• "Agricultural Disaster" – Frost Blast Decimates French Vineyards, May Slash Total Wine Output By Third 
  “Agricultural Disaster” – Frost Blast Decimates French Vineyards, May Slash Total Wine Output By Third 

  Earlier this month, French farmers fought mother nature in their attempt to prevent frost from wiping out their crops. It appears their attempts have failed as the damage is extensive and could wipe out nearly a third of French wine output for the year. 

  In early April, French farmers scrambled to light-controlled fires across their vineyards to stave off frost. Euronews document these efforts in a series of stunning photographs. 

  A farmer burns a bale of straw in his vineyard to protect grapevines from frost. This picture was taken on April 7 at the heart of the Vouvray vineyard in Touraine, France.

  

  Winegrowers from the Domaine Daniel Etienne Defaix vineyard in Chablis lit fires across their fields. 

  

  Smoke rises across multiple vineyards in Touraine, France. 

  

  As reported by The Guardian, the French government declared the frost an “agricultural disaster” and planned to provide financial support to farmers. 

  Several thousand hectares of farming land, including Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, and the Rhône Valley, were heavily impacted by the frost. 

  Jérôme Despey, the secretary-general of the FNSEA farming union, said this year’s frost could be one of the worst in decades. He said it might be more damaging than the ones experienced in 1991, 1997, and 2003.

  Agriculture minister Julien Denormandie said the frost blast was a “completely exceptional situation,” resulting in “substantial losses.”

  Exact losses are unknown at this time. But fresh estimates this week by the farm office FranceAgriMer warns at least a third of the country’s 2021 wine production could be affected, reported Reuters. 

  Ygor Gibelind of FranceAgriMer said frost damages would be more apparent by the end of the month. He estimates wine output could decrease by 28% to 32% below average volumes of recent years. 

  “This (frost) was something exceptional, both in the fact it spread so far south and that is was so widespread,” Gibelind said, adding that the damage was exacerbated by warmer weather early in the growing season and accelerated plant growth. 

  Gibelind said Burgundy is the worst-hit area where some farmers lost half their crop. The second worst area is in Languedoc, with about 40% crop loss, then Aquitaine that encompasses Bordeaux at some 30%. 

  A decline in French wine output would certainly suggest bottles from the country are about to experience a price surge as supply constraints become realized. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/23/2021 – 02:45

• Faith Leaders, Businessmen, Political Leaders Urge African Development, Countering China's Belt-And-Road
  Faith Leaders, Businessmen, Political Leaders Urge African Development, Countering China’s Belt-And-Road

  Authored by Douglas Burton via The Epoch Times,

  Former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has endorsed an effort to jumpstart the economies of Africa through a bottom-up revolution of African entrepreneurs. That revolution involves countering China’s efforts to dominate the continent while articulating a Christian approach to Africa’s development.

  

  Pompeo gave the keynote speech April 13 at a summit of CEOs and African political leaders called “Equity for Africa” at the Business School of Liberty University in Virginia.

  “Greater development improves security for all of us,” Pompeo told the gathering of 160, which included American CEOs and business owners from 14 African nations.

  “Terrorist thugs for a long time have taken advantage of less developed countries and used them as safe havens and inflicted enormous harm and enormous destruction of economic prosperity,” he told the gathering.

  “As we can increase economic growth and the capacity for new businesses to provide wealth and opportunity for people throughout Africa, America will be a better place,” Pompeo said.

  Crediting the phrase “America First” as a moral principle that nations could replicate by doing their utmost to bring security and prosperity to their own citizens, Pompeo noted that “when they did that, they could counter a narrative in Africa that comes from the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party.”

  Belt and Road

  China’s trillion-dollar footprint in Africa known as the Belt and Road Initiative cast a shadow over the three-day gathering.

  Launched in 2013, Belt and Road projects may be found in 42 African countries. China is the largest funder of infrastructure projects in Africa, giving financing to 20 percent of all projects and building one-third.

  Chinese companies are building roads, railways, and power plants that African nations have lacked for decades, but with the risk that key national assets can be lost through loan defaults.

  “It’s a fact that African businesses are inundated with Chinese money,” Ted Yoho, a former congressman from Florida and a panelist at the summit told The Epoch Times.

  To compete with China’s dominant investing in the continent, the U.S. Congress with Yoho’s involvement passed “the Build Act” in late 2018, which set aside $60 billion for American companies to use as financing for collaborative projects in the developing world.

  “African countries should be wary of authoritarian regimes,” Pompeo said. “We know the absence of religious freedom, the absence of dignity, that comes from tyrannical regimes that intend to spread their tyranny all across the world.”

  “It should not be the case that African nations must be dependent on these totalitarian nations for their vital infrastructure,” he said.

  

  Dean of Liberty University School of Business Dave Brat (L); President, Redeemed Christian Bible College and Seminary, Sayo Ajiboye (C); President, Global Strategic Alliance, Kevin Jessip (R) at the Equity for Africa Summit at Liberty University in Lynchburg Va., on April 14, 2021. (Ellie Richardson)

  Boom Predicted

  Equity for Africa marked an ambitious outreach in thought leadership for Liberty University, founded by the late Baptist Televangelist Jerry Falwell, and until his resignation last year, by Jerry Falwell, Jr., and for its business school headed by David Brat, a former Richmond, Virginia congressmen.

  Brat was credited with planning the event with creative contributions from many Evangelical advisors, including Kevin Jessip, founder of Global Strategic Alliance and a bevy of African expatriates in the United States.

  Pompeo’s speech coincided with his assumption of a fellowship chair at the University’s Standing for Freedom Center.

  “We are here to articulate a national plan for family, development, and economic transformation by meeting the felt needs of the people of each nation,” Jessip told The Epoch Times, warning that China’s vast infrastructure building is attempting to control and contain the peoples of Africa for the long term.

  The approach of a “global strategic alliance” by contrast is to enrich African citizens through a boom of entrepreneurism. “The Christian approach means releasing the people and allowing them to control their own destiny,” he told The Epoch Times.

  Of the 75 panelists that presented their expertise in the course of two full days of meetings, virtually all asserted their belief that the continent of Africa will bloom as the place of the world’s next economic miracle in the next 20 years.

  They included hedge fund manager Rod D. Martin, a Florida GOP power player who told The Epoch Times, “I fully believe that Africa is going to be the place of the next economic boom, just as East Asia was in the 1980s.”

  Jessip, an evangelical activist who helped organize a massive Prayer Assembly called the “Return,” on the Washington Mall on Sept. 26, 2020, believes that Africa and Western Christian faithful are entering a so-called Kairos moment, a Greek word which means “a proper or opportune time for action.”

  As Western nations settle into near zero population growth, the African nations are facing a population explosion, offering the world a vast resource of skilled and low-skilled labor for industry.

  Africa’s population is expected to double by 2050. Nigeria, the most populous nation, is forecast to have by that year 400 million people, overtaking the United States as the world’s third-most populous country.

  

  H.E. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of Nigeria, speaking to the Equity for Africa Summit via live video from Nigeria at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. On April 14, 2021. (Ellie Richardson)

  Economic Pitches

  Several African heads of state or lawmakers gave economic pitches by zoom calls to the conference including Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who touted Nigeria’s young resilient population, its reserves of oil and “five-year tax holidays for investments in eligible sectors.”

  Nigeria has multiple contracts with Chinese companies to build infrastructure, which is natural, he pointed out, because developing countries have a great need for infrastructure development.”

  Osinbajo, a law professor and an ordained pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, also spoke to the opportunities that Western companies have passed over in Africa in recent years.

  “There are fewer investments coming from the West to Africa, which is why the Chinese have taken advantage of that gap and stepped in with favorable investments,” he said.

  That is about to change, according to the investors and political activists at Equity Africa.

  “God’s about to do a sovereign move,” Jessip told The Epoch Times. “He is going to do His own thing. The purpose of the Global Strategic Alliance is to move the body of Christ to move with Him,” he said.

  “We are casting our bread upon the waters,” Jessip said citing Ecclesiastes 11: “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.”

  In Jessip’s telling, the America outreach to African entrepreneurs is being returned by a steady stream of African preachers coming to the North American continent.

  Africa holds at least 600 million Christians devoted to their faith, and many are eager to bring the fire of faith back to the United States, which now registers fewer than 50 percent of its population as Christian believers.

  “Whereas Africa used to be the mission continent, the United States is the mission country today,” Jessip told the conference, adding: “African preachers are coming to the United States. The bread is coming back, which is good, because we need it.”

  Conference panelists included well known names in the conservative movement: Jack Brewer, former NFL star and Africa investor; Herschel Walker, former NFL star and business owner; Steve Green, CEO of Hobby Lobby and co-founder of the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.; and Christopher Miller, former acting secretary of defense, among others.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/23/2021 – 02:00

• How Much Ruin Do We Have Left?
  How Much Ruin Do We Have Left?

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson. op-ed via The Epoch Times,

  As Americans know from their own illustrious history, any nation’s well-being hinges on only a few factors. Its prosperity, freedom, and overall stability depend on its constitutional and political stability. A secure currency and financial order are also essential, as is a strong military.

  

  Perhaps most important is a first-rate inductive educational system. Of course, nothing is possible without general social calm (often dependent on a reverence for the past) and secure borders.

  The ability to produce or easily acquire food, fuel, and key natural resources ensures a nation’s independence and autonomy.

  Unfortunately, in the last few months, all of those centuries-old reasons to be confident in American strength and resiliency have been put into doubt.

  The challenge is not just enemies abroad such as China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. The greater problem lies within us, as we erode the inherited and acquired strengths that made us singular, both materially and spiritually.

  We are now witnessing a concentrated effort to alter the constitutional order and centuries of custom and tradition. The Left believes that’s the only way it can retain its transient power, given the unpopularity of most of its current agenda.

  A nation’s institutions are its bedrock. Yet, the Electoral College and the Constitution’s emphasis on individual states establishing voting laws are under assault.

  Already gone is the 176-year-old tradition of a pivotal November Election Day. The 152-year-old nine-member Supreme Court, the 184-year-old Senate filibuster, and the 62-year-old idea of a 50-state union are all being targeted by the New Democratic Party.

  Given that the last presidential election was hotly contested, that Democratic congressional majorities are minuscule, and that the Supreme Court is unsympathetic, the Left seeks to change the rules to stay in power rather than adjust its unpopular policies.

  We are running up vast multitrillion-dollar annual deficits as we race to a $30 trillion national debt.

  More worrisome, our elites justify the spending with sophistries about debt being irrelevant, or inflation and stagflation being relics of the past—even as prices are now soaring.

  After costly strategic stagnation in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, our military is now turning on its own.

  Some of the politicized top brass seem more worried about the politics of their own soldiers than the dangers of foreign militaries.

  Our public schools and colleges are systematically downplaying meritocratic curricula and substituting ideological, racial, and cultural litmus tests.

  Admissions now often hinge as much on race, gender, and ethnicity as on quantifiable achievement. The First Amendment and Fifth Amendment, covering free speech and due process, have vanished from most college campuses.

  The year 2020 saw the most destructive riots in American history. Yet very few of the looters, arsonists, and rioters were ever indicted. Most were never arrested.

  Whether government arrests violent protesters or those assembling en masse and breaking quarantines is contingent on their ideology.

  Private monopolies that control most of the written communications of Americans censor expression entirely on the basis of politics.

  Modern Jacobins seek to erase our founding in 1776. Mobs tear down statues and deface monuments with impunity. There is no consistent rhyme or reason to why the names of schools, institutions, and streets are erased overnight—except the relative dangers of a nihilistic electronic mob.

  Our officials at the Justice Department and the United Nations either will not or cannot defend the history and reputation of their own homeland.

  Record natural gas and oil production has been giving the public affordable heating, cooling, and transportation. Self-sufficiency in energy made the United States exempt from worries over Middle Eastern wars and foreign oil embargos. The more we produced our own natural gas, the cleaner became our air and the smaller our collective carbon footprint.

  Yet in just 100 days, energy prices have soared. The Joe Biden administration has canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and limited energy leasing on federal lands, threatening to all but end our gas and oil independence in just a few years.

  In the drought-stricken West, key irrigation water is still being diverted from farms to the ocean. Billions of dollars in farm aid are doled out on the basis of race. And promised new regulations and estate taxes may well kill off what’s left of family farms.

  Adam Smith said of successful nations that they have a lot of “ruin” in them. He meant that a dissolute, leisured, and ahistorical generation has to waste a lot of its generous inherited wealth before it runs out.

  We are learning how much will soon be left of what our ancestors bequeathed. And the rest of the world is watching—some with glee, others with horror.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 23:45

• Fake COVID Vaccines Discovered In Mexico And Poland 
  Fake COVID Vaccines Discovered In Mexico And Poland 

  While scammers have been selling fake or forged COVID-19 vaccination cards, another scam has been discovered involving counterfeit versions of the vaccine. 

  WSJ reports fake versions of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech have been found in Mexico and Poland. 

  In Mexico, a man who claimed to be a biotech expert injected upwards of 80 people with the fake vaccine – charging $1,000 per dose. WSJ said none of the people had been physically harmed by the injection. 

  Dr. Manuel de la O, the health secretary of Nuevo León state in Northeastern Mexico, said fake vials of the vaccine were found in what appeared to be beer coolers. The counterfeit vaccines had “different lot numbers than those sent to the state and a wrong expiration date,” the health secretary said. 

  

  Reports of counterfeit vaccines were also found in Poland, where authorities seized a stockpile from a man’s apartment. The substance found inside the vials was likely an anti-wrinkle treatment, Pfizer said.

  “Everybody on the planet needs it. Many are desperate for it,” Lev Kubiak, Pfizer’s world head of security, told WSJ. “We have a very limited supply, a supply that will increase as we ramp up and other companies enter the vaccine space. In the interim, there is a perfect opportunity for criminals.”

  Pfizer is also working with law enforcement on counterfeit vaccine cases like those recently uncovered in Mexico and Poland. Johnson & Johnson and Moderna are other top producers of COVID vaccines. They, too, are working with authorities to monitor fake vaccine distribution. 

  Across the world, dozens of websites have been shut down for fraudulently claiming to sell vaccines. Some of the websites appeared to be seeking personal information for identity fraud schemes than actually injecting people with vaccines. 

  In other countries, including China and South Africa, authorities seized thousands of doses of counterfeit vaccines, according to Interpol. 

  The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, an investigative arm of the US Department of Homeland Security, has also been investigating fraud related to the virus pandemic globally. Investigators have removed 30 websites and seized 74 web domains, according to IPR officials. So far, no counterfeit vaccines have been found on US soil. 

  Countries that are struggling to obtain vaccines appear to be the most prone to fraudulent schemes. 

  “Whenever you see this mismatch between demand and supply in certain areas, there are people who are willing to fill that difference with counterfeits,” said Tony Pelli, a consultant with BSI Group who concentrates on drug security. “For new drugs, it’s usually just a matter of time before you see people trying to counterfeit them.”

  What appears evident is that low-income countries struggling to obtain vaccines are ripe for fraud. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 23:25

• Taiwan: The New Geopolitical And Economic Flash Point
  Taiwan: The New Geopolitical And Economic Flash Point

  Authored by Ethan Yang via The American Institute for Economic Research,

  The island nation of Taiwan may be in the spotlight today for handling Covid-19 without a lockdown but it’s about to become one of the most contentious geopolitical flashpoints of the decade. On April 17, 2021, The South China Morning Post reported that,

  “The United States and Japan called for “peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” in a joint statement released after a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga who reaffirmed their commitment to counter China’s “intimidation” in the East and South China seas in wide-ranging talks.

  It is the first time since 1969 that the top leaders of the two countries mentioned Taiwan in a joint statement, a move that is set to infuriate Beijing.”

  The move did in fact attract hostility from the Chinese as Nikkei Asia wrote,

  “Hours after Japan and the U.S. named Taiwan in a leader’s summit statement for the first time in more than five decades, China hit back at the communique that also highlighted the two allies’ concerns over Hong Kong and human rights issues in Xinjiang.

  “These matters bear on China’s fundamental interests and allow no interference. We express strong concern and firm opposition to relevant comments in the Joint Leaders’ Statement,” a spokesperson at the Chinese embassy said in a statement on Saturday.

  Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang belong to “China’s internal affairs,” the statement said.”

  Xinjiang is a region in Northwest China where the Chinese Communist Party is reported to be engaging in horrendous activities such as ethnic cleansing, religious persecution, and slave labor. Hong Kong, which came under Chinese control in 1997, was promised to have its democratic norms respected in a slow reintegration period set to end in 2047. That promise has now been shattered as the CCP unleashed a brutal crackdown in response to the Hong Kong Protests starting in 2019. China’s treatment of Hong Kong subsequently eliminated any remaining intentions amongst the independent Taiwanese to even consider a peaceful unification with the People’s Republic of China.

  Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen, who is a staunch advocate of Taiwanese independence and national identity, was recently reelected with the greatest popular landslide in the island’s history. It has become abundantly clear to everyone, especially the CCP, that China’s unmoving ambition to annex the island can now only be accomplished with military force. This is frightening not only because of the damage this development will have for democracy, freedom, and economic prosperity not just in Asia but around the world, but the inevitable military conflict with the US and its allies will be catastrophic. Dennis Roy notes in The Diplomat that,

  “Among these assessments, none carried more weight than that of Admiral Philip Davidson, chief of the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command. Davidson opined before a U.S. Senate Committee in February that China might try to seize Taiwan by military means “in the next six years.”

  Roy also notes that Chinese military assets have been conducting wargames with alarming frequency and Chinese officials have openly stated they are rehearsing for an invasion of Taiwan. Reuters even noted that recently the Chinese air force has intruded on Taiwanese airspace so frequently that Taiwan stopped scrambling jets to intercept in order to conserve resources. Instead, they are now tracking Chinese jets with ground-based missiles. 

  The Strategic Importance of Taiwan 

  The United States is bound by law to support the ongoing security of Taiwan through the Taiwan Relations Act, which is a bipartisan piece of legislation that has been instrumental in not only supporting the island nation but core US interests in the Asia-Pacific region. The strong bonds of US-Taiwan friendship are as self-serving for the US as it has been for the Taiwanese. Setting aside Taiwan’s fame as a bastion of freedom and prosperity, preventing China from controlling Taiwan is a core strategic concern for US security interests. China knows this as well. 

  Whoever controls Taiwan, controls the Asia-Pacific. A crucial economic and strategic region in the world. 

  Joseph Bosco explains Taiwan’s strategic importance in University of Nottingham’s Taiwan Insight when he writes,

  “Drawing on historical experience, the question is whether Taiwan would be as valuable a strategic asset to a potential aggressor in Asia today as it was for Japan in the 1940s.”  

  During World War II Japan maintained control of Taiwan as a colony. From Taiwan, it was able to launch military pushes into the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia while also servicing forces in Korea and China. That is because of Taiwan’s important position in the center of what is known as the First Island Chain which stretches from Japan down to South East Asia and Australia. This island chain then gives way to the Second Island Chain further east into the Pacific Ocean towards Hawaii. Controlling Taiwan would allow the Chinese military to cut the Asia-Pacific in half and conduct hostilities against major US strategic allies such as South Korea, Japan in the north, the ASEAN countries and Australia in the south. It can then start to expand its naval operations further into the Pacific Ocean much like Imperial Japan did during World War II. 

  Taiwan’s deepwater ports would also give the Chinese navy the ability to not only dominate the Pacific Ocean and its trade routes but also exercise more leverage over the South China Sea. The South China Sea saw almost $3.37 trillion worth of global trade pass through in 2016 and 40 percent of the global natural gas trade in 2017. The current status quo maintained by the United States and its allies is one of a rules-based international order dedicated to human rights, trade, and cooperation. A Chinese-occupied Taiwan would allow the Chinese to follow through with their vision of turning the South China Sea, a region with numerous countries laying claim, into a “Chinese Lake.”

  Chinese primacy in the region would plunge Asia as well as the world further into authoritarian darkness. China would be able to not only make more territorial demands to more countries but it can threaten to disrupt trade and free movement to any country in the world that questions its authoritarian practices. 

  Economic Importance

  Although Taiwan may be an island the size of Maryland, it’s one of the richest countries in the world with a GDP (PPP) of $1.3 trillion, an estimated 2021 nominal GDP of over $759 billion, and a population of 23 million. For comparison, that’s a population and GDP (PPP) similar to Australia and a nominal GDP just behind Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland. Taiwan is also a critical trade partner for the US, being our 10th largest goods trading partner and 6th largest consumer of US agricultural exports. 

  Even more important, however, is Taiwan’s place in the global economy. When the Portuguese discovered the island in the 16th century they gave it a name that is still used today: Formosa. That translates to “beautiful isle” to which Taiwan was and certainly is a scenic tourist destination. However, today it is also one of the most advanced producers of semiconductors in the world and a technology hub more generally. Semiconductors are essential for producing everything from data centers, cars, smartphones and other pieces of technology that are increasingly becoming more important to the basic functioning of society. At the moment, there is currently a global shortage of semiconductors which has only been exacerbated by Covid-19 lockdowns and the accelerated transition to a digital society. 

  Furthermore, Taiwan has taken large steps in positioning itself as the Silicon Valley of Asia with massive investments in scientific research and startup-friendly infrastructure. Taiwan’s geographic location as a stepping stone to the rest of Asia and its relatively high economic freedom make this vision a decent possibility. As Taiwan emerges from Covid-19 with an economy relatively unscathed by lockdowns, its economic importance will likely only grow as it becomes a more popular spot for investment. That also makes it an even greater prize for the Chinese and an asset to the free world. 

  Taiwan as a free and independent country makes it an active agent in making the world a more prosperous and technologically advanced place. Taiwan under Chinese control gives the CCP even more economic leverage over any country that speaks out against its authoritarian model. Not to mention that it will have removed one of the major alternatives to Chinese technology, which has been known to function as an arm of the CCP’s surveillance state. 

  Key Takeaways

  With the escalating tensions between Taiwan, China, and everyone in between, it is clear that once Covid-19 fades out of the picture, Taiwan will be one of the next global tension points. This seems even more likely as the Biden administration announces its intentions to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and with US-China tensions at an all-time high. During the Obama administration, the US foreign policy establishment announced a “pivot to Asia,” and the reasons cannot be more clear. 

  Although Taiwan has always been an important US foreign policy interest for decades, current events will likely make it the most important. The island has been caught in the middle of a perfect storm of global geopolitical tension, radical economic change, and an existential ideological struggle between liberty and authoritarianism. The stakes could not be higher, as one false move could spark a devastating armed conflict between global superpowers. Failure to act sufficiently will jeopardize the future of freedom and prosperity not just in Asia but around the world. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 23:05

• New York City Targets 100% Renewable Electricity By 2025
  New York City Targets 100% Renewable Electricity By 2025

  Mayor Bill de Blasio – having solved all other problems in the city related to the pandemic and the recent outburst of violent crime – has shifted his focus making sure the city is going to be 100% run on renewable electricity by 2025. 

  Yesterday, as if the cost of living wasn’t skyrocketing enough for NYC citizens, the city announced that it had signed “a letter of intent in partnership with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) committing the City to pursuing a joint purchase of large-scale renewable source of electricity delivered to the city, which could include Canadian hydropower to the extent selected or its equivalent,” the city said in a statement.

  The statement continued: “This joint purchase, which will power City government operations with 100 percent renewable electricity by 2025, will provide additional value to disadvantaged and energy burdened communities as well as all residents of the State, and be a dramatic step forward as part of the City’s comprehensive climate mitigation strategy to ensure the City makes a just transition to a clean energy economy.”

  De Blasio commented: “Clean energy is directly linked to a fair recovery” (whatever that means), continuing, “It’s about investing in our future and our frontline communities. Today we’re taking major step forward to secure renewable energy for New York City and power our government with 100 percent renewables by 2025.”

  

  Doreen M. Harris, President and CEO, NYSERDA commented: “NYSERDA’s Tier 4 solicitation is designed to increase the amount of renewable energy delivered into New York City and direct significant benefits to those in the state’s most disadvantaged communities. We welcome the opportunity to share in the cost-effective procurement that will be realized due to the substantial level of competitive interest seen by the initial private sector response. We appreciate the City’s focus to align with the state’s work in reducing carbon emissions from its operations and recognizing the important value a joint purchase would bring to all New Yorkers.”

  The release reads:

  The letter of intent lays out the parameters the City will take into consideration prior to entering into a long-term agreement to purchase Clean Energy Standard Renewable Energy Certificates (“RECs”) associated with the delivery of renewable energy into Zone J of the New York Control Area. 

  The City intends to purchase a sufficient quantity of RECs to secure 100% of its energy needs from renewable resources while preserving the ability to engage in deep energy retrofits, other energy efficiency measures and the deployment of renewable distributed energy resources.

  The release says that the program “has set ambitious and aggressive goals for confronting our climate crisis, ending the age of fossil fuels, and securing a livable climate for the next generation”.

  Ben Furnas, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Sustainability, said: “This is the electricity of the future, and it can’t come soon enough. With this commitment to vastly increase the supply of renewable electricity to New York City, we will clean our air, correct injustice, and race towards a future beyond fossil fuels. Thank you to NYSERDA for their partnership as we work together to build a safer, cleaner, fairer energy system for New York.”

  While we’re hardly power generation experts, all we have to say is: good luck running New York City off of hydroelectric power from Canada at efficient prices.

  We find it way more likely that this will just be another reason for current New Yorkers to eventually head out of the city, and down to Florida, once costs from this incredible “project” eventually materialize – that is, if this letter of intent winds up materializing at all to begin with. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 22:45

• How To Negotiate A Significant Discount On College Tuition
  How To Negotiate A Significant Discount On College Tuition

  Submitted by Paul Hill via EducateToCareer.org,

  College tuitions are negotiable. For the past 20 years, colleges have discreetly offered discounts, when pressed or motivated to attract certain students. Competition among colleges in recent years has increased the practice of discounting significantly, and the size of discounts is greater than ever. Covid has of course, accelerated the trend. To maintain enrollment numbers, public, state run colleges have increased discounting through what is referred to as ‘institutional aid’ while many private non-profit colleges are now discounting tuitions by more than 50%.

  

  Tuitions at state colleges can run up to $20,000, while private colleges are topping out at $80,000. Full price is also referred to as ‘sticker price’, though less than 10% of families ever pay that full amount. Various forms of ‘aid’ are available and can reduce tuition very significantly, so every parent should absolutely find out what forms of aid will be available to them. More on that later. Scholarships are over-rated, not nearly as accessible as many families are led to believe, and when they are available, it’s usually in the form of a one-time benefit. You can’t count on those monies for 4, 5 or 6 years.

  And then there is the negotiated amount of ‘institutional aid’. Every college has an institutional aid budget, and it literally is a discount plan that they can apply with significant discretion. If a parent doesn’t ask, they won’t get it. Schools dole out institutional aid when they need to top up their enrollment numbers, basically fill seats, no differently than an airline.

  Understanding college tuition models

  College admissions processes and tuition structures have been referred to as byzantine, cryptic, unseemly, deceptive, and mind-numbingly confusing. It probably won’t make you feel any better to know that in 2019, the U. S. Department of Justice sued the National Association of College Admissions Counselors for anticompetitive practices. In essence, colleges were conspiring together to boost tuitions, lovely huh? Better to know than not.

  The mechanics of the pricing – it’s crucial to understand that when you are in the market for a college education – you won’t start with a low base price and then add on additional costs. With college tuitions the pricing structure is inverted; everyone starts at full price – the ‘sticker price’ – and then tries to figure out what aid, scholarships, grants and so forth might be available to reduce their total costs. Basically, you start at full price and then the onus is on you to figure out what aid and discounts might be available to bring the price down.

  What is the underlying discount methodology?

  At the most fundamental level – poor, smart kids pay the lowest tuitions, while rich, ‘less smart’ kids pay the highest tuition. Let’s work through the discount structure by way of example. Assume that the Jones family is planning to send Billy to college. The Jones, an upper income family have about 10 schools they’re contemplating for Billy, one of them being University of California, Irvine (UCI). The sticker price for UCI (in state) students is about $16,500, and has an average SAT score of 1280. Billy scored 1200 on his SAT’s. It’s unlikely that UCI will accept Billy, but be assured that if they do, his folks will be paying $16,500 for the privilege. Conversely, Susie is a poor student with excellent grades (SAT of 1350). UCI will probably take her and she will pay less than $5,000, due to a variety of federal, state grants, and institutional grants aid. Next, we’ll get our hands dirty and explain what happens for those who reside in between those two extremes.

  The Department of Education provides some financial aid to most students who are planning to enroll in college. Financial aid comes in two forms, need and merit. Need-based aid is crucial in making college affordable to low-income students. As a point of reference, if you’re making over $100k annually, you will rarely qualify for this form of need-based aid. Merit aid is just as it sounds – if you’ve made the grades, you’ll possibly get the aid. It should be obvious though, at top colleges, every kid has excellent grades. Who provides the aid? Need-based aid comes from federal, state and college grants. Merit aid is generally provided by the college and is typically referred to as “institutional aid”.

  How does one apply for aid? Need-based aid is obtained by filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), which is also a mandatory application for all colleges. The FAFSA leans heavily on families’ tax filings – and be forewarned that the volume of financial, household and familial information they require is quite surprising. (Financial advisors generally charge $400 to $1,000 to complete and submit the FAFSA) The good news about the FAFSA is that when you submit it electronically (which is easy to do) every college that you consider applying to will have automatic access to your application.

  Then you have scholarships and they are accessed by submitting the College Student Scholarship (CSS) profile. The likelihood of getting scholarship monies is over-rated. However, once you’ve filled out the FAFSA, it is worth repeating the abbreviated process of filling out the CSS application. Scholarships are typically awarded on a case-by-case basis by a specific college and are generally awarded for a single year.

  Let’s now get into the mix of students that colleges generally hope to achieve. This will help you to understand where your kid might reside in the ‘grid’ at a specific school, and of course, how much you’ll pay for your kid to fit in. Through the mathematical analysis of millions of recently admitted students, we have ascertained that there are two significant factors in determining which students are accepted, and what their Expected Family Contribution will be: 1- grade/test scores, 2- family finances. There is a matrix which reflects the inter-relationship between these factors, and it is oriented towards maximizing revenue for the college. To meet their financial, academic and diversity goals, most colleges endeavor to have a 10/80/10 distribution of students:

  • 10% of the student body should be very high academic achievers and the college will give significant institutional aid to these students in order to attract them to their college. This pool gives the college academic credibility.

  • 80% of the student body should be “within range” academically, and come from an affluent family. Recall that institutional aid comes out of a college’s own budget and it wants to give up as little of that money as possible. It’s easy for an admissions rep to say to a wealthy family of a kid with middling grades, “You are not unique relative to our applicant pool, and we reserve the majority of our aid for exceptional and needy students.” The salespersons in the admissions office are very well versed in this process and they will happily point to a thick pile of applications on their desk when mentioning, “You are not that special. We’ll admit you, and as a good faith gesture, here’s a little sprinkling of institutional aid.”

  • 10% of the student body is thought of as the “vanity pool.” These are students who the school admits for the purpose of meeting diversity requirements – they are generally low income, minorities, and disadvantaged students. They will receive substantial institutional aid.

  There are of course additional factors which can come into play, such as legacy points (parents, grandparents are alumni). However, colleges are businesses and the majority are under the most significant financial pressure in the history of higher ed, and they need to realize as much revenue as possible.

  Prepare for the negotiations – be factually informed

  Here is a free program that will show you the range of tuitions students paid last year at every major U. S. college College Tuition Negotiator  These are data points that will enable you to sit with an admissions rep and negotiate from a fully informed position. You can literally ask an admissions officer, “If your average net tuition last year was XYZ, why are you asking me to pay $5,000 over XYZ?” An accompaniment to that program is the College Admissions Probability program. This will provide you with a personalized probability of acceptance, and an estimate of what your expected family contribution EFC will be for a given college. As a non-profit, Educate To Career offers many other programs to assist with the college to career planning process.

  Institutional aid and the negotiation process (Now the fun starts!)

  When a school accepts a student, they’ll send an acceptance letter with an offer of aid. The aid will include federal and state aid (which will be the same, regardless of college), as well as the “institutional aid” which is a college-specific grant. As we said above, the institutional aid is coming out of the college’s budget; it can be significant, and it is almost always negotiable. The remaining balance when you deduct all aid from the sticker price is the (EFC). The EFC is a technical-sounding term for “What we’re hoping to get you to pay.” Federal and state aid are a fixed amount and non-negotiable. The more institutional aid you receive, the lower your EFC will be. Because you did your homework and you know what discounts were given out and tuitions paid at the colleges you’re considering, you are in a very strong negotiating position. And we can tell you from extensive experience that if you have 5 schools you’re dealing with in the manner we describe above, 2 to 3 of them will likely increase your institutional aid from where they started, by many $thousands.

  Key concepts in negotiating with a college over institutional aid:

  • Have at least three schools that your kid is absolutely ok with attending. And make sure that at least one of the colleges is a state school so they know you are price sensitive.

  • Let the admissions officer at each college know that you’re looking at other similar colleges. They know exactly who they compete with for students. This is a subtle way of serving notice.

  • Ask the admissions officer what the lowest net price that a “similarly situated” student (same grades, same family finances) is paying. Compare what they tell you with what you know from our programs.

  • When they’ve given you their best offer, ask for additional institutional aid.

  • Know that in years 3, 4, 5 (and 6 if necessary) colleges dramatically reduce their aid. Try to lock aid in up front, though that is difficult.

  Some additional info that will save you $$ and headaches

  Here is some additional information that you need to know when preparing for the college-selection process, and that is the effect of attempting to enroll a child in a “reach school.” Many parents are fanatical about getting their kid into the most elite college possible. A reach school is a college in which the child does not qualify academically. They are basically out of the SAT range. Having a kid in an elite school sounds great at cocktail parties. However, chasing reach schools is expensive and dangerous:

  • It’s expensive, simply because the school knows you want them and they don’t need you. These schools send out 1,500 acceptance letters when they only have 500 open seats. They want to have a few hundred students who they have great leverage over and will pay full price, or very close to full price.

  • Students fail, a lot. The five-year graduation rate at four-year colleges is barely over 50%. Who fails? The students in the bottom quartile of the class.

  The reach school is very profitable for colleges. It’s an expensive disaster for most families.

  Financial positioning – This is the exercise of structuring and presenting your family finances and assets in a manner that reduces your tuition liability. The family’s primary residence is exempt from their net-worth calculation. Retirement assets are also not counted in the calculation of EFC, but other assets: savings, 529 accounts, CDs, money market accounts, investment real estate, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, commodities, are all included in the EFC calculation. If you wish to engage in structuring your finances in a way that reduces your tuition, consult an expert regarding what is allowable in the current year, as well as a tax lawyer.

  Elite private colleges – These are reach schools for literally 98% of students who are enrolling in college. Some of the elites that have significant endowments and will give full rides to exceptional students. When you say your kid is a genius, star athlete, plays the cello and should be accepted by all of the Ivies, the elite colleges have an acceptance rate of less than 10%, and your kid’s application is typical of Ivy applicants.

  Private colleges (2nd and 3rd tier/SAT scores of 1,200 to 1,400) – are struggling financially due to declining enrollments in recent years. Our data show that these colleges are discounting tuitions significantly in recent years to attract new students. This is especially true with the Covid environment.

  Summarizing all of this

  The short story is that colleges are negotiating tuitions now, more than ever before. They’re under financial pressure and they need your revenue. If you feel charitable, know that you’ve already paid them once with your tax dollars. They won’t decline a second helping though. Don’t be shy when you’re asking and then pushing for a better price. Being informed with real data points regarding what other students have paid and using that as a basis for asking puts the onus on them to justify their offer sheet. And give yourself options – have at least 5 schools on your short list and you are very likely to receive offers that will meet your kids’ educational needs and match your budget.

  *  *  *

  This article has been submitted by Educate To Career (ETC) co-founders, Paul Hill and Michael Havis. ETC is a nonprofit, specializing in providing college planning programs and data to over 1,000,000 families, financial advisors, and campus career centers each year. We are the leading vendor of actuarial analysis of college outcomes data to student lenders. Our charter is to help young people get an affordable education, leading to a real job, with no student debt.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 22:25

• New Study Shows "Long Haul" COVID-19 Can Kill Patients Months After Infection
  New Study Shows “Long Haul” COVID-19 Can Kill Patients Months After Infection

  Across the US, tens of thousands of people who were infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, have struggled with a buffet of debilitating symptoms that made it impossible for them to work or live normal lives. Many of those who were eligible sought disability as baffled scientists tried to determine the cause of the “long hauler” syndrome, as it has come to be known.

  Media outlets like the Washington Post and New York Times have chronicled the experiences of individuals struggling with “long hauler” syndrome months after they first contracted COVID-19. Some patients noted that, while they more or less felt fine, their sense of smell and taste had yet to return. Others complained that a persistent “brain fog” had settled over them. With doctors offering few answers, many sufferers turned to online communities to pool their experiences.

  

  Now, the latest research published in the journal Nature shows that “long haulers” are at much higher risk of dying from their protracted symptoms.

  How much higher? The data showed survivors had a 59% increased risk of dying within six months after contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Nature. This excess mortality translates into about 8 extra deaths per 1,000 patients. That’s worsening the pandemic’s hidden toll amid growing recognition that many patients require readmission, and some die, weeks after the viral infection abates.

  “When we are looking at the acute phase, we’re only pretty much looking at the tip of the iceberg,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of the research and development service at the St. Louis VA Medical Center in Missouri, who led the study, and spoke to Bloomberg in an interview. “We’re starting to see a little bit beneath that iceberg, and it’s really alarming.”

  Al-Aly and his colleagues documented the cascade of debilitating symptoms that plague long haulers even months after their diagnosis: from blood clots, stroke, diabetes and breathing difficulties to heart, liver and kidney damage, depression, anxiety and memory loss.

  Globally, more than 143 million people have tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 3 million have died from the disease. As for how many become long haulers, some other studies have put the number at roughly 10%, according to Bloomberg. But nobody really knows, and those who pass away months later from the condition typically aren’t counted among COVID-19 deaths.

  Adding to the host of risk factors, long-haulers required increased use of various medications, including antidepressants and opioids. “We worry about potential spikes in suicide or potential spikes in overdose of opioids,” Al-Aly told Bloomberg in an interview.

  Look at the numbers from a broader perspective, the researchers found that patients with COVID-19 who survived hospitalization had a 51% higher risk of dying compared with 13,997 influenza patients who also had been hospitalized. Al-Aly, who is also an assistant professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine, said he hoped the research would provide a roadmap to inform health-system planning and care strategies to mitigate chronic ill health among Covid-19 survivors, especially in the U.S. “Let’s not act surprised two years down the road, when people start committing suicide,” he said. “We did not do very well preparing and dealing with Covid. Let’s not make that mistake a second time.”

  Read the full study below:

  s41586-021-03553-9_reference

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 22:05

• How Empires End
  How Empires End

  Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

  “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”

  – Thomas Jefferson

  Histories are generally written by academics. They, quite naturally, tend to focus on the main events: the wars and the struggles between leaders and their opponents (both external and internal). Whilst these are interesting stories to read, academics, by their very nature, often overlook the underlying causes for an empire’s decline.

  Today, as in any era, most people are primarily interested in the “news”—the daily information regarding the world’s political leaders and their struggles with one another to obtain, retain, and expand their power. When the history is written about the era we are passing through, it will reflect, in large measure, a rehash of the news. As the media of the day tend to overlook the fact that present events are merely symptoms of an overall decline, so historians tend to focus on major events, rather than the “slow operations” that have been the underlying causes.

  

  The Persian Empire

  When, as a boy, I was “educated” about the decline and fall of the Persian Empire, I learned of the final takeover by Alexander the Great but was never told that, in its decline, Persian taxes became heavier and more oppressive, leading to economic depression and revolts, which, in turn led to even heavier taxes and increased repression. Increasingly, kings hoarded gold and silver, keeping it out of circulation from the community. This hamstrung the market, as monetary circulation was insufficient to conduct business. By the time Alexander came along, Persia, weakened by warfare and internal economic strife, was a shell of an empire and was relatively easy to defeat.

  The Tang Dynasty

  Back then, I also learned that the Tang Dynasty ended as a result of the increased power amongst the eunuchs, battles with fanzhen separatists, and finally, peasants’ revolts. True enough, but I was not taught that the dynasty’s expansion-based warfare demanded increases in taxation, which led to the revolts. Continued warfare necessitated increasing monetary and land extortion by the eunuchs, resulting in an abrupt decrease in food output and further taxes. Finally, as economic deterioration and oppression of the citizenry worsened, citizens left the area entirely for more promise elsewhere.

  Is there a pattern here? Let’s have a more detailed look—at another empire.

  The Spanish Empire

  In 1556, Philip II of Spain inherited what was regarded as Europe’s most wealthy nation, with no apparent economic problems. Yet, by 1598, Spain was bankrupt. How was this possible?

  Spain was doing well but sought to become a major power. To achieve this, Philip needed more tax dollars. Beginning in 1561, the existing servicio tax was regularised, and the crusada tax, the excusado tax, and the millones tax were all added by 1590.

  Over a period of 39 years (between 1559 and 1598) taxes increased by 430%. Although the elite of the day were exempt from taxation (the elite of today are not officially exempt), the average citizen was taxed to the point that both business expansion and public purchasing diminished dramatically. Wages did not keep pace with the resultant inflation. The price of goods rose 400%, causing a price revolution and a tax revolution.

  Although Spain enjoyed a flood of gold and silver from the Americas at this time, the increased wealth went straight into Philip’s war efforts. However, the 100,000 troops were soon failing to return sufficient spoils to Philip to pay for their forays abroad.

  In a final effort to float the doomed empire, Philip issued government bonds, which provided immediate cash but created tremendous debt that, presumably, would need to be repaid one day. (The debt grew to 8.8 times GDP.)

  Spain declared bankruptcy. Trade slipped to other countries. The military, fighting on three fronts, went unpaid, and military aspirations collapsed.

  It is important to note that, even as the empire was collapsing, Philip did not suspend warfare. He did not back off on taxation. Like leaders before and since, he instead stubbornly increased his autocracy as the empire slid into collapse.

  Present-Day Empires

  Again, the events above are not taught to schoolchildren as being of key importance in the decline of empires, even though they are remarkably consistent with the decline of other empires and what we are seeing today. The very same events occur, falling like dominoes, more or less in order, in any empire, in any age:

  1. The reach of government leaders habitually exceeds their grasp.

  2. Dramatic expansion (generally through warfare) is undertaken without a clear plan as to how that expansion is to be financed.

  3. The population is overtaxed as the bills for expansion become due, without consideration as to whether the population can afford increased taxation.

  4. Heavy taxation causes investment by the private sector to diminish, and the economy begins to decline.

  5. Costs of goods rise, without wages keeping pace.

  6. Tax revenue declines as the economy declines (due to excessive taxation). Taxes are increased again, in order to top up government revenues.

  7. In spite of all the above, government leaders personally hoard as much as they can, further limiting the circulation of wealth in the business community.

  8. Governments issue bonds and otherwise borrow to continue expansion, with no plan as to repayment.

  9. Dramatic authoritarian control is instituted to assure that the public continues to comply with demands, even if those demands cannot be met by the public.

  10. Economic and social collapse occurs, often marked by unrest and riots, the collapse of the economy, and the exit of those who are productive.

  11. In this final period, the empire turns on itself, treating its people as the enemy.

  The above review suggests that if our schoolbooks stressed the underlying causes of empire collapse, rather than the names of famous generals and the dates of famous battles, we might be better educated and be less likely to repeat the same mistakes.

  Unfortunately, this is unlikely. Chances are, future leaders will be just as uninterested in learning from history as past leaders. They will create empires, then destroy them.

  Even the most informative histories of empire decline, such as The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon, will not be of interest to the leaders of empires. They will believe that they are above history and that they, uniquely, will succeed.

  If there is any value in learning from the above, it is the understanding that leaders will not be dissuaded from their aspirations. They will continue to charge ahead, both literally and figuratively, regardless of objections and revolts from the citizenry.

  Once an empire has reached stage eight above, it never reverses. It is a “dead empire walking” and only awaits the painful playing-out of the final three stages. At that point, it is foolhardy in the extreme to remain and “wait it out” in the hope that the decline will somehow reverse. At that point, the wiser choice might be to follow the cue of the Chinese, the Romans, and others, who instead chose to quietly exit for greener pastures elsewhere.

  *  *  *

  The US government is overextending itself by interfering in every corner of the globe. It’s all financed by massive amounts of money printing. However, the next financial crisis could end the whole charade soon. The truth is, we’re on the cusp of a global economic crisis that could eclipse anything we’ve seen before. That’s exactly why New York Times best-selling author Doug Casey and his team just released a guide that explains what could come next and what you can do about it.. Click here to download the PDF now.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 21:45

• Goldman Says "No Surprise" In Biden Cap Gains Proposal, Sees Congress Settling On 28% Tax Rate
  Goldman Says “No Surprise” In Biden Cap Gains Proposal, Sees Congress Settling On 28% Tax Rate

  Today the market freaked out when Bloomberg reported that the Biden Administration will propose to tax capital gains at the top ordinary income tax rate (39.6%, or 43.4% when the existing 3.8% tax on net investment income tax is added).

  Well, according to Goldman, this is nothing more than the latest pipe dream trial balloon from progressives, one which won’t actually take place and instead has been floated to set the negotiation “ask”, with Goldman expecting that “Congress will settle on a more modest increase, potentially around 28%.” As such there are no actual “surprises” in the proposal which has been floated in this exact format previously, and while it remains unclear when the tax rate increase would be effective, the bank’s economists “think it is unlikely to apply to gains realized before May, and an increase effective Jan. 1, 2022 is more likely.”

  Here is the full take from Goldman’s Alec Phillips

  1.Bloomberg has reported that the Biden Administration will propose to raise the federal capital gains tax rate to 39.6%, also the top marginal income tax rate under President Biden’s proposal. In addition to 3.8% tax on net investment income that Congress established in 2009, the combined rate would be 43.4%. We had expected the President to propose this as part of his “American Families Plan” and the proposal comes as no surprise. This proposal would apply to taxpayers with annual incomes over $1 million, and would likely also apply to qualified dividends, which are currently taxed at the same rate as capital gains. We note that the Biden campaign also proposed eliminating the step-up in basis on inherited assets, which would result in much larger taxable gains on those assets once sold.

  2. We expect Congress will pass a scaled back version of this tax increase. While it is possible that Congress might pass the proposal in its entirety, we think a moderated version is more likely in light of the razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate. At 43.4%, long-term capital gains would be taxed at the highest rate in the more than 100 years since Congress established the income tax. A 28% rate looks most likely, in our view, as it is roughly halfway between the current rate and Biden’s likely proposal. This is also the rate that President Reagan and a Democratic House settled on a few decades ago when raising the tax from 20%.

  3. The issue will likely remain in flux over the next several months. We expect President Biden to discuss the issue among many other topics when he addresses a joint session of Congress on April 28. By early May, the Biden Administration might also release its full fiscal year 2022 budget submission to Congress, which would provide more details on tax proposals including capital gains. However, the timing of this release remains unclear. In the interim, comments from centrist Senate Democrats, such as Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.),could clarify where key swing voters might come out on the issue.

  4. It is unclear when the higher rate would be effective, but we see three main options.

  • First, Congress has occasionally made tax policies effective as of the date when the bill is introduced in the House of Representatives. This would likely be no earlier than May.
  • A second option would be to make the higher tax rate effective for gains realized after the bill is enacted into law, which we think will be sometime between July and September.
  • The third option would be an increase effective on January 1, 2022. We note that the last time Congress legislated an increase in the rate, the policy became law in October 1986 but the increase did not take effect until January 1987.

  While a retroactive increase cannot be ruled out entirely, we believe it is very unlikely that it would apply to gains realized before May 2021 (at earliest).

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 21:25

• Texas Ended Lockdowns & Mask Mandates; Now Locked-Down States Are Where COVID Is Growing Most
  Texas Ended Lockdowns & Mask Mandates; Now Locked-Down States Are Where COVID Is Growing Most

  Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

  Early last month, Texas governor Greg Abbott announced he would end the state’s mask mandate and allow most businesses to function at 100 percent capacity.

  The response from the corporate media and the Left was predictable. California governor Gavin Newsom declared the move “absolutely reckless.” Beto O’Rourke called the GOP a “cult of death.” Joe Biden called the move “Neanderthal thinking.” Keith Olbermann insisted, “Texas has decided to join the side of the virus” and suggested Texans shouldn’t be allowed to take the covid vaccine. Vanity Fair ran an article with the title “Republican Governors Celebrate COVID Anniversary with Bold Plan to Kill Another 500,000 Americans.”

  Other states have followed in Texas’s wake, and Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia are now all states where covid restrictions range from weak to nonexistent.

  Georgia and Florida, of course, are both notable for ending lockdowns and restriction much earlier than many other states. And in those cases as well, the state governments were criticized for their policies, which were said to be reckless and sure to lead to unprecedented death. Georgia’s policy was denounced as an experiment in “human sacrifice.”

  Yet in recent weeks, these predictions about Texas’s fate have proven to be spectacularly wrong. Moreover, many of the states with the worst growth in covid cases—and the worst track records in overall death counts—have been states that have had some of the harshest lockdowns. The failure of the lockdown narrative in this case has been so overwhelming that last week, when asked about the Texas situation, Anthony Fauci could only suggest a few unconvincing lines about how maybe Texans are voluntarily wearing masks and locking down more strenuously than people in other states. In Fauci’s weak-sauce explanation we see a narrative that simply fails to explain the actual facts of the matter. 

  Texas vs. Michigan

  The Texas situation is just one piece of a state-by-state picture that is devastating for the lockdowns-save-lives narrative.

  For example, let’s look at covid case numbers as of April 20.

  Case numbers are a favorite metric for advocates of stay-at-home orders, business closures, mask mandates, and repressive measures in the name of disease control.

  In Texas, the total new cases (seven-day moving average) on April 20 was 3,004. That comes out to approximately 103 per million.

  Now, let’s look at Michigan, where a variety of strict mask mandates and partial lockdowns continue. Restaurant capacity remains at 50 percent, and the state continues to issue edicts about how many people one is allowed to have over for dinner.

  In Michigan, the seven-day moving average for new infections as of April 20 was 790 per million – nearly eight times worse than Texas.

  

  By the logic of lockdown advocates, states with harsh lockdowns should have far fewer cases and less growth in cases.

  

  This, however, is most certainly not the case. In New Jersey, for example, where lockdowns have been long and harsh, case growth is nearly four times what it is in Texas. And then there are Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Maine, and New York, all of which have new case growth rates of more than double what’s going on Texas.

  Indeed, the only state with notably lax covid policies that’s in the top ten of case growth is Florida, which nonetheless is experiencing growth rates that are slower than in states run by lockdown fetishists like Andrew Cuomo and Phil Murphy.

  Moreover, Florida’s covid-19 overall outbreak has been far less deadly than those in the states that embraced lockdowns long and hard. New Jersey, for example, has the worst covid death rate in the nation at 2,838 per million as of April 20. Right behind are New York and Massachusetts with total deaths per million at 2,672 and 2,537, respectively.

  Florida, on the other hand, is twenty-eighth in the nation in terms of covid deaths, at 1,608. Texas has total deaths per million at 1,721.

  

  In other words, Florida isn’t likely to catch up to New York or New Jersey any time soon, and it’s certainly not going to soon catch up with Michigan, which is leaving other states in the dust in terms of case growth. For those who are scared to death of covid, they’d be better off in Florida or Texas or Georgia than in the states that have long embraced lockdowns and claim to be “following the science.”

  So how can this be explained?

  The lockdown advocates don’t seem to have an explanation at all.

  Last week, Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) struggled to come up with an explanation as he testified to Congress.

  In previous weeks, Fauci tended to rely on the old tried-and-true claim that if we only wait two to four more weeks, cases will explode wherever covid restrictions are lessened or eliminated. Lockdown advocates tried this for months after Georgia ended its stay-at-home order, although Georgia consistently performed better than many states that continued their lockdowns.

  But now that we’re six weeks out from the end of Texas’s mask mandate and partial lockdowns, Fauci could offer no plausible explanation. Rather, when pressed on the matter by Representative Jim Jordan, Fauci insisted that what really matters is compliance rather than the existence of mask mandates and lockdown mandates:

  There’s a difference between lockdown and the people obeying the lockdown…. You know you could have a situation where they say, “We’re going to lock down,” and yet you have people doing exactly what they want—

  Jordan asked if this explains the situation in Michigan and New Jersey (and other states with quickly growing covid case rates). Fauci then claimed he couldn’t hear the question, and Jordan was cut off by the committee chairman.

  No one who is familiar with the situation in states like Texas, Florida, and Georgia, however, would find it plausible that the spread of covid has been lessened in those areas by more militant use of masks and social distancing. Fauci’s testimony was clearly just a case of a government “expert” grasping about for an explanation.

  But don’t expect Fauci and his supporters to give up on insisting that New York and Michigan are doing “the right thing” while Texas and Florida are embracing “human sacrifice” as a part of a “death cult.” 

  The actual numbers paint a very different picture, and even casual observers can now see that the old narrative was very, very wrong.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 21:05

• "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet: The Digital Yuan Can Be Turned Off Like A Light Switch"
  “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet: The Digital Yuan Can Be Turned Off Like A Light Switch”

  Two weeks ago, we reported that one of the most remarkable “features” of the brand new and soon to be unrolled digital Yuan, which should not be confused with any account-based currencies or commercial bank, private or unbackstopped digital currencies…

  

  … is that it will come with an expiration date. As the WSJ reported, “the money itself is programmable. Beijing has tested expiration dates to encourage users to spend it quickly, for times when the economy needs a jump start.”

  That’s just the start.

  While China’s digital yuan will have an uphill climb in seeking to dethrone the dollar as a global reserve currency – despite Beijing’s protests that it has no such ambitions – as it’s an electronic version of a currency nobody wants (for now), the new currency will allow Beijing to weaponize its currency response to its every growing roster of trade partners. As Bloomberg details, instead of challenging U.S. dollar dominance and neutralizing sanctions, “the digital yuan appears potentially more geopolitically significant as leverage over multinational companies and governments that want access to China’s 1.4 billion consumers. Since China has the ability to monitor transactions involving the digital currency, it may be easier to retaliate against anyone who rebuffs Beijing on sensitive issues like Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong.“

  “If you think that the United States has a lot of power through our Treasury sanctions authorities, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Matt Pottinger, former U.S. deputy national security adviser in the Trump administration, said last week at a hearing of the government-backed U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. “That currency can be turned off like a light switch.”

  As Michael Every summarizes in his Tuesday Global Daily, “good luck to multinationals heartily agreeing that decoupling is unwanted, as they try to straddle the US, and its growing thicket of USD sanctions wrapped around a human rights foreign policy focus, and China, with its Panopticon e-CNY that can be turned off to ensure US sanctions and human rights foreign policy have no power over it.” 

  Indeed, as Bloomberg confirms, so far China has mostly resisted hitting foreign firms in response to U.S. actions on companies like Huawei, holding off on releasing an “unreliable entity list” designed to punish anyone who damages national security. Any move to cut off access to the digital yuan would carry similarly high stakes, potentially prompting foreign investors to pack up and leave.

  But, as the report notes, Beijing has recently gone after such major multinationals like H&M for statements on human-rights issues, even while government officials have been careful to avoid directly endorsing a boycott. In a Weibo post last month, the Communist Party Youth League declared: “Want to make money in China while spreading false rumors and boycotting Xinjiang cotton? Wishful thinking!”

  There’s more: widespread adoption of the digital yuan – also known as the e-CNY – could give China’s central bank more data on financial transactions than the big tech giants, allowing the Communist Party to both strengthen its grip on power and fine-tune policies to bolster the economy. While cryptos seek to disintermediate the state from monetary transactions, a digital yuan would do the opposite and give the PBOC even more sway and minute control over every single transaction, while obliterating monetary anonymity entirely.

  While that level of control may boost growth in the world’s second-biggest economy, it also risks spooking companies and governments already wary of China’s track record on intellectual property rights, economic coercion and rule of law.

  So, while many have said that the US has a nuclear option in its escalating feud with China in the form of selective cancellation of Treasurys held by China (whether it will do so is a different matter entirely), China will soon have its own nuclear option.

  Yet said option may well backfire: while President Xi has called for greater self-sufficiency in key technologies like advanced computer chips, such a financial decoupling from the U.S. would only hurt China’s economy and potentially leave the Communist Party more exposed to destabilizing attacks, according to BBG. After Xi effectively ended Hong Kong’s autonomy last year with a sweeping national security law, the U.S. refrained from cutting off the territory’s ability to access U.S. dollars due to the potential devastation to the global financial system.

  China’s state-endorsed boycott of H&M shows “great commercial risk” for companies that use the digital yuan, Yaya Fanusie, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission hearing. If foreign merchants had to use the e-CNY, he said in a separate email, the government could prohibit transactions with H&M wallets and the store could disappear from digital yuan apps.

  “This is the other side of the coin — Beijing not as a sanctions evader, but more empowered to enforce its own financial muscle,” said Fanusie, who has written extensively on how central bank digital assets may impact U.S. financial sanctions. “China’s digital currency is as much about data as it is about money,” he added. Foreign firms that use the digital yuan “might end up handing over to the Chinese government lots of real-time data that it could not access efficiently through conventional banking technology.”

  Ironically, it is China’s desire to have total monetary control that may prevent the continues adoption of its currency at the international level: as Bloomberg notes, China’s ability to see every transaction may make it difficult for foreign banks to use the digital yuan and still comply with confidentiality rules in their home countries, according to Emily Jin, a research assistant at the Center for a New American Security. Alternatively, the currency might appeal to some similarly ruthless, despotic, socialist regimes that prioritize control over privacy protection.

  “They might find it easier to convince governments more authoritarian in their leaning that it helps monitor elicit activities or stop them quickly or stop them before they happen,” Jin said. “They aren’t going to market it to everyone.”

  That’s right: if the e-yuan is proven to be a success, the US will rush to roll out its own digital dollar…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 20:45

• Income Transfer Schemes: US Versus China – Which Country Is In The Worst Shape?
  Income Transfer Schemes: US Versus China – Which Country Is In The Worst Shape?

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

  Governments take money from here and distributes it there. Michael Pettis discusses difference between China, the US, Japan and Europe in a series of Tweets.

  

  China’s Aging Demographics

  Consider the following series of Tweets by Michael Pettis at China Financial Markets.

  1. China had great demographics between the 1970s and until about a few years ago, when the working share of the population surged from the mid-50s (below the global average) to the low 70s (well above the global average).

  2. Now that the working share of the population is set to decline quite rapidly, mainly because of a surge in retirees, this should put upward pressure on household savings, in which case the extent of implicit and explicit income transfers to ordinary households needed to…

  3. rebalance demand towards consumption must be even greater. Because these transfers must ultimately be funded by liquidating government assets, in the end they cannot help but represent a significant shift in the distribution of political power.

  Demographics and Redistribution Question

  

  Pettis Reply

  1. The extent and direction of the transfers are different, Mish, so I’d argue that the political implications are likely to be different, but one way or another we should expect political changes. You can’t shift income without affecting the distribution of power.

  2. The needed income transfers in the US and Europe are much lower than in China, and they mostly should involve transfers from the very rich to workers and the middle classes, rather than from government to households, as in China.

  3. I think Japan is somewhere in the middle, and my understanding is that it is the elderly in Japan who retain a disproportionate share of income and who would ultimately have to absorb the costs of rebalancing income.

  Tweet Threads

  • Original Series of Tweets

  • Reply To My Question

  Population of China Has Peaked

  This chain of Tweets and replies started with the South China Morning Post article China Facing Economic Crisis as Population Peak Nears

  • Consumption set to slump after population tops out in 2025, says Cai Fang, a member of the central bank’s monetary policy committee

  • Beijing must ‘increase labour participation and social security benefits’ for the elderly to shore up consumer demand, he says

  • If people of working age were faced with the additional financial burden of looking after an elderly relative while trying to raise a family it would make them more likely to save than consume.

  Andrew Batson, director of China research at consultancy firm Gavekal made this comment: “The government is not preparing to raise revenue to finance a major expansion of the welfare state.”

  What Will China Do?

  If China sells assets to fund retirees, the immediate question is “what assets?”

  State owned enterprises of questionable value because they need continual government support.

  US treasuries perhaps? If not what? Or does China put things off until there is political upheaval?

  I do not know what China will or won’t do. But the repercussions of China’s actions could profound.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 20:25

• "Very Shocked" – Las Vegas Residents Have Trouble Finding Gasoline 
  “Very Shocked” – Las Vegas Residents Have Trouble Finding Gasoline 

  A redux of the 1970s energy crisis had caused petroleum shortages and price spikes are currently playing out for different reasons in Las Vegas Valley.

  Las Vegas social media users complained about Chevron Corporation’s gas stations raising fuel costs and even in some areas running out of various types of fuel. 

  

  Chevron spokesman Tyler Kruzich told Las Vegas Review-Journal that shortages materialized at gas pumps across Vegas last weekend. 

  “We are working to resupply those stations as soon as possible,” Kruzich said in an emailed statement Monday to the Review-Journal.

  One Twitter user said, “What’s going on with chevron ? All their gas pumps are shut down I went to three locations already.” 

  Chevron’s Twitter account responded by saying: “Hi- Due to limits currently in operation on the pipeline serving the Las Vegas area, fuel deliveries have been impacted. Coupled with the increase in demand in the region due to travel and capacity restrictions being lifted, this has led to limited supplies available at times.” 

  The energy company blames travel and capacity restrictions lifted, resulting in a surge of fuel demand for West Coast states that has outpaced available supply. 

  Several Chevron gas pumps across the Las Vegas Valley have signs up saying they’re out of regular gas pic.twitter.com/kCk3fglDDR

  — Jonathan Ng (@ByJonathanNg) April 19, 2021

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  Review-Journal spoke with Mat Stanley, of Las Vegas, who said several Chevron locations Monday were entirely out of fuel. 

  “I went to three Chevron gas stations right by Red Rock Casino, all on Charleston,” Stanley said. “All of the gas pumps had a bag that said ‘Out of order’ and they only had diesel for all three locations. I was very, very shocked.”

  Las Vegan Wendy Henriquez noticed multiple Chevron gas stations closed and/ or were out of lower-grade fuel.

  She said: “When I got to North Las Vegas, I stopped at another Chevron (that) only had 91 and were out of 87 and 89.” Normally her fuel costs per tank is around $35 – but this time it cost her $50 because of increased prices with the use of premium fuel. 

  Review-Journal provided several other accounts of Las Vegans who realized something was wrong when Chevron stations were closed or had limited fuel. 

  “I usually pay $3.61 a gallon. This one was nearly $4 a gallon,” Cindy Preciado said, who stopped at several Chevron locations before find gas. “I was panicking. I only have 34 miles left on my car, and I didn’t know if I’m going to be able to make it to work if I drive to more locations. Gas is a necessity and if I have to spend more money, I have no other choice.”

  The shortage of fuel and price increases in the Vegas area is centric to Chevron locations. All other gas stations are operating within routine operations. 

  Besides the shortage, Nevadans are paying an average of $3.41 per gallon of regular gasoline, said AAA Nevada spokesman Sergio Avila. Last month, residents paid an average of $3.35 per gallon. 

  The latest inflation data shows Americans are experiencing some of the fastest consumer price increases in more than a decade. The fuel oil index has increased 20.2% over the last 12 months. 

  Of course, as Powell continues to soothe markets with constant jawboning, how there is nothing to worry about… as soaring consumer prices (such as fuel prices) is just a “transitory” phenomenon draining the pocketbooks of Americans. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 20:05

• At The Fed, It's "A Tale Of Two Diversities"
  At The Fed, It’s “A Tale Of Two Diversities”

  Authored by Robert Aro via The Mises Institute,

  We often hear of this word “diversity.” In 2021, it seems this word is more important than ever when electing cabinet positions, bureaucratic appointments, or other facets of organizational structures throughout the country. Merriam-Webster defines diversity as:

  the condition of having or being composed of differing elements : VARIETY

  The ironic thing about diversity is it appears to create two “divergent” paths in which it can be obtained. Just last week, the Brookings Institution appeared to inadvertently fall into a “diversity trap” of sorts, when it published the article, “Diversity within the Federal Reserve System.” It begins with:

  A growing chorus has called on the Fed to diversify its ranks at all levels to reflect better the heterogeneity of the United States. So far most of these efforts speak to the diversity of the Fed’s principals, namely, the members of the Fed’s Board of Governors and the presidents of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks. 

  This is the first, more common usage of diversity. The goal is to ensure a variety of races, genders, or other minority groups are represented. True to definition, by having various physical features, variety could be achieved. Brookings looked at the directors of the Federal Reserve banks as they are the ones responsible for choosing the president of the twelve banks across the country.

  To little surprise:

  We find a staggering homogeneity among them, with only recent signs of diversification. They are overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly male, and overwhelmingly drawn from the business communities within their districts, with little participation from minorities, women …

  They mention other areas of the economy such as “labor, nonprofits, the academy” with the routine push for diversity requiring more minority representation, based on physical features of the candidates.

  To provide better context to the reader, as an author and a black male, I understand “diversity” from my own life experiences; however, it is important we don’t fall into such a diversity trap.

  

  While having more people of color, females, or even transgendered would bring a different physical look to the Fed, there remains the unseen and overlooked area of diversity, i.e., “intellectual diversity.” This form of diversity appears to have been ignored entirely, supplanted for aesthetic traits.

  Last year, I wrote several articles about Judy Shelton, including “Why the MSM Hates Judy Shelton.” While her potential appointment was the responsibility of Congress, one could suggest she may not have gotten nominated to the Fed board because she is a woman. However, studying her history such as questioning the manipulation of interest rates by the Fed, and other such ideas which go against the current mainstream economic dogma, one could argue her rejection by Congress could largely be attributed to her economic views of the free market.

  While a racial/gender diverse Federal Reserve might mark a lot of societal checkboxes, and even be inspirational for those in marginalized groups, we should focus on intellectual diversity and how much it appears to be lacking in the Federal Reserve system. Whether the Fed is run by all white males or a mix of males, females and a multitude of races means absolutely nothing as long as the ideas of liberty, freedom, and Austrian economics are excluded from diversity inclusion.

  We must ask ourselves: Would you feel better if your oppressor was the same race and gender identification as you? We are told diversity at the Fed is an issue that should be addressed, but it’s superficial, meant to appease popular opinion under the guise that forced inclusion matters. Nowhere are we discussing the diversity of opinions, economic understanding, or beliefs in a free society. Until a high-ranking Fed official speaks out against the Fed proposing ways to wind down its power, it doesn’t really matter who sits atop the Fed’s ivory tower, and diversity is nothing but a ruse.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 19:45

• Russia Behind 'Directed Energy' Attacks On US Troops In Syria: Pentagon Officials
  Russia Behind ‘Directed Energy’ Attacks On US Troops In Syria: Pentagon Officials

  In the newest dramatic allegations against suspected Russian malfeasance, the Department of Defense (DoD) on Thursday revealed that it believes the Russian military targeted US troops in Syria with ‘directed energy attacks’ in order to make them ill and unable to conduct normal operations. 

  Apparently some US troops occupying the country began reporting “flu-like symptoms” which caused the DoD to investigate possible linkage to microwave or directed energy weapons on the battlefield of Syria. Politico reports that “officials identified Russia as a likely culprit, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.”

  

  DoD officials said they briefed top lawmakers on intelligence which they say points to Russia being behind a series of these suspected high tech attacks. This follows a major investigation being conducted since last year of similar mysterious attacks against US personnel across the globe.

  Controversy has raged since late 2016 into 2017 and the “Havana syndrome” story, which involved some 50 diplomatic officials working at the US Embassy in Cuba coming down with strange illnesses and symptoms which many blamed on high tech ‘sonic attacks’ of some sort.  

  Personnel reported experiencing everything from vomiting to concussions to chronic headaches to minor brain injuries. But analysts and scientists have been deeply divided on the issue, with speculation ranging from high pitched sounds from crickets or even mass hysteria causing the illness.

  Syria might be a proving ground for Russian direct energy attacks on US forces: sourceshttps://t.co/Tlb2lZszby

  — Ryan Bohl (@Ryan_Bohl) April 22, 2021

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

  But Politico reports of these newest allegations of the potential targeting of Americans in northeast Syria as follows: 

  The briefings included information about injuries sustained by U.S. troops in Syria, the people said. The investigation includes one incident in Syria in the fall of 2020 in which several troops developed flu-like symptoms, two people familiar with the Pentagon probe said.

  The CIA is said to also be looking into these suspected attacks via its own task force. 

  Havana Syndrome: US Still Probing Mystery “Sonic Attacks” On Diplomats 3 Years Later https://t.co/ZGcoiUxWRK

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 24, 2020

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  Strangely, the Politico report also included a denial that troops in Syria were ever found to be victims of such weapons by the Pentagon press spokesperson, strongly suggesting this is a continuation of the current, highly politicized “just blame Russia” climate in Washington…

  A Pentagon spokesperson, however, said the department is not aware of directed-energy attacks against U.S. troops in Syria. The spokesperson declined further comment on the Pentagon’s interactions with Capitol Hill or any internal investigation.

  The incidents of suspected directed-energy attacks by Russia on Americans abroad became so concerning that the Pentagon’s office of special operations and low-intensity conflict began investigating last year, according to two former national security officials involved in the effort. It’s unclear exactly how many troops were injured, or the extent of their injuries.

  American troops in Syria got the flu, so naturally the Pentagon suspects a Russian “energy attack.” So say the generals who should be in padded rooms instead of leading armies. https://t.co/3xIdn9aOER pic.twitter.com/E7re6TYN72

  — Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) April 22, 2021

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

  At this point the original Havana episode is believed to include the clearest evidence yet of a large group of people reporting to have experienced bizarre symptoms, and yet even this has failed to produce known evidence that Russia or a US enemy zapped Americans with an advanced microwave weapon. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 19:25

• "You Read That Right": BLM Says Communities Being "Terrorized" At Greater Rate Under Biden Than Trump
  “You Read That Right”: BLM Says Communities Being “Terrorized” At Greater Rate Under Biden Than Trump

  On the evening of the Derek Chauvin murder trial verdict, a funny thing happened over at Black Lives Matter’s Twitter account.

  Amidst a broader discussion (if you can call it that) about Biden’s first 100 days, the organization called for the Biden administration to end transferring military equipment to police officers across the country. The account cited the “military you see out on your streets ahead of the Chauvin verdict” as reasoning for their point, as if a police presence wouldn’t have been absolutely necessary in the wake of a “not guilty” verdict earlier this week. 

  But then the official blue checkmarked Black Lives Matter Twitter account, which sports a profile photo of a banner that says “End White Supremacy”, made a startling claim: that the Biden administration was “sending more military equipment” to communities “than Trump did”.

  Biden is currently sending more military equipment to our neighborhoods than Trump did. You read that right. Our communities are being terrorized at a greater rate than they had been under Trump.

  — Black Lives Matter (@Blklivesmatter) April 20, 2021

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

  “You read that right,” the account continues. “Our communities are being terrorized at a greater rate than they had been under Trump.” 

  The same account was critical of comments made on the night of the Derek Chauvin verdict by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said “Thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice” in her comments after the verdict in the Chauvin trial was released.

  “This is so damn disrespectful,” the BLM account said of Pelosi’s comments. 

  This is so damn disrespectful. George Floyd didn’t choose to die @speakerpelosi. He was murdered by a killer cop operating through white supremacy. There isn’t justice here. https://t.co/gNZQu3nzXg

  — Black Lives Matter (@Blklivesmatter) April 21, 2021

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

  “George Floyd didn’t choose to die,” the Black Lives Matter account wrote, “He was murdered by a killer cop operating through white supremacy. There isn’t justice here.”

  Leaving out the “white supremacy” argument – which we’re sure is appended to any argument that BLM tries to make – we actually agree with them on criticizing Pelosi’s comments, which we think offers some true insight into just how much black lives actually matter to her.

  Regardless, the attack on the Biden administration for attempting to police the streets leading up to the verdict is yet another example that BLM’s demands are going to be insatiable, regardless of how much pandering any administration does for them. It also offers a glimpse into the true nature of the radical change that the group hopes to affect. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 19:05

• "Go Big Or Go Home!" – Mars Helicopter Flies Higher And Longer In Second Flight 
  “Go Big Or Go Home!” – Mars Helicopter Flies Higher And Longer In Second Flight 

  NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter completed a second flight on Mars Thursday morning, just three days (April 19) after making history with the first helicopter to liftoff on another planet. 

  Ingenuity autonomously flew for approximately 1 minute and climbed to an altitude of 16 feet. It briefly hovered and moved sideways 7 feet. This flight was more complex than the first. 

  

  “Go big or go home! The Mars Helicopter successfully completed its 2nd flight, capturing this image with its black-and-white navigation camera,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) tweeted. “It also reached new milestones of a higher altitude, a longer hover and lateral flying.”

  Go big or go home! The #MarsHelicopter successfully completed its 2nd flight, capturing this image with its black-and-white navigation camera. It also reached new milestones of a higher altitude, a longer hover and lateral flying. pic.twitter.com/F3lwcV9kH2

  — NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) April 22, 2021

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

  NASA’s rover Perseverance tweeted a short GIF of Ingenuity’s second flight. 

  #MarsHelicopter Flight #2 is in the books! I’ve captured its higher, bolder flight, and I’ll be sending back all my latest frames soon. Meanwhile, here’s a quick preview, including takeoff and two turns. pic.twitter.com/MmNOuIQ8ly

  — NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) April 22, 2021

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

  Mars’s super-thin atmosphere is just 1% the density of Earth’s, making it more challenging for the helicopters’ blades to spin around and need about 2,500 revolutions per minute to generate lift. For comparison, on Earth, most helicopters operate at about 450-500 revolutions per minute.

  “So far, the engineering telemetry we have received and analyzed tell us that the flight met expectations and our prior computer modeling has been accurate,” said Bob Balaram, chief engineer for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a statement.

  Balaram continued: “We have two flights of Mars under our belts, which means that there is still a lot to learn during this month of Ingenuity.”

  The team is prepared for three more flights next week. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 18:45

• Stockman: Triumph Of The Woke Mob Led By Two Doddering Old Fools
  Stockman: Triumph Of The Woke Mob Led By Two Doddering Old Fools

  Authored by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

  Events of the last few days have made one thing crystal clear: The Democratic Party (and therefore the nation) is being led by two doddering old fools who should be domiciled in a rest home, not the Oval Office and the Speaker’s Chamber.

  

  How that baleful reality coexists with Wall Street’s expectation of an awesome economic future and stock prices which never stop rising to the sky is one of the great enigmas of our times. Or maybe it’s just because $10 trillion of fiscal and monetary “stimulus” in the past year can turn the proverbial sow’s ear into a silk purse. For a time.

  By now, of course, we expect idiocy from Sleepy Joe, especially on the economic front.

  Accordingly, at his virtual global summit he will be reading-out from the White House teleprompter the demented agenda of the Climate Change Howlers. Therein he will promise to cut greenhouse gases by 50% by the end of this decade, which calamity we can also promise would cut America’s debt-entombed economy to its knees.

  That comes after Tuesday’s White House contretemps when he first prayed for a guilty verdict in the Chauvin trial even as the jury was sitting in its deliberations, and then, afterwards, made the risible claim that this tragedy was the spawn of systemic racism.

  In fact, Nanny State over-reach was the underlying cause of George Floyd’s arrest and unjust death—just as it is the source of most of America’s unfortunate violence between police and unarmed citizens, back, white and otherwise.

  In both cases, of course, we find Sleepy Joe fronting for the hideous core agenda—race baiting and climate hysteria— of a Democratic Party which has lost its way and has been taken over by a camarilla of woke zealots.

  Indeed, if there were any doubt about the latter, Nancy Pelosi’s truly venal deification of George Floyd should remove it once and for all.

  

  Yes, the man was a victim, but he was also a drug-addicted criminal lout and grifter, who deserves no place of honor anywhere; and who’s estranged family deserves sympathy and support, but not a $27 million gift of blood money from a woke city council that takes Minneapolis one step closer to its demise every time it meets.

  “And thank God, the jury validated what we saw, what we saw,” Pelosi said in front of the U.S. Capitol Building as she delivered remarks with the Congressional Black Caucus. “So, again, thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice. For being there to call out to your mom. How heart-breaking was that? To call out to your mom, ‘I can’t breathe.’ But because of you – and because of thousands, millions of people around the world who came out for justice – your name will always be synonymous with justice.”

  For crying out loud. George Floyd didn’t sacrifice himself in the cause of justice. He got hopped up on a lethal dose of fentanyl and then foolishly resisted arrest when the original officers on the scene attempted to place him in the backseat of a squad car.

  That is to say, the entire narrative culminating in Nancy Pelosi’s hideous idolization of George Floyd has been blatantly wrong from the get go. This case is not about racial justice at all, to say nothing of striking a blow against so called “white privilege”.

  For want of doubt, we need to repeat the facts. That’s because they show that episodes like the George Floyd case do not fit the stereotypes of either the BLM and its race-card playing progressive/Dem allies or, for that matter, the Foxified Right’s knee-jerk defense of the nation’s over-empowered, over-budgeted, over-militarized police.

  Needless to say, the George Floyd case was not an aberration. During the recent past there were 38 such police killings of unarmed black citizens in 2015, and then 19, 21, 17 and 9 during 2016 through 2019, respectively. That’s 104 black lives lost to the ultimate abuse of police powers.

  Of course, the number should be zero police killings of unarmed citizens. There is no conceivable excuse for heavily armed cops—-usually working in pairs or groups—to cause the death of lone, unarmed civilians, regardless of race or anything else.

  And in this case that was especially so, and not withstanding several mitigating factors.

  For instance, the Minneapolis police officers originally attempted to put George Floyd safely in the back seat of a squad car after his arrest for the petty crime of attempting to pass a counterfeit $20 bill, but he resisted them intensely for up to five minutes. That’s plain as day in the other videos—those from the cops’ body-cams.

  The trial evidence from these body-cams also showed that during this struggle around the squad car Floyd said he couldn’t breath six times owing to a severe medical reaction to the fatal level of fentanyl in his blood and the methamphetamines that he had ingested shortly before the incident. These reactions were surely compounded by the man’s “severe” and “multifocal” arteriosclerotic heart disease and clinical history of hypertension, which the Minneapolis medical examiner said was the underlying cause of his death.

  Yet after Floyd was cuffed and placed prone on the street, as he himself had requested, and the officers had called for an ambulance owing to his obvious medical distress, the arrest went haywire and Chauvin exposed himself to Manslaughter 2, at least, for no plausible or justifiable reason.

  That’s because Floyd had been unarmed throughout the incident, was hand-cuffed and incapable of flight or harming others and was surrounded by four armed officers. Accordingly, he was no threat to them, nor anyone else, and he therefore presented no policing reason for the extended knee-hold on the back of his neck—especially after the surrounding crowd had warned the police that Floyd was in self-evident dire distress.

  So as we see it, Chauvin’s conviction on second degree manslaughter does indeed comport with the Minnesota statute, which reads as follows:

  …..by the person’s culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another;

  But here’s also where the Woke/Progressive Left narrative goes even more haywire. Floyd’s death was due to an arrest which shouldn’t have happened and bad police behavior that has nothing to do with race.

  As to the former point, what should have been on trial in this case was not “systemic racism”, but the Nanny State for grotesquely excessive use of force to enforce a petty counterfeiting complaint that should not be police business in the first place. It’s the job of retail store owners to handle petty counterfeiters or people who unknowingly pass bad greenbacks and to absorb the cost of self-protection just like they do in the case of refusing charges on bad credit cards.

  So there is zero reason why George Floyd should ever have been arrested.

