA review, ‘The Internal Revenue Service Continues to Rehire Former Employees With Conduct and Performance Issues,’ found that the IRS rehired hundreds of former employees who ‘had been terminated from the IRS or separated while under investigation for a substantiated conduct or performance issue.’”

    The rehires included some who were fired or resigned for “willful failure to properly file their federal tax returns,” Ernst continued.

    In a separate statement in which Ernst announced she is giving the IRS her latest Squeal Award, the Iowa Republican said that among the excuses the IRS tax cheats offered to investigators were not knowing how to use TurboTax to prepare a tax return and forgetting to report all of their income.

    “We have a real problem if the IRS staff who enforce the tax law aren’t paying their own taxes and can’t even understand how to properly fill out the agency’s tax forms!” Ernst said in the statement. “I’ve heard enough of the excuses and these Washington double standards.

    “The IRS needs to start living under its own rules and that’s why I am demanding that we audit the IRS!”

    The statement said Ernst selected the “soon-to-be supersized IRS” for the award because she fears the tax agency will be “going after hardworking taxpayers while ignoring the tax cheats on their own payroll.”

    A TIGTA spokesman declined to comment on the Ernst letter.

    Biden’s plan to more than double the IRS workforce would likely be controversial at any time, but debate on it in Congress and the media was made even more intense because the agency has struggled in recent years to process paper tax returns efficiently and quickly.

    National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins told Congress earlier this year that little progress has been made by the IRS in dealing with a mounting backlog of unprocessed tax returns.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 20:20

  • The Other Shoe Drops: Blackstone Landlord Halts Home Purchases In 38 Cities As Market Crashes
    The Other Shoe Drops: Blackstone Landlord Halts Home Purchases In 38 Cities As Market Crashes

    One month after we reported that home prices finally dropped for the first time in year, an observation echoed yesterday by Black Knight which also found that home prices had fallen for the first time in 3 years last month – in the biggest decline since 2011 – we knew the other shoe in the ongoing housing crash was set to drop any minute.

    We didn’t have long to wait, because just after the close today, all those who had defended housing as backstopped by Wall Street’s biggest firms and thus unlikely to crash, were suddenly silenced when Bloomberg reported that Home Partners of America, the single-family landlord owned by Blackstone, the largest residential and commercial landlord in the US, will stop buying homes in 38 US cities, becoming the latest institutional investor to back away from an overheated housing market.

    The company, which was acquired by Blackstone in June 2021 for $6 billion, told customers that as of Sept. 1, it is pausing applications and property submissions in Boise, Idaho; Fresno, California; Memphis, Tennessee, and 25 other areas. The company will go on hiatus in 10 additional cities on Oct. 1 (incidentally, Boise, ID is the city which saw explosive price increases during the covid pandemic, and has since then seen an unprecedented plunge with Redfin reporting that a record 70% of home sellers had dropped their asking price in July).

    “We assessed several factors such as home price appreciation, state and local regulations and market demand to guide our investment plans to best serve consumers,” Home Partners of America said in an announcement on its website. “We hope to resume purchasing homes in these markets in the future.”

    According to Bloomberg, Home Partners of America, which operates in more than 80 markets, stands out from other large single-family landlords because it’s designed to give tenants a pathway to homeownership. Customers apply for the program and, if approved, can submit homes they would like to eventually buy. Home Partners purchases the property in cash, then rents it to the customer, who gets the right to purchase the home at a predetermined price.

    Under the new policy, customers who have been approved but don’t submit a home by the cutoff date will be withdrawn from the program and have their application fee refunded, according to the announcement.

    Home Partners isn’t the first Wall Street institutional investor to back away from the US housing market, which reached a frenzied bubble during the first half of the year, a bubble which has since popped with both new and existing home sales collapsing at near record rates. As we reported last month, Invitation Homes, American Homes 4 Rent, and KKR’s My Community Homes are among landlords that have slowed purchases during a period of high home prices and rising financing costs.

    Mynd Management, a real estate platform that helps investors find, buy, lease, manage, and sell residential investment properties, advised institutional clients to dial back acquisitions and wait for housing prices to readjust to the interest rate shock. In an interview, Mynd’s CEO Doug Brien told Bloomberg that market conditions could improve in the fall as “buying opportunities” emerge. He said, for the time being, “let’s tap the brakes and watch the markets.”

    Only instead of tapping the breaks, they were slammed full force…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 20:00

  • Lawsuit Seeks Removal Of Judge Who Approved Warrant For FBI Trump Raid
    Lawsuit Seeks Removal Of Judge Who Approved Warrant For FBI Trump Raid

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Tea Party Patriots Action filed a federal complaint against the judge who approved the FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home.

    “Judge [Bruce] Reinhart has a conflict of interest and a pattern and history of hostility to President Trump,” said the filing (pdf).

    Former President Donald Trump waves while walking to a vehicle outside of Trump Tower in New York on Aug. 10, 2022. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)

    The lawsuit then listed several examples including purported Facebook posts that show Reinhart had criticized Trump while praising the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). Reinhart also reportedly donated to former President Barack Obama and to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush when he was running against Trump in 2015, the lawsuit said, citing publicly available reports.

    The lawsuit seeks to have Reinhart, a U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida judge, removed from the case or even removed from his position.

    “Judge Reinhart should be disciplined and removed as a federal magistrate because of his failure to meet the standards of ethical conduct and character necessary for the public to have confidence in the nonpartisan role of a judge in a matter of this extreme public interest,” the suit contended.

    “Clearly,” it further said, “Judge Reinhart is a partisan and has publicly expressed his partisan views against former President Trump” and that his “antipathy for the former President is such that he should have recused when presented with the search warrant for the highly problematic search of President Trump’s home in Florida.”

    Days after signing off on the FBI search warrant, Reinhart ultimately released the warrant and property receipt to the public.

    During a hearing last week and on Monday, Reinhart suggested that he would release the affidavit the Department of Justice used to seek the warrant after the agency submits the document with redactions. He gave the Justice Department, which has sought to block the release of the affidavit, until Thursday at 12 p.m. to submit the redacted version.

    The Tea Party lawsuit also cited a case involving Hillary Clinton in which Reinhart had recused himself, arguing that he should have done so with the FBI search warrant.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 19:40

  • Uvalde School Board Votes Unanimously To Fire School Police Chief Pete Arredondo
    Uvalde School Board Votes Unanimously To Fire School Police Chief Pete Arredondo

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

    The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District school board voted unanimously on Wednesday to terminate the employment of the district’s Police Chief Pete Arredondo, three months after the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary school in Texas.

    Uvalde school district Chief of Police Pete Arredondo hugs a school student at a community prayer evening held the day after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that killed 19 children and 2 teachers, in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

    The vote came as Arredondo, who was one of the first responders on the scene, faced mounting criticism over his response to the mass shooting on May 24 that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers.

    He has been on administrative leave since June 22.

    Arredondo was not present during the vote, which took place in a closed session as required by Texas law.

    Prior to the vote, Arredondo’s attorney George Hyde released a 17-page statement (pdf) accusing Uvalde school officials of putting his client’s life at risk by not letting him carry a weapon to the school board meeting, despite “knowledge of legitimate risks of harm to the public and to Chief Arredondo and all others intending to be present.”

    Hyde also claimed that the school district violated Arredondo’s constitutional due process rights by failing to provide him notice of the complaints against him and conduct an internal investigation establishing evidence supporting a decision to terminate his employment leading up to the hearing.

    “Chief Arredondo will not participate in his own illegal and unconstitutional public lynching and respectfully requests the Board immediately reinstate him, with all backpay and benefits and close the complaint as unfounded,” the statement reads.

    ‘A Courageous Officer’

    The attorney also defended his client’s actions on the day of the mass shooting, stating that a “perfect storm” of circumstances had culminated in the tragedy.

    “Chief Arredondo is a leader and a courageous officer who with all of the other law enforcement officers who responded to the scene, should be celebrated for the lives saved, instead of vilified for those they couldn’t reach in time, and not for lack of effort,” Hyde wrote.

    “There was only one person that caused this – the shooter. Recognizing that it was the Chief, Pete Arredondo, who warned the district over a year before this event of the vulnerability of the district to such an incident, should not be waiting with his head on the chopping block because what he feared happened,” the statement added.

    However, hundreds of people who attended Wednesday’s vote, including relatives of the shooting victims, disagreed and emotions were clearly running high. Many of those in attendance chanted “coward” and “no justice, no peace.”

    Arredondo is the first officer to be dismissed over the police response to the mass shooting incident; one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.

    One other officer, Uvalde Police Department Lt. Mariano Pargas, who was the city’s acting police chief on the day of the massacre, was placed on administrative leave in July amid an evaluation into his response to the shooting.

    In an interview with the Texas Tribune in June Arredondo defended his actions during the shooting, in which law enforcement took 77 minutes to take down gunman Salvador Ramos.

    ‘Shortcomings and Failures’

    “Not a single responding officer ever hesitated, even for a moment, to put themselves at risk to save the children,” Arredondo said. “We responded to the information that we had and had to adjust to whatever we faced. Our objective was to save as many lives as we could, and the extraction of the students from the classrooms by all that were involved saved over 500 of our Uvalde students and teachers before we gained access to the shooter and eliminated the threat.”

    The Texas state House of Representatives on July 17 published a 77-page report noting that there were “shortcomings and failures” across the board by both law enforcement and the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District in its handling of the mass shooting.

    In its report, the state committee determined that Arredondo had “failed to perform or to transfer to another person the role of the incident commander” on the day of the shooting.

    Arredondo also testified to the House committee investigating the shooting that he thought the shooter was a “barricaded subject” as opposed to an “active shooter,” and that his priority was to protect people in the other classrooms from being hurt by the attacker.

    “With the benefit of hindsight, we now know this was a terrible, tragic mistake,” Arredondo said.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 19:00

  • Electrion Interference: Zuck Tells Rogan Facebook Censored Hunter Laptop Story After FBI Request
    Electrion Interference: Zuck Tells Rogan Facebook Censored Hunter Laptop Story After FBI Request

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed on Thursday that the FBI warned Facebook about “Russian propaganda” shortly before the Hunter Biden laptop story broke at the NY Post.

    “Basically, the background here is the FBI, I think, basically came to us- some folks on our team and was like, ‘Hey, just so you know, like, you should be on high alert…  We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election. We have it on notice that, basically, there’s about to be some kind of dump of that’s similar to that. So just be vigilant,” Zuckerberg told Rogan.

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    As a reminder, Hunter Biden abandoned his laptop at a Wilmington, Delaware repair shop on April 12, 2019. The owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, walked into the Albuquerque FBI office, where he explained what he had, but was rebuffed by the FBI. He was told basically, get lost. This was mid-September 2019.

    Two months passed and then, out of the blue, the FBI contacted John Paul Mac Issac. Two FBI agents from the Wilmington FBI office–Joshua Williams and Mike Dzielak–came to John Paul’s business. He offered immediately to give them the hard drive, no strings attached. Agents Williams and Dzielak declined to take the device.

    Eight months later, Isaac provided a copy to then-President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who provided a copy of the hard drive to The Post.

    Back to Rogan – Zuckerberg expressed regret about suppressing a story that turned out to be the truth.

    “Yeah, yeah. I mean, it sucks,” he said, before defending the platform for letting others share the NY Post story, unlike Twitter.

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    “It’s probably also the case of armchair quarterbacking, right?” replied Rogan, adding “Or at least Monday morning quarterbacking… because in the moment, you had reason to believe based on the FBI talking to you that it wasn’t real and that there was going to be some propaganda. So what do you do?” Rogan said. “And then, if you just let it get out there and what if it changes the election and it turns out to be bulls—, that’s a real problem. And I would imagine that those kinds of decisions are the most difficult.” (h/t Fox News).

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    In a letter from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) to Inspector General Michael Horowitz this week, Johnson revealed that an FBI whistleblower claims that agency leadership gave orders not to investigate the laptop.

    “Allegations provided to my office appear to indicate that there was a scheme in place among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation,” wrote Sen. Grassley in a separate letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray.

    Talk about running cover…

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 18:33

  • Manchin Warns Democrats Not To Betray Him On Climate Deal
    Manchin Warns Democrats Not To Betray Him On Climate Deal

    Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is warning other members of his party not to back out of a compromise climate deal that helped Democrats pass the $700 billion Inflation Reduction Act.

    Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) testifies during a hearing on the Electoral Count Act before Senate Rules and Administration Committee at Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Aug. 3, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

    Specifically, Manchin agreed to lend his support to the bill—crucial for the bill’s eventual passage through the evenly divided Senate—in exchange for consideration at a later date of separate legislation that would grant some concessions to fossil fuels and would cut down on regulations of the industry.

    Now, with the Inflation Reduction Act passed, some Democrats are getting cold feet about honoring that deal, which they say would undercut the effects of the approximately $400 billion in climate spending contained in the larger reconciliation bill.

    At a recent event in his home state of West Virginia, Manchin blasted far-left members of his party for musing on undoing the bill.

    “I’ve got the hard left right now saying, ‘Hell no, we’re not going to do anything now that makes it look like we’re helping Manchin,’” Manchin said. “I said, ‘You’re not helping me, you’re helping yourself if you want to get anything built in America.’”

    The regulations that Manchin wants cut often can delay the construction of energy infrastructure projects for years, and he has argued that loosening these regulations would help to increase U.S. energy output and reduce skyrocketing energy prices for American consumers.

    In addition, Manchin has asked for $6.6 billion to help restart the stalled West Virginia Mountain Valley pipeline.

    Though some Democrats seem to be looking at the prospect of betraying Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat has turned his gaze across the aisle to force his party to uphold their side of the bargain.

    Specifically, Manchin has demanded that the regulation cuts be included as part of a stopgap spending measure, which must pass by Sept. 30 to stave off a government shutdown. If he doesn’t get his way on this, Manchin suggested, he is quite happy to team up with Republicans and force a government shutdown until Democrats yield.

    Like almost all Senate legislation, at least 60 senators must support advancing a bill before it can go to the floor for a simple majority vote.

    If Manchin refuses to back a stopgap spending bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will need to win the support of at least 11 Senate Republicans to stop the shutdown.

    “This [loosened fossil fuel regulations] is something the Republican Party has wanted for the last five to seven years I’ve been with them,” Manchin said. “It either keeps the country open, or we shut down the government. That’ll happen September 30, so let’s see how that politics plays out.”

    The real challenge for Manchin, however, is from the lower chamber, where far-left elements have a much stronger hold on the party than in the Senate.

    Progressives in the House have argued that they are not obligated to follow a backroom unofficial agreement struck between Manchin and Schumer as they were not involved in the process. In addition, they have contended that what Manchin is demanding would lessen the effect of the climate policies contained in the Inflation Reduction Act.

    Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a leading member of the progressive “Squad,” opined in a recent interview with The American Prospect that “we sure as hell don’t owe Joe Manchin anything now.”

    House Natural Resources Committee Chair Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) echoed Tlaib’s sentiments in a Newsweek op-ed, writing that “Democrats don’t owe anybody anything in return for passing the bill.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 18:20

  • August On Verge Of Being Tropical-Storm-Free For Only Third Time In 60 Years
    August On Verge Of Being Tropical-Storm-Free For Only Third Time In 60 Years

    If September 1 rolls around without a named tropical storm this month, it would be the third August since 1961 and first August since 1997, without a named storm, according to AccuWeather. 

    It’s been a tranquil hurricane season despite the number of named storms that tend to increase in August and peak in September. 

    Dry air, Saharan dust, and wind shear are reasons tropical activity remains depressed. Storms coming off the African coast hit dry air and wind shear disorganizes them and prevents further development before reaching the eastern Caribbean. 

    If the storms can break through those barriers, there’s a lot of warm water in the Gulf of Mexico and along the US coastlines that could allow storms to develop. But so far, only three storms (Alex, Bonnie, and Colin) have successfully developed. 

    Less than a week to go before August closes out. There minor tropical development has been spotted in the Atlantic Basin: 

    “As these waves come off [the African coast] each one kind of moistens up the atmosphere, it makes it a little more favorable for the next one,” said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Adam Douty.

    “Eventually we’ll get one to develop,” Douty said. “It looks like the one right around the end of the month could be the one. It looks like it’ll be really close whether we make it through the entire month without a system.”

    By this time last year, there were seven named storms in August, with four developing into hurricanes. 

    At the start of the season, NOAA forecasted 14-21 named storms, of which 6-10 could become hurricanes, including 3-6 major hurricanes. 

    This month could end up being the third time since 1961 that there was a tropical storm-free August in the Atlantic basin — only about six days left to find out. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 18:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Aug 25

Today’s News 25th August 2022

  • EU: Controlled Demolition?
    EU: Controlled Demolition?

    Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth,

    As I read through the multitude of daily news articles about Russia, Ukraine, NATO and EU, it’s getting ever harder to escape the idea that there is a controlled demolition of the continent happening. And that neither its “leaders”, and certainly not its people, have any say in this. All we get from those “leaders” are NATO or World Economic Forum talking points. The only independent voice is Victor Orban. Who is either silenced in western media or painted as fully insane.

    But Orban’s Hungarians won’t freeze this coming winter. He just signed a new gas deal with Russia. The main reason that is provided for all the others not doing that is of course Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine. Which is as insane as Orban is, and “totally unprovoked”, say the western media. Noam Chomsky summarized that best:

    “Of course it was provoked. Otherwise they wouldn’t refer to it all the time as an unprovoked invasion.”

    And no, it wasn’t just Russia/Ukraine.Way before that Europe had already screwed up its economies beyond recognition -if you cared to look under the hood. But why make it worse? I get a very strong feeling that those EU “leaders” have alienated themselves far too much from the people they purport to serve, and they’ll regret it. For now it’s obvious among farmers, for instance, but when people start freezing, they will want to know why. And if no answer is forthcoming that is both honest and satisfactory, many “leaders” will have it coming for them.

    The entire energy and food crisis is being sold as “inevitable”, but it is nothing of the kind. They are the result of choices being made in Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam etc., about which nobody has asked your opinion. Something I jotted down a few days ago:

    Is the west using Ukraine as an excuse to commit mass economic suicide? And, you know, fulfill some WEF-related goals? Why else would they cut off all economic ties to Moscow, at a time when it’s obvious they have no alternative sources for much of what they import from Russia? Moreover, why does a country like Holland aim to close 10,000 of its farms when it’s crystal clear that that will exacerbate the coming global food crises?

    If you don’t like Putin, that’s fine, but why should your own people suffer from what you like or not? And of course you can ask whether it’s a good idea that a country the size of a postage stamp is the world’s no. 2 food exporter. But it is. And if you try to change that by doing a 180º, also on a postage stamp, it is very obvious that is not going to go well. And all the so-called leaders know this. But they still do it.

    Prices for heating, petrol, as well as food, are set to go much higher than they have already, mitigated only -perhaps- by the fact that ever fewer people will be able to afford the ever higher prices. But now it’s starting to look like this was all scripted. Because “we” could have kept communication channels with Russia open, “we” could have negotiated for peace for the past 6 months. Not doing that was a deliberate choice. A choice that you and me, another “we”- had no voice in whatsoever.

    The Dutch could have negotiated with their farmers, and slowly addressed their perceived problems with nitrogen oxides, while keeping food production going. And we could have found a way to keep Russian and Ukrainian crops available on world markets too. But it doesn’t feel at all like “we” wanted that.

    Someone made a list of what EU won’t get anymore with the Russia boycott.: “nat-gas, rare earths, inert gases, potash, sulfur, uranium, palladium, vanadium, cobalt, coke, titanium, nickel, lithium, plastics, glass, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, ships, inks, airplanes, polymers, medical and industrial gases, sealing rings & membranes, power transmission, transformer and lube oils, neon gas for microchip etching, etc., etc.”

    And that’s not all. Fertilizer!! Why they do it, I don’t know. Do they WANT to kill their own economies? It makes no sense. And this will not be over soon.

    Reuters of course seeks to blame Putin. But he’s not the one who introduced the sanctions. He’s offered to let the gas and oil exports continue.

    Putin Bets Winter Gas Chokehold Will Yield Ukraine Peace – On His Terms

    Cold winters helped Moscow defeat Napoleon and Hitler. President Vladimir Putin is now betting that sky-rocketing energy prices and possible shortages this winter will persuade Europe to strong arm Ukraine into a truce — on Russia’s terms. That, say two Russian sources familiar with Kremlin thinking, is the only path to peace that Moscow sees, given Kyiv says it will not negotiate until Russia leaves all of Ukraine

    “We have time, we can wait,” said one source close to the Russian authorities, who declined to be named because they are not authorised to speak to the media. “It’s going to be a difficult winter for Europeans. We could see protests, unrest. Some European leaders might think twice about continuing to support Ukraine and think it’s time for a deal.”

    EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wants Europeans to be obedient little critters, and take the punishment for the policies he and his ilk have carved out. Because “we” are destined to win. Mr. Borrell is planing to do just fine this winter, mind you. With the best steak your money can buy, real fine wine, to be consumed in comfortably heated homes, restaurants and offices. A picture of Marie Antoinette pops up in my brain.

    ‘Weary’ Europeans Must ‘Bear Consequences’ Of Ukraine War As Putin Will Eventually Blink: EU’s Borrell

    EU high representative and foreign policy chief Josep Borrell gave a surprisingly blunt assessment of the Ukraine war and Europe’s precarious position in an AFP interview published Tuesday, admitting that Russian President Vladimir Putin is betting on fracturing a united EU response amid the current crisis situation of soaring prices and energy extreme uncertainty headed into a long winter. Borrell’s words seemed to come close to admitting that Putin’s tactic is working on some level, or at least will indeed chip away at European resolve in the short and long run, given he chose words like EU populations having to “endure” the deep economic pain and severe energy crunch. He cited the “weariness” of Europeans while calling on leadership as well as the common people to “bear the consequences” with continued resolve.

    Borrell explained to AFP that Putin sees “the weariness of the Europeans and the reluctance of their citizens to bear the consequences of support for Ukraine.” But Borrell suggested that Europe will not back down no matter the leverage Moscow might have, particularly when it comes to ‘weaponization of energy’ – and called on citizens to continue to shoulder the cost. Who will blink first? …appears to be the subtext here. He urged: “We will have to endure, spread the costs within the EU,” Borrell told AFP, warning that keeping the 27 member states together was a task to be carried out “day by day.”

    And yet, as some like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán have consistently argued since near the start of the Feb.24 invasion, it is inevitable that some will be forced to bear the “costs” much more than others. Already this is being seen with initiatives out of Brussels like rationing gas consumption, which has further led to scenarios like German towns and even residences being mandated to switch off lights or resources for designated periods at night. “More cold showers” – many are also being told. As we round the corner of fall and enter the more frigid months, we are likely to only see more headlines like this: “German cities impose cold showers and turn off lights amid Russian gas crisis.”

    Talking of Marie Antoinette. Emmanuel Macron is the little man of grand vision. He foresees the ‘End Of Abundance’, a veritable “tipping point” in history. And he’s just the man to lead you through it. I’ll give him this: he’s got good speech writers. But speech writers don’t keep the people warm and fed.

    Macron Warns Of ‘End Of Abundance’

    France is headed toward the “end of abundance” and “sacrifices” have to be made during what is a time of great upheaval, President Emmanuel Macron told his cabinet on Wednesday upon returning from summer break. The country has faced multiple challenges lately, ranging from the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine to the unprecedented drought that has battered the whole European continent this summer. Yet, Macron believes that the crisis is actually of a much bigger scale and that structural changes are imminent.“

    Some could see our destiny as being to constantly manage crises or emergencies. I believe that we are living through a tipping point or great upheaval. Firstly, because we are living through… what could seem like the end of abundance,” he said. The country and its citizens must be ready to make “sacrifices” to meet and overcome the challenges they are facing, he continued. “Our system based on freedom in which we have become used to living, when we need to defend it sometimes that can entail making sacrifices,”Macron added.

    “Faced with this, we have duties, the first of which is to speak frankly and very clearly without doom-mongering,” Macron stressed. The president called upon his cabinet to show unity, be “serious” and “credible” and urged ministers to avoid “demagogy.” “It’s easy to promise anything and everything, sometimes to say anything and everything. Do not give in to these temptations, it is demagoguery,” the president said, adding that such an approach “flourishes” today “in all democracies in a complex and frightening world.”

    There is a pattern in the messages of today’s Marie Antoinettes. Borrell wants you to take it lying down, Macron wants you to do that for a long time (like the rest of your lives), and the Belgian PM makes it more concrete: you’ll be freezing for the next 10 years. After which, supposedly, renewables will have been built to keep your kids warm. Spoiler: they won’t be.

    Belgian PM: “Next 5-10 Winters Will Be Difficult” As Energy Crisis Worsens

    Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo might have spilled the beans about the duration of Europe’s energy crisis. He told reporters Monday, “the next 5 to 10 winters will be difficult.” “The development of the situation is very difficult throughout Europe,” De Croo told Belgium broadcaster VRT. “In a number of sectors, it is really difficult to deal with those high energy prices. We are monitoring this closely, but we must be transparent: the coming months will be difficult, the coming winters will be difficult,” he said. The prime minister’s comments suggest replacing Russian natural gas imports could take years, exerting further economic doom on the region’s economy in the form of energy hyperinflation.

    From Greece, even more concrete: energy subsidies. €1.9 billion in one month. To keep the hordes out of the streets. Wait, that Belgian guy said this will last 5-10 years. How is the country going to pay for that? One thing that comes to mind is Greeks will vote for anyone in the next election who vows to talk to Putin ASAP, restore the countries’ good relationships and sign a gas deal.

    The Electricity Subsidy Shock

    A significant rise in the price of electricity announced by state-controlled Public Power Corporation (PPC) for September forced the government to raise its electricity subsidy for September to 1.9 billion euros, from €1.1 billion in August. The subsidy level inevitably follows the PPC’s pricing policy, since it is the dominant player in the market, with 63% of consumers choosing it. While PPC had the lowest price of all electricity providers in August (€0.48 per kilowatt-hour) it raised its September price to €0.788 for those consuming up to 500kWh per month and €0.80 for heavier consumers. In order to stick to its commitment for an actual charge to consumers between €0.14-0.17 per kWh the government had to adjust its subsidy level accordingly, raising it by over 72%.

    How long will this last, you said? Well, according to AP, “Washington expects Ukrainian forces “to fight for years to come.” “Included in the package are advanced weapons that are still in the development phase..”

    ‘Months Or Years’ Before US Arms Reach Ukraine – Media

    Years could pass before some of the weapons in the upcoming “largest ever” package of US military assistance to Kiev actually reach Ukraine, according to Western media reports. On Tuesday, a number of mainstream media outlets cited anonymous US officials as describing the impending announcement of a $3 billion package of military aid to Ukraine. If confirmed, it would be the largest of its kind so far. Washington is by far the biggest supplier of military hardware to Ukraine as it fights against Russia. However, some of the promised equipment “will not be in the hands of Ukrainian fighters for months or years,” according to NBC News, one of the outlets that reported the upcoming package. Included in the package are advanced weapons that are still in the development phase, it explained.

    The same caveat was cited by the Associated Press, which said that it may take “a year or two” for the arms to reach the battlefield, according to its sources. Washington expects Ukrainian forces “to fight for years to come,” US officials told the AP. The AeroVironment Switchblade 600 drone is an example of a weapon system that was promised to Ukraine months ago but has yet to be delivered. Defense News said this week that the Pentagon plans to sign the contract necessary for sending 10 of the so-called “kamikaze drones” within a month. Last month, Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov called on foreign suppliers of arms to use his country as a testing ground for new weapons. He pledged to provide detailed reports about the experiences of Ukrainian soldiers with the prototypes provided to them.

    This is not going to go well. Not for the European “leaders”, not for the EU, not for Ukraine, and not for Europeans. We could start a little bet as to how many leaders will still be in place by spring, and I bet you Zelensky won’t be one of them. Putin will. As for the rest, Rutte, Macron, we’ll see. But don’t underestimate the wrath of people with hungry and cold children. It feels like almost an alien image for 99% of Europeans, but it no longer will be.

    And there is no logical reason for this, there is only the ideology of a few handfuls of little men with grand visions. Hate of everything Russia has kept the west going for 100 years or more. And these little men feed off of that. They can only do that by refusing to talk. Because that’s exactly what Russia does not refuse. Only, they want to talk as equals.

    *  *  *

    We try to run the Automatic Earth on donations. Since ad revenue has collapsed, you are now not just a reader, but an integral part of the process that builds this site. Thank you for your support.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/25/2022 – 02:00

  • Escobar: Geopolitical Tectonic Plates Shifting, Six Months On…
    Escobar: Geopolitical Tectonic Plates Shifting, Six Months On…

    Authored by Pepe Escobar,

    Six months after the start of the Special Military Operation (SMO) by Russia in Ukraine, the geopolitical tectonic plates of the 21st century have been dislocated at astonishing speed and depth – with immense historical repercussions already at hand. To paraphrase T.S. Eliot, this is the way the (new) world begins, not with a whimper but a bang.

    The vile assassination of Darya Dugina – de facto terrorism at the gates of Moscow – may have fatefully coincided with the six-month intersection point, but that won’t change the dynamics of the current, work-in-progress historical drive.

    The FSB may have cracked the case in a little over 24 hours, designating the perpetrator as a neo-Nazi Azov operative instrumentalized by the SBU, itself a mere tool of the CIA/MI6 combo de facto ruling Kiev.

    The Azov operative is just a patsy. The FSB will never reveal in public the intel it has amassed on those that issued the orders – and how they will be dealt with.

    One Ilya Ponomaryov, an anti-Kremlin minor character granted Ukrainian citizenship, boasted he was in contact with the outfit that prepared the hit on the Dugin family. No one took him seriously.

    What’s manifestly serious is how oligarchy-connected organized crime factions in Russia would have a motive to eliminate Dugin as a Christian Orthodox nationalist philosopher who, according to them, may have influenced the Kremlin’s pivot to Asia (he didn’t).

    But most of all, these organized crime factions blamed Dugin for a concerted Kremlin offensive against the disproportional power of Jewish oligarchs in Russia. So these actors would have the motive and the local base/intel to mount such a coup.

    If that’s the case that spells out a Mossad operation – in many aspects a more solid proposition than CIA/MI6. What’s certain is that the FSB will keep their cards very close to their chest – and retribution will be swift, precise and invisible.

    The straw that broke the camel’s back

    Instead of delivering a serious blow to Russia in relation to the dynamics of the SMO, the assassination of Darya Dugina only exposed the perpetrators as tawdry operatives of a Moronic Murder Inc.

    An IED cannot kill a philosopher – or his daughter. In an essential essay Dugin himself explained how the real war – Russia against the collective West led by the United States – is a war of ideas. And an existential war.

    Dugin – correctly – defines the US as a “thalassocracy”, heir to “Britannia rules the waves”; yet now the geopolitical tectonic plates are spelling out a new order: The Return of the Heartland.

    Putin himself first spelled it out at the Munich Security Conference in 2007. Xi Jinping started to make it happen when he launched the New Silk Roads in 2013. The Empire struck back with Maidan in 2014. Russia counter-attacked coming to the aid of Syria in 2015.

    The Empire doubled down on Ukraine, with NATO weaponizing it non-stop for eight years. At the end of 2021, Moscow invited Washington for a serious dialogue on “indivisibility of security” in Europe. That was dismissed with a non-response response.

    Moscow took no time to confirm a trifecta was in the works: an imminent Kiev blitzkrieg against Donbass; Ukraine flirting with acquiring nuclear weapons; and the work of US bioweapon labs. That was the straw that broke the New Silk Road camel’s back.

    A consistent analysis of Putin’s public interventions these past few months reveals that the Kremlin – as well as Security Council Yoda Nikolai Patrushev – fully realize how the politico/media goons and shock troops of the collective West are dictated by the rulers of what Michael Hudson defines as the FIRE system (financialization, insurance, real estate), a de facto banking Mafia.

    As a direct consequence, they also realize how collective West public opinion is absolutely clueless, Plato cave-style, of their total captivity by the FIRE rulers, who cannot possibly tolerate any alternative narrative.

    So Putin, Patrushev, Medvedev will never presume that a senile teleprompter reader in the White House or a cokehead comedian in Kiev “rule” anything. The sinister Great Reset impersonator of a Bond villain, Klaus “Davos” Schwab, and his psychotic historian sidekick Yuval Harari at least spell out their “program”: global depopulation, with those that remain drugged to oblivion.

    As the US rules global pop culture, it’s fitting to borrow from what Walter White/Heisenberg, an average American channeling his inner Scarface, states in Breaking Bad: “I’m in the Empire business”. And the Empire business is to exercise raw power – then maintained with ruthlessness by all means necessary.

    Russia broke the spell. But Moscow’s strategy is way more sophisticated than leveling Kiev with hypersonic business cards, something that could have been done at any moment starting six months ago, in a flash.

    What Moscow is doing is talking to virtually the whole Global South, bilaterally or to groups of actors, explaining how the world-system is changing right before our eyes, with the key actors of the future configured as BRI, SCO, EAEU, BRICS+, the Greater Eurasia Partnership.

    And what we see is vast swathes of the Global South – or 85% of the world’s population – slowly but surely becoming ready to engage in expelling the FIRE Mafia from their national horizons, and ultimately taking them down: a long, tortuous battle that will imply multiple setbacks.

    The facts on the ground

    On the ground in soon-to-be rump Ukraine, Khinzal hypersonic business cards – launched from Tu-22M3 bombers or Mig-31 interceptors – will continue to be distributed.

    Piles of HIMARS will continue to be captured. TOS 1A Heavy Flamethrowers will keep sending invitations to the Gates of Hell. Crimean Air Defense will continue to intercept all sorts of small drones with IEDs attached: terrorism by local SBU cells, which will be eventually smashed.

    Using essentially a phenomenal artillery barrage – cheap and mass-produced – Russia will annex the full, very valuable Donbass, in terms of land, natural resources and industrial power. And then on to Nikolaev, Odessa, and Kharkov.

    Geoeconomically, Russia can afford to sell its oil with fat discounts to any Global South customer, not to mention strategic partners China and India. Cost of extraction reaches a maximum of $15 per barrel, with a national budget based on $40-45 for a barrel of Urals.

    A new Russian benchmark is imminent, as well as oil in rubles following the wildly successful gas for rubles.

    The assassination of Darya Dugina provoked endless speculation on the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense finally breaking their discipline. That’s not going to happen. The advances along the enormous 1,800-mile front are relentless, highly systematic and inserted in a Greater Strategic Picture.

    A key vector is whether Russia stands a chance of winning the information war with the collective West. That will never happen inside NATOstan – even as success after success is ramping up across the Global South.

    As Glenn Diesen has masterfully demonstrated, in detail, in his latest book, Russophobia , the collective West is viscerally, almost genetically impervious to admitting any social, cultural, historical merits by Russia.

    And that will extrapolate to the irrationality stratosphere, as the grinding down and de facto demilitarization of the imperial proxy army in Ukraine is driving the Empire’s handlers and its vassals literally nuts.

    The Global South though should never lose sight of the “Empire business”. The Empire of Lies excels in producing chaos and plunder, always supported by extortion, bribery of comprador elites, assassinations, and all that supervised by the humongous FIRE financial might. Every trick in the Divide and Rule book – and especially outside of the book – should be expected, at any moment. Never underestimate a bitter, wounded, deeply humiliated Declining Empire.

    So fasten your seat belts: that will be the tense dynamic all the way to the 2030s. But before that, all along the watchtower, get ready for the arrival of General Winter, as his riders are fast approaching, the wind will begin to howl, and Europe will be freezing in the dead of a dark night as the FIRE Mafia puff their cigars.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 23:40

  • Visualizing 10 Years Of Tinder
    Visualizing 10 Years Of Tinder

    A decade of swiping and over half a billion downloads later, Tinder still leads the market share of online dating apps in the United States at 32%.

    As Visual Capitalist’s Lydia Adeli and Nick Routley detail below, what started as a “hook-up” app 10 years ago for college students, is now a mainstream hit that is globally used in 190 countries and 45 languages.

    The graphic above highlights key moments that have shaped the app’s success, using data from Match Group’s investor presentations and news reports.

    From Hatch to Match: The Early Days of Tinder

    The concept of the app emerged when the original founding partners, Sean Rad and Joe Munoz, won a hackathon in 2012. Their collaboration lead to the development of Tinder (originally named Matchbox).

    Marketing the app to college students was a strategic decision that quickly gained the interest of millennials. This young demographic had been traditionally underserved in the online dating world, and with the global adoption of smartphones, a mobile-only dating app hit the right spot at the right time.

    Monetization began in 2015 when premium features became exclusively available for paid users. Annual revenue that year was $47 million and by 2021 that grew to $1.7 billion.

    Match Group acquired Tinder in 2017, with a $3 billion valuation. But at the time, very few could predict the stellar run Tinder would have, having risen to become the top dating app in the world and one of the most popular apps overall.

    This surge in popularity is also reflected in the financials — Tinder is just one of the 30 dating apps that Match Group owns, but it represents over 50% of their overall revenues. In addition, Tinder is closing in on generating $2 billion per year.

    Today, Match Group is worth roughly $17 billion, and by some estimates Tinder is worth around $9 billion, over triple the price of the original acquisition.

    Note: Tinder’s value is based on the valuation multiples for online dating companies as well as Tinder’s revenues as a portion of Match Group’s total.

    Tinder and Technology

    The swipe feature was an integral part of Tinder’s design, and it revolutionized the dating world. Gamifying dating was a novel concept when the feature was introduced back in 2012.

    From the 1998 film “You’ve Got Mail” to today’s dopamine-inducing hit of “It’s a Match!,” it’s easy to see the influence technology has on the way we date and mate.

    Below is a snapshot of app features that have been driven by technology and culture:

     

    The Tinder Algorithm

     

    Rating people’s attractiveness can be a controversial subject. Websites like Hot or Not and Mark Zuckerberg’s Facemash are cringe-worthy reminders of the internet’s past.

    During the app’s early development, the discovery of a new match relied partially on the “Elo” rating system to score desirability. Attractiveness was evaluated by how often people swiped. The more selective you were with swiping, the higher your attractiveness was rated within the algorithm.

    But now according to Tinder’s pressroom:

    “Elo is old news at Tinder.”

    Instead, Tinder’s algorithmic criteria for profile discovery depends on the users:

    • Recent activity – members who are sending likes and nopes

    • Profile elements such as the user’s interests

    • Location

    Tinder now says that proximity is a key factor in how people match on the app.

    The Future of Tinder: A Changing Demographic

    Today, as the company attempts to target Gen Z, the company’s revenue growth expectations are more lukewarm thanks to shifting cultural preferences,

    And keeping the app relevant to a young demographic requires thoughtful consideration that goes beyond just adding new technological features. According to research organization YouthSight, more than 90% of Gen Z’ers report having frustrations with dating apps.

    Only time will tell if technological incentives such as features for the metaverse, or virtual coins that further gamify the dating app, are attractive enough for Tinder to compete against the allures of meeting people IRL.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 23:20

  • Conrad Black: The Regime Has Its Man – All It Needs Now Is The Crime
    Conrad Black: The Regime Has Its Man – All It Needs Now Is The Crime

    Authored by Conrad Black via The American Mind (emphasis ours),

    A week after the invasion and nine-hour occupation of former President Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Florida, it is becoming clearer every day that there was no plausible legal reason for it.

    It may have been, as has been widely alleged, a fishing expedition to try to find something useful for Nancy Pelosi’s January 6 kangaroo court inquiry into the “insurrection,” but if so, this was a desperation play, and since no such objective was specified in the warrant nor presumably mentioned in the affidavit supporting the warrant, such a fishing expedition is not legal, though on recent precedent, legal relevance is the last criterion this regime would take into account.

    These are, if not the identical authors, certainly kindred spirits in the law enforcement bureaucracy of those who inflicted upon the much-wronged and disserved people of the United States the Trump-Russia collusion fraud, the whitewash of Hillary Clinton’s destruction of 33,000 subpoenaed emails and reckless and illegal use of a home server for confidential official information, the two spurious impeachments, and the scandalous mishandling of the Biden family’s financial shenanigans, and many other triumphs of malice and incompetence.

    The burden of the deluge of semi-official leaks pipelined through the docile Trump-hating media last week gradually back-pedaled from the lofty insinuations of those elusive “high crimes and misdemeanors” equivalent to treason, to an archival dispute of the kind that all departing presidents have. The climb-down spiked briefly with the absurdity of misuse of nuclear military information in contravention of the Espionage Act, and wound up the week as a toothless, general-purpose, normal legal precaution. The normal Democrat practice in this kind of perversion of the prosecutorial apparatus is to rely upon the docile and rabidly partisan national political media to transmit a Niagara of dishonest official leaks. The New York Times, usually reliable as an administration source, has revealed that President Biden pressured the attorney general to prosecute Trump. The best he could do, apparently, was this burlesque of due process, with a feeble and belated acknowledgment that he had approved the invasion and that, of course, the fact of an investigation in progress prevented him from saying anything about it.

    In this case, the spigots of leaks shut down after a few days, and in an agile act of improvisation, the anti-Trump media has taken to accusing the former president and his followers of inciting disrespect for the justice system and betraying a sense of unease at having Trump’s papers and conduct closely examined, thus inciting the inference that he must have been guilty of something. This is the familiar reasoning of people so possessed by hate that they wish to charge somebody with something, and in failing to find any useful evidence, they cite the absence of the evidence as illustrative of the fiendish cunning of the targeted person, in hiding or destroying the evidence.

    This was the basis of the late Christopher Hitchens’ accusation against Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger of being responsible for the death of Chilean president Salvador Allende in 1973. And it was the essence of journeyman historian Michael Beschloss’ comments that while it was true that what was being done to President Trump was unprecedented, that was only because Trump was so obviously more criminally dishonest in his behavior than any previous American president, and so there was no need to elaborate upon it.

    The fact that there is no evidence against Trump of having done anything illegal, despite years of obsessive and frequently illegal official persecution of him to unearth such evidence, merely confirms the satanic depths of his wickedness. Next we will have historian-for-hire John Meacham give us another chorus about Joe Biden’s resemblance to Franklin D. Roosevelt (who in four terms as he led the country out of the Great Depression and to the brink of victory in World War II never had one day of a negative public approval rating).     

    The Wall Street Journal, which has been quite professional and even-handed in its treatment of Donald Trump as a politician, warned on the weekend that it would damage his credibility if he objected to the publication of the warrant for the intrusion at his house. They need not have worried: Trump was happy to have it made public and the shoe was now on the other foot, as the Justice Department is reduced to lame excuses for not releasing the affidavit on the basis of which the judge-shopped, professedly Trump-hating, magistrate to whom the affidavit was submitted, authorized the intrusion.

    Legally, it need now hardly be pointed out that the execution of the search warrant at Trump’s home was an outrage. Justice should have proceeded by subpoena, and cannot explain why it waited for 19 months since Trump left office, during which Trump claims he cooperated entirely with it, to take this step. Even if there was some dispute on the matter of the subpoena, one hardly needs to launch a major raid to handle the disposition of such a non-urgent matter. Since a president can declassify anything he wants, the regime’s media apologists are reduced to claiming he must have declassified some things incorrectly.

    This is all of a piece with six years of perversion of the highest legal and intelligence offices to persecute a political opponent. The seizure of the former president’s three passports is the crowning imbecility: that the most famous person in the world is a flight-risk is a hard sell-even to the most pathological Trump-haters, and the passports are being returned, (with extensive executive and lawyer-client privileged material it is implicitly acknowledged was also seized improperly).  

    The only conceivable explanation for this action is not to be found in the farrago of nonsense in the deluge of official leaks; it is that the Democratic strategists believe that their only hope for retaining control of the U.S. Senate at the midterms is to shift the conversation from the fiasco of the Biden administration and focus it on the chaos that regularly erupts around Trump, even though that chaos is usually generated by his enemies and not by him. The former president seems to have recognized the intention behind this impotent pseudo-legal nonsense and has been relatively restrained in his response and has called for the de-escalation of overheated spirits.

    The Democrats, who until recently subscribed to the wishful fantasy that Trump’s support was melting away, have effectively confirmed him as commander of the Republicans. They may also have finally generated some independent voter empathy for him, and enabled him to appear in a more generous light than he has had at any time in the last six years. The legal farce is de-escalating, and it will be a real challenge even for the totalitarian legions of media Trump-haters to maintain a straight face and unwavering inflection as they try to provide a legal justification for this preposterous flim-flam job.   

    is a Canadian-born British peer, and former publisher of The London Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Jerusalem Post, and Canada’s National Post, of which he was founder. An acclaimed author and biographer, his latest book is Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other (2018).

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 23:00

  • Working From Home Now Means Letting Corporate Surveillance Into Your Daily Life
    Working From Home Now Means Letting Corporate Surveillance Into Your Daily Life

    The covid pandemic event has inspired a generation of workers with false notions about labor, production and work ethics, to the point that it may be a decade or more before people finally return to reality and stop living in fantasy.  

    One prominent issue, of course, is the anti-work movement, which essentially believes that no-skill work should be paid a living wage or that such workers should be supplemented by government welfare.  This is the beginning of Universal Basic Income (UBI), which means millions of people dependent on government fiat and maintaining this relationship would become a matter of survival.  You can’t rebel against a corrupt government when you depend on them to feed you and your family.  

    The covid stimulus checks acclimated the public to the taste of UBI (not to mention the rent moratoriums) and many of them now have an addiction to living for free.  Large numbers of Americans and Europeans think that this is the way it should be forever, but nothing is for free, kids.  There’s always a cost and a consequence.  

    Another issue is the rise of the “work from home movement.” Certainly, there are many technology jobs, media jobs and data analysis jobs that can be accomplished from home and are perhaps better done outside of an office than inside of one.  The advantages are substantial, with reduced traffic in major population centers, psychological relief from the often stifling office environment and potentially improved work output.  Businesses pay for less office space and less supplies also.  It seems like a win-win.

    However, there is an agenda afoot which seeks to exploit the work-from-home dynamic and pervert it into something ugly.  And, it is rooted in a growing trend of corporate surveillance of employees in their own houses. 

    Eight out of ten the largest employers in the US already track productivity metrics at the workplace.  This means monitoring software on work computers, surveillance cameras, facial recognition, mood recognition, keystroke records, and even cell phone tracking apps with GPS records.  The argument in favor of this kind of Orwellian all-seeing eye is: “You don’t have to work here if you don’t want to – you can always quit.”  

    This is a cop-out response that is designed to circumvent any discussion on the unethical nature of employee monitoring to such an extreme level.  People are being paid, but at the same time they are being treated like property – they are being treated like slaves with no privacy.   And what if every single employer uses employee surveillance?  What if there are no options?  You can quit, but will you be able to find a work environment that doesn’t treat you like this?

    This kind of pervasive intrusion is exactly what the work-from-home movement is inviting into their daily lives, as more and more companies are now demanding that employees allow technological surveillance onto the home computers, cell phones and even allow corporations to insert video surveillance into worker houses.

