Aug 20

Today’s News 20th August 2022

  • Something Is Looming Geopolitically, And We Better Start Taking It Seriously
    Something Is Looming Geopolitically, And We Better Start Taking It Seriously

    Authored by ‘Sundance’ via The Last Refuge blog,

    As a result of western governments’ taking collective action under the auspices of a ‘climate change’ agenda, we are on the cusp of something happening with ramifications that no one has ever seen before.

    Western governments’, specifically western Europe, North America (U.S-Canada) and Australia/New Zealand, are intentionally trying to lower economic activity to meet the intentional drop in energy production.

    This is the core consequence of the Build Back Better agenda as promoted by the World Economic Forum.

    Anyone who says there is a reference point to determine both the short-term and long-term consequences is lying. There is no precedent for nations’ collectively and intentionally trying to reduce economic activity.

    Hiding behind the false justification that current inflation is driven by too much demand, central banks in Europe, the Bank of England, Bank of Canada and U.S. federal reserve are raising interest rates.  The outcome we are currently feeling is an intentional economic contraction and global recession.

    The Build Back Better monetary policy is successfully shrinking western economic activity; however, the impacted nations that produce goods for markets in North America and Europe, specifically southeast Asia, Japan and China, are not raising interest rates in an effort to try and offset the drop in demand.  China has announced they are dropping their central bank rates in a desperate effort to lower costs and keep their export dependent economy working.

    Underneath all of this, is a drop in energy production in the same nations trying to lower economic activity.  The political policymakers are attempting to manage this process without informing the citizens of the unspoken goal.   Shortages of oil, coal and natural gas are self-inflicted problems, all part of the BBB agenda.

    Beyond the massive increases in energy costs, which is the true source of inflation and a direct/intentional outcome of the BBB effort, Europe is now facing a looming winter without the energy resources to heat homes and sustain people.  Things are going to be very uncomfortable in Europe this winter as roaming brownouts are now predicted.

    As the collective west attempts to, using their words, “manage the transition,” they do not have mechanisms to control an outcome of this magnitude.  It is simply too big a situation to manage.  Where the rubber meets the road, the think-tanks and high-minded climate change ideologues do not have the ability to manage a transition and still meet the needs of people.  Beyond the esoteric thinking, there are real consequences from these actions.

    Many people have discussed the potential for longer-term food shortages and recently, shorter-term winter heating.  However, beyond that, the downstream geopolitical consequences are seemingly being ignored.  Instead, what we see is an effort to keep pretending the climate change ends will justify the means (disruption of energy production).

    In this connected world, when the western nations stop buying things, we find ourselves domestically with economic trouble.  Businesses fail, unemployment rises, financial stress ripples throughout the economy, dependency on government subsidy increases and real pain is felt.  However, beyond the domestic issues the supplier nations run into even bigger problems.

    Unemployment in Malaysia, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and even China, creates an entirely different set of regional stability issues on a geopolitical level.

    There is no precedent for this.  Never before in the history of industrialized nations has any government intentionally tried to lower its economic activity.  It has never been done with intent before because within the contraction nations get more poor, people suffer.

    Not only has no single nation ever tried to intentionally shrink its wealth, but there is no precedent whatsoever for an alliance of nations to join together with the same purpose. While this might seem like an academic economic modeling exercise, unfortunately it is very real.  What I am describing is happening right now, and we had better start talking about it before the unforeseen consequences start to become a crisis.

    In North America (U.S-Canada), Europe and Australia, there will continue to be massive increases in food prices as a result of the collapse in energy production.  Beyond the western nations there will be food shortages as a result of lowered harvest yields and less industrial food production.  This is not controversial.

    It is also not controversial that regions with harsh winter climates are going to be paying much more for scarce heating resources.

    That being accepted, what happens geopolitically, even militarily, when the entire global economy starts to feel the impacts from western nation economic contraction on a scale -created by collective action- that has never been seen before.

    I have no idea what that big picture consequence looks like, but whatever “that” is, will be happening at the same time as people everywhere will be more desperate as an outcome of their economic position.  I don’t have the answers, but I sure as hell can see the problem coming.

    Political leadership in the aforementioned western nations are seemingly, perhaps intentionally, keeping people distracted with domestic shiny things to occupy time.  However, someone needs to start talking about, and seriously challenging, the big picture consequence of this Build Back Better future, before it’s too late.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 23:40

  • ATF Shows Up At People's Homes To Confiscate Rare Breed FRT-15 Triggers
    ATF Shows Up At People’s Homes To Confiscate Rare Breed FRT-15 Triggers

    A new report from the gun blog website AmmoLand Shooting Sports News claims that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents have shown up at the homes of “multiple people” to confiscate previously legal forced reset triggers for AR-15 style rifles that were recently classified as “machine guns.” 

    According to the report, it is unknown how the ATF acquired the customers’ information – though the owners in question acquired their triggers via Gun Broker or the Rare Breed Triggers website.

    Rare Breed Triggers FRT – Animation from RARE BREED TRIGGERS on Vimeo.

    “It is possible the ATF received the customers’ information from credit card processors or shipping companies,” AmmoLand said, adding the federal agency had received customer information from Authorize.net and Stamps.com to track people who’ve bought 80% lowers from gun parts kits manufacturer Polymer80. 

    A person named “Paul Britton Finch” is allegedly one of those gun owners who got a knock on the door from ATF agents. 

    “Just a heads up, I got a visit today from the AFT for a trigger I bought from gunbroker and one from Rare Breed directly…hide your dogs, ladies and gentlemen. They’re comin’ a knocking,” Finch said in a post in what appears to be a gun forum. 

    He continued: “I don’t want to say much more on here because they [ATF] do infact watch this group and who posts what information. so take what you will of it. They’re out there with all the information you used to buy them with and enough to prosecute you if they want to push it. Yeah it sucks, but that’s the reality of it right now.” 

    Finch provided pictures of the special agent’s identification card who visited his home that served him with a “warning notice: you may be in violation of federal law.” The notice was dated Aug. 16. 

    We have thoroughly covered the ATF’s battle against Rare Breed Triggers. The gun parts company once legally sold a drop-in trigger for an AR-15-style rifle that forces the trigger to reset at such a high speed that it increases the weapon’s fire rate. 

    Meanwhile, people are learning to 3D print these triggers, posing an even larger challenge for the ATF.

    Under the Biden administration, the ATF has waged war against gun companies, parts manufacturers, and law-abiding citizens. 

    Last month, a Delaware man was stunned when special agents rang his doorbell and asked if they could do an inventory audit of his legally-obtained firearms. 

    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.

    One year later, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to ban importing, selling, manufacturing, or transferring semi-automatic assault weapons. However, it has no chance of passing in the Senate. 

    Meanwhile, the online gun community is quickly accelerating the 3D printing technology of guns that can be entirely printed at home, even the plastic ammo. We’ve pointed out that others have printed weapons at home for under $350, while one company in Austin, Texas, unveiled the 0% lower earlier this year. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 23:20

  • These Are The 10 Biggest Military Spending Nations In The World
    These Are The 10 Biggest Military Spending Nations In The World

    As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has continued, military spending and technology has come under the spotlight as the world tracked Western arms shipments and watched how HIMAR rocket launchers and other weaponry affected the conflict.

    But, as Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte details below, developing, exporting, and deploying military personnel and weaponry costs nations hundreds of billions every year. In 2021, global military spending reached $2.1 trillion, rising for its seventh year in a row.

    Using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), this visualization shows which countries spent the most on their military in 2021, along with their overall share of global military spending.

    Which Countries Spend the Most on Military?

    The United States was the top nation in terms of military expenditure, spending $801 billion to make up almost 38% of global military spending in 2021. America has been the top military spending nation since SIPRI began tracking in 1949, making up more than 30% of the world’s military spending for the last two decades.

    U.S. military spending increased year-over-year by $22.3 billion, and the country’s total for 2021 was more than every other country in the top 10 combined.

     

    The next top military spender in 2021 was China, which spent $293.4 billion and made up nearly 14% of global military spend. While China’s expenditure is still less than half of America’s, the country has increased its military spending for 27 years in a row.

     

    In fact, China has the largest total of active military personnel, and the country’s military spending has more than doubled over the last decade.

    While Russia was only the fifth top nation by military spending at $65.9 billion in 2021, it was among the higher ranking nations in terms of military spending as a share of GDP. Russia military expenditures amounted to 4.1% of its GDP, and among the top 10 spending nations, was only beaten by Saudi Arabia whose spending was 6.6% of its GDP.

    Military Collaboration Since the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has resulted in seismic geopolitical shifts, kicking off a cascade of international military shipments and collaboration between nations. The security assistance just sent by the U.S. to Ukraine has totaled $8.2 billion since the start of the war, and has shown how alliances can help make up for some domestic military spending in times of conflict.

    Similarly, Russia and China have deepened their relationship, sharing military intelligence and technology along with beginning joint military exercises at the end of August, alongside other nations like India, Belarus, Mongolia, and Tajikistan.

    Since China’s breakthrough in hypersonic missile flight a year ago, Russia has now been testing its own versions of the technology, with Putin mentioning Russia’s readiness to export weaponry he described as, “years, or maybe even decades ahead of their foreign counterparts”.

    Sanctions and Energy Exports: New Weapons in Modern Warfare

    Along with advanced weaponry, sanctions and energy commodities have become new tools of modern cold warfare. As Western economic sanctions attempted to cripple Russia’s economy following its invasion, Russian gas and oil supplies have been limited and forced to be paid in rubles in retaliation.

    Global trade has been turned into a new battlefield with offshore assets and import dependencies as the attack vectors. Along with these, cyberattacks and cybersecurity are an increasingly complex, obscure, and important part of national military and security.

    Whether or not Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ends in 2022, the rise in geopolitical tensions and conflict this year will almost certainly result in a global increase in military spending.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 22:40

  • Details Of New Iran Nuclear Deal Approved By Tehran: Report
    Details Of New Iran Nuclear Deal Approved By Tehran: Report

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    As the US is considering Iran’s response to an EU proposal to revive the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, The Cradle reported on Thursday the details of the agreement Tehran put forward. The Cradle report cited an unnamed Iranian source who said that the deal includes comprehensive sanctions relief for Iran and a series of measures meant to deter the US from withdrawing from the agreement in the future.

    Iran has to shut down some centrifuges to bring its nuclear program back into the limits of the JCPOA. The source said that the centrifuges will be left in a state such that if the US pulls out of the deal again, the centrifuges could be restarted within a year.

    Iran’s FM Hossein Amir-Abdollahian with EU’s Josep Borell, AFP/Getty Images

    “The platforms of the centrifuges will not be destroyed and their connections and electricity are collected, which brings our rebuildability to under one year and is a kind of guarantee,” the source said.

    The source said that altogether, there are 21 guarantees written into the deal to alleviate Iran’s concerns about the US withdrawing from the agreement. Under one guarantee, if the US leaves the deal, there will be a three-year and one-month grace period during which foreign companies will be unaffected by sanctions.

    It’s not clear if any guarantees that are reliant on US action would be enforceable on a future administration. Since the JCPOA is not a treaty, the next administration will not be bound by the agreement, and that issue has been a significant factor in the talks between the US and Iran.

    During earlier negotiations in 2021, when the two sides were close to a deal, Iran wanted President Biden to give a guarantee that the US would stay in the agreement just for his term in office, but he refused, and the talks stalled.

    According to The Cradle report, the ball is once again in Washington’s court. If the US approves the deal, its implementation will take place in stages. The first step would be the signing of the agreement in Vienna. Then, the US would cancel three executive orders signed by President Trump that withdrew the US from the JCPOA.

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    Iran would then have 60 days to test the sanctions relief by selling oil to Western countries and accessing Iranian funds that were frozen overseas. Sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will remain in place, although some will be eased by allowing Western business with Iranian companies that make “transactions” with the IRGC.

    The Iranian government declined to verify the details of The Cradle report, but Iranian media has said the main outstanding issue with the US was over “guaranteeing the continuation” of the JCPOA. It’s not clear when the US will respond to Iran’s proposal, and the Biden administration is coming under pressure from Israel and Iran hawks in Washington to scrap the negotiations altogether.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 22:20

  • Streaming Viewership Tops Cable TV For First Time, Nielsen Says
    Streaming Viewership Tops Cable TV For First Time, Nielsen Says

    For the first time, streaming platforms surpassed cable as the most popular way to consume shows, live broadcasts, and movies, according to new data from Nielsen. 

    It was only a matter of time before streaming platforms, led by Netflix, would dominate how Americans watch television. In July, Nielsen revealed US households that streamed content accounted for 34.8% share of total consumption versus 34.4% for cable. 

    Source: Axios

    Netflix continues to be the most used streaming platform, accounting for 7.7% of the total share of consumption in the month. YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ increased their share last month to 7.3%, 3%, and 1.8%, respectively. HBO Max was around 1%. 

    Streaming usage has surged over the years and was supercharged during the virus pandemic lockdowns, though Netflix earlier this year disclosed in a first-quarter earnings report that years of blowout subscriber beats have ended with the first subscriber loss for a quarter since 2011. In the second quarter, the streaming giant reported another loss of subscribers. 

    Also, consumers are grappling with price hikes across many streaming platforms. Netflix and Disney have raised their prices this year, leaving consumers with tough choices. 

    Infographic: Price Hikes Leave Streaming Customers With Tough Choices | Statista

    Nielsen reported earlier this year almost 60% of Americans using streaming devices have three or more video subscriptions, and with mounting inflation and negative real wage growth — some consumers are cutting back on the most expensive packages. 

    Looking at the age gap in TV consumption and more streaming platforms acquiring live sports broadcasting rights, the future does look bright for streaming industry.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 22:00

  • Inflation Sends Car Ownership Costs Soaring To Over $10,000 Per Year: AAA
    Inflation Sends Car Ownership Costs Soaring To Over $10,000 Per Year: AAA

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

    Owning and operating a new car has become increasingly more expensive over the last year, driven predominantly by inflation and rising fuel prices, according to the American Automobile Association’s (AAA’s) annual “Your Driving Costs” report.

    Gas stations serve customers at peak prices in Irvine, Calif., on Feb. 23, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

    The overall average cost to own and operate a new car in 2022 is $10,728 on an annual basis, or $894 per month, marking a considerable increase from 2021 when owning a new car cost $9,666 annually, or $805.50 per month, according to AAA.

    That marks a nearly 11 percent increase from last year.

    AAA’s report (pdf) looked at 45 models in nine vehicle categories to come up with the average annual cost of owning and operating a new vehicle.

    AAA selects top-selling, mid-priced models and compares them across six categories: fuel, maintenance and repair and tire costs, insurance, license/registration/taxes, depreciation, and finance charges.

    The study, which does not account for used car prices, assumes a five-year ownership period, with the vehicle being driven 15,000 miles annually, or a total of 75,000 miles.

    It found that it would cost drivers of gas-powered vehicles approximately $2,700 a year to fuel up, while owners of electric vehicles that charge at home would need around $600 a year to charge that vehicle to cover the same distance, marking a difference of $2,100 annually.

    Fuel costs in the study were projected based on a weighted average of the first five months of this year, during which time they cost drivers about 17.99 cents per mile or $3.999 per gallon.

    ‘Purchase Price Not the Whole Story’

    However, gas prices have drastically increased since early March, in part because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing supply chain crisis, meaning Americans are now having to splash out more if they want to own a vehicle. AAA noted that the cost of vehicle ownership has increased accordingly since its Your Driving Costs evaluation was completed.

    As of Aug. 18, the national average price for gasoline was $3.94 per gallon, up more than $1 per gallon compared with August 2019 and 2020, albeit much lower than the $5 per gallon prices seen in June.

    “You’re usually focused on the purchase price and that is not the whole story. Not even close,” Greg Brannon, director of automotive engineering for AAA, told USA Today. “I think [$10,000 is] a number that will surprise a lot of people.”

    “We’re all feeling that at the pump,” Brannon said. “That is driving a big piece of [the annual price increase], and particularly with Americans’ desire to drive things like pickup trucks that don’t get good fuel economy.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 21:40

  • Republicans Call For Pelosi To End House Proxy Voting
    Republicans Call For Pelosi To End House Proxy Voting

    On Friday, the House of Representatives passed the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, a $420 billion package that funds 87,000 more IRS agents, raises corporate taxes, throws hundreds of billions of dollars at climate projects and imposes a new tax on stock buybacks. 

    There was plenty at stake in a bill that proponents are calling “historic,” and yet 158 House members — more than a third of the body — didn’t even bother showing up for the vote. Rather, they were content to take advantage of proxy voting rules that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi controversially ushered in during the pandemic and still clings to like microchip stocks.

    To use proxy voting, House members must submit a signed statement to the House clerk declaring they are “unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency.” In reality, members are using the scheme to take early recesses, schmooze donors and campaign for office. 

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    Despite the fact that only a few hardcore Branch Covidians still think Covid-19 presents a “public health emergency,” Pelosi on Aug. 9 extended proxy voting rules until Sept 26. Serving as an accomplice in the farce, House Sergeant at Arms William Walker continues to certify that a public health emergency exists. 

    Even The New York Times has spotlighted the ulterior motives: 

    Perhaps no one has benefited more from the arrangement than Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who recently informed lawmakers that proxy voting would be in effect for the remainder of the summer. It has allowed Ms. Pelosi, whose majority is so slim that she can afford to lose no more than four Democrats if every member is present and voting, to all but ensure that absences alone do not cost her pivotal support.

    Central Texas House Republican Chip Roy decried the state of affairs in a colorful text to the Austin American-Statesman: 

    “It’s bullshit the Democrats can just call a last-minute vote knowing half their caucus are free to vote by proxy. And it’s perhaps even higher level bullshit that many Republicans (even ones who signed litigation challenging it) similarly proxy vote and stay on vacation while those of us trying to defend any semblance of fidelity to the Constitution and respect of the institution to look each other in the eye and treat our offices with respect — and it’s exquisite next level bullshit that the Supreme Court hid behind speech and debate to avoid the plain text, obvious unconstitutionality of not being present to do our jobs.”

    Chip Roy represents parts of San Antonio, Austin and the Texas Hill Country (Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters)

    In January, the Supreme Court chose not to hear an appeal by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who’d argued proxy voting is unconstitutional. Earlier, in a 3-0 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said courts had no jurisdiction to rule on House procedures, which are adopted under the Constitution’s speech or debate clause. The court didn’t rule on whether proxies count toward a quorum. 

    That lawsuit originally had more than 150 Republican House members listed as plaintiffs. In the end, there were just two: McCarthy and Roy. While others still supported the suit, many removed their names after they’d used proxy voting themselves and reasoned it wouldn’t help the case to keep plaintiffs who’d taken advantage of the very rule they were challenging. 

    Austin Republican representative Michael McCaul told the Statesman that proxy voting is having an insidious effect: 

    “The broader concern is that it encourages disengagement by members — hearings and markups are nearly empty with little attendance. There is no reason to extend remote voting. It’s time we return to regular order — members should be here in D.C. working for their constituents.”

    While this tweet doesn’t actually show proxy voting, it does illustrate the disengaged culture that McCaul spoke of, as an Arizona Democrat casually registers a committee vote from some leisurely setting far from DC:

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    The Senate hasn’t adopted a proxy voting provision. The House rule does not allow a “general proxy.” Absent members must provide exact instruction on each vote. Present members can vote on behalf of up to 10 others.

    In the military, Democratic New Jersey Rep. Albio Sires would be derisively called “retired on active duty.” Cruising through his final term, the 71-year-old voted entirely by proxy from January through April.   

    As mentioned earlier, many Republicans are indulging in the rule, too. For example, several GOP members declared they were unable to physically attend proceedings because of the purported health emergency, only to instead attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).  

    Pelosi may not have the power to extend proxy voting much longer. “If Republicans earn back the majority, proxy voting will be eliminated on Day One,” a spokesman for McCarthy said in January. 

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    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 21:20

  • Watch: Border Patrol Unlocking Gates For Illegals; Rand Paul Says Time For "Zero Tolerance Policy"
    Watch: Border Patrol Unlocking Gates For Illegals; Rand Paul Says Time For “Zero Tolerance Policy”

    Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

    Video of Border Patrol agents unlocking a gate in Eagle Pass and allowing illegal immigrants to pour through after the National Guard had locked it prompted Senator Rand Paul to call for a ‘zero tolerance policy’ to be implemented.

    Screenshot

    Fox News reporter Bill Melugin tweeted footage of the incident, noting “For the first time, we witnessed the TX National Guard close & lock a gate on private property at a major crossing area in Eagle Pass, denying entry to migrants who just crossed illegally & expected to be let in. Border Patrol then came w/ a key & let them in for processing.”

    Meliugin also noted “Border Patrol opening gates etc to allow migrants in is not new. They have to process migrants on US soil per federal law. What’s new is TX is now closing the gate & denying entry at this major crossing location. Always open in months past, including this video I shot in May.”

    Commenting on the video, Senator Rand Paul stated “The Democrats love illegal immigration, and so they have not been willing to change the laws.”

    “Anybody who is caught in the act of coming in should be immediately placed back on the other side. No process, nothing. If you were caught breaking in, not through a normal portal of entry, you should go back on the other side of the river immediately,” Paul asserted.

    The Senator further explained that he would like to see more incentives for legal immigration as a way of stemming the influx of undocumented migrants.

    “We should put more resources to allow more people to come and apply in a normal fashion at the port of entry. But I would have zero tolerance.”

    “Once you did that for about six months, and while I was not opposed to the wall, I think you could do it with helicopters and with maybe 50 stations along the border, and you could have it done in a month,” Paul said:

    Watch:

     

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 21:00

  • Federal Government To Stop Paying For COVID Shots, Tests, & Treatments
    Federal Government To Stop Paying For COVID Shots, Tests, & Treatments

    The Biden administration is starting to transition the federal government away from paying for Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments, with the shift likely to materialize this fall.    

    “One of the things we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about in the last many months…is getting us out of that acute emergency phase where the US government is buying the vaccines, buying the treatments, buying the diagnostic tests,” White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said at a US Chamber of Commerce Foundation event on Tuesday. 

    “My hope is that in 2023, you’re going to see the commercialization of almost all of these products,” Jha added. “Some of that is actually going to begin this fall, in the days and weeks ahead.” Earlier this year, a White House request for another $10 billion in pandemic response funding stalled in Congress. 

    On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that, on Aug. 30, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will host a meeting of pharmaceutical companies, state health departments and pharmacies to start sorting out how to make the transition, which also include regulatory adjustments.

    Referring to the broader transition, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America SVP Anne McDonald Pritchett told the Journal “there are issues of reimbursement, equitable access to vaccines and treatment, and distribution that need to be resolved.” 

    “Resolving the issue of equitable access” loosely translates to figuring out how to still give many tests, vaccines and treatments away to the uninsured and others — so drug companies will still be reaping some benefit from governmental redistribution of wealth where Covid-19 is concerned. 

    The federal government has already stopped buying monoclonal antibody treatments, such as Eli Lilly’s bebtelovimab. The list price is $2,100 a dose, and Lilly is working with HHS to transition to direct sales to health care providers. At the same time, “Lilly is coordinating with the US government to identify solutions so that uninsured, lower-income individuals can access bebtelovimab,” an Eli Lilly spokeswoman told Bloomberg. 

    Pfizer and Moderna racked up $79 billion in Covid vaccine sales in 2021 alone, the Journal reports, with sales juiced by public health officials’ false claims of efficacy, coupled with coercive vaccination requirements imposed by governments, schools and employers. 

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    Moving forward, Covid-associated prices will be subject to negotiations among drug-makers, pharmacy benefit managers and insurance companies. Kaiser Family Foundation executive vice president Larry Levitt told the Journal the net effect will likely be higher prices and higher insurance premiums.

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    However, after The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that planning for the transition is getting underway in earnest, shares of vaccine makers slumped: Moderna was down 5% and Pfizer down nearly 2%. “Moderna will be at a disadvantage as the Covid-19 vaccines enter the commercial market, as it goes up against Pfizer, which has a substantially larger commercial infrastructure,” said Josh Nathan-Kazis of Barron’s. 

    While the inept government middleman was in the mix, Pfizer and Moderna were happy to churn out far more vaccines than the market demanded. Between December 2020 and mid-May of this year, US federal agencies, pharmacies and states threw out a whopping 82.1 million Covid-19 vaccine doses. 

    Meanwhile, in mid-October, the Biden administration is expected to extend the declared Covid-19 public health emergency into January 2023, ensuring midterm voters are still benefitting from expanded Medicaid coverage and higher payments to hospitals.  

    What a racket. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 20:40

  • Tent Cities Are Taking Over Vast Stretches Of Our Major Cities (And It's Only Going To Get Worse)
    Tent Cities Are Taking Over Vast Stretches Of Our Major Cities (And It’s Only Going To Get Worse)

    Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

    If brighter days are ahead for the U.S. economy, why are so many tent cities popping up all over the nation?  At this point things are so bad that even the New York Times is admitting that “America’s homelessness problem has the makings of an acute crisis”.  That article goes on to explain that our homeless population is steadily rising.  Tonight, hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans will be sleeping in tents, under bridges, in overcrowded shelters or in their vehicles.  Of course there are many that are so addicted to drugs or alcohol that they just sleep wherever they end up passing out.  This is a tragedy that is growing with each passing day, and it is only going to get worse in the months ahead as the U.S. economy slows down even more.

    Earlier today, I was truly stunned by a Fox News article about what is going on in Portland right now.  Tent cities are literally taking over entire neighborhoods, and many residents are “resorting to selling their homes” as a result…

    Residents in a Portland, Oregon, neighborhood are resorting to selling their homes and moving due to homeless encampments right outside their front doors.

    “It’s a little scary because I know there is mental illness and that concerns me,” North Portland resident Maria Inocencio told KGW8.

    Residents of North Portland said at least three families on one street have left in recent days due to the homeless camps, and KGW8 reported seeing for-sale signs up and down streets.

    Portland was once such a beautiful place, but now it has literally been transformed into a hellhole.

    Needless to say, Portland is far from alone.  From Seattle all the way down to San Diego, communities all along the west coast are being plagued by relentlessly growing encampments.  In many cases, such encampments are magnets for drug addicts and other societal outcasts.

    But this is not just a west coast problem.

    Let me give you are couple of examples.  In recent weeks, tent cities have been popping up all over Pittsburgh…

    “We want immediate action. We want to see people in homes. There’s a humane way to deal with homelessness,” said Pittsburgh City Council president Theresa Kail-Smith.

    Homeless camps are popping up all over the Northside.

    You’ll see them on the Riverfront Trail to Millvale.

    Another makeshift tent city popped up underneath the Andy Warhol Bridge.

    And in Fayetteville, North Carolina one burgeoning homeless camp recently made news because it features quite a few registered sex offenders…

    There are 843 registered sex offenders living in Cumberland County. For dozens in Fayetteville, their home is a tent alongside the road.

    Deputies in the Sheriff’s Office Sex Offender Registration Enforcement Unit (SOREU) learned the group of offenders are homeless and stay in a tent community along where the busy Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway (Highway 87) goes over Gillespie Street. Some live under the overpass while others live in a nearby field beside Gillespie Street.

    From coast to coast, this is becoming an enormous issue.

    And the truth is that it is only going to intensify as the months roll along.

    In 2008 and 2009, millions of Americans lost their jobs as the economy plunged into a major downturn.

    Once those people lost their jobs, many of them could no longer afford their homes and soon found themselves on the streets.

    I wish that we would never have to see anything like that again.  It was truly a very dark chapter in our history, and countless people had their lives turned completely upside down.

    Unfortunately, it is starting to happen again.

    As I detailed earlier this month, large companies are starting to lay off workers in substantial numbers.

    This even includes Facebook.  This week, we learned that Facebook recently used a very unique method to lay off one group of workers…

    A group of about 60 contractors who work with Facebook learned they were laid off this week after they were chosen ‘at random’ by an algorithm.

    The layoffs are the latest example of Big Tech reining in spending and hiring, as just days ago Apple let go of about 100 recruiters.

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also recently said he will weed out underperforming employees with ‘aggressive performance reviews’ as the company braces for a deep economic turndown.

    I suppose that is one way to avoid personal responsibility for firing someone.

    “Don’t blame me – it was the algorithm”.

    If a big corporation that is swimming in cash like Facebook already feels forced to “thin the herd”, I think that is a very bad sign for the employment market as a whole.

    In the months ahead, I think that there will be a lot more layoffs all over the country.

    And this comes at a time when the housing market is starting to collapse.

    Existing home sales in the United States have now fallen for six months in a row, and the numbers for the month of July were downright depressing…

    Sales of previously owned homes fell nearly 6% in July compared with June, according to a monthly report from the National Association of Realtors.

    The sales count declined to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.81 million units, the group added. It is the slowest sales pace since November 2015, with the exception of a brief plunge at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.

    Sales dropped about 20% from the same month a year ago.

    I anticipated that home sales would be lower than last July, but a 20 percent drop is pretty catastrophic.

    And as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates, it is probably inevitable that the numbers will get even worse.

    The stage is being set for a historic economic meltdown, and I would encourage you to do what you can to get prepared for it.

    2008 and 2009 were extremely bitter.

    What is coming will likely be even worse.

    And as the economy deteriorates, tent cities will continue to take over more neighborhoods all over America.

    But don’t look down on those that are living in tents.

    With a run of bad luck, you could be one of them too.

    *  *  *

    It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 20:20

  • The Great Resignation Is Coming To An End As Workers Return Back To Their Old Jobs
    The Great Resignation Is Coming To An End As Workers Return Back To Their Old Jobs

    So it turns out the grass isn’t always greener on the other side…

    That’s what many who quit during “The Great Resignation” are apparently finding out, judging by a new Bloomberg piece that is highlighting how many people are returning to the old jobs that they quit over the last couple of years.

    4.2% of all new hires for companies that advertised jobs on LinkedIn were boomerangs in Q1 this year – meaning employees that returned to their old jobs – the report says, This compares to 3.3% in 2019, showing clearly that people are returning to their old jobs. Firms are even “boasting” on places like social media, the report says. 

    Companies are writing blog posts and sharing photos of employees returning to their respective firms. Dan Black, EY’s global leader for talent attraction, commented: “On social media, you can very easily click back in and say, ‘Hey, I’d love to talk to someone again about maybe reengaging in employment with the firm.” 

    The move goes to show that the recent jobs data isn’t necessarily indicative of a strong economy, but rather could mean the opposite: that people are returning back to work because rising rates, inflation and recession are starting to mire their quality of living. 

    Rachel Bentley, a 31-year-old from Austin, Texas who went back to her job at Duo, told Bloomberg: “I just realized that startups don’t really offer a lot of family benefits that larger companies do.” By going back she was able to reconnect with old friends…oh, and double her pay. 

    Adam Kail, founder and chief executive officer of Harrison Gray Search and Consulting commented on the trend: “The hard reality is that at 30, 40, or even 50, it’s really hard to change careers and maintain the lifestyle you’re used to. I’ve seen people switch careers drastically but in a short period of time realize, ‘I’m not as happy doing something I like more, but with my pay a third of what it was before.’”

    Matthew Wragg, CEO of engineering and tech recruitment firm Gattaca, told Bloomberg he has hired 6 former employees back over the past three months. He commented: “You’ve got that cultural cognizance. They know the culture. They know the operating processes.” 

    A study of about 30,000 employees who returned to their old jobs found that employees generally performed with the same efficiency as before they left the first time. This has been prompting companies to examine why these employees left in the first place. Poor cultural fits or underperformance generally don’t solve themselves upon coming back to a firm, so companies want to be cognizant of such reasons for leaving. 

    Mark Royal, a senior director at consultant Korn Ferry, offered up tips for those wanting to go back to their old jobs: “You want to be framing it in terms of what you’ve learned in the role you’re now leaving and what you can bring back to your former employer and why that will be valuable for you both.”

    First question you should address: at what point, exactly, did you learn that free Covid money wasn’t going to last forever and how did this effect your search for a job…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 20:00

  • Oversight Democrats Demand Federal Intervention Against 'Election Misinformation'
    Oversight Democrats Demand Federal Intervention Against ‘Election Misinformation’

    Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee demanded in an Aug. 11 report that the federal government do more to respond to alleged “election misinformation,” which they say has weakened the capacity of election offices across the United States to carry out their official duties.

    Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington on June 8, 2022. (Andrew Harnik/Pool/Getty Images)

    The committee report claimed that so-called misinformation efforts led by President Donald Trump and other conservatives have overwhelmed election offices and caused an uptick in threats against election workers (pdf). To respond to this, Democrats said, “strong federal leadership is needed.”

    “Lies and confusion about the 2020 election are an ongoing threat to representative democracy,” the report states. “Misinformation and disinformation drive fraudulent efforts to cast doubt on legitimate election results, increase threats to election administrators, and create pathways for bad actors to subvert our democratic elections.”

    In the same strain, the report added, “Lies about our elections, whether intentional falsehoods or pervasive misunderstandings, endanger both the democratic system and the people who administer our elections.”

    Threats Against Election Workers Allegedly Increased

    A key focus for Democrats in the report is the ways that the alleged misinformation about the 2020 election has increased threats against election officials and made it more difficult for them to do their jobs.

    “Election officials have been continuously vilified by conspiracy theorists led by former President Donald Trump and his supporters,” the Democrats wrote in one section of the report.

    In a subsection about “disinformation campaigns” carried out by “malicious domestic actors,” the report dives deeper into Democrats’ claims on this front.

    “Leading up to the 2020 presidential election, misinformation about all aspects of the voting process surged,” they wrote. “The coronavirus pandemic created a unique environment for voter confusion as states sought to adapt their rules on registering and voting by mail, creating opportunities for online misinformation to spread widely across the country.

    “After the election, some elected officials leveraged voters’ distrust to question the election results by espousing the ‘Big Lie’—the false claim that former President Donald Trump was the true winner of the 2020 election. These elected officials carried a dangerous message: that election administrators were to blame for the ‘stolen’ election.

    “Election administrators informed the Committee that responding to the influx of threats and disinformation required hours of work and increased security that made it more difficult for them to do their jobs. The President of the Election Officials of Arizona reported to the Committee that responding to the surge of concerns about voting by mail was ‘distracting us to the point where we can’t get our real work done.’ As each new false allegation of voter fraud was released and spread online, ‘the angry phone calls and threats start anew.’

    “The President of the Florida Supervisors of Election told the Committee they ‘have been consumed with responding to numerous public records requests, debunking election myths, and increasing voter education efforts to strengthen voter confidence in the elections process.’

    “The mounting pressures facing election workers and administrators are compounded by a vicious cycle of misinformation intended to reduce public faith in our election system.”

    The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) did find in an investigation that more than 1,000 election workers reported contacts that were “hostile or harassing.”

    However, though the report implies that the uptick has caused a great deal of violence, DOJ findings showed that only about 11 percent of those reports—about 110 cases—met the threshold for federal criminal investigation.

    Election Integrity Laws Targeted

    A key critique in the Democrats’ report involved efforts by state legislatures to tighten their election security laws in the wake of continuing concerns over the integrity of the 2020 election.

    In late 2021, Democrats in Congress attempted to respond to this spurt of tighter election laws—which many Democrats characterized as a “new Jim Crow”—with a series of ill-fated bills to strengthen federal control over elections.

    Though those efforts failed one by one to win enough support in the Senate, where Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) joined Republicans in opposing several of the proposals, Democrats have remained frustrated with the litany of new laws. The Aug. 11 report makes clear that these laws are still a prime target for disgruntled Democrats.

    The report contends that “dangerous, misinformation-driven, so called ‘election integrity’ laws … threaten to undermine the voting process in future elections.”

    Since the 2020 election, the report says further down, “state legislators have … introduced and passed hundreds of election laws based on the Big Lie. Some of these bills would give partisan legislators more control over non-partisan election systems, while simultaneously making it more difficult for election officials to effectively do their jobs.”

    Throughout the report, Oversight Democrats leave no doubt as to whom they blame for the rise in “misinformation”: President Donald Trump and his conservative allies.

    “Misinformation led to violent death threats against local election officials, often inspired by comments from right-wing politicians and activists, leading many experienced officials to leave their positions,” the report claims.

    In another section, Democrats named several conservative commentators who have cast doubt on the results of the 2020 election by name.

    “In Florida, Alex Jones, Roger Stone, and Mike Lindell spread conspiracy theories about one election official for responding to false allegations of fraud,” they wrote in an effort to bolster their claim that conservatives are largely responsible for issues experienced by election officials.

    ‘Fraudulent’ Audits

    Democrats in the report targeted two election audits that took place in Arizona and New Mexico in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Despite being approved by relevant elected officials in the state, Democrats claimed these audits were “fraudulent.”

    The most important audit in the aftermath of the 2020 election took place in Maricopa County, Arizona—a blue stronghold in the state, which President Joe Biden reportedly won. Maricopa County was at the center of electoral controversies, spurring Republicans in the Arizona State House to order a full audit of the county’s results.

    The other prime audit targeted by Democrats in the report took place in Otero County, New Mexico.

    These audits, Democrats said, were “partisan” and “highlight the grave harm that could result from such efforts.”

    Committee Democrats said that the audits in Arizona and New Mexico were the result of “a network of malicious actors … encouraging elected officials across the country to undermine the integrity of their election systems.”

    “The audit [in Maricopa County],” Democrats claimed, “undermined public confidence in elections and fostered efforts across the country to suppress votes and subvert elections.”

    These “fraudulent” audits, Democrats said, “generate a feedback loop of more misinformation, increased pressure on election officials, and disruptive legislation, paving the way for bad actors to overturn valid election results.”

    They warned of the possibility of such audits increasing after the 2022 elections, which they said could further damage trust in the electoral process.

    “Fraudulent audits and unfounded refusals to certify election results may multiply during the 2022 midterms, further damaging trust in the electoral process.”

    ‘Strong Federal Action Is Needed’

    In concluding their report, Democrats argued that “strong federal action is needed” to counter these alleged threats to the democratic process they say is caused by misinformation.

    “The threat posed to American democracy by election misinformation has changed and increased dramatically in the past two years,” they wrote. “The Committee’s investigations make clear that the greatest current threat to democratic legitimacy now comes from lies by domestic actors who seek to convince Americans that their election systems are fraudulent, corrupt, or insecure.”

    They describe the “urgent need to implement a federal whole-of-government plan to support local and state election officials as they respond to misinformation and share accurate information with voters. This response must also include vigorous law enforcement efforts to protect election officials from harassment and violence.”

    Democrats then laid out a litany of suggestions for actions by both the president and Congress.

    “The President should designate a lead federal agency or office to support state and local efforts to counter election misinformation,” they wrote, in a plan reminiscent of the now-defunct Department of Homeland Security Disinformation Governance Board, which was shut down after critics blasted the planned body as reminiscent of George Orwell’s “thought police” in the novel, “1984.”

    “[The president] should direct relevant agencies to coordinate with the lead agency on overall approaches, chains of communication, and best practices for advancing accurate information about the election process.”

    The report continues with the suggestion that “all relevant federal agencies should use their authorities in coordination with the lead agency to support state and local election officials’ efforts to counter misinformation during and after elections.”

    Oversight Democrats also recommended the continuation and expansion of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) “rumor control” webpage.

    “During the 2020 election, the [CISA webpage] sought to counter election misinformation,” they wrote. “CISA should continue to update this site to respond to national misinformation narratives. Trusted local voices, however, are the most effective messengers against misinformation.”

    The report went on to say that CISA’s misinformation team should coordinate with state authorities to create state-level “rumor control” websites.

    Further, Oversight Democrats demanded that the DOJ “aggressively pursue criminal and civil enforcement against those who threaten or harass election administrators.”

    To aid in this, Democrats recommended the creation of a DOJ task force that would aid local officials in determining which federal charges they can bring against those who threaten or harass election workers.

    Finally, on a congressional front, Oversight Democrats called for expanding funding allocations to election offices across the country, in addition to strengthening already-existing laws against threatening, harassing, or harming election officials.

    “To counter malicious actors threatening violence against election officials, Congress should also enact meaningful statutory penalties for anyone who threatens election officials and administrators,” the report said.

    Failed Efforts to Change Election Law

    The items targeted by the report—allegations of misinformation, attacks on legally ordered election audits, and on election integrity legislation passed in state legislatures across the United States—fit into the larger context of a string of failed efforts by Democrats during the 117th Congress to strengthen federal control over elections.

    Election integrity bills have been a focal point for attacks by Democrats, who have said that the legislation constitutes a “new Jim Crow.”

    Over the summer and early fall of 2021, when many legislatures were considering and passing such legislation for the first time, Democrats put forward a litany of bills designed to counter this alleged threat.

    The most ambitious of these, the For the People Act, would have rendered the federal government more control over elections than it has ever had.

    Among many other provisions, that bill would declare Congress has unilateral authority over the conducting of elections in any areas where state and federal prerogatives clashed.

    The bill also would have forbidden illegal aliens from facing legal consequences for efforts to vote illegally, allowed for election day voter registration, and permitted convicted felons to vote.

    This bill, by far the most expansive piece of election legislation put forward by Democrats, passed the House along party lines but failed in the Senate after Manchin refused to lend it his support.

    Other bills, including the House-created “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act” and a compromise bill created by Manchin, would have gone substantially less far—largely reinstating parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were struck down in 2013 as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder.

    Like the For the People Act, these too failed to win enough support in the Senate to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

    Republicans have been almost unilaterally opposed to Democrats’ election schemes, which they have said are an effort at “federalizing” elections.

    Thus, even if Congress were to move ahead with a legislative response to Oversight Democrats’ claims, it is unclear whether the bill would get very far in the upper chamber.

    Because of GOP opposition, it is likely that any such effort by Democrats will fail for the foreseeable future, short of the party gaining a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 19:40

  • Adderall Supply Crunch Reported At Hundreds Of US Pharmacies
    Adderall Supply Crunch Reported At Hundreds Of US Pharmacies

    Wall Street’s favorite drug of choice is cocaine Adderall, a stimulant that allows traders, analysts, and bankers, working long hours to power through the day with maximum productivity, faces a critical “supply disruption.” 

    Bloomberg reported the National Community Pharmacists Association surveyed 358 store owners and managers about purchasing Adderall and generic versions of the brand between July 25 and Aug. 5, which revealed that 64% said the amphetamine is on backorder. 

    In late July, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the largest seller of Adderall in the US, said it encountered “supply disruptions” of the drug, though expected the situation to be resolved in the near term. 

    Symphony Health has stunning data that shows the massive rise in prescriptions filled for Adderall, nearly quadrupling over the last decade. As of 2021, more than 41 million prescriptions were filled, up 10% from a year ago — perhaps the latest increase has to do with remote work trends post-Covid. 

    Bloomberg noted the FDA has yet to report an overall shortage of the amphetamine, though the federal agency said it’s aware of Teva’s delays. 

    For the cubicle junkies on Wall Street that consume copious amounts of legal drugs, such as Adderall, you might want to pay attention to Teva’s supply crunch. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 19:20

  • Saudi Aramco Is Taking A Page Out Of The U.S. Shale Playbook
    Saudi Aramco Is Taking A Page Out Of The U.S. Shale Playbook

    By David Messler of OilPrice.com

    Saudi Aramco reported Q-2, 2022 earnings this week and set tongues wagging with the sheer amount of cash being generated in its daily operations. Net income of $48.4 bn, Free Cash Flow of $34.6 bn for the quarter, and $65 bn for the first half, substantially eclipsed year-ago numbers of $22.6 bn and $40.9 bn for the same period. All of this was driven by price realizations for crude topping the $113.00/bbl mark for the quarter, exceeding year-ago prices ($67.90) by ~66%.

    What was noteworthy, and documented in a recent Wall Street Journal article, was the company’s capital allocation budget toward increasing production remained largely unchanged at the lower end of its previously announced range of $40-50 bn for 2022. The Journal article went on to note-

    “To be fair, $40 billion is a lot, much more than in 2021, but Aramco is very flush. It earned more than $65 billion in free cash flow in the first half of this year. That spending also includes diversifying into natural gas, wind, solar and blue hydrogen. And while capital discipline is laudable, surely if management really believes that oil demand is growing for the next decade, it should at the very least accelerate plans to expand its maximum sustainable oil capacity to 13.0 million barrels a day, currently set for 2027.”

    Where the Saudi mindset appears to depart from their oil-producing cousins on the other side of the planet, is what is to be done with the excess cash now being realized. While U.S. shale producers are raining wealth on their shareholders, in the form of stock buybacks and special dividends, KSA-94% owner of ARAMCO, has focused on paying down debt, and diversifying its energy portfolio. In some ways mimicking the actions of the mega oil producers like ExxonMobil, (NYSE:XOM) Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and BP (NYSE:BP), by delving into alternative energy forms. 

    The supermajors, tired of being clubbed by the climate alarmists, and having totally bought into the Paris Accord Net Zero by 2030 dictums, have been diverting capital away from legacy sources and toward cleaner energy forms that raise their ESG scores. Author of, The End of Fossil Fuel Insanity, Terry Etam, summarized their plight in an article carried in the BOE Report discussing the coming gap between supply and demand-

    “There is little producers can do to help out. Their ‘inventory’ – oil and gas reserves – is in incredibly high demand, and is being bid up in price. What would help alleviate this situation is to find and develop more reserves, but the world’s cultural elite, the group that dominates western political schools of thought, has ‘scientifically’ linked any weather event – anything at all – with climate change, which is linked to ‘fossil fuel combustion’, which is therefore bad, and the mere suggestion of increasing production is unacceptable.”

    In this regard, the supermajors have been “Greenwashing” their portfolios in some cases and beginning to transition them in others. Here they depart from the Saudis who intend to straddle the gap between petroleum and green energy into the foreseeable future.

    In spite of a publically asserted view by Aramco CEO, Amin Nasser that oil demand will grow for the rest of this decade, KSA appears to be in no hurry to accelerate the timetable for achieving the 13 mm BOPD upper threshold set for 2027. Instead, KSA has embarked on an ambitious decade-long quest to diversify its economy away from its sole reliance on oil and gas, choosing a multi-pronged approach that includes hydrogen, wind, and solar. 

    One area where they are focusing their efforts is in the production of hydrogen-H2. A Financial Times-FT article notes that the Saudis plan to dominate the production of H2, a few years hence. With its abundant supplies of gas nearby the City of Neom, a Blue-H2 plant is being built with $110 bn of capital. This plant is planned to take 2.2 bn cubic feet of gas daily from the supergiant Jafurrah gas field, for processing Blue H2. It is forecast to come on line in 2026.

    Another massive hydrogen project will produce Green H-2, with power supplied by a 99-turbine wind farm. SP Global discusses this in an article focusing on Acwa Power’s 240K mt/ton per year, green hydrogen project that will make 1.2 mm MT of ammonia. It also is expected to start production in 2026.

    Finally, solar is thought to have unlimited potential in the Kingdom. It makes sense as the sun shines brightly there more than 300 days per year. Accordingly, KSA is fielding a number of new solar farm projects getting underway. The sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom just this year let two awards for a total of 1 GW IPP One went to Acwa Power for a 700 MW farm at Al-Rass and a second smaller, 300 MW farm at Saad. The Kingdom has a goal of installing 54 GW of solar generation by 2030.

    Solar is also finding industrial uses as the Glass Point complex takes shape. This 1.5 GW project, the biggest solar farm in the world will power an aluminum smelting plant designed to use the solar mirrors on water-filled pipes to produce solar steam. This will save approximately 600K tons of carbon annually. 

    Your takeaway

    It is fairly clear from the decisions that KSA is making about the capital allocation for renewable forms of energy that their feet are firmly planted in both camps. The higher price regime that has settled on the oil market since 2021 has provided the cash to fund the projects we have discussed, that will fuel the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative.

    At the same time, like their shale counterparts in the U.S., they are committed to an orderly development of their legacy oil reserves in a way that will preserve value as far into the future as possible. That’s just good stewardship.

    What this means is that in spite of entreaties by world leaders including the American president to produce more oil to lower prices, oil producers in the U.S. and in Saudi Arabia are seemingly determined to hold the line on capital spending. This will have the effect of keeping supplies tight and prices higher than they otherwise would be.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 19:00

  • China's Endless COVID Hysteria Is A Dark Experiment In Social Conditioning
    China’s Endless COVID Hysteria Is A Dark Experiment In Social Conditioning

    There are many people that will say that Americans “rolled over” in the face of covid restrictions and vaccine pressures despite extensive evidence that neither of these things had any effect on stopping or stalling the pandemic.  But the notion of American pacifism is simply not true.  If it were then the US would be looking a lot more like China right now.  

    Growing opposition to meaningless covid lockdowns and the vaccine passports was a mainstay in the US that made government enforcement impossible.  Joe Biden’s attempt to introduce federal vax passport rules for businesses failed miserably, red states defied the lockdowns within a few months of the start of the pandemic and the states that kept restrictions in place had HIGHER rates of infection while their economies sank.  When it became clear to the establishment that millions of Americans were not going to comply, they had to back off.

    Even blue states and cities have been forced to acknowledge that the farce is over; Los Angeles County tried to reintroduce mask mandates recently and the measure collapsed in failure as many municipalities said they planned to ignore any new ordnance.  Covid’s median Infection Fatality Rate of 0.23% was not enough of a threat to convince the public to abandon their constitutional rights. 

    Without the millions of courageous people that refused to comply our country might look very different today.  The CCP has faced little public opposition over their draconian covid rules, and when they do, they don’t worry much because the population is completely disarmed.  This has resulted in a veritable nightmare world for the citizenry.  In fact, it almost seems like an experiment to find out how much psychological torture and oppression human beings are willing to endure.    

    Mandate cheerleaders boasted endlessly about how China effectively stopped the spread and was ready to reopen while the western world floundered because we refused to submit and accept medical tyranny “for the greater good.”  Now these same people are silent as China goes though an array of outbreaks and lockdowns that cycle perpetually.  In the meantime, most of the west has reopened and some places (like dozens of conservative states) have been open well over two years.  Remember when leftists and foreign governments said we would be dying off in the streets and ruing our decision to follow the science rather than the hysteria?  Yeah, the great cleansing of conservatives they were hoping for never happened.    

    Open authoritarian systems require dramatic participation by the people being controlled.  They have to want to be locked down, otherwise the system cannot continue and it will eventually be toppled.  One has to wonder, do the Chinese people even remember anymore why they are locking down?  Or, have they just accepted the mandates as the new normal?  

    Currently, mass covid testing is a regular practice in most major population centers in China.  Almost every large indoor business or government building requires proof of a negative covid test.  This incessant testing is part of China’s “zero covid” policy, and has led to testing booths in almost every neighborhood. 

    China has been perfecting the use of QR codes and tracking apps to keep the public cataloged; without these apps and codes a Chinese citizen would find it impossible to get a job or participate in the economy.  They would die from starvation first; the minuscule chance of dying from covid would be the furthest thing from their mind.

    Though PCR testing often reads asymptomatic cases as exactly the same as full blown infections, the CCP does not recognize the difference and treats every case as if each person is Patient Zero in a zombie apocalypse.  For example, a six-year-old boy with asymptomatic covid tested positive and was found through tracking apps to have visited an IKEA store in Shanghai a couple of days earlier.  So, rather than admitting that the testing and tracking is a failed system that does nothing to prevent covid spread, CCP authorities instead tried to lockdown the IKEA building with hundreds of people inside for a week.  Here was the result:

    Testing madness has even spread to the animals.  The government is now requiring testing for 5 million fisherman as well as testing of the FISH being delivered by commercial fishing vessels to Chinese ports. 

    The image of a fish being swabbed for covid is rather hilarious, but it’s important to note that the CCP probably isn’t stupid enough to believe that covid is transmitted through seafood.  More likely what this is about is initiating a firestorm of public conditioning to convince the population that covid is around every corner and under every bed forever.  The goal here is to engage in a constant fear campaign to make the people more compliant.  It is an assessment to see what the government can get away with.  And, in China at least, they can get away with quite a lot.  

    The Orwellian horror that China represents has essentially killed their tourist industry.  Millions of potential foreign visitors now fear that they could be trapped within China’s borders if they time their visit to coincide with another surprise mass lockdown.  China’s economy suffers extensively from their lockdown culture, but the CCP does not care.  The experiment is more important than anything else.

    This will never end.  Once a government obtains this kind of all pervasive power they will stop at nothing to keep it.  While the US has many problems to deal with and many elitists in positions of authority to unseat, at least we have a chance.  Some places, like China, are so poisoned by complacency that they can’t escape the boot; it has already landed on them.   

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 18:40

  • Georgia Governor Files Motion To Quash Grand Jury Subpoena In State’s Election Probe
    Georgia Governor Files Motion To Quash Grand Jury Subpoena In State’s Election Probe

    Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday filed a motion to quash a grand jury subpoena requiring him to testify as part of an investigation into the actions of former President Donald Trump after official results in the 2020 presidential election showed that then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden had won.

    Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp during a dinner reception in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 6, 2022. (Laurie Dieffembacq/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images)

    Kemp had received a subpoena on Aug. 4 after a voluntary interview scheduled for late July was canceled.

    “[T]he Governor agreed to a voluntary interview to be held on July 25, 2022, but when counsel for the Governor asked reasonable questions of the [District Attorney’s] Office regarding the scope of that interview, the DA’s Office unilaterally canceled the interview and issued the Subpoena,” attorneys for Kemp said in the motion (pdf) filed on Aug. 17 in Fulton County Superior Court. “Why the DA’s Office acted so abruptly is unclear.”

    According to an exhibit in the motion, Kemp has been asked to testify before the grand jury at 9 a.m. on Aug. 18.

    Kemp’s lawyers argued the subpoena should be quashed because it is “barred by sovereign immunity.” The subpoena also “improperly seeks to invade established common law executive and attorney-client privileges,” and is “being pursued at this time for improper political purposes,” they wrote.

    “Georgia courts have no authority to compel a sitting Governor to provide testimony about matters involving his official duties due to sovereign immunity,” the motion reads. “Even if that were not the centuries-old law of this State, the Subpoena at issue is improper, and due to be quashed, because its timing is neither driven by a genuine investigative need for information nor compliant with the established ethical rules governing prosecutors and election cycle investigations.”

    Chief Judge Christopher Brasher of the Fulton County Superior Court in January authorized a special purpose grand jury, as requested by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, “for the purpose of investigating the facts and circumstances relating directly or indirectly to possible attempts to disrupt the lawful administration of the 2020 elections in the State of Georgia.” The grand jury was authorized to begin on May 2.

    The DA’s Office back in April 2021 had “informed counsel that the DA’s Office was interested in meeting with Governor Kemp to discuss a telephone call between the Governor and former President Donald Trump,” Kemp’s legal team noted.

    The team provided a timeline outlining the correspondence that took place between Kemp’s counsel, Brian McEvoy, and a number of aides to Willis.

    “While the special purpose grand jury was only recently authorized, the DA’s Office has been investigating the events surrounding the 2020 Presidential election for at least a year and a half,” Kemp’s lawyers said in the motion. “During that time, and well before the Subpoena was issued, Governor Kemp consistently attempted to engage with DA’s Office and to voluntarily provide it with relevant and appropriate information regarding its investigation … the DA’s Office ignored, denied, or otherwise frustrated these attempts time and time again.”

    Kemp’s lawyers alleged that the Fulton County DA’s Office “through delay and artificial deadlines … has engineered the Governor’s interaction with the investigation to reach a crescendo in the middle of an election cycle.”

    “This timing cannot be ignored given the Governor’s repeated efforts to engage with the DA’s Office prior to 2022 and even before announcing his re-election campaign,” they said in the Aug. 17 motion.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 18:20

  • China Jails Billionaire Xiao Jianhua For 13 Years, Slaps Unprecedented $8.1 Billion Fine
    China Jails Billionaire Xiao Jianhua For 13 Years, Slaps Unprecedented $8.1 Billion Fine

    In the most glaring lesson yet to the country’s upstart nouveau-riche oligarchs, a Chinese court has sentenced Xiao Jianhua, the billionaire founder of Tomorrow Group known for managing assets for descendants of prominent Chinese leaders, to 13 years in prison, and slapped the conglomerate with an unprecedented fine of 55 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), culminating the dramatic break-up of China’s largest privately owned financial empire after a five-year investigation.

    The Canadian-Chinese tycoon, who disappeared from a luxury hotel in Hong Kong in 2017, was found guilty of illegally collecting public deposits, using entrusted assets in breach of trust, illegally using funds and bribery, according to a statement by the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People’s Court on Friday, the SCMP reported. Xiao was also personally fined 6.5 million yuan.

    “Tomorrow Group and Xiao Jianhua’s criminal acts severely damaged the financial management order, which severely risked the national financial safety, and severely encroached the professional integrity of public servants,” said the Shanghai court in its ruling on Friday. “They should be strictly punished based on the law.”

    The sentencing closed the clean-up of Xiao’s financial empire comprising assets worth 3 trillion yuan, and is part of Beijing’s ramped-up efforts to control financial risks in recent years.

    Tomorrow Group and Xiao illegally used client funds and entrusted assets of 148.6 billion yuan via Baoshang Bank, the Shanghai court said on July 4. The bank entered the annals of Chinese history in May 2019 when it became the first ever insolvent bank taken over by the government and was placed into bankruptcy a year later.

    The company illegally borrowed these funds from Baoshang Bank over the course of 14 years, and it also interfered with the bank’s daily business operations, according to the central bank in 2020.

    From 2001 to 2021 – during which Xiao was incarcerated in an unknown location in China for four years – the company and Xiao had given bribes worth 680 million yuan to a number of public servants in the form of stakes in unspecified companies, property and cash, the court said according to the SCMP. The bribes were used to circumvent financial regulation or seek illegal favors.

    When asked about Xiao’s right to consular access as a Canadian citizen during a regular briefing on Friday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Xiao does not have the right to consular protection of other countries as Beijing does not recognize dual nationality.

    Xiao, 50, was born in Shandong, and began his career in business by selling IBM and Dell computers near the Peking University campus in the 1990s. Within a few years, he was worth an estimated $150 million. Surely, there was no crime there.

    Xiao is the owner of Tomorrow Holding (trading as Tomorrow Group), a diversified investment company involved with banking, insurance, real estate development, coal, cement and rare earth minerals.He owns non-controlling stakes in Ping An Insurance, Harbin Bank, Huaxia Bank and the Industrial Bank through a series of other investment vehicles, in addition to being the major shareholder in Baotou Tomorrow Technology.

    Xiao reportedly, “worked on behalf of a number of powerful families,” in China over the course of his career, and he has been described by The New York Times as “a banker for the ruling class.” By 2016, he was worth an estimated $6 billion. Xiao’s connections with relatives of China’s government leaders were demonstrated by his purchase of a 50% stake in CCB International Yuanwei Fund Management, an investment management company owned by Qi Qiaoqiao, Xi Jinping’s sister. According to news reports, Xiao was also involved with the business Pacific Securities, a company later accused of facilitating money laundering.

    He has Canadian citizenship and reportedly held a diplomatic passport from Antigua and Barbuda.

    He ranked 32nd on the Hurun China Rich List in 2016 and his net worth was estimated at US$6 billion before his Tomorrow Group financial empire was dismantled by Beijing following his downfall five years ago.

    He went missing from the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong in January 2017. In the small hours of January 27, two vans arrived at the luxurious Four Seasons, where Xiao was staying in one of his several rented serviced flats. At about 1am, five men emerged from the vans and knocked on the door of Xiao’s 28th-floor flat before emerging two hours later with him. Almost 12 hours later, Xiao passed through border controls at the Lok Ma Chau crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and disappeared in the mainland Chinese city, the SCMP reported.

    Although a low profile figure, Xiao was well-known for his connections with China’s political elite. His businesses ranged from insurance to mining.

    The tycoon and the company had illegally collected deposits of 311.6 billion yuan by selling trust, insurance and wealth management products, which were against regulations, the court said. They also had used illegal insurance funds of close to 191 billion yuan from connected insurers including Huaxia Insurance, Tian’an Life Insurance and Yi’an Property Insurance, the court added.

    Tomorrow Group used the illegal funds to acquire financial institutions and for securities trading and overseas investment. The company had returned some of the illegal funds by selling assets and transferring capital from overseas after the government intervened.

    In 2020, Beijing took control of some of the associated companies, including Huaxia Life, Tian’an Life and Tian’an Property Insurance. Privately owned Huaxia Life, founded in 2006, was the flagship of Xiao’s conglomerate. It had 182.8 billion yuan of insurance premium in 2019, ranking it fourth among China’s life insurers. The crackdown that started in 2017 also placed half a dozen of China’s biggest global asset buyers under regulatory scrutiny to prevent their debt-fuelled acquisitions from harming the nation’s financial system.

    Xiao’s arrest was among a series of crackdowns on high-profile Chinese businessmen, including Wu Xiaohui, the former chairman of beleaguered insurance giant Anbang Group, and hedge fund guru Xu Xiang, following a stock market rout in 2015.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 18:00

  • The Satanic Verses Sells In Droves After Salman Rushdie Attack
    The Satanic Verses Sells In Droves After Salman Rushdie Attack

    Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

    Sales of Salaman Rushdie’s infamous novel The Satanic Verses have skyrocketed following the horrific attack on the author last week, in a show of strength for free speech over Islamic extremism.

    The New York Post reports that Rushdie’s 1988 novel, for which he has received death threats ever since, soared to the top of multiple Amazon bestseller lists.

    The book hit number one in Contemporary Literature & Fiction, Fiction Satire and Humorous Literary Fiction.

    The audiobook version became the seventh best-seller in Amazon’s Audible store.

    The novel was also second bestseller in both the Politics & Social Science and the Self-Help & Psychology Humor categories on Tuesday, and the 26th best-selling book overall on Amazon’s US site.

    Rushdie’s other novels also saw a jump in sales.

    The Satanic Verses was deplored by extremists and declared blasphemous concerning its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.

    One reviewer wrote “Hope this book becomes #1 bestseller again just as a big F*** you to religious extremists and sympathizers,” adding “I didn’t even know about this book before. So if the idea was to spread the author’s message in modern times, then they succeeded!”

    “I just bought this book in response to extremists who try to silence people. You will not win,” another reviewer added.

    A further reviewer wrote “Dear Mr. would-be assassin, this book is now back on the bestseller lists. You did that. You tried to silence Salman Rushdie for writing something you found offensive, and now that very work is going to be in more homes, read by more people than ever before.”

    The post continues, “This is what you have accomplished. This is the only thing you have ever accomplished, and the only thing you will ever accomplish.”

    “Funny thing, if there had never been a fatwa on Mr. Rushdie in the first place, how many people do you suppose would have ever even heard of this book? Now a whole new generation will read it, all because you didn’t want it to be read by anyone,” the reviewer concludes.

    *  *  *

    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
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 17:40

  • BloodBath & Bankuptcy? BBBY Suppliers Halt Shipments Due To Unpaid Bills
    BloodBath & Bankuptcy? BBBY Suppliers Halt Shipments Due To Unpaid Bills

    Update (1725ET): Following its worst day on record after Ryan Cohen dumped all his shares (and sold all his calls), Bed Bath & Beyond was battered by more bad news after hours after Bloomberg reports that, according to people familiar with the matter, some suppliers are restricting or halting shipments altogether after the home-goods retailer fell behind on payments.

    The retailer has previously said it is struggling with cash and inventory optimization, and ordering missteps appear to have left it with a glut of goods that will have to be sold at markdowns. 

    Several of the firms that provide credit insurance or short-term financing to vendors have revoked coverage of Bed Bath & Beyond, drastically complicating the company’s scramble for liquidity. 

    BBBY shares are down a further 4-5% after-hours on the news…

    But still have a long way to go to catch up with the reality that bonds have been pricing-in for a while…

    As far as stocks go – “mark it zero” comes to mind.

    Bonds knew… but the question is – did Ryan Cohen know?

    *  *  *

    It is only fitting that on the day Blood, Bath and Bankruptcy Bed Bath & Beyond suffered a historic crash in its stock price, we learn from Bloomberg that the quasi-insolvent retailer hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis to help it address a debt load that’s become unmanageable amid a sales slump.

    Kirkland, best known for its legal advice in restructuring and bankruptcy situations, was tapped to help the retailer navigate options for raising new money, refinancing existing debt, or both, according to the report. Translation: from $30 yesterday, BBBY stock will be worthless in a few days (just in case there is confusion why Ryan Cohen pulled the plug).

    None of this will come as a shock to debt investors, usually far, far smarter then their equity peers, and is why much of Bed Bath & Beyond’s bonds and loans are already trading at distressed levels, even as its stock climbed as high as $30 per share earlier this week.

    The share price however tumbled back to $10 after hours on Thursday, after activist shareholder Ryan Cohen dumped his entire stake making $68 million in the process, while costing a similar amount to the thousands of retail investors who followed him into this melting ice cube.

    Alas, the stock is going much lower – in fact, $0.00 sounds like support – as the trading prices of the retailer’s debt, have plunged to half their face value or less this year, with the sharpest drop coming after the company announced dismal quarterly earnings June 29. And since the unsecured debt will be impaired, this implies there is zero value for the equity in the upcoming bankruptcy.

    If only BBBY had sold stock in an ATM offering at the grotesquely inflated price from earlier this week, to hapless retail investors. That way RC Ventures pump and dump would have been complete.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/19/2022 – 17:34

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Aug 19

Today’s News 19th August 2022

  • Cadillac's $300,000 EV Prototype Spotted On Road For First Time
    Cadillac’s $300,000 EV Prototype Spotted On Road For First Time

    GM released a series of images showing the Cadillac Celestiq prototype, with a mystical blue and white camouflage wrap, undergoing on-road testing around the company’s facilities in Michigan, according to autoblog GM Authority. 

    The Celestiq is Cadillac’s new EV flagship model that costs a whopping $300,000. Even though the sedan has stylish lines and looks like a Lucid Motors Air (from the front), it’s still a Cadillac, and the price seems ridiculous. 

    The electric hatchback is set to reach customers sometime in 2024 and should be equipped with an all-wheel-drive electric powertrain capable of a +300-mile driving range and packed with groundbreaking technologies (including a hands-free assisted-driving system). 

    Reading through the comments of autoblog Car and Driver‘s take on the new Cadillac — commenters had mixed feelings about the luxury EV sedan. 

    One commenter said: “It’s ugly and over price, and will never compete with Bentley, Mercedes, Or BMW.” 

    “It looks great, but 2x the price of a Model S or Lucid?” someone said. 

    Another person said: “Ugly, bad name, overpriced, have to remember to plug it in. No thanks.” 

    But not all comments were negative: “The most beautiful EV ever built! Hope to see it in production,” someone else said. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 23:00

  • China’s Trillion-Dollar Research Funds Squandered On Travel and Leisure
    China’s Trillion-Dollar Research Funds Squandered On Travel and Leisure

    Authored by Jessica Mao via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    In the past four years, many Chinese IC stars that emerged from the CCP’s “rapid chip-making” campaign have gone awry or ended in a disastrous failure. ( NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images)

    Chinese authorities had high hopes for China’s chip industry, expecting to see a “semiconductor miracle,” which would then affirm the “advantage of China’s whole nation system,” as well as overcome technology sanctions imposed by the United States.

    However, eight years into establishment of China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, also known as the “Big Fund,” trillions of yuan have been exhausted with little success in tech innovation.

    China’s anti-corruption watchdog launched an investigation into the former and current executives of the “Big Fund” in July, and seven senior officials linked to the “Big Fund” have demoted since.

    In fact, misusing government research and development (R&D) subsidies and grants is common within China’s scientific community.

    Where Did China’s Trillions in Research Funding Go

    In April 2018, Chinese state media Sina Finance published an article, asking the question, “China has long been spending trillions of yuan in the field of semiconductors every year, but where did the huge amount of funds go?”

    The article went on to say that in the past several years, roughly only 40 percent of the country’s research funding was actually spent on science and technology research and development, and 60 percent was spent on meetings and business trips.

    “Whenever there are chances of business meetings, one can reimburse travel expenses, gasoline cost, and the travel cost can be huge when people go abroad to attend meetings. Even researchers at Tsinghua University and Peking University are no exception,” it said. “Anhui University of Engineering has also found that research funds are used to reimburse entertainment, foot spa, HOA cost and other expenses unrelated to the project. Moreover, the university noted a drastic increase of business trips abroad in recent years.”

    A researcher revealed to Sina Finance that usually for the so-called inspection trips in foreign countries, the researchers simply made a brief appearance at their targeted inspection sites, and the rest of the time was spent on travel, leisure, and sightseeing.

    In addition to holding or attending business meetings, Chinese research institutions are also obsessed with buying equipment, according to the article.

    “Every year, when the funding is allocated, the first thing they do is to update all the laptops, scanners, cell phones, and other resources in the team, and sometimes a mentor with several topics in hand can get himself several of the latest laptops,” it said.

    R&D Fraud

    Many researchers are very skillful at selling an idea—hyping up a concept, sometimes to the point of committing R&D fraud, in order to apply for a hefty amount of funding. “Some key projects can get several millions or even several tens of millions of yuan as research grant. These people’s desire for capital is greater than getting down-to-earth with scientific research,” the article said.

    Citing the Wuhan Hongxin scandal as an example, the article recounted that in August 2002, Chen Jin, then dean of the microelectronics school of Shanghai Jiaotong University, bought a Motorola chip from the United States, and hired a few migrant workers to polish off the MOTO logo from the chip with sandpaper. He then paid a small company to put a “Hanxin One” trademark on polished surface of the chip. Through layers of his personal connections, he was able to obtain various certifications, claiming that it was China’s first high-end DSP chip with independent intellectual property rights.

    “As the whole nation was thrilled at his claim, Chen applied for dozens of research projects in one shot, and even deceived the General Armament Department of China’s military into filing a Weapons and Equipment Technology Innovation Project. No one noticed any problems before or afterwards. So he succeeded in defrauding over 100 million yuan of scientific research funds,” the article said.

    In an interview with The Epoch Times on Aug. 12, overseas China expert Lu Tianming pointed out that China’s ambition of rapid chip R&D itself is a good goal to set, but the thing is, the Chinese Communist Party is rotten to the core.

    “It can be said that every single communist official is corrupt,” Lu said. “Actually, it would be abnormal if any official or supervisor involved would not embezzle from the funds. They all wish to line their own pockets when given such an opportunity.”

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 22:00

  • Drought Is Driving European Energy Markets Toward Disaster
    Drought Is Driving European Energy Markets Toward Disaster

    By Irina Slav of OilPrice.com

    Energy markets and nature seem to have it in for Europe. Record-breaking gas prices, rising coal prices, and droughts that interfere with electricity generation in some key markets have combined to push electricity contracts in the EU to record highs as uncertainty about the coming winter deepens.

    Reuters reported earlier this week that a number of power forward contracts traded in the EU hit highs because of what increasingly looks like a perfect energy storm, affecting every energy source in one way or another.

    “A number of factors are adding up: The market is uncertain about whether (French utility) EDF will increase nuclear availability enough for winter, which explains the price differences between the two countries [France and Germany],” Rystad Energy analyst Fabian Ronningen told Reuters.

    EDF has had to significantly reduce the capacity utilization rate of its nuclear power plants because droughts in France have reduced water availability for cooling the reactors. But the drought came on top of earlier problems: reactor corrosion that prompted the utility to close some of them earlier this year, effectively reducing the supply of electricity available for sale on the domestic or regional market.

    Meanwhile, in Germany, wind output is low, and so is the water level of the Rhine—a key transport route for things like coal, for example. Germany’s economy is quite dependent on this crucial shipping corridor, but when the water level is critically low, shippers simply cannot load the usual volume of cargo, meaning that coal and other commodities are reaching their destinations in smaller mounts and more slowly.

    The drought is also affecting hydropower output, adding to worries about future supply. Because of the drought, Norway, which generates more than two-thirds of its electricity from hydropower, announced it would curb electricity exports, threatening supply for other European countries at the worst possible time. In the UK, there’s talk about blackouts.

    Meanwhile, Gazprom’s gas flows to Europe remain much lower than usual, with the Russian state major warning this week that gas prices on the spot European market could top $4,000 per 1,000 cubic meters. Recently, spot prices broke the $2,500 barrier.

    “European spot gas prices have reached $2,500 (per 1,000 cubic meters). According to conservative estimates, if such a tendency persists, prices will exceed $4,000 per 1,000 cubic meters this winter,” Gazprom said.

    The European Union has been quick in switching from Russian gas to U.S. LNG amid the Ukraine crisis, but speed has not been enough: U.S. LNG export capacity is not limitless, and producers also have other clients, in Asia. As the winter season approaches, Asian buyers have become more willing to pay hefty premiums for any LNG, which has intensified competition for a limited number of LNG tankers.

    No wonder, then, that electricity prices in some parts of Europe have hit records. Even less wonder that industries are beginning to buckle, per a recent Bloomberg report. The report noted that Germany’s year-ahead electricity contract rose to more than 530 euros per MWh earlier this week, which constituted a 500-percent increase over the past 12 months. No industry can absorb such a price shock unscathed, and German industry didn’t.

    Germany had to pay the equivalent of more than $15 billion to bail out one of its biggest gas utilities, Uniper, earlier this year. Chemicals giant BASF warned that a gas shortage could wreak havoc on the industry. Aluminum and zinc smelters are closing, and so are fertilizer plants, all because of record gas and electricity prices.

    Relief is not in sight unless one considers the filling up of gas storage caverns in Europe a form of relief. The EC had set a target of 80 percent for storage fill rates by October 1. Member-states are on track to hit this target ahead of schedule, but this has come at a cost: the EU’s gas bill this year is ten times higher than it normally is, at over $51 billion.

    What’s more, storage alone will not be enough to keep European economies going through the winter months. The EU will need more gas as regular supply. Besides the U.S., there are few other places it can get it. It could be why the head of the German energy regulator warned the EU’s biggest economy would need to reduce gas consumption by a fifth to avoid shortages and rationing in the winter.

    “The longer these price rises go up, the more this will be felt across the economy,” Daniel Kral, senior economist at Oxford Economics, told Bloomberg this week. “The magnitude of the increase and magnitude of the crisis isn’t comparable to anything in the past few decades.”

    It is unfortunate that Europe is experiencing one unprecedented crisis after another. And it could yet get worse as the oil embargo against Russia kicks in at the end of the year.

    Analysts have warned that this could lead to higher prices for oil. This will, in turn, add to upward electricity price pressure due to the switch from gas to oil some utilities in Europe have implemented to shield themselves from prohibitive gas prices.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 21:30

  • Putin Will Attend G20 Summit In Indonesia, Despite US Demands To Exclude Russian Leader
    Putin Will Attend G20 Summit In Indonesia, Despite US Demands To Exclude Russian Leader

    The western world is about to stop waging some bizarro war against Vladimir Putin that has sparked loathed energy hyperinflation across most of Europe, and is about to embrace the Russian leader, behind closed doors of course, even if it means a terribly vexxed Zelenskyy and US deep state.

    Why? Because “pariah” Vladimir Putin is about to re-emerge on the G20 scene again, this time courtesy of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who today said that both Putin and China’s president Xi both plan to attend the G20 summit in the resort island of Bali later this year.

    “Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come,” Jokowi, as the president is known, said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait on Thursday. It was the first time the leader of the world’s fourth-most populous nation confirmed both of them were planning to show up at the November summit, according to Bloomberg.

    Needless to say, the presence of Xi and Putin at the meeting will set up a showdown with the deep state handlers who control Joe Biden’s teleprompter and other, less senile “western” leaders, all of whom are set to meet in person for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The attack has left the G-20 divided over whether to place sanctions on Russia, because while a handful of G-20 countries are relatively self reliant, most are desperate for Russia’s commodity exports, whose lack has sent European energy prices to… well, just look for yourselves.

    Putin and Jokowi discussed preparations for the G-20 summit in Bali in a phone call Thursday, the Kremlin said in a statement that didn’t mention whether the Russian leader will attend. Putin’s attendance will also likely bring him face to face with Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the first time since Russia’s invasion because for some odd reason the Ukrainian president – who also doubles as a Vogue model – is also slated to be in Bali.

    Showing just how inconsequential the Biden White House has become in global affairs, Putin’s presence will take place even though Biden had called for Russia to be removed from the G-20, and US officials had earlier been pressuring Indonesia to exclude Putin from the Bali summit.

    It’s almost as if when it comes to the world deciding between Putin’s nat gas exports and the deep state’s wishes, the world chooses the former. To make that point, Indonesia’s leader explained that as the new global axis lines are drawn, Asia stands with China and Russia.

    “The rivalry of the big countries is indeed worrying,” Jokowi, 61, said in the interview. “What we want is for this region is to be stable, peaceful, so that we can build economic growth. And I think not only Indonesia: Asian countries also want the same thing.”

    “Indonesia wants to be friends with everyone,” he said. “We don’t have problems with any country. Each country will have their own approach. Each leader has their own approach. But what’s needed by Indonesia is investment, technology that will change our society.”

    Jokes aside, however, as Bear Traps report author Larry McDonald notes, we are likely just months away from quietly shelving western sanctions on Russia.

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

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 21:20

  • Lowe’s To Give $55 Million In Bonuses For Hourly Workers To Fight Inflation
    Lowe’s To Give $55 Million In Bonuses For Hourly Workers To Fight Inflation

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

    A Lowe’s store in Philadelphia in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/AP/Matt Rourke)

    American retail company Lowe’s is handing out $55 million in bonuses to its front-line hourly employees in an effort to help combat the increasing cost of living.

    Lowe’s Chief Executive Marvin R. Ellison announced the bonus scheme during the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

    “I would like to personally thank our associates for their hard work and dedication. In recognition of some of the cost pressures they are facing due to high inflation, we are providing an incremental $55 million in bonuses to our hourly front-line associates this quarter,” Ellison said on the call.

    “These associates have the most important jobs in our company, and we deeply appreciate everything they do to serve our customers to deliver a best-in-class experience,” Ellison added.

    For a designated time period, the company is also providing workers with an additional 10 percent discount on everyday household and cleaning items, meaning they can now purchase those products at a 20 percent discount.

    Executive Vice President Joe McFarland said he hopes the added discounts will also help to “ease the burden of inflation impacting many of these items.”

    “We will continue to look for meaningful ways to improve our associates’ work-life balance while providing them with the tools to build a career at Lowe’s,” McFarland said.

    Steve Salazar, a spokesperson for Lowe’s, confirmed to The Washington Post that employees at the company will see the bonus on Sept. 9, and it will be taxed.

    Households Feeling the Strain

    Lowe’s operates or services 2,200 home improvement and hardware stores and employs approximately 300,000 people, according to its official website.

    The $55 million in bonuses shared among the 300,000 employees would amount to an average bonus of roughly $183 per employee.

    Lowe’s announcement comes as inflation has rocketed in the United States, prompting a string of businesses, including Microsoft, ExxonMobil, and Walmart, to offer worker bonuses, discounts, and gift cards in an effort to offset soaring prices, although it is unclear just how helpful the one-time lump sumps will be as the cost of living steadily increases.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 21:00

  • Blood, Bath And Bankrupt? BBBY Hires Restructuring Advisor
    Blood, Bath And Bankrupt? BBBY Hires Restructuring Advisor

    It is only fitting that on the day Blood, Bath and Bankruptcy Bed Bath & Beyond suffered a historic crash in its stock price, we learn from Bloomberg that the quasi-insolvent retailer hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis to help it address a debt load that’s become unmanageable amid a sales slump.

    Kirkland, best known for its legal advice in restructuring and bankruptcy situations, was tapped to help the retailer navigate options for raising new money, refinancing existing debt, or both, according to the report. Translation: from $30 yesterday, BBBY stock will be worthless in a few days (just in case there is confusion why Ryan Cohen pulled the plug).