  As to bad police behavior, you do not have to look too hard to see that it’s essentially color-blind and that being non-black is no guarantee against the same unjust fate.

  During the same five-year period in which 104 black lives were lost, a total of 127 unarmed white lives were wasted by the police, as well. That included 32 white killings in 2015 followed by 22, 31, 23 and 19 in 2016 through 2019, respectively.

  Overall, 302 unarmed citizens were killed by the police during those five years, with the balance accounted for by 71 deaths among Hispanic and other victims. That is, the real issue is illegal and excessive police violence, not racial victimization.

  Indeed, the fact that 34% of these police killings involved black citizens compared to their 13% share of the population is not primarily a sign of racism among police forces, although it is continuously construed to be.

  It’s actually evidence that the Nanny State, and especially the misbegotten War on Drugs, is designed to unnecessarily ensnare a distinct demographic— young, poor, often unemployed urban citizens— in confrontations with the cops, too many of which become fatal.

  Alas, young black males are disproportionately represented among this particular inharms’-way demographic, and that’s the reason they are “disproportionately” represented in the 302 cases cited above.

  Stated differently, the Nanny State results in too many black victims of plain old injustice, even if that is not necessarily the intent of the crusaders and zealots who have launched the state into anti-liberty wars on drugs, vice and victimless iniquities and peccadillos.

  That is to say, statism in the sphere of law and order is every bit as dysfunctional as it is in the realm of economics, yet neither conservatives nor progressives recognize it.

  Conservatives want way too much law and police empowerment in the service of cultural norms that are none of the state’s damn business in the first place; and progressives confuse the often brutal and unjust over-reach of law enforcement agencies as a manifestation of racism, when it is actually just policing expectorations in behalf of inappropriate missions such as the enforcement of drug laws.

  Indeed, the main trouble in America today is not overt racism or even simmering racial animosity. The real evil is the relentless aggrandizement of state power in the form of the Nanny State—a conflation of too many laws, crimes, cops, arrests and thereby opportunities for frictions between the state and its citizenry and for abuse by the gendarmes vested with legal use of violence.

  In a word, some citizens sometimes can’t breathe their last breath because in far too many instances liberty can’t breathe in today’s unhinged Nanny State, either.

  Among the most recent notorious cases, of course, are George Floyd’s fatal arrest for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill; Eric Garner (NYC 2014), subdual for selling untaxed cigarettes; Rayshard Brooks for falling asleep drunk in his car at a subsequently incinerated Wendy’s in Atlanta; and Breonna Taylor of Louisville for being awake in her own apartment at 1:30 AM when police barged in with guns blaring in a drug enforcement raid.

  These are anecdotal cases, of course, but the big picture statistics tell the same story. In the most recent year of complete data (2018), there were 9.3 million arrests in the US excluding traffic enforcement charges of DUI. Yet among this massive number of arrests, those involving serious crimes against persons and property accounted for just 521,000 or 5.6%. These included:

  • Negligent murder and manslaughter: 11,970;

  • Rape: 25,205;

  • Armed robbery: 88,128;

  • Aggravated assault: 395,800;

  That’s it. That’s the contribution to core public safety delivered by the 850,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the USA—about 0.6 arrests per year for serious crimes per law enforcement officer.

  As for what they were doing the rest of the time and the other 8,777,000 arrests that occurred in 2018, we can say this: They clearly provided more occasion for conflict between citizens and the gendarmes and for policing actions to go haywire, as in the George Floyd case, than any additional increments of public safety.

  After all, the single largest category of arrests in 2018 was for drug abuse violations, which totaled 1,654,282.

  In fact, while total arrests for all crimes in 2018 were no higher than they were in 1977 despite a 100 million/50% growth in the US population, and had actually dropped from a peak of nearly 13 million in 2006, the opposite trend was extant in the case of the nation’s misbegotten War on Drugs arrests.

  As shown by the chart below, drug arrests in 2018 were nearly at peak levels and were up by more than 171% since 1977—the vast majority of which are made for drug possession generally, and marijuana possession most often.

  War on Drugs Arrests, 1980-2016

  

  Not surprisingly, the next largest arrest category after drugs is one called “other assaults” for which 1,063,535 arrests were made in 2018. Yet the FBI’s own definitions raise considerable doubts as to why these are even a proper matter for law enforcement by the state:

  Other assaults (simple) – Assaults and attempted assaults where no weapon was used or no serious or aggravated injury resulted to the victim. Stalking, intimidation, coercion, and hazing are included.

  Then, of course, we have all the victimless and vice crimes, including the following number of arrests:

  • Prostitution and commercialized vice: 31,147;

  • Sex offenses excluding rape and prostitution: 46,937;

  • Gambling: 3,323;

  • Liquor law offenses: 173,152;

  • Curfew and loitering law violations: 22,031;

  • Vagrancy: 23,546;

  • Public drunkenness: 328,772;

  • Disorderly conduct: 329,152;

  • Forgery and counterfeiting: 50,072;

  • Weapons carrying and possession: 168,403;

  • All other offenses: 3,231,700.

  The latter huge number tells you all you need to know. The UCR lists 27 enumerated categories of crime including all of those itemized above–plus the usual suspects like fraud and embezzlement for which there were about 135,000 arrests in 2018. Yet when the whole lists is exhausted, 32% of arrests occurred for crimes that are so minor even the FBI is embarrassed to enumerate them!

  So, yes, we do think there are way, way too many crimes and cops, and that decriminalizing and de-funding law enforcement are the only route to reducing police violence.

  But by the same token, the unwarranted and often mendacious racializing of police malfeasance, which the George Floyd case has brought to a fever pitch, will only insure retrogression. That is, it will unleash a blind rallying to the defense of law enforcement by conservative Republicans, blue collar whites and the Foxified Right, thereby insuring a continuing failure to attack and drastically curtail the Nanny State regime, which is the real source of policing injustice.

  Of course, don’t expect Nancy Pelosi or Sleepy Joe to be any more enlightened on the matter than Sean Hannity. These doddering old fools are now enthrall to the wokedom of the progressive-Left; and, as Maxine Water’s blatant performance as agent provocateur in Minneapolis the night before the verdict makes clear, these people want the problem to fester and metastasize, not be alleviated.

  Indeed, it is probably not too far fetched to say that Congresswoman Waters’ call for a guilty verdict or else a new round of violent uprisings amounted to an insurance policy. Three guilty verdicts could not trigger the latter, but a judicial appeal resulting in a mistrial order surely would.

  In other words, the Democratic Party has fallen into the grip of vicious leftist zealots and power-hungry authoritarians. And the events of the last two days suggest that two dangerously wrong-headed and ugly narratives—-race-baiting and climate hysteria— now stand at the center of the Dem agenda because the party’s two supreme leaders are too weak and too senile to resist the mob.

  So we’d say to the feverish punters of Wall Street, yes, embrace the putative Economic Boom impending and buy the Greatest Financial Bubble in history, if you must.

  But, really, if the events which culminated in Tuesday’s triumph of mob justice do not scare the living bejesus out of you, then, well, you probably deserve to suffer the thundering financial gotterdammerung which is surely coming your way.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 18:25

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• Peak ESG: Exxon Proposing $100 Billion Taxpayer-Backed Carbon Capture Project
  Peak ESG: Exxon Proposing $100 Billion Taxpayer-Backed Carbon Capture Project

  Exxon is trying to cash in on some of the ESG hysteria that has gripped markets over the last 18 months by offering up the idea of a $100 billion hub to capture carbon dioxide along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

  And given all the hot money in ESG and the Biden administration’s propensity to print and throw cash at anything that sounds the slightest bit “green” without paying any rhyme or reason to cost/benefit, we can’t say we blame Exxon. 

  Exxon “along with a multitude of private and public partners” would build the facility to trap emissions from refineries and facilities along the Houston Ship Channel, the Houston Chronicle reported. The facility “could bury 50 million tons a year beneath the Gulf of Mexico by 2030”, the report notes. This is more than all CCS projects currently in operation. 

  The cost of such a facility had never made sense in the past, which is why Exxon is now lobbying for taxpayer money to engage in the project. “It will need government and private-sector funding, as well as enhanced regulatory and legal frameworks that enable investment and innovation,” the company said.

  

  The company had started a similar, smaller project in Wyoming last year, but it was put on hold due to (surprise) the economics amidst the pandemic. 

  And while Exxon is trying to tap into the ESG mania, Board Member Jeff Ubben has also been warning about some of the ESG products on the market. Back in March we noted that there probably isn’t much of a better weathervane on ESG investing than Ubben. Ubben was ahead of the curve in embracing the idea of ESG investing before it became the FOMO-investing-technique du jour for most of 2020 and 2021. 

  Back in January 2020, Ubben was praising BlackRock for its stance on climate change. “It is pretty exciting,” he said. “ESG, that’s the ticket that’s how we get the long-term back.” 

  

  But then in March 2021, just 15 months after his original comments, Ubben went on record in saying BlackRock’s ESG products “won’t address climate change”. 

  In what now was perhaps a bit of telegraphing and pre-planning, Ubben called them “misguided” last month and said he takes exception to the ESG products because “they don’t reward carbon-intensive companies that are reducing emissions”.

  Ubben said that simply buying ETFs because they have a high ESG score has a “very second or third derivative effect” on climate change.  

  And, of course, Ubben is right and is waking up to a reality that, eventually, we expect the rest of the market to open its eyes to. We have constantly documented the numerous “ESG” funds that have hilariously bought up names like Chevron, Exxon, Microsoft, Apple and other names that seemingly don’t have any “extra” added environmental benefits to them.

  ESG is the biggest virtue signaling scam ever:

  “BlackRock iShares ESG Aware ETF (ESGU) includes stakes in Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., for example, while its biggest holdings are in tech companies under investigation for monopoly abuse”https://t.co/Gbwpw5RKPR

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 25, 2020

  Some ESG funds break down to look just like index funds. Others seem hilariously askew to be “ESG” focused. 

  Last month we wrote that Tariq Fancy, former chief investment officer for Sustainable Investing at BlackRock, wrote an op-ed in USA Today, admitting that Wall Street is greenwashing the financial world, making sustainable investing merely PR, which is a distraction from the problem of climate change.

  Fancy appeared later in the day on CNBC and stunned the always-ready-to-virtue-signal anchor by telling her that that “the financial services industry is duping the American public with pro-environment, sustainable investing practices.”

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 02:45

• Is The UK's "War On Pubs" About Silencing Dissent?
  Is The UK’s “War On Pubs” About Silencing Dissent?

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

  A university teacher has published a fascinating article in which he argues that the shut down of pubs in the United Kingdom is about silencing dissent.

  

  The article by Sean Walsh, which was carried by LockdownSkeptics, questions why pubs are still semi-closed while other “non-essential retail” stores are allowed to fully open despite the fact that the entire hospitality industry was responsible for just 3 per cent of total COVID infections last year.

  “It’s tempting to conclude that the SAGE types are not worried that pubs are possible vectors of transmission, but that they are concerned that hospitality venues are potential theatres of dissent,” writes Walsh.

  He also notes that health bureaucrats seem to be intent on the British public remaining joyless as part of some demented puritanical drive to oversee the “crude sanitisation of our understanding of the human soul.”

  Walsh accurately identifies the pub not just as a place of fun and frivolity, but an organizing forum where populist sentiment takes shape.

  “It is in the pub that people can whisper conspiracy against a Government narrative. And conspiracies always require that the like-minded are allowed to gather. It is over a drink that the millionaire and the pauper can come together and compare notes,” he writes.

  “(Boris) Johnson is currently offering us a sinister inversion of what a pub is, one in which you are tracked, traced, audited, judged, and humiliated. The “road map”, in this industry at least, is one that leads you not into “normal” but into a “Twin Peaks” version of it,” adds Walsh.

  He concludes by arguing that if the government was trying to build a police state, one of the first things it would do is to “stamp on the enjoyment of the great unwashed and confiscate all mechanisms of dissent.”

  “The Government’s war on pubs is ticking both those boxes,” writes Walsh.

  One has to question whether government efforts to punish pubs while allowing throngs of crowds to gather outside retail outlets goes deeper than health considerations given the minimal contribution bars and restaurants had to the spread of the virus.

  Could the war on pubs have also been a deliberate attempt to prevent people from coming together to pierce the monopoly control the media wielded over the entire lockdown narrative?

  As we highlighted yesterday, many pub landlords are infuriated with the attack on their livelihoods, leading in one case to an owner kicking out Labour leader Keir Starmer after a heated confrontation about his party’s support for lockdown.

  *  *  *

  Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

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  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. Also, I urgently need your financial support here.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 02:00

• Iran Says "60%-70% Of Issues Resolved" In Vienna Nuclear Talks
  Iran Says “60%-70% Of Issues Resolved” In Vienna Nuclear Talks

  Israeli intelligence officials days ago told Axios that they beleive a restoration of US participation in the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) is as little as “weeks” away. Top Israeli officials have lately tried to lobby Washington against pursuing the ongoing Vienna talks. 

  “We are not very optimistic to say the least,” a senior Israeli official had said to Axios. “We will not be surprised if within weeks the US and other world powers sign a deal with Iran.”

  This assessment appears to be accurate, as the latest statement out Tuesday from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani indicates the negotiating sides have already resolved 60-70% of the key barriers that previously stood in the way of restoring the deal.

  

  In the face of recent Israel ‘sabotage attacks’ – particularly against the Natanz enrichment facility on April 11, which Tehran had denounced as “nuclear sabotage” – Iran’s leaders have remained resolute in seeing Vienna talks through, essentially boasting that Tel Aviv’s machinations will not stand in their way.

  The Times of Israel presented Rouhani’s latest words on the Vienna talks as follows: 

  The “negotiations have achieved 60-70 percent progress,” Rouhani said, according to the IRNA news agency.

  “If the Americans act honestly, we will reach a conclusion in little time,” he added.

  US statements have also suggested ‘positive’ signs but have still emphasized “a long road ahead”. “I think it’s fair to say we have more road ahead of us than in the rearview mirror,” US State Department Spokesman Ned Price said this week.

  It’s as yet unclear how quickly the US side said it’s willing to drop sanctions, which has been the firm and unwavering position of the Islamic Republic from the start. At this point for Rouhani to give such an optimistic assessment of “70 percent progress” on key issues, Washington must have vowed significant and rapid sanctions relief. 

  Meanwhile, with the writing on the wall for Tel Aviv, Israeli officials are now doing some damage control in terms of pressing for at least more far-reaching nuclear inspections and oversight as part of the US return to the deal. Israel is also attempting to spotlight Iran’s conventional ballistic missile program:

  Israel is lobbying the US to include improvements to the oversight of Iran’s nuclear program, the Kan public broadcaster reported on Tuesday night. Jerusalem is pushing for International Atomic Energy Agency officials to have greater powers in inspecting the nuclear sites, according to the report.

  Mossad intelligence agency director Yossi Cohen and National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat will both head to the US early next week to push the position on Jerusalem’s behalf, the report said.

  Recently the Biden administration reportedly told the Israelis to stop the covert attacks against Iranian assets which appear bent on derailing the Vienna process. 

  Israeli media reported over the weekend that in backchannel communications the White House voiced “displeasure” not only with recent covert attacks – particularly the April 11 Natanz nuclear site incident – but its willingness to ‘leak’ its culpability to the public.

  The next round of talks in Vienna are expected to commence in earnest next week.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 04/22/2021 – 01:00

• Chris Hedges: The Unraveling Of The American Empire
  Chris Hedges: The Unraveling Of The American Empire

  Authored by Chris Hedges via ConsortiumNews.com,

  America’s defeat in Afghanistan is one in a string of catastrophic military blunders that herald the death of the American empire. With the exception of the first Gulf War, fought largely by mechanized units in the open desert that did not — wisely — attempt to occupy Iraq, the United States political and military leadership has stumbled from one military debacle to another. Korea. Vietnam. Lebanon. Afghanistan. Iraq. Syria. Libya. The trajectory of military fiascos mirrors the sad finales of the Chinese, Ottoman, Hapsburg, Russian, French, British, Dutch, Portuguese and Soviet empires. While each of these empires decayed with their own peculiarities, they all exhibited patterns of dissolution that characterize the American experiment.

  

  U.S. Army helicopter near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, April 5, 2017. (U.S. Army, Brian Harris, Wikimedia Commons)

  Imperial ineptitude is matched by domestic ineptitude. The collapse of good government at home, with legislative, executive and judicial systems all seized by corporate power, ensures that the incompetent and the corrupt, those dedicated not to the national interest but to swelling the profits of the oligarchic elite, lead the country into a cul-de-sac. Rulers and military leaders, driven by venal self-interest, are often buffoonish characters in a grand comic operetta. How else to think of Allen Dulles, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Donald Trump or the hapless Joe Biden? While their intellectual and moral vacuity is often darkly amusing, it is murderous and savage when directed towards their victims.

  There is not a single case since 1941 when the coups, political assassinations, election fraud, black propaganda, blackmail, kidnapping, brutal counter-insurgency campaigns, U.S. sanctioned massacres, torture in global black sites, proxy wars or military interventions carried out by the United States resulted in the establishment of a democratic government. The two-decade-long wars in the Middle East, the greatest strategic blunder in American history, have only left in their wake one failed state after another. Yet, no one in the ruling class is held accountable.

  Quagmires 

  War, when it is waged to serve utopian absurdities, such as implanting a client government in Baghdad that will flip the region, including Iran, into U.S. protectorates, or when, as in Afghanistan, there is no vision at all, descends into a quagmire. The massive allocation of money and resources to the U.S. military, which includes Biden’s request for $715 billion for the Defense Department in fiscal year 2022, a $11.3 billion, or 1.6 percent increase, over 2021, is not in the end about national defense. The bloated military budget is designed, as Seymour Melman explained in his book, The Permanent War Economy, primarily to keep the American economy from collapsing. All we really make anymore are weapons. Once this is understood, perpetual war makes sense, at least for those who profit from it.

  

  The idea that America is a defender of democracy, liberty and human rights would come as a huge surprise to those who saw their democratically elected governments subverted and overthrown by the United States in Panama (1941), Syria (1949), Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), Congo (1960), Brazil (1964), Chile (1973), Honduras (2009) and Egypt (2013). And this list does not include a host of other governments that, however despotic, as was the case in South Vietnam, Indonesia or Iraq, were viewed as inimical to American interests and destroyed, in each case making life for the inhabitants of these countries even more miserable.

  

  (Illustration by Mr. Fish)

  I spent two decades on the outer reaches of empire as a foreign correspondent. The flowery rhetoric used to justify the subjugation of other nations so corporations can plunder natural resources and exploit cheap labor is solely for domestic consumption. The generals, intelligence operatives, diplomats, bankers and corporate executives that manage empire find this idealistic talk risible. They despise, with good reason, naïve liberals who call for “humanitarian intervention” and believe the ideals used to justify empire are real, that empire can be a force for good. These liberal interventionists, the useful idiots of imperialism, attempt to civilize a process that was created and designed to repress, intimidate, plunder and dominate.

  The liberal interventionists, because they wrap themselves in high ideals, are responsible for numerous military and foreign policy debacles. The call by liberal interventionists such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Susan Rice and Samantha Power to fund jihadists in Syria and depose Muammar Gaddafi in Libya rent these countries — as in Afghanistan and Iraq — into warring fiefdoms. The liberal interventionists are also the tip of the spear in the campaign to rachet up tensions with China and Russia.

  

  U.S. State Department staff en route to Tripoli, Libya, Oct. 18, 2011. (State Department, Flickr)

  Russia is blamed for interfering in the last two presidential elections on behalf of Donald Trump. Russia, whose economy is roughly the size of Italy’s, is also attacked for destabilizing the Ukraine, supporting Bashar al-Assad in Syria, funding France’s National Front party and hacking into German computers. Biden has imposed sanctions on Russia — including limits on buying newly issued sovereign debt — in response to allegations that Moscow was behind a hack on SolarWinds Corp. and worked to thwart his candidacy.

  At the same time, the liberal interventionists are orchestrating a new cold war with China, justifying this cold war because the Chinese government is carrying out genocide against its Uyghur minority, repressing the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and stealing U.S. patents. As with Russia, sanctions have been imposed targeting the country’s ruling elite. The U.S. is also carrying out provocative military maneuvers along the Russian border and in the South China Sea.

  The core belief of imperialists, whether they come in the form of a Barack Obama or a George W. Bush, is racism and ethnic chauvinism, the notion that Americans are permitted, because of superior attributes, to impose their “values” on lesser races and peoples by force. This racism, carried out in the name of Western civilization and its corollary white supremacy, unites the rabid imperialists and liberal interventionists in the Republican and Democratic parties. It is the fatal disease of empire, captured in Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American and Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient.

  

  Aug. 9, 1998: U.S. embassy after attack, Nairobi, Kenya,  (IDF, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons)

  The crimes of empire always spawn counter-violence that is then used to justify harsher forms of imperial repression. For example, the United States routinely kidnapped Islamic jihadists fighting in the Balkans between 1995 and 1998. They were sent to Egypt — many were Egyptian — where they were savagely tortured and usually executed. In 1998, the International Islamic Front for Jihad said it would carry out a strike against the United States after jihadists were kidnapped and transferred to black sites from Albania. They made good on their threat igniting massive truck bombs at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that left 224 dead. Of course, the “extraordinary renditions” by the CIA did not end and neither did the attacks by jihadists.

  Micro-Militarism

  Our decades-long military fiascos, a feature of all late empires, are called “micro-militarism.” The Athenians engaged in micro-militarism during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) when they invaded Sicily, suffering the loss of 200 ships and thousands of soldiers. The defeat triggered successful revolts throughout the Athenian empire.

  The Roman empire, which at its height lasted for two centuries, created a military machine that, like the Pentagon, was a state within a state. Rome’s military rulers, led by Augustus, snuffed out the remnants of Rome’s anemic democracy and ushered in a period of despotism that saw the empire disintegrate under the weight of extravagant military expenditures and corruption.

  The British empire, after the suicidal military folly of World War I, was terminated in 1956 when it attacked Egypt in a dispute over the nationalization of the Suez Canal. Britain was forced to withdraw in humiliation, empowering Arab nationalist leaders such as Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and dooming British rule over its few remaining colonies. None of these empires recovered.

  “While rising empires are often judicious, even rational in their application of armed force for conquest and control of overseas dominions, fading empires are inclined to ill-considered displays of power, dreaming of bold military masterstrokes that would somehow recoup lost prestige and power,” the historian Alfred W. McCoy writes in his book In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power: “Often irrational even from an imperial point of view, these micromilitary operations can yield hemorrhaging expenditures or humiliating defeats that only accelerate the process already under way.”

  The worse it gets at home the more the empire needs to fabricate enemies within and without. This is the real reason for the increase in tensions with Russia and China. The poverty of half the nation and concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny oligarchic cabal, the wanton murder of unarmed civilians by militarized police, the rage at the ruling elites, expressed with nearly half the electorate voting for a con artist and demagogue and a mob of his supporters storming the capitol, are the internal signs of disintegration. The inability of the for-profit national health services to cope with the pandemic, the passage of a Covid relief bill and the proposal of an infrastructure bill that would hand the bulk of some $5 trillion dollars to corporations while tossing crumbs — one-time checks of $1,400 to a citizenry in deep financial distress — will only fuel the decline.

  

  February 2018: Die-in demonstration by Teens For Gun Reform in wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. (Lorie Shaull via Flickr)

  Because of the loss of unionized jobs, the real decline of wages, de-industrialization, chronic underemployment and unemployment, and punishing austerity programs, the country is plagued by a plethora of diseases of despair including opioid addictions, alcoholism, suicides, gambling, depression, morbid obesity and mass shootings — since March 16 the United States has had at least 45 mass shootings, including eight people killed in an Indiana FedEx facility on Friday, three dead and three injured in a shooting in Wisconsin on Sunday, and another three dead in a shooting in Austin on Sunday. These are the consequences of a deeply troubled society.

  The façade of empire is able to mask the rot within its foundations, often for decades, until, as we saw with the Soviet Union, the empire appears to suddenly disintegrate. The loss of the dollar as the global reserve currency will probably mark the final chapter of the American empire. In 2015, the dollar accounted for 90 percent of bilateral transactions between China and Russia, a percentage that has since fallen to about 50 percent. The use of sanctions as a weapon against China and Russia pushes these countries to replace the dollar with their own national currencies. Russia, as part of this move away from the dollar, has begun accumulating yuan reserves.

  The loss of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency will instantly raise the cost of imports. It will result in unemployment of Depression-era levels. It will force the empire to dramatically contract. It will, as the economy worsens, fuel a hyper-nationalism that will most likely be expressed through a Christianized fascism. The mechanisms, already in place, for total social control, militarized police, a suspension of civil liberties, wholesale government surveillance, enhanced “terrorism” laws that railroad people into the world’s largest prison system and censorship overseen by the digital media monopolies will seamlessly cement into place a police state. Nations that descend into crises this severe seek to deflect the rage of a betrayed population on foreign scapegoats. China and Russia will be used to fill these roles.

  The defeat in Afghanistan is a familiar and sad story, one all those blinded by imperial hubris endure. The tragedy, however, is not the collapse of the American empire, but that, lacking the ability to engage in self-critique and self-correction, as it dies it will lash out in a blind, inchoate fury at innocents at home and abroad.

  *  *  *

  This column is from Scheerpost, for which Chris Hedges writes a regular column twice a month. Click here to sign up for email alerts.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 23:40

• Russia Plans To Quit International Space Station By 2025
  Russia Plans To Quit International Space Station By 2025

  As tensions increase between Russia and the US, the Russian space agency has announced it will withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025 and has already begun work on a space station of its own, according to BBC News. 

  The US and Russia jointly launched the ISS in 1998 and was hailed as significant steps to reconstruct souring relations between the cold war adversaries. But Russian officials have indicated they will pull out of the ISS by 2025. 

  

  The ISS is 23 years old and is rapidly aging, posing a danger for astronauts. ISS crew recently had to hunt for a mystery air leak. 

  “We can’t risk the lives [of our cosmonauts]. The situation that today is connected to the structure and the metal getting old, it can lead to irreversible consequences – to catastrophe. We mustn’t let that happen,” Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told state television this week. 

  Borisov said Moscow would give the US and other international partners “fair warning of our departure from the ISS in 2025.” 

  The head of Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, also known as Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, posted a video on the Telegram messaging app that said the “first core module of the new Russian orbital station is in the works,” intending to launch it into low Earth orbit by 2025. 

  News of the proposed withdrawal and build of the Russian space module comes after Moscow signed a memorandum with China to build a moon base that would either be on the lunar surface or in orbit. Russia previously turned down participating in the “too U.S.-centric” Moon-orbiting station. 

  For the US to maintain its hegemonic position, it must also have a dominant position in space. Essentially holding the “high ground,” though Russia backing out of the ISS by 2025 and building its own space station, along with pivoting towards China for moon projects, is precisely why the Pentagon’s newest branch, called Space Force, is focused on attempting to maintain Western dominance in space. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 23:20

• The Covidian Cult Exposed: Six Conditions Of Mind Control
  The Covidian Cult Exposed: Six Conditions Of Mind Control

  Authored by CJ Hopkins via The Consent Factory,

  Back in October of 2020, I wrote an essay called The Covidian Cult, in which I described the so-called “New Normal” as a global totalitarian ideological movement.

  

  Developments over the last six months have borne out the accuracy of that analogy.

  A full year after the initial roll-out of the utterly horrifying and completely fictional photos of people dropping dead in the streets, the projected 3.4% death rate, and all the rest of the official propaganda, despite the absence of any actual scientific evidence of an apocalyptic plague (and the abundance of evidence to the contrary), millions of people continue to behave like members of an enormous death cult, walking around in public with medical-looking masks, robotically repeating vacuous platitudes, torturing children, the elderly, the disabled, demanding that everyone submit to being injected with dangerous experimental “vaccines,” and just generally acting delusional and psychotic.

  How did we ever get to this point … to the point where, as I put it in The Covidian Cult, “instead of the cult existing as an island within the dominant culture, the cult has become the dominant culture, and those of us who have not joined the cult have become the isolated islands within it?”

  To understand this, one needs to understand how cults control the minds of their members, because totalitarian ideological movements operate more or less the same way, just on a much larger, societal scale. There is a wealth of research and knowledge on this subject (I mentioned Robert J. Lifton in my earlier essay), but, to keep things simple, I’ll just use Margaret Singer’s “Six Conditions of Mind Control” from her 1995 book, Cults in Our Midst, as a lens to view the Covidian Cult through. (The italics are Singer. The commentary is mine.)

  Six Conditions of Mind Control

  1. Keep the person unaware of what is going on and how she or he is being changed a step at a time. Potential new members are led, step by step, through a behavioral-change program without being aware of the final agenda or full content of the group.

  Looking back, it is easy to see how people were conditioned, step by step, to accept the “New Normal” ideology. They were bombarded with terrifying propaganda, locked down, stripped of their civil rights, forced to wear medical-looking masks in public, to act out absurd “social-distancing” rituals, submit to constant “testing,” and all the rest of it. Anyone not complying with this behavioral-change program or challenging the veracity and rationality of the new ideology was demonized as a “conspiracy theorist,” a “Covid denier,” an “anti-vaxxer,” in essence, an enemy of the cult, like a “suppresive person” in the Church of Scientology.

  2. Control the person’s social and/or physical environment; especially control the person’s time.

  For over a year now, the “New Normal” authorities have controlled the social/physical environment, and how New Normals spend their time, with lockdowns, social-distancing rituals, closure of “non-essential” businesses, omnipresent propaganda, isolation of the elderly, travel restrictions, mandatory mask-rules, protest bans, and now the segregation of the “Unvaccinated.” Basically, society has been transformed into something resembling an infectious disease ward, or an enormous hospital from which there is no escape. You’ve seen the photos of the happy New Normals dining out at restaurants, relaxing at the beach, jogging, attending school, and so on, going about their “normal” lives with their medical-looking masks and prophylactic face shields. What you’re looking at is the pathologization of society, the pathologization of everyday life, the physical (social) manifestation of a morbid obsession with disease and death.

  3. Systematically create a sense of powerlessness in the person.

  What kind of person could feel more powerless than an obedient New Normal sitting at home, obsessively logging the “Covid death” count, sharing photos of his medical-looking mask and post-“vaccination” bandage on Facebook, as he waits for permission from the authorities to go outdoors, visit his family, kiss his lover, or shake hands with a colleague? The fact that in the Covidian Cult the traditional charismatic cult leader has been replaced by a menagerie of medical experts and government officials does not change the utter dependency and abject powerlessness of its members, who have been reduced to a state approaching infancy. This abject powerlessness is not experienced as a negative; on the contrary, it is proudly celebrated. Thus the mantra-like repetition of the “New Normal” platitude “Trust the Science!” by people who, if you try to show them the science, melt down completely and start jabbering aggressive nonsense at you to shut you up.

  4. Manipulate a system of rewards, punishments and experiences in such a way as to inhibit behavior that reflects the person’s former social identity.

  The point here is the transformation of the formerly basically rational person into an entirely different cult-approved person, in our case, an obedient “New Normal” person. Singer gets into this in greater detail, but her discussion applies mostly to subcultural cults, not to large-scale totalitarian movements. For our purposes, we can fold this into Condition 5.

  5. Manipulate a system of rewards, punishments, and experiences in order to promote learning the group’s ideology or belief system and group-approved behaviors. Good behavior, demonstrating an understanding and acceptance of the group’s beliefs, and compliance are rewarded, while questioning, expressing doubts or criticizing are met with disapproval, redress and possible rejection. If one expresses a question, they are made to feel that there is something inherently wrong with them to be questioning.

  OK, I’m going to tell you a little story. It’s a story about a personal experience, which I’m pretty sure you’ve also experienced. It’s a story about a certain New Normal who has been harassing me for several months. I’ll call him Brian Parks, because, well, that’s his name, and I no longer feel any compunction about sharing it.

  Brian is a former friend/colleague from the theater world who has gone full “New Normal” and is absolutely furious that I have not. So outraged is Brian that I have not joined the cult that he has been going around on the Internet referring to me as a “conspiracy theorist” and suggesting that I’ve had some kind of nervous breakdown and require immediate psychiatric treatment because I do not believe the official “New Normal” narrative. Now, this would not be a very big deal, except that Brian is impugning my character and attempting to damage my reputation on the Facebook pages of other theater colleagues, which Brian feels entitled to do, given that I am a “Covid denier,” a “conspiracy theorist,” and an “anti-vaxxer,” or whatever, and given the fact that he has the power of the state, the media, etc., on his side.

  This is how it works in cults, and in larger totalitarian societies. It isn’t usually the Gestapo that comes for you. It’s usually your friends and colleagues. What Brian is doing is working that system of rewards and punishments to enforce his ideology, because he knows that most of my other colleagues in the theater world have also gone full “New Normal,” or at least are looking the other way and staying silent while it is being implemented.

  This tactic, obviously, has backfired on Brian, primarily because I do not give a fuck what any New Normals think of me, whether they work in the theater world or anywhere else, but I am in a rather privileged position, because I have accomplished what I wanted to accomplish in the theater, and would rather stick my hand in a blender than submit my novels to corporate publishers for review by “sensitivity readers,” so there isn’t much to threaten me with. That, and I have no children to support, or administrations to answer to (unlike, for example, Mark Crispin Miller, who is currently being persecuted by the “New Normal” administration at NYU).

  The point is, this kind of ideological conditioning is happening everywhere, every day, on the job, among friends, even among families. The pressure to conform is intense, because nothing is more threatening to devoted cultists, or members of totalitarian ideological movements, than those who challenge their fundamental beliefs, confront them with facts, or otherwise demonstrate that their “reality” isn’t reality at all, but, rather, a delusional, paranoid fiction.

  The key difference between how this works in cults and totalitarian ideological movements is that, usually, a cult is a subcultural group, and thus non-cult-members have the power of the ideology of the dominant society to draw on when resisting the mind-control tactics of the cult, and attempting to deprogram its members … whereas, in our case, this balance of power is inverted. Totalitarian ideological movements have the power of governments, the media, the police, the culture industry, academia, and the compliant masses on their side. And, thus, they do not need to persuade anyone. They have the power to dictate “reality.” Only cults operating in total isolation, like Jim Jones’ People’s Temple in Guyana, enjoy this level of control over their members.

  This pressure to conform, this ideological conditioning, must be fiercely resisted, regardless of the consequences, both publicly and in our private lives, or the “New Normal” will certainly become our “reality.” Despite the fact that we “Covid deniers” are currently outnumbered by the Covidian cultists, we need to behave as if we are not, and hold to reality, facts, and real science, and treat the New Normals as exactly what they are, members of a new totalitarian movement, delusional cultists run amok. If we do not, we will get to Singer’s Condition 6 …

  6. Put forth a closed system of logic and an authoritarian structure that permits no feedback and refuses to be modified except by leadership approval or executive order. The group has a top-down, pyramid structure. The leaders must have verbal ways of never losing.

  We’re not there yet, but that is where we’re headed … global pathologized totalitarianism. So, please, speak up. Call things what they are. Confront the Brians in your life. Despite the fact that they tell themselves that they’re trying to help you “come to your senses” or “see the truth,” or “trust the Science,” they are not. They are cultists, desperately trying to get you to conform to their paranoid beliefs, pressuring you, manipulating you, bullying you, threatening you. Do not engage them on their terms, or let them goad you into accepting their premises. (Once they’ve sucked you into their narrative, they’ve won.) Expose them, confront them with their tactics and their motives. You will probably not change their minds in the least, but your example might help other New Normals whose faith is slipping to begin to recognize what has been done to their minds and break with the cult.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 23:00

• Syrian Missile Comes Close To Striking Israeli Nuclear Reactor, Israel Retaliates In Huge Escalation
  Syrian Missile Comes Close To Striking Israeli Nuclear Reactor, Israel Retaliates In Huge Escalation

  Overnight Israel’s military was put on high alert after alarms went off near Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor site in the southern part of the country. 

  Reuters is reporting that “A Syrian surface-to-air missile exploded in southern Israel on Thursday, the Israeli military said, in an incident that triggered warning sirens in an area near the secretive Dimona nuclear reactor.”

  Explosion heard near Dimona #nuclear reactor in #Israel. Sirens alerting to rocket attacks heard in the southern part of the country.

  — Steve Herman (@W7VOA) April 21, 2021

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  It was an apparent Syrian response to a prior Israeli attack that targeted the Damascus suburbs. Israel says that it responded to the apparent retaliatory missile attack out of Syria.

  At the same time the Jerusalem Post has this overnight (local time) urgent headline: “Missile launched toward Israel from Syria, IDF responds with airstrikes.”

  BREAKING: A surface-to-air missile was fired from Syria to Israel’s southern Negev.

  In response, we struck the battery from which the missile was launched and additional surface-to-air batteries in Syria.

  — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 22, 2021

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  Reuters continues of the late Wednesday into overnight Thursday report: 

  There were no immediate reports of any injuries or damage in Israel. The military said that in response to the launch, it attacked several missile batteries in Syria, including the one that fired the projectile that struck its territory.

  Syria’s state news agency said Syrian air defences intercepted the Israeli attack that targeted areas in the Damascus suburbs. “Air defences intercepted the rockets and downed most of them,” the agency said.

  “A Reuters reporter about 90 km (56 miles) north of Dimona heard the sound of an explosion minutes before the military tweeted that sirens had gone off in the region,” the report continues. 

  “The errant Syrian missile was an SA-5, one of several fired at Israeli air force planes, according to an Israeli military spokesman. It did not hit the reactor, he added.”

  And Middle East Institute’s Danny Makki reports the following from on the ground in the Syrian capital of Damascus…

  Strange incident this evening, rarely do Syrian missiles reach that far into Israel & Dimona of all places. Rockets usually shot down quickly but not today. Missile was also fired before any strikes on Damascus, I didnt hear anything others heard only retaliatory strikes later.

  — Danny Makki (@Dannymakkisyria) April 22, 2021

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  This appears a massive escalation in the years’ long war given it’s looking like Damascus targeted the highly sensitive and secretive Dimona site. 

  Syrian state media is now saying it actively “responded to Israeli aggression” which strongly suggests the launch into southern Israel was intentional – though this remains unconfirmed – also given the “response” also no doubt involved a volley of anti-aircraft missiles.

  Another unconfirmed video / Reportedly SAA AD launch scene. #Damascus #Syria 🇸🇾 pic.twitter.com/df4sRhkcRL

  — Aleph א 🔎 (@no_itsmyturn) April 22, 2021

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  State news agency reports #Syria has responded to “Israeli aggression” with missiles in the vicinity of Damascus. https://t.co/HWFUWXCako

  — Steve Herman (@W7VOA) April 22, 2021

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  However, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are in the immediate aftermath seeking to somewhat downplay the incredibly dangerous and at this point mysterious incident, describing that a surface-to-air missile from Syria “overflew its target” and landed in southern Israel.

  Now coordinated messaging from #Damascus & #Jerusalem both claiming a SAM was fired into #Syrian airspace that then traversed into #Israel — unintentionally traveling towards #Dimona.

  Meanwhile, #IRGC channels (speaking to their audience) claim a purposeful attack took place.

  — Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) April 22, 2021

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  The big question remains the degree to which Syria was engaged in an act of “intentional” targeting of Israel’s secretive nuclear facility. 

  Damascus and Tehran could be drawing new “red lines” – also as Iran is feeling emboldened by “positive” progress as it engages Washington at the Vienna nuclear talks. 

  

  All of this comes at a moment of soaring tensions between Israel and Iran, which will likely see Israel engage in greater interventions and escalations with Iranian forces inside Israel, even after years of near-weekly aerial operations attacking inside Syrian territory. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 22:40

• Canada Reveals It Paid White Helmets $4 Million Annually After It Cuts Ties
  Canada Reveals It Paid White Helmets $4 Million Annually After It Cuts Ties

  In another stunning revelation concerning the self-styled “independent” Syrian rescue and aid organization the White Helmets, Canada this week revealed that it has ended all funding for the controversial group yet without detailing why. 

  A bombshell new report in The Globe and Mail says only that the government of Canada, dubbed “one of the staunchest backers of the White Helmets”, ended support “shortly after the death of the group’s British co-founder, James Le Mesurier, who committed suicide in November, 2019.”

  

  Le Mesurier had been mired in scandal and was subject of an in investigation over possible mishandling of donations which poured in from various Western governments and humanitarian groups. His suicide took place in murky circumstances: he was found dead reportedly from a fall on the street below the upstairs window of his apartment in Istanbul’s Beyoglu district on November 11, 2019.

  The White Helmets had also been caught on many occasions embedding with al-Qaeda in Syria and essentially served as their rescue arm (or “the Islamic State’s fire brigade” as ISIS kidnap victim John Cantlie once observed), while refusing to work in government areas despite claiming they are a ‘neutral’ NGO.

  But the reality all along was that this ‘humanitarian rescue group’ was a Western government-backed operation which served as an extension of the same external powers’ drive to overthrow Assad via covert support to jihadists on the ground. 

  Globe also reports that Canada funded White Helmets at $4 million a year. This should be a huge scandal.

  The White Helmets partner w/ jihadists; staged hospital scene in Douma; & take part in executions.(https://t.co/62slJyF2DO) (https://t.co/vtDcNScjNQ)(https://t.co/e1QaMZjdWX) pic.twitter.com/yyYQ8aHzRb

  — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) April 21, 2021

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  The Globe and Mail report reveals the following: 

  But Farouq Habib, deputy general manager of the White Helmets, told The Globe and Mail that Canadian funding of the organization – including specific funding for clearing mines and other unexploded ordnance, as well as money targeted at bringing more women into the organization – stopped at the end of 2019. Documents obtained by The Globe through an Access To Information request show Canadian support to the White Helmets was worth about $4-million per year, with final payments of just under $900,000 being made in March, 2020.

  Not a scandal @RefugeesIntl, DC & Wall St elites are honoring the group ISIS hostage John Cantlie called “the Islamic State’s fire brigade”? pic.twitter.com/icBnKzWgN2

  — Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) April 26, 2017

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  The United States also within the past few years become increasingly open in acknowledging it paid out multiple millions of dollars to the group. 

  Independent journalist Aaron Maté, who over the years has done much reporting on the White Helmets, noted that the revelations in the new Globe and Mail report should be “a huge scandal” – but is likely to get little further mainstream media attention. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 22:20

• Washington State Mulls Bill To Ban New Gas Vehicle Sales By 2030
  Washington State Mulls Bill To Ban New Gas Vehicle Sales By 2030

  Washington State is on track to ban new gas vehicle sales by 2030.

  The policy change could be coming as the result of a new bill that recently passed which includes “goal of sharply reducing the number of new gas-powered vehicles in Washington” if conditions are met, KOMO News reported this week. 

  The Clean Cars initiative, which will bolster EV vehicles (that will likely be charged by coal power plants), could make Washington the first state to set such goals. Gov. Jay Inslee is mulling signing the bill, which would put the state five years ahead of California and Massachusetts in ICE vehicle bans.

  

  The bill says “the sale, purchase, or registration of non-electric vehicles ll passenger cars of model year 2030 or later registered in the state will be electric provided that the state adopts a road usage charge and at least 75 percent of the registered passenger vehicles in the state are participating in the program.”

  It would also make Washington the “first state to ban gas-powered vehicle sales through a bill passed by lawmakers, rather than by executive order”.

  The bill passed 25-23 in the state Senate and 54-43 in the house. It would thrust state utilities into preparing for an EV future, which would include significant infrastructure roll outs. 

  And what would a big government policy be without being appended to a brand new tax? The initiative only takes effect if the state also approves a tax on vehicle miles traveled, which would ostensibly help pay for new infrastructure, the report concluded. 

   

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 22:00

• Doug Casey On The Shocking 2025 'Deagel' Forecast: War, Population Reduction, & The Collapse Of The West
  Doug Casey On The Shocking 2025 ‘Deagel’ Forecast: War, Population Reduction, & The Collapse Of The West

  Via InternationalMan,com,

  International Man: Deagel is a private online source for the military capabilities of the world’s nation-states. It recently released a shocking five-year forecast.

  The report analyzes countries by projected population size, GDP, defense budget, and more.

  In it, they predict a 70% reduction in the size of the United States population.

  This is a bold prediction. What are your thoughts on this?

  

  Doug Casey: I’ve got to say that I wasn’t familiar with Deagel – it keeps a low profile. Deagel is in the same business as Jane’s—which has been in the business of analyzing weapons systems for many decades.

  A look at the Deagel website, which is quite sophisticated, makes it clear we’re not dealing with some blogger concocting outrageous clickbait. It seems to be well-connected with defense contractors and government agencies like the CIA.

  They’ve predicted that about 70% of the US population, and about the same percentage in Europe, is going to disappear by 2025. It’s hard to believe that anybody in their position would make a forecast like that. There’s no logical business reason for it, especially since it was done before the COVID hysteria gripped the world. It stretches a reader’s credulity.

  Could it possibly happen? It would be the biggest thing in world history. Does it have a basis in reality, or is it just some bizarre trolling exercise? I’m not sure—it’s hard to take almost anything from any source at face value these days. But for the last several years, I’ve been saying that World War III would basically be a biological war. Of course, it will have substantial conventional, nuclear, space-based, and AI/computer elements as well, but its most serious component will be biological. Essentially, it will involve the use of bacteria and viruses to wipe out the enemy. The odds are that it will be between the US and China. But since anyone with a CRISPR in their garage can hack the genome and DNA of almost anything and anybody… there are no limits to the possibilities.

  Certainly, from the Chinese point of view, a biological war makes all the sense in the world. That’s because the Han Chinese share a lot of genetic similarities. Presumably, a bacteria or virus can be bred to favor the Chinese and take out most everybody else. The fact is that anything that can be done eventually will be done. It’s just the law of large numbers.

  Somebody might respond, “Well, that’s horribly racist.” Of course it’s racist. Notwithstanding rational and philosophical arguments against it, all ethnic groups and countries are quite naturally racist. A fear of different racial and ethnic groups has been bred into humans, as a survival mechanism, over the hundreds of thousands of years since we became biologically modern.

  All races and ethnic groups like to think that they’re “the best” or the most worthy, and that non-members are “other”, perhaps only marginally human. Biological warfare plays directly into feeling.

  Americans who—like everybody else—see themselves as “the good guys”, believe we’re immune to that. However, don’t forget that the US pioneered modern biowarfare. Fort Detrick, Maryland, has been an epicenter of it for over 70 years, and there are undoubtedly many other more clandestine sites where US government agencies are working on biological warfare. No doubt the Chinese and other major powers are working clandestinely as well. It’s not something anybody wants to advertise for many reasons.

  What shocks me is not that a biowar is being researched or even actively wargamed, but that a connected organization like Deagel is actually saying it publicly. It’s not like what goes on in the spook community is an open book.

  Deagel doesn’t explicitly say what, exactly, will cause the great die-off. But there are many advantages to biological warfare over other types of warfare, so it will probably be featured. It’s probably inevitable, now that the technology has made it practical.

  What are the advantages of biowar? What might wargaming generals like about it?

  • First, it doesn’t destroy materiel. That’s a huge plus. After all, what’s the point of conquering a country if all you have to show for it is a smoking radioactive ruin? That’s the major advantage of the neutron bomb, of course; it kills the people but limits damage to buildings. Bioweapons essentially make atomic weapons obsolescent.

  • Second, bioweapons can be structured to attack only certain racial groups. That’s potentially either a big advantage or disadvantage to China. The diverse population of the US could also be either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on who strikes first. But, on the bright side, you can perhaps immunize your own population, or at least the military and “essential” workers, to control the damage.

  • Third, bioweapons are very cheap and easy to fabricate. Anyone with access to a good high school chemistry lab is in business. There’s no need for expensive and tricky U-235 or, for that matter, any of the junk toys the Pentagon spends hundreds of billions on.

  • Fourth, bioweapons don’t need sophisticated delivery systems; again, no need for B-2s, B-52s, cruise missiles, ICBMs, or any of that. A sick tourist or two, or a few packages sent in the mail, can get the job done.

  • Fifth, bioweapons, whether they’re viruses or bacteria, not only offer plausible deniability but the potential to blame a third party. You can launch an attack, and nobody can really be sure who did it. Or even that an attack is, in fact, being launched.

  There’s every advantage to biological warfare from an aggressor’s point of view. And, the aggressor doesn’t even have to be a nation-state, which is, of course, another excuse for governments to further clamp down on their populations, as COVID has shown. Guns are good self-defense weapons, and governments are trying to eliminate them; basement biowar labs are strictly offensive. Imagine the bureaucratic enforcement possibilities.

  International Man: In addition, Deagel included a lengthy disclaimer, which states:

  “After COVID, we can draw two major conclusions:

  1. The Western world success model has been built over societies with no resilience that can barely withstand any hardship, even a low-intensity one. It was assumed, but we got the full confirmation beyond any doubt.

  2. The COVID crisis will be used to extend the life of this dying economic system through the so-called Great Reset.”

  Doug, you’ve written extensively about the economic, political, cultural, and social decline in the US—long before it became a popular topic of discussion.

  Has anything changed in your perspective on the future of the US?

  Doug Casey: No. I’m afraid the election of actual Bolsheviks in 2020—and I don’t use that term lightly—has sealed its fate. Not to mention that the nomenklatura in most major cities and states are cut from the same cloth.

  In point of fact, the US is on such a self-destructive path that the Chinese don’t have to do anything in order to win. All they need to do is lay back and be quiet. The West is destroying itself.

  As for this COVID crisis, it impresses me as 80% hysteria, a bad flu season that has been blown out of proportion. It’s well known (insofar as anything can be known, considering the abysmal quality of reporting and the extreme politicization of the issue) that COVID mainly affects the elderly, the sick, and the obese. The average age of descendants is 80; however, the ages of those who die are rarely mentioned. The media reports the number of COVID cases constantly, but that’s as meaningless as counting who gets a common cold. Anyway, aren’t all those who get infected become immune? A virus—like the Hong Kong flu, the Asian flu, the Bird flu, and the Swine flu—goes viral, then goes away. Even the Spanish flu, which was actually serious, came and went without destroying the economy. Nonetheless, the public has been so terrorized that they’re panicking to take potentially dangerous experimental injections. Even though there are numerous cheap drugs that can mitigate the virus after diagnosis, they’re never prescribed. The opinions of physicians and world-class scientists who differ with Fauci—an overpaid lifelong government employee—are actively suppressed. However, this is a whole different subject.

  There is one thing I question about Deagel’s statement that you quoted: “The COVID crisis will be used to extend the life of this dying economic system through something called the Great Reset.” That’s a very odd statement because the crisis isn’t extending the life of the dying economic system. It’s putting the final nail in its coffin. It would be nice to hear how they figure that out, as COVID seems to be medically vastly overblown. The Great Reset has nothing to do with preserving the current economic system; it’s about formalizing a new one.

  Here’s a wild and crazy thought. What if the real problem isn’t so much the COVID virus itself.

  What if the real problem is the new vaccines. What if, after X number of months or years, they turn out to have very deadly effects? There’s a reason new drugs are tested over a period of years, which is far from the case here. Ted Turner, Bill Gates, and numerous others who think they’re “elite” have long said that the earth’s population ought to be reduced radically, perhaps by 80%. Is it too shocking to believe that some group would take advantage of this to cull the human population? It’s something that would be hard to believe even in a science fiction novel. But it now appears to be technically feasible. History is replete—overrun, actually—with psychos who try to destroy everybody once they get in power.

  In point of fact, science fiction is a much better predictor of the future than any think tank has ever been. So maybe there’s a Dr. Evil at large, anxious to eliminate deplorables and other undesirables. If he exists, I doubt today’s woke transgender version of James Bond can counter him. Who knows where this is going? But it’s the wrong direction, and the trend is still accelerating.

  International Man: The disclaimer in the Deagel report goes on to say,

  “The collapse of the Western financial system – and ultimately the Western civilization – has been the major driver in the forecast along with a confluence of crisis with a devastating outcome. As COVID has proven Western societies embracing multiculturalism and extreme liberalism are unable to deal with any real hardship.”

  Is the Western civilization seeing a confluence of crises coming together in a perfect storm?

  Doug Casey: That’s a very good point. It seems like everything is starting to happen at once and at a hyperbolically accelerating rate. While the worlds of science and technology are approaching Ray Kurzweil’s utopian Singularity, the worlds of politics and sociology are approaching a dystopian anti-Singularity.

  Let’s briefly look at the financial, economic, social, and political aspects of the potential collapse.

  We’re absolutely en route to a gigantic financial crisis, featuring the destruction of the US dollar. And with it, the savings of a large percentage of the planet’s people will be impoverished because their savings are in dollars. Much of the value people thought they had in stocks, bonds, real estate, pensions, and insurance could disappear.

  That’s bad enough, but what’s worse are the economic consequences. We’re likely to see wholesale unemployment, a collapse in business activity, and corporate bankruptcies, even while taxes go up radically. I’m increasingly of the opinion there will be a crack-up boom along the way; however, we might be entering that as we speak.

  What’s even worse are the social ramifications, such as critical race theory, which emphasizes the differences between race groups, creating actual race hatred. One consequence of the financial and economic upsets will be riots like those of 2020. The mass migration of people from alien cultures who don’t share Western values into the US and Europe is destabilizing. The US has, in fact, become a multicultural domestic empire.

  The political consequences are evident. The Biden people in Washington, D.C. are exactly the same personality types who took over Russia in 1917 or France in 1789. They aren’t going to let go of the apparatus of power now that they’ve got it. They will find a way to re-install themselves in 2024.

  What about the military? The US spends something like $1 trillion on defense annually, but nobody knows for certain. These budgets are complicated; military spending is hidden here, there, and everywhere. It doesn’t defend the United States; it just antagonizes foreigners. It’s also interesting that the Department of Defense is now trying to root out conservative political views from the rank-and-file soldiers.

  But let’s get back to what could collapse the populations of North America and Europe by over 50%. Perhaps Deagel is anticipating a serious collapse of complex society because food won’t be grown, processed, and sent to cities. Maybe COVID is seen as just a catalyst. Most people in today’s highly urbanized world, from cubicle dwellers to ghetto rats, are incapable of surviving for more than a week if supply chains break.

  International Man: The report also discusses a prediction regarding a potential war that involves Russia and China against the US.

  What are your thoughts on this? Is it likely that we’ll see a conflict of this kind during the 2020s?

  Doug Casey: As I said earlier, a war, at least with China, seems inevitable. It will likely be fomented by the US because, as the economy goes bad, governments always look for somebody else, an outsider, to blame.

  At this point—and I recognize this will outrage jingoists and nationalists—the US government is actually the most dangerous force on the face of the planet. Much more dangerous than the Chinese, the Russians, or anybody else. Why? The US government is unique in actively and aggressively looking for trouble absolutely everywhere, sticking its nose into everything. Only the US has troops in a hundred other countries and is fighting hot wars in several more.

  It’s said, for instance, that the Russians are aggressors because they may retake the Crimea and the Donbas region. Most Americans, who can’t even find these places on the map, are unaware that Crimea had been part of Russia since it was taken from the Ottomans in the 18th century and is mostly populated by ethnic Russians. Nikita Kruschev arbitrarily transferred it from the Russian SSR to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954 for personal political reasons shortly after Stalin’s death. The current problem started only after the US fomented a coup d’etat, a so-called color revolution, in Ukraine in 2014. It then made sense for Putin to retake it, much like the US tried to overthrow Castro after he ousted Batista.

  In any event, it’s a problem between Russia and Ukraine and none of our business. The Biden regime butting in is somewhat analogous to Russia threatening war over the US owning Puerto Rico. We don’t need a serious war with Russia over nothing.

  Taiwan is similar. Historically, it’s just a secessionist Chinese province—or not. Perhaps it’s a government in exile. But no matter; these are meaningless legalisms. Frankly, I’m on the side of Taiwan, but it’s none of our business whether they go to war with each other. US government intervention could easily start a conflict with China. It might end with the sinking of a couple of US carrier groups, or it might evolve into World War 3.

  And, of course, we’re still in Afghanistan, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Plus Africa and God knows where else. The US is unnecessarily and stupidly whacking hornet’s nests everywhere in the world, bankrupting itself and making enemies, setting the stage for something really significant.

  *  *  *

  The 2020s will likely to be an increasingly volatile time. More governments are putting their money printing on overdrive. Negative interests are becoming the rule instead of the exception to it. One thing is for sure, there will be a great deal of change taking place in the years ahead. That’s precisely why legendary speculator Doug Casey and his team released an urgent new report titled Doug Casey’s Top 7 Predictions for the Raging 2020s.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 21:40

• Argentine Soccer Legends File Suit To Avoid Country's New One-Time Wealth Tax
  Argentine Soccer Legends File Suit To Avoid Country’s New One-Time Wealth Tax

  The family of late soccer icon Diego Maradona has filed a court injunction to try and stop from paying a new wealth tax in Argentina.

  Maradona passed away last year and his heirs filed a formal complaint last week in a national appellate country to try and prevent having to comply with the tax levy.  

  Argentine soccer legend Carlos Tevez also filed a similar injunction last week. His lawyer, Juan Carlos Nicolini, told Bloomberg that they were focusing on whether or not the levy is constitutional.

  The two soccer legends are part of a “more than 100 presentations” to try and seek exemption from the tax after Argentina’s government passed the one time levy that affects about 13,000 people. 

  

  The tax is geared toward those with more than US $2.2 million in assets and the deadline to have paid the levy was last Friday.

  Ironically, Maradona had expressed support for the tax before his death, writing on his Instagram last year that “in this moment of crisis, help is needed from those of us who have most.”

  Lawmakers were hopeful the tax would raise about US $3.2 billion, but data shows that authorities had only received about 2% of that amount as of March. Instead, “dozens” of Argentines are challenging the tax in court. 

  And it seems like once again, overtaxation will create a burden (in this case, in Argentina’s judicial system and in administrative excess) where it sought to solve problems. Maybe President Biden – and, well, just about every single politician in New York and California – could learn from this example?

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 21:20

• Manhattan To Stop Prosecuting Prostitution
  Manhattan To Stop Prosecuting Prostitution

  Wealthy financiers planning on fleeing New York City following the state’s latest tax hikes which are saddling the state’s richest with the highest tax rates in the country, have have just been given a reason to stay.

  The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that it will no longer prosecute prostitution and unlicensed “happy ending” massages, a major step toward decriminalizing prostitution in the US. The NY DA’s office is one of the most high-profile law enforcement organizations in the country, and it’s currently running an investigation into President Trump’s pre-political business life and trawling for evidence of crime.

  

  DA Cyrus Vance Jr., who famously accepted campaign donations from Harvey Weinstein before quashing a pre-#MeToo investigation into the movie mogul’s abuse of women, asked a judge Wednesday morning to dismiss 914 open cases involving prostitution, along with 5,080 cases in which the charge was loitering for the purposes of prostitution.

  LGBTQ activists have long called for the removal of the “loitering for the purposes of prostitution,” branding it the “walking while trans” law an claiming it led to the targeting of trans individuals by the police.

  Cracking down hard on prostitution was a major component of NYC’s campaign to clean up Times Square and other tourist hot spots during the late 1980s and 1990s. Later, Mayor Rudy Giuliani made it a key part of his “broken windows” strategy for fighting crime.

  The decision to effectively decriminalize prostitution – a “harm reduction” strategy pressed by far-left progressive groups – marks a major shift in the city’s law enforcement priorities.

  “Over the last decade, we’ve learned from those with lived experience and from our own experience on the ground: Criminally prosecuting prostitution does not make us safer, and too often, achieves the opposite result by further marginalizing vulnerable New Yorkers,” Vance said in a statement.

  To be sure, the DA’s office clarified that it would still prosecute Johns and pimps, along with sex traffickers. But it appears those efforts will focus on prosecuting traffickers, especially those who deal in underage victims.

  Manhattan isn’t the first US city to give decrim a shot. Manhattan will join Baltimore, Philadelphia and other jurisdictions in NYC that have declined to prosecute sex workers. Brooklyn doesn’t prosecute people arrested for prostitution but instead refers them to social services before they are compelled to appear in court — unless the district attorney’s office there is unable to reach them. The Brooklyn district attorney, Eric Gonzalez, in January moved to dismiss hundreds of open cases related to prostitution and loitering, and said that he would eventually ask that more than 1,000 be dismissed. The Queens district attorney, Melinda Katz, followed with a similar mass-dismissal in March.

  The news is likely to jumpstart the high-end escort business in the city, which has been struggling since the federal takedown of Backpage.com, which was seen as the premier site for prostitutes to seek clients online – though the Trump Administration targeted it after determining it was used by traffickers to pimp out underage girls.

  To sum up, while Florida has no state income tax, New York will soon have hookers and weed, and God only knows what’s next (mushrooms and blow, perhaps?) If nothing else, at least this might give the NYPD more resources to focus on a more pressing issue: the rise in violent crime over the past year.

  All this might convince hard-working bankers to spend more time in the Big Apple. After all, nobody wants to deal with the public embarrassment suffered by Patriots owner Robert Kraft when police raided his favorite South Florida rub n’ tug.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 21:00

• Daily Mail Sues Google Over Downranked Search Results
  Daily Mail Sues Google Over Downranked Search Results

  The owner of the Daily Mail newspaper and MailOnline website has filed a lawsuit against Google, which they accuse of having too much control over online advertising, and de-ranking Daily Mail articles in google search results, according to the BBC.

  

  The lawsuit claims that Google “punishes” publishers who don’t sell enough advertising space in its marketplace.

  Google has called the claims “meritless.”

  Associated Newspapers’ concerns stem from its assessment that its coverage of the Royal Family in 2021 has been downplayed in search results.

  For example, it claims that British users searching for broadcaster Piers Morgan’s comments on the Duchess of Sussex following an interview with Oprah Winfrey were more likely to see articles about Morgan produced by smaller, regional outlets.

  That is despite the Daily Mail writing multiple stories a day about his comments around that time and employing him as a columnist. –BBC

  [Try searching for any Zero Hedge articles about Wuhan labs or vaccine hesitancy]

  According to Daily Mail editor emeritus Peter Wright, Google’s tactics are “anti-competitive,” and that the Mail‘s search results were downranked after using online advertising techniques “which were allowing us to divert advertising traffic away from Google to other ad exchanges, which paid better prices – and this was their punishment.”

  “We think it’s time to call this company out,” he added.

  The Daily Mail online has over 75 million monthly unique visitors in the US alone, according to the lawsuit which was filed in a New York courtroom on Tuesday.

  According to Google, the lawsuit is without merit.

  “The Daily Mail’s claims are completely inaccurate,” said a Google spokeswoman. “The use of our ad tech tools has no bearing on how a publisher’s website ranks in Google search.”

  “More generally, we compete in a crowded and competitive ad tech space where publishers have and exercise multiple options. The Daily Mail itself authorises dozens of ad tech companies to sell and manage their ad space, including Amazon, Verizon and more. We will defend ourselves against these meritless claims,” she added.

  Google also faces an antitrust lawsuit from the DOJ and several states’ attorneys general.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 20:40

• The Price Of Plywood Is Absolutely Ridiculous; But It's Also A Sign Of The Times…
  The Price Of Plywood Is Absolutely Ridiculous; But It’s Also A Sign Of The Times…

  Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

  Would you pay $100 for a sheet of plywood?  I know that sounds absolutely crazy, but we are almost there.  The price of plywood has been soaring into the stratosphere in recent weeks, and analysts are telling us that it will remain high for the foreseeable future.  Memes about plywood have started to pop up all over social media, but this is no joking matter.  These extraordinarily high prices are causing a lot of pain in the homebuilding industry, and many Americans have had to postpone construction plans indefinitely.  Unfortunately, our national leaders continue to flood the system with even more new money, and that is going to cause even more extreme inflation in the months and years to come.

  

  Prior to the pandemic, any discussions about plywood on social media were likely to be painfully boring, but now everything has changed.  Thanks to skyrocketing prices, plywood has suddenly become a very hot topic, and one post on Facebook that circulated quite widely ended up getting national attention…

  “Food for thought — 3/4″ Plywood Standard:

  March 2020 – $37.98 /sheet

  February 2021 – $72.49 /sheet

  March 2021 – $83.49 /sheet

  April 2021 – $95.98 /sheet

  That is 252% price increase on one of the most used piece of common lumber for construction.”

  Not surprisingly, this post got flagged on Facebook for being “misinformation”.

  But then PolitiFact looked into this, and they confirmed that the price of plywood really has risen to such levels…

  Shawn Church, editor of Random Lengths, which publishes price data on the wood products industry, gave us figures for 23/32-inch plywood produced in the Pacific Northwest and the South.

  The price in the Northwest for Fir 23/32-inch sheathing for the first week of April was $1,610 per thousand square feet, up 287% from $560 a year earlier.

  In the South, the price of that panel was $1,500 per thousand square feet, up 230% from $455 one year ago.

  Personally, I could never see myself shelling out $100 for one piece of plywood, because that just seems nuts.

  But our world has become a much different place over the past year.  The system has been absolutely flooded with new money, and there is no going back to the way that things once were.

  Let me give you another example of the sort of extreme inflation that we have been witnessing.  According to the Guardian, an old pair of Kanye West’s Air Yeezy sneakers that are being auctioned off have been valued at one million dollars…

  Kanye West’s Air Yeezy sneakers are being auctioned for $1m, making them Sotheby’s most expensive shoe listing ever. They are expected to break the record set by a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s worn by Michael Jordan, which sold for $615,000 last year.

  The black, size 12 Nike Air Yeezy 1 prototypes, designed by West and Nike’s Mark Smith in 2007, were groundbreaking. Aesthetically they altered the shape and form of sneakers in the decade that followed.

  Who in the world would be dumb enough to pay a million dollars for a pair of old sneakers?

  That is literally insane.

  Speaking of insane, Dogecoin now has a total market value of approximately 50 billion dollars…

  Dogecoin, which is pronounced dohj-coin, has already leaped to roughly 39 cents, up more than 8,000% for 2021 so far. That towers over the roughly 11% return for the U.S. stock market, which itself is getting criticism for rising too high. Collectively, dogecoins have a total market value of roughly $50 billion, according to CoinDesk. That puts it on par with Dow Inc. or Kimberly-Clark, which makes Kleenex and Huggies.

  Are you kidding me?

  Dogecoin doesn’t even pretend to be a serious cryptocurrency.  It was started as a total joke, and nobody ever thought that it would have any real value.

  But thanks to Elon Musk and other proponents, Dogecoin really has gone to the moon.

  In the end, I believe that Dogecoin will be the “Pets.com” of this financial bubble, but for the moment Dogecoin investors are loving life.

  Of course it won’t last, and those that are comparing it to “tulip mania” are right on target…

  “This is like a cross between a pyramid scheme and tulip mania,” one user on Reddit, named hazardousmeme, said in a discussion about Dogecoin after another user asked if it’s a safe investment. “Safe is the absolute last thing that this is.”

  “Let’s hope this goes up!” another Reddit user, Enough-Construction5, wrote after saying they bought $500 worth of Dogecoin. “Better than putting it into a slot machine!”

  No, it is exactly like putting it into a slot machine.

  Maybe social media hype can drive Dogecoin even higher, but eventually it is going to zero.

  So I hope that the guy that is currently holding close to 15 billion dollars worth of Dogecoin is able to sell while he still can…

  There is little we can add here that David Einhorn didn’t already say yesterday, but it’s probably worth noting for those keeping track of where in the bubble we are now, that in the magical world of dogecoin – a cryptocurrency that was specifically created as a joke spoof on the crypto concept and which has been promoted aggressive by such luminaries as Elon Musk – there is now a holder residing at address “DH5yaieqoZN36fDVciNyRueRGvGLR3mr7L” who owns 36,711,935,369.11 dogecoins or whatever the plural is, and whose holdings – which started accumulating back in Febriary 2019 – after the latest surge in dogegoin which has sent the joke crypto up 150% in the past 24 hours and 5x in the past week…

  … are worth just under $15 billion.

  In the old days, investing was all about fundamentals, and rational investors were often greatly rewarded.

  But now the “markets” are all about meme stocks, crypto speculation and following whatever moves the Federal Reserve is making.

  We are in the financial bubble to end all financial bubbles, and the eventual implosion of this epic bubble is going to be spectacular.

  But in the current environment, Dogecoin investors are laughing all the way to the bank, and a single deli in rural New Jersey can have a value of close to 100 million dollars.

  The markets are completely broken, and the current insanity on Wall Street will not last for much longer.

  On the other hand, the rampant inflation that we are witnessing is here to stay, and it is going to be a major issue in our society from this point forward.

  *  *  *

  Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 20:20

• New International Travel Advisory Puts Airlines' Hopes For Summer Rebound At Risk
  New International Travel Advisory Puts Airlines’ Hopes For Summer Rebound At Risk

  Strong retail sales data from March helped underscore a sense of surging consumer demand in the US, driven in no small part by stimulus and enhanced benefits for the unemployed and under-employed, coupled with loans to businesses that have filtered through to their vendors and employees. With all this money sloshing around, it’s hardly surprising that Americans have shown their eagerness to travel after more than a year of being cooped up at home, as travel rates spiked during the Spring Break travel season.

  But as air traffic rates move lower again off their recent peak, the State Department created more anxiety for airlines and investors by announcing another wave of COVID inspired travel advisories that will encourage Americans to avoid travel to 80% of the world.

  

  With the US maintaining restrictions on cruises, domestic air traffic, along with travel to a handful of nearby foreign destinations like Mexico, is pretty much the only game in town for airlines. American Airlines announced yesterday that they’re bringing all pilots back to full time duty and even – for the first time since the pandemic – hiring new pilots for the first time.

  BREAKING: American Airlines is bringing ALL PILOTS back on the job and HIRING NEW PILOTS for the first time since the start of the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/nu4suvl3Y6

  — Pete Muntean (@petemuntean) April 20, 2021

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

  But as Bloomberg pointed out, the rebound could lead to pitfalls: while discounters like Spirit Airlines and Frontier stand to benefit, those gains could come at the expense of big carriers who are more reliant on high-margin international flights.

  “Intrinsically, domestic flying does not make a profit,” said John Grant, chief analyst at OAG. “It is a lot more marginal than international flying where you’ve got lots of business travelers in business class paying expensive fares.”

  […]

  “If you’re a US airline, you’ve been able to recover some of that lost international demand by people being attracted to go to the southern states, to points like Florida, or Arizona or if they could do California,” OAG’s Grant said. While there are positive signs, “it still requires access to major international markets to solidify the recovery we’ve seen today.”

  With travel rates already declining in the US following the spring break and Easter travel season…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  …industry analysts are now looking toward the summer to see whether the rebound in travel will be enough to justify airlines’ current lofty (relative to history) valuations

  Even as the airlines tout their expanded flight schedules, investors are growing uneasy about the recovery’s strength. A Standard & Poor’s index of the five biggest US carriers is in the midst of a 10-day losing streak, the longest on record going back to 1989.

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  And as traffic in states with big domestic hubs (like Texas, Florida, Illinois and Georgia) declines as airlines miss out on the high-paying first-class international travelers headed to London or Tokyo – US airlines are left to focus on how to entice more budget-conscious leisure travelers.

  Other international markets like India and Brazil remain out of reach and raging infections.

  Some major airlines are getting creative. For example, in an attempt to re-energize its international business, United is trying to tap Americans’ pent-up wanderlust with new seasonal flights to Iceland, Greece and Croatia. American, which is cutting back flights to South America, has been bolstering the domestic schedule – for example, with service to Orlando, Florida, from eight US cities this summer.

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  US airlines aren’t the only ones suffering from the drop in international travel. European tourism hotspots like Spain and Greece are bracing for yet another slow summer season, and some Spanish towns are rebelling against restrictive outdoor mask mandates that might ward off paying customers.

  Airlines are also beefing up another popular domestic route from New York to Miami and Ft Lauderdale. That will come in handy as rising taxes in New York and New Jersey – along with the sunny weather and alluring nightlife – drive more hedge funders and other financial industry high rollers to book a flight down south.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 20:00

• In First Since 2016, Japanese Investors Panic After Stocks Tumble… And BOJ Refuses To Buy ETFs
  In First Since 2016, Japanese Investors Panic After Stocks Tumble… And BOJ Refuses To Buy ETFs

  Something happened on Tuesday that hasn’t happened since 2016: Japan’s Topix index (which is widely viewed as more representative of Japanese equities than the Nikkei) tumbled by 1.2% in the morning session…. and the BOJ did not intervene.

  Why is this notable? Because – in a world where everyone is now completely used to Plunge Protection Teams and central bank bailouts as if it is a perfectly expected event –  this was the first time since at least 2016 that the Bank of Japan did not make an ETF purchase after the Topix fell more than 1% in the morning session.

  

  To be sure, the BOJ’s lack of intervention was to be expected: as a reminder, the central bank tweaked its ETF purchase program at the March meeting, with changes that came into effect in April. As part of its policy review, the BOJ on March 19 said it would buy ETFs as needed, scrapping the previously 6T yen annual target, but keeping its 12T yen upper limit on purchases

  Previously, the largest drop that has not led to the BOJ buying was the 0.89% full-day decline on Feb. 24; In other words, any time the Topix would drop by 1% or more, the BOJ would step in or else there would be a market crash. Furthermore, before this year, the BOJ typically bought if the Topix fell more than 0.5% in the morning session.

  But not this time.

  Which is why on Wednesday stocks, which were already sliding amid fears of fresh Japanese lockdowns due to new covid cases, there was a 2% puke in the market as a frentic Mrs Watanabe panicked that the BOJ had finally forsaken her and everyone else.

  However, realizing that two days in a row without ETF purchases would likely lead to a market crash, on Wednesday things got back to normal, with the BOJ buying 70.1BN yen of ETFs, the first purchase since March following the Topix index’s more than 2% decline in the morning session today.

  

  And so, with the BOJ “blinking” and indicating that it can’t possibly step away from plunge protecting for any extended period of time, expect Japanese stocks to soar when they reopen on Thursday, in the process assuring that when one day the BOJ’s interventions no longer work, the crash will be one from which nobody will ever recover.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 19:40

• Credit Suisse's Archegos Exposure Was Reportedly Over $20 Billion
  Credit Suisse’s Archegos Exposure Was Reportedly Over $20 Billion

  Just minutes after the SEC is reportedly “exploring how to increase transparency for the types of derivative bets that sank Archegos,” The Wall Street Journal reports that Credit Suisse Group AG had somehow allowed a massive exposure to investments related to Archegos Capital Management or more than $20 billion.

  While the bank has said that its losses on the positions amounted to $4.7 billion, WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter, reports that Archegos’ bets on a collection of stocks swelled in the lead-up to its March collapse, but parts of the investment bank hadn’t fully implemented systems to keep pace with Archegos’s fast growth.

  Some inside the bank who were familiar with Archegos’s exposure had thought it was a fraction of the roughly $20 billion figure, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

  

  As the ‘perp walk’ of various executives and risk managers at the historic Swiss bank grows longer, we suspect this is not the last we will hear, as Credit Suisse has said its dealings with both Archegos and Greensill need “substantial further review and scrutiny.”

  Finally, we note none of this is really surprising given that, as we just detailed, Bloomberg on Wednesday published an anonymously sourced story laying the blame for the Archegos blowup at the feet of Parshu Shah.

  Reportedly, thanks to a gutting of the compliance function at the bank, Shah, who served as the salesman in charge of nurturing the bank’s relationship with Archegos….had also been head of risk at the bank’s prime-services business.

  So, no wonder he never got the tap on the shoulder…

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 19:30

• Indian Hospitals Running Out Of Oxygen As Daily COVID Deaths Top 2,000 For 1st Time
  Indian Hospitals Running Out Of Oxygen As Daily COVID Deaths Top 2,000 For 1st Time

  Asia is on track to report the most new COVID cases in April (adjusted for population) than any other continent as India’s “second wave” of COVID-19 is proving even more deadly than its first.

  COVID-19 cases are surging around the world, but already, India’s “second wave” of COVID-19 is proving even more deadly than its first. After days of reporting record daily tallies, India reported more than 2,000 COVID deaths in a single day, the health ministry said Wednesday. Coronavirus infections also rose by a record, increasing by 295,041 over the last 24 hours, the data showed. Total deaths reached 182,553, which, to be sure, is merely a fraction of the US’s 568,483 deaths (per Johns Hopkins data). Though experts suspect that India’s numbers are skewed by pervasive undercounting of deaths (while the US and other western countries are suspected of over-counting).

  

  India’s buckling health-care system is badly in need of government relief, and so the Indian government is planning to boost supplies of medical oxygen in coming days, according to the country’s Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan. The government is also reportedly considering applications for oxygen imports from overseas suppliers. The decision follows the deaths of nearly 2 dozen patients in a hospital in Maharashtra, one of the most hard-hit areas of the country, which was caused by a leak in an oxygen tank, the Associated Press reported.

  Meanwhile, hospitals in Delhi, the Indian capital, said on Tuesday that they had enough oxygen left for just another eight to 24 hours, while some private clinics had enough for only four or five.

  CNN reported that India’s health-care system was “close to collapse”.

  “The volume is humongous,” said Jalil Parkar, a senior pulmonary consultant at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, which has had to convert its lobby into an additional Covid ward. “It’s just like a tsunami.”

  Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on Tuesday, acknowledging the country’s “very big battle” against Covid-19. He however appealed to states to “use a lockdown as their last option,” even as the capital New Delhi entered its first full day of a week-long lockdown, Jessie Yung and Vedika Sud report.

  On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal warned that failing to halt movement in the city could lead to “tragedy.” When India went into lockdown last March, the mass exodus of migrant workers from the cities became one of the most enduring images of the country’s battle against the virus — and is believed to have helped to spread Covid-19 nationwide.

  What epidemiologists are describing as India’s “second wave” is hitting the country like a “tsunami’ as hospitals, graveyards and morgues all run out of space for the sick and the dead.

  “Things are out of control,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy in New Delhi. “There’s no oxygen. A hospital bed is hard to find. It’s impossible to get a test. You have to wait over a week. And pretty much every system that could break down in the health care system has broken down,” he said.

  Despite all of this, Indian PM Narendra Modi urged local officials to impose new lockdowns only as a last resort during a national televised address yesterday.

  On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal warned that failing to halt movement in the city could lead to “tragedy.”

  “Our healthcare system has reached its limit. It is now in a state of distress. It has not collapsed yet but it is in distress,” Kejriwal said. “Every healthcare system has its limits. No system can accommodate unlimited patients.”

  But experts fear it’s too little, too late, as positive patients compete for limited resources and mass gatherings threaten to spread the virus even further. Some families are turning to social media where they’re pleading with the public for donations or supplies – anything that might help secure treatment for an afflicted friend or family member.

  As demand for medications and vaccines surges, the Indian government has imposed an export ban. On Wednesday, health officials said it would be at least two months before exports of vaccines would be allowed to move forward, even as India’s Serum Institute moves to raise output to 100M doses of the AstraZeneca by July.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 19:20

• US Strategic Command Issues Random Warning Over Nuclear Strike
  US Strategic Command Issues Random Warning Over Nuclear Strike

  The US Strategic Command on Tuesday casually tweeted about US adversaries conducting a nuclear strike as their ‘least bad option.’

  

  “The spectrum of conflict today is neither linear nor predictable,” tweeted US STRATCOM, adding “We must account for the possibility of conflict leading to conditions which could very rapidly drive an adversary to consider nuclear use as their least bad option.“

  #USSTRATCOM Posture Statement Preview: The spectrum of conflict today is neither linear nor predictable. We must account for the possibility of conflict leading to conditions which could very rapidly drive an adversary to consider nuclear use as their least bad option. pic.twitter.com/4Oe7xkl05L

  — US Strategic Command (@US_Stratcom) April 20, 2021

  The ominous tweet from America’s top strategic defense and global strike command comes on the same day as STRATCOM commander Adm. Charles Richard warned the Senate Armed Services Committee that China’s nuclear capabilities are increasing rapidly, and they may be – for the first time – primed for use.

