• Once Upon A Presidency – From Populist To Dissident
  Once Upon A Presidency – From Populist To Dissident

  Authored by Joshua Hochschild via AmericanMind.org,

  Let’s say you’ve long been disaffected with political parties. You don’t trust them. You care about politics, but you don’t see much promise in the standard candidates.

  Let’s even say you have suspicions the two parties are more interested in their own power than in helping the country.

  Occasionally you see promising people come forward, challenging the conventions. Maybe your interest is piqued by an Andrew Yang or Tulsi Gabbard, a Marianne Robinson or Bernie Sanders. Or perhaps by a Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ron Paul, or Herman Cain.

  Whoever they are, interesting people with interesting ideas show up, and somehow they speak to you. They seem to share some of your interests. But they never get a foothold in the game of national politics.

  Maybe you don’t understand politics, and these candidates always lose fairly on the merits. But you suspect the deck is stacked against them. They criticize Wall Street, the military-industrial complex, corruption in politics. You’ve heard them called “populists,” but they always end up getting labeled something like “fascist” or “socialist,” and cast aside.

  Or maybe you do understand politics. You long for an outsider, populist candidate, not because you are naïve, but because you are well-read. You’ve studied history and political theory. You don’t care much for pundits or journalists; you read thoughtful, literate writers who provide historical and philosophical perspective—thinkers most pundits and journalists have never heard of and wouldn’t understand.

  Or maybe you are a sincerely religious person and you know your beliefs are not, will never be, embodied in a political party. You know all politics is compromise. But you also feel an obligation to help improve the world through politics, and this only makes you all the more frustrated at the narrow range of options presented by the two parties.

  For whatever reason—naïve disaffection, intellectual aloofness, religious detachment—you don’t feel at home in mainstream partisan politics, and you suspect that the system, the two parties themselves, are stacked against you.

  There are economic and political explanations of why they might be stacked against you. Whether you are aware of these explanations or not, the evidence is clear: candidates who challenge them, candidates who are too “populist,” are always marginalized, ridiculed, suppressed.

  Then along comes Trump.

  

  The Renegade

  Is his candidacy a joke? Is he worth paying attention to? Is this a publicity stunt?

  He says things that seem to make sense to you, and moreover he says them effectively. He inspires followers. He beats opponents. He doesn’t put up with establishment bullshit. You don’t like him—almost everybody says this—but he shows an attractive charisma, a fighting spirit. Even his imperfections—“incivility,” strange mannerisms, shamelessness, a less than respectable past—seem to be part of his energy, his dynamism.

  And his actual policies? The things he says he wants to do? Well, maybe you don’t agree with every single one, but there is actually a coherence to them, a sense of priority and pragmatism. Energy independence. Non-interventionism. Revitalizing manufacturing. In substance, as well as style, he seems, well, populist.

  Sure he’s rich (maybe) and a celebrity (certainly), and so not what you expect as a populist. But unlike a lot of rich people, he’s not owned. He doesn’t seem to defer to anybody or anything. He doesn’t owe anything to anyone, least of all to the party whose nomination he seeks or the powerful interests that seem to pull the strings in Washington.

  So you find yourself one of tens of millions willing to give him a chance. What’s the worst that can happen?

  You notice he’s usually attacked not for his policies, but for his style. They say he is “dark.” They say he is “scary.” They say he’s a racist and misogynist. They even say he doesn’t have a sense of humor, or that he’s psychologically ill. You don’t see any of this—but you do see who is saying these things: his enemies in the two parties who would be threatened by his success. You don’t think the charges are fair—but even if they are, it’s what he’d do in office, not his style or his tweets, that matters.

  Maybe you see a rally on TV, or maybe you attend one yourself. It doesn’t seem “dark.” The tone is cheerful, patriotic. He’s funny, and also substantive. And the crowd—it’s diverse and friendly. Normal people. Truckers and plumbers and builders. Lawyers and dentists and accountants. Teachers and engineers, restaurant owners and waitresses, moms and grandmothers, people who haven’t been inspired by politics before, all sorts.

  The Unthinkable

  And then: Trump wins.

  Everybody is surprised. Some people even seem genuinely scared. You wonder if the media emphasis on how “scary” he is might be harming people’s mental health.

  The opponents obviously overplay their hands. They are hearing “dog whistles” that aren’t there (and they would only signal “dogs” if they were there, anyway). Maybe some of your friends call you a racist for supporting Trump, but you know you aren’t a racist, and you don’t think he is either.

  The racism charge is so common and people are so scared that a few smart liberals who opposed Trump beg for people not to lose perspective, to give him a chance, and to stop “crying wolf” about his racism.

  You wonder, “Why aren’t people more interested in understanding why Trump won?” They assume that since Trump is “dark,” his widespread support must be “dark.” Trump is a racist, they say, so his supporters must be racist. Or his supporters are brainwashed, the victims of manipulation. Or maybe there was foreign interference. Maybe the election was rigged.

  If you haven’t given up on the biggest media outlets by now, perhaps you find some traditional journalists that avoid this cheap, simplistic narrative—journalists doing serious work to explain the political landscape. Perhaps you find one of the honest, anti-Trump journalists, like Tim Carney or John Miller or Chris Arnade, covering Trump’s actual populist appeal, seeking to understand the kinds of people who voted for him, the real civic and economic conditions that Trump appealed to.

  But these hardworking, gumshoe journalists seem the exception, not the rule. And their stories, the ones that have a ring of truth to you, are subtle, complicated, and under-the-radar. They don’t play well on social media. They don’t make good memes. It’s outrage that sells. People who are afraid don’t want to be told not to be afraid. They want to be told they have good reasons for their fear.

  So cooler heads do not prevail. Trump is never given a chance. Though he evidently wants to work with Democrats—on major issues, like immigration, health care, and tax reform—the Democrats refuse to work with him.

  Then, at one point, there is supposedly proof that Trump is a racist. In the wake of tragedy in Charlottesville, he said that white nationalists, white supremacists, Neo-Nazis were “fine people.” Shocking. Smoking gun.

  But it’s not. You see it’s a lie, a lie started and propagated by journalists. Clever editing, willful misreadings, bad faith, outright dishonesty. You read the transcript, you watch the video, and it’s obvious: Trump said there were “fine people” on both sides of the debate about statues, but he clearly, unequivocally, and multiple times condemned white supremacists and neo-Nazis. The “smoking gun”…isn’t.

  The Lies

  Half the country never heard about this though. They fell for a hoax. They believed they really had “evidence” that Trump was an unashamed racist. Crazy, huh? Why? Why would this hoax be perpetuated? Political gain? Outrage clicks? Have the journalists convinced themselves? Who knows the motive: in any case, it proved a useful myth for politicians, an easy talking point. Joe Biden believed the “fine people” lie (or claimed to). Eventually, he identifies it as the basis of his campaign against Trump.

  Meanwhile, Trump’s very legitimacy as president has been challenged from the beginning. His opponents accused him of stealing the election. Foreign interference. “Russian collusion.”

  These charges are leveled for years. No evidence. Just allegation. Conspiracy mongering. No proof. For years, they say the election was rigged, illegitimate. But no evidence.

  Eventually the evidence that does come out is that the whole thing was made up. It’s not just a false allegation, but a contrived hoax, a political con-job. People high up in the FBI lied about it, fabricated evidence, entrapped people on false charges, testified falsely in Congress, hid evidence, and coordinated with the press to leak false information. It was an egregious abuse of surveillance powers. Maybe you see a popular documentary about it, or maybe you were able to put enough pieces together after seeing it argued about and dissected all over social media.

  You’ve long known that the media manipulates and lies, and you’ve seen it exacerbated on social media. The media has become masterful at manipulating narrative, framing things, hiding things. Maybe you also watched a documentary about that too (one of the top documentaries of the year, even after being suppressed by Amazon).

  You know your disaffection with “the establishment” isn’t partisan: Democrats and Republicans seem corrupt, liberals and conservatives are fed up with “the system.” The media seems systematically dishonest. These are basic civic and human rights you care about: the right to the rule of law, the right to a free press, the right to free and fair elections, the right not to be manipulated.

  Big journalism itself seems to be part of the problem, coordinating with the established interests in the two parties to push their narrative. Did they help dispel the “Fine People” hoax? No, they magnified it. Did they properly cover the collusion allegation? No. Did any evidence ever emerge that Trump stole the election? No. But it made for clickable headlines for four years. 

  “Trump stole the election”: it was literally a conspiracy theory, but it had traction because, of course, we all know about corruption and fraud in politics. We expect it. Heck, Kennedy’s theft of the election from Nixon was a plot-point in Mad Men.

  Perhaps you’ve also done a little digging and you know that there are questions about voting machines and how trustworthy they are. This was even a major Democratic complaint following the 2004 election. You’ve always wondered how those machines worked, how they could be secure. Potential for fraud has been widely recognized. Maybe you saw one of numerous stories, or even caught the HBO documentary, about how these machines are not only vulnerable, but suspiciously, intentionally vulnerable.

  You’ve also noticed that social media plays a role in manipulating people—not only bad actors on social media, but the social media companies themselves: they tweak their algorithms to manipulate your behavior. That’s not a bug, it’s a feature—it’s the business model.

  Twitter and Facebook and Google knew they had power to influence elections. People from these companies promised to use it more “responsibly” in 2020. Anti-Trump and pro-Trump politicians and pundits pressured big tech to wield their power more “responsibly.” How much could they influence? How many votes could they swing? Who knows, but these are questions worthy of study and political consideration. They are certainly not “partisan.”

  The Race

  So by now you don’t trust establishment politicians or establishment media. You don’t trust Big Tech. All of these institutions have shown a willingness to manipulate information.

  In September 2020, journalists lie about Trump’s executive order banning racial discrimination and scapegoating, saying (not only without evidence, but contrary to evidence) that it “bans diversity training” or “bans sensitivity training.” In October, right before the election, establishment media outlets cover up revelations about corruption in the Biden family. You are used to this now: the official press will hide truths if they’re embarrassing to Biden and make up lies to embarrass Trump.

  As the election nears, Trump seems more popular than ever before. After four years, people aren’t just taking a risk on an unknown quantity, they are voting for someone who presided over a robust economy, created jobs, reduced minority unemployment, kept us out of wars, brought troops home, reduced energy prices, reframed diplomacy in the Middle East, and so on. His opponent (who typifies the establishment choice) is uncharismatic and frail.

  Most polls say Trump doesn’t have a chance, but the polls were wrong last time, and most of them are connected to media sources you already don’t trust. The best poll (Rasmussen, the one that will turn out to be closest to the actual results, as in 2016) has it very tight.

  But another thing you don’t trust by the time of the election is the electoral process itself. You are aware of an unprecedented opportunity to rig or steal an election, unprecedented vulnerabilities in an already complicated system, magnified by controversial rule changes allegedly intended to accommodate a national health scare.

  Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg spent hundreds of millions of dollars to influence the election, mainly by making it easy for Democratic ballots to get cast and counted. Changing rules about mail-in ballots, voting early, and collecting ballots are justified as promoting access to voting, but are all known for increasing the chances for fraud.

  An early case about the constitutionality of rule changes even makes it to the Supreme Court, in response to which several justices acknowledge that there are serious constitutional questions which need to be resolved somehow. But you don’t need justices to tell you that you can’t change the rules in the middle of a game.

  So leading up to the election, you are aware of issues with questionable rule changes, all of which magnify the problems endemic to ballot harvesting, signature matching, unclean voter rolls, vulnerabilities in voting machines, and disputes about when and how ballots have to be returned.

  Still, you think Trump can win—that he could outperform the “margin of fraud.” That’s clearly his goal: not only to win by enough, but to win big.

  The Steal

  After the election, as news trickles in, you hear reports about:

  • Suspicious timing of ballots arriving.

  • Reports of suspicious ballots.

  • Suspicious treatment of election monitors.

  • “Software glitches” and “user errors” in voting machines.

  • Apparent anomalies in timing and distribution of vote tallies.

  • Anomalies in Trump’s performance relative to downballot Republicans.

  • Anomalies in swing counties.

  There are so many allegations that keeping up with them would be too much even if it were a full-time job. Will journalists try? Their common response to anyone raising questions about election integrity is to insist that “experts” say there is “no evidence” of election fraud. It is hard to even find serious non-partisan coverage of the allegations. “Fact checks” appear glib, vaguely citing “experts” and “courts” and “no evidence.” But you know that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

  And even trying to find out information on your own, you notice Big Tech aggressively flagging any news that suggests irregularities. During the extended counting of ballots, for instance, any post on Twitter suggesting skepticism about election integrity triggers this warning:

  Voter fraud of any kind is exceedingly rare in the US, election experts confirm. With ballot counting continuing and the presidential race being called for Joe Biden, experts and officials say there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 US election. The election process is secure and voter fraud of any type is incredibly rare according to The Associated Press and Reuters. Officials and experts warn that the most interference in US elections, whether from foreign or domestic players, comes in the form of misinformation campaigns, many of which are intended to create distrust in the US’s electoral process.

  You find the rhetoric conspicuously odd. Technically correct, but also evasive. “The election process is secure” (sounds confident!) “according to…” two newswires? The constant repetition of “experts” and “no evidence” is the opposite of reassuring; in fact, it makes you more suspicious. (It reminds you of when you knew early on in the pandemic that masks were a reasonable step to slow spread of disease. “Experts” at the World Health organization said there was “no evidence” supporting mask-wearing, only to change their messaging weeks later.)

  You aren’t the only one to notice that social media flags and warnings don’t seem so much about debunking the stories or helping you analyze them as about hiding them, not so much about leading to more information but stigmatizing skepticism.

  Maybe you keep trying to read deeply about this. Maybe you give up and rely on your intuition. Maybe you catch bits and pieces and assume that somewhere, lawyers and legislators and investigators are doing the work to actually figure out what is going on. But what you can’t miss is that supposedly authoritative media outlets (which you don’t trust) keep complaining about “conspiracy theories” and disinformation on social media. You know not to trust everything you read, but you also know you can be a judicious reader. It’s not all crazy trolls writing about the problems. There are liberal and conservative voices, independent journalists, thoughtful commentators, specialist experts in polling or election law or statistical analysis or Constitutional jurisprudence.

  You suppose you could ask a political scientist to explain why it all adds up to reasonable suspicion of an irregular election, but it’s intuitive, isn’t it? It’s intuitive—and yet hard to summarize. Do we even have a single word to capture it? Is it fraud? Is it ballot harvesting? Is it rigging? Is it stealing? Is it hacking? Is it vote-switching? Is it gaming the system? General lawlessness? Illegitimacy? Is there even a single word that can cover the multi-layered suspicion that has now accumulated about how the powers-that-be might seek to undermine a straightforward, legal, democratic process?

  Later, much later, when “the secret history” can be reported, you will learn that it can in fact be called an “unprecedented conspiracy” and “shadow campaign,” that they were not “rigging” the election, they were “fortifying” it.

  The Rally

  Stories about all these individual elements weren’t secret; they were so numerous they were aggressively “fact checked” by respectable media outlets, the same media outlets that propagated false storylines like the “fine people” hoax or hid the news about Hunter Biden’s corruption. Maybe here and there individual fact checks were right. Maybe they all were. But who knows? The problem by now is that, even with “fact checks,” each allegation of irregularities still seems plausible, and the fact-checkers, well—at this point you just don’t think they have much credibility.

  We can at least agree to trust the courts, but did the courts really adjudicate these questions? Did they even look at the evidence? Rarely. You know that, for good reason (usually), courts are loath to get involved in deciding elections. So most courts that received cases found procedural grounds not to hear them.

  If the courts wouldn’t review and consider the evidence, then the state legislatures themselves, those who certified electors, had to hear them. Sometimes they did. But sometimes they claimed they didn’t have to because “the courts” hadn’t been willing to.

  Meanwhile, Trump is doing his best to keep pressing these obvious, important questions—but in doing so, he is accused of trying to “steal” the election, though he was trying to use the very legal political processes intended to ensure election integrity that opponents had done four years earlier. At one point, for instance, it is reported as fact that Trump was trying to manufacture votes, as if he were caught openly soliciting fraud; of course independent thinkers could see through the spin, go back to the transcripts, and find he was only asking the Georgia secretary of state to acknowledge that a substantial number of votes are questionable.

  Then you hear that Trump’s last effort to address these questions, after the courts and state legislatures have failed him, is to endorse a rally in Washington. He and his supporters will seek to petition Congress to review evidence about whether the certified electors should be accepted. Trump is still playing the game that people say he’s not been playing: pointing out problems, asking questions, allowing democratic, Constitutional processes to take place. Taking advantage of basic rights to petition political bodies for justice.

  Scores of thousands of people attend, from all over the country. They are cheerful and patriotic, generous and civic-minded, orderly and polite. Responsible, proud citizens. They love their country and respect its lawful processes. They know that, even if the rally does not actually help Trump politically, it promises to draw attention to problems with our electoral system, and to testify to the importance of peaceful democratic protests. Maybe there will be a resolved will to reform the system, and to ensure that people can trust elections next time. The country can’t keeping having its winners suspected of “stealing” elections.

  Maybe you were there. Maybe you heard the speeches, were caught up in the peaceful, patriotic mood of the day, and then walked with most of the crowd from the rally at the Ellipse to the gathering at the Capitol, to petition Congress to take the possibility of fraud seriously.

  The Climax

  If you are close enough to the front of the very large crowd at the Capitol, you might see people scuffling with police, but you also see many more people asking them to be peaceful. You notice there aren’t that many police, and you assume it’s because Trump crowds are known to be peaceful. You might have seen people trying to get past police lines, but you also saw police letting people get closer to the Capitol building, letting people gather on the steps, letting them into the building.

  It was a protest, and some people apparently took it too far. On the way home, you hear about violence and arrests. Vandalism and thievery in the Capitol building. You hear about a woman, apparently unarmed, shot and killed. It is a sobering, gut-wrenching end to the day. Out of a massive crowd, it seems that a fraction was stupid, shameful, lawless. Hardly representative of the kinds of people who were there, or the purpose for which they gathered. A small fraction of a large civil rights event turned into a lawless mob. You are disheartened that a respectable event should be so stained.

  But you wake up the next morning to something far worse. Slanderous headlines. By your very presence in DC, you are accused of being a traitor, part of a dangerous movement. Every outlet is calling it an “insurrection.” The lawlessness was “incited” by Trump. There was a violent attempted “coup.” Obviously they have pushed too far. They will have dial this back. Won’t they? The words are wildly disproportionate: nobody had a strategy or opportunity for seizing power. Oh, and it was a racist insurrection, a manifestation of white nationalism. Despite the sea of American flags, news stories seem to always run a picture of a Confederate flag.

  You are used to ignoring the lying, outrage-seeking, politically manipulative media. But this time, they are spinning lies directly about you. They are exploiting the awful travesty of some people’s inexcusable violence to delegitimize and shame every responsible citizen who took reasonable and lawful means to raise legitimate questions about election integrity.

  Perhaps you hope you can offer some perspective, tell your side of things. But it’s too late. The media spin is overwhelmingly effective. Nobody will listen, they have made up their minds. They sincerely believe the lies, the disinformation, the emotional manipulation. They sincerely believe you are a dangerous traitor simply for going to DC and voicing reasonable skepticism.

  No, they won’t even acknowledge it is reasonable skepticism. They insist you are a foolish traitor. Your beliefs are unfounded, your questions misplaced. Your skepticism about the election is not only unpatriotic but irrational. It doesn’t even deserve to heard. It isn’t based on rightly-credentialed “evidence.” It doesn’t have properly authorized “sources.”

  The End?

  In a healthy democracy, populist skepticism could lead to bipartisan reform efforts to restore confidence in election procedures. But the powers that be do not even acknowledge the legitimacy of any skepticism. Even after Trump is out of office, they stage a show trial, a second impeachment. The idea is to shame Trump, but also to shame anyone who supported his efforts to highlight weaknesses in our system. Taken for granted in the article of impeachment is that challenging the legitimacy of the election is itself disloyal, an effort to overthrow the American government.

  The allegation that Trump “incited” an “insurrection” implies that anyone in the crowd that day was, if not actually criminal, at least dangerously stupid. Whose idea of unifying is this? Whose idea of political courage? In democratic political contests, winners need the losers to trust the fairness of the system. So why would winners demonize losers as disloyal and dangerous?

  This isn’t how you envisioned any political drama, much less your own role in one. In the story you imagined, skepticism and populism are not partisan issues, and protest and argument are messy but welcome. These are a regime’s natural mechanisms for improvement. But what happens when they are not accepted and addressed, when instead they are slandered and suppressed? That is not the story you imagined. And you aren’t sure where that kind of story can end.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 23:30

• Erik Prince Busted In Illegal Libya Gun-Running Scheme That Included 'Assassination For Hire'
  Erik Prince Busted In Illegal Libya Gun-Running Scheme That Included ‘Assassination For Hire’

  Erik Prince is the wealthy scandal-plagued mercenary who seems never go away from the headlines. The founder of the notorious Blackwater private security company has since been involved in shady schemes and arms dealing everywhere from China to UAE to Syria to Venezuela. He currently heads the Hong Kong-listed Frontier Services Group, providing ‘security services’ across the globe.

  And now it’s been revealed that he’s deeply involved in the still-raging war in Libya. No less than the United Nations is alleging he’s overseeing a major arms dealing program in support of eastern Libya warlord Khalifa Haftar who has for years waged war to take over Tripoli. The findings are detailed in a confidential UN report.

  

  “The confidential report to the Security Council, obtained by The New York Times and The Washington Post, and partly seen by Al Jazeera, said on Friday that Prince deployed a force of foreign mercenaries and weapons to renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, who has fought to overthrow the UN-recognized Libyan government, in 2019,” according to the latest reporting.

  While Prince has typically avoided legal consequences for the past scandals he’s been at center of, the UN findings could bring potential international travel restrictions or even sanctions by the world body. This scenario is likely given there is currently a strict UN arms embargo on the country (something however that’s repeatedly violated by governments like France and the UAE and others).

  “The $80m operation included plans to form a hit squad to track and kill Libyan commanders opposed to Haftar – including some who were also European Union citizens,” The New York Times found in reviewing the UN report.

  Erik Prince, Trump Ally, Violated Libya Arms Embargo, U.N. Report Says https://t.co/DOgjNTZmOt

  — Samuel Oakford (@samueloakford) February 19, 2021

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

  “The UN report raises the question not only of whether or not a close associate of the [former] president violated an international arms embargo, but also of whether or not the president himself was complicit in defying stated US policy,” Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey explained. 

  It was well-known that despite the US long formally recognizing the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, President Trump was personally supportive of Gen. Haftar. The UN report suggests Prince is complicit seeking to overthrow the GNA Tripoli government.

  Haftar actually holds dual US citizenship and lived for decades near CIA headquarters in Langley, VA. Trump had previously touted he was helping to “secure Libya’s oil” in controversial statements.  It’s expected that the UN, and likely now the US Justice Dept. will explore links between Prince’s activities in Libya and Trump administrative operatives. 

  This past week marked ten years since the start of unrest which eventually led to US-NATO military intervention to topple longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi. The country has since been broken into competing warlords and governments vying for the oil-rich territory, and is still in a state of proxy war where rival external powers have lined up on either side. 

  * * *

  To review the US and NATO’s role in destroying the North African Arab country, see author Scott Horton’s short film “Enough Already: Libya”:

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 23:00

• Greenwald: Congress Escalates Pressure On Tech Giants To Censor More, Threatening The First Amendment
  Greenwald: Congress Escalates Pressure On Tech Giants To Censor More, Threatening The First Amendment

  Authored by Glenn Greenwald via. greenwald.substack.com,

  For the third time in less than five months, the U.S. Congress has summoned the CEOs of social media companies to appear before them, with the explicit intent to pressure and coerce them to censor more content from their platforms. On March 25, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will interrogate Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Facebooks’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai at a hearing which the Committee announced will focus “on misinformation and disinformation plaguing online platforms.”

  

  The Committee’s Chair, Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), and the two Chairs of the Subcommittees holding the hearings, Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), said in a joint statement that the impetus was “falsehoods about the COVID-19 vaccine” and “debunked claims of election fraud.” They argued that “these online platforms have allowed misinformation to spread, intensifying national crises with real-life, grim consequences for public health and safety,” adding: “This hearing will continue the Committee’s work of holding online platforms accountable for the growing rise of misinformation and disinformation.”

  House Democrats have made no secret of their ultimate goal with this hearing: to exert control over the content on these online platforms. “Industry self-regulation has failed,” they said, and therefore “we must begin the work of changing incentives driving social media companies to allow and even promote misinformation and disinformation.” In other words, they intend to use state power to influence and coerce these companies to change which content they do and do not allow to be published.

  I’ve written and spoken at length over the past several years about the dangers of vesting the power in the state, or in tech monopolies, to determine what is true and false, or what constitutes permissible opinion and what does not. I will not repeat those points here.

  Instead, the key point raised by these last threats from House Democrats is an often-overlooked one: while the First Amendment does not apply to voluntary choices made by a private company about what speech to allow or prohibit, it does bar the U.S. Government from coercing or threatening such companies to censor. In other words, Congress violates the First Amendment when it attempts to require private companies to impose viewpoint-based speech restrictions which the government itself would be constitutionally barred from imposing.

  It may not be easy to draw where the precise line is — to know exactly when Congress has crossed from merely expressing concerns into unconstitutional regulation of speech through its influence over private companies — but there is no question that the First Amendment does not permit indirect censorship through regulatory and legal threats.

  Ben Wizner, Director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, told me that while a constitutional analysis depends on a variety of factors including the types of threats issued and how much coercion is amassed, it is well-established that the First Amendment governs attempts by Congress to pressure private companies to censor:

  For the same reasons that the Constitution prohibits the government from dictating what information we can see and read (outside narrow limits), it also prohibits the government from using its immense authority to coerce private actors into censoring on its behalf.

  In a January Wall Street Journal op-ed, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Yale Law School’s constitutional scholar Jed Rubenfeld warned that Congress is rapidly approaching this constitutional boundary if it has not already transgressed it. “Using a combination of statutory inducements and regulatory threats,” the duo wrote, “Congress has co-opted Silicon Valley to do through the back door what government cannot directly accomplish under the Constitution.”

  That article compiled just a small sample of case law making clear that efforts to coerce private actors to censor speech implicate core First Amendment free speech guarantees. In Norwood v. Harrison (1973), for instance, the Court declared it “axiomatic” — a basic legal principle — that Congress “may not induce, encourage or promote private persons to accomplish what it is constitutionally forbidden to accomplish.” They noted: “For more than half a century courts have held that governmental threats can turn private conduct into state action.”

  In 2018, the ACLU successfully defended the National Rifle Association (NRA) in suing Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York State on the ground that attempts of state officials to coerce private companies to cease doing business with the NRA using implicit threats — driven by Cuomo’s contempt for the NRA’s political views — amounted to a violation of the First Amendment. Because, argued the ACLU, the communications of Cuomo’s aides to banks and insurance firms “could reasonably be interpreted as a threat of retaliatory enforcement against firms that do not sever ties with gun promotion groups,” that conduct ran afoul of the well-established principle “that the government may violate the First Amendment through ‘action that falls short of a direct prohibition against speech,’ including by retaliation or threats of retaliation against speakers.” In sum, argued the civil liberties group in reasoning accepted by the court:

  Courts have never required plaintiffs to demonstrate that the government directly attempted to suppress their protected expression in order to establish First Amendment retaliation, and they have often upheld First Amendment retaliation claims involving adverse economic action designed to chill speech indirectly.

  In explaining its rationale for defending the NRA, the ACLU described how easily these same state powers could be abused by a Republican governor against liberal activist groups — for instance, by threatening banks to cease providing services to Planned Parenthood or LGBT advocacy groups. When the judge rejected Cuomo’s motion to dismiss the NRA’s lawsuit, Reuters explained the key lesson in its headline:

  

  Perhaps the ruling most relevant to current controversies occurred in the 1963 Supreme Court case Bantam Books v. Sullivan. In the name of combatting the “obscene, indecent and impure,” the Rhode Island legislature instituted a commission to notify bookstores when they determined a book or magazine to be “objectionable,” and requested their “cooperation” by removing it and refusing to sell it any longer. Four book publishers and distributors sued, seeking a declaration that this practice was a violation of the First Amendment even though they were never technically forced to censor. Instead, they ceased selling the flagged books “voluntarily” due to fear of the threats implicit in the “advisory” notices received from the state.

  In a statement that House Democrats and their defenders would certainly invoke to justify what they are doing with Silicon Valley, Rhode Island officials insisted that they were not unconstitutionally censoring because their scheme “does not regulate or suppress obscenity, but simply exhorts booksellers and advises them of their legal rights.”

  In rejecting that disingenuous claim, the Supreme Court conceded that “it is true that [plaintiffs’] books have not been seized or banned by the State, and that no one has been prosecuted for their possession or sale.” Nonetheless, the Court emphasized that Rhode Island’s legislature — just like these House Democrats summoning tech executives — had been explicitly clear that their goal was the suppression of speech they disliked: “the Commission deliberately set about to achieve the suppression of publications deemed ‘objectionable,’ and succeeded in its aim.” And the Court emphasized that the barely disguised goal of the state was to intimidate these private book publishers and distributors into censoring by issuing implicit threats of punishment for non-compliance:

  It is true, as noted by the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, that [the book distributor] was “free” to ignore the Commission’s notices, in the sense that his refusal to “cooperate” would have violated no law. But it was found as a fact — and the finding, being amply supported by the record, binds us — that [the book distributor’s] compliance with the Commission’s directives was not voluntary. People do not lightly disregard public officers’ thinly veiled threats to institute criminal proceedings against them if they do not come around, and [the distributor’s] reaction, according to uncontroverted testimony, was no exception to this general rule. The Commission’s notices, phrased virtually as orders, reasonably understood to be such by the distributor, invariably followed up by police visitations, in fact stopped the circulation of the listed publications ex proprio vigore [by its own force]. It would be naive to credit the State’s assertion that these blacklists are in the nature of mere legal advice when they plainly serve as instruments of regulation.

  In sum, concluded the Bantam Books Court: “their operation was in fact a scheme of state censorship effectuated by extra-legal sanctions; they acted as an agency not to advise but to suppress.”

  ---

  Little effort is required to see that Democrats, now in control of the Congress and the White House, are engaged in a scheme of speech control virtually indistinguishable from those long held unconstitutional by decades of First Amendment jurisprudence. That Democrats are seeking to use their control of state power to coerce and intimidate private tech companies to censor — and indeed have already succeeded in doing so — is hardly subject to reasonable debate. They are saying explicitly that this is what they are doing.

  Because “big tech has failed to acknowledge the role they’ve played in fomenting and elevating blatantly false information to its online audiences,” said the Committee Chairs again summoning the social media companies, “we must begin the work of changing incentives driving social media companies to allow and even promote misinformation and disinformation.”

  The Washington Post, in reporting on this latest hearing, said the Committee intends to “take fresh aim at the tech giants for failing to crack down on dangerous political falsehoods and disinformation about the coronavirus.” And lurking behind these calls for more speech policing are pending processes that could result in serious punishment for these companies, including possible antitrust actions and the rescission of Section 230 immunity from liability.

  This dynamic has become so common that Democrats now openly pressure Silicon Valley companies to censor content they dislike. In the immediate aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riot, when it was falsely claimed that Parler was the key online venue for the riot’s planning — Facebook, Google’s YouTube and Facebook’s Instagram were all more significant — two of the most prominent Democratic House members, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), used their large social media platforms to insist that Silicon Valley monopolies remove Parler from their app stores and hosting services:

  

  

  Within twenty-four hours, all three Silicon Valley companies complied with these “requests,” and took the extraordinary step of effectively removing Parler — at the time the most-downloaded app on the Apple Store — from the internet. We will likely never know what precise role those tweets and other pressure from liberal politicians and journalists played in their decisions, but what is clear is that Democrats are more than willing to use their power and platforms to issue instructions to Silicon Valley about what they should and should not permit to be heard.

  Leading liberal activists and some powerful Democratic politicians, such as then-presidential-candidate Kamala Harris, had long demanded former President Donald Trump’s removal from social media. After the Democrats won the White House — indeed, the day after Democrats secured control of both houses of Congress with two wins in the Georgia Senate run-offs — Twitter, Facebook and other online platforms banned Trump, citing the Capitol riot as the pretext.

  While Democrats cheered, numerous leaders around the world, including many with no affection for Trump, warned of how dangerous this move was. Long-time close aide of the Clintons, Jennifer Palmieri, posted a viral tweet candidly acknowledging — and clearly celebrating — why this censorship occurred. With Democrats now in control of the Congressional committees and Executive Branch agencies that regulate Silicon Valley, these companies concluded it was in their best interest to censor the internet in accordance with the commands and wishes of the party that now wields power in Washington:

  It has not escaped my attention that the day social media companies decided there actually IS more they could do to police Trump’s destructive behavior was the same day they learned Democrats would chair all the congressional committees that oversee them.

  — Jennifer Palmieri (@jmpalmieri) January 7, 2021

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

  The last time CEOs of social media platforms were summoned to testify before Congress, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) explicitly told them that what Democrats want is more censorship — more removal of content which they believe constitutes “disinformation” and “hate speech.” He did not even bother to hide his demands: “The issue is not that the companies before us today are taking too many posts down; the issue is that they are leaving too many dangerous posts up”:

  When it comes to censorship of politically adverse content, sometimes explicit censorship demands are unnecessary. Where a climate of censorship prevails, companies anticipate what those in power want them to do by anticipatorily self-censoring to avoid official retaliation. Speech is chilled without direct censorship orders being required.

  That is clearly what happened after Democrats spent four years petulantly insisting that they lost the 2016 election not because they chose a deeply disliked nominee or because their neoliberal ideology wrought so much misery and destruction, but instead, they said, because Facebook and Twitter allowed the unfettered circulation of incriminating documents hacked by Russia. Anticipating that Democrats were highly likely to win in 2020, the two tech companies decided in the weeks before the election — in what I regard as the single most menacing act of censorship of the last decade — to suppress or outright ban reporting by The New York Post on documents from Hunter Biden’s laptop that raised serious questions about the ethics of the Democratic front-runner for president. That is a classic case of self-censorship to please state officials who wield power over you.

  ---

  All of this raises the vital question of where power really resides when it comes to controlling online speech. In January, the far-right commentator Curtis Yarvin, whose analysis is highly influential among a certain sector of Silicon Valley, wrote a provocative essay under the headline “Big tech has no power at all.” In essence, he wrote, Facebook as a platform is extremely powerful, but other institutions — particularly the corporate/oligarchical press and the government — have seized that power from Zuckerberg, and re-purposed it for their own interests, such that Facebook becomes their servant rather than the master:

  However, if Zuck is subject to some kind of oligarchic power, he is in exactly the same position as his own moderators. He exercises power, but it is not his power, because it is not his will. The power does not flow from him; it flows through him. This is why we can say honestly and seriously that he has no power. It is not his, but someone else’s.

  Why doth Zuck ban shitlords? Is the creator of “Facemash” passionately committed to social justice? Well, maybe. He may have no power, but he is still a bigshot. Bigshots often do get religion in later life—especially when everyone around them is getting it. But—does he have a choice? If he has no choice—he has no power.

  For reasons not fully relevant here, I don’t agree entirely with that paradigm. Tech monopolies have enormous amounts of power, sometimes greater than nation-states themselves. We just saw that in Google and Facebook’s battles with the entire country of Australia. And they frequently go to war with state efforts to regulate them. But it is unquestionably true that these social media platforms — which set out largely for reasons of self-interest and secondarily due to a free-internet ideology — have had the censorship obligation foisted upon them by a combination of corporate media outlets and powerful politicians.

  One might think of tech companies, the corporate media, the U.S. security state, and Democrats more as a union — a merger of power — rather than separate and warring factions. But whatever framework you prefer, it is clear that the power of social media companies to control the internet is in the hands of government and its corporate media allies at least as much as it is in the hands of the tech executives who nominally manage these platforms.

  And it is precisely that reality that presents serious First Amendment threats. As the above-discussed Supreme Court jurisprudence demonstrates, this form of indirect and implicit state censorship is not new. Back in 2010, the war hawk Joe Lieberman abused his position as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee to “suggest” that financial services and internet hosting companies such as Visa, MasterCard, Paypal, Amazon and Bank of America, should terminate their relationship with WikiLeaks on the ground that the group, which was staunchly opposed to Lieberman’s imperialism and militarism, posed a national security threat. Lieberman hinted that they may face legal liability if they continued to process payments for WikiLeaks.

  Unsurprisingly, these companies quickly obeyed Lieberman’s decree, preventing the group from collecting donations. When I reported on these events for Salon, I noted:

  That Joe Lieberman is abusing his position as Homeland Security Chairman to thuggishly dictate to private companies which websites they should and should not host — and, more important, what you can and cannot read on the Internet — is one of the most pernicious acts by a U.S. Senator in quite some time.  Josh Marshall wrote yesterday:  “When I’d heard that Amazon had agreed to host Wikileaks I was frankly surprised given all the fish a big corporation like Amazon has to fry with the federal government.”  That’s true of all large corporations that own media outlets — every one — and that is one big reason why they’re so servile to U.S. Government interests and easily manipulated by those in political power.  That’s precisely the dynamic Lieberman was exploiting with his menacing little phone call to Amazon (in essence:  Hi, this is the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee calling; you’re going to be taking down that WikiLeaks site right away, right?). Amazon, of course, did what they were told.

  (Along with Daniel Ellsberg, Laura Poitras and others, I co-founded the Freedom of the Press Foundation in part to collect donations on behalf of WikiLeaks to ensure that the government could never again shut down press groups that it disliked through such pressure campaigns and implicit threats, precisely because it was so clear that this indirect means of attacking press freedom was dangerous and unconstitutional).

  What made Lieberman’s implicit threats in the name of “national security” so despotic was that they were clearly intended to punish and silence a group working against his political agenda. And that is precisely true of the motives of these House Democrats in demanding greater censorship in the name of combating “misinformation” and “hate speech”: their demands almost always, if not always, mean silencing those who are opposed to their ideology and political agenda. As but one example: one is perfectly free to opine online, as many Democrats do, that the 2000, 2004 and 2016 presidential elections (won by Republicans) were the by-products of electoral fraud, but making that same claim about the 2020 election (won by a Democrat) will result in immediate banning.

  The power to control the flow of information and the boundaries of permissible speech is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. It is a power as intoxicating as it is menacing. When it comes to the internet, our primary means of communicating with one another, that power nominally rests in the hands of private corporations in Silicon Valley.

  But increasingly, the Democratic-controlled government and their allies in the corporate media are realizing that they can indirectly and through coercion seize and wield that power for themselves. The First Amendment is implicated by these coercive actions as much as if Congress enacted laws explicitly mandating censorship of their political opponents.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 22:30

• Meet The Columbia Professor Who Says He Does Heroin For "Work-Life Balance"
  Meet The Columbia Professor Who Says He Does Heroin For “Work-Life Balance”

  Columbia University professor Dr. Carl Hart has an unusual way of unwinding after a tough day at work. While some may be out at happy hour and others may enjoy playing tennis or a jog, Hart, a professor of psychology and neuroscience, says he has a “fondness for heroin”. 

  His interest in the drug isn’t just for research, however – it’s also for personal use, according to the NY Post. The 54 year old has said she has snorted “small amount of heroin” for as many as 10 days in a row in his new book “Drug Use for Grown-ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear”. Hart says he experiences withdrawal symptoms 12 to 16 hours after the last dose. 

  He writes in his book: “There aren’t many things in life that I enjoy more than a few lines by the fireplace at the end of the day.”

  He claims the drug use leaves him “refreshed” and “prepared to face another day” and compares his use of heroin to be as normal as someone using alcohol. “Like vacation, sex and the arts, heroin is one of the tools that I use to maintain my work-life balance,” he writes.

  

  As an academic, Hart studies the effects of psychoactive drugs on humans. His push in the book is for decriminalizing possession of recreational drugs. “The demonization of drug use – not drugs themselves – [has] been a tremendous scourge on America, not least in reinforcing this country’s enduring structural racism,” he writes.

  He is hoping that President Biden can work toward federal regulation and licensing of substances like heroin, arguing that since people are going to do them anyway, they might as well do them safely and educated about the risk. 

  He said in a recent interview with Insider: “If you’re going to use opioids, don’t use alcohol as a background … [the combination] increases the likelihood of respiratory depression and death.”

  Hart also says he is “a fan” of MDMA and methamphetamine. “When I’m rolling, I just want to breathe deeply and enjoy it. The simple act of breathing can be extremely pleasurable,” he said of his use of MDMA. He even writes in his book about snorting bath salts, the NY Post writes. 

  The medical and addiction community’s take on Hart’s approach is skeptical. Christian Hopfer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, told the NY Post: “Smoke a couple times a day and marijuana will knock off your memory. That is pretty certain. And there is no question that legalization has a normalizing effect on something that used to be against the law.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 22:00

• The Trustees Have Failed
  The Trustees Have Failed

  Via Techno Fog substack,

  A Story of Generations

  I often reflect on the concept of generational responsibilities. That each generation, whether mine or yours, has the same type of supportive role to the other for the common good, although the obligations may be different. Let me put this another way:

  Every generation is the caretaker of the generations that came before, and the trustee of those who will come after. 

  To explain by example: a child enters this world under the care of their parents. And the parents leave this world being cared for by their children. These are general observations (and aspirations) that leave out everything in between and all those little moments that define care.

  

  To be more specific, and to hopefully state the obvious, caring for a child isn’t just a roof over their head and three meals a day. It’s teaching them values, being an example for them to follow, making them feel safe. It is making a marriage work for the benefit of the children and not divorcing for the convenience of the adults. Ensuring, as best we can, their future.

  Then as we age, we see our parents start to fight with the parts of their daily lives they once did with ease. Their struggle is our struggle, though the struggles are different. Each day a brush more diminished until we say goodbye.

  Both stages are touched by sadness, as if a gentle hand squeezed yours. Dare I say acute melancholy. Parents watching their children slowly grow up and children watching their parents slowly grow old.

  I say all that for a reason. Take the relationship of a parent and a child and put it in generational context: being a trustee of those who are here, and for those to come, means ensuring that the younger generations have the tools to build their future. The institutions established by our ancestors serve the same purpose. The common good endures when we pass.

  Do we judge trustees and institutions – and by extension, generations – by what they preserve and pass on?

  It’s dangerous to criticize a whole group in these times (accusations of stereotypes or whatever) and I hope you understand that a generation can be criticized even if every member of the generation didn’t do wrong. If the one generation sold out younger generations (and they did sell them out), it doesn’t mean they’re all greedy. It’s the forest and not the trees, the big picture and not each individual pixel. I’ll even concede this is the flaw of all generations, though perhaps some did it better than others.

  Greed and the Price of College

  With that said, turn your eyes to the trustees who abused their power. Over the past 30+ years the cost of attending college – both private and public – has grown exponentially. The numbers below are 2019 figures from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics and reflect the increase of the cost of higher education.

  

  Per these Department of Education figures, students are now paying anywhere from approximately $72,000 to $170,000 to get a four-year degree. An increase of $39,000 to nearly $90,000 without taking into consideration the interest on the loans. Put into simple terms, a student may be billed $100,000 for college but over the long term the cost can double.

  Meanwhile, wages haven’t kept up.

  

  The Cost of Student Loans: The Numbers and Beyond

  The student loan horror stories are everywhere if you care to look. You probably know people struggling with student loans who endure in silence. These are college graduates giving plasma to pay for groceries. One woman I spoke with documented how her husband has paid twice the original balance of the student loan – and still owes an amount so large that they will likely pay through retirement.  These are debts that are never meant to end.

  There’s the story of a 1990s law school graduate borrowed around $55,000. He struggled to make ends meet and now owes “well over $300,000.” Maybe the servicing companies can rob his corpse when he dies. This is what happens when you start viewing people as objects: you extract from them everything you can and leave them to deal with the fallout. Servitude until death.

  Debt and Misery

  If you haven’t faced crippling student loan debt then it’s hard to understand what these young people face. Economically, they can’t buy homes because their savings – which would go towards a down payment – are paying the interest on the student loans. If we get creative with a driving metaphor, plans for the future take a backseat to high balances and high interest. In the worst cases the future is locked in the trunk, being driven beyond the city limits to be shot and burned in some remote field.

  Psychologically, the results of loan debt can be devastating. Hope is for the young – except for those with student loans. They just have resignation. It’s the anxiety of drowning, fighting to stay near the surface as the $100,000 weight around their neck pulls them down. It’s the hopelessness and despair of paying everything you can afford month after month after month and watching the principal barely move. It’s a week’s worth of bologna sandwiches and eggs and instant oatmeal so you can pay your bills or treat yourself to an actual meal at an actual restaurant. It’s walking outside and praying your car hasn’t been repossessed.

  The Greed Starts at the University

  All of this is a great profit machine for the colleges. The University of Texas at Austin has an endowment of $31 billion. An in-state student at that school can graduate with over $75,000 in debt, counting tuition and living expenses. The trustees – those running the universities – are doing well for themselves.

  Over on the east coast, Harvard’s endowment is an obscene $40.9 billion. It appears that the purpose of the endowment is to serve itself – to eat and grow to as large a size as possible, to expend as little as possible and get as fat as the market allows. Gluttony.

  Costs are only cut when the cuts serve their interests. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Harvard instituted austerity measures and caused quite the controversy within its student body when it considered laying off its dining workers (technically contractors) without some sort of compensation. It took a bit of protest for Harvard to cut them something – the school wasn’t exactly volunteering to help those workers living paycheck to paycheck. While this went on, Harvard’s president and investment team continued to earn millions of dollars a year. True compassion from a liberal institution where only 1% of its professors call themselves (perhaps privately, if not publicly) “conservative.”

  The United States government has been no help. In fact, they helped feed this monster – and have failed to stop students from being consumed by its appetite. In 2005, Congress exempted “all forms of student debt, public or private . . . from discharge in bankruptcy, absent a showing of ‘undue hardship.’” Not an easy task in bankruptcy court.

  The Blame Goes Around – and Comes Back to the College

  Contrary to popular belief in some conservative circles, however, all the blame for the increased cost of a college education doesn’t lie on Congress or the government as a whole. Certainly, the availability of guaranteed and loans allowed costs to increase and the student loan crisis to flourish. But the greed starts with the schools. The availability of loans didn’t require prices to rise.

  To this you may say that the students took out these loans and should be on the hook for their debt: “Personal responsibility!”

  I don’t necessarily disagree with that. There’s a moral duty to pay debts that we all recognize. Perhaps we should also consider there are moral duties governing lenders. If we continue on the path of personal responsibility, here’s another question to consider: What is the responsibility of those who created and benefit from this perverse system?

  I’ll also add that there’s danger in the extreme. We allow for credit card debt to be discharged at bankruptcy. We allow for corporations to go through bankruptcy and be restructured. Personal or corporate bankruptcy all involve bad decisions with debt or in some cases an economic downturn. Sometimes both. Sometimes shit just happens.

  Why treat student loans so different? Could it be to protect not the debtor, but the colleges making obscene profits and the institutions financing and collecting the debt?

  This isn’t to say that I’m proposing the answer right now, though the answer requires some concerns to be addressed. This is a societal problem that requires an equitable solution. One that allows for balances to be paid without the punishing interest. A solution that puts some of the burden on the colleges and not just the students. An easier forgiveness of debt for those who absolutely need it. There must be a better way to solve the problem the trustees created.

  Debt: The Inheritance of Future Generations

  Now consider that all generations have a duty to preserve our inheritance for those yet to be born. What will their inheritance be?

  Reckless government spending and the accumulation of national debt is the best example of a breach of that duty that will be paid by future generations. The U.S. national debt (as of February 2021) is nearly $28 trillion dollars. That comes out to $84,000 per citizen and $222,000 per taxpayer. The US federal debt to GDP ratio has increased from 34.72% in 1980 to 128.89 in 2020. And it continues to grow, as seen in these December 2020 figures.

  

  What costs will future generations bear for the extravagance of today? We have an idea of the answer, even if there are disagreements on the specifics. Those with forked tongues undoubtedly advancing the interests of their masters or their political allies take the counter-intuitive position that debt doesn’t matter.

  We know otherwise. The ancients told us debt is slavery. (Proverbs 22:7: “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”) It is death: “To die is a debt we must all of us discharge.”

  Many experts at least agree that these dangerous levels of debt can lead to inflation, prolonged recessions, high unemployment, and in quite possibly the ruin of America. And our mediocre ruling class, those who are good at getting elected and bad at governance, continue to spend. They get all the benefits and incur none of the costs.

  A Contrast

  Yet as the younger generations get much grief (some of it being deserved) for taking loans and selfies, for entitled behavior, for demanding promotions with little experience, look what happens when they are asked give things up for the benefit of others. The COVID-19 pandemic and shutdowns, which are ongoing as I write this, have been a real-time demonstration of generational priorities and sacrifices. It is a generational contrast.

  The offerings of ordinary folks made during the pandemic– the sacrifices of the cooks, the janitors, the servers and bartenders, the small business owner – are substantial. This isn’t just a couple missed paychecks. This is about people getting no income when they already have so little. It’s auctioning restaurant equipment and locking the doors. This is paying half the month’s rent because you need the rest of your money for gas and groceries. It is the generation without wealth – in large part, the younger generation – making the sacrifices.

  And the sacrifices are for whom? The older generation, the generation that is most at risk from COVID-19. The “greater good.”

  When considering the sacrifices of the young during COVID – those sacrifices made for the “greater good” – how much worse is the older generation’s refusal to sacrifice small economic gains so younger generations wouldn’t be burdened with student loan debt for the next 20+ years?

  Where do we go from here?

  Things need to change. These are policies not based on the common good, or dare I say love, but on greed and cynicism. A country has no future if the future spends its life paying for the past.

  A hope emerges from this: that we one day relate to younger generations in the same way parents relate to children. That we look to ourselves as trustees. That we see ourselves as guardians of an inheritance. That we look to others not as objects but as fellow citizens.

  That we remember we are caretakers of those who came before and trustees for those who will come after.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 21:30

• First Human Cases Of H5N8 Bird Flu Reported In Russia
  First Human Cases Of H5N8 Bird Flu Reported In Russia

  With reports of Ebola and bubonic plague now competing with COVID-19 as the next potential trigger for trillions in unrelated stimulus, bird flu has returned just in time for President Biden to confront his old nemesis, should it spread beyond Russia’s borders (and become even moderately deadly in humans).

  

  Russian authorities report that seven employees at a poultry farm in southern Russia have contracted H5N8 bird flu, however they stress that there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission. The cases have been described as “mild” according to Interfax – however in birds symptoms can range from “asymptomatic and sub-clinical to highly lethal in some populations.”

  “Today, I want to inform you about an important scientific discovery made by scientists at the Vector scientific center,” said Anna Popova, head of Russia’s consumer health watchdog. “The first cases of human infection with [avian influenza A(H5N8)] have been laboratory confirmed.“

  “The virus can be transmitted from birds to humans, it has overcome the interspecies barrier,” she added. “As of today, this variant of the influenza virus is not being transmitted from person to person. Only time will tell how quickly future mutations will allow it to overcome this barrier.”

  In chickens, typical symptoms of respiratory illness include sneezing, coughing, wheezing or labored breathing and fewer eggs. H5N8 in particular has a 75% mortality rate in chickens.

  

  Popova says the discovery will help researchers prepare in case the disease mutates and becomes transmissible between humans, according to BNO News, which added that “detailed information about the seven cases has been submitted to the World Health Organization.”

  H5N8 has been found in birds since at least 1983 and outbreaks have occurred frequently since 2014, when it was found in breeding ducks in South Korea. Numerous outbreaks have been reported during the last 6 months, including in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, China, Japan, and South Korea. -BNO News

  “The H5N8 type influenza is regarded as pathogenic and is currently manifesting itself in a variety of ways, from asymptomatic and sub-clinical to highly lethal in some populations,” according to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in a recent update.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 21:00

• Newsweek 'Fact Check' Claims India Vaccine Ban "Mostly False" While Admitting De Facto Ban
  Newsweek ‘Fact Check’ Claims India Vaccine Ban “Mostly False” While Admitting De Facto Ban

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

  Newsweek published a “fact check” which labeled claims that India had banned the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as “mostly false” despite admitting in the article that India has in fact temporarily banned the vaccine.

  

  Last week, discussion around the issue intensified after it was revealed that Indian health authorities had refused to give permission for the vaccine to be distributed.

  “On February 3, 2021, India’s Subject Expert Committee (SEC), a panel that advises the nation’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), a national regulatory body focused on pharmaceuticals and devices, ruled that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine should not be recommended for an EUA in the country “at this stage,” reports Newsweek.

  The report quotes India’s Subject Expert Committee (SEC), which ruled, “The committee noted that incidents of palsy, anaphylaxis and other SAE’s have been reported during post marketing and the causality of the events with the vaccine is being investigated. Further, the firm has not proposed any plan to generate safety and immunogenicity data in Indian population.”

  In response, after the meeting with the regulator, Pfizer Inc. withdrew its application for the vaccine’s use in India.

  “The committee noted that incidents of palsy, anaphylaxis, & other serious adverse events have been reported during post marketing… Further, the firm has not proposed any plan to generate safety & immunogenicity data in Indian population.#PfizerVaccine https://t.co/QKDQcV6vYF

  — jholmie (@jholmie89) February 16, 2021

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

  The Newsweek report admits all this, including but then asserts that that the claim India banned the vaccine is “mostly false.”

  Indian authorities refused to allow the vaccine to be distributed in India. That’s also known as a “ban”.

  The ban might be lifted at a future date, but it’s a ban nonetheless.

  For Newsweek to claim that this is “mostly false” is completely erroneous.

  The Newsweek fact check itself is “mostly false.” The fact checkers have been fact checked.

  Fact check: Did India ban the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine? https://t.co/MUtRKI9r5m

  — Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 18, 2021

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

  But it gets worse.

  Bill Gates owns stock in Pfizer Inc. and his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated significant sums of money to help Pfizer’s development of vaccines.

  Interesting to note therefore that a message which originally appeared at the bottom of the Newsweek ‘fact check’ article has now disappeared.

  

  The message read; “Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something through recommended links in this article.”

  It is not known why that message has now vanished.

  This is yet another example of how ‘fact checks’ are often completely devoid of facts and are merely a way of legacy media institutions and giant corporations shutting down narratives they don’t like.

  *  *  *

  New limited edition merch now available! Click here. 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, 02/20/2021 – 20:30

• Texas Blackouts Spark First Lawsuit; AG Vows Probe
  Texas Blackouts Spark First Lawsuit; AG Vows Probe

  A Corpus Christi man has accused the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the state’s primary electric grid, of ignoring repeated warnings that the state’s electric power infrastructure had weaknesses, according to a new lawsuit. In a statement by the Dallas law firm which filed the suit, ERCOT and American Electric Power utility are also accused of causing property damage and business interruptions as last week’s cold snap shattered water pipes and caused widespread power outages to millions of Texans, according to NBCDFW.

  

  “This cold weather event and its effects on the Texas energy grid were neither unprecedented, nor unexpected, nor unforeseen,” states the lawsuit, filed by Donald McCarley. “In fact, similar cold weather events in 1989 and 2011 led to exactly the same type of rolling blackouts that have affected and continue to affect Texas residents and businesses.” The lawsuit also cites a clause in the Texas Constitution which holds that “no person’s property shall be taken, damaged or destroyed for or applied to public use without adequate compensation being made.”

  “The rolling blackouts ordered by Defendant ERCOT took, damaged, or destroyed Plaintiff’s property without adequate compensation,” the suit claims.

  The lawsuit filed Friday in a Nueces County court at law in Corpus Christi alleges the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, manager of the state’s main electric grid, ignored repeated warnings of weaknesses in the state’s electric power infrastructure. –NBCDFW

  “The resulting widespread property damage from blackouts was caused by their negligence and gross negligence. In addition, the disruptions rendered private property unusable and amounted to an illegal `taking’ of private property by the government,” the law firm said in a statement.

  The lawsuit also claims that utility companies should have winterized their plants and increased generation to meet skyrocketing demand, “but consciously chose not to do so.” Of course, frozen wind turbines in the middle of Texas may fall in the ‘unforseen’ category.

  Temporary outages began occurring last week and in the days and hours before the storm actually hit as temperatures across Texas began plummeting well below freezing. AEP Texas has not yet commented about the litigation but did post a series of tweets beginning Feb. 10 and continuing through the emergency offering winter storm preparation tips and urging energy conservation.

  ERCOT held numerous news briefings throughout the emergency to explain that the outages, intended to be temporary with power switching off and on for affected customers, were needed to prevent a catastrophic collapse of grid. Several giant generators tripped off line late Sunday and early Monday as demand for power spiked. –Caller Times

  Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued civil investigative demands to ERCOT, and says he’ll get “to the bottom of this power failure.”

  According to the report, the investigation will address power outages, emergency planning, energy pricing and other issues related to the winter storm.

  “The large-scale failure of Texas power companies to withstand the winter storm left multiple millions of Texans without power and heat during lethal, record-low temperatures across the state,” Paxton’s office said in a statement.

  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has called on ERCOT leadership to resign, and has vowed to reform the way the Texas grid operates.

  ERCOT says it’s reviewing the lawsuit and would not comment on specific allegations.

  “Our thoughts are with all Texans who have and are suffering due to this past week,” said spokesperson Leslie Sopko in a statement. “However, because approximately 46% of privately-owned generation tripped offline this past Monday morning, we are confident that our grid operators made the right choice to avoid a statewide blackout.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 20:00

• Trump To Make First Public Speech Since Leaving White House At CPAC
  Trump To Make First Public Speech Since Leaving White House At CPAC

  Authored by Allen Zhong via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Former President Donald Trump likely will make his first post-White House appearance at the end of February.

  

  He will be a keynote speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2021 in Orlando, Florida, CPAC Communications Director Ian Walters confirmed to The Epoch Times.

  The former president’s speech is scheduled for the afternoon of Feb. 28, the last day of the conference, Walters said.

  It will likely be Trump’s first public appearance since he left the White House on Jan. 20.

  American Conservative Union (ACU), the host of the conference, invited the former president to speak at CPAC.

  “I’d love to see him come to CPAC,” CAU Chairman Matt Schlapp told the Washington Examiner. Schlapp said he extended the invitation personally.

  “I think he deserves to be heard. I think even people who disagree with him will agree that he deserves to be heard. He should be uncanceled,” he added.

  An official close to the planning process told The Epoch Times that the invitation was sent out last year.

  Trump appears to be more active in the political arena after the conclusion of his second impeachment trial. He issued a lengthy statement confronting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)’s speech against him and appeared on several media outlets to saluting Rush Limbaugh after the death of the iconic conservative radio commentator.

  The Senate acquitted the former president with a 57-43 vote in his second impeachment trial. Sixty-seven votes are needed to reach an impeachment conviction.

  Most Senate Republicans, 45 out of 60, regarded the second impeachment trial as unconstitutional mostly because Trump has left the White House and no longer holds any official position at that time, The Epoch Times reported.

  

  Trump is frequent of the CPAC, an annual event.

  He issued a dire warning to Americans about socialism in his 2020 CPAC speech.

  “Far-left radicals have become increasingly desperate and increasingly dangerous in their quest to transform America into a country you would not recognize—a country in which they control every aspect of American life,” he said. “Just as socialist and communist movements have done all over the world, they’re cracking down on all dissent and demanding absolute conformity. They want total control.”

  Trump warned that the result of implementing such policies would “turn America very quickly into a large-scale Venezuela.”

  CPAC describes itself as the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world.

  Top conservatives regularly appear at the conference. Scheduled speakers for this year’s conference include a number of officials from Trump’s administration, including former Housing Secretary Ben Carson, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

  Trump allies like South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and former acting national security adviser Richard Grenell are also slated to speak.

  The lineup also includes some lawmakers like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), and Rep Mo Brooks (R-Ala.).

  With reporting from Jan Jekielek.

  Zachary Stieber, Bowen Xiao, and Emel Akan contributed to the report.

  Follow Allen on Twitter: @AllenZM

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 19:30

• New Regulations Mean Japanese Whiskey Now Actually Has To Come From Japan
  New Regulations Mean Japanese Whiskey Now Actually Has To Come From Japan

  Nothing is more popular in the world of trendy alcohol right now than Japanese whisky.

  And the funny thing is that while normal whisky is usually revered for where it is casked and prepared – with local climates and soils often playing a role in helping shape the unique tastes that come with it – Japanese whiskey doesn’t even have to be made in Japan, as long as it is bottled in the country. 

  Stefan van Eycken, author of Whisky Rising: The Definitive Guide to the Finest Whiskies and Distillers of Japan, told Bloomberg: “To say that whisky-­making regulations in Japan are loose is a major understatement. If they were any looser, you’d be able to sell tap water as Japanese whisky.”