    None of this will come as a shock to debt investors, usually far, far smarter then their equity peers, and is why much of Bed Bath & Beyond’s bonds and loans are already trading at distressed levels, even as its stock climbed as high as $30 per share earlier this week.

    The share price however tumbled back to $10 after hours on Thursday, after activist shareholder Ryan Cohen dumped his entire stake making $68 million in the process, while costing a similar amount to the thousands of retail investors who followed him into this melting ice cube.

    Alas, the stock is going much lower – in fact, $0.00 sounds like support – as the trading prices of the retailer’s debt, have plunged to half their face value or less this year, with the sharpest drop coming after the company announced dismal quarterly earnings June 29. And since the unsecured debt will be impaired, this implies there is zero value for the equity in the upcoming bankruptcy.

    If only BBBY had sold stock in an ATM offering at the grotesquely inflated price from earlier this week, to hapless retail investors. That way RC Ventures pump and dump would have been complete.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 20:36

  • Russians Scramble For Visas As EU Urges "Coordinated Approach" On Travel Bans
    Russians Scramble For Visas As EU Urges “Coordinated Approach” On Travel Bans

    The European Commission has said it is still weighing a travel ban for all Russian nationals, but stressed in a Thursday statement that some member states have individually begun to impose restrictions on visas, but that none has ceased issuing them completely. 

    Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper called for a “coordinated approach” among EU countries, saying in a Thursday press briefing in Brussels that “visa activities have not stopped completely and in particular the humanitarian cases are catered for.”

    She said that Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine had created “unprecedented challenges” for the entirety of the EU, and for that reason had “acted immediately” to suspend a visa facilitation agreement with Moscow on February 25, the day after the invasion. 

    EU foreign ministers are set to meet later in August, and the proposed travel ban will be on on the agenda, she said. Ukrainian government under President Zelensky has been lobbying hard for the European Union as well as the United States to shut their borders to any and all Russian travelers for a period of at least one year.

    “The most important sanctions are to close the borders — because the Russians are taking away someone else’s land,” Zelensky told The Washington Post in an interview published over a week ago. He stressed that as punishment Russian citizens should “live in their own world until they change their philosophy” – before being allowed to travel in the West. “They’ll understand then,” he said.

    Estonia and Finland were among the first European countries to back the call, and took steps to impose their own restrictions for Russian travel. 

    The Moscow Times reports that Russians seeking to travel abroad are now racing against the clock ahead of proposed tighter travel restrictions especially to the Baltics:

    Finland said Tuesday it will reduce the number of visas issued to Russians by 90% starting next month and Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia have recently also announced restrictions on tourist visas for Russians. 

    The three Baltic states and Finland, which share land borders with Russia, have reported an increase in the numbers of Russians using their airports to transit further into the EU as a workaround to the bloc’s ban on Russian airlines.

    Further the report underscores that “The number of applications for Schengen visas — which give access to most EU countries — submitted by Russians has risen rapidly in recent weeks, according to tour agencies contacted by The Moscow Times.”

    One major Russian tour and travel industry insider was quoted as saying the number Schengen visa applications made by Russian citizens has doubled in only two weeks.

    Last week the Kremlin blasted the proposal as “irrational” and painted it as racist and xenophobic. It remains that the EU were to tell 145 million Russians they can no longer travel to Europe for any reason in a sweeping ban, it goes without saying that this would be unlikely to impact Putin’s war-time decision making in any way. Instead, it would only serve to punish common people, who also have a wide range of views regarding the war in Ukraine. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 20:00

  • Buchanan: How, When, Or Will We Ever Come Together Again?
    Buchanan: How, When, Or Will We Ever Come Together Again?

    Authored by Pat Buchanan,

    When 30 FBI agents showed up at Mar-a-Lago to cart off boxes of documents, it was an authorized, legitimate and justified procedure to retrieve national security secrets being illegally kept there.

    Or it was an unprecedented regime raid on the home and office of the foremost political rival of President Joe Biden that called to mind a “Third World country,” the East German “Stasi,” the KGB or the Gestapo.

    And Jan. 6, 2021?

    That was a riot, a disgraceful breach of the Capitol, involving assaults on Capitol cops that deserved to be and are being punished.

    No, it was more than that. Far more. It was an “insurrection,” a “fascist coup,” an act of treason led by far-right extremists to abort the transfer of power from the winner of the election of 2020 to the loser. It ranks right up there with the 1814 burning of the Capitol by the British.

    Such is the magnitude of the divide in America, a divide that extends far beyond our clashing views of Jan. 6 and the Mar-a-Lago raid.

    Consider abortion. Before the 1960s, abortion was almost universally regarded as a shameful and criminal act. Doctors who performed abortions were disgraced and sometimes sent to prison.

    But after the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court declared that Roe v. Wade in 1973 was wrongly decided, restoration of women’s right to an abortion is being championed by half the nation.

    The other half of America yet believes abortion involves the killing of an unborn innocent child.

    Part of America celebrates the Supreme Court’s decision to declare marriage equality for homosexuals. Yet, a traditionalist minority believes such a mandate imposes on the nation a secularist morality contradicted by the tenets of the Christian faith that was the basis of laws for our first two centuries as a nation.

    Nor is it only clashing morality that divides us.

    For a nation, a country, a people, a democracy to endure, there needs be a broad consensus of belief, culture, custom and politics.

    On the issue of law and order, without which a republic cannot stand, there is now disagreement over the role and conduct of our police.

    During the George Floyd summer of 2020, “Defund the Police!” was the clamor of the left, and among the street chants of Black Lives Matter was, “Pigs in a Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon.”

    Only a stunning political recoil caused its abandonment.

    For a nation, especially a great world power like the United States, some things are indispensable to its preservation.

    A democratic republic needs to preserve the value of its currency, to defend its borders against illegal mass migrations and invasions, to preserve law and order, especially in its great cities.

    Which of these requisites exist today when the nation suffers 8% inflation; 250,000 illegal aliens cross our southern border every month; and “mass shootings” occur daily in our cities during which at least four victims are gunned down, wounded or killed?

    The preservation of a democracy also requires the confidence of its people in its defining institutions.

    Yet, since the Reagan era, Americans’ collective confidence in our major institutions has fallen from one-half of the nation to one-fourth.

    In 2022, confidence in the Supreme Court fell by a third to 25%. Only a fourth of the country retained high confidence in the presidency; and confidence in Congress plummeted to 7%, or one in every 14 Americans.

    One in 6 Americans had great confidence in our newspapers, with only 1 in 9 citizens saying the same about television news.

    In summary, we are a country whose people have a diminishing confidence in almost all of its institutions, from big business to the churches, universities and media. Only small business and the U.S. military enjoy the confidence of the American people.

    Public approval of Biden’s performance is at the lowest level ever recorded for a president at this point in his first term.

    True, we have been through and recovered from divisive times.

    In the 1860s, 11 of the 33 states seceded and fought for four years to gain their independence of the Union.

    The 1960s were divisive, but the left, with Sen. George McGovern its political expression, captured less than 40% of the vote against Richard Nixon in 1972. Ronald Reagan ran up two landslides in the 1980s.

    Those days are long gone.

    The left today dominates the academic community and culture to a greater degree than it once did and is further removed from the heart of the country in Middle America than it has ever been.

    When, how, does America ever unite again?

    And what unites us, other than an external attack on the country, like Pearl Harbor or 9/11?

    Where is the common ground on which to stand?

    Does such ground even exist, given the divisions in religion, race and ethnicity, and the seemingly irreconcilable disagreements over morality, ideology, culture and politics?

    Has the great experiment run its course?

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 19:00

  • Amazon Accuses FTC Of Issuing 'Unfair, Unreasonable' Demands As Part Of Probe Into Prime
    Amazon Accuses FTC Of Issuing ‘Unfair, Unreasonable’ Demands As Part Of Probe Into Prime

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

    Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in New York City on Sept. 20, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

    Amazon has accused the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of making unreasonable and unfair demands as part of the agency’s probe into the company’s Prime membership program, according to a new legal filing.

    The Jeff Bezos-founded company has been under investigation by the regulator since March 2021 regarding whether or not it makes it difficult for customers who want to end their membership with Amazon Prime, the subscription service that costs $139 per year or $14.99 per month and allows users to take advantage of additional services that are otherwise unavailable to other Amazon customers.

    However, Amazon said in the Aug. 5 legal filing (pdf) that the investigation had become “unworkable and unfair, reflecting less of a responsible effort to collect the facts about a variety of longstanding and highly popular subscription programs than a one-sided effort to force Amazon to meet impossible-to-satisfy demands.”

    Nearly 20 current and former Amazon employees and executives, including founder Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy, as well as former retail executive boss Dave Clark and his successor Doug Herrington, SVP of international Russ Grandinetti, and former head of Prime, Greg Greeley, were served subpoenas to give evidence as part of the agency’s investigation into the e-commerce giant.

    The subpoenas are officially known as Civil Investigative Demands (CID).

    Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon Web Services, speaks at the WSJD Live conference in Laguna Beach, Calif., on Oct. 25, 2016. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

    ‘Unworkable and Unfair’

    In the filing, Amazon asked that the FTC “quash or limit” the subpoenas, while certain current and former Amazon employees also petitioned to quash or limit the subpoenas served on them individually because they are “unworkable and unfair.”

    Specifically for founder Bezos and CEO Jassy, lawyers state that the two are petitioning for the CID’s to be “quashed” because “staff has identified no legitimate reason for needing their testimony when it can obtain the same information, and more, from other witnesses and documents.”

    Amazon claims that it has worked “diligently and cooperatively with FTC staff to provide information relevant to the FTC’s investigation” for over a year and has produced 37,000 pages of documents relating to the probe, and provided “dozens of pages of interrogatory responses,” among other things.

    It also claims that it has “proactively followed up with staff to ensure it had the materials it needed” but that FTC staff had become “inexplicably disengaged,” and by February 2022 had not communicated with Amazon about the Prime investigation for almost four months.

    The company claims that in April 2022, after roughly six months of alleged silence from the FTC, Amazon was “abruptly notified … that a new attorney would be taking over and that staff was under ‘tremendous pressure’ to conclude the investigation,” and gave the company and its executives just a few weeks to comply.

    “Staff’s handling of this investigation has been unusual and perplexing,” Amazon wrote in the petition. “The current impasse has been brought about by unexplained pressure placed on staff to complete the investigation hastily, by an arbitrarily chosen deadline.”

    “But staff’s own behavior has exacerbated the breakdown in this investigation, with the most recent incident being the most egregious: staff has attempted to restrict, contrary to law and FTC practice, counsel’s ability to jointly represent Amazon and the Individual CID recipients. Staff has gone so far as to demand that counsel leave a hearing for the first individual witness for failing to abide by this improper restriction. The Commission must step in.”

    Amazon’s website on Prime Day in a stock photo. (Dennizn/Shutterstock)

    Investigation Expanded

    Amazon claimed that the FTC’s scope of the investigation has been extended to include additional non-Prime subscription programs, such as Audible, Amazon Music, Kindle Unlimited, and Subscribe & Save.

    Lawyers for the company claimed that the FTC had “refused to provide the Individual CIDs to Amazon’s counsel when requested and informed counsel that they would not be permitted to jointly represent Amazon and any of the individual employees,” which it described as “plainly contrary to law.”

    At the very least, Amazon asks that the deadline to provide the information should be extended.

    “At a minimum, Amazon needs staff to further clarify its vague and argumentative requests and grant more time to comply with them, something staff has refused to do without explanation,” lawyers noted.

    The FTC, which is headed by Lina Khan, pledged in 2020 to look more closely into the power of America’s five biggest tech companies: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Alphabet (including Google).

    Amazon has raised concerns over Khan’s stance on antitrust law and her previous criticism of the company and its market dominance, stating that it would make her impartial in her role as chair.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 18:30

  • China Condemns Newly Announced Formal US-Taiwan Trade Talks
    China Condemns Newly Announced Formal US-Taiwan Trade Talks

    A major Thursday announcement from the Office of the US Trade Representative is sure to continue pitting Beijing and Washington on a path of escalation and collision course over Taiwan, as the US and Taipei have agreed to begin formal talks on a trade pact. 

    The Taiwan side has also confirmed that negotiations will start early this fall, with the areas to be covered including trade facilitation, regulatory practices, anticorruption, agriculture, environmental standards, and other area, according to the US executive agency’s website. 

    Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi said the formal talks will aim to “deepen our trade and investment relationship, advance mutual trade priorities based on shared values, and promote innovation and inclusive economic growth for our workers and businesses.”

    In addition to seeking to bolster Taiwan’s economic strength, Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations has spelled out that a future trade pact would increase the self-ruled island’s participation in international pacts. China, however, has rejected this as a violation of ‘One China’ and its sovereignty.

    File image: ZUMA Press/DW

    Taiwan’s trade minister John Deng in a Thursday press briefing also said that high on the agenda will be strategies for standing up to China’s “economic coercion”. Naturally increase in economic formalization would further inch Taiwan and US toward formal diplomatic relations, which Beijing sees as a further erosion and abandonment of the ‘One China’ status quo.

    Deng told the briefing of China’s interference, “Its economic coercion targets are not just the United States or Taiwan, it’s done to a lot of countries,” adding that “Its harm to the global economic and trade order is great.”

    One recent example of the reference is blocking trade with countries in dispute with Beijing such as Lithuania for allowing Taiwan to establish a de facto embassy in the capital of Vilnius.

    Additionally China and Australia have been locked in a trade war for more than a year after Beijing rolled out a series of punitive measures on key Australian agriculture and other exports to China, including sanctions on certain products, special taxes, and draconian inspection procedures – all of which started after Beijing was incensed that Australian leaders called for an independent inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.

    Predictably, an initial reaction out of China’s commerce ministry stressed it “opposes” US-Taiwan trade talks and that it will take “all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests,” according to a Thursday statement. Further according to Reuters:

    “One China” policy is a prerequisite for Taiwan’s participation in economic cooperation with foreign countries, Shu Jueting, spokeswoman of the ministry, said at a regular press conference.

    Military tensions continue to be on edge in waters surrounding Taiwan as the Eastern Theater Command continues ‘shows of force’…

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    There continues to be the backdrop of Chinese PLA military pressure on the democratic island, with groups of fighter jets said to now be buzzing the median line in the Taiwan Strait on a daily bases, following the Aug.2nd visit of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 17:30

  • Data Shows Number Of Low-Income Audits Could Triple As IRS Grows
    Data Shows Number Of Low-Income Audits Could Triple As IRS Grows

    Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The Internal Revenue Service Headquarters Building in Washington on Sept. 19, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

    The IRS audited 197 low-income families for every high-wealth family in 2019, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO)—a number that some experts expected to climb under an IRS turbocharged with more money and manpower.

    Over the next decade, the Democrat’s new “Inflation Reduction Act” will provide the IRS with 87,000 new agents and $80 billion in funding, with nearly $46 billion earmarked for enforcement.

    According to the Congressional Budget Office, the tax and spend bill is projected to bring in $203.7 billion in revenue from 2022 to 2031.

    President Joe Biden’s administration has promised no new taxes or audits on households making less than $400,000 per year.

    But experts say that promise may be hard to keep.

    A previous CBO analysis using a similar funding plan featured in the Inflation Reduction Act found audit rates would be restored to levels around 10 years ago. The analysis showed the audit rates would rise for all taxpayers, but the ones with higher incomes would face the biggest increase.

    The oldest data available in the 2022 Government Accountability Office report released this year was for 2010. That’s when the IRS was better funded and staffed with some 95,000 full time employees.

    From 2010-2019, the IRS audited 0.9 percent across all income groups compared to 0.25 percent now.

    Rachel Greszler, a budget and entitlements senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told The Epoch Times that even returning to the 2010 audit levels for those making more than $400,000 per year, would still fall short of the IRS’s revenue goal.

    “My rough estimate shows that returning to the 2010 audit levels for all income groups would only generate a little over 20 percent of the bills’ estimated enforcement revenues in 2031,” she said.

    In her commentary on the Heritage Foundation’s website Aug. 12, Greszler wrote the numbers don’t add up using 2019 data either without the lower- and middle-class.

    Even increasing recent audit rates 30-fold for taxpayers making over $400,000—including 100 percent audit rates on taxpayers with incomes over $10 million—still would fall more than 20 percent short of raising the estimated $35.3 billion in new revenues by 2031, she wrote.

    So it stands to reason that taxpayers can expect audit rates more like those about a decade ago.

    GAO statistics show a larger number of audits in 2010 for taxpayers in the $0-$24,999 tax bracket than the high wealth households. About 579,000 audits were performed on the lowest tax bracket in 2010, compared to 197,000 in 2019.

    Yet for the wealthy, high wealth audits of $10 million or more stood at 2,800 in 2010, dipping to 1,000 in 2019.

    While a higher percentage of high wealthy households is audited more than poor ones, the lower class sees more audits overall.

    A better-funded IRS in 2010 audited the poor much more aggressively than the super wealthy—at a rate of 207 to 1.

    In recent years, the IRS audited taxpayers with incomes below $25,000 and those with incomes of $500,000 or more at higher-than-average rates. But, audit rates have dropped for all income levels—with audit rates falling the most for taxpayers with incomes of $200,000 or more, according to the GAO report.

    The Inflation Reduction Act, which is a scaled-down version of Build Back Better negotiated by Democrats Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), took Republicans by surprise. The measure passed the Democratic-controlled Senate and Congress last week through a reconciliation process.

    President Joe Biden (C) signs the Inflation Reduction Act with (L-R) Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Aug. 16, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

    Alarm bells sounded for Republicans after Democrats shot down an amendment to the bill proposed by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to protect the working class from more audits. Crapo’s amendment stipulated that none of the funds from the Inflation Reduction Act could be used to audit taxpayers making under $400,000 a year. Still, all 50 Democrats in the Senate voted against it.

    Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee said CBO calculated the monetary impact of Crapo’s amendment. Calculations confirmed that had lower- and middle-income taxpayers been protected by the amendment, revenue in the Democrats’ bill would have been reduced by at least $20 billion.

    Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen attempted to clear up “misinformation” about the bill in a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig. She wrote new resources allocated to the IRS “shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels.”

    Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies before the Senate Finance Committee in Washington, on June 7, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

    However, her directive isn’t included in the bill, meaning it won’t have the power of law. Tax experts and analysis from the nonpartisan scorekeeper at the CBO indicate Yellen’s promise will likely be broken if the IRS sticks to its income expectations.

    “Again, this has no teeth behind it,” said Preston Brashers, a senior tax policy analyst with the Heritage Foundation.

    Brashers said it would take time for the audits to start rolling, increasing as the tax agency adds tens of thousands of new agents. Proponents of the bill say a large number of those 87,000 employees will fill jobs lost through attrition, but Brashers said it appears that the agency will almost double in size.

    In a press release, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) estimated that the Democrats’ bill would amount to 1.2 million new audits of taxpayers per year. Over 710,000 of these audits would fall on Americans who earn $75,000 a year or less.

    House Ways and Means Minority Leader Kevin Brady (R-Texas) speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 13, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

    “If you’re an American worker making $75,000 a year, you are 4x more likely to see a tax hike from this bill than any tax relief at all. You’re hitting middle class families directly and through higher energy prices as well,” Brady wrote on the Ways and Means GOP Twitter feed.

    Audits of Least Resistance

    Another taxpayer category likely to be audited more is rural, low-income households claiming an Earned Income Tax Credit, according to the IRS.

    Those who claim the EITC credits often make mistakes or don’t understand the rules, which makes auditing these returns low-hanging fruit for the IRS because they don’t require many man hours. The opposite is true of audits of wealthy families who can afford accountants and lawyers.

    A much larger number of returns claiming EITC credits are audited compared to the wealthiest households. In 2019, the number of audits of low-income families claiming the EITC credit compared to high wealth audits of $10 million or more was 205 to 1.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 17:00

  • Ryan Cohen Dumps Entire BBBY Stake, Makes $68 Million As Apes Crushed
    Ryan Cohen Dumps Entire BBBY Stake, Makes $68 Million As Apes Crushed

    Update 7:45pm: not everyone lost money in this post-modern, gammafied pump and dump which culminated with BBBY losing more than half of its value today: according to Bloomberg calculations Billionaire Ryan Cohen – who apparently was not rich enough – pocketed at least a $68 million profit from the sale of his stake in Bed Bath & Beyond, scoring a 56% gain on an investment he held for roughly seven months. Some math:

    Cohen’s RC Ventures paid $121.2 million between mid-January and early March to acquire 7.78 million shares and options to purchase another 1.67 million shares, a regulatory filing shows. He unloaded all of them this week for a combined $189.3 million, according to a filing on Thursday after the US market close.

    On the other hand, retail traders – especially those who were late to the trade – and who poured millions of dollars into the insolvent retailer’s stock, may be just starting to feel the pain.

    According to Vanda research, retail traders poured a torrent of cash into Bed Bath & Beyond’s shares in recent weeks, even with the company’s financial situation collapsing. They bought $58.2 million of the stock on Wednesday, a day after snapping up a record $73.2 million. Net purchases over three weeks totaled $229.1 million an amount which just may wake the Suck Elon’s Cock commission from its perpetual hibernation.

    The worst part for the Reddit crowd in this entire fiasco: It was billionaire Cohen’s very involvement in the stock that fueled their enthusiasm. The price at one point this week more than quadrupled from a recent low in July, with at least some pointing to a disclosure that showed the GameStop chairman still was holding onto his stake, which at that point exceeded 10% of the firm. It included call options that would only be in-the-money if the stock continued to soar.

    It did not, because – drumroll – Cohen used that disclosure to spark a meltup in the stock which he then sold into.

    The rest is now known.

    * * *

    We tried – we really tried – to warn millions of retail traders, from the reddit apes, to the mom and pops, to the basement dwellers, to the Robinhood fanatics – that their idol “Papa Ryan” Cohen, aka “Diamondhands” was about to rugpull them.

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    Instead, our warning was met with idiotic accusations of being everything from Citadel shills (even though they threatened to sue us for correctly accusing them of frontrunning retail investors), to being Wall Street sellouts.

    Well less than 24 hours later we were proven right when Papa Ryan dumped his entire 9.5 million share-equivalent stake in BBBY just one day after the 144 filing…

    … or rather before, because what is most remarkable about the one-day liquidation is that RC Ventures, Ryan Cohen’s market manipulation fund, was actually dumping the shares on Wednesday morning, long before he even filed the 13G.

    Now that there is no pied piper to lead the rats apes to their destruction, BBBY stock is crashing…

    … and dragging GME – where Papa Cohen has yet to sell – with it.

    As for Cohen, we can’t help but be touched by his nobility and generosity, when just a few weeks ago he was so concerned about bagholders…

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    … before himself leaving thousands of bagholders nursing millions of losses.

    We can only hope that the outcry from this latest glaring manipulation will finally prompt the absolute morons at the SEC to finally do something about this kind of manipulative, management-driven gamma squeeze…

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    … but with the unprecedented amount of corruption in this administration, we are not holding our breath.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 16:44

  • Brace For Even Higher Beef Prices As Texas Cattle Industry Faces Historic Drought Crisis
    Brace For Even Higher Beef Prices As Texas Cattle Industry Faces Historic Drought Crisis

    Ranchers across Texas continue to panic sell cattle herds as the worst megadrought in 1,200 years makes it too expensive to sustain operations. 

    “We’ll keep selling cows till it rains,” Texas High Plains rancher Jim Ferguson told Amarillo station KAMR, which collaborated with The Hill on the expanding cattle crisis in the state. 

    America’s cattle heartland has seen pastures turn to dust, and costs for feed, fertilizer, and diesel skyrocket, threatening an entire industry that is essential to the nation’s beef supply. 

    The Hill said that the devastating drought and higher cattle operation costs would result in higher beef prices for at least the next two years. And we agree with that assessment as the latest data via USDA shows supermarket prices surged to record highs earlier this year and are quickly approaching the $5 handle. 

    “The lack of water in general, it’s hurting us all the way around. Any way you can think of,” cattle buyer Josh Sturgeon said. 

    Sturgeon said ranchers are liquidating herds at auction because of the lack of water and soaring costs. 

    But “you’re almost afraid to buy. Cattle drink a lot of water, especially this time of year. With this drought, they’re drinking a lot of water. Cattle are dying because of this. Even the best of cattle are struggling,” he noted.

    Walter Kunisch of consultant group Hilltop Securities said increased cattle liquidations at auctions due to worsening drought is “nothing like we’ve seen in the last 15 years.” 

    Kunisch pointed out that farmers are selling off their breeding stock, which they rely on to produce the next generation of cows. 

    “That’s a big signal to me that, you know, that future supplies at some point are going to run tight,” Kunsich warned. 

    USDA’s latest cattle report found herds are down 2.4% nationwide since last year — a decrease of 750,000 cows — and a decline of 2 million since the national herd peaked in 2018. 

    The biggest takeaway is cattle herds moving forward are expected to shrink, meaning tight supplies and higher prices. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 16:30

  • Multiple Explosions Rock Russia's Crimean Port City Of Sevastopol
    Multiple Explosions Rock Russia’s Crimean Port City Of Sevastopol

    Update(1617ET): There are breaking unconfirmed reports that another Russian airfield near Crimea’s Sevastopol naval base is under attack. According to Reuters Belbek air base may have come under attack:

    • AT LEAST FOUR EXPLOSIONS ROCK CITY OF SEVASTOPOL IN RUSSIAN-ANNEXED CRIMEA – LOCAL SOURCES
    • CRIMEAN SOURCES SAY BLASTS TOOK PLACE IN THE VICINITY OF THE BELBEK MILITARY AIRPORT NORTH OF SEVASTOPOL 

    This comes after reports that Russian anti-air defenses were activated over the region. There are also unconfirmed reports circulating that a Ukrainian drone may have been engaged by Russian defenses. 

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    Little is confirmed at this early point, but it follows a string of blasts inside Crimea over the past week, some of which were admitted by the Kremlin to be Ukrainian “sabotage” operations. 

    To recap, reports of the Sevastopol blasts come just after an ammo depot was reported on fire within Russia’s Belgorod Oblast near the Ukrainian border.

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    * * *

    Russian state media has confirmed another large blaze is engulfing an ammunition depot within its territory on Thursday, with social media videos capturing the incident, following a string of prior blasts, amid growing reports Ukraine is launching ‘sabotage operations’ deep within Russian territory, particularly in Crimea over the past week.

    “An ammunition depot in Russia’s Belgorod Region caught fire on Thursday, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, adding that no casualties had been reported,” according to TASS.

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    “The district’s head ordered the residents of the Timonovo and Soloti settlements to be evacuated to a safe distance. Response teams are working on the scene, efforts are underway to establish the cause of the fire,” the governor wrote further on Telegram of ongoing emergency efforts to control the blaze. 

    The area referenced merely a little over 5 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, where on the other side Russian strikes are pounding away on the major northeast city of Kharkiv. The two Russian villages have a combined population of a little over 1,000 residents. 

    ABC News recounts of events in Crimea over the past week:

    But in recent days, explosions have destroyed several Russian planes at an air base in Crimea, and munitions blew up Tuesday.

    Ukrainian authorities have stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alluded to Ukrainian attacks behind enemy lines after the most recent blasts Tuesday while Russia blamed “sabotage.”

    People in the Timonova area are reportedly being told to evacuate, as the fire continued into the night hours…

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    Amid speculation that US-supplied weaponry could be used for these longer-range attacks and operations Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov told US state-funded Voice of America this week, “We have an agreement with the US that we will not use weapons provided by the US and partners against the territory of the Russian Federation. But if we discuss de-occupying… Ukrainian land where the enemy is now, there are no such restrictions.”

    The Kremlin has stated that such long-range attacks with American weaponry would mark a severe “red line” and that it would hold external powers backing Ukraine responsible. 

    Meanwhile, it looks like things are continuing to heat up over Crimea, after Ukraine’s President Zelensky earlier this month vowed to “liberate” the Russian-controlled peninsula…

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 16:17

  • Stocks Stumble, Memes Mauled In Sleepy Session Fit For Sandman
    Stocks Stumble, Memes Mauled In Sleepy Session Fit For Sandman

    If one had to describe today’s session with one word it would be “sleepy.”

    After yesterday’s early selloff, driven by sharply higher rates, the 2pm FOMC failed to provide traders any clear direction on what the Fed plans to do, and an early dovish read of the minutes fizzled quickly, ending any upward momentum. Fast forward to today when stocks traded in a narrow range bound by the pre-FOMC lows and post-FOMC highs (yet one which nonetheless makes the Fed nervous as it is far too high to constrict financial conditions).

    While most sectors were in the green – though energy led the pack thanks to a surge in oil prices…

    …  volumes were dismal (to be expected with more than half of traders out on vacation) and liquidity was non-existent …

    … and what little action there was, was in “meme stonks” where recent insolvent, multi-bagging superstars like BBBY crumbled after even the apes were forced to accept that it’s just a matter of time before “papa Cohen” and his diamondhands dump their BBBY stake (and who knows what else).

    The news sent BBBY stock plunging more than 20% and almost half off yesterday’s $30 high….

    … AMC hit ten-day lows…

    … and GME was also hammered…

    … as the broader basement trader space got deflated now that the Fed has made it clear it will likely hike another 75bps in September.

    And speaking of September rate hikes, after odds of a 75bps hike post yesterday’s FOMC from 70% to 40%, we got the usual confusion today when former uber-hawk Esther George came out dovish today while recent uber-dove Bullard James Bullard said he backs a 75bps rate hike.

    However, since not even the algos care about Fed forecasts any more, there was little impact on either the Euro$ market or risk assets.

    The rest of today’s session was, as noted, boring: the dollar rose, rates went nowhere, the VIX crunch resumed, pushing it back below 20…

    … gold went nowhere, same as bitcoin, while ETH saw a stead trickle of inflows as traders continue to expect outperformance from the token before (and after) the merge.

    Crude was probably the only other interesting move besides memes, as it was finally able to rally out of its previous rut due to Wednesday’s EIA report, which showed that markets are still very tight and gasoline soared. Along with multiple stockpile draws, the report revealed that recessionary risks haven’t trickled over to crude consumption just yet as demand remains high. Bolstering gains were Xi’s comments about Chinese reopening (even though the comments appeared to reference globalization rather than the country’s Covid-zero policy, but whateves), as well as continued geopolitical risk with Bloomberg noting that talks between Ukrainian President Zelenskiy and Turkey’s President Erdogan didn’t prove fruitful, as Zelenskiy says he sees no end to the war without troop withdrawals. Finally, Goldman said that an Iran nuclear deal is actually not going to happen and will instead be an extended “stalemate”, which however won’t help the supply picture. As a result, WTI crude briefly rallied above $91 on Thursday after previously dropping to a seven-month low earlier in the week.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 16:06

  • Russia Shows Off Robo-Dog With RPG At Military Convention
    Russia Shows Off Robo-Dog With RPG At Military Convention

    Russia displayed new and experimental technologies at its annual defense convention at the Patriot Center near Moscow. 

    Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an opening speech at the Military and Technical Forum ARMY 2022 on Tuesday, organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense, and said that over “28,000 modern samples of military and dual-use products” are being showcased by approximately 1,500 Russian manufacturers to defense officials from 72 countries. 

    In the speech, Putin continued:

    “We are ready to offer our allies and partners the most modern types of weapons, from small arms to armored vehicles and artillery, from warplanes to drones. These guns are in demand among military professionals all over the world for their reliability, quality, and most importantly, their high efficiency. Almost all of them have been used many times in real military operations.”

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    One of the most modern types of weapons that Putin was referring to appears to be an intelligent four-legged robo-dog wielding an RPG-26 rocket launcher on its back. 

    Videos of Russian engineering company Intellect Machine’s M-81 robotic system roaming the convention center floors with a rocket launcher went viral on social media. 

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    This would not be the first time the West’s adversaries have displayed a robo-dog for war. Last month, a video surfaced on social media of a Chinese robot dog by Hangzhou-based company Unitree Robotics with a machine gun mounted on its back. 

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    Here are the other weapons displayed at the defense convention that wraps up on Sunday:

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 15:20

  • Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg Pleads Guilty To Tax Scheme, Will Testify Against Trump Org
    Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg Pleads Guilty To Tax Scheme, Will Testify Against Trump Org

    Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg has pleaded guilty to 15 felonies – admitting that he conspired with other Trump Organization executives to carry out a tax-avoidance scheme connected to lavish corporate benefits – including lease payments for a luxury car, rent for a Manhattan apartment and private tuition for his grandchildren.

    As part of the deal, he has agreed to testify against the Trump Organization in an October trial – however he has refused to implicate Donald Trump in any wrongdoing. The company is accused of helping Weisselberg and other executives dodge taxes by failing to accurately report their full compensation to the IRS.

    As Bloomberg notes, “Trump hasn’t been charged in the case and, according to a person familiar with the matter, Weisselberg won’t implicate his boss as part of his plea. But because Weisselberg’s deal requires him to testify against his employer, an admission of criminal conduct could mean trouble for the Trump Organization, experts say.”

    If convicted, the Trump Organization could face fines or potentially be placed on probation.

    Weisselberg, the only person to face criminal charges so far in the Manhattan DA’s case against Trump’s business empire, will receive a five-month jail term at Rikers Island and five years of probation, however time credited for good behavior he’s likely to serve around 100 days, according to the NY Times. He also has to pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties and interest.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 15:03

  • Trump Spox Calls For 'No Redactions' Of FBI Trump Raid Affidavit After Judge Orders DOJ To Unseal 'Portions'
    Trump Spox Calls For ‘No Redactions’ Of FBI Trump Raid Affidavit After Judge Orders DOJ To Unseal ‘Portions’

    Update (1550ET): In response to Judge Reinhart ordering the DOJ to release a redacted version of the Trump raid affidavit, Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich called for no redactions,” citing “Democrats’ penchant for using redactions to hide government corruption.”

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    *  *  *

    The Trump-hating judge who signed off on the FBI warrant to raid Mar-a-Lago has ordered the DOJ to unseal portions of the underlying affidavit, after several media outlets and activist groups made the case that it was in the public interest to see it.

    “I’m not prepared to find that the affidavit should be fully sealed,” said Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart following a hearing in which a top government lawyer argued that releasing the document could “severely compromise” an ongoing investigation that’s in its “early stages,” adding that a line-by-line redaction of the document was unrealistic.

    “On my initial careful review … there are portions of it that can be unsealed.”

    Reinhart said he would “give the government a full and fair opportunity” to make redactions, according to Bloomberg, setting a deadline of next Thursday – after which he will review it and release it if he agrees with the redactions.

    *  *  *

    Several media organizations have urged a Florida judge to release most of an FBI affidavit which was used to justify the DOJ’s search warrant for last week’s raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

    A Palm Beach Police officer at the entrance of former US President Donald Trump’s house at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug. 9.Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg

    According to a filing by the group, which includes the New York Times, AP and CNN, the public has a “clear and powerful interest” in what led to the unprecedented action by the DOJ against the sitting president’s top political opponent.

    While the group says that the document should be released “with only those redactions that are necessary to protect a compelling interest articulated by the government,” the Justice Department says that such a redacted version of the affidavit would leave the document so devoid of content that it wouldn’t provide any insight.

    The government has given “little explanation as to how release would harm the ongoing investigation” even though many details of the probe are already public, the group said in the filing in federal court in West Palm Beach, where US District Judge Bruce Reinhart will hold a hearing on the matter Thursday.

    The affidavit provides the basis on which the judge authorized the search of Trump’s estate. The dispute over its release is the latest fallout from the Aug. 8 search, which culminated in FBI agents carting away 11 sets of classified documents in about 20 boxes. Threats against the FBI — and the judge — have jumped since then. –Bloomberg

    “The secrecy surrounding the search warrant, and the affidavit that led to its issuance, has caused the nation to convulse with intrigue and harmful speculation that will only increase the longer the truth is kept from the public,” said Judicial Watch in a statement. “The heat must be replaced with light, and soon.”

    Trump has also called for the document to be publicly released, though he hasn’t filed anything in court to back that up.

    The request comes as Newsweek reports that the FBI raid was specifically intended to recover Trump’s personal “stash” of hidden documents – which reportedly deal with a “variety of intelligence matters of interest to the former president, the officials suggest—including material that Trump apparently thought would exonerate him of any claims of Russian collusion in 2016 or any other election-related charges.”

    When Trump left the White House in January 2021, many of the normal processes of transition were not followed, especially because the president would not admit that he had lost the election or that he would be leaving office. As a result, we now know, some 42 boxes of documents were shipped to Mar-a-Lago by mistake: officials papers under U.S. law, which the National Archives is supposed to take custody of and catalog.

    Over the past 18 months, the Trump camp and the Archives were engaged in a back-and-forth which resulted in the return of 15 boxes (and some additional documents). As late as June 3, when officials from the FBI and Justice visited Mar-a-Lago to serve a Grand Jury subpoena for specific documents, these negotiations were largely cordial. -Newsweek

    Meanwhile, as Jack Phillips of the Epoch Times notes, a lawyer representing Trump, and a former FBI official, both expressed doubts that the affidavit used to seek an FBI search warrant for last week’s Mar-a-Lago raid will be unsealed by a judge on Thursday.

    “I don’t think anybody wants to unseal this thing inside the government,” Chris Swecker, a former assistant director of the FBI, told Fox News on Wednesday, adding that he doubts “very seriously you’re going to see this unsealed tomorrow.”

    The former official was making reference to a hearing that was scheduled by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart for Thursday about whether the affidavit should be unsealed. The Department of Justice on Monday filed court papers arguing that it should not because releasing it to the public will damage their investigation.

    But former Trump and other Republicans argue it should be released because it would show why the FBI took the unprecedented and extraordinary step of raiding the home of a former president and possible 2024 candidate.

    Revealing the affidavit, they argue, would provide more insight into what the Department of Justice is trying to investigate and lay out reasons for why the raid was carried out. On Aug. 12, Reinhart issued an order to unseal the FBI search warrant and property receipt.

    Lawyer’s Response

    A lawyer for Trump, Alina Habba, echoed Swecker’s assertion that it appears unlikely the judge will unseal the affidavit on Thursday during a recent Fox News interview.

    “Judge Reinhart is the same magistrate judge that recused himself from my Hillary [Clinton] case about a month ago. He is definitely not going to be a friendly judge necessarily. I would say it was highly unlikely,” Habba said, noting that the “DOJ is already saying that they do not want us to see what was in the affidavit.”

    “Usually, that’s to protect witnesses and other things that have been cooperating with the justice system. So while I would love to see it and understand why you would ask for a raid with a cooperating president, do I believe that this judge is going to reveal it? No, I do not,” she said.

    The Justice Department and the FBI have remained mostly silent regarding the raid, with Attorney General Merrick Garland issuing a statement during a news conference on Aug. 11. Garland said he personally authorized the warrant for the FBI raid but provided little to no insight about why it was carried out or what was taken from Trump’s home.

    In statements posted on Truth Social, Trump wrote that FBI agents took three of his passports and demanded their return. A spokesperson for the former president confirmed on social media this week that the travel documents were handed back.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 14:57

  • Bullard Backs 75bps Hike As George Says Fed Has "Already Done A Lot"
    Bullard Backs 75bps Hike As George Says Fed Has “Already Done A Lot”

    Market odds for 75bps rate hike next month jumped from 42% to 50% this afternoon after St. Louis Fed president James Bullard backed another 75 basis-point move next month, which if effectuated would be the third consecutive 75bps rate hike, something the Fed has never done in its modern history.

    Bullard, a voting member of the FOMC and one of the biggest hawks at the US central bank, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Thursday that he backed another 75 basis-point increase in September, arguing “we should continue to move expeditiously to a level of the policy rate that will put significant downward pressure on inflation.”

    Ironically, Kansas City Fed President Esther George, who until not too long ago was the biggest hawk at the Fed (and is now more dovish than Bullard who a few years ago was the biggest Fed dove), said the US central bank had already “done a lot” on raising interest rates.

    George backed the July hike but dissented in June in favor of a smaller half-point increase, citing concern the larger move could stoke policy uncertainty. Her remarks Thursday continued to to tilt dovish.

    “I think the case for continuing to raise rates remains strong. The question of how fast that has to happen is something my colleagues and I will continue to debate, but I think the direction is pretty clear,” she said in Independence, Missouri, on Thursday.

    “We have done a lot, and I think we have to be very mindful that our policy decisions often operate on a lag. We have to watch carefully how that’s coming through.”

    Policy makers saw the federal funds rate reaching a range of 3.25% to 3.5% this year, according to the median estimate of their June projections. The forecasts will be updated in September when the Fed next meets.

    Earlier on Thursday, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told CNN that she was open to raising rates by 50 or 75 basis points next month and that officials would be in no hurry to reverse course next year. That pushes back against investor bets that the Fed will cut rates before the end of 2023.

    The Fed officials spoke a day after the release of minutes from the July Fed policy meeting, which showed officials judged it would eventually be appropriate to slow the pace of interest-rate increases, with some advocating the Fed keep them at elevated levels for some time after increases concluded while others said a time will come to start easing (obviously).

    In reaction to Bullard’s comments stocks initially dipped but have since rebounded and are again solidly in the green as the market clearly no longer cares about anything the Fed has to say.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/18/2022 – 14:40

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Aug 18

Today’s News 18th August 2022

  • Israel & Turkey Announce Full Normalization Of Ties
    Israel & Turkey Announce Full Normalization Of Ties

    Via The Cradle,

    On Wednesday, Israel and Turkey announced their official normalization of ties and full restoration of diplomatic relations, returning their ambassadors to Tel Aviv and Ankara. This comes after several years of tension and a gradual reconciliation over the past several months.

    “It was decided to once again upgrade the level of the relations between the two countries to that of full diplomatic ties and to return ambassadors and consuls general from the two countries,” a statement from the office of interim Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said.

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    “Upgrading relations will contribute to deepening ties between the two peoples, expanding economic trade, and cultural ties, and strengthening regional stability,” the statement added. The move to normalize ties was also praised by Israeli President Isaac Herzog as “an important development” that will “encourage greater economic relations” between Israel and Turkey.

    Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed the decision and stated: “Appointment of ambassadors was one of the steps for the normalization of ties. Such a positive step came from Israel as a result of these efforts, and as Turkey, we also decided to appoint an ambassador to Israel, to Tel Aviv.”

    The Turkish Foreign Minister clarified, however, that the restoration of ties does not mean that his country will abandon what he referred to as its “support” for the Palestinian people.

    “We are not giving up on the Palestinian cause… It is important for our messages to be conveyed directly through the ambassador (on the Palestinian issue),” Cavusoglu asserted.

    The strain in relations initially began in 2010, when a Turkish-sponsored fleet of humanitarian ships bound for Gaza was attacked in the Mediterranean by the Israeli navy, resulting in the deaths of six Turkish activists.

    In 2018, both governments expelled each other’s ambassadors, with Turkey criticizing Tel Aviv for its abuse of Palestinian human rights. A year later, the two states scaled back their economic cooperation. By 2021, however, economic relations had rekindled, as bilateral trade between Israel and Turkey reached around $7.7 billion.

    Since then, Tel Aviv and Ankara have been involved in efforts to reach a full normalization of ties. On  July 7, the two states signed their first aviation agreement since 1951. On March 9, Herzog visited Turkey, marking the first visit by an Israeli leader to the country since 2008.

    During his visit to Tel Aviv on 25 May, Cavusoglu said that a normalization of ties between Turkey and Israel would have a “positive impact” that would result in a “peaceful” solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite Turkey’s purported support for the Palestinians, however, Ankara has been deporting members of the Hamas resistance group from the country at Tel Aviv’s request.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 23:55

  • 'Sustainable' Supersonic Plane Already Has Dozens Of Pre-Orders From Airlines, Government
    ‘Sustainable’ Supersonic Plane Already Has Dozens Of Pre-Orders From Airlines, Government

    In the nearly 20 years since the supersonic Concorde was retired, a new aeronautics company has developed a “sustainable” new airplane, that will shuttle between 60 and 80 passengers up to nearly 5,000 miles at a time, flying at Mach 1.7.

    Denver-based Boom Supersonic has developed the “Overture,” which will run on “100% sustainable aviation fuel” (SAF), powering four smaller wing-mounted engines to keep weight and temperature balanced. It will also incorporate carbon composite materials for a lightweight, yet robust air frame.

    The company has already scored contracts from the US Air Force and two airlines – with United Airlines committing to 15 aircraft once safety requirements are met, as well as an option to purchase 35 more. Japan Airlines has also pre-ordered 20 of them, while the company is creating custom applications for the government.

    SAF uses different types of waste products, such as used cooking oil to animal fat, to deliver the same performance as conventional jet fuel – just with a (claimed) reduced carbon footprint.

    “Environmental performance is being considered in all aspects of Overture, from design and production to flight and end-of-life recycling,” reads Boom’s website. “The engineering team prioritizes circularity by repurposing used tooling, recycling components on the shop floor and leveraging additive manufacturing techniques that result in less manufacturing waste and lighter, more fuel-efficient products.”

    As the NY Post notes, the plane will reach various destinations much faster than conventional airliners.

    New York City to London:

    • Current travel time: Approximately 7 hours
    • Overture travel time: 3 hours 30 minutes

    Los Angeles to Sydney:

    • Current travel time: Approximately 15 hours
    • Overture travel time: 8 hours

    Tokyo to Seattle:

    • Current travel time: Approximately 9 hours
    • Overture travel time: 4 hours 30 minutes

    “With no afterburners and buzz-free engines, Overture’s takeoffs will blend in with existing long-haul fleets, resulting in a quieter experience for both passengers and airport communities,” reads Boom’s site, which notes that the signature sonic boom created when an aircraft exceeds the speed of sound will happen over the ocean so as not to disturb people on the ground.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 23:30

  • In Sureal Story, 20-Year-Old Student Acquires 6% Of Bed Bath & Beyond, Makes $110 Million In 3 Weeks
    In Sureal Story, 20-Year-Old Student Acquires 6% Of Bed Bath & Beyond, Makes $110 Million In 3 Weeks

    We thought that today’s story about Ryan Cohen filing to dump his entire stake in Bed Bath & Beyond after sparking a massive gamma squeeze using deep OTM call options would be the most absurd meme-related story of the day. Boy, were we wrong.

    In a late Wednesday article published on the FT which at first (and second, and third) read comes across as a cross between absurdist satire and a PR puff piece, we read the day’s feel-good “riches to riches” story in which a 20-year-old university student, Jake Freeman, who is an applied mathematics and economics major at the University of Southern California, managed to accumulate 6.2% of the entire outstanding stock of Bed Bath & Beyond at under $5.50 share (did we mention he is a 20-year-old university student) amounting to $27 million, which he announced in an activist 13-G letter to BBBY Management on July 21, 2022, and less than a month later sold out of his entire stake – thanks to the insane gamma squeeze in the stock – not through some prime broker but through his TD Ameritrade and Interactive Brokers accounts, making $110 million in the process!

    For the sake of simplicity, here is what happened summarized in one chart.

    First things first – how the FT got the idea for the story in the first place was rather inspired: they looked at the HDS page of BBBY and found that the 4th largest holder of BBBY is a completely unknown entity called Freeman Capital, which alongside only Ken Griffen’s Citadel and Federated Hermes, were the only three Top 20 holders to build out their entire stakes in the second quarter (as a reminder, shortly before the close we learned that the 2nd largest holder, Ryan Cohen’s RC Ventures, filed a 144 to dump its entire 9.450MM share-equivalent stake). And while we wait for RC Ventures to liquidate its stake, we now know for a fact that the #4 top BBBY holder already sold to unwitting retail investors.

    What is remarkable is that at the same time Freeman disclosed its 6.21% (or 4,968,000) stake, the 20-year-old also sent out a 9 page activist letter (hardly the stuff 20-year-old college math majors write) to BBBY management explaining that the company is “facing an existential crisis for its survival” and that the company “needs to cut its cash-burn rates, drastically improve its capital structure and raise cash.” The first page of the letter is below (link to the full letter here). In it…

    … Jake Freeman writes that his “plan for the realignment of BBBY consists of two crucial legs: cutting debt and raising capital.” He proceeds to detail his proposal for both legs, which would culminate in reducing the company’s senior debt from $1.2 billion to $500 million (through an exchange offer of the current discounted debt into far less par debt), and the issuance of converts to somehow raise $1 billion in the market (how this would have worked when the stock was trading around $5 with imploding EBITDA is anyone’s guess). But what was most remarkable is what Freeman said in the highlighted section: namely that the “US options market is pricing in high implied volatility for BBBY derivatives which can be leveraged and capitalized on in order to effect a realignment of BBBY’s debt”, in other words a debt reduction using… a gamma squeeze?

    Perhaps. We don’t know who on the board (or management team) read Freeman’s letter, or what they did next, but less than ten days after the recent teenager shipped out his “activist letter” to BBBY, the stock doubled, then tripled, quadrupled and so on, from his cost basis… at which point Freeman, quite content with the 6x return he made on his initial investment of $27 million, sold his BBBY stake north of $130 million, making more than $100 million in less than a month!

    By this point, readers should have some questions, like for example how did a 20-year-old get $27 million in cash to buy 6.2% of the outstanding shares of Bed Bath & Beyond, and become the 4th largest shareholder? Here, the FT comes to the rescue:

    Freeman’s initial stake cost about $25mn, which he said was mostly raised from friends and family. He has invested for years with his uncle, Dr Scott Freeman, a former pharmaceutical executive. The two recently built an activist stake in a publicly traded pharmaceutical company called Mind Medicine.

    There’s more:

    Freeman also said he had interned for years at a New Jersey hedge fund, Volaris Capital. Just before his 17th birthday, Freeman and its founder, Vivek Kapoor, a former Credit Suisse executive, published a paper titled “Irreducible Risks of Hedging a Bond with a Default Swap”.

    But we digress: let’s get this straight: “friends and family” handed a tiny $25 million (really, $27 million) to a 20-year-old math major at USC, whose extensive financial background is co-investing with his uncle “a former pharma executive” and interning at a hedge fund located above a Starbucks office in Milburn, NJ, yet which oddly enough is primarily focused on various options trading strategies.

    … $25 million which he invested, through his hedge fund Freeman Capital Managent, LLC, which doesn’t really exist except through a Sheridan, Wyoming-based commercial registered agent at 30 N Gould St. (where more than one registration scam has been discovered recently) and which was “founded” in May 2022 …

    …. into just one high-beta, practically bankrupt stock just weeks after the company reported dismal earnings report according to which BBBY sales plunged by 25% in Q2 while its net loss widened to $358mn from $51mn, and its cash position had dwindled to just $107 million from $1 billion at the start of the year, or just a few weeks from insolvency, culminating a catastrophic trend of disappearing EBITDA.

    Surely such a concentrated, undiversified investment by a young “hedge fund” guru who doesn’t even have an active Bloomberg account…

    … screams “fiduciary duty”, and we can only applaud the “friends and family” who handed their $25 million to this young investing wizard, who were surely expecting a few percent returns here and there, instead of a 5x return in 3 weeks. Surely.

    According to the FT, Freeman himself quite shocked by the outcome: “I certainly did not expect such a vicious rally upwards,” Freeman told the Financial Times in an interview on Wednesday. “I thought this was going to be a six months plus play . . . I was really shocked that it went up so fast.”

    So young Master Freeman was expecting the 5x return to take place in “six months” but was “really shocked” it took just 24 calendar days. Come to think of it, we would be too (or maybe not, especially since the entire idea was that of Jake’s uncle Scott, M.D…. but more on that in a subsequent post. But here one additional thing is worth noting, between July 13 (when FCM BBBY HOLDINGS, LLC was registered in Wyoming by Jake Spencer Freeman) and July 20 when the 13G was filed disclosing the 5 million share stake, just 41.9 million shares traded, which means that young Master Jake was in quite a rush to build up his stake: as JC Oviedo pointed out, “to amass its stake in this time period, FCM BBBY HOLDINGS, LLC would have had to be over 11% of the average daily volume!”

    That’s not only a ton of conviction where to put in every last penny of your “friends and family” money but one hell of a rush too.

    Finally, what did Freeman do after making $100 million in what may be the luckiest investment ever made by a 20-year-old?

    After selling the shares, Freeman went for dinner with his parents in the suburb of New York City where they live and on Wednesday he flew to Los Angeles to return to campus, he said.

    We, for one, can’t wait to see how Freeman Capital Management makes its next 5x return in under a month next (actually we know how, and we will reveal it tomorrow).

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 23:01

  • Feds Cut Water Deliveries To Arizona And Nevada, May Impact Food Production
    Feds Cut Water Deliveries To Arizona And Nevada, May Impact Food Production

    Arizona and Nevada face deeper cuts on the amount of water they can draw from the drought-stricken Colorado River, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation said Tuesday. 

    The agency responsible for managing water and power in the western US said “urgent action” is needed as water levels in the Colorado River’s two largest reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — continue to drop. Under the new conservation efforts, 21% of Arizona’s annual water allocation from the river system will be reduced in 2023. 

    Nevada will see 8% of water deliveries reduced, and Mexico’s share will be cut by 7%. California will be spared from the new measures that begin next year. 

    The reductions could be the beginning of a water crisis for the 40 million Americans in seven states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, California, and Nevada) that heavily rely on the river for freshwater and power. 

    The move comes as the western US faces the worst megadrought in 1,200 years that has decreased levels in Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US, to lows not seen in eight decades. 

    Lake Powell, meanwhile, could face hydropower production disruptions as soon as next year, The Guardian said. 

    “Every sector in every state has a responsibility to ensure that water is used with maximum efficiency. To avoid a catastrophic collapse of the Colorado river system and a future of uncertainty and conflict, water use in the basin must be reduced,” said Tanya Trujillo, assistant secretary of the Interior Department for water and science. 

    In Arizona, the cuts will impact water flow to farmland responsible for 90% of US lettuce production. 

    Farmers in Arizona, who provide more than 90% of the US’s leafy greens each November through March, have already borne the brunt of prior cuts, along with those who make a living from the state’s $23.3 billion agriculture industry. Pinal County, between Phoenix and Tucson, is likely to be hit especially hard since the area known for cotton and livestock has already seen about half its farmland go idle due to prior water reductions. – Bloomberg 

    Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton summed up the situation along the Colorado River: 

    “The system is approaching a tipping point and without action, we can’t protect the system and the millions of Americans who rely on this critical resource.” 

    Readers may recall that we noted taps in northern Mexico have run dry for several months as a water crisis looms. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 22:40

  • Moderna To Commence Construction Of World’s First mRNA Factory On Australian College Campus
    Moderna To Commence Construction Of World’s First mRNA Factory On Australian College Campus

    Authored by Jessie Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The U.S. pharmaceutical giant Moderna has finalised arrangements with the Australian and Victorian governments to build the world’s first mRNA production facility located on a university campus.

    An aerial view of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia on Oct. 21, 2002. (Getty Images)

    The construction at Melbourne’s Monash University is expected to commence at the end of 2022, with production anticipated to begin by the end of 2024.

    The company said that the facility is expected to produce up to 100 million mRNA respiratory vaccine doses annually, targeting respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, seasonal influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, “and other potential respiratory viruses, pending licensure.”

    Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel speaks at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on May 23, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images)

    “We look forward to being a part of the Monash Clayton precinct and contributing to the R&D ecosystem in Melbourne and across Australia,” Moderna General Manager Michael Azrak said in a statement on Aug. 15.

    The prime minister of Australia and the premier of Victoria said that the plan for the ten-year partnership to create a “homegrown” mRNA ecosystem has been completed.

    It is designed to reduce Australia’s dependence on imported mRNA vaccines, vulnerability to supply disruptions, and delays, according to the Australian ministers.

    Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews said that this agreement means that Australia will be home to Moderna’s only mRNA manufacturing centre in the Southern Hemisphere.

    “We’re not wasting a second in making sure we have access to the vaccines we need to keep Victorians safe,” Andrews said.

    Vaccine Development Rushed

    However, a professor of medicine at Australia’s Flinders University has said that, in his opinion, the mRNA development was rushed, and that this may have contributed to issues with adverse reactions.

    “I think there was early leadership by Oxford University [AstraZeneca] with the adenovirus viral vector being put into human trials very quickly, you saw that similarly with Moderna and its mRNA approach,” Nikolai Petrovsky told The Epoch Times previously.

    “This created a ‘follow the leader’-type mentality with (manufacturers) Sputnik and Johnson and Johnson copying the Oxford approach and Pfizer following Moderna with the mRNA approach.”

    Last year, the Victorian government made a significant $50 million (US$35 million) investment to establish “mRNA Victoria,” an initiative responsible for leading the mRNA vaccine industry for future generations.

    As part of this initiative, they granted Monash University $5.4 million to create the mRNA production facility on its campus.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 22:15

  • Watch: Shoppers At Shanghai Ikea Flee Sudden COVID Lockdown
    Watch: Shoppers At Shanghai Ikea Flee Sudden COVID Lockdown

    Though America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) took a turn toward Covid rationality last week, “Zero-Covid” madness is still raging in China.

    Just ask the poor people who were at a Shanghai Ikea on Saturday evening. One minute they’re innocently eyeing furniture and appliances, the next they’re being told they can’t leave the store or go home. 

    An announcement was made over the store’s public address system, notifying shoppers the store had been ordered to close and to prevent anyone from leaving, due to contact tracing. Shocked by suddenly being condemned to quarantine, many opted to make a run for it.

    Video captured a dystopian scene in which guards attempt to close doors on the escapees, some of whom are screaming in their panic. The guards were overpowered, but it’s not clear what happened to the fleeing shoppers next. 

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    Those who were trapped in the store had to first linger there for four hours — from 8pm til midnight — before being transported to quarantine hotels, reports Bloomberg. Then they faced quarantine for two days followed by five days of monitoring. 

    The mass-detention was triggered merely because a close contact of a six-year-old boy who tested positive had visited the store. It’s not clear if that individual was in the store at the time. What’s more, the 6-year old wasn’t even symptomatic. 

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    While the video of the incident is dramatic, it’s hardly the first such episode, as Chinese citizens continue to live in a dark game of contact-tracing roulette. Others have been suddenly detained while working in offices, exercising at gyms or dining in restaurants. 

    Of China’s major cities, Shanghai has been hit hardest. Between March 10 and July 31 of this year alone, the city endured 92 days of full or partial lockdown. This spring, it got to the point where apartment-dwellers were screaming in unison from their balconies: 

    Last week, the CDC updated its guidelines, with one of the bureaucracy’s epidemiologists saying “we know that Covid-19 is here to stay.” Two proclamations were particularly welcome, even if they were terribly overdue: 

    • “It’s no longer recommended to screen those without symptoms.”
    • “Unvaccinated people now have the same guidance as vaccinated people.” 

    In China, however, there’s no sign that the Zero-Covid regime will be relaxed anytime soon, despite mounting damage to China’s economy, and despite growing Chinese discontent.  

    Workers carry food to Shanghai residents confined to their homes in March (Wang Yanting/Xinhua via AP) 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 21:50

  • De-Dollarization In Progress Could "Vaporize" Stocks, Bonds And Real Estate
    De-Dollarization In Progress Could “Vaporize” Stocks, Bonds And Real Estate

    Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

    A couple of days ago, I had the chance to interview my good friend Andy Schectman, President & Owner of Miles Franklin Precious Metals, a company that has done more than $5 billion in sales.

    Andy is a world-renowned expert in the field of precious metals and took the time to answer some pressing questions I had about about the state of energy markets in the U.S. and the quickly shifting landscape that the global economy sits on, with the BRIC nations banding together and collectively laughing at the West since the sanctions on Russia went into effect several months ago.

    In what can only be described as an extremely disturbing interview that left my jaw agape by the end of it, Andy and I have a frank discussion about:

    • The price of oil and the country’s response to higher prices

    • How the Fed is trapped between a rock and a hard place, between inflation and recession right now

    • The BRIC nations banding together economically and challenging the U.S. dollar as global reserve currency

    • Andy’s thoughts on how nearly all traditional assets – including stocks, bonds a real estate and the dollar, may wind up “vaporized”

    “Inflation is everywhere and gas is just one of the places,” Andy says. “Inflation is rampant. They’ve been pointing to the prices of certain things, but inflation is always a monetary phenomenon. We have not seek peak inflation, but bringing down the price of gas $0.30 or $0.40 is encouraging, but I don’t think it’s anything substantive at all.”

    When I asked about how the Biden administration was dealing with the issue, Andy said: “I think the strategic oil supply is supposed to be strategic, yet why were they selling so much oil from it to China and Pakistan?”

    He continued about inflation: “I don’t think the 9.1% is the peak – not even close to it. I think the 9.1% is bullshit as well.”

    Speaking about what course of action the Fed is going to wind up taking, Andy makes its clear he’s in the camp that the Central Bank is definitely going to pivot.

    “I don’t think that the Fed has any intention of doing what they say, I do believe it’s a sideshow,” Andy says. “Raising [rates] to 2.25% and not doing anything in terms of QT – I think they’re showing us that they’re jawboning, they don’t want to go down in history as blowing up the whole system.”

    “They just can’t do it. The minute they start to raise rates high enough, they will blow up the system. The Fed is impotent. They are damned if they do, damned if they don’t,” he continued.

    Andy criticized the Fed’s inability to see what they were doing, as they were doing it, stating: “When you take a step back and realize that there has to be someone with enough sense to realize that when you blow asset prices up to all time highs factored against the lowest interest rates in human history, at some point that bar tab has to be paid.”

    He summed up: “We’ve milked as much from the system as humanly possible.”

    Andy also thinks that global de-dollarization is on its way: “I do think the whole system could blow up with the loss of the dollar’s petro-reserve status.”

    “There are certain signposts along the way, that when you see, it becomes clear we are on a path to de-dollarization,” he says. “The dollar hegemony is right about ready to break when you realize that Saudi Arabia is about to join the BRIC nations. Do you think Biden is going to fly there to ask for more oil? He went there to beg them not to join BRIC.”

    “The dollar was made reserve currency only because of our protection of the Saudi kingdom,” Andy continues. He then notes that Saudi Arabia has signed new protection agreements with Russia.

    “All of the Eastern European countries that have repatriated their gold. They’re all part of the EU but they all trade their own currency. They’re all going to break away from the Western system!”

    If you’re not yet a subscriber of my blog, Fringe Finance, I’d be humbled to have you join and can offer you 50% off for life by using this coupon: Get 50% off forever

    Finally, you can listen to my full interview here:

    QTR’s Fringe Finance is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber: Subscribe now

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 21:25

  • Russia, China And India To Hold Massive "Vostok" War Games In Two Weeks
    Russia, China And India To Hold Massive “Vostok” War Games In Two Weeks

    Chinese troops will travel to Russia to take part in war games along with India, Belarus, Mongolia, Tajikistan and other largely anti-Western countries, China’s defense ministry said on Wednesday, adding redundantly that China’s participation in the joint exercises was “unrelated to the current international and regional situation.” (Narrator: it is related.)

    Last month, Moscow announced plans to hold “Vostok” (East) exercises from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5, even as it wages war in Ukraine. It said at the time that some foreign forces would participate, without naming them. It turns out that the “foreign forces” account for just under half of the world’s population.

    China’s defence ministry said its participation in the exercises was part of an ongoing bilateral annual cooperation agreement with Russia, Reuters reported.

    “The aim is to deepen practical and friendly cooperation with the armies of participating countries, enhance the level of strategic collaboration among the participating parties, and strengthen the ability to respond to various security threats,” the statement said.

    What is perhaps most interesting about the news is that the war games will see India and China participate together, although as the Hindu times notes, it remains unclear if Indian and Chinese troops – hardly the closest of friends – will be present together or if they will participate in different drills, which will be spread across 13 different training grounds.

    Indian and Chinese troops have remained in a stand-off that has lasted for more than two years along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh following the transgressions by the PLA in April 2020. Disengagement has taken place in some areas along the LAC but talks to restore the status quo in the remaining friction areas such as Hot Springs, Demchok, and Depsang have been slow moving.

    Under Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Beijing and Moscow have grown increasingly close especially following the start of the Ukraine war which Xi sees as a grand rehearsal for the invasion of Taiwan. Last August, Russia and China held joint military exercises in north-central China involving more than 10,000 troops. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu praised the Sibu/Cooperation-2021 drills in China’s Ningxia and suggested they could be developed further.

    In October, Russia and China held joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan. Days later, Russian and Chinese warships held their first joint patrols in the western Pacific. The next month, South Korea’s military said it had scrambled fighter jets after two Chinese and seven Russian warplanes intruded into its air defense identification zone during what Beijing called regular training.

    Just days before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Beijing and Moscow announced a “no limits” partnership, although U.S. officials say they have not seen China evade U.S.-led sanctions on Russia or provide it with military equipment.

    Russia’s eastern military district includes part of Siberia and has its headquarters in Khabarovsk, near the Chinese border.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 21:04

  • There Is No Climate Crisis: History Shows Us That The Earth Has Seen Far Worse
    There Is No Climate Crisis: History Shows Us That The Earth Has Seen Far Worse

    Climate science has been so suffocated by ideological zealotry it’s becoming difficult just to find normal objective analysis these days.  Any piece of data that contradicts the man-made climate change narrative is surrounding by a spin machine that either dismisses the information or obscures it in a deluge of global warming propaganda, inoculating the reader well before they get a chance to digest the news that maybe climate change is not all it’s cracked up to be.

    Whenever high temperatures are reported in the US or Europe the news is hyperinflated into wild theories of climate Apocalypse by the media, but weather history suggests that the panic is fabricated rather than justified.  In fact, any hot weather event you can pick out in recent years is likely overshadowed by a much worse event decades or centuries before “man-made carbon pollution” was ever a thing.    

    For example, the media is frantic over the current drought and “record temps” in Europe this summer, warning that it could become the “worst drought” in 500 years.  Of course, this claim opens the door to a question that climate scientists and propagandists don’t want to answer:  What happened 500 years ago? 

    A similar level of global warming hysteria was present during a heat wave in Europe in 2003, as well as in 2018.  The few climate scientists still not bought and paid for by governments and the UN have had to point out that these droughts are nothing compared to the living hell that was the drought of 1540.  This event is often termed a “mega-drought” because the region suffered historically hot temps while receiving almost no rain for a year.

    Temperatures that year averaged 5°C to 7° C  above average temperatures in Europe in the 20th century.   In US terms, that means daily summer temps of around 104° F.  Hundreds of historic accounts written at the time describe around half a million deaths, along with vast wildfires and a winter in Italy that “felt like July.”  Keep in mind that carbon levels in Europe in 1540 were 30% LOWER than they are today, yet, the region suffered perhaps the worst warming event in its recorded history. 

    Today’s climate data is based on records held by the NOAA and other institutions, and these records only go back to 1880.  So, whenever you hear the mainstream media rant about record temperatures, they are using a tiny sliver of global weather history going back a little over a century.  Any honest scientist in this field will tell you that the Earth’s climate record is vast compared to the limited data used by global warming ideologues, and the majority of destructive weather crises have occurred well before man-made carbon emissions.   

    It certainly wasn’t carbon pollution from cars, farming and industry that caused the crisis in 1540.

    Try doing any research on the 1540 event and you will be buried in a pile of mainstream articles that acknowledge the disaster but then try to use it as an example of why we must comply with carbon restrictions and climate authoritarianism in 2022.  They say “Look at what happened to Europe in 1540.  You don’t want that to happen again, do you?”  

    Of course, humanity had no say or control over the weather in 1540, just as we have no say or control over the weather today.  There was no carbon based global warming back then, and there is no carbon based global warming now.  

    Scientists still have no idea what caused many of the warming events of the past including the crisis of 1540, so why should we have blind faith in their claims that carbon is the cause of warming in recent years?  In fact, the NOAA and other climate research institutions still offer no concrete proof of a relationship between carbon emissions and rising temperatures.  Their argument is that they have excluded all other possible causes, leaving only carbon as the remainder.  This is not science, this is haphazard guesswork.  

    If there was ever a field that defies the logic, reason and analysis commonly associated with the scientific method, it is climate science.   

    Set aside the fact that billions of dollars in funding are paid out to climate scientists every year, but only those scientists that operate from the assumption that climate change is caused by human beings.  That is to say, there are numerous incentives for scientists to discount other causes for global warming.  They are not scientists, they are paid political activists.  Luckily, temperatures are not that high.  The NOAA’s own data shows that the average temperature of the Earth has risen less than 1°C in the past century.  This is nothing, so why all the panic?

    Let’s just say that carbon controls are a powerful tool for micromanaging the population and justifying authoritarianism in the name of the “greater good.”  If the public is convinced to accept false climate change narratives, then government would have the ability to control every aspect of daily life, from the amount of electricity we use, to the food we eat, to the businesses we can run, to the level of production and the size of the population.  This is not fiction this is reality, and it is happening much faster than many people realize, all in the name of saving the planet from a threat that doesn’t exist.    

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 21:00

  • UCLA Creates Database To 'Track Attacks On Critical Race Theory'
    UCLA Creates Database To ‘Track Attacks On Critical Race Theory’

    Authored by Carol Cassis via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Faculty at the University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law have created a database to identify and record efforts to block critical race theory (CRT) being taught in schools across the country.

    A woman holds a sign against critical race theory in Los Alamitos, Calif., on May 11, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

    The database, called the CRT Forward Tracking Project, allows users to “track attacks on critical race theory” and filter the information as part of an effort to “support anti-racist education, training and research,” according to the school.

    The project was created by UCLA’s Critical Race Studies Program, founded in 2000 as the first law school program in the nation dedicated to critical race theory.

    CRT, according to the school, is “the study of systemic racism in law, policy and society,” and suggests efforts need to be made to fix these alleged injustices.

    Parents concerned about Critical Race Theory took home these buttons from a school board activist training Jan. 19, 2022 in Sarasota, Florida. (Alexis Spiegelman)

    Meanwhile, critics say CRT pushes a controversial worldview related to Marxism that analyzes all aspects of life through a racial lens instead of through the concept of class struggle.

    UCLA Law announced earlier this month it would track anti-CRT activity through the database at all levels of government across the nation.

    “The project was created to help people understand the breadth of the attacks on the ability to speak truthfully about race and racism through the campaigns against CRT,” said Taifha Natalee Alexander, project director of CRT Forward, in a statement.

    The database analyzes these efforts to determine where the activity is happening and how opponents are taking action, such as protesting curriculum at the school board level.

    It also includes the type of CRT content being restricted, such as a course being taught at a public school, as well as the institution or group being targeted and enforcement mechanisms being used to regulate the content.

    For example, the Placentia-Yorba Linda School Board voted to ban the teaching of CRT in classrooms this past April, ending months of debate in the Orange County district.

    Prior to the narrow 3-2 vote, supporters for the ban asserted CRT is a divisive ideology that pushes a political narrative. Other trustees at the April 5 school board meeting, however, claimed such efforts amounted to censorship, according to public comments.

    The UCLA program claims that many of those who are against these concepts being taught in K-12 schools are using the term CRT “incorrectly,” and have “affected plans to include ethnic studies more broadly for students before they get to college.”

    Chinese-American parents in California rally against Assembly Bill 101, which was later signed into law to make ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement, in Los Angeles on April 26, 2020. (Linda Jiang/The Epoch Times)

    In 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation making ethnic studies a statewide requirement for high school graduation starting in the 2029–30 school year, amid debate among parents and teachers about whether ethnic studies curriculum includes elements of CRT.

    Tracking Results

    As of Aug. 2, the UCLA database has screened nearly 24,000 media articles and identified 479 instances of anti-CRT activity since August 2021.

    The database team found this activity is “much more pervasive and extensive than generally reported,” according to the school, with such policies either proposed or enacted in 49 states.

    The project also found that most anti-CRT proposals have occurred in Florida, Virginia, Missouri, and the U.S. Congress, while local school board measures make up more than 20 percent of the activity in the database.

    Signs against critical race theory in front of the Loudoun County School Administration building in Virginia on Nov. 9, 2021. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)

    Most such measures at the school board level have been introduced in California, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, with Californians enacting five out of the eight proposed measures.

    The study also found the most common anti-CRT enforcement measures include withholding funding or issuing fines against individual teachers, administrators, schools, and districts for engaging in “prohibited conduct,” the school says.

    CRT Controversy

    Noah Zatz, faculty director of the UCLA Law’s Critical Race Studies Program, is helping to spearhead the tracking project. CRT Forward staff also include law librarians and undergraduate and law school research assistants.

    “We need critical race theory to understand this assault on racial justice, where even naming structural racism gets portrayed as unfair to white people. And we need CRT to develop legal theories of education and free speech that not only blunt these attacks but place anti-racism at the center of a democratic society,” said Zatz in a statement.

    However, opponents contend that CRT is not needed and does not teach hard history, but is instead an approach to analyzing that history with the intent to dismantle modern systems that proponents claim are white supremacist.

    A man holds up a sign against Critical Race Theory during a protest outside a Washoe County School District board meeting in Reno, Nev., on May 25, 2021. (Andy Barron/Reno Gazette-Journal via AP)

    “Those that are upset about proposed bans on CRT in our schools have been misled to think that states that have banned CRT from being taught will no longer teach about Jim Crow Laws, the displacement of Native Americans, or even slavery in America. This is simply not true,” according to a CRT guide written by former California teacher Kali Fontanilla. “On the contrary, banning CRT will remove a dangerous twisting and rewriting of American history.”

    The UCLA project is funded by a $400,000 grant from the Lumina Foundation, a private, Indianapolis-based foundation with about $1.4 billion in assets, according to the nonprofit’s website.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 20:35

  • Pelosi's Taiwan Visit Was A "Carefully Planned Provocation" To "Destabilize": Putin
    Pelosi’s Taiwan Visit Was A “Carefully Planned Provocation” To “Destabilize”: Putin

    On Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin weighed on on major security issues ranging from the ongoing war in Ukraine to China-US tensions over Taiwan in a televised speech. Speaking before defense officials and regional think tank analysts at the Tenth Moscow Conference on International Security, among the most notable assertion of his is that NATO is moving “further east”.

    Within days prior to launching the Feb.24 invasion of Ukraine, he gave what was essentially a war speech emphasizing that urgent military action was needed to prevent NATO’s further expansion into Ukraine. But it seems that in his latest comments Tuesday, he sees the threat of NATO influence at work as far as southeast Asia as well.

    Via Reuters

    In the fresh remarks, Putin continued his prior theme of a turn from unipolar to multi-polar world order, based on the decline of the United States and West. He said as translated in state media: 

    “Western globalist elites are provoking chaos by rekindling old and inciting new conflicts, implementing a policy of so-called containment, while undermining any alternative, sovereign paths of development. Thus, they are desperately trying to preserve the hegemony and power that are slipping out of their grasp, trying to keep countries and peoples in the grip of a neo-colonial order.”

    He blasted this Western “hegemony” as what in the end will result in global stagnation. Further he said:

    “NATO’s war machine is moving, approaching Russia’s borders closely… Russia has been trying for 30 years to negotiate NATO non-expansion to the east…”

    The Russian leader continued, “Any means are used. The United States and its vassals rudely interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states by organizing provocations, coups d’état and civil wars. Threats, blackmail and pressure are resorted to in a bid to force independent states to submit to their will.”

    The Kremlin has long emphasized that the 2014 overthrow of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was the real start of hostilities in Ukraine, and that it was fundamentally Washington and its EU allies behind it. The West, however, has rejected this narrative – emphasizing the Maidan events as a spontaneous democratic uprising. 

    On expanding East, he said of NATO:

    “The so-called collective West is deliberately destroying the European security system, putting together new military alliances. The NATO bloc is expanding East, building up its military infrastructure, deploying missile defense systems and increasing the strike capabilities of its offensive forces.”

    In this context he again stressed that just before Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine, Moscow repeatedly submitted requests for security ‘guarantees’ to NATO, but that this was ignored. He said this is what has damaged European security. He also charged that the West in the end sees the Ukrainian people as “cannon fodder” for its proxy war.

    Putin’s defense minister has also of late been stressing the role of the West in planning and executing Ukrainian military actions, also as Crimea has recently come under rare attack…

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    Interestingly, in the speech he turned his attention to rising China tensions, charging that the US is still trying to add “fuel to the fire” over the Taiwan issue. This echoes precisely Beijing’s own line, as the two countries continue to grow lockstep while under the crosshairs of Washington. He called Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan a “carefully planned provocation” meant to whip up tensions.

    China will without doubt applaud Putin’s fierce defense of Beijing’s point of view: 

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    “The American reckless gamble in relation to Taiwan is not just a visit by an individual irresponsible politician, but part of a purposeful, conscious US strategy to destabilize… the situation in the region and the world, a brazen demonstration of disrespect for the sovereignty of other countries and for its international obligations. We see this as a carefully planned provocation,” Putin said.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 20:10

  • Lindsey Graham Calls For Release Of Trump Affidavit: 'We’re Flying Blind'
    Lindsey Graham Calls For Release Of Trump Affidavit: ‘We’re Flying Blind’

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday called for the release of the FBI affidavit that was used to justify the raid of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home.

    “We need the affidavit, show your cards, Merrick Garland can’t have it both ways, he can’t give us the inventory of the warrant without telling us why it was necessary … without the affidavit, we’re flying blind in the dark,” Graham said, adding, “The American people are going through too much pain, too much heartache on this endless effort to destroy Donald Trump.”

    (L-R) Then-President Donald Trump looks on as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks during an event about judicial confirmations in the East Room of the White House on Nov. 6, 2019. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

    Graham’s comment came a day after Department of Justice lawyers argued in court that the affidavit should be sealed, including redacted versions of the document, because it would harm the agency’s investigation.

    An affidavit would provide more details about the investigation and would provide insight into why the federal government is investigating Trump, including what triggered last week’s raid on Mar-a-Lago.

    So far, a U.S. magistrate judge in the case authorized the unsealing of an FBI warrant and property receipt, which showed that agents took materials there were allegedly considered top secret or classified from Trump’s home. The judge, Bruce Reinhart, who in 2008 represented individuals associated with infamous sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, scheduled a 1 p.m. Thursday hearing on whether the affidavit and other related documents should be unsealed.

    But Trump on Monday accused FBI agents of taking three passports from him, suggesting that the raid went too far. Department of Justice officials confirmed Monday evening that the passports would be returned, according to a screenshot of emails posted by a Trump spokesman.

    Like Graham, Trump on Truth Social called on the federal government to release the affidavit. Judicial Watch, media outlets, the Florida Center for Governmental Accountability, and other groups have filed motions to unseal the affidavit and other related documents.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 19:45

  • Tomato Shortage Emerges In Drought-Stricken Californian As Ketchup Prices Soar
    Tomato Shortage Emerges In Drought-Stricken Californian As Ketchup Prices Soar

    Days ago, we said the next food insecurity problem that may impact Americans’ eating habits could be an emerging potato shortage. Now there appears to be another issue: Tomatoes are getting squeezed, and risks of a ketchup shortage rise as a severe drought batter California’s farmland.

    California accounts for a quarter of the world’s tomato output. The worst drought in 1,200 years has forced farmers to abandon fields as crops turn to dust amid a water crisis. 

    “We desperately need rain … and are getting to a point where we don’t have inventory left to keep fulfilling the market demand,” Mike Montna, head of the California Tomato Growers Association, told Bloomberg.

    “It’s real tough to grow a tomato crop right now,” Montna continued, adding, “on one side you have the drought impacting costs because you don’t have enough water to grow all your acres, and then you have the farm inflation side of it with fuel and fertilizer costs shooting up.” 