    A research paper recently published by the SAGE Journal of Management suggests that employee monitoring does not lead to more productivity; rather, it leads to the opposite.  Participants in worker experiments were found to be less productive and more likely to break the rules if they knew they were being watched.  The paper asserts that surveillance takes away the sense of personal responsibility that workers require to be involved in their jobs.    

    One could argue that the drop in productivity in the experiments is because the threat of real consequences was not present.  There is some legitimacy to this.

    In a world where anyone can now be fired from their job and lose their livelihood for an offhand remark on social media, what would happen if the same kind of consequences extended to discussions in our homes?  What if work surveillance wasn’t just about “productivity,” but also about controlling behavior and ideals of employees?  This is exactly where we are heading; a future where what you say in the comfort of your own living room is dissected and examined for “wrong thinking.”  And what is “wrong thinking?”  It’s whatever the people in power say it is.  A person criticizing the very nature of corporate surveillance could one day be fired for “wrong think.”     

    There are choices, the more obvious being self-employment and starting your own business.  But as the economy continues to decline starting your own business will be increasingly difficult.  One could simply go off-grid completely and try to produce necessities for themselves, and this is really what we need rather than a work-from-home movement, but it will take large communities of people all going off grid to make much of a difference.  

    Ultimately, the entire basis for worker surveillance is built on a fallacy.  Most jobs that can be accomplished at home are not paid by the hour.  Busywork is not the same as productivity.  If an employee is doing their work the boss will know it because that employee will turn in finished work.  Companies don’t need to monitor employees, they only need to monitor RESULTS.  If a worker is solid, they’ll have great results and an extensive catalog of finished projects.  If a worker is lazy, then they’ll have no results to show.  It’s really that simple.  

    So why the massive invasion of privacy?  Maybe it’s not about productivity at all.  Maybe it’s about acclimating the public through their jobs to being watched 24/7, and accepting that this is the new normal. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 22:40

  • 4.9 Million Illegal Aliens Crossed US Border In 18 Months Since Biden Took Office: Report
    4.9 Million Illegal Aliens Crossed US Border In 18 Months Since Biden Took Office: Report

    Authored by Rita Li via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Nearly 5 million illegal immigrants have crossed U.S. borders in the 18 months since President Joe Biden took office, according to a new report.

    Illegal immigrants walk from Mexico into the United States on their way to await processing by the U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma, Ariz., on May 23, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

    A total of 4.9 million illegal aliens, including some 900,000 “gotaways” who evaded apprehension and have since disappeared into American communities, have entered the country by the end of July, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) said in a statement on Aug. 16.

    “Roughly the equivalent of the entire population of Ireland has illegally entered the United States in the 18 months President Biden has been in office, with many being released into American communities,” FAIR President Dan Stein said in the press release.

    He blamed Biden for putting the unprecedented surge down to external factors, not the administration’s own “sabotage” of immigration laws. After rolling back key Trump-era policies, Biden presided over the largest number of apprehensions of illegal immigrants at the U.S.–Mexico border in a calendar year in history, recording almost 1.9 million arrests last year.

    “The endless flow of illegal aliens and the incursion of lethal narcotics pouring across our border will not end until this administration demonstrates a willingness to enforce our laws,” Stein said.

    The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

    New Surge

    Two million illegal aliens have entered the country in the first 10 months of this financial year, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In June, more than 207,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended attempting to cross the U.S.–Mexico border, making this the highest number of June apprehensions in history.

    Although July saw a slim decline in CBP encounters at the southwest border of nearly 200,000, it turned out to be the 17th straight month with more than 150,000 encounters, representing a 325 percent increase over the average number of July apprehensions under the Trump administration, the statement reads.

    Among the more than 213,000 illegal aliens deported from the border in July, only 37 percent of the arrests led to expulsions under Title 42—a 7 percent drop from last month. Border agents processed the majority of the rest under Title 8, which oftentimes lets illegal aliens be released into the U.S. interior while their cases sit in backlogged immigration courts.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 22:20

  • Australia Fast-Tracks 'Killer' Robo-Subs To Plug Capability Gap
    Australia Fast-Tracks ‘Killer’ Robo-Subs To Plug Capability Gap

    As the submarine “gap” between China’s military and Australia’s widens, a company named “Anduril” will build the first 30-meter-long underwater ‘killer’ drone next year as a deterrent against Chinese aggression, according to The Guardian. 

    Australia’s defenses are in a precarious situation as a replacement submarine project’s disastrous failure will leave waters around the US-friendly country in the Indo-Pacific region vulnerable. But that’s where Anduril plugs the sub-gap by building the country’s “iPhone” of artificial-intelligence-controlled killer robots until the replacement nuclear sub fleet is operational by the late 2030s. 

    The extra large autonomous undersea vehicles (XLAUVs) can dive 6,000 meters while conducting intelligence gathering, reconnaissance, and surveillance operations. XLAUVs can carry various payloads, including sensors, scanners, and weapons. 

    Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, a tech entrepreneur who sold Oculus Rift to Facebook in 2014, has a $100 million deal with the Australian Navy to deliver three prototype XLAUVs in three years. 

    The new killer robot subs will accelerate Australia’s looming submarine capability gap as the aging Collins-class fleet is phased out amid threats of Chinese aggression. 

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

    “Undersea vehicles will be a really important part of deterring aggression,” he told The Guardian. 

    Questioned about robo-subs plugging the capability gap, Luckey said: 

    “That’s one of the reasons we’re pulling the timing in. When you’re talking about a gap, we can help mitigate the problem but we’re not going to fix the problem.”

    He noted that crewed subs will always be needed, though robo-subs will revolutionize the modern battlefield. 

    “Having a human in the loop is critical so you’ll have manned submarines working hand in hand with unmanned submarines,” he said.

    Given Australia’s geography and the security risks of Chinese aggressions, along with replacement subs for its aging fleet, which are two decades behind schedule, Canberra has put its faith in a tech entrepreneur to plug the subgap with killer robotic drones. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 22:00

  • The FBI's Gestapo Tactics: Hallmarks Of An Authoritarian Regime
    The FBI’s Gestapo Tactics: Hallmarks Of An Authoritarian Regime

    Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

    “We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. FBI is tending in that direction.”

    – Harry Truman

    With every passing day, the United States government borrows yet another leaf from Nazi Germany’s playbook: Secret police. Secret courts. Secret government agencies. Surveillance. Censorship. Intimidation. Harassment. Torture. Brutality. Widespread corruption. Entrapment. Indoctrination. Indefinite detention.

    These are not tactics used by constitutional republics, where the rule of law and the rights of the citizenry reign supreme. Rather, they are the hallmarks of authoritarian regimes, where secret police control the populace through intimidation, fear and official lawlessness on the part of government agents.

    That authoritarian danger is now posed by the FBI, whose love affair with totalitarianism began long ago. Indeed, according to the New York Times, the U.S. government so admired the Nazi regime that following the second World War, it secretly and aggressively recruited at least a thousand Nazis, including some of Hitler’s highest henchmen as part of Operation Paperclip. American taxpayers have been paying to keep these ex-Nazis on the U.S. government’s payroll ever since.

    If the government’s covert, taxpayer-funded employment of Nazis after World War II weren’t bad enough, U.S. government agencies—the FBI, CIA and the military—adopted many of the Third Reich’s well-honed policing tactics, and have used them against American citizens.

    Indeed, the FBI’s laundry list of crimes against the American people includes surveillance, disinformation, blackmail, entrapment, intimidation tactics, harassment and indoctrination, governmental overreach, abuse, misconduct, trespassing, enabling criminal activity, and damaging private property, and that’s just based on what we know.

    Compare the FBI’s far-reaching powers to surveil, detain, interrogate, investigate, prosecute, punish, police and generally act as a law unto themselves—powers that have grown since 9/11, transforming the FBI into a mammoth federal policing and surveillance agency that largely operates as a power unto itself, beyond the reach of established laws, court rulings and legislative mandates—to its Nazi counterparts, the Gestapo—and then try to convince yourself that the United States is not a totalitarian police state.

    Just like the Gestapo, the FBI has vast resources, vast investigatory powers, and vast discretion to determine who is an enemy of the state.

    Today, the FBI employs more than 35,000 individuals and operates more than 56 field offices in major cities across the U.S., as well as 400 resident agencies in smaller towns, and more than 50 international offices. In addition to their “data campus,” which houses more than 96 million sets of fingerprints from across the United States and elsewhere, the FBI has also built a vast repository of “profiles of tens of thousands of Americans and legal residents who are not accused of any crime. What they have done is appear to be acting suspiciously to a town sheriff, a traffic cop or even a neighbor.” The FBI’s burgeoning databases on Americans are not only being added to and used by local police agencies, but are also being made available to employers for real-time background checks.

    All of this is made possible by the agency’s nearly unlimited resources (President Biden’s budget projections allocate $10.8 billion for the FBI), the government’s vast arsenal of technology, the interconnectedness of government intelligence agencies, and information sharing through fusion centers—data collecting intelligence agencies spread throughout the country that constantly monitor communications (including those of American citizens), everything from internet activity and web searches to text messages, phone calls and emails.

    Much like the Gestapo spied on mail and phone calls, FBI agents have carte blanche access to the citizenry’s most personal information.

    Working through the U.S. Post Office, the FBI has access to every piece of mail that passes through the postal system: more than 160 billion pieces are scanned and recorded annually. Moreover, the agency’s National Security Letters, one of the many illicit powers authorized by the USA Patriot Act, allows the FBI to secretly demand that banks, phone companies, and other businesses provide them with customer information and not disclose those demands to the customer. An internal audit of the agency found that the FBI practice of issuing tens of thousands of NSLs every year for sensitive information such as phone and financial records, often in non-emergency cases, is riddled with widespread constitutional violations.

    Much like the Gestapo’s sophisticated surveillance programs, the FBI’s spying capabilities can delve into Americans’ most intimate details (and allow local police to do so, as well).

    In addition to technology (which is shared with police agencies) that allows them to listen in on phone calls, read emails and text messages, and monitor web activities, the FBI’s surveillance boasts an invasive collection of spy tools ranging from Stingray devices that can track the location of cell phones to Triggerfish devices which allow agents to eavesdrop on phone calls.  In one case, the FBI actually managed to remotely reprogram a “suspect’s” wireless internet card so that it would send “real-time cell-site location data to Verizon, which forwarded the data to the FBI.” Law enforcement agencies are also using social media tracking software to monitor Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts. Moreover, secret FBI rules also allow agents to spy on journalists without significant judicial oversight.

    Much like the Gestapo’s ability to profile based on race and religion, and its assumption of guilt by association, the FBI’s approach to pre-crime allows it to profile Americans based on a broad range of characteristics including race and religion.

    The agency’s biometric database has grown to massive proportions, the largest in the world, encompassing everything from fingerprints, palm, face and iris scans to DNA, and is being increasingly shared between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in an effort to target potential criminals long before they ever commit a crime. This is what’s known as pre-crime. Yet it’s not just your actions that will get you in trouble. In many cases, it’s also who you know—even minimally—and where your sympathies lie that could land you on a government watch list. Moreover, as the Intercept reports, despite anti-profiling prohibitions, the bureau “claims considerable latitude to use race, ethnicity, nationality, and religion in deciding which people and communities to investigate.”

    Much like the Gestapo’s power to render anyone an enemy of the state, the FBI has the power to label anyone a domestic terrorist.

    As part of the government’s so-called ongoing war on terror, the nation’s de facto secret police force has begun using the terms “anti-government,” “extremist” and “terrorist” interchangeably. Moreover, the government continues to add to its growing list of characteristics that can be used to identify an individual (especially anyone who disagrees with the government) as a potential domestic terrorist. For instance, you might be a domestic terrorist in the eyes of the FBI (and its network of snitches) if you:

    • express libertarian philosophies (statements, bumper stickers)

    • exhibit Second Amendment-oriented views (NRA or gun club membership)

    • read survivalist literature, including apocalyptic fictional books

    • show signs of self-sufficiency (stockpiling food, ammo, hand tools, medical supplies)

    • fear an economic collapse

    • buy gold and barter items

    • subscribe to religious views concerning the book of Revelation

    • voice fears about Big Brother or big government

    • expound about constitutional rights and civil liberties

    • believe in a New World Order conspiracy

    Much like the Gestapo infiltrated communities in order to spy on the German citizenry, the FBI routinely infiltrates political and religious groups, as well as businesses.

    As Cora Currier writes for the Intercept: “Using loopholes it has kept secret for years, the FBI can in certain circumstances bypass its own rules in order to send undercover agents or informants into political and religious organizations, as well as schools, clubs, and businesses…” The FBI has even been paying Geek Squad technicians at Best Buy to spy on customers’ computers without a warrant.

    Just as the Gestapo united and militarized Germany’s police forces into a national police force, America’s police forces have largely been federalized and turned into a national police force.

    In addition to government programs that provide the nation’s police forces with military equipment and training, the FBI also operates a National Academy that trains thousands of police chiefs every year and indoctrinates them into an agency mindset that advocates the use of surveillance technology and information sharing between local, state, federal, and international agencies.

    Just as the Gestapo’s secret files on political leaders were used to intimidate and coerce, the FBI’s files on anyone suspected of “anti-government” sentiment have been similarly abused.

    As countless documents make clear, the FBI has no qualms about using its extensive powers in order to blackmail politicians, spy on celebrities and high-ranking government officials, and intimidate and attempt to discredit dissidents of all stripes. For example, not only did the FBI follow Martin Luther King Jr. and bug his phones and hotel rooms, but agents also sent him anonymous letters urging him to commit suicide and pressured a Massachusetts college into dropping King as its commencement speaker.

    Just as the Gestapo carried out entrapment operations, the FBI has become a master in the art of entrapment.

    In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks the FBI has not only targeted vulnerable individuals but has also lured or blackmailed them into fake terror plots while actually equipping them with the organization, money, weapons and motivation to carry out the plots—entrapment—and then jailing or deporting them for their so-called terrorist plotting.

    This is what the FBI characterizes as “forward leaning—preventative—prosecutions.” In addition to creating certain crimes in order to then “solve” them, the FBI also gives certain informants permission to break the law, “including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies,” in exchange for their cooperation on other fronts.

    USA Today estimates that FBI agents have authorized criminals to engage in as many as 15 crimes a day. Some of these informants are getting paid astronomical sums: one particularly unsavory fellow, later arrested for attempting to run over a police officer, was actually paid $85,000 for his help laying the trap for an entrapment scheme.

    When and if a true history of the FBI is ever written, it will not only track the rise of the American police state but it will also chart the decline of freedom in America, in much the same way that the empowerment of Germany’s secret police tracked with the rise of the Nazi regime.

    How did the Gestapo become the terror of the Third Reich?

    It did so by creating a sophisticated surveillance and law enforcement system that relied for its success on the cooperation of the military, the police, the intelligence community, neighborhood watchdogs, government workers for the post office and railroads, ordinary civil servants, and a nation of snitches inclined to report “rumors, deviant behavior, or even just loose talk.”

    In other words, ordinary citizens working with government agents helped create the monster that became Nazi Germany. Writing for the New York Times, Barry Ewen paints a particularly chilling portrait of how an entire nation becomes complicit in its own downfall by looking the other way:

    In what may be his most provocative statement, [author Eric A.] Johnson says that ‘‘most Germans may not even have realized until very late in the war, if ever, that they were living in a vile dictatorship.’’ This is not to say that they were unaware of the Holocaust; Johnson demonstrates that millions of Germans must have known at least some of the truth. But, he concludes, ‘‘a tacit Faustian bargain was struck between the regime and the citizenry.’’ The government looked the other way when petty crimes were being committed. Ordinary Germans looked the other way when Jews were being rounded up and murdered; they abetted one of the greatest crimes of the 20th century not through active collaboration but through passivity, denial and indifference.

    Much like the German people, “we the people” have become passive, polarized, gullible, easily manipulated, and lacking in critical thinking skills.  Distracted by entertainment spectacles, politics and screen devices, we too are complicit, silent partners in creating a police state similar to the terror practiced by former regimes.

    Had the government tried to ram such a state of affairs down our throats suddenly, it might have had a rebellion on its hands. Instead, the American people have been given the boiling frog treatment, immersed in water that slowly is heated up—degree by degree—so that they’ve fail to notice that they’re being trapped and cooked and killed.

    “We the people” are in hot water now.

    The Constitution doesn’t stand a chance against a federalized, globalized standing army of government henchmen protected by legislative, judicial and executive branches that are all on the same side, no matter what political views they subscribe to: suffice it to say, they are not on our side or the side of freedom.

    From Presidents Clinton to Bush, then Obama to Trump and now Biden, it’s as if we’ve been caught in a time loop, forced to re-live the same thing over and over again: the same assaults on our freedoms, the same disregard for the rule of law, the same subservience to the Deep State, and the same corrupt, self-serving government that exists only to amass power, enrich its shareholders and ensure its continued domination.

    Can the Fourth Reich happen here?

    As I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, it’s already happening right under our noses.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 21:40

  • Comparing US Federal Spending With Revenue
    Comparing US Federal Spending With Revenue

    In 2021, the U.S. government spent $6.8 trillion on various expenditures and government-aided programs. Where was this money spent, and how much was covered by taxpayers’ dollars?

    As Visual Capitalist’s Carmen Ang reports, this graphic by Truman Du shows a breakdown of U.S. federal spending in 2021, as well as a breakdown of where the money came from, using data from USAspending.gov.

    Money Comes and Goes

    In 2021, U.S. government revenue totaled more than $4 trillion. About half of it came from individual income taxes, while about 30% came from Social Security and Medicare taxes.

    Here’s a full breakdown of revenue sources in 2021:

     

    Despite the trillions in revenue generated, like most years, U.S. federal spending was higher in 2021, which put the federal government in a budget deficit of $2.7 trillion.

     

    This was the second highest deficit on record, down from a peak of $3.1 trillion in 2020 during the height of the global pandemic.

    After income and Social Security spending, health was the third-largest expenditure in 2021. Here’s a look at the full breakdown, and where spending was allocated last year:

     

    Spending is expected to curb further in 2022. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office via AP News, the 2022 deficit is projected to drop to $1.15 trillion and will continue to decrease for the next three years.

     

    U.S. National Debt

    In March 2021, U.S. national debt reached an all-time high of $28 trillion. That includes intragovernmental holdings, which is about $6 trillion of debt owed within the government itself.

    While overall debt is rising, the cost of servicing this debt has actually dropped in recent years thanks to record low interest rates.

    However, with interest rates on the rise again this year, servicing the existing national debt is becoming more expensive.

    And eventually, when it comes time for the U.S. government to refinance its loans, a greater portion of the federal budget will need to be allocated to servicing debt, which will put a squeeze on other areas of spending.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 21:20

  • Tverberg: Why No Politician Is Willing To Tell Us The Real Energy Story
    Tverberg: Why No Politician Is Willing To Tell Us The Real Energy Story

    Authored by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog,

    No politician wants to tell us the real story of fossil fuel depletion. The real story is that we are already running short of oil, coal and natural gas because the direct and indirect costs of extraction are reaching a point where the selling price of food and other basic necessities needs to be unacceptably high to make the overall economic system work. At the same time, wind and solar and other “clean energy” sources are nowhere nearly able to substitute for the quantity of fossil fuels being lost.

    This unfortunate energy story is essentially a physics problem. Energy per capita and, in fact, resources per capita, must stay high enough for an economy’s growing population. When this does not happen, history shows that civilizations tend to collapse.

    Figure 1. World fossil fuel energy consumption per capita, based on data of BP’s 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

    Politicians cannot possibly admit that today’s world economy is headed for collapse, in a way similar to that of prior civilizations. Instead, they need to provide the illusion that they are in charge. The self-organizing system somehow leads politicians to put forward reasons why the changes ahead might be desirable (to avert climate change), or at least temporary (because of sanctions against Russia).

    In this post, I will try to try to explain at least a few of the issues involved.

    [1] Citizens around the world can sense that something is very wrong. It looks like the economy may be headed for a serious recession in the near term.

    Figure 2. Index of consumer sentiment and news heard of company changes as reported by the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers, based on preliminary indications for August 2022.

    Consumer sentiment is at an extraordinarily low level, worse than during the 2008-2009 great recession according to a chart (Figure 2) shown on the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers website. According to the same website, nearly 48% of consumers blame inflation for eroding their standard of living. Food prices have risen significantly. Over the past year, the cost of car ownership has escalated, as has the cost of buying or renting a home.

    The situation in Europe is at least as bad, or worse. Citizens are worried about possibly “freezing in the dark” this winter if electricity generation cannot be maintained at an adequate level. Natural gas supplies, mostly purchased from Russia by pipeline, are less available and high-priced. Coal is also high-priced. Because of the fall of the Euro relative to the US dollar, the price of oil in euros is as high as it was in 2008 and 2012.

    Figure 3. Inflation-adjusted Brent crude oil price in US dollars and euros, in chart by the US Energy Information Administration, as published in EIA’s August 2022 Short Term Energy Outlook.

    Many other countries, besides those in the Eurozone, are experiencing low currencies relative to the dollar. Some examples include Argentina, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Turkey, Japan, and South Korea.

    China has problems with developers of condominium homes for its citizen. Many of these homes cannot be delivered to purchasers as promised. As a protest, buyers are withholding payments on their unfinished homes. To make matters worse, the prices of condominium homes have started to fall, leading to a loss of value of these would-be investments. All of this could lead to serious problems for the Chinese banking industry.

    Even with these major problems, central banks in the US, the UK and the Eurozone are raising target interest rates. The US is also implementing Quantitative Tightening, which also tends to raise interest rates. Thus, central banks are intentionally raising the cost of borrowing. It doesn’t take much insight to see that the combination of price inflation and higher borrowing costs is likely to force consumers to cut back on spending, leading to recession.

    [2] Politicians will avoid talking about possible future economic problems related to inadequate energy supply.

    Politicians want to get re-elected. They want citizens to think that everything is OK. If there are energy supply problems, they need to be framed as being temporary, perhaps related to the war in Ukraine. Alternatively, any issue that arises will be discussed as if it can easily be fixed with new legislation and perhaps a little more debt.

    Businesses also want to minimize problems. They want citizens to place orders for their goods and services, without the fear of being laid off. They would like the news media to publish stories saying that any economic dip is likely to be very mild and temporary.

    Universities don’t mind problems, but they want the problems to be framed as solvable ones that will offer their students opportunities for jobs that will pay well. A near-term, unsolvable predicament is not helpful at all.

    [3] What is wrong is a physics problem. The operation of our economy requires energy of the correct type and the right quantity.

    The economy is something that grows through the “dissipation” of energy. Examples of dissipation of energy include the digestion of food to give energy to humans, the burning of fossil fuels, and the use of electricity to power a light bulb. A rise in world energy consumption is highly correlated with growth in the world economy. Falling energy consumption is associated with economic contraction.

    Figure 4. Correlation between world GDP measured in “Purchasing Power Parity” (PPP) 2017 International $ and world energy consumption, including both fossil fuels and renewables. GDP is as reported by the World Bank for 1990 through 2021 as of July 26, 2022; total energy consumption is as reported by BP in its 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

    In physics terms, the world economy is a dissipative structure, just as all plants, animals and ecosystems are. All dissipative structures have finite lifespans, including the world economy.

    This finding is not well known because academic researchers seem to operate in ivory towers. Researchers in economic departments aren’t expected to understand physics and how it applies to the economy. In fairness to academia, the discovery that the economy is a dissipative structure did not occur until 1996. It takes a long time for findings to filter through from one department to another. Even now, I am one of a very small number of people in the world writing about this issue.

    Also, economic researchers are not expected to study the history of the many smaller, more-localized civilizations that have collapsed in the past. Typically, the population of these smaller civilizations increased at the same time as the resources used by the population started to degrade. The use of technology, such as dams to redirect water flows, may have helped for a while, but eventually this was not enough. The combination of declining availability of high quality resources and increasing population tended to leave these civilizations with little margin for dealing with the bad times that can be expected to occur by chance. In many cases, such civilizations collapsed after disease epidemics, a military invasion, or a climate fluctuation that led to a series of crop failures.

    [4] Many people have been confused by common misunderstandings regarding how an economy really works.

    [a] Standard economics models foster the belief that the economy can continue to grow without a corresponding increase in energy supply.

    When economic models are designed with labor and capital being the important inputs, energy supply doesn’t seem to be needed, at all.

    [b] People seem to understand that legislation capping apartment rents will stop the building of new apartments, but they do not make the same connection with steps taken to hold down fossil fuel prices.

    If efforts are made to bring down the prices of fossil fuels (such as raising interest rates and adding oil from the US petroleum reserves to increase total oil supply), we need to expect that extraction will be adversely affected. One article reports that Saudi Arabia does not seem to be using recent record profits to quickly raise reinvestment to the level that seemed to be required a few years ago. This suggests that Saudi Arabia needs prices that are quite a bit higher than $100 per barrel in order to take significant steps toward extracting the country’s remaining resources. This would seem to contradict published reserves that, in theory, take current prices into consideration.

    Reuters reports that Venezuela has reneged on its promise to send more oil to Europe, under an oil for debt deal. It wants oil product swaps instead, since it is lacking in its ability to make finished products from its oil itself. It would take a long run of prices much higher than today’s level for Venezuela to be able to sufficiently invest in infrastructure to do such refining. Venezuela reports the highest oil reserves in the world (303.8 thousand million barrels), even higher than Saudi Arabia’s reported 297.5 thousand million barrels, but neither country can be counted on to take major steps to raise supply.

    Similarly, there have been reports that US shale drillers are not investing to keep production growing, despite what seem to be sufficiently high prices. There are simply too many issues. The cost of new investment is very high, outside of the already drilled sweet spots. Also, there is no guarantee the price will stay high. There are also supply line issues, such as whether appropriate steel drilling pipes and fracking sand will be available, when needed.

    [c] Published information suggests that there is a huge amount of fossil fuels remaining to be extracted, given today’s level of technology. If we assume that technology will get better and better, it is easy to believe that any fossil fuel limit is hundreds of years in the future.

    The way the economy works, the extraction limit is really an affordability issue. If the cost of extraction rises too high, relative to what people around the world have for spendable income, production will stop because demand (in terms of what people can afford) will drop too low. People will tend to cut back on discretionary spending, such as vacation travel and meals in restaurants, cutting back on demand for fossil fuels.

    [d] How “demand” works is poorly understood. Very often, researchers and the general public assume that demand for energy products will automatically remain high.

    A surprisingly large share of demand is tied to the need for food, water, and basic services such as schools, roads, and bus service. Poor people require these basics just as much as rich people do. There are literally billions of poor people in the world. If the wages of poor people fall too low relative to the wages of rich people, the system cannot work. Poor people find that they must spend nearly all their income on food, water and housing. As a result, they have little left to pay taxes to support basic governmental services. Without adequate demand from poor people, the prices of commodities tend to fall too low to encourage reinvestment.

    The majority of fossil fuel use is by commercial and industrial users. For example, natural gas is often used in making nitrogen fertilizer. If the price of natural gas is high, the price of fertilizer will rise higher than farmers are willing to pay for the fertilizer. Farmers will cut back on fertilizer use, reducing yields for their crops. The farmers’ own costs will be lower, but there will be less of the desired crops grown, perhaps indirectly raising overall food prices. This is not a connection that economic modelers build into their models.

    The lockdowns of 2020 show that governments can indeed ramp up demand (and thus prices) for energy products by sending out checks to citizens. We are now seeing that the approach seems to produce inflation rather than more energy production. Also, countries without energy resources of their own may see their currencies fall with respect to the US dollar.

    [e] It is not true that energy types can easily be substituted for one another.

    In energy modeling, such as in calculating “Energy Return on Energy Invested,” a popular assumption is that all energy is substitutable for other energy. This isn’t true, unless a person accounts for all of the details of the transition, and the energy needed to make such a transition possible.

    For example, intermittent electricity, such as that generated by wind turbines or solar panels, is not substitutable for load-following electricity. Such intermittent electricity is not always available when people need it. Some of this intermittency is very long-term. For example, wind-generated electricity may be low for more than a month at a time. In the case of solar energy, the problem tends to be storing up enough electricity during summer months for use in winter. A naive person might assume that adding a few hours of battery backup would fix intermittency problems, but such a fix turns out to be very inadequate.

    If people are not to freeze in the dark in winter, longer-term solutions are needed. One standard approach is to use a fossil fuel system to fill in the gaps when wind and solar are not available. The catch, then, is that the fossil fuel system really needs to be a year-around system, with trained staffing, pipelines and adequate fuel storage. A modeler needs to consider the need to build a whole double system instead of a single system.

    Because of intermittency issues, electricity from wind and solar only substitute for fuels (coal, natural gas, uranium) that operate our current system. Publications often talk about the cost of intermittent electricity being at “grid parity” when its temporary cost seems to match the cost of grid electricity, but this is matching “apples and oranges.” The cost comparison needs to be in comparison to the average cost of fuel for plants producing electricity, rather than to electricity prices.

    Another popular assumption is that electricity can be substituted for liquid fuels. For example, in theory, every piece of farm equipment could be redesigned and rebuilt to be based on electricity, rather than diesel, which is typically used today. The catch is that there would need to be an enormous number of batteries built and eventually disposed of for this transition to work. There would need also need to be factories to build all this new equipment. We would need an international trade system operating extraordinarily well, to find all the raw materials. Likely, there would still not be enough raw materials to make the system work.

    [f] There is a great deal of confusion about expected oil and other energy prices, as an economy reaches energy limits.

    This issue is closely related to [4][d], with respect to the confusion about how energy demand works. A common assumption among analysts is that “of course” oil prices will rise, as limits are approached. This assumption is based on the standard supply and demand curve used by economists.

    Figure 5. Standard economic supply and demand curve from Wikipedia. Description of how this curve works: The price P of a product is determined by a balance between production at each price (supply S) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand D). The diagram shows a positive shift in demand from D1 to D2, resulting in an increase in price (P) and quantity sold (Q) of the product.

    The issue is that the availability of inexpensive energy products very much affects demand as well as supply. Jobs that pay well are only available if inexpensive energy products can leverage human labor. For example, surgeons today perform robotic surgery, requiring, at a minimum, a stable source of electricity for each operation. Furthermore, the equipment used in the surgery is created using fossil fuels. Surgeons also use anesthetic products that require fossil fuels. Without today’s fancy equipment, surgeons would not be able to charge nearly as much they do for their services.

    Thus, it is not immediately obvious whether demand or supply would tend to fall faster, if energy supply should hit limits. We know that Revelation 18:11-13 in the Bible provides a list of a number of commodities, including humans sold as slaves, for which prices dropped very low at the time of the collapse of ancient Babylon. This suggests that at least sometimes during prior collapses, the problem was too low demand (and too low prices), rather than too low supply of energy products.

    [5] The International Energy Agency and politicians around the world have recommended a transition to the use of wind and solar to try to prevent climate change for quite a few years. This approach seemed to have the approval of both those concerned about too much burning of fossil fuels causing climate change and those concerned about too little fossil fuel energy causing economic collapse.

    A rough estimate of what the decline in energy supply might look like under the rapid shift to renewables proposed by politicians is shown in Figure 6.

    Figure 6. Estimate by Gail Tverberg of World Energy Consumption from 1820 to 2050. Amounts for earliest years based on estimates in Vaclav Smil’s book Energy Transitions: History, Requirements and Prospectsand BP’s 2020 Statistical Review of World Energy for the years 1965 to 2019. Energy consumption for 2020 is estimated to be 5% below that for 2019. Energy for years after 2020 is assumed to fall by 6.6% per year, so that the amount reaches a level similar to renewables only by 2050. Amounts shown include more use of local energy products (wood and animal dung) than BP includes.

    If a person understands the connection between energy consumption and the economy, such a rapid drop in energy supply looks like something that would likely be associated with economic collapse. The goal of politicians seems to be to keep citizens from understanding how awful the situation really is by reframing the story of the decline in energy supply as something politicians and economists have chosen to do, to try to prevent climate change for the sake of future generations.

    The rich and powerful can see this change as a good thing if they themselves can profit from it. When there is not enough energy, the physics of the situation tends to lead to increasing wage and wealth disparities. Wealthy individuals see this outcome as a good thing: They can perhaps personally profit. For example, Bill Gates has amassed about 270,000 acres of farmland in the United States, including newly purchased farmland in North Dakota.

    Furthermore, politicians see that they can have more control over populations if they can direct citizens in a way that will use less energy. For example, bank accounts can be linked to some type of social credit score. Politicians will explain that this is for people’s own good–to prevent the spread of disease or to prevent undesirables from using too much of the available resources.

    One way of dramatically reducing energy consumption is by mandating shutdowns in an area, purportedly to prevent the spread of Covid-19, as China has been doing recently. Such shutdowns can be explained as being needed to stop the spread of disease. These shutdowns can also help hide other problems, such as not having enough fuels to prevent rolling blackouts of electricity.

    [6] We are living in a truly unusual time, with a major energy problem being hidden from view.

    Politicians cannot tell the world how bad the energy situation really is. The problem with near-term energy limits has been known since at least 1956 (M. King Hubbert) and 1957 (Hyman Rickover). The problem was confirmed in the modeling performed for the 1972 book, The Limits to Growth by Donella Meadows and others.

    Most high-level politicians are aware of the energy supply issue, but they cannot possibly talk about it. Instead, they choose to talk about what would happen if the economy were allowed to speed ahead without limits, and how bad the consequences of that might be.

    Militaries around the world are no doubt well aware of the fact that there will not be enough energy supplies to go around. This means that the world will be in a contest for who gets how much. In a war-like setting, we should not be surprised if communications are carefully controlled. The views we can expect to hear loudly and repeatedly are the ones governments and influential individuals want ordinary citizens to hear.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 21:00

  • Kardashians & Kevin Hart Exposed Among LA County's Biggest Water-Wasters
    Kardashians & Kevin Hart Exposed Among LA County’s Biggest Water-Wasters

    Hollywood celebrities like to lecture average Americans about how they need to change their lifestyles to fight climate change. But many of these A-list celebs who preach Greta Thunberg’s gospel of saving the planet often fail to live the eco-friendly lifestyles they advocate. 

    Last month, we revealed that Taylor Swift, Steven Spielberg, Kim Kardashian, and Oprah Winfrey, some of whom are so-called ‘climate activists,’ were top on the list of private jet polluters.

    Another list of elite Hollywood celebs has emerged this week as the water police in Los Angeles County have served them with repeated violations as serial water wasters.

    Axios spoke with Virgenes Municipal Water District spokesperson Mike McNutt who said Kim and Kourtney Kardashian (serial climate offenders), Kevin Hart, and Sylvester Stallone are among the 1,600 people who have exceeded their monthly water budgets by 150% at least four times more than ordinary people in Southern California, who are forced to take shorter showers, banned from watering their yards, and unable to wash their cars. 

    Hollywood A-listers appear to live in a two-tier society where they don’t have to play by the rules and are hypocrites in helping the environment. 

    At least readers have an understanding of the hypocrisy of Hollywood elites. It’s okay if the Kardashians fly around the world in their private jets and have lavish pool parties, but frowned upon when average Southern Californians want to water their parched front yard. 

    This reminds us of a quote from the late George Carlin at the Beacon Theater in 2005, who famously said:

    “They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.“

    Yet more examples of reality where elites don’t have to play by the rules. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 20:40

  • Why The Dollar Rally Is Blowing Itself Out
    Why The Dollar Rally Is Blowing Itself Out

    By Simon White, Bloomberg markets live commentator and reporter

    The dollar has been on a tear again recently, but a rising dollar soon causes global trade and therefore demand for dollar-denominated assets to drop, leading to a weaker USD.

    As highlighted on Monday, headwinds are growing for the dollar as the real yield curve flattens. Paradoxically, this means a more hawkish Powell at this week’s Jackson Hole would add to headwinds for the US currency, after any initial kneejerk reaction.

    While yields and yield curves indicate flow-driven demand for the dollar and USD assets, the level of the dollar has implications for the stock of dollar assets. A higher dollar makes it more expensive for foreign borrowers of USDs to service their debt, generating deleveraging pressure. It also makes the cost of buying new dollar assets more expensive in foreign-currency terms.

    But the big driver of global capital flows is trade. Capital flows are the flipside of trade flows, and trade imbalances create capital imbalances which drive capital flows. Global trade today is beginning to falter, which means capital flows are falling.

    Virtually all major commodities are traded in USD (apart from a few notable exceptions such as wool, which is traded in AUD), therefore a rising dollar eventually depresses global trade as the price of everything rises in foreign-currency terms. The dollar’s current strength is causing a slowdown in global trade.

    Deleveraging pressure driven by the dollar’s strength and a slowdown in primarily USD-denominated global trade are therefore leading to a fall in foreign transactions of US assets.

    From last December to June, foreign holdings of long-term US assets (stocks and bonds) has fallen from $27.3 trillion late last year to $23.5 trillion, with the DXY rising almost 13% over the same period.

    Jackson Hole may be the buy-the-rumour-sell-the-fact catalyst for the dollar to head lower, especially if Powell leans hawkishly and the real yield curve flattens more. But even if not, the dollar’s baked-in strength soon threatens to be the rally’s undoing.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 20:20

  • White House Says Russia's "Sham Referendums" In Ukraine To Begin In Days
    White House Says Russia’s “Sham Referendums” In Ukraine To Begin In Days

    The White House said Wednesday that it has information that Russia is imminently planning “sham” referendums in occupied Ukrainian territories, which is expected to come in weeks or even days. The US has learned that Russian leadership has instructed officials to begin preparing to hold sham referenda, particularly in Kharkiv, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in a briefing.

    “We have information that Russia continues to prepare to hold these sham referendum in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and the so called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics,” Kirby introduced. “We’ve also learned that the Russia leadership has instructed officials to begin preparing to hold a sham referenda, particularly in Kharkiv as well.”

    “And these referenda could begin in a matter of days or weeks. In fact, we can see a Russian announcement of the first one or ones before the end of this week.” Kharkiv Oblast broadly is currently scene of heavy fighting, while Kharkiv city itself – which is Ukraine’s second largest – has this week been coming under heavy aerial bombardment.

    “We expect Russia to try to manipulate the results of these referenda under the false claim of the Ukrainian people wanting to join Russia. It will be critical to call out and counter this disinformation in real time,” Kirby continued.

    “Russian officials themselves know that what they’re doing will lack legitimacy, and it will not reflect the will of the people. The Ukrainian people, in any free and fair referendum, would vote overwhelmingly against joining Russia,” he added.

    Washington and Ukraine had previously accused Moscow of the same tactics when it came to the 2014 Crimean status referendum. During a July briefing, Kirby had referenced Crimea is alleging that Russia’s goal is to roll out an annexation playbook for captured territories. Russian forces are currently slowly struggling to secure all of the Donbas.

    Some reporting, including in The New York Times days ago, have strongly suggested a “static” of “stale-mated situation along the front lines of late. But Moscow on Wednesday offered an explanation, claiming that it had deliberately slowed its “special operation” out of a desire to protect local civilians. 

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    Everything is being done to avoid casualties among civilians,” Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday. “Of course, this slows down the pace of the offensive, but we are doing it deliberately.”

    But countering this narrative, according to Reuters…

    Ukraine’s top military intelligence official said on Wednesday that Russia’s military offensive was slowing because of moral and physical fatigue in their ranks and Moscow’s “exhausted” resource base.

    Casualty counts on either side has also been a source of skepticism and controversy, with both Ukrainian and US intelligence consistently saying Russia has lost into the many tens of thousands of troops, while the Kremlin has given much lower official figures.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 20:00

  • US State Department Issues Kidnapping Advisory For Americans In Mexico
    US State Department Issues Kidnapping Advisory For Americans In Mexico

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The U.S. Department of State issued an advisory warning Americans about an increased risk of kidnapping when going to Mexico, amid heightened cartel violence in several areas.

    “Violent crime—such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery—is widespread and common in Mexico,” the State Department said Wednesday in its notice.

    Police officers and members of the National Guard as seen in Nahuatzen, Mexico, on June 5, 2021. (Alan Ortega/Reuters)

    The federal government and State Department have limited capacity to render emergency services to citizens in many places in Mexico. That’s because U.S. government employees are restricted or prohibited from going to certain areas, according to the State Department.

    “U.S. citizens are advised to adhere to restrictions on U.S. government employee travel. State-specific restrictions are included in the individual state advisories below,” the notice said. “U.S. government employees may not travel between cities after dark, may not hail taxis on the street, and must rely on dispatched vehicles, including app-based services like Uber, and regulated taxi stands.”

    For government workers, they should also avoid traveling alone and in remote areas, according to the bulletin. Federal government employees also cannot drive from the “U.S.-Mexico border to or from the interior parts of Mexico” other than daytime travel in Baja California, a Mexican state that lies south of California, and a select few other areas.

    ‘Do Not Travel’

    Several Mexican states were marked under the “Do Not Travel” section in the State Department bulletin due to crime and the risk of kidnapping, including Sinaloa, Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Zacatecas, and Tamaulipas states. People were also urged to reconsider travel or exercise increased caution in most other Mexican states due to the risk of kidnapping or crime.

    “Keep traveling companions and family back home informed of your travel plans. If separating from your travel group, send a friend your GPS location. If taking a taxi alone, take a photo of the taxi number and/or license plate and text it to a friend,” according to the State Department’s bulletin.

    “Use toll roads when possible and avoid driving alone or at night,” it added. “In many states, police presence and emergency services are extremely limited outside the state capital or major cities.”

    Last week, hundreds of Mexican soldiers were sent to the border city of Juarez after a prison face-off between members of two rival cartels caused a riot and shootouts that killed 11 people, most of them civilians, authorities said.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 19:40

  • Bootleg Abortion Pill Sales On The Rise
    Bootleg Abortion Pill Sales On The Rise

    Ever since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June, dozens of websites have popped up which are illegally shipping abortion drugs anywhere in the US without a prescription – which violates Food and Drug Administration rules.

    The operator of one website says that the demand for abortion pills has skyrocketed since the June decision, according to the Wall Street Journal, which notes that some of the websites are registered overseas – and are different from US-based telehealth operators that prescribe and sometimes ship the pills to patients who live in states where the procedure is legal.

    A screenshot obtained by The Wall Street Journal shows the home page of Abortionrx.com. The site is among dozens of websites that sell drugs typically used in a medication abortion without the need of a prescription.

    Sites are charging as much as $500 per pack of abortion pills, and hold themselves out as providing access to pills for those who can’t reach a clinic – or who live in states where abortion telehealth is illegal.

    The unregulated market creates risks, according to abortion-rights advocates, including that the pills may arrive too late to be used effectively. What’s more, those buying abortion pills online without a prescription in states where it’s illegal could face criminal charges, legal experts advise.

    Some health experts expressed concerns about websites potentially selling bogus drugs or not providing adequate information and medical support. “You don’t know what you’re getting,” said Al Carter, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, which represents state pharmacy boards.

    Two medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, are typically used in a medication-abortion regimen, which the FDA has approved for up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. Websites selling abortion pills without a prescription are mainly selling pills that haven’t been reviewed by the FDA, according to descriptions on the sites and information from buyers. The FDA has sent complaints to some companies associated with websites selling abortion pills online. -WSJ

    “Drugs that have circumvented regulatory safeguards may be contaminated, counterfeit, contain varying amounts of active ingredients, or contain different ingredients altogether,” and FDA spokesperson told the Journal. 

    Two medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, are typically used in a medication-abortion regimen.Photo: Natalie Behring for The Wall Street Journal

    One website based in Kazakhstan, Medside24.com, says its sales of abortion pills has doubled since Roe v. Wade was overturned. The site procures pills manufactured in China, Russia and Vietnam.

    There are few-to-no requirements to buy from site abortionrx.com, another such website. According to one woman in Florida, a $249 PayPal purchase was all she needed to do – with the pills arriving four days later in a brown envelope from Las Vegas. While no instructions were included, she was able to fine them online.

    Another website, abortionrx.com, is registered to Mumbai-based Rablon Healthcare Private Ltd.

    At least six sites selling abortion pills without a prescription in July were registered under the name Richard Asamoah Agyemang of Denver, according to information on domain ownership. Mr. Agyemang said he is a college student and web developer. He said he doesn’t sell abortion pills. “I don’t know who made those websites,” Mr. Agyemang said. Two of the sites had been taken offline in August.

    Some of the abortion-pill websites say that they sell pills from manufacturers in India. Three manufacturers mentioned on some sites, Zydus Lifesciences Ltd., Cipla Ltd. and Naman Pharma Drugs, said they weren’t aware of the sites. Cipla said it stopped making abortion medication about seven years ago.  Naman manufactures abortion pills on a contract basis for companies in Africa and doesn’t export to the U.S., a spokesman said. -WSJ

    When one woman, a teacher in Ohio, ordered from Sydney-based onlineabortionpillsrx.com, they warned her no to mention the medications she was purchasing on PayPal.

    “In case PayPal comes to know about what you purchased, PayPal may take legal action against you,” read an email.

    That said, PayPal typically does not pursue legal action against buyers, but the company could close one’s account(s) if they violate its acceptable use policy.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 19:20

  • Cops Shut Down 8-Year-Old Girl's Lemonade Stand To Protect Society From Unlicensed Lemonade
    Cops Shut Down 8-Year-Old Girl’s Lemonade Stand To Protect Society From Unlicensed Lemonade

    Authored by Matt Agorist via TheFreeThoughtProject.com,

    Police were dispatched to an Ohio city, not for a robbery or murder, but for an 8=year-old girl selling lemonade without a permit…

    Asa Baker is an 8-year-old girl from Ohio with an overwhelming entrepreneurial spirit. Over the hot summer, rather than spend the days inside watching TV, Asa would set up a lemonade stand in her front yard to make some cash.

    “It’s fun and you get lots of people,” Asa told FOX 8 news in an interview, adding that lots of truckers stop buy and pay more than the $1 per cup that she charges.

    “Especially on a country road, I get a lot of people,” she said.

    Unfortunately for Asa, however, her summer of entrepreneurial spirit would come to a grinding halt when police shut down her stand for the crime of selling lemonade without a permit.

    Earlier this month, Asa had her first experience with the state’s iron fist when she set up her stand at her father’s business downtown. Everything was cleared with the property owner and she had permission to be there during the town’s annual Rib and Food Festival.

    Asa was in an alleyway about a half block from the festival and business was good — until police showed up.

    Asa says when she saw a police officer walking up to her stand she thought he was going to buy a cup of lemonade. But that was not his mission. Instead of encouraging the little girl’s business acumen in the lemonade realm, he was there to shut her down.

    Asa had not paid the government for the privilege of selling lemonade from private property and it was this cop’s job to enforce this law.

    Highlighting the sentiment behind the “just doing my job” mentality, this officer actually had a conscience and was upset that he had to shut down Asa’s stand. But he still shut it down.

    “Well, they were really sad that they had to shut me down but they gave me $20 to try and pay for it,” said Asa.

    “I could definitely tell he did not want to shut her down, but, I mean, you get a call, he has to do it. He definitely did the right thing, you know, in the situation he was put in,” said Katrina Moore, Asa’s mother.