  But this is all about to change. The Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association (JSLMA), a nongovernmental trade group of the country’s major producers is about to make sure consumers have a clear understanding of what Japanese whisky is – and, of course, it will mean whiskey actually produced in Japan. 

  

  The new regulations, which take effect on April 1 and are expected to be adopted widely by the Japanese government, is already making shockwaves. Whiskey maker Nikka came right out already and said: “Certain Nikka products don’t meet the requirements of ‘Japanese whisky,’ as some blends contain whiskies from outside Japan, most notably Scotland. Nikka’s priority is creating distinguished and consistent taste profiles, which is likely why they’re deciding not to alter the liquid to fit the new standards.”

  Nikka has been popular in Japanese bars for nearly 40 years. It just arrived in the U.S. in 2018 and was almost immediately named the year’s best whisky by Whisky Advocate. 

  For some, the news that Nikka whisky didn’t all come from Japan was surprising. Shawn Kim, owner of 58 Wines in Midtown Manhattan, told Bloomberg: “I had no idea it contained whisky from outside of Japan. I was able to get 10 cases at a time before it got popular. I hate whenever something I love is named ‘whisky of the year,’ because then people start treating it like a trophy, and they stop actually drinking it.”

  

  Nikka’s experience with coming to the U.S. has matched that of many other Japanese whiskies. Products from Suntory has been praised for its single malts and blends.

  Hideki Kanda, chairman of the JSLMA, said that all major brands sold in the U.S. conform to the new standards. If they don’t they will have to remove the word “Japanese” from their label and will also have to “excise all references to the country, its culture, and language”. For example, a bottle won’t be able to have a photo of a Japanese flag on it. 

  In Japan, there isn’t a ton of grain distilleries, making it sometimes easier to import whisky. 

  Eli Raffeld, who used to live in Japan before making back to the U.S. to start an importer-exporter for craft beer, said: “In Japan, nobody is really misled by any of this. It’s common practice in Japan, he says, to be bottling and selling whiskies that include a component imported from another country, almost to the point of tradition. So people don’t really think about it.”

  Emiko Kaji, international business development manager for Nikka, concluded: “We do not make superior or inferior distinctions of flavor based on geographical indications. If using imported whiskies as a part of the formula is beneficial to create or maintain the flavors of our unique expressions, we will continue this practice.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 19:00

• The High Cost Of Using The Minimum Wage As A Form Of Welfare
  The High Cost Of Using The Minimum Wage As A Form Of Welfare

  Authored by Martin Jones via The Mises Institute,

  In recent years a number of economic studies have concluded that small to moderate increases in the minimum wage do not necessarily cause a discernible decline in employment. Social activists have seized on these findings to argue that there are no job losses and that it is possible to increase mandated wages by almost any amount without ill effects.

  The result has been a rush to raise the minimum wage to $15 in a number of states and cities and now at the national level.

  

  The reality is that there is little consensus among economists about the effects of the minimum wage on aggregate employment.

  In their 2014 book What Does the Minimum Wage Do? Dale Belman and Paul Wolfson survey over two hundred minimum wage studies and conclude that moderate increases can raise the wages of low-income workers without significant employment effects.

  A 2019 paper by economist Jeffery Clemens is a shorter survey of many of the same studies. It concludes that the case for large increases (an increase from $7.25 to $15 would qualify) “is either mistaken or overstated” and adds that “[i]n contrast to the research emphasized by advocates, the broader body of work regularly finds that increases in minimum wages cause job losses for individuals with low skills.”

  In a January 2021 study, economists David Neumark and Peter Shirley assembled “the entire set of published studies in this literature” and conclude that “there is a clear preponderance of negative estimates“ and that the evidence is particularly strong for teens, young adults, and the less educated—exactly the results economic theory would predict.

  In the face of competing complex statistical analyses that may reach contradictory conclusions, voters and legislators should be aware that findings about the effects of wage increases on the unemployment rate often ignore or obscure other significant consequences. For example, small increases don’t always have a discernible effect on employment, because employers try to make other adjustments before laying off workers they are happy with and need. One of the first adjustments is to raise prices, the success of which depends on the competitive environment and the flexibility of demand for their products or services.

  Along with price increases, employers may reduce hours, and Belman and Wolfson note that “[i]t has long been suggested that employers may respond to minimum wage increases by reducing spending on training, fringe benefits and working conditions valued by employees.”

  Another important finding is that employers often respond to higher mandated wages by replacing low wage workers with those who have more education, skills and experience which make them more productive. This adjustment may have little effect on the observable employment numbers, but the effect is devastating for those who are replaced. Employers can be forced to pay higher wages, but they can’t be forced to hire or retain employees whose contributions don’t match the higher wage.

  Some studies (see Clemens 2019) suggest that the pace of job creation slows when mandated wages rise. The increases also accelerate automation, which reduces the number of entry-level jobs and further penalizes those whom the increases are meant to help. In coming years, the combined effect of substitution, slower job creation, and accelerated automation is likely to be a growing core of workers, many of whom are young and poorly educated, who are unemployed and unemployable.

  Social activists and progressive editorial boards now regard the minimum wage as another welfare program that can reduce the costs of programs like Medicaid and food stamps, and can reduce inequality. But the minimum wage is very poorly targeted for these purposes. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that “roughly 40 percent of workers directly affected by the $15 option in 2025 would be members of families with incomes more than three times the federal poverty level.” If the goal is to aid low-wage households, rather than teenagers and other part-time workers in middle-income and affluent families, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit would be far more effective, because it is designed to aid the working poor.

  The national minimum wage was established in 1938, and along with periodic increases has become widely accepted as desirable public policy. But it has also become a textbook example of the failure to think separately and equally about ends and means. If there is a public consensus that low-income families should receive additional aid, that policy should be paid for by the public, not by private businesses, many of which will try to offset the higher costs by raising prices to consumers and cutting employee hours and benefits, and some of which won’t survive with higher mandated costs that they can’t adequately offset.

  The notion that third parties can pick the right starting wage for every employee, in every job, in every business, in every industry is folly. Those who support increases in the minimum wage do so with the best of intentions, but they should be aware of the substantial hidden costs and negative consequences which are often ignored in the public debate and should be aware that there are much better alternatives for helping those in need.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 18:30

• 92% Of NYC Restaurants Unable To Pay Rent In December, Study Finds 
  92% Of NYC Restaurants Unable To Pay Rent In December, Study Finds 

  Another week, another restaurant doomsday story.

  According to the latest NYC Hospitality Alliance survey, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for restaurants across the metro area to pay their rent in full and on time. The return of indoor dining couldn’t come soon enough as struggling eateries cling on for dear life. 

  The survey found 92% of more than 400 respondents couldn’t pay rent in December, a number that has exponentially moved higher during the pandemic. In June, 80% of restaurants couldn’t afford to pay rent; July 83%; August 87%; October 88%. The trend outlines the struggle Big Apple restaurants have endured since the pandemic began. 

  

  Before the pandemic, more than 25,000 restaurants, bars, and nightclubs employed 325,000 people across all seven boroughs. So far, thousands of eateries have closed permanently, and at least half are at risk of closing if government aid isn’t seen or restrictions aren’t lifted. The industry’s consolidation has been devastating for the labor force, with some 140,000 jobs lost.

  NYC Hospitality Alliance survey said 40% of respondents said landlords reduced rent, 36% said landlords deferred rent, and 14% said they could renegotiate leases. 

  The report’s release comes as Gov. Andrew Cuomo eased restrictions on restaurants statewide last week. He said restaurants and bars could stay open longer and has allowed for indoor dining at 25% capacity in the city. 

  “We’re nearly a year into the public health and economic crisis that has decimated New York City’s restaurants, bars, and nightlife venues,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance. 

  Cuomo’s ban on indoor dining last fall produced a dark winter for many restaurants who had to build tents on their patios or sidewalks to house guests and protect them from the freezing temperatures. 

  In response to the ban, restauranteurs across the city prohibited the governor from dining at their eateries. 

  “He should be banned from every restaurant bar etc he’s a scumbag f**k you coumo and di blasio,” one owner said. 

  With indoor restrictions in place during the holiday season, many restaurants across the city saw a “dramatic loss of revenue” as New Year’s celebrations were canceled. 

  Some restaurants developed new revenue streams by selling frozen dinners. 

  OpenTable shows the percentage of restaurants in New York City accepting reservations from diners remains well under the 50% level, even worse than last October. 

  

  NYC Hospitality Alliance survey’s lined up with December’s Alignable Rent Poll, showing that more than half of the country’s restaurants couldn’t pay rent in December. 

  More than one year later since the pandemic began and the restaurant industry remains in shambles. No “V-shaped” recovery here. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 18:00

• Learning To Live With Crypto
  Learning To Live With Crypto

  Authored by Sean Stein Smith via The American Institute for Economic Research,

  Accounting standards developed for the 20th century are not equipped to deal with 21st century crypto assets. Assuming otherwise creates inaccurate and diminished financial reporting. 

  Recent headlines by the likes of Tesla, Microstrategy, and BNY Mellon, as well as statements by market titans such as Ray Dalio and Jeff Gundlach illustrate one consistent point; crypto is part of the mainstream financial conversation. 

  Bitcoin especially has come a long way from its early days as a cypherpunk-themed movement to create an alternative financial and payment system. In the context of 2021, bitcoin and other crypto are actually starting to become somewhat boring; just another asset class and investment opportunity for institutional investors, financial institutions, and retail investors alike versus a world changing idea.

  If the story ended there, well, it would all sound pretty mundane. Unfortunately, that is only the surface, and these headlines obscure an extremely important problem that remains unaddressed; the accounting for crypto as it currently stands makes no business sense. That’s right, something as under-the-radar as accounting standards are quickly becoming a significant issue as crypto adoption and investment accelerates. 

  

  Let’s dig in. 

  The Problem 

  There is currently no widely accepted authoritative accounting guidance for crypto. Certain specific countries have implemented unique approaches that stand apart, but these are not widely adopted outside of these countries. In the accounting world, the two standard setting bodies are the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). It is true that the IASB has proven more flexible in terms of crypto accounting; there are no authoritative standards to that effect. In the US, and despite worthwhile efforts by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) to publish non-authoritative research, the FASB has so far refused to consider the issue of crypto-specific accounting guidance. 

  In the face of no authoritative standards, a consensus has developed that crypto should be treated as an indefinite lived intangible asset (like goodwill) for financial reporting purposes. At first glance this all seems fine since crypto is intangible and has no fixed expiration date. Peeling back the layers of this treatment, however, quickly reveals how inappropriate this classification is for crypto. 

  Following the rules of accounting for indefinite lived intangible assets, these assets are held on the balance sheet at the price paid for them (cost) less any impairment charges. Impairment, without getting overly technical, is a process by which assets are evaluated to see whether or not the book value is reflective of market value. If the market value has decreased, the asset is written down and an expense is recorded. Under US accounting standards, there is one other wrinkle to keep in mind; once an asset has been written down it cannot be written back up no matter what the market valuation becomes. 

  This accounting treatment might be fine for goodwill, an asset created due to paying more than the fair market valuation of an organization (think M&A) would imply, but does not work for crypto. Under this current treatment, any organization that invests in crypto will have to record this investment at cost, and mark it down whenever conditions trigger an impairment test, and would never be able to mark this asset back up. 

  Crypto is still a volatile market, and even just in 2021 there have been double-digit percentage swings in prices for bitcoin and innumerable other crypto. Treating crypto as the current consensus would indicate creates a situation where economic realities are not accurately represented. 

  Think about it, is any other widely traded and free-floating commodity or equity-like instrument treated this way? No. Why? Because it does not make business sense and diminishes the usability of financial reporting. 

  Potential Solutions 

  There are two possible solutions that could ultimately be implemented given the rapid proliferation of crypto on corporate balance sheets. Again, there is no widely implemented crypto-specific guidance, and these approaches do not align with current market consensus. 

  • Option #1 is the simplest approach, and would involve choosing to treat, record, and report crypto investments as a commodity-like instrument. This would allow the changes in market value to be reported as they occur on the balance sheet, and be reported on the income statement (or through other comprehensive income). Implementing this approach, modifying existing standards to reflect an emerging asset class, would increase the transparency and usability of financial reporting. 

  • A second option, and one that in a perfect world would already be in the pipeline at standard setters, is the development of entirely new standards for this entirely new asset class. Obviously this would take more time, require more input, and necessitate high levels of collaboration, but the following framework might make sense. Classifying different crypto depending on use case (currency alternative, commodity equivalent, or equity-like instrument) would allow new and more nuanced standards to enter the marketplace. 

  As far fetched as this might seem, a similar attempt was made to improve crypto reporting via the proposed (not passed) Token Taxonomy Act of 2019; a refreshing attempt by policymakers to encourage innovation and adoption of new technologies. 

  Takeaway

  Crypto has rapidly moved from a fringe topic, to a relatively minor investment selection, to an investment being adopted by some of the largest corporations and asset managers in the world. This is fantastic news for wider adoption, but the accounting simply has not kept pace. Accounting professionals need to learn to live and work with crypto, and standard setters need to be proactive in the creation of crypto-specific standards. Applying standards developed for the 20th century economy to 21st crypto assets is already causing issues, and should be rectified to avoid wider market disruptions.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 17:30

• Biden Admin "Working Directly" With Big Tech To Crush Vaccine Dissent
  Biden Admin “Working Directly” With Big Tech To Crush Vaccine Dissent

  “In a corporatist system of government, wherein there is no meaningful separation between corporate power and state power, corporate censorship is state censorship.”

  Those were the prophetic words of Caitlin Johnstone in 2018 warning of the slippery slope that Big Tech and its liberal minions were embarking on as the corporate-sponsored cancel-culture began.

  

  In 2018, representatives of Facebook, Twitter, and Google were instructed on the US Senate floor that it is their responsibility to “quell information rebellions” and adopt a “mission statement” expressing their commitment to “prevent the fomenting of discord.”

  “Civil wars don’t start with gunshots, they start with words,” the representatives were told.

  “America’s war with itself has already begun. We all must act now on the social media battlefield to quell information rebellions that can quickly lead to violent confrontations and easily transform us into the Divided States of America.”

  And now, 3 years later, all the ‘behind the scenes’ nods and winks are gone and conspiracy theories proved fact as Reuters reports The White House has been reaching out to social media companies including Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc’s Google about clamping down on COVID misinformation and getting their help to stop it from going viral, a senior administration official said.

  “Disinformation that causes vaccine hesitancy is going to be a huge obstacle to getting everyone vaccinated and there are no larger players in that than the social media platforms,” a source with direct knowledge about the cooperation told Reuters.

  The White House previously acknowledged working with tech giants like Facebook and Google on the issue, but direct engagement was not confirmed, Reuters said.

  “We are talking to them … so they understand the importance of misinformation and disinformation and how they can get rid of it quickly.”

  

  The source told Reuters that the companies “were receptive” as they engaged with the White House. “But it is too soon to say whether or not it translates into lessening the spread of misinformation.”

  Every time the dangers of a few Silicon Valley plutocrats controlling all new media political discourse with an iron fist are pointed out, Democratic Party loyalists all turn into a bunch of hardline free market Ayn Rands.

  “It’s not censorship!” they exclaim. “It’s a private company and can do whatever it wants with its property!”

  Except now, that ‘private’ entity is working directly for the government as the Biden administration is not even trying to hide the relationship.

  So, it turns out Johnstone was right: “In a corporatist system of government, wherein there is no meaningful separation between corporate power and state power, corporate censorship is state censorship.”

  Be careful what you ‘think’ America… be wary of ‘questioning’ anything, and definitely be careful what you ‘share’.

  As John Whitehead warned this week:  This is the slippery slope that leads to the end of free speech as we once knew it.

  

  “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” – George Orwell

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 17:00

• "It's Raining Metal" – Boeing 777 Experiences Mid-Flight Engine Explosion Over Denver Suburbs
  “It’s Raining Metal” – Boeing 777 Experiences Mid-Flight Engine Explosion Over Denver Suburbs

  Update (1712 ET): The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a statement around 1700 ET about the incident concerning a Boeing 777-200 operated by United Airlines. The FAA says it’s “aware of reports of debris in the vicinity of the airplane’s flight path. Please contact local officials and the airline for further information about the passengers. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.” 

  

  * * * 

  9NEWS’ Chris Vanderveen reports United flight 328 has returned to Denver International Airport after passengers heard a “loud bang.” 

  I say again, holyyyy crap! We’ll have to let NTSB do its work to identify the cause for this engine failure, but this video of #UA328 is insane.pic.twitter.com/V4qvPwIJ5G

  — Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) February 20, 2021

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

  Vanderveen tweeted: 

  “Just spoke to passenger on United flight that had to turn around after passengers heard a “loud bang”. Flight was able to return to DIA. No injuries immediately reported on board. Plane was headed to Honolulu according to passenger.”

  He also tweeted a video from a passenger during landing. The video clearly shows the engine sustained damage. 

  BREAKING

  This is the moment United flight 328 landed in DIA

  Passengers cheer.

  You can see damage to right engine.

  Video: Troy Lewis #9news pic.twitter.com/wyYqlEEJgZ

  — Chris Vanderveen (@chrisvanderveen) February 20, 2021

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

  Twitter user Kieran Cain posted a picture of the “giant metal engine piece just landed in this Broomfield person’s yard after a plane flying over experienced explosion.”

  

  More images of the metal engine part.

  

  Engine parts landed in a sports field filled with people. No word if anyone was injured. 

  

  “Incredible photos by Hayden Smith of UA328 suffering an engine failure shortly after departing Denver,” tweeted Tamas K-L. 

  

  “Hollyyy crap, it is just raining engine parts across the world today. This piece, what looks to be the entire engine inlet of a United 777-200, rained down over Denver,” said Flightradar24’s Jason Rabinowitz

  Hollyyy crap, it is just raining engine parts across the world today. This piece, what looks to be the entire engine inlet of a United 777-200, rained down over Denver.

  h/t @Travel_Buddha for IDing the aircraft. https://t.co/rmeYsNXuLr pic.twitter.com/Qw1XXg1HDI

  — Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) February 20, 2021

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

  Literally, parts of the aircraft were “raining down over Denver.” 

  United Airlines Boeing 777 operating as flight 328 flying from Denver – Honolulu suffered a serious engine failure on takeoff.

  It made an emergency landing and everyone is ok.

  Check out these pieces of the engine falling from the sky…pic.twitter.com/1IyBj6Nlf2

  — Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) February 20, 2021

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

  One Twitter user allegedly shows a video of the plane returning to Denver International Airport.

  Here is the plane flying back to DEN near City Park in Denver at 1:13PM, 3 minutes after being diverted. Saw a low flying plane and decided to look it up. Noticed it was diverted back to Denver. No smoke. pic.twitter.com/QWovmpFyl0

  — Morgan G (@MorganGurard) February 20, 2021

  Broomfield Police told 9NEWS “metal parts fell from the sky on Saturday, possibly from a passing aircraft in the the Broomfield area.”  

  FlightAware shows United flight 328 is a Boeing 777-200. Here’s the plane’s flight path this afternoon as it appears the aircraft took off from Denver International Airport and then immediately returned. 

  

  This can’t be good for Boeing shares come Monday…

  

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 16:29

• "Rise Up, Fight Back!" – Detroit Rent Protest Erupts Amid Nationwide Eviction Crisis
  “Rise Up, Fight Back!” – Detroit Rent Protest Erupts Amid Nationwide Eviction Crisis

  At least 100 people gathered at a rent demonstration in Detroit on Saturday afternoon following a mother who was evicted with police assistance not too long ago. People walked the streets in the metro area, shouting, “no slumlords, no cops, all evictions got to stop!” This comes as millions of Americans are behind in rent and face eviction if the nationwide moratorium expires at the end of March.

  Independent reporter Brendan Gutenschwage captured the rent protest in a series of tweets Saturday afternoon. He said about 100 people turned up for the event to march through Detroit’s West Side. 

  

  The crowd was heard chanting: “When Black homes are under attack, what do we do? Rise up, fight back!”

  Chants of “When Black homes are under attack, what do we do? Rise up, fight back!” as the crowd makes their way down Livernois in Detroit #Detroit #DetroitProtest #Evictions pic.twitter.com/8yUUMBJ6mp

  — Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) February 20, 2021

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

  Protesters also chanted: “No slumlords, no cops, all evictions got to stop!”

  “No slumlords, no cops, all evictions got to stop!” chants as the group mobilizes in Detroit this afternoon #Detroit #DetroitProtest #Evictions pic.twitter.com/6Tn6lSXyJu

  — Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) February 20, 2021

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

  More views of the protest. 

  Protesters on the march through Detroit’s West Side, with a caravan following behind the crowd of about 100 out this afternoon #Detroit #DetroitProtest #Evictions pic.twitter.com/zpvUsxV2mX

  — Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) February 20, 2021

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

  During the demonstration, the crowd marched past a community food distribution and donation drive. Housing and food insecurities are huge issues in America right now with no resolution in sight. 

  The crowd marches past a community food distribution and donation drive #Detroit #DetroitProtest pic.twitter.com/zpySKMuN2O

  — Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) February 20, 2021

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  Protesters told people in the community to “come out of their houses and join them” in their march against evictions.

  “Tell ‘em all come out of the houses and into the streets” Protesters chant as they make their way back towards the 10th Precinct #Detroit #DetroitProtest pic.twitter.com/fP6f7MomYl

  — Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) February 20, 2021

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  What sparked the protest was when a mother was evicted from her home by police in December. 

  A member of Detroit Eviction Defense tells the story of Whitney Burney, the mother whose eviction in December sparked protests last month and today in the city #Detroit #DetroitProtest pic.twitter.com/FxfEda5Rtc

  — Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) February 20, 2021

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  Meanwhile, a nationwide eviction crisis is here, and there’s no way to stop it. 

  According to research firm Moody’s Analytics, about 12 million renters owe an average of almost $6,000, which includes past due rent, late fees, and unpaid utility bills. In total, some $72 billion is owed. 

  “These are low-income households,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. “They’ve probably already borrowed as much as they can from family or friends. They have no resources left.”

  In New York City alone, tenants owe a whopping $2 billion in back rents. 

  COVID has severely impacted almost all Americans but has financially crushed those with the lowest incomes. 

  The federal government has yet to address the eviction crisis with a long-term solution. In December, Congress allotted $25 billion in emergency rental assistance. Frankly, the federal government and Federal Reserve don’t have a viable long-term plan to fix this socio-economic mess – all they care about is printing trillions of dollars and throwing free money at everyone, thinking it will somehow immediately repair the deeply scarred economy.

  With eviction courts already clogged up with cases, the big question that looms is if the Biden administration will extend eviction moratoriums… If not, prepare for more rent protests. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 16:00

• Inflation Here, There, And Everywhere
  Inflation Here, There, And Everywhere

  Authored by Bryce Coward via Knowledge Leaders Capital blog,

  What a week for price data! We have been writing about the possibility of higher inflation for months now, most recently here. We have also highlighted the most likely assets to benefit from higher inflation like copper, oil and energy stocks. So far so good on that front.

  While inflation of some kind – be it transitory or more lasting in duration – has been a high probability scenario for awhile, we are finally starting to see it clearly in the economic stats. This week alone we were given price data from the New York Fed’s Empire State survey, economy-wide producer price data from the Bureau of Labor Stats, and price data from the Markit PMIs. All of those data points recorded large gains and handily beat market expectations.

  For example, the Markit Services Input Price series went parabolic in February, recording the highest reading ever, by a long shot. The Output Price series also went up, but not as much as input prices. The difference between input prices and outprices implies margin contraction for services companies. We wouldn’t expect this level of margin compression to be sustained and thus expect output prices for services to rise handily in the months ahead, especially as covid vaccinations continue to chug along and reopening continues.

  

  Producer prices rose significantly in January too. Core producer prices (prices ex food, energy, and trade), recorded a 2% year-over-year gain, which was fully double the “Street’s” estimates.

  

  Finally, the Empire State manufacturing survey recorded a 10-year high in Prices Paid and a 9-year high in Prices Received.

  

  With these data all moving in one direction (up), it’s only a matter of time before the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation – the core personal consumption expenditure  (PCE) – catches up. The PCE is often the last inflation statistic to move, but movement in the upward direction is pretty much baked in the cake at this point.

  If history is a guide, the level of service company input prices (blue line) suggests we could see a core PCE reading above 2% within the next two months.

  

  Why does all this matter? Inflation impacts asset prices directly through the level of bond yields and indirectly through the increased volatility it brings to sales and earnings. The longer duration the asset, the more impact on that asset’s price as a result of inflation. For example, 30Y year Treasury yields (duration 20 years) are up nearly 40bps since the beginning of the year while 10 year Treasury yields (7 year duration) are only up 25bps. The Nasdaq 100 index (the longest duration major equity index) is up only 5% YTD compared to the Russell 2000 (a much shorter duration index), which is up 14.7%. Copper miners, which are among the shortest duration equities, are up 28%. To the extent the inflation data continues to come in hot, we would expect the above hierarchy of asset price returns to hold, generally speaking.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 15:30

• "Two Weeks That Changed The World": A Goldman Post-Mortem On "The Squeeze"
  “Two Weeks That Changed The World”: A Goldman Post-Mortem On “The Squeeze”

  It was almost exactly three months ago, long before the Reddit short squeeze fireworks, when we were parsing through the latest quarterly Hedge Fund Tracker report from Goldman Sachs which famously breaks down the 50 most popular hedge fund long and short positions, when we repeated what we have said for much of the past decade:

  … since it is the most shorted stocks that end to do far better than the most popular ones, especially during market-wide squeezes such as the one seen since March, here is also the list of 50 most-shorted stocks. As usual, our advice is to go long the most hated names and short the most popular ones – a strategy that has generated alpha without fail for the past 7 years, ever since we first recommended it back in 2013.

  We said this on November 20, 2020, which we bring up because as everyone knows by now, what transpired since has been the biggest coordinated short squeeze in history, and anyone who listened to our advice and put on the abovementioned pair trade is now up some 40% in the past 3 months, an annualized return of over 160%.

  

  Actually, those who were reading us during this historic short squeeze meltup may already have retired, because while many were chasing Gamestop, one of our favorite squeeze trades was to go long a heavily shorted microcap, SRMX, as we revealed on Jan 27, and just two weeks later, SRMX was up 3,800%, double the peak performance of Gamestop.

  

  Yet while our readers profited handsomely from January’s epic moves, in many cases generating historic returns, there were also just as many who had a terrible month: they are better known as hedge funds. And it is their plight that Goldman’s latest Hedge Fund tracker focuses on.

  What follows below will not be surprising or new to any of our readers, who were presented with front-row seats to the historic events as they unfolded in January and early February. Still, what Goldman’s Ben Snider has done in his latest Hedge Fund Trend monitor (in which he analyzes the holdings of 820 hedge funds with $2.8 trillion in gross equity positions), is a good recap of some of the key catalysts and milestones behind what was to many financial professionals, two weeks that changed the world of finance starting with the January 22 breakout in Gamestop stock, and ending with the February 5 collapse in the most shorted names and the apparent return to normalcy.

  As Snider writes, January’s short squeeze showed the risk posed to both hedge fund returns and broad market performance by record leverage and a high degree of crowding, two factors (both the byproduct of years of “idea dinners”) which we have repeatedly warned in the past would one day come and bite the hedge fund industry in the ass.

  As we noted at the time…

  hedge fund net leverage at all time high pic.twitter.com/zgtHwkuheD

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 7, 2020

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  … hedge funds entered 2021 with the highest levels of net and gross exposure on record. And although the average fund’s portfolio concentration and the degree of crowding across hedge fund portfolios declined in 2020, both of those measures remained elevated relative to history, Snider notes.

  

  As an illustration, the top five constituents of Goldman’s Hedge Fund VIP list of the most popular hedge fund long positions have remained unchanged for 10 consecutive quarters, including this quarter’s rebalance (although while 13Fs showed positions as of Dec 31, this may well have changed after the January fireworks).

  That’s because short covering that began following vaccine efficacy announcements in November accelerated in January, leading eventually to broad hedge fund de-grossing that weighed on popular hedge fund long positions and the aggregate S&P 500.

  Meanwhile, as we predicted well in advance, Goldman retroactively points out that a rolling basket of the Russell 3000 stocks with the highest short interest as a share of float rose 42% in January, capping a record three-month return of 98% for the most heavily-shorted stocks (to those who listened to us and put this basket on as a long, congratulations).

  As Goldman then notes, “this tipped a chain of dominoes that led to the largest week of active hedge fund de-grossing since February 2009, according to Goldman Sachs Prime Services, which caused our Hedge Fund VIP list to decline by 6%, the S&P 500 to dip by 4%, and an average January return of -1.2% for long/short equity hedge funds.”

  

  Conveniently, starting with the day Robinhood decided to block most purchases of most shorted stocks – effectively putting a stop to the process that “scared” Interactive Brokers CEO Thomas Peterffy said brought markets “frighteningly close” to breaking during the Reddit Raid – hedge fund performance has rebounded in the weeks since the short squeeze, and leverage – while off its peak – remains close to the highest levels on record. In fact, hedge funds are now even more levered:

  “Aggregate hedge fund net leverage calculated based on publicly-available data registered 58% at the start of 2021, surpassing the previous record level of 57% in early 2015. Higher-frequency exposures calculated by our colleagues in Goldman Sachs Prime Services also showed record leverage prior to the January short squeeze. According to their data, net and gross leverage each now register at the 99th percentile.”

  

  This should not be a surprise: consider that January’s short squeeze occurred against the backdrop of already extremely low aggregate short interest  – largely a function of the short extinction-level event unleashed by the Fed last year which sent stocks soaring to record highs – and which has continued to decline. In fact, the median S&P 500 stock has outstanding short interest equating to just 1.5% of market cap, matching the record low in 2000. In most sectors, short interest outstanding currently ranks in the bottom decile of the last 25 years, with Goldman noting that only Energy sector shorts registering above the historical average (this is why JPMorgan believes that the next massive squeeze will focus on energy names starting some time in March).

  

  Yet while most hedge funds suffered through a devastating January, where the alpha drawdown among the hedge fund universe was the worst on record leading to cascading VaR shocks…

  

  … Retail investors were by and far the big winners. That’s why Goldman writes next that the January short squeeze and apparent pockets of froth in the equity market have turned investor focus to the impact of individual retail traders: “Broker activity, trading volumes in penny stocks, and inflows into levered ETFs all reflect the surge in retail trading activity that contributed to the sharp recent rally in heavily shorted stocks.”

  In general, the most popular stocks among retail investors have performed well; a basket of Retail Favorites (ticker: GSXURFAV) has returned 18% YTD, outperforming both our VIP basket of the most popular hedge fund long positions (+8%) and the broad S&P 500 (+4%). Notably, the retail favorites have been positively correlated with the most heavily-shorted stocks, in contrast with the recent sharply negative correlation of our Hedge Fund VIP basket (Exhibit 10).

  

  The dramatic gains by retail investors also explain the substantial outperformance of value over growth names in 2021. Goldman explains:

  In general, the favorite retail trading stocks tend to be tilted toward Value as a factor, while hedge fund favorites are more correlated with Growth. Similarly, at the sector level, the largest weight and correlation of Hedge Fund VIPs is with Info Tech stocks, whereas retail favorites have been more correlated with cyclical value sectors like Energy and Financials.

  

  As a result, while hedge funds have shifted “slightly” toward Value in recent quarters, Goldman notes that they remain firmly in the Growth camp.

  

  This is similar to events in the second half of last year, when ahead of vaccine efficacy results and the 2020 elections, funds rotated modestly toward Value, including lifting positions in Financials. However, the rotations fizzled in the 4th quarter, as vaccine news surpassed expectations but Election Day 2020 failed to result in a large “Blue Wave.” At the factor level, funds continued to shift from Growth to Value, but changes in sector and subsector tilts generally favored secular growth over cyclicality.

  Of course, between hedge funds’ even higher (record) net leverage and continued bets on growth stocks, what happened in January may very well happen again – in fact it is virtually assured following the next big reflationary catalyst. We are starting to see that already, because as yields rise it is the growth and high-duration stocks that are getting hammered the hardest:

  Consistent with their factor tilt toward Growth, the most popular hedge fund long positions have recently been very negatively correlated with interest rates. Hedge Fund VIPs generally have higher implied equity duration and higher valuation multiples than both the retail favorite basket and the S&P 500. For more on equity duration and sensitivity to interest rates, see Q&A on rates and equities, February 7, 2021

  

  And yet despite their investing differences, hedge funds and retail investors do share some commonality in their portfolios. 12 stocks in Goldman’s Hedge Fund VIP basket also appear in the Retail Favorites basket: AAPL, AMZN, BABA, DIS, FB, GOOGL, MSFT, NFLX, NVDA, SQ, UBER, VTRS.

  

  Furthermore, Goldman notes that both investor groups have also contributed to the surge in trading activity among extremely high-growth, high-valuation stocks; each basket contains a number of stocks trading above 20x EV/sales, although none of those stocks appear in the overlap between the two baskets.

  

  Goldman concludes, as usual, by looking ahead in the rearview mirror, and in the table below lists the retail favorite stocks with the largest increases and decreases in hedge fund popularity last quarter….

  

  … while the next chart shows the entire Retail Favorites basket. The basket is rebalanced monthly to include the stocks with the highest dollar notional volume of small share trades during the previous month

  

  And while all of this information is great, what would have been far more practical – not to mention lucrative – is for Goldman not to do a “post mortem” but to predict ahead of time, that the most shorted stocks would explode and the most popular ones would collapse- you know, as analysts used to do once upon a time when they correctly called the future… like for example we did in our Nov 20 post.

  And since all of the above confirms that absolutely nothing has changed, we will end this post the same way we end all our hedge fund performance wraps – by telling our readers that the most profitable decision they can make is to once again go long the most shorted names…

  

  … while shorting the hedge fund hotel of 50 or so “VIP” names that have emerged after countless shadowy and collusive (if not collusive enough to warrant a Congressional hearing) idea dinners.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 15:00

• Want To Prosecute Trump? It Will Require Proof Not Politics For A Viable Case
  Want To Prosecute Trump? It Will Require Proof Not Politics For A Viable Case

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  Below is my column in USA Today on the calls for criminal charges against former president Donald Trump and what is still missing from viable prosecutions.  In the meantime, civil lawsuits have been filed including one by Rep. Bennie Thompson alleging that Trump and others incited the riot on January 6th. Those civil lawsuits have the advantage a lower standard of proof than criminal prosecutions. If some cases can be sustained past motions to dismiss, they would also allow for discovery though those fights could draw out the litigation. However, Democrats may also be laying the foundation for Trump to claim vindication in defeating such cases in courts. Despite the assurance of the same legal experts of a strong case for prosecution, made-for-television cases do poorly in actual courts of law. What makes for good politics does not always make for good cases. However, bad cases can make for some really bad politics.

  

  Here is the column:

  With the acquittal of former President Donald Trump in the Senate, many are calling for criminal charges for everything from incitement to racketeering to bank fraud. Legal experts on CNN and MSNBC seemed to appear like crisis counselors after the acquittal to assure viewers that all was well because Trump can be clearly prosecuted and convicted.

  The question is how serious a prosecution threat is Trump facing. The answer is that the basis for such charges has been wildly overstated and that, without additional evidence, Trump is not looking at a trip to the hoosegow any time soon. According to The Associated Press, the Justice Department is not pursuing Trump on the much discussed campaign finance allegations tied to payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

  So let’s look at the two major threats of prosecution and what it would take for a credible prosecution.

  Criminal incitement

  For weeks, the airwaves have been packed with legal experts assuring hosts that Trump clearly committed not just impeachable but criminal incitement. For example, Harvard professor Laurence Tribe (who previously declared a long list of impeachable or criminal violations) announced the core elements of the crime satisfied: “This guy was inciting not just imminent lawless action, but the violent decapitation of a coordinate branch of the government.”

  Such proclamations do better with MSNBC than the DDC (United States District Court for the District of Columbia). The public statements of Trump alone would not make for a credible case for criminal incitement under the controlling case law.

  Nevertheless, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine garnered widespread acclaim by announcing soon after the Jan. 6 riot that he was investigating Trump for a possible incitement charge. Then nothing happened. That was strange given the insistence by legal experts that the crime was public and obvious on Jan. 6. Yet, more than a month have gone by without word of an interview for Trump, let alone a charge, on criminal incitement. Why?

  The reason is that while the crime is not clear, the case law is. In Brandenburg v. Ohio, the Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that even calling for violence is protected under the First Amendment unless there is a threat of “imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.”

  Trump never called for violence and instead told his followers to go to the Capitol peacefully to “cheer” on those challenging the electoral votes. Such protests at capitals are common and, while reckless, Trump’s speech could as easily be interpreted as a call for protest rather than violence.

  Notably, the Ku Klux Klan leader Clarence Brandenburg also referred to a planned march on Congress after declaring that “revengeance” could be taken for the betrayal of the president and Congress. The Supreme Court still overturned the conviction.

  The court has consistently rejected the type of arguments by Tribe and other legal experts as a threat to free speech in our society. In Hess v. Indiana, the court rejected the prosecution of a protester declaring an intention to take over the streets, holding that “at worst, (the words) amounted to nothing more than advocacy of illegal action at some indefinite future time.” In another case, NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., the court overturned a judgment against the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People after one official declared, “If we catch any of you going in any of them racist stores, we’re gonna break your damn neck.” That was ruled as the hyperbolic language of advocacy.

  Trump could also point to the timeline:

  ►He ended his speech at 1:10 p.m.

  ►The first rioter entered the U.S. Capitol at 2:12.

  ►According to CNN, Trump had a heated call around 2:20 with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who told him of the breach.

  ►Around 2:26, Trump mistakenly called Utah Sen. Mike Lee instead of Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville. After Lee gave Tuberville his phone, he reportedly said that Trump did not appear to realize the extent of the rioting in the building.

  ►At 2:38, Trump called for his followers to be peaceful and to support police. 

  That would not make for a strong case for criminal incitement.

  What would be needed? Prosecutors would need testimony showing that Trump knew of the high risk of violence and wanted it to occur. They would also seek evidence that Trump actively delayed deployment of reinforcements or sought to block efforts at preparation. What is clear is that the speech (and prior public statements) would not be enough to sustain a conviction.

  Racketeering

  Like Racine, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been lionized for opening criminal investigation into the phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger last month. Willis suggested that Trump’s pressuring of Raffensperger could constitute “solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration.” 

  Again, the call itself does not clearly establish such crimes.

  While often omitted in news accounts, the call was actually a settlement discussion between the Trump team and the Georgia team. There were a variety of lawyers present, not some backroom arm twisting. The Trump campaign alleged there were uncounted votes that surpassed the 11,779 deficit, and Trump asserted, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.”

  Former prosecutor Daniel Goldman (who worked on the first Trump impeachment) tweeted that the smoking gun was the line by Trump, “ ‘It’s gonna be costly to you.’ I’ve charged extortion in mob cases with similar language.”

  In reality, the line was, “It’s going to be very costly in many ways,” which is very different.

  That is also a common point in a settlement negotiation. However, as a criminal defense attorney for 30 years, I would be eager to see Goldman’s prosecution of someone on such a statement in a case like this.

  So what would Willis need? She would need to show pressure outside of a settlement discussion in which both sides are expected to state their positions and demands strongly. That could take the form of Trump making or supporting threats, or making promises to Raffensperger to get him to violate the law. The call itself is not a smoking gun of criminality.

  That does not mean Trump does not face other threats. The most credible could come out of New York, where he is being investigated for bank and tax fraud predating his administration. While overreporting or underreporting assets is common in the real estate business, these tend to be crimes more easy to prosecute before a jury. It is also difficult to argue selective prosecution in such cases and prosecutors can portray missing or inaccurate reporting as cut-and-dried violations.

  Despite the drumbeat for prosecution, such charges could easily backfire. If Trump were to beat the charges at trial or on appeal, it would be cited as vindication not just on the charges but on the second impeachment. The former president could end up like the character of Big Jule in “Guys and Dolls” proudly proclaiming, “33 arrests, no convictions.” Indeed, absent new transformative evidence, prosecuting Trump on the cases in Washington or Georgia could result in a resounding victory just before the 2024 election. They could make Big Jule’s record not just a criminal boast but a presidential slogan.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 14:30

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• Our Descent Into Collective Madness
  Our Descent Into Collective Madness

  Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via PJMedia.com,

  These are crazy times. A pandemic led to national quarantine; to self-induced recession; to riot, arson, and looting; to a contested election; and to a riot at the U.S. Capitol.

  In response, are we focusing solely on upping the daily vaccination rate? Getting the country back to work? Opening the schools as the virus attenuates? Ensuring safety in the streets?

  Or are we descending into a sort of madness?

  

  It might have been understandable that trillions of dollars had to be borrowed to keep a suffocating economy breathing.

  But it makes little sense to keep borrowing $2 trillion a year to prime an economy now set to roar back with herd-like immunity on the horizon.

  Trillions of dollars in stimulus are already priming the economy.

  Cabin-feverish Americans are poised to get out of their homes to travel, eat out and socialize as never before.

  Meanwhile, the United States will have to start paying down nearly $30 trillion in debt. But we seem more fixated on raising rather than reducing that astronomical obligation.

  We are told man-made, worldwide climate change – as in the now-discarded term “global warming” – can best be addressed by massive dislocations in the U.S. economy.

  The Biden administration plans to shut down coal plants. It will halt even nearly completed new gas and oil pipelines. It will cut back on fracking to embrace the multitrillion-dollar “Green New Deal.”

  Americans should pause and examine the utter disaster that unfolded recently in Texas and its environs.

  Parts of the American Southwest were covered in ice and snow for days. Nighttime temperatures crashed to near zero in some places.

  The state, under pressure, had been transitioning from its near-limitless and cheap reservoirs of natural gas and other fossil fuels to generating power through wind and solar.

  But what happens to millions of Texans when wind turbines freeze up while storm clouds extinguish solar power?

  We are witnessing the answer in oil- and gas-rich but energy-poor Texas that is all but shut down.

  Millions are shivering without electricity and affordable heating. Some may die or become ill by this self-induced disaster — one fueled by man-made ideological rigidity.

  Texas’ use of natural gas in power generation has helped the United States curb carbon emissions. Ignoring it for unreliable wind and solar alternatives was bound to have catastrophic consequences whenever a politically incorrect nature did not follow the global warming script.

  In 2019, a special counsel wrapped up a 22-month, $35 million investigation into then-President Donald Trump’s alleged “collusion” with Russia in the 2016 election. Robert Mueller and his team searched long and hard for a crime and came up empty.

  Then, Trump was impeached in December 2019 and acquitted in the Senate in early 2020. His purported crime was warning the Ukrainians about the Biden family’s quid pro quo racketeering.

  After the revelations concerning Hunter Biden’s shenanigans not only in Ukraine but also in Kazakhstan and China, Trump’s admonitions now seem prescient rather than impeachable.

  Trump had been threatened with removal from office under the 25th Amendment. He was accused of violating the Logan Act and the Constitution’s emoluments clause. His executive orders were often declared unconstitutional if not seditious.

  All these oppositional measures predictably failed to receive either public or congressional support.

  Finally, an exasperated left decided to flog the presidential corpse of now private citizen Trump. It did so without a Supreme Court chief justice to oversee an impeachment trial in the Senate. The targeted president was no longer president.

  There was no special prosecutor, little debate and even less cross-examination. In the end, the second impeachment was sillier than the first. But, like the first, the show trial wasted precious time and resources in the midst of a pandemic.

  But the height of our collective madness is the current cancel culture. Its subtexts are “unearned white privilege” and “white supremacy.”

  In the name of those abominations, mobs tear down statues, destroy careers, censor speech, require veritable oaths and conduct reeducation training.

  Stranger still, those alleging “white privilege” are usually themselves quite wealthy, liberal — and white. These elites count on their incestuous networking, silver-spoon upbringings and tony degrees to leverage status, influence and money in a way undreamed of by the white working class.

  Affluent and privileged minorities likewise join the chorus to call for everything from reparations to “reprogramming” Trump voters.

  The most elite in America are the most likely to damn the privilege of those who lack it. Perhaps this illogic squares the psychological circle of feeling guilty about things they never have any intention of giving up.

  If blaming those without advantages does not satisfy the unhappy liberal elite, then there is always warring against the mute dead: changing their eponymous names, destroying their statues, slandering their memories and denying their achievements.

  The common denominator with all these absurdities? An ungracious and neurotic elite whose judgment is bankrupt and whose privilege is paid for by those who don’t have it.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 02/20/2021 – 00:00

• US Army Prepares To Equip Unit With Hypersonic Capability 
  US Army Prepares To Equip Unit With Hypersonic Capability 

  Following conflicts over trade, technology, and capital markets, rising political tensions between the US and China will continue under the Biden administration.

  For instance, the US Army is expected to equip its first unit with hypersonic equipment this fall. The Pentagon is far behind in the hypersonic races with China and Russia. 

  A hypersonic unit within the Army will begin training with all the equipment it needs to launch these new weapons, according to Lt. Gen. L. Neil Thurgood, director of the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, who spoke with Defense News.

  Thurgood said the equipment will be delivered to the unit by September. 

  “By the end of this fiscal year, which is in September, all of the equipment that the unit needs plus training will be delivered to the unit,” he said. 

  The unit will be supplied with a vast number of launchers, trucks, trailers, computer systems, and other pieces of equipment to begin training in early 2022. 

  

  Thurgood declined to tell Defense News which unit will receive the equipment. He said the live round is the only piece of equipment that won’t be delivered this fall. It was noted that the weapon itself will be delivered in 2023. 

  Thurgood did not comment on the type of hypersonic weapon the unit will be receiving. However, we noted last March, the US Department of Defense (DoD) successfully launched a common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB) missile from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii.

  U.S. Navy and U.S. Army jointly tests hypersonic glide body pic.twitter.com/9Fr8YvlBUS

  — Dylan Malyasov (@DylanMalyasov) March 21, 2020

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

  The DoD has been allocating more funds to hypersonic programs for upcoming military budgets as it must desperately catch up with China and Russia. 

  Senator James Inhofe, a senior Republican from oil-producing Oklahoma and Senate Armed Services Chairman, told Defense News in 2019 that DoD’s hypersonic testing labs were inadequate. He said, “dilapidated testing infrastructure is holding us back from catching up to our enemies. Just look at hypersonic weapons: Beijing is parading around dozens of its newest weapons, and we have yet to build one.”

  The US is in a hypersonic race with major global superpowers and is clearly behind the curve. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 23:40

• The Decline Of The West: American Education Surrenders To "Equity"
  The Decline Of The West: American Education Surrenders To “Equity”

  Authored by Philip Giraldi via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

  It will be difficult or even impossible to go back to a system where learning is actually a discipline that requires hard work and dedication…

  

  Public education in the United States, if measured by results, has been producing graduates that are less competent in language skills and dramatically less well taught in the sciences and mathematics since 1964, when Scholastic Aptitude Test scores peaked. The decline in science and math skills has accelerated in the past decade according to rankings of American students compared to their peers overseas. A recent assessment, from 2015, placed the U.S. at 38th out of 71 countries in math and 24th in science. Among the 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD), the United States came in at 30th in math and 19th in science. Those poor results must be placed in a context of American taxpayers spending more money per student than any other country in the world, so the availability of resources is not necessarily a factor in most school districts.

  Much of the decline is due to technical advances that level the playing field for teachers worldwide, but one must also consider changing perceptions of the role of education in a social context. In the United States in particular, political and cultural unrest certainly have been relevant factors. But all of that said and considered, the U.S. is now confronting a reassessment of values that will likely alter forever traditional education and will also make American students even more non-competitive with their foreign peers.

  Many schools in the United States have ceased issuing grades that have any meaning, or they have dropped grading altogether, which means there is no way to judge progress or achievement. National test scores for evaluating possible college entry are on the way out almost everywhere as they are increasingly being condemned as “racist” in terms of how they assess learning based solely on the fact that blacks do less well on them than Asians and whites. This has all been part of an agenda that is being pushed that will search for and eliminate any taint of racism in the public space. It has also meant the destruction or removal of numerous historic monuments and an avoidance of any honest discussion of American history. San Francisco schools are, for example, notoriously spending more than $1 million to change the names of 44 schools that honor individuals who have been examined under the “racism and oppression” microscope and found wanting. They include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Paul Revere.

  The new world order for education is built around the concept of “equity,” sometimes described as using the public education system to “ensure equitable outcomes.” But the concept itself is deeply flawed as the pursuit of equity means treating all American unequally to guarantee that everyone that comes out of the schools is the same and has learned the same things. That is, of course, ridiculous and it penalizes the good student to make sure that the bad student is somehow pushed through the system and winds up with the same piece of paper.

  And the quality overall of public education will sharply decline. One might reasonably observe that imposition of a totalitarian style “equity” regime based on race will inevitably drive many of the academically better prepared students out of the system. Many of the better teachers will also move to the private academies that will spring up due to parental and student demand. Others will stop teaching altogether when confronted by political correctness at a level that prior to 2020 would have seemed unimaginable. The actual quality of education will suffer for everyone involved

  All of that has been bad enough, but the clincher is that this transformation is taking place all over the United States with the encouragement of federal, state and local governments and once the new regime is established it will be difficult or even impossible to go back to a system where learning is actually a discipline that sometimes requires hard work and dedication. In many school districts, the actual process of change is also being put on the back of the taxpayer. In one Virginia county the local school board spent $422,500 on a consultant to apply so-called Critical Race Theory (CRT) to a new program of instruction that will be mandatory for all employees and will serve as the framework for teaching the students. When schools eventually reopen, all kindergarteners, for example, will be taught “social justice” in a course designed by the controversial Southern Poverty Law Center and “diversity training” will be integrated in all other grade levels. Teaching reading, writing and arithmetic will take a back seat of “social justice.”

  Critical Race Theory, which is being promoted as the framework for reorganizing the schools along lines of racial preferences, has been fairly criticized as it pretends to be an antidote to systemic racism but is itself racist in nature as it opposes a race neutral system that equally benefits everyone. It proposes that all of America’s governmental bodies and infrastructures are racist and supportive of “white supremacy” and must be deconstructed. It requires everything to be examined through a value system determined by identity politics and race and it views both whites and their institutions as hopelessly corrupted, if not evil.

  Fortunately, some pushback to the Jacobins of political correctness is developing. Parents in many school districts are starting to attend school board meetings to register their opposition and even some school board members and teachers are refusing to cooperate. The teachers do so at risk of losing their jobs. At the elite Dalton private school in New York City parents have sent a letter to the Head of School Jim Best complaining how the newly introduced “anti-racist” curriculum has been gravely distorted by Critical Race Theory and the pursuit of “equity” to such an extent that it has included “a pessimistic and age-inappropriate litany of grievances in EVERY class. We have confused a progressive pedagogical model with progressive politics. Even for people who are sympathetic to that political viewpoint, the role of a school is not to indoctrinate politically. It’s to open the minds of children to the wonders of the world and learning. The Dalton we love, that has changed our lives, is nowhere to be found. And that is a huge loss.”

  The letter also stated that “Every class this year has had an obsessive focus on race and identity, ‘racist cop’ reenactments in science, ‘decentering whiteness’ in art class, learning about white supremacy and sexuality in health class. Wildly age-inappropriate, many of these classes feel more akin to a Zoom corporate sensitivity training than to Dalton’s intellectually engaging curriculum.”

  Ironically, much of the new curriculum is being driven by a core of radicalized Dalton faculty members, who in December signed on to an “anti-racism manifesto” which demanded that the school “hire 12 full-time diversity officers, abolish high-level academic courses if Black students’ performance isn’t on par with White students’, and require anti-racism ‘statements’ from all members of the staff.”

  Inevitably what is going on at Dalton and elsewhere is also playing out at many of America’s top universities, so the rot will persist into the next generation when today’s college students themselves become teachers. A black Princeton professor of classics is calling for all classics departments to be done away with because they promote “racism, slavery and white supremacy.” America’s education system, once upon a time, benefited the nation and its people, but we are now watching it in its death throes. And please don’t expect the Joe Biden administration to do anything to save it. They are on the side of the wreckers.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 23:20

• First Look Inside St. Louis' "Hooverville-Style" Tiny Home Village For Homeless 
  First Look Inside St. Louis’ “Hooverville-Style” Tiny Home Village For Homeless 

  A modern-day “Hooverville” has been constructed in St. Louis, Missouri, consists of dozens of people who have been left behind in the “K-shaped” recovery. 

  The tiny house village, a temporary housing program erected by the city, is located off Jefferson Avenue just north of downtown. The shanty village built during the pandemic depression is for the homeless. 

  

  The village was constructed with about $600k from the federal CARES Act and has a 29-month lease on the property. 

  “There are single and double homes. They have heating and AC, plus a bed and desk. The property offers showers, restrooms, laundry, three meals a day and 24-hour access to caseworkers. The heat is the biggest thing for many of the residents as the temperatures drop,” said local news KMOV. 

  

  Amy Bickford, the program director for the city’s homeless services, said at any given time, there are “200-500 people on the streets.” That number increases as the pandemic recession have resulted in steep job loss in the metro area. 

  A storm is gathering as an eviction crisis materializes. Even though there’s a federal moratorium on evictions – tens of thousands of folks in the city are unemployed and face imminent eviction because of missed rent payments.

  This means when courts open up – homelessness in the area could explode, thus increasing the need to expand the tiny home village for first-time homeless. 

  KMOV interviewed one resident of the tiny home village who said he is “thankful for a roof over his head even if it’s just a few square feet.” 

  Lloyd Covington III said, “It’s very heartwarming. I understand what it feels like to be a big kid now.” 

  At the moment, 50 people live in the village. 

  KMOV spoke with Andy, who he and his wife recently moved into one of the tiny homes. They’ve been homeless for six months. “It’d be horrible to be out on the street on a day like this,” he said.

  

  “I got sick, had a bad infection in my leg, lost my job and a kind of snow ball effect from there,” he said.

  We noted days ago working-poor Americans are downsizing their lives and are living simply as the pandemic downturn has crushed their ability to afford rent and food. 

  In reality, the federal government and Federal Reserve’s rescue packages created a “K-shaped” recovery where only the wealthy, or perhaps the top 10% of Americans, were unaffected. Meanwhile, the bottom 90% were given lousy stimulus checks as they battle with housing and food insecurities. 

  In short, these tiny home villages for the homeless, which closely resemble Hoovervilles from the 1930’s Great Depression, are set to spring up across other major metro areas as more than ten million people remain out of work. Once the eviction moratoriums are lifted, a flood of people will become homeless. They will have no other choice to seek but these temporary housing villages as homeless shelters are full. 

  Do these villages need a name – maybe “Bidenvilles”? 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 23:00

• U.S. Wants To Negotiate With Iran As Israel And Hezbollah Exchange Threats
  U.S. Wants To Negotiate With Iran As Israel And Hezbollah Exchange Threats

  Submitted by South Front,

  Hezbollah, one of Israel’s sworn enemies and a staunch ally of Iran continues its tough rhetoric against Tel Aviv.

  On February 17th, the group released a 2-minute video titled “Oh Zionists, You Have Military and Security Targets Within Your Cities.” The footage contained a threat to strike 10 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targets throughout Israeli cities.

  Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was shown warning Aviv Kochavi, Chief of General Staff of IDF with “total war”. The Hezbollah video warning of war if the IDF chose to initiate it came in response to large-scale drills that the IDF held in recent weeks.

  During the exercise, IDF pilots trained to hit up to 3,000 targets per day in case of all-out confrontation.

  This tougher rhetoric from Hezbollah is not something uncommon. What makes it significant is that the movement can afford to make it even tougher due to the Biden Administration formally being less supportive of Israel.

  On February 18th, US President Joe Biden told Iran that it was ready to take part in EU-sponsored talks to restore the Iran Nuclear Deal.

  This seems as a large concession, and causes a sense of urgency in Israel. For the first time since he entered into office, Biden accepted a phone call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

  In the conversation, Biden affirmed the US commitment to Israel’s security, and mutual defense cooperation. He said that the flow of weapons, equipment and funding would continue. It all appeared very hollow and according to script.

  Similarly, to what US President Barack Obama did, Biden promised to increase Israeli military aid, but that also means it will not get any more “tangible” support.

  This is all good and well, but it simply means “you will not feel as special as you were when Donald Trump was around.”

  Separately, another Axis of Resistance enemy, Saudi Arabia is suffering by Yemen’s Ansar Allah (the Houthis).

  On February 17th, the Houthis captured the significant Marib Dam, as they push towards Marib city and consolidate power in the surrounding areas.

  The city is the last major stronghold of the Saudi-led coalition in central Yemen. If it falls, which seems quite plausible, the Houthis will have even more opportunity to push into southern Saudi Arabia.

  In their past raids they have captured hundreds of Saudi-led coalition soldiers and various equipment.

  February 2021 seems to be the month of the Axis of Resistance, with Iran’s campaign of non-compliance with the Nuclear Deal giving fruit. Hezbollah, the Houthis and the pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria further seem to be achieving limited success.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 22:40

• After Olympics Scandal, Japan's Ruling Party Allows Women To Attend Top Board Meeting…So Long As They Stay Quiet
  After Olympics Scandal, Japan’s Ruling Party Allows Women To Attend Top Board Meeting…So Long As They Stay Quiet

  One week after the 83-year-old head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee resigned for saying women talk too much, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party – in almost continuous power since 1955 – has decided to allow more women present during its key meetings – as long as they don’t talk.

  

  Currently, just two of the party’s 12-member board are women, along with three of its 25-member general council. According to Reuters, the party has proposed allowing five female lawmakers to join its board meetings as observers in response to criticism that the body is dominated by men.

  The decision follows a request by female LDP lawmakers who asked Nikai to increase the ratio of women in key party posts.

  The proposal comes after sexist comments from former Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori, himself an LDP member and a onetime prime minister, sparked a global outcry and renewed attention on gender disparity in the world’s third-largest economy.

  The move would allow more female LDP members to see how decisions were being made, said Toshihiro Nikai, the party’s 82-year-old secretary general. He said he had heard criticism the party’s elected board was dominated by men. –Reuters

  “It is important to fully understand what kind of discussions are happening,” Nikai said during a late-Tuesday news conference. “Take a look, is what it is about.”

  

  While the female observers will be required to keep their mouths shut, they will be able to separately submit opinions to the secretariat office, according to Nikkei.

  Japan, ranked 121st out of 154 countries on the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Index, has scored poorly on women’s participation in economics and political empowerment, despite former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s championing of a policy of “Womenomics” aimed at increasing female participation in the economy. Activists, however, say drastic change is still needed.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 22:20

• Is The Temporary Collapse Of Texas Foreshadowing The Total Collapse Of The US?
  Is The Temporary Collapse Of Texas Foreshadowing The Total Collapse Of The US?

  Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

  We are getting a very short preview of what will eventually happen to the United States as a whole.  America’s infrastructure is aging and crumbling.  Our power grids were never intended to support so many people, our water systems are a complete joke, and it has become utterly apparent that we would be completely lost if a major long-term national emergency ever struck.  Texas has immense wealth and vast energy resources, but now it is being called a “failed state”. 

  If it can’t even handle a few days of cold weather, what is the rest of America going to look like when things really start to get chaotic in this country?

  

  At this point, it has become clear that the power grid in Texas is in far worse shape than anyone ever imagined.  When extremely cold weather hit the state, demand for energy surged dramatically.  At the same time, about half of the wind turbines that Texas relies upon froze, and the rest of the system simply could not handle the massive increase in demand.

  Millions of Texans were without power for days, and hundreds of thousands are still without power as I write this article.

  And now we are learning that Texas was literally just moments away from “a catastrophic failure” that could have resulted in blackouts “for months”…

  Texas’ power grid was “seconds and minutes” away from a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months, officials with the entity that operates the grid said Thursday.

  As millions of customers throughout the state begin to have power restored after days of massive blackouts, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which operates the power grid that covers most of the state, said Texas was dangerously close to a worst-case scenario: uncontrolled blackouts across the state.

  I can’t even imagine how nightmarish things would have eventually gotten in Texas if there had actually been blackouts for months.

  According to one expert, the state really was right on the verge of a “worst case scenario”…

  The worst case scenario: Demand for power outstrips the supply of power generation available on the grid, causing equipment to catch fire, substations to blow and power lines to go down.

  If the grid had gone totally offline, the physical damage to power infrastructure from overwhelming the grid could have taken months to repair, said Bernadette Johnson, senior vice president of power and renewables at Enverus, an oil and gas software and information company headquartered in Austin.

  For years, I have been telling my readers that they have got to have a back up plan for power, because during a major emergency the grid can fail.

  And when it fails, it can literally cost some people their lives.  I was deeply saddened when I learned that one man in Texas actually froze to death sitting in his own recliner…

  As Texas suffered through days of power outages, a man reportedly froze to death in his recliner with his wife clinging to life beside him.