    The lack of water and the soaring cost of farming appears to be a ‘perfect storm’ in the making that could result in a shortage of all sorts of tomato-based products, including ketchup, salsa, and spaghetti sauce. 

    Rick Blankenship, Chairman of the Board at California Tomato Research Institute, warned crop yields are “way off this year … and coupled with drought, we’ve had high temperatures and that in itself creates an issue where the tomatoes are so hot that they just don’t size properly — so you have a lot of tomatoes on a plant, but they are smaller.” 

    Bloomberg said the value for a ton of tomatoes reached an all-time high this year of $105 due to higher input prices, such as diesel and fertilizer, compounded with the drought. 

    “You would think that it was a home run for growers, but in reality the input costs have gone up so much that the potential profit was all gobbled up,” Blankenship said.

    R. Greg Pruett, sales and energy manager for Ingomar Packing Co., one of the world’s largest tomato processors, said not all customers will get their processed products. The company sells to some of the largest food brands. He said inventories are plunging to critically low levels. 

    “If you are looking for a significant amount of tomato paste and you haven’t already contracted it then you aren’t going to get it no matter what the price is,” Pruett said, adding, “it’s just not there.”

    Market research firm IRI shows the price of tomato sauce in the last four weeks ended July 10 surged 17% from a year ago, while ketchup jumped 23%.

    Besides tomatoes, french fries could be in short supply as the potato crop has suffered from a heatwave. And worse, most of the US beer imports come from northern Mexico, where the region is running out of water. 

    Ketchup, french fries, and beer could soon be in short supply or experience price hikes due to tightening supply. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 19:20

  • Judge Blocks Texas Restrictions On Using P.O. Boxes For Voter Registration
    Judge Blocks Texas Restrictions On Using P.O. Boxes For Voter Registration

    Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Some 5,000 Texans who used a P.O. box as a voter registration address will likely be able to cast a ballot in the state’s midterm elections after a federal judge blocked a 2021 state election law.

    A voter exits a polling location in Fort Worth, Texas, on Nov. 03, 2020. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

    Senate Bill 1111 attempted to tighten residency guidelines for Texas voters, but was struck down this month by U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel, an appointee under former president George W. Bush.

    Yeakel, who presides over the Austin Division for the Western District of Texas, found in a summary judgement that the state used vague language in the election law and parts of it failed constitutional scrutiny.

    Texas’ Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed the decision last week to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, according to State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), who authored the election bill.

    Texas’ Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas at the Hilton Anatole Aug. 5, 2022. (Bobby Sanchez/The Epoch Times)

    “There is no one that can live inside a P.O. box,” Bettencourt pointed out in a statement earlier this month.

    Bettencourt told The Epoch Times he was disappointed in the decision against a “common-sense voter integrity bill.”

    The bill required people registering to vote with a P.O. box to show proof of address such as a driver’s license or utility bill.

    Some 5,000 people were registered to vote in Harris County alone using a P.O. box in 2020, Bettencourt said.

    As of this month, the number is around 4,800 because some of the records were processed before the law was blocked.

    The actual number using P.O. boxes to register statewide would make the total higher, he added, saying he expects the number could climb before voter registration ends in October without the law.

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (3R) signs Senate Bill 1, also known as the election integrity bill into law with others clapping and looking on in Tyler, Texas, on Sept. 7, 2021. (Marina Fatina/NTD)

    The Republican-led Texas Legislature passed the bill along with others in an attempt to guard against election fraud after the 2020 election.

    The lawsuit filed by the Texas chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens and Voto Latino, a nonprofit that seeks to mobilize voters, called those requirements in SB 1111 an unnecessary burden on voters.

    The Latino groups claimed voter suppression against six large counties controlled by Democrats: Travis, Bexas, Harris, Hidalgo, Dallas, and El Paso.

    “This measure imposes vague, onerous restrictions on the voter registration process, chilling political participation and further burdening the abilities of lawful voters to cast their ballots and make their voices heard.” Texas LULAC state director Rodolfo Rosales said in a statement after filing the suit.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 18:55

  • Apple Reportedly Shifting Watch And MacBook Production To Vietnam
    Apple Reportedly Shifting Watch And MacBook Production To Vietnam

    Wary of soaring tensions surrounding out-of-favor countries like China, multinational corporations such as Apple are diversifying production to places with less geopolitical risk.

    Nikkei Asia spoke to three sources with direct knowledge of Apple’s plans to shift Watch and MacBook production out of China to Vietnam for the first time. 

    Apple suppliers Luxshare Precision Industry and Foxconn have already piloted a production run of the Watch in northern Vietnam. 

    The move by Apple is a further win for the Southeast Asian country as it already produces iPads and AirPods. 

    Two sources told Nikkei Asia that Apple had requested suppliers to set up a MacBook test production line in Vietnam. They said progress in constructing laptop production in the country has been “slow, partly due to pandemic-related disruptions but also because notebook computer production involves a larger supply chain.”  

    “AirPods, Apple Watch, HomePod and more … Apple has big plans in Vietnam, apart from iPhone manufacturing,” one of the people with direct knowledge of Apple’s plans said. “The components for MacBooks have become more modularized than in the past, which makes it easier to produce the laptops outside of China. But how to make it cost-competitive is another challenge.”

    This trend is called “friendshoring.” While it’s a play on “offshoring,” this isn’t about companies moving operations back to the US and Europe, but rather seeking foreign alternatives that retain the benefit of low labor costs but with less international controversy. 

    Apple’s production diversification comes as the US and China already had an increasingly adversarial relationship before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan sparked anger with Beijing. The fact is, geopolitical and trade war tensions aren’t going away anytime soon and will only push Apple further away from China. Though reshoring production to the US is unfeasible because of labor costs, maybe robotics can offset some of those costs or perhaps set up shop in Mexico, where there’s abundant cheap labor and healthy demographics. 

    A recent Rabobank analysis of friendshoring showed that chief beneficiaries would include countries like Vietnam, India, Brazil, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, Egypt, and South Africa.

    Apple’s Tim Cook appears to have learned a valuable lesson this year that high exposure of supply chains to China during Beijing’s zero-Covid policies and worsening geopolitical tensions with the West is a dangerous cocktail, and the need to diversify production in a trend dubbed friendshoring is essential for survival in a multi-polar world. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 18:30

  • The Incredible Shrinking Merrick Garland
    The Incredible Shrinking Merrick Garland

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    Below is my column in USA Today on the diminishing role of Attorney General Merrick Garland at the Justice Department after a series of controversies.

    As a well-known moderate, many of us had hoped that Garland could be a unifying presence at the Department; assuring a divided nation that justice would be pursued in an even-handed and apolitical fashion.

    Yet, in controversy after controversy, Garland has failed to take modest steps to make such assurances.

    After well documented cases of bias and false statements by FBI and DOJ officials in past investigations, there was a clear need for greater transparency and independence in investigations. Garland has consistently swatted away such options. This week, Garland stayed on that path and refused to release any part of the affidavit used as the basis for the search of Mar-a-Lago. This included the possible issuance of a redacted copy or even responses to specific concerns over the timing or basis for the search. While Trump has called for the release of the affidavit, Garland will not even release those sections dealing with the account of the prior discussions and agreements with the Team Trump. There is little proactive effort to anticipate or address such concerns as vividly shown in the last week.

    Here is the column:

    In the cult classic, “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” the character Scott Stuart is caught in a thick fog that causes him to gradually shrink to the point that he lives in a doll house and fights off the house cat. At one point, Stuart delivers a strikingly profound line: “The unbelievably small and the unbelievably vast eventually meet — like the closing of a gigantic circle.”

    If one image sums up the incredibly shrinking stature of Attorney General Merrick Garland, it is that line in the aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago search.

    Two years ago, I was one of many who supported Garland when he was nominated for attorney general. While his personality seemed a better fit for the courts than the Cabinet, he is a person with unimpeachable integrity and ethics.

    If there are now doubts, it is not about his character but his personality in dealing with political controversies. Those concerns have grown in the past week.

    In the aftermath of the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s home in Florida, much remains unclear. The inventory list confirms that there were documents marked TS (Top Secret) and SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information) —two of the highest classification levels for materials. The former president’s retention of such documents would appear to be a very serious violation.

    However, the status of the documents is uncertain after Trump insisted that he declassified the material and was handling the records in accordance with prior discussions with the FBI. While the declassified status of these documents would not bar charges under the cited criminal provisions, it could have a significant impact on the viability of any prosecution.

    I have not assumed that the search of Mar-a-Lago was unwarranted given that we have not seen the underlying affidavit. Yet in another controversy, Garland seemed largely reactive and rote in dealing with questions over bias or abuse in his department.

    In his confirmation hearing, Garland repeatedly pledged that political considerations would hold no sway with him as attorney general. Yet, in just two years, the Justice Department has careened from one political controversy to another without any sign that Garland is firmly in control of the department. Last year, for example, Garland was heavily criticized for his rapid deployment of a task force to investigate parents and others challenging school boards.

    When Garland has faced clear demands for independent action, he has folded. For example, Garland has refused to appoint a special counsel in the investigation of Hunter Biden. But there is no way to investigate Hunter Biden without running over continual references to President Biden.

    By refusing a special counsel, Garland has removed the president’s greatest threat. Unlike the U.S. Attorney investigating Hunter Biden, a special counsel would be expected to publish a report that would detail the scope of the Biden family’s alleged influence peddling and foreign contacts.

    Likewise, the Justice Department is conducting a grand jury investigation that is aggressively pursuing Trump associates and Republican figures, including seizing the telephones of members of Congress. That investigation has bearing on the integrity and the status of Biden’s potential opponent in 2024.

    The investigation also has triggered concerns over the party in power investigating the opposing political party. It is breathtaking that Garland would see no need for an independent or special counsel given this country’s continued deep divisions and mistrust.

    Democrats often compare the January 6 investigation to Watergate but fail to note that the Watergate investigation was led by an independent counsel precisely because of these inherent political conflicts.

    Then came the raid. While Garland said he personally approved the operation, he did little to help mitigate the inevitable political explosion. This country is a powder keg and the FBI has a documented history of false statements to courts and falsified evidence in support of a previous Trump investigation.

    Yet, there was no prepared statement or response for days, which allowed speculation and rage to grow. When Garland did respond, he offered a boilerplate defense of the department and sought only the release of the warrant and inventory list.

    If there was one occasion for total transparency, including the release of the FBI affidavit, this was that moment. Yet, Garland refused to act further. He declined to seek the release even as news media reported an array of leaks from the Justice Department, including the allegation that Trump took nuclear weapon secrets to Mar-a-Lago. As his department leaked like a sieve, Garland withheld the document that would set the record straight. 

    The Justice Department also reportedly refused to allow a special master to review the seized material after alleged attorney-client material was taken — a move that would have addressed concerns that the search was “pretextual” to seize January 6th evidence.

    Despite this record, I do not view Garland as inherently political in contrast to predecessors like Eric Holder. Garland’s judicial temperament may be ill-suited to the demands of this office.

    Garland sometimes looks more like a pedestrian than a driver on decisions in his own department. Top positions were given to figures denounced as far-left advocates on issues from defunding the police to racial justice. For the moderate Garland, these did not seem like natural choices. Neither did the department’s recent controversial move to effectively circumvent a Trump pardon to prosecute a Florida nursing home operator.

    And Garland has not responded to new allegations of bias at the FBI and Justice involving the downplaying of evidence involving the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.

    Concerns also have been raised about the decision to appoint the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit office to lead the Washington, D.C., office. The agent, Steven M. D’Antuono, led the disastrous investigation of the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Many observers viewed that case as clear entrapment and abuse by the FBI. Given the importance of the January 6 investigation, it is baffling that the Department of Justice would make this controversial transfer at this time.

    An attorney general should not be motivated by optics in his decisions, but he also cannot ignore optics when they undermine the integrity of his department. The search of Mar-a-Lago was a historic raid with sweeping political implications, including on the approaching midterm elections. Garland must have known that it would be viewed by many as an “insurance policy” taken out against a Trump presidential run.

    Yet, with leaks coming out of his department undermining Trump’s claims, Garland merely offered “trust us we’re the government” assurances while resisting the release of the affidavit.

    When Scott Stuart faced his diminished stature, he asked, “I was continuing to shrink, to become… what? The infinitesimal? What was I?” That is a debilitating question for any person, but it is disastrous in an attorney general.

    It is not that Merrick Garland is absent but that his presence often seems immaterial.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 18:05

  • An Earthbound 'Cannibal Coronal Mass Ejection' Event Could Be Imminent
    An Earthbound ‘Cannibal Coronal Mass Ejection’ Event Could Be Imminent

    A minor earthward-directed Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) already hit Earth’s magnetic field on Wednesday. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) expects a more powerful earthbound CME to strike Thursday-Friday. 

    SWPC has already issued geomagnetic storm watches for a minor geomagnetic storm today, a strong geomagnetic storm on Thursday, and a moderate one on Friday.

    The impacts will be insignificant now, but that could change tomorrow as a strong geomagnetic storm can spark power grid fluctuations, create satellite irregularities, and degrade radio and GPS signals. SWPC’s storm severity scale is 1-5. 

    A visual of the CME impacts on modern society. 

    Here’s more from spaceweather: 

    On Aug. 14th, a dark plasma eruption hurled one CME toward Earth. On Aug. 15th, an exploding magnetic filament launched another CME right behind it. The two CMEs will arrive together on Aug.18th, according to the latest forecast model from NOAA:

    This could be a “Cannibal CME” event. In other words, the second CME might overtake and gobble up the first, creating a mish-mash of the two. Cannibal CMEs contain tangled magnetic fields and compressed plasmas that sometimes spark strong geomagnetic storms.

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    Geomagnetic Storms will be visible to the naked eye in the US as far as Illinois and Oregon (geomagnetic latitude 50 degrees).

    The sun is in a very active 11-year solar cycle called Solar Cycle 25, which began in December 2019.

    The solar cycle peak is expected in 2025, but even before that, its presence will be felt on and around Earth via CMEs disrupting modern life. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 17:40

  • Many Casualties After Bombing Targets Taliban Mosque In Kabul
    Many Casualties After Bombing Targets Taliban Mosque In Kabul

    On Wednesday a large blast ripped through a centrally located mosque during evening prayers in the Afghan capital of Kabul, with a huge casualty count feared. One or more suicide bombers were reportedly behind the attack.

    Within the initial hours following the explosion, at least 10 have been reported dead, including a prominent cleric, according to regional reports. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, ISIS-K has recently stepped up bombings against Taliban targets over the summer, and now reaching a year after the final US military exit from the war-torn country.

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    CNN cited a top health official for Afghanistan who said, “Following today’s explosion, we admitted 27 patients to our Surgical Centre for War Victims in Kabul, including five minors, one of them a seven-year-old boy.” The official noted that “Two patients arrived dead, one died in the emergency room.”

    Underscoring the growing seriousness and frequency of ISIS-K terror attacks, the official described multiple mass casualty events this month alone:

    “In the month of August alone, we managed six mass casualties in our hospital, with a total of almost 80 patients. Throughout the year, we have continued to receive gunshot injuries, shrapnel injuries, stabbing injuries, and victims of mine and IED explosions on a daily basis. The country is suffering the consequences of a very long conflict that has undermined its future.”

    With emergency crews and police still on the scene, Taliban’s deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi vowed vengeance for the attack. “The murderers of civilians and perpetrators of similar crimes will soon be caught and punished for their actions, God willing,” he said in a statement.

    ABC News reports of some of the details which emerged late in the day:

    According to the eyewitness, a resident of the city’s Kher Khanna neighborhood where the Siddiquiya Mosque was targeted, the explosion was carried out by a suicide bomber. The slain cleric was Mullah Amir Mohammad Kabuli, the eyewitness said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

    He added that more than 30 other people were wounded. The Italian Emergency hospital in Kabul said that at least 27 wounded civilians, including five children, were brought there from the site of the bomb blast.

    The casualty count is expected to mount, given a police spokesman said of the blast’s high casualties, “the numbers are not clear yet.”

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 17:30

  • Is A Chinese Devaluation Imminent?
    Is A Chinese Devaluation Imminent?

    Authored by Steven Vannelli via Knowledge Leaders Capital blog,

    Over the weekend, we got a slew of data showing a generally weak economy. Below are the actual data compared with the expectations from Bloomberg.

    Of course, the headline grabber was the -31.4% drop in residential property sales, but across the board, from industrial production to retail sales to investment came in shy of estimates.

    This makes it incredibly unlikely that China is going to hit its growth target this year when all the components are running below estimates. Retail sales are currently running 0.5% behind calendar year estimates, while industrial production is running 0.7% behind and fixed asset investment is 0.3% behind.

    Really the only thing working in China right now is exports.

    While it is leading to a growing trade surplus.

    And, exports are again growing as a percent of GDP.

    Despite the clear evidence of weak economic growth, China is not launching a huge stimulus program like it did after the Great Financial Crisis.

    Instead they are tinkering around the edges. For example, yesterday China cut the medium-term lending facility by a token 10bps. They cut the 7-day repurchase rate by 10bps too.

    And, they are preparing the banking system for a more difficult liquidity environment by dropping the required reserve ratio.

    This last chart leads us to the real variable of interest: the CNY level. It looks like the Chinese Yuan is about to break out on the downside.

    Looking at interest rate differentials with the US illustrates this point well. For short rates, I compare the upper bound of the US fed funds to overnight SHIBOR. This relationship suggests a CNY with a 7-handle.

    Next, looking at medium-term rates, the picture is the same.

    And finally, longer-term rates tell the same story.

    China’s export dependence and falling global growth expectations are one more reason to expect a weaker CNY.

    A weaker CNY will be a tailwind for lower inflation in the US. If the CNY exceeds 7.0, this should correspond to 10-year breakeven inflation around 1%.

    With inflation in the US already coming down, a further weakening of the CNY will simply accelerate that process, taking the heat off the Fed to raise rates well into restrictive territory.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/17/2022 – 17:15

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Aug 17

Today’s News 17th August 2022

  • Every Mission To Mars In One Visualization
    Every Mission To Mars In One Visualization

    Within our Solar System, Mars is one of the most similar planets to Earth—both have rocky landscapes, solid outer crusts, and cores made of molten rock.

    Because of its similarities to Earth and proximity, humanity has been fascinated by Mars for centuries. In fact, it’s one of the most explored objects in our Solar System.

    But just how many missions to Mars have we embarked on, and which of these journeys have been successful? This graphic by Jonathan Letourneau shows a timeline of every mission to Mars since 1960 using NASA’s historical data.

    A Timeline of Mars Explorations

    According to a historical log from NASA, there have been 48 missions to Mars over the last 60 years. Here’s a breakdown of each mission, and whether or not they were successful:

    The first mission to Mars was attempted by the Soviets in 1960, with the launch of Korabl 4, also known as Mars 1960A.

    As the table above shows, the voyage was unsuccessful. The spacecraft made it 120 km into the air, but its third-stage pumps didn’t generate enough momentum for it to stay in Earth’s orbit.

    For the next few years, several more unsuccessful Mars missions were attempted by the USSR and then NASA. Then, in 1964, history was made when NASA launched the Mariner 4 and completed the first-ever successful trip to Mars.

    The Mariner 4 didn’t actually land on the planet, but the spacecraft flew by Mars and was able to capture photos, which gave us an up-close glimpse at the planet’s rocky surface.

    Then on July 20, 1976, NASA made history again when its spacecraft called Viking 1 touched down on Mars’ surface, making it the first space agency to complete a successful Mars landing. Viking 1 captured panoramic images of the planet’s terrain, and also enabled scientists to monitor the planet’s weather.

    Vacation to Mars, Anyone?

    To date, all Mars landings have been done without crews, but NASA is planning to send humans to Mars by the late 2030s.

    And it’s not just government agencies that are planning missions to Mars—a number of private companies are getting involved, too. Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX has a long-term plan to build an entire city on Mars.

    Two other aerospace startups, Impulse and Relativity, also announced an unmanned joint mission to Mars in July 2022, with hopes it could be ready as soon as 2024.

    As more players are added to the mix, the pressure is on to be the first company or agency to truly make it to Mars. If (or when) we reach that point, what’s next is anyone’s guess.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 23:55

  • Elon Musk Says He's "Buying Manchester United"
    Elon Musk Says He’s “Buying Manchester United”

    In a tweet thread tonight talking about his political leanings, Elon Musk casually dropped a Tweet proclaiming he was buying Manchester United.

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    Many news outlets were quick to point out what Reuters said, namely that Musk has a history of “irreverent Tweets” – which is a nice way of saying potentially committing securities fraud via his Twitter account in a multitude of ways. 

    But the purchase of the well known English football club doesn’t seem too far out of reach for Musk, should he really want to buy it.

    The club, which is publicly traded (although Elon may not know that) and has been underperforming badly over the last year, only has a market cap of about $2 billion. This means Musk could easily offer a heavy premium, in cash, to try and get the deal pushed through.

    It could be even easier now that Musk has sold tens of billions of dollars worth Tesla stock over the last 2 weeks. Many people assumed that these sales were going to be used to settle his lawsuit with Twitter. Several billion dollars in cash for the purchase of Manchester United could have easily been part of Musk’s planned sales. 

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

    Additionally, it was noted that 30,000 $14 call options with September expiration mysteriously went off last week ahead of the rumor.

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

    On the other hand, it would probably take Elon about one month to demand any contract be voided after he discovers that all 11 ManU players on the field are merely bots.

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    Of course, when it’s all said and done, it’s all just another “pun” by the world’s richest man, but if anyone else of his standing, not to mention financial wherewithall, had said the same thing – whether seriously or in jest – there would be consequences. For Elon, however, there never are.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 23:20

  • Former IRS Whistleblower Says Middle Class Americans Will Be Targeted Under Inflation Reduction Act
    Former IRS Whistleblower Says Middle Class Americans Will Be Targeted Under Inflation Reduction Act

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

    A detail of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) headquarters building is seen in the Federal Triangle section of Washington, on April 27, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    A former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblower has said that the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will see the government target middle-income Americans with increased scrutiny and audits.

    William Henck previously worked as a lawyer for the IRS for 20 years until 2017, when he was terminated for allegedly revealing sensitive information to the media about how the IRS had reportedly failed to identify a multi-billion-dollar corporate tax credit scheme involving a source of energy known as burning pulp byproducts, or black liquor.

    Speaking to Fox Business, Henck disputed claims by the IRS and other officials who have said that increased funding for the agency under the IRA, which is set to be signed into law by President Joe Biden this week, would only lead to more audits for wealthy millionaires and billionaires and large corporations.

    “The idea that they’re going to open things up and go after these big billionaires and large corporations is quite frankly [expletive],” Henck said in the interview on Aug. 15. “It’s not going to happen. They’re going to give themselves bonuses and promotions and really nice conferences.”

    “The big corporations and the billionaires are probably sitting back laughing right now,” he said, adding that it was “insane” to double the IRS budget.

    Henck also said he believes that the agency will go after businesses that don’t have enough money to hire Washington lobbyists.

    (L-R) Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leave the Senate Chamber after final passage of the Inflation Reduction Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Aug. 7, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

    ‘Absolutely Not’ Being Used to Target Middle-Income Americans

    The Democrat-controlled House passed the IRA in a strictly party-line vote on Aug. 12. It includes nearly $80 billion in IRS funding, including $45.6 billion for “enforcement.”

    A Treasury Department report from May 2021 (pdf) estimated that such an investment would enable the agency to hire roughly 87,000 employees by 2031.

    Amid mounting fears, the IRS has said it will “absolutely not” be using the extra money to increase audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans.

    IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig stated in a letter to members of the Senate on Aug. 4 that the extra resources will instead serve to help the agency in “challenging” areas such as audits of large corporate and global high-net-worth taxpayers.

    “These resources are absolutely not about increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans,” Rettig wrote in the letter. “As we’ve been planning, our investment of these enforcement resources is designed around the Department of the Treasury’s directive that audit rates will not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000.”

    Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre have also doubled down on their rhetoric regarding reports about the extra funding being utilized to target middle-income Americans, stating that there would be no new audits for individuals earning less than $400,000 per year.

    Henck disagrees.

    ‘Unlimited Resources And No Accountability’

    “There will be considerable incentive to basically to shake down taxpayers, and the advantage the IRS has is they have basically unlimited resources and no accountability, whereas a taxpayer has to weigh the cost of accountants, tax lawyers—fighting something in tax court,” he told Fox Business.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 23:05

  • Biden Admin Refuses Release Of $7BN In Frozen Afghanistan Funds After Zawahiri Strike
    Biden Admin Refuses Release Of $7BN In Frozen Afghanistan Funds After Zawahiri Strike

    With this week marking a grim one-year anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Kabul, ending more than two decades of US and coalition occupation of the country in (now failed) attempts to prop up a national government, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday the White House will not release any of the $7 billion in Afghan central bank reserves still being held by the US.

    Prior talks with Taliban officials who sought to get the funds released as the population faces hunger and a post-war collapsed economy have also been suspended. Biden administration officials cited that a key factor in the decision to block funds indefinitely was that al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was found to be living safely in Kabul. That is, until a CIA drone strike which reportedly killed the notorious al-Qaeda leader on July 31. 

    Afghans in food assistance line, via Yahoo News.

    However, it was revealed in the aftermath that the US has no DNA evidence or body proving that it was Zawahiri that was killed in the strike. The strong suggestion is of course that the Taliban allowed the AQ leader to take up residence in the Afghan capital soon after the US force withdrawal. 

    US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West told the WSJ: “Needless to say, the Taliban’s sheltering of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri reinforces deep concerns we have regarding diversion of funds to terrorist groups.”

    On the question of the Taliban accessing humanitarian aid for the population, West said, “We do not see recapitalization of the Afghan central bank as a near-term option,” adding that: “We do not have confidence that that institution has the safeguards and monitoring in place to manage assets responsibly.”

    Previously Biden has said he plans to give half of the $7 billion in seized Afghan assets to families of 9/11 victims, with the other half going to a trust fund for future humanitarian aid to the Afghan people. But with this latest announcement, even that option appears to be off the table given it would of necessity be the Taliban distributing the aid as the de facto authority should the funds ever be unblocked. 

    Months ago a United Nations statement warned that a dire food shortage crisis now threatens an “entire generation of Afghans” – with a report warning that up to 95% of the population is not getting enough to eat. Critics have decried the Biden admin’s decision as “theft” and unjust collective punishment: 

    “It is both morally condemnable and politically and economically reckless to impose collective punishment on an entire people for the actions of a government they did not choose,” reads a letter drafted by 70 economists and experts which was delivered to the White House last week.

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    The Taliban remains an internationally sanctioned entity, with an additional some $2 billion of Afghanistan’s funds having been frozen by other countries, following Washington’s lead.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 22:40

  • Neogone: Liz Cheney Voted Out Of Congress, Trump Takes Victory Lap
    Neogone: Liz Cheney Voted Out Of Congress, Trump Takes Victory Lap

    Update 2020ET: In a widely expected outcome, former President Donald Trump’s highest-profile GOP critic, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, has been voted out of Congress.

    Her challenger, Harriet Hageman, was ahead by more than 30% with 13% of the votes counted – enough for NBC News to call it for her.

    Wyoming Republican Harriet Hageman

    Cheney, the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, had been the #3 ranked Republican in the House – easily winning her last election in 2020. Things changed, however, when she became one of 10 Republicans that voted to impeach Trump – who Democrats accused of inciting the January 6th riot. She later joined the January 6th committee, on which she currently services as Vice Chair.

    And look at what happened to the rest of the anti-Trump Republicans who voted to impeach:

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    “Congratulations to Harriet Hageman on her great and very decisive WIN in Wyoming,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social. “This is a wonderful result for America, and a complete rebuke of the Unselect Committee of political Hacks and Thugs. Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others. Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now. Thank you WYOMING!”

    *  *  *

    If recent polls are any indication, neocon Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is about to lose her seat in today’s primaries, after going on a poorly-received crusade against former President Donald Trump.

    In one recent poll, Cheney challenger Harriet Hageman – who disputed the legitimacy of the 2020 US election – was leading Cheney by nearly 30 points. Of note, 70% of Wyoming voters chose Trump in 2020 – the highest percentage of any state in the nation.

    Cheney, 56, sparked conservative backlash against her by choosing to die on hill of election fraud and the January 6th committee, of which she’s the vice chair. Unsurprisingly, her warmongering father’s laughable campaign ad  in which he said there’s ‘never been a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump’ didn’t do Liz any favors.

    “She’s almost certainly toast,” said American University political scientist, David Barker. “My guess is that she knew that the second she decided to really join the Jan. 6 committee and pursue the president in that way.”

    “She hasn’t just been kind of a passive member of the committee,” he added. “She’s been really leading the whole charge and doing so in the most provocative and high-profile ways.”

    Cheney doesn’t care

    “America cannot remain free if we abandon the truth. The lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is insidious — it preys on those who love their country,” she said in a closing argument campaign video released Thursday. “It is a door Donald Trump opened to manipulate Americans to abandon their principles, to sacrifice their freedom, to justify violence, to ignore the rulings of our courts and the rule of law.”

    “This is Donald Trump’s legacy, but it cannot be the future of our nation.”

    At least one supporter held out hope, according to the Associated Press.

    “I’m still hopeful that the polling numbers are wrong,” said Landon Brown, a Wyoming state representative and vocal Cheney ally. “It’ll be a crying shame really if she does lose. It shows just how much of a stranglehold that Donald Trump has on the Republican Party.”

    Her likely defeat on Tuesday has raised speculation over her next move – including a potential run for president in 2024, which she hasn’t ruled out.

    If one simply reads the room, however, it’s clear that Cheney would be up against a tide of Trump supporters, who largely view her as a traitor.

    “My sense is that if it is [her plan], she’s going to have a long wait,” said Bill Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “I don’t think that Donald Trump supporters will ever forgive her, nor do I think they’re going away.”

    “Where else would they go?”

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    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 22:24

  • 14 FBI Whistleblowers Have Come Forward: Rep. Jordan
    14 FBI Whistleblowers Have Come Forward: Rep. Jordan

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) speaks during the House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Policing Practices and Law Enforcement Accountability at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 10, 2020. (Michael Reynolds/Pool/Getty Images)

    Fourteen FBI whistleblowers have come forward to provide information to Republican congressional investigations, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said on Aug. 14, about a week after the FBI raided former President Donald Trump’s Florida home.

    “Fourteen FBI agents have come to our office as whistleblowers, and they are good people,” Jordan told Fox News. “There are lots of good people in the FBI. It’s the top that is the problem.”

    “Some of these good agents are coming to us, telling us … what’s going on—the political nature now of the Justice Department … talking about the school board issue, about a whole host of issues,” he added.

    Two months ago, Jordan said that six FBI whistleblowers approached the committee. Two came forward about a memo related to alleged violence and intimidation at school board meetings and four in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. In the Senate, meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in July that whistleblowers had come to his office to provide information, including disclosures relating to investigations into Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings.

    “It’s becoming a well-worn trail of agents who say this has got to stop, and thank goodness for them and that American people recognize it, and I believe they’re going to make a big change on Nov. 8,” Jordan said, referring to the midterm elections.

    In June, Jordan sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray warning that several former FBI officials were coming forward, while alleging the agency is “purging” employees who have conservative views.

    “In one such example, the FBI targeted and suspended the security clearance of a retired war servicemember who had disclosed personal views that the FBI was not being entirely forthcoming about the events of January 6,” Jordan wrote in a statement. “The FBI questioned the whistleblower’s allegiance to the United States despite the fact that the whistleblower honorably served in the United States military for several years—including deployments in Kuwait and Iraq—valiantly earning multiple military commendation medals.”

    It comes as Republicans stepped up calls on Aug. 14 for the release of an FBI affidavit showing the justification for its seizure of documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 22:15

  • Smith & Wesson's CEO Blames Progressive Lawmakers "For Surge In Violence And Lawlessness" In US Cities
    Smith & Wesson’s CEO Blames Progressive Lawmakers “For Surge In Violence And Lawlessness” In US Cities

    Smith & Wesson CEO Mark Smith fired off a statement Monday, blaming “a number of politicians” for “the surge in violence and lawlessness” in US cities. 

    Smith blamed “politicians and their lobbying partners in the media” for pushing failed progressive policies that have contributed to the recent rise in violence.

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    He said, “some [lawmakers] have had the audacity to suggest that after they have vilified, undermined and defunded law enforcement for years, supported prosecutors who refuse to hold criminals accountable for their actions, overseen the decay of our country’s mental health infrastructure, and generally promoted a culture of lawlessness, Smith & Wesson and other firearm manufacturers are somehow responsible for the crime wave that has predictably resulted from these destructive policies.”

    “But they [lawmakers] are the ones to blame for the surge in violence and lawlessness, and they seek to avoid any responsibility for the crisis of violence they have created by attempting to shift the blame to Smith & Wesson, other firearm manufacturers and law-abiding gun owners,” Smith continued. 

    He said it was “no surprise that the cities suffering most from violent crime are the very same cities that have promoted irresponsible, soft-on-crime policies that often treat criminals as victims and victims as criminals. Many of these same cities also maintain the strictest gun laws in the nation.”

    Smith said politicians who push failed progressive policies scapegoat gun manufacturers: 

    “But rather than confront the failure of their policies, certain politicians have sought more laws restricting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens…” 

    Smith made it clear that no Smith & Wesson firearm has broken into a home, assaulted a woman out for a late-night run in the city, and or carjacked an unsuspecting driver stopped at a traffic light. “Instead, Smith & Wesson provides these citizens with the means to protect themselves and their families,” he added.

    Smith’s statement comes two weeks after the US House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the 170-year company for data on the manufacture and sale of AR-15-style assault rifles. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 21:50

  • Toyota And World's Top Battery Maker Halt Factories In China Amid Drought-Induced Power Crisis
    Toyota And World’s Top Battery Maker Halt Factories In China Amid Drought-Induced Power Crisis

    Update (2130ET): Add Toyota Motor Corp. and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., the world’s largest battery maker, to the growing list of companies shutting down factories in China’s Sichuan province as a drought-induced power crisis worsens, according to Bloomberg. 

    Toyota closed its plant in the provincial capital of Chengdu until Saturday, a company spokesperson said, while Contemporary Amperex halted operations at its lithium battery factory in Yibin. 

    Sichuan is one of China’s most populated provinces, with 80 million inhabitants, and is home to a major manufacturing hub heavily reliant on hydropower. 

    However, a heatwave and drought have caused reservoir levels to drop, resulting in declining power generation and forcing local authorities to ration power for factories. 

    The shutdowns add to a growing number in industries stemming from solar panels to aluminum smelting. Volkswagen AG said on Monday that its factory in Chengdu is affected by power shortages, but that it was only expecting slight delays in deliveries to customers. Foxconn Technology Co. also makes Apple iPads in the province, but said it was seeing only limited impact from the drought so far. -Bloomberg 

    The drought-induced power crisis is another excuse Beijing can use to explain why its economy falters. 

    * * * 

    China’s worst heatwave in decades is curbing hydropower generation in one of the country’s most populous provinces. Local authorities requested some factories in southwestern China to halt production to conserve electricity, adding to the financial pressures of an already rapidly slowing economy. 

    Workers at a factory in Chongqing last month. (AFP/Getty Images)

    Sichuan province has more than 80 million inhabitants and is home to a major manufacturing hub. The Washington Post said some factories had suspended production on request by the government due to high temperatures and drought, leading to declining water flows through local hydropower reservoirs. 

    Jin Xiandong, a spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission, said on Tuesday that China has to increase coal-fired power output because of waning hydropower output. 

    China’s inland Sichuan province is a major manufacturing hub that produces consumer goods from electronics, furniture, and food. Also, it’s home to the world’s largest crystalline silicon solar cell producer.

    China Securities Journal said Foxconn’s plant in Sichuan that produces Apple products, such as iPads and Macs, wouldn’t be significantly impacted by power rationings. 

    The province is highly dependent on hydropower, and high temperatures that could last through the end of this month might indicate more power restrictions for manufacturing plants. 

    Fu Linghui, China’s National Bureau of Statistics spokesman, said the heatwave has sparked “adverse effects on economic operations,” adding that the economic recovery “has slowed down marginally.” 

    On Sunday, we noted that China’s central bank unexpectedly cut its key interest rates in a feeble attempt to prop up the failing economy weighed by Covid lockdowns, property downturn, and a crippling heatwave. The cut comes after July’s economic data was awful, pointing to an economic slowdown gaining momentum. 

    Further power cuts in Sichuan will result in more production suspension and dampen the country’s souring economic outlook.  

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 21:31

  • Eric Trump Says He’ll Release FBI Raid Surveillance Tape
    Eric Trump Says He’ll Release FBI Raid Surveillance Tape

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in N.Y. on Aug. 9, 2022, the day after FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach home, in Fla. (David ‘Dee’ Delgado/Reuters)

    Former President Donald Trump’s son Eric revealed that the family will release surveillance tapes that show FBI agents raiding his Mar-a-Lago property last week.

    “Will you—you still have the surveillance tape, is that correct? Will you—are you allowed to share that with the country?” Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Eric Trump on Monday night.

    The younger Trump replied, “Absolutely, Sean,” adding that the video will be released “at the right time.” He said that law enforcement officers, including FBI agents, should wear body cameras for total transparency.

    “That’s why cops wear body cams. They don’t tell you to turn off cameras—they want transparency, and that’s not what happened here,” Trump said, referring to the raid.

    In an interview with the Daily Mail last week, Eric Trump said that lawyers were told by FBI agents to turn off security cameras in Mar-a-Lago. But they didn’t, and a lawyer for Donald Trump, Alina Habba, later revealed that the former president and family watched the FBI raid via CCTV cameras last week.

    Another lawyer, Christina Bobb, told Real America’s Voice last week that surveillance cameras were turned off for a short period of time while the FBI agents spoke with the former president’s lawyers. However, she said the family saw “the whole thing,” referring to the raid, while they were in New York.

    Meanwhile, Bobb recalled to the outlet that she was “stuck in the parking lot” of Mar-a-Lago and was “there to collect paper and answer questions.”

    “The FBI and others from the Federal Government would not let anyone, including my lawyers, be anywhere near the areas that were rummaged and otherwise looked at during the raid on Mar-a-Lago,” former President Trump wrote on Truth Social last week.

    Unsealed Documents

    Following the raid, the Department of Justice and FBI have remained relatively tight-lipped about why the agents searched Mar-a-Lago or what they were investigating. Three days after the raid, Attorney General Merrick Garland told a news conference that he personally signed off on the FBI’s attempt to obtain a warrant, which was approved by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart.

    Republicans and Trump have called on the agencies to unseal an affidavit in the case. The move would show why the FBI launched the raid.

    The warrant and property receipt were unsealed a day after Garland’s news conference, showing that FBI agents recovered several boxes of allegedly classified or top-secret documents and other material. It’s not clear what the documents entailed.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 21:25

  • Los Angeles 'Soros' DA Gascón Recall Fails
    Los Angeles ‘Soros’ DA Gascón Recall Fails

    Authored by Jack Bradley via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon speaks at a press conference in Los Angeles on Dec. 8, 2021. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

    The effort to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón failed to gather enough valid petition signatures, the county registrar’s office announced Aug. 15.

    The county Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office counted 520,050 valid signatures, falling short of the required 566,857.

    Recall spokesman Tim Lineberger called the results “surprising and disappointing,” in a statement sent to The Epoch Times.

    [ZH: As noted two weeks ago, election observers weren’t allowed to view the count]

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    For the over half a million residents that placed valid signatures, Lineberger said, “To deprive them of the opportunity to restore public safety in their own communities is heartbreaking. And to interpret this in any other way other than a wholesale rejection of Gascon’s dangerous polices would be disingenuous, or naive at best.”

    Gascón’s campaign spokeswoman Elise Moore told The Epoch Times they were “glad to move forward from this attempted political power grab.”

    “The DA’s primary focus is and has always been keeping us safe and creating a more equitable justice system for all. Today’s announcement does not change that,” she said.

    Gascón wrote on Twitter Monday, “Rest assured LA County, the work hasn’t stopped. My primary focus has been & will always be keeping us safe & creating a more equitable justice system for all. I remain strongly committed to that work & to you.”

    Recall organizers submitted 715,833 signatures last month to the registrar’s office to force Gascón into a recall election. The county announced Monday that 195,783 of the signatures were invalid.

    Over 88,000 were invalidated because the person signing the petition was not a registered voter, and there were nearly 44,000 duplicate signatures, according to the county.

    The county’s former district attorney Steve Cooley sent a letter on Aug. 8 to the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, alleging that the registrar’s office did not follow proper guidelines when verifying signatures for the campaign during the random sampling last month.

    In a random sampling of about 5 percent, or 35,793, of the signatures, the clerk validated about 27,983, which was less than 31,179, the minimum for the recall petition to be automatically validated without full verification.

    One of the guidelines, Cooley said, is ensuring that voters’ signatures on the recall petitions match their signatures on file with the registrar’s office.

    He said the recall campaign has “strong evidence” to believe the office didn’t follow state guidelines during the random sampling because of “the shockingly large rejection rate,” which was around 22 percent. In the general election in November 2018, the rejection rate of vote-by-mail ballots for non-matching signatures was 2 percent, he said.

    Under California law, he said, it is presumed that signatures on election petitions and ballots are matching and valid unless there is a “reasonable doubt” to believe otherwise.

    According to Dean Logan, who oversees the county elections office, the verification process is “highly regulated” and follows state guidelines and regulations.

    Monday marked the second failure of an effort to recall Gascón. A separate attempt last year was halted by organizers, who blamed poor timing and COVID-19 lockdowns.

    Gascón has been under fire since taking office in December 2020, when he issued a series of directives critics blasted as being soft on crime. The directives include a rule against seeking the death penalty, a ban on transferring juvenile defendants to adult court, and prohibitions on filing sentencing enhancements in most cases.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 20:35

  • Journalists File Lawsuit Against CIA Over Alleged Spying While They Met With Julian Assange
    Journalists File Lawsuit Against CIA Over Alleged Spying While They Met With Julian Assange

    A group of journalists and lawyers that previously worked with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks who say they were illegally spied on by US intelligence are suing the CIA and its former head Mike Pompeo. “The United States Constitution shields American citizens from U.S. government overreach even when the activities take place in a foreign embassy in a foreign country,” lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Richard Roth, said Monday in filing the lawsuit.

    “The lawsuit said that CIA under Pompeo violated the privacy rights of those American journalists and lawyers by allegedly spying on them,” Reuters reports of the legal action. “The plaintiffs include journalists Charles Glass and John Goetz and attorneys Margaret Kunstler and Deborah Hrbek, who have represented Assange.”

    Then CIA director under President Trump, Mike Pompeo, is at the center of the legal action and allegations. As is their normative practice, the CIA isn’t commenting publicly on the lawsuit – but it’s widely known and established that the CIA is barred by US laws from spying domestically or on US citizens.

    The CIA’s mandate, along with the rest of the US intelligence community, or IC, is exclusively foreign, with multiple scandals uncovered by 1970s into 1980s Congressional hearings (the Church Committee being foremost), resulting in attempts at greater legal safeguards to protect Americans as well as reign in major unapproved clandestine operations. 

    Monday’s lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, as Reuters details: 

    The filing said the journalists and lawyers were required to surrender their electronic devices to Undercover Global S.L., a private security company which at the time provided security to the embassy, before their visits to Assange. The lawsuit alleged the company copied that information and provided it to the CIA, which was then headed by Pompeo.

    This period in question was from Assange’s seven-year asylum stay at the Ecuadorian Embassy. In July of 2020 it was revealed in testimony at the Spanish National Court,  Audiencia Nacional, by at least four former employees Undercover Global SL that the security firm was spying on Assange and those who would come visit him, including his legal team. 

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    Multiple in-depth reports by investigative journalists subsequently exposed the outfit as essentially a front for the CIA, or essentially was secretly being contracted by the intelligence agency, to keep taps on Assange and his lawyers’ strategy for securing his release. This even included collecting surveillance footage of Assange and his family members from inside the embassy at that time, with bizarre efforts to collect DNA, including from his child’s diaper. 

    Spain’s El Pais for example detailed in 2020 that “David Morales, a former military official who owns the security firm Undercover Global SL, is under investigation by Spain’s High Court, the Audiencia Nacional, for spying on Assange’s meetings with his lawyers and allegedly handing information to the CIA.”

    “Morales suspected that a baby who was repeatedly brought into the embassy by Stephen Hoo, an actor friend of Assange’s who paid him regular visits, might really be the cyberactivist’s own child, and these visits were recorded.”

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    The report resulted in a major public scandal and outrage, with an outpouring of support from WikiLeaks, given “Morales even issued orders to steal the baby’s diapers to analyze the contents for DNA, although the task was never carried out.”

    “Reports were drawn up about Stella Morris and about Stephen Hoo, according to video and documentary material to which EL PAÍS has had access.” El Pais wrote further.

    Julian Assange in a still from one of the videos recorded inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. via El Pais

    There have also been more recent revelations that Pompeo or other US officials may have greenlighted a ‘kidnap of kill’ mission if US operatives abroad ever got the chance to take out the WikiLeaks founder. Earlier this year a Spanish Court examining the allegations summoned Pompeo to explain and be questioned over the alleged plot; however, he refused the summons.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 20:10

  • Oberlin Faces New Controversy Over Islamic Scholar's Support Of The Rushdie Fatwa
    Oberlin Faces New Controversy Over Islamic Scholar’s Support Of The Rushdie Fatwa

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    It appears that Oberlin has another major controversy on its hand. For the last couple years, Oberlin has been embroiled in a fight with a small family-owned grocery that it defamed over a shoplifting case involving black students. Oberlin lost $25 million in a record verdict but Oberlin President Carmen Twillie Ambar continued to refuse to apologize. In the meantime, the school seems intent on running the 137-year-old grocery into insolvency as it delays paying on the judgment. Now the school is under fire over a faculty member, Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, who supported the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. The author of Satanic Verses is recovering from a savage knife attack. Hadi Matar, 24, is accused of carrying out the stabbing attack and has expressed support for Iran in the past. The campaign to have Mahallati fired could present some difficult free speech and academic freedom questions.

    Mahallati is a professor of religion and Islamic Studies and once served as the Islamic Republic’s ambassador at the United Nations.

    According to Fox News.com, Mahallati was asked in 1989 about the “right to put a bounty on someone’s head” and responded “I think all Islamic countries agree with Iran. All Islamic nations and countries agree with Iran that any blasphemous statement against sacred figures should be condemned.” He then added insult to injury:

    “I think if Western countries really believe and respect freedom of speech, therefore they should also respect our freedom of speech. We certainly use that right in order to express ourselves, our religious belief, in the case of any blasphemous statement against sacred Islamic figures.”

    It was a familiar misrepresentation of free speech values. Islamic countries have long claimed that banning speech or killing those who engage in blasphemous speech is a form of free speech.

    The Iranian view of free speech shows the extreme end of the slippery slope of relativism in free speech. We have been debating this increasingly common claim that shutting down speech is free speech. At the University of California campus, professors actually rallied around a professor who physically assaulted pro-life advocates and tore down their display.  When conservative law professor Josh Blackman was stopped from speaking about “the importance of free speech,”  CUNY Law Dean Mary Lu Bilek insisted that disrupting the speech on free speech was free speech. (Bilek later cancelled herself and resigned after an inappropriate comment in a faculty meeting).

    In this case, Iran issued a fatwa supporting the killing of Rushdie and offering a huge reward. Ultimately, two of his translators were knifed, one fatally.  Supporting a fatwa is an exercise of free speech. Acting on a fatwa to harm someone is a crime.

    Critics, however, insist that Mahallati was a high-ranking official supporting this state action.  Nevertheless, I still believe that a professor has the right to voice unpopular and frankly shocking positions in such controversies. I have defended faculty who have made similarly disturbing comments “detonating white people,” denouncing police, calling for Republicans to suffer,  strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservative protesters and other outrageous statements. I also defended the free speech rights of University of Rhode Island professor Erik Loomis, who defended the murder of a conservative protester and said that he saw “nothing wrong” with such acts of violence.

    A more serious allegation has surfaced over a 2018 Amnesty International report accusing Mahallati of carrying out “crimes against humanity” for covering up the massacre of at least 5,000 Iranian dissidents in 1988. That is conduct or action by Mahallati that would raise grounds over his fitness as a member of a faculty. Yet, he has denied that allegation and Oberlin said that it has investigated and rejected it.

    If the school has previously investigated the matter, it should be treated as closed absent new evidence. We recently saw the reopening of an investigation at Princeton as a pretext to fire a controversial faculty member.

    On what we know, it would seem that Mahallati would be protected under free speech and academic principles despite his reported anti-free speech views.

    Of course, it does not take away from the grotesque position that he has taken. Ironically, his faculty page discusses how he “developed innovative courses with interdisciplinary approach to friendship and forgiveness studies and also initiated the Oberlin annual Friendship Day Festival.” His personal website further states his research is “focused on the ethics of peacemaking in Islam in the context of comparative religions.”

    Nothing says ethics and peace more than a lethal fatwa targeting dissenting authors.

    As for Iran, it denies any involvement in the attack but added its own sense of offense at being criticized. Instead, it again attacked Rushdie.

    Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said “We, in the incident of the attack on Salman Rushdie in the U.S., do not consider that anyone deserves blame and accusations except him and his supporters.” He added that the West “condemning the actions of the attacker and in return glorifying the actions of the insulter to Islamic beliefs is a contradictory attitude.”

    It is strikingly similar to Mahallati’s statement back in 1989. Only in the most twisted view of free speech (and logic) would there be a contradiction in condemning the attempted murder of an author while supporting the author’s right to express his views.

    Few academics would support Iran’s blood-soaked interpretation of free speech. However, we need to address the creeping relativism that is sweeping across our campus. A recent poll was released by 2021 College Free Speech Rankings after questioning a huge body of 37,000 students at 159 top-ranked U.S. colleges and universities. It found that sixty-six percent of college students think shouting down a speaker to stop them from speaking is a legitimate form of free speech.  Another 23 percent believe violence can be used to cancel a speech. That is roughly one out of four supporting violence.

    Faculty and editors are now actively supporting modern versions of book-burning with blacklists and bans for those with opposing political views. Others are supporting actual book burning. Columbia Journalism School Dean Steve Coll has denounced the “weaponization” of free speech, which appears to be the use of free speech by those on the right. As millions of students are taught that free speech is a threat and that “China is right” about censorship, these figures are shaping a new society in their own intolerant images.

    It is the subject of my recent publication in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. The article entitled “Harm and Hegemony: The Decline of Free Speech in the United States.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 19:45

  • Record Number Of Homebuyers Walk Away From Contracts As Builders Reel Amid Glut Of Unsold Houses
    Record Number Of Homebuyers Walk Away From Contracts As Builders Reel Amid Glut Of Unsold Houses

    Between cratering homebuilder and homerbuyer confidence…

    … record low home affordability…

    … a record number of new listing with price cuts (amid the collapse in demand).

    … plunging housing starts…

    … and so on, as the recent surge in mortgage rates has effectively pushed the housing market into a recession, which is now so widespread that 63,000 home-purchase agreements were called off in July, equal to 16% of homes that went under contract that month. According to Redfin, that’s the highest percentage on record, and only the brief spike during the covid crash – which the promptly reversed – was worse. It’s up from a revised rate of 15% one month earlier and 12.5% one year earlier.

    The housing market is slowing as higher mortgage rates sideline many prospective homebuyers. With competition declining, the house hunters who are still in the market are enjoying newfound bargaining power, a striking contrast from just a few months ago, when buyers often had to pull out every stop in order to win. Today’s buyers are more likely to utilize contract contingencies that allow them to back out without financial penalty if something goes wrong. And with an increasing number of homes to choose from, they’re also more likely to call a deal off if a seller refuses to bring the price down or make requested repairs—a situation that has become increasingly common given that sellers are still adjusting to the cooling market.

    “Homes are sitting on the market longer now, so buyers realize they have more options and more room to negotiate. They’re asking for repairs, concessions and contingencies, and if sellers say no, they’re backing out and moving on because they’re confident they can find something better,” said Heather Kruayai, a Redfin real estate agent in Jacksonville, FL. “Buyers are also skittish because they’re afraid a potential recession could cause home prices to drop. They don’t want to end up in a situation where they purchase a home and it’s worth $200,000 less in two years, so some are opting to wait in hopes of buying when prices are lower.”

    Alexis Malin, another Redfin agent in Jacksonville, warns that there’s no guarantee buyers will be able to find better deals in the future. Annual home-price growth has started to slow—to 8% today from 17% a year ago—but prices are still on the rise and Redfin economists don’t expect them to crash.

    “Some buyers who are backing out of deals have this mindset that the market is crashing and they’ll be able to get a home for $100,000 less in six months. That’s not necessarily the case,” she said. “Homes in many parts of Florida are still selling for a pretty penny, so I warn my buyers that the grass might not actually be greener on the other side.”

    Some buyers may also be backing out due to 5%-plus mortgage rates. Those who started their search months ago, when rates were closer to 3%, may be realizing the type of home they wanted before is now out of budget since monthly mortgage payments have soared nearly 40% year over year.

    “Home-purchase cancellations may begin to taper off as sellers get used to a slower-paced market,” said Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr. “Sellers have already begun to lower their prices after putting their homes on the market. They’ll likely start pricing their properties lower from the get-go and become increasingly open to negotiations.”

    And just to confirm how bad the US housing market is, even the morbidly slow rating agency Fitch Ratings said the likelihood of a severe downturn in US housing has increased (although since rating agencies are never allowed to rock the boat, it said that its rating case scenario provides for a more moderate pullback that includes a mid-single-digit decline in housing activity in 2023, and further pressure in 2024.) Fitch also notes that although it recently affirmed the ratings and Stable Outlooks for our US homebuilder portfolio, “ratings could face pressure under a more pronounced downturn scenario that would likely include housing activity falling roughly 30%, or more, over a multi-year period and 10% to 15% declines in home prices.”

    * *  *

    The biggest losers from the latest housing crash aren’t sellers however, but rather homebuilders, who are suddenly finding themselves with a glut of unsold houses.

    As Bloomberg notes, with this year’s surge in mortgage rates tossing buyers to the sidelines, the waitlists for new houses are gone  and new-home sellers – such as Kevin Brown, who works just south of Houston, are on the front lines of a massive shift. While Brown used to have back-to-back appointments, buyers now just trickle in to his Saratoga Homes sales office. Meanwhile, he’s got 55 houses under construction and five that are complete, all without deals.

    “There’s a bit of pressure on us,” Brown said. “Builders have got to hit goals and make their profit, and they don’t like inventory just sitting on the ground.”

    An abrupt halt to the pandemic housing boom has left builders that started construction months ago scrambling to adapt. The US supply of new homes relative to sales in June was the highest since the midst of the last crash in 2010. And by early July, buyer traffic to homebuilder websites and sales offices had plunged to the lowest level for the month since 2012, according to a survey of builder sentiment from the National Association of Home Builders.

    New Homes sales signs line a road near Rosharon, Texas/BBG

    The new-home pile up underscores a broader shift that’s wreaking havoc in the market. A national housing shortage contributed to years of bidding wars and desperation among buyers who bid up prices to record levels for fear of missing out. But this year’s surge in borrowing costs has now pushed affordability to a breaking point and eased some of the scarcity.

    At the same time, the stage is set for longer-term supply constraints as builders pull back. A decade of underbuilding and a bulging population of young people aging into homeownership threatens to prolong the affordability squeeze.

    “Despite the fact that there aren’t enough housing units in the country, builders are not willing to take the gamble that’s required to build them,” said Jerry Howard, chief executive officer of the homebuilders group. “They’re afraid that, in a recessionary environment, they won’t be able to sell them.”

    In June, 824,000 single-family homes were under construction in the US, more than at any time since October 2006, according to an NAHB analysis of government data. Unsold inventory has ballooned in part because of supply-chain disruptions and labor constraints that created bottlenecks in the production pipeline.

    Now, with the economy entering a recession, or already in one, builders are cutting back on starts, trying to avoid having too many completed homes sitting empty. They’re also applying for fewer building permits, which for single-family homes fell in June to a two-year low, according to data from the government.

    Not every market is cooling fast. But the change is stark in the pandemic boomtowns where builders piled in to meet demand for out-of-state arrivals, who often bid up prices beyond the reach of locals.

    “It has become a very competitive market for builders where they are trying to offload any standing inventory,” said Ali Wolf, chief economist for Zonda, which tracks new-home production. “We may see a period where supply may actually exceed demand for a while in some of the markets that were the most feverish over the past two years.”

    Boise, Idaho, is one of those areas where a pandemic bubble is bursting. Remote workers arrived from pricier states such as California, seeking open spaces and fewer virus restrictions. But now Covid restlessness is giving way to fears that the Federal Reserve’s cure for inflation — higher rates — will tip the US into a recession.

    Idaho’s biggest builder, CBH Homes, has had about a third of buyers cancel contracts in the past few months, nearly twice the level at the start of the year, according to Corey Barton, the company’s president. He’s got 200 unsold finished homes, compared with 75 at the end of last year, and said he’ll probably surpass the 350 he was left with after the last crash 15 years ago. In a sense the inventory was there all along — it was just hidden, he says.

    Builders had been deliberately holding back houses, waiting until they were a couple months from completion before releasing them for sale. That’s because they couldn’t build fast enough to meet sky-high demand. By waiting, they could charge the current market price as materials costs climbed.

    But now, the market is getting flooded with listings, Barton said. Homes are finishing or are getting listed earlier in the construction process.

    Meanwhile, CBH has cut starts by about half. Subcontractors involved in the early stages of construction, digging out basements or pouring foundations are already feeling it, he said.

    “The movement from out of state caused a false market,” Barton said. “We have to accept things for the way they are. It’s going to get tough.”

    Builders of new homes find themselves in an especially trick spot, because while most traditional sellers can afford to wait or even postpone a sale if conditions deteriorate, builders will have to discount until they find the market-clearing price, said Benjamin Keys, a real estate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

    “The homebuilders have an understandable incentive to pull back right now and Americans need more affordable housing,” Keys said.

    At Saratoga Homes’s Glendale Lakes sales office, marketing director Christina Nuon said she’s making cold calls to agents and hosting happy hour events to boost sales. The company has a menu of incentives to bring down costs for its entry-level buyers, from $12,000 toward closing costs to a subsidized 30-year mortgage rate of just under 4%.

    “Buying down rates, it’s kind of going to be our incentive probably from now on out,” Nuon said. “Just because that’s the only way we can help buyers. We can’t reduce the price any lower.”  

    Brown, the sales consultant, says the incentives have helped put a dent in inventory: “I am trying to find one buyer at a time,” he said, “and not get overwhelmed by what I have coming up.”

    He worries that at the end of a potential recession, continued underbuilding will help keep prices elevated.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 18:55

  • Minneapolis Public Schools Promise To Layoff White Teachers Before Cutting "Educators Of Color"
    Minneapolis Public Schools Promise To Layoff White Teachers Before Cutting “Educators Of Color”

    A good teacher is a good teacher, regardless of skin color.  That said, by extension, a bad teacher is also still a bad teacher regardless of skin color.  If you want to find true racism in the western world, remove all questions of meritocracy and seek out people who promote “equity”- They are the real racists.  

    According to a new report, a deal struck between MPS and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) to end a two-week strike includes a provision that requires schools to lay off or reassign white teachers before taking the same action with “educators of color.”  The provisions were labeled “educator of color protections.”

    The report said that if a non-white teacher is the subject of “excess” (a term used to describe cutting a position) school districts must instead lay off the least senior white teacher. The proposal will go into effect next spring.

    Here we see the true nature of “equity and diversity” in action – It’s not about equality, it’s about special treatment and privileges based on skin color.  It’s the exact opposite of what the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s called for.  Imagine if today a teacher’s union demanded that a school district fire all black and brown teachers before firing white teachers, regardless of performance?  There would be riots in the streets.  

    The ignorance of equity is not limited to Minneapolis, it is widespread and flowing like a poison into every corner of our society.  It’s important to keep in mind also that the teachers unions making these demands are made up of the same people that are likely in charge of educating your children.  What kind of lessons do you think they are providing to all those young and easily influenced minds?

    Should people of color be conditioned to expect special treatment?  Are they entitled to it because of the the unfairness of the world a century or more ago?  It’s a world they never lived, and a world that was unfair to many white people as well, so how do we divvy up reparations and privileges when there is no way to account for who deserves them?

    The only legitimate form of fairness is merit.  It’s the only system that works.  Minneapolis teachers should be judged based on performance, not the supposed crimes against their ancestors.  The equity ideology is utterly insane when we consider the level of future pain caused by keeping the worst people in the best positions based on skin color alone.  The decline in work ethic and productivity will be staggering unless diversity quotas are ignored and only one factor is taken into account:  Can they do their job well – Are they the best at their job, or are they the worst?  Nothing else matters.         

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 18:30

  • Congressman: "Tyranny" Is Coming "Right Into Everyone's Living Room Very Very Shortly"
    Congressman: “Tyranny” Is Coming “Right Into Everyone’s Living Room Very Very Shortly”

    Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

    GOP Pennsylvania Representative Scott Perry warned Sunday that everyday Americans should now plan for “tyranny” to enter their homes in the form of federal agents if they refuse to play nice with the authorities.

    Perry, the House Freedom Caucus chair, revealed how the FBI recently seized his phone, just hours after the feds raided President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago complex.

    “A day after the raid on the president’s home FBI agents showed up when I was traveling with my family, my wife and our two small children, my in-laws, extended family,” Perry stated in an appearance on Fox News.

    The Congressman related how the feds “showed up and demanded my cell phone they said they were going to image it they were not going to search it and and then they eventually did return it.” 

    Perry, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, further declared to “have always supported law enforcement. I always have, we have revered the FBI, but this is an abuse of power.”

    “There’s been no accountability,” Perry continued, explaining that “James Comey, the director of the FBI used classified information improperly to get a second special counsel, no, no, no accountability for that.”

    “Whether it’s John Eastman, whether it’s Scott Perry, whether it’s President Trump, and with passing a bill that will pay for hiring of 87,000 IRS agents, tyranny is going to come right into everyone’s living room very, very shortly,” Perry proclaimed.

    While the 87,000 figure is disputed, the Senate last week approved nearly $80 billion in IRS funding, with $45.6 billion for “enforcement”.

    “This is about intimidating anyone who refuses to bend the knee to the narrative,” the Congressman further warned.

    “This is an abuse of power,” Perry claimed, “and of course they’re using these taxes tactics to intimidate people to coerce people.”

    Referring to Hillary Clinton, Perry said “People that BleachBit their their phones and hit him with hammers, smash them with hammers and those types of things have something to hide. People that keep the same phone a year and a half after the election aren’t worried about what’s on their phone, and so that’s me, but apparently they want to destroy me politically.”

    “Anybody that doesn’t bend the knee, that isn’t intimidated, that isn’t parroting the narrative is now subject to these kind of third world Banana Republic tactics politically,” Perry stressed.

    Elsewhere during the interview, Perry told viewers that “It should be pretty apparent to anybody that’s been alive for the past 5 years that the Biden family is completely compromised by the Communist Party of China.”

    * * *

    Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

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    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 18:05

  • 72% Of Millennials Have Regrets About Homes They Overpaid Or Settled For In 2021 And 2022
    72% Of Millennials Have Regrets About Homes They Overpaid Or Settled For In 2021 And 2022

    As new inventory is finally starting to hit the market and demand has temporarily slowed down thanks to rising rates, the housing expansion between March 2020 and now is still very likely to go down in history as blowing unprecedented amounts of air into an unprecedented bubble.

    And now we have the data to show it. A new online survey commissioned by Anytime Estimate and Clever Real Estate has shed light on how much millennials paid for homes during this period, and the answer likely isn’t going to surprise you: more than any other generation, ever. 

    This is why it is no surprise to hear that more than 70% of millennials have regrets about their purchases. 

    1,001 total people who reported having bought a home in 2021 or 2022 were surveyed between July 6th and 9th this year, answering up to 21 questions about their buying experience. 

    The study found that few millennials actually came away with their dream homes, especially first time buyers, who made up 70% of all buyers in 2021 and 2022. First-timers paid a median of $510,000 for a home in 2021 and 2022 — about 13% more than the $450,000 that repeat buyers paid, the report found. 

    Here are some of the additional statistics the study returned (emphasis ours):

    • 70% of buyers in 2021–2022 bought a home for the first time. Among new buyers, one-third (33%) thought the process was more difficult than expected.
    • Nearly 1 in 4 buyers (22%) were not satisfied with their home-buying experience.
    • Survey respondents paid a median amount of $495,000 for their home — about 15% more than the national median of $428,700.
    • Almost one-third of buyers (31%) paid over asking price. The median amount buyers paid over the listing price was $65,000.
    • 80% of buyers made more than one offer, with 41% making five or more.
    • More than 1 in 3 buyers (36%) made an offer on a home sight unseen.
    • 1 in 3 buyers spent three months looking for a home, while 1 in 8 spent six months or more.
    • 80% of home buyers had to compromise on their priorities.
    • The No. 1 priority for half of buyers (50%) was finding a home in a good neighborhood, but 1 in 5 (20%) settled for a home in a worse location.
    • Three-fourths of home buyers (72%) have regrets about their home purchase, with 1 in 3 (30%) saying they spent too much money.
    • More than half of buyers (55%) bought a fixer-upper, but 1 in 4 (24%) regret it.
    • 1 in 10 buyers paid for their home in cash, with nearly half of all-cash buyers (43%) saying they make enough money to afford it.
    • But 29% of all-cash buyers had to withdraw money from savings, and 27% had to borrow funds from their investments.
    • Of those who financed, 40% of buyers put down less than or equal to 20% on their home.

    And perhaps most notably, 3 in 4 homebuyers (72%) have regrets about their purchase, the survey found.

    When we see a statistic like that we can’t help but that 3 in 4 people will likely be eager to turn around and put their house on the market quicker than normal when the tide in the market starts to go out. 

    You can read Anytime Estimate’s full survey results here. 

    Research by Anytime Estimate’s Data Center has been cited by The New York Times, CNBC, MarketWatch, NPR, Apartment Therapy, Yahoo Finance, Black Enterprise, and more.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 17:40

  • Musk Among Guests At McCarthy Fundraiser For Challenger To "Pariah" Liz Cheney
    Musk Among Guests At McCarthy Fundraiser For Challenger To “Pariah” Liz Cheney

    Elon Musk is on the guest list for a Wyoming event hosted by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for “members, donors and candidates,” though the GOP leader wouldn’t confirm or deny Musk’s attendance.

    “I’m not going to talk about that,” he told Bloomberg in a telephone interview from his Teton Village, WY hotel room.

    McCarthy notably threw support behind Liz Cheney challenger Harriet Hageman early in the conservative lawyer’s campaign. The two face a primary election today.

    Musk, whose SpaceX has operations in McCarthy’s Bakersfield, California-area district, has donated to Republican and Democratic candidates and campaign committees since making his first contribution in 2003. His biggest investment, some $128,900, has been in committees connected with McCarthy. He’s also become increasingly vocal on political issues.

    The event at a resort in Teton Village, not far from Cheney’s home, is another illustration of how much of a pariah the state’s lone House representative has become within the Republican Party because of her vocal and persistent criticism of former President Donald Trump over his role in the insurrection at the US Capitol. -Bloomberg

    As Bloomberg notes, it’s unusual for a party leader to actively campaign against an incumbent, highlighting how much of a pariah Cheney has become since taking up the mantle against former President Trump while on the January 6th committee.

    McCarthy, meanwhile, hopes to become Speaker of the House if the GOP retake the chamber in November midterms.

    In an interview, he said that he’s confident Hageman will defeat Cheney, and “is going to be a great representative” for Wyoming. He’s already carved out a position for Hageman on the Natural Resources Committee, according to the report.

    Hageman also has the support of former President Donald Trump – after stepping up verbal attacks of Cheney and her prominent role on the House committee investigating the January 6th riot.

    Cheney has also accused Trump of trying to “steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 17:15

  • WTI Rises After API Shows Huge Gasoline Draw
    WTI Rises After API Shows Huge Gasoline Draw

    Speaking on CNBC, Goldman’s head of commodity strategy, Jeff Currie explained why the lower the price of oil drops, the higher it will jump because – all else equal – as demand for oil rises thanks to lower prices without enough supply to match, inventories will shrink far faster and tank bottom will be hit well before the NBER admits a recession has arrived. A similar development took place in Jan 2007 more than a year before the 2008 recession… but not before oil soared to an all time high. This time won’t be any different, and an early glimpse of how the spike in demand will translate into lower inventories came moments ago from the American Petroleum Institute (API) which reported a draw this week for crude oil of 448,000 barrels, while analysts predicted a far smaller draw of 117,000 barrels.

    • Crude: -448K, Exp. -117K
    • Gasoline: -4.480MM, Exp. -1.1MM
    • Distillates: -759K
    • Cushing:  +250K

    In the week prior, OilPrice reminds us that the API reported a surprise build in crude oil inventories of 2.156 million barrels after analysts had predicted a draw of 400,000 barrels. Of course, a big part of the delta is the continued drain of the Biden Strategic Midterm Reserve: the latest draw comes as the Department of Energy released another 3.4 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in week ending August 12, to 461.2 million barrels.

    US crude inventories have shed some 61 million barrels since the start of 2021, with a 1.7 million barrel gain since the start of 2020, according to API data.  US crude oil production data for the week ending August 5 rose 100,000 bpd to 12.2 million bpd, according to the latest weekly EIA data.  

    WTI was trading down on Tuesday on disappointing economic data out of China and the improving prospects of reaching a nuclear deal with Iran.

    The API also reported a draw in gasoline inventories this week of 4.480 million barrels for the week ending Aug 12, compared to the previous week’s 627,000-barrel draw. Distillate stocks saw a draw of 759,000 barrels for the week, compared to last week’s 1.376-million-barrel increase. Cushing inventories rose by 250,000 barrels this week. Last week, the API saw a build of 910,000 barrels. Official EIA Cushing inventories for week ending August 5 was 25.189 million barrels, up from 24.466 million barrels in the prior week.

    At 5:00 pm ET, WTI was trading down at $87.13 (-2.55%), with Brent trading down at $92.71. In a few weeks, both will be trading far higher.

     

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 17:12

  • He's Baaack: Andreessen Horowitz Backs WeWork Founder Adam Neumann's Latest Real Estate Project
    He’s Baaack: Andreessen Horowitz Backs WeWork Founder Adam Neumann’s Latest Real Estate Project

    In case you’re wondering if the bubble has finally “burst” enough to remove detritus like Adam Neumann from the investing atmosphere, the answer appears to be a resounding “no”.

    That’s because Neumann – famous for taking hundreds of millions in compensation, a botched IPO and overseeing more than $10 billion in WeWork valuation disappear into thin air – is now once again being enabled invested in by Andreessen Horowitz.

    And guess what? Neumann’s latest venture just happens to be in residential real estate.

    The company, called Flow, comes in the wake of WeWork’s IPO attempt nearly marking the market top prior to Covid. Andreessen Horowitz stood up for Neumann in a blog post this week, calling his efforts at WeWork “often under appreciated”. It said it loves “seeing repeat-founders build on past successes by growing from lessons learned,” according to CNBC. 

    The details on the company are few and far between, other than it is supposed to launch in 2023. The New York Times described the company as “effectively a service that landlords can team up with for their properties, somewhat similar to the way an owner of a hotel might contract with a branded hotel chain to operate the property.”

    “Exact details of the business plan could not be learned,” the New York Times wrote. What could go wrong?

    Andreessen Horowitz co-founder and general partner Marc Andreessen wrote on a blog post this week: “In a world where limited access to home ownership continues to be a driving force behind inequality and anxiety, giving renters a sense of security, community, and genuine ownership has transformative power for our society.”

    He continued: “We think it is natural that for his first venture since WeWork, Adam returns to the theme of connecting people through transforming their physical spaces and building communities where people spend the most time: their homes.”

    “We are thrilled by the scope and aspiration of this project,” Andreessen said. “It is not lacking in vision or ambition, but only projects with such lofty goals have a chance at changing the world.”

    Sure, that sounds nice. So did the idea of shared office space. We can’t wait to see the financial reality of this project, not to mention in 2023, when rates will have been their highest in nearly a decade. 

    Here’s a preview of the pitch deck…

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

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 16:50

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Aug 16

Today’s News 16th August 2022

  • Nuclear Deal Increasingly Unlikely As Iran Strengthens Ties With Russia
    Nuclear Deal Increasingly Unlikely As Iran Strengthens Ties With Russia

    By Simon Watkins of OilPrice.com

    There are several reasons to be short crude oil currently – economic recession in the U.S. and looming recessions in Europe, ongoing lockdowns in China, the vested interest of the U.S. in keeping oil below US$75 per barrel of Brent, to name but three – but the prospect of an imminent new ‘nuclear deal’ between the West and Iran is not one of them.

    It is true that the European Union (EU) last week tabled a ‘final text’ of a new iteration of the nuclear deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – to Washington and Tehran. However, it is equally true, as conveyed at length and exclusively to OilPrice.com last week by several senior political and oil industry sources close to proceedings, that there is virtually no chance of such a deal being done without a massive concession coming from Iran that it is impossible to see the current regime making.

    “Nothing has changed in the past few months from when the U.S. decided that Iran was just trying to buy time for its nuclear weapons development program by continuing to submit new clauses to the text of the new version of the JCPOA agreement,” a senior energy source who worked closely with Iran’s Petroleum Ministry, told OilPrice.com.

    “And Washington has told everyone else in the P5+1 group [the U.S., the U.K., France, China, and Russia ‘plus’ Germany] that it will not budge from its position on the IRGC, which is aimed – as Iran knows – at destroying the IRGC’s influence, and by extension Iran’s influence – in the world,” he said.

    “As far as the U.S. is concerned, everything is now focused on ensuring that Iran does not get the three months it needs to finish the guidance systems it requires, with the help of Russia, to deliver weapons-grade nuclear material in the missiles it already has,” he added.

    A cementing of the U.S. view that “we are not going to change a single word or add a single comma in the current draft [of the new version of the JCPOA] on the table” – as a senior European Union energy source told OilPrice.com last week – came on 9 August with the launch of Iran’s ‘Khayyam’ satellite, built almost entirely by Russia and powered into orbit from the Russia-controlled Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. According to Iran, the satellite will be “used to monitor Iran’s borders and improve the country’s capabilities in management and planning in the fields of agriculture, natural resources, environment, mining, and natural disasters.” According to the U.S., the satellite is to be used for spying on its neighbors. Neither statement is entirely true, although the U.S. did hint at how serious it is when a State Department spokesman said last week of the Khayyam launch: “Russia deepening an alliance with Iran is something that the whole world should look at and see as a profound threat.”

    What the Khayyam satellite was launched for is to provide the final piece of the missile guidance systems that Russia and Iran have been working on for years – this one relating to improving the accuracy of missiles (by up to 25 percent for short- and medium-range missiles and by up to 70 percent for long-range missiles) according to the Iranian source. During those past few years, Iran has sent several very small (50 kilograms or less) satellites of its own making into orbit, although none of them had the relative operational sophistication of the Russian-made Khayyam satellite (which weighs over half a tonne) launched last week. Prior to the launch of the Khayyam, there were five failed launches in a row for the ‘Simorgh’ program, which involved the same type of array as the Khayyam – a rocket launched that also carries a satellite (Khayyam was launched using a Russian Soyuz-2.1b rocket booster). Attempts by Iran to lunch more larger and more operationally sophisticated satellites – like Khayyam – have previously met with ‘unexplained’ setbacks, including most notably in recent times a massive fire at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in February 2019 that also killed three key Iranian figures in its ‘satellite’ program. 

    This latest advance by Iran in its quest to be able to deliver a fully functioning nuclear warhead to anywhere within a few-thousand-mile radius should come as no surprise, given that the same sponsor for North Korea’s nuclear program – China – is the key state sponsor of Iran, as analyzed in depth in my latest book on the global oil markets. After the landmark 25-year deal was struck in August 2019 between Iran and China – a story exclusively broken by me in September 2019, nearly two years before it was officially announced or reported on by anyone else – China (and Russia) gradually and quietly began to increase their cooperation on key elements of Iran’s nuclear weapons development program. In China’s case, the level of intermediation between middle-men connected to it and to North Korea and Iran was stepped up using a triangular system of technology supplies (from China to North Korea via middlemen, and then from North Korea to Iran), and payment principally in oil (from Iran to North Korea, with some also sent from Iran to China directly). Russia had agreed to take a back seat to China in Iran’s nuclear weapons program in the year or two after the 25-year China-Iran deal had actually been made (in August 2019), but shifted back to a front seat position from September 2021 (when it began to activate its plan to invade Ukraine), as China remains wary of overtly challenging the U.S. outside its own perceived area of influence in the Taiwan Strait.

    Iran and Russia still need “two to three months to finalise its overall missile guidance system,” according to the sources spoken to by OilPrice.com last week, although it already has a vast array of missiles already in place with varying range applications. This leaves the nuclear material itself for the warheads as the third element it needs to line up before it rates as a clear and present nuclear threat. According to the 30 May 2022 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): “Due to the growth of Iran’s 60 percent enriched uranium stocks, Iran has crossed a dangerous new threshold: its breakout timeline is now at zero. It has enough 60 percent enriched uranium, or highly enriched uranium [HEU] in the form of uranium hexafluoride [UF6] to be assured it could fashion directly a nuclear explosive. If Iran wanted to further enrich its 60 percent HEU up to 90 percent HEU, typically called weapon-grade uranium [WGU], used in Iran’s known nuclear weapons designs, it could do so within weeks utilizing only a few advanced centrifuge cascades.”

    Given this, it could be argued that bringing Iran back into the fold of global diplomatic relations by agreeing to a new iteration of the nuclear deal might be the way forward. However, for Washington, it appears that an inflection point has been reached in the Oval Office over the JCPOA in which, as OilPrice.com has been told: “We are not going to change a single word or add a single comma in the current draft [of the new version of the JCPOA] on the table.” The only thing that the U.S. will now accept from Iran is – in essence – the neutering of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which it is seeking to do via Iran signing up to the regulations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and then to becoming a fully-regulated and constantly-monitored FATF member. 

    With its 40 active criteria and mechanisms in place to prevent money laundering (an activity that is vital to the IRGC’s activities across the world) and nine criteria and mechanisms in place to do the same for the financing of terrorism and related activities (a core of the IRGC’s role in promoting Iran’s brand of Islam around the globe), the FATF has swingeing powers to wield against individuals, companies, or countries who transgress any of its standards and is extremely aggressive in using them by degrees, depending on whether the sanctioned entity is on its ‘grey’ or ‘black’ list. A sure sign of the U.S. has reached the end of the line regarding Iran is that – as of now – even if Iran does sign up to the FATF, Washington will not remove the designation of the IRGC as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organisation’ (FTO) immediately, as it had promised a while ago, but will keep the damaging designation in place for at least two years, whereupon it will be reviewed, a senior source close to Iran’s Petroleum Ministry told OilPrice.com exclusively last week. “This review,” he concluded, “will also assess whether all Iranian military and intelligence elements of influence have been removed from several countries, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, or Iran fails the review anyway.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 08/16/2022 – 02:00

  • WEF's "Global Intelligence Collecting AI" To Erase Ideas From The Internet
    WEF’s “Global Intelligence Collecting AI” To Erase Ideas From The Internet

    Via ‘2nd Smartest Guy in the World’ Substack,

    The World Economic Forum is becoming a little concerned. Unapproved opinions are becoming more popular, and online censors cannot keep up with millions of people becoming more aware and more vocal. The censorship engines employed by Internet platforms, turned out to be quite stupid and incapable. People are even daring to complain about the World Economic Forum, which is obviously completely unacceptable.