  

  “I can’t get through a week right now, without finding out something we didn’t know about China,” Richard told Senators alongside Army Gen. James Dickinson – head of US Space Command who also said that China was among his top military concerns as they advance in space-based military technology, according to Stars & Stripes.

  STRATCOM’s tweet sparked panicked response from people wondering why the Biden administration would suddenly tweet about nuclear war as part of the agency’s annual Posture Statement – designed to inform Congress about the current status of affairs within the agency and around the world, according to Newsweek.

  “I feel like this isn’t something to spring on us in a tweet,” one woman replied.

  “What’s a worse option than nuclear?” another person asked.

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

  In what reality is nuclear the least bad option? You mean there is something worse than that? pic.twitter.com/Y4T6GFkkC7

  — Snow Hawk (@HaakinSnow) April 20, 2021

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

  pic.twitter.com/u8HKCU4mxY

  — CALL UP JARRED KELENIC WORKING GROUP. (@marxmuncy) April 20, 2021

  That’s a pretty ominous statement… pic.twitter.com/YYZjwVi8M4

  — Christopher Jones (@Jones3d) April 20, 2021

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

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 19:12

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Family Of Italian Woman Whose Death Linked To AstraZeneca Jab Launches Legal Action
  Family Of Italian Woman Whose Death Linked To AstraZeneca Jab Launches Legal Action

  While American lawmakers have taken steps to shield US pharma companies from any legal blowback caused by COVID vaccines, drugmakers in Europe haven’t been so lucky. And after widespread skepticism of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, what was supposed to be the workhorse of the global immunization rollout before reports of rare and deadly blood clots inspired regulators around the comment to either halt the jab, or impose limits on its use.

  And now, all these issues will be dredged up again as AstraZeneca is hit by lawsuits filed by the families of those who died from rare blood clots potentially linkted to the vaccine. In what appears to be a first, Sky News reported Monday that the family of an Italian woman who died from a case of vaccine-linked clots are suing to officially establish whether the jab was at fault in her death.

  

  Augusta Turiaco

  The case involves 55-year-old Augusta Turiaco from Messina, Sicily, who received her COVID jab on March 11, but started experiencing severe symptoms a few days later.

  Despite feeling unwell afterwards, Turiaco returned to work, posting two days later to reassure worried friends saying: “Andra tutto bene” – or “everything will be alright” in Italian.

  She fell into a coma on March 28 March and died on March 30 March, 19 days after having the AstraZeneca injection. Her conditions also found in others who died after having the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

  Here’s more from Sky News:

  Her brother Nunzio Turiaco told Sky News: “For us it was a bolt from the blue that such a clinical picture occurred.

  “My sister was in excellent health, she did not take drugs because she did not have diseases such as hypertension or diabetes.”

  Medical records seen by Sky News showed blood clots had formed in Ms Turiaco’s body, including in her brain.

  Her platelet levels had fallen.

  According to Sky, the family’s suit is one of several legal actions in Europe directed at AstraZeneca over the clotting issue.

  The legal proceedings launched by the family are just one of a number of cases across Europe being mounted against AstraZeneca.

  The family’s lawyer, Daniela Agnello, told Sky News: “The excellent state of health of Ms Turiaco, the absence of previous pathologies, the very short period of time between the administration of the vaccine, the appearance of the first illnesses and the very serious clinical picture and then death.

  Messy clinical trial data, manufacturing issues and – of course – the rare blood clots that have resulted in more than a dozen deaths have all damaged the AstraZeneca jab’s reputation, experts say.

  Despite this, both the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization consistently stressed that the vaccine’s benefits far outweigh the risk of any side effects and advised against any restrictions to its use. Still, national health authorities have moved ahead with their own risk and benefit assessments, which, remarkably, have drawn dissimilar conclusions – ranging from limiting the vaccine’s use in different age groups to suspending its usage and even ditching it entirely.

  Whether the vaccine will ever be approved for use in the US remains unclear; although AstraZeneca has said it has applied for review by regulators in the US, reports cited uneasiness with the vaccine’s safety record, which include a halt to a Phase 3 trial in the US for a month last fall.

  ,>

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 02:45

• Still Believe Digital Vaccine Passports Are Something Made Up By Conspiracy Theorists?
  Still Believe Digital Vaccine Passports Are Something Made Up By Conspiracy Theorists?

  Authored by Robert Wheeler via The Organic Prepper blog,

  In my past articles I wrote about Digital Vaccine Passport pilot programs in New York, global announcements and along the same lines, health passports and vaccine passport apps in which a traveler (or event goer, employee, or shopper) uploads their COVID-19 test results or vaccination status. 

  Unless the EU Parliament suddenly became enamored with conspiracy theorists, that is exactly what is going to happen.

  

  The EU announces the Digital Vaccine Passport proposal

  In March, the European Commission opened a proposal to create a “Digital Green Certificate” to allow travel inside the EU during the “pandemic.”

  This Digital Green Certificate would serve as a documentation that a person has been vaccinated for COVID, received a negative test for COVID, or has recovered from it. It will include a QR Code to ensure the authenticity and security of the certificate and will be made free of charge in paper or digital form.

  The Digital Green Certificate will have three certificates included within it including:

  • Vaccination certificates, stating brand of the vaccine used, data and place of inoculation and number of doses administered.

  • Negative test certificates (either a NAAT/RT-PCR test or a rapid antigen test). Self-tests will be excluded for the time being.

  • Medical certificates for people who have recovered from COVID-19 in the last 180 days.

  According to Euro News,

  “Where member states accept proof of vaccination to waive certain public health restrictions such as testing or quarantine, they would be required to accept, under the same conditions, vaccination certificates issued under the Digital Green Certificate system,” the Commission said in a statement.

  …

  The instrument will be valid in all EU countries and will be open for Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway as well as Switzerland. It will be issued to EU citizens and their family members, regardless of their nationality.

  Other countries are following suit in the Digital Vaccine Passport scheme

  But while the EU debates what sort of technology to use and what parameters will be included, various European countries are taking matters into their own hands, choosing instead to create their own versions of a vaccine passport, all varying between each country. For instance, Estonia is planning to launch its own pilot program at the end of April. France is doing the same.

  In addition, the World Health Organization, who recently opposed the creation of a vaccine passport, is now working to do just that. And they are all working with the usual suspects – Google, Apple, Microsoft, IBM and a host of other corporations. What is more likely is that European countries will all implement different versions of the passport and, in the midst of chaos, the EU will have to step and standardize the process. The WHO will likely lead the charge in implementing the process worldwide.

  What does a Vaccine Passport mean for you as an American? A lot, actually

  First, if you plan on travelling to or through Europe anytime soon (and possibly forever) you may have to grab yourself one of these passports. Of course, the EU Commission has stated that the move is temporary . Once the World Health Organization (now owned by Bill Gates) declares an end to the global health emergency the digital passports will be suspended. So they say.

  “The Digital Green Certificate will not be a pre-condition to free movement and it will not discriminate in any way. A common EU-approach will not only help us to gradually restore free movement within the EU and avoid fragmentation,” explained Commissioner Reynders. Except that a “pre-condition to free movement” is the whole point and “discrimination” is at the core of the passport.

  But back to America. There are already plans to introduce a similar scheme in the United States. In fact, “coincidentally” the United States is now discussing a similar vaccine passport. As tens of millions of Americas, having been terrorized for a year, line up like cattle for their “vaccines,” the United States is planning to develop a “vaccine passport” that will allow those vaccinated to travel and “enjoy other aspects of pre-pandemic life.” In other words, freeze the unvaccinated out of normal life altogether.

  Digital Vaccine Passports in the US are up for debate

  A senior advisor to the White House has signaled that the government will be taking a hands off approach to the whole ordeal saying “”it’s not the role of the government to hold that data and to do that”

  So with that in mind, it’s likely that private corporations will be enlisted to act as the new feudal overlords that Carroll Quigley predicted years ago. More than likely, it will be companies like RAND who are involved in developing and implementing the vaccine passport scheme. In fact, RAND analysts are already making public comments on the type of scheme that will be implemented.

  “Inevitably I think there are going to be these passports because people are eager to go back to a sense of normalcy,” said Dr. Mahshid Abir, a senior physician policy researcher for the RAND Corp. “From both the supply and demand side, there is impetus to get tourism and traveling back on track, and go back to some semblance of normalcy.”

  US News and World Report quotes Abir further when it writes “One other potential benefit of requiring a vaccine passport to travel, eat out or attend a rock concert might be that it would pressure some vaccine-hesitant folks into getting their inoculation, Abir said.”

  Some states, however, have refused to participate in this gross violation of civil liberties. Florida and South Carolina have been clear they are opting out. But some Communist controlled states like New York are already implementing the passport scheme. As USA Today wrote,

  Starting Friday, New Yorkers will be able to pull up a code on their cellphone or a printout to prove they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 or recently tested negative for the virus that causes it.

  The first-in-the-nation certification, called the Excelsior Pass, will be useful first at large-scale venues like Madison Square Garden. But next week, the pass will be accepted at dozens of event, arts and entertainment venues statewide. It already lets people increase the size of a wedding party, or other catered event.

  Still don’t believe Digital Vaccine Passports are coming?

  So there you have it. A vaccine passport being rolled out in the EU (“temporarily” of course) and simultaneously in the United States. Still think this is not a coordinated effort to restrict travel and civil liberties? If you do, then I have some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you. But, unless you’ve been vaccinated, you won’t be able to travel to see it.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 02:00

• Ukraine's Zelensky Invites Putin To Meet In War-Torn East: "Million Lives At Stake"
  Ukraine’s Zelensky Invites Putin To Meet In War-Torn East: “Million Lives At Stake”

  Following on the heels of last week’s Joe Biden invitation to Vladimir Putin for a bilateral summit proposed for the summer to tackle a range of still simmering contentious issues, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a surprised invitation late Tuesday for Putin to meet him in the war-torn east of Ukraine. 

  In making the announcement Zelensky told Putin that such a direct high states meeting where the two leaders can talk de-escalation is essential as there are a “million lives at stake” in any potential outbreak of major conflict, according to AFP:

  Zelensky told the Russian leader that he was ready “to invite you to meet anywhere in the Ukrainian Donbass where the war is going on”, adding that “million of lives at stake” in the conflict between government forces and pro-Kremlin separatists in the east of the country.

  

  Days ago Zelensky traveled to an area near Mariupol in Donetsk where he “walked the front line with the troops” amid renewed fighting with Russian-backed separatists in the eastern Donbass region.

  Zelensky’s direct invitation to Putin to meet over the crisis came the same day Russia’s Defense Ministry justified its troop build-up in the South, particularly in Crimea and near the border with Ukraine, by calling it a necessary “deterrent” to NATO’s “destabilization” of the region. 

  Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that “Nato’s attempts to destabilize situations in the Middle East and Transcaucasian region force Russia to take symmetric measures of strategic deterrence,” according to an Interfax citation by Bloomberg. 

  Following Biden’s proposal to meet face-to-face with Putin we and others noted that it appeared Ukraine’s leadership had been effectively sidelined by the two rival superpowers. As one FT piece had underscored, Putin’s troop build-up has succeeded in pressuring the Biden administration for a coveted summit to decide the future of Ukraine. 

  

  “The summit format will also please the Kremlin by effectively cutting Kyiv out of any negotiations, and allow Putin to project the image of two global superpowers deciding the future fate of the conflict,” FT observed.

  Zelensky’s Tuesday appeal to Putin appears an attempt to assert that no major agreements or decisions can be reached without direct negotiations involving Ukraine’s leader. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 01:00

• Hidden Russiagate Docs Expose More Misconduct, Evidentiary Holes: Ex-Investigator
  Hidden Russiagate Docs Expose More Misconduct, Evidentiary Holes: Ex-Investigator

  Authored by Aaron Maté via TheGrayZone.com,

  Kash Patel, a former Russiagate investigator on the House Intel Committee and senior White House official, says US intelligence leaders blocked the release of documents that expose more malpractice and critical evidentiary holes in their claims of sweeping “Russian interference.” Patel also singles out the FBI’s “outrageous” reliance on Crowdstrike, and the burying of testimony that the firm had no concrete evidence.

  

  As a senior House Intel investigator and Trump administration official, Kash Patel helped unearth critical misconduct by the intelligence officials who carried out the Trump-Russia probe.

  In his first extended interview since leaving government, Patel tells Aaron Maté that still-classified documents expose more malpractice, as well as major evidentiary holes in the pivotal — and largely unquestioned — claims of a sweeping Russian interference campaign to elect Trump in 2016.

  According to Patel, the release of these critical documents was “continuously impeded.”

  “I think there were people at the heads of certain intelligence agencies who did not want their tradecraft called out, even though it was during a former administration, because it doesn’t look good on the agency itself,” Patel says.

  Among the tradecraft that Patel criticizes is the hastily produced and highly consequential “Intelligence Community Assessment” of January 2017, as well as the FBI’s reliance on Crowdstrike — the DNC contractor that generated the Russian hacking allegations despite later admitting, behind closed doors, that it lacked concrete evidence.

  Patel also discusses other aspects of his time in the Trump White House: a secret mission to Syria; Trump’s record on foreign wars; and the January 6th riot at the Capitol.

  Guest: Kash Patel. Former senior government official in the Trump administration, where he served as senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council, and chief of staff to the acting Secretary of Defense. Previously, Patel served as a top investigator on the GOP-led House Intelligence Committee, where he was instrumental in exposing US intelligence misconduct in the Trump-Russia investigation. Also served as a national security official in the Obama-era Justice Department and Pentagon.

  Read more:

  Aaron Maté’s July 2019 report on the flaws in Mueller’s claims of sweeping Russian interference: “CrowdstrikeOut”

  HPSCI March 2018 report: “Report on Russian Active Measures”

  Aaron Maté on Crowdstrike’s secret admission of no “concrete evidence” in Russian hacking claims:

  “Bombshell: Crowdstrike admits ‘no evidence’ Russia stole emails from DNC server”

  “Hidden Over 2 Years: Dem Cyber-Firm’s Sworn Testimony It Had No Proof of Russian Hack of DNC”

  VIDEO

  TRANSCRIPT

   AARON MATÉ: Welcome to Pushback. I’m Aaron Maté.

  Joining me is Kash Patel. He is a former senior official in the Trump administration who served in several top roles, including as the Deputy Assistant to the President, the Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, the chief of staff to the Acting Secretary of Defense, and previously he served as a top aide on the House Intelligence Committee when it was chaired by Republican Devin Nunes, where he was instrumental in exposing US intelligence conduct behind the Trump-Russia investigation.

  Kash Patel, welcome to Pushback.

  KASH PATEL: Aaron, thanks so much for having me. Really appreciate you doing this. Let’s have some fun.

  AARON MATÉ: I appreciate the opportunity. You had a front row seat to several major stories of the Trump era. I want to start with Russiagate because that’s where I first heard of you. You helped expose the conduct of intelligence officials who carried out the investigation, including the instrumental role of the Steele dossier and the surveillance warrant on Carter Page, the former Trump campaign volunteer. And I want to get your response to actually how the media portrayed you, because when you were discussed in media accounts in several outlets, it seemed like it was a requirement to describe you as someone who was working to discredit the Trump-Russia investigation. I want to just get your response to that, how you saw your role behind the scenes, and your overall thoughts on the Trump-Russia investigation itself.

  KASH PATEL: Well, thanks for allowing me the opportunity to speak about it like that. I don’t think anybody has ever really asked me to do that, so I really appreciate it.

  So, I went on as a senior staffer for the House Intel Committee and not in Devin’s personal office. And long and short of it was, I didn’t really want to go over to The Hill, but Devin had said, ‘Hey, somebody with your background as a public defender and a national security prosecutor and knows how to investigate and take depositions, we sort of need someone to run this investigation.’ At the time neither of us thought it would get much coverage. We were just, like, we’ll do the investigation, we’ll make a report and we’ll put it up in Congress for the records, and that’ll be that. But I guess we were both really wrong on that one.

  As the investigation unfolded, and the agreement I made with Devin, I said, ‘Okay, I don’t really want to go to The Hill, but I’ll do the job on one basis: accountability and disclosure. Everything we find—I don’t care if it’s good or bad or whatever from your political perspective—we put it out so the American public can just read it themselves.’ And he agreed to that right away. So, I said, ‘Okay, then we’re up and running.’ But then the media came in and, I think the first portrayal of me in the media, because my name as a staffer was leaked, which is generally verboten, unheard of, but was leaked, and they called me a genocidal dictator in that article—Torquemada—and I thought that was—I don’t know how to even describe that—but I felt really upset that my family name was being portrayed as someone who had killed thousands of people during the Spanish Inquisition.

  AARON MATÉ: Huh, huh.

  KASH PATEL: That was the first big, breaking news story. I don’t know if it was big; it was just the one that put my name out there, which I also was not expecting any of the media to be on me personally, as a staffer. That was a little surprising.

  AARON MATÉ: And what were you actually doing behind the scenes, then, that you think would have elicited this attack on you?

  KASH PATEL: Well, running types of investigations are hard enough when you’re a public defender with limited resources. So, I analogize going over to Congress and running an investigation in a similar fashion. When I was at DOJ [Department of Justice], you have all the resources in the world and it’s really cool, but Congress has limited capabilities. We had a limited budget and limited authorities, so I sort of went back to my public defender role and I said, ‘Okay, look, the first thing we got to do is line up key witnesses that we’re going to eventually interview. But before that we have to acquire all the relevant documents from the government agencies so that we can ask these witnesses about them and know what we’re doing before we get into the room.’ So, it was a document acquisition first step, and then, a sort of parallel track, lining up witnesses that we would ultimately interview, and I think we interviewed maybe 70 under oath, ballpark.

  AARON MATÉ: And do you remember what revelation it was that made you first realize that there was some serious malfeasance going on behind the scenes, when it comes to the conduct of the intelligence officials who ran the Trump-Russia probe?

  KASH PATEL: Well, it’s a combination of things, if you’ll allow me.

  So, as a terrorism prosecutor at main Justice, I had personally worked on FISA applications myself, for a number of prosecutions successfully, and having done that work, I know how labor-intensive and detailed it is, and how much disclosure requirements you have to present to the FISA court, but also to the federal judge overseeing the case, ultimately, itself. So, I think the first time I read the Steele dossier was maybe a month or so after it came out, and it just seemed pretty sensational. And what I told folks was, ‘Look, the purpose of a FISA application is to go up on someone and surveil them who you think is basically working for another country against America.’ And Carter Page was the crux of that dossier, and I said, ‘This is really easy to prove or disprove.’ The big thing that made Carter Page in the dossier a quote-unquote “agent” of a foreign power was his meetings with high-level Russian officials and then bartering, as the dossier put it, for a 19-percent stake in the biggest gas company in Russia if he would help them, the Russians, trade once the Trump administration got in. Now, I told the members on House Intel if that were true, he’s definitely an agent of a foreign power. That’s the crux of the matter, so that’s where we started.

  AARON MATÉ: And when you found out that the FBI was citing the Steele dossier in its surveillance applications to spy on Carter Page and listing Christopher Steele as quote “Source #1” and “credible,” what was your response, and how did you try to go about getting that out to the public?

  KASH PATEL: Well, it was just sort of a Search Warrant 101, okay? So, we found out who the source is, let’s look at the source documents and the credibility of the source; that’s just basic Investigative 101. Getting those documents was another story. That was a whole different challenge that DOJ thwarted for a long time, but, ultimately, we were successful.

  I think the big breakthrough was a combination of things that happened over the course of obviously many months, and we’ll condense it here. But once I found out that the Steele dossier itself was used in the FISA application, it was a huge red flag, because I was, like, this is not how we do FISA applications. And, also, this information is incredibly salacious, and some of it was just so easily disproved, such as the hotel room that they said the salacious engagement with Trump and others had occurred. Well, if you do some Investigative 101, that hotel doesn’t exist with that room in Moscow, period. And you would think an investigator like Christopher Steele, a human guy spy for the British government for so many years with Russian expertise, would get that little fact right.

  The other thing was they had placed at the time Trump’s lawyer on a trip in Prague. I think it was Prague. And I said, ‘This is really easy. We just get the toll records for travel and see if the guy was ever in the Czech Republic or not.’ Turns out, he never left America during that time period. So, these credibility issues started to arise, and I said, ‘If we’re having problems with these easily disprovable facts, what about the heart of the matter?’ And that’s what we turned to next, with trying to get the documents and the sourcing of the whole Steele dossier.

  AARON MATÉ: And the public became aware that it was the Clinton campaign and the DNC that was paying for the Steele dossier, in late 2017. When did you find this out?

  KASH PATEL:  Was it late 2017? Yeah, your timeline’s probably right. So, what we had to do was, through our investigations and our team, we were able to piece together the sort of players involved in this whole Steele dossier thing. And the Fusion GPS came out. The individual at DOJ, Bruce Ohr, came out; then we tied that to his wife’s work, Nellie Ohr, who we were sort of shocked to see involved in all this. So, these things we started really getting going on our investigative techniques and started to unveil the facts. And, ultimately, I told Devin one thing. I said, ‘Look, when you’re a prosecutor, you follow the money.’ Terrorism Financing Cases 101. This is really easy stuff, so I said, ‘Hey, let’s follow the money.’ But the difficulty was, I wasn’t in federal court. I wasn’t a DOJ prosecutor; I was at Congress with limited powers. So, I told Devin, I said, ‘Okay, give me one bank subpoena for this bank and let’s see what’s behind the curtain, and if I’m wrong we’ll just stop the investigation.’ And luckily, we got that bank subpoena, but that ultimately took us to federal court because Fusion challenged the validity of the subpoena, and now we obviously know why.

  AARON MATÉ: So, I think by now the collusion allegation has been pretty much debunked. Few people actually still hold on to it except the most diehard adherents to Russiagate.

  But I have a lot of questions about the other aspect of this, which is this allegation of a sweeping and systematic Russian interference campaign which has not been undermined nearly to the extent that the collusion aspect has. And the obvious question for me, even without looking at all the evidence, is that given that collusion was essentially a scam, what else about this was a scam as well? So, you looked at the intelligence used to advance these allegations of Russian meddling. Was it convincing to you?

  KASH PATEL:  That the Russians were interfering with the presidential election or that they were doing so for the behest of one candidate over another?

  AARON MATÉ: Let’s start with that they were conducting a sweeping, comprehensive interference campaign to install Trump in the White House.

  KASH PATEL:  I would say the evidence did not bear that out. Now, it’s the Russians, they’re always interfering in our cybersecurity infrastructure, in our intelligence apparatus, and they will always look to get a leg up in our election cycle. So, were they involved in interfering? Sure. It’s what they do to us, period. Anyone who says otherwise has never really been in the game and understands how it works, or it’s just really making stuff up. I didn’t see this systematic, sweeping level of infiltration to pick one candidate over the other. We didn’t find that kind of hard evidence. We did find them meddling in a lot of places, of course.

  AARON MATÉ: So, when it comes to the question of Russia interfering to specifically install Trump, that was an area where your report, the March 2018 HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] report took issue with some of the intelligence communities’ findings, when the US government, in the last days of the Obama administration, put out this Intelligence Community Assessment [ICA] in January 2017, which said that Vladimir Putin ordered this campaign of interference to install Trump. Your committee identified what it called “significant intelligence tradecraft failings.” Can you give us a sense of what those failings were?

  KASH PATEL: Sure. Unfortunately, one of the documents we tried to get out during the Trump administration was that document you’re referring to.

  So, the ICA was this investigation put together in a span of two to three weeks, led by John Brennan, and in two to three weeks you can’t have a comprehensive investigation of anything in terms of interference and cyber security matters. But they put it together, so we went and looked at it and looked at the underlying evidence and cables and talked to the people who did it.

  We, on House Intel on the Republican side, actually put out a report, a highly classified report on the tradecraft used to make the Obama-era ICA that was made public. We wanted that underlying report made public, but we were continuously impeded in our efforts to do so by members of the Intelligence Community themselves, with the same singular epithets that ‘you’re going to harm sources and methods.’ And that was what was thrown in my face the entire time, when we were talking about Christopher Steele before he was Christopher Steele, and all the underlying methods.

  And I just highlight that because we didn’t lose a single source, we didn’t lose a single relationship, and no one died by the public disclosures we made, because we did it in a systematic and professional fashion. And that’s what part of the media said would be impossible to do, but we did it, and we wanted to do it for our ICA. But that was, unfortunately, the one report which speaks directly to the issue you’re asking about, that’s still sitting in a safe, classified, and unfortunately, the American public—unless Biden acts—won’t see it.

  AARON MATÉ: President Trump, though, had said that he was going to order a full declassification. Did he ever signal that he wanted that particular document released?

  KASH PATEL: I don’t know if he personally singled it [out]. I know it was included in a list of documents that Congress was seeking, or some members of Congress were seeking, to have declassified. And I know that list made its way to the White House, and I also know that, I think, on the one of the last days he did declassify a bunch of material, but I still have not seen that.

  AARON MATÉ: Right. That was a so-called binder of documents that have not come out yet. Who are some of the key officials who blocked the release of this material?

  KASH PATEL: I think it was…look, when you’re calling out the FBI and DOJ, like, one person is calling them out to say, ‘You guys screwed up one of the biggest consequential investigations of this era,’ I think it’s right for them to take your word with caution. So, it was more of an institutional pushback, and then, ultimately, when you were able to peel back the layers and show Christopher Wray and show Rod Rosenstein that these documents in fact existed and then asked them to produce them, they would start to see the shortcomings of the FISA application and the investigative process and the Steele sourcing at the FBI.

  And so, it was a repetitive process, one that even led Rod Rosenstein to threaten to investigate me because he got so annoyed at me for whatever reason, and I’m not really sure what he would investigate me or Congress on, but he made that threat, and that was widely reported.

  It was just unfortunate to see the Deputy Attorney General who, at that point, was basically the Attorney General because Jeff Sessions was aside [recused] on all matters. We were having private internal discussions, and I just said, ‘Why don’t you just go get me these Bruce Ohr 302s [FBI interview reports], and if they don’t exist and they don’t say what I’m saying they’re saying, then you can say, “Hey, Kash, you’re totally wrong.”’ Well, it turned out that the Bruce Ohr 302s did exist and it took me a long time, but America finally saw 75 percent of them unredacted.

  AARON MATÉ: And Bruce Ohr, for those who don’t know, is a former Department of Justice official who, even after the FBI terminated Christopher Steele as a source, he continued to act as essentially a liaison between Steele and the FBI.

  KASH PATEL: Yeah.

  AARON MATÉ: Let me ask you about this core assessment in the Intelligence Community Assessment of January 2017 as we discussed—that Putin ordered this campaign specifically to install Trump. It’s been reported that the main source for that judgment was this supposed mole inside the Kremlin who worked for the CIA, and that this mole, after some media reports actually was … he left Russia and came to the US and he was outed as living outside of Virginia. It’s been said that he had high-level access inside the Kremlin. Based on what you’ve seen, are the reports about the mole and his supposed high level of visibility into the Kremlin, are they credible?

  KASH PATEL: So, unfortunately, I’m sort of in a bind on this one still, with all the classified information I looked at and the declassifications we’ve requested but have not yet been granted. So, through your great public reporting and investigative work, a lot of people have continued on, and I think rightly so, to get to the bottom of this. But until the ICA product that we created and some of the other documents are finally revealed, if I start talking about them, then I’m probably going to get the FBI knocking at my door, and I don’t really want that right now—or ever.

  AARON MATÉ: Fair enough. Alright, I’m going to try one more angle of this, then, which I realize falls into similar territory, but I think it’s worth mentioning because some of it has been also made public.

  CrowdStrike is the private security firm contracted by the DNC that generated the core allegation at the heart of all this: that Russia had hacked the DNC and stolen emails. Then, almost three years later, we get last year this declassification of a transcript from Shawn Henry, the CEO of CrowdStrike, testifying to your committee in December 2017. And he said that actually CrowdStrike had no evidence that these supposed Russian hackers actually took any data off of the server. So, essentially CrowdStrike had no evidence that Russian hackers had stolen the emails that CrowdStrike in public was accusing them of stealing.

  CrowdStrike’s reports were used for the FBI’s investigation, and the FBI also relied on CrowdStrike’s forensics in terms of investigating and looking into the DNC server. What can you tell us about CrowdStrike’s credibility? Do you think that they relayed credible and accurate information?

  KASH PATEL: I think CrowdStrike, as a private company contracted by the DNC, basically did the job that they were hired to do, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they served the American public well. They weren’t hired by the American public; they were hired specifically by a private company to look at their servers.

  Where the FBI got it wrong—and James Comey admitted this—is that they, the FBI, who are the experts in looking at servers and exploiting this information so that the Intelligence Community can digest it and understand what happened, did not have access to the DNC servers in their entirety. The FBI only received—and for some outrageous reason agreed to having CrowdStrike be the referee as to what the FBI could and could not exploit and could and could not look at. Now, Shawn Henry, being a former FBI agent under James Comey, knew that, and I believe totally took advantage of the situation to the unfortunate shortcomings of the American public, and we were only able to have the FBI look at a piece of the cyber security hardware infrastructure for the DNC rather than all of it, which is what the FBI always does.

  So, that was one of the most frustrating things to me, that the FBI, one, permitted that, and two, never went back and got the server so they could look at it. But I do think Shawn Henry testified that day accurately, that CrowdStrike didn’t have any information to support those claims that you were talking about.

  AARON MATÉ: Which then leads me to question the claim itself, because it was CrowdStrike that generated it, and I think it’s a scandal that instead of us hearing back in December 2017 that the firm that generated this allegation didn’t have the concrete evidence for it. We had to wait nearly three years to find that out after so much had unfolded and so much hysterical fearmongering about Russian interference had happened.

  KASH PATEL: Yeah, I think you’re totally right. And look, we wanted those depositions and those things out and declassified immediately after we took them, and we were thwarted in that ability, too, to do that. If you recall, we had sent all 60, whatever, transcripts to the DNI under then-DNI Coats just to do a quick classification check, and the Office of Director of National Intelligence under Dan Coats never processed or advanced those deposition transcripts until actually Rick Grenell and I got to the DNI and completed the work.

  AARON MATÉ: But, by the time Grenell was in there, you had Adam Schiff now heading your committee—and I imagine he was not very receptive to releasing those transcripts.

  KASH PATEL: Exactly. And that’s a great fact that you point out: Congress had switched majority/minority positions then, and the power to release the transcripts, even after we returned them, rested with the new chairman Adam Schiff, who, whatever your politics are, didn’t want some of these transcripts to come out. And that was just extremely frustrating because the whole purpose, as I said in the beginning, was accountability and release for the American public, and everybody should have been able to read every single page of those transcripts.

  AARON MATÉ: Since we’re on the topic of Schiff, let me ask you quickly, when you see Congress reprimanding Marjorie Taylor Greene for pushing QAnon conspiracy theories, you witnessed Adam Schiff pushing Russiagate conspiracy theories, reading even the Steele dossier into the Congressional Record, including those Carter Page insane allegations that you mentioned before, about Carter Page being offered a stake in the Russian state gas company.

  Adam Schiff: Carter Page, back from Moscow, also attends the convention. According to Steele, it was Manafort who chose Page to serve as a go-between for the Trump campaign and Russian interests.

  AARON MATÉ: What are your thoughts on that, seeing Greene reprimanded for pushing conspiracy theories, but not Adam Schiff?

  KASH PATEL: I think it’s a perfect example of why the American people have such little confidence in Congress’s abilities to do much of anything these days. It’s so infiltrated with partisan politics that people don’t know what to believe, and that’s why the only thing that I wanted to do there was to, instead of me writing stuff that I found, why not just let everybody read it, the way I found it, with a few protections here and there for some certain national security measures? But those are minimal redactions, and I asked that of everybody across the board, whether it was against people in President Trump’s universe or people at the DNC, or whatever. I said, ‘You guys have agreed to testify. We found documents pertaining to your work here. Everybody should read it.’ And that was just an argument that Congress wouldn’t let me win.

  AARON MATÉ: I want to ask you something else about your March 2018 HPSCI report. There’s a very interesting line to me. You’re talking about the judgments that were inside that January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, the one that was put out in the last days of the Obama administration.

  The report says the judgments, quote, “were mostly well reasoned, consistent with observed Russian actions, properly documented, and—particularly on the cyber intrusion sections—employed appropriate caveats on sources and identified assumptions.”

  That line stood out to me because it suggests to me that when it comes to this core allegation of Russian cyber intrusions, that the evidence was not overwhelming, that there were caveats and identified assumptions. Am I right to infer from that, that when it comes to the attribution of Russian cyber meddling, that there were some qualifiers here and that the evidence was not overwhelmingly concrete?

  KASH PATEL: Without speaking to the underlying intelligence, I think you’re absolutely on the right path to infer those things, because you smartly picked up on the verbiage that the IC uses a lot of times to qualify its reporting, but especially reporting of that volume done at that speed. And that’s the reason we undertook to investigate the ICA, too, as a piece of the Russia investigation, because we felt that report put out to the American public deserves scrutiny, the same scrutiny that the FISA application process received, and we created a whole separate report for it. And I really hope one of these days that report becomes public, because I think you’ll find a lot of things in that report that are facts that cannot be disputed by the IC, and that would lend a lot of credence to the things that you’re saying now.

  AARON MATÉ: So, why do you think Trump didn’t let this get out? Because he had the authority to.

  KASH PATEL: I don’t know if I would characterize it as whether or not President Trump let this out or not. I think there were people within the IC, at the heads of certain intelligence agencies, who did not want their tradecraft called out, even though it was during a former administration, because it doesn’t look good on the agency itself.

  And again, that’s not castigating an entire agency. We’re not disparaging the entire FBI because of Peter Strzok and his crew of miscreants, where the same thing goes for the Intelligence Community. Just because I think John Brennan had four or five folks work on the ICA, if I remember correctly, if they did some shoddy tradecraft, the American public has a right to know about it in an investigation involving the presidential election.

  And there were just the same barriers you run into. When we tried to declass just the Nunes memo itself, it’s institutional pushback, and then singular pushback at high levels because they didn’t want those disclosures to happen on their watch.

  AARON MATÉ: Another question on this front: Guccifer 2.0 was this internet persona who the US Intelligence Community later said was actually a front for Russian intelligence, and the FBI and Robert Mueller strongly suggested in their indictment of Russian intelligence officers that it was Guccifer 2.0 that provided the stolen Democratic Party emails to WikiLeaks. Fast forward, though, to Mueller’s final report, and he includes a caveat that actually he has no idea how these emails made their way to WikiLeaks and actually they could have been transferred in person by hand. Do you have any sense of the sourcing behind this claim about Guccifer 2.0 being a front for Russian intelligence, and is it also something that we should be looking at with skepticism?

  KASH PATEL: I think it’s something you should definitely be looking at with skepticism. It’s not something that we had time to focus on when we were doing the Russiagate investigation. It wasn’t one of the things that we were able to encapsulate within our sort of guidelines for purposes of investigation, and it sort of came up later. And by that point the handoff to Mueller had already happened, and so there was that cutoff date as to what we could and couldn’t look at. And once Mueller was announced, there was that spring cutoff timeline of the date of his March-April appointment; nothing past that that he was looking at was anything we could look at. But that doesn’t mean you guys can’t or shouldn’t.

  AARON MATÉ: Well, speaking of which Mueller, very strangely, I think, chose not to interview Julian Assange, who was at the heart of all this because he released the stolen emails. Was there ever any discussion on your committee about interviewing Julian Assange?

  KASH PATEL: I think there was. But remember, you have Robert Mueller whose special counsel is under the authorities of the Department of Justice and FBI. Big Government versus Congress and a Congressional investigator and his committee. To do those things and to make those asks is a very different request than coming from the Executive Branch of the United States government, and that’s the problem we ran into a lot of times. The FBI and the DOJ can ask and subpoena you guys and work with the heads of foreign governments to do so, but Congress’s ability to do that is much more limited.

  AARON MATÉ: If you could release just a handful of documents, just say two documents that you think would give the public a better window into the real story here, what would they be?

   

  KASH PATEL: The ICA report that HPSCI did, on the ICA itself. That, for sure, has been at the top of my list for far too long. And the other thing I would say, twofold: one, the entire subject portion of the last Carter Page FISA, and two, in conjunction with that I would release the underlying source verification reporting basically that they used to prop up that FISA. And then the American public can see what a bunch of malarkey it was that they were relying on. And not only that. It’s okay to make a mistake in a search warrant or pleading because that work you’re doing is so hard, but to intentionally make it is just something the American public needs to know about and read for themselves and make their own determination as to why their government allowed this to happen, knowingly.

   

  AARON MATÉ: I want to move on to other aspects of your time in government. It was reported last year that you took part in a secret mission to Syria to try to broker the release of Austin Tice, the US journalist who has been held hostage there. It’s unclear what his status is, whether he’s even still alive. Let me just actually ask you that, do you think Austin Tice is still alive?

  KASH PATEL: Hostage rescues are one of the most difficult and probably most rewarding parts of the job, when I was running counterterrorism for President Trump. You get to know the family so well that you just learn not to publicly comment on those matters about their loved ones because it’s just too painful, whatever the answer is. And I reserve my comments on those matters for Mr. and Mrs. Tice, in any efforts we made to get Austin.

  AARON MATÉ: Can you tell us anything about your discussions with Syrian officials, what they were asking from you, their level of openness to having talks with the US government?

  KASH PATEL: Sure. I mean, look, that didn’t happen overnight. One of President Trump’s priorities was, go get American hostages home, and I think we got over 50, 53-ish hostage/detainees back from 20-some countries, maybe. Maybe a little less.

  But Austin Tice had been missing for going on eight years, and we had made no headway, really, on it, so we made it a priority. We started working with our counterparts in the region, and then that trip was almost 18 months in the making, and we finally were able to land a meeting in Damascus. Because I told them, I said, ‘I’ll come see you. You send someone who can represent President Assad directly because I can represent President Trump directly on this matter, and let’s go sit down.’ And they said, ‘Okay, come to Damascus.’

  And I don’t know if they thought we would show up or not. But we did, and we were very clear. We said, ‘Look, I understand I’m not getting Austin home on this trip, but I would like a proof of life. What would you like in return for that?’ We had very frank conversations, and they said, ‘We want x amount of movement for the United States military and troop stuff,’ and this and that. I said, ‘Look, all of that’s on the table. We can discuss all those things. I need a proof of life.’ And they said they would take it back to Assad, at which they did. I know they did that. And then, I think, shortly thereafter I switched over to the Department of Defense and tried to continue that mission. But that one was one I just, unfortunately, didn’t succeed on.

  AARON MATÉ: President Trump on the campaign in 2016, he was critical of US interventions abroad. He criticized the war on Libya, he criticized the dirty war in Syria, but his record in office did not do anything to reverse all this. And I think actually one could argue that he escalated it. What do you make for the gap between what he was saying on the campaign trail and then what he did in office?

  KASH PATEL: I probably disagree with that because we did end three wars, three and a half, and that was what he campaigned on and we…

  AARON MATÉ: Where? Which wars?

  KASH PATEL: Well, we’re down to zero in Somalia, we’re down to less than 2,500 in Iraq. I won’t discuss the troop numbers in Syria, but it’s the lowest we’ve ever been, and we should hit zero in Afghanistan by 1 May unless the administration alters that trajectory. So, to move that amount of manning from decades of in-country fighting, we did that pretty expeditiously, and that’s something I think I’m pretty proud of, that we ended or drew to a near end so many theaters of war. Not all of them, unfortunately, but a lot of them.

  AARON MATÉ: In Somalia, though, haven’t US troops just basically moved next door?

  KASH PATEL: Well, yeah. Sort of. Without discussing exact troop locations, we’re no longer in Somalia with a big troop presence, and we are always going to counter terrorism in any form. And al-Shabaab, being one of al-Qaeda’s biggest affiliates, based solely out of Somalia. We, of course, are going to lend help to our forces in Kenya, which is one of our biggest partners in East Africa.

  So, if you talk about moving troops from Syria to Iraq versus moving troops from Somalia to wherever, you move them to where you have more reliability, are closer to the actual fight, and your capabilities to counter the terrorist threat is greater, not less. And that’s the line of effort that we took to execute in places like Iraq, Syria, Somalia, and East Africa.

  AARON MATÉ: What about the Saudi war on Yemen? Obama greenlit that war. It caused a humanitarian catastrophe—some call it a genocide. There was the ongoing risk of famine, a cholera outbreak. Why did Trump escalate US support for that?

  KASH PATEL: I don’t know. The Saudi piece has never been my forte, so I’d just be speculating if I was speaking to that.

  AARON MATÉ: Was there talk of ending it?

  KASH PATEL: The Saudi component or the Yemeni component? Sorry.

  AARON MATÉ: The support for the Saudi war on Yemen.

  KASH PATEL: There was always talk of decreasing our support to any theaters of war. The problem with the Yemeni portion of it is, as you know, the Houthis are in Yemen, so that’s Iran’s proxy, and it’s one of al-Qaeda’s bigger branches, too, that bases out of Yemen, that poses a threat to American interests. So that was the balance that they had to strike with that conflict, and it’s a tough one. There are three different governments running around in Yemen. There’s two different…three different foreign terrorist organizations. Well, two now that Biden removed one as the label as a terrorist, and that conflict’s going to go on. It’s one, I do think, we need to monitor because Iran is involved, and they simply don’t like us.

  AARON MATÉ: All right, we’re going to have to debate Yemen another time, because I have a much different view.

  But let me ask you, finally, what did you make first of Trump’s claims that this election was stolen, and were people advising him that what he was saying was not grounded in fact?

  KASH PATEL: I’m not going to speak to what people were advising him on about that, because the election stuff was never my job. My job was to head his counterterrorism program, run his DNI, and then, ultimately, help run his Defense Department. So, I stayed out of all that stuff. That never came to me.

  AARON MATÉ: And what do you think explains what happened on January 6th? Do you think that…I mean, who deserves blame here for what happened?

  KASH PATEL: That’s not for me to cast. Unfortunately, people died, Americans died, policemen died, which is just one of the greatest tragedies you can have. The Capitol was broken into, which is just a symbol of our democracy.

  AARON MATÉ: But what about claims or allegations or suspicion that the Pentagon slowed a response? They did not answer the calls for the National Guard quick enough, and that even that this was deliberate. I mean, that is the suspicion of many people, that there was a deliberate attempt to let that mob happen on the part of even White House officials, possibly even President Trump.

  KASH PATEL: I mean, that’s an extended conversation for another day. But I will politely say that that is totally, factually false. Having assisted Secretary [Christopher] Miller running the Defense Department, we put out a very public timeline for our response. We basically quelled the situation at the Capitol so that the United States Senate could go back and certify the presidential election. From the time the incident began, in less than five hours they were voting to certify the presidential election again. We—and the Capitol Police admitted this—went to the Capitol Police beforehand and said ‘Hey, do you need any help?’ They said, ‘No.’ And we, the Department of Defense, cannot lawfully send in the National Guard unless there is a specific request made by the mayor and/or a federal agency, and none were made.

  Once they were made—and a caveat to that is Secretary Miller and I had gone to President Trump days before January 6th, and he had authorized 10,000 National Guardsmen throughout the country in case there was any unrest, so he had already authorized the action. The governors and the mayors still had to ask for it, and once they did in the DC area, just to give you an anecdotal example, we activated from a cold start the fastest augmentation and mobilization of uniformed military troops in the DC area since World War II, and we put 24,000 boots on the ground in less than 48 hours. I don’t know who’s saying we slow-rolled anything, because these are Guardsmen, they’re not active-duty military, and we have to pull them out of their daily lives, train them up, get them up and then deploy them, and employ them. And I think we did that. And I think the record will show with extreme alacrity that we’re very responsive because of the severity of the situation.

  AARON MATÉ: Kash Patel, former senior official in the Trump administration, thank you very much.

  KASH PATEL: Thanks, Aaron. I appreciate it. I had fun.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 04/21/2021 – 00:05

• Meet The Tiny California Town "Full Of Dirt" That Snagged Elon Musk's Boring Company
  Meet The Tiny California Town “Full Of Dirt” That Snagged Elon Musk’s Boring Company

  Elon Musk is taking his Boring Company circus on the road to Adelanto, California. 

  Adelanto is a town of 37,000 where the mayor, Gabriel Reyes, works part time and the city manager, Jessie Flores, is the full time chief executive of the city, according to a recent Bloomberg report. 

  The county supervisor mentioned to Flores recently that Musk’s Boring Company was looking for a place to practice digging tunnels, so Flores reached out. “Steve, we’re the ones you’re looking for. When can we meet?,” Flores texted Boring’s President Steve Davis. Flores suggested meeting at SpaceX’s headquarters, which was about 2 hours away from Adelanto. 

  While the city has “no money or political capital”, it did have plenty of dirt, open space and lax views on regulation. 

  “I inherited a very unstable and mismanaged city, and poorly led. If you want to quote me on that, that would be great,” Flores said. He took over as city manager in 2018. The city is projecting a $4.72 million deficit for 2021 and 33% of its residents live below the poverty line. It doesn’t have its own police department, after it was disbanded in 2001 after a corruption probe. 

  

  Permits can get same-day turnaround in the city, Flores said. “They understand that it’s economic development and job creation that stimulate the economy, not government bureaucracy,” he continued.

  Drone manufacturer General Atomics and prefabricated construction manufacturer Clark Pacific also have footprints in Adelanto. The city also houses a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center run by the Geo Group. 

  Flores said of the controversial decision to place a detention center in Adelanto: “They stimulate the economy. There’s guards that are employed. They have families. They have obligations.” 

  The Boring Company got its first permits to dig back in 2017 in Hawthorne, who has gotten “fed up” with Musk. Upon arriving at SpaceX, Flores and his team got a tour of the facilities and a ride in a test tunnel. Musk’s team expressed to Flores that they were tired of getting blamed for kicking up dust when they dug. “We have plenty of dirt,” Flores responded. “We wouldn’t be able to tell if it’s your dirt.” 

  Boring sought out a half-mile long property and Adelanto offered up “a 20-acre plot zoned for manufacturing on the eastern fringes of town, just off U.S. Route 395.” The land was also prime-time in terms of lack of red tape, Bloomberg wrote:

  That the land had previously hosted the Adelanto Grand Prix, an annual motocross event, which was canceled last year because of Covid-19, meant extra good news for Boring. The property is considered previously disturbed, which meant less environmental red tape. Another bonus: Joshua trees, a protected species in California and common elsewhere in town, are largely absent from the site, which meant Boring wouldn’t have to go through the costly and time-consuming process of hiring an arborist to dig up and replant them. Boring and the seller, a limited partnership in Orange County, Calif., quickly agreed on a price of $495,000.

  

  When Bloomberg tried to accompany Flores to The Boring Company for a visit, he was told that the facilities “couldn’t accommodate guests that week”. The foreman on site told Bloomberg he winds up chasing five or six people a day away. As for what the company is doing at the site? “It involves experimenting with tunnel techniques, including digging the initial portion of a tunnel at an angle, rather than digging a hole and then dropping the boring machine down to the level of the tunnel,” the report says.

  Many of the workers live three hours away in Las Vegas, though local businesses are seeing pops in businesses as workers spend money for meals and other necessities in town. 

  Flores is fine with all of it. “We’ll take a gigafactory, and any other factory he wants to build in our city. Let’s go back to the industrial modern revolution, right? Where we’re building robotics, artificial intelligence.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 23:45

• Company Sells Sex Robot "Clones" Of Dead Partners Using 3D-Modeling Technology
  Company Sells Sex Robot “Clones” Of Dead Partners Using 3D-Modeling Technology

  Authored by Elias Marat via TheMindUnleashed.com,

  For many people who have lost their significant others, sex dolls have provided one way to ease the pain of grief and loneliness.

  

  However, sex robot company Lux Botics is taking things one step further – by offering a clone of dead partners using state-of-the-art three-dimensional modeling.

  With demand for sex dolls booming amid the ongoing pandemic and lockdowns across the world, Lux Botics is offering “ultra-realistic humanoids” to satisfy the carnal needs of the singles without any other recourse.

  The company’s flagship “Adult Companion” model called Stephanie goes for USD $6,000 on the Lux Botics website.

  Lux Botics is manufacturing sex robots with speech control, a facial recognition function and artificial intelligence capabilities.🤖 #AI #Robots #Manufacturing https://t.co/VDum1qz7gy

  — AIBC Dubai (@AIBCsummit) April 7, 2021

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

  The model includes speech control, facial recognition, a “hyper realistic eyes” option and even the option of implanted real hair, as well as limited AI capabilities.

  However, the company also offers the option of creating a facsimile of a lost loved one.

  The company can either create a 3D model through detailed modeling prior to it being printed in ultra-fine resolution, or it can rely on photos of the individual.

  A mould would then be constructed based on the 3D model, complete with a robot skeleton. The robot is then painted and fitted with the lips, nails, eyebrows and other features the customer chooses.

  “We can make robots that talk but we have not made robots that truly walk on their own,” Lux Botics co-founder Bjorn told Daily Star UK. 

  “We hope to develop this in the near future. We can make a large number of body parts that can move in a realistic manner.”

  While the company hasn’t yet created body doubles, Lux Botics is offering the choice to customers.

  Since the start of the pandemic, people have been desperate to cope with the solitude of self-isolation and lockdown measures. While many have resorted to traditional measures like purchasing a pet or using dating apps, sex doll sales have also skyrocketed as people seek an emotional crutch.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 23:25

• Here's What $1,000 Invested In Vaccine Stocks Would Be Worth Now
  Here’s What $1,000 Invested In Vaccine Stocks Would Be Worth Now

  It’s often said that with every crisis comes great opportunity.

  While such catastrophes do create upheaval and uncertainty in financial markets, Visual Capitalis’s Aran Ali details below that they can also lead to new opportunities for investors, as asset classes react to different environments.

  

  Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the performance of vaccine stocks have been varied—but with some notable winners that notched triple or quadruple digit returns.

  Here’s how much a $1,000 investment would be worth as of March 31, 2021, if you had put money into each vaccine stock at the start of the pandemic:

  

  The Business of Vaccines

  The returns on vaccine stocks have varied greatly. They are staggering in the case of Novavax and Moderna, but also seem quite underwhelming, when considering the likes of Sanofi, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer.

  One factor for the discrepancy in stock price performance is the revenue potential from vaccine sales relative to the rest of the existing business, as vaccine sales will have a much greater impact on the fundamentals of smaller companies.

  For example, before the pandemic, Novavax had revenues of just $18.7 million—this meant that capturing any portion of global vaccine sales would create massive value for shareholders. On the flipside, vaccine sales are much less likely to impact the fundamentals of Sanofi’s business, since the company already is generating $40.5 billion in revenue.

  To put it into perspective, analysts are expecting total sales from COVID-19 vaccines to be around $100 billion, with $40 billion in post-tax profits.

  Vaccine Stocks vs the S&P 500

  Even in a booming and valuable industry, it’s difficult to identify the long-term leaders. For example, in the mobile phone market, there was a time where the likes of Motorola, Nokia, and Blackberry appeared untouchable, but eventually lost out.

  Similarly, with the limited information available at the start of the pandemic, few, if any, could have separated the winners and losers from this group with accuracy.

  In the past year, the S&P 500 grew 44.9%—meaning that only three of the seven vaccine stocks have seen their share prices outperform the market.

  Nobody said helping solve a global pandemic guarantees a pay off.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 23:05

• The Biggest Threat To US Hegemony: China, Russia, Or Debt?
  The Biggest Threat To US Hegemony: China, Russia, Or Debt?

  Via The Mises Institute,

  Now that the Biden administration has settled in, it is time to reassess American policy towards Russia, China and the wider Asian scene. Is it going to be a continuation of the Trump administration’s policies, or is there something new going on? Given the continued tenure of staffers at the Pentagon from before the Trump presidency, it seems unlikely there will be much in the way of détente: it is game-on for the cold war to continue.

  

  Before delving into geopolitics, we must be careful to define a neutral position from which to observe developments. You cannot be objective in these matters if you justify an uninvited invasion of a foreign territory to take out a proclaimed public enemy, as America did with Osama Bin Laden and then condemn Russia for attempting to murder an ex-KGB officer living in Salisbury, or for that matter the dismembering of a journalist in the Saudi Embassy in Turkey. You must be aware that it is an established part of what Kipling called The Great Game, and always has been.

  Acts of this type are the product of states and their agents acting above any laws and are therefore permitted to ignore them. We must dismiss from our minds the concept that there are good and bad guys—when it comes to foreign operations, they all behave the same way. We must dismiss nationalistic justifications. Nor can we believe propaganda from any state when it comes to geopolitics, and particularly in a cold war. Know that our news is carefully managed for us. As far as possible we must work from facts and use reasoned deduction.

  We are now equipped to ask an important question: the US status quo, with its dollar hegemony is seen by the new Biden administration as an unchallengeable right, and its position as the world’s hegemon is vital for … what? The benefit of the world, or the benefit of the US at the world’s expense? To answer this, we must consider it from the point of view of the US military and intelligence complex.

  The problem facing us is that the Pentagon became fully institutionalized in managing America’s external security following the second world war. When the Soviets extended their sphere of influence into the three great undeveloped continents, Asia, Africa and South America, there was a case for defending capitalism and freedom—or at least freedom in an American sense by keeping minor nations on side. This was done by fair means and often foul for expediency’s sake.

  But the fall of the Berlin Wall and the death of Mao Zedong made the American military and intelligence functions largely superfluous, other than matters more directly related to national defense. But it is in the nature of government departments and their private sector contractors to do everything in their power to retain both influence and budgets, and the argument that new threats will arise is always hard for politicians to resist. And what do the statists in a government department do when they have secured their survival? Their retention of power without real purpose descends into alternative military objectives. And from the first Bush president, they were all firmly on-message.

  President Trump was the first president for some time not to start military engagements abroad. His attempts to wind down foreign operations were strongly resisted by defence and intelligence services. And his efforts to obtain a détente with North Korea were met with disdain—even horror at Langley.

  Whatever the truth in these matters, it is highly unlikely that the power conferred by the ability to initiate unchallengeable cover-ups, information management, subversion of foreign states and secret intelligence operations is not abused. The proliferation and traction of conspiracy theories, attributed in their origin to Russian cyber-attacks and disinformation, is a consequence of one’s own government continually bending the truth to the point where large sections of the population begin to believe it is its own government’s propaganda.

  This brings us to the change in administration. As a senator, Biden had interests in foreign affairs dating back to the late 1970s and was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1997 and subsequently became its chairman. As such a long-standing politician in this field it is almost certain that the Pentagon establishment regards Biden as a safe pair of hands; in other words, a president who is likely to support Langley’s role in setting geopolitical and defence priorities. Surely, for them this is a welcome change from the off-message President Trump.

  Policies to Contain the Russian Threat

  Despite the Navalny affair, Putin is still unchallengeable as Russian leader, having emerged from the post-Soviet turmoil where chaos and organised crime were the order of the day. No western leader has had such a tough political background and Putin is a survivor, a strongman firmly in control. This matters for America and NATO with respect to policies in Ukraine, the Caucasus, Syria, Iran and Turkey. Any attempt by America to complete unfinished business in Ukraine (a triparty scrap involving Russia, Germany/EU and the US over the Nord Stream pipelines depriving Ukraine of transition revenues is already brewing) is likely to lead to confrontations with Russia on the ground. And Russia signed a military cooperation pact with Iran in 2015. Like a cat with a mouse, Putin is playing with Turkey, interested in laying pipelines to southern Europe, and getting it to drift out of NATO. Russia’s interest in Syria is to keep it out of America’s sphere of influence, which with Turkey’s help it has managed to do.

  For some time, military analysts have been telling us that we are now in a cyber war with Russia, accusing it of interfering in elections and promoting conspiracy theories—the US presidential election last November being the most recent assertion. As with all these allegations there is no proof offered, just statements from government sources which have a track record of being economical with the truth. Whatever the truth may be, cyber wars are closely intertwined with propaganda.

  Attacks on Russia since the millennium have been by disrupting dollar payments, and less importantly, by sanctioning individuals close to Putin. The monetary threat was originally justified by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, leading to the collapse of the rouble and a hike in interest rates. The new cold war had taken a financial turn. Russia’s response was to reduce the economy’s dependence on dollars as much as possible, with the central bank selling dollar reserves and adding gold in their place. It also set up a new payments system to reduce its dependence on the SWIFT interbank payments system.

  Russia has survived all financial attacks and is now better insulated against them for the future. One-nil to the Russians. But the cost has been hidden, with western investment restricted to being mainly from the EU (particularly directed at the oil and gas industries). With the nation being fundamentally a kleptocracy, economic progress is severely constrained. Furthermore, with Russia being the world’s largest energy exporter, the west’s policy of decarbonisation is a medium to long term threat, leading to the demise of Russia’s USP. For these and other reasons Russia has turned to China as both a partner and an economic protector. In return, Russia is resource-rich, an energy provider, and therefore of great value to China.

  Russia’s history of assassinating leading dissidents on foreign soil has been its greatest mistake. It took years after the Litvinenko assassination for diplomatic relations with the UK to be fully restored. The deaths of several Russian oligarchs in recent years on British soil were thought to be the actions of organised crime and not attributed to the Russian state. But the clumsy assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal in Salisbury by GRU officers three years ago is unlikely to lead to a rapprochement anytime soon.

  The Russian and Chinese Geopolitical Partnership

  One of the first persons to identify the geopolitical importance of Russia’s resources was Halford Mackinder in a paper for the Royal Geographical Society in 1904. He later developed it into his Heartland theory. Mackinder argued that control of the Heartland, which stretched from the Volga to the Yangtze, would control the “World-Island”, which was his term for all Europe, Asia and Africa. Over a century later, Mackinder’s theory resonates with the two leading nations behind the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

  The underlying point is that North and South America, Britain, Japan and Australasia in the final analysis are peripheral and less important than Mackinder’s World-Island. There was a time when British and then American primacy outweighed its importance, but this may no longer be true. If Mackinder’s vision is valid about the overriding importance of undeveloped resources, Russia is positioned to become with China the most powerful national partnership on earth.

  The SCO is the greatest challenge yet mounted to American economic power and technological supremacy. And Russia and China are clearly determined to ditch the dollar. We don’t yet know what will replace it. However, the fact that the Russian central bank and nearly all the other central banks and governments in the SCO have been increasing their gold reserves for some time could be an important clue as to how the representatives of three billion Euro-Asians—almost half the world’s population—see the future of trans-Asian money.

  In terms of GDP per capita the United States is a long way ahead of the field. But it is also the most indebted at the national level. The difference with the SCO is at the purchasing power parity level, making market prices of secondary importance. While prices regionally vary considerably the costs of goods in the SCO are as an average considerably less than in the US and EU, so that on a PPP basis the SCO’s GDP is significantly greater than that of the US or the EU.

  

  The inclusion of the EU in Figure 1 is a post-Brexit nod to the fact that the EU can no longer be automatically regarded as being in the US sphere of influence. The commercial ties to the SCO, with both energy reliance from Russia and silk road rail terminals in various EU states are clearly the trade future for the EU. The EU is advanced in its plans to bring national forces under its combined flag, which by giving them an EU identity can only loosen NATO ties with America. While not an active threat to America’s power, one can envisage the EU sitting on the fence in an intensifying cold war.

  The SCO started life in 2001 as a security partnership between Russia and China, incorporating the ‘stans to the east of the Caspian Sea. Born out an earlier organisation, the Shanghai Five Group, it was set up to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism. It is still a platform for joint military exercises, but none have taken place since 2007 and it has morphed into a loose economic partnership instead.

  Since the founding Shanghai Five, the SCO now includes India and Pakistan. Observer status includes Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. These nations can attend SCO conferences, but their participation is very limited. Dialogue partners include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey. These nations can participate actively in SCO conferences, and this status is seen as a preliminary to full membership. Egypt and Syria have applied for observer status and Israel, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have applied to be dialog partners. Apart from South East Asian nations, which are dominated by a Chinese diaspora anyway, SCO members and their influence covers almost all of Halford Mackinder’s World Island, with the exception of the European Union.

  This is the reality that faces American hegemony; there are twenty-one nations across Asia in a non-American alliance, or on the cusp of joining it. All the other European and Asian nations are within the SCO’s sphere of influence through trade, even if not politically affiliated. It is getting more difficult to define the nations definitely in the US pocket, other than its five-eyes partners (Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand). This simple fact places severe limitations on US action against China, and to a lesser extent Russia.

  It is an exaggeration to suggest that an attack on one member state is an attack on them all. Their cooperation is fundamentally economic rather than military; except, as stated above, the SCO’s original function remains to eliminate terrorism, separatism and extremism. Indeed, India and Pakistan are at loggerheads over Kashmir, and China and India have border disputes in the Himalayas. But attempts, by, say, the US to prize India away from the SCO is bound to generate wider issues, and perhaps a response, from the other members.

  The Biden presidency faces significant challenges in the ongoing cold war and America is unlikely to retain its hegemonic status. During Trump’s presidency, attempts to curtail China’s trade and technological development did not succeed, and has only emboldened both China and Russia to stand firm and as much as possible to do without America and its dollar.

  Their senior advisors are, or should be, acutely aware of the debt and inflation traps facing the US and also the EU. Following the Fed’s policies of accelerated monetary expansion announced last March, China increased her purchases of commodities and raw materials, in effect signalling she prefers them to dollar liquidity. As a policy, it is likely to be extended further, given China’s existing stockpile of dollars and dollar-denominated debt. Her dilemma is not just the fragile state of the US economy, but that of the EU which on any dispassionate analysis is a state failing economically and politically as well. China will not want to be blamed for triggering a series of events which will get everyone reaching out for their forgotten copy of Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom.

  As events take their course, the risk of a dollar collapse and a matching crisis in the euro, though for different reasons, increases. For Mackinder’s heartland theory to be proved and for the Russian and Chinese partnership to be in control of it, a mega-crisis facing the profligate money-printers must happen. All history and a priori economic theory confirm it will happen. The SCO’s Plan B will be a continuance of Plan A, hatched out of the Shanghai Five Group, making the World Island a self-contained unit not dependent on the peripherals—principally, the five eyes. For money, they must give up western ways with unbacked state currencies. Between them they have enough state-owned declared and undeclared gold to back the yuan, and the rouble. Give these two currencies free convertibility into gold, and they will be accepted everywhere, so their old cold war enemies can trade their way back to prosperity. The US has, or says it has, enough gold to put a failing dollar back on a gold standard, but for it to be credible it must radically cut spending, its geopolitical ambitions, and return its budget into balance. With luck, that is how the new cold war ends.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 22:45

• Uninhabitable Bay Area Shack Listed For $575k
  Uninhabitable Bay Area Shack Listed For $575k

  A rustic log cabin in one of the Bay Area’s most expensive neighborhoods has been listed for nearly $600k. 

  The 992 sqft log cabin from the 1890s is in considerable disrepair but hidden between Oakland hills and Piedmont’s 94611 ZIP code. The average home value in the area is more than $1.5 million. 

  

  A Zillow description of the log cabin describes it as a “rustic log cabin (in considerable disrepair) built in about 1890.” It does sit on 25,000 sqft of land. 

  

  “It’s a cool property, but not in great shape,” listing agent Nick Flageollet told local news KRON4. “The terrain is sliding out from under the foundation.”

  

  Flageollet said, “It’s very unique. I don’t know if I’ve seen anything like this or even this old in this area.”

  

  Besides calling it a “rustic log cabin,” more or less it’s an uninhabitable shack that is listed for double the US median home price. 

  For someone with a knack for renovations, perhaps a millennial with woodworking skills from the metro area could find this property not just affordable (for the area) but very appealing due to its location in suburbia.  

  When it comes to price/sqft, the shack comes out to around $580, higher than averages in Washington DC and Los Angeles, California. 

  This year, housing prices have been so absurd that Case-Shiller, US home prices in 20 major cities are up a shocking 11.10% year-over-year.

  

  This is the fastest YoY rise since March 2014.

  Away from the 20 major cities, prices are rising even faster, up 11.22% – the fastest YoY price appreciation since Feb 2006…

  

  Who would ever have thought that an uninhabitable shack would be listed for double the price of the average US home? But nothing is surprising in the Bay Area while the Federal Reserve continues to prime real estate markets. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 22:25

• Watch: Shocking Clip Shows Children Being Paraded Around Drag Queen Show Taking Cash Tips
  Watch: Shocking Clip Shows Children Being Paraded Around Drag Queen Show Taking Cash Tips

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

  Yet another disgusting video has emerged of children being paraded around during a late night drag queen show in L.A. as they are encouraged to take cash tips from members of the crowd.

  

  The woman filming the video expresses her revulsion at the scene, commenting, “Why in the hell do these people got these fucking little-bitty ass kids at this fucking drag show?”

  “It is 11:40 at night – these people have children in a fucking drag show in L.A.” she adds.

  The video then shows two young blonde girls being made by a drag queen to perform poses to music as they collect money from the attendees.

  “Look at this shit! They’re fucking throwing money at these little girls, got ’em picking up fucking money off the floor like they’re fucking strippers and shit,” remarks the woman.

  #WakeTheFuckUpAmerica pic.twitter.com/EeRvDOHJDu

  — ✨LINDSAY✨ (@DistortedLinds) April 18, 2021

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

  Respondents to the video were similarly repulsed.

  “I can’t fathom what kind of woke ass stupid parent lets their little girls parade suggestively in front of a room full of horny sauced-up freaks while they get bills thrown at them like strippers,” one remarked.

  “11.40pm. People giving money to children. This is insane,” added another.

  This is by no means the only instance of children being exposed to sexualized drag queen shows in late night clubs.

  In 2019, so-called ‘drag queen kid’ Desmond is Amazing performed on stage at a gay club in New York while patrons tossed money at the then 12-year-old boy.

  A video posted to Tik Tok in February last year showed a drag queen dancing suggestively in front of a girl no older than 6 as adults in the room applauded and cheered.

  The following month, we also highlighted how a school in Brooklyn reportedly handed out stickers to 4-year-old children during a ‘drag queen story time’ event that said “drag queen in training.”

  This occurred in the same month that video emerged of a drag queen in the UK teaching toddlers how to twerk.

  Drag queen Kitty Demure previously slammed ‘woke’ parents for exposing their kids to drag queen culture.

  “I have absolutely no idea why you would want that to influence your child, would you want a stripper or a porn star to influence your child?” he asked.

  *  *  *

  Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

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  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. Also, I urgently need your financial support here.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 22:05

• While The Economy Collapsed In 2020, CEO Pay Surged
  While The Economy Collapsed In 2020, CEO Pay Surged

  At the same time the corporate world was suffering from implementing new burdensome Covid restrictions, dealing with shutting down in-person office sites, and generally trying to quell the panic of a government induced recession brought on by its pandemic response, CEO pay was soaring.

  During 2020, as millions lost their jobs, median pay for CEO of more than 300 of the biggest U.S. public companies hit $13.7 million, up from $12.8 million the year prior, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. Of the 322 CEOs that the Journal analyzed, pay rose for 206 of them, with the median raise coming in at about 15%. 

  The rise was helped along by the bounce in the stock market and modified pay structures for dealing with the response to the pandemic. Shareholders have spoke out at companies like Starbucks and Walgreens Boots Alliance, voting against pay arrangements at the companies’ annual general meetings.

  

  TransDigm also saw 57% of its shares voted against the company’s proposed pay program, which allowed options to vest when they normally otherwise wouldn’t be allowed to be exercised.

  “TransDigm’s executive compensation plans, along with the board’s decision to vest certain options in 2020, are designed to incentivize leaders to act like business owners and align their interests with shareholders over the long term,” the company’s IR rep said.

  Even companies that felt the brunt of the pandemic the worst saw their CEO pay rise. For example, Norwegian Cruise Lines posted a $4 billion loss last year and its revenue fell 80% – but its CEO’s pay doubled to $36.4 million, thanks to resigning a contract extension with the company. 

  The company said: “We believe these changes were in the best interests of the company and secured Mr. Del Rio’s continued invaluable expertise. Our management team took quick, decisive action to reduce costs, conserve cash, raise capital.”

  

  At food service company Aramark, CEO John Zillmer saw his 2020 pay come in at $27.1 million versus $11 million in the year prior. The company’s board “bumped executives’ annual incentive payments up to 40% of initial targets instead of the 10% that pay-program formulas would have dictated,” the report notes.

  Aramark claims the changes were to retain executives and recognize the “extraordinary circumstances” of the pandemic. 

  Shaun Bisman, a pay and corporate-governance consultant at Compensation Advisory Partners in New York, told the Journal: “I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this before in terms of the number of changes we’ve seen in incentive plans.”

  However, not all companies followed suit. CEOs of Exxon, Omnicom Group Inc. and Intel all took less in pay in 2020 than they did in 2019, the report noted. Those companies generated total returns of between -15% and -36% during 2020.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 21:45

• Lacalle: Why The US Recovery Is Not That Strong
  Lacalle: Why The US Recovery Is Not That Strong

  Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

  The United States: Hardly A Recovery

  There is an overly optimistic consensus view about the speed and strength of the United States’ recovery that is contradicted by facts. It is true that the United States recovery is stronger than the European or Japanese one, but the macro data shows that the euphoric messages about aggregate GDP growth are wildly exaggerated.

  Of course, Gross Domestic Product is going to rise fast, with estimates of 6% for 2021. It would be alarming if it did not after a massive chain of stimuli of more than 12% of GDP in fiscal spending and $7 trillion in Federal Reserve balance sheet expansion. This is a combined stimulus that is almost three times larger than the 2008 crisis one, according to McKinsey. The question is, what is the quality of this recovery?

  The answer is: extremely poor. The United States real growth excluding the increase in debt will continue to be exceedingly small. No one can talk about a strong recovery when industry capacity utilization is at 74%, massively below the level of 80% at which it was before the pandemic. Furthermore, labor force participation rate stands at 61.5%, significantly below the pre-covid level and stalling after bouncing to 62% in September. Unemployment may be at 6%, but it is still almost twice as large as it was before the pandemic. Continuing jobless claims remain above 3.7 million in April.  Weekly jobless claims remain above 500,000 and the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs — state and federal combined — for the week ending March 27 decreased by 1.2 million to 16.9 million.

  These figures must be put in the context of the unprecedented spending spree and the monetary stimulus. Yes, the recovery is better than the Eurozone’s thanks to a fast and efficient vaccination rollout and the dynamism of the United States business fabric, but the figures show that a relevant amount of the subsequent stimulus plans have simply perpetuated overcapacity, kept zombie firms that had financial issues before covid-19 alive and bloated the government structural deficit and mandatory spending.

  Would the United States economy had recovered as fast as it has without the deficit-spending stimulus plans? Maybe. I believe so because the entire recovery, both in markets and the economy, has been driven by the vaccine news and the process of inoculation. Most of the programs that have been implemented have had a small impact compared to the re-opening of the hospitality sector and the vaccinations. The entire economic crisis came from the lockdowns and the virus and the entire recovery is the re-opening and the vaccinations.

  My main concern is that this monster deficit and debt program has been set as the minimum for the next crisis. No one has analysed if the spending plans have been effective. In fact, in the eurozone no one seems to be concerned about the fact that countries that have spent between 20 to 30% of GDP in stimulus plans are now in stagnation. The mainstream message seems to be that if the spending plans have not worked it is because they were not large enough. Very few seem to be discussing the waste in public funding when the number one drivers of the recovery are the vaccine roll-out and the re-opening of the services sector.

  It seems that governments want to convince us that they have saved the world when the reality is that the misguided lockdowns were the cause of the economic debacle and lifting them is the main cause of the recovery. In the process, trillions have been squandered. It is dangerous to accept that government spending no matter how much and what for is the only solution and even more dangerous to believe that the shape of the recovery is only a function of the size of the stimulus package. The problem was the virus and the government-imposed lockdowns, the solution is the vaccine and the re-opening.  The problem was caused by government’s lack of prevention and excess of interventionism and the solution is not more intervention.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 21:25

• Facebook Plans To Launch Stablecoin That Will Compete With Dollar Early Next Year
  Facebook Plans To Launch Stablecoin That Will Compete With Dollar Early Next Year

  A couple of days ago, Morgan Stanley warned that China’s new digital renminbi – the first “central bank digital currency” (or CBDC) – could cement its status as the next reserve currency. But as government and Wall Street continue their embrace of virtual currencies that, some say, threaten to blow up the industry status quo and eliminate the need for banks, corporations are also striving to create the stablecoin of the future, challenging governments’ long-held monopoly on money.

  

  Years after Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg first declared his intention to launch a transnational stablecoin via Facebook’s “Libra” project that would, he hoped, enable cross-border payments on Facebook’s platform, the Facebook-backed digital-currency project Diem is reportedly planning to launch its first stablecoin in 2021 as a small-scale pilot, according to an anonymously sourced report from CNBC.

  But Libra, which involved a convoluted plan to launch a stablecoin backed by a potpourri of fiat currencies, was quickly scaled back after Facebook’s talk about creating a new international financial system to supplant the dollar apparently rattled too many feathers. What was left was later spun off as Diem, a re-branding that has given life to a scaled-back vision of corporate stablecoin dominance. However, When it finally arrives, Diem won’t come with the same fanfare and controversy of the original idea envisioned by the social media giant nearly two years ago.

  The person, who preferred to remain anonymous as the details haven’t yet been made public, said this pilot will be small in scale, focusing largely on transactions between individual consumers. There may also be an option for users to buy goods and purchases, the person added. However, there is no confirmed date for the launch and timing could therefore change.

  “It’s really drifted off the radar in a way that’s quite striking,” Michael Casey, chief content officer of the cryptocurrency publication CoinDesk and a former financial journalist, told CNBC.

  Facebook won’t play an official role in the launch, which instead will be overseen by the Diem Association, the Switzerland-based nonprofit which oversees diem’s development.

  In comments to CNBC, financial journalist Michael Casey said he was surprised at how under-the-radar the diem project has become. It’s almost as if the international community has forgotten about it, he said. “It really drifted off the radar in a way that’s quite striking,” said Casey, the chief content officer of the cryptocurrency publication CoinDesk who was one of the first reporters at a major American newspaper (the Wall Street Journal) to cover the rise of crypto.

  The soft reaction to Diem is also surprising considering how much of a backlash its predecessor created. “It was such a stunning challenge to the international order, in that the backlash was just really powerful,” Casey said.

  Diem has lost several senior executives over the past year, as well as the backing of powerful corporations like Mastercard and Visa, among many others. But in the wake of its rebranding, Diem is reportedly in talks with Swiss financial regulators to secure a payment license, a crucial step that would place the organization further along the path toward getting its digital currency project off the ground.

  Of course, more “government sponsored” competitors are in the works: in addition to the eRMB, the ECB recently concluded a public consultation on a digital euro and will make a decision this summer, and the Boston Fed is set to release its initial research in the fall.

  With stablecoins seen as a more practical alternative to bitcoin and ether, we will be closely watching the rollout of stablecoins as a space where corporations might win an early victory in the battle to use crypto technology to seize the money-making monopoly from government – and from the people.

  To sum up, why should readers be skeptical of Facebook’s Diem? Well, Tom Luongo once described it as a “Trojan Rabbit” that could quietly help Zuck seize the ability to print money, and launch “the Central Bank of Facebook.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 21:05

• BLS Reveals That Big City Unemployment Is Much Higher Than The National Average
  BLS Reveals That Big City Unemployment Is Much Higher Than The National Average

  Submitted by Nicholas Colas of Datatrek Research

  After a highly unusual several-month lag, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics has finally updated its state and local labor market statistics, so we will dedicate today’s Data section to these numbers.

  The central message here is that US unemployment trends are very location-specific, something the national data obviously fails to capture. By looking at state- and city-level data we can more accurately assess both how far the domestic labor market has recovered and what factors will drive unemployment/labor force participation trends from here.

  Two points on this topic:

  #1: The current difference in unemployment rates across US states are very large (March 2021 data here).

  • 12 states are already back to essentially full employment (2 – 4 percent unemployment): Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, New Hampshire, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Alabama, Montana, Wisconsin and Indiana.

  • 19 states have unemployment between 4 – 6 percent (note: March national joblessness was 6.0 percent): Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, North Dakota, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Maine, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Wyoming, Washington, West Virginia and Oregon.

  • 8 states have unemployment rates between 6.1 and 7.0 percent, or close to the national level: Maryland, Mississippi, Colorado, Delaware, Alaska, Arizona, Massachusetts and Texas.

  That leaves 11 states with noticeably higher unemployment rates (over 7 percent), and several are in the most populous areas of the country:

  • California (12 pct of US population): 8.3 percent unemployment

  • New York (6 pct): 8.5 percent unemployment

  • Illinois (4 pct): 7.1 percent unemployment

  • Pennsylvania (4 pct): 7.3 percent unemployment

  • New Jersey (3 pct): 7.7 percent unemployment

  • Smaller states with +7 percent unemployment: Rhode Island, Louisiana, Nevada, Connecticut, New Mexico, and Hawaii.

  Takeaway: US unemployment is clustered in a handful of states (CA, NY, IL, PA, and NJ), with much of the rest of the country already approaching, near, or at full employment.

  #2: American big city joblessness is a large part of the country’s overall unemployment challenge, as these 2 points show:

  First, consider February/March’s national unemployment rates as compared to America’s 10 largest cities in the same months:

  • March 2021 national unemployment: 6.0 percent

  • February 2021 national unemployment: 6.2 percent

  Versus:

  • New York City unemployment Rate: 11.2 pct (March)

  • Los Angeles: 10.9 pct (March)

  • Chicago: 7.7 pct (March)

  • Houston: 8.4 pct (Feb data, latest available)

  • Phoenix: 6.7 pct (Feb data)

  • Philadelphia: 11.2 pct (Feb data)

  • San Antonio: 6.8 pct (Feb data)

  • San Diego: 6.9 pct (March)

  • Dallas: 6.9 pct (Feb data)

  • Austin: 5.6 pct (Feb data)

  What this shows: average top-10 big American city unemployment (Feb/March 2021) is 8.2 percent, much higher than the national 6.0 – 6.2 percent rate.

  Second, let’s zoom in on New York and Los Angeles and see how their unemployment situations both differ from and inform the US experience as a whole:

  • First, keep in mind that the US labor force (people employed or looking for work) shrank from February 2020 to March 2021 by 3.8 million people (down 2.3 percent). This highlights the problem of declining labor force participation that Fed Chair Powell regularly mentions.
    NYC has not seen the same drop in workforce size. The labor force here has declined by only 9,186 people (-0.2 percent).
    Los Angeles is much more in line with the national decline in labor force size, down 115,124 from February 2020 (-2.2 percent)

  • Add up unemployment in New York City (462,131) and Los Angeles (551,124) and you get 1,013,255 jobless workers, or 10 percent of the US total. These 2 cities only make up 3.7 percent of the US population.

  Takeaway: the Pandemic Recession hit large American cities harder than the rest of the country due to their leverage to in-person commercial activities like business travel/tourism as well as the shift to work-from-home. It will be some time before they fully recover.

  Final thought: every recession hits regional/local economies differently, but the current dichotomies are exceptional. Even now, the pandemic uniquely challenges urban areas while more suburban/rural regions are in much, much better shape. Monetary and fiscal policy do not, of course, differentiate between New York City or Los Angeles and the 31 states where unemployment is markedly lower than those cities. American policymakers make decisions based on national data, and fair enough – it is one country. But if one is predisposed to worrying about inflationary pressures as a result of over-stimulation, the data we’ve presented today is certainly one way to justify those concerns.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 20:45

• Bill Gates Criticized For Blocking The Equitable Distribution Of COVID Vaccines
  Bill Gates Criticized For Blocking The Equitable Distribution Of COVID Vaccines

  Nearly 1 billion COVID vaccination shots have been distributed around the world, but in more than 120 countries, not a single dose has been received, much less administered. And as we explained recently, one man is to overwhelmingly to blame for this sorry state of affairs: Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

  

  Thanks to his role as the world’s de facto public health czar, Gates has used his influence to ensure that the international vaccine rollout remains firmly under the control of drugmaking giants, and that the intellectual property undergirding vaccines remains a closely guarded secret, not a universally-applicable formula. As a coalition of poorer nations tries to fight back against this using the WTO, a freelance journalist named Alexander Zaitchik has harshly criticized Gates for failing to provide for the equitable distribution of vaccines.