    “We looked it up and it was pretty much anywhere in Ohio. You have to have a license and I’ve never heard of that,” said Kyle Clark, Asa’s Dad.

    FOX 8 reached out to the city who stated that the police department is obligated to enforce the city’s ordinances — apparently, even if it means quashing an 8-year-old girl’s spirit.

    In the codified ordinances of the city of Alliance, it clearly states that any vendor must procure a license before opening.

    There are no exceptions. Not even for a child’s lemonade stand.

    The law is so vague, that the family has no idea what permit to buy — especially for an 8-year-old girl.

    “In order to get a food vendors license, it only lasts for five days and its $40 for five days so that’s kind of out of the picture. If she wants to sell on the street, she has to get a street permit. If she sells in front of a business, we have to get a solicitors permit,” said Moore.

    The good news is that Asa was unphased and a week later, she was back out on the street, selling lemonade. After the negative press on social media, this time, police said they were going to leave her alone — a win for civil disobedience. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 19:00

  • Reports Of Heavy Drone Activity Over Afghanistan's Helmand Province
    Reports Of Heavy Drone Activity Over Afghanistan’s Helmand Province

    There have been reports this week of possible heavy drone activity over parts of Afghanistan, suggesting the Pentagon is continuing to carry out aerial targeting and strikes on Al-Qaeda and/or ISIS-K, one full year after the US military drawdown from Kabul in August 2021.

    The reports follow closely on the heels of the July 31st CIA drone strike on longtime Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in a Kabul neighborhood. It seems the US “over the horizon” mission in Afghanistan could be going into full gear, despite American troops officially withdrawing from the country.

    File image, via NBC

    “A drone strike targeted camp bastion in Helmand around 5AM. AQIS and AQ members Abu Zubair, Abu Anas, Farooqi Qari Sulaiman and Abu Al Hassan have been present in various parts of Helmand province including inside camp bastion,” a well-known Afghan journalist and war observer Bilal Sarwary wrote Wednesday based on his sources. 

    “Residents in Helmand and Kandahar provinces report constant drone activity over both provinces for the last few days,” he emphasized.

    Little in the way of details or even confirmation is known at this point, but given substantial rumors of ongoing clashes between rival Taliban factions in restive Helmand province, the drones could be US/UK coalition intelligence monitoring the conflict. 

    Other observers have also of late noticed apparently stepped up drone activity by the Western coalition…

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    “Sources report that there were several al-Qaeda/AQIS members present at the site when drones struck Camp Bastion, a base that was formerly in use by foreign forces/ANDSF and now in control of the Taliban,” writes another prominent war monitor.

    Given all of this, what does seem clear is that US intelligence isn’t hesitating to step up its drone activity over Afghanistan – likely a low risk venture at this point given the ruling Taliban’s lack of any sophisticated or advanced anti-air systems.

    Via BBC

    Aside from the Zawahiri operation, the first known US drone strike to have happened since August 2021 occurred in April of this year, and targeted a Taliban ammunition depot.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 18:40

  • 2nd Round Of US Airstrikes Over Syria As Militias Fire Rockets On Occupied Gas Fields
    2nd Round Of US Airstrikes Over Syria As Militias Fire Rockets On Occupied Gas Fields

    Update(1833ET): The Pentagon said Wednesday it is looking into reports of an exchange of fire between pro-Iranian groups in Syria and the US coalition forces. Meanwhile during the evening (local time), The Jerusalem Post reports that President Biden has authorized a second round of US airstrikes: 

    A second round of airstrikes by the US-led international coalition operating in Iraq and Syria targeted Iran-linked sites in the Deir al-Zor region of eastern Syria on Wednesday evening, according to local reports.

    The airstrikes targeted Iran-backed militias in the city of Al-Mayadin and Saker Island, according to the reports.

    Alongside the reported airstrikes, reports by both Syrian and foreign media indicated that a number of rockets had been fired towards the Green Village and Conoco gas fields, both sites where US forces are hosted.

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    Local pro-Assad and Iran-backed forces appear to be retaliating, in a dangerous situation that suggests escalation after years of US forces occupying Syria’s oil and gas rich northeast region, ever since Trump’s “secure the oil” mission which has been kept in place by Biden.

    This comes after the prior evening’s US strikes on militias in Deir ez-Zor, said to be retaliation for last week’s missile attacks on the US base at al-Tanf, along the Iraqi border. Follow-up reports say last night’s initial strike was conducted by multiple manned fighter jets. 

    * * *

    The Pentagon has confirmed that President Biden ordered airstrikes on Iran-backed groups in Syria on Tuesday, following a series of reported attacks on a remote US base in eastern Syria and which appeared to also target ground allies being trained by American special forces. 

    “At President Biden’s direction, US military forces conducted precision airstrikes in Deir ez-Zor Syria today. These precision strikes are intended to defend and protect US forces from attacks like the ones on August 15 against US personnel by Iran-backed groups,” a CENTCOM statement said. 

    Illustrative, AP file image

    That prior incident from last Monday (8/15) occurred at what’s called the Green Village base near the Iraqi border. It involved a volley of rockets fired on the compound by an unknown entity, some of which failed to launch and were later recovered by US forces.  A prior statement from Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) said the base has a “small number” of coalition troops, including Americans, and that the attack didn’t result in any casualties.

    On that same day a week ago, two small drones attacked al-Tanf Garrison in southeast Syria, in what was suspected to be a possible coordinated attack. The US command never identified the group behind the missile attack, and the other similar recent episodes such as against Tanf base – which have also occurred sporadically over prior months. 

    But the Pentagon views pro-Iran militia attacks which have previously happened over the years also in Iraq as part of a larger overall pattern in an attempt to push US forces out of the region. 

    Concerning this fresh, and somewhat rare counter-strike, the Pentagon statement said that Biden “gave the direction for these strikes pursuant to his Article II authority to protect and defend US personnel by disrupting or deterring attacks by Iran-backed groups.”

    Strike location

    The US military also called it a “proportionate, deliberate” action necessary to defend US forces on the ground. However it remains that of course from the perspective of Damascus (as well as Assad’s Iranian and Russian allies), the US military is occupying sovereign Syrian soil with hostile intentions. 

    CNN provides some of the details of the US strikes based on its sources as follows: 

    Buccino told CNN the US targeted a group of bunkers used for ammunition storage and logistics support by Iranian-backed groups in Syria. The US military monitored a total of 13 bunkers in the same complex extensively, Buccino said, totaling more than 400 hours of surveillance.

    The strike was intended to target 11 of the bunkers, since the US could not be certain whether the other two bunkers were clear of people, Buccino said.

    The statement further asserted that the strikes were then limited to just 9 of the bunkers because of a “small group of people nearby” that the operation did not intend to target. 

    Via BBC/SOHR: A monitoring group posted footage of a large explosion in the town of Ayyash.

    While Israel’s attacks on “Iranian militias” in recent years have been frequent, and have come under growing condemnation by Russia, such US aerial attacks inside Syria have remained much more uncommon.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 18:33

  • California DA Admits 70% Of Suspects Released On $0 Bail Committed New Crimes
    California DA Admits 70% Of Suspects Released On $0 Bail Committed New Crimes

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

    A Northern California district attorney revealed more than 70 percent of suspects who were released on $0 bail between 2020 and 2021 in his county went on to commit new crimes.

    “When over 70 percent of the people released under mandated $0 bail policies go on to commit additional crime(s), including violent offenses such as robbery and murder, there is simply no rational public safety-related basis to continue such a practice post-pandemic, especially in light of the increasing violent crime rates across California,” Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig said in a Monday statement.

    In April 2020, the California Judicial Council implemented the Emergency Bail Schedule which mandated $0 bail for most people accused of crimes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Yolo DA’s office tracked individuals who were released on $0 and who were rearrested.

    The Judicial Council rescinded the order in June 2020, but several California countries kept the bail schedule in effect, including Yolo County. It wasn’t until June 1, 2021, that the county enacted a new bail schedule and ended the $0 bail protocol, according to Reisig’s office, which also released a report (pdf).

    “Recent criminal histories of the 595 individuals released on $0 bail in Yolo County were reviewed for any new arrests in the state of California,” said the office on Monday.

    “Of the 595 individuals released, 420 were rearrested (70.6 percent) and 123 (20 percent of the overall number or 29 percent of those rearrested) were arrested for a crime of violence.”

    That includes crimes of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, domestic violence, robbery, and carjacking.

    Resig’s office noted that one person who was released on $0 bail in Yolo County was charged with murder in Sacramento County in connection to a July 2021 shooting.

    Cashless Bail

    His findings come amid criticisms about the elimination of cash bail in some states and municipalities across the United States. Left-wing activists say that the no-bail policy makes it fairer for people who can’t afford to make bail.

    But critics, including police groups and unions, say that people who are released and re-released often go on to commit other crimes.

    An analysis released by the New York Post earlier this month revealed that 10 criminals netted nearly 500 arrests since the start of New York state’s controversial bail reform laws went into effect in 2020.

    “Time and time again, our police officers make an arrest, and then the person who is arrested for assault, felonious assaults, robberies, and gun possessions, they’re finding themselves back on the street within days—if not hours—after the arrest,” said New York City Major Eric Adams, a Democrat, said earlier this month about the policy.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 18:20

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Aug 24

Today’s News 24th August 2022

  • Green Party Official Tells Germans To Use Washcloths Instead Of Taking Showers
    Green Party Official Tells Germans To Use Washcloths Instead Of Taking Showers

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

    A top Green Party official has caused controversy by suggesting Germans use washcloths instead of taking showers, as well as buying expensive eco-heating systems that are unaffordable for the average person.

    The comments were made by Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann in response to the energy crisis, which will be exacerbated this winter as a result of gas shortages caused by the war in Ukraine.

    “Even the washcloth is a useful invention,” the Green politician told Südwest-Presse.

    Bragging about his own eco-credentials, Kretschmann boasted, “I have an electric car, I have a huge photovoltaic system on the roof.”

    The pellet heating system Kretschmann uses in his home costs anything up to €21,000 euros and beyond, a figure completely unrealistic for Germans already struggling to pay their energy bills.

    Remix News explained the actual environmental cost of Kretschmann’s so-called solution.

    “Wired magazine reports that these devices rely primarily on wood pellets sourced from forests in the southeastern United States. They are then shipped halfway around the world to individuals like Kretschmann despite many scientists arguing that these pellets are just as polluting as coal.”

    “Although they come from a renewable resource, forests are cut down across the U.S. to make this resource, and according to Greenpeace, the practice destroys biodiversity and ruins entire ecosystems. Scientists estimate it takes between 44 to over 100 years for these forests to grow back, and for those worried about climate change, they say this destruction of natural forests will cost the planet immeasurably.”

    The reaction to Kretschmann’s advice probably wasn’t what the green politician anticipated, with the hashtag #Waschlappen hashtag (German for “washcloth”) trending on Twitter.

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

    “Our country faces an energy crisis that threatens the prosperity of millions of people! And what is the answer of the green father Kretschmann? Don’t shower every day: ‘The #Waschlappen is also a useful invention.’ What kind of people actually govern Germany?” asked Gerhard Papke, the president of the German-Hungarian Society.

    As we previously highlighted, Germany could be facing blackouts and the collapse of the power grid this winter after citizens began panic buying electric heaters over fears gas supplies could be cut off.

    Supplies of firewood and heating stoves are also being exhausted, while cities across Germany are planning to use sports arenas and exhibition halls as ‘warm up spaces’ this winter to help freezing citizens who are unable to afford skyrocketing energy costs.

    Germans have also been told to take fewer showers, wear more layers of clothing and avoid washing their clothes and driving their cars as often.

    As we reported last week, the interior minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Herbert Reul (CDU), outrageously suggested Germans who may be planning to protest against energy blackouts were “enemies of the state” and “extremists” who want to overthrow the government.

    Other observers are predicting riots in response to energy shortages that will make anti-lockdown unrest look like a “children’s birthday party.”

    *  *  *

    Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

    In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. I need you to sign up for my free newsletter here. Support my sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Get early access, exclusive content and behinds the scenes stuff by following me on Locals.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/24/2022 – 02:00

  • Drought Conditions Now Affecting Two-Thirds Of US
    Drought Conditions Now Affecting Two-Thirds Of US

    Human remains discovered at the shores of Lake Mead in May, July and August as its water levels are at historic lows are just the latest consequence of a prolonged drought gripping the United States. One of the bodies found was identified as a homicide victim who died around 40 or 50 years ago, spurring speculation that the person could have been a victim of mob crime that still was prevalent in nearby Las Vegas at that time.

    As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz notes, since late 2020, the United States has been experiencing unusually hot and dry weather. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, extreme and exceptional drought affects the American West as well as Texas most, but stretches as far as Kansas, Nebraska, Montana and Massachusetts.

    The extreme circumstances have spurred demand for water and cooling, leaving reservoirs emptier than usual. With the drought also comes a heightened risk of heat-induced medical emergencies and wildfires.

    As of August 16, droughts of different levels of severity affect more than 66 percent of the area of the continental United States. The number has been above the 60-percent mark since October of 2020 with just two short breaks (82 out of 98 weeks).

    Infographic: Drought Conditions Affect Two Thirds of U.S. | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    While it has risen this high before, it rarely stayed there for so long. During the drought of 2018, it exceeded the threshold for only five weeks. Between April 2012 and May 2013, droughts had affected more than 60 percent of the United States’ area for 60 weeks in a row and expanded to around 80 percent momentarily.

    While fluctuating temperatures and very hot, very dry or very cold days are a normal phenomenon, these extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent and severe due to climate change. Scientist have connected the reoccuring drought in the Western U.S. to a changing climate, for example citing heatwaves that start earlier in the year and have become longer as well as stronger.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 23:45

  • Rep. Crenshaw Defends FBI As Other Republicans Denounce Agency Raid On Trump
    Rep. Crenshaw Defends FBI As Other Republicans Denounce Agency Raid On Trump

    Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) said during an Aug. 21 television appearance that Republican criticisms of the FBI following its unprecedented raid of President Donald Trump’s home are “crazy,” and opined that most Republican voters don’t share this attitude.

    US Representative Dan Crenshaw questions witnesses during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing about “Worldwide threats to the Homeland” on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 17, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

    The FBI’s Aug. 8 raid on Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago home set off warning bells among many Republican lawmakers, who have characterized the raid as politically motivated and lawless.

    House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who has in the past had a sometimes adversarial attitude toward the former president, was emphatic in his denunciation of the raid.

    “I’ve seen enough,” McCarthy wrote in a tweet the night of the raid. “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization. When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned. Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar.”

    Other Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), took it a step further.

    Just days after the raid, Greene filed articles of impeachment against Attorney General Merrick Garland and has called for the FBI to be defunded.

    Republicans across the ideological spectrum have demanded that the FBI and DOJ answer for the raid, but as of yet answers about the reasons for the search have been scant.

    During an Aug. 22 appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Crenshaw lashed out against denunciations of the FBI, which he called “crazy.”

    “Oh yes, it’s crazy,” Crenshaw said specifically when asked about the rhetoric on the FBI from within his party.

    Some Republicans, including Crenshaw, have condemned Greene’s calls to defund the FBI as being equivalent to Democrats’ calls following the 2020 death of George Floyd to defund the police, a cry that has been kept alive among some more progressive Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

    “It makes us seem like extremist Democrats, right?” Crenshaw said. “And so Marjorie and AOC can go join the defund the law enforcement club if they want. Ninety-nine percent of Republicans are not on that train.”

    On the other hand, Crenshaw did call for more transparency from the DOJ and FBI on the reasons for the raid, which he said was “automatically political” since it involved a search of a former president’s home.

    On Aug. 22, Bruce Reinhart ruled against the DOJ’s efforts to keep the entire search warrant affidavit private.

    The 13-page ruling found that the DOJ had not successfully proven a compelling state interest in censoring the entire document from public view.

    Prior to the Aug. 22 ruling, the federal judiciary signaled openness to releasing a redacted version of the document, but it has as yet not been made public, even following Reinhart’s Aug. 22 ruling. The DOJ, for its part, criticized any effort to release the affidavit over expressed concerns for witness safety.

    “The criticisms that we’re leveling against the FBI and DOJ are fully warranted,” Crenshaw said of GOP calls for more transparency. “It is not those criticisms that lead to a crazy person attacking an FBI.”

    ‘Shameful’: Rep. Greene Hits Back

    Following Crenshaw’s Aug. 21 appearance, Greene countered the Texas Republican in an Aug. 22 Twitter thread.

    “‘Conservative’ Dan Crenshaw runs to CNN to beg Democrat activists like Jake Tapper to take him seriously,” Greene wrote. “Comparing our great men & women in local law enforcement who put their lives on the line to corrupt deep state FBI operatives like Peter Strozk & Lisa Page is shameful.”

    Greene defended her calls to defund the FBI as substantively different from left-wing calls to defund the police.

    “Defunding the FBI is defunding the corrupt deep state that is weaponizing our federal agencies against conservatives all across America,” Greene said.

    The “Defund the police” movement, Greene said by contrast, “is defunding our community protectors and is creating lawlessness across America.”

    Greene continued, “of course everyone is supposed to just trust intelligence operatives like Jim Comey, James Clapper, and Christopher Wray.

    “Dan Crenshaw says they are just like the police AOC wants to defund.

    “Dan doesn’t see a difference and says neither should you.

    “He wants you to see no difference in the FBI & DOJ setting up the Russia collusion hoax wasting $30+ million taxpayer dollars on the Democrat’s communist style political witch hunt and local law enforcement just trying to get drug gangs off the streets and lock up murderers.

    “Dan just wants more useless congressional hearings for members of congress to get their 5 minute CSPAN clips instead of actually doing the hard work of gutting our federal agencies of Marxists like Merrick Garland.

    “Dan says shame on you for using your first amendment freedom of speech proclaiming your outrage over Merrick Garland sending the FBI to raid Maralago even though Pres Trump and his attorneys were nicely working with them and the FBI had already been there and inspected the very documents they raided for.

    “Even [former New York Governor] Andrew Cuomo who killed elderly nursing home patients by locking them up with covid patients cried foul on the FBI violating Pres Trump and his family’s 4th amendment rights.

    “But Dan says that’s extreme and anyone who wants to defund the corrupt FBI is just like AOC.

    “Try telling that to your voters Dan.

    “They might not have a degree from Harvard and hang out with [World Economic Forum Chairman] Klaus Schwab but they have the wisdom to see the very clear difference between the politically corrupt FBI and our good men and women guarding our communities each night.”

    In an emailed statement to the Epoch Times, Greene’s office pointed to polling from Rasmussen that “contradicts Crenshaw’s claims about 99 percent.”

    According to the results of that poll, only 30 percent of Republicans now view the FBI favorably, down from 38 percent in December;

    Among voters not affiliated with either major party, 45 percent have a favorable impression of the FBI and 50 percent view the bureau unfavorably.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 23:25

  • Winter Strikes Hamptons Housing Market As Sellers Forced To Slash Prices
    Winter Strikes Hamptons Housing Market As Sellers Forced To Slash Prices

    We recently pointed out the “housing market peaked and home prices finally drop from record highs,” and home price growth just suffered one of the most significant monthly declines since the 1970s.” Evidence is mounting pandemic boomtown markets are rapidly cooling as a tsunami of price cuts has only just begun. 

    The wealthy enclave on Long Island, known as the Hamptons, is entering a new market phase as sellers are forced to lower their asking price by hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

    Bloomberg spoke with seller George Giacoia who listed his home for $1.695 million in May. He consulted with three real estate agents about the asking price and quickly found there was no demand:

    “I had no response at all,” Giacoia said. “There was not a phone call, nor was there a person that came to any of the open houses.”

    Desperate, the 70-year-old retiree was forced to lower the asking price by a whopping $400,000.

    “Am I going to be lowering my price any more? No,” he said, who plans to move to Italy in October. He finally received an offer two weeks ago and, after some negotiation, the buyers agreed on the new asking price of $1.299 million. They’re currently finalizing the details of the offer. – Bloomberg

    Price cuts in the Hamptons have become a new phenomenon after the pandemic boom: People who could suddenly work remotely flooded the luxury resort town on the southeastern end of New York’s Long Island two years ago. The influx of demand resulted in median home prices surging 88% between the second quarter of 2019 and the same quarter this year.

    “Buyers have more negotiating power now than they did six months ago. The fervor that we were experiencing has subsided. The competitiveness for buying homes has waned,” said Drew Green, a broker in the Hamptons for Saunders & Associates.

    Housing data from Out East, an online marketplace for Hamptons real estate, shows that the number of listings with reduced asking prices has doubled between April and July, and inventory has increased. 

    Source: Bloomberg

    There’s little doubt soaring mortgage rates, plunging stocks and crypto markets, slowing economic growth, and a so-called ‘technical recession’ have been some of the reasons for lackluster demand for homes. 

    Compass broker Jack Pearson, representing a mansion on 37 Huntington Lane, said price discounts are accelerating, though he said not all sellers are receptive to lowering asks. 

    “With the economy and with uncertainty in the world there are definitely people who think that prices will go down and they’ll wait,” Pearson said. “But it doesn’t mean that what they are waiting for, if it’s a prime property, it will be reduced by that much.” 

    Another seller was outraged by the response her $1.895 million home received on the market. Leslie Reese, 65, said her three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Bridgehampton received an offer for $500,000 below list.

    “I thought it was a fluke,” Reese said. “I guess they feel you’re in a desperate situation and feel like they can get a bottom price, but I have a budget.”

    After two weeks on the market, she lowered the asking price by $250,000. The home on 17 Worchester Court is under contract for $1.5 million in an all-cash offer. 

    Here are other examples of homes in the Hamptons with price cuts this summer:

    60 Harbor Dr., Sag Harbor

    April 1 price: $2,995,000

    July 28 price: $2,600,000

    Reduction: $395,000

    107 Stoney Hill Rd., Sag Harbor

    April 8 price: $5,295,000

    July 31 price: $4,795,000

    Reduction: $500,000

    16 McGregor Dr., Southampton

    June 24 price: $1,995,000

    Aug. 1 price: $1,795,000

    Reduction: $200,000

    17 Worchester Ct., Bridgehampton

    July 22 price: $1,895,000

    Aug. 6 price: $1,650,000

    Reduction: $245,000

    46 Cedar St., East Hampton

    May 19 price: $4,500,000

    Aug. 5 price: $3,950,000

    Reduction: $550,000

    26 Woodbine Pl., Southampton

    May 29 price: $1,695,000

    July 31 price: $1,299,000

    Reduction: $396,000

    320 Noyack Rd., Southampton

    May 9 price: $2,695,000

    July 27 price: $2,199,900

    Reduction: $495,100

    6 Joshuas Path, East Hampton

    April 8 price: $3,350,000

    Aug. 9 price: $2,995,000

    Reduction: $355,000

    68 Old Trail Rd., Water Mill

    July 9 price: $2,495,000

    Aug. 4 price: $2,290,000

    Reduction: $205,000

    16 Delavan St., East Hampton

    May 13 price: $1,795,000

    Aug. 8 price: $1,695,000

    Reduction: $100,000

    A seismic shift in the housing market is already underway as sellers in Hamptons missed the window of opportunity earlier this year and during the pandemic to unload their mansions at hefty premiums. Because of interest rate hikes and a downturn in the economy, buyers aren’t showing up, forcing sellers to cut prices. This is how housing markets reverse. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 23:05

  • Should Red States Block Federal Agencies From Operating With Impunity? Blue States Do It
    Should Red States Block Federal Agencies From Operating With Impunity? Blue States Do It

    Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

    The concept of “sanctuary cities” has long been implemented within predominantly leftist states in America. It’s not anything new. Any operations by DHS and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) within blue states to arrest and deport illegal immigrants are often met with aggressive resistance by Democrat run city governments.

    Keep in mind that foreign individuals have no right under the constitution to reside in the US without first gaining citizenship. Leftists say they don’t care and are happy to welcome millions of illegals into the country with open arms in direct violation of laws protecting our borders as well as the stability of our economy and society. They do this NOT because they are naively humanitarian; rather, they see it as a means to import a massive voting block that will give leftists whatever they want because they believe they will get citizenship in exchange.

    If they didn’t want millions of illegal votes, then Democrats would not be constantly attempting to block voter ID laws.

    Obviously, the political left is openly hostile to federal agencies when those agencies happen to obstruct their agenda. Though it’s rare these days for blue states and the feds to be at odds, it does happen. ICE and other agencies might try to find ways around sanctuary status, but there is never any question of “treason” or “insurrection.” Blue state politicians don’t get raided or arrested as national enemies.

    I bring up this issue because many readers have asked me to comment on the events at Mar-a-Lago and the FBI search of Donald Trump’s home. From the information I have seen, every president in history has been given access to classified information after they leave the White House, especially if they are planning to run for office again. One can debate the merits of this policy, but it is a policy just the same. Presidents also have sweeping authority to declassify documents and information when they feel it is justified. Meaning, if documents were found in Trump’s possession, it’s completely plausible that he simply declassified them before taking them.

    The main leftist position is more about the nuances of how the documents are stored and if Trump followed proper procedures through NARA. While the secondary argument by leftists is basically that Trump is a criminal and should not be allowed the same access as other presidents (though impeachment failed and he has never been criminally charged). Until the information on the raid is unsealed we really have no idea if Trump actually had any dangerous or top secret documents in his possession. It’s all hypothetical at this point and the progressive media is running wild with the story simply because they hate Trump and are hoping against hope that this event will stop him from running for office in 2024, where Biden would be easily crushed.

    My personal feeling on the issue is that people are missing the bigger picture. The Mar-a-Lago raid is much like the January 6th trials – It’s all a circus and a distraction. Nothing substantial will come from these events, it’s about optics and influencing public perception. If anything, the raid on Trump’s home makes him look MORE appealing to a large number of Americans who have grown tired of the apparent incompetence and chicanery of the Biden Administration. This event HELPS Trump in the long run instead of hurting him.

    The only other possible scenario that makes sense here is that there will be an attempt to arrest Trump on thin charges. Such a move would be seen as purely political in nature and would enrage millions of Americans to the point of civil unrest. But maybe that’s the point…

    I have never had much trust in Trump and I was always highly critical of the fact that he loaded his cabinet with known banking elites and globalists after attacking those same people during his election campaign. This article is not meant to defend Trump or admonish him. Frankly, I don’t care.

    What I do care about, though, is the increasing tide of federal aggression and the use of federal agencies as a political club to intimidate or beat down opponents of the leftists and globalists. The FBI raid in Florida, is one example. Then there was the FBI seizure of PA congressman Scott Perry’s cell phone, and the Jan. 6th investigations in general are purely about intimidation and not about justice.

    The message of the Jan 6th trials is this: Leftists are allowed to violently riot and burn buildings to the ground across the country. Conservatives are not allowed to do anything. If we do, then we will be rounded up for “insurrection.” At least, that’s what they want us to believe so that we self censor and live in fear of ever protesting again. We are at an impasse. There is no compromise to be had and no agreements to be made. They want us gone, and now we want them gone because they want us gone. This is not going to change.

    Another growing concern among many Americans is the sudden explosion in agent recruitment at the IRS, with an implied need for agents that are willing to execute raids and violence. The “Inflation Reduction Act” which contains no measures that actually reduce inflation but does contain a climate change agenda, socialized healthcare measures and an extreme boost to the IRS.

    The agency is slated to receive an $80 billion boost from the Inflation Reduction Act and the institution is now looking to hire 87,000 more employees. If the mission is to reduce inflation by using the IRS to steal more money from American consumers, then I guess that could work if they rob almost everyone, but it would also cause recessionary carnage and even more public discontent and anger.

    Obviously, not all of the 87,000 new IRS agents will be field agents. Finding that many people with training that are also willing to risk their lives for the IRS would be exceedingly difficult. Many of them will be sitting at a desk, but thousands of them will be strapped and tasked with arrests and this is what worries people. The mainstream media claims that these new agents will be targeting “rich tax dodgers” but we all know better. The IRS was used extensively under Obama to put pressure on conservative organizations and individuals that were not “rich,” and there’s no reason to think Biden would not do the same thing.

    The IRS even had to apologize for their biased activities against conservative groups as part of a legal settlement in 2017.

    They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again, but this time with a massive payout from the Biden White House and probably more leeway to bend the law. So, with federal agencies being utilized even more as political weapons, should conservative states step in and block their operations? Blue states do it, why not red states? This is an apples to apples comparison and absolutely fair. I would say that what blue states are doing with illegal immigrants is highly destructive in comparison. Red states stopping alphabet agencies from using intimidation against conservatives who are legal citizens is far more justified.

    This question leads to a whole gamut of conflicts for sure, and there will be endless cries by leftists of “treason.” But who really cares what they think? We realize that there is a double standard and it’s only expanding in the favor of social justice extremists that want to fundamentally disrupt and change the foundations of our country. Why should we play by their rules when they don’t play by any?

    Red states should enforce a moratorium on federal agency operations until the threats of political abuse are addressed. It is not possible to reach an understanding with leftists at this time because they operate through a prism of zealotry. They cannot be reasoned with because they believe that everything they are doing is righteous and no violation of individual rights is off the table, so it is better to separate and prevent them from implementing malicious policies within our state borders until the conflict is resolved. Otherwise, a lot of people could get hurt.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 22:45

  • "Hangover-Free" Weed-Infused Beverages Becoming All The Rage
    “Hangover-Free” Weed-Infused Beverages Becoming All The Rage

    As recreational marijuana becomes legal in a growing number of states, cannabis-infused, alcohol-free ‘mocktails’ have emerged as a new, healthier alternative for those who wish to imbibe.

    And since liquids are absorbed far more quickly in the stomach than solids (such as pot cookies), these drinks – which include seltzers and alcohol-free wines – have seen a flood of demand.

    According to Colorado-based research firm BDSA, dolalr sales of marijuana beverages were up approximately 65% between 2020 and 2021 in the 12 states they track. California – the #1 consumer of weed drinks – saw the number of cannabis beverages available nearly double during the same period, with at least 747 distinct products now available, according to the NY Times.

    Pabst, known for its Blue Ribbon beer, now sells lemon-flavored “High Seltzer,” a canned cannabis drink promising “a different kind of buzz.” The cannabis beverage company Cann calls its carbonated cocktails “social tonics”; it also sells “roadies,” cannabis-infused drink mix in ready-to-go foil packets. Rebel Coast, a California-based winemaker, makes cans of alcohol-free sparkling wine infused with 10 milligrams of THC.

    Cannabis-infused beverages are often branded as a healthier alternative to alcohol — “No painful days after drinking or regrets,” a tagline on Cann’s site reads. These kinds of drinks carry a connotation of health, said Emily Moquin, a food and beverage analyst at Morning Consult. They tout themselves as “hangover-free” and without the high calories of alcohol; they claim to help you feel “focused,” balanced, relaxed. One cannabis beverage company even suggests pairing their drinks with a spa day.

    Previous attempts to infuse THC into beverages were unsuccessful or produced a terrible tasting drink because the cannabinoid is hydrophobic – and doesn’t mix easily. In recent years, however, ‘nanoemulsion’ technology has allowed for cannabinoids to be smoothly blended into a seltzer or cocktail.

    According to a July survey, nearly 19% of millennials say they’ve tried a THC-infused beverage – a number which Emily Moquin expects to grow as Marijuana is increasingly marketed as a form of self-care.

    “It’s associated with health benefits, things like sleep, anxiety reduction — some things that people might reach for a drink to try to solve,” she said.

    Just don’t drink too much

    As anyone who’s done edibles knows, it takes some time to kick in. What’s more, standards of potency vary – though most experts consider 5 milligrams of THC to constitute a single dose.

    According to Headset, a company that collects and analyzes data on cannabis, more than 50% of cannabis drinks sold in the US in 2021 contained 100 milligrams of THC, an amount that could seriously intoxicate a person.

    Most edibles, on the other hand, contain 5 or 10mg doses.

    “If you tell someone, this is an 8 percent beer, they say, ‘That’s a strong beer,’” said James MacKillop, director of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research at McMaster University. “If you tell someone this is a 20 milligram drink versus a five milligram drink, that’s Greek to many people.”

     

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 22:25

  • Kuroda's BOJ Is A Test Case Of Monetary Policy Limit
    Kuroda’s BOJ Is A Test Case Of Monetary Policy Limit

    By Masaki Kondo, Bloomberg Markets live reporter and analyst

    What are the limits of monetary policy? The answer may lie in the Bank of Japan’s experience.

    For close to a decade now, a weaker exchange rate has complemented Japan’s loose monetary policy as the central bank sought to revive growth and inflation. The reason? Years of rock-bottom interest rates and an abundance of cheap funds had long lost their impact.

    Japan’s real effective exchange rate is at the lowest since at least 1994 and this is probably a deliberate — albeit indirect — policy move on BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s part. But it remains to be seen if it’s enough to rouse Japan’s economy from decades of anemic growth and inflation.

    The answer to that question has far-reaching implications. As the risks of a global downturn increases, central banks will have to contend with the issue of how much policy easing can do to stimulate consumption and investment.

    In this respect, Japanese stocks may provide a clue as to the effectiveness of BOJ’s monetary policy. The so-called Fed Model shows the Topix index’s earnings yield premium is about 8 percentage points over that of 10-year local government notes. That’s 5 percentage points above the S&P 500’s.

    It’s worth noting that the falling yen has also widened Japan’s trade deficit given that exporters had moved their production hubs abroad. Still, a prolonged bout of currency weakness may encourage them to return. Rising US-China tensions as well as the Biden administration’s initiative for a semiconductor alliance that includes Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will provide additional tailwinds.

    Should Kuroda prove that a weaker currency is an effective easing tool, Japan’s stocks may further outperform their developed peers.

    And if he doesn’t, this may serve as an example to other central banks that monetary policy has its limits.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 22:05

  • CCP To Release Top Gun-Esque Aerial-Action Thriller, Featuring Stealth Fighter
    CCP To Release Top Gun-Esque Aerial-Action Thriller, Featuring Stealth Fighter

    Beijing banned Chinese moviegoers from Hollywood’s biggest blockbuster this summer, “Top Gun: Maverick,” because Tom Cruise’s character (“Maverick”) wore a flight jacket with flag patches of Japan and Taiwan. With Cruise’s flick banned, the next best thing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could do is produce a Top Gun-esque air force film of its own, expected to be released later this year. 

    CCP’s mouthpiece Global Times said a fifteen-second teaser for the Chinese military film “Born to Fly” has been released, featuring the country’s most advanced stealth fighter, the Chengdu J-20, along with the story of how Chinese scientists, engineers, and military personnel developed the fifth-generation fighter jet. 

    “The movie presents the struggles of Chinese scientists and engineers as they work to catch up with the times in stealth jet research and advancement after the country experienced a technological blockade under the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) and Wassenaar Arrangement,” Global Times said. 

    Global Times added: “The film will present the power and speed of China’s latest fighter jets as well as reveal the work and life of a test pilot, a representative of the contemporary PLA Air Force.”

    The war flick comes as China rapidly modernizes its armed forces at an unprecedented pace. Threats of war between the US and China surged earlier this month when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, forcing China to conduct an abrupt military drill around the self-governed island. 

    Some in the West believe Beijing’s economic and military weight could shift the balance of power in the decade ahead. As we’ve pointed out, the US-led “unipolar world order” is transforming into a new “multipolar world system.” 

    The superpower showdown appears full steam ahead as China attempts to one-up the West with a pro-war propaganda movie of its own. 
     

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 21:45

  • Dennis Rodman: I'm Going To Russia "To Help That Girl"
    Dennis Rodman: I’m Going To Russia “To Help That Girl”

    Authored by Kyle Anzalone & Will Porter via The Libertarian Institute,

    In an interview with NBC News, former NBA champion Dennis Rodman says he got “permission” to travel to Russia to seek the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner. Rodman previously used his relationship with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un to help secure the release of Kenneth Bae.

    Rodman indicated that he could make the trip as early as this week. He did not say who gave him permission to travel to Russia. Rodman would not technically need authorization from the White House to travel to Russia, but Moscow would need to provide him a visa to enter the country. 

    Dennis Rodman, via Instagram: @dennisrodman

    The State Department has advised Americans not to travel to Russia, and Western sanctions on Moscow make visiting a logistical challenge. Rodman appears undeterred by the complicated geopolitical situation, telling NBC, “I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl. I’m trying to go this week.”

    The US government has ceased contact with the Kremlin since Putin ordered his army to invade Ukraine in February. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have spoken once in the past six months. Three weeks ago, the top diplomats held a call about a prisoner swap, but Griner remains in Russia. 

    On Sunday, in an interview with Financial Times, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations said the war in Ukraine will likely drag on because of the US refusal to engage in negotiations. “We do not have any contacts with the western delegations. On the protocol side we do not see each other . . . Privately we do not have any contacts, unfortunately… we simply do not talk to each other,” he said.

    While Rodman does not hold any official government credentials, he has netted diplomatic successes in the past. After Christian missionary Kenneth Bae was freed from North Korea, he said, “I thank Dennis Rodman for being a catalyst for my release.”

    The NBA star also appeared at the 2018 Singapore summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. 

    Dennis Rodman has made multiple trips to North Korea as a personal friend of Kim Jong Un over the years, via AFP.

    Putin and Rodman met in Moscow in 2014. Rodman said about the Russian leader, “You know, he’s actually cool. I’m not going to say — I’m not talking about politics. I ain’t about politics … this was my first time meeting him. He just walked in, shook my hand and left with all his people. I just stayed there and had a good time at his restaurant.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 21:25

  • Federal Judge Protects The Religious Right Of Marines To Refuse COVID Vaccine
    Federal Judge Protects The Religious Right Of Marines To Refuse COVID Vaccine

    U.S. District Court of Florida Judge Steven Merryday issued an injunction this week against the Department of Defense and the U.S. Marine Corps, allowing US Marines with religious objections to refuse covid vaccine mandates imposed by the Biden Administration.

    Liberty Council, a Christian religious rights law firm, sued Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and pursued class action relief on behalf of all U.S. Marines who were denied religious accommodations from the COVID shots. Some religious objectors refuse the vaccines citing research and development that may have involved aborted fetal cells.

    Joe Biden attempted and failed to institute vaccine mandates for US businesses and their employees in 2021, but unfortunately this did not extend to soldiers in the US military.  Mandates have been fought in courts to varying degrees by current serving within different branches, but the pressure to comply has been extensive.  Many have sought religious exemptions, which have been used successfully with other vaccinations, but such rights have been utterly ignored when it comes to the covid mRNA vax.  

    Keep in mind, new vaccines on average are tested for at least 10 to 15 YEARS before being released to for use by the US public.  There is no significant long term data on covid mRNA vaccines developed by companies like Pfizer beyond small studies run by the same pharmaceutical corporations that stand to make massive profits.  Some of these studies were only a few weeks to a few months long.  Vaccines with minimal testing are able to be administered to the public under emergency authorization from the government, which is what vax companies used to pump out millions of doses.

    Vaccine advocates claim that the covid vaccines are “different” and that companies were able to “compress the timeline for study” because of the billions of dollars involved in Operation Warp Speed.  This is a misrepresentation of the facts.  There is no other precedence in modern vaccine history for such a swift release.  Long term testing is not only about money and meeting efficacy standards, it’s also about monitoring effects that may not be present in testing in short term studies, but could arise unexpectedly over time.  This is why no vaccine has ever been approved by the FDA for public use as quickly as the covid vaccines.

    Even the mumps vaccine which was fast-tracked by the US government in 1963 took over 4 years to approve and was rolled out in 1967.  This was the fastest approval ever by the FDA until the covid vaccines came along and were rolled out within 10 months from testing to distribution.

    The potential effects involved with mRNA technology are specifically concerning for this reason, and because they have never been used on the medical market anywhere in the world until the covid pandemic.  This is an issue consistently mentioned by one of the inventors of mRNA tech, Robert Malone, along with thousands of other scientists, and he has been consistently demonized for it in the mainstream media.  

    In fact, there is NO ONE out there today that can say with any certainty what the long term effects of covid vaccines will be, because there are no long term studies to corroborate claims of safety.  At least, if there are long term studies (multi-year studies) on the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, they have not been released.  

    Maybe there will be limited effects, or no effects, or maybe there will be many.  Given the minimal average Infection Fatality Rate of covid, which is 0.23% according to dozens of independent peer reviewed studies, millions of people in the US including many in the military have determined that there is no reason for them to gamble on the jab.  Why take the chance on a vaccine with no long term data when the threat of death is so low, especially for younger people? 

    Judge Steven Merryday issued the following injunction against the Department of Defense and the U.S. Marine Corps:

    “The defendants are PRELIMINARILY ENJOINED (1) from enforcing against a member of the class any order, requirement, or rule to accept COVID-19 vaccination, (2) from separating or discharging from the Marine Corps a member of the class who declines COVID-19 vaccination, and (3) from retaliating against a member of the class for the member’s asserting statutory rights under RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act).”

    According to Liberty Counsel, the class includes:

    “All persons on active duty or in the ready reserve (1) who serve under the command of the Marine Corps, (2) who were affirmed by a chaplain as harboring a sincere religious objection, (3) who timely submitted an initial request for a religious accommodation, (4) who were denied the initial request, (5) who timely appealed the denial of the initial request, and (6) who were denied or will be denied after appeal.”

    This is a big win for individual liberty in the face of medical authoritarianism, and as the covid hysteria continues to subside perhaps people will finally realize how they allowed their fear to get in the way of reason. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 21:05

  • US Strategic Petroleum Reserve Falls To 35-Year Low
    US Strategic Petroleum Reserve Falls To 35-Year Low

    Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,

    The United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) now has only 453.1 million barrels in its inventory, following another significant drop in the past week that puts the emergency reserve at a low not seen in three and a half decades, Reuters reports, citing the Department of Energy. 

    In the week ending August 19th, the SPR saw another draw of 8.1 million barrels, following smaller releases in the weeks leading up to that. 

    In March, the Biden administration authorized the release of 1 million bpd from the SPR over a period of six months in a bid to lower oil prices and to potentially boost domestic production through contracts with companies to purchase future oil at fixed prices. The SPR releases are a response to the disruption of global oil markets caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions that have led to soaring oil and gas prices. 

    The final plan called for a total release of 180 million barrels of crude from the SPR to counter the inexorable increase in oil prices amid a tight market.

    The record-high release of crude oil from the SPR will end this fall. 

    In addition to the lowest inventory levels in the SPR since 1985, last Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated that crude oil inventories (excluding the SPR) had fallen by 7.1 million barrels. 

    For that week, U.S. crude oil inventories, excluding those in the SPR, were at only 425 million barrels, or 6% below the five year average. 

    The largest sale from the SPR was announced on August 11, when the Department of Energy said that nine companies would buy 20 million barrels.

    According to the Institute of Energy Research, the SPR is expected to shrink to a 40-year low by the end of October, with inventories then at 358 million barrels, compared to 621 million barrels a year ago. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 20:45

  • Seized Russian Superyacht To Be Auctioned, With Proceeds Going To J.P. Morgan
    Seized Russian Superyacht To Be Auctioned, With Proceeds Going To J.P. Morgan

    Seizing other people’s assets to enrich our massive investment banks…it’s the American way!

    A massive luxury superyacht that was seized as part of the Western sanctions on Russia this year is going to be sold at auction to pay off J.P. Morgan, a new report from Bloomberg said this week. 

    The yacht, formerly owned by sanctioned Russian businessman Dmitry Pumpyansky is going to be sold at auction on Tuesday after Pumpyansky reportedly defaulted on a loan that he was given from J.P. Morgan, the report says. 

    According to Nigel Hollyer, a broker at auction house Howe Robinson Partners, it’s going to be the first superyacht auctioned since the sanctions took hold, freezing yachts in ports across the world.

    The yacht – Axioma – had been seized in Gibraltar in March. It is currently valued at £63 million, though it is expected to fetch less than that at auction. 

    Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan won a court order in Gibraltar last month that allowed for the sale of the yacht on account of Pumpyansky not paying off a $20.6 million loan that was tied to the ship. 

    The ship has what every fishing vessel absolutely needs, including a swimming pool and a 3D cinema. The auction has “staggering amount of interest,” Hollyer told Bloomberg. He said there were about 115 inquiries into the yahct and more than two dozen inspections of the vessel. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 20:25

  • Is The Yen About To Resume Its Path Lower?
    Is The Yen About To Resume Its Path Lower?

    Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Time blog,

    Much of the recent strength in the yen can be explained in one word and that is China. While I have seen no other currency watchers espouse this theory, I continue to contend the yen has become a major conduit by which wealth is being transferred out of China. This tight relationship can be seen each time trouble surfaces in China’s economy. When this happens the yen rises in value as wealth exits China through business back-channels. 

    Let’s be frank, most economic watchers think the Chinese economy is in big trouble, this makes it logical many people would want to get their wealth out of the country. This, however, is easier said than done. China has very strict rules related to taking money in and out of the country.

    These rules regulate the actions of individuals attempting to move money out of China. We can assume, that most people moving large amounts of money would rather go under the radar and avoid running into problems with the Chinese government.

    A few other factors feed into the recent bounce in the yen but do not be surprised if this recent strength rapidly fades.

    One factor playing into the bounce is the decline in the yen’s value over the last several months may have been a bit overdone. Another could be related to the fact energy prices have come down reducing the cost of imports needed to fuel the economy. Still, we are again beginning to see the yen slip down towards its lows and should be repaired to see it again slip into new low territory. 

    Japan’s basic problems still remain.

    As stated in an earlier post, higher interest rates are toxic to the highly indebted nation. Also, unfavorable demographics will continue to haunt the small island nation. Simply put, the fundamentals for Japan are lousy. Much of the risk of who gets hurt in the case of a falling yen or a default has shifted from the private sector to the Japanese public since the BOJ has continued splurging on JGBs.

    The Japanese Government Is Heavily In Debt

    As Japan continues down this path it is only a matter of time before the credibility of the BOJ is lost and the yen plunges. To support their stock market the BOJ has even gone to buying stock. When investors in Japan’s government bonds begin to believe that inflation is about to return it would be logical for owners of  Japanese debt to rush out of the low-yielding securities and buy foreign bonds or equities.

    Unlike many other leading economies, Japan has been battling deflation or falling prices for the best part of the past two decades. We may have reached the point where reality has now taken hold. This has been a long time coming. When Japan crumbles it will be felt across the world and add to doubts about the whole fiat currency system.  

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 20:05

  • Hyundai To Speed Up EV Construction In U.S. To Take Advantage Of "Inflation Reduction Act" Subsidies
    Hyundai To Speed Up EV Construction In U.S. To Take Advantage Of “Inflation Reduction Act” Subsidies

    The printed power of great government incentives strikes again…

    First, it was Ford and GM raising the prices of their EVs commensurate with the subsidy the new “Inflation Reduction Act” was offering potential buyers.

    Now it’s Hyundai Motor, moving quickly to try and finish its EV plant in Georgia this year so it can also have a spot at the government feeding trough subsidy table.

    The automaker is reportedly looking to speed up construction of its forthcoming facilities in Georgia so that it can start production in the second half of 2024, Yonhap and Bloomberg reported this week. 