    So, WEF author Inbal Goldberger came up with a solution: she proposes to collect off-platform intelligence from “millions of sources” to spy on people and new ideas, and then merge this information together for “content removal decisions” sent down to “Internet platforms”.

    To overcome the barriers of traditional detection methodologies, we propose a new framework: rather than relying on AI to detect at scale and humans to review edge cases, an intelligence-based approach is crucial.

    By bringing human-curated, multi-language, off-platform intelligence into learning sets, AI will then be able to detect nuanced, novel abuses at scale, before they reach mainstream platforms. Supplementing this smarter automated detection with human expertise to review edge cases and identify false positives and negatives and then feeding those findings back into training sets will allow us to create AI with human intelligence baked in. This more intelligent AI gets more sophisticated with each moderation decision, eventually allowing near-perfect detection, at scale.

    What is this about? What’s new?

    The way censorship is done these days is that each Internet platform, such as Twitter, has its own moderation team and a decision making engine. Twitter would only look at tweets by any specific twitter user, when deciding on whether to delete any tweets or suspend their authors. Twitter moderators do NOT look at Gettr or other external websites.

    So, for example, user @JohnSmith12345 may have a Twitter account and narrowly abide by Twitter rules, but at the same time have a Gettr account where he would publish anti-vaccine messages. Twitter would not be able to suspend @JohnSmith12345’s account. That is no longer acceptable to the WEF because they want to silence people and ideas, not individual messages or accounts.

    This explains why the WEF needs to move beyond the major Internet platforms, in order to collect intelligence about people and ideas everywhere else. Such an approach would allow them to know better what person or idea to censor — on all major platforms at once.

    They want to collect intelligence from “millions of sources”, and train their “AI systems” to detect thoughts that they do not like, to make content removal decisions handed down to the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and so on. This is a major change from the status quo of each platform deciding what to do based on messages posted to that specific platform only.

    For example, in addition to looking at my Twitter profile, WEF’s proposed AI would also look at my Gettr profile, and then it would make an “intelligent decision” to remove me from the Internet at once. It is somewhat of a simplification because they also want to look for ideas and not only individuals but, nevertheless, the search for wrongthink becomes globalized.

    This sounds like an insane conspiracy theory from hell: WEF collecting information on everyone everywhere, and then telling all platforms what posts to remove, based on a global decision-making AI engine that sees everything and can identify individual people and ideas beyond any given platform.

    If someone ever said that it would be contemplated, I would probably think that this person is insane. It sounds like a sick technological fantasy. Unfortunately, this crazy stuff is real, is in a WEF agenda proposal that is officially posted on their website’s “WEF Agenda” section. And WEF is not messing around.

    You will have no voice and you will be happy!

    Of course, this AI content moderation slots straight into the AI social credit score system. And if your social credit score dips below whichever technocommunist AI thresholds as set by the elites, then all kinds of punishments will be meted out, from slashed UBI credits to bug-food rationing to an early granting of the “freedom” to be euthanized.

    Do NOT comply.

    *  *  *

    Become a paid subscriber: support the “Do NOT comply.” It’s 8 cents a day.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 23:55

  • Monsoon Rainfall Waterlogs Vegas, While Pacific Northwest Braces For Heat Dome
    Monsoon Rainfall Waterlogs Vegas, While Pacific Northwest Braces For Heat Dome

    Wild weather across the western part of the US has sparked one of the worst monsoon seasons in Las Vegas in a decade, while California and parts of the Pacific Northwest brace for a heat dome that could push power grids to the max.

    Late last week, intense thunderstorms flooded parts of southern Nevada, including Vegas. Videos on social media show floodwater pouring into at least one casino while parking garages were transformed into rivers. This comes two weeks after another storm wreaked havoc on Sin City.  

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    Clark County officials report the latest series of storms in the Vegas metro area has meant the wettest monsoon season in a decade. Besides the flooding, this is good news for the region suffering from extreme drought. 

    “That makes this the wettest monsoon season in ten years,” the National Weather Service tweeted. 

    Meanwhile, near-record heat is expected this week in California’s Central Valley and parts of the Pacific Northwest as a heat dome builds across the region, worsening the drought-stricken area and pushing power grids to critical levels. 

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    California’s Central Valley could record temperatures as high as 109 degrees Fahrenheit. Another pocket of heat will scorch western Washington. 

    Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster with the Weather Prediction Center, said Sacramento could hit 105 Fahrenheit by mid-week, and Redding could record 109 Fahrenheit. 

    “It is going to be well above average,” Oravec said. “The heat will also eventually spread to the Northwest and Northern Plains.” 

    A linger heat dome over California could stress power grids. Demand is expected to peak Monday at around 43.8 gigawatts and could even jump to 45.2 gigawatts by mid-week, said grid operator California Independent System Operator. 

    In anticipation of increasing cooling demand, Southern California’s SP15 hub’s on-peak power prices soared 29% to $149.70 a megawatt for Monday, the highest in nearly a year. 

    Gary Ackerman, an independent energy consultant who founded the Western Power Trading Forum, told Bloomberg that power-supply shortfalls are unlikely at this point. 

    However, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a regulatory body that manages grid stability, recently warned before the summer that power supplies in the Western US could be overwhelmed by soaring demand due to extreme heat. We might add decarbonization efforts of grids have made things worse. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 23:30

  • Private Jet Usage "Flies" To Record Highs, Even Among Climate Outrage
    Private Jet Usage “Flies” To Record Highs, Even Among Climate Outrage

    As concern about the climate, or at least virtue signaling about the climate, ramps higher each day, so does private jet use. Especially among celebrities. 

    Funny how that happens, right?

    And now thanks to the Twitter accounts over at @CelebJets and @ElonJet, we are well aware when people like Kylie Jenner, Taylor Swift or Elon Musk take flight in their private jets. Such was the topic of a new Wall Street Journal report out over the weekend that looked at the backlash to private jet use. 

    The Twitter accounts make the world privy to each flight, even ones like the 17 minute flight Jenner took in July, resulting in her being branded a “climate criminal”. Jokes about Taylor Swift’s jet usage resulted in memes of her using her jet to go to Starbucks and her refridgerator. 

    “Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals. To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect,” Taylor Swift’s spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal. 

    The owner of the Twitter accounts, 20 year old Jack Sweeney, says he is hoping the data being public will force private fliers “to be more efficient”. 

    As the WSJ notes, so far the data has only caused climate outrage. But this hasn’t stopped private flights from rising 30% since 2019, the report says. The industry has seen “record growth” since the beginning of the pandemic. 

    Darren Banham, chief executive of Discovery Jets, a charter and jet management company, told WSJ: “I’ve been in the private jet market for the last 10 years, and on the aviation commercial side for 22, and I’ve never seen the private-jet business like this.” 

    New customers, including those interested in shared planes and on-demand charter services, are turning up. In fact, 75% of clients at one popular private jet firm, JB Jets, are first time fliers. Every time a celebrity posts about flying private, in addition to fueling outrage, it offers a “tailwind” to the industry. Sometimes people even rent the jets by the hour because of how easy they are to navigate and schedule.

    JB Jets founder Ben Parker said: “You can show up 15 minutes before, five minutes before. You can show up late, and the plane will wait for you.”

    Clients are interested in basic amenities, for the most part, Parker says. “People believe our clients want caviar and Champagne, but believe it or not, they usually want McDonald’s or Burger King. But we usually hear about it if the water is Essentia and not Fiji.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 22:40

  • Escobar: The Second Coming Of The Heartland
    Escobar: The Second Coming Of The Heartland

    Authored by Pepe Escobar,

    It’s tempting to visualize the overwhelming collective West debacle as a rocket, faster than free fall, plunging into the black void maelstrom of complete socio-political breakdown.

    The End of (Their) History turns out to be a fast-forward historical process bearing staggering ramifications: way more profound than mere self-appointed “elites” – via their messenger boys/girls – dictating a Dystopia engineered by austerity and financialization: what they chose to brand as a Great Reset and then, major fail intervening, The Great Narrative.

    Financialization of everything means total marketization of Life itself. In his latest book, No-Cosas: Quiebras del Mundo de Hoy (in Spanish, no English translation yet), the foremost German contemporary philosopher (Byung-Chul Han, who happens to be Korean), analyzes how Information Capitalism, unlike industrial capitalism, converts also the immaterial into merchandise: “Life itself acquires the form of merchandise (…) the difference between culture and commerce disappears. Institutions of culture are presented as profitable brands.”

    The most toxic consequence is that “total commercialization and mercantilization of culture had the effect of destroying the community (…) Community as merchandise is the end of community.”

    China’s foreign policy under Xi Jinping proposes the idea of a community of shared future for mankind, essentially a geopolitical and geoeconomic project. Yet China still has not amassed enough soft power to translate that culturally, and seduce vast swathes of the world into it: that especially concerns the West, for which Chinese culture, history and philosophies are virtually incomprehensible.

    In Inner Asia, where I am now, a revived glorious past may offer other instances of “shared community”. A glittering example is the Shaki Zinda necropolis in Samarkand.

    Afrasiab – the ancient settlement, pre-Samarkand – had been destroyed by the Genghis Khan hordes in 1221. The only building that was preserved was the city’s main shrine: Shaki Zinda.

    Much later, in the mid-15th century, star astronomer Ulugh Beg, himself the grandson of Turkic-Mongol “Conqueror of the World” Timur, unleashed no less than a Cultural Renaissance: he summoned architects and craftsmen from all corners of the Timurid empire and the Islamic world to work into what became a de facto creative artistic lab.

    The Avenue of 44 Tombs at Shaki Zinda represents the masters of different schools harmoniously creating a unique synthesis of styles in Islamic architecture.

    The most remarkable décor at Shaki Zinda are stalactites, hung in clusters in the upper parts of portal niches. An early 18th century traveler described them as “magnificent stalactites, hanging like stars above the mausoleum, make it clear about the eternity of the sky and our frailty.” Stalactites in the 15th century were called “muqarnas”: that means, figuratively, “starry sky”.

    The Sheltering (Community) Sky

    The Shaki Zinda complex is now at the center of a willful push by the Uzbekistan government to restore Samarkand to its former glory. The centerpiece, trans-historical concepts are “harmony” and “community” – and that reaches way beyond Islam.

    As a sharp contrast, the inestimable Alastair Crooke has illustrated the death of Eurocentrism alluding to Lewis Carroll and Yeats: only through the looking glass we can see the full contours of the tawdry spectacle of narcissistic self-obsession and self-justification offered by “the worst”, still so “full of passionate intensity”, as depicted by Yeats.

    And yet, unlike Yeats, the best now do not “lack all conviction”. They may be few, ostracized by cancel culture, but they do see the “rough beast, its hour come out at last, slouching towards…” Brussels (not Jerusalem) “to be born”.

    This unelected gaggle of insufferable mediocrities – from von der Leyden and Borrell to that piece of Norwegian wood Stoltenberg – may dream they live in the pre-1914 era, when Europe was at the political center. Yet now not only “the center cannot hold” (Yeats) but Eurocrat-infested Europe has been definitely engulfed by the maelstrom, an irrelevant political backwater seriously flirting with reversion to 12th century status.

    The physical aspects of the Fall – austerity, inflation, no hot showers, freezing to death to support neo-Nazis in Kiev – has been preceded, and no Christianized imagery need apply, by the fires of sulphur and brimstone of a Spiritual Fall. The transatlantic masters of those parrots posing as “elites” could never come up with any idea to sell to the Global South centered on harmony and much less “community”.

    What they sell, via their Unanimous Narrative, actually their take on “We Are the World”, is variations of “you will own nothing and be happy”. Worse: you will have to pay for it – dearly. And you have no right to dream of any transcendence – irrespective if you’re a follower of Rumi, the Tao, shamanism or Prophet Muhammad.

    The most visible shock troops of this reductionist Western neo-nihilism – obscured by the fog of “equality”, “human rights” and “democracy” – are the thugs being swiftly denazified in Ukraine, sporting their tattoos and pentagrams.

    The dawn of a new Enlightenment

    The Collective West Self-Justification Show staged to obliterate its ritualized suicide offers no hint of transcending sacrifice implied in a ceremonial seppuku. All they do is to wallow in the adamant refusal to admit they could be seriously mistaken.

    How would anyone dare to deride the set of “values” derived from the Enlightenment? If you don’t prostrate yourself in front of this glittering cultural altar, you’re just a barbarian set to be slandered, law-fared, canceled, persecuted, sanctioned and – HIMARS to the rescue – bombed.

    We still do not have a post-Tik Tok Tintoretto to depict the collective West’s multi-wallowing in Dante-esque chambers of pop Hell. What we do have, and must endure, day after day, is the kinetic battle between their “Great Narrative”, or narratives, and pure and simple reality. Their obsession with the need for virtual reality to always “win” is pathological: after all the only activity they excel in is manufacturing fake reality. Such a pity that Baudrillard and Umberto Eco are not among us anymore to unmask their tawdry shenanigans.

    Does that make any difference across vast swathes of Eurasia? Of course not. We just need to keep up with the dizzying succession of bilateral meetings, deals, and progressive interaction of BRI, SCO, EAEU, BRICS+ and other multilateral organizations to get a glimpse of how the new world-system is being configured.

    In Samarkand, surrounded by mesmerizing instances of Timurid art coupled with a development boom that brings to mind the East Asian miracle of the early 1990s, it’s plain to see how the heart of the Heartland is back with a vengeance – and is bound to dispatch the pleonexia-afflicted West to the swamp of Irrelevancy.

    I leave you with a psychedelic sunset facing the Registan, at the razor’s edge of a new sort of Enlightenment that is leading the Heartland towards a reality-based version of Shangri-La, privileging harmony, tolerance and most of all, the sense of community.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 22:15

  • The "Big Short" Michael Burry Liquidates Entire Portfolio, Holds Just One Stock At End Of Q2
    The “Big Short” Michael Burry Liquidates Entire Portfolio, Holds Just One Stock At End Of Q2

    At least the Big Short puts his money where his mouth is… or rather pulls his money as the case may be.

    After blasting the latest stock market meltup as “silliness” and claiming – correctly – that the US economy is facing a gruesome crash in tweets which he then promptly deletes (conveinetly, another accounts snapshots his tweets for posterity)…

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    … Michael Burry – who runs the smallish Scion Capital hedge fund – has done something few of his peers would consider doing: he has traded in line with his statement, and according to his just released 13F, the famed investor has liquidated his entire portfolio which as of March 31, had a notional value of just over $200 million (including $35 million in AAPL put notional), and instead held on to just one stock: private jail operator GEO Group, which he had previously invested in but had dumped all of his holdings at the end of 2021 only to sport a modest $3.3 million, or 501K share position, as of June 30. More notably, and as shown in the chart below, this was the only security he held on to as of the end of Q2.

    The news that Burry’s Scion only held shares of the Boca Raton, Florida-based Geo Group, sent its stock surging 12% to $7.68 extending its gain since the end of the second quarter to 14%.

    Among others, the hedge fund exited positions including Alphabet, Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Bristol-Myers, and also unwound Apple puts tracking some $36 million in notional value.

    To be sure, Scion’s 13F disclosure, which is required for all money managers overseeing more than $100 million in US stocks, only shows holdings in stocks that trade on the nation’s exchanges. It doesn’t reveal non-US traded securities or short positions. Such filings are also historical, providing a snapshot of a fund’s holdings at the end of a quarter which ended 45 days ago, and may not reflect current investments.

    It’s unclear when during Q2 Burry liquidated his entire portfolio. The 51-year-old investor rose to prominence after a winning wager against mortgages in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis; the outspoken anti-liberal has since become a cult figure on social media, with ominous predictions of a looming downturn. In a May tweet, he raised the specter of a crash similar to the one 14 years ago.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 22:11

  • Alec Baldwin Pulled The Trigger Of Gun That Killed On-Set Cinematographer, FBI Analysis Concludes
    Alec Baldwin Pulled The Trigger Of Gun That Killed On-Set Cinematographer, FBI Analysis Concludes

    Now we officially all know what we did back in October 2021 when Alec Baldwin mistakenly shot a cinematographer on the set of the movie “Rust”: guns do not fire unless a person pulls the trigger.

    That was the conclusion of an FBI analysis, released days ago, that found that Baldwin “pulled the trigger of the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza,” according to the Post Millennial. 

    Baldwin had previously claimed that he thought the weapon was a “cold gun” and had also claimed that he never pulled the trigger.

    FBI analysis found that the .45 Colt single action revolver “could not have been fired without pulling the trigger, according to an FBI forensic report.”

    The report further went on to show that the hammer of the gun would have “had to have been fully cocked” instead of in a quarter or half cocked position. The analysis also showed that the gun “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger while the working internal components were intact and functional.”

    Recall, back in December 2021, Baldwin swore to George Stephanopolous during an interview that he didn’t pull the trigger. 

    “Well, the trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” he said. 

    He was then asked: “So you never pulled the trigger?”

    To which he replied: “No, no. I would never point a gun and pull that trigger at them. Never.”

    Baldwin said after the shooting: “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours.”

    Baldwin claimed that a 24 year old armorer had handed him the gun and that he thought it was “prepared properly”.

    “I feel that someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me,” he said shortly after the shooting. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 21:50

  • Air Force F-35 Stealth Jets Return To Service After Groundings
    Air Force F-35 Stealth Jets Return To Service After Groundings

    At the end of July, the US Air Force grounded its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter jets over concerns of a faulty component in the ejection seat that could endanger pilots during emergencies. Now Bloomberg reports most of the F-35s have returned to normal operational status after weeks of inspections.

    Air Combat Command spokesperson Alexis Worley said in a statement Monday that USAF’s 349-jet inventory returned to service after two weeks of groundings to inspect 706 explosive cartridges inside ejection seats that propel the seat — and the pilot — from the fighter jet during an emergency. 

    Worley said four cartridges were found defective, which could’ve led to a malfunction during an ejection. She said those cartridges were replaced and will “undergo further inspection.” 

    The issue began in April at Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah when ground crews found an “anomaly” with one of the Seat Cartridge Actuated Devices in an F-35. The issue was immediately traced back to a problem in the manufacturing process by defense company Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Ltd. 

    USAF has incrementally returned the stealth fighters to service in the US, Europe, and the Pacific. Other jets were affected by faulty ejection seats, including training ones that were grounded. We also noted United Kingdom’s Eurofighter Typhoons had similar problems with ‘non-essential’ flights grounded last month. 

    So far, Lockheed Martin has built 820 F-35s and strategically placed them in partner nations around Russia and China. Lockheed plans to produce 3,000 F-35s in the coming years, though the stealth jets have been fraught with problems and over budget. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 21:25

  • Roy Moore Awarded Over $8 Million In Defamation Case
    Roy Moore Awarded Over $8 Million In Defamation Case

    Roy Moore, a former Republican sheriff and US Senate candidate, has been awarded $8.2 million in a defamation case against a super political action committee (PAC) during his failed 2017 US Senate bid in Alabama.

    In a 30-second advertisement that ran nearly 1,000 times on local television networks, the ‘Senate Majority PAC’ accused Moore of “soliciting sex from young girls” at a mall, based on a report from the New American Journal – which cited anonymous sources – and later admitted that it was inaccurately reported.

    Moore won the 2017 Republican primary runoff election to replace Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who then-President Donald Trump had tapped to be attorney general.

    Ahead of the general election, a group linked to the Senate Majority PAC ran a 30-second advertisement nearly 1,000 times on television networks in Alabama that accused Moore of “soliciting sex from young girls” at a mall, according to the complaint. The claim was based on a report from The New American Journal, which cited anonymous sources and later said was inaccurately reported.

    The ad also included quotes from news articles, such as “one he approached ‘was 14 and working as Santa’s helper.’” But those articles were not talking about soliciting sex.

    The juxtaposition of the quotes were meant “to create the false impression that Judge Moore solicited sex from a 14-year-old Santa’s helper at the mall. The very source they cite in the ad refutes that statement,” the complaint stated. –Epoch Times

    “I feel this is vindication and I give thanks to Almighty God and the jurors in this case for a great victory over our corrupt political system,” Moore said in a statement.

    Moore was accused of sexually abusing four girls 40 years ago – one of whom, Debbie Gibson, worked as a sign language interpreter for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, and actively campaigned for Moore’s Democrat opponent, Doug Jones.

    Another Moore accuser, Leigh Corfman, claimed “several pastors at various churches made sexual advances at her.” This 3x divorcee who has also filed for bankruptcy three times.

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    Moore lost his bid for the Senate by around 21,000 votes.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 21:00

  • Sen. Chuck Grassley: Senate Will Investigate FBI Trump Raid If GOP Takes Majority
    Sen. Chuck Grassley: Senate Will Investigate FBI Trump Raid If GOP Takes Majority

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he intends to investigate the FBI’s raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort if Republicans take back the Senate during the 2022 midterms.

    Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) speaks at a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington on July 12, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

    In an interview on Saturday, Grassley said that with Trump, “the FBI over a long period of time has kind of a double standard. You know, you can go back to the Steele Dossier.”

    “And it just seems to me like they there’s political bias in the FBI,” he told Breitbart News. “And then I have recently—you’ve heard me give evidence of political bias of starting a Trump investigation and then quitting a Hunter Biden investigation. So it’s legitimate to raise the question about the extent to which there’s still political bias and what we’re doing now.”

    Grassley then took issue with Attorney General Merrick Garland’s comments on transparency, saying that “he should make sure that the affidavits follow up on the warrant.”

    So far, the Department of Justice has not released the affidavit that would explain why the FBI needed to obtain a warrant to search Trump’s property. Garland and the FBI have remained mostly silent on the raid, with Garland issuing a brief statement during a news conference on Aug. 11.

    On Aug. 12, a judge in the case unsealed part of the warrant the FBI used to search Trump’s property. A property receipt said the FBI seized classified documents, although it’s not clear what they were.

    The search and seizure warrant shows FBI agents targeted “the ’45 Office,’ all storage rooms, and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by FPOTUS (former president of the United States) and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate.”

    Agents were granted authority to seize “all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed,” according to the warrant. That includes documents with classification markings and presidential records that were drafted between Jan. 20, 2017, and Jan. 20, 2021—the entire time Trump was in office.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 20:35

  • Giuliani Told He's A 'Target' Of Georgia Election Probe
    Giuliani Told He’s A ‘Target’ Of Georgia Election Probe

    Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, was told on Monday that he’s a target of a “wide-ranging criminal investigation into election interference in Georgia,” according to the New York Times, which notes that the notification came on the same day that a federal judge rejected attempts by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) won’t be able to duck giving testimony before the Atlanta special grand jury hearing evidence in the case.

    Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York City, was instrumental in attempts to keep Trump in power following the 2020 election – and has emerged in recent weeks as a central figure in the inquiry, which is being conducted by Fulton County District Attorney, Fani T. Willis.

    One of Giuliani’s lawyers, Robert Costello, told the Times that he was notified his client was a target – suggesting that prosecutors believe an indictment is at least possible (though not guaranteed) based on evidence they’ve seen up to that point.

    Earlier this summer, prosecutors questioned witnesses before the special grand jury about Mr. Giuliani’s appearances before state legislative panels in December 2020, when he spent hours peddling false conspiracy theories about secret suitcases of Democratic ballots and corrupted voting machines.

    For Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, the developments are the latest in a widening swath of trouble, though he got some good news recently when it emerged that he was unlikely to face charges in a federal criminal inquiry into his ties to Ukraine during the 2020 presidential campaign. -NY Times

    Giuliani is scheduled to make an appearance before the grand jury on Wednesday at a downtown Atlanta courthouse – during which he’s expected to invoke attorney-client privilege if asked questions about Trump.

    “If these people think he’s going to talk about conversations between him and President Trump, they’re delusional,” said Costello.

    Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, is now set to testify on Aug. 23, after a judge found there was a “special need for Mr. Graham’s testimony on issues relating to alleged attempts to influence or disrupt the lawful administration of Georgia’s 2022 elections.”

    According to lawyers for Graham, he’s a ‘witness’ – as opposed to Giuliani, who’s a ‘target.’

    Graham reportedly placed two calls just after the 2020 election to Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, during which the Senator reportedly inquired about ways to help Trump by invalidating specific categories of mail-in ballots suspected of being fraudulent.

    Curious timing – right after the raid on Mar-a-Lago, and leading up to midterms.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 20:10

  • Nurses Describe 'Brutal' COVID-19 Treatment Protocols
    Nurses Describe ‘Brutal’ COVID-19 Treatment Protocols

    Authored by Matt McGregor via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Nurses who witnessed “brutal” hospital COVID-19 treatment protocols kill patients paint a bleak picture of what is taking place in state and federally funded health care systems.

    “They’re horrific, and they’re all in lockstep,” Staci Kay, a nurse practitioner with the North Carolina Physicians for Freedom who left the hospital system to start her own early treatment private practice, told The Epoch Times. “They will not consider protocols outside of what’s given to them by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the NIH (National Institute of Health). And nobody is asking why.”

    Staci Kay, nurse practitioner with North Carolina Physicians for Freedom. (Courtesy of Staci Kay)

    Fueled by cognitive dissonance amid an array of red flags, Kay said hospital staff is ignoring blatantly problematic treatments that performed poorly in clinical trials, such as remdesivir, and protocols such as keeping the patient isolated, just to adhere to the federal canon.

    “I’ve seen people die with their family watching via iPad on Facetime,” Kay said. “It was brutal.”

    As a former nurse in intensive care, Kay said she had seen her share of tragedy, but how she saw COVID patients being treated “had me waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with chest pains.”

    “I hated my job,” Kay said. “I hated going to work. I was stressed in a way I’ve never been before in my entire life.”

    Keeping families isolated was especially difficult, she said, because people couldn’t come to say goodbye to their loved ones.

    ‘We Can Do Better’

    Kay was looking for other options when she found an inpatient protocol designed Dr. Paul Marik, founding member of Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, which purported to have a 94 percent success rate.

    However, after Kay pitched it to the head of the pulmonary critical care department, she was dismissed, and the physician boasted that the hospital had a 66 percent survival rate at the time.

    “I told him, ‘I feel like we can do better,’ but I was very quickly shut down,” Kay said. “I became very angry because I’m watching people die and I knew we could have been doing better.”

    It was as if formerly smart people had become brainwashed, “and then just dumb,” Kay said, lacking the mental wherewithal to discern true from false.

    This led Kay to begin treating patients in the outpatient setting to prevent their admission into the hospital system, which is now her full-time job after being fired for not submitting to what she described as illogical testing requirements for those who weren’t vaccinated.

    At her telemedicine business, Kay said she’s seeing multiple cases of people suffering from COVID-19 vaccine injuries.

    “I saw things on the inpatient side, too, that I suspected were vaccine injuries that went unacknowledged by our physicians,” Kay said. “I saw brain bleeds, seizures out of nowhere, cancer that just spread like wildfire, ischemic strokes, and I saw one person die horrifically from myocarditis.”

    On the outpatient side, she said she’s seen conditions resulting from the COVID-19 vaccine such as brain fog, cognitive decline, joint pain, gastrointestinal dysfunctions, and neuropathy, which is numbness and tingling in hands, feet, and extremities.

    ‘The Old School Becomes The New School’

    Kay’s business, Sophelina Counseling, provides telemedicine, mobile urgent care, and mobile IV therapies. It’s independent of corporate, federal, and state control, which she said is a solution to a health care system paralyzed with oppressive requirements.

    “As long as there’s corporate control over medicine, whether it’s Medicare or private insurance companies, you’re always going to have providers who are forced, pressured, and coerced to do things that they wouldn’t normally do,” she said. “Physicians don’t have the treatment they used to have.”

    Because of this corporate control, Kay said the list of boxes they must check takes time away from the actual patient.

    “Getting away from this corporate structure is going to be a game changer,” she said.

    Kay advocated for returning to the “old school” way, which is the direct, primary care model, in which the patient pays a monthly or annual fee to have access to the provider without the interference of a traditional insurance company that requires “too many hoops to jump through, headaches, and checkboxes.”

    Kay points to a health care model called GoldCare, designed by Dr. Simone Gold, founder of America’s Frontline Doctors.

    Gold, who was sentenced to two months in prison for her alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol, created GoldCare as a private membership association (PMA).

    Because much of what insurance companies do revolves around potential lawsuits, to be a member of the PMA, one must sign a clause, agreeing that they won’t sue.

    “What that does for us is we don’t have to order unnecessary testing or consults just to cover our back end because that’s most of what corporate medicine does,” she said.

    As a result, Kay said, both the patient and the physician are happier because the treatment process hasn’t been weighted down with bloated insurance requirements.

    For Kay, this model—an evocation of a simpler time in medical care when doctors were more connected with their patients—is key.

    “The old school is going to have to become the new school,” Kay said.

    NIH and the CDC did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment on COVID-19 treatment protocols.

    Boycotting the System

    Having taken salmon, eggs, and honey for payment, a nurse in Washington state who wished to remain anonymous shares Kay’s more traditional vision for the future of health care.

    She told The Epoch Times that people “need to boycott their health insurance.”

    “I think people who don’t need surgery to save their life should not go to the hospital,” the nurse said. “I think people need to find doctors who are private pay and pay for only what they need to be done.”

    The federal government must be removed from the health care equation, she added.

    “I especially don’t think any children should be going to these practitioners who are accepting state funding or Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements,” the nurse said

    The nurse requested anonymity because—in addition to being unvaccinated—in Washington and Oregon state, she said the government has made it possible for the public to submit anonymous complaints, “devoid of evidence,” against health care workers who promote treatments that deviate from the official protocols.

    After the nurse was fired for not complying with the vaccine mandate, she started her own private care business that offers monoclonal antibodies, L-lysine and vitamin C infusions, infrared red light therapy, and nebulizer machines as treatments as needed and when indicated.

    ‘Widespread Data Suppression’

    With her newly launched business, she performed the early interventions that she said hospitals should be doing, “but refuse to do because they say there’s no evidence for it.”

    The nurse works with a growing network of physicians and providers that function as a “total parallel society” existing in the shadows beside the “crooked” health care system, she said.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 19:45

  • Former White House Chief-Of-Staff Never Witnessed 'Intentional Destruction Of Important Papers'
    Former White House Chief-Of-Staff Never Witnessed ‘Intentional Destruction Of Important Papers’

    President Trump’s former chief-of-staff Mick Mulvaney said during an Aug 11 interview with CNN that he never witnessed the “intentional destruction of important papers” during his 15-month stint in the White House.

    “I never saw the intentional destruction of documents for the purpose of keeping anything from the National Archives or the public in the future,” Mulvaney told host Brianna Keilar.

    “We knew the rules, we taped them back together, and we made copies. As long as copies are preserved, you can pretty much do whatever you want to with the other document,” he added.

     As the Epoch Times‘ Hannah Ng notes:

    Grilled by Keilar if he had ever seen Trump rip documents, Mulvaney said he had, but asserted that documents were all handled “in the ordinary course of business.”

    “The flushing,” the host said, referring to claims made by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. “You never heard about him flushing documents?”

    “Not a single time,” he said.

    Denied Report

    Mulvaney’s account contradicts Haberman’s report claiming, “White House staffers regularly found ripped-up printing paper in the toilet of the presidential residence during Trump’s term in office.”

    The statement came with a pair of photos from an anonymous source purporting to show notes written by Trump in a toilet allegedly at the White House.

    Trump swiftly denied her account, calling it “another fake story” when it first emerged back in February.

    “Also, another fake story, that I flushed papers and documents down a White House toilet, is categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book,” Trump said in an emailed statement to the New York Post.

    Haberman doubled down on her claim in an interview with CNN on Aug. 8, the same day that the FBI conducted a search at Trump Mar a Lago residence and just ahead of the October publication of her book on Trump, “Confidence Man.”

    Her account this time was again dismissed by a spokesman for the former president.

    “You have to be pretty desperate to sell books if pictures of paper in a toilet bowl is part of your promotional plan,” Taylor Budowich told Axios, referring to Haberman, adding that there are “enough people willing to fabricate stories like this in order to impress the media class—a media class who is willing to run with anything, as long as it’s anti-Trump.”

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    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 19:20

  • The FBI Is Now The Federal Bureau Of Intimidation
    The FBI Is Now The Federal Bureau Of Intimidation

    Authored by Frank Miele via RealClearPolitics.com,

    Nothing symbolizes the decline of the American republic better than the weaponization of justice that we saw last week when the FBI raided the home of former President Trump.

    And nothing better represents the divide that now exists between Democrats and Republicans than the fact that some people still have faith in the FBI.

    Aren’t they paying attention? Heck, that’s like a citizen of the old Soviet Union saying they had faith in the KGB – yeah, to crush dissent and lock up opponents of the regime in a Siberian gulag.

    The evidence is overwhelming. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now the Federal Bureau of Intimidation. Or more appropriately, the Federal Intimidation Bureau, whose acronym would spell out FIB, as in the Big Lie. Face it, nothing the FBI has said for the last six years since they joined with the Democratic Party to invent the Russia collusion hoax can be taken seriously.

    Is there any need to go through the whole laundry list of lies and fabrications that the FBI, with the aid and comfort of the Justice Department, has foisted on the American public?

    You can start with the extraordinary 2016 press conference when FBI Director James Comey detailed crimes committed by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton related to her improper use of a private email account to store classified material. Moments after saying she had broken the law, Comey announced with a straight face that “no reasonable prosecutor” would ever bring a case against her. Yeah, because she was a Democrat!

    A couple months later, Comey set up President Trump’s National Security adviser, Gen. Michael Flynn, by sending agents to interview him about his supposed contacts with Russians.

    “What’s our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” wrote Bill Priestap in a memo before the interview. Priestap was counterintelligence director at the FBI, and it became evident later that the agency’s goal was indeed to get him fired – and more importantly to get Trump impeached, fired, humiliated, you name it.

    Comey himself admitted that the FBI targeted Flynn and chose not to approach him through the White House legal counsel, but informally with a direct phone call to arrange an interview. As Comey later told a reporter, it was “something I probably wouldn’t have done or maybe gotten away with in a more … organized administration.”

    What about the FBI’s abuse of Carter Page and George Papadopoulos? The agency made up evidence in support of subpoenas, FISA warrants, whatever it took to get the desired result. What about the FBI and Department of Justice targeting parents at school boards as “domestic terrorists” because they demanded that their elected representatives actually represent them? What about the unilateral rescission of executive privilege and attorney-client privilege wherever it would have protected President Trump and his advisers?

    The purpose of all of this activity, along with the raid at Mar-a-Lago, was to intimidate not just Trump, but also his supporters. Anyone other than Donald Trump would have given up long ago. Who could possibly withstand the power of the state marshaled against you for six long years – through multiple FBI investigations, through two impeachments, through relentless persecution of your children and your friends and family?

    Finally, what about the double standard that allows Democrats and their government allies to go unpunished for a multitude of sins? Notwithstanding Attorney General Merrick Garland’s feigned indignation on behalf of the bureau, what about the FBI agents who lied repeatedly during the Trump-Russia investigation, sometimes under oath. Even more stunning has been the FBI’s monumental failure to investigate presidential son Hunter Biden, even though it received his laptop with extensive incriminating evidence of criminal activity in 2019.

    Even when the laptop was made public during the 2020 presidential election, the FBI stood silent and thus gave tacit approval to the cynical Democratic Party talking point that the laptop was somehow a GOP dirty trick. It would be interesting to know if the FBI had anything to do with the letter signed by 51 national security experts, falsely claiming that the laptop was “Russian disinformation”! Maybe, like Comey before him, FBI Director Chris Wray thought he could “get away with it.”

    That is certainly the only explanation for the raid on the president’s personal residence. It was not appropriate. It was not reasonable. It had no precedent. The FBI claims that the pre-dawn raid by more than 30 armed agents was for the purpose of collecting presidential papers that the National Archive wanted. The Washington Post says that Trump reportedly had documents with nuclear secrets on them, and the legacy media went ballistic with the story. But wait a minute, isn’t that the same Washington Post that won a Pulitzer Prize for collaborating with the FBI to invent the Russia collusion hoax?

    Don’t believe a word from either the Washington Post or the FBI. Trump had been cooperating with the National Archive and had already turned over 15 boxes of documents, all of which he could have made a claim to legally possess. If they wanted papers turned over, they could have gone through Trump’s lawyers. No, they wanted the spectacle. They wanted the sizzle. They wanted the headlines.

    This wasn’t about the rule of law; it was about the rule of the schoolyard. Bullies get what they want through force and intimidation, and there is no reason for any of us to believe that the raid had any purpose other than to intimidate Donald Trump into backing down from his plans to run for president in 2024.

    Essentially what the FBI was saying is “We know where you live, and we aren’t afraid to come for you.” They even rifled through Melania Trump’s closet, as if she might have been hiding top-secret documents in her hat box. When do we find out they also spent an hour sorting through her lingerie?

    This is sickening, no matter how much MSNBC and the Washington Post want you to think you can still trust the FBI. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me over and over and over again, and I must be a Democrat.

    *  *  *

    Frank Miele, the retired editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell Mont., is a columnist for RealClearPolitics. His new book, “What Matters Most: God, Country, Family and Friends,” is available from his Amazon author page. Visit him at HeartlandDiaryUSA.com or follow him on Facebook @HeartlandDiaryUSA or on Twitter or Gettr @HeartlandDiary.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 18:55

  • Putin & Kim As Leaders Of World's "Most Sanctioned Countries" Pledge Deeper Ties Against "Hostile" US
    Putin & Kim As Leaders Of World’s “Most Sanctioned Countries” Pledge Deeper Ties Against “Hostile” US

    The state medias of Russia and North Korea are reporting that leaders Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un have communicated mutual messages pledging deeper ties between the two nations, at a moment both find themselves heavily sanctioned by the United States and its allies.

    The pledge came in the form of an exchange of official diplomatic notes in which Putin wished Kim “good health and success” – and spelled out a desire for closer cooperation, coming at a key moment where Moscow has been on the offensive in trying to strengthen strategic alliances with non-Western countries, notably China and India also among them, as the Ukraine invasion has blown past six months.

    A 2019 visit between the two leaders, KCNA via KNS/AFP

    Putin’s message to Kim further expressed hope that deepened Moscow-Pyongyang ties “would entirely conform with the interests of the peoples of the two countries,” according to a translation.

    Kim, responded by highlighting the special friendship has led to…

    “The strategic and tactical cooperation, support, and solidarity between the two countries have put on a new high stage in the common front for frustrating the hostile forces’ military threat and provocation, and high-handed and arbitrary practices,” Kim wrote, according to KCNA.

    Without doubt, Kim’s reference to “hostile forces” has Washington in mind as topping the list. Starting in March as the Ukraine war continued to intensify following the Putin-ordered Feb.24 invasion, Russia became the “world’s most sanctioned country” – even surpassing Iran and North Korea.

    Pyongyang, similar to China’s government, has issued statements actively defending Russia’s ability to respond militarily to threats to its national security interests.

    Currently, there’s a European push – also based on repeat requests by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – to have Western countries designate Russia a “state sponsor of terror” – which would require sanctions to be ratcheted even further, and the severing of Russia’s participation in additional international institutions (such as cooperative anti-crime agencies like Interpol).

    Moscow has signaled that such a move by Washington would effectively mean the end of diplomatic relations altogether, as Rabobank explains: 

    Russia – which is deepening ties with North Korea and Iran (whom the West wants to get closer to again) – warns that if it is designated as a being a state sponsor of terrorism it will mean the complete end of diplomatic relations with the US.

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    As for ties with the DPRK in particular, earlier this month there widespread reports of a highly unusual offer: that North Kore said it is willing to send 100,000 “volunteer” troops to help Putin execute the ongoing war in Ukraine. While the Kremlin has apparently declined the offer given the immense logistical challenge that such an immense foreign force would present, it was widely perceived as symbolic of the deepening relations between the two militaries and governments.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 18:30

  • Here Is What Warren Buffett Bought And Sold In Q2
    Here Is What Warren Buffett Bought And Sold In Q2

    Ahead of this quarter’s 13F filing from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, we already knew it was going to be far less exciting than the last one we got. As the company recently reported, Berskhire racked up $3.8 billion in net stock purchases in the second quarter, far short of the $41 billion it bought up in the first quarter of this year (it also spent far less on stock buybacks during Q2).

    Additionally, some of the positions that aren’t being disclosed today include the company’s stake in Occidental Petroleum, even though we already are aware of these thanks to recent filings. Still, as Bloomberg notes, investors are always keen to see what the Oracle of Omaha is thinking, and this will provide a little more insight into the situation.

    With that in mind, here is what Berkshire did in Q2 (we warned you, it would be a dud):

    • Exited Verizon Communications and Royalty Pharma
    • Added to holdings in top position Apple (a very modest 0.4%), Chevron (1.4%), Occidental Petroleum (16.3%) Activision Blizzard (a merger arb which increased by 6.4% to $5.3BN in Q2) Paramount Global (13.75%) Ally Financial (234.5%) as well as Celanese, McKesson and Markel.
    • Decreased its stakes in U.S. Bancorp (-5.2%), General Motors (-14.8%) Kroger (-9.6%) and Store Capital (-53%)

    Apple remains Berkshire’s largest holding, representing 41% of total disclosed assets. And speaking of total assets, the fund disclosed just over $300BN in long, US positions as of June 30, a notable decline from the $363BN as of March 31.

    Overall, a very boring quarter for the world’s biggest non-central bank portfolio.

    Full details of all Berkshire Q2 moves can be found in the table below.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 18:10

  • CBO: Actually, The "Inflation Reduction Act" Will Cause More Audits For Working Class
    CBO: Actually, The “Inflation Reduction Act” Will Cause More Audits For Working Class

    Authored by Jazz Shaw via HotAir (emphasis ours),

    A disturbing pattern has emerged when it comes to the messaging we’re seeing out of the White House in general and the Press Secretary in particular. They seem to believe that if you keep saying something that’s wrong over and over again, it will eventually either become true, or at least people will start to believe it.

    AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

    That’s truly been the case with the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” that just passed in the House on a party-line vote. ‘This bill will lower inflation.’ (No, it will probably increase inflation or possibly not affect it.) ‘The bill will reduce the deficit.’ (Nope. That’s not what the models show.) ‘This bill will raise GDP.’ (Care to try again?) And then there’s the latest claim that the massive army of new IRS agents, many of them heavily armed but not trained in firearms handling very well, will not result in more audits of working-class people and will only impact those making more than $400k. They’ve said it over and over again. But the Congressional Budget Office begs to differ. (Free Beacon)

    A Congressional Budget Office report found that the Internal Revenue Service will collect billions of dollars from auditing low- and middle-income Americans under the White House-backed “Inflation Reduction Act,” contradicting Biden administration claims, according to Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee.

    Fox News confirmed the report, finding the CBO informed congressional Republicans that, under the act, audits of taxpayers making under $400,000 will account for about $20 billion in additional revenue.

    The news comes after high-ranking Biden administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, assured Americans that the IRS would not increase audits of people earning under $400,000.

    There was a time when the members of Congress didn’t generally make too many claims about the fiscal impact of new legislation until the CBO had scored it. Apparently, that quaint practice is no longer part of the day-to-day routine on the Hill. The CBO estimates that audits of people making less than Joe Biden’s claimed minimum income will produce an additional $20 billion in revenue for Uncle Sam. That’s a lot of money even in these days of freewheeling deficit spending. And it directly contradicts what the White House has been telling us. Of course, it’s too late now.

    I will agree that there have been some inaccurate claims about this bill making the rounds, particularly in conservative circles. The nearly 90,000 new IRS workers will not be hired all at once, for example. They will be hired over a period of ten years and some of them will replace current agents who will retire. But there will still be tens of thousands of new workers and many will come in the door very soon.

    The climate portion of the bill isn’t 100% hot garbage, though at least 90% of it certainly is. There will be some funding for improvements to the energy grid infrastructure and the easing of some regulatory hurdles for the construction of nuclear power plants. But most of those positive aspects of the plan will be effectively wiped out by all of the green energy subsidies and new fees imposed on the fossil fuel industry.

    But at the end of the day, the claimed purpose of this legislation is little more than a bad joke being played on the taxpayers. The supposed “inflation reduction” claims have already been fully debunked. The Wharton School of Business concluded that the bill’s impact on inflation will be “statistically indistinguishable from zero.” And it will actually have a negative impact on GDP for many years to come.

    These people in Congress and the White House are standing there on the world stage and lying to your faces in broad daylight. Yes, I realize that a story about politicians lying is generally a “dog bites man” type of report. But they could at least try a little harder to fool us, couldn’t they?

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 18:05

  • Foreigners Sold A Record Amount Of US Stocks In The Last 12 Months, China Dumped More USTs In June
    Foreigners Sold A Record Amount Of US Stocks In The Last 12 Months, China Dumped More USTs In June

    According to the latest data on Treasury International Capital flows, foreigners sold $231.5BN in US stocks in the past 12 months – the biggest trailing-twelve-month sales on record…

    Foreigners have sold US stocks for 6 consecutive months (that is the 2nd longest stretch on record with only the non-stop selling in mid-2018/early-2019 was longer)…

    Aside for stocks, which saw $25.4BN in sales in June, every other asset class was bought: TSYs +$58.9BN, Agencies +$23.7BN, Corporate Bonds +$14.BN

    That is 6 consecutive months of corporate bond purchases and 16 of the past 18 months…

    Meanwhile US Treasuries were bought 7 of past 8 months and 11 of past 13, even though China dumped US Treasuries for the 7th straight month – the longest stretch of selling on record – to its lowest level of holdings since June 2010…

    Overall, Treasury holdings continue to trend lower as gold holdings increase…

    …as de-dollarization continues.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 17:45

  • Turley: Why The Case Against Donald Trump Remains Incomplete
    Turley: Why The Case Against Donald Trump Remains Incomplete

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    Below is my column in the Hill on the lingering questions concerning any prosecution of former President Donald Trump for the retention of classified or sensitive material. As previously discussed, the three referenced criminal provisions do not require classified status of documents to be the basis for prosecution. However, if the documents were declassified, it would make any prosecution very difficult, if not untenable, though the obstruction count could be based on affirmative false representations made to the government.

    The point is only that we still do not have sufficient information to judge the basis for the raid or the prospects for prosecution despite the often breathless coverage. 

    The affidavit remains key to ending this speculation and quelling conspiracy theories. That is why Attorney General Merrick Garland should call for its unsealing.

    Nevertheless, figures like John Dean are saying that defenders of the former president will “have egg on their faces” when this case is done and presumably Trump is prosecuted. Perhaps, but what is clear is that there is no such risk in others claiming an array of proven crimes for six years that were never charged. Figures who pushed the debunked Russian collusion, incitement, or bizarre attempted murder claims are now claiming with the same certainty that conviction is finally at hand.

    Once again, before the eggs fly, the release of actual evidence would be useful.

    Here is the column:

    The FBI’s raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was received by many with joy bordering on ecstasy. Comedian Stephen Colbert declared the raid to be Christmas come early, while others joked about the possibility of executing Trump as a spy. Yet the celebration may be another triumph of hope over experience, with pundits again declaring an open-and-shut case without seeing the actual evidence.

    The problem is that much in this investigation remains unknown and much of the analysis seems more visceral than legal. While details may be forthcoming that will fill in the glaring gaps, any prosecution on the record we know today would face novel — and potentially insurmountable — questions.

    At the risk of being a killjoy, here is what we know and don’t know about these charges.

    We know at least one set of the documents recovered from Trump’s home was marked as “classified/TS/SCI” or “top secret/sensitive compartmentalized information.” There were four sets of top-secret documents, three sets marked “secret” and three marked “confidential.” Trump has no right to retain classified information after leaving office, particularly information classified at the high TS/SCI level.

    The warrant used by the FBI in its search expressly allowed the gathering of “all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime or other items illegally possessed in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 793, 2071, or 1519.”

    The inclusion of an alleged violation of the Espionage Act (Section 793) lit up the internet. It seemingly doesn’t matter that the Espionage Act has long been denounced by civil libertarians as a vehicle for political abuse by the Justice Department. It also doesn’t matter that a charge under the act does not mean there is actual espionage or foreign intelligence involved in the case. Rather, it addresses alleged acts of unlawfully “gathering, transmitting or losing … defense information.”

    Surprisingly, the warrant did not specify which section of law might be the basis for a criminal charge. One possible provision is Subsection (d) covering those who lawfully possess documents but had “reason to believe [the information] could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation.” This subsection allows for a charge of willfully retaining or failing to deliver such material “on demand” to an officer or “employee of the United States entitled to receive it.”

    Subsection (f) is even more generous to prosecutors. It allows a criminal charge for “gross negligence” leading to protected information being “removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed.”

    Section 793 was cited as the basis for the 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton in her email scandal. Clinton gathered and transmitted classified (including “top secret”) information as secretary of State. She and her staff also were criticized for failing to promptly supply evidence. Nevertheless, then-FBI Director James Comey declared that “although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”

    The Justice Department explained in an Aug. 16, 2016, letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on the Clinton investigation that, although the statute allows for gross negligence charges, prosecutors have long balked at the “constitutional implications of criminalizing such conduct without requiring the government to prove that the person knew he or she was doing something wrong.” The Justice Department said it also rejected 18 U.S.C. § 2071 with regard to Clinton — the same section referenced in the Trump warrant in willfully and unlawfully concealing, removing or destroying federal records.

    The final provision mentioned in the Trump warrant, 18 U.S.C. 1519, concerns destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations. This charge could be based not just on government documents in Trump’s possession but on allegedly false inventories or lists given to federal officials during months of discussion about the documents.

    These crimes still require intentional or knowing acts. (They do not require classified status as an element). With Trump lawyers negotiating the status of the documents and previously turning over some material under subpoena, there is a plausible defense based on Trump’s belief that the material was no longer classified and that his team was cooperating with officials in trying to resolve any disputes. If Trump believed the material was declassified and relied on legal advice to resolve any disagreements, then prosecutors would combine an unprecedented legal case with a heavily contested factual record.

    At the heart of such a case would be a very novel legal question. While many legal experts have cited the detailed, demanding process for declassification, some fail to note that presidents have long exempted themselves from declassification procedures. Indeed, Trump claimed the right to declassify material unilaterally and orally at the start of his term.

    Other presidents have asserted exemptions from declassification authority. An order by former President George W. Bush stated such an exemption for “information originated” by a president. That order was reaffirmed by former President Obama in Executive Order 13526 in 2009 and expressly exempts presidents, vice presidents, their staffs and “other entities within the Executive Office of the President.”

    Trump also reportedly had a standing order that declassified any material he removed from the White House to take to Mar-a-Lago or other locations. We have not seen that order, and it is not clear if such an order was shown to the FBI.

    If that standing declassification order existed, it ended with his presidency, of course. However, it still existed when these boxes were taken to the resort. There may also be complicating logistics for investigators: If the documents were taken out of the White House on the last day of his presidency, the classification markings on the cover pages and internal headings might not have been crossed out.

    There has never been litigation on the scope of this exemption or a president’s declassification authority. Nor is it clear whether any standing order was disclosed to the judge who approved the FBI’s warrant — but it could create a threshold legal challenge to a criminal charge.

    The Trump team insists this defense was raised when an earlier subpoena was served at Mar-a-Lago in June. Nevertheless, it reportedly turned over 15 boxes of material, including classified documents, and replaced a lock on the storage area for enhanced security. But it is not clear whether the FBI raised concerns over the remaining material or sought its return before this week’s raid.

    In asking the judge to unseal the warrant and the list of documents seized, Attorney General Merrick Garland declared that “the Department of Justice will speak through its court filings.” But he omitted the key filing that would speak to these issues: the underlying FBI affidavit.

    In the meantime, pundits are discussing Trump’s disqualification from future public office based on his expected conviction. Even if convicted, such a disqualification would be flagrantly unconstitutional — but, when it comes to Trump, neither the law nor the evidence ever seems particularly important to the analysis.

    However, a judge may have slightly greater expectations before these charges ever see a day in court.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 17:25

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Aug 15

Today’s News 15th August 2022

  • How Your Carbon Footprint And Your Carbon Wallet Are Really Going To Work In The Dystopian World That WEF Has Planned?
    How Your Carbon Footprint And Your Carbon Wallet Are Really Going To Work In The Dystopian World That WEF Has Planned?

    Via ‘threadsbyirish’ Substack,

    Let me introduce you to Barbara Baarsma. Barbara is the CEO of Rabo Carbon Bank. Yes, you read that right. Not Rabo Bank but Rabo Carbon Bank. In this 53 second video interview below she is advocating for a “Personal Carbon Wallet”. That may not seem like a big deal but when you hear what she has to say you should be concerned, very concerned in fact.

    I’ve transcribed the interview as it is in Dutch. It contains critical information. If you prefer to watch the video with subtitles by all means please do so.

    “Let’s ensure that every household or every citizen of the Netherlands receives a certain amount of carbon emission rights. This way we can ensure that we do not emit more than our yearly limit. Your emission rights will be stored in a carbon wallet. So if I wanted to fly, I would buy some carbon emission rights from someone who can’t afford to fly. For example this way this poor person can earn some extra money.

    Or if someone lives in a small house, he can sell his emission rights to someone who lives in a big house, this way poor people can benefit from the green economy”

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    Wow. Quite something isn’t it. Let’s pick it apart and then look at how they are probably going to implement it.

    You could argue that it’s just another level of taxation which the globalists will take. I think it runs far deeper. When Bankers start using expressions like rights, poor people and green economy you can be sure that they are envisaging a world for the elite. They don’t give a fig about anyone else.

    So in its most basic form, you’ll have no fun and won’t be allowed to travel anywhere. But don’t worry the elites will have the fun for you.

    This is nothing more than Totalitarianism.

    Did I forget to mention that Rabobank and Baarsma are both in the World Economic Forum.

    https://www.weforum.org/organizations/rabobank-group

    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/barbara-baarsma

    When most people think of carbon emissions and carbon footprints they think it only refers to travel, fuel, gas and electricity all under the guise of emissions. I hate to break it to you but it runs far deeper than that.

    Let me now introduce you to Doc Ono, a company you may never have heard of.

    Doconomy is a “credit card” endorsed by Klaus Schwab’s World Economic Forum.

    In May 2019 an article appeared on the WEF site called

    “This credit card has a carbon-emission spending limit”

    In the article it says

    “Swedish fintech company Doconomy has launched a new credit card that monitors the carbon footprint of its customers – and cuts off their spending when they hit their carbon max”

    Yikes, cuts off their spending.

    It continues

    “The DO card tracks the CO2 emissions linked to purchases to calculate the carbon impact of every transaction. The aim is to encourage people to actively reduce their carbon footprint and demonstrate the impact that small changes can have on the environment.

    The card uses the Aland Index as the basis on which it calculates the carbon footprint of each product purchased. Users can set a maximum value for their carbon spend and learn how to compensate for their carbon footprint by contributing towards schemes to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions”

    Now we are getting closer to the truth of how this is going to operate. It isn’t just travel, it will be for everything.

    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/05/this-credit-card-has-a-carbon-emission-spending-limit/

    In February 2019 Mastercard published an article called

    Mastercard and Doconomy Launch the Future of Sustainable Payments

    where they say

    “Doconomy and Mastercard announce their joint effort to combat climate change by enabling DO – a free and easy-to-use mobile banking service that lets users track, understand and reduce their CO2 footprints through carbon offsetting”

    https://www.mastercard.com/news/press/2019/february/mastercard-and-doconomy-launch-the-future-of-sustainable-payments/

    Isn’t it fascinating that they emphasise it will allow the users to track everything. It would never be used for nefarious purposes such as banks and governments tracking everything. Of course not 🙄

    Mastercard is also a WEF partner.

    https://www.weforum.org/organizations/mastercard

    The United Nations also got on board in May 2019. They published an article called

    Innovative Climate Action – New Credit Card Limits Climate Impact of Users

    https://unfccc.int/news/innovative-climate-action-new-credit-card-limits-climate-impact-of-users

    Patrica Espinosa, the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary couldn’t get enough of the concept, singing its praises.

    And yes, you guessed it, Espinosa and UN are also WEF partners. We are beginning to see a trend here yet again, aren’t we.

    https://www.weforum.org/people/patricia-espinosa-cantellano

    https://www.weforum.org/organizations/united-nations

    The big banks also see this as a massive opportunity. In 2021 Barclays hopped into bed with MasterCard and Doconomy.

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

    Seems like full on surveillance and socialism to me. And you probably don’t need me to tell you by this stage that Barclays is also a WEF member.

    https://www.weforum.org/organizations/barclays

    But that’s not even close to what the WEF, Mastercard, UN and all these globalist bodies have planned. You are only being told a fraction of the story.

    Let me paint you a picture of how this might play out. In Ireland, back in March of this year, Marc Ó Cathasaigh who is a Green Party TD (MP) paid a visit to a pub called Brew Dog in Dublin. He showed an image of the menu which had CO2 (carbon dioxide) labelling beside every food item on the menu and asked the question

    Would this influence what you would order?

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    On the left side of the menu is your standard chicken, beef, lamb etc whilst on the right is your ‘plant-based’ food including the lab processed ‘Beyond Meat’. Bill Gates is also an investor in ‘Beyond Meat’

    https://www.beefcentral.com/news/synthetic-meat-investor-bill-gates-calls-for-rich-countries-to-eat-only-synthetic-meat/

    There isn’t much difference in the outrageous Dublin prices between the two food types. There is however a massive difference in the CO2 levels.

    The other point which is important to mention is that a seed is being planted in people’s minds about the different CO2 levels. They are trying to influence people into the hands of plant based foods and Beyond Meats. There is no doubt about it that there is an agenda at play.

    I have no idea what the criteria was that they used for measuring the CO2 levels but the point is restaurants are beginning to trial this. I read all the comments below the thread with some saying it was a good idea and some said it wasn’t. The problem though was that everyone responding totally missed the point.

    Here is what is probably going to happen. When you go out to a restaurant depending on what your “carbon footprint” has been, will determine what you can and cannot order off the menu.

    Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it ? Depending on how many points you have left for that month will determine whether you are allowed to eat “proper food” or “lab food”.

    If you’ve been a bold boy or girl you’ll only be allowed to eat the lab grown plant-based food so you don’t surpass your carbon quota. If you try to order beef which apparently has high CO2 levels you won’t be allowed to.

    This will also be the case when you go to supermarkets to do your weekly shop. Every item you buy will be assigned a CO2 number.

    It gets even more ridiculous though. Within the last month Eamonn Ryan who is a WEF member and leader of the Green Party in Ireland has advocated for the reduction in the numbers of Irish cattle. Instead we will import cattle from Brazil. I like to call this the work of the “Ruminati” 😉 If you know, you know.

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

    How do you think the carbon footprint of importing beef from Brazil would look like on a menu now. It would be off the charts. Do you see what they are trying to achieve and where this is going ?

    The whole thing sounds ridiculously Dystopian, doesn’t it ? That would never happen. It’s so 1984, I hear you shout. If you have been paying attention to the last 2.5 years then you will realise it’s not remotely far-fetched at all.

    We are being told how this is going to pan out. All you have to do is watch an episode of Black Mirror called Nosedive where the topic is social credit scores. Just substitute social credit score with carbon footprints and you will understand. Digital IDs and Currency, Social Credit Scores and Carbon Footprints will all work in tandem in the future.

    I mentioned earlier Doc Ono. On their own site they give another example of how this would work for clothing. Let’s say you wanted to buy a pair of jeans 👖

    On their web site they say

    “Consumers could cut their carbon footprint in half by choosing lower impact products”

    https://doconomy.com/consumers-could-cut-their-carbon-footprint-in-half-by-choosing-lower-impact-products/

    Imagine going shopping and having to whip out your “carbon calculator” and realise you only have 10 points to play with. You won’t be able to buy the 21.45 CO2 jeans, you’ll have to plump for the 8.98 CO2 jeans. After all, you won’t be allowed to go over your quota or your card will stop working and your digital payment will be declined.

    I just mentioned a “carbon calculator”. It just so happens that Mastercard have already developed it.

    In a 2021 press release on their site they say

    Mastercard unveils new Carbon Calculator tool for banks globally, as consumer passion for the environment grows.

    Guess who they have collaborated with. Doconomy. Go Figure.

    https://www.mastercard.com/news/press/2021/april/mastercard-unveils-new-carbon-calculator-tool/

    This will be rolled out in the shape of an app so you can check your carbon footprint which will determine what you can and can’t buy.

    https://www.2030calculator.com

    But it isn’t just any old “carbon calculator” it’s a 2030 carbon calculator, as in Agenda 2030. If you look closely enough at the top left hand corner of the image you can see the transition from 2020 to 2030.

    It will eventually take the shape of an app that covers all the bases of Digital ID, Digital currency, social credit score etc. Basically a total control and surveillance grid which there will be no escape from. Welcome to Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” and George Orwell’s “1984” rolled into one.

    Now whether this happens in reality or not is another story entirely. These are not the rantings of some mad, conspiracy theorist. I’ve tried to provide proof of what is going on in the real world. It’s up to you whether you want to believe it or not and whether we let it happen….

    *  *  *

    Thanks for reading threadsirish! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/15/2022 – 02:00

  • Modern US Warmongering Is Scaring Henry Kissinger
    Modern US Warmongering Is Scaring Henry Kissinger

    Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

    In a new interview with The Wall Street Journal, immortal Hague fugitive Henry Kissinger says the US is acting in a crazy and irrational way that has brought it to the edge of war with Russia and China:

    Mr. Kissinger sees today’s world as verging on a dangerous disequilibrium. “We are at the edge of war with Russia and China on issues which we partly created, without any concept of how this is going to end or what it’s supposed to lead to,” he says. Could the U.S. manage the two adversaries by triangulating between them, as during the Nixon years? He offers no simple prescription. “You can’t just now say we’re going to split them off and turn them against each other. All you can do is not to accelerate the tensions and to create options, and for that you have to have some purpose.”

    On the question of Taiwan, Mr. Kissinger worries that the U.S. and China are maneuvering toward a crisis, and he counsels steadiness on Washington’s part. “The policy that was carried out by both parties has produced and allowed the progress of Taiwan into an autonomous democratic entity and has preserved peace between China and the U.S. for 50 years,” he says. “One should be very careful, therefore, in measures that seem to change the basic structure.”

    Mr. Kissinger courted controversy earlier this year by suggesting that incautious policies on the part of the U.S. and NATO may have touched off the crisis in Ukraine. He sees no choice but to take Vladimir Putin’s stated security concerns seriously and believes that it was a mistake for NATO to signal to Ukraine that it might eventually join the alliance: “I thought that Poland — all the traditional Western countries that have been part of Western history — were logical members of NATO,” he says. But Ukraine, in his view, is a collection of territories once appended to Russia, which Russians see as their own, even though “some Ukrainians” do not. Stability would be better served by its acting as a buffer between Russia and the West: “I was in favor of the full independence of Ukraine, but I thought its best role was something like Finland.”

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    I don’t know about you, but to me this warning is much, much more ominous coming from a bloodsoaked swamp monster than it would be from some anti-imperialist peace activist who was speaking from outside the belly of the imperial machine. This man is a literal war criminal who, as a leading empire manager, helped to unleash unfathomable horrors all around the world the consequences of which are still being felt today.

    And as far as you can tell from his own comments, he remains completely unreformed.

    “Looking back over his long and often controversial career, however, he is not given to self-criticism,” The Wall Street Journal’s Laura Secor writes.

    “I do not torture myself with things we might have done differently,” Kissinger tells her.

    So Kissinger remains an unapologetic warmongering psychopath. But if he hasn’t changed as a person, what has? Why is he now cautioning against US aggression and warning that the empire has taken things too far?

    Well, if Kissinger hasn’t changed, we can only surmise that it is the US empire itself that has changed. Its behavior is now so insane and illogical that it is making a 99 year-old Henry Kissinger nervous.

    Which, if you really think about it, is one of the scariest things you could possibly imagine.

    The empire’s departure from the Henry Kissinger iteration of murderous madness to its new form of insanity appears to have begun around the turn of the century, when the influx of neoconservatives into the White House combined with the jingoism which followed 9/11 to usher in an era of interventionism and military expansionism of such brazenness and recklessness that many from the old guard balked.

    Kissinger was supportive of the 2003 Iraq invasion, but well before it began he was already saying that he had serious misgivings about the lack of clear thinking and forward planning he was seeing on that front. The neoconservative goal of US planetary hegemony at any cost which led to that invasion (and the planning of many more) has since become the mainstream Beltway consensus perspective on US foreign policy, and it is responsible for the escalations that Kissinger is now warning about.

    “The PNAC plan envisions a strategic confrontation with China, and a still greater permanent military presence in every corner of the world,” wrote Michael Parenti in his 2004 book Superpatriotism. “The objective is not just power for its own sake but power to control the world’s natural resources and markets, power to privatize and deregulate the economies of every nation in the world, and power to hoist upon the backs of peoples everywhere — including North America — the blessings of an untrammeled global ‘free market.’ The end goal is to ensure not merely the supremacy of global capitalism as such, but the supremacy of American global capitalism by preventing the emergence of any other potentially competing superpower.”

    By “PNAC plan” Parenti means the plans of the neoconservatives behind the notorious Project for the New American Century think tank, whose unipolarist militaristic agendas they explicitly advocated.

    Henry Kissinger is warning about the dangers of US warmongering not because he has gotten saner, but because the US war machine has gotten crazier. That we are now hurtling toward confrontations that don’t appear rational to someone who has spent the majority of his life watching the mechanics of empire from inside its inner chambers should concern us all. When you are talking about brinkmanship between major world powers, especially nuclear brinkmanship, the last thing you need is for one of the parties involved to be acting erratically and nonsensically.

    We need de-escalation and detente, and we need it yesterday. If you’re too hawkish for Henry Kissinger, you’re too motherfucking hawkish.

    *  *  *

    My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube, buying an issue of my monthly zine, or throwing some money into my tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. All works co-authored with my American husband Tim Foley.

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 23:30

  • China Unexpectedly Cuts Rates As Terrible Econ Data Confirms "Alarming" Slowdown, Yields Plunge
    China Unexpectedly Cuts Rates As Terrible Econ Data Confirms “Alarming” Slowdown, Yields Plunge

    Has Beijing finally realized it will need to step in aggressively if it wants to avoid an economic collapse?

    Moments ago, and just days after the release of China’s dismal woeful new credit data, the National Bureau of Statistics reported the July data dump which was just awful. Among the latest monthly data:

    • Industrial production rose 3.8% from a year ago, lower than June’s 3.9% and missing economists’ forecast of a 4.3% increase
    • Retail sales grew at a 2.7% annual pace, also lower than June’s 3.1%, and badly missing the consensus estimate of 5.0%
    • Fixed-asset investment gained 5.7% in the first seven months of the year, which however was also below the June YTD number of 6.1%, and also missed the 6.2% projected by economists
    • The silver lining is that just as in the US, the worse the economy founders, the lower the jobless rate which in July fell to 5.4% from 5.5%

    “July’s economic data is very alarming,” said Raymond Yeung, Greater China economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. “The Covid Zero policy continues to hit the service sector and dampen household consumption.”

    It’s not just Covid Zero: the “alarming” collapse in China’s economy was strongly hinted last Friday when Beijing reported that July credit growth, in the form of total social financing and RMB loans, came in well below the already-low market expectations.

    According to Goldman, the detailed breakdown of the July loan data pointed to weaker credit demand: household and corporate loans both slowed in July from June, and interbank rates declined to very low levels in recent weeks. Smaller government bond net issuance also contributed to the lower TSF. That said, local government officials are working on preparing the pipeline for additional infrastructure investment projects, and the July Politburo meeting pointed to likely additional local government special bond issuance beyond this year’s budget in the next few months.

    However, Beijing appears to finally realize that at a time when China’s housing is crashing (with residential property sales plunging 28.6% in July, it’s no surprise the WSJ last week wrote that “The Bursting Chinese Housing Bubble Compounds Beijing’s Economic Woes“), it will have to do something at the national level, as the latest credit figures clearly raise the risks of a liquidity trap where monetary easing is failing to spur lending in the economy.

    As such, moments before the latest horrific data dump, China’s central bank unexpectedly cut its key interest rates in a feeble attempt to prop up the failing economy weighed by Covid lockdowns and a deepening property downturn.

    The PBOC cut the rate on its one-year policy loans by 10 basis points to 2.75% and the seven-day reverse repo rate to 2% from 2.1%, surprising China watchers with all 20 economists polled forecasting the rate on the one-year medium-term lending facility would be left unchanged. Expect all other key reference rates to follow a similar 10bps rate cut in the coming days.

    While the rate cut was small, “it’s more of a signaling effect” showing authorities are prepared to act, said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd. “In terms of the size of this action, it’s quite limited. In order to turn around the market expectation and break the downward spiral, they need to do a lot more.“

    And they will… eventually.

    And with China once again dovishly diverging aggressively from the rest of the Developed world which is hiking at every opportunity, it’s no surprise that as the PBOC confirms the economy is rapidly slowing, that Chinese bond yields slumped after the rate cuts: China’s 10-year government bond yield slid five basis points to 2.675%, the lowest level since May 2020, while the offshore yuan extended losses, falling 0.3% to 6.7607 per dollar. Stocks were also volatile in the morning session, with the benchmark CSI 300 Index was little changed after rising as much as 0.7% following the PBOC’s rate cuts.

    Beijing’s commitment to Covid Zero – which has emerged as a convenient smokescreen for Xi Jinping who can blame all of China’s ills on his own failed response to the Wu Flu – has made it impossible to sustain any hard-won economic progress, as the threat of repeated restrictions and re-openings continues to loom. As Bloomberg notes, August saw a surge in cases in the resort island of Hainan, where authorities have locked down holidaymakers, suspended flights and shut businesses to contain infections.

    Yet even today, the PBOC decided to confound China watchers, as the central bank withdrew liquidity from the banking system (by issuing 400 billion yuan of MLF funds, only partially rolling over the 600 billion yuan of loans maturing this week) at the same time as it cut rates.

    “The dominating downside risk for growth and weak credit data prompted the PBOC to lower the policy rates,” said Ken Cheung, chief Asian FX strategist at Mizuho Bank. The cut widens the divergence between the PBOC’s easing stance and other major central banks that are tightening monetary policy to curb soaring inflation. That’s raising risks for the yuan as capital outflow pressures increase. It also comes a surprise as the PBOC recently warned against the risk of rising inflation, even though domestic demand still remains soft, keeping overall price pressures in check for now.

    The rate reduction underscores the severity of growth challenges. China’s top leaders vowed last month to achieve “the best outcome” possible for economic growth this year while sticking to a strict Covid Zero policy, and downplayedthe official target of around 5.5% growth. Economists polled by Bloomberg forecast the economy to expand only 3.8% this year.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 22:58

  • Brother Of Marine Killed In Botched Afghan Pullout Commits Suicide At 1-Year Memorial Service
    Brother Of Marine Killed In Botched Afghan Pullout Commits Suicide At 1-Year Memorial Service

    Monday August 15 marks the one year anniversary since the Taliban takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan – which kicked off weeks of a botched US scramble to evacuate the remaining military, State Department, and US civilians from the Afghan capital. Tens of thousands of translators and other Afghans arrived at the airport in waves, desperate to get out amid the Taliban onslaught. 

    As the US-propped up president Ashraf Ghani was among the first officials to flee the country, reportedly with some $169 million raided from state coffers, local Afghan troops also melted away, allowing the Taliban to march into Kabul with ease. From there a chain of events saw what was then known as Hamid Karzai International Airport descend into chaos as a poorly prepared US and international coalition security perimeter struggled to prevent the flood of people desperate to escape the war-torn country from overwhelming the runways. 

    Scene of the aftermath of the ISIS-K suicide attack, via AFP/Getty Images

    On August 26, 2021, a suicide bomber attacked a crowded airport entry checkpoint, killing scores of Afghan civilians and 13 American troops, mostly Marines. An estimated 45 additional US troops had been wounded in the blast, considered among the greatest US military disasters in over two decades of occupation since 2001. 

    In the months following, not only was the Biden administration under fire for what was clearly a woefully ill-prepared and disorganized pullout of the country (importantly which also reportedly left thousands of dual citizens behind, in addition to tens of thousands of local Afghan translators and coalition partners), but the Pentagon came under scrutiny as well for positioning Marines on extremely exposed perimeters and checkpoints as “sitting ducks” for potential terror attacks. 

    Following a Pentagon investigation of the events leading to the deadly suicide attack, not a single American general, officer, or Biden administration was ever disciplined or so much as blamed. Instead, they had the gall to declare the pullout a “success”. Multiple US agencies on the ground had also failed to assess what they’d be facing amid the rapid US pullout, with one subsequent review finding the following: 

    The report calls out the State Department, which had been in charge of evacuation plans and timelines, for deeply underestimating the number of refugees they would be sending to American bases.

    “For example, on August 18, 2021, Ramstein Air Base leadership was informed they had to prepare to receive 2,500 evacuees,” according to the report. “Less than 2 weeks later, 28,517 evacuees had arrived at Ramstein Air Base.”

    And one year on, tragedy continues to be compounded for those still mourning the 13 US personnel killed on Aug.26. 

    AFP/Getty Images/FOX: A military honor guard carries the flag-draped casket of Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Grant Nikoui at Harvest Christian Fellowship Church on Sept. 18, 2021, in Riverside, California. 

    Fox News is reporting Sunday that the brother of one of the slain Marines took his own life at a one-year memorial service: 

    The brother of a young Marine killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan reportedly died by suicide a year later during a recent memorial service for the fallen service member.

    Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, 20, from Norco, California, was one of 13 American troops killed on Aug. 26, 2021, when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive outside the Kabul airport as crowds of Americans and Afghan allies sought to flee Taliban fighters taking over control of the capital city.

    Nearly a year later, Nikoui’s older brother, 28-year-old Dakota Halverson, died on Aug. 9, a press release from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in California confirmed, though offering few details.

    “The older brother of one of the 13 KIA in Kabul recently killed himself at his little brother’s memorial,” Rep. Mike Waltz, of Florida announced Saturday on Twitter. “Please pray for his family. There MUST be accountability for this continued carnage.”

    Fox underscores while referring to Shana Chappell, mother of two deceased sons, “Chappell and the fallen Marine’s father, Steve Nikoui, have been vocal critics of President Biden’s principal military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley, regarding the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last August following a 20-year conflict.”

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    But if there’s been one constant to come out of the disastrous Afghan war and botched pullout – it’s the complete lack of any accountability spanning multiple administrations and military commands. The same trend has been seen in Iraq, with lower-ranking US troops as well as untold numbers of local civilians bearing the brunt of the follies of US politicians and generals. 

    It also seems that all the Washington war machine and neocon architects of the so-called Global War on Terror have to show for two decades of military interventionism is a Middle East in flames, instability, and continued economic unraveling. Syria too, is still directly occupied by US troops in its oil-rich northeast region.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 22:55

  • Missouri AG Questions Need For Potentially Armed IRS Army
    Missouri AG Questions Need For Potentially Armed IRS Army

    Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt wants answers from the IRS commissioner on why the IRS needs an army of potentially armed new agents.

    State Attorney General Eric Schmitt speaks at an election-night gathering after winning the Republican primary for U.S. Senate at the Sheraton in Westport Plaza in St Louis, Mo., on Aug. 2, 2022. (Kyle Rivas/Getty Images)

    Schmitt, who is a Republican Senatorial Candidate, sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig on Aug. 11,questioning the agency’s massive expansion plans that include hiring 87,000 more IRS employees over the next 10 years.

    The IRS has stockpiled 5 million rounds of ammunition and spent $750,000 this year to buy more, according to Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who introduced a bill to block future purchases by the agency.

    Concurrently, social media was set ablaze this week by an IRS job post for Criminal Investigation Special Agents that would require them to “carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force.”  https://www.jobs.irs.gov/resources/job-descriptions/irs-criminal-investigation-special-agent

    “This arsenal makes a recent IRS job advertisement downright frightening,” Schmitt wrote.

    On Aug 12, the Democrat-led Congress was poised to pass the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, giving the IRS $80 billion, with $45.6 billion for “enforcement.”

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks during a news conference about the Inflation Reduction Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Aug. 4, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

    “The people of Missouri love our country,” Schmitt wrote. “But, with every passing day, we find more reasons to fear our government.”

    Public concern has built over what some call the militarization of the IRS, and many Republicans fear increased audits on lower and middle-class taxpayers.

    “To put this in perspective, the IRS will be larger than the FBI, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the Border Patrol combined,” Schmitt wrote. “The thought of 87,000 new IRS agents terrorizing Missourians is disturbing, to say the least.”

    Even more troubling to Schmitt is the militarization of the IRS. In the most recent public accounting five years ago, the tax agency had more than 5 million rounds of ammunition to use in rifles, shotguns, pistols, and submachine guns.

    Schmitt pointed out that the federal government wants to limit law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights, while the IRS continues to buy ammunition.

    Proponents of a well-funded, well-staffed, potentially armed IRS say the agency has lost thousands of employees through attrition since 2010, and the 87,000 new employees will not double the agency’s numbers. Both Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Rettig have assured the public that the IRS won’t target those making less than $400,000.

    However, experts such as Preston Brashers, a senior tax policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation, told The Epoch Times those assurances are meaningless because they are not in the law that Congress passed.

    Schmitt’s letter noted that FBI agents brandishing automatic weapons “invaded” the Florida home of former President Donald Trump, whose attorneys were blocked from observing the “unprecedented and intrusive raid.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 22:20

  • 400 Square Foot Nantucket Cottages Are Selling For Millions
    400 Square Foot Nantucket Cottages Are Selling For Millions

    Just in case you were wondering whether or not the real estate market is still mired in a bubble, just remember there are 350 square foot cottages in Nantucket that are selling for millions of dollars.

    Several cottages in the area were assessed at $10,000 per square foot, according to the Wall Street Journal. It makes Nantucket some of the “most expensive real estate in the world,” according to the report. 

    Henry Sanford, who has owned property in Nantucket for decades, said: “You can’t make sense of it mathematically. I don’t even know anywhere else in the world where you can find that.”

    About 25 cottages on Old North Wharf have become “trophy properties”, according to the report, highly sought after by sailing enthusiasts and wealthy homeowners. Each cottage comes with its own boat slip and their owners include people like Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy Schmidt, billionaire businessman Charles Johnson, and Charles Schwab.

    Joe Farrell Jr. commented: “There’s half a dozen billionaires on this wharf. I’d have been self-conscious walking down here when I barely had two nickels to rub together.” 

    Susan Burke didn’t know her husband bought an 889 square foot cottage for $5.8 million, she read about it in the local press first.  “I just said, ‘Can you imagine anyone stupid enough to pay that price for this tiny little place?’” she said.

    Her husband told her two weeks later: “It’s yours.”

    The Old North Wharf properties are generally purchased for their private waterfront access on an island with “only a limited number of docks”, the report says. Few people rarely sleep in the them. They are part of a 99 year old cooperative that is responsible for common areas, like landscaping, the gravel road, parking lot and weekend security. 

    Co-op president Christopher Quick told WSJ: “It’s a pretty private little place. A lot of people use them as a little getaway from the madness. They’re all sort of playhouses.” 

    The co-op also manages three deep water docks, which also go for millions each. One sold for $4.75 million in 2016 while others sold for $2.1 million in 2002 and 2003. 

    “I really was just looking for access to the water and the lifestyle on the wharf,” said Harvey Jones, who paid $1.6 million for a 375 square foot cottage. He then collaborated with a neighbor to build a shared dock to accommodate his 36 foot yacht. 