  The man was found dead in his Abilene home on Wednesday after being without power for several days in the record cold.

  Most Americans don’t realize that much of the rest of the world actually has much better power infrastructure than we do.  Just check out these numbers…

  In Japan, the average home sees only 4 minutes of power outages per year. In the American Midwest, the figure is 92 minutes per year. In the Northeast, it’s 214 minutes; all those figures cover only regular outages and not those caused by extreme weather or fires.

  As our population has grown and our infrastructure has aged, performance has just gotten worse and worse.  In fact, things ran much more smoothly all the way back in the mid-1980s…

  According to an analysis by Climate Central, major outages (affecting more than 50,000 homes or businesses) grew ten times more common from the mid-1980s to 2012. From 2003 to 2012, weather-related outages doubled. In a 2017 report, the American Society of Civil Engineers reported that there were 3,571 total outages in 2015, lasting 49 minutes on average. The U.S. Energy Administration reports that in 2016, the average utility customer had 1.3 power interruptions, and their total blackout time averaged four hours.

  America is literally crumbling all around us, and it getting worse with each passing year.

  Our water systems are another example.

  In Texas, the cold weather literally caused thousands of pipes to burst.  The damage caused by all of these ruined pipes is going to be in the billions of dollars.

  Right now, we are being told that a total of 797 water systems in the state are currently reporting problems with “frozen or broken pipes”…

  Some 13.5 million people are facing water disruptions with 797 water systems throughout the state reporting issues such as frozen or broken pipes, according to Toby Baker, executive director for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. About 725 systems are under a boil water advisory, Baker said during a press conference Thursday.

  Overall, approximately 7 million residents of the state live in areas that have been ordered to boil water, and it could take months for service to fully return to normal.

  Without water, none of us can survive for long, and it is absolutely imperative that you have a back up plan in case your local system goes down.

  In Houston, people that are without water in their homes have been forced to line up to fill buckets at a public spigot…

  Meanwhile, in scenes reminiscent of a third world country, Houston residents resorted to filling up buckets of water from a spigot in a local neighborhood.

  One Houston resident, whose power has just gone back on Thursday after three days but still has no water, told DailyMail.com: ‘It is crazy that we just watched NASA land on Mars but here in Houston most of us still don’t have drinking water.’

  You can watch video of this happening right here.  Of course if your local water system completely fails, there won’t even be a public spigot available for you to get water.

  Shortages of food and other essential supplies are also being reported in Texas.

  For Philip Shelley and his young wife, the situation became quite desperate fairly rapidly…

  Philip Shelley, a resident of Fort Worth, told CNN that he, his wife Amber and 11-month-old daughter, Ava, were struggling to stay warm and fed. Amber is pregnant and due April 4.

  “(Ava) is down to half a can of formula,” Shelley said. “Stores are out if not extremely low on food. Most of our food in the refrigerator is spoiled. Freezer food is close to thawed but we have no way to heat it up.”

  So what would they have done if the blackouts had lasted for months?

  All over the state, extremely long lines have been forming at local supermarkets.  In some cases, people have started waiting way before the stores actually open…

  Joe Giovannoli, 29, arrived at a Central Market supermarket in Austin at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, an hour-and-a-half before it opened. Minutes later, more than 200 people had lined up behind him in the biting 26-degree weather.

  Giovannoli’s wife is three months pregnant and the power in their one-bedroom Austin apartment blinked out Tuesday night. After a water pipe broke, firefighters also turned off the building’s water, he said. Giovannoli said he realized he still had it better than many others across Texas, but worried how long things will take to get back to normal.

  This is happening in communities across Texas, and you can see video of one of these “bread lines” right here.

  Of course those that had gotten prepared in advance did not have to wait in such long lines because they already had food.

  Sadly, even though Joe Giovannoli had gotten to the supermarket so early, he later received really bad news…

  A few minutes before the store opened its doors, a manager stepped outside and warned those waiting in line that supplies inside were low: No produce, no baked goods, not much canned food.

  “We haven’t had a delivery in four days,” he said.

  Remember, this is just a temporary crisis in Texas that is only going to last for a few days.

  So what would happen if a severe long-term national emergency disrupted food, water and power systems for months on end?

  All it took to cause a short-term “collapse scenario” in the state of Texas was some cold weather.

  Eventually, much worse things will happen to our nation, and it has become clear that we are not ready.

  So get prepared while you still can, because time is running out.

  *  *  *

  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
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 22:00

• "The Trans-Atlantic Alliance Is Back": Biden Vows To Defend "Democratic Progress" In 1st Address To Global Audience
  “The Trans-Atlantic Alliance Is Back”: Biden Vows To Defend “Democratic Progress” In 1st Address To Global Audience

  President Biden in remarks delivered virtually to the Munich Security Conference on Friday continued with his “America is back” theme, aimed as a critique of Trump’s “America First” message. Significantly it was the first major speech given before an international audience at an event attended by top global security officials and world leaders. On the same day he emphasized a similar ‘global partnerships’ thread in an address to G-7 leaders. 

  He didn’t specifically invoke Trump by name, but the implications were clear when Biden said before the Munich event, “America is back, the transatlantic alliance is back, and we are not looking backward. We are looking forward together.” And further at a moment when US-NATO relations are somewhat strained after four years of Trump hounding Europe to pull its weight in terms of defense spending, he called the European partnership “the cornerstone of all we hope to accomplish in the 21st century.” With this in mind, he was emphatic that: “The trans-Atlantic alliance is back.”

  “I know the past few years have strained and tested our transatlantic relationship, but the United States is determined — determined — to re-engage with Europe, to consult with you, to earn back our position of trust and leadership,” he said.

  

  He added later in the address: “I come to Europe on behalf of a new administration, and an administration that’s determined to set a new tone not only in Washington, but in America’s relations around the world.”

  He said in the speech that “democratic progress is under assault,” and urged that “We must demonstrate that democracies can still deliver for our people. That is our galvanizing mission.”

  “Let me erase any lingering doubt: the United States will work closely with our European partners.”

  Here’s how Bloomberg previewed and summarized Biden’s message to the world Friday:

  • Joe Biden is ditching the America First mentality in favor of global cooperation. In a politically risky reset effort, his administration said the U.S. is willing to meet with Iran over the nuclear deal that Donald Trump quit.
  • The reset may not pay off. Iran appeared to snub Biden’s offer to begin direct discussions before officially rejoining the accord. It wants the U.S. to return to the deal and lift sanctions before they talk.
  • Better luck elsewhere? The president will re-introduce the U.S. to world leaders in a pair of international conferences today, calling for partnerships in a sharp departure from his predecessor’s foreign policy.

  President Biden at the Munich Summit: “America is back. The transatlantic alliance is back. And we are not looking backwards, we are looking forward together.” pic.twitter.com/JR9kX6U1Yo

  — The Recount (@therecount) February 19, 2021

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  On Iran, Biden said at a moment Tehran has vowed to not reengage unless Washington provides sanctions relief first, “We’re prepared to reengage in negotiations with the P5+1 on Iran’s nuclear program.”

  “We must also address Iran’s destabilizing activities across the Middle East, and we’re going to work in close cooperation with our European and other partners as we proceed,” he added.

  He also took swipes at China and Russia over “autocratic” tendencies and rule. Especially of note is that while referring to Russia as a “bully” he said, “We are in the midst of a fundamental debate about the future direction of our world. Between those who argue that — given all of the challenges we face, from the fourth industrial revolution to a global pandemic — autocracy is the best way forward and those who understand that democracy is essential to meeting those challenges.”

  “Historians will examine and write about this moment. It’s an inflection point. And I believe with every ounce of my being that democracy must prevail.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 21:40

• China Invasion Of Taiwan Means War With US, Tom Cotton Argues
  China Invasion Of Taiwan Means War With US, Tom Cotton Argues

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Thursday called for a new US policy on what would happen in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Currently, the US arms Taiwan through weapons sales and maintains a policy known as “strategic ambiguity,” which means the US is not guaranteed to intervene if Beijing moves to take the island.

  Cotton said he wants to make it “crystal clear” that a Chinese incursion on Taiwan means war with the US. “The United States needs to be clear that we will not allow China to invade Taiwan and subjugate it. Case closed. No further debate,” he said at a Reagan Institute event.

  

  “Replace strategic ambiguity with strategic clarity that the United States will come to the aid of Taiwan if China was to forcefully invade Taiwan or otherwise change the status quo across the [Taiwan] Strait,” Cotton added.

  The hawkish senator said the US should establish “red lines” for China that would “require a response” from Washington. Examples of Cotton’s red lines include China seizing Taiwanese-claimed islands, a Chinese invasion of a regional ally like India, or if Beijing permits an attack on US troops or allies by North Korea.

  Cotton made the comments while he presented his plan to take on Beijing economically. In the plan, Cotton called for an economic decoupling from China. “Our economy has become far too entangled with China’s, providing the Chinese Communist Party with leverage over the US government and industry. It’s past time we decoupled from China,” he said.

  The Chinese Communist Party has lied, stolen, and killed its way to the top. America needs a plan to beat this new Evil Empire. Here are a few of my recommendations.https://t.co/Fnf9MnVjId

  — Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) February 18, 2021

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  Cotton’s report came after the US Chamber of Commerce released a study that said the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would see a one-time loss of as much as $500 billion if US companies halved foreign direct investment in China.

  Besides the hit to the US’s GDP, decoupling with China would give Washington and Beijing less reason not to go to war if a naval incident happens in the South China Sea, where the US has stepped up its military presence and frequently sails warships.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 21:20

• Damascus Says Biden Is Setting Up New Bases On Sovereign Syrian Territory
  Damascus Says Biden Is Setting Up New Bases On Sovereign Syrian Territory

  Within the first few weeks of the Biden administration a handful of viral stories alleged there had been an immediate uptick in US convoys and logistical equipment headed into northeast Syria, which many took to reflect an escalation of the occupation under the new administration. However, given that most US action in Syria including troop movements and locations at any given moment are classified and done far away from ground-level media reporting, it’s almost impossible to verify whether such large convoys in and out of the country are part of ‘routine’ resupply missions or if they represent a broader build-up of forces.

  On the heels of the recent speculation and slightly increased or renewed public interest in Syria, there are fresh reports out this week that the Pentagon is actually constructing a new US base in northeast Hasakah. Significantly, this allegation is also being featured in Syrian state media. 

  

  Citing Syrian state sources in the middle of this week, for example, Middle East Monitor described that, “The US army began building a second base in the Al-Malikiyah region in the Syrian northeastern province of Hasakah, Syria’s SANA news agency reported.”

  According to further details offered by SANA:

  The agency quoted local sources as saying that over the past few days, US forces have deployed military reinforcements including 60 armored vehicles and army engineering vehicles to carry out excavation, leveling, and construction of barricades in the area, southwest of Ain Dewar in the border triangle between Syria, Iraq, and Turkey.

  At the end of last month, American forces began establishing a base near Tal Alu in the Al-Yarubiya area in Hasakah eastern countryside.

  Early this week the Saudi-funded, London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat also wrote that a new base is being established in the US-occupied border region of Syria’s northeast:

  #US-led Int’l Coalition to Establish New Military Base at Iraq-#Syria-Turkey Triangle https://t.co/8JflPZw9B5

  — Asharq Al-Awsat English (@aawsat_eng) February 15, 2021

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  The paper cited the anti-Assad opposition source SOHR:

  According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a military convoy of over 50 vehicles and trucks affiliated to the International Coalition were seen crossing into north-eastern Syria from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

  “Trucks, carrying armored vehicles, weapons, military, and logistical equipment, entered via Al-Walid border crossing with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, heading towards Al-Qamishli area,” the Observatory reported.

  And crucially it emphasized the following: “This is the 11th Coalition convoy to enter Syria since the beginning of 2021.” 

  A Large US Military Convoy Rolled Into Syria On 1st Day Of Biden Presidency https://t.co/Y9e9lrA46j

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 23, 2021

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  Of course, Damascus and its allies Russia and Iran have long been vocal in condemning the blatantly illegal occupation of a UN-member state’s sovereign territory.

  Whether the latest reported large convoys are in fact for the purpose erecting new bases or are perhaps just “routine” transports… it ultimately matters little to Syria and its allies. The American military presence remains an aggressive, illegal occupation nonetheless.

  

  In the scant foreign policy remarks given thus far since entering the White House, Biden has essentially glossed over Syria, instead focusing on places like Iran, China, and Russia. Amid the silence there’s a growing unease that the US is quietly building its presence there for something big yet to come, after Trump touted his “secure the oil” plan – the latter phraseology which the new administration has recently attempted to distance itself from.

  * * *

  To review the Syria quagmire and Washington’s long-running covert war aimed at regime change in Damascus, or essentially how we got here, see author Scott Horton’s analysis below (Warning: very graphic at 7:50 mark):

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 21:00

• Bill Gates Bankrolling Educational Organization That Says Math Is Racist
  Bill Gates Bankrolling Educational Organization That Says Math Is Racist

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

  The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is bankrolling an activist educational group that believes math is racist and that arriving at an objective answer is an example of “white supremacy.”

  

  Yes, really.

  A conglomerate of 25 educational organizations called A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction asserts that asking students to find the correct answer is an “inherently racist practice.”

  The organization’s website lists the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as its only donor.

  “In fact, over the past decade, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded over of $140 million to a variety of groups associated with Pathway. Their “antiracist resources” are at the epicenter of a new training course for teachers offered by the Oregon Department of Education throughout the state,” reports National File.

  “Three of the most prominent organizations receiving grant money from the Gates’ are The Education Trust, Teach Plus, and WestEd, all non-profit 501c organizations.”

  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is bankrolling a group of activists who believe math is racist. They chide the “concept of mathematics being purely objective” as “unequivocally false” & argue focusing on the “right answer” is an example of white supremacy. https://t.co/ZdTx7WXhDm

  — (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) February 18, 2021

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

  A guidebook for teachers produced by Pathway called ‘Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction’ ludicrously claims that mathematics “is used to uphold capitalist, imperialist, and racist views.”

  Teachers are instructed to blame non-white students getting answers wrong on “white supremacist practices,” which are truly to blame for the “underachievement” of minorities.

  As we have previously highlighted, following on from universities, schools have now become breeding grounds for this kind of intersectional insanity.

  Earlier this week, we reported on how the principal of East Side Community School in New York sent white parents a manifesto that calls on them to become “white traitors” and advocate for full “white abolition.”

  Last year, we revealed how children at an elementary school in Virginia are being taught that traits such as “objectivity” and “perfectionism” are ‘racist’ characteristics of “white supremacy.”

  Meanwhile, school districts across America are eliminating grading standards in order to “combat racism”.

  The move was announced in San Diego after it was revealed that just 7% of D or F grades are handed out to white students, while 23% went to Native Americans, 23% of failing grades went to Hispanics and 20% went to black students.

  As Allie Beth Stuckley notes, “I don’t know. Maybe the people who don’t want black and brown kids to learn math correctly are the *actual* white supremacists.”

  I don’t know. Maybe the people who don’t want black and brown kids to learn math correctly are the *actual* white supremacists. https://t.co/q54VFP1bv8

  — Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) February 18, 2021

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

  *  *  *

  New limited edition merch now available! Click here. 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
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 20:40

• Damaged Fukushima Reactors Leaking Coolant After Last Weekend's 7.3 Earthquake
  Damaged Fukushima Reactors Leaking Coolant After Last Weekend’s 7.3 Earthquake

  Two reactors at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan have begun leaking cooling water following last weekend’s 7.3 magnitude earthquake, indicating that the existing damage to TEPCO’s Unit 1 and 3 reactors has worsened, according to AP, citing spokesman Keisuke Matsuo.

  

  Matsuo said the cooling water level fell as much as 70 centimeters (27 inches) in the primary containment chamber of the Unit 1 reactor and about 30 centimeters (11 inches) in Unit 3. TEPCO wasn’t able to determine any decline in Unit 2 because indicators have been taken out to prepare for the removal of melted debris, it said.

  Increased leakage could require more cooling water to be pumped into the reactors, which would result in more contaminated water that is treated and stored in huge tanks at the plant. TEPCO says its storage capacity of 1.37 million tons will be full next summer. A government panel’s recommendation that it be gradually released into the sea has faced fierce opposition from local residents and a decision is still pending. -AP

  The leaking water is believed to have remained inside the reactor complex, as there is ‘no sign of any outside impact,’ according to Matsuo. 

  A powerful 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima in 2011, causing a tsunami which destroyed the plant’s exterior generators, causing three reactor cores to melt – dropping nuclear fuel to the bottom of their primary containment vessels and causing a massive explosion which spewed radioactive material as far as Idaho, where drinking water samples showed trace amounts of nuclear isotopes following the disaster.

  

  Since the incident, cooling water has been constantly leaking from the damaged primary containment vessels into the basements of the reactor buildings, requiring additional water to be pumped into the reactors to cool the melted fuel which remains inside of them. The recent drop, however, indicates that more water is leaking following the most recent earthquake, according to TEPCO, which initially reported no abnormalities.

  

  On Friday, the Tokyo High Court held that the government as well as TEPCO are responsible for the 2011 nuclear disaster, ordering that both pay 280 million yen ($2.6 million) in compensation to over 40 plaintiffs who were forced to evacuate Chiba, an outskirt of Tokyo. The decision reverses a previous ruling by the Chiba district court which exempted governments from liability.

  Judge Yukio Shirai, however, said that the government should have prepared for such a disaster following a long-term assessment of seismic activities conducted in 2002.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 20:20

• Biden's Coronavirus Relief Package Has Almost Nothing To Do With The Coronavirus
  Biden’s Coronavirus Relief Package Has Almost Nothing To Do With The Coronavirus

  Authored by Peter Suderman via reason.com (emphasis ours),

  Over and over again, President Joe Biden has pitched his $1.9 trillion stimulus plan as vital to restoring a struggling American economy and recovering from the pandemic. Many households are struggling, he tweeted earlier this month, with desperate Americans wondering how they are going to eat. “That’s why I’m urging Congress to pass the American Rescue Plan and deliver much-needed relief.” Time, he has insisted, is of the essence. “We don’t have a second to waste when it comes to delivering the American people the relief they desperately need. I’m calling on Congress to act quickly and pass the American Rescue Plan.”

  

  The fiscal response, he has argued, must be commensurate to the crisis at hand. “Now is the time we should be spending,” he said at a CNN town hall this week. “Now is the time to go big.” 

  Biden has certainly gone big. His $1.9 trillion deficit-funded plan would be among the largest stimulus/relief packages in history. But much of the spending he has proposed would do little or nothing to help actually struggling Americans. Instead, the plan is padded with non-urgent, pre-existing Democratic policy priorities that have, at most, only tangential relationship to the crisis at hand. 

  Take schooling, for example. The mass closure of schools has caused immeasurable chaos and frustration for families across the country, especially those with working parents, and it has set back educational advancement for children, especially in lower-income families with fewer resources or alternatives. Beyond the disruptions to family schedules and educational achievement, there is mounting evidence that school closures, in combination with other forms of isolation stemming from the pandemic, have taken a dark toll on student mental health. In the Las Vegas area, schools finally reopened following a rash of suicides in which 18 students took their own lives.

  Biden ran on reopening most schools for in-person instruction within a hundred days—a promise his administration has both walked back and then kinda-sorta attempted to un-walk back. But reopening, he has insisted, is conditioned on schools obtaining sufficient funding in a relief package. Accordingly, his plan includes about $128 billion for K-12 schooling “for preparation for, prevention of, and response to the coronavirus pandemic or for other uses allowed by other federal education programs,” as part of a $170 billion boost in education-related spending.

  This is a dubious argument on its face, considering that private schools have largely reopened, as have public schools in some states, such as Florida, that have pushed for faster and more widespread reopenings. 

  But even if you think substantial additional funding is strictly necessary for rapid reopening, there’s a problem: The vast majority of the relief plan’s money for schools wouldn’t be spent in the current fiscal year, or even next year. Previous coronavirus relief and congressional spending bills have already included more than $100 billion in funding for schools. But according to the Congressional Budget Office, “most of those funds remain to be spent.”

  As a result, just $6 billion would be spent in the 2021 fiscal year, which runs through September. Another $32 billion would be spent in 2022, and the rest by 2028. Biden is insisting that schools must reopen soon—and also that the only way for them to reopen is to authorize more than $120 billion in spending, most of which wouldn’t roll out for years. It doesn’t make much sense. 

  Similarly, Biden’s plan calls for $350 billion to backstop state budgets, which were projected to be down as much as 8 percent overall this year. Yet according to The Wall Street Journal, total revenues were down just 1.6 percent for the 2020 fiscal year, and 18 states ended the year with above-projection revenue. As Reason‘s Christian Britschgi noted last week, Biden’s plan would disburse money to every state—including California, which is set for a $15 billion surplus. Previous coronavirus relief bills, meanwhile, have already doled out $300 billion to bolster state budgets. The billions in extra funding Biden’s plan would deliver to soaring state budgets would, in all likelihood, not be spent this coming year. So much for not having a second to waste.

  There’s more like this peppered throughout Biden’s pandemic relief plan. Biden and his communications team raise the issue of food insecurity—then insist that checks should go to a two-earner family with stable jobs making $120,000 a year in a city with a roughly $40,000 annual median income for couples.

  This is despite the fact that the average couple with comparable six-figure earnings has experienced no unusual job loss and has piled up record levels of personal savings. Even if the goal is just to pump more money into the economy, these checks wouldn’t, for the most part, be spent. They’d just add to the savings. 

  As the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) notes, half the spending in the coronavirus relief plan would go toward such poorly targeted measures. The plan also includes expansions to Obamacare subsidies and would hike the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour—in 2025. Ultimately, the hike would cost jobs rather than preserve them. But raising the federal minimum wage has been a Democratic policy priority for years, so it got stuffed into the relief bill grab bag.

  How much of this alleged coronavirus relief plan is actually related to the coronavirus?  According to CRFB, just 1 percent of the relief plan’s spending would go toward vaccines, and just 5 percent would go toward pandemic-related public health needs. Meanwhile, 15 percent of the spending—about $300 billion—would be spent on long-standing policy priorities that are not directly related to the current crisis. 

  Biden keeps insisting that time is of the essence, that massive federal spending is urgently needed to speed America’s recovery from its coronavirus-induced health and economic downturn. But the practical details of his plan say otherwise. The president’s relief plan is an object lesson in non-urgent, non-vital policymaking. Biden is pitching a coronavirus relief package that has very little to do with coronavirus relief.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 20:00

• JPM Joins "Overheating" Bandwagon: Sees 6.4% GDP As Stimulus Forecast Doubles To $1.7TN
  JPM Joins “Overheating” Bandwagon: Sees 6.4% GDP As Stimulus Forecast Doubles To $1.7TN

  Just a week after Goldman unleashed a wave of worry about tighter financial conditions with its revised forecast boosting 2021 and 2022 GDP up by 0.2% each year, to 6.8% and 4.5%respectively, as a result of a far bigger stimulus than its had originally expected ($1.5 trillion vs $1.1 trillion originally), which set the US economy directly on collision course with overheating (and prompted Goldman to pull forward its first rate hike estimate to H1 2022), other banks have started jumping on the overheating bandwagon, and today JPMorgan became the latest bank to nearly double its Covid stimulus forecast, which led the bank to aggressively boost its 2021 and 2022 GDP estimates as well.

  In a note to clients, JPM’s chief economist Michael Feroli made the following forecast revisions:

  • We now look for a $1.7 trillion fiscal stimulus package (up from $900 billion) to be passed in March
  • Even before that kicks in, growth appears to be on firmer footing at the start of the year
  • All told we now expect 6.4% (4Q/4Q) GDP growth this year and 2.8% next year
  • We see the labor market getting back to full employment, or around 4% unemployment, by 2Q22…
  • …and expect core PCE inflation to reach 2.0% by 4Q22, with balanced risks around the outlook
  • While the outlooks for growth and inflation are moving up, Fed rhetoric appears to be getting more dovish

  Feroli first explains the reason behind his dramatic stimulus forecast revision:

  Shortly after the two Georgia Senate run-off elections in early January delivered effective control of that chamber to the Democratic Party we penciled in an assumption of another $900 billion of fiscal stimulus. This sought to balance the risk of a smaller amount reached through a bipartisan deal and a larger amount arrived at by the Democrats using the budget reconciliation process. Since then the odds of a bipartisan deal have diminished to near zero, and Congressional Democrats have pushed forward with a much larger package. Thus, we revise our outlook to incorporate a $1.7 trillion package to take effect in March.

  Needless to say, this will not ease overheating concerns, and as Feroli writes, “the larger stimulus package should meet an economy that is getting off to a better-than-expected start to the year. After a soft end to 2020, the economy appears to have shrugged off the latest wave of COVID-19 case counts (which are now rapidly declining). This week’s upside surprise on January retail sales leaves real consumer spending tracking around 5.0% annualized growth this quarter. Spending may stumble in February, partly due to weather conditions across the country, but we expect the stimulus package will support a rebound in consumer spending as early as March.”

  In sum, between the effect of the $900BN December stimulus and the upcoming $1.7 Trillion Biden stimulus, JPM “now expects real GDP growth at a 5.0% pace this quarter, and 6.4% (4Q/4Q) in 2021.“

  

  The soaring GDP will naturally help depress unemployment, and in JPM’s new forecast the unemployment rate reaches 4.0% by the middle of next year, which is also the bank’s estimate of the natural rate of unemployment.

  Hilarious, Feroli then says that in its “forecast the economy doesn’t overheat, in the sense of displaying significant, persistent,  above-2% inflation. The experience of the last expansion confirms model findings that it takes a fairly lengthy period of sustained tightness in resource utilization to shift the inflation trend. Even if there are slack resources this year, rapid growth could generate inflation if reallocation frictions cause supply bottlenecks.” 

  That said, even Feroli who clearly has a mandate to not spark further selling ahead of imminent rate hikes meant to cool off the overheating economy, says he thinks “the stimulus will foster heating, in the sense that it will help get the economy back to 2% inflation—a feat that just Fed forbearance on future rate hikes was much less likely to achieve.”

  Knowing that clients are laughing out loud at this point, Feroli spends some more digital ink trying to justify his naive assessment, and writes that while “It’s easy to tell a story that inflation will pick up significantly in coming quarters, it’s harder to model it.”

  Actually, no, Mike one trip to the supermarket should help you model everything you need. In any case, this is how he explains away the lack of soaring inflation on the back of trillions of stimulus spending and an overheating economy:

  What those models see is that over the last three decades inflation has been very well-anchored around its trend (or local mean). However, those models wouldn’t foresee a regime shift in fiscal or monetary policy. Perhaps that is underway: to account for this possibility we are leaning to the upside on our model output to get inflation to 2% by the end of next year. An upside risk is that a true regime shift would lead to a much larger move in inflation. A downside risk is that we are succumbing to the common forecasting error of base rate neglect. On net, we see balanced risks around our inflation outlook.

  Yeah, ok, we’ll check back in 6  months on this. But while Feroli is wrong on his inflation forecast, where he is right is in observing that while his growth and inflation forecasts have been moving up, “Fed rhetoric has been moving in a more dovish direction” and after the latest FOMC minutes he still sees tapering beginning in 1Q22, the same as Goldman. As for the first rate hike…

  While we now see inflation getting to 2% by the end of next year, we continue to think the Fed will want to see another year of inflation gradually moving above 2% before the first rate hike in 1H24.

  So three years at 0%… with real GDP and inflation likely hitting 5-6%? We make this rhetorical observation just in case there are still any questions why bitcoin will soon hit $100,000.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 19:45

• First Spy Shots Of Hummer EV Pickup "Looks Like A Tank" 
  First Spy Shots Of Hummer EV Pickup “Looks Like A Tank” 

  Last year, we’ve covered GMC’s unveiling of the first-ever all-electric High Utility Maximum Mobility Easy Rider, otherwise known as Hummer (see: here & here). But only conceptual designs were released until now. 

  According to popular car website Carscoops, the battery-electric Hummer was spotted on public roads for the first time. This is the first real-world look at the reborn Hummer. 

  

  What is likely a test car, the new vehicle “features steel tube running boards to protect the huge rocker panels, redesigned door mirrors that look sleeker compared to the original show car, while it appears that the design of the rear control arms is also different,” said Carscoops.

  

  “The interior of the test cars remains under covers but our spy photographers were able to grab a few partial shots of the dashboard, which appears to be consistent with the show car’s cabin, which featured a 13.4-inch infotainment display, in addition to a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster,” Carscoops continued.

  The first-ever GMC HUMMER EV is expected to pack 1,000 horsepower and rocket the vehicle from 0-60 mph in 3 seconds. The new electric vehicle range is expected to be around 350 miles. 

  

  Overall, Carscoops described GMC HUMMER EV as a “tank.” Production is expected this fall with a release in 2022.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 19:40

• Let's Review 50 Years Of Dire Climate Forecasts And What Actually Happened
  Let’s Review 50 Years Of Dire Climate Forecasts And What Actually Happened

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

  Here are 21 headlines from various news sources regarding dire climate predictions over the last 50 years. Many of the predictions are outrageously funny.

  

  Climate Forecast Headline Predictions

  1. 1967 Salt Lake Tribune: Dire Famine Forecast by 1975, Already Too Late

  2. 1969 NYT: “Unless we are extremely lucky, everyone will disappear in a cloud of blue steam in 20 years. The situation will get worse unless we change our behavior.“

  3. 1970 Boston Globe: Scientist Predicts New Ice Age by 21st Century said James P. Lodge, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. 

  4. 1971 Washington Post: Disastrous New Ice Age Coming says S.I. Rasool at NASA. 

  5. 1972 Brown University Letter to President Nixon: Warning on Global Cooling 

  6. 1974 The Guardian: Space Satellites Show Ice Age Coming Fast

  7. 1974 Time Magazine: Another Ice Age “Telling signs everywhere.  Since the 1940s mean global temperatures have dropped 2.7 degrees F.”

  8. 1974 “Ozone Depletion a Great Peril to Life” University of Michigan Scientist

  9. 1976 NYT The Cooling: University of Wisconsin climatologist Stephen Schneider laments about the “deaf ear his warnings received.”

  10. 1988 Agence France Press: Maldives will be Completely Under Water in 30 Years. 

  11. 1989 Associated Press: UN Official Says Rising Seas to ‘Obliterate Nations’ by 2000.

  12. 1989 Salon: New York City’s West Side Highway underwater by 2019 said Jim Hansen the scientist who lectured Congress in 1988 about the greenhouse effect.

  13. 2000 The Independent: “Snowfalls are a thing of the past. Our children will not know what snow is,” says senior climate researcher.

  14. 2004 The Guardian:  The Pentagon Tells Bush Climate Change Will Destroy Us. “Britain will be Siberian in less than 20 years,” the Pentagon told Bush.

  15. 2008 Associate Press: NASA Scientist says “We’re Toast. In 5-10 years the Arctic will be Ice Free”

  16. 2008 Al Gore: Al Gore warns of ice-free Arctic by 2013.

  17. 2009 The Independent: Prince Charles says Just 96 Months to Save the World. “The price of capitalism is too high.”

  18. 2009 The Independent: Gordon Brown says “We have fewer than 50 days  to save our planet from catastrophe.”

  19.  2013 The Guardian: The Arctic will be Ice Free in Two Years. “The release of a 50 gigaton of methane pulse” will destabilize the planet.

  20. 2013 The Guardian: US Navy Predicts Ice Free Arctic by 2016. “The US Navy’s department of Oceanography uses complex modeling to makes its forecast more accurate than others.

  21. 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.

  The above items are thanks to 50 Years of Failed Eco-pocalyptic Predictions.

  The article has actual news clips and links to everyone of the above stories.

  What Happened to the Glaciers?

  On January 17, 2020 Montana Public Radio reported Scientists Predicted Glacier Park’s Glaciers Would Be Gone By Now. What Happened?

  Last week, Glacier National Park announced that it will be changing signs warning that its signature glaciers would disappear by 2020. The park says the signs, put in more than a decade ago, were based on the best available predictions at the time.

  In terms of the predictions, the latest that I’ve seen actually comes from a group of Swiss researchers. So I would have to look at their results in more detail than is possible from looking at the paper they published to be able to say definitively when all the glaciers are are hosed and no longer present, but certainly by 2100.

  New Predictions and Stories 

  • February 2021: “It’s long past time for the Senate to take a leading role in combating the existential threat of our time: climate,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

  • January 2019: Ocasio-Cortez Says World Will End in 12 Years: Here’s What to Do About It.

  Ocasio-Cortez called the fight to mitigate the effects of climate change her generation’s “World War II.” 

  “Millennials and Gen Z and all these folks that come after us are looking up, and we’re like, ‘The world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change, and your biggest issue is how are we gonna pay for it?’ ” she said.

  OAC then blasted the GOP for taking her doomsday prediction literally. 

  We have had 50 years of this kind of BS and yes, many people do take it literally.

  On February 7 2020, she unleashed her Stunningly Absurd “New Green Deal” that suggests she was serious.

  1. Upgrade all existing buildings in the US

  2. 100% clean power

  3. Support family farms

  4. Universal access to healthy food

  5. Zero-emission vehicle infrastructure

  6. Remove greenhouse gasses form the atmosphere

  7. Eliminate unfair competition

  8. Affordable access to electricity

  9. Create high-quality union jobs that pay prevailing wages

  10. Guaranteeing a job with a family sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States

  More $90 Trillion Solutions

  In 2015, Business Insider noted A Plan Is Floating Around Davos To Spend $90 Trillion Redesigning All The Cities So They Don’t Need Cars

  The $90 trillion proposal came from former US vice president Al Gore, former president of Mexico Felipe Calderon, and their colleagues on The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. 

  Where is the CO2 Coming From?

  

  CO2 Stats

  • Please note that the US reduced its carbon footprint from 6.13 billion tons in 2007 to 5.28 billion tons in 2019.

  • Meanwhile, China increased its footprint from 6.86 billion tons in 2019 to 10.17 billion tons in 2019.

  • In the same timeframe, global output rose from 31.29 billion tons to 36.44 billion tons.

  • In 2007, the US accounted for 19.6% of the total global carbon footprint.

  • In 2019, the US accounted for only 14.5% of the total global footprint.

  Key Questions

  1. How much money are we willing to spend to reduce our 14.5% and falling percentage of carbon emissions?

  2. What would it cost to cut that by half in 10 years?

  3. Assuming we could cut that in half in 10 years, what would it do to total carbon output?

  4. By what force do we get China, India, and all the developing economies in the Mideast and Africa to reduce their carbon output?

  5. Assuming we achieve number 4 peacefully by some sort of economic buyout like cap-and-trade what is the cost to the US?

  6. What about inflation?

  7. Sure, China is producing goods for the US and EU but do we want that to stop? When? Why? How? Cost?

  8. Does not China, India, Africa, etc., have the right to improve their standards of living?

  9. What do the above points imply about the US standard of living?

  10. How the hell do we pay for this?

  Looking ahead over the next 100 years, the US is a minor part of the carbon problem.

  Bonus Geopolitical Q&A

  Q: What happened when Merkel went along with the Greens and did away with nuclear?
  A: Germany imports more coal-based energy from neighboring states and is more dependent on Russia for natural gas.

  Q: Is wind and solar ever going to make a serious dent in China’s growing energy demands.
  A: No

  Q: What happened in France when Macron pushed through a gas tax to support the Green movement?
  A: How quick we forget the Yellow-Vest Revolt that went on for months.

  I have yet to see AOC, John Kerry, any Mish reader, or anyone else address any of the above questions in detail.

  Final Questions to All Those Demanding Government Do Something

  What the hell are you doing?

  The #1 thing someone can proactively do eliminate their carbon footprint is to stop breathing.

  Since that seems a bit impractical, the #2 thing someone can do is not have kids.

  Instead, most demand the government do something. What?

  Until someone can put a realistic price on this while addressing my questions, forgive me for not agreeing that a total rise in the ocean of 3 inches in the last 20 years is the existential threat of our time.

  Politicians Will Not Solve the Problem

  Climate change is ongoing for hundreds of millions of years.

  I never said otherwise.

  I do question the extreme emphasis on CO2, noting lies, coverups, and insane hype.

  What I am sure of:

  Politicians like AOC, Al Gore, John Kerry are hucksters incapable of solving anything. https://t.co/7rUsUcoLW7

  — Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) February 17, 2021

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  Clean Energy

  I am a big fan of natural gas and believe it is clean energy. The byproduct of burning natural gas is carbon dioxide and water.

  Neither is a pollutant in any way shape or form. Plants even need carbon dioxide to survive.

  Coal is another matter.

  Burning coal releases SO2 and NOx pollutants that cause Acid Rain, huge respiratory problems and will devastate forests.

  If the atmosphere is polluted with sulfur dioxide (SO2) or nitrogen oxides (NOx), rain becomes oxidized by ozone (O3) or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to form H2SO4 or HNO3 before falling to the ground. They are known respectively as sulfuric and nitric acid.

  Acid rain will dissolve panty hose on the spot.

  There is a huge difference between burning coal and burning natural gas.

  Anti-Coal, Pro-Natural Gas

  For environmental reasons, I am anti-coal but very much in favor of Natural Gas. And that has been my position forever. 

  I am totally fine with eliminating coal for environmental reasons but to expect China to be 100% wind and solar is nonsense. 

  There is no reason for Germany to abandon nuclear power and the results have been anything but green.

  Libertarian Philosophy

  Many of my readers blame me and Libertarians in general. They understand neither.

  As noted above I am anti-coal. Why? It pollutes with SO2 and NOx causing acid, respiratory illnesses, and it kills fish.  

  I have seen too many environmental cleanups. I have never commented on this before but my degree at the University of Illinois was in Environmental Engineering.

  I have bashed China’s air and water pollution consistently for decades. I have bashed Germany’s diesel industry consistently too. 

  Doing nothing about actual poison and doing nothing about CO2 are two very different things. 

  There is nothing Libertarian about letting companies pollute then walk away in bankruptcy. 

  One clever reader researched my coal and water pollution stance and noted I said the same things in 2006. Indeed I did. 

  My position has been consistent.

  Don’t Accept 100% of the Climate Change Story and You Get Labeled a Racist

  There we numerous global cooling warnings in the 60s and 70s and that is what we were taught in school. I did not believe the hype then, and I do not believe the hype now.

  The scientific consensus when I was in grade school was the threat of global cooling.

  Teachers discussed plans to dump charcoal on the ice to warm the earth as a solution. https://t.co/vwqVwphF4e

  — Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) February 17, 2021

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  Point any of this out and guess what happens: You Get Labeled a Racist, as I did.

  I am grateful that 50 years of sensational headline now look laughable, but they keep coming and coming.

  Why should anyone take these models seriously? 

  No Wonder People Don’t Believe the Hype

  How many times did we hear the arctic ice would all be gone by now? That Miami if not all of Florida would be underwater? 

  Flashback 2010: The glaciers will all disappear by 2020. Now the best estimate is another 80 years. 

  Flashback 1989: UN Official Says Rising Seas to ‘Obliterate Nations’ by 2000. What a hoot.

  Flashback 2009: Gordon Brown UK Chancellor of the Exchequer says “We have fewer than 50 days to save our planet from catastrophe.” Hmm. Have 50 days passed? 

  Flashback 1969: “Everyone will disappear in a cloud of blue steam in 20 years. The situation will get worse unless we change our behavior.“

  That’s my favorite.

  A Word About Predictions and Urgency

  Believe in man-made climate change all you want. There is some truth to it although the models have not been remotely accurate to say the least.

  After 50 years of nonsense hype, it’s no wonder anyone with a modicum of common sense is more than a bit skeptical of these dire predictions and the alleged urgency to do something immediately about them.

  If after all these now laughable headlines, you still have faith in the predictions, why? 

  And if you don’t believe the predictions, then do you still want to spend $90 trillion to solve the alleged problem?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 19:20

• China Keeping Rare Earth Export Ban In "Back Pocket" To Punish Biden If He Gets Out Of Line
  China Keeping Rare Earth Export Ban In “Back Pocket” To Punish Biden If He Gets Out Of Line

  For the second time this week, western, English-language media outlets are reporting about rumblings within the Chinese Communist Party leadership about imposing new export controls on so-called “rare-earth metals” The news, first reported earlier this week in the FT, could quickly hobble the US defense industry.

  

  While Bloomberg seemed to confirm the FT’s report about Beijing launching a “review” of its rare-earth export policies, the BBG reporters also took things a step further by suggesting that the Chinese government was merely trying to keep pressure on President Joe Biden now that ‘standing up to China’ has apparently become a bipartisan issue in the US.

  While China has no plans to restrict shipments of rare earths to the U.S., it is keeping the plan in its back pocket should a trade war break out again, the person said. The Asian nation is also exploring a ban on rare earths as part of its sanctions on some individual companies, including Lockheed Martin Corp., which violated China’s core interest over arms sale to Taiwan, the person said.

  All of this comes after Beijing reportedly readied a plan to restrict exports of the metals to the US back in 2019, when the US and China were still dealing with the fallout from Trump’s trade war.

  To be sure, Beijing has already tried weaponizing rare earths when it slapped US defense contractor Lockheed Martin with sanctions.

  China controls most of the world’s mined output from the broad group of 17 elements that are used in everything from smartphones to fighter jets, and has a complete stranglehold over processing.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  China’s dominance leaves the US with pretty much no alternatives to make up for the shortfall in supply, which would likely cause prices of these metals to skyrocket.

  overseas industries with few avenues to immediately secure supply if curbs were to be put in place, since the US imports 80% of its rare earth supply from abroad.

  Former President Donald Trump, of course, tried to rectify this terrible vulnerability with an executive order aiming to ramp up domestic production and processing, though presently the US remains entirely dependent, pretty much, on China for these metals.

  Still, there’s reason for the US to take precautions against China imposing rare earth ‘restrictions’. After all, China didn’t hesitate to use rare earths as leverage during a territorial dispute with Japan back in 2011 – it imposed an export embargo, causing prices to skyrocket – when the two countries were fighting over some rocky islands in the Pacific.

  And with Beijing’s crackdowns on Hong Kong and aggressive rhetoric (and, increasingly, actions) toward Taiwan grow increasingly emboldened, there may come a day when push comes to shove for Biden. And without another source for these metals, it could unleash a world of economic pain.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 19:00

• This Diary From The Great Depression Is Like Reading A Modern-Day Newsfeed
  This Diary From The Great Depression Is Like Reading A Modern-Day Newsfeed

  Authored by Fabian Ommar via The Orgnaic Prepper blog,

  During times like these, keeping close tabs on events unfolding is critical. It’s always more productive for the pragmatic, though, to be aware and knowledgeable about such events’ developments.

  One of the best ways to do so is by learning from history. For the most part, natural events are unpredictable, random in impact and reach, and localized. Economic collapses, on the other hand, follow a more cyclical dynamic and have all-embracing consequences.

  Because consumption, finance, and economy are in great part determined by psychology and behavior (mainly fear and greed), and because humankind always reacts the same to abundance and scarcity, history tends to repeat itself with reasonable consistency and similarity in these areas.

  Even though crashes can’t be forecast with accuracy, brewing crises always send warning signs frequently early on. Perhaps even more important (and useful for us), its consequences are well studied and vastly documented.

  The current crisis is being compared to The Great Depression of the 1930’s

  But how these SHTFs compare away from charts and figures, more close to society and people’s lives? Are contemporary fears and (apparently insurmountable) matters of monumental debts, hyperinflation risk, social fragmentation, political animosity, government intervention, and widespread conflicts genuinely unprecedented? 

  I looked at a few excerpts from “The Great Depression: A Diary” by Benjamin Roth to find out. It’s a personal yet surprisingly dispassionate account of the darkest years of the1930’s big slump, right after the stock market crash of 1929. Written 90 years ago in journal format as events were unfolding, without hindsight or historical distancing. It is a candid and powerful documentation of the depression zeitgeist.

  Benjamin Roth was a young lawyer in Youngstown, OH, then an important steel production center of the flourishing Rust Belt. A common, middle-class professional and family man hit directly by the economic devastation, Roth was trying to understand and cope with the craziness going on. All that makes his observations very compelling and his narrations all the more relatable. 

  Reading through Roth’s diary feels like reading a tweet, blog, or newsfeed today.

  Anyone following today’s current events will be amazed at the similarities between that period and now regarding facts and events. But mostly as to how people felt and reacted to those. In that sense, Roth’s book won’t provide direct answers. But it’s filled with great insights and highly entertaining stories. 

  Likewise, the idea here is not to draw a detailed or factual comparison nor provide a more in-depth analysis. We live in a very different world. The economy is considerably bigger and orders of magnitude more complex, so things are not directly comparable. The excerpts only illustrate parallels and allow for observations, with emphasis on context and human behavior. Hopefully, this will inspire you to grab a copy. It’s great reading.

  It also provides a few important lessons to combat the anxiety caused by uncertainty

  Many people are battling the anxiety of not feeling better prepared for the evolving situation.

  One lesson is that, as the Stoics say, “This too shall pass.” Back then, the whole tribulation seemed to people like the end of times. This sentiment certainly got solidified further by WWII breaking out just a few years later. It sure feels like that today, too, with the endless cascade of bad news and looming threats all over.

  In that regard, and not making light of it (crises are a real catastrophe to many), the fact that we’re still here, in an even better situation than ever before in history, should be taken as a sign that we’re learning and improving, as species and civilization. That shows that it’s entirely possible to overcome significant hardships no matter how bad the present feels or how dark the future looks.

  Another lesson is that these ordeals take time to pass, and invariably the cost is brutal in various forms. It’s a huge ordeal spreading insecurity, pain, suffering, and causing loss to people, families, and businesses everywhere. (Not to mention that widespread instabilities increase the risk of authoritarianism, hot conflicts, and other worrying developments.) 

  

  Let’s see what the Great Depression of the 1930s and Mr. Benjamin Roth have to tell us

  (Note: The excerpts aren’t in chronological order).

   “January 18, 1933 – I am reading a book written by Claude Bowers entitled The Tragic Era. In it, he describes the panic of 1873 and I am amazed at the similarity to conditions today.”

  I couldn’t find a more fitting start than the author looking back to get some insights and answers to his difficulties. That is what we do. People get lost during these periods. It’s hard to know or be sure of much or interpret things correctly when we’re immersed in the chaos, dealing with hardships, changes, and turmoil almost daily.

  Takeaway: Looking at current events through the lenses of the past helps achieve a more balanced view. As I said, even though it doesn’t offer much relief in practical terms, it’s Diasomewhat comforting to know that we’ve been through this before many times and survived. Individuals and society.

   “August 14, 1932 – The movement back to the farm has grown stronger during the past two years until today it is almost an exodus from the city to the farm.”

  Whenever the economy dips, things start to degrade everywhere. But cities get hit harder and faster, making people flock to the country en masse. It’s a recurrent, global phenomenon, though more prevalent and visible in the U.S. and other highly-industrialized and urbanized nations. The reasons are various: spikes in homelessness and crime, tax hikes, diminishing job opportunities, dwindling entertainment, faltering public services. That, and a lot more, haunted the population back then as it does now. In our case, with the added effects of lockdowns, social distancing, and multiple restrictions.

  Takeaway: The pendulum is constantly swinging in this city-country movement, and it’s already bringing large-scale and far-reaching changes in lifestyle, the market, and infrastructure at both ends. Everyone must pay attention to these factors and prepare for, whether living in the city or country.

  “February 13, 1933 – I have done considerable reading about the depressions of 1837 and 1873 and, I am struck by the similarity to the present crisis. If history repeats itself, then we still have 2 or 3 years of bad times ahead of us.”

  The passage above is also about the repetition of situations and events and a warning to those who believe in silver bullets to solve complex issues. For instance, thinking a vaccine or monetary stimulus will make economic, societal, and geopolitical problems go away magically or in the short term. It won’t. In fact, those (as well as others) measures, chiefly ones coming from politics, organizations, and the ruling elites, could potentially trigger further events or have unintended consequences, becoming themselves sources of more unknown unknown”.

  Takeaway: How long this crisis will last is impossible to know for sure.” “If history repeat,” we may not even have seen the worse yet. There could be unexpected developments at any point. This next decade is promising to be, at the very least, highly volatile. Being prepared for a few more years of challenges and hardships ahead is a sensible strategy. Don’t expect things to go “back to normal.”

  “June 1, 1933 – In looking back over the 3 months since Roosevelt became President it seems that the U.S. has traveled a long way toward some form of socialism or managed economy.”

  The intervention in economy and finance took center stage during the 2020 presidential campaign and has been inspiring endless articles by economists and ‘‘experts” everywhere since, well, at least 2008. Today, a lot of people are afraid that the U.S. may turn into the Soviet Union. Or worse, Venezuela. Heck, I don’t live in the U.S., and I dread that myself! Judging by Benjamin Roth’s remarks, this sentiment was prevalent during the turbulent 1930s as well. 

  Takeaway: Once again, if history is any indication, despite the movement away from the free market, individualism and liberty, and the trend towards higher levels of intervention, collectivism, and safety, the U.S. should remain a free, capitalist nation. At least for the foreseeable future. Which doesn’t mean capitalism and democracy won’t undergo changes, possibly some big ones even. (Here’s more information on that topic.)Being on top of this is a way to keep up, or at least not get caught entirely off guard.

  “January 11, 1932 – The war between Japan and China drags along. Threats made by the U.S. are disregarded. Germany announces she cannot and will not pay further reparations and France threatens to collect by force what is coming to her.”

   “March 11, 1933 – Los Angeles district in California experiences 13 quakes yesterday. Almost as bad as San Francisco affair! Early reports indicate 150 dead; 2500 hurt; tremendous property loss.”

  These two entries only one year from each other remind us that multiple SHTFs can happen concomitantly. A grave economic depression was ravaging the world, and yet parallel disasters and conflicts kept taking place in the U.S. and everywhere else. Hitler became a dictator in military-building Germany. Countries were abandoning the gold standard. Revolutions were breaking out in France and Austria. The shadow of fascism and authoritarianism looming large over Europe and South America. And a lot more events that would change the world indelibly.

  Takeaway: Expect geopolitical instability to become even more of a thing soon regardless of the pandemic or crisis, or precisely as a direct result of those. Stay alert for movements and developments in military, trading, alliances. Nature won’t suspend its usual activities just because we’re already going through difficult times of our own cause, either. Be on the lookout for potential simultaneous SHTFs, always trying to imagine how those may impact your life.

  “January 6, 1933 – During the boom everybody piled up debts to a dizzy height (…) economists claim that either the debt will have to be cut down or money inflated.”

  Studying macroeconomics after the 2008 recession is what brought me into preparedness and survivalism. When I learned about countries’ surreal indebtedness, corporations, families, and individuals, I became worried. It’s a giant iceberg of over USD 250 trillion and growing. And that’s only the more visible part. Likewise, the U.S. (and worldwide) fast-growing deficit and sovereign debt post-WWI and during the depression was a worrying issue, which didn’t escape Roth’s attention.

  Takeaway: Debt and leverage have significantly fluctuated throughout history, in cycles between booms and busts, war and peace. That’s how things are. The reduction of indebtedness and cleaning of the system at such levels has rarely (if ever) been a smooth process. Something has to give. Get ready for volatility, inflation/deflation, melt-ups-and-downs, tax hikes, confiscations, poverty. And, of course, the accompanying gamut of social reflexes (unrest, protests, strikes, riots, etc.). All that can impact our lives.

  “September 1, 1932 – The stock market (…) tripled its value during August in one of the quickest climbs ever witnessed. I believe this also established a record. Nobody seems to know even yet why the stock market went up because business has gotten worse instead of better.”

  It seems the fabled V-shaped recovery and the absolute disconnect between the real economy and the stock market aren’t exactly unprecedented. Almost 90 years have passed since this entry. Yet, it could well have been written yesterday. Or any day since mid-2020, when the stock market rebounded from the March crash with intense vigor. Meanwhile, the real economy has gone from bad to worse, and some would say terminal. Businesses and jobs are still being wiped out in droves due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the faltering economy.

  Takeaway: Whatever happens, it’s reasonable to expect any real build back of the economy, production, and jobs should take some time, not to mention tremendous efforts and lots of sacrifices. And things will be a lot different too, an entirely new world for sure.

  “August 30, 1932 – It is interesting to note that during the first three years of depression a wave of bankruptcy swept out of existence most of the small independent merchants. Recently the movement has included large national chain stores.”

  Then as now: small businesses are always hit the hardest during significant slumps. The current devastation differs in a few ways from the 1930s, though. One is speed: it only took a few months since march 2020 to attain and even surpass the levels of bankruptcy and unemployment reached in the span of a few years during the Great Depression. The second is that we haven’t (yet?) seen larger movements, perhaps due to the massive support programs put in place by governments everywhere. It’s likely that without this much intervention, the wave of bankruptcy would have been, in fact, a monstrous tsunami.

  Takeaway: Not entering the merits of validity and/or efficacy of such measures (and potential side effects), an immutable law of the universe states that there’s no free lunch. Fiscal and monetary ‘‘stimulus”, forbearances, moratoriums, and government support have a price that’s piling up and will have to be paid at some point. Since debt, private and public, can only be paid, rolled, deflated, or defaulted, whatever happens, will have its own set of consequences and ripples. Staying informed about the economy, increasing knowledge about finance, building reserves, and investing in some insurance against inflation may be ways to stay prepared.

  “August 3, 1933 – Since Roosevelt became President a war-time hysteria of public opinion has been created which makes it unpopular to criticize what he does. Even newspaper editorials have unanimously supported him so and refrained from honest criticism.”

  Now as then. Unsurprisingly, political divisiveness was an issue during the Great Depression. Unsurprisingly, it is now, too. At times it seems both sides have irreconcilable agendas and insurmountable differences; that only the complete destruction of the opponent (either through political, social, or economic persecution/destruction, or de facto by civil war) can bring resolution to a deadlock. Apparently, the press (M.S.M.) siding with this or that party, candidate, or agenda was a thing back then, too. For obvious reasons, Big Tech, social media, and cancel culture are unprecedented.

  Takeaway: As much as divisiveness and radicalism spread and deepens, and politics, debates, and narratives look like a dead-end, these can dwarf in the face of weightier, real, practical, more immediate, or urgent matters. If that happens, society will have to sit down and talk or start rowing in the same direction together. Looking back in history, this seems to be an American characteristic (though not uncommon in other countries and populations). Perhaps we haven’t reached this point yet. But knowing it has happened before, it’s possible (likely?) people will opt for a common way out. Let’s just hope it’s a pacific and productive exit, not a belligerent and destructive one.

  “March 5, 1934 – Roosevelt is as popular today as a year ago. His following with the working class is tremendous. It seems he and the Democrats will be in power for some time. Socialism is now accepted calmly by ministers, professors, etc. and it is amazing to me to see how calmly most people accept drastic government regulation.”

  Hold your horses: this is not about Democrats or Republicans, but rather bigger government, centralization, intervention, and regulation becoming more or less accepted in one period or another. When things get hard, larger portions of the population will long for (and depend on) assistance. Whether or not that is a good, useful, or otherwise, policy is beyond the present scope. That’s just how things are. Back then, Benjamin Roth and many others were certain that America was headed to communism and doom. As bad as things may have been (and it sure was terrible), it’s clear now that the U.S. didn’t even come close to actual socialism. But for a nation that epitomizes capitalism like no other, the feeling (and fear) is totally understandable. 

  Takeaway: As we know, America (and capitalism) came out stronger, though not without lots of suffering for a large percentage of the population. Is America on the verge of socialism once again? It looks like, yes. Will it become this time? Impossible to say. Have we seen this before? Absolutely, and not just once. So, what’s the point? Perhaps none: the future is not written. But the past always offers a lesson: change and evolution don’t come free or without pain. Whatever happens, there will be a cost. But it’ll pass. And therein lies a point: since we can’t avoid SHTF, the question is to prepare for difficult times and survive until things get better again, plowing ahead.

  Conclusion (with a caveat): This isn’t an exercise in futurology, just food for thought.

  “History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes” – Mark Twain

  In that sense, I find it necessary to conclude by pointing a few significant differences between the period narrated in Benjamin Roth’s diary and today. They may or may not affect specific events during the unfolding of the current crisis. But may have enough gravity to them to potentially change the outcome and reshape the world going ahead.  

  The reversal of roles

  Back in the early 20th century, U.S. was a booming, production-based economy, the biggest creditor in the world thanks in great part to money lent during WWI.” “Made in the U.S.A.” was a valuable slogan and motive of pride. Today, about 70% of the private U.S. economy is based on services and consumption, mostly of imported goods. The American production has been almost entirely exported to Asia and other countries, with China being the largest U.S. supplier and its principal creditor. 

  Trading deficits are mounting. The Debt-to-GDP ratio has soared to 130% and is growing fast. Since the U.S. is the largest economy globally, this turned it into the biggest world debtor. But the USD remains the reserve currency, and the U.S. still holds the biggest military power. That may take some time to change, even if no reaction is put in place, which is unlikely if we take history as an indication. (Again, hopefully, a peaceful response, for the good of everyone).

  The COVID-19 pandemic 

  Another big difference between the 1930s and today is the pandemic and the subsequent set of bamboozled responses by authorities everywhere. When the crash of 1929 hit, the world had rid of the Spanish Flu for over a decade. Nowadays, we still have COVID-19 wreaking havoc on the economy and everyone’s lives. There’s no telling whether it will mutate or vanish, whether vaccines will work, or whether elites and politics will use the virus, cure, and prevention to impose even more restrictions on production, work, traveling, commerce, entertainment, and freedom. The reality is that COVID-19 is a significant factor now and should remain one for at least a few years ahead.

  War risks

  Between 1934-36 the world was exiting The Great Depression. Shortly after Europe was engulfed in WWII.” “War is all hell,” as defined by Gen. Willian Tecumseh Sherman during the Civil War. But it has an undeniable impact on the production and economy of all countries, involved or not. The effect of more activities and trading in demographics helped the entire world, mostly the U.S., to get out of the hole a few times throughout history. That makes some political parties and elites (not to mention the military) quite fond of armed conflicts, unfortunately. Whether a war is in the cards or not, and to what extent (can be a currency or trade war, hot war, cyberwar, local or widespread conflict) remains to be seen. These things happen. 

  Technological advancements

  Technology is always viewed paradoxically as both salvation and doom: it brings conflicting feelings of admiration, fear, hope, and despair. There’s currently a host of new tech evolving at a dizzying pace: A.I., Big Data, 5G, advanced mass surveillance, crypto, blockchain, bio, Taas, electric vehicles, interplanetary rockets, etc. Collectively, this is being touted as The Next Renaissance. It’s also being called a potential threat to freedom, the environment, humankind, and life in general. While technology cannot be discarded, it must be noted that technological development is a constant. Meaning, every age has it playing a part in events. The early 20th century, for instance, had its own set of technological threats. Just as the Industrial Revolution had before. It repeats throughout history, and the most important is, it can’t be stopped. Keeping up is optional, of course. But avoiding or escaping its effects is not.

  Finally, there isn’t much we can do against these greater forces and historical movements. But individually, we can keep doing our best, keep ourselves informed, in good shape (physically and mentally), and prepared as much as possible.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 18:40

• Tesla Finishes Near Dead Last In 2021 J.D. Power Dependability Survey
  Tesla Finishes Near Dead Last In 2021 J.D. Power Dependability Survey

  As Model S and Model X vehicles (and even some Model 3s) age further with each day, we’re guessing there are going to be an awful lot of stories about the quality of Tesla vehicles deteriorating as they get older. That’s because, as we have noted several times (here and here), Teslas don’t exactly seem like they are top quality the day they roll off the line.

  And it appears J.D. Power agrees with us – the American data analytics and consumer intelligence company placed Tesla 30th out of 33 manufacturers in its most recent Vehicle Dependability Survey. 

  The survey looked at 177 specific problems in 8 categories, the report says. This includes “powertrain, exterior flaws, and HVAC issues” among other issues. The 2021 study looks at the 2018 model year. Tesla was fourth from the bottom of the list, averaging 176 issues per 100 vehicles. 

  

  “The automaker is not officially ranked among other brands in the study because it doesn’t meet the ranking criteria. Unlike other manufacturers, Tesla doesn’t grant J.D. Power permission to survey its owners in 15 states where it is required. However, Tesla’s score was calculated based on a robust sample of surveys from owners in the other 35 states,” J.D. Power’s press releases read. 

  Back in 2020, Tesla also posted abysmal scores in the U.S. Initial Quality Study. The brand scored an abysmal 250 in 2020, placing it below literally dozens of other manufacturers, including names like Land Rover and Audi, in terms of reliability.

  The U.S. Initial Quality Study has been put out annually for the last 34 years and works by asking buyers of new cars of the current model year what problems they have had within the first 90 days of owning a vehicle. The score is based on the number of problems experienced within those 90 days per 100 vehicles. 

  

  Recall, we also pointed out hours ago that Tesla was once again slashing prices internationally, marking the 13th time this year that the company has tried to stoke demand by lowering prices. 