    The company was originally slated to begin production in the first half of 2025 and not start construction until January 2023. 

    But the changes are afoot because the “US’ Inflation Reduction Act. excludes EVs built outside US from tax breaks”, Bloomberg reported this week. 

    Recall, less than a week ago we noted that Ford was hiking the price of its F-150 by about the exact same amount as would be received by EV subsidies included in the act. 

    Ford announced last week that it is raising the price of its high end electric F-150 by up to $8,500; an amount that adds another $1,000 onto the new $7,500 EV subsidy that was including in President Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act”. Base models are seeing their prices hiked by $7,000. 

    Biden signed his “flagship” act last Tuesday afternoon. 

    One more time, so we’re clear: a $7,500 taxpayer subsidy included in an act named after reducing inflation appears to have spurred an even larger price hike on electric pickup trucks. 

    The electric F-150 had previously been listed for $40,000 for its base version. Now, it is priced at $47,000, according to CNN. The better equipped versions of the vehicles have similar price hikes, up to $8,500. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 19:45

  • For Democrats And Due Process, It's Now Or Never…
    For Democrats And Due Process, It’s Now Or Never…

    Authored by Augustus Howard via RealClearPolitics.com,

    The FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago represents the logical next step in the left’s ongoing effort to destroy Donald Trump.

    The raid also evinces Democrats’ spiral of worry: A successful Trump return, once unthinkable to them, is looking more possible by the day.

    To stop it, Democrats and their anti-Trump Republican allies are prepared to shred every last norm of American due process.

    Consider the January 6 Committee hearings – a one-sided show trial that, instead of “defending democracy,” in fact subverts due process and undermines American politics and justice alike. Why did Nancy Pelosi throw precedent to the wind, denying the minority party the right to seat its own chosen members on the committee? Why does the committee showcase select witnesses and cherry-picked testimony in carefully choreographed, professionally-produced television specials? And at the same time, why does it bury other testimony, potentially unhelpful to the chosen narrative, far from the cameras?

    If Pelosi and the Democrats were confident in their case, they would make it without privilege or prejudice for any particular witness. Republican members, chosen by Republican leadership, would have the right to examine and cross-examine everyone who testifies. Ordinary due process would be observed. But the Democrats are clearly far from confident – about their case, but more importantly still, about their electoral prospects. For them, the January 6 hearings had to be a “no-risk” proposition, a fait accompli in which the “defendants” are presumed guilty with no opportunity to “prove” their innocence. Due process, for Pelosi and crew, was simply a luxury that could not be afforded.

    At the same time, and for only the second time in American history, the Justice Department has convicted an individual for not complying with a congressional subpoena: former Trump aide Stephen Bannon, who originally refused to testify before the January 6 Committee, citing executive privilege. Ordinarily, division-of-power understandings counsel against such a prosecution; the Justice Department usually takes the view that Congress must enforce its own will in inherently political matters. This may be why Obama Attorney General Eric Holder was never prosecuted for defying congressional subpoenas over the Fast and Furious operation, wherein his department supplied thousands of firearms to criminals south of the border. But precedent, and the rules for the Obama Administration, simply do not apply to Trump – and they must not, lest he be able to run again for president. So, Bannon was prosecuted and convicted for defying a subpoena, even though he ultimately agreed to testify anyway. And for all that, Democrats still will not televise Bannon’s potentially inconvenient testimony.

    And then came the raid in Palm Beach. For the first time in our nation’s history, Americans saw government agents with guns, at the behest of a sitting president’s Justice Department, enter the residence of his predecessor. The agents turned over the former president’s office and rummaged through the former first lady’s wardrobe, all supposedly to seize classified documents from Trump’s administration. Of course, Trump could have declassified any of the documents at issue while president if he chose to do so. But, as Andrew McCarthy argues in the New York Post, this isn’t about classified documents anyway; the raid was likely just a pretext to further the January 6 investigation. Certainly, it was a continuation of the effort to discredit and remove Donald Trump forever.

    Expect such actions to continue and worsen. Recent polls show Trump defeating Joe Biden in a rematch.

    Biden’s approval numbers remain at historic, embarrassing lows. And Democrats think they will lose control of Congress in the midterms.

    With Trump gaining momentum in his own party – he overwhelmingly won a recent CPAC straw poll – Democrats know that the window to stop him is closing. For them and their anti-Trump GOP allies, it’s now or never. Unfortunately, much the same can be said for American due process.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 19:25

  • Greta Thunberg Cult Has Gone 'Bust': Sky News
    Greta Thunberg Cult Has Gone ‘Bust’: Sky News

    Greta Thunberg’s guilt-trip climate shame tour appears to have hit the wall, as green pipe dreams with zero practical solutions meet the realities of, well, reality.

    Or, as Sky News Australia’s Andrew Bolt puts it; “A mere child, full of rage, obsessed with doom, totally devoid of any practical solutions – but here she was lecturing the world on how to fuel their 21st century economies.”

    Over the past year, Thunberg’s movement – described by Bolt as a “cult” – has fizzled out.

    “Thunberg is now a victim of her own success in scaring people into doing very, very stupid things that we’re now paying for.”

    Watch:

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 19:05

  • 'Mad Max' Is Coming – Bill Holter Warns Of 'Dark Times Ahead, Even For The Prepared'
    ‘Mad Max’ Is Coming – Bill Holter Warns Of ‘Dark Times Ahead, Even For The Prepared’

    Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

    Precious metals expert and financial writer Bill Holter says, “nothing is getting better” and points out the proof is everywhere that we are clearly headed for a financial calamity, the likes of which we have never seen before. 

    Holter, who is also a precious metals broker, is seeing a big pick-up in business because big money is looking for a place to hide in the physical world.  Holter explains,

    “We are getting more orders and larger orders.  I think this is natural because I think people know something is wrong, and when something is wrong, you want to get defensive.  I think people are finally making the connection the world is in the process of bankrupting, and you want your capital in something that cannot bankrupt.  By definition, that is gold and silver.”

    Holter says evil is trying to take over everywhere. 

    Holter contends, “The consensus is the fact that we have a 2nd Amendment and we still have guns here is the only reason they have not snapped the trap shut yet.  The United States is ‘the last bastion.’ “

    “Just look at Australia.  Look at New Zealand.  Look at Canada.  Look at Britain.  Can you have guns there?  No, they have taken them away.  What did they do?  They forced the population into lockdown.  They forced the population to get the jab.  The result is you are going to see the West vastly depopulated and degraded in the next 1, 2 or 5 years.  They have total control over their population.  Whereas, that is not the case yet in the U.S.”

    Holter has long said when the overloaded debt system breaks, it will break “fast and ugly.” 

    “Credit will dry up overnight,” and “The world runs on credit,” according to Holter. 

    His math shows a dark time ahead even for the prepared.  Holter explains,

    “All you have to do is wake up in the morning and read the news, and you know it has gotten worse than the day before.  That’s day after day.  I have talked about ‘Mad Max’ for several years.  When I first started talking about it, I got all kinds of grief, and they called me a nut case.  It is certainly looking more and more now as the likely scenario.  It just goes back to the West and, including China, it is not in the West, but it too is extremely levered (or indebted).  When you over-lever a financial system, you over-lever an economy.  At some point, the only thing that can happen is something bad.  It’s either default or hyperinflation of the currency to pay the debt back.  As far as timing, I would be shocked if we make it through the end of this year and people would still consider the system normal.”

    When the system does break, that’s when it turns “ugly.”  Holter explains,

    “As far as how are things going to work when this thing goes down?  My question would be is anything going to work?  Will your bank be open?  Will your broker be open?  Will there be a store open or a restaurant or any place to buy goods?  That gets back to Jim Sinclair’s ‘Get out of the System’ (GOTS).  Become your own central banker.  Stock up on the things you think you are going to need.  Is it going to last two weeks or two years?  It could last two years.  One thing for sure, our life in the United States is going to be drastically changed to a lower standard of living. . . . You are watching the breakdown in real time.”

    There is much more in the 41 min interview.

    Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter of JSMineset.com for 8.20.22.

    * * *

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    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 18:45

  • Biden Has Released 250,000 Unaccompanied Illegal Immigrant Children Into The US
    Biden Has Released 250,000 Unaccompanied Illegal Immigrant Children Into The US

    In 2012, Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano rolled out the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” program, also known as DACA.  Over 800,000 illegal immigrant children (or more) have been blocked from deportation and allowed to remain in the US through the DACA program through 2021.

    Donald Trump moved to terminate DACA but the Supreme Court backed immigration advocates in 2020.     

    In July 2021, a federal judge ruled that first-time DACA applicants were barred from applying to the program.  All individuals whose DACA requests were approved prior to July 16, 2021 will continue to have DACA status and all DACA requests that were approved before July 16 will continue to be eligible to renew DACA and DACA work permits.

    DACA allowed noncitizens who were then under the age of 31 and had entered America before turning 16 years old and before 2007 to request that the government not deport them.  DACA children, also called “DREAMers” for the sake of political optics, were not granted technical citizenship status, but were granted most of the benefits of citizenship anyway, including driver’s licenses, work permits and social security numbers.  In many states this kind of documentation also allows them to vote despite living in the US illegally.   

    Even though DACA has been shut down, Joe Biden has allowed over 257,000 illegal minors into the US to be relocated according to recent data from US Customs and Border Protection.  They are not accompanied by parents and are often farmed out to foster or “sponsor” homes across the country.  Keep in mind these are official government stats, which tend to under-report illegal immigration activity.  

    Like Obama, Biden has continued to ignore constitutional law on immigration, which says that only Congress is able to determine immigration levels within any given period of time.  

    The scheme is rather obvious – Import illegal immigrant children using their age and circumstances as an empathy shield against critics, then keep them in the US so long that it then becomes socially unacceptable to deport them when they are adults.  Thus, they receive de facto citizenship without Congress having a say in the matter because “the poor children,” and leftists buy hundreds of thousands of future voters in the process.  

    These unilateral policies have created an epidemic of illegal migrants, especially young children, along US Border states, along with rampant human trafficking and other highly unsavory criminal activities.  Border and refugee agencies have struggled to keep up with the constant arrivals of children, with thousands coming per week setting new records.

     

    Open border advocates claim that many of these children are sent into the US alone because they already have family on the other side.  This is nonsense.  In order to apply for asylum or refugee status under DACA or any other immigration program, one of the requirements is that the child has no parent or legal guardian living in America. 

    They also claim that the children are exploited in their home countries and this is why they must stay within the US, but there is no evidence to support the notion that the majority of illegal children are escaping exploitation.  What we do know is that if children make these claims they are more likely to receive refugee status and be resettled or get asylum later on.  In other words, the incentives to claim abuse and exploitation are numerous.  The vast majority of DACA children cross the border with no plan and no one to take care of them, with the chance of kidnapping growing each year.  Truly, this must be the act of loving caring parents that want the best for their kids.  

    American taxpayers shell out AT LEAST $9.4 billion per year to provide care for illegal migrant children including DACA recipients.  Some estimates indicate that the Biden Administration is spending over $60 million per week to shelter unaccompanied minors.  

    And here is perhaps the real reason why parents would send their vulnerable children into the US alone:  Free child care, and potential future citizenship which they can then use to bring more family members into the US later.  The real exploitation of migrant children is often committed by the parents, it’s not something they are running away from. 

    The real solution would be to coordinate with the Central and South American governments and send the children straight back to their families.  Denial of legal citizenship for the rest of the parents’ lives as punishment might send a message.  If there are no incentives, the mass migrations will stop.  If these countries will not cooperate, taxes can be raised on imports until they see reason.  But Biden will never do this.          

    There is talk among Democrats of instituting DACA 2.0, in order to ensure that the march of child migrants continues for many years to come and the numerous associated problems only get worse.  New measures do not seem to matter though, because Biden is stepping over border laws and encouraging illegal immigration anyway, creating a creeping humanitarian disaster from which there seems to be no escape.   

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 18:25

  • "F**k Wirepoints" Says Chicago Teachers Union When Confronted With Facts From The School District Itself
    “F**k Wirepoints” Says Chicago Teachers Union When Confronted With Facts From The School District Itself

    Authored by Mark Glennon, founder of Wirepoints.org,

    On August 5, Wirepoints’ Matt Rosenberg wrote about empty, failing Chicago Public Schools. The numbers we reported are truly astonishing but they are the school district’s own.

    Mike Flannery of FOX 32 Chicago asked the Chicago Teachers Union to join his show to discuss the numbers along with Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski.

    “F*** Wirepoints,” was the union spokesman’s answer to Flannery. He used the whole word and said his answer was on the record, according to Flannery. The spokesman added nothing more about the numbers and did not join the video segment, which is here at the 8:30 mark, wherein Flannery described the union’s response.

    Is the union so confident in its political power that it can respond to legitimate issues in such a manner?

    Is that how the union believes Chicago students should be educated to engage in discourse?

    Where is the Chicago leadership to address the calamity in its public schools?

    Where is the government of the State of Illinois that has full power force reforms but shirks any responsibility?

    The numbers we reported almost defy belief. Of CPS’ 478 stand-alone “traditional” schools, one-third of them, 150, are less than half-full, according to the school district. The 20 most empty CPS schools are only 5% to 25% full and most have abysmal educational outcomes, with  proficiency percentages in the single digits.

    Manley High School has a capacity of 1,296 students but just 64 students are enrolled. There, 2% are proficient in reading and 1% in math. Just 44 students attend Douglas High School that has a capacity of 888 and their reading and math proficiency are both 0%. The list goes on.

    CPS has already lost 100,000 students, or 25% of its enrollment, since 2000 and enrollment is projected to decline by tens of thousands more within a few years.

    That’s in a school system that spends an astonishing $28,000 per student to cover the district’s operating, capital and debt costs, a spending number which has doubled since 2013, as we reported earlier.

    It’s in a system that graduates 84% of its students though only about a quarter can read or do math at grade level.

    And it’s in a system that rates the portion of its teachers as “proficient or excellent” at 100%. That’s correct, 100%.

    Those numbers are real, as is the omnipotence of the Chicago Teachers Union, but how one of the world’s formerly leading cities could have let it comes to this seems to defy reality.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 18:05

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Aug 23

Today’s News 23rd August 2022

  • Zelensky Says Russia's Mass Trial Of Captured Mariupol Fighters Will Make Peace Talks "Impossible"
    Zelensky Says Russia’s Mass Trial Of Captured Mariupol Fighters Will Make Peace Talks “Impossible”

    It’s obvious at this point that Ukraine’s military is seeking to expand strikes inside Russian-controlled Crimea, which this month has become an unprecedented first following a brutal, grinding more than half-year of war. Zelensky has called for its “liberation” – but if this weren’t enough to ensure that the conflict will continue to burn for at least the near to medium-term future (the war is possibly set to endure for years, according to the predictions of some US defense officials), Zelensky’s latest remarks on Monday suggest that any potential ceasefire negotiations aren’t even so much as anywhere on the horizon. 

    Zelensky called the idea of negotiations with Moscow “impossible” if Russia moves forward with plans for a mass trial of captured Mariupol defenders. “If this despicable show trial takes place, if our people are brought into this scenery in violation of all agreements, all international rules, if there is abuse … this will be the line beyond which any negotiations are impossible,” Zelensky said Monday. 

    “Russia will cut itself off from the negotiations,” he stressed. “There will be no more conversations. Our state has said everything.” Russia too has of late been expressing a similar position of being closed to talks, blaming Kiev and its Western backers, and President Putin is expected to dig in his heals further especially after the recent Crimea attacks as well as the car-bombing of Alexander Dugin’s daughter Darya on Saturday night.

    Via Reuters: A bus carrying members of the Ukrainian armed forces, who surrendered to Russian forces at the besieged Azovstal steel mill.

    In the comments he confirmed he is in ongoing conversation with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over what Ukraine is dismissing as a show trial, saying that he expects the UN to issue clear condemnation. 

    “Everyone understands everything,” Zelensky said. “They understand what the occupiers are doing and what it threatens,” he added of international powers. “And they understand that Ukraine will not tolerate this. It will not tolerate tormenting of people about whom only one thing can be said: they are heroes of their homeland, they defended the freedom of their people from invaders on their land.”

    Russian foreign ministry officials have meanwhile complained separately that it’s the UN itself largely to blame for lack of any diplomatic process towards a negotiated settlement to the war:

    Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, told the Financial Times that the UN should be playing a bigger role in attempts to end the conflict and accused the US and other Nato countries of pressing Ukraine to walk away from negotiations.

    There would be no direct talks between Putin and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he said. “Now, I do not see any possibility for diplomatic contacts,” Gatilov said. “And the more the conflict goes on, the more difficult it will be to have a diplomatic solution.”

    As for the hundreds of Ukrainian fighters who spent literally months holed up in the cavernous Azovstal steal plant while under siege by numerically superior Russian forces, Kremlin authorities have said they mostly make up the neo-Nazi Azov battalion. Earlier Russian media reports additionally alleged that some foreign fighters may have been in their midst as well. 

    Ukraine officials and pundits are livid over the planned optics of the trial…

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    Already, some foreign fighters, including UK nationals, were in months past sentenced to death by a local pro-Russian Donetsk court. It’s entirely possible and even likely that the captured Azov members will be issued the same sentence. Without doubt, Moscow will seek to “send a message” with this trial. Russian forces have accused Azov battalion of being genocidal and of committing ‘terrorism’ against civilians. 

    The trial is also sure to capture global headlines and likely elicit UN condemnation, also given that – as The Hill reports – “Ukraine’s military intelligence arm warned on Friday in a Telegram post that Russia has been remodeling the Mariupol Chamber Philharmonic and installing iron cages in the building for a trial on Wednesday, which marks Ukraine’s independence day and six months since the war began.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 02:45

  • World Economic Forum Suggests There Are "Solid, Rational" Reasons To Microchip Kids
    World Economic Forum Suggests There Are “Solid, Rational” Reasons To Microchip Kids

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

    Not doing their Bond villain reputation status any favors, the World Economic Forum published an article suggesting it would be a “solid, rational” move for children to be implanted with microchips.

    Yes, really.

    The idea is promoted in a blog post on the Davos elite’s website which discusses the future of augmented reality and an “augmented society.”

    “As scary as chip implants may sound, they form part of a natural evolution that wearables once underwent. Hearing aids or glasses no longer carry a stigma,” the article argues, perhaps forgetting that glasses and hearing aids aren’t embedded inside the body, nor can they be controlled by outside forces.

    “They are accessories and are even considered a fashion item. Likewise, implants will evolve into a commodity,” writes scientist Kathleen Philips, suggesting that mainstream culture and influencers will be tapped to promote implantable chips as a trendy status symbol.

    The article pushes the notion that augmented humans are inevitable and that global elites need to establish a power monopoly over the technology in order to “ethically” regulate it.

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    The technology is in need of “the right support, vision, and audacity,” which of course will be provided by your technocratic overlords, the same people who are desperately trying to censor the Internet so they can’t be criticized.

    “The augmenting technology will help in all stages of life: children in a learning environment, professionals at work and ambitious senior citizens. There are many possibilities,” writes Philips.

    “Should you implant a tracking chip in your child?” asks the scientist, adding, “There are solid, rational reasons for it, like safety.”

    As we previously highlighted, World Economic Forum chief Klaus Schwab wrote in his book ‘The Great Reset’ that the fourth industrial revolution would “lead to a fusion of our physical, digital and biological identity,” which he clarifies is implantable microchips that can read your thoughts.

    During this year’s Davos meeting of global elitists, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla explained to Schwab how soon there would be “ingestible pills” – a pill with a tiny microchip chip that would send a wireless signal to relevant authorities when the pharmaceutical has been consumed.

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    “Imagine the compliance,” said Bourla.

    “It wasn’t that long ago that those speculating on a future where this is happening would get dismissed as conspiracy theorists, but now the world elites’ most vocal outlet is predicting that chip implants will eventually become just a commodity,” writes Didi Rankovic.

    As we previously reported, an Australian primary school predicted “microchips in student’s brains” within 10 years before subsequently deleting the newsletter that contained the creepy prophecy.

    *  *  *

    Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

    In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. I need you to sign up for my free newsletter here. Support my sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Get early access, exclusive content and behinds the scenes stuff by following me on Locals.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/23/2022 – 02:00

  • Sanctuary City Mayors Cry 'Uncle', No More Migrants!
    Sanctuary City Mayors Cry ‘Uncle’, No More Migrants!

    Authored by Joe Guzzardi via ProgressivesForImmigrationReform.org,

    Sanctuary cities are once again in the headlines.

    But this time, sanctuary cities, the bane of immigration law enforcement advocates, have a different spin. Since five-time deported illegal immigrant Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate murdered Kate Steinle in July 2015 on Pier 14 in San Francisco, state and city governments have persisted in welcoming illegal aliens and protecting them from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. San Francisco is a sanctuary city in the sanctuary state of California.

    Despite a federal immigration detention request to hold Garcia-Zarate so immigration officials could take him into custody, San Francisco authorities freed the seven-time convicted felon just three months before he killed Steinle. Eventually, Garcia-Zarate was acquitted and sentenced to time served on an illegal firearms possession charge.

    Between January 2014 and September 2015, the Center for Immigration Studies reported that sanctuary jurisdictions rejected 17,000 ICE detainer requests – 17,000 individuals who should have been deported but remained to potentially pose criminal risk to U.S. citizens. Claiming that migrants are fleeing poverty and persecution, local leaders have been willing to spend their constituents’ taxpayer dollars on affirmative benefits for the newly arrived illegal immigrants.

    Suddenly, however, with President Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas opening the Southwest border to foreign nationals from 150 countries and clandestinely flying them to faraway cities, attitudes are less welcoming. New York Mayor Eric Adams said that busing migrants from Texas to mid-town Manhattan, as Gov. Gregg Abbott has done, is “cruel.” About 4,000 unlawfully present migrants have entered New York’s shelter facilities since May, an ”unprecedented surge,” said Adams, who has unsuccessfully called on the federal government to intervene.

    Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has made the same complaints as Adams, labeling the migrant flood “critical,” issuing identical rejected pleas for federal intervention. Since April, Gov. Abbott has sent more than 6,800 illegal immigrants to Washington. Bowser has begged for the National Guard to intervene “to help prevent a prolonged humanitarian crisis in our nation’s capital resulting from the daily arrival of migrants in need of assistance.” McAllen, Texas, Mayor Javier Villalobos mocked Adams and Bowser. Villalobos said: “The city of McAllen was able to deal with thousands of immigrants a day; I think they can handle a few hundred.”

    Adams and Bowser should have known that pleading with the feds, especially Mayorkas, would be futile. At the January U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mayorkas tried to sell the assembled mayors on his new, mostly gutted ICE. But the attendees wanted to hear about border enforcement, a subject Mayorkas studiously avoided.

    While it may be overly optimistic to hope for a change now that prominent Democratic mayors are experiencing first-hand the fiscal burden and public safety risks that sanctuary policies create, a shift is in the wind.

    The mere existence of sanctuary cities is illegal. Local laws that protect illegal immigrants prevent routine cooperation among municipal, state and federal law enforcement agencies. President Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch realized the importance of keeping law enforcement apprised about any individual’s immigration status. Lynch warned sanctuary cities that they would not receive Justice Department funding in the 2017 fiscal year if they did not comply with 8 USC Section 1373, which prohibits any agency from restraining “in any way” the exchange of information among federal, state and local agencies regarding foreign nationals’ immigration status. Despite saber-rattling from Lynch, and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, funding continued.

    With millions of border crossers already released into the U.S. interior, and millions more anticipated during Biden’s remaining two and a half years in office, sanctuary cities will come under increasing pressure to provide for their unlawfully present alien residents, an untenable situation for the already underfunded, overcrowded municipalities.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 23:40

  • US Border Agents Seize 1.6 Million Fentanyl Pills In Big-Rig, Destined For US Cities
    US Border Agents Seize 1.6 Million Fentanyl Pills In Big-Rig, Destined For US Cities

    Customs and Border Protection agents in Arizona seized a mind-numbing 1.57 million fentanyl pills and 114 pounds of cocaine hidden within secret compartments of a tractor-trailer.

    Port Director Michael W. Humphries tweeted a huge cache of drugs was discovered in an “18-Wheeler trailer floor compartment” on Saturday. The vehicle was attempting to cross into Arizona from Mexico at the Nogales Port of Entry when CBP agents stopped it for inspection. 

    This massive seizure disrupted the flow of dangerous amounts of fentanyl across US cities and likely saved many lives. There was no word if this seizure was a record-breaking bust. Earlier this summer, we noted that “unprecedented levels of fentanyl” are entering the country via the southern border. 

    Last week, Humphries tweeted, “colored fentanyl pills with the appearance of candy” were seized at the port of entry. The candy-like fentanyl pills are very troubling as children could mistake the drugs for candy during Halloween.

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    In another tweet, he noted that “250,000 fentanyl pills (some of which were different colors, similar to the appearance of candy)” were seized. 

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    The seizures come as deaths from synthetic opioids are skyrocketing, up more than 56% from 2019 to 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

    “More than 56,000 people died from overdoses involving synthetic opioids in 2020,” according to the CDC.

    Besides copious amounts of fentanyl pills being seized at one land port, a tractor-trailer filled with 150 migrants was stopped in Texas. 

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    The flow of drugs and migrants across the border into the US is a tremendous problem that the Biden administration chooses to ignore.

    Democrat mayors in New York City and Washington, DC have recently awakened to the reality of a border crisis after Texas Governor Greg Abbott shipped a caravan of migrants via busses to their respective metro areas. 

    President Biden’s ongoing humanitarian and national security crisis at the border worsens by the week, and no one in his administration has yet to take responsibility for the nightmare it has created. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 23:20

  • FDA Finally Approved An Alzheimer's Drug… But Everything Surrounding It Is Controversial
    FDA Finally Approved An Alzheimer’s Drug… But Everything Surrounding It Is Controversial

    Authored by Kelly Song via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Aduhelm is the brand name under which the Alzheimer’s drug Aducanumab is marketed. It is developed by the U.S. company Biogen. The drug is to be administered as an intra-venous infusion every four weeks.

    A vial and packaging for the drug Aduhelm is shown on June 7, 2021. (Biogen via AP)

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Aducanumab in June 2021, making it the first Alzheimer’s disease medication approved by the FDA since 2003. It is also the first ever approved Alzheimer’s drug targeting the presence of amyloid beta (a type of protein) plaques in the brain.

    However, almost everything about this drug is controversial, from the theory on which the drug is developed, to its clinical trials data, to the FDA approval itself. This article aims to distill the complicated information down to a few points, which might help patients make more informed decisions.

    Key Dates Surrounding the FDA Approval of Aducanumab

    July 2020: Biogen completes submission of aducanumab data (from previously discontinued clinical trials) to FDA.

    November 2020: FDA external advisory committee rejects aducanumab because the data failed to prove the drug’s efficacy in reducing cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients.

    June 2021: FDA grants accelerated approval for aducanumab for patients of all stages of Alzheimer’s disease, on the condition that Biogen conducts post-approval trials (phase 4 trials) to verify the efficacy of the drug.

    Biogen’s Troubled Clinical Trials

    Biogen started two practically identical phase 3 clinical trials in August 2015 to evaluate the safety and efficacy of different aducanumab doses in patients with early stage Alzheimer’s disease.

    But in March 2019, Biogen terminated the trials after an interim futility analysis, run by an independent data-monitoring committee, predicted that the trials were unlikely to meet their primary outcomes.

    Only seven months later, in a surprise press release, Biogen revoked its earlier decision citing that a new analysis with another three months of data produced positive results. The company stated, “The positive results of this new analysis were driven primarily by greater exposure to high dose aducanumab in the larger dataset as compared to data available at the time of the futility analysis.” In the same press release, Biogen announced its plan to apply for FDA approval, “based on discussions with the FDA, the Company plans to submit a Biologics License Application in early 2020.”

    FDA Granted Approval Despite Experts’ Disapproval

    It is routine operation for FDA to invite subject matter experts, who are “outside the government with minimal conflicts of interest” to form external advisory committees and give non-binding recommendations for FDA’s consideration. In November 2020, the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee voted almost unanimously against the approval of Aducanumab. Out of the 11 members in the committee, 10 voted against the approval and one was uncertain.

    Seven months later in June 2021, FDA granted accelerated approval to aducanumab as a treatment for patients of all stages of Alzheimer’s disease. According to FDA, accelerated approval “allows drugs for serious conditions that filled an unmet medical need to be approved based on a surrogate endpoint.” The “surrogate endpoint” for aducanumab was the reduction in the amyloid-beta plaques.

    Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, Director of FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, wrote in a post-approval statement that the clinical trials data show a reduction in the amyloid-beta plaques, which “is expected to lead to a reduction in the clinical decline of this devastating form of dementia.” Cavazzoni also acknowledged that “the data included in the applicant’s submission were highly complex and left residual uncertainties regarding clinical benefit.”

    In other words, although Biogen’s clinical trials data failed to prove the drug can slow down cognitive decline in patients, it did show the reduction of amyloid-beta plaque. The FDA awarded speedy approval to the drug based on the assumption that reduction of amyloid-beta plaque “is expected to lead to” a slowdown in cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients.

    Along with the approval, FDA gave Biogen another opportunity to prove the assumption is true via post-approval trials (phase 4 trials), which is due by February 2030. That is to say, Aduhelm will have been on the market for nine years before proof of its efficacy is required. If the drug maker fails to show the clinical benefit nine years after the accelerated approval, FDA might remove the drug from the market.

    One more detail about the FDA approval is that the drug was initially approved to treat patients with all stages of Alzheimer’s disease. One month after the approval, the FDA limited its treatment to patients with early stage Alzheimer’s disease only.

    FDA Advisory Committee Members Resign

    Within the first week of the FDA approval, three members of the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee resigned. They were Dr. Aaron Kesselheim at Harvard Medical School, neurologists David Knopman of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and Joel Perlmutter of Washington University in St. Louis.

    In his resignation letter, Kesselheim called the FDA move “probably the worst drug approval decision in recent U.S. history.” Kesselheim also wrote on Tweeter, “Accelerated Approval is not supposed to be the backup that you use when your clinical trial data are not good enough for regular approval.”

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    Knopman and Perlmutter published a comment in Neurology in July 2021. They wrote, “the clinical benefit amounted to about 3 months’ worth of delay in decline over a year,” referring to the “positive results” in Biogen’s press release in October 2019. They stated, “Combining the results from the 2 trials found no statistically significant clinical benefit for high-dose aducanumab.”

    Side Effects and Safety Issues

    Brain swelling and brain bleeding are known to be possible side effects of Aduhelm. Biogen conducted two phase 3 studies prior to the FDA approval. The phase 3 studies started in August 2015, but Biogen pulled the plug on both studies three and a half years later, in March 2019. The decision was based on a futility analysis conducted by an independent data monitoring committee, which indicated the trials were unlikely to meet their primary endpoint upon completion. That is, the trials were unlikely to prove the drug’s efficacy in slowing cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients.

    The safety data from the terminated phase 3 trials were published in JAMA Neurology in November 2021.  The study focused on amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA), which can cause headache, confusion, dizziness, nausea, brain bleeding, and swelling.

    The data showed that 425 out of 1,029 patients, or 41 percent, who received the high dose of the drug—the dose that the FDA later approved—experienced either brain swelling or bleeding. Furthermore, 64 patients had to stop participating in the trials because of brain swelling or bleeding.

    In September 2021, months after approval, a 75-year-old woman, a clinical trial patient who lived in Canada, experienced brain swelling after receiving infusions of the drug and died a few days later.

    The Amyloid-beta Hypothesis

    The theory behind the Aduhelm and a slew of other experimental medications for Alzheimer’s disease is the hypothesis that the excessive amount of amyloid-beta plaque in the brain impairs the normal communication within the brain and thus causes cognitive decline.

    In fact, the disease is named after the German pathologist Alois Alzheimer, who discovered amyloid-beta plaque in the brain of a patient.

    But this hypothesis has not been proven and is by itself controversial.

    Three-Quarters of FDA Funding Is From Drug Makers

    The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government fails to serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing.

    A two-part investigative report by POGO details the fact that the FDA is in the pocket of the industry it regulates. The report says, “the agency, whose responsibilities include making sure that prescription drugs sold in the United States are safe and effective, receives almost three-quarters of its funding for that work from drug makers.”

    Part II of the report exposes the “voice” of the patients at FDA meetings is often funded by drug companies as well.

    European and Japanese Agencies Reject Aduhelm

    In October 2020, Biogen applied for market permit in Europe. In December 2021, six months after FDA’s accelerated approval of Aduhelm, the European Medicines Agency rejected Biogen’s application to market Aduhelm in Europe.

    The EMA considered “the benefits of Aduhelm did not outweigh its risks.” First, the clinical trial results “were conflicting and did not convincingly show that Aduhelm was effective at treating adults with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.” Additionally, brain scans of some clinical trial patients suggest swelling or bleeding in the brain, which is a significant safety concern.

    In the same month, Japan’s Committee on New Drugs also rejected Biogen’s application and requested more data to prove the drug’s efficacy.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 23:00

  • Just How Cooked Is The Official Jobs Data: PwC Finds More Than Half Of US Companies Are Laying Off Workers
    Just How Cooked Is The Official Jobs Data: PwC Finds More Than Half Of US Companies Are Laying Off Workers

    Nearly three months ago, when tabulating real-time mass layoffs data…

    … Piper Sandler chief economist Nancy Lazar concluded that “post-covid rightsizing means that lots more layoffs are coming” and added that “many companies overhired and overpaid during the Covid crisis.”

    Since then, it’s only gotten worse for those who track corporate layoff announcements, such as the following:

    • #1 Ultratec Inc. says that it will be laying off more than 600 workers.
    • #2 Electric truck maker Rivian will be laying off approximately 840 workers.
    • #3 7-Eleven has announced that it will be eliminating 880 corporate jobs.
    • #4 Shopify is laying off about 1,000 people.
    • #5 Vimeo says that it will be eliminating 6 percent of its current workforce.
    • #6 Redfin will be reducing the size of its workforce by 8 percent.
    • #7 Compass will be reducing the size of its workforce by 10 percent.
    • #8 RE/MAX will be reducing the size of its workforce by 17 percent.
    • #9 Robinhood will be reducing the size of its workforce by 23 percent.
    • #10 It is being reported that Ford “is preparing to cut as many as 8,000 jobs in the coming weeks”.
    • #11 Geico has closed every single one of their offices in the state of California, and that will result in vast numbers of workers losing their jobs.
    • #12 Walmart is eliminating about 200 corporate jobs as it contends with rising costs, bloated inventories and weakening demand for general merchandise.

    … and yet while initial jobless claims have indeed moved notably higher in recent months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stubbornly refuses to report the true state of the US labor market, where despite continued softness in the Household Survey where no new jobs have been added since March, the far more politicized Establishment survey – which, after all, is what the Biden administration points toward as the only silver cloud in an otherwise recessionary and hyperinflating economy – has continued to show remarkable resilience and growth in recent months. So much so, that the differential between the Household and Establishment surveys has grown to a record 1.8 million jobs since March.

    And while one possible explanation for this bizarre divergence is the record surge in multiple jobholders who now hold both a primary and secondary full-time job…

    … even as full and part-time job gains have slumped…

    … the truth is that there is no comprehensive explanation for the variation in data. Which, needless to say, is problematic because the “solid” jobs market is one of the very few things that is preventing the Fed from substantially easing back on its hawkish policies (now that peak inflation has clearly been reached… if only for the time being), and the Fed’s sharply higher rates are already wreaking havoc on the housing market not to mention various stock sectors that have also gotten walloped.

    But what if the BLS data is not merely “off” due to benign factors such as “residual seasonality” or a post-covid hangover? What if it is intentionally manipulated to make Biden’s economy appear stronger than it is for midterm election purposes even if it means distortions across the entire market?

    We bring up all these rhetorical questions because a new survey released by consultancy PwC confirms our previous observations about rampant mass layoffs in the US labor market, and suggests that the true state of the job market is far, far uglier than the alleged 528K job gain reported by the BLS in July would suggest.

    In the PwC survey released last Thursday, which last month polled more than 700 US executives and board members across a range of industries, half of respondents said they’re reducing headcount or plan to, and 52% have implemented hiring freezes. At the same time, more than four in ten are rescinding job offers, and a similar amount are reducing or eliminating the sign-on bonuses that had become common to attract talent in a tight job market.

    At the same time, though, about two-thirds of firms are boosting pay – for those who keep their jobs – or expanding “mental-health benefits”, because we now live in a liberal dystopia where a growing number of workers are batshit insane.

    The findings, as even Bloomberg concludes, illustrate the contradictory nature of today’s labor market, where skilled workers can still largely name their terms amid talent shortages (in high demand sectors like line cooks and bartenders), even as companies look to let people go elsewhere, particularly in hard-hit industries like technology and real estate.

    “Firms are playing offense and defense with their talent strategies,” said Bhushan Sethi, joint global leader of PwC’s people and organization practice, noting that employers have to weigh reputational damage and employee morale when planning layoffs. “People have long memories, and social media plays a much bigger role now.”

    Of course, reputational damage won’t matter if a company is facing bankruptcy damage by having far too many workers and not enough cash flow.

    One big reason for the ongoing crunch in the job market is the treatment of “work from home” – having become a staple during the Scamdemic courtesy of overpaid charlatans such as Anthony Fauci, corporations are increasingly seeking a return to the “old normal” which however is proving to be quite a challenge. As a result, the PwC survey found “contradictions” in companies’ approaches to remote work. While 70% of those surveyed said they’re expanding permanent remote-work options for roles that allow it, 61% said they’re requiring employees to be in the office or job site more often.

    To be sure, some organizations could be doing both of those things at once: Roles that don’t require much in-person collaboration could go remote for good, while other staffers could be required to get back to their desks a few times a week. September is shaping up to be a line in the sand for many companies’ return-to-office plans, even though previous so-called RTO deadlines came and went.

    One thing is certain: the coming labor shock will have dire and wide-raning consequences on the broader office market: with fewer employees in offices, organizations don’t need as many far-flung locations. As such, more than one in five respondents told PwC that they plan to decrease their investment in real estate, making it the most common area of cutbacks, and yes, fewer employees.

    As for the divergence between the rosy official government labor “data” and the dire jobs picture painted by mass-terminating corporations on the ground, we are confident that the delta between the two data sets will promptly and magically resolve itself… right after the midterm elections.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 22:40

  • Fence Surrounding Biden's Delaware Beach House Costs About $500,000; Records Show
    Fence Surrounding Biden’s Delaware Beach House Costs About $500,000; Records Show

    Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The price tag of a taxpayer-funded project to build a barrier around President Joe Biden’s Delaware beach house has grown to nearly $500,000, federal spending records suggest.

    In September 2021, the Homeland Security Department paid $456,548 to Delaware-based construction company Turnstone Holdings for the purchase and installation of “security fencing” surrounding the president’s Rehoboth Beach property, according to USAspending.gov, an online database operated by the Treasury Department.

    US President Joe Biden plays with his new dog Commander at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Dec, 28, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

    The database entry shows two additional payments since then. One bill of $6,844 was paid in late November 2021 to cover expenses resulting from extra “gravel pads” and “crane services.” This was followed by another $26,933 bill in June, described as simply “to add funds to current project.”

    The overall cost of the fence now stands at $490,324. Although the project was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2021, its “potential end date” has been pushed back to June 6, 2023, marking a delay of more than 18 months.

    The exact reason for the setbacks remains unclear. The Epoch Times has reached out to the Homeland Security Department, listed as the main awarding agency and funding office for the contract, for further information.

    Amid a record influx of illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, the costly presidential residence fence has drawn mockery from critics of the president’s border policy.

    “So walls work at Joe Biden’s beach house but not the Southern border?” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote on Twitter.

    “You’re building $500,000 fence around your perimeter, and I don’t regret you for that—you’re the president, you deserve the security,” Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, a Republican, said on Sunday in an interview with Fox News. “But you can’t have a fence and the rest of us don’t.”

    “People at the border need a fence,” she added.

    According to data released by the Biden administration, the number of apprehensions at the nation’s southern border is reaching the 2 million benchmark for the first time in history.

    In July, Border Patrol reported 181,552 arrests of individuals who tried to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, a 5.6 percent drop from the 192,418 reported in June. With just two months before the fiscal year 2022 wraps up, the agency has already made more than 1.81 million arrests, beating fiscal year 2021’s record of 1.66 million.

    In the border town of Yuma, Arizona, the state is spending $6 million to fill a quarter-mile gap in the border barrier with shipping containers. Those 8,800-pound, 40-by-9-foot containers will be topped with razor wire once tractor-trailers move them into position.

    Tim Roemer, Arizona’s director of Homeland Security, told Phoenix radio station KTAR-FM that his state couldn’t wait any longer.

    “It’s about time they supported our border state, local law enforcement and to do something about the humanitarian crisis,” Tim said.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 22:20

  • As Singapore 'Allows' Gay Sex, Here's The Legal Status Of Homosexuality Worldwide
    As Singapore ‘Allows’ Gay Sex, Here’s The Legal Status Of Homosexuality Worldwide

    Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in his annual “National Day Rally” speech on Sunday that he would lift a colonial-era ban on sex between men in the city state. As the country has become more accepting of homosexuality, Loong said that overturning the law was the “right thing to do”.

    However, Loong also said his country will amend its constitution to ensure the existing definition of marriage cannot be challenged in court.

    LGBT groups applauded Singapore’s repeal of its colonial-era penal code that criminalizes sex between men, but they expressed concern over the constitutional amendment, arguing that it would help perpetuate discrimination, Reuters reported.

    Despite its economic prowess and increasingly cosmopolitan lifestyles, Singapore has held on to conservative politics and strict penal codes. The country remains among the practitioners of the death penalty, another draconian law that has drawn criticism in the country.

    However, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz notes, while Singaporean laws are changing, homosexuality remains punishable with imprisonment in other Asian nations, namely in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and neighboring Malaysia. In February of 2021, small Himalayan nation Bhutan had been the latest on the continent to abolish a ban on homosexuality .

    Infographic: The Legal Status Of Homosexuality Worldwide | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    According to Equaldex, Africa, the Middle East and Persia meanwhile are the regions where laws against homosexuality are still the most widespread.

    In 2022, homosexuality is still punishable by death in several countries and remains illegal in some form in a total of 69 nations. Especially in Africa, both a tightening and a relaxing of relevant laws are happening side by side. Between 2019 and 2021, Gabon and Botswana legalized homosexuality, while Sudan and Uganda made it punishable by life in prison.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 22:00

  • Millions Of iPhone Users Warned By Federal Agency To Change Settings Immediately
    Millions Of iPhone Users Warned By Federal Agency To Change Settings Immediately

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Apple Inc. and a top U.S. cybersecurity agency are urging iPhone, iPad, and Macbook users and administrators to update their iOS software amid recently discovered security vulnerabilities.

    “Apple has released security updates to address vulnerabilities in macOS Monterey, iOS and iPadOS, and Safari. An attacker could exploit one of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected device,” the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a statement on Aug. 18.

    An Israeli woman uses her iPhone in front of the building housing the Israeli NSO group, in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Aug. 28, 2016. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

    Users and administrators are urged to review Apple’s security updates page and apply the updates—MacOS Monterey 12.5.1, iOS 15.6.1, iPadOS 15.6.1, or Safari 15.6.1—as soon as possible.

    Apple released two security reports about the issue on Wednesday, although they didn’t receive wide attention outside of tech publications.

    Apple’s explanation of the vulnerability means a hacker could get “full admin access” to the device.

    That would allow intruders to impersonate the device’s owner and subsequently run any software in their name, said Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security, in an interview with The Associated Press.

    Security experts have advised users to update affected devices—the iPhone6S and later models; several models of the iPad, including the 5th generation and later, all iPad Pro models and the iPad Air 2; and Mac computers running MacOS Monterey. The flaw also affects some iPod models.

    Commercial spyware companies such as Israel’s NSO Group are known for identifying and taking advantage of such flaws, exploiting them in malware that surreptitiously infects targets’ smartphones, siphons their contents, and surveils the targets in real-time.

    NSO Group has been blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department. Its spyware is known to have been used in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America against journalists, dissidents, and human rights activists.

    “The flaws were found in the kernel, a program at the core of the OS (CVE-2022-32894) and WebKit, the engine that powers the Safari web browser (CVE-2022-32893). Both flaws allow hackers to remotely execute malicious code on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac and potentially take over your device,” according to Forbes tech security writer Gordon Kelly.

    How to Update

    To update the software on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to the Settings section. From there, tap General before tapping Software Update.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 21:40

  • China Extends Power Cuts On Menacing Drought As Lithium, Metals, Solar, And Rice At Risk
    China Extends Power Cuts On Menacing Drought As Lithium, Metals, Solar, And Rice At Risk

    Sichuan’s worst drought in over half a century forced the Chinese province to extend power cuts for industrial plants. Power rationings are essential to ease electricity demand due to a menacing heatwave and limited rainfall that is driving down hydropower generation while cooling demand skyrockets — the combination is dangerous in terms of grid stability and is primarily why power cuts were prolonged. 

    Morgan Stanley analyst Simon Lee told clients Sunday that the provinces with 84 million people and a key manufacturing hub for semiconductor and solar panels faced “the hottest temperatures and the worst drought of the past 60 years.” 

    Sichuan heavily relies on hydropower generation for 82% of its power needs. About half of the renewable energy source has been slashed because rainfall along the Yangtze River since July has been 45% below average, the lowest since 1961. Falling hydropower generation comes as electricity demand in the province jumped 65 gigawatts, nearly a quarter higher than last year. 

    Goldman Sachs’ Trina Chen wrote power curtailments pose the most significant risk to rice supplies, followed by aluminum and battery materials. 

    Bloomberg outlines the largest impacts of the heatwave and power rationings on an industrial basis. 

    Lithium & Batteries

    Sichuan produces more than a fifth of China’s lithium, according to BloombergNEF, making it one of the industries most exposed to the province’s power cuts. Top global battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., which has its second-biggest production base in Sichuan, has already halted production there. 

    Goldman said the power curbs could cost about 5% of China’s monthly output for lithium chemicals, but flagged a potentially bigger impact on lithium hydroxide and so-called “LFP” cathode used in batteries. But it also said EV-related sectors will probably get priority when industries are allowed to ramp up again.

    The Sichuan disruptions add fuel to lithium’s blistering rally in the past year. The price of lithium carbonate reached its highest since April by the end of last week, and isn’t far from a new record.

    Aluminum & Copper

    Power-intensive aluminum smelters are often at high risk when governments want to cut electricity use. Goldman says some 360,00 tons of annualized aluminum capacity has been closed, with a further 300,000 tons at risk — adding up to about 1.5% of China’s capacity. While Sichuan is a notable aluminum producer, it lags far behind top provinces Shandong and Xinjiang. And neighboring Yunnan — a major source of new output — hasn’t been hit by weather disruptions.

    Earlier in August, one of China’s biggest copper producers based in Anhui province cut output as local authorities ordered power curbs.