    The cottages on the Wharf rarely turn over and the board of the Old North Wharf Cooperative has to vet new buyers. 

    “People want to get in here in the worst way,” Quick concluded. 

    You can read the full WSJ article on the Wharf here.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 20:35

  • Congressman Perry Gets Phone Back From FBI, Unclear About Motives Behind Seizure
    Congressman Perry Gets Phone Back From FBI, Unclear About Motives Behind Seizure

    Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

    House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-Pa.) confirmed that he has received his cell phone back from the FBI after the agency had seized it a few days back.

    Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), joined by members of the House Freedom Caucus, speaks at a news conference on the infrastructure bill outside the Capitol Building in Washington, on Aug. 23, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

    On Aug. 9, a day after raiding former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, FBI agents had taken Perry’s phone as part of a separate investigation. At the time, Perry was traveling with his family. Speaking to “Capitol Report” on NTD News, the GOP member confirmed that he has received his phone.

    He is still uninformed as to why the phone was confiscated by the FBI. However, Perry was informed by his attorneys that he was not a target of the FBI’s investigation.

    After the seizure, Perry had blasted FBI agents for making no attempt to contact his lawyer who would have made arrangements to submit the phone if needed by the agency.

    In a statement, Perry said that though he was outraged, he was “not surprised” that the FBI under the direction of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice would seize the phone of a sitting member of Congress.

    Perry claimed that his phone contains information about political and legislative activities as well as private conversations with his family members, friends, and constituents, none of which is the “government’s business.”

    “DOJ chose this unnecessary and aggressive action instead of simply contacting my attorneys,” the statement said. “These kinds of banana republic tactics should concern every citizen.”

    Unprecedented Move

    In an interview with NTD, Greg Shaffer, a retired FBI agent for the elite hostage rescue team, said that the FBI needs to have special permission to seize any property belonging to members of Congress, members of the clergy, attorneys, or other individuals who deal with privileged information. Seizing Perry’s phone was a “show of force” by the Biden administration.

    “For an FBI agent to go walk up to a sitting congressman and take his cell phone … that had to be approved at the highest level at the FBI and DOJ,” Shaffer said. “That is very, very difficult to do. Unprecedented.”

    It is unclear whether there is a link between Perry’s phone seizure and the raid on Trump’s home. Speaking to The Epoch Times, Perry pointed out that the separation of powers is a firewall that keeps the three branches of government in check.

    By taking control of a phone belonging to a sitting member of Congress, the DOJ, “for maybe the first time in history, is preparing to pierce that veil.”

    Darlene McCormick contributed to the report.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 20:00

  • "They Can Do Audio, Video, & Physical Surveillance On You 24H/365D A Year": Rex Lee On Intrusive Apps
    “They Can Do Audio, Video, & Physical Surveillance On You 24H/365D A Year”: Rex Lee On Intrusive Apps

    In this special episode, The Epoch Times’ Tiffany Meier sat down with Rex M. Lee, cybersecurity adviser at My Smart Privacy. He helps shed light on China’s cyberattacks on America, how they affect us in our daily lives, and what can be done to stop them.

    Lee notes one way adversarial countries can get in is through invasive apps:

    “You have to look at an app as legal malware. And that’s the best way you can describe apps today. An app—whether it’s a social media app developed by Bytedance, such as TikTok, or Facebook, or Instagram—any of these apps, they are basically legal malware that enable the developer to monitor, track, and data mine the end user for financial gain 24 by seven, 365 days a year.

    “A single intrusive app enables the developer to collect over 5,000 highly confidential data points associated with the end user’s personal information, business information, medical information, legal information, and employment information because the surveillance and data mining done by these companies is indiscriminate, meaning that they’re not only collecting consumer information, they’re collecting every bit of information from the end user, including text messages, email, email attachments, calendar events, and so forth,” he added.

    As to just how invasive these are, Lee said:

    “What an app will do is it will interlink with all of the hardware on the device and the sensors on the device, such as camera and microphone, as well as sensors, such as the accelerometer. So they can do audio, video and physical surveillance on you 24 hours, 365 days a year while collecting those 5,000 highly confidential data points on the end user. What they’re doing is they package that and they monetize it. But also, as we’re seeing in the news, is that these tech companies are aligned with governments. So the information a lot of times is ending up in the hands of the government.”

    Meier also sat down with Greg Copley, president of the International Strategic Studies Association and author of “The New Total War.” He touches on the recent buzz over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan and what that means for this November, both in terms of our midterm elections and Chinese leader Xi Jinping seeking an unprecedented third term.

    Copley said:

    “We’re now getting a better idea as to how the People’s Liberation Army [PLA] would fight a war against Taiwan, if it came to that. And if they in fact allowed the General Secretary Xi to make them go to war on the Taiwan issue, Japan has made it clear, and it repeated that declaration during Speaker Pelosi’s visit, that Japan would support Taiwan in the event of a military attack by the People’s Republic of China. Certainly, the U.S. will be drawn into it one way or another. Yes, it would involve high risks and the potential for many casualties. But it would also involve higher risks for the People’s Republic of China, not just in the direct conflict between the PLA and the Republic of China armed forces and the United States armed forces and the Japanese self-defense forces, but also there are other forces who would become engaged automatically.

    “That probably would include Australia, but it would certainly include India, and the Indian factor is one which Beijing does not wish to discuss openly. Even in the current war game posture against Taiwan, the PLA started moving additional forces down into the Tibetan plateau to be ready for an Indian response there. The Indian response would be massive. India has a similar force capability in many respects to the People’s Republic of China, and could move the entirety of its forces against the PRC, both on the Tibetan plateau and in the Eurasian context, but also in the Indian Ocean in a naval context,” he added.

    Watch the full interview below:

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 19:25

  • Time To Take A Stand
    Time To Take A Stand

    Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

    “I’m not going to sit on my ass as the events that affect me unfold to determine the course of my life. I’m going to take a stand. I’m going to defend it, right or wrong, I’m going to defend it.”

    – Cameron Frye

    My paid subscribers know we were pretty much spot on in predicting that the 9.1% CPI print from last month (1) marked the short term CPI peak and that (2) equity markets would rally in the short to mid-term as a result. I predicted it would happen in my July 2022 portfolio update:

    I think it’s likely the 9.1% print is the peak, for a little while at least, based on current spot prices. Used cars are down, new cars are down, home prices are starting to come down as more inventory comes on the market, oil has sold off over the last 2 weeks, etc. This doesn’t mean inflation is over, not does it mean stocks won’t still move lower in the longer term once the effect of rate hikes put into place in 1H 2022 finally surface in credit markets, but it means we could be at a lull for the time being (1-2 quarters).

    I think equities are going to rally on this sentiment (the fact that stocks didn’t crash spectacularly in the last 48 hours on that 9.1% print says something to me). The market is forward looking and the inflation numbers are backward looking, as much as I absolutely hate to admit it.

    And while I’m happy to take a victory lap on that prediction (Disclaimer: I never predict anything correctly, so don’t get used to it), I want to now also lay out seperate game theory for the Fed going forward.

    Not unlike Cameron at the very end of the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day off, when he finally decides to stand up to his father and show backbone for the first time in his life, the Fed has reached a similar opportunistic inflection point.

    Given this week’s “good” (read: still absolutely dogshit 8.5% YOY) inflation print, markets have moved higher under the assumption that the Fed is going to use the data as an excuse to pivot. I think there’s an opportunity being presented to the Fed that’s profoundly different, and wanted to discuss it.

    A couple of questions to ponder.

    What has the Fed been desperately trying to do over the last six months?

    In my opinion, it has been trying to regain its credibility with the American public, consumers and the market.

    And why is gaining credibility important at this juncture?

    Because part of inflation is a psychological game, and if the Fed can show the public that it has inflation under control, or at least has the means to contain it, it may help alter consumer behavior and quell inflation even further. At the very least, it will prevent panic and will appease politicians.

    On an even broader scale, there are many who think that the Fed has lost significant credibility over the last couple of decades. If I were Jerome Powell, I would be keen to the idea of being able to claw back some of that credibility.

    And now there’s a way that the Fed can do it. They can hold steady and continue to hike rates, as planned, despite the fact that inflation has “peaked”. Everyone is assuming the Fed is going to use the first bit of good news as a reason to pivot – hell, I have even suggested this – but they also have a very unique opportunity in the sense that they can do what is now the “unexpected” and show some backbone going forward.

    Continuing to hike aggressively despite the fact that inflation is coming down would be a giant step in the Fed creating a new image for itself.

    Of course, this would also exacerbate what I think is a coming trainwreck in credit markets. I described my thoughts about this in a recent piece when I noted that this year’s hikes are occurring far quicker than they did in 2018, when the market crashed in December.

    For comparison, I noted in my recent piece calling out the Biden administration’s lies about the economy that the Fed hiked at nowhere near the current pace leading up to 2018. The hikes leading up to 2018 took almost 3 years to reach 2.25-2.5%.

    Meanwhile, we have hiked to 2.25%-2.5% this time in just five months.

    One way or another, whether the Fed hikes or decides to start pivoting soon, I still believe there’s going to be a trainwreck coming in credit markets once the aftershocks of the rate hikes that have already taken place start to make their way through the system.

    At this point, the best the Fed can do is make it seem like a willing mess of their own making.

    By embracing more hikes, it’ll come off as though the coming crash of the economy is what the Fed was planning for, even if it wasn’t. Last week’s job numbers, no matter how fudged they may have been, could be seen as enabling the Fed to embrace the course they are already on. In other words, the Fed may think that there have so far been no consequences of their rate hike actions.

    However, the truth is that there are consequences, we just haven’t seen them yet.

    I’m predicting we will feel the full force of them in the second half of this year and, as a result, markets are going to move lower from where they are rallying to this week. As such, personally, I have increased some short exposure to index ETFs to try and balance both my long and short book in my personal portfolio.

    But the key takeaway from this piece is that the Fed has a chance to scrape back some of its long lost credibility given the circumstances of this past week. Whether or not they are able to find their spine for the first time since I can remember remains an entirely different question.

    “When Morris comes home, he and I’ll just have a little chat.”

    Disclaimer: I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I own/owned positions as disclosed above and in linked pieces. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities. I own or may own all crypto/stocks I mentioned or linked to in this piece. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. These positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 18:50

  • Former National Intelligence Director: Trump Has 'Ultimate Declassification Authority'
    Former National Intelligence Director: Trump Has ‘Ultimate Declassification Authority’

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

    A former director of national intelligence said Aug. 12 that it is “virtually impossible” to prosecute people for mishandling classified documents, and asserted that former President Donald Trump has the “ultimately declassification authority” in terms of such documents.

    “The president does have ultimate declassification authority. He can literally declassify—and President Trump had that authority, and could declassify anything you want while he was president,” John Ratcliffe, a Republican congressman before Trump appointed him to be director of national intelligence, said on Fox News.

    Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe looks on as President Donald Trump presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former football coach Lou Holtz, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Dec. 3, 2020. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

    According to documents unsealed earlier Friday, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was raided by FBI agents on Aug. 8 because of potential violations of several laws, including the Espionage Act, which some legal experts say relates to possessing classified defense information.

    An inventory showed that agents seized what they listed as classified, secret, and top secret documents.

    Ratcliffe said on Fox that before the search warrant materials were made public, he didn’t believe the raid was about classified materials.

    “It has to be more than that because the Department of Justice and the FBI have already set a standard that makes it virtually impossible to prosecute a case like that,” he said, pointing to how former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s possession of classified documents was handled by the FBI, including then-Director James Comey.

    “As people talk about Espionage Act and classified documents and all of that, the standard was set in 2016. Remember the Department of Justice and the FBI took the official position that Hillary Clinton, who was in possession of classified documents … that [being] in possession of that, that wasn’t enough, and that being grossly negligent and being careless, Jim Comey told us, that’s not enough under the Espionage Act. You have to know you’re violating the law,” Ratcliffe said.

    “Even if you assume the worst case scenario for President Trump, that there were classified documents in his possession at Mar-a-Lago, that only puts him where Hillary Clinton was. And what the FBI and the Department of Justice would have to show is that he knew the documents were there and he didn’t think they were declassified,” he added.

    Trump wrote on Truth Social that all the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago were declassified.

    “He had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office and taken into the residence were deemed to be declassified,” a Trump spokesperson told Just the News. “The power to classify and declassify documents rests solely with the President of the United States. The idea that some paper-pushing bureaucrat, with classification authority delegated BY THE PRESIDENT, needs to approve of declassification is absurd.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 18:15

  • "He's Not Running Again": Top Democrat Lawmaker Predicts One Term For Biden
    “He’s Not Running Again”: Top Democrat Lawmaker Predicts One Term For Biden

    Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, told the NY Times Editorial Board in a weekend interview that President Joe Biden won’t run for office a second time.

    “Off the record, he’s not running again,” Maloney said, when asked – to which the Times responded, “Not off the record. On the record.”

    “On the record?” She replied. “No, he should not run again.“

    Earlier this month, Maloney said during a debate against Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) that she doesn’t think Biden will run again – a comment she walked back the next day.

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

    “Mr. President, I apologize,” she said on CNN, adding “I want you to run. I happen to think you won’t be running, but when you run or if you run, I will be there 100%. You have deserved it.”

    “You are a great president, and thank you for everything you’ve done for my state and all the states and all the cities in America,” she continued.

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

    Maloney’s latest comments come as recent polling shows that a majority of Americans are worried about Biden’s mental health.

    Maloney’s comments are in stark contrast to the Biden camp – with Bloomberg reporting earlier in the week that the president is planning to launch his re-election campaign shortly after midterms (despite the fact that 75% of Democrats want another candidate to run).

    Mean while, in an appearance on ABC‘s “The View,” White House spox Karine Jean-Pierre insisted the president is running.

    “So let me just say this and the president has been asked this question multiple times. So have I,” she said, adding “The president intends to run in 2024. That is something that he’s, again, has said multiple times. It is so far away right now. It is a long time away and what we are going to focus on, on how do we continue to deliver for the American public today, and the next day and has we have been doing the past 18 months. I will say this from that same poll that you are reading off of, is that in a head-to-head, the president beats Donald Trump.”

     

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 17:40

  • Hedge Fund CIO: Here's Why Trading Often Destroys People, Devouring Them From Within
    Hedge Fund CIO: Here’s Why Trading Often Destroys People, Devouring Them From Within

    By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

    Losing money sucks. Lots of other things do too. Most of us hate being wrong. We go to extraordinary lengths to protect our egos. Which is absurd of course, but we are curious little creatures, taught as children to aim for 100% on each test, to win every ball game.

    At some point in a trading career, we either learn to deal with the humiliation of making mistakes or we fail. And the way karma works, the harder we deny our errors the more public the ultimate humiliation.

    Lots of investors target longer time horizons so that they make infrequent predictions, which means fewer possible mistakes to confront. Traders on the other hand, make lots of smaller bets, which guarantees frequent winners and losers. But for some odd reason, victories are less pleasurable than defeats are painful, so on balance, trading depletes us. Which is why it often destroys people, slowly devouring them from within.

    Survivors develop ways to inoculate themselves from the pain, humiliation, defeats, losses. Some train their minds to reverse decisions in an instant. They can appear confused, confusing, contradicting themselves in the same sentence. Such people are masters at self-preservation.

    The greatest traders and investors eventually build firms around themselves. Team efforts yield psychic benefits that help restore balance to the emotionally drained. Being surrounded by a group of fellow risk takers and business builders allows you to refocus your efforts when you feel you’re probably wrong. Uncertain. Or when you simply lack conviction.

    And a team gives you leverage to press hard when you feel you’re right and the risk reward is compelling. Because after years of focused effort, introspection, you gain a good feel for when you’re likely right or wrong.

    And you begin to see the same in others. Better yet, you can sometimes sense when others are wrong and stubbornly unwilling to yet admit it. Large groups of such people present the greatest trading opportunities. And as awful as it all sounds, the truth is, there is nobility in this struggle. Joy in the pursuit.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 17:05

  • Ray Epps Told FBI He Expected Bomb Attack Near The Capitol On January 6, Documents Show
    Ray Epps Told FBI He Expected Bomb Attack Near The Capitol On January 6, Documents Show

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

    When James Ray Epps Sr. first called the FBI regarding his January 2021 activities in Washington D.C., he didn’t mention how he implored protesters in several locations to go inside the Capitol, but he later told an agent that he expected a bomb would detonate on a side street near the Capitol.

    Ray Epps encourages protesters to go into the Capitol the night before the siege of January 6, 2021. (Villain Report/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

    Those are just two of the revelations in a collection of Epps-related material obtained by The Epoch Times, including FBI interview summaries, FBI audio recordings, transcripts, videos, and photographs.

    In two interviews with the FBI in 2021, Epps explained his actions on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6. He admitted he was guilty of trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds and confessed to urging protesters to go to—and into—the Capitol on Jan. 6.

    Despite the admissions, the FBI never arrested Epps and he was not charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with any Jan. 6 crimes. The non-action has fueled a crop of theories that he might have been working for the FBI or another agency.

    Epps, 61, has repeatedly denied those suggestions through his attorney.

    Epps recently sold his house and land in Queen Creek, Ariz., because of threats and harassment and moved to Colorado, he told the New York Times in July. According to online records, the Arizona property sold for $2.2 million on April 28, 2022.

    Epps at one time was No. 16 on the FBI’s Jan. 6 most-wanted page. His entry was later scrubbed from the list without explanation. He is among a handful of persons of interest to have their photos deleted from the FBI site.

    ‘Like a Terrorist Act’

    In an interview with FBI agents on March 3, 2021, Epps said he brought a first-aid kit in his backpack to Washington because he expected a terror attack.

    “Yeah, I thought there might be a problem. That’s why I was there,” Epps told an FBI agent and an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force officer in a meeting at the Phoenix office of Epps’s attorney, John Blischak.

    Blischak told The Epoch Times he would comment after reviewing the FBI interview summary, but had not done so by press time.

    “I was afraid they were going to set off an explosion on one of the side streets,” Epps said, according to a recording of the interview obtained by The Epoch Times. “So we tried to stay in the middle, tried to get there early, tried to stay away from the sides. And if something like that happened, I had a first-aid kit. I could help out.”

    Epps told the agents the possibility of violence weighed heavily on his mind and he originally did not plan to travel to Washington. It was only when learning that his son, James Epps Jr., was going to the Trump rally that the senior Epps decided to go and keep an eye on his son, he said.

    Ray Epps is shown at the lower left on an early FBI “wanted” poster. His photo has since been scrubbed from the FBI website. (FBI.gov/Wayback Machine)

    Ray Epps is shown at the lower left on an early FBI “wanted” poster. His photo has since been scrubbed from the FBI website. (FBI.gov/Wayback Machine)

    “As time went on, I started getting a bad feeling like something’s gonna happen,” said Epps, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and former Oath Keepers leader in Arizona. “There’s a lot of wackies out there. I thought something would happen in D.C. I thought there might be, what do they call them, EOD, something like that?”

    Epps might have been referring to an improvised explosive device (IED), which is a homemade bomb that was a favorite weapon of insurgents in Afghanistan during the United States’ long war there. In military parlance, an EOD refers to an explosive ordnance disposal specialist—someone who defuses and destroys explosives.

    An agent asked for clarification: “Oh, you mean like a terrorist act?”

    “Right, like a terrorist act,” Epps said.

    The agents did not press Epps on what led him to believe there would be an explosion, nor did they ask about the two alleged pipe bombs found outside the Republican and Democrat party headquarters, each just blocks from the Capitol. The RNC pipe bomb was placed near the corner of the Capitol Hill Club facing a side street, similar to the description Epps offered.

    The devices did not detonate and the FBI has not arrested anyone in those cases.

    Epps told the FBI he regretted the things he said in downtown D.C. the night of Jan. 5, 2021. He spoke to internet personality Baked Alaska and video podcaster Villain Report, both of whom recorded their exchanges.

    “In fact tomorrow, I don’t even like to say it because I’ll be arrested. …I’ll say it. We need to go into the Capitol,” Epps told Baked Alaska, whose legal name is Anthime Gionet.

    Epps shouted a similar theme to the crowd at large: “Tomorrow, we need to go into the Capitol. Into the Capitol. Peacefully,” he said. The crowd then started chanting, “Fed! Fed! Fed! Fed!”

    The FBI agents told Epps that his statements on Jan. 5 were problematic. They said they found him often on video and in photographs from Jan. 5 and 6.

    Epps replied: “I’m the tallest guy in the crowd, and I stick out, man. They followed me.” Then he joked, “I could never be a bank robber.”

    “We said that the same way,” one of the agents said. “We said, ‘It’s a big guy and every photo we find, he’s in it.’ The night before, that video didn’t help.

    “…And the video the night before, what you said basically predicted what happened,” the agent said.

    “I wish I could take that back,” Epps replied. He called the statements “really stupid.”

    On Jan. 6, Epps was filmed near the Washington Monument imploring the crowd, “We are going to the Capitol, where our problems are. It’s that direction. Please spread the word.”

    When speaking to a young man in a red and black mackinaw jacket, Epps said, “When we go in, leave this here [pointing to something]. You don’t need to get shot,” according to a video of the exchange.

    First Call to FBI on Jan. 8

    Epps first called the FBI on Jan. 8, 2021, after his brother-in-law notified Epps’s wife that a photograph of Epps was on the FBI website. That call to the National Threat Operations Center (NTOC) lasted about 27 minutes, according to an audio file of the call obtained by The Epoch Times.

    In describing his activities, Epps never mentioned that he urged the crowds on Jan. 5 to go into the Capitol the next day. He said he went down to Black Lives Matter plaza to try to calm things down after people he suspected were Antifa activists were harassing police.

    “I tried to calm them down,” Epps told the FBI operator. “I tried to let them know that, you know, that this is not what we’re here for. We’re here because of the Constitution, not the police. Police are on our side.”

    Nor did Epps mention getting on a bullhorn on Jan. 6 and encouraging people to go to the Capitol as soon as President Donald Trump was finished speaking. He would comment on those topics nearly two months later when interviewed by FBI agents.

    On the January call, Epps insisted his presence on Capitol grounds was to de-escalate when things got violent.

    “I am guilty of being there and probably trespassing,” he said. “But I had a reason. I was trying to calm ’em down. I wanted to be there, but I’m trying to calm ’em down. Anything I can do to help. There’s no call for that kind of behavior. I will be your witness.”

    Ray Epps at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, shortly before pepper gas is shot into the crowd. “Been a long time,” he said. “Aah, I love it!” (Screen Capture/Rumble)

    Ray Epps at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, shortly before pepper gas is shot into the crowd. “Been a long time,” he said. “Aah, I love it!” (Screen Capture/Rumble)

    Epps told the agents he came to Washington to express his concerns about the 2020 presidential election. He said he received five ballots at his Queen Creek address: one each for him and his wife, and three with names he did not recognize.

    “We’ve owned the property for 11 years now. I’ve never heard of those three people that came there. I didn’t recognize the names,” he said. “And then when the election went the way it did, I was a little concerned. I mean, how many apartments are there in Arizona, 3 million? And if they’re sending all these ballots to these different apartments. I mean, you know, that’s a concern.”

    Epps said he also went to support Trump, although he did not stay at the Ellipse for all of  Trump’s speech. He said he followed crowds that left the speech early and walked toward the Capitol.

    “People started leaving early after President Trump started speaking. So they were running and it was the same people that was, ‘F Antifa,’ and this and that and the other,” Epps said.

    “I believe, just my belief, they were Antifa, the ones that were saying that stuff,” he said. “And they were like running that way and I’m like, ‘Maybe I can calm this down.’ So I went with them.”

    Epps said it was his original intention to stay for all of the speeches at the Ellipse.

    “I planned on being and word was being passed around that right after he gets done speaking, we’re gonna go to the Capitol. And it was a given,” Epps said. “So spread the word spread the word. So I started spreading the word and I said that to a lot of people there: ‘We’re going to the Capitol right after the president speaks.’”

    Perhaps the scene that drew the most attention and speculation about Epps on January 6 was when he appeared at the first breach point of police lines. Some 20 minutes before Trump finished speaking at the Ellipse, an aggressive crowd gathered at a lightly defended barrier on a sidewalk not far from the Peace Monument.

    As rioters began yanking at the bicycle-rack barriers, Epps pulled Ryan Samsel back from the front line and spoke in his ear. Seconds after that exchange, Samsel and others knocked down the barrier, causing one officer to fall back and hit her head on the concrete.

    “I walked up to him, and I put my arm on him and said, ‘Hey, that’s not why we’re here. Don’t be doing that,’ you know.

    “I don’t know who he was. No clue,” Epps said. “I just tried to talk him out of doing what he was doing. And then all of a sudden, it blew up.”

    When interviewed by an FBI special agent and a detective on Jan. 30, 2021, Samsel corroborated Epps’s description of their brief verbal exchange, according to a transcript of the session obtained by The Epoch Times. Samsel faces nearly a dozen January 6-related charges in U.S. District Court in Washington.

    “Now that guy I talked to,” Samsel said, pointing to a photograph of Epps. “He came up to me and he says, ‘Dude,’ his exact words were, ‘Relax,’ he says, ‘The cops are doing their job.’ That’s exactly what he says to me right there in that picture.”

    Inconsistencies in Interviews

    Epps’s two interviews with the FBI included some inconsistencies and changed details, according to the recordings and FBI summary documents.

    Epps told the FBI on Jan. 8 that his brother-in-law called him to notify him his picture was on the FBI’s January 6 website. During his March 3 interview with FBI agents, Epps said, “Someone contacted me and said, ‘Hey, your picture’s up.’”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 16:30

  • "You Are Next": JK Rowling Receives Death Threat In Wake Of Salman Rushdie Attack
    “You Are Next”: JK Rowling Receives Death Threat In Wake Of Salman Rushdie Attack

    Popular author JK Rowling, who wrote the famous Harry Potter series, has become the latest high profile writer to face a public death threat after the horrific Friday knife attack on Salman Rushdie at a New York speaking event, which has left the 75-year old on a ventilator fighting for this life. 

    Rowling had issued a tweet expressing solidarity with Rushdie as the world received news of the assassination attempt. “Horrifying news. Feeling very sick right now. Let him be ok,” she had posted. But quickly after, an account identified as “Meer Asif Aziz” responded to Rowling: “Don’t worry you are next.”

    Aziz’s account had previously expressed support for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Additionally when Rushdie’s attacker was identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar of New Jersey, the Aziz Twitter account hailed Matar as a “revolutionary Shia fighter”.

    Police are currently investigating any possible ties between the Iranian government or foreign entities and the knife attack on Rushdie, given especially the well-known decades long fatwa in place by the Ayatollah calling for his killing.

    Rowling reached out to Twitter Support and soon after acknowledged that the police have become involved. Initially, she had received a message from Twitter saying the Aziz threat “did not violate the community guidelines.” But later the account was frozen.

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

    So it appears Twitter only took action after Rowling and her followers kept up the pressure: 

    The email from Twitter read: ‘After reviewing the available information, we determined that there were no violations of the Twitter rules in the content you reported. We appreciate your help and encourage you to reach out again in the future if you see any potential violations.’ 

    The 57-year-old posted a screenshot of the response, commenting: ‘These are your guidelines, right? “Violence: You may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people. We also prohibit the glorification of violence… “Terrorism/violent extremism: You may not threaten or promote terrorism”…’

    Authors JK Rowling and Salman Rushdie

    As for Rushdie, it’s being reported that he’s now able to speak, but could lose and eye and has suffered serious liver damage as well as nerve damage to his arm, after being stabbed up to ten times. His agent said Sunday he’s been taken off the ventilator as the “road to recovery” begins.

    Hadi Matar entered a plea of non-guilty during court proceedings on Saturday. Authorities have said he’s been cooperative during questioning, but still haven’t detailed the precise motive or if there were external terrorism links.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 15:55

  • Damning FBI Report Concludes Alec Baldwin Pulled Trigger In 'Rust' Shooting
    Damning FBI Report Concludes Alec Baldwin Pulled Trigger In ‘Rust’ Shooting

    Authored by Katie Hudson via The Mind Unleashed (emphasis ours),

    In spite of Alec Baldwin’s repeated denials that he pulled the trigger of the gun that killed his film’s cinematographer, the FBI has concluded in a damning new report that he did, in fact, pull the trigger of that gun.

    On the set of Baldwin’s film “Rust” in October 2021, the 64-year-old actor unexpectedly shot and killed his cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, who was 42 years old. Baldwin also injured his director, Joel Souza, during the shooting, which took place at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico on October 21, 2021.

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    Baldwin has always maintained that he did not pull the trigger of the gun that killed Hutchins, which was only intended to be loaded with blanks. However, a new report has determined that the gun could not have been discharged unless the trigger was pulled first.

    This indicates that Baldwin may still be held accountable for the incident in the form of criminal charges, as the Santa Fe Sheriff’s department has confirmed that the investigation would be handed over to the District Attorney.

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    On Friday (August 12), authorities stated that they are waiting for the actor’s phone records, which the District Attorney has been working with Suffolk County Police Department in New York and Baldwin’s attorneys to acquire them.

    Detectives will examine the documents, and then a case file will be delivered to the district attorney so that she can decide whether or not any criminal charges will be filed.

    The FBI’s new forensic report examines all aspects of the shooting as part of a larger investigation to determine whether or not any criminal charges can be filed.

    The investigation concluded that the revolver, which was a single-action F.lli Pietta in.45 Colt caliber, was simply not capable of being fired unless someone pulled the trigger.

    According to ABC News, they arrived at their conclusion after carrying out an accidental discharge test; however, it is not apparent whether the test was carried out using the exact same gun or an identical clone.

    It states that even if someone messes around with the hammer, the gun will not fire a bullet and a primer at the same time when it is operating normally.

    During interviews with investigators, Baldwin said that he was informed the weapon he was holding was a “cold gun,” which meant the revolver was loaded with blank cartridges.

    Baldwin claimed that the weapon fired without him pulling the trigger when he pulled back the hammer and posed for Halyna’s camera, with the actor adding: “I did not pull the trigger.”

    According to the FBI, it is theoretically possible for the device to produce the sound of a gunshot without actually firing a bullet; however, it is abundantly clear that this was not what happened in Baldwin’s case.

    The damning FBI report may result in criminal charges being brought against Alec Baldwin and potentially others involved in the shooting as well, with the Santa Fe Police Department still investigating the circumstances surrounding Halyna’s death.

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    The forensic analysis was immediately sent to the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator as soon as it was received, which was then forwarded to the Sheriff’s Office.

    Police also released several new videos of Baldwin being interviewed about the shooting.

    Speaking earlier this year, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said that criminal charges should not be ruled out.

    “It’s too early to rule anything out right now, I don’t think anybody’s off the hook when it comes to criminal charges,” Mendoza said.

    “I’ve said this before: I think there was complacency on the set. There was disorganization and a degree of negligence—whether that rises to a criminal level, that will be up to the district attorney,” he added.

    Although no one has been charged with a crime in connection to the shooting, Baldwin is being sued by Hutchins family.

    Like this article? Get the latest from The Mind Unleashed in your inbox. Sign up right here.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 15:20

  • "Supply, Commodity, And Dollar Shocks": Morgan Stanley Sees Gathering Storm Clouds Of A Global Recession
    “Supply, Commodity, And Dollar Shocks”: Morgan Stanley Sees Gathering Storm Clouds Of A Global Recession

    By Seth Carpenter, chief global economist at Morgan Stanley

    The clouds of recession are gathering globally. The Chinese economy contracted in 2Q. The US notched a “technical recession.” The flow of natural gas to Western Europe is restricted. In the past three months, we have revised down our forecast for global growth to 2.5%Y in 2022, which is about 50bp below consensus and 40bp lower than in May. We are edging closer to the bear scenario from our May Mid-year Outlook. Is a global recession upon us?

    Recession is our baseline view for the euro area. The flow of natural gas from Russia has been restricted, prices have surged, and we see weak growth through the end of the year. We expect a recession by 4Q, but the data will be noisy. While 2Q GDP surprised to the upside because of the timing of the European post-Covid rebound, PMIs were already negative for July. A complete gas cut-off is the worst-case scenario and remains possible, but normalization of gas flows would bring only modest relief. Winter price levels are already partially baked in. And with the ECB almost single-mindedly focused on inflation, more hikes are likely until there are hard data that show economic contraction or normalized inflation. Inflation and rate headwinds are not dissipating any time soon.

    I am only slightly more optimistic about growth in the US. The negative GDP prints in the first two quarters clearly cast a pall, but those readings are misleading. To be sure, the weakness in residential and business investment will not be reversing course with monetary policy continuing to tighten. But consumption spending was slammed by surging food and energy prices, a pullback from a year of goods overconsumption, and the rollover of the housing market. Nevertheless, household spending – the key driver of the economy averaged 1.4% at an annual rate in the first half. Indeed, the bright side of the negative 2Q print was the whopping 2 percentage point drag from inventories, correcting an overbuild. The inventory drag is now in the rearview mirror, and the July jobs report printed a massive 528k jobs. That pace of job creation almost certainly cannot last, however, and the Fed’s drag on the economy – and therefore jobs – is both substantial and intentional. But since the 1970s the US has never had a recession within a year of printing so many jobs. So what is the plan? As Chair Powell noted at the July press conference (and as we have repeatedly argued), the Fed’s strategy is to slow the economy enough that inflation pressures abate, but then to pivot. To be “nimble,” as Powell has said. A soft landing is by no means assured – again, we are only slightly more optimistic on the US than we are on Europe – but with the help of some good luck, the Fed’s plan has a chance.

    China’s situation is completely different. The economy contracted in 2Q amid stringent Covid controls, but real-time data show that we have now bottomed. The question is no longer whether we get a rebound, but how much of one. Covid-zero policies are slowly easing and we think more relaxation will follow the Party Congress in October. But will freedom of mobility be enough to reverse the challenges of the housing market? Recent policy action to address the housing crisis will help, but I fully expect that a much larger package will be needed. Ultimately consumer and property confidence will need to make a rapid recovery if the rebound can take shape.

    The world has been simultaneously hit by supply, commodity, and dollar shocks. Central banks are pulling back on demand to contain inflation. But even as we start to glimpse the other side of the inflation peak, the full effects of rate hikes are not yet manifest in the economy. Even if we avoid a global recession, it is hard to see economic activity getting back to its pre-Covid trend. I hope it is sunny where you are…you can worry about this storm tomorrow.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 14:45

  • Delaware Man Crashes Car Into US Capitol Barricade, Opens Fire And Kills Himself
    Delaware Man Crashes Car Into US Capitol Barricade, Opens Fire And Kills Himself

    Update(1632 ET): Police have identified the man who crashed into a Capitol barricade and killed himself as Richard Aaron York III, a 29-year old from Dagsboro, Delaware. “It’s still not clear why he chose to drive to the Capitol Complex,” the US Capitol Police said in a statement.  According to Yahoo, police say York was believed to have recently lived in Pennsylvania. 

    * * *

    A man drove his car into a barricade at the US Capitol early Sunday morning and, as it burst into flame, he exited the vehicle and began “indiscriminately” shooting a handgun. As US Capitol police approached him, he fatally shot himself in the head. 

    The car that crashed into the US Capitol barricade is carried away on Sunday morning (AP Photos)

    According to a statement issued by Capitol Police:

    Just after 4:00 a.m., a man drove his car into the vehicle barricade at East Capitol Street and Second Street. While the man was getting out of the car, it became engulfed in flames.

    The man then fired several shots into the air along East Capitol Street. When our officers heard the sound of gunfire, they immediately responded and were approaching the man when he shot himself.

    A police officer examines the charred street where the assailant’s vehicle struck the Capitol barricade and burst into flame (Daniel Slim/AFP via Fox5 NY)

    “It appears that the individual may have started the fire himself as he was getting out of the car,” said Capitol Police chief Tom Manger at a Sunday morning press conference. He described the attacker as firing a handgun “indiscriminately.”

    With the man’s identity not yet revealed, there’s no indication of motive thus far. Police are reviewing his social media accounts for any indications of his intent.

    “We do know that the subject has a criminal history over the past ten years or so, but nothing that at this point would link him to anything here at the Capitol,” said Manger. 

    The charred vehicle where it struck the Capitol security barricade and burst into flame (Erik Cox Photography via WTOP)

    No police fired their weapons, and no one else was hurt in the attack. Congress is currently in recess.  The death investigation will be managed by the DC Metropolitan Police Department.

    Though not directly declaring a motive, some major media stories on the incident are already putting it in the context of right-wing anger over the FBI’s Aug 8 search for classified documents at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

    “US law enforcement agencies have faced a wave of threats and political discord ahead of the 2022 midterm elections and after an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s home in Florida last week,” writes Bloomberg‘s Victoria Cavaliere. 

    The last vehicular attack on the Capitol didn’t come from the right wing. In April 2021, black Nation of Islam disciple Noah Green killed one Capitol police officer and badly injured another one. Green struck the officers with his vehicle, leapt from his car with a knife and was shot and killed by Capitol police. 

    Referencing that incident in coverage of this morning’s attack, Reuters describes Green only as a “25-year-old motorist.” 

    The aftermath of the April 2021 attack on a Capitol police barricade (Oliver Contreras/The New York Times)

     

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 13:33

  • Former FBI Agent Says Mar-a-Lago Raid Was Government’s Attempt To 'Embarrass' Trump
    Former FBI Agent Says Mar-a-Lago Raid Was Government’s Attempt To ‘Embarrass’ Trump

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

    Greg Shaffer, a retired FBI agent for the elite hostage rescue team, said that the agency’s raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Aug. 8 was “completely and totally unprecedented.”

    “I don’t know what the FBI, Department of Justice, or this administration was thinking by doing this,” Shaffer said in an Aug. 10 interview with NTD. “It was an overt act meant to embarrass the former president. It just shows the total lack of optics on their end. The rule of law obviously does not play equal on both sides anymore.”

    Local law enforcement officers in front of the home of former U.S. President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9, 2022. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images)

    During the raid, Trump’s attorneys on the site were not allowed to watch what the FBI agents were doing, which Shaffer said was also unprecedented.

    Shaffer said that during most of the search warrants he executed as an FBI agent, the owner of the property usually watched over the agents to monitor what they were doing as they looked for the items included in the warrant.

    The ex-FBI agent said that a subpoena, which could have been done behind the scenes without embarrassing the Trump family or the Trump organization, would have been a “much better course of action.”

    Shaffer said he’s concerned about the heavy-handed way the raid was conducted, and that it was an intentional decision of the Biden administration as a “show of force,” he added.

    Government Reacts to Public Outrage

    On Aug. 11, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) asked a federal court to make the materials of the search warrant public.

    Speaking to The Epoch Times, John Malcolm, director of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, said the government’s move to unseal the documents might be a response to public outrage.

    “I think that this is an attempt by the Department of Justice—who may have underestimated the reaction to this through this raid—to try to get out a little bit ahead of it by saying, ‘Oh, see, what we did here was perfectly on the up and up,’” Malcolm said.

    Following the raid at Trump’s home, the FBI also seized the cellphone of Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) on Aug. 9. The circumstances surrounding the seizure are not known. In a statement, Perry called the action “banana republic tactics.”

    In the NTD interview, Shaffer said the FBI must have special permission to seize the property of members of Congress, members of the clergy, attorneys, and other individuals who deal with privileged information.

    “For an FBI agent to go walk up to a sitting congressman and take his cell phone … that had to be approved at the highest level at the FBI and DOJ,” Shaffer said. “That is very, very difficult to do. Unprecedented.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 13:30

  • High Prices, Range Anxiety Holding Back EV Adoption
    High Prices, Range Anxiety Holding Back EV Adoption

    While the tax credits for new and used electric vehicles included in the Inflation Reduction Act will do its part in making electric cars more attractive to American consumers, Statista’s Felix Richter notes that there’s more than just the high purchase price keeping Americans from buying electric.

    According to a recent survey conducted by AAA, one quarter of Americans say that they would be likely to buy an electric vehicle (excluding hybrids) as their next car. That leaves three quarters who don’t see themselves plugging in instead of filling up just yet.

    And the reasons for that hesitancy are mainly threefold. As the following chart shows, it all comes down to three factors: high prices, range anxiety and charging challenges.

    Infographic: High Prices, Range Anxiety Holding Back EV Adoption | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    But hey, if you’re not re-mortgaging the house to buy that EV, you are a climate-change-denying nazi, right?

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/14/2022 – 13:00

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Aug 14

Today’s News 14th August 2022

  • Brandon Smith: Artificial Intelligence – A Secular Look At The Digital Antichrist
    Brandon Smith: Artificial Intelligence – A Secular Look At The Digital Antichrist

    Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

    Why do globalists have a deep rooted obsession with Artificial Intelligence (AI)? What is it about the fervent quest for an autonomous digitized brain that sends them into fits of ecstasy? Is it all about what AI can do for them and their agenda, or, is there also a darker “occult” element to the concept that is so appealing?

    The World Economic Forum, an organization dedicated to the globalist “Great Reset” agenda, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the “Shared Economy,” dedicates a large portion of every annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland to discussion on AI and the expansion of its influence over daily life.

    The United Nations holds extensive policy sessions on AI and has been spending a considerable amount of energy to establish “ethics rules” for the development and use of Artificial Intelligence. At the core of the UN’s efforts is the assertion that only the UN is qualified to dictate and control AI technologies; for the good of all mankind, of course. AI governance is slated to go into full effect by 2030 according to the UN’s own white papers (All globalist institutions have set 2030 as the target date for all of their projects).

    Another lesser known but substantial organization is the World Government Summit held every year in Dubai. These summits are attended by many national leaders and representatives as well as corporate CEOs and celebrities. The primary subjects of focus at the WGS are usually climate change propaganda, centralization of the global economy, Transhumanism and AI.

    Most of the public discussions on AI revolve around positive narratives; we are meant to be convinced on the many great advancements that AI technology will provide. Some of the “advantages” include transhumanist health modifications, computer implants in the body or brain, and even nanobots which may one day be advanced enough to change our very cells. In other words, in order to benefit from AI we must become less human and more machine.

    Other supposed benefits require a vast array of new systems (some of them are being built now) that would allow algorithms to monitor every facet of our lives. Globalists often refer to these systems as the “internet of things” – Every appliance you own, the car you drive, every computer, every cell phone, every surveillance camera, every stop light, everything would be centralized into a single AI network within a city, and each city would be connected in a great spider’s web to a national AI database.

    The Internet of Things is regularly mentioned in conjunction with climate change governance and carbon restrictions. The purpose is crystal clear – Governments and corporate elites want the ability to monitor every watt of energy you use everyday. This kind of full spectrum information makes it easier to dictate our decisions and our access to goods and services. They would have total control of anyone living within these “Smart Cities.” Your entire life, every second, would be watched and scrutinized.

    But how could this be made possible? Millions upon millions of people living day-to-day; that’s a LOT of data to sift through to find anyone not following the rules. This is one of the reasons why the globalists are salivating over AI technologies – It’s the only tool available to collect and delineate mass data collection in real time.

    Already, there are efforts to use AI systems to predict crime before it happens (pre-crime). These experiments are rather overhyped as they don’t actually predict specific crimes or identify specific criminals. Rather, they use statistical analysis to predict which areas of a city certain crimes are most likely to occur. You don’t need AI for this, any cop that’s worked in a city long enough can tell you when and where certain crimes are most likely to happen.

    Hilariously, AI algorithms have recently been accused of “racial bias” when it comes to the areas they select for predictive crime, because often these areas tend to be in predominantly black neighborhoods and the most predicted criminals tend to be young black men. So, the computers have been accused of racial profiling just as many cops are accused of racial profiling.

    Just another classic contradiction of the political left: They love the idea of climate change restrictions, transhumanism, and even AI surveillance when it suits them, but a computer does not care about your feelings and it doesn’t care about social taboos. It only cares about the numbers.

    And this is where we get into the greater dangers inherent in AI. Imagine a world micro-managed by a cold dead algorithm that views you as only one of two things: A resource or a threat.

    Prediction of pre-crime is nonsense; algorithms monitor habits and patterns and human beings tend to break patterns abruptly. People are affected by crisis events in different ways that are impossible to portend. There are far too many variables and there will never be a system that is able to predict the future, but that’s not going to stop the globalists from trying to force the issue.

    AI governance is an inevitability according to globalist institutions – They claim that one day Artificial Intelligence will be used to govern whole societies and dole out punishment based on scientifically efficient models. They act as if this is just the natural path of mankind and one we cannot avoid, but in reality it is a self-fulfilling prophesy. It’s not necessarily meant to happen, it is being engineered to happen.

    AI proponents argue that the algorithms cannot act with the same bias that humans do, therefore, they would be the best possible judges of human behavior. Every decision from production to distribution to healthcare to schooling to law and order would be managed by AI as a means to achieve ultimate “equity.”

    As noted above, they’ve already run into the road block of statistical probability and the fact that even if AI is left to autonomously make decisions devoid of emotion, millions of people will still see those decisions as biased. And, in some ways they would be right.

    The most logical decision is not always the most moral decision. Furthermore, an AI is programmed by its creator and can be engineered to make decisions with the creator’s biases in mind. Who gets to program the AI? Who gets to dictate its coding? Global elitists?

    And here is where we get to the more “spiritual” element of the AI issue in relation to the globalists.

    A couple years back I wrote an article titled ‘Luciferianism: A Secular Look At A Destructive Globalist Belief System.’ My goal in that piece was to outlined the large amount of evidence that globalists are in fact a kind of cult of organized psychopaths (people without empathy that take joy in destruction for the sake of personal gain). I concluded that globalists do indeed have a religion, and their root belief system according to the evidence is Luciferianism.

    Yes, I’m sure there will be naysayers out there that will scoff at this notion, but the facts are undeniable. There is a distinct occult element to globalism, and Luciferianism pops up consistently as the root philosophy. I think I broke this down rather effectively in the article and I won’t rehash all the evidence here; people are welcome to read it if they wish.

    I wrote from a secular standpoint because Luciferianism is an inherently destructive ideology even when viewed outside of the lens of Christian belief. Beyond that, there are psychological elements that need to be addressed that Christianity often ignores. Luciferian philosophy is tailor made for narcissistic and sociopathic people. The root of the cult is about “special” human beings that are not hindered by the boundaries of conscience, morals or ethics. Lack of empathy is seen as an advantage to progress and the ultimate goal of Luciferianism is godhood – A person becoming like a god, whether through being worshiped by others, the power of influence or by technological methods of extending life and abilities.

    But what does this have to do with AI?

    I believe that globalists view AI with such reverence because they think it is a new form of life, or an ultimate form of life – A life that they are creating (as gods create life). And, if you think about it symbolically, this new “life” is actually made in the image of its creators: It has no empathy, no remorse, no guilt, no love. For lack of a better word, it is soulless, much like globalist psychopaths are soulless.

    If we are to look at AI in religious terms for a moment – AI is a kind of antithesis to the figure of Christ. Christ represents an all-knowing form of ultimate love and ultimate self sacrifice according to Christian doctrine. I don’t think there is a word for what AI ultimately represents. The only term that seems to fit is “Antichrist”: The all seeing eye. A rulership of a super-intelligence devoid of humanity.

    To be clear, I DO NOT believe in end-of-the-world concepts portrayed by those that adhere to more popular interpretations of Revelations. I think the world changes. I think empires rise and fall and this can often be seen as the “end of the world” when it’s really just the end of an epoch. That said, I wholeheartedly believe in the existence of evil; evil being defined as willfully deceitful or destructive actions for purely personal or organizational benefit, such as murder or enslavement. Evil does indeed exist and is an observable element of human life.

    There are also traits of humanity that lead to good, that prevent us from self destruction when we listen to them. Conscience, reason, wisdom and often faith can provide a shield against evil actions for the majority of us. If we didn’t have these pillars within our psyches we would have annihilated ourselves long ago. But, there are some who do not have conscience, that do not have empathy and they despise these traits as “limiting.”

    AI is being designed by these kinds of people. And maybe they won’t cause the “end of the world” in terms we commonly understand (or in biblical terms), but over time they could take away everything that makes humanity worthy of the world. In a way, this would be an Apocalypse. It would be a living nightmare run by psychopathic people using sociopathic artificial intelligence, actively encouraging and enabling the masses to abandon their human bodies to become digital monstrosities and technological chimera.

    If successful, it really would be the ultimate defilement of nature, or of God’s design if that is what you believe in. The pursuit of godhood is not worth it for most of us, but for the globalists it is the dream of an age, and they will do ANYTHING to achieve it.

    *  *  *

    If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch.  Learn more about it HERE.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 23:30

  • Does The US Have An Appetite For Third-Party Candidates?
    Does The US Have An Appetite For Third-Party Candidates?

    Anyone running as a third-party candidate or Independent for federal office in the U.S., let alone the presidency, is certainly facing long odds.

    Still, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz details below, generations of Americans have not tired of trying.

    This includes Andrew Yang, who announced his new party, Forward, at the end of July and is tipped to launch a presidential campaign as well. The run would be his second after an unsuccessful attempt at the Democratic nomination in 2020. Last year, Yang also dropped out of the New York City mayoral race after six months. According to Axios, the Forward Party is attempting to appear on 15 state-wide ballots in 2022 and expand that to ballots in all 50 states by 2024.

    Yang’s decision to form a third party was widely condemned as anything from divisive to illusionary, but how far have third-party candidates come in the history of the United States?

    Their success has varied widely as has their ability to win electoral college votes.

    In the American statewide winner-takes-all system, the latter factor has often depended on whether candidates could mobilize voters regionally. More recent third-party candidates especially have faced this issue.

    Infographic: Does the U.S. Have an Appetite for Third-Party Candidates? | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    In 1992, Independent Ross Perot received a whopping 18.9 percent of the popular vote, which translated into a resounding zero votes from electors. Perot won no state and came second in only two, Maine and Utah.

    Earlier third-party candidates were somewhat better at garnering electoral college votes when their platforms aligned with regional – read: Southern – issues.

    George Wallace of the American Independent party won 13.5 percent of the popular vote and 46 electors (8.6 percent) in 1968 after campaigning against desegregation. He won five states – Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia – as well as one electoral college vote from North Carolina. In 1948, “Dixiecrat” Strom Thurmond had been even more efficient at turning ballots into electors, winning 7.3 percent of the electoral college (39 votes) with a share of the popular vote of just 2.4 percent, as his supporters were concentrated in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina. Officially named the States’ Rights Democratic Party, the “Dixiecrats” also opposed racial integration.

    The most successful presidential third-party candidate of the last century was actually Teddy Roosevelt for the Progressive party in 1912. After having completed two presidential terms between 1901 and 1909 for the Republicans, he came second after election winner, Democrat Woodrow Wilson, and won more than 27 percent of the popular vote as well as 88 electors (16.6 percent). In a time before presidential term limits, Roosevelt sought a third term over a feud with his successor, Republican William Howard Taft, and an increasingly likely Democratic victory. However, in 1916, Roosevelt had reconsidered splitting the conservative vote and turned down the Progressive nomination.

    The Progressive Party made a reappearance in 1924 when Robert La Follette won almost 17 percent of voters and 13 electors from his home state of Wisconsin – still fewer than the 15 electors Independent Harry F. Byrd earned in 1960 despite not having been on the ballot and having received no votes from the public. 14 unpledged and one unfaithful elector voted for him in yet another protest of desegregation.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 23:00

  • Special Ops Veteran Cancels Plans For Sunday Protest At FBI Headquarters After 'Trap' Warnings
    Special Ops Veteran Cancels Plans For Sunday Protest At FBI Headquarters After ‘Trap’ Warnings

    Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    In the wake of the unexpected fallout sparked by an Aug. 8 media pitch, a military veteran has revised his plans to hold a protest at the FBI headquarters in Washington on Sunday, Aug. 14.

    Adam Hardage, veteran and CEO of Remote Health Solutions, calling for a protest at the FBI headquarters in Washington on Aug. 14, 2022. (Courtesy of Adam Hardage)

    Following the unprecedented raid on the Mar-a-Lago residence of former President Donald Trump, an Aug. 8 media pitch announced that a 20-year military and former Special Ops veteran named Adam Hardage was “calling on fellow veterans and Americans of all walks to join him Sunday 8/14 at the FBI HQ in Washington DC to protest the out of control FBI and its actions against President Trump.”

    Adam Hardage, military and Special Operations veteran, pictured here in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Courtesy of Adam Hardage)

    However, the unexpected fallout that quickly ensued caused Hardage to revise his plans.

    It all started with an Aug. 9 report about the proposed protest mentioned in the Aug. 8 media pitch.

    Screenshot of the Aug. 8, 2022 media pitch sent out to numerous news outlets regarding a protest proposed at the FBI headquarters in Washington. (With permission from the media relations company)

    The contact information was included in the media pitch for those who wanted to interview Hardage. While Hardage did receive requests for radio and podcast spots, the media relations company that sent out the media pitch confirmed that The Epoch Times was the only print/web news outlet to actually request and receive an interview with Hardage about his proposed protest.

    The Best Laid Plans

    There has been much speculation that Jan. 6, 2021 was a setup, a coordinated campaign to use the anger of those who believe the 2020 election was stolen against them in order to take down former President Donald Trump and arrest and incarcerate his supporters, with the goal of ultimately destroying the entire MAGA movement.

    As The Epoch Times reported, evidence has emerged that proves protesters were peaceful until Capitol Police began lobbing tear gas and flashbangs into the crowd, shooting them with rubber bullets and spraying them in the face with pepper gel. Experts say a “cadre of provocateurs” then instigated fights, broke through bike rack barricades and encouraged protesters to storm the Capitol. Members of a secret, plainclothes Electronic Surveillance Unit were even embedded into the crowd, recognized to Capitol Police by a special multi-colored bracelet worn on their left wrist, for the express purpose of filming the ensuing confrontations between protesters and law enforcement for the purposes of entrapment.

    It wasn’t long before speculation grew that the proposed protest at the FBI headquarters on Aug. 14, 2022 could be staged as a trap to ensnare protesters just like those who attended the protest at the Capitol on Jan. 6. 2021.

    ‘It’s a Trap’

    In response to the Aug. 9 report, chatter on social media and right-wing blogs ranged from support to warnings the proposed protest could be “a trap.” Other comments on social media posts suggest everything from the inevitable win of Trump in 2024 because of the raid to suggestions that the FBI planted evidence at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence. An Aug. 11 report said Trump’s supporters were warning people to “beware of possible FBI agents urging rebellion.”

    Another social media post warned of the FBI saying, “We advise individuals taking part in protest activities to remain aware of their immediate surroundings and to report any suspicious activity to local law enforcement.”

    Warnings of entrapment were followed by misinformation. The host of one social media video wrongfully attributed a quote from “another concerned veteran,” mentioned at the end of one report, to Hardage, inaccurately insisting Hardage said he wasn’t even planning on attending his own protest.

    “I am a 20-year retired navy commander and J6 attendee,” the unnamed “concerned veteran” said in the Aug. 9 story. “I am incensed by the FBI raid on DJT’s home yesterday. I will be protesting an end to the FBI on the busiest intersection in my town of Kingwood, TX in full uniform Saturday.”

    Hardage lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.

    According to Dave Scarlett, a Marine and pastor of His Glory ministries, the proposed Aug. 14 protest would “most definitely” wind up being another Jan. 6 “trap.”

    “If you’re in the Washington, D.C. area, there go your rights,” Scarlett told The Epoch Times. “Do not go into Washington. D.C. If you want a peaceful protest, do it outside of Washington. D.C.

    “If you are truly representing the nation, patriots, Christians, and the military in this country, that is not the place to do it,” Scarlett said.

    “It’s a trap. Stay out of it. Do not go there,” Scarlett warned. “I have many military intel sources who are former generals and they said exactly that. Do not go into Washington D.C., because it’s a trap.”

    ‘Overreach and Abuse’

    Hardage believes “the raid on Mar-a-Lago was a massive governmental overreach.”

    He is not alone.

    Even multiple high-profile Democrat politicians and liberal media outlets are calling the raid an unprecedented overreach that will require a lot of explaining.

    While he also knows the Mar-a-Lago raid “was intended to scare Americans and to intimidate people,” Hardage believes the only thing it really accomplished was to “energize Trump’s base and the MAGA crowd.”

    Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally at the Lorain County Fairgrounds in Wellington, Ohio, on June 26, 2021. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

    “I’m excited to see MAGA 2.0, because I think it’s going to be absolutely epic,” Hardage said. “It’s going to make the original Trump Train and Trump Wave look like a snooze fest.”

    Scarlett agrees.

    “The FBI and tyrants in Washington have overplayed their hand by desecrating the home of the People’s President and the most influential Leader of the Free World—a cowardly act previously only seen in Third-World countries,” Scarlett said in a statement issued after the raid. “They have not just attacked the rightful President, but every freedom-loving American Patriot in this country. This disgusting overreach of power and display of lawlessness will go down in history as the exact moment they sealed their fate. I foresee a fully committed and united MAGA party, the likes of which has never been seen in this great nation. Christians, Patriots, Military, and every freedom-loving citizen will now unite. They have awakened a sleeping giant. We will once again be One Nation Under God, where justice, truth, and light prevails.”

    It’s a sentiment echoed by Rick Green, Founder of Patriot Academy.

    “The FBI raid on President Trump’s home will go down in infamy as the turning point for a generation,” Green told The Epoch Times, adding that “the unknown is whether the turn will be towards complete tyranny or a turn back to liberty and the answer depends on whether we average Americans say enough is enough.”

    “The church-going, hard-working, family and community-focused people that make up the backbone of America are not normally the type to protest,” Green said further. “They vote, they donate, they might write a letter of concern. None of that is enough anymore. Saving America from these Marxists will require a civically active, vocal, consistent citizenship and we’re about to find out if enough Americans are up to the challenge.”

    Recent surveys appear to show that the rise of the “civically active” and “vocal” citizenry is already happening.

    The Surveys

    In the wake of the Jan. 6 protests, the government has done much to use the event against Donald Trump and anyone who supports him. The arrest, incarceration, and abuse of the protesters; the ongoing efforts of the Select Committee to convict Trump of insurrection and render him ineligible to ever run for office again; and the raid on Mar-a-Lago, some, like Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), believe “it’s about vengeance. It’s about intimidation.” Still, the silver lining behind these dark clouds is revealed through a string of recent surveys, which show a simultaneous frustration with growing government overreach, a spike in the number of Americans who believe the nation has a two-tiered justice system and an increase in the number of Americans becoming tangibly involved in civic activism.

    An online survey by Daily Mail shows over 70 percent of their readers disapprove of the Mar-a-Lago raid. The Nationwide Issues Survey (pdf) conducted between July 24–28 by the Trafalgar Group with Convention of States Action found that 79 percent of 1,080 likely U.S. voters interviewed believe “there are two tiers of justice: one set of laws for politicians and Washington D.C. insiders vs one set of laws for everyday Americans.”

    According to a national survey of general election likely voters conducted by McLaughlin & Associated for Summit Ministries from July 21–25, while 48 percent of American voters say their level of civic engagement has remained the same in recent years, nearly 30 percent said they have gotten more involved in the civic process within the last two years. Of those, 81 percent say they are civically engaged because they believe their activism is making a difference.

    The first national survey taken after the FBI raid on Trump at Mar-a-Lago shows 83 percent of Republicans, 72 percent of independents, and 55.2 percent of Democrats are now more likely to vote in the 2022 Midterm Elections as a result of the raid. While only 11.9 percent of Democrats believe Trump’s political enemies are behind the FBI raid on the former president’s private home, 53.9 percent of Independent voters and 76.7 percent of Republican voters believe they are. More striking is that a majority of independents and Republicans believe the raid was unreasonable and that the raid is moving America closer to becoming a police state. Democrats, on the other hand, think such an invasion is completely reasonable.

    A Change of Plans

    “After the politically-motivated raid on President Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago, I initially called for a rally in the Northern Virginia/DC area,” Hardage told The Epoch Times amid the fallout from the Aug. 9 report. “My intent was to show solidarity and support for freedom, for the U.S. Constitution, and for President Trump. After receiving thousands of online comments and emails from across this nation from veterans on all sides of politics, I have decided to make a change to our plans to peacefully protest the FBI.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 22:30

  • Brand Loyalty Is Declining For Most Luxury Automakers
    Brand Loyalty Is Declining For Most Luxury Automakers

    New research conducted by S&P Global Mobility has found that brand loyalty – measured as the percentage of buyers that go back to the same brand for their next vehicle – is falling across the luxury segment.

    This infographic from Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu visualized the results of this research, which spans from January 2020 to April 2022.

    Brand Loyalty Losers

    The following brands have all experienced a drop in brand loyalty over the time period.

    For additional context, we’ve also included each brand’s score in the J.D. Power 2022 Initial Quality Study. This is measured based on the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100) in the first 90 days of ownership.

     

    Land Rover experienced the biggest drop in loyalty, despite a better than average PP100 rating. One potential reason is timing⁠—the brand’s premier model, the Range Rover, has been in its fourth generation since 2012. The SUV has become relatively dated, though a new fifth generation was recently revealed for the 2022 model year.

    Two Volkswagen Group brands, Audi and Porsche, also fared poorly in terms of loyalty. This is somewhat surprising, as both brands offer a portfolio of both gasoline and electric models. Many competitors, such as Acura, Lexus, and Maserati, have yet to release an EV.

    Brand Loyalty Winners

    Three brands have managed to buck the trend, as shown below.

     

    We can draw parallels between Tesla and Apple, in that both have incredibly loyal followers.

    For instance, between March 2021 to April 2022, 62% of buyers/households who returned to market and previously owned a Model 3 purchased a new Tesla. That’s an impressive statistic, especially when we consider Tesla’s history of build quality issues.

    Maserati appears to be in the same boat. The Italian automaker has strengthened its brand loyalty by 4.3 percentage points, despite having the luxury segment’s worst PP100. Perhaps build quality matters less than we think.

    Another Factor to Consider

    Ongoing supply chain issues could also be contributing to wide-spread declines in loyalty. Rather than waiting several months (or in the case of EVs, years), buyers may switch to a different brand that has cars in stock.

    We are still monitoring it week to week, but up to now basically worldwide, we had no issues running production.

    – JOERG BURZER, MERCEDES-BENZ

    Many automakers have reported that their supply issues are diminishing, though new economic challenges have risen. For example, surging inflation has pushed the price of a new car to record highs. Combined with rising interest rates (cost of borrowing), this could negatively impact the demand for new cars.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 22:00

  • Pro-Antifa California Teacher Who Vowed To Turn Students Into 'Revolutionaries' Is Paid To Resign
    Pro-Antifa California Teacher Who Vowed To Turn Students Into ‘Revolutionaries’ Is Paid To Resign

    Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A California teacher who bragged about using his position to radicalize students into far-left “revolutionaries” has been given three years of pay by his school district to resign, according to a report.

    People hold Antifa flags in a file photo. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

    Gabriel Gipe, a teacher of Advanced Placement government at Inderkum High School, agreed in January to leave his post with a $190,000 payout from the Natomas Unified School District, according to The Sacramento Bee, citing district records.

    Gipe, whose annual base salary is about $60,000, received a final paycheck of about $100,000 after taxes were withheld, according to the newspaper.

    The teacher drew outrage from the school district community last year after he was featured in a video by undercover news organization Project Veritas.

    In the video footage, Gipe says he gave students extra credit for them to attend left-wing events, including counter-protests to the “right-wing rallies.” He also allegedly kept track of his students’ political inclinations to make sure they drifted further left as time went on.

    “So, they take an ideology quiz and I put [the results] on the [classroom] wall. Every year, they get further and further left,” he tells the undercover journalist, who was posing as a left-wing sympathizer.

    “I’m like, ‘These ideologies are considered extreme, right? Extreme times breed extreme ideologies.’ Right? There is a reason why Generation Z, these kids, are becoming further and further left.”

    Gipe says he displayed on his classroom wall an Antifa flag, which he claimed was “meant to make fascists feel uncomfortable.” The video footage also shows a poster of Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong on a wall in the teacher’s classroom.

    When asked about his views on the Chinese Communist Party, Gipe says in the video footage that Mao’s Cultural Revolution, which took place after a disastrous economic campaign that triggered mass starvation and famine, provides lessons for how socialism can take root inside the United States.

    “You need propaganda of the deed—your economics—and cultural propaganda as well. You need to retrain the way people think,” he says. “We have to hit both fronts. We have to convince people that this [socialism] is what we actually need.”

    Later, when a Project Veritas reporter confronted Gipe on the street, the teacher was wearing a T-shirt with a hammer and sickle on the front. Gipe didn’t respond to the reporter’s questions regarding his persuading of students to adopt far-left ideologies.

    Following parents’ outrage, the school district placed Gipe on unpaid leave pending an investigation, acknowledging that Gipe’s “educational approach” was “disturbing and [undermined] the public’s trust.”

    An administrative judge later ordered that Gipe be put on paid leave as the district’s investigation continued.

    The report of the investigation revealed more details about Gipe’s problematic conduct, including replacing typical AP government curriculum with lectures about communism and pinning photos of students who expressed conservative ideas on a wall next to a swastika.

    “You used your position of authority with a captive audience of impressionable teenagers to promote your own political ideology, including advocating or teaching communism with the intent to indoctrinate or inculcate in the mind of any pupil a preference for communism,” the district report reads, according to The Sacramento Bee.

    In response to a request for additional information, the Natomas Unified School District officials said in a statement that they have put the matter behind them.

    “We have put this behind us and have moved forward,” the statement reads. “What’s most important right now is welcoming our students back to the start of a new school year.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 21:30

  • "I'd Vote For You, If You Had A Penis": Senator Who Lied About Heritage Claims Random People Made Sexist Comments
    “I’d Vote For You, If You Had A Penis”: Senator Who Lied About Heritage Claims Random People Made Sexist Comments

    Elizabeth Warren, whose career was built on a lie about her heritage, allegedly claimed that people would “come up to her” and tell her that she’d have their vote if only she was equipped with a penis.

    “Everyone comes up to me and says, ‘I would vote for you, if you had a penis’,” Warren reportedly told NBC Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali, who wrote about the comment in her new book “Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet,” Politico reports.

    The story was greeted with widespread derision on social media. “[Warren] should name a single person that has ever said this to her,” said Washington Free Beacon Executive Editor Brent Scher.

    The popular account NumbersMuncher, meanwhile, jokingly pointed out: “So people took the time to go to Warren’s events and spent hours there… only to take the time to tell her they would vote for her ‘if you had a penis’?” –Just the News

    Warren notably claimed for years that she was a Native American. After former President Donald Trump offered her $1 million to prove it in July 2019, Warren took a DNA test – she hilariously tried to trot out the results as evidence of her claim…

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

    …except that due to a math error by the Boston Globe, the test actually showed she could be 1/1024th Native American – resulting in mass ridicule.

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

    Five months later Warren apologized to the Cherokee Nation for claiming American Indian heritage.

    Maybe she should simply start claiming to have a penis to score more votes, since lying comes so easily to her?

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 21:00

  • NARA Responds To Trump's Remarks On Obama's Classified Documents
    NARA Responds To Trump’s Remarks On Obama’s Classified Documents

    Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times,

    The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) responded Friday to former President Donald Trump’s statements that former President Barrack Obama took classified records from the White House when his term ended in 2016.

    “President Barack Hussein Obama kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified. How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots!” Trump said in a statement on Friday.

    Trump repeated his assertion about Obama’s presidential records in a post on Truth Social after the FBI conducted its unprecedented raid of his Florida property to search for classified presidential documents.

    NARA released a statement in refute of Trump’s claims, saying they exclusively maintain Obama’s presidential records according to the Presidential Records Act (PRA).

    “NARA moved approximately 30 million pages of unclassified records to a NARA facility in the Chicago area where they are maintained exclusively by NARA,” NARA said in a statement.

    “Additionally, NARA maintains the classified Obama Presidential records in a NARA facility in the Washington, D.C., area. As required by the PRA, former President Obama has no control over where and how NARA stores the Presidential records of his Administration.”

    The Epoch Times contacted Obama’s office for comment.

    NARA’s Pursuit of Trump’s Records

    It is unclear why an FBI warrant and subsequent raid was needed given Trump’s cooperation with NARA to return presidential documents.

    Throughout 2022, NARA has released a series of statements about Trump’s presidential records, starting in January, when it spoke about receiving some “paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump.”

    In one of the statements, NARA said Trump’s presidential records “should have been transferred to NARA from the White House at the end of the Trump Administration in January 2021.”

    In February, NARA noted that Trump and his representatives had been cooperating with NARA to transfer boxes of records from the Mar-a-Lago property to the National Archives.

    NARA official David Ferriero said in February regarding Trump’s records that NARA “pursues the return of records whenever we learn that records have been improperly removed or have not been appropriately transferred to official accounts.”

    Five months later, on Aug. 8, the FBI carried out a raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach in search of presidential documents.

    After pushback, the Department of Justice asked the court to unseal the warrant, which revealed that Trump is under investigation for alleged violations of 18 USC 2071—concealment, removal, or mutilation; 18 USC 793 of the Espionage Act—gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information; and 18 USC 1519—destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations.

    “Number one, it was all declassified,” Trump said in a statement.

    “Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted to without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago.”

    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has called on the DOJ to “release the information as to why a warrant was necessary” saying the “DOJ must lay their cards on the table.”

    Trump and Republicans have said the raid is an example of the “weaponization of the justice system” against a political opponent of the sitting president who is mulling running against President Joe Biden in 2024.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 20:30

  • Masa Is Down $4 Billion On His SoftBank Side Hustle Set Up To Boost His Compensation
    Masa Is Down $4 Billion On His SoftBank Side Hustle Set Up To Boost His Compensation

    It turns out it isn’t just Softbank that’s getting creamed on its investments, billion head of the company Masayoshi Son is also personally feeling the  pain of the poor performance in the technology market. And, on a side note, we may have finally found an “investor” whose acumen rivals Cathie Wood!

    He has lost more than $4 billion “on a series of side deals he set up at SoftBank Group Corp. to boost his compensation,” according to a new Bloomberg report.

    Son had established personal stakes in many of SoftBank’s ventures over the last few years. The thought process was that when the investments outperformed, it would act as a compensation kicker for Son, who currently draws a salary of about $740,000 per year.

    Personally, Son holds a 17.25% interest in a vehicle belonging to SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 for its unlisted holdings, and a 17.25% interest in part of its Latin America fund. He also has a 33% stake in a vehicle SoftBank set up to trade stocks and derivatives. 

    From these interests, he has racked up losses of $2.1 billion, $205 million and $2 billion, respectively, the report says. The amount Son owes his own company from the Vision Fund 2 and the Latam fund was up about $1.9 billion over the last quarter, the report says. 

    Marvin Lo, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, said: “It is controversial for a business leader to mix his personal financial interests with corporate responsibilities. But Son explained before that he wanted to use co-investment to provide financial benefits to managers, similar to venture capital firm partners getting a 20% to 30% performance fees, but with a downside too.”

    Son has deposited 8.9 million of his own shares as collateral for the Vision Fund 2 and 2.2 million shares as collateral for the LatAm fund. 

    Meanwhile SoftBank posted a glaring $23.4 billion loss for the June quarter last week. 

    Son said in a press conference: “We really believed we could do it and we had our heads in the clouds. Of course, the market was bad, there was a war, and there was the coronavirus. We can point to a lot of reasons, but these are all excuses. We have to self-reflect about the fact that if we’d been more selective and had invested more properly, it wouldn’t come to this.”

    A SoftBank spokesperson said the money should be called a “net payable” instead of a loss by Son.

    Because when it doubt, change the terminology or the definition – just ask the Biden administration!

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 20:00

  • Washington, DC Mayor Asks US Military For 90 Days Of Help With Illegal Immigrants
    Washington, DC Mayor Asks US Military For 90 Days Of Help With Illegal Immigrants

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

    Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser on Aug. 11 renewed her call for U.S. military assistance to deal with the surge of illegal immigrants the nation’s capital has encountered after governors of border states began busing the immigrants to the city.

    Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser attends March for Our Lives 2022 in Washington on June 11, 2022. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for March For Our Lives)

    The initial request for National Guard assistance from Bowser, a Democrat, was rejected by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a Biden appointee, earlier in August.

    Instead of asking for an open-ended deployment, Bowser in the new request asked for 90 days of help, with a proposed reevaluation of the mission on Dec. 1.

    If approved, Guard personnel would provide logistical support to the Washington government, helping establish and manage new sites to house and feed the illegal immigrants.

    “The Guard is uniquely resourced to provide emergency logistical support,” Bowser wrote.

    Bowser also wants the government to make the D.C. Armory or another federal site available as a “respite center” for the aliens, and to treat the immigrants like war refugees, referring to how the Biden administration has supported refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine in recent months.

    “We can confirm that the Secretary of Defense received a request from the office of the Mayor of DC, but as this is a pending request, we are not prepared to comment on the specifics of the request at this time. The Secretary takes this request for assistance very seriously. He and his team are working through the details, and will respond to the mayor’s office as soon as a decision has been reached,” a spokesman for Austin told The Epoch Times in an email.

    The spokesman said on Aug. 5 that the initial request was rejected because “we have determined providing this support would negatively impact the readiness of the DCNG and have negative effects on the organization and members.”

    DCNG stands for D.C. National Guard.

    Washington’s mayor cannot deploy the guard, but can ask the federal government to deploy personnel.

    Grant Program

    Washington Attorney General Karl Racine on Thursday said his office would start offering grants to local groups providing humanitarian assistance to the illegal immigrants, who are being transported to the District of Columbia by Texas and Arizona officials who are fed up with the surge in illegal immigration that has occurred under President Joe Biden.

    “The decision by the Governors of Texas and Arizona to bus asylum-seeking migrants to the District is causing a humanitarian crisis. The organizations and individuals who have shouldered the burden of providing basic needs and services—including housing, food, transportation, and legal assistance—are understandably strained and simply cannot be expected to carry this responsibility alone,” Racine, a Democrat, said in a statement.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 19:30

  • Potato Shortage Emerges In Idaho As Prices Surge At Supermarkets
    Potato Shortage Emerges In Idaho As Prices Surge At Supermarkets

    The next food insecurity problem that may impact the way Americans eat could be an emerging potato shortage that began last year when yields were depressed due to a heatwave, according to Boise State Public Radio. 

    “I’m not sure if you remember last June, but we had some just unbelievably hot temperatures here in Idaho. It did a number on our potato crop,” Jamey Higham, president and CEO of the Idaho Potato Commission, told the Idaho-based media outlet. “And so, our yields were significantly down last year.”

    Boise State Public Radio pointed out that last year’s potato crop cycle should last through August, though the lack of the starchy vegetable has already presented consumers with higher prices at the supermarket.

    “There is not a gap. There are just less potatoes being shipped right now than there normally are this time of year because of the shorter supply that we started the season with,” said Higham.

    He said Idaho produced the most potatoes in the county last year, and what happens to crop yields in the state will influence prices across the country. 

    “As the fresh market goes, the grocery stores – your Albertsons, Walmart, WinCo, that stuff – it is not just Idaho that’s having high prices right now. It’s the other states as well.”

    Higham expects potato prices to remain high through the rest of the year. 

    “I don’t anticipate these prices staying high long term. And once harvest gets underway, it’ll get back down into a better spot. But I do expect prices to be strong all year this year.”

    The local media outlet noted: “But it is still rather bizarre to be in Idaho of all places, and there’s a shortage of potatoes.”

    … and all this means is more pressure on consumers’ pocketbooks who’ve seen grocery inflation hit the highest levels since 1979. 

    Another shortage that could potentially emerge is beer as northern Mexico runs out of water. If you didn’t know, Mexico is responsible for 76% of all the beer imported by the US last year (most of it’s produced in the northern part of the country).

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 19:00

  • NJ Vows To Fight NYC Congestion Pricing Proposal
    NJ Vows To Fight NYC Congestion Pricing Proposal

    By Larry Higgs of Mass Transit Mag

    New Jersey’s reaction to New York’s congestion pricing plan to charge tolls to drive south of 60th Street in Manhattan was predictable – the proposed tolls are too high and public officials vowed to fight it.

    An environmental assessment on the plan released Wednesday by the MTA came with seven toll scenarios, including one that gives drivers using the George Washington Bridge, and Lincoln and Holland tunnels credit for those tolls toward the peak period congestion pricing fee of $23 for non-commercial passenger vehicles.

    A base plan would charge $9 with no credit given for Hudson or East River tolls for non-commercial passenger vehicles.

    Congestion pricing could cost New Jersey workers who commute by car at least an extra $5,000 annually, said Ron Simoncini, Executive Director of the Fair Congestion Pricing Alliance.

    “New Jersey commuters are sitting ducks for whatever New York wants to do,” he said. “No way New Jerseyans can spend an extra 7% to 12% of their income to get back and forth to New York.”

    Many of those affected commuters don’t have an alternative to driving, he said.

    “if you could bring them all in on mass transit, it would be another thing. But there is no alternative for most of these people,” Simoncini said. “They’re trapped.”

    Congestion pricing, now in its third iteration, accomplishes several goals: to reduce traffic and gridlock, cut air pollution and provide at least $1 billion annually in additional revenue for major MTA bus, subway and commuter rail projects, the study determined.

    But that doesn’t help Jersey drivers, Simoncini said. The law that created congestion price sends all revenue to the MTA, despite calls for sharing funding with NJ Transit and PATH to compensate for added riders that could switch from cars to those systems.

    “The New Jersey auto commuter bears the cost,” he said. “So New Jersey auto commuters pay for New York commuters to get to work.”

    A spokesman for Gov. Phil Murphy , who is out of the country, reiterated a comment he made to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg about commuters not receiving credit for GWB tolls toward the congestion pricing toll.

    “While the environmental assessment is under review by New Jersey state agencies and comments will be submitted where necessary and appropriate, the Murphy Administration will not support a double tax of New Jerseyans that provides no direct relief for our state’s commuters,” said Bailey Lawrence, a governor’s spokesman.

    U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., called the toll proposals “worse than we expected.”

    “In every scenario, Jersey drivers will end up paying thousands of dollars more on top of the tolls they already pay to go over the George Washington Bridge on their way to work in New York,” he said. “In every single scenario, Jersey commuters get hosed.”

    The release of the massive Congestion pricing environmental analysis Wednesday starts the clock on a public comment period that ends on Sept. 9 and includes six virtual on line public hearings from Aug. 25 to 31. A schedule and sign up instruction are on the MTA congestion pricing website at https://new.mta.info/project/CBDTP.

    “I plan to take part in the public virtual hearings and encourage all Jersey drivers to join and let their voices be heard in response to the Congestion Tax,” Gottheimer said.

    Simoncini said he plans to speak at all six hearings.

    The National Motorists Association urged the Federal Highway Administration to take the No Action Alternative and not implement congestion pricing, said Steve Carrellas, NMA New Jersey policy director.

    “The calculated costs of time and money of congestion to businesses, commuters, and residents are some of the supposed justifications for the program,“ he said.

    What drivers prefer are the broader benefits that driving or sharing a vehicle provides over public transit – “that has its own growing problems and contributions to lost time and money,” he said.

    The anger wasn’t confined to New Jersey. Officials in Rockland County, New York and other west of the Hudson river communities also blasted the plan for similar reasons – no benefit to their commuters, said a trio of public officials at a press conference in Nanuet Wednesday.

    Assemblyman Mike Lawler of Pearl River, Rockland County Executive Ed Day and MTA Board Member Frank Borelli all sounded like honorary New Jerseyans.