  Zaitchik said the software developer-turned-philanthropist has ignored all concerns about the supply of vaccines, essentially leaving the poorest nations to fend for themselves, even as he pours another $1.8 billion of his own money into the COVAX initiative, which seeks to provide vaccine supplies to more than 90 low-income nations.

  “We missed a crucial year of being able to scale up and get the tech transfer where it should be to have global production at full capacity. And he’s basically said ‘trust me’, and it didn’t work,” Zaitchik said.

  The journalist emphasized that at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, many health experts were calling for a collaborative approach, saying companies and countries should share experience in testing, treatment, and vaccines against the disease. This could have prevented a potential crisis of supply and access to vaccines. However, Zaitchik claims that the Gates-funded ACT-Accelerator had “outmatched and outmanoeuvred” supporters of this “open science” approach with the intention of

  Ironically, the biggest critics of Gates’ methodology are at the WHO. For months, criticis about the unfair distribution of inoculations against the coronavirus. In February, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that more than three quarters of vaccinations had been carried out in just 10 high-income countries. “Around 130 countries, with 2.5 billion people, have yet to administer a single dose”, the WHO chief said.

  At the end of March, Dr. Tedros warned that vaccine inequity was becoming “more grotesque every day” while calling for a fairer distribution of inoculations. He also warned that “countries that are now vaccinating younger, healthy people at low risk of disease are doing so at the cost of the lives of health workers, older people and other at-risk groups in other countries” – something that’s becoming increasingly egregious as unused COVID jabs pile up in some US states.

  Incidentally, Bill Gates has himself complained about the issue of unfair distribution of inoculations and urged US legislators to allocate more money for the global response to the coronavirus.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 20:25

• The Bankers Are Coming! The Bankers Are Coming… For Your Bitcoin
  The Bankers Are Coming! The Bankers Are Coming… For Your Bitcoin

  Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, ‘n Guns blog,

  One of the oldest arguments against Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies in general, is the Central Banker Attack. Anyone who’s spent more than fifteen minutes inside the crypto-world will have heard this one.

  That’s the argument where the person tacitly admits bitcoin isn’t a scam or vaporware but then says, “Well, if it gets too big, they’ll just make it illegal.” What’s most baffling to me is that this argument is mostly made by those who swear by their gold holdings while simultaneously swearing at the central bankers for ruining the world.

  

  I get that it’s mostly a coping mechanism for watching crypto go ballistic while gold languishes under the control those same central bankers. And, in the past, I had a lot more sympathy for that perspective than I do now. Because today, at a total valuation around $2 trillion, we’ve arrived at that moment where the bankers and politicians are coming for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and they are coming hard.

  Since last week’s Coinbase IPO Bitcoin has been under constant and persistent attack. Bitcoin pushed through its former peak at $61,800 and since then there have been massive, coordinated dumps to push the price back down.

  WTF! $7.5 Billion In Stolen #Bitcoin from the 2016 Bitfinex Hack has just been moved for the first time in 5 years. pic.twitter.com/WJJ3smY8dc

  — Mr. Whale (@CryptoWhale) April 14, 2021

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

  That pushed Bitcoin back below it’s previous high and COIN’s tumble from an overpriced IPO didn’t help matters.

  Then Turkey announced it would, like India, that it would ban the use of cryptocurrencies as payments on Friday.

  At nearly the same time, however, China announced it was allowing Chinese banks to import up to 150 tonnes of gold for retail distribution for the first time since 2019. This led some to speculate about a ‘gold-backed yuan’ but I don’t think that at all.

  This was simply another counter-move to the ones made against the cryptocurrency markets. Like the Archegos Capital tac nuke that is still creating aftershocks throughout the financial system, China’s announcement sent gold, which was firming but still very vulnerable to the downside, through near-term resistance to close the week above the magic $1760 level.

  

  One has to realize just how important gold’s non-confirmation of bitcoin’s rally has been to undermine it in the eyes of major money managers. Gold is an asset the central banks control most of the supply of. Bitcoin is the opposite, an asset the central banks presumably control none of.

  So, when casting your eye around the market landscape who are the people, other than the bitter gold-only bugs, most bearish about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies? The ones who made/make their living off the U.S. dollar-based system.

  Between them and those that have a kind of monetary policy Stockholm Syndrome there’s still a massive number of people who just can’t or won’t get involved at this point. At a minimum, many pros are simply waiting for a real correction they can get behind to finally take the plunge.

  But bull markets, real bull markets, are brutal to people who refuse to get on board and the longer it goes on the more strident in their opposition they become. Hence the constant sniping and backbiting by people who should know better amplifying the truly clueless takes on the situation.

  Thanks to the Chinese on Friday a simultaneous wipeout of both gold and bitcoin was avoided with gold breaking out and bitcoin mostly holding serve, throwing no technically significant bearish signals into the weekly close.

  

  Averting a weekly close above the March high helped set up what happened on Sunday early morning.

  These attacks were honestly not terribly successful until a series of uncorroborated rumors of the SEC going after Bitcoin account holders for money laundering emerged on Twitter this weekend.

  

  From Zerohedge on this:

  Whereas this account traditionally blasts Reuters or Bloomberg headlines, in this case there was no such underlying report from either Reuters or Bloomberg, and Bloomberg even said that “several online reports attributed the plunge to speculation the U.S. Treasury may crack down on money laundering that’s carried out through digital assets.”

  Furthermore, in comments just earlier this week, regulators refused to take a position on bitcoin either way, even as speculation of a crackdown against bitcoin by the US government is ever present – indeed, the rumor of a “crackdown” against money laundering has always been present, which is why said tweet merely poured gasoline on an already jittery market.

  Then there were the blackouts in China which took a huge amount of hashing power offline for a few hours this weekend.

  “After a run-up in prices ushering in #Coinbase‘s long-awaited market debut earlier in the week, the #cryptocurrency market plummeted early Sunday after blackouts in China led to massive declines in #bitcoin‘s mining rates…”
  https://t.co/lkLFP0Ea4E

  — Bitcoin Market Journal (@BitcoinMktJrnl) April 18, 2021

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

  But, honestly, this kind of bearish price action into Sunday morning is normal. I do a report for my Patrons every Sunday morning and there is always shenanigans while I’m asleep Saturday night. I go to sleep and everything is fine and I wake up the next morning and bitcoin is off some amount. Sometimes it’s technically scary, like this week and sometimes it’s just sad.

  Saturday nights in #Bitcoin have become like Monday mornings in #Gold used to be. If you are a long-time gold sufferer you know exactly what I’m talking about.

  Attacks only make you stronger.

  — Tom Luongo (@TFL1728) April 18, 2021

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

  Now, Zerohedge is right that the market should be jittery, certainly. Any asset that climbs 20x in a year is one that is very overbought. However, bitcoin’s unique problem for mean reversionists is it is just beginning to climb the broader adoption curve while it’s supply continues dwindling.

  And that’s why these attacks had to happen this week. Another bull wave up would have done real damage to the credibility of the central banks right at the same time that China seemingly put in the floor beneath gold prices at around $1670.

  Remember, it was last year where gold and bitcoin came off the Coronapocalypse in safe haven lockstep, both rallying hard into August. Bitcoin’s fundamental supply and demand mismatch and a spate of institutional adoption announcements touched off its rise in November to break out of the three-year consolidation at the quarterly level.

  

  Gold, still being the plaything of the central banks continued its decline to this day. Even Friday’s technical breakout is only a short-term life preserver given that the longer-term charts are bearish. Gold has a lot of work to do to regain the market’s confidence.

  And that makes bitcoin’s correction all that much more dangerous all around because the two assets moving down together now will only make those skeptical of bitcoin that much more cautious and respectful of the awesome power of the central banks.

  The liquidations in bitcoin that began over the weekend continue today. The usual suspects will be out saying, “See! I told you so!” And I’m looking at my portfolio saying, “Told me what, that I’m only up 350% since the start of the year versus 400%?”

  Cry me a frickin’ river.

  Moments like this quite possibly become inflection points in a market’s history, no doubt about it. And it’s clear that there is a coordinated effort by those with power to manipulate events to their satisfaction. It’s completely expected. If they didn’t counterattack I would actually be less bullish on cryptos because I’d now be looking for the dead rat in the cupboard because something wouldn’t smell right.

  That said, China confirmed my analysis of their Friday announcement on gold by today reversing their stance on cryptocurrencies after years of opposition to it.

  Industry insiders called the comments “progressive” and are watching closely for any regulatory changes made by the People’s Bank of China.

  “We regard Bitcoin and stablecoin as crypto assets … These are investment alternatives,” Li Bo, deputy governor of the PBOC, said on Sunday during a panel hosted by CNBC at the Boao Forum for Asia.

  “They are not currency per se. And so the main role we see for crypto assets going forward, the main role is investment alternative” he added.

  This confuses some people, but it honestly shouldn’t.

  I’ve made the point in the past that if you really thought China was against bitcoin then how do you explain the amount of energy consumed by the Chinese electrical grid in mining it?

  

  https://www.statista.com/statistics/1200477/bitcoin-mining-by-country/

  I’m no fan of central planning but really do you think something like this happens without the CCP knowing about it because they have a Hayekian pretense to knowledge?

  Or do you think, maybe, just maybe, China is more than happy to allow this to go on knowing the bind it ultimately puts the Fed, the ECB and the SNB?

  Do you really think that China doesn’t understand that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can become more of a near-term threat to the U.S.’s dominance of the global financial system than anything it does today or tomorrow with the digital yuan?

  Even if that argument doesn’t persuade you, the idea that China wouldn’t nurture bitcoin as a weapon to use against an increasingly hostile and sanctions-happy U.S. as a kind of monetary shock troop brigade is terminally naïve.

  Moreover, do you think China’s government didn’t just give out a stern warning to the miners there not to get too many ideas? If Jack Ma can get taken down a few pegs, so can AntPool. Moments like this only confirm for me that the bitcoin hashing power will become more democratized now that there are real investments in the U.S. on the line.

  Expect hashing power to migrate away from China while at the same time more attempts made to bring the bitcoin supply more under control of authorities here in the West. The beauty of crypto, of course, is that spinning up another blockchain is easy, building trust over time is important and altcoins which one may consider shitcoins today may be the saviors of the entire industry tomorrow.

  Highs are made when the supply of buyers is overwhelmed by the supply of sellers. Bottoms are the reverse of this, where sellers are overwhelmed by a flood of buyers. I find it fascinating that this knock down of bitcoin hasn’t done much to dampen the enthusiasm for other high-quality store-of-value style coins. Once bitcoin retreated from its new high we saw big breakouts in coins like DASH, Monero (XMR), Decred (DCR) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

  Heck, even a duds like Zcash (ZEC) and Bitcoin Gold (BTG) joined the party.

  But once Turkey made its announcement and the SEC rumor hit the markets what really saw a move was the ultimate privacy coin, Pirate Chain (ARRR). It doesn’t take a 200+ IQ to figure that one out. Pirate Chain has been quietly building momentum all year and exploded in a 10x move that made even Dogecoin (DOGE) look tame. Moreover, there seems to be no slowing it down, because this isn’t a trade, it’s a defensive move.

  Since ARRR doesn’t really trade on any major exchanges liquidity is non-existent and holders of it have no intention of letting go just because the central banks are coming. If the SEC is worried about money laundering with a fully transparent blockchain like bitcoin or ethereum, what will they do when the world wakes up to the complete anonymization of capital coins like ARRR and XMR are capable of delivering?

  With the central banks and The Davos Crowd making their moves on the entire crypto-space it validates what I’ve been saying about the futility of their actions trying to maintain their power and control. They are putting a premium on anonymity and privacy in a world increasingly under surveillance. China’s statements and actions on bitcoin are putting a premium on wider, shallower mining and alternatives to blockchain security.

  It may be time to light three lanterns in the window because the central banks are coming both by land and by sea but nothing worth having was ever gained by not fighting for it. We’ll soon find out who has the stones and the fortitude to stick it out to the end.

  And if the crypto-revolution ultimately dies on the digital vine then there’s always gold right?

  *  *  *

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 20:05

• China's Central Bank Researchers Urge Lifting Birth Limits To Keep Up With 'Skilled Immigration-Fed' US
  China’s Central Bank Researchers Urge Lifting Birth Limits To Keep Up With ‘Skilled Immigration-Fed’ US

  China is still desperately seeking to recover from its disastrous ‘one-child policy’ which was officially ended in 2015 and replaced by the current two-child policy, yet still by 2019 the country reached a decades low of 14.7 million births after years of observable stark decline, still significantly below what’s required to maintain the size of the current population and economy. 

  With this aim in mind and amid the continued panic in terms of the need to replace the future workforce and compete with other industrialized nations, especially its superpower rival the United States, there are new calls in the country to “fully liberalize” its draconian birth-control policy, which remains reputed as the harshest in the world. 

  

  A recently released paper published by the People’s Bank of China urges a drastic overhaul of the policy to actually encourage “three or more” children per household. It called for a total lifting of any restrictions in order to “fully liberalize and encourage childbirth” to reverse the current four-year straight decline in births nationwide. 

  A key section of the 22-page document spells out: “In order to achieve the long-term goals in 2035, China should fully liberalize and encourage childbirth, and sweep off difficulties (women face) during pregnancy, childbirth, and kindergarten and school enrollment by all means (possible),” the four central bank researchers wrote in the English language abstract. 

  In particular the authors, who noted they don’t necessarily represent the official views of the central bank, worry that the United States’ continued influx of “skilled immigration” combined with China’s accelerating rate of ageing population (and with a little over 70% of the total population in the labor workforce based on 2019 numbers, compared to a US rate of 65%) will leave China’s economy at a huge disadvantage: 

  “For [China] to narrow the gap with the United States in the past four decades, it relied on cheap labor and huge numbers of people… What will we rely on in the next 30 years? This is worth our thoughts,” the study said.

  “If there’s slight hesitation, (we) will miss the precious window of opportunity for birth policy to respond to the demographic transition, and repeat the mistake of developed countries.”

  

  Charts via BBC/World Bank figures.

  

  The study further comes after recent forecasts by the United Nations suggested that over the next thirty years China’s population is expected to decrease by over 30 million people; and simultaneously the US is expected to gain 50 million by 2050.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 19:45

• The Lockdown Paradigm Is Collapsing
  The Lockdown Paradigm Is Collapsing

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The American Institute for Economic Research,

  It’s taken much longer than it should have but at last it seems to be happening: the lockdown paradigm is collapsing. The signs are all around us. 

  

  The one-time hero of the lockdown, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, is now deeply unpopular and most voters want him to resign. Meanwhile, polls have started to favor Florida governor and lockdown opponent Ron DeSantis for influence over the GOP in the future. This remarkable flip in fortunes is due to the dawning realization that the lockdowns were a disastrous policy. DeSantis and fellow anti-lockdown governor Kristi Noem are the first to state the truth bluntly. Their honesty has won them both credibility.

  Meanwhile, in Congressional hearings, Representative James Jordan (R-OH) demanded that Dr. Fauci account for why closed Michigan has worse disease prevalence than neighboring Wisconsin which has long been entirely open. Fauci pretended he couldn’t hear the question, couldn’t see the chart, and then didn’t understand. Finally he just sat there silent after having uttered a few banalities about enforcement differentials.

  The lockdowners are now dealing with the huge problem of Texas. It has been fully open with no restrictions for 6 weeks. Cases and deaths fell dramatically in the same period. Fauci has no answer. Or compare closed California with open Florida: similar death rates. We have a full range of experiences in the US that allow comparisons between open and closed and disease outcomes. There is no relationship. 

  Or you could look to Taiwan, which had no stringencies governing its 23.5 million people. Deaths from Covid-19 thus far: 11. Sweden, which stayed open, performed better than most of Europe. 

  The problem is that the presence or absence of lockdowns in the face of the virus seem completely uncorrelated with any disease trajectory. AIER has assembled 33 case studies from all over the world showing this to be true. 

  Why should any of this matter? Because the “scientists” who recommended lockdowns had posited very precisely and pointedly that they had found the way to control the virus and minimized negative outcomes. We know for sure that the lockdowns imposed astonishing collateral damage. What we do not see is any relationship between lockdowns and disease outcomes. 

  This is devastating because the scientists who pushed lockdowns had made specific and falsifiable predictions. This was probably their biggest mistake. In doing so, they set up a test of their theory. Their theory failed. This is the sort of moment that causes a collapse of a scientific paradigm, as explained by Thomas Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). 

  A good example of a similar situation might be the Soviet economy under Nikita Khrushchev. He came to power with a promise that he would make the Russia economy under communism perform better than the United States. That was the essence of his famous promise “We will bury you.” He meant that Russia would outproduce America. 

  It did not happen. He failed and the theory he pushed failed alongside. And thus began the slow coming apart of communist theory and practice. Khrushchev had already repudiated the Stalinist terror state but never had any intention of presiding over the slow demise of the entire Soviet experiment in central planning. By setting up a test that could falsify his promise, he doomed an entire system to intellectual repudiation and eventual collapse. 

  The theory and practice of lockdownism could be going the same way. 

  In Kuhn’s reconstruction of the history of science, he argued that progress in science occurs not in a linear fashion but rather episodically as new orthodoxies emerge, get codified, and then collapse under the weight of too many anomalies. 

  The pattern goes like this. There is normal science driven by puzzle solving and experimentation. When a theory seems to capture most known information, a new orthodoxy emerges – a paradigm. Over time, too much new information seems to contradict what the theory would predict or explain. Thus emerges the crisis and collapse of the paradigm. We enter into a pre-paradigmatic era as the cycle starts all over again. 

  As best anyone can tell, the idea of locking down when faced with a new virus emerged in the US and the UK around 2005-2006. It started with a small group of fanatics who dissented from traditional public health. They posited that they could manage a virus by dictating people’s behavior: how closely they stood next to each other, where they travelled, what events they attended, where they sat and for how long. They pushed the idea of closures and restrictions, which they branded “nonpharmaceutical interventions” through “targeted layered containment.” What they proposed was medieval in practice but with a veneer of computer science and epidemiology. 

  When the idea was first floated, it was greeted with ferocious opposition. Over time, the lockdown paradigm made progress, with funding from the Gates Foundation and more recruits from within academia and public health bureaucracies. There were journals and conferences. Guidelines at the national level started to warm to the idea of school and business closures and a more broad invocation of the quarantine power. It took 10 years but eventually the heresy became a quasi-orthodoxy. They occupied enough positions of power that they were able to try out their theory on a new pathogen that emerged 15 years after the idea of lockdown had been first floated, while traditional epidemiology came to be marginalized, gradually at first and then all at once. 

  Kuhn explains how a new orthodoxy gradually replaces the old one:

  When, in the development of a natural science, an individual or group first produces a synthesis able to attract most of the next generation’s practitioners, the older schools gradually disappear. In part their disappearance is caused by their members’ conversion to the new paradigm. But there are always some men who cling to one or another of the older views, and they are simply read out of the profession, which thereafter ignores their work. The new paradigm implies a new and more rigid definition of the field. Those unwilling or unable accommodate their work to it must proceed in isolation or attach themselves to some other group. 

  That’s a good description of how lockdown ideology triumphed. There are plenty of conspiracy theories out there concerning why the lockdowns happened. Many of them contain grains of truth. But we don’t need to take recourse to them to understand why it happened. It happened because the people who believed in them became dominant in the world of ideas, or at least prominent enough to override and banish traditional principles of public health. The lockdowns were driven primarily by lockdown ideology. The adherents to this strange new ideology grew to the point where they were able to push their agenda ahead of time-tested principles.

  It is a blessing of this ideology that it came with a built-in promise. They would achieve better disease outcomes than traditional public health practices, so they said. This promise will eventually be their undoing, for one simple reason: they have not worked. Kuhn writes that in the history of science, this is prelude to crisis due to “the persistent failure of the puzzles of normal science to come out as they should. Failure of existing rules is the prelude to a search for new ones.” Further: “The significance of crises is the indication they provide that an occasion for retooling has arrived.”

  Kuhn’s theory of scientific progress fits rather well with the rise and fall of lockdownism. They had a theory that converted many people away from traditional principles. That theory came with a test. The theory has failed the test – that much is becoming more obvious by the day. 

  The silence of Fauci in Congressional hearings is telling. His willingness only to be interviewed by fawning mainstream media TV anchors is as well. Many of the other lockdowners that were public and preening one year ago have fallen silent, sending ever fewer tweets and content that is ever more surreptitious rather than certain. The crisis for the fake science of lockdownism may not be upon us now but it is coming. 

  Kuhn speaks of the post-crisis period of science as a time for a new paradigm to emerge, first nascently and then becoming canonical over time. What will replace lockdown ideology? We can hope it will be the realization that the old principles of public health served us well, as did the legal and moral principles of human rights and restrictions on the powers of government.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 19:25

• 68-Year Old President Of Chad Killed In Frontline Clashes With Rebels
  68-Year Old President Of Chad Killed In Frontline Clashes With Rebels

  In a headline that almost defies belief given it’s the 21st century, the president of the north-central African country of Chad has died from wounds sustained on frontlines while battling rebels seeking to oust his government. 

  The national armed forces announced Tuesday that Chad’s President Idriss Déby Itno, who had only on Monday been elected to a sixth term, “died while protecting the country” and as he was “commanding an army unit during hostilities against the rebels in the north of the country,” according to AFP. He was pronounced dead from his injuries at a hospital. 

  

  The 68-year-old leader has been in office since 1990, and under his rule Chad had been considered a key strategic ally in the historically war-racked central African region. Though widely acknowledged as a dictator, European countries like former colonial power France considered he and his military crucial in rooting out jihadists from the region.

  AFP reports the following details of his death: “The army said Deby had been commanding his forces at the weekend as they fought rebels who had launched a major incursion into the north of the oil-producing country on election day.”

  Deby “has just breathed his last breath defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield,” army spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna announced on state television, which reportedly sent much of the population into a panic as schools, public buildings, and the country’s borders were shut “until further notice” on fears of instability.

  

  And BBC added further details: “He had gone to the front line, several hundred kilometres north of the capital N’Djamena, at the weekend to visit troops battling rebels belonging to a group calling itself Fact (the Front for Change and Concord in Chad).”

  Here’s more background from AFP: 

  Deby, often called “marshal” due to his military rank, had ruled Chad with an iron fist since taking power on the back of a coup in 1990.

  He was nonetheless a key ally in the West’s anti-jihadist campaign in the troubled Sahel region, particularly due to Chad’s ability to supply weaponry and soldiers.

  Déby son, 37-year-old four star general Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, will take over leadership of the country and army for the next 18 months during a ‘transition period’ during which time parliament will be suspended.

  #UPDATE Chad’s President Idriss #Deby Itno died on Tuesday from wounds sustained in battle after three decades in power, the army said, his son immediately named transitional leader opening a period of uncertainty in a country that is a key Western ally https://t.co/R7OFIgm2J2 pic.twitter.com/CTGvFLzDWv

  — AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 20, 2021

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

  Mahamat Idriss Déby is now vowing “free and democratic” elections following the mourning period and lengthy transition period.

  Recent history in the region of course suggests that the son will probably hold onto power for decades to come. There’s already widespread fears the country is poised to descend into instability and violence.

  

  Idriss Déby Itno previously addressing the United Nations, via Reuters.

  

  We should note that this instance of Deby’s perishing during a battle constitutes the only time in the 21st century that a head of state has died while leading his forces into military combat — something we can imagine is probably never going to happen again in this century, apparently providing a lone exception to Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s take on all modern heads of state (especially in the West) as warmongers who are themselves not warriors…

  “Historically, all warlords and warmongers were warriors themselves, and, with a few curious exceptions, societies were run by risk takers, not risk transferors,” Taleb wrote in his Skin in the Game.

  “They took risks – more risks than ordinary citizens. Julian the Apostate, the hero of many, died on the battlefield fighting in the never-ending war on the Persian frontier. One of predecessors, Valerian, after he was captured was said to have been used as a human footstool by the Persian Shahpur when mounting his horse. Less than a third of Roman emperors died in their bed – and one can argue that, had they lived longer, they would have fallen prey to either a coup or a battlefield.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 19:05

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Britain To Deploy 2 Warships To Black Sea As "Solidarity" With Ukraine
  Britain To Deploy 2 Warships To Black Sea As “Solidarity” With Ukraine

  Turkey’s NTV channel is confirming a Sunday Times report that said the UK is preparing to sail two warships into the Black Sea via the Bosporus starting next month amid continued fears that a major confrontation between Russia and Ukraine could break out. 

  “Putting the ships off the coast of Ukraine is intended to show solidarity with Kiev and Nato allies in the region after the President Biden decided to cancel the deployment of two American warships to the Black Sea last week for fear of escalating the crisis over the massing of Russian troops,” The Sunday Times wrote. 

  

  Biden had canceled the US warship deployment after a phone call with Russia’s Putin, wherein the US president also expressed willingness for a face-to-face summit at some point in the summer – an overture that angered hawks, given it put the White House in a “weak” position due to no conditions being agreed to ahead of such a high level bilateral summit

  According to further details in The Sunday Times:

  One Type 45 destroyer armed with anti-aircraft missiles and an anti-submarine Type 23 frigate will peel off from the Royal Navy’s carrier task group in the Mediterranean and head through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea, according to senior naval sources.

  RAF F-35B Lightning stealth jets and Merlin submarine-hunting helicopters are to stand ready on the task group’s flag ship, the carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, to support the warships in the Black Sea should they be threatened by Russian warships, submarines or aircraft. HMS Queen Elizabeth has to stay in the Mediterranean because an international treaty prohibits aircraft carriers from entering the Black Sea.

  The Montreux Agreement of 1936 dictates that foreign powers passing through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles straits must notify Turkey two weeks ahead of time before their passage.

  Interestingly, the Royal Navy had plans for near-future Black Sea missions prior to current tensions and Russia’s troop build-up in Crimea and near the Ukrainian border. But this new deployment is now being recast as “solidarity” toward Ukraine. The announcement further came days after Russia closed the Kerch Strait to all foreign military vessels, essentially cutting off the Ukrainian Navy’s access to the Black Sea. 

  Britain’s Ministry of Defence was cited as saying for example: “The UK and our international allies are unwavering in our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We are working closely with Ukraine to monitor the current situation and continue to call on Russia to de-escalate.”

  “Our armed forces continue to support Ukraine through our training mission Operation Orbital, which has trained over 20,000 members of the armed forces of Ukraine, and the UK-led Maritime Training Initiative,” it added.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 02:45

• UK Labour Leader Kicked Out Of Pub By Anti-Lockdown Landlord
  UK Labour Leader Kicked Out Of Pub By Anti-Lockdown Landlord

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

  UK Labour Party leader Keir Starmer was kicked out of a pub in Bath by an irate landlord who tore into him for supporting the Conservative government’s economy-wrecking lockdown policy.

  

  Starmer’s visit to the Raven didn’t go as planned as owner Rod Humphreys launched into a verbal tirade about the idiocy of COVID-19 restrictions while asserting he was “incandescent” with rage.

  The landlord showed Starmer a chart while making the point that the average age of a COVID death was 82 years and 3 months compared to the average age of death in the UK which is 81 years.

  “Do you understand we have fucked our economy because old people are dying,” said Humphreys before going on to point out that the UK had a similar total death rate in 2008.

  Eventful trip to the Raven in Bath for Labour leader Keir Starmer.
  Warning – bad language from landlord Rod Humphreys pic.twitter.com/gjNtCsok6F

  — Stephen Sumner (@StephenSumner15) April 19, 2021

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

  “You’ve failed me – I’ve been a Labour voter my entire life,” Humphreys told Starmer as the politician tried to skulk away.

  “You have failed to be the opposition, you have failed to ask whether lockdown was functioning, thousands of people have died because you have failed to do your job and ask the real questions.”

  Humphreys then scolded Starmer for failing to oppose children wearing masks in schools when there’s “never been any evidence for it.”

  A second clip shows Humphreys demanding Starmer leave his pub after the politician and his security team tried to enter the premises.

  A UK pub owner kicks out a pro-lockdown politician. This is the most satisfying video you’ll see all day. pic.twitter.com/i4YbD1AKBy

  — Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) April 19, 2021

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

  The Labour Party is supposed to act as the “opposition” to the ruling government, and yet it has voted with the Tories on every single COVID-19 lockdown policy, at some points arguing that the restrictions should have been even more severe.

  Starmer subsequently addressed the incident on Twitter with a smarmy tweet that encouraged people to register to vote.

   

  Register to vote for a party that supports the exact same policies as the ruling government?

  Genius.

  *  *  *

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 04/20/2021 – 02:00

• Oceania Takes On Eurasia And Eastasia
  Oceania Takes On Eurasia And Eastasia

  Submitted by South Front,

  The emerging US strategy appears to be centered on imposing a regime of isolation on Russia and China with the aim of ultimately effecting regime change in both countries through a combination of political, economic, and military measures. The military component consists of building up naval, aerial, and space capabilities for blockade and strike directed at these two countries and any countries aligned with them. The ongoing shift of US military capabilities away from protracted land warfare toward naval and aerial long-range strike using hypersonic weapons and swarming munitions, evidenced by the US Marine Corps’ shedding of its tanks and heavy artillery and the US Army opting for long-range missile arsenals and even anti-ship capabilities, indicates a preference for “non-contact” warfare in the future, with client states being assigned the role of “bleeding” in future conflicts. The fact that even the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, the senior military advisory body to the civilian leadership, a US Army four-star general himself, argues that in the future the US Army will need to have its funding reduced in order to facilitate the US Navy’s improbably ambitious expansion plans, is very telling in and of itself.

  NATO’s obsession with so-called “Anti-Access/Area Denial”, or A2/AD “bubbles” supposedly being built by Russia and China in order to protect their territory from NATO’s aggression in locations such as Kaliningrad Region, Crimea, Hainan Island, and other locations, is indicative of the offensive nature of NATO’s operational planning which is plainly inconvenienced by the notion of putative targets being able to shoot back. The development of drone swarms and hypersonic munitions, together with the desperate emphasis on deploying as many of the clearly flawed F-35 stealth fighters as possible, is all part of the technological arms race intended to give offense an advantage over defense.

  But technology is only one part of the puzzle. The other is that deep-strike technologies require, well, “access” to politically open airspace which may not always be available. Moreover, US deep-strike capabilities may also rely on bases located in client states that would become targets of counterstrikes. That the possibility, indeed the strong likelihood of such retaliation exists was suggested by Russia’s warning to NATO in advance of the post-Douma false-flag operation cruise missile strikes against Syria that, should Russian forces or facilities be targeted, the Russian military would not limit itself to downing the munitions.Instead it would also go after the launch platforms (meaning aircraft and warships) as well as bases from which they were operating. In that context, it would have meant NATO air and naval bases in Greece, Italy, and as far away as Spain, which homeports four US Navy destroyers at Naval Station Rota. One way or the other, the message was received by NATO and no Russian forces or facilities were targeted. But the precedent was established, and we can assume it will be followed in any future confrontations.

  Which means that United States’ ability to launch strikes against Russia or China, their forces and bases both on and outside its national territory and airspace, will also be limited by client states’ unwillingness to suffer retaliatory strikes.

  This creates a major diplomatic challenge for the United States, which is relegating its “allies” to the role of punching bags forcing to accept retaliatory blows following its own strikes. The sheer size of Russia and China combined means that the challenge varies from region to region.

  Here the situation is relatively the easiest for the US, given the proximity of Alaska where a major military build-up is taking place, including anti-ballistic missile defenses, forward-basing of strategic bombers, and plans for major F-35 permanent deployment in addition to the air-defense F-22s already stationed there. However, these bases have pretty limited reach, even with aerial refueling for the F-35s, which means that to reach targets closer to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk US forces would have to rely, one way or another, on bases in Norway, Iceland, and even Greenland. The likelihood of the relevant political authorities giving assent to the use of these bases in support of strikes against Russian forces or assets in the Arctic reasons appears to be low. Given these countries’ economic interests in the Arctic and the effectiveness of the Arctic Council at managing the problems of the region, it does not appear likely that Norway, Denmark, or Iceland, would go so far as to risk being a target of Russian military retaliation, and the inevitable end to that international organization which would follow. While Sweden and Finland are also making noises about joining NATO, which would enter huge swaths of airspace to “access” by US aircraft and missiles on their way to Russia, the prospect of becoming a target of retaliation has so far kept them from joining that organization outright. One, however, should not discount the possibility of existence of various secret agreements and arrangements that are being kept from these countries’ populations.

  Here the United States has two countries that are actually willing, at the governmental level if not popular one, to absorb Russian retaliatory strikes. These are Poland and Romania which have already agreed to host components of US National Missile Defense system, and which are all but guaranteed to give the US whatever “access” it needs in case of an operation against Kaliningrad or Crimea, respectively. The restraining factor here is the fact both of these countries happen to be members of the European Union and will remain such for the foreseeable future in spite of earlier US efforts to split the union by peeling off first Great Britain, and then Eastern Europe. While not members of the Eurozone, they are nevertheless part of the common market and open border zones, and serve as the preferred destination for “outsourcing” by Western European firms seeking to avoid Eurozone’s high labor costs (which creates its own set of problems). The pressure on North Stream 2 and indeed on all EU-Russia economic and political ties is motivated by the desire to eliminate the political resistance to the free use of EU’s airspace for offensive military operations against Russia and its targets. So far it has had little success, and has even elevated North Stream 2 issue to the level of question whether Germany is in any way a sovereign country. United States is also exerting indirect pressure on Germany by actively courting France as its “preferred” continental interlocutor at the expense of Germany. However, the economic benefits of EU-Russia collaboration have proved greater than anything the United States could provide to offset them, and Biden’s own version of “America First” policies is unlikely to be more attractive than Trump’s.

  To make matters worse, Poland’s and Romania’s proximity to Russia have meant a certain unwillingness to place major US military bases there, meaning that even when it comes to operations by bombers based in the United States, some of their support functions would be performed by military units based in Germany, Italy, and Great Britain, rendering them vulnerable to retaliatory strikes as well.

  Here, if anything, the situation is even worse for the US than in Europe’s case because there does not appear to be a single country that is an equivalent to Poland and Romania in the sense of having political leadership willing to make their country a hostage to Washington’s military planning. The relevant countries where US currently has bases include Japan and South Korea, neither of which views their relationship with China as a zero-sum game. Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, do not show signs of giving the US a blank check in any situation other than a major threat to their own vital interests by China. The political resistance would mean pushing US support infrastructure to as far as Guam, which is too far and too poorly developed to sustain large-scale carrier battle group operations in eastern Pacific or South China Sea. Even Australia, which has a strong Sinophobic lobby and which moreover self-identifies as part of the “Anglosphere”, is on the fence regarding the desirability of granting unfettered access to Australia’s bases and airspace for the purpose of operations against China.

  The difficulties United States are experiencing at providing the political preconditions for the implementation of their ambitious aero-naval-space blockade and strike capabilities demonstrate the importance of traditional diplomacy to national security. Russia’s outreach to the European Union, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as China’s oft-maligned “Tiger diplomacy” have created a situation in which US military power is functionally displaced by political considerations. It does not even appear that the US leadership is fully aware of the reasons for the ineffectiveness of its military power, otherwise it would not be sending badly overworked aircraft carriers on “double-pump” deployments or keep decades-old strategic bombers on what looks like a repeat of permanent patrols, though this time without nuclear bombs onboard. This is, however, what a multipolar world looks like and will look like going forward. Biden administration’s agreement to extend the New START with Russia for five years without preconditions, over the objections of such hard-liners as Victoria Nuland, suggests there is some reluctant recognition that the world is shifting toward a more equitable distribution of power and wealth.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 23:50

• WHO Rejects Vaccine Passport For International Travelers
  WHO Rejects Vaccine Passport For International Travelers

  In a statement released following a virtual briefing on Monday, the WHO’s Emergency Committee on international health standards officially recommended that governments avoid making vaccine passports mandatory, a trend that is already catching on in the UK.

  Specifically, the committee advised governments “do not require proof of vaccination as a condition of entry, given the limited (although growing) evidence about the performance of vaccines in reducing transmission and the persistent inequity in the global vaccine distribution. States Parties are strongly encouraged to acknowledge the potential for requirements of proof of vaccination to deepen inequities and promote differential freedom of movement.”

  

  To justify this position, the WHO cited both limited data on vaccine effectiveness in reducing transmission, along with the deep inequalities in availability that the WHO has long complained about, while at the same time enabling the man is perhaps, more than anybody, responsible for the fact that poor nations will likely wait years for adequate vaccine supplies.

  As we have reported, this man’s name is Bill Gates.

  Incidentally, the Committee also exhorted governments to do whatever they could to support Covax, the WHO-sponsored and Gates-designed program to supply enough jabs to vaccinate the populations of more than 130 countries. However, the program hasn’t managed to allocate nearly enough vaccines, and many poorer nations – beyond the 92 officially eligible for aid via Covax – have no idea where vaccine supplies will come from, sine the choice to respect patent law has created massive international supply bottlenecks. Instead of allowing an “open vaccine” that could be produced anywhere, emerging markets must compete for jabs on the free market.

  After telling governments to try to keep quarantine restrictions for travelers within the bounds of common sense, the WHO added that governments should also work to “Reduce the financial burden on international travelers” whenever possible while enforcing quarantine measures.

  Meanwhile, over in the US, CDC Director Dr. Walensky, whose fearmongering has launched her to front-page coverage in the past, warned that COVID cases have continued to climb even as vaccination numbers have risen, a reality that hasn’t escaped millions of Americans, who are walking on with their masks on as if nothing has changed.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 23:30

• The Age Of Over-Abundant Elites
  The Age Of Over-Abundant Elites

  Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com,

  I’ve been reading Peter Turchin’s “Ages of Discord”, which tries to look at patterns of societal strife that he found in previous, pre-industrial civilizations such as Rome and France, and examine how it holds up in a post-industrial era. It bears some resemblance to other cycle theories like Strauss and Howe’s “Fourth Turning” or other long-wave models like Kondratiev Waves (K-Waves). The basic premise behind these ideas are that societies undergo cyclical or pendulum-like dynamics between relatively steady states of prosperity and stability, the internal dynamics of which then produce the conditions that precipitate reversions into turbulent periods of strife and chaotic change.

  The important thing to keep in mind is that to that the likes of Turchin and other historical statisticians, the periods of societal discord that they try to map may look like this:

  

  Turchin: Long-term dynamics of sociopolitical instability in France, 800–1700 (data from Sorokin 1937).

  But when experienced in real life look more like this

  

  St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, 1572 by François Dubois

  If there’s one thing in this highly polarized world that everybody probably does agree on it’s that we are almost certainly already in one of these periods of discord right now.

  What I’m finding most interesting from Turchin’s take on this isn’t that periods of stability are not terminated by resource depletion (a la the climate alarmists), or any other “limits to growth” per se. While population growth in pre-industrial societies may bump up against “neo-Malthusian” limits, it sets up a counter-cyclical decline in population growth. How these forces interact in a transition from stability to chaos is that an over-abundance of elites creates a situation of the political class splitting into factions and fighting over the spoils of what is now a shrinking pie in terms of real economic wealth:

   “According to this theory, population growth in excess of the productivity gains of the land has several effects on social institutions. First, it leads to persistent price inflation, falling real wages, rural misery, urban migration, and increased frequency of food riots and wage protests.

  Second, rapid expansion of population results in elite overproduction—an increased number of aspirants for the limited supply of elite positions. Increased intra-elite competition leads to the formation of rival patronage networks vying for state rewards. As a result, elites become riven by increasing rivalry and factionalism.

  The above passage made me think of the 2016 US election, one that was framed as a populist political outsider taking on the Washington DC swamp… however as Turchin notes, somewhat uncannily….

  “all these trends intensify, the end result is state bankruptcy and consequent loss of military control; elite movements of regional and national rebellion; and a combination of elite-mobilized and popular uprisings that expose the breakdown of central authority.”

  

  MAGA, Democratic Socialism, BLM, whatever comes next all have in common extremely well off elites (millionaires and billionaires) talking up a populist game against some ostensibly amorphous “Establishment”, to which these crusaders are loathe to admit their own membership.

  Regional governors and in increasingly more cases, entire police forces are essentially “going rogue”. It all sounds in the ballpark of what Turchin is talking about.

  Then the media makes useful idiots of us all, reframing as existential battles between good and evil what are really just internecine conflicts between elites who regard everybody else as serfs (in much the same way that I have always privately remarked that World War 1 was, at it’s core, a family squabble among a pan-European dynasty that ruled by divine right).

  

  Via Brookings Institute: The Family Relationships that couldn’t stop World War 1

  Which brings us to today, which Turchin doesn’t assert, but I couldn’t help but notice another uncannily prescient remark:

  “epidemics and even pandemics strike disproportionately often during the disintegrative phases of secular cycles”

  Global lockdowns and fiscal stimulus are once again framed as public safety and societal stabilizing measures. However as come commentators (thinking specifically of Danielle Di Martino) observed: The financial system was screwed, and the central bankers needed Covid because they were about to pull a Hail Mary to save a rapidly deteriorating financial system.

  The Great Pivot: Covid-to-Climate

  What’s probably coming next: ubiquitous climate change alarmism, can be understood to mean there aren’t enough private jets to go around, and it was even getting crowded in First Class.

  Everything coming out of unaccountable policy institutes like the WEF and the mainstream media are just reframings of what Turchin calls “elite overproduction” such that the rabble believes the revocation of their civil liberties and the decline in their living standards is necessary and just.

  What are the alternatives?

  Maybe neo-Malthusianism has its place, given The Climate? This is an important point because the signs are already around us that as the pandemic fizzles The Great Pivot will be from COVID-to-Climate.

  For starters, numerous environmental and ecological scholars and thinkers who are concerned about humanity’s effects on the ecosystem are vehemently opposed to climate alarmism, finding it destructive and self-defeating. This warrants multiple separate articles but I’ll mention Michael Shellenberger’s “Apocalypse Never” and former Under-Secretary for Energy under Obama, Steven Koonin’s “Unsettled Science”. The latter isn’t out until next month, but Dmitri Kofinas just had him on Hidden Forces, I strongly suggest listening and sharing it.

  The coming New Green Deal style clampdowns will make global lockdowns look rather benign, despite an abundance of evidence that lockdowns did nothing to change the actual trajectory of COVID.

  

  Lockdowns vs no-lockdowns. From Tom Woods’  “COVID Charts that CNN Forgot”

  The coming Climate Emergency will embark on some fool’s errand like “15 months to cool 1.5C”, and it will probably be announced from some Davos-style ecological summit on Richard Branson’s private island that all the participants arrived at via super-yachts.

  Because as per Turchin, this is final stage that transitions us into a period of chaos and instability:

  ‘First, the elites become accustomed to ever greater levels of consumption. Furthermore, competition for social status fuels “conspicuous consumption” (Veblen 1973 [1899]). Thus, the minimum level of consumption necessary for maintaining the elite status exhibits runaway growth.

  Second, the numbers of elites, in relation to the rest of the population, increase. 

  The third consequence is that the twin processes of declining living standards for the commoners and increasing consumption levels for the elites will drive up socioeconomic inequality. As a result of the growth in elite appetites and numbers, the proportion of the total economic pie consumed by them will increase. However, there are limits on how far this process can go. Eventually, increasing numbers of elites and elite aspirants will have to translate into declining consumption levels for some, leading to the condition that has been termed elite overproduction (this is reminiscent of population growth leading to overpopulation). Intraelite competition for limited elite positions in the economy and government will become more fierce.

  I emphasized the part that provides the most telling signal of them all. If you pay attention to the argument Turchin has been laying out, left to itself, an expanding population with expanding consumption will hit some sort of Neo-Malthusian limit and then begin to reverse under its own constraints.

  But this dynamic doesn’t happen at the elite level. The capstone class of society simply continues getting larger and consuming more of the economic pie and owning more of the wealth, exacerbating wealth inequality. The elites are not constrained by limits, until there is nothing left to leach from the underclass and they come into conflict with each other.

  Then, well, things need to get serious. We need a world war, or a global lockdown, or a climate emergency to keep the rabble in line so that the people on top can finish sorting out the spoils.

  (It is important to note: I’m not saying this is all planned. I don’t think it’s a conspiracy. It’s a dynamic. The people impelling these shifts probably really do think they’re benefactors of humanity and that they deserve to sit atop of it. Divine right persists to this day.)

  How about this instead?

  What would restore a semblance of natural constraints around both overproduction and overconsumption (and with it externalities like pollution and habitat destruction) would be lifting all artificial attenuators on market signalling. That means: subsidies, bail-outs, governments picking winners and losers, central planning and management by “experts”, all of it has to go.

  We have to deal with reality as it is, not as our models insist it is supposed to be. We have to re-gear public policies as responses to facts on the ground as opposed to doubling down on failed models (lockdowns aren’t slowing the spread? Lockdown harder! Masks don’t work? Double masks!)

  How about seeing a governor or a premier come out and say this:

  “Neither lockdowns nor masks seem to be working, for the next six weeks we want as many people as possible to load up on Vitamin D and Zinc”. We’re going to greenlight Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, and we’re going to launch an operation Warp Speed to study any and all alternative approaches”

  In any society in which the incentives were such that the ruling class was really trying to solve the problem at hand, this would have happened without any prompting.

  Any business or any tribe that has to weigh trade-offs and can’t externalize their failures would have looked at alternatives to failed models because they would have no other choice.

  But the elites and the political class? They get paid either way. They get exemptions. They get priority. And when their “public service” is over, they walk through the revolving door into Big Corporate directorships, lobby firms and think tanks.

  All they have to do is get the public to ratify their own servitude every few years, and the elites have the entirety of Big Tech and the Corporate Media to brainwash the public that it’s in their best interests to do it.

  In our current age, the dynamics Turchin explored were not mathematically precise and he acknowledged that there would be nuances and subtleties in applying these to a post-industrial age:

  While the overall dynamics are complex, the dynamical feedbacks between variables, that is, mechanisms that generate the dynamics, are often characterized by a high degree of determinism.

  He is probably onto something that these societal dynamics have set an age of discord in motion, one myself among others have been saying for awhile will be remembered as the end of the age of the Nation State.

  *  *  *

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  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 23:10

• US Issues Rare "Cognitive Warfare" Photo As Navy Shadows Chinese Carrier
  US Issues Rare “Cognitive Warfare” Photo As Navy Shadows Chinese Carrier

  In a rare move the United States Navy has released a photo on Sunday of one of its warships shadowing a Chinese aircraft carrier in the East China Sea, which is said to have occurred days ago.

  Currently both countries have carrier strike groups in the region amid heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington. The newly issued photo set shows the USS Mustin shadowing the Liaoning carrier group in what’s clearly a strong “message” to China’s military. 

  Very unusual image of the commanding officer and executive officer of #destroyer USS #MUSTIN DDG89 as they shadow #Chinese #carrier #LIAONING 16 in the Philippine Sea on 4 April. US #Navy rarely acknowledges both its efforts to shadow Chinese ships and Chinese shadowing US ships pic.twitter.com/2tv4GF7XIO

  — Chris Cavas (@CavasShips) April 11, 2021

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

  The image further shows the US ship’s captain, Commander Robert J Briggs, and his deputy Commander Richard D Slye observing the Liaoning in a casual manner.

  The Chinese carrier is seen a few thousand meters away…

  

  The South China Morning Post (SCMP) cited a regional military expert to say it was clearly a form of provocative “cognitive warfare” by the US side: 

  The United States military has engaged in a form of “cognitive warfare” following the latest encounter between its warships and the Chinese navy.

  Both countries have deployed aircraft carrier strike groups to the East and South China seas, led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the Liaoning, respectively.

  According to the key quote, “In the photo, Commander Briggs looks very relaxed with his feet up watching the Liaoning ship just a few thousand yards away, while his deputy is also sitting beside him, showing they take their PLA counterparts lightly,” Lu Li-shih, recently of Taiwan’s Naval Academy in Kaohsiung, commented to the SCMP.

  

  “This staged photograph is definitely ‘cognitive warfare’ to show the US doesn’t regard the PLA as an immediate threat,” the analyst added. 

  

  While such ‘shadowing’ maneuvers in the region are nothing new, the ‘messaging’ of the photograph is indeed unusual (with one of the commander’s feet up, which can be interpreted as an insult being directed at the Chinese side), suggesting a heightened propaganda campaign is now playing out.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 22:50

• Taibbi: An Afghanistan Veteran Looks Back On The "First Postmodern War"
  Taibbi: An Afghanistan Veteran Looks Back On The “First Postmodern War”

  Authored by Matt Taibbi via TK News,

  I first met Adrian Bonenberger in 2014, after he completed two tours in Afghanistan. He’d published Afghan Post, a painful epistolary memoir about his experiences. Bonenberger started that book a breezy, confident, idealistic young officer, but as he came across more cruelty, waste, and corruption, started to break down, second-guessing not only the mission but himself, i.e. why he’d volunteered.

  

  At the outset of Afghan Post Bonenberger referenced everything from the illustrated versions of The Odyssey and The Iliad he read as a kid, to All Quiet on the Western Front. But after years of head-scratching missions, circuitous contracting schemes, and lies sent down from above (and demanded in return), he seemed to realize, unpleasantly, that his experience was less Homer and more Catch-22.

  He laughs some, but mostly the absurdity crushes him. A selection of passages gives a snapshot of his progression:

  My life is in near-perfect harmony… This is what I’ve been aiming for, a sense of balance, of co-existing with the world. My job at this instant is precisely what it needs to be, no more, no less. I’m a good commander, man… Life feels correct.

  We aren’t here to defeat the enemy; that’s impossible with our resources. We’re here to occupy them, to distract them from the women wearing blue jeans in Kabul.

  No matter how many rifle-bearing insurgents we kill, they only seem to increase in numbers and proficiency.

  I just want to keep bashing away at the Taliban until they quit. I refuse to stop. I will break them with constant patrolling…

  What are we doing. This makes no sense. I feel my grasp on humanity slipping away. The army believes the solution to this is behavioral health. We’d do better with some religious/moral equivalent — sadly, our own multi-faith shepherd/ expert does not provide me with anything like the type of certainty I’d need to get me through this or buck-up.

  He unravels, and as the diary goes on, seems to become more concerned with his own mental survival than with making sense of the mission, which becomes little more than an absurdist plot point. By the end, he writes, “Afghanistan is sending me out, as though I never set foot here, utterly unchanged,” adding:

  The landscape is so harsh and unforgiving — on the one hand, the people I see trying to drag a living from the dust seem like heroes or madmen — on the other hand, they move slowly and without obvious desperation — it’s only after a great deal of time spent around them that you realize this transcends the fatalist predisposition of their culture… These people are the embodiment of despair; life without hope of improvement, waiting for an early death from disease, accident, or murder.

  Can’t wait to leave this place and these thoughts behind.

  I thought of Adrian after Joe Biden announced that “I have concluded that it’s time to end America’s longest war.” The question that faded from view by the end of Adrian’s two tours was one of the first Biden addressed.

  We went to Afghanistan, President Biden said, “to ensure Afghanistan would not be used as a base from which to attack our homeland again.” And “we did that. We accomplished that objective.”

  Is that true? Less than a day after Biden’s speech, even would-be allies of the administration like former Clinton adviser Richard Clarke were saying that there was a “high probability” the Afghan government would fall, and Westerners would soon be chased out by the Taliban, in scenes likely to recall the scrum for helicopter seats in Saigon in 1975.

  Is Clarke wrong? If not, what was the point? Was there ever one? I asked Adrian’s perspective, as a former soldier:

  Matt Taibbi: Do you believe it? That we’re leaving?

  Adrian Bonenberger: I’m just going to go full Charlie Brown and say, yes. Yes, I do. I think they’re going to leave. Hold the football, Lucy. Here I come.

  MT: What were some of the first things that concerned you about the mission?

  Adrian Bonenberger: The first time I went, I was a first lieutenant. I think I became a captain after I got back from the first deployment. That was with the 173rd Airborne. It was a very kinetic deployment… The terrain wasn’t as bad where we were. Most of the KIAs, the people who died were hit by IEDs in Humvees.

  On that first deployment, I got to see the Humvees swapped out for MRAPs [eds. note: Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle]. I remember reading all this stuff about how Humvees were terrible, and they were. They broke down all the time. They weren’t designed for 15,000 pounds of armor. They were not designed for a mountain environment. In this desperate attempt to field stronger-armored vehicles, we got MRAPs, which are these giant, lumbering mine-resistant vehicles.

  I didn’t realize at the time, but it was a $50 billion expedited program to swap out every up-armored Humvee with MRAPs. What they didn’t know when we got the MRAPs was that here we are, on the border of Pakistan with a bunch of roads that we built that barely supported Humvees, so when we get these MRAPs… I was actually in a rollover in one.

  There was a fill that collapsed because we were driving over in a vehicle that weighed about 40,000 pounds. The Humvee weighed 20,000 pounds. We blamed the Afghan contractor at the time. It sounds psychotic, but we were like, “Oh, yeah. The Afghans built this substandard road. It’s their fault.”

  That felt so emblematic. It feels to me today so emblematic. We only had those MRAPs in service for five years. We spent $50 billion bucks for a five-year rental, and then sold them to police stations across America. Those MRAPs that did fuck-all for us in Afghanistan are now what the police are using, presumably, for their small towns.

  MT: That’s via the 1033 program, where the Pentagon sells its surplus equipment to localities?

  Adrian Bonenberger: Exactly.

  MT: I remember in Iraq, they recalled the original Humvees and had heavier doors put in, I think to repel rockets.

  Adrian Bonenberger: Right.

  MT: So in Afghanistan, they did that, and then switched out the replacement Humvees for the MRAPs?

  Adrian Bonenberger: When they up-armored the Humvee, they surrounded these things with armor, because obviously, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want, per the ridiculous claim by Donald Rumsfeld.

  That armor was good at protecting you against RPGs and bullets. We were getting shot at, and I remember vehicles coming back from patrols, all of them had been shot up, and all of the windows were just spider-webbed, but the bulletproof windows would stop the bullets. The problem was when they started putting IEDs in the road, it would channel the blast through the cabin, and ended up just killing everybody in it. The thing that was good at keeping the bullets out ended up being the worst possible design for IEDs.

  MT: Because it kept the blast inside the vehicle?

  Adrian Bonenberger: Exactly.

  MT: They didn’t figure that out until later?

  Adrian Bonenberger: I just don’t know, man. So many times, so much of our policy, so much of how we… I mean, if we even had a policy, it was reactive and responsive. It seems impossible that nobody, no chemist or no engineer, said, “Hey, if a bomb hits the bottom of this, it’s going to turn these guys into Campbell’s Soup.” Nobody was in the room that said, “This is only solving this one problem, but this other problem, it’s going to make it much bigger.” Insurgents, not being stupid, are probably going to figure that out.

  With the MRAP, the big thing was the V-shaped hull. It’s going to be V-shaped on the bottom so the explosion will go around it. Well, I think that certainly helped. That was better, and I saw IEDs that definitely would’ve killed people in Humvees, not kill people in MRAPs, but it didn’t do away with the problem of IEDs. It created this other problem of these vehicles are so fucking heavy, you couldn’t drive anywhere without rolling over and almost dying in a different way.

  MT: Did they have to build new roads?

  Adrian Bonenberger: I think what happened was we just left. We just got out before they could do that stuff. Eventually, yes, they would’ve had to have built the new roads, which we wanted to do anyway. Yeah, I think we were there for another two or three years in that place where my first deployment happened, and then we left. We haven’t been back.

  That’s Taliban. The Taliban own that area now. They’ve owned that for a decade.

  MT: Are there other contracting issues you remember?

  Adrian Bonenberger: We only had the MRAPs for a few years. By the time I went back, they were already getting swapped out for something called the M-ATV, an off-road vehicle on steroids. It was a lot better.

  There’s always a new vehicle.

  Another crazy angle was that Biden bragged in a 2020 campaign ad about his involvement in the MRAP push, and the myth of their effectiveness is so complete nobody interrogated the claim. I imagine if anyone registered it in Trumpland it was to grudgingly concede that Biden had played a leading role in fielding MRAPs, which they probably imagined was a good thing. 

  Another thing that I remember very vividly was when I was a commander on my second deployment, we had these crypto devices that would fill the radios so the radios could talk to each other via encryption. It’s not like the Taliban had signals, units, or anything else, but we were doing these things in case we ever fought a military that did have the capacity to crack encryption.

  We would do this very religiously, and they’re these black boxes that you could throw them on the ground, they wouldn’t break. Everybody knew how to use them. Everybody had been trained on them, and they were a line item on my inventory as a commander, like $4,800, $4,900 bucks apiece. About $5,000 bucks apiece.

  I think we had three months left on deployment when a contractor came into the office one day and said, “Hey, you’re getting new crypto devices.” I looked at them and they looked like… Do you remember, I think they’re called pen pilots…

  MT: Palm pilots?

  Adrian Bonenberger: Palm pilots. That’s it. It looked like a palm pilot. This is the very end of 2010, early 2011, I already had soldiers who had smartphones. When we would get up to Tajikistan, and they could get cell coverage, they would be posting their statuses. I may be one of the earliest commanders to deal with the problem of a soldier posting on social media in the field. It was like, “Dude, text your girlfriend, whatever — I get it, but please do not give away our position to the enemy.”

  Anyway we get these palm pilot things that are supposed to be the latest and greatest, and we were a week away from going out on a pretty long mission, a week-long operation, and so I told the contractor, “Thanks. We don’t really need these. Why don’t you just give these to the unit that’s training right now to replace us? They’ll have some time to get comfortable with them.”

  His response was, “Maybe I didn’t explain myself. You’re getting these. I’m here to train you.”

  I went to the battalion commander, and said, “This makes no sense to me. I don’t have time to train everybody in my unit for these silly new devices that look fragile, they look like palm pilots. I’m very skeptical here.”

  He answered, “My hands are tied. These are ours.” Basically, the contractor training you on these is now your commander, for all intents and purposes.

  Now it’s $12,000 bucks a pop instead of $5,000 bucks a pop. I’ve heard subsequently that they are actually a far superior device to that original black box, but just the way it was done right before an operation was… I only had time for one soldier, the smart RTO guy, I think his dad was a professor at Princeton, to learn it. He enlisted for dubious reasons. He figured out how to do it, and he just was “the guy who did it,” because nobody else could figure out how to do it.

  For the rest of the deployment, there was one guy who knew how to use the device, and whenever there was a new code that came out, he had to run around the battlefield, or drive around updating everybody’s communications stuff, which is the dumbest thing I’d ever seen. It also endangered lives. But, that to me was a very tangible example of the military not being there to do a thing, but as a receptacle, as somebody who was required to purchase expensive new stuff that was not wanted or even really needed at that moment.

  MT: So it was the tail wagging the dog?

  Adrian Bonenberger: That’s exactly right. The tail was wagging the dog.

  MT: What was your conception of why you were there?

  Adrian Bonenberger: They got bin Laden in May, 2011, which was probably the time we should’ve gotten out. The most generous explanation for our being there was that we were trying to get him and punish him for 9/11, and then we got him. Then we were still there, for no clear reason. We were all okay with that. I’m okay with that, apparently. That happened ten years ago.

  Ten years ago next month. We’re still there.

  MT: I remember in the book of fiction you co-edited, The Road Ahead — I think it was Roxana Robinson in the introduction who talked about how when she asked soldiers if it bothered them that WMDs hadn’t been found, they gave her unexpected answers. What was the understanding in Afghanistan among the people you served with about why you were there? Did they care?

  Adrian Bonenberger: That’s a great question. I think it really gets to the heart of the problem with Afghanistan. I was talking with Will Mackin, who was with the SEALs and wrote a really beautiful collection of short fiction… I was telling him that I think the wars on terror have been the first post-modern wars, which sounds so buzzy and annoying, like, “Shut the fuck up, nobody cares about that. That’s dumb.”

  But, there is no explanation for why we’re there. If you ask ten people why we’re in Afghanistan, or why we’re in Iraq, even, you’ll get ten different answers that are equally plausible. That wasn’t the case in Vietnam. You agreed with why we were in Vietnam or disagreed with it, but we were there to stop communism. A blisteringly stupid and failed idea, but our being there was related to communism in one way, shape, or form. You’ll find people who will explain to you that Afghanistan has nothing to do with terrorism, that it’s about minerals, or it’s about China, or it’s the great game, or it’s Bin Laden.

  MT: Or women’s rights now.

  Adrian Bonenberger: Women’s rights was a way that I rationalized being in Afghanistan. It’s a powerful rationalization. There were a couple of girls that I saw wearing blue jeans at the end of my second deployment, and that reduced me to tears, because soldiers get sentimental about dumb stuff, and that seemed like it was validating a narrative that I’d constructed in my head that was important to me.

  But is that why we were there? No. No, absolutely not. That’s not why we went. That’s not why we stayed.

  That’s what some people may think and say in the op-ed pages so that people feel better about us being there, much in the same way that that’s how I felt good about being there when I was a commander. That’s not why we went. We went to get bin Laden, I think, ultimately is what most people will say, or said at the time. That isn’t why we went there, but that’s the story that’s probably closest to the truth.

  The Taliban got caught up in it because they refused to hand him over, and nobody said no to the United States of America under George W. Bush. You say no, it’s time to go.

  MT: Time to smoke you out of your hidey-holes.

  Adrian Bonenberger: Right.

  MT: What about the Afghanistan Papers story in the Washington Post? Did you and other vets talk about that when that came out? Military leaders were telling the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) that the war was so expensive in lives and money, and wasn’t getting things done. But the public story was different. What was your reaction?

  Adrian Bonenberger: Reading it all laid out there, they just lied. The thing that I’m most worried about right now is, I’m already seeing it around the edges. Biden made the announcement this week, and you see email threads and you see it on Twitter, people are like, “But, what about all the progress? What about all the money that we’ve spent?” It’s just like, “Guys, you’ve been deluding yourselves.”

  There was this thing that we did, the officers did. It was kind of a joke to us, and I just didn’t put two and two together. It’s called Red, Amber, Green Trackers. The joke was you would have these maps of your AO or your area of operations, and the places that the Taliban had were red, and then were permutations of this, so red-trending-amber meant that the Taliban had it, but maybe there were a couple of guys there that you could work with, whatever.

  Amber was we patrol there, and we’re trying to flip it green. Amber-trending-green is like, “Oh, the Taliban haven’t blown us up here for a few months, and we built them a well.” Then, green is just like, “We got this. The Afghans have it.” The colors would change sometimes. I think blue became a permutation that I saw later. The joke anyway was you would get to the end of the deployment, and all of the red places were listed as red-trending-amber, or amber, and all the places that were amber were now amber-trending-green or green, and all the places that were amber-trending-green were green, 100%. You give it to the next unit, and it all turned red again. It would downgrade one.

  MT: They were juking the stats.

  Adrian Bonenberger: I saw that and I didn’t think to myself, “This is dumb.” I knew it was dumb. It was more like, “This is fraud.”

  This should be illegal. We just all kind of did it all the time. We talked about it, and it’s not like this is a secret. The fact that people were seeing this in the Pentagon and were just like, “Oh, yeah. Of course, we’re just going to keep doing this forever.” There was no plan, and the metrics changed every deployment. They still wanted body counts, EKIA, enemy killed in action.

  These frauds, the context changes, but it’s the same.

  MT: It sounds like Daniel Ellsberg in his book “Secrets,” when he was talking about a tour with John Paul Vann. They had a similar system. I think it was something like, if the local South Vietnamese commander could sleep without a guard at his door at night, then that area was green. He found that every area that had been designated X was actually X minus one, or X minus two, security-wise… Was that basically what was going on?

  Adrian Bonenberger: 100%. The only difference being, and this is one of the saddest things to me… Afghanistan, a parade of sad memories, the eternal bitch-fest… It might’ve been two years ago, it might’ve been three years ago, when SIGAR stopped doing a certain type of report, during Trump’s presidency, because they didn’t have access anymore essentially. They still did the report, but they were like, “Look, we can’t go out and survey 80% of these places, because they’re under Taliban control. We’re going to attempt to do a QA/QC* of projects as they happen. We’re still going to be active in Kabul, but we just can’t get to half of these places.”

  I saw that, and I remember thinking, “This should be headline news.” If we can’t go anywhere, we’re already out of Afghanistan in a sense. We’re not there. We can’t even establish what is being done with the building that cost $50 million or $100 million bucks to build. What else would you call that, except fraud?

  It’s as if somebody justified that thing being built. Oh, it’s a hospital. It’ll be great. Was it being used as a hospital? You go down there, and the Taliban are using it as a school or a madrassa or whatever. Honestly, at this point, I don’t care. I’m glad that it’s being used for something, but don’t say that it’s going to be a hospital if it’s not going to be a hospital. Just say, “We’re paying for madrassas.” That’s fine. Maybe that’s what Afghanistan needs? I don’t know.

  MT: Did you see that? Would they build something, or bid out a contract for something, and it would turn into something else?

  Adrian Bonenberger: My second deployment, the first mission I was on was a company-plus mission, maybe a battalion-minus mission, to QA/QC a school that had been built for, I believe, $20 million. It had been completed, but we needed to do a final review of it. It was in Taliban-held territory. We had to fight our way all the way out to QA/QC it. We did that, and determined that the Taliban was using it as a recruiting station!

  Then, we fought our way out. I was never able to get back there. At the very end, we probably could’ve gone back out there if we wanted to. We really did “pacify” the province, because of the Afghans. The Afghans did all the heavy lifting. It didn’t last long. It was not something that you can transit again a year or two later, but for that moment, it was. But what is it being used for today? If we’re lucky, it’s being used for that. If we’re not lucky, it’s being used for something worse.

  MT: Was that mission just to determine if that building was being used correctly?

  Adrian Bonenberger: Yes, and it wasn’t.

  MT: There was an article by William Arkin in Newsweek recently, arguing that just because the uniform boots on the ground may be withdrawing, doesn’t mean we’re leaving. We’ve already started to shift to a system where a lot of the people who are actually engaged in an occupation aren’t even in the country, because they’re operating remotely, and/or they’re private contractors who don’t wear uniforms. Or, they work for some enforcement agency like the DEA or the FBI.

  Did you see that process start to evolve while you were there?

  Adrian Bonenberger: The most compelling argument against our leaving on a certain level is that it at least leaves the military as some type of official mechanism. Yeah, we’re going to read about them being there. There’s a way to tell when a soldier dies, at least.

  I remember when Thomas Ricks went on Fox News, and the Fox guy was trying to rake him over the coals over something, and Tom asked, “Do you know how many contractors have died in Iraq?”

  He paused for a second, and he said, “No.” Tom said, “Nobody does. There’s no way to know. We think 500 to 700 died,” but that’s a private company. They keep their own statistics. We will never know how many contractors died in Iraq and Afghanistan. There’s no legal mechanism for determining that, and as a result, we’re just not going to know. Historians hundreds of years from now may be able to mount lengthy campaigns to figure it out. That’s a problem.

  The DEA wanted me to do raids on certain militias that were smuggling weapons and drugs, and I refused point-blank. I said, “That’s not my problem. That’s Afghanistan’s problem.”

  Internally, I figured out, I would’ve drawn the line on human smuggling, like if I found out that one of my Afghan partners was trafficking humans or slaves, I’d say, “We can’t work together. You’re my enemy now.” But with weapons and drugs, I don’t even think drugs should be illegal in this country, so why would I do anything there? But the DEA would ask me to pull security for their raids, and I’d say, “No, I’m not going to do that.”

  Imagine one of the soldiers dying on that mission. You either would’ve had to lie about it and say that the Taliban was actually there and the Taliban ambushed us, or you’d have to explain that you were doing Colombia-style drug raids on an ally, because the DEA wanted it. It’s so complicated. It makes no sense. It made no sense to me then, and I’m proud that, however sneakily I accomplished it, I stood up for what was right.

  MT: What’s your prognosis for what happens now?

  Adrian Bonenberger: The Taliban already have, by fairly conservative estimates, the run of 80% of the country. So the Taliban are already there. I think the hope with Afghanistan was always going to be that we could support the Afghans who are interested in a non-Taliban government for enough time for them to get their act together.

  If we continue to support them diplomatically and economically, they have a chance, but in the same way that the USSR supported their communist administration in Kabul for I think two or three years before the USSR fell apart. It held on. It wasn’t doing great, but it was doing okay. I think we can achieve that.

  If we can’t, then that’s the most damning indictment possible of everything that we did there, including the things that I did there that I thought were good, and was doing for the right reasons. It means that all of that was just pissing in the wind. The next time we do this, I hope we’ll keep that in mind and do it better, or not at all.

  * Quality Assurance, Quality Control

  You can find Adrian Bonenberger’s book Afghan Post here. He also co-edited The Road Ahead, a collection of “fiction from the forever war,” and co-edits The Wrath-Bearing Tree, which he describes as “a little independent site that tries to promote good content and be subversive.”

   

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 22:30

• Pentagon Now Says Russian Troop Build-Up Near Ukraine "Bigger" Than In 2014
  Pentagon Now Says Russian Troop Build-Up Near Ukraine “Bigger” Than In 2014

  On Monday Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby for the first time gave a US military assessment of Russia’s troop build-up along Ukraine’s eastern border that goes significantly beyond prior statements. 

  Kirby said of the Russian military build-up that “it is certainly bigger than the one in 2014,” however without providing a specific number. Russia insists the buildup is for training, but it is “not clear to us” that this is the only purpose, he added according to Politico’s Lara Seligman. Kirby described that “over the past couple of weeks, officials have continued to see an increase in Russia’s buildup of troops on the border with Ukraine,” Politico’s Pentagon correspondent added. 

  Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby says the U.S. is “seriously concerned” about a buildup of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/SiWgssgkFh

  — The Recount (@therecount) April 19, 2021

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  Ukrainian government officials late last month had been the first to accuse the Kremlin of destabilizing and saber-rattling with a major troop deployment to Crimea and near the border with war-torn Donbass, setting off a renewed diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the West.

  Kiev ultimately charged that Russia was preparing for an “offensive” into Ukraine’s sovereign territory in support of pro-Russian separatists fighting Ukraine’s military in the country’s east. While the conflict had smoldered since the height of fighting in 2014 and 2015, which has taken over 13,000 lives over a half-decade, late last month four Ukrainian soldiers were reported killed in shelling by separatists. 

  The Economist has recently voiced the biggest concern out of Western allies as follows: “The last time that Russia gathered so many troops on Ukraine’s borders, it went on to invade the country and annex Crimea.”

  As tensions mount over the build-up of Russian troops at the border with Ukraine – this is life at the front line https://t.co/lvBSbra0WU pic.twitter.com/UwEP7WCjlz

  — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 19, 2021

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  The Pentagon’s new assessment that the Russian troop build-up goes beyond 2014 levels comes a week after Secretary of State Antony Blinken first said “We’re now seeing the largest concentration of Russian forces on Ukraine’s borders since 2014.” He had issued the words from NATO’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, saying further “That is a deep concern not only to Ukraine, but to the United States” – comments backed by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

  Meanwhile also on Monday the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell issued an astoundingly high estimate and accusation of Russian troop numbers in the area:

  Initially, Borrell told reporters that “there’s more than 150,000 Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian borders and in Crimea,” and doubled down on the figure later before his services had to correct it in the transcript, saying the real figure was over 100,000.

  Nevertheless, Borrell said that “the risk of further escalation — it’s evident.”

  He said that a “spark” could set off major war at any time. “It is the highest military deployment of the Russian army on the Ukrainian borders ever. It’s clear that it’s a matter of concern when you deploy a lot of troops,” Borrell said. “Well, a spark can jump here or there.”

  

  Ukrainian leaders have been urging Western countries to make clear to Russia that it will pay a price for its “aggression” – while President Volodymyr Zelensky has lobbied for a ‘fast-tracking’ into NATO membership, considered a Russian ‘red line’. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 22:10

• "We Made History Today" – NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter Makes First Flight On Mars 
  “We Made History Today” – NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Makes First Flight On Mars 

  After some delay, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter was given the “all-clear for takeoff” on Sunday. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) sent instructions for the Mars helicopter to liftoff. By early Monday morning, history was made and would make the Wright brothers proud as Ingenuity lifted off on the Red Planet.

  

  JPL tweeted Ingenuity “made history today by being the first craft to achieve controlled, powered flight on a planet beyond Earth.” 

  Perseverance got us to Mars. With Ingenuity, we soar higher.

  The #MarsHelicopter made history today by being the first craft to achieve controlled, powered flight on a planet beyond Earth.

  — NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) April 19, 2021

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  During today’s historic ascent, JPL released the first photo from the flight. 

  

  The 4-pound helicopter rose a little more than 3 meters, hovered briefly, and returned to the surface. Ingenuity’s altimeter shows flight time and altitude reached. 

  

  NASA’s rover Perseverance tweeted a short GIF of Ingenuity’s flight. Throughout the day, more images and pictures will be released. 

  You wouldn’t believe what I just saw.

  More images and video to come…#MarsHelicopterhttps://t.co/PLapgbHeZU pic.twitter.com/mbiOGx4tJZ

  — NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) April 19, 2021

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  “We can now say we’ve flown a rotorcraft on another planet,” MiMi Aung, NASA’s Ingenuity program manager, told her team earlier this morning in the flight control room. “We together flew on Mars. We together have our Wright brothers moment.”

  She added that “We don’t know from history what Orville and Wilbur [Wright] did after their first successful flight. But I imagine the two brothers hugged each other. Well, you know, I’m hugging you virtually.”

  Ingenuity’s initial flight was scheduled for April 11. A problem occurred on the helicopter’s onboard computers that engineers on Earth were able to correct. 

  Mars’s super-thin atmosphere is just 1% the density of Earth’s, making it more challenging for the helicopters’ blades to spin around 2,500 revolutions per minute to generate lift. For comparison, on Earth, most helicopters operate at about 450-500 revolutions per minute.

  As for future flights, at least five are scheduled in the coming weeks. Each flight will be more complex, operating at higher altitudes and longer flight times. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 21:50

• China Says It Has No Desire To Replace Dollar As Global Reserve Currency With Digital Yuan
  China Says It Has No Desire To Replace Dollar As Global Reserve Currency With Digital Yuan

  Apparently all it takes to replace a global reserve currency is a digital currency alternative just waiting to be released any moment… and a deep-seated desire to do so.

  As regular readers know, China is leaps and bounds ahead of every other central bank and indeed plans to release a digital Yuan in the near future, but for now it supposedly has no interest in dethroning the dollar as the reserve currency… at least according to China.

  

  According to Bloomberg, which last weekend reported that the Biden administration is “stepping up scrutiny of China’s plans for a digital yuan, with some officials concerned the move could kick off a long-term bid to topple the dollar as the world’s dominant reserve currency”,  People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Li Bo said the goal for internationalizing its currency is not to replace the dollar, and the efforts to create a digital yuan are aimed at domestic use.

  “For the internationalization of the renminbi, we have said many times that it’s a natural process, and our goal is not to replace the U.S. dollar or other international currencies,” Li said on a panel at the Boao forum Sunday according to Bloomberg. “I think our goal is to allow the market to choose, to facilitate international trade and investment.”

  “Allowing the market choose” is, of course, a passive-aggressive way of saying that while China does not want to overthrow the greenback with its digital yuan, the market may have other plans, and if it so choose to overthrow the reigning reserve currency… then so be it.

  As a reminder, in a recent note discussing the upcoming disruption from CBDCs, Morgan Stanley said that central bank digital currencies “have the potential to disrupt the international payments system. If a country’s CBDC gains acceptance for international transactions, significant advantages could accrue to the issuer country in financing costs and control over financial transactions, similar to the US dollar’s privileged role today. Some central banks like the ECB and the PBOC see the move towards digital currency as an opportunity to raise the international status of their currencies and increase their use in cross-border payments.”

  And this is precisely what China wants, even if it can’t say so explicitly for fears of provoking a retaliation from the Biden admin. So instead of openly challenging the US with its plans of a “weaponized e-Yuan”, Beijing is hoping to downplay its full potential, if only for the time being:

  “The motivation for the e-yuan, for now at least, is focusing primarily on domestic use,” Li said. International “interoperability is a very complex issue and we are not in a hurry to reach any particular solution yet,” although there could be cross-border use “in the long term,” Li said.

  The central banker said that the PBOC is planning to test the cross-border use of the digital yuan at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where it could be used by both domestic users as well as athletes and visitors from overseas.

  Speaking on the same panel at China’s high-profile Boao Forum, Agustin Carstens, general manager of Bank for International Settlements, said there was huge potential in the cross-border use of digital currencies as they could make foreign exchange transaction and payment settlement extremely efficient. He said countries can explore various ways to achieve international interoperability, including making different systems compatible and creating connectivity links among the systems.

  While the digitization of the yuan could benefit its use in cross-border transactions, the key factor in determining the currency’s global role is whether China will relax its capital controls, said Shen Jianguang, chief economist at JD.com Inc. “If you want to have a global reserve currency, you need to allow foreigners to hold it, to use it.”

  Which, incidentally, is also in the works: as we reported two weeks ago, China is already quietly “encouraging more capital outflows to ease pressure on yuan“, and in what may be the biggest transformation yet, earlier today we noted that following years of crackdown on crypto, Beijing now calls bitcoin an “investment alternative.”

  “I think it is quite significant and is definitely different to their previous statements or positions on public cryptocurrencies,” Vijay Ayyar, head of business development at cryptocurrency exchange Luno, told CNBC by email.

  “Governments are realizing that it is a viable and established, yet growing, asset class and need to regulate it. China regulating crypto would be another massive boost to the industry in China and globally,” Ayyar said, talking about the motivation behind the PBOC’s shift in tone. To be sure, China is not alone in changing its mind about bitcoin: over the past 4 years, Bitcoin has transformed from being purely a retail-favored asset and has become more mainstream in the financial world, gaining interest from institutional investors. Major corporations such as Tesla and Square in the U.S. have purchased large sums of bitcoin.

  Besides easing on its capital firewall, China will also need to allow its citizens to buy more foreign assets, further develop its financial markets and allow greater exchange rate flexibility in order to push for the internationalization of yuan, Shen said in an interview at the forum.

  China has seen a flood of capital flows into its financial markets since last year, boosting the amount of yuan traded globally. Yet, in the context of its vast markets, foreign ownership of local stocks and bonds remains relatively low at around 5% and 3% respectively. And while the yuan’s share of global payments and central bank reserves is still only about 2%, it is rising the fastest of all major currencies.

  

  “The digital yuan is a means to help monetary policy efficiency and cross-border usage with partners that tend to trade with China in goods and services, less so the major economies like the U.S.,” said Stephen Chiu, Asia FX and rates strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Digital or not, it’s not so easy to move the dollar’s dominance, be it as a trade settlement or reserve currency.”

  But while the real reason for the digital yuan was hinted at, the panel concluded with China playing coy and claiming its (soon the be gold-backed) digital currency won’t be a challenge to the USD.

  “The initial plans for a digital currency weren’t motivated by considerations of cross-border use” said former People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, who noted that there are many issues with using a digital currency across national borders. International use could affect monetary policy independence, and it’s important it isn’t used for crime, he said on the same panel in Boao.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 21:30

• Florida Gov. DeSantis Signs "Anti-Riot" Bill Into Law, Creating Tougher Penalties For Non-Peaceful-Protesters
  Florida Gov. DeSantis Signs “Anti-Riot” Bill Into Law, Creating Tougher Penalties For Non-Peaceful-Protesters

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill that intends to crack down on violent protests and riots in the state.