  “The base price of the standard model was cut to 4.29 million yen ($40,500) from 5.11 million yen on Thursday, while the long-range version saw an even steeper drop of 1.56 million yen to 4.99 million yen. The performance sedan remained at 7.17 million yen,” according to Automotive News. 

  

  Takeshi Miyao, an analyst at consulting firm Carnorama in Tokyo, told Automotive News that the cut “should have a positive impact on sales”.

  We have an idea: now that you’ve got a nearly $1 trillion market cap, why not focus on just making quality vehicles?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/19/2021 – 18:20

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• Brandon Smith: A Question For Leftists
  Brandon Smith: A Question For Leftists

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  The media these days is saturated with tales of “evil conservatives” and our heinous plans for world domination through “insurrection”. In fact, most mainstream articles that cover recent events including the election and the protests at the capitol make a point to always mention “white supremacy” and “terrorism” in the same breath as the word “conservative”. This is an entirely deliberate propaganda tactic called “word association” or “word redefinition”; change the subtext of a word or group label in the minds of the masses and you can often change perception from positive to negative.

  In other words, Conservative = Racist/Terrorist. It doesn’t matter if it’s not true, it just matters that people are conditioned to subconsciously make the connection.

  How about an example:

  I’ve offered numerous criticisms of Trump and his administration over the years, but none of those criticism had anything to do with what leftists have been regurgitating since 2016. To them, Trump’s “racism” was verified fact, yet when I ask any social justice warrior to produce an actual quote of Trump saying something racist, they can’t seem to dig anything up.

  By extension, leftists have a bizarre obsession with Russia and the theory that Russia is an ever present hand of god in US politics, yet, none of them can produce any concrete proof that Russia has meaningful influence in American elections or affairs.

  The political left has committed itself to a fantasy world; a parallel universe. They deeply believes in things that never happened, and treat those beliefs as sacrosanct. Why? Probably because their movement is infected with people that are easily manipulated by word redefinitions and false associations. Are they victims of propaganda? Sure. Are they innocent? No, not really.

  Refusal to question the actions and motives of your chosen movement is willful ignorance, and leftists should be held accountable for that.

  They are the ONLY group of people that has consistently supported mass surveillance, mass censorship and deplatforming, mass violence, property destruction and looting as well as violations of individual rights through medical mandates and lockdowns.

  They call conservatives “insurrectionists” and “traitors”, but they are the only people openly trying to dismantle constitutional protections and the Bill of Rights.

  So, who are the real villains of this story?

   

  Leftists seem to suffer from bewilderment when faced with conservative values, so perhaps an explanation is needed? Think of it this way: Conservatives value core principles (natural law) and the vital fundamentals of civilization. We believe merit is more important than equity. We believe in winning through hard work and excellence, not winning by deception or through claims of victim status. We do not value personal feelings above logic and reason, and the opinion of a mob is no more important to us than the opinion of a single person.

  Conservatives don’t owe any allegiance to the left’s twisted vision of “democracy” (tyranny by the majority), nor do we hold blind allegiance to any particular government. Our allegiance is to the Bill of Rights and to the principles which founded this nation, and when a political group attempts to violate those principles, we are not required to submit simply because they collected “more votes”.

  Our rights are more important than any election. Our rights are more important than your fears.

  One of the core characteristics of conservatives is that we have a tendency to argue with each other…a lot. It’s one of the main reasons why we find it difficult to organize on the same scale that leftists often do. We might all agree on the source of the problems our country faces, but we rarely all agree on the details, or the solutions. This is a weakness, but it is also a strength.

  I would much rather be a part of a movement that self reflects. I would much rather be a part of a movement that doesn’t operate as a hive mind. There needs to be LOGICAL dissenting voices in everything so that ideas are challenged. If the ideas are found wanting by reason and wisdom, then they need to be addressed or abandoned. The political left has no concept of this, though.

  Leftists are afraid to question anything within their own circles. To dissent on the smallest detail is to be a heretic, a traitor to the cause. They use the word “diversity” all the time, like a battle cry, but when confronted with true diversity (diversity of thought), they panic and react violently.

  Leftists don’t actually care about diversity; they only care that you have blind allegiance to the collective. Stray but a little, and the mob will come for your head. They LOVE plantations, they love slavery; as long as they own the plantations and they control the slaves.

  A natural consequence of this Animal Farm mentality is that irony and hypocrisy is lost on the followers of such movements. They project all their shortcomings and crimes on others. The devils they see in conservatives are actually the devils they see in the mirror everyday. That said, the higher up you get in the leftist pyramid, the less it becomes hypocritical and the more it becomes malicious and deliberate.

  The gaslighting, the word association propaganda, the selective memory hole they use to erase historical facts that contradict their ideology, the people at the top and their lackeys KNOW exactly what they are doing. They don’t care that their claims are hypocritical or outright fraudulent. They know they are lying, they know they are gaslighting. They’re not interested in being right, they are only interested in WINNING.

  There is much more going on here than meets the eye. There is a great deal of power and money behind the rise of the hard left ideology and there are certain people that benefit from it’s expansion. Leftists like to view themselves as the “underdogs” or revolutionaries fighting against “the man”. However, every resource of global power brokers has been offered in support of the political left. The “Man” is the ally of the leftists; in some ways he is even the creator of the leftist movement.

  They aren’t revolutionaries at all; they are the jackboots of the new world order.

  It was globalist institutions like the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation that funded different elements of the feminist movement and “gender studies” movements from the late 1960’s onward. This included the Rockefeller Foundation’s large donations to ‘The Feminist Press’ and the Ford Foundation’s programs to indoctrinate university professors into injecting social justice talking points into their curriculum.

  This is openly admitted in Alison R. Bernstein’s book ‘Funding The Future: Philanthropy’s Influence On America’s Higher Education’. Bernstein is the vice president of Education at the Ford Foundation and the former Associate Dean of Faculty at Princeton.

  That’s right folks, social justice activism was paid for and encouraged by the so-called “patriarchy”. This is reality, and it never stopped. Even today SJW groups are funded by globalists. For example, as the mainstream media often tries to dismiss or ignore, Black Lives Matter was initially funded by the Ford Foundation and George Soros and his Open Society Foundation. BLM coffers were flooded with over $100 million from uber rich white elites.

  Again, this is a FACT that even the dishonest spin doctors at Snopes are not able to deny. Instead, they attempt to use strawman arguments and sophistry to distract from the implication of extreme-left mobs receiving seed money from elitist billionaires.

  But let’s follow this path even further: Who gets the support of the mainstream media behemoths? Conservatives or leftists? The answer is obvious.

  What about Big Tech platforms? Do they enforce leftist ideological standards? Do they censor conservative viewpoints predominantly or leftist viewpoints predominantly? The reality is that conservatives are deplatformed from Twitter, YouTube and Facebook far more than leftists, this is verifiable fact.

  When alternative platforms like Parler are built, are they allowed to simply exist? Of course not! The leftists rampage in an effort to destroy them, but the leftists would have no power without the backing of corporate monopolies like Apple, Google and Amazon. Not only does Big Tech aid the leftists in their Jihad against conservatives, but the government does as well.

  They don’t just go after alternative platforms, they try to go after web service providers. And when alternative platforms move to more freedom oriented service providers like Epik, the leftists get government support in order to intimidate them also.

  Leftists revel in the argument that “freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences”; they seem to think it is rather clever. I would say, actually, yes, that’s EXACTLY what freedom of speech means. Freedom of speech means that no single group of people is allowed to use fear, intimidation and punishment to compel silence in other groups or individuals that disagree with them. With corporate monopoly and government on their side, it is clear that leftists have appointed themselves the sole arbiters of “consequence”, and this violates the constitution in every conceivable way.

  The collusion between government, corporations and extremist ideological movements is the classical definition of fascism. And, just as the Third Reich enjoyed immense funding, investment and industrial support from globalists and corporations in the decade leading up to WWII, the political left is enjoying immense support from the global corporate oligarchy today. You cannot be “anti-fascist” while you are colluding with fascists.

  So, again, I ask leftists: If you are the rebels, if you are the freedom fighters, then why are all the elites you are supposedly fighting against on your side? Why are evil people your most avid allies?

  *  *  *

  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, 02/19/2021 – 00:00

• NYC Waitress Fired For Waiting To Take COVID Vax Over Pregnancy Concerns
  NYC Waitress Fired For Waiting To Take COVID Vax Over Pregnancy Concerns

  A waitress in New York City was fired after she told her employer that she wanted to wait and see if the COVID-19 vaccine – which has been in use for less than nine months – has any side affects on pregnancy.

  34-year-old Bonnie Jacobson, who started working at the Red Hook Tavern in August, says she’s not an ‘anti-vaxxer,’ but was uncomfortable taking the vaccine while she and her husband were trying to conceive, she told the Daily Mail.

  

  On February 8, the restaurant sent an email to employees which said “If you choose to get vaccinated, here’s what you need to know.” The email made no mention of mandatory vaccinations – which, by the by, don’t prevent people from catching or transmitting COVID-19  and instead helps protect against serious illness from the disease.

  During a staff meeting, Jacobson says she told her manager that she wanted more time to research the vaccine, and was told that she wouldn’t be required to get the shot.

  “As a 34-year-old woman, why take the risk right now when I can just wait a little longer when there are people a lot older and more at risk who could use the vaccine more than I could right now?” she told the Mail. “My dad is 68 years old and lives in Pennsylvania and has diabetes, there’s no reason why I should be getting that before him.”

  Days later on February 12, the Brooklyn tavern changed its mind and sent an email telling employees that the vaccine was mandatory.

  “Please be advised that we will require that all employees receive the vaccination,” reads the email.

  “This will be mandatory for all existing employees and any new hires. The exception to this policy will be if your own personal health or disability prohibits you from obtaining this vaccination. We encourage you to consult your healthcare professional to determine if getting a vaccine is right for you.”

  

  Jacobson emailed her employers back, and said that while she ‘fully supports’ the vaccine, she doesn’t want to get it yet.

  “While I fully support the vaccine and understand its importance I do believe this is a very personal choice. I really hope this choice would not affect my employment at Red Hook Tavern,” she wrote, adding that she takes COVID “very seriously” and will continue to practice safety guidelines.

  “I get tested every 1-2 weeks and have never tested positive for COVID. I plan to continue these safety practices for as long as necessary,” her email continues, adding “Also once there is more research to support that it does not affect fertility I would reconsider my position.”

  On Monday, however, Jacobson heard back – with her employers noting that the company ‘respected’ her ‘very personal choice,’ but that “In order to continue employment with us, getting the vaccine is required. At this time your employment will be terminated. We are sad to see you go. If you do change your mind, please do not hesitate to let us know.”

  Red Hook Tavern owner Billy Durney told the Mail that he could have handled the situation differently, and that the tavern would update its policy so all employees understand their stance.

  “Once New York state allowed restaurant workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, we thought this was the perfect opportunity to put a plan in place to keep our team and guests safe,” he said in a statement obtained by various outlets, adding “No one has faced these challenges before and we made a decision that we thought would best protect everyone.”

  

  “I just wanted more time they didn’t allow me that, I didn’t even have time to consult a physician. It was a week from being ‘your choice,’ to it’s not going to be mandatory, to it us mandatory, to you’re fired,” said Jacobson. “I had a very good working relationship there. I just had an employee review on February 6 and it was all positive, so it was truly shocking that it was so impersonal.”

  According to labor attorney Carolyn D. Richmond, it’s too early for companies to mandate shots.

  “Pregnancy and vaccine — as soon as you hear those words in the workplace, you should stop to think if what you are doing is right or wrong,” Richmond told the New York Times. “It has to be generally available to the employee population and it’s not. None of us are having an easy time getting appointments.”

  That said, employers have the right to mandate the vaccine, according to Dorit Reiss,  a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law.

  “Requiring a vaccine is a health and safety work rule, and employers can do that,” he told CNBC in December.

  Last month, the World Health Organization advised pregnant women not to get vaccinated unless at high risk for COVID-19 due to underlying conditions.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 23:40

• Jettison The Johnson: Transwomen Athletes Crashing Female Sports Will Only Hurt The Game
  Jettison The Johnson: Transwomen Athletes Crashing Female Sports Will Only Hurt The Game

  Authored by Robert Bridge via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

  As the Biden administration moves to make it illegal to deny the participation of birth males in female sport, a number of courageous athletes and academics are beginning to speak out on the issue, warning that the presidential orders will have disastrous consequences on their profession, and possibly their lives.

  

  On the very same day of his locked-down inauguration, Joe Biden signed off on dozens of executive orders, including one gem entitled, ‘Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation’. The controversial legislation, which has never been the subject of serious debate at the governmental level, moves to allow transgender women (i.e. biological males that self-identify as females) who have undergone male puberty to compete in women’s sports.

  What could wrong?

  To better understand what the future of women’s sports may look like in the future, take a moment and watch the Mixed Martial Arts fight between Fallon Fox and Tamikka Brents from 2014. Fox, the first openly transgender athlete in MMA history, subjected Brents to a brief but brutal pummeling that resulted in a fractured skull and concussion.

  Transgender MMA Fighter Fallon Fox beat her female opponent Tamika Brents so severely that she suffered a broken skull. pic.twitter.com/S7HOMcA60j

  — #TartanTuesday 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿CITIZEN NOT SERF🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@TartantuesdayI) July 11, 2019

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

  Now with the passage of Biden’s order such displays of aggression on the field of broken dreams and bones promise to occur with increasing regularity. What is very odd about Biden’s executive order, clearly the brainchild of the radical progressive wing of the Democratic Party, is that it aims to protect a minuscule segment of the population, while leaving the majority exposed to tremendous risk of injury. Are the social justice warriors only interested in protecting minority groups for the supposed moral high ground it gives them when preaching their flawed message of ‘equality and inclusivity’?

  [ZH: we were also reminded of this story]

  And yes, this was a real thing. Not a movie or skit. https://t.co/ENvBEws2zn

  — Old Man Mir (@Moneymirweather) February 17, 2021

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  In any case, the Democrats, despite the conceit that theirs is the ‘party of science,’ blatantly ignore any medical evidence that disproves the notion that females can compete on a level playing with the males. After all, just because a person feels that they are trapped in the wrong body with the wrong sex does not mean that those feelings can alter biological fact.

  “Males are five inches taller than females, they have longer arms, a greater reach and they can generate more speed and larger hand spans,” explained Dr. Emma Hilton, a developmental biologist and university lecturer.

  “Males have 40 percent more muscle mass, and forty percent less body fat. The muscle they have is denser…and higher proportion of fast-twitch fibers, which are the fibers responsible for explosive movement…”

  What is the main driver of these significant physical differences between males and females? That would come down to testosterone, the powerful game-changing hormone released in males during puberty that Hilton refers to as “one hell of a drug.”

  “It has delivered us athletes like Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps,” the professor continued, before dropping a tongue-in-cheek remark that underscored its desirability among athletes looking for a competitive edge.

  “As the original anabolic steroid, used widely in the 1980s in state-led doping programs, it has almost certainly delivered us a fair few elite females too.”

  The proponents of transgender females in women’s sports, however, argue that biological males are able to pare down their testosterone levels through a number of medical treatments, including the injection of estrogen, the female hormone, and the surgical removal of the testes, the endocrinal gland responsible for testosterone secretion. In 2003, the International Olympic Committee said these medical steps were sufficient enough to permit transgender women to compete alongside biological females in competition. In order for a transwoman to qualify to compete among biological females, the IOC required: testes removal at least two years before competing; legal status as female; hormones in line with female profiles.

  #WomenInSport See more: https://t.co/WAO0Uak97c pic.twitter.com/4HXCv8AkUF

  — Nancy Hogshead-Makar, JD, Oly (@Hogshead3Au) February 8, 2021

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  These measures were deemed adequate – despite little study into the question – to ensure fair competition. However, a strange thing happened between 2003 and 2015, when the IOC rather radically changed the rules in the middle of the game, so to speak. That strange thing seems to have been the further radicalization of the progressive movement. Today, the IOC no longer demands that the biological males submit to castration in order to compete with the ladies. All that is required is that they keep their testosterone levels below a certain level. But does keeping testosterone in check make a difference. Yes, it does, but not nearly enough to level the playing field between transwomen and females.

  According to one study, published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, “transwomen still had a 9% faster mean run speed after the 1 year period of testosterone suppression that is recommended by World Athletics for inclusion in women’s events.”

  Dr. Hilton summed up the situation, which should give anyone pause who cares about the safety of females competing against transwomen: “even five years past transition and their testes long gone [transwomen] retain more muscle mass and remain much stronger than reference females.”

  Nevertheless, civil liberty groups, like the ACLU – without citing a single professional medical study – have come out in full support of transwomen competing head-to-head against females.

  The @ACLU has spoken. https://t.co/TXe8oQUv2n

  — Geoffrey Miller (@primalpoly) February 3, 2021

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  A Call for Balance

  This month, and not a moment too soon, a group of world class athletes and sports organizations announced the formation of the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group created to “protect girls’ and women’s sports and accommodate transgender athletes.” Some of the high-profile names among the group include Olympic gold medalist swimmer Donna de Varona, International Tennis Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova, Olympic gold medalist swimmer Nancy Hogshead-Makar, and Lyn St. James, former Indycar and LeMans racecar driver.

  The Working Group proposes that “the Biden Administration and Congress to reject ‘either/or’ positions and instead to adopt an ethical, science-based approach to the protection of girls’ and women’s sport.”

  Martina Navratilova, a winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles, emphasized that she supported transwomen rights but that the physical advantages for transgender women competitors who had experienced male puberty were “pretty obvious.”

  In an interview with the BBC, Navratilova expressed opposition to “an all-inclusive situation where trans men and women, just based on their self identification [with the opposite sex], would be able to compete with no mitigation, no rules outside of that whatsoever. And that clearly would not be a level playing field.”

  Although that would seem to be a logical approach for everyone, not least of all for the females who must compete against biological males, the initiative is already being attacked on the grounds that it limits “fairness and opportunity” for transgenders in sports.

  According to Sharon McGowan, chief strategy officer of Lambda Legal, which works for LGBTQ civil rights, “The kinds of proposals that unfortunately [Navratilova] and others have been promoting would really sweep way too far in terms of limiting the opportunity of transgender children being able to participate in a way that ensures fairness and opportunity,” as quoted by Reuters.

  Unfortunately, it looks as though the only way Biden’s executive order will receive the fair amount of scientific scrutiny is when more females begin to suffer serious injury while competing against transwomen. But even then nothing guarantees that the woke crowd will awaken from its stupor.

  Admitting to its faults is not a strong suit of the radical progressives, even when lives are on the line, and this stubbornness could deal the world of women’s sports a truly fatal blow.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 23:20

• Oakland Chinatown Shop Owner Arrested After Firing Shots Into The Air To Thwart Robbery  
  Oakland Chinatown Shop Owner Arrested After Firing Shots Into The Air To Thwart Robbery  

  Only in a liberal-run state like California will a store owner get jailed for intervening in a robbery outside his shop. It’s backasswards but true, according to local television station KTVU. 

  In Oakland’s Chinatown, a store owner was arrested Monday when he fired his handgun in the air to chase off a criminal who was mugging a woman outside his shop. No one was injured at the time of the incident, but the 36-year-old man was arrested and faces one felony assault with a firearm.

  Robbery in #OaklandChinatown before 6pm Community leader tells me a thief knocked down a woman in her 30’s to steal her camera. Shop owner intervenes, struggles w/ suspect & fires 4 shots . Suspect gets away in vehicle No serious injuries #KTVU pic.twitter.com/bk3BNOLpsE

  — Amber Lee (@AmberKTVU) February 16, 2021

  Oakland’s Chinatown has been hit with a recent wave of assaults and robberies. Members in the community have pooled together funds and hired private security guards to patrol the streets.

  Oakland’s new police chief commented on Monday’s incident at a press conference on Tuesday. 

  “We don’t want people to fire weapons into our community. There could be unintended victims,” Chief LeRonne Armstrong said. 

  The store owner was bailed out on Tuesday with a $60k bond, the police department said. 

  Head of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, Carl Chan, told CBS San Francisco that when he “talks to the entire community they feel sad that someone is trying to help others and ends up to be the one arrested or being in custody.” 

  Chan has been advocating for more police presence in the area. As we noted above, armed security guards already patrol the streets, funded by the public. 

  “So, I think many of the people feel strongly that we should be supporting the store owner,” Chan said.

  He added that more shop owners would have to intervene in violent crimes outside their stores without a police presence in Chinatown. 

  This incident sets a horrible precedent for store owners who may decide not to intervene in a violent crime outside their store because they fear any action they would take may result in jail. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 23:00

• 5 Of 7 Republican Senators Who Convicted Trump Have Been Censured In Home States
  5 Of 7 Republican Senators Who Convicted Trump Have Been Censured In Home States

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

  Of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict former President Donald Trump, five of them have been censured by various state and county Republican Parties or from voters.

  

  On Monday night, the North Carolina GOP unanimously voted to censure Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who is retiring in 2022, after he voted to convict, despite previously said it was unconstitutional to try a former president.

  “By what he did and by what he did not do, President Trump violated his oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution,” Burr stated over the past weekend.

  Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who voted to convict and is up for reelection in 2026, explained that he did so because he “took an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and I take that oath seriously.” However, his move didn’t go over well in the state’s GOP.

  The Louisiana Republican Party unanimously voted to censure—or officially condemn—Cassidy for his vote on the same day that he voted to convict the former president.

  Before that, the Lincoln County Republican Party unanimously censured Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) for his dismissing the legitimate concerns” of Nebraska’s secretary of state, Nebraska’s attorney general, “and a huge majority of Republican voters,” while it said he failed “to respect the high office of the President of the United States.”

  Sasse could be the one who loses the most politically, as some have said the senator could be a 2024 Republican presidential candidate. However, he is likely to face blowback from Republican voters, who, according to polls, view Trump very favorably.

  Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who faces reelection in 2022, was censured by Republicans in six state House districts over her vote to convict.

  “I stand my ground. If I had to take that vote again, I would vote to uphold my oath of office,” she said after voting, according to the Anchorage Daily News. “And, if the party is to censure me because they felt that I needed to support the party, they can make that statement, but I will make the statement again that my obligation is to support the Constitution that I have pledged to uphold, and I will do that, even if it means I have to oppose the direction of my state party.”

  In Pennsylvania, the York County GOP censured Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is slated to retire in 2022.

  “Given his recent support of the second unconstitutional impeachment effort against a president who is no longer in office the York County Republican Committee has reached the limits of its frustration,” Republican state Rep. Dawn Keefer wrote.

  Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a noted Trump critic from within the Republican Party, will not be censured by the Utah Republican Party after the organization said it would not do so. However, a widely circulated petition condemns the 2012 Republican presidential candidate for using “his senatorial power and influence to undermine” Trump.

  The state GOP noted that Romney and fellow Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R), who acquitted Trump, cast different votes.

  “The differences between our own Utah Republicans showcase a diversity of thought, in contrast to the danger of a party fixated on ‘unanimity of thought,’” the Utah Republican Party said in a statement on Monday, explaining that it won’t censure Romney.

  Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has not faced any punitive actions from within her party or a petition, although the state GOP is reportedly meeting to discuss potentially censuring her.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 22:40

• Indonesia Moves To Punish Citizens Who Refuse COVID Vaccine
  Indonesia Moves To Punish Citizens Who Refuse COVID Vaccine

  In a uniquely heavy-handed move, the Indonesian government is threatening to punish citizens who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine, as the massive island nation, one of the world’s most populous, pushes one of the most aggressive vaccination campaigns in the world.

  According to Reuters, Indonesia’s capital Jakarta is threatening residents with fines of up to 5 million rupiah – about $360 – for anyone refusing a jab, an unusually stiff penalty aimed at guaranteeing compliance with new regulations calling for compulsory vaccinations. In addition to the fines, the government is threatening to withhold social aid.

  

  Deputy Jakarta governor Ahmad Riza Patria said city authorities were merely following rules and such sanctions were a last resort in Jakarta, which accounts for about a quarter of the archipelago nation’s more than 1.2 million coronavirus infections.

  “If you reject it, there are two things, social aid will not be given, (and a) fine,” Riza told reporters.

  For those who haven’t been following it, Indonesia is fighting one of Asia’s largest and most stubborn COVID outbreaks. The country aims to inoculate 181.5MM of its 270MM population within 15 months under a vaccination program that started last month.

  New cases have actually inched higher in Indonesia over the past week, while most of the world has seen a continued decline.

  

  Some 34K Indonesians have also died of the virus, and deaths have also ticked higher lately.

  

  Indonesia announced a presidential order earlier this month stipulating anyone who refuses vaccines could be denied social assistance or government services or made to pay a fine. The penalty would be determined by regional health agencies or by local governments.

  In a December survey, pollster Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting found that only 37% of 1.2K respondents were willing to be vaccinated, 40% were undecided and 17% would refuse across Indonesia. Though we imagine these new requirements might change that.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 22:20

• Japan's Incredibly Shrinking Population Is A Big Problem
  Japan’s Incredibly Shrinking Population Is A Big Problem

  Submitted by Ethen Kim Lieser of 19FortyFive.com, Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn,

  As the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to limit the number of foreign workers entering Japan, new government data has revealed that the nation’s population contracted by a record four hundred twenty thousand people last year.

  

  That hefty figure shattered the previous mark of nearly three hundred thirty thousand, which was set just the year prior, and continued the downward trend seen over the past decade.

  According to the Health Ministry, Japan’s population now sits at roughly one hundred twenty-six million.

  The 60% decrease in the number of foreign workers entering the East Asian nation over the past year has been largely blamed for the sharp drop in the population.

  Even with the pandemic cutting jobs across many sectors, many companies and small businesses, including those in the hard-hit restaurant and hotel industries, have reported consistent labor shortages.

  “Easing restrictions on immigration is a necessary first step in boosting the population, but the Japanese government also needs to address structural problems in the Japanese economy and society that keep young people from getting married and having children—even if they want to,” John Person, an associate professor in the Department of East Asian Studies at University at Albany, State University of New York, told the National Interest.

  “This includes tackling the issue of growing economic inequality and ensuring better access to affordable childcare.”

  The data shows that in the first seven months of 2020, the difference between the number of births and deaths was similar to what was seen the year prior, but foreign arrivals into the country plummeted considerably due to airport entry restrictions that aimed to limit further spread of the coronavirus.

  Japan, though, is also still struggling to boost its low birth rates. The reported number of pregnancies fell 5.1 percent during the ten months through last October, the Health Ministry’s data showed.

  Japan, An Aging Society

  According to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Japan’s population is expected to decrease to about hundred eleven million by 2040, ninety-nine million by 2053, and eighty-eight million by 2065.

  “The decline in birthrate is an issue that compounds over time, so the fact that Japan’s birthrate has been in decline for so long means that even a rebound in birth rates now and in the future won’t solve the issue of the decline in overall population,” Person said.

  Toshiyuki Sakuragi, the director of the Japanese Studies Program at Gustavus Adolphus College, shared similar sentiments, adding that Japan’s “low fertility rate … is unlikely to reverse in the foreseeable future.”

  “Japan does not have many options for dealing with this problem,” he explained. “Two obvious options are—making it easier for women to fully participate in the labor market and accepting more immigrants. I see both as crucial for Japan’s future. I believe that an increasing number of Japanese people share this view, but any major cultural or societal change is likely to encounter significant resistance.”

  

  Some Reasons for Hope

  However, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel, as the entry of foreign workers is expected to eventually perk up again with the rollout of this week’s mass vaccination campaign across the country.

  Employees at Tokyo Medical Center were among the first of some forty thousand medical professionals targeted to receive the initial shipments of the vaccine. They will be followed by 3.7 million more medical personnel, then thirty-six million seniors aged sixty-five and over.

  “This is the first major step towards ending the coronavirus (pandemic),” Vice Health Minister Hiroshi Yamamoto told reporters at the hospital after the first vaccines were administered.

  There were, however, increasing concerns that millions of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses could be wasted due to a shortage of syringes required to maximize the number of shots from each vial. The Tokyo Medical Center has confirmed that it has enough supply for now of the low dead-space syringes needed to extract six doses from each vial.

  Japan has signed overseas deals to procure a combined total of three hundred fourteen million vaccine doses from Pfizer and BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Moderna. As the shots require two doses, that’s enough for one hundred fifty-seven million people to get fully inoculated.

  The country’s vaccine rollout noticeably lagged behind other developed nations because it asked vaccine maker Pfizer to conduct clinical trials with Japanese people, in addition to tests already conducted in six other countries. The Japanese are known to have a longstanding reluctance to take any vaccine shot, generally because of fears of having to deal with rare side effects.

  The vaccine campaign is also considered crucial to the fate of the Summer Olympics in late July, and the associated billions of dollars at stake. Japanese officials are also well aware that rival China, which has enjoyed much success in suppressing the virus, will host the Winter Olympics next year, giving even more urgency to make the Tokyo Games a reality. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has even billed the Games as “proof of human victory against the pandemic.”

  A recent poll, however, has revealed that 80 percent of Japanese respondents support the cancellation or further postponement of the Olympics due to the ongoing pandemic.

  According to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, Japan has so far recorded about four hundred twenty thousand confirmed COVID-19 cases and seven thousand related deaths.

  The country is currently seeing an average of about one infection per hundred thousand people—compared to about twenty-five in the United States and eighteen in the United Kingdom.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 22:00

• Goldman Tells Clients To Buy Exxon Calls Ahead Of Analyst Day
  Goldman Tells Clients To Buy Exxon Calls Ahead Of Analyst Day

  To think it was just two months ago that Goldman upgraded energy giant Exxon to Buy for the first time in four years (after having a Sell rating as recently as October).

  

  In retrospect, this proved to be one of Goldman’s best recommendations in the recent past, and while the bank had since lifted its PT to $55, it also advised its clients to put on a call spread for some levered upside.

  Well, no more. As of today, Goldman has closed its recommendation to buy XOM call spreads, and instead has gone balls to the wall bullish, by initiating a new recommendation to buy calls outright ahead of the Mar 3rd analyst day:

  On Dec 15th, we recommended buying the XOM Apr-21 $45/$50 call spreads, driven by our bullish view ahead of multiple catalysts. On 20-Jan we rolled the recommendation to a higher strike at a gain. Today, with increased clarity on the company’s dividend payment, and solid earnings on 02-Feb, we recommend closing the call spreads at a gain, and buying the XOM Mar-21 $52.50 calls, recently offered at $2.56 (4.8%, stock $52.85).

  Why is the upcoming analyst day a catalyst? Because according to Goldman, “XOM analyst days have historically been an important catalyst, with the stock averaging +/-1.6% on the day of the event, nearly in-line with the average earnings-day move in past years.” And with one month implied volatility declining 10 points since earnings, Goldman believes “option prices are low, and recommend investors buy calls ahead of the analyst day.”

  For those who care more about the fundamentals, Goldman Energy analyst Neil Mehta is Buy rated on XOM, with his bullish near-term view driven by:

  • Significant upside to 2021-22 Visible Alpha consensus earnings
  • Outlook for improving oil prices, particularly relative to the forward curve
  • Leverage to continued chemicals strength
  • Improving natural gas price fundamentals
  • A view that refined product demand will sharply accelerate as jet and road travel rebound

  Yet while the biggest risk – the Exxon dividend – now appears safe, why has the stock failed to keep up with oil, and is still well below year-ago levels even as Brent has reversed all post-covid losses? As a reminder, this is a point we discussed earlier this week, when we showed that Goldman recommended adding energy equity exposure since the “US energy equity sector is almost unchanged since mid January” while oil has surged.

  

  According to Goldman’s Neil, despite recent investor conversations highlighting improving sentiment around XOM and the sustainability of its dividends, mutual funds remain underweight the stock, potentially a bullish positioning indicator.

  As a result, he too sees positive risk-reward heading into the March 3rd analyst day, where management is likely to discuss improving capital intensity, and defend the dividend. He also sees the event as an opportunity to unpack differentiated assets in their portfolio, particularly Guyana, Brazil and the chemicals portfolio.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 21:56

• Only 44% Of High Schoolers Submitted SAT Or ACT Exams Last Year
  Only 44% Of High Schoolers Submitted SAT Or ACT Exams Last Year

  Remember how important the SATs were as a kid? It was almost like your entire future – and certainly your chances of getting into college – revolved around the standardized test.

  But today, the test doesn’t hold the clamor and clout that it once did. In fact, during 2020, only 44% of high schoolers submitted SAT or ACT exams with their college application, down from 77% the year prior, according to Bloomberg. A Kaplan survey of 400 college admissions officers found that only 9% were requiring standardized tests this year. 

  Schools are suspending requiring the testing because of the pandemic – and while students love it, some counselors worry it could “add to growing inequality” in higher education.

  This worry is a product of wealthier kids being able to “game” the other requirements looked at while applying to school. As we saw firsthand from the college admissions scandal, wealthy students can often give the appearance of being involved in all sorts of extracurricular activities when, in fact, they may not be doing all, or any, of them.

  

  17 year old Ayah Fakhy, the daughter of Moroccan immigrants in Los Angeles, says she is now worried she’ll be at a disadvantage without the standardized test. She said: “It frightened me. I knew I’d have to make the other parts of the application stand out.”

  Bob Sweeney, who works with a Brooklyn college access program that each year helps about 20 senior girls, agreed: “They’re at a disadvantage if there isn’t someone who can advocate for them.”

  But like with everything else, testing critics are working to get the SATs “cancelled” anyway. They claim the tests are biased against “poor students and members of underrepresented minority groups” and that doing away with them will “improve race, gender and income diversity”. 

  “It’s remarkable how many schools found the experience good enough to say ‘Let’s do it again,'” said Bob Schaeffer, who is director of FairTest, which has pushed to eliminate the SAT/ACT requirement. 

  Zach Goldberg, a spokesman for the College Board, which administers the SAT, argued against Scaeffer, saying the absence of common, objective indicators, will increase grades, which wealthy schools are more likely to inflate. 

  

  There’s a divide between those who still choose to send in their scores, the report notes:

  Forty-nine percent of students whose parents earned at least a bachelor’s degree provided test results, compared with 79% the previous year. Among those families who reported that neither of their parents earned at least a bachelor’s degree, only 31% sent scores, down from 71%. Wealthier students were also more likely to submit results, as were White and Asian students.

  17 year old Shawn Babitsky, the son of a single mother who works as a nurse’s aide and an Uber driver,  was upset he couldn’t send his test scores after his sessions were cancelled 4 times: “No one told me to start thinking about the SAT sophomore year. If I had, then maybe I could have had a test score. I wish I had been able to submit test scores.”

  He aims to study molecular biology. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 21:40

• An Exceptionally Sad Day For Illinois
  An Exceptionally Sad Day For Illinois

  Authored by Mark Glennon via Wirepoints.org,

  Despair, as best as we can tell, is the emotion growing most rapidly in Illinois, and yesterday, February 17, was particularly dispiriting.

  Three stories told those who believe Illinois is on the wrong track that the state’s political establishment cannot care less about their concerns. Disdain and even hatred about those concerns prevail.

  First was Gov. JB Pritzker’s State of the State and Budget Address. It’s not just that it was more of the same refusal to undertake the major reforms needed to solve the fiscal crisis, which we are writing about separately. It was the extreme rhetoric Pritzker used to attack a political obstacle that doesn’t exist.

  That political obstacle, Pritzker said, is Illinois Republicans. Their purposeful destructiveness has undermined the mission of putting Illinois on the right path, Pritzker would have us believe.  “In essence, they eliminated the fire department, burnt down the house, and poured gas on the flames — and now they’re asking why we’re not doing more to prevent fires,” he said.

  In truth, however, Republicans have been unable to pass or block a single thing of any consequence during the Pritzker Administration because Pritzker’s party has held a supermajority in the General Assembly for years. Nor do Republicans hold even one statewide office. He has faced no political obstacle from those he excoriated.

  Second, Illinois finalized the Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards through a vote by a legislative committee. A firestorm of opposition preceded the vote, expressed by Illinoisans who saw what the standards were plainly designed to accomplish: political indoctrination of kindergarten through high school students, imposing radically divisive critical race theory on classrooms.

  Countless parents across the state were livid, but they watched helplessly as the standards were sold to the public through distortion and outright dishonesty, which we wrote about here.

  Third, a commission appointed by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to identify city statutes that perhaps should be removed returned its list of what it called “problematic” statues. The list includes five of Abraham Lincoln and two of George Washington.

  One, of a Native American, is titled A Signal of Peace, and was dedicated by an owner who said the monument was intended as a permanent symbol of respect for native people.

  Another, directed at antisemitism, bears a quote from a speech George Washington delivered to a Jewish congregation: “The government of United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.” A bronze plaque placed by the donor reads: “Symbol of American tolerance and unity and of the cooperation of people of all races and creeds in the building of the United States.”

  And in the height or irony, one, shown here, is simply called The Republic.

  

  The Republic: “problematic.”

  Most Illinoisans may think it preposterous that those statues could be tagged for possible removal, but Lightfoot is taking her commission’s list seriously.  “This project is a powerful opportunity for us to come together as a city to assess the many monuments and memorials across our neighborhoods and communities — to face our history and what and how we memorialize that history,” Lightfoot said in a statement.

  The common element in each of those stories is the extreme contempt, even hatred, that Illinois’ political leadership shows for the most fundamental values held by many Illinoisans. And they make no effort to hide it. They simply don’t care.

  It is therefore understandable if despair is the sentiment growing most rapidly in Illinois.

  We can only hope that conviction, courage and resilience remain dominant and prevail against a government so estranged from so many of its own people.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 21:35

• Techno-Censorship: The Slippery Slope From Censoring "Disinformation" To Silencing Truth
  Techno-Censorship: The Slippery Slope From Censoring “Disinformation” To Silencing Truth

  Authored by John Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

  – George Orwell

  This is the slippery slope that leads to the end of free speech as we once knew it.

  

  In a world increasingly automated and filtered through the lens of artificial intelligence, we are finding ourselves at the mercy of inflexible algorithms that dictate the boundaries of our liberties.

  Once artificial intelligence becomes a fully integrated part of the government bureaucracy, there will be little recourse: we will be subject to the intransigent judgments of techno-rulers.

  This is how it starts.

  Martin Niemöller’s warning about the widening net that ensnares us all still applies.

  “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

  In our case, however, it started with the censors who went after extremists spouting so-called “hate speech,” and few spoke out—because they were not extremists and didn’t want to be shamed for being perceived as politically incorrect.

  Then the internet censors got involved and went after extremists spouting “disinformation” about stolen elections, the Holocaust, and Hunter Biden, and few spoke out—because they were not extremists and didn’t want to be shunned for appearing to disagree with the majority.

  By the time the techno-censors went after extremists spouting “misinformation” about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines, the censors had developed a system and strategy for silencing the nonconformists.

  

  Still, few spoke out.

  Eventually, “we the people” will be the ones in the crosshairs.

  At some point or another, depending on how the government and its corporate allies define what constitutes “extremism, “we the people” might all be considered guilty of some thought crime or other.

  When that time comes, there may be no one left to speak out or speak up in our defense.

  Whatever we tolerate now—whatever we turn a blind eye to—whatever we rationalize when it is inflicted on others, whether in the name of securing racial justice or defending democracy or combatting fascism, will eventually come back to imprison us, one and all.

  Watch and learn.

  We should all be alarmed when prominent social media voices such as Donald Trump, Alex Jones, David Icke and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are censored, silenced and made to disappear from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram for voicing ideas that are deemed politically incorrect, hateful, dangerous or conspiratorial.

  The question is not whether the content of their speech was legitimate.

  The concern is what happens after such prominent targets are muzzled. What happens once the corporate techno-censors turn their sights on the rest of us?

  It’s a slippery slope from censoring so-called illegitimate ideas to silencing truth. Eventually, as George Orwell predicted, telling the truth will become a revolutionary act.

  We are on a fast-moving trajectory.

  Already, there are calls for the Biden administration to appoint a “reality czar” in order to tackle disinformation, domestic extremism and the nation’s so-called “reality crisis.”

  Knowing what we know about the government’s tendency to define its own reality and attach its own labels to behavior and speech that challenges its authority, this should be cause for alarm across the entire political spectrum.

  Here’s the point: you don’t have to like Trump or any of the others who are being muzzled, nor do you have to agree or even sympathize with their views, but to ignore the long-term ramifications of such censorship would be dangerously naïve.

  As Matt Welch, writing for Reason, rightly points out, “Proposed changes to government policy should always be visualized with the opposing team in charge of implementation.”

  In other words, whatever powers you allow the government and its corporate operatives to claim now, for the sake of the greater good or because you like or trust those in charge, will eventually be abused and used against you by tyrants of your own making.

  As Glenn Greenwald writes for The Intercept:

  The glaring fallacy that always lies at the heart of pro-censorship sentiments is the gullible, delusional belief that censorship powers will be deployed only to suppress views one dislikes, but never one’s own views… Facebook is not some benevolent, kind, compassionate parent or a subversive, radical actor who is going to police our discourse in order to protect the weak and marginalized or serve as a noble check on mischief by the powerful. They are almost always going to do exactly the opposite: protect the powerful from those who seek to undermine elite institutions and reject their orthodoxies. Tech giants, like all corporations, are required by law to have one overriding objective: maximizing shareholder value. They are always going to use their power to appease those they perceive wield the greatest political and economic power.

  Welcome to the age of technofascism.

  

  Clothed in tyrannical self-righteousness, technofascism is powered by technological behemoths (both corporate and governmental) working in tandem to achieve a common goal.

  Thus far, the tech giants have been able to sidestep the First Amendment by virtue of their non-governmental status, but it’s a dubious distinction at best. Certainly, Facebook and Twitter have become the modern-day equivalents of public squares, traditional free speech forums, with the internet itself serving as a public utility.

  But what does that mean for free speech online: should it be protected or regulated?

  When given a choice, the government always goes for the option that expands its powers at the expense of the citizenry’s. Moreover, when it comes to free speech activities, regulation is just another word for censorship.

  Right now, it’s trendy and politically expedient to denounce, silence, shout down and shame anyone whose views challenge the prevailing norms, so the tech giants are lining up to appease their shareholders.

  This is the tyranny of the majority against the minority—exactly the menace to free speech that James Madison sought to prevent when he drafted the First Amendment to the Constitution—marching in lockstep with technofascism.

  With intolerance as the new scarlet letter of our day, we now find ourselves ruled by the mob.

  Those who dare to voice an opinion or use a taboo word or image that runs counter to the accepted norms are first in line to be shamed, shouted down, silenced, censored, fired, cast out and generally relegated to the dust heap of ignorant, mean-spirited bullies who are guilty of various “word crimes” and banished from society.

  For example, a professor at Duquesne University was fired for using the N-word in an academic context. To get his job back, Gary Shank will have to go through diversity training and restructure his lesson plans.

  This is what passes for academic freedom in America today.

  If Americans don’t vociferously defend the right of a minority of one to subscribe to, let alone voice, ideas and opinions that may be offensive, hateful, intolerant or merely different, then we’re going to soon find that we have no rights whatsoever (to speak, assemble, agree, disagree, protest, opt in, opt out, or forge our own paths as individuals).

  No matter what our numbers might be, no matter what our views might be, no matter what party we might belong to, it will not be long before “we the people” constitute a powerless minority in the eyes of a power-fueled fascist state driven to maintain its power at all costs.

  We are almost at that point now.

  The steady, pervasive censorship creep that is being inflicted on us by corporate tech giants with the blessing of the powers-that-be threatens to bring about a restructuring of reality straight out of Orwell’s 1984, where the Ministry of Truth polices speech and ensures that facts conform to whatever version of reality the government propagandists embrace.

  Orwell intended 1984 as a warning. Instead, it is being used as a dystopian instruction manual for socially engineering a populace that is compliant, conformist and obedient to Big Brother.

  Nothing good can come from techno-censorship.

  Again, to quote Greenwald:

  Censorship power, like the tech giants who now wield it, is an instrument of status quo preservation. The promise of the internet from the start was that it would be a tool of liberation, of egalitarianism, by permitting those without money and power to compete on fair terms in the information war with the most powerful governments and corporations. But just as is true of allowing the internet to be converted into a tool of coercion and mass surveillance, nothing guts that promise, that potential, like empowering corporate overlords and unaccountable monopolists to regulate and suppress what can be heard.

  As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, these internet censors are not acting in our best interests to protect us from dangerous, disinformation campaigns. They’re laying the groundwork to preempt any “dangerous” ideas that might challenge the power elite’s stranglehold over our lives.

  Therefore, it is important to recognize the thought prison that is being built around us for what it is: a prison with only one route of escape—free thinking and free speaking in the face of tyranny.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 21:20

• The Reason Why A Lot Of People Are Leaving San Francisco Might Surprise You
  The Reason Why A Lot Of People Are Leaving San Francisco Might Surprise You

  Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

  Over the past year we have seen a mass exodus from major cities along the west coast, but what is happening to San Francisco is particularly sad.  Once upon a time, San Francisco was one of the most beautiful cities on the entire planet.  There is so much culture there, and the rolling hills make it a place like no other.  And thanks to the tech boom in Silicon Valley, it has become one of the most prosperous cities in the whole country.  So why have hordes of San Francisco residents decided to leave and never look back?

  

  Well, there are a lot of factors at work.

  First of all, the cost of living has gotten wildly out of control.  A postage stamp of an apartment will cost you thousands of dollars per month to rent, and a lot of people don’t like paying 17 dollars for a salad.

  For others, the extremely high taxes and the insane politicians are more than enough of a reason to leave the state.  The lockdowns that were instituted by Governor Gavin Newsom have destroyed thousands of small businesses, and many former small business owners have pledged that they will never go back to California under any circumstances.

  In San Francisco in particular, open drug abuse in the streets has made headlines all over the globe in recent years.  The streets are constantly littered with drug needles and piles of human feces, and that isn’t pleasant.

  On top of everything else, there is always the threat of more wildfires and a giant earthquake could strike the coast at literally any moment.

  But none of those things are what this article is about.

  This article is about the huge spike in crime that is driving countless people away from San Francisco.

  When he was able to get a job with a tech company four years ago, Kieran Blubaugh jumped at the chance to live in San Francisco, and at first everything seemed great…

  Kieran Blubaugh dreamed of living in California when he was growing up in Indiana. He played the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video game and envisioned himself skateboarding down San Francisco’s crazy hills.

  After paying off his student loans four years ago, he landed a job with a tech company and moved to San Francisco. At first, life was heavenly. He had a seven-minute commute on his motorcycle. He could pay $30 to see Incubus, one of his favorite bands, a short walk from his apartment.

  Unfortunately, his infatuation with the region did not last long.

  Even though he was located in a good part of the city, crime just kept getting worse and worse, and eventually he decided that enough was enough…

  Soon, however, his California dream soured. Thieves broke into his locked garage and did $8,000 worth of damage to his motorcycle, doubling his insurance rates. His dog nearly died after eating human feces on the sidewalk. Seeing people either getting arrested or being treated for an overdose outside a nearby building was a regular occurrence.

  “And I live in a nice part of town,” said Blubaugh, 33.

  With each passing year, the criminals just keep becoming even more brazen.

  Not too long ago, San Francisco resident Ben Couillard had someone watch his house while he was away, and that individual actually had to confront someone that was trying to break into the house…

  He said the house sitter came face-to-face with the suspicious person who had turned his attention away from the vehicles and to the house.

  “So she saw him through the window and basically when she asked him, you know, ‘Can I help you?’ Like, what are you doing as he’s trying to break in? And he said to her, like, ‘Go upstairs, (expletive) or I’ll kill you.”

  What would you do if that happened to you?

  You could call the San Francisco police, and they may or may not show up eventually.

  Meanwhile, the junkies will continue to roam throughout your neighborhood as they search for things to steal so that they can sell them for more drugs.

  The other night, San Francisco officials held a “virtual town hall” to discuss the crime wave.  Residents were told that criminals are starting to target residents more frequently because they don’t have many tourists to prey upon these days…

  San Francisco Supervisor Hillary Ronen, District Attorney Chesa Boudin, and the captain of the police department overseeing the area, held a virtual town hall with residents of the community Wednesday night to address their concerns.

  They attribute what they say is an increase in crime to “economic desperation” and “tourism has gone down so substantially in San Francisco that criminal rings that targeted tourists in areas that tourists frequent no longer have tourists there,” said Supervisor Ronen.

  Please remind me not to visit San Francisco as a tourist any time soon.

  Sadly, we are seeing the exact same thing happen to San Francisco that has happened to countless other communities all across the nation.  Like so many other major cities, it has become a crime-ridden, drug-infested hellhole, and this has happened even though northern California is swimming in hundreds of billions of dollars from the tech industry.

  After telling a reporter why he left the state, Kieran Blubaugh was asked how conditions in the state could be improved.  This was his answer…

  “We need more police. There’s a general lawlessness that’s just scary.”

  Isn’t that ironic?

  The “defund the police” movement has been pushing California cities such as San Francisco to greatly reduce police funding, but Blubaugh insists that the solution is more police.

  And Blubaugh is not exactly an elderly curmudgeon.  In fact, he is just 33 years old.

  Of course the phrase “general lawlessness” could be used to describe the condition of the United States as a whole.  We have become an upside down society where good is evil and evil is good, and as a result we have totally lost our way.

  Unless we completely reverse course, the “general lawlessness” in our country is only going to intensify in the years ahead.

  But we aren’t going to reverse course, are we?

  At this point, we appear to have a national love affair with evil, and the consequences of that love affair are going to be very bitter indeed.

  *  *  *

  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
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 21:10

• Biden Finally Accepts First Call From Netanyahu After Month-Long Delay
  Biden Finally Accepts First Call From Netanyahu After Month-Long Delay

  After going weeks since his inauguration without answering Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s request for a customary first call, with growing concern in Tel Aviv over what was increasingly looking like an intentional snub, on Wednesday President Biden finally spoke with the Israeli leader. Though few details were made public as to the details of the content discussed, the conversation “was very friendly and warm and lasted about an hour,” according to the prime minister’s office.

  As for the White House, Biden “affirmed his personal history of steadfast commitment to Israel’s security and conveyed his intent to strengthen all aspects of the U.S.-Israel partnership, including our strong defense cooperation,” according to a statement. 

  

  Each side’s press readout indicated they dealt with Israel’s regional security concerns – at the top of the list being Iran – as well as the COVID-19 response, and recent normalization efforts between Israel and Arab countries, which was brokered under the Trump admin.

  Likely Netanyahu pressed Biden further on not restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear (JPOA) given the Islamic Republic’s recent breaches of the agreement. Tehran has lately urged that Washington must drop sanctions first before it acts to come under compliance. The Israelis think it’s all toward shielding an underlying nuclear weapons program, as opposed to developing peaceful nuclear energy.

  And the White House said further on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, “He underscored the importance of working to advance peace throughout the region, including between Israelis and Palestinians. Together, they affirmed their shared interest in continued strategic cooperation to confront the many challenges facing the region.”

  Of course, the estimated $3.8 billion in annual military aid is still flowing uninterrupted…

  Biden promises to increase Israel’s military aid, as Obama did. https://t.co/v5dZykIJID

  — Joshua Landis (@joshua_landis) February 18, 2021

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  Last week and into the days preceding the belated call, Israeli media was rife with speculation over what this means for the future of Israeli-US relations.

  “Biden and his aides aim to tell Netanyahu, ‘You’re nothing special,'” geopolitical analyst Yossi Melman previously wrote in the Israeli daily Haaretz. “‘The personal connection and chemistry you had with Donald Trump not only fail to advance your standing in Washington, they’re an obstacle,'” the report last week speculated. 

  The further irony was that Netanyahu over the same period in which Biden was not bothering to pick up the phone had no less than three phone calls from Vladimir Putin.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 21:00

• Texas Was "Seconds And Minutes" From Complete Disaster
  Texas Was “Seconds And Minutes” From Complete Disaster

  One week ago, long before almost anyone else realized just how serious the situation in the plains states in general and Texas in particular would be as a result of the cascade of soaring nat gas prices, we warned that all hell was about to break loose. But not even we had any idea just how close to total collapse the system nearly was.

  On Thursday, ERCOT officials said that the Texas power grid was “seconds and minutes” away from a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months. They should know: ERCOT is the entity that operates the power grid that covers most of the state.

  

  The Texas Tribune reports that as millions of customers throughout the state begin to have power restored after days of massive blackouts, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, said Texas was dangerously close to a worst-case scenario: uncontrolled blackouts across the state.

  Maybe if they had read our warnings, none of what happened this week would have been a surprise. Alas, that was not the case. So in hopes to frontrun a wave of lawsuits, they spun their quick reaction as the only thing that prevented an even more catastrophic scenario: according to the Tribune, “the quick decision that grid operators made in the early hours of Monday morning to begin what was intended to be rolling blackouts — but lasted days for millions of Texans — occurred because operators were seeing warning signs that massive amounts of energy supply was dropping off the grid.”

  The #TexasPowerGrid is 90% self-contained, they can’t simply get power from other states. This is why all the states are connected, so the demand of the grid can be met.

  Right now, acc to @ERCOT_ISO, Texas’s electricity demand is FAR exceeding current generation capacity. /8 pic.twitter.com/0LS9ky8ui8

  — Liam Kent 🦞 (@l___kent) February 17, 2021

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  As natural gas fired plants, utility scale wind power and coal plants tripped offline due to the extreme cold brought by the winter storm, the amount of power supplied to the grid to be distributed across the state fell rapidly. At the same time, demand was increasing as consumers and businesses turned up the heat and stayed inside to avoid the weather.

  “It needed to be addressed immediately,” said Bill Magness, president of ERCOT. “It was seconds and minutes [from possible failure] given the amount of generation that was coming off the system.”

  With energy prices exploding to record highs, and with demand soaring, grid operators had to “act quickly” to cut the amount of power distributed, Magness said, because if they had waited, “then what happens in that next minute might be that three more [power generation] units come offline, and then you’re sunk.”

  Magness said on Wednesday that if operators had not acted in that moment, the state could have suffered blackouts that “could have occurred for months,” and left Texas in an “indeterminately long” crisis.

  In other words, the millions of households left without power – in some cases for days – were sacrificing for the greater good.

  

  So by manually shutting down entire parts of the grid, ERCOT avoided the worst case scenario: one where demand for power overwhelms the supply of power generation available on the grid, causing equipment to catch fire, substations to blow and power lines to go down.

  If the grid had gone totally offline, the physical damage to power infrastructure from overwhelming the grid would take months to repair, said Bernadette Johnson, senior vice president of power and renewables at Enverus, an oil and gas software and information company headquartered in Austin.

  “As chaotic as it was, the whole grid could’ve been in blackout,” she said. “ERCOT is getting a lot of heat, but the fact that it wasn’t worse is because of those grid operators.”  If that had occurred, even as power generators recovered from the cold, ERCOT would have been unable to quickly reconnect them back to the grid, Johnson said.

  And since nobody can disprove a negative, one just has to take them at their word that dozens of people died so that millions more could live… or something.

  Grid operators would have needed to slowly and carefully bring generators and customers back online, all the while taking care to not to cause more damage to the grid. It’s a delicate process, Johnson explained, because each part of the puzzle — the generators producing power, the transmission lines that move the power and the customers that use it — must be carefully managed.

  “It has to balance constantly,” she said. “Once a grid goes down, it’s hard to bring it back online. If you bring on too many customers, then you have another outage.”

  And while that may justify the widespread blackouts, it does not explain why the Texas grid was so underprepared for just this scenario. ERCOT officials have repeatedly said that the winter storm that swept the state caught power generators off guard. The storm far exceeded what ERCOT projected in the fall to prepare for winter. Right, but that’s why they are paid the big bucks: to predict worst case scenarios (kinda like the Fed) – it is here that everyone failed so abysmally. Which means that it has to be spun into some heroic task.

  “The operators who took those actions to prevent a catastrophic blackout and much worse damage to our system, that was, I would say, the most difficult decision that had to be made throughout this whole event,” Magness said.

  Nine grid operators are working at any given time who make these sorts of decisions, said Leslie Sopko, a spokesperson for ERCOT. “At the end of the day, our operators are highly trained and have the authority to make decisions that protect the reliability of the electric system,” she said in a statement.

  The good news is that the Texas nightmare is coming to an end: ERCOT said it made “significant progress” overnight Wednesday to restore customer power to many Texans, and remaining power outages are likely due to ice storm damage to the distribution system. Some areas that were taken offline will also need to be restored manually, according to ERCOT.

  ERCOT warned that emergency conditions remain, and that “some level of rotating outages” may be necessary over the coming days to keep the grid stable.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 20:40

• Bill Gates Plugs "Next Gen" Nuclear That Solves All Issues Of 'Safety & Economics'
  Bill Gates Plugs “Next Gen” Nuclear That Solves All Issues Of ‘Safety & Economics’

  For the past two months, Zero Hedge has been especially constructive on the uranium sector (and its handful of beaten down stocks), which we, and others, suspect may benefit tremendously as the sector gets swept up in the ESG euphoria many expect to follow the collapse of Texas’ independent power grid during this bitter winter storm. While conservatives have already attacked windmills and other “green” energy for contributing to the grid’s failure in the face of record low temperatures and snow in Texas (which never “winter-fied” its power grid)…

  

  …Many on the left, including AOC and other Green New Deal types, are using the opportunity to push their agenda own.

  

  Somewhere in the middle, uranium bulls have been growing increasingly convinced about the commodity’s prospects, as prices have trended after roughly a decade in the unloved wilderness. Will nuclear be the next “ESG Craze”?  Hugh Hendry and Michael Burry (two iconic hedge fund managers) have both plugged nuclear power, with Burry calling on the Dems to “convert the US to nuclear” adding the hashtag #greenfuturenow.

  In a recent Bear Traps Report, Larry McDonald wrote that one of the “cons” of nuclear is what to do with the potentially harmful waste.

  Nuclear Pros and Cons:

  Nuclear is so much better for the environment but the two major issues environmentalists cite as problems is discharged cooling water than harms fish due to warmer temp and micro leaks that go undetected. How to dispose of contamination is an issue too. I believe all these things have been addressed in the last couple decades and micronuclear sites are a way to limit fallout concerns, albeit extremely low. However, Japan didn’t do proponents of nuclear any favor and hard to ensure total safety when the Earth can move below you…

  Well, in an interview with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Thursday, billionaire Bill Gates joined in the chorus of pro-nuclear voices (something that he has long supported) as he sat for an interview on CNBC to plug a new book he is selling. 

  Asked pointed blank if Gates ever thought nuclear power would ever be politically palatable again, he responded “absolutely”, adding that nuclear – counter to the contemporary wisdom – is actually safer than natural gas and other fossil fuels, when one accounts for deaths from inhaling coal particulate and natural gas pipelines exploding.

  “The deaths per unit of power of these other approaches are far higher. And the miracle is I’m not even talking about the current generation of nuclear. There’s a new generation that solves the problem of economics…which is the big problem with nuclear” while also taking care of some of the safety issues.

  Gates then seized the opportunity to plug Terrapower, a public-private partnership (with money mostly from Gates), along with other government project, before later adding that the new generation of nuclear companies are figuring out how to mitigate threats, like the cleanup of waste (by burying it deep underground).

  Watch the full interview below:

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 20:20

• GOP Senators Demand Probe Into Cuomo's "Possibly Criminal" Handling Of COVID Death Data
  GOP Senators Demand Probe Into Cuomo’s “Possibly Criminal” Handling Of COVID Death Data

  Via Planet Free Will News,

  A group of Republican Senators have penned a letter demanding a full investigation into the recent revelations that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration may have deliberately covered-up New York’s nursing home COVID-19 death toll.

  “That so many people needlessly lost their lives because of the failed policies of Governor Cuomo’s administration – an administration that many have lauded over the past year – is tragic and deserves a full investigation and accounting,” reads the letter sent to Sen. Dick Durban (D-Ill), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

  The letter is signed by nine GOP Senate Judiciary Committee members, including Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Chuck Grassley, Marsha Blackburn, John Cornyn, Mike Lee, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton , and Thom Tillis .

  

  Last week the New York Post reported that Cuomo top-aid, Melissa DeRosa, told a group of lawmakers that Governor Cuomo and his senior staff engaged in a deliberate cover-up of New York’s nursing home COVID-19 death numbers out of fear that it would be “used against us” by the Trump Justice Department.

  “We were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation,” DeRosa reportedly said during a private zoom call.

  It was also revealed in a separate report by the Associated Press that the Cuomo administration sent over 9,000 elderly coronavirus patients back to their long-term care centers while the administration reported these facilities had only admitted 6,000 patients.

  At the onset of the pandemic, a Cuomo directive ordered nursing homes to accept residents recovering from COVID-19 after they were discharged from hospitals, a decision many blame for spreading sickness and a high death toll among residents.