    “We’re already getting the short-end of the stick with regards to services and funding, so it is patently absurd that the cost of maintaining and improving New York City’s transit system is being placed on Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess County residents,” said Lawler, who introduced a bill in the New York legislature to repeal congestion pricing.

    Gottheimer echoed a sentiment mentioned by the New York officials, questioning the financial management of the MTA and the $15 billion received in federal COVID aid.

    “The MTA should take a hard look in the mirror and improve their failing systems that are costing them millions,” he said.

    One solution is to act on the “Stay in Jersey” concept, Simoncini said. Gottheimer proposed it in May to provide tax incentives to attract New York businesses to open satellite offices in New Jersey and to encourage Jersey commuters to work from home as long as they can, to avoid commuting costs.

    On Tuesday, three Bergen County state legislators said they plan to introduce bills offering $15 million in tax credits through the state Economic Development Authority to New York business that open facilities in New Jersey.

    State Senator Joe Lagana, and Assemblymembers Chris Tully and Lisa Swain, D-Bergen, referred to congestion price at a Fair Lawn press conference Tuesday, announcing the proposed legislation.

    “Scaling back our environmental footprint and cutting commuting costs and travel time are objectives we proudly support,” Tully said. “New Jersey residents should not be picking up the tab for New York’s failure to invest in their own infrastructure.”

    By incentivizing New York based employers to open remote offices in New Jersey and attracting new business along with them, “our “Stay in Jersey” legislation will significantly reduce traffic congestion and air pollution without financially targeting in-state commuters,” he said.

    Supporters of congestion pricing said the plan would have a neutral effect on most Jersey drivers.

    The Regional Plan Association said the benefits are an estimated 20% decrease in traffic and “significant time savings” for everyone driving into the Manhattan, said Brian Fritsch, an RPA spokesman.

    “Having even tolls for all drivers into Manhattan, including credits for the GWB, RFK, and Henry Hudson (bridges) is the right approach to reduce toll shopping and its related congestion,” he said. “Drivers (traveling) through the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels would see a relatively small change in fees while those that currently use free crossings would see a bigger increase.”

    “Less than roughly 3% of N.J. workers commuting to the Manhattan central business district get there by car,” said Liam Blank, Tri-State Transportation Campaign policy manager, citing an analysis by the group.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 18:30

  • Wokepox: The WHO Is Asking For The Public's Help In Re-Naming Monkeypox
    Wokepox: The WHO Is Asking For The Public’s Help In Re-Naming Monkeypox

    Further proving that the World Health Organization is misguided at best, useless at worst, the agency is out asking “for the public’s help” in…not combating monkeypox…but re-naming it.

    At least we know the agency has its priorities in order…

    The WHO was out this past week asking for new names for monkeypox “part of an ongoing effort to discourage harmful misconceptions associated with the current name,” according to Bloomberg. 

    “WHO is holding an open consultation for a new disease name for monkeypox. Anyone wishing to propose new names can do so,” the agency said in an actual statement that was drafted up by someone who could have been allocating their energy to actually fighting the virus. 

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    And the excellent use of resources doesn’t stop there. The WHO has also set up an online portal for people to submit ideas. The renaming of the virus follows “demands from international scientists” and “public health officials” who have claimed that the current name encourages a harmful stigma.

    The same web programmers that have set up the online naming portal have also apparently decided to leave the name “MONKEYPOX” scattered across the WHO’s website:

    And if you think the name is bad, wait until you actually get the virus. 

    The outbreak now stands at more than 31,000 cases since May, with the most coming from the U.S. The virus has been disproportionately spread by men who have sex with men, Bloomberg noted. 

    The virus was discovered in 1958 before “best practices” for naming diseases and viruses were adopted. 

    We’ll open up the submitting just to get everyone started. How about the “Poo Flu”? 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 18:00

  • Why Labor Productivity Has Collapsed
    Why Labor Productivity Has Collapsed

    Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,

    Recession.  Raging consumer price inflation.  A Presidential administration that seeks to confuse and obfuscate what’s really going on.  These are the realities facing American workers in the dog days of August circa 2022.

    For example, this week the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index results for July.  According to the government number crunchers, the CPI decelerated from an annualized rate of 9.1 percent reported for June to an annualized rate of 8.5 percent in July.

    Gas prices fell 7.7 percent from one month ago.  But are still up 44 percent over one year ago.  Food prices rose 1.1 percent on the month and are up 10.9 percent over the past 12 months.  Rents also rose 0.7 percent in July.

    President Biden, a man who alternates between being a world class liar and a world class moron, took the opportunity to tell an untruth the American people:

    “I just want to say a number: zero.  Today, we received news that our economy had 0 percent inflation in the month of July – 0 percent.  Here’s what that means: while the price of some things go up – went up last month, the price of other things went down by the same amount.  The result?: Zero inflation last month.”

    With Biden, you’re never certain if he believes his own lies.  Thus, we’ll make it real clear for the big guy just how the numbers work.

    Price is the numerical value.  Inflation is the first derivative.  The monthly increase/decrease in inflation is the second derivative.  The second derivative was reported as zero.  But inflation itself is still off the charts.

    In this respect, should you be happy that your money is only eroding at an annual rate of 8.5 percent instead of 9.1 percent?  Does this mean the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes are working?  Is the much anticipated pivot within sight?

    These questions are important.  But if you really care about wealth and prosperity there are much more important questions to be asking.  Here’s why…

    Money, Production, and Consumption

    Money acts as a claim that its owner has to a certain portion of all market goods and services.  It is, in essence, the means by which all market goods and services are distributed among people.  The more money one has, the greater claims to goods and services they possess.

    However, the creation of greater quantities of money by central planners does not magically increase the quantity of goods and services.  The addition of new, freshly created money does not readily get matched by a corresponding increase in production.

    New production may be stimulated by artificial increases to the money supply.  But it is only to address false demand created by the resulting price distortions.  These price distortions lead to excess production to meet the false demand.  This excess production ultimately leads to supply gluts and economic pain.

    Similarly, new, freshly created money does not increase people’s claims to goods and services.  It does not increase how much they can consume.  Rather, it dilutes each individual monetary unit, which is then expressed in rising prices.

    The genesis of consumer price inflation can be found in money supply inflation.  Money supply inflation is the direct act of central planners.  The inflation of the money supply comes first.  Consumer prices then follow.

    Most academic economists naively believe that lack of money is the source of economic stagnation.  They advocate credit creation and money printing as a means to increase consumption.  These policies generally lead to higher debt levels and higher asset and consumer prices.

    Why price is important…

    Why Price is Important

    The primary regulator for how money is spent is price.  The price of goods and services is what attracts or repels money.  Generally, if two goods have equivalent utility and quality, money will be attracted to the lower cost item and repelled by the higher cost item.

    Price also conveys information.  Rising prices signal to business owners to increase production.  Falling prices signal to reduce production.

    When central planners monkey with the quantity of money in circulation they monkey with the price of goods and services.  Moreover, when they monkey with the price of credit – the rate of interest – they disfigure the entire economy.

    Artificially low interest rates stimulate false demand up and down the supply chain.  In addition, pumping fabricated credit into financial markets for decades on end pushes the economy to a perilous and unstable state.

    Wealth disparities become ever more extreme, as financial assets, which are largely owned by the wealthy, become inflated.  Governments – federal, state, and local – use the cheap credit to become bigger, and more interventionist.  Consumer price inflation then takes hold.

    The Fed’s attempts to smooth out the peaks and valleys of the business cycle have actually magnified them.  The consequences to workers, savers, and retirees alike are remarkably harmful.

    Eventually the damage is too great for even the Fed to ignore and they must reverse course.  After letting credit run wild for over a decade, and making everyone dependent upon it, the Fed then reels it back.  This tightening of credit markets has the effect of pulling the rug out from under financial markets and the economy.

    Right now, for example, the Fed is operating within the rug yank phase of its monetary policy.  As the Fed simultaneously raises the federal funds rate and reduces its balance sheet, credit markets are slipping and tripping all over themselves.

    Yet all these money games are based on a flawed understanding of how the world and the economy works…

    Why Labor Productivity Has Collapsed

    The prerequisite for more consumption is not more money.  It’s more production.  The faster and more goods and services the economy produces, the faster and more each individual can consume.  Production determines consumption.

    This is a critical point.  And it’s one the President failed to mention this week.  Just one day prior to this week’s CPI report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its second quarter labor productivity report.  The results were about as bad as they could possibly be.

    In short, labor productivity decreased 4.6 percent in the second quarter of 2022.  Output decreased 2.1 percent while hours worked increased 2.6 percent.  This marked the sharpest decline in labor productivity since 1948 – roughly 74 years ago.

    What this means is that people are working more and producing less.  They are, in essence, working in reverse.  Hence, there will be less goods and services to consume, which will further drive consumer price inflation.

    Why has labor productivity collapsed?

    This, no doubt, is an important question.  It is especially important if you care about wealth and prosperity.

    The push for productive activity is provided by the mental and physical ability of workers to produce new goods and services with the least expenditure of energy and material possible.  That is to say, to produce more at a lower cost.  The ability to cheapen production leads to economic growth.

    Alas, labor productivity has collapsed.  The reasons range far and wide.  But they all come back to a few critical things.  Over regulation, over taxation, money printing, credit market manipulation, and, in summary, a near total intervention of economic and business life by a grossly out of control state.

    Remember, production determines consumption.  Production has collapsed.  An extended period of economic decline will follow.

    *  *  *

    The Biden administration is doing everything it can to ruin your life.  Quite frankly, it’s maddening.  But I’m not going to stand by and let a bunch of evil clowns in Washington destroy everything I’ve worked so hard for.  For this reason, I’ve dedicated the past 6-months to researching and identifying simple, practical steps everyday Americans can take to protect their wealth and financial privacy.  The findings of my work are documented in the Financial First Aid Kit.  If you’d like to find out more about this important and unique publication, and how to acquire a copy, stop by here today!

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 17:30

  • Ken Griffin Deploys More Than $1 Billion On Florida Real Estate After Leaving Chicago
    Ken Griffin Deploys More Than $1 Billion On Florida Real Estate After Leaving Chicago

    How finished with Chicago – and how optimistic on Florida – is Citadel’s Ken Griffin? He’s $1 billion sure. 

    Griffin has already spent over $1 billion on real estate recently, but CNBC noted on Friday that he was putting even more cash to work in Florida.

    CNBC was on location  in Florida noting two properties – one for $75 million and another for $100 million. He spent about $175 million on 5 acres on Star Island near Miami Beach.

    Meanwhile, Citadel has spent over $600 million on a new vacant lot in Florida, the report says, where it is going to be placing its new headquarters. It’ll also be building apartments and temporary office space. 

    He’s also spent $450 million “just on land” to build a new home north of Palm Beach. CNBC noted that the land is bigger than Mar-A-Lago.

    Altogether, Griffin and Citadel have spent more than $1 billion on Florida real estate. Griffin has said he likes to buy “iconic” and “rare” properties that his family can live in for years. He also told CNBC they are going to break ground in late 2023/early 2024. CNBC says the location and the new headquarters could turn into a “competitive advantage” for hiring new talent.

    “He’s really doubling down” on Florida, one CNBC contributor said. 

    Recall, we noted when Griffin decided to move from Chicago to Miami. 

    In a letter to employees sent earlier this summer, Griffin said he had personally moved to Florida and that his market-making business, Citadel Securities, would also transfer. He wrote he views Florida as a better corporate environment and though he didn’t specifically cite crime as a factor, company officials said it was a consideration, the WSJ reported. Which reminds us: where is the Netflix special on inner city black-on-black crime in general, and Chicago’s weekly murder spree in particular? Oh, it’s not there… what a shocker.

    The relocation will affect both hedge fund Citadel and Citadel Securities, the market making business, firm spokesman Zia Ahmed said Thursday according to Bloomberg, and marks the first step in a multi-year process that will involve the firm building a new office in Miami, which will serve as its global headquarters, and where a few hundred people will be based as soon as next year.

    “Chicago will continue to be important to the future of Citadel, as many of our colleagues have deep ties to Illinois,” Griffin wrote, before explaining that the ties will not be that deep. “Over the past year, however, many of our Chicago teams have asked to relocate to Miami, New York and our other offices around the world.”

    Griffin, 53, said just last month that he was reaching a tipping point with Chicago. The hedge fund and market maker, both of which he founded, combined employ more than 1,000 people in the city and pay hundreds of millions in taxes to liberal mecca that will now find itself in even more dire financial straits.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 17:00

  • Former FBI Assistant Director Says 'Handful In Leadership' Are Politicizing Bureau, Following Mar-a-Lago Raid
    Former FBI Assistant Director Says ‘Handful In Leadership’ Are Politicizing Bureau, Following Mar-a-Lago Raid

    Authored by Scott Wheeler via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Years of investigations have led to claims by Republicans of partisan political power plays at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice.

    Former FBI Assistant Director for Intelligence Kevin R. Brock testifies before the Senate Homeland Security Committee about the Crossfire Hurricane investigation in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill Dec. 3, 2020 in Washington (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    A raid on former President Donald Trump’s home on Aug. 8 has sharpened the nation’s focus on what many Republicans have been raising alarms about for years—the politicization of the Justice Department (DOJ) and its law enforcement arm, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Republican U.S. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa has been demanding answers about alleged politicization well before the raid.

    “Unfortunately, a growing number of Americans have lost confidence in the bureau based on its inconsistent handling of politically sensitive investigations, its lack of cooperation with legitimate congressional oversight inquiries, and its failure to hold its own people accountable for their misconduct,” Grassley told The Epoch Times.

    Late in July, Grassley sent a searing letter (pdf) to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray that stated that if allegations the senator has received from FBI whistleblowers are true, “The Justice Department and the FBI are–and have been—institutionally corrupted to their very core”.

    But not all agree. In an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times, former Assistant Director for Intelligence of the FBI Kevin Brock said Grassley’s statement didn’t “fit the facts” and that “it is dangerous to plant seeds in the minds of the American people that the FBI is corrupt.”

    Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers a statement at the Department of Justice in Washington on Aug. 11, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

    Partisanship at the Top

    While Brock said that Grassley’s claims about the FBI went too far, he is also highly critical of the actions of what he refers to as a “handful in leadership” who he said are politicizing the bureau and doing damage to its image.

    In response to the raid on former Trump’s residence at Mar-A-Lago, Brock told Epoch Times: “The use of armed agents to execute an invasive search warrant does not match up with the relatively low-level offense—for anyone—let alone a former and possible future president. Most Americans recognize this extraordinary search for what it is: an attempt by one political party that temporarily controls the DOJ to eliminate an adversary from the other party.”

    When asked how the FBI and DOJ could become politicized, Brock said, “When justice is captured by the Democrat Party, it seeks to find criminality on the right,” while “Republicans have less of an appetite” to reciprocate.

    At a press briefing about the raid on Aug. 11, Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed that he had approved the search warrant and further stated, that the DOJ had filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida to unseal the search warrant that was executed. Garland added that the department did not take the decision to seek a search warrant lightly.

    FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a hearing before Senate Judiciary Committee at Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Aug. 4, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

    Similar Cases Involving Democrats

    The raid at Trump’s home in search of classified documents reveals what some consider a clear example of that which Grassley and Brock are referring—a heavy Democrat Party influence at the DOJ. To some, the raid at Trump’s quarters is reminiscent of a similar case.

    In 2015, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton came under FBI investigation for concealing classified information on an unauthorized email server she kept at her home. During that investigation, Clinton deleted emails that were under subpoena. The FBI, which was in charge of the investigation of Clinton, did not conduct raids at any time and allowed Clinton and her attorneys to negotiate what evidence Clinton would turn over to the bureau and dictate the terms in which Clinton would be interviewed.

    Just prior to the conclusion of that investigation labeled “Midyear Exam,” then-Attorney General Lorretta Lynch announced, after it had been revealed that former president Bill Clinton had met with her in secret, that she had appointed a “career prosecutor” to make the decision as to whether Hillary Clinton would be charged with a crime.

    The Epoch Times has learned that the career prosecutor who made that decision was Richard Scott, then Deputy Chief of Counterintelligence, who had previously been an associate at the law firm of Williams and Connelly, the same firm that was representing Hillary Clinton in the matter. In 2018 former FBI attorney Lisa Page testified to the House Judiciary Committee that the FBI was inclined to prosecute Clinton for “gross negligence” in handling classified information on her private email server.

    Former FBI Director James Comey. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

    “Separately, you know, we had multiple conversations with the Justice Department about bringing a gross negligence charge,” Page told the committee in July 2018. Page went on to testify that it was Richard Scott who made the decision not to charge Clinton with a crime. Scott left the DOJ in 2018 and could not be reached for comment.

    About the same time the DOJ decided not to pursue charges against Clinton, the now infamous “Crossfire Hurricane” probe was being opened against then-candidate Trump. While the predicate for that investigation has been debunked, the claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin preferred Trump over Clinton is frequently referenced as fact by Democrats and some in the news media. Former Assistant FBI Director Brock disagrees with that conclusion, citing eight years of Obama and four years of Secretary of State Clinton’s appeasement of Putin.

    “If Putin preferred Trump over Clinton he’s a bigger idiot than anyone thought,” Brock said, referring to a list of things the Obama Administration did to appease Putin and Russia. The list included Clinton’s “reset” with Russia, withdrawing missile defense systems from strategic allies Poland and Czech Republic, the return of ten Russian spies in 2010 before the FBI could interrogate the sleeper cell, and being conciliatory following Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea.

    Brock says “it is in the face of all that it is beyond the scope of imagination” that Putin would have preferred Trump.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 16:30

  • US Postal Service Implementing "Temporary" Price Hikes For The Holiday Season
    US Postal Service Implementing “Temporary” Price Hikes For The Holiday Season

    Not even the U.S. Postal Service is immune to the effects of inflation.

    The consistently under-funded and mis-managed government-run service filed a notice of a “temporary” price hike for this year’s holiday season.

    We’d be willing to bet whatever we can get our hands on that this “temporary” hike very quickly becomes a “permanent” hike. 

    The Postal Service said the hikes were approved by its board of governors and are now pending review by the Postal Regulatory Commission, according to a write-up by CNBC. 

    The adjustment is “similar to past years”, the agency said. Sure, except CPI wasn’t coming in at 8.5% at any point in “past years”. The agency claims it will help it remain competitive during the holiday season. 

    The plan would be for the changes to go into effect October 2, 2022 and remain in place until January 22, 2023. 

    Price increases will be commensurate with package weights and distance of delivery. Commercial priority mail packages will see $0.75 hikes in prices, while heavy long distance deliveries could see increases of up to $6.50, the report says. 

    The hikes also come shortly after the agency announced its intention to buy 25,000 electric delivery vehicles. 

    In justifying its reasoning the constantly cash-hemmhoraging agency said it “relies on postage, product and service sales” to fund operations.

    Yeah, that and the Fed’s cash printer. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 16:00

  • Long Term Returns Are Unsustainable
    Long Term Returns Are Unsustainable

    Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

    Long-term returns are unsustainable.

    I realize that is a bold statement that flies in the face of mainstream analysis. How often have you seen the following chart presented by an advisor suggesting if you had invested 120 years ago, you would have obtained a 10% annualized return?

    It is a true statement that over the very long term, stocks have returned roughly 6% from capital appreciation and 4% from dividends on a nominal basis. However, since inflation has averaged approximately 2.3% over the same period, real returns are closer to 8% annually on average.

    The chart below shows the average annual inflation-adjusted total returns (dividends included) since 1928. I used the total return data from Aswath Damodaran, a Stern School of Business professor at New York University. The chart shows that from 1928 to 2021, the market returned 8.48% after inflation. However, notice that after the financial crisis in 2008, returns jumped by an average of four percentage points for the various periods.

    After more than a decade, many investors have become complacent in expecting elevated rates of return from the financial markets. However, can those expectations continue to get met in the future?

    The Fed Did It

    It is likely no surprise that the surge in returns following the “Financial Crisis” resulted from the Fed’s repeated monetary interventions and zero interest rate policy.

    As discussed, those actions and fiscal interventions from the government created the most significant financial bubble in history.

    (Usually, when charting long-term stock market prices, I would use a log-scale to minimize the impact of large numbers on the whole. However, in this instance, such is not appropriate as we examine the historical deviations from the underlying growth trend.)

    The fiscal policies implemented post the pandemic-driven economic shutdown created a surge in demand that further exacerbated an already extended market. As shown, those fiscal interventions led to an unprecedented surge in earnings.

    Here is the problem. As shown below, the surge in the M2 money supply is now over. Without further stimulus, earnings must eventually revert to economically sustainable levels.

    While the media often states that “stocks are not the economy,” it is economic activity that creates corporate revenues and earnings. As such, stocks can not indefinitely grow faster than the economy over long periods.

    The Relationship Between The Economy And Earnings

    When stocks deviate from the underlying economy, the eventual resolution is lower stock prices. Over time, there is a close relationship between the economy, earnings, and asset prices. For example, the chart below compares the three from 1947 through 2021.

    Since 1947, earnings per share have grown at 7.72%, while the economy has expanded by 6.35% annually. That close relationship in growth rates is logical given the significant role that consumer spending has in the GDP equation.

    The slight difference is due to periods where earnings can grow faster than the economy when coming out of recession. However, while nominal stock prices have averaged 9.35% (including dividends), reversions to actual economic growth eventually occur. Such is because corporate earnings are a function of consumptive spending, corporate investments, imports, and exports. 

    The market disconnect from underlying economic activity is due to psychology. As noted above, such has been the case over the last decade, as successive rounds of monetary interventions led investors to believe “this time is different.” 

    Unfortunately, it never is.

    Stocks Or The Economy, Which Is Right?

    While not precise, there is a correlation between economic activity and the rise and fall of equity prices. For example, in 2000 and again in 2008, earnings contracted by 54% and 88%, respectively, as economic growth declined. Such was despite calls of never-ending earnings growth before both previous contractions.

    (Chart below are annual data through 2021)

    As earnings disappointed, stock prices adjusted by nearly 50% to realign valuations with weaker than expected current earnings and slower future earnings growth. So while the stock market is once again detached from reality, looking at past earnings contractions suggests it won’t be the case for long.

    The relationship becomes more evident when looking at the annual change in stock prices relative to the yearly GDP change.

    Again, since stock prices get driven by the “psychology” of market participants, there can be periods when markets disconnect from fundamentals. 

    However, most important to investors is that fundamentals never play “catch up” to stock prices.

    “The conclusion is clear: this is not sustainable. The market has outperformed historical returns by a wide margin since 2009. Much of this outsized performance came in the 2017 – 2021 period when returns were 2x higher than long-term historical average.” – Kailash Concepts

    The market risk of overly optimistic earnings estimates is high, as are the long-term above-trend returns.

    Mean Reversions Are The Biggest Risk

    Earlier this year, Jeremy Grantham made headlines with his market outlook titled “Let The Wild Rumpus Begin.” The crux of the article gets summed up in the following paragraph.

    “All 2-sigma equity bubbles in developed countries have broken back to trend. But before they did, a handful went on to become superbubbles of 3-sigma or greater: in the U.S. in 1929 and 2000 and in Japan in 1989. There were also superbubbles in housing in the U.S. in 2006 and Japan in 1989. All five of these superbubbles corrected all the way back to trend with much greater and longer pain than average.

    Today in the U.S. we are in the fourth superbubble of the last hundred years.”

    As noted above, the deviation from long-term growth trends is unsustainable. Such was caused by repeated financial interventions by the Federal Reserve. Therefore, unless the Federal Reverse is committed to a never-ending program of zero interest rates and quantitative easing, the eventual reversion of returns to their long-term means is inevitable.

    Such will solely result in profit margins and earnings returning to levels that align with actual economic activity. As Jeremy Grantham once noted:

    “Profit margins are probably the most mean-reverting series in finance. And if profit margins do not mean-revert, then something has gone badly wrong with capitalism. If high profits do not attract competition, there is something wrong with the system, and it is not functioning properly.” – Jeremy Grantham

    Many things can go wrong in the months ahead.

    While investors cling to the “hope” the Fed has everything under control, there is a reasonable chance they don’t.

    The next decade could be a disappointment to overly optimistic expectations.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 15:30

  • "Tijuana Under Attack!": Sudden Eruption Of Cartel Violence Leaves Cars Burned Across Border City
    “Tijuana Under Attack!”: Sudden Eruption Of Cartel Violence Leaves Cars Burned Across Border City

    The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana has requested all American government employees to shelter in place until further notice after cartel violence erupted in parts of northern Mexico. 

    The violence began in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican city on the Rio Grande, just south of El Paso, Texas, with a prison battle between two rival cartels that left eleven people dead — then the chaos spread outside into the streets of the city, according to the Times of San Diego.

    By the weekend, the violence moved west, warranting the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana to advise Americans to shelter in place after a sudden eruption of violence. 

    “The U.S. Consulate General Tijuana is aware of reports of multiple vehicle fires, roadblocks and heavy police activity in Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada and Tecate,” the consulate said. “U.S. government employees have been instructed to shelter in place until further notice.”

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    San Deigo County Vice Chair Nora Vargas warned all “binational residents to be cautious and follow the recommendations from government officials and avoid unnecessary travel to allow authorities to do their work and maintain safety. My thoughts are with those impacted by the incidents.”

    Here’s footage of the chaos spreading through Tijuana as cartels duke it out. 

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    The San Diego Union-Tribune noted parts of Tijuana have gone into lockdown.

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 15:00

  • Small Businesses' Big Message For The Markets
    Small Businesses’ Big Message For The Markets

    Authored by Jesse Felder via TheFelderReport.com,

    Back in December, I wrote,

    “Considering the fact that the majority of investors are still betting on a transitory outcome, there could be some fireworks in the asset markets should they eventually be forced into an inflationary epiphany. Furthermore, what may exacerbate those fireworks, particularly in the stock market, is an earnings recession amid the most extreme valuations in history.”

    And that actually sounds like a pretty fair assessment of 2022 so far even though these trends continue to unfold.

    The data that led me to the conclusion that inflation would surprise on the upside and corporate earnings would surprise on the downside this year was provided by the NFIB survey of Small Business Economic Trends. Back in December, the number of business owners planning on raising prices had been soaring for some time, indicating inflation would follow. That indicator peaked a while back, suggesting inflation could plateau or over reverse to some degree which we began to see in the July CPI report released today.

    What may be precipitating this relative moderation in price pressures, however, is a slowdown in demand as indicated by falling optimism (and sales expectations) in the survey.

    At the same time, compensation plans remain elevated due to a persistently tight labor market. The result is that the recent reversal in the growth of profit margins is likely only getting started.

    In fact, this indicator suggests the decline in corporate profitability as a result of stagflationary pressures over the next few quarters could be historically deep.

    So while equity investors may be correct in their assessment of the cyclical trend in inflation, they may not want to celebrate it in such ebullient fashion.

    Because any moderation in inflationary pressures is unlikely to be driven by the sort of benign economic factors that would support equity prices.

    On the contrary, the risk of the current slowdown in the economy, which has enabled inflationary pressures to abate even to a small degree, evolving into a full-blown recession ahead appears significant.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 08/13/2022 – 14:30

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Aug 13

Today’s News 13th August 2022

  • US: The New Real Hoaxes?
    US: The New Real Hoaxes?

    Authored by Pete Hoekstra via The Gatestone Institute,

    • The investigative reporting by these two organizations [the New York Times and the Washington Post] was so thorough and groundbreaking it turned up things that were not even there.

    • For having refused to rescind these awards, the Pulitzer Committee should receive its own Pulitzer — for fraud.

    • The real hoax appears to have been the CCP’s ostensible good behavior and the now-hugely-discredited initial reporting on the virus.

    • Or how about the Hunter Biden laptop cover-up? Once again, On October 14, 2020, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, a critical story of possible extensive influence-peddling with senior intelligence officers in the CCP, Russia and Ukraine by the son of a presidential candidate. The contents of the laptop raised questions that the candidate at the time, Vice President Joe Biden, could be compromised. The entire subject was decisively pushed aside, along with the potential threat to national security that such an eventuality might entail.

    • Also not allowed during the January 6th hearings have been any witnesses for the defense, any cross-examination, or any exculpatory evidence.

    • One wonders, for instance if the January 6th Committee will consider the July 29, 2022 tweet by General Keith Kellogg, that on January 3, 2021, Trump, in front of witnesses, did indeed ask for “troops needed” for January 6. Kellogg wrote: “I was in the room.”

    • The January 6th Committee has also not released any information about government informants or FBI undercover law enforcement officers who might have been in the crowd, and Pelosi is also said to be blocking access to a massive quantity of documents. Finally, according to attorney Mark Levin, under the Constitution’s separation of powers, Congress, has no legitimacy even to hold a criminal investigation: that power belongs to the Judiciary. The entire proceeding is illegitimate and a usurpation of power.

    • Is it surprising that after the Pulitzer decision, the Russia collusion hoax, the Whitmer kidnapping hoax, the Covid origin hoax, the Hunter Biden laptop hoax, and now the January 6th Committee hoax, that many Americans believe there is something wrong with the system?

    Recently former US President Donald Trump challenged the award of Pulitzer Prizes to the New York Times and the Washington Post for their investigative reporting on alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.

    The investigative reporting by these two organizations was so thorough and groundbreaking it turned up things that were not even there.

    You have to hand it to them for this so-called “great reporting”: the Pulitzer Committee sure did.

    We now know, of course, the grand conspiracy pushed by these papers is nothing more than thoroughly debunked disinformation. For having refused to rescind these awards, the Pulitzer Committee should receive its own Pulitzer — for fraud.

    The intractability of the Pulitzer Committee is only the latest example of why so many Americans have been losing trust in their institutions, both public and private. Rather than admitting that these awards were a mistake, and that much of the reporting was not investigative reporting, but merely a recitation of fabrications put forward by political hacks for campaign purposes, the Pulitzer Committee announced that it will stand by its initial decision, facts be dammed.

    The Russia hoax is emblematic of the model built by the anti-Trump, anti-America First, anti-populist movement that the American people have experienced for the last six years. It embodies many of the characteristics that have frustrated Americans. It is a combination of influential forces — media, social media, political players, and government — that put forward information detrimental to one — oddly always the same — political viewpoint. In this instance, populists — believers in the rights, wisdom or virtues of the common people, according to Merriam Webster — who might embrace the concept of personal freedom espoused by the Constitution, a free market economy, economic growth, energy independence, school choice, equal application of the law and decentralized governance.

    Much of the material used to foster the Russia hoax originated from the discredited “Steele Dossier,” pedaled by former British spy Christopher Steele, funded by Clinton-linked opposition research firm FusionGPS, and pushed by Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussman. This discredited information was shared widely — and often, it seems, with prior knowledge of its falseness — through the mainstream media and social media when it was leaked to the press early in 2017 just before Donald Trump was sworn in as president. The material contributed to the launching of the Mueller “Russiagate” investigation, which cast a shadow over the first two years of the Trump administration. Government officials were involved as CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey and DNI James Clapper all lent their credibility to the supposed authenticity or seriousness of the Russian materials. All of this did tremendous damage to the effectiveness of the Trump administration, as it sought to govern, by putting it under a cloud of suspicion and illegitimacy from the outset.

    This, however, was not the only example. Consider the disrupted kidnapping plot against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in her key swing state for presidential elections. “The FBI got walloped [in April]”, according to the New York Post, ” when a Michigan jury concluded that the bureau had entrapped two men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Those men and others were arrested a few weeks before the 2020 election in a high-profile, FBI-fabricated case….”

    The media, however, for the most part portrayed the kidnapping plot as the work of domestic terrorists, with the implied inference being they were right-wing Trump supporters. Whitmer went so far as to accuse Trump of being complicit in the plan, even though it emerged that these alleged plotters had also supposedly wanted to hang Trump. The FBI, it was later shown, had been heavily involved in the plot through informants and individuals it had placed in the group. By the time the case came to trial after the election, Biden had won Michigan’s electoral votes and the damage had been done.

    Consider, also, the COVID pandemic. The “facts” at the time were supposedly that it came from “nature” and that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government had supposedly known nothing about its human-to-human transmissibility, even though it had “made whistleblowers disappear and refused to hand over virus samples so the West could make a vaccine.”

    The CCP, early on, was portrayed as a constructive player in controlling the spread of the virus, even as it was recalling and hoarding all of its Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). This fiction was reinforced by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the World Health Organization, and other prominent participants – apart from Taiwan, which futilely tried to warn the WHO of the coronavirus’s fierce human-to-human transmissibility, only to be dismissed.

    The mainstream media and social media also quickly began parroting the “official” story line. Social media companies suspended the accounts of whoever might have had a different opinion and some were even canceled.

    For the 10 months leading up to the November 2020 election, the narrative was set: COVID-19 was a naturally occurring virus and the CCP was in the clear. Imagine how different the 2020 presidential election might have been if the debate was how the world would have held the CCP accountable for the leak and coverup of COVID from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Now in 2022, a lab-leak is considered the most “likely cause” of the coronavirus, but again the political damage, and a gigantic amount of non-political damage, has already been done. The real hoax appears to have been the CCP’s ostensible good behavior and the now-hugely-discredited initial reporting on the virus.

    Or how about the Hunter Biden laptop cover-up? Once again, On October 14, 2020, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, a critical story of possible extensive influence-peddling with senior intelligence officers in the CCP, Russia and Ukraine by the son of a presidential candidate. The contents of the laptop raised questions that the candidate at the time, Vice President Joe Biden, could be compromised. The entire subject was decisively pushed aside, along with the potential threat to national security that such an eventuality might entail.

    Discussion of Hunter Biden’s laptop with its reportedly incriminating information about the Biden family business dealings with the CCP, Russia, and other actors in what appeared to be a model of pay-for-play, was instantly shut down. Fifty-one former government intelligence officials , who we now know were perfectly well aware that the laptop was real – the FBI had been holding it for months — wrote a letter describing the contents of the laptop as having “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” designed to damage Joe Biden.

    NPR famously downplayed the story, and once again, if you used social media to post information originally reported by the New York Post, you were canceled.

    A year and a half after the election, the facts were finally “officially” accepted: Well, what do you know, it really was Hunter Biden’s laptop and the material on it “is real!”

    Once again, the leadership at the FBI, the media, social media, and former government officials had developed a hoax to damage their political opposition and the people who supported it.

    Finally, there is the January 6th Committee, a one-sided investigative body, sometimes called “the third (attempted) impeachment.” The Committee appears to have been put in place to stop Trump from running for office again. Before the proceeding even began, its outcome was predetermined: Trump was to be found guilty of — something. As Stalin secret police chief, Lavrentiy Beria used to say during Soviet Russia’s reign of terror, “Find me the man and I’ll find you the crime.” So the US show trial commenced.

    Even its start was ominous. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in an unprecedented move, vetoed the committee appointments of Representatives Jim Banks and Jim Jordan. This rebuff led House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to pull his five Republican candidates from participating. Pelosi, it appeared, wanted only anti-Trump folks to serve on the Committee. Also not allowed during the January 6 hearings have been any witnesses for the defense, any cross-examination, or any exculpatory evidence.

    One wonders, for instance if the January 6th Committee will consider the July 29, 2022 tweet by General Keith Kellogg, that on January 3, 2021, Trump, in front of witnesses, did indeed ask for “troops needed” for January 6. Kellogg wrote:, “I was in the room:”

    “Great OpEd. Reinforces my earlier comment on 6 Jan Cmte. Has quote from DOD IG Report regarding 3 Jan 2021 meeting with Actg Def Secy Miller/CJCS Milley in the Oval on the 6 Jan NG request by POTUS on troops needed. I was in the room.”

    While purportedly examining in detail every decision and action by Trump and his team, the Committee refuses to question Pelosi, among the leading figures responsible for the security of the Capitol. She reportedly “turned down” requests for greater security. According to the Federalist:

    “Four days after the riot, former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who resigned his post in the aftermath, told The Washington Post his request for pre-emptive reinforcement from the National Guard ahead of Jan. 6 was turned down. Sund said House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, overseen by Pelosi, thought the guard’s deployment was bad “optics” two days before the raid…. Despite the Associated Press and Washington Post’s best efforts to run interference for the speaker, suddenly exonerating her of duties overseeing Capitol security, the riot on Jan. 6 was a security failure Pelosi owns. If the “speaker trusts security professionals to make security decisions,” then why, as the police breach unfolded, did Irving feel compelled to seek the speaker’s approval to dispatch the National Guard, as The New York Times reported? How could Pelosi also order the extended shut down of the Capitol to visitors, citing coronavirus, and install metal detectors in the House chamber?”

    The Committee has not evaluated the performance of the Capitol Police or other law enforcement agencies, but it has targeted the “private records of individuals with no connection to the violence.”

    The January 6th Committee has also not released any information about government informants or FBI undercover law enforcement officers who might have been in the crowd, and Pelosi is also said to be blocking access to a massive quantity of documents. Finally, according to attorney Mark Levin, under the Constitution’s separation of powers, Congress, has no legitimacy even to hold a criminal investigation: that power belongs to the Judiciary. The entire proceeding is illegitimate and a usurpation of power. The Committee’s narrative is clear: Donald Trump is responsible for the events of January 6, now let us manufacture the evidence to prove it.

    This article has not even delved into the 28 states that “changed voting rules to boost mail-in ballots.” Some States apparently omitted both state law and the need for states’ legislatures to be the sole arbiters of election law, as required by the Constitution; the $400 million spent by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg; the 2000-plus “mules” and the algorithms that sent conservative emails to spam while emails with liberal content went through to the addressees.

    Is it any wonder that many Americans have lost faith in their institutions and leaders? Is it surprising that after the Pulitzer decision, the Russia collusion hoax, the Whitmer kidnapping hoax, the Covid origin hoax, the Hunter Biden laptop hoax, and now the January 6th Committee hoax, that many Americans believe there is something wrong with the system? The media, social media, government officials and others have been complicit in undermining our rule of law and possibly even subverting an election.

    *  *  *

    Peter Hoekstra was US Ambassador to the Netherlands during the Trump administration. He served 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the second district of Michigan and served as Chairman and Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Center for Security Policy Board of Advisors and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 23:55

  • Americans Spend Much More On Pharmaceuticals
    Americans Spend Much More On Pharmaceuticals

    When it comes to the expenditure on pharmaceuticals across OECD countries, the United States spends much more than other industrialized nations that are part of the organization.

    Infographic: Americans Spend Much More on Pharmaceuticals | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    In 2019, the average American racks up costs of $1,376 for medications after adjusting for purchasing power parity, almost 2.5 times the OECD average of $571 and still 47 percent more than the next biggest spender, Germany. Canada and Japan followed in third and fourth place, both with spending that was around 40 percent higher than average, at $811 and $803, respectively. The OECD members with the least spending on pharmaceuticals and were Mexico and Costa Rica, while spending was also below average in many Eastern European and Scandinavia nations.

    Prescription drugs made up the bulk of pharmaceutical spending in most countries. English-speaking nations on the list, including the United States, Canada, Australia and the UK, shared the characteristic of above-average spending on over-the-counter meds despite their overall expenditure levels diverging quite a bit.

    Government and government-mandated insurance covered 55 percent of total pharmaceutical spending across OECD nations, with the share as high as 80 percent in Germany and France. That number was 70 percent in the United States. Across Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, out-of-pocket spending often hovered around 50 percent, hitting as much as 97 percent in Costa Rica.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 23:30

  • Victor Davis Hanson: FBI, RIP?
    Victor Davis Hanson: FBI, RIP?

    Authored by Victor Davis Hanson,

    The FBI is dissolving before our eyes into a rogue security service akin to those in Eastern Europe during the Cold War.

    Take the FBI’s deliberately asymmetrical application of the law. This week the bureau surprise-raided the home of former President Donald Trump — an historical first.

    A massive phalanx of FBI agents swooped into the Trump residence while he was not home, to confiscate his personal property, safe, and records. All of this was over an archival dispute of presidential papers common to many former presidents. Agents swarmed the entire house, including the wardrobe closet of the former first lady.

    Note we are less than 90 days out from a midterm election, and this was not just a raid, but a political act.

    The Democratic Party is anticipated to suffer historical losses. Trump was on the verge of announcing his 2024 presidential candidacy. In many polls, he remains the Republican front-runner for the nomination — and well ahead of incumbent President Joe Biden in a putative 2024 rematch.

    In 2016 then FBI Director James Comey announced that candidate Hillary Clinton was guilty of destroying subpoenaed emails — a likely felony pertaining to her tenure as secretary of state. Yet he all but pledged that she would not be prosecuted given her status as a presidential candidate.

    As far as targeting presidential candidates, Trump was impeached in 2020 ostensibly for delaying military aid to Ukraine by asking Ukrainian officials to investigate more fully the clearly corrupt Biden family — given Joe Biden at the time was a likely possible presidential opponent in 2020.

    The FBI has devolved into a personal retrieval service for the incorrigible Biden family. It suppressed, for political purposes, information surrounding Hunter Biden’s missing laptop on the eve of the 2020 election.

    Previously, the FBI never pursued Hunter’s fraudulently registered firearm, his mysterious foreign income, his felonious crack cocaine use, or his regular employment of foreign prostitutes.

    Yet in a pre-dawn raid just before the 2020 election, the FBI targeted the home of journalist James O’Keefe on grounds that someone had passed to him the lost and lurid diary of Ashley Biden, Biden’s wayward daughter.

    At various times, in Stasi-style the FBI has publicly shackled Trump economic advisor Peter Navarro, swarmed the office of Trump’s legal counsel Rudy Giuliani, and sent a SWAT team to surround the house of Trump ally Roger Stone. Meanwhile, terrorists and cartels walk with impunity across an open border.

    FBI Director Christopher Wray last week cut short his evasive testimony before Congress. He claimed he had to leave for a critical appointment — only to use his FBI Gulfstream luxury jet to fly to his favorite vacation spot in the Adirondacks.

    Wray took over from disgraced interim FBI Director Andrew McCabe. The latter admitted lying repeatedly to federal investigators and signed off on a fraudulent FBI FISA application. He faced zero legal consequences.

    McCabe, remember, was also the point man in the softball Hillary Clinton email investigation — while his wife was a political candidate and recipient of thousands of dollars from a political action committee with close ties to the Clinton family.

    McCabe took over from disgraced FBI Director James Comey. On 245 occasions, Comey claimed under oath before the House Intelligence Committee that he had no memory or knowledge of key questions concerning his tenure. With impunity, he leaked confidential FBI memos to the media.

    Comey took over from Director Robert Mueller. Implausibly, Mueller swore under oath that he had no knowledge, either of the Steele dossier or of Fusion GPS, the firm that commissioned Christopher Steele to compile the dossier. But those were the very twin catalysts that had prompted his entire special investigation into the Russian collusion hoax.

    FBI legal counsel Kevin Clinesmith was convicted of a felony for altering an FBI warrant request to spy on an innocent Carter Page.

    The FBI, by Comey’s own public boasts, bragged how it caught National Security Advisor-designate General Michael Flynn in its Crossfire Hurricane Russian collusion hoax.

    As special counsel, Mueller then fired two of his top investigators — Lisa Page and Peter Strzok — for improper personal and professional behavior. He then staggered their releases to mask their collaborative wrongdoing.

    Mueller’s team deleted critical cell phone evidence under subpoena that might well have revealed systemic FBI-related bias.

    The FBI interferes with and warps national elections. It hires complete frauds as informants who are far worse than its targets. It humiliates or exempts government and elected officials based on their politics. It violates the civil liberties of individual American citizens.

    The FBI’s highest officials now routinely mislead Congress. They have erased or altered court and subpoenaed evidence. They illegally leak confidential material to the media. And they have lied under oath to federal investigators.

    The agency has become dangerous to Americans and an existential threat to their democracy and rule of law. The FBI should be dispersing its investigatory responsibilities to other government investigative agencies that have not yet lost the public’s trust.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 23:05

  • "Boom Time Over": Rolex Prices Crash In China
    “Boom Time Over”: Rolex Prices Crash In China

    China’s second-hand luxury goods market crashed in the last two months amid economic turmoil that has curbed discretionary spending among wealthy folks. 

    Financial Times said prices for some of the most popular brands of luxury watches and designer handbags (such as Rolex watches and Hermès bags) on secondary markets have plunged between 20% to 50% since Shanghai imposed strict Covid lockdowns earlier this year. 

    China’s deflating property bubble and President Xi Jinping’s controversial zero-Covid policy in Shanghai and dozens of other regions have sent the economy into a tailspin, denting consumer sentiment. 

    With China’s economy decelerating, Watcheco, an industry portal for used luxury watches, said the price of second-hand Rolex Submariners has crashed by 46% since March. Luxury bag shops in Shanghai and Hangzhou have slashed the prices of Hermès Birkin bags by 20% over the same period. 

    FT noted luxury goods resellers and pawnshops report business owners who accumulated large inventories of luxury goods, expecting boom times, are now liquidating those items to raise cash to pay down debt and fund operations. This is just more evidence of the terminal phase of the so-called ‘bullwhip’ effect. 

    “The boom time is over: We are entering a correction period that could last for a long time,” James Wang, a seller of second-hand luxury watches in the eastern city of Nanjing, warned. 

    Wang said in just the last month, he bought six Patek Philippe and 29 Rolex Submariner watches from distressed shop owners, compared with no Patek Philippes and five Rolex Submariners in 1Q22. 

    “Patek Philippe says you never actually own its watch, but merely look after it for the next generation,” he said. “That’s not the case in a business crisis.”

    Shaun Rein at China Market Research, a Shanghai-based consultancy, said there is “very weak consumer confidence … probably the weakest I’ve seen in my 25 years in China.” 

    Both official and independent data show that China’s economy deteriorated further in July and is set for more turmoil in the months ahead as the real estate sector downturn intensifies. 

    The Rolex bubble in China on the second-hand market for Submariners jumped 240% in the six months leading up to Shanghai’s lockdown earlier this year — now prices are reversing. 

    Besides China, second-hand luxury watch prices are cooling worldwide, as we noted in June: Investors’ Clock Out’ Of Rolex Bull Market As Demand Cools. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 22:40

  • Alex Berenson: White House Demanded Twitter 'Kick Him Off Platform'
    Alex Berenson: White House Demanded Twitter ‘Kick Him Off Platform’

    Authored by Alex Berenson via Unreported Truths (emphasis ours),

    Biden Administration officials asked Twitter to ban me because of my tweets questioning the Covid vaccines, even as company employees believed I had followed Twitter’s rules, internal Twitter communications reveal.

    In a White House meeting in April 2021, four months before Twitter suspended my account, the company faced “one really tough question about why Alex Berenson hasn’t been kicked off from the platform,” a Twitter employee wrote.

    The employee recounted the meeting discussion afterwards on Twitter’s internal Slack messaging system. The message, and others, make clear that top federal officials targeted me specifically, potentially violating my basic First Amendment right to free speech.

    The First Amendment does not apply to private companies like Twitter. But if the companies are acting on behalf of the federal government they can become “state actors” that must allow free speech and debate, just as the government does.

    Previous efforts to file state action lawsuits against the government and social media companies for working together to ban users have failed. Courts have universally held that people who have been banned have not shown the specific demands from government officials that are necessary to support state action claims.

    In my case, though, federal officials appear to have gone far beyond generically encouraging Twitter to support Covid vaccines or discourage “misinformation” (i.e. information that the government does not like).

    Instead, top officials targeted me personally.

    Andrew Slavitt, senior advisor to President Biden’s Covid response team, complained specifically about me, according to a Twitter employee in another Slack conversation discussing the White House meeting.

    “They really wanted to know about Alex Berenson,” the employee wrote. “Andy Slavitt suggested they had seen data viz [visualization] that had showed he was the epicenter of disinfo that radiated outwards to the persuadable public.”

    According to an interview he gave to the Washington Post in June 2021, Slavitt worked directly with the most powerful officials in the federal government, including Ron Klain, President Biden’s chief of staff, and Biden himself.

    The Slack conversations also show the pressure Twitter employees felt internally to respond to the government’s questions about whether the company was doing enough to suppress “misinformation” about Covid and the vaccines. An employee writes that the questions at the meeting were “pointed” but “mercifully, we had answers.”

    (From Twitter’s internal Slack channel)

    At the time, employees said internally they did not believe I had broken the company’s rules. “I’ve taken a pretty close look at his account and I don’t think any of it’s violative,” an employee wrote on the Slack conversation a few minutes after the “really tough question about why Alex Berenson hasn’t been kicked off.”

    But the pressure on Twitter to take action against me and other mRNA vaccine skeptics steadily increased after that April meeting, and especially in July and August, as the government began to consider the unprecedented step of mandating Covid vaccines for adults.

    On July 16, 2021, President Biden complained publicly that social media companies were “killing people” by encouraging vaccine hesitancy. A few hours after Biden’s comment, Twitter suspended my account for the first time.

    On August 28, 2021, barely four months after the meeting, Twitter banned me – for a tweet that it has now acknowledged “should not have led to my suspension.”

    I obtained the message and other documents related to Twitter’s censorship of me as part of my lawsuit against Twitter over my August 2021 ban. I filed the suit in federal court in San Francisco in December 2021. Twitter and I settled it last month, when Twitter restored my account and acknowledged it had erred in banning me.

    The documents contain other revelations, including emails showing that other reporters asked Twitter to take action against me; I will report on those in the future.

    More messages, emails, and internal documents are expected.

    Subscribe here…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 22:15

  • Public Trust In The FBI Is Plunging
    Public Trust In The FBI Is Plunging

    The FBI raided former U.S. President Donald Trump’s private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, where they reportedly opened up a safe, following a search warrant for classified documents believed to have been removed from the White House.

    As Statista’s Anna Fleck notes, the raid has fueled anger from Trump’s supporters, dozens of whom gathered outside the Mar-a-Lago home that night. Several Republicans have condemned the investigation body, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who said in a statement:

    “I’ve seen enough. The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.”

    So what do Americans actually think of the FBI?

    According to the most recent survey by Gallup on the topic, public trust in the FBI has fallen in recent years.

    Infographic: Public Trust in the FBI | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    Where 57 percent of U.S. adults said that the FBI was doing either an “excellent” or a “good” job in 2019, this fell to 44 percent in 2021.

    This change mostly comes down to a drop in trust from the Republican side, which saw a fall from 46 percent to 26 percent over the two years.

    Democrats, on the other hand, have maintained higher levels of confidence, at a level 66 percent.

    Trump is currently facing several investigations, including into his role in the January 6 riot, as well as his business practices.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 21:50

  • The Attempt To Prosecute Donald Trump Is Unleashing More Than Our Political System Can Handle
    The Attempt To Prosecute Donald Trump Is Unleashing More Than Our Political System Can Handle

    Authored by William Anderson via The Mises Institute,

    With the recent FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Florida home, the Democrats and the Biden administration have raised the political stakes to a level from which this country as we have known it may never return. All one can say to those that are demanding a criminal prosecution of the former president is: Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it.

    Although the raid ostensibly was to see if Trump took classified documents from the White House when he left in a chaotic move in January 2021, former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy believes the Biden administration was again attempting to find that proverbial “smoking gun” tying Trump to the January 6 Capitol riot. Whether or not Attorney General Merrick Garland is able to grab the brass ring and prosecute Trump after yet one more fishing expedition is another story, although I doubt that any president has seen as many resources used to investigate him as has Donald Trump, but the Department of Justice has not filed charges yet.

    Understand that anyone reading this article has committed a federal crime at some point, perhaps more than once. I adopted four children from overseas, and while I was not involved in the details (done through legitimate and registered adoption agencies), I can be held criminally responsible if anyone paid bribes in the countries where the adoptions took place. Even if investigators could not prove someone paid bribes, they could still charge me with a crime on a mere pretext. And the charges would stick, and most likely a federal jury would vote to convict.

    Remember that Democrats wanted Amy Coney Barrett’s adoption of two children from Haiti investigated. While the demands were overtly political, it was clear that the Democrats believed in using criminal law to achieve political purposes in her case, but using the law that way hardly is limited to operatives of the Democratic Party.

    (Lest one believe I exaggerate, read this account about lobster importers charged with federal crimes for allegedly violating Honduran lobster regulations—with the attorney general of Honduras telling the FBI there was no violation. A federal jury convicted the men, and they were sent to federal prison for eight years.)

    Anyone who has Democrat friends on social media knows that they are obsessed with having Trump charged, convicted, and thrown in prison. Because I spent many years researching and writing about federal criminal law, I can say that if federal authorities wish to charge someone with a crime, nothing, not even the law itself, stands in their way. So, if the Biden administration really wants to charge Trump with something, the FBI will have no trouble cooking up something to order.

    Furthermore, if the DOJ were to charge Trump with something, he would be tried in Washington, DC, facing a jury made up entirely of DC Democrats that almost surely will have decided guilt even before the trial begins. While the feds already know this, they also know something else: if they file criminal charges against Trump, they know they will be unleashing a mix of anger and political forces that they cannot control. If one believes there is a red-blue divide in the United States now, the public anger from those who have supported Trump will dwarf anything we saw January 6, 2021.

    We also are hearing the usual “no one is above the law” platitudes from David French and Nancy Pelosi, as though the DOJ had never placed its thumb on the scales when engaged in other investigations and prosecutions of politicians and politically connected people. One journalist who does understand what is happening, someone who called out the bogus “Trump Dossier” that turned out to be a dirty Hillary Clinton campaign trick is Matt Taibbi, a man of the Left but also someone interested in the truth.

    Not surprisingly, Taibbi has weighed in on this latest development and he sure doesn’t sound like the New York Times. He writes:

    We’ve reached the stage of American history where everything we see on the news must first be understood as political theater. In other words, the messaging layer of news now almost always dominates the factual narrative, with the latter often reported so unreliably as to be meaningless anyway. Yesterday’s sensational tale of the FBI raiding the Mar-a-Lago home of former president Donald Trump is no different.

    As of now, it’s impossible to say if Trump’s alleged offense was great, small, or in between. But this for sure is a huge story, and its hugeness extends in multiple directions, including the extraordinary political risk inherent in the decision to execute the raid.

    He continues:

    The top story today in the New York Times, bylined by its top White House reporter, speculates this is about “delayed returning” of “15 boxes of material requested by officials with the National Archives.” If that’s true, and it’s not tied to January 6th or some other far more serious offense, then the Justice Department just committed institutional suicide and moved the country many steps closer to once far-out eventualities like national revolt or martial law.

    The editors of the NYT, CNN, David French and his fellow “Never Trumpers,” and most of Twitter really don’t care if Trump really committed a crime or not. They want him in jail for purely political reasons. These are the same people that insisted that the Hunter Biden laptop affair was nothing more than a “Russian disinformation” effort, and since it involves Hunter and his famous father, Joe, it is clear that there will be no effort by the FBI or Merrick Garland, or anyone else in the DOJ, to investigate beyond something cursory, enough to have the authorities claim “there is no there there.”

    At this time, we have no idea if Trump violated federal criminal laws or if we are looking at yet another bogus investigation, a road we have been down before. This is not to defend Trump’s presidency or agree with his insistence that the Democrats stole the 2020 election. The former president’s postelection antics certainly do not speak well of his character or the prospect of another run for the presidency.

    But we should not fool ourselves about the consequences of the jihad against Trump and the never-ending “jail to the chief” efforts of America’s political elites. Sooner or later, other people will be in power, and since the elites have shown no restraint in pursuing Trump and his allies, one can be sure that no one else will show restraint, either. If the political classes have not yet turned the USA into a Third World country, they are well on their way to finishing the job.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 21:25

  • These Are The Most (And Least) Livable Cities In The World
    These Are The Most (And Least) Livable Cities In The World

    Pandemic restrictions changed the livability of many urban centers worldwide as cultural sites were shuttered, restaurant dining was restricted, and local economies faced the consequences. But as cities worldwide return to the status quo, many of these urban centers have become desirable places to live yet again.

    As Visual Capitalist’s Avery Koop notes, this map uses annual rankings from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to show the world’s most livable cities, measuring different categories including: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

    A Quick Note on Methodology

    The ranking attempts to assess which cities across the globe provide the best living conditions, by assigning a score on 30 quantitative and qualitative measures across the five categories with the following weightings:

    1. Healthcare (20%)
    2. Culture & Environment (25%)
    3. Stability (25%)
    4. Education (10%)
    5. Infrastructure (20%)

    Of the 30 factors within these categories, the qualitative ones are assigned as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable, or intolerable by a team of expert analysts. Quantitative measures are given a score based on a number of external data points. Everything is then weighted to provide a score between 1-100, with 100 being the ideal.

    Ranked: The 10 Most Livable Cities

    Of the 172 cities included in the rankings, many of the most livable cities can be found in Europe. However, three of the top 10 are located in Canada: Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto.

    Vienna has been ranked number one many times, most recently in 2019. According to the EIU, the Austrian capital only fell out of the top slot during the pandemic years because its famous museums and restaurants were shuttered.

     

    Only one Asian city, Osaka, makes the top 10 list, tying with Melbourne for 10th place. Notably, not a single U.S. city is found in the top ranks.

     

    Editor’s note: Two cities tie for both the #3 and #10 ranks, meaning that the “top 10” list actually includes 12 cities.

    Ranked: The 10 Least Livable Cities

    Some of the least livable cities in the world are located across Africa and Central Asia.

     

    Many of the least livable cities are within conflict zones, contributing to the low ratings. However, these regions are also home to some of the world’s fastest growing cities, presenting many opportunities for ambitious residents.

     

    The Biggest Changes in Ranking

    Let’s take a look at the cities that moved up the global rankings most dramatically compared to last year’s data.

    Moving Up: The 10 Most Improved Cities

     

    Here’s a look at the cities that fell the most in the rankings since last year’s report.

     

    Moving Down: The 10 Cities That Tumbled

     

    According to the report, a number of cities in New Zealand and Australia temporarily dropped in the ranking due to COVID-19 restrictions.

     

    It’s also worth noting that some Eastern European cities moved down in the rankings because of their close proximity to the war in Ukraine. Finally, Kyiv was not included in this year’s report because of the conflict.

    Urbanization and Livability

    As of 2021, around 57% of the world’s population lives in urban centers and projections show that people worldwide will continue to move into cities.

    While there are more amenities in urban areas, the pandemic revealed many issues with urbanization and the concentration of large populations. The stress on healthcare systems is felt most intensely in cities and restrictions on public outings are some of the first measures to be introduced in the face of a global health crisis.

    Now with the cost of living rising, cities may face pressures on their quality of life, and governments may be forced to cut spending on public services. Regardless, people worldwide continue to see the benefits of city living—it’s projected that over two-thirds of the global population will live in cities by 2050.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 21:00

  • World Economic Forum Calls For Merging Of Human And AI Intel To Censor "Hate Speech" & "Misinformation"
    World Economic Forum Calls For Merging Of Human And AI Intel To Censor “Hate Speech” & “Misinformation”

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

    Despite the fact that no one asked, the World Economic Forum is now advocating for the merger of human and artificial intelligence systems to censor “hate speech” and “misinformation” online before it is even allowed to be posted.

    A report published to the official WEF website ominously warns about the peril of “the dark world of online harms.”

    But the globalist body, run by comic book Bond villain Klaus Schwab, has a solution.

    They want to merge the ‘best’ aspects of human censorship and AI machine learning algorithms to ensure that people’s feelings don’t get hurt and counter-regime opinions are blacklisted.

    “By uniquely combining the power of innovative technology, off-platform intelligence collection and the prowess of subject-matter experts who understand how threat actors operate, scaled detection of online abuse can reach near-perfect precision,” states the article.

    After engaging in a whole host of mumbo jumbo, the article concludes by proposing “a new framework: rather than relying on AI to detect at scale and humans to review edge cases, an intelligence-based approach is crucial.”

    “By bringing human-curated, multi-language, off-platform intelligence into learning sets, AI will then be able to detect nuanced, novel abuses at scale, before they reach mainstream platforms. Supplementing this smarter automated detection with human expertise to review edge cases and identify false positives and negatives and then feeding those findings back into training sets will allow us to create AI with human intelligence baked in,” the article rambles.

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

    In other words, your free speech will probably get censored before you’re even able to post it on social media sites. Some are calling it “preemptive censorship.”

    Or as the WEF puts it, “Trust and safety teams can stop threats rising online before they reach users.”

    No doubt that a central part of such “misinformation” will be strident denunciation of the WEF itself, given that the organization is notorious for blocking its critics on Twitter.

    Many would ask why the World Economic Forum, amidst a cost of living crisis, upcoming energy rationing and a global recession, is concerning itself with any of this.

    Why don’t they just stick to the economy?

    “It’s never a sure bet if this Davos-based elite’s mouthpiece comes up with its outlandish “solutions” and “proposals” as a way to reinforce existing, or introduce new narratives; or just to appear busy and earn its keep from those bankrolling it,” writes Didi Rankovic.

    “No – it’s not the runaway inflation, energy costs, and even food security in many parts of the world. For how dedicated to globalization the organization is, it’s strangely tone-deaf to what is actually happening around the globe.”

    *  *  *

    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
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 20:35

  • White House Warns Of Dangers As Congress Members Take Unauthorized Trips To Ukraine
    White House Warns Of Dangers As Congress Members Take Unauthorized Trips To Ukraine

    What could go wrong? It’s being widely reported that some Congressional members are taking unauthorized trips to Ukraine following complaints that the White House stopped approving them. 

    The Hill reports Friday that “At least one Democrat and six Republican lawmakers, including Fitzpatrick, have traveled to Ukraine independently between April and July.” This is in reference to Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, who in May went to Odesa and Kyiv, but without waiting for Biden administration approval. 

    Image via US Senate

    The White House has meanwhile warned of serious security risks for these “off the books” trips. Concerning Fitzpatrick, The Hill writes, “The former FBI agent, who helped stand up Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2015, traveled with Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), relying on a network of personal contacts and the Ukrainian government to ensure his safety.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 20:10

  • The Frogs Will Boil Themselves
    The Frogs Will Boil Themselves

    Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

    There’s a well-known old fable that describes a frog being boiled alive. It states that if a frog is dropped in boiling water, it will hop out. But if it’s placed in lukewarm water, it will be comfortable. Then, if the heat is turned up slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be boiled to death.

    In political terms, this translates into a slow increase, say, the slow rise of taxation or the gradual removal of freedoms.

    But there’s another way to boil the electorate of a country: have them become willing participants in their own demise.

    This method is a common practice in many countries, particularly the US. Americans have repeatedly been conned into begging for their second amendment rights to be diminished.

    The method is to make use of the media to shine a light on the horrific murder of innocents through the use of firearms.

    In recent years, this effort has been ramped up through regular senseless massacres of people, particularly children, in public places, such as schools and movie theatres.

    Whether or not these incidents are actually created by the ruling elite is a moot point. What matters is that their proliferation has been extremely effective in providing the media will the fodder to repeatedly ask, “When is the Government going to make the possession of guns illegal so that the killing will stop?”

    Many citizens are wary of such suggestions, but countless others quickly take the bait and demand that the Government “do something.”

    Eventually, this becomes a point of pride for many citizens — a badge of righteousness — for standing up for those who have been victims.

    Through such efforts, the US constitution has slowly lost its ability to serve as a limitation to Government power. A proliferation of laws that redefine what the Constitution means has, over time, eviscerated the Constitution.

    Not surprisingly, those who support this effort are largely liberal, which creates a backlash from those who are conservative and vehemently oppose any erosion of the Constitution.

    Those who are liberal may reinforce their beliefs by watching propaganda networks on television and regularly pump up the dangers of the Constitution. Likewise, conservatives have their propaganda network, which can be counted on to reinforce their views.

    Whichever side Americans take on such issues, they would be wise to keep an eye out for what may be the next development in this wrangle.

    Those who dutifully watch the liberal “news” networks may soon see pundits despairing that the failings of the aging Constitution must be dealt with. It must be updated if it is to serve changing needs. After all, the Founding Fathers cannot be blamed that they didn’t foresee the existence of AK-47s. Surely, it falls to the present administration to “correct” the failings of the well-intentioned old document.

    Conservatives, of course, are likely to be more cautious, but what we may see is for the pundits on their favoured network to express frustration that the Left is seeking to erode traditional values and must, at some point be stopped, or the country will be destroyed. There can be no question that the Founding Fathers were correct — that unless the Constitution and its amendments are not clarified once and for all as to what they were meant to express, American liberty is at stake.

    Americans, like citizens of most countries, love a good battle between good and evil. Every four years, a massive three-ring circus is staged in which the political leader is decided and both sports teams – Democrats and Republicans – go all out in seeking a victory on the playing field.

    However, in most cases, neither candidate is trustworthy or qualified for the job, but this is of no importance. The essence of the battle is not to select a wise and capable leader but to win.

    Similarly, once the populace has been wound up on both sides to believe that only a pitched battle can “re-establish the Constitution” or “modernise the Constitution,” the battle shall be met.

    At present, this eventuality may seem mere speculation. But then, the media campaign has not yet begun.

    At present, all that exists is pundits in the media bemoaning the injustice of the present situation.

    What is needed is the prediction of pundits that, whatever side an individual takes on the issue, his side is sure to win.

    On the liberal side, social warriors must come out daily in the media with demands for change and the certainty of success once the battle has begun. On the conservative side, pundits need to guarantee that the battle will be won once and for all, but that the situation is in dire need of immediate attention, or all may be lost.

    The result will not be immediate, but, with repetition, eventually, the American people on both sides of the fence may well not only suggest, but demand that the matter be sorted.

    At that point, the Government may announce that a Constitutional Review will be undertaken. It would not matter that most of those making the demand are the pundits on the media networks. What would be presented would be that “a majority of Americans demand that the review take place as soon as possible.”

    Although at the time, the propaganda may imply that the review will be focused on one part of the Constitution, such as the Second Amendment, Americans will soon discover that the entire document is up for grabs. Under the terms of the review, all facets of the Constitution may be questioned.

    Then what would the outcome be?

    Each side will hope that their elected representatives will emerge as the heroes, but that is not how politics works.

    In truth, elected leaders do not seek to serve the public but to dominate them. Invariably, their recommendations for change will be whatever transfers greater power to themselves.

    Both Democratic and Republican members will argue forcefully for the rights of the American citizen. However, in the end, a “compromise” shall be made — one in which the rights of the populace are diminished and the Government has new powers to allow it to bypass the electorate in the future.

    If this does occur, the public will, in effect, “boil themselves.” They will have demanded that the Government act, and, when the dust has settled, each side will claim some sort of victory but will fail to understand that they have brought about their own loss of rights.

    It is hoped that, when the day comes that a Constitutional Review is proposed, Americans refuse to take the bait.

    *  *  *

    Economically, politically, and socially, the United States seems to be headed down a path that’s not only inconsistent with the founding principles of the country, but accelerating quickly toward boundless decay. In the years ahead, there will likely be much less stability of any kind. That’s exactly why New York Times bestselling author Doug Casey and his team just released an urgent new report titled Doug Casey’s Top 7 Predictions for the Raging 2020s. Click here to download the free PDF now.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 19:45

  • Apollo Readies Large Cap Direct Loan Fund
    Apollo Readies Large Cap Direct Loan Fund

    As the old adage goes, “if you can’t beat them, join them…”

    That appears to be exactly what Apollo Global Management is doing, after the asset manager has spun up its first ever dedicated fund for large-cap direct loans.

    The firm is looking to “fill the gap left by banks pulling back from financing buyouts,” according to a Thursday morning Bloomberg wrap up of the news. 

    The newly formed venture is going to be called Apollo Origination Partners, and it’ll be the first in a series of funds that will make direct loans to companies with at least $100 million in earnings, the report says. The fund raised $2.35 billion to get started.

    John Zito, Apollo’s deputy chief investment officer of credit, told Bloomberg: “The number of firms who can do $1 billion deals is shrinking. We’re financing these sponsors in ways that they used to access the syndicated market. Now they’re accessing the private market.” 

    Wall Street has pulled back on this type of funding as concerns about inflation, raising rates and recession have loomed. 

    Apollo has already handled 11 transactions of at least $1 billion each, this year through July, the report says. 

    The company is stress testing new loans using the assumption that there could be a recession anytime with the next four to six quarters. Loans come with first-lien collateral protection, and Apollo is looking for “well capitalized” borrowers who have sticky customer bases with recurring revenue. 

    “Everyone wants capital right now. We’re leaning into our deepest sponsor relationships,” Zito said.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 19:20

  • House Democrats Pass Inflation Reduction Act, Sending It To Biden's Desk
    House Democrats Pass Inflation Reduction Act, Sending It To Biden’s Desk

    Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) bangs the gavel after the House of Representatives voted 220–207 to pass the Inflation Reduction Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Aug. 12, 2022. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

    House Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act in a strictly party-line vote on Aug. 12, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk for final approval.

    The 220-207 vote came as little surprise, as Democrats have been outspoken in their support for the package while Republicans have come out strongly against the legislation. Four Republicans did not vote.

    The bill was passed by the Senate on Aug. 7 using the reconciliation process, which rendered it immune to the filibuster.

    On July 27, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced that he had reached a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to pledge his support for the $700 billion spending bill, which Democrats claim will bring in $725 billion in new revenue to the federal government and reduce the deficit by around $292 billion annually.

    The Inflation Reduction Act was the product of a year of harried negotiations, compromises, and disappointments for Democrats as they tried to pass the much larger $1.75 trillion Build Back Better (BBB) Act.

    Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) barreled ahead with the vote even though the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had not given its final scores yet, meaning that the actual effect the bill will have on federal revenues, spending, the deficit, and national debt are largely unknown.

    Republicans and Democrats alike have pointed to hundreds of economists who either support the bill or oppose it.

    There is no consensus among the experts, and without CBO numbers, analysts can do little more than make an educated guess about the effects it will have.

    Floor Debate

    Prior to the vote, Republicans and Democrats debated the bill for about three hours on the House floor.

    Democrats portrayed the bill as a timely one which will help reduce inflation and lower costs for American families. Republicans, on the other hand, contended that the bill would only worsen the situation, and blasted Democrats for moving the partisan bill through Congress without proper bipartisan consideration.

    “For too long, too many people in this country have felt like the work that happens in Washington isn’t meant to help them,” Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who led Democrats’ caucus during the floor debate, said in his party’s opening remarks. “And for a long time, they’ve been right.”

    “At the end of the day, this is not a complicated vote—it comes down to what your values are,” McGovern continued.

    “This is a historic bill,” McGovern said, encouraging others to support the legislation.

    Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) echoed McGovern’s support for the bill in his opening remarks.

    “The legislation before us today is a big deal for American families and a big deal for our planet,” he said. “The Inflation Reduction Act will lower health care and energy costs for working families. This legislation finally makes the wealthiest corporations start paying their fair share in taxes, and it ensures that rich tax cheats start paying what they owe.”

    Yarmuth said that the bill was fiscally responsible, fully paid-for, and had been endorsed by top U.S. economists.

    “Not one American family making less than $400,000 per year will see their federal tax bill increased by this legislation—not by a penny,” Yarmuth insisted. However, some critics of the legislation have described this oft-repeated claim as misleading, saying that it ignores the trickle-down effects that raising corporate taxes will have on consumer prices and wages.

    In his opening remarks for Republicans, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) blasted Democrats for the haste with which they’ve moved the bill through Congress, with no Republican input.

    He also mocked the title of the bill, saying that “you would need a nanometer [or a] micrometer” to measure the effect that the legislation will have on inflation.

    “This is the second time we’ve seen this legislative vehicle. The Democrats tried to push through partisan budget reconciliation—what does that mean? That means there is zero input from the Republican side of the aisle. And why is that important? You have a House and a Senate that are almost evenly-divided!

    “It’s 50-50 in the Senate—they relied on the vice president’s vote to get this across the finish line,” Burgess said, adding that Democrats barely have a majority in the House.

    “So don’t try to tell people that this has been an exercise that was well thought-out, that has come through the committees of jurisdiction, where people have had input—no! No Republican has had any input into this travesty that we have in front of us today.”

    Burgess said the Inflation Reduction Act is a reconfigured Build Back Better Act, and that the Democratic senators cut a deal with themselves

    “I stress again,” Burgess emphasized, concluding his remarks. “This bill had no Republican input and it will have a negligible effect on inflation.”

    Budget Committee Ranking Member Jason Smith (R-Mo.), who has been outspoken in his opposition to the bill, opened Republicans’ remarks during the floor debate.

    “This week we found out inflation remains at a 40-year high, with inflation having risen 13.7 percent since Biden became president,” Smith began. “Real wages have decreased by 4.5 percent. Americans are suffering.

    “Are we here debating how to alleviate that suffering? No. We are here to debate what Democrats call the ‘Inflation Reduction Act’—which everyone from the Congressional Budget Office, to 230 different economists, [and even] Sen. Bernie Sanders, have said will not reduce inflation.

    “When you strip away the sunset policies, this bill spends $745 billion and adds over $46 billion to our debt. It adds $54 billion to our debt in just the first five years.”

    Democrats’ claims that the bill will reduce the deficit, Smith noted, point to provisions which will not even begin to go into effect until 2029.

    “So lots of spending up front, lots of debt up front—and maybe savings eight years from now.”

    What’s In the Bill

    Included in the bill’s $700 billion in new spending is an $80 billion appropriation to the Internal Revenue Service—six times the agency’s current budget—as well as an array of new climate policies and tax incentives for individuals and corporations who switch to renewable energy sources and low-emission vehicles.

    Broken down, the roughly $80 billion appropriation to the IRS will go toward “necessary expenses for tax enforcement activities … to determine and collect owed taxes, to provide legal and litigation support, to conduct criminal investigations (including investigative technology), to provide digital asset monitoring and compliance activities, to enforce criminal statutes related to violations of internal revenue laws and other financial crimes … and to provide other services.”

    In addition, the funds would go to hire tens of thousands of new IRS agents to further aid enforcement of the new tax rules—which likely will mean far more audits across the board.

    Unsurprisingly, the effort to expand the IRS is not popular with Republicans, who have generally opposed such efforts in the past.

    “Democrats are scheming to double the size of the IRS by hiring an army of 87,000 new agents to spy on Americans,” wrote House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in an Aug. 4 tweet.

    The bill also includes a series of new taxes.

    The most substantial of these is a 15 percent minimum tax on corporations that make more than $1 billion per year. Though the law currently sets the tax rate for U.S. corporations at 21 percent, many megacorporations end up paying a substantially lower rate after exemptions, write-offs, and tax code workarounds are taken into account.

    The effect that this new tax requirement will have on consumer prices and workers’ wages is disputed. But Preston Brashers, a senior tax policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, predicted in an interview with The Epoch Times that the new tax would cause prices to surge and wage growth to slow or stagnate.

    In a compromise with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to win her support, Democrats also added a 1 percent excise tax on corporate stock buybacks, a practice commonly used by retirement account managers to increase the value of clients’ retirement portfolios.

    In addition the bill would, for the first time ever, allow Medicare Part D to negotiate with prescription drug manufacturers, who will have no choice under the legislation but to enter negotiations or face a massive 95 percent excise tax as punishment.

    While private insurers have long had the ability to haggle with drug manufacturers, such negotiations have been voluntary for both parties. But under the Inflation Reduction Act, drug manufacturers would not be permitted to refuse negotiations upon receiving an offer from the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

    These mandated price controls, the CBO has warned in the past, could greatly reduce medical innovation in the United States—meaning the number of new, life-saving drugs coming to market every year could shrink by as much as 50 percent.

    In the worst case, the CBO warned in a 2019 letter to Democrats discussing the same policy included in the Inflation Reduction Act, pharmaceutical companies may simply pull out of the U.S. market entirely rather than accept price controls or the excise tax (pdf).

    What’s Next for the Bill

    Because the bill has already been passed by the Senate, it will not need to go back to the upper chamber. Instead, it will now go directly to Biden’s desk for approval, which he has vowed to give.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 18:55

  • Popeyes Appears To Be Calling It Quits In China
    Popeyes Appears To Be Calling It Quits In China

    What would a U.S. presence anywhere be without fast food fried chicken? 

    Perhaps this is why Popeyes is in focus by the Global Times, after it was reported that the fast food chain shut down 7 of its 9 stores in mainland China. 

    The brand “apparently failed to gain ground” in China, the report says, while sister brand Tim Hortons – originally a Canadian brand – has continued to make an “ambitious expansion push”.

    Four outlets in Shanghai have closed, according to the report. They are unable to be reached by phone and only two additional locations – one in Huangpu District and one in Pudong New Area – remain.

    Popeye’s also formerly had two stores in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province and one store in Nanjing, East China’s Jiangsu Province, the report says. 

    A member of Popeyes’ staff confirmed to Global Times that the locations had been shuttered, and that they were unsure about their future: “We were not informed whether the stores will be closed permanently or opened later. We haven’t received any specific notice nor the reason for the closure.”

    Popeyes first started to expand in China at the worst possible time, May 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic. The company’s initial success – with customers waiting in line as early as 4AM – had led the brand to believe it could expand to 1,500 stores in 10 years. 

    Restaurant Brands International still has Tim Hortons – referred to as “Tim’s China” – and Burger King with a strong presence in mainland China. RBI is still aiming for more than 2,750 Tim Hortons stores in China by 2026.  

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 18:30

  • Mister Market Handing Out Roses Will Eventually Change His Mind
    Mister Market Handing Out Roses Will Eventually Change His Mind

    By Ven Ram, Bloomberg Markets Live commenator and analyst

    Just when you thought owning beta isn’t working anymore, out pops Mister Market and serenades you with a bouquet of roses.

    If you had taken a deep breath at the start of the second half of the year and kept your faith in the broader market, you would have got one-period price returns of some 11% on the S&P 500 and about 15% on the Nasdaq 100. You would, of course, take that any day. And especially in a milieu where inflation — despite the brouhaha we have seen since the release of US inflation data for July — is running rife and the Fed is nowhere near done with its hiking cycle.

    We have already heard from Charles Evans and Neel Kashkari that the Fed will keep going into next year and that the monetary authority has no intention to start slashing rates as the market seems to be thinking. By year-end we will likely be witness to the Fed rate being somewhere between 3.50% and 4% given that the Fed still needs to get into restrictive territory to engineer a soft landing. And lest it should be forgotten, the top end of the rate penciled in by Fed members for next year is 4.40%. Now juxtapose that with what stocks are yielding, and you will know their recent hubris may be tested in the months to come: the S&P promises an earnings yield of 5.4% and the Nasdaq just 4.1%.

    If you are going to own equities for the foreseeable future, would you rather not demand a bigger risk premium than a wafer-thin margin over where the Fed rate is likely to be? And don’t forget the rebound in real yields that we have seen this month, which has been nothing short of stunning, which will act as a drag on equities. At the moment, both the major stock benchmarks are sorely in need of a reality check — especially everyone’s favorite technology stocks.

    Owning beta has its advantages, but it may be easy to be swept up by a false sense of complacency. Mister Market seems to be thinking that this summer will last all-year long, but when the reality dawns, we know he can turn whimsical before you have time to pare your positions.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 18:05

  • Rent Is Becoming A Crisis In The U.S.
    Rent Is Becoming A Crisis In The U.S.

    The growing rental crisis in the U.S. has shown no signs of stopping.

    That was the topic of a new Bloomberg report this week that highlighted the stories of numerous Americans struggling to meet their rental obligations. 

    The cost of rent in the U.S. is moving higher at the highest pace in three decades, the report notes, blowing past a median of $2,000 per month for the first time ever. Rents are now above where they were prior to the pandemic in most major cities.

    Areas just outside cities, which saw a large influx of new renters during the pandemic, have seen their rents rise disproportionately higher. People returning to large cities, post-pandemic, have also not helped prices cool off.

    Additionally, rising interest rates have now deterred some would-be buyers, who are now becoming renters. Tight inventory continues to lead to bidding wars, even in the rental market, the report says. 