  DeSantis, a Republican, signed the so-called “anti-riot” measure in Polk County, saying it is “the strongest anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement piece of legislation in the country.”

  

  The signing comes in the midst of protests, riots, looting, and arson incidents in several major cities around the United States in the wake of an officer involved-shooting death in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Meanwhile, a verdict is expected to be handed down by a jury in the murder trial of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin, who was seen kneeling on George Floyd before his death—which sparked months of riots and demonstrations.

  The law, known as HB1, increases criminal penalties for assault, defacing monuments, and vandalizing public property during riots. Local governments that interfere with law enforcement trying to contain violent demonstrations would be penalized. Meanwhile, a citizens’ appeal process will be set up when counties and cities try to reduce their respective budgets of police forces.

  On Monday, DeSantis said in the signing event that the left-wing cries of “defund the police” that echoed throughout Black Lives Matter demonstrations last year is an “insane theory” and is “not going to be allowed to ever carry the day in the state of Florida.”

  Democrats and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have said that the law is designed to intimidate Black Lives Matter and related protesters.

  “The bill was purposely designed to embolden the disparate police treatment we have seen over and over again directed towards black and brown people who are exercising their constitutional right to protest,” said Micah Kubic, the executive director of ACLU of Florida, in a statement.

  The law went into effect immediately after DeSantis signed the bill on Monday.

  

  Demonstrators participate in a protest in Miami, Fla., on June 12, 2020. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

  According to the text of the bill, other new measures include changing the definition of what a “riot” is in the state of Florida. A riot will be defined as a violent public disturbance involving three or more people acting with a common intent that causes damage to public property or injuries—or can cause imminent injury or damage.

  The law creates a new second-degree felony—”aggravated riot”—which takes place when a riot has more than 25 people involved, causes grievous bodily harm, or more than $5,000 in damage to property. It would also be used if participants have or threaten with a deadly weapon or block roadways by force or by the threat of force.

  Florida state Sen. Danny Burgess, a Republican who sponsored the measure, said the law defines the difference between a peaceful demonstration and a riot.

  “Not only did we do that to put the public on notice as to what constitutes a riot, but also to make it clear to both protester[s] and law enforcement where that line in the law is drawn,” said Burgess, according to Newschannel8.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 21:10

• NY Requires Nursing-Home Workers To Sign Paperwork If They "Opt Out" Of COVID Jab
  NY Requires Nursing-Home Workers To Sign Paperwork If They “Opt Out” Of COVID Jab

  Now that nearly 130MM Americans have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, the CDC announced Monday that all adults aged 16 and over across the US are now eligible to receive the vaccine.

  Almost 130MM people 18 or older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, or 50.4% of the total adult population, the CDC pointed out. Almost 84MM adults, or about 32.5% of the population, have been fully vaccinated.

  

  What’s more, Dr. Anthony Fauci hinted on Sunday that the US government will likely move to resume use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine this week, though possibly with restrictions or broader warnings about the rare, but potentially deadly, blood clots.

  The news comes just as demand for vaccines in the US appears to be reaching an inflection point, as more states report growing stockpiles of unused jabs as demand for vaccinations tapers off.  Dr. Scott Gottlieb has warned that a demand crisis might be at hand in the US, putting the entirely theoretical 70% herd immunity threshold out of reach – at least temporarily.

  

  Clearly, public health officials across the country are starting to worry about waning vaccine demand, because after nearly half of New York nursing home workers refused the vaccine, the state’s Department of Health us taking steps to pressure nursing homes to get these compliance numbers up. While some health care workers say they haven’t yet had an opportunity to get the jab, Zero Hedge has been chronicling reports about health-care workers declining the jabs in surprising numbers, in states from California to New York and elsewhere.

  Like the old saying goes, “sh*t rolls down hill,” and as the state leans on nursing homes to raise staffer vaccination numbers, the homes are being required to force employees who refuse the vaccine to sign “paperwork” affirming their decision.

  As the New York Post reported last night, New York’s health department brass are now requiring nursing homes in the state to give every worker an opportunity to get vaccinated. And if they refuse, they must sign paperwork recording their decision to “opt out” of the vaccination process. Nursing homes that don’t comply could face serious fines, according to the New York Post.

  Nearly half of New York’s nursing home workers haven’t gotten the COVID-19 vaccine — so the state Department of Health is now putting more pressure on the facilities to bridge the gap, The Post has learned.

  Health department brass issued new guidance late Thursday that requires nursing homes to offer “an opportunity to receive” the jab to all consenting residents and staff by April 29 and within two weeks of a new hire or a new admission, records obtained by The Post show. Both staff and residents who opt out will need to sign paperwork acknowledging that they are declining. Facilities that don’t comply with the new rules may be penalized up to $2,000 per violation, the DOH

  […]

  They’re trying to get people vaccinated and they’re trying to incentivize it,” said Michael Balboni, the Executive Director of Greater New York Health Care Facilities Association, said of the new requirement.

  Only 60 percent of workers in the facilities statewide have gotten the shot since December – and just 56 percent of staff in the five boroughs have received the vaccine, the latest DOH vaccination numbers show.

  By comparison, 80 percent of nursing home residents statewide have been vaccinated and 73 percent in the city have gotten the jab.

  One nursing home official claimed the guidelines were released without enough consultation and argued that facilities might have trouble meeting the 2-week vaccination rule simply because they don’t have enough jabs. But as we noted above, there could be other reasons – even justifiable reasons – why nursing home workers refuse the vaccine.

  While it’s not clear what immediate purpose this paperwork would serve, the ominous notion that the state will be taking names of those who refuse could be interpreted as an implicit threat for a large subset of the state’s health-care workers (and a group that was severely impacted, with vast numbers catching the virus last spring as it tore through state nursing homes while Gov. Andrew Cuomo shopped around his book deal).

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 20:50

• Musk Goes "All In": Claims Data Says Autopilot Not Engaged In Fatal Houston Wreck
  Musk Goes “All In”: Claims Data Says Autopilot Not Engaged In Fatal Houston Wreck

  Earlier today, we reported about a Tesla Model S wreck that killed two men when the vehicle with “no driver” slammed into a tree and caught fire. It appeared to be an obvious instance where Autopilot and/or Full Self Driving could and would be the “front and center” suspect for the wreck.

  The story itself also caught fire on Monday, denting Tesla’s stock to the tune of 3.4% during the cash session. 

  Then came what can only be described as either a baffling truth, given that nobody was in the driver’s seat of the car, or an all-in moment (as one Twitter user called it): Elon Musk took to Twitter Monday to assert in a tweet that data logs “recovered so far” show Autopilot was not enabled in the car and that Full Self Driving had not been purchased on the vehicle.

  Your research as a private individual is better than professionals @WSJ!

  Data logs recovered so far show Autopilot was not enabled & this car did not purchase FSD.

  Moreover, standard Autopilot would require lane lines to turn on, which this street did not have.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2021

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  Leaving out the unknown of what “so far” means and how it basically negates Musk’s point, the Tweet is stunning for a couple of reasons:

  1. The fact that nobody was in the driver seat of the car makes Autopilot the “Occam’s Razor” explanation for the wreck. The NY Times also wrote earlier in the day that the men in the vehicle had discussed Autopilot before leaving for their drive together.
  2. It comes off as a preemptive PR effort to potentially mitigate and/or influence the outcome of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)’s look into the wreck.
  3. If it turns out that Autopilot was, in fact, off, the circumstances behind the wreck become even more baffling. But if it turns out that one of the regulators finds that Autopilot and/or FSD was on during (or seconds before) the wreck, Musk may need further PR efforts to repair the harm it could do to him and/or his brand. Several people on social media have brought this up:

  Jason you are an enabler of Elon Musk’s lies and fraud.

  The police are certain there was no one in the drivers seat of the car. The car crashed into a tree at a high speed. Who was driving the car?

  Why couldn’t the occupants of the car get out of the 🚘 before or during the 🔥? https://t.co/kmuhqtWSF4

  — JC Oviedo (@JCOviedo6) April 19, 2021

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  Additionally, it has already been noted that these type of preemptive suggestions prior to investigations are frowned upon by regulators:

  Elon Musk’s claim that the car was not in Autopilot according to data “so far” comes independent of federal investigators, who bristle at these types of preemptive disclosures. NTSB booted Tesla from a previous investigation over this exact issue. https://t.co/ARjoO7siWQ

  — Faiz Siddiqui (@faizsays) April 19, 2021

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  To get to the bottom of all this, Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct 4, told Reuters that the police will serve search warrants on Tesla Inc on Tuesday to secure data from a Model S that crashed in Texas.

  He was responding to a tweet by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who said, “Data logs recovered so far show Autopilot was not enabled.”

  Herman appeared quite skeptical: “If he is tweeting that out, if he has already pulled the data, he hasn’t told us that” Herman told Reuters. “We will eagerly wait for that data.”

  “We have witness statements from people that said they left to test drive the vehicle without a driver and to show the friend how it can drive itself,” Herman said according to the Reuters report.

  Needless to say, This could be very troubling for Musk.

  Recall, the Tesla slammed into a tree near Hammock Dunes Place in the Houston Area, a local NBC affiliate reported. The wreck was in the “Carlton Woods subdivision near the Woodlands,” the report says. According to authorities, “the vehicle failed to negotiate a cul-de-sac turn, ran off the road and hit the tree.”

  

  Of the two occupants, one was seated in the passenger seat of the front of the car while the other was seated in the passenger seat of the back of the car.  NBC says it is “trying to determine whether the vehicle may have been in automatic driving mode due to the victims’ seating, but that information is not available yet.”

  A reported 23,000 gallons of water needed to be used to extinguish the flames because the Tesla’s battery “kept reigniting”. Two federal agencies will investigate the deadly crash of a Tesla Model S over the weekend near Houston, Texas, in which local authorities said no one was behind the wheel. 

  

  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are aware of the fatal Tesla crash that killed two, which occurred on Saturday night in Spring, Texas. Both agencies are sending investigators to conduct a safety analysis. 

  “NHTSA is aware of the tragic crash involving a Tesla vehicle outside of Houston, Texas. NHTSA has immediately launched a Special Crash Investigation team to investigate the crash. We are actively engaged with local law enforcement and Tesla to learn more about the details of the crash and will take appropriate steps when we have more information,” the NHTSA told local news KHOU11 in a statement. 

  And the NTSB tweeted Monday afternoon that their investigation team, “in coordination with the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office,” will “conduct a safety investigation of the fatal Apr. 17, 2021, Tesla vehicle crash near Spring, TX.”

  NTSB also said their “investigation would focus on the vehicle’s operation and the post-crash fire. NTSB investigators will arrive in the area later this afternoon.” 

  Sitting across the table from regulators, Musk has once again pushed “all in”. So far, he has been able to defy the odds and suck out. Will that remain the case?

  That tweet was an all-in move by Elon

  — TC, Master of Chart (@TESLAcharts) April 19, 2021

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  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 20:30

• Chauvin Judge Blasts "Abhorrent" Maxine Waters' Words; Says May "Result In This Whole Trial Being Overturned"
  Chauvin Judge Blasts “Abhorrent” Maxine Waters’ Words; Says May “Result In This Whole Trial Being Overturned”

  Update (2015ET): It’s been quite a few days for the millionaire south-central LA congresswoman. First she incites violence and questions the US judicial system, then violence takes place resulting in injuries, then she is denigrated for actions, and turns around and blames white supremacy for what she did and said. But, to be frank, all of that pales into insignificance relative to what could possibly happen next.

  Having exclaimed that “we’re looking for a guilty verdict… as far as I am concerned it’s first degree murder,” Maxine Waters may be in hot water as the judge in the very same case regarding the death of George Floyd issued an ominous statement as the two sides finished closing arguments and handed the case to the jury.

  Critically, Chauvin’s defense raised several concerns with the judge over outside influence impacting the jurors judgement… and that’s when the fireworks began.

  

  As Townhall.com’s Spencer Brown details, Chauvin’s lawyers pointed out that jurors were not sequestered during the case and therefore may not be free from outside influence in the form of news updates they may have inadvertently or purposefully seen along with ongoing violence in the community surrounding the Chauvin trial and approaching verdict.

  Among their concerns, Chauvin’s defense team pointed to Waters and her appearance with demonstrators in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, over the weekend.

  Even though the judge denied the defense’s motion for mistrial, he highlighted the damage her rhetoric may have done, saying “Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.”

  Chauvin trial Judge Peter Cahill responds to defense request for a mistrial over comments by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA):

  “I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.” pic.twitter.com/jPp7zl0iGd

  — The Recount (@therecount) April 19, 2021

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  The judge continued with a scorching message for Rep. Waters and other elected officials who have engaged in what he slams as “abhorrent” behavior disrespecting the rule of law and giving their opinion in a way that is inconsistent with their oath to the Constitution: (emphasis ours)

  I’m aware of the media reports. I’m aware that Congresswoman Waters was talking specifically about this trial and about the unacceptability of anything less than a murder conviction and talking about being confrontational, but can you submit the press articles about that.

  This goes back to what I’ve been saying from the beginning. I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch and our function.

  I think if they want to give their opinions, they should do so in a respectful and in a manner that is consistent with their oath to the Constitution, to respect the co-equal branch of government.

  Their failure to do so I think is abhorrent, but I don’t think it’s prejudiced us with additional material that would prejudice this jury. They have been told not to watch the news. I trust they are following those instructions and that there is not in any way a prejudice to the defendant beyond the articles that were talking specifically about the facts of this case.

  Ultimately saying he trusted jurors to follow his instructions to them, the judge denied the defense’s motion for mistrial, adding “a congresswoman’s opinion really doesn’t matter a whole lot.”

  Chauvin trial judge Cahill is visibly upset by elected officials like Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) sharing their opinions on the Floyd trial, but he believes it’s not enough to constitute a mistrial. pic.twitter.com/G5kHpTXpU0

  — The Recount (@therecount) April 19, 2021

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  Let’s hope he is right. Presumably, no lessons will be learned from his comments as Waters will simply look at the color of the judge’s skin and reject his criticism as simple systemic racism…

  *  *  *

  What’s the first thing Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) did after conservatives called her out for crossing state lines to incite violence in Brooklyn Center, MN, hours before the National Guard and police were targeted in a drive-by shooting?

  

  Why, play the victim of course.

  In Monday comments, Waters ripped GOP lawmakers for criticizing her – saying they are trying to “send a message” to white supremacists.

  “I am nonviolent,” Waters told The Grio on Monday following a tweet by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) – who accused her of condoning political violence and using “dangerous rhetoric” when she told protesters to get more confrontational.”

  “Maxine Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis — just as she has incited it in the past. If Speaker Pelosi doesn’t act against this dangerous rhetoric, I will bring action this week,” McCarthy tweeted on Sunday.

  Maxine Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis — just as she has incited it in the past. If Speaker Pelosi doesn’t act against this dangerous rhetoric, I will bring action this week.

  — Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) April 19, 2021

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  In response, Waters said: “Republicans will jump on any word, any line and try to make it fit their message and their cause for denouncing us and denying us, basically calling us violent … any time they see an opportunity to seize on a word, so they do it and they send a message to all of the white supremacists, the KKK, the Oath Keepers, the [Proud] Boys and all of that, how this is a time for [Republicans] to raise money on [Democrats’] backs”.

  Waters then said that she’s “not worried that they’re going to continue to distort what I say.”

  “This is who they are and this is how they act,” she continued. “And I’m not going to be bullied by them.”

  Of course, as constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley notes – Waters may have hoisted herself by her own petard. Read on…

  *  *  *

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  With rioting continuing in Brooklyn Center, Minn. and around the country, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, went to Minnesota and told the protesters that they “gotta stay on the street” and “get more confrontational.”  The statement is ironic since Waters is one of the House members currently suing former President Donald Trump and others for inciting violence on January 6th with his words on the Mall.  Waters insists that Trump telling his supporters to go to the Capitol to make their voice heard and “fight” for their votes was actual criminal incitement. Conversely, Waters was speaking after multiple nights of rioting and looting and telling protesters to stay on the streets and get even more confrontational. There was violence after the remarks, including a shooting incident where two National Guard members were injured.

  

  Waters has now guaranteed that she could be called as a witness by Trump in his own defense against her own lawsuit.

  Waters’ most recent words could well be cited in the ongoing litigation over the January 6th riot on Capitol Hill. As I have previously discussed, the lawsuit by House members and the NAACP may prove a colossal mistake. It is one of a number of lawsuits, including a lawsuit filed by Rep. Eric. Swalwell, D-Cal, that could ultimately vindicate Trump shortly before the next election. While it is possible that members could find a trial judge to rule in their favor, these lawsuits should fail on appeal, if they get that far. Moreover, they would fail under a lower standard of proof than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard in criminal law. Such a result would eviscerate the claim that Trump was guilty of criminal incitement in his speech.

  After the riot, various legal experts appeared on news channels to proclaim that this was a strong if not conclusive case for criminal incitement. Trump was clearly guilty of criminal incitement. CNN legal analyst Elie Honig declared “As a prosecutor I’d gladly show a jury Trump’s own inflammatory statements and argue they cross the line to criminality.” Richard Ashby Wilson, associate law school dean at the University of Connecticut, said “Trump crossed the Rubicon and incited a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol as Congress was in the process of tallying the Electoral College vote results. He should be criminally indicted for inciting insurrection against our democracy.” District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine then thrilled many by declaring that he was investigating Trump for a possible incitement charge.

  As I have previously written, these statements ignored both the elements of that crime and controlling case law. Notably, while these and other experts insisted that the crime of incitement was obvious and public on Jan. 6th, there has been no charge brought against Trump despite over four months. Why?

  The reason is that an actual criminal case would lead to a rejection of not just the charge but the basis for the second Trump impeachment. Trump’s Jan. 6 speech would not satisfy the test in Brandenburg v. Ohio, where the Supreme Court stressed that even “advocacy of the use of force or of law violation” is protected unless it is imminent. Trump did not call for the use of force but actually told people to protest “peacefully” and to “cheer on” their allies in Congress. After violence erupted, Trump later told his supporters to respect and obey the Capitol Police.

  Now Waters, Swalwell, and others are rushing in where wiser Democrats fear to tread. These civil lawsuits actually raise claims like the infliction of emotional distress that were directly and unequivocally rejected by the Supreme Court. In 2011, the court ruled 8-1 in favor of Westboro Baptist Church, an infamous group of zealots who engaged in homophobic protests at the funerals of slain American troops. In rejecting a suit against the church on constitutional grounds, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: “Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and — as it did here — inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker.”

  Yet, Waters is not more deterred by the actual case law in this area than the legal experts on CNN and MSNBC. Indeed, Waters has gone further and insisted that Trump should not only be charged with criminal incitement but actual “premeditated murder.” She stated, “For the President of the United States to sit and watch the invasion and the insurrection and not say a word because he knew he had absolutely initiated it – and as some of them said, ‘he invited us to come.”

  That bring us back to Brooklyn Center this weekend. Violence and looting have been unfolding around the country, including the near the area where Waters was speaking. Yet, she called on people to stay in the streets and get more “confrontational.”  She added that there would be no acceptance of court decisions to the contrary in the Chauvin case: “We’re looking for a guilty verdict. If we don’t, we cannot go away.”  Protesters have not only been camped around the courthouse but the home of a witness in the Chauvin case was targeted. (It turned out to be his former home). Critics could charge that Waters’ statement and these protests are meant to intimidate witnesses or influence the trial — just as critics charged that Trump was attempting to intimidate or influence Congress.

  After Waters remarks, protesters confronted reporters in a tense scene. Also protesters descended upon the home of the prosecutor responsible for the second degree manslaughter charge against the officer who killed Daunte Wright. Also the Minnesota National Guard was fired upon, injuring at least two Guardsman.  That is not to say that Water incited such actions but that the same claimed nexus could be raised in making such an allegation as was done in the Trump impeachment.

  In my view, those words are political speech and should not be subject to criminal sanctions. However, I felt the same way about Trump’s speech (which I condemned as he was giving it on Jan. 6th as reckless). I also rejected prior claims against Waters like when she encouraged protesters to confront Trump officials in restaurants and “push back on them and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” It is all protected speech.

  Yet, that standard cannot be selectively applied to some but not all riots or protests. Waters was encouraging protesters to continue to fight for what they believe in. Her over-heated rhetoric could easily be seen by some as an invitation or endorsement for rioting.  However, criminalizing such speech would shred the guarantees of free speech in our country.

  Carl Jung once said that “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves”. That certainly seems to be the case with Waters and Trump. It is also why Waters could prove the only witness that Trump needs to call to defeat her own lawsuit.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 20:29

• Japan's Hardest-Hit Regions Push For COVID State Of Emergency As Olympics Safety Review Looms
  Japan’s Hardest-Hit Regions Push For COVID State Of Emergency As Olympics Safety Review Looms

  President Biden has given his uneasy blessing to Japan and Tokyo’s resolution to hold the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, which is set to begin in just a few months. Still, it’s looking unlikely that the President will attend in person, and as the level of attendance looks increasingly uncertain, yet another Japanese prefecture has asked to declare a state of emergency as COVID cases climb.

  

  Osaka Gov. Hirofume Yoshimura reportedly asked the Japanese government to declare a full-fledged state of emergency for Osaka, while other reports noted that Tokyo could ask restaurants to shut during the next emergency, which follows tighter restrictions introduced by the capital city earlier this month.

  

  Yoshimura isn’t alone: Tokyo is also considering a similar state-of-emergency request, Governor Yuriko Koike told reporters late on Sunday, in a step backwards as Japan scrambles to bring the pandemic under control ahead of the Summer Olympics.

  Here’s more from Reuters:

  A recent surge in COVID-19 cases could see major parts of Japan slide back into states of emergency with authorities in Tokyo and Osaka looking at renewed curbs to stop the spread.

  The new wave of infections complicates preparations for the Tokyo Olympic Games, which are due to start in July having already been postponed due to the global coronavirus outbreak last year.

  Japan this month put Osaka, Tokyo, and eight other prefectures under “quasi-states of emergency” aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19 with shorter business hours for restaurants and bars and stronger calls for teleworking.

  But those measures have done little to reverse the trend so far, with Osaka reporting a record 1,220 cases on Sunday, two weeks after those restrictions took effect as a mutant strain fueled the spread.

  “The fruits of these measures should be appearing now,” Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura told reporters in comments carried online.

  “Medical services are also in a dire state, and we’ve decided that we need a state of emergency. We need stronger measures such as those that would stop the movement of people,” he said, adding that Japan’s third-most populous prefecture would make the formal request to the government on Tuesday.

  Back in Tokyo, Koike said “Taking pre-emptive action is crucial right now,” Koike said.

  Tokyo reported 543 new cases on Sunday, the 18th straight day of seven-day increases.

  As COVID cases climb in Japan, the IOC, which organizes the Olympics and could ultimately quash the Games if it feels necessary, is preparing to decide whether to move ahead with the Games, or abandon them (at tremendous cost to the Japanese economy). Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, will attend a torch relay ceremony in the western city of Hiroshima on 17 May and meet prime minister Yoshihide Suga the next day, Kyodo, one of several large Japanese news agencies, reported over the weekend.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 20:10

• The Media Lied Repeatedly About Officer Brian Sicknick's Death. And They Just Got Caught
  The Media Lied Repeatedly About Officer Brian Sicknick’s Death. And They Just Got Caught

  By Gleen Greenwald, first posted on Substack

  Just as with the Russia Bounty debacle, they will never acknowledge what they did. Their audience wants to be lied to for partisan gain and emotional pleasure.

  

  It was crucial for liberal sectors of the media to invent and disseminate a harrowing lie about how Officer Brian Sicknick died. That is because he is the only one they could claim was killed by pro-Trump protesters at the January 6 riot at the Capitol.

  So The New York Times on January 8 published an emotionally gut-wrenching but complete fiction that never had any evidence — that Officer Sicknick’s skull was savagely bashed in with a fire extinguisher by a pro-Trump mob until he died — and, just like the now-discredited Russian bounty story also unveiled by that same paper, cable outlets and other media platforms repeated this lie over and over in the most emotionally manipulative way possible. Just watch a part of what they did and how:

  As I detailed over and over when examining this story, there were so many reasons to doubt this storyline from the start. Nobody on the record claimed it happened. The autopsy found no blunt trauma to the head. Sicknick’s own family kept urging the press to stop spreading this story because he called them the night of January 6 and told them he was fine — obviously inconsistent with the media’s claim that he died by having his skull bashed in — and his own mother kept saying that she believed he died of a stroke.

  But the gruesome story of Sicknick’s “murder” was too valuable to allow any questioning. It was weaponized over and over to depict the pro-Trump mob not as just violent but barbaric and murderous, because if Sicknick weren’t murdered by them, then nobody was (without Sicknick, the only ones killed were four pro-Trump supporters: two who died of a heart attack, one from an amphetamine overdose, and the other, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot point blank in the neck by Capitol Police despite being unarmed). So crucial was this fairy tale about Sicknick that it made its way into the official record of President Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate, and they had Joe Biden himself recite from the script, even as clear facts mounted proving it was untrue.

  

  Because of its centrality to the media narrative and agenda, anyone who tried to point out the serious factual deficiencies in this story — in other words, people trying to be journalists — were smeared by Democratic Party loyalists who pretend to be journalists as “Sicknick Truthers,” white nationalist sympathizers, and supporters of insurrection.

  For the crime of trying to determine the factual truth of what happened, my character was constantly impugned by these propagandistic worms, as was anyone else’s who tried to tell the truth about Sicknick’s tragic death. Because one of the first people to highlight the journalistic truth here was former Trump official Darren Beattie of Revolver News and one of the few people on television willing to host doubts about the official story was Tucker Carlson, any doubts about the false Sicknick story — no matter how well-grounded in truth, facts, reason and evidence — were cast as fascism and white supremacy, and those raising questions smeared as “truthers”: the usual dreary liberal insults for trying to coerce people into submitting to their lies:

  

  

  Because the truth usually prevails, at least ultimately, their lies, yet again, all came crashing down on their heads on Monday. The District of Columbia’s chief medical examiner earlier this morning issued his official ruling in the Sicknick case, and it was so definitive that The Washington Post — one of the media outlets that had pushed the multiple falsehoods — did not even bother to try to mask or mitigate the stark conclusion it revealed:

  

  The first line tells much of the story: “Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes a day after he confronted rioters at the Jan. 6 insurrection, the District’s chief medical examiner has ruled.” Using understatement, the paper added: “The ruling, released Monday, likely will make it difficult for prosecutors to pursue homicide charges in the officer’s death.”

  This definitive finding from the medical examiner not only rids us of the Fire Extinguisher lie but also the second theory to which these media outlets resorted once they had to face the reality that they spent weeks spreading an outright lie (needless to say, they provided no real accountability or even acknowledgement for the fact that they did spread that Fire Extinguisher tale, instead just seamlessly moving to their next evidence-free claim). They changed their story to claim that pro-Trump protesters still murdered Sicknick, not with a fire extinguisher but with bear spray, which video shows at least one protester using in his vicinity.

  

  The problem with that theory is that bear spray is not usually fatal, and the medical examiner’s findings ruled out the possibility that this is what caused his death:

  In an interview with The Washington Post, Francisco J. Diaz, the medical examiner, said the autopsy found no evidence the 42-year-old officer suffered an allergic reaction to chemical irritants, which Diaz said would have caused Sicknick’s throat to quickly seize. Diaz also said there was no evidence of internal or external injuries….

  Diaz said Sicknick suffered two strokes at the base of the brain stem caused by a clot in an artery that supplies blood to that area of the body. Diaz said he could not comment on whether Sicknick had a preexisting medical condition, citing privacy laws.

  So there goes that second fairy tale. The Post did note the medical examiner’s observation regarding Sicknick’s participation in defending the Capitol that day that “all that transpired played a role in his condition.” That of course is true: just as it is true for the two pro-Trump supporters who had heart attacks that day and the other pro-Trump supporter who died from too much amphetamine in her system, having a stressful encounter as a police officer likely played a role in why someone would have two strokes the following day. But police officers are trained for stressful encounters, and that obviously is a far cry from being able to claim that any pro-Trump supporter murdered Sicknick.

  I’ll have much more on this story as it unfolds. A significant amount of media accountability is warranted. But you’re seeing why there is so much resentment and so many attacks on platforms like this one that permit journalists to report and analyze facts and dissect media narratives without being constrained by liberal orthodoxies and pieties and while remaining immune from liberal pressure tactics: it’s one of the few ways that real dissent to their lies and propaganda can be aired.

  

  Truth matters. Noble lies are never justified no matter the cause, especially in journalism. But these employees of corporate media outlets have been taught the exact opposite model: that their primary obligation is to please and flatter the partisan agenda and political sensibilities of their audience even if it means lying or recklessly spreading unproven theories to do it. That is their profit model. And they have trained their audiences to want and expect this and that is why they never feel compelled to engage in any self-critique or accountability when they get caught doing this: their audiences want to be lied to — they are grateful for it — and would prefer that they not admit they did it so that their partisan interests will not be undermined.

  What is most depressing about this entire spectacle is that, this time, they exploited the tragic death of a young man to achieve their tawdry goals. They never cared in the slightest about Officer Brian Sicknick. They had just spent months glorifying a protest movement whose core view is that police officers are inherently racist and abusive. He had just become their toy, to be played with and exploited in order to depict the January 6 protest as a murderous orgy carried out by savages so primitive and inhuman that they were willing to fatally bash in the skull of a helpless person or spray them with deadly gases until they choked to death on their own lung fluids. None if it was true, but that did not matter — and it still does not to them — because truth, as always, has nothing to do with their actual function. If anything, truth is an impediment to it.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 19:47

• Lordstown Motors' "Endurance" All-Electric Pickup Fails To Endure Baja Race
  Lordstown Motors’ “Endurance” All-Electric Pickup Fails To Endure Baja Race

  Lordstown Motors’ electric pickup truck, Endurance, did not endure too long in the SCORE San Felipe 250 in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, on Saturday. 

  What a ride it has been leading up to race day. We did not cross the finish line, but we are proud of the work our team and partners put in to make entering this race possible. Read our full statement here: https://t.co/JJOSOamtDF #RideWithLordstown

  — Lordstown Motors (@LordstownMotors) April 18, 2021

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

  The electric vehicle startup hyped its entry into the Baja, Mexico event for weeks, only completed less than 40 miles of the 280-mile course before withdrawing. 

  According to automobile news website Autoevolution, the Endurance only completed 14% of the course until it had to meet up with a portable charging truck. The vehicle was stationary for 2.5 hours. 

  Before the 40-mile (64.3-km marker), GPS tracking on the Endurance showed the e-truck slowing down. Shortly afterward, it veered off the racecourse to meet up with the Lordstown truck carrying the charging station on a nearby highway. TFL Truck reports that it stayed in the same spot for 2.5 hours, recharging and/or undergoing repairs.

  As for what happened next, we won’t know until Lordstown issues a clarification in this sense.

  

  Shortly after, Endurance withdrew from the race. The exact reasons have yet to be provided by the company.

  “What a ride we have had getting to the SCORE International San Felipe 250,” Lordstown’s Facebook page read. “The Endurance’s hub motors, battery pack and software performed very well today, and everything we did and experienced in Mexico has provided us with valuable insights into how the Endurance’s technology performed and responded to the demanding and treacherous conditions.”

  “We are stopping here and taking our incredible learnings back to Lordstown. Thank you to everyone at Lordstown Motors, our partners at Brenthel Industries and Elaphe Propulsion Technologies, and all of our champions – your hard work, dedication and passion for the Endurance is the reason we made it to Mexico, and the reason we’ll keep going as we continue into our Beta builds ahead of start of production in September.”

  Throughout April, Lordstown hyped its entry into the San Felipe 250 race. Perhaps, the hype was an attempt to attract new interest into the company’s stock, which has fallen 71% since mid-February. Shares on Monday slumped 8%. 

  

  Lordstown Investors and future buyers of Endurance should question the company’s technology as it could barely finish an offroad race. After this past weekend’s race, Endurance might need a name change.

  … and remember short-seller Hindenburg Research recently published pictures of the Endurance breaking down last year.

  Hindenburg has also published a report titled “The Lordstown Motors Mirage: Fake Orders, Undisclosed Production Hurdles, And A Prototype Inferno,” which accused the company of “fake orders.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 19:30

• China Launches New App Allowing Citizens To Report Others For Expressing "Mistaken Opinions"
  China Launches New App Allowing Citizens To Report Others For Expressing “Mistaken Opinions”

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

  China’s Communist government has launched a new app that encourages citizens to report dissidents for expressing “mistaken opinions” on the Internet.

  

  The new platform will target anyone who criticizes the dictatorship’s ruling CCP, disputes the official version of the country’s history or engages in “misinformation.”

  The new website and app was proudly unveiled by China’s Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), with authorities calling on users to play an “active role” in helping to identify “malicious people distorting facts and confusing” others.

  “For a while now, some people with ulterior motives…have spread historically nihilistic false statements online, maliciously distorting, slandering and denying Party, national and military history in an attempt to confuse people’s thinking,” the announcement said.

  “We hope that most internet users will play an active role in supervising society…and enthusiastically report harmful information.”

  As Didi Rankovic notes, “It’s also unsurprising because it comes ahead of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CPP), when messages and narratives will have to be kept particularly “clean.”

  China already operates an onerous social credit score system that bans people from using transportation and engaging in other basic functions of society if they commit minor infractions like jaywalking or buying too much junk food.

  Given that social media mobs in the west, routinely aided by journalists, already conduct witch hunts that lead to people being socially ostracized, deplatformed and left unemployed for expressing “mistaken opinions,” are we really that better off than Chinese dissidents?

  *  *  *

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  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. Also, I urgently need your financial support here.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 19:10

• Lumber Hasn't Had A Down Day Since March 26… And It's Sending Home Prices Soaring Even Higher
  Lumber Hasn’t Had A Down Day Since March 26… And It’s Sending Home Prices Soaring Even Higher

  Less than a week ago, we published an article explaining that the ongoing “Supply Chain Collapse Leads To Lumber Frenzy, Soaring Home Prices.” Since then the lumber buying frenzy has gotten even more out of control, with prices surging another 12%, and as Bloomberg’s Aoyon Ashraf points out, “lumber hasn’t had a down day since March 26 and keeps hitting all-time highs with few signs of stopping.” In an amusing comparison, Ashraf also notes that while Lumber futures have climber a staggering 58% in just the past month since bottoming on March 16, “Bitcoin has fallen 3% and S&P 500 returned only 5% over this period” (of course, any comparison that is not goalseeked and stretches further beyond just a few weeks will show bitcoin trouncing lumber, but we get the idea).

  

  Ashraf then echoes what we said last week, namely that “the reason for lumber’s meteoric rise is simple: low supply and surging demand. Slow ramp-ups at sawmills, trucking delays and worker shortages all are feeding into it.” The Bloomberg reporter than boldly suggests that going long lumber is a safer choice than bitcoin:

  Meanwhile, with opaque assets such as Bitcoin, it’s quite a bit harder to explain why it moves the way it does. This makes lumber a relatively safer choice.

  Well, maybe not for those who have been long bitcoin since 2015 but in any event it is true that lumber is at the forefront of reflating assets, and what makes it especially problematic is that one can’t build houses without lumber. Hence: even higher home prices.

  As WIS10 News reports, leaders with the Building Industry Association of Central South Carolina and Central Carolina Realtors Association say the rising price of that material plays into the rising cost of homes, which have already soared at the highest pace since Feb 2006 (according to the Case Shiller National Home Price Index).

  

  In Richland and Lexington Counties, Consolidate Multiple Listing Service data shows the median price of homes went from $189,900 in March 2020 to $218,000 a year later. That’s a 14.8% jump. Building association Executive Director Earl McLeod pointed to the pandemic, during which mills shut down or slowed production.

  “At the same time demand for new homes increased. People were being told to stay at home, people wanted to be at home. There was a tremendous demand for new homes. That coupled with less production and high demand created a surge, so lumber prices have substantially increased,” he said.

  Pointing out the painfully obvious, Realtor Association Executive Officer Taylor Oxendine said the supply and demand of homes are out of balance. Currently, there’s not enough supply. He said the price of lumber has impeded construction, which would be needed to lower the price.

  “That’s made it more expensive to build homes in these new developments, meaning the supply can’t meet the demand here,” he said, adding that the costs have had to be passed onto homebuyers.

  Builder John Streven said affordability is a goal for his projects, but the rising cost has forced him into tough conversations with customers.

  “I don’t have any control over this. There’s nothing that I can do. All we can try and do is see how can we help defray some of that cost, mitigate against it, but there is, it’s that feeling there is no control because the control is in the hands of a few very large manufacturers,” he said.

  The American Wood Council claims to represent 86% of the Structural Wood Products industry and released this statement in March on the issue:

  By Chris Joseph | April 15, 2021 at 6:16 PM EDT – Updated April 16 at 10:11 PM

  COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – Lumber is a crucial part of many homes, and a short supply is making those homes more expensive.

  The National Association of Home Builders reports the price of lumber has climbed 180% since last spring.

  Association data shows 1,000 board feet went from roughly $400 in June 2020 to $1,100 in April.

  Leaders with the Building Industry Association of Central South Carolina and Central Carolina Realtors Association say the rising price of that material plays into the rising cost of homes.

  In Richland and Lexington Counties, Consolidate Multiple Listing Service data shows the median price of homes went from $189,900 in March 2020 to $218,000 a year later. That’s a 14.8% jump.

  Building association Executive Director Earl McLeod pointed to the pandemic, during which mills shut down or slowed production.

  “At the same time demand for new homes increased. People were being told to stay at home, people wanted to be at home. There was a tremendous demand for new homes. That coupled with less production and high demand created a surge, so lumber prices have substantially increased,” he said.

  Realtor Association Executive Officer Taylor Oxendine said the supply and demand of homes are out of balance. Currently, there’s not enough supply.

  He said the price of lumber has impeded construction, which would be needed to lower the price.

  “That’s made it more expensive to build homes in these new developments, meaning the supply can’t meet the demand here,” he said.

  The costs have had to be passed onto homebuyers.

  Builder John Streven said affordability is a goal for his projects, but the rising cost has forced him into tough conversations with customers.

  “I don’t have any control over this. There’s nothing that I can do. All we can try and do is see how can we help defray some of that cost, mitigate against it, but there is, it’s that feeling there is no control because the control is in the hands of a few very large manufacturers,” he said.

  The American Wood Council claims to represent 86% of the Structural Wood Products industry and released this statement in March on the issue:

  “Despite the many challenges presented by the pandemic, wood products manufacturers are responding to the high demand by producing wood products at levels not seen since before the Great Recession. Production output of wood products is the highest it’s been since 2007, according to the Federal Reserve Board.

  At the beginning of the pandemic, wood product manufacturers were operating under the same uncertainty as the rest of the country. Many curtailed production in anticipation of worker shortages and reduced demand. At the same time, many wholesale and retail lumber customers significantly reduced their inventory levels. But then, the need for wood products quickly rebounded as people stayed home and tackled DIY projects, restaurants rushed to build outdoor accommodations, and many states declared home building an essential industry allowing construction to rapidly resume. New home sales are up over 19 percent year-over-year as demand for single-family homes have increased during the pandemic and mortgage rates have remained low.

  The industry has quickly responded and put in extensive worker health and safety protocols to protect the 450,000 employees across the industry and prevent large scale shut-downs due to COVID exposures. Many wood products mills are back at pre-pandemic production levels or higher, with some operating seven days a week.

  Additionally, many wood products companies have continued to make significant investments in improving the throughput of their existing mills and building new mills in the U.S. since the sharp rebound in demand in the second quarter of 2020. These investments will create additional supplies in 2021. However, new equipment lead times remain long in many cases, engineering and construction resources are constrained, and additional production often requires environmental permitting reviews, so near-term relief during the spring building season from new production is likely to be limited.

  Constraints in supply and transportation have also continued, which are issues facing manufacturers of all kinds, and it has proven difficult to rebuild the near-zero inventories up to meet the renewed retailers’ and wholesalers’ demands. Some mills have taken temporary curtailments or reduced shifts due to localized COVID outbreaks and quarantines. All of this has been further exacerbated by constraints on log supplies resulting from recent extreme weather events, some of which also caused production downtime.

  While the wood products industry is far from the only one facing supply chain challenges, we have worked hard to protect our workforce through significant health and safety measures to stay in production.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 18:50

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• Spanish Police Raided 3D-Gun Factory And Found Cache Of Weapons And Bomb-Making Material 
  Spanish Police Raided 3D-Gun Factory And Found Cache Of Weapons And Bomb-Making Material 

  People have been making 3D-printed guns at home for nearly a decade, but in the last few years, 3D printed technology, blueprints of weapons, and materials have rapidly evolved that allows anyone to print AR-15s, AKMs, semi-automatic pistols, and others with no serial number, no registration, no background check.

  These weapons are also known as “ghost weapons” due to their untraceable nature. Criminals are embracing ghost guns and even creating manufacturing facilities. 

  Reuters reports Spanish police busted a 3D-printed weapons factory that produced illegal and untraceable firearms in the country. 

  Spanish police raided the illegal weapons workshop in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands and arrested two people in possession of weapons and explosives. 

  Spain’s National Police said police found 3D-printing equipment that could print lowers for weapons. They also found machinery that could manufacture gun barrels in under two minutes, leading authorities to believe the rate of weapons produced at this factory could be staggering. 

  

  Police confiscated the components for 19 3D-printed weapons and chemicals that could be used for manufacturing explosives. 

  Reuters said, “there were also manuals on terrorism, urban guerilla warfare, and white supremacist literature.” 

  Spain’s National Police kept the police weapons factory raid a secret since Sept. 14 until police released details on Sunday. 

  Governments around the world are scrambling to clamp down on 3D-printed weapons.

  The Biden administration recently declared war on ghost guns. Anyone can purchase a 3D printer and download weapon CAD files online, such as ones from the 3D-printed website CTRL-Pew, and build a 100% homemade semi-automatic rifle that shoots 9 mm ammo and can survive thousands of rounds. 

  Since ghost guns have been so disruptive in the Western world, governments are expected to take action against them. The question is, how? What are they going to do, ban printers? 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 02:45

• Balance Of Power In The Black Sea: Will The Montreux Convention Prevail?
  Balance Of Power In The Black Sea: Will The Montreux Convention Prevail?

  Authored by Brian Kalman exclusively for SouthFront,

  The current deterioration of any hopes of a lasting “ceasefire” in the eastern Ukraine, have brought not only the long smoldering conflict back into the forefront of global media attention, but have also presented an opportunity for several geopolitical rivals to take advantage of the situation for their own perceived benefit. Russia responded rapidly to immediate signals from the Kiev government that it fully intended to explore yet another military campaign to resolve the long-standing stalemate in the Donbass and a possible invasion of the Crimean Peninsula.

  On March 29th, the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) officially adopted Resolution No. 5312, which is a clear departure from the Minsk Agreement and labels Russia as the unequivocal aggressor and responsible party for the conflict. Within days, the Ukrainian Armed Forces began moving large amounts of heavy equipment and materiel up to the line of contact and advanced some units within the demilitarized zone. The Zelensky government made very public calls for support from NATO, the United Kingdom and the United States, which were reciprocated in short order. Russia responded with warnings to Kiev to deescalate, coupled with deployments of military units along the south-eastern border with Ukraine, and reinforcement of units tasked with safeguarding the Crimea.

  

  Within a week of the provocative parliamentary vote, over 100 former Turkish Navy officers committed their signatures to an open letter criticizing the Erdogan government’s decisions related to maritime matters and demanded that he maintain Turkey’s commitment to the Montreux Convention. Ten former admirals that signed the letter were swiftly arrested and painted as traitors planning a governmental coup. This story was briefly covered by corporate media, but quickly dropped off the radar. Was this incident aimed at undermining the Erdogan government, or a diplomatic ploy created by the Erdogan government? There are ample reasons to support either assertion. The timing of the incident, in close relation to developments vis-à-vis Russian and Ukraine, are far from coincidental.

  Erdogan himself has made a number of statements regarding his administration’s willingness to re-evaluate whether the Montreux Doctrine should be revised or abandoned. Most of these comments were linked to media questions regarding the proposed Istanbul Canal, a $10 billion project that would construct a canal parallel to the busy Bosporus Strait. The Istanbul Canal project has been proposed off and on since 2011, with referrals for proposals from likely contractors solicited since 2013. But why the sudden reinjection of the topic of the Montreux Doctrine in such a dramatic fashion now? The timing seems far from a coincidence.

  

  Although logical allies against a common rival, President Erdogan harbors his own designs for Crimea that do not include Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

  Is Turkey signaling a possible departure from the international compact, signed in 1936, as an attempt to put pressure on Russian efforts to defend Crimea and respond to NATO assurances of support for Ukraine? What benefits would be achieved by Turkey pulling out of the treaty? Ukrainian president Zelensky made an official visit to Turkey and met with Erdogan on April 10th to discuss defense cooperation amongst numerous other topics. Erdogan reiterated his administrations commitment to Ukraine’s national sovereignty yet saw the Minsk Agreement as the vehicle to achieve a solution to the current impasse. He also voiced support for the official inclusion of Ukraine as a full member of the NATO alliance in the future. More than a few mixed messages to say the least.

  Montreux Convention: A Brief Overview

  The Regime of the Straits as first adopted by signatories in 1936 in Montreux, Switzerland attempted to govern the movement of commercial and military traffic through the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits. This treaty once adopted, replaced the previous Lausanne Treaty of 1923. Clearly a major diplomatic victory for Turkey, the nation maintained sovereignty over the maritime territory of the Bosporus Strait, Strait of Dardanelles, and the Sea of Marmora and gave it the ability to close this major maritime traffic lane to any belligerent of Turkey in time of war. More importantly, it has minimized the ability of any nation whose territory does not border the Black Sea to transit significant amounts of naval warships into the Black Sea. This was a major concern of many of the signatories at the time of its adoption at the onset of the Second World War, chief amongst them the Soviet Union.

  

  The strategically important maritime bottleneck that is controlled by Turkey and governed by the Montreux Convention. Approximately 50,000 vessels a year move through this waterway, along with 3 million barrels of oil every day.

  On one hand, aggregate tonnage limitations imposed on non-Black Sea powers severely limits the size and total number of surface warfare vessels that can transit the straits and enter the Black Sea, and these vessels can only remain in the Black Sea for a period of 21 days. On the other hand, the limitation on movements of vessels through the straits does affect the naval movements of the Black Sea nations. The movement of submarines is significantly hampered by Article 12 as follows:

  Black Sea Powers shall have the right to send through the Straits, for the purpose of rejoining their base, submarines constructed or purchased outside the Black Sea, provided that adequate notice of the laying down or purchase of such submarines shall have been given to Turkey.

  Submarines belonging to the said Powers shall also be entitled to pass through the Straits to be repaired in dockyards outside the Black Sea on condition that detailed information on the matter is given to Turkey.

  In either case, the said submarines must travel by day and on the surface, and must pass through the Straits singly.

  Understanding how the limitations imposed by the Montreux Convention affect Russian submarine movements illustrate a major challenge for Russian submarine deployments in the Mediterranean. A Russian naval base capable of major repair, supply and retrofitting is required outside of the Dardanelles (such as Tartus, Syria) is required to facilitate a sustained Russian submarine presence in the Mediterranean.

  An additional limitation of significance is the agreement’s prohibition of the transit of aircraft carriers. The Montreux Convention describes an aircraft carrier under Annex II:

  Aircraft Carriers are surface vessels of war, whatever their displacement, designed or adapted primarily for the purpose of carrying and operating aircraft at sea. The fitting of a landing-on or flying-off deck on any vessel of war, provided such vessel has not been designed or adapted primarily for the purpose of carrying and operating aircraft at sea, shall not cause any vessel so fitted to be classified in the category of aircraft carrier.

  One of the reasons why the Soviet Union classified the Kiev class and Kuznetsov class vessels as “heavy aircraft carrying cruiser” was to circumvent this restriction. Their primary armament comprised of ant-aircraft missiles and anti-ship missiles, with the small complement of Yak-38 VTOL meant for fleet defense. The acceptance of the heavy aircraft carrying cruiser moniker under the Montreux Convention arguably required the acquiescence of friendly Turkey, especially one that was a NATO member.

  Throughout the 85-year history of the convention, the Black Sea has remained largely demilitarized and stable, with the Black Sea states keeping modest fleets in this maritime area. Even during World War II, Turkey’s neutrality and administration of the convention greatly limited the injection of large naval fleets into the Black Sea. Coupled with the impediment of Gibraltar, Nazi Germany only introduced small numbers of patrol boats and submarines to the region, with these having to make most of the transit overland, requiring them to be assembled and launched from Axis controlled territory along the coast.

  2021: Ukraine Conflict Reignition?

  As the situation along the conflict line in eastern Ukraine continues to further deteriorate, and the statements coming out of Ukraine, NATO and the U.S. become exceedingly provocative, the likelihood of a significant armed conflict reigniting on an even larger scale increase with each passing day. Russia has voiced its concerns and made its “red lines” know to all, has mobilized a large amount of personnel and military hardware, and positioned it close to the border with eastern Ukraine. It has reinforced the defense of Crimea significantly. Russia has conducted its movements of troops and materiel quite overtly, with no attempts to conceal them. This clearly communicates the Russian movements are in fact a reaction to developments in the region and a are designed as a deterrent, not the signs of a premeditated offensive as the corporate media would have the world believe.

  By contrast, the United States has sent numerous military transport aircraft loaded with unknown payloads to Ukraine in the past few days. Although the flights were not hidden per se, questions regarding their purpose were not answered by various Biden Administration press secretaries. This can hardly be seen as an attempt to achieve strategic ambiguity, as the U.S. has been supplying Ukraine with billions of dollars in military aid since the conflict began in 2014. The United States requested transit approval from Turkey of the Straits for two U.S. Navy warships 15 days ahead of the proposed transit as required by the Montreux Convention. Turkey granted the request. Although the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet routinely sends warships into the Black Sea and had three vessels in the area during the previous month, the official reasons given for this deployment were that the U.S. was providing a show of support for Ukraine and attempting to provide “stability” in the region. After a call between presidents Biden and Putin on April 15th, the U.S. Navy rescinded its transit request. This was a welcome step toward de-escalation.

  

  USS Carney DDG 64 during a previous naval deployment that took her into the Black Sea and an official visit to the port of Odessa, Ukraine in 2017. She is currently in drydock undergoing a full modernization overhaul in Jacksonville, FL.

  All the above developments are happening with the backdrop of the commencement of NATO operation Defender Europe 2021 back on March 15th. As the training exercise ramps up in May it will engage approximately 28,000 personnel from 27 participating countries. Approximately 20,000 of these troops will be deployed from the U.S., along with heavy equipment shipped to the continent for the U.S. Army’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team and 3rd Infantry Division. The majority of armored vehicles and war materiel will be mobilized from pre-position depots in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Exercises will simulate and test the response to a Russian invasion of NATO members and friendly nations, i.e., Ukraine. Exercises will take place in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine.

  Quite ironically, Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, NATO’s supreme allied commander stated after last year’s Defender Europe 2020 that,

  “We’ve seen a fair amount of response from Russia. They’re not overly pleased with Defender Europe 20. We’re concerned mostly about the readiness of our forces and we’re doing all that in accordance with international law.”

  Somehow it is acceptable for the U.S. to move tens of thousands of troops and equipment thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean to conduct military exercises on foreign soil, yet it is unacceptable for Russia to conduct similar exercises on its own soil, yet both are clearly in accordance with international law. Could General Wolters grasp that Russia’s displeasure might be influenced by the long list of broken promises related to NATO expansion into previous Warsaw Pact nations over the past thirty years? How about Operation Barbarossa of 1941, which saw a massive invasion of the nation by Nazi Germany, Bulgaria, and Romania, with Hungary and Italy also participating to a greater degree after the initial operation? Russia learned a tragic lesson in this case and one that it will never allow to happen again. Perhaps it would help for General Wolters to crack the binding of a history book or two about Russia in the near future.

  What Role will Turkey Decide to Play?

  Turkey has a multitude of options open to it in case the current conflict in Ukraine develops into open warfare between Ukraine and Russia. President Erdogan is a very shrewd and calculated politician, who would undoubtedly hedge his bets and alter Turkey’s strategic position as the situation developed. Turkey’s strategic calculus would depend largely on the level of response exhibited by Russia in its reaction to any move by Kiev to break the stalemate in the Donbass region, or any direct military threat on Crimea. A direct move on Crimea is highly unlikely, as Russia was totally unambiguous as to its stance in 2014. It will fight to maintain Crimea even if it means nuclear war.

  

  Russia has been slowly modernizing the Black Sea Fleet. The Admiral Makarov pictured above is one of three Project 11356 FFGs commissioned and stationed there in the past few years.

  Turkey would wait and gauge the NATO response to any Russian reaction to Kiev’s escalation. If NATO moved forcefully and resolutely, Turkey would likely maintain the status quo and honor its responsibilities under the Montreux Convention up until such point that either NATO or Russia gains a clear advantage. Turkey is a NATO member and is bound by the treaty; however, Ukraine is not a member, and thus Turkey has no obligation under Article 5 to defend it, especially if Ukraine initiates hostilities. A propaganda war facilitated by western corporate media would be used to frame any conflict as a case of a Russian invasion to allow for NATO to initiate a conflict to defend a non-member state. If NATO gained a clear advantage, Turkey would align itself unequivocally with the military bloc, declare Russia a belligerent party to Turkey and bar all Russian naval and maritime traffic in the Straits as per the mechanisms available in the Montreux Convention. Turkey would cut off the major supply route from Russia to its forces stationed in Syria and would likely escalate the military situation in Syria in conjunction with NATO. This would only lead to a much wider conflict.

  If Russia were to gain an early and clear advantage, Turkey would most likely remain “neutral” and maintain the status quo regarding the Montreux Convention; however, it would likely engage in covert warfare against Russia in both the Crimea and Syria via its proxies in both regions to take advantage of Russia’s immediate focus on Ukraine. It could also reignite the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Its commitment to proxy warfare would be gauged by the pace and level of any Russian military success. Even in the case of an overwhelming victory on the part of Russia, I see little likelihood of Turkey abandoning the Montreux Convention and the adoption of a more favorable transit agreement with Russia. In regard to controlling this strategically important maritime bottleneck, Turkey holds all the cards. Russia has been keenly aware of this reality since the agreement was ratified in 1936. Alongside its desire to maintain an advantage in the natural gas trade to Europe, it is also for this reason that Russia has invested so much in stabilizing Syria and defeating Western/Saudi/Gulf Emirate efforts to eliminate Russia’s most viable naval base of operations in the Mediterranean Sea in Tartus, Syria.

  The Future of the Montreux Convention

  There is very little chance of a major change in the status of the Montreux Convention in the immediate future. The greater possibility is that an open conflict between Russia and Ukraine would be the catalyst for Turkey and NATO to use the agreement to weaken Russia’s position in Syria, where it would be of greatest effect. Erdogan has been very measured in his public statements regarding possible hostilities in Ukraine. While hosting an official state visit with President Zelensky and voicing support for Ukraine’s sovereignty (including Crimea), he has also voiced his support for the Minsk Agreement as the mechanism to resolve the issue; however, public statements are often quite different than the discussions that take place behind closed doors.

  The Montreux Convention was perhaps the greatest political victory for Turkey in the past century, and President Erdogan undoubtedly grasps this reality. If the Istanbul Canal project ever actually breaks ground, it is a winning proposition for Turkey economically, although there are several ecological and civic planning concerns that pose a major challenge to the project. Such a project, if successful will bring all the economic benefits that both the Panama and Suez Canals have provided for Panama and Egypt. Although there is a natural, navigable waterway connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, this waterway is constricted and limited in the traffic volume that it can handle.  If a man-made canal can significantly reduce voyage transit time, shippers stand to save significant amounts of money by utilizing it. The time saved equates to fuel savings, possible reduction of overtime labor costs in the next port of call or may determine if a vessel operator meets the contractual terms of a charter party. Russia aims to leverage the same advantages in promoting its own Northern Sea Route.

  

  If Turkey ever completes the proposed Istanbul Canal it would alleviate some of the maritime traffic congestion in the Bosporus Strait and provide a large amount of revenue for the state.

  With or without the proposition of the Istanbul Canal, the Montreux Convention is a major strategic advantage for Turkey and the NATO Alliance, as long as Turkey remains a member state. For Russia it is a double-edged sword. Assuming Turkey remains an ally or a neutral party, it severely limits the ability of any foreign power to introduce a viable naval threat to the Black Sea and Russia’s vital national interests in the region. In any scenario where Turkey becomes an active belligerent in any hypothetical conflict, Russia is forced to take decisive and overwhelming action to rest control of these navigable waterways from Turkey or else surrender its access to the Mediterranean. Turkey, Russia and NATO all clearly understand this strategic reality, and have been rational and logical enough to accept it. By so limiting the available options for naval escalation, the Montreux Convention continues to provide stability and ensure a naval balance of power in the region.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 04/19/2021 – 02:00

• Escobar: So Who Wants A Hot War?
  Escobar: So Who Wants A Hot War?

  Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Saker blog,

  It’s a scorpion battle inside a vortex of distorted mirrors inside a circus. So let’s start with the mirrors in the circus.

  

  The non-entity that passes for Ukrainian Foreign Minister traveled to Brussels to be courted by US Secretary of State Blinken and NATO secretary-general Stoltenberg.

  At best, that’s circus shadowplay. Much more than NATO advisers in a frantic revolving door in Kiev, the real shadowplay is MI6 actually working very close with President Zelensky.

  Zelensky’s warmongering script comes directly from MI6’s Richard Moore. Russian intel is very much aware of all the fine print. Glimpses were even carefully leaked to a TV special on the Rossiya 1 channel.

  I confirmed it with diplomatic sources in Brussels. British media also got wind of it – but obviously was told to further distort the mirrors, blaming everything on, what else, “Russian aggression”.

  German intel is practically non-existent in Kiev. Those NATO advisers remain legion. Yet no one talks about the explosive MI6 connection.

  Careless whispers in Brussels corridors swear that MI6 actually believes that in the case of a volcanic but as it stands still preventable hot war with Russia, continental Europe would burn and Brexitland would be spared.

  Dream on. Now back to the circus.

  Oh, you’re so provocative

  Both Little Blinken and NATO straw man Stoltenberg parroted the same script in Brussels after talking to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister.

  That was part of a NATO “special meeting” on Ukraine – where some Eurocrat must have told a bunch of extra clueless Eurocrats how they would be carbonized on the spot by Russian TOS-1 Buratino’s terrifying explosive warheads if NATO tried anything funny.

  Listen to the sound of Blinken yappin’: Russian actions are “provocative”.

  Well, his staff certainly did not hand him a copy of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu examining step by step the deployment of the annual US Army DEFENDER-Europe 21: “The main forces are concentrated in the Black Sea and Baltic region.”

  Now listen to the sound of Stoltenberg yappin’: We pledge “unwavering support” to Ukraine.

  Woof woof. Now go back to play in your sandboxes.

  No, not yet. Little Blinken threatened Moscow with “consequences” whatever happens in Ukraine.

  Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov’s infinite patience is nearly Daoist. Sun Tzu’s Art of War, by the way, is a Daoist masterpiece. Peskov’s answer to Blinken: “It is simply not necessary for us to go around forever proclaiming: ‘I am the greatest!’ The more one does this sort of thing, in fact, the more people doubt it…”

  When in doubt, call the irreplaceable Andrei Martyanov – who always tells it like it is. The Crash Test Dummy gang in D.C. still does not get it – although some Deep State pros do.

  Here’s Martyanov:

  As I am on record constantly – the United States never fought a war with its Command and Control system under the relentless sustained fire impact and its rear attacked and disorganized. Conventionally, the United States cannot win against Russia in Europe, at least Eastern part of it and Biden Admin better wake up to the reality that it may, indeed, not survive any kind of escalation and, in fact, modern Kalibrs, 3M14Ms, as a matter of fact, have a range of a 4,500 kilometers, as well as 5,000+ kilometer range of X-101 cruise missiles, which will have no issues with penetrating North American airspace when launched by Russia’s strategic bombers without even leaving the safety of Russia’s airspace.

  The Patrushev effect

  The circus went on with the phone call from “Biden” – that is, Crash Test Dummy with an earpiece and a teleprompter in front of the phone – to President Putin.

  Call it the Patrushev effect.

  In his stunning interview to Kommersant, Triple Yoda Patrushev mentioned a very civilized late March phone call he had with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Of course there’s no smokin’ gun, but if anyone would come up with the face-saving idea of a Biden-Putin phone call that would have been Sullivan.

  The spin from Washington and Moscow is only slightly divergent. The Americans highlight that “Biden” – actually the deciding combo behind him – wants to build “a stable and predictable relationship with Russia, consistent with US interests.”

  The Kremlin said that Biden “expressed interest in normalizing bilateral relations.”

  Away from all this fog, what really matters is Patrushev-Sullivan. That has to do with Washington telling Turkey that US warships would be transiting the Bosphorus towards the Black Sea. Sullivan must have told Patrushev that no, they won’t be “active” in Donbass. And Patrushev told Sullivan, OK, we won’t incinerate them.

  There are absolutely no illusions in Moscow that this putative Biden-Putin summit in a distant future will ever take place. Especially after Daoist Peskov had made it very clear that “no one will allow America to speak with Russia from a position of strength.” If that sounds like a line straight out of Yang Jiechi – who made shark fin’s soup out of Blinken-Sullivan in Alaska – that’s because it does.

  Kiev, predictably, remains stuck in circus mode. After getting sharp messages from Mr. Iskander, Mr. Khinzal and Mr. Buratino, they changed their mind, or at least pretend to, and are now saying they don’t want war.

  And here comes the intersection between circus and the serious stuff. The “Biden” combo never said, explicitly, on the record, that they don’t want war. On the contrary: they are sending those warships to the Black Sea and – circus again! – designating an envoy, Ministry of Silly Walks-style, whose only job is to derail the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

  So the cliffhanger – like a teaser for Snowpiercer – is what happens when Nord Stream 2 is completed.

  But before that, there’s something even more momentous: next Wednesday, on his speech to the Russian Security Council, President Putin will lay down the law.

  It’s Minsk 2, stupid

  Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has struck a much less Daoist note than Peskov: “The United States is our enemy, doing everything to undermine Russia’s position in the international arena, we do not see other elements in their approach to us. These are our conclusions”.

  That’s stone to the bone realpolitik. Ryabkov knows the Hegemon’s “non agreement-capable” mindset inside out. So an added dimension to his observation is its direct connection to the only solution for Ukraine: the Minsk 2 agreements.

  Putin reiterated Minsk 2 on his live teleconference with Merkel and Macron – and certainly to “Biden” in their phone call. The Beltway, the EU and NATO are all aware of it. Minsk 2 was signed by Ukraine, France and Germany and certified by the UN Security Council. If Kiev violates it, Russia – as a member of the UNSC – must enforce it.

  Kiev has been violating Minsk 2 for months now; it refuses to implement it. As a faithful Hegemon satrapy, they are also not “agreement-capable”. Yet now they are seeing the – firepower – writing on the wall if they as much as think of starting a blitzkrieg against Donbass.

  The open secret in the whole Ukraine/Donbass wilderness of mirrors under the circus tent is of course China. Yet Ukraine, in a sane world, would not only be part of a Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) corridor, but also part of the Russian Greater Eurasia project. China specialist Nikolai Vavilov recognizes the importance of BRI, but is also certain Russia is above all defending its own interests.

  Ideally, Ukraine/Donbass would be inserted in the overall revival of the Silk Roads – as in internal Central Eurasian trade based and developed taking into consideration Eurasia-wide demand. Eurasia integration – in both the Chinese and Russian vision – are all about interconnected economies via inter-regional trade.

  So it’s not by accident that the Hegemon – on the verge of becoming an irrelevant player across Eurasia – is going no holds barred to harass and try to smash the continental integration by all means available.

  In this context, manipulating a failed state to meet its own doom is just (circus) business.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 23:40

• Where COVID Cases Are Growing The Fastest
  Where COVID Cases Are Growing The Fastest

  COVID-19 cases are growing in many countries around the world, but, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz details below, some are hit harder than others. Numbers by Johns Hopkins University published on Our World in Data show that among the highly affected countries with rising case numbers are several with successful vaccination campaigns, highlighting the need to not rely on vaccination alone to combat the coronavirus.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  Chile still recorded an average of 377 new infections per one million of population on Thursday despite having given out 67 vaccine doses per 100 people – the equivalent of 40 percent of the population having received at least one vaccine dose and 27 percent having been fully vaccinated.

  The same phenomenon is happening in Bahrain (60 doses per 100 people as of April 15) and Qatar (41 doses). 

  According to Our World in Data this places the countries towards the top of the most successful vaccination campaigns in the world.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 23:15

• What The CDC's VAERS Database Reveals About "Adverse" Post-Vaccine Reactions
  What The CDC’s VAERS Database Reveals About “Adverse” Post-Vaccine Reactions

  Authored by Megan Redshaw via ChildrensHealthDefense.org,

  Data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the number of injuries and deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) following COVID vaccines revealed reports of blood clots and other related blood disorders associated with all three vaccines approved for Emergency Use Authorization in the U.S. — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (J&J). So far, only the J&J vaccine has been paused because of blood clot concerns.

  

  VAERS is the primary mechanism for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed.

  Every Friday, VAERS makes public all vaccine injury reports received through a specified date, usually about a week prior to the release date. Today’s data show that between Dec. 14, 2020 and April 8, a total of 68,347 total adverse events were reported to VAERS, including 2,602 deaths — an increase of 260 over the previous week — and 8,285 serious injuries, up 314 since last week.

  

  Of the 2,602 deaths reported as of April 8, 27% occurred within 48 hours of vaccination, 19% occurred within 24 hours and 41% occurred in people who became ill within 48 hours of being vaccinated.

  In the U.S., 174.9 million COVID vaccine doses had been administered as of April 8. This includes 79.6 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine, 90.3 million doses of Pfizer and 4.9 million doses of the J&J COVID vaccine.

  This week’s VAERS data show:

  • 19% of deaths were related to cardiac disorders.

  • 55% of those who died were male, 43% were female and the remaining death reports did not include gender of the deceased.

  • The average age of those who died was 77 and the youngest death was an 18-year-old. There are a few reported deaths in children under 18, but these reports contained errors.

  • As of April 8, 408 pregnant women had reported adverse events related to COVID vaccines, including 114 reports of miscarriage or premature birth.

  • Of the 678 cases of Bell’s Palsy reported, 59% of cases were reported after Pfizer-BioNTech vaccinations, 38% following vaccination with the Moderna vaccine and 24 cases (4%) of Bell’s Palsy were reported with J&J.

  • There were 77 reports of Guillain-Barré Syndrome with 55% of cases attributed to Pfizer, 40% to Moderna and 10% to J&J.

  • There were 20,021 reports of anaphylaxis with 47% of cases attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine, 46% to Moderna and 7% to J&J.

  Reports of blood clotting disorders in VAERS

  Children’s Health Defense queried the VAERS data for a series of adverse events associated with the formation of clotting disorders and other related conditions. VAERS yielded a total of 795 reports for all three vaccines from Dec. 14, 2020, through April 8.

  Of the 795 cases reported, there were 400 reports attributed to Pfizer, 337 reports with Moderna and 56 reports with J&J — far more than the eight J&J cases under investigation, including the two additional cases added Wednesday.

  As The Defender reported today, although the J&J and AstraZeneca COVID vaccines have been under the microscope for their potential to cause blood clots, mounting evidence suggests the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines also cause clots and related blood disorders. U.S. regulatory officials were alerted to the problem as far back as December 2020.

  CDC ignores The Defender, no response after 39 days 

  According to the CDC’s website, “the CDC follows up on any report of death to request additional information and learn more about what occurred and to determine whether the death was a result of the vaccine or unrelated.”

  On March 8, The Defender contacted the CDC with a written list of questions about reported deaths and injuries related to COVID vaccines. We requested information about how the CDC conducts investigations into reported deaths, the status of ongoing investigations reported in the media, if autopsies are being done, the standard for determining whether an injury is causally connected to a vaccine, and education initiatives to encourage and facilitate proper and accurate reporting.

  After many attempts to get a response from the CDC, 22 days after our initial outreach a representative from the CDC’s Vaccine Task Force responded, saying the agency had never received our questions — even though the employees we talked to several times said their press officers were working through the questions we sent.

  We provided the questions again and set a new deadline of April 7. We’ve reached out multiple times since, but the representative has not answered our emails or returned our calls.

  On April 15 we called the CDC’s general media line again and were told they had our list of questions and were unsure why the representative told us she never received them. We were told the COVID response team would be informed and that we should follow up in a few days.

  It has been 39 days since we first reached out and have yet to receive answers to our questions.

  Johnson & Johnson paused over reports of blood clot

  On April 15, The Defender reported that a healthy 43-year old man in Mississippi suffered a stroke hours after being vaccinated with J&J’s COVID vaccine. Brad Malagarie, father of seven, had received the vaccine a little after Noon and was found unresponsive by co-workers at his desk.

  Also on April 15, the  Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the Ohio Department of Health is monitoring the investigation into what may have caused a 21-year-old University of Cincinnati student to die suddenly last Sunday, about a day after he received the J&J vaccine.

  Alicia Shoults, a spokeswoman for the state health department, said the agency is waiting for the completion of a Hamilton County coroner’s report, and “if necessary,” further guidance from the CDC.

  The two news stories came just days after federal health officials paused the J&J vaccine.

  As The Defender reported April 13, the CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called for a temporary but immediate halt to the use of J&J’s COVID vaccine while the agencies investigated the vaccine’s possible link to potentially dangerous blood clots.

  In a joint statement, the agencies said the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was reviewing clinical data gathered on six women, one who died, between the ages of 18 and 48 years who developed blood clots after receiving the single-dose J&J vaccine.

  On April 14, the ACIP held an emergency meeting to vote on whether to lift the pause on J&J’s vaccine or change recommendations for its use. As The Defender reported, the ACIP postponed the vote, extending the pause pending further analysis of data relating to blood clots. The ACIP said it would reconvene for a vote in one week to 10 days.

  That same day, J&J revealed two more cases of blood clots — one that occurred in a 25-year-old man who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage during a clinical trial and another case of deep-vein-thrombosis in a 59-year-old woman.

  In its review of J&J’s submission for Emergency Use Authorization in February, the FDA initially urged further surveillance of a slight “numerical imbalance” in blood clotting events after receiving the shot. At the time, it was concluded there was “insufficient” data to determine “a causal relationship” with the vaccine and the drugmaker resumed the trial.

  As The Defender reported April 12, the rollout of J&J’s COVID vaccine has not been smooth. At the beginning of the month the vaccine maker had to throw out 15 million doses of its vaccine after they were contaminated with AstraZeneca vaccine ingredients at an unapproved manufacturing plant in Baltimore.

  The vaccine maker also has been plagued with shutdowns of its vaccine sites prior to the vaccine being paused, multiple reports of COVID breakthrough cases and criticism over its CEO’s $30 million pay package while the company pays out billions for its role in the opioid epidemic.

  CDC, multiple states report ‘breakthrough’ COVID cases among fully vaccinated

  Cases of fully vaccinated people getting COVID, referred to as “breakthrough” cases, continue to make news.

  Calling it a “really good scenario,” the CDC yesterday reported 5,800 cases of COVID in fully vaccinated people. Of the 5,800 cases, 396 required hospitalization and 74 people died, the CDC said.

  The CDC said it was “keeping a close eye” on the cases, but that breakthrough cases are to be expected. Tara Smith, a professor of epidemiology at the Kent State University College of Public Health in Ohio, told NBC News:

  “This is a really good scenario, even with almost 6,000 breakthrough infections. Most of those have been mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic. That’s exactly what we were hoping for.”

  On April 12, the Houston Health Department reported 142 breakthrough cases of COVID that occurred in fully vaccinated people since January, according to ABC 13 News. Vaccine recipients received either two doses of Moderna or Pfizer, or one dose of J&J. The report ruled out those who were said to have contracted the virus 45 days before their second scheduled shot date.

  Houston Health Department said there were 2.46 positive cases out of every 10,000 fully-vaccinated people and it was unclear if those who tested positive contracted the original strand of COVID or a newer variant.

  Last month, The Defender reported on breakthrough cases in Washington, Florida, South Carolina, Texas, New York, California and Minnesota. On April 6, The Defender reported on 246 breakthrough cases in Michigan, which included three people who died.

  Children’s Health Defense asks anyone who has experienced an adverse reaction, to any vaccine, to file a report following these three steps.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 22:50

• Goldman: The Economic Surge Is Starting To Flare Out… And Markets Are Starting To Price It In
  Goldman: The Economic Surge Is Starting To Flare Out… And Markets Are Starting To Price It In

  A year ago, Goldman Sachs wrote about an adage that came to characterize the market’s response to the pandemic: “investors can not afford to wait for the resolution to a problem that they know will be resolved.” And a year later, around the time Wall Street decided that covid is now behind us, the resolution is well and truly underway in the US with 38% of Americans having already received a first shot of the vaccine

  

  … and nearly 80% of all Americans 65 and older having received at least one dose.

  

  And signs of how the economy may respond to this resolution are already starting to crop up — especially this week.

  • March Retail Sales grew almost 10% M/M, helped also by a fresh round of stimulus checks sent out to shoppers
  • The number of people filing for jobless benefits in the latest week also fellnsharply to 576k from 769k a week prior
  • And business sentiment — which had already bounced off its low — showed further improvement with the Philly Fed rising to 50.2 from 44.5 a month ago and the Empire Manufacturing Index jumping to 26.3 from 17.4

  Interestingly, as Goldman’s Chris Hussey writes, Friday’s University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey disappointed, rising less than expected to 86.5 from 84.9 a month ago due to subdued expectations about the future…

  

  … perhaps as a result of 1-year inflation expectations soaring.

  

  When coupled with March’s blockbuster retail sales report, Goldman writes that “it may suggest that the stimulus-driven spending surge is already starting to flare out.” But it might also reveal how stimulus checks are hard-pressed to erase the longer-term memory of a 1-year+ pandemic-fueled lockdown.  The survey’s current economic conditions component rose by 4.2pt to 97.2. But the expectations index remained unchanged at79.7. As Goldman suggests, “it may be that consumers will need to live and feel ‘normal’ for more than just a shopping trip to the mall before fully embracing a post-pandemic era.“

  On one hand, this last point could be encouraging for markets as it suggests the reopening may have legs. But just how long those legs are is an increasingly hot topic of conversation. As Goldman strategist Alessio Rizzi warned in a separate note, we are probably entering the last stage of pricing the growth acceleration.

  

  To be sure, the market action last week may point to signs that the reopening trade could be already starting to fade.

  • Yields on 10-year US Treasuries have fallen about 10 bp this week to 1.57%.
  • Three of the best performing sectors in the S&P 500 this week were traditionally defensive ones: Healthcare, Real Estate, and Utilities.
  • A look at Goldman’s 19 stocks to focus on when we get a vaccine shows declines this week in particularly reopening sensitive categories like airlines (UAL and BA) and entertainment (FUN and IMAX).
  • The Financials sector is among the worst performers this week despite what on paper looked to be an extraordinary quarter of reported profits for the large money center banks.

  Putting all this together, Hussey writes that “in a week in which the US made significant progress in its recovery, we learned that business sentiment is only improving while more people are getting their job back and Banks reported strong profits through March, the procyclical trade showed signs of getting a little ‘long in the tooth’.”

  Indeed, as the Goldman strategist concludes, we may now be in a mirror image from one year ago today, when “investors find out that they can not afford to wait for the fading of a recovery that they know will eventually fade.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 22:25

• How To Start A War
  How To Start A War

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via AmGreatness.com,

  Wars often arise from uncertainty. When strong powers appear weak, truly weaker ones take risks they otherwise would not. 

  

  Sloppy braggadocio and serial promises of restraint alternatively trigger wars, too. Empty tough talk can needlessly egg on aggressors. But mouthing utopian bromides convinces bullies that their targets are too sophisticated to counter aggression.

  Sometimes announcing “a new peace process” without any ability to bring either novel concessions or pressures only raises false hopes—and furor. 

  Every new American president is usually tested to determine whether the United States can still protect friends like Japan, Europe, South Korea, Israel, and Taiwan. And will the new commander-in-chief deter America’s enemies Iran and North Korea—and keep China and Russia from absorbing their neighbors?

  Joe Biden, and those around him, seem determined to upset the peace they inherited. 

  Soon after Donald Trump left office, Vladimir Putin began massing troops on the Ukrainian border and threatening to attack.

  Putin earlier had concluded Trump was dangerously unpredictable, and perhaps better not provoked. After all, the Trump Administration took out Russian mercenaries in Syria. It beefed up defense spending and upped sanctions.

  The Trump Administration flooded the world with cheap oil to Russia’s chagrin. It pulled out from asymmetrical missile treaties with Russia. It sold sophisticated arms to the Ukrainians. The Russians concluded that Trump might do anything, and so waited for another president before again testing America.

  In contrast, Biden too often talks provocatively—while carrying a twig. He has gratuitously called Putin “a killer.” And he warned that the Russian dictator “would pay a price” for supposedly interfering in the 2020 election. 

  Unfortunately, his bombast follows four years of a Russian-collusion hoax, fueled by a concocted dossier paid for by 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton. Biden and others swore Trump was—in the words of Barack Obama’s former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper—a “Russian asset.”

  If Biden seeks to provoke a nation with 7,500 deliverable weapons, he is certainly not backing up his rhetoric with force.

  He has cut military aid to Ukraine. And Biden may well decrease the Pentagon budget.  

  He seems to have forgotten that Trump was impeached for supposedly imperiling Ukraine, when in fact he sold to it the very weapons Biden and others in the Obama Administration had vetoed.

  While Biden was talking loudly to Putin, his administration was serially humiliated by China. Beijing’s diplomats dressed down their American counterparts in a recent meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. They gleefully recycled domestic left-wing boilerplate that a racist America has no moral authority to criticize China.

  If Trump was unpredictably blunt, Biden is too often predictably confused. And he appears frail, sending a message to autocracies that America’s commander-in-chief is not fully in control. 

  Biden has not, as he promised, demanded from China transparency about the origins of the COVID-19 virus in Wuhan. By summer, that Chinese-birthed plague may have killed 600,000 Americans.

  More disturbing, as Russia puts troops on the Ukrainian border, China simultaneously flies into Taiwanese air space, testing its defenses—and the degree to which the United States cares.

  For a half-century, American foreign policy sought to ensure that Russia was no closer to China than either was to the United States.

  Now the two dictatorships seem almost joined at the hip as each probes U.S. responses or lack thereof. Not surprisingly, North Korea in late March suddenly resumed its firing of missiles over the Sea of Japan.

  In the Middle East, Biden inherited a relatively quiet landscape. Arab nations, in historic fashion, were making peace with Israel. Both sides were working to deter Iranian-funded terrorists, like Hezbollah and extremists in Syria, the West Bank, and Yemen. 

  Radical Palestinians were no longer beneficiaries of U.S. aid. Iran itself was stagnating by sanctions and recession. Its arch terrorist mastermind General Qasem Soleimani was killed by U.S. bombing. 

  The United States left the Iran deal that was a prescription for certain Iranian acquisition of a nuclear weapon. The theocracy in Tehran, the chief sponsor of terror in the world, was in its most fragile condition in its 40 years of existence.

  Now U.S. diplomats bizarrely express an interest in restoring cordial relations with Iran, rebooting the Iran deal, and dropping sanctions against the regime. If all that happens, Iran will likely get a bomb soon. 

  More importantly, Tehran may conclude that the United States has distanced itself from Israel and moderate Arab regimes. One of two dangers will then arise. Either Iran will feel it can up its aggression, or its enemies will conclude they have no choice but to take out all Iranian nuclear facilities.