    Solar Sector

    About 15% of polysilicon used in solar panels comes from Sichuan, and prices for the material were already at a decade-high on strong demand for clean energy. The extension of the electricity curbs will reduce supply and likely offer more support to prices of both polysilicon and lithium, Daiwa Capital Markets wrote in a note.

    Jinko Solar Co., one of the world’s largest solar module manufacturers, said two of its plants in Sichuan have been affected by the power shortage, and said it was unclear when the units could return to full capacity. At least two polysilicon plants — run by GCL Technology Holdings Co. and Tongwei Co. — face production interruptions, the China Silicon Industry Association said last week. 

    Rice

    The six areas suffering drought — Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Henan, Jiangxi and Anhui — accounted for almost half of China’s rice output in 2021, Goldman wrote in a note. China’s agriculture ministry said over the weekend that high temperatures and unusually low rains since July have posed “a severe challenge” to fall grain production.

    The ministry has asked local authorities to strengthen capital and resources investment to combat the drought, and properly allocate drought-resistant equipment and seeds. In Henan province, more than 15 million mu (1 million hectares) of crops have been affected, according to a CCTV report. 

    Diesel

    There’s also a demand boost for some sectors. Diesel purchasing is on the rise in Sichuan as industries seek alternative fuels. Local suppliers of diesel generators have already sold out after electricity rationing spurred some business owners to find alternative power supplies, industry consultant OilChem said in an online note. Some industrial users were loading diesel into barrels from retail stations, and demand has risen by up to 6%, it said.

    The ongoing drought and power curtailments across a large swath of southern China compound economic woes for an economy already decelerating at an alarming pace, forcing the country’s central bank to cut its key interest rates last week. 

    Capital Economics believes more policy support is ahead, yet “it will probably be too late too little to prevent output from stagnating this year.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 21:20

  • LA Public Health Department Faces Backlash After Offering COVID-19 Test To Animals, Including Seals
    LA Public Health Department Faces Backlash After Offering COVID-19 Test To Animals, Including Seals

    Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

    The Los Angeles Public Health Department is facing growing criticism over its decision to offer free COVID-19 testing for animals, despite there being no positive cases reported among animals in the area.

    LA Public Health announced the initiative on Aug. 20 and said it has received funding from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor COVID-19 in animals in Los Angeles County.

    “This project will help us to learn more about COVID-19 from a One Health perspective, meaning that we can learn more about the significance of COVID-19 in human, animal, and environmental relationships,” the public health body said.

    “Some of the funds will support local testing of animals for SARS-CoV-2. We will partner with and offer free testing to various animal care facilities and agencies throughout LA County. Our goal is to test many different species of animals including wildlife (deer, bats, raccoons), pets (dogs, cats, hamsters, pocket pets), marine mammals (seals), and more,” LA Public Health stated.

    The department noted that pet owners may be eligible to get their furry friends tested if they were exposed to a human or animal with COVID-19 or has symptoms of COVID-19.

    The tests are also eligible for “pocket pets” such as “fancy mice/rats, hamsters, hedgehogs” and more that have contact with people, even if none of those people have tested positive for COVID-19 recently.

    Out of the 177 animals that have been tested in Los Angeles County so far, including dogs, cats, bats, raccoons, skunks, rats, and sea lions, none have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Aug. 18.

    The new program has been heavily criticized on social media, with one Twitter user complaining about taxpayer funds being “frivolously spent,” while another stated that free testing “means your tax dollars.”

    “How many ways can they waste money?” one individual wrote of LA Public Health, while another joked that unicorns would be the next animals to be tested by the health body.

    Elsewhere, another Twitter user who claimed to work in veterinary medicine said she knew “nothing about this [expletive] …animals don’t get Covid-19.”

    According to the CDC, “there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to people,” although there have been a limited number of reports of the virus being spread to people from infected mammalian animals during close contact. The public health agency noted that this is rare, though.

    The agency advised that people with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 should avoid contact with animals, including pets, livestock, and wildlife, pointing to documented cases of animals becoming infected with the virus after contact with people with COVID-19.

    “We don’t yet know all of the animals that can get infected,” the CDC noted.

    “There is a possibility that the virus could infect animals, mutate, and a new strain could spread back to people and then among people (called spillback),” the agency added.

    “More studies and surveillance are needed to track variants and mutations and to understand how SARS-CoV-2 spreads between people and animals.”

    According to a COVID-19 data tracking dashboard for cases in animals set up by the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society, there have been 717 “SARS-CoV-2 animal events” around the world since February 2020.

    An “event” is considered by the university and society as “when one single case or several epidemiologically related cases were identified by the presence of viral RNA (proof of infection) and/or antibodies (proof of exposure) in an animal.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 21:00

  • Russia To Raise Dugina Assassination At Emergency UN Meeting On Tuesday
    Russia To Raise Dugina Assassination At Emergency UN Meeting On Tuesday

    Russia plans to raise the assassination of Darya Dugina at a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) emergency meeting set for Tuesday. The session is expected to focus on the ongoing crisis and standoff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which has come under fresh shelling that damaged transformers at the site, which Ukraine has blamed on Russia. There’s growing alarm of a ‘Chernobyl-like’ catastrophic event. 

    Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, confirmed that Russia is seeking the UNSC emergency session, but said Russia will also highlight and condemn this latest in a series of “Ukrainian provocations” targeting civilians on Russian territory – after on Monday the FSB (Federal Security Service) claimed to have identified a Ukrainian operative behind the Dugin car bombing.

    “We requested an urgent meeting on Zaporozhye, where Ukrainian provocations do not stop. Of course, we will talk about this episode [the murder of Daria Dugina],” Nebenzia said, as cited in Russian media sources. “This demonstrates the nature of the Ukrainian state, because the connection between their saboteurs and this murder is obvious, which, in fact, has already been disclosed by the FSB.”

    UNSC file image

    Interestingly, US mainstream media pundits are already widely amplifying a theory that says Dugina’s killing was essentially an “inside job”. But it remains that there’s little in the way of hard proof for any of the currently competing claims and counterclaims:

    FRANCE 24’s Russia correspondent Nick Holdsworth examines the FSB’s claim that the attack on Darya Dugina was carried out by a Ukrainian woman identified as Natalia Vovk.

    “The FSB hasn’t presented any physical proof,” of its claims, explains Holdsworth. “This is an unusually quick result.”

    Addressing Russian claims that the Ukrainian secret services were responsible for the car bombing,  Holdsworth says the attack “doesn’t really carry the modus operandi of Ukrainian special services”, noting that the Ukrainians are concentrating on cutting Russian supply lines in the Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

    As for Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the situation remains highly dangerous. Starting two days ago, President Putin signaled support for a UN-IAEA team to be dispatched to inspect the complex at a moment both warring sides have blamed the other for strikes on the plan.

    Yet, so far no concrete action has been taken, though likely there are ongoing negotiations between Russia and the UN monitoring organization. Some 500 Russian troops have occupied it since March.

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

    The White House in unison with Western allies have since Sunday called on–

    …“the need to avoid military operations near the plant” and the importance of a visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “as soon as feasible to ascertain the state of safety systems.”

    We can expect full fireworks of hardline accusations to fly at Tuesday’s UNSC emergency session, also with stepped up Ukrainian attacks on Crimea looming large in the background, as well as the ongoing huge US-supplied arms flow into the conflict. But there are high hopes that sending an IAEA team to Zaporizhzhia could materialize as a result of the UNSC emergency session. 

    Further, a Monday evening report in Reuters cites US intelligence alleging that Russia is preparing major strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure in the “coming days”.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 20:40

  • Only 13% Of Americans Believe Democrats' $369 Billion Will Reduce Inflation: Poll
    Only 13% Of Americans Believe Democrats’ $369 Billion Will Reduce Inflation: Poll

    Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

    Just a small number of Americans believe that the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will help lower inflation across the country, according to a new poll from The Economist/YouGov.

    The survey was conducted Aug. 13–16, 2022, among 1,500 U.S. citizens age 18 and over and has a margin error of 2.9 percentage points adjusted for weighting 3 percentage points for registered voters.

    The survey asked respondents whether they believe the $369 billion earmarked for climate and energy expenditures in the bill will increase or decrease inflation. Only 13 percent said they believe it will decrease inflation, and 26 percent said they are not sure.

    A total of 38 percent of respondents said they believe it will increase inflation, while 22 percent said they think it will have no impact. In July, the annual inflation rate was at 8.5 percent.

    Among Democrats, 23 percent said they believe it will decrease inflation, with 8 percent of Republicans in agreement.

    Most Republicans, 68 percent, said the bill will increase inflation, along with 40 percent of independents and 17 percent of Democrats.

    President Joe Biden signed the IRA into law on Aug. 16. Effectively a slimmed-down version of Biden’s $2.2 trillion “Build Back Better” bill, Democratic lawmakers claim it will help lower health care and energy costs for millions of Americans.

    Cost of Living Could Get Worse

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the bill will save working families an average of $1,000 a year in lower energy bills, while reducing the government’s budget deficit by $300 billion over the next decade.

    Despite those promises, 41 percent of those polled by The Economist/YouGov said that they believe inflation will be at a higher rate within six months, while 23 percent said they believe inflation will be at the same rate.

    Inflation is now costing U.S. households an extra $717 a month, according to a new analysis from the Joint Economic Committee Republicans.

    A previous poll by The Economist/YouGov found that 95 percent of Americans said they’re being affected by the soaring cost of living, which has led to higher costs for everything from food to gas.

    The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded in early August (pdf) that enacting the IRA would have a “negligible” impact on inflation in 2022, while in 2023, inflation would likely either increase or decrease by just 0.1 percentage points.

    Experts have also warned that the IRA could worsen the situation for Americans, who could end up forking out even more for electricity and gasoline thanks to a number of taxes in the bill that could ultimately be passed on to consumers.

    Fears are also mounting that the bill, which grants nearly $80 billion in funding to the Internal Revenue Service, including $45.6 billion for “enforcement,” may see the agency go after middle-income Americans and small businesses with increased scrutiny and audits. The Democrats have vehemently denied this.

    An analysis by the CBO found that audits of taxpayers making under $400,000 annually will account for about $20 billion in revenue for the IRA, Fox Business reported.

    The Biden administration has declared that the bill, which was not supported by any Republicans in the House or Senate, is a “win for the American people.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 20:20

  • CNN Is Being Gutted Because Leftist Media Is Not As Appealing As They Fantasize
    CNN Is Being Gutted Because Leftist Media Is Not As Appealing As They Fantasize

    One thing about leftist culture that never ceases to amaze is their ability to take a failure and pretend that it was actually a success.  This attitude is perhaps an extension of their penchant for propaganda – They lie so much about everything that they end up falling victim to their own disinformation.  They tell their enemies they are winning even when they are losing, and then they actually start to believe it themselves.  

    It’s a bit like the old rule for drug dealers – Everything falls apart when you start smoking the drugs you sell.  

    For CNN and outlets like them, the problem is that you can’t run from reality forever.  If no one wants to watch your content then you can’t force them to do so.  Leftists wish they could use force, but they can’t, so instead they try to use gaslighting and shame.  This has translated into the typical tactics we see today from the media, which include race baiting and accusations of bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, fascism, etc.  These tactics really took center stage from 2016 onward and they haven’t worked yet, but the political left continues to beat that dead horse in the hopes that it will one day win the Kentucky Derby.

    They NEED regular consumers to watch their content, but they look down their noses at regular consumers and see them as untouchable peasants.  So, they don’t make content for the peasant, they make content for themselves and their friends.  This is not a recipe for a successful media network.

    In a recent article on the CNN issue, Vox (a far-left outlet) remarked on Brian Stelter being fired and his show being shut down even though he still had three more years on a six-figure contract.   David Zaslav, an executive from Discovery,  has taken oversight of Warner Brothers and its properties and has been making extensive cuts to save money and streamline the bloated company.  Vox’s position really illustrates the deeper problem within leftist media:

    “Stelter, who reportedly made close to $1 million a year, was an easy cut: His show, along with his daily media newsletter, was a big deal in media circles…but not a huge draw for normals.”

    By using the term “normals” one might conclude that Vox sees themselves and and other journalists as “extraordinary” when compared to the rest of us.  Or, maybe they are just “abnormal” – It’s hard to say.  The statement is possibly a mistaken admission of how leftist journalists truly view the world, and their view is stunted.  They see their work as vital to the masses because their PEERS and Twitter buddies see it as vital to the masses.  But mainstream journalists are too far detached from the world and reality to make objective judgment calls.  They see themselves as the saviors of humanity, but no one else sees them that way.  

    The audience numbers talk.  The money talks.  It doesn’t matter how important you think you are – You don’t own the audience, the audience owns you.  

    CNN has been a consistent loser in terms of audience numbers and ratings; their ratings have plummeted while their profits continue to slump over the past few years.   The CNN+ project was supposed to draw in millions of viewers but only generated 150,000 subscribers, and of those subscribers only 10,000 were regular watchers. 

    In other words, CNN+ would have been crushed by average YouTuber numbers and their projections for at least 29 million “super fans” were absolutely incompetent.  This is why the project was shut down within weeks by David Zaslav – It was an embarrassment from the start, built on inflated delusions of grandeur.  

    And what is CNN really built on?  What has been the company’s foundation for years?  It’s only product has been anti-conservative agit-prop.  That’s it.  That’s all they have.  This might work financially if the extreme left was as prevalent as they pretend, but if we look at the numbers and the cash flow, they are actually a tiny portion of the population puffed up and screaming as loud as they can to appear big and formidable.  CNN is failing because there is an unsustainable audience for their product.

    Warner Bros. Discovery board member and media mogul John Malone stated in an interview with CNBC that he “would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing.”  CNN was always leftist, but it’s true that the social justice cultism was not all that present until the past five years.  The problem is, they see the new cultism as integral to their model and more important than making money or keeping an audience, or even being objective.

    Brian Stelter wrote in his newsletter about Malone’s potential influence and examined it on his show. He said that Malone’s comments had “stoked fears that Discovery might stifle CNN journalists and steer away from calling out indecency and injustice.” In other words, Stelter believes that CNN’s mission is righteous, therefore their inability to bring in audiences and profits should be ignored.  But what is “indecency” to Brian Stelter?  What is “injustice” to the political left? 

    Is the truth indecent?  Because there have been many times when the leftist media has attacked people for telling the truth (see CNN’s treatment of Joe Rogan’s position on covid).  Do they really want “justice,” or do they want special treatment and extra privileges while pretending to be victims?  Do they want to be treated as successful even when they are failures?  

    A large number of Americans see this type of framework for media as fraudulent and agenda driven, and so we don’t watch CNN and platforms like them.  In their political zealotry they forgot to take into account the fact that elitism is isolating unless you have force to back it.  The only way most people would watch CNN is if there was a gun pointed at their heads, and even then some people would still refuse.  This is not the trademark of meaningful journalism, it is the trademark of a heavy-handed propaganda machine. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 20:00

  • Maté: In FBI Vs Trump, The People Lose
    Maté: In FBI Vs Trump, The People Lose

    Via Arron Maté’s Substack,

    For my money, the early beneficiary of the FBI’s espionage investigation of Donald Trump is Donald Trump.

    According to the Washington Post, “Trump has told advisers that in the nearly two years since leaving office, no issue had better galvanized Republican voters around him.”

    A Politico poll of Republican voters in the aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago raid gave Trump a 10-point boost over his closest possible primary rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump’s ensuing fundraising campaign has done even better, quickly topping $1 million on at least two days, a jump of at least 700%.

    Over the long run, it is difficult to form a conclusive judgment on Trump’s potential culpability in the absence of any confirmed detail about both the contents of the documents that Trump allegedly mishandled, and the evidence to support the Justice Department’s suspicions. But if the last six years of routine Trump standoffs with the national security state are any guide, the walls are nowhere closer to closing in.

    Whatever your views on Trump, it is undeniable that the permanent military-intelligence bureaucracy in Washington does not see him as one of their own, and has gone to extraordinary lengths to target him when it sees fit. It is also undeniable that the national security state’s spats with Trump have distracted the public from vital issues that impact working people’s lives and the future of the planet. This includes, I have long argued, Trump’s most harmful policies as president, which were routinely overshadowed and even exacerbated by his standoffs with the “deep state.”  

    Accordingly, it is reasonable to expect that this latest “scandal” over the potential mishandling of classified documents will continue the trend that has defined the Trump era: an intra-elite, symbiotic feud that simultaneous boosts Trump among his base, and the national security state among his foes.

    Pundits and politicians are resoundingly confident that the FBI must have the goods on Trump to have taken the unprecedented step of searching the former president’s home. This argument can only be made by ignoring that the FBI and other intelligence agencies took far more unprecedented and consequential actions against Trump when he was president, on grounds that were not only baseless, but fraudulent.

    The FBI investigated Trump as a suspected Russian conspirator and asset – and not just once, but twice: first as a presidential candidate, and then months after he took office.

    To undertake this, they relied on the Hillary Clinton-funded Steele dossier’s conspiracy theories as source material; repeatedly lied to a FISA court; and, despite the full knowledge that they had come up empty, prolonged their investigation with media leaks and court filings that falsely suggested that a collusion “smoking gun” was within reach.

    Russiagate apologists like to argue that the FBI’s use of the Steele dossier was an aberration that does not taint the whole enterprise. In fact, there are ample grounds to believe that Steele’s fabrications played an even greater role than the FBI has acknowledged – including, as I have detailed, possibly triggering the Russia investigation to begin with. But even taking the FBI’s official predicate at face value, the probe was baseless from start to finish.

    *  *  *

    Keep reading with a 7-day free trial… Subscribe to Aaron Maté to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 19:40

  • Record Number Of Americans Are "Suffering", Surpassing 2008 Crisis Levels; Gallup Poll Finds
    Record Number Of Americans Are “Suffering”, Surpassing 2008 Crisis Levels; Gallup Poll Finds

    A plethora of data points show the consumer is absolutely miserable: real wages trend lower, cost of living skyrockets, the employment market softens, savings rate collapses, credit cards maxed out, and the US economy falls into the “technical definition” of recession. 

    Capturing the plunge in consumer sentiment (at record lows) is a new Gallup survey that reveals a record number of Americans are “suffering.”

    Gallup’s Life Evaluation Index measures the quality of life of Americans by asking respondents if they’re “thriving,” “struggling,” or “suffering.” The survey is between 0 to 10. Those who check four or below are classified as suffering; seven or higher is thriving. 

    The poll found that 5.6% of Americans rate their lives as “suffering,” the highest since the index’s inception in 2008. 

    The percentage of respondents classified as thriving fell to 51.2% in July from a record high of 59.2% in June 2021. The number of people thriving is at an 18-month low. The lowest reading of respondents thriving was 46.4%, which was only measured twice, the first in November 2008 and the second in the early covid months (April 2020). 

    For the last 16 consecutive months, consumers have been crushed by four-decade high inflation as it eats away wage gains. 

    Elevated suffering rates come as the $6 trillion-plus in covid stimulus funds from 2020 has cycled through the retail chain and out of people’s pockets. It’s gone, and the massive increase in economic activity triggered is also over. The hangover stage of the covid helicopter money period is materializing — the only suffering will only worsen from here until another round of stimmy checks is seen. 

    It’s time to exit the rat-race…

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

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 19:20

  • Inspector General: US Government Left More Than $7 Billion In Military Equipment To The Taliban
    Inspector General: US Government Left More Than $7 Billion In Military Equipment To The Taliban

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    Defense Department Inspector General has released its long-awaited report on what the Biden Administration left behind in Afghanistan.

    It is an unbelievable list of equipment left to one of the most violent groups in the world with a history of supporting terrorist organizations. I opposed the long war in Afghanistan, so I was not among those critical of Trump or Biden in pushing to leave the conflict. However, no one has ever explained why the Biden Administration left this equipment in Afghanistan as opposed to removing it or destroying it.

    While the collapse of the Afghan government was rapid in the final days, the government had many months to prepare for the scheduled withdrawal. Yet, it took no steps to remove or destroy this equipment. Instead, it elected to leave this arsenal intact to the Taliban.

    The ground vehicle inventory alone was worth about $4.12 billion.

    In addition, the U.S. military lost $923.3 million worth of military aircraft and $294.6 million in aircraft munitions.

    The Taliban was instantly made one of the best equipped militaries in the world due to this windfall gift by the Biden Administration.

    While the report says that “some” of the aircraft were “demilitarized and rendered inoperable during the evacuation,” most of this equipment was left ready-to-use, including 316,260 small arms, including sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers, were left behind, amounting to $511.8 million.

    I do not understand how this clear and unimaginable blunder has gone unaddressed. No one was fired. There is not even any evidence of discipline of any kind. The Biden Administration decided to give the Taliban billions in weapons rather than destroy them. Yet, there seems little more than a shrug and a yawn from Congress and the press.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 19:00

  • "I Always Eat Red Meat. I'm Happy": As Demand For Higher-End Cuts Slides, Beef Prices Are Falling… For Now
    “I Always Eat Red Meat. I’m Happy”: As Demand For Higher-End Cuts Slides, Beef Prices Are Falling… For Now

    While one wouldn’t know it from looking at USDA data for the uncooked beef prices…

    … there are some good news for those seeking to upgrade – however briefly – from horse or cricket in these dystopic days: according to the WSJ, beef is finally getting cheaper, bringing some economic relief to U.S. consumers. Prices of beef, typically among the costliest grocery store purchases, are falling after more than a year of increases as consumer demand softens for some cuts.

    While demand has shrunk due to the recent record surge in prices, supplies are improving due to better staffing at meat plants, and supermarkets are offering more discounts on rib-eye, New York strip and other often-expensive products.

    For months, prices for food and consumer products have been rising across grocery aisles due to higher costs of transportation, ingredients and labor. Some of the biggest increases have been in the meat section, and shoppers have been buying cheaper cuts or switching to less expensive protein like chicken, pork, horse or cricket. But now that beef prices have plateaued, consumers are finding more deals and options, industry executives and analysts told the WSJ.

    Unlike the recent USDA data, retail beef prices fell 0.7% for the four-week period ended Aug. 7, compared with the same period a year ago, according to data from research firm Information Resources Inc. That decline came after beef prices fell 1% during the prior four-week period, which was the first monthly decline since June 2021. U.S. retail beef prices hadn’t fallen for two straight months in over a year and a half, though they remain at historically high levels.

    While the pace of U.S. inflation eased slightly in July from a four-decade high as gasoline costs fell from June levels, grocery prices continued their ascent and were up 1.3% in July compared with June, and the cost of eating out at restaurants also increased. But other prices dropped: prices for rib-eye and beef loin are down nearly 10% for the four weeks ended Aug. 7 compared with a year ago, while brisket decreased about 18%. On the other ends, ground beef prices—among the cheapest beef products and still in high demand—increased about 7% over the period, compared with a roughly 20% increase in January.

    “The cost of all the stuff is piling up and it’s starting to hit people’s pocketbooks,” said Carey Otwell, director of meat and seafood at Mitchell Grocery Corp. The Alabama-based grocer is selling less premium meat such as grass-fed beef. People continue to buy lower-priced cuts like ground beef, holding up prices for those products. Mitchell’s average cost of a case of beef declined about 13% over the past 12 weeks compared with the same period a year ago.

    Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, the biggest U.S. meat processor by sales, said the company’s own average sales price for beef was 1.2% lower over the three months ended July 2, as customers opted for cheaper cuts. The wholesale price of boxed beef shipped from meatpackers as of Aug. 13 is down about 15% from a year ago, according to the Agriculture Department.

    Howard Radziminsky, a retiree who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., said he recently bought rib-eye for $5.97 a pound and New York strip steaks for $4.77 a pound. Radziminsky, who follows a protein-heavy diet and eats red meat five to six days a week, said he hadn’t seen rib-eye sell for under $6 a pound in a while.

    “Promotional prices have come back to where they were two years ago,” he said. “I always eat red meat. I’m happy.”

    Since the start of the pandemic, meatpacking companies such as Tyson Foods, JBS USA Holdings, National Beef Packing and Cargill have said they couldn’t process as many cattle as usual because their plants were short-staffed. That constrained supplies, they said, and pushed prices higher while demand stayed hot.

    But in recent days, some of the bottlenecks at processing plants that drove prices up over the past two years have eased, improving the U.S. beef supply, said Katelyn McCullock, senior agricultural economist at the Livestock Marketing Information Center.

    “We’re getting healthier from a labor perspective,” said Shane Miller, head of Tyson’s beef and pork unit, adding that higher wages and a variety of new benefits programs have helped staffing. “We’re running more volume to our plants.”

    That said, don’t expect plunging beef prices any time seen: a tight labor market and higher employee turnover and absenteeism rates than before the pandemic at meat plants are expected to keep processing capacity limited in the industry. Boxed beef prices remain roughly 30% above their five-year average, according to the USDA. At the same time, more cattle are being directed to processing plants as ranchers shrink the size of their herds because of persistent drought conditions in parts of the U.S., helping to improve the supply of beef in stores.

    Indeed, prices for some beef cuts may not stay down for long as the cattle supply tightens. U.S. beef production is expected to decline later in 2023, constraining the supply of cattle and ultimately raising the price of beef, according to USDA and agriculture executives.

    Tyson Chief Executive Donnie King said on a call with analysts this month that he expects the company to pay more for cattle going into 2023 and even 2024 as supply tightens.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 18:40

  • A New Epidemic Of Self-Silencing Is Plaguing America
    A New Epidemic Of Self-Silencing Is Plaguing America

    Authored by Rajan Laad via AmericanThinker.com,

    A new study by the Populace organization revealed the obvious: that Americans are “self-silencing” – people saying what they think others want to hear rather than what they truly feel.

    People often reshape their privately held views to conform to what they think their group believes, despite that assessment frequently being inaccurate.

    This causes the illusion of consensus.

    The following are two of the most significant revelations from the study:

    • Four times as many Democrats say Corporate CEOs should take a public stand on social issues (44%) than actually care (11%).

    • On Education, one in three Democrats think parents should have more influence over public school curriculum, however, only one in four dares to say it publicly.

    In the current climate, it is the left that is championing the idea of groupthink which they claim is the only ‘appropriate’ way of thinking.

    Under the guise of being woke, the left is ‘canceling’ dissenters and rendering them outcasts, often by inventing claims of bigotry. Wokeism that claims to emanate from empathy is merely a euphemism for totalitarianism.

    It is hence essential to revisit the principle of free expression which is the core tenet of Democracy.

    This includes the right to opine without repercussions i.e. the right to offend, insult, satirize, and ridicule.  The result is obscene, hateful, abhorrent, and shocking ideas may be expressed.

    But personal taste can never ever be the criteria for the expression of ideas.

    The reason being what is hateful to one may be compelling to another. What is bigoted to one may be a fresh perspective to another. What is obscene to one may be artful to another. What is lewd to one may be hilarious to another. What is blunt and blatant to one may be hard-hitting to another. What is repulsive to one can be riveting to another.  

    A dogmatist to one may be a maverick to another. A rabid right-winger to one is a voice of reason to another. A hateful bigot to one could be a revolutionary to another. A mad man to one could be a genius to another.

    A healthy exchange of ideas and relentless debates, not echo chambers, facilitates personal growth and in turn societal growth. It also causes unity as people begin to empathize with the opposing point of view and indeed the individual.

    Quite often, a solitary contrarian idea that is expressed begins like a flickering flame but ends up illuminating an entire people. If a society sticks to convention, it ceases to grow.

    What is troubling is that this practice of adhering to groupthink and self-silencing is spreading like an epidemic.

    The corporate world, the news media, the entertainment industry, and even educational institutes have all been silenced by the mob.

    Individuals from this mob have been cultivated from a very young age. The indoctrination that begins young is often irreversible. For this mob, being offended or calling others pejorative epithets is the equivalent of being virtuous. Hence, they function like puritans who are perpetually looking for heresy to condemn.

    Social media plays a huge part in the development of groupthink. Quite often PR firms use bots or dummy accounts to push their agenda, which gullible users presume to be the opinion of the majority. Frequently an individual or a firm is targeted for holding the ‘wrong’ ideas.

    The result is that some chose to self-silence.

    Most people want to live a simple life. They do not want to be ostracized or rendered unemployed and unemployable.

    Hence, they nod to the most ridiculous ideas to avoid being called anachronistic or bigoted. 

    Some hope they will be spared by appeasing the mob. They hope that by making slight compromises they can avoid being attacked. But cowardice only emboldens a mob; in time, major compromises are demanded, and soon everything you held dearly has melted into thin air.

    It is also essential to understand no individual, irrespective of how cautiously restrained they are, can always hold the mob-approved thoughts. It is only a matter of time before the mob turns on its appeasers.  It therefore makes sense to challenge the mob when they take their first step.

    The mob often claims to hold the right ideas and that the rest are ignorant or bigoted. If they are indeed on the right side, they should be eager to debate and vanquish their opponents. But they do the exact opposite: instead of engaging, they shut down their opponents. Despite their claims, they live in perpetual fear that fresh ideas may sway their supporters away.

    The mob always claims to be standing against fascism.  Perhaps they fail to see the irony that it was fascists who suppressed opposing views and Nazis that burned books that they considered dissenting.

    What is troubling is that government seems to be adopting these intimidatory tactics.

    Last year the Biden’s FBI said was investigating “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”  

    The goal behind this announcement was to shut down critics of the undesirable occurrences within educational institutes.

    Early this year Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified that the Department of Homeland Security had set up a Disinformation Governance Board to “work and to equip local communities, to identify individuals who could be descending into violence by reason of ideologies, hate, false narratives, or other disinformation and misinformation propagated on social media and other platforms.”  The board has been ‘paused’ now.

    The goal behind this board was to cause self-silencing.

    This revelation that Americans are self-silencing should come as no surprise.

    So, what impact does this self-silencing have on society?

    A deep resentment begins to brew as a result of the repression that is almost like a ticking timebomb that explodes one day.

    It is said that to destroy a society you first begin by killing ideas. An unexpressed idea is an equivalent of killing an idea.

    All the great modern inventions, discoveries, great works of art, and literature exist because someone, somewhere dared to think differently — but most importantly, dared to express this difference of opinion without fear.  If we had all stuck to consensus, we would probably be living in the Stone Age.

    Freedom of expression emanates from freedom of thought. If people are censoring themselves, democratic values are being compromised.

    The time to rise up against this sinister totalitarian cult is now, by being the change you want to see and expressing yourself freely.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 18:20

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Aug 22

Today’s News 22nd August 2022

  • Germany To Prioritize Coal Shipments Across Rail Network Over Passenger Trains Amid Worsening Energy Crisis
    Germany To Prioritize Coal Shipments Across Rail Network Over Passenger Trains Amid Worsening Energy Crisis

    The latest sign lawmakers in Europe’s industrial heartland are preparing for what could be a disastrous winter of reduced natural gas supplies from Russia and record high electricity prices is a new proposal to prioritize Germany’s rail network for coal shipments over passenger services, according to Bloomberg, citing local newspaper Welt am Sonntag. 

    Even though Germany has promised to eliminate coal-fired power generation in the coming years, the historic energy crisis has made it more dependent on coal than ever as Russian flows of NatGas slump ahead of winter. 

    Economy Minister Robert Habeck recently said increased reliance on coal is bitter but necessary. 

    And we must give our readers a spoiler alert: there’s no way Germany will eliminate coal as a power source by 2030. If anything, it will be more reliant on it than ever unless it extends the life of its nuclear power plants. 

    “Priority is normally given to passenger transport in Germany, and timetables are geared toward it. As a result, there’s a risk of chaos on the rails from making the change,” Bloomberg said, citing the draft. 

    There’s a strong possibility the draft will be passed as a way to accelerate coal shipments via rail to power plants ahead of winter to ensure there are adequate supplies. Coal power generation is expected to soar in Europe’s largest economy this winter as a move to boost energy security.  

    The draft plan comes as German year-ahead power, a European benchmark, skyrocketed last week to a record 570 euros per megawatt-hour, with French prices rising as much as 3% to 720 euros. Coal prices in Europe also hit a record of 310 euros a ton. 

    Russia continues to squeeze NatGas flows to Europe as a heat wave limits hydroelectric and nuclear production. Rhine River levels have dropped to dangerously low levels, disrupting commodity cargos on the continent’s most important inland waterway. However, the good news this weekend is water levels have risen.  

    Germany’s increasing coal use this winter will be made possible by the rail system delivering supplies to power plants. 

    So much for the Europeans spearheading efforts toward green energy as Putin’s energy insecurity strategy appears to be a major success where it has caused stagflation and chaos across Germany. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 02:45

  • Geopolitics: The World Is Splitting In Two
    Geopolitics: The World Is Splitting In Two

    Authored by Alasdair Macleod via GoldMoney.com,

    While we are being distracted by Ukraine, President Putin has advanced his geopolitical goals materially. Aided and abetted by President Xi, Putin is taking the Asian continent into his control. That mission is well on its way to being achieved. He now awaits the winter months to finally force the EU to reject America’s hegemony. Only then, will the western end of the Eurasian continent be truly free of American interference.

    This article explains how he is achieving his strategic goals. It examines the geopolitics of the Asian landmass and the nations tied to it, which are commercially and financially turning their backs on the US-led western alliance.

    I look at geopolitics from President Putin of Russia’s viewpoint, since he is the only national leader who seems to have a clear grasp of his long-term objectives. His active strategy conforms closely with Halford Mackinder’s predictive analysis of nearly 120 years ago. Mackinder is regarded by many experts as the founder of geopolitics.

    Putin is determined to remove the American threat to his Western borders by squeezing the EU to that end. But he is also building political relationships based on control of global fossil-fuel supplies — a pathway opened for him by American and European obsessions over climate change. In partnership with China, the consolidation of his power over the Eurasian landmass has progressed rapidly in recent weeks.

    For the Western Alliance, financially and economically his timing is particularly awkward, coinciding with the end of a 40-year period of declining interest rates, rising consumer price inflation, and a deepening recession driven by contracting bank credit. 

    It is the continuation of a financial war by other means, and it looks like Putin has an unbeatable hand. He is on course to push our fragile fiat currency based financial system over the edge.

    Mackinder’s legacy

    In a paper presented to the Royal Geographic Society in 1904, the father of geopolitics, Halford Mackinder, effectively predicted what is happening today. In his presentation, he asked: 

    “Is not the pivot region of the world’s politics that vast area of Euro-Asia which is inaccessible to ships, but in antiquity lay open to the horse-riding nomads, and today is about to be covered with a network of railways? 

    “Outside the pivot area, in a great inner crescent, are Germany, Austria, Turkey, India, and China. And in an outer crescent, Britain, South Africa, Australia, the United States, Canada, and Japan.”

    This is shown in Figure 1, taken from the original paper presented to the Society.

    In 1919 after the First World War, in his Democratic Ideals and Reality he summarised his theory in slightly different language thus:

    “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland;

    Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island;

    Who rules the World-Island commands the world.”

    This is Putin’s destiny. In conjunction with China (rather than a united Germany, which is what worried politicians such as Balfour before the First World War), Russia appears to be successfully pursuing her goal of control of Mackinder’s World Island. Today, we can expand on the inner crescent concept to include Iran, the Middle East, as well as the new nations spun out of the old Soviet Union. Of Mackinder’s original inner crescent, only Germany and Austria are omitted today. Austria was the centre of the Hapsburg Empire at that time and so is no longer geopolitically important.

    Of the outer circle, we can now include most of Africa and some of South America, which are increasingly dependent on the World-Island for demand for their commodities. Without the West’s media and public seeming to realise it, there has been and continues to be an extension of Russian power through Asian partnerships which now eclipses America’s in terms of the global population covered. And if we add in China’s diaspora in South-East Asia, America and her NATO allies look like a somewhat isolated minority.

    As well as political power ebbing away from the West, economic power is as well. Hampered by increasingly expensive and anti-capitalist democratic socialism, their economies are struggling under the burden of their governments. And as the West declines, the World-Island is enjoying its own industrial revolution. The network of railways, to which Mackinder referred in 1904, has expanded from the trans-Siberian railway to China’s new overland silk roads, linking China with Western Europe and the great nations south of the original silk road.

    Russia and its ex-Soviet satellites occupy half the Eurasian continent. The Eurasian continent is 21 million square miles, or more than three times the size of all North America. Central and North America together measure some 9 million square miles, more than twice the area of Europe. Even without its ex-Soviet satellites, Russia is still by far the largest nation by land area. And together with China, Russia is nearly three times the size of the United States.

    Russia is the world’s largest single source of energy, commodities, and raw materials and as we now see can control the prices the West pays for them. As a consequence of recent sanctions, the west is paying top-rouble, while Russia’s Asian allies have energy and commodities offered at a discount payable in their own currencies, undermining the West’s relative economic position even more.

    As to whether Putin has studied Mackinder, this must be supposition. But there is no doubt that if he is not so guided, Putin is following the same predicted course. As Russia’s undisputed leader, he has played the geopolitical game masterfully. He does not fall into the traps which bedevil Western socialism. He follows foreign guidelines in the mould of the British at the time of Lord Liverpool’s Prime Ministership two hundred years ago, when the policy was not to interfere in the domestic affairs of foreign nations, except to the extent that they affected British interests.

    It is a fact of life for Putin that his allies include some very unpleasant regimes. But this does not concern him — their domestic affairs are not his business. His business is Russia’s interests, and like the British in the 1820s, he pursues them single-mindedly.

    The rationale behind Ukraine

    Ukraine was an unusual instance of Putin taking the initiative in acting against the American-led NATO alliance. But in the run-up to Ukraine, he had seen Britain leave the EU. Britain was America’s vicar on the EU’s earth, so Brexit represented a significant decline in the US’s ability to influence Brussels. Following Brexit, President Biden precipitously exited Afghanistan, taking the rest of NATO with him. Therefore, America was on the run from the Heartland. The way was open for Putin to push further and expel America from Russia’s western borders.

    To do this, he needed to confront NATO. And there is little doubt this was on Putin’s mind when he escalated his “special military operation” against Ukraine. He must have anticipated NATO’s reaction to impose sanctions, from which Russia has profited greatly. At the same time, it is the EU which has been badly crushed, a squeeze which he can intensify at will.

    The drama is still playing out. He needs to keep up some pressure on Ukraine to keep the squeeze going. He is not ready to compromise. Winter in the EU will be tougher still, with energy and food shortages likely to lead to increasing riots by the EU’s citizens. Putin will only stop when the Europeans realise that America is sacrificing them in the pursuit of its hegemony. Zelensky is little more than a puppet in this drama.

    With respect to the war on the ground, Russia has already secured its access from the Black Sea by cultivating her relationship with Turkey. As a NATO member, Turkey is hedging its bets. The Black Sea is vital to her economic interests. For this reason, Turkey is maintaining her relationship with Russia, while cooling down her antipathy to Israel (President Herzog visited Ankara in March) and mending her fences with the UAE — it’s all part of the World Island coming together.

    For the US, Erdogan is an unreliable NATO partner. Allegedly, the US tried to remove him by instigating a failed coup attempt in 2016, when he was tipped off by Russian intelligence and the coup failed. While he owes a favour to Putin, Turkey’s NATO membership leads him to be cautious. And as a born-again Sunni, he appears keen to extend Turkish influence into the Moslem nations in Central Asia, dreaming perhaps of the glory days of the Ottoman Empire.

    To further Russia’s power over energy sources upon which the Western belligerents depend, Putin has cultivated Iran, and has also made welcoming overtures to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Sergei Lavrov, Putin’s foreign minister, took care to fully brief members of the Arab league of Russia’s energy policy in Cairo last month. The argument is simple: the West has turned its back on fossil fuels, planning to phase them out entirely in a decade or so. As producers of oil and gas, their future is to stick together with Mackinder’s World Island and its Inner Crescent. This is so obviously the case, that even Saudi Arabia is said to be seeking an association through the BRICS group.

    Whatever the merits of climate change driven policies, with respect to energy the West seems to be hell-bent on a suicide mission. But Russia’s message to its partners is that you can have oil and natural gas at a discount to what Europe has to pay. Putin is offering to release them fully from the West’s climate change ideology. 

    With the pressure he is applying on Western Europe, Putin almost certainly assumes European politicians will be driven from supporting US sanctions to a more neutral position. And Russia probably expects that non-aligned nations suffering from grain shortages will also pressure the West to bring sanctions to an end. But before Putin relinquishes the pressure on EU nations, he is still likely to insist that American influence from Western Europe is withdrawn, or at the least it is withdrawn from Russia’s western borders.

    Phase 1 has concluded. Let Phase 2 begin

    We must now turn from Putin’s supposed megalomania to the conditions faced by his Western enemies, particularly the nations in Europe and the Eurozone. Figure 2, which is of a basket of commodities and raw materials priced in euros, shows that  after a significant rise, for Europe prices have eased in recent months.

    For the beleaguered Europeans, the pause in a substantial rise in commodity prices since the Fed’s introduction of zero interest rates in March 2020 has given them temporary and minor relief from an escalating inflation headache. Perhaps it is premature, but investors in western markets are taking the pullback in commodity prices as evidence that the commodity squeeze is probably over, and that with it the problem of consumer price inflation will diminish as well. 

    Indeed, in his 1 August report for Credit Suisse, Zoltan Pozsar reported that he had visited 150 investment managers in eight European cities recently, and the consensus was just that: they think inflation is licked, recession is due, and therefore interest rates will shortly decline.

    But so long as he holds the pricing reins for energy, Putin can play with the euro to his heart’s desire. By manipulating his quasi-monopoly on energy, grains, and fertilisers he can increase pressure on the EU’s leaders to reject US hegemony. And to fully appreciate the power in Putin’s hands, it is important to understand the true relationship between fiat currencies and commodities.

    The evidence is that the volatility of commodity prices is in the fiat currency they are priced in, and not the commodities themselves. Figure 3 shows this relationship, by comparing the price of oil measured in legal money (gold) and the fiat euro currency.

    The most the price of oil in gold has varied on the upside is double at the time of the Lehman failure, whereas in euros at that time it was sixteen times. So far this year, it has been even more volatile when the price in gold fell to 70% of the 1950 price, while in euros it hit 15 — that’s 21 times as volatile.

    This finding turns all energy pricing assumptions upside-down. The chart shows that what was true before the ending of Bretton Woods was no longer true after 1971. [The euro only commencing in 2000, the currency taken before then was the German mark]. Since oil prices are wholly determined in markets whose participants all assume price volatility is in the commodity, the entire basis of price forecasting becomes undermined. That being so, if an analyst gets a forecast half right it is more by luck than judgement.

    This is the whole point behind sound money. With sound money, dealers in commodities and all other goods justifiably assume that the intermediating medium is a constant. They assume that when they receive payment, its utility is invariable. But with unbacked fiat it is different. For individual transactions, while we still assume a dollar is a dollar and a euro is a euro we all know that a currency’s utility varies. Why, then, for analytical purposes do forecasters always assume it does not? Why do analysts never take this into account in their forecasts?

    Figure 3 above proves that conventional approaches to pricing and economic forecasts involving them are nonsensical. The same is demonstrably true for all other commodities, not just oil. In current circumstances, the basis for an incorrect analysis is being used to support expectations that prices are beginning to reflect an increasing prospect of recession, which to a Keynesian or monetarist mind, means falling demand for commodities and energy leads to lower prices. But the fact remains that overnight, Putin can put the squeeze on the EU again. And armed with the knowledge that price volatility is in the currency, we know that the falling euro will do most of his work for him.

    As we approach Europe’s winter, it will not take much to drive energy prices in euros considerably higher. Putin is unlikely to make the mistake of being seen to do this deliberately. But in all probability, he need not take any significant action at all to see Western currency prices for energy and food rise again as winter approaches.

    There is a further misjudgement common to Western capital markets: this time over interest rates. In almost every piece of analysis forecasting recession, the underlying assumption is that with economies turning down demand for goods, services and credit will diminish. For these reasons, interest rate pressures are expected to decline. 

    This misunderstands the nature of credit. Almost all circulating media is commercial bank credit. Consequently, GDP is simply the sum of all bank credit used for qualifying transactions. Therefore, nominal GDP is set by the availability of bank credit, and not, as commonly supposed driven by a slowdown in economic activity. When the banking cohort contracts its collective balance sheet, interest rates initially rise because of a shortage of credit.

    These conditions are now faced by financial markets. Commercial banks are bound to seek ways to protect themselves in uncertain times. They are already looking to reduce the ratio of their assets to equity before bad debts really escalate. Banks in the Eurozone are not alone with this change in outlook. The so-called global recession is not being driven much by other economic factors, but mainly by the tendency for bank credit to be withdrawn from both financial and non-financial economic sectors.

    It is a problem poorly understood and never mentioned by analysts in their economic forecasts. But in the current economic and financial environment, the consequences lead to a conclusion about interest rates the opposite of that commonly supposed. 

    We can see from the foregoing that contrary to expectations expressed everywhere by western governments and their central banks along with the whole investment establishment, the inflation and interest rate problem is not going away. Because interest rates had been suppressed and could go no lower and for no longer, there has been a fundamental shift from a long-term decline in them, to what is increasingly sure to turn out to be a long-term trend for interest rates to rise. As it is elsewhere, the bank lending environment in Europe is deteriorating for obvious reasons. Furthermore, it comes at a time when bank balance sheet leverage is at record levels, leaving banks badly exposed to the change. 

    A severe contraction in bank credit is only in its initial stages. A second phase in the economic and financial war against Putin’s Russia will shortly emerge. Currently, we appear to be in a summer pause after the first, indicated by consolidating commodity prices. Government bond yields have declined from earlier highs. Stock markets have rallied. Bitcoin has rallied. Gold, which is the only legal money from which to escape from all this, has declined. It all indicates a false optimism, vulnerable to the rudest of shocks.

    China may be Putin’s only wildccard

    With its economy based on commodities whose values are aligned with gold and so long as the current geopolitical situation does not escalate into a wider military conflict, Russia appears to be in a strengthening economic position while her adversaries are in decline. If there is a threat to its position, it probably comes from her alliance with China, which is exposed to the West’s follies through trade. China has some wildcard problems.

    Since the death of Mao, in its rapid development China has relied on the expansion of credit through state owned banks. Bank executives are state functionaries, instead of managers on behalf of profit-seeking shareholders. It is this difference which has insulated the domestic economy from the cycles of bank credit which have plagued the West’s economic model with repetitive credit crises.

    While this lack of destructive cyclicality might be seen as a good thing, it has allowed malinvestments to build up uninterruptedly over recent decades. So, while the Chinese authorities still exercise significant control over lending, the degree of economic distortion has become a threat to further progress.

    This is being manifest in a growing property crisis, with developers going to the wall in droves. It’s not that there is unlikely to be demand for commercial and residential properties in the future: the savers are there to buy, the middle classes are growing in number, and the economy has some way to go in its development. The problem is that the property market has got ahead of itself.

    As a sector, property and related activities make up an estimated one-third of China’s economic activity. Developers have suspended completions of pre-sold properties, which citizens have bought on a pre-payment basis. Consequently, mortgage payments are being suspended by angry purchasers. Private banks have been affected, with bank runs against some of them. Some thirty real estate companies have missed foreign debt payments, with Evergrande being the most high-profile defaulter on $300bn of debt.