    Kate Reynolds, principal policy associate at the Washington-based Urban Institute, said: “It’s pretty much the perfect storm for renters right now. Those renters and their landlords don’t have a place to turn if they’re unable to pay the rent.”

    At the same time, renters are trying to cope with the affects of inflation nearly everywhere else in their lives. 

    Bloomberg notes that people of color and those with lower incomes are most disproportiately affected by the rise in rents:

    In the US, about 58% of households headed by Black adults rent their homes, along with nearly 52% of Latino-led households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of census data. In comparison, about a quarter of households led by non-Hispanic White adults, and a little under 40% of Asian-led households, are rentals. Some 54% of renters earn less than $50,000, and the annual median household income among renters is about $42,500, below the national median of $67,500, according to Zillow.

    Single family rents were up by a record 14% in May from the year prior this year. In some cities, like Miami and and Orlando, rents skyrocketed 40% and 25%, respectively. Las Vegas rents were up 16.7% in May from the year prior. 

    Cities like Atlanta have also seen rents rise 14.8% from a year prior. People moving from the West or the Northeast to the South have also boosted rents. 

    Duluth, Georgia resident Karla Kelley said: “We’re getting a lot of people from the Northeast or from the West Coast. To them, these rents are not huge.”

    40% of all households that are not current on their rent say they are likely to be evicted or foreclosed within the next two months. This represents about 5.4 million households, according to the report. 

    And as we have documented on this site many times over, people are now turning to debt to try and cover their costs – including their housing costs. Credit card balances were up $46 billion in Q2 of this year and 30% of Americans have admitted to using credit cards or loans to meet “spending needs in the prior week”. This number was up from 23% in early January.  

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 17:40

  • Five Lingering Questions In The Wake Of The Mar-a-Lago Raid
    Five Lingering Questions In The Wake Of The Mar-a-Lago Raid

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    Former President Donald Trump has waived any objections to the release of the warrant and property receipt after the filing of a motion by the Justice Department. The motion, however, did not seek the release of the most important document in this controversy: the supporting FBI affidavit. That is the document that would reveal what the FBI told the magistrate about the prior communications with the Trump team and the specific allegations of the status of the documents in question.

    There are reports that the documents involved material of the highest possible classification dealing with nuclear weapons. There is no question that the former President has no authority to retain classified material and that the government has a legitimate right to retrieve such material.

    We should see the warrant and property list relatively soon in light of the DOJ motion and the Trump waiver. My greatest interest is the specificity of the information. Here are a few questions as we wait for the warrant and list:

    1. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the DOJ would have used other less intrusive means if they were possible. Yet, it would seem that such options were not just possible but obvious, including the use of a second subpoena. Moreover, even if a raid was necessary, it is not clear why the DOJ would descend upon Mar-a-Lago with such a massive show of force rather than send a few agents over with the warrant.

    2. If the FBI believed that there was nuclear-related information in the resort, it certainly did not seem to move with dispatch. The last communication, according to the Trump team, was in June. Even after securing a warrant, there was reportedly a delay in executing the warrant. Why?

    3. If the FBI suspected that high-level material was retained at the resort, did they identify the material to the Trump team and demand its return? It is hard to imagine the Trump Team telling the FBI to pound sand if such a demand was made. Yet, such a denial would readily support a showing of probable cause. Moreover, adding a lock to the door of a storage room would not be viewed as a sufficient for material at the apex of classification levels.

    4. Did the warrant specifically identify the material or the classification level? If the warrant sought the recovery of any possible classified evidence, it would again raise what was stated in the affidavit and the reason why such material was not acquired in the June subpoena despite the reported cooperation of the Trump team.

    5. There remains the role of the confidential informant and what the person shared with the DOJ. Was there evidence of active concealment of the material or merely a statement of additional documents being stored at the resort?

    It is highly unlikely that all of this information will be contained in just the warrant and the list. Given the growing controversy over the necessity of the raid, this is one circumstance where the release of the affidavit is warranted. Rather than allow such questions to fester and grow, early and total transparency would seem in the public interest.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 17:15

  • NYC Warns "Polio Circulating" City After Virus Found In Sewage
    NYC Warns “Polio Circulating” City After Virus Found In Sewage

    Health officials have detected poliovirus in wastewater from New York City, suggesting the virus is circulating undetected across the metro area. 

    The New York State Department of Health and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced their findings about the virus known to cause permanent paralysis and even death. 

    “The risk to New Yorkers is real but the defense is so simple — get vaccinated against polio … With polio circulating in our communities there is simply nothing more essential than vaccinating our children to protect them from this virus, and if you’re an unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated adult, please choose now to get the vaccine,” Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the New York City health commissioner, stated in a Department of Health press release. 

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     A polio case identified in Rockland County, just north of NYC, in late July was “just the very, very tip of the iceberg” and an indication there “must be several hundred cases in the community circulating,” Dr. Jose Romero, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told CNN on Wednesday. 

    Besides an emerging polio threat, main stream media and government have been drumming up monkeypox and COVID virus doom stories to keep people in a perpetual state of fear.  

    … and, of course, the government is offering polio booster vaccines. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 16:50

  • Grocery Inflation Hits Highest Level In 43 Years Despite Biden’s 'Zero' Inflation Messaging
    Grocery Inflation Hits Highest Level In 43 Years Despite Biden’s ‘Zero’ Inflation Messaging

    Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    People shop for produce at a store in Rosemead, Calif., on June 28, 2022. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

    While the annual pace of inflation in the United States eased slightly in July, a deeper dive into the numbers reveals that some of the categories that hit everyday Americans especially hard in the pocketbook have soared, with the price of groceries jumping to the highest level since 1979.

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Aug. 10 that the headline pace of inflation, as reflected in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) ticked down from a recent peak of 9.1 percent in June to 8.5 percent in July.

    The month-over-month CPI inflation figure came in at 0 percent, meaning the overall pace of price growth stayed flat between June and July, prompting President Joe Biden to take a victory lap saying that the “economy had zero percent inflation in the month of July.”

    Republicans and some economists objected to the White House messaging on “zero” inflation by arguing that Biden was cherry picking the data by focusing on the 0 percent month-over-month pace of growth, while overlooking that the year-over-year rate of inflation—which tends to be the more commonly reported figure—remained at an eye-watering 8.5 percent.

    “It’s a bogus math trick. This is the overall one-month index change. Overall that means that the big drop in fuel oil and gas (following previous massive monthly increases) swamped the huge increases everywhere else,” wrote Jeffrey Tucker, president of the Brownstone Institute think tank and columnist for The Epoch Times.

    But while the annual 8.5 percent pace of inflation was, indeed, a slowdown from the prior month, several categories the BLS uses to calculate the price index soared, with one key gauge hitting a multi-decade high.

    The food-at-home index, which represents food purchased in places like grocery stores for consumption at home, jumped by an annual 13.1 percent, which is the fastest pace since March 1979.

    “Consumers are getting a break at the gas pump, but not at the grocery store,” Bankrate Chief Financial Analyst Greg McBride told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement. “Food prices, and especially costs for food at home, continue to soar, rising at the fastest pace in more than 43 years.”

    Shoppers shop at a grocery store in Glenview, Ill., on July 4, 2022. (Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo)

    In Monthly or Annual Terms, Food Inflation Soars

    Some of the sharpest year-over-year jumps in food purchased for consumption at home include flour (+22.7 percent), chicken (+17.6 percent), milk (+15.6 percent), bread (+13.7 percent), and eggs (+38 percent).

    And even though the overall month-over-month CPI index growth came in at 0.0 percent, the vast majority of food-at-home items that make up the index also saw month-over-month increases, including potatoes (+4.6 percent), coffee (+2.7 percent), peanut butter (+3.5 percent), chicken (+1.4 percent), and eggs (+4.3 percent).

    The cost of shelter also rose in both annual and monthly terms, climbing 5.7 percent over the year and 0.6 percent over the month.

    Experts say that the lagging nature of the shelter component of the price index means inflationary pressures are likely to stay high for at least several more months.

    “Shelter costs are still rising at a knee-buckling pace, and accounted for 40 percent of the increase in the core CPI,” McBride said. “Change in rent prices, in particular, tend to lag increases in home prices so we can expect to see continued moves higher for months to come in what is the biggest component of the inflation index.”

    The so-called “core” CPI inflation measure, which excludes food and energy and is viewed as a better gauge of underlying price pressures, remained unchanged in July at 5.9 percent in annual terms, and up 0.3 percent in monthly terms.

    The fact that core CPI rose over the month suggests inflation could stick around for longer and maintain pressure on the Fed to keep hiking rates aggressively, despite stocks and other risk assets rallying following Wednesday’s relatively soft inflation print.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 16:25

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Aug 12

Today’s News 12th August 2022

  • Trump Demands 'Immediate Release' Of FBI Raid Documents
    Trump Demands ‘Immediate Release’ Of FBI Raid Documents

    Update (0032ET): President Trump has effectively dared the Department of Justice to release the documents related to the Monday raid on Mar-a-Lago.

    “Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents, even though they have been drawn up by radical left Democrats and possible future political opponents, who have a strong and powerful vested interest in attacking me, much as they have done for the last 6 years…” Trump said in a Thursday night post on Truth Social.

    “This unprecedented political weaponization of law enforcement is inappropriate and highly unethical. The world is watching as our Country is being brought to a new low, not only on our border, crime, economy, energy, national security, and so much more, but also with respect to our sacred elections!” he said in a subsequent post.

    *  *  *

    The FBI was looking for ‘classified documents relating to nuclear weapons,’ among other things, during its Monday raid at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, WaPo reports, citing ‘people familiar with the investigation.’

    So – we’re to believe that the FBI took several boxes from Trump in June, told him to put a bigger lock, and then two months later realized ‘oh — he might have nuclear secrets‘ – justifying the raid.

    The leakers did not offer additional details.

    Material about nuclear weapons is especially sensitive and usually restricted to a small number of government officials, experts said. Publicizing details about U.S. weapons could provide an intelligence road map to adversaries seeking to build ways of countering those systems. And other countries might view exposing their nuclear secrets as a threat, experts said.

    One former Justice Department official, who in the past oversaw investigations of leaks of classified information, said the type of top-secret information described by the people familiar with the probe would probably cause authorities to try to move as quickly as possible to recover sensitive documents that could cause grave harm to U.S. security. -Washington Post

    “If the FBI and the Department of Justice believed there were top secret materials still at Mar-a-Lago, that would lend itself to greater ‘hair-on-fire’ motivation to recover that material as quickly as possible,” said David Laufman, the former chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence section.

    So we assume the narrative will now be that Trump leaked, or could have leaked, nuclear secrets to Putin – which justified “authorities to try to move as quickly as possible to recover sensitive documents” in the name of national security.

    Right…

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    Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed during a brief Thursday speech that he personally approved the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, and that the DOJ has asked a federal court to unseal the document.

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    “Just now, the Justice Department has filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida to unseal a search warrant and property receipt relating to a court approved search that the FBI conducted earlier this week,” Garland said.

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    Trump allies have suggested that the warrant was politically motivated, while Trump himself said on Truth Social on Wednesday that the FBI may have planted evidence.

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    The search is connected to an investigation on whether Trump unlawfully retained presidential records – including classified materials, following his departure from office in January 2021.

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    According to US Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez from the Southern District of Florida, “The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing” the warrant.

    Jay I. Bratt, the Justice Department’s chief for Counterintelligence and Export Control Section National Security Division, co-signed the document.

    According to the four-page motion, a judge signed and approved of the search warrant on Aug. 5, the Friday before the search was executed. The Justice Department also seeks to reveal the property receipt listing the seized items and filed today with the court.

    Shortly after the government’s filing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart set a speedy pace to determine whether Trump opposes unsealing. -Law & Crime

    “On or before 3:00 p.m. Eastern time on August 12, 2022, the United States shall file a certificate of conferral advising whether former President Trump opposes the Government’s motion to unseal,” Reinhart wrote.

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    *  *  *

    US Attorney General Merrick Garland will make a statement to the media at 2:30 pm ET on Thursday, following the FBI’s Monday raid on Mar-a-Lago.

    Garland has found himself in the crosshairs of conservatives, who claim that the establishment has once again ‘weaponized’ the DOJ against Donald Trump.

    Watch live:

    Sen. Rand Paul and other conservatives have called for an investigation.

    “And if it warrants it, there’s going to have to be a look at whether or not the attorney general has misused his office for political purposes. Have they gone after a political opponent? I mean, this is beyond the pale,” he told Fox News on Wednesady. “No one would have ever imagined before that we would be using or one political party would be using the FBI to attack their political opponents.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 08/12/2022 – 00:34

  • The Madness Of Groupthink
    The Madness Of Groupthink

    Authored by Robert Malone via Brownstone Institute,

    “Madness is the exception in individuals but the rule in groups.”

    ~ Fredrich Nietzsche

    We all seek to understand the root causes of the COVIDcrisis. We crave an answer, and hope is that we can find some sort of rationale for the harm that has been done, something that will help make sense out of one of the most profound policy fiascos in the history of the United States.

    In tracing the various threads which seem to lead towards comprehension of the larger issues and processes, there has been a tendency to focus on external actors and forces. Examples include the Medical-Pharmaceutical Industrial complex, the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum, the Chinese Central Communist Party, the central banking system/Federal Reserve, the large “hedge funds” (Blackrock, State Street, Vanguard), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Corporate/social media and Big Technology, the Trusted News Initiative, and the United Nations.

    In terms of the inexplicable behavior of the general population in response to the information which bombards all of us, the denialism and seeming hypnosis of colleagues, friends and family, Mattias Desmet’s 21st century update of the work of Hannah Arendt, Joost Meerloo, and so many others is often cited as the most important text for comprehending the large scale psychological processes which have driven much of the COVIDcrisis madness. Dr. Desmet, a professor of clinical psychology at Ghent University (Belgium) and a practicing psychoanalytic psychotherapist, has provided the world with guide to the Mass Formation process (Mass formation Psychosis, Mass Hypnosis) which seems to have influenced so much of the madness that has gripped both the United States as well as much of the rest of the world.

    But what about the internal psychological processes at play within the United States HHS policy making group? The group which has been directly responsible for the amazingly unscientific and counterproductive decisions concerning bypassing normal bioethical, regulatory and clinical development norms to expedite genetic vaccine products (“Operation Warp Speed”), suppressing early treatment with repurposed drugs, mask and vaccine mandates, lockdowns, school closures, social devision, defamation and intentional character assassination of critics, and a wide range of massively disruptive and devastating economic policies.

    All have lived through these events, and have become aware of the many lies and misrepresentations (subsequently contradicted by data) which have been walked back or historically revised by Drs. Fauci, Collins, Birx, Walensky, Redfield, and even Mr. Biden. Is there a body of scholarship and academic literature which can help make sense of the group dynamics and clearly dysfunctional decision making which first characterized the “coronavirus taskforce” under Vice President Pence, and then continued in a slightly altered form through the Biden administration?

    During the early 1970s, as the (tragically escalated) Viet Nam War foreign policy fiasco was starting to wind down, an academic psychologist focusing on group dynamics and decision making was struck by parallels between his own research findings and the group behaviors involved in the Bay of Pigs foreign policy fiasco documented in A thousand days: John F. Kennedy in the White House by Arthur Schlesinger.

    Intrigued, he began to further investigate the decision making involved in this case study, as well as the policy debacles of the Korean War, Pearl Harbor, and the escalation of the Viet Nam War. He also examined and developed case studies involving what he saw as major United States Government policy triumphs. These included the management of the Cuban missile crisis, and development of the Marshall Plan. On the basis of these case studies, examined in light of current group dynamic psychology research, he developed what a seminal book which became a cautionary core text for most students of Political Science.

    The result was Victims of Groupthink: A psychological study of foreign-policy decisions and fiascoes by Author Irving Janis (Houghton Mifflin Company July 1, 1972).

    Biographical Context:

    Irving Janis (1918-1990) was a 20th century social psychologist who identified the phenomenon of groupthink. Between 1943 and 1945, Janis served in the Research Branch of the Army, studying the morale of military personnel. In 1947 he joined the faculty of Yale University and remained in the Psychology Department there until his retirement four decades later. He was also an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.

    Janis focused much of his career on studying decision making, particularly in the area of challenging habitual acts such as smoking and dieting. He researched group dynamics, specializing in an area he termed “groupthink,” which describes how groups of people are able to reach a compromise or consensus through conformity, without thoroughly analyzing ideas or concepts. He revealed the relationship peer pressure has to conformity and how this dynamic limits the confines of the collective cognitive ability of the group, resulting in stagnant, unoriginal, and at times, damaging ideas.

    Throughout his career, Janis authored a number of articles and governmental reports and several books including Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes and Crucial Decisions: Leadership in Policy Making and Crisis Management. 

    Irving Janis developed the concept of groupthink to explain the disordered decision-making process that occurs in groups whose members work together over an extended period of time. His research into groupthink led to the wide acceptance of the power of peer pressure. According to Janis, there are several key elements to groupthink, including:

    He observed that:

    • The group develops an illusion of invulnerability that causes them to be excessively optimistic about the potential outcomes of their actions.
    • Group members believe in the inherent accuracy of the group’s beliefs or the inherent goodness of the group itself. Such an example can be seen when people make decisions based on patriotism. The group tends to develop negative or stereotyped views of people not in the group. 
    • The group exerts pressure on people who disagree with the group’s decisions.
    • The group creates the illusion that everyone agrees with the group by censoring dissenting beliefs. Some members of the group take it upon themselves to become “mindguards” and correct dissenting beliefs. 

    This process can cause a group to make risky or immoral decisions. 

    This book was one of my assigned textbooks during undergraduate studies in the early 1980s, and it has deeply influenced my entire career as a scientist, physician, academic, entrepreneur, and consultant. It has been widely read, often as required reading during undergraduate political science coursework, and A Review of General Psychology survey (published in 2002) ranked Janis as the 79th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

    As I have considered the revelations provided by the recent books from Dr. Scott Atlas (A Plague Upon Our House: My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from Destroying America) and Dr. Deborah Birx (Silent Invasion: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, Covid-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It’s Too Late), I realized that the prescient insights of Dr. Janis were directly applicable to the group dynamics, behaviors and faulty decision making observed within the core HHS leadership “insider group” responsible for much of the grossly dysfunctional decision making which has characterized the COVIDcrisis.

    Janis’ insights into the process of groupthink in the context of dysfunctional public policy decision making profoundly foreshadowed the behaviors observed within the HHS COVID leadership team.

    A high degree of group cohesiveness is conductive to a high frequency of symptoms of groupthink, which in turn are conductive to a high frequency of defects in decision-making.  Two conditions that may play an important role in determining whether or not group cohesiveness will lead to groupthink have been mentioned – insulation of the policy-making group and promotional leadership practices.

    Rather than paraphrasing his ideas, below I provide key quotes from his seminal work which help shed light on the parallels between the foreign policy decision making fiascos which he examined and current COVIDcrisis mismanagement.

    I use the term “groupthink” as a quick and easy way to refer to a mode of thinking that peole engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the member’s strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.  “Groupthink” is a term of the same order as the words in the newspeak vocabulary George Orwell presents in his dismaying 1984– a vocabulary with terms such as “doublethink” and “crimethink”.  By putting groupthink with those Orwellian words, I realize that groupthink takes on an invidious connotation.  The invidiousness is intentional.  Groupthink refers to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment that results from in-group pressures.

    Hardhearted actions by softheaded groups

    At first I was surprised by the extent to which the groups in the fiascoes I have examined adhered to group norms and pressures toward uniformity.  Just as in groups of ordinary citizens, a dominant characteristic appears to be remaining loyal to the group by sticking with the decisions to which the group has committed itself, even when the policy is working badly and has unintended consequences that disturb the conscience of the members.  In a sense, members consider loyalty to the group the highest form of morality. That loyalty requires each member to avoid raising controversial issues, questioning weak arguments, or calling a halt to softheaded thinking. 

    Paradoxically, softheaded groups are likely to be extremely hardhearted toward out-groups and enemies.  In dealing with a rival nation, policymakers comprising an amiable group find it relatively easy to authorize dehumanizing solutions such as large-scale bombings.  An affable group of government officials is unlikely to pursue the difficult and controversial issues that arise when alternatives to a harsh military solution come up for discussion.  Nor are members inclined to raise ethical issues that imply that this “fine group of ours, with its humanitarianism and its high-minded principles, might be capable of adopting a course of action that is inhumane and immoral.”

    The more amiability and esprit de corps among the members of a policy-making in-group, the greater is the danger that independent critical thinking will be replaced by groupthink, which is likely to result in irrational and dehumanizing actions directed against out groups.

    Janis defined eight symptoms of groupthink:

    1)    An illusion of invulnerability, shared by most or all of the members, which creates excessive optimism and encourages taking extreme risks.

    2)    Collective efforts to rationalize in order to discount warnings which might lead the members to reconsider their assumptions before they recommit themselves to their past policy decisions.

    3)    An unquestioned belief in the group’s inherent morality, inclining the members to ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions.

    4)    Stereotyped views of enemy leaders as too evil to warrant genuine attempts to negotiate, or as too weak and stupid to counter whatever risky attempts are made to defeat their purposes.

    5)    Direct pressure on any member who expresses strong arguments against any of the group’s stereotypes, illusions, or commitments, making clear that this type of dissent is contrary to what is expected of all loyal members.

    6)    Self-censorship of deviations from the apparent group consensus, reflecting each member’s inclination to minimize to himself the importance of his doubts and counterarguments.

    7)    A shared illusion of unanimity concerning judgements conforming to the majority view (partly resulting from self-censorship of deviations, augmented by the false assumption that silence means consent).

    8)    The emergence of self-appointed mindguards- members who protect the group from adverse information that might shatter their shared complacency about the effectiveness and morality of their decisions.

    It is relatively easy to identify errors of thought, process, and decision making in retrospect. Much harder is to devise recommendations that will help to avoid repeating history. Fortunately, Dr. Janis’ provides a set of prescriptions which I have found useful throughout my career, and which can be readily and effectively applied in almost any group decision making environment.  He provides the following context for his treatment plan:

    My two main conclusions are that along with other sources of error in decision-making, groupthink is likely to occur within cohesive small groups of decision-makers and that the most corrosive effects of groupthink can be counteracted by eliminating group insulation, overly directive leadership practices, and other conditions that foster premature consensus.  Those who take these conclusions seriously will probably find that the little knowledge they have about groupthink increases their understanding of the causes of erroneous group decisions and sometimes even has some practical value in preventing fiascoes.

    Perhaps one step that might be taken to avoid further repeats of the public health policy “fiascoes” which characterize the domestic and global response to the COVIDcrisis is to mandate leadership training of the Senior Executive Service (much as mandated within DoD), and particularly within the leadership of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Whether or not this ever becomes the governmental policy, below are the nine key points which any of us can apply when seeking to avoid groupthink in groups that we participate in.

    Nine action items for avoiding groupthink

    1)    The leader of a policy-forming group should assign the role of critical evaluator to each member, encouraging the group to give high priority to airing objections an doubts.  This practice needs to be reinforced by the leader’s acceptance of criticism of his own judgements in order to discourage the members from soft-pedaling their disagreements.2)    The leaders in an organizations hierarchy, when assigning a policy planning mission to a group, should be impartial instead of stating preferences and expectations out the outset.  This practice requires each leader to limit his briefings to unbiased statements about the scope of the problem and the limitations of available resources, without advocating specific proposals he would like to see adopted.  This allows the conferees the opportunity to develop and atmosphere of open inquiry and to explore impartially a wide range of policy alternatives.

    3)    The organization should routinely follow the administrative practice of setting up several independent policy-planning and evaluation groups to work on the same policy question, each carrying out its deliberations under a different leader.

    4)    Throughout the period when the feasibility and effectiveness of policy alternatives are being surveyed, the policy-making group should from time to time divide into two or more subgroups to meet separately, under different chairmen, and then come together to hammer out their differences.

    5)    Each member of the policy-making group should discuss periodically the group’s deliberations with trusted associates in his own unit of the organization and report back their reactions.

    6)    One or more outside experts or qualified colleagues within the organization who are not core members of the policy-making group should be invited to each meeting on a staggered basis and should be encouraged to challenge the views of the core members.

    7)    At every meeting devoted to evaluating policy alternatives, at least one member should be assigned the role of devil’s advocate.

    8)    Whenever the policy issue involves relations with a rival nation or organization, a sizable bloc of time (perhaps an entire session) should be spent surveying all warning signals from the rivals and constructing alternative scenarios of the rivals’ intentions.

    9)    After reaching a preliminary consensus about what seems to be the best policy alternative, the policy-making group should hold a “second chance” meeting at which every member is expected to express as vividly as he can all his residual doubts and to rethink the entire issue before making a definitive choice.

     

    Robert W. Malone is a physician and biochemist. His work focuses on mRNA technology, pharmaceuticals, and drug repurposing research. You can find him at Substack and Gettr

     

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 23:40

  • What's Trading Most On Capitol Hill?
    What’s Trading Most On Capitol Hill?

    On August 9, after more than a year of preparation, President Biden signed the CHIPS for America Act into law. Congress passed the policy to strengthen U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturers in January 2021 but didn’t allocate it any budget until now. The bill comes at a time of increased dependency by U.S. companies like Apple, Qualcomm or NVIDIA on Taiwanese chip manufacturers.

    As Statista’s Florian Zandt notes, the latter company made headlines at the end of July when the spouse of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sold 25,000 of the corporation’s shares from their portfolio, one day before CHIPS Act passed Congress a second time.

    As Statista’s chart based on data from Capitol Trades shows, NVIDIA is not the only stock drawing increased attention from U.S. lawmakers in the past year.

    Infographic: What's Trading on Capitol Hill? | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    Topping the list are Big Tech stocks like Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet, whose trade volume amounted to $129.6 million, $8.3 million and $7.0 million in the last twelve months, respectively. With Antero Midstream Corp and Shell Midstream Partners, the top 8 traded stocks include two listings that could be categorized as left-field if not for the ongoing war in Ukraine. Shell Midstream partners, according to company statements, “owns, operates, develops and acquires pipelines”, while Antero Midstream focuses on “natural gas and NGL production in the Appalachian basin”. Interestingly, both stocks were only traded by Republicans in the past year, with the majority of trade activity coming from House Republican Mark Green from Tennessee, a notable opponent of the theory of human-made climate change.

    Politicians using their knowledge of upcoming bills in conjunction with stock trading activities could, in theory, constitute insider trading. Discussing its perceived legality or illegality has long been a staple of the stock market. Still, the practice flies under the radar in day-to-day trading activities. While the so-called STOCK Act which prohibits trading commodities based on nonpublic information was signed into law in 2012, the fines tied to a violation are often minuscule. This could change soon though: Business Insider and other media outlets have identified 67 politicians not complying with the law in a recent report, and Congress is open to debating measures that would ban all federal lawmakers from trading stocks.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 23:20

  • Modern American Policy: Stupid Or Sinister?
    Modern American Policy: Stupid Or Sinister?

    Authored by Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com,

    American policy has been acting in ways which suggest either a desperate ignorance or a sinister restructuring of the national narrative.

    Surveying the Senseless

    The USA is now staring down the barrel of four-decade high inflation, an inverted yield curve and the highest debt levels in its history as Wall Street recently enjoyed the strongest relief rally since 2020 on the bad news of yet another Fed rate hike (75bp) into a percolating liquidity crisis.

    Huh?

    In a Fed-led dystopia marked by years of printed rather than earned liquidity, bad news is now good news to markets who nervously seek pretexts for central bank stimulus rather than actual earnings or GDP.

    In such distorted landscapes, positive jobs data creates sell offs and crippling rate hikes induce rising stocks.

    For almost 2 years, while we and other candid market observers were warning of crippling inflation, our central bankers were describing it as “transitory” with a dishonesty similar to the current recession is not a recession meme.

    Huh?

    Meanwhile in DC, we see growing signs of a political culture less about public service and more about self-service.

    Wealth disparity in the home of the brave has passed the highest levels ever recorded and points directly to the slow and empirical death of the American middle class.

    The suburbs around DC are growing richer with lobbyist and polo-playing defense contractors buying concessions and second homes from politicians who openly sell votes for reelection in a democracy that more resembles an auction house than a house of representation.

    A former tobacco tsar at the FDA, for example, recently took an executive role at Phillip Morris while an executive at Raytheon (America’s second largest defense contractor) just took a key post at the Department of Defense.

    Alas, the foxes not only guard the hen house, they run it.

    The Land of the Free?

    If fascism is defined as “the perfect merger of the state and corporate powers” (See Mussolini circa 1936), then the USA may still be the land of the brave, but it no longer resembles the land of the free.

    JP Morgan, led by a $35M/year Jamie Dimon, just paid a $96M “fine” for a $20B profit garnered from openly manipulating the gold market.

    Huh?

    At the same time, once great (and now police-defunded) cities like Chicago, NYC, and San Francisco are seeing tumbleweeds blowing past office vacancy rates as high as 40% following an historically disastrous COVID lockdown policy which did far more psychological, criminal and financial damage ($7T and counting) to America than a flu with less than a 1% Case Fatality Rate.

    Huh?

    Turning to foreign policies, having failed to deliver “freedom and democracy” to Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan at the cost of America’s best sons and daughters, one wonders why the US has spent another $60B to bring “freedom” to the Ukraine when millions of US children live in poverty.

    All Americans hate to see civilians suffer in needless wars. But many who blindly wave Ukrainian flags in moments of ad-water, instant-virtue signaling from a government-led media can’t place Ukraine on a map nor bother to examine the complex history of its Russian tensions which date back to the 1750s.

    Furthermore, sending an IQ, history and geography challenged Kamila Harris to pre-war Ukraine with a NATO narrative only accelerated the February drums of war (and the financially disastrous sanctions that followed) in the same way that Pelosi’s recent trip to Taiwan seems to be more about flaming rather than cooling the war hawks.

    Does the US, with over 800 military bases in 70 countries actively seek war, or does it seek peace? Thousands are dying in the East for what many professional US statesmen believe was an easily avoidable war.

    Has the military industrial complex, against which Eisenhower (no stranger to war) warned in January of 1961, hi-jacked American politics?

    Meanwhile, as American monetary and fiscal policy reached new levels of open insanity in the seemingly deliberate fear-campaign led by “experts” like Fauci in the dramatically-described “war against COVID,” the latest boogieman out of DC is an equally unaffordable war against an equally-hyped climate change.

    If passed, “The Inflation Adjustment Act of 2022,” now sitting on Biden’s desk (or pillow), seeks further dollars that America does not earn yet which the White House assures won’t be inflationary.

    Huh?

    Do the foregoing samples of questionable policy failures evidence open stupidity, or is there something more systemic at play?

    The Fed: “Advancing the Few at the Expense of the Many”

    My take on the Fed is only that: My take. It is based upon the premise (and bias) that the Fed is driven, as Andrew Jackson warned, to serve the few and not the many.

    This presumption comes not only from personal observations, but a careful study of the Fed’s illegitimate practices and origins, far too complex to unpack here but detailed in Gold Matters.

    The Ongoing Inflation Lie

    As I’ve been writing and saying for months, the Fed’s current inflation narrative as well as “solution” is as openly bogus as a 42nd Street Rolex.

    There is little about the current inflation narrative that compares to the 1970’s, and hence little about Powell’s current policies which remotely compare to the so-called Volcker era of 1980, which ended, by the way, in a recession.

    Nevertheless, I am fascinated by the extensive time, brain-power and pundit attention given to explaining current inflation.

    Fancy concepts from “demand-pull” to “supply shocks,” or “extraneous shocks” and “accelerants” to even “black swans” are used to explain a 9.1% CPI inflation scale (which, if DC truly wishes to be “Volcker-like,” is closer to 18% using the metrics of his era…).

    The Simple Inflation Truth

    Inflation, which was already steadily rising pre-Putin and percolating pre-COVID, is nothing more than the direct consequence of USD debasement driven by: 1) years of openly addictive mouse-click money (>10X since 2008) from the Eccles Building and, 2) fatal fiscal spending from the White House, be it red or blue.

    In just the last 24 months, the Fed created 50% more mouse-click money than all the money that ever existed in the 256 years of its national existence.

    Such numbers are a tad “inflationary,” no? Alas, costs are rising because our grotesquely inflated/de-valued dollar is tanking.

    Between 1776 and the un-immaculate conception of the Fed in 1913, a USD was once a USD.

    Since 1913, however, a USD is really (worth) nothing more than a Nickle.

    Why?

    Broken Faith vs. Store of Value

    Because when a central bank creates trillions of those dollars out of thin air with no link to an underlying real asset or an equivalent exchange for a good or service (as Germans like Alfred Lansburgh, Austrians like von Mises and Americans like Andrew Dickson White argued), that dollar is nothing more than a symbol of broken faith rather than a store of genuine value.

    Like a glass of wine filled with a swimming pool of water, the dollar is diluted; it’s flavor, color and value ruined. Since 1971, and when measured against a single milligram of gold, the USD, like all other fiat currencies, has lost greater than 95% of its value.

    The Fed: Blaming vs. Accountability

    Rather than confess the toxic reality (and complicity) of the fatal and inflationary expansion of the broad money supply, the DC elites first tried to call it “transitory,” and when that failed, they tried to call it “Putin’s inflation.”

    Really?

    There’s no doubt that the sanctions against Putin sent gas prices and the CPI higher—especially in Europe. And there’s also no doubt that the trillions of fiscal and monetary dollars used to “fight” COVID were CPI tailwinds.

    But a tailwind does not mean a cause.

    Take the “war on COVID” and the $7T+ in combined fiscal and monetary dollars used to combat it.

    I’m not here to end the COVID debate with medicine or science, of which I’m clearly no expert. But many of us (including Rand Paul or Christine Anderson) would agree that neither was Fauci, the CDC, the WHO or the NIH.

    Almost everyone (vaxed or un-vaxed, masked or un-masked) has already caught the virus; it’s fairly clear that locking the country down for well over a year did nothing but cost money and freedoms while destroying businesses who deserved to choose for themselves whether to stay open or shut.

    There will be others who disagree, but in my legally, historically and financially educated mind, not since the oxy-moronic Patriot Act have I seen a greater crime (or psy op) against a nation’s own citizens and their once inalienable rights and civil liberties as that which was embodied by the 2020 lockdowns.

    As Ben Franklin warned, a nation which surrenders its freedoms in the name of security deserves neither.

    Critical Thinking Locked Down

    As a kid who won athletic scholarships to some of the finest schools (from Choate to Harvard) in America, I learned the trade of critical thinking, which any of us can acquire, with or without a shiny diploma.

    What particularly sickened me, however, was that the very schools (prep to grad level) who taught me the history, laws and methods of thinking critically, independently and openly, were the same knee-bending schools who collectively insulted those same principals by shutting their doors to the un-vaxed and censoring alternative views from professors and students who thought differently.

    Were these lockdowns proof of humanitarian concern or were they test-drives for increasingly centralized control over national and international markets, currencies and populations?

    From the very beginning of the pandemic, expert virologists, physicians and even vaccine creators (as evidenced by the meetings at the AIER in Great Barrington) with equal if not far superior credentials than Dr. Fauci, were openly censored, gas-lighted and criminalized by the media as flat-earth “conspiracy theorists”—the now favorite term of art for anyone who disagrees with DC’s often comically official narrative on anything from WMD to the current definition of a recession.

    Thus, when considering the current inflation narrative and its causes, was the US merely stupid in imposing financially crippling lockdowns or were there sinister forces engineering fear as a means of pushing the masses into dependency while the Fed printed more dollars for the repo and bond markets (a hidden “bailout’) than for Main Street?

    Saudi Did It?

    Others may want to blame the Saudis and the high oil prices for the inflation we see today.

    It’s worth reminding, however, that today’s oil price is roughly the same as it was in April of 2020.

    The Solution Narrative

    As far as combatting inflation, that too creates a great deal of space for debate, error and comedy.

    Many, including the Fed’s James Bullard, Lael Brainard or Neel Kashkari have been arguing for aggressive rate hikes to kill inflation.

    But with inflation already at 9.1%, such “above-neutral” would require the Fed to follow the IMF’s recommendation that interest rates be at least 1% above inflation rates. In an honest world, that would require a 10.1% interest rate policy, which would immediately bankrupt Uncle Sam.

    Instead, Powell is boasting of an “aggressive” 2.25-50% Fed Fund Rates to fight 9.1% inflation, the policy equivalent of storming the beaches of Normandy with squirt-guns.

    Meanwhile, the Cleveland Fed, as per my recent articles, is using dishonest math to publicly claim positive 1% real rates despite the fact that when measuring even a 3% yield on the 10Y UST against a 9.1% inflation rate, the USA is in fact living in a world of at least -6% rather than +1% real rates.

    Like the CPI scale itself, the Fed is openly lying about negative real rates.

    Sadly, such clever math is now the new DC normal. The Fed won’t say what the rest of us know, namely: The only tool to fight Fed-made inflation is a Fed-made recession, which they will deny in plain sight.

    The Recession Narrative

    The latest lie from on high, of course, is the valiant attempt by Powell, Biden and Yellen to downplay 2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP as a non-recessionary “transition” despite such data effectively confirming the very definition of a recession.

    Instead, DC would now have us believe that positive labor and unemployment data is non-recessionary.

    In particular, the BLS is boasting 528,000 newly created jobs in July (and 2M year-to-date), which places US unemployment at an admirable 3.5%, the lowest level seen in 50 years.

    Unfortunately, a little bit of honest math indicates that those “new jobs” don’t represent new folks finding work, but sadly, just folks already-employed who are taking on second or third jobs to survive rising inflation costs.

    The July labor force participation rate actually went down, which means there are less not more people in the work force.

    In April of 2019, I did a more extensive report on the DC math used to artificially puff US labor data (U3 and U6) which is far worse than officially reported.

    But who needs real math or honest data when DC’s comforting words feel so much better?

    Such consistent trends of sanctioned dishonesty, however, force us to question the intelligence and desperation of our so-called “leadership.”

    From Fake Math to Real Wars

    I’ve written and spoken extensively about the avoid-ability of the war in Ukraine as well as the foreseeable stupidity of the Western sanctions against Putin, all of which have empirically backfired at every level– from the slow collapse of the petrodollar (and hence USD) to the slow rise of a stronger, Eastern-lead trading block among the BRICS.

    The petrodollar is no laughing matter. Since de-coupling from the gold standard, the US relies on the forced global purchase of oil in US Dollars to prevent this already debased currency from losing even more demand, and hence value and power.

    Only two global leaders have since tried to stand up to the petrodollar power in the past. Saddam Hussein wanted to buy oil in euros and Khaddaffi wanted to buy oil in gold; and just look what happened to them…

    Unfortunately for the US, both China and Russia have nuclear weapons. Hence, the US playbook of fighting wars or indirectly eliminating leaders to keep its financial interests secure got a little bit messier this February when poking at Putin.

    The Dollar Fairytale: Another Open Lie from On High

    Despite openly objective evidence of an increasingly unloved USD, DC continues to boast of the relative strength of the USD on the DXY.

    What DC won’t say, however, is that this “strength” is only measured against a tanking yen and euro, two debt-soaked currencies who don’t have enough reserve currency clout to afford a currency-boosting rate hike.

    Against the Chinese Yuan, however, the US has less of which to boast…

    In short, the USD is anything but strong.

    As discussed above, its inherent purchasing power has been neutered by over a century of devaluation and is little more than the best horse in the Western glue factory.

    Profitable War Drums

    Given the failings and open lies above, from inflation realism and recessionary word-smithing to dying currencies and rising, unpayable debts, why on earth would the US now be saber rattling over the Ukraine or pinching the Chinese bear over Taiwan?

    Is it to spread democracy and freedom by helping the underdog, whatever the sacrifice?

    Well, one of our most famous underdogs, military generals and presidents, George Washington, warned over 2 centuries ago to precisely avoid such foreign entanglements. “Truly enlightened and independent patriots,” he argued, focused on prosperity within their borders not peripheral wars outside them.

    Despite such warnings, the US has spent a lot of time fighting outside its borders rather building unity within them.

    Why?

    One sad but empirically proven argument is that war is historically good for tanking GDP and struggling stock markets.

    In March of 2018, I penned an eerily prescient analysis of how US stocks love global war, and warned of escalations against Russia and China.

    In particular, I addressed the historical data of the “war dividend,” which tracked US markets reacting favorably to de-stabilization outside its borders.

    Thus, even if Generals Washington and Eisenhower warned against such conflicts, Wall Street and the defense contractors who lobby DC love a good war.

    Why?

    Because war feeds US markets. Conflicts overseas create massive capital flows into the relative safety of the US.

    During the Iraq War, hundreds of billions in Middle Eastern assets rushed into US markets while NATO bombs landed in Iraq. Between 2003 and 2008, the Dow rose steadily upwards.

    During the Vietnam War (which killed 58,000 Americans and 1.2 million Vietnamese), the Dow gained 53%. When the war ended, the markets promptly fell, and fell hard.

    During the Great War of 1914-1918, the Dow nearly doubled. As for WW2, the Dow rose by 164% between Pearl Harbor in 1941 and VJ day in 1945.

    Given such numbers, was the recent idea of sending a kindergarten-level intellect like Kamila Harris to negotiate peace (?) with Putin in early 2022 deliberately set up to fail?

    Was Pelosi’s recent flight to Taiwan a commitment to ensure freedom? Or is there a more sinister, yet hidden, motive to push for war in a time of economic disaster at home?

    Is America Heading in the Opposite Direction of Its Founding Fathers?

    History confirms that every debt crisis leads to a financial crisis, a market crisis, a currency crisis, social unrest, a political crisis, and ultimately extreme authoritarian and centralized control from the far political left of right.

    Given how increasingly centralized our openly broken yet centrally controlled markets, economies and politics have become, and given the acceleration and scope of the open lies, backfiring polices and unpayable costs and debts which have emerged in the post-COVID and post-sanction new normal, is it possible that the USA is headed toward a similarly authoritarian fate?

    Is it possible that the by ignoring the clear warnings of figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Franklin and Dwight Eisenhower, that America is heading in the opposite direction of its founding principles?

    Is it possible that the openly failing inflation, recessionary, domestic and foreign polices listed above are more than just a list of stupid mistakes, but indicators of a set-up for something more sinister?

    Are our markets, economies, currencies and individual freedoms being sacrificed to the altar of order, control, safety and security?

    Is DC creating an intentional class of American lords and serfs, in which the former hand out stimulus checks to prevent the later from reaching for pitch forks?

    As we learned in the Europe of the 1930’s or the lockdowns of the 2020’s, fear (be it viral, militant or economic) is a potent tool of control—it turns revolutionary anger into malleable subservience.

    Just a thought.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 23:00

  • Hurricane-Stoking La Nina To Persist Through Peak Season
    Hurricane-Stoking La Nina To Persist Through Peak Season

    As peak hurricane season is underway, the odds of La Nina sticking around for at least a few months are rising, potentially leading to more hurricanes and tropical storms. 

    According to the US Climate Prediction Center’s latest data, there’s an 80% chance of cool waters across the equatorial Pacific Ocean through October. Last month the agency estimated 62% odds of La Nina for the same period, a noticeable increase over the previous month. 

    The weather phenomenon known as La Nina helps to fuel tropical development by cutting down on the amount of wind shear across the western Atlantic. High wind shear can disorganize the structure of tropical systems by weakening them or destroying them.

    We pointed out earlier this month that the first two months of hurricane season have been relatively quiet, but that is all expected to change as peak hurricane season has arrived. 

    Increased tropical storm activity usually begins in August and lasts through early October. 

    The concern with entering the most active part of hurricane season, plus a possible boost in the severity of storms due to lingering La Nina, is that more areas of the US are prone to possible landfall. 

    The National Hurrican Center has identified one disturbance in the Atlantic, though formation odds in the next 48% hours are extremely low. 

    And here’s what La Nina means for the weather conditions across the country this fall. 

    Another problem is if a hurricane or tropical storm were to make landfall on US soil and damage infrastructure, a critical supply shortage of transformers, distribution lines, and poles could prolong power outages. Then there’s the risk of a tropical system slamming into the Gulf Coast of the US, where major oil/gas refinery operations exist — any disruption due to storm-related damage could reverse the steepest declines in fuel prices since GFC. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 22:40

  • It's Not Hypocrisy, You're Just Powerless
    It’s Not Hypocrisy, You’re Just Powerless

    Authored by N.S. Lyons via The Upheaval (emphasis ours),

    Hello Friend,

    I saw your post on the interweb the other day about that nasty thing Team A did, even though they always completely lose their collective mind with moralistic outrage if Team B (which I understand is your team) even thoughtcrimes about doing something similar. In fact Team A seems to blatantly do things all the time that no one on Team B could ever get away with doing without being universally condemned as the absolute worst sort of immoral criminal/being openly threatened with mob violence/losing their livelihood/having their assets frozen/being rounded up by the state and shipped to a black site somewhere for some extended TLC.

    Maybe the latest thing was breaking some very important public health rules, or pillaging and burning down government buildings for fun, or mean tweets, or polluting the planet with a private jet, or using allegedly neutral public institutions against political opponents, or just engaging in a little tax-dodging or corruption while doing, like, a ton of blow in a hotel room with some capital city hookers – I forget the specifics. In fact I forget what country you’re even living in now days.

    But I did see that slick video you posted on how just pointing out “imagine if someone on Team B did this!” is all it takes to blow the lid off this glaring hypocrisy, thus totally destroying Team A with facts and logic. I’ve noticed you posting a lot of things like this, which is nice, since they are very witty and produce a pleasant buzz of smug superiority, even though this feeling never lasts very long.

    However, I suddenly realized that you may not be in on the joke, so to speak, so I figured I’d write this short PSA to help explain what “hypocrisy” in politics actually is, just in case you didn’t know and had been fooled into seriously trying to benefit Team B with your comparative memes.

    You see, it’s possible you are under the misapprehension that you are not supposed to notice what you described as the “double-standard” in acceptable behavior between Team A and Team B. And that you think if you point out this double-standard, you are foiling the other team’s plot and holding them accountable. This might be because, in your mind, you are still in high school debate club, where if you finger your opponent for having violated the evenly-applied rules a neutral arbiter of acceptable behavior will recognize this unfairness and penalize them with demerits.

    Except in reality you are not holding Team A accountable, and in fact are notably never able to hold them accountable for anything at all. Even though Team A gets to hold you accountable for everything and anything whenever they want. This is because unfortunately there is no neutral arbiter listening to your whining. In fact, currently the only arbiter is Team A, because Team A has consolidated all the power to decide the rules, and to enforce or not enforce those rules as they see fit.

    As some dead American white male once said, “The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.” And if you remember there once being a more equal, neutral standard for both teams in the past, that probably wasn’t because either team was nicer back then, or was more constrained by some higher power within or above the system – there was just a more equal balance of power between them, and therefore they could both hold each other accountable by punishing the other if it strayed too far from “the rules” written down on a scrap of paper somewhere.

    Today, however, Team A is not operating on remotely the same level as Team B. And your biggest misunderstanding may be that you think Team A doesn’t want Team B to recognize this fact and point it out for the whole world to see. Yes there is a separate-and-not-equal standard for Team A, and this is no accident. Yes there are two different tiers of acceptable behavior; two tiers of justice; two tiers of citizen.

    In fact, there is no “Team A” or “Team B,” only Class A and Class B.

    And Class A really wants everyone, especially Class B, to understand this, because they think Class B seriously needs to get the message and accept its place in the order of things. Class B is on the bottom, where it belongs. Class A is on top, and a more lenient standard is a privilege reserved for them, by virtue of their natural moral/educational/economic/aesthetic superiority and consequent rightful dominance. If Class B does not enjoy this discipline, they should strive to clean up their dirty, stupid, wicked ways and someday become part of Class A.

    Friend, you are not in high school debate club anymore. You are a peasant in feudal Japan, and every day the Samurai get to denigrate, abuse, and rough up your kind as much as they want. But if you ever talk back to a samurai, let alone try to do a little roughing up of your own, you will be beheaded on the spot. And far from being punished for this, the samurai who does it will be praised for doing his duty, since uppity peasants are dangerous and immoral and need to be dealt with at once, before they threaten the established social hierarchy. That samurai is just protecting democracy the Shogunate. Pointing out the hierarchy of the social order as a peasant will be met only with a nod of approval: “yes, that is how it is, it’s good that now you finally understand.”

    “Hypocrisy,” I hope you now see, is simply a display of power, so the more blatant it is the better. Hypocrisy is a concrete demonstration of living without having to fear consequences. And Class A loves it when Class B notices this and whines about it, because complaining about hypocrisy is just another way of saying “Class A is higher status than me,” and “I am the loser.” That’s the joke.

    Much like the Great Khan, Class A has decided the greatest happiness in life is to crush its class enemies, see them driven before it, and hear the lamentations of their pundits.

    Fundamentally, Class A believes the purpose of power is to reward its friends and punish its enemies. Which is what it does. That way it can keep its enemies down at the same time as it attracts more friends by offering great perks for class membership. And as a controversial Arab thought-leader once said: everyone prefers a strong horse to a weak horse.

    If you, Class B serf, do not enjoy this arrangement, your lamentations about hypocrisy will not change it, no matter how loud and shrill. Only taking back control of the levers of power and then using that power to strike the fear of accountability into the hearts of your ruling class will ever be able to do that.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 22:20

  • Trump 'Shattering' All Fundraising Records After FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid
    Trump ‘Shattering’ All Fundraising Records After FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Former President Donald Trump shattered fundraising efforts following the FBI Mar-a-Lago raid, according to his son Eric.

    “Breaking: DonaldJTrump.com is shattering all fundraising records and I’m told has raised more money in the past 24 hours than ever before in recent history! The American people are [angry]!” Eric Trump wrote on Truth Social.

    Former U.S. President Donald Trump applauds upon arrival at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 6, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

    The former president’s second-oldest son did not say how much was raised in the past two days.

    After Trump confirmed the raid occurred at his Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, he has sent out numerous emails and text messages that include links to donate.

    Trump and other top Republicans say the FBI and Department of Justice are acting in a blatantly political manner, with members of Congress promising investigations. Further, they’ve accused the Biden administration of weaponizing federal law enforcement to harm Trump’s and Republicans’ chances during the midterm elections, which are only about 90 days away.

    “They are trying to stop the Republican Party and me once more,” Trump said in a fundraising email Tuesday, which was seen by The Epoch Times. “The lawlessness, political persecution, and Witch Hunt, must be exposed and stopped.”

    Trump on Tuesday also released a political ad describing the United States as a “nation in decline” and makes reference to what is described as numerous failures on behalf of the Biden administration including the fall of Afghanistan, inflation, high energy prices, and more.

    “We are a nation that allowed Russia to devastate a country, Ukraine, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and it will only get worse,” Trump says in the clip. “We are a nation that has weaponized its law enforcement against the opposing political party like never before.”

    More Details

    Both the Justice Department and FBI have declined to comment or even confirm the raid to numerous news outlets. The Epoch Times has contacted the two agencies for comment.

    Secret Service personnel are seen in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. on August 8, 2022. The FBI raided the home reportedly to retrieve classified White House documents. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images)

    Stark images of FBI agents holding rifles during the Mar-a-Lago raid have since been uploaded online as Trump spokeswoman Christina Bobb confirmed about two dozen agents descended on the property Monday. She told news outlets that Trump’s team members were denied the ability to watch the agents, who took boxes of documents.

    On Truth Social Wednesday, Trump warned that the FBI may have planted evidence.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 21:40

  • Flying Taxi Company Doubles DoD Deal For eVTOLs
    Flying Taxi Company Doubles DoD Deal For eVTOLs

    Bloomberg reported that Californian venture-backed aerospace company Joby Aviation doubled the size of its US Defense Department (DoD) contract to produce electric-powered, vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, or eVTOLs, for the military. 

    The new agreement was announced Wednesday and had more than doubled the size of the prior contract from a $30 million value to $75 million, including eVTOLs for the US Marine Corps.

    “Continued momentum with government customers has always been an important part of how we go to market,” said Joby Executive Chairman Paul Sciarra. 

    Sciarra said additional military users testing eVTOLs would allow Joby to improve manufacturing, flight operations, and other functions before a public taxi service is launched in 2024. 

    “As we work toward our goal of launching a passenger ridesharing service, we’re grateful for the support of our defense partners. This extension provides valuable support for our ongoing development efforts and allows our partners to see first-hand the potential for this aircraft in their future concept of operations,” JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, stated in a corporate press release. 

    Joby has already tested eVTOLs with the Air Force for two years. The aircraft can transport four passengers at speeds up to 200 mph and fly 150 miles on a single charge.  

    Sciarra said that the Army and Navy had labeled eVTOLs as a “critical area of interest,” though both services aren’t part of the expanded contract. 

    DoD doesn’t expect to mount Hellfire or Sidewinder missiles on the eVTOLs. Instead, the aircraft will be primarily for military logistics, such as transporting supplies and medical emergencies.  

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 21:20

  • Did Lockdowns Turn Americans Into Lazy Bums?
    Did Lockdowns Turn Americans Into Lazy Bums?

    Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via Brownstone Institute,

    It looks as if we can add another line to the long list of lockdown harms. Sloth. 

    This explains so much actually. For months, we’ve been watching working/population ratios and labor participation rates and have been stunned by how they both continue to plummet. We search for explanations. Early retirement. Women driven out due to childcare shortages. Unemployment payments. 

    All these factors contribute but there is still more to explain. 

    In the midst of the astonishing hullabaloo over the raid of Donald Trump’s home – and the confiscation of a pro-freedom Republican Congressman’s smartphone – the Bureau of Labor Statistics dropped a remarkable report on labor productivity. Here we see something we’ve never seen before. 

    It’s low and falling. Lower than it has been than in the entire postwar period. It breaks all records. This chart is from 1948 to the present. It adjusts for all factors including participation, population, retirement, and so on. It only looks at hours over output. Here is what we see. 

    What does this mean?

    The immediate response might be that Americans have gotten lazy. They got used to their Zoom lifestyles and pretending to work. They want to hang around on apps, Tweet, chat it up with their friends on Facebook or Slack, and otherwise fake out the boss who can’t fire them anyway for fear of lawsuits. They aren’t doing much anymore, at least not those in high-end employment in professional office suits. 

    I resisted that conclusion and looked more deeply into how this number is calculated. It looks at total economic output compared to the number of labor hours from wage and salary employees involved in making that output. The result is a figure that estimates productivity per hour. And yes, it is probably widely inaccurate as these sorts of macroeconomic magnitudes tend to be. We use them anyway because they are consistently inaccurate: the same method used to calculate in one quarter is used to calculate in all. It thereby becomes useful. 

    And what it reveals is probably what we might expect. American workers have dealt with lockdowns and shutdowns, plus vaccine mandate demoralization, plus inflation eating away at real wages, plus an existing or impending recession, and you have the result. A nation of goof-offs. 

    It might be more than that. Lockdowns kicked off a national substance-abuse crisis: liquor, drugs, weed, you name it. And depression too. Even today, one cannot help but notice the smell of weed in large cities. This is not the smell of ambition and productivity. 

    We can combine this with the sheer number of people who have left the workforce completely and you paint a grim picture. 

    Economist and Brownstone Senior Fellow David Stockman has an interesting take on this. Rather than just fire people outright, companies are keeping unproductive employees on the payroll just in case. He writes:

    Today’s Q2 productivity report…came in at -4.7%, on top of the -7.7% decline posted in Q1. Together they amount to the worst back-to-back productivity declines ever reported.

    Our point is that this development puts a whole new angle on the so-called “strong” labor market. To wit, owing to the labor market turmoil and disruptions of the Covid-Lockdowns and massive stimmy injections since 2020, employers are apparently hiring on a just-in-case basis like rarely before. This is otherwise known as top-of-the-cycle labor hoarding.

    As shown below, since Q4 2021 economic output, which is a close derivative of real GDP, has shrunk by –1.2%. By contrast, the US nonfarm payroll has increased by 2.77 million jobs or nearly +2.0%.

    Needless to say, with far more labor spread over contracting output, labor productivity took it on the chin. That is to say, bad Washington policies including $6 trillion of stimmies, massive money-pumping and the brutal Lockdowns of the Virus Patrol have apparently left employers dazed and confused.

    At length, however, employers will wake-up to the fact that bloated payrolls against declining sales will result in a severe profit margin squeeze. Then the labor-shedding and layoffs will commence big time, even as the Keynesians in the Eccles Building are reduced to babbling about the “strong” labor market which suddenly vanished.

    What he is getting at is what I’ve called (after Keynes) the coming euthanasia of the overclass. It won’t be the people actually doing real stuff who will face layoffs but the Zoom workers who stayed home because government said they could and their employers could not object. Employees gradually discovered that they could be anywhere – at the pool, in bed, on the road, climbing mountains – and so long as they had a Slack app running, no one could tell. 

    Lockdowns acculturated an entire generation to believe that work is fake, productivity is a ruse, money comes for nothing, the boss is an idiot, and many workers are privileged to be wealthy forever due to papers handed out for $200,000 by colleges and universities. Who needs productivity, much less ambition? 

    In the old days, in an ethos formed from bourgeois experience over hundreds of years, the idea of working and doing one’s part was ingrained as a moral habit, part of the liturgy of life itself. When the government told everyone to stop in the name of virus control, something went haywire in people’s brains. If governments say that the work ethic amounts to nothing but pathogenic spread, and we can all contribute more by staying home and doing less, it’s hard to go back. It wrecked a generation. We are paying the price now. 

    The good news for the productive few is that this means higher wages and job opportunities galore, especially if you have actual skill and a desire to work. The bad news for everyone else is that many companies will soon discover that you are useless. That’s when the unemployment numbers will start ticking up, making this recession look more like ones in the past except for the relentless decline in real wages. 

    To answer the question about whether Americans have become lazy bums, the answer is many but not all. It’s sector specific. And individual specific. 

    Strange times. Sad times. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 21:00

  • Like In Taiwan, US Is "Main Instigator" Of Ukraine Crisis, China Says
    Like In Taiwan, US Is “Main Instigator” Of Ukraine Crisis, China Says

    In the wake of Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit this month, which sparked more than a week of Chinese military ‘live fire’ drills surrounding and threatening the self-ruled island, Beijing has grown bolder in its rhetoric on the war in Ukraine.

    In Wednesday remarks China’s ambassador to Moscow, Zhang Hanhui, told Russian media that it is fundamentally the United States which started the crisis in Ukraine. He named the US as the “main instigator” of the conflict in an interview with TASS. 

    “As the initiator and main instigator of the Ukrainian crisis, Washington, while imposing unprecedented comprehensive sanctions on Russia, continues to supply arms and military equipment to Ukraine,” Zhang was quoted as saying.

    Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui. Image: Xinhua

    “Their ultimate goal is to exhaust and crush Russia with a protracted war and the cudgel of sanctions,” he added.

    The provocative accusation comes months after the Biden administration first charged that Beijing was helping the Kremlin evade Western sanctions, and was even quietly supplying its military – allegations which were never backed by evidence. 

    Interestingly the Chinese ambassador drew on Taiwan parallels, where Beijing has also denounced the expansion of Washington influence and ‘illegal’ intervention via weapons shipments and high level Congressional delegations to Taipei which violate the One China principle:

    He railed against U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit last week to self-governing Taiwan, which China claims as its own, and said the United States was trying to apply the same tactics in Ukraine and Taiwan to “revive a Cold War mentality, contain China and Russia, and provoke major power rivalry and confrontation”.

    “Non-intervention in internal affairs is the most fundamental principle of maintaining peace and stability in our world,” Zhang said, applying the principle to criticize Washington’s Taiwan policy but not Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    On Sino-Russian relations, Zhang stressed that the two powerful countries had entered “the best period in history, characterised by the highest level of mutual trust, the highest degree of interaction, and the greatest strategic importance”.

    Zhang’s commentary on the ongoing Ukraine war is in line with the perspective of Russian state media, which has recently emphasized that US coup planners were behind the 2014 overthrow of Russia-backed Viktor Yanukovych, and further exacerbated a proxy war for the Donbas along the border. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 20:40

  • The Inflation Reduction Act Deserves Our Condemnation
    The Inflation Reduction Act Deserves Our Condemnation

    Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Time blog,

    Anyone pleased about the type of legislation Washington has come to see as normal does not understand what it means to be responsible.

    Huge bills containing hundreds or even thousands of pages of print where the devil in the details can be hidden from the minions are far too common. Bills joining and including several unrelated issues seldom make sense. It seems more like a wish list of things that would never get through the process on their own suddenly become more reasonable when coupled with other unimpressive ideas. Most of the large spending bills being passed in Washington deserve our condemnation.

    Mainstream Media Hails The Victory!

    While the news put out by mainstream media is busy saluting Biden and the Democrats for passing the latest “groundbreaking and historic” monstrosity they mention but fail to highlight the fact it was totally partisan. Not one Republican Senator voted for it. In short, this implies it is the type of legislation that only half the country or voters would support.

    Its supporters claim this bill aims to curb inflation by reducing the deficit, lowering prescription drug prices, and investing in domestic energy production while promoting clean energy solutions. Sadly, the cost for this monster is also skewed and not evenly shouldered by all. Not only is there some dispute as to who will get stuck paying for it when all is said and done, but do not be surprised if it cost more than planned and is far less effective at meeting its goals than promised. 

    Even the name of this legislation has drawn criticism for being misleading. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is not so much about reducing inflation as it is about, other things. Some people are calling it a landmark climate, health care, and tax package. In truth, it does a lot of things at great cost that many Americans don’t necessarily agree with. The Senate Democrats put out a one-page summary of the bill touting all the support it received. If it was overwhelmingly supported, why did it not get one Republican vote in the Senate?

    The Democrats Are Thrilled

    As for actual inflation reduction, the Tax Foundation estimates that the Inflation Reduction Act would reduce long-run economic output by about 0.1 percent and eliminate about 30,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the United States. It would also reduce average after-tax incomes for taxpayers over the long run. In fact, the Tax Foundation claims this bill may actually worsen inflation by constraining the productive capacity of the economy.

    One glaring problem is that it pushes Americans into electric cars whether they want them or not. The biggest issue with this is the whole premise that electric cars will solve the world’s environmental problems may be fundamentally flawed. A great deal could be done to improve the MPG we get on gasoline-fueled vehicles and the way we use them. Regardless of what many voters think, through subsidies, it seems those in charge are hellbent on pushing electric vehicles down consumers’ throats under the idea it is for the greater good.

    The idea Washington will utilize this law to bargain down prescription prices for all Americans is also hogwash. This legislation simply caps seniors’ out-of-pocket prescription drug expenses to $2,000 per year, and in four years will enable Medicare to negotiate the prices on 10 medications. As for all those people in America with diabetes, the final version of this bill that was passed by the Senate caps insulin prices at $35 a month for Medicare patients only.

    Those unimpressed with how Obamacare has performed will be annoyed to find this legislation also pushes back for three years the massive increase in Obamacare premiums that were set to move higher in January. This means the enhanced federal tax credits to save millions of people an average of $800 a year on health insurance premiums on the Affordable Care Act will remain in effect. This highlights the fact this does not reduce inflation it merely kicks the can down the road by masking the true cost of services by transferring wealth to subsidize their cost.

    This Is The Reality We Face

    This bill is another case of a slight majority shaping society and  transferring wealth through subsidies and edicts from high. The best thing about The Inflation Reduction Act is that its creators cannot praise it as being passed with broad bipartisan support. Again, I point to the fact not one Senate Republican voted for this 430 billion dollar bill. In some ways, its passage personifies Washington at its worse.  

    The icing on the cake for many taxpayers that already feel their freedom is slipping away as they wither under thousands upon thousands of archaic tax laws. The bill will also give $80 billion to the IRS to expand its audit capabilities, as well as a bevy of technology upgrades. The big issue is while Democrats hail the passage of this bill as a big win it is in all honestly, no way to run a country.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 20:20

  • Kim Jong Un Was 'Seriously Ill' With COVID, Blames S.Korea For Sending Tainted Objects Across Border
    Kim Jong Un Was ‘Seriously Ill’ With COVID, Blames S.Korea For Sending Tainted Objects Across Border

    In a rare public admission, North Korea’s government has confirmed that dictator Kim Jong Un became seriously ill during a recent Covid-19 outbreak in the country, though without specifically naming the virus.

    In Thursday statements by his sister Kim Yo Jong, it was revealed he had a “high fever” but as she described it, continued to work out of greater concern for the people amid the outbreak. Bloomberg writes of the statement from KCNA: 

    Still, she added in a quivering voice that her brother “could not lie down for even a moment because of his concerns for the people,” with state TV showing audience members in tears as she delivered her remarks. She didn’t say whether the elder Kim was among what North Korea calls “fever cases” or specify the date of his illness.

    Via The Independent

    Kim has emerged apparently healthy after spending most of last month away from public appearances, and was recently seen at a public event declaring “victory” in the “great quarantine war.” Pyongyang says it has at this point defeated the virus, which was slow to emerge in the country likely due to its extreme isolation.

    Kim Yo Jong in her address took the opportunity to lash out further at South Korea, which Pyongyang blames for spreading the outbreak, bizarrely charging that the south’s propaganda leaflets which routinely come across the border carried the virus in.

    According to more of her statements via Bloomberg: 

    Repeating dubious claims that the pamphlets caused the recent Covid outbreak in the north, Kim Yo Jong blamed “South Korean puppets” for sending “dirty objects” across the border in leaflets carried by balloons, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.

    The revelation of her brother’s illness marked an unusual admission for a regime that rarely comments on the leader’s health — and then only to show that he shares the struggles of the people.

    In a May speech she had warned Seoul directly, saying “If the enemy continues to do such a dangerous thing that can introduce virus into our republic, we will respond by eradicating not only the virus but also the South Korean authorities.”

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    While North Korean authorities have acknowledged hundreds of thousands of what it has called “fever cases” over the last months, it hasn’t specifically name it as Covid per se – perhaps in part as the country lacks enough testing kits, and also has consistently rejected foreign Covid vaccines. 

    Kim Jong Un, who is a smoker and has in prior years been overweight, is subject of frequent speculation about his health, given also he’s recently gone through rapid weight loss. It’s widely perceived that if anything were to happen to him that power would immediately be in the hands of his influential sister, who over the past half-decade has consistently been seen by his side.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 20:00

  • DOJ Charges Iranian Over Alleged Plot To Assassinate John Bolton
    DOJ Charges Iranian Over Alleged Plot To Assassinate John Bolton

    Authored by Kenny Stancil via Common Dreams,

    The United States Department of Justice has charged an Iranian citizen who it says is a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with attempting to hire an assassin to murder John Bolton, an ex-national security adviser in the Trump administration, multiple outlets reported Wednesday.

    According to the Justice Department, Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, offered to pay unnamed individuals $300,000 in November 2021 to “eliminate” Bolton in Washington, D.C. or Maryland.

    LightRocket via Getty Images

    Federal officials said the assassination of Bolton would have been in retaliation for the U.S. military’s January 2020 drone strike killing of Qasem Soleimani—a top commander in the IRGC, which is a branch of Iran’s military—in Iraq.

    “Poursafi is alleged to have said that after Bolton was killed, there would be another job, for which the hitman would be paid $1 million,” The Guardian reported. “The person offered the money became an FBI confidential informant, and continued to exchange texts on an encrypted communications app with Poursafi.” The 45-year-old suspect, who the DOJ believes tried to orchestrate the plot from Tehran, remains at large abroad.

    “If found and convicted, he would face up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 for the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, and up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 for providing and attempting to provide material support to a transnational murder plot,” the Washington Post reported.

    As The Guardian noted:

    Bolton was no longer national security adviser when the drone strike against Soleimani was carried out as the Iranian general was visiting Baghdad on January 3, 2020, but he is a longtime advocate of military action against Iran and a staunch opponent of the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal with Tehran. Secret Service cars have been reported to have been parked across the road from Bolton’s house in the Washington area at least since early 2022.

    In the immediate wake of Soleimani’s assassination, Bolton tweeted, “Hope this is the first step to regime change in Tehran.” Bolton, who admitted on CNN last month that he has “helped plan coups d’état” in foreign countries, served as a national security adviser to former President Donald Trump for 17 months, resigning in 2019 over reported disagreements about whether to lift some sanctions against Iran as a negotiating tactic.

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    “Bolton, who did not want the sanctions lifted, was a main architect of the Trump administration’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign of escalating economic sanctions and threats of retaliation for Iran’s alleged support of terrorism,” the Post noted. “The idea was to cripple Iran’s economy to the point that its leaders felt they must bargain away any nuclear ambitions and missile technology.”

    News of the FBI’s search for Poursafi comes just two days after negotiators in Vienna said they’re close to reviving the Iran nuclear accord that the Trump administration, with no small part played by Bolton, unilaterally tanked.

    Before his stint in the Trump White House, Bolton, whom critics have called a “bloodthirsty warmonger,” was a major cheerleader for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He served in senior arms control roles and eventually became ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush. Between the Bush and Trump presidencies, Bolton spent time working at right-wing think tanks, a private equity firm, and as a Fox News contributor.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 19:40

  • "Be Willing To Use Deadly Force": IRS Sparks Uproar Over Job Posting
    “Be Willing To Use Deadly Force”: IRS Sparks Uproar Over Job Posting

    Only two things in life are certain – death and taxes, and the IRS can take care of both.

    As the agency prepares to add 87,000 new positions over 10 years, pending the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act that will give the agency $80 billion (half of which will be earmarked to help crack down on tax evasion), an online job posting for “Criminal Investigation Special Agents” has sparked outrage over a “key requirement” that applicants be “legally allowed to carry a firearm.”

    “Major duties” of the job include “Carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary,” and “Be willing and able to participate in arrests, execution of search warrants, and other dangerous assignments.”

    While Democrats say the IRS’s enhanced collections will raise an additional $124 billion in federal revenue from tax cheats over the next decade, Republicans warn that an army of IRS agents will do nothing but harass small business owners and lower-income workers. According to an analysis by House Republicans, Americans earning less than 75,000 per year will receive 60% of the additional tax audits.

    The analysis, which is a conservative estimate based upon recent audit rates and tax filing data, shows that individuals with an annual income of $75,000 or less would be subject to 710,863 additional IRS audits, while those making more than $1 million would receive 52,295 more audits under the bill.

    Overall, the IRS would conduct more than 1.2 million more annual audits of Americans’ tax returns, according to the analysis. Another 236,685 of the estimated additional audits would target individuals with an annual income between $75,000 and $200,000.

    Democrats insist Americans making less than $400,000 will not be targeted by agents hired due to the spending bill. -NY Post

    IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, however, insists that “audit rates” won’t increase relative to recent years. 

    In a related piece of legislation reported by the Epoch Times, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced a bill last month which would bar the IRS from acquiring ammunition. Known as the “Disarm the IRS Act,” the bill (pdf) stipulates that the IRS is “prohibited from acquiring ammunition” and “notwithstanding any other provision of law.” Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) are co-sponsors of the measure, according to his office.

    It came after Gaetz, in interviews with Fox News and other outlets, expressed concern after he discovered that the IRS purchased more than $700,000 in ammunition over a span of several days days. The congressman suggested that it’s part of a broader White House plan to disarm Americans.

    “Here’s the Biden plan: Disarm Americans, open the border, empty the prisons–but rest assured, they’ll still collect your taxes, and they need $725,000 worth of ammunition, apparently, to get the job done,” he told Fox News last week.

    The bill, he said, would put a “total moratorium on the IRS buying ammo. When we used to talk about the IRS being weaponized, we were talking about political discrimination, not actual weapons for the IRS.”

    “Undeniably, part of the strategy is that with one hand, the Biden regime is doing everything they can to suppress access to ammunition for regular Americans, while with the other hand, they are scooping up all the ammo that they can possibly find,” Gaetz alleged.

    5 Million Rounds

    According to a report released by the Government Accountability Office in 2018, the IRS has been stockpiling ammunition and weapons for years. As of 2018, the agency had 4,487 firearms and 5,062,006 rounds of ammunition in its inventory, the report said.

    A 2018 report from Forbes noted that the IRS buys guns and ammunition for its Criminal Investigation Division. Agents in that division are the only employees in the IRS that carry firearms, according to its website.

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    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 19:20

  • Michigan Town Votes To Defund Library Over Books With Graphic Sexual Content
    Michigan Town Votes To Defund Library Over Books With Graphic Sexual Content

    Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Residents of a town in western Michigan have overwhelmingly voted to not renew a property tax millage that has helped fund their public library following a battle over LGBT-themed books with explicit illustrations.

    A file image of a school library. (John Moore/Getty Images)

    More than 60 percent of Jamestown Township voters voted “no” on Aug. 2 to a 10-year millage renewal and a tax increase for the local library. Roughly 3,000 people, representing a third of the township’s population, participated in the election.

    The bulk of the library’s $245,000 annual budget comes from the now-defeated millage, which means that the Patmos Library will run out of money in early 2023, according to library board President Larry Walton. It also means that residents won’t have their property taxes raised by $24.

    Walton told Bridge Michigan that he “wasn’t expecting” the battle over graphic LGBT-themed books to end the way it did, saying it was “very disappointing” for people to be “short-sighted” in closing the library over those materials.

    “We’re all for the library. I use it,” Jamestown resident Sarah Johnson told the media outlet after voting to defund the library. “We want to make a statement that we want some say in the books.”

    According to Bridge Michigan, a parent complained earlier this year about the library’s inclusion of Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer: A Memoir.” The book depicts a variety of sexual acts, including the self-described nonbinary author’s sexual experiences. When asked to take “Gender Queer” out of circulation, the library board instead put it behind the counter so that children wouldn’t be able to access it.

    Jamestown residents also reportedly took issue with some other titles, including “Spinning,” a graphic novel about a teenage lesbian skater, and “Kiss Number 8,” a graphic novel with similar homosexual themes. Despite popular demand for their removal, the board insisted on keeping those books in the young adult section.

    Patmos Library officials couldn’t be reached for comment.

    Nathan Triplett, president of the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), praised Patmos for refusing to “give in to the demand” of the people whose tax dollars support the library’s operation.

    “It’s a credit to the staff and board leadership of the Patmos Library that they have steadfastly refused to give in to demand that they purge their collection of LGBTQ materials. We need more of that courage and resolve today,” Triplett wrote on Twitter, in response to a post by the national ACLU regarding what it called “censorship” in school and public libraries.

    Progressive activists have decried “censorship” when concerned parents seek transparency in what their children are being exposed to and challenge sexually explicit books in classrooms or libraries.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 19:00

  • A Defense Sector Tailwind Helped By US-China Tensions Isn't Immune To Supply Chain Hangups
    A Defense Sector Tailwind Helped By US-China Tensions Isn’t Immune To Supply Chain Hangups

    “It’s all a god damn fake, man. It’s like Lenin said: you look for the person who will benefit, and, uh, uh, you know…” – The Dude, The Big Lebowski

    When looking for those who will benefit from rising tensions between the U.S. and China, look no further than defense contractors like Lockheed, Boeing and Raytheon. They will continued to stand to benefit…that is, assuming they can get the parts they need to manufacture. 

    According to a new report from Nikkei, the firms are scrambling to try and meet demand from a slew of new orders that are arising due to the heightened tensions.

    For example, Japan purchased 150 air-to-air missiles that can be loaded on its F-35 fighters from Raytheon Technologies, the report notes. The deal totalled $293 million. 

    Singapore bought laser-guided bombs and other munitions from the U.S. for $630 million on the very same day, the report notes.

    Australia was also given the approval to buy 80 air-to-surface missiles from Lockheed Martin just days prior. That deal totaled $235 million, the report says.

    Finally, South Korea is spending $130 million on 31 lightweight torpedoes to use with its MH-60R helicopters, the report says.

    The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which oversees foreign military sales, has had a “busy few months”, facilitating 44 deals that included an $8.4 billion potential sale of F-35’s to Germany. 

    And like everyone else in the world, these orders have been mired in supply chain hell. Lockheed, Raytheon, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics have all discussed that they are having difficulty securing both parts and labor during their most recent respective earnings calls. 

    China could (purposefully or incidentally) wind up adding complexities to the supply chain drama, should they move to infringe further on Taiwan. 

    Bradley Martin, director of the RAND National Security Supply Chain Institute, told Nikkei: “When disruptions don’t occur, this practice benefits producers and consumers alike. When they do occur, whether the reason is a pandemic or a natural disaster or an international conflict, there’s wide impact, sometimes in unexpected ways.”

    “The Pacific is on higher alert because of the statements and actions of China recently, not to mention North Korea. The value of deterrence has never been greater,” he added. 

    And while Lockheed’s sales were lower than expected last quarter, the blame has been place on supply chain challenges. In fact, the firm lowered its 2022 outlook to reflect such challenges. 

    Brian West, Boeing’s chief financial officer, had similar concerns: “We continue to experience real constraints.”

    “To stabilize production and support our supply chain, we’re increasing our on-site presence at suppliers, creating teams of experts to address industrywide shortages, utilizing internal fabrication for search capacity and managing inventory safety stock levels,” he continued. 

    Gregory Hayes, the chairman and CEO of Raytheon, followed suit: “We’re seeing lead times double and sometimes triple.”

    Kathy Warden, CEO of Northrop, concluded, noting that the recent events could act as a tailwind for defense going forward: “We’ve seen a fundamental shift in global commitment of resources for defense and national security, particularly in Europe.”

    “The geopolitical environment has highlighted an increased requirement for defense and deterrent. In the U.S., this has also resulted in strong bipartisan support for defense spending.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 18:40

  • Outgoing Whole Foods CEO: "I Feel Like Socialists Are Taking Over"
    Outgoing Whole Foods CEO: “I Feel Like Socialists Are Taking Over”

    Authored by Nick Gillespie via Reason (emphasis ours),

    “My concern is that I feel like socialists are taking over,” Whole Foods CEO John Mackey tells me on today’s show. “They’re marching through the institutions. They’re…taking over education. It looks like they’ve taken over a lot of the corporations. It looks like they’ve taken over the military. And it’s just continuing. You know, I’m a capitalist at heart, and I believe in liberty and capitalism. Those are my twin values. And I feel like, you know, with the way freedom of speech is today, the movement on gun control, a lot of the liberties that I’ve taken for granted most of my life, I think, are under threat.”

    If you’re as old as I am (I just turned 59), you will remember how dreary food shopping was before Whole Foods exploded the concept since it came on the scene in 1978. When I was a kid, you were lucky to find two or three types of potatoes in the produce aisle, one type of eggplant, maybe a green bell pepper, and a sad jalapeno or two (jalapenos were almost always sold pickled and in cans). Even in big cities, you had to roam around all over town to find oddball spices that you can now pick up in 7-11s and gas station convenience stores. 

    At the end of August, Mackey, born in 1953, is retiring from Whole Foods. Throughout his career, John has developed and evangelized for what he calls “conscious capitalism,” or businesses that seek to “create financial, intellectual, social, cultural, emotional, spiritual, physical, and ecological wealth for all of their stakeholders.” That may sound a bit hippy-dippy to you, but John is one of the most hardcore capitalists I’ve ever met, yet also an incredibly spiritual and thoughtful guy who wants to help all of us live better, more interesting lives.