  Biden would do well to remember ancient American diplomatic adages like speaking softly while carrying a big stick, keeping China and Russia apart, being no better friend—or worse enemy—and letting sleeping dogs lie.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 22:00

• A Third Of Workers In San Fran Will Not Return To The Office
  A Third Of Workers In San Fran Will Not Return To The Office

  While we have been writing more of late about corporations returning to the office and life (slowly) starting to return back to normal, not everybody is going to be making the trek back into the office. 

  Only about 38% of currently employed San Francisco workers said they would be making the human-shit-filled hobble back to the office five days a week. This number is down from the 58% who made the commute prior to the pandemic. 

  The data is according to a poll commissioned by regional business group Bay Area Council, and reported by Bloomberg.

  

  The poll revealed that about a third don’t plan to return to the office in the same way they did prior to the pandemic and that about 16% of workers plan to work remotely after Covid, up from 10% pre-Covid. 

  Ultimately, this will result in about 384,000 less people driving or taking mass transit to work daily. 

  Jim Wunderman, President and CEO of the Bay Area Council, concluded: “Work and commute patterns have undergone dramatic changes over the past year, changes that will continue to evolve in the months ahead as the pandemic hopefully slips into our rearview mirror.”

  Recall, in mid March, we wrote that Goldman Sachs had told its employees they would be returning to the office by the summer. Like its much-larger rival JPM, Goldman moved to start bringing traders and investment bankers back to the office last year, leading to some headline-grabbing trading-floor COVID outbreaks.

  

  According to Reuters, Goldman CEO David Solomon informed staff during an all-hands Zoom call last month that the bank’s thousands of workers, who have mostly been working from home, will be back in offices by the summer.

  The NYC-based investment bank has nearly 40K employees around the world and its push to return to offices has been gaining steam internationally. Many of the bank’s roughly 10K workers in India are already returning to offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai from the hometowns where they spent the pandemic. In London, traders, investment bankers and others can get tested for COVID-19 in booths scattered around the building.

  Additionally, just two weeks ago, we reported that Wells Fargo would also have its employees back to the office this year, aiming for a September 6 return date.

  The bank announced in late March that it plans on bringing its workers back to its offices after Labor Day, due to the “increasing availability of vaccines”. The bank says it is hoping for operations to return to normalcy after September 6, according to Reuters. Wells says it is still evaluating whether or not to allow certain businesses or functional subgroups to return to work before labor day. 

  Wells Fargo noted that about 200,000 employees have been working from home, and about 60,000 from offices, during the pandemic.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 21:35

• Antifa "Panicking" About Police Informant Inside Network: Andy Ngo
  Antifa “Panicking” About Police Informant Inside Network: Andy Ngo

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

  Members of the infamous Antifa cell in Portland are anxious after an informant in their midst gave information to police, leading to arson charges, Antifa expert Andy Ngo says.

  “They’re panicking because this may possibly mean that somebody has infiltrated high… and there’s a lot at risk, because this is a criminal cartel,” Ngo said Saturday on NTD’s “The Nation Speaks.”

  “And if there’s somebody in there and they don’t know who it is who’s informing on them, it could bring down the entire cell,” Ngo added.

  “I’m hopeful that that will happen, although I’m not sure if there’s the political will for the investigators to actually go through and fully investigate all the links and ties that this individual suspect has. But this is at least a little bit of good news in regards to months and months of really terrible things happening in Portland with no changes happening.”

  Portland has seen repeated rioting since the spring of 2020. At least some of the violence has been linked to members of Antifa, a far-left, anarcho-communist network that has carried out violent acts in cities across the country.

  Last week, prosecutors announced they were charging Alma Raven-Guido, a 19-year-old who has attended multiple riots, with arson, criminal mischief, and rioting—all felonies.

  Raven-Guido is accused of pouring flammable liquid onto a fire that had been started at the building housing the Portland Police Association, a police union, during a riot on April 13. That liquid “resulted in the fire growing,” Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said.

  A witness saw one of the bottles Raven-Guido use catch fire and start melting and also told police that they saw her place the three bottles into a backpack. In a court document, a police officer described the witness as “the informant.”

  Portland police officers found an accelerant and lighters when they arrested Raven-Guido shortly after the fire was set. They also found her to be in possession of a crow bar, spray paint, and heavy marker.

  

  In this image from video, a fire is seen at the Portland Police Association building in Portland, Ore., on April 13, 2021. (KPTV)

  The fire caused an estimated $25,000-plus damage to the police union building. Daryl Turner, executive director of the union, said in a statement that no one was inside the building when it was set on fire and that neighboring homes were not damaged.

  The arsonists were “a splinter group of rioters” who broke off from a peaceful march, Turner said.

  Slogans favored by Antifa were scrawled on the side of the building, including “ACAB,” an anti-police acronym.

  A court-appointed attorney for the defendant, who was released after being arraigned last week, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Antifa network in Portland does not have a public-facing brand, such as a spokesperson.

  After publications started reporting on the informant’s information helping lead to Raven-Guido being charged, a lot of Antifa members on social media “were trying accuse one another, saying, ‘who was it?’” Ngo, the journalist who has tracked the network for years, was beaten by alleged members in 2019, and later left the United States because of threats, told NTD.

  “And they’re really scared, so they’re locking down their social media accounts so that you can’t see what they’re saying anymore,” he added.

  Screenshots shared by Ngo on Twitter, and other posts that are still publicly available, show people wondering about who informed on Raven-Guido.

  “Somebody sold us out. Somebody sold every single one of us out. There’s somebody out there that would rather send a 19 year old indigenous person to prison than protect a single one of us. [expletive] you. Absolutely [expletive] you. I hope we find out who the [expletive] you are,” one wrote.

  “So where did this happen and what’s that snitches address?” another posted.

  Another user shared a meme that stated, “snitches get stitches.”

  Ngo said he’s hopeful that the anxiety that has set in among Antifa members will lead to a decrease in the violence in Portland.

  “I think that the group of people who are organizing, carrying out the violence is relatively small. So they stand a lot to lose actually if there’s going to be a high level of distrust within the ranks and Portland Police and even federal authorities have not been effective at clamping down on the violence in Portland, which is still ongoing to this day,” he said. “But hopefully, this—Antifa’s own paranoia—can be their undoing. One can hope.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 21:10

• JPMorgan: Clients Are "Increasingly Nervous", Fear "A Market Pullback In May Or June"
  JPMorgan: Clients Are “Increasingly Nervous”, Fear “A Market Pullback In May Or June”

  Much to the delight of bulls everywhere, the past month has been a relentless meltup in stocks, commodities, cryptos, and – paradoxically over the past week when we have been bombarded with stellar economic data – Treasurys as well.

  After dumping at the end of March to a low of 3,843, spoos have seen an almost flat-line diagonal move higher over the past three weeks, hitting an all time high of 4,183 on Friday (trading a little softer over the weekend following the crypto rout) following one blockbuster economic data point after another, and a solid start to earnings season to boot.

  

  If one looks purely at technicals (i.e., lines drawn on a chart which somehow predict stuff), the latest ramp was to be expected, but appears to be reaching an exhaustion point with just 10 points to go until resistance is hit.

  

  There is another technical reason (we’ll ignore fundamentals because when the Fed continues to inject $120BN per month and when the joke cryptocurrency Dogecoin goes exponentially higher “just because”, it’s clear that fundamentals don’t matter), the rally may be coming to an end: as of this moment a near record 96% of S&P stocks are trading above their 200DMA, which is the highest in more than 20 years, and the last time it happened – in Sept of 2009…

  

  … the S&P was 5% lower in 2 weeks, and unchanged a year later. Then again, the current period – when central banks are openly PPTing everything and will defend stocks at any and all cost – can’t really be compared to any other period in the past. Offsetting the negative charts is the well-known fact that April is historically the strongest month for stocks, green 89% of the time over the past 10 years and 75% of the time over the past 20.

  Another factor will be earnings season why by all counts will be stellar… but probably not stellar enough as absolute perfection is already priced in as recent bank earnings demonstrated.

  Which may explain why in his Friday Market Intelligence note, JPMorgan’s Andrew Tyler writes that while the “bull case remains intact” he warns to “keep an eye” on growing divergence in the sleep VIX relative to the spiky MOVE Index (which would imply a VIX in the mid-30s)…

  

  … as well as the CBOE’s put/call ratio…

  

  … as “the combination seems to suggest an increasing nervousness among investors.”

  As Tyler adds, “this dovetails with client conversations that, while expecting a robust earnings season, increasingly worry about potential market pullback in May/June” and urges his readers to recall that last week none other than JPM’s resident in house Marko Kolanovic recommended staying long risk but adding hedges.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 20:49

• China: Still Recovering, But Losing Steam
  China: Still Recovering, But Losing Steam

  By Raphie Hayat of Rabobank

  Still recovering, but losing steam

  Summary

  • China’s economic growth surged to 18.3% y/y, broadly in line with expectations

  • A big part of this is due to the lower base in Q1 2020

  • Although the overall first quarter growth was driven by production, more recent data suggests that services are taking over, while production growth is slowing

  • We think the recovery will lose steam as the initial pent up demand dies out and because policy support is being scaled back

  • Moreover, trade will not help economic growth as much as it did in the past few months as China’s trading partners are slowing coming out of the pandemic and are requiring less working-from-home and other coronavirus-related exports from China.

  • That is why we stick to our GDP forecast of 7.7% this year

  • Despite the relative positive short term outlook, we remain gloomier for the long term as China’s ageing population, high debt load, weakening productivity growth and increasing international tensions will keep growth below the levels of the past 15 years

  Services are taking over

  China’s National Bureau of statistics (NBS) released Q1 GDP figures, which showed that GDP growth accelerated to 18.3% y/y, up from 6.5% y/y in Q4 2020 (figure 1). This was broadly in line with the Bloomberg consensus of 18.5% y/y although higher than our own estimate of 16.3% y/y. The main driver of the first quarter growth was industry and construction, which grew by 24.4% y/y, while services grew by 15.6% y/y (figure 2). However, the monthly data suggests that services growth has taken over, while production growth is coming down.

  

  Industrial production growth has moderated to 14.1% y/y in March (down from 35.1% y/y in January/February) while real retail sales growth has kept pace at 33% y/y (slightly down from 34% y/y growth in January/February). Admittedly, retail sales suffered more and longer than industrial production during the initial outbreak of the coronavirus in China, which means base affects play a more prominent role for retail sales than production (figure 3). However, a high frequency indicator such as cinema box office sales corroborates that domestic demand is holding up. Cumulative daily cinema box office sales were CNY 1.56 bln for the first 14 days of April, which is comparable to the CNY 1.54 bln level over the same period in 2019. Meanwhile, industrial capacity utilization has come down a bit, from 78% in Q4 2020, to 77.2% in Q1 2021 (figure 4). Another indicator that points to slower industrial activity going forward is fixed asset investments, which slowed to 25.6% y/y in March, from a 35% y/y increase in January/February (figure 4). Investment activity is a better indicator of businesses confidence in the future and is also more sensitive to the monetary policy stance (on which we will come back later). Taken together, this indicates that services have taken from industry as the growth driver, at least in the short term.

  

  Unemployment is falling, but it’s of limited use as an indicator

  The surveyed urban unemployment rate came in at 5.3%, edging lower from 5.5% February, which is in line with the over economic recovery picture (figure 5).

  

  However, official unemployment figures do not adequately take into account the 300 mln rural migrant workers in China (which is about a third of China’s labour force) that are not counted as unemployed if they are not officially registered as an urban resident (because of the hukou registration system that). The flipside is that underlying improvements in the labour market are not seen in the unemployment figures as well (if rural migrants without hukou do go back to work, that will not be counted as a reduction in unemployment as they were not counted as being unemployed in the first place). In any case, official unemployment figures do not give an accurate picture of China’s labour market, so retail expenditure related data matters more to gauge the health of the economy.

  Trade reflects asynchronicity between China and the rest of the world

  From the trade side, we have already seen data coming out weaker than expected on the export side and stronger than expected on the income side in March. Namely, March Chinese exports grew by 30.6% y/y, and imports by 38.2% y/y in March, which means China’s net exports declined substantially to 14 bln USD (down from 38 bln USD in February).

  This partially reflects the fact that China was the first country in the world to experience the coronavirus outbreak, a couple of months before the virus spread to the rest of the world. As such its exports dipped initially due to supply side effects (since factories wore closed), but rebounded shortly after as China contained the virus relatively quickly, while the rest of the world was going closing down (figure 6). Now that the rest of the world is slowly starting to open up again, the initial boost for Chinese products is diminishing. In addition, China has benefitted from an initial surge in demand for ‘pandemic related products’ such as those related to working from home (computers, laptops and mobile phones) and protective equipment (such as face masks). That demand seems to be coming down (figure 7), which is reflected in the headline trade figures.

  

  We expect China’s exports to moderate further in the coming months as its trading partners slowly move back to normal and will require less products related to containing the coronavirus and working from home. That means net exports will likely be less of a driver for economic growth in China for the rest of the year.

  What do we expect for the coming year?

  For the coming quarters, we expect consumer demand growth to moderate as a considerable part of the “pent up demand” has already come to fruition, while production growth will slow. In addition, reduced policy support from the monetary as well as fiscal side will keep a lid on economic growth. From the fiscal side, Chinas recent government budget targets a fiscal deficit of 3.2% of GDP, which is relatively conservative. From the monetary side, China’s recent Five Year Plan targets growth of the money supply (M2) to be in line with nominal GDP growth, while there have been reports that China’s central bank (the PBoC) has asked banks to cap lending at 2020 levels. Indeed, there are already hints that credit growth is slowing. Total Social Financing (TSF, a measure of broad credit growth in China) has dropped from 13.3% y/y in February to 12.3% in March, the lowest growth rate in TSF since April 2020. We think this reduced policy support will keep a lid on economic growth this year.

  Altogether this GDP report and the observations above mean that we have not adjusted our GDP growth forecast for this year (7.7%).

  The main downside risks to our short term outlook are (i) increasing tensions between China and the US, EU, Japan, Australia or India. Such tensions could lead to sanctions on Chinese businesses and tariffs on Chinese exports, which will cut into China’s economic growth. In addition, the recent rise in SOE and corporate defaults could lead to financial instability. Finally, an unexpected resurgence of the coronavirus (for example via a new strain) will lead to containment measures again and hurt domestic demand.

  One possible upside risk is that China’s coronavirus restrictions are wound down faster than we currently envisage, boosting domestic demand quicker and more than we expect. China’s coronavirus restrictions were one of the toughest globally, but have now come down to below most G7 countries, while coronavirus cases are not materially increasing anymore. In that sense, similar to other countries, containment measures remain a key element to watch for the short term outlook.

  

  Long term outlook

  Our longer term outlook remains that economic growth will slow significantly in China (to 4% by 2025). As we recently argued (here), China is facing an ageing population (which is actually projected to start shrinking from 2030 onwards, according to US Census data), a very high debt load (335% of GDP), increasing tensions with several countries (which will hurt exports as well as limit needed imports) and weak productivity growth.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 20:20

• Meet The Crypto Billionaire That Wants To Make Stock Trading 24 Hours A Day
  Meet The Crypto Billionaire That Wants To Make Stock Trading 24 Hours A Day

  29 year old billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried was fed up with how crypto traded, so he did something about it: he started his own crypto exchange, FTX, which now processes $10.7 billion in trades per day. 

  His exchange lets people not only trade equities 24 hours a day, but also bet on props like whether or not Donald Trump will retake the presidency in 2024, according to a recent profile by the Wall Street Journal. It became popular due to Bankman-Fried’s commitment to donating 1% of its revenue to charity – and keeping the exchange reliable. 

  Recently, FTX made news when it bought the naming rights to the former American Airlines Arena – the home of the Miami Heat – for $135 million. The offshore exchange is “far more exciting” than Coinbase to many crypto traders because it operates outside the reach of U.S. authorities and offers both cryptos and derivatives.

  It was the first to offer tokenized stocks, which allows people to track the value of shares of companies like Tesla and GameStop outside of regular trading hours. These tokenized stocks are still only a small market, but crypto fans see them as a way to break stocks free of normal trading hours.

  Bankman-Fried is hopeful regulators eventually allow his products: “Nothing operates 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., five days a week. There’s actually a lot of room to innovate in stock exchanges.”

  

  Skeptics point out that, not unlike crypto itself, the products are new and should be taken with a grain of serious salt. Lee Reiners, executive director of the Global Financial Markets Center at Duke University, said: “These are very novel and complex instruments. These things are destined to blow up at some point, and then FTX will be in the hothouse with regulators and law enforcement.”

  FTX’s tokens can “be redeemed for the actual underlying shares at a regulated German investment firm, CM-Equity AG, which helps keep the price of the tokens in line with the actual stocks,” the Journal reports. 

  Rich Rosenblum, president of GSR, a crypto trading firm, said of FTX: “They’ve certainly pushed the envelope in terms of products and the speed with which they’ve been able to launch products.” 

  

  If they were to trade in the U.S., there’s a high chance they would be regulated by the SEC. Since the exchange is overseas, it isn’t beholden to U.S. regulations yet. 

  However, this doesn’t mean it won’t eventually be. The Journal points out that last October, “federal prosecutors charged the founders of BitMEX, another offshore crypto exchange, with violating anti-money-laundering laws because of its failure to register with U.S. regulations while allegedly turning a blind eye to Americans using its platform.”

  It’s tough not to think FTX could be subjected to similar scrutiny. 

  FTX says it has processed $10.7 billion in trades on an average day, which makes it one of the world’s top crypto exchanges. Coinbase, for comparison, has handled about $2.6 billion in daily trades this month – but doesn’t offer derivatives.

  

  FTX has made Bankman-Fried one of the world’s richest people, with an estimated net worth of $8.7 billion, much of which is made up of his stake in FTX and various tokens. 

  The 29 year old formerly studied physics at MIT and almost wound up with a career in academia. He launched his own crypto firm, Alameda Research, in 2017 during the early stages of the bitcoin boom. His wealth has allowed him to support organizations like OpenAI, which focuses making sure AI stays an asset – and not a threat – to the human race. 

  He also donated to President Biden’s campaign. He said of the current President: “I’d love to talk to him about crypto regulation. But I don’t think he gives a shit.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 19:55

• Have Chinese State Banks Quietly Bought $180 Billion In Gold?
  Have Chinese State Banks Quietly Bought $180 Billion In Gold?

  By Ye Xie, Bloomberg Live commentator and author

  Three things we learned last week:

  1. U.S. Treasury scrutinizes Chinese state banks for possible hidden currency intervention

  While Janet Yellen’s Treasury Department refrained from labeling China as a currency manipulator in its semi-annual currency report, it again zeroed in on the role of Chinese state banks in the foreign-exchange market. It noted that China’s net foreign exchange settlement, which it considers a more comprehensive proxy for intervention because it includes the activities of China’s state-owned banks, surged to about $180 billion last year. But the PBOC’s foreign exchange assets, which historically track the settlement data, stayed flat.

  

  The Treasury cautioned that it’s not clear what’s driving the unusual divergence between the two data sets, which used to provide roughly similar estimates of the direction and size of China’s currency intervention. While acknowledging that the difference could be due to commercial reasons, it’s also possible that these banks intervened on behalf of the PBOC to cover the central bank’s tracks, the Treasury said (ZH: or, it is the case that China has been stealthily accumulating some $180 billion in gold, as discussed last Friday in “Beijing Greenlights Purchases Of Billions In Bullion“).

  “Overall, this development highlights the need for China to improve transparency regarding its foreign exchange intervention activities,” the Treasury Department wrote in a report released Friday. “Compared to other major economies, especially in Asia, China is increasingly an outlier with respect to its non-disclosure of foreign exchange market intervention.”

  The Treasury raised similar concerns in its previous report. This won’t be the last time we hear about the issue.

  2. Besieged Huarong got some reprieve

  Dollar bonds of China Huarong Asset Management Co. rallied after financial regulators sought to ease investors’ concerns that the nation’s largest bad-debt manager may be heading for default. Huarong’s operations are normal and the company has ample liquidity, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said Friday. Chinese regulators asked banks not to withhold loans to help stabilize to Huarong’s cash flow, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

  It’s clear that Beijing wants to keep Huarong from becoming China’s “Lehman moment”, even as it works to remove the perception of a blanket guarantee supporting state-owned companies.

  The uncertainties remain, with Huarong’s perpetual bonds trading at about 73 cents on the dollar. But so far, the contagion has been limited as the domestic funding market remains calm.

  

  3. Global growth is accelerating

  China’s economy strengthened in the first quarter as consumer spending rose more than expected. In the U.S., economic data from retail sales to manufacturing surveys also surged. In Europe, vaccine rollouts are starting to speed up. Meanwhile, bond yields remain contained as traders have pared back their expectations for central bank hikes.
  No wonder global stocks keep smashing records.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 19:30

• Former Temple Business School Dean Charged Federally For Manipulating School Ranking Data
  Former Temple Business School Dean Charged Federally For Manipulating School Ranking Data

  The former dean of Temple’s Fox School of Business is being charged with federal crimes after being ousted due to an investigation that found the school “manipulated data” to become the number one ranked MBA program in the country.

  Former dean Moshe Porat was indicted on one count each of conspiracy and wire fraud, according to NBC Philadelphia. His lawyer “vigorously” denied the charges. 

  Isaac Gottlieb, a statistics professor, and Marjorie O’Neill, who submitted data to magazines that rank college programs, were also named in the indictment, according to the report. 

  Temple’s online MBA had been ranked top in the nation by U.S. News and World Report since 2015. The university stayed at the top of the list for 3 years after that and used its ranking to attract students and win donations. 

  Porat allegedly hand picked a small group of employees to focus on the rankings, including stat professor Gottleib, who was also to reverse engineer the magazine’s ranking criteria. Porat appointed O’Neill as the sole liaison between the university and the magazine. 

  The indictment “claims Fox manipulated data in its part-time MBA program, conflating its data with other programs to drive better rankings,” NBC reported.

  

  U.S. News called out Temple’s online MBA data and stripped the school of its ranking. Temple was then forced to pay the U.S. Department of Education $700,000 and later settled a class action suit by offering $250,000 in scholarships.

  Temple called Porat the “mastermind” of the fraud and asked him to resign. 

  Attorney Carolyn P. Short wrote in court papers: “He conceived it, controlled it and kept it hidden, only to try later to cover it up. M. Moshe Porat bears personal responsibility for the Fox School’s intentional submission of false ranking data.”

  Porat says he is being used as a scapegoat by Temple. His lawyer commented: “We are disappointed that, after cooperating with the government in its investigation, the United States Attorney’s Office decided to bring these charges, which Dr. Porat vigorously denies.”

  “Dr. Porat dedicated forty years of his life to serving Temple University, first as a faculty member, and ultimately as Dean of the Fox Business School, and he did so with distinction. He looks forward to defending himself against these charges and to clearing his name,” the statement continued.

  The kicker? Porat is still a tenured professor at the university and is making $316,000 per year. He hasn’t taught a class or published research since 2018. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 19:05

• Biden Blames Russia For The Exact Same "Interference" That US Corporate Media Is Guilty Of
  Biden Blames Russia For The Exact Same “Interference” That US Corporate Media Is Guilty Of

  Authored by Michael Tracey via substack,

  Deliberately vague weasel-word terms like “election interference” and/or “influence” gained such purchase in the past four-to-five years for a simple reason: the deliberate vagueness allowed people in power — elected officials, pundits, Intelligence Community functionaries — to claim unspecified expertise on a supposedly emerging range of threats.

  

  The threats were portrayed as particularly scary because of their alleged potential to Undermine Our Democracy. Consequently, these power-wielding people acquired a potent tool in their arsenal to accuse political enemies, whether foreign or domestic, of contributing to the proliferation of new and scary threats. The accusations were so deliberately vague that it was almost impossible to ever rebut them; sometimes even retweeting a meme was sufficient to be implicated in a foreign plot to destroy the very foundations of America. If an act so trivial as clicking one’s mouse on a social media post could be spun as abetting a foreign-backed “interference” or “influence” scheme, then that created an endless number of booby-traps for you to walk into.

  So there was nothing new about the suite of anti-Russia charges promulgated Thursday by the US federal government, and parroted as usual with maximum credulity across the US media ecosystem. The charges were again predicated on the idea that Russian “interference” and/or “influence” is an extremely foreboding test for the survival of US Democracy. Taking bold action, the Treasury Department levied sanctions against a bunch more Russians for their claimed nefarious behavior in carrying out this interference/influence — a fulfillment of Joe Biden’s oft-stated campaign pledge that under his watch, Russia would finally “pay a price” for allegedly engaging in such activities. Donald Trump, it was thought, had been appallingly lax in his resolve to confront this threat; now, a new sheriff is in town.

  Leaving aside the question of whether it’s prudent to assume that Janet Yellen is suddenly in possession of a foolproof methodology for attributing the provenance of “cyber operations” to specific foreign individuals and nation-states, it’s worth emphasizing what exactly is being alleged in the statement. The Treasury Department document reads: “Outlets operated by Russian Intelligence Services focus on divisive issues in the United States, denigrate US political candidates, and disseminate false and misleading information.” 

  Noting that these same characteristics could be just as easily applied to US corporate media outlets is so blindingly self-evident as to almost be redundant. Were there not “outlets” during the 2020 election that were “focused” on “denigrating” Donald Trump? Or for that matter, Joe Biden? Do “divisive issues” not tend to be “focused on” by these same outlets as a basic precept of their core business model?

  Controversy = clicks/views, which equals revenue.

  Everyone knows this.

  Yet when scary Russian outlets are said to employ this same logic in their own content-production enterprises, it magically becomes dangerous enough to justify all manner of punitive government and corporate action. Including but not limited to: censorship purges, tighter regulation of online speech, and, as Biden announced Thursday, sanctions and expulsion of diplomats. “Disseminating false and misleading information”? The entire US media just got caught “disseminating” a fake story about Russians putting bounties on the heads of US soldiers in Afghanistan. If you’re truly concerned about the dissemination of “false and misleading information” having deleterious effects on the health of US political culture, your first target should be CNN.

  One of these supposedly-scary Russian “outlets” identified by the Treasury Department is the website SouthFront. (Gee, way to give them far more publicity than they could’ve possibly generated on their own. I’m sure more than .001% of Americans had heard of this obscure website before this week.) SouthFront is alleged to have committed the grave crime of having “sought to promote perceptions of voter fraud” after the 2020 election. I wrote extensively at the time about how the “perceptions of voter fraud” promoted by Trump and his media allies were mostly ill-founded, overblown, and illogical, and it’s true that consumers of fraud-obsessed media coverage often became more-than-a-little deranged. But that’s not the point: the point is whether or not promoting these theories constitutes some sort of terrifying “interference” that requires a forceful punitive response. In which case, the entirety of US right-wing media could be deemed as complicit, requiring vast state-backed retaliation (which may well be the long-term goal). Promoting ill-founded perceptions of political events might be bad, but it doesn’t generally rise to the level of Democracy-Threatening Existential Crisis unless you have some other motivation for raising it to that level.

  In any event, Biden declared a “national emergency” with respect to this vague threat, on the ground that Russia had violated the “sacred” nature of US presidential elections by way of these website postings — even though the criteria invoked would apply to an infinitely wide array of US “outlets” that do exactly the same thing. Nonetheless, it’s henceforth an “emergency” to be on the lookout for irrelevant amateur websites like SouthFront. (Aside: Does anyone really view as “sacred” America’s multi-year presidential election rituals, into which billions of unregulated dollars are poured? Most Normies seem to be actively disdainful of presidential election melodrama and the attention/resources these rituals consume, rather than worshipful of their “sacredness.”)

  In his remarks, Biden also introduced what is possibly an even vaguer term than “interference” or “influence” to describe this horrifyingly ever-present threat: Russia, he alleged, was guilty of “engagement in our elections.” And again, this “engagement” was said to consist of Russian Government-backed websites publishing posts about issues related to the 2020 US presidential election. 

  So now we have an official “national emergency” declared vis-a-vis Russia’s conduct in orchestrating website posts, which has in turn been lumped into another “emergency” that apparently encompasses the ongoing escalation of conflict in Eastern Ukraine — a geopolitical domain Joe Biden has always taken a keen interest in. And this is largely being received not as an ominous development in US relations with a nuclear-armed power, but instead as a cheerful sign that the US has returned to asserting its rightful global dominance.

  One neat trick of this whole rhetorical framework is that foreign “interference,” “influence,” and “engagement” will obviously never be completely curtailed, especially if these things consist of internet postings. Therefore, the framework authorizes a perpetual war-like footing against Russia (or whatever country is next in the line of sight) which is especially convenient if you are interested in waging a New Cold War to garner whatever benefits (political, military, economic) you calculate comes with doing so. The rationale for keeping this ridiculous tit-for-tat going in perpetuity is clear — but don’t expect much clarity on that score from the US media, which always takes delight in blaming scary foreign entities for partaking in the exact same Democracy Undermining behavior that it’s guilty of itself.

  *  *  *

  Subscribe to Michael’s Substack here.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 18:40

• Another "Explosive Eruption" Detected At St. Vincent Volcano In Eastern Caribbean
  Another “Explosive Eruption” Detected At St. Vincent Volcano In Eastern Caribbean

  The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) reports a volcanic eruption has been detected at La Soufriere on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent Sunday afternoon. 

  

  “At 4:49 pm on 18/04/21, there was another explosive eruption at LS. It’s been 52 hours since the last explosive event. There have now been at least 30 identifiable explosive events since the start of this eruptive phase. We continue to monitor and will provide an update in this evening’s advisory,” CDEMA stated. 

  The La Soufrière volcano erupted today, April 18th 2021 at 4:49pm

  Please see the detailed update from @uwiseismic #RegionalResponse #cdema #disastermanagement #disasterpreparedness #lasoufriere #stvincentandthegrenadines pic.twitter.com/FChh8Pi9jj

  — CDEMA (@cdemacu) April 18, 2021

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

  SkyAlert, a Mexico-based early earthquake warning company, posted a video of the alleged eruption. It said a “high eruptive column and possible pyroclastic surges,” adding that “thousands of people are still sheltered in lower-risk areas.”

  Esta tarde se registró una nueva erupción vulcaniana (tipo de erupción) en el volcán #LaSoufriere en la isla San Vicente. Alta columna eruptiva y posibles oleadas piroclásticas.

  Miles de personas aún permanecen refugiadas en zonas de menor riesgo. pic.twitter.com/4d4WqRMK4c

  — SkyAlert (@SkyAlertMx) April 18, 2021

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

  The latest explosive eruption showed up on satellite imagery. 

  The latest explosive eruption today on the island of Saint Vincent. #LaSoufriere pic.twitter.com/cmMlQ1UBdh

  — George Waldenberger (@GWaldenWFTV) April 18, 2021

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

  St. Vincent’s National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) released a statement that “ash clouds are moving towards the south and west of the island. “Alert level remains RED,” NEMO warned. 

  

  Last week, tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from the island’s northern region, where La Soufriere is located. 

  

  At the moment, the island is completely covered with ash from multiple eruptions.

   Before And After 

  

  Before And After 

  

  Here is more devastation from the ashfall. 

  

  The entire Caribbean island is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis. The ashfall from eruptions has contaminated the island’s water supply and decimated crops. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 18:19

• “It’s Totally Insane. Someone Made A Million On Dogecoin With His Stimulus Check"
  “It’s Totally Insane. Someone Made A Million On Dogecoin With His Stimulus Check”

  By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

  “What happened with Dogecoin Dad?” asked Jackson on FaceTime. I smiled. Dogecoin jumped from $0.06 to $0.47 – a 7.8x weekly jump to a $60bln+ market cap.

  

  “It’s totally insane,” he said Friday night, back from lacrosse practice, sitting down to study, life as a plebe. “Are your buddies trading crypto now?” I asked.

  “One supposedly made a million on Dogecoin with his stimulus check,” said Jackson, eyes wide.

  “Not possible Jax, at today’s panic high it was up just 77x this year, and you guys only got $1,400 checks,” I said.

  “He bought it with last year’s stimulus,” explained Jackson.

  “Still doesn’t add up. Dogecoin is only up 165x since the beginning of 2020,” I said, shrugging, the meaning of money quietly slipping away.

  * * *

  Those things that make the least sense are where you discover opportunity, risk too. They are opposite sides of the same thing: Change.

  So any truly interesting conversation explores things that boggle the mind. My favorite enigma in the physical world is quantum entanglement, which I’m convinced hints at something utterly extraordinary. But I leave that mystery to those a million times smarter, which frees my time to search for things that might make money. Sounds shallow. Empty. I know. Mara reminds me often. But the human mind is the universe’s greatest enigma and when you connect 8.5bln of them the possible futures are more uncertain than any particle being split at CERN. When put that way, exploring the profound uncertainty flowing from mass human psychology seems less meaningless.

  That’s not to say things always appear uncertain. Most of the time, tomorrow looks indistinguishable from today. Which is to say, boring. During those periods, leveraged investment strategies that bet on recent correlations persisting well into the future tend to do well. So in recent years, when massive firms built upon such strategies struggled for reasons few could quite explain, it was a sign of change. Risk. Opportunity.

  When equity factors started experiencing 10,000-year floods every other month, it was another sign.

  Our political division in a pandemic, a sign. The horned Shaman in America’s capitol. GameStop. Signs. Study market history and you find that in periods of quantum change, those things that make the least sense but show mysterious momentum (both up and down) present the greatest opportunities.

  Beeple sold an NFT for $69.3mm in March. Literally everyone saw it as a sign of a bubble. Perhaps everyone is right. But I’m more interested in exploring whether the accelerating emergence of soaring valuations in things that make little sense represents a historic change, a future that few can barely imagine, let alone grasp.

  Particularly when such powerful incumbent industries and institutions so vocally resist. And Coinbase went public, briefly touching a $100bln valuation.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 18:00

• Hedge Funds Are Getting The Hell Out Of New York In Favor Of Florida
  Hedge Funds Are Getting The Hell Out Of New York In Favor Of Florida

  Given the state of New York City throughout the last year – the draconian lockdowns, the neverending proposal of new and more invasive taxes, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez turning away new businesses and insulting corporate America at every chance she gets and well…just about everything Bill de Blasio has done – can anyone really blame hedge funds for taking their business elsewhere?

  The inevitable is happening, the free market is speaking. Hedge funds are taking their business to Florida, a new Bloomberg report notes. 

  Many who read Zero Hedge already know this: we have constantly been documenting the ongoing exodus to Florida as names like Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Apollo Global Management Inc. and Point72 Asset Management are all taking steps to move operations out of the state (or at least diversify operations). 

  

  Timothy Noonan, a law partner at Hodgson Russ who specializes in tax residency issues, recently told Bloomberg: “There definitely is an unprecedented migration of high-net-worth taxpayers from New York City, and some of them are taking their businesses with them. With rates set to go up, they are ready to get out.”

  While there is optimism about tourism and leisure providing a much-needed cash infusion back into New York, it’s going to be tough to not take into account the hole that many wealthy defectors will leave in the city’s budget. Florida, on the other hand, doesn’t have a state income tax. 

  Elliott Management Corp. “has seen several of its highest-paid executives leave Manhattan” in favor of Palm Beach while Scott Shleifer, co-founder of the private equity unit at the $40 billion Tiger Global Management, also just bought a $132 million home in Palm Beach. Dan Sundheim, who runs $20 billion D1 Capital Partners, is also relocating toward Miami. 

  

  George Sweeting, deputy director of the city’s Independent Budget Office, said: “We’ve had high taxes and it hasn’t driven all the multi-millionaires out. We don’t know what the limit is. At what point does it become more than people are willing to pay? Theoretically there is some point there.”

  Thanks, George. It’s called the Laffer Curve and it’s been around for a hundred years. Let us know what you find out.

  Meanwhile, in some instances, hedge fund partners will move to Florida but keep staff and operations in New York. They will owe some New York taxes, but likely not as much as they would have otherwise. Bloomberg points out exactly how important the discussion of taxes are to smaller firms:

  “Take the example of a manager who makes $10 million per year. In New York City, they would have paid more than $1.1 million in state and local taxes last year, and more like $1.2 million this year after the tax hike. By moving to Florida, the manager avoids that charge every year, as well as about $400,000 annually that their firm owes to the city’s 4% unincorporated business tax.

  The savings are even bigger for the most successful managers. In addition to hiking the top rate on single filers earning more than $1.1 million — from 8.82% to 9.65% — the state added two new brackets: income above $5 million will be taxed at 10.3% and $25 million at 10.9%. Adding these to the city’s top rate of 3.88%, rich New York City residents now face marginal rates of 13.5% to 14.8%, surpassing the 13.3% top rate in California, previously the U.S.’s highest.”

  

  Taxpayers in New York earning $10 million or more paid 17% of income taxes in 2018, the report says. In New York City alone, about 1,800 people earned at least $10 million in 2018 and were responsible for 18.5% of the city’s tax revenue, equating to roughly $2.1 billion.

   

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 17:35

• Obama's Chief Energy Scientist Disputes The Climate-Change Propaganda-Peddlers
  Obama’s Chief Energy Scientist Disputes The Climate-Change Propaganda-Peddlers

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

  After a stint at the Obama Energy Department, Steven Koonin reclaims the science of a warming planet from the propaganda peddlers.

  

  Beyond the Hype

  Please consider the Wall Street Journal report How a Physicist Became a Climate Truth Teller

  Barack Obama is one of many who have declared an “epistemological crisis,” in which our society is losing its handle on something called truth. 

  Thus an interesting experiment will be his and other Democrats’ response to a book by Steven Koonin, who was chief scientist of the Obama Energy Department. Mr. Koonin argues not against current climate science but that what the media and politicians and activists say about climate science has drifted so far out of touch with the actual science as to be absurdly, demonstrably false.

  Mr. Koonin is a Brooklyn-born math whiz and theoretical physicist, a product of New York’s selective Stuyvesant High School. He would teach at Caltech for nearly three decades, serving as provost in charge of setting the scientific agenda for one of the country’s premier scientific institutions. Along the way he opened himself to the world beyond the lab.

  From deeply examining the world’s energy system, he also became convinced that the real climate crisis was a crisis of political and scientific candor. He went to his boss and said, “John, the world isn’t going to be able to reduce emissions enough to make much difference.”

  His thoughts seem to be governed by an all-embracing realism. Hence the book coming out next month, “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters.”

   “I’ve been building models and watching others build models for 45 years,” he says. Climate models “are not to the standard you would trust your life to or even your trillions of dollars to.” Younger scientists in particular lose sight of the difference between reality and simulation:

  For the record, Mr. Koonin agrees that the world has warmed by 1 degree Celsius since 1900 and will warm by another degree this century, placing him near the middle of the consensus. Neither he nor most economic studies have seen anything in the offing that would justify the rapid and wholesale abandoning of fossil fuels, even if China, India, Brazil, Indonesia and others could be dissuaded from pursuing prosperity.

  The public now believes CO2 is something that can be turned up and down, but about 40% of the CO2 emitted a century ago remains in the atmosphere. Any warming it causes emerges slowly, so any benefit of reducing emissions would be small and distant. Everything Mr. Koonin and others see in the science suggests a slow, modest effect, not a runaway warming. If they’re wrong, we don’t have tools to apply yet anyway. Decades from now, we might have carbon capture—removing CO2 directly from the atmosphere at a manageable cost.

  Even John Kerry, Joe Biden’s climate czar, recently admitted that Mr. Biden’s “net-zero” climate plan will have zero effect on the climate if developing countries don’t go along (and they have little incentive to do so). Mr. Koonin hopes that “a graceful out for everybody” will be to see the impulse for global climate regulation “morph into much more impactful local environmental action: smog, plastic, green jobs. Forget the global aspect of this.”

  Slow Modest Impact

  The above article is right in line with my stated belief all along. 

  I do not doubt the temperatures have risen a degree. I do mock the associated fears.

  I am highly skeptical of radical models and I also mock the notion that the world as we know it will soon end and that climate change is the “existential threat of our time” as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has stated.

  I am not at all convinced that climate change is totally or mostly man-made but actually that is irrelevant. 

  Science suggests a slow modest impact. The models anticipate another rise in the oceans of 1 inch by 2050. Heck call it 3 or 4 inches and expect a foot by 2099 if you like.

  50 Years of Dire Climate Forecasts and What Actually Happened

  Let’s review 50 Years of Dire Climate Forecasts and What Actually Happened

  2014 John Kerry: “We have 500 days to Avoid Climate Chaos” discussed Sec of State John Kerry and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabious at a joint meeting.

  I list 21 predictions and what actually happened. 

  What Happens When Ice Melts?

  Please factor in the cooling impact of melting ice on ocean temperatures. No one has decent models of ocean cooling.

  Nature Magazine reports Melting Ice Could Slow Global Temperature Rise.

  If there is a solution, it will be a free market solution not a solution by politicians hyperventilating about something that is now too late to stop and would be worth the cost even if we could stop it.

  Name Calling Coming Up

  Note that if you Don’t Accept 100% of the Climate Change Story and You Get Labeled a Racist

  Koonin knows he will get an avalanche of name-calling that befalls anybody trying to inject some practical nuance into political discussions of climate.

  The article had a nice finishing touch: “My married daughter is happy that she’s got a different last name,” said Koonin.

  To finish on the practical side, barring a major technological breakthrough,  Global Net Zero Climate Change Targets are ‘Pie in the Sky’

  Don’t worry, the world will still be here 50 years from now.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 17:10

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• The Political Economy Of Fear
  The Political Economy Of Fear

  Authored by Robert Higgs via The Mises Institute,

  [This article was originally published May 16, 2005… but seems ominously prophetic given our current age of rage and unreason.]

  [S]ince love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved. 

  – Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, 1513

  All animals experience fear – human beings, perhaps, most of all. Any animal incapable of fear would have been hard pressed to survive, regardless of its size, speed, or other attributes. Fear alerts us to dangers that threaten our well-being and sometimes our very lives. Sensing fear, we respond by running away, by hiding, or by preparing to ward off the danger.

  To disregard fear is to place ourselves in possibly mortal jeopardy. Even the man who acts heroically on the battlefield, if he is honest, admits that he is scared. To tell people not to be afraid is to give them advice that they cannot take. Our evolved physiological makeup disposes us to fear all sorts of actual and potential threats, even those that exist only in our imagination.

  The people who have the effrontery to rule us, who call themselves our government, understand this basic fact of human nature. They exploit it, and they cultivate it. Whether they compose a warfare state or a welfare state, they depend on it to secure popular submission, compliance with official dictates, and, on some occasions, affirmative cooperation with the state’s enterprises and adventures. Without popular fear, no government could endure more than twenty-four hours. David Hume taught that all government rests on public opinion, but that opinion, I maintain, is not the bedrock of government. Public opinion itself rests on something deeper: fear.

  

  Hume recognizes that the opinions that support government receive their force from “other principles,” among which he includes fear, but he judges these other principles to be “the secondary, not the original principles of government” ([1777] 1987, 34). He writes: “No man would have any reason to fear the fury of a tyrant, if he had no authority over any but from fear” (ibid., emphasis in original). We may grant Hume’s statement yet maintain that the government’s authority over the great mass of its subjects rests fundamentally on fear. Every ideology that endows government with legitimacy requires and is infused by some kind(s) of fear. This fear need not be fear of the government itself and indeed may be fear of the danger from which the tyrant purports to protect the people.

  The Natural History of Fear

  Thousands of years ago, when the first governments were fastening themselves on people, they relied primarily on warfare and conquest. As Henry Hazlitt ([1976] 1994) observes,

  There may have been somewhere, as a few eighteenth-century philosophers dreamed, a group of peaceful men who got together one evening after work and drew up a Social Contract to form the state. But nobody has been able to find an actual record of it. Practically all the governments whose origins are historically established were the result of conquest—of one tribe by another, one city by another, one people by another. Of course there have been constitutional conventions, but they merely changed the working rules of governments already in being.

  Losers who were not slain in the conquest itself had to endure the consequent rape and pillage and in the longer term to acquiesce in the continuing payment of tribute to the insistent rulers—the stationary bandits, as Mancur Olson (2000, 6–9) aptly calls them. Subjugated people, for good reason, feared for their lives. Offered the choice of losing their wealth or losing their lives, they tended to choose the sacrifice of their wealth. Hence arose taxation, variously rendered in goods, services, or money (Nock [1935] 1973, 19–22; Nock relies on and credits the pioneering historical research of Ludwig Gumplowicz and Franz Oppenheimer).

  Conquered people, however, naturally resent their imposed government and the taxation and other insults that it foists on them. Such resentful people easily become restive; should a promising opportunity to throw off the oppressor’s dominion present itself, they may seize it. Even if they mount no rebellion or overt resistance, however, they quietly strive to avoid their rulers’ exactions and to sabotage their rulers’ apparatus of government. As Machiavelli observes, the conqueror “who does not manage this matter well, will soon lose whatever he has gained, and while he retains it will find in it endless troubles and annoyances” ([1513] 1992, 5). For the stationary bandits, force alone proves a very costly resource for keeping people in the mood to generate a substantial, steady stream of tribute.

  Sooner or later, therefore, every government augments the power of its sword with the power of its priesthood, forging an iron union of throne and altar. In olden times, not uncommonly, the rulers were themselves declared to be gods—the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt made this claim for many centuries. Now the subjects can be brought to fear not only the ruler’s superior force, but also his supernatural powers. Moreover, if people believe in an afterlife, where the pain and sorrows of this life may be sloughed off, the priests hold a privileged position in prescribing the sort of behavior in the here and now that best serves one’s interest in securing a blessed situation in the life to come. Referring to the Catholic Church of his own day, Machiavelli takes note of “the spiritual power which of itself confers so mighty an authority” ([1513] 1992, 7), and he heaps praise on Ferdinand of Aragon, who, “always covering himself with the cloak of religion, … had recourse to what may be called pious cruelty” (59, emphasis in original).

  One naturally wonders whether President George W. Bush has taken a page from Ferdinand’s book (see, in particular, Higgs 2003a and, for additional aspects, Higgs 2005b).

  Naturally, the warriors and the priests, if not one and the same, almost invariably come to be cooperating parties in the apparatus of rule. In medieval Europe, for example, a baron’s younger brother might look forward to becoming a bishop.

  Thus, the warrior element of government puts the people in fear for their lives, and the priestly element puts them in fear for their eternal souls. These two fears compose a powerful compound—sufficient to prop up governments everywhere on earth for several millennia.

  Over the ages, governments refined their appeals to popular fears, fostering an ideology that emphasizes the people’s vulnerability to a variety of internal and external dangers from which the governors—of all people!—are said to be their protectors. Government, it is claimed, protects the populace from external attackers and from internal disorder, both of which are portrayed as ever-present threats. Sometimes the government, as if seeking to fortify the mythology with grains of truth, does protect people in this fashion—even the shepherd protects his sheep, but he does so to serve his own interest, not theirs, and when the time comes, he will shear or slaughter them as his interest dictates.

  Olson (2000, 9–10) describes in simple terms why the stationary bandit may find it in his interest to invest in public goods (the best examples of which are defense of the realm and “law and order”) that enhance his subjects’ productivity. In brief, the ruler does so when the present value of the expected additional tax revenue he will be able to collect from a more productive population exceeds the current cost of the investment that renders the people more productive. See also the interpretation advanced by Bates (2001, 56–69, 102), who argues that in western Europe the kings entered into deals with the merchants and burghers, trading mercantilist privileges and “liberties” for tax revenue, in order to dominate the chronically warring rural dynasties and thereby to pacify the countryside. Unfortunately, as Bates recognizes, the kings sought this enlarged revenue for the purpose of conducting ever-more-costly wars against other kings and against domestic opponents. Thus, their “pacification” schemes, for the most part, served the purpose of funding their fighting, leaving the net effect on overall societal well-being very much in question. Both Olson and Bates argue along lines similar to those developed by Douglass C. North in a series of books published over the past four decades; see especially North and Thomas 1973, and North 1981 and 1990.

  When the government fails to protect the people as promised, it always has a good excuse, often blaming some element of the population–scapegoats such as traders, money lenders, and unpopular ethnic or religious minorities. “[N]o prince,” Machiavelli assures us, “was ever at a loss for plausible reasons to cloak a breach of faith” ([1513] 1992, 46).

  The religious grounds for submission to the ruler-gods gradually transmogrified into notions of nationalism and popular duty, culminating eventually in the curious idea that under a democratic system of government, the people themselves are the government, and hence whatever it requires them to do, they are really doing for themselves—as Woodrow Wilson had the cheek to declare when he proclaimed military conscription backed by severe criminal sanctions in 1917, “it is in no sense a conscription of the unwilling: it is, rather, selection from a nation which has volunteered in mass” (qtd. in Palmer 1931, 216–17).

  Not long after the democratic dogma had gained a firm foothold, organized coalitions emerged from the mass electorate and joined the elites in looting the public treasury, and, as a consequence, in the late nineteenth century the so-called welfare state began to take shape. From that time forward, people were told that the government can and should protect them from all sorts of workaday threats to their lives, livelihoods, and overall well-being—threats of destitution, hunger, disability, unemployment, illness, lack of income in old age, germs in the water, toxins in the food, and insults to their race, sex, ancestry, creed, and so forth. Nearly everything that the people feared, the government then stood poised to ward off. Thus did the welfare state anchor its rationale in the solid rock of fear. Governments, having exploited popular fears of violence so successfully from time immemorial (promising “national security”), had no difficulty in cementing these new stones (promising “social security”) into their foundations of rule.

  The Political Economy of Fear

  Fear, like every other “productive” resource, is subject to the laws of production. Thus, it cannot escape the law of diminishing marginal productivity: as successive doses of fear-mongering are added to the government’s “production” process, the incremental public clamor for governmental protection declines. The first time the government cries wolf, the public is frightened; the second time, less so; the third time, still less so. If the government plays the fear card too much, it overloads the public’s sensibilities, and eventually people discount almost entirely the government’s attempts to frighten them further.

  Having been warned in the 1970s about catastrophic global cooling (see, for example, The Cooling World 1975), then, soon afterward, about catastrophic global warming, the populace may grow weary of heeding the government’s warnings about the dire consequences of alleged global climate changes—dire unless, of course, the government takes stringent measures to bludgeon the people into doing what “must” be done to avert the predicted disaster.

  Recently the former Homeland Security czar Tom Ridge revealed that other government officials had overruled him when he wanted to refrain from raising the color-coded threat level to orange, or “high” risk of terrorist attack, in response to highly unlikely threats. “You have to use that tool of communication very sparingly,” Ridge astutely remarked (qtd. by Hall 2005).

  Fear is a depreciating asset. As Machiavelli observes, “the temper of the multitude is fickle, and … while it is easy to persuade them of a thing, it is hard to fix them in that persuasion” ([1513 1992, 14). Unless the foretold threat eventuates, the people come to doubt its substance. The government must make up for the depreciation by investing in the maintenance, modernization, and replacement of its stock of fear capital. For example, during the Cold War, the general sense of fear of the Soviets tended to dissipate unless restored by periodic crises, many of which took the form of officially announced or leaked “gaps” between U.S. and Soviet military capabilities: troop-strength gap, bomber gap, missile gap, antimissile gap, first-strike-missile gap, defense-spending gap, thermonuclear-throw-weight gap, and so forth (Higgs 1994, 301–02).4

  One of the most memorable and telling lines in the classic Cold War film Dr. Strangelove occurs as the president and his military bigwigs, facing unavoidable nuclear devastation of the earth, devise a plan to shelter a remnant of Americans for thousands of years in deep mine shafts, and General “Buck” Turgidson, still obsessed with a possible Russian advantage, declares: “Mr. President, we must not allow a mine-shaft gap!”

  Lately, a succession of official warnings about possible forms of terrorist attack on the homeland has served the same purpose: keeping the people “vigilant,” which is to say, willing to pour enormous amounts of their money into the government’s bottomless budgetary pits of “defense” and “homeland security” (Higgs 2003b).

  This same factor helps to explain the drumbeat of fears pounded out by the mass media: besides serving their own interests in capturing an audience, they buy insurance against government punishment by playing along with whatever program of fear-mongering the government is conducting currently. Anyone who watches, say, CNN’s Headline News programs can attest that a day seldom passes without some new announcement of a previously unsuspected Terrible Threat—I call it the danger du jour.

  By keeping the population in a state of artificially heightened apprehension, the government-cum-media prepares the ground for planting specific measures of taxation, regulation, surveillance, reporting, and other invasions of the people’s wealth, privacy, and freedoms. Left alone for a while, relieved of this ceaseless bombardment of warnings, people would soon come to understand that hardly any of the announced threats has any substance and that they can manage their own affairs quite well without the security-related regimentation and tax-extortion the government seeks to justify.

  Large parts of the government and the “private” sector participate in the production and distribution of fear. (Beware: many of the people in the ostensibly private sector are in reality some sort of mercenary living ultimately at taxpayer expense. True government employment is much greater than officially reported [Light 1999; Higgs 2005a] .) Defense contractors, of course, have long devoted themselves to stoking fears of enemies big and small around the globe who allegedly seek to crush our way of life at the earliest opportunity. Boeing’s often-shown TV spots, for example, assure us that the company is contributing mightily to protecting “our freedom.” If you believe that, I have a shiny hunk of useless Cold War hardware to sell you. The news and entertainment media enthusiastically jump on the bandwagon of foreign-menace alarmism—anything to get the public’s attention.

  Consultants of every size and shape clamber onboard, too, facilitating the distribution of billions of dollars to politically favored suppliers of phoney-baloney “studies” that give rise to thick reports, the bulk of which is nothing but worthless filler restating the problem and speculating about how one might conceivably go about discovering workable solutions. All such reports agree, however, that a crisis looms and that more such studies must be made in preparation for dealing with it. Hence a kind of Say’s Law of the political economy of crisis: supply (of government-funded studies) creates its own demand (for government-funded studies).

  Truth be known, governments commission studies when they are content with the status quo but desire to write hefty checks to political favorites, cronies, and old associates who now purport to be “consultants.” At the same time, in this way, the government demonstrates to the public that it is “doing something” to avert impending crisis X.

  At every point, opportunists latch onto existing fears and strive to invent new ones to feather their own nests. Thus, public-school teachers and administrators agree that the nation faces an “education crisis.” Police departments and temperance crusaders insist that the nation faces a generalized “drug crisis” or at times a specific drug crisis, such as “an epidemic of crack cocaine use.” Public-health interests foster fears of “epidemics” that in reality consist not of the spread of contagious pathogens but of the lack of personal control and self-responsibility, such as the “epidemic of obesity” or the “epidemic of juvenile homicides.” By means of this tactic, a host of personal peccadilloes has been medicalized and consigned to the “therapeutic state” (Nolan 1998, Szasz 2001, Higgs 1999).

  In this way, people’s fears that their children may become drug addicts or gun down a classmate become grist for the government’s mill—a mill that may grind slowly, but at least it does so at immense expense, with each dollar falling into some fortunate recipient’s pocket (a psychiatrist, a social worker, a public-health nurse, a drug-court judge; the list is almost endless). In this way and countless others, private parties become complicit in sustaining a vast government apparatus fueled by fear.

  Fear Works Best in Wartime

  Even absolute monarchs can get bored. The exercise of great power may become tedious and burdensome—underlings are always disturbing your serenity with questions about details; victims are always appealing for clemency, pardons, or exemptions from your rules. In wartime, however, rulers come alive. Nothing equals war as an opportunity for greatness and public acclaim, as all such leaders understand (Higgs 1997). Condemned to spend their time in high office during peacetime, they are necessarily condemned to go down in history as mediocrities at best.

  Upon the outbreak of war, however, the exhilaration of the hour spreads through the entire governing apparatus. Army officers who had languished for years at the rank of captain may now anticipate becoming colonels. Bureau heads who had supervised a hundred subordinates with a budget of $1 million may look forward to overseeing a thousand with a budget of $20 million. Powerful new control agencies must be created and staffed. New facilities must be built, furnished, and operated. Politicians who had found themselves frozen in partisan gridlock can now expect that the torrent of money gushing from the public treasury will grease the wheels for putting together humongous legislative deals undreamt of in the past. Everywhere the government turns its gaze, the scene is flush with energy, power, and money. For those whose hands direct the machinery of a government at war, life has never been better.

  Small wonder that John T. Flynn (1948), in writing about the teeming bureaucrats during World War II, titled his chapter “The Happiest Years of Their Lives”:

  Even before the war, the country had become a bureaucrat’s paradise. But with the launching of the war effort the bureaus proliferated and the bureaucrats swarmed over the land like a plague of locusts. … The place [Washington, D.C.] swarmed with little professors fresh from their $2,500-a-year jobs now stimulated by five, six and seven-thousand-dollar salaries and whole big chunks of the American economy resting in their laps. (310, 315)

  Sudden bureaucratic dilation on such a scale can happen only when the nation goes to war and the public relaxes its resistance to the government’s exactions. Legislators know that they can now get away with taxing people at hugely elevated rates, rationing goods, allocating raw materials, transportation services, and credit, authorizing gargantuan borrowing, drafting men, and generally exercising vastly more power than they exercised before the war.

  Although people may groan and complain about the specific actions the bureaucrats take in implementing the wartime mobilization, few dare to resist overtly or even to criticize publicly the overall mobilization or the government’s entry into the war—by doing so they would expose themselves not only to legal and extralegal government retribution but also to the rebuke and ostracism of their friends, neighbors, and business associates. As the conversation stopper went during World War II, “Don’t you know there’s a war on?” (Lingeman 1970).

  Because during wartime the public fears for the nation’s welfare, perhaps even for its very survival, people surrender wealth, privacy, and liberties to the government far more readily than they otherwise would. Government and its private contractors therefore have a field day. Opportunists galore join the party, each claiming to be performing some “essential war service,” no matter how remote their affairs may be from contributing directly to the military program. Using popular fear to justify its predations, the government lays claim to great expanses of the economy and the society. Government taxation, borrowing, expenditure, and direct controls dilate, while individual rights shrivel into insignificance. Of what importance is one little person when the entire nation is in peril?

  Finally, of course, every war ends, but each leaves legacies that persist, sometimes permanently. In the United States, the War between the States and both world wars left a multitude of such legacies (Hummel 1996, Higgs 1987, 2004). Likewise, as Corey Robin (2004, 25) writes, “one day, the war on terrorism will come to an end. All wars do. And when it does, we will find ourselves still living in fear: not of terrorism or radical Islam, but of the domestic rulers that fear has left behind.” Among other things, we will find that “various security agencies operating in the interest of national security have leveraged their coercive power in ways that target dissenters posing no conceivable threat of terrorism” (189). Not by accident, “the FBI has targeted the antiwar movement in the United States for especially close scrutiny” (189).

  Such targeting is scarcely a surprise, because war is, in Randolph Bourne’s classic phrase, “the health of the state,” and the FBI is a core agency in protecting and enhancing the U.S. government’s health. Over the years, the FBI has also done much to promote fear among the American populace, most notoriously perhaps in its COINTELPRO operations during the 1960s, but in plenty of others ways, too (Linfield 1990, 59–60, 71, 99–102, 123–28, 134–39). Nor has it worked alone in these endeavors. From top to bottom, the government wants us to be afraid, needs us to be afraid, invests greatly in making us afraid.

  Conclusion

   Were we ever to stop being afraid of the government itself and to cast off the phoney fears it has fostered, the government would shrivel and die, and the host would disappear for the tens of millions of parasites in the United States—not to speak of the vast number of others in the rest of the world–who now feed directly and indirectly off the public’s wealth and energies. On that glorious day, everyone who had been living at public expense would have to get an honest job, and the rest of us, recognizing government as the false god it has always been, could set about assuaging our remaining fears in more productive and morally defensible ways.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 04/18/2021 – 00:00

• Watch: Sikorsky's S-97 Raider Performs Impressive First Flight Demo 
  Watch: Sikorsky's S-97 Raider Performs Impressive First Flight Demo 

  For the first time, the Sikorsky S-97 Raider flew multiple flight demonstrations this week for service leaders and soldiers at the company’s test center at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

  Defense giant Lockheed Martin, who owns Sikorsky, released a press release on Thursday detailing the demonstrations on Tuesday and Thursday. 

  “The events offered a glimpse at Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company’s bid for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program, part of the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) effort to revolutionize its aircraft fleet,” the press release said.

  

  The Sikorsky S-97 Raider is based on its X2 coaxial-rotor technology, making it a fast and agile aircraft, well suited for the modern battlefield. The new FVL is expected to fill a capability gap left by the retirement of the Bell OH-58 Kiowa helicopter. 

  “Since the first Black Hawk took to the skies in the 1970s, to when our teams broke helicopter speed records with X2 Technology in 2010, we have been working with our Army partners to develop and deliver low-risk, transformational, affordable and sustainable aircraft to support the warfighters’ missions,” said Sikorsky President Paul Lemmo, who was at the demonstrations. 

  Lemmo continued: “This is the first of what we believe will be many times our X2 Future Vertical Lift aircraft will fly at Redstone.”

  Sikorsky test pilots Christiaan Corry and Bill Fell piloted the S-97 at both demonstrations, highlighting the aircraft’s new capabilities. 

  

  “Flying RAIDER continues to amaze me,” said Corry, a former U.S. Marine with more than 4,500 flight hours in 25 different types of aircraft, including numerous helicopters. 

  “The combination of the coaxial rotors and the propulsor are really the enablers for this transformational technology. As we demonstrated today, in low-speed flight we are as capable as a conventional helicopter, but when we engage the prop, we are able to operate in a whole new way – it’s much more like flying an airplane,” he said. 

  In 2018, the Army selected two FARA candidates. Sikorsky is currently in the running with the S-97 Raider and Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor.

  FARA aircraft are expected to replace the military’s aging fleet of helicopters in the coming years as part of a vast modernization effort to counter China and Russia. 

  Watch the S-97 Raider demonstrations below:  

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 23:30

• Canadian Cops Refuse To Enforce Ontario's New 'Police State' COVID-Lockdown Laws
  Canadian Cops Refuse To Enforce Ontario's New 'Police State' COVID-Lockdown Laws

  Authored by Thomas Lifson via AmericanThinker.com,

  A new police state has been established just north of the states of Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.  The Province of Ontario is home to over 38% of the population of Canada and is 55% bigger in area than the State of Texas, and it is now acting like a nightmarish police state.

  

  Solicitor General Jones (Twitter video screen grab).

  CTV News reports:

  The Ontario government is giving police temporary powers to enforce its stay-at-home order and allowing them to stop individuals and vehicles and ask their reasons for leaving their homes.

  Solicitor General Sylvia Jones made the announcement Friday afternoon as part of the new measures introduced by Premier Doug Ford’s government to stop the further spread of COVID-19.

  “We have made the deliberate decision to temporarily enhance police officers’ authority for the duration of the stay-at-home order. Moving forward, police will have the authority to require any individual who is not in a place of residence to first provide the purpose for not being at home and provide their home address,” Jones said.

  “Police will also have the authority to stop a vehicle to inquire about an individual’s reason for leaving their residence.”

  So much for freedom of movement or assembly.  Unless the police deem your presence outside your prison cell home essential, you could be in for trouble.  

  Those who will not comply will be issued a ticket, Jones said. The province has not provided further details on possible fines, but she said under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, penalties for non-compliance are set at a minimum of $750.

  I find the excerpts from the news conference announcing these changes deeply troubling, just looking at the faces and listening to the tone of these authoritarians as they try to justify their seizure of power over the details of ordinary life.  George Orwell would recognize them:

  🔥Ontario, Canada is now officially a police state🔥 pic.twitter.com/cBP8kCTG16

  — 🍁🇨🇦CanAditude🇨🇦🍁 (@CanAditude) April 16, 2021

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

  Ontarian police and local authorities are not necessarily enthusiastic about exercising these new powers to detain citizens and examine their motives for daring to leave home:

  A spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service said they are reviewing the new orders.

  “Prior to any change in our enforcement strategy, we will notify the public on how we plan to implement the new provincial orders,” spokesperson Allison Sparkes said.

  Several police services have said Friday that they will not be randomly stopping people. They include Waterloo Regional Police, Peterborough Police, Guelph Police, London Police and Ottawa Police.

  

  Toronto Mayor John Tory expressed his concerns over the new police powers, saying in a tweet that he will review the regulations carefully and will discuss them with the medical officer of health and the police chief.

  Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie also said stopping people arbitrarily “is not how we get control of the virus.” She added that she will speak to the chief of Peel police and public health to look at how it will be enforced.

  False! Our members will NOT be conducting random vehicle or individual stops for the sole purpose of enforcing the EMCPA. Sorry @SylviaJonesMPP & @fordnation that will not be happening in Peel. Don’t make cops the bad guys here! https://t.co/IsgKNbKVP5

  — Adrian Woolley (@PRPA_Prez) April 17, 2021

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

  It sounds as if the provincial authorities are drawing their inspiration from China’s early response with drastic lockdowns.  At least so far, they are not discussing welding doors shut to trap people inside.  They might also consider the disaster across their own border in Michigan, where Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s drastic lockdown regulations have led to one of if not the worst problems with COVID in the United States, while  free states like Texas and Florida do much better.

  I’d be a lot more impressed if, instead of trying tom keep people indoors, where the virus spreads far more readily than outdoors, they focused in early therapeutic intervention in cases of COVID, using ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine, both widely used and relatively benign pharmaceuticals, that inhibit reproduction of the virus and often have been shown to slow and even stop the effects.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 23:00

• "Fentanyl Is Here:" Las Vegas Suffers 200% Surge In Overdose Deaths
  "Fentanyl Is Here:" Las Vegas Suffers 200% Surge In Overdose Deaths

  America has been engulfed with a drug problem for decades, but the situation is quickly deteriorating as the largest inbound fentanyl traffic into the country was recently reported. Not surprising, but Las Vegas has been the latest metro area to suffer an “alarming” surge in overdose deaths.

  According to Las Vegas Sun, fentanyl killed 219 people in the Las Vegas Valley in 2020, a stunning 200% increase from the prior year. 

  

  During the 2015-18 opioid crisis that ravaged many metros across the US, Clark County, Nevada, the area that houses Las Vegas, recorded annual reductions in opioid overdoses and deaths. 

  Since then, Mexican fentanyl has flooded the town, and overdoses/deaths have soared. 

  “We said fentanyl was coming,” Metro Police Capt. John Pelletier told reporters Thursday. “Fentanyl is here.”

  Reporters questioned Pelletier about how the drug crisis is going so far (on a year-to-date basis), he answered: “not good.” 

  “Clark County fentanyl deaths are on par with the “alarming” 30% increase in total overdose deaths in 2020, when 768 people succumbed to them, compared with 591 in 2019,” Pelletier said, adding that 31 people were killed in the county in August, an average of about one per day. 

  Last week, Metro Police announced the creation of the Overdose Response Team, a task force comprised of local police and federal agencies. The task force would pursue murder charges for dealers accused of killing clients with drugs. 

  Another issue in Las Vegas and across Clark County is counterfeit pills that look identical to prescription medications are cut with fentanyl and have been responsible for overdoses and deaths. 

  

  The rise in fentanyl use across Clark County coincided with multiple things, such as a socio-economic implosion of Vegas during lockdowns, where tens of thousands of people lost their jobs. At the same time, Mexican drug cartels were pumping record amounts of the drug into the US – some describe this as a ‘perfect storm.’

  “This emergency, this situation, does not discriminate,” Pelletier said. “It does not care how old you are; it does not care where you live.”

  … and Pelletier is correct. The drug crisis has dramatically worsened since the pandemic began, with many streets in various metro areas have transformed into a “zombie apocalypse.” 

  Right now, Mexican drug cartels are pumping US streets with fentanyl, and the Biden administration doesn’t seem too worried about doing anything to stop this from happening with their relaxed border policies. 

  Vegas and the surrounding county are the next victims of the fentanyl crisis. Those partying in Vegas, be careful what party drugs you ingest. It could very well be cut with fentanyl. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 22:30

• The Plutocrats Of Wall Street And Silicon Valley Are Scamming America
  The Plutocrats Of Wall Street And Silicon Valley Are Scamming America

  Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

  In recent years, it seems that the nation’s CEOs and billionaires are increasingly willing to drop the pretense that they are politically neutral entrepreneurs who simply want to go about their business.

  

  Last week, for example, more than a hundred CEOs met to plot ways to punish the people of Georgia by “stopping investments in states” that pass laws unapproved by the billionaire class.

  This comes in the wake of a decision by Major League Baseball—a collection of billionaire-owned sports teams—to punish residents of Georgia for the fact a tiny number of politicians there passed legislation designed to lessen voter fraud. In retaliation, MLB decided to move the league’s all-star game so as to deny the residents of Atlanta the economic benefits of hosting the game.

  This comes only a few years after Apple CEO Tim Cook led a corporate campaign to boycott Indiana after Cook and Marc Benioff (the CEO of Salesforce) demanded the people of Indiana be punished. This was because the Indiana legislature passed a law which some billionaires decided was insufficiently pro-LGBT.

  These examples, however, constitute only a small and relatively innocuous part of the political scheming and lobbying in which powerful CEOs, billionaires, and investors routinely engage.

  Certainly, wealthy CEOs are happy to throw their weight around in pursuit of social policies they like. But while the CEOs’ calls for boycotts and retribution against entire populations of various states makes for good headlines and talk radio, the billionaire class inflicts far more damage on ordinary Americans through other means. 

  It is not unusual to find large corporate interests like big banks, Silicon Valley firms, and Wall Street investors calling for a wide variety of policies which transfer wealth from the general public to the well-lined pockets of the monied classes. These can include monetary policies that benefit the wealthiest Americans, as well as tax policies and regulations that favor large well-established firms at the expense of everyone else.

  Unfortunately, this is nothing new, and it has always been the case that well-heeled pressure groups attempt to turn their financial resources into political power.

  Free Markets vs. the Plutocracy

  The potential danger of this situation was not lost on the classical liberals (i.e., the libertarians) of generations past, who opposed “the privileged” among the wealthy who sought to exercise political power.

  Specifically, it was the Jeffersonians, the Jacksonians, and other advocates of free markets and laissez-faire who attacked these monied groups under a variety of names. Names like “stock jobbers,” the “new aristocracy,” the “scrip nobility,” and “the plutocracy” have all been employed to draw attention to a wealthy elite which manipulates Congress and the central bank in schemes of economic exploitation.

  The Classical Liberals and Economic Exploitation

  This language of “exploitation” might strike some readers as odd. Unfortunately, a certain naïve view of social classes has become popular among some conservatives and libertarians who think that that the concept of “class warfare” was invented by the Marxists. Moreover, some even insist that the wealthy classes pose no threat to political or market institutions, and that the wealthy seek only to mind their own business.

  But, as historian Ralph Raico has explained, the idea of exploitation of one class by another was, in fact, pioneered by the classical liberals. It was these liberals who well understood that the power of the state could be harnessed by one group for the purposes of extracting resources from another group. Left to itself, of course, the marketplace does not foster exploitation, as market activities are voluntary. Once the state is involved, however, the coercive power of the regime changes the equation. The key to success in exploiting others lays in harnessing the power of the state to carry out the exploiters’ schemes. The wealthy have never been immune to this temptation.

  We find these views in an early form in America in the thinking of the Jeffersonian theorist John Taylor of Caroline. Taylor decried the urban investor class that sought to manipulate the new nation’s financial policies to serve this rising plutocracy’s own ends. Taylor, according to Raico,

  was outraged by what he saw as the betrayal of the principles of the American Revolution by a new aristocracy based on “separate legal interests,” the bankers privileged to issue paper money as legal tender and the beneficiaries of “public improvements” and protective tariffs. American society has been divided into the privileged and the unprivileged by this “substantial revival of the feudal system.”

  The threat of this new “aristocracy” had certainly not lessened by the 1830s, when the Jacksonian William Leggett pointed out that the US had attained its own homegrown exploiter class to rival the haughty ruling classes of the Old World. Referring to the ostentatious palaces erected by the wealthy elites of Genoa, Leggett asked,

  Is there no parallel for it in our own [country]? Have we not, in this very city, our “Street of the Palaces,” adorned with structures as superb as those of Genoa in exterior magnificence, and containing within them vaster treasures of wealth? Have we not, too, our privileged orders? Our scrip nobility?1 Aristocrats, clothed with special immunities, who control, indirectly, but certainly, the political power of the state, monopolise the most copious sources of pecuniary profit, and wring the very crust from the hard hand of toil? Have we not, in short, like the wretched serfs of Europe, our lordly masters, “Who make us slaves, and tell us ‘tis their charter?”

  For Leggett, the answer to all of this, of course, was yes. To see this new class of plutocrats, Leggett observed, one need only “walk through Wall-street.” Leggett went on to suggests that if anyone “asks concerning the political power” of these Wall Street elites,

  he will ascertain that three‐fourths of the legislators of the state are of their own order, and deeply interested in preserving and extending the privileges they enjoy. If he investigates the sources of their prodigious wealth, he will discover that it is extorted, under various delusive names, and by a deceptive process, from the pockets of the unprivileged and unprotected poor. These are the masters in this land of freedom. These are our aristocracy, our scrip nobility, our privileged order of charter‐mongers and money‐changers!

  Plutocrats or Private Entrepreneurs?

  On the other hand, the great libertarian sociologist William Graham Sumner was careful to note that not all wealthy people are plutocrats. “[W]e must make some important distinctions,” Sumner writes. “Plutocracy ought to be carefully distinguished from ‘the power of capital’…. A great capitalist is no more necessarily a plutocrat than a great general is a tyrant.” In other words, the plutocrats are not simply the factory owners who are on the receiving end of Marxist claims that all capitalists necessarily exploit their workers.

  Rather, according to Sumner, the plutocrat is something very specific. Modern plutocrats “buy their way through elections and legislatures, in the confidence of being able to get powers which will recoup them for all the outlay and yield an ample surplus besides.”

  That is, plutocrats are political operatives who employ the power of the state to accomplish political and financial ends. Moreover, the plutocrat

  is a man who, having the possession of capital, and having the power of it at his disposal, uses it, not industrially, but politically; instead of employing laborers, he enlists lobbyists. Instead of applying capital to land, he operates upon the market by legislation, by artificial monopoly, by legislative privileges; he creates jobs, and erects combinations, which are half political and half industrial … 

  Today’s Plutocracy

  So, who are the plutocrats of today?

  Certainly, this group includes those who seek to blackmail state legislatures with boycotts and pressure tactics. But we find plutocrats using more subtle tactics as well.

  For example, Amazon corporation now supports raising the minimum wage. This may seem like some great populist and magnanimous move on Amazon’s part. But it is just what we’ve come to expect from plutocrats. In fact, Amazon’s senior managers know that it can endure paying a higher wage than can Amazon’s smaller and less capitalized competition. Smaller operations have fewer financing options to weather a cash flow crunch and are thus more financially fragile. Basically, Amazon is likely to support a wide variety of government regulations, because government regulations are anticompetitive. Amazon, of course, being the dominant firm, is motivated to crush the competition through state action. This is partly why Jeff Bezos came out in favor of a hike in the corporate tax. He’s just hoping to stay on top, and while a tax hike is unfortunate for him, it’s even worse for the competition that Bezos hopes to destroy through his political lobbying. 

  We see similar forces at work when plutocrats like Mark Zuckerberg call for more regulation of social media companies. Zuckerberg is speaking as head of the industry’s largest, most capital rich, and most dominant firm. Now that he’s on top, he’s fine with more regulation, which will hurt small competitors most. (Social media companies, of course, are also happy to buy favors from the regime by deleting user comments and punishing users who annoy regime operatives.)2

  But perhaps the most subtle form of exploitation practiced by the plutocrats occurs through the central bank, and this is why the Jeffersonians and Jacksons focused so much on the role of the central bank throughout the nineteenth century. Leggett, after all, is known for calling for “the separation of bank and state.” 

  The advantages offered to plutocrats through central banks have been similar for more than two centuries, but in today’s world these advantages can be seen in the fact that central banks are now in the business of pushing up stock prices for the benefit of Wall Street and large public companies. Thanks to the “Greenspan put,” for example, the Federal Reserve has now for three decades been in the business of propping up stock prices. Now, we barely even notice when stock prices soar upward even during periods when millions of workers are laid off and national production collapses. “Stock prices must always go up” is essentially now federal policy. This in itself further helps explain why the plutocrats so often come out in support of higher taxes and a bigger regulatory state. As David Stockman observed, people like Bezos and the Wall Street and Silicon Valley elite: 

  have been made so insanely rich by the Fed’s egregious stock market inflation that they no longer care if their businesses are inconvenienced or even deeply harmed by schemes like the Biden [tax hikes]; and, worse still, have no idea about how real, sustainable wealth is generated or that free market prosperity is not at all a sure thing when the state becomes an unhinged wrecker of honest money, fiscal rectitude and financial discipline.

  Why worry too much about taxes or regulation when you know you’ll be bailed out by the Fed? Stockman continues:

  By and large these new titans are not geniuses. They are bubble riders who were in the right place at the right time. And after years of the Fed’s massive inflation of financial asset prices they have become totally corrupted—politically, intellectually and otherwise.

  In all likelihood, they don’t even know how they got rich. But since they are rich, they conclude they must be very smart, and therefore they’re now entitled to run the country; to punish people who live in red states, and run lesser business owners into the ground using the power of the state. 

  The nation’s billionaires and megacorps benefit from central banking schemes in other ways as well. Ultralow interest rate policies mean an endless tsunami of cheap debt. Nonetheless, the focus has remained on lending to the lowest-risk firms, which means there’s far less financing available to smaller start-ups and other riskier enterprises. Low rates also mean financially conservative small-time investors can only earn very small returns on their investments. Generally, it’s only the wealthy who can indulge in high-risk yield chasing, which further enriches the wealthy as others stagnate. The end result is more liquidity for the plutocrats while the newcomers fight over scraps.

  The Fed now buys corporate debt, and for more than a decade has been buying up assets in order to prop up what would have been the ailing portfolios of the nation’s megabanks and investment firms. The Fed’s monetary inflation leads to immense amounts of asset inflation not only in stocks, but in housing prices as well. This impoverishes first-time home buyers and renters, but benefits those who are already wealthy—and own lots of these assets.

  It’s all part of a well-established scam that the laissez-faire liberals identified long ago. The plutocrats hope to keep it going forever. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 22:00

• Taco Bell Opens "Digital-Only" Location In Times Square That Serves Alcohol 
  Taco Bell Opens "Digital-Only" Location In Times Square That Serves Alcohol 

  Restaurants continue to change their processes to improve the customer experience in a virus pandemic. Under the guise of social distancing, Taco Bell has opened a “digital-only” fast-food shop in Times Square that customers can only order food online or through automated kiosks. 

  These modern features of digital-only ordering and pick-up will minimize customer to employee interaction. The digital-only front-end of the eatery allows for more convenient pick-up.

  “Built with the energy and on-the-go vibrance of the city in mind, the newest restaurant embraces technology in a whole new way to serve the demands of New Yorkers,” Taco Bell said in a press release. 

  

  The simplified design will keep employees in the backend of the fast-food joint occupied with fulfilling orders. The disbandment of cash registers at the new Taco Bell Cantina in Times Square will require fewer employees to run operations. 

  

  The restaurants have a smaller footprint than a traditional Taco Bell and offer more modern and upscale designs and alcohol. So far, 20 Cantinas across New York’s five boroughs are already open (though the only digital-only one is in Times Square). 

  Other restaurant chains, like Chipotle Mexican Grill and Starbucks, have been opening digital-only ordering and pick-up. The focus is not just to minimize human labor but also to increase pick-up orders forced by the virus pandemic. The first digital location Taco Bell opened was in London in 2020. 

  The automated concept could be standard at all Taco Bells by the end of this decade as restaurants pivot towards automation and artificial intelligence, which will displace workers, leading to a surge in technological unemployment. 

  Yum Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, The Habit Burger Grill, and WingStreet worldwide, except in China, will likely expand automation and artificial intelligence in all its stores over this decade. 