  “These new revelations, however, that Governor Cuomo’s administration withheld information from the Department of Justice and intentionally misled federal officials to avoid political accountability is more than irresponsible: it is very possibly criminal,” the GOP letter goes on, adding:

  “Those who deliberately withheld – or directed others to withhold – material information from the Department of Justice may be guilty of obstruction of justice, violating the False Claims Act, and numerous other criminal violations.”

  The letter calls on Durbin to open an investigation and hold hearings on the matter because:

  the “American people deserve to know the extent to which Governor Cuomo and his senior staff violated the civil rights of New York seniors, lied to the Department of Justice about their actions, and violated federal civil and criminal laws in the process.”

  The GOP letter comes on the heels of reports claiming the FBI and US attorney’s office in Brooklyn have begun an investigation into the governor and his administration’s handling of nursing home death data. The investigation was opened shortly after Democratic state Assemblyman Ron Kim, whose uncle died of COVID-19 in a nursing home, accused the governor of threatening him over his criticism of the handling of state nursing homes during the pandemic.

  NY Democratic Assemblyman Ron Kim, whose uncle died in a NY nursing home: @NYGovCuomo called and “berated me, yelled at me. He told me that my career would be over [if I didn’t ] lie and … asking me [to cover up a] crime” pic.twitter.com/uHKopiIeDW

  — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 18, 2021

  Read the entire GOP letter below:

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 20:00

• BOJ Mulls Changing How It Buys Billions In ETFs
  BOJ Mulls Changing How It Buys Billions In ETFs

  With all pretense that central banks don’t do everything in their power to push stocks higher having long ago been steamrolled by their own actions, on Wednesday Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga defended the Bank of Japan’s buying of equity ETFs in parliament, saying the policy isn’t aimed at lifting stock prices, which is funny because that’s precisely what it is aimed at.

  It’s also probably why he did admit that higher equity prices (with the explicit support of the BOJ) benefit Japan’s wider population, especially by helping the performance of pension funds including the Government Pension Investment Fund, Suga said.

  The prime minister was responding to criticism from an opposition lawmaker that rising share prices only benefit the wealthy; and while Suga acknowledged that inequality is growing in the domestic economy – facilitated by the BOJ’s own actions – he said the government’s third extra budget is helping, although it wasn’t clear where considering the ongoing collapse in Japan’s nominal wages.

  

  Despite Suga’s disingenuous attempts to deflect from what is the biggest topic of the millennium – namely central banks distortions and manipulation of capital markets – the growing concerns about the BOJ’s aggressive ETF purchases had an impact and on Thursday, Reuters reported that the Bank of Japan may replace some numerical guidelines for its purchases of exchange-traded funds with a pledge to ramp up buying when markets become volatile, three sources familiar with its thinking said.
  The change in policy – which would be similar to shifting from fixed forward guidance to more fluid, contingent regime – would allow the BOJ to more flexibly slow purchases when markets are stable, while “reassuring investors” it will step in forcefully when shock events trigger turbulence.

  While there is no consensus on the final decision, the idea is among options being floated within the BOJ ahead of a review of its policy tools due in March amid growing pushback.

  “There are benefits to having numerical guidelines, though they also serve as a bind,” one of the sources said, adding that removing some of the numerical guidelines was a possibility.

  “To make the BOJ’s policy sustainable, it needs to avoid buying too much ETFs when doing so is unnecessary,” another source said, a view echoed by a third source.

  Which of course is a funny “concern” to emerge now, after a decade of non-stop ETF purchases with the BOJ currently purchasing up to 50BN yen in ETFs every other week, after peaking at over 200BN during the March crisis.

  

  The BOJ will conduct the review of its tools at next month’s policy meeting to make its massive stimulus program “more sustainable and effective,” as the COVID-19 pandemic heightens prospects of a prolonged struggle to reflate the economy.

  The BOJ now pledges to buy ETFs at an annual pace of roughly 6 trillion yen ($56.7 billion) and by up to 12 trillion yen, a commitment that forces it to keep buying even when stock prices are booming, if keeping bulls quite happy.

  Yet in a curious reversal to years of policy, many BOJ policymakers now want to make the ETF-buying program more nimble, so it can buy smaller amounts or even stop buying when markets are calm, the Reuters sources said.  Some are warming to the idea of removing the 6-trillion-yen target or the 12-trillion-yen ceiling, a move that would give the BOJ a free hand in slowing purchases, they said. Others, however, are worried that taking out the numerical guidelines could scare investors and trigger a stock market sell-off at a time many Japanese firms close their March fiscal year-end books.

  Because clearly a stock market without explicit central bank support is simply not acceptable.

  To ease fears, the BOJ will seek to clarify that it would phase out purchases in non-crisis times, so it has scope to buy aggressively when markets turn volatile.In any case, the central bank will look at various ideas before reaching a final decision at the March 18-19 policy meeting, which could be swayed by market moves at the time, they said.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 19:40

• Texas Blackouts Cost Mexican Manufacturers $2.7 Billion
  Texas Blackouts Cost Mexican Manufacturers $2.7 Billion

  By Noi Mahoney of Freightwaves,

  Rolling power blackouts have affected key industrial sites across Mexico, including border states home to hundreds of factories producing everything from auto parts to electronics.

  

  Factories across northern Mexico states such as Tamaulipas, Chihuahua and Nuevo Leon reported more than $2.7 billion in losses from blackouts that started Monday when Texas began limiting natural gas supplies, according to Mexico’s National Council of the Maquiladora and Export Manufacturing (INDEX).

  INDEX reported 2,600 companies across Mexico have been affected by the power outages since Monday. 

  General Motors, Mazda and Volkswagen are suspending some of their operations for several days in Mexico due to the natural gas shortage, the automakers said in separate statements.

  “Due to the natural gas shortage affecting the Mexican territory, our Silao Guanajuato Complex was forced to stop its operations on the night of February 16 and February 17,” GM said in a statement.

  Volkswagen adjusted the production schedule of its plant in Puebla where it produces the Jetta, Taos and Golf model cars. 

  Japanese automaker Mazda announced it would stop production of its plant in Salamanca, Mexico, starting Wednesday due to the lack of natural gas from the U.S. Production could resume by Friday.

  More blackouts across Mexico could be on the horizon with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement that natural gas sale and exports to Mexico will be suspended until Sunday.

  “Some of the natural gas produced in Texas is occasionally shipped out of state. Today I have issued an order effective today through February 21, requiring producers who have been shipping to locations outside of Texas to instead sell that natural gas to the Texas power generator which will also increase the power produced and it will be shipped to homes in Texas,” Abbott said during a Wednesday press conference. 

  Ports of entry across Texas have been mostly unaffected by the wintry weather, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

  “The Los Indios International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas, has been closed until further notice due to no electricity or water. Commercial traffic is diverted to Veterans International Bridge,” according to a Thursday email from CBP.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 19:20

• In Major Nuke Deal Breakthrough, Biden Tells Iran 'We're Ready For EU-Sponsored Talks'
  In Major Nuke Deal Breakthrough, Biden Tells Iran ‘We’re Ready For EU-Sponsored Talks’

  A first potential major breakthrough which so far has proved elusive after Biden has stalled on prior promises to ‘immediately’ restore US participation in the Iran nuclear deal, the United States appears to have just changed its tune. An admin official has said ‘maximum pressure’ could come to an end if Iran agrees to engage through a broader EU-hosted meeting base in the P5+1 framework.

  “The United States would be ready to hold talks with Iran if the European Union extended an invitation, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday, sketching out a possible diplomatic path to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal,” Reuters reports late in the day Thursday. 

  Further the official said the administration’s “goal is to get both sides back into compliance with the nuclear deal” and has extended the invitation to Iran: “Let’s talk about how to get there.”

  

  Previously the administration appeared to balk when initially just such an offer was made two weeks ago by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif for the European Union to coordinate a piecemeal approach for dropping sanctions and Iran’s return to conformity. 

  But now Reuters has cited a top admin official to say “We are ready to show up if such a meeting were to take place” – in what’s clearly an invitation for Iran to signal the same. 

  Iran has indicated it will begin blocking IAEA inspectors from its nuclear facilities starting Sunday, February 21st, hence this new scramble out of the Biden administration to find a way forward before this next escalation measure that many fear would be hard to roll back takes effect. Both the US and Europe are warning against such a step.

  The US has lately been in direct talks with allies Britain, France, and Germany – the key European signatories to the JCPOA – and it appears they’ve finally struck up a common strategy in getting the frozen communications between Tehran and Washington going again. 

  US, EU diplomats meet to salvage Iranian nuclear pact

  Both sides seem to be digging themselves into positions that show little room for successful. Distrust is highhttps://t.co/lrmnW0kMqy via @AlMonitor

  — Joshua Landis (@joshua_landis) February 18, 2021

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

  At the start of this month State Department spokesman Ned Price appeared to shrug off EU-backed talks when asked directly about Tehran’s expressed willingness to engage through the Europeans. He said there are “many steps” that had to be taken before engaging “directly with Iran” and before the US is willing to “entertain any sort of proposal.” Later the White House appeared to walk back the comments.

  The central point of controversy since Biden took office was over who would “move first”. The Biden White House has been adamant thus far that Iran must return to compliance with enrichment caps and walking back breaches of the terms of the JCPOA. At the same time Iran has pointed to US hypocrisy of backing out of the deal in the first place (under Trump in May 2018) but now demanding Iran’s conformity. Iran has been adamant that all sanctions be dropped. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 19:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• China Most Active In Spreading Disinformation On COVID-19 Origin: Report
  China Most Active In Spreading Disinformation On COVID-19 Origin: Report

  Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times,

  China was the most active country in propagating disinformation on the origin of the COVID-19, according to a newly-released report by the Associated Press (AP) and the Digital Forensic Research Lab of Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council.

  

  The report was the results of a nine-month joint research project, after analyzing millions of social media posts and articles that were published in the first six months of the COVID-19 outbreak. It examined the false narratives that took hold in four countries: China, Iran, Russia, and the United States.

  China was much to blame for the disinformation on COVID-19 origin, which is caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

  “Particularly in the period immediately following COVID-19’s initial spread, factual information about the disease, its origin, and its symptoms was lacking or withheld–most notably by China–providing the ample space for misleading and malicious information to take root,” according to the report.

  The Chinese regime concealed from the public information about the disease and also silenced eight whistleblower doctors, including ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, who were the first to warn about an “unknown pneumonia” outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan on Chinese social media.

  The report pointed out that users on Chinese social media Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, began writing about an unproven conspiracy theory connecting the United States with the outbreak on Dec. 31, 2019. For example, one Weibo user wrote, “Watch out for Americans,” while another wrote about the United States being one of several countries in the world that houses a P4 bio-safety laboratory.

  

  But none of these early speculations on Weibo was “coordinated or particularly far-reaching.”

  Meanwhile, the P4 lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology has long been speculated as the source of the virus in a potential lab leak. A fact sheet released by the U.S. State Department last month stated that it “had reason to believe” several researchers at the institute fell ill with COVID-19-like symptoms in the autumn of 2019, contradicting a claim by a researcher at the institute who said there was “zero infection” among lab staff and students.

  A recent investigation by a team of World Health Organization (WHO) experts in Wuhan did not rule out the possibility that the virus was leaked from the P4 lab, but concluded that the theory was “extremely unlikely.” Last week, WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus suggested more research was needed to study the different origin theories of the virus.

  China’s state-run media soon began driving China’s narrative of the pandemic after the sporadic chatters on Weibo.

  “China initially preferred to boost international perception in its favor by amplifying stories about its benevolence in assisting other countries to combat the virus,” according to the report.

  In late February last year, China’s state-run media began to publish articles suggesting that the virus may have originated outside of China, according to the report. Some outlets also provided negative coverage of the U.S. response to the outbreak.

  “As the disease persisted, however, China began to push narratives that painted its geopolitical competitors in a negative light, including pushing conspiracies such as the idea that COVID-19 was a U.S. biological weapon,” the report added.

  Twitter

  The report analyzed a series of Twitter posts made by China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijun in March 2020. In a tweet on March 12, Zhao accused the United States army of bringing the virus to Wuhan.

  The report found that Zhao’s tweets targeting the United States on March 12 and 13 last year had “accumulated nearly 47,000 retweets and quote tweets, [was] referenced in at least 54 languages, and favorited more than 82,000 times” as of Feb. 13. These tweets were also “amplified by at least 30 different Chinese diplomats and state-run accounts.”

  

  Zhao’s tweets also had an enormous impact on China’s domestic audience. According to the report, popular hashtags referencing his tweets were viewed by Weibo users more than 300 million times as of Feb. 13.

  The report also analyzed online activities following Zhao’s other tweets in March, which reposted a link to an article by Larry Romanoff published on Global Research Canada, a site known for advancing conspiracy theories on topics such as global warming. The article suggested that the virus might have leaked from Fort Detrick, a prominent military biomedical research lab in Maryland.

  There was a spike in Google searches for “Larry Romanoff” around mid-March, following Zhao’s tweets, according to the report.

  Recently, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying revisited the conspiracy theory by citing Fort Detrick. She said during a Jan. 18 press briefing that the United States should invite WHO experts to “conduct origin tracing” in the country.

  “If the United States truly respects facts, it should open the biological lab at Fort Detrick, give more transparency to issues like its 200-plus overseas bio-labs,” she said.

  Moreover, on Twitter, “the number of Chinese diplomatic accounts more than tripled on the platform between May 2019 and May 2020, from 40 to 135, and the output doubled and became more aggressive and conspiratorial,” the report stated. Due to China’s firewall, Twitter is not accessible by ordinary Chinese citizens.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 02/18/2021 – 00:05

• Hong Kong Aiming For Legislation To Ban Insulting Public Officials
  Hong Kong Aiming For Legislation To Ban Insulting Public Officials

  If you thought there were free speech issues in the U.S., you haven’t seen anything yet.

  Hong Kong’s government is currently in the process of introducing legislation that would prohibit insulting public officials. We can only imagine the insults that were muttered when local citizens read the news from local media.

  Hong Kong’s Security Bureau is in the midst of leading a study on how the legislation could work and how it would be overseen, according to Bloomberg. Local outlets said, citing Civil Service Secretary Patrick Nip, that the issue was under examination. 

  

  The legislation would be part of a broader agenda by China to “erode basic freedoms” in Hong Kong. The move would be the biggest to censor free speech in Hong Kong since China’s institution of a law that has been used to combat mass protests in Hong Kong. 

  Beijing has also implemented a “patriotism test” to weed out pro-Democracy lawmakers. The test prompted mass resignations from opposition members in the Legislative Council last November, Bloomberg notes. Bloomberg also noted that Hong Kong judges and law enforcement are unlikely to challenge any new legislation from Beijing:

  Earlier this month, Hong Kong’s top court ordered that media tycoon and democracy activist Jimmy Lai remain in jail ahead of his trial on foreign collusion charges, a victory for Beijing that suggested Hong Kong judges were unlikely to challenge the security law. Hong Kong police also separately arrested Lai for assisting in an activist’s attempt to flee to Taiwan, the Oriental Daily reported on Wednesday, without citing anyone.

  Recall, back in June 2020, Hong Kong passed a law banning insults to China’s National Anthem. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 23:45

• Leaked Video Shows Facebook CEO Questioning "Long-Term Side Effects Of Modifying DNA" In COVID Vaccine
  Leaked Video Shows Facebook CEO Questioning “Long-Term Side Effects Of Modifying DNA” In COVID Vaccine

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made comments last year about COVID-19 vaccines that clash with policies that his platform has implemented, leaked video shows.

  

  Zuckerberg said in July 2020:

  “I do just want to make sure that I share some caution on this [vaccine] because we just don’t know the long-term side effects of basically modifying people’s DNA and RNA … basically the ability to produce those antibodies and whether that causes other mutations or other risks downstream. So, there’s work on both paths of vaccine development.”

  The footage was published by Project Veritas, a journalism watchdog.

  It was allegedly from Facebook’s internal weekly question-and-answer session.

  Zuckerberg took a different stance when appearing in a virtual forum in November 2020 with Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading government scientist.

  “Just to clear up one point, my understanding is that these vaccines do not modify your DNA or RNA. So that’s just an important point to clarify,” Zuckerberg said, prompting Fauci to say: “No, first of all, DNA is inherent in your own nuclear cell. Sticking in anything foreign will ultimately get cleared.”

  Facebook didn’t respond to a request for comment.

  Zuckerberg’s Facebook has imposed harsh guidelines on what people can post about COVID-19, and banned or restricted a number of users for violating the policies.

  Facebook earlier in February said it would take down any posts with claims about vaccines deemed false by health groups or its so-called fact-checkers.

  

  A health care worker prepares a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center inside the Blackburn Cathedral, United Kingdom, on Jan. 19, 2021. (Molly Darlington/Reuters)

  Facebook stated in a blog post, “Today, following consultations with leading health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), we are expanding the list of false claims we will remove to include additional debunked claims about the coronavirus and vaccines.”

  The list includes “claims that the COVID-19 vaccine changes people’s DNA.”

  Administrators for some groups will be required to greenlight all posts if the groups have been labeled problematic in terms of posts that have been made.

  “Claims about COVID-19 or vaccines that do not violate these policies will still be eligible for review by our third-party fact-checkers, and if they are rated false, they will be labeled and demoted,” the company stated.

  Footage showing Zuckerberg commenting privately on various issues has been made public before by Project Veritas. In one clip, he praised President Joe Biden’s early executive orders “on areas that we as a company care quite deeply about and have for some time.”

  “Areas like immigration, preserving DACA, ending restrictions on travel from Muslim-majority countries, as well as other executive orders on climate and advancing racial justice and equity. I think these were all important and positive steps,” he said.

  Facebook banned former President Donald Trump in January while Trump was still in office. Trump remains blocked from the platform.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 23:25

• America 2021? Cops Block Hungry Portlanders Scrambling For Discarded Food
  America 2021? Cops Block Hungry Portlanders Scrambling For Discarded Food

  A Northeast Portland Fred Meyer hypermarket threw out thousands of perishable items on Tuesday because it suffered power loss due to a winter storm. Images of the food quickly spread on social media as working-poor folks stormed the dumpster. Shortly after, a store manager called the cops, which prevented hungry people from taking free food. 

  The Oregon Live reported workers at the Hollywood West Fred Meyer threw away thousands of items “deemed no longer safe for consumption” on Tuesday following a severe winter storm knocking out power to the store.

  Working-poor Portlander stormed the massive dumpster on Tuesday for hopes of free food. They found a mountain of cheese and meats and juice and all sorts of foods stacked to the brim of a dumpster. 

  

  After a crowd developed, the store manager called Portland police. 

  Morgan Mckniff, a social justice warrior in Portland, said a dozen officers, some without masks, arrived on the scene and guarded the dumpster, ensuring no one in the community took the food. 

  Portland police said the store manager called officers after employees “felt the situation was escalating and feared there may be a physical confrontation,” a police spokesman said. 

  Juniper Simonis, another social justice warrior in Portland, documented the incident.

  Simonis said, “when I arrived on at the Hollywood @Fred_Meyer in Portland this evening, I was greeted by 12 @PortlandPolice officers who were apparently guarding two dumpsters full of food that mutual aid orgs were trying to distribute and hungry folks were trying to eat.”

  

  The amount of food Simonis documented in a series of posts was immense. 

  “And the meat. so. much. meat. think of all of the people hungry in warming shelters that would have LOVED some beef or a shrimp cocktail or a SIDE OF SALMON it is a white legacy to strip the water of salmon and throw it away with no thought for the fish or people,” Simonis said. 

  

  Simonis said it appeared the store cleared out anything that was refrigerated. 

  

  Simonis pictures of working-poor folks gathering food, many of whom are already dealing with food and housing insecurities. 

  

  

  

  Dozens of people found food.

  

  Fred Meyer eventually had to bring in a couple of dumpsters to dispose of the food. 

  

  The company eventually released this statement: 

  “Unfortunately, due to loss of power at this store, some perishable food was no longer safe for donation to local hunger relief agencies. Our store team became concerned that area residents would consume the food and risk food borne illness, and they engaged local law enforcement out of an abundance of caution. We apologize for the confusion.”

  With food banks overwhelmed, millions without jobs, an eviction crisis, soaring food/housing insecurities, and out-of-control inequality produced by the Federal Reserve, who would’ve ever thought Americans would be dumpster diving for food in 2021.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 23:05

• Biden Slaps Down Move For $50K Student Debt Forgiveness: "I Will Not Make That Happen"
  Biden Slaps Down Move For $50K Student Debt Forgiveness: “I Will Not Make That Happen”

  President Biden has appeared to give his ‘final’ and ‘definitive’ answer on student loan forgiveness at a moment progressives within the Democratic party continue pushing for much more than his planned 10,000 debt write off.

  In comments early this week, he balked at the idea of forgiving $50,000 in student loan debt for some 43 million Americans, which would amount to $1 trillion canceled overnight via executive order:

  “I will not make that happen,” Biden said during a CNN town hall on Tuesday night when asked if he would support cancellation of $50,000, adding that it “depends on whether or not you go to a private or public university” and that he’s opposed to saying that he was going to “forgive the debt, billions of dollars of debt, for people who have gone to Harvard and Yale and Penn.”

  New – Biden completely rejects Schumer/Warren proposal to cancel $50K of student loan debt per borrower:

  “I will not make that happen.”

  Says he doesn’t want to forgive debts of borrowers from elite schools — and money would be better spent on early childhood education. pic.twitter.com/oDwvCJveOm

  — Michael Stratford (@mstratford) February 17, 2021

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

  Biden further explained: “I do think in this moment of economic pain and strain that we should be eliminating interest on the debts that are accumulated, No. 1. And No. 2, I’m prepared to write off the $10,000 debt, but not [$50,000],” and underscored that such an ambitious and unfeasible number is likely outside his unilateral power to do.

  Progressives led by Senators Schumer and Warren haven’t let up the pressure after months of being vocal in media interviews and press events, and earlier this month reintroduced their measure which proposed a $50,000 forgiveness per borrower. 

  Meanwhile the usual suspects are seeking to make it primarily a race and class disparity issue, with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeting Wednesday…

  “1. Who cares what school someone went to? Entire generations of working class kids were encouraged to go into more debt under the guise of elitism. This is wrong. 2. Nowhere does it say we must trade-off early childhood education for student loan forgiveness. We can have both.”

  

  The intra-party pressures from top congressional Democrats are likely to continue, with AOC’s tweet getting a lot of media attention later in the day Wednesday. 

  Meanwhile the White House has maintained the line of still looking into and “reviewing legally” whether or not it’s even possible for the president to issue student debt forgiveness without congressional approval, which is another key part of Progressives’ demands. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 22:45

• Jailed Hong Kong Tycoon Arrested Again, Faces Charges Of Helping Activists Flee
  Jailed Hong Kong Tycoon Arrested Again, Faces Charges Of Helping Activists Flee

  Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai is already facing prosecution under Hong Kong’s new national security laws, and now it looks like authorities are heaping on even more charges against the high-profile pro-democracy figure.

  His Apple Daily tabloid reported that Lai has been arrested again, this time for suspicion of assisting one of 12 fugitives China captured at sea last year. Western media outlets quickly picked up the reports.

  

  Lai, who is being detained while awaiting a bail hearing on Thursday, has been charged with colluding with foreign forces under the new law.

  China’s coast guard captured the 12 fugitives in August as they tried to flee Hong Kong in a boat believed to be bound for Taiwan. All were held in a mainland China prison until a trial in late December. Ten were jailed for terms ranging from seven months to three years for illegally crossing the border, or helping to organize the crossing, while two minors were sent back to Hong Kong. 

  Papers later identified that Andy Li, one of the 12, as the individual Lai was suspected of helping, though it seems police in HK have had no further comment on the issue.

  Beijing imposed the new security law on Hong Kong in June of last year after COVID finally helped end months of pro-democracy protests.

  Lai was already the most high-profile person to be charged under the new security law. His prior charges related to statements he made on July 30 and Aug. 18, in which prosecutors say he requested foreign help for Hong Kong, something the new Beijing-imposed security law no longer allows.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 22:25

• Los Angeles Slashes School Police Budget, Replaces Officers With "Climate Coaches"
  Los Angeles Slashes School Police Budget, Replaces Officers With “Climate Coaches”

  Authored by GQ Pan via The Epoch Times,

  The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education on Tuesday approved a plan to cut one-third of its police budget and divert the money to a program that focuses on black students achievement.

  

  The board voted to cut 133 school police positions from the Los Angeles School Police Department, including 70 sworn officers, 62 non-sworn officers, and one support staff member. The staff reductions reduce the annual budget of the district’s police force from $77.5 million to $52.5 million.

  Police officers stationed at all secondary schools will be replaced by new “climate coaches,” who are trained to, according to the plan, implement “positive school culture and climate,” use “de-escalation strategies” to resolve conflict, understand and address “implicit bias,” and eliminate “racial disproportionately” in school discipline practices.

  The new plan doesn’t allow individual schools to apply to keep police officers on their campuses. Instead, officers will remain on call to respond to emergencies, with a goal of a three-to-five minute response time.

  The police force reduction is part of the LAUSD’s $36.5 million Black Student Achievement Plan, which aims to provide supplemental services and support to 53 schools that have a large black student population and “high need indicators,” such as lower than average math and English language arts proficiency rates, higher than average referral and suspension rates, and higher than average chronic absenteeism.

  In addition to the police overhaul, the plan would dedicate $30.1 million for improving “school climate” and reducing “over-identification of black students” in suspensions and discipline actions, $4.4 million to implement academic changes such as adding more black authors into school curricula, and $2 million for community partnership with organizations that serve black youth.

  “We’ve been systematically failing black children as a country. Schools must be part of the solution, because a great education is the most important part of the path out of poverty,” Superintendent Austin Beutner said on Monday during his weekly update to the LAUSD community.

  “While we at L.A. Unified don’t have all the answers, we’re committed to making change.”

  The changes mark the latest move by the nation’s major public school districts in response to the “defund the police” movement. In the wake of death of George Floyd in custody of Minneapolis police, activist and organizations such as Black Lives Matter have called on local and officials to “defund” their law enforcement forces, arguing that redirecting funding from police toward other social service programs could make communities safer.

  Last summer, the Minneapolis Public Schools board of education voted unanimously to terminate its contract with the Minneapolis Police Department, saying it “cannot continue to be in partnership with an organization that has the culture of violence and racism.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 22:05

• Myanmar Protesters Denounce China's "Hidden Hand" In Propping Up Junta
  Myanmar Protesters Denounce China’s “Hidden Hand” In Propping Up Junta

  There’s increasing suspicion that China had a “hidden hand” in Myanmar’s coup d’etat which kicked off Feb.1 upon the arrest and detention of the country’s civilian leadership.

  The substantial rumors that Beijing assisted in the military coup that’s plunged its southeast Asian neighbor into unrest – with a near total internet blackout and armored vehicles patrolling the streets – have grown to the point that it prompted a formal denial from China’s ambassador to Myanmar.

  

  Ambassador Chen Hai early this week responded to growing pro-democracy protests that have formed outside the Chinese embassy in the city Yangon. It a written public statement the ambassador claimed to have had no “prior knowledge” of the coup, further saying that allegations of Communist China’s assisting in setting up a telecommunications firewall in cooperation with military coup forces are “laughable”.

  “We have friendly relations with both the NLD and the military. The current situation is absolutely not what China wants to see,” Chen added. 

  As an example of the growing allegations that see Chinese ‘interference’ all over the worsening Myanmar situation, Hong Kong pro-democracy activists are circulating assessments like the following.

  Credible sources revealed that the Myanmar military government is receiving “technical support” from the CCP to build similar internet firewalls to block access to Twitter, NYT, FB etc. The internet cutoff serves this need. Dictators help each other and CCP is leading the way.

  Indeed there should be ways that US-based tech and social media giants can verify this, though companies like Google have long had a suspiciously cozy relationship with Chinese Communist authorities. 

  Anti-China protesters through the region are pointing the finger at Beijing for this month’s rapidly moving Myanmar events…

  We can all ask our friends in telecom industry to verify it. It’s important that we can have information on what’s happening in there and try to act in advance to protect citizens there. It’s a long process to build an internet firewall — the free world should act immediately.

  — Nathan Law 羅冠聰 (@nathanlawkc) February 15, 2021

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  Current widespread internet outages and blockages of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter appear geared toward preempting the growing anti-coup demonstrations, which in the past days have seen tens of thousands hit the streets, and are resulting in increasingly violent clashes with police and military coup forces.

  According the latest reporting in The Guardian, “Since a military coup earlier this month, Myanmar has endured five internet blackouts. There have also been blocks on some social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which have been used to generate support for anti-coup protests in the country.”

  

  Meanwhile, amid broad clashes with police, there’s increasing “anti-China” sentiment growing among Myanmar protesters, as India’s Economic Times also observes, “Allegations of Chinese hand in Myanmar coup is growing in salience following massive anti-Beijing protests sweeping across the SE Asian state, India’s key neighbor to the East.”

  “Chinese President Xi Jinping has been urged by the protestors not to recognize Myanmar’s military regime and to stand with the people, amid a wave of anti-China sentiment—including boycotts on Chinese products, ET has reliably gathered from sources and activists who did not wish to be identified,” the report underscores further.

  Giant protests today against Myanmar’s military coup and to call for the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Protests have happened daily for nearly two weeks now. #WhatsHappeninglnMyanmar pic.twitter.com/UZxUndy12B

  — Matthew Tostevin (@TostevinM) February 17, 2021

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  Despite a near total internet and telecommunications outage across the country sporadic social media videos are in some cases still being posted of large-scale troop and armored vehicle deployments to the streets. Chaotic scenes of blasts and flash-bangs show anti-riot tactics deployed on crowds, but also suggest ‘live fire’ could be happening – though there’s still conflicting reports over whether security forces are using live ammo or rubber bullets. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 21:45

• Greenwashing Turns "Ugly" Into Environmentally Friendly
  Greenwashing Turns “Ugly” Into Environmentally Friendly

  Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Times blog,

  Greenwashing is a term you may not be familiar with but may become used more frequently in the future. The combination of limited public access to information and seemingly unlimited advertising has enabled companies to present themselves as caring environmental stewards, even as they were engaging in environmentally unsustainable practices. This has been going on for years and I expect the effort to portray a company as “caring about the environment” is about to be ramped up to a whole new level.

  

  The idea of greenwashing is not new but has evolved and drastically increased with the news-waves constantly echoing concern over global warming and climate change. Many companies are now working to engage customers in their sustainability efforts, even as their core business model remains environmentally ugly. The many ways companies and people damage the environment are often their “dirty little secrets.” Sometimes environmentally damaging behavior is driven by greed, sometimes ignorance, and sometimes a feeling of entitlement or indifference. It is often difficult for people to discover the truth about a company when it is hidden behind well-contrived lies.

  

  In “Many Cites” Buses Have Few Riders

  In the same way, government diverts our attention from something that highlights its failures, companies often divert our attention from the bigger picture. Marketers create advertisements that appeal to the sensitive hearts of the consumers by making images and films that are adorable. This is also done by making green claims that are vague and ambiguous. By simply changing the color of the company logo from yellow or red to green can invoke the illusion of environmentally friendly products.

  Greenwashing is not reserved for companies, even individuals use it. An example is how John Kerry, President Biden’s recently appointed climate czar and envoy for climate change, tried to wash away his sin for taking a private jet to Iceland in 2019 to receive an award. When asked by a local reporter if this was an eco-conscious way to travel, the former secretary of state replied, “it’s the only choice for somebody like me who is traveling the world to win this battle.”

  Like many of the global elite, Kerry doesn’t see himself as guilty of abusing his position, to him, he is merely exercising his privilege. We see the same crap flowing from many of the self-absorbed global elite that attend conferences such as the World Economic Forum in Davos. For many of these people, a private jet is not the “only” choice, it is a “preferred choice.” The hypocrisy of John Kerry, and people like him, should give us pause.

  A major issue we now face is that putting a friendly face on ugly presents a real danger. This comes at the same time governments and central banks are rushing to fund a green agenda. Sadly, many of the ideas generated by these so-called environmentalists are akin to putting lipstick on a pig or rooted in the idea a great deal of money can be made by embracing this move. The continuing debate of whether Electric Vehicles are less damaging to the environment and indications they are not underlines the importance of plotting a clear path ahead.

  Years ago the answer was ethanol, a renewable domestically produced alcohol fuel made from plant material, today many see this as an expensive boondoggle to benefit big agriculture. The current political atmosphere is ripe for crony capitalism to flourish and boondoggles to sprout up everywhere, especially when it comes to going “green.” Another troubling development is the possibility of government overreach removing many of the choices we have come to enjoy. This of course would be carried out under the idea it is being done for “the greater good.”

  Falling into this category is an agenda being promoted under the Green New Deal moniker, this name is most likely used to give this vision of America a more credible image. The Green New Deal is modeled in part after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, a large federal program designed to stabilize the economy and recover from the Great Depression. It should be noted many people give credit to World War II for pulling America out of the Great Depression rather than Roosevelt’s economic policies.

  Factcheck.org looked into the Green New Deal to see what it includes and doesn’t as well as to why there is confusion over the content. It calls for a massive change in society and the way we live. It focuses on tackling climate change but isn’t concerned just with reducing emissions. This was all wrapped into a resolution listing goals to be accomplished in a 10-year mobilization effort that does not stipulate how the country will reach them. The resolution is also silent on cost and how all this should be funded. Below is a list of the five goals, which the resolution says should be accomplished in a 10-year mobilization effort:

  • Achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers

  • Create millions of good, high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States

  • Invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States to sustainably meet the challenges of the 21st century

  • Secure for all people of the United States for generations to come: clean air and water; climate and community resiliency; healthy food; access to nature; and a sustainable environment

  • Promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of indigenous peoples, communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth (“frontline and vulnerable communities”)

  With the hard turn towards creating a more green economy, it should come as no surprise that now Jane Yellen as the face of the Treasury Department’s free money initiative recently addressed the G7 telling them, we “should be focused on what more we can do to provide support at this time.” She went on to “emphasized the commitment of the Biden Administration to multilateralism to solve global issues, stating that the United States “places a high priority on deepening our international engagement and strengthening our alliances.”

  The fact Yellen also “expressed strong support for G7 efforts to tackle climate change, highlights how just a small percentage of votes can cause a 180-degree change in a country’s policies. Yellen even went further expressing her strong belief that G7 countries “must work to address the challenges facing low-income countries who are struggling to respond to the pandemic.” Several Central Banks have already endorsed the green agenda. This all falls into the scenario that it’s time to finally fix the world and together we have the ability to create the money to do it.  In short, we will spend and you should too.

  Enough about the money and the politics behind all this, the reality is, much of the direction the world takes will have less to do with the environment than the image those in charge wish to project. If any of these people really gave a damn about the environment the first word out of their mouth would be “conserve” and then they would be talking about reducing waste. 

  This is the low-hanging fruit that could be quickly reached and picked at little cost. Both would make a great difference. 

  The reason nobody talks about this is that conserving and reducing waste would cause the GDP to fall like a stone.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 21:25

• Here We Go Again: Zoltan Warns Repo Market On Verge Of Major Shock As Key Funding Rate Turns Negative
  Here We Go Again: Zoltan Warns Repo Market On Verge Of Major Shock As Key Funding Rate Turns Negative

  Two weeks ago, when discussing the imminent avalanche of cash set to be unleashed by the Treasury – as a tsunami of $800BN in extra liquidity hits markets over the next 6 weeks, and a total of $1.1 trillion in the next 10 weeks – we said that “nobody was paying attention” to this coming flood of liquidity.

  Since then, some have started to pay attention, with Bloomberg writing an article yesterday titled “Yellen Shift on Vast Treasury Cash Pile Poses Problem for Powell” in which it described the liquidity “tsunami” as a move which aims to return its cash position at the central bank to more normal levels, and which “will flood the financial system with liquidity and complicate Powell’s effort to keep a tight grip over money market rates.”

  Sounds awfully familiar… as does this:

  “All this cash from the Treasury’s general account will have to go back from the Fed and into the market,” said Manmohan Singh, senior economist at the International Monetary Fund. “It will drive short term rates lower, as far as they can go.”

  Ok, fine – people are finally paying attention.

  So what does this mean for markets? Well, traders are clearly pricing in the impact of this liquidity tsunami with the S&P trading at an all time high just shy of 4,000. That was to be expected: after all every previous liquidity deluge has resulted in sharply higher risk prices and there is no reason why the algos should trade this one any different.

  But while the surge in stocks is in line with expectations, we have also observed several other more concerning developments. The first is the recent surge in 10Y swap spreads…

  

  … which is factoring the coming inflation that will be released courtesy of the Treasury’s soon-to-be unlocked $1.1 trillion.

  

  A more troubling side-effect of this “liquidity supernova” is the ongoing collapse in short-term rates, which – as a reminder – we also warned about saying “the plunge in short-term debt (Bill) issuance (since there will no longer be an urgent need to keep cash balances in the $1+ trillion range) will compress short-term spreads (effective FF through 3M) to zero – or even negative – as there is suddenly a flood of liquidity which could prompt the Fed to engage the fixed-rate borrowing facility or even nudging the IOER higher.”

  This, to be sure, is another point which suddenly has everyone’s attention and as Curvature’s repo export Scott Skyrm writes today in his repo market commentary, “The market is preparing for a deluge of cash. REG markets are progressively trading at lower rates each day and term markets are well bid.”

  Yes, the GSEs already have more cash in the Repo market these days, but now the monthly cash is about to enter the market – typically from the 19th to the 24th of the month. That means even more cash chasing the same amount of collateral. Given where term rates are trading, the market is pricing GC to trade around .03% to .02% early next week.“

  

  And on, and on, until GC repo hits 0%… and then goes negative sparking another mini repo market crisis, similar to the one from September 2019 only in reverse.

  That’s the point made by repo guru Zoltan Pozsar, who in his latest Global Money Dispatch note lays out the problem by comparing it to Sept 2019, similar to what we said two weeks ago when we explained that “what is happening now is just the opposite and many, many times bigger, as almost one trillion reserves are about to be injected into the system as cash is drained from the Treasury’s account at the Fed.”

  Here’s Zoltan:

  During September 2019, we argued that the system was running out of reserves – too much Treasury collateral was entering the system and we needed a fixed-price, full allotment o/n repo facility to absorb all the excess collateral. Banks’ binding constraint was intraday liquidity, which constrained their ability to lend into the o/n repo market. When their lending stopped, repo popped…

  Today, the banking system is running out of balance sheet, and money funds are running out of collateral. Soon there will be too much cash in the system; TGA balances will decline from $1.6 trillion to $500 billion by the end of June.

  As the Credit Suisse plumbing experts writes next, “this roughly $1 trillion decline will occur either through waves of fiscal spending, which will expand deposits and reserves at large banks…

  

  … or, if spending is too slow to meet the $500 billion target, through bill paydowns. Coupon issuance will be $1.4 trillion over the first half, and depending on whether the spending or paydowns scenario dominates, coupons will be bought mostly by banks, or shadow banks.”

  Which brings us to the key part: why we are about to see another burst of fireworks in the repo market where rates are about to go negative:

  Banks don’t have the balance sheet at the bank operating subsidiary level to add $1 trillion of deposits, reserves, and Treasuries: J.P. Morgan can’t grow more due to G-SIB constraints; Citibank flat-lined its balance sheet growth already; Bank of America has the capacity to add only $150 billion of deposits and HQLA; and Wells Fargo’s $500 billion capacity is constrained by its asset growth ban.

  Unless we get SLR relief at the bank opco. level, or Wells Fargo’s ban is lifted, banks will have to turn away wealthy households’ and institutions’ deposits, which will then go to money funds. But money funds will face a constraint too: the marginal asset they will direct inflows into – the o/n RRP facility – is capped; each money fund can place only $30 billion into the facility, which is too little.

  Banks’ balance sheet constraint becomes a collateral constraint for money funds, and collateral constraints may surface in both the spending and paydown scenarios. Collateral supply from coupon issuance will absorb this cash over time, but money markets react to what happens now, and with $1 trillion of new cash, there may be many pockets of collateral scarcity as these flows play out in real time.

  Which means that it will be up to the Fed to intervene once again and allow intermediaries to park the extra trillion in cash somewhere, in this case with the reserve currency’s central bank:

  The Fed can hike the o/n RRP rate to 100 bps, but unless it uncaps the facility, bills and repo can still go negative.

  And besides the repo market, the one place where this particular inversion will unleash shockwaves is the old, familiar FRA-OIS spread which – as everyone remembers from last March – emerged as the financial system’s key funding indicator. Only this time instead of blowing wider as it did last March…

  

  … FRA-OIS, already at the tightest level in at least a decade, is about to go negative. Zoltan has more:

  To have a view on FRA-OIS, we need to have a view on who will warehouse $1 trillion of reserves that will flood the system by June. Large U.S. banks won’t be able to unless they get SLR relief at the bank operating subsidiary level.

  We don’t think that SLR relief is coming, so as the stimulus checks go out, banks will have to turn away institutional non-operating deposits to money funds. The “natural” outlet for these institutional inflows will be at the o/n RRP facility, but the use of this facility is capped at $30 billion per fund. The use of this facility will be tested not only by stimulus-driven inflows but also by bill paydowns: as bills mature, money funds will look to the RRP facility as a substitute for bills.

  Uncapping the o/n RRP facility is more important than adjusting its price; the use of banks’ reserve accounts, the foreign repo pool, or Treasury’s account aren’t capped, so why impose a per-counterparty cap on the o/n RRP facility?

  The RRP cap is a key piece of our warehousing puzzle: the $1 trillion of reserves we’re trying to find a warehouse for are currently warehoused by the Treasury; U.S. banks can’t add another $1 trillion to their warehouses, and money funds can’t warehouse $1 trillion unless the Fed decides to uncap the RRP facility.

  In practical terms, this means that “unless the RRP facility gets uncapped, bill and repo rates can trade negative and money funds may turn away inflows, as they won’t invest at negative rates.”

  And yes, unless the Fed steps in, we may have NIRP among US commercial banks as soon as a few weeks from today:

  J.P. Morgan’s SLR problem points to negative deposit rates, and money funds’ RRP capacity problem points to negative bill and repo rates.

  And yes, somehow everyone missed that JPM’s earnings release itself warned very clearly that negative deposit rates are coming in 2021 should “excess liquidity” and “higher capital” become a fixture – which is about to be the case:

  

  The practical implications for a market trading at all time highs, where there does not appear to be a single cloud in the sky, are alarming:

  The implications for FRA-OIS from here are obvious: if U.S. banks are full and money funds can’t take new money either, foreign banks will warehouse reserves at rates below those of J.P. Morgan but above those available in the bill market – and both are negative. The price of warehousing is a fee, i.e. a negative rate…

  And so, unless the Fed steps in aggressively and either grants banks SLR relief and/or the overnight Reverse Repo Facility is uncapped – so that banks have a place to park the flood of $1.1 trillion in excess cash instead of turning it away – Zoltan expects U.S. dollar Libor-OIS spreads to reach zero by June, with risks to the downside. Needless to say, this would be the first time in US history that the key funding metric has dipped into negative territory. The problem is that just like with oil – which imploded instantly the moment it dipped below $0 on April 20, 2020, nobody knows just how negative FRA-OIS will drop, with the potential to unleash major money-market shockwaves growing by the second.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 21:11

• An Absurd Look At The Marxist, Ultra-Woke "Education" System In 2021
  An Absurd Look At The Marxist, Ultra-Woke “Education” System In 2021

  Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

  In honor of Black History Month, schools across the Land of the Free are adopting a curriculum that’s being pushed from the organization Black Lives Matter.

  

  Curiously, the “Black Lives Matter at School” curriculum has absolutely nothing to do with history, let alone black history.

  Instead, the organization presents an entirely Marxist, ultra-woke agenda.

  The first clue is that the website literally states “we engage comrades” through the curriculum’s 13 guiding principles.

  One of these guiding principles is “disrupting the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure” to replace it with “villages that collectively care for one another, and especially our children.”

  Wait, what? OUR children? Now we’re supposed to award untold influence over our kids to self-described “trained Marxists” ?

  But this only scratches the surface of the curriculum.

  Under the organization’s “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” there are lesson plans which endeavor to teach young students about why they should join trade unions when they become an adult.

  And they go on to teach that everyone is “entitled to economic, social and cultural help from your government.”

  One resource in the curriculum advocates printing money to implement a “systemwide social justice shock,” including “free universal health care… and direct subsidies [i.e. universal basic income].”

  Another teaches “that white supremacy is a fundamental component of our founding documents. The Constitution was not a document to promote democracy, but to prevent it… my students engage in an activity where they see this unfold in the classroom.”

  One lesson plan instructs teachers to have their students “Write your own hex poem, cursing… specific people who have been agents of police terror or global brutality” including “small micro aggressions… i.e., people who say ‘all lives matter’. . .”

  And they do this with incredibly young, impressionable children who absorb everything like a sponge.

  For example, the curriculum suggests instructing kindergarten students that ‘Everyone gets to choose if they are a girl or a boy or both or neither or something else’ as part of ‘freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking.’

  This seems totally appropriate for a five year old!

  To be fair, some of the curriculum is grounded in good intentions. They teach kids that everyone has a right to be themselves, and that discrimination is stupid. Those are great lessons.

  But the way they cram it down everyone’s throat is appalling.

  For example, one curriculum resource was written by an individual who self-describes as a “queer disabled autistic nonbinary femme writer and disability/transformative justice worker.”

  You can’t just be a human being anymore. You can’t just be Bob or Maria. You have to provide a laundry list of ways that you self-identify with victim groups.

  This is what passes for credentials these days.

  It almost reminds me of those silly royal titles that monarch’s use. In Game of Thrones, Queen Daenerys self-stylized as “Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, the Mother of Dragons . . .”

  Now it’s “Queen of the Bolsheviks, first of her name, rallier of woke mobs, Arch-Tweetress of problematic vocabulary, Lord-Commander of the social justice warriors, vanquisher of the cis-male, and defender of the nonbinary femmes.”

  This curriculum teaches young people that you gain power in our society– not through accomplishments and deeds– but by gathering more titles of victimization. More titles means more power.

  The propaganda and indoctrination starts in kindergarten and continues for 13 years.

  And you might think when you reach university you can finally acquire a real education.

  You pay $70,000 in annual tuition, for example, to attend one of the top schools in the world, Princeton University in New Jersey.

  And what greets these students seeking a higher education?

  First off— Princeton has a “Social Contract” now that students must sign, obliging them to nearly three dozen requirements ranging from obtaining a flu shot, to not leaving Mercer County until the end of the semester, to ratting out fellow students who do not comply.

  But perhaps the most ridiculous development yet was when the school newspaper ran a ‘Dear Abby’ style column last month from a “sexpert” explaining how students should engage in sexual intercouse in the age of COVID.

  The article advises students to abandon physical contact altogether, and instead use remote sex toys that can be controlled through online apps.

  Obviously they haven’t heard the news that such sex toys have been hacked, and users’ private parts were literally being held for ransom by hackers.

  The “sexpert” goes on to advise that, if students absolutely must meet in person for sex, they should wear a mask, avoid kissing, engage in an appropriate position, and use “external/male condoms”.

  Note the language— you have to say ‘external/male’ when referring to condom so that you don’t alienate men with vaginas, or women with penises.

  The sexpert also advises that students wear a “dental dam” for added protection. I had to look this one up— it’s basically a giant rubber barrier around your mouth.

  

  Sexy time!

  And just to prove there’s no limit to their ridiculousness, the sexpert concludes by telling students they should “order from your favorite online Black-, female/femme-, or queer-owned sexuality shop.”

  God forbid you buy a dental dam from someone without regard to the vendor’s gender, race, or sexual orientation.

  There was a time when the purpose of education was to expand minds.

  Now the intent is to close minds… to strip students of any ability to think critically, and replace intellectual independence with woke, Marxist propaganda.

  *  *  *

  On another note… We think gold could DOUBLE and silver could increase by up to 5 TIMES in the next few years. That’s why we published a new, 50-page long Ultimate Guide on Gold & Silver that you can download here.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 20:45

• As Hearing Looms, Here Is How Gamma Was Weaponized Against GameStop
  As Hearing Looms, Here Is How Gamma Was Weaponized Against GameStop

  Submitted by SpotGamma.com,

  In late January 2021, GameStop experienced a once-in-a-decade squeeze that has captivated the world’s attention. This was a premeditated and programmatic exercise, orchestrated by coordinated stock and option buying across the retail and professional community, that resulted in large institutional entities losing billions of dollars. These investment houses with significant short positions did not expect a stock with GameStop’s fundamental profile to increase +2,500% in price over less than three weeks; therefore, they did not have the controls in place to handle the incredible levels of stock and call option purchases. The frenzy drew comments from the White House, provoked a social media crackdown, caused brokerage units to restrict trading, and has led to a Congressional hearing on GameStop on Thursday, February 18th.   

  At SpotGamma, we offer the following analysis, segmented into three phases:

  Phase One: The Setup

  • This is where retail investors started planning for the event
  • These retail investors started loading up on call options ahead of the coordinated large stock buying activity in phase two 

  Phase Two: The Weaponized Gamma Squeezes

  • In the first squeeze, retail investors relentlessly bought stock and call options 
  • In the second squeeze, the super squeeze, several factors rocketed the stock price upward. They include stock buying, call buying, put selling, celebrity engagement, forced stop-losses, and market makers buying stock to hedge options exposure

  Phase Three: The Unwind

  • This is where stock and options became too expensive for retail investors and declining volatility led to market makers selling stock they owned as hedges
  • Coupled with new trading restrictions imposed by the brokers, the stock price crashed back down more than 80pct from its highs in less than two weeks 

  

  The Setup 

  Phase One: Early in January 2021, Reddit/WSB and other retail traders began to focus on GME as a buying opportunity…. 

  (1) January 11th [Initial Attention]: GameStop recruited a highly-respected industry veteran to their Board (Chewy Founder, Ryan Cohen). This garnered enthusiasm from the retail community and acted as the initial catalyst for these investors to start discussing GME as a potentially exciting stock to own. There was some initial buying in the $15-$20 range, then the stock quickly shifted higher to the $35-$40 range. 

  (2) January 13th-20th [Loading Up]: Members of the Reddit/WSB community started purchasing large amounts of call options. This significant call buying began to form the basis for the first of two dramatic upward stock movements within the “Weaponized Gamma Squeeze” setup.  A “gamma squeeze” can occur when a trader or group of traders purchase call options in bulk, causing market makers who sold them these options to buy the stock as a hedge.  This aggressive forced stock buying adds to the stock price moving steeply upward and pushes the stock price higher as market makers scramble to buy incrementally more stock at rapidly increasing prices.

  This type of trade is not unique to GameStop.  Just last summer, SpotGamma coined the term “Weaponized Gamma” when in August a large fund, namely SoftBank, was reported to have purchased large and concentrated options positions in several top technology stocks. We assigned the term “weaponized” to connote the idea that options were being purchased for the explicit purpose of pushing market makers to purchase stock rather than investing with a belief in the company’s performance or value.

  Here, again, “Weaponized Gamma” applies to the GameStop event because it’s clear that retail traders understood the concept of a “gamma squeeze” and collectively coordinated their options purchases to initiate large market maker stock purchases.  Their action pushed the stock price up – “weaponization”. This snowball effect caused GameStop’s stock to increase as market makers hoped the call buying would stop… while instead the next stage of buying caused even more powerful pressure.

  (3) January 21st [Strength in Numbers]: Citron Research published a sell recommendation research report on GameStop.  This report drew the ire of the Reddit/WSB community, which bonded tightly as one against “Wall Street”. This retail group understood the pain they could inflict through coordinate levered purchases of both call options and stock. So, they organized to exact maximum pain for the institutional complex with full disregard for what they viewed as elitist backlash.  On January 22nd, call option volumes hit their peak, as you can see in the chart below.

  

  GME Call Volume, Put Volume

  Additionally, this activity displayed in the chart below shows the relative cost of an “at the money option” (an option with a strike equal to GME’s current price).  At the start of January, a trader would pay essentially 5pct of the stock’s price for this option, roughly $1.25 per contract.  As the squeeze began, options prices rose dramatically and that same option cost more than 35pct of the stock’s price for this option, upwards of $75.  This means on both a relative and absolute value, the calls became extremely more expensive.

  

  GME Options Costs

  What is equally fascinating, and central to understanding the entirety of the GME trade, is that as these call volumes reached their highs, put options volumes also hit their peak.  As we will explain in Phase 2, we believe this influx of put volumes was key to sustaining the GME stock price and helped fuel the second “super squeeze”.

  The Weaponized Gamma Squeezes

  Phase Two: Reddit/WSB Traders Drove GameStop to Shocking Heights Pressuring Dealers to Buy GameStop Shares

  (4) January 22nd-25th [The First Push, Squeeze #1]: In the days following the Citron research report, retail investors continued to purchase stock and options as a large collective community. They felt more and more emboldened as they made progress in pushing the stock price higher from $50-$60 a share up over $125. Eventually, we saw some large funds that had taken significant losses, including Melvin Capital.  These funds breached their borrowing and leverage capacity and were forced to buy back their short positions on January 25th. Again, at the root of this buying momentum was a squeeze that caused GameStop’s stock price to spike over 200pct higher intraday, which forced options dealers to buy stock at higher prices just to maintain their hedges.  In summary, we saw buying activity driven primarily by call options purchases forcing dealers to buy stock into a short-covering rally during the first gamma squeeze.  

  (5) January 26th-27th [The Super Squeeze, Squeeze #2]: At this point, we hypothesize that the key buyers shifted from the “retail” sector to “institutional.”  We have dubbed the price action associated with this move as the “Super Squeeze”.

  As news broke that Melvin Capital needed a bailout, Reddit/WSB investors felt they were winning.  This became a movement.  Even celebrities began to show their “support” for GameStop which in turn engaged an even larger retail crowd to buy stock.

  The next day, following the dramatic intraday 200pct rise and fall of GME on January 25th, it appeared to many as if the squeeze was over.  On a quantitative basis, the initial gamma squeeze seemed to reset and short covering subsided. However, at SpotGamma we observed that the number of put options traded increased sharply. You can see in the chart below that total call open interest (light blue) did not change materially throughout the entire period, despite the stock price moving much higher. However, put interest (dark grey) surged as the stock gained in price. 

  

  GME Call vs Put Open Interest

  Traditionally when a stock price moves higher traders will often buy puts, and dealers (who are short puts) will short stock as a hedge. However, we believe that that bulk of these put flows were traders SELLING puts. This forced options market makers to accelerate their stock buying hedges.  This activity helped fuel the upward momentum and create the “super squeeze.”  Again, as GME stock price was increasing, the market makers bought hedges and the short sellers bought stock to cover their short positions, thereby creating extraordinary upward pressure.

  As a visual representation of this event, the chart below presents a method of valuing the option market maker risk (exposure) caused by these new trades.  The aggregate delta reflects the directional exposure created by all of the GME options trades. Since this figure is extremely positive, it shows that the independent GME options traders profited from moves higher in GME stock. Conversely, it shows how the market makers (who are on the opposite side of these trades) had a large and growing requirement to buy stock to hedge their positions.  Here, we present this on an aggregate basis to illustrate just how much value in stock had to be purchased the morning of January 27th.

  

  To summarize the reasons for the Super Squeeze, which propelled GameStop shares from $80 per share to over $450, the following events were most impactful:  

  • Gamma-Squeeze: Options market makers bought stock to hedge options risk

  • Stock Purchasing: Retail collaboratively and aggressively purchased stock

  • Short-Covering: 400pct stock price rise forced short investors to buy stock

  The Unwind

  Phase Three:  Expensive Stock and Options Prices, Coupled with Trading Restrictions, Drove GameStop Price Back Down to $60 Per Share

  (6)  January 27th-28th [Expensive and Controlled Dynamics]:  Following this second big push, many traders wondered what would happen next.  Would we see a third leg of this squeeze send GameStop stock price to $700?  The answer we all know now is the trade stalled out, and at SpotGamma, we believe there are three primary reasons:

  Reason one: Stock and options were too expensive. At more than $300 per share, the call prices and stock price cost too much in buying power for the retail crowd to continue pushing the stock higher.  The leverage provided by trading firms such as Robinhood maxed out and the support waned, as retail traders were unable to buy more stock, and in some cases, were forced to sell their existing long positions.

  Reason two: Hedging requirements declined.  As the stock price stalled, the price of options (measured by the implied volatility) meant the market makers who were long stock no longer needed their positions and could sell them, putting downward pressure on GameStop’s share price.

  Reason three:  “Big Brother” clamped down.  On the night of January 27th, social media sites such as Reddit and Facebook blocked message boards discussing GME.

  (7)  January 29th-Feb 4th [Downward Slide]:  With these high prices, new controls, and market interventions, the stock price slide was progressive with a few days of intermittently volatility.  Again, during this period, since options dealers were able to sell the stock they bought as hedges, they eventually pushed the stock steeply lower in a matter of hours.  Eventually, the stock broke back below $100 per share by February 2nd and below $60 per share on February 4th. 

  GameStop was not the first stock to squeeze higher and it will not be the last.  At SpotGamma, we will consistently and reliably analyze these dynamics across more than 3,500 stocks and indices to bring our subscribers relevant actionable information.  We believe with the significant number of new trading accounts opened following the GameStop drama that this is the beginning of more options volume and there will be significant momentum across the derivatives markets in the years to come. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 20:25

• Despite Putting 77% Of Vax Centers In Hard-Hit Hoods, De Blasio Admits "Profound" Racial Disparities In NYC Jabs
  Despite Putting 77% Of Vax Centers In Hard-Hit Hoods, De Blasio Admits “Profound” Racial Disparities In NYC Jabs

  Despite officials’ virtue-signaling pledges to carry out the ‘most-equitable vaccine rollout’ ever in the history of the world, it appears human people, with minds of their own, have a habit of messing up the best-laid plans of the central-planning overlords.

  

  While most states/cities have been, rightly, prioritizing the elderly and most vulnerable (comorbidities etc.), as well as healthcare workers, the underlying goal of preventing socioeconomic disparities in the vaccination process has been harder to achieve, despite some cities going to great lengths.

  New York City’s Mayor De Blasio said that 77% of the city’s vaccination sites are in 33 hard-hit neighborhoods, but in what he called a “profound” racial disparity, vaccines are disproportionately going to wealthier neighborhoods in Manhattan and Staten Island, according to data the city released Tuesday.

  As Bloomberg reports, white residents composed almost half the people who had gotten at least one dose, despite being only a third of the population.

  “We have a lot of work to do,” de Blasio said.

  “A lot of this is about underlying painful disparities and inequalities to begin with. Folks who have more privilege are best able to navigate this process. Folks who have more confidence in the vaccine are going to go through more effort to get it.”

  Interestingly Axios also reported that early analyses and news reports show that in many cities and states, people of color – particularly Black Americans – are falling behind white Americans in the vaccination effort, with experts claiming that structural barriers and higher rates of vaccine hesitancy would always be a problem.

  “Just as we’ve seen a much smaller portion of vaccines going to Black and brown New Yorkers, we see these geographic disparities bearing out as well,” said Torian Easterling, chief equity officer of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

  “Staten Island and Manhattan have the highest vaccination rates, while the South Bronx, parts of central Queens and central Brooklyn lag behind.”

  De Blasio claims that supply shortages and vaccine hesitancy also play a part.

  “Folks who have been doing very well in this society also have a high level of confidence in the vaccine,” de Blasio said.

  New York City recorded the highest number of vaccine doses administered last week since the inoculation drive began in December, doling out more than 317,000 shots, de Blasio said Tuesday. But, as Bloomberg notes, the city still has a long way to go to cover its more than 8 million residents. New York had administered nearly 1.3 million total vaccine doses as of Sunday, including 870,6000 first doses.

  

  You can lead a horse to water, but a skeptic will not be jabbed! As CBS reported in December, recent data from Pew Research Center shows that only 42% of Black Americans would get the vaccine if it were available to them today.

  This is significantly less than the White (61%), Hispanic (63%) and Asian (83%). 

  

  Source

  Finally, we also noticed to an interesting trend in the COVID-19 death rates. As Axios reports, the giant surge of COVID cases over the fall and winter hit white Americans disproportionately hard, narrowing the racial disparities in COVID deaths.

  

  Source

  And perhaps most worryingly, given the racial bifurcation trend in vaccinations, if these disparities persist, particularly as new variants of the virus become more prevalent in the U.S., the gap between different racial groups’ death rate will likely widen in the coming months.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 20:25

• Everything They Don't Like Is Now A Public Health Emergency
  Everything They Don’t Like Is Now A Public Health Emergency

  Authored by Kyla Hatcher via The Mises Institute,

  Last summer, infectious disease experts at the University of Washington wrote what they called an “[o]pen letter advocating for an anti-racist public health response to demonstrations against systemic injustice occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

  It is essentially a letter explaining that white supremacy is a public health issue, especially in light of covid-19.