    That comes through loud and clear in his epic 2005 debate with Nobel laureate Milton Freidman and former Cypress Semiconductor CEO T.J. Rodgers about rethinking the social responsibility of business. “I believe that the enlightened corporation should try to create value for all of its constituencies,” wrote John. “From an investor’s perspective, the purpose of the business is to maximize profits. But that’s not the purpose for other stakeholders—for customers, employees, suppliers, and the community. Each of those groups will define the purpose of the business in terms of its own needs and desires, and each perspective is valid and legitimate.” In many profound ways, John’s vision is now widely accepted, partly because he’s speaking to a post-industrial world that is rich enough that more and more of us are starting to bump our snouts further up Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Even in the developing world, more and more of us are trying to figure out how we can flourish rather than just subsist.

    I caught up with John at FreedomFest, the annual gathering in Las Vegas, and we talked about his time at Whole Foods, how his company did an exceptional job of staying open and serving people during COVID, what he thought about the government’s response to the pandemic, and a whole lot more. We also, of course, talked about what he’s going to do once he’s retired.

    In terms of business ventures, he’s planning to open a series of wellness centers and cafes. Of greater interest to me, John said that he felt muzzled in his position as CEO of Whole Foods. For many reasons, he says he couldn’t speak his mind on various issues, especially what he sees as a dangerous drift toward more and more control of everyday life, commerce, and speech. That all changes in September, he said, and we should expect him to be even more outspoken in his celebration of capitalism, which he considers the greatest anti-poverty program ever created, and many other issues.

    * * * 

    Previous Reason interviews with John Mackey:

    “Can ‘Conscious Capitalism’ Make Business a Heroic Enterprise? John Mackey Is Betting Yes: Podcast,” August 14, 2018

    “John Mackey’s Merger Made in Heaven,” July 1, 2018

    “‘They’re More Conscious and More Awake than My Generation Was,'” March 31, 2018

    “Whole Foods’ John Mackey on Amazon Merger: ‘A Meeting of the Souls,'” March 30, 2018

    “Whole Foods’ John Mackey on Veganism, Gary Johnson, and How Regulation Is Stunting Innovation,” August 16, 2016

    “Whole Foods’ John Mackey: Why Intellectuals Hate Capitalism,” August 12, 2015

    “John Mackey on Whole Foods, Conscious Capitalism, and Life Beyond the Profit Motive,” March 21, 2013

    “Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on the Moral Case for Capitalism,” August 10, 2012

    “Whole Foods Health Care,” December 15, 2009

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 18:20

  • Manhattan Rents Hit New Record High As Peak Season Could Lead To Cooling In Fall
    Manhattan Rents Hit New Record High As Peak Season Could Lead To Cooling In Fall

    Manhattan apartment rents jumped again in July into uncharted territory as a combination of low supply, soaring interest rates, and increasing demand suggests leasing activity will stay strong through summer. 

    Let’s revisit our housing note from mid-April, “Not A Peak” – Manhattan Apartment Rents Hit Another Record High that correctly pointed out how prices would soar this summer. 

    Bloomberg reported, citing new data from appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate, that the median rent on new leases last month was a whopping $4,150, up 2.5% from June and 29% from a year earlier.  

    Median rents have smashed records in the past six months, even as listing inventory increased by 3.7% from June. The vacancy rate rose above 2% for the first time in seven months to 2.08%. Even as supply returns, about 20% of all new leases signed in the borough involved bidding wars, with some renters locking in contracts 13% over the asking price in July. 

    “New York apartment costs began rising more than a year ago as the city, and Manhattan, in particular, rebounded from the depths of the pandemic. July’s prices were stoked by a pullback in homebuying and typical renting patterns that always make the summer an expensive time of year for Manhattan renters,” Bloomberg said. 

    Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, said elevated mortgage rates push more people into rental markets during the peak rental season. He expects rent prices to reach another record high this month before possibly topping in fall when seasonal demand plateaus.

    Even though both headline and core CPI inflation were softer than expected in July, Shelter costs continued to rise (+0.5% MoM). On the year, the shelter index rose 5.7%. 

    And there is some good news. As we recently outlined, Apartment List data shows CPI shelter data should peak sometime in September or October. 

    If you’re in the market for a new rental, perhaps wait until the fall when cooling should begin to get a better deal. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 18:00

  • Sorry White House, Gasoline Prices Are About To Surge: Here's Why
    Sorry White House, Gasoline Prices Are About To Surge: Here’s Why

    There was celebration in the White House overnight when the AAA reported that the average retail gasoline prices fell below $4 a gallon to the lowest level since early March.

    It wasn’t just the Biden admin (which eagerly awaits the plunge in gas prices to translate in sharply higher approval ratings) however, which was enthused by the drop in gasoline: so was the broader market, expecting this drop in gas prices would allow the Fed to ease its tightening pace and accelerate the stock market bounce.

    Alas, the recent drop in gas prices is unlikely to last, and not just because after dropping to pre-Ukraine war levels, oil has resumed its move higher, with Brent just shy of $100 and expected to move briskly higher…

    …  now that fears of collapsing gasoline demand have been shelved.

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    The more actionable reason why gas prices – especially in the tri-state area – are set to move much higher, is because the wholesale cost of gasoline in New York surged more than 40% against futures after regional supplies sank to the lowest level in a decade, raising the risk of shortages.

    Reminding market watchers just how vast the chasm between financial and physical commodities has become, gasoline stockpiles in the central East Coast region are at the lowest absolute level since November 2012, the EIA reported yesterday. Seasonally, supplies are near an all-time low in records going back to 1993…

    … and as a result, the premium for New York gasoline on the spot market, jumped by 10 cents Wednesday. Only San Francisco has more expensive wholesale gasoline.

    Stockpiles have slumped as a result of tighter supply amid a rebound in demand, a drop in European gasoline imports and continued cargo diversions away from the region. This offset production efforts from East Coast refiners – all of them in the Central Atlantic region – which operated at 100.4% of nameplate capacity last week, the highest on record.

    But so what? A New York shortage will hardly crippled the rest of the country? Well, not so fast: as Bloomberg notes, low gasoline supplies in region can have an outsized global impact because New York Harbor is home to physical deliveries of futures contracts that underpin trade flows around the world. A fuel tanker moving from India to Brazil, for example, is likely priced against the New York futures benchmark. So shortages in this key region that cause prices to spike would also impact prices elsewhere.

    Meanwhile, gas station fuel sales have been rising over the past few weeks, according to data from price reporting agency Opis and retail tracker Gasbuddy. The implied demand figure from the EIA has been far more volatile than usual in recent weeks (and prompted allegations of manipulation by the Biden DOE), but the latest weekly jump should help further bolster retail volumes.

    Commenting on the recent absurd gasoline demand reports, Rabobank’s Michael Every wrote the following:

    You could hear the champagne corks fly wherever you were yesterday. After all, there was “zero US inflation” in July, as some put it. And that came after zero US recession, as some also put it, despite two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. And after a red-hot labour market report. And EIA energy data showing gasoline usage apparently well below 2020 levels despite all this non-recession and jobs boom, and even as refineries are working at incredibly high capacity levels, diesel stocks are low, and exports are also down. These are all numbers/claims worthy of champagne. Yet they make little sense taken together.

    And speaking of diesel, supply there remains dire as well, with seasonal distillates stockpiles languishing at the lowest level ever since March in records going back to 1993. The tightness will start to be felt when the weather turns in two months. The US northeast is the only region in the country where the majority of home and commercial heating comes from burning fuel, and while it won’t be hit as hard as Europe where a monthly electricity bill will hit 4 digits, it will still be hit very hard.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 17:40

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  • From Davos Without Love – True Detective Or True Conspiracy
    From Davos Without Love – True Detective Or True Conspiracy

    Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, ‘n Guns blog,

    From the point of ignition
    To the final drive
    The point of the journey
    Is not to arrive
    Anything can happen

    — RUSH, PRIME MOVER

    Sometimes I wake up in the morning and feel like I’ve got the cheat codes to the world, that, like Neo in The Matrix, I can see the code behind the world they parade in front of us.

    But, I know, in my heart that this is, itself, just another illusion. It’s just another layer of false reality that forms the core of the conflict in Philip K. Dick’s seminal work that The Matrix borrows heavily from, UBIK.

    I also know that sometimes I come off as some insufferable (and vulgar) know-it-all, but that’s all just part of the quest to sift through the mal-information and get something vaguely resembling but not quite unlike The Truth(tm).

    Mark Wauck is a guy who writes about what I write about a lot. He’s on his own truth journey. It’s a laudable mission. He’s got a great Substack in general called Meaning In History that I recommend.

    He recently posted a two-part review of a recent interview I gave with YouTube channel Not the BBC, which is linked below, called “Tom Luongo’s Theory of Everything.” (Links: Part I and Part II). Seb is also a person on that same journey.

    Mark literally transcribes some of my tracing of recent history, in effect, translating my somewhat chaotic ramblings into a coherent vision of what’s in my head.

    And all I could think of was this moment from Bruce Timm’s excellent Justice League Unlimited where someone finally did my man, The Question, proper justice at DC instead of trying to turn him into something woke and broken.

    Funny story about this ‘cartoon.’ I first ran across it in the before time, when I still had DirecTV doing its predictive programming thing on my household. Mostly I had it to watch the NHL, because, at the time that was my side hustle, writing for AOL’s Fan House and blogging about my eternally frustrating Buffalo Sabres.

    I was working away from home at the time, visiting my life on the weekends. In hindsight it was brutal. And it did nearly irreparable damage to my relationship with my daughter. Thankfully, she forgave me for not being there for the first five years of her life.

    After putting my wife and daughter to bed one night I was flipping through the channels when I came across Mr. No Face spouting Ayn Rand and Aristotle at Lex Luthor and had to suppress not only a fan boy squee but the desire to rush in and wake my wife and have her corroborate what I was seeing.

    The Question is the primal detective, more so than Batman or even Sherlock Holmes. He is the man seeing the world for what it is but steadfastly refuses to be sucked into the moral relativism of modernity.

    His creator, Steve Ditko, was a staunch Randian Objectivist, much to his professional and, from what I’ve read, personal detriment. For anyone interested in one of the most controversial figures in comics’, and therefore 20th century pop art’s, history, I recommend highly David Currie’s excellent book, Ditko Shrugged: The Uncompromising Life of the Artist Behind Spiderman and the Rise of Marvel Comics.

    The Question was Ditko’s first attempt to embody these ideas. They got progressively more didactic and less interesting.

    Part of what makes my work what it is is the balance between believing enough in one’s ability to parse information while constantly remaining humble in the face of an overwhelming amount of it trying to distract you and lead you down dead ends and dark alleys.

    And I don’t want to sound like some hopeless egoist here, because I’m not. If I’m wrong I’m wrong.

    I’ve been a real functioning scientist testing failed hypothesis after failed hypothesis in my life. Humility doesn’t come easy, but the Universe is nothing if not consistent in its application of lessons.

    I’m as aware of the potential for my own confirmation bias as I call it out in others.

    If you don’t like it, fight me, Bro!

    I found the titles of Mark’s posts simultaneously amusing, flattering, and burdensome — not necessarily in that order. We all crave some amount of approval for what we do in this life. It’s part of the ‘uneconomic’ return on our time investment that Marxists like to tell themselves doesn’t exist in others to justify their envy-driven evil.

    But it’s not all that drives us. There is a burning need, an obsession if you will, to find a path out of the dark world we live in today. The stories are all around us. The anxiety we all feel is written in them. It’s why the cultural touchstones are so important. The zeitgeist tells us both what we are feeling and what we want.

    That’s what keeps me on target and the give and take from those I’ve inspired inspire me to stay the course, even when it would be so much easier to let up, have a drink and coast. But, there is no coasting in this journey, only recharging.

    In the end, I don’t think there is just one big conspiracy. This isn’t my Geopolitical Unified Field Theory.

    But there is a dominant one that has been in operation for a long time. When opportunities arise thanks to shifts in circumstance, that’s when you see the various players make their moves to regain some of what was previously lost. Until a group is categorically taken out, they will always be there lurking for the next opportunity to validate some long-form narrative of their supposed potency.

    As Hippolyta said so eloquently in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, “Evil does not sleep. It waits.”

    I want to thank Seb for structuring the talk in such a way as to lead me to laying everything out in a kind of coherent order for the listener to parse.

    *  *  *

    Join My Patreon if you fear sleeping

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 08/11/2022 – 02:00

  • Democratic Party Playbook Exposed: The Cloward-Piven Strategy
    Democratic Party Playbook Exposed: The Cloward-Piven Strategy

    Via EconomicNoise.com,

    Cloward and Piven is the Playbook of the Democrat Party. It is the second part of this two-pronged approach:

    1. When you don’t have logic or reason on your side, use power.

    2. If you don’t have enough power, flood the system to acquire more.

    Cloward and Piven

    Flooding the system was the Cloward and Piven strategy to bring down this country. Create real or phony problems that “require” government actions that begin the process of shifting freedoms from individuals to the State. (For a more layman’s insight, see here.)

    Rahm Emmanuel, President Obama’s Chief of Staff, said that “no good crisis should ever go to waste.” That implied an opening for more government, a Cloward and Piven (CP) opportunity. (To visualize one asserted implementation of this, involving Acorn, see here.)

    The strategy is not a Democrat monopoly. Republicans use it also, although do not brag about it or depend upon it almost exclusively.

    The process is like rust eroding liberty, slowly and steadily. It replaces freedom with dependency and controls.

    There are two problems with the strategy:

    • It must be slow and steady (boil the frog beginning with unheated water, slowly increasing the temperature [a wonderful metaphor but physically erroneous] so that the frog doesn’t notice until it is too late).

    • It must be stealth, that is citizen “frogs” must not realize what is happening.

    The CP strategy was developed in and for a world very different from today. The Internet changed this world. Conventional media was all that needed to be controlled in the CP world. By controlling this source, government created its own “Pravda.”

    Controlling the  media was possible because it was owned by corporations. It consisted of known and immovable assets, which are easy targets for government. The message was simple: Obey or we will put you out of business! 

    Legal action against government is a “fool’s errand.” They own the courts and have unlimited funds to fight. If threatened, you will comply or they will bankrupt you! Tax issues and anti-trust cases are the bludgeoning weapons of choice. Fighting charges, regardless of how false, is akin to a minor suing his parents. That is why media, other companies and wealthy individuals generally settle government claims for enormous sums of money, but without the admission of guilt. There is no better job than that of blackmailer when you are also the sheriff or the Department of  Justice!

    Why are Things Different

    Then came the internet! While it didn’t stop extortion of corporations, it exposed the media as “captured” propagandists. Bloggers began telling different “truths.” The first reaction was to shut them down. Unfortunately for government, this group is so diverse geographically and otherwise, that traditional threats of “putting you out of business” were meaningless. Asset confiscation threats are meaningless when there are no physical assets. To be a blogger only requires electricity and the internet (and perhaps some intellectual capital to enhance success).

    The only way to shut these sources down is to control the Internet and its content. The first was impossible. The second was tried. Unfortunately for government, silencing free speech is frowned upon in free countries, especially those where Free Speech is the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

    Definitions of speech that didn’t qualify for protection were tried (“hate speech,” “lies,” “dangerous rhetoric,” “racism,” “inciting danger,” etc.) in an effort to obviate the First Amendment. Threats of imprisonment were tried, but the First Amendment was too broad and too sacred for these efforts to succeed. Government then went after the platforms (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). It was the same corrupt strategy employed against traditional media — You impose our “bans” (censorship) or we will put you out of business!

    But, “muscling” these corporate platforms only caused new competitors to sprout. Most were smaller and not asset-heavy. Suppressed views and voices began to move to these venues where free speech was allowed.

    Censorship works, but only where government can exert leverage via harm. It was easy to cow Facebook and Twitter. Ditto for established institutions like public schools, colleges and corporations. These entities had to decide whether they wanted the hassle and threats of being “un-woke.” Most submitted, presumably determining that losing some customers would be less costly than getting into a legal or other battle with Leviathan. Some probably thought this “new inclusiveness” would gain them additional customers.

    The Wrong War

    Generals are always prepared to fight the next war in the same manner they fought the last one. They are rarely prepared to fight the next one if it requires different strategies and tactics. So it appears to be here! Government believed prior tactics and strategies would suffice.

    The prior war was against traditional media with fixed positions and assets. The Internet changed “warfare.” It created media guerrilla war! This new enemy moves quickly and has no assets to threaten or destroy. Take away a bloggers website address and he easily gets a new one.

    Government wins against corporate internet players but loses against the “guerrillas.” Vietnam and Afghanistan showed US military weaknesses in non-conventional wars. Traditional bloggers or start-up sharing sites are guerrillas. Conventional war strategies do not win guerrilla battles!

    Arguably the demented Joe Biden and his Obama staff are to thank for ultimately saving this country. Someone inside that Administration realized the “slow boil” strategy was not convincing the American public fast enough and had to be sped up. They put Cloward and Piven into overdrive! Time was likely not on their side, but escalating the war was a fatal mistake! Marty Bent summarized it nicely:

    They tried to do too much too quickly and people have started to develop pattern recognition on the go that allows them to recognize when the unproductive class is attempting to manipulate their minds.  This pattern recognition is accelerated and enhanced by our ability to communicate directly with each other in real time over the internet.

    Instant communications were not possible when Cloward and Piven designed their strategy. Nor was there a means to present an opposing view. That all changed with the Internet. Now you see why governments around the world want to control the Internet. They can’t and they must not be allowed to change that!

    For all its negatives, the Internet has at least one positive — it obsoleted traditional and controllable sources of information. The fragmentation of the internet makes it impossible to control (unless you wish to go full Communist Korea or China). This country is not ready for that step, at least not yet.

    Thank God for the private sector, technology and the Internet. Together they voided the Cloward and Piven strategy, censorship and a complete government take-over of society.

    So long as the Internet exists in its present form (warts and all), freedom cannot be extinguished. Big guns do not silence big truths! Only big censorship can do that and we must not allow that to happen!

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 23:40

  • Repression, Terror, Fear: The Government Wants To Silence The Opposition
    Repression, Terror, Fear: The Government Wants To Silence The Opposition

    Authored by John and Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

    “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”

    – President Harry S. Truman

    Militarized police. Riot squads. Camouflage gear. Black uniforms. Armored vehicles. Mass arrests. Pepper spray. Tear gas. Batons. Strip searches. Surveillance cameras. Kevlar vests. Drones. Lethal weapons. Less-than-lethal weapons unleashed with deadly force. Rubber bullets. Water cannons. Stun grenades. Arrests of journalists. Crowd control tactics. Intimidation tactics. Brutality. Lockdowns.

    This is not the language of freedom. This is not even the language of law and order.

    This is the language of force.

    This is how the government at all levels—federal, state and local—now responds to those who speak out against government corruption, misconduct and abuse.

    These overreaching, heavy-handed lessons in how to rule by force have become standard operating procedure for a government that communicates with its citizenry primarily through the language of brutality, intimidation and fear.

    We didn’t know it then, but what happened five years ago in Charlottesville, Va., was a foretaste of what was to come.

    At the time, Charlottesville was at the center of a growing struggle over how to reconcile the right to think and speak freely, especially about controversial ideas, with the push to sanitize the environment of anything—words and images—that might cause offense. That fear of offense prompted the Charlottesville City Council to get rid of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that had graced one of its public parks for 82 years.

    In attempting to err on the side of political correctness by placating one group while muzzling critics of the city’s actions, Charlottesville attracted the unwanted attention of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and the alt-Right, all of whom descended on the little college town with the intention of exercising their First Amendment right to be disagreeable, to assemble, and to protest.

    That’s when everything went haywire.

    When put to the test, Charlottesville did not handle things well at all.

    On August 12, 2017, government officials took what should have been a legitimate exercise in constitutional principles (free speech, assembly and protest) and turned it into a lesson in authoritarianism by manipulating warring factions and engineering events in such a way as to foment unrest, lockdown the city, and justify further power grabs.

    On the day of scheduled protests, police deliberately engineered a situation in which two opposing camps of protesters would confront each other, tensions would bubble over, and things would turn just violent enough to justify allowing the government to shut everything down.

    Despite the fact that 1,000 first responders (including 300 state police troopers and members of the National Guard)—many of whom had been preparing for the downtown rally for months—had been called on to work the event, and police in riot gear surrounded Emancipation Park on three sides, police failed to do their jobs.

    In fact, as the Washington Post reports, police “seemed to watch as groups beat each other with sticks and bludgeoned one another with shields… At one point, police appeared to retreat and then watch the beatings before eventually moving in to end the free-for-all, make arrests and tend to the injured.”

    “Police Stood By As Mayhem Mounted in Charlottesville,” reported ProPublica.

    Incredibly, when the first signs of open violence broke out, the police chief allegedly instructed his staff to “let them fight, it will make it easier to declare an unlawful assembly.”

    In this way, police who were supposed to uphold the law and prevent violence failed to do either.

    Indeed, a 220-page post-mortem of the protests and the Charlottesville government’s response by former U.S. attorney Timothy J. Heaphy concluded that “the City of Charlottesville protected neither free expression nor public safety.”

    In other words, the government failed to uphold its constitutional mandates.

    The police failed to carry out their duties as peace officers.

    And the citizens found themselves unable to trust either the police or the government to do its job in respecting their rights and ensuring their safety.

    This is not much different from what is happening on the present-day national scene.

    Indeed, there’s a pattern emerging if you pay close enough attention.

    Civil discontent leads to civil unrest, which leads to protests and counterprotests. Tensions rise, violence escalates, police stand down, and federal armies move in. Meanwhile, despite the protests and the outrage, the government’s abuses continue unabated.

    It’s all part of an elaborate setup by the architects of the police state. The government wants a reason to crack down and lock down and bring in its biggest guns.

    They want us divided. They want us to turn on one another.

    They want us powerless in the face of their artillery and armed forces.

    They want us silent, servile and compliant.

    They certainly do not want us to remember that we have rights, let alone attempting to exercise those rights peaceably and lawfully, whether it’s protesting politically correct efforts to whitewash the past, challenging COVID-19 mandates, questioning election outcomes, or listening to alternate viewpoints—even conspiratorial ones—in order to form our own opinions about the true nature of government.  

    And they definitely do not want us to engage in First Amendment activities that challenge the government’s power, reveal the government’s corruption, expose the government’s lies, and encourage the citizenry to push back against the government’s many injustices.

    Why else do you think Wikileaks founder Julian Assange continues to molder in jail for daring to blow the whistle about the U.S. government’s war crimes, while government officials who rape, plunder and kill walk away with little more than a slap on the wrist?

    This is how it begins.

    We are moving fast down that slippery slope to an authoritarian society in which the only opinions, ideas and speech expressed are the ones permitted by the government and its corporate cohorts.

    In the wake of the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol, “domestic terrorism” has become the new poster child for expanding the government’s powers at the expense of civil liberties.

    Of course, “domestic terrorist” is just the latest bull’s eye phrase, to be used interchangeably with “anti-government,” “extremist” and “terrorist,” to describe anyone who might fall somewhere on a very broad spectrum of viewpoints that could be considered “dangerous.”

    This unilateral power to muzzle free speech represents a far greater danger than any so-called right- or left-wing extremist might pose. The ramifications are so far-reaching as to render almost every American an extremist in word, deed, thought or by association.

    Watch and see: we are all about to become enemies of the state.

    As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, anytime you have a government that operates in the shadows, speaks in a language of force, and rules by fiat, you’d better beware.

    So what’s the answer?

    For starters, we need to remember that we’ve all got rights, and we need to exercise them.

    Most of all, we need to protect the rights of the people to speak truth to power, whatever that truth might be. Either “we the people” believe in free speech or we don’t.

    Fifty years ago, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas asked:

    “Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us? The constitutional theory is that we the people are the sovereigns, the state and federal officials only our agents. We who have the final word can speak softly or angrily. We can seek to challenge and annoy, as we need not stay docile and quiet… [A]t the constitutional level, speech need not be a sedative; it can be disruptive… [A] function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger.”

    In other words, the Constitution does not require Americans to be servile or even civil to government officials. Neither does the Constitution require obedience (although it does insist on nonviolence).

    Somehow, the government keeps overlooking this important element in the equation.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 23:00

  • Top NYC Health Official Claims 'Retaliation' After Monkeypox Messaging Dispute
    Top NYC Health Official Claims ‘Retaliation’ After Monkeypox Messaging Dispute

    A veteran top infectious diseases expert at the New York City Health Department says he was reassigned in “retaliation” for butting heads with higher-ups regarding the city’s monkeypox messaging.

    Dr. Don Weiss, director of surveillance, was transferred to another unit after he publicly criticized the department’s advice that gay men should simply ‘avoid kissing’ and ‘cover up their sores’ – as opposed to Weiss’ advice that gay men abstain from or reduce sex for a period of time, the NY Post reports.

    (photo: Benjamin Norman for The New York Times)

    “Monkeypox in NYC is a sexually transmitted infection. Not communicating this clearly and often is a public health failure,” Weiss said in a July 18 letter to Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan, which he posted on his website.

    “DOHMH continues to emphasize skin-to-skin contact as the major risk and have now dangerously suggested that sex is not a risk, as long as you don’t kiss and cover your sores. This is completely contrary to the evidence,” he continued.

    According to Weiss, leadership within the health department “is more concerned with stigma avoidance” than “giving people the risk information they need to protect themselves and others. People are suffering.”

    Four days after his post, Weiss received a letter from assistant commissioner Sean McFarlane, notifying him that he’d been reassigned to the division of family and child health, effective Monday. His new title? ““infant and reproductive health medical specialist.”

    His salary remains unchanged.

    Weiss also posted an audio recording of a conversation he had with a health department official who would not tell him who ordered his reassignment.

    Noting that the reassignment came just days after publicly taking issue with department brass over monkeypox guidance, Weiss said, “You are aware under the whistleblower statute that you cannot do any retribution to me for my coming forward with information that I thought was necessary for the public to know?”

    “This could be seen as retribution, especially the timing of it.” -NY Post

    On Thursday, NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett declared monkeypox and imminent public health threat.

    “Based on the ongoing spread of this virus, which has increased rapidly and affected primarily communities that identify as men who have sex with men, and the need for local jurisdictions to administer vaccines, I’ve declared monkeypox an Imminent Threat to Public Health throughout New York State,” she said. “This declaration means that local health departments engaged in response and prevention activities will be able to access additional State reimbursement, after other Federal and State funding sources are maximized, to protect all New Yorkers and ultimately limit the spread of monkeypox in our communities.”

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 22:40

  • Florida Board Of Medicine Moves To Ban Transgender Treatments For Minors
    Florida Board Of Medicine Moves To Ban Transgender Treatments For Minors

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

    The Florida Board of Medicine voted on Aug. 5 to advance a plan that would ban doctors from providing gender-affirming treatments such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers to youth under the age of 18.

    Florida’s Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo speaks during a press conference at the University of Miami Health System Don Soffer Clinical Research Center in Miami, Florida, on May 17, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

    Florida Department of Health Secretary, Dr. Joseph Ladapo acknowledged at the public hearing in Broward County, that there were “strong feelings about the issue,” but argued that current standards of care are a “substantial departure” from the “level of evidence and data surrounding the issue.”

    “It is very clear that the effectiveness is completely uncertain,” Ladapo said. “I mean, maybe it is effective, but the scientific studies that have been published today do not support that.”

    Ladapo agreed that findings could change in future, but said that it was unlikely, “considering what I’ve reviewed.”

    Ladapo said minors experiencing gender dysphoria should instead receive counseling to address their concerns. He sent a letter to the board expressing his opinion before the hearing.

    A pediatric endocrinologist, Dr. Quentin Van Meter served as an expert for the state and warned the board that a growing number of children are seeking these treatments of gender reassignment.

    “This is a giant experiment on United States children,” Van Meter warned the board.

    Speaking to the board, Van Meter said that Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom have “halted treatment” for transgender youths.

    “They found that there was far more harm than any benefit in allowing these children to receive any kind of medical intervention,” Van Meter said. “There are approximately 127,000 children throughout the U.S. that are receiving gender-affirming treatment.”

    Michael Haller, a professor and chief of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Florida, disagreed with Van Meter’s assessment and said that fewer children are receiving gender-affirming treatments than the public has “been led to believe” and the “numbers are not growing.”

    The Florida Department of Health filed a petition in July that asked for the medical board to initiate a rule-making process on gender reassignment therapies. In addition, the Board of Medicine propelled the state Agency for Health Care Administration to prevent the Medicaid program from covering the treatments for gender dysphoria for adolescents and adults.

    Gender dysphoria, as defined by the federal government, is a “significant distress that a person may feel when sex or gender assigned at birth is not the same as their identity.”

    David Diamond, the board chairman, said other countries have changed their approach to the treatment of gender dysphoria.

    “Do you have any sense what the scientific underpinning may be? Why they have modified their opinions, or is it your contention it was not a scientific decision but rather based upon other factors?” Diamond asked Haller.

    “I think it’s impossible to fully separate the political decision-making from the science, ” Haller replied.

    Haller’s colleague Kristin Dayton, also a pediatric endocrinologist who specializes in gender dysphoria, called the board’s plan “redundant” because standards of care already exist.

    Haller then injected that he didn’t “trust” the state to advance its own plan.

    “If the redundancy were such that it was in line with the general practices and data, then I think it would be adequate; but it’s clear that is not the intent of the state,” Haller said. “They have provided you with a recommendation for a rule that is contrary to what almost all reasonable providers of gender-affirming care and gender care, in general, would say is the standard of care.”

    If the guidelines are finalized, Florida would be the only state where a medical board has barred transgender treatment for adolescents, according to Meredithe McNamara, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine.

    McNamara said in a Tweet that she has “never heard of” a state medical board prohibiting such care.

    “Standards of health care don’t come from states, don’t come from government,” she posted. “They come from clinical research that gets reviewed and vetted and discussed in relevant groups of experts and published and spread widely and adopted by people everywhere.”

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 22:20

  • Northern Mexico Runs Out Of Water, May Impact Beer Production
    Northern Mexico Runs Out Of Water, May Impact Beer Production

    Extreme drought in northern Mexico has sparked a water crisis. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador addressed the beer industry in the region to shift production elsewhere because of sustainability factors, reported Bloomberg. 

    The water crisis is particularly critical in Monterrey, one of Mexico’s most important economic hubs and home to some of the largest beermakers in the world, such as Heineken NV. 

    Some neighborhoods in Monterrey have been without water for nearly three months, and Heineken’s facility has suffered as waterways dry up. Residents have protested commercial districts due to their oversized demand for local water. 

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

    Lopez Obrador said the government would support a transition of the beer industry from the northern part of the country to the south or southeast, where water supplies are more abundant.

    “This is not to say we won’t produce any more beer, it’s to say that we won’t produce beer in the north — that’s over,” the president said Monday at a daily press conference. “If they want to keep producing beer, increasing production, then all the support for the south or southeast.”

    Lopez Obrador said Constellation Brands is the perfect example of how his administration directed the brewer to halt the construction of a beer plant in the border city of Mexicali because of water shortages. He said the company had planned a new brewery in the southeastern state of Veracruz, though local news outlet El Financiero said construction permits are still pending. 

    Constellation is a top brewer in Mexico and has a portfolio that includes Corona Extra, Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Modelo Negra, and Pacifico, among others. 

    The water crisis in Monterrey is so severe that Heineken offered 20% of its water rights to the drought-stricken town and even offered to donate a well to support the municipality. Lopez Obrador called on beermaking companies to assist cities with water shortages. 

    There have yet to be significant reports of beer production disruptions. It’s essential to note Mexico is responsible for 76% of all the beer imported by the US last year, according to Commerce Department figures cited by the Beer Institute. If production upsets emerge, American beer drinkers could be in for a surprise of soaring prices, tight supplies, and an even worst-case scenario: A beer shortage. 

    “You can’t give permits in places where there’s no water,” said the president. “So, we’re going to intervene and that’s what the state is for.”

    Besides Heineken and Constellation, Grupo Modelo, owned by Ab InBev, is another larger brewer in the northern part of the country. 

    While Lopez Obrador has only encouraged beermakers to shift production south, what could come next are water restrictions that would limit production and could create a beer shortage in the US. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 22:00

  • Senators Introduce Bill To Stop CCP From Buying US Farmland
    Senators Introduce Bill To Stop CCP From Buying US Farmland

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Two Senate Republicans have introduced a proposal to stop the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from purchasing farmland in the United States, arguing that the communist regime’s acquisitions on American soil pose a threat to national security.

    Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) questions President Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 19, 2021. (Greg Nash/Pool/Getty Images)

    In introducing the bill dubbed the Securing America’s Land From Foreign Interference Act, Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) cited a 2020 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) saying that foreign individuals and entities held an interest in nearly 37.6 million acres of U.S. agricultural land.

    While some 14 states have restrictions against foreign ownership of land, there are no federal restraints regarding private U.S. agricultural land that can be foreign-owned, they said.

    “Chinese investments in American farmland put our food security at risk and provide opportunities for Chinese espionage against our military bases and critical infrastructure. Instead of allowing these purchases, the U.S. government must bar the Communist Party from purchasing our land,” Cotton said in a statement last week.

    Allowing the CCP to purchase U.S. farmland, Tuberville said, is tantamount to “giving our top adversary a foot in the door to purchase land in the United States and undermine our national security.”

    “I hope my colleagues will recognize the importance of our bill and join the effort to prohibit Chinese Communist Party involvement in America’s agriculture industry,” he said.

    The senators noted that because U.S. farmers are rapidly aging, with about a third being over the age of 65, millions of acres of American farmland may be up for sale in the near future.

    Earlier this year, a CCP-linked agribusiness raised national security concerns with its purchase of farmland in North Dakota that’s close to a U.S. military base.

    “This property is approximately 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base, which has led to concern that Fufeng operations could provide cover for PRC [the People’s Republic of China] surveillance or interference with the missions located at that installation, given Fufeng Group’s reported ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” several senators wrote in a July 14 letter addressed to several Biden administration officials.

    Data

    “Chinese investors’ holdings of U.S. agricultural land surged from 13,720 acres in 2010 to 352,140 acres in 2020,” Cotton’s statement added.

    Meanwhile, in the House, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) introduced legislation in late June that would bar the purchase of agricultural land—including ranches—by officials affiliated with the CCP.

    “If we begin to cede the responsibility for our food supply chain to an adversarial foreign nation, we could be forced into exporting food that is grown within our own borders and meant for our own use,” Newhouse wrote in a statement at the time.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 21:40

  • Florida Man With Concealed Firearm Kills Gunman Who Threatened To "Shoot Up The Crowd"
    Florida Man With Concealed Firearm Kills Gunman Who Threatened To “Shoot Up The Crowd”

    Instead of waiting for the police, a law-abiding citizen with a concealed carry license (also known as a ‘good guy with a gun’) took matters into his own hands and acted quickly, drawing his weapon and killing a gunman who was about to “shoot up the crowd” at a party in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday night.

    Local news CBS12 said a fight broke out between 20 people at a family gathering on Division Avenue and 4th Street in West Palm Beach. At that moment, a 22-year-old male retrieved a short-barreled shotgun from his car and threatened to “shoot up the crowd.”

    West Palm Beach Police said the man refused to drop the weapon after yelling out mass shooting threats, and that was when a 32-year-old man with a concealed weapon license fired his pistol, hitting the armed suspect. 

    The law-abiding citizen immediately called 911 late Sunday night after he shot the crazed gunman. Detectives said the 22-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

    Instances such as this where a good guy with a gun neutralizes an armed person threatening to kill others tend to be ignored by liberal mainstream media because it goes against the left’s narrative of more gun control. 

    In the last several months, we have documented multiple acts of bravery from law-abiding citizens with concealed carry licenses who acted swiftly to neutralize threats: 

    It’s clear the left-wing media cherrypicks gun-related stories by focusing solely on mass shootings neglecting reports that show how law-abiding citizens with guns have saved lives. 

    Watch the local media report via CBS12.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 21:20

  • The Smartphone's Role In Dumbing-Down America
    The Smartphone’s Role In Dumbing-Down America

    Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Time blog,

    The smartphone has begun to play a huge role In dumbing down America. Rather than being a source to move us forward, it has become an albatross around the necks of many weak-minded souls that depend on them. People turn to these devices for all kinds of unneeded updates including performing simple math problems so they don’t have to think. 

    Originated in 1933, the term “dumbing down” was movie-business slang, used by screenplay writers, meaning: “to revise to appeal to those of little education or intelligence.” For those with little drive or purpose, the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy find great comfort in the constant flow of dribble a cell phone can provide. In short, dumbing down is the deliberate oversimplification of intellectual content in education, literature, cinema, news, video games, and culture.

    It should be noted this is being written just as the world is on the cusp of being offered a whole new recipe that may lead to more social dysfunction. That comes in the form of “virtual reality” which offers an even stronger form of escapism that may result in damaging the ability of people to relate to each other in the real world. Especially worrisome is the effect it might have on children that experience and embrace it. Their ability to separate this fake virtual world from reality could become impaired.

    A great deal of the problems with smartphones are rooted in the idea everyone deserves one. Yes, I said deserves, not needs. Smartphones are now considered by many people as an extension of their being. A government program started years ago has mushroomed in size and transfers a huge amount of wealth down the social ladder. Years ago I wrote an article that outlined a government program supplying free phones to people with low incomes or that have been declared needy. At that time these phones have become known as “Obama Phones.” Below I give some of the details about the program including who qualifies. If you want to be popular with the voters give them free stuff and let them know that they should not bite the hand that feeds them.

    The term “Obama phone” is not a myth as an online search rapidly confirms. This popular government program explains why we see so many people that would appear to not have a dime in their pockets walking along or driving down the street talking on a cell phone. What exactly is the free Obama phone? It is a program that is meant to help the financially unstable who cannot afford access to a cell phone. It seems that communication should not be limited to people based on what they can afford. The Lifeline program started decades ago to help low-income families have access to landlines has been expanded. Over the years the cost of cell phones and cellular service has decreased and the program has been extended to cover cell phones.

    So who qualifies? It appears little has changed over the years, it seems that if you or members of your household are, receiving the following benefits you automatically qualify for the Lifeline program. The best way to know if you qualify is by filling out an application for a Lifeline provider in your state. Those interested in the program must have an income of less than 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or about $22,350 per year for a family of four.

    • Food Stamps or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

    • Medicaid

    • Supplemental Security Income – commonly known as SSI

    • Health Benefit Coverage under Child Health Insurance Plan (CHIP)

    • The National School Lunch Program’s Free Lunch Program.

    • Low-Income Energy Assistance Program – LIHEAP

    • Federal Public Housing Assistance ( Section 8 )

    • If you are a low-income Eligible Resident of Tribal Lands

    • Temporary Assistance to Needy Families – TANF

    Lifeline is a government-sponsored program, but who is paying for it? Some people claim that the government is using taxpayers’ money to run this program, however, the claim is false. The clever clowns we have sent to Washington found a backhanded under-the-table sort of way to make it appear it is not taxpayer money. Universal Service Fund (USF) which is administered by the Federal Communication Commission along with the Universal Service Administration Company (USAC), pays for the Lifeline phone assistance program. The Universal Service Fund (USF) was created back in 1997 by Federal Communication Commission to achieve the goals set by Congress under the Telecommunication Act of 1996. According to the Act, service providers are obliged to contribute a portion of their interstate and international telecommunications revenues. In short, paying phone customers are paying for it.

    It is written that if you are one of those people who have lost their jobs due to the recession, then probably you’re having a hard time with your daily expenses. On top of that, paying telephone bills is just another pressure. You can get rid of this burden by applying to the “Lifeline Assistance Program” run by the government. To get a phone contact the provider of this service. The government has approved many companies at the national and regional levels to provide this service to eligible people.
     Just how much might one of these free government cell phones change your life?

    • An employer can more easily reach you with a job offer if you have a free government cell phone.
    • You can stay in touch with your doctor and other emergency medical professionals more easily with a free government cell phone.
    • A free government cell phone can help you keep in touch with family and other loved ones.

    And the good news is that while a government-assisted cell phone provides you with up to 250 monthly minutes to go with your free cell phone. While that’s a generous contribution from the government, it’s barely enough airtime to last many people a month. But good news is they can easily buy more minutes for the phone from each of the major Lifeline cell phone companies. You can see this is what has happened when it has gotten to the point where people carry their phone in their hand as they go about their business. Apparently, if you use a promotion code, you can get some very good deals.

    Smartphone Have Become A Major Distraction

    A great deal of attention has been given to some of the ideas and visions the World Economic Forum has floated. A powerful and very visible glimpse was contained in the public relations video entitled: “8 Predictions for the World in 2030. Its 2030 agenda promotes the idea that  by 2030, “You will own nothing. And you’ll be happy.” Smartphones dovetail with edging the general population towards such an existence. With the government transferring the costs for millions of customers to those that pay full price, another face of corporate welfare is exposed.

    Over The Years This Addiction Has Only Grown Stronger

    Interestingly while many people admit they are addicted to these phones that seem to offer a form of escapism from the real world, some users are moving back to dumbphones. A video by ColdFusion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02mIRnPJm6g), an Australian-based online media company, looks into this “Anti-Smartphone Revolution.” It points out how the dumbphone or what is sometimes called a brick is far less intrusive in our lives. Surprisingly, it is those users between the age of 25-35 that are leading this charge.

    Are Smartphones Making Children Slaves To Big Tech?

    We should never underestimate the role of the smartphone in dumbing down America. We can only hope people will begin to take a closer look at these society-changing devices. When a phone will provide the answer to simple math problems many people no longer feel compelled to learn or memorize the things which give us perspective and help us to understand the world around us. It has become apparent, that smartphones change more than society. They change people, too. Being able to push a few buttons does not necessarily make you smarter.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 21:00

  • Dozens Of Whole Foods Stores Allow Customers To Pay With Palm Print Biometric Data
    Dozens Of Whole Foods Stores Allow Customers To Pay With Palm Print Biometric Data

    Amazon’s palm-reading payment technology will expand to dozens of Whole Foods locations across California. Shoppers will be able to pay for groceries by scanning the palm of their hand at checkout devices instead of using cash or card, as this is more evidence of the emergence of a cashless society. 

    The Verge reported that 65 Whole Foods stores in California would soon get the new payment technology. This is the most extensive rollout by the e-commerce giant since announcing the payment system in 2020. 

    “Customers can set up Amazon One by registering their palm print using a kiosk or at a point-of-sale station at participating stores. To register, you need to provide a payment card and phone number, agree to Amazon’s terms of service, and share an image of your palms. Once completed, you can take items to checkout and not have to take out your wallet — or even your phone. A hover of your hand over the device is all that’s needed to pay and leave,” The Verge said. 

    Amazon One has been pilot tested at Whole Foods stores in Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, and New York. Amazon said customers had found the new payment system more convenient to checkout, though privacy concerns emerged last year by a group of lawmakers who raised questions about the megacorporation collecting biometric data of its customers.

    A group of senators in 2021 sent Amazon CEO Andy Jassy a letter for more details about how it scans palm prints. 

    Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) asked Jassy if Amazon plans to expand its biometric payment system and if the data collected will allow the company to increase the effectiveness of targeted ads.  

    “Amazon’s expansion of biometric data collection through Amazon One raises serious questions about Amazon’s plans for this data and its respect for user privacy, including about how Amazon may use the data for advertising and tracking purposes,” the senators wrote in the letter.

     Amazon One appears to be ushering in a cashless society where a customer’s body is becoming a transactional tool. 

    Amazon has successfully provided customers with a convenient lifestyle through high-tech devices (think of Alexa smart speakers and Ring smart cameras), but the only tradeoff is the company harvests user data for advertisement purposes. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 20:40

  • Judge Orders DOJ To Respond To Requests To Unseal FBI’s Trump Warrant
    Judge Orders DOJ To Respond To Requests To Unseal FBI’s Trump Warrant

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    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 Justice Department has to respond to motions to unseal a warrant that triggered the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, according to a magistrate judge who reportedly approved the search.

    Judicial Watch and the Albany Times Union newspaper filed a motion to unseal the document earlier this week, which was granted by a judge in the case.

    “On or before 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on August 15, 2022, the Government shall file a Response to the Motion to Unseal,” wrote Judge Bruce Reinhart on Wednesday afternoon, referring to the Department of Justice.

    “The response may be filed ex parte and under seal as necessary to avoid disclosing matters already under seal. In that event, the Government shall file a redacted Response in the public record. If it chooses, the Government may file a consolidated Response to all Motions to Seal,” he wrote.

    Neither the FBI nor Justice Department has issued public comments about the raid, which was first confirmed by Trump on Monday evening.

    The FBI declined to comment when contacted by The Epoch Times, and the Justice Department has not responded to several requests for comment.

    As for the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden was not aware of the raid before Trump’s announcement. Her claim was refuted by Trump on his social media platform, Truth Social.

    “What I can tell you definitively and for sure, he was not aware of this,” Jean-Pierre said of Biden. “Nobody at the White House was. Nobody was given a heads up and we did not know about what happened yesterday.”

    Requests

    On Wednesday, the Times Union’s managing editor, Brendan J. Lyons, wrote to Reinhart to ask for the warrant to be unsealed.

    “Given that the search warrant(s) have been executed, and the target of that search has full knowledge of what occurred, there is no impediment to any ongoing investigation from the disclosure of the search warrant order or the returns. As such, these records should be unsealed,” the letter to the Florida judge reads.

    Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s residence in Mar-A-Lago, Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9, 2022. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images)

    Judicial Watch asked for the warrant as part of an investigation into “the potential politicization of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice and whether the FBI and the Justice Department are abusing their law enforcement powers to harass a likely future political opponent of President [Joe] Biden.”

    “If the Court were to unseal the materials, Judicial Watch would obtain the materials, analyze them, and make them available to the public,” the letter said. “Unsealing the records therefore would further Judicial Watch’s mission of educating the public.”

    It comes as Eric Trump, a son of the former president, told the Daily Mail that a Trump attorney at Mar-a-Lago, Christina Bobb, asked FBI agents Monday about seeing a warrant.

    “They would not give her the search warrant,” he told the outlet, referring to Bobb. “So they showed it to her from about 10 feet away. They would not give her a copy of the search warrant.”

    Top Republicans, meanwhile, demanded an investigation into the raid and argued that it was politically motivated to wound the GOP ahead of the 2022 midterms. Some have said the Justice Department immediately needs to release documents pertaining to the raid.

    Read more here…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 20:20

  • Visualizing All The Latest Major Layoffs At US Corporations
    Visualizing All The Latest Major Layoffs At US Corporations

    Hiring freezes and layoffs are becoming more common in 2022, as U.S. businesses look to slash costs ahead of a possible recession.

    Understandably, this has a lot of people worried. In June 2022, Insight Global found that 78% of American workers fear they will lose their job in the next recession. Additionally, 56% said they aren’t financially prepared, and 54% said they would take a pay cut to avoid being laid off.

    In this infographic, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu visualizes major layoffs announced in 2022 by publicly-traded U.S. corporations.

    Note: Due to gaps in reporting, as well as the very large number of U.S. corporations, this list may not be comprehensive.

    An Emerging Trend

    Layoffs have surged considerably since April of this year. See the table below for high-profile instances of mass layoffs.

     

    Here’s a brief rundown of these layoffs, sorted by industry.

     

    Automotive

    Ford has announced the biggest round of layoffs this year, totalling roughly 8,000 salaried employees. Many of these jobs are in Ford’s legacy combustion engine business. According to CEO Jim Farley, these cuts are necessary to fund the company’s transition to EVs.

    We absolutely have too many people in some places, no doubt about it.

    – JIM FARLEY, CEO, FORD

    Speaking of EVs, Rivian laid off 840 employees in July, amounting to 6% of its total workforce. The EV startup pointed to inflation, rising interest rates, and increasing commodity prices as factors. The firm’s more established competitor, Tesla, cut 200 jobs from its autopilot division in the month prior.

    Last but not least is online used car retailer, Carvana, which cut 2,500 jobs in May. The company experienced rapid growth during the pandemic, but has since fallen out of grace. Year-to-date, the company’s shares are down more than 80%.

    Financial Services

    Fearing an impending recession, Coinbase has shed 1,100 employees, or 18% of its total workforce. Interestingly, Coinbase does not have a physical headquarters, meaning the entire company operates remotely.

    A recession could lead to another crypto winter, and could last for an extended period. In past crypto winters, trading revenue declined significantly.

    – BRIAN ARMSTRONG, CEO, COINBASE

    Around the same time, JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced it would fire hundreds of home-lending employees. While an exact number isn’t available, we’ve estimated this to be around 500 jobs, based on the original Bloomberg article. Wells Fargo, another major U.S. bank, has also cut 197 jobs from its home mortgage division.

    The primary reason for these cuts is rising mortgage rates, which are negatively impacting the demand for homes.

    Technology

    Within tech, Meta and Twitter are two of the most high profile companies to begin making layoffs. In Meta’s case, 350 custodial staff have been let go due to reduced usage of the company’s offices.

    Many more cuts are expected, however, as Facebook recently reported its first revenue decline in 10 years. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear he expects the company to do more with fewer resources, and managers have been encouraged to report “low performers” for “failing the company”.

    Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here.

    – MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, META

    Also in July, Twitter laid off 30% of its talent acquisition team. An exact number was not available, but the team was estimated to have less than 100 employees. The company has also enacted a hiring freeze as it stumbles through a botched acquisition by Elon Musk.

    More Layoffs to Come…

    Layoffs are expected to continue throughout the rest of this year, as metrics like consumer sentiment enter a decline. Rising interest rates, which make it more expensive for businesses to borrow money, are also having a negative impact on growth.

    In fact just a few days ago, trading platform Robinhood announced it was letting go 23% of its staff. After accounting for its previous layoffs in April (9% of the workforce), it’s fair to estimate that this latest round will impact nearly 800 people.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 20:00

  • "Completely Unprecedented" Martin Armstrong Warns Trump Raid Is "Deathblow To Democracy"
    “Completely Unprecedented” Martin Armstrong Warns Trump Raid Is “Deathblow To Democracy”

    Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

    Last month, legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong said the time to prepare is now for the chaos that is coming in 2023. 

    The destabilization of America has been kicked into high gear early with the FBI raid on President Trump’s Florida home this week.  Armstrong explains,

    “This really is unprecedented…

    In the United States, we are supposed to have civilized transfer of power.  That’s all coming to an end.  I am not being dramatic here.  From a legal perspective, this is completely unprecedented.  The danger of this is once they have done this, if the Republicans are ever allowed to get back into power, they would only end up doing the same thing to the Democrats…

    It’s striking a real deathblow to the very idea of a democracy.  We are not, at least we were not until today, someplace like Guatemala where you throw the opposition in jail, kill them or whatever you do.  This is what’s going on.  They are so afraid of Trump running in 2024 that this is just over the top.  Once they did this, there is no end.”

    Armstrong says the Democrats are in “dire straits” at the polls–and they know it.  Armstrong thinks the Trump raid by the FBI is an act of desperation, and it will “backfire,” but that’s not the only play in the Democrat playbook for the midterms in November.  Armstrong says,

    “I have been warned that the Democrats have been maneuvering, and the reason they are allowing all the illegal aliens to come in is they intend to allow them to vote.  You already had the Justice Department go after one state that said you had to prove you are an American to vote, and they filed a suit against them saying that they violated their civil rights.  At that stage of the game, hey, all of Europe, Australia, everybody should just send in a vote.”

    Armstrong’s says forget what the mainstream polls are saying about voter support for Democrats and Joe Biden because the real numbers are much lower than the public is told.  Armstrong’s “Socrates” computer program shows Joe Biden has just 12% of support in America.  Maybe this is why Democrats are desperate and realize they have to cheat and break the law to stay in power.  It’s not going to get any better, and the entire world is in the same sinking boat.  Armstrong says,

    “We basically are sitting here in the middle of the collapse of Western civilization.  It’s socialism that is collapsing because these people have done nothing but borrow money to bribe them to vote for them…

    There is no way to pay it back, and they had no intention of paying it back…

    Europe is, just forget it.  You have emerging markets collapsing around the world because to sell their debt, they had to put it into dollars.  Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Pakistan, Argentina are falling apart on a global scale.”

    Armstrong thinks the dollar will be strong for now and not to expect a collapse in the USA anytime soon because America will be the last man standing. 

    That said, Armstrong does see the possibility of a “stock market collapse in September.” 

    Armstrong is also “worried about civil war or extreme civil unrest in 2023 in America.” 

    Armstrong is seeing a “world war coming in 2024 or after.”

    Armstrong also said, “My computer warns that there may not even be an election in America in 2024.  It’s reaching that critical period.  So, this raid on Trump is like throwing down the gauntlet.  Everything is gone.”

    There is much more in the nearly 53-minute interview.

    Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with Martin Armstrong, cycle expert and author of the upcoming new book “The Plot to Seize Russia, Manufacturing World War III” for 8.9.22.

     

    To Donate to USAWatchdog.com, Click Here

    There is some free information, analysis and articles on ArmstrongEconomics.com.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 19:40

  • Ring Cameras Amassing Info On Users…And Their Neighbors
    Ring Cameras Amassing Info On Users…And Their Neighbors

    About 18% of Americans now own a video doorbell. That means a significant and growing slice of American neighborhoods are under a form of intermittent surveillance. If the surveillance video and associated data were the exclusive property of individual homeowners, it might not be of much concern. 

    However, that’s not the case. For example, Ring, the company behind the top-selling brand, maintains a vast database on its users and their cameras. Ring is an Amazon subsidiary, thanks to the tech giant’s 2018 purchase of the company for over $1 billion.

    Ring says it doesn’t sell its customers data, but sometimes it gives it away for free — to the police. In the first half of 2022 alone, Ring fielded more than 3,500 requests from law enforcement agencies. 

    Ring keeps plenty of info that you’d expect them to have. According to Wired magazine:

    Ring gets your name, phone number, email and postal address, and any other information you provide to it—such as payment information or your social media handles if you link your Ring account to Facebook, for instance. The company also gets information about your Wi-Fi network and its signal strength, and it knows you named your camera “Secret CIA Watchpoint,” as well as all the other technical changes you make to your cameras or doorbells.

    But that’s not all. In 2020, the BBC reported that Ring keeps data on every motion detected by its cameras, including the exact time “down to the millisecond.” The event database also tracks doorbell rings — and how many rings — as well as on-demand actions by the Ring doorbell’s owner, such as requesting live video or speaking through the speaker. 

    A look at one user’s Ring event database (via BBC) 

    BBC also found Ring’s database tracked interactions with the company’s apps — every time it’s opened, various types of screen-taps, and instances where the owner zoomed in on video footage. Over time, scrutiny of all this data can provide insights into whether you’re home or not.

    If you subscribe to the Ring Protect Plan — which archives 6 months of video and audio — Ring may even keep the video you’ve personally deleted, according to a Wired analysis of the company’s privacy policy. 

    Maybe you’ve opted against buying a Ring doorbell out of privacy concerns. That’s fine, but don’t forget that your neighbor’s Ring camera may be watching you — or even listening to you. Tests have found Ring cameras can record audio from 20 feet away. If you’re strolling by a Ring-equipped house and talking to someone, you and your conversation could be in Ring’s database. The same is true if you’re on your own property and you’re close enough to a neighbor’s camera and microphone. 

    This isn’t just a question of whether you trust Amazon and Ring not to misuse your video, audio and associated data. There’s always the chance that your info could be hacked by common criminals — or the ones who work for the government.

    Speaking of the latter, earlier this year, Amazon was awarded a $10 billion renewal of a secret NSA contract.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 19:20

  • A History Lesson For President Joe Biden
    A History Lesson For President Joe Biden

    Authored by Vance Ginn & John Hendrickson via RealClear Policy,

    A nation emerging from a significant pandemic and an economic downturn awaited President Joe Biden in early 2021. President Warren G. Harding inherited a similar situation after winning the 1920 election in a landslide. But Harding overcame it by getting government out of the way. The economy recovered quickly—whereas Biden enacted bad progressive policies that have resulted in a double-dip recession with 40-year high inflation.

    AP Photo/File

    Biden should learn from Harding and his successor President Calvin Coolidge to correct government failures and allow markets to heal so that we can enjoy abundant economic prosperity again.

    In the aftermath of the Great War, the U.S. suffered a severe economic downturn. The late economist Milton Friedman described this as one of the most “severe on record.” The depression of 1920-1921 is often forgotten because it was short-lived, but it offers policy lessons that can be applied to our current situation.

    Prior to and during the Great War, President Woodrow Wilson led a massive expansion of the federal government, which included the creation of the Federal Reserve and personal income tax system. After the war, markets corrected from those government failures throughout the economy triggering a steep economic downturn.

    The business and agriculture sectors were hit particularly hard by the depression of 1920-1921, which led to bankruptcies and farm foreclosures. Unemployment was estimated to be about 12% and the nation was hit buffered from deflation. Americans were hurting.

    During the presidential campaign of 1920, then-Sen. Warren G. Harding pledged a “return to normalcy” against Wilson’s progressivism. During the campaign, Harding argued that the nation needed to return to sound money, less spending, lower taxes, less debt, and limited government.

    This was the fiscal policy blueprint of the “normalcy” agenda. Harding understood that to revive business confidence and lower high income tax burdens, the federal government must get its fiscal house in order.

    In 1921, Congress passed the Budget and Accounting Act, which under the leadership of Bureau of the Budget Director Charles Dawes and later his successor, Herbert Lord, worked to reduce federal spending. Dawes would compare the task of cutting spending to having a “toothpick with which to tunnel Pike’s Peak.”

    Harding also understood that to lower the high tax rate, spending had to be addressed first. “The present administration is committed to a period of economy in government…There is not a menace in the world today like that of growing public indebtedness and mounting public expenditures…We want to reverse things,” explained Harding.

    Reducing spending was not easy.

    As an example, Harding vetoed a popular bonus for veterans of the Great War. Overall, Harding’s commitment to economy in government resulted in an estimated 50% reduction in federal spending. Harding also relied on Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, who also shared his views regarding limiting spending.

    Mellon would serve as the lead architect for Harding’s tax reform policies. The top income tax rate was over 70% and Mellon’s goal was to lower the rate. Through a series of tax reforms, the high rate would eventually be cut to 25% during the Coolidge administration.

    Harding and Coolidge’s fiscal conservatism of lowering spending and tax rates and paying down the national debt resulted in a quick economic recovery. The Federal Reserve also tightened the money supply. The late historian Paul Johnson wrote “Harding had done nothing except cut government expenditure, the last time a major industrial power treated a recession by classic laissez-faire methods…”

    After the death of Harding in August 1923, Coolidge continued and strengthened the economic policies of Harding. President Coolidge, along with Secretary Mellon, continued to lower spending and tax rates. The federal budget was $3.14 billion in 1923. By 1928, when Coolidge left, the budget was $2.96 billion.

    Altogether, spending and taxes were cut in about half during the 1920s, leading to faster real economic growth and productivity that contributed to budget surpluses throughout the decade. The decade had started in depression and by 1923 the national economy was booming with low unemployment.

    And that continued throughout much of the decade. This would have continued but government expanded again. In particular, the Hoover administration ran deficits and raised taxes and the Federal Reserve had too loose and then too tight money supply. This led to the Great Depression—a phenomenon that was avoidable and was exacerbated by President Roosevelt’s large expansion of government.

    It’s unlikely that President Biden will follow the pro-growth economic policies of Harding and Coolidge, nor will the Fed tighten the money supply enough to reduce inflation.

    President Biden’s philosophy of woke progressivism is bankrupting our country. The latest example is the recently passed “Inflation Reduction Act” that will lead to higher taxes, more inflation, and a deeper recession.

    Congress instead should have adopted more of the pro-growth policies practiced by Harding and Coolidge.

    Vance Ginn, Ph.D., is chief economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and is the former associate director for economic policy at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, 2019-20. John Hendrickson is the Policy Director at Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 19:00

  • Inflation: A Play In Three Acts
    Inflation: A Play In Three Acts

    By Simon White, Bloomberg Markets Live commentator and reporter

    Today’s drop in inflation potentially sets the stage for less tightening – or even easing – in the medium term, leading to a resurgence in inflation later in the cycle, eventually requiring a significant re-tightening of monetary conditions. Even if today’s fall in consumer-price inflation means we are over the peak, and it continues to slow, we are still probably only in the first act of a three act play.

    The 1970s are an imperfect analogy, but they have one crucial aspect in common with today: the monetization of large fiscal deficits. Runaway inflation is almost always preceded by large government borrowing financed by the central bank.

    Both the late 1960s and the last few years saw rising fiscal deficits facilitated by a central bank that thought it had more room to ease than it really did, as was the case in the late 1960s and early 1970s; or one that decided to ignore rising inflation altogether, as the Fed did with its recent maximum-employment/average-inflation-targeting framework.

    Once the conditions for high inflation are there, the economy is at the mercy of “events”, whether that be the Arab Oil Embargo in the early 1970s, or the pandemic and the Ukraine war in the current period.

    We are now in Act I, where inflation is high and rising. We will soon enter Act II, where a respite in inflation hoodwinks the Fed into believing it can take its foot off the tightening pedal prematurely. This sets the stage for Act III, where price growth stops falling, and takes off again, this time making new highs.

    But what’s maybe happening under the surface here? A way to think about this is to quantitatively break up inflation into cyclical and structural components.

    Cyclical price pressures should soon start to ease, taking the headline number down. But, as the chart below shows, the estimate for structural inflation is very high, making up almost half the headline number.

    If almost half of current inflation proves harder to shake, the cyclical-driven fall in the headline number would only be cosmetically positive. Once the cyclical components start contributing positively again, they would reinforce the stickier, structural inflation, potentially leading CPI to new highs.

    This would be Act III, and we know from the Volcker era how that has to end.

     

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 18:40

  • The Geopolitics Of Inflation
    The Geopolitics Of Inflation

    Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via DailyReckoning.com,

    Though it’s difficult to be confident of anything in the current flux we’re experiencing, I am pretty confident of three things:

    1) Price is set on the margins.

    2) Currencies are the foundation of every economy.

    3) The financial forecasts issued to calm the public do not reflect operative geopolitical goals.

    Let’s break this down. Every national government has “global interests.” Governments naturally do whatever they can to boost dynamics favorable to the state and nation, and obstruct or hinder dynamics injurious to the state or nation.

    As a general rule, nations have relatively few levers they can pull to influence global finance, trade, growth, currencies or the geopolitical balance of power.

    One such lever is the interest the state pays on its sovereign bonds.

    Leverage

    If a central bank/state increases the interest it pays on its bonds, that attracts capital seeking higher return (presuming the bond is perceived as safe from default). This inflow of capital strengthens demand for its currency, because the bonds are denominated in the state’s currency.

    As the currency strengthens vis-à-vis other currencies, it buys more goods and services. Imports become cheaper and the nation’s exports become more costly to those using other currencies.

    Another lever is to reduce the exports of commodities, especially essential commodities like energy and grains. If this reduction reduces the global supply, the price leaps.

    If allies get the exports and enemies don’t, this punishes enemies and rewards allies.

    A third lever is to limit imports.

    A consumer nation can limit imports from specific exporters, or make do with domestic supplies or only buy from allies.

    A fourth lever is to meet with allies and reach an agreement about finance and commodities to stave off imbalances that threaten the stability of the alliance.

    An example of this is the 1985 Plaza Accord that weakened the U.S. dollar at the expense of the Japanese yen and European currencies. The strong dollar was crushing U.S. exports and generating destabilizing trade deficits in the U.S.

    Each of these levers has geopolitical consequences.

    It’s All Connected

    Financial actions such as raising interest rates are presented as purely financial, but their geopolitical consequences are not lost on the nation’s political/military leadership.

    Boosting or trimming exports of commodities can be presented as financial as well, even when the real purpose is geopolitical.

    In other words, events which are presented as solely financial can also serve geopolitical aims beneath the domestic-centric rah-rah.

    Consider how the price of oil contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

    In the mid-to-late 1980s, the price of oil fell and stayed relatively low for years.

    In 1986, oil fell under $10/barrel. Adjusted for inflation, this was lower than prices paid in the late 1950s.

    Although this ample oil supply was fundamentally a result of super-major oil fields discovered in the 1960s and 1970s coming online, it had a geopolitical consequence few fully appreciate: It pushed the Soviet Union over the fiscal cliff into collapse.

    No Coincidence, Comrade

    Oil and natural gas exports were the primary source of the Soviets’ hard cash it needed to buy goods and commodities from other nations.

    Once the oil revenues dried up, the Soviet Union was no longer financially viable.

    Was this lengthy “glut” of oil just good luck for the U.S., or was a policy agreement with Saudi Arabia and other oil exporters that “nudged” the price lower also a factor?

    What do you reckon — pure luck or luck “nudged” to achieve a geopolitical goal? Given the high stakes and the vulnerability of the USSR to low oil prices, is it plausible that it was entirely happy happenstance?

    In the 37 years since the Plaza Accord, the U.S. has endeavored to keep the dollar relatively weak for a number of reasons: to limit trade deficits and avoid putting undue pressure on emerging countries with debts denominated in USD and nations that imported commodities priced in USD, which is virtually all commodities.

    This weak-dollar policy has changed, with profound implications. The soaring USD is adding a currency “surcharge” on top of rising prices for commodities such as oil and grain.

    A Double-Whammy of Inflation

    Take Japan as an example: The yen has weakened 20% against the USD. This means every commodity priced in USD is 20% higher in price for those using yen.

    Add the increase in cost due to global scarcities and that’s a double-whammy hit of inflation.

    These sharp increases in inflation/price of essentials are recessionary as demand craters. People simply don’t have enough earnings to pay higher costs for essentials and maintain their discretionary spending on goods and services.

    Recall that price is set on the margins. If supply of oil falls 5 million barrels per day (BPD), price rises. But if demand falls 10 million BPD, the price of oil plummets.

    As the price of oil falls, oil exporters receive much less money, and so they compensate by pumping more oil. This serves to further depress prices.

    Who would benefit from a rising U.S. dollar and a global recession, and who would be hurt? The U.S. would benefit from a higher USD because that lowers the cost of all imports. Everyone else using weaker currencies would pay more for imported commodities.

    As demand for oil falls, the price plummets. That helps consumer nations and hurts oil exporters.

    Is China the Target?

    As the USD rises, it drags every currency pegged to the USD higher with it, making their exports more expensive. That would pressure China’s exports, forcing China to adjust its currency peg, reducing the purchasing power of everyone using yuan/RMB.

    Is the looming global recession merely “bad luck” or could an unavoidable global recession be “nudged” to serve geopolitical aims?

    The forces that have been unleashed (higher interest rates, scarcities, strong dollar) will take time to work through the global economy. The USD may drop and oil may rise over the next few months, but where will global demand and oil be in a year?

    What Really Matters

    Many people expect the dollar to weaken and the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates back to zero once the recession becomes undeniable.

    I am not so sure. A case can be made that interest rates have completed a 40-year cycle of decline and are now in a secular cycle higher.

    A case can also be made that the weak-dollar policy has ended and the dollar will move higher, accelerating the financial and geopolitical consequences described above.

    A strong currency exports inflation to those nations which do not issue the currency. Luck, coincidence or “nudge”?

    Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe what matters is that it’s happening.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 18:20

  • Some More Good Inflation News: Owner-Equivalent Rents Are About To Peak
    Some More Good Inflation News: Owner-Equivalent Rents Are About To Peak

    It was seven months ago today, when looking at the latest real-time rent data from the likes of Apartment List and Zillow, we highlighted to readers that the surge in rents has finally peaked as the annual rate of rental increases had capped out at 18% and when Owner-Equivalent Rent – the broadest and most closely watched housing/shelter/rent series in the CPI – was just starting to move higher. This was notable not only because this was around the time the Fed finally realized inflation was not transitory, but also because with its traditional 4-7 month delay, it meant that shelter inflation had already peaked (on an annual basis) and its rate of Y/Y growth was now declining; it also meant that it would take readers of the CPI report – such as the Fed – about 4-7 months to figure out what our readers already knew in January.

    Incidentally, this same real-time rental data is what prompted us to correctly warn one year ago (when “team transitory” still ruled supreme), that rental hyperinflation had arrived bringing with it “soaring prices, competition and desperation.”

    Well, fast forward to today when the red-hot OER component of CPI, while still red-hot, came in just fractionally below expectations…

    … but what is more important is that as the latest Apartment List data shows, the rapid pace of annual increases is now slowing rapidly, and at this pace, the CPI shelter data – which is arguably the stickiest of all and is again delayed 4 to 7 months – will peak some time in September or October.

    Courtesy of Apartment List, here are some more observations on the latest real-time trends in the rental market:

    Our national index rose by 1.1 percent over the course of July, a slightly slower rate of growth than we observed last month. So far this year, rents are growing more slowly than they did in 2021, but faster than they did in the years immediately preceding the pandemic. Over the first seven months of 2022, rents have increased by a total of 6.7 percent, compared to an increase of 12.0 percent over the same months of 2021. Year-over-year rent growth currently stands at 12.3 percent, but has been trending down since the start of the year from a peak of 18 percent.

    On the supply side, our national vacancy index held steady at 5 percent this month. Our vacancy index has been gradually easing from a low of 4.1 percent last fall, but that easing now appears to be leveling off at a rate that remains well below the pre-pandemic norm. This may be at least partially attributable to spiking mortgage rates, which can contribute to tightness in the rental market by sidelining potential first-time homebuyers from the for-sale market and keeping these households in rental units for longer. Rents increased this month in 87 of the nation’s 100 largest cities. The Miami metro has seen the nation’s fastest rent growth over the past year, but elsewhere in the Sun Belt, the booming Phoenix and Las Vegas markets have shown signs of cooling in recent months.

    Month-over-month rent growth cools slightly with 1.1% increase; rents up 12.3% year-over-year

    The national median rent increased by a record-setting 17.6 percent over the course of 2021. This rapid growth in rent prices is a key contributor to overall inflation, which is currently rising at its fastest pace in 40 years.1 With inflation top-of-mind for policymakers and everyday Americans alike, our rent index is particularly relevant, since movements in market rents lead movements in average rents paid. As a result, our index can signal what is likely ahead for the housing component of the official inflation estimates produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Thankfully for the country’s renters, our index shows that rent growth in 2022 has cooled from last summer’s peaks. At the same time, however, rents are continuing to rise faster than they did in pre-pandemic years.

    In the seven months of this year, our national rent index has increased by 6.7 percent, well below last year’s 12.0 percent increase over the same months. However, this year’s pace is also still notably faster than that of the years prior to 2021. For comparison, rent growth from January to July totalled 4.0 percent in 2017, 4.5 percent in 2018, 4.1 percent in 2019, and -0.4 percent in 2020. Rent growth is pacing well behind last summer’s scorching pace, but ahead of the pre-pandemic norm, as can also be seen in the following chart of month-over-month growth from 2018 to present.

    Our national rent index increased by 1.1 percent month-over-month in July, representing a slight cooldown from last month’s 1.4 percent increase. In July 2021, our national rent index logged record-setting month-over-month growth of 2.7 percent, more than doubling this month’s increase. In contrast, from 2017 to 2019, month-over-month growth in July averaged 0.6 percent, just over half of this month’s increase. Over the past 12 months as a whole, rent prices have spiked by a staggering 12.3 percent nationally. That said, our year-over-year growth estimate has been gradually cooling in recent months after peaking at 18 percent last December, as monthly growth comes in slower than last year’s pace. This month’s slowing rate of growth is consistent with the timing of seasonal trends that we have observed in the past, and it is likely that growth will cool further in the coming months, as the fall and winter tend to bring a slowdown in rental market activity.

    More here

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 18:00

  • "Coup" Means Whatever The Regime Wants It To Mean
    “Coup” Means Whatever The Regime Wants It To Mean

    Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

    In the immediate aftermath of the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, many pundits and politicians were eager to describe the events of that day as a coup d’etat in which the nation was “this close” to having some sort of junta void the 2020 election and take power in Washington. 

    The headlines at the time were unambiguous in their assertions that the riot was a coup or attempted coup. For example, the riot was “A Very American Coup” according to a headline at the New Republic. “This Is a Coup” insists a writer at Foreign Policy. The Atlantic presented photos purported to be “Scenes from an American Coup.” 

    This general tactic has not changed since then. Just this month, for example, Vanity Fair referred to the January 6 riots as “Trump’s attempted coup” Last month, Vox called it “Trump’s cuckoo coup.” Moreover, anti-Trump politicians have repeatedly referred to the riot as a coup, and “attempted coup” has become the standard term of choice for the January 6 panel. 

    At the time, it was obvious that if the riot was a coup at all, it failed utterly. Thus, the debate is now over whether or not it was an attempted coup. On January 8, 2021, I argued the riot was not an attempted coup. Now, 18 months later, after months of “investigation” and testimony to the January 6 committee, we’ve learned new details about the events that occurred that day. And now I can say with even more confidence: the January 6 riot was not an attempted coup. 

    It was not an attempted coup because it simply wasn’t the sort of event that historians and political scientists—the people who actually study coups—generally define as a coup. Even the Justice Department admits that virtually all of the rioters were, at most, guilty only of crimes such as trespassing and disorderly conduct. Among the tiny minority of those charged with actual conspiracy—11 people— they lacked any sort of institutional backing or support that is necessary for a coup attempt to take place. 

    Nor is this just some meaningless debate over semantics. Words matters and definitions matter. This should be abundantly clear to anyone in our current age of debates over what terms like “recession” or “vaccine” or “woman” mean. In fact, the use of term “coup” has been thoroughly weaponized in that outside academic circles it is employed largely as a pejorative to discredit political acts designed to register discontent with a ruling regime or to oppose a ruling coalition. For many, the term coup is now used increasingly to describe political acts one doesn’t like. But if the term “coup” ultimately means “political thing those bad guys did” then it ceases to have any precise meaning at all. But, the use of the term in this way does explain why so many pundits and politicians routinely use the term to label their opponents coup plotters. It’s basically name calling, and really only tells us about the user’s political leanings. 

    What Is a Coup?

    In their article for the Journal of Peace Research, “Global Instances of Coups from 1950 to 2010: A New Dataset,” authors Jonathan M. Powell and Clayton L. Thyne provide a definition: 

    A coup attempt includes illegal and overt attempts by the military or other elites within the state apparatus to unseat the sitting executive.

    Although the terms “military” and “coup” are routinely employed together, Powell and Thyne emphasize military involvement at early stages is not necessary:

    [Other definitions] more broadly allow non-military elites, civilian groups, and even mercenaries to be included as coup perpetrators. This broad definition includes four sources, including [a definition stating that coup] perpetrators need only be ‘organized factions’. We take a middle ground. Coups may be undertaken by any elite who is part of the state apparatus. These can include non-civilian members of the military and security services, or civilian members of government.

    Moreover, it is not necessary that violence actually be used. The presence of a threat issued by some organized group of elites is sufficient. 

    This definition is helpful because there are many types of political actions that are not coups, even if the intended outcome is a change in the ruling regime. The definition offered by Powell and Thyne is useful because it avoids “conflating coups with other forms of anti-regime activity, which is the primary problem with broader approaches.”

    For example, popular uprisings that force ruling executives from power are not generally coups. Intervention by a foreign regime is not a coup. Civil wars initiated by non-elites or other outsiders are not coups. 

    Why the Jan 6 Riot Was Not a Coup

    In the case of the January 6 riot, the rioters had no institutional backing, no promises of help from elites, and no reason to assume they had access to any coercive tools necessary to seize and hold control of a state’s executive apparatus. Nor was Donald Trump even in a position to promise such things. As noted by Elaine Kamarck at the Brookings Institution: 

    we now know that Trump did not even have the support of his own family and friends nor his handpicked White House staff. To pursue his plans, he had to rely on a close group of advisors known as “the clown show” led by Rudi Giuliani, a pillow manufacturer, and a dot-com millionaire—none of whom was in government and none of whom controlled the most important “assets” (guns, tanks, planes etc.) needed to take over a government. In contrast to most successful coups in history, Trump had no faction of the military, no faction of the National Guard, and no faction of the District of Colombia Metropolitan Police at his disposal.

    In other words, the rioters had no avenue to calling upon any faction of the state or group of elites to secure backing. Kamarck continues: 

    As we learned in some of the most recent hearings, it was Vice President Mike Pence who was in contact with the military and the police, and most importantly, the military and the police were taking orders from Pence not Trump, the commander in chief! 

    Given that Trump didn’t attempt to actually attempt to secure any government agency to secure power for himself, we can guess Trump knew no branch of the federal government was about to step in to illegally secure an extension to his tenure as president. We can never know for sure what Trump was really thinking on that day, but even if Trump sought to encourage a group of protestors to somehow put pressure on Congress—even if by violent means—that’s not a coup. It’s a popular uprising. 

    The Bolivian “Coup”: The Anti-Morales Protestors in Bolivia 

    The protests that followed the 2019 elections in Bolivia provide an interestingly similar case to the January 6 riot and demonstrate that it’s often quite debatable as to what constitutes a coup. 

    As the Bolivian election neared its end on October 24, sitting president Evo Morales began to claim victory. Numerous opponents, however, claimed Morales’s supporters had engaged in electoral fraud. Both sides refused to accept the results of the election, and protests and riots soon erupted across the nation. Morales and his supporters accused the opposition of staging a coup. The opposition accused Morales of the same. Or, more precisely, they accused Morales of attempting an “autocoup”—autogolpe in Spanish—in which Morales was attempting to hold on to power via illegal means. 

    Ultimately, Morales ended up resigning after he failed to maintain control over the police and military. High ranking officials from those institutions “recommended” Morales resign, and Morales did so soon after. Morales went into exile and Mexico and the opposition became the de facto governing coalition in Bolivia. 

    There remains no agreement, however, as to whether or not the actions of either side in Brazil constituted a coup (or autocoup.) Morales’s supporters—mostly leftists—refer to the political crisis following the election as a coup. Those who are convinced Morales did indeed lose the election refer to his efforts as an autocoup. But many also refer to the events as a popular uprising. 

    For many, the situation in Bolivia in 2019 remains ambiguous, and we can see how it shares many elements in common with the events surrounding the January 6 riot at the Capitol. It began with claims of election fraud, and ended with a group of protestors attempting to pressure congress to change the outcome. This is not fundamentally different from the popular uprisings in Bolivia, except that in the US the outcome was never really dubious. There was never really any doubt as to whether the Pentagon would he helping Trump push through an autocoup. Trump never had any real reason to believe he could hold on to power, even with 900 mostly unarmed protestors trespassing in the Capitol. 

    “Coup” Now Means “Thing I Don’t Like”

    The Bolivia situation also helps to illustrate how the term “coup” is used selectively for political effect. The fact that Morales’s leftist supporters are generally those who favor the use of the term to describe Morales’s removal from office is no coincidence. Those who support one side say it’s a coup, while the other side does not. 

    We see the same dynamic at work in the US, and we should not be surprised that the media has rushed to apply the term to the riot. This phenomenon was examined in a November 2019 article titled “Coup with Adjectives: Conceptual Stretching or Innovation in Comparative Research?,” by Leiv Marsteintredet and Andres Malamud. The authors note that as the incidence of real coups has declined, the word has become more commonly applied to political events that are generally not coups. But, as the authors note, this is no mere issue of splitting hairs, explaining that “The choice of how to conceptualize a coup is not to be taken lightly since it carries normative, analytical, and political implications.”

    Increasingly, the term really means “this is a thing I don’t like.” It’s clear the January 6 panel in Congress, and countless anti-Trump pundits use the term in this way to express disapproval and also to justify regime crackdowns against pro-Trump opponents of the regime. It’s easier to justify harsh prison sentences for a disorganized group of vandals if their acts can be framed as a nearly successful coup and therefore a threat to “our democracy.” Moreover, if the situation were reversed, and if protestors invaded the Capitol to support a leftwing, pro-regime candidate, we can be sure that the vocabulary used to describe the event in the mainstream press would be quite different. 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 08/10/2022 – 17:40

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