• Are You Ready For Total (Ideological) War?
  Are You Ready For Total (Ideological) War?

  Authored (somewhat satirically) by C.J.Hopkins via The Consent Factory,

  So, welcome to 2021! If last week was any indication, it is going to be quite an exciting year. It is going to be the year in which GloboCap reminds everyone who is actually in charge and restores “normality” throughout the world, or at least attempts to restore “normality,” or the “New Normality,” or the “Great Normal Reset,” or “The New Normal War on Domestic Terror” … or whatever they eventually decide to call it.

  

  In any event, whatever they call it, GloboCap is done playing grab-ass. They have had it with all this “populism” malarkey that has been going on for the last four years. Yes, that’s right, the party is over, you Russian-backed white supremacist terrorists! You Trump-loving, anti-mask grandmother killers! You anti-vax, election-fraud-conspiracy theorists! You deviants who refuse to follow orders, wear your damn masks, vote for who they tell you, and believe whatever completely nonsensical official propaganda they pour into your heads!

  Oh, yes, you really did it this time! You stormed the goddamned US Capitol. You and your racist, Russia-backed army of bison-hat wearing half-naked actors have meddled with the primal forces of GloboCap, and now, by God, you will atone! No, do not try to minimize your crimes. You entered a building without permission! The building where America simulates democracy! You walked around in there waving silly flags! You went into the Chamber, into people’s offices! One of you actually put his filthy populist feet up on Pelosi’s desk … ON HER DESK! This aggression will not stand!

  OK, before I go any further with this essay, I need to explain to my regular readers (in case it wasn’t already clear) that I’ve decided to forswear every word I’ve ever written, and all my principles, and my common sense, and join the remainder of my old leftist and liberal friends in the orgy of online hate and outrage they are currently mindlessly indulging in.

  Yes, I realize this comes as a shock, but I have seen the GloboCap writing on the wall, and I don’t want to … you know, get ideologically “cleansed,” or charged with “extremism,” or “insurrectionism,” or “domestic terrorism,” or “populism,” or whatever. I’m already in enough trouble as it is for not playing ball with their “apocalyptic plague,” and whatever else I am, I am certainly no martyr, and I have a career in the arts to consider, so I have decided to listen to my inner coward and join the goose-stepping global-capitalist mob, which is why this column sounds slightly out of character.

  See, back in the old days, before my conversion, I would have made fun of my liberal friends for calling this “storming” of the Capitol a “coup,” or an “insurrection,” and for demanding that the protesters be prosecuted as “domestic terrorists.” I probably would have scolded them a bit for taking to the Internet and spewing their hatred at the unarmed woman shot dead by the police like a pack of soulless, totalitarian jackals. I might have even made a reference to that infamous scene in Schindler’s List where the crowd of “normal” German citizens all laugh and jeer as the Jews are marched away to the ghetto by the Nazi goons.

  But, now that I have seen the light, I see how bad and wrong that would have been. Clearly, trespassing in the US Capitol is a crime that should be punishable by death. And comparing contemporary American liberals to the “good Germans” during the Nazi era is so outrageous that … well, it should probably be censored. So, good thing I decided not to do that! Plus, the woman was a “devoted conspiracy theorist,” so she got what she deserved, right? (“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes” was the official liberal shibboleth, I believe.)

  In fact (and I hope my liberal friends are still reading this), the police should have shot the entire lot of them! All these Russian-backed Nazi insurrectionists should have been gunned down right there on the spot, preferably by muscle-bound corporate mercenaries and CIA snipers in Black Hawk helicopters with big Facebook and Twitter logos on them! Actually, anyone who trespassed in the Capitol Building (which is like a cathedral), or just came to the protest wearing a MAGA hat, should be hunted down by federal authorities, charged as a “domestic white-supremacist terrorist,” frog-marched out onto Black Lives Matter Plaza, and shot, in the face, live, on TV, so that everyone can watch and howl at their screens like the Two Minutes Hate in 1984. That would teach these “insurrectionists” a lesson!

  Or they could shoot them in one of those corporate-branded stadiums! We could make it a weekly televised event. It’s not like there is any shortage of Trump-supporting “domestic terrorists.” They could use a different stadium every week, deck the place out with big “New Normal” banners, play music, make speeches, the whole nine yards. Everyone would have to wear masks, of course, and strictly adhere to social distancing. Folks could bring the kids, make a day of it.

  How am I doing so far, leftist and liberal friends? No? Not fanatical and hateful enough?

  OK, so what is it going to take to convince you that I have changed my tune, got my mind right, and am totally on board with the New Normal totalitarianism?

  Trump?

  Sure, I can do Trump. I hate him! He’s Hitler! He’s Russian Hitler! He’s Russian White Supremacist Hitler! Yes, I know I’ve spent the last four years pointing out that he isn’t actually Hitler, or a Russian agent, and that he’s really just the same ridiculous, narcissistic ass clown that he has always been, but I was wrong. He’s definitely Hitler, and a Russian agent! He is certainly not just a pathetic old huckster without a single powerful ally in Washington who could not stage an actual coup if Putin nuked every blue state on the map.

  No, I soil myself in fear before his awesome power. Never mind that he’s just been banned by Facebook, Twitter, and numerous other corporate platforms, and made a fool of by the corporate media, the international political establishment, the Intelligence agencies, and the rest of GloboCap since the day he took the oath of office. Forget the fact that, although he holds the nuclear launch codes in his tiny little hands and is Commander in Chief of the US military, the most he could do to challenge his removal was file a buttload of hopeless lawsuits and sit around in the Oval Office eating cheeseburgers and tweeting into the night. No, none of that means a thing, not when he still has the power to “embolden” a few dozen pissed-off Americans to storm (or calmly walk) into the Capitol and take selfies sitting in the Vice President’s Chair!

  Look, the point is, I hate him. And I hate his supporters. I hate everyone who doesn’t hate him and his supporters. I hate everyone who won’t wear a mask. I hate the Republicans. I hate the Russians. I hate everyone who won’t get the vaccine. My God do I hate them! I am so full of hatred and mindless rage that it is making me crazy. I am so consumed with self-righteous hatred, propaganda, and manufactured hysteria that, if Rachel Maddow, or Chris Hayes, or whoever, told me that it was time to round them all up, these “domestic terrorists,” these “insurrectionists,” these “conspiracy theorists,” these “anti-mask extremists” (and anyone else who won’t obey us), and put them on trains and send them to camps, I’d probably be OK with that.

  How am I doing, liberals? Am I back in the club? Because, I get it. I swear! I’m cured! Praise God! I’m ready to pitch in and do my part. I believe in GloboCap’s final victory! I’m willing to work, if our leaders order me, ten, twelve, or fourteen hours a day, and give all I have for GloboCap victory! I am ready for total ideological war … an ideological war more total and radical than anything I can even imagine!

  Sure, our imaginary enemies are formidable (and this war will probably last forever … or at least until the end of global capitalism), but, in the words of one our greatest liberal heroes, George W. Bush, “bring it on!”

  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 23:40

• "Significant Uptick" In Natural Disasters Cause $210 Billion In Damage In 2020 
  “Significant Uptick” In Natural Disasters Cause $210 Billion In Damage In 2020 

  Natural disasters worldwide resulted in tens of billions of dollars in damage in 2020, according to catastrophe bonds firm Artemis, citing a new report from German reinsurer Munich Re. 

  On Thursday, Munich Re reported that the global insurance and reinsurance industry recorded a monstrous $82 billion loss thanks to an increase in natural disasters in 2020, up from $57 billion the year prior. 

  The reinsurer calculated the world’s economic losses from natural disasters last year was around $210 billion, up from 2019’s $166 billion. It added that only a small proportion of the damage was actually covered. 

  

  The US accounted for the largest percentage of damage in 2020, at $67 billion, up significantly from 2019’s $26 billion. This was due to relentless wildfires and hurricanes, contributing to one of the costliest years for natural disasters on record and is facing an economic toll of around $100 billion. 

  One of the major consequences of surging insurer losses could be upward pressure on customers’ primary insurance pricing. 

  Munich Re noted that about 60% of the natural disaster worldwide went uninsured in the year. 

  The insurer believes climate change is responsible for the explosion in natural disasters seen around the world. 

  Torsten Jeworrek, Member of the Board of Management at Munich Re, explained:

  “Natural catastrophe losses in 2020 were significantly higher than in the previous year. Record numbers for many relevant hazards are a cause for concern, whether we are talking about the severe hurricane season, major wildfires or the series of thunderstorms in the US.”

  Ernst Rauch, Chief Climate and Geo-Scientist at Munich Re, said, “if the weather disasters for one year cannot be directly linked to climate change, and a longer period needs to be studied to assess their significance, these extreme values fit with the expected consequences of a decades-long warming trend for the atmosphere and oceans that is influencing risks.”

  “An increasing number of heatwaves and droughts are fuelling wildfires, and severe tropical cyclones and thunderstorms are becoming more frequent,” said Rauch. 

  As natural disaster becomes more frequent, here are the US’ zip codes that are subjected to the most disasters. 

  

  The latest FEMA report ranks Los Angeles County as the riskiest county for natural disasters. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 23:20

• Keynes' Sleight Of Hand: From Fabian Eugenicist To World Government High Priest
  Keynes’ Sleight Of Hand: From Fabian Eugenicist To World Government High Priest

  Authored by Matthew Ehret via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

  It is as if the battle lines of civil war have been drawn up between masses of Americans who have been led to believe in either a false “bottom up” approach to economics, as defined by the Austrian School represented by Friedrich von Hayek, or in the “top-down” approach of John Maynard Keynes. The former sacrifices the general welfare of the whole nation for the sake of the parts (i.e. individual liberties), while the latter sacrifices the individual liberties of each citizen for the sake of the general welfare (or at least some oligarch’s definition of what that should be).

  

  In my last article, I introduced, in broad strokes, a history of the American System of political economy as advanced by Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Henry Clay, Henry Carey, Lincoln, and McKinley. We reviewed how it was derailed by McKinley’s 1901 murder and was only revived 30 years later with Franklin Roosevelt’s 1932 presidential victory which put a stop to the 1933 Bankers Dictatorship.

  Finally, we briefly explored how and why both John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich von Hayek whose ideas so deeply influence the polarization of the USA today, not only despised FDR but hated everything the republic stood for.

  In this second installment of a three-part series, we will shed light on the anti-human ideas and the political operations that shaped the mind, the life and the politics of Lord John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946).

  

  Keynes the Fabian Eugenicist

  Although Keynes is heralded as the guiding light of the New Deal (and, as such defended by modern “Green New Dealers” and Great Reset technocrats wishing to impose a top-down system of governance onto the world), the fact is that Keynes not only detested Franklin Roosevelt, but also humanity more in general.

  This will be seen clearly in 1) his devotion to the theories of Thomas Malthus, 2) his promotion of eugenics as a science of racial purification and population control, and 3) his general devotion to World Government as a leading member of the Fabian Society.

  From his earliest days at Cambridge where he rose quickly to become one of the select Cambridge Apostles and shared, among other things, a lifelong friendship with Lord Bertrand Russell, Keynes devoted himself to the service of empire, becoming Knight of the Order of Bath and Order of Leopold by 1919.

  His early 1911 book on Indian Currency and Finance (conducted during his five-year foray in the Empire’s Indian Office) ignored all actual political reasons for the famines plaguing India and argued coldly for a greater integration of the Indian banking system into the City of London controls which would somehow solve India’s problems. The provable reality was that Indian famines were coordinated tools of population control by the Malthusian elite of the British establishment who considered “war, famine and disease” as the gifts nature gave the strong to manage the weak.

  While his later 1919 Consequences of the Peace appeared to be a reasonably sympathetic warning that the draconian Versailles reparations would do incredible damage and lead to a new world war, in reality, Keynes was displaying a cold sleight of hand. Serving as British Treasury representative to the Versailles Conference, Keynes never opposed fascism: he merely argued that a more liberal pathway to global fascism could be established under the direction of the Bank of England. His opposition, though, to the more violent approach preferred by conservative imperialists among the British Intelligentsia, was one of form more than substance.

  Keynes and his fellow Fabians H.G. Wells, Bertrand Russell and G.B Shaw preferred the “slow and steady” “long game”, reminiscent of the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus who famously fought his enemies by slow attrition rather than in full-scale confrontation. Due to the public’s general ignorance of this strategy, we celebrate these Fabian Society luminaries for their pacifism, though in reality they were just as racist, fascist and eugenics-loving as their more short-sighted, hard-stomached counterparts sir Oswald Mosley, Lord Alfred Milner and even Winston Churchill.

  

  Where the real solution to the hyperinflationary money printing and economic industrial shutdown of Germany during the post WWI years was to be found in the German-Russian Rapallo Agreement (destroyed with the assassination of American System Foreign Minister Walter Rathenau), Keynes and his ilk merely called for economic integration of the German banking and military system under Bank of England/League of Nations control.

  Malthus, Eugenics and Keynes

  Two theories advanced by the British Empire in response to the growth of the American System, first in the USA, and later internationally, were those of Thomas Malthus, and of Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin who coined the term “eugenics” in 1883. These sister concepts served as nothing less than religious precepts for the ruling elite as it desperately reorganized itself in the late 19th century.

  It must be kept firmly in mind that at this period the British Empire was weak, and incapable of stopping the electric spread of win-win cooperation as the American System was sped around the world bringing progress and full-spectrum economics in its wake. One of the leading voices of the American System in 1890 was Colorado’s first Governor William Gilpin whose The Cosmopolitan Railway laid out a practical vision for a world united by rail, development, and national banking [see map].

  

  Nevertheless, the Empire was determined to put an end to the spread of the American System.

  A new breed of think tanks was created to shape the Empire’s grand strategy in the face of this growth of independent sovereign nations: these were T.H. Huxley’s X Club (c.1865), the Fabian Society (c.1884), and the Roundtable Group (c.1902). Where Huxley’s X Club coordinated with Cambridge, and the Roundtable Group/Rhodes Trust interfaced with Oxford, the Fabian Society created a new school called the London School of Economics. All three worked together as one unit.

  Defining his misanthropic belief in overpopulation, Thomas Malthus (a British East India Company economist) stated in his famous 1799 Essay on Population:

  “The power of population is so superior to the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race.”

  

  How could this crisis be avoided? Malthus answers it like only a devout imperialist could:

  “We should facilitate, instead of foolishly and vainly endeavoring to impede, the operations of nature in producing this mortality; and if we dread the too frequent visitation of the horrid form of famine, we should sedulously encourage the other forms of destruction, which we compel nature to use. In our towns we should make the streets narrower, crowd more people into the houses, and court the return of the plague.”

  Darwin himself admitted in his autobiography that his theory of evolution arose only after his 1838 reading of Malthus’ Essay on Population in which he “at last got a theory by which to work”.

  So, Darwinism is really an extension of Malthus’s Hobbesian social theories onto all of living nature: a mere struggle for survival in a universe of entropy and diminishing returns. After a Malthusian version of biology was created, Darwin’s theories were in turn re-applied to human society as imperial tools for population control under the form of Galton’s Eugenics thus giving the same old evil practices of empire, war and slavery a “scientific validation”.

  

  Although some apologists considered Keynes an anti-Malthusian- due to his theory that overpopulation might be overcome by encouraging spending rather than savings, which would, in turn, somehow create markets and thence new factories and more growth, the reality was the opposite. Keynes not only spoke gushingly of Malthus throughout his life as one of the greatest minds of all time, but even plagiarized many of Malthus’ own theories, for instance that of “demand deficiency causing unemployment and recession” outlined in his 1930 Treatise on Money. In his 1933 Essay on Malthus, Keynes wrote:

  “Let us think of Malthus today as the first of the Cambridge economists—as, above all, a great pioneer of the application of a frame of formal thinking to the complex confusion of the world of daily events. Malthus approached the central problems of economic theory by the best of all routes.”

  In his May 2, 1914 lecture Population, Keynes argued that government should “mould law and custom deliberately to bring about that density of population which there ought to be” and that “there would be more happiness in the world if the population of it were to be diminished.”

  Saying that “India, Egypt and China are gravely overpopulated”, Keynes advocated using violence to defend the “superior white races” in this struggle of survival with the pacifist saying: “Almost any measures seem to me to be justified in order to protect our standard of life from injury at the hands of more prolific races. Some definite parceling out of the world may well become necessary; and I suppose that this may not improbably provoke racial wars. At any rate such wars will be about a substantial issue.”

  As Acting chair of the Neo-Malthusian League, Keynes stated in 1927: “We of this society are neo-Malthusians… I believe that for the future the problem of population will emerge in the much greater problem of Hereditary and Eugenics. Quality must become the preoccupation.”

  By 1946, Keynes, still a member of the British Eugenics Society (after serving as Vice President from 1936-1944) wrote in The Eugenics Review: “Galton’s eccentric, sceptical, observing, flashing, cavalry-leader type of mind led him eventually to become the founder of the most important, significant and, I would add, genuine branch of sociology which exists, namely eugenics.”

  This was not ivory tower theorizing, but concepts with very real-world significance.

  By 1937, Keynes’ General Theory of Employment was published in Nazi Germany. If anyone wishes to defend the idea that the economist was somehow an anti-fascist defender of “liberal values”, let them read his own words in the preface and then either redefine “liberal values” or their naïve idea of Keynes:

  “I may perhaps expect to find less resistance among German readers than among English ones, when I put before them a theory of employment and production as a whole… The theory of production as a whole which is the object of this book, can be much better adapted to the conditions of a totalitarian state, than the theory of production and distribution of wealth under circumstances of free competition.”

  Hitler himself was not only a devout eugenicist (whose racial purification policies emerged through the funding of the Rockefeller, Carnegie Foundations as well as British establishment), but was also a devout Malthusian saying:

  “The day will certainly come when the whole of mankind will be forced to check the augmentation of the human species, because there will be no further possibility of adjusting the productivity of the soil to the perpetual increase in the population.”

  Keynes was by this time extremely frustrated that the intention-driven system of political economy defining the New Deal under the helm of FDR’s leadership was not absorbing his trojan horse theories on employment, demand, and inflation. However, by the end of the war, many Council on Foreign Relation (CFR)-affiliated operatives pushing Keynesianism were making successful inroads into all branches of U.S. bureaucracy and penetrated the highest levels of the state department and treasury. At one point in 1943, Franklin Roosevelt commented on his understanding of this British Deep State operation when he told his son Elliot:

  “You know, any number of times the men in the State Department have tried to conceal messages to me, delay them, hold them up somehow, just because some of those career diplomats over there aren’t in accord with what they know I think. They should be working for Winston. As a matter of fact, a lot of the time, they are [working for Churchill]. Stop to think of ’em: any number of ’em are convinced that the way for America to conduct its foreign policy is to find out what the British are doing and then copy that!” I was told… six years ago, to clean out that State Department. It’s like the British Foreign Office….”

  The Battle for Bretton Woods

  During the Bretton Woods conference (July 1-20, 1944), the two opposing paradigms, on the one hand the American System of anti-colonialism, and on the other hand the. British System of zero sum Malthusianism, went to war.

  This war took the form of the battles waged by FDR’s trusted collaborator Henry Dexter White against John Maynard Keynes at Bretton Woods, where 730 delegates representing 44 nations gathered to settle the terms of the post-war order.

  Although this conference is famously associated with the creation of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), it is falsely assumed to be a Keynesian creation. Keynes’ role as representative of the British Empire, much like his earlier role at Versailles in 1919, was defined by the intention at all costs to shape the conditions of a post-nation state world order on behalf of the City of London. Like Bertrand Russell and other Cambridge Apostles before and since, Keynes was trained in the sophistical deployment of statistics and mathematical logic to cover for the imperial rape of target nations.

  Where Dexter White and Franklin Roosevelt demanded a U.S. dollar-backed post-war system of fixed exchange rates (to block speculation on commodities as a tool of economic war), theirs was not an idea premised on imperialism which FDR’s recorded battles with Churchill attest. Unlike the hard vs soft imperialism of Churchill and Keynes, FDR and his allies rather looked to a post-war system defined by U.S.-China-Russia friendship, and the internationalization of the New Deal applying a win-win approach to foreign policy.

  At Bretton Woods, Dexter White and Henry Morganthau reached agreements to provide vast technology transfers to help South America industrialize. At the same time, large-scale programs modelled on the New Deal were presented by delegations from India, Eastern Europe, and China. It is noteworthy that the Chinese delegation introduced infrastructure plans first laid out by Sun Yat-sen in his 1920 International Development of China which both Mao, and Zhou Enlai endorsed alongside the Kuomintang’s Chiang Kai-Shek! Had these plans not been sabotaged, it is amazing to consider what sort of progress might have opened up for the Chinese 70 years before anyone heard of the “Belt and Road Initiative”.

  At this early stage, Russia was still happy to be a founding member of the IMF and World Bank which were designed to act as cheap lending mechanisms for long-term, low-interest, high-tech global development.

  Commenting on support for FDR’s post-war system of mutual interest, Stalin stated: 

  “Can we count on the activities of this international organization being sufficiently effective? They will be effective if the Great Powers who have borne the brunt of the burden of the war against Hitler’s Germany continue to act in a spirit of unanimity and harmony. They will not be effective if this essential condition is violated”.

  In opposition to this anti-imperial win-win system defended by Dexter White, and FDR, Keynes demanded a bankers’ dictatorship with a new supranational currency controlled by the Bank of England called the Bancor, as well as an international clearing house. The Bancor was later revived in a modified form when Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were established, bringing the world closer to the sort of green synthetic hegemonic currency now promoted by the likes of Mark Carney, Klaus Schwab and George Soros under the veil of a Great Reset and Central Bankers Climate Compact.

  Similarly to the League of Nations’ earlier design for World Government, Keynes’ arguments entailed the virtual castration of nation states, preventing their involvement in their own economic planning. These arguments also demanded that the USA fully recognize the legitimacy of the British Empire in the post war age (something which Dexter White and Morgenthau refused to do). In Keynes’ view, nation states should relinquish their sovereign financial controls to Malthusian technocrats managing the levers of production and consumption through a system of globally interconnected central banks.

  Keynes’ model of governance would ensure that the sorts of INTENTION-driven large-scale projects that could finally end colonialism would not see the light of day.

  The Keynesian World That Emerged Over FDR’s Dead Body

  Under the Keynesian takeover of Bretton Woods that emerged during the Anglo-American special relationship created by Truman and Churchill, Trans Atlantic nations became increasingly dominated by bloated bureaucratic systems while plans for genuine development were undermined. With Roosevelt dead by 1945, Harry Hopkins dead by 1946, Dexter White dead by 1948, and Henry Wallace’s presidential efforts sabotaged by 1948, the last serious resistance to Britain’s reconquest of the USA had been put down.

  After the war, eugenics-promoting organizations and think tanks changed their names while continuing their work, morphing into new forms by the 1960s such as the environmental movement, transhumanist movement, while not even the pharmaceutical/healthcare sector was left untouched.

  In the next chapter we will close up this short series by reviewing the figure of Friedrich von Hayek and the Austrian School of Economics which emerged with the collapse of the Keynesian Bretton Woods in 1971 and the rise of the “Conservative Revolution”.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 23:00

• The Great Purge: Twitter Has Suspended More Than 70,000 Accounts Since Friday
  The Great Purge: Twitter Has Suspended More Than 70,000 Accounts Since Friday

  In a Monday night blog post, Twitter lays out all the latest details of a historic purge that started with the suspension of president Trump and has escalated into the ban of tens of thousands of conservative voices, or as Twitter puts it, “steps taken to protect the conversation on our service from attempts to incite violence, organize attacks, and share deliberately misleading information about the election outcome.” Odd how none of those considerations emerged during the summer when US cities were literally burning as a result of countless violent protests and frequent riots, but we digress. 

  In any case, In twitter’s own delightfully ironic words, “It’s important to be transparent about all of this work as the US Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2021, approaches.” Which is a probably a good idea in the aftermath of the biggest censorship purge in twitter history, one which sent Twitter stock tumbling. So this is what how twitter justifies “the purge”:

  We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. Given the violent events in Washington, DC, and increased risk of harm, we began permanently suspending thousands of accounts that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content on Friday afternoon.

  And with tens of thousands of accounts suspended (most of them permanently), banned, or merely disappeared, it will hardly be a surprise that according to Tiwtter, “more than 70,000 accounts have been suspended”. What is the justification? “These accounts were engaged in sharing harmful QAnon-associated content at scale and were primarily dedicated to the propagation of this conspiracy theory across the service.”

  More in the full blog post below. Meanwhile, as BofA warned today and as traders clearly agreed, Twitter now faces the risk of wholesale “churn”, i.e., exodus, by the conservative community in response to this unprecedented crackdown, which could see tens of millions of MAUs gone:

  More engagement risk for Twitter than Facebook

  Donald Trump had 88mn followers on Twitter, the 6th most followed account, and on Facebook he had over 33mn followers. President Trump’s follower count represents 47% of Twitter’s daily active users (DAUs) (though clearly not all followers are DAUs), with his account averaging 34 Tweets per day in 2020 (up from 21 in 2019). Additionally we see churn from the conservative community within Twitter as a modest 1Q DAU threat, however SensorTower suggests DAUs on Parlor (a conservative focused alternative) is roughly 130k (0.37% of Twitter’s US DAUs) as of January 8th. Our call is that after some deactivation newsflow near-term, strong political activists will stay on Twitter for other content.

  Content risk and Section 230 back in focus

  In June, The DoJ had a proposal to rollback some Section 230 protections, which specifies that Internet companies are generally not liable for user posted content. While a Democratic administration may be less focused on significant reform of Section 230, recent events may make content legislation more likely. While we think social platforms may welcome content guidelines, risks of a rollback of Section 230 include: 1) potential civil liability arising from victims of Online content, and; 2) expense risk from need to increase content review capabilities. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has been vocal in embracing an update to Section 230, while Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, noted “Eroding the foundation of Section 230 could collapse how we communicate on the Internet, leaving only a small number of giant and well-funded technology companies”.

  And now we wait to find out just how extensive the conservative user “churn” has been.

  Meanwhile, here is Twitter’s full statement on the Friday night purge:

  An update following the riots in Washington, DC

  Following the horrific events in Washington, DC, last week, here are some of the steps we’ve taken to protect the conversation on our service from attempts to incite violence, organize attacks, and share deliberately misleading information about the election outcome. It’s important to be transparent about all of this work as the US Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2021, approaches.

  Updated our coordinated harmful activity policy

  We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. Given the violent events in Washington, DC, and increased risk of harm, we began permanently suspending thousands of accounts that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content on Friday afternoon.

  Many of the individuals impacted by this updated enforcement action held multiple accounts, driving up the total number of accounts impacted. Since Friday, more than 70,000 accounts have been suspended as a result of our efforts, with many instances of a single individual operating numerous accounts. These accounts were engaged in sharing harmful QAnon-associated content at scale and were primarily dedicated to the propagation of this conspiracy theory across the service. 

  Our updated enforcement on QAnon content on Twitter, along with routine spam challenges, has resulted in changes in follower count for some people’s Twitter accounts. In some cases, these actions may have resulted in follower count changes in the thousands. 

  As stipulated in this policy that we announced ahead of the 2020 US election, accounts that have Tweeted or Retweeted associated content will continue to be subject to limited visibility across search, replies, and on timelines and are prohibited from being recommended to others by Twitter. It’s important that these types of accounts — that are not predominantly engaged in sharing this material — can see different perspectives in the open public conversation that Twitter uniquely provides.

  Our teams are discussing ways we can empower research into QAnon and coordinated harmful activity on Twitter. 

  Escalated enforcement measures for our civic integrity policy

  During the past several weeks, misleading and false information surrounding the 2020 US presidential election has been the basis for incitement to violence around the country. We took action on these claims in line with our Civic Integrity policy

  Now that the results of the election have been officially certified by Congress, we updated our Civic Integrity policy on Friday to aggressively increase our enforcement action on these claims. The updated policy provides details about how we enforce against violations of this policy, including repeated sharing of Tweets that receive warning labels. Ultimately, repeated violations of this policy can result in permanent suspension.

  Deployed tech to surface potentially harmful Tweets for urgent human review

  Our teams are continuing to aggressively deploy technology to surface potentially harmful Tweets for human review in an effort to take action as quickly as possible on violative content. Using this combination of technology and human review helps our teams work at scale during this critical time. We continue to update these tools as terminology and behaviors evolve on Twitter.

  Limited engagement on labeled Tweets

  On Tuesday, we limited engagement by no longer allowing any Tweets labeled for violations of our civic integrity policy to be replied to, Liked or Retweeted. People on Twitter are still able to Quote Tweet to share this content with additional context or their own perspective.

  Blocked violative keywords from Search and Trends

  We want Trends to promote healthy conversations on Twitter. This means, at times, we may prevent certain content from trending. There are rules for Trends, and if we identify Trends that violate these rules, we’ll take enforcement action.

  Since last week, we’ve prohibited certain terms from surfacing in Trends and Search suggestions based on the following Twitter Rules:

  • Coordinated harmful activity
  • Civic integrity
  • Hateful conduct
  • Glorification of violence
  • Violent threats
  • Sensitive media 

  We will also continue to prioritize reviewing and adding context to Trends. Our goal is to help people see what’s happening while ensuring that potentially confusing trends are presented with context.

  Fought spam and challenged potentially inauthentic accounts

  It is against the Twitter Rules to engage in spamming behavior, including bulk, aggressive, or deceptive activity. That’s why we routinely deploy anti-spam challenges to accounts to fight this behavior and protect the public conversation. During these challenges, account owners must verify their authenticity through a variety of measures, such as reCAPTCHA or providing a functional email address. 

  As always, while accounts are undergoing these challenges, they’re temporarily removed from follower counts. This, along with our updated enforcement around coordinated harmful activity, means some people may notice drops or fluctuations in their follower count. 

  Ahead of the inauguration, we’ll continue to monitor the situation, keep open lines of communication with law enforcement, and keep the public informed of additional enforcement actions.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 22:42

• Over 80% Surveyed Say Tokyo Olympics Should Be Canceled Or Postponed
  Over 80% Surveyed Say Tokyo Olympics Should Be Canceled Or Postponed

  Two new polls have found that over 80% of respondents in Japan thought the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics should be postponed or canceled, according to the Associated Press.

  

  Conducted by the Japanese news agency Kyodo and TBS, the Tokyo Broadcasting System, the TBS poll asked 1,261 people if the Olympics can be held this year while COVID-19 continues to spread. Just 13% answered “yes,” while the 81% said “no” – an 18% increase over a similar survey in December.

  The Olympics are scheduled to open on July 23, when 15,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes will enter the country. On top of that, tens of thousands of “coaches, judges, officials, VIPs, sponsors, media and broadcasters” would likely attend, though it is unclear if fans from abroad – or even local fans – will be able to attend.

  Kyodo similarly found that 80.1% of respondents among 715 randomly chosen households said the Olympics should be rescheduled or canceled, an increase from 63% who gave the same answer in December.

  Japan is officially spending $15.4 billion to hold the Olympics, although several government audits show the number is about $25 billion. All but $6.7 billion is public money.

  The Switzerland-based IOC earns 91% of its income from selling broadcast rights and sponsorships.

  The American network NBC agreed in 2011 to a $4.38 billion contract with the IOC to broadcast four Olympics through the Tokyo. In 2014 it agreed to pay an added $7.75 billion for six more games — Winter and Summer — through 2032. –Associated Press

  Tokyo is currently experiencing a surge of COVID-19 cases which prompted the government to announce a state of emergency. That said, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he was confident that the Olympics would still be held.

  Japan has had 3,600 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in a country of 126 million.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 22:40

• House Republicans To Call For Trump's Censure To Avoid Democrats' Rushed Impeachment "Damaging Our Democracy"
  House Republicans To Call For Trump’s Censure To Avoid Democrats’ Rushed Impeachment “Damaging Our Democracy”

  In seeking his removal for “incitement,” legal scholar and Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley warned earlier that Democrats would gut not only the impeachment standard but free speech, all in a mad rush to remove President Trump just days before the end of his term.

  

  Turley noted specifically that “Congress is about to seek the impeachment of a president for a speech that is protected under the First Amendment. It would create precedent for the impeachment of any president who can be blamed for the violent acts of others after the use of reckless or inflammatory language.”

  Nevertheless, on the heels of Vice President Pence’s confirmation this evening that he “pledges to work with Trump through the end of his term” thus confirming earlier reports that he would not acquiesce to Speaker Pelosi’s demands that he invoke the 25th Amendment; it appears House Democrats are raring to go on an impeachment vote on Wednesday.

  As Turley noted further on Fox News this evening, while remarking on the Democrats’ apparent rush to get this done:

  “They are suggesting impeaching a president over a speech that many of us called reckless. But it’s a type of vicarious impeachment in the sense that he doesn’t call for violence in his speech. He in fact tells his followers to be peaceful, he says the reason they should go to the Capitol is to support members who are challenging the election. And to encourage other members to join them.

  So the speech itself would not meet any definition, as a criminal matter, of incitement.”

  Which brings us to an interesting potential pivot by House GOP members that was elaborated by Republican New York State Congressman Tom Reed, who wrote in a New York Times op-ed:

  “If we make the wrong decision in holding the president accountable, it could damage our democracy,” somewhat echoing Turley’s warnings.

  But Reed, while condemning the president’s speech, has an option that while unpleasant, is not as draconian as the Democrats blood-baying needs.

  Reed begins by noting that this in no way reduces the wrongdoing:

  “All responsible parties, including President Trump, must face justice.”

  And, again echoing Turley’s Constitution-based warnings, Reed states that:

  “while the president’s words were unwise, intemperate and wrong, they may not qualify as incitement. And an impeachment on the grounds that they do will inevitably erode the norms around what may be considered constitutionally protected speech.”

  Reed goes on to note that a full impeachment hearing would delay much-neede efforts to tackle the nation’s COVID-19 crisis and furthermore would stymie any efforts at unity in a nation that is tearing itself apart.

  “We cannot give credibility to the belief that Washington chooses to hold people accountable only for mere political advantage, especially to the detriment of the Constitution.”

  And so Reed offers an alternative.

  “I implore our congressional leaders and Mr. Biden to take a moment to consider what is at stake. Work with us on constitutionally viable alternatives to ensure that no individual is above the law.

  Such options include censure…

  ...I intend to join with my House colleagues in the introduction of a censure resolution Tuesday to ensure accountability occurs without delay for the events of Jan. 6. We must also look at alternatives that could allow Congress to bar Mr. Trump from holding federal office in the future.”

  In the case of censure, this would be the first for a President since the Senate censured Andrew Jackson in 1834, and the offer of barring him from office likely meets the real desires of Democrats to ouster Trump from a run in 2024.

  Call it a “quid pro quo”.

  Reed concludes:

  “We cannot and should not support a rushed, divisive action simply because the emotions of the moment demand it. That is not the American way.”

  “The American Way” eh? Due process… innocent until proven guilty? We can only imagine “the squad’s” response to this ‘offer’ from the GOP.

  The question is – will Pelosi fold to it? This is her last term after all and she must know, as Turley warned, this rushed impeachment would tarnish her legacy just as much as she hopes to tarnish Trump’s.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 22:20

• More Iran Escalation: Trump Admin Designates Yemen's Shia Houthis As Terrorists
  More Iran Escalation: Trump Admin Designates Yemen’s Shia Houthis As Terrorists

  In continuing efforts to make any future softening toward Iran all the more difficult for the incoming Biden administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday night announced the US will designate Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a foreign terrorist organization.

  Officially named Ansarallah, he called the Shia group that’s been locked in a grinding war with the Saudi-UAE-US backed coalition government “a deadly Iran-backed militia group” which has routinely conducted “terrorist acts, including cross-border attacks threatening civilian populations, infrastructure, and commercial shipping.”

  

  The war for Yemen has raged since at least 2015 and has seen civilian deaths mount into the many tens of thousands as the Saudi-US coalition has blanketed the country with airstrikes. The Houthis have simultaneously been known to mount ballistic missile attacks deep inside Saudi Arabia, which Washington has ultimately blamed on Iran, given it’s believed the Houthis would otherwise have no access to such advanced weaponry.

  “The designations are also intended to advance efforts to achieve a peaceful, sovereign, and united Yemen that is both free from Iranian interference and at peace with its neighbors,” Pompeo announced in the statement. “Progress in addressing Yemen’s instability can only be made when those responsible for obstructing peace are held accountable for their actions.”

  He indicated the State Department will soon notify congress, further to include the designation of three Houthi named leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

  A number of pundits immediately recognized this as no doubt part of the White House’s broader escalation with Iran.

  Pretext for escalating conflict with Iran https://t.co/A25xEeBACQ

  — Kevin Gosztola (@kgosztola) January 11, 2021

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

  Late last year multiple reports said President Trump was actually mulling some kind of military action to ensure the Islamic Republic can’t ever acquire a nuclear weapon, given Biden has vowed to restore the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal (JCPOA).

  The US has constantly accused Iran of using the Houthis as a proxy force to mount “terror attacks” while attempting a takeover of the country on Saudi Arabia’s southern border. 

  The irony is that prior to the 2015 war which saw the US jump in with the Saudis in waging war on the Houthis, US forces at times actually partnered with the Houthis in fighting al-Qaeda in Yemen. For example a report in The Wall Street Journal at the time noted, “The US has formed ties with Houthi rebels who seized control of Yemen’s capital, White House officials and rebel commanders said, in the clearest indication of a shift in the US approach there as it seeks to maintain its fight against a key branch of al Qaeda.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 22:00

• Yellen Appoints Bloomberg Staffer And Former Geithner Advisor As Chief Of Staff
  Yellen Appoints Bloomberg Staffer And Former Geithner Advisor As Chief Of Staff

  Janet Yellen, the incoming Treasury Secretary who will “coordinate” closely with Jerome Powell now that the Treasury and Fed are effectively one as a result of MMT/Helicopter money, has picked as her chief of staff at the Treasury Didem Nisanci, an executive at Bloomberg LP.

  Nisanci has been offered the job and accepted, Bloomberg itself reported.

  Nisanci is currently global head of public policy for Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. If Yellen – who recently disclosed payments of over $7.3 million for “speeches” from the same banks and financial firms she will soon be “regulating”…

  

  … is confirmed as Treasury secretary, Nisanci will be one of her closest aides; her appointment won’t require Senate confirmation.

  Nisanci, 47, was chief of staff at the SEC under Barack Obama, where she was the lead adviser to Chairman Mary Schapiro on all issues involving the SEC, including policy, legislative, strategy, and communication matters. Nisanci subsequently worked for Promontory Financial Group, a “revolving door” for government officials, before joining Bloomberg in 2018.

  Prior to the SEC, she was the lead adviser to Treasury Secretary Nominee Timothy Geithner after having been staff director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 21:40

• More Good News On COVID Hospitalizations In The Northeast
  More Good News On COVID Hospitalizations In The Northeast

  A little over two weeks ago we showed that despite the continued rise in covid cases in the US, where BofA calculated that the 7-day average of new US cases hit a new record high of 241,600 yesterday with daily Covid-related deaths at 3,190 and hospitalizations at 4,840 at new highs, having risen 20% over the past week…

  

  … the trend in US hospitalizations was decidedly optimistic, with the second derivative of hospitalizations – or the daily number of new admission – continuing to moderate with the weekly increase well below 10,000 versus the peak of near 15,000 almost two weeks ago.

  

  As a reminder, in Mid-December, we reported why according to Goldman, covid-related hospitalizations are about to tumble – just as Biden gets inaugurated – as more vaccinations are rolled out, and the latest data validates this.

  

  To be sure, despite the increase in absolute terms, the hospitalization rate as a percentage of daily new infections has remained remarkably steady as the following charts from JPMorgan show:

  

  And while select hospital systems are indeed nearing overcrowded levels – which are due to numerous other factors in addition to covid – as the following chart of the ten most overcrowded hospital systems shows…

  

  … even Bloomberg now writes that “the pace of Covid-19 hospitalizations in the Northeast is showing some preliminary signs of easing, adding to hopeful indicators in the Midwest, where the latest viral wave began.“

  According to the report, the number of people currently hospitalized with Covid-19 in the Northeast was 21,494 as of Sunday, up 0.8% from a week earlier, the smallest seven-day percentage increase since Sept. 25, according to Covid Tracking Project data.

  

  Bloomberg’s admission that contrary to widespread fears that covid would crush the US hospital system comes as the virus is now raging once again primarily across the Sun Belt and as many states are finding tremendous challenges with the vaccine rollout.

  

  

  Based on U.S. Census Bureau definitions for each region, hospitalizations are up 6.1% in the past week in the South; up 4% in the West; and down 4.2% in the Midwest.

  And some more good news according to the Covid Tracking Project, as reported by Bloomberg: no states posted record cases on Sunday, but weekends are typically slower reporting periods.

  Finally, according to Bloomberg, Arizona now leads the nation in people currently hospitalized with the virus per capita, with 685 per million residents.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 21:20

• In Latest "Excess Borrowing" Crackdown, China Will Force Fintech Giants To Disclose Consumer Credit Data
  In Latest “Excess Borrowing” Crackdown, China Will Force Fintech Giants To Disclose Consumer Credit Data

  One theory that has emerged from Beijing’s crackdown on Jack Ma and his business and fintech empire, is that China’s true intention in bringing China’s richest man to heel was not so much the public humiliation in what has been widely seen as a giant clash of egos between Xi Jinping and Jack Ma, as the ability to peek inside the financial records of China’s biggest private financial company.

  Why? Two reason: i) China is a command economy and it needs to have discrete knowledge where every last yuan in new loans ends up and ii) China’s financial system is more than double the size of the US, which is why any gray zones in the financial sector which the PBOC is not aware of could have devastating consequences should a bad debt cascade begin without the central bank being aware.

  

  We bring all this up because in support of the first theory, Reuters today reported that China plans to push tech giants such as Jack Ma’s Ant Group, but also Tencent and JD.com to share consumer loan data to prevent excess borrowing and fraud, in Beijing’s latest tightening of scrutiny. Additionally, Chinese regulators, including the central bank, the People’s Bank of China plan to instruct internet platforms to feed their vast loan data to some of the nationwide credit agencies.

  The plan, if implemented, would effectively end the government’s “laissez-faire approach” to the industry and represent a de facto soft nationalization, as well as another sign of attempts to rein in the country’s technology champions. 

  Naturally, giant internet platforms have strongly resisted handing over their data, a crucial asset that helps them run operations, manage risk and lure new customers. However, in light of the crackdown on Jack Ma, they have no choice, as any continued resistance could cast them in the same unwelcome light as Jack “Uncle Horse” Ma.

  According to the report the agencies, which include the PBOC’s Credit Reference Center, China’s main, centralized credit scoring system, and the central bank-backed Baihang Credit, the country’s first licensed personal credit agency, will share the data more widely with banks and other lenders to adequately evaluate risks and prevent over-borrowing. Which is ironic for a country whose debt levels have absolutely exploded in the past year to keep the economy humming amid the covid lockdowns.

  “China seems to be making the unpopular, albeit right choice to sacrifice the current closed loop mentality financial paradigm in favour of a broader digital identity framework with potentially better access and greater efficiency in the long run,” said Alex Sirakov, founder of AquariusX, a Shanghai-based consultancy. Translation: even more central planning is just swell.

  The plan adds to recent proposals to sharpen scrutiny of the technology champions and rein in empire building, mainly in the financial sector, according to Reuters. The shift was also behind the dramatic collapse of fintech giant Ant’s $37 billion IPO in November, a collapse which is now also being leveraged to expose even more information from the sector. Since then, the regulators have launched an antitrust probe into Ant’s former parent Alibaba and ordered the fintech company to shake up its lending and other consumer finance businesses.

  The latest regulatory proposal for internet companies also comes as Beijing grows wary of loose risk controls at banks, mainly smaller ones, in terms of consumer loans and their excessive reliance on platforms such as Ant to find customers.

  “Smaller banks are generally in a weaker position when they partner with fintech giants like Ant. They have heavily relied on Ant’s data to underwrite loans and manage risks,” said one senior regulator.

  “When defaults happen, they have to shoulder most of the losses,” said the regulator, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. “It’s crucial for lenders to have better access to more comprehensive and detailed credit data on borrowers.”

  And there it is: with SOE banks having lost control over a substantial portion of the loan-creation machinery, Beijing is now desperate to regain said control. And it is starting by forcing the “sharing” of all loan data.

  Naturally, the latest regulatory attempt would likely dampen the scale and profitability of the tech giants’ credit businesses which are among the biggest drivers of growth and revenue. That area is a cash cow, as the companies levy high service fees on banks in exchange for access to millions of customers using propriety data.

  Take Jack Ma’s Ant Financial: via its super-app Alipay, Ant collects the data of more than 1 billion people, many of whom are young and internet-savvy users without credit cards or sufficient credit records with banks, as well as 80 million merchants, according to the company’s prospectus and analysts. Ant also runs Zhima Credit which means “Sesame Credit” in English, one of China’s biggest private credit-rating platforms, with proprietary algorithms and methodology that score people and small businesses based on their use of Ant-linked services.

  The firm offers limited borrower information to about 100 banks, and takes the so-called “technology service fees” – a 30%-40% cut, on average, of the interest on loans it facilitates, analysts have estimated.

  Ant’s consumer lending balance stood at 1.7 trillion yuan ($263 billion) as of the end of June, accounting for 21% of all short-term consumer loans issued by Chinese deposit-taking financial institutions. Compared with Ant, rivals Tencent and JD.com run relatively smaller consumer-credit business.

  Tencent’s private lender WeBank has operated consumer-loans unit Weilidai since 2015, which made over 460 million loan drawdowns worth a total of more than 3.7 trillion yuan as of the end of 2019, according to WeBank’s 2019 annual report.

  JD.com’s fintech arm, JD Digits, operates two platforms – Baitiao and Jintiao – which had a combined 70 million annual active users and took in a total of 4.4 billion yuan in technology service fees during the first half of 2020. Jintiao facilitated consumer loans worth only 261 billion yuan in the same period of last year, as per JD Digits’ prospectus.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 21:00

• Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan Mansion Underwent $23 Million Price Cut
  Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan Mansion Underwent $23 Million Price Cut

  Whether it’s the slump in Manhattan real estate or just nobody wants to purchase sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion. WSJ reports Epstein’s Manhattan mansion has undergone a significant price cut. 

  Epstein’s estate executors first listed the 28,000-square-foot townhouse in Manhattan’s Upper East Side for $88 million in July. Estate executors have since slashed the listing price by $23 million, or about 23% to $65 million, a move to attract potential buyers. 

  

  Since the initial listing date, housing and rental markets in the borough have taken a steep dive as tens of thousands of New Yorkers have escaped to rural communities and or even other states amid the pandemic and surging violent crime.

  Brokerage firm Leslie J. Garfield said by the third quarter of 2020, townhouse sales were halved over the same period last year. For the luxury end of the market, only 22 sales for townhouses in the first three quarters of 2020 were compared with 64 during the period last year. 

  Real estate broker Donna Olshan told MarketWatch that the seven-story, French Neoclassic mansion was overpriced, to begin with. She doesn’t believe the stigma associated with Epstein would damage the property’s value. 

  Epstein died in 2019 before he could stand trial on sex-trafficking charges. It’s been reported that he has abused young women and girls at many of his properties, including the one in Manhattan. 

   

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 20:40

• Patriots' Belichick Refuses Trump's Presidential Medal Of Freedom
  Patriots’ Belichick Refuses Trump’s Presidential Medal Of Freedom

  It appears political pressure is tougher to handle than Super Bowl pressure as following comments from Democratic Massachussetts Congressman Jim McGovern, who said (on CNN): “Belichick should do the right thing and say, no, thanks,” the New England Partiots coach has turned down President Trump’s offer of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

  

  Trump has awarded the medal 25 times since taking office, including 14 times to sports figures. Golfers Gary Player and Annika Sorenstam drew criticism last week for accepting the medal.

  

  The award recognizes individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

  Full Statement from Bill Belichick:

  “Recently, I was offered the opportunity to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which I was flattered by out of respect for what the honor represents and admiration for prior recipients.

  Subsequently, the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award.

  Above all, I am an American citizen with great reverence for our nation’s values, freedom and democracy. I know I also represent my family and the New England Patriots team.

  One of the most rewarding things in my professional career took place in 2020 when, through the great leadership within our team, conversations about social justice, equality and human rights moved to the forefront and became actions.

  Continuing those efforts while remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award.”

  Considered the nation’s highest civilian honor, Trump also awarded it to Rush Limbaugh, Rep. Jim Jordan, and Rep. Devin Nunes – none of whom turned down the honor.

  We wonder if Tiger will be ‘pressured’ by the mob to return his medal now?

  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 20:26

• Air Force Brass Order Removal Of All Offensive, Non-Inclusive Patches, Mottos And Emblems
  Air Force Brass Order Removal Of All Offensive, Non-Inclusive Patches, Mottos And Emblems

  Commanders have until Feb. 21 to review their units’ emblems, morale patches, mottos, nicknames, coins and other heraldry and insignia and remove any that are racist, sexist or derogatory, the Air Force announced.

  

  As Military.com reports, starting at the squadron level and moving up, commanders must abolish symbols that are derogatory “to any race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, age or disability status to ensure an inclusive and professional environment,” according to a memo from Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett and Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, head of the Space Force.

  “It is critical for the Department of the Air Force to embody an environment of dignity, respect and inclusivity for all airmen and guardians,” the memo states, according to a service release. “Our core values demand we hold ourselves to high standards and maintain a culture of respect and trust in our chain of command.”

  Air Force Instruction 84-105, last updated in 2019, directs units on how to best recognize their organizational lineage, honors and heraldry. Commanders should consult the AFI — which emphasizes that symbols and language should be original, “in good taste and non-controversial” — and their local historian, the release states.

  Disparaging language and symbolism “ostracizes our teammates, undermining unit cohesion and impeding our mission readiness and success,” according to the memo. “Our diversity of experience, culture, demographics and perspectives is a force multiplier and essential to our success in this dynamic global environment. … We must ensure all our airmen and guardians are valued and respected.”