  The letter was signed by 1,288 “public health professionals, infectious diseases professionals, and community stakeholders.”

  

  Here are some passages from the letter (emphases added), followed by my analysis of each:

  White supremacy is a lethal public health issue that predates and contributes to COVID-19.

  As public health advocates, we do not condemn [demonstrations that call attention to the pervasive lethal force of white supremacy] as risky for COVID-19 transmission. 

  This should not be confused with a permissive stance on all gatherings, particularly protests against stay-home orders. Those actions not only oppose public health interventions, but are also rooted in white nationalism and run contrary to respect for Black lives.

  Protests against systemic racism, which fosters the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on Black communities and also perpetuates police violence, must be supported.

  Therefore, we propose the following guidance to support public health: 

  • Do not disband protests under the guise of maintaining public health for COVID-19 restrictions.

  • Advocate that protesters not be arrested or held in confined spaces, including jails or police vans, which are some of the highest-risk areas for COVID-19 transmission.

  • Listen, and prioritize the needs of Black people as expressed by Black voices.

  Dissecting the Letter

  “White supremacy is a lethal public health issue.”

  The language used here is important. White supremacy is lethal. Racism kills people.

  What is not written is, “Sometimes white supremacists, acting out of hatred, kill black people,” or even, “All white supremacists are culpable in the murder of black people.”

  Instead, the agency is assigned to racism itself. It is racism, not racist people, that is the public health issue; it is white nationalism that kills people. This is the same tactic used by antigun lobbies in their slogan “Guns kill people.” If guns kill people, guns need to be illegal. People killing people with guns is already illegal, just as white supremacists killing black men is already illegal. To advance further legal change, you have to change the language. “White supremacy kills people” leads the same people who want guns outlawed to want white supremacy outlawed. While the letter does not draw out these ideas to their logical conclusions, the logic employed is well down the slippery slope of sacrificing free speech.

  “We do not condemn [demonstrations that call attention to the pervasive lethal force of white supremacy] as risky for COVID-19 transmission.”

  That’s weird because every other kind of gathering is condemned by these people as risky. 

  “This should not be confused with a permissive stance on all gatherings, particularly protests against stay-home orders. Those actions not only oppose public health interventions, but are rooted in white nationalism and run contrary to respect for Black lives.” 

  These “experts” have even labeled protests against stay-home orders as demonstrations of white nationalism. How is protesting stay-home orders racist? It is not, of course, but by labeling it that and by labeling white nationalism lethal, we can conclude that protesting stay-at-home orders must also be lethal. By definition, then, these cannot be truly peaceful protests. We’re left with the conclusion that these protests must be regarded as illegal.

  The letter itself doesn’t take things quite this far, but as these ideas are accepted more and more by medical professionals and the public, they are more likely to be adopted by the US Public Health Service, and then how long until we see these kinds of results?

  “Advocate that protesters not be arrested or held in confined spaces, including jails or police vans, which are some of the highest-risk areas for COVID-19 transmission.”

  It’s easy to point out the glaring contradiction here. Protesters should not be arrested because that puts them at a higher risk for covid-19. But earlier in the letter it is argued that protests are not risky for transmitting the virus and that authorities shouldn’t enforce social distancing and masking in public because they’re not risky. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Health experts are telling the police who they can and cannot arrest not based on innocence or guilt, but on the basis of health. 

  This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

  Thankfully, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not yet labeled white supremacy a public health emergency, yet leading medical schools have signed on to support the letter and are actively teaching their medical students that things like white supremacy can be dealt with in the realm of health.

  Americans have made health and safety their gods – over freedom, over luxury, over progress and ingenuity, over God. And they have taken the words of their gods’ prophets as scripture.

  During the “age of covid,” we have seen Americans sacrifice everything (jobs, family, religion, social life) to health and safety, and in this letter we witness health experts speaking totally outside the realm of their expertise.

  In any case, Americans have apparently become well trained when it comes to so-called public health emergencies. Because both the public and the “experts” apparently worship health and safety above all else, it is not hard to believe that we can count on widespread obedience during the next declared emergency.

  What will be called a public health issue next? Gun violence (been there), transphobia (done that), religion, private schools and home schools?

  We would not be the first nation to lose its liberties on the installment plan.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 20:05

• "Citrus Disaster" – Texas Cold Snap Means Crop Losses For Grapefruit Growers
  “Citrus Disaster” – Texas Cold Snap Means Crop Losses For Grapefruit Growers

  Well, here’s some more bad news for consumers who are already experiencing food price inflation – that is – the price of citrus could be ready to skyrocket amid the cold snap in Texas.

  Texas is the nation’s third-largest citrus-producing state behind California and Florida. Dale Murden, president of Texas Citrus Mutual, a trade group that oversees citrus growers in the state, told AccuWeather that growers were “about 50% harvested to date on grapefruit”, just as the polar vortex split dumped Arctic air into the region. He said growers were “just beginning to harvest our late Valencia orange.”

  “Most everyone saw temps of 21 degrees for several hours,” Murden said. He warns, “growers will no doubt lose some of the crop as we see some ice buildup inside the fruit.” 

  Murden said it only takes a few hours of temperatures below 28 degrees to freeze hanging fruit. He provided AccuWeather with pictures of frozen grapefruit trees. 

  

  Temperatures should return to the 40s and 50 for some parts of Texas by the weekend, but after a deep freeze for several days, there are new fears of a sizeable crop loss that could materialize in the state. 

  

  “At this time we have about 15% of our crop hanging on the trees, and that is likely lost,” April Flowers of Lone Star Citrus, a grower based in Mission, Texas. 

  Murden said the temperatures were so cold this week that most measures to warm citrus trees did not work. 

  

   “Some growers use a micro-jet irrigation system to spray their trees with water prior to the freeze because ice is insulative at 32 degrees,” Flowers said, “but this type of system is expensive and not widely used.”

  “As for whether this cold snap will turn into a weather disaster for Texas citrus growers,” Murden warned, adding that “it’s still too early to tell and will likely take a few weeks after the cold snap breaks for growers to assess any damages. ” 

  Flowers repeated Murden’s point: “The next several weeks will give us a clearer picture of the true impact of the storm.” 

  So in the next couple of weeks, more details will likely emerge of crop damage sustained by the latest winter blast to rock the state. This may result in a rise in citrus prices, such as grapefruit. 

  Consumers are learning this year that food prices all around them are erupting. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 19:45

• Marcuse-Anon: Cult Of The Pseudo-Intellectual
  Marcuse-Anon: Cult Of The Pseudo-Intellectual

  Authored by Matt Taibbi via TK News,

  In my early twenties, I read an expedition was being planned in search of the grave of Genghis Khan. Being young, game, and interested in writing on an adventure, I inquired about tagging along.

  I found a professor at Harvard connected with the mission, whom I quizzed about its likelihood of success. The man laughed and eventually revealed the team had little idea where Khan was buried. Some colleagues merely dug up a few stories of Khan’s death that would be enough to take in a sponsor.

  I was blown away. How, I asked, could the archaeologists justify that?

  “Son,” he laughed. “They’re intellectuals. They can justify anything.”

  People complain about QAnon, but truly lasting, impactful lunacy is always exclusive to intellectuals. Everyone else is constrained. You can’t fish on land for long. Same with using a chainsaw for headache relief. An intellectual may freely mistake bullshit for Lincoln logs and spend a lifetime building palaces. Which brings us to Herbert Marcuse.

  

  Often called the “Father of the New Left,” and the inspiration for a generation of furious thought-policing nitwits of the Robin DiAngelo school, Marcuse was a great intellectual. Most Americans have never heard of him — he died in 1979 — but his ideas today are ubiquitous as Edison’s lightbulbs. He gave us everything from “Silence Equals Violence” to “Too Much Democracy” to the “Crisis of Misinformation” to In Defense of Looting to the 1619 Project and Antiracist Baby, and from the grave has cheered countless recent news stories, from the firing of Mandalorian actress Gina Corano to the erasure of raw footage of the Capitol riot from YouTube.

  Marcuse is so influential that subscribers thought it would be a good idea to review his books, rather than go one-by-one through the seemingly interminable list of homage texts dominating bestseller lists in recent years. When I told a friend, he warned with a chuckle about the author’s “spectacularly bad synthesis,” mimicking the old Reese’s Peanut Butter cup jingle: “You got your Marx in my Freud!” I read One-Dimensional Man, and a painful collection essays that included the famed Bible of post-liberal thinking, Repressive Tolerance. Conclusion number one: a person more hostile to the sensual possibilities of literature would be difficult to imagine. Reading Marcuse is like eating a bowl of thumbtacks. The style is nothing, however, next to the ideas. My God, the ideas!

  Berlin-born Herbert Marcuse was drafted into the German army in 1916, but didn’t see action in World War I. Fortune, obviously concerned with his destiny as the arch-priest of anti-thought in 21st century America, placed him in a rearguard unit. Despite the lack of combat experience, he came out of the war disillusioned, among other things by the experience of watching the German socialist opposition support the war.

  After studying at the University of Freiburg, he worked for years at a bookstore, then went back to school, studying under famed philosopher Martin Heidegger. He hoped to help solve the urgent question animating many young intellectuals of his time: what form of Marxism would eventually triumph across the civilized world?

  Then, just as Weimar Germany degenerated into exactly the social conditions under which Marx predicted proletarian revolution, German communism flopped, Heidegger became a Nazi University Rector, and a stunned Marcuse soon exiled himself to Switzerland and eventually America, where he would spend the rest of his life trying to come up with an explanation for what happened.

  Marcuse’s understandable grief and horror over the rise of Nazism, coupled with a humorously powerful loathing for his adopted American home, led him to write the work that first made him famous, 1964’s One-Dimensional Man.

  The smash #1 bestseller sold 300,000 copies and detailed Marcuse’s long-awaited explanation for a) why the proletariat had not risen in postwar Germany, and b) why there was no sense in waiting for it to do so going forward. He explained: not only was the material condition of the worker in modern capitalism insufficiently brutal to spur him to revolution, but technological advances coupled with expanded freedoms allowed even the lowliest employee to fully integrate into the “one-dimensional society,” a consumerist hell of mostly met material needs, “pleasure,” “fun,” and “socially permissible desirable satisfaction,” all of which “weakens the rationality of protest.”

  In this world where the commonest shlub can “have the fine arts at his fingertips, by just turning a knob on his set,” it would be impossible, Marcuse lamented, to produce the kind of class alienation Marx envisioned. What’s the point of having the right to dissent, if conditions disincline the citizen to revolution?

  Independence of thought, autonomy, and the right to political opposition are being deprived of their basic critical function in a society which seems increasingly capable of satisfying the needs of the individuals through the way in which it is organized. Such a society may justly demand acceptance of its principles and institutions…

  In the later book, An Essay on Liberation, Marcuse anticipated 21st-century liberal attitudes by concluding that the working-class was an actively regressive social force:

  By virtue of its basic position in the production process, by virtue of its numerical weight and the weight of exploitation, the working class is still the historical agent of revolution; by virtue of its sharing the stabilizing needs of the system, it has become a conservative, even counterrevolutionary force.

  After One-Dimensional Man, Marcuse in the 1965 essay Repressive Tolerance set out to argue that the very “stabilizing” rights and freedoms that facilitated this treacherous class integration were the problem that needed conquering. What resulted might be the most impassioned argument against individual rights ever written. It makes the Directorium Inquisitorum read like Dr. Spock on Parenting.

  Repressive Tolerance is a towering monument to the possibilities of nonsense in the academic profession. The essay’s 10,000 words, alternately hilarious and breathtaking, are circular thinking and the absence of self-awareness raised to the level of art. We don’t often encounter an author capable of denouncing “the tyranny of Orwellian syntax” while arguing in the same breath, literally and without irony, that freedom is slavery.

  Marcuse starts down this road by quoting John Stuart Mill, who he notes is “not exactly an enemy of liberal and representative government” (am I hallucinating a Twitter-like tone of haughtiness in such passages?). Even this Enlightenment hero, sneers Marcuse, admitted liberal rights are not absolute. “Liberty, as a principle,” Mill wrote, “has no application to any state of things anterior to the time when mankind have become capable of being improved by free and equal discussion.”

  But don’t we have something like liberty, in a society that grants us the vote, a free press, the right to assemble, dissent, even plot revolution? No, says Marcuse, because liberty “stipulates the ability to determine one’s own life,” an impossibility in our world. He explains:

  The problem of making possible such a harmony between every individual liberty and the other, is not that of finding a compromise between competitors, or between freedom and law, between general and individual interest, common and private welfare in an established society, but of creating the society in which man is no longer enslaved by institutions which vitiate self-determination from the beginning.

  (One noticeable human tic in the otherwise unrelenting metronome of Marcuse’s prose — the man writes like a car alarm left on — is a weird overuse of the word vitiate).

  In other words, real freedom doesn’t exist in the balance between the many individual liberties doled out to persons and institutions alike in societies like ours, but only in the post-revolutionary “created” society of absolute freedom as imagined by the author, a utopia Marcuse tabs the “pacification of existence.” (The ostensibly antiwar leftist’s use of that term just as America was beginning its “pacification” campaign in Vietnam is another of the essay’s quirks).

  Therefore, Marcuse wrote, any existing rights and freedoms “should not be tolerated,” because “they are impeding, if not destroying, the chances of creating an existence without fear and misery.”

  Settling for anything less than an absolute utopia of painlessness, or admitting any delays on the route there, even in the name of progress, is repression. As he put it, in America, the “exercise of political rights (such as voting, letter-writing to the press, to Senators, etc., protest-demonstrations with a priori renunciation of counterviolence)” only served to “strengthen this administration by testifying to the existence of democratic liberties.” In other words — drumroll — freedom is slavery:

  Freedom (of opinion, of assembly, of speech) becomes an instrument for absolving servitude…

  After completing the first stage of this Orwellian pole-dance, Marcuse marches up and down the runway, flinging paradoxes left and right. Not only is freedom servitude, but tolerance is intolerance! Democracy is totalitarianism! Equality is inequality! For the latter formulation, he used an argument that would be later deployed in reverse by Fox News to explain its infamous “Fair and Balanced” motto: “More representation of the Left would be equalization of the prevailing inequality.”

  He also argues progress is reaction, stability is emergency, and law is lawlessness, because “law and order are always and everywhere the law and order which protect the established hierarchy.” Marcuse doesn’t state it, but the basic premise that all prerevolutionary reform is a trick of the oppressor also explains the current attitude toward racial relations, under which downplaying racial difference is racism and antiracism must conversely mean emphasizing its transcendent importance.

  You’ll recognize the view of violence in Repressive Tolerance. Marcuse had a twofold take. First, violence is obviously violence, when practiced by police, or the wards of prisons and mental institutions. Violence is even violence, he says, as practiced by revolutionaries like Robespierre (“even if the white terror was more bloody than the red terror,” Marcuse hastened to add, not wanting to completely abandon the guillotine to criticism). Whether practiced by the oppressor or the oppressed, he went on, “in terms of ethics, both forms of violence are inhuman and evil.”

  This is no prohibition against violence, however, because:

  Since when is history made in accordance with ethical standards? To start applying [ethics] at the point where the oppressed rebel against the oppressors, the have-nots against the haves, is serving the cause of actual violence by weakening the protest against it.

  Summing up: violence is always violence, as a matter of ethics. However, since ethics are not ethical, not only is violence not violence, but non-violence is violence, when practiced by the oppressed against the oppressor. This is the mentality behind last summer’s firing of analyst David Shor for re-tweeting a study suggesting nonviolent protest is effective, as well as the bizarre mania for calling things that were actually violence not violence (e.g. “mostly peaceful” protests, etc), while things that manifestly are not violence, like grade school teasing or cultural appropriation, are regularly described using the word.

  As for the question of exactly how conditional one’s rights should be, Marcuse insisted that “extreme suspension of the right of free speech and free assembly is indeed justified only if the whole of society is in extreme danger.” This sounds reasonable until you read on: “I maintain that our society is in such an emergency situation, and that it has become the normal state of affairs.”

  Marcuse remember had just finished a book explaining that revolution was obviated in a society where civil liberties were “too significant to be confined by traditional forms,” and whose “capacity to spread comforts” inspired widespread “voluntary compliance” with its more. Now, that same society was described as presenting such “extreme danger” to the citizen that suspension of all civil rights was necessary.

  To be fair to Marcuse, he was trying to argue that the “one-dimensional” society was “radically evil” because it created a kind of totalitarianism of the consumer instinct, in which the individual becomes one with the state through his worship of product, learning to understand happiness only as something that can be bought. While the supreme beneficiaries of this paradise of buying increase their wealth and political control, the state drops bombs abroad, and at home abuses prisoners, minorities, and the “unemployed and unemployable.” Meanwhile, the tyranny of affluence leads to:

  The systematic moronization of children and adults alike by publicity and propaganda, the release of destructiveness in aggressive driving, the recruitment for and training of special forces, the impotent and benevolent tolerance toward outright deception in merchandizing, waste, and planned obsolescence…

  I think most of us can agree that “radical evil” is a term that fits many parts of the American experience, from Tuskeegee to the moonscaped hamlets of North Vietnam and Cambodia to the Covid-racked prisons of today. Surely also we are exhibiting the symptoms of a deeper sickness when we plop our kids in front of screens to make them wanters-of-things, to save time while we adults chase the affluence dragon.

  But Marcuse’s main complaint was that despite technological advances that could have lessened the need for work, the individual of his time was still “compelled to prove himself on the market.” If we could only end the need to struggle through the “pacification of existence,” he insisted, that “might release individual energy into a yet uncharted realm of freedom beyond necessity.” The “extreme danger” was choosing any other path.

  To say this is a warped concept of “danger” is an epic understatement:

  “9-1-1, what is your emergency?”

  “Hi, I live in a society whose citizens choose to struggle in the market rather than enter a workless Eden of pure freedom, in which man’s vital needs will be tended to by a productive apparatus placed under the centralized control of persons like myself…”

  People who do intellectual work should feel a responsibility to make sure the words they use at least roughly correspond to their ostensible meaning, but like a lot of German intellectuals, Marcuse had been mired in dialectical comparisons for so long that his sense of proportion was fucked beyond recognition. The man cited aggressive driving in arguing an emergency so dire that a suspension of all civil liberties was warranted.

  There’s a reason some German scholars are said to prefer reading Clausewitz in English, because it’s clearer. With Marcuse, the translation doesn’t help. He was the real-world embodiment of Orwell’s utopian linguists who were impatient to rid the world of all those annoying words for shades of difference. Once you have a lock on “good,” why bother litigating degrees of its opposite? Bad is bad. He thought in binary pairs, and freely conflated concepts like inadequacy, misgovernment, and indifference with cruelty, repression, persecution, and terror, a habit of mind that’s inspired a generation of catastrophizing neurotics who genuinely don’t know the difference between disagreement and an attempt on their lives.

  We saw it in health officials who went from condemning anti-lockdown protests to, a week or two later, declaring that racism — not on their radar prior to the murder of George Floyd — was a “lethal public health issue” superseding the pandemic. We saw it with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez applying the transitive property of whatever nineteen times over to make Ted Cruz’s decision to refuse certification of the Electoral College mean he was “trying to murder me” and “almost had me murdered.” Same with the New York Times employees who declared their lives were thrust in peril by soon-to-be-fired editor James Bennet’s decision to run an editorial by Senator Tom Cotton:

  just to be crystal clear:

  Running this puts Black @nytimes staff in danger. pic.twitter.com/2mZfnQegs7

  — rat king (@MikeIsaac) June 4, 2020

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

  The argument-from-emergency ties in with one of Marcuse’s most quoted passages: “Liberating tolerance, then, would mean intolerance against movements from the Right and toleration of movements from the Left.” This is another precursor to the Roger Ailes/Fox formulation that leftism is so hegemonic that one needs to pull the steering wheel of society hard to the right just to move in a straight line. (Both arguments are absurd). Marcuse famously believed toleration of competing views repeated the error of Weimar Germany, where “if democratic tolerance had been withdrawn, mankind would have had a chance of avoiding Auschwitz and a World War.”

  This wasn’t a new idea. It had been expressed by (among others) Plato, in his argument for the rule of philosopher-kings. In book 562(c) of the Republic, he wondered, “Does not the excess (of liberty) bring men to such a state that they badly want a tyranny?” Philosopher Karl Popper addressed this line in The Open Society and Its Enemies, in a passage that hilariously has become one of the most popular memes on Left Twitter. It is impossible to make even a tepid argument in favor of free speech online these days without being swarmed by dingbats posting this image:

  

  Yes, they are referring to a passage that Popper actually wrote: “If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.”

  However, the Popper passage is actually found in the notes to The Open Society and Its Enemies, as an explanation rather than an endorsement of Plato’s argument against tolerance. In fact, the body of The Open Society and Its Enemies contains a passionate common-sense argument against Platonic intolerance and “benevolent dictatorship.” Popper begins with the observation that’s obvious no matter what your level of schooling: “All theories of sovereignty are paradoxical.”

  A society built around individual rights and freedoms does risk allowing illiberal forces to take advantage of those freedoms. But how does anyone outside of a Farrelly brothers movie come up with autocracy as a solution to the threat of autocracy? As Popper wrote, the “Utopian attempt to realize an ideal state… is likely to lead to a dictatorship,” among other things because it contains all the same pitfalls inherent in any government. “Any difference of opinion between Utopian engineers must therefore lead to the use of power instead of reason, i.e. to violence,” wrote Popper.

  Common sense seems to strike Marcuse’s old-world mentality as too gauche, a cheap shortcut, “hitting below the intellect,” as Oscar Wilde once put it, describing the American habit of “brute reason.” Marcuse’s disgust before the crassness, superficiality, and violence of the United States bleeds through in his books. Even when describing, say, America’s unique capacity for generating and distributing material wealth, he used phrases like “the better and more equitable distribution of misery and oppression.”

  Marcuse had no right being blind to the beauty of the American experiment, since his life was graphic proof of it. This was a man who became a wealthy international celebrity selling a book arguing that after fleeing Nazi Germany, he found “democratic totalitarianism” teaching at Brandeis University. In this sense, One-Dimensional Man reads like The Gulag Archipelago, minus the logging. Or confinement. Or political repression of any kind. In fact, Marcuse’s letter from the American gulag reads quite a lot like Monty Python’s “What have the Romans ever done for us?” skit:

  Rather than feel blessed to live in a country where a man can achieve wealth and fame writing one of the stupidest books in history, Marcuse became more embittered. This shines through in Repressive Tolerance, which doubles as an impassioned manifesto against enjoyment of any kind in the here and now, which Marcuse regarded as a kind of sin against the future Utopia. “For the true positive is the society of the future and therefore beyond definition and determination,” he wrote, adding that “the existing positive is that which must be surmounted.”

  Marcuse would have fit with the Puritan settlers, who were ready to hang the first man who laughed at a fart (rather than waiting to do it in the afterlife). The humorlessness and love of the lash that have always been part of America’s DNA, from The Scarlet Letter through the Anti-Saloon League, are part of the reason Marcuse’s ideas still have so much purchase. He was obsessed with determining “correct and incorrect” action and speech, deciding what is art and what is “pseudo-art,” which messages are intolerably regressive, etc. He was happy to tell you how to calculate this. For instance, he declared Dostoyevsky to have a regressive message, but because it was “absorbed, aufgehoben in the artistic form,” the bad thing was “canceled by the oeuvre itself.” So, okay for putting on the shelves of the “pacified” state.

  He was the inspiration for the attitudes of modern America, which is suspicious of all forms of enjoyment divorced from political intent. Forget humor, our popular culture doesn’t even feel safe celebrating sex, unless it’s tragic or transgressive. We’re living out the Woody Allen joke, “I finally had an orgasm, but my doctor said it was the wrong kind.”

  It’s all Puritanism, seething at any delays in building that ladder to heaven, the only difference being that the Puritans, being Christians, at least believed in original sin and forgiveness, i.e. you still got to go to Heaven after the thumbscrews. The new secular incarnation believes forgiveness is the only sin, while due process and the presumption of innocence just delay justice.

  Rehabilitation just can’t be risked, without imperiling society’s victims. “The exercise of civil rights by those who don’t have them presupposes the withdrawal of civil rights from those who prevent their exercise,” Marcuse writes, adding that “liberation of the Damned of the Earth presupposes suppression not only of their old but also of their new masters.”

  All the revelry in suppressing rights gets to the real reason Marcuse has come back into vogue. Strip the rhetorical bells and whistles from books like One-Dimensional Man and Repressive Tolerance and what’s left? A white, affluent, upper-class intellectual frustrated by the lack of a popular mandate for his vision of political takeover. The original plan of riding proletarian revolution to power thwarted, Marcuse early on concluded that the working-class needed a push from more knowledgeable political actors. He wrote in 1947:

  Marx assumed that the proletariat is driven to revolutionary action on its own, based on the knowledge of its own interests, as soon as revolutionary conditions are present. . . .  [But subsequent] development has confirmed the correctness of the Leninist conception of the vanguard party as the subject of the revolution. 

  By the mid-sixties, however, he realized that the working-class wouldn’t do the job even if pushed. Therefore, other groups must provide the necessary revolutionary energy:

  Those who form the human base of the social pyramid—the outsiders and the poor, the unemployed and unemployable, the persecuted colored races, the inmates of prisons and mental institutions.

  I’d have more sympathy for this point of view were it not so obvious that Marcuse’s embrace of the “persecuted colored races” was opportunistic afterthought. His real endgame is absolutist rule by our intellectual betters. Explaining that “the democratic argument implies a necessary condition, namely, that the people must be capable of deliberating and choosing on the basis of knowledge,” he goes on to prove that the broad main of people are not so capable. They lack the discernment to know the “objective truth which can be discovered,” to separate correct from incorrect, among other things because too many incorrect opinions are allowed to circulate.

  Ultimately, he writes, “if the choice were between genuine democracy and dictatorship, democracy would certainly be preferable. But democracy does not prevail.”

  As such, “The radical critics of the existing political process are thus readily denounced as advocating an ‘elitism’, a dictatorship of intellectuals as an alternative.” This sounds bad! But, he insisted in 1965, when one considered that the current business and military elites had such a bad record, “political prerogatives for the intelligentsia may not necessarily be worse for the society as a whole.”

  Summing up, this is a theory of an intellecutal elite forced to seize absolute power on behalf of racial minorities, the disabled, and other oppressed groups, while canceling free speech and civil rights for all others, and especially for the corrupted mass of working-class people, who are no friends of the revolution but actually ignorant conservatives obstructing the road to “pacification and liberation.” Does this sound familiar?

  Marcuse had it wrong. Fifty-plus years later, American society does much worse at satisfying material needs, and the ordinary working person is less and less often invited to share the “stabilizing needs” of the system with its rulers. Even Marx was closer to correctly describing today’s politics. What has been successfully integrated, by the very consumerist oligarchs Marcuse supposedly despised, is would-be dissident literature like Repressive Tolerance.

  Back in the sixties, Marcuse was denounced by Pope Paul VI, while establishment political figures decried his support of groups like the SDS, the Weathermen, and the Black Panthers. He was seen as a thorn in the side of the status quo. Today Marcuse is the status quo. His muddle-headed theories are the cover story for a new theory of corporate vanguardism that places an ennobled political elite in charge of replacing our messy system of freedoms and principles with a more “centralized” control of the “productive apparatus,” the exact thing Marcuse hoped for in One-Dimensional Man.

  The American system, flawed as it was and is, was designed to prevent this kind of concentration of power, through checks and balances and the protection of individual rights. Those protections have been under assault throughout our history by monopolists and other reactionaries, who never had a gift as luscious as Marcuse: a self-styled progressive arguing to the masses that they should cast democracy and ethics aside for their own good.

  For Marcusean ideas to be venerated now by elite millionaire politicians, clad in kente cloth scarves and funded by banks and weapons-makers flying Black Lives Matter banners, is the perfect ending to this slapstick career. Nothing about Marcuse was American, except his most important quality: he was a quack, which made him not just one of us, but a figure of respect and influence in this society. He died too soon for the White House, but he’s well on his way to becoming our own Iron Felix, his statue erected in place of those piddling fake patriots with names like Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt.

  The man who probably wouldn’t have touched a Harley, a blues guitar, a Budweiser, or a baseball without a Haz-Mat suit will spend eternity watching his name become locked in association with the red, white, and blue, with American tanks and rifles spreading his doctrine of unfreedom to every corner of the globe. You could laugh at the irony — capitalism can even absorb this — but this particular character wouldn’t get the joke.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 19:25

• Watch: Palm Beach Cop Harasses Woman At Her House Over Facebook Remark
  Watch: Palm Beach Cop Harasses Woman At Her House Over Facebook Remark

  A Palm Beach woman who joked on Facebook about dumping ‘thousands of masks’ on the lawn of the county commissioner got a visit from the Sheriff’s office on Feb. 12, after authorities had surveilled the conversation.

  Angelique Contreras, a mother of three, was discussing the county’s new policy to exclude people who refuse to wear masks from public meetings, when a man named Anthony Collins joked about leaving “hundreds of bags of garbage” on the lawn of the county commissioner, to which Contreras added “Thousands of Mask(s).”

  

  Later, an officer with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office who identified himself as Detective Horton showed up at Contreras’ house and warned her against ‘trespassing’ and illegal activity, according to WND.com.

  “The reason why we’re here is, bothering you on a Friday night, is, I guess you and some guy named Anthony were posting on social media that you were gonna go trespass on a county commissioner’s property, dump garbage on her property,” says Horton.

  “I didn’t say that I would dump garbage on her property,” Contreras replied.

  “That’s the discussion you guys were having,” Horton replied.

  “No I wasn’t,” Contreras shot back.

  “I can show you the post,” replied Horton – to which Contreras said “I plead the Fifth.”

  The only crime committed by Contreras was filming the encounter in vertical mode. Watch:

  More via WND:

  “Trespassing is a crime. Dumping garbage on people’s property is a crime. So don’t do it,” Horton explained.

  Contreras asked: “Is that why you all are here?”

  “Yeah,” said Horton. “Today’s day and age, ma’am, you’re talking about trespassing …”

  “Didn’t talk about trespassing,” Contreras noted.

  “Going on someone’s property is trespassing, right?” the detective explained.

  “I didn’t say any of those words,” she responded. “This is just fear-mongering. You know that, right?”

  “Fear-mongering of what?” Horton asked.

  “Of a citizen, for nothing,” Contreras said.

  “OK, sorry you feel that way,” the detective responded.

  “I do, I’m putting my kids to bed, and you’re wasting tax-dollar money to come out here and …”

  “Tell you not commit a crime? Yes,” Horton interrupted.

  “I’m not committing a crime,” Contreras said, adding she wasn’t planning on committing one.

  When Contreras requested to file a trespassing report against an unidentified woman whose identity was known to Horton, they refused to take the report. 

  Contreras, a hairstylist and makeup artist from a family of Cuban refugees, has since posted the incident all over social media.

  “Still looking for answers: Who was the protected and unnamed woman on my property?! Who sent the officers to do their gestapo bidding? Who is watching and reporting my social media post? Why was I targeted?” she posted on Facebook.

  Is this the new way to treat a mother at home in the late hours of the night?! A new low by @PBCountySheriff ~ Using abuse of power, violating my safe haven for What?!!! @TuckerCarlson @dbongino @OANN @newsmax pic.twitter.com/nzraPjzmKo

  — Angelique Contreras (@angels_dream13) February 14, 2021

  “No matter what a person’s political beliefs are, I do not believe anyone deserves to be bullied by our local government officials. We should not be intimidated by law enforcement. What happened at my house was clearly political intimidation,” Contreras told National File.  “I know what Communism is and we have been living in it for the past year.”

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  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 19:05

• HashMasks, CryptoPunks, & More… Inside The Multi-Billion-Dollar Market For Tokenized Art
  HashMasks, CryptoPunks, & More… Inside The Multi-Billion-Dollar Market For Tokenized Art

  Via The FinTech Blueprint substack,

  We want to talk about Hashmasks. And in particular, the one selling for $650,000. That, in the context of the $3.5MM Beepl art sale, and $1.7MM Rick and Morty NFT sale. More deeply, we want to talk about financial assets, the value of things, and the additive nature of new channels and ecosystems as old ones become commodified.

  

  The reader will be familiar with the traditional asset classes – equities, fixed income, with maybe some cash equivalents and alternative investments. These represent somewhere around $50 to $100 trillion of value. They are core capitalist assets, in the sense that they represent various financial claims and obligations on the abstractions we humans call companies and governments.

  You can’t eat a company.

  But you can eat a piece of bread. Stick with us here.

  

  

  

  

  Bread is wonderful. It is also cheap at $1.50 a pack (give or take). It is made from wheat, a plant that grows from the ground. It takes 4 months from seed to harvest, and then requires a massive industrial value chain to be collected, turned into flour, shipped on diesel-burning-trucks across the country’s highways, and into bakeries, where waged-employees labor in factories to make what you and I buy in the supermarket.

  If you want something with “fundamentals” that is “grounded” and “real”, things can’t really get much better than bread. It mixes the mana from the Earth, with the labor of the human, with the invention of technology, to solve an existential problem. And to most of us, it is essentially *free*.

  

  You eat bread so you don’t starve and die. Very many people have died from starvation. This is a 20 million-people-per-decade problem. You would think that something that is literally a life-saver would be worth a *lot*. But it isn’t on the margin. Bread is not rare — it is a commodity with a massive, undifferentiated supply.

  Put another way, the “market” values your weekly sustenance at less than your Netflix or Spotify subscription. A video game on Steam might cost $50, as does a season of the Sopranos on Amazon, or a Kindle version of Game of Thrones. Aren’t those things “less important”?

  You can see how a central planner of an economy might overindex on the value of bread, and underindex on the value of TikTok.

  Or on the value of collectible digital art. So here we have demonstrated that our intuitions about what is good and valuable for society are totally unhelpful in thinking about innovation and frontier assets.

  Financial Assets as a Flag

  Going back to our point about the $50 trillion of financial asset classes, those tend to be so abstract that the average investor treats them a bit like magic. Yes, the ownership of a share of AAPL stock does grant you certain legal rights, enforceable against a regulated corporation in some particular way under some particular circumstances, tied into a Rube Goldberg machine of exchange, clearing, and settlement, backed by “cash flows” generated by the sales of a kazillion iPhones, summarized in an annual report, and so on and so forth. For most people, this is voodoo. Buying AAPL stock is like buying a Tom Brady jersey. It is popular fashion.

  

  You are not buying the machine. You are buying a flag for your identity. That flag might be AAPL or AMAZON, or GME, or Bitcoin. The Bitcoin flag these days is a bit more fun. Invoking some computational octopus monster that coheres a forever-true ledger of monetary truth is not that different, in our collective consciousness, from summoning Warren Buffet’s “value investing” discounted cash flow approach as a personal virtue for stock selection.

  We are not saying that there aren’t crafts-people, and crafts-robots, who actually do the computational work of assessing these values. We are instead saying that the rest of the market is just a bunch of free riders waving their flag around.

  As another example, options are priced using Black–Scholes, because other market participants are pricing options using Black-Scholes, without understanding what the formula actually does, or its limitations. We can say the same thing for diversification using Modern Portfolio Theory, and its mega-printing of passive ETFs. Such flags can be carried around by an agitated subreddit. Or by an over-conditioned Wharton MBA, that has invested a lot of personal pride in navigating Excel without using the mouse. To go deeper into exploring the distinction between knowing things from first principles (e.g., how a blockchain works, or how a stock is valued) and uniting in a community to champion its reductive slogans, we recommend the collected writings in Less Wrong.

  All this to say, the emotion-driven investor is not “irrational”. Rather, they are a socially-driven animal relying on socially-established consensus around expertise and narrative. They are an investor into “signals”. Thereby we conclude that (1) things that are existentially important to the survival of the species, like bread, are not valuable on the margin, and (2) that things that are abstract and incomprehensible in the extreme to the average person, like a $3,000 share of Amazon, are very valuable and subject to rising exponentially in value.

  Meet me in the Middle

  Not everything is some shared hallucination.

  There are financial assets that have real world instantiations. Or alternately, there are some real world things that have financial attributes.

  

  

  

  There are about $200 trillion worth of residential real estate, and another $30 trillion worth of commercial real estate. These are our homes, sky-scrapers, and cities. We can add to this tangible basket our infrastructure – roads, bridges, and train tracks. Given our obsession with the digital age, we may not remember the very tangible power of owning a rail-road monopoly.

  On the media side, there is about $2 trillion of collected art worldwide, hanging in museums, stacked in galleries, or part of a large family office collection — of this, about $60B is turned into fees per year. In music, the intellectual property of songs accrues to owners and yields $10B in performing rights revenues.

  

  One point that we want to land is that finance is embedded in all these different types of things we love and understand: our homes, our art, our music. Financial constructs are like clothes around their bodies.

  Crypto Collectibles as the Growth Vector

  To the extent that Decentralized Finance is an attempt at re-wiring the financial machine of our abstract asset class markets, NFTs (“non fungible tokens”) and the crypto art movement is an attempt at re-wiring the financial attributes that connect to media and digital objects.

  This is deeply interesting and exciting, especially because we do not really know or understand yet where things are going to go. The current innovations are attempting to re-create analogies in the physical world. That will shift and transform into new frontiers. Just as we flagged DeFi in 2019 as the core engine for growth in 2020 on Ethereum, we flag NFT platform development as a core driver for 2021 and beyond.

  Let’s get our data in order from Cryptoart.io and OpenSea.

  

  

  

  There is about $12MM of digital collectibles trading volume in January of 2021, with projects like Hashmasks and CryptoPunks dominating 7-day volume on OpenSea. There are probably about a hundred thousand existing NFTs, and a few thousands current participants in this market. The business model consists of a few gated platforms (e.g., Nifty Gateway, SuperRare), which act as galleries, editing and filtering a collection. The visual style of the work they select is vaporwave in palette, and delivered as glitchart or 3D renders.

  Some NFTs are individual prints of artwork, similar to a painting made by Picasso, a song dropped by Beyonce, or a video uploaded by a YouTube creator. They are curated, bought and sold in reference to that object only. The value usually derives from *who* made the object, just as it does in traditional media.

  

  Another aside on value. The Mona Lisa is original and valuable. A poster of the Mona Lisa is not valuable, despite being nearly identical in visual information. A reproduction of the Mona Lisa, even if perfect stroke-for-stroke, is similarly not valuable, because it is not the original. Therefore, the art is valuable not for its collection of particular atoms in some particular order, but for its historical and social context. Recreating the object does nothing, because it does not contain the same social history.

  With digital NFTs, the same logic is true. Just because you have an identical JPEG to the one anchored to the blockchain, does not mean you have an original worth anything, nor does your ability to look at it suggest anything from a collectible point of view. Owning the original means you own its particular history and meaning in the community. This is why the original CryptoPunks have sold for a cumulative $43M, as a piece of history of the first generative NFT collection on Ethereum.

  

  That brings us to the second point about NFTs. They do not have to be single, beautiful, genius renders. Instead, they can be large, distributed programs. CryptoPunks printed 10,000 editions of slightly different pixelated avatars. This is done through a software-based art system, and is inherently inclusive. Even if you do not own a “rare” CryptoPunk, you can still have one as a badge of participation in the overall movement. You can allow it to be your *flag*, going back to the point about Apple stock.

  Hashmasks are similarly generative, though they are far more gorgeous, evoking Jean-Michel Basquiat in their procedural algorithms.

  

  

  The print ran to 16,000 objects, with elements of various rarity. The most rare combinations are selling for over ETH 100, with the most common going for a few ETH. That is still several thousand dollars — a price wildly unaffordable for non-crypto denizens. It is far more expensive than our favorite loaf of bread. But what a stunning, bold flag it makes regardless! It answers the question of “who you are” for its digital owner.

  There are, of course, financial features built into these mathematical marvels. First, a lottery. The NFTs were sold without revealing their rarity for several days — a mechanic identical to a lottery ticket, and the lootboxes from video games that countries like Belgium have banned for being too addictive. Second, a bonding curve, which can unfavorably be characterized as algorithmic ponzinomics. We don’t agree with that framing, but it is fair to raise the issue. And last, an “emissions” schedule of tokens from holding the NFT that allow you to change the name of the object, thereby impacting its scarcity and social history.

  There are a few other mechanics worth flagging before we wrap up. Projects like Async Art allow people to buy layers within an artwork, and then change the layer as part of a participatory community effort. Others, like Cometh.io place the NFT collectible into a virtual world with actions that mirror its financial attributes — virtual space ships mine asteroids to receive real world currencies. For comparisons, think about the likes of Eve Online, the World of Warcraft gold farming, Second Life, and the various virtual reality blockchain projects (Decentraland, CryptoVoxels) come to mind as a path towards a Fortnite-like, NFT-based, multiverse.

  Add or Subtract

  All you need to do now is watch this space with curiosity. We will see an evolution beyond the editorial crypto art galleries of today, to TikTok-like neural-network-mediated creative spaces. We will see a deep melding of NFTs with complex DeFi primitives, like tranching for quality, collateralization and staking, as well as lending, borrowing, and exchange. The creative space is barely starting to be explored. Even if the “market” crashes in USD value, the underlying technology trends will persist.

  This will not detract from the past, but it will add to the future. We quote Matthew Ball’s charts of the evolution of the music and gaming markets.

  

  

  New channels and monetization methods are mana for creators. New platforms create gold rushes, excitement, and the conquering of frontiers. Mobile gaming added $40 billion of revenue to its overall market, while digital streaming in music rescued the industry with $5B+ of revenue. On blockchain, NFTs are now generating a profound pull for creative digital objects, and we are excited to see what comes next.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 18:45

• New COVID Levels Slump To Lowest In Months, 1/3rd Of US Troops Reject Jabs
  New COVID Levels Slump To Lowest In Months, 1/3rd Of US Troops Reject Jabs

  Across the US, Europe and most of the world, new COVID cases and deaths continue to decline as New York State announces more summertime reopening plans for summer camps, indoor family-entertainment centers and amusement parks and the EU strikes a major deal for more COVID jabs.

  Worldwide, total case numbers are nearing 110MM, as total deaths are on the verge of breaking above 2.25MM as of Wednesday. In the US, new daily cases and deaths have plunged to their lowest levels since the fall, as projections show numbers falling even more quickly than academic projections used by the CDC had anticipated.

  

  Globally, new case numbers and deaths are also at their lowest levels in months.

  The first two FEMA mass vaccination centers eopen in California, Joe Biden is promising all Americans who want the shot will be able to get one by July. But even after the latest outbreak aboard a Navy ship, a top US military said Wednesday that more than 1/3rd of servicemembers are declining to get the vaccine.

  During a House hearing on the Armed Forces’ response to COVID-19, Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee Rep. Mike Rogers asked Maj. Gen Jeff Taliaferro, Vice Director for Operations, what percentage of service members have declined to receive the vaccine. Tallaferro replied that the number was somewhere around 2/3rds acceptance.

  

  Meanwhile, despite the drop in case numbers and deaths, the NYT and its editorial writers warned that COVID isn’t done with the US yet, adding that “some signs” suggest the wave of superbowl parties across the US could spark a wave of new cases in the coming weeks, an assertion that appears entirely speculative. It added that these threats are “compounded” by the fact that new mutant strains could risk taking root despite the vaccination effort.

  Outside the US, Europe finally managed to finalize a deal with Pfizer-BioNTech for 200MM more doses of their vaccines, as well as for another 150MM Moderna jabs.

  Meanwhile, Auckland’s three-day lockdown is coming to an end end after authorities expressed confidence that the latest community outbreak is contained. Auckland will move to Alert Level 2 at midnight on Wednesday, allowing schools and businesses to reopen. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern added that the remainder of New Zealand will move to level 1, meaning people no longer have to observe social distancing or limit the size of gatherings, as cases in the country are essentially back at zero.

  Finally, in France,  officials extended the duration of quarantine to 10 days for those who test positive in the northeastern part of the country where virus circulation and the prevalence of new mutant strains is particularly high.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 02/17/2021 – 18:25

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• How Conspiracy Theorizing May Soon Get You Labelled A "Domestic Terrorist"
  How Conspiracy Theorizing May Soon Get You Labelled A “Domestic Terrorist”

  Authored by Matthew Ehret via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

  If you are starting to feel like forces controlling the governments of the west are out to get you, then it is likely that you are either a paranoid nut job, or a stubborn realist.

  Either way, it means that you have some major problems on your hands.

  If you don’t happen to find yourself among the tinfoil hat-wearing strata of conspiracy theorists waiting in a bunker for aliens to either strike down or save society from the shape shifting lizard people, but are rather contemplating how, in the 1960s, a shadow government took control of society over the dead bodies of many assassinated patriots, then certain conclusions tend to arise.

  

  Three Elementary Realizations for Thinking People

  The first conclusion you would likely arrive at is that the United States government was just put through the first coup in over 58 years (yes, what happened in 1963 was a coup). Although it is becoming a bit prohibitive to speak such words aloud in polite society, Nancy Pelosi’s official biographer Molly Ball, recently penned a scandalous Time Magazine article entitled ‘The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign that Saved the 2020 Elections’ which admitted to this conspiracy saying:

  “Even though it sounds like a paranoid fever dream- a well-funded cabal of powerful people, ranging across industries and ideologies, working together behind the scenes to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, steer media coverage and control the flow of information.” (Lest you think that this was a subversion of democracy, Ball informs us that “they were not rigging the election; they were fortifying it.”)

  Another conclusion you might come to is that many of the political figures whom you believed were serving those who elected them into office, actually serve the interests of a clique of technocrats and billionaires lusting over the deconstruction of western civilization under something called “a Great Reset”. Where this was brushed off as an unfounded conspiracy theory not long ago, even Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister (and neo-Nazi supporting Rhodes Scholar) Chrystia Freeland decided to become a Trustee of the World Economic Forum just weeks ago. In this role, Freeland joins fellow Oxford technocrat Mark Carney in their mutual endeavor to be a part of the new movement to decarbonize civilization and make feudalism cool again.

  Lastly, you might notice that your having arrived at these conclusions is itself increasingly becoming a form of thought-crime punishable in a variety of distasteful ways elaborated by a series of unprecedented new emergency regulations that propose extending the definition of “terrorism”. Those implicated under the new definition will be those broad swaths of citizens of western nations who don’t agree with the operating beliefs of the ruling oligarchy.

  Already a 60 day review of the U.S. military is underway to purge the armed forces of all such “thought criminals” while McCarthyite legislation has been drafted to cleanse all government jobs of “conspiracy theorists”.

  Another startling announcement from the National Terrorism Advisory Bulletin that domestic terrorists include: “ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority [and] perceived grievances fueled by false narratives.”

  While not yet fully codified into law (though it will be if not nipped in the bud soon), you can be sure that things are certainly moving fast as, before our very eyes, the right to free speech is being torn to shreds by means of censorship across social media and the internet, cancelling all opinions deemed unacceptable to the ruling class.

  The Conspiracy to Subvert Conspiracy Theorizing

  This should not come as a surprise, as Biden’s new addition to the Department of Homeland Security is a bizarre figure named Cass Sunstein who famously described exactly what this was going to look like in his infamous 2008 report ‘Conspiracy Theories’ (co-authored with Harvard Law School’s Adrien Vermeule). In this under-appreciated study, the duo foresaw the greatest threat to the ruling elite took the form of “conspiracy theorizing” within the American population using as examples of this delusion: the idea that the government had anything to do with the murders of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr, or the planning and execution of 9-11.

  

  Just to be clear, conspiracy literally means ‘two or more people acting together in accord with an agreed upon idea and intention’.

  The fact that Vermeule has made a legal career arguing that laws should be interpreted not by the “intentions” of lawgivers, but rather according to cost-benefit analysis gives us a useful insight into the deranged mind of a technocrat and the delusional reasoning that denies the very thing which has shaped literally ALL of human history.

  In their “scholarly” essay, the authors wrote “the existence of both domestic and foreign conspiracy theories, we suggest, is no trivial matter, posing real risks to the government’s antiterrorism policies, whatever the latter may be.” 

  After establishing his case for the threat of conspiracies, Sunstein says that “the best response consists in cognitive infiltration of extremist groups”.

  Not one to simply draw criticisms, the pro-active Sunstein laid out five possible strategies which the social engineers managing the population could deploy to defuse this growing threat saying:

  “(1) Government might ban conspiracy theorizing.

  (2) Government might impose some kind of tax, financial or otherwise, on those who disseminate such theories.

  (3) Government might itself engage in counter speech, marshaling arguments to discredit conspiracy theories.

  (4) Government might formally hire credible private parties to engage in counter speech.

  (5) Government might engage in informal communication with such parties, encouraging them to help”.

  (I’ll let you think about which of these prescriptions were put into action over the ensuing 12 years.)

  Cass Sunstein was particularly sensitive to this danger largely because: 1) he was a part of a very ugly conspiracy himself and 2) he is a world-renowned behaviorist.

  The Problem of Reality for Behaviorists

  As an economic behaviorist and lawyer arguing that all “human rights” should be extended to animals (blurring the line separating human dynamics from the law of the jungle as any fascist must), Sunstein has spent decades trying to model human behavior with computer simulations in an effort to “scientifically manage” such behavior.

  As outlined in his book Nudge (co-authored with Nobel Prize winning behaviorist Richard Thaler), Sunstein “discovered” that people tend to organize their behavioral patterns around certain fundamental drives, such as the pursuit of pleasure, avoidance of pain, and certain Darwinian drives for sex, popularity, desire for conformity, desire for novelty, and greed.

  One of the key principles of economic behaviorism which is seen repeated in such popular manuals as Freakonomics, Nudge, Predictably Irrational, The Wisdom of Crowds, and Animal Spirits, is that humans are both biologically determined due to their Darwinian impulses, but, unlike other animals, have the fatal flaw of being fundamentally irrational at their core. Since humans are fundamentally irrational, says the behaviorist, it is requisite that an enlightened elite impose “order” upon society while maintaining the illusion of freedom of choice from below. This is the underlying assumption of Karl Popper’s Open Society doctrine, which was fed to Popper’s protégé George Soros and which animates Soros’ General Theory of Reflexivity and his Oxford-based Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET).

  This was at the heart of Obama’s science Czar John Holdren’s call for world government in his 1977 Ecoscience (co-written with his mentor Paul Ehrlich) where the young misanthrope envisioned a future utopic world governed by a scientifically managed master-class saying:

  “Perhaps those agencies, combined with UNEP and the United Nations population agencies, might eventually be developed into a Planetary Regime- sort of an international superagency for population, resources, and environment. Such a comprehensive Planetary Regime could control the development, administration, conservation, and distribution of all natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable”.

  The caveat: If Darwinian impulses mixed with irrational “animal spirits” were truly all that animated those systems which behaviorists wish to map and manipulate (aka: “nudge” with rewards, punishments), then a scientific priesthood would indeed be a viable and perhaps necessary way to organize the world.

  Fortunately, reality is a bit more elegant and dignified than behaviorists wish to admit.

  Why Computer Modellers Hate Metaphysics

  On a closer inspection of history, we find countless instances where people shape their individual and group behavior around sets of ideas that transcend controllable material impulses. When this happens, those individuals or groups tend to resist adapting to environments created for them. This incredible phenomenon is witnessed empirically in the form of the American Revolution, Warsaw Ghetto Uprisings, Civil Rights movements, and even some bold manifestations of anti-lockdown protests now underway around the world.

  Among the most troublesome of those variables which upset computer models are: “Conscience”, “Truth”, “Intentions”, “Soul”, “Honor”, “God”, “Justice”, “Patriotism”, “Dignity”, and “Freedom”.

  Whenever individuals shape their identities around these very real, though immaterial (aka: “metaphysical”) principles, they cannot be “nudged” towards pre-determined decisions that defy reason and morality. Adherence to these principles also tends to afford thinking people an important additional edge of creative insight necessary to cut through false explanatory narratives that attempt to hide lies behind the appearance of truth (aka: sophistry).

  As witnessed on multiple occasions throughout history, such individuals who value the health of their souls over the intimidating (and extremely malleable) force of popular opinion, will often decide to sacrifice personal comfort and even their lives in order to defend those values which their minds and consciences deem important.

  These rare, but invaluable outliers will often resist policies that threaten to undo their freedoms or undermine the basis of their society’s capacity to produce food, and energy for their children and grandchildren. What is worse, is that their example is often extremely contagious causing other members of the sheep class to believe that they too are human and endowed with unalienable rights which should be defended.

  The Intentions Ordering World History

  Perhaps, most “destructive” of all is that these outlier people tend to look for abstract things like “causes” in historical dynamics shaping the context of their present age, as well as their current geopolitical environment.

  Whenever this type of thinking is done, carefully crafted narratives fed to the masses by an enlightened elite will often fail in their powers to persuade, since seekers after truth soon come to realize that IDEAS and intentions (aka: conspiracies) shape our past, present and future. When the dominating intentions shaping society’s trajectory is in conformity with Natural Law, humanity tends to improve, freedoms increase, culture matures and evil loses its hold. Inversely, when the intentions animating history are out of conformity with Natural Law, the opposite happens as societies lose their moral and material fitness to survive and slip ever more quickly into dark ages.

  While sitting in a jail in Birmingham Alabama in 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. described this reality eloquently when he said:

  “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust… One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws”

  From Plato’s organization of his Academy and efforts to shape a Philosopher King to beat the forces of the Persian Empire, to Cicero’s efforts to save the Roman Republic, to Augustine’s battles to save the soul of Christianity all the way to our present age, conspiracies for the good and counter-conspiracies for evil have shaped history. If one were to begin an investigation into history without an understanding that ideas and intentions caused the trajectory of history, as is the standard practice among history professors dominant in todays world, then one would become incapable of understanding anything essential about one’s own reality.

  It is irrelevant that behaviorists and other fascists wish their victims to believe that history just happens simply because random short-sighted impulses kinetically drive events on a timeline- the truth of my claim exists for any serious truth seeker to discover it for themselves.

  Back to our Present Sad State of Affairs

  Now we all know that Sunstein spent the following years working as Obama’s Regulatory Czar alongside an army of fellow behaviorists who took control of all levers of policy making as outlined by Time Magazine’s April 13, 2009 article ‘How Obama is Using the Science of Change’. As the fabric of western civilization, and traditional values of family, gender, and even macro economic concepts like “development” were degraded during this period, the military industrial complex had a field day as Sunstein’s wife Samantha Power worked closely with Susan Rice in the promotion of “humanitarian bombings” of small nations under Soros’ Responsibility to Protect doctrine.

  After the Great Reset Agenda was announced in June 2020, Sunstein was recruited to head the propaganda wing of the World Health Organization known as the WHO Technical Advisory Group where his skills in mass behavior modification was put to use in order to counteract the dangerous spread of conspiracy theories that persuaded large chunks of the world population that COVID-19 was part of a larger conspiracy to undermine national sovereignty and impose world government.

  The head of WHO described Sunstein’s mandate in the following terms:

  “In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries are using a range of tools to influence behavior: Information campaigns are one tool, but so are laws, regulations, guidelines and even fines…That’s why behavioral science is so important.”

  Today, hundreds of Obama-era behaviorists have streamed back into influential positions of government under the new “scientifically managed”, evidence-based governance coming back to life under Biden promising to undo the dark days of President Trump.

  Ideologues who have been on record calling for world government, the elimination of the sick and elderly (see Obamacare architect Ezekiel Emmanuel’s Why I Hope to Die At 75), and population control are streaming back into positions of influence.

  If you think that anything they have done to return to power is unlawful, or antithetical to the principles of the Constitution, then these technocrats want you to know that you are a delusional conspiracy theorist and as such, represent a potential threat to yourself and the society of which you are but a part.

  If you question World Health Organization narratives on COVID-19, or doubt the use of vaccines produced by organizations like Astra Zeneca due to their ties to eugenics organizations then you are a delusional conspiracy theorist.

  If you doubt that global warming is caused by carbon dioxide or that implementing the Paris Climate accords may cause more damage to humanity than climate change ever could, then you must be a conspiracy theorist.

  If you believe that the U.S. government just went through a regime change coordinated by something called “the deep state”, then you run the risk of being labelled a delusional threat to “the general welfare” deserving of the sort of treatment dolled out to any typical terrorist.

  It appears that the many comforts we have taken for granted over the past 50-year drunken stupor called “globalization” are quickly coming to an end, and thankfully not one but two opposing intentions for what the new operating system will be are actively vying for control. This clash was witnessed in stark terms during the January 2021 Davos Summit, where Xi Jinping and Putin’s call for a new system of win-win cooperation, multipolarity and long-term development offset the unipolar zero-sum ideologues of the west seeking to undo the foundations of industrial civilization.

  Either way you look at it, conspiracies for good and for evil do exist now, as they have from time immemorial. The only question is which intention do you want to devote your life towards?

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 23:50

• Putin Reportedly "Interested" In Elon Musk's Proposal For The Two Men To Speak
  Putin Reportedly “Interested” In Elon Musk’s Proposal For The Two Men To Speak

  On Sunday, we were among the first to note that Elon Musk had reached out to Vladimir Putin and asked for a “conversation” – ostensibly about bringing his companies to Russia – and hopefully not to just immediately surrender secrets related to the U.S. space program to Russia. 

  Whether the offer by Musk is telegraphing that his clout in China could be running out, or it’s just another case of “Musk being Musk”, his offer didn’t appear to fall on deaf ears.

  It didn’t take long for Chinese media to confirm that a “conversation” could actually happen between Musk and Putin. State-affiliated outlet People’s Daily reported on Monday that Putin was “interested” in Musk’s offer. 

  Kremlin spokesman said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir #Putin was interested in tech billionaire Elon Musk’s proposal that the two men chat on the audio chat app Clubhouse. pic.twitter.com/2skb6nmZA0

  — People’s Daily, China (@PDChina) February 15, 2021

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

  It raised a lot of questions from investors – namely, what would the optics if another major company CEO with ties to the U.S. Space Program reached out and made the same offer?

  Can you imagine the outcry if the Lockheed Martin CEO was cozying up to Vladimir Putin and the Chinese Communist Party? $LMT $TSLA https://t.co/ps8yUC5LKa

  — Diogenes (@WallStCynic) February 15, 2021

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

  Elon Musk has access to U.S. military secrets and more skeletons in his closet than a medieval ossuary. Putin is the world’s grand master of kompromat. What could possibly go wrong? pic.twitter.com/3QOosxqQNf

  — NetflixAndLamp (@NetflixAndLamp) February 16, 2021

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  But there was at least one investor on FinTwit that gave Musk the benefit of the doubt.

  @SpaceX exists because @elonmusk swiped Russian rocketry knowhow; joke’s on Putin — Elon knows there is a trove of space/military IP and brainpower to unlock in Russia

  CC: @CHenry_QA @thesheetztweetz @SpaceflightInc

  — Special Sits (@rosemontseneca) February 16, 2021

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  Recall, on Sunday, we wrote that Elon Musk tweeted the official English twitter account of the Kremlin, i.e., Vladimir Putin, saying “would you like join me for a conversation” on the popular (and so far invite-only) new audio social network Clubhouse.

  .@KremlinRussia_E would you like join me for a conversation on Clubhouse?

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 13, 2021

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

  He then followed up in google-translated Russian “it would be a great honor to speak with you.”

  было бы большой честью поговорить с вами

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 13, 2021

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

  We continue to wait for more context on this story as it develops. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 23:30

• Rockets Pound US Base In Northern Iraq Leading To Casualties
  Rockets Pound US Base In Northern Iraq Leading To Casualties

  Submitted by South Front,

  The United States has already started bearing the consequences of the decision of the Biden administration to halt the troop drawdown from the Greater Middle East.

  On February 15th, 14 rockets struck the area of the US military base near Erbil International Airport, 4 of them within the compound, 10 of which were near strikes. One private contractor was killed and 5 were injured. In a rare event, 1 US service member was also wounded.

  The location of the attack coincides with Turkey’s operation “Claw Eagle 2” which targets the alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions. Most of northern Iraq was on edge, as a result.

  Turkey and the US, as NATO allies appear to not be cooperating whatsoever, as they’re pursuing separate goals in largely the same areas of the Middle East.

  Ankara’s activities contribute to the chaos of the Middle East situation, as it targets the PKK, while the US mostly targets and is targeted by Iranian-backed forces.

  Another US ally, this time one that aligns its activities with it – Israel struck unknown targets around Damascus.

  It launched missiles from the occupied Golan Heights, and many of them were intercepted by Syrian air defenses, however, some landed on their targets. It is unclear what was targeted and what the damage was.

  There have been no strikes by Israel through Lebanese airspace after a drone was downed, and Hezbollah vowed to attempt to destroy any Israeli aircraft that encroaches on its airspace.

  Movements throughout the Middle East are beginning for the US and its allies.

  In Iraq, many of the targeted convoys in the last several weeks have reached their destinations.

  With a lack of reports of convoy targeting, it would appear that the currently static positions are under threat.

  Iran is continuing its movements, undermining US and Israeli influence, and it has had general success in recent weeks. The US is fighting back against it.

  On February 11th, a truck moving supplies for an Iranian-backed unit, al-Haydariyun, was targeted near Syria’s border with Iraq.

  According to the Resistance Media Network, the truck was targeted by a drone likely operated by the US military.

  In Yemen, the US said it would attempt to impose a peace deal, on its own terms. It claims to stop supporting Saudi Arabia’s genocidal intervention. Washington, however, also continues providing defensive services and intelligence.

  Following Joe Biden’s first foreign policy speech, the time for the US to move has come. In the coming days, the “fight against ISIS” is sure to ramp up, alongside various other movements throughout the Middle East.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 23:10

• Israeli Hospitals Brace For Rising Numbers Of Children Infected With COVID As Schools Re-Open
  Israeli Hospitals Brace For Rising Numbers Of Children Infected With COVID As Schools Re-Open

  Just as it led the world during the vaccination process (with only a few suspicious deaths), Israel is on track to lead the US and Europe in reopening schools and its broader society. And its hospitals are already bracing for a surge in deadly infections (worsened by individuals’ complications and the “post-COVID” syndrome) as the cases of five desperately ill children captivate the country.

  

  Israel isn’t yet vaccinating children under the age of 16 at this stage even as schools are set to reopen, but public health officials are already out telling the press and the public, not to worry, because Israel will have a team of doctors at the ready.

  Here’s more from Haaretz:

  On Sunday, the head of the general medicine division at the Health Ministry, Dr. Sigal Liverant Taub, wrote a letter to hospital administrators urging them to adjust their infrastructure to suit children, and to prepare their daily medical teams to treat young people by February 25.

  “In the upcoming two months, we expect an upward trend in infection in children of all ages in Israel,” Liverant Taub wrote. “Evidence is accumulating for higher infection rates of the British variant, whose prevalence in Israel is about 80 percent, among children.”

  The doctor added that treating children in the same fashion as adults “is not a solution that we want, and therefore we must prepare infrastructure specifically for children, [staffed] by a team that is skilled in treating children alone.”

  These statements are landing as five Israeli children have been hospitalized in Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava for COVID-19 and its complications, one of them in serious condition. Three of them (a 13-year-old, a 10-year-old and a 1.5-year-old) have active COVID-19 infections.

  One of the doctors treating the children added that COVID complications can be unpredictable.

  Dr. Dganit Adam, the director of Meir Hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit, said that “We are witness to the fact that despite everyone being certain that children are not endangered by the coronavirus, there are an increasing number of children being hospitalized for COVID-19 and the complications that follow it.”

  She added, “Some come to us in a more complicated medical state. It’s important to be aware of this and to pay attention to symptoms after coronavirus infection – fever, rashes, redness in the eyes and other symptoms, even a month after falling ill.”

  In other news, back in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s latest announcement about the positivity rate in the Empire State declining to a new post-November low has got markets people talking about the outlook for the economic reopening in the US.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 22:50

• National Guard To Stay In DC "Through Fall 2021", Why?!
  National Guard To Stay In DC “Through Fall 2021”, Why?!

  Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

  A leaked email suggests that there are plans to keep the National Guard in Washington DC beyond the previously discussed deadline of March 12th, and throughout the Summer AND Fall.

  

  A report by FOX 5 cites an internal email seen by reporters that reveals The National Security Council is asking the Department of Defense to engage Capitol Police on planning for post-March 12th support.

  The report notes that there will be a meeting for agencies to discuss the matter next Wednesday, February 17th.

  The email was written by Robert Salesses who is covering the duties of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security.

  It states:

  “If it’s not possible to sustain at the current level with NG personnel, we need to establish the number of NG personnel (DCNG and out-of-state) we can sustain for an extended period – at least through Fall 2021 – and understand additional options for providing DoD support, to include use of reserve personnel, as well as active component.”

  While troops were expected to stay in DC for the duration of the impeachment sideshow, owing to “security concerns,” it now appears that they will remain even longer.

  The Pentagon has confirmed that there are still around 6000 National Guard troops in DC. While there have been indications that the number will be reduced to 5000 within a month, there have been no other indications of when troops will be stood down.

  There is also no indication of when the huge razor wire topped security fencing will be removed from around Capitol Hill.

  The Guard have been given virtually no information about what they are required to do, with one soldier previously describing the situation as “very unusual for any military mission.”

  As we reported last month, thousands of the troops were forced to sleep OUTSIDE and in a parking Garage near the Capitol building after a Democratic lawmaker complained that ONE guardsmen was not wearing a face mask.

  The estimated cost of keeping the security measures is so far close to $500 million.

  Without a legitimate reason to keep troops in DC any longer, Americans can only assume that the Biden administration and the Democrats feel their grip on power needs protecting by a permanent military presence.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 22:30

• Stunning Images Reveal Massive Commercial Jet Parking Lot Amid Travel Collapse
  Stunning Images Reveal Massive Commercial Jet Parking Lot Amid Travel Collapse

  Pilot and photographer Jassen Todorov captured stunning images of hundreds of commercial jets parked in airfields across the US amid the downturn in air travel thanks to the virus pandemic, according to Daily Mail. 

  Todorov’s images include billions of dollars worth of commercial jets parked at dusty airfields across the country. 

  

  

  

  The images give light to new data from travel firm Cirium, who outlines in a recent report the number of single-aisle aircraft in service has plunged since the beginning of the year amid a flare-up of US COVID-19 cases and increased restrictions. 

  Cirium’s data showed single-aisle aircraft in service fell below the 8.8k mark on Feb. 5, a drop of 15% compared with Jan. 3 figures. 

  

  Following months of surging air travel numbers into the 2020 holiday season, US passenger volumes dove in late January to their lowest levels in six months. 

  Todorov captured more pictures of commercial jets parked at airfields. It appears reopening optimism two months into vaccination rollouts has yet to bring a “V-shaped” recovery to the airline industry. 

  

  

  

  

  Demand for used private jets is soaring as rich people do not want to fly first class anymore amid fears of being infected. 

  On top of this all, remote working and teleconferencing have resulted in a permanent shift lower in business travel, which was the bulk of all travel. The pandemic is expected to keep commercial airlines in a state of depression for a few years. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 22:10

• Navy Scrambles As Deployed Sailors Test COVID-19 Positive On Previously-Stricken Carrier
  Navy Scrambles As Deployed Sailors Test COVID-19 Positive On Previously-Stricken Carrier

  Akin to a similar outbreak scenario aboard the same aircraft carrier which took it out of commission last year during the early phase of the pandemic, the USS Theodore Roosevelt is once again entering what essentially appears like quarantine, now undertaking “aggressive mitigation” measures after three sailors tested positive for COVID-19. 

  After being placed in isolation they are expected to be flown off ship. According to a US Navy statement, “The sailors’ cases were identified during random command surveillance testing, which has been taking place as part of a holistic COVID-19 mitigation effort that includes physical distancing, additional cleaning and mandatory mask-wearing on the ship, U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Myers Vasquez told USNI News.”

  

  This suggests a wider outbreak may be in progress aboard the carrier, but so far others identified which had close contact with infected individuals have tested negative and are said to be in quarantine.

  The first time the Roosevelt faced an outbreak it involved over 1,200 eventual infections, with one death, all of which took the nuclear-powered carrier out of commission, forcing it to dock at Guam and cut short its slated mission last May. Like the majority of the prior wave of infections the first time, the three sailors are asymptomatic.

  Currently the carrier strike group is on its second deployment within a year, now operating in the Pacific and off a recent port call in Guam. According a Navy spokesperson, necessary precautions were taken during a late February through early January port call:

  During the Guam visit, sailors were allowed off the ship, but measures were put in place to keep them from coming into contact with anyone outside their COVID-free bubble. A section of the beach was cordoned off for them, and they were not supposed to come in contact with other personnel on the pier, Vasquez said.

  The US Navy further said new protocol to prevent further COVID-19 spread aboard the ship has been implemented with the ultimate goal of ensuring it remains operational.

  

  “The ship is following an aggressive mitigation strategy in accordance with Navy and CDC guidelines to include mandatory mask wearing, social distancing, and proper hygiene and sanitation practices. U.S. Pacific Fleet is committed to taking every measure possible to protect the health of our force. USS Theodore Roosevelt is currently underway and remains fully operational,” the Navy said.

  The devastating rapid spread of the virus aboard the ship last spring into early summer marked a massive crisis for the Navy. It not only temporarily took the ship out of commission, but saw Chinese state media mocking the ‘weakness’ of the Pentagon’s Pacific forces and deployments at the time. It also resulted in the Roosevelt’s prior commander, Capt. Brett E. Crozier being relieved – also with the Secretary of the Navy later forced to resign over the crisis’ mishandling.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 21:50

• WHO Issues 'Alert' To Six African Nations After Recent Ebola Outbreaks
  WHO Issues ‘Alert’ To Six African Nations After Recent Ebola Outbreaks

  After the West African country of Guinea reported its first confirmed Ebola deaths since 2016, prompting the declaration of an “epidemic situation,” the World Health Organization (WHO) has alerted six countries to watch out for further spread of the disease, according to Reuters.

  

  The news comes as Guinea declared a new Ebola outbreak on Sunday in the first resurgence of Ebola in West Africa since the 2013-2016 outbreak, while the Democratic Republic of Congo reported its first resurgence on Feb. 7. Liberia was also mentioned as among the countries that received an “alert”.

  “We have already alerted the six countries around, including of course Sierra Leone and Liberia, and they are moving very fast to prepare and be ready and to look for any potential infection,” the WHO’s Margaret Harris told a Geneva briefing. -Reuters

  The other countries that received a warning weren’t named.

  According to the WHO’s Harris, health authorities had identified close to 300 Ebola contacts in the Congo outbreak and around 109 in Guinea, as doctors and nurses race to prevent the spread of disease.

  Gene sequencing of Ebola samples from both Congo and Guinea is allowing scientists to learn more about the origins of the new outbreaks and identify the strains that are spreading, Harris added.

  “We don’t know if this is down to Ebola persisting in the human population or if it’s simply moving again from the animal population but the genetic sequencing that’s ongoing will help with that information,” she said.

  Given current global pandemic awareness combined with the fact that Ebola victims are easy to identify by the rapid onset of vomiting and, later, bleeding from orifices (as opposed to the significantly less deadly COVID’s asymptomatic spread), we are hopeful that these latest African outbreaks can be quickly contained.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 21:30

• This Is What Hedge Funds Bought And Sold In Q4: Complete 13F Summary
  This Is What Hedge Funds Bought And Sold In Q4: Complete 13F Summary

  In the aftermath of late January’s massive short squeeze fireworks, 13F reporting season – which had lost much of its luster in recent years as hedge funds lost much of their impact in a centrally-planned world – was once again interesting, if only to find who had extra exposure to the January short-squeeze turmoil. Of course, we should caveat that as usual, all of the positions disclosed in today’s round of 13Fs were stale by at least 45 days, and as such there has certainly been significant rotation out of the high beta and most shorted names in late January and early February.

  With that said, and as noted earlier, the big highlight was Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway which trimmed its Apple holding in the fourth quarter, while reporting formerly secret stakes in Verizon ($8.6BN), Chevron ($4.1BN) and Marsh & McLennan ($499MM).

  

  Berkshire’s reduction in Apple stood in contrast to other positions investment funds revealed in regulatory filings for the quarter, which showed several favoring megacap tech companies according to Bloomberg which notes that Microsoft has been an early winner in 13F filings released so far as major hedge funds bought positions. The software maker was a top new buy at Bridgewater and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, while D1 Capital Partners and Tiger Global Management also boosted their stakes.  A handful of Tiger Cubs (firm run by alumni of Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management) also boosted their stakes in Microsoft with Viking, Tiger Global and Maverick all adding to their positions in the software giant, which gained just 6% in the quarter.

  Another megacap technology company, Facebook, was a top new buy at Gabe Plotkin’s Melvin Capital Management, although it is likely that after the fund’s flameout, it was likely forced to liquidate some or all of its stake.

  Meanwhile, recent initial public offerings Airbnb and DoorDash also received attention from funds. Both companies were top new buys at Tiger Global and Temasek. Banks have been more divisive. Bridgewater snapped up shares of JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup, while Berkshire exited its positions in PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and JPMorgan, and it cut its stake in Wells Fargo.

  Going down the list, Bloomberg notes, that Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management increased its stakes of 26 companies in the fourth quarter, including adding 1.63 million shares of Walt Disney which surged 46% in the period. That brought Coatue’s stake in the world’s largest entertainment company to about $2 billion at year-end, making it the fund’s biggest long U.S. holding. At the same time, Coatue cut its exposure to the tech sector by about 6%, but it could be that the firm was just rebalancing the portfolio given the jump in those shares.

  Tiger Global made a notable move in selling a major chunk of its Sunrun stake — it sold an investment that has been incredibly profitable for Chase Coleman’s firm. Tiger Global made $1.5 billion on the solar company’s stock last year, and it has been among the best performers in Tiger Global’s hedge fund and long-only fund.

  Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is pursuing investments on video-game makers. The Riyadh-based Public Investment Fund bought stakes in Activision Blizzard Inc., Electronic Arts Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. The three stakes had a combined value of almost $3.3 billion at the end of December, according to its filing.

  Below  is a snapshot summary of some of the key position changes revealed at the more popular hedge funds in the 4th quarter, courtesy of Bloomberg.

  ADAGE CAPITAL PARTNERS

  • Top new buys: TSLA, KSS, WORK, EV, RL, SO, AVIR, CEO, APSG, STPK
  • Top exits: ST, CVX, OC, BECN, HI, KURA, FSR, AZO, FIVE, AZN
  • Boosted stakes in: ALXN, XOM, GE, EMR, DOV, EOG, DIS, GOOGL, PXD, GOOG
  • Cut stakes in: FTV, W, HZNP, MRK, CRM, HON, SRPT, ITT, LPX, FIS

  APPALOOSA

  • Top new buys: OXY, XLE, QCOM, M, KMX, KSS, EPD, XOP, EWY, ADS
  • Top exits: T, MO, BSX
  • Boosted stakes in: AMZN, FB, MSFT, TWTR, UNH, HCA, ET, AMLP, ADBE, CRM
  • Cut stakes in: PCG, BABA, WFC, SQ, MA, EMR, V, PYPL, NFLX, SYY

  BALYASNY ASSET MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: MSFT, DIS, WORK, KO, IPHI, XLNX, COO, JBHT, AAPL, INTU
  • Top exits: LULU, SCHW, WDAY, SWKS, SHOP, QCOM, KNX, COST, WFC, FDX
  • Boosted stakes in: V, BAC, GOOGL, MXIM, TEAM, BABA, NFLX, RP, PANW, TSCO
  • Cut stakes in: ATVI, AMZN, TGT, TJX, WLTW, OTIS, CTSH, MCD, MIDD, BIIB

  BAUPOST GROUP

  • Top new buys: INTC, MPC, ADV, FNF, RBAC, VSPR, RADI, DGNS
  • Top exits: HPQ, MCK, AMAT, HWM
  • Boosted stakes in: QRVO, FB, SSNC, CLNY, PEAK, EBAY
  • Cut stakes in: FOXA, GOOG, PSTH, VIST, ATRA

  BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY

  • Top new buys: VZ, CVX, MMC
  • Top exits: GOLD, MTB, PNC, PFE, JPM
  • Boosted stakes in: ABBV, MRK, TMUS, BMY, KR, RH
  • Cut stakes in: WFC, SU, LILAK, GM, USB, AAPL

  BRIDGEWATER ASSOCIATES

  • Top new buys: JPM, BAC, MSFT, C, WFC, MS, GS, SCHW, USB, AON
  • Top exits: TSLA, LULU, LOW, SHW, JCI, HD, DD, ECL, KMX, MAS
  • Boosted stakes in: WMT, PG, PDD, IEMG, KO, JNJ, PEP, VWO, COST, IVV
  • Cut stakes in: GLD, NTES, DHI, LEN, VFC, WDAY, TT, PPG, ODFL, SPLK

  COATUE MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: DASH, XPEV, API, AYX, SFIX, ROOT, LYFT, ROKU, BA, LSPD
  • Top exits: SMAR, LBRDK, SDC, NAT, DHT, EAF, TNK, LUMN, SSYS, DDD
  • Boosted stakes in: DIS, UBER, SQ, NUAN, Z, PYPL, PINS, EXPE, SE, SNOW
  • Cut stakes in: PLAN, NKLA, GDOT, AEO, URBN, FB, DXCM, DOCU, DDOG, BEKE

  CORSAIR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: DNMR, JIH, CCX, LAUR, NRZ, NVGS, LEAF, LNG, SATS, ATH
  • Top exits: FMC, NWSA, QQQ, CDR, KLR
  • Boosted stakes in: WMB, GSAH, GDDY, VRT, NATR, STAR, CUBI, ECPG, ENZ, GVA
  • Cut stakes in: PSTH, AON, CC, BXRX, BH, IQV, PLYA, GLD, BBCP, LKQ

  CORVEX MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: GOOGL, FISV, WDAY, CCEP, AEO, GPN, RADI, STPK, FB
  • Top exits: BABA, CMCSA, ILMN, ACM, TWTR, NAV, LYV, MSGS, PCG
  • Boosted stakes in: FE, ATVI, ATUS, AMZN, JPM, DIS, ZEN, ADBE, FIVE
  • Cut stakes in: EXC, CNP, EVRG, HUM, TMUS, NFLX

  D1 CAPITAL PARTNERS

  • Top new buys: BKNG, DDOG, AMZN, DECK, MRVI, BAX, DRI, TEAM, BX, EDU
  • Top exits: IR, PNC, CLVT, DT, MSGS, MU, SMAR, KRC, BABA, ESS
  • Boosted stakes in: MSFT, EXPE, NFLX, FB, GOOGL, DIS, RH, JPM, DHR, TGT
  • Cut stakes in: LYV, CVNA, AVB, ORLY, HPP, BLL, LVS, DEI, AAP, RACE

  DUQUESNE FAMILY OFFICE

  • Top new buys: CMI, RUN, LIN, ASHR, SMH, NYT, ABCL, AA, FSLR, ARRY
  • Top exits: BABA, NFLX, GDX, FB, ALNY, XLI, FIS, VZ, BKNG, WEN
  • Boosted stakes in: PANW, DIS, CVNA, TMUS, SBUX, TECK, NET, RETA, CCL, IQV
  • Cut stakes in: JD, GOLD, GOOGL, SMAR, WDAY, PYPL, LYV, PENN, AMZN, FSLY

  ELLIOTT MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: EVRG, T, PSA, FFIV, SNAP, PINS, FNV, XOP
  • Top exits: EBAY, WELL, RILY
  • Boosted stakes in: DELL

  EMINENCE CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: WSC, EXPE, AN, GOOG, ADI, GDDY, MA, FIS, JWS, GH
  • Top exits: JPM, BAC, QSR, RJF, VTR, KDP, AZO, DHI, VICI, SHAK
  • Boosted stakes in: CTVA, RP, LH, MIC, DFS, PANW, NEWR, RRR, TPX, COF
  • Cut stakes in: ASH, CPRI, SEE, CHNG, FISV, DD, PSTG, BABA, UBER, WELL

  ENGAGED CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: GIL, QUOT
  • Top exits: MED, JACK, MX
  • Boosted stakes in: STKL, NCR, MGLN, IWM

  FIR TREE

  • Top new buys: ABBV, OUT, SPR, BSX, HHC, PRO, CONX, IMPX, CRHC
  • Top exits: EIX, FLT, PSTH, EXC, CUK, ETWO, JWS, GIX, UWMC, LOTZ
  • Boosted stakes in: LAMR, CMCSA, MSGE, ANTM, PRPB, FIS, YAC, AMHC, CTXS
  • Cut stakes in: FE, LYV, SLM, TMUS, EXPE, CCIV, WPF, THCA, CNC, HEC

  GREENLIGHT CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: DNMR, FUBO, ADT, CLOV, SATS, SONO, NPA
  • Top exits: INTC, INGR, PVH, GHC, CRY, KW, VAPO, AMRN, GPORQ
  • Boosted stakes in: REZI, TECK, CNX, DDS, AAWW
  • Cut stakes in: JACK, ICPT, GLD, CC, CCK, NCR, CHNG, AER

  ICAHN

  • Top new buys: BHC, DAN
  • Boosted stakes in: IEP, XRX
  • Cut stakes in: TEN, LNG

  JANA PARTNERS

  • Top new buys: LH, THS, TGNA, GRA
  • Top exits: ELY, BCO
  • Boosted stakes in: PRSP, EHC
  • Cut stakes in: SPY, BLMN, NEWR

  LANSDOWNE

  • Top new buys: UNP, GE, ENIA, PSX, HTOO, EEM, VXX, GLD, UVXY
  • Top exits: FSLR, COG, EQT, CDE, PAAS, UNVR, LOOP, QS, RIDE, GDXJ
  • Boosted stakes in: TSM, AMAT, ADI, AES, BLDP, AG, TMUS
  • Cut stakes in: C, ED, IDA, LUV, NSC, BKNG, DAR, UAL, REGI, VMC

  LONG POND

  • Top new buys: PHM, SUI, ELS, AMH, NNN, SRC, FR, ABNB, LSI, EXP
  • Top exits: HLT, SHO, SBRA, PEAK, WELL, PGRE, HPP, EXPE, KRC, H
  • Boosted stakes in: EQR, AVB, WH, UDR, GLPI
  • Cut stakes in: DEI, JBGS, MGP, MAA, LVS, ESS, CPT, HGV

  MAGNETAR FINANCIAL

  • Top new buys: OPEN, XLNX, ALXN, PNM, NAV, AJRD, WORK, HMSY, OSB, CCX
  • Boosted stakes in: IPHI, CIIC, BSX, AZN, NPA, MRK, EXPC, JIH, IPV, FSRV
  • Cut stakes in: ADCT, MPLN, MP, EHC, UBER, ABBV, WLTW, GRUB, VAR, PSTH

  MAVERICK CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: SEER, MGM, PLD, GTLS, WYNN, IBP, SQZ, DASH, DGNS, CROX
  • Top exits: DLTR, GPN, TMUS, WEN, BBBY, UAA, FND, CRI, FTCH, FDX
  • Boosted stakes in: AMAT, FLT, ADBE, FB, GME, MSFT, ATRA, GOOG, NKTR, JACK
  • Cut stakes in: HUM, GLW, KKR, AMZN, LOGI, APD, ZNGA, DXC, CCK, CNC

  MELVIN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: FB, COUP, MELI, NFLX, PAGS, CRWD, SPGI, GWW, ADI, XRAY
  • Top exits: DOCU, MCD, TJX, LOW, PYPL, WDAY, SBAC, DPZ, BURL, EAT
  • Boosted stakes in: MA, EXPE, GOOGL, TEAM, V, HLT, AMD, NUAN, LVS, NKE
  • Cut stakes in: BABA, NOW, AMZN, AZO, DDOG, SE, AAP, LH, ALGN, FISV

  OAKTREE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: COLD, LU, OAS, CRC
  • Top exits: MEG, BIDU, CEO, SQM, CCS, GTXMQ, GTH, XPEV, API, MSGE
  • Boosted stakes in: ITUB, VALE, BBD, PBR, CX, IBN, AZUL, NMIH, SMCI, TRMD
  • Cut stakes in: TSM, UNIT, MELI, INDA, KC, COOP, ALLY

  OMEGA ADVISORS

  • Top new buys: GM, WSC, CMCSA, BGS, ORCC, DMAC
  • Top exits: LEE
  • Boosted stakes in: MP, COOP, ATH, ET, STKL, SNR, NAVI, VRT, GCI, FCRD
  • Cut stakes in: AMCX, SRGA, MGY

  PERSHING SQUARE

  • Cut stakes in: LOW, QSR, SBUX, A, HLT

  SOROBAN CAPITAL

  • Top new buys: LOW, GWRE, PLNT
  • Boosted stakes in: MSFT, ATUS, AMZN, FIS, YUM, MAR, ADI, GOOGL
  • Cut stakes in: RTX, CSX, PSTH, UNP, HLT, ARMK, FISV

  SOROS FUND MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: QS, EEM, CLVT, ELAN, ALLY, UPST, SYF, XLNX, AMZN, EV
  • Top exits: DKNG, XLI, MCHP, U, MCHI, MTG, SIRI, RNR, BXMT, C
  • Boosted stakes in: LQD, ATVI, DIS, DHI, NLOK, DEN, GOOGL, AXTA, NXPI, OMF
  • Cut stakes in: HAIN, VICI, DRI, SE, PCG, VST, AGNC, CBB, FE, VAR

  STARBOARD

  • Top new buys: ON
  • Top exits: SPY
  • Boosted stakes in: ACIW, CTVA, NLOK, CVLT, ACM, IWM, BOX, IWR
  • Cut stakes in: AAP, IWN, SCOR, CERN, GDOT, MMSI

  TEMASEK HOLDINGS

  • Top new buys: DASH, WISH, XLB, XLI, MSFT, SQZ, EWZ, CRM, ABNB, ADBE
  • Top exits: DD, GOVT, XLK, USIG, XLV, FUTU, XLP, ROK, CGNX
  • Boosted stakes in: PYPL, V, AMZN, MA, SCHP, DDOG, UBER, ASLN
  • Cut stakes in: TME, DELL, XLY, SE, FTCH, HDB

  THIRD POINT

  • Top new buys: UPST, GOOGL, APTV, SWK, NKE, CTLT, LESL, KMX, RH, UNH
  • Top exits: FTV, SQ, CZR, GDRX, TXG, PTVE, CD
  • Boosted stakes in: INTU, AVTR, PLNT, TDG, MSFT, SPGI, SHY
  • Cut stakes in: BABA, AMZN, FIS, CRM, ADBE, PINS, JD, FB, EXPE, GB

  TIGER GLOBAL

  • Top new buys: DASH, COUP, ONEM, AI, YSG, ABNB, SQ, INTU, MSP, ASO
  • Top exits: GOOGL, TME, CDAY, FTCH, CDLX, TENB, BILI
  • Boosted stakes in: UBER, SE, PTON, DOCU, MSFT, EGHT, WDAY, NOW, SNOW, SHOP
  • Cut stakes in: RUN, FB, TWLO, MDB, ZM, PLAN, PYPL, NFLX, SMAR, FLT

  TUDOR INVESTMENT

  • Top new buys: AI, ABNB, SOXX, XLF, EWZ, ICLN, MDLZ, RSG, PG, TEKK
  • Top exits: KC, KDP, BDX, RPAY, ADT, ADI, ARE, TROW, MAS, SHW
  • Boosted stakes in: WORK, SPY, ALXN, MXIM, VAR, EV, GRUB, WLTW, AAPL, UBER
  • Cut stakes in: PCG, FSLR, RXT, GDRX, LSI, DLR, DIS, V, XOM, LIN

  VIKING GLOBAL INVESTORS

  • Top new buys: UNH, ABCL, DIS, PANW, NOW, HIG, GE, HCA, FB, APD
  • Top exits: CMCSA, CME, RTX, ADI, EXAS, BILL, TEAM, CDAY, ANTM, ALL
  • Boosted stakes in: MSFT, V, GOOGL, FLT, FIS, ZBH, BSX, SE, TMUS, AVTR
  • Cut stakes in: TMO, AXP, LVS, CNC, HLT, AMZN, CSGP, AVB, BKNG, BPMC

  WHALE ROCK CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

  • Top new buys: DIS, UBER, ZS, SMAR, EXPE, FTCH, TRIP, BILI, EGHT, PDD
  • Top exits: W, BABA, MSFT, AVLR, FTNT, STNE, AMD, AYX, CDAY, NOW
  • Boosted stakes in: CRWD, CVNA, TSM, PINS, CREE, MDB, FIVN, SQ, SE, CRUS
  • Cut stakes in: AMZN, JD, FB, ZM, OKTA, SHOP, COUP, NVDA, MPWR, FSLY

  Source: Bloomberg

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 21:10

• JPM: "Bond Yields Are Likely To Move Higher From Here" But The Real Question Is "What's Behind The Move"
  JPM: “Bond Yields Are Likely To Move Higher From Here” But The Real Question Is “What’s Behind The Move”

  According to the closing market intelligence recap from JPMorgan’s Andrew Tyler, most of today’s conversations at the largest US commercial bank surrounded the impact of bond yields on equity prices, and to be sure with the 10Y pushing through 1.3%, a yield level last seen in late Feb 2020, the surge in yields has started hitting risk assets which closed lower on the day led by small caps and duration sensitive sectors.

  

  Here JPM interjects that while the jump in yields matters, from a trader’s perspective, the question “why yields are rising” matters even more. As JPM futures trader Matt Booras explains, if yields are rising for “good reasons” such as increasing GDP forecasts, then stocks will be fine. However, if there is a “bad” yield rising event such as a lack of demand for US Treasuries then stocks may come under pressure. Irrespective of the reason, Booras is looking for yields to eventually compress multiples which could disproportionately hit Tech while Cyclicals still move higher.

  Focusing on the question of how rising bond yields will impact equities, JPM strategist Mislav Matejka makes the following observations:

  • Bond yields are likely to move higher from here, and that the move should be absorbed well by the equity market.
  • Bond yields are likely to move up further, reflecting not just the upcoming normalization inactivity, starting in Q2, but also the potential for overshooting given pent-up demand and continued fiscal support. A significant gap remains open between bond yields and inflation forwards, and between bond yields and US PMIs.
  • JPM would not expect the stocks-bonds correlation to break down while US 10-year yields are sub 2%, especially if the central banks’ liquidity provision remains ample, and growth backdrop positive. P/Es did not tend to de-rate during cyclical earnings upswings.
  • Bond yields would need to move up by 100-200bp in order to erase the equity attractiveness.
  • What to favor when yields are rising? The sectoral leadership remains clear around bond yield moves, with Financials and Cyclicals at the top, and the Defensives, in particular Healthcare and Food Producers, at the bottom. Tech generally aligned with the latter group. Stock baskets in report. Regionally, Eurozone and Japan score high, while the UK tended to be the worst.

  

  

  Finally, looking at the recent blowout in swap spreads and addressing the possibility that MBS hedgers will engage in convexity hedging, resulting in an even sharper move higher in yields, JPM’s rates trader Ryan Wald writes “are we going to have convexity paying? We may. Is it going to be to the extent that we experienced in the previous two convexity events? Not likely. Reason is due to the difference in who currently owns large percentages of the MBS market and how they choose to hedge their duration gaps. In ’03 the GSE’s were responsible, and in ’13 taper tantrum it was the REITs. Both of these entities actively hedged their duration gap. In current times, a large percentage of MBS ownership has shifted towards commercial banks. And because banks are net running a very large duration short which only continues to grow on the back of the Fed’s QE program… Any duration extension on the back of a convexity event would be welcomed, as opposed to being actively hedged.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 20:50

• 'Woke' Teachers Want Shakespeare Canceled: "This Is About White Supremacy And Colonization"
  ‘Woke’ Teachers Want Shakespeare Canceled: “This Is About White Supremacy And Colonization”

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  “Too Woke, Or Not Too Woke?”

  While the House managers were quoting Shakespeare in their case against President Donald Trump last week, it appears that the Bard may soon be less known than “Poor Yorick” who we once knew so well.

  There is a growing campaign by teachers to drop Shakespeare and other Western literature from classes. One group, #DisruptTexts, insists “This is about White supremacy and colonization.”

  

  Lorena German, National Council of Teachers of English Anti-Racism Committee chair and a co-founder of the Disrupt Texts forum, insisted “everything about the fact that he was a man of his time is problematic about his plays. We cannot teach Shakespeare responsibly and not disrupt the ways people are characterized and developed.”

  

  We previously discussed how the portrait of William Shakespeare was removed at the University of Pennsylvania’s English Department as a statement for greater racial sensitivity and diversity. Students are increasingly being deprived of such foundational classics as “Romeo and Juliet,” “Macbeth,” “King Lear” or Richard III. These are works that are not only masterpieces but shaped generations of later works and continue to be referenced in modern writing.  Yet, this is a movement that has been building since 1987 when Jesse Jackson led Stanford undergraduates chanting, “Hey, ho, Western Citv has got to go!”

  Amanda McGregor, a Minnesota-based librarian wrote in the January issue of School library journal  that “Shakespeare’s work is full of problematic and outdated ideas, lots of misogyny, racism, homophobia, class discrimination, anti-Semitism, misogyny”

  German insisted that Shakespeare “is not ‘universal’ in a way that other authors are not. He is not more ‘timeless’ than anyone else.”

  Some teachers advocating replacing Shakespeare with such works as “Hunger Games.”

  Shakespeare could have seen his coming when he wrote in As You Like It that “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.”

  However, the exiting of Shakespeare will come at a terrible cost for our students. While Shakespeare appears the new rallying cry for woke teachers, he is “a man more sinned against than sinning.” 

  If he is stripped away from our reading lists, our students will be the poorer for it.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 20:30

• US CDC Weighs Extending Interval Between COVID Jab Doses
  US CDC Weighs Extending Interval Between COVID Jab Doses

  In what could become another major messaging flip-flop from the CDC, after repeatedly urging all eligible Americans to make sure not to miss their second follow-up dose of the COVID vaccine, Bloomberg reports that the scientific professionals managing the US COVID response are weighing recommendations to extend the interval between the first and second dose as supplies run low.

  

  The CDC’s advisory committee has reportedly debated the idea, which will be taken up by the full committee and provide official guidance, according to a Bloomberg report. Jose Romero, chairman of the committee and Arkansas health secretary, reportedly declined to comment officially.

  Such a delay would be a big shift from just a few weeks ago, when US health officials rejected a dose-stretching policy adopted by the UK which allowed up to 12 weeks between shots. Most drugmakers have agreed, saying that policies should follow the protocols used in the shots’ testing, in which the intervals were set at three or four weeks.

  But apparently the situation has changed, or is changing. Despite all the fearmongering about the COVID “mutant” strains (another possibility repeatedly denied by Dr. Tony Fauci and other top health officials until it finally became a reality), Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York affirmed earlier that the state’s positivity rate had fallen to its lowest level since November (though Cuomo is also now embroiled in a worsening scandal over allegedly lying about COVID deaths in NY’s nursing homes.

  “We know that until we have sufficient vaccine, there is the requirement to have some sort of prioritization scheme,” Clay Marsh, West Virginia’s Covid-19 czar, said in an interview.

  “The next question is, is it better to put a single dose in the arms of more people?”

  The CDC is weighing the shift, which could slow down the vaccination process, while President Biden is doing everything in his power to hit the 100MM vaccinated mark by his 100th day in office.

  While supplies have been cited in some reports, we also note demand could also become an issue as not just vaccine-skeptics, but weather-impacted travel restrictions (see Texas for example) mean there are not enough arms to jab.

  And unfortunately, it seems some states have been overwhelmed by the task of trying to get enough doses for the most urgently needed patients, all of which have forced both the FDA and CDC to “moderate” their stance about delaying the second dose.

  Though we do question the ‘science’ here? Is the science of vaccine efficacy protocols being sacrificed at the alter of inept local government logistics?

  Jesse Goodman, former chief scientist at the FDA, warned that the big fear is that letting up the gas on vaccines will let new terrible COVID mutations fester and spread.

  Still, the states likely won’t move on the official policy without a go-ahead from the Feds.

  “Our strategy for Covid constantly needs to balance what our national experts say,” he said, “but also it’s our responsibility to our citizens to make sure we’re constantly trying to push the envelope.”

  At the end of it, the message is a little muddled: Get your second COVID shot just in case any new scary COVID mutants pop up (or continue to spread), but if you can’t, don’t worry about it.

  At least, as far as vaccinations are concerned, the US is still ahead of Europe.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 20:10

• Media Silence After Biden Removes Petitioning From White House Website
  Media Silence After Biden Removes Petitioning From White House Website

  Authored by Eric Garris via AntiWar.com,

  It appears that the ‘We the People’ petition system has been taken off the White House website. Here is an archive of what it looked like before Biden took office.

  The system has been around for many years. At any given time, hundreds of petitions were active. If you get 100,000 signatures, the White House is supposed to give an answer. You may remember that there was an active “Free Assange” petition that the Obama Administration was obligated to answer (and gave a bad answer).

  

  When Trump took office, he briefly discontinued it but put it back up after a media uproar.

  Now it appears the Biden White House has removed it. The website used to be here:
  https://petitions.whitehouse.gov

  This URL, as well as URLs for all currently-active petitions, just forward to the White House front page. I explored the website and could not find any mention of it. The link used to appear in both the “Contact” and “Get Involved” links, but it is gone from both.

  I have seen nothing about this in the media. When I Google “White House Petition System Down” and other similar searches, I only get 4-year-old articles about the time that Trump temporarily disabled it.

  Wikipedia says that the system was taken down the day Biden took office: On January 20 2021, the day the Inauguration of Joe Biden took place, the website’s address started redirecting to the White House’s website home address.

  

  This is a terrible event, and it must be publicized, and Biden must be made to reverse this decision.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 19:50

• House Hearing On GameStop Fiasco Will Focus On "Short Selling And Stock Manipulation"
  House Hearing On GameStop Fiasco Will Focus On “Short Selling And Stock Manipulation”

  In order to affect change, one has to understand the problem before them. It is by those standards we can confidently say we are near-certain that this week’s upcoming congressional hearings on the GameStop fiasco will be both a useless circus and a intellectual farce.

  But just in case we had any doubt left, the nationally televised exercise in Congressional incompetence when it comes to all things capital markets is now said to be focusing on “short selling and stock manipulation”.

  In addition to short selling and stock manipulation, Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the hearing would also focus on “consumer protection, short squeezes, and the roles of ‘gamification’ of trading and social media” – which should be a hoot, considering precisely nobody in congress comprehends equity valuations, how capital markets work, what a short squeeze is – or really anything other than how to trade on inside government information. 

  

  The topics were reportedly sent out Monday in a “memo sent to members of the House Financial Services Committee by Democratic staff.” The memo says that the GameStop chaos “raises questions regarding whether legislators and regulators should take a closer look at existing rules governing short sales and related disclosures, as well as the conflicts between the practice of payment for order flow and firms’ best execution obligations.”

  Lest we forget, it was short sellers who were the target in the GameStop run up, not the parties who may have conspired to manipulate the price of the security artificially by buying it all at once. Though we can’t say we are surprised that Congress already appears to be off-base, before the hearing has even started.

  The memo also says: “It also raises important questions about the efficacy of anti-market manipulation laws and whether technology and social media have outpaced regulation in a manner that leaves investors and the markets exposed to unnecessary risks.”

  Short seller Jim Chanos weighed in earlier today with his response to Vlad Tenev, who is reportedly hiding out in a hotel and has been getting on our nerves, as we noted over the weekend. 

  We should not allow unsophisticated investors to buy stocks with money they don’t have. Misuse of margin debt(and options) by novice investors has possibly destroyed more capital than almost any other trading strategy. How does that sound? https://t.co/OfajDovp3u

  — Diogenes (@WallStCynic) February 16, 2021

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

  Other traders were…well, less than optimistic about the hearing’s ability to affect change. 

  GAMESTOP HEARING TO FOCUS ON SHORT SELLING, MANIPULATION: FBN

  Short sellers got the shit kicked out of them. The fucking stock went up 50x, yet Vlad Tenev is going to make them out to be the bad guy.

  — Quoth the Raven (@QTRResearch) February 16, 2021

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

  We think one trader has the right idea of how to watch the hearing:

  I’m going to watch this hearing on an old computer monitor just so I can smash it. https://t.co/WMNd878LwD

  — Keubiko (@Keubiko) February 16, 2021

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

  Other traders showed their unending confidence in Maxine Waters’ ability to comprehend the situation.

  I’m sure Maxine Waters will prepare for the hearing with the benefit of her habitual extensive research, and chair it with her customary nuanced understanding and intellectual depth.

  — Montana Skeptic (@montana_skeptic) February 16, 2021

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

  And of course, the main focus of this hearing shouldn’t be “evil short sellers”, but rather Citadel’s cozy and relatively unknown relationship with Robinhood and why Robinhood, who positions itself as an app for the little guy while funneling orders to Citadel in exchange for cash, didn’t have the liquidity to perform its basic functions when market participants all threw their hat in the same ring.

  You can read our entire explanation of just how cozy Robinhood and Citadel are – and, more importantly, how they make their money, here. 

  As for our thoughts on the hearing? We think the Chez Quis Maitre D’ said it best.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 19:30

• Surge In Anti-Asian-American Violence Prompts NYC Restaurateurs To Take Action
  Surge In Anti-Asian-American Violence Prompts NYC Restaurateurs To Take Action

  Authored by Tanay Warerkar via NY.Eater.com,

  A group of prominent Asian-American chefs and restaurants owners in New York – who represent some of the top restaurants in the city including Málà Project, Fish Cheeks, and Nowon – have teamed up to raise awareness about the recent rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans, particularly the elderly, in the United States.

  

  Heart of Dinner’s Yin Chang (left) and Moonlyn Tsai packaging meals for elderly Asian Americans,  Dan Ahn [Official]

  The effort, called #EnoughIsEnough, was spearheaded by Eric Sze, chef and owner of East Village Taiwanese restaurant 886, who says he was prompted to take action after seeing videos of attacks on older Asian Americans in the Bay Area last week and how he felt that it hadn’t been covered enough by the mainstream media in the U.S. in the immediate aftermath. The campaign has already raised more than $4,000 as of this morning.

  Sze reached out to a bunch of his friends in the restaurant industry and together the group decided that they would focus on donating meals to homeless shelters, particularly those located in areas like Chinatown with a large Asian-American population, and parts of Harlem and the Bronx, which have larger Black and brown populations.

  The group is currently raising funds through an online campaign and was initially hoping to raise $10,000 to serve 1,000 meals on February 23 and 24. The fundraised blew past the $10,000 mark in just two and half hours, according to Sze, and group has since increased the ask to $20,000, with plans to double the number of meals served as well. Some of the organizations they’ve identified so far for meal distribution include the Bowery Mission, the Bronx Family Shelter, and Welcome to Chinatown.

  

  Yin Chang ( extreme left) and Moonlyn Tsai delivering meals to an older Asian American couple during the pandemic,  Alex Lau [Official]

  Kopitiam co-owner Moonlyn Tsai, who along with her girlfriend Yin Chang runs Heart of Dinner, will be leading the meal delivery efforts in Chinatown on February 24. During the early months of the pandemic, Tsai and Chang’s organization was at the forefront of delivering meals to the elderly Asian population in Chinatown, many of whom were homebound and weren’t receiving culturally appropriate meals. Heart of Dinner will be doing much of the same in a couple of weeks, utilizing its existing network, and delivering 500 meals to the Chinese American Planning Council, Hamilton Madison House, and Nanoom House, in total, along with some direct deliveries to people’s homes.

  “It is really heartwarming to see a community banding together through food,” says Tsai, adding that she was particularly heartened that her friends in the restaurant industry came together so quickly despite most of them facing challenges operating their restaurants during the pandemic.

  An additional 500 meals will go to shelters in Harlem and the Bronx. In addition to the meal donations, the group is also organizing virtual cooking classes with chefs like Helen Nguyen of the modern Vietnamese restaurant Saigon Social, and Lucas Sin from Junzi Kitchen that will take place on February 22. Called the “Lunar Banquet for Uncle Vicha,” the event recognizes not the just the start of the Lunar New Year but is also aimed at honoring the memory of Vicha Ratanapakdee, the 84-year-old San Franciscan, who died after he was pushed by a teenager onto the pavement.

  

  The campaign honors the memory of 84-year-old San Franciscan Vicha Ratanapakdee, who died after a teenager pushed him on to the pavement,  Jonathan D. Chang [Official]

  The chefs will be utilizing Essex Pearl’s kitchen at the Market Line on the Lower East Side to film the cooking demonstrations, and details for those classes will be emailed to folks after they make a donation to the campaign.

  Others like Amelie Kang, the owner of Málà Project, and Sakura Yagi, of T.I.C. Restaurant Group, are planning to raise awareness about the rise in hate crimes through their restaurants’ and personal Instagram accounts.

  One part of this coordinated effort is to raise awareness so more mainstream media outlets will increase coverage of crimes against Asian Americans. The New York City Police Department created a Asian Hate Crimes Task Force last year in response to a major spike in verbal and physical assaults toward Asian Americans during the pandemic; earlier on in the pandemic, several Chinese restaurants in the city reported vandalism and harassment shortly after the state-mandated shutdown in March last year. Even before the shutdown, Chinese restaurants in the city were already seeing a massive drop in sales due to xenophobia and misinformation spreading about the virus.

  [ZH: As an awkward reminder, while some would like to push the narrative that Trump’s rhetoric against China is responsible for the recent attacks, Black-on-Asian violence isn’t a new thing, and has been documented in the Bay area for more than a decade. Raising the question, are we supposed to believe that black thugs have been taking direction from former President Trump (who received just 12% of the black vote).]

  In March last year, Russell Jeung, a professor at the San Francisco State University teaching Asian-American studies created a tool to track hate-related incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. By the end of last year, it had recorded more than 2,800 incidents that were self-reported, according to USA Today.

  

  Eric Sze preparing meals for hospital workers earlier in the pandemic, 886 [Official]

  Another part of the campaign, however, is to encourage other Asian Americans to speak out about incidents or harassment and to encourage others in the Asian American community to start similar initiatives.

  “We want to empower people who feel like their opinions don’t matter,” says Sze.

  “Sometimes in Asian cultures it’s nailed into your head that your voice doesn’t matter and that you have to conform. But this needs to change and we need to inspire more people to speak out, not just in the food industry, but in the fashion industry, and in tech as well.”

  For now, Sze and the rest of the group are focussed on the meal delivery aspect of the initiative and are continuing to raise funds for the effort. Details for the potential Instagram neighborhood food tours will follow in the near future.

  Here’s a full list of the restaurants participating in this effort:

  • 886
  • Junzi
  • Nguyen Coffee Supply
  • Fishcheeks
  • Saigon Social
  • Mala Project
  • Heart of Dinner
  • Double Chicken Please
  • Win Son
  • Nowon
  • Madame Vo
  • Ho Foods
  • Bessou
  • Very Fresh Noodles
  • Di An Di
  • Patisserie Fouet
  • Milk & Cream Cereal Bar
  • Feed Forward
  • Aqua Best
  • Essex Pearl
  • T.I.C Restaurant Group (Rai Rai Ken, Shabu Tatsu, Cha An, etc)
  • Southeast Asia Food Group

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 19:10

• Kraft Heinz, Conagra Will Start Passing On Soaring Food Costs To Consumers
  Kraft Heinz, Conagra Will Start Passing On Soaring Food Costs To Consumers

  Stagflation for the masses?

  Cost of living is about to soar and all the average joe has to cover it is a $1400 check from Uncle Joe.

  Late last year we noted that SocGen’s Albert Edwards warning readers that it could be time to start “panicking” about soaring food prices. 

  Edwards’ research said, “keep a very close eye as to whether we see a repeat of the 2010/11 surge in food prices” because “on the 10th anniversary of the start of the Arab Spring, and with poverty having already been made much worse by the pandemic, another food price bubble could well be the straw to break the very angry camel’s back.”

  

  While it’s not quite the spring of 2021 just yet, there are indications that soaring food costs are about to get passed on to consumers – this is terrible news for working-poor folks who are already suffering from housing and food insecurities. 

  According to Reuters, Kraft Heinz Co and Conagra Brands Inc warned Tuesday that price increases of wheat, sugar, and other commodities are becoming more expensive due to elevated demand. 

  

  Conagra executives told Reuters that increased prices for edible oils, pork and eggs, and packaging might force it to pass it along to consumers in the form of higher prices. 

  Kraft Heinz CEO Miguel Patricio said inflation is everywhere in the agri complex.

  He said inflation in “everything related to grains” is being observed, and it may result in price increases of some categories, including mac and cheese and mayonnaise, later this year. 

  

  Is it time to worry about food inflation? 

  According to Edwards, the answer is “yes.” 

  In December’s CPI print, food inflation was very notable on Jan. 13. The report said:

  The food at home index increased 3.9 percent over the past 12 months. All six major grocery store food group indexes increased over the period. The largest increase was the meats, poultry, fish, and eggs index which rose 4.6 percent as the beef index increased 5.3 percent. The smallest increases were for the cereals and bakery products and the fruits and vegetables indexes, which both increased 3.2 percent over the last 12 months. The index for food away from home rose 3.9 percent over the last year. The index for limited service meals rose 6.0 percent and the index for full service meals rose 3.0 percent over the span.

  Also, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index rose for a seventh consecutive month in December, led by dairy products and vegetable oils. 

  So, as the surge in global food prices remains anything but transitory, major food producers are set to pass on those food costs for consumers at a time when millions of them can barely afford rent and or feed their families. 

  Of course, while food prices are surging around the world, the well-managed signals in official inflation data remains relatively low… enabling central planners to keep the spigots wide open (no matter what the consequences).

  As we noted previously, while central bankers walk around with their heads in the clouds, a team at C+R Research has surveyed more than 2,000 American consumers to find out how they have “adjusted” to these higher prices, which have come amid a surge in unemployment. Their findings aren’t all that surprising: 85% of consumers said that their budgets had been impacted by having to pay more for groceries. Milk, eggs and meat are the top staples that Americans are paying more for.

  

  And given the headlines today, things are about to get even worse.

  To sum up, prepare for major food companies to start jacking up food prices. We assume this will not sit well in the stomachs of already-broke consumers. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 18:50

• Trump Declares War On Mitch McConnell, Calls Him "A Dour, Sullen, And Unsmiling Political Hack"
  Trump Declares War On Mitch McConnell, Calls Him “A Dour, Sullen, And Unsmiling Political Hack”

  Donald Trump has some choice words for Senate Mitch McConnell (R-KY), after the Senate Minority Leader voted to acquit the former president, only to go on a tirade on the Senate floor (followed by a Wall Street Journal interview) in which he blamed Trump for the Jan. 6 incursion into the US Capitol by Trump supporters.

  

  “They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth—because he was angry he’d lost an election,” said McConnell. “Former President Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty.”

  McConnell also blames Trump for the GOP losing control of the Senate in January after two GOP candidates lost their races after failing to support Trump’s multiple challenges to the 2020 US election. “We all know why that occurred,” McConnell told the Journal on Monday.

  Trump is having none of it, writing in a scathing Tuesday letter that “Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again.”

  

  “McConnell’s dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse.”

  He also suggested that the McConnell family’s “substantial Chinese holdings” give him “no credibility on China.”

  The former president also had some thoughts on Georgia, which he said was a “complete election disaster,” in which “McConnell did nothing, and will never do what needs to be done to secure a fair and just electoral system into the future. He doesn’t have what it takes, he never did, and never will.“

  Trump’s only regret? That he backed McConnell after the Kentucky Senator “begged” for his support – without which Trump says McConnell would have lost. “He went from one point down to 20 points up, and won,” said the former president, adding “How quickly he forgets.“

  Read below:

  Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America

  The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political “leaders” like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm. McConnell’s dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse. The Democrats and Chuck from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse. The Democrats and Chuck Schumer play McConnell like a fiddle—they’ve never had it so good—and they want to keep it that way! We know our America First agenda is a winner, not McConnell’s Beltway First agenda or Biden’s America Last.

  In 2020, I received the most votes of any sitting President in history, almost 75,000,000. Every incumbent House Republican won for the first time in decades, and we flipped 15 seats, almost costing Nancy Pelosi her job. Republicans won majorities in at least 59 of the 98 partisan legislative chambers, and the Democrats failed to flip a single legislative chamber from red to blue. And in “Mitch’s Senate,” over the last two election cycles, I single-handedly saved at least 12 Senate seats, more than eight in the 2020 cycle alone—and then came the Georgia disaster, where we should have won both U.S. Senate seats, but McConnell matched the Democrat offer of $2,000 stimulus checks with $600. How does that work? It became the Democrats’ principal advertisement, and a big winner for them it was. McConnell then put himself, one of the most unpopular politicians in the United States, into the advertisements. Many Republicans in Georgia voted Democrat, or just didn’t vote, because of their anguish at their inept Governor, Brian Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and the Republican Party, for not doing its job on Election Integrity during the 2020 Presidential race.

  It was a complete election disaster in Georgia, and certain other swing states. McConnell did nothing, and will never do what needs to be done in order to secure a fair and just electoral system into the future. He doesn’t have what it takes, never did, and never will.

  My only regret is that McConnell “begged” for my strong support and endorsement before the great people of Kentucky in the 2020 election, and I gave it to him. He went from one point down to 20 points up, and won. How quickly he forgets. Without my endorsement, McConnell would have lost, and lost badly. Now, his numbers are lower than ever before, he is destroying the Republican side of the Senate, and in so doing, seriously hurting our Country.

  Likewise, McConnell has no credibility on China because of his family’s substantial Chinese business holdings. He does nothing on this tremendous economic and military threat.

  Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again. He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country. Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First. We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership.

  Prior to the pandemic, we produced the greatest economy and jobs numbers in the history of our Country, and likewise, our economic recovery after Covid was the best in the world. We cut taxes and regulations, rebuilt our military, took care of our Vets, became energy independent, built the wall and stopped the massive inflow of illegals into our Country, and so much more. And now, illegals are pouring in, pipelines are being stopped, taxes will be going up, and we will no longer be energy independent.

  This is a big moment for our country, and we cannot let it pass by using third rate “leaders” to dictate our future!

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 18:30

• Berkshire Reveals New Positions In Chevron, Verizon; Exits JPM; Trims Apple, Wells: Full 13F Summary
  Berkshire Reveals New Positions In Chevron, Verizon; Exits JPM; Trims Apple, Wells: Full 13F Summary

  Ahead of today’s 13F filing by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, rumors were rife that the Omaha billionaire would unveil a stake in Exxon or some other oil major. Well, the rumors were this close to being correct because instead of Exxon, Berkshire just filed 13F indicating that as of Dec 31, 2020 – in which it revealed stock holdings amounting to $270BN – it owned $4.1 billion or 48.5 million shares of the 2nd largest US major, Chevron, which it had accumulated previously in secret, sparking a 3% jump in its shares. Those wondering if and how much Exxon shares were purchased by Berkshire will have to wait another three months.

  Among the other most notable changes, Berkshire trimmed its Apple holdings by 6.4% from 947.5 million share to 887.1 million. The reduction left Berkshire with Apple stock valued $120 billion at the end of 2020, according to another filing.

  Berkshire also unveiled a sizable new position in Verizon (146.7MM shares which were worth $8.6BN on Dec 31) and a smaller new holding in insurer Marsh & Mclennan ($500MM stake for 4.3 million share). Curiously, these new positions had been granted confidential status and not revealed in a third-quarter regulatory filing, according to an updated document released Tuesday, which means that Buffett started as accumulating the shares in the 3rd quarter

  While Berkshire added to its stake in BoNY, T-Mobile and Kroger, the company also shifted a recent bet on drugmakers by increasing its a stake in Merck (+28.1%), Abbvie (+20.1%) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (+11.2%) while exiting completely a recent investment in Pfizer.  Buffett’s conglomerate also cut a few bank holdings, exiting JPMorgan, PNC Financial and M&T Bank while slashing its Wells Fargo & Co. stake by 58.8%. The company also trimmed its investment in General Motors cutting that holding by 7.5MM shares to a stake valued at roughly $3 billion at the end of the fourth quarter.

  Amusingly, after causing ripples in the precious metal market last year when Berkshire revealed a modest stake in gold miner Barrick Gold, in Q4 Berkshire completely exited said holding. As Bloomberg notes, “the investment was a surprise when it was revealed last year, given Buffett’s years of chiding the precious metal.”

  A full breakdown of Berkshire’s Q4 13F is below:

  

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 18:08

• Hello Clean Energy Advocates, What Do We Do When The Wind Turbines Are All Frozen?
  Hello Clean Energy Advocates, What Do We Do When The Wind Turbines Are All Frozen?

  Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

  The wholesale price of electricity spikes 10,000% in a Texas power outage. Among other problems, the wind turbines are all frozen.

  A helicopter running on fossil fuel spraying a chemical made from fossil fuels onto a wind turbine made with fossils fuels during an ice storm is awesome. pic.twitter.com/3HInc2qKb9

  — Luke Legate (@lukelegate) February 15, 2021

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

  Wholesale Price of Electricity Spikes 10,000% 

  As a background on the clean energy debate, please consider The Wholesale Price of Electricity Spikes 10,000% in Texas Power Outage.

  

  Let’s discuss wind turbines, natural gas, and coal.

  A Deep Green Freeze

  The Wall Street Journal editorial board says “Power shortages show the folly of eliminating natural gas—and coal.” 

  I agree with some of what they say and disagree with parts of it as well.

  Please consider A Deep Green Freeze by the WSJ. 

  Gas and power prices have spiked across the central U.S. while Texas regulators ordered rolling blackouts Monday as an Arctic blast has frozen wind turbines. Herein is the paradox of the left’s climate agenda: The less we use fossil fuels, the more we need them. 

  A mix of ice and snow swept across the country this weekend as temperatures plunged below zero in the upper Midwest and into the teens in Houston. Cold snaps happen—the U.S. also experienced a Polar Vortex in 2019—as do heat waves. Yet the power grid is becoming less reliable due to growing reliance on wind and solar, which can’t provide power 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

  Texas’s energy emergency could last all week as the weather is forecast to remain frigid. “My understanding is, the wind turbines are all frozen,” Public Utility Commission Chairman DeAnn Walker said Friday. “We are working already to try and ensure we have enough power but it’s taken a lot of coordination.”

  Wind’s share has tripled to about 25% since 2010 and accounted for 42% of power last week before the freeze set in. About half of Texans rely on electric pumps for heating, which liberals want to mandate everywhere. But the pumps use a lot of power in frigid weather. So while wind turbines were freezing, demand for power was surging.

  California progressives long ago banished coal. But a heat wave last summer strained the state’s power grid as wind flagged and solar ebbed in the evenings. After imposing rolling blackouts, grid regulators resorted to importing coal power from Utah and running diesel emergency generators.

  Liberals claim that prices of renewables and fossil fuels are now comparable, which may be true due to subsidies, but they are no free lunch, as this week’s energy emergency shows. The Biden Administration’s plan to banish fossil fuels is a greater existential threat to Americans than climate change.

  Greater Existential Threat 

  The Journal claims “The Biden Administration’s plan to banish fossil fuels is a greater existential threat to Americans than climate change.”

  pic.twitter.com/DGaRXjy5wt

  — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 16, 2021

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

  I agree 100%. 

  But what to do about it? 

  Clean Energy

  I am a big fan of natural gas and believe it is clean energy. The byproduct of burning natural gas is carbon dioxide and water. 

  Neither is a pollutant in any way shape or form. Plants even need carbon dioxide to survive. 

  Coal is another matter. 

  Burning coal releases SO2 and NOx pollutants that cause Acid Rain, huge respiratory problems and will devastate forests.

  If the atmosphere is polluted with sulfur dioxide (SO2) or nitrogen oxides (NOx), rain becomes oxidized by ozone (O3) or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to form H2SO4 or HNO3 before falling to the ground. They are known respectively as sulfuric and nitric acid. 

  Acid rain will dissolve panty hose on the spot.

  There is a huge difference between burning coal and burning natural gas.

  Anti-Coal, Pro-Natural Gas

  For environmental reasons, I am anti-coal but very much in favor of Natural Gas. 

  Problems arise as happened last year in California and this week in Texas when pressure to eliminate all carbon wins over common sense. 

  Where is the CO2 Coming From? 

  

  CO2 Stats

  • Please note that the US reduced its carbon footprint from 6.13 billion tons in 2007 to 5.28 billion tons in 2019.
  • Meanwhile, China increased its footprint from 6.86 billion tons in 2019 to 10.17 billion tons in 2019.
  • In the same timeframe, global output rose from 31.29 billion tons to 36.44 billion tons.
  • In 2007, the US accounted for 19.6% of the total global carbon footprint.
  • In 2019, the US accounted for only 14.5% of the total global footprint.

  Wind Not Reliable

  Wind is not a reliable source, as we have just proven in spades, twice over. 

  Yet, despite the facts that US carbon output is shrinking and the US only accounted for  14.5% of the total global footprint, the absurd push to eliminate all US carbon presses on.

  John Kerry’s Straw Man Climate Arguments

  John Kerry is Biden’s climate czar.

  He blamed 4 hurricanes on climate change as if throwing any amount of money at the alleged problem would have stopped the hurricanes.

  For discussion, please see Kerry’s Straw Man Argument for Wasting Money on Climate Change

  GM to Phase Out Gas-Powered Vehicles by 2035, Carbon Neutral by 2040

  One day after Kerry’s ridiculous rant, I noted GM to Phase Out Gas-Powered Vehicles by 2035, Carbon Neutral by 2040.

  Assuming one believes CO2 is a problem, this is the way problems are solved.

  GM is not doing this to save the world, it is doing this because market forces mandate a change.