    Problems in property were and are still being compounded by Beijing’s zero tolerance covid policy. More so than in other jurisdictions, strictly enforced clampdowns have hit production and undermined logistics, factors that have inevitably undermined economic performance. While exports to other nations have held up well — mostly due to foreign governments’ spending deficits escalating and not being matched by increased personal savings — China’s exporters’ profits are bound to become squeezed by the West’s deepening recession. Unless, that is, China’s foreign exchange policy is to deliberately weaken the yuan against western currencies. But that will only end up destabilising the domestic economy as consumer price increases accelerate.

    And lastly, if Beijing follows up on its threats to annex Taiwan — if only to detract from domestic economic failures — a train of events is likely to be set in motion which could escalate tensions with America and its defence allies to the detriment of everyone.

    But despite the headlines from China’s property crisis, it is too early to assume China is descending into much deeper trouble. It must abandon macroeconomic policies driven purely by statistics and ensure its citizens and their business have a stable currency. Whether this is understood in Beijing is not clear.

    The fundamental difference from its Russian partner is its greater economic dependence on consumption of commodities as opposed to their production. The consequences of western economic policies set to undermine their own currencies’ purchasing power will be felt more by China than Russia. Nevertheless, an increasingly likely banking and currency crisis in the West can be weathered by China with the correct economic approach.

    The era of the dollar is ending

    While Putin appears to be gaining control of the World Island, leaving a few nations on its fringes adhering to the US and its currency’s hegemony, much of what he has achieved is through the abject failure of the West in playing this greatest of great geopolitical games. A notable feature of the West’s decline is in its embrace of anti-capitalistic and woke cultures. In this article, it would lose our focus if we drifted into the climate change debate, other than to point out that by seeking to eliminate fossil fuels in the next decade or so, the West is on a course of economic self-destruction relative to Russia’s partners, who are being offered discounted oil, gas, and coal for the foreseeable future.

    When President Nixon turned the dollar into an entirely fiat currency in August 1971, he set off a train of events which is now ending. From establishing the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, and his agreement with Saudi Arabia which led to the creation of the petrodollar, global fiat currency instability commenced as shown in Figure 3 to this article. But the fiat dollar gave both the US Government and the American banking system enormous power. That was effectively wielded, forcing recalcitrant nations to kowtow to the mighty dollar.

    The power was not used judiciously, leading to an alliance between Russia and China to protect themselves from US actions. The lessons they learned from American imperialism were not lost. Despite earlier promises to Russia not to do so, the US military directly threatened her western border. For China, though her economic and industrial revolution having been initially praised, she began to be seen as a threat to the American interests.

    This imperialism has made America few friends and many latent enemies. With repeated failures in US foreign policy in the Middle East, North Africa, Ukraine, and most recently Afghanistan, the US can now count on nations representing only about 19% of the world’s population of 8 billion people, compared with 54% allied to the World Island. This is shown in Figure 4.

    While allocating nations into these categories is somewhat subjective, it gives an approximation of the relative power of the World Island partnership compared with that of US/NATO. As the US-led partnership’s grip slackens, vested interests are sure to drive non-aligned nations towards the World Island camp, particularly when they have commodities to sell.

    Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions that followed, none of the 170 nations in the table could do without the dollar. Russia has been forced to find alternative settlement currencies and its close allies in the Eurasian Economic Union are planning a new trade settlement currency to cut out the dollar. But the international pricing of commodities and raw materials in dollars is impossible to overcome, even for Russia.

    The World Island cannot side-line the dollar completely — it is too entrenched. While the dollar’s power is declining, the destruction of its virtual monopoly in international trade will have to come from US monetary policy itself, a process that is arguably under way.

    Since the financialisation of Western economies in the mid-eighties, the dollar has retained its credibility as the world’s reserve currency. It was achieved by ensuring a ready supply for international use, as forecast by Robert Triffin by his description of the dollar’s dilemma in the late fifties. The demand side was bolstered by the development of regulated and unregulated derivative markets, which forced foreigners to purchase dollars in order to purchase derivatives. Essentially, it was synthetic dollar demand created to satisfy speculator demand for commodities, including precious metals, by creating synthetic supply.

    When this concept is grasped, the importance of the ending of the long-term trend of interest rate suppression becomes better understood. The suppression of commodity prices by increasing synthetic supply became part and parcel of interest rate declines. Interest rates are no longer declining but rising. There will be unexpected consequences for commodity prices, which we will come to in a moment.

    There are two immediate consequences for bank lending: their lending margins improve, and the incidents of bad and doubtful debts increases. Consequently, overleveraged bank balance sheets are being cut back by banks no longer having to work them so hard to maintain bottom-line profits. And with lending risk escalating, this is a further reason to contract bank credit overall. Credit is going to be in increasingly short supply.

    There are the consequences for financial markets, including synthetic commodity supply, to be considered as well. Under the new Basel 3 regulations which were recently introduced, trading and market-making in derivatives is an inefficient use of balance sheet capacity, so these activities are bound to be reduced over time under pressure from banks’ treasury departments. In effect, the conditions that allowed banks to expand credit to finance the increase of derivative trading activities between 1985 and 2021 are being reversed. 

    According to the Bank for International Settlements, the notional value of global regulated futures totalled $40. 7 trillion last March, and in options totalled a further $54 trillion. To this must be added over $610 trillion in over-the-counter derivatives. For now, it is variations in this synthetic supply which drive pricing relationships between fiat currencies and commodities. But the impact of contracting bank credit will almost certainly lead to higher commodity prices, as this synthetic supply dries up and is increasingly withdrawn.

    Furthermore, contracting bank credit invariably leads to banking failures. And with the Eurozone’s and Japanese global systemically important banks leveraged over 20 times on average, the scale of banking failures is likely to be significantly larger than that of Lehman when it failed fourteen years ago next month.

    And finally, as insurance against a widespread fiat currency catastrophe, both Russia and China have stockpiled physical bullion. Russia is known to have about 12,000 tonnes, of which 2,300 tonnes are held as monetary reserves. It mines 330 tonnes annually, which it is now adding to its hoard. Having accumulated the bulk of its hoard before permitting the Chinese public to buy gold, China’s state probably has over 30,000 tonnes, of which only 1,776 tonnes are declared official reserves. Since its inception in 2002, China’s citizens have taken delivery of a further 20,000 tonnes from the Shanghai Gold Exchange, some of which will have returned as scrap.

    Therefore, the Russian and Chinese states between them command over 40,000 tonnes, which compares with America’s reserves, officially listed as 8,133 tonnes. As nations, they are also the two largest gold miners by output. 

    There can be no doubt that both China and Russia have a better understanding than western central banks of the relationship between money, which legally and in actuality is gold, and credit. They can only have built their reserves and mining capacity in anticipation that their currencies will need, one day, protection from a fiat currency crisis. First it was China, which accumulated most of her stash during the 1980-2002 bear market at prices as low as $275, before letting her citizens buy gold. With Russia, the accumulation has been more recent, undoubtedly seen by Putin as an essential part of his geopolitical ambitions. Both countries have concealed their true gold position, presumably so as to not threaten the dollar’s hegemony directly and to allow them to secretly add to their hoards.

    In the event of a fiat currency crisis for the dollar, both the rouble and yuan have more monetary projection backing them than in any of the currencies of their adversaries. And while the jury might be out with respect to President Xi’s geopolitical nous, there can be little doubt that Putin will do whatever it takes to protect Russia, the rouble, and his geostrategic plans from any crisis which might envelop the West.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/22/2022 – 02:00

  • Weaponizing The Bureaucracy: Who Will Protect Us From The Government's Standing Army?
    Weaponizing The Bureaucracy: Who Will Protect Us From The Government’s Standing Army?

    Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

    “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.”

    – James Madison

    The IRS has stockpiled 4,500 guns and five million rounds of ammunition in recent years, including 621 shotguns, 539 long-barrel rifles and 15 submachine guns.

    The Veterans Administration (VA) purchased 11 million rounds of ammunition (equivalent to 2,800 rounds for each of their officers), along with camouflage uniforms, riot helmets and shields, specialized image enhancement devices and tactical lighting.

    The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acquired 4 million rounds of ammunition, in addition to 1,300 guns, including five submachine guns and 189 automatic firearms for its Office of Inspector General.

    According to an in-depth report on “The Militarization of the U.S. Executive Agencies,” the Social Security Administration secured 800,000 rounds of ammunition for their special agents, as well as armor and guns.

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) owns 600 guns. And the Smithsonian now employs 620-armed “special agents.”

    This is how it begins.

    We have what the founders feared most: a “standing” or permanent army on American soil.

    This de facto standing army is made up of weaponized, militarized, civilian forces which look like, dress like, and act like the military; are armed with guns, ammunition and military-style equipment; are authorized to make arrests; and are trained in military tactics.

    Mind you, this de facto standing army of bureaucratic, administrative, non-military, paper-pushing, non-traditional law enforcement agencies may look and act like the military, but they are not the military.

    Rather, they are foot soldiers of the police state’s standing army, and they are growing in number at an alarming rate.

    According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of federal agents armed with guns, ammunition and military-style equipment, authorized to make arrests, and trained in military tactics has nearly tripled over the past several decades.

    There are now more bureaucratic (non-military) government agents armed with weapons than U.S. Marines. As Adam Andrzejewski writes for Forbes, “the federal government has become one never-ending gun show.”

    While Americans have to jump through an increasing number of hoops in order to own a gun, federal agencies have been placing orders for hundreds of millions of rounds of hollow point bullets and military gear. Among the agencies being supplied with night-vision equipment, body armor, hollow-point bullets, shotguns, drones, assault rifles and LP gas cannons are the Smithsonian, U.S. Mint, Health and Human Services, IRS, FDA, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Education Department, Energy Department, Bureau of Engraving and Printing and an assortment of public universities.

    Add in the Biden Administration’s plans to grow the nation’s police forces by 100,000 more cops and swell the ranks of the IRS by 87,000 new employees (some of whom will have arrest-and-firearm authority) and you’ve got a nation in the throes of martial law.

    The militarization of America’s police forces in recent decades has merely sped up the timeline by which the nation is transformed into an authoritarian regime.

    What began with the militarization of the police in the 1980s during the government’s war on drugs has snowballed into a full-fledged integration of military weaponry, technology and tactics into police protocol. To our detriment, local police—clad in jackboots, helmets and shields and wielding batons, pepper-spray, stun guns, and assault rifles—have increasingly come to resemble occupying forces in our communities.

    As Andrew Becker and G.W. Schulz report, more than $34 billion in federal government grants made available to local police agencies in the wake of 9/11 “ha[ve] fueled a rapid, broad transformation of police operations… across the country. More than ever before, police rely on quasi-military tactics and equipment… [P]olice departments around the U.S. have transformed into small army-like forces.”

    This standing army has been imposed on the American people in clear violation of the spirit—if not the letter of the law—of the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the government’s ability to use the U.S. military as a police force.

    A standing army—something that propelled the early colonists into revolution—strips the American people of any vestige of freedom.

    It was for this reason that those who established America vested control of the military in a civilian government, with a civilian commander-in-chief. They did not want a military government, ruled by force.

    Rather, they opted for a republic bound by the rule of law: the U.S. Constitution.

    Unfortunately, with the Constitution under constant attack, the military’s power, influence and authority have grown dramatically. Even the Posse Comitatus Act, which makes it a crime for the government to use the military to carry out arrests, searches, seizure of evidence and other activities normally handled by a civilian police force, has been greatly weakened by exemptions allowing troops to deploy domestically and arrest civilians in the wake of alleged terrorist acts.

    The increasing militarization of the police, the use of sophisticated weaponry against Americans and the government’s increasing tendency to employ military personnel domestically have all but eviscerated historic prohibitions such as the Posse Comitatus Act.

    Indeed, there are a growing number of exceptions to which Posse Comitatus does not apply. These exceptions serve to further acclimate the nation to the sight and sounds of military personnel on American soil and the imposition of martial law.

    Now we find ourselves struggling to retain some semblance of freedom in the face of administrative, police and law enforcement agencies that look and act like the military with little to no regard for the Fourth Amendment, laws such as the NDAA that allow the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens, and military drills that acclimate the American people to the sight of armored tanks in the streets, military encampments in cities, and combat aircraft patrolling overhead.

    The menace of a national police force—a.k.a. a standing army—vested with the power to completely disregard the Constitution, cannot be overstated, nor can its danger be ignored.

    Historically, the establishment of a national police force accelerates a nation’s transformation into a police state, serving as the fundamental and final building block for every totalitarian regime that has ever wreaked havoc on humanity.

    Then again, for all intents and perhaps, the American police state is already governed by martial law: Battlefield tactics. Militarized police. Riot and camouflage gear. Armored vehicles. Mass arrests. Pepper spray. Tear gas. Batons. Strip searches. Drones. Less-than-lethal weapons unleashed with deadly force. Rubber bullets. Water cannons. Concussion grenades. Intimidation tactics. Brute force. Laws conveniently discarded when it suits the government’s purpose.

    This is what martial law looks like, when a government disregards constitutional freedoms and imposes its will through military force, only this is martial law without any government body having to declare it.

    The ease with which Americans are prepared to welcome boots on the ground, regional lockdowns, routine invasions of their privacy, and the dismantling of every constitutional right intended to serve as a bulwark against government abuses is beyond unnerving.

    We are sliding fast down a slippery slope to a Constitution-free America.

    This quasi-state of martial law has been helped along by government policies and court rulings that have made it easier for the police to shoot unarmed citizens, for law enforcement agencies to seize cash and other valuable private property under the guise of asset forfeiture, for military weapons and tactics to be deployed on American soil, for government agencies to carry out round-the-clock surveillance, for legislatures to render otherwise lawful activities as extremist if they appear to be anti-government, for profit-driven private prisons to lock up greater numbers of Americans, for homes to be raided and searched under the pretext of national security, for American citizens to be labeled terrorists and stripped of their rights merely on the say-so of a government bureaucrat, and for pre-crime tactics to be adopted nationwide that strip Americans of the right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty and creates a suspect society in which we are all guilty until proven otherwise.

    All of these assaults on the constitutional framework of the nation have been sold to the public as necessary for national security.

    Time and again, the public has fallen for the ploy hook, line and sinker

    We’re being reeled in, folks, and you know what happens when we get to the end of that line?

    As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, we’ll be cleaned, gutted and strung up.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 23:30

  • "Population Will Rebel" – Swiss Police Chief Fears Social Unrest From Winter Power Shortages
    “Population Will Rebel” – Swiss Police Chief Fears Social Unrest From Winter Power Shortages

    The Swiss government is preparing rapidly for the possibility of power shortages this winter with Jan Flückiger, Secretary General of the Energy Directors’ Conference, warning that “internal security then becomes a problem,” arguing that the federal government has not yet recognized the urgency in this regard.

    In an interview with Swiss German-language daily newspaper Blick, Fredy Fässler, the Police Chief of one of Switzerland’s largest Cantons, warned that people may revolt and resort to looting if the Alpine nation is hit by a severe energy crunch this winter.

    “Imagine, you can no longer withdraw money at the ATM, you can no longer pay with the card in the store or refuel your tank at the gas station. Heating stops working. It’s cold. Streets go dark. It is conceivable that the population would rebel or that there would be looting,” he said, adding that the country’s authorities should take measures to prepare for such extreme scenarios.

    Exercises that were conducted in 2014 to prepare for a blackout scenario revealed major shortcomings, including lack of emergency generators for police, hospitals and other critical infrastructure and services, he said.

    “These shortcomings have been corrected in recent years,” the police chief noted, adding rather ominously that now “the security forces are armed” and his agency is even prepared to provide the Swiss with cash if they are unable to use cards in stores, given that relevant agreements with banks have been signed.

    Additionally, Fässler warned of looting:

    “I don’t want to paint the devil on the wall, but it has also been seen in environmental disasters that certain people have abused the situation to plunder unprotected objects. This could also be the case if the network is switched off, for example in shops where there is something to buy.”

    But he warned the federal government not to over-step its tyrannical orders pre-emptively and expected police support:

    “I appeal to the federal government to only order measures that can be implemented and, above all, controlled. We certainly won’t become the sauna police.“

    Earlier, Werner Luginbuhl, the head of Switzerland’s electricity regulator ElCom, complained that electricity was being used “completely thoughtlessly,” and urged citizens to stock up on candles and firewood due to possible power outages in the country this winter.

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

    There has been a surge in searches in Switzerland for ‘brennholz’ (firewood)…

    Fãssler’s comments come after Swiss authorities said last week that they may place restrictions on energy consumption this coming winter, signaling that “power shortages [are] among the most serious risks” for the landlocked country.

    This is Swiss officials warning of revolt and urging its people to gather firewood… not central Parisian leaders or Baltimore politicians!!!

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 23:00

  • Power Crunch Threatens Growth, Reinforces Weak Yuan
    Power Crunch Threatens Growth, Reinforces Weak Yuan

    By George Lei, Bloomberg markets live commentator and reporter

    Three things we learned last week:

    1. Electricity shortages amid a severe drought have replaced Covid lockdowns as the latest and potentially biggest threat to economic growth, at least in the month of August. Sichuan, a southwestern province with more than 83 million people, had to cut its hydropower generation by more than half as of Friday, state broadcaster CCTV reports. Dazhou, a city of more than 5 million, has implemented rolling blackouts on non-household users and is making plans for residential power cuts if the situation doesn’t improve.

    Water Flow to Three Gorges Reservoir

    The blackout in Sichuan has led to factory closures of Toyota, Panasonic and CATL, the world’s top battery maker, while threatening supply chains to automakers including Tesla. Power generation in other parts of the country may come under pressure as well. Capital Economics noted on Friday that China’s eastern provinces — industrial hubs that normally consume power from the west — are now being asked to send electricity in the other direction, leading to a quick depletion of their thermal coal inventories.
    Electricity shortages are so far at an early stage and relatively concentrated in the southwest, according to Morgan Stanley. Further deterioration, however, could start to drag on manufacturing and other economic activities, posing additional downward risks to corporate earnings and stock-market sentiment, analysts Laura Wang, Jonathan Garner and Fran Chen wrote last week.

    2. The Chinese yuan, trading both onshore and offshore, fell on Friday to the weakest since September 2020 and investors only see more downside ahead. The People’s Bank of China isn’t standing in the way of the currency’s devaluation path, and a raft of 2022 GDP downgrades (with the full impact of blackouts unknown) only add to negative market sentiment.

    The offshore yuan has lost more than 1% so far in August, on course for the worst month since April’s 4.3% plunge. Things might be a bit different this time, however, as a “slow boil” yuan decline is the most likely scenario and runaway depreciation pressures appear less acute, JPMorgan wrote in a client note on Thursday. Investor positioning on the Chinese currency is already “extremely bearish” and foreign bond outflows have also lightened up somewhat, according to the US bank.

    A gradual FX weakening could prompt the offshore yuan to first test 6.90, a level last seen in August 2020, and then onto the key 7.00 level, reached in July that year. The three-month CNH risk reversal, which measures the cost of protection against depreciation, traded around 1.3% on Friday — well above its 200-day moving average of 0.88% yet still shy of 2022 high near 1.75%, last seen on May 10.

    3. Chinese banks are poised to cut their benchmark lending rates on Monday, following the PBOC’s 10 basis-point reduction to its 1-year MLF rate last week. Seven out of 20 economists polled by Bloomberg expect a 15bps cut to the five-year loan prime rate, a reference for mortgage costs, while six see an easing of 10bps.

    Just don’t expect a turnaround any time soon. More policy support is on the way, yet “it will probably be too late too little to prevent output from stagnating this year,” according to Capital Economics.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 22:30

  • Ratio Of Full- And Part-Time Workers Spells Inflation Peak
    Ratio Of Full- And Part-Time Workers Spells Inflation Peak

    By Vincent Cignarella, Bloomberg markets live commentator and reporter

    Is the US at full employment and we just don’t know it yet?

    The ratio of full-time workers to part-time workers is at a near 20-year high. It may be turning, and a drop in the ratio may spell peak inflation as companies adjust to cut costs. That’d mean a better environment for stocks and bonds going forward.

    If the ratio falls, it likely means companies are either looking to replace higher paid full-time workers with less expensive part-time employees or they are seeing declining sales. Either way, it is a sign of rising costs and an attempt to lower them or a slowing economy.

    Both scenarios could prompt a Fed pivot. A slowing economy and peaking inflation are the signs the Fed needs to see in order to pause rate hikes.

     

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 22:00

  • What Would A Crypto Crash Mean For Markets And The Economy
    What Would A Crypto Crash Mean For Markets And The Economy

    By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

    On “bitcoin infinity” day (apparently 8/21 is symbolic of ∞ infinity, the projected value of bitcoin) divided by 21,000,000 (the total number of bitcoin that can ever be mined), it seemed like a good time to explore what a crypto crash would look like and what it would mean for markets and the economy.

    We all know what a mortgage bank collapse looks like (Washington Mutual). We’ve seen broker dealers collapse (Lehman), we’ve seen the stress on the system when money center banks and insurance companies come under intense pressure. Heck, we’ve even endured a sovereign default (Greece). We’ve also experienced flash crashes in equities and bond yields.

    In all those cases, I would argue that having a gameplan ahead of time allowed companies and investors to profit from the events (both positive and negative). I haven’t seen much on what a crypto crash would mean, so I figured we could examine that today.

    Jackson Hole

    I could have written the 900th Jackson Hole primer, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I’ve already covered a lot that is applicable to Jackson Hole in Taxi Strategies, Orwellian Moments, Things You Won’t See, and Inversion and Inventories.

    My focus right now is pretty simple:

    • What is the real story on jobs?
      • The weak data is a more accurate sign of the current situation.
    • How bad is the inventory build?
      • I think it might be the worst we’ve seen in my lifetime.
    • Is the wealth effect a problem?
      • I think that the concentrated nature of the wealth effect in disruptive stocks and crypto is different than anything else we’ve experienced historically, and the housing sector weakness is ominous to me.
    • Inflation Fighting.
      • Be careful what you wish for is all that comes to mind. Time and again, lower commodity prices have accompanied stock prices as they became much lower as well and I’m not sure why that will be different this time.

    Anyways, let’s get back to being off topic and discussing a crypto crash.

    6 Impossible Things Before Breakfast

    I cannot come up with 6 impossible things before breakfast, but as the Queen suggested to Alice, you do need to practice.

    Let’s start with the premise of a crypto crash or crypto collapse. If it is impossible, then there is no point even thinking about it. However, not only is it possible, but I put the possibility of it occurring in the next year at 10% or higher. Still unlikely, but a high enough probability that I should think about what it would mean.

    Why a crypto crash or collapse seems possible:

    • It has already happened. Luna/Terra is gone. Poof. XRP is down 80% from its highs, Cardano is down 85%, Bitcoin Cash (you got to love the name) is down 91%, and Dogecoin is down 90% as well. Dogecoin was allegedly started as a joke, which makes it all the more ironic (or moronic) that an SNL skit helped pump it to the moon. So, collapses and crashes have occurred in some segments of the market, which alone tells me that it is worth exploring more.
    • This chart is precarious.

    • Bitcoin continues to hover near levels that would ensure that no “hodler,” or someone who buys crypto and will never sell (diamond hands as opposed to lettuce hands), has made money on any purchase in almost two years. That is a long time to wait to make money (or to sit on large losses). FOMO is a big part of crypto trading, and we are on the precipice of declining to levels where many could decide to take their money and run. There is an ongoing theme in crypto that the “whales” keep buying dips, which might be possible, though it seems more likely to me that many have decided to lock in massive amounts of wealth into the much maligned (but useful) “fiat” currency. Crypto bounced here recently, but that was just the first test and I suspect that there were some heavily incentivized holders who went out of their way to support the price (there really are no rules in this space). This chart, by itself, doesn’t convince me that a crash is possible, but when I highlight the other issues, it certainly adds to that overall theme that a crash or collapse is a non-zero probability event.
    • The chart isn’t much better.

     

    • The $13.5 billion trust, GBTC, is currently at a 32% discount to NAV. This isn’t an ETF, so it has the ability to trade at a discount or premium to NAV for extended periods. A 33% discount lets you buy bitcoin at the equivalent of under $14,000 ($21,000 * 67%). There is, to some extent, over $4 billion in “free” money in this stock if the discount closes to 0. It is bizarre and scary to me that the discount continues to widen. In ETF’s, I believe that discount/premium to NAV leads the way (cheapness begets lower prices and vice versa). While that view doesn’t quite translate given the nature of GBTC, it is cautionary to me.
    • A lack of interest. Recently one of the largest asset managers on the planet announced plans to collaborate with one of the largest public companies focused on crypto to work on some crypto projects. Two years ago, I can only imagine the impact that headline would have had on bitcoin. My guess is $10k in a heartbeat, but we are already back below the price when that deal was announced. Every headline like that (a year or more ago) was met with thousands (if not millions) of social media posts touting ADOPTION! While adoption is growing and more big banks have announced crypto strategies, the response seems to be more like “well, of course they are going to see if they can make money in it” rather than “OMG, XYZ just endorsed crypto, BUY!” Subtle shift in response, but an important one (albeit subjective).
    • The best “use” cases are diminishing. China, to me, has always been the best use case. A large population with enough money to matter. For all the talk about banking the unbanked, etc., which sounds nice, this isn’t what will drive crypto prices higher. There are stats saying that as many as 4 billion people are unbanked across the globe. According to the World Bank, about 700 million people make less than $2.15 per day. That is depressing, scary, and almost mind-boggling, but from the crypto perspective, it is not the poor that will drive prices (there just isn’t enough money). But China, where millions of “middle class” citizens exist under a regime where they may want to keep money outside of the system, it has always been a good use case. With the property market in tatters, a slowing economy, and the government continuing to crackdown on crypto (outside of the digital Yuan), that use case may be dropping rapidly. Sanction avoidance as a use case may also be diminishing. If you were illicitly trading embargoed products (like oil), crypto may have been the “currency” of choice. But with the U.S. looking to ease restrictions on places like Iran and Venezuela (hypothetically), maybe some of the alleged trade will come back onto the books. With China and India openly buying Russian oil and Chinese currency gaining in stature (at least amongst some nations), there is less reason to use crypto when the Yuan is about 10 times less volatile than bitcoin (30-day vol of 5.4 versus 53). Criminal activity still flourishes, though the ability to track and reclaim ransomware payments seems to be increasing.
    • It’s about blockchain and blockchain technology. The number of pundits, experts, and companies that seem to be doing contortions to pitch themselves as blockchain rather than crypto is high. Again, this is subtle, but it seems that re-positioning oneself as blockchain rather than crypto is occurring, which doesn’t bode well for crypto.
    • It’s a Ponzi scheme, but it’s our Ponzi scheme. There were always the slogans that accompanied crypto, like “have fun staying poor” but they often included passionate explanations about the greatness of crypto. The use cases would take up pages including such themes like it is banking the unbanked (already discussed), that it is an inflation hedge (hasn’t worked on that front for some time), that it is outside the reach of the government (it is being regulated more by the day, and many in crypto, after some recent highly visible failures, now seem to embrace this), that it is lower cost (costs remain high and there is little protection against mistakes or fraud, unlike with bank accounts or credit cards), or speed (but how many people really need to instantaneously shift large amounts of money, but aren’t already served by Venmo or Zell or some similar product?) I still see those arguments being made, but with far less enthusiasm. However, there is another “use case” that seems to be getting traction (at least in my social media streams). It basically amounts to the argument that convincing more people to participate will help. Kind of like “adoption” but with a more cynical tone. Basically, it is admitting that it only really works if more people get in (so get in, and get more people in). It has the advantage of being true and seems honest, but it seems like the last vestige of a pump and dump scam.

    I’m not sure about you, but that is enough for me to at least take a look at what a crypto collapse or crash would mean.

    Crypto Market Cap

    Let’s start with the market capitalization of crypto currencies as that is the most obvious and direct hit to investors. We will use coinmarketcap for this section (beware of using the link as it will ask to send notifications, know your location, etc., but I figured there should be a link to something to verify).

    • Bitcoin at $21,262 has a market cap of $406 billion.
    • Ethereum at $1,628 has a market cap of $199 billion.
    • Binance Coin at $286 has a market cap of $46 billion.
    • Then XRP, Cardano, and Solana come in between $13 billion and $17 billion.
    • Dogecoin, Polkadot (love the name), and Shiba Inu are all about $7 billion, with Avalanche, Polygon, TRON, and Uniswap, all a bit over $5 billion.

    Let’s call it about $750 billion in total market capitalization for crypto.

    To make things “simple” let’s assume that after the top 3, most of the coins could disappear and people would hardly notice (I’m assuming that many of those coins are not widely held, and a few “whales” would lose a lot, but the average person wouldn’t lose much more than what they are already prepared to lose.) If you believe that this is an area where many have spent their “winnings” or took money made in bitcoin or Ethereum to really roll the dice (which I believe), that gives us further reason to argue that the hit here would be minimal on the economy (it also makes the analysis much easier as we only have to focus on a few key currencies).

    Stablecoin Market Cap

    We need to also consider the stablecoins. Terra/Luna was supposed to be a stablecoin. Stablecoins, in theory, are backed by assets of some sort, except those that were algorithmically backed (whatever that means).

    Tether (USDT) is still the biggest at $67 billion. I love how much everything is made to sound like dollars (USD) despite the rhetoric against fiat. This stablecoin, in particular, attracts a lot of negative posts about how it is backed. The company asserts that Tether is backed by T-bills, commercial paper, etc., but to my knowledge, it has never produced a detailed list of its holdings, let alone an audited list of its holdings. This behemoth of an account ($67 billion is large even in money markets) is unknown by any money market participant I speak to (albeit that is only a handful of people outside of Academy’s strong short-term liquidity desk). Someone recently pointed out that they apparently manage that much money without a Bloomberg terminal account (there is no Bloomberg account linked to a company called “Tether,” but they could use a different name on Bloomberg to obfuscate their existence, which isn’t unheard of). Tether has seen their market cap drop from $82 billion to $67 billion, and part of that could be that some investors, given what has gone on this year, have shied away from it.

    USD Coin or USDC (again, notice how much it tries to sound like the dollar) has a market cap of $52 billion. Its market cap only peaked at $55 billion, so it has gained at the expense of USDT. Circle, which is the company behind USDC, makes a big deal out of being transparent and regulated in the U.S. I’ve had brief conversations with people involved in the company and the pitch makes sense to me (though I have not yet gone through the effort of figuring out how granular that transparency is – that’s a project for another day). But they are clearly marketing themselves on the transparency issue and have surged relative to Tether over the past year or so.

    Binance USD (BUSD) weighs in at $18 billion and is a distant third and seems relatively tied to the Binance ecosystem.

    Vegan hotdogs. When I see all these names trying so hard to associate themselves with the dollar despite being part of an ecosystem designed to avoid the dollar, I can’t help thinking about vegan hotdogs and why vegans try to replicate an already weird food, when vegan food in its own right can be awesome! But I digress.

    My view is that stablecoins and their market caps are a function of the overall utility of cryptocurrencies. If crypto crashes, we should see a decline in the market cap of stablecoins.

    Two things could occur:

    • Those backed by assets will have to sell the assets to meet redemptions. If it is a few billion and they are back by T-bills, then no sweat. Markets would digest that easily and no one would be impacted. But if the size is bigger (10s of billions) and the assets are less liquid (non-standard commercial paper programs for example) then we could see some friction in markets. Again, if we knew exactly what they held we could be more or less prepared. What they hold and the size of the selling would impact the knock-on effects of any unwind (Terra/Luna held nothing, so that didn’t spread to the greater financial system, but this could).
    • If the stablecoins don’t truly hold sufficient assets or the assets are of low quality (there are all sorts of conspiracy theories out there on what it might be invested in that isn’t worth me repeating here, even if they intrigue me) then we could see what looks like a “bank run” occur not just in stablecoins, but ultimately in the assets they hold and asset classes that compete with what they hold. Let’s just pretend, for the moment, that they have money market lending that is off the radar screen, and presumably paid a lot, as it wasn’t standard. If they have to sell, that could cause prices to plummet, possibly to a level that more traditional players sell what they have to buy this stuff, creating that first domino effect.

    There is a circularity between crypto and stablecoins. They can bring each other down.

    While crypto losses themselves will be largely isolated to the holders (we still have to dig into that), the unravelling of stablecoins is likely to influence other markets, possibly quite negatively.

    Direct Losses

    The direct losses are relatively easy to figure out.

    • Crypto losses. Let’s say $500 billion could be wiped out of crypto. While some evidence points to there being a small subset of “whales” that would bear the brunt of that loss, I think there is a broad enough swath of the population that would take a serious hit and it would affect spending in the near-term.
    • Stablecoin losses. Stablecoins in theory should have an orderly unwind. If, and that remains a question, there is a disorderly unwind of one or more stablecoins, the losses would be in the 10’s of billions (which isn’t so bad). The problem is that unlike crypto losses, where investors presumably treated this as a risky portion of their portfolio, stablecoins are viewed as cash equivalents. Losing cash is always more problematic than losing risky investments. Something to watch.
    • Public Company Losses. There are at least a couple of public companies that are linked to crypto. Then there are the miners, mostly listed on foreign exchanges. HIVE for example went from almost $2 billion to just over $400 million (higher than the recent lows of $237 million). Not a huge market cap loss, but only one of many miners out there. This would add up to more losses, some of which would hit mainstream funds. The bigger losses would likely be felt in the private domain as many of the companies in the space have not yet made the leap from private equity to public equity. The losses shouldn’t be material to the broader market, but would likely be concentrated enough to leave a mark disproportionate to the size of the losses. On the private equity side (even more than the public side) the losses will hit employees the hardest and that will hit spending.
    • Jobs.
      • If you consider day trading crypto and waiting for NFT drops to be a job, then there will be job losses.
      • The companies I’ve mentioned, both the public and private ones, will be forced to let go of employees (that already will have lost significant paper wealth). These are skilled employees, so in theory, could find other jobs, but that could be more difficult to do in an environment where crypto losses cause investors (including private equity) to be more conservative across the fintech space.
    • Domino or knock-on effects. Assuming the stablecoins hold liquid assets, that unwind should be handled easily (there is a risk that isn’t the case, at least for some stablecoins) but I won’t harp on it. There is not a lot of direct debt tied to crypto (though there are some bonds out there, but they are too small to have any material impact). I don’t see crypto being used as a major source of collateral. If bitcoin holdings, for example, were being used to leverage up stock investments, then I’d be very scared. I think some individuals may manage their personal wealth along those lines, but I don’t see it as a widespread issue (unlike housing in 2008, for example).
      • Spending. How much spending is coming from this sector and what does that mean for us?

    Spurious Correlation or Real Threat

    You can take any two data series and potentially see a correlation. They may have nothing to do with each other, so we can stare at the “correlation” chart as long as we want, but it isn’t going to help us because there is no causation. Complicating matters further, we should be looking at correlations between the rate of change rather than correlations between asset classes themselves (I vaguely remember the reasons for this, but I will ignore that technicality for today).

    Here is the SOX (Philadelphia Semiconductor Index) versus bitcoin. I chose to use this index because it is more likely to be spurious and highlights how much more correlated some individual semi-conductor stocks are.

    Spurious correlation. The argument for “spurious correlation” is strong.

    • It seems impossible that a small segment of the market, like crypto, could have a large effect on such a big diversified market.
    • Many of the things that drove crypto were also driving other industries that placed huge demands on the chip industry (video conferencing, autonomous driving, big data, etc.). So crypto was just one of many things driving those industries and those industries should not be impacted by a crash in crypto.
    • I could go on, but I can see heads nodding here, so I won’t spend any more time arguing what is a consensus (and probably correct) view.

    What if it is correlated?

    • The wealth being generated by those in crypto was large. From the miners to the “exchanges,” there was a race to capture revenue and there was plenty of revenue to capture. The spending on chips (rigs to mine, servers to provide customer service, etc.) was large. Chip companies presumably saw this demand and knew that they could charge a premium to an industry where speed and timeliness meant everything. Were chips designed specifically for the crypto industry? Was production of generics shifted to higher profit margin lines? Not only were the companies (that succeeded) spending money, but many failed business ideas (or those just not yet successful) had money to spend as well.
    • What if crypto spending went to web services (seems like it would). What if it went to advertising? (It did). What if that spending caused those companies to spend more? Maybe they needed to add systems, components, and people to keep up with the demand from the crypto industry. Did that spending then create more spending and make it very difficult (if not impossible) to figure out where crypto spending ended and where “regular” spending went?
    • How much money was crypto spending on energy? At one time I saw stories that in terms of energy usage, crypto, if treated as a nation, would have been the 10th largest country in terms of energy use. Commodity prices are always affected by the marginal 5% or 10% of demand. Is it possible that part of energy inflation was due to crypto? Does that mean policy makers are responding to a problem (high inflation) while ignoring one of the causes (because it isn’t on their radar screen, except in China, which has been clamping down on mining in that country?)

    The case for crypto being a bigger driver than previously thought may seem weak, but I cannot help but believe that it is a risk we should be discussing more than I think we are.

    What if the correlation was a driver for exciting new technologies where enormous wealth seemed possible (to such an extent) that current spending or success was irrelevant? What if crypto’s decline and potential collapse may not be causal, but is correlated to some broader move in markets and the economy? Then in that case, it might be spurious, but is still dangerous.

    Impossible Things, Black Swans, and Thinking Out of the Box

    I do not think a crypto collapse is impossible. It isn’t my base case, but there is a real possibility that it occurs.

    Black swans are things that people didn’t think were possible (and turned out to be possible). We can get a pass on missing black swans, but not if we are looking at a grey swan and choose to ignore it.

    I’m not lying awake at night thinking about a crypto collapse because:

    1. It “probably” won’t happen.
    2. If it does happen, the damage to the economy “could” or maybe even “should” be minimal.

    But I am thinking more and more about it because if there is a correlation between crypto and the broader economy (and markets) or because crypto, the broader markets, and the economy are moving to the same theme, there is serious risk to the downside. Some of this risk may not be getting priced in based on some simple charts of crypto versus other asset classes. On this broader correlation theme, check out ARKK shares outstanding because something seems to have shifted in terms of the investor mentality there.

    For those who celebrate, enjoy bitcoin infinity day! It really seems weird that not only is that a thing, but on 8/21/21 the CEO of a public company enjoyed tweeting it out. I’m possibly too old and jaded, but stuff like that seems silly rather than compelling.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 21:30

  • How Water Powers The World
    How Water Powers The World

    Discussions about the relevance and viability of renewable energy are often limited to solar and wind, two types of power sources that have risen to prominence since the turn of the century. 

    Hydropower and its role in certain countries’ electricity generation are often overlooked, even though even so-called developed nations like Norway, Austria and Canada generate sizeable shares of their electricity via hydropower plants.

    However, as Statista’s Florian Zandt shows in the inforgraphic below, based on data from BP and Ember collated by Our World in Data, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, in particular, rely heavily on water power.

    Infographic: How Water Powers the World | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    For example, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho or Ethiopia generated almost 100 percent of their electricity with hydropower in 2020. The latter started construction on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in 2011, a project expected to produce 5.15 gigawatt once finished, making it the biggest dam on the continent.

    In the southern half of the Americas, Venezuela’s electricity mix consisted of 82 percent water power owed in no small part to the Guri dam with its installed capacity of 10.2 gigawatts. Ecuador, Guinea, Costa Rica and Panama also primarily rely on hydropower for electricity with shares of 78, 71 and 66 percent, respectively.

    When looking at the total energy mix, hydropower takes a backseat to emission-heavy fossil fuels. In 2019, it amounted to a share of just seven percent worldwide, according to Our World in Data. Due to the high reliance on oil and gas for heating and transport, it’s unlikely this centuries-old power source will become a contender in primary energy generation. Generating power via methods like hydroelectric dams also has other drawbacks. Funneling rivers into reservoirs can impact the habitats of some aquatic species and upset the balance of river ecosystems, as well as necessitate rehoming of residents dependent on said rivers.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 21:00

  • Facebook Fact-Check Censors Factual Claim IRS Is Arming Agents To Use Deadly Force
    Facebook Fact-Check Censors Factual Claim IRS Is Arming Agents To Use Deadly Force

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

    Facebook has deployed one of its infamous ‘fact checkers’ to suggest that the completely accurate claim that the IRS is seeking to arm more agents to use deadly force was “partly false information.”

    Earlier this month, an IRS job posting was uncovered that announced the agency was looking to hire people who are ready to kill.

    The job ad listed one of the “major duties” of IRS agents to be able to “carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary.”

    The IRS subsequently deleted the job posting after it stoked controversy, but then a 2021 IRS annual report also came to light which showed heavily armed agents simulating an assault on a suburban home as part of their training.

    When the Heritage Foundation and Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) posted about the issue on Facebook, the Big Tech giant, relying on a ‘fact check’ carried out by Lead Stories, slapped a warning label on posts that said they constituted “partly false information.”

    Fact checks have the effect of basically blacklisting content on Facebook, burying it in the algorithm and preventing large numbers of people from viewing the content.

    ‘Fact Check: IRS Is NOT Trying To Arm All Its Agents’ shouted the headline of the article by Lead Stories.

    However, as Christina Maas notes, “The Heritage Foundation never said the IRS was arming all of its agents.”

    “In its article, Lead Stories singles out pro-liberty youth organization Young Americans for Liberty (YAL). The youth group posted a screenshot of the original job posting, and wrote: “The IRS is hiring! The government wants its IRS agents armed and its citizens disarmed. We’ll let everyone just marinate on that for a second.”

    “Lead Stories tried to make it look like YAL said the IRS is arming all of its employees. “Is the IRS trying to arm all its employees?” asked Lead Stories. “No, that’s not true: A job posting from the IRS Criminal Investigation unit, which carries firearms, does refer to carrying firearms.”

    As ever, fact checkers pedantically select a piece of language that was used (or not even used at all in this case) which might be slightly exaggerated to then declare that the entire story is “false information,” when it isn’t, it’s overwhelmingly true information.

    As we previously highlighted, fact checkers used by Facebook previously declared the Hunter Biden laptop story to be “Russian disinformation.”

    We also reported on how 11 ‘fact checkers’ are demanding that YouTube censor more videos for “misinformation,” with one of the reasons being that no one is content produced by fact checker groups.

    Back in June, USA Today, which is used as a ‘fact checker’ by social media platforms, was forced to delete 23 articles from its website after an investigation found one of its reporters had fabricated sources.

    *  *  *

    Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

    In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. I need you to sign up for my free newsletter here. Support my sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Get early access, exclusive content and behinds the scenes stuff by following me on Locals.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 20:30

  • US National Institutes Of Health Ending Subaward For Wuhan Lab
    US National Institutes Of Health Ending Subaward For Wuhan Lab

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

    The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has ended a subgrant to the laboratory in China located where the first COVID-19 cases were identified in 2019.

    U.S.-based EcoHealth Alliance was granted $3.7 million, starting in 2014, to study bat-related coronaviruses. It conveyed some of the money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), located in China.

    The grant was renewed in 2019, but suspended in 2020 because of concerns the grantees were failing to comply with conditions attached to the money.

    The NIH’s review of the concerns has concluded, Dr. Michael Lauer, an NIH deputy director, revealed in a letter on Aug. 19. It determined that all of the problems cannot be fixed.

    Therefore, the NIH informed EcoHealth Alliance that the subaward to the Wuhan lab is terminated “for failure to meet award terms and conditions requiring provision of records to NIH upon request,” Lauer wrote to Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee.

    ‘Cannot Be Remedied’

    Grants from the U.S. government come with certain conditions, including timely reporting of results, and adequate monitoring of experiments.

    The EcoHealth Alliance failed to perform a review of the research conducted under the grant, which included making bat coronaviruses more dangerous, the NIH said in October 2021. The agency in January said EcoHealth Alliance failed to comply with other conditions with the grant, R01AI110964, and other awards.

    The NIH asked for plans to correct the failures, which was provided on Feb. 4, Lauer said Friday, and the NIH determined that the plans were sufficient.

    Separately, though, the NIH asked EcoHealth in late 2021, and again in January, for lab notebooks and original files from the research conducted at the Wuhan lab. It has not received them, according to the new letter.

    EcoHealth executives have said that it passed along the request but have not heard back from WIV.

    The refusal to provide the materials led to the just-announced termination of the subaward.

    “NIH has determined that WIV’s refusal to provide the requested records, and EHA’s failure to include the required terms in WIV’s subaward agreement represent material failures to comply with the terms of award,” Lauer told Drs. Aleksei Chmura and Peter Daszak, the executives, in a letter released on Friday by Comer. “NIH has further determined that in these circumstances, WIV’s refusal to provide records cannot be remedied by imposing additional conditions, and that a partial termination of award (i.e., termination of the subaward to WIV) is the only appropriate action.”

    EcoHealth did not respond to requests for comment. An email sent to the Wuhan lab bounced back.

    Will Keep Funding EcoHealth

    The NIH is not terminating any of the awards in question, R01AI110964, 1U01AI151797-01, and 1U01AI153420-01—at least for now.

    When grantees are not compliant with requirements, the preference is to work with them to bring them into compliance rather than termination, Lauer said.

    EcoHealth has successfully implemented the NIH-approved corrective plans for the latter two awards, according to the NIH. While EcoHealth will be forbidden to dole money out to WIV under the other grant, it will be able to renegotiate the objectives of the grant with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci.

    If an agreement is reached, the revised grant will move forward. If it is not, the grant may be terminated.

    EcoHealth was asked to outline within 30 days how it will accomplish the purpose of the grant without WIV. That will require a change in scope but the change may not depart significantly from the original project, Lauer said.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 19:30

  • Digital Clones Of Deceased Loved Ones Chat With Mourners At Own Funerals
    Digital Clones Of Deceased Loved Ones Chat With Mourners At Own Funerals

    A startup company called StoryFile has pioneered a new product that allows deceased people to address mourners at their funerals through the power of artificial intelligence.

    Known as the ‘digital afterlife’ industry, StoryFile uses 20 cameras while asking a person 250 questions before death. This data is then fed into software that creates a so-called digital clone of that person. 

    Marina Smith, an 87-year-old woman who passed in June, was given a chance to use StoryFile. Smith’s Los Angeles-based son Stephen is the company’s founder and shocked funeralgoers by creating an interactive illusion of her on a screen during the memorial service:

    “Mum answered questions from grieving relatives after they had watched her cremation,” Stephen told The Telegraph.

    “The extraordinary thing was that she answered their questions with new details and honesty,” he added. “People feel emboldened when recording their data. Mourners might get a freer, truer version of their lost loved one.”

    Earlier this year, a digital copy of former Screen Actors Guild president Ed Asner was made possible at his funeral by StoryFile. Axios reported mourners “conversed” with the holographic representation of Asner.

    “Nothing could prepare me for what I was going to witness when I saw it,” Matt Asner, the actor’s son, said last month.

    Asner added that some funeralgoers were “creeped out” because it was almost “like having him in the room.” 