  It was not immediately clear whether the latest memo applies to personal call signs — typically given to fighter pilots. In 2019, the Navy created a new process for approving and reviewing pilots’ call signs after two Black aviators at an F/A-18 Hornet training squadron in Virginia filed complaints alleging racial bias in the unit.

  The Air Force has had its own issues with call signs: A female airman was given an inappropriate call sign by fellow airmen during a drinking game in 2018, which came to light as officials looked into accounts of a separate threatening incident at the 47th Flying Training Wing at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas.

  Last year, the Air Force announced it had removed all “male-only references” in its official song, known as “Wild Blue Yonder,” which is traditionally sung before service events. In September, the service encouraged airmen to submit ideas for improvements to uniforms, appearance standards, badges and patches, and even jewelry. Both efforts are aimed at creating a more inclusive culture among the ranks.

  The memo on symbols comes the same week as the service’s latest initiative to track lesser disciplinary actions by demographic to ensure impartiality.

  The service said Wednesday that it will collect data on how airmen and Space Force guardians who receive administrative counseling, admonishments or reprimands are treated, including a comparison based on rank, age, gender, race and ethnicity.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 20:20

• Clean Energy Hydro Plant In Canada Dubbed A "Boondoggle" After Economists Predict $8 Billion In Losses
  Clean Energy Hydro Plant In Canada Dubbed A “Boondoggle” After Economists Predict $8 Billion In Losses

  Today in “proof governments are horribly inefficient capital allocators” news…

  British Columbia is currently in the process of trying to erect a massive hydro dam called the “Site C Clean Energy Project” on the Peace River. The point of erecting the dam was to implement the province’s “green and clean” energy policy and try to create alternative clean energy while lowering carbon emissions. 

  But the economic price, and lackluster progress of the project had one op-ed in the Financial Post calling the project a “hydro power boondoggle” that “shows real cost of ‘clean’ energy”.

  The project has been under construction since 2015, the op-ed notes, and more than $6 billion has already been sunk into it. Despite this, there have been numerous problems identified with the project:

  Under foot, according to Premier John Horgan, “there is instability on one of the banks of the river.”  Early last year B.C. Hydro identified “structural weaknesses” in the project, which has been under construction since 2015. Site C is also said to suffer from “weak foundations.”  Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer recently reported that new information on the precariousness of the project, structurally and financially…

  The op-ed asks whether or not it is time for the province to simply cut their losses and abandon the job, which would likely need at least another $6 billion to complete.

  A review of the project by three Canadian economists say “yes” and have concluded that “the whole project is uneconomic as an energy source and fails its major green and clean promise, which is to reduce carbon emissions.”

  

  The breakdown of the numbers by the economists show how inefficient the project truly is:

  The worst numbers in the study: the total present value of the electricity produced from Site C is estimated at $2.76 billion against an estimated total cost of $10.7 billion, implying a loss of $8 billion. That’s bad. However, if the project were cancelled now, the loss would be cut in half to maybe $4.5 billion. The economists conclude that “policy makers should stop throwing money at a project that is likely to end up under water.”

  The economists found that the only way the hydro plant could be worth it, monetarily, would be in conjunction with a “massive national overhaul of the Canadian electricity system”:

  “In summary, we find that Site C can offer value, but only if the provinces aim for near complete electricity system de-carbonization and only if new transmission between provinces can be built to enable greater inter-provincial electricity trade. Decisions about the future of Site C should be made in this light; if it is not possible to commit to fully decarbonizing electricity generation, and if prospects for inter-provincial transmission are low, Site C offers little value in comparison to its costs. In contrast, if B.C. and Alberta are committed to achieving a zero-carbon electricity system, and building new inter-provincial transmission lines is feasible, then Site C can offer value in excess of its costs.”

  In light of there being a very small chance of that happening, it seems like the obvious decision to simply shut the project down and save several billion dollars.

  And of course, it comes as no surprise to us that such a project is horribly cost inefficient. Because if it wasn’t, the free market would have put hydro electric plants to work a long time ago. In other words, the free market shut this project down before it ever even started. 

  But instead, we get another real life example of how virtue signaling and petty worries over carbon emissions – which are all trending the in the “right” direction globally anyway – lead to frivolous spending, funded by the taxpayer. 

  We hope B.C. remembers this if Elon Musk ever comes calling, looking for property to build his next solar roof tile factory…

  You can read further analysis of the project and the full op-ed here. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 20:00

• The COVID Depression And "Food Insecurity"
  The COVID Depression And “Food Insecurity”

  Authored by Alice Salles via The Mises Institute,

  Americans are going hungry because of coronavirus, and they are turning to theft to survive – at least that’s what we’re supposed to believe…

  

  Nearly 26 million Americans did not have enough food through the month of November, according to survey data reported by the Washington Post. Covid-19 was solely to blame, until the article’s ending when government policies earned a mention. Under these conditions, many people were left with only one option: shoplift.

  “Shoplifting is up markedly since the pandemic began in the spring and at higher levels than in past economic downturns, according to interviews with more than a dozen retailers, security experts and police departments across the country,” the report claimed.

  Catch that? The newspaper essentially casts poor families in a bad light, as if they were only capable of stealing in order to overcome adversity.

  The claim, which the Washington Post has discussed in at least two articles since November, isn’t new.

  During a virtual town hall in mid-July, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) blamed the increase of crime in New York City on “desperate” people “stealing bread to feed their children.”

  The claim was made even as NY police data showed that shootings went up 130 percent the previous month, not petty theft.

  Does the data support what the Post implies? First, let’s look at how the Post got its own data.

  According to the publication, “more Americans are going hungry now than at any point during the deadly coronavirus pandemic.” Also, “experts say it is likely that there’s more hunger in the United States today than at any point since 1998, when the Census Bureau began collecting comparable data.” 

  The data in question was collected through the so-called “food insecurity” survey. Created by the left-wing advocacy organization Food Research Action Center (FRAC), the survey became a widely used tool by the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Bill Clinton administration. Activists and pundits use this survey to claim that taxpayer-funded food programs should be expanded. 

  Despite what investigative journalist Jim Bovard calls the “mushrooming” of the federal government’s subsidized feeding programs since the 1930s and the fact that these programs feed millions, activists demand more.

  One wonders why there isn’t a peep from these do-gooders about the lockdown orders in most states causing widespread unemployment and destruction of capital. 

  A Survey Meant to Misinform

  Food stamps were declared “one of our most valuable weapons for the war on poverty,” over 56 years ago when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into the law the Food Stamp Act of 1964. 

  Thanks to the food benefits, Johnson added, the country would see a substantial improvement in “the diets of low-income families.” 

  Over the decades, however, it’s become clear that the war on poverty was a mistake. Worse, it hurt the very people it ostensibly was set up to help. This is to say nothing of the impoverishment “created” for much of the rest of society.

  Instead of giving poor Americans quality of life, it created and fueled dependency on government handouts, as Murray Rothbard pointed out. Social welfare spending increased dramatically from $2.2 million in 1955 to $11.2 million in 1976. In 2018, it totaled $1.03 trillion.

  Despite the welfare state, hunger is no longer a widespread problem in America. But to keep the narrative going, “hunger” officially became “food insecurity.” Now, politicians and activists use the updated term to ensure that those who don’t obtain the type of food they want at a particular moment (for a variety of reasons) will be portrayed as suffering from hunger. 

  And how do they obtain the data necessary to claim people are starving? They rely on the government’s “food insecurity” surveys. 

  “Over the past 15 years federal surveys have profoundly muddled Americans’ understanding of the hunger problem,” Bovard wrote in 2015.

  He continued:

  One of the USDA’s surveys’ preliminary screening question asks, ‘In the last 12 months, did you ever run short of money and try to make your food or your food money go further?’ Why should we be concerned that shoppers want their food dollars to go further? That was formerly taught as a virtue in high-school home-economics classes. Now it is a pretext for federal alarm.

  Noting that most households who claim to be “food insecure” aren’t lacking sufficient amounts of food but instead deal with “reduced quality and variety,” Bovard explained that “‘worry’ about being able to buy sufficient food is the number-one source of food insecurity.” 

  If someone states that he feared running out of food for a single day (but didn’t run out), that is an indicator of being ‘food insecure’ for the entire year—regardless of whether he ever missed a single meal. If someone felt he needed organic kale but could only afford conventional kale, that is another ‘food insecure’ indicator. If an obese person felt he needed 5,000 calories a day but could only afford 4,800 calories, he could be labeled “food insecure.”

  In the age of Covid, this narrative is being weaponized once again.

  Power for the State, Dependency for the Poor

  By now, we all know that lockdowns don’t work. We also know that lockdowns are the driving force behind the mass unemployment and destruction of capital that America suffered through 2020. What most of us have failed to realize, however, is that politicians are using the economic losses to push their agenda. 

  While the government stands in the way of those who want to work, it passes as the benevolent hero. As the main course is removed from the table by government enforcers, the crumbs offered to the public in return—such as the small $600 “stimulus” payments—won’t do much to “pay the bills.” Instead, they simply demoralize large numbers of Americans who find themselves more dependent on the dole and less capable to reenter the productive sector.

  With the government continuing to threaten to use lockdowns whenever necessary, these same folks will continue to struggle.

  Rothbard put it perfectly when he wrote that the only thing bureaucrats can do is to get out of the way. 

  Let the government get out of the way of the productive energies of all groups in the population, rich, middle class, and poor alike, and the result will be an enormous increase in the welfare and the standard of living of everyone, and most particularly of the poor who are the ones supposedly helped by the miscalled “welfare state.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 19:40

• Supreme Court To Take A Second Look At Case Involving "Insider Trading" On Government Healthcare Tip
  Supreme Court To Take A Second Look At Case Involving “Insider Trading” On Government Healthcare Tip

  The Supreme Court is taking a second look look at several men who were convicted of wire fraud, insider trading and conversion of government property in a 2018 insider trading case involving what are being called “government secrets”.

  The case, which involves “King of Political Intelligence” David Blaszczak, had previously lowered the bar for what constituted insider trading in a Federal appeals court, according to Bloomberg. It centers around Blaszczak giving two hedge funds advance notice of coming government reimbursement rates. A jury had found that he provided “tips he picked up from ex-colleagues who were still in government”.

  The government source was Christopher Worrall, his friend at the time. Blaszczak turned around and gave the tips to Robert Olan and Theodore Huber, who were partners with Deerfield Management at the time. For trading on the tips, they were sentenced to “at least 20 months in prison”. Everyone but Worrall was convicted of insider trading and all of the men were convicted of wire fraud and conversion of government property.

  

  Now, it appears the Supreme Court could be poised to reconsider. 

  While the case is definitely a look into how those in government can clearly use information to benefit themselves (which led many like Senators Feinstein, Inhofe, and Loeffler to become topics of discussion due to their trading records in advance of government action last year) the parties appealed on the grounds that proposed government regulations don’t fall under the umbrella for what constitutes the fraud at the center of the case.

  And regardless of the outcome of the case, we won’t be surprised when things return to the status quo: government officials facing little to no consequences for clearly trading on non-public information – and the little guy or run of the mill hedge fund manager – who gets the occasional “tip” on potential government action, winding up the scapegoat. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 19:20

• "Disgruntled Staffer" Hacks State Department Site, Changes Trump/Pence Bios
  “Disgruntled Staffer” Hacks State Department Site, Changes Trump/Pence Bios

  On the same day that House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump on Monday for “incitement of insurrection” following a group of his supporters attacking the Capitol last Wednesday, something odd has happened on the U.S. State Department website under the president’s bio where it now says “Donald J. Trump’s term ended on 2021-01-11 19:49:00.” 

  NYT’s Seth Abramson first pointed out that President Trump’s presidency will “end” at 7:49 PM tonight.

  

  Source

  Abramson said, “FWIW, I accessed the site at 3:02 PM ET, so the time in the screenshot above (7:49 PM) is not—as some are saying—UTC time. There may well be a computer glitch here, I don’t know. Other screenshots have shown other times. But all are today, and State has not explained it yet.” 

  He then said, “Regardless of time-stamp, it’s not clear why the State Department would edit this presidency’s official biography in *any* way that would say it ended on January 11—let alone do so on a day the House tried to get the Vice President to become Acting President. It is bizarre.” 

  However, maybe it’s not so bizarre considering BuzzFeed’s Christopher Miller has confirmed with sources that a “disgruntled staffer” is behind the bio change of President Trump and Vice President Pence. 

  

  Source

  Buzzfeed reports that an investigation into the matter could be a challenge, considering how many people have administrative access to the content management system used for the State Department’s official website.

  It’s a “closed system” that is “nearly impossible to hack,” said one of the diplomats.

  Which makes us wonder – isn’t altering the President’s bio an “attack on American Democracy”? Or is it a ‘Threat’?

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 19:15

• Socialists Claim Their System Is Morally Superior. They're Wrong!
  Socialists Claim Their System Is Morally Superior. They’re Wrong!

  Authored by Bradley Thomas via The Mises Institute,

  In a December 23 article published on mises.org, Lipton Matthews made the compelling case for advocates of free market capitalism to prioritize the moral superiority of capitalism rather than making the case for capitalism’s superior productivity.

  “Demonstrating the impracticality of socialism is necessary, but is also an ineffective strategy to galvanize goodwill for capitalism, because objections to capitalism are usually predicated on moral grounds,” he wrote.

  Indeed, in the battle of emotions vs. rational justification in the human brain, emotions are king. You cannot penetrate emotional objections with more charts and spreadsheets.

  The most compelling case for economic freedom is not its economic efficiency but its consistency with fundamental moral principles, like voluntary exchange, property, and enhanced individual choice.

  To libertarians and other free market supporters, the case is clear. But why do so many still insist that socialism is a morally superior system?

  The term “socialism” was trending on Twitter on December 28 and 29, with the following tweet exemplifying the arguments made by many in support:

  

  Selflessness. Meeting people’s needs. These are the characteristics that socialists use to describe their desired system. Nothing about productivity or wealth creation. Theirs is a purely emotional appeal to moral sensibilities.

  It’s unwise to merely dismiss such adherents of socialism as being naïve or ignorant. Rather, an understanding of mankind’s historical development tells us that believing socialism to be the moral means of organizing society may be hardwired into our consciousnesses.

  Early Moral Codes

  In its most basic sense, morality is described as the principles defining “good” or “bad” behavior. But how does a society come to understand which is “good” or “bad” behavior?

  In his 2012 article “The Origins of Envy,” published by the American Enterprise Institute, Max Borders cites Max Krasnow, a postdoctoral researcher specializing in evolutionary psychology at Harvard University, who informs us that emotions are “the coordinated response of diverse psychological and physiological systems to a class of stimuli.”

  In other words, your brain reacts to things in the world around you, and these reactions have forged emotions in our brains over millions of years. This hardwiring of our emotions was developed based upon survival. And because each new generation can’t learn the right survival instincts from scratch, we have a certain level of emotional responses and learned behavior built into our cognitive systems. Think about reflexes such as jumping in fear when you think you see a snake—that response kicks in before your mind has a chance to reflect. This is a built-in instinct.

  Societal Evolution

  Throughout most of human history, mankind developed as small tribes of hunters and gatherers. Innate instincts were developed for survival purposes—creating the foundation for a moral code.

  A certain set of moral rules emerged, largely because they enhanced the survival chances of the group. These rules were shaped by the primary characteristics of man’s environment. The small tribes people lived in were largely self-sufficient and were small enough to share the same goal (survival).

  This moral code based on tribal instincts included these key characteristics:

  • Self-sacrifice (making oneself worse off to benefit another; a zero-sum exchange)

  • Intentionally helping others

  • Providing help to identifiable beneficiaries with shared goals (i.e., survival of the group)

  In this setting of small tribes, it was quite reasonable to believe that anyone accumulating wealth was doing so only at the expense of others. Hunters and gatherers were only able to accumulate a finite amount of food to sustain the group. So if John managed to take and accumulate more than his “share” of the day’s food supply, he could do so only at the expense of lessening Jane’s allotment. Jane’s very survival would be threatened because she may not get enough calories to survive.

  Tribal instincts established that for the good of the survival of the group (a common goal), John shares his fowl with Jane (intentionally helping an identifiable beneficiary) and gets nothing in return (zero-sum exchange).

  Thus, a moral code was established in early, tribal man.

  In their 2011 essay “Markets and Morality” in Cato Journal, economists J.R. Clark and Dwight R. Lee referred to this type of moral code as “magnanimous morality.”

  They chose this terminology because it is very easy to praise this type of moral behavior, and it is easy to observe and trace the benefits of such self-sacrifice.

  The instincts that developed from such scenarios formed emotions such as guilt and provided a foundation for the code of magnanimous morality. Tribes that developed these emotional and moral adaptations were more likely to survive than those that didn’t.

  Notice how closely this primitive moral code tracks with the Twitter socialist’s emphasis on “selflessness” and “meeting people’s needs.”

  The “Extended Order”

  As mankind evolved into larger societies that developed a growing diversity of individual goals, division of labor, trade, and new moral codes of conduct emerged.

  These new moral codes emerged because those practicing them were able to grow and prosper relative to other societies—given the changing social environment. These codes of just conduct were not consciously adopted or decreed by individuals—they evolved over countless generations.

  The new moral code that emerged included:

  • Self-ownership (i.e., individual rights)

    • Refraining from harming others

  • Property rights

    • No one has an entitlement to the property or effort of another

  • Equality before the law

  • Free voluntary exchange

  Recorded history over the last hundreds of years is crystal clear: those societies that adopted the above as priorities flourished far more than those that didn’t, and continue to do so.

  In short, in order to successfully transition from small tribes to large-scale civilization, society must adapt to new rules of interaction; i.e., a new moral code.

  Those still insisting that socialism is a morally superior system are appealing to innate moral instincts developed in primitive times, which many now recognize would spell disaster in today’s “extended order” of society. Inspired by Marx and Engels (among others), today’s socialists cling to a romanticized version of early tribal units that had to consciously share goods of value in order to survive.

  Why Capitalism Is Necessary to Fulfill the Goals of “Magnanimous Morality” Favored by Socialists

  As humankind evolves into large societies, the characteristics of magnanimous morality—as a means to organize society as a whole—break down, for several reasons:

  • The number of people we can meaningfully care for is small relative to the total population (i.e., there is a limited number of identifiable beneficiaries)

  • A wide diversity of skills and specialized efforts means a wide diversity of individual goals—not shared goals like in a small tribe

  • Zero-sum self-sacrifice (i.e., giving without getting anything in return) cannot expand to too many others without spelling one’s own demise. If you keep giving while getting nothing in return, eventually you will starve.

  • People cannot intentionally help others without knowing what their needs are

    • In a larger society, there are simply too many people to understand what each individual’s needs are

  • If economic exchanges were restricted only to those with whom we share personal bonds, the loss of gains from trades never occurring would drastically stymie economic growth

  Instead, a competitive market based on private property better enables entrepreneurs to meet the needs of other individuals in a large, diverse society:

  • Individuals acquire wealth through producing and exchanging goods and services that others want

    • To receive, one must first give

    • Therefore, they must first take into consideration what others need

  • Prices, conveyed by the free exchange of private property, communicate the needs of those we don’t know. Consumers bid up the prices of those goods most in demand, which signals to entrepreneurs, enabling them to intentionally provide goods valued by others

  • People become wealthy by making others better off, not by making others worse off. Market exchanges are decidedly not zero sum.

  • In a market economy, one must serve others in society if he wants to acquire riches, even those he may not like

    • Cattle ranchers in Wyoming who may hate New Yorkers still get up early in the morning to produce beef that will be enjoyed by New Yorkers because the rancher wants to earn income

    • Relying on pure self-sacrifice would not achieve these results; forcing such sacrifice would not only violate our rights but foster resentment and tension

  Conclusion

  In order to win in the arena of ideas, it is critical to understand what motivates our opponents. Socialists are motivated by a moral code that was hardwired into our brains in primitive times, and are mistakenly translating it into a means of organizing a much more extended society than the one in which that moral code emerged.

  

  Even granting the goals of “meeting people’s needs” and “selflessness” cherished by socialists, we can make the case that a competitive, property-based market economy is far superior at meeting those goals in modern civilization compared to a top-down, centrally controlled socialist system.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 19:00

• Chinese Tech Giant Baidu Is Going To Create Its Own EV Company
  Chinese Tech Giant Baidu Is Going To Create Its Own EV Company

  The good news for Tesla is that the company has definitely seemed to spur mass adoption of EVs across the globe. So, in converting the world to EVs, mission accomplished. The bad news for Tesla is, well, also that they have spurred mass adoption of EVs globally. This means competition will be robust. 

  And that competition isn’t just limited to legacy automakers. In addition to names like Apple and Google working on self-driving in the U.S., the latest tech giant to join the EV race in China looks like it could become search firm Baidu, according to CNBC. 

  

  The tech company is reportedly going to make a standalone electric vehicle company as part of a joint venture with Geely automotive, the report says. Geely will make the hardware, while Baidu will make the software. 

  “Baidu relies heavily on advertising revenue but it has been looking to diversify its business to other areas such as cloud computing and autonomous driving software,” CNBC notes.

  The company has already been testing driverless car software in Beijing. Baidu has its own map app and its own voice assistant technology. 

  Meanwhile, the market for EVs in China continues to be ripe. EV sales from January to November of 2020 were up 4.4% this year versus a decline of 7.6% in overall passenger cars during the same period. Chinese auto sales had seen a full V-shaped recovery by October of this year, we noted at the time. 

  

  Recall, we noted in November that NEVs will be 20% of China’s new car sales by 2025. The “new energy” category includes battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Sales will rise as the country’s “NEV industry has improved their technology and competitiveness,” according to a new policy paper reviewed by Reuters. 

  

  In the country’s 5 year plan to 2025, the State Council has pushed for improvements in EV technologies, building more efficient charging and implementing battery swapping networks. The Chinese government will also adopt quotas and incentives to to “guide automakers” (i.e. force them) to make EVs after Federal subsidies end in two years.

  The government is also looking at ways to implement EVs for public uses, commercial use and mass transit. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 18:40

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• The 'Woke' Purge Has Begun
  The ‘Woke’ Purge Has Begun

  Authored by Brendan O’Neill via Spiked-Online.com,

  Twitter’s suspension of Donald Trump is a chilling sign of tyranny to come…

  

  Cancel culture doesn’t exist, they say. And yet with the flick of a switch, billionaire capitalists voted for by precisely nobody have just silenced a man who is still the democratically elected president of the United States. With the push of a button in their vast temples to technology, the new capitalist oligarchs of Silicon Valley have prevented a man who won the second largest vote in the history of the American republic just two months ago — 74million votes — from engaging with his supporters (and critics) in the new public square of the internet age.

  Not only does cancel culture exist — it is the means through which the powerful, unaccountable oligarchies of the internet era and their clueless cheerleaders in the liberal elites interfere in the democratic process and purge voices they disapprove of. That’s what Twitter’s permanent suspension of Donald Trump confirms.

  The new capitalists’ cancellation of the democratically elected president of the United States is a very significant turning point in the politics and culture of the Western world. We underestimate the significance of this act of unilateral purging at our peril. It demonstrates that the greatest threat to freedom and democracy comes not from the oafs and hard-right clowns who stormed the Capitol this week, but from the technocratic elites who spy in the breaching of the Capitol an opportunity to consolidate their cultural power and their political dominance.

  Twitter’s ban on Trump is extraordinary for many reasons. First, there’s the arrogance of it. Make no mistake: this is the bosses vs democracy; corporates vs the people; exceptionally wealthy and aloof elites determining which elected politicians may engage in online discussion, which is where most political and public debate takes place in the 21st century. Those who cannot see how concerning and sinister it is that a handful of Big Tech companies have secured a virtual monopoly over the social side of the internet, and are now exploiting their monopolistic power to dictate what political opinions it is acceptable to hold and express in these forums, urgently needs a wake-up call.

  Secondly, there is Twitter’s deeply disturbing justification for why it suspended Trump. It says Trump’s account ran the ‘risk’ of ‘inciting violence’. And yet the two tweets of his that it cites do nothing of the sort. In one, Trump describes his voters as ‘great American patriots’ and insists they will have a ‘GIANT VOICE’ in the future. In the other he confirms that he will not be attending the inauguration of Joe Biden. That’s it. In what warped moral universe can such standard, boastful Trump-made statements be interpreted as calls for violence?

  In the warped moral universe of pre-emptive, precautionary censorship being built by our tech overlords, that’s where. Strikingly, Twitter says its censorship of the president is based on how other people might read and interpret his words. It says its censorious motivation is ‘specifically’ the question of ‘how [Trump’s tweets] are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter’. Trump’s comments ‘must be read’ in the broader context of how certain statements ‘can be mobilised by different audiences’, Twitter decrees. So Trump’s words, strictly speaking, are not the problem; it’s the possibility, the risk, that someone, somewhere might interpret them in a particular way.

  This sets a terrifying precedent for the internet age. It legitimises a new regime of online censorship which doesn’t only punish inflammatory speech — which would be bad enough — but which punishes normal, legitimate political speech on the grounds of how other, unnamed people or groups might respond to it.

  There would be no end to what could be censored. 

  Trans-sceptical feminists, already victims of Silicon Valley’s woke purges, would be completely wiped out on the basis that some idiot might interpret their intellectual, non-bigoted critiques of genderfluidity as an instruction to bash a trans person. Christians sceptical of gay marriage, pro-life campaigners furious about abortion, radical leftists who say ‘smash the system’ — all could potentially fall foul of this new diktat that says we are not only responsible for what we ourselves think and say, but also for the myriad interpretations that everyone else, from the man in the street to the weirdo incel, makes of what we think and say.

  On this basis the White Album should be banned, given its songs ‘Helter Skelter’ and ‘Piggies’ were ‘mobilised by different audiences’ to terrible ends — the killings carried out by Charles Manson’s Family. Catcher in the Rye? Censor it. Don’t you remember how it ‘mobilised’ Mark David Chapman to kill John Lennon? As for the Bible, the Koran and any number of political texts and anthems — the risks of ‘mobilisation’ that they pose are clearly too great, so, to be on the safe side, let’s scrub those too.

  It isn’t just Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg (zero votes) had already indefinitely suspended Trump (74million votes) from Facebook. Reddit has scrubbed its Donald Trump thread. All social-media accounts that promote the mad Qanon conspiracy theory are being suspended. Mike Flynn and Sidney Powell have been banished from Twitter. YouTube is now banning any video and account that says the American election was fraudulent. This shows how ideological Silicon Valley oligarchs have become. For four years leading members of the media and cultural elites in the US and the UK have said the American presidential election and the EU referendum of 2016 were frauds. That they were meddled with, illegitimate, should be overthrown. You’ll find tens of thousands of videos on YouTube featuring people saying the vote for Brexit was a fit-up by Ruskies or an ‘advisory’ vote fraudulently turned into an instructional one. They won’t be taken down. Because our tech overlords are engaged in acts of openly political censorship.

  And then there’s Parler, the libertarian alternative to Twitter. Google this week removed the Parler app from its store on the basis that it doesn’t control its users’ inflammatory speech strictly enough. Apple is threatening to do likewise. All those who said ‘Just make your own social-media platform’ clearly underestimated the tyrannical determination of the woke elites to erase ‘offensive speech’ from every quarter of the internet. This is a full-on purge of any voice that significantly runs counter to the worldview of the anti-populist elites.

  That the left is cheering this on is cretinism of the most remarkable kind. They are green-lighting the most thorough assault on freedom of speech that the capitalist elites have ever carried out. They are sanctioning the control of speech by billionaires. They are celebrating as corporate oligarchies interfere directly in the democratic process. They are making a fetish of private property rights, insisting that the corporate rights of virtual monopolies like Twitter and Facebook, in this case their right to throw people off their platforms, override the social, democratic good of free public debate.

  I know this is unlikely anytime soon — given the entirely bullshit and pseudo ‘leftish’ posturing of the Silicon Valley elites — but imagine if at some point in the future the tech overlords decide that Bernie Sanders or some rabble-rousing organiser of protests outside Google’s HQ might ‘mobilise audiences’ to do something bad and decide to ban them? What will the left say? Nothing, presumably. Or nothing that should be taken seriously, given they will have helped to create this web of tyranny. They have forgotten the cry of the true radical Thomas Paine: ‘He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.’

  There is danger in the current moment. It comes not from horn-helmeted idiots and racist scumbags who paraded through the Capitol Building for an hour, but from those who wish to turn that despicable incident into the founding myth of a new era of woke authoritarianism. The business and political elites, determined to crush the populist experiment of recent years, will busily launch wars on ‘domestic terrorism’, clamp down on inflammatory speech, purge from the internet and from workplaces anyone with ‘incorrect’ thoughts, and blacklist those who believe populism is preferable to technocracy. They’re already doing it. The Biden administration isn’t even in power yet and this is already happening. Imagine how emboldened the new oligarchies and their woke mobs will become once Biden and Co are ruling. Brace yourselves; the purge is only beginning.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/11/2021 – 00:10

• The CIA Rebranded: Don't Worry, We're Woke Now!
  The CIA Rebranded: Don’t Worry, We’re Woke Now!

  The CIA unveiled a trendy new logo this week and it’s already being mercilessly mocked. As one graphic design commentary website put it:

  The CIA’s new rebrand includes a refreshed logo (below) which retains its predecessor’s circular shape – and very little else. With its bold, black-and-white typeface and wavy lines, the internet is wondering whether the CIA has been taking logo design inspiration from techno music posters. 

  

  And of course this is all supposedly in the name of “diversity” and appeasing the cult of the woke.

  The new logo can be found on the CIA’s new recruitment website which is part of a broader initiative to create a more culturally diverse and sensitive intelligence agency that includes “people of all backgrounds and walks of life”.

  The Associated Press writes of the new rebranding and culture shift within the agency: “while the CIA has been diversifying for years, intelligence agencies still lag behind the federal workforce in minority representation.”

  CIA’s verified Twitter account has also been busy virtue signaling its new “diverse faces” as part of the initiative:

  #DiscoverCIA

  — CIA (@CIA) January 5, 2021

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

  “We’re woke now!” journalist Rania Khalek begins in a spoof video covering the major rebrand.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll still be overthrowing democratically-elected socialist governments and putting despots in power.”

  “But we’re moving with the times here at Langley and we don’t want the white patriarchy giving orders…. We want trans torturers… It doesn’t matter if you’re from a minority, as long as you have no moral code.” 

  The CIA rebranded, new year new me pic.twitter.com/cObsh4hpkO

  — Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) January 8, 2021

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

  The rebrand is further being widely laughed at on Twitter and other social media…

  new CIA logo looks like theyre going to send me a form email saying they loved the tracks on my soundcloud and they want to do a digital only release to their 147 followers https://t.co/q2mfaHcTaH

  — sean (@chocchipcamofan) January 4, 2021

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

  CIA rebrand is giving techno festival in Frankfurt pic.twitter.com/tjPWo2AOa2

  — cancela lansbury (@gossipbabies) January 4, 2021

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

  We highly doubt that any of this has foreign enemies or terrorists at all worried.

  Instead, it’s likely they’re laughing right alongside the internet, and all too glad the CIA appears to be this preoccupied with projecting with its ‘diverse’ image instead of focusing on gathering actual intelligence and engaging in national security matters. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 23:45

• Silent But Deadly: Marines See Biggest Deployment Of Rifle Suppressors Ever
  Silent But Deadly: Marines See Biggest Deployment Of Rifle Suppressors Ever

  The U.S. Marine Corps is fielding tens of thousands of suppressors designed for automatic rifles as a move to reduce noise signature on the modern battlefield, according to Military.com. 

  Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) is in the process of fielding the first of the suppressors designed for M4 and M4A1 carbines and M27 infantry automatic rifles to Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. By 2023, the service expects as many as 30,000 suppressors will be fielded, which is the largest deployment of suppressors by any military. 

  

  “We’ve never fielded suppressors at this scale,” Maj. Mike Brisker, weapons product manager in MCSC’s Program Manager for Infantry Weapons, said in a recent press release. “This fielding is a big moment for the Marine Corps.”

  Suppressors on automatic rifles firing a 5.56mm round will reduce noise by 30-40 decibels. This means each shot will sound more like a 22 caliber. 

  Reducing noise adds stealth to Marines, making it harder for the enemy to locate them. 

  Suppressors help decrease their “audible and visual signature, making it more difficult for the enemy to ascertain their location,” Chief Warrant Officer 4 David Tomlinson, MCSC’s infantry weapons officer, said in the release. 

  Besides reducing sound, suppressors also eliminate muzzle flash, which adds to the stealthiness of Marines. 

  Another big reason for the adoption is that it makes it easier for Marines to communicate with each other in combat. 

  “I would say the most important thing the suppressor does is allow for better inter-squad, inter-platoon communication,” Tomlinson said in the release. “It allows the operators to communicate laterally up and down the line during a firefight.”

  Marine officials also hope the suppressors will reduce hearing damage suffered by infantry Marines in combat. 

  Watch as Marines conduct a training exercise using suppressors. 

  To sum up: Washington continues to modernize forces as uncertainty and risk of military conflict continue to rise in the early 2020s. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 23:20

• Whispers In The Wind
  Whispers In The Wind

  Authored By Kym Robinson via The Libertarian Institute, 

  As the fiasco of US democracy shreds at any sense of dignity the world watches on and pretends that the health of the American empire is vibrant, the opinionated social media activist and the interested expert all find outrage in the moment.  Biden and Trump drips from the chanting lips of those who are storming the halls of political might. Far in distant lands, inside the obedient nations of the American empire heads of state read out words of support and condemnation. Outraged citizens from abroad criticize the ousted president, or they cheer for him to troll from the platform of twitter. The social media giants had long ago shown their loyalties as they ban and limit elements of some perspectives of very much the same political monstrosity. But in the end, does it change anything?

  The outraged and protesting tug and pull for the reigns of rule. The mob that failed at the sort of works democracy now reveals itself as just that violent destructive blob of people who want more control, want more influence and want a government that does things for them often against others. Whether it is proud boys, ANTIFA, MAGA or BLM the government as it stands really does not change that much, perhaps ‘Amen’ is switched to ‘Awomen’ and pronouns are balanced with some sensitivity or maybe the jingoists get another minority group to blame for the decay of Western or American civilization. But in the end the empire is ever present abroad and at home.

  For the rest of the world, we are forced to watch the melodrama of US politics, again. As though the United States is the center of the world, or universe. Perhaps the world should care less about what happens inside the US with as much concern as the average American seems to care about the rest of the world.

  

  Millions of humans lead their lives despite the petty and often pathetic self importance of US partisan politics and yet somehow, the American empire finds them. Whether it is a drone hovering high above, visiting with random murder or a blockade of warships enforcing an almost ancient embargo, it is the American prevalence in all of our lives that seems to be destroying not only the US itself, but the wider world. And when a victor emerges, the world still gets war. Mostly American wars. These are not civil riots protests that waved a fist against state led bigotry, nor are they anti conscription riots over government forcing individuals to fight overseas in another war. Such past riots, have had limited impact in quelling the growth of government or in tempering its destructive might.

  Journalist Julian Assange is held captive in legal purgatory, punished for revealing the crimes of war mongers and lifting the up the skirt of many governments. Ross Ulbricht a prisoner because he created a website, the details of his conviction would  make for an unbelievable fiction and yet it was all too real. Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning are pariah patriots, believers in the religious texts that most Americans claim to uphold and yet most of the voting public and voted for rulers disregard the details of such a constitution and Bill of Rights. And millions of poor and desperate foreigners live and die in the frontiers of foreign policy, their homes and day to day ruined so that macho sounding politicians can profit by propping up tyrannies of maniacal madness. Inside the prisons of the US itself are thousands of convicts punished for victimless crimes, the prohibitions and regulations of a cancerous government that claims to be for freedom, when in fact it dissolves it at every chance. The protests are not for any of them.

  A small child, perhaps now dead, coiled in infant agony, starved as its innocent eyes bulged in anguish fronted recent articles covering the desperate situation in Yemen. A situation that would be impossible if not for the aid and assistance of the US and it’s imperial allies. Neither Trump of Biden would save that baby and the many others like it. The Saudi kingdom, is a profitable friend. The protesters that support the two coins of US partisan politics do not care about the children of Yemen either. One needs not look too far to find the victims of foreign policy, recent and distant to see the true outcome of such actions, but it seems few actually care to. And should they be presented with such facts and terrible images, a religious fog washes across their eyes, allowing them to either dismiss or contextualize the murder and suffering. But a slob tweeting from the toilet or a hair sniffing buffoon are both credible enough to lead, and be despised because they are not the other.

  Protests inspired by Greta Thunberg visited many cities across the planet, sort of serious protesters found more energy than the Kony2012 social media inspired activists. They chanted and spread hashtags, cheered for the Swedish teen to shame political masters and then as often is the case, the energy dissipated. Nature continues to suffer, but a new smart phone in the hand is more appealing than living inside a canvas tent among the trees. The fixation with taxing the problem away and regulating industry to ‘not pollute’ is one of often curiosity, ignoring the waste of government itself. Not to mention the destructive pollutant that is the war machine. There once was a time when green movements were anti-government and anti-war. Now many of the supposedly green champions are inside the cathedral of government and so long as biodegradable material is used to transport the depleted uranium shells or a tree is planted on a base somewhere as gas guzzling tanks trample trees in distant lands, then the message is sound.

  

  It seems that since the emergence of COVID-19 that the Peoples Republic of China has become popular to despise. An authoritarian government that had bashed human rights since before its inception, a nation of growing power and influence, that with patience managed to take advantage of the laziness and complacency of modern Western culture. Many inside the West profited from and helped to cultivate the communist planners of China. But now supposedly courageous journalists and politicians criticize the communist state. Those who had their fingers inside the red cookie jar are ousted, the many honey traps are revealed but before COVID-19, few cared about the organ harvesting, mass executions, forced labor camps and surveillance state. It is hard to reveal those things as Chinese money flowed so lavishly.

  The future unfortunately is China’s, not because of the billions of unique individuals of China but the regime itself. The culture of control, social credits, censorship, travel restrictions and surveillance. The nationalism of compromise communism that has developed in the decades since the death of Mao. It is a template by which other national governments may adopt, not by any devious design, but inevitable instinct. The protesters, voters and mobs that throw their violent tantrums do not stand opposed to that, unlike those in Hong Kong who feel the crushing tyranny grip them.  In the US and its partner nations, the coming tyranny is inevitable. It is often welcomed and it is one of elite insight, for your health, for your safety. The custodian government is here for the child citizen, and jobs, welfare will be available. Is that not Utopian?

  Just as the war on terror normalized the security state, the war on drugs introduced no knock raids and intrusive searches, the war on the virus will bring with it the ever controlling health state. One that had already been creeping in. A health state of supposed benevolence for those nations of Public Health will continue to see grow, where an ideological health care system trumps choice and efficiency. Instead it gives careers and less care and a generic approach to solutions, that seldom suits the many individuals in need. Then the many regulations strangling society to ensure that the consumer, employer and employee are all directed and guided into one homogenized pattern. Choice, freedom, independence and individual responsibility are all deemed to be selfish. To be dependent, to have fewer or no choices and to be part of a collective is considerate, altruistic or even woke. For many of those protest, the public tantrum is about themes of the same controls, not ending them.

  Whatever Americans think about their nation, whether they burn or worship their flag. How little or much that they know about their national history, it is insignificant to the perspective of those in foreign lands who understand the USA for what it actions reveal it to be. A war empire. When the mostly slave owners penned those words on that famous cannabis sheet it is unlikely that the republic that they envisioned would some day become greater than the British empire. And when the French sold lands on the North American continent, that never really belonged to them, to the young republic or when the British burned the capital building after defeating the US invaders of Canada it is unlikely that they could imagine their future dependence and partial obedience to mighty US empire. For those who have been visited by US warplanes, tanks and ships the rhetoric of freedom and liberty are bloody lies. Just as they are for most Americans. But that is not being protested about.

  So now as social media waffles on over the calamity in the streets of US cities, will it change a thing? In a few months it would have been but one in many riots that have ravaged US streets. Riots that have claimed lives and destroyed property. None of which changed the perpetual nature of the US government, domestically or abroad. The outraged don’t really care about much other than the shrillness of the other side. The dead children in Yemen or Afghanistan, the burning lands of foreign wars don’t get that much concern, such scars and tears belongs to others. So when one side stands atop of the heaped mess as winner of the US government, the business of war will go on. The dignity of the individual will be bludgeoned and those who want nothing more but to control, to rule and to be taken care of, shall be victorious. But too few really cared enough to stop it. And those who do care, they are but whispers in the wind.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 22:55

• Amid Soaring Food Prices, Vietnam And China Buy Indian Rice For First Time In Decades
  Amid Soaring Food Prices, Vietnam And China Buy Indian Rice For First Time In Decades

  One month ago, we reported that SocGen’s bearish analyst Albert Edwards, who is traditionally well ahead of the curve, looked at charts of soaring food prices and was starting to “panic.”

  Edwards’ research report concluded by urging his readers to “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.”

  

  And while it’s not quite the spring of 2011 just yet (give it a few months) it’s getting dangerously close.

  As Rithesh Jain from the World out of Whack blog writes, citing an article in the Reuters, “Vietnam, the world’s third biggest exporter of rice, has started buying the grain from rival India for the first time in decades after local prices jumped to their highest in nine years amid limited domestic supplies.”

  “For the first time we are exporting to Vietnam,” B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association, told Reuters on Monday. “Indian prices are very attractive. The huge price difference is making exports possible.”

  Dwindling supplies and continued Philippine buying have lifted Vietnamese rice export prices to a fresh nine-year high.

  Vietnam’s 5% broken rice is offered around $500-$505 per tonne, significantly higher compared to Indian prices of $381-$387.

  This means that, as we have been warning for the past few months, food inflation is indeed back with a vengeance:

  The purchases underscore tightening supplies in Asia, which could lift rice prices in 2021 and even force traditional buyers of rice from Thailand and Vietnam to switch to India – the world’s biggest exporter of the grain.

  Indian farmers and exporter are big beneficiary.

  In December, the world’s biggest rice importer China started buying Indian rice for the first time in at least three decades due to tightening supplies from Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam and an offer of sharply discounted prices.

  What happens next? Nothing good:

  Chronic and acute hunger is on the rise, impacting vulnerable households in almost every country, with the COVID-19 pandemic reducing incomes and disrupting supply chains, according to the World Bank.

  As Jain concludes, “food inflation is here and unlike base metals, agricultural items can be substituted leading to rise in the entire agri basket.” The following charts from Goldman show just how close we are to a rerun of the global “Arab spring” we are again.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 22:30

• Legal Wrangle Continues Over Possible Release Of Orange County Prisoners
  Legal Wrangle Continues Over Possible Release Of Orange County Prisoners

  Authored by Drew Van Voorhis via The Epoch Times,

  The fate of about 1,800 Orange County inmates remains unclear as legal proceedings continue into whether the prisoners should be released amidst an ongoing pandemic.

  

  During a Jan. 8 court hearing, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) answered questions regarding its plans to reduce a CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus outbreak among its prison populations. The hearing ultimately resulted in the court ordering future hearings to obtain more information.

  The case began last year, when Sheriff Don Barnes received a Dec. 11 court order requiring county jails to reduce populations by 50 percent. It was a move Barnes has warned could result in large consequences for the community.

  Barnes appealed the court order, but was denied Dec. 29. He filed another appeal, which led to the Jan. 8 hearing, overseen by Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson.

  County attorneys Kayla Watson and Kevin Dunn, as well as American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawyer Corene Kendrick, were in attendance. Barnes was not.

  During the hearing, Wilson asked county attorneys a list of pre-written questions about the precautions the department has taken to reduce the outbreak. Inquires related to jail inspections, available prison footage, and more.

  OCSD spokesman Sgt. Dennis Brecker told The Epoch Times via email that the jail’s COVID-19 numbers reduced by hundreds of cases Jan. 8 due to a backlog of tests being processed.

  “Our [positive case] numbers in the jail just went down by the hundreds, now at 465 [cases],” Breckner said. Just the day before, the department was reporting 1,062 cases.

  He continued, “The website is up to date and the explanation for the drastic decrease was simply that the number of tests being administered created a backlog for [Orange County Health Care Agency] and they are now catching up.  We anticipate the number continuing on a downward trend because of the mitigation efforts that we have put in place.”

  During the hearing, Kendrick offered to bring in a person the ACLU has worked with before as a court-appointed expert to go through the 34 boxes of inmate files the sheriff’s department transferred to Wilson to review on who to safely release, based on individual inmates’ records.

  Watson noted large disagreement with this.

  “I just want the record to be clear that we, on behalf of the sheriff’s department, strongly object to the appointment of any expert to perform the sheriff’s statutory duties,” Watson said.

  “We have not been given an opportunity to present current evidence on the ground, despite our repeated requests.”

  The court adjourned with the next court hearing being held January 19, where there will likely be more experts to testify.

  Barnes issued a statement on the Jan. 8 hearing.

  “The court is holding additional hearings to obtain information from experts regarding the conditions of the jail,” he said.

  “We will continue to highlight our efforts to mitigate COVID-19 in our jails and keep dangerous inmates out of the community,” he noted.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 22:05

• 6000 National Guard Troops Arrive In DC To Beef Up Security
  6000 National Guard Troops Arrive In DC To Beef Up Security

  Around 6,000 National Guard troops have been activated from multiple states. They are expected to arrive in the Washington Metropolitan Area within the next 48 hours to beef up security around the US Capitol complex, according to AP. 

  Update: They have started to arrive…

  Buses of National Guard troops still filing into the Capitol tonight. We’re seeing them stationed every few feet along new barricades installed around key buildings. @ABC7News pic.twitter.com/g9dkWipyJg

  — Carl Willis (@CarlWillisTV) January 10, 2021

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

  Deployment of Guard troops come in the wake of deadly riots at the Capitol building on Wednesday and ahead of the Presidential Inauguration on Jan. 20 that could incite another wave of violence. 

  AP has learned defense officials are reviewing restrictions on whether Guard troops will be allowed to carry weapons in the coming days as new threats materialize. 

  Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told AP Friday that intelligence on potential threats continues to evolve. He said some Guard troops could carry M4 Carbines, but a final decision may come next week. 

  The review reflects concerns about the safety of Guard troops in the wake of the deadly riots. 

  “We’ll be looking at the intelligence and decide over the next day or so,” McCarthy said. “It’s just going to require us to get better intel, and then we’ll have to take a risk assessment.”

  This past week, Guard troops have been unarmed and will continue to be once a decision is made. So far, they’ve been tasked with guarding the Capitol building behind steel walls that limit them from directly contacting violent protesters. 

  About 850 Guard troops have been deployed to Capital grounds, working 12 hours shifts at more than 90 checkpoints. 

  Over the weekend, videos have emerged of Guard troops stationed around the Capitol complex.

  Guard troop presence increasing in DC. 

  HUGE military presence in Washington DC right now. pic.twitter.com/X9dieF4oDK

  — Jeremy Kappell (@JeremyKappell) January 10, 2021

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

  Guard troops patrolling perimeter fence around Capitol. 

  

  Guard troops patrolling buildings around the Capitol. 

  

  AFP shows several scenes of Guard troops outside the perimeter fence of the Capitol. 

  Considering top militia leaders have said they have placed “armed” members around DC to prevent a steal of the 2020 presidential election from President Trump – it’s likely some Guard troops will be armed as perhaps the last of the violence isn’t over. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 21:40

• FAA Slams Pro-Trump Demonstrators For "Disrupting" Flights Ahead Of Capitol Chaos
  FAA Slams Pro-Trump Demonstrators For “Disrupting” Flights Ahead Of Capitol Chaos

  A few days ago, a union of flight attendants called on US airlines to permanently ban all participants in the Capitol Hill riot from flying amid reports that planes full of Trump supporters traveling to Washington DC caused disturbances during flights. Now, as prosecutors across the country hunt down the participants of Wednesday’s Capitol riot, the FAA and its members are taking disciplinary matters into their own hands.

  

  According to Bloomberg, the FAA is vowing “strong enforcement” of any further violations tied to supporters of President Trump. In other words, if you wear a red baseball cap on a plane, well, you might as well yell “bomb!”…

  FAA Chief Steven Dickson issued a statement Saturday saying the agency will take any further “unruly” actions by passengers extremely seriously.

  “The FAA will pursue strong enforcement action against anyone who endangers the safety of a flight, with penalties ranging from monetary fines to jail time,” said Dickson, himself a former airline pilot.

  Passengers on aircraft must obey safety commands from flight attendants and pilots, and the FAA monitors reports of violations, Dickson said. “This includes unruly passenger behavior, which can distract, disrupt and threaten crew members’ ability to conduct their key safety functions,” he said.

  Numerous other incidents on flights were reported on social media as travelers visited Washington and flew home after Wednesday’s events. Flight attendant unions have also issued press releases condemning the behavior.

  Flight attendants with American Airlines were forced to confront passengers who were harassing others for their political views on one particularly difficult flight, according to Julie Hedrick, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants.

  “This behavior is unacceptable, and flight attendants should not have to deal with these egregious incidents,” Hedrick said in a press release.

  So, what’s the solution? Will Republicans no longer be allowed to travel to rallies and other events?

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 21:15

• Washington Chaos May Raise Tail Risks For Beijing
  Washington Chaos May Raise Tail Risks For Beijing

  By Ye Xie, Bloomberg Markets Live commentator

  Three things we learned last week:

  1. Trump is keeping the pressure on China amid Washington turmoil.

  Secretary of State Michael Pompeo provoked Beijing when he said that the U.S. will remove decades-old restrictions on how its diplomats approach Taiwan. The move raises tensions over the One China policy — a red line for Chinese leaders.

  It suggests that the Trump administration isn’t done taking on China, even as the president is besieged following a violent insurrection by his supporters at the Capitol. Lawmakers are pushing for him to be impeached, and a number of administration officials have resigned. Further hostility toward Beijing in his final days in office could set up more hurdles for Joe Biden to deal with China.