  What’s frightening is when Yum begins to use robot chefs to automate the backend of the restaurant – essentially eliminating human food preppers. Already, KFC is testing what it calls the “restaurant of the future,” where automation and artificial intelligence dominates the front and back end.

  Big corporations are preparing to replace low-skill and low-paid workers with all sorts of new technology through 2030, displacing millions of them. Many of these restaurants will be entirely contactless.

  All of this suggests technological unemployment is set to skyrocket in the coming years. So then what to do with all the displaced workers? Nothing like starting a war can help dig the economy out of the rut that it’s currently in and resolve the unemployment situation.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 21:30

• Black Lives Matter Activist Charged With Anti-Asian Hate Crime
  Black Lives Matter Activist Charged With Anti-Asian Hate Crime

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

  A Black Lives Matter activist was arrested in Seattle for allegedly committing two separate hate crimes against Asian people, once again contradicting the media narrative that Donald Trump’s rhetoric on coronavirus was primarily to blame for the hate crime wave.

  

  Pamela Cole, who is Asian, told KIRO 7 News about her experience on March 16 during which she and her young children were subjected to a frightening and abusive attack by a man who later turned out to be 51-year-old BLM protester Christopher Hamner.

  Hamner had posted multiple photos of himself attending BLM protests and was also involved in the Seattle CHOP encampment that was populated by Antifa and BLM demonstrators.

  “The moment he made eye contact with me he stopped, opens his door and he’s screaming, ‘F— you, you Asian b—-. F— you!’ and I was in complete shock. Are you talking to me?” Cole said.

  Cole said she felt like her family were “sitting ducks” as Hamner then proceeded to get out of his vehicle while demanding they get out too.

  “I just felt so defenseless and so helpless. And you know as a mom, all we want to do is take care of our kids and protect them,” Cole said.

  Cole said that even after the light changed and she was able to drive away, Hamner continued to throw objects at her car and track where she was heading. She was eventually able to pull over and call the police.

  “Hamner is accused of committing a similar hate crime two days later, when he cut off two Asian women in a vehicle. The vehicle had a dashboard camera, which enabled authorities to identify Hamner,” reports the Hill, adding that Hamner again charged at the vehicle and threw objects.

  After being charged, Hamner pleaded not guilty to hate crimes and his bail has been set at $10,000 dollars.

  The two incidents once again expose how the media’s attempt to pin a wave of anti-Asian hate crimes on “white supremacy” by saying they were incited by Donald Trump’s anti-Chinese COVID 19 rhetoric has completely failed.

  Though black people comprise 13% of the pop.

  They committed 27.5% of all violent crimes against Asian Americans in 2018

  While whites comprise 62% of the pop. the commit 24% of crimes against Asians

  But please tell me how white supremacy is the issue https://t.co/3Zdn12vTfb

  — MOSTLY PEACEFUL ELIJAH (@ElijahSchaffer) March 19, 2021

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

  In virtually every major recent incident where Asians were targeted by violent criminals in hate crime attacks, the perpetrators turn out to be African-American men.

  Crime stats also show white people are underrepresented per capita in attacks against Asians.

  As the Washington Examiner highlights, citing FBI statistics, whereas whites comprise 62% of the population, they committed 24% of crimes against Asians in 2018.

  In comparison, blacks, who comprise 13% of the population, committed 27.5% of all violent crimes against Asian Americans in 2018.

  The media’s fake narrative that “white supremacy” is to blame for the hate crime spree in now inciting violent attacks against white people.

  37-year-old Michael Sangbong Rhee attacked a woman he believed was white by holding her at gunpoint and trying to rape her.

  According to authorities, the attack was “in retaliation for the rise in hate crimes against Asian people.”

  *  *  *

  Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

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  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. Also, I urgently need your financial support here.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 21:00

• Trader Fueled Lavish Lifestyle Running Singapore's "Largest Ever Suspected Investment Fraud"
  Trader Fueled Lavish Lifestyle Running Singapore's "Largest Ever Suspected Investment Fraud"

  Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: a young, up and coming “wunderkind” trader was living a lavish lifestyle on the back of a massive fraud.

  Can’t be possible, you say? Enter 33 year old Ng Yu Zhi, living in a three-story villa in Singapore, driving a $5 million supercar. The only problem? He had raised at least $740 million from investors for commodity trades that didn’t exist, Bloomberg reported this week. 

  He was charged last month with four counts of fraud. It’s being called one of Singapore’s “largest-ever suspected investment frauds”. Court proceedings this week revealed that he was able to raise the money by touting quarterly gains of 15% to investors. It would have made him one of the most successful traders in the world, had it of been true. 

  The fraud was centered around his companies Envy Asset Management and Envy Global Trading. Of more than S$1 billion he had invested in his companies, S$300 million had been transferred to his personal account and S$200 million remains “unaccounted for”. Investors had received payments of S$700 million but are still owed S$1 billion, the report says. 

  

  In riding the broader “green” tailwind that has blown tons of hot money into global markets, Ng had purported to invest in nickel, a key ingredient in electric vehicle batteries. Specifically, per Bloomberg:

  Ng was involved in deceiving investors into buying supposed forward contracts that were purportedly with French lender BNP Paribas SA, but those contracts didn’t exist, according to the charge sheets. BNP had no account or trading history with Ng, Envy Asset Management or Envy Global Trading, a person familiar with the matter said. A BNP spokesperson declined to comment.

  Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB Private Banking, thinks more instances of “suspect behavior” will be revealed, thanks to investors feeling like they need to “reach” for returns in an era of low rates. Thanks, Central Banks.

  Song said: “This won’t be the last case and that’s the sad reality.”

  Shim Wai Han, an investor in Ng with their company Envysion Wealth Management Pte., said: “Our objective now is just one thing. To get back the money for investors and for ourselves.” Shim said she was “working on this together with MAS (The Monetary Authority of Singapore) to help investors.”

  Ng has been released on S$1.5 million bail for the time being and is being monitored by an electronic ankle bracelet. He had become “an increasingly visible figure in Singapore’s philanthropic, supercar and corporate communities” over the last couple of years, Bloomberg noted. 

  He received an award in August 2020 for his philanthropy and a Pagani Huayra supercar was seized as part of his assets after being charged. The car is valued around $5 million. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 20:30

• If You Don't See Any Risk, Ask Who Will "Buy The Dip" In A Freefall?
  If You Don't See Any Risk, Ask Who Will "Buy The Dip" In A Freefall?

  Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

  Nobody thinks a euphoric rally could ever go bidless, but as Greenspan belatedly admitted, liquidity is not guaranteed.

  

  The current market melt-up is taken as nearly risk-free because the Fed has our back, i.e. the Federal Reserve will intervene long before any market decline does any damage.

  It’s assumed the Fed or its proxies, i.e. the Plunge Protection Team, will be the buyer in any freefall sell-off: no matter how many punters are selling, the PPT will keep buying with its presumably unlimited billions.

  If this looks risk-free, ask who else will be “buying the dip” in a freefall? Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan answered this question in his post-2008 crash essay Never Saw It Coming: Why the Financial Crisis Took Economists By Surprise (Dec. 2013 Foreign Affairs):

  “They (financial firms) failed to recognize that market liquidity is largely a function of the degree of investors’ risk aversion, the most dominant animal spirit that drives financial markets. But when fear-induced market retrenchment set in, that liquidity disappeared overnight, as buyers pulled back. In fact, in many markets, at the height of the crisis of 2008, bids virtually disappeared.”

  For the uninitiated, bids are the price offered to buyers of stocks and ETFs and the ask is the price offered to sellers. When bids virtually disappear, this means buyers have vanished: everyone willing to buy on the way down (known as catching the falling knife) has already bought and been crushed with losses, and so there’s nobody left (and no trading bots, either) to buy.

  When buyers vanish, the market goes bidless, meaning when you enter your “sell” order at a specific price (limit order), there’s nobody willing to buy your shares at the current price. The shares remains yours all the way down.

  If you decide to just get out at any price and place a market order (sell at whatever the bid is offered), your $100 per share stock might sell for $5 a share. This is known as a flash crash, and astute punters have observed that these are becoming more common.

  When markets go bidless, the predictable order flow of low-volume days goes out the window. On a typical low volume day (and all days are low volume recently), the spread between bid and ask is modest in heavily traded issues and sellers can be confident their sell order will execute in a few seconds. In a freefall sell-off, sell orders pile up and the bid plummets to levels that were considered “impossible” in low-volume days.

  What Greenspan didn’t discuss is the trading bots that do most of the trading have been programmed to be risk averse. In a real sell-off, why catch the falling knife by hitting the bid on the way down? That’s a guaranteed way to either lose money or ending up a bagholder.

  Humans have a default setting for risk aversion: it’s called panic. Once the euphoric comnfidence that the Fed will never allow the market to fall by more than a few percentage points is broken, it’s not replaced by rational risk assessment; it’s replaced by full-blown just-get-me-out panic.

  The Plunge Protection Team works just fine on low-volume days, but it fails when a tsunami of selling washes away the bid. Though few seemed to notice, massive selling volume begets more selling as the bots’ risk aversion kicks in.

  Ironically, the mass migration of retail punters into the market has introduced a heightened potential for panic selling. The wild swings in Gamestock (GME) earlier in the year were a sneak preview of what can happen as panicked newbies enter market sell orders.

  Euphoric punters forget that many of the players are leveraged, meaning that they’re using borrowed money (margin debt) to buy more stocks. Should the market drop instead of rebounding, their account will fall below minimum requirements and they will have to add cash or sell stocks. When buy the dip fails, those with margin calls add to the selling.

  Other limits can manifest in cryptocurrency trading. When most trades are buys, few notice the fine print on exchange sell orders in crypto wallets and exchanges. Prices may be guaranteed for a limited time (for example, 10 minutes), and there may not be an option for limit orders. If the order doesn’t execute before the time limit expires, then the order to sell executes at whatever bid is offered.

  There’s also no guarantee that your sell order will execute in a timely manner. A reader recently sent me a screenshot of an exchange of a top 100 (by market cap) cryptocurrency for Bitcoin that took almost 2 hours to execute. (The reader passed on using the Lightning Network after reading the disclosures.)

  Exchanges may limit the number of coins per exchange. In other words, the implicit assumption that punters can unload their entire position at the current bid may prove unfounded in heavy sell volume days.

  The point here is bottlenecks can emerge in heavy sell volume days that traders did not anticipate. The possibility that markets, brokerage platforms and exchanges could break and simply cease to function isn’t on anyone’s radar, despite various bits of evidence that a breakdown isn’t as farfetched as punters currently assume.

  Ten minutes is more than enough time for supreme, euphoric confidence to crumble into panic, and trading bots can pull their buy orders in 10 milliseconds.

  This is why the big players distribute their shares to overly confident retail punters over many weeks. Big players know there is no way they can dump their entire position without crushing the bid, so they sell in bits and pieces all the way up the euphoric melt-up.

  The issue isn’t just the price you get when you sell–it’s being able to get out of your position at all. A strange phenomenon occurs in freefall sell-offs: the exit door (i.e. the liquidity that allows you to liquidate your entire position at the current bid) suddenly shrinks from a barndoor to a mouse-sized hole in the baseboard.

  Nobody thinks a euphoric rally could ever go bidless, but as Greenspan belatedly admitted, liquidity is not guaranteed. In a real tsunami of trading-bot selling, the Plunge Protection Team’s card table is no match for the sea of selling.

  Risk aversion can go from zero to 200 faster than overconfident punters believe possible.

  

  *  *  *

  If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

  *  *  *

  My recent books:

  A Hacker’s Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet (Kindle $8.95, print $20, audiobook $17.46) Read the first section for free (PDF).

  Will You Be Richer or Poorer?: Profit, Power, and AI in a Traumatized World (Kindle $5, print $10, audiobook) Read the first section for free (PDF).

  Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic ($5 (Kindle), $10 (print), ( audiobook): Read the first section for free (PDF).

  The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake $1.29 (Kindle), $8.95 (print); read the first chapters for free (PDF)

  Money and Work Unchained $6.95 (Kindle), $15 (print) Read the first section for free (PDF).

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 20:00

• Record 33% Of Young Americans Living With Parents
  Record 33% Of Young Americans Living With Parents

  The number of adults aged 18-34 living at home with their parents continues to accelerate to levels not seen in decades, according to Goldman Sachs, citing US Census Bureau data which found that just over 33% have returned to the nest.

  

  And while real estate in major markets is booming, the percentage of young adults in the ‘boomerang generation’ – who leave the nest only to return years later – has taken a dive, as unemployment and punishing (self-inflicted) student debt has forced many younger Americans out of the housing market.

  

  Last July, Pew Research reported that a majority of 18-29 year-olds, 52%, were living in their parents’ home – and spans young adults across the board; men, women, all races and ethnic groups, and in every geographical region, according to the study. Note that the percentage Pew reported is undoubtedly higher due to the lower cutoff in age for the range (29 vs. 34).

  

  “In a very short space of time, we are now at levels last seen during the Great Depression,” said Pew senior researcher, Richard Fry.

  That said, even before the pandemic, young adults were increasingly dependent upon their parents for financial support. According to Pew, around 60% of children between the ages of 18-29 received at least some financial help in the past year, primarily to cover expenses such as tuition, rent, groceries or bills.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 19:30

• The Next Economic Crisis – Will Your Wealth Survive?
  The Next Economic Crisis – Will Your Wealth Survive?

  Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Time blog,

  The greatest wealth transfer in history has already begun and the next crisis will only accelerate the process.

  

  As the printing presses continue cranking out more and more money, looking forward to a time when the markets pause or another economic crisis consumes the world is an issue we all should think about. How much wealth will escape the next large financial reset is very important because it will set the bar that determines the rate of inflation or deflation in coming years. If you believe we did not solve many of our financial problems after 2008 but merely masked them with a huge amount of newly printed money you are likely to embrace this concept.

  

  The Shell Game Of Wealth Transfer

  Much like a shell game where wealth is transferred about, in our modern society wealth is always on the move. Wealth and how things are valued is far from constant, it is fungible and constantly changing. While we may try to deny it, wealth is in a constant state of flux and constantly moving. Wealth comes in many forms, it can be held in the form of paper, promises, or as something more tangible and real such as property or goods.

  Some items such as a tool hold “utility value” and its value may be based on how much work it can perform or the revenue it can produce. Replacement cost, supply and demand, and factors such as whether something can spoil or might grow obsolete over time also help determine its value as a place wealth can be safely stored. The term, safely stored in this case also includes placing it out of the reach of governments’ ability to tax it or make it illegal to own.

  Defining wealth is one thing but it is important to actually delve into its nature to truly understand just how elusive it can be. Wealth is defined as the abundance of valuable resources or valuable material possessions. An individual, community, region, or country that possesses an abundance of such possessions or resources to the benefit of the common good is known as wealthy. This means it might be preferable to live as a poor person in a very rich and wealthy society versus a rich person in a poor and wretched place. This notion underlines the idea wealth is also relevant and measured by how it compares to that of others.

  

  Don’t Be Naive, They Do Not Care

  Returning to the subject of various kinds of wealth, today Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies and other “digital assets” designed to work as a medium of exchange also fall into the category of wealth. They have joined pensions, annuities, and even investments in stocks and such as a store of wealth. Many assets fall into the area of paper promises that are often recorded somewhere far from sight or as a digital entry on a computer. These intangible stores of wealth based on faith have grown at a massive rate during the last several decades and were relatively minor players until recently. Currencies, also known as fiat money, are also just IOUs or paper promises. The idea of a currency free-society in my mind tends to break the bonds that link us to wealth but that is for another post.

  In the past I have written several pieces about subjects such as, writing off the rising amount of bad debt, how debt is like a mirage moving into the distance, how bad debt is resolved, and how precarious the vessels where we store our wealth can be, however, the crux of this article centers around what will or might be left after stress or war pushes the global economy to the brink or into total collapse. A great deal will depend on how such an event unfolds, this means what kind or type of value and wealth is the first to vanish.

  

  Be Skeptical, Be Cautious, Get Smart!

  I will be the first to admit the answer is unknown, still in this “exercise of the mind,” I am asking you to consider and think about such a scenario. The ugly truth is that there are many places your wealth could vanish into and multitudes of ways it could seep away. Remember, wealth zips across borders at the click of a button and just because you deposit it with a local institution does not mean it stays in your community.

  We witnessed how wealth could be “transferred away” decades ago during the savings and loan crisis when huge beautiful buildings were constructed in certain areas from wealth transferred in from other parts of the country. Needless to say when the dust settled the big winners were the areas with the new buildings and not those forced to pay for them when the loans used to build them went into default.

  Today some market watchers claim that the stock market is being held at lofty levels while the smart money is rushing to the exits. Today tens of trillions of dollars are sitting in offshore banking accounts in places such as the Cayman Islands. Today government and businesses are borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars each year by issuing bonds some that will not return investor’s money for decades. Today homes, apartments, and buildings are being built, some poorly constructed, with loans guaranteed more or less by the American people. Today America’s national debt stands at over 28 trillion dollars and is rising. Today currencies such as the euro and yen are even more fundamentally flawed than the dollar. I could do this a bit longer but I suspect I’ve made the point.

  We have all heard about how the Caymans have become a popular tax haven among the American elite and large multinational corporations. This is because there is no corporate or income tax on money earned outside of its territory. This has made the Caymans especially popular among hedge fund managers. I hate to blow a hole in the idea that you can safely tuck their money away in an offshore banking account, the reality is, we have no idea where all the money deposited in the Cayman Islands really is. Banks do not just sit on deposits and keep them safe, they loan them out.

  We must never forget the world is full of crooks, evil politicians, greedy bankers, and that we have judicial systems that make true justice a rare commodity. Returning to the focus of this article, the thing that is important is what or how much wealth survives an economic crisis and in what form. That is because when that wealth comes out of hibernation it will soak up all the tangible assets on the planet. This will be the determining factor of whether we face inflation, deflation, or some crazy mix of the two. Remember it is the nature of those in charge to throw the masses under the bus when things go sideways.

  The average person is foolish and silly if they expect to be protected when the next financial crisis hits. Those counting on a stimulus check for survival will someday most likely find it will not buy them diddly-squat. The shelves will be empty or the value of what they receive will simply not be enough. The economic landscape we face following such an event will without a doubt be shaped and depend on what wealth survives and how much vanishes following a tsunami of defaults and /or a monetization of debt where government debt disappears and inflation takes its place. A word to the wise should be sufficient and cause any person prudent or interested in protecting their wealth to consider the many ways wealth can vanish and that it can without a doubt happen to you.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 19:00

• Apollo Joins Exodus To Florida As New York Tax Hike Drives Out Wealthy
  Apollo Joins Exodus To Florida As New York Tax Hike Drives Out Wealthy

  The authors of a Bloomberg report claiming the trend of financial services firms moving from New York to Florida was rapidly starting to reverse couldn’t have been more wrong. Barely two weeks after the New York State legislature passed a state budget that saddled the wealthiest New Yorkers with an effective tax rate north of 50%, the highest in the nation…

  

  …more financial firms and their wealthiest employees are bidding the Big Apple adieu. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd was preparing to move to Miami as the firm moves to dedicate more resources to South Florida.

  And now, Bloomberg has followed that earlier report up with another high-profile departure: Apollo Global Management, newly free of its founder Leon Black, was considering opening additional offices in South Florida, specifically in Miami and West Palm Beach, as well as elsewhere in the US and Europe. The decision to “expand” its physical presence its the result of a survey of employees about where they would prefer to work as part of a strategy to attract a broader talent pool, a spokesperson for the firm told Bloomberg.

  Apollo, which has 1,729 employees worldwide, is just the latest financial services firm to commit to a more open ended “open working” plan as workers in the US start their journey back to the office. This contrasts with Goldman and JPM, which are already summoning front-office workers and analysts back to the office (now that we all know how Goldman CEO David Solomon feels about working from home).

  

  As far as moving to Florida, Goldman is reportedly polling employees to figure out which workers in various front-office investment-banking and capital markets positions might be willing to relocate to Miami.

  Hedge fund titan Steven Cohen is reportedly looking to move his new firm, Point72 Asset Management, to Florida despite his recent purchase of the New York Mets (he also recently took a massive hit on the sale of a New York condo). Elliott Management, and even the mighty Citadel, are looking to Florida as well.

  While Apollo said it has no plans to pull back from New York, even Bloomberg acknowledged that the newfound flexibility brought on by remote work is making low-tax locales like Florida and Texas more appealing. Under the new $212 billion state budget, the top tax rate on wealthy Americans would temporarily increase to 9.65% from 8.82% for single filers earning more than $1.1 million. Income between $5 million and $25 million would be taxed at 10.3% and for more than $25 million it would be 10.9%. The new rates would expire in 2027. And with New York City residents also paying city taxes, the combined top rate for the highest earners would be between 13.5% and 14.8%, surpassing the 13.3% rate in California, currently the highest in the nation, as we reported previously.

  

  Lump in Federal Taxes and the increases would mean that the richest New Yorkers would be hit with a combined marginal rate of 51.8% — higher than levels in some European countries.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 18:30

• "I Object…" – Is This The Start Of The Turn Against 'Woke Tyranny'?
  "I Object…" – Is This The Start Of The Turn Against 'Woke Tyranny'?

  Authored by Andrea Widburg via AmericanThinker.com,

  For three days, I’ve had sitting on my virtual spindle a post that Bari Weiss, formerly of the New York Times, posted on her Substack page.  It’s entitled “I Refuse to Stand by while My Students Are Indoctrinated.”  

  The author isn’t Weiss but is, instead, Paul Rossi, a math teacher at Grace Church High School in Manhattan (annual tuition: $57,330).  

  On Friday, Weiss added another open letter, this from Andrew Gutmann, a parent who had just pulled his daughter out of Brearley, another expensive private school (annual tuition: $54,000).  

  Both are horrifying exposés of, and attacks against, the woke culture saturating these institutions.

  

  Both letters are long and don’t yield easily to a brief summary.  I’ll quote a few select paragraphs from each, but you must read them to get the full flavor of the Maoist madness at these institutions.

  Paul Rossi, the teacher, writes that Grace Church is focused on “‘antiracism’ training and pedagogy that I believe is deeply harmful to [my students] and to any person who seeks to nurture the virtues of curiosity, empathy and understanding.”

  Rossi perfectly describes the self-hatred, mental repression, cognitive dissonance, and pure racism this training inculcates into young minds:

  My school, like so many others, induces students via shame and sophistry to identify primarily with their race before their individual identities are fully formed. Students are pressured to conform their opinions to those broadly associated with their race and gender and to minimize or dismiss individual experiences that don’t match those assumptions. The morally compromised status of “oppressor” is assigned to one group of students based on their immutable characteristics. In the meantime, dependency, resentment and moral superiority are cultivated in students considered “oppressed.”

  Rossi describes how, during a segregated “whites only” student and faculty Zoom meeting, he spoke out, inspiring the students to speak out, too.  This was a bad thing.

  I was informed by the head of the high school that my philosophical challenges had caused “harm” to students, given that these topics were “life and death matters, about people’s flesh and blood and bone.” I was reprimanded for “acting like an independent agent of a set of principles or ideas or beliefs.” And I was told that by doing so, I failed to serve the “greater good and the higher truth.” 

  He further informed me that I had created “dissonance for vulnerable and unformed thinkers” and “neurological disturbance in students’ beings and systems.” The school’s director of studies added that my remarks could even constitute harassment.

  Rossi was then denounced over the school announcement system.  There’s more.  Read it all, because it’s important.

  

  The letter that Andrew Gutmann sent to fellow parents after he pulled his daughter out of Brearley is, if anything, even more horrifying:

  It cannot be stated strongly enough that Brearley’s obsession with race must stop. It should be abundantly clear to any thinking parent that Brearley has completely lost its way. The administration and the Board of Trustees have displayed a cowardly and appalling lack of leadership by appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob, and then allowing the school to be captured by that same mob.

  To give context to his scathing attack on the school, Gutmann describes actual systemic racism as things such as the real Jim Crow, Jewish genocide, and the Democrats’ decision in 1942 to lock up all their Japanese-American citizens.  And then he’s off:

  I object to a definition of systemic racism, apparently supported by Brearley, that any educational, professional, or societal outcome where Blacks are underrepresented is prima facie evidence of the aforementioned systemic racism, or of white supremacy and oppression.

  …

  I object to the idea that Blacks are unable to succeed in this country without aid from government or from whites.

  …

  I object to mandatory anti-racism training for parents, especially when presented by the rent-seeking charlatans of Pollyanna.

  …

  I object to Brearley’s vacuous, inappropriate, and fanatical use of words such as “equity,” “diversity” and “inclusiveness.”

  …

  l object to Brearley’s advocacy for groups and movements such as Black Lives Matter, a Marxist, anti family, heterophobic, anti-Asian and anti-Semitic organization that neither speaks for the majority of the Black community in this country, nor in any way, shape or form, represents their best interests. 

  As with Rossi’s letter, there’s more, much more, including all the material I snipped out.  And as with Rossi’s letter, you must read the whole thing.

  A couple of years ago, ensconced in a Senate chamber in which almost half of the senators and all the national media agreed with him, and lying about violating Senate rules, Sen. Cory Booker made the ridiculous claim that he was having his “I am Spartacus moment.”

  In fact, what we’re seeing from Rossi and Gutmann, in the belly of the beast that is true-blue New York, should be the start of a true Spartacus moment.  We must join together to defeat the racist Critical Race Theory and other maddened toxins oozing from leftists.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 18:00

• CNN Can't Stop Losing: Viewership Down By Half Since Biden Took Office, 60% In Key Demo
  CNN Can't Stop Losing: Viewership Down By Half Since Biden Took Office, 60% In Key Demo

  While CNN may no longer be torturing people in airports, voluntary viewership has fallen over 50% in multiple categories since President Biden took office, according to Fox News.

  

  Who knew that their best move during the 2020 election would have been to help Trump win, instead of helping Biden.

  In the first three weeks of 2021, the network averaged 2.2 million viewers – only to plummet to just one million viewers – a decline of 54%. Among the key advertising demographic of adults age 25-54, ratings are down 60%. From December 28 through Inauguration day, viewership went from 617,000 viewers in that demographic to just 244,000 since Biden took office.

  CNN’s liberal primetime hosts Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon haven’t been able to keep their audiences under the new administration, either.

  CNN averaged 3.1 million viewers from 8-11 p.m. from Dec. 28 through Inauguration Day but only 1.4 million since for a whopping 55-percent decline. Over the same time period, CNN’s primetime lineup lost 63 percent of its viewers among the crucial demo. –Fox News

  CNN also fared worse than liberal competitor MSNBC, which lost ‘only’ 34% of its total-day viewers, and 30% of primetime viewers under Biden. Fox News points out, of course, that their viewership has remained mostly flat – as declines remained in the single digits.

  When asked if he was worried about the ratings disaster, CNN host Don Lemon told the New York Times’ podcaster “Sway”:

  “No. I’m not worried about it … Trump was a horrible person. And he was terrible for the country. And it is better for all — for the world that he is no longer the President of the United States,” adding “So if that means that cable news ratings go down? Aww. So I’m not really that concerned about it. I would prefer that my ratings go down and Trump not be in office than my ratings be sky-high and him be there. That’s the honest truth.”

  And when a CNN anchor ends anything with “That’s the honest truth,” it’s exactly the opposite.

  CNN the new clown news network! pic.twitter.com/zVvh3KB2Ja

  — LeAnn F Sellers 🇺🇸❣🇺🇸 (@LeAnnFSellers1) April 15, 2021

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 17:35

• Edward Snowden NFT Sells For $5.4 Million In Ethereum
  Edward Snowden NFT Sells For $5.4 Million In Ethereum

  Authored by Jeff Benson via Decrypt.co,

  An NFT artwork created by Edward Snowden has sold for $5.4 million in Ethereum.

  “Stay Free” portrays the NSA whistleblower and exiled American with hand on chin like a modern Rodin statue.

  

  Look closer, however, and you’ll find the image has been formed from the pages of a US appeals court decision that the Patriot Act did not permit mass collection and surveillance of Americans’ phone records by the National Security Agency.

  A reminder that the symbolism of @Snowden minting his first NFT goes far beyond the price tag.

  The decentralized technologies powering this auction will fundamentally reshape our world — precisely to curb the abuse of power @Snowden spoke out against.https://t.co/ofNi1nSwzZ

  — kayvon🪐 (@saturnial) April 16, 2021

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

  While the ACLU won that case, Snowden remains persona non grata in the US for his role in making the NSA’s surveillance program public. In 2013, while the computer analyst was contracting for the security agency, he began leaking classified documents to the press. Shortly after being charged with espionage, Snowden flew to Russia, where he was granted asylum, then residency.

  

  Snowden sold the artwork on Foundation, a community-driven NFT marketplace where the Overly Attached Girlfriend NFT sold for 200 ETH and a Nyan Cat animation earned 300.

  Those amounts seem relatively paltry to the 2,224 ETH spent on Stay Free, Snowden’s first NFT.

  NFTs are unique digital tokens that often come in the form of artwork, trading cards, or other collectibles. There is only one edition of “Stay Free,” meaning the auction winner, @PleasrDAO (fans of digital artist pplpleasr, who also sells lucrative NFTs), has the only copy of the work.

  FIVE POINT FIVE MILLION from @PleasrDAO. It feels like the whole staff of @FreedomOfPress is watching live, and we’ve never seen anything like this. This is more than a spectacle — this is drama. All eyes turn to the dark horse. https://t.co/GOcrOiraXS

  — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) April 16, 2021

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

  According to Snowden, the proceeds will go to Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit established in 2012 that develops open source communication and encryption tools as well as tracks press freedom. As the foundation’s president, Snowden serves on the board alongside John Cusack, journalist Glenn Greenwald, and Daniel Ellsberg, the Vietnam-era reporter best known for shuttling the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 17:10

• Psaki Dodges Questions On Biden "Weakness" Over Initiating Putin Summit
  Psaki Dodges Questions On Biden "Weakness" Over Initiating Putin Summit

  On Friday White House press secretary Jen Psaki was pressed on why President Biden appeared to initiate a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, yet without setting conditions, which is widely being viewed as a “weakness”. This is also given as we and many others have pointed out that it effectively cuts out Kiev, leaving Ukraine’s fate to be considered by the two superpowers at the table. For Putin, it appears that “saber-rattling” over Ukraine in the form of the troop build-up in Crimea and along the border has forced Biden’s hand, effectively making Washington have to deal directly with Putin, precisely what the Kremlin has wanted all along.

  She was asked at the daily briefing by a reporter: “Why would you announce a summit intention without a commitment? … A high-level meeting of this sort is often a point of leverage with the world leader… why aren’t there conditions?” Psaki fumbled through a response while avoiding the question head-on…

  Psaki then rambled on about “consequences”…

  Biden was ”clear that there would be consequences for the actions, whether it was the hacking of SolarWinds or other problematic behavior by Russian leadership,” Psaki said in reference to Thursday’s Russia sanctions rollout.

  ”And the president offered that … to send the message that we will have disagreement, we’re not going to hold back on that. But our objective is to have a predictable and stable relationship,” she added.

  In follow-up to her apparent avoidance of the main issue the reporter mused that if Putin actually rejects the summit offer, ”wouldn’t that indicated some weakness on the part of the American administration here?”

  ”I think the president’s view is that Russia is on the outside of the global community in many respects at this point in time,” Psaki replied.

  So again she didn’t actually answer the question.

  “It’s the G7, not the G8 … We’ve put sanctions in place in order to send a clear message that there should be consequences for the actions. The Europeans have also done that. What the president is offering is a bridge back. And so certainly he believes it’s in their interest to take him up on that offer.”

  How Putin’s “Saber-Rattling” Forced A Biden Summit, Bypassing Kiev To Decide Ukraine’s Fate https://t.co/95A4thiMNU

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 17, 2021

  To review, here’s what FT had to say

  Here’s more from FT on the whole question:

  If Vladimir Putin’s decision to deploy tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine’s border in the past few weeks was driven primarily by a desire to get the west’s attention, he did not have to wait too long for his reward.

  Hours after his defense minister on Tuesday admitted Russia had mobilised two armies and three paratroop divisions to positions close to the conflict-wracked frontier, US President Joe Biden phoned the Kremlin with an offer of a bilateral summit: a long sought-after prize for Putin who craves a seat at the world’s highest negotiating table. 

  …Those 50,000 extra soldiers, scores of tanks and other heavy weaponry spooked Kyiv and other European powers, and sparked a hurried response from Nato and the US amid fears over a potential outbreak of fighting between the two countries. 

  Consider too… what if this were Trump? 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 16:45

• Woke Capital Is Destined To Become A Relic
  Woke Capital Is Destined To Become A Relic

  Authored by Peter Earle via The American Institute for Economic Research,

  In a market economy, consumers vote with their dollars. The survival and growth of a business depends pivotally upon how effectively they convince customers to buy their products over those of their competitors. But recently, consumers seem to expect a new product in addition to what they were already purchasing from firms: corporate consciousness. In particular, a decidedly left-leaning consciousness.   

  But it’s not entirely accurate to claim that consumers have compelled businesses to “get with the times;” more precisely, the sensibilities of the public, have mostly through the media and polling, bled into corporate board rooms. Big businesses have in turn doled out value statements; some are praised, others pilloried. It’s a chicken-or-egg case: did the consumer demand woke capital, or has the corporatist, desperate to maintain market share and boost public perception of their firm, made woke capital the law of the American economy?

  

  A New Twist on an Old Saw

  In reality, woke capital is nothing new – though it has undergone many transformations and changes of name over the years. On the individual level, early industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller engaged in corporate philanthropy, donating large shares of their fortunes to charity. In the 1940s, businesses themselves started supporting charitable causes. 

  The idea of corporate social responsibility entered the mainstream in the 1970s when the Committee for Economic Development pushed the “social contract” model, stating that businesses function as a result of public “consent,” thus leading to an obligation to serve societal needs. (This also ties to the rise and spread of stakeholder theories, which today no MBA program would dare omit.) That same model outlined three duties of businesses: providing jobs and economic growth, fair and honest treatment of workers and customers, and improving the conditions of the surrounding community. 

  The present ascendance of woke capital, then, has been less of a rise and more of a continuation––a twist, really––on existing tendencies. The contemporary culture war has only served as a catalyst. A 2020 Spectator piece reads,

  As the Democratic party and cultural elites have lurched left on cultural issues, corporate America has lurched along with them. America’s ‘reckoning with racial injustice’ in the past three months was enthusiastically endorsed by major corporations, often even as their physical outlets were plundered by the ‘mostly peaceful’ activists on the street….As capital aligns with the cultural left, it is now extracting its concessions. 

  It wouldn’t be so unpalatable if it weren’t rife with hypocrisy. This, ultimately, is the cardinal sin of woke capital: lofty moral standards, selectively applied. In one of the earlier discussions of the woke capital phenomenon, which appeared in The New York Times back in 2018, columnist Ross Douthat pointed out the folly in Apple’s value statements: 

  It’s worth noting, for instance, how Tim Cook’s willingness to play the social justice warrior when the target is a few random Indiana restaurants that might not want to host hypothetical same-sex weddings does not extend to reconsidering Apple’s relationship with the many countries around the world where human rights are rather more in jeopardy than they are in the American Midwest.

  Douthat’s concerns proved prescient as the turmoil of last summer––largely centered on the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the ensuing Black Lives Matter protests––came to a head. In 2020, no less than two-thirds of S&P 500 companies released statements of solidarity with the movement; a smaller share, 36 percent, contributed funds to racial justice organizations. 

  S&P 500 ESG Index (5 yrs)

  

  (Source: Bloomberg Finance, LP)

  Nike and The Washington Post, among other employers, gave workers Juneteenth off as a paid holiday. Companies participated in #BlackOutTuesday, posting just a black square to their social media accounts. Managers assigned left-wing political texts to employees. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon dropped by a Chase branch to take a knee with staff in support of racial justice protests (and, it seems, could not resist taking advantage of the photo opportunity). 

  The immediate aftermath of these actions was characterized by confusion and skepticism alike. Black employees of many companies that had sprung into activist action found the messaging inconsistent with their personal experiences, speaking to poor racial climates and difficulty in climbing the career ladder. Nearly one year later, investor groups are still pressuring banks and industry giants to support shareholder resolutions that will hold them to proof of progress measures. Though Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) disagrees with the premise of “woke capital,” it nonetheless concedes that “many corporate overtures to diversity, racial justice and progress are marketing gimmicks that don’t actually address structural economic inequality, and, at worst, are meant to distract from any kind of class reckoning.” 

  Stunts and Missteps

  One such blunder came in the form of the McCann ad agency’s Black Lives Matter blunder. In early June, the firm asked artist Shantell Martin to paint a BLM mural on the storefront of McCann’s client Microsoft. The email specifically requested that Martin finish the piece within a few days, “while the protests are still relevant.” Martin teamed up with other black artists who had been approached by McCann, eviscerating the agency in a letter that decried the disingenuity of activism with an expiration date. 

  With all that in mind, it must be said that not every business simply postures for the sake of posturing. In the early days of corporate social responsibility, Milton Hershey of The Hershey Company built far more than just production facilities in Hershey, Pennsylvania; he built civic centers and cultural institutions that continue to support the community to this day. And in the woke capital era, plenty of organizations have taken up the helm of well-intentioned, effective societal change. Chobani, a leading Greek yogurt brand, has made tangible steps toward social responsibility––from actively seeking to hire refugees to investing in social entrepreneurs in order to encourage innovating for the greater good, Chobani’s impact statements are far more than just platitudes. 

  Yet these examples are, in many ways, the exceptions rather than the rule. Far-reaching social and political turmoil has prompted businesses to feel as though they must comment on current issues, but that talk has hardly translated into any meaningful change. Social change is expensive––and woke capital is difficult to back––and as such, few businesses have put their money where their mouth is. That voluntary, cooperative commercial engagement is a center of gravity for civilization itself has not occurred to them, or doesn’t make for a flashy enough campaign.

  SunSuper Socially Conscious Balanced Fund (AU)

  

  (Source: Bloomberg Finance, LP)

  Economic Calculation with Woke Capital

  An issue with decidedly larger implications is whether or to what extent corporate management decisions made along political lines will impact potential uses of capital. Ludwig von Mises, in his writings about economic calculation, noted that private property in the means of production, and subsequently money prices established for those capital goods, 

  provide…a guide amid the bewildering throng of economic possibilities. [They] enable us to extend judgement of value which apply directly only to consumption goods––or at best to production goods of the lowest order––to all goods of higher orders. Without it, all production by lengthy and roundabout processes would be so many steps in the dark. 

  A large number of economically significant firms deciding to sell important assets, engage in select transactions, or limit their investments exclusively to projects managed by and firms owned by minority citizens or women may seem innocuous. And in some cases, it likely is. But to the extent that such transactions are appreciable and done in ways which preempt or confound market processes (which is to say, if they are done at prices which do not reflect the actual subjective valuation of market participants at a point in time) they will likely result in less rational allocations and overall losses of efficiency in the economy at large. 

  Fad or Principle?

  Though consumers seem on balance to prefer activist firms, companies largely miss the mark. A 2018 survey covering 35 countries showed that 64 percent of consumers would gladly reward firms engaged in activism of some type––proving that corporate consciousness has become an essential part of many companies’ bottom lines. However, a 2020 opinion poll conducted by Gallup in the United States indicated that public confidence in big business was laughably low. Only 19 percent of respondents reported having a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust in large firms. Sentiments have been tepid for decades now, with confidence lingering around the 20 percent mark since the early 2000s. And the leftward shift of business has especially alienated Republicans, with their satisfaction with big business falling to 31 percent––a 26-point decline since 2020.

  Whether corporate America’s commitment to woke capital will last remains to be seen, but one questions who truly prefers this state of affairs. Companies feel obligated to offer value statements to their customers, despite often having records of conduct contrary to the socially acceptable view; consumers sense the game being played and accordingly, chafe. Structural changes, most of which involve more opportunities and less state interference, are desirable and attainable, and the lack of genuineness here suggests unsustainability. Rather than a sign of the times, the embracing of woke capital may simply come to be a relic of the times.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 16:20

• Iconic Retail Investor "Roaring Kitty" Doubles Down On Gamestop, Now Owns 200,000 Shares
  Iconic Retail Investor "Roaring Kitty" Doubles Down On Gamestop, Now Owns 200,000 Shares

  You won’t find Roaring Kitty Capital, LP in any Goldman Sachs salestrader’s rolodex but to the millions of WallStreetBets daytrading fanatics, the name Roaring Kitty is far more popular than Bridgewater, Citadel, or Millennium.

  And for good reason: Keith Gill, the person behind the moniker “Roaring Kitty” and “DeepFuckingValue“, who launched a historic short squeeze across multiple asset classes in January, destroying Melvin Capital (which needed a bailout from both Ken Griffin and Steve Cohen) and several other heavily bearish hedge funds, showed ordinary investors that virtually anyone can become a millionaire with lots of hard work and preparation… before eventually ending up in Congress explaining to Maxine Waters just how a relative nobody managed to outsmart people who run billions thanks to his now iconic investment in Gamestop.

  Another reason why “Roaring Kitty” has earned the respect of his peers is that unlike so many traders who make a buck on a trade and move on, Gill has demonstrated true diamond hands, and not only that but he is now literally doubling down on the company that brought him stardom and riches by exercising his call options and buying even more shares.

  “DeepFuckingValue” posted a screenshot of his portfolio showing that he has exercised 500 GameStop call options expiring Friday at a strike price of $12, giving him 50,000 more shares of a stock that closed at $154.69 on Friday, but will likely blast off on Monday once the Reddit animal spirits are reignited.

  

  There’s more: in addition to exercising his options, Gill also bought another 50,000 shares of the video-game retailer, doubling his holdings to 200,000 shares from 100,000 at the beginning of the month. His total investment in GameStop is now worth more than $30 million, giving him a profit of nearly $20 million. Bloomberg reached out to Gill’s mother, Elaine Gill at his childhood home in Massachusetts, who confirmed the Reddit screenshots were posted by her son.

  Despite having earned the praise and admiration of most of his peers for executing what many have said has been the most astute short squeeze since Volkswagen, there were haters too and roughly around the time Gill was explaining to Maxine Waters how investing works, he was hit with a lawsuit that accused him of misrepresenting himself as an amateur investor. The suit alleged that he was actually a licensed securities professional who manipulated the market for profit, which he denied.

  To be sure, it wasn’t just Gill: some argue that the true mastermind behind the Gamestop squeeze was not Roaring Kitty at all but hedge fund Senvest which started buying GME shares all the way back in September – roughly around the time the post “The REAL Greatest Short Burn of the Century” appeared on Reddit and which made over $700 million on its GME position which has given it the top position in the HSBC hedge fund ranking for the third month in a row

  

  Meanwhile, on Friday GameStop CEO George Sherman who is expected to leave, sold almost $12 million in shares. The company is looking for a new CEO as part of a shake-up spurred by activist investor and Chewy.com co-founder Ryan Cohen, Bloomberg notes.

  While shares of GameStop are up 721% YTD, though they are less than half of the peak level in January. However, now that Roaring Kitty has shown his Reddit peers that he is not only in it for the long run but doubling down, expect another squeeze on Monday as the latest generation of shorts which have entered the stock in recent weeks, is steamrolled, and as Reddit excitement in GME which had fizzled in recent weeks…

  

  … explodes afresh.

  And speaking of Chewy, we remind readers that the reason why the stock rose as high as the mid-$400s in February is not only the presence of Chewy founder Ryan Cohen, but that as the September Reddit write up noted, “if GME was trading at the same P/S multiple as $CHWY, the share price would be $420.”

  In short, GME may be about to double all over again.

  Which begs another question: is the daytrading, gamma-squeeze mania that shook markets in late January, about to send GME – and the whole batch of most shorted names – soaring higher all over again?

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 15:54

• Software Glitch Transforms Some Mustang Mach-Es Into "Electric Bricks" 
  Software Glitch Transforms Some Mustang Mach-Es Into "Electric Bricks" 

  Just as Morgan Stanely released a new Autos & Shared Mobility research report a couple of months ago explaining how Tesla is losing market share to the Ford Mustang Mach-E. It appears Ford has run into a significant software hiccup for some of its Mach-Es, transforming them into “electric bricks.” 

  Some Mach-E owners reported the 12-volt battery inside their vehicle has discharged after charging the main battery pack, preventing the car from turning on, essentially transforming it into an electric brick.  

  According to a new service bulletin posted by the Michigan automaker on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website, Ford has addressed the problem.

  “Some 2021 Mustang Mach-E vehicles built on or before 3-Feb-2021 may exhibit the 12-volt battery becoming discharged while the vehicle is plugged in during the high voltage charging process. This may be due to the parameters in the powertrain control module (PCM). To correct the condition, follow the Service Procedure to reprogram various modules starting with the PCM,” the bulletin read. 

  Here is the complete technical service bulletin:

  The dying 12-volt batteries were first reported by The Verge, as furious Ford owners recently began populating on online forums about the issue. Some readers must be asking: Why do electric cars have separate 12-volt batteries from the main battery pack? 

  The answer is simple: 

  The battery that supplies power to the electric motors is extremely high voltage, and the 12-volt battery powers the vehicle’s low-voltage parts. When the 12-volt battery discharges, the car can’t be started.

  In a statement provided to The Verge, Ford said owners must bring their Mach-Es to a dealer for the fix. So there are no over-the-air updates like a Tesla. 

  “We are aware that a small number of Mustang Mach-E owners have had their 12V battery reach a low voltage condition. We proactively worked with early owners experiencing this issue to identify the root cause and a fix. In the rare instances where this still occurs, customers can now contact their local EV-certified Ford dealer to have the matter resolved.”

  Ford revealed to The Verge the problem would be fixable via wireless update “later this year.” The automaker also said Mach-Es after Feb. 3 do not exhibit this problem. 

  Ford wouldn’t specify how many of its Mach-Es are affected by the software glitch, but nearly 7,000 have been delivered in the first three months of the year. 

  With Ford quickly selling Mach-E’s, the software glitch comes at an inopportune time as it battles Tesla for EV US market share. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 04/17/2021 – 15:30

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• Globalists Will Need Another Crisis In America As Their Reset Agenda Fails
  Globalists Will Need Another Crisis In America As Their Reset Agenda Fails

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  It might sound like “US exceptionalism” to point this out (…and how very dare I), but even if the globalist Reset is successful in every other nation on Earth, the globalists are still failures if they can’t secure and subjugate the American people. As I’ve noted many times in the past, most of the world has been sufficiently disarmed, and even though we are seeing resistance in multiple European nations against forced vaccination legislation and medical tyranny, it is unlikely that they will have the ability to actually repel a full on march into totalitarianism. Most of Asia, India and Australia are already well under control. Africa is almost an afterthought , considering Africa is where many suspect vaccines are tested.

  America represents the only significant obstacle to the agenda.

  

  Conservative Americans in particular have been a thorn in the side of the globalists for generations, and it really comes down to a simple matter of mutual exclusion: You cannot have an openly globalist society and conservative ideals at the same time in the same place. It is impossible.

  Conservatives believe in limited government, true free markets, individual liberty, the value of life, freedom of speech, private property rights, the right to self defense, the right to self determination, freedom of religion, and the non-aggression principle (we won’t harm you unless you try to harm us). None of these ideals can exist in a globalist world because globalism is at it’s core is the pursuit of a fully centralized tyranny.

  There are people on this planet that are not satisfied to merely live their lives, take care of their families and make their mark peacefully. They crave power over all else. They desperately want control over you, over me, over everything, and they will use any means at their disposal to get it. I would compare it to a kind of drug addiction; globalists are like crack addicts, they can never get enough power, there is always something more to take.

  They tell themselves and others that they are “philanthropists”, that “they know what is best” for the rest of us. They believe themselves superior and therefore it is their “destiny” to dictate and micro-manage society for the “greater good” of us all. But really, when we witness their methods it becomes clear that they have no noble aspirations. They have no empathy or honor. They don’t care about the average human being, or the environment, or the economy or society in general. They only care about themselves and their delusions of grandeur. These people are a cancer on the rest of civilization.

  They seem to be particularly obsessed with deconstructing and sabotaging America in the pursuit of their global Reset. Real philanthropists would not have a problem if someone didn’t want to accept their “charity”, but psychopaths cannot abide a group of people rejecting them and their ideology. You are not allowed to walk away from them. You are not allowed to do things your own way. You must be forced to comply. The agenda only works if EVERYONE submits.

  Unfortunately for the globalists, the Reset is not working out for them everywhere. In the US, the agenda is failing miserably compared to Asia and parts of Europe.

  As the head of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, is so fond of reminding us, the Covid pandemic is the “perfect opportunity” to push forward the globalist plans for a total Reset of human economy and society. To the globalists, the crisis is a panacea, a doorway to their version of a better world. They love the pandemic, they are not distressed by it.

  The problem is, it’s not doing enough damage or terrifying enough people.

  Consider the Event 201 coronavirus pandemic simulation – It was held by the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation only two months before the real thing “coincidentally” happened in early 2020. The pandemic war game was less about saving lives and more about how the elites planned to keep the public under control. The suppression of alternative media and censorship in social media was discussed at great length. Dissenting voices need to be silenced if the Reset is going to prevail.

  One factor within the Event 201 simulation that never played out, though, was the WEF projections on deaths. The war game suggested at least 65 million initial deaths due to the pandemic. Early projections on the death rate suggested 2% to 3% of the population or more. The same projections were repeated by the UN’s World Health Organization when the real pandemic was first revealed to the public.

  Instead, Covid-19 has been a letdown for the globalists, with a tiny death rate of around 0.26% outside of nursing homes. Meaning, 99.7% of the population has nothing to worry about from covid. Millions of Americans are becoming savvy to the situation and are refusing to comply with mandates over a virus that is a non-threat.

  Instead of backing off of the Reset scheme, the globalists are continuing to double down. Why? Because they have no other choice. They let the cat out of the bag and bloviating big-mouths like Klaus Schwab told the world exactly what the plan is. If they retreat now, they might NEVER get another chance to implement a world centralization plan; a massive grift which requires medical tyranny in order to prevent rebellion.

  You see, if the death rate had been dramatically higher than 0.26% and covid represented a legitimate threat, then maybe a larger portion of the US population would have been on board with longer term restrictions and medical passports. Maybe not. The fact remains that 40% of deaths have been in nursing homes among patients with preexisting illnesses, the death rate outside of these facilities is minimal, the mask mandates have been proven completely ineffective and the states that have remained open and removed mask mandates have FALLING death and infection rates when compared to states that are enforcing lockdowns.

  The fear narrative is falling apart. States across the US are opening and are refusing to implement useless mandates. In my home state of Montana, legislators and the governor are passing laws that forbid the enforcement of medical passports. Even major corporations are not allowed to demand vaccine passports from customers or employees.

  On top of that, 40% to 50% of the US population in polls are refusing to comply with the vaccine rollout or medical passports. Why take a vaccine for a virus that 99.7% of the population is unaffected by anyway?

  The jig is up. The globalists are going to need another crisis if they hope to enforce further lockdowns in the US, along with medical passports and disarmament. Do not be surprised if there is more engineered chaos going into the summer months. But what will the next crisis look like? I think we are already seeing the signs…

  Covid Mutations

  The mainstream media is pushing a non-stop narrative of covid mutation hype. We hear about UK and Brazilian variants on a weekly basis, and the assertion has been that surely, these variants will be more infectious and more deadly that the original virus. There is still no proof whatsoever to confirm this, but the globalists only care about planting the idea in people’s heads. They only care about reigniting the fear.

  My feeling is that this strategy is going to fail, at least in the US. Too many Americans are aware of the con game, and a new virus threat is not going to have the same effect as Covid-19 did in the early months of the pandemic. None of us really knew what we were facing back then, and caution was a practical response. Today, we know for a fact that covid is not a concern for the vast majority of the public. Media attempts to amp up the threat will be ineffective, but they will of course still try.

  BLM Riots

  This is the next obvious tactic on the part of the establishment. Numerous state officials are openly supporting renewed riots across the country due to a recent police shooting in Minnesota. The shooting itself was accidental, with the suspect violently resisting arrest and leaping into his car. A female officer grabbed her pistol in a panic instead of her taser and fired.

  This event had nothing to do with racism, and nothing to do with police brutality. But, that’s not stopping Marxist groups like BLM from taking advantage and making it all about “white supremacy”. The real danger of unrest, however, will arrive at the closing of the Derek Chauvin trail.

  With the trail coming to an end, evidence has been revealed that George Floyd was involved in heavy drug use and the medical examiner indicated that this along with heart disease were contributing factors to Floyd’s death. A “speed ball” containing Fentanyl was also discovered in the back of the police cruiser in which Floyd was originally restrained. So, even if Derek Chauvin’s knee to the neck tactic helped kill Floyd, it is unlikely that a jury will convict him of 1st or 2nd degree murder based on the evidence. Any lesser charges will undoubtedly trigger more BLM riots.

  Conveniently, these powderkeg events are taking place at the onset of the warm spring and summer months, which is prime time for riots.

  My concern is that civil unrest will be allowed to spread and fester in the US until regular citizens start taking matters into their own hands. And, of course, any community that tries to defend itself against looting and destruction will be accused of “racist aggression” – At which time the Biden Administration will then try to assert the authority to institute martial law measures in various regions. This combined with renewed attempts at covid lockdowns is a highly likely scenario.

  Cyber Polygon

  Just as the Event 201 simulation of a coronavirus pandemic preceded the real thing by only two months, there are concerns that the next World Economic Forum simulation event will also be a precursor to another crisis.

  Cyber Polygon is a war game being held by the WEF this July which is meant to simulate a major cyber attack on the global supply chain and the economic system. There has been endless discussion int the media the past year building up fears of cyber attacks by Russia, China, Iran and even North Korea.

  In terms of supply chain threats, I’m not sure exactly how a cyber attack could do much to disrupt global shipping, unless we are talking about another blockage in a major shipping route like the Suez Canal. But, a successful attack on stock exchanges in places like Wall Street could be devastating. I suggest watching this event carefully as it may be designed to precede a real cyber attack sometime this year.

  Global War Tensions

  The media and the Biden Administration are very busy trying to create tensions with Russia over Ukraine. There are renewed tensions between Iran and Israel and continued destabilization by the West in Syria. And, a rising danger of confrontation with China over Taiwan.

  War could be the goal, or, the goal could merely be economic conflict. After all, China has already been dumping dollars and US treasuries the past year, and it would not take much to cause damage to the dollar’s world reserve status if China and Russia both diversified into a basket of currencies for global trade.

  Beyond that, there are many advantages for globalists in creating regional wars and drawing Americans into pointless conflicts. For example, the threat of war could be used to institute a new draft. What better way to keep American men in particular busy and stop them from rebellion against the Reset than to draft them so they can die in a meaningless war overseas?

  There is also a narrative advantage to global tensions; when presented with a foreign threat, are Americans more likely to reject notions of rebellion against government trespasses? I have no doubt that the establishment will try to claim the liberty movement is not a movement for freedom, but an “astro-turf” movement created by the Russians to destabilize America. This has been the leftist media propaganda strategy for years now; so why would they stop?

  The bottom line is this: America is the primary target of the globalists because we are one of the only countries with the means and the numbers to stop them and the Reset. Until they are removed from the equation they will continue to throw crisis after crisis at us in order to wear us down and force us to accept totalitarianism. Do not get too comfortable in the fact that the pandemic agenda is failing here; stay alert and continue to organize your communities.

  *  *  *

  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
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 23:40

• "I Shoot a Bunch of 3D Printed Guns – Do My Hands Survive?"
  “I Shoot a Bunch of 3D Printed Guns – Do My Hands Survive?”

  A decentralized network of 3D printed gun advocates is mobilizing online and quickly revolutionizing gun designs, sharing blueprints, advice, and building a community. There’s no easy way the federal government can halt this movement as President Biden, not too long ago, declared war on “ghost guns.” 

  YouTuber Sean with “The 3D Print General” attended “Bear Arms N’ Bitcoin” on April 10-11 in Texas. The first day involved top experts and practitioners that gave the audience actionable steps on how to print 3D guns at home. The second day, readers should be excited for this, was when Sean attended “shooting rad guns” day. 

  

  The event was held at Onion Creek Gun Club, located in Austin, Texas. Sean shot various 3D-printed weapons, such as the FGC-9, which stands for “f**k gun control 9 mm.” As we’ve noted, the FGC-9 can be printed entirely at home for the cost of $350, including the printer’s cost. 

  

  In the video “I Shoot a Bunch of 3D Printed Guns – Do My Hands Survive?” Sean test-fired an array of 3D-printed guns. In the last decade, the printing technology behind these weapons without serial numbers has drastically improved that it’s rare a gun explodes in someone’s hand as the early models did. Sean proves it; not one of these guns he fired at the range exploded in his hand. In fact, some of the weapons appeared to be high-tech or even futuristic. 

  

  Without further adieu, here’s Sean test firing 3D printed weapons. 

  When it comes to the Biden administration waging war on ghost guns  – well – good luck, what are they going to do – ban printers?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 23:20

• Thirdworldization: The Slow Burning SHTF Of America
  Thirdworldization: The Slow Burning SHTF Of America

  Authored by Fabian Ommar via The Organic Prepper blog,

  The developed world, accustomed to safety, convenience, and comfort, is facing a slow-burning SHTF called Thirdworldization by some. Each time humankind faces some tribulation like the one we’re currently going through, it feels like the world is coming to an end. In many senses, the threat is present: a pandemic is a serious SHTF. It IS the end for many. 

  But the real SHTF isn’t just the pandemic – it’s the effects on the system that Selco warned us about from the very beginning.

  The ramifications of such events as Covid-19 and government responses are real and long-lasting. Despite theories surrounding COVID-19 (conspiratorial or not), the fact is real damage has happened to the economy and our lifestyle. To those who say we’ve been through a lot since March 2020, I’d argue we haven’t yet seen the full range of consequences. Objectively, we’re not even out of the pandemic.

  

  The question remains: how and when will this Thirdworldization play out?

  I concede this doom-and-gloom talk is growing old and burning out even among preppers. But we’re not talking probabilities: it’s already happening.

  We must face reality and accept things are not going back to normal any time soon (if ever). It may indeed get worse before it starts getting better again. It’s past time to stop waiting for Black Swans and pay attention to subtle changes already underway.

  It’s been a different SHTF for each country, each business, each family, and each person. On a more broad scale, there’s no way to tell for sure whether it will be a storm, “the” perfect storm,” or something in between. These things unfold slowly – the proverbial frog in the pot (until they catch up). As always, multiple interests and powerful forces are acting simultaneously in different directions, which means lots of possible ramifications.

  Global crises affect countries in different intensities and manners

  Global-scale SHTF hit some places faster and worse than others. Good and bad are never evenly distributed. The capacity of a nation and its population to withstand and overcome disaster depend on many factors. These include the size, strength, and resiliency of the economy. Also, how solid, functional, and credible the institutions are, the social fabric’s stability, etc. 

  Those and others dictate whether a country will suffer more or less the effects of a global economic setback. But as it’s happening with the pandemic, no one will come out unscathed: some will feel the impact of migration, others (eventually) by war. At the same time, some will see internal conflicts, currency devaluation, martial law, coups, political instability, social eruptions, and more. Much of that is already taking place in various places around the globe.

  It’s impossible to get the timing right or know what will happen, but trends can be forecast

  These and other events are hitting differently even inside the same country: some regions are “normal,” while others suffer badly. That’s one of the factors driving the migrational movements within the U.S. Many people are moving to different states. People go wherever they receive better treatment.

  You should already have a grip on your local zeitgeist. If you don’t, maybe it’s a good idea to start paying attention to the social, political, economic, and institutional moods in your piece of land. That will help tell which way things go when SHTF. You don’t want to get caught on the wrong side of the fence if it happens. 

  And that’s how we get to Thirdworldization

  Thirdworldization is a slow-burning SHTF for those living in developed countries, used to comfort, convenience, and security.

  Thirdworldization is the gradual and inevitable impoverishment of a rich country. It is the visible effect of major crises hitting square on the population, institutions, corporations, and even the government. It spreads insidiously in every aspect of daily life and our small circles. 

  Less growth means less wealth, less money circulating for everyone to take care of necessities and obligations. This shrinking economy brings all sorts of declines that affect services, infrastructure, the supply chain, institutions, and changing the population’s lives and routines.

  The economy has a direct impact on the structure and foundation of social order. As an engineer, I tend to analyze structures and foundations by force of my work before assessing other factors. If those are in bad shape, the rest can’t be good. That holds true for a family, a company, a city, or a country.

  The standard of living is dropping significantly everywhere

  Even though the rich are getting richer, they will be affected by the destruction of the middle class and the poor becoming miserable. The wealthy don’t build their own houses, grow their own food, nor collect their own trash. But like rich countries and corporations, they’re much less affected because wealth can soften the blow and pay for a lot during hard times – or should I say, especially during hard times. 

  For the rest (the great majority of society), there’s SHTF as the unfolding of the economic decline is reflected in various aspects as described below. 

  Criminality

  Crime on the rise is shocking America. Many factors contribute to that: joblessness, homelessness, financial struggle, disillusionment, and anger. Dwindling resources mean a reduction in the capacity of governments and authorities to keep society safe. There’s an overall defunding of not only the police but the entire crime-fighting apparatus: ostensive, preventative, and investigative work, departments of justice, social support, prisons and corrections, everything.

  How it plays out: All kinds of crimes jump and tend to become more violent, too. Expect (and prepare for) rises in everything from minor scams to drug traffic (and consumption), bank robberies, kidnappings, arson, home invasions, homicides. Honest citizens may not engage in violent actions, but bribing, corruption, extortions, black market, misappropriations, tax evasion, and others become widespread. Sociopaths and psychopaths feel more emboldened: rapes, killings, vengeance acts, gang wars, fights, and similar also tend to increase. 

  Homelessness

  Homelessness exploded in the U.S. and other western countries in 2020. It’s still on the rise with no signs of getting better anytime soon. Some argue it’s not as bad as it would have been (and can become) without the aggressive forbearance and moratorium programs implemented by governments. But this has side effects. What will happen when these suspensions end? And if they extend, what will be the unintended consequences? It is hard to predict, but eviction waves could throw millions into the streets in months and years ahead if the crisis worsens. Homelessness can also get boosted by mass migration, as we’ll see below.

  How it plays out: During the 1930’s Great Depression, cities everywhere saw the growth of squatter areas and shantytowns. New York’s Central Park became Hooverville, a giant slum right in the middle of America’s biggest and wealthiest city at the time. Whole areas in L.A., San Francisco, and many other towns across the U.S. have already become tent cities. These are ripe for crime, exploitation, drug trafficking, violence, disease, and political manipulation. 

  Immigration

  Immigration is serious and can turn into major geopolitical issues in some regions. Migration waves can be impossible to contain, as people desperately try to flee conflicted countries searching for better conditions elsewhere, even at great risks. Sudden, large internal movements can create imbalances internally and bring unforeseen consequences. People leave cities for the country or move to other states to avoid the rising taxes and crime, loss of freedom, or other threats.

  How it plays out: Countries in better shape could face massive migration waves. The entire network of support put in place to control, minimize impacts, and give immigrants support can weaken. Significant or sudden movements may overwhelm border control. Immigrants in large numbers can cripple social support systems. That makes things harder for the population, sparking crime and violent actions from both sides.

  Private Services and Products

  Manufacturers and companies across the board are required to cut costs everywhere to stay afloat or keep profits. It reflects directly on the quality and variety of products and services provided to the population.

  How it plays out: There will be an overall drop in quality and more inferior ingredients used to manufacture items and produce food. We will experience crowded, inefficient, slow customer support by poorly trained and low-paid workers. Strikes may cause disruptions and delays. 

  Public Services

  I have friends living in wealthy, developed countries. They complain a lot about the quality of public services, the bureaucracy, the inefficiency. Sure enough, it’s (almost always) subpar when compared to private counterparts. But they have no idea how good they have it compared to underdeveloped or even developing places. They don’t know how bad this can get. Is USPS’s announcement that First Class mail will have longer delivery times and will cost more a glimpse of things to come?

  How it plays out: Overwhelmed systems, (even more) disincentivized agents. Longer lines, longer waiting, slow or no response, more bureaucracy, squandering, etc. Many welfare programs will go extinct. There will be lower-quality education, transportation, childcare, healthcare, etc. Strikes and corruption are other effects of the Thirdworldization of public services 

  Infrastructure

  Without constant investment in maintenance, expansion, and rebuilding, the entire infrastructure becomes derelict. More than 50 bridges have collapsed worldwide since 2015. Roads will be in dire need of maintenance. Billions of gallons of treated water get lost daily in leakages (estimates talk about one water main break every two minutes in the U.S.). There may be issues in the energy sector. Airports and ports will postpone expansions and modernizations, and so on.

  How it plays out: Despite talks of megalomaniac infrastructure programs everywhere to “save the economy and promote growth” (governments love doing this when crises erupt), disruptions, rationing, supply rotations, closings, and more are much more frequent during prolonged recessions.

  Sanitation

  Trash removal and disposal drains a large portion of city and state budgets. As it happens to other public services, once tax revenue drops, these impacts and effects can drag on for years. Sewage and water treatment systems cease expansion and quality and safety drops. Does anyone remember the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, just five years ago?

  “Nearly half a decade has passed since the water crisis in Flint captured the attention of America, during which toxic water was delivered to a city of nearly 100,000 people for 18 months before the state acknowledged the problem.”

  How it plays out: Those who watched the movie Joker may remember the streets full of trash, rats, and graffiti. Many 80’s movies have that decadent “look and feel.” Dim cities, with boarded-up storefronts and “for rent” or “sale” signs everywhere. That’s the portrait of slow-burning SHTF. What’s missing in films is the smell, the diseases, the flies, rats, and insects present in real life. 

  Inflation, Deflation, Taxation, and Confiscations

  The inflation vs. deflation debate is raging among the macroeconomic experts right now. It’s a hard bet as there are pressures for both to turn out. And indeed, both could take place at the same time (in different areas). It’s that crazy. Prices are already all over the place, with inflation running hot in some items/sectors and deflation in others. Whatever happens, rest assured the “non-essentials” (that’s you, me, and the 99%) will be called to foot the bill, so get prepared for that.

  How it plays out: Price fluctuations, insecurity, bank runs. Rises in fuel affect prices of everything else. Inflation can show in perversely subtle ways: dilutions and reductions in quantity/portions effectively raise products’ price. Shortages and a drastic reduction in product variety are other common effects of highly dysfunctional economies. Taxation will explode – this is already being talk-tested everywhere. 

  Confiscations can happen, too. One day after taking office in 1990, the newly elected government in Brazil seized money from bank accounts “on grounds to reduce liquidity and fight rampant inflation.” The seizure left citizens without their savings and only 50k in currency. It was a stupid plan that didn’t work (it should’ve caused a revolution, but I digress). Such insanities have happened in other places in recent times. They could happen again because governments can become dictatorial and change laws and rules or do anything if conditions are in place (desperate times).

  Some other third-world things that first-world people might not know about (yet)

  Just like countries are affected differently, so do the various layers of society. High levels of inequality exacerbate some bizarre distortions people living in rich and developed countries might have only seen in dystopian movies. But the things listed below exist and could become a reality if things keep going south.

  Social contract

  Large social inequalities are incredibly poisonous: they destroy the social fabric faster than you can say “who messed with my stimulus check?”.

  Two very adverse effects are radical divisiveness and a rise in crime and violence. It affects everybody, from top to bottom: trust in other people, institutions, and even in the collective disappears. It becomes impossible to lower the guard, and that is stressful. And even for those fortunate enough to get by okay, it sucks to live in a society where most of the population is struggling so hard (and failing) to live with a minimum of decency. How can someone be genuinely happy surrounded by misery? The answer is, no one can.

  High Walls

  In unsafe societies, every house and building has high (as in 10ft. tall or higher) protection walls, either masonry or steel bars, lockers, cameras, electrical fences, and barbed wire (concertina). For citizens accustomed to open front yards and unprotected houses, it looks like a bunch of high-security prisons (only it’s in reverse: the ones “locked” are the rich trying to stay safe from the violent mobs).

  Slums

  The “favelas” (slums) of Rio de Janeiro are worldwide famous, shown as “communities” where everyone is friendly and loves to dance to the samba. It is a vibrant and unique scene in some places, but the reality is that many are unsafe, unhealthy places where drug traffic and militia rule with iron hands. The government and public power have almost no presence and oversight: there’s little to no sanitation and safety, health, education, and other precarious services. If the standard of living drops for long enough, slums may become a lot more common in countries and places where they previously didn’t exist. 

  Private security

  Off-duty cops do double-duty as security agents or consultants for companies, commerce, and individuals, either as private guards, security personnel, or security consultants. It’s not legalized but also not enforced, nonetheless a big thing, an organized multimillion-dollar business with huge companies competing with each other. 

  Armored vehicles

  In 2014 Brazil already had the most extensive fleet of armored cars globally (not an enviable title). I’m not talking about expensive, luxury cars driven by (or for) the ultra-rich, high-profile personalities and figureheads: even the middle-class look for ballistic protection, especially for women and children. It’s a big industry here. Much bigger than in conflicted nations. Criminals are armed and violent, even against the police. When crime soars, the armoring industry booms. 

  Preparing for the possibility of Thirdworldization

  There are no downsides to investing in awareness, creativity, mentality, and determination (and some preparations).

  These are not predictions. Perhaps a chronicle of what happens in poorer countries and has happened before in rich ones during crises. We can already see some signs and even developments, and if you believe this kind of SHTF is somehow coming your way, you may want to prepare. Here are few tips that might help:

  • Mental strength: accept reality and learn to deal with all sides’ psychological pressures, including ourselves. Even though, at times, it may seem like there’s no option. As Churchill once said, “If you’re going through hell, just keep going.” Everyone is in this together, and no one is special. 

  • One day and one problem at a time: It’s easier to deal with one issue, focus on what we can control, and live the present than it is to worry about the significant, long-term issues that are out of our control. We usually suffer more in imagination than in reality.

  • Independence: Realistically, being independent and living off-grid is for a few. But everyone can benefit from growing more self-reliant wherever that is possible. Grow some food, learn new skills, recycle and reuse, invest in generating part of your power, build situational awareness, etc.

  • Financially savvy: Seek economy and finance education as a way to mitigate or defend from inflation (or deflation), to invest and make money grow and last longer. Read about life in times of crises and inflation, like the ’70s and ’80s.

  • Economically viable: Invest in alternative income sources. Today there are hundreds of ways to make money without even leaving home. Even a little can make a difference if the belts get tightened further.

  • Help others: It will be hard for almost everyone but harder for some. If you are fortunate enough to be in a relatively good situation, look around and try to help others. It doesn’t have to be with money or goods: donate time, teach skills, even listening can bring support and relief. Helping others is a way to help ourselves, too.

  Have you noticed a reduced standard of living in your area?

  Have you seen a reduced standard of living in your area or a wider disparity between rich and poor? Are you noticing any of the Thirdworldization effects happening near you or are there some things you’ve seen on the news that surprised you when you realized they were happening here?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 23:00

• Democrats Brace For 'Defund The Police' Movement To Damage Party Into Midterms
  Democrats Brace For ‘Defund The Police’ Movement To Damage Party Into Midterms

  In the wake of George Floyd’s death and several other high-profile incidents between black Americans and police, calls rang out across the country to defund the police – a movement which Democratic lawmakers largely supported.

  

  Yet, after several cities did just that, crime rates soared, and demoralized cops quit or retired early after what seemed like half of the country vilified them – leaving police forces spread thin as BLM and Antifa riots led to widespread looting, arson, and property damage throughout the country.

  Both Minneapolis and Portland, for example, woefully regretted defunding their police departments.

  And while the Democrats won both the White House and retook the Senate in the 2020 election, the impact of defunding the police took its toll, contributing to their very narrow majorities in both chambers.

  Democrats lost seats in the House and lost Senate races in states where they thought they had a chance, including North Carolina and Montana. At least some officials blame those losses on the defund the police debate.

  Republicans believe the defund the police narrative is a political gift they can use again to win over swing voters and to energize their own political base. -The Hill

  Now, with the George Floyd trial in full swing – and the very real possibility that former officer Derek Chauvin will be acquitted of his murder – as well as brewing protests over the recent Minneapolis shooting death of a 20-year-old black suspect by a white female officer who says she meant to grab her Taser, moderate Democrats are bracing for another round of calls to defund the police, and the violence which is sure to follow.

  And while the far-left contingent in Congress openly supports defunding the police – such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who says she’s “done with those who condone government funded murder,” moderate Dems realize this may come back to bite them during the 2022 midterm elections.

  It wasn’t an accident. Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist.

  Daunte Wright was met with aggression & violence. I am done with those who condone government funded murder.

  No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed.

  — Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) April 12, 2021

  Via The Hill:

  But while most Democrats share the outrage over the deaths of Floyd, Daunte Wright, Breonna Taylor and a seemingly ever-growing list of Black Americans killed by police, they diverge sharply over whether defunding the police is the solution — or simply a phrase that will cost Democrats elections and leave them without the power to foment change.

  “I mean, this defund the police was just a terrible drag on the Democratic Party. It really was. Don’t kid yourself,” veteran Democratic strategist James Carville told Bill Kristol in an interview for the Weekly Standard earlier this month.

  “This is music to the Republican minority’s ears in Washington,” according to GOP strategist, Ford O’Connell. “That is more powerful for Republicans than any perfectly scripted message.”

  Meanwhile, GOP Senators homed in on an op-ed written by Biden’s Justice Department nominee for the civil rights division – in which she’d advocated for defunding the police.

  “You just said you don’t support cutting funds from police,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), adding “I find that astonishing and, Ms. [Kristen] Clarke, frankly not credible because I’m holding the article you wrote.”

  Clarke replied that she doesn’t support defunding police departments, and that the headline of the Op-Ed was poorly worded.

  Democrats recognize the threat that the ‘defund’ movement poses.

  “The one thing we cannot allow is for Republicans to use this as a weapon of mass distraction,” said Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright in a statement to The Hill. “Or as a weapon of mass political destruction as they have done in the past,” whatever that means.

  “I think the ability — using terms like defund the police have led to Democratic losses in this last year,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) in November. Warner was joined by fellow Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who pointed to progressive proposals to reallocate police funds as the reason more than a half-dozen moderate lawmakers lost their seats in the last election.

  According to polls, defunding the police does not have widespread support. According to a recent USA Today-Ipsos poll, just 20% of Americans support the movement. That said, polling last year in the wake of George Floyd’s death revealed that over half the country, 58%, say that changes are needed to policing.

  “We can’t allow them, meaning the opposition, to try to paint this picture that we are anti-police. We’re just pro-good policing,” said Seawright. “We have to do something at the federal level, for certain.”

  The Biden administration, meanwhile, falls on the side of ‘reform’ but not ‘defund.’

  ““The president’s view is that there are necessary, outdated reforms that should be put in place; that there is accountability that needs to happen; that the loss of life is far too high; that these families are suffering around the country; and that the Black community is exhausted from the ongoing threats they feel,” according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, adding: “But he also believes that there is a forum for putting in place legislation, the George Floyd Act, that can help put many of these necessary reforms in place, and that part of what needs to happen is rebuilding trust in communities in order to get to a better place.”

  Apparently some Democrats realize that virtue signaling has consequences.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 22:40

• The Military Origins Of Facebook, Part 1
  The Military Origins Of Facebook, Part 1

  Authored by Whitney Webb via UnlimitedHangout.com,

  Facebook’s growing role in the ever-expanding surveillance and “pre-crime” apparatus of the national security state demands new scrutiny of the company’s origins and its products as they relate to a former, controversial DARPA-run surveillance program that was essentially analogous to what is currently the world’s largest social network.

  

  In mid-February, Daniel Baker, a US veteran described by the media as “anti-Trump, anti-government, anti-white supremacists, and anti-police,” was charged by a Florida grand jury with two counts of “transmitting a communication in interstate commerce containing a threat to kidnap or injure.”

  The communication in question had been posted by Baker on Facebook, where he had created an event page to organize an armed counter-rally to one planned by Donald Trump supporters at the Florida capital of Tallahassee on January 6. “If you are afraid to die fighting the enemy, then stay in bed and live. Call all of your friends and Rise Up!,” Baker had written on his Facebook event page.

  Baker’s case is notable as it is one of the first “precrime” arrests based entirely on social media posts—the logical conclusion of the Trump administration’s, and now Biden administration’s, push to normalize arresting individuals for online posts to prevent violent acts before they can happen. From the increasing sophistication of US intelligence/military contractor Palantir’s predictive policing programs to the formal announcement of the Justice Department’s Disruption and Early Engagement Program in 2019 to Biden’s first budget, which contains $111 million for pursuing and managing “increasing domestic terrorism caseloads,” the steady advance toward a precrime-centered “war on domestic terror” has been notable under every post-9/11 presidential administration.

  This new so-called war on domestic terror has actually resulted in many of these types of posts on Facebook. And, while Facebook has long sought to portray itself as a “town square” that allows people from across the world to connect, a deeper look into its apparently military origins and continual military connections reveals that the world’s largest social network was always intended to act as a surveillance tool to identify and target domestic dissent.

  Part 1 of this two-part series on Facebook and the US national-security state explores the social media network’s origins and the timing and nature of its rise as it relates to a controversial military program that was shut down the same day that Facebook launched. The program, known as LifeLog, was one of several controversial post-9/11 surveillance programs pursued by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that threatened to destroy privacy and civil liberties in the United States while also seeking to harvest data for producing “humanized” artificial intelligence (AI). 

  As this report will show, Facebook is not the only Silicon Valley giant whose origins coincide closely with this same series of DARPA initiatives and whose current activities are providing both the engine and the fuel for a hi-tech war on domestic dissent.

  DARPA’s Data Mining for “National Security” and to “Humanize” AI

  In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, DARPA, in close collaboration with the US intelligence community (specifically the CIA), began developing a “precrime” approach to combatting terrorism known as Total Information Awareness or TIA. The purpose of TIA was to develop an “all-seeing” military-surveillance apparatus. The official logic behind TIA was that invasive surveillance of the entire US population was necessary to prevent terrorist attacks, bioterrorism events, and even naturally occurring disease outbreaks. 

  The architect of TIA, and the man who led it during its relatively brief existence, was John Poindexter, best known for being Ronald Reagan’s National Security Advisor during the Iran-Contra affair and for being convicted of five felonies in relation to that scandal. A less well-known activity of Iran-Contra figures like Poindexter and Oliver North was their development of the Main Core database to be used in “continuity of government” protocols. Main Core was used to compile a list of US dissidents and “potential troublemakers” to be dealt with if the COG protocols were ever invoked. These protocols could be invoked for a variety of reasons, including widespread public opposition to a US military intervention abroad, widespread internal dissent, or a vaguely defined moment of “national crisis” or “time of panic.” Americans were not informed if their name was placed on the list, and a person could be added to the list for merely having attended a protest in the past, for failing to pay taxes, or for other, “often trivial,” behaviors deemed “unfriendly” by its architects in the Reagan administration. 

  In light of this, it was no exaggeration when New York Times columnist William Safire remarked that, with TIA, “Poindexter is now realizing his twenty-year dream: getting the ‘data-mining’ power to snoop on every public and private act of every American.”

  The TIA program met with considerable citizen outrage after it was revealed to the public in early 2003. TIA’s critics included the American Civil Liberties Union, which claimed that the surveillance effort would “kill privacy in America” because “every aspect of our lives would be catalogued,” while several mainstream media outlets warned that TIA was “fighting terror by terrifying US citizens.” As a result of the pressure, DARPA changed the program’s name to Terrorist Information Awareness to make it sound less like a national-security panopticon and more like a program aiming specifically at terrorists in the post-9/11 era. 