    The digital afterlife industry is just taking off. Amazon has decided to jump into the game by providing an experimental Alexa feature that learns the voice of a deceased loved one. 

    Even Microsoft has acquired patented technology using social media posts to reincarnate people as “chatbots.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 19:00

  • Lawsuits Coming For Entities That Don't Change COVID Mandates After CDC Update: Lawyer
    Lawsuits Coming For Entities That Don’t Change COVID Mandates After CDC Update: Lawyer

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

    Entities with COVID-19 vaccine mandates that don’t pay heed to the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance will face lawsuits, a civil liberties lawyer says.

    “We don’t have a new lawsuit in the works yet. But if we see that colleges and universities and public employers are not responding to the new CDC guidance the way that they should be, then we would certainly tee up a new lawsuit,” Mark Chenoweth, president and general counsel at the New Civil Liberties Alliance, told The Epoch Times.

    Mark Chenoweth, president and general counsel at the New Civil Liberties Alliance. (Courtesy of the New Civil Liberties Alliance)

    The response to the updated guidance should be, at a minimum, a lifting of mandates for people who have recovered from COVID-19, he added.

    Such people have a high level of protection against severe illness and death, according to a number of studies. Many studies indicate the protection is higher than that of the COVID-19 vaccines—including one study funded by the CDC.

    The CDC issued updated guidance on Aug. 11, stating in part that risk for illness from COVID-19 “is considerably reduced by immunity derived from vaccination, previous infection, or both” and that “persons who have had COVID-19 but are not vaccinated have some degree of protection against severe illness from their previous infection.”

    The public health agency rolled back quarantine recommendations for people, regardless of vaccination status, citing the high amount of immunity in the U.S. population from vaccination, prior infection, or both.

    Since virtually all entities that have imposed mandates have cited CDC guidance, the entities won’t be able to argue they aren’t aware of the updated guidance, according to Chenoweth.

    That means any institution that doesn’t alter or rescind its mandate in light of the update “is ripe for a lawsuit,” he said.

    “Because the thing that the judges have said so far is that it was rational for these employers to follow CDC guidance, but now the CDC guidance is different. And if they’re now going forward with these mandates for example, against people who have natural immunity in the teeth of the CDC guidance on that question, then I think it’s going to be much harder for them to win even a rational basis challenge to their policies.”

    Suits

    The New Civil Liberties Alliance has brought lawsuits against Michigan State University (MSU), the U.S. government, Fairfax County Public Schools, George Mason University, and Rhode Island officials over mandates that the legal group says are illegal.

    They have focused on how entities aren’t granting exemptions to people with proof that they’ve recovered from COVID-19.

    While one of the cases won the plaintiff an exemption from the mandate, judges have ruled against many others, often tracing the mandates to CDC guidance.

    “Plaintiffs have the burden of negating every rational basis that supports the MSU vaccine mandate, and the Court finds that they have failed to do so,” U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in February as he dismissed the suit.

    “CDC guidance is clear: ‘[V]accination remains the safest and primary strategy to prevent SARS-CoV2 infections,’” he added. “In achieving MSU’s stated legitimate goal of protecting its students and staff from COVID-19, it was plainly rational, in July 2021 when MSU established the policy, for MSU to rely on CDC guidance and require its students and staff to receive the COVID vaccination.”

    The CDC has long maintained that vaccination is superior to natural immunity, and urged people with natural immunity to get vaccinated, even though many studies show that natural immunity provides better protection than vaccination and some suggest that people who recovered from COVID-19 are at higher risk of side effects if they do get a vaccine.

    Moreover, some experts say getting vaccinated after recovery doesn’t make sense because the increase in protection is negligible, though others say the increase is worth the risk.

    Could Have Changed in 2021

    Chenoweth said the CDC should have updated its guidance in 2021.

    “I think it’s remarkable that it’s taken the CDC this long to come around to admitting the science on this topic. The science was there at least a year ago when we started litigating the issue of whether or not folks with natural immunity should be subjected to vaccine mandates,” he said.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 18:30

  • These Three Liberal-Controlled Cities Have Worst Post-COVID Downturn Rebounds
    These Three Liberal-Controlled Cities Have Worst Post-COVID Downturn Rebounds

    The progressive approach to law enforcement in certain major US cities, supported by George Soros and others, has been a complete failure as residents’ quality of life has collapsed. Soaring violent crime and controversial open-air drug markets plague the downtown areas of San Francisco, Cleveland, and Portland, transforming these areas into wastelands. 

    A recent study commissioned by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California Berkeley found that San Francisco’s downtown activity was only 31% this spring (between March and May) compared to pre-Covid levels. Cleveland was at 36%, and Portland was at 41%.

    Meanwhile, after the pandemic, Salt Lake City, Utah, Bakersfield, California, and Columbus, Ohio, experienced the most massive booms in downtown activity.

    Source: Daily Mail 

    Researchers used data from 18 million smartphone users traveling through America’s busiest metro areas to determine which downtown areas bounced back the most and least. 

    What’s striking in the data is that the worst bouncebacks are in liberal-controlled metro areas that have either defunded the police or at least tried, allowed for open-air drug markets, and made shoplifting only a misdemeanor. 

    The study’s results are no surprise to readers as disastrous progressive policies ignited a tsunami of violent crime in liberal-controlled cities, resulting in an exodus of the population with migration trends to metro areas where law and order were more stable (such as towns in Montana). 

    The common denominator among the metropolises with the smallest downtown activity bouncebacks is controlled by Democrats who endlessly create havoc at the expense of law-abiding citizens. 

    However, there is good news. People are waking up from their liberal amnesia and are ousting those who have made things worse for them. 

    A perfect example is San Francisco’s chief prosecutor Chesa Boudin who was booted from office this summer. He was backed by Soros and came under fire for failed progressive criminal-justice reform policies that led to a sharp increase in drug overdose deaths, homelessness, and thefts, including smash-and-grab robberies, car burglaries, shoplifting, and other property crimes.

    Third on the list is Portland, for the lowest bounceback in downtown activity. This liberal-controlled area is no stranger to readers as the metro area is plagued with soaring homelessness, drug overdoses, and surging violent crime after left-wing protests called for defunding the police. 

    The progressive mismanagement of America’s cities has only accelerated post-Covid, resulting in a mass exodus of households and businesses fleeing these hellholes for ones that are safe and economically friendly. The exodus will continue, pushing some liberal cities to the proverbial financial edge as their tax base evaporates. 

    America’s cities need a new generation of leaders who will be brave enough to counter decades of failed progressive leadership and inform voters their collapse in quality of life is due to bad policymaking. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 18:00

  • Census Bureau Admits Overcounting 7 Blue States, Just 1 Red State
    Census Bureau Admits Overcounting 7 Blue States, Just 1 Red State

    Authored by Hans Von Spakovsky via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    In a shocking report, the U.S. Census Bureau recently admitted that it overcounted the populations of eight states and undercounted the populations of six states in the 2020 census.

    The Census Bureau has not explained how it got the 2020 census so wrong. (hapabapa/Getty Images)

    All but one of the states overcounted is a blue state, and all but one of the undercounted states is red.

    Those costly errors will distort congressional representation and the Electoral College. It means that when the Census Bureau reapportioned the House of Representatives, Florida was cheated out of two additional seats it should have gotten; Texas missed out on another seat; Minnesota and Rhode Island each kept a representative they shouldn’t have; and Colorado was awarded a new member of the House it didn’t deserve.

    These harmful errors also mean billions in federal funds will be misallocated. Funding for many federal programs is distributed to the states based on population. Overcounted states will now receive a larger share of federal funds than they are entitled to, at the expense of the undercounted states.

    The Census Bureau has not explained how it got the 2020 census so wrong. This is particularly troublesome because the bureau reported an error rate of 0.01 percent in the 2010 census—an overcount of only 36,000 people, a statistically insignificant mistake.

    The 2020 errors were discovered through the “2020 Post-Enumeration Survey.”

    After each census, the bureau interviews a large number of households across the country and then compares the interview answers with the original census responses. The 2020 survey showed that the bureau overcounted the population in Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Utah. The largest mistake was in President Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware, which was overcounted by 5.45 percent.

    The states whose populations were undercounted were Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. The largest error in the undercount was in Arkansas, where the population count was off by 5.04 percent.

    The original census reported that Florida needed only 171,500 more residents to gain another congressional seat. Yet the survey shows that Florida was undercounted by over three-quarters of a million people. The bureau also said that Texas needed only 189,000 more people to gain another congressional seat. The survey shows that Texas was undercounted by 560,319 residents.

    Minnesota, according to the original census report, would have lost a congressional seat during reapportionment if it had 26 fewer residents; the survey shows the state was overcounted by 216,971 individuals. Similarly, Rhode Island would have lost a seat if the Census Bureau had counted 19,000 fewer residents. It turns out that the state was overcounted by more than 55,000 individuals.

    The Associated Press quoted John Marion of Common Cause in Rhode Island admitting that the state would benefit from this mistake, including “more representation in Congress.”

    Unfortunately, the federal statutes governing the census and apportionment provide no remedy to correct this problem. And it would be very difficult to devise an acceptable remedy this far after the fact.

    The census is geared to providing a count of the population on one specific date, in this case April 1, 2020. A remedy that involved ordering the Census Bureau to conduct another actual recount in the 14 affected states—a complex, expensive undertaking—would provide numbers on a different date than the original census, whose population totals would still be in effect for the rest of the states. This would raise fundamental fairness issues, given the high mobility of our population.

    The concept of conducting a new census of the entire nation also seems impractical.

    One thing, however, must be done. Congress needs to use its oversight authority to investigate and determine why these errors happened, particularly since they didn’t occur in the 2010 census. Lawmakers should then make the changes necessary to ensure this does not happen again.

    Originally published by The Washington Times. Reprinted by permission from The Daily Signal, a publication of The Heritage Foundation.

    Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or Zero Hedge.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 17:30

  • San Francisco Cops Catch Catalytic Converter Thief Red Handed – Then Let Him Go
    San Francisco Cops Catch Catalytic Converter Thief Red Handed – Then Let Him Go

    As a wave of catalytic converter thefts intensifies around the country, one would think that cops in major cities would want to make examples of offenders – especially those caught in the act.

    One would be wrong… at least when it comes to San Francisco.

    At around 3am Tuesday in the city’s Richmond District, witnesses saw a catalytic converter theft in progress and called the cops. A man was backing a stolen Honda Accord into a parking space – the ‘donor’ car – while a second suspect sat nearby in a jeep.

    “I woke up to the sound of you know, like, drilling. It was extremely loud,” said resident Morgan Heller, who immediately called police – who arrived in three minutes, according to KTVU.

    Jeep guy took off before the cops arrived, but Heller and her roomate kept their eye on the first suspect. Much to their surprise, the cops let him go.

    “I heard them say, ‘You are free to go,” said Heller, who said the suspect even asked officers where the closest bust stop was.

    “I was like, ‘Why not do the white-glove treatment and just order him an Uber?” asked Heller. “It was embarrassing… The overall assessment is that we have to do better than this.”

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsTheir excuse? Cops told Heller their computer systems were down, so they couldn’t positively ID the suspect, or find the owner of the Honda – so they let him go.

    “To see such inaction, its hard for me to understand what is the threshold for arrest and what is a reasonable expectation for police action,” said Heller.

    The SFPD released the following statement in response to the incident: “Our job is not just to enforce the law, but to ensure everyone is protected by the law. Releasing a possible suspect does not mean the investigation is over. In fact, it means the investigation is just beginning.“

    Sure.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 17:00

  • Morgan Stanley: Cash Looks "Relatively Attractive" Right Now
    Morgan Stanley: Cash Looks “Relatively Attractive” Right Now

    By Andrew Sheets, Chief Cross-Asset Strategist for Morgan Stanley

    Sunday Start: What If Holding Cash Is Just Efficient Asset Allocation?

    Since mid-2009, a question that seems easy in hindsight and but felt difficult at the time was what to do with cash. On the one hand, it didn’t yield anything, and allocating to anything else usually did better. But the last 12 years have also been a period of profound pessimism – on the outlook for banking, Europe and long-term growth. The intensity of the GFC and the events that followed meant that in the darkest moments more than a few CFOs and investors likely mumbled a silent prayer: If we make it through this, we will never be caught without liquidity again.

    Holding cash, in other words, was an explicitly defensive decision for much of the last 12 years. Of course it offered a worse return than anything else in the market. That was the point. Holding cash was the price of security, an insurance policy against that prevailing gloom. And like insurance, it could be expensive. USD cash underperformed both the S&P 500 and the US 10-year every year from 2010 to 2020 except two (2013 and 2018).

    But the idea that holding cash means paying for insurance is no longer accurate. US 6-month T-bill yields (3.1%) are the highest since late 2007 and offer 157bp more than the dividends of the S&P 500, 21bp more than US 10-year Treasuries and just 60bp less than the US Aggregate Bond index. For USD investors, cash has ceased to be a material drag on a portfolio’s current yield.

    The numbers may be less extreme in Europe, but still represent a change of regime. German 6-month bill yields, at +0.3%, are positive for the first time since 2014. For the last eight years, holding ‘cash’ in Europe cost a significant amount of money. Not anymore.

    All of this has a number of implications.

    • First, we think that holding USD cash looks relatively attractive on a cross-asset basis. It offers a high current yield. It offers liquidity. If offers a better 12-month total return than our strategy forecasts imply for US equities, US Treasuries and either US IG or HY credit (with considerably less volatility). As a result, our Core+ optimized fixed income portfolios (see Cross-Asset Dispatches: AGG+ and CORE+ Optimal Fixed Income Portfolios: July 2022, July 29, 2022) are generally OW short-dated fixed income. USD cash also performs well versus other currencies; our FX strategists project further USD strength, especially against EUR, aided in part by the dollar’s attractive yield. One exception is EM sovereign debt, which should outperform cash, and which we’ve recently raised to OW (see Cross-Asset Dispatches: Bears Watching, August 5, 2022, and EM Sovereign Credit Strategy: Dialing Risk Up Another Notch, August 10, 2022).
    • Second, high yields on short-term safe assets create a risk of outflows that needs to be monitored, as it reduces the cost for investors to step out of the market. For the moment, we are more relaxed about outflows (see Cross-Asset Dispatches: More Relaxed about Outflows, July 29, 2022), given strong consumer finances, better recent cross-asset performance and the simple fact that terrible 1H performance didn’t trigger a rush for the proverbial exits.
    • Third, and another factor that may be limiting outflows, is that not all ‘cash’ is created equal. While US 6-month T-bills yield ~3.1%, the yields on 6-month US bank CDs are just 0.9% (and the Bankrate.com average for a US bank savings account is just 0.13%). For gathering assets and adding yield, it seems like an unusually good time to add value with money market strategies. This also raises some interesting questions around bank net interest margins, and it seems appropriate to note that the price/book ratio of EU banks was 57% higher the last time German bill yields were positive.

    For much of the last 12 years, cash yielded nothing, and allocating to it represented a deliberate choice to pay an often high price for insurance. But times change. Cash yields have risen sharply at a time when Morgan Stanley’s forecasts for global cross-asset returns are low, squeezed by tighter policy if economic data continue to hold up, and higher risk premiums if the data turn down. The market is giving investors the opportunity to earn ~3% on safe, liquid T-bills, or ~5% on safe (but less liquid) short-duration CLO AAAs, and somewhere in-between for other AAA securitized paper that has cheapened as banks have faced RWA constraints. These aren’t the most exciting investments, but sometimes it makes sense to take what the market gives you.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 16:30

  • Lithium Prices Putting EV Producers Under Pressure
    Lithium Prices Putting EV Producers Under Pressure

    With demand for electric vehicles on the rise, and production bans for petrol and diesel cars in some key markets on the horizon, one of the key metals required to fuel this mobility boom, has been surging in price lately.

    As Statista’s Martin Armstrong shows in the chart below, based on price-tracking from Trading Economics, Lithium carbonate, essential for the production of the batteries used in EVs, has experienced a meteoric rise in cost over the last few months – being traded consistently above the 450,000 Chinese yuan/tonne mark since February.

    Infographic: Lithium Prices Putting EV Producers Under Pressure | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    With the current global supply chain issues and demand forecast to rise aggressively over the next few years, producers of electric vehicles are now under increasing pressure to maintain their pricing models, while also facing down significant hurdles to meet their production goals.

    Worse still, analysts are predicting new lithium price highs around the corner, not the relief that the motor industry so desperately needs.

    Even more troubling, as Autumn Spredemann writes at The Epoch Times, while increased domestic lithium production plays a crucial role in President Joe Biden’s green energy plan, lithium mining has quietly revealed itself to be a significant contributor to environmental pollution in the frantic rush to abandon fossil fuels.

    Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said Biden’s historic investment in electric battery production and recycling would give the United States “the jolt it needs to become more secure and less reliant on other nations,” in a May 2 press release.

    Though some environmental experts believe that when it comes to lithium extraction, the end doesn’t justify the means.

    “Our position is: mining is very destructive to the environment and communities. It needs to be approached judiciously,” John Hadder, director of Great Basin Resource Watch, told The Epoch Times.

    In November 2021, United Nations  Secretary-General Antonio Guterres remarked, “We’re digging our own graves” with mining, drilling, and burning during a world leader’s summit on climate change.

    At the other end of the lithium debate are the spent electric batteries. Improperly disposed lithium batteries can be very unstable, causing landfill fires that can go on for years. The resultant toxic chemicals released into the air can also impact air quality and carbon emissions.

    Vegreville explained batteries can be recycled, but lithium-ion units are especially dangerous due to fire hazards.

    “One of the most ecologically friendly ways to dispose of a lithium-ion battery is to dismantle it,” he said.

    Though the demand for lithium batteries is set to become a $116 billion industry by the year 2030, leaving some experts concerned that production may outstrip the industry’s ability to properly handle waste on the back end.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency admits special recycling and hazardous waste facilities are needed to deal with the influx of electric batteries. One standard electric car battery on average weighs over 1,000 pounds.

    In other words, the recycling end will need to be a highly regulated, multi-million dollar industry in its own right to reduce pollution and fire hazards.

    Moreover, Hadder says the current political demand for lithium could end with a push for more toxic, unsustainable projects in the long run. And while he supports a transition to renewable energy overall, the current gold rush mentality for lithium is anything but green.

    “What we’re seeing now is a repeat of patterns and practices of the past,” Hadder said.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 16:00

  • Inflation Is Quietly Stripping Us Of Our Private Property Rights
    Inflation Is Quietly Stripping Us Of Our Private Property Rights

    Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

    I used to scoff at the mention of ‘The Great Reset”, or the idea that a handful of elites are running the global show behind the scenes. Needless to say, on the other side of the pandemic, I have warmed up to the idea in a big way. I can’t help but feel as though some often talked about conspiracy theories are in the process of unfolding right before our very eyes, whether via premeditated means or just from plain old dumbass incompetence from global politicians and Central Banks.

    As anybody who is harshly critical of the idea of a “Great Reset” will tell you, one of the key tenets of a post-apocalyptic, Klaus Schwab-run world is the idea that we will no longer have private property rights. This comes from a statement that Schwab made, predicting what life would be like in the year 2030:

    “You’ll own nothing” — And “you’ll be happy about it.”

    And while today’s lesson is rather elementary, it’s worth noting that this conspiracy theory not only isn’t too far from the truth, it could very well be in the midst of taking place right before our eyes.

    I had to look no further than my own personal circle to find recent examples of grown adults who were having difficulty making ends meet due to rising prices. These people had some money saved up, but still could not keep up with the price of rent and housing, and ultimately wound up giving up on having their own place and moving back home with their parents.

    When I was discussing this example on my most recent podcast, I had the revelation that, as is true with anything economic, this same situation was playing out millions of times over, with millions of other Americans, every day. In other words everyone is having the same problem: they simply can’t afford things anymore and, with inflation at between 8% and 9%, the value of their savings is collapsing.

    In just 3 years, things cost between 15% and 20% more than they did when many savers were putting away a majority of their money – before the pandemic. The purchasing power of the dollar is down by about 20% over the same time.

    USD Purchasing Power (5 Years) via TradingEconomics.com

    Those who are still working on a wage that isn’t 20% higher than it was just 3 years ago are losing significant ground. Those who have stopped working and are either on a fixed income or are living off savings have been hit even worse (especially if you’re living off a pension managed by some of the absolute worst managers to ever step foot in front of a Bloomberg terminal, like this one and this one).

    This financial pressure is widely talked about when it comes to people paring back their discretionary spending. We hear the news talk about a slowdown in spending all the time when economic times get tougher – it’s one of the dynamics that creates recession and de-leveraging cycles. But what happens when it’s the cost of shelter (i.e. rent and housing) and real estate that are also getting too expensive for everyday buyers. This is talked about far less, so let’s quickly think about what it could mean for the future.

    Today’s article is free because I believe the content to be too important to put behind a paywall. If you enjoy this piece, have the means and want to support my work, I’d be humbled to have you as a subscriber: Yes, I want 70% off a subsription. 

    In Klaus Schwab’s future, borrowing the words of Judge Smails, “you’ll get nothing and like it!”

    We are all Spaulding

    It’ll be this way because everything will be communal and shared. The focus will be taken away from private property and private property rights.

    Inflation helps this narrative greatly. If you have less purchasing power to buy discretionary items then, by proxy, you have less private property.

    The scary thing is when this dynamic starts to extrapolate itself over people’s real estate and land ownership. In other words, a future where nobody can afford a second set of golf clubs doesn’t seem that post-apocalyptic, but a future where fewer and fewer people own land and house, and where the geographical distribution of the world’s livable area starts to fall into the hands of the richest few and state backed entities – well, this seems extremely post-apocalyptic.

    While I admit this is a bit “fringe” at the moment (hey, it’s what I do), I now can’t help but think of inflation as a way to help strip away people’s individual private property rights. When you take away a person’s private property, private property rights don’t hold the same meaning to them. Do people that don’t want to own guns care about the right to own guns? Probably not as much as those who are avid sportsman or want to own guns for personal protection.

    If you haven’t yet, I would encourage you to listen to my most recent podcast with Andy Schectman, where he lays out the de-dollarization path we could be on and how the global economic landscape is shifting before our eyes. In his estimation, everything that needs to be happening for ‘The Great Reset” to take place on or ahead of schedule is already happening.

    And as I said to him, while I may have laughed at the idea a couple of years ago, I found myself with my jaw agape by the end of the interview – because as much as I didn’t want him to, his post-apocalyptic scenario was making a whole lot of sense.

    I know this is somewhat of a basic lesson in economics, but the next time you hear the Biden administration refer to inflation at 0% sequentially, despite the fact that it was up more than 8% from the year prior, take it personally. Remember that every positive CPI print we see represents the percentage of things you can buy less of with the same money you had a year prior.

    If you could afford 8% more “stuff” last year with the same dollar, what type of mental gymnastics do you need to perform to convince yourself that your rights to private property aren’t being whittled away and taken out from underneath you?

    Our freedom versus Schwabism | Meer

    Thank you for reading QTR’s Fringe Finance . This post is public so feel free to share it: Share

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 15:30

  • Baltimore On Pace For Possible Record Murders As Local NAACP Asks Governor To Deploy National Guard
    Baltimore On Pace For Possible Record Murders As Local NAACP Asks Governor To Deploy National Guard

    Baltimore City reached 231 homicides since the start of the year and is on pace for a possible record year of murder.

    Just an hour north of the White House, the Democratic-controlled metro area is in ruins with no signs of waning violence as President Biden’s ‘unity in America’ has died. 

    Newly elected Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has blamed everyone from the media to gun companies for the worsening violence. 

    The 38-year-old politician announced a year ago that his five-year plan would reduce violence, though the plan could be a massive failure this year as the current rate of homicides is above a five-year trend, implying 300 homicide level could be reached as early November with the possibility of a record number of murders (if the pace continues) at the end of the year. 

    If the dreaded 300th homicide level is breached later this year, it will be the eighth consecutive year. 

    Democrats have controlled Baltimore for more than half a century. The failure of Baltimore as a city should be directed at those with progressive policies and ideas about policing and operating a city. 

    But there is a glimmer of hope for the city: Baltimore state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby, who aligned herself with radical criminal justice reformers, just lost in the Democratic primary. She acknowledged a federal investigation into her finances cost her the election.

    Mosby was the youngest chief prosecutor of any major US city and was sworn into office in 2015. Ever since she retained her position, homicides and violent crime surged. 

    Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan recently commented on the crime epidemic and directed blame on city leadership:  

    “I’ve been focused on getting the leadership in Baltimore to take it more seriously. I hope they develop a real crime plan and start arresting more, prosecuting more and putting them in jail,” Hogan said.

    Hogan’s directed blame on leadership makes perfect sense since Mosby’s controversial “no prosecution policy” for drug possession and prostitution has backfired by making the city even more dangerous as criminals run free as those in San Francisco. 

    Scott might need to tweak his crime reduction plan or face the wrath of Hogan or even voters. This comes as a civil rights organization (Randallstown’s chapter of the NAACP) in a suburb in Baltimore County requested the governor to declare a “public emergency” and deploy the National Guard to the city to quell out-of-control violent crime. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/21/2022 – 15:00

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Aug 21

Today’s News 21st August 2022

  • Chang: China Is Preparing To Go To War
    Chang: China Is Preparing To Go To War

    Authored by Gordon Change via 19fortyfive.com,

    Last month, a Chinese entrepreneur making medical equipment for consumers told me that local officials had demanded he convert his production lines in China so that they could turn out items for the military. Communist Party cadres, he said, were issuing similar orders to other manufacturers.

    Moreover, Chinese academics privately say the ongoing expulsion of foreign colleagues from China’s universities appears to be a preparation for hostilities.

    The People’s Republic of China is preparing to go to war, and it is not trying to hide its efforts. Amendments to the National Defense Law, effective the first day of last year, transfer powers from civilian to military officials.

    In general, the amendments reduce the role of the central government’s State Council by shifting power to the CMC, the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission. Specifically, the State Council will no longer supervise the mobilization of the People’s Liberation Army.

    As Zeng Zhiping of Soochow University told Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post,

    “The CMC is now formally in charge of making national defense policy and principles, while the State Council becomes a mere implementing agency to provide support for the military.”

    In one sense, these amendments were window dressing. “Recent changes to China’s National Defense Law that diminish the power of the State Council are largely political posturing,” Richard Fisher of the Virginia-based International Assessment and Strategy Center told me soon after the amendments went into effect. “The Chinese Communist Party and particularly its subordinate CMC have always held supreme power over decisions regarding war and peace.”

    Why then do we care about the National Defense Law amendments?

    The amendments, Fisher tells us, “point to China’s ambition to achieve ‘whole nation’ levels of military mobilization to fight wars and give the CMC formal power to control the future Chinese capabilities for global military intervention.”

    “The revised National Defense Law also embodies the concept that everyone should be involved in national defense,” reports the Communist Party’s Global Times, summarizing the words of an unnamed CMC official. “All national organizations, armed forces, political parties, civil groups, enterprises, social organizations, and other organizations should support and take part in the development of national defense, fulfill national defense duties, and carry out national defense missions according to the law.”

    As Fisher told 19FortyFive this month, “For the past 40 years, China’s Communist Party has been preparing for brutal war, and now the ruling organization is accelerating its plans.”

    The Party, as it readies itself for combat, is leaving nothing to chance. In March, its Central Organization Department issued an internal directive prohibiting the spouses and children of ministerial-level officials from owning foreign real estate or shares registered offshore. The ban also appears to apply to such officials themselves as there are reports of their selling foreign assets. Moreover, such officials and immediate families are not, except in limited circumstances, allowed to open accounts overseas with financial institutions.

    The directive, issued soon after the imposition of sanctions on Russian officials for the “special military operation” in Ukraine, appears designed to sanction-proof Chinese officials.

    J-10 Fighter.

    Moreover, the central government is trying to sanctions-proof itself. On April 22, officials from the finance ministry and central bank met with representatives of dozens of banks, including HSBC, to discuss what Beijing could do in the event of the imposition of punitive measures on China.

    The holding of the “emergency meeting,” reported by the Financial Times, is ominous.

    “The officials and attendees did not mention specific scenarios, but one possible trigger for such sanctions is thought to be a Chinese invasion of Taiwan,” the FT noted.

    The fact that Chinese officials held the meeting is a clear indication that Beijing is planning belligerent acts.

    “Be ready for battle.” That’s how Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post summarized Chinese ruler Xi Jinping’s first order to the military of 2019. In January of that year, he gave a major speech to the CMC on making preparations for war, and the address was then broadcast nationwide.

    Foreign analysts debate whether China is going to war anytime soon. The Chinese political system has become less transparent over time, so it is not clear what senior leaders are thinking.

    Image of J-20 fighter. Image Credit: Chinese Internet.

    Yet it is clear what senior leaders are in fact doing. They are getting troops ready for another advance below the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, preparing to seize more Indian territory in the Himalayas. They renewed, in November of last year and this June, attempts to block the resupply of a Philippine outpost at Second Thomas Shoal, in the South China Sea. They ordered four vessels to enter Japan’s sovereign water around the disputed but Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea in late July. They are directing continual provocations around Taiwan, including a violation of the island’s sovereign airspace in early February.

    And there is something else that is unmistakable: Xi and senior leaders are getting China’s citizens ready for war.

    *  *  *

    A 19FortyFive Contributing Editor, Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China and The Great U.S.-China Tech War. Follow him on Twitter @GordonGChang. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 23:30

  • Daughter Of Putin Ally Killed In Car Bombing Outside Moscow
    Daughter Of Putin Ally Killed In Car Bombing Outside Moscow

    Update(2310ET): Russia’s English language state RT News is confirming the death of Darya Dugina, the daughter of veteran Russian political commentator and Putin ally Alexander Dugin, in what appears to have been a targeted hit – possibly an attempt on her father Alexander’s life. RT however is still calling the reports “preliminary” until government authorities confirm the identity of the deceased. 

    “The incident took place on a highway some 20 kilometers west of Moscow around 21:35 local time, with witnesses saying that the blast rocked the vehicle right in the middle of the road, scattering debris all around,” according to new details in RT. “The crippled car, fully engulfed in flames, then crashed into a fence, according to photos and videos from the scene.”

    “Emergency services said one person was inside the car and was instantly killed by the blast and crash – a female whose body was reportedly recovered burned beyond recognition.”

    RT writes further: “Authorities have yet to confirm the identity of the victim, but multiple Russian Telegram channels and media sources reported that the victim was 30-year-old Darya Dugina (Platonova). Her father, Alexander Dugin, was spotted at the scene soon after the incident, visibly shocked, according to several videos circulating on social media.”

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

    While an official cause of the blast hasn’t been identified as yet, there’s widespread speculation it was an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). 

    There’s also much speculation centered on the apparent bombing being a likely attempt on Alexander Dugin, with unconfirmed reports saying she had been driving his car and he was in another vehicle.

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

    According to The Daily Beast, citing local reports: 

    Alexander Dugin was meant to be in the vehicle his daughter was driving but had gotten in a different one at the last second, according to Pyotr Lundstrem, a Russian violinist quoted by the outlet.

    Dugin had reportedly been following right behind his daughter and had watched as her car exploded. Photos shared by Baza appeared to show Dugin distraught at the scene, holding his head in both hands as he stood in front of the fiery wreckage.

    And more:

    Denis Pushilin, the Russian proxy leader of Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk, angrily blamed “terrorists of the Ukrainian regime” for the blast, writing on Telegram that they had been “trying to liquidate Alexander Dugin” but “blew up his daughter.”

    “In loving memory of Darya, she is a true Russian girl,” Pushilin wrote.

    Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and social media pages similarly blamed Ukraine for the explosion and called on Russians to “avenge” Dugina’s death.

    This, along with recent attacks inside Crimea, could indeed mean greater escalation in the Ukraine war.

    * * *

    The daughter of Alexander Dugin – a close ally and adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin – has reportedly been killed in what many are assuming was an assassination attempt meant for her father.

    Darya Dugin was ‘blown to pieces’ near Moscow suburb of Bolshiye Vyazyomy, according to reports, which say that Alexander had originally planned to travel back with her from a festival before deciding to ride in a separate car, according to the Daily Mail and other outlets.

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    According to Russian’s state-owned TASS, local law enforcement confirmed that a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado had blown up, but did not confirm the victim’s identity – only that it was a female. A man identified by TASS as a Dugin associate said it was Darya, but there has been thus far no official confirmation.

    Russian outlet Baza reports that the 29-year-old had been returning home from “Tradition” – a literature and music festival, when the blast occurred. She was reportedly driving for around 10 minutes before the detonation. The outlet also quoted Russian violinist Pyotr Lundstrem, who (and how would he know?) that Alexander was meant to be in the vehicle. Instead, he was reportedly following her car when it exploded.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsDugin is the former chief editor of the pro-Putin Tsargrad TV network, and has been often portrayed in Western media as being a ‘mastermind’ of the Ukraine invasion, as well as an intellectual / philosopher who’s had a large influence in Russia’s post-Soviet nationalism.

    Alexander Dugin and Darya Dugin, via Telegram

    In an Instagram post, Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine, called it an ‘attack’ by ‘vile villains,’ adding “The terrorists of the Ukrainian regime, trying to eliminate Alexander Dugin, blew up his daughter… In a car. Blessed memory of Daria, she is a real Russian girl!”

    “The tenacity of these Ukro-Reich morons is amazing. Everyone, if possible, needs to be home in the next hour,” he added.

    An alleged photo of the scene was posted to Telegram by “MOW!” Moscow News, with the caption (translated): “All that remains of the blown up car of the daughter of the famous public figure Alexander Dugin on the Mozhaisk highway in the Moscow region. The SUV of Darya Dugina detonated while driving, after which it caught fire.”

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    Check back for updates…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 23:10

  • All The Contents Of The Universe, In One Graphic
    All The Contents Of The Universe, In One Graphic

    Scientists agree that the universe consists of three distinct parts: everyday visible (or measurable) matter, and two theoretical components called dark matter and dark energy.

    As Visual Capitalists’s Mark Belan explains below, these last two are theoretical because they have yet to be directly measured – but even without a full understanding of these mysterious pieces to the puzzle, scientists can infer that the universe’s composition can be broken down as follows:

    Let’s look at each component in more detail.

    Dark Energy

    Dark energy is the theoretical substance that counteracts gravity and causes the rapid expansion of the universe. It is the largest part of the universe’s composition, permeating every corner of the cosmos and dictating how it behaves and how it will eventually end.

    Dark Matter

    Dark matter, on the other hand, has a restrictive force that works closely alongside gravity. It is a sort of “cosmic cement” responsible for holding the universe together. Despite avoiding direct measurement and remaining a mystery, scientists believe it makes up the second largest component of the universe.

    Free Hydrogen and Helium

    Free hydrogen and helium are elements that are free-floating in space. Despite being the lightest and most abundant elements in the universe, they make up roughly 4% of its total composition.

    Stars, Neutrinos, and Heavy Elements

    All other hydrogen and helium particles that are not free-floating in space exist in stars.

    Stars are one of the most populous things we can see when we look up at the night sky, but they make up less than one percent—roughly 0.5%—of the cosmos.

    Neutrinos are subatomic particles that are similar to electrons, but they are nearly weightless and carry no electrical charge. Although they erupt out of every chemical reaction, they account for roughly 0.3% of the universe.

    Heavy elements are all other elements aside from hydrogen and helium.

    Elements form in a process called nucleosynthesis, which takes places within stars throughout their lifetimes and during their explosive deaths. Almost everything we see in our material universe is made up of these heavy elements, yet they make up the smallest portion of the universe: a measly 0.03%.

    How Do We Measure the Universe?

    In 2009, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched a space observatory called Planck to study the properties of the universe as a whole.

    Its main task was to measure the afterglow of the explosive Big Bang that originated the universe 13.8 billion years ago. This afterglow is a special type of radiation called cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR).

    Temperature can tell scientists much about what exists in outer space. When investigating the “microwave sky”, researchers look for fluctuations (called anisotropy) in the temperature of CMBR. Instruments like Planck help reveal the extent of irregularities in CMBR’s temperature, and inform us of different components that make up the universe.

    You can see below how the clarity of CMBR changes over time with multiple space missions and more sophisticated instrumentation.

    What Else is Out There?

    Scientists are still working to understand the properties that make up dark energy and dark matter.

    NASA is currently planning a 2027 launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, an infrared telescope that will hopefully help us in measuring the effects of dark energy and dark matter for the first time.

    As for what’s beyond the universe? Scientists aren’t sure.

    There are hypotheses that there may be a larger “super universe” that contains us, or we may be a part of one “island” universe set apart from other island multiverses. Unfortunately we aren’t able to measure anything that far yet. Unravelling the mysteries of the deep cosmos, at least for now, remains a local endeavor.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 23:00

  • Biden Misled Public On Afghanistan; New GOP Report Finds
    Biden Misled Public On Afghanistan; New GOP Report Finds

    Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClear Politics (emphasis ours),

    The frantic and deadly U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan was so disorganized that 1,450 children were evacuated without their parents, and senior leaders in Vice President Kamala Harris’ and first lady Jill Biden’s offices, as well as one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked private veteran groups for assistance evacuating certain people from the country.

    In the waning days of the evacuation, more than 1,000 women and girls waited more than 24 hours on dozens of buses, desperately circling the Kabul airport and trying to avoid Taliban checkpoints. Many of them were told multiple times they were not allowed to enter the airport. Now, nearly a year since the Taliban took control of the country, fewer than one-third of them have managed to flee the country.

    These are just some of the findings in a new report by Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee one year after the Taliban swept into the Afghan capital of Kabul, almost instantly rolling back more than two decades of U.S. and NATO military support and nation-building efforts.

    More broadly, the report, which RealClearPolitics obtained late last week, asserts President Biden and top officials in his administration repeatedly – and perhaps intentionally – misled the American people when they said the fall of Kabul came as a surprise and there was no alternative other than depending on the Taliban for security in the Afghan capital as the U.S. military evacuated hastily.  

    The report asserts that the chaotic withdrawal that left more than 800 American citizens stranded in the country was completely avoidable if Biden and his national security team had listened to the warnings and advice of military leaders, U.S. diplomatic officials operating on the ground, and international allies.

    It adds that one of the most tragic outcomes of the evacuation – the death of 13 U.S. servicemembers and 160 Afghans in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport – could have been prevented if the administration had accepted the Taliban’s Aug. 15 offer for the U.S. to control the capital city’s security until the end of the withdrawal.

    Such an arrangement would have allowed American forces to extend the airport’s security perimeter, creating more space for evacuating Afghans and a far more orderly process. It also would have prevented U.S. servicemembers from being penned in amid the frantic crush of Afghans desperately trying to board U.S. military planes, leaving them vulnerable to the suicide attack, several former officials told committee Republicans, according to the report.

    “There were many sins if you will – there was a complete lack of and failure to plan,” Rep. Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the panel told CBS News’ Face the Nation Sunday. “There was no plan executed.”

    In a new memo over the weekend, the White House started defending its decision to withdraw troops, arguing that the move strengthened U.S. national security by freeing up military and intelligence agents and assets. The memo, written by National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson and first reported by Axios, is a direct response to the House Republicans’ interim report outlining their view of the administration’s withdrawal failures.

    It assails the House Republicans’ report as a partisan exercise “riddled with inaccurate characterizations, cherry picked information, and false claims…. It advocates for endless war and for sending more troops to Afghanistan, and it ignores the impacts of the flawed deal that former President Trump struck with the Taliban,” the memo states.

    Republicans are standing by their findings, arguing that a failure to plan left the State Department with only 36 consular officers at the airport trying to process hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of days. These officials were overwhelmed, McCaul said, but the lack of resources for a withdrawal of this magnitude was just one of the many mistakes involved in failing to plan for Kabul’s fall despite multiple warnings.

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    Several top U.S. military leaders for months had warned the president that the Afghan government would likely collapse if the U.S. left fewer than 2,500 troops stationed there, the report states.

    The report also cites “more realistic assessments on the ground,” including a July 13, 2021, embassy cable from 23 U.S. personnel assigned to the embassy in Kabul, which reportedly contained “a stark warning” about the potential collapse of the Afghan state. The cable, which the Wall Street Journal first reported a year ago, and was sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Director of Policy Planning Salman Ahmed, called on the State Department to respond more urgently to the Taliban’s offensive.

    Although Blinken acknowledged the existence of the cable, he has refused to share it or disclose his response to it with congressional committees, including the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

    The biggest mistake of all, McCaul argued, was Biden’s rejection of the Taliban’s offer for the U.S. to take control of Kabul’s security until the evacuation was over.

    “Think about what that would have changed,” McCaul said. “We had to rely on the Taliban to secure the perimeter of [the airport], that led to the chaos, and it also led to the suicide bomber who killed 13 servicemen and women and injured hundreds of people.”

    The Biden administration also rebuffed other offers that could have helped prevent the frantic crush of Afghans at the airport and preserve America’s reputation abroad, the report states. U.S. leaders ignored a proposal from Guam for the U.S. territory to serve as an interim processing center to help evacuate interpreters and other at-risk allies. It similarly declined an offer from Pakistan to have a facility there serve as a transit center for evacuees, despite other facilities in Qatar and Germany reaching capacity.

    The report, which will serve as a roadmap for several lines of inquiry if Republicans win back the majority in either chamber this fall, is based on open-source information, along with interviews with U.S. officials and civilians involved in evacuating U.S. citizens and Afghan allies. Several whistleblowers who requested anonymity also played a key role, along with sworn statements by U.S. military personnel who were part of the investigation into the August 26, 2021, suicide bombing at the Kabul airport.

    The State Department did not comply with requests for documents and transcribed interviews with 34 administration officials involved in the Afghanistan evacuation effort. The report also criticizes the full House Foreign Affairs Committee, led by Democratic Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, for holding just one full committee hearing with senior Biden administration officials on the Afghanistan withdrawal even though it’s widely recognized as one of the worst U.S. foreign policy failures in decades.

    While the report says more State Department resources would have helped ease panic and confusion, it faults the agency for basic communication miscues that further exacerbated the chaos.

    By ignoring early warnings that they were not moving quickly enough to evacuate Americans and at-risk Afghans who had worked directly with the U.S. government, they left American citizens, green-card holders, and Afghan allies approved for departure stranded outside airport gates with no assistance.

    “Attempts by members of Congress and their staff to help their constituents or other would-be evacuees were often stymied by out-of-office replies to email requests and broken links to web pages mean to submit information,” according to the report.

    It also criticizes U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ross Wilson for going on a two-week vacation as Afghanistan was falling apart. Wilson took his summer break immediately after accompanying then-Afghanistan President Ghani to a late June meeting with Biden who promised the Afghan envoy, “We’re going to stick with you, and we’re going to do our best to see to it that you have the tools you need.”

    “There were no decisions made in the embassy until [Ross] returned in mid-July. This made action impossible,” a U.S. military officer told Army investigators. “Ground could have been gained at this time if the embassy had been able to do anything.”

    A couple of weeks later, it was Biden and Blinken who were on vacation at Camp David and the Hamptons, respectively, when alarms began sounding at the Pentagon for the need to relocate all of U.S. embassy personnel to the Kabul airport. Before the move, the personnel were being ordered to destroy sensitive documents in response to new fears of an immediate Taliban takeover of Kabul.

    All these hasty actions left no time for the State Department to speed up the processing of immigration applications for the Afghan allies Biden had promised to protect.

    There were no plans made to evacuate tens of thousands of U.S.-trained Afghan commandoes and other elite units who possess sensitive knowledge about American military operations.

    Also left behind: women leaders and soldiers whom Americans had promised sanctuary, along with more than 10,000 Afghans who had been employed by Embassy Kabul since it was re-established in 2001 and thousands more who worked with U.S. Agency for International Development.

    Nearly one year after the last U.S. troops left Afghanistan, the Biden administration still lacks a plan to help these at-risk Afghan allies who fought and worked alongside U.S. forces, even though the administration has admitted that the Taliban and other terrorist groups have subjected these U.S. allies to killings and forced disappearances.

    And, despite Biden’s assurances that the U.S. had accomplished its original goal of expelling al Qaeda and other terrorist groups from the country, the report points to the recent U.S. strike against Ayman al Zawahiri, a top al Qaeda leader, who was living freely in downtown Kabul, as proof of the group’s presence in Afghanistan.

    “Thankfully, al Zawahiri was killed by a U.S. drone strike last month, but officials warn that al Qaeda and ISIS-K continue to grow their presence in Afghanistan,” the report states.

    Meanwhile, the withdrawal has wreaked havoc on the country’s economy, with some estimates that 95% of the country needs emergency assistance to avoid hunger. With the Taliban back in control, there are reports of targeted revenge killings against those who worked with the U.S. government or military. U.S.-based volunteer groups seeking to aid Afghan evacuees have reported nearly 500 reprisal attacks, including beheadings, hangings, severed limbs, lash marks, and car shootings.

    The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported in July 2022 that these killings are often carried out “execution style – for example, when an individual is taken out of their house and shot almost immediately,” the report notes.

    One of the worst casualties of the U.S. withdrawal from the country is the dramatic regression of women and girls, who are now ordered to wear burqas and are prevented from attending school or universities or even from walking unaccompanied in public places.

    Child marriage is also reportedly on the rise with girls as young as nine years old being sold into marriage to pay off debts, or families being forced to marry off their young daughters to Taliban fighters, the report states, quoting PBS documentary filmmaker Ramita Navai’s comments earlier this month after two visits to Afghanistan.

    The report also cites a finding by Amnesty International that “many women protesters” in Afghanistan who demonstrated against the Taliban’s repressive policies “have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention, enforced disappearance and torture,” including Taliban-administered beatings and electric shocks with tasers.

    Although Blinken acknowledged reprisal attacks and killings earlier this year, the report points out that the secretary played down the Taliban leadership’s responsibility for the deaths.

    “We are of course seeing retribution, attacks by Taliban against those who are part of the former government,” he told a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on April 28. “These seem to be, for the most part, not centrally directed, that is they – they tend to be happening at a local level, but they’re happening.”

    Many of these allies are still sheltering in safe houses, afraid that the Taliban informants will expose their previous work with the U.S. government or NATO allies. Each passing week, they have fewer resources to purchase basic items such as food, fuel, and shelter.

    With the State Department unable to aid these people, the task of clothing, feeding, and sheltering tens of thousands of Afghans has fallen to outside veteran or humanitarian groups or sympathetic individuals. With almost no support from the U.S. government, some of the personnel running these groups, many of them comprising military veterans, have drained their personal retirement accounts, quit jobs, and suspended their small businesses in order to raise the funds to operate these networks of safe houses.

    “But these funds are not limitless, and the resource strains incurred have endangered the continued existence of these safe houses which many Afghans and Americans rely on for their very survival,” the report concludes.

    Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ White House/national political correspondent.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 22:30

  • Is Your Government Ready For Another Pandemic?
    Is Your Government Ready For Another Pandemic?

    With polio now confirmed in New York City’s wastewater and monkeypox having spread around the world – albeit with mortality rates remaining low – it appears that disease outbreaks are happening faster and more frequently than before.