  While Alibaba and Tencent were left off an updated U.S. Treasury list of Chinese companies considered to be tied to the military, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the tech giants are off the hook. And more state companies, including oil firms, could be added to the list and kicked off of the U.S. exchanges. The risk of sanctioning a major Chinese bank also remains.

  2. Foreign investors cannot get enough Chinese stocks.

  Overseas investors bought a record net 21 billion yuan worth ($3.2 billion) of Chinese shares through the north-bound stock connection last week, as the CSI 300 hit a 13-year high. South-bound flows from mainland investors to Hong Kong also reached a record. China Mobile, which is excluded from major indexes and due to be delisted by the NYSE on Monday, was the most bought stock in the southbound program Friday. It looks like there are plenty of Chinese happy to take advantage of the forced selling from U.S. investors.

  

  3. Reflation trades are all rage.

  MSCI’s global stock benchmark notched records as the Democratic sweep of Congress increases the odds for another round of stimulus in the U.S. Ten-year U.S. Treasury yields climbed above 1.1% and narrowed a gap with Chinese bonds. That didn’t kept the yuan from rallying further, prompting Chinese policy makers to take more steps to slow inflows.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 20:42

• Thwarting The Next Attack On The Capitol
  Thwarting The Next Attack On The Capitol

  Authored by Robert Wright via The American Institute for Economic Research,

  Thirty shots rang out in the U.S. Capitol around 2:30 pm. Bullets struck five House Reps, all of whom survived, thanks in part to the valiant response of House Pages.

  If that sounds different from news accounts of the events of 6 January 2021, it is because the event briefly described above occurred on 1 March 1954, when four Puerto Rican nationalists fired the shots from the visitors’ gallery while unfurling the Puerto Rican flag. The assailants were all eventually apprehended, tried, and convicted and were serving long prison sentences commuted by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 and 1979. 

  The three men and one woman who gave half their lives were heroes to Puerto Rican nationalists and anti-imperialists but vile, failed assassins to those who wanted to maintain U.S. hegemony over the island it had taken from the Spanish Empire in 1898. Importantly, most of those who had given little thought to Puerto Rico’s status and likely could not find the island on a map also deprecated the attack because of the level of violence unleashed.

  Of course the people who some Americans still proudly call Patriots were nothing more than nationalist rebels to the Tories. Had the Patriots lost the Revolutionary War, they would have at best suffered the same fate as the Confederate Johnny Reb. George Washington would be remembered today as a scoundrel and an enslaver and his sidekick Alexander Hamilton would have never spawned a hit musical. (Recent rumors of Hamilton’s slaveholding, incidentally, remain empirically baseless.) 

  Today, obviously, matters are no different. If you think you will gain from the actions that some group takes, you will tend to rationalize its tactics and call its members good names. If you think the group’s actions will hurt you, then you will tend to oppose it and its tactics and call its members bad names. 

  

  “Praise and blame” historians call it. One partisan’s hero is another partisan’s zero.

  That is why it is so important for true supporters of “law and order” like myself to identify and reduce the causes of political violence before it becomes too late. In mid-March, I predicted rebellions if lockdowns continued for too long and many mass demonstrations, some quite violent, occurred throughout 2020 in many nations including, of course, our own. I also warned in December that trouble would ensue if the Supreme Court refused to hear the Texas election lawsuit … and here we are. If only the Capitol police had heeded my warnings they could have taken more effective precautions.

  It isn’t terribly difficult, actually, to see trouble brewing. All it takes is a little theory and some empathy. Theory, like one laid out by Eric Hoffer, suggests that frustration breeds violent protest. Frustration isn’t measurable precisely but if you listen to what people — real people not TV pundits — say, and think about how you would feel in a similar situation, you can start to get a sense for genuine frustration.

  Many Patriots, for example, felt that British policymakers were unresponsive to their concerns about how Imperial tax and monetary policies had led to the impoverishment and hence imprisonment of many colonists following the French and Indian War. They beseeched London elites not to tack the Stamp Act onto their many woes but were met with disdain. They won that one, with some violence and many threats, but the British soon piled on additional regulations. The colonists responded with remonstrances, trade embargoes, and so forth, but after the Boston “Massacre” (Patriot propaganda of course) and the mob insurrection against tea in Boston Harbor (British propaganda), violence soon escalated into full blown war.

  Puerto Rican nationalists were also frustrated. The island had gained some de jure independence from Spain in 1897, the year before the Yankee empire invaded and claimed jurisdiction over it. It took over half a century for the United States to grant limited autonomy to Puerto Rico, a reform that did not go far enough for nationalists, who in late October 1950 openly rebelled in several important towns and cities, including San Juan. Puerto Rican police and troops, bolstered by US military forces, quelled the uprisings, which resulted in scores of casualties. On 1 November, two Puerto Rican nationalists attacked President Truman in the Blair House, his temporary residence while the White House was being renovated. One LEO was killed in the attack, as was one of the attackers, while the other was captured, convicted, and imprisoned. 

  Unscathed in the attack, Truman supported a plebiscite on Puerto Rico’s status but, crucially, independence was literally not on the ballot. Nationalists boycotted the election, which overwhelmingly endorsed commonwealth status for the island. From their perspective, the election had been stolen even before it was held.

  None of that background excuses the 1954 attack but it does explain why some nationalists were frustrated enough to resort to violence.

  The same could be said of the small minority of peaceful protestors who attempted to overrun the White House in early June 2020. As I then wrote, those calling for redistribution of resources away from the police were rightly frustrated by continued state violence against poorer Americans, especially those of color, and offered a path toward reducing governmental power without encouraging criminal chaos.

  As for the events of 6 January, every politico lays blame on somebody else and moralizes instead of admitting their own role in causing, or at least not allaying, the frustrations that undergirded the attack. (All federal politicians should resign and donate their entire net worths to the Treasury because all are abject failures … but I won’t hold my breath on that.)  

  I have bad news — much like my news that 2021 would not necessarily be better than 2020 — things could get much, much worse. If you thought recent events were scary, imagine a million or more armed Americans storming the federal zone in DC and burning it to the ground regardless of upgraded security measures. (Vide the apparently insufficient 2017 upgrade.) That is not yet a prediction, and is certainly not a wish, but the probability of such an event is palpably higher than it was just a year ago.

  To reduce the probability of such a horror, America needs real statesmen (leaders of any gender who seek to implement rational policies instead of engaging in constant partisan pandering) to emerge from this mess.

  Real leaders should:

  1. Not use the attack on the Capitol as an excuse to further erode civil liberties. In fact, they should encourage frustrated individuals to engage in peaceful protest, like burning effigies, that is more cathartic than mere virtue signaling via haberdashery or social media posts.

  2. Stop lying about Covid-19. Read the Covid-related posts on this website for the last year for details.

  3. Lay bare the fact that most policy proposals redistribute resources from one group to another and encourage open debate about the tradeoffs involved.

  4. Focus policy on reducing frustration, even if that means cutting the power of corporate or party monopolies and duopolies, unions, and the government itself. 

  5. Chastise every media outlet that engages in partisan hyperbole and encourage the reestablishment of trusted, nonpartisan news sources.

  6. Chastise politicians who call for metaphorical “wars” on everything and anything (including viruses!) and constantly use martial words like “fight” when they really mean “work on behalf of.”

  7. Pass reforms that reestablish trust in elections. (I have long advocated a Constitutional amendment to tie representation in the House [and hence Electoral College weight too] to the number of people who cast ballots rather than on the number of residents, which frankly is already a tricky concept that will get trickier as online work becomes more common. This would give states incentives to encourage voting but also implicate the Census Bureau as a federal check. But other possible reforms abound.)

  8. Insist that any other reforms, say of SCOTUS, be completely nonpartisan by, for example, having any additional justices chosen by the next administration or, better yet, a random draw from a qualified group.

  Do any such real leaders exist in 2021 America? I doubt it, but sometimes existential threats birth greatness.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 20:25

• Here Are The Top 10 Questions Goldman Clients Have About China
  Here Are The Top 10 Questions Goldman Clients Have About China

  With Chinese stocks soaring in recent weeks, and the blue chip CSI 300 index surpassing its 2015 Chinese stock bubble highs..

  

  … momentum chasers investors from around the world are predictably once again poking around in Chinese markets (especially amid the recent confusion surrounding the bilateral crackdown on Alibaba, and the US-led sanctions on Chinese telecom and various megacap stocks), which is why Goldman’s top China strategist Kinger Lau writes that amid the “extensive client conversations” he had in recent days, investor interests and questions have revolved around ten particular topics. Here are the Top 10 China FAQs by Goldman clients, from the latest Goldman “China Musings” report:

  1. Upside and drivers? China rallied 26% in 2020. Strong EPS growth (21%/15% for 21E/22E) on stable PEs (GSe: 15.6x vs 15.5x now) will drive 17% total returns for MXCN this year. Goldman expects a more balanced return profile (New vs.Old China) and prefers China A tactically given its higher macro cyclicality and lower sensitivity to external and Internet policies.

  

  2. GDP growth and vaccine? China’s output has surpassed its pre-Covid levels. (GSe: 2%/8% GDPg in 20/21), with consumption being a key growth driver in2021. The first Chinese vaccine has been approved last week but should have only moderate growth impulse.

  

  3. Is China tightening? Policy stimulus should fade this year as growth recovers. However, the recalibration should be gradual and growth-dependent, and, in what may be the most laughable statement in modern history, Goldman claims that “moderating policy support doesn’t always deflate equity returns.” Brilliant.

  

  4. Industry regulation? Antitrust and FinTech regulations are top policy priorities for 2021, but unlike in 2018, regulatory oversight isn’t tightening across the board although it may pressure valuations for certain companies/sectors.

  

  

  5. US restrictions on Chinese stocks? Clarity has recently emerged for ADR de-listing risks but uncertainty remains regarding the Executive Order, notably the scope of restriction, index exclusion, and forced de-listing. 

  

  6. Rotating from Growth to Value? Goldman stays structurally positive on Growth, but have been scaling up cyclical exposures, instead of pure Value, in its allocation.

  

  7. Themes and sectors for 2021? Following the 14th Five Year Plan as the anchor for thematic investing, Goldman favors a hybrid of Growth and Cyclicals sectors to start 2021.

  

  8. Is China crowded? No, in fact, positioning is at all-time lows according to GS, which expects robust inflows on decent growth, continuing market reforms, and an appreciating Rmb.

  

  9. HSI revamp? More New China, less Old China and HK representation are likely after the index rebalancing in Mar.

  

  10. Risks? Sino-US tensions, private sector policy, leverage, and property tightening:

  • The developments of US-China relationship under a new US administration;
  • Over tightening in China property which contributes to around 20% of GDP via direct and indirect channels;
  • China leverage, which is at all-time highs with rising number of defaults;
  • POE regulation tightening which my present upside risk to equity risk premia.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 20:00

• Here It Comes: 'Patriot Act 2.0' Aimed At The UnWoke Enemy Within
  Here It Comes: ‘Patriot Act 2.0’ Aimed At The UnWoke Enemy Within

  Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

  It’s not been often, in the five years OffG has existed, that we’ve had to cop to missing something important within 24 hours of publishing an article – but this is one of those times.

  

  In my article yesterday – “The Storming of the Capitol”: America’s Reichstag Fire? – I said this [my emphasis]:

  Although there is not yet any talk of legislation [in response to the Capitol Hill riots], it’s certainly true there are whispers of purges and other measures to “protect the constitution”.

  That quote did not age well, indeed it was wrong from the moment it went to print. Because, as it turns out, there has actually been “talk of legislation” for weeks – even months. Soon-to-be-President Joe Biden promised a new “domestic terrorism bill” back in November, according to the Wall Street Journal.

  That is why you’re seeing so much usage of the phrase “domestic terrorism” in the last couple of days.

  It’s the meme-phrase. The primary talking point for this whole exercise. It was underlined in all the memos sent out to all the media outlets.

  That’s why Joe Biden went to such lengths to distinguish “domestic terrorists” from “protesters” in his speech following the riots.

  That’s why the Council on Foreign Relations had an interview with a “counter-terrorism and national security expert” published within 24 hours of the incident, in which he spends 4 paragraphs arguing that the people who “stormed the capitol” were domestic terrorists.

  That’s why the Washington Post has got an article dedicated to “lawmakers and experts” arguing that the Capitol Hill protest was an act of “domestic terrorism”. And so have Vox. And Mother Jones.

  That’s why ABC had an article about how “domestic terrorism and hate crimes” were a growing problem in America…a week before the riot took place.

  And that’s why #TrumpisaDomesticTerrorist is trending on Twitter.

  Georgetown University, a well-known spook college, published a paper in September 2020 titled the “The Need for a Specific Law Against Domestic Terrorism”, and op-ed pieces bemoaning the lack of such a law have been dotted through the press going back to last summer and even late 2019.

  There was one published yesterday, in which a “senior FBI official” says “more could have been done” if there had been a “specific law outlawing” domestic terrorism.

  “Domestic Terrorism” is clearly where it’s at in early 2021, so we can expect a brand new law regarding it…probably by March, at the latest.

  What will “Domestic Terrorism” mean in this law?

  The answer to that is pretty much always “whatever they want it to mean.”

  Certainly, it will include “incitement” and “hate speech”, I would expect “denialism” to make an appearance, and be downright shocked if “spreading misinformation” doesn’t get a mention. Don’t be surprised if “questioning elections” or “bringing democracy into disrepute” is made an outright crime.

  It will probably be tied into the Covid “pandemic” in some way, too. After all, what is discouraging people from taking vaccines if not the very definition of “terrorism”, right? It’s possible that even climate change will get a mention as well. They like to slide that into every issue these days.

  Joe Biden has claimed multiple times to be the author of the original Patriot Act, saying it was based entirely on a bill he proposed in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.

  Well now he has a chance to work on the reboot too, and they are always so much better when you can get the original creative team back together.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 19:45

• Biden Says He Will 'Defeat the NRA' While In Office
  Biden Says He Will ‘Defeat the NRA’ While In Office

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

  President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 8 promised to “defeat” the National Rifle Association while he’s in office.

  

  Biden’s official Twitter account was responding to former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was among 14 people wounded in a shooting rampage by Jared Lee Loughner in Tucson in 2011; six people died in the attack. Giffords had recounted how her life and community “changed forever.”

  “But the attack did not break me—or the people I represented in Congress. We came together, turned pain into purpose, and found hope in each other,” she wrote, adding that she continues to work to “achieve a safer America.”

  Biden responded, saying: “Your perseverance and immeasurable courage continue to inspire me and millions of others. I pledge to continue to work with you—and with survivors, families, and advocates across the country—to defeat the NRA and end our epidemic of gun violence.”

  The NRA, which has more than 5 million members, seeks to protect and educate people about their Second Amendment rights.

  

  While the association didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden’s post, its lobbying arm recently published an article that says Biden would “begin a concerted attack on the rights of American gun owners” after being inaugurated.

  “We must be ready for the onslaught,” the post reads, adding that a Biden administration, if officials get their way, “will ban and confiscate the most-commonly-owned rifle in the United States” and “will arbitrarily limit the number of guns that can be bought per month,” among other measures.

  Biden’s website says he has a plan to end “our gun violence epidemic” and boasts that he has taken on the NRA twice and won, referring to his help passing the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in 1993 and in passing a 10-year ban on some weapons and magazines the following year.

  “As president, Joe Biden will defeat the NRA again,” the site states.

  Some of the proposals include banning the manufacture and sale of so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, restricting the number of guns one person may buy per month to one, and prohibiting people convicted of hate crimes from owning guns.

  Follow Zachary on Twitter: @zackstieber

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 19:35

• For The First Time Ever, Real US Investment Grade Yields Turn Negative
  For The First Time Ever, Real US Investment Grade Yields Turn Negative

  In late December, in our recap of a “year like no other” for credit markets, we showed a stunning chart which perhaps best summarized the “insanity unleashed by central banks.” The chart in question showed that a record-high number of European IG (investment grade) bonds were trading with negative yields. To wit, as of December 15, 41% of the EUR IG iBoxx index yields in sub-zero territory; a level that matches the previous record in August 2019.

  

  Even more impressive: more than 10% of the index now yields below -0.25%, and as Goldman concluded, “negative yields are likely remain a fixture of the EUR IG corporate bond market in 2021, even if bund bond yields back up in response to solid growth next year. Combined with the decent demand tailwind from ECB purchases, this would keep search for yield motives strong.”

  Fast forward a few weeks, when it’s not just the EU where the corporate bond market is trading at absurd levels.

  As Goldman’s credit strategist Michael Puempel writes, in early December, real yields on USD IG corporate bonds turned negative for the first time in history, against a backdrop of all-time high duration.

  

  As Goldman elaborates, the relentless march lower of real yields to negative territory “reflects the combined effects of the material decline in nominal corporate bond yields and the back-up in inflation expectations.”  The next chart shows how widespread negative real yielding corporate debt in the USD market is, with more than 25% of issues, representing more than 30%of index-eligible par value, priced with a real yield below -0.5%.

  

  This means that a large portion of IG-rated corporations are expected to be paid, on an inflation-adjusted basis, to borrow in the USD market today, according to Goldman. And although all-time high duration comes with its own risks, negative real yields will likely skew incentives for corporate issuers – encouraging them to issue even more debt – while at the same time mechanically increase risks for investors.

  A quick look at these two key factors starting with…

  Skewed incentives for issuers

  There is always competing interests between equity- and debt-holders when it comes to corporate issuance and the uses thereof. This tension will be exacerbated for corporates that can issue at very low, i.e. negative, real yields. Specifically, the lower the yield at which a corporation can issue debt, the higher the incentives are to return capital to shareholders, via either debt-funded M&A or share repurchases (or, more recently, by purchasing bitcoin). Meanwhile, Goldman forecasts that negative real yields for such a large portion of the IG universe has elevated the risk that “the significant increase in gross balance sheet leverage, which was meant to be a temporary response to the sudden stop in the economy, ends up being permanent.”

  Elevated risks for investors

  The risks for investors in this environment, as it relates to negative real yields is two-fold:

  First, and the most acute, is that investor returns are now very susceptible to even the slightest unexpected uptick in the inflation. While traded breakeven inflation is not a perfect proxy for expected inflation, as it embeds a risk premium, positive real yields have historically provided, at least to some degree, a cushion with respect to an unexpected inflation shock. This is no longer the case, because even if realized inflation falls below market expectations, it may not be enough to push ex-post real yields back into positive territory given current levels.

  The second risk for investors is related to the second-order effect of low yields; re-leveraging risk. That is, if firms take the “opportunity” presented by yields at historic lows to increase the size of their capital structures even further, this could in Goldman’s words, “manifest itself in heightened fallen angel/downgrade risk under a scenario in which the earnings recovery of highly levered issuers do not rebound at a pace commensurate with expectations.”

  While these risks should be manageable in the near-term given improving growth expectations for 2021 on the back of massive stimulus, as the economy reverts back to full-capacity, Goldman concludes that “it will be crucial for both corporate bond issuers and investors to shift their decision-making frameworks to account for real, as opposed to nominal, outcomes.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 19:10

• "A Huge Reversal" – Louis Gave Warns "Inflation Will Come Back With A Vengeance"
  “A Huge Reversal” – Louis Gave Warns “Inflation Will Come Back With A Vengeance”

  Authored by Mark Dittli via TheMarket.ch,

  Louis-Vincent Gave, CEO and co-founder of Gavekal Research, sees a dramatic paradigm shift playing out in the world economy. In this in-depth conversation, he explains how investors should position themselves for the future.

  

  Louis-Vincent Gave is a master of the big picture. The co-founder of Hong Kong-based research boutique Gavekal is one of the most esteemed writers about geopolitical and macroeconomic developments and their impact on financial markets.

  In this in-depth conversation with The Market NZZ, Mr. Gave shares his views on the Dollar, stock markets, oil and gold prices – and he explains why the United States are starting to act like a «sick emerging market».

  Mr Gave, 2020 has been a catalyst for some big shifts in the global investment environment. Looking into the future, what are the biggest topics for you?

  I’ve spent most of my career in Asia, so my lens is fundamentally biased towards Asia. With that disclaimer, I would say this: When the Covid crisis started, the view in the West was that this would be China’s Chernobyl Moment. That they completely screwed up, which would eventually weaken the regime. Fast forward to today, and China comes out of this looking much better than most Western countries. If there is one big divergence in the world, it is this: In most Western countries, the population is angry at how their government dealt with the pandemic, either because they think the government did too much or too little. But in China, there is a feeling that there were two big crises in the past 15 years, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and now Covid, and China in both cases came out ahead of the West. Most of Asia actually came out of this much better than the Western world.

  What else do you see?

  When I look at markets, there are three key prices in the world economy: Ten year Treasury yields, oil, and the Dollar. One year ago, yields were going down, oil was going down, and the Dollar was going up. Today, Treasury yields are going up, oil is going up, and the Dollar is going down. This is a huge reversal. When I see a market where interest rates are rising and the currency is falling, alarm bells go off.

  Why?

  This is what you would see in a sick emerging market. If you’re invested in, say, Indonesia, rising interest rates and a falling currency is a signal that investors are getting out, because they don’t like the policy setting there. Today, the US is starting to act like a sick emerging market. We even have a question mark over whether they have the ability to run a fair election. Suffice to say that at least 30% of Americans believe their election system is rigged. This is mindblowing.

  What’s the policy setting investors don’t like in the US?

  Government debt in the US has increased by more than $4 trillion this year, which adds up to $12,800 per person. This is a world record, but actually most Western governments have gone on a massive spending spree during this crisis. In a way, they’re using the playbook that China followed after 2008, when they allowed a massive increase in fiscal spending and monetary aggregates. Today, Beijing sits on its hands in terms of fiscal and monetary policy, while the West knows no limits.

  They’re doing it to soften the blow of the pandemic. What’s wrong with that?

  When China did this in 2008, they funded massive infrastructure projects: airports, railroads, roads, ports, you name it. Some of these projects turned out to be productive and some not, but I always thought they would be definitely more productive than social transfers. But this year, the debt buildup in the US has funded zero new productive investments. No new roads, no airports, railroads, nothing. They were basically just sending money to people to sit at home and watch TV. In the end, this buildup of unproductive debt can be reflected in one of two things: Either in the cost of funding for the government, i.e. in rising interest rates, or in a devaluation of the currency. This is what the French economist Jacques Rueff taught us years ago. Very soon, this is going to put the Fed in a quandary.

  In what way?

  They will have to decide whether to let bond yields rise or not. If they let them normalize to pre-Covid levels, 10-year Treasury yields would have to rise to about 2.5%. But if they do that, the funding of the government becomes problematic. A 50 basis point increase in interest rates is equivalent to the annual budget for the U.S. Navy. Another 30 bp is the equivalent for the U.S. Marines, and so on. The U.S. is already borrowing money to pay its interest today. If rates go up, they’re getting into the cycle where they have to borrow more just to be able to pay interest, which is not a good position.

  Do you expect the Fed to move in and cap interest rates?

  Yes, I do. And when they do, I’d say the Dollar will take a 20% hit.

  Ten year Treasuries currently yield around 0.95%. At what level will the Fed step in?

  I think they will have to cap interest rates at 2%, otherwise the drag on the government will become too big. That question will arise rather soon, because come this spring, the base effects for growth and for inflation will kick in. Growth will be very strong, and so will inflation, which means that yields will quickly try to get back up to 2%.

  You recently wrote a piece where you recommended buying gold and financials to prepare for this event. Why gold, and why financials?

  My base case is that Treasury yields will move up to around 2%, at which point the Fed will introduce some variant of yield curve control. In this case, the Dollar would tank, real interest rates would drop and gold would thrive. But maybe I’m wrong, maybe the Fed freaks out when they see inflation rising to 4%, and maybe they decide to let yields rise. If that’s the case, then financials will rip higher, driven by a steeper yield curve. So come this spring, if the Fed caps interest rates, gold will thrive, and if it doesn’t, financials will thrive.

  But you’d lean towards gold?

  Yes. It’s quite possible that in the coming weeks, the Dollar will rise while Treasury yields move up. This could provoke a sell-off in gold. If that were to happen, I’d take the other side of that trade, I would buy gold. But at the same time, you can buy out of the money call options on financials. That would be the hedge for the scenario of the Fed changing its mind and letting the yield curve steepen.

  The Dollar has been strong for the past ten years. Has it entered a new structural bear market?

  Yes, there is no doubt in my mind. A year ago, the Dollar was the only major currency offering positive real rates. My view is that capital flows into positive real rates, just like water flows downhill. Today, the U.S. has one of the most negative real interest rates worldwide. Given the year-on-year rise we will see in inflation this spring, real interest rates in the U.S. will drop even further.

  Apart from negative real yields, what are the other reasons for the Dollar bear market?

  We first have to ask ourselves why we even had a Dollar bull market in the past decade. The answer is the shale oil revolution. As the United States moved towards energy independence after 2011, its trade deficit shrank. The shale oil revolution meant that all of a sudden, the U.S. was no longer exporting money.

  And that tide has now turned?

  Yes. Oil production in the U.S. is collapsing. The Texan wildcatters have lost out in the price war against the Saudis and the Russians. U.S. oil production has already gone down 2.5 million barrels per day and is slated to go down by another 2.5 million over the next twelve months, because every major oil company is cutting capital expenditures. Just look at Chevron and Exxon, their capital spending plans over the next five years are at half the level they were in 2014. And so, as the U.S. economy picks up after Covid, America will be importing oil on a massive scale again. The U.S. will be back to exporting $100 to $120 billion to the rest of the world, mostly to places that don’t like America, who will turn around and sell those Dollars for Euros. This is bearish for the Dollar.

  When we see the oil price heading above $50 again, wouldn’t that cause US production to rise?

  You can’t turn up oil production like a tap. It will take at least a couple of years to come back. Plus, shale oil production in the U.S. was hugely capital destructive. More than $350 billion was lost in the shale oil patch over the past ten years. Look at the energy sector today, it’s at 2.5% of the S&P 500. When oil was at $10 per barrel, back in 1999, energy was 5.5% of the S&P 500. So I’m going to answer your question with another question: If oil prices go up, and the U.S. could produce more oil again, it would require hundreds of billions of Dollars in capex. Who will provide that kind of capital, with an incoming Democratic Administration that has been ambivalent about fracking? I don’t see it.

  So we are moving back into a world where the U.S. is a structural oil importer and a Dollar exporter?

  Yes. The seeds are planted. That’s a huge shift that I don’t think people are taking into account yet.

  When the world economy normalizes after the pandemic, where will the oil price settle?

  Before Covid, it seemed that the oil market had found a balance between 60 and 80 $ per barrel.

  Is that the range we’ll head back to?

  I think so, and for a pretty simple reason: Above 80 $, China basically stops buying. That’s a big difference relative to ten to fifteen years ago, when China hadn’t built any sizeable inventory and was a forced buyer of oil. This is no longer the case. In fact, you saw it during the Covid crisis: Between April and June, when the oil price collapsed, China imported about 13 million barrels per day, which was 40% more than normal. Clearly, they were building up inventory, taking advantage of the low price. China is the marginal buyer, and its behaviour is a key driver for the oil price: Above 80 $ they stop buying, and below 60 $ they buy in size. Incidentally, in that range, many oil companies make pretty decent money. Saudi Aramco makes a killing at this price level.

  You see the Dollar in a bear market. Meanwhile, the Renminbi has strengthened significantly. Is that also a structural shift?

  I think so. In the past, every time there was a crisis, the reaction of the People’s Bank of China was to freeze the exchange rate. During and after the global financial crisis, the RMB flatlined against the Dollar at 6.82 for two years. In 2015, when the Chinese equity bubble burst, the RMB was flat for several months. When things went bad, historically, they froze it. Not this year. This year, we saw the sharpest six month RMB rally in history. That is a clear change in policy.

  What’s behind that change?

  I don’t know, but the facts are clear. China today is the only major economy in the world that offers large positive real interest rates. Thus, capital flows into the Chinese bond market. The PBoC is the only major central bank publicly saying they won’t destroy their currency and they won’t proceed to the euthanasia of the rentier. The consequences of this are hugely important. A strong RMB is a fundamentally inflationary force for the world economy.

  How so?

  Manufacturers around the world have to compete with Chinese producers. Therefore, a weak RMB drives prices down, whereas a strong RMB drives prices up. You can compare it to the role of the Yen forty years ago. A stronger RMB means stronger consumption in China and Asia, and it means that whatever we buy from China is going up in price. It’s not surprising that as the RMB rerates, the U.S. yield curve steepens and oil prices go up: It’s all part of the same reflationary backdrop.

  Given this backdrop: Do you see a return of structural inflation in Western economies?

  Yes, I think inflation will come back with a vengeance. One of the key deflationary forces in the past three decades was China. I wrote a book about that in 2005; I was a deflationist then, as my belief was that every company in the world would focus on what they can do best and outsource everything else to China at lower costs. But now, we’re in a new world, a world that I outlined in my last book, Clash of Empires, where supply chains are broken up along the lines of separate empires. Let me give you a simple example: Over the past two years, the US has done everything it could to kill Huawei. It’s done so by cutting off the semiconductor supply chain to Huawei. The consequence is that every Chinese company today is worried about being the next Huawei, not just in the tech space, but in every industry. Until recently, price and quality was the most important consideration in any corporate supply chain. Now we have moved to a world where safety of delivery matters most, even if the cost is higher. This is a dramatic paradigm shift.

  And this paradigm shift will be a key driver for inflation?

  Yes. It adds up to a huge hit to productivity. Productivity is under attack from everywhere, from regulation, from ESG-investors, and now it’s also under attack from security considerations. This would only not be inflationary if on the other side central banks were acting with restraint. But of course we know that central banks are printing money like never before.

  What will that mean for investors?

  First, there will be two kinds of countries going forward: countries that massively monetized the Covid shock and those that did not. I’d compare the picture to the late 1970s, where countries like the U.S., the U.K. or France monetized the oil price shock, while Japan, Germany and Switzerland did not. This led to a huge revaluation of the Yen, the Deutschmark and the Swiss Franc. Today, the Fed and the ECB were among the central banks that massively monetized, while many central banks in Asia did not. So I expect a big revaluation of Asian currencies over the coming five years, which in itself is inflationary for the world. If you look at the U.S. today, inventories are at record lows. With the economy improving in 2021, companies will have to restock, and they will have to restock with a falling Dollar. The Dollar is down 20% to the Mexican Peso over the past six months, down 10% to the Korean Won, down 8% to the RMB, so whatever Americans buy from abroad will be more expensive. Countries with weak currencies, the U.S. first among them, will have higher inflation.

  Where will inflation rates settle?

  I don’t know. There is the idea among central bankers that they can engineer inflation rates around 2.5% and keep them there. I doubt that this will be possible to control. But just for the sake of it, let’s assume they manage to do what they say, that they are the perfect engineers they think they are and get inflation at 2.5% for the next five years. Why on Earth would you want to own Treasuries at 0.9% or German Bunds at below zero? You don’t even have to get to a scenario where inflation accelerates to 4 or 5% to see that bonds are madness today. Even if central banks just manage to do what they say, you are guaranteed to lose money with bonds.

  What should investors do to position themselves in this new world?

  In the old world, where interest rates were falling, the Dollar was strong and oil was weak, you bought Treasuries and U.S. growth stocks and went to the beach. Now, the world has changed. This means you have to stay away from bonds and U.S. growth stocks. In a world of Dollar weakness, you buy emerging market equities and debt, and within emerging markets, I prefer Asia. In a world where either the yield curve will steepen or the Dollar will collapse, either financials or the commodities sector will be doing well. Everything seems to point towards commodities, including energy, but as mentioned, I’d still buy financials as a hedge against a steepening yield curve. So, in a nutshell: Buy value stocks, buy the commodities sector, and buy emerging markets. And for the antifragile part of your portfolio, buy RMB bonds and gold.

  How about Japan?

  Absolutely, Japan is in a stealth bull market, it has been very strong, and nobody talks about it. We never get questions on Japan from clients. I’m a big bull on Japan, it’s not a crowded trade, so I feel comfortable in it. In a world that is reflating, Japan typically does well. And in this unfolding new Cold War between the U.S. and China, Japanese industrial companies are well positioned.

  Aren’t you a bit early in writing off big U.S. tech?

  Growth stocks have had their run in the past ten years, with falling bond yields and a rising Dollar. In a reflationary world, they will underperform. Plus, tech is the main battleground in the war between the U.S. and China. I see the tech world breaking into three separate zones, one dominated by America, one dominated by China and India evolving into a zone by itself. You can own the champions in each zone, which means you can own Amazon or Google for the West, or Tencent in China. In danger are companies that straddle the two worlds. Huawei tried, and we saw it being killed. I see Apple at risk, too. I know I said this to you a year ago, and I turned out to be completely wrong, but I still think Apple is in danger, as it straddles the U.S. and Chinese tech spheres.

  In the middle of this tech war sits Taiwan. What are your thoughts about Taiwan and the semiconductor industry?

  Taiwan today is what Alsace-Lorraine was 120 years ago. There were two hugely important events this year that most people have missed because of the Covid crisis. One, the market value of the global semiconductor industry has moved above the market value of the global energy sector. The market is telling us that semiconductors are more important than energy; they are the commodity of the future. We should think of Taiwan the way we used to think of Saudi Arabia.

  What’s the second important event?

  At the end of 2019, the market value of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing was $200 billion, while the market value of Intel was $350 billion. Today, TSMC is $450 billion, while Intel has dropped to $200 billion. Why? This summer, TSMC came out and said they can produce 7 nanometer chips and will be able to produce 3nm chips in 2023. A week later, Intel came out and said they won’t be able to produce 7nm chips by 2021. So in the summer of 2020, we witnessed the passing of the technological baton from Intel to TSMC. The leadership in the semiconductor industry now belongs to Taiwan.

  Why does this matter?

  It matters because Washington has decided to make semiconductors the battleground in its war against China. And that means that Taiwan is the battleground in the great conflict of the 21st Century, an island that Beijing regards as a renegade province, sitting 60 miles from its shore. Taiwan has always been a sore point between China and the U.S., even when Taiwan produced plastic toys and bicycles. Imagine if Saudi Arabia was a political uncertainty between America and China, where the regime depended on Washington for survival, but the territory was claimed by China. We’d be very worried.

  How will that conflict play out?

  I don’t know what will happen. But I’d just say that the fact that the Trump Administration decided to make semiconductors the battleground in its fight with China strikes me as extremely dangerous, given the fact that the U.S. has just lost the technology leadership baton to Taiwan. That, to me, will be the most important event in 2020, more important than Covid.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 18:45

• Watch: Likely Capitol Rioter Booted Off Plane For Being A "Terrorist" 
  Watch: Likely Capitol Rioter Booted Off Plane For Being A “Terrorist” 

  Some pro-Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol complex last week may have already been added to the federal No-Fly List. 

  Last Thursday, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, released a statement requesting the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to use their powers to add pro-Trump rioters to the No-Fly List.

  “Given the heinous domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol yesterday, I am urging the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to use their authorities to add the names of all identified individuals involved in the attack to the federal No-Fly List and keep them off planes,” Thompson said in a statement.

  He added: “Alleged perpetrators of a domestic terrorist attack who have been identified by the FBI should be held accountable.”

  Federal authorities have requested assistance in identifying people “related to violent activity” in the Capitol building. 

  For days, one after another, rioters who stormed the Capitol have been identified and arrested. In particular, the most iconic image of the chaos last week was a man sitting back with his feet on Nancy Pelosi’s desk.

  

  Days later, the man was arrested by federal authorities. 

  So here’s where things get interesting. 

  A video surfaced on Twitter Sunday via @RayRedacted who said, “People who broke into the Capitol Wednesday are now learning they are on No-Fly lists pending the full investigation. They are not happy about this.” 

  

  The unidentified man, yelling at an unknown airport about being kicked off a plane because he was labeled a “terrorist.” 

  In the video, the man could be heard saying, “They kicked me off the plane – they called me a f**king terrorist.” 

  People who broke into the Capitol Wednesday are now learning they are on No-Fly lists pending the full investigation. They are not happy about this. pic.twitter.com/5GfHo1eVU8

  — Ray [REDACTED] (@RayRedacted) January 10, 2021

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

  We should remind readers the video has yet to be confirmed.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 18:33

• "Don't Panic": Entire Nation Of Pakistan Loses Power In Massive Blackout
  “Don’t Panic”: Entire Nation Of Pakistan Loses Power In Massive Blackout

  Top government officials in Pakistan are urging calm after the entire country was plunged into darkness on Saturday night due to a breakdown in the national power grid.

  “A countrywide blackout has been caused by a sudden plunge in the frequency in the power transmission system,” Pakistan’s Power Minister Omar Ayub Khan announced, according to Reuters.

  

  The blackout is nearly unprecedented as it has impacted over 200 million people across every city, town and village. The last power grid shutdown approaching this size hasn’t been seen since 2015. 

  According to CNN reporting:

  In a statement, the Ministry of Energy said that, according to an initial report, there had been a fault at the Guddu Thermal Power Plant in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, which had caused power plants across the country to shut down.

  …Efforts are now underway to restore power to various parts of the country. Large swathes of Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, still do not have power, according to information shared by K-Electric, the company supplying power to the city.

  The report further quoted residents who were witnessing hours-long lines outside gas stations where people were hoping to fuel generators. 

  Pakistan is hit by a massive power blackout, officials say, with much of the country, including all major cities, plunged into darkness https://t.co/55594UXW7y pic.twitter.com/dDOQt5LJer

  — AFP News Agency (@AFP) January 10, 2021

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

  “There are long lines outside petrol pumps in the city, cars are queuing as people buy fuel for their back up generators. I was in the line, people have been waiting for hours with petrol cans in hand,” one Karachi resident said.

  A Pakistan airline industry official had said, “All major airports in the country have back up generators,” while noting airports and flights remained operational. 

  As of early Sunday evening (local time) Pakistan’s energy minister said that power had been restored to much of the country, and faulted a significant technical issue. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 18:20

• The Swamp Swallowed Trump
  The Swamp Swallowed Trump

  Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

  You would think that if there’s one group of people who’d recognize a coup if they saw one, it would be the American people. Because their intelligence services have been involved in almost all coups in the world for many decades; let’s say since WWII, to keep it simple.

  Just in the most recent past, they staged and conducted coups in Libya, Ukraine, Syria, Venezuela and many other places (think Bolivia). Libya was the only real “successful” one, thanks to Gaddafi being sodomized with a bayonet, leading to Hillary’s giddy We Came, We Saw, He Died, the by far ugliest face of the US by a mile. That and the open-air slave markets that resulted from sodomizing to death the man who led Africa’s wealthiest country and gave his people benefits that Americans can only dream of.

  And now Hillary’s crew are about to be handed the reins again. Or as Michael Tracey put it: “The new corporate authoritarian liberal-left monoculture is going to be absolutely ruthless – and in 12 days it is merging with the state. This [is] only the beginning.” Duck for cover.

  The screwed-up coups in Ukraine, Syria, Venezuela etc. would appear to signal that the CIA is not very adept (anymore?!) at organizing coups, or maybe they just chronically overestimate their skills at it. Whichever way it may be, they have done more damage to America and its standing in the world than Donald Trump could ever have dreamt of doing.

  So you would think Americans would recognize a coup, but instead they’re the last group of people on the planet who would. Because their media doesn’t present them as coups. They’re labeled as spreading democracy, freedom etc., as standing up against the bad guys, and liberating innocent people -even if many of them die in the process.

  People dying is a feature of these coups, not a bug.

  People get shot, bombed, disappeared, in a word: killed.

  Anyway, it’s way more and better than ironic that all these very deadly CIA-led operations are not labeled coups, but then the clowns and actors spectacle that took place in Washington DC this week, is. Which is possible only because they never told people what a coup actually is. Only then can you make them believe that some wanker in a furry viking helmet outfit is trying to overthrow the government. At the initiative of the democratically elected president, no less.

  Are these people extremists and terrorists or are they clowns and actors? I would lean towards the latter option.

  A coup requires a plan, a playbook, most often elites who think they have a shot at taking over a country, which in turn requires support from at least part of an army. The best these folks could think of was sitting in Pelosi’s office and take selfies.

  

  That doesn’t make the march on the Capitol a good thing, far from it, but there are a lot of people out there who don’t like the way the president they elected in 2016 has been treated by the MSM, his political opponents, and US intelligence. And after the theater that has been Russiagate, the Mueller debacle and the Zelensky call-based impeachment, maybe that shouldn’t be too surprising.

  The main problem for Trump lately would appear to have been his legal representation. I’ve said all along: let the dice roll where they may, there are many questions surrounding the election and they have the right to go looking for answers to these questions.

  But if you look at what the status is today of what the likes of Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Lin Wood have come up with, you think they might as well have been working for the other side. Still, we’ve at least seen the dice roll, and they came up they way they did. The process was allowed to proceed, and this is the outcome. This has misled Trump as well as his followers. They thought there was something substantial -and tanglible- there, because that’s what they were told all along.

  This doesn’t mean the US should continue using voting machines, however. There are many countries that hold elections, and there are very few that either use those machines and/or see their elections contested. There’s a reason for that combination. These things can be manipulated, and they will be if they’re used. Get rid of them or this chapter will be repeated endlessly.

  Then again, it all plays out well for anyone but Trump. And perhaps a few GOP’ers who stood by him.

  

  You could say, Trump entered the swamp and drowned in it, it swallowed him whole.

  Which is not to say that he’s such a perfect character, hell no, but he was the one and only chance to get rid of the power cabal that is DC. Which is a much bigger danger than he could ever be.

  Where career politicians like Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell and Joe Biden can reside for decades, and be handed ever more handsome amounts of money by the lobbyists who write their laws, which benefit the corporations they work for. Trump was the chance to do at least something about this. They ate him alive.

  Now the story is that Trump is/was the main danger, and that he was attempting a coup against his own government. To finish off the job, after being hunted down by the MSM for 4+ years, social media, for whom unceremoniously dumping Trump, after he was their main attraction for years -at least for clickbait-, was just a business decision dressed in some vague set of moral principles, are now simply deleting him.

  And people cheer that.

  They don’t understand that from now on, as US president you serve at the behest, grace and kindness of the CIA, New York Times and WaPo, but even more that of @jack and Zuckerberg, and not that of the American people. As the noise about an attempted coup allows Team Biden to slip in Sally Yates, Susan Rice and Victoria Nuland and their whole gang of neocon warmongers.

  The entire media focus on Trump served to hide what those people were doing behind the scenes all along. And now it’s time to duck for cover. They’re going to try and impeach him again, and then prosecute him, and erase everything he’s done, cheered on by the same media who never told you what a coup actually is. Because they are a big club, and he’s not in it, and neither are you.

  And if you think you can vent an opinion on social media in the future that doesn’t coincide with that of the big club, perhaps you haven’t been paying attention.

  *  *  *

  We try to run the Automatic Earth on donations. Since ad revenue has collapsed, you are now not just a reader, but an integral part of the process that builds this site. Thank you for your support.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 17:55

• Capitol Police Officer Dies By Suicide Just Days After Siege
  Capitol Police Officer Dies By Suicide Just Days After Siege

  Another Capitol Hill police officer has died, just days after one officer was previously killed during the ‘Stop the Steal’ chaos when he was reportedly hit over the head with a fire extinguisher during the Capitol mayhem that has been driving global headlines.

  Officer Howard Liebengood, 51, reportedly died by suicide while off-duty on Saturday, the US Capitol Police (USCP) announced Sunday in an official statement.

  SECOND OFFICER DEATH.

  Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood, 51, who worked Wednesday during the siege, has died by suicide, according to the former Capitol Police Chief.

  He labels it a “line of duty casualty,” per Nancy Cordes.

  (📸 Getty Images) pic.twitter.com/4iIy1XNNy0

  — Austin Kellerman (@AustinKellerman) January 10, 2021

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

  The USCP has not disclosed the specific cause of death, and it’s unclear the degree to which Liebengood was involved in “front line” events of Wednesday, which saw five total people die, including one woman that was shot by an officer while attempting to breach a high secure area of Congress.

  However, the wording of police sources close to him strongly suggest Liebengood was on duty at Capitol Hill Wednesday, and may have indeed been at the center of events there:

  Punchbowl reporter Jake Sherman says his sources told him Liebengood’s death was a suicide. He died Saturday while off duty.

  Liebengood joined the Department in 2005.

  Former Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer calls Liebengood’s death a “line of duty casualty”… clearly meaning even if it was a suicide there’s a direct connection to the riot.

  “He was assigned to the Senate Division, and has been with the Department since April 2005,” the police statement noted.

  

  “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, and colleagues. We ask that his family and other USCP officers’ and their families’ privacy be respected during this profoundly difficult time,” the department’s statement said further.

  Statement from the cap police union. https://t.co/VTbZSLmu1s

  — Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 10, 2021

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

  Multiple Congressional leaders have issued statements offering condolences. 

  “I’m saddened to learn about the death of USCP Officer Howard Liebengood. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. May he rest in peace. Thank you for your service,” Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) said.

  The White House lowered its U.S. flag to half-staff on Sunday, three days after a police officer died from injuries suffered while fending off supporters of President Trump who stormed the Capitol building https://t.co/CUmkeTDXkl

  — Bloomberg (@business) January 10, 2021

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

  Later in the day Sunday President Trump ordered all flags over federal buildings and US embassies to be flown at half-mast in honor of the two deceased Capitol police officers.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/10/2021 – 17:30

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• The Origins Of America's Secret Police
  The Origins Of America’s Secret Police

  Authored by Cynthia Chung via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

  “Know Thyself,
  Nothing to Excess,
  Surety Brings Ruin”

  – inscribed at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi

  Many are aware of the Apollo at Delphi inscription and associate it as words of wisdom, after all, the Temple at Delphi was at the center of global intelligence. Kings, emperors, statesmen, generals from all quarters of the ancient world would travel to the Temple with a very generous payment in gold in hopes that the wisdom of the great god Apollo would be bestowed on them and give strength and power to their particular cause.

  

  One of the most famous prophecies made by the Cult of Delphi, according to the ancient historian Herodotus, was to King Croesus of Lydia. King Croesus was a very rich king and the last bastion of the Ionian cities against the increasing Persian power in Anatolia. King Croesus wished to know whether he should continue his military campaign deeper into Persian Empire territory and whether he should seek a military alliance in such a feat.

  According to Herodotus, the amount of gold King Croesus delivered was the greatest ever bestowed upon the Temple of Apollo. In return the priestess of Delphi, otherwise known as the Oracle, (some poor young girl selected once a year with the “right attributes”) would spout nonsensical babble, intoxicated by the gas vapours of the chasm she was conveniently placed over. The priests would then “translate” the Oracle’s prophecy.

  King Croesus was told as his prophecy-riddle, “If Croesus goes to war he will destroy a great empire.” Croesus was also told to ally himself with the most powerful Greek state, and he chose Sparta. Croesus was overjoyed and thought his victory solid and immediately began working towards building his military campaign against Persia. Long story short, Croesus lost everything and Lydia was taken over by the Persians. The Spartans never showed up.

  It turns out the prophecy-riddle was not wrong, but that Croesus mistook which great empire would fall.

  There is likely a great deal of truth in this story. And the words inscribed at the Temple of Apollo “Know Thyself, Nothing to Excess, Surety Brings Ruin” becomes more a foreboding to anyone who dares enter such a Temple in search of wisdom and power; those who are “worthy” of the god Apollo will have the wisdom to solve the riddle of their prophecy and will prevail, those unworthy of Apollo’s “good graces” will fail and be ruined.

  It’s a nice story, but it is in fact, a brilliant cover for a global intelligence racket.

  The Cult of Delphi was indeed the nerve center of military and political intelligence that had no “allegiance” to any state or empire, but rather was able to use intel that they collected with their network of spies, along with intel they were given by those foolish enough to layout their plans (and their gold) to them. The priests of Delphi would then decide thereupon what information needed to be shared with what target to fit their purpose, a “prophecy” that they shaped, like moving pawns on a chessboard.

  The question for those who dared visit the Cult of Delphi was thus not so much about having enough wisdom to solve the veiled prophecy, but rather, ‘What kind of pawn are you to the priests of Apollo?’

  The Morals and Dogma of the Scottish Rite

  Those who seek wisdom and power have tended to also have an interest in the realm of “secret knowledge.” After all, who wouldn’t want a fast track toward their desires? Who wouldn’t want to believe that their destiny is to be rich, privileged and powerful? Who wouldn’t want to believe that they were chosen out of a few to hold special qualities (one could say supernatural) that make them superior to the majority?

  The Scottish Rite was formally organized in the U.S. in 1801, as a group of Tory partisans on the losing side of the American Revolution. One of the principal men involved from the very beginning was a British general by the name of Augustine Prevost. Prevost had conquered Charleston, South Carolina, and set up a secret police apparatus there which became the Scottish Rite headquarters, after the British Army left. (1)

  The Scottish Rite would come to rule over American Freemasonry during the nineteenth century and Albert Pike is recognised as the source of this success.

  In 1859, Pike was elected “Sovereign Grand Commander” of the Scottish Rite’s Southern Jurisdiction. In 1871, “Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry” (the anti-bible of the Rite) was first published by its author Albert Pike, former General of the Confederate Armies during the Civil War.

  Why am I bringing this all up when the focus of this paper is on the origins of America’s secret police?

  Because the man credited for building the FBI into the massive domestic intelligence apparatus that it is today was J. Edgar Hoover, who happened to be a 33rd degree mason of the Scottish Rite, which he was “coroneted” in 1955 after 35 years of membership.

  Why is this relevant for the purpose of this paper? If one is to understand what constitutes the “Morals and Dogma” of such a membership, to which Hoover entered the inner most circle, it will become clear that not only does the Rite act as an opposing church to Christianity, but that pledging one’s allegiance to this secret society is understood as coming before all else in this material world, including government and country.