  

  The logo for DARPA’s Information Awareness Office, which oversaw Total Information Awareness during its brief existence

  The TIA projects were not actually closed down, however, with most moved to the classified portfolios of the Pentagon and US intelligence community. Some became intelligence funded and guided private-sector endeavors, such as Peter Thiel’s Palantir, while others resurfaced years later under the guise of combatting the COVID-19 crisis. 

  Soon after TIA was initiated, a similar DARPA program was taking shape under the direction of a close friend of Poindexter’s, DARPA program manager Douglas Gage. Gage’s project, LifeLog, sought to “build a database tracking a person’s entire existence” that included an individual’s relationships and communications (phone calls, mail, etc.), their media-consumption habits, their purchases, and much more in order to build a digital record of “everything an individual says, sees, or does.” LifeLog would then take this unstructured data and organize it into “discreet episodes” or snapshots while also “mapping out relationships, memories, events and experiences.”

  LifeLog, per Gage and supporters of the program, would create a permanent and searchable electronic diary of a person’s entire life, which DARPA argued could be used to create next-generation “digital assistants” and offer users a “near-perfect digital memory.” Gage insisted, even after the program was shut down, that individuals would have had “complete control of their own data-collection efforts” as they could “decide when to turn the sensors on or off and decide who will share the data.” In the years since then, analogous promises of user control have been made by the tech giants of Silicon Valley, only to be broken repeatedly for profit and to feed the government’s domestic-surveillance apparatus.

  The information that LifeLog gleaned from an individual’s every interaction with technology would be combined with information obtained from a GPS transmitter that tracked and documented the person’s location, audio-visual sensors that recorded what the person saw and said, as well as biomedical monitors that gauged the person’s health. Like TIA, LifeLog was promoted by DARPA as potentially supporting “medical research and the early detection of an emerging epidemic.”

  Critics in mainstream media outlets and elsewhere were quick to point out that the program would inevitably be used to build profiles on dissidents as well as suspected terrorists. Combined with TIA’s surveillance of individuals at multiple levels, LifeLog went farther by “adding physical information (like how we feel) and media data (like what we read) to this transactional data.” One critic, Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, warned at the time that the programs that DARPA was pursuing, including LifeLog, “have obvious, easy paths to Homeland Security deployments.” 

  At the time, DARPA publicly insisted that LifeLog and TIA were not connected, despite their obvious parallels, and that LifeLog would not be used for “clandestine surveillance.” However, DARPA’s own documentation on LifeLog noted that the project “will be able . . . to infer the user’s routines, habits and relationships with other people, organizations, places and objects, and to exploit these patterns to ease its task,” which acknowledged its potential use as a tool of mass surveillance.

  In addition to the ability to profile potential enemies of the state, LifeLog had another goal that was arguably more important to the national-security state and its academic partners—the “humanization” and advancement of artificial intelligence. In late 2002, just months prior to announcing the existence of LifeLog, DARPA released a strategy document detailing development of artificial intelligence by feeding it with massive floods of data from various sources. 

  The post-9/11 military-surveillance projects—LifeLog and TIA being only two of them—offered quantities of data that had previously been unthinkable to obtain and that could potentially hold the key to achieving the hypothesized “technological singularity.” The 2002 DARPA document even discusses DARPA’s effort to create a brain-machine interface that would feed human thoughts directly into machines to advance AI by keeping it constantly awash in freshly mined data. 

  One of the projects outlined by DARPA, the Cognitive Computing Initiative, sought to develop sophisticated artificial intelligence through the creation of an “enduring personalized cognitive assistant,” later termed the Perceptive Assistant that Learns, or PAL. PAL, from the very beginning was tied to LifeLog, which was originally intended to result in granting an AI “assistant” human-like decision-making and comprehension abilities by spinning masses of unstructured data into narrative format. 

  The would-be main researchers for the LifeLog project also reflect the program’s end goal of creating humanized AI. For instance, Howard Shrobe at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and his team at the time were set to be intimately involved in LifeLog. Shrobe had previously worked for DARPA on the “evolutionary design of complex software” before becoming associate director of the AI Lab at MIT and has devoted his lengthy career to building “cognitive-style AI.” In the years after LifeLog was cancelled, he again worked for DARPA as well as on intelligence community–related AI research projects. In addition, the AI Lab at MIT was intimately connected with the 1980s corporation and DARPA contractor called Thinking Machines, which was founded by and/or employed many of the lab’s luminaries—including Danny Hillis, Marvin Minsky, and Eric Lander—and sought to build AI supercomputers capable of human-like thought. All three of these individuals were later revealed to be close associates of and/or sponsored by the intelligence-linked pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who also generously donated to MIT as an institution and was a leading funder of and advocate for transhumanist-related scientific research.

  Soon after the LifeLog program was shuttered, critics worried that, like TIA, it would continue under a different name. For example, Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation told VICE at the time of LifeLog’s cancellation, “It would not surprise me to learn that the government continued to fund research that pushed this area forward without calling it LifeLog.”

  Along with its critics, one of the would-be researchers working on LifeLog, MIT’s David Karger, was also certain that the DARPA project would continue in a repackaged form. He told Wired that “I am sure such research will continue to be funded under some other title . . . I can’t imagine DARPA ‘dropping out’ of a such a key research area.” 

  The answer to these speculations appears to lie with the company that launched the exact same day that LifeLog was shuttered by the Pentagon: Facebook.

  Thiel Information Awareness

  After considerable controversy and criticism, in late 2003, TIA was shut down and defunded by Congress, just months after it was launched. It was only later revealed that that TIA was never actually shut down, with its various programs having been covertly divided up among the web of military and intelligence agencies that make up the US national-security state. Some of it was privatized.

  The same month that TIA was pressured to change its name after growing backlash, Peter Thiel incorporated Palantir, which was, incidentally, developing the core panopticon software that TIA had hoped to wield. Soon after Palantir’s incorporation in 2003, Richard Perle, a notorious neoconservative from the Reagan and Bush administrations and an architect of the Iraq War, called TIA’s Poindexter and said he wanted to introduce him to Thiel and his associate Alex Karp, now Palantir’s CEO. According to a report in New York magazine, Poindexter “was precisely the person” whom Thiel and Karp wanted to meet, mainly because “their new company was similar in ambition to what Poindexter had tried to create at the Pentagon,” that is, TIA. During that meeting, Thiel and Karp sought “to pick the brain of the man now widely viewed as the godfather of modern surveillance.”

  

  Peter Thiel speaks at the World Economic Forum in 2013, Source: Mirko Ries Courtesy for the World Economic Forum

  Soon after Palantir’s incorporation, though the exact timing and details of the investment remain hidden from the public, the CIA’s In-Q-Tel became the company’s first backer, aside from Thiel himself, giving it an estimated $2 million. In-Q-Tel’s stake in Palantir would not be publicly reported until mid-2006. 

  The money was certainly useful. In addition, Alex Karp told the New York Times in October 2020, “the real value of the In-Q-Tel investment was that it gave Palantir access to the CIA analysts who were its intended clients.” A key figure in the making of In-Q-Tel investments during this period, including the investment in Palantir, was the CIA’s chief information officer, Alan Wade, who had been the intelligence community’s point man for Total Information Awareness. Wade had previously cofounded the post-9/11 Homeland Security software contractor Chiliad alongside Christine Maxwell, sister of Ghislaine Maxwell and daughter of Iran-Contra figure, intelligence operative, and media baron Robert Maxwell. 

  After the In-Q-Tel investment, the CIA would be Palantir’s only client until 2008. During that period, Palantir’s two top engineers—Aki Jain and Stephen Cohen—traveled to CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia, every two weeks. Jain recalls making at least two hundred trips to CIA headquarters between 2005 and 2009. During those regular visits, CIA analysts “would test [Palantir’s software] out and offer feedback, and then Cohen and Jain would fly back to California to tweak it.” As with In-Q-Tel’s decision to invest in Palantir, the CIA’s chief information officer during this time remained one of TIA’s architects. Alan Wade played a key role in many of these meetings and subsequently in the “tweaking” of Palantir’s products.

  Today, Palantir’s products are used for mass surveillance, predictive policing, and other disconcerting policies of the US national-security state. A telling example is Palantir’s sizable involvement in the new Health and Human Services–run wastewater surveillance program that is quietly spreading across the United States. As noted in a previous Unlimited Hangout report, that system is the resurrection of a TIA program called Biosurveillance. It is feeding all its data into the Palantir-managed and secretive HHS Protect data platform. The decision to turn controversial DARPA-led programs into a private ventures, however, was not limited to Thiel’s Palantir.

  The Rise of Facebook

  The shuttering of TIA at DARPA had an impact on several related programs, which were also dismantled in the wake of public outrage over DARPA’s post-9/11 programs. One of these programs was LifeLog. As news of the program spread through the media, many of the same vocal critics who had attacked TIA went after LifeLog with similar zeal, with Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists telling Wired at the time that “LifeLog has the potential to become something like ‘TIA cubed.’” LifeLog being viewed as something that would prove even worse than the recently cancelled TIA had a clear effect on DARPA, which had just seen both TIA and another related program cancelled after considerable backlash from the public and the press. 

  The firestorm of criticism of LifeLog took its program manager, Doug Gage, by surprise, and Gage has continued to assert that the program’s critics “completely mischaracterized” the goals and ambitions of the project. Despite Gage’s protests and those of LifeLog’s would-be researchers and other supporters, the project was publicly nixed on February 4, 2004. DARPA never provided an explanation for its quiet move to shutter LifeLog, with a spokesperson stating only that it was related to “a change in priorities” for the agency. On DARPA director Tony Tether’s decision to kill LifeLog, Gage later told VICE, “I think he had been burnt so badly with TIA that he didn’t want to deal with any further controversy with LifeLog. The death of LifeLog was collateral damage tied to the death of TIA.”

  Fortuitously for those supporting the goals and ambitions of LifeLog, a company that turned out to be its private-sector analogue was born on the same day that LifeLog’s cancellation was announced. On February 4, 2004, what is now the world’s largest social network, Facebook, launched its website and quickly rose to the top of the social media roost, leaving other social media companies of the era in the dust. 

  

  Sean Parker of Founders Fund speaks during the LeWeb conference in 2011, Source: @Kmeron for LeWeb11 @ Les Docks de Paris

  A few months into Facebook’s launch, in June 2004, Facebook cofounders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz brought Sean Parker onto Facebook’s executive team. Parker, previously known for cofounding Napster, later connected Facebook with its first outside investor, Peter Thiel. As discussed, Thiel, at that time, in coordination with the CIA, was actively trying to resurrect controversial DARPA programs that had been dismantled the previous year. Notably, Sean Parker, who became Facebook’s first president, also had a history with the CIA, which recruited him at the age of sixteen soon after he had been busted by the FBI for hacking corporate and military databases. Thanks to Parker, in September 2004, Thiel formally acquired $500,000 worth of Facebook shares and was added its board. Parker maintained close ties to Facebook as well as to Thiel, with Parker being hired as a managing partner of Thiel’s Founders Fund in 2006.

  Thiel and Facebook cofounder Mosokvitz became involved outside of the social network long after Facebook’s rise to prominence, with Thiel’s Founder Fund becoming a significant investor in Moskovitz’s company Asana in 2012. Thiel’s longstanding symbiotic relationship with Facebook cofounders extends to his company Palantir, as the data that Facebook users make public invariably winds up in Palantir’s databases and helps drive the surveillance engine Palantir runs for a handful of US police departments, the military, and the intelligence community. In the case of the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Palantir was also involved in utilizing Facebook data to benefit the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign. 

  Today, as recent arrests such as that of Daniel Baker have indicated, Facebook data is slated to help power the coming “war on domestic terror,” given that information shared on the platform is being used in “precrime” capture of US citizens, domestically. In light of this, it is worth dwelling on the point that Thiel’s exertions to resurrect the main aspects of TIA as his own private company coincided with his becoming the first outside investor in what was essentially the analogue of another DARPA program deeply intertwined with TIA. 

  Facebook, a Front

  Because of the coincidence that Facebook launched the same day that LifeLog was shut down, there has been recent speculation that Zuckerberg began and launched the project with Moskovitz, Saverin, and others through some sort of behind-the-scenes coordination with DARPA or another organ of the national-security state. While there is no direct evidence for this precise claim, the early involvement of Parker and Thiel in the project, particularly given the timing of Thiel’s other activities, reveals that the national-security state was involved in Facebook’s rise. It is debatable whether Facebook was intended from its inception to be a LifeLog analogue or if it happened to be the social media project that fit the bill after its launch. The latter seems more likely, especially considering that Thiel also invested in another early social media platform, Friendster. 

  An important point linking Facebook and LifeLog is the subsequent identification of Facebook with LifeLog by the latter’s DARPA architect himself. In 2015, Gage told VICE that “Facebook is the real face of pseudo-LifeLog at this point.” He tellingly added, “We have ended up providing the same kind of detailed personal information to advertisers and data brokers and without arousing the kind of opposition that LifeLog provoked.” 

  Users of Facebook and other large social media platforms have so far been content to allow these platforms to sell their private data so long as they publicly operate as private enterprises. Backlash only really emerged when such activities were publicly tied to the US government, and especially the US military, even though Facebook and other tech giants routinely share their users’ data with the national-security state. In practice, there is little difference between the public and private entities.

  Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower, notably warned in 2019 that Facebook is just as untrustworthy as US intelligence, stating that “Facebook’s internal purpose, whether they state it publicly or not, is to compile perfect records of private lives to the maximum extent of their capability, and then exploit that for their own corporate enrichment. And damn the consequences.”

  Snowden also stated in the same interview that “the more Google knows about you, the more Facebook knows about you, the more they are able . . . to create permanent records of private lives, the more influence and power they have over us.” This underscores how both Facebook and intelligence-linked Google have accomplished much of what LifeLog had aimed to do, but on a much larger scale than what DARPA had originally envisioned.

  The reality is that most of the large Silicon Valley companies of today have been closely linked to the US national-security state establishment since their inception. Notable examples aside from Facebook and Palantir include Google and Oracle. Today these companies are more openly collaborating with the military-intelligence agencies that guided their development and/or provided early funding, as they are used to provide the data needed to fuel the newly announced war on domestic terror and its accompanying algorithms. 

  It is hardly a coincidence that someone like Peter Thiel, who built Palantir with the CIA and helped ensure Facebook’s rise, is also heavily involved in Big Data AI-driven “predictive policing” approaches to surveillance and law enforcement, both through Palantir and through his other investments. TIA, LifeLog, and related government and private programs and institutions launched after 9/11, were always intended to be used against the American public in a war against dissent. This was noted by their critics in 2003-4 and by those who have examined the origins of the “homeland security” pivot in the US and its connection to past CIA “counterterror” programs in Vietnam and Latin America. 

  Ultimately, the illusion of Facebook and related companies as being independent of the US national-security state has prevented a recognition of the reality of social media platforms and their long-intended, yet covert uses, which we are beginning to see move into the open following the events of January 6. Now, with billions of people conditioned to use Facebook and social media as part of their daily lives, the question becomes: If that illusion were to be irrevocably shattered today, would it make a difference to Facebook’s users? Or has the populace become so conditioned to surrendering their private data in exchange for dopamine-fueled social-validation loops that it no longer matters who ends up holding that data?

  Part 2 of this series on Facebook will explore how the social media platform has grown into a behemoth that is much more extensive than what LifeLog’s program managers had originally envisioned. In concert with military contractors and former heads of DARPA, Facebook has spent the last several years doing two key things: (1) preparing to play a much larger role in surveillance and data mining than it currently does; and (2) advancing the development of a “humanized” AI, a major objective of LifeLog.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 22:20

• White House Dedicates $1.7 Billion To Tracking COVID Mutations Across US
  White House Dedicates $1.7 Billion To Tracking COVID Mutations Across US

  As President Biden’s COVID advisory team scrambles to turn the “fearmongering” dial about the threat posed by mutant strains of the virus that causes COVID-19, the White House is dedicating $1.7 billion in COVID relief funds to tracing the “variant” strains. This comes after Dr. Anthony Fauci and others have struggled to explain why the US lagged behind other western countries, such as the UK, in detecting and tracing the spread of these variants, which require more advanced analysis to identify.

  The money, taken from last month’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, will help the CDC and individual states monitor emerging variants by boosting the country’s capacity to sequence the virus’s genome and detect mutations, the White House said. It comes as the B.1.1.7 variant, also known as “the Kent strain” from where it was first sequenced in the UK, is raising alarms as it is now one of – if not the most – common strains in hotspots like Michigan and NYC.

  

  B.1.1.7 and other variants are increasingly infecting younger children, prompting at least one respected epidemiologist – the University of Minnesota’s Michael Osterholm – to warn the press about a “brand new ball game” for fighting COVID (fortunately, Pfizer has been making swift progress in trials of its COVID-19 vaccine on increasingly youonger children).

  The money will be used for collecting COVID-19 samples, sequencing their genomes to identify the strain, and sharing the data, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House, which pointed to these “new and potentially dangerous strains” in its statement. The investment also includes $400MM to establish six “Centers of Excellence in Genomic Epidemiology,” a partnership between state health departments and academic institutions for research and development of the new strains, while also providing $300MM to create a national bioinformatics system to share and analyze sequencing data. The administration will dole out the first portion of the money in early May, with a second tranche expected to be invested over the next several years.

  “At this critical juncture in the pandemic, these new resources will help ensure states and the CDC have the support they need to fight back against dangerous variants and slow the spread of the virus,” White House COVID-19 Testing Coordinator Carole Johnson said in a statement.

  The administration published a factsheet with a complete breakdown of funding by state.

  * * *

  Funding from American Rescue Plan will help CDC and Governors monitor, track, and defeat emerging variants that are currently threatening pockets of the country.

  The original strain of COVID-19 comprises only about half of all cases in America today. New and potentially dangerous strains of the virus make up the other half. In order to improve the detection, monitoring, and mitigation of these COVID-19 variants, the Biden Administration is rapidly investing $1.7 billion from the American Rescue Plan to help states and other jurisdictions more effectively fight these mutations.

  An essential component of the response to the emerging COVID-19 variants is increasing the country’s genomic sequencing — the process by which COVID DNA is decoded and potentially deadly mutations in the virus are detected. Today’s funding, allocated through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will help the CDC, states, and other jurisdictions more effectively detect and track variants by scaling genomic sequencing efforts. With the information from sequencing, the CDC and state and local public health leaders can implement known prevention measures to stop the spread.

  In early February, U.S. laboratories were only sequencing about 8,000 COVID-19 strains per week. Since then, the rate of sequencing has increased substantially, strengthening the country’s ability to detect and respond to emerging and more contagious COVID-19 strains, like the variants currently sweeping through the Midwest and parts of the East Coast. The Biden Administration has already made a nearly $200 million investment to help increase genomic sequencing to 29,000 samples per week. Thanks to today’s funding from the American Rescue Plan, states and the CDC will expand that even further and, importantly, provide states with more resources to expand their own efforts to increase geographic coverage of sequencing to better detect emerging threats like variants. This will mean that both existing and any new COVID variants could be detected faster, before they grow prevalent.

  Today’s announcement includes:

  • $1 billion to expand genomic sequencing: This funding will help CDC, states, and other jurisdictions improve their capacity to identify COVID mutations and monitor circulation of variants. Specifically, it will allow CDC and jurisdictional health departments to conduct, expand, and improve activities to sequence genomes and identify mutations in SARS-CoV-2. Much of this work is done through CDC partnerships with the laboratory community and through state laboratories, and the funding will support the collection of COVID specimens, the sequencing of COVID viruses, and the sharing of the resultant data. A state-by-state breakdown of the initial $240 million in jurisdictional funding support is below.
  • $400 million to support innovation initiatives including the launch of new innovative Centers of Excellence in Genomic Epidemiology: The funding will establish six Centers of Excellence in Genomic Epidemiology. These centers of excellence will operate as partnerships between state health departments and academic institutions, and today’s funding will fuel cutting-edge research into genomic epidemiology. For example, the partnerships could focus on developing new genomic surveillance tools to better track pathogens of public health interest with the objective of developing surveillance methods to be used more widely in the public health system. Areas of focus will likely include bioinformatic workflows and the critical integration of genomic and epidemiologic data.
  • $300 million to build and support a National Bioinformatics Infrastructure: One of the challenges of building out the nation’s sequencing capacity is having the data system necessary to quickly and effectively access information and turn it into concrete actions to prevent the spread of viruses. Experts use bioinformatics and complex computing to connect the dots between how pathogens spread and mutate to help solve outbreaks. This investment will support bioinformatics throughout the U.S. public health system, creating a unified system for sharing and analyzing sequence data in a way that protects privacy but allows more informed decisionmaking. This funding also will support training to increase sequencing in clinical settings and expand CDC’s Bioinformatics Fellowship program.

  USA Today pointed out that the US ranks 33rd in the world for its rate of sequencing, falling between Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe, according to COVID CoV Genomic, a group led by researchers at Harvard and MIT. The top three nations (Iceland, Australia and New Zealand) sequenced viral genomes at a rate 55 to 95 times greater.

  Notably, the money is being announced one day after Pfizer CEO Albert Bourlas told reporters that Americans would “likely” need a third vaccine shot within 12 months (and as soon as six months) after their second dose, and possibly annual jabs every year after that. But how will the public know to be afraid of the new mutant strains if the US can’t monitor their spread?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 22:00

• The US Air Force Has Big Plans For The Hexa "Flying Car"
  The US Air Force Has Big Plans For The Hexa “Flying Car”

  Submitted by South Front,

  The Hexa is an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) wingless multicopter. It is developed by LIFT Aircraft, a Texas-based company. In May, the Air Force will start testing the “flying car” that was designed for the commercial market to be used in military missions, including rescuing troops, delivering cargo and conducting security checks over an airfield.

  In late March, one of the flying cars was loaded on a HC-130J and was transported from Ohio to Texas. This was a test to prove that eVTOL aircraft fit to be transported by U.S. military cargo planes.

  The initial test was with a single eVTOL, while a C-130H could carry up to four Hexa platforms, with newer C-130J models potentially able to transport five or six at a time.

  The first eVTOL prototype was unveiled in February 2021, and the first production units were delivered to the US Air Force for testing and air-worthiness certification.

  The Hexa isn’t exactly a flying car, it’s better described as a multi-rotor drone, which is considered an ultralight aircraft that doesn’t need a pilot’s license to fly.

  Such eVTOL capable of landing without a runway could be used to ferry troops and supplies needed to stand up operations, while also providing a platform for crisis response. The Hexa will undergo tests for all of these.

  Right now, Hexa’s abilities are limited and geared toward the commercial recreation market. The aircraft has room for one person and can fly for about 10-15 minutes and cover a range of 10-15 miles, depending on the payload. A person can learn to fly Hexa quickly because many of the flight systems are automated, but Lift plans to develop a fully automated version.

  In the future, the platform could potentially serve as an armed overwatch aircraft to protect ground troops. Even in its current, limited capability, the Hexa could be useful. While it can’t carry as much weight as required to satisfy certain logistics missions, it could transfer smaller cargo.

  eVTOL platforms with quiet electric engines and simple sustainment footprints could become key to the Air Force as it figures out how to operate away from large airfields, a concept known as agile combat employment, or ACE.

  In a war situation against China or Russia, it is likely that US bases in Europe would quickly be destroyed, for a while or permanently. In response, the US Air Force wants to be able to shift to a disaggregated style of fighting, where discrete packages of aircraft are temporarily deployed to smaller airfields across the globe that may not have large runways or established amenities.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 21:40

• Chinese Aluminum Price Soar To 11-Year Highs As Decarbonization Efforts Slash Energy To Smelters 
  Chinese Aluminum Price Soar To 11-Year Highs As Decarbonization Efforts Slash Energy To Smelters 

  Chinese aluminum prices moved higher Friday, hitting an 11-year high, exchange data showed, as Beijing embarks on the road to decarbonization, a move that has reduced energy to the power-hungry smelting hub located in Inner Mongolia, even as new capacity came on online, according to Mining.com. 

  The benchmark price for aluminum on the Shanghai Futures Exchange stood at 18,025 yuan ($2,764) per metric ton, an 11-year high. 

  

  In terms of dollars, SHFE aluminum futures printed at 2,800 per metric ton, a critical resistance level dating back more than a decade ago. 

  

  Analysts believe the price surge in aluminum is due to Bejing’s curb on aluminum output in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. 

  According to Mining.com,

  Primary aluminum output in the world’s top producer was up 8.5% year-on-year at 3.28 million tonnes in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said, beating the previous monthly high of 3.27 million tonnes reached in December 2020.

  High prices are incentivizing production, with Shanghai aluminum mostly holding above 17,000 yuan a tonne in March.

  Prices hit an 11-year high of 18,460 yuan on Friday.

  In July, aluminum for delivery was down 0.35% on Friday morning after futures touched $2.355 a tonne on the Comex market in New York.

  Meanwhile, the output of a group of 10 nonferrous metals – including copper, aluminum, lead, zinc, and nickel – rose 12.7% year-on-year in March to 5.48 million tonnes, the bureau said.

  However, daily aluminum output eased in March from the previous two months, Reuters calculations based on official data showed, dropping to around 105,800 tonnes per day versus 109,300 tonnes per day for January/February, a record.

  “March’s record output is due to a 500,000 tonne per year ramp-up of new capacity in the first quarter, offsetting the Inner Mongolia curbs,” CRU analyst Wan Ling told Reuters.

  “Some idle capacity has restarted or is going to restart, April production should be still a bit higher compared with March,” Wan said.

  “Data do indicate that China still has a considerable appetite for commodities,” Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann said in a note.

  Consultancy AZ China estimates 279,000 tonnes of annual aluminum capacity across seven smelters were shut due to the energy curbs, exceeding its estimate of 130,000 tonnes of new capacity launched in China last month, all in Yunnan.

  China’s two-decade run as an aluminum juggernaut is running out of road. Decarbonization initiatives have reduced power to smelters as some are having trouble keeping up with demand as the country’s manufacturing sector experiences a growth spurt. 

  Domestic supply-chain stress are certainly developing in China as green policies start to kick in. 

  … and the one question we have is how will base metals react if China’s credit impulse begins to slip?

  

  A slowdown in credit creation would have dire consequences for commodity prices that have experienced a rip roar rally for nearly a year since the pandemic began following global central banks and countries pumping trillions of dollars into the respective economies. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 21:20

• The CIA Used To Infiltrate The Media… Now The CIA Is The Media
  The CIA Used To Infiltrate The Media… Now The CIA Is The Media

  Authored by Caitlin Johnstone,

  Back in the good old days, when things were more innocent and simple, the psychopathic Central Intelligence Agency had to covertly infiltrate the news media to manipulate the information Americans were consuming about their nation and the world. Nowadays, there is no meaningful separation between the news media and the CIA at all.

  

  Journalist Glenn Greenwald just highlighted an interesting point about the reporting by The New York Times on the so-called “Bountygate” story the outlet broke in June of last year about the Russian government trying to pay Taliban-linked fighters to attack US soldiers in Afghanistan.

  “One of the NYT reporters who originally broke the Russia bounty story (originally attributed to unnamed ‘intelligence officials’) say today that it was a CIA claim,” Greenwald tweeted.

  “So media outlets – again – repeated CIA stories with no questioning: congrats to all.”

  Indeed, NYT’s original story made no mention of CIA involvement in the narrative, citing only “officials,” yet this latest article speaks as though it had been informing its readers of the story’s roots in the lying, torturing, drug-running, warmongering Central Intelligence Agency from the very beginning. The author even writes “The New York Times first reported last summer the existence of the C.I.A.’s assessment,” with the hyperlink leading to the initial article which made no mention of the CIA. It wasn’t until later that The New York Times began reporting that the CIA was looking into the Russian bounties allegations at all.

  One of the NYT reporters who originally broke the Russia bounty story (originally attributed to unnamed “intelligence officials”) say today that it was a CIA claim. So media outlets – again – repeated CIA stories with no questioning: congrats to all.https://t.co/4GbUXBCOpI

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 15, 2021

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

  This would be the same “Russian bounties” narrative which was discredited all the way back in September when the top US military official in Afghanistan said no satisfactory evidence had surfaced for the allegations, which was further discredited today with a new article by The Daily Beast titled “U.S. Intel Walks Back Claim Russians Put Bounties on American Troops”.

  The Daily Beast, which has itself uncritically published many articles promoting the CIA “Bountygate” narrative, reports the following:

  It was a blockbuster story about Russia’s return to the imperial “Great Game” in Afghanistan. The Kremlin had spread money around the longtime central Asian battlefield for militants to kill remaining U.S. forces. It sparked a massive outcry from Democrats and their #resistance amplifiers about the treasonous Russian puppet in the White House whose admiration for Vladimir Putin had endangered American troops.

  But on Thursday, the Biden administration announced that U.S. intelligence only had “low to moderate” confidence in the story after all. Translated from the jargon of spyworld, that means the intelligence agencies have found the story is, at best, unproven — and possibly untrue.

  D’oh! US spy agencies basically admitted they lied about Russia supposedly paying militants in Afghanistan to kill American occupation forces.

  Of course the entire Western media spread this lie for weeks, but don’t expect them to issue any corrections https://t.co/itOniutu0D

  — Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) April 15, 2021

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

  So the mass media aggressively promoted a CIA narrative that none of them ever saw proof of, because there was no proof, because it was an entirely unfounded claim from the very beginning. They quite literally ran a CIA press release and disguised it as a news story.

  This allowed the CIA to throw shade and inertia on Trump’s proposed troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Germany, and to continue ramping up anti-Russia sentiments on the world stage, and may well have contributed to the fact that the agency will officially be among those who are exempt from Biden’s performative Afghanistan “withdrawal”.

  In totalitarian dictatorships, the government spy agency tells the news media what stories to run, and the news media unquestioningly publish it. In free democracies, the government spy agency says “Hoo buddy, have I got a scoop for you!” and the news media unquestioningly publish it.

  In 1977 Carl Bernstein published an article titled “The CIA and the Media” reporting that the CIA had covertly infiltrated America’s most influential news outlets and had over 400 reporters who it considered assets in a program known as Operation Mockingbird. It was a major scandal, and rightly so. The news media is meant to report truthfully about what happens in the world, not manipulate public perception to suit the agendas of spooks and warmongers.

  Nowadays the CIA collaboration happens right out in the open, and people are too propagandized to even recognize this as scandalous. Immensely influential outlets like The New York Times uncritically pass on CIA disinfo which is then spun as fact by cable news pundits. The sole owner of The Washington Post is a CIA contractor, and WaPo has never once disclosed this conflict of interest when reporting on US intelligence agencies per standard journalistic protocol. Mass media outlets now openly employ intelligence agency veterans like John Brennan, James Clapper, Chuck Rosenberg, Michael Hayden, Frank Figliuzzi, Fran Townsend, Stephen Hall, Samantha Vinograd, Andrew McCabe, Josh Campbell, Asha Rangappa, Phil Mudd, James Gagliano, Jeremy Bash, Susan Hennessey, Ned Price and Rick Francona, as are known CIA assets like NBC’s Ken Dilanian, as are CIA interns like Anderson Cooper and CIA applicants like Tucker Carlson.

  SUPERCUT:

  A look back on how cable news went all in on the discredited Russian bounties story. pic.twitter.com/QaG9xAqiuR

  — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 15, 2021

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

  This isn’t Operation Mockingbird. It’s so much worse. Operation Mockingbird was the CIA doing something to the media. What we are seeing now is the CIA openly acting as the media. Any separation between the CIA and the news media, indeed even any pretence of separation, has been dropped.

  This is bad. This is very, very bad. Democracy has no meaningful existence if people’s votes aren’t being cast with a clear understanding of what’s happening in their nation and their world, and if their understanding is being shaped to suit the agendas of the very government they’re meant to be influencing with their votes, what you have is the most powerful military and economic force in the history of civilization with no accountability to the electorate whatsoever. It’s just an immense globe-spanning power structure, doing whatever it wants to whoever it wants. A totalitarian dictatorship in disguise.

  And the CIA is the very worst institution that could possibly be spearheading the movements of that dictatorship. A little research into the many, many horrific things the CIA has done over the years will quickly show you that this is true; hell, just a glance at what the CIA was up to with the Phoenix Program in Vietnam will.

  In case anyone needs reminding, here’s a partial list of the ex-spooks who served as media figures in the Trump years: https://t.co/CJT8YGcvkN

  — Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) April 16, 2021

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

  There’s a common delusion in our society that depraved government agencies who are known to have done evil things in the past have simply stopped doing evil things for some reason. This belief is backed by zero evidence, and is contradicted by mountains of evidence to the contrary. It’s believed because it is comfortable, and for literally no other reason.

  The CIA should not exist at all, let alone control the news media, much less the movements of the US empire. May we one day know a humanity that is entirely free from the rule of psychopaths, from our total planetary behavior as a collective, all the way down to the thoughts we think in our own heads.

  May we extract their horrible fingers from every aspect of our being.

  *  *  *

  New book: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix.

  The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, 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. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. 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.

  Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 21:00

• Hunter Biden's Memoir Flops Despite Media Fluffing
  Hunter Biden’s Memoir Flops Despite Media Fluffing

  Hunter Biden’s memoir, Beautiful Things, has totally flopped – selling under 11,000 copies to date, according to Publishers Weekly.

  

  The dismal sales come despite, as Sara Carter’s Douglass Braff notes, “the abundant media promotion from places such as CNN, CBS News, and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!“ – especially about the memoir’s sex and drug content – in the lead-up to the book’s release.”

  The book of President Joe Biden‘s youngest son debuted at twelfth place among hardcover nonfiction books. Some notable books that beat Hunter Biden’s memoir include National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country” in first place with 42,318 copies and Fox News host Shannon Bream’s “The Women of the Bible Speak: The Wisdom of 16 Women and Their Lessons for Today” in second with 32,686 copies during the same timeframe.

  His memoir did have a stronger showing on The New York Times’ Best Sellers list though, finishing its debut week in fourth place in the “Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction” category. –Sara A. Carter

  Braff also notes that Biden attempted to downplay the significance of the infamous laptop scandal broken by the New York Post in the run-up to the 2020 US election – telling Jimmy Kimmel that it’s a “red herring,” while falsely claiming that it had been deemed part of a Russian disinformation operation by the Director of National Intelligence’s office.

  Of note, Donald Trump Jr.’s book Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us sold 70,000 copies in its first week, according to Neilsen BookScan, and infuriated liberals when it made the New York Times’ best seller list.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 20:40

• F-35: Too Expensive To Use. Too Expensive To Lose
  F-35: Too Expensive To Use. Too Expensive To Lose

  Authored by Julian Macfarlane,

  The F35 is the greatest boondoggle in American history, as one writer says, “too expensive to use, too expensive to lose”. Over its lifespan, it will cost the American taxpayer $1.7 trillion. An F35B costs $138 million dollars and over $36,000 an hour to operate.

  

  Intended to replace the F16, the F35 is slow, maneuvers sluggishly and cannot fire its new lightweight Gatling without destroying the housing and the airplane.  It suffers from 13 “class one” defects that endanger both the aircraft and its crew. And 871 flaws that must be corrected before it can be fully operational—in 5 years.

  Still, the US has managed to force this aerial junk on a lot of its allies, most recently the UAE, which has prompted the Israelis who have two squadrons of the F35 and mostly use it for PR, to ask for the F22, which, of course, they can only afford to buy with American money.

  Last year, there were reports that the Syrians had downed an F35 over Syria with a Soviet era S200. The Israelis claimed a bird did it—over Israel. Nobody really knows.

  The Syrians certainly shot something down!  And it wasn’t an…um…bird.

  However, it is unlikely that the Israelis are using the F35 over Syria. Losing an F35 to the Syrians–especially to a large anti-Zionist Syrian crow – would be too big embarrassment. Most IDF strikes inside Syria seem to have been carried out by F16s, which are faster, carry more ordinance and have the maneuverability to avoid incoming missiles if they detect them early enough.

  Another point….

  Gen. Tod Wolters, who leads U.S. European Command, offered this explanation:

  “You cannot operate an F-35 in the vicinity of an S-400. They won’t talk to each other, and what the two systems will attempt to do, certainly the S-400 against the F-35, is attempt to exploit the F-35’s capabilities.”

  The US, of course, has been using the F22 in Eastern Syria and Iraq within range of Russian systems, which now reportedly can detect even this more capable stealth aircraft.

  Yes, the Americans tried out the F35 in Afghanistan, since locals throwing rocks weren’t much of a threat. The sales point of the F35 is “stealth”, which is only fine–when your opponent doesn’t have much in the way of advanced radar equipment.

  “Stealth” is not invisibility.

  An S400 real time anti-stealth radar system can certainly pick up even a large bird-sized object, at 150 km, especially when moving at 700km per hour, which is a giveaway.

  The Russians have yet to allow S300 or S400 launches in Syria thanks to a tacit agreement with the Israelis not to exacerbate regional tensions: so, it is not just that the very, very pragmatic Israelis don’t want to use the unreliable F35 over Syria, whose antiaircraft systems to be so much more sophisticated than, say, Lebanon—they don’t want to provoke the Russians.

  The last time they did that, the Russians supplied the Syrians with the S300–albeit keeping control of these systems.  The warning is obvious:  there are redlines.

  The Pentagon doesn’t really want this dog. Dogs don’t fly.

  But, as in the Yeltsin years in Russia, the US government works for the nation’s oligarchs, a country for Big Tech, by Big Tech, of Big Tech.

  Since the US has had to fight a war on its own soil, the nation’s “defense” industry is a malapropism:  all its wars are offensive. If the weapons don’t work too well — it doesn’t matter–because the US doesn’t fight anyone but third world countries.  The more expensive and complicated the weapons are, the better it is for he companies that make them. How else can a poor CEO buy that second island in the Caribbean and a new private jet?

  It also doesn’t matter that the America lost to little Vietnam, ended up losing Iraq to Iran, and soon leave Afghanistan, its tail between its legs.  It is even losing in Yemen.

  Of course, bullying other countries is more of a problem when your equipment doesn’t work.  The new USS Ford, super carrier in the South China Sea?  It can’t launch its aircraft.  The UK’s new carrier which is supposed to show the flag against China?  Its F35Bs can’t fire their guns.  In any case, carriers are nice targets for hypersonic missiles.

  The Russians and Chinese do defense differently – because for them it actually is defense.

  When Putin took over, he made it clear to the oligarchs who previously owned the country that they either deferred to the State, or got out. Some went to prison. Some got out. Russia is still very unequal but the Rich toe the line just as they do in China.

  When the Ministry of Defense is not satisfied with a military product, either in terms of cost or performance, it simply cuts orders.  This was the case with the Su57.  Originally, the government had envisioned putting up to 250 of these aircraft into service by 2025. Now, Russia will get 76 aircraft at a 20% reduction in cost, with better engines, hypersonic weapons, electronics, improved stealth and general finish.   And the Su57 will cost about $35 to $40 million each compared to the 138 million of the 35B or the $300 million of an F22. One reason for the discrepancy is that US companies expect the taxpayer to pay R&D and developmental costs, which are added to the flyaway cost.   Of course, the companies use that R&D for lucrative commercial projects as well.

  Russia doesn’t have money to spare. It is still recovering from the Yelsin years and massive inequality. So it keeps defense companies in line.

  The Su57 is a good example but also the T-14 (Armata) tank, where orders were slashed until the contractor promised to a. reduce costs; b. address performance issues.

  Putin made clear that Russia is a developing democracy.  In the end, the people will rule, oligarchs or not.

  By contrast, the US is an “inverted totalitarian state”, or, if you like a “managed” democracy. It is not really a modern state in germs of governance, since it is defined by an 18th Century constitution and institutions, designed to prevent rather than enable democratic rule. The US loved Yeltsin because his “system” was really theirs.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 20:20

• How Putin's "Saber-Rattling" Forced A Biden Summit, Bypassing Kiev To Decide Ukraine's Fate
  How Putin’s “Saber-Rattling” Forced A Biden Summit, Bypassing Kiev To Decide Ukraine’s Fate

  As the leaders of France, Germany, and Ukraine hold an urgent meeting on Friday to discussing soaring tensions in eastern Ukraine and Russia’s largescale military build-up near the border, Kiev continues to charge Moscow with aggressively stoking conflict:

  Addressing a news conference on Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba condemned the Kremlin’s “aggravation of the security situation” and accused Russian pundits and officials of “openly threatening Ukraine with war and the destruction of Ukrainian statehood”.

  And for Ukraine’s part, President Volodymyr Zelensky has been using the crisis to push hard for rapid NATO membership. In his latest statements on Thursday, he tweeted, “I fully agree with [President of Georgia] Salome Zourabichvili that it is time for concrete proposals for Ukraine and Georgia to obtain a NATO MAP and a plan to join the EU.”

  

  And this followed a recent CNN interview wherein Zelensky demanded “more weapons, more money, and more support to join NATO” from Biden.

  But given Biden’s recent offer to sit down with Putin for a bilateral summit this summer, which is still on the table, it appears Ukraine’s leadership has been effectively sidelined. As one FT piece underscored this week, Putin’s troop build-up has succeeded in pressuring the Biden administration for a coveted summit to decide the future of Ukraine. 

  “The summit format will also please the Kremlin by effectively cutting Kyiv out of any negotiations, and allow Putin to project the image of two global superpowers deciding the future fate of the conflict,” FT observed.

  Imagine Trump had done this
  https://t.co/MWrvMu7foq

  — Bruno Maçães (@MacaesBruno) April 15, 2021

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

  Here’s more from FT…

  If Vladimir Putin’s decision to deploy tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine’s border in the past few weeks was driven primarily by a desire to get the west’s attention, he did not have to wait too long for his reward.

  Hours after his defense minister on Tuesday admitted Russia had mobilised two armies and three paratroop divisions to positions close to the conflict-wracked frontier, US President Joe Biden phoned the Kremlin with an offer of a bilateral summit: a long sought-after prize for Putin who craves a seat at the world’s highest negotiating table. 

  …Those 50,000 extra soldiers, scores of tanks and other heavy weaponry spooked Kyiv and other European powers, and sparked a hurried response from Nato and the US amid fears over a potential outbreak of fighting between the two countries. 

  This wasn’t a stand-alone assessment, given also this week BBC came to a similar conclusion.

  The BBC commentary underscored that the Russian troop build-up was never ultimately about some kind of hyped “invasion” of Ukraine – as Kiev officials have been shouting – but instead about bringing massive leverage to bear in forcing Biden’s hand. 

  Why Russia may not be planning invasion Ukraine fears https://t.co/WoNmYNWyuO

  — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 14, 2021

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

  To the chagrin of the West’s Russia hawks, the BBC essentially pointed to a major diplomatic victory and ‘checkmate’ of sorts for the Russian side…

  The build-up has been impossible to ignore: thousands of Russian troops deployed towards Ukraine; US warships reportedly heading for the Black Sea and Russia’s foreign ministry warning them off “for their own good”.

  As the hostile rhetoric and military moves around Ukraine have intensified, Western politicians have begun fearing an open invasion and urging Russia’s Vladimir Putin to “de-escalate”.

  Russia has refused: the defense ministry this week insisted its moves were in response to “threatening” Nato exercises in Europe.

  Then Mr Putin got a phone-call from the White House.

  And then, noted the BBC, Biden suggested a near-future face-to-face summit with Putin, which gives Russia the edge given it was the US side that first proposed it:

  “In Putin’s game of brinkmanship, Biden blinked first,” argues journalist Konstantin Eggert, after Joe Biden made his first call to the Kremlin and proposed meeting Mr Putin “in the coming months”.

  It’s just weeks after the US president agreed with an interviewer that Russia’s leader was “a killer”.

  President Biden’s new move is now a new topic of debate – disaster prevention or a mistaken concession – but in the run-up to a summit, the risk of major military action by Russia certainly fades.

  “That would be really unstatesmanlike: a slap in Biden’s face,” Mr Eggert told the BBC. “But the fact that it was Biden who suggested they meet does give Putin the edge.”

  Or in other words, “In Putin’s game of brinkmanship, Biden blinked first”.

  Biden’s hasty offer sparked widespread disappointment and anger among Russia hawks…

  Biden must first hold a summit meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky before he meets with Russian President Putin.

  — Michael McFaul (@McFaul) April 15, 2021

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

  Eggert had this further to say, telling the BBC: “I think Putin attracted attention, he put himself in the focus not only of Europe but the US administration.” And concluded further of Putin, “He managed to scare them, and he likes doing that.”

  But it still remains unclear how Moscow plans to react to Thursday’s major Russia sanctions imposed by Biden. Certainly the punitive actions are intended by Washington to maintain leverage over the Kremlin – but for now it likely means Putin will keep up the pressure in the form of a strong military presence in Crimea, the Black Sea, and along Ukraine’s border. The Kremlin has also reacted with a warning of “no de-escalation” – as Biden called for in his late Thursday address.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 20:00

• The Ugly Truth About Printing-Press Money
  The Ugly Truth About Printing-Press Money

  Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,

  Weeping and gnashing of teeth shall come…

  We don’t know when, exactly.  But we do know a certain catastrophe’s approaching.  In fact, we can see it on the horizon.

  Does anyone in Washington give a rip the nation’s beyond broke?  Does anyone in Congress care that outright money printing is what’s financing their stimulus bills?  Does House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters think it’s all a real hoot?

  Surely, someone in the legislature is aghast at federal spending that’s gone completely out of control.

  Are you aghast?

  We are.  But there’s nothing we can do to stop it.  Nearly all remnants of fiscal conservatism have been quarantined from federal government.

  The majority of the electorate have voted for generous gifts from the public treasury.  They want free education, free food, free phones, free transportation, and free drugs.  They want debt forgiveness.  Most of all, they want free money.

  Many representatives are pushing the President to give the voters what they want…and what the politicians have promised.  Specifically, more stimmy checks.  According to MoneyWise:

  “More than 75 members of Congress say that until the pandemic is over, there should be regular stimulus checks.  President Joe Biden is being urged to wrap them into the $2.3 trillion infrastructure spending plan he’s now promoting.”

  Stimmy checks, as far as we can tell, have nothing to do with infrastructure.  Yet that’s the beauty of perpetual stimmy checks in the interminable pandemic era.  The legislature can “wrap them into” just about anything.  All it takes is a simple stimmy check earmark.

  Hemorrhaging Red Ink

  The longer personal livelihoods are funded by government giveaways the more dependent people become.  Those who were once self-supporting through their own work derived income are now reliant on stimulus…and generous unemployment checks.

  Why work, when it’s much more lucrative to loaf and invite your soul?

  Meanwhile, Washington’s hemorrhaging red ink.  This week the U.S. Treasury Department released its Monthly Treasury Statement.

  It’s unlikely Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen read it.  But if she had she would’ve discovered the federal government has already racked up a $1.7 trillion budget deficit in fiscal year 2021.

  The fiscal year extends through the end of September.  The running budget deficit reported this week was through March – the halfway point.  At this rate, we’re looking at a $3.4 trillion deficit for fiscal year 2021.  This even tops the $3.1 trillion record deficit attained in fiscal year 2020.

  The federal government ran a budget deficit of nearly $660 billion in March alone.  In 2017 – just four years ago – the annual deficit was $666 billion.  At the time, this was considered reckless and insane.

  Now the federal government goes in the hole by $660 billion in one month and no one bats an eye.  What’s more, Congress demands further spending, bigger deficits, stimmy check earmarks, and uncompromising fiscal insanity.

  Where’s the money coming from?

  By now anyone who’s bothered to ask is clued into where the money comes from.    And from where it comes is flagrant deception…

  The Ugly Truth About Printing Press Money

  The Federal Reserve adds a notation to its balance sheet – now over $7.7 trillion – and the credit magically appears from thin air.  The Fed then loans the freshly minted credit to the Treasury through the purchase of Treasury notes.  The Treasury then directs this printing press money into Washington’s various spending programs.

  This inflation of the money supply is inflation in the truest sense.  And it comes with destructive consequences.

  John Maynard Keynes, Fabian socialist and the godfather of modern day economic planning, in his 1919 work, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, wrote:

  “By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.  By this method they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and, while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some.  The sight of this arbitrary rearrangement of riches strikes not only at security but [also] at confidence in the equity of the existing distribution of wealth.

  “[…].  As the inflation proceeds and the real value of the currency fluctuates wildly from month to month, all permanent relations between debtors and creditors, which form the ultimate foundation of capitalism, become so utterly disordered as to be almost meaningless; and the process of wealth-getting degenerates into a gamble and a lottery.”

  Could this continuing process of inflation explain the extreme divergence between today’s freshly minted bitcoin millionaires and the abundance of Hoovervilles in cities across the country?

  Could it explain the extreme divergence in net worth between the average Congressional representative and the average plumber?

  What about the extreme divergence between house prices and incomes…or the extreme divergence between market capitalization and gross domestic product?

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average just eclipsed 34,000 – is this some kind of joke?

  After asset price inflation and wild gambling and speculation comes consumer price inflation…the real wealth destroyer.

  

  This is the ugly truth about printing press money.  The ugly truth Fed Chair Powell and Treasury Secretary Yellen will never share as they champion the virtues of their policies of mass inflation.

  Weeping and gnashing of teeth shall come.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 19:40

• Not Just Court Packing: Biden's Supreme Court Commission To Consider Multiple Overhauls
  Not Just Court Packing: Biden’s Supreme Court Commission To Consider Multiple Overhauls

  Packing the Supreme Court isn’t the only overhaul under consideration by a Biden-appointed commission studying whether Democrats should change the rules because they didn’t win.

  

  The 36-member commission created last week is expected to meet today for a ‘private and informal’ planning session, according to the New York Times, where they will likely split into five working groups to ‘develop research for the entire body to analyze a broad scope of issues.’

  Changes under discussion include:

  • Term limits
  • Mandatory retirement ages
  • Limiting the court’s ability to strike down acts of Congress
  • Requiring the court to hear more types of appeals
  • Limit its ability to resolve important matters before first hearing arguments and receiving full briefings

  The Friday meeting, private and unannounced, will focus on a draft road map according to the Times, citing people familiar with the commission who spoke on condition of anonymity.

  Their account makes clear that the panel’s intellectual ambitions go beyond the notion of expanding the court — or “packing” it — even though nearly all of the early commentary has focused on that.

  …

  Mr. Biden decided to create the commission to defuse the thorny political question of whether to endorse adding seats to the Supreme Court. Some liberal activists have called for the step in response to Republican power plays in 2016 and 2020 that yielded a 6-to-3 conservative advantage on the court, even though Democrats won the popular vote in seven of the past eight presidential elections. Many conservatives vehemently oppose the idea. -New York Times

  As the Times notes, any legislation to expand the court could be blocked by a filibuster in the Senate, while Democrats lack sufficient support within their own caucus to successfully overcome the tactic. On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she did not intend to bring up a bill introduced this week by several Democrats which would expand the court to 13 justices. 

  Still, Pelosi believes Court Packing should be “considered” and supports Biden’s efforts to study the issue, before noting that changing the size of the court “has been done before” and that changes in the US economy “might necessitate such a thing.”

  The structure of Biden’s commission, developed by co-chairs Bob Bauer – a NYU law professor who served as an attorney in the Obama White House, and Yale law professor Cristina M. Rodríguez, a former DOJ official.

  There will be five working groups as described by the Times:

  The first working group, they said, would assemble materials to set the stage for the commission’s work, including information on what problems have made changing the Supreme Court a matter of recurring debate, comparisons to historical periods in which there were serious calls for changing the court and criteria for evaluating arguments about changes to the court.

  The second working group would gather materials about the Supreme Court’s role in the broader constitutional system, including as a final arbiter of major issues with a legal nexus. Among what it will prepare for are proposals for Congress to strip the court of jurisdiction over certain topics, and ideas such as requiring a supermajority to strike down an act of Congress and creating a mechanism for lawmakers to override court decisions.

  The third working group would put together materials about length of service and turnover of justices on the Supreme Court, including proposals to create 18-year terms that are staggered so a seat comes up every two years or to impose a mandatory retirement age on older justices. Many other countries have such a safeguard.

  The fourth group would develop materials about the membership and size of the Supreme Court. In addition to looking at the history of expansions and contractions of the number of justices by Congress, it will also examine other plans for reducing partisan tensions over the issue, like creating a nonpartisan commission to recommend potential justices or transforming the court into a rotating panel drawn by lottery from the ranks of sitting appeals court judges.

  The last working group would collect materials about concerns about the Supreme Court’s case selection and review powers. These include the plummeting number of cases it resolves each year compared with what it did several generations ago, and its so-called shadow docket, when the court issues emergency orders and summary decisions that resolve important questions without full briefings and arguments.

  Meanwhile, the Commission will also study whether the reforms could be accomplished via congressional statute or would require a Constitutional amendment.

  What happened to just playing the cards you’re dealt?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 19:20

• Florida Gov. DeSantis Says Lockdowns Were A "Huge Mistake"
  Florida Gov. DeSantis Says Lockdowns Were A “Huge Mistake”

  Authored by Ivan Pentchoukov and Jan Jekielek via The Epoch Times,

  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statewide stay-at-home order on April 1 last year locking down the Sunshine State for 30 days amid a global panic about the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus outbreak. Sitting in his office exactly a year later, he told The Epoch Times that the lockdowns were a “huge mistake,” including in his own state.

  “We wanted to mitigate the damage. Now, in hindsight, the 15 days to slow the spread and the 30—it didn’t work,” DeSantis said.

  “We shouldn’t have gone down that road.”

  Florida’s lockdown order was notably less strict than some of the stay-at-home measures imposed in other states. Recreational activities like walking, biking, golf, and beachgoing were exempted while essential businesses were broadly defined.

  “Our economy kept going,” DeSantis said. “It was much different than what you saw in some of those lockdown states.”

  The governor nonetheless now regrets issuing the order at all and is convinced that states that have carried on with lockdowns are perpetuating a destructive blunder.

  

  After the 30 days of the initial lockdown in Florida lapsed, DeSantis commenced a phased reopening. He faced fierce criticism at each stage from establishment media and his own constituents beholden to the lockdown narrative.

  The governor fully reopened Florida on Sept. 25 last year. When cases began to rise as part of the winter surge he did not reimpose any restrictions. Lockdown proponents forecast doom and gloom. DeSantis stood his ground.

  The governor’s persistence wasn’t a leap of faith. Less than two weeks after Florida’s full reopening in late September, scientists from Stanford, Harvard, and Oxford went public with the Great Barrington Declaration, which disavowed lockdowns as a destructive and futile mitigation measure. The declaration, which has since been signed by 13,985 medical and public health scientists, calls on public officials to adopt the focused protection approach—the exact strategy employed by DeSantis.

  Despite dire predictions about the pandemic in Florida, DeSantis has been vindicated. On April 1, 2021, Florida ranked 27th among all states in deaths per capita from the CCP virus, commonly known as the coronavirus.

  The ranking’s significance is amplified because the Sunshine State’s population is the sixth oldest in the United States by median age. California—the lockdown state often compared to Florida due to its lower per-capita death rate—is the sixth youngest. The risk of dying from the CCP virus is highest for people over 55, with the group accounting for 93 percent of the deaths nationwide.

  While Florida is doing either better or relatively the same as the strict lockdown states in terms of CCP virus mortalities, the state’s economy is booming compared to the crippled economies in California and New York. Though less quantifiable, the human suffering from the lockdown-related rise in suicides, mental health issues, postponed medical treatments, and opioid deaths is undeniably immense.

  “It’s been a huge, huge mistake in terms of policy,” DeSantis said.

  “All I had to do was follow the data and just be willing to go forward into the teeth of the narrative and fight the media,” he added.

  “As people were beating up on me, what I said was I’d rather them beat up on me than have someone lose their job. I’d rather have them beat up on me than have kids locked out of school. I’m totally willing to take whatever heat comes our way because we’re doing the right thing.”

  

  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives a thumbs up as he leaves a press conference where he spoke about the cruise industry at Port Miami on April 08, 2021 in Miami, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

  ‘Don’t Let Them Roll Over Us’

  The Epoch Times spent a day embedded with DeSantis as he crisscrossed the state on April 1, jetting southeast from the seat of state government in Tallahassee to a press conference in Titusville and then back north to the Clay County Fair on the outskirts of Jacksonville.

  Across dozens of encounters with Floridians from all walks of life, one trend persisted. People thanked DeSantis for his work and his policies. Business owners praised him for not shutting them down.

  Chris Allen, the owner of Java Jitters, opened a coffee shop in Orange Park Mall during the pandemic.

  “We could not have done that if it wasn’t for Ron DeSantis,” Allen told The Epoch Times after personally thanking the governor during an encounter at the Clay County Fair.

  

  A staff member for Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a “DeSantis 2024, Make America Florida” hat at the Clay County fair on April 1, 2021. The staff member said the hat was handed to the governor by a fair attendee. (Ivan Pentchoukov/Epoch Times)

  At the time of the interview, Florida’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent compared to 6.2 percent nationally. Lockdown states like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and California had some of the highest rates in the country—8.9 percent, 7.8 percent, 7.3 percent, and 8.5 percent respectively.

  “I have a tough time paying for a meal in Florida just because I saved a lot of these restaurants from oblivion,” DeSantis said. Hours after this claim, a curly fries stand at the fair declined to charge the governor.

  DeSantis said some people get emotional when they meet him. Several of the interactions with the governor at the Clay County Fair resembled that description. An visibly moved elderly veteran urged the governor to not “let them roll over us.”

  “If we hadn’t stood up, these people may not have jobs, the businesses may have gone under, the kids wouldn’t be in school, there’d be all these things,” DeSantis said.

  “This really, really impacts people in a very personal way. And I don’t think anything prior to COVID that I’ve seen in politics can quite do it on this level. And it’s really unfortunate that there were governors that had power [who did] the opposite. It really shouldn’t depend on the governor.”

  Reopening the state wasn’t as easy as lifting his own stay-at-home measures. When DeSantis issued the final reopening order in late September last year, he signed a companion order prohibiting local Florida governments from restricting people from working or operating a business. The order had far-reaching consequences across the state, especially in densely-populated, liberal-leaning locales where the local authorities imposed their own strict measures.

  DeSantis adopted a hands-off approach to local regulations at first, thinking that voters would ultimately hold local authorities responsible. It became obvious eventually that some places would remain locked down despite the data showing that doing so would have no positive impact on the spread of the virus.

  “They weren’t going to open this stuff up unless I pried it open,” DeSantis said.

  “We had the data. We talked to some of the best scientists in the country,” DeSantis said, referring to Martin Kulldorff from Harvard, Jayanta Bhattacharya from Stanford, and Sunetra Gupta from Oxford.

  “Every Floridian has a right to work. Every business has a right to operate.”

  In areas that were forced to reopen as a result, the economies are now booming with new hotels and restaurants opening, DeSantis said.

  DeSantis received a law degree from Harvard and is a textualist when interpreting the Constitution. He believes barring the local authorities from placing restrictions on the people and businesses was squarely within his authority.

  “You can’t have 67 different minimum wages, or 67 different regulations on hotels. We are one state economy, and we need to have certain rules of the road,” DeSantis said.

  

  Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks at a press conference in Titusville, Florida, on April 1, 2021. (Screenshot via Epoch Times)

  ‘They Are Never Going to Admit They Were Wrong’

  Standing behind the desk in his office in Tallahassee, DeSantis leafed through a folder of praise he’s received from around the nation and across the globe. Hanging on the walls around the relatively small space was a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights as well as the uniform the governor wore as the captain of the Yale baseball team.

  When asked why he chose Lincoln, DeSantis said the president is the best example of a leader who had to make difficult decisions in a time of crisis. When asked why some of the leaders today have continued with lockdowns even with ample evidence of their ineffectiveness, the governor theorized that the people involved have committed too much to the narrative and have made it impossible to change course.

  “You have a situation where if you’re in this field, the pandemic, that’s something that you kind of prepare for and you’re ready for. And a lot of these people muffed it,” he said.

  “When push came to shove, they advocated policies that have not worked against the virus but have been very, very destructive. They are never going to admit they were wrong about anything, unfortunately.”

  Elected leaders aren’t the only ones to blame, according to the governor. The media and big tech companies played a major role in perpetuating fears about the virus while selectively censoring one side of the mitigation debate. DeSantis said the media and tech giants stood to benefit from the lockdown as people stayed home and consumed their products.

  “It was all just to generate the most clicks that they could. And so that was always trying to do the stuff that would inspire the most fear,” DeSantis said.

  Two weeks after the interview, an undercover video recorded by Project Veritas showed a technical director at CNN talking about the boost the network received due to its pandemic coverage.

  “It’s fear. Fear really drives numbers,” CNN Technical Director Charlie Chester said. “Fear is the thing that keeps you tuned in.”

  The fear-mongering worked, DeSantis said, pointing to CDC statistics showing that 4 out of 10 American adults delayed or avoided getting urgent or routine medical treatment in June 2020. The agency’s report said that the pattern may have contributed to the excess deaths reported during that period, due to preventable illnesses and injuries going untreated.

  Emergency room doctors had reported that fewer people were coming in with cardiac-related chest pains while more were coming in with late-stage appendicitis, something that is usually caught much earlier. The pandemic has also led to a sharp decrease in cancer screenings and detections.

  “When you have people too scared to go to the emergency room when they’re literally having a heart attack, that didn’t happen in a vacuum,” DeSantis said.

  “Corporate media played a role in that, by really whipping up people into a frenzy.”

  The profit motive wasn’t the only factor potentially driving the media’s slanted coverage, according to the governor. The pandemic hit the United States in an election year, presenting an opportunity to heap the blame on President Donald Trump.

  “They viewed it as an opportunity to damage Trump. Obviously, they hated Trump more than anything,” DeSantis said.

  

  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in his office in Tallahassee, Florida, on April 1, 2021. (Screenshot via Epoch Times)

  ‘Council of Censors’

  In the April 1 interview, DeSantis criticized big tech companies for censoring critics of lockdowns. Less than a week after the interview, the governor himself became the victim of censorship. YouTube, without warning, scrubbed videos of a roundtable discussion between DeSantis and prominent scientists from Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford who assessed that lockdowns are ineffective.

  The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) was the first to flag the video’s disappearance. The original clip is now hosted on a different platform and appears along with a full transcript on the AIER website.

  “Google and YouTube have not been, throughout this pandemic, repositories of truth and scientific inquiry, but instead have acted as enforcers of a narrative, a big tech council of censors in service of the ruling elite” DeSantis said in response to YouTube’s censorship during an April 12 video conference call with three of the scientists from the banned video.

  “When they took down the video … they were really continuing what they’ve been doing for the past year: stifle debate, short-circuit scientific inquiry, make sure that the narrative is not questioned. And I think that we’ve seen already that that has had catastrophic consequences for our society.”

  The takedown of the video suggests that Big Tech intends to keep exercising the awesome power it directed against Trump in the closing days of the previous administration. Twitter and Facebook banned the president, cutting off a direct line of communication between the commander-in-chief and tens of millions of Americans.

  DeSantis thinks that the power monopolies have now is far more extensive than what the United States had witnessed at the turn of the century.

  “What we’ve seen with the big tech and the censorship, they are exercising more power than the monopolies at the beginning of the 20th century ever could have exercised,” the governor said. “The type of power that they’re exercising now in some respects is even more profound than the type of power that government typically exercises.”

  No End In Sight

  Desantis believes the lockdown states may never fully reopen because the leaders there have invested so heavily in the narrative while the voters have grown fearful.

  While restrictions are easing across the nation, only six states, including Florida, have fully reopened, according to a tracker maintained by USA Today. Eight states never issued a stay-at-home order.

  “I think if your goal is no cases, then there may never be an end to it, because you’re never gonna have zero COVID,” DeSantis said, adding that a more pragmatic goal would be to aim towards a hospitalization rate indicative of a respiratory virus endemic.

  “But I don’t know that they’re willing to accept that reality. I think they’re going to try to have no cases at all, which would basically mean there would never be a full end to these policies, which is scary.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 19:00

• More States Are Seeing Unused COVID Jabs Pile Up As Poor Countries Shut Out
  More States Are Seeing Unused COVID Jabs Pile Up As Poor Countries Shut Out

  The other day, we reported on an interview with from Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former director of the FDA under President Trump who frequently appears in the press to offer analysis and commentary on the rollout of the COVID vaccine, along with federal COVID policy more broadly.

  Yesterday, the focus of the interview was a criticism lodged by Dr. Gottlieb against the Biden administration’s target of 200MM Americans vaccinated by the end of the month. Hours after our post, Bloomberg News shared a startling piece of analysis: Across the US, unused vaccines are already starting to pile up. Should we see daily vaccination numbers continue to decline, that would suggest the demand cliff that Dr. Gottlieb anticipated has perhaps already arrived.

  So far, 37% of American adults have gotten at least one dose, and the country is one of the world leaders in vaccinations. But even some states that are doing well are struggling with what Bloomberg described as “stubborn pockets” where uptake is low.

  

  Bloomberg offered the state of Virginia – infamous for its purple blue-meets-red divide between the Washington DC suburbs and Richmond vs. the rest of the state – as a “microcosm” of the “demand gap” plaguing America.

  In Virginia, for instance, 83% of vaccines supplied to the state have been used – but the number of people getting shots differs sharply from city to city. That difference is especially stark in Charlottesville and Lynchburg, separated by a mere hour’s drive on U.S. 29 past vineyards and open farmland.

  “Virginia is sort of a microcosm of the country,” said Costi Sifri, director of epidemiology at UVA Health in Charlottesville. “We’re going to have this same type of challenge played out in every state in the country. How do we close the vaccine gaps that are going to occur geographically?”

  In Charlottesville, a mostly Democratic area that is home to the University of Virginia, vaccine appointments are tough to snag even with two mass clinics right in town. In Lynchburg, 70 miles south and dominated by conservative Liberty University, open appointments at an old TJ Maxx are easy to find. The disparity has led to in-state vaccine tourism where residents in northern Virginia flock south to snap up shots that would otherwise go unused. The wide availability of vaccines also signals that areas like Lynchburg may be running out of residents willing to get vaccinated.

  Bloomberg‘s choice of imagery here is particularly evocative. If you had to choose where to get vaccinated, which would you prefer: a jam-packed campus health center, or the musty back-rooms of a TJ Maxx?

  And while you mull that over, consider this: nationwide, the percentage of vaccines going unused week to week has risen from 19% in February to more than 20% today. The rate varies substantially across states, with Alabama and Georgia seeing unused rates nearing 40%. And while Bloomberg humorously tiptoes around the politics factor,

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Fortunately, federal officials are already working on a “solution”.

  Federal officials are in the early stages of rethinking distribution. Vaccines have so far been doled out based on population.

  “We’re going to go through stages, as we vaccinate higher and higher portions of populations, where it will make sense for us to continue to watch where vaccines are needed, how vaccines are distributed, the best way to reach more people,” Andy Slavitt, senior adviser for the White House’s Covid Response team, said at the end of March.

  Meanwhile, doses pile up. West Virginia – lauded for its rollout of shots early on – has gone from using all but a tiny percentage of its supply in mid-February to 26% of doses unused, a daily average of 352,000 unused doses over the last week. Some states have never gotten their vaccination strategy in gear. Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi represent a band of southern states that have struggled to work through their supplies.

  States don’t control all of the distribution inside their own borders. Mississippi says it has used 77% of the doses it has requested. But when the doses sent directly by the federal government to pharmacies and other locations are counted, only 65% of doses in the state have been used, according to Bloomberg’s analysis.

  Taken together, the worst-performing quartile of states holds 14.1 million unused doses, meaning that 31% of doses delivered in those states are yet to be marked as used. In the best-performing quartile of states, only 11% of doses were unused.

  While US states clearly have more jabs than they need, of the 700 million vaccine doses that have been distributed across the globe, over 87% have gone to high-income or upper-middle-income countries, while low-income countries have received just 0.2%. More than 100 countries around the world haven’t gotten their hands on a single dose.

  Why can’t countries simply make their own vaccines? Well, it’s complicated, but one man is overwhelmingly responisble: Bill Gates. And his insistence on preserving vaccine-related IP, the focus of a battle over IP rights happening at the WTO.

  Here’s another idea. With US vaccine supplies already outpacing demand, why don’t we start sending more of these vaccines abroad. While the US has promised jabs to Mexico and elsewhere, the global need is vast, and if the status quo endures, billions of people likely won’t have access to vaccines until 2024.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 18:40

• Watch: Powerful Blast Rocks Latin America's Largest Explosive-Grade Ammonium Nitrate Plant
  Watch: Powerful Blast Rocks Latin America’s Largest Explosive-Grade Ammonium Nitrate Plant

  A powerful explosion has rocked the Enaex acid plant, which is located south of Calama, Chile, on Friday afternoon, according to Chilean news Meganoticias. 

  Enaex is the largest producer of explosive-grade ammonium nitrate in Latin America. The incident occurred within the acid plant where nitroglycerin is stored. 

  At the moment, the official number of injured is unknown. The mayor of Calama, Daniel Agusto, told CNN Chile that the powerful explosion “was felt in almost the entire city” and even “traffic was cut off.”

  🔴 AHORA | Alcalde de Calama por explosión en planta Enaex: “Es un accidente de proporciones (…). Se trataría del material nitroglicerina”. https://t.co/E6QIJgKdbt pic.twitter.com/c9uyjdqoex

  — CNN Chile (@CNNChile) April 16, 2021

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  ‘“There are about 25 injured who are being transferred to the Carlos Cisternas y del Cobre Hospital. Various gravity. The explosion was felt throughout Calama. It destroyed the Enaex acid plant. That plant that works with explosives is three kilometers from the houses in the city,” according to one Twitter user who also posted a stunning picture of the explosion.

  

  Here’s a video of the explosion sending a large column of smoke into the atmosphere. 

  ¡PRECAUCIÓN! #Calama (16:57 hrs) Información preliminar de bomberos indican que la explosión fue en la planta de ácido de la empresa Enaex. Hacemos el llamado a los pobladores a no acercarse al sector del accidente. Noticia en desarrollo. pic.twitter.com/YelDcLACy0

  — TransporteInforma Región de Antofagasta (@TTIAntofagasta) April 16, 2021

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  A video of the explosion as it was happening. 

  pic.twitter.com/pcO7dlc2nk

  — MacaJaDina (@dina_maca) April 16, 2021

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  Video from within the plant. 

  Fuerte explosión hace un momento se sintió en la ciudad de #Calama. Información preliminar indican que esta se produjo en planta de ácido de ENAEX Calama. Noticia en desarrollo. Se remeció toda la casa, es de esperar que no hayan personas heridas. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/lutgXDF2hD

  — 🌸Ángel💜 (@angelbened) April 16, 2021

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  Another view of the explosion. 

  Explosión en sector enaex #Calama. pic.twitter.com/MOw2958RcN

  — Concejal Cristian Flores XY 328 (@titan_flores) April 16, 2021

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  So does this mean Latin America’s largest producer of explosive-grade ammonium nitrate is offline?  

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 18:26

• The Interesting Case Of 'The Zaïre'… The Question MMT Cannot Answer
  The Interesting Case Of ‘The Zaïre’… The Question MMT Cannot Answer

  Authored by Eric Nies via Disinthrallment.com,

  The zaïre lived an interesting life.

  The zaïre was the basic unit of currency for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Zaire (it’s back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo; I’ll just call it Zaire for ease) from 1967 until 1997. Seventy-three of the 79 series of zaïre banknotes featured Ziarian dictator, CIA stooge, and world champion kleptocrat Joseph-Desire Mobuto.

  

  For its first two decades, the zaïre was surprisingly stable as far as Sub-Saharan currencies go. Between 1967 and 1987, the inflation vis-à-vis the dollar was only 98 percent. But then, things took a turn.

  The Zairian economy had managed to stay afloat during decades of kleptomania, nepotism, and military spending by Mobuto and his cronies due to Western Aid and high prices for the various minerals mined in the Eastern Congo basin. Beginning around 1990, the combination of the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, falling copper prices, and deeper administrative ineptitude buffeted the economy.

  As Gerard Prunier, French journalist and author of the excellent Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe, explains:

  From sickly, the Ziarian economy turned terminal…. Because imports remained at a fairly high level for some time while exports declined, the external debt had risen to $12.8 billion by 1996, representing 233 percent of GDP, or 924 percent of export capacity …

  Perhaps the most preoccupying effect of this collapse was the quasi-disappearance of the monetary system. With inflation rate that the IMF calculated at an average of 2,000 percent during the 1900s, prices shot up in an insane way.

  The Zairian consumer price index moved from 100 in 1990 to 4,130 in 1992 to just under 2,000,000 in 1993. Prunier continues:

  The government started to print money as fast as it could, simply to keep a certain amount of fiduciary currency irrigating the economy. Bills were printed in ever higher denominations and put into circulation as fast as possible, and their rapidly shrinking real purchasing value would then wipe them off the market in a way that make even the German hyperinflation of the 1920s look mild In December 1992 the system finally imploded: the Z 5 million bill was refused by everybody and had a zero life span. The government then tried to force it through by paying soldiers’ salaries [with the inflated bills] but the army rioted when its money was refused in the shops.

  So far it reads like one of the many hyperinflations throughout history. But then things get interesting. Mobuto, in a panic, demonetized the zaïre and issued the new zaïre, with an initial exchange rate of 1 new zaïre = 3,000,000 old zaïre.

  

  A nation issuing new currency to attempt to staunch an inflationary hemorrhage is nothing new; Brazil did the same thing in the 1990s. However, the new zaïre suffered from the same hyperinflative tendencies as its predecessor except that in certain areas of Zaire the old zaïre resurfaced and began to be used again as a medium of exchange. For instance,

  Kasai refused the new currency and kept using the old one, which regained a certain value simply by not being printed anymore.

  In other words, even though the government and its central bank ruled that the old zaïre was without value and the full faith and credit of the Zairian government backed the new zaïre, the only currency with any value was the old zaïre—and the value had nothing to do with any fiat issued by the government, but instead the understanding of a sector of the population that because the old zaïre was no longer being printed, it could act as a reasonably safe store of value.

  Finally, by 1994, the financial sector was operating entirely with foreign currencies. Meanwhile, Prunier reports,

  As for the Congolese population … its tax burden increased out of all proportion, reaching a punishing rate of 7.5 percent of GNP outside the oil and mining levies.

  The case of the zaïre provides strong anecdotal evidence discounting the fiat currency-obsessed Modern Monetary Theory (“MMT”).

  MMT, which is growing in popularity, takes to the logical extreme the concept of fiat money, even to the point that proponents have argued government-issued currency is not subject to market forces and can be issued indefinitely. A fundamental aspect of MMT is the tenet that a central bank can always control inflation by pulling its own fiat currency from circulation by taxation. Thus, proponents such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former Bernie Sanders advisor Stephanie Kelton claim neither inflation nor budget deficits are a significant concern.

  MMT proponents have attempted to contest the arguments by such economists as Larry Summers that MMT is simply a recipe for hyperinflation by pointing out that a primary focus of MMT is keeping inflation in check by taxation (to reduce “excess demand”) and fiscal—as opposed to monetary—policy (such as an eternal zero Fed discount rate). But this is exactly where the zaïre is so relevant.

  A basic presumption of MMT is that the government can keep control of “its” money – that through any number of tools, it can control inflation fiscally and thus print whatever money it needs for the here and now without the classical economic concern about hyperinflation. But fiat currency (all currency actually) only has value if it is perceived to have value, and a central bank cannot switch that subjective valuation on and off at will. Consider again what happened in Zaire:

  (1) Due to internal and external forces, the corrupt government ran out of money and it turned on the presses. This was not due to the evil corporate bogeyman some MMT proponents blame, but simple increase in the money supply.

  (2) Inflation and then hyperinflation hit to the point that the zaïre was virtually useless. The government’s attempt to prop up the zaïre, literally at gunpoint, failed as did a “punishing rate” of taxation—which MMT proponents argue is a primary tool to stop inflation.

  (3) The central bank issued the new new zaïre and backed it while demonetizing the old zaïre. However, the government fiat meant nothing to the populace, who deemed the new zaïre worthless.

  (4) Meanwhile, the demonetized zaïre, having been left for dead, was suddenly resurrected. There is no evidence I can find of any centralizing or guiding effort behind the choice of some Zairians to begin using the old zaïre again; rather, it appears to have been a spontaneous market reaction and people realized the presses had stopped, and with it, inflation.

  The question MMT simply cannot answer is what happens when, due to monetary and fiscal gymnastics, the consumer simply stops trusting or using the currency. The Zairian central bank could not tax the populace enough to reduce “aggregate demand,” and its attempts to force a new currency on the populace immediately failed. Meanwhile, the older currency, which the government had specifically disavowed, was given value by the people—at least for a while. Under MMT tenets, this should not have happened; indeed, it should be impossible. And yet, it happened all the same.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 18:20

• Punching Right: Liz Cheney Was Top Never-Trump Peddler Of Debunked 'Russian Bounties' Story
  Punching Right: Liz Cheney Was Top Never-Trump Peddler Of Debunked ‘Russian Bounties’ Story

  As Democrats seized on a now-debunked New York Times report that the Kremlin placed bounties on the heads of American troops in Afghanistan – blaming President Trump for deliberately downplaying the aggression to appease ‘Lord Putin’ (as the story goes) – Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) punched right, peddling the fabricated bounties story to any and all who would listen, according to The Federalist.

  

  Fast forward ten months later, and the Daily Beast reports that a senior administration finally admitted: “The United States intelligence community assesses with low to moderate confidence that Russian intelligence officers sought to encourage Taliban attacks on U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan in 2019 and perhaps earlier.”

  “Low to moderate confidence” is another way of saying “unproven and potentially false, “in part because it relies on detainee reporting,” which is often unreliable.

  Yet, Cheney pounced in an effort to undermine then-President Trump, while using the fake news to also lobby for a prolonged military presence in the region as the Trump administration was pulling troops out of Afghanistan.

  If reporting about Russian bounties on US forces is true, the White House must explain:
  1. Why weren’t the president or vice president briefed? Was the info in the PDB?
  2. Who did know and when?
  3. What has been done in response to protect our forces & hold Putin accountable?

  — Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) June 28, 2020

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  More via The Federalist:

  Two days later, Politico, in an article titled, “Cheney takes on Trump,” wrote, “in her latest rebuke of Trump, Cheney openly questioned whether the president was aware of reports that the Russians offered Afghan militants bounties to kill U.S. troops and demanded the administration take a more aggressive posture toward the Kremlin.”

  Cheney was persistent in pushing the story, much to the frustration of colleagues and even allies on Capitol Hill as she continued an inner-party crusade against the president in an election year from her position as House conference chair.

  FWIW, quite a few people in recent weeks who generally like Cheney — including those not on the Hill — were extremely disappointed with how she worked so hard to help the NYT spread its false anti-Trump story about Russia bounties. https://t.co/rM1dbnMI6U

  — Mollie (@MZHemingway) July 21, 2020

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  On June 29, Cheney released a joint statement with Texas Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry perpetuating the claims U.S. intelligence eventually conceded were a fake news story after Trump left office.

  “After today’s briefing with senior White House officials, we remain concerned about Russian activity in Afghanistan, including reports that they have targeted U.S. forces. It has been clear for some time that Russia does not wish us well in Afghanistan,” they wrote. “We anticipate further briefings on this issue in the coming days.”

  Cheney also pursued an ulterior motive to advance an interventionist foreign policy by amplifying the story alongside Democrats, as chronicled here by Glenn Greenwald in the Intercept. The at-large Wyoming congresswoman capitalized on the report of Russian bounties to sponsor an amendment with Colorado Democratic Rep. Jason Crow to prevent the White House from reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan to below 8,000, action the Trump administration was actively preparing to finalize.

  America’s adversaries should never question the will of the United States government or the American people to defend our interests, to protect the security of our nation, to protect our Armed Forces, and to respond when attacked or threatened. pic.twitter.com/czl22H8hrd

  — Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) June 30, 2020

  Read the rest of the report here.

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 04/16/2021 – 18:00