    While greater media attention has certainly heightened awareness, we’re also seeing the ripple effects of a number of factors including population growth, which means more people are living in closer proximity to potentially infected animals, climate change, which is making diseases more severe, and even the decline of vaccine coverage for other diseases over past years, as reported by the OCHA. Not to mention the fact increased trade and travel as well as rapid urbanization – where levels of contact between people is high and living conditions can be unhygenic – are also making transmission easier.

    But how ready are the world’s governments for another – unfortunately, fairly inevitable – health crisis?

    As Statista’s Anna Fleck details below, a survey carried out by the OECD in 2021 found that perceptions of government preparedness vary greatly around the world, with a fairly even split of opinions, favoring slightly more positive. People living in Luxembourg and Ireland, for instance, thought more highly of their government’s healthcare strategies, with 69 percent and 60 percent, respectively, saying they thought their leaders would be ready. Just over half of Brits felt the same.

    In Austria, however, trust on the topic was fairly low, with 29 percent of people saying they thought their government would be ready. Japan came in with 32 percent feeling confident in the government, although a greater share than any other felt ambivalent about the issue – responding that they felt either ‘neutral’ or ‘didn’t know.’

    Infographic: Is Your Government Ready for Another Pandemic? | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    According to the report, public trust in government rise and fell throughout the pandemic, with a show of support for governments at the start, versus later when the death count started to rise. The authors note that the survey’s results likely correspond to the intensity of the pandemic at the time, in November 2021. They add:

    “It is also worth noting that – in spite of the many challenges governments faced in effectively responding to the economic and health exigencies of the pandemic – this finding suggests that people see governments as having learned from the information gained during this experience.”

    The countries surveyed included Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 22:00

  • Finnish Prime Minister 'Party Girl' Submits To Drug Test Over Leaked Videos
    Finnish Prime Minister ‘Party Girl’ Submits To Drug Test Over Leaked Videos

    Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has found herself at the center of a bizarre tabloid-fueled “scandal” after days ago multiple videos of the 36-year old head of state were leaked showing her recently partying with friends and local celebrities.

    One of the videos purportedly shows her dancing very close-up to a man that’s not her husband, according to Fox News, with the whole spectacle leading to charges from media and the public of “inappropriate” behavior for someone in the nation’s highest office.

    Marin has even been accused of being on drugs when the ‘wild’ party videos were taken, something she has firmly denied. Finnish politicians and opposition factions have been behind some of the drug use accusations. 

    “I did nothing illegal,” Marin said at a Friday press briefing responding to the allegations, according to a translation from the BBC. “Even in my teenage years I have not used any kind of drugs.”

    Media coverage of the videos has taken over headlines in Finland and quickly went international, leading to the prime minister agreeing to submit to a drug test, in a highly unusual and unprecedented scenario: 

    Finland’s prime minister has said she has taken a drug test, after new footage emerged showing the leader dancing with a Finnish popstar.

    Sanna Marin, 36, came under fire this week after a leaked video showed her partying, with some politicians saying she should be tested for narcotics.

    At a news conference on Friday, Ms Marin said she had taken the test and expects the results next week. The prime minister repeated her denials that she has ever taken drugs.

    Many of Marin’s supporters as well as media pundits have charged critics with unwarranted attacks over the party videos simply because she’s a woman.

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    Strangely (or perhaps entirely to be expected), Russia and Vladimir Putin have even the conversation, with some pundits claiming that pro-Russian “trolls” are primarily responsible for driving the “scandal” into the spotlight. 

    The claim is that “Russian media accounts” have sought to spread the now viral clips in order to stir fresh domestic controversy at a moment Finland is applying to join NATO.

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    “I think my ability to function was really good. There were no known meetings on the days I was partying,” the Finnish leader said in her defense. “I trust that people understand that leisure time and work time can be separated.”

    “If someone has kissed me on the cheek, there’s nothing inappropriate or something I can’t handle or tell my husband,” Marin added, commenting on the video where she was seen getting physically close with a pop star.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 21:31

  • Victor Davis Hanson: 'Civil War' Porn
    Victor Davis Hanson: ‘Civil War’ Porn

    Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    As President Joe Biden’s polls stagnate and the midterms approach, we are now serially treated to yet another progressive melodrama about the dangers of a supposed impending radical right-wing violent takeover.

    Georgians hold signs in front of the Georgia State Capitol in support of the challenge to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s qualification for the ballot under the insurrection Clause of the 14th Amendment, in Atlanta, on April 21, 2022. (Derek White/Getty Images for MoveOn)

    This time the alleged threat is a Neanderthal desire for a “civil war.”

    The FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, the dubious rationale for such a historic swoop, and the popular pushback at the FBI and Department of Justice from roughly half the country have further fueled these giddy “civil war” conjectures.

    Recently “presidential historian” Michael Beschloss speculated about the parameters of such an envisioned civil war.

    Beschloss is an ironic source. Just days earlier, he had tweeted references to the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who passed U.S. nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union in the 1950s, in connection with the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago.

    That was a lunatic insinuation that Trump might justly suffer the same lethal fate due to his supposed mishandling of “nuclear secrets.” Unhinged former CIA Director Michael Hayden picked up on Beschloss death-penalty prompt, adding that it “sounds about right.”

    Hayden had gained recent notoriety for comparing Trump’s continuance of the Obama administration’s border detention facilities to Hitler’s death camps. And he had assured the public that Hunter Biden’s lost and incriminating laptop was likely “Russian disinformation.”

    So, like the earlier “Russian collusion” hoax, and the January 6 “insurrection,” the supposed right-wing inspired civil war is the latest shrill warning from the Left about how “democracy dies in darkness” and the impending end of progressive control of Congress in a few months.

    On cue, Hollywood now joins the civil war bandwagon. It has issued a few bad, grade-C movies. They focus on deranged white “insurrectionists” who seek to take over the United States in hopes of driving out or killing off various “marginalized” peoples.

    Pentagon grandees promise to learn about “white rage” in the military and to root it out. But never do they offer any hard data to suggest white males express any greater degree of racial or ethnic chauvinism than any other demographic.

    When we do hear of an insurrectionary plan—to kidnap the Michigan governor—we discover a concocted mess. Twelve FBI informants outnumbered the supposed four “conspirators.” And two of them were acquitted by a jury and the other two so far found not guilty due to a mistrial.

    The buffoonish January 6 riot at the Capitol is often cited as proof of the insurrectionary right-wing movement. But the one-day riotous embarrassment never turned up any armed revolutionaries or plots to overthrow the government.

    What it did do was give the Left an excuse to weaponize the nation’s capital with barbed wire and thousands of federal troops, in the greatest militarization of Washington, D.C. since the Civil War.

    In contrast, Antifa and BLM rioters were no one-day buffoons. They systematically organized a series of destructive and deadly riots across the country for over four months in the summer of 2020. The lethal toll of their work was over 35 dead, $2 billion in property losses, and hundreds of police officers injured.

    Such violent protestors torched the ironic St. John’s Episcopal church and attempted to fight their way into the White House grounds. Their violent agenda prompted the Secret Service to evacuate the president of the United States to a secure bunker.

    The New York Times gleefully applauded the rioting near the White House grounds with the snarky headline “Trump Shrinks Back.”

    As far as secession talk, it mostly now comes from the Left, not the Right. Indeed, a parlor game has sprung up among elites in venues such as The Nation and The New Republic imaging secession from the United States. Blue-staters brag secession would free them from the burden of the red-state conservative population.

    Over the last five years, it was the Left who talked openly of tearing apart the American system of governance—from packing the Supreme Court and junking the Electoral College to ending the ancient filibuster and nullifying immigration law.

    Time essayist Molly Ball in early 2021 gushed about a brilliant “conspiracy” of wealthy tech lords, Democratic Party activists, and Biden operators.

    Ball bragged how they had systematically poured hundreds of millions of dark money into changing voting laws, and absorbing the role of government registrars in key precincts.

    What was revolutionary were new progressive precedents of impeaching a president twice, trying him as a private citizen, barring minority congressional representatives from House committee memberships, and tearing up the state of the union address on national television.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 21:30

  • Ex-FBI Agent Pleads Guilty To Destroying Evidence
    Ex-FBI Agent Pleads Guilty To Destroying Evidence

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A former FBI agent said he is pleading guilty to paying a business to wipe his computer hard drive to make it unavailable for forensic examination, according to a statement.

    The FBI headquarters in Washington on Jan. 2, 2020. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

    Former FBI agent Robert Cessario was charged with corrupt destruction of record in an official proceeding in connection to the trial of former Arkansas Republican state Sen. Jon Woods, local media reported.

    On Wednesday, Cessario issued a statement saying that he is pleading guilty as part of a plea deal in the case.

    “I erased the contents of the computer hard knowing that the court has ordered that the computer be submitted for a forensic examination,” the former federal agent stated in court documents, according to local Arkansas news outlets. “I did so with the intention of making the contents of the computer’s hard unavailable for forensic examination.”

    “Ex-FBI Agent Pleads Guilty To Destroying Evidence, that is, Cause No. 5:17-CR-50010, United States v. Woods et al,” Cessario’s statement continued, adding that he “corruptly performed and had performed, the erasures with intent to impair the integrity and availability of the computer hard drive and its contents for use in that official proceeding.”

    He added: “I am guilty of the violation alleged.”

    Court documents show Cessario faces as many as 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release, according to local media reports. His sentencing will come at a later date, which has not been disclosed.

    Woods’s Trial

    The case stems from the trial involving Woods, who in 2018 was convicted of mail fraud and wire fraud charges. Woods was accused of taking kickbacks in return for steering state grants to Ecclesia College in Springdale.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 20:30

  • Where Will The World's Next 1,000 Babies Be Born?
    Where Will The World’s Next 1,000 Babies Be Born?

    Every four minutes, approximately 1,000 babies are born across the globe. But in which countries are these babies the most statistically likely to come from?

    Using data from the CIA World Factbook, Visual Capitalist’s Carmen Ang shows this this graphic by Pratap Vardhan (Stats of India) that paints a picture of the world’s demographics, showing which countries are most likely to welcome the next 1,000 babies based on population and birth rates as of 2022 estimates.

    The Next 1,000 Babies, By Country

    Considering India has a population of nearly 1.4 billion, it’s fairly unsurprising that it ranks first on the list. Of every 1,000 babies born, the South Asian country accounts for roughly 172 of them.

    It’s worth noting that, while India ranks number one on the list, the country’s birth rate (which is its total number of births in a year per 1,000 individuals) is actually slightly below the global average, at 16.8 compared to 17.7 respectively.

    China, which comes second on the list, is similar to India, with a high population but relatively low birth rate as well. On the other hand, Nigeria, which ranks third on the list, has a birth rate that’s nearly double the global average, at 34.2.

    Why is Nigeria’s birth rate so high?

    There are various intermingling factors at play, but one key reason is the fact that Nigeria’s economy still is developing, and ranks 131st globally in terms of GDP per capita. Further, access to education for women is still not as widespread as it could be, and research shows that this is strongly correlated with higher birth rates.

    The World’s Population Growth Rate is Declining

    While there are hundreds of thousands of babies born around the world each day, it’s worth mentioning that the world’s overall population growth rate has actually been declining since the 1960s.

    This is happening for a number of reasons, including:

    • Increased wealth around the world, which research has correlated with fewer births

    • Various government policies discouraging large families

    • The global shift from rural to urban living

    By 2100, global population growth is expected to drop to 0.1%, which means we’ll essentially reach net-zero population growth.

    This would increase our global median age even further, which poses a number of economic risks if countries don’t properly prepare for this demographic shift.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 20:00

  • Fargo School Board Reinstates Pledge Of Allegiance After National Public Outcry
    Fargo School Board Reinstates Pledge Of Allegiance After National Public Outcry

    Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    After criticism from conservative lawmakers and backlash from citizens nationwide, the Fargo Board of Education on Aug. 18 voted to reverse course on its previous week’s decision to stop reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before its meetings.

    New U.S. citizens recite the Pledge of Allegiance during their naturalization ceremony at George Washington’s residence in Mount Vernon, Virginia, on July 4, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

    On Aug. 9, seven of the board’s nine members, including four newcomers who took office in June, voted to cancel a previous board measure that was instituted in March before the election.

    Board vice president Seth Holden said at the Aug. 9 meeting that the Pledge of Allegiance was contrary to the district’s diversity, equity, and inclusion priorities.

    “Given that the word ‘God’ in the text of the Pledge of Allegiance is capitalized, the text is clearly referring to the Judeo-Christian God, and therefore, it does not include any other faiths such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism,” Holden said, adding that this made the pledge of allegiance a “non-inclusionary act.”

    Reciting the pledge is a “non-inclusionary act” and there is text within the pledge that is “simply not true,” Holden added.

    “The statement that we are ‘one nation under God’ is simply an untrue statement,” Holden said. “We are one nation under many or no gods.”

    Tracie Newman, who is board president, recommended that a member recite “a shared statement of purpose that would bring us all together” at the start of the meetings instead of the pledge, adding that it would be “unifying.”

    “I’m just not sure that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is a useful way to begin every one of our board meetings,” Newman said at the Aug. 9 meeting.

    North Dakota’s Republican Party called the board’s Aug. 9 vote “laughable” and an “affront to our American values.”

    Republican State Sen. Scott Meyer told North Dakota media outlets last week that he would start work on a school voucher bill draft to allow public money to pay for private school tuition.

    “These positions like by the Fargo School Board just don’t align with North Dakota values,” he said. “The logical solution is to just give parents that option to help educate their kids.”

    Robin Nelson was one of two board members who voted on Aug. 9 to keep the pledge.

    “It was a very easy ‘no’ vote from me from the get-go. I knew right away it would be controversial,” Nelson told Fargo’s Valley News Live.

    “Our focus should be on our great students and teachers and education, but this is going to detract from that and really shed more negative publicity on the Fargo school district, and quite frankly, we don’t need that.”

    Nelson’s words were proved correct. The decision prompted an outcry across the country, which led the board to hold the Aug. 18 meeting to discuss reinstating the pledge.

    “That is perpetuating Critical Race Theory, which is against the law in North Dakota,” Fargo parent Jake Schmitz told Fox & Friends last week following the initial vote to ban the Pledge of Allegiance.

    “The next logical step in the progression is [they’ll] want to remove it from schools because it’s a non-inclusionary act which is a bunch of [expletive].”

    At the special meeting on Aug. 18, the board discussed the volume of angry emails and voicemails directed at members.

    Nyamal Dei, a refugee from war-torn Sudan, was among those who received messages from irate citizens.

    Dei was one of the seven members who voted on Aug. 10 to eliminate the pledge. At the special meeting, she was the only board member to vote no on reinstatement.

    “We won’t be rewarding our children or students in our district for acting in this way,” Dei said at the special meeting.

    “But know that this moment will pass. Let’s get back to the work that we are elected to do and that is to find a solution to our teacher shortages, mental health issues, and academic achievement for our students.”

    Greg Clark, who also serves on the board, said that less than 20 percent of the “angry messages” were from Fargo residents.

    He admitted that his vote to reinstate the pledge was influenced by people who do not live in the district.

    “But I hope you’ll forgive me because I truly believe it is in the best interest of our schools to do so,” Clark said.

    “The disruptions and the threats must end so that we can have a successful start to our school year.”

    Holden voted to bring back the pledge, but not before expressing reluctance.

    “Do you concede the battle to win the war?” Holden said.

    “I’m also concerned about what might happen to this board in the future because we’re going to have to probably be prepared to take more heat than we normally do for decisions that we make because that there may be a perception of success.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 19:30

  • Is Ethereum's Censorship-Resistance Under Attack: A Recap Of The Biggest Crypto News In The 2nd Week Of August
    Is Ethereum’s Censorship-Resistance Under Attack: A Recap Of The Biggest Crypto News In The 2nd Week Of August

    By Lucas Campbell of Bankless

    The recent sanction of Tornado Cash from the U.S. treasury has had a windfall of effects on crypto.

    A developer was arrested and a string of “decentralized” applications have banned wallets that have touched Tornado Cash.

    People are afraid of OFAC. These guys are nothing to mess with. If you don’t comply with their demands, there’s a really good chance you go to jail.

    This collective fear and action from OFAC are sparking debate among the community.

    On one hand, protocol teams are worried. For most, prison time is not an option to consider (understandably). Companies will comply if threatened with jail time.

    At the very least, if these companies are working in the best interest of crypto, they’ll fight it in the legal system. But that will take years and millions (and millions and millions) of dollars.

    On the other hand, crypto is about open, unstoppable access to money and finance. The idea that “DeFi” apps are banning access because certain wallets directly (or indirectly) used a sanctioned code goes against the ethos and mission of crypto.

    Satoshi would be pissed. This isn’t what we’re here for.

    Regardless, this looming threat becomes a serious issue when looking at Ethereum’s validator set.

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

    A handful of companies are responsible for operating a majority of the validators on Ethereum.

    What happens if OFAC starts demanding these companies to censor specific transactions via their validators (or go to jail)?

    Will they bend the knee?

    Will they shut down their staking services?

    Will validators accept it and get slashed by the network, losing user deposits?

    This is a big unknown right now, but any of these outcomes are possible.

    Before you say “Ethereum would never support censorship”, there are a lot of nuances behind this, primarily with Flashbots and block building, that go above my head.

    Regardless, this was a major discussion on the Ethereum Core Devs meeting this week, and there’s a lot to unpack here. I recommend listening to the discussion and reading Tim Beiko’s thread on the topic to get the full rundown.

    Starts at 18:11.

    Is Ethereum’s censorship resistance under attack?

    The honest answer is that it’s not entirely clear right now.

    The Best Monetary Asset

    Four weeks from now, Ethereum will be in a post-merge world. Issuance will be reduced by 90% and net inflation will virtually become neutral, if not negative.

    This creates a compelling case for ETH as a monetary asset in an increasingly inflationary world.

    • Fiat is currently inflating at 12.8% per year.
    • Gold sits at 1.79%
    • After the next Bitcoin halving in 2024, BTC’s inflation rate will be 0.88%.

    Post-Ethereum Merge?

    ETH issuance falls to 0.18% based on current demand levels where it could potentially go negative if demand recovers to same the levels as a few months ago.

    Most people looking at this graph might respond “But Apple is sitting at -3.78%! That’s the better store of value.”

    True—sort of.

    But Apple stock is not a monetary asset. You can’t instantly transfer it to anyone in the world. You can’t buy anything with it. You don’t have global access to lending, borrowing, trading, or earning yield.

    Apple stock has no credible neutrality. There’s no decentralization.

    It’s not a Medium of Exchange or a Unit of Account.

    Issuance is just one part of it.

    But when you factor in all of it, ETH becomes a highly favorable monetary asset in the current landscape.

    Other News

    Celsius owes $6.7 billion in crypto tokens and only holds $3.8 billion; Genesis CEO quits amidst job layoffs; Mailchimp cracks down on crypto newsletters; The SEC sues Dragonchain; Canada lays new crypto regulations; The NFT market faces a potential liquidity crisis?

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 19:00

  • Republican Voter Enthusiasm For Midterms Boosted By Mar-a-Lago Raid: Poll
    Republican Voter Enthusiasm For Midterms Boosted By Mar-a-Lago Raid: Poll

    Authored by Rita Li via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Before-and-after survey results show the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid last week largely encouraged Republican voters to go to the ballot box in November for the midterms.

    An aerial view of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home after Trump said that FBI agents searched it, in Palm Beach, Florida on Aug. 15, 2022. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

    The FBI on Aug. 8, in an unprecedented move, raided the home of former President Donald Trump for a potential violation of the Espionage Act, before allegedly finding four sets of top-secret documents and seven other sets of classified information that the former president removed from the White House.

    One poll (pdf) conducted from Aug. 13–16 by the Economist/YouGov, found that 51 percent of Republican respondents said they were more enthusiastic about the 2022 midterm elections compared to the previous congressional election year. It turned out to be a 6 percent increase from an Aug. 7–9 poll result (pdf), showing only 45 percent were more devoted to voting.

    The growth was smaller when it came to Democrat and Independent voters—both increased after the raid by one point to 36 percent and 25 percent respectively. Both surveys asked 1,500 adult citizens nationwide, declaring a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

    The recent raid by the FBI in Palm Beach has solidified Trump’s hold on the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, according to conservatives and analysts. Trump’s family and aides also slammed the move as being politically motivated to prevent the former president from regaining the presidency.

    The release of findings came as Trump’s 2022 endorsement record grows to 209–17, according to Breitbart, after five “America First” candidates he backed won their primary races in Wyoming and Alaska Tuesday night.

    Incumbent Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) lost her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Aug. 16, without coming close to her Trump-endorsed challenger, Harriet Hageman, who doubled Cheney’s votes to win the Wyoming primary.

    Trump had three other endorsements in Tuesday’s state races: Wyoming State Rep. Chuck Gray, who secured the nomination for secretary of state, and incumbent State Treasurer Curt Meier advancing in his renomination bid, as well as Brian Schroeder, former head of Veritas in Cody who lost his bid to maintain his position as state superintendent.

    In Alaska, both Trump-endorsed candidates—former Gov. Sarah Palin and Kelly Tshibaka—advanced to general election races.

    Tshibaka, along with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol protest, advanced to the ranked-choice election from the open primary on Aug. 16.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 18:30

  • CNN Boss Warns 'Unsettled' Staff To Prepare For 'More Changes'
    CNN Boss Warns ‘Unsettled’ Staff To Prepare For ‘More Changes’

    CNN Boss Chris Licht’s efforts to restore credibility to the far-left, ratings-challenged network is far from over.

    According to multiple reports, Licht has warned employees to brace for “more changes” following the departure of Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter.

    “I want to acknowledge that this is a time of significant change, and I know that many of you are unsettled,” said Licht during a Friday morning editorial call, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “There will be more changes and you might not understand it or like it all.”

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAccording to a June Axios report, Licht has been preparing to boot on-air personalities who can’t break free of their crippling Trump Derangement Syndrome.

    CNN’s new boss, Chris Licht, is evaluating whether personalities and programming that grew polarizing during the Trump era can adapt to the network’s new priority to be less partisan.

    Why it matters: If talent cannot adjust to a less partisan tone and strategy, they could be ousted, three sources familiar with the matter tell Axios.

    Details: Licht wants to give personalities that may appear polarizing a chance to prove they’re willing to uphold the network’s values so that they don’t tarnish CNN’s journalism brand.

    • For on-air talent, that includes engaging in respectful interviews that don’t feel like PR stunts. For producers and bookers, that includes making programming decisions that are focused on nuance, not noise. -Axios

    “We will continue covering media stories, including on TV, when warranted,” Licht reportedly said on the Friday call, in response to concerns that the network may no longer cover media issues following Stelter’s ouster, adding that the Reliable Sources newsletter will be revived under reporter Oliver Darcy.

    “I really appreciate all that Brian has done to build the media beat for CNN. He’s a great human being and a good person. I wish him all the best on his new venture,” he added.

    That said, the Daily Beast reached out to CNN, which confirmed Licht’s comments, but said they don’t reflect any specific changes.

    “We’re constantly changing things and making decisions,” they added.

    Since Licht took over in the wake of ex-boss Jeff Zucker’s unceremonious firing over an office romance with his top lieutenant Allison Golust (who’s also gone), he’s cut loose a swath of staffers, and changed several editorial guidelines – including reducing the use of “Breaking News” for on-air banners, and the use of less partisan terms to describe election fraud claims.

    A source also told the Beast that Licht’s recent decisions may have more to do with billionaire mogul and influential WarnerDiscovery shareholder John Malone, who told CNBC last year that he’d “like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing.”

    “Everything about this rollout points to John Malone and [Discovery CEO] David Zaslav,” said a source familiar with the situation, adding “Chris Licht did not want to do this.”

    Either way, looks like more CNN employees may have to learn a new skill.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 18:00

  • Investors Have Now Spent $5 Billion Pursuing The "Holy Grail Of Energy"
    Investors Have Now Spent $5 Billion Pursuing The “Holy Grail Of Energy”

    By Alex Kimani of Oilprice.com

    What do The Dark Knight Rises, Back to the Future, Oblivion, and Interstellar all have in common? They are sci-fi blockbusters that showcase a technology that scientists consider to be the Holy Grail of Energy: Nuclear fusion. Theoretically, two lone nuclear reactors running on small pellets could power the entire planet, safely and cleanly. That’s the promise of nuclear fusion. So, why are we still relying on fossil fuels? What’s stopping us from building these reactors everywhere?

    After all, scientists have been working on nuclear fusion technology since the 1950s and have always been optimistic that the final breakthrough is not far away. Yet, milestones have fallen time and again and now the running joke is that a practical nuclear fusion power plant could still be decades away.

    Well, the past few years have witnessed a resurgence in the field with a handful of startups setting up shop to make nuclear fusion an everyday reality. Interestingly, the vast majority of the sector’s funding has come from the private sector rather than public investments.

    According to the second global fusion industry report published by the Fusion Industry Association (FIA), private investment in fusion technology hit $4.7 billion in total, dwarfing the $117 million of public investment. Also, the current year is proving to be a watershed moment for fusion technology, with the amount of funding in 2022 more than doubling the industry’s entire historic investment to the tune of $2.83 billion.

    Fusion Startups

    To date, Commonwealth Fusion Systems has bagged the largest amount of funding for a fusion startup. Back in December, the Massachusetts-based fusion startup snagged more than $1.8 billion in the largest private investment for nuclear fusion yet from a plethora of big-name investors including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, George Soros via his Soros Fund Management LLC, and venture capitalist John Doerr.

    Commonwealth Fusion System is in good company.

    On Nov. 5, Helion Energy announced that it had raised $500 million in its latest fundraising round, making it the second-largest-ever single fundraising round for a private fusion firm. Helion has a chance to surpass Commonwealth Fusion System since its latest round of funding includes an additional $1.7 billion tied to certain performance milestones. Meanwhile, Canada’s General Fusion has closed a $130 million fundraising round that was oversubscribed. General Fusion plans to launch an even bigger fundraising effort soon.

    Google and Chevron participated in a $250-million funding raise for TAE Technologies, a nuclear fusion startup with an unconventional strategy, back in June. Since then, TAE has raised a total of $1.2 billion.

    “It’s a sign of the industry growing up,” General Fusion Chief Executive Christofer Mowry has told the Wall Street Journal. 

    Various fusion companies are pursuing different designs for fusion reactors, though the majority rely on fusion that takes place in plasma. Commonwealth Fusion has successfully tested the most powerful fusion magnet of its kind on Earth that would hold and compress the plasma.

    Commonwealth Fusion Systems is collaborating with MIT to build their fusion reactor. The team has planned a fusion experiment they have dubbed Sparc which is about 1/65th the volume of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The experimental reactor will generate about 100MW of heat energy in pulses of about 10 seconds – bursts big enough to power a small city. The team anticipates that the output will be more than twice the power used to heat the plasma thus overcoming the biggest technical hurdle in the field: positive net energy from fusion. The Sparc team has set an ambitious target to have the reactor running in about 15 years.

    But why have scientists so far failed at replicating a natural process that powers the stars in our universe?

    Extreme Challenge

    Turns out that the conditions necessary for nuclear fusion to take place present an extreme challenge for us earthlings. 

    Fusion works on the basic concept of forging lighter elements into heavier ones. When two hydrogen atoms are smashed together hard enough, they fuse to form helium. The new atom is less massive than the sum of its parts, with the balance converted to energy in the E=MC2 mass-energy equivalence.

    Ok, that’s a bit simplistic since hydrogen atoms do not fuse together directly but rather in a multi-step reaction. Anyway, the long and short of it is that nuclear fusion produces net energy only at extreme temperatures – in the order of hundreds of millions of degrees celsius. That’s hotter than the sun’s core and far too hot for any known material on earth to withstand.

    To get around this quagmire, scientists use powerful magnetic fields to contain the hot plasma and prevent it from coming into contact with the walls of the nuclear reactor. That consumes insane amounts of energy. 

    Stars have it easy in this regard thanks to their immense masses and powerful gravitational fields that hold everything together. For instance, the sun is 333,000 times the mass of the Earth with a gravity ~27.9 times that of Earth.

    Unfortunately, every fusion experiment so far has been energy negative, taking in more energy than it generates thus making it useless as a form of electricity generation. 

    Getting the initial fusion reaction is not a problem – keeping it going is, not to mention that building nuclear reactors takes some extremely sophisticated feats of engineering.

    International Megaproject

    But now scientists are confident that they are close to building a nuclear reactor that will produce more energy than it consumes. 

    The Saint-Paul-les-Durance, France-based upcoming International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is the world’s largest fusion reaction facility that aims to develop commercially viable fusion reactors.

    Funded by six nations including the US, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, and India, ITER plans to build the world’s largest tokamak fusion device, a donut-shaped cage that will produce 500 ME of thermal fusion energy. 

    The device will cost ~$24 billion with a delivery date set at 2035. The giant machine – the biggest fusion machine ever built – will weigh in at an impressive 23,000 tonnes and will be housed in a building 60 meters high.

    So, what’s different this time around?

    Scientists have successfully developed a new superconducting material – essentially a steel tape coated with yttrium-barium-copper oxide, or YBCO, which allows them to build smaller and more powerful magnets. This lowers the energy required to get the fusion reaction off the ground.

    According to Fusion for Energy – the EU’s joint undertaking for ITER – 18 niobium-tin superconducting magnets aka toroidal field coils will be used to contain the 150 million degrees celsius plasma. The powerful magnets will generate a powerful magnetic field equal to 11.8 tesla, or a million times stronger than the earth’s magnetic field. Europe will manufacture 10 of the toroidal field coils with Japan manufacturing nine.

    However, it will be another decade before a full-scale demonstration power plant will be built using lessons learned from ITER. The industrial fusion power plants will thereafter be connected to the grid.

    The ITER site construction is nearly 80% complete.

    With all that said… it seems nuclear fusion remains (but hopefully not forever) over a decade away.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 17:30

  • UC Berkeley Student Housing Co-Op Bans White People From Common Areas
    UC Berkeley Student Housing Co-Op Bans White People From Common Areas

    A UC Berkeley off-campus housing co-op has banned white people from entering common spaces in order to protect people of color (POC) from so-called “white violence.”

    As first reported by The College Fix and confirmed elsewhere, house rules for the 30-room “Person of Color Theme House” leaked to Reddit read: “Many POC moved here to be able to avoid white violence and presence, so respect their decision of avoidance if you bring white guests.”

    “White guests are not allowed in common spaces,” reads the rule under “Guests in Common Spaces.”

    Via Berkeley subreddit

    The top comments in the notoriously liberal subreddit noted the obvious racism:

    “In order to beat racism we must first become racists ourselves!” wrote one user, /u/Educational-Net303.

    Also banned from the POC House:

    “Avoid bringing parents/family members that express bigotry,” adding “Queer, Black, and Indigenous members should not have to avoid common spaces because of homophobic or racist parents/family members.”

    Via The College Fix

    Of note, the facility is not run by UC Berkeley, as Assistant Director of Media Relations Adam Ratliff told the outlet, adding that it’s “not the role of the campus” to comment on what they do.

    “As this involves an off-campus non-affiliated landlord, the campus has no ability under the Code of Student Conduct to discipline the landlord,” said Ratliff.

    The Person of Color Theme House, a five-story, 30-room home that can accommodate up to 56 students, exists to serve “low-income, first generation, immigrant and marginalized students of color.”

    It’s part of the Berkeley Student Cooperative, a nonprofit housing cooperative established to provide affordable housing to Bay-area college students.

    Since it was established in 2016, the POC house has faced its share of internal problems.

    One former member wrote in a Medium article that the house has become known for its “call-out culture” perpetuated by “the lack of intersectionality.”

    “Several members have been criticized for being white/white passing, aligning themselves with whiteness, or allowing white violence in the house,” she wrote.

    Stephen Ross, cooperative experience manager for the Berkeley Student Cooperative, told The College Fix that “neither the BSC nor the POC house has an official policy” excluding white guests from common spaces. -The College Fix

    “White people can and do live in POC house, but the focus for POC house is providing a safe and supportive living environment for people of color,” said Ross – though he added that each of the 20 BSC houses “have their own culture and practices” that develop ovver time, adding that members actively work toward “not making Whiteness central to the experience for members living in the house.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 17:00

  • Illegal Transaction?: Shaquille O'Neal's Crypto-Mixer Move Just Crossed The Line…
    Illegal Transaction?: Shaquille O’Neal’s Crypto-Mixer Move Just Crossed The Line…

    Authored by Scott Hill via BombThrower.com,

    Basketball Entrepreneur, Shaquille “Big Sexy” O’Neal just crossed the line.

    Here’s the Etherscan page for Shaq’s NFT project showing the sanctioned, illegal transaction.

    The US Treasury announced sanctions applied to Tornado Cash transactions beginning last Monday.

    I’m not suggesting that Shaq’s done anything wrong, but this is an example of why the Treasury’s attack on Crypto mixing services via sanctions is unworkable.

    Who Gets Invited To The Crypto Mixers?

    Mixers are tools within the Cryptocurrency ecosystem that allow users to deposit tokens, combine them with other people’s tokens, and then withdraw to an unrelated wallet. They can be used simply for privacy reasons, or it can be used to hide the tracks of illicit funds.

    The US Treasury was obviously focused on the latter when it sanctioned Tornado Cash, with an estimated $455M washed through Tornado over the last few years by North Korean hacker group Lazarus. 

    I’m not defending the ability to hack and launder money, but you can walk the line if one can actually be laid down. Lazarus has been a scourge on the Crypto industry since at least 2017 and I would love nothing better than to see them dealt with effectively and severely. But that’s the problem…

    The solution to Crypto hacks needs to be effective or there’s no point.

    According to Chainalysis’ research on the topic, for every criminal use of crypto mixers, there appears to be a legitimate use. So a large part of the pushback on this round of sanctions is to do with preserving privacy tools in an increasingly aggressive surveillance state that jeopardizes citizens’ legitimate need for privacy in everyday life. 

    Privacy is normal and needs to be defended.

    Among notable legitimate and extremely necessary uses of privacy tools that have come out since the sanctions announcement are Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin using Tornado Cash to donate money to Ukrainians. This reduced their risk. Blockchain developers can also use untraceable funds to seed new projects without exposing their entire net worth.

    However, this article isn’t about privacy. There’s plenty written about that elsewhere. I’m talking about why sanctions aren’t the right tool for this problem. 

    Sanctions Didn’t Stop Party Crasher Lazarus

    This isn’t the first mixer the US has sanctioned. In May, the Treasury sanctioned Blender.io, another mixing service that had also been used extensively by Lazarus group. In that case, the sanctions worked well to shut down the service.

    They had no meaningful effect on the Lazarus group who simply kept hacking and moved to the next mixer.

    Blender.io was a custodial mixer. Users deposited funds into a centralized custodian who would then mix your funds and return them. The people running the service were targeted by sanctions and shut down. 

    Tornado Cash is structured differently. Rather than having a centralized custodian making decisions it’s simply a smart contract hosted on the Ethereum blockchain which holds funds prior to mixing and withdrawal. It’s just a piece of code that will continue running indefinitely and doing what it was designed to do. No one that can take it down. It is an immutable smart contract. 

    Tornado Cash is Bitcoinesque. It cannot be changed. It cannot be removed. 

    The Treasury seems to not really be aware of this distinction. The actual text of the sanctions has identified a range of wallet addresses associated with the smart contract as being prohibited to transact with. Treasury hasn’t identified any specific people or organizations, other than a website that hosts a front end for accessing the service. That makes this the first time the Treasury has sanctioned code, rather than people or corporations.

    Enforcement: “Buzzkill” US Treasury Just Doesn’t Get It

    How will this be enforced? No one really knows, but so far Circle has frozen USDC currently held in the smart contract awaiting withdrawal. Circle’s CEO doesn’t seem very happy about being forced to do this. There are also significant amounts of Ethereum and Wrapped Bitcoin also held in the smart contract.

    BitGo, the issuer of Wrapped Bitcoin can’t freeze their tokens and Ethereum also can’t be frozen at the protocol layer. The only logical way that US based companies like Coinbase can comply with sanctions is to prevent tokens that have been through Tornado Cash from being deposited onto their platforms.

    Which raises a huge issue. Because tokens can’t be frozen on the protocol layer, these tokens are free to move around in the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem prior to deposit on Coinbase. Regular users will have a very hard time knowing whether or not tokens that they receive are going to be accepted with major US based companies.

    We don’t have any guidance from the Treasury on how this is supposed to be dealt with, but I imagine there are currently extremely frustrated calls between Crypto exchanges and the Treasury department trying to sort out this issue without breaking Ethereum.

    The Treasury department might have just accidentally broken Ethereum fungibility.

    Do I think that is the likely outcome here? No, not at all. But it does speak to how recklessly uniformed and uncaring the US Treasury is becoming regarding the collateral damage of using sanctions to solve every problem. There doesn’t appear to have been any consultation with major Washington based Crypto education groups like Coin Center and the DeFi Education Fund.

    Will the US Treasury be educated enough to make restrictions and reform possible. We don’t yet know how strict the Treasury will instruct US corporations to be about blocking deposits from Tornado Cash. Using blockchain records, it’s perfectly possible to trace Tornado Cash use through several transactions. It’s less possible to do the same through a DeFi system which inherently mixes up funds so that their origin can’t be ascertained.  

    The maximum enforcement would be to block all deposits from DeFi because some deposits would have touched Tornado Cash at some point in time.

    This highlights how useless sanctioning a medium of exchange really is. Usually transactions with a particular party are the sanctioned activity. This is what it means to have effective measures against cybercrime. These sanctions won’t shut down Tornado Cash and they won’t stop Lazarus Group. They have the potential to cripple Ethereum, if they’re applied strictly. It’s fundamentally a losing game. The USTreasury is playing whack-a-mole with privacy tools. 

    So what happens when a government enacts an absurd law that can’t be enforced and doesn’t really make any sense?

    People immediately break the law.

    Guilty By Association: Shaq, Fallon And Others Get Dusted

    Numerous celebrities and notable Crypto figures including Shaq, Jimmy Fallon, Brian Armstrong the CEO of Coinbase, Crypto Exchange cold wallets and numerous others got dusted by Tornado Cash transactions.

    Dust attacks aren’t new, they’ve been around as long as I’ve been in Crypto. They describe when a wallet gets sent useless or harmful tokens without their consent. There is no need to accept Crypto transactions, they just show up when someone sends them to your wallet. 

    Someone with a balance held in Tornado Cash started sending small Ethereum transactions to a range of known celebrity wallet addresses without their approval or knowledge. On the first day of sanctions over Tornado Cash. 

    Did Shaq violated sanctions? Arguably yes.

    Sanctions violations are strict liability offenses. There doesn’t need to be any intention to perform a transaction with the sanctioned party. There doesn’t have to be any benefit gained by transaction. All that needs to be shown is that a transaction occurred.

    There is a defense that best efforts were taken to comply with sanctions. The prosecuting body will look at what steps were taken to avoid breaching sanctions, that will affect their likelihood to prosecute and the severity of the punishment. But what could Shaq have done to avoid breaching sanctions?

    There is nothing that anyone could have done to avoid breaching sanctions by receiving unsolicited Tornado Cash transactions.

    Obviously Shaq and Jimmy Fallon are not going to get prosecuted for sanctions violation because someone else sent them some Ethereum, but the fact that these celebrities will need to be excused for something that is arguably a breach of US sanctions according to the letter of the law is a big problem. 

    If The Rules Are A Bluff, What Happens Next?

    The sanctions are at best ineffective. Tornado Cash is the second mixer that has been sanctioned because it was used by Lazarus. The first set of sanctions just meant that Lazarus moved to using Tornado Cash instead of Blender.io. I imagine that due to the lack of enforceability of this round of sanctions, they won’t even stop Lazarus from using Tornado Cash as their mixer of choice. 

    Will it change how Crypto exchanges treat mixed funds? Unlikely. Major US exchanges already had a responsibility to refuse shady deposits under existing anti-money laundering provisions. There were already reports earlier this year of Coinbase refusing to credit deposits directly from mixers or funds that had recently been through a mixer. 

    What is the point of sanctioning Tornado cash if it doesn’t shut down the service or slow down Lazarus group?

    Well it will likely prevent law abiding US citizens from accessing a financial privacy tool for non-criminal purposes. Fight for the Future compared the sanctions to banning email because it can be used for phishing scams. The Cato Institute noted that “Punishing every American by going after technology is not the solution for dealing with criminals”.

    Banning mixers to stop cyber crime is like digging up roads to prevent carjackings.

    I’m much more concerned about the big picture problems with this style of enforcement. The demonstrated lack of basic understanding of how this technology works and what they are doing at the Treasury department is frankly terrifying. 

    It’s one thing to deliberately destroy Crypto ecosystems with regulation. It’s an entirely different thing to do it by accident. 

    The Ethereum blockchain is open and readable. There are numerous firms and hobbyists who monitor transactions. All eyes will be on Tornado Cash to see if it continues to operate or if the sanctions shut it down. In the day after the sanctions came into effect almost $3M moved through Tornado Cash.

    Sanctions are a powerful tool, but they are completely unsuited to dealing with decentralized or ungoverned entities like Tornado Cash. There is no one for the government to threaten here. There’s just users accessing open source code to assert their privacy. 

    If the US Government is going to bluff, I’d prefer it if the entire world couldn’t see that bluff fail in real-time. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 16:30

  • The Countries Supplying The EV Lithium Rush
    The Countries Supplying The EV Lithium Rush

    With both the demand and cost of lithium rising dramatically over the last few months, and forecast to do so into the future, this infographic from Statista’s Martin Armstrong takes a look at the countries which mine the most of the metal, and where the largest reserves are held.

    Infographic: The Countries Supplying the EV Lithium Rush | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    The shift towards electric-powered mobility has really picked up pace in recent years and is only set to intensify as bans around the world on petrol and diesel car production come into place. As data from the U.S. Geological Survey shows, Australia and Chile are the countries best positioned to capitalize on the lithium rush. In 2021, 55,000 metric tons of the metal crucial to EV battery production was mined ‘down under’ – more than double of that extracted in Chile. The South American country does however have considerably larger reserves of the natural resource, as the infographic shows.

    Important to note is that production figures for the United States were not published by the source in order to “avoid disclosing company proprietary data”. Reserves in the country are however recorded at 750,000 metric tons in 2021.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 16:00

  • Why Home Prices Haven't Crashed Yet
    Why Home Prices Haven’t Crashed Yet

    Submitted by EPB Macro Research’s Eric Basmajian, 

    Real home prices are going to fall, and it’s going to cause a massive negative wealth effect. Real home prices are much more impactful for the wealth effect compared to nominal home prices. Many people invest in real estate as an asset to beat inflation. If inflation is 10% and your home goes up 15%, you beat inflation by 5%, and thus, you are 5% wealthier in real terms. If inflation is 10% and your home goes up 5%, you lost 5% of your purchasing power in an asset that is supposed to give you protection, and you are actually worse off.

    Also, real home prices are the best measure of the true performance of real estate as an asset class across long periods of time. You can’t compare home prices today to those in the 1970s without looking at them in real or inflation-adjusted terms.

    This chart shows real home prices since the 1970s, and you can see that real home prices have declined several times, mainly around the recessionary periods.

    The 2000s recession was an outlier in which home prices rose in real terms.

    The financial crisis in 2008 caused home prices to decline by almost 30% in real terms. It took until 2021 to regain the peak in real home prices in 2006, 15 years!

    Over the last ten years, real home price growth averaged 4.5%, which is way higher than the 20-year average of 2%.

    Consumers and investors became accustomed to home prices rising sharply above the rate of inflation and a source of wealth building, particularly when using high amounts of leverage and mortgage debt.

    With the feeling that home prices would always rise above inflation and nearly 5% above inflation, a prevailing sentiment was born that you could leverage your way to wealth. But now, real home prices are starting to decline.

    One month is certainly not a trend, but this is where the EPB process becomes very powerful and why studying leading indicators is critical when determining what noise is and what’s the start of a new trend.

    There are several key leading indicators of real home prices, but this video covers just three: the months’ supply of new homes, the spread between 30YR mortgage rates and 30YR Treasury rates, and the growth rate of real M2. All three indicators imply the rate of real home price appreciation is likely to decline in the months ahead.

    This video explains the data behind these leading indicators and real home prices.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 15:30

  • Restaurants In Lockdown-Loving, High-Crime Cities Still Reeling While Others Thrive
    Restaurants In Lockdown-Loving, High-Crime Cities Still Reeling While Others Thrive

    More than two and a half years after the Covid-19 pandemic reached America, there’s a enormous divide among America’s restaurant markets. In deep-blue cities that embraced lockdowns, the number of diners is still far below pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, restaurant businesses are prospering in states that were quickest to reject Covidian authoritarianism.  

    That’s the finding of a Fox News report centered on data from OpenTable, a company that helps more than 60,000 restaurants worldwide manage reservations, payments and operations.  

    Civil unrest and crime have likely played a defining role too. It’s probably no coincidence that the worst-performing city — Minneapolis — was at the epicenter of the George Floyd riots that ravaged deep-blue cities. Strikingly, the number of average daily diners in Minneapolis is still less than half what the city enjoyed in pre-Covid, pre-Floyd 2019.  

    “We’re just getting killed in Minneapolis,” restauranteur Greg Urban told Fox News. “People don’t feel safe. They don’t feel safe coming to Minneapolis. It’s a public safety issue right now.” 

    Happily, Urban is geographically — and politically — diversified, with nightspots in Austin, Pensacola and Lakeland, Florida too. 

    The 10 worst cities represent a who’s who of cringe-inducing, high-crime, vaccination-forcing, mask-adoring metropolises, with the likes of San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Philadelphia rounding out the top five losers. 

    Meanwhile, the list of the 10 best-performing restaurant cities includes four from Florida which, under Governor DeSantis, helped set an example that emboldened other red-state governors to shift policies and begin rising out of the depths of public health madness. Underscoring a clear Sunbelt trend, Texas and Arizona placed two cities apiece. 

    10 Worst Lockdown-Hammered Restaurant Cities (Change in Daily Diners: July 2022 vs July 2019)

    1. Minneapolis (-54.3%)

    2. San Francisco (-45.9%)

    3. Portland (-45.2%)

    4. Seattle (-40.8%)

    5. Philadelphia (-39.2%)

    6. New York (-37.9%)

    7. St. Louis (-28.2%)

    8. Washington, DC (-27.3%)

    9. Baltimore (-24.9%)

    10. Chicago (-22.8%)  

    10 Best-Performing Restaurant Cities (Change in Daily Diners: July 2022 vs July 2019)

    1. Las Vegas (+35.7%)

    2. Fort Lauderdale (+34.0%)

    3. Miami (+32.8%)

    4. Austin (+27.3%)

    5. Naples (+25.4%)

    6. Tampa (+22.3%)

    7. Nashville (19.2%)

    8. San Antonio (+18.6%)

    9. Scottsdale (+18.0%)

    10. Phoenix (+14.3%)

    Source: OpenTable via Fox News 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/20/2022 – 15:00

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