  For this reason I think it apt to share a few quotes…

  Writing about top-down organization, Pike wrote the following in his book Morals and Dogma:

  “The Blue [or lower] Degrees are but the outer court … of the Temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them, but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them. Their true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry. . . .” [emphasis added]

  These are the very same techniques used by the Cult of Delphi with the understanding that the “true explication” of the “symbols” will only be understood by those supposedly worthy of them, i.e. “the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry.”

  How does one know if one is a Prince of Masonry? Those who are foolish enough to have complete faith in the magic of the occult will give an honest attempt to understand such symbols, however, the truth of the matter is those who are chosen for their “understanding” and thus moved closer to the inner “sanctum”, are merely chosen for their usefulness as an instrument for “a higher will.” While this person might be a pawn who plays the determining role in a checkmate, they remain, nevertheless, just a pawn.

  Pike would also write in his Morals and Dogma:

  “Men are but the automata of Providence, and [Providenae] uses the demagogue, the fanatic, and the knave . .. as its tools and instruments to effect that of which they do not dream, and which they imagine themselves commissioned to prevent …”

  Here it becomes clear that the majority of mankind are considered by the Rite as instruments of Providence, and that to do the will of such Providence justifies that the Rite treat mankind as such. I will address shortly what sort of providence they are speaking of.

  Pike goes on to explain the Rite’s main guide to the universe, as:

  ‘‘Magic is the science of the ancient magi.. Magic unites in one and the same science, whatsoever Philosophy can possess that is most certain, and Religion of the Infallible and the Eternal. It perfectly … reconciles these two terms… faith and reason … those who accept [magic] as a rule may give their will a sovereign power that will make them the masters of all inferior beings and of all errant spirits; that is to say, will make them the Arbiters and Kings of the World….”

  Again, we see the concept that only a select few will be chosen to be able to decipher and use magic, and that thereby justifies their dominion “that will make them masters of all inferior beings…[and] make them the Arbiters and Kings of the World.”

  Pike wrote the above quote to instruct “Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret”- gentlemen of the 32nd Degree.

  At this point, it is clear that to truly hold this view of oneself, humankind and the “laws of the universe” means that one is in direct conflict with the idea of democracy towards a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

  Lastly, I will share a quote from 1889 while Pike was in France, expressing his views of God and what is to be considered “the Good”:

  “The Masonic religion should be, by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian Doctrine. If Lucifer were not God, would Adonay (the God of the Christians) whose deeds prove his cruelty, perfidy and hatred of man, barbarism and repulsion to science, would Adonay and his priests calumniate him?

  `Yes, Lucifer is God, and unfortunately Adonay is also God. For the eternal law is that there is no light without shade, no beauty without ugliness, no white without black, for the absolute can only exist as two Gods…the true and pure philosophical religion is the belief in Lucifer, the equal of Adonay; but Lucifer, God of Light and God of Good, is struggling for humanity against Adonay, the God of Darkness and Evil.”

  This quote, as per historian Anton Chaitkin, is available in French and English in the Albert Pike vertical file at the library of the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction at 1733 16th St. NW, Washington D.C.

  In later years, the body of Albert Pike would be interred inside the Washington DC Temple’s walls. A few feet away, they built a complete replication of the office and desk of their second most honored member, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

  It should also be known that much of the FBI is implicated in the Scottish Rite. For instance, there are certain Washington lodges which have a disproportionately high number of FBI agents in them such as the Alexandria Lodge.

  [For more information on this refer to historian Anton Chaitkin’s “Treason in America”.]

  The Seat of Government

  On Dec. 17, 1906, Teddy Roosevelt promoted his Navy Secretary, Charles J. Bonaparte, to become Attorney General. Bonaparte lost no time and told Congress that the Department of Justice must be given “a force of permanent police… under its control.”

  On May 27, 1908, Congress reacted by prohibiting all Executive departments from using Secret Service agents as policemen, including the Justice Department. During this period only the Treasury Department had the authority to use Secret Service men.

  To get around this block from Congress, on July 26, 1908, Attorney General Bonaparte, on Teddy Roosevelt’s instructions, ordered the creation of an investigative agency within the Department of Justice; which later became known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

  It was the start of what would become an unelected oligarchy, in direct opposition to the rule of self-government.

  In the midst of this, a 22-year-old J. Edgar Hoover was first recruited, the year was 1917. Just out of law school, he was put in charge of the Department of Justice’s War Emergency Division’s Enemy Alien Bureau, and was quickly immersed in the wildly lawless wartime counterinsurgency of the First Red Scare (1917-1920).

  Anton Chaitkin writes of this period in his paper “Hoover’s FBI and Anglo-American Dictatorship”:

  “Attorney General Palmer created a General Intelligence (or “Radical”) Division in the Bureau of Investigation, and appointed Hoover its head. Military Intelligence and Hoover’s agents working together as a single secret service now built up a network of civilian vigilante spies, informers and provocateurs.

  …

  These auxiliaries were then set loose in the “Palmer Raids,” a war on unions, radicals, civil rights advocates, teachers, and immigrants from November 1919 to January 1920. This initial descent into a police state was, however, deeply opposed by the American population, and sparked popular protests and outrage.”

  Edgar Hoover was well fitted as Palmer’s deputy, in overseeing the political mass arrests, deportations, lynchings, terror propaganda, and witch-hunts. Hoover would put a Southern White Masonic unit inside the Bureau itself, called the Fidelity Chapter. And insist that his agents refer to the Bureau, and his office, as “The Seat of Government”. (2)

  In 1922, Walter Lippmann put forth in his incredibly influential book “Public Opinion,” that a dictatorship was of the utmost necessity to correct the crisis America was now facing, and that it could no longer afford to delude itself with the idea of a Constitutional system. Lippmann argued that the general public was incapable of exercising reasoned judgment. He claimed the people could only think in “stereotypes” such that they are led to believe in “villains and conspiracies.”

  Thus, to overcome such “ignorance,” Lippmann declared that the consensus must be generated not by the ill-educated people, but rather “engineered” by an elite class of “experts”, using “propaganda.” This elite class was in turn to guide the national government from within its every department, forming a permanent dictatorship, its governing members appointed, not elected, to serve for life. A “soft” dictatorship so to speak.

  When the Great Depression hit (1929-1933), Hoover blamed the general lawlessness on inefficient, corrupt local politicians and police. What was the solution? More power to “the Bureau.”

  Presidents Come and Go But One Thing Remains Constant

  While campaigning for the Presidency, Franklin Roosevelt installed his close friend Thomas J. Walsh as the 1932 Democratic convention chairman.

  Montana Senator Walsh “knew where the bodies were buried” so to speak.

  The reason for this was that in 1921, Thomas J. Walsh had led the battle at the Senate hearings on the Justice Department’s illegal practices. During the hearings he confronted Palmer and his deputy Hoover with evidence that they had perpetrated “an orgy of terror, violence and crime against citizens and aliens….”

  Walsh remained in the Senate as J. Edgar Hoover’s dedicated enemy.

  Franklin Roosevelt won the election on November 8, 1932; he was to take office in March. On February 15, 1933, a low-level Italian Freemason named Giuseppe Zingara shot at President-elect Roosevelt. He missed and ended up killing the Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak instead.

  On February 26, Franklin Roosevelt announced his appointment of Senator Thomas J. Walsh as U.S. Attorney General. On March 1, the New York Times reported Walsh’s pledge that “he would re-organize the Department of Justice when he assumes office, probably with an almost completely new personnel.”

  It is said that Walsh had declared that one of his first acts would be to oust J. Edgar Hoover.

  Walsh was found dead the next morning, while on a train to Washington, D.C. for Roosevelt’s March 4 inauguration and his own swearing-in.

  Starting in July 1933, a group of American Legion officials paid by J.P. Morgan’s men asked Marine Corps General Smedley Butler to lead a coup d’état against President Roosevelt. When General Butler had gathered enough evidence he went to J. Edgar Hoover for action. Hoover refused to take any action stating that there was no evidence a federal criminal statute had been violated. General Butler had no choice but to broadcast the coup plot to the American people in order to subvert the fascist takeover.

  Franklin Roosevelt was entirely aware that the growing power of the federal bureau was a terrible threat, and had rapidly become an abhorrent opposing force to the president’s authority. It is for that reason that Franklin Roosevelt made the decision to centralise U.S. intelligence under his own control, which was to be created and guided by Colonel Donovan under the newly created OSS.

  It was no secret that Colonel Donovan and J. Edgar Hoover were entirely opposed to each other. In fact, Donovan was up there with Martin Luther King, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Robert Kennedy on Hoover’s most despised list.

  Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12th, 1945. WWII was officially over on Sept 2nd, 1945. The OSS would be dissolved three weeks later on Sept 20th, 1945. The CIA was “officially” created two years later, purged of its FDR patriots. Donovan vied for leadership of the CIA and was denied. Instead Truman assigned him the task of heading a committee studying the country’s fire departments. (For more on this refer to my paper)

  Following this the FBI continued to conduct witch hunts through Congressional committees, President Truman, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, and the young California Congressman Richard M. Nixon.

  On November 22nd, 1963 President Kennedy was brutally murdered in the streets of Dallas, Texas in broad daylight.

  On November 29th, 1963 the Warren Commission was set up to investigate the murder of President Kennedy.

  The old Congressman Hale Boggs of Louisiana (an ally of FDR) was a member of that Warren Commission. Boggs became increasingly disturbed by the lack of transparency and rigour exhibited by the Commission and became convinced that many of the documents used to incriminate Oswald were in fact forgeries.

  In 1965 Rep. Boggs told New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison that Oswald could not have been the one who killed Kennedy. (4) It was Boggs who encouraged Garrison to begin the only law enforcement prosecution of the President’s murder to this day.

  Nixon was inaugurated as President of the United States on Jan 20th, 1969. Hale Boggs soon after called on Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell to have the courage to fire J. Edgar Hoover. (5)

  It wasn’t long thereafter that the private airplane carrying Hale Boggs disappeared without a trace.

  Jim Garrison was the District Attorney of New Orleans from 1962 to 1973 and was the only one to bring forth a trial concerning the assassination of President Kennedy. In Jim Garrison’s book “On the Trail of the Assassins”, J. Edgar Hoover comes up several times impeding or shutting down investigations into JFK’s murder, in particular concerning the evidence collected by the Dallas Police Department, such as the nitrate test Oswald was given and which exonerated him, proving that he never shot a rifle the day of Nov 22nd, 1963. However, for reasons only known to the government and its investigators this fact was kept secret for 10 months. (6) It was finally revealed in the Warren Commission report, which inexplicably didn’t change their opinion that Oswald had shot Kennedy.

  Another particularly damning incident was concerning the Zapruder film that was in the possession of the FBI and which they had sent a “copy” to the Warren Commission for their investigation. This film was one of the leading piece of evidence used to support the “magic bullet theory” and showcase the direction of the headshot coming from behind, thus verifying that Oswald’s location was adequate for such a shot.

  During Garrison’s trial on the Kennedy assassination (1967-1969) he subpoenaed the Zapruder film that for some peculiar reason had been locked up in some vault owned by Life magazine. This was the first time in more than five years that the Zapruder film was made public. It turns out the FBI’s copy that was sent to the Warren Commission had two critical frames reversed to create a false impression that the rifle shot was from  behind.

  When Garrison got a hold of the original film it was discovered that the head shot had actually come from the front. In fact, what the whole film showed was that the President had been shot from multiple angles meaning there was more than one gunman. (7)

  When the FBI was questioned about how these two critical frames could have been reversed, they answered self-satisfactorily that it must have been a technical glitch…

  Today there are those who continue an attempt to discredit the work of Jim Garrison for the crime of challenging the absurd narrative of the Warren Commission. However, anyone who bothers to read the Warren Commission report, would soon discover it to be a mess of contradictions, fallacies and outright fabrications. Not only an absurd sham but ultimately complicit in one of the most disgraceful cover-ups in American history.

  When will the American people realise that the biggest threat to American freedom is not from without but from within its very own walls, where it has been prominently residing for the last 112 years…

  [In a following article I will be addressing the central role of H.G. Wells and Walter Lippmann in British-American Intelligence which will subsequently be followed by an expose on the role of CIA Godfather Allen Dulles and the real reason Americans were manipulated into entering the Vietnam War.]

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 23:30

• Food Price Inflation Accelerates For Seventh Consecutive Month
  Food Price Inflation Accelerates For Seventh Consecutive Month

  Is it time to worry about food inflation?

  The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index rose for a seventh consecutive month in December, led by dairy products and vegetable oils. 

  The FAO Food Price Index averaged 107.5 points last month versus 105.2 points in November. 

  The benchmark, which tracks global food prices of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat, and sugar, averaged 97.9 points for 2020, a three-year high, and a 3.1% rise from 2019 levels. 

  

  The global food index was still down 25% from its historical high reached in 2011. 

  Vegetable oil prices saw the most significant jump, up 4.7% month-on-month in December after surging more than 14.0% in November. The index was up 19.1% in 2020 over the prior year. 

  FAO explained that soaring vegetable oil prices are due to “ongoing supply tightness in major palm oil-producing countries. International trade was affected by a sharp hike in export duties in Indonesia. International prices for soy oil rose in part due to prolonged strikes in Argentina that impacted both crushing activity and port logistics.” 

  Cereal prices rose 1.1% from November and for all of 2020 averaged 6.6% over the prior year. The reason for the increase is that export prices for wheat, maize, sorghum, and rice all rose last month due to growing condition concerns in North and South America and the Russian Federation.

  Earlier this week, we highlighted drought conditions materialized in Argentina resulted in corn (maize) prices trading in Chicago surging to 6-1/2 year highs. 

  Rome-based FAO said the dairy index increased 3.2% on the month, but for the year, it was flat compared to 2019. 

  

  The meat index increased 1.7% last month, while its average this year was 4.5% below that of 2019. 

  Everyone’s favorite permabear, SocGen’s Albert Edwards, who, unlike Goldman Sachs, is starting to worry about soaring food inflation, writes FAO Food Price Index been surging over the last few months.

  With the FAO food index continually rising, Edwards notes that “annual inflation in cereals reached 20%, the highest annual rise since mid-2011 when the Arab Spring was in full flow! (see chart below).”

  

  Edwards makes his feelings clear on who ultimately was to blame for the global tidal wave in food inflation back in 2011: “Despite Ben Bernanke’s denials that the Fed’s QE policies caused rampant food price inflation in 2011 (link), many economists such as myself believe that was absolutely the case.”

  

  Edwards summarizes his concerns best with the following statement: “even in the richest country in the world, food poverty has become a real problem during this pandemic.”

  This leaves us with the next imminent food inflation crisis as central banks are mindlessly injecting a record $1.4 billion in liquidity into capital markets every hour.

  Soaring food inflation may result in social-destabilization; the question is where will it start?  

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 23:00

• Escobar: The Assange Saga – Practicing Real Journalism Is Criminally Insane
  Escobar: The Assange Saga – Practicing Real Journalism Is Criminally Insane

  Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,

  Synchronicity is definitely fond of mirror wonderwalls. The Julian Assange saga seemed to have entered a new chapter as he was, in thesis, on his way to – conditional – freedom this past Monday, only one day after the first anniversary of the start of the Raging Twenties: the assassination of Maj Gen Qassem Soleimani.

  The fate of the journalist the Empire seeks to terminate was just juxtaposed to the fate of the warrior/diplomat the empire already terminated.

  

  Two days later, Julian Assange was de facto re-incarcerated exactly as the Empire was hit by an “insurrection” which, whenever instigated in that distant “Third World”, is celebrated in Exceptionalistan as “people power”.

  The invaluable Craig Murray, from inside Westminster Magistrates Court No. 1 in London, meticulously presented the full contours of the insanity this Wednesday.

  Read it in conjunction with the positively terrifying judgment delivered on Monday in the United States government case against Julian Assange.

  The defining issue, for all those who practice real journalism all across the world, is that the judgment affirms, conclusively, that any journalist can be prosecuted under the US Espionage Act. Since a 1961 amendment, the Espionage Act carries universal jurisdiction.

  The great John Pilger memorably describes “judge” Vanessa Baraitser as “that Gothic woman”. She is in fact an obscure public servant, not a jurist. Her judgment walks and talks like it was written by a mediocre rookie hack. Or, better yet, entirely lifted from the US Department of Justice indictment.

  Julian Assange was – at the last minute – discharged on theoretically humanitarian grounds. So the case had, in effect, ended. Not really. Two days later, he was sent back to Belmarsh, a squalid maximum security prison rife with Covid-19. So the case is ongoing.

  WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnnson correctly noted, “It is unjust and unfair and illogical when you consider her ruling of two days ago about Julian’s health in large part because he is in Belmarsh prison (…) To send him back there doesn’t make any sense.”

  It does when one considers the real role of Baraitser – at a loss to juggle between the imperatives of the imperial agenda and the necessity of saving the face of British justice.

  Baraitser is a mere, lowly foot soldier punching way above her weight. The real power in the Assange case is Lady Emma Arbuthnot, forced out of a visible role because of very compromising, direct ties she and her husband Lord Arbuthnot maintain with British intelligence and military, first revealed by – who else – WikiLeaks.

  It was Arbuthnot who picked up obscure Baraitser – who dutifully follows her road map. In court, as Murray has detailed in a series of searing reports, Baraitser essentially covers her incompetence with glaring vindictiveness.

  Baraitser discharged Julian Assange, according to her own reasoning, because she was not convinced the appalling American gulag would prevent him from committing suicide.

  But the key issue is that before reaching this conclusion, she agreed and reinforced virtually every point of the US indictment.

  So at this point, on Monday, the “Gothic woman” was performing a contortion to save the US from the profound global embarrassment of prosecuting a de facto journalist and publisher for revealing imperial war crimes, not United States government secrets.

  Two days later, the full picture became crystal clear. There was nothing “humanitarian” about that judgment. Political dissent was equaled with mental illness. Julian Assange was branded as criminally insane. Once again, practicing journalism was criminalized.

  There are reasons to believe though, that a United States government appeal may fail. A British High Court would be reluctant to overturn a judgment where Baraitser actually established findings of fact: a direct correlation between the state of the American gulag, and the extreme danger to Assange’s health if he’s thrown inside this system.

  As it stands, it didn’t even matter that Assange’s defense offered a full package to obtain bail, from home arrest to the use of an ankle bracelet. Baraitser’s notion that the British security state would not be able to prevent his “escape” wearing an ankle bracelet in the middle of a total, police state-style lockdown does not even qualify as a joke.

  So Julian Assange is back to suffering a perverse, interminable rewrite of Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum.

  
  The US government’s legal strategy before the High Court convenes in April is basically to try to prove its American gulag is competent enough to prevent a suicide – even though the ultimate aim of this post-truth Inquisition seems to be the termination of Julian Assange inside the penal system. That goal doesn’t even require a supermax prison in Colorado. Belmarsh will do.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 22:30

• Nearly Half Of Republicans Approve Of Capitol Riot
  Nearly Half Of Republicans Approve Of Capitol Riot

  The U.S. Capitol building was stormed by an angry pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6. Overall, five people died as a result of the riot – one woman shot as she tried to break into a room of lawmakers, three people who died of medical emergencies in the crowd and one Capitol Police Officer who later died due to head injuries sustained from an attack by a rioter.

  The attack occurred during the early moments of Congress counting all electoral votes in a largely ceremonious declaration of President-elect Biden as the incoming successor to Trump. Continued claims of election fraud from Trump over the last two months, parroted by a minority of Republicans in the House and Senate, led to a few lawmakers objecting to certain swing states’ electoral votes.

  At times during the attack, Capitol Police either nonchalantly allowed rioters to get closer to the Capitol or outright encouraged the mob to gather right at its doors and windows. Several videos show sections of police using little or no force in stopping the mob, with some standing to take selfies. Three of the four Capitol Police Board members have since resigned.

  According to a recent YouGov survey, while a majority of Americans oppose the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, 45 percent of Republicans say they’re in support of the riot and believe it’s justified. That’s roughly 33 million voters across the country…

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  As YouGov notes, the partisan difference in support could be down to differing perceptions of the nature of the protests.

  While 59% of voters who are aware of the events at the Capitol perceive them as being more violent than more peaceful (28%), the opposite is true of Republicans. By 58% to 22%, Republicans see the goings on as more peaceful than more violent.

  Democrats are swiftly moving to draft articles of impeachment against Trump before his term ends in less than two weeks. The party is also hoping to implement the 25th amendment, which would have two-thirds of Congress vote to remove Trump from office and install Vice President Pence for the remainder of the term. Both appear unlikely to gain enough Republican support, but huge cracks within the GOP are emerging following the Capitol attack as anger builds across both parties.

  Those on both sides of the dispute are at odds in their descriptions of those currently occupying the US Capitol.

  

  About half (52%) of voters agree with the “extremist” label, the most commonly selected of all the terms we put to respondents (but the split between Republicans and Democrats is vast). Nearly as many (49%) think “domestic terrorists” is an appropriate title, and 41% consider them “criminals.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 22:05

• Chinese Communist Party Says Biden A "New Window Of Hope"
  Chinese Communist Party Says Biden A “New Window Of Hope”

  Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times,

  Beijing is looking forward to a new U.S. administration after Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden represented a “new window of hope” for the Sino–U.S. relationship.

  

  Wang made the remarks last week in an interview with Chinese state-run media Xinhua and China Media Group. He also expressed hopes that the incoming U.S. administration will “return to a sensible approach,” according to a government transcript.

  He took a swipe at the Trump administration, saying that in recent years, the United States has tried to “suppress China and start a new cold war.” The Chinese regime has frequently used this rhetoric, especially during the 2018–2019 trade war, to criticize the administration’s China policies.

  He also accused U.S. policymakers of having “serious misconceptions” about China and called on the United States to “respect” China’s social system.

  Wang concluded his interview by saying that the two countries could resolve their differences “as long as the United States can draw lessons from the past and work with China in the same direction.”

  The Trump administration has confronted the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on a range of issues, including unfair trade practices, espionage, malign influence in the United States, security threats posed by Chinese technology, and its human rights abuses against religious minorities and Hong Kong residents.

  Biden’s critics have expressed concerns that an administration under him would be soft on China, and Chinese state-run media have openly stated their preference for Biden.

  Most recently, China’s state-run media Global Times, in an article published on Jan. 5, used the sudden decision by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) not to delist three Chinese telecom companies as a sign that a more “flexible” administration under Biden would be more friendly toward Beijing. The NYSE has since reversed course again, saying on Jan. 6 that it would go ahead with delisting them.

  “Chinese experts translated the move as a voice of reason from some in Wall Street and US political circle [sic], who wish the incumbent US president won’t hamstring the incoming Biden administration in making decisions related to China,” the article stated.

  It also cited a Chinese professor who said U.S. politicians and businessmen would prefer “flexibility” under Biden over Trump’s “boundless style of bullying.”

  On Dec. 31, 2020, the NYSE announced that it would begin the process of delisting China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, in compliance with Trump’s executive order, as the three companies were found by the Pentagon to have ties to the Chinese military.

  In a commentary article published in the Chinese-language Epoch Times last month, Zhong Yuan, a researcher focused on China’s political system, explained that the CCP preferred a Biden presidency because he would implement a policy of engagement with Beijing.

  The CCP’s favorable stance toward Biden was reflected in an opinion article published by Xinhua on Dec. 19, 2020, according to Zhong. The article stated that the Trump administration had left behind “a mess” and considered what his successor should do.

  Zhong said there was an urgency for the CCP to start working with Biden because there’s internal division within the Party about how to handle deteriorating Sino–U.S. ties. Zhong said the division was evident in another Xinhua opinion article published in December 2020, that denounced “certain people” for spreading “favorable comments” about the United States.

  The division threatened the position of Chinese leader Xi Jinping within the Party, Zhong said, and was likely the reason Chinese state-run media took up the position of supporting Biden.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 21:40

• Connecticut Surpasses New York In COVID Vaccinations; Israel Remains Global Leader
  Connecticut Surpasses New York In COVID Vaccinations; Israel Remains Global Leader

  Connecticut Gov Ned Lamont is showing Gov Andrew Cuomo the error of his attention-seeking ways. While Lamont has been more than comfortable playing a supporting role in the alliance of northeastern governors led by Cuomo, Bloomberg pointed out in a recent piece that tiny Connecticut had surpassed the neighboring Empire State by taking a different, significantly looser approach to vaccinating its most vulnerable residents.

  

  As we reported yesterday, after enduring a torrent of criticism, Cuomo has finally reversed his strategy for vaccinating New Yorkers in a truly “equitable” manner, after discovering that his tight restrictions and hefty penalties was forcing hospitals to slow the pace of vaccinations to a crawl. 

  After finally relenting, Cuomo said the other day that New York would start scheduling vaccination appointments for seniors, teachers and first responders, as well as New Yorkers 75+.

  Bloomberg’s vaccination tracker shows New York has administered just 38% of the shots it has received from the US government as of Jan. 7. Connecticut has worked through 46% of its supply.

  Connecticut has given 3.26 doses per 100 people in the state, while NY has given 2.46 doses per 100 people.

  

  High-risk hospital workers (emergency room and intensive-care staff) were first in line in the Empire State, while other health-care personnel such as independent doctors were set to be vaccinated later, though Cuomo opened vaccination to them Monday.

  Cuomo on Friday said the guidelines were designed to protect the people treating coronavirus patients, but they ultimately caused frustration among some health-care workers. Jana Dehovitz, a pediatrician in Brooklyn, unsuccessfully tried to get vaccinated for weeks. She said she was frustrated hearing stories of politicians and specialists at large health systems who don’t see patients receiving their shots.

  “Are they going to come see our patients for us since they’ll be protected?” Dehovitz said. She got the first of a two-course shot Thursday.

  Of course, the US rollout has fallen short of projections set months ago by Operation Warp Speed. While the initial round of shots through early January has been doled out primarily via hospitals, the next phase will draw more on pharmacies and health clinics (ie places where vaccines are more traditionally administered) and will broaden the pool of people eligible to get the shots).

  

  Source: WSJ

  As the chart above shows, Israel is leading not only the US, but most of Europe and the Middle East as well. Still, we look forward to watching CNN, MSNBC and the rest of the medi

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 21:15

• Twitter Allows 'Hang Mike Pence' To Trend After Banning Trump For "Inciting Violence"
  Twitter Allows ‘Hang Mike Pence’ To Trend After Banning Trump For “Inciting Violence”

  Authored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com,

  The hypocrisy of left-wing Big Tech companies is astounding.

  

  A day after Twitter banned President Trump “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the social media company let “Hang Mike Pence” trend on its platform.

  WTF why is this allowed to trend?

  I get that people have been tweeting it to quote some of the insurrectionists but it shouldn’t be allowed to trend. pic.twitter.com/HTlSYnoB5y

  — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 9, 2021

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

  Twitter eventually noticed the term trending and blocked it and variations from trending.

  “We blocked the phrase and other variations of it from trending,” a Twitter spokesperson told Fox News.

  “We want trends to promote healthy discussions on Twitter.”

  Healthy discussions, like this tweet from Kathy Griffin, featuring her infamous photoshoot with a severed Trump head effigy.

  Just resign now. You lost. Its over. https://t.co/NtrE1yJ2By pic.twitter.com/Y75ewRv5E0

  — Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) January 6, 2021

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

  While the phrase “Hang Mike Pence” apparently began trending because of a viral video from the Capitol riot showing protesters chanting the phrase, many believed Twitter letting the phrase trend at all was hypocritical following the company justifying banning Trump over bogus allegations that he incited violence.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 20:50

• Record Investor Euphoria Is Now Literally Off The Chart
  Record Investor Euphoria Is Now Literally Off The Chart

  The past few months can best be characterized as a period of unprecedented market optimism and sheer euphoria, and we have done just that with several recent articles…

  • 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

  … and so on. But whereas in the recent past, the euphoria was always bounded by the upper limit reached during the insatiable buying spree of the dot com bubble, the first week of the year is when we went off the chart. Literally.

  As the latest Citi Panic/Euphoria model shows, this week’s Panic/Euphoria jumped to a record 1.83 versus an upwardly revised 1.69 in the prior week. 

  

  What does this mean? It’s simple: as Citi chief economist Tobias Levkovich writes when looking at market returns following previous euphoria extremes, there is now a “100% historical probability of down markets in the next 12 months at current levels.”

  “Nasdaq Volume as % NYSE (though volatile), retail money market funds, margin debt, AAII & II bullishness, put/call premiums and NYSE short interest ratio all contributed to the elevated reading” according to Citi.

  And just to make it extra confusing, in the same report Levkovich writes that “the normalized earnings yield gap analysis is 1.56 standard deviations below its 40-year average, yielding an 88% probability of higher markets in a year’s time, based on history.” So… 100% probability the market will be lower and 88% probability it will be higher: brilliant.

  It wasn’t just Citi stunned by the record market euphoria: in his latest Flows and Liquidity report, JPM quant Nick Panigirtzoglou took a break from bashing bitcoin (well not really, more on that in a subsequent post, suffice to say anyone who listened to him and sold last Friday has missed out on 35% gains in the past week), and instead muses at the resilience of the market, driven by – what else – investor euphoria, to wit:

  This week’s Democratic sweep added more fuel to risk markets and pushed US government bond yields to new highs. Neither the violent scenes from Capitol Hill nor the potential negatives from a Democratic sweep, i.e. tax rises and stricter regulations, managed to unsettle risk markets this week. Risk markets exhibited similar resilience in December. At the time, neither the lack of any new policy impulse by the Fed, pension fund rebalancing flows nor fears about the UK variant of the virus managed to unnerve risk markets.

  What, according to JPM, explains this remarkable resilience of equity and risk markets more generally since December? The answer is simple: central banks, or rather liquidity, “which appears to be reverberating once again in an intense manner via retail investors, in a repeat to Q2 of last year.” Panigirtzoglou points to retail investors’ activity, especially that of younger cohorts, and says that as the “anticipation of further US stimulus checks”, or stimmies as they are better known…

  Investment advice…on TikTok? Young investors are weighing in on how people should spend their $600 “stimmy” checks. https://t.co/SHkfFZ5pot pic.twitter.com/McfQP7Nf7D

  — Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) January 5, 2021

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

  … “this force is likely to be sustained over the coming weeks”, JPM says and points to several indicators of euphoric retail trader activity including record call option trading both on exchange, which is forcing yet another gamma-squeeze (or as JPM puts it “To the extent this accumulation of long call options by retail investors continues, it could eventually result in a rise in vol via the delta-hedging of accumulated short call option positions by dealers taking the other side, similar to last August”)…

  

  … as well as off.

  To quantify the latter, JPM looks at the six main OTC market venues used by retail brokers: Virtu Americas LLC, Citadel Execution Services, G1 execution services, Two Sigma Securities LLC, Wolverine Securities LLC and UBS Securities LLC. The chart below shows the aggregate share to OTC transaction routed to different market venues (destination flow) by retail brokers, again as percentage of total US equity market volume. After slowing during the third quarter, US retail activity has “rebounded strongly in November.

  

  And this chart is only through November: one can only imagine that we will need a bigger chart for the December print here too.

  In summary, JPM concludes that the record euphoria is due to “the liquidity force” – i.e., central banks and the latest round of fiscal stimulus – which “appears to be reverberating once again in an intense manner via retail investors, in a repeat of Q2 of last year. Given  the anticipation of further fiscal support (e.g. additional US stimulus checks of $1400 to get to the original proposal of $2000), this force is likely to be sustained over the coming weeks.“

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 20:25

• DOJ Warns Over Fake 'Pardons' Post That Tricks DC Protesters Into Doxxing Selves
  DOJ Warns Over Fake ‘Pardons’ Post That Tricks DC Protesters Into Doxxing Selves

  The Justice Department has issued a memo warning people not to fall for an online scam designed to trick Trump supporters who ‘stormed the capitol’ on Wedensday into doxxing themselves and admitting guilt over any crimes ‘you think you need to be pardoned for.’

  

  In a post circulating over social media, someone going by the name “Rosalind” who claims to be from the “WH Office of Pardon Attorney” says that President Trump is “strongly considering PARDONING all of the patriots who #stormthecapitol,” and that all one needs to do is provide their name, city, and “what crimes you think you need to be pardoned for and the briefest explanation of why you think you need the pardon (Eg: trespassing -entered the capitol; theft – stole art from the capitol; assault; etc. etc.)

  

  “Please be advised that the information circulating on social media claiming to be from Acting Pardon Attorney Rosalind Sargent-Burns is inauthentic and should not be taken seriously,” the Just department said in a Saturday statement, adding “The Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney does not have a social media presence and is not involved in any efforts to pardon individuals or groups involved with the heinous acts that took place this week in and around the U.S. Capitol.“

  We have to wonder who, or what entity, started this obvious trap – and who fell for it?

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 20:00

• California Reports Record COVID Fatalities; UK 1st In Europe To Top 3MM Deaths: Live Updates
  California Reports Record COVID Fatalities; UK 1st In Europe To Top 3MM Deaths: Live Updates

  Summary:

  • California sees record deaths
  • Nevada suffers deadliest week yet
  • US sees record 310K new cases
  • NJ reported nearly 20K new cases
  • CA reports 50K cases
  • UK, Germany daily deaths top 1K
  • UK tops 3MM cases
  • UK deaths top 80K
  • Portugal reports 9K+ cases
  • Japan may extend emergency order
  • China moves to expedite vaccinations

  * * *

  Update (1930ET): It’s late in Europe, and well into the evening on the East Coast of the US, and we’ve already seen a fair number of startling COVID-19-related headlines on Saturday.

  While cable TV news “analysts” won’t shut up about the “coup” at the Capitol this week also having the potential to become a “super-spreader” event, California, where the latest surge in the virus has filled hospitals and morgues, has reported its worst day for deaths yet on Saturday.

  Arizona, meanwhile, surpassed 10K deaths total after reporting another 98 new deaths on Saturday alone.

  In the South, North Carolina and Virginia reported a record number of new infections.

  Nevada ended its deadliest week with more than 300 fatalities, almost 100 more than the previous week. While the state reported 56 deaths on Saturday, just below the record 60 on Wednesday, the total deaths for Clark County reached 3,450,

  As we noted earlier, as deaths soar across western and central Europe, the UK has become the first country in western Europe to report more than 3MM  coronavirus cases, as it grapples with the “mutated” strain.

  * * *

  Yesterday, we reported on speculation about a new hyper-infectious COVID-19 strain that could be circulating around the US. Well, mere hours after CNN shared the evidence gleaned from a Jan. 3 report from the White House coronavirus task force, members of the committee are insisting it was inaccurate. Another example of ‘Fake News’ reported by CNN, we suppose. But we digress…

  As of Saturday morning, the the coronavirus outbreak in the US and Europe showed no signs of abating over the last 24 hours, as the US reported another record jump in new cases, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

  

  NJ reported nearly 20K probable COVID-19 cases and CA reported over 50K cases, with both states greatly influencing the large uptick in today’s total cases. In NY, 18.8K new cases were reported, with hospitalizations at a near-record 8.6K. To try and hasten the pace of vaccinations as NY falls further behind, Cuomo has again expanded the list of who is eligible, with all people 75 and older now able to receive the vaccine.

  16 states in total reported their highest hospitalization numbers this week.

  

  Germany’s death toll has topped 1K for a 4th-straight day, prompting Chancellor Angela Merkel to try to hasten the pace of vaccinations. Meanwhile, in France, Emmanuel Macron is promising to have 100K of the country’s most vulnerable people vaccinated by the end of the weekend. That’s up from 80K as of Friday afternoon. Across the US more than 7MM people have been vaccinated.

  In terms of infections, the US continues to outpace Europe, and the UK is outpacing all of its Continental peers.

  

  Even China is intensifying is vaccine rollout plan as new lockdowns rattle Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province (situated in the northeast near Beijing). Data from trials in Brazil and Indonesia shows vaccines from SinoPharm are 78% effective, according to the Brazil trial data.

  Here’s some more COVID-19 news from overnight and Saturday morning:

  Osaka and its surrounding prefectures asked Japan to expand a state of emergency to the western cities in an effort to contain the latest Covid-19 outbreak, while Tokyo’s new daily infections keep above 2,000 cases on Saturday (Source: Reuters).

  Israel Police will adjust the deployment of lockdown barricades throughout the country in an attempt to reduce traffic congestion, the police announced Saturday afternoon. According to the changes, the police will deploy blockades starting at 0900 and will remove them between 1530 and 18000. However, Police Traffic Division patrol vehicles will continue to patrol the country’s highways, regardless of the deployment of the barricades (Source: Jerusalem Post).

  Portugal on Saturday reported 9,478 new confirmed coronavirus cases in a day, less than the record 10,176 announced on Friday, taking the total to 476,187. The total number of deaths rose by 111 to 7,701, following a record daily increase of 118 on Friday. The government has said it may tighten restrictions on movement next week (Source: Bloomberg).

  Iran reported a dip in both the number of daily Covid-19 deaths and new cases with 82 fatalities and 5,924 new infections in the last 24 hours (Source: Bloomberg).

  Poland posted a 20% day-to-day leap in reported Covid cases to 10,548 on Saturday. Overall toll breached 31,000 mark with 438 new deaths reported, as country has vaccinated almost 189,000 people (Source: Bloomberg).

  * * *

  In the UK, meanwhile, the number of total cases has topped 3MM as hospitalizations and new daily cases remain at record levels. Deaths, meanwhile, topped 1K again, driving the total death toll north of 80K.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 19:36

• The Liberal-Left Has Gone Fully Illiberal
  The Liberal-Left Has Gone Fully Illiberal

  Authored by Jenin Younes via The American Institute for Economic Research,

  Over ten months, I have watched with incredulity as the liberal-left has unquestioningly and unequivocally embraced policies, ostensibly to manage the coronavirus pandemic, that are not only illiberal but authoritarian. With each passing day, those on the left-liberal side of the political spectrum display greater acceptance of increasingly oppressive measures.  Maybe I should have been prepared. 

  With more and more frequency during the past years, I have found myself departing from my cohorts’ consensus during various discussions arising from current events, particularly insofar as they pertained to civil liberties issues. More disturbing than the substantive disagreement was the utter lack of regard for difference of opinion among many of my peers. 

  

  Nevertheless, I did not anticipate that the left would soon abandon all pretense of concern for liberal values, which are widely understood to consist of tolerance, open-mindedness, and protection of individual rights and dignity (As a preliminary matter, I am using the term “liberal-left” broadly, to describe: individuals who so identify, the Democratic Party and politicians, and center-left news outlets such as the New York Times, New Yorker, Washington Post, MSNBC, and CNN. I am aware that there is diversity of opinion, but believe it is fair to characterize the overarching left-liberal view as one that accepts the efficacy and morality of lockdowns, masks, and forced human separation).

  At this point, those of us unfortunate enough to live in blue and purple states, as well as in many other parts of the world, have been deprived of our basic liberties for nearly a year. We cannot freely associate with other people, operate our businesses, send our children to school, or travel to many places without having to isolate for two weeks, which often translates into visiting loved ones becoming a practical impossibility. College students are imprisoned in dorm rooms for weeks because they or someone they interacted with tested positive for the virus (I will leave the topic of the unreliability of these tests for another day). They are expelled, harshly punished, and shamed for attending parties and socializing in groups. It is no surprise that, condemned for engaging in the most natural activities for those their age, suicidal ideation, depression, and drug usage have skyrocketed in this demographic. Children are forbidden from playing with one another or forced to do so while muzzled. 

  These oppressive policies, which at face value constitute grotesque violations of civil rights and liberties, are enacted and enforced primarily by Democratic politicians, not least among them the governors of New York, Michigan and California: Andrew Cuomo, Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom, respectively. For the most part, these pandemic management strategies are lauded by their constituents and center-left publications alike. To the extent they are criticized from the left, it is usually for failing to enact the measures sooner or enforcing them more stringently. 

  Particularly chilling is a piece published in the New York Times on January 4, 2021, “In a Topsy-Turvy Pandemic World, China Offers Its Version of Freedom,” by Li Yuan. Notably, this article appeared not in the opinion pages, where arguably it could defensively be printed, but in the news section, and accordingly can be deemed representative of the Times’s views. It is worth pointing out that the Times’s influence cannot be overstated: it is the journalistic arm of the Democratic establishment and informs the consciousness and values of the urban professional class. One can be fairly certain that the beliefs of most doctors, teachers, lawyers, and professors will reflect the ideas propagated in the paper.

  The premise of Ms. Yuan’s piece is that the post-enlightenment values that until recently were considered non-negotiable in most Western democracies– freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom of assembly – are dispensable. 

  That is because, according to Ms. Yuan, China has triumphed over the virus, needless to say by trampling on these very rights, and in doing so allowed for a different set: the freedom to live a normal life (“the West may find it has to work harder to sell its vision of freedom after China has made its model seem so attractive”). 

  Who is to say which rights are more important? the article queries.

  Ms. Yuan next speculates that “[t]he global crisis could plant doubts about other types of freedom” as “[n]early half of voting Americans supported a president who ignored science and failed to take basic precautions to protect their country. Some Americans assert that it is their individual right to ignore health experts’ recommendations to wear masks, putting themselves and others at increasing risk of infection.”

  These are an astonishing set of assertions: they appear to call into question the importance of democracy itself, and more vaguely the rights of Americans to make their own decisions about their health and to question and dissent from government mandates. Perhaps I am naïve, but I was under the impression that in a free society, people are at liberty to evaluate the evidence for any proposition — especially one as personal as whether or not to wear a face-covering – to assess the risk, and to act accordingly. 

  It is deeply troubling that neither Ms. Yuan nor the New York Times appear to recognize the danger in allowing “experts” to dictate our every move (never mind the faulty premise underlying this, as the science supporting mask usage as a means of curbing coronavirus spread is at best incredibly shoddy). More disturbing, evidently the rights of the individual are no longer sacrosanct; rather, they may be subverted for the betterment of society.   People should not be forced to choose between leading a normal life (i.e. socializing, attending school, earning a living, going to restaurants, and experiencing the arts) and possessing fundamental civil liberties.  Both are absolute, immutable features of a liberal democracy.

  Conveniently, the article fails to mention that China’s willingness to sacrifice the individual in furtherance of the communal good has led to the creation of concentration camps for Uighur Muslims, that include, among other horrors, torture and forced sterilization. Amnesty International’s China 2019 page opens by observing that: “[t]he human rights situation continued to be marked by a systematic crackdown on dissent.  The justice system remained plagued by unfair trials and torture and other ill-treatment in detention. China still classified information on its extensive use of the death penalty as a state secret.” 

  Likewise, Human Rights Watch’s [HRW] webpage states that:

   China’s government sees human rights as an existential threat. Its reaction could pose an existential threat to the rights of people worldwide. At home, the Chinese Communist Party [CCP], worried that permitted political freedom would jeopardize its grasp on power, has constructed an Orwellian high-tech surveillance state and a sophisticated internet censorship system to monitor and suppress public criticism. Abroad, it uses its growing economic clout to silence critics and to carry out the most intense attack on the global system for enforcing human rights since that system began to emerge in the mid-20th century.

  If China eradicated the virus — and there is widespread agreement that the CCP’s coronavirus data cannot be trusted — it did so using the same tactics that are violative of human rights discussed above by HRW and Amnesty International (incidentally, the Times itself recognized that a mere ten months ago). That the Times and Ms. Yuan apparently consider it appropriate to gloss over that reality is nothing short of astounding. 

  On the other hand, Ms. Yuan’s article is simply a more express admission than many of the paper’s more subtle suggestions that liberal values are overrated and ought to be abandoned in favor of virus suppression policies that do not bother with such annoyances as human rights. A recent Op-ed argues that doctors who question the efficacy of masks and social distancing should have their licenses revoked. Another heavily insinuates that speech deemed a danger to the Republic should be illegal. Ms. Yuan’s article also bears striking resemblance to various recent, albeit slightly more nuanced, pieces in, for instance, the Economist and the New Yorker, implying that perhaps we should look to China and adopt its virus management strategy.

  Many in the scientific and medical community have similarly expressed admiration for China’s approach. At a September press conference, Mike Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, offered his “congratulations” to the Chinese for bringing the virus under control. Gregory Poland, director of the Vaccine Research Group at the Mayo Clinic, observed that China’s success could be attributed, in part, to a compliant population and a government that “can put bigger constraints on individual freedoms than would be considered acceptable in most Western countries.”

  Apparently, some members of the New York legislature agree that the CCP’s model should be emulated. Lawmakers in the state are contemplating a bill that would permit the State to forcibly detain individuals who might be carrying an infectious disease. It is not difficult to imagine a near-future in which people like me, who refuse to abide by inhumane, nonsensical, and never-ending dictates, end up behind bars as potential pathogen carriers.

  Likewise, in a fashion that would make leaders of the CCP proud, critics of lockdown and mask policies are silenced by the media and educational institutions. For example, a tenured professor at New York University is currently under investigation after a student reported him and petitioned for him to be fired because he suggested — in a course on media propaganda, no less! — that students read studies finding that masks do not provide protection from the coronavirus, in addition to those reaching the opposite conclusion. 

  Not only have the scientists who wrote the Great Barrington Declaration, which rejects the lockdown approach to coronavirus management, been personally and professionally persecuted, but they have faced significant efforts to silence them, leading one writer to observe that “their critics want them removed from the public sphere. This has all the characteristics of a modern high-tech witch-hunt.” Keep in mind that these are three of the world’s preeminent epidemiologists, from Oxford, Harvard, and Stanford Universities. There are countless stories of scientists and others who have been censored on social media platforms for departing from the prevailing wisdom on the seriousness of the coronavirus or appropriate and effective methods for managing it.

  A free, liberal society fosters open discussion and debate. It does not silence and punish those who offer opinions that depart from the consensus, however inconvenient those ideas may be to the people in control. It does not use state power to lock people in their homes for the crime of existing in a world along with pathogens. Nor does it prevent them from seeing family and friends, educating their children, and earning a living. It certainly does not contemplate imprisoning people in detention camps because they could carry a pathogen.

  Maybe I was naïve to be so startled by Topsy-Turvy Pandemic World, and its thesis that we should remake our conception of freedom in the image of China’s. In retrospect, it was the natural next step in the creeping authoritarianism that I witnessed for about a decade and has crescendoed in the last year. It is as close to an express concession as I have seen thus far that the liberal-left has entirely abandoned the tenets of liberalism.  

  Even Neil Ferguson, whose wildly inaccurate Imperial model spurred lockdowns in the West, was surprised that the public acquiesced to China-style virus suppression measures. In a recent interview, he observed that “people’s sense of what is possible…changed quite dramatically between January and March.” At first, scientists in the U.K. presumed that “locking entire communities down and not permitting them to leave their homes…would not be an available option in a liberal Western democracy…and then Italy did it. And we realized we could.” 

  That the liberal-left appears untroubled by the grotesque violations of civil rights and liberties we have witnessed over the past ten months tells us all we need to know. Human rights are negotiable under this new ideology. I am not certain what this political theory should be called – perhaps left-wing authoritarianism – but it bears no resemblance to liberalism whatsoever. To the extent we have not gone quite as far as China in violating human rights in the quest to suppress the virus, the consensus on the liberal-left is plain: we have not gone far enough.

  One of the particular features of tyrannical regimes is that most people remain unaware of their true nature until they have solidified their grip on power. It is far easier to acquire and maintain control over a population that at least initially believes the governing force is benevolent. 

  Pick up a history book if you believe that in the near future the pandemic will be declared over and normal life will resume. Even well-intentioned individuals have difficulty surrendering power once they have had a taste. Nothing about the actions of leaders such as Governors Cuomo, Whitmer and Newsom, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, ought to lead people to believe that life will ever be the same unless we refuse to accept this erosion of our civil rights and liberties. 

  Each day, I hope that my friends on the liberal-left will wake up and see what is happening before their eyes, before it is too late.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 19:35

• U-Haul Reveals 2020 Migration Trends As Pandemic And Taxes Take Toll
  U-Haul Reveals 2020 Migration Trends As Pandemic And Taxes Take Toll

  A new report has found that Tennessee posted the largest net gain of U-Haul trucks than any other state in 2020, making it U-Haul’s top growth state for the first time. 

  Growth rates are determined by the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks entering a state versus leaving that state in a given year. U-Haul keeps tabs on more than two million one-way U-Haul truck customer transactions annually, allowing the company to observe migration trends, according to the report published by U-Haul. 

  

  “Tennessee’s influx of do-it-yourself movers during a turbulent year marked by the coronavirus pandemic means that a state other than Florida and Texas tops the growth rankings for the first time since 2015 when North Carolina led the way,” the report said. 

  Texas and Florida were the top two other destinations. For three consecutive years, Texas had the largest net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks before Florida displaced it for the number one spot last year. 

  Before the pandemic, Americans fled liberal-run states and metro areas because of high taxes to conservative states that were business-friendly, such as Texas and Florida. The pandemic certainly amplified the exodus. 

  Ohio, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, and Georgia made up the rest of the top ten states with a net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks.

  On the flip side, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Oregon were the top five states with the most significant net loss of U-Haul trucks. 

  Jeff Porter, U-Haul Company of Nashville president, said his company is “seeing a lot of people from California move (to Tennessee) because they’re attracted to our lifestyle.” 

  Porter pointed out, “Tennessee has no income tax and is very business-friendly. There are plenty of jobs. People and companies are taking note.”

  He noted, “Nashville is ever-growing, and even the era of COVID-19 isn’t slowing that. We saw movement before the virus hit, but I think the situation has pushed a lot more people away from the West Coast to our state.”

  “Arrivals of one-way U-Haul trucks into Tennessee jumped 12%, while departures rose only 9% over 2019, with that disparity catapulting it up the charts. Arrivals accounted for 50.6% of all one-way U-Haul traffic in Tennessee, which ranked No. 12 among growth states a year ago,” the report said. 

  “The best thing about Tennessee is the southern hospitality. People are decent to one another,” said Clay McQuade, U-Haul Company of Knoxville president. “I believe the draw to Tennessee is the rural atmosphere.”