  Similarly, solar power will come into play as storage technology improves.

  The free market, not populist ideas will solve real world problems.

  $90 Trillion Solutions 

  In 2015, Business Insider noted A Plan Is Floating Around Davos To Spend $90 Trillion Redesigning All The Cities So They Don’t Need Cars

  The $90 trillion proposal came from former US vice president Al Gore, former president of Mexico Felipe Calderon, and their colleagues on The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. 

  “We cannot have these cities with low density, designed for the use of cars,” he said. “We recommend those cities should have more density and more mass transportation.” Together with a program for reforming land use, and bringing deforestation to zero, the total cost of this plan would most likely be $90 trillion in future investment, Calderon said.

  AOC’s New Green Deal

  Also recall AOC’s Green New Deal Pricetag of $51 to $93 Trillion vs. Cost of Doing Nothing.

  A Word About Cherry Picking Data

  Cherry Picking?

  What the hell do you think is going to happen when everyone in China and India using mostly coal want higher standards of living?

  You reaffirm the big problem ahead is totally outside US control.

  Yet, Biden, AOC, etc. think the US can solve this with dollars

  — Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) February 15, 2021

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

  On February 3, I noted Climate Change Moves to the Forefront of Biden’s Legislation

  “It’s long past time for the Senate to take a leading role in combating the existential threat of our time: climate,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

  The “existential threat” is politicians seeking $90 trillion solutions to hyped-up problems, not natural gas.

  Nice nice pic.twitter.com/97DrEr5SsF

  — Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) February 16, 2021

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

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 02/16/2021 – 17:50

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• World Won't Be Adequately Vaccinated From COVID-19 Until 2027: Specialist
  World Won’t Be Adequately Vaccinated From COVID-19 Until 2027: Specialist

  Authored by Jessie Zhang via The Epoch Times,

  An Australian infectious disease physician said it would take six years for the world to be adequately vaccinated against the CCP virus, so vaccines must be shared with developing countries to avoid “more sinister” strains emerging.

  

  Infectious diseases specialist and Australian National University lecturer Sanjaya Senanayake said about 70 countries have signed up for vaccination programmes. Presently, he estimates that the goal won’t be met in a year or two.

  “At the current rate of vaccination it is estimated we won’t reach global coverage of 75 percent with vaccines for about six years,” Dr Senanayake told the National Press Club on Feb. 10.

  “If we continue this global vaccine rollout while in other parts of the world infection continues unchecked, then we will see more sinister strains emerge which might have further impacts on vaccine efficacy.”

  

  Infectious Disease Physician Sanjaya Senanayake, Epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws and Honorary Professor of Paediatrics Robert Booy at the National Press Club in Canberra, Wednesday, February 10, 2021. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

  South Africa halted its rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine after a small-scale trial showed it gave minimal protection of merely 10 percent against the South African variant.

  But paediatrician Robert Booy said the trial was based on 2,000 people and was, in effect, not a concern to Australia.

  “We need better studies in larger numbers over longer periods of time,” he said.

  “Then we’ll have a better understanding whether this vaccine is a problem for the South African variant or not.”

  Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly also downplayed the reports, saying they were based on a small group of people in a study not yet peer-reviewed nor published.

  “At the moment, I can absolutely say … there’s no evidence anywhere in the world AstraZeneca effectiveness against severe infection is affected by any of these variants of concern,” Kelly told reporters in Canberra last Tuesday.

  Despite ambitious plans, mutant variants of CCP virus will delay the progress of vaccinating the world. Both the UK and South African variants have been spread in Australia’s hotel quarantine since Jan. 7.

  Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack confirmed on Monday that the first shipment of Pfizer vaccines is on schedule to arrive by the end of February.

  The government is also discussing the prospects of a nationwide effort in making jabs available to Australians before the end of October.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 23:30

• Minneapolis Quietly Spends Millions To Hire More Cops Amid Ongoing "Defund Police" Campaign
  Minneapolis Quietly Spends Millions To Hire More Cops Amid Ongoing “Defund Police” Campaign

  It seems like just yesterday that the Minneapolis PD (along with city leadership) were abandoning the city’s third precinct to a chaotic mob assembled in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd.

  Not even nine months later – has led to a surge in violent crime as the city struggles from its largest wave of defections in history.

  Who could have seen that coming?

  While hundreds of thousands of Minneapolis residents have been left to struggle with the consequences, the city’s police department is quietly rushing to hire dozens of new officers (all of whom meet new conduct standards devised by the department and city leadership). City leadership has voted to spend $6.4MM on a “recruiting campaign” to hire new officers, after the city’s “available for service” headcount plummeted to 638 officers “available”, roughly 200 short of the average headcount from before the riots, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.

  Even though three members of the city council voted to defund the department in the aftermath of last year’s unrest, the council quietly, and unanimously, approved the money requested by the department.

  

  An unprecedented number of officers quit or went on extended medical leave after Floyd’s death and the unrest that followed. With its incoming recruiting class, the city anticipates that it will have a total of 674 officers available to service by the end of the year, with another 28 in the hiring process.

  Days before this most recent City Council vote, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo promised an “update” to the application process for police recruits to include questions about whether they have have lived in Minneapolis, have degrees in criminology, social work, psychology or counseling, and whether they volunteer or participate in programs such as the Police Activities League. Deputy Police Chief Amelia Huffman said the department leadership hopes the change “will help us to really feel confident that we are recruiting the kinds of candidates we want right from the beginning.”

  Meanwhile, as Mayor Frey continues his pleas to the city council not to de-fund the department (since that could create some pretty serious quality of life concerns in his city, like, well, anarchy and chaos, even with the bad winter weather gripping the US) Minneapolis has seen a surge in violent crime in a pattern that has plagued other protest-torn cities (some have dubbed it “the Ferguson Effect” after the small St. Louis suburb where Michael Brown was killed).

  In addition to the funding for the recruitment campaign, the city also authorized a nearly $230K contract with risk management company Hillard Heintze, which is expected to produce a report analyzing the city’s response to the rioting that followed Floyd’s death.

  And what’s more, “grass roots” campaigns seeking to collect more signatures to help permanently banish the department  have taken root.

  ‘Yes 4 Minneapolis’, a coalition of local community groups, is also collecting signatures to try to get a similar proposal aimed at “defunding” the “bad” Minneapolis Police Department, and using the money to build a new department of public safety in the city, on the ballot in November. Organizers are hoping to collect 20K signatures before March 31, with non-profit money that comes from a number of places, including a half-million-dollar-grant from the George Soros-linked Open Society Policy Center.

  Incidentally, the (sure-to-be highly publicized) trial of police officer Derek Chauvin, who was charged with second-degree murder in Floyd’s killing, and three officers charged with abetting murder, is set to start next month.

  Unfortunately for the department, we doubt Chauvin’s trial will help morale – rather, it will likely serve as a potent counter-narrative for anybody even thinking about joining the department.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 23:00

• Johnstone: Conspiracy Theories Are Caused By Government Secrecy
  Johnstone: Conspiracy Theories Are Caused By Government Secrecy

  Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

  The DC Circuit has ruled that the CIA is under no obligation to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests pertaining to its involvement with insurgent militias in Syria, overturning a lower court’s previous ruling in favor of a Buzzfeed News reporter seeking such documents.

  

  As Sputnik’s Morgan Artyukhina clearly outlines, this ruling comes despite the fact that mainstream news outlets have been reporting on the Central Intelligence Agency’s activities in Syria for years, and despite a US president having openly tweeted about those activities.

  “In other words, the CIA will not be required to admit to actions it is widely reported as having done, much less divulge documents about them to the press for even greater scrutiny,” Artyukhina writes, calling to mind the Julian Assange quote “The overwhelming majority of information is classified to protect political security, not national security.”

  My latest: Despite extensive reporting by the @WSJ & CIA-vetted @nytimes confirming it happened, a DC court has sided with the @CIA, finding that a Trump tweet doesn’t constitute proof that it funded al-Qaeda in #Syria. https://t.co/NFaQBrggV5

  — Morgan Artyukhina (@LavenderNRed) February 13, 2021

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

  The CIA’s brazen collaboration with dangerous extremist factions seeking to topple Damascus, and its equally brazen refusal to provide the public with any information about the extent of its involvement in Syria from the earliest stages of the violence in that nation onwards, will necessarily provide fodder for conspiracy theories.

  It is public knowledge that the CIA was involved in the Syrian war to some extent, it is public knowledge that the CIA has a well-documented history of doing extremely evil things, and it is public knowledge that the US government has long sought control over Syria. Due to the agency’s refusal to be transparent about the exact nature of its involvement in that nation, people are left to fill in the knowledge gaps with their own speculation.

  Of course they will do this. Why wouldn’t they? Why would anyone give the lying, torturing, propagandizing, drug trafficking, coup-staging, warmongering, psychopathic Central Intelligence Agency the benefit of the doubt and assume their actions in Syria have been benevolent just because the hard facts have been hidden behind a wall of government secrecy?

  Yet they will be expected to. Anyone with a sufficient degree of influence who comes right out and says the CIA knowingly armed violent jihadists with the goal of orchestrating regime change in Syria will be attacked as a crazy conspiracy theorist by the narrative managers of the establishment media. If their words are really disruptive to establishment narratives, there will be calls to deplatform, unemploy, and ban them from social media.

  I’d forgotten how shameless and demented the imperialist narrative managers get whenever anyone in a position of influence contradicts the imperial narrative about what’s happening in Syria. Mentally replace their words with “STOP INTERFERING IN OUR GLOBAL PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN!” https://t.co/Sd5HCCklkW pic.twitter.com/O9XonJBHfo

  — Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) January 15, 2021

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

  And really such is the case with all the melodramatic garment rending about the dangers of conspiracy theories today. All the fixation on the way unregulated speech on the internet has contributed to the circulation of conspiracy theories conveniently ignores the real cause of those theories: government secrecy.

  If the most powerful government in the world were not hiding a massive amount of its behavior behind increasingly opaque walls of secrecy, people would not need to fill in the gaps with theories about what’s happening, because there would be no gaps; they would simply see what’s happening.

  “But Caitlin!” one might object. “How could America engage in all its military operations around the world if it didn’t keep information about its behaviors a secret?”

  Exactly, my smooth-brained friend. Exactly.

  Government secrecy is indeed necessary for winning wars. Government secrecy is also necessary for starting those wars in the first place. US government agencies have an extensive history of using false pretenses to initiate military conflicts; if they could not hide the facts behind a veil of government opacity, the public would never engage in them. The American people would never have allowed their sons to go to Vietnam if they’d known the Gulf of Tonkin incident was a lie. They’d never have sent their sons and daughters to invade Iraq if they’d known weapons of mass destruction were a lie. They would lose the support of the public, and the international community would refuse to back them.

  

  Protecting the lives of foreign military and intelligence personnel is the primary argument against government transparency in the United States, a premise which takes it for granted that there need to be foreign military and intelligence personnel at all. The only reason the lives of troops and intelligence officers would be endangered without massive walls of government secrecy is because those personnel are out there facilitating imperialist acts of mass murder and tyranny. The argument is essentially “Well we can’t tell you the truth about what’s happening in our government, because it would mean we’d have to stop doing extremely evil things.”

  The argument that the internet needs strict censorship to eliminate dangerous conspiracy theories takes it as a given that simply eliminating government secrecy is impossible, which in turn takes it as a given that the US government cannot simply stop inflicting grave evils around the world. Our ability to share information with each other online is therefore ultimately being increasingly choked off by monopolistic Silicon Valley megacorporations because no one in charge can fathom the idea of the United States government ceasing to butcher human beings around the world.

  That is the real underlying argument over internet censorship today. Should people have free access to information about what their own government is doing, or should their government be permitted to do evil things in secret while people who form theories about what they’re doing are shoved further and further away from audibility? That’s the real debate here.

  Here’s how politicians, media and government could eliminate conspiracy theories if they really want to:
  – Stop lying all the time
  – Stop killing people
  – Stop promoting conspiracy theories (Russiagate)
  – Stop doing evil things in secret
  – End government opacity
  – Stop conspiring

  — Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) January 9, 2021

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  The powerful should not be permitted to keep secrets from the public. They should not be permitted to jail journalists who try to reveal those secrets to the public, and they should not be permitted to collaborate with monopolistic corporations to censor people who form theories about those secrets. The amount of secrecy you are entitled to should be directly inverse to the amount of power that you have.

  The US government has powerful agencies whose literal job is to conspire. The fact that people are punished and condemned for forming theories about how that conspiring might take place, even while those agencies are completely lacking in transparency, is abusive.

  If the government was not doing evil things in secret, then it wouldn’t need secrecy. If the government didn’t have secrecy, there would be no conspiracy theories. Stop pointing your attacks at powerless people who are just trying to figure out what’s going on in the world amidst a sea of government secrecy and propaganda, and point your attacks instead at the power structures that are actually responsible for the existence of conspiracy theories in the first place.

  *  *  *

  Thanks for reading! 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 Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy my new book Poems For Rebels (you can also download a PDF for five bucks) or my old book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. 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
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 22:30

• Hyundai's New Robocar Can Drive And Walk 
  Hyundai’s New Robocar Can Drive And Walk 

  Flying taxis, delivery drones, and other automated vehicles have been designed to boost economic activity and transform economies in metro areas. Very few companies have focused on new technologies and applied them for extreme environments, like in rural areas or the Moon. 

  Hyundai Motor Group is changing all that. With operations based out of its New Horizons Studio in California, the South Korean multinational automotive manufacturer has designed a robocar that is not just four-wheel-drive but can also walk to maneuver the world’s most challenging terrain. 

  Called the TIGER X-1, the intelligent ground excursion robot is designed to carry payloads, not humans. It’s based on a “modular platform architecture. It features include a sophisticated leg and wheel locomotion system, 360-degree directional control, and a range of sensors for remote observation,” according to a company press release. 

  

  Researchers at New Horizons Studio have partnered with U.S. firms Autodesk and Sundberg-Ferar to accelerate TIGER X-1’s development. 

  Applications for TIGER X-1 could include 360-degree surface evaluation in natural disaster areas while also carrying critical payloads to remote locations. 

  

  “Working closely with the team at Hyundai on the TIGER X-1 vehicle, using advanced technology such as generative design to push the boundaries of increasing strength while reducing weight in transportation, is exactly what we mean when we talk about creating the new possible,” said Srinath Jonnalagadda, Vice President of Business Strategy for Design and Manufacturing at Autodesk. 

  David Byron, Manager of Design and Innovation Strategy at Sundberg-Ferar, said the “the efficiency of wheeled motion with the articulation of a quadruped to expand the possibility of reaching more remote locations.” He said, “TIGER is a modular platform design allowing different bodies to be attached to the chassis for unique applications such as cargo delivery or surveillance in locations not suitable for humans.”

  Hyundai said TIGER X-1 even could explore the moon or other planet. 

  

  Hyundai has also purchased a $1.1 billion controlling stake in Boston Dynamics, and there’s still no world if dystopian robot dogs and TIGER X-1 vehicle will be integrated. 

  As for now, Hyundai has made no effort to hide its interest in robotics. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 22:00

• What Did Pelosi Know, & When? Bipartisan Support Builds For 9/11-Style Commission On Capitol Riot
  What Did Pelosi Know, & When? Bipartisan Support Builds For 9/11-Style Commission On Capitol Riot

  Via Planet Free Will News,

  Bipartisan support for a 9/11-style commission to further investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has grown bipartisan support with lawmakers urging such a body to get to the root cause of the events that day.

  

  “I’d like to know, did the Capitol Hill police inform the House sergeant at arms and the Senate sergeant at arms the day before the attack that they needed more troops?” Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News on Sunday after mentioning he believed there was a preplanned element to the highly publicized actions that took place.

  “We need to look at did Nancy Pelosi know on January 5 that there was a threat to the Capitol…

  What did President Trump do after the attack… 

  We need a 9/11 commission to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again, and I want to make sure that the Capitol footprint can be better defended next time,” he continued.

  Graham would add that the preplanned element had no connection to former president Donald Trump’s speech during a rally earlier that day.

  Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who unlike Graham, voted to convict the former president during the impeachment trial, also called for a 9/11-style commission, telling ABC over the weekend that “there should be a complete investigation about what happened.”

  “I think there should be a complete investigation about what happened on Jan. 6. Why was there not more law enforcement, National Guard already mobilized, what was known, who knew it, and when they knew it, all that, because that builds the basis so this never happens again in the future,” Cassidy said.

  On the other side of the aisle, Democrat Senator Dennis Coons also vocalized support for such a commission, telling ABC “there’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear.”

  “A 9/11 commission is a way that we make sure that we secure the Capitol going forward and that we lay bare the record of just how responsible and how abjectly violating of his constitutional oath president Trump really was,” Coons said on Sunday.

  Sen. Chris Coons echoes calls for a 9/11-style commission in wake of the impeachment trial: “There’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear.” https://t.co/L6vzgDaa8k pic.twitter.com/6zHCURRPfa

  — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 14, 2021

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

  Democrat House impeachment manager Rep. Madeleine Dean also appeared on the same ABC news program Sunday, saying:

  “Of course, there must be a full commission and impartial commission, not guided by politics, but filled with people who would stand up to the courage of their conviction, like Dr. Cassidy.”

  The growing calls for the commission preceded the failure of the Senate to obtain the 67-vote threshold to convict Trump on inciting an insurrection as charged in the House’s article of impeachment.

  A 9/11-style commission is in reference to the bipartisan body set up in the wake of the collapse of the 3 World Trade Center buildings in New York in 2001. The commission’s goal was to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 21:30

• Largest US Museum Considers Dumping Art At Auction To Fund $150 Million Shortfall
  Largest US Museum Considers Dumping Art At Auction To Fund $150 Million Shortfall

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, otherwise known as “Met,” which happens to be the largest art museum in the US, is facing a massive shortfall of $150 million because the virus pandemic has resulted in a dramatic reduction in ticket sales, according to the NYTimes. 

  “This is the time when we need to keep our options open,”Max Hollein, Met’s director, said. “None of us have a full perspective on how the pandemic will play out. It would be inappropriate for us not to consider it, when we’re still in this foggy situation.”

  

  Like many museums, Met is under extreme financial distress, and thanks to the Association of Art Museum Directors, a professional group that manages its members’ best practices, a two-year window has opened up where proceeds from art sales can be directed to fund operations instead of only for future art purchases. 

  The Brooklyn Museum was the first to dump $31 million of art at auctions last fall to fund its budget shortfalls. Later in the year, the Baltimore Museum of Art followed suit and sold millions of dollars of art, including paintings by Brice Marden, Clyfford Still, and Andy Warhol, to fund operations. 

  Former director of the Met, Thomas Campbell, took to Instagram over the weekend to show his disgust at Met’s management to even consider selling art. 

  Here’s what Campbell had to say:

  “Disconcerted to read that The Met is considering deaccessioning art to support operating expenses. While I know as well as anyone the complexity of running that behemoth, and I have great sympathy for those in the driving seat, I fear that this is a slippery path.” 

  It remains to be seen what collection of artwork the Met is willing to dump at auction. 

  

  “Every museum in the US is having these conversations,” Hollein said. “‘Do we want to use this window? What would it mean for the institution? What would it mean for the collection?’ For us not to discuss this now would be irresponsible.

  A warning shot was fired by the American Alliance of Museums late last year, who reported that at least a third of directors of 760 museums said there was a “significant risk” of closing operations within 16 months. 

  Several months ago, referring to the museum downturn, we asked this question: “Does that mean cheap art is about the hit auction houses and reverse lofty prices? ” 

  … and perhaps to answer the question above, that could certainly be the case today. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 21:00

• UC Berkeley Reverses Its Absurd Ban On Outdoor Exercise
  UC Berkeley Reverses Its Absurd Ban On Outdoor Exercise

  Authored by Thomas Lifson via AmericanThinker.com,

  Five days after instituting an embarrassing ban on students exercising outdoors, the University of California, Berkeley, reversed itself and reinstated the ability of 2000 students isolated in dorm rooms to leave them for the purpose of exercise. Angela Ruggiero of the San Jose Mercury-News reported Friday, Feb. 12:

  UC Berkeley has reversed a ban on students exercising outdoors that was imposed earlier this week after a rise in coronavirus cases on campus.

  About 2,000 students isolated in their dorm rooms will now be allowed to exercise outside again, Cal announced on Friday afternoon. However, students are still under a strict lockdown imposed Feb. 1 that is in effect until Monday. The exercise ban went into effect this week, along with stricter restrictions as the university saw a rise in daily coronavirus cases.

  “New positive COVID-19 cases have slowed and as a result we are permitting some limited additional activities for students who are in self-sequester,” read an email sent out to students Friday.

  Only those that are not under isolation or quarantine may leave their door rooms to exercise outside during daylight hours, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Student athletes also may now leave to practice as directed and monitored by Cal Athletics.

  

  The exercise ban had followed on and strengthened an earlier ban on leaving dorm rooms had been imposed Feb 1, and extended on Feb 8.

  The exercise ban made national and international headlines, and elicited surprise, laughter and even scorn.

  “‘Even prisoners get to exercise!’ UC Berkeley bans solo outdoor exercise for dorm-bound students,” headlined RT.

  Campus authorities may have been embarrassed when The University of Pittsburgh published a report the day before the ban was reversed that headlined,

  “COVID-Related Depression Linked to Reduced Physical Activity”

  New research from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and University of California, San Diego, found that 61% of surveyed university students were at risk of clinical depression, a value twice the rate prior to the pandemic. This rise in depression came alongside dramatic shifts in lifestyle habits.

  “Our findings indicate the pandemic has led to a dramatic increase in the rate of anxiety and depression among young adults, especially among college students. It’s disheartening to see, since it’s been well-documented, even before the pandemic, that university-age young adults are reported as experiencing more mental health issues than previous generations,” said Osea Giuntella, assistant professor of economics at Pitt and research co-author.

  There is no Hippocratic Oath for campus bureaucrats, but if there were, the injunction “First, do no harm” would certainly apply to the exercise ban. The survival rate for people in their 20s, which would include nearly all students living on dormitories, is in the upper reaches of the 99th percentile, while, the effects of depression, including suicide, are severe.

  The University claimed its initial ban and subsequent strengthening, and then 5 days later loosening of it, were based on a “spike” in on-campus cases:

  UC Berkeley saw a spike of 164 cases the week of Jan. 31, including 154 undergraduate students, according to the university’s coronavirus dashboard. The number of cases has dropped to 84 this week, as of the latest data on Thursday, when 19 more people tested positive on campus. From Sept. 10 to Thursday of this week, the university has seen a total of 757 positive cases.

  But an examination of the dashboard reveals that it counts any positive test result as a case:

  The dashboard shows the number of positive cases for tests performed at UHS. It does not include saliva tests that were performed through the Innovative Genomics Institute’s FAST Study.

  This appears to go against the WHO’s change in its definition of a case that was announced one hour after President Biden was inaugurated:

  The guidance warned against diagnosing someone as having the virus just because he tests positive if he does not present with symptoms of COVID-19. It also warned about the high risk of false positives: “The cycle threshold (Ct) needed to detect virus is inversely proportional to the patient’s viral load. Where test results do not correspond with the clinical presentation, a new specimen should be taken and retested using the same or different NAT technology.”

  “As disease prevalence decreases, the risk of false positive increases. The probability that a person who has a positive result (SARS-CoV-2 detected) is truly infected with SARS-CoV-2 decreases as prevalence decreases, irrespective of the claimed specificity,” the WHO continued.

  The University’s own dashboard reveals that the rate of positive tests on campus is lower than in the surrounding City of Berkeley, where people freely shop and move about.

  

  (source)

  There doesn’t appear to be a lot of science behind the drastic restrictions on students at Cal Berkeley, as locals call it. Did the campus bureaucrats panic?

  The University of California, Berkeley has a solid claim to worldwide standing as one of the leading producers of scientific research in the world. No fewer than ten Nobel laureates (all in the hard sciences and economics) currently teach on its faculty, including two 2020 laureates. But the University’s draconian reaction to the Covid has embarrassed it and diminished its luster.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 20:30

• BofA Hints That Weimar 2.0 Could Be Coming
  BofA Hints That Weimar 2.0 Could Be Coming

  It’s no secret that BofA’s Chief Investment Officer has been warning that 2021 – the  year of the vaccine – is one where real inflation (as opposed to financial) will run amok sooner or later, and in his latest Flow Show he repeats his two main contentions about how events will play out in the coming months, namely “the velocity of people will rise” and “the velocity of money will (also) rise”.

  Addressing the first,  Hartnett writes that since the core 2021 trends will be “vaccine>virus”,  and “reopening>lockdown”, this means that human mobility will rise & macro data will surge particularly in Q2 when investors should expect US GDP >10%, EPS >20% CPI 3-4% Y/Y, or an economy in fullblown overhating mode. 

  This taken in conjunction with secular trends of bigger government, economic nationalism, fiscal excess, dollar debasement, War on Inequality, there is little wonder inflation breakevens & lead indicators are surging…

  

  … and that small US business price plans over next 3 months are at highest since Nov’18…

  

  … although whether or not they can actually achieve this is a different matter.

  Stepping into the realm of monetary policy, and specifically its velocity, BofA reminds us that in the past 12 months, the US has raked in a $3.5TN (17% GDP) budget deficit, coupled with the injection of $13.3TN in global central bank liquidity (15% GDP).

  Then, unafraid anymore to step on anyone’s toes, Hartnett admits that “as in pretty much every one of past 12 years, policy stimulus in 2020/21 continues to flow directly to Wall St not Main St, inciting historic wealth inequality via asset bubbles,” and to think of the mockery we were subject to (by random idiots) back in 2009 in later years, when we said the Fed’s actions would lead to precisely this.

  Anyway, Back fo BofA, which expects the “rising velocity of people” (vaccine>virus) in 2021 to engender rise in velocity of money, with the “inflation mutating” from Wall Street to Main Street, resulting in a pop in the nihilistic bubble.

  And here is the punchline: BofA reflects back on the post-WW1 Germany (whose armistice was on Nov 1918) as the “most epic, extreme analog of surging velocity and inflation following end of war psychology, pent-up savings, lost confidence in currency & authorities” and specifically the Reichsbank’s monetization of debt, similar of course to what is going on now.

  

  There is, of course, another name for that period: Weimar Germany, and because we all know what happened then, it is understandable why BofA does not want to mention that particular name.

  So what does all this mean for investing? Here is how Hartnett is positioned:

  Real assets will outperform financial assets: we believe 2020 marked secular low for rates/inflation, and 2020s likely decade of inflation assets>deflation, and real assets>financial (i.e., buy commodity-linked exposure, sell duration, tech and growth).

  

  And to that point, Hartnett notes that since 1950 real assets (e.g. commodities, real estate, collectibles) have a > 70% correlation with inflation vs. just 5% correlation with financial assets (stocks & bonds).

  

  Translation: Stanley Druckenmiller, and his “thesis trio” of…

  • short long-end Treasuries
  • very long commodities
  • “very very” short the dollar.

  … is about to make another killing.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 20:05

• The "Second Amendment Preservation Act": Missouri Passes Bill To Nullify Federal Gun Laws
  The “Second Amendment Preservation Act”: Missouri Passes Bill To Nullify Federal Gun Laws

  Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man

  A bill introduced in the Nevada legislature, with the backing of the Governor, would allow tech companies to create new towns called “Innovation Zones.” The purpose of the zones is to provide flexibility to experiment with government, particularly related to integrating “innovative technologies.” These technologies can include blockchain, autonomous technology, the Internet of Things, robotics, artificial intelligence, wireless technology, biometrics, and renewable resources.

  The zones would have to be created on at least 50,000 acres of currently unincorporated, unoccupied land, which is owned or purchased by the company. Also, prior to applying for the Innovation Zone status, company applicants are required to make a $250 million investment in the land. And the company must commit to spending another $1 billion over the following ten years.

  What this means:

  If the bill becomes law, this would give significant freedom for Innovation Zones to try new tax and fee systems for services at a local level. Nevada does not have a state income tax, which could allow these zones to form overall low-tax jurisdictions. It could also allow some experimentation with easing licensing requirements, since the legislation allows the zone to license businesses, but does not require it— although required state licensing would be unaffected.

  Even policing and courts would fall under the responsibility of the zone, which would certainly be an interesting development, since innovations in these areas are few and far between.

  Of course, the legislation has not even passed yet. And even if it does, it will be a long time before we see any actual Innovation Zones spring up.

  Still, it’s an encouraging development to see state governments developing plans for “Special Economic Zone” type arrangements. These have been successful in bringing business, innovation, and wealth to areas which suspend typical taxes and regulations in favor of free market principles (China has had particular success with this strategy.)

  As usual, the weak point comes down to federal taxes and regulations, which would remain unchanged in the zones.

  But there are some states that have passed legislation claiming to supersede federal control over the state governments. And you can already find many of the freedoms you desire, just by wisely choosing your local and state governments.

  What you can do about it:

  Over the past year, it has largely been state and local governments elevating their public health officials to dictator status.

  Local law enforcement have been the biggest perpetrators of civil asset forfeiture and overzealous policing. It’s the local schools which may or may not try to indoctrinate your child with the woke-Marxist Black Lives Matter curriculum we talked about last week.

  But, on the other hand, it’s county Sheriffs who sometimes openly refuse to enforce what they see as unjust laws handed down by state and federal politicians.

  You could improve your life significantly by sometimes only moving one town, county, or state away.

  There are also some interesting legal and tax structures you can take advantage of at state levels.

  For example, South Dakota law allows you to create self-settled trusts, a type of irrevocable trust that can provide asset protection from frivolous lawsuits, and reduce the amount of estate taxes owed upon death. South Dakota also has no state income or capital gains tax, meaning trust assets accumulate tax-free at the state level.

  And finally, some states have taken steps to nullify the influence of the federal government in their jurisdictions.

  For example, a bill recently introduced in the South Dakota legislature would nullify Presidential Executive Orders (EOs) if the state’s attorney general determines that the EOs violate the Constitution. Specifically, this would affect unconstitutional curbs on freedom related to COVID lockdowns, the right to keep and bear arms, and land use.

  A Missouri bill intended to nullify federal gun laws recently passed in the state’s House of Representatives.

  The Senate voted 23-8 to send the bill back to the House, where it passed earlier. The House can either accept the Senate’s changes or negotiate a compromise version. Senators voted for the bill along party lines with Republicans in support and Democrats in opposition. It would declare “null and void” any past, present or future federal law deemed to be an infringement on gun rights for law-abiding citizens.

  Federal agents who knowingly enforce those laws could face civil penalties stemming from lawsuits filed by Missouri residents who think their gun rights were infringed. Those workers would also be banned from future careers in state or local enforcement.

  “We want to cause a reason for law enforcement to have a healthy pause before they might infringe on the Second Amendment rights of Missouri citizens,” said Sen. Brian Nieves, R-Washington.

  Other states, such as Wyoming, South Dakota, Arizona, Tennessee, Kansas, and Alaska already have some version of federal gun law nullification on the books.

  Some of these laws prevent state law enforcement from enforcing federal gun laws, while others attempt to prevent federal agencies from enforcing federal gun laws in the state. In 2011, Utah started the trend of states enacting laws which formally recognize gold and silver coins as legal tender.

  Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Wyoming all have laws on the books that either recognize gold and silver coins as legal tender, or eliminate sales and capital gains taxes on gold and silver coins, or both.

  Idaho is considering legislation that would, “hold some portion of state funds in physical gold and silver to help secure state assets against the risks of inflation and financial turmoil and/or to achieve capital gains as measured in Federal Reserve Notes.”

  This all shows that certain states are taking measures to protect their citizens from federal overreach, and to help maintain stability if the US dollar rapidly loses value. Remember, $8 trillion worth of government debt matures this year alone.  And with countries like China buying less US government debt, the Federal Reserve will likely need to step in as the buyer… with freshly printed dollars. That brings us back to wise state legislators – who see the dollar devaluation that’s ahead. 

  A lot of events took place over the past year, which many people thought were impossible. So, it makes sense to be prepared for anything.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 19:40

• Not Again; Another Winter Storm To Batter South, Midwest, And Northeast
  Not Again; Another Winter Storm To Batter South, Midwest, And Northeast

  Our weather note last Friday titled ““Overwhelming Signal” – Major Winter Storm Threats For Million Of Americans Within Next Five Days” outlined the possibilities of major winter storms from Denver to Dallas to Chicago to Cleveland to Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states through Feb. 21. 

  As a major winter storm, named Uri by The Weather Channel, continues to spread a wintery mix across the South into parts of the Midwest and Northeast through Tuesday, another cross-country storm could be developing this week. 

  Winter Storm Viola will have a similar track as Uri and bring wintry weather to cities like Dallas-Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, and Cincinnati.

  The storm will impact areas from the Northwest into the Rockies through Monday night. Already winter storm watches and warnings have been posted. 

  

  Accumulating snowfall is expected on Tuesday for the southern Rockies into the Southern Plains. North Texas to Oklahoma City might also see a wintery mix. Freezing rain may be seen in Texas’s central and eastern parts and northwest Louisiana. 

  

  Another round of wintery weather for Texas could stress the state’s power grid operator ERCOT even further. Rolling blackouts are expected to remain through Tuesday but could extend further into the week as the second winter blast is expected in the coming days. 

  The storm will spread snow across Oklahoma and northern Texas into Arkansas, Missouri, and the Ohio Valley by Wednesday. Freezing rain and sleet could impede travel on major interstates in central and eastern Texas into northern Louisiana and the Lower Mississippi Valley. By evening, snow will spread to the Ohio Valley, central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic.

  

  Thursday is when the storm is expected to arrive in the Northeast. Metro areas surrounding the Interstate 95 corridor, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, could start with snow and transition to a wintry mix or even rain.

  

  An ice storm could be seen across Virginia. Snowfall will also continue around the Great Lakes into the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.

  Snowfall forecasts show accumulating snow from Dallas to Boston between Tuesday and Friday. 

  

  Meanwhile, for much of the country, temperatures will remain well below their averages this week. 

  

  However, after this weekend, there is good news – heating degree days for the US appear to return to normal levels, which means warmer temperatures are ahead that will decrease energy demand usage.

  

  From the polar vortex split to major winter storm threat to energy crisis across the Great Plains – our readers were some of the first to know of this historic event. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 19:15

• Inflation Fears And Soaring Oil Inflows: What Happens Next
  Inflation Fears And Soaring Oil Inflows: What Happens Next

  By Ryan Fitzmaurice of Rabobank

  Summary

  • Oil prices continue to be supported by a surge in capital inflows into broad-based commodity index products, in a stark reversal in trend from recent years
  • Investors want to own commodities at the moment and are willing to overlook some of the weaker fundamental inputs to focus on the bigger picture at hand
  • The one-year implied roll-yield has climbed to over 8% for both the ICE Brent contract and the Nymex WTIcontract, which is quite attractive in this extremelylow rate environment

  Board-Based Support

  It was more of the same for oil prices this week as flows into commodity index products propelled Brent crude firmly above the psychological $60/bbl level despite a rather mixed fundamental backdrop. To that end, money continued to pour into broad-based commodity ETFs this week with more than +500mm USD of capital inflows reported through Thursday, bringing the year-to-date total above the 2BN USD mark. It is worth noting that these inflows are simply what is publicly available from the ETF space, but one can be sure that the real figure is multiples of this number given institutional investors and high net worth individuals are also increasing their commodity allocations via separately managed accounts which are not required to disclose such information. These flows are all benchmarked to a predetermined commodity index, so anywhere from 25% to 50% of the notional invested winds up in the oil futures market depending on the index and the oil sector’s weighting. As noted though, the fundamental picture remains mixed at best for oil markets which can be seen in the weakening gasoline crack spread this month.

  So what exactly is driving this renewed interest in commodities if it’s not fundamentals? Well in our view, these large inflows speak to the fact that investors want to own commodities at the moment and are willing to overlook some of the weaker fundamental inputs to focus on the bigger picture at hand.

  Looking at things from a macro lens, inflation fears are increasing rapidly and there is a historic amount of capital filtering through global financial markets due to all of the stimulus programs. Ironically, the widespread inflation fears that have emerged in recent weeks and months are even becoming self-fulfilling, in a way, given investors are buying commodities to hedge these inflation fears which in turn drives commodity prices higher, thereby creating inflationary pressures.

  

  The “carry” trade

  On top of the renewed interest in commodity index products as an inflation hedge, the oil markets have also caught the attention of “carry” traders recently given the strong “backwardation” that has developed along the crude oil forward curves this year.

  

  As many experienced traders and investors know, roll-yield is a significant driver of commodity futures returns in the medium and long-term and, as such, roll-yield is a key input for many investment strategies. In fact, we wrote about the powerful impact roll-yield has on commodity futures returns in a primer we published last year and which can be found here.  As we discussed in that note, roll-yield in commodity futures is an implicit yield unlike the explicit yield that interest rate products offer. It is also dynamic in nature with no real way to effectively lock in roll-yield on a forward basis, however, the shape of the curve tends to be rather sticky as can be seen by the clusters of “backwardation” and “contango” exhibited in Figure 3 throughout the past twenty years.

  For reference, Figure 3 depicts the evolution of the WTI forward curve on a monthly basis with periods of “backwardation” shown in blue while “contango” is shown in orange. For our purposes, we are comparing the first contract maturity with the contract for the same month in the following year to determine the state of the curve. As it currently stands though, the one-year implied annual roll-yield has climbed to over 8% for both the ICE Brent contract and the Nymex WTI contract, which is quite attractive in absolute terms and even more so in relative terms, considering the 1yr US Treasury is yielding next to nothing. In addition to outright “carry” investments, there are a number of long/short systematic strategies that go “long” commodities that have positive yield and “short” commodities that do not. The dramatic shift in the oil forward curves in recent months has resulted in those strategies shifting from “short” to “long”. Roll-yield even plays a part in many of the new-age commodity indices where instead of placing a “long” position near the front of the curve, there are popular indices that seek to maximize roll-yield by going “long” the contract with the best implied roll-yield, generally within the next 13 months for liquidity purposes. So not only is roll-yield a factor for returns and determining directional money flows but also where on the forward curve those flows wind up which can be equally important.

  

  Looking Forward

  Looking forward, we expect to see more in the way of broad-based commodity flows this year giving the very supportive macro backdrop. Large asset allocators have been “underweight” commodities for some time now given the poor performance of the asset class this past decade. As such, we see that trend reversing and with that we are likely in the early stages of the industry shifting to an “overweight” commodity position. These investments dollars should continue to support oil prices on the margin but could ultimately weigh on the curve due to roll pressures.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 18:50

• Eric Weinstein Implores Jack Dorsey To Stop Manipulating National Conversation, Allow 'Academic Freedom' To Overrule Twitter Police
  Eric Weinstein Implores Jack Dorsey To Stop Manipulating National Conversation, Allow ‘Academic Freedom’ To Overrule Twitter Police

  With Twitter serving as a de-facto town square to roughly 145 million daily active users, the need arises to ensure that divergent opinions are allowed to organically flourish without punishment, and that Twitter’s online ‘police force’ – the “Twitter Safety” team – can’t arbitrarily censor political rivals, or breathlessly label opinions as ‘misinformation’ because they run counter to (oft-contradictory) government policy.

  

  To that end, Eric Weinstein, managing director of Thiel Capital and prolific opinionator, has implored Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to stop throttling opinions that challenge mainstream narratives, and allow certain ‘heterodox tweeters’ the academic freedom to ‘watch the watchers’ and provide oversight to the Twitter police.

  Of note, Weinstein has repeatedly called out Twitter all types of censorship, including discussion and support for a third political party, blocking private messages due to ‘suspicious content,’ and the company’s inconsistent enforcement of their own rules.

  You have:

  a consistency problem
  a hypocrisy problem
  a political bias problem
  an arrogance problem
  an authoritarian problem
  an insularity problem
  and a censorship problem

  And all are *repeatedly* misportrayed as a single “clarity in communications” problem. #SlipTheDISC https://t.co/vNzAdvPDPw

  — Eric Weinstein (@EricRWeinstein) October 15, 2020

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

  Weinstein’s open letter to Dorsey, which leads with a now-deleted government flip-flop over mask use, is embedded below:

  @jack, I am asking you as a friend and as a STEM PhD who has been responsible on your platform for over a decade to grant some heterodox tweeters academic freedom. Let some of be those who watch the watchers of your @TwitterSafety. We all need oversight of the oversight.

  — Eric Weinstein (@EricRWeinstein) February 15, 2021

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

  The few of you who will be able to see this thread at the beginning: please retweet the lead tweet. My reach is being controlled in ways I cannot understand. Many fewer of you are being shown these tweets than were previously. But they must always show this to a subset of you.
  🙏

  — Eric Weinstein (@EricRWeinstein) February 15, 2021

  *  *  *

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsNow if only @Jack, and the board, and major shareholders, and whoever else dictates the flow of information on Twitter, would listen.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 18:25

• Citi Literally Needed A Bigger Chart To Show The Latest Market Euphoria
  Citi Literally Needed A Bigger Chart To Show The Latest Market Euphoria

  When it comes to market euphoria, what can we say here that we haven’t already said countless time in the past two months:

  • Dec 1: Market Euphoria Surpasses Dot Com Levels: What’s An Investor To Do?
  • Dec 2: Citi Warns Most “Euphoric” Market Since Dot Com Bubble
  • Dec 6: JPMorgan Warns Crowded Trades And Euphoric Consensus Are The Biggest Threats For Markets
  • Dec 15: Record Wall Street Euphoria Triggers First BofA “Sell Signal” Since February 2020
  • Dec 17: Euphoria Goes To 11: Futures, Global Markets, Bitcoin Soar As Dollar Collapse Continues
  • Jan 9: Record Investor Euphoria Is Now Literally Off The Chart
  • Jan 12: Investor Euphoria At “Record High” As Tailwinds For Stocks Could Soon Dissipate
  • Jan 16: Goldman Sounds The Alarm On Stocks: When Euphoria Is This High, “It’s A Good Time To Reduce Risk”
  • Jan 21: Futures, Global Markets Hit Record High Amid Unstoppable Trader Euphoria

  Well, there is maybe one thing we can add.

  In late February, when looking at the latest Citi Panic/Euphoria index we noted that it is now “off the chart” and – to paraphrase a certain movie – Citi would soon need a bigger chart.

  

  That’s precisely what happened, because in Citi’s latest Panic/Euphoria index as of Feb 12, the chart has indeed gotten bigger – literally – with the upper index bound on the Y-axis increasing from 1.80 To 2.10.

  

  We expect this to keep increasing for quite some time – especially with hundreds of billions more in “stimmies” coming in, as DB’s Jim Reid previewed earlier today…

  The upcoming stimulus checks may find their way into equity markets so if there is a bubble it may inflate more first before any correction.

  … before the euphoria – and stocks – finally breaks.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 18:00

• Parler Returns
  Parler Returns

  Authored by Jennie Taer via SaraACarter.com,

  Free speech social media app Parler returned Monday with new computer servers, according to Interim CEO Mark Meckler (a leading voice in the Tea Party movement).

  “When Parler was taken offline in January by those who desire to silence tens of millions of Americans, our team came together, determined to keep our promise to our highly engaged community that we would return stronger than ever,” Meckler said in a statement, per The Hill.

  “Parler is being run by an experienced team and is here to stay. We will thrive as the premier social media platform dedicated to free speech, privacy and civil dialogue,” Meckler continued.

  The company did not reveal which web service will host Parler, saying instead that it is now “built on robust, sustainable, independent technology.”

  Parler is back! https://t.co/CDzNLT1rtD

  — David Reaboi (@davereaboi) February 15, 2021

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

  “We are off of the big tech platform, so that we can consider ourselves safe and secure for the future,” Meckler said.

  He added that the app will utilize artificial intelligence and human editors to crack down on illegal speech, but will remain true to its censorship-free mission.

  The site is expected to preserve all previous user data, according to sources close to Parler who spoke with SaraACarter.com.

  

  Meckler was recently named Interim CEO after the company ousted John Matze earlier this month.

  “Cancel culture came for us, and hit us with all they had,” Parler shareholder Dan Bongino told Just the News Monday.

  “Yet we couldn’t be kept down. We’re back, and we’re ready to resume the struggle for freedom of expression, data sovereignty, and civil discourse. We thank our users for their loyalty during this incredibly challenging time.”

  Parler first went offline in early January when Google Play, Apple, and Amazon dropped the application from its hosting platforms in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

  However, it’s unclear if the Apple App Store will host the platform with the new changes. Apple didn’t immediately respond to this reporter’s request for comment.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 17:35

• South Korea Latest To Doubt AstraZeneca Jab As Cuba Joins COVID Vaccine Race
  South Korea Latest To Doubt AstraZeneca Jab As Cuba Joins COVID Vaccine Race

  Summary:

  • UK PM says likely won’t need “vaccine passport” to go to “the pub”
  • UK reportedly finishes vaccinating everyone over 70 who wanted a vaccine
  • EU anti-fraud office widens probe into fake vaccines
  • WHO: notion of vaccine passports should be discussed
  • Cuba joins COVID vaccine race
  • US COVID cases fall to lowest level since October
  • Global vaccine count nears 175MM
  • US COVID case tally nears 30MM
  • France warns on “variants” spreading
  • Indian Institute agrees to supply Canada with vaccines
  • Cambodia reports first cases of UK variant
  • Tokyo infection numbers fall on daily basis

  * * *

  As the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in the US races toward the 30MM mark (the tally was at 27.6MM confirmed cases as of Monday morning, according to Johns Hopkins), new cases are tumbling to their lowest daily tallies since October, as weather – if only for a brief moment – reasserts itself as America’s favorite national topic of discussion.

  

  Cuba has joined the race (via Mexico, according to Bloomberg) to produce COVID-19 vaccines (while also developing its own home-grown vaccine program), however, it appears doubts about the efficacy of new mRNA vaccines are lingering.

  The US isn’t the only country seeing falling COVID rates: the global daily rate of new COVID cases has fallen to 275.9K.

  But the US is also leading the world in vaccinations, at a rate of nearly 1.7MM people per day, while more than 173MM doses of various vaccines tracked by Bloomberg have been given, according to official data.

  Worries about “regional spread” of various COVID-19 “variants” (mutated strains showing higher levels of infectiousness and increased resilience to the first generation of vaccines) remains high around the world, as France worries about variants of the coronavirus that are spreading in some northern and eastern parts of France).

  But in Brussels, the EU anti-fraud office has warned the governments of its member states to be on alert to schemers looking to sell fake COVID-19 vaccines as some members “get desperate” after the Continent’s vaccine rollout, which has been criticized by some as painfully slow.

  In the UK, PM Boris Johnson announced Monday that the government and the NHS had achieved their goal of vaccinating everyone in the country over the age of 70 who wanted a vaccine. Meanwhile, the first wave of passengers temporarily staying in British airport hotels to begin 10 days of isolation as tough new quarantine measures, justified by news about the potentially more dangerous new variants, came into effect. BoJo also said during an interview earlier that while Britons likely won’t need a “vaccine passport” to visit the local pub, the policy is still “in the mix” when it comes to international travel.

  Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he doesn’t think vaccine passports will be needed to go to the pub but they are ‘in the mix’ for international travel. pic.twitter.com/lySarkz1gv

  — LBC (@LBC) February 15, 2021

  In other news out of the US, California’s 14-day positive test rate dropped to 4.6% yesterday, the lowest since Nov. 15, while Ohio reported 1.8K cases, the fewest since October.

  Here’s some more COVID news from overnight and Monday morning:

  • India’s Serum Institute has agreed to ship COVID-19 vaccines to Canada within a month, its CEO said, a sign that a diplomatic dispute between the two countries is cooling. India earlier took umbrage after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said months-long protests by farmers on the outskirts of Delhi were “concerning” (Source: Nikkei).
  • Cambodia reports its first cases of the highly contagious U.K. variant, after three foreigners who arrived from overseas tested positive while in quarantine (Source: Nikkei).
  • Tokyo reports 266 infections, down from 371 a day earlier. While figures on Monday tend to be lower than other days, it was the ninth consecutive day for the capital to register fewer than 500 cases (Source: Nikkei).

  Finally, in the latest setback for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, South Korea has decided not to use the AstraZeneca vaccine on people 65 and older until researchers can confirm the vaccine’s effectiveness on patients in the age group, continuing a trend that began in Europe, when Germany, followed shortly thereafter by France, declined to approve the vaccine in people 65+ without further study embarrassing the UK after its government became first in the world to approve the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 17:10

• Does Elon Musk Own $3 Billion In Dogecoin?
  Does Elon Musk Own $3 Billion In Dogecoin?

  Authored by Jamie Redman via Bitcoin.com,

  Ever since the infatuation between Elon Musk and the meme-based cryptocurrency dogecoin, a number of people have looked at the asset critically. News.Bitcoin.com recently reported on the mysterious dogecoin wallet that absorbed more than 27% of the coin’s supply since February 6, 2019. This week, the dogecoin wallet with $3 billion worth of the crypto asset has been creating odd transactions with binary messages, further adding to the speculation that the address might be Musk’s wallet.

  

  Cryptic Binary Code, Elon’s Birthday, and Transaction Gibberish

  The cryptocurrency dogecoin has catapulted seeing ‘much value’ and shibes everywhere have been saying “wow.” The current CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, has been one individual who has created a lot of hype around the meme-based crypto asset.

  But Musk hasn’t been the only one, as people have placed signs in Times Square in New York telling people in the city they should “buy DOGE.” On social media, there are many dogecoin fans shilling the token relentlessly in an attempt to get the price to $1.

  In addition to the growing popularity of dogecoin, news.Bitcoin.com recently reported on the billion-dollar DOGE address that consumed over 27% of the entire supply since 2019.

  A touch over a month later, after the address received its first transaction on February 6, on April 2, Musk said: “dogecoin might be my fav cryptocurrency” Since then, the dogecoin address has managed to gather around 36.8 billion DOGE worth $3 billion today. In more recent days, speculators have assumed that the billion-dollar dogecoin address belongs to the Tesla founder.

  

  Then on Reddit, via the subreddits r/cryptomarkets and r/dogecoin, people have been discussing the mysterious address once again. People have begun to notice that the owner of the address has been sending odd transactions, some of which can be transcribed into binary code.

  

  One person who tried to figure out the binary code message said he couldn’t translate it, and that a lot of it was “gibberish.” Others discovered that one set of transactions displayed Elon Musk’s birth date. Some people have found messages being sent to the large address as well, asking if the wallet belongs to Musk. There are also a few assumptions from speculators who believe the address may belong to the exchange Robinhood.

  While trying to decipher a message one Redditor wrote:

  It’s not gibberish, I’ve gone through some of it and already found this: ?NOLEUOYTISI

  ‘One Coin to Rule Them All’

  Moreover, on Wednesday, Musk then tweeted about the meme currency again in another tweet that involved his baby son named “X Æ A-12.”

  “Bought some Dogecoin for lil X, so he can be a toddler hodler,” Musk tweeted to his followers with a video of his boy. Additionally, Musk tweeted a meme that said “one coin to rule them all,” with a picture of the hobbit’s ring from the J. R. R. Tolkien story “The Lord of the Rings.”

  Musk said:

  Frodo was the underdoge, All thought he would fail, Himself most of all.

  A lot of bitcoin proponents have been addressing the fact that Musk has been tweeting an awful lot about dogecoin (DOGE), but in the end, Tesla purchased bitcoin (BTC) for its balance sheet. To many people, this observation is meaningful and to others, specifically DOGE fans, it is not.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 16:45

• Lincoln Project Fundraising Page Down After $90 Million Grift Unravels
  Lincoln Project Fundraising Page Down After $90 Million Grift Unravels

  The Lincoln Project, which raised over $90 million to oppose former President Trump and his allies during the 2020 election, has shuttered their fundraising page amid the organization’s spectacular implosion.

  

  According to the New York Post, the group’s donation page has been listed as inactive since Saturday, following weeks of turmoil which began with one of the (married) founders, John Weaver, being outed for sending lurid text messages to dozens of young men, which we then learned the group’s co-founders knew about and concealed as early as last June. What’s more, the group has been hit with accusations of misappropriation of funds, after more than half of the $90 million they raised was spent on consulting companies owned by the group’s founders – many of whom were saddled with debt when they founded the ‘project.’

  Update: The donation page is still down https://t.co/iHjCOH7QBi

  — Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) February 15, 2021

  Two former Lincoln Project interns came forward last week with salacious text messages from Weaver, who was forced to resign from the organization after the story broke, and not when his co-founders found out about the allegations.

  According to the Associated Press, Lincoln Project leaders were informed in writing and phone calls of at least 10 specific allegations of harassment against Weaver as early as last June.

  …

  On Saturday, co-founder Steve Schmidt resigned from the board, while Jennifer Horn split with the group last month after a contract dispute, causing a public spat with other members.

  The Post also first reported that Schmidt interviewed for a job on then-candidate Trump’s White House bid in 2016, but the campaign chief role ultimately went to Paul Manafort. –New York Post

  Sour grapes gone wrong?

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

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 16:20

• Presidents Day: Carter's Prescient Farewell Address In 1981
  Presidents Day: Carter’s Prescient Farewell Address In 1981

  Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

  Regardless of our opinions about President Carter and his legacy, his Farewell Address is worthy of our attention and study.

  

  On Presidents Day 2021, I invite you to read/watch President Carter’s Farewell Address from 40 years ago. As a Washington outsider, Carter was relentlessly mocked and undermined by the Establishment, as insiders’ loathing of outsiders knows no bounds.

  In a similar fashion, the loathing of the corrupt and self-absorbed for the faithful aspiring to better world despite our weaknesses and flaws also knows no bounds, and so the establishment insiders that run the nation had no use for Carter other than as a handy whipping post.

  President Carter was not the only outsider president reviled by the Washington elites, of course; outsiders of both parties draw the fierce fire of a corrupt Establishment fearful of exposure.

  Although many reckon it good sport to make fun of President Carter’s initiatives (along with his grin, hair, accent, etc. etc. etc.), a strong case can be made that he was the first and only 21st century President the nation has elected. Every president since, regardless of party or ideology or canned speeches (Soaring Rhetoric (TM), has been embedded in a continuation of the 20th century economy, politics and Imperial Project.

  Carter was the first and only president to address DeGrowth, though the word had yet to be coined: DeGrowth is the idea that resources would eventually become scarce and thus unaffordable, and rather then pursue the insane fantasy of eternal growth on a finite planet, a new arrangement that did more with less would be needed.

  “There are real and growing dangers to our simple and our most precious possessions: the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land which sustains us. The rapid depletion of irreplaceable minerals, the erosion of topsoil, the destruction of beauty, the blight of pollution, the demands of increasing billions of people, all combine to create problems which are easy to observe and predict, but difficult to resolve.

  But there is no reason for despair. Acknowledging the physical realities of our planet does not mean a dismal future of endless sacrifice. In fact, acknowledging these realities is the first step in dealing with them. We can meet the resource problems of the world–water, food, minerals, farmlands, forests, overpopulation, pollution if we tackle them with courage and foresight.”

  President Carter was also prescient in his understanding that a nation’s greatest strength is its social cohesion, a cohesion that America’s unprecedented wealth/ income /power inequalities has undermined. Consider this excerpt from his Address:

  “Our common vision of a free and just society is our greatest source of cohesion at home and strength abroad, greater even than the bounty of our material blessings.”

  President Carter recognized that civil rights / liberties are not just fatuous PR to be trotted out in Soaring Rhetoric (TM) lip-service; they are the foundation of our national identity:

  “America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it’s the other way around. Human rights invented America. Ours was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded explicitly on such an idea. Our social and political progress has been based on one fundamental principle: the value and importance of the individual. The fundamental force that unites us is not kinship or place of origin or religious preference. The love of liberty is the common blood that flows in our American veins.

  We have no cause for self-righteousness or complacency, but we have every reason to persevere, both within our own country and beyond our borders.”

  President Carter recognized the fatal consequences of special interests dominating the political order, a danger that has now reached full flower in 2021:

  “Today, as people have become ever more doubtful of the ability of the Government to deal with our problems, we are increasingly drawn to single-issue groups and special interest organizations to ensure that whatever else happens, our own personal views and our own private interests are protected. This is a disturbing factor in American political life. It tends to distort our purposes, because the national interest is not always the sum of all our single or special interests. We are all Americans together, and we must not forget that the common good is our common interest and our individual responsibility.”

  

  Regardless of our opinions about President Carter and his legacy, his Farewell Address is worthy of our attention and study:

  President Carter’s Farewell Address to the Nation (16:56)

  *  *  *

  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
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 15:55

• Cuomo Insists All NY Nursing Home Deaths "Accurately Reported" In First Briefing Since "COVID Coverup"
  Cuomo Insists All NY Nursing Home Deaths “Accurately Reported” In First Briefing Since “COVID Coverup”

  Update (1434ET): Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s epic President’s Day afternoon press briefing has just wrapped up, and just as we suspected, Cuomo wanted to talk about the groundswell of support in the Empire State to finally dethrone a governor who has survived numerous scandals and primary challengers (not to mention 2.5 terms as governor), about as much as reporters wanted to interrupt their holiday weekend to ask him about it.

  But in what was perhaps an encouraging sign, Cuomo was ready, and instead of waiting for reporters to ask the question at a post-briefing Q&A, the governor and his team apparently felt this was big enough to strike first, and launched a fusillade of Cuomo disinformation, a mix of “actually running things is hard”, “do you remember what life was like a year ago?”, with just a pinch of NY’s in-the-works reopening plan to keep people interested through the first ten minutes.

  Before actually working his way up to his office’s claim, Cuomo spun a narrative, which relied on a complicated timeline of the virus’s assault on New York State, with some sobbing about Dr. Fauci and NY’s top public health official. First, Cuomo tried to distract the press by claiming that the first case of the South African COVID strain had been identified in a New York hospital, but in a patient who had arrived after being “transferred” from neighboring Connecticut.

  “To be clear, all deaths in nursing homes and hospitals were fully, publicly and accurately reported,” Cuomo said.

  “There was a delay in providing the press and the public with providing all that additional information.”

  After the big denial, Cuomo continued by warning that the problem with the state’s nursing homes needs to be fixed before the next pandemic, and that hospitals that have “these issues” must be “improved”, or else they might “fail” during the next pandemic. Cuomo also repeated that the DoJ was asking about ‘private’ for-profit nursing homes, as if to try and shift more responsibility off the state.

  The governor concluded that “I understand the public had many questions and concerns…” but Cuomo and his office were so slammed trying to report data to the DoJ, that the state simply didn’t have time to give the full picture. This, in Cuomo’s terms, irresponsibly created a “vacuum” in which “conspiracy theorists” flourished.

  The governor laid it on pretty thick toward the end. Because even with the “best medical professionals and advice on the globe”, “the truth is…with all we know…people still die in nursing homes today…we’re testing the staff twice a week…you would have to hermetically seal the nursing home.” And we definitely don’t have the budget for that…not in New York State.

  For review, Cuomo’s real sin was “not providing the information”. That mistake “created a void” in which “conspiracy theorists” flourished and had the gall to question the governor’s handling of the pandemic after somebody gave a hot tape of Cuomo’s chief of staff talking to legislative leaders in political terms.

  “This past year there is a toxic political environment and everything gets politicized,” he added, saying that “[t]here is political spin and there are facts.”

  Cuomo laid it on thick, choking back tears at times and entering the now ubiquitious “whisper mode” made famous by President Biden when he really wants you to know he is emoting.

  Cuomo, this is worthy of an Oscar forget the Emmy.

  — Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) February 15, 2021

  Cuomo, hey I’m dancing as fast as I can. Tell the band to keep up.

  — Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) February 15, 2021

  During the Q&A, a local TV news reporter tried to sneak in what was probably a planted question, since Cuomo went on to reaffirm that his office prioritized the federal request from the DoJ, though Cuomo insists that both the State Senate and Assembly were made aware of the DoJ request.

  * * *

  Gov. Andrew Cuomo is holding his first press briefing since his alleged cover-up of New York’s nursing home deaths was exposed last week.

  

  The alleged coverup was first reported by the New York Post. In an audio recording obtained by the Post, Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s chief of staff, told a small group of Democratic lawmakers that the governor’s office “basically froze” when they were asked by the U.S. Department of Justice to turn in the data, because they worried that then-President Donald Trump would use the information as a “giant political football” against them.

  “[President Trump] starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes,” DeRosa said during the private call, according to the NY Post.

  “He starts going after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, starts going after [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, starts going after [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer.”

  As we detailed earlier, even New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday called for a “full accounting” of whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration withheld information about deaths from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus in nursing homes across the state.

  “It’s very troubling. We’ve got to know more. We now need a full accounting of what happened,” de Blasio said on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer show.”

  We suspect Cuomo will ignore it in all his prepared remarks and updates but hopefully at least one reporter will have the courage to ask…or can Cuomo somehow ‘filibuster’ his way through it unscathed?

   

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 02/15/2021 – 15:30