  Full List: States Ranked By Migration Growth 

  

  U-Haul migration trends are useful data to show how higher taxes and the pandemic are shifting Americans from liberal-run states to more friendly conservative states. 

  In July, we noted some people in Illinois waited nearly three weeks for a U-Haul truck as the pandemic plus the state’s dire fiscal situation resulted in an exodus of residents. 

  Compound high taxes, the pandemic, decimation of the local economy, plus soaring violent crime, New Yorkers have been fleeing the metro area by the tens of thousands. 

  “Long lines were seen outside of a number of U-Haul stations in the neighborhood across Saturday and Sunday, with moving vehicles lining residential streets and discarded furniture stacked on sidewalks left by locals seeking pastures new,” reported the Daily Mail.

  We have never seen such a sudden mass exodus away from major cities in modern American history. U-Haul’s report offers a unique insight into migration trends that are overwhelmingly benefiting conservative states while liberal ones plunge into socio-economic turmoil.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 19:10

• Beijing Pushes Back Against Trump Administration Efforts To Halt Slave Labor In Xinjiang
  Beijing Pushes Back Against Trump Administration Efforts To Halt Slave Labor In Xinjiang

  When push came to shove, the NYSE showed Americans just how badly the globalists depend on China, when it resisted an executive order to delist Chinese telcos.

  

  The exchange’s embarrassing flipflop comes as the Trump Administration does what it can to hammer the CCP for its persecution of Muslims in Xinjing. Yet, as Trump and liberals finally come together to champion the cause of human rights, Americans who have demanded the US do whatever it can to protect Hong Kongers, the people of Taiwan and Muslims in Xinjiang are suddenly being drowned out by tech giants, including Twitter, Facebook, Apple but also Shopify, having accused Trump of “glorifying violence”.

  Amid all the chaos of the past week, one of Trump’s most trusted national security advisors, Matt Pottinger, resigned, Just days after he delivered a presentation reiterating all the evidence he has seen to suggest that China unleashed the virus upon Wuhan on purpose.

  So, with Trump administration officials (including Pottinger) abandoning ship to protect their own careers, Beijing is once again pushing back, imposing new punitive measures that will again force foreign companies to choose between acquiescing to Beijing, or Washington.

  Here’s more from the NYT:

  China fired back at the Trump administration on Saturday with new rules that would punish global companies for complying with Washington’s tightening restrictions on doing business with Chinese companies.

  China’s Ministry of Commerce said that the rules, which went into effect immediately, were intended to counter foreign laws that “unjustly prohibit or restrict” people or companies in China from doing normal business. It said its measures were necessary to safeguard China’s national sovereignty and security and to protect the rights of Chinese citizens and entities.

  It’s likely that China’s measure could force Joe Biden to back off many of his predecessors’ efforts to force China to abide by international standards on everything from labor laws (ironic, considering China is a officially Communist) to unfair state subsidies, to corporate auditing standards.

  As the NYT explains, the US under Trump has passed myriad new restrictions and other punitive measures intended to isolate China, blaming the country’s abuses like the ones mentioned above.

  But now, Beijing is taking things one step further by enabling companies to sue in Chinese courts (essentially a guaranteed win).

  Trump administration prohibited the sale of American technology to Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, and other firms. It also issued rules that punish companies for their ties to the Chinese military and for their involvement in Beijing’s surveillance and suppression of mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in China’s far northwestern region of Xinjiang.

  The new rules released on Saturday would allow Chinese officials and companies to strike back at those who comply with those U.S. limits. The Chinese measures allow government officials to issue orders saying that companies do not have to comply with certain foreign restrictions.

  Chinese companies that incur losses because of another party’s compliance with those laws can sue for damages in Chinese courts, according to the Commerce Ministry’s notice. Such a case would be likely to result in a victory for a Chinese plaintiff, since China’s courts are ultimately answerable to the Communist Party.

  Fortunately for the US, during his time in office, Trump never caved to China’s threats to retaliate against US business, knowing that there’s plenty that China buys from the US that it absolutely needs – everything from microchips to software, a fact that gives the US more built-in leverage, which Trump was happy to exploit. Economics wonks who closely monitor the bilateral trade numbers might be quick to point to the growing trade deficit with China as evidence that Trump failed in his efforts to pressure China with his trade war.

  

  But as we pointed out a few days ago, it appears Beijing is using inflated numbers to overstate exports, a classic way of getting capital into a country with capital controls.

  As recent reports have shown us, companies from around the world sell products that involved the forced labor of Uygher Muslims essentially forced to work for free (either that, or they get shipped off to a reeducation camp). Instead of trying to hide this, Beijing is celebrating it, twisting the truth via the state-controlled media, which recently touted the forced sterilization of Uygher women.

  Now, Beijing is once again about to force Washington and others to call its bluff by essentially reviving its threats to create an “unreliable entities” list. Trump didn’t fall for it, but after spending the last year in his basement, can we trust Joe Biden to stand his ground?

  Or is this where all those payments to Hunter Biden will finally pay dividends for Beijing?

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 18:45

• America's Recline & Flail Goes On
  America’s Recline & Flail Goes On

  Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,

  Let the good times roll
  Let them knock you around
  Let the good times roll
  Let them make you a clown

  – Good Times Roll, by The Cars

  America’s Recline and Flail Goes On

  The storming of the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday was a wacky and wild escapade.  But it shouldn’t be a surprise.  These things happen when a nation’s in decline.  And, as Wednesday demonstrated, America’s recline and flail goes on.

  More telling is the fake outrage by politicians to score political points and justify additional control over the populace.  Chuck Schumer compared it to Pearl Harbor, calling it a date “in American history that will live forever in infamy.”  President-elect Joe Biden characterized it as “one of the darkest days in the history or our nation” and “an unprecedented assault on our democracy.”

  Schumer and Biden conveniently overlook the irony of their statements.  They may be accurate.  But only for reasons they never intended.  Lost in the ruckus was any candid consideration of election counting shenanigans.  This is the real assault on democracy that will forever live in infamy.

  But, again, proper perspective must be maintained.  A fraud election should come as no surprise.  These things happen when a nation’s in decline.  We don’t like it.  But these are the facts.

  At the same time, the nation’s leaders have little clue what’s going on.  Schumer.  Pelosi.  McConnell.  All the clowns in Congress.  They think that with that ogre Trump out of the way, they can let the good times roll again.  They know not what they face.

  

  How wealth is created and naturally dispersed is complex and multifaceted.  Attempts to explain it, like attempts to explain the development of the human embryo, are generally lacking.  Nonetheless, for amusement and the benefit of members of Congress who may be reading, the following rough attempt is extended.

  Where All Roads Lead

  Countless factors influence an economy’s vitality.  The fundamentals include sound money, respect for private property, and the rule of law.  These are followed by technological advancement, demographic trends, and the level of international trade.  Interest rates, the credit cycle, and public and private debt levels are also significant factors.

  When a nation’s population is young, its money sound, and its institutions fresh, there are greater prospects for economic growth.  People are relatively free to do what they want, so long as they don’t threaten or commit violence against another person or another person’s property.

  But as with spring and then summer, there’s also fall and then winter.  Life first grows and flowers.  Later it decays and dies.

  Over time, the size of government grows and laws and regulations become more and more restrictive.  Then corporate lobbyists arrive on the scene and things really devolve.  The practice of inserting pay to play arrangements into legislation becomes commonplace.

  As a nation’s population ages and the reach of government increases the economy stagnates.  Pension programs become top heavy.  Public and private interests become entrenched.  Barriers to entry multiply.  Legacy costs pile up and institutions decay into disrepair.

  Indeed, economic decline and the stagnation of incomes are the result of many different factors.  Though all roads lead back to aging populations, bloated government, fake money, and extreme public and private debt levels.  GDP growth of 6 percent was common many decades ago.  Now, under the weight of all the excess, 3 percent is as good as it gets.

  Let The Good Times Roll

  The confluence of these unfavorable circumstances cannot be reversed.  There’s no policy prescription to magically restore health and vitality.  The progression must run its course.  Promises must be broken.  Institutions must fail.  Governments must default.  Currencies must collapse.

  Of course, those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo will do everything they can to resist.  Insiders will use money games and currency devaluations to stretch things out.  Politicians will use government policies to try and abate circumstances beyond their control.

  Presently, in the United States all means for preserving the status quo are on the table.  The Federal Reserve, for instance, creates credit from thin air and loans it to the Treasury via bond purchase.  The Treasury, in turn, shovels the money to defense contractors and other preferred service providers – like the big banks.

  The Fed also uses its credit creation machine to suppress lending rates.  Zombie companies use the cheap credit to rollover their debt.  And when that doesn’t cut it, the Fed directly purchases corporate debt.

  These policies stand the economy on its head.  They concentrate wealth into the hands of the insiders to the detriment of workers.  After several decades of this madness the workers and the growing population of the unemployed stick their hands out and demand they be filled too.

  Wealth disparities and the resulting discontent spark cries for redistribution schemes.  Thus, the Treasury tosses some bread crumbs in the form of stimulus checks to citizens and noncitizens alike.  Before long, stimulus checks become a constant.  And the population is dependent on the benevolent hand of government for sustenance.

  Mad economic policies, like Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and universal basic income (UBI), are dreamed up to justify the insanity.  The government gives money to zombie companies, goes the rationale.  Why can’t it give money to actual zombies too?

  Make no mistake, these are policies of desperation.  They’re a last ditch effort to preserve the status quo and let the good times roll.  But for who?

  Not you!

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 18:20

• "This Was A Coordinated Attack": Parler CEO Speaks Out After Amazon Boots From AWS, Vows To Rebuild 'From Scratch'
  “This Was A Coordinated Attack”: Parler CEO Speaks Out After Amazon Boots From AWS, Vows To Rebuild ‘From Scratch’

  Update (2210 ET): Parler CEO John Matze has issued a statement (emphasis ours):

  Sunday (tomorrow) at midnight Amazon will be shutting off all of our servers in an attempt to completely remove free speech off the internet. There is the possibility Parler will be unavailable on the internet for up to a week as we rebuild from scratch. We prepared for events like this by never relying on amazons proprietary infrastructure and building bare metal products.

  We will try our best to move to a new provider right now as we have many competing for our business, however Amazon, Google and Apple purposefully did this as a coordinated effort knowing our options would be limited and knowing this would inflict the most damage right as President Trump was banned from the tech companies.

  This was a coordinated attack by the tech giants to kill competition in the market place. We were too successful too fast. You can expect the war on competition and free speech to continue, but don’t count us out.

  #speakfreely

  * * *

  Update (2130 ET): And so the hammer has come down late on Saturday, when Amazon officially kicked Parler off its cloud Web hosting service, AWS according to Buzzfeed. The suspension means that once the ban takes effect on Sunday, the website – which as of this moment is still up – will be offline until it finds someone else to host it.

  * * *

  Update (2100 ET): As expected, Apple removed Parler permanently from its app store on Saturday. “[T]here is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity,” the iPhone maker said, according to CNN which adds that Apple notified Parler of its decision in a message that said it had violated the company’s app store terms.

  “The processes Parler has put in place to moderate or prevent the spread of dangerous and illegal content have proved insufficient,” Apple told Parler. “Specifically, we have continued to find direct threats of violence and calls to incite lawless action in violation of Guideline 1.1 – Safety – Objectionable Content.”

  Apple’s notice said Parler’s responses to an earlier warning were inadequate, including Parler’s defense that it had been taking violent rhetoric on its platform “very seriously for weeks” and that it had a moderation plan “for the time being,” according to Apple.

  A search for the Parler app as of 8pm showed that the app was no longer there, with the search query returning recommended substitutes:

  

  “Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people’s safety,” Apple said in a statement to CNN Business. “We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues.”

  Apple’s decision follows a similar move by Google to drop Parler from the Google Play Store, and after Amazon (AMZN) has come under pressure by its own employees to stop hosting Parler’s website on Amazon Web Services.

  John Matze, Parler’s CEO, wrote in a message on his platform that Apple “will be banning Parler until we give up free speech, institute broad and invasive policies like Twitter and Facebook and we become a surveillance platform by pursuing guilt of those who use Parler before innocence.”

  “They claim it is due to violence on the platform,” Matze wrote of Apple, whom he also accused of being a “software monopoly,” a particularly relevant attack right now given an ongoing antitrust suit against Apple from Fortnite maker Epic Games. “The community disagrees as we hit number 1 on their store today.”

  Matze promised to share “more details about our next plans coming soon as we have many options.”

  * * *

  Earlier:

  A coalition of Amazon corporate employees have demanded that the Seattle-based megacorp kick Parler off the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform unless ‘posts inciting violence’ are removed, which would force the Trump-friendly Twitter competitor to find another host.

  According to CNBC, an employee advocacy group – Amazon Employees for Climate Justice – said in a Saturday tweet that AWS should “deny Parler services until it removes posts inciting violence, including at the Presidential inauguration.”

  Enough is enough. Amazon hosts Parler on @awscloud.

  As Amazon workers, we demand Amazon deny Parler services until it removes posts inciting violence, including at the Presidential inauguration.

  We cannot be complicit in more bloodshed and violent attacks on our democracy.

  — Amazon Employees For Climate Justice (@AMZNforClimate) January 9, 2021

  More via CNBC:

  Pressure has been mounting for Amazon to stop hosting Parler on AWS after other tech giants took action against the social media app in the wake of the deadly U.S. Capitol riot earlier this week. Google on Friday removed Parler from its app store for Android users, Google Play Store. BuzzFeed News reported on Friday that Apple has threatened to pull Parler from its App Store.

  Parler, which launched in 2018, has emerged as a popular platform for President Trump’s allies in the last year by billing itself as a free speech alternative to mainstream social media services like Twitter and Facebook. –CNBC

  To justify censoring Parler, critics have pointed to posts calling for ‘firing squads’ – like one from attorney Lin Wood (who some say handed the Senate to the Democrats by openly calling for Georgians not to vote in the runoff election unless the GOP candidates backed Trump’s election fraud claims).

  

  In 2019, Amazon pulled the plug on their AWS partnership with Twitter alternative GAB over user posts. CEO Andrew Torba essentially blamed the CIA – claiming that a “PSYOP campaign started back in early December” in which newly created accounts were “popping up out of nowhere and making threats of violence.”

  Torba’s letter continues:

  After this week, it’s clear why this PSYOP was started: to take down alt-tech platforms and frame them for the January 6th protests that ended with the police killing an unarmed woman.

  Almost instantly after police allowed protestors into the Capitol the New York Times started a baseless narrative that this protest was organized on alt-tech sites, and in particular on Gab, without offering any proof, screenshots, usernames, or evidence to back these baseless claims. I’ve recorded a video highlighting how this all played out. I hope you’ll take some time to watch it to learn how the CIA Mockingbird Media complex operates. The way we fight back is with truth and by speaking truth to their power, which is quickly fading. 

  Meanwhile, Parler has jumped to the #1 app in Apple’s app store.

  

  Parler saw approximately 210,000 installs globally on Friday 1/8, up 281% from approximately 55,000 on 1/7, according to data from the analytics service Sensor Tower. “In the U.S., the app saw approximately 182,000 first-time downloads on 1/8, up 355% from about 40,000 installs on 1/7. Since Wednesday, the app has seen approximately 268,000 installs from across U.S. app stores,” a press rep from Sensor Tower wrote in an email. -TechCrunch

  And as conservatives scramble to download the app before it’s deplatformed at yet another social media giant, we now have to wonder if they’ll even be able to find a new home among a collusive constellation of big-tech – at least one of which used to value the phrase ‘think different.’

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 17:55

• Another Nail In The Coffin Of Big Cities
  Another Nail In The Coffin Of Big Cities

  Authored by John Rubino via DollarCollapse.com,

  The riots, political turmoil, and other banana republic embarrassments seem to be ending – for now. So let’s get back to examining the real problems of this hyper-leveraged, dangerously-complex world. Like how big cities might soon be obsolete:

  

  Pretend it’s 2019 and you’re living in a major US city. You, your spouse and two kids have a fairly nice (though admittedly very expensive) apartment in a relatively safe neighborhood, and life is pretty good. There’s a park nearby, dozens of great restaurants within walking distance, and plenty of interesting friends. And of course your high-paying jobs are right there.

  Then comes 2020. A pandemic causes your mayor to panic and lock down the city. There go the park, friends, and restaurants. And before the horror of this new normal has a chance to sink in, civil unrest explodes and turns your once-iconic neighborhood into a Mad Maxian war zone of burned-out cars and boarded up storefronts.

  If it was just you, you might stick it out. But with a family, this life is now untenable. So you look into moving, preferably to somewhere semi-rural where neither a lockdown nor riots will ever be a problem and the kids can actually play outside. Maybe it’s time to indulge your fantasy of working remotely from a homestead in a gorgeous place.

  But you immediately hit a technological speed bump: Broadband Internet, which up to this point had seemed both ubiquitous and a basic human right, isn’t available on the homesteads you now covet. The only option out there is low-tech, unreliable, molasses-slow satellite Internet that, if the reviews are to be believed, is worse than nothing at all.

  You realize that if you want to keep doing your work at a high level, you’ll have to stay urban, or at best suburban, with all the health and safety risks that that now implies. Big cities and their burbs, it seems, will live on for a while as necessary places for sophisticated professionals to do their thing.

  Then Elon Musk, of all people, announces that SpaceX, his privately held space launch company, is going to blanket the sky with thousands of low-orbit satellites to create a global broadband network, and the roll-out has begun.

  Early reviews are better than good:

  SpaceX Starlink Broadband Beta Testers “Amazed” By Its Speed

  Photos are starting to leak from SpaceX Starlink beta users, who are trying the satellite broadband service in remote areas for the first time. So far, the beta testing appears to be going far better than that of full self-driving.

  One beta tester shared his experience on Reddit after he brought his Starlink equipment to a remote forest in Idaho. There, he said he was able to achieve 120Mbps download speeds and access the Internet at lightning-fast speed.

  He wrote that the service “works beautifully.” He continued: “I did a real-time video call and some tests. My power supply is max 300w, and the drain for the whole system while active was around 116w.”

  At his house, he said he got 135Mbps download speeds when the dish was at a ground-level spot with “limited obstruction.”

  “Given all the obstructions for this connection at the moment, I am amazed at how well it works. Streaming, low-latency video conferencing, and gaming are all completely accessible with this service. Even for the beta, it appears as though they’ve under-estimated Starlink’s capabilities, so I am excited to see it mature.”

  This isn’t as fast as an urban gigabit fiber connection, but it’s more than adequate for Zoom calls, shared coding projects and the like. And since these are beta-test results, it’s a safe bet that the final product will even better.

  The advent of Internet-everywhere couldn’t come at a worse time for some of the cities that are already seeing big outmigration. As Wolf Richter just reported, rents are already plunging:

  “Exodus” Havoc: Rents Plunge in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Seattle, Other High-Cost Cities

  In the exodus cities, rents continued plunging in December. For example, in San Francisco, the median asking rent for one-bedroom apartments fell 1.5% from November and is now down 28% from June 2019; in New York City and in Seattle, rents fell about 2.5% for the month and are down 21% from July 2019.

  Rents are depicting the massive shifts playing out in the US housing market, brought about by the Pandemic and by working from anywhere and perhaps by a general urge to rethink things.

  San Francisco rents in breath-taking downward spiral.

  San Francisco remains the most expensive rental market in the US only because rents are also plunging in New York City. The median asking rent in December for 1-BR apartments dropped another 1.5% from November, and by 24% year-over-year, and by 28.5% from June 2019, to $2,660, according to data from Zumper’s Rent Report. In terms of dollars, the drop since June 2019 amounted to $1,060 a month.

  This does not include the widely advertised incentives of “two months free,” or getting popular, “three months free,” which cut effective rents for the first year by an additional slice:

  

  For 2-BR apartments in San Francisco, the median asking rent dropped by 2.0% in December from November, and by 22% year-over-year, to $3,500. Since June 2019, it has plunged by 27%, or by $1,300 a month, not including the incentives.

  These are median asking rents in apartment buildings, including apartment towers. There are now reports of vacancy rates of 30% in luxury apartment towers in San Francisco, with landlords advertising “three months free.”

  The financial implications of the emptying of big cities are immense. The list of cities and states that were already lurching towards bankruptcy via their wildly underfunded public sector pensions was already growing. And a federal bailout was already looking imminent before the chaos of 2020.

  Now it’s a lock that in 2021 we’ll be faced with the choice of multiple municipal bankruptcies — which would threaten a national second Great Depression — or a multi-trillion-dollar federal bailout that threatens a currency crisis.

  The next few weeks of relative peace are looking like a very temporary reprieve.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 17:30

• Washington "One-China" Policy Dead As Pompeo Lifts Restrictions On US-Taiwan Relations
  Washington “One-China” Policy Dead As Pompeo Lifts Restrictions On US-Taiwan Relations

  The embattled Trump administration has just nuked the decades long US recognition of the “One China” policy status quo in what surely constitutes the biggest shot across Beijing’s bow after months of anti-China escalation.

  Despite the globe’s attention focused on the Capitol protest chaos and Democrats readying a charge to impeach under Pelosi, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday announced this absolute bombshell, namely that he’s now lifting “self-imposed restrictions” on the relationship between the United States and Taiwan. He announced in an official statement:

  Today I am announcing that I am lifting all of these self-imposed restrictions. Executive branch agencies should consider all “contact guidelines” regarding relations with Taiwan previously issued by the Department of State under authorities delegated to the Secretary of State to be null and void.

  

  The US will no longer act in accord with viewing the island in context of a single sovereign China when it comes to relations with Taiwan as has kept the unsteady “peace” for decades.

  His statement began by describing the complex impediments restraining US action which have been in effect since at least the 1980’s (since 1979, and outgrowth of Carter’s Taiwan Relations Act) regarding the official ‘One China’ doctrine which he’s just effectively declared null and void:

  Taiwan is a vibrant democracy and reliable partner of the United States, and yet for several decades the State Department has created complex internal restrictions to regulate our diplomats, servicemembers, and other officials’ interactions with their Taiwanese counterparts. The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing. No more.

  Crucially the shock announcement comes just ahead of U.S. Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft’s controversial visit to Taipei, which Beijing has already slammed as a “crazy provocation”.

  China had further already warned this week that Washington will pay a “heavy price” should it move forward with sending Kelly on the official visit.

  To be sure, the Chinese govt will not be happy about this memo, but (from their perspective) at least @SecPompeo referred to Taiwan as an “unofficial partner.”

  — Julian Ku 古舉倫 (@julianku) January 9, 2021

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

  Pompeo’s full statement continued:

  Additionally, any and all sections of the Foreign Affairs Manual or Foreign Affairs Handbook that convey authorities or otherwise purport to regulate executive branch engagement with Taiwan via any entity other than the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) are also hereby voided. The executive branch‘s relations with Taiwan are to be handled by the non-profit AIT, as stipulated in the Taiwan Relations Act.

  The United States government maintains relationships with unofficial partners around the world, and Taiwan is no exception. Our two democracies share common values of individual freedom, the rule of law, and a respect for human dignity. Today’s statement recognizes that the U.S.-Taiwan relationship need not, and should not, be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy.

  This is sure to create more transition chaos with a mere week-and-a-half left till Biden’s inauguration.

  The timing of it will also be a huge factor in determining Beijing’s response, given it may look to Biden for assurances that he’ll roll back whatever “damage” Trump’s dumping of the longstanding ‘One China’ has done on the way out the door. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 17:00

• ABC News Calls For "Cleansing" Of Trump Supporters
  ABC News Calls For “Cleansing” Of Trump Supporters

  Authored by Kipp Jones via The Western Journal,

  As part of the Democratic Party, establishment media and Washington swamp campaign to tear down the legacy of President Donald Trump this week, the political director for ABC News called for a “cleansing” of Trump’s movement.

  Rick Klein, who is the rudder on the corrupt ABC News political coverage ship, must have been feeling awfully emboldened Thursday after Democrat Joe Biden was officially certified as the country’s next president. Perhaps a little too emboldened, as is evident by what he said on Twitter.

  “Trump will be an ex-president in 13 days. The fact is that getting rid of Trump is the easy part. Cleansing the movement he commands is going to be something else,” Klein said in a tweet, which he later deleted.

  Thank the good lord for screen shots.

  Political Director for @ABC News based in Washington DC appears to have deleted his tweet about the 75 million Americans who voted for Trump that talked about the challenge of “cleansing the movement.” pic.twitter.com/HS1Rwrn94S

  — Omri Ceren (@omriceren) January 7, 2021

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

  But this was no mere slip-up of a lone network employee on social media. ABC News published a piece in which Klein echoed his message. His views are apparently shared by others at the legacy media outlet.

  Thursday on the website’s political analysis page “The Note,” Klein and Mary Alice Parks, ABC News deputy political director, co-wrote a piece that called for a similar “cleansing” of the Trump movement before it was later stealthily edited to change that vague and dark language, Fox News reported.

  Pointing to Wednesday’s Capitol incursion as a reason to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office or impeach him, Klein and Parks wrote, “Even aside from impeachment and 25th Amendment talk, Trump will be an ex-president in 13 days. The fact is that getting rid of Trump is the easy part.”

  “Cleaning up the movement he commands, or getting rid of what he represents to so many Americans, is going to be something else.”

  That last section originally read, “Cleansing the movement he commands, or getting rid of what he represents to so many Americans, is going to be something else.”

  ABC News and Klein cleaned up their creepy genocidal language, but the veil is off, and we know who they are. We know that these people want.

  The majority of the establishment media wants a one-party state where every man, woman and child knows his or her place. Trump’s awakening of the GOP base and others is a threat to that, and it became even more threatening after he began successfully courting Democratic voters last year.

  Leftists have used words such as “reconciliation” and “re-education” with regard to how to deal with us since the election. Now ABC News has called for a “cleansing” of the political movement the president created.

  While for most of us that movement equates to a robust economy, individual liberty, national sovereignty and a strong military, the hateful establishment media always viewed it as a threat to the status quo.

  The actions of a relatively small number of Trump supporters at the Capitol on Wednesday have given these people what they view as a valid reason to delegitimize every one of the tens of millions of Americans who voted against the corrupt Washington and media establishment.

  Rogue conservatives roaming the halls of Congress is exactly what the corporate media wanted. Remember, this is the same establishment media that joined Democrats in inciting or excusing violence for a great deal of last year, and even before that.

  SUERCUT!

  Media: Yes, violence is the answer pic.twitter.com/1juSdYtKvD

  — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 7, 2021

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

  Oops, wouldn’t want this highlight reel of Democrat leaders calling for uprisings to go viral pic.twitter.com/onBBfhMA3f

  — Rogan O’Handley 🇺🇸 (@DC_Draino) January 8, 2021

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

  Save for the late Peter Jennings, ABC News has always been awful. The network never attempted to hide its bias during the election or during the four years when Trump was called “illegitimate” and a Russian plant. Klein was silent as fake news stories led the coverage for four years, and he never denounced Biden for going around talking about punching people — but now the mask is off.

  Klein and his colleagues want to put us all in a corner and shame us over the D.C. spectacle, which 99.9 percent of us were not a party to. We can’t ask valid questions about election integrity if we’re all too afraid to show our faces, and maybe that’s the point. The Klein message highlights the depths of the establishment media’s desperation to make us go away and fall in line. No thanks.

  It was the corporate media and its sponsors, Democrats, and those who threw bricks and molotov cocktails for months on end who brought shame to our republic, not Trump or the movement he has led. That’s an inconvenient fact that is being written over in a mad dash to turn the president’s legacy into ash by attempting to portray him as a man who simply spent four years inciting a riot.

  It’s a lie, just like all the others. Let the dust settle and don’t be shamed.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 16:30

• Kim Jong Un Orders More Tactical Nukes Be Made For Readiness Against "Archenemy" US
  Kim Jong Un Orders More Tactical Nukes Be Made For Readiness Against “Archenemy” US

  Kim Jong Un has begun ratcheting up anti-US rhetoric with less than two weeks to go before the Biden inauguration, calling America his country’s “principal enemy” on Saturday.

  “Our external political activities must focus on controlling and subjugating the United States, our archenemy and the biggest stumbling block to the development of our revolution,” Kim said, according to official KCNA news agency.

  

  “The real intention of its policy toward the DPRK will never change, whoever comes into power in the US,” he added during an address to the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.

  But more importantly, he announced that he no longer considers himself bound by the self-imposed moratorium on testing nuclear devices weapons and long-range ballistic missiles.

  According to a paraphrase of his bellicose speech:

  At the congress, Kim called for the improvement of the country’s nuclear arsenal to include solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles that can be launched from land and sea, and accurately hit targets at a range of up to 9,320 miles, putting the U.S. mainland in reach.

  He also ordered the development of miniaturized nuclear weapons, tactical nukes, military surveillance satellites and hypersonic aircraft.

  The incoming Biden administration is not expected to respond unless he actually puts any of this in action, particularly testing of banned strategic weapons.

  

  Biden previously referred to Kim as a “thug” on the campaign trail, to which the North Korean leader responded by calling Biden a “rabid dog”. 

  Meanwhile, Biden has characterized that his approach will be a slower, “principled diplomacy” – suggesting such high stakes media-centric summits that was Trump’s style is out the door.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 01/09/2021 – 16:00

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• Luongo: Tiananmen Avoided In D.C. As Trump Era Ends
  Luongo: Tiananmen Avoided In D.C. As Trump Era Ends

  Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, ‘n Guns blog,

  Her name is Ashli Babbitt.

  On January 6th, 2021 the Trump Era of U.S. history ended. Nothing will be the same after the events on Capitol Hill. There is no going back. That much is obvious.

  The shock of those events wasn’t Trump calling a rally of his supporters to the Capitol or that they were seething with anger over what is clearly a stolen election.

  The shock was that they “aimed to misbehave” after coming to the realization that the America they thought they lived in no longer existed.

  I’ve said many times in 2020 that this election was the last chance to keep a lid on their anger. It was, in their minds, their last non-violent way of choosing the rules they lived under.

  As long as the results looked even remotely fair they would be willing to accept them and make the best of it. That’s the contract right?

  But they would not accept fraud.

  Because fraud is theft. And theft is force. Theft is ultimately violence.

  So everyone clutching their pearls today over the ‘violence’ of January 6th needs to remember that violence is baked into this story at every level.

  In fact, the worst pearl clutchers are the ones whose power is most threatened, i.e. Congress, and the cowards unwilling to stand next to those facing them down.

  Her name is Ashli Babbitt.

  Because as George Washington almost certainly didn’t say …

  Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, – it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action

  Force was on display fully at the capitol but it wasn’t coming from the people. It was coming from Congress who knowingly certified a fraudulent election hiding behind their cowardice and corruption.

  And the people called them out on it.

  The most moving thing I saw all day was thousands of people singing the national anthem as they tried to get into the Capitol building.

  After certifying the election Vice President Mike Pence said,

  “To those who wreaked havoc in our capitol today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people’s House.”

  No Mike, violence won. Rule by men won. And standing proud while taking your thirty pieces of silver only further ensures that violence will keep winning.

  Her name is Ashli Babbitt.

  But violence is now inevitable. And the first shots were fired. Not by the people but by those agents of force themselves, the government.

  During the George Floyd riots our current rulers could barely bring themselves to denounce the very real violence in Minneapolis, Portland, Atlanta, etc.

  BLM and Antifa vandals burned down whole city blocks, beat people indiscriminately and destroyed the lives of the very black people they were supposed to be protesting for.

  They were brave freedom fighters. Whoever said protests were supposed to be polite, right Chris Cuomo?

  If you want to be heard by people who aren’t listening then you have to make a lot of noise to get their attention.

  So, the idea that hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised conservatives shouldn’t gather and say no to a blatant fraud is laughable. In the end, their main crime was a little disorganized mayhem inside the Capitol building.

  Denouncing that as ‘insurrection,’ as alleged in the circulating articles of impeachment against Trump, are equally laughable.

  It’s also indicative of just how thin the veneer of their power is. Because the people who came to D.C. to protest knew exactly who their enemies were — Congress, the media and the police who turned their backs on them.

  What’s clear is that January 6th was on the ‘white board’ of The Swamp that if things got out of control, or were allowed to, they were prepared for the protest to turn ugly enough to warrant unbridled use of military force.

  It failed.

  Her name is Ashli Babbitt.

  Because during the height of the commotion the Pentagon refused a request for the National Guard to be brought in.

  Things had to get far worse than what happened for that step to occur.

  When sifting through the wreckage of these events, breaking into the Capitol and wandering around isn’t really all that dangerous.

  Was it a little embarrassing? Yes.

  Did it warrant at any point lethal force? No.

  If it did the cops in the building wouldn’t have been standing around for the most part chatting amiably with the ‘insurgents.’

  What they wanted another Fort Sumter where the rebels panicked and fired the first shot. They wanted unbridled violence to erupt as the madness of crowds took over.

  That never really materialized. And so, no justifiable massacre ensued.

  What did happen was the opposite.

  They fired first. They lost their cool. It was a wholly unjustified shooting by a U.S. Capitol Police Officer.

  He just panicked and shot an unarmed woman climbing through a window.

  Her name was Ashli Babbitt.

  In any version of reality there was no imminent threat to him, just like the antics around the Capitol posed no imminent threat to the U.S. or Congress.

  No riot happened, however, because the protestors believe in something greater than power, unlike the feckless jackals of Congress trying to hound Trump into exile.

  Even Antifa agent provocateurs couldn’t incite a riot. They were pulled down off the building by the MAGA folks who ultimately chanted ‘Stop the Steal’ a lot between refrains of the Star Spangled Banner, which D.C. police stepped on like it was a nuisance.

  These are people who showed discipline in equal measure to their righteous anger. The Powers That Be never thought these people could be provoked to even the level seen on January 6th.

  But I remind you that quiet men, men of character, take a lot to rile to overt anger. Our leaders and the commies who think they are winning today mistake temperance for weakness.

  But when you take everything else away from them, what comes next you will have invited.

  We got only a taste of the anger and resolve of the folks showed up to support their man Trump. And today they realize just how bad things actually are. They understand it now in their bones how deeply flawed the Myth of America is.

  That myth, as I talked about recently, is a powerful one, not without its merits. Trump fed that myth because, I think, he believes in it. But it is still a myth and one which will have to be updated.

  Trump, I think, understands this and knows that this is not about him. His message and the way he handled the past four years was that they are scared of the people, not him.

  His job, as he saw it, was to give us the courage to stand up to these horrific people, see them for what they are and afford them zero respect. That’s the legacy of the Trump Era.

  And that’s why they hate him so much. Because we were never supposed to find out just how much they hate us.

  In the coming weeks Pelosi, Schumer and the rest will double down on control. They have to, having staked out the moral high ground now. That was the trap Trump set for them, nothing more.

  They will enter the Biden Era passing new insane laws, pushing for gun control, persecuting and silencing these ‘deplorable’ people. All the while they will think that these edicts will insulate them from their anger.

  But it won’t. Because they shot first. They took the bait. And they committed the ultimate sin.

  Her name is Ashli Babbitt.

  

  *  *  *

  Join my Patreon if you still care about anything.

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 23:45

• Alien Debris Was Discovered In 2017, Harvard Astronomy Professor Claims
  Alien Debris Was Discovered In 2017, Harvard Astronomy Professor Claims

  A Harvard professor is officially making the argument that in 2017, scientists found the “first sign of intelligent life outside Earth”.

  Avi Loeb, a Harvard University professor, is releasing a book called “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” that explains why he thinks an object that came close to Earth in 2017 could be of alien origin. 

  Hawaiian scientists in 2017 saw  “an object soaring through our inner solar system, moving so quickly that it could only have been from another star,” the book says. In the book, Loeb makes the argument that the object was actually “space junk” from another galaxy. The object was called “1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua”.

  

  “There was only one conceivable explanation: the object was a piece of advanced technology created by a distant alien civilization,” the book says, according to Yahoo. 

  NASA described the object as “the first confirmed object from another star to visit our solar system, this interstellar interloper appears to be a rocky, cigar-shaped object with a somewhat reddish hue.”

  Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate said when it was discovered: “For decades we’ve theorized that such interstellar objects are out there, and now – for the first time – we have direct evidence they exist. This history-making discovery is opening a new window to study formation of solar systems beyond our own.”

  

  Publisher Houghton-Mifflin says: “In late 2017, scientists at a Hawaiian observatory glimpsed an object soaring through our inner solar system, moving so quickly that it could only have come from another star. Avi Loeb, Harvard’s top astronomer, showed it was not an asteroid; it was moving too fast along a strange orbit, and left no trail of gas or debris in its wake…”

  “In Extraterrestrial, Loeb takes readers inside the thrilling story of the first interstellar visitor to be spotted in our solar system. He outlines his controversial theory and its profound implications: for science, for religion, and for the future of our species and our planet. A mind-bending journey through the furthest reaches of science, space-time, and the human imagination, Extraterrestrial challenges readers to aim for the stars—and to think critically about what’s out there, no matter how strange it seems.”

  Anne Wojcicki, CEO and cofounder of 23andMe, said the book “convinces you that scientific curiosity is key to our future success.”

  Loeb is a professor of science at Harvard, with a doctorate in physics and is also chair of Harvard’s Department of Astronomy.

  His book will be released January 26, 2021. 

  

   

   

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 23:25

• Wednesday's Other Story: Taibbi
  Wednesday’s Other Story: Taibbi

  Authored by Matt Taibbi via TK News,

  Just before the madness at the Capitol broke out Wednesday, news came from London. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who seemed Monday to be the luckiest man alive when a judge denied an American request to extradite him, was now denied bail on the grounds that he might “fail to surrender to court to face” the inevitable U.S. appeal. He goes back to legal purgatory, possibly a worse outcome than extradition, which might be the idea.

  

  We sell politics in American media as a soap opera, and the personalities make for lively copy, but properly following the bouncing ball means watching institutions, not characters. Where are armies, banks, central banks, intelligence services, the press? Whose money is talking on the floor of the House and the Senate? How concentrated is financial and political power? How do public and private institutions coordinate? When they coordinate, what are their collective aims? How transparent are they or aren’t they? How accountable?

  Assange became a celebrity at a time when popular interest in these questions was at its zenith in the United States. Eight years of the Bush administration inspired profound concern about the runaway power of the state, especially a new secret state-within-a-state the Bush administration insisted 9/11 gave them the moral mandate to build.

  Our invasion of Iraq had been a spectacular failure — unlike pictures of returning coffins, that couldn’t be completely covered up — and Americans learned about grotesque forms of war profiteering. These included the use of mercenaries to whom the taxpayer unknowingly paid lavish sums, to commit horrific war crimes like the Nissour Square Massacre, also known as “Baghdad’s Bloody Sunday.”

  One of Donald Trump’s most indefensible (and bizarrely, least commented-upon) acts was the pardon of the four Blackwater guards who shot and killed those seventeen Iraqi civilians, including women and children. The New York Times story covering the Blackwater pardon spent just four paragraphs on the case, sticking it below apparently more outrageous acts like the pardon of George Papadopoulos.

  “Baghdad’s Bloody Sunday” took place in 2007, by which time we were bombing and kidnapping all over the world, disappearing people off streets like the Bogey Man of fairy tales. Detainees were taken to secret prisons where, we later learned, efforts by prisoners to starve themselves out of their misery were thwarted by a diet of raisins, nuts, pasta, and hummus rocketed up the back door through “the widest possible tube.”

  Even years later, one Gitmo prisoner would waive his right to appear in court because “rectal damage” made it too painful to sit. We made mistakes in who we selected for this treatment, grabbing people with no connection to anything for torture, as films like Taxi to the Dark Side documented. However, Americans seemed to lose interest in these policies once the Iraq misadventure came to a sort-of end, and a new president was elected.

  The rise of Wikileaks introduced an uncontrollable variable into our drift toward authoritarianism. The WMD episode had shown again that our press, the supposed first line of defense against abuses, could not be relied upon. For every expose like Abu Ghraib, there were a hundred stories that either went uncovered or advanced official deceptions.

  Wikileaks anticipated a future in which the press would not only be pliant accomplices to power in this way, but where information itself would be tightly controlled by governments using far-reaching and probably extralegal new technological concepts, deploying misleading excuses for clampdowns.

  One of the first Wikileaks document dumps involved the Thai government’s blacklist of Internet sites, which was billed as a way to stop child pornography but had in fact been used to remove as many as 1200 sites critical of the Thai royal family, among other things. “The Thai system was used to censor Australia reportage about the imprisoned Australian writer Harry Nicolaides,” Assange noted, in 2009.

  Wikileaks also released the Camp Manual for Guantanamo Bay, which among other things revealed that children as young as 15 were being held, along with 900+ other files about a place essentially closed off to even theoretical press review. Another early dump involved the Minton report, about toxic dumping in the Ivory Coast by the firm Trafigura, which in yet another preview of a future of information control had obtained a court order to prevent The Guardian from printing.

  In the 2010 Collateral Murder video, an Apache helicopter crew falsely claims to have encountered a firefight and lights up a Baghdad street, killing a dozen people, including two Reuters employees. Somehow even more disturbing than the killing is the dialogue captured between pilots and base. They’re laughing in parts, saying things like, “Just fuckin’ once you get on ‘em, just open ‘em up,” “All right, hahaha, I hit em,” and “Hey, you shoot, I’ll talk.”

  For all the talk about the madness of Donald Trump — and I wrote one of those pieces — this was something more dangerous, i.e. institutional insanity. We were factory-producing sociopathic murder, by air, in a process that would become more depersonalized. As early as 2011 we learned the Pentagon was working on a software-based system for identifying and eliminating targets by drone, in an effort to remove the potentially complicating variable of human conscience. The implications of this are the stuff of sci-fi movies: outsourcing feeling, judgment, and responsibility to machines, which incidentally would eventually use similar software to determine how much about these questions could be disclosed to human audiences.

  Collateral Murder came out when Americans were also learning about serious corruption at home. After the 2008 financial crash, the Obama administration made historic decisions to reorganize the economy through a series of bailouts and interventions that not only rewarded the worst actors, but super-concentrated power in the hands of newly merged financial institutions. The most significant decisions were made in secret, including at a remarkable post-crash meeting of financial leaders at the Fed whose lurid story would be reinvented as heroic fairy tale in Too Big To Fail.

  Wikileaks would go on to release financial secrets as well, including the draft charter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and, far more damaging, eighty pages of transcripts of paid speeches Hillary Clinton to Wall Street banks, where again the most damaging revelations were lingual. Clinton was shown admitting she was “far removed” from ordinary life because of the “economic, you know, fortunes that my husband and I now enjoy,” while speaking to Goldman, Sachs about the importance of developing “a middle class that can buy the products.”

  By 2016 Assange had been peeled away from many public supporters. A long campaign of surveillance and multiple scandals dimmed his star, with lowlights including the issuance of a Swedish arrest warrant over an alleged sexual assault. People will argue about whether or not he brought this fate on himself. To me it’s irrelevant: the issue, again, is the institution, not the person. The institutional concept of an unregulated leak site has always been the target in this story, far more than Julian Assange.

  Even if one stipulates that every piece of negative news ever written about Assange is true, his story is still primarily about the closing of an informational loophole during a time of ambitious efforts to throw a net of secrecy around the expansion of executive power. It was big news in the Bush years when an American named Jose Padilla was whisked away as an enemy combatant. In the Obama years, the pushed envelope was the first droning without trial of an American, al-Qaeda’s Anwar al-Awlaki. Was he the most sympathetic victim? Maybe not, but the widened principle mattered. And there was the matter of his sixteen-year-old son, whom we also killed. These decisions took place in an increasingly large space exempt from public review of any kind.

  When Assange disappeared into the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, there were already discussions about bringing him to the United States to face treason charges. This was a death penalty offense, the Brookings Institution noted, not worrying at the oddness of charging a foreigner with such a crime. Long before 2016, when Assange lost the support of most liberals for good through the release of the Podesta and DNC files, politicians like Joe Biden were calling Assange a “high-tech terrorist,” language that ought to have raised serious questions given the practices revealed in Collateral Murder, and cases like al-Awlaki’s: we kill terrorists, after all.

  Assange isn’t there yet, but he’s on his way, a health wreck. As Italian journalist Stefania Maurizi explained in our interview on Useful Idiots this week, Assange has not been outside since 2012. He seems destined to end up sharing the fate of those Gitmo prisoners in head-bags whose condition was one of the first Wikileaks scoops: kept in a kind of legal nowhere forever, unable even to escape through suicide.

  Like the Blackwater pardon, the Assange prosecution was simultaneously one of Trump’s worst and least-commented-upon acts. This was a real act of authoritarianism, not some piddling conspiracy with Giliuanis and Stones, but an act made in full cooperation with the awesome power of the American state. We’ll learn a lot about the Biden administration’s real attitude toward Trump’s “authoritarian” leanings by their handling of the case. It should tell people something that the same Obama White House that prosecuted eight leakers under the Espionage Act hesitated to go there with Assange. They understood the implications.

  When interviewed about the case in 2019, former Attorney General Eric Holder was asked if a publisher should be charged criminally. “If you are acting in a pure journalistic sense, no,” he said. “You look at the leaker you don’t look at the journalists.” However, he said, “if you’re acting at the behest of a foreign power, you are in a fundamentally different position.”

  The Assange indictment, however, is not about working with a foreign power, but entirely about Collateral Murder-era actions. Seventeen of the eighteen counts are Espionage Act charges that criminalize the obtaining, possessing, and publishing of “national defense information”:

  

  The last count is about the alleged offer to help Manning crack a security hash. Given that each of the Espionage Act counts carries a potential ten-year sentence, this case is about making not just the release, but even the solicitation of material like Collateral Murder punishable by life sentence.

  You don’t have to like Julian Assange to grasp the gravity of this. The application of the Espionage Act in this fashion means that reporting going forward will only be legal when not really damaging. This is the outcome Nixon wanted in the Pentagon Papers case (“Goddamn it, somebody’s got to go to jail on that!”). It makes the reporter on the next My Lai or Abu Ghraib a potential criminal or unperson.

  In conjunction with the widespread recent crackdowns on other kinds of speech by tech platforms, the continued exile of other transgressors like Snowden, and the rehabilitation of people like former CIA chief John Brennan, who committed perjury about these issues in the congressional chamber whose violated sanctity so infuriated America this week, it’s an enormous power grab — not a temporary one like the Capitol occupation, but a permanent, far-reaching assertion of institutional dominance.

  In our discussion with Maurizi this week, she talked about having her phone seized and its contents stolen by yet another American mercenary firm, as part of a sweep apparently done to every visitor to Assange in the embassy years. “They secretly unscrewed my phone,” she said, adding that data and pictures from her sim card were downloaded, her conversations with Assange recorded. “And they knew I was a journalist,” she said.

  Even though at least one of the affected journalists visiting the embassy was from the Washington Post, there was almost no reaction here at all. We’ve become inured to these violations. The authoritarian behaviors that freaked people out in the Bush and early Obama years have become as invisible as air to most Americans, who, lucky for many, mostly stopped following that bouncing ball the moment Trump arrived. Now Trump is on his way out, but the lockdown era is just beginning. You’ll forgive me if I’m more scared of that than the other thing.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 23:05

• Nissan Source Code Leaked Online After Servers Infiltrated Using Default "Admin" Password
  Nissan Source Code Leaked Online After Servers Infiltrated Using Default “Admin” Password

  As if Nissan didn’t have enough issues with its plunging sales, the company’s source code for its North American mobile apps and internal tools has now leaked online.

  The leak came as a result of the company misconfiguring one of its own Git servers – which Nissan inadvertently left exposed online with its default username and password, according to ZDnet. 

  The server was left with a default username and password combo of admin/admin, ZDnet reported. Was Solarwinds123 already taken as a password?

  Tillie Kottmann, a Swiss-based software engineer, learned about the leak from an anonymous source and analyzed the data on Monday. Kottmann told ZDnet that the leak included source codes for:

  • Nissan NA Mobile apps

  • some parts of the Nissan ASIST diagnostics tool

  • the Dealer Business Systems / Dealer Portal

  • Nissan internal core mobile library

  • Nissan/Infiniti NCAR/ICAR services

  • client acquisition and retention tools

  • sale / market research tools + data

  • various marketing tools

  • the vehicle logistics portal

  • vehicle connected services / Nissan connect things

  • and various other backends and internal tools

  

  A rep for Nissan said: “We are aware of a claim regarding a reported improper disclosure of Nissan’s confidential information and source code. We take this type of matter seriously and are conducting an investigation.”

  RELEASE: Nissan North America Source Code Dump

  A COMPLETE dump of all git repositories from Nissan NA, most notably including sources for:
  – the Nissan NA Mobile apps
  – some parts of the ASIST diagnostics tool
  – the Dealer Business Systems / Dealer Portal
  (1/n) pic.twitter.com/ltDvg9blTB

  — tillie, doer of crime 💛🤍💜🖤 (@antiproprietary) January 4, 2021

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 22:45

• Iraq Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Trump Over Militia Leader Killing
  Iraq Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Trump Over Militia Leader Killing

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  An Iraqi court issued an arrest warrant for President Trump for the killing of Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was killed in a US drone strike alongside Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani last January.

  Al-Muhandis was the leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a group of mostly Shia state-sponsored militias that was formed in 2014 to fight ISIS.

  

  The Iraqi warrant comes after Iran issued a “red notice” to Interpol for President Trump and dozens of other US officials for the killing of Soleimani. It was the second time since June that Iran requested the international police agency arrest Trump for the assassination, but the request has not been acted on.

  According to Middle East Eye:

  The Baghdad court issued the warrant for Trump’s arrest under Article 406 of the Iraqi penal code, which provides for the death penalty in all cases of premeditated murder, according to the judiciary.

  …“The investigation procedures are continuing to find out the other participants in the execution of this crime, whether they are Iraqis or foreigners,” the court said.

  Sunday, January 3rd, marked the one-year anniversary of the US assassination of Soleimani and al-Muhandis. Leading up to the day, US military officials were warning of Iranian or “Iranian-backed” attacks on US forces in Iraq. But the day came and went with no violence, although protesters took to the streets of Baghdad, demanding the US pull out of Iraq.

  After al-Muhandis and Soleimani were killed, Iraq’s parliament voted unanimously to expel US forces. Currently, the US is in the process of drawing down troops in Iraq. By January 15th, there are expected to be 2,500 US troops left in the country.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 22:25

• China Power Demand Hits Record As Polar Vortex Split Pours Arctic Air Into Region
  China Power Demand Hits Record As Polar Vortex Split Pours Arctic Air Into Region

  The Beijing meteorological station recorded one of the coldest temperatures in decades this past week, sending power demand through the roof. 

  Lei Lei, the chief forecaster for Beijing meteorological station, told China Daily that the first cold wave in 2021 features a “dramatic temperature drop,” “significant wind-chill effect,” and “prolonged period of low temperature.”

  On Jan. 7, Beijing recorded the coldest day since the 1960s while cities such as the eastern port city of Qingdao recorded the lowest temperature in history, according to Reuters. 

  

  China’s State Grid reports peak power load hit record highs in at least nine provincial grid systems in northern China. These areas are considered China’s industrial belt, where a manufacturing recovery is underway. 

  

  “The (latest) historic peak load came as extremely cold weather increased demand for electricity-powered heating facilities, which account for 48.2% of total load,” an official from the State Grid was quoted by Reuters. 

  China has spent the last several years swapping out coal-burning power stations for electricity-fueled heating devices as part of a green energy campaign to combat air pollution in northern regions. Power demand has been so high because of the severe cold that state-backed China Huaneng Group had to fire up a coal plant earlier this month to meet surging electricity demand. 

  Last month, China imported a record volume of liquefied natural gas as heating fuel demand soared for tens of millions of households. 

  According to Goldman Sachs, colder temperatures may increase the probability of COVID-19 outbreaks. This week alone, China implemented travel restrictions in Hebei, a province neighboring Beijing after a spike in coronavirus cases. 

  A possible theory behind the wicked cold weather in China could be sudden stratospheric warming pushing colder air into Asia. 

  

  If SSW theory is correct, this would mean a weakening polar vortex would also bring colder air into Europe and the US. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 22:05

• The Capitol Riot Wasn't A Coup. It Wasn't Even Close
  The Capitol Riot Wasn’t A Coup. It Wasn’t Even Close

  Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

  On Wednesday, a mob apparently composed of Trump supporters forced its way past US Capitol security guards and briefly moved unrestrained through much of the capitol building. They displayed virtually no organization and no clear goals.

  

  Five people reportedly died during the events – one apparently unarmed female protester died of a gunshot wound, three other protesters “suffered medical emergencies” that resulted in their deaths (one crushed, one heart attack, and one stroke); and a police officer died from a blood clot on his brain reportedly triggered while physically engaging with protesters.

  [ZH: Here is one ‘terrifying scene’ from the clashes as ‘rioters’ began their ‘coup’]…

  I’ve watched this clip 100 times and I still can’t believe it pic.twitter.com/7vYfmPJoxB

  — Tim Hogan (@timjhogan) January 8, 2021

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

  Yet, the media response has been to act as if the event constituted a coup d’etat. This was “A Very American Coup” according to a headline at The New Republic. “This is a Coup” insists a writer at Foreign Policy. The Atlantic presented photos purported to be “Scenes From an American Coup.”

  But this wasn’t a coup, and what happened on Wednesday is conceptually very different from a coup. Coups nearly always are acts committed by elites against the sitting executive power using the tools of the elites. This isn’t at all what happened on Wednesday.

  What Is a Coup?

  A gang of disorganized, powerless mechanics, janitors, and insurance agents running through the capitol isn’t a coup. And if it was a coup attempt, it was so far from anything that might hope to succeed as a coup that it should not be taken seriously as such.

  So how do we know a coup when we see one?

  In their article “Global instances of coups from 1950 to 2010: A new dataset,” authors Jonathan M. Powell and Clayton L. Thyne provide a definition:

  A coup attempt includes illegal and overt attempts by the military or other elites within the state apparatus to unseat the sitting executive.

  There are two key components of this definition. The first is that it is illegal. Powell and Thyne note this “illegal” qualifier is important to include “because it differentiates coups from political pressure, which is common whenever people have freedom to organize.”

  In other words, protests, or threats of protest don’t count as coups. Neither do legal efforts such as a vote of no confidence or an impeachment. 

  But an even more critical aspect of Powell’s and Thyne’s definition is that it requires the involvement of elites.

  This can be seen in any stereotypical example of a coup d’etat. This generally involves a renegade military detachment, military officers, and others from within the state apparatus who can employ knowledge, skills, influence, coercive tools gained through membership in the regime’s elite circles.

  The attempted coup in Japan in 1937, for example, was carried out by more than 1,500 officers and men of the Japanese imperial army. They nonetheless failed, likely because they miscalculated the amount of support they enjoyed among other officers. More recently, in the 2009 Honduran coup, the bulk of the Honduran Army turned on the president Manuel Zelaya and sent him into exile. That was a successful coup. More famously, Chile’s 1973 coup was successfully led by Agusto Pinochet, the commander-in-chief of the Army, and this enabled him to shell the Chilean executive palace with military hardware.

  Contrast this with nameless MAGA-hat-wearing flag wavers, and the inappropriateness of the term “coup” in this case should be blatantly obvious. With real coups, power is seized by a faction of the elite which has the ability to take control of the machinery of state indefinitely. Although some of Trump’s critics claim he was somehow responsible for Wednesday’s mob, it is clear that Trump was not coordinating or directing any sort of military operation through Twitter posts. There was no plan for holding power. Had those who invaded the capitol building managed to take control of the building for a time, there’s no reason to think this would somehow translate into control of the state. How would it? The real coercive power remained well ensconced within an apparently undivided military apparatus.

  Moreover, it has been clear for years that the permanent technocracy which controls the day-to-day execution of federal administrative power (i.e., “the deep state”) has long been committed to undermining the Trump administration—from high ranking FBI agents, to military diplomats, to Pentagon officials. From where would Trump draw the necessary cooperation from elites to overturn more than 200 years of established norms in transfers of presidential power? In any case, the Biden administration is likely to be better for the state’s elites than the Trump administration. There is no reason for any group of them to contemplate a coup against Biden.

  Thus, if any of Wednesday’s capital rioters thought they were about to bring about a coup by smashing some windows in the capitol, they were engaging in thoroughly amateurish thinking. It’s unlikely, however, that more than a few of the rioters thought there was a coup d’etat afoot. It’s more likely most of them simply wanted to dramatically display their displeasure with the federal regime and to signal they weren’t going to placidly submit to whatever the American bureaucracy decided to dish out.

  Nonetheless, we should not be surprised that the media has rushed to apply the term to the riot. This phenomenon was examined in a November 2019 article titled “Coup with Adjectives: Conceptual Stretching or Innovation in Comparative Research?,” by Leiv Marsteintredet and Andres Malamud. The authors note that as the incidence of real coups has declined, the word has become more common, but with modifiers attached.

  Examples of these modifiers include “soft,” “constitutional,” “parliamentary,” and “slow-motion.” Numerous critics of the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in Brazil, for example, repeatedly called it a “soft coup.” The authors note this is no mere issue of splitting hairs, explaining that “The choice of how to conceptualize a coup is not to be taken lightly since it carries normative, analytical, and political implications.”

  Increasingly, the term really means “this is a thing I don’t like.” But the term’s use paints the non-coup participants as criminals poised to seize power illegally. By applying this term to the acts of a disorganized group of Trump supporters with no base of support among state elites, the pundits know exactly what they’re doing.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 21:45

• Rapes, Robberies Fall In Los Angeles While Homicides Reach Highest In Decade
  Rapes, Robberies Fall In Los Angeles While Homicides Reach Highest In Decade

  Crime in Los Angeles went “absolutely haywire” in 2020 according to Capt. Paul Vernon, head of the LAPD Compstat crime-tracking division.

  

  According to the Los Angeles Times, robberies, rapes and small-scale property crimes were down on the year, while killings, shootings and auto robberies spiked.

  After years of sustained declines, homicides reached the highest level in a decade, while shootings were up by around 40%. Robberies, however, were down 17%, while rapes fell 25%. The city exceeded 300 homicides in a single year for the first time since 2009, something which takes Chicago about  six months to achieve. In December, Los Angeles saw 14 killings and 45 shootings in one week, vs. four killed and 17 shot in 2019. The Times estimated that there were 349 homicides in 2020, a 38% boost over 2019. 

  Of the country’s largest cities, New York, Los Angeles and Houston all saw homicide increases of 30% or higher — with Chicago seeing an increase of 55% — compared to the same time last year. https://t.co/R833qQNYbN pic.twitter.com/6pmlGnKaHg

  — CNN (@CNN) January 2, 2021

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js“You can only make inferences [based on] what’s happening and what’s not happening,” said Vernon, who analyzed shifts in major crimes on a 2020 timeline of significant events and concluded that COVID-19, and the ensuing lockdowns had a major impact on these trends starting in March.

  “I cannot say enough that cops count, police matter, the presence of our officers in communities makes a difference,” said LAPD Chief Michael Moore in a statement to the Times.

  Between January and February, gun violence was above the trend vs. the first two months of 2019, while other crimes were in-line. After the lockdowns began, however, the numbers “radically” changed, according to the Times, with property crimes, street robberies, sexual assaults and other violent offenses falling significantly. As Summer began, however, shootings and killings spiked, increasing as time went on. Perhaps stir-crazy Californians were sent over the edge? Critics of the police suggest that increasing funding for social services for the poor, homeless, mentally ill and addicts would go a long way towards helping.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 21:25

• U Alabama Under Investigation For Possible Ties To Wuhan Lab
  U Alabama Under Investigation For Possible Ties To Wuhan Lab

  Authored by Wyatt Eichholz via Campus Reform,

  The U.S. Department of Education has requested information from the University of Alabama regarding alleged undisclosed ties between the university and the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

  “It appears that UA has failed to report an alleged partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China,” a letter sent to UA President Stuart Bell on Dec. 22 stated.

  “The WIV, owned by the Chinese government’s Academy of Sciences, includes a maximum biocontainment laboratory (“MCL”) that may be closely linked to the origin and/or spread of the Chinese COVID-19 virus,” the letter continued.

  The investigation was initiated in light of the fact that the University of Alabama is listed as an international partner on the Wuhan Institute’s official website.

  “The UA reference on the Wuhan Institute of Virology website was brought to our attention earlier this year,” the university said in a statement provided to Campus Reform.

  “At that time, we reviewed any possible related institutional records to determine the basis for the reference. We found no ties or connection between UA and WIV, and no reason for UA to be listed on the website.”

  

  “University officials reached out to WVI to question the reference and requested the UA reference on the website be removed, but never received a response,” the statement continued. “We have relayed this information to the Department of Education.”

  The Department of Education’s letter requested that UA provide any documents with information relating to the Wuhan lab to the department within 30 days. The request cited Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, a law concerning the financial relationships between U.S. universities and foreign sources.

  “Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. § 1011f) requires institutions of higher education (IHEs), including the University of Alabama (UA), to fully report statutorily defined gifts, contracts, and/or restricted and conditional gifts or contracts from or with a foreign source to the U.S. Department of Education (Department),” the letter explained.

  An Education Department spokesman declined to provide additional information, saying, “As a policy, we don’t comment on matters involving Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 until a letter has been posted on our website.”

  The Wuhan Institute of Virology could not be reached for comment. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 21:05

• China Threatens US With "Heavy Price" For "Crazy Provocation" Of Top Ambassador's Trip To Taiwan
  China Threatens US With “Heavy Price” For “Crazy Provocation” Of Top Ambassador’s Trip To Taiwan

  China is warning the United States to be ready to pay a “heavy price” should it move forward with sending its Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft on an official trip to Taiwan next week.

  “We wish to remind the United States that whoever plays with fire will burn himself,” the Chinese mission to the UN said in a statement. “The United States will pay a heavy price for its wrong action,” 

  “China strongly urges the United States to stop its crazy provocation, stop creating new difficulties for China-U.S. relations and the two countries’ cooperation in the United Nations, and stop going further on the wrong path.”

  

  Beijing demanded that the visit be canceled, saying China “firmly opposes” the provocative action, and suggested strongly it would be seen as a violation of the ‘One China’ policy.

  Craft will visit officials in Taipei from January 13 to 15, which will “reinforce the US government’s strong and ongoing support for Taiwan’s international space,” according to a US diplomatic statement.

  A series of lower level administration officials visited the island last year, also at a tense moment that US weapons sales to Taiwan were being brokered and finalized, which Beijing also condemned. 

  But this upcoming trip will be arguably the highest profile and most visible figure under the Trump administration to go to Taipei thus far.

  Chinese state media has also been busy underscoring that the continuing US delegations are a violation of Chinese sovereignty, also while continuing military exercises in and near the Taiwan Strait.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 20:45

• Children's Hospitals Grapple With Wave Of Mental Illness
  Children’s Hospitals Grapple With Wave Of Mental Illness

  Authored by Carmen Heredia Rodriguez via Kaiser Health News,

  Krissy Williams, 15, had attempted suicide before, but never with pills.

  The teen was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was 9. People with this chronic mental health condition perceive reality differently and often experience hallucinations and delusions. She learned to manage these symptoms with a variety of services offered at home and at school.

  But the pandemic upended those lifelines. She lost much of the support offered at school. She also lost regular contact with her peers. Her mother lost access to respite care — which allowed her to take a break.

  On a Thursday in October, the isolation and sadness came to a head. As Krissy’s mother, Patricia Williams, called a mental crisis hotline for help, she said, Krissy stood on the deck of their Maryland home with a bottle of pain medication in one hand and water in the other.

  Before Patricia could react, Krissy placed the pills in her mouth and swallowed.

  

  Efforts to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in the United States have led to drastic changes in the way children and teens learn, play and socialize. Tens of millions of students are attending school through some form of distance learning. Many extracurricular activities have been canceled. Playgrounds, zoos and other recreational spaces have closed. Kids like Krissy have struggled to cope and the toll is becoming evident.

  Government figures show the proportion of children who arrived in emergency departments with mental health issues increased 24% from mid-March through mid-October, compared with the same period in 2019. Among preteens and adolescents, it rose by 31%. Anecdotally, some hospitals said they are seeing more cases of severe depression and suicidal thoughts among children, particularly attempts to overdose.

  The increased demand for intensive mental health care that has accompanied the pandemic has worsened issues that have long plagued the system. In some hospitals, the number of children unable to immediately get a bed in the psychiatric unit rose. Others reduced the number of beds or closed psychiatric units altogether to reduce the spread of covid-19.

  “It’s only a matter of time before a tsunami sort of reaches the shore of our service system, and it’s going to be overwhelmed with the mental health needs of kids,” said Jason Williams, a psychologist and director of operations of the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

  “I think we’re just starting to see the tip of the iceberg, to be honest with you.”

  Before covid, more than 8 million kids between ages 3 and 17 were diagnosed with a mental or behavioral health condition, according to the most recent National Survey of Children’s Health. A separate survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 1 in 3 high school students in 2019 reported feeling persistently sad and hopeless — a 40% increase from 2009.

  The coronavirus pandemic appears to be adding to these difficulties. A review of 80 studies found forced isolation and loneliness among children correlated with an increased risk of depression.

  “We’re all social beings, but they’re [teenagers] at the point in their development where their peers are their reality,” said Terrie Andrews, a psychologist and administrator of behavioral health at Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Florida. “Their peers are their grounding mechanism.”

  Children’s hospitals in New York, Colorado and Missouri all reported an uptick in the number of patients who thought about or attempted suicide. Clinicians also mentioned spikes in children with severe depression and those with autism who are acting out.

  The number of overdose attempts among children has caught the attention of clinicians at two facilities. Andrews from Wolfson Children’s said the facility gives out lockboxes for weapons and medication to the public — including parents who come in after children attempted to take their life using medication.

  Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., also has experienced an uptick, said Dr. Colby Tyson, associate director of inpatient psychiatry. She’s seen children’s mental health deteriorate due to a likely increase in family conflict — often a consequence of the chaos caused by the pandemic. Without school, connections with peers or employment, families don’t have the opportunity to spend time away from one another and regroup, which can add stress to an already tense situation.

  “That break is gone,” she said.

  The higher demand for child mental health services caused by the pandemic has made finding a bed at an inpatient unit more difficult.

  

  Krissy Williams, pictured with her brother, lives with schizophrenia. The disruption to her school and health services caused by covid-19 worsened her mental health. In October, she tried to take her own life. (Patricia Williams)

  Now, some hospitals report running at full capacity and having more children “boarding,” or sleeping in emergency departments before being admitted to the psychiatric unit. Among them is the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Williams said the inpatient unit has been full since March. Some children now wait nearly two days for a bed, up from the eight to 10 hours common before the pandemic.

  Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio is also running at full capacity, said clinicians, and had several days in which the unit was above capacity and placed kids instead in the emergency department waiting to be admitted. In Florida, Andrews said, up to 25 children have been held on surgical floors at Wolfson Children’s while waiting for a spot to open in the inpatient psychiatric unit. Their wait could last as long as five days, she said.

  Multiple hospitals said the usual summer slump in child psychiatric admissions was missing last year. “We never saw that during the pandemic,” said Andrews. “We stayed completely busy the entire time.”

  Some facilities have decided to reduce the number of beds available to maintain physical distancing, further constricting supply. Children’s National in D.C. cut five beds from its unit to maintain single occupancy in every room, said Dr. Adelaide Robb, division chief of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

  The measures taken to curb the spread of covid have also affected the way hospitalized children receive mental health services. In addition to providers wearing protective equipment, some hospitals like Cincinnati Children’s rearranged furniture and placed cues on the floor as reminders to stay 6 feet apart. UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital in Pittsburgh and other facilities encourage children to keep their masks on by offering rewards like extra computer time. Patients at Children’s National now eat in their rooms, a change from when they ate together.

  Despite the need for distance, social interaction still represents an important part of mental health care for children, clinicians said. Facilities have come up with various ways to do so safely, including creating smaller pods for group therapy. Kids at Cincinnati Children’s can play with toys, but only with ones that can be wiped clean afterward. No cards or board games, said Dr. Suzanne Sampang, clinical medical director for child and adolescent psychiatry at the hospital.

  “I think what’s different about psychiatric treatment is that, really, interaction is the treatment,” she said, “just as much as a medication.”

  The added infection-control precautions pose challenges to forging therapeutic connections. Masks can complicate the ability to read a person’s face. Online meetings make it difficult to build trust between a patient and a therapist.

  “There’s something about the real relationship in person that the best technology can’t give to you,” said Robb.

  For now, Krissy is relying on virtual platforms to receive some of her mental health services. Despite being hospitalized and suffering brain damage due to the overdose, she is now at home and in good spirits. She enjoys geometry, dancing on TikTok and trying to beat her mother at Super Mario Bros. on the Wii. But being away from her friends, she said, has been a hard adjustment.

  “When you’re used to something,” she said, “it’s not easy to change everything.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 20:25

• New Hyper-Infectious "Mutant" COVID Strain May Already Be Spreading In US
  New Hyper-Infectious “Mutant” COVID Strain May Already Be Spreading In US

  Despite scientists’ insistence that mutated strains of the original SARS-CoV-2 virus had little significance, so-called “variants” discovered in the UK and South Africa have been found to be more infectious than the original. And while vaccine makers insist that their jabs will be just as effective against these hyper-infectious strains, the reality is there isn’t much data to comfortably back up these assertions.

  

  And while the world waits to see just how effective the various coronavirus vaccines will be in practice, members of Joe Biden’s coronavirus task force have warned that dangerous mutant strains that have yet to be isolated might already be spreading across the US.

  A report sent by the WH task force to various US states dated Jan. 3 warns of the possibility of a “USA variant”, which might explain Thursday’s record-breaking tally of new deaths (more than 4K).

  “This fall/winter surge has been at nearly twice the rate of rise of cases as the spring and summer surges. This acceleration suggests there may be a USA variant that has evolved here, in addition to the UK variant that is already spreading in our communities and may be 50% more transmissible,” the report said.

  The task force called for “aggressive mitigation…to match a much more aggressive virus” – which of course includes more restrictive lockdown measures and mandatory mask-wearing.

  “Without uniform implementation of effective face masking (two or three ply and well-fitting) and strict social distancing, epidemics could quickly worsen as these variants spread and become predominant.”

  Once again, we feel justified in asking: are these warnings legitimate, or is this just another ‘white lie’ cooked up by Dr. Fauci and the White House task force to scare Americans into compliance?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 20:05

• Trump Tweets From POTUS Account, Twitter Then Immediately Deletes It
  Trump Tweets From POTUS Account, Twitter Then Immediately Deletes It

  Update (2100ET): At 8:29pm ET, Trump – having been suspended from his personal twitter account  – decided to use the official twitter account of the US president, @POTUS, saying that “Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my accounts from their platform to silence me – and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me.” Trump then said that “Twitter may be a private company, but without the government’s gift of Section 230 they would not exist for long.”

  Trump, who has yet to create his own Parler account, continued: “We have been negotiating with various other sites, and will have a big announcement soon, while we also look at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future.”

  “We will not be SILENCED! Twitter is not about FREE SPEECH. They are all about promoting a Radical Left platform where some of the most vicious people in the world are allowed to speak freely” the president boomed.

  He concluded with an all caps “STAY TUNED!”

  

  Just moments later, twitter deleted all of the above tweets from the @POTUS account. The last remaining tweet on that account which at 33.4 million has a little over a third of Trump’s original 88 million followers, is from December 23.

  The deletion was followed by a tweet from none other than Trump’s nemesis, Hillary Clinton, who gloated that Trump’s account has indeed been deleted as she urged him to do just before she lost the 2016 election to him.

  ✔️ https://t.co/lQmZvooFYW

  — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 9, 2021

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

  Shortly after, Trump also tweeted using his campaign, @TeamTrump account. Literally 10 seconds later the account was suspended.

  10 seconds apart pic.twitter.com/NHyPOOz5wn

  — 𝑅𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑠 (@MrMeritology) January 9, 2021

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

  The deletion was confirmed by the TeamTrump social media director:

  Can confirm @TeamTrump has been suspended for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

  — Mike Hahn (@mikehahn_) January 9, 2021

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

  According to VOA reporter Steve Herman, a twitter spokesperson said that “As we’ve said, using another account to try to evade a suspension is against our rules. We’ve permanently suspended the @TeamTrump account.”

  “As we’ve said, using another account to try to evade a suspension is against our rules. We’ve permanently suspended the @TeamTrump account,” confirms a #Twitter spokesperson.

  — Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 9, 2021

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

  There was more: just before 10pm, Trump campaign digital director Gary Coby tweeted Dan Scavino to use his account for Trump… and was suspended moments later:

  That was quick!

  Trump campaign digital director tweeted @DanScavino to use his account for Trump and was swiftly suspended: https://t.co/muQkbPweFB pic.twitter.com/cyEeDTkoi6

  — Will Steakin (@wsteaks) January 9, 2021

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

  Trump’s son, Donald Jr., – whose twitter account has surprisingly not been banned yet – tweeted “Free Speech Is Under Attack! Censorship is happening like NEVER before! Don’t let them silence us. Sign up at DONJR.COM to stay connected!”

  Free Speech Is Under Attack! Censorship is happening like NEVER before! Don’t let them silence us. Sign up at https://t.co/835Eak6Ghi to stay connected!
  If I get thrown off my social platforms I’ll let you know my thoughts and where I end up. pic.twitter.com/bO7wbfWWVr

  — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 9, 2021

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

  The night is not over yet, and as the great purge continues, nobody knows how many more voices will be silenced.

  And while we wait, it appears that America’s most popular talk show host in history, terminal cancer patient and close friend of Donald Trump, did what so many others will do in the coming days, and nuked his own account.

  

  Twitter SPOX: “I would like to correct that He is not suspended. The user deactivated their account.”

  Deleted previous tweet. pic.twitter.com/30agl2Aqbl

  — Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) January 9, 2021

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

  * * *

  Update (2000ET): As the purge accelerates, color us not so completely stunned that Google has just suspended Parler from its Play Store:

  “In order to protect user safety on Google Play, our longstanding policies require that apps displaying user-generated content have moderation policies and enforcement that removes egregious content like posts that incite violence.

  All developers agree to these terms and we have reminded Parler of this clear policy in recent months.

  We’re aware of continued posting in the Parler app that seeks to incite ongoing violence in the U.S.

  We recognize that there can be reasonable debate about content policies and that it can be difficult for apps to immediately remove all violative content, but for us to distribute an app through Google Play, we do require that apps implement robust moderation for egregious content.

  In light of this ongoing and urgent public safety threat we are suspending the app’s listings from the Play Store until it addresses these issues.”

  – José Castañeda, a Google spokesperson.

  President Trump’s son, Don Jr, summed things up quite succinctly:

  We are living Orwell’s 1984. Free-speech no longer exists in America. It died with big tech and what’s left is only there for a chosen few.

  This is absolute insanity!

  So the ayatollah, and numerous other dictatorial regimes can have Twitter accounts with no issue despite threatening genocide to entire countries and killing homosexuals etc… but The President of the United States should be permanently suspended.

  Mao would be proud.

  “Red Wedding” anyone?

  *  *  *

  Update (1830ET): With a post published on its blog, accompanied by a tweet from Twitter’s “Twitter Safety” account, the social media company has officially caved to pressure from a growing chorus of leftists, and agreed to permanently ban President Trump from twitter.

  It’s the capstone of a long day of growing censorship of Trump and conservative voices across the web, from Shopify to Apple (which as we noted below is trying to shadowban Parler).

  Here’s Twitter’s statement:

  Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

  After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.

  In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.

  However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.

  The below is a comprehensive analysis of our policy enforcement approach in this case.

  Overview

  On January 8, 2021, President Donald J. Trump tweeted:

  “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

  Shortly thereafter, the President tweeted:

  “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

  Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global conversation in regards to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, these two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks. After assessing the language in these Tweets against our Glorification of Violence policy, we have determined that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service.

  Assessment

  We assessed the two Tweets referenced above under our Glorification of Violence policy, which aims to prevent the glorification of violence that could inspire others to replicate violent acts and determined that they were highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

  This determination is based on a number of factors, including:

  • President Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the Inauguration is being received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the election was not legitimate and is seen as him disavowing his previous claim made via two Tweets (1, 2) by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Dan Scavino, that there would be an “orderly transition” on January 20th.
  • The second Tweet may also serve as encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts that the Inauguration would be a “safe” target, as he will not be attending.
  • The use of the words “American Patriots” to describe some of his supporters is also being interpreted as support for those committing violent acts at the US Capitol.
  • The mention of his supporters having a “GIANT VOICE long into the future” and that “They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” is being interpreted as further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an “orderly transition” and instead that he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election.
  • Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021.

  As such, our determination is that the two Tweets above are likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and that there are multiple indicators that they are being received and understood as encouragement to do so.

  Twitter shares dropped in after-hours trading on the news.

  Trump Campaign Adviser Stephen Miller tweeted immediately after (and we suspect will not be long before he is also suspended indefinitely) that “Big Tech wants to cancel; all Trump supporters.”

  Disgusting. Big Tech wants to cancel all 75M @realDonaldTrump supporters.

  If you don’t think they’re coming for you next, you’re wrong.

  “Twitter bans President Trump” https://t.co/4inOMm4Jth

  — Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) January 8, 2021

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

  * * *

  Update (1705ET): Big tech is on a cancel crusade today – with Twitter suspending General Michael Flynn, attorney Sidney Powell and various other pro-Trump accounts (see below).

  Meanwhile, Apple is set to remove Twitter competitor Parler from its app store unless they enact a series of draconian crackdowns on free speech.

  BREAKING: Apple is currently threatening to ban Parler — the free speech alternative to Twitter — unless the service enacts draconian censorship policies demanded by left-wing Big Tech oligarchs, according to two sources familiar with Apple’s threats.

  — Sean Davis (@seanmdav) January 8, 2021

  Via BuzzFeed: 

  Apple has given Parler, the social network favored by conservatives and extremists, an ultimatum to implement a full moderation plan of its platform within the next 24 hours or face expulsion from the App store.

  In an email sent this morning and obtained by BuzzFeed News, Apple wrote to Parler’s executives that there had been complaints that the service had been used to plan and coordinate the storming of the US Capitol by President Donald Trump’s supporters on Wednesday. The insurrection left five people dead, including a police officer.

  “We have received numerous complaints regarding objectionable content in your Parler service, accusations that the Parler app was used to plan, coordinate, and facilitate the illegal activities in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 that led (among other things) to loss of life, numerous injuries, and the destruction of property,” Apple wrote to Parler. “The app also appears to continue to be used to plan and facilitate yet further illegal and dangerous activities.”

  …

  Apple said that “to ensure there is no interruption of the availability of your app on the App Store,” Parler was required to submit an update and a “requested moderation improvement plan within 24 hours of the date of the message,” which was sent on Friday morning. Apple said if it did not receive an update from the company within that time frame, the app would be removed from the App store.

  An Apple spokesperson declined to comment.

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

  Absolutely bizarre, @techno_fog was not involved in any of the Q/Kraken shenanigans, 95% of his work was legal analysis of the Flynn prosecution https://t.co/F2BW9FpGaR

  — Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) January 8, 2021

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

  Ben Garrison, the guy who does the Ripped Trump political cartoons, got got pic.twitter.com/eyjJmvdpE2

  — Zack Budryk (@BudrykZack) January 8, 2021

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

  Tracy Beanz has been suspended. pic.twitter.com/PCDP9afahx

  — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 8, 2021

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

  Now, the Washington Post reports that hundreds of Twitter employees demanded in a Friday letter that the company permanently suspend President Trump’s account over Wednesday’s ‘storming’ of the US Capitol, after police simply let protesters into the building.

  Capitol police open doors for the protestors. They stand aside and invite them inside. pic.twitter.com/OnSd3KGzz5

  — Christina Bobb (@christina_bobb) January 8, 2021

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

  “In an internal letter addressed to chief executive Jack Dorsey and his top executives viewed by The Washington Post, roughly 350 Twitter employees asked for a clear account of the company’s decision-making process regarding the President’s tweets the day that a pro-Trump mob breached the U.S. Capitol. Employees also requested an investigation into the past several years of corporate actions that led to Twitter’s role in the insurrection,” writes the Post.

  “Despite our efforts to serve the public conversation, as Trump’s megaphone, we helped fuel the deadly events of January 6th,” reads the letter. “We request an investigation into how our public policy decisions led to the amplification of serious anti-democratic threats. We must learn from our mistakes in order to avoid causing future harm.”

  *  *  *

  Update (1625ET): Twitter has suspended both General Michael Flynn, President Trump’s first National Security Adviser, and attorney Sidney Powell, as part of a crackdown on accounts engaging in ‘harmful activity.’

  

  Twitter bans accounts of retired L.T. Gen. Michael Flynn and attorney Sidney Powell. pic.twitter.com/iq6Grr2O7X

  — Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) January 8, 2021

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

  More purgings:

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

  They got Ron too @CodeMonkeyZ pic.twitter.com/oWHZqk8mfd

  — Maggie Lee 🦸🏼‍♀️ (@maggmountains) January 8, 2021

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

  Well this aged well. Twitter just banned Sydney Powell, General Flynn and a host of high follower trump accounts. The purge is beginning. Ends well for all I am sure. https://t.co/nUnmUwZviO

  — Ed ☯️ (@DowdEdward) January 8, 2021

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

  Check back for updates…

  *  *  *

  Cancel culture is back with a vengeance, after Reddit banned yet another pro-Trump forum, /r/DonaldTrump, from the public square in yet another example of leftist technocrats using outlier groups of extremists – in this case, the Capitol ‘raid’ – to justify their actions, while having given their own side a pass during four years of violence and incendiary rhetoric.

  

  “Reddit’s site-wide policies prohibit content that promotes hate, or encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence against groups of people or individuals. In accordance with this, we have been proactively reaching out to moderators to remind them of our policies and to offer support or resources as needed,” a Reddit spokesperson told an undoubtedly giddy Axios, who added “We have also taken action to ban the community r/donaldtrump given repeated policy violations in recent days regarding the violence at the U.S. Capitol.“

  In June, Reddit banned /r/The_Donald – one of the site’s largest political communities, right as the 2020 election began to heat up.

  The company’s Friday ban-hammer comes on the heels of several other platforms taking actions against Trump or his supporters. As Axios notes:

  • Twitch and Snapchat disabled Trump’s accounts.
  • Shopify took down two online stores affiliated with the president.
  • Facebook and Instagram banned Trump from posting for at least the next two weeks, and faced calls to boot him permanently, including from former First Lady Michelle Obama and high-ranking Hill Democrats.
  • Twitter froze Trump out of his account Wednesday before reinstating him Thursday once he deleted problematic tweets.
  • YouTube says it’s accelerating its enforcement of voter fraud claims against President Trump and others based on Wednesday’s events.
  • TikTok is removing content violations and redirecting hashtags like #stormthecapitol and #patriotparty to its community guidelines.

  Meanwhile, Facebook has removed the ‘Walk Away’ campaign from its platform and has banned founder Brandon Straka and his team – which had over 500,000 people who shared their testimonial videos about leaving the Democratic party.

  It’s over for pro-Trump movements on the Internet. The purge is on. https://t.co/DQ6LfU1Fkn

  — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 8, 2021

  And in what’s got to be the icing on the cancel cake, Lehigh University just revoked a 33-year-old honorary degree given to President Trump in 1988, after the school’s board of trustees voted to do so on Thursday following the violence in the Capitol. 

  It seems like these institutions were just waiting for the right excuse…

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 20:01

• Enough With The Outrage
  Enough With The Outrage

  Authored by John Hinderaker via PowerLine blog,

  Like pretty much all conservatives, I have consistently criticized riots and other forms of political violence for many years. That includes yesterday’s Washington, D.C. riot.

  You can’t say the same about liberals, however. Until yesterday, one might have thought that liberals consider rioting and other forms of political violence to be as American as apple pie.

  You could write a book in support of that proposition, but for now let’s cite just a few examples.

  Do you remember when President Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017? Leftist Democrats rioted in Washington that day. That riot was arguably worse, more violent and more destructive, than what happened in D.C. yesterday. The liberal rioters destroyed stores, set vehicles on fire and battled with the police. Six police officers were wounded. Here is a video reminder:

  I don’t recall a single Democratic office-holder denouncing the Democrats’ Inauguration Day riot, and the Associated Press came perilously close to praising the rioters.

  

  Over the ensuing four years, Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioted countless times, bringing devastation to cities like Portland, Seattle, Kenosha and Minneapolis. Did any Democrats denounce these riots? Not that I remember. Many Democrats endorsed them, or seemed to do so. Kamala Harris, for example, said about the riots in June:

  They’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop. This is a movement, I’m telling you. They’re not gonna stop. And everyone beware because they’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna stop before Election Day and they’re not going to stop after Election Day. And everyone should take note of that. They’re not gonna let up and they should not.

  This was after 12 people had been killed in Democrat-sanctioned rioting, and billions of dollars in destruction committed. Have any Democrats denounced Black Lives Matter for its role in the riots? Not one. Has any Democrat denounced Antifa? Not that I know of, and some, like Keith Ellison, have specifically endorsed Antifa’s political violence.

  Democratic Party journalists have joined the party’s politicians in excusing riots. The New York Times, for example, published an admiring profile of Antifa. The Washington Post, likewise, has carried water for Antifa.

  The litany could go on for a long time. Yesterday’s assault on the Capitol was outrageous, but let’s not forget that last time out-of-control demonstrators interrupted business at the Capitol, shouted down senators and pounded on the doors of the Supreme Court, it was Democrats objecting to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

  And speaking of assaults on capitols, did any Democrats object when leftists occupied the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison for four months, destroying property, impeding public business and violently assaulting conservatives? Not a peep.

  Minnesota’s capitol has come under attack, too–or at least, Republicans who tried to gather there. In March 2017, Antifa Democrats besieged the state Capitol:

  On March 4, Antifa members…flooded the Capitol building to disrupt local Trump supporters who were gathering in conjunction with the national March 4 Trump movement.

  Many Antifa members attempted to conceal their identity by covering their faces with bandanas and goggles. [T]he rioters used mace, tasers, smoke bombs, and firecrackers on members of the pro-Trump rally, and punched others in the face.

  One of those arrested and prosecuted for carrying out this criminal violence was Linwood Kaine, son of Senator and Vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine. Yawn. Democrats couldn’t be bothered to criticize rioting by their own supporters, let alone their own family members.

  And let’s not forget James Hodgkinson, even though every reporter in America apparently has. Hodgkinson was the Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer who tried to assassinate the entire House Republican baseball team and very nearly succeeded, inflicting grievous and permanent injuries on Congressman Steve Scalise. Hodgkinson was not the usual 20-something loner, he was a middle-aged union official who was not insane, but just full of hate. His Facebook page was festooned with over-the-top attacks on Republicans, taken directly from speeches by Bernie Sanders and every other prominent Democrat.

  Sanders issued a one or two line statement distancing himself from his volunteer’s would-be murder spree. But neither Sanders nor any other Democrat wondered whether Hodgkinson’s attack was related to their own crazed conspiracy theories (Russia hoax, etc.) and other lies that they routinely direct against Republicans.

  This could go on and on, but the point is obvious: Democratic Party politicians and reporters have no standing to complain about political violence (let alone mostly peaceful protests) until they get their own house in order.

  Today we are awash in ritual denunciations of President Trump, based on yesterday’s riot. Democratic House members have introduced new articles of impeachment, which I assume charge him with responsibility for the disorder. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have urged Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, alleging that President Trump is disabled or incompetent so as to remove him from office.

  These initiatives are ridiculous on their face. Trump will be out of office in a matter of days, long before any such “remedies” could be implemented, even if they were even remotely warranted. What is going on, obviously, is not an attack on Trump, but on his legacy. The Democrats–aided and abetted by some Republicans, unfortunately–are trying to discredit the president so thoroughly that not just his personality, or unjustifiable acts like his apparent encouragement of those who “wouldn’t stand for” the Democrats’ widespread voter fraud are denounced, but, far more important, his many accomplishments in office.

  Trump was, despite his flaws, a very good president. He has impressive achievements to his name, almost all of which the Democrats want to reverse, to the great prejudice of the American people. This is what Chuck Schumer et al. are trying to achieve–a comprehensive repudiation of Trump’s positive legacy.

  Tax cuts? Discredited! An America-First foreign policy? Discredited! Enforcing the immigration laws, which is the president’s constitutional duty? Discredited! Stopping the China sellout? Discredited! Standing up to Russia? Discredited! Supporting the Israelis? Discredited! Cutting back on unproductive federal regulations? Discredited! Encouraging U.S. energy production and independence? Discredited! Objecting to political correctness and cancel culture? Discredited! Standing up for America as a positive force in world history? Discredited!

  It is blindingly obvious that in the last days of the Trump administration, the Democrats are laying the groundwork for a comprehensive repudiation of the considerable achievements of the last four years, tying them all to Trump’s sometimes-unfortunate personality, and in particular to yesterday’s riot, which was small beer compared with countless riots that the Democrats have either cheered on or indulgently tolerated.

  What is important for conservatives is not to defend Donald Trump’s personality, still less the events of the last 24 hours, but rather to defend, aggressively, the solid achievements of an administration that surmounted four years of hysterical and dishonest obstructionism by the Democrats. It is unfortunate that some Republicans, joining in the Democrats’ hyena troop, do not seem to understand this.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 19:45

• "Sudden Stratospheric Warming" May Trigger Wild Winter Weather For Northeast 
  “Sudden Stratospheric Warming” May Trigger Wild Winter Weather For Northeast 

  Readers, some troubling developments in the Arctic may impact weather conditions in the US and Europe. In about a week, from late December to early January, temperatures miles above the Arctic have soared. This means that the polar vortex could be splitting in two and may produce wild winter weather in the weeks ahead, according to CBS. 

  

  The massive spike in temperatures is happening miles above the North Pole. The sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event, experts say, could produce significant winter events across the Northern Hemisphere. 

  This could mean parts of the US and Europe may soon experience paralyzing snowstorms and frigid temperatures. 

  SWW involves warming temperatures 50,000 to 100,000 feet above the Arctic that disrupts the Arctic stratosphere, known as the polar vortex. 

  Last winter, there was limited disruption as the cold air was limited to the Arctic, which resulted in less snow for Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states. But happening now, the SWW is weakening the polar vortex as it wobbles and can split off into two, pushing colder air into the US, Europe, and Asia. 

  CBS News Meteorologist Jeff Berardelli tweeted an image to illustrate what is happening in the Stratosphere right now. He said, “polar Vortex, which typically would be near the North Pole and very cold (purple) is displaced south and split as the Sudden Stratospheric warming occurs.” 

  

  Weather models suggest the first round of colder temperatures will occur over Europe and eastern Asia through mid-January. Then the US by late month. 

  “Along with a gradual building of cold air over the coming weeks in the East, the jet stream setup will provide many opportunities for snowstorms. While many will not materialize, with a prolonged pattern favorable for extreme winter weather, the odds are that pieces of the puzzle will come together for a couple of memorable winter storms,” CBS News said. 

  

  Dr. Judah Cohen, an expert of SSW events at Atmospheric and Environmental Research, expects extreme winter weather from the SSW could last for at least a month. 

  “Following an SSW, the period of increased risk of cold air outbreaks and snowstorms usually lasts from four to eight weeks. It is not cold and snowing continuously, but rather it is episodic,” Cohen explained.

  BAMWX’s Kirk Hinz outlined earlier this week that “we are starting to see a change in the forecast atmospheric pattern drivers ahead that *could* lead to a more favorable pattern for wintry risks beyond Jan ~15th.” 

  Breaking down the risk for more wintery weather, Hinz showed Jan. 13 to Jan. 20 is a timeframe when increased probabilities of snowstorms from Ohio Valley, Mid Atlantic, and Northeast areas could materialize. 

  

  Commodity desks tend to look at weather models a couple of weeks out. If an SSW event is underway and colder temperatures are ahead – this could be beneficial for natgas prices. 

  

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 19:25

• Nearly Half Of U.S. Voters Believe Health Officials Have Been Misleading With COVID Data
  Nearly Half Of U.S. Voters Believe Health Officials Have Been Misleading With COVID Data

  Submitted by Planet Free Will

  Nearly 50% of U.S. voters believe that public health officials have been misleading when providing data on the coronavirus pandemic, a recent Just the News Daily poll shows. According to the poll, forty-eight percent of voters believe public health leaders have “misrepresented the data” to build support for certain policies while 34% of respondents say officials “reported the true facts” on the pandemic. 

  The remaining 18% were unsure one way or the other. 

  

  As Just the News notes:

  Official study and management of the COVID-19 pandemic has generated massive amounts of epidemiological data such as transmission rates, death rates, and other virological information. Many analysts and commentators have argued that public officials have offered misleading interpretations of these data over the course of the public health crisis.

  The data comes in the wake of Dr. Anthony Fauci admitting he lied to Americans to manipulate their acceptance of a Covid-19 vaccine.

  Fauci admitted in December that he intentionally deceived the public on what percentage of the population will need to be immunized to achieve herd immunity against Covid-19 and bring a return to normalcy.

  “When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75 percent,” Fauci said. 

  “Then, when newer surveys said 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, ‘I can nudge this up a bit,’ so I went to 80, 85,” he added.

  Fauci ultimately admitted he doesn’t know the exact number of vaccinated Americans that could result in herd immunity.

  Also likely adding to the mistrust in public data, the World Health Organization admitted last month that the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test – which was once hailed as the gold standard of COVID testing – can produce large numbers of false positives.

  PCR test results have been used by states and countries to justify the lockdown and social distancing policies that have lead to the decimation of small business and mental health.

  The FDA has recently joined the WHO in admitting that there is a notable risk of false results from the standard PCR-Test.

  “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting patients and health care providers of the risk of false results… with the Curative SARS-Cov-2 test,” the FDA announced on Monday.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 19:05

• "Chilling Video" – Miami Ambush Caught On Camera As Multiple Shooters Wound Six 
  “Chilling Video” – Miami Ambush Caught On Camera As Multiple Shooters Wound Six 

  The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting downturn in the economy has unleashed a socio-economic bomb across many metro areas. Small and medium-sized companies have shuttered operations, the labor market continues to deteriorate, and violent crime is surging.

  All of this has led to a mass exodus of city dwellers from metro areas, escaping inner cities for quiet suburbs, or better yet, rural communities. 

  As a reminder of why people are fleeing metro areas in droves, CBS Miami released a security video of an intense shootout near Northwest 25th Avenue and 36th Street.

  

  Miami Police said six people were injured in the incident when multiple shooters ambushed them. 

  The full video shows three people exiting a gray Dodge Charger approach the Honda, and then begin to unleash a hail of bullets. 

  “It’s a very chilling video,” Miami Police Officer Kenia Fallat.

  “When the barrage of bullets took place, they just started running for their lives,” said Fallat.

  Police tell CBS Miami they have no suspects nor a motive behind the shooting. 

  One of the shooters appears to fire a semi-automatic or even an automatic rifle judging by the large muzzle flashes – this type of urban warfare is generally found on the streets of a third world country – not the United States. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 18:45

• Insurrection
  Insurrection

  By Philip Marey, Senior US strategist at Rabobank

  Summary

  • Yesterday, Trump supporters stormed Congress. The ever increasing polarization of US politics and society has reached a level that poses a serious threat to the stability of the country.

  • The question is now: is this the culmination of the civil unrest in the United States, or is this just another warning signal that the country is heading toward something worse?

  • If we look at the underlying mechanism of polarization, it appears to be self-reinforcing. New events or information will be interpreted through two different filters.

  • What’s more, economic policies aimed at income redistribution will not appease Trump supporters. It’s not the economy, it’s identity.

  • If the US does not find an off-ramp from this route of increasing polarization, we are only going to see a further escalation of civil unrest.

  Introduction

  Yesterday, Trump supporters stormed Congress as it was debating the ratification of the Electoral College votes. Television showed images that we are used to see in some former second or third world countries. Commentators talked about insurrection, sedition, coup, and even civil war. Meanwhile, President-Elect Biden was explaining on television that America was better than this. Finally, Trump tweeted a video calling for his supporters to go home, but stressed again that the election had been stolen. Today, he stated that there would be a peaceful transfer of power on January 20. However, according to CNN some cabinet members are talking about invoking the 25th Amendment.

  As we noted last year in Civil unrest, in a polarized society trust in institutions is vulnerable. We explained how the polarization in the US is a process that has been decades in the making. No matter who had won the elections, the turbulence in US politics and society was not likely to pass. The ever increasing polarization of US politics and society has reached a level that poses a serious threat to the stability of the country.

  The question is now: is this the culmination of the civil unrest in the United States, or is this just another warning signal that the country is heading toward something worse?

  Polarization

  Last summer, in our special Civil unrest, we addressed the protests against COVID-19 measures and against racism. We argued that they reflected a lack of trust in US institutions that has been growing since the mid-1960s. We also noted that trust in institutions is especially vulnerable in a polarized society. We showed that since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the US political system had become increasingly polarized. At present, political affiliation has become part of someone’s identity. This explains the extreme hostility between the two parties and especially their hard core supporters. However, from a dynamic perspective this poses a problem. How do we get out of this hostile environment? Some would argue that Americans will be shocked by the insurrection in Washington DC and the country will come together after President Biden takes office. However, Trump supporters seemed euphoric rather than shocked. We should not ignore that many Americans are living in one of two very different worlds. Either you are a Democrat and watch the mainstream media, or you are a Trumpist living on alternative facts. The first group will be shocked, the second emboldened by the insurrection. Invoking the 25th Amendment will only reinforce the Trumpists’ view that the elections were stolen. New events or information will be interpreted through two different filters. This will only reinforce polarization.

  Economy or identity?

  Then there are economists who think this is just a reflection of economic inequality. Four years of income redistribution by a Biden administration would bring back white blue collar workers to the Democratic Party or at least appease them. However, this policy will not work because it is based on the wrong diagnosis. Our statistical analysis in Economy or identity? showed that the data do not support this economic hypothesis. Based on county-level variations in voting behavior, economic conditions and demographic features, we actually found that in 2016 economic factors led to an increased vote for Hillary Clinton. Instead, demographics explained the Trump vote. Therefore, economic policy will not bring back the Trump voters. They have moved to the Republican Party for the same reason that many Southern Democrats changed party affiliation after the Civil Rights Act. Therefore, it is unlikely that Biden’s economic policies will appease the Trump supporters. This is not about economics, although that may be difficult to understand for economists. Americans are living in two different worlds, but they have to find a way to live together in one country. This requires a bipartisan approach aimed at alleviating the anxieties that come with changing demographics. Obviously, this is quite a challenge in this era of extreme polarization.

  Conclusion

  The question was: is this the culmination of the civil unrest in the United States, or is this just another warning signal that the country is heading toward something worse? If we look at the underlying mechanism of polarization, it appears to be self-reinforcing. And it will not be stopped by economic policies that redistribute income. Americans will have to find a way to live together in one country. If the US does not find an off-ramp from this route of increasing polarization, we are only going to see a further escalation of civil unrest.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 18:25

• Raoul's Framework for 2021 and Beyond
  Raoul’s Framework for 2021 and Beyond

  Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal returns to the Daily Briefing to share with Ash Bennington his updated thesis for the new year. Raoul argues that the prevailing narrative around reflation is a “one-sided bet” (short bonds, short dollars, long commodities, and long equities) that offers little upside, remains vulnerable to the risk of shutdowns, leaves a lasting scar on the labor market that will take years to recover from, and causes a spike in the U.S. dollar, which would serve as a “wrecking ball” for a host of reflation risk assets. Instead, Raoul prefers bonds, a sprinkling of puts on the S&P 500, and of course crypto, namely Bitcoin and Ethereum. Raoul and Ash reflect on the tremendous rally in Bitcoin and discuss how Metcalfe’s law applies to it and Ethereum. They also discuss the implications of the rise in COVID-19 cases, deaths, and hospitalizations and how those factors will affect markets and the economy. In the intro, editor Jack Farley reports on the latest jobs numbers and reviews price action in Tesla, gold, and silver.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 18:07

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• France's 'Unwinnable War': Macron Seeks Exit Strategy From Mali After 8 Years Of Fighting
  France’s ‘Unwinnable War’: Macron Seeks Exit Strategy From Mali After 8 Years Of Fighting

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  Eight years into France’s campaign in Mali, Paris is looking for an exit strategy and is expected to announce a troop drawdown soon, according to a report from AFP.

  “[France] faces tough choices over how to keep pursuing Islamist extremists without becoming bogged down in a potentially unwinnable war.

  …Anxious to avoid becoming mired in a long Afghan-style conflict, Paris is preparing to announce a withdrawal of the 600 additional troops it deployed to the Sahel last year.”

  

  There are approximately 5,100 French troops stationed in Africa’s Sahel region. France is preparing to announce the withdrawal of 600 troops soon, and President Emmanuel Macron is considering bringing more home before the next presidential election in Spring 2022.

  The news comes at a time of heightened violence in the region. French airstrikes reportedly hit a wedding in central Mali on Sunday. Local sources said up to 20 wedding guests were killed.

  Over the past 10 days, five French soldiers have been killed in Mali, bringing the total number of French troops killed in the conflict to 50.

  France began its war against Islamist militants in the region in 2013.

  wait. didn’t france just bomb a wedding in mali yesterday? wasn’t france part of the 2004 u.s.-led coup in haiti? didn’t you all hail juan guaido as president of venezuela? didn’t y’all lead the bombing of lilbya and the murder of gaddafi? remember napoleon?

  too easy…. lol https://t.co/PA8425eSaU

  — Anacaona (@GrosMorne29) January 7, 2021

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

  French hawks argue a withdrawal from the Sahel is untenable since the al-Qaeda-linked militants are stronger than ever. Paris is also fighting the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, a branch of ISIS that did not exist in the region before France’s intervention.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/08/2021 – 02:00

• Why One Conservative Is Proud Of Yesterday's Raid On Capitol Hill
  Why One Conservative Is Proud Of Yesterday’s Raid On Capitol Hill

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  There is a simple rule that one needs to understand when examining the plight of conservatives and liberty advocates in history, and it is this:

  Conservatives are not allowed to take action to stop the abuses against them. Whenever they do, they are summarily chastised as villains, or their accomplishments are twisted into something that is “shameful”. They are only meant to sit idle like punching bags waiting around for others to take out their frustrations on them.

  The protest at the Capitol Building this week was no exception, but before I get to that I need to address a propaganda meme which is making the rounds in the liberty movement right now: The notion that the whole event was “staged”.

  

  The assertion is that the raid on the Capitol was some kind of theater designed to “make conservatives look bad” as well as “give Congress an excuse to pull back from their opposition of the electoral vote count.”

  I have to say that this is a very clever propaganda ploy, as it accomplishes a couple of subtle but important manipulations.

  First, by claiming that the storming of the capitol was staged to make conservatives look bad, this impplies that the action is something to be ashamed of.

  Second, by claiming that the action was designed to disrupt the opposition process to the electoral vote count, the suggestion is that the electoral vote count matters.

  New Flash, folks! Congress wasn’t going to do jack about the electoral college. They were going to listen to themselves talk for several long hours and accomplish very little. This is what politicians do. It is terribly naive to expect them to do anything else. Concerns about ballot fraud are NEVER going to be addressed by an independent investigation and Congress has no intention of doing anything about this. The very idea that the protest somehow sabotaged the last chance to “stop the steal” is idiotic.

  By extension, there is no concrete evidence so far that the raid was staged. None. Police pulling back from the line because of an angry crowd is not evidence. Cops pulled back from angry crowds of BLM protesters all summer long; does that mean this was some kind of elaborate scheme to make BLM look bad? Or, did they just make themselves look bad?

  I understand that this assertion taps into the conspiracy brain of the average liberty movement person, but that is kind of the point, isn’t it?

  It is not surprising that this type of disinformation campaign is being planted into the greater discussion. As noted, the establishment DOES NOT want conservatives to take action independently, and they know that unlike far-left extremists we actually care about the image of our movement. So we are faced with a two pronged attack:

  The mainstream media and the political left accuses conservatives of “shameful” behavior bordering on “terrorism”. At the same time, rumors are spread within the liberty movement that the whole thing was a “false flag”, thereby reinforcing the dishonest claim that the protest was shameful and not something we should be engaged in.

  The entire thrust of this psyop is to convince us to never engage in protest action or direct action again, or we might “look bad”.

  Frankly, who cares at this point? No matter what we do we are going to be painted as the villains by the media, so the only thing left is direct action. There is only one way the corruption within our own government is going to be stopped, and it’s not through diplomacy or voting.

  The election does not matter. Trump does not matter. At least, not in the grand scheme of things. Whoever sits in the White House is irrelevant to the bigger problem at hand; and Trump staying in the White House does not change the fact that conservatives are going to have to unify and aggressively defend our freedoms to change our dysfunctional system and remove influencing globalists from power.

  Trump’s own cabinet is LOADED with banking elites, members of the Council on Foreign Relations as well as numerous globalists. Bottlenecking the conservative response and putting all our eggs in the Trump basket is foolish. The raid on the capitol, on the other hand, actually means something.

  It sends a message, first and foremost, that we are not going to sit idle anymore; that we are not going to tolerate further government overreach. Conservatives and even moderates are fed up. We have endured numerous trespasses by state governments during the lockdowns. We have lost our businesses and our jobs. For the past year we have witnessed the social justice cult burn down neighborhoods, hijack city streets and loot with impunity while leftists claim they are the “victims”, and now conservatives are being called terrorists because we protest. We have had enough, and the events in Washington are just the beginning of our response.

  Rather than being ashamed, we should be proud of what happened. Consider this for a moment – What did the protesters actually do that was so terrible? Stroll into the chambers of congress? How dare they! Some minor property damage? At least they didn’t burn the place down like Antifa would have done. Destroying Nancy Pelosi’s name plaque? That’s just funny.

  The media and the political left is acting like these people committed an atrocity against humanity, but they did NOTHING WRONG, and some were shot by law enforcement in the process.

  Now, juxtapose the media’s response to the conservative capitol protest getting aggressive to the media response when BLM and Antifa lunatics protested.

  Black Lives Matter spent the better part of the past year burning neighborhoods to the ground, destroying private businesses and attacking innocent people in the streets. BLM and Antifa attempted to take over large swaths of Seattle and Portland, declared the areas “autonomous zones”, then started randomly handing out firearms. The media calls it “peaceful protesting” and leftist politicians proclaim the actions righteous and just.

  Even now leftists are trying to argue that the BLM and Antifa protests were a model of peaceful action when compared to the events in the capitol.

  Does this look peaceful to you:

  So, endless violent action is peaceful action when leftists do it, but limited aggression by conservatives is the same as terrorism?

  Trump tweeted that conservatives should remain peaceful because we are the party of “law and order”. This is inaccurate and misleading. We do not blindly worship the law or law enforcement, we respect the law as long as it is rooted in our founding principles. What we value is our inherent freedoms and the Bill of Rights, and when these things come under threat it is perfectly justifiable to act, and if peaceful measures don’t work then non-peaceful measures are all that is left.

  We don’t have the luxury of caring about the mainstream narrative anymore. The propaganda is telling us to “stay in our lane”, shut up, sit down and watch America be dismantled piece by piece. My rule is, whatever the establishment clearly wants us to do, we should do the opposite. The narrative surrounding the events in the capitol makes it obvious that they do NOT want conservatives to leave their homes and take matters into our own hands. Doing the opposite is the only thing that makes sense.

  *  *  *

  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, 01/08/2021 – 00:05

• You Can Now Buy A Tiny Bulletproof Home For The Apocalypse 
  You Can Now Buy A Tiny Bulletproof Home For The Apocalypse 

  Whether it is the apocalypse or the US’s more immediate socio-economic collapse, sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, demand for doomsday bunkers has exploded. While only the ultra-wealthy can afford luxury doomsday condos buried hundreds of feet below the surface in old missile silos, millennials, who are mostly broke, have very little options to protect themselves from surging violence across major metros – until now. 

  Already popular among the millennial generation are tiny homes, no thanks to the Federal Reserve who has unleashed a massive housing bubble this year, sending affordability to decade lows. 

  This has allowed Argentina-based tiny homebuilder Grandio, to design and build prefab concrete tiny homes that cost around $75,000, and also these homes are bulletproof. 

  

  “We are only in the early stages of our sales and marketing activities, but the interest we are getting from prospective buyers and partners is outstanding with requests flowing in every day,” Jose Martin, an architect at Grandio, told Business Insider. 

  

  Martin said much of the inquiries for the tiny bulletproof home are coming from North America – comes at a time when the pandemic has unleashed a socio-economic bomb across major metros as hundreds of thousands of people living in cities rush to rural areas to escape the chaos. 

  In November, WSJ noted that tiny home sales are increasing as people look for refuge during the coronavirus pandemic. 

  Besides doomsday bunkers, it appears tiny bulletproof homes could be the next big trend as America, in less than one year, has transformed into a chaotic mess because of the virus pandemic. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 23:45

• How An Austrian And British Malthusian Brainwashed A Generation Of Americans
  How An Austrian And British Malthusian Brainwashed A Generation Of Americans

  Authored by Matthew Ehret via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

  The creation of false opposites has been a long-standing obstacle to human progress.

  

  From the ancient pleasure-seeking Epicureans who argued against the logic-heavy Stoics of ancient Rome to the war of “salvation through faith vs works” that schismed western Christianity, to the chaotic emotional energy driving the Jacobin mobs of France whose passions were only matched by the radical Cartesian logic of their Girondin enemies; humanity has long been manipulated by oligarchs who knew how to set the species to war against itself. Although these operations have taken many forms, the desired effect has always been the same: divide-to-conquer bloodbaths which drowned out the saner voices of Cicero (executed in 44 BCE), Thomas More (executed in 1535 CE), or Jean Sylvain Bailly (executed in 1793 CE).

  Today’s polarization across the Trans-Atlantic world has reached a fevered pitch with the “right wing conservatives” shouting for liberty and less government while left wing liberals call for more government and top-down reforms of the system (with Great Reset technocrats laughing in the background).

  Everyone with half a brain should be able to sense that the danger of civil war and economic meltdown hang over our destinies like a sword of Damocles, but instead of hearing calls for restoring the SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN traditions of American System banking that author Ellen Brown recently documented in her powerful new essay, we find only feuding sects that assert we must EITHER have top-down centralized planning OR bottom-up free markets laissez faire policies devoid of any government intervention.

  To the degree that this false debate continues the overtones of France’s 1789-94 bloodbath will be heard growing louder with every passing day.

  Keynes vs Hayek: A False Dualism

  In this first of a three-part series, I will argue that the source of this confusion among Americans was first concocted in London during the height of the depression, centering on the figures of two London-based Malthusian hedonists. One was top-down economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) and the other played the role of his supposed opponent in the form of “bottom up” advocate Friedrich von Hayek (1899-1992).

  

  To put it another way, these two fundamentally anti-republican ideologues whose lives were each devoted to the hereditary systems of empire constructed a widely publicized debate that asserted two opposing economic theories, either 1) government must spend arbitrarily to create jobs OR 2) government must cut budgets, end social safety nets and public services and let the strong survive leaving each unit of society to its own (supposedly) self-regulating passions.

  The constants among both apparent opponents (who remained friends throughout their lives) were that 1) neither believed that INTENTION or MIND should govern economic policy (Keynes believed in arbitrary “make work” which could not differentiate between the qualitative difference of a $100 paycheck to a digger of random holes vs $100 paycheck to an engineer building a dam), and 2) both believed equally in the universal validity of Malthus’s population theories, and of Bernard Mandeville’s satanic belief that personal vice creates public virtue. Both theories have underpinned British imperial grand strategy for over two centuries.

  

  It is also important to hold in mind that this 1932 debate emerged at a time that the world government agenda driven by the Bank of England and League of Nations were on the ascendency. This operation, in which both Keynes and von Hayek were thoroughly enmeshed, demanded fascist regimes control the world under a “scientifically managed” bankers’ dictatorship.

  One month after the London Times October 17, 1932 publication began to print arguments from proponents of both schools on how to best end the depression, Franklin Roosevelt was elected to the U.S. presidency.

  With his presidential victory, a specific form of economic planning was restored to the republic that had nothing to do with either school of Keynes or Hayek and everything to do with something uniquely embedded in the U.S. Constitutional traditions that petrified the hereditary empires of Europe’s old nobility.

  In the years leading up to his victory, FDR had worked closely with a grouping of bipartisan American congressmen and senators to revive a form of political economy which involved the paradoxical coexistence of increased government involvement together with massive increase in entrepreneurism, and private sector growth. The fact that FDR is attacked by communists for being a capitalist shill while being simultaneously attacked by capitalists for being a communist shill to this very day is a sign of this ongoing confusion and a testament to the effectiveness of British intelligence propaganda.

  The systemic inability for modern Americans to resolve the ‘FDR paradox’ today is due entirely to a sleight of hand pulled by the very same imperial power that has never forgiven the USA for declaring its independence in 1776.

  What Ben Franklin Created

  When Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790) had orchestrated his life-long project of establishing a new nation on this earth founded upon the principle of the sanctity of the individual (enunciated in the 1776 Declaration of Independence) and the sanctity of the General Welfare (as outlined in the Constitution’s 1787 pre-amble), he and his leading co-thinkers demonstrated a profoundly philosophical understanding of the political economy and also nature of true freedom which citizens must re-learn – quickly.

  In order to give practical meaning to the ideals of individual (bottom up) freedom and national (top down) collective well-being enshrined in America’s founding documents, a new system of political economy was created by Franklin and his closest followers among the founding fathers.

  This new system did not arise ex nihilo but was itself based upon the greatest traditions of French dirigisme of Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), and earlier Cameralist schools of economic planning which grew out of the creation of the first modern nation states of France’s Louis XI and England’s Henry VII. For the first time in history (at least since the short-lived effort by Charlemagne in the 8th century), the idea of “money”, “value”, “profit” were tied not to the passive capital off which feudal landlords fed parasitically, or bounty to be looted, but rather the improvement of the lives of people from whom the legitimacy of government was recognized to originate.

  Throughout the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin became a leading American force for this school of thought which was outlined in his 1729 On the Necessity for a Paper Currency. In this influential essay, the young scientist argued for a system of finance, colonial scrip, and value governed by the growth of manufacturing and full spectrum economics. In his essay Franklin battled the British establishment who argued that the colonies should forever remain agrarian, backward and cash cropping, saying:

  “As Providence has so ordered it, that not only different Countries, but even different Parts of the same Country, have their peculiar most suitable Productions; and like wise that different Men have Genius’s adapted to Variety of different Arts and Manufactures, Therefore Commerce, or the Exchange of one Commodity or Manufacture for another, is highly convenient and beneficial to Mankind.”

  Some of Franklin’s leading protégé’s who carried this tradition into the 19th century included the first U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), John Jay (1745-1829), Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816), Robert Morris (1734-1806), Isaac Roosevelt (1726-1794) (great-great grandfather to Franklin Roosevelt) and later Henry Clay (1777-1852), John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), Matthew Carey (1760-1839). Matthew Carey’s son Henry C. Carey (1793-1879) became a leading economic advisor to Abraham Lincoln.

  All of these figures defended the right of the young republic to develop “full spectrum economics” in order to gain true independence from the City of London.

  

  Henry C. Carey’s Seminal works that rallied the nation’s patriots to the cause of the American System included The Principles of Political Economy (1840), How to Outdo England Without Fighting Her (1865), Unity of Law (1872) and more. It was in The Harmony of Interests (1856) that Carey famously foretold of the emerging global fight between open vs closed systems that would define the post Civil War decades:

  “Two systems are before the world; the one looks to increasing the proportion of persons and of capital engaged in trade and transportation, and therefore to diminishing the proportion engaged in producing commodities with which to trade, with necessarily diminished return to the labor of all; while the other looks to increasing the proportion engaged in the work of production, and diminishing that engaged in trade and transportation, with increased return to all, giving to the laborer good wages, and to the owner of capital good profits… One looks to pauperism, ignorance, depopulation, and barbarism; the other in increasing wealth, comfort, intelligence, combination of action, and civilization. One looks towards universal war; the other towards universal peace. One is the English system; the other we may be proud to call the American system, for it is the only one ever devised the tendency of which was that of elevating while equalizing the condition of man throughout the world.”

  What did the “American System” Do?

  While the British System of laissez fair free trade demanded that governments do nothing, regulate nothing and plan nothing in order for the magical creative animal spirits of the self-regulating markets to “do their thing”, the American System took a very different approach.

  By applying protectionism, national banking, internal improvements and public credit, the American System was driven by the idea that “value” was located not in money or any material thing existent in the ephemeral “now” but rather in the development of the creative powers of mental activity of the people. Lincoln outlined this concept beautifully in his powerful “On Discoveries and Inventions” (1858) and this principle governed the creation of the Greenbacks when private bankers made every effort to cripple the Union’s access to credit needed to win the war.

  Using protection, all nations have the right and even duty to prevent the cheap dumping of foreign goods by imposing a tariff upon imports, thus ensuring that local production be favored. Dumping was an old practice of economic warfare which the British had honed since the 17th century crushing its colonies’ efforts to build up local manufacturing on countless occasions (and continues to be a key element of economic warfare masquerading behind the veneer of globalization in our current age).

  As demonstrated in the LPAC documentary 1932, whenever American System-followers in Russia, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, Spain and France applied protection, rail, and dirigiste credit, prosperity, independence and abundance flourished. Whenever these policies were abandoned, those nations were crippled and manipulated into wars by foreign interests.

  Between 1880-1930, this system was led by nationalist forces affiliated with President Garfield (1831-1881), President Ulysses Grant (1822-1885), Governor William Gilpin (1813-1894), President McKinley (1843-1901), Secretary of State James Blaine (1830-1893), and President Warren Harding (1865-1923). Each time it began to take hold the system was derailed by timely assassinations and it was only able to emerge once more in 1932.

  

  How Franklin Roosevelt Revived the American System

  With Roosevelt’s entry into office, the British Empire (using its Wall Street lackies) that had intentionally orchestrated the Great Depression in 1929 had realized that the American System was coming back to life for the first time in decades.

  While Warren Harding’s short-lived presidency saw a few noble attempts to resurrect the McKinley-Lincoln traditions of the republican party, his convenient “death by oyster poisoning” in 1923 ensured that the revival of the American System would not succeed. Over Harding’s dead body, free trade, bank deregulation, and speculation ran rampant throughout the “roaring twenties” led by Andrew Mellon, the Morgan dynasty and their puppet Calvin Coolidge. This decay turned the once-productive industrial economy of America into a casino of bubbles built on unpayable debts and over-extended broker call loans that went up in smoke in 1929.

  The “solution” that the financial oligarchy provided to the world in anticipation of the fear and starvation unleashed by the planned meltdown of the banking system was a novel economic miracle solution called “fascism”. This system soon swept the world from Italy, Germany, Austria and Spain. Within Britain, Canada and the USA, Wall Street/London sponsored fascist movements arose with lightning speed offering to solve all financial woes “and put food on the table” for millions of traumatized citizens. In a world of fear and instability, the masses were proving all too willing to ignore Ben Franklin’s sage advice by giving up their liberties to achieve a bit of security.

  It was within this context that Franklin Roosevelt’s call to kick the money changers out of the temple and declare war on the abuses of Wall Street was an unexpected breath of fresh air for millions of suffocating citizens. With FDR’s sabotage of the 1933 London Conference, the empire gasped as their carefully laid plans for world government run by local fascist enforcers were going up in smoke. Wall Street’s assassination plot in February 1933 and a military coup plot in 1934 failed, as the Pecora Commission shone the light of truth upon the abuses of those bankers that created the great depression.

  After putting dozens of leading bankers in prison, prosecutor Ferdinand Pecora described the operation years later: “Under the surface of the governmental regulation of the securities market, the same forces that produced the riotous speculative excesses of the ‘wild bull market’ of 1929 still give evidence of their existence and influence. Though repressed for the present, it cannot be doubted that, given a suitable opportunity, they would spring back to their pernicious activity.”

  In Washington, a bi-partisan network of patriotic statesmen representing the Lincoln-McKinley-Harding traditions rose to prominence and shaped in large measure the policies which came to be known as the New Deal together with associated bank reforms of the Glass-Steagall, national credit, protectionism, and large-scale megaprojects known as the “four corners” vision (Tennessee Valley authority/Rural Electrification, Hoover Dam, Grand Coulee dam/Colorado River development, and St Lawrence Seaway).

  Much like the Belt and Road Initiative today, these large-scale macro projects governed the tens of thousands of smaller state, county and municipal “micro” projects within a top-down dynamic.

  The Keynesian Myth

  Even though today’s popular narrative has asserted that FDR’s New Deal was a Keynesian innovation managed by the nebulous “Brain Trust”, the reality is that Keynes believed that FDR was a buffoon and FDR believed the Fabian eugenicist could only be considered a detached ivory tower mathematician but not a competent economist.

  In her autobiography, FDR’s Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins recorded the 1934 interaction between the two men when Roosevelt told her: “I saw your friend Keynes. He left a whole rigmarole of figures. He must be a mathematician rather than a political economist.” In response Keynes, who was then trying to coopt the intellectual narrative of the New Deal stated he had “supposed the President was more literate, economically speaking.”

  The ‘American System’ Caucus

  Those forgotten forces who have been nearly written out of history were American statesmen who had battled against the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, stood up to the police state apparatus begun by Teddy Roosevelt’s FBI in 1908, and against America’s turn towards imperialism with the death of McKinley. They were the men who risked much to stand up against the League of Nations World government schemes launched in 1919, and against the Wall Street/CFR takeover of U.S. foreign and internal policy.

  

  Senator George Norris showcasing the web of controls managed by the Wall Street oligarchs

  These names which should be celebrated today, interfaced closely with FDR and his allies Harry Hopkins and Henry Wallace. Some of their names include Senator Robert Lafollette Jr (R-Iowa) (1895-1953), Sen. Robert Wagner (D-NY) (1877-1953), Sen. Peter Norbeck (R-SD) (1870-1936), Sen. Edward Costigan (D-Colo.) (1874-1939), Senator George Norris (R-Neb) (1861-1944) and Rep. William Lemke (R-N.D.)(1878-1950). These were a few of the leading men that some historians have dubbed “the American System Caucus”, and while this article doesn’t leave room for their story, rest assured that more will be said about them in a future installment.

  While it would be a lie to say that there was no such thing as a “Brain Trust” or that Keynesian economists and Rhodes Scholars were not to be found among this group, the idea that this was the “cause” of the New Deal is a pure fiction.

  

  Taking Back Control of Credit Policy

  While surgery was begun on the cancerous financial system and unpayable debts depriving the nation of the credit needed to commence a reconstruction policy of the physical economy (over 50% of U.S. industrial potential was destroyed and unemployment hit 25%), Franklin Roosevelt’s long time ally Harry Hopkins worked with Harold Ickes to provide emergency work for over 3 million people in the first months under the Public Works Administration and Works Progress Administration.

  Although FDR could not destroy the private Federal Reserve that had taken control of U.S. monetary policy 30 years earlier, he was able to impose his own man (Marinner Eccles) onto it in 1934, forcing the beast to start obeying national law for the first time ever. Despite this maneuver, Wall Street oligarchs continued to sabotage FDR’s recovery by constricting credit, refusing to purchase treasury notes at strategic moments, or even speculating against the U.S. dollar itself. To get around these manipulations, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) was brought online to function as a surrogate national bank channeling billions of dollars into small and medium businesses, industrial growth, and infrastructure projects.

  Psy Ops vs the New Deal: The Rise of the Austrian School

  Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Mellon-Morgan-Rockefeller interests ran a multifaceted psychological war against the population. After their coup plans failed due to Gen. Butler’s brave whistleblowing in 1934, these groups created a think tank calling itself the “American Liberty League”. The irony of the word “Liberty” used by an organization whose controllers sponsored fascism before and even during WWII should not be lost on anyone.

  Through powerful oligarchs like William Randolph Hearst, Henry Luce, the Morgans, the Warburgs, the Duponts, and the Rockefellers, the Liberty League controlled the majority of mainstream media outlets, radio stations, and publishing houses in the USA, at the same time they co-ordinated with the newly re-organized FBI under J. Edgar Hoover. These groups worked hard to paint FDR as a Keynesian who only created inflationary “make work jobs” without any concrete intention for the future productive powers of labor. Through this sleight of hand, FDR’s enemies were able to invent a straw man that they could then refute by promoting the anti-Keynesian model known as the “Austrian School” that had formerly grown out of the British System inspired theories of Carl Menger (retainer for the Habsburg empire) and his aristocratic disciples Ludwig von Mises, Friedrick von Hayek, Frank Knight, and Sir John Claphan.

  By 1940, the American Liberty League formerly disbanded. However with FDR’s death its cabal of controllers spawned dozens of new think tanks that were enmeshed with the Council on Foreign Relations and Mont Pelerin Society mothership founded in 1947 by von Hayek and a group of eugenics-loving oligarchs whom we will encounter in a following report..

  Over the coming decades, the Liberty League morphed into hundreds of new think tanks which began with the American Enterprise Association (AEA) [later American Enterprise Institute] founded by Liberty League leader Raymond Moley and sponsored by General Mills, Chemical Bank and Bristol Meyers.

  Other think tanks built up by this network over the years included the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Hudson Institute, Mises Institute, Manhattan Institute etc… which would set the groundwork for the later “conservative revolution” of the 1970s. This “Austrian School” revolution would spring to life once the 1945-1971 Keynesian perversion of Bretton Woods ended with the 1971 floating of the dollar off of the fixed exchange rate gold reserve system.

  Under this post-1971 era, a new god of the “markets” would replace the old god of “the state” and a new ethic of post-industrial consumerism would replace the former system of Keynesian controls that defined the post-WWII era. Those anti-Keynesian leaders of the American System tradition such as Henry Dexter White, Franklin Roosevelt, Wendell Wilkie, Sumner Welles, and Harry Hopkins were taken out of power through various means between 1945-1946 as the Anglo-American establishment regained control over U.S. foreign and internal policies. This Keynesian takeover destroyed the positive potential of the Bretton Woods Institutions which were designed originally to internationalize the New Deal via the creation of cheap credit for global development and win-win cooperation.

  In our next installments, we will look more deeply into the sordid minds and political operations controlling the figures of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich von Hayek.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 23:25

• Russia Unironically Chastises US As "Not Up To Modern Democratic Standards"
  Russia Unironically Chastises US As “Not Up To Modern Democratic Standards”

  Russia has joined the ranks of foreign governments expressing official “concern” for the stability of the US political system after Wednesday’s Capitol chaos.

  Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters Thursday that the whole episode and surreal images coming out of DC lays bare fault lines in American democracy, according to Russian media.

  

  Akin to Chinese state media, now busy having a field day over calling out Washington’s hypocrisy and ‘double standards’, Zakharova mocked the “archaic” American electoral system and underscored the fragility of the United States.

  “The electoral system in the US is archaic and does not meet modern democratic standards, creating opportunities for numerous violations, and American media has become an instrument of political struggle,” she said. Zakharova expressed Russia’s desire that “the friendly American people will experience this dramatic moment in their own history with dignity.”

  Putin has not personally weighed in, but senior Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachyov along with some others have made bold statements. Kosechyov, who is chair of the Russian upper house’s foreign affairs committee, posted a statement on Facebook saying:

  “The losing side has more than enough grounds to accuse the winner of falsifications – it is clear that American democracy is limping on both feet.”

  He added: “I say this without a shadow of gloating. America no longer charts a course and therefore has lost all rights to set it – and even more so to impose it on others.”

  

  Meanwhile, all the predictable hot takes on how this was somehow 3-dimensional chess master Putin’s game plan all along are rolling in….

  The political violence yesterday crushed Trump’s remaining support.

  Pelosi says this is exactly what Putin wanted after telling us for years that his goal was to increase Trump support. https://t.co/HPleFcFQ08

  — Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) January 7, 2021

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

  Indeed for Pelosi all roads are perpetually leading to Putin, apparently.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 23:05

• Prediction Consensus: What The 'Experts' See Coming In 2021
  Prediction Consensus: What The ‘Experts’ See Coming In 2021

  Authored by Nick Routley via VisualCapitalist.com,

  Making predictions is a tricky business at the best of times, but especially so after a year of upheaval. Even so, that didn’t stop people from trying their hand at reading the crystal ball. If anything, the uncertainty creates a stronger temptation for us to try to forecast the year ahead.

  Out of the thousands of public 2021 predictions and forecasts available, there are plenty of one-off guesses. However, things really get interesting when a desperate majority of experts begin to agree on what might happen. In some ways, these predictions from influential experts and firms have a way of becoming self-fulfilling prophesies, so it’s worth paying attention even if we’re skeptical about the assertions being made.

  This year, we more than doubled the number of sources analyzed for our 2021 Predictions Consensus graphic, including outlooks from financial institutions, thought leaders, media outlets, consultancies, and more.

  

  Let’s take a closer look at seven of the most popular predictions:

  ESG reaches a tipping point

  It seems like only recently that the term ESG gained mainstream traction in the investment community, but in a short amount of time, the trend has blossomed into a full-blown societal shift. In 2020, investors piled a record $27.7 billion of inflows into ETFs traded in U.S. markets, and that momentum only appears to be growing.

  

  Fidelity, among others, noted that climate funds are delivering superior returns, which makes ESG an even easier sell to investors. Nasdaq has tapped ESG to be “one of the hottest trends” over the coming year.

  China has a strong 2021

  Financial institutions that issue predictions generally hedge their language quite a bit, but on this topic they were direct. The world’s most populous country has already left the pandemic behind and is back to business as usual. Of the institutions that mentioned a specific number, the median estimate for GDP growth in China was 8.4%.

  

  A souring outlook on SPACs

  Much like any hot trend, once enough people get on the bandwagon the mood begins to sour. Many experts believe that special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) are going to enter that phase in 2021.

  

  SPACs had a monster year in 2020, raising $82 billion in capital. That’s more funds in one year than in the last 10 years combined. Of course, now that these 200+ companies are flush with capital, they’ll need to find a target. Scott Galloway argues that SPACs “are going to vastly underperform over the next two to three years” since there aren’t enough good opportunities to satisfy that level of demand.

  Brands must be authentic and values-driven

  Over the past few years, brands have become increasingly values-driven. In their 2021 predictions, experts see this trend being pushed even further.

  Millennials, which are now the largest generation in the workforce, are shaping society in their own image, and the expectation is that companies have an authentic voice and that actions align with words. This trend is augmented by the transparency that the internet and social media have enabled.

  

  Being a “values-driven” company can mean many things, and often involves focusing on a number of initiatives simultaneously. At the forefront is racial inequality and diversity initiatives, which were a key focus in 2020. According to McKinsey, nine out of ten employees globally believe companies should engage in diversity and inclusion initiatives. When the chorus of voices grows loud enough, eventually actions must follow.

  A great rethinking of office life is underway

  The great work-from-home experiment will soon be approaching the one-year mark and a lot has changed in a short amount of time.

  Even firms that were incredibly resistant to remote work found themselves in a position of having to adapt to new circumstances thanks to COVID-19. Now that the feasibility of at-home work has been proven, it will be tough for companies to walk things back to pre-pandemic times. Over 2021, millions of companies will begin reengineering everything from physical offices to digital infrastructure, and this has broad implications on the economy and our culture.

  

  Individuals and employers start taking wellness seriously

  The past year was not good for our collective mental health. In response, many companies are looking at ways to support employees from a health and wellness standpoint. One example is the trend of giving teams access to meditation apps like Headspace and Calm.

  

  This focus on wellness will persist, even as people begin to return to the office. As commercial leases expire in 2021, companies will be re-evaluating their office needs, and many experts believe that wellness will factor into those decisions.

  Lastly, this trend ties into the broader theme of values-driven companies. If brands profess a desire to impact society in a positive way, employees expect actions to extend inward as well.

  Big Tech backlash continues

  Among experts, there’s little doubt that the Big Tech backlash will bleed over into 2021. There is a divergence of opinion on exactly what will happen as a result. There are three general themes:

  1. Regulators will admonish and threaten Big Tech publicly, but nothing concrete will happen.

  2. Facebook will be broken up into parts (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp)

  3. Companies will proactively change their business practices and look for ways to settle quickly

  

  Aside from the thread of regulatory action, the tech sector is facing a bit of an identity crisis. Silicon Valley is grappling with the reality that the center of gravity is shifting. Pitchbook notes that Bay Area will fall below 20% of U.S. deal count for first time, and there have been very public departures from the valley in recent months.

  Faced with pressure from a number of different angles, the technology sector may have a year of soul-searching ahead.

  The Elephant in the Room

  COVID-19 is the one factor that impacts nearly every one of these 2021 predictions, yet, there were few predictions–and certainly no consensus from experts–on vaccine rollouts and case counts. It’s possible that the complexity of the pandemic and the enormous task of dealing with this public health crisis makes it too much of a moving target to predict in specific terms.

  In general though, expert opinions on when we’ll return to a more “normal” stage again range from the summer of 2021 to the start of 2022. With the exception of China, most major economies are still grappling with outbreaks and the resulting economic fallout.

  It remains to be seen whether COVID-19 will dominate 2022’s predictions, or whether we’ll be able to look beyond the pandemic era.

  The Good Stuff: Sources We Like

  Of the hundreds of sources we looked at, here were a few that stood out as memorable and comprehensive:

  Bloomberg’s Outlook 2021: This article compiled over 500 predictions from Wall Street banks and investment firms.

  Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway’s Big 2021 Predictions: Swisher and Galloway combine their deep understanding of the technology ecosystem with frank (and hilarious) commentary to come up with some of the most plausible predictions of 2021. From Robinhood to Twitter, they cover a lot of ground in this interview.

  Crystal Ball 2021: Fortune’s annual batch of predictions is always one to watch. It’s comprehensive, succinct, and hits upon a wide variety of topics.

  John Battelle’s Predictions 2021: John Battelle has been publishing annual predictions for nearly two decades, and this year’s batch is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated. His predictions are thoughtful, credible, and specific. It’s also worth noting that Battelle circles back and grades his predictions – a level of accountability that is to be praised.

  Like this feature? An expanded look at 2021’s predictions will be shared with our VC+ audience later this month.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 22:45

• A Glimpse Of China's Mysterious Stealth Bomber Shown In Video
  A Glimpse Of China’s Mysterious Stealth Bomber Shown In Video

  The evolution of the pandemic and economic crash and President Trump’s’ push for deglobalization by slapping China with tariffs resulting in the fracturing of supply chains have heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing. 

  In response to soaring tensions, China has rapidly modernized its forces with stealth fighters and hypersonic weapons. 

  Late last year, China was expected to unveil the Xian H-20 supersonic stealth bomber, effectively doubling its country’s striking range. 

  However, that didn’t happen, but this week, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force gave the first glimpse of the stealth bomber’s design in the service’s 2021 recruitment video released on Tuesday, according to Global Times.

  “In the closing minute of the video, an unknown aircraft rendered in computer-generated imagery enters the stage. It is covered in a white blanket and only the front outline can be seen, which suggests that the aircraft boasts a flying wing design with two intakes on the back of the plane. It has no visible tail wings and no winglets on the tips of the wings,” Global Times said. 

  Mysterious Stealth Bomber (clip from video) 

  

  The only view of the mysterious plane, likely the H-20, without a cover, is the aircraft’s view from a reflection on the googles of a pilot’s helmet.

  Mysterious Stealth Bomber In Reflection Of Pilot’s Googles (clip from video)

  

  Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military analyst, told the Global Times that the newly released video featuring an aircraft similar to US’ Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit suggests the plane is likely the H-20.

  “This could mean that China has achieved a generation-leaping development in bomber planes and become in possession of a world-class strategic stealth bomber,” Dongxu said.

  With a range of 5,300 miles and internal weapon bays, which could carry hypersonic missiles, the H-20 would likely have striking capabilities to hit many US bases in the Pacific Ocean. 

  Courtesy of BofA is a map of US military bases and presence in the Pacific Ocean and, specifically, in proximity to China. 

  

  Now it’s only a matter of time before China releases the H-20 at some future airshow to show the world its next-generation bomber as Beijing could become the world’s top superpower by the end of the decade. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 22:25

• A Dollar Correction Could Spoil The Party
  A Dollar Correction Could Spoil The Party

  By Ye Xie, macro commentator at Bloomberg Markets Live

  There’s a growing risk of the dollar correcting higher. The nominal yield advantage of the U.S. has steadily increased relative to other G-10 currencies in recent months, accelerated by the expectations of further government spending now that the Democrats control Congress and White House.

  The yield difference between the U.S. and Germany has increased to the highest since the U.S. lockdowns in March. Even China’s yield advantage versus the U.S. is narrowing.

  

  Rate differentials haven’t been a prominent driver for exchange rates lately, but if more spending leads to U.S. economic outperformance, the dollar could move to the right side of the “smile curve,” where stronger growth means a higher dollar.

  To finance the twin U.S. deficits, foreign investors need to be compensated either by higher yields or a weaker dollar. The former reduces the need for the latter.

  A weaker dollar is part of the reflation trade that has benefited everything from equities to commodities. A corrective move in the dollar could spoil the party.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 22:05

• Singapore Police Access COVID Tracing App Data For Criminal Investigations
  Singapore Police Access COVID Tracing App Data For Criminal Investigations

  In another instance where conspiracy theory becomes fact, a coronavirus tracing app in Singapore can now be used by the police to track citizens for criminal investigations, according to Channel News Asia. 

  In June, Singapore rolled out a mandatory COVID-19 tracing program that would identify people who had come in contact with virus carriers. The private data is managed by the government’s health department and stored on a server for 25 days. All data is encrypted to restrict access by third-parties.

  At the time, we said tracing apps would “usher in a massive surveillance state” where “no one is safe from the government.” 

  And indeed, that is the case in Singapore. About 80% of the country’s 5.6 million people have downloaded TraceTogether. The government told people that mass adoption of the app would allow the country to reduce social distancing restrictions. 

  

  However, as Channel News Asia points out, Singapore Police Force can now access TraceTogether location data for criminal investigations. 

  “The Government is the custodian of the TT (TraceTogether) data submitted by the individuals and stringent measures are put in place to safeguard this personal data,” Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan told Parliament on Monday. 

  A privacy statement on the app originally said the data collected would only be used “for contact tracing purposes.” Immediately after Tan’s comments to Parliament, the privacy statement was updated. 

  It now reads, “Authorized Police officers may invoke the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) powers to request users to upload their TraceTogether data for criminal investigations.” 

  As countries rushed to develop tracing apps in 2020 under the guise of mitigating the spread of the virus, it appears the apps are nothing more than surveillance tools for the government to track their citizens, well, at least, in Singapore. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 21:45

• Turley: I Hate Federal Commissions, But Americans Need One To Look Into The 2020 Election
  Turley: I Hate Federal Commissions, But Americans Need One To Look Into The 2020 Election

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  Below is my column in USA Today on the need for a federal commission on the 2020 election. While I opposed the challenge and the call for the ten-day commission, I do believe that a real commission is warranted.  Indeed, the violence yesterday only further shows the deep divisions in this country over these lingering questions. However, there must be the commitment to a real commission – not another placebo commission…

  

  Here is the column:

  I hate federal commissions. I have always hated federal commissions. Federal commissions are Washington’s way of managing scandals. They work like placebos for political fevers, convincing voters that answers and change are on the way.

  That is why it is so difficult for me to utter these words: We need a federal election commission. Not the one proposed by some Senate Republicans. And not like past placebo commissions. An honest-to-God, no-holds-barred federal commission to look into the 2020 presidential election.

  With the challenge to the certification of election votes, some Republican members of Congress are calling to delay the proceedings for 10 days and impanel a commission to “audit” the results. There is precedent for such a commission. Just not good precedent. Indeed, citing the Electoral Commission of 1877 as a model of good constitutional process is like citing the Titanic as a model of good maritime navigation. The commission was an utter disaster.

  The 1876 election commission

  The commission was formed after the contested 1876 presidential election of Democrat Samuel Tilden and Rutherford Hayes. Tilden won the popular vote and was just one vote short of the electoral votes needed to win the White House. The election was marred by open fraud, including South Carolina certifying a vote of 101% of the eligible voters.

  As a compromise, the commission was formed and consisted of 15 members: five Supreme Court justices and five members from each chamber of Congress. The key was that it was supposed to be composed of seven Democrats, seven Republicans and one independent. However, in a move that seemed calculated to secure his vote for Tilden, the Illinois legislature then moved to appoint the independent, Justice David Davis, to the Senate. If they wanted to buy his vote, it was a colossal failure when Davis decided to take the seat and leave the commission. He was replaced by a Republican, and the commission voted along strictly partisan lines to install Hayes, not Tilden.

  In many ways, the Electoral Commission was a model for most federal commissions, which are designed for good politics and not good government.

  An example is the 9/11 Commission, which was stacked with reliable allies to guarantee that no one — and no party — would be blamed for the negligence leading to up to the attacks.

  The commission spent two years and millions of dollars. It went to almost a dozen countries, interviewed more than 1,000 people and archived over 2.5 million pages of documents. The result was a report that blamed no one specifically and since concluded that Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were “not well served,” in the words of the commission’s chairman, by the FBI and CIA.

  You see, if everyone is responsible, no one is responsible. Despite showing that the attacks could have been prevented under existing laws and powers, the budgets and powers of both agencies were then massively increased.

  That is not what we need. There are three reasons why the need for a real commission is needed:

  ►First, and most important, this was an unprecedented election in the reliance of mail-in voting and the use of new voting systems and procedures. We need to review how that worked down to the smallest precincts and hamlets.

  ►Second, possibly tens of millions of voters believe that this election was rigged and stolen. I am not one of them. However, the integrity of our elections depends on the faith of the electorate.

  Roughly 40% of that electorate have lingering doubts about whether their votes actually matter. Most of the cases challenging the election were not decided on the merits. Indeed, it seems they haven’t even been allowed for discovery. Instead, they were largely dismissed on jurisdictional or standing groups or under the “laches” doctrine that they were brought too late. Those allegations need to be conclusively proven or disproven in the interests of the country.

  ►Third, there were problems. There was not proof of systemic fraud or irregularities, but there were problems of uncounted votes, loss of key custodial information and key differences in the rules governing voting and tabulations.

  We have spent billions to achieve greater security and reliability after prior election controversies. Indeed, we had a prior election commission that failed to achieve those fundamental goals.

  The importance of having a commission

  A real commission will take a couple years to fully address these allegations. It will be meaningless if it’s stacked by the same reliable political cutouts used historically in federal commissions. It should be formed on a commitment of absolute transparency with public hearings and public archiving of underlying material before the issuance of any final report. That way, the public at large can analyze and contribute to the review of this evidence.

  There is one other task for Congress. It should rescind and replace the Electoral Count Act passed after the Hayes-Tilden election. It is one of the worst conceived and crafted federal laws on the books. The constitutionality of that act has long been challenged, including some who argue that Congress has nothing but a purely ceremonial role in opening state certifications and counting them. 

  Courts are likely to recognize that Congress has a more substantive role, particularly when rivaling sets of electors are presented or there is clear evidence of fraud. However, the validity of such electoral votes should be left largely to the courts in challenges in the given states. That is why the current challenge is unwarranted. There is no serious basis to challenge the validity of the electoral votes certified by the states.

  The main challenge, however, remains the same: Whether Congress can appoint a real federal commission without rigging the result by appointing partisan members. In 1877, to quote from a speech of Ohio Sen. Allen Granberry Thurman, “It was perfectly clear that any bill that gave the least advantage, ay, the weight of the dust in the balance, to either party, could not become the law of the land.”

  Nothing has changed. The stakes are too high to allow even a dust particle to tip the difference on the ultimate findings. The dust-free option requires a dependent, not independent, commission. Otherwise, the public will be the loser.

  So, let’s have a commission, but let’s make it a real one.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 21:25

• Second Cabinet Member Quits: Betsy De Vos Resigns As Trump Education Secretary
  Second Cabinet Member Quits: Betsy De Vos Resigns As Trump Education Secretary

  One by one, Trump’s cabinet members are starting to fall like flies, and just a few short hours after Elaine Chao, Trump’s Transportation Secretary, became the first cabinet member to resign citing the “entirely avoidable” storming of the Capitol building by pro-Trump supporters, late on Thursday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos became the second cabinet member to resign, the WSJ reported.

  “We should be highlighting and celebrating your Administration’s many accomplishments on behalf of the American people,” Mrs. DeVos wrote in a letter to the president.

  

  “Instead we are left to clean up the mess caused by violent protesters overrunning the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to undermine the people’s business. That behavior was unconscionable for our country. There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.”

  She added: “Impressionable children are watching all this, and they are learning from us.”

  Her full resignation letter is below:

  

  While a number of Democrats have called for invoking the 25th Amendment, and one Republican joined Thursday, there did not yet appear to be serious talk among administration officials for the move.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 21:21

• December Payrolls Preview: Brace For A Very Ugly Number
  December Payrolls Preview: Brace For A Very Ugly Number

  In its preview of tomorrow’s December payrolls report, Newsquawk reminds us that while further fiscal support for Americans has now been rubber-stamped by lawmakers, it was done so after the payroll survey period and will therefore not be reflected in the employment situation report. Which is why nobody should expect any upside surprises in tomorrow’s report, and if anything, it may well be the Trump admin’s “kitchen sink” as “finely-tuned government data” is finally allowed to catch up to reality, potentially resulting in a catastrophically bad number.

  To be sure, labor market metrics have generally erred on the weaker side in the month: initial jobless claims jumped in the BLS reference week, and PUA assistance also rose, though continuing claims data fell. ADP’s gauge of private payrolls disappointed to the downside on the back of weakness in services employment, auguring poorly for the official BLS data (it is worth noting that the ADP has tended to report weaker numbers than the BLS of late).

  Manufacturing and services sectors are also diverging at the employment level: ISM reported a rise in manufacturing employment in the month, but a fall into contractionary territory for services jobs. Meanwhile, Challenger reported that US employers’ planned job cuts also rose in the month.

  In its unusually downbeat forecast, Goldman estimates a -50,000 print, after +245k in November and +610k in October, and also 150,000 below consensus As Goldman writes, the broad-based resurgence of the coronavirus and related business restrictions are consistent with a further deceleration in job growth, and most of the Big Data employment signals we track indicate an outright decline in December. Additionally, while continuing jobless claims declined during the payroll month, much of the drop reflected the expiration of program eligibility (as opposed to reemployment). Taken together, layoffs in leisure and hospitality and other virus-sensitive services categories temporarily halted the employment recovery that began in May, and as a result private payrolls tumbled by 100k in December according to Goldman; the worst month since the covid crisis first broke out.

  That’s the bad news. The good news is that President-elect Biden has pledged further fiscal support for Americans after Democrats managed to secure control of Congress, and this might limit downside for markets if Friday’s data disappoints. Conversely, as Newsquawk accurately points out, Fed talk about tapering asset purchases has picked-up recently, and this may only get louder in the event of a big beat (which however won’t happen).

  Here is what Wall Street expects:

  • Nonfarm Payrolls exp. +100k (range: -400k to +530k, prev. +245k);
  • Unemployment Rate exp. 6.7% (range: 6.5-7.2%, prev. 6.7%);
  • U6 Unemployment (prev. 12.0%);
  • Participation Rate (prev. 61.5%);
  • Private Payrolls exp. +100k (prev. +344k);
  • Manufacturing Payrolls exp. +20k (prev. +27k);
  • Government Payrolls (prev. -99k);
  • Average Earnings M/M exp. +0.2% (prev. +0.3%);
  • Average Earnings Y/Y exp. +4.4% (prev. +4.4%);
  • Average Workweek Hours exp. 34.8hrs (prev. 34.8hrs).

  Some more observations from Newsquawk:

  ADP: The December data from payroll processor ADP disappointed expectations, printing -123k against an expected +88k; it was the first decline since April. The report noted that as the impact of the pandemic on the labor market intensified, job losses were concentrated in retail and leisure and hospitality. Analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics observed that the Homebase employment data for small firms always hinted that the ADP consensus might have been on the optimistic side, though the numbers were ultimately a bit stronger than the Homebase numbers for October and November. “That gap has now closed,” Pantheon writes, “the underlying story here is the impact on the services sector from the patchwork of anti-COVID measures imposed across the country in Q4, alongside people choosing to reduce their social interactions in the face of soaring infections.” The consultancy also points out that ADP’s data has been weaker than the official BLS numbers in every month since April, though the size of the errors has diminished. “Still, we see good reasons to think that Friday’s official payroll number will be better than ADP, and above zero,” it said, reminding us that ADP’s model includes lagged official payroll numbers as well as information from firms using ADP’s services, and accordingly, the cooling of the NFP data in November will have weighed on the December ADP; “that doesn’t rule out further downward pressure on the official data in December after COVID restrictions tightened further, but we still think it likely that Friday’s private sector jobs number will be about +150K,” it adds.

  JOBLESS CLAIMS: Initial jobless claims data that coincides with the BLS employment report survey period saw weekly claims rise to 892k from 862k, and the four-week moving average to 814k from 778k the previous week. However, continuing claims data fell in the survey week to 5.32mln from 5.51mln. Wells Fargo said the rise was a bad omen for the December jobs report; the bank said that renewed restrictions and individual efforts to stem the spread of COVID were bearing down on the labour market. It was the second straight weekly rise, during a week where claims usually drop; however, the non-seasonally adjusted Pandemic Unemployment Assistance rose by 40K. Since then, however, the situation appears to have brightened, after lawmakers struck a deal on stimulus ¬– but still too late to be reflected in the December payrolls data, however.

  MANUFACTURING SURVEYS: The manufacturing ISM report for December saw the employment sub-index rise back into expansionary territory (above 50.0), printing 51.5 from 48.4. ISM said that only three industries (Fabricated Metal Products, Computer & Electronic Products, Chemical Products) of the six big sectors expanded. That said, it noted that continued strong new-order levels and an expanding backlog indicate potential employment strength for the first quarter of 2021, and panellist comments indicated that significantly more companies are hiring or attempting to hire than those reducing labour forces. (NOTE: ISM says that an employment index above 50.8 percent, over time, is generally consistent with an increase in the Bureau of Labor Statistics data on manufacturing employment).

  SERVICES SURVEYS: The employment sub-index within the December services ISM disappointed to the downside, printing 48.2 and entering contractionary territory (from the prior 51.5) following a run of three months in expansion. The outcome was not entirely unexpected, given the ADP’s payrolls report hinted at weakness in the services sector (the ADP reported that services sector payrolls declined by 105k in the month), with the resurgence of the pandemic towards the end of the year weighing. The services sector job losses primarily stemmed from the arts, entertainment, rental, mining, accommodation, food services sectors; four industries, however, reported employment growth (management of Companies and support services, wholesale trade, utilities, finance/insurance). The ISM report noted that respondents said “less staff needed in restaurants due to restrictions” and “we had to reduce our workforce even further.” Analysts note, however, that this sub-index too has tended to understante the BLS data recently.

  JOB CUTS: Challenger reported that US-based companies were planning 77,030 job cuts in December, rising from the 64,797 mark in November, and significantly above the 32,843 reported in December 2020. The consultancy said that the jump in Q4 saw the fewest job cuts of the year (222,493, down from the 497,215 in Q3), though that is a lot higher than the 127,687 reported in Q4 2020. Challenger said that in the final months of the year, companies that may have survived the initial impact of the pandemic in March and April determined staffing adjustments based on increasingly difficult market conditions: “while some segments were up, such as warehousing, shipping, financial, and some manufacturing segments, many others were hurt considerably, chief among them Hospitality, Entertainment, and Leisure.” According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, disposable personal income decreased by $218 billion in November and consumer spending decreased 0.4%, and Challenger said that “as the economy continues to shed jobs with hundreds of thousands of initial jobless claims each week, consumer spending will continue to drop. Retail and leisure activities will suffer further, especially before widespread vaccinations give Americans confidence to spend money, and companies the ability to create more jobs.”

  ARGUING FOR A WEAKER-THAN-EXPECTED REPORT:

  • The third wave of Covid. The public health situation deteriorated further in December, with the pace of new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations both elevated and rising. As shown in Exhibit 1, by the December survey week, restaurant seatings on Opentable had fallen back to July levels—a time when leisure and hospitality payrolls were 0.85mn lower than in November. Business restrictions and lower demand for these and other services categories also will weigh heavily on tomorrow’s report, more than offsetting gains in less-sensitive categories.

  

  • Big Data. High-frequency data on the labor market is generally consistent with a decline in payrolls in December, with a median decline of 160k across seven measures. Of those that Goldman tracks, only the Google Mobility measure is consistent with an above- consensus report (and admittedly, it has been one of the more accurate measures during the crisis).

  

  • ADP. Private sector employment in the ADP report fell by 123k in December, below consensus expectations and consistent with a decline in the official measure. The report text highlighted weakness in the leisure and hospitality sector, consistent with virus effects.
  • Job availability. The Conference Board labor differential—the difference between the percent of respondents saying jobs are plentiful and those saying jobs are hard to get — fell into contractionary territory (to -0.2 in December from +6.9 in November and +7.1 in October).
  • Job cuts. Announced layoffs reported by Challenger, Gray & Christmas rose by 49% in December after falling by 6% in November. They remain 143% above their December 2019 levels.

  ARGUING FOR A STRONGER THAN-EXPECTED REPORT:

  • Education seasonality. A rise in education employment (public and private) is expected, as virtual schooling reduces the scope for seasonal downtime for support staff. Some of the janitors and support staff who normally stop working in December had already left the workforce due to school closures. Reflecting this, education payrolls are expected to decline by less than the BLS seasonal factors anticipate, resulting in a 50-100k reported rise across private, state, and local education categories.

  NEUTRAL/MIXED FACTORS:

  • Employer surveys. Business activity surveys declined on net in December, and the employment components of survey trackers declined but are still in narrowly-expansionary territory (non-manufacturing -1.0pt to 50.1; manufacturing -0.1pt to 54.2).
  • Census hiring. The 2020 Census has already wound down, with only 6k temporary workers left on payroll during the November report. Accordingly, only a modest decline in this category is expected in tomorrow’s report (around -3k).

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 21:12

• Peter Schiff: Congress Is The Real Threat, Not Protests
  Peter Schiff: Congress Is The Real Threat, Not Protests

  Via SchiffGold.com,

  Somewhat lost in the chaos of the DC protests was the fact that Democrats won both Georgia Senate runoff races. That effectively gives the Democrats control of both houses of Congress. In his podcast, Peter Schiff made the case that Congress is the real threat to America, not the protesters who broke into the Capitol building.

  

  Peter said he thinks that Trump’s threat to veto the spending bill unless Congress upped the stimulus checks to $2,000 was a key reason the Democrats won.

  That put Senate Republicans in an untenable position where they were the only thing standing between voters and a $2,000 check.”

  Rep. Nancy Pelosi immediately seized on the opportunity that Trump handed her and called for a vote in the House on the bigger stimulus. But Sen. Mitch McConnell blocked the move.

  That opened up a great window of opportunity for president-elect Joe Biden because he was basically able to frame the Georgia election as a referendum on those checks. Biden actually bribed the electorate, the voters, by basically saying, ‘Hey, if you want your $2,000 check, you need to vote Democrat. If you vote Republican and the Senate stays in Republican hands, you’re not going to get your $2,000 because those greedy Republicans won’t sign on to the legislation.’”

  So Georgians voted Democrat. And they’re almost certainly going to get $2,000

  But what is that $2,000 going to buy? Probably not very much.”

  The bottom line is now the Democrats are going to be able to get a lot of things done that they wouldn’t have been able to do had the Senate stayed in Republican hands. You can almost certainly count on tax increases on corporations and “the rich,” and more regulations. As Peter put it, “Democrats will keep their promises when it comes to making government bigger and more expensive.”

  None of this is good for the market. In fact, after the presidential election, the markets rallied on the belief that the Republicans would hold the Senate and serve as a firewall against an all-out Democratic Party agenda. And yet the stock market rallied again after it became clear that the Democrats would take the Senate. The Dow was up 437 points and set a record. The S&P 500 set another record. And the Russell 2000 was up by nearly 4%. This despite protesters storming into the US Capitol building.

  Why was the market up? This is clearly bad news. The only thing that a Congress controlled by the Democrats means is corporate earnings will almost certainly be lower with higher taxes and more regulations, and the economy will be weaker than it would have been had the Republicans been in a position to hinder the Biden agenda.

  But as Peter put it, “Who gives a damn?” The only thing that matters to this market is that there will be more spending and bigger deficits. And that means the Federal Reserve will have to print more money to finance the deficits.

  That is the reason the stock market is up. It is money printing. It is inflation that is driving the stock market.”

  Meanwhile, Treasuries got clobbered. The yield on the 10-year rose back above 1%. That sounds low and it is in absolute terms. But compared to yields as low as 40 basis points earlier this year, 1% is a pretty big gain.

  So, even though we’re low in relative terms, we’re much higher than we used to be. And what’s more important is the trend. We could see an explosive move up in interest rates. Now, the only reason we may not see an explosive move up in interest rates is because the Federal Reserve doesn’t let it happen. Because the Federal Reserve interferes in the bond market by printing even more money to buy even more bonds to prevent rates from rising.”

  Inflation is driving this market. And the irony is that the Fed will have to create more inflation in order to prevent inflation from pushing interest rates up.

  They’re literally fighting fire with fire. Bond prices are falling because investors are worried about inflation. And so the Fed creates more inflation to prevent bond prices from falling and now investors have even more to worry about. This is the Catch-22. This is the situation that’s going to unravel.”

  So, why isn’t gold getting a big boost? It’s an inflation hedge.

  Gold did have a strong rally on the first trading day of the year. But it was down in the aftermath of the Georgia Senate runoff. Peter said he thinks that is primarily a function of risk-on sentiment. Investors are focused on the surging stock market, not worrying about safe-haven. Rising interest rates may have also put some drag on the gold market. People often equate rising interest rates as bad for gold, especially if you think the Fed is about to hike short-term rates.

  Traders are overlooking the fact that the Fed is not going to raise rates. It doesn’t matter what’s happening to inflation. The Fed’s not going to fight it. It doesn’t matter what’s going on with long-term rates. The Fed is not going to raise short-term rates. The other factor that the markets are overlooking is that even though long-term rates are rising, these are nominal rates. The inflation rate is rising faster than interest rates. So, even though nominal rates are rising, real rates are falling. That is bullish for gold.”

  In this podcast, Peter also talked about some of the economic data that came out, and he offers some thoughts on bitcoin and the DC protests.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 20:50

• Capitol Police Chief Resigns Amid Torrent Of Criticism, Reports Of Officer's Death
  Capitol Police Chief Resigns Amid Torrent Of Criticism, Reports Of Officer’s Death

  After releasing a statement earlier Thursday afternoon condemning the riotous behavior and revealing that the officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, Steven Sund, the chief of the Capitol Police, has just resigned.

  Sund’s resignation will go into effect on Jan. 16, meaning he will be gone before any potential unrest tied to Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20. A police spokeswoman said Thursday that the department’s union called for a “change at the top.”

  

  According to NBC News, officers are “frustrated and demoralized” with how a lack of leadership undermined the response to the mob, said Gus Papathanasiou, the union chairman. Papathanasiou laid the blame on a failure of planning by Sund and the rest of the Brass, while praising officers on the ground for their work.

  “We prioritized lives over property, leading people to safety,” Papathanasiou said in his statement. “Not one Member of Congress or their staff was injured. Our officers did their jobs. Our leadership did not. Our Law Enforcement partners that assisted us were remarkable.”

  The statement didn’t quite call for Sund’s resignation.

  In his statement earlier, Sund commended officers earlier Thursday, calling their actions “heroic” and slammed the chaos that erupted as “criminal riotous behavior.”

  Earlier, in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show, former US Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer slammed his successor’s handling of the incident as a “failure” and added that it “raises a lot of questions.”

  Finally, CNN reports that a Capitol Police Officer – presumably one of the 14 who was injured in yesterday’s violence – has died.

  A US Capitol Police officer has died from events stemming from Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol, three sources confirmed to CNN.

  The police officer is now the fifth person to die as a result of the day’s violence. One woman was shot and killed by Capitol Police as the crowd breached the building and three others suffered medical emergencies that proved fatal.

  Rioters on Wednesday breached the Capitol building and the Senate chamber, ransacked the offices of Pelosi and other Capitol offices, and a laptop was stolen from the office of Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley.

  Authorities have already arrested nearly 70 people in connection with Wednesday’s chaotic ransacking of the Capitol building, and presumably anyone responsible for the officer’s wounds and/or the killing of the officer who died Thursday will be high on prosecutors’ list for arrest and prosecution. Aside from Babbitt, three others died of medical emergencies during yesterday’s unrest.

   

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 20:30

• Kamala Harris Called Riots "A Movement" Last Summer, Said "They Should Not" Stop
  Kamala Harris Called Riots “A Movement” Last Summer, Said “They Should Not” Stop

  Authored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com,

  Violence is never the answer to resolving conflict, but it’s hard not to see the hypocrisy of the left when they act surprised or condemn what happened at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

  

  In June 2020, in the aftermath of the nationwide rioting following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, Kamala Harris even gleefully predicted that the rioting wouldn’t end, telling Stephen Colbert, host of “The Late Show,” that they shouldn’t end.

  “They’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop,” she told him.

  “This is a movement, I’m telling you. They’re not gonna stop. And everyone beware because they’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna stop before Election Day and they’re not going to stop after Election Day. And everyone should take note of that. They’re not gonna let up and they should not.”

  The protests Kamala Harris spoke of were responsible for an estimated $1 – $2 billion in property damage between May 26 and June 8, 2020, and dozens of deaths, including that of retired Minneapolis police officer, David Dorn.

  What would happen if Trump said of the protestors who stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, “They’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop. This is a movement, I’m telling you. They’re not gonna stop. And everyone beware because they’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna let up and they should not.”

  But Trump never said anything like that. In fact, Trump urged his supporters to go home.

  “I know your pain, I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt.”

  Joe Biden and Kamala Harris didn’t condemn the BLM riots that plagued cities nationwide like Portland, Minnesota, Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, and Kenosha until polling suggested that they needed to.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 20:10

• "We'll See You In Court": Sen. Josh Hawley Blasts 'Orwellian' Simon & Schuster Over Canceled Book
  “We’ll See You In Court”: Sen. Josh Hawley Blasts ‘Orwellian’ Simon & Schuster Over Canceled Book

  Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) responded Thursday afternoon to an announcement by publisher Simon & Schuster that it would no longer publish his planned book, after the GOP lawmaker led objections to Congress’s certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

  

  “After witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel publication of Senator Josh Hawley’s forthcoming book,” the publisher said in a statement, adding “We did not come to this decision lightly.”

  “As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints: at the same time we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.“

  Hawley responded in a Thursday statement via Twitter, saying “This could not be more Orwellian. Simon & Schuster is canceling my contract because I was representing my constituents, leading a debate on the Senate floor on voter integrity, which they have now decided to redefine as sedition.”

  “Let me be clear, this is not just a contract dispute. It’s a direct assault on the First Amendment. Only approved speech can now be published. This is the Left looking to cancel everyone they don’t approve of. I will fight this cancel culture with everything I have. We’ll see you in court.”

  My statement on the woke mob at @simonschuster pic.twitter.com/pDxtZvz5J0

  — Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 7, 2021

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

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 19:50

• Trump Tweets For The First Time Since Suspension, Says "New Administration Will Be Inaugurated On Jan 20"
  Trump Tweets For The First Time Since Suspension, Says “New Administration Will Be Inaugurated On Jan 20”

  Almost exactly 12 hours after his Twitter account was suspended for 12 hours (with the caveat that a permanent suspension would follow if he did not follow twitter’s terms of service), Trump returned to his favorite social network and in a 2:41 min video condemned Wednesday’s Capitol riots while effectively conceding, saying that he would focus on ensuring a smooth transition to the Biden administration and that “a new administration will be inaugurated on Jan 20.”

  Trump began by saying he was “outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem” in the “heinous attack on the Capitol.” Saying that “the demonstrations who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy” he slammed “those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction” saying they “do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay.”

  Proceeding next to the outcome of the election, Trump said that “we have just been through an intense election and emotions are high. But now tempers must be cooled and calm restored. We must get on with the business of America.”

  “My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election result. My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote. In so doing I was fighting to defend American democracy”, a statement which  we doubt Congress Democrats will agree with. Trump then went on to say that “we must reform our election laws to verify the identity and eligibility of all voters and ensure faith and confidence in all future elections.”

  Which brings us to Trump’s technical concession: “Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on Jan 20. My focus now turn to ensuring the smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment now calls for healing and reconciliation.”

  Trump then turned his attention to the covid pandemic, saying that “defeating this pandemic and rebuilding the greatest economy on earth will require all of us working together. It will require a new emphasis on the civic values of patriotism, faith, charity, community and family. We must revitalize the sacred bonds of  love and loyalty that bind us together as one national family.”

  The president concluded with yet another implicit concession, but left off in a somewhat cryptic fashion: “To the citizens of our country, serving as your president has been the honor of a lifetime. And to all of my wonderful supporters, I know you are disappointed but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning.”

  And now we wait to see if and when Twitter will nuke this video too.

  pic.twitter.com/csX07ZVWGe

  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021

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  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 19:32

• Chicago Schools Chief: Half Of Teachers Pressured By Teachers’ Union Didn’t Show Up For Work
  Chicago Schools Chief: Half Of Teachers Pressured By Teachers’ Union Didn’t Show Up For Work

  By Epoch Times,

  Nearly half of the teachers in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district didn’t show up when they were ordered to return for in-person instructions after the winter break, a district official said. Janice Jackson, the CEO of the public school district serving some 340,000 students, said in a Tuesday press conference that a little more than 60 percent of all school-based staff have returned to classrooms as expected. That accounts for about half of teachers and three-quarters of assistant and support staff.

  

  Jackson said the number of employees who didn’t return was “significant, considering the fact that they were pressured” by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), which has been urging teachers and staff to stay out of classrooms since the early days of the CCP virus pandemic.

  CPS has informed those who were expected to return but didn’t that their absence was not excused, Jackson said, noting that the district has an “absent without leave policy,” through which “individuals who are refusing to report to work and who will be considered absent without leave will face progressive discipline.”

  “We have sent notices to staff who did not return to ensure that our expectations are clear, and we are optimistic that more staff will report to work in the coming days,” she said. “If staff choose not to attend and support the students who are relying on them, we will handle those on a school-by-school and case-by-case basis.”

  Jackson noted that the all-remote learning is failing many students across the city, especially those from black and Latino families.

  “We cannot sit back and allow a generation to just falter because of made up reasons around why we can’t do reopening,” she said. “A year from now, there’s going to be a reckoning around what happened to those students that have been sitting at home, not being properly served because many of them have families who have to be essential workers.”

  The CTU on Wednesday criticized CPS’s plan of sending public school teachers back for in-person instructions for the first time during the pandemic, arguing that doing so puts teachers’ health in danger.

  “We are here this morning to underscore for the public how absolutely callously CPS has treated educators who have requested accommodations or leave,” CTU Deputy General Counsel Thad Goodchild said during a press conference, reported Chicago Sun Times.

  Goodchild said that CPS is forcing employees to report to work, even though they have family members with health conditions.

  “This is effectively telling employees that they must either go without a paycheck, move out of their homes or risk the lives of their medically fragile relative,” he said.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 19:30

• A Bizarre Discrepancy Is Blowing Up The Trade "Data" Between US And China
  A Bizarre Discrepancy Is Blowing Up The Trade “Data” Between US And China

  Earlier today, the Census Bureau announced that in December, the US trade deficit jumped to a whopping $68.1 billion, an increase of $5 billion in one month and just inches of the all time biggest trade deficit recorded in the depths of the global financial crisis.

  

  Yet while troubling, and a clear testament that the US is losing the trade war with China or whoever, this wasn’t the big news. The really big news is that when one focuses on just the trade between the US and China, the bilateral balance has been trending in the wrong direction, helped as one would expect by the effects of COVID-19 (yes, this is yet another way that China has benefited from unleashing the covid pandemic on the world). As Stephen Gallo noted, China’s merchandise exports to the US, as a share of total exports, ended 2019 at 13.6%, but they were back to 17.6% as of November 2020.

  In short, after the US made some headway in its trade war with Beijing, all that progress and more is now gone as Chinese net exports are steamrolling ahead… thanks to covid!

  Yet as we first pointed out last month, while the trade surplus with the US according to China Customs data indeed hit a record high, US Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows something quite different, and this discrepancy is shown the chart below:

  

  This is, to say the least, strange: after all data is data, and when one using the same nominal amount of trade exports and imports between the two countries engaging in trade, one should – in theory at least – end up with the same trade surplus (and respectively deficit) number.

  Alas, as the chart above shows, not only has that has not been the case for the past two decades, but curiously, after years of US data showing a larger bilateral deficit with China than the Chinese data shows a surplus with the United States (largely due to the so-called Hong Kong port effect which explains much of the discrepancy), this has reversed in the past few months when China’s reported exports to the United States have significantly exceeded reported U.S. imports (the exact opposite of the established pattern). This can be seen clearly in the chart below which is a zoomed in portion the bilateral trade balances shown above:

  

  This phenomenon which has escalated drastically in recent months, was first pointed out by former Treasury official Brad Setser who pointed out the data discrepancy in an October blog post , writing that “there is no doubt there is a gap. In July 2018, China said it exported $41.6 billion to the United States, and the United States reported importing $47 billion from China. In July 2019, China said it exported $38.9 billion to the United States (down because of the tariffs), and the United States reported importing $41.4 billion from China. And in July 2020, China said it exported $43.7 billion to the United States, while the United States only reported importing $40.7 billion from China.”

  As a result, as Setser adds, “the answer to a lot of politically-salient questions—for example, is the bilateral trade deficit with China larger or smaller now than in 2016?—hinges on whether you use the U.S. or the Chinese data. “

  If you look at the Chinese data, its current monthly surplus with the United States is at an all-time high for the months of July and August, topping its pre-trade war peaks by substantial margins

  In the U.S. data, the July deficit with China and Hong Kong (adding in Hong Kong reduces the size of the deficit as the United States runs a surplus with HK) is only just above its 2016 levels.

  Fast-forwarding two months to the latest December data only shows that this divergence has accelerated with the latest Chinese data showing yet another record surplus for the month of November.

  To be sure, and as one can easily see in the charts above, the gap between China’s reported exports to the United States – red line – and reported U.S. imports – blue line – plus the larger deficit when reported from the U.S. side than the surplus on the Chinese side, has been a long-standing pattern. It reflects the previously discussed role of Hong Kong in U.S.-China trade, because as Setser explains, “a lot of what China records in its data as an export to Hong Kong historically has ended up in the U.S. data as an import from China, and a lot of what the United States reports as an export to Hong Kong has historically ended up in the Chinese data as an import from the United States.”

  What is novel here is the change in the pattern – the long established and well-understood discrepancy between the import and export side data has gone away.    

  The puzzle, as Setser wrote, “is why the sign on the discrepancy looks to be flipping.” There are two possible explanations which immediately come to mind.

  Chinese exporters might be overstating their exports, in general and to the United States. Overstating exports is a classic way of getting capital into a country with capital controls.

  However, a simpler explanation is that the US tariffs have created a strong incentive for firms importing into the United States to go to some lengths to understate their imports from China. Thus, U.S. imports from China are now likely under-counted (which by implication holds the bilateral trade deficit down).

  As Setser concludes, while “mapping one country’s import data to a partner’s export data” is a dull but exercise, “sometimes it yields interesting results. A similar exercise back in 2015—the Chinese current account surplus stopped tracking the goods balance—led me to look at whether the reported increase in tourism imports in the Chinese data was matched by a rise in the number of actual tourists (it wasn’t) and ultimately produced quite a good Fed paper.” We are confident that economists looking at the growing discrepancy in trade data between the US and China will soon be busy coming up with their own theories, even if the real answer why this most critical trade relationship in a world where the US-China trade war has been the overriding theme for much of the past 4 years, will likely remain a mystery.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 19:15

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• 79% Of Brits Supported Latest Nationwide Lockdown?!
  79% Of Brits Supported Latest Nationwide Lockdown?!

  As England and parts of Scotland have been put back into full lockdown mode in response to the recent escalation in the COVID-19 pandemic, a YouGov survey has revealed the public’s opinion on the latest countermeasures.

  As Statista’s Martin Armstrong notes, a majority, 79 percent, say they support a nationwide lockdown to some degree, with a small majority, 51 percent, stating that they do so strongly.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  In his announcement of the new rules, prime minister Johnson warned that the coming weeks would be the “hardest yet”. Key to the decision has been the increase in pressure on the health service in recent weeks, with record numbers of Covid-19 patients currently in UK hospitals. The lockdown is due to be in place until 15 February at the earliest.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 01:00

• What To Expect In 2021: Madness, Mayhem, Manipulation, & More Tyranny
  What To Expect In 2021: Madness, Mayhem, Manipulation, & More Tyranny

  Authored by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

  – George Orwell, Animal Farm

  What should we expect in 2021?

  So far, it looks like this year is going to be plagued by more of the same brand of madness, mayhem, manipulation and tyranny that dominated 2020.

  

  Frankly, I’m sick of it: the hypocrisy, the double standards, the delusional belief by Americans at every point along the political spectrum that politics and politicians are the answer to what ails the country, when for most of our nation’s history, politics and politicians have been the cause of our woes.

  Consider: for years now, Americans, with sheeplike placidity, have tolerated all manner of injustices and abuses meted out upon them by the government (police shootings of unarmed individuals, brutality, corruption, graft, outright theft, occupations and invasions of their homes by militarized police, roadside strip searches, profit-driven incarcerations, profit-driven wars, egregious surveillance, taxation without any real representation, a nanny state that dictates every aspect of their lives, lockdowns, overcriminalization, etc.) without ever saying “enough is enough.”

  Only now do Americans seem righteously indignant enough to mobilize and get active, and for what purpose? Politics. They’re ready to go to the mat over which corporate puppet will get the honor to serve as the smiling face on the pig for the next four years.

  Talk about delusion.

  It’s so ludicrous as to be Kafkaesque.

  A perfect example of how farcical, topsy-turvy, and downright perverse life has become in the America: while President Trump doles out medals of commendation and presidential pardons to political cronies who have done little to nothing to advance the cause of freedom, Julian Assange rots in prison for daring to blow the whistle on the U.S. government’s war crimes

  You’d think that Americans would be outraged over such abject pandering to the very swamp that Trump pledged to drain, but that’s not what has the Right and the Left so worked up. No, they’re still arguing over whether dead men voted in the last presidential election.

  Either way, no matter which candidate lost to the other, it was always going to be the Deep State that won.

  And so you have it: reduced to technicalities, distracted by magician’s con games, and caught up in the manufactured, highly scripted contest over which beauty contestant wears the crown, we have failed to do anything about the world falling apart around us.

  Literally.

  Our economy—at least as it impacts the vast majority of Americans as opposed to the economic elite—is in a shambles. Our infrastructure is falling apart. Our government has been overtaken by power-hungry predators and parasites. And our ability—and fundamental right—to govern our own lives is being usurped by greedy government operatives who care nothing for our lives or our freedoms.

  Our ship of state is being transformed into a ship of fools.

  We stand utterly defenseless in the face of a technological revolution brought about by artificial intelligence and wall-to-wall surveillance that is re-orienting the world as we know it. Despite the mounting high-tech encroachments on our rights, we have been afforded a paltry amount of legislative and judicial protections. Indeed, Corporate America has more rights than we do.

  We stand utterly powerless in the face of government bureaucrats and elected officials who dance to the tune of corporate overlords and do what they want, when they want, with whomever they want at taxpayer expense, with no thought or concern for the plight of those they are supposed to represent. To this power elite, “we the people” are good for only two things: our tax dollars and our votes. In other words, they just want our money.

  We stand utterly helpless in the face of government violence that is meted out, both at home and abroad. Indeed, the systemic violence being perpetrated by agents of the government—inflicted on unarmed individuals by battlefield-trained SWAT teams, militarized police, and bureaucratic government agents trained to shoot first and ask questions later—has done more collective harm to the American people and their liberties than any single act of terror or mass shooting.

  We stand utterly silenced in the face of government and corporate censors and a cancel culture that, in their quest to not offend certain viewpoints, are all too willing to eradicate views that do not conform. In this way, political correctness has given way to a more insidious form of group think and mob rule.

  We stand utterly locked down in the face of COVID-19 mandates, restrictions, travel bans and penalties that are acclimating the populace to unquestioningly accede to the government’s dictates, whatever they might be (as long as they are issued in the name of national security), no matter how extreme or unreasonable.

  We stand utterly intimidated in the face of red flag laws, terrorism watch lists, contact tracing programs, zero tolerance policies, and all other manner of police state tactics that aim to keep us fearful and compliant.

  We stand utterly indoctrinated in the collective belief that the government—despite its longstanding pattern and practice of corruption, collusion, dysfunction, immorality and incompetence—somehow represents “we the people.”

  Despite all of this, despite how evident it is that we are mere tools to be used and abused and manipulated for the power elite’s own diabolical purposes, we somehow fail to see their machinations for what they truly are: thinly veiled attempts to overthrow our republic and enslave the citizenry in order to expand their power and wealth.

  It is a grim outlook for a new year, but it is not completely hopeless.

  If hope is to be found, it will be found with those of us who do not rely on politicians that promise to fix what is wrong but instead do their part, at their local levels, to right the wrongs and fix what is broken. I am referring to the builders, the thinkers, the helpers, the healers, the educators, the creators, the artists, the activists, the technicians, the food gatherers and distributors, and every other person who does their part to build up rather than destroy.

  As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, “we the people” are the hope for a better year. Not Trump. Not Biden. And not the architects and enablers of the American Police State.

  Until we can own that truth, until we can forge our own path back to a world in which freedom means something again, we’re going to be stuck in this wormhole of populist anger, petty politics and destruction that is pitting us one against the other.

  In that scenario, no one wins.

  There’s a meme circulating on social media that goes like this:

  If you catch 100 red fire ants as well as 100 large black ants, and put them in a jar, at first, nothing will happen. However, if you violently shake the jar and dump them back on the ground the ants will fight until they eventually kill each other. The thing is, the red ants think the black ants are the enemy and vice versa, when in reality, the real enemy is the person who shook the jar. This is exactly what’s happening in society today. Liberal vs. Conservative. Black vs. White. Pro Mask vs. Anti Mask. The real question we need to be asking ourselves is who’s shaking the jar … and why?

  Whether red ants will really fight black ants to the death is a question for the biologists, but it’s an apt analogy of what’s playing out before us on the political scene and a chilling lesson in social engineering. So before you get too caught up in the circus politics and conveniently timed spectacles that keep us distracted from focusing too closely on the government’s power grabs, first ask yourself: who’s really shaking the jar?

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/07/2021 – 00:10

• American Airlines Is Ending Support For Emotional Support Animals
  American Airlines Is Ending Support For Emotional Support Animals

  American Airlines is finally ending the literal circus that was becoming “emotional support animals” at airports and in airplanes nationwide. Hopefully, other airlines will follow suit.

  Back in the day, there were seeing eye dogs, sheep herding dogs and cadaver dogs that were specially trained and that was it. Every good doggo was an “emotional support animal” for its owner, which is one of the best parts of having a pet: they can calm you down, they can bring joy into your life and they can be your best friend.

  But if you don’t know someone that has wrapped their dog up in a military style pet-vest with the words “emotional support animal” written on it lately – as if their “specially trained” dog’s key goal is to somehow psychoanalyze you and offer you written notes on the “anxiety” you feel from capitalism or the patriarchy, versus simply eating, sleeping, farting and crapping – then you haven’t been paying attention. 

  It has become an epidemic across the U.S. – people using the “emotional support” excuse to gain access for their pets on flights and in airports – where they would usually not be welcome. And once the floodgates for emotional support dogs opened up, Americans starting carting around emotional support squirrels, emotional support clowns, emotional support peacocks and entire emotional support zoos with them as they traveled. 

  

  But American Airlines appears to have finally seen enough. The airline has made a policy change that “matches a new Department of Transportation regulation that says airlines aren’t required to treat emotional support animals as service animals,” according to CNN. The rules come into effect on January 11. 

  At that point, American Airlines says it will “will no longer authorize new travel for animals that do not meet that definition, such as emotional support animals.”

  Emotional support animals are supposed to be “prescribed by mental health professionals to provide comfort and support, but unlike service animals, they are not required to have training in specific tasks.”

  Jessica Tyler, president of cargo and vice president of airport excellence for American said: “We’re confident this approach will enable us to better serve our customers, particularly those with disabilities who travel with service animals, and better protect our team members at the airport and on the aircraft.”

  Among the airline’s concerns was that “passengers were fraudulently passing off their pets as the more loosely defined and fee-free category of emotional support animals”. 

  What gave it away, guys? Was it the peacock?

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 23:50

• China's "Unrestricted War" On The United States
  China’s “Unrestricted War” On The United States

  Authored by Doug Dodge via AmericanThinker.com,

  In 1999 Colonel Qiao Liang and Colonel Wang Xiangsui wrote a book called Unrestricted Warfare.  In this book, these officers, who were both active-duty officers in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) discussed the lessons learned from the Gulf War action in 1990.  The book was published by the PLA Literature and Arts Publishing House in Beijing, which suggests official approval by the PLA Command. 

  

  Liang and Xiangsui recall the CNN broadcast of the dead American soldier in Mogadishu and how that broadcast caused an American pullout of Somalia, changing the world’s strategic situation. 

  This and other examples caused these officers to postulate another type of warfare they called unrestricted warfare, which crossed all of the spectrums of society and involved no rules.  The authors listed 15 types of new warfare to be used in order to avoid the standard military conflict.

  One of these new types of warfare is called New Terror Warfare (Xiangsui, 1999), where modern technology is used to cause terror, with a lessor emphasis on violence and a greater emphasis on terror.  The book specifically mentions the Aum Shinrkiyo Cult’s attempt to use sarin in Tokyo as an example of causing terror without a lot of violence.  An example of this might be the Wuhan Virus, which came from China and has been used to cause terror throughout the world.  This virus has resulted in lockdowns of countries, people demanding others wear masks at all times, and huge violations of American citizens’ constitutional rights. 

  Another new type of warfare is drug warfare, which is described as making huge profits by spreading health and social disasters in other countries. According to the New York Times, China is the largest producer of fentanyl coming into America.  The US Drug Enforcement Administration states that China and Mexico are the primary source countries for fentanyl.

  A third type of new warfare is listed as smuggling warfare, which is described as throwing the markets into confusion and attacking economic order. This warfare is being conducted, along with the drug war, by the use of counterfeit articles from China being shipped to the United States.  For example, the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) seized 500,000 counterfeit masks being sent from Shenzhen, China to the United States for people to use to try and stop the spread of the Wuhan Virus.

  A fourth type of new warfare is listed as economic aid warfare, described as bestowing favor in the open and contriving to control matters in secret. China’s Belt and Road Initiative is seen as an example of this warfare, where China aids other countries in return for those countries owing China, what exactly is owed is not known to the public. 

  A fifth type of new warfare is cultural warfare, which is described as leading cultural trends along in order to assimilate those with different views.  This is encapsulated by China’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement.  The Black Lives Matters movement is a movement that is admittedly Marxist in its leanings and is attempting to force everyone to bow to it or face their wrath. 

  Another type of new warfare is media warfare, which is described as manipulating what people see and hear in order to lead public opinion along. American media outlets, which are owned, co-opted by or indebted to China, have been distorting the story about the Wuhan virus.  The American media has been refusing to acknowledge the origins of the virus.  Dr. Anthony Fauci has admitted to lying to Americans in order to manipulate their behavior.  Dr. Fauci has connections to China, including the funding of the lab where the Wuhan virus was being studied.  The media is also involved in covering up other scandals, such as the Hunter Biden money scandal

  In Unrestricted Warfare, the authors specifically state, “the goal should be to use all means whatsoever… to force the enemy to serve one’s own interests.”   Obviously, the Chinese are actively engaged in various types of warfare against the United States, as shown by the examples cited.  The United States needs to decide to fight back and force the Chinese government to cease its offensive actions against us or face the consequences.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 23:30

• "Vagina Mountain" Sculpture Fuels Culture War In Brazil
  “Vagina Mountain” Sculpture Fuels Culture War In Brazil

  A massive concrete sculpture that looks like a vagina in Brazil has fueled a cultural war between leftists and conservatives on social media. 

  The handmade 108-foot concrete sculpture, called “Diva,” was unveiled last week by artist Juliana Notari on the hillside of a former sugar mill in Pernambuco, a state in northeast Brazil. 

  

  Notari wrote in a Facebook post that the hillside vagina was intended to spark “dialogue with issues that refer to gender issues from a female perspective combined with a cosmopocentric and anthropocentric western society.” 

  “Currently, these issues have become increasingly urgent. After all, it is by changing perspective of our relationship between humans and humans and nonhuman, that will allow us to live longer on that planet and in a less unequal and catastrophic society,” she said, referencing the intolerant climate that Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency has created in Brazil. 

  Notari said it took “almost 11 months” of hard work by more than a dozen people to erect the “33 meters high, by 16 meters wide and 6 meters deep, covered by armed concrete and resin” hillside vagina. 

  

  Before long, it appears she succeeded at stirring up social media attention as tens of thousands of comments flooded the post. By Wednesday morning, 27,000 comments and 15,000 shares were seen. 

  “The sex organ wasn’t created to be admired, let alone be called art,” wrote one Facebook user. “It’s tasteless and unnecessary and there’s no meaning. You did this because you knew there would be criticism and that’s what you wanted, publicity.”

  

  “With all due respect, I did not like it. Imagine me walking with my young daughters in this park and them asking … Daddy, what is this? What will I answer?” another commenter said. 

  Someone asked: “Why did only men work to create your art ?” 

  A commentator called the sculpture “Vagina Mountain.” 

  

  Bolsonaro has long criticized liberal-designed art, and last year, he attempted to unsuccessfully freeze funding for movies with LGBTQ themes.

  The Western world appears locked in a culture war. This is the most evident in the US (read: here). 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 23:10

• Capitol Declared 'Secured'; Woman Shot During Standoff Has Died; Confirmation Process To Resume Tonight
  Capitol Declared ‘Secured’; Woman Shot During Standoff Has Died; Confirmation Process To Resume Tonight

  Summary:

  • 100s of Pro-Trump protesters clashed with police after the president’s speech
  • A number of protesters breached security at The Capitol and are inside the building
  • The Capitol has been evacuated
  • VP Pence has been escorted from the Chamber to a secure location
  • 1000s are peacefully protesting outside’
  •  President Trump urges protesters (via Tweet) to “Stay peaceful”
  • Washington DC Mayor orders 6 pm citywide curfew
  • DoD refuses to call DC official for National Guard deployment
  • Federal Protective Service, Secret Service Deploying To Capitol
  • President Trump Orders National Guard To Capitol To Restore Order 
  • Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Sends State Troopers To Capitol To Restore Order 
  • FBI Has Been Deployed To The Capitol 
  • President Trump Calls On Supporters To “Go Home” 
  • FBI SWAT Team Enters Capitol Building 
  • US Officials Say The Capitol Building Is Now Secure 

  Watch @robertmooreitv‘s report from inside the Capitol building as the extraordinary events unfolded in Washington DChttps://t.co/krCQf1uQbx pic.twitter.com/SiWbzF5Nzs

  — ITV News (@itvnews) January 6, 2021

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

  *  *  *

  Update (2034ET): Trump supporters are still out in the streets despite the curfew. National Guard members are holding the line around the Capitol complex. 

  National Guard outside the Capitolpic.twitter.com/l35vnKxGZS

  — Cleavon MD (@Cleavon_MD) January 7, 2021

  *  *  *

  Update (1904ET): Breaking moments ago, BNO reports the Capitol is back on lockdown due to a “security threat” within the building. 

  BREAKING: U.S. Capitol back on lockdown due to a “security threat inside the building”

  — BNO News (@BNONews) January 6, 2021

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

  *  *  *

  Update (1820ET): According to House majority whip, James Clyburn, one of the top Democrats in the House, despite the 6 pm curfew in Washington, the process to certify Joe Biden as the next US president will continue tonight.

  This authoritarian menace will not succeed in his attempts to overthrow our democratically elected government.

  I am praying for the safety and security of the public servants who are dedicated to making this country a “more perfect union.”

  — James E. Clyburn (@WhipClyburn) January 6, 2021

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

  Speaker Nancy Pelosi echoed this, and said that they have decided to proceed with the Electoral College vote tally “tonight at the Capitol once it is cleared for use.”

  NEWS: @SpeakerPelosi says they have decided to proceed with the Electoral College vote tally “tonight at the Capitol once it is cleared for use.”

  She spoke with Congressional leaders, DOD, DOJ, and the VP.

  Again, notably absent from this list: President Trump pic.twitter.com/JhaecZEcDk

  — Sara Cook (@saraecook) January 6, 2021

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

  Meanwhile, as seen in the next clip, the National Guard has now arrived at the Capitol

  The National Guard is at the Capitol dispersing the crowd pic.twitter.com/oLB7g8sgQC

  — Philip Athey (@philipathey1) January 6, 2021

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

  * * *

  Update (1800ET): The Capitol was finally secured Wednesday evening, hours after supporters of President Trump raided the facility. Protesters walked the halls of the Capitol complex as encounters with police led to the shooting death of a woman. 

  “The woman who was shot inside US Capitol during riots Wednesday afternoon was pronounced dead at an area hospital, a spokesman with the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed to CNN.”

  — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) January 6, 2021

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  *  *  *

  Update (1740ET): Hours after the Capitol building was raided by hundreds of Trump supporters, Reuters is now reporting the facility is “now secure.” 

  • US OFFICIALS SAY THE US CAPITOL BUILDING IS NOW SECURE

  Additional headlines from Reuters details how police are pushing protesters away from the Capitol. 

  • POLICE HAVE CLEARED PROTESTERS OFF OF STEPS OF U.S. CAPITOL -LIVE VIDEO
  • POLICE DEPLOYED AT U.S. CAPITOL ARE DRIVING PROTESTERS AWAY FROM BUILDING -REUTERS WITNESS

  *  *  *

  Update (1733ET): Trump supporters unleash hell on camera equipment owned by major media outlets – this reminds us of the printer scene from the movie “Office Space.” 

  Trump supporters destroy property of media members near the US Capitol @shomaristone

  pic.twitter.com/WCkaRqlzmk

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 6, 2021

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

  *  *  *

  Update (1722ET): Capitol buildings in Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, Colorado, and California have been shut down, or have implemented increased security measures this evening following the events that unfolded in Washington, D.C., today. 

  *  *  *

  Update (1647ET): DC Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks at a press conference Wednesday evening about the events that unfolded this afternoon on the Capitol building. She says a citywide curfew will start at 1800 ET and continue through 0600 ET Thursday. 

  *  *  *

  Update (1631ET): As evening falls, NBC’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports the FBI SWAT team has entered the Capitol building. 

  FBI SWAT team in Capitol complex pic.twitter.com/SCLDTlQ0g0

  — Leigh Ann Caldwell (@LACaldwellDC) January 6, 2021

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

  *  *  *

  Update (1620ET): In a prerecorded video published on Twitter, President Trump calls on his supporters to leave the Capitol building. 

  pic.twitter.com/Pm2PKV0Fp3

  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2021

  *  *  *

  Update (1610ET): President-elect Joe Biden delivers a statement on today’s chaos at the Capitol. 

  Biden calls on Trump’s supporters to end their assault on the Capitol: “This is not dissent… it borders on sedition. And it must end now.”

  *  *  *

  Update (1602ET): Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has tweeted that he is “sending troopers to assist the Metropolitan Police Department and the United States Capitol Police.” 

  Hogan also said: “All Americans should be outraged by this attack on our nation’s Capitol. This is a heinous and violent assault on the heart of our democracy. I will not stand for this, and neither should any American.”

  *  *  *

  Update (1542ET): President Trump has ordered the National Guard to Capitol grounds to restore order. 

  *WHITE HOUSE SAYS TRUMP ORDERS NATIONAL GUARD TO CAPITOL

  *PENCE CALLS FOR ‘VIOLENCE,’ ‘DESTRUCTION’ AT CAPITOL TO END

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 6, 2021

  *  *  *

  Update (1533ET): Several media outlets are reporting one person was shot on Capitol grounds about 30 minutes ago. 

  AP is reporting one person was shot; CNN is reporting a woman was shot in the chest on Capitol grounds. 

  

  Apparent gunshot victim being rushed out of the Capitol building. 

  GRAPHIC FOOTAGE: Apparent gunshot victim being rushed to ambulance at US Capitol pic.twitter.com/5KUqr3KFsm

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 6, 2021

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

  We are awaiting more information. 

  *  *  *

  Update (1520ET): Within the past hour, President Trump has tweeted again, this time urging “everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful.” 

  Trump continued: “No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!” 

  I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!

  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2021

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

  *  *  *

  Update (1512ET): More views of protesters on the Senate floor. 

  BREAKING: Protesters are on the Senate floor now: pic.twitter.com/k4Q0ln8pZs

  — Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) January 6, 2021

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

  Additional views from inside the Capitol.

  

  Just wow!

  

  Trump supporter stealing a podium? 

  

  Man walking with large Confederate flag in Capitol building. 

  

  *  *  *

  Update (1508ET): Here’s a stunning view of protesters using a window washing platform to get to higher floors of the Capitol. 

  

  *  *  *

  Update (1455ET): “Officers have drawn their firearms inside the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives after supporters egged on by the president breached the Capitol,” tweeted Reuters’ Brad Heath. 

  Video from the chamber. pic.twitter.com/UKF7MScHKN

  — Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) January 6, 2021

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

  *  *  *

  Update (1444ET): DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has ordered a citywide curfew starting at 1800 ET following the chaos at the Capitol. Also, reporters are saying tear gas has been deployed while President Trump urges supporters to remain peaceful. 

  “Lawmakers have been told to get ready to put on gas masks and have retrieved gas masks from under the seats. There is banging on the door to the chamber,” Bloomberg’s Emma Kinery tweeted. 

  Tear gas has been dispersed in the Capitol rotunda per @HouseInSession and @elwasson who are there. Lawmakers have been told to get ready to put on gas masks and have retrieved gas masks from under the seats. There is banging on the door to the chamber.

  — Emma Kinery (@EmmaKinery) January 6, 2021

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

  Moments ago, President Trump urged protesters to “support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement.”

  Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!

  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2021

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

  *  *  *

  Update (1434ET): Trump supporters have breached the Capitol building. The mob is now inside the building. Security at the Capitol building has failed. 

  Surreal pic.twitter.com/rCMHa7ikgs

  — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 6, 2021

  BREAKING: Clashes reported inside the U.S. Capitol building pic.twitter.com/2twyZAD6wJ

  — BNO News (@BNONews) January 6, 2021

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

  When Black people loot toilet paper from a Wal Mart, the authorities will start spraying everyone with rubber bullets and running them over with military tanks.

  A bunch of suspected white supremacists are storming the US Capitol building right now, & cops are using pepper spray pic.twitter.com/Rcy5yVw5Wt

  — Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) January 6, 2021

  *  *  *

  Following President Trump’s address to supporters at a rally in Washington on Wednesday afternoon, a group of demonstrators marched to the US Capitol and reportedly breached several layers of security barricades around the building.

  Just before 1300 ET, a group of Trump supporters “toppled the barricades, storming through them to the grassy fields leading to the Capitol,” according to WaPo. 

  Inside the Capitol, Congress is meeting to certify the electoral college votes for President-elect Joe Biden

  Amid the unfolding chaos, staff in the Cannon House Office building to evacuate, according to a notice obtained by Bloomberg. Madison office building staff have also been told to evacuate. 

  Multiple buildings on Capitol Hill are being evacuated as Trump supporters clash with police

  pic.twitter.com/0e05G5z644

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 6, 2021

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

  Demonstrators are becoming increasingly violent towards police.   

  HAPPENING NOW: Crowd grows increasingly violent at the US Capitol

  pic.twitter.com/abjFxcUgVy

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 6, 2021

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

  Trump supporters are attempting to break police lines at the Capitol. 

  Trump supporters are trying to break past police lines at the Capitol building.pic.twitter.com/kzLo2vWyfq

  — Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) January 6, 2021

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  “Whoa: Trump supporters going at it with the police on the steps of the Capitol as Congress counts the Electoral College ballots inside,” HuffPost’s Philip Lewis tweeted.

  Whoa: Trump supporters going at it with the police on the steps of the Capitol as Congress counts the Electoral College ballots inside pic.twitter.com/LiQhaa5KkQ

  — philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 6, 2021

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  Representative Haley Stevens tweeted that she is “sheltering in place in my office.” She said the building next to her is being “evacuated.” 

  Stevens wrote: “I can’t believe I have to write this.” 

  I’m sheltering in place in my office. The building next door has been evacuated. I can’t believe I have to write this.

  — Rep. Haley Stevens (@RepHaleyStevens) January 6, 2021

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

  Here are more views outside of the Capitol. The Daily Dot’s Zachary Petrizzo said police are now firing tear gas into the crowd. 

  Capitol Police are now firing tear gas into the crowd. pic.twitter.com/T0ToS93oyn

  — Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) January 6, 2021

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

  Apparently, the crowd outside the Capitol is increasing in size. 

  More photos of what’s going on outside from the Capitol: pic.twitter.com/56mW2OEk2p

  — Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) January 6, 2021

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

  CNN’s Kaitlan Collins has just tweeted the “US Capitol is now on lockdown.” 

  The US Capitol is now on lockdown.

  — Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 6, 2021

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

  Protesters are now at the steps of the Capitol. 

  Protesters have breached police lines and are now on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.#US🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/9ru0qq5yxa

  — RAVEEN (@raveenaujmaya) January 6, 2021

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

  Protesters have made it to the doors of the Capitol. 

  The view from inside the Capitol, where Trump supporters are trying to breach the doors. pic.twitter.com/YiEbuJ3FX6

  — The Recount (@therecount) January 6, 2021

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

  Protesters have made it inside the Capitol building. 

  Protesters have breached the Capitol. They’re outside the Senate chamber pic.twitter.com/I021tKliUD

  — Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 6, 2021

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

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 23:05

• South Korean Warship Now Patrolling Persian Gulf After Iran Seized Tanker
  South Korean Warship Now Patrolling Persian Gulf After Iran Seized Tanker

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  A South Korean warship sailed into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday after Iran seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in the waters.

  South Korea’s defense ministry said the destroyer Choi Young was operating near the Strait of Hormuz. “It is carrying out missions to ensure the safety of our nationals,” South Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson Boo Seung Chan said of the destroyer.

  

  South Korea has approximately 300 members of an anti-piracy unit that have been operating in the region since last year and are reportedly on board the Choi Young destroyer.

  According to The Drive, among its weapons systems include the following: 

  The primary armament on these ships are Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) arrays, with each of the destroyers having a total of 64 cells. These can be loaded with a mixture of U.S.-made Standard Missile 2 Block IIIA surface-to-air missiles or South Korean-designed Hyunmoo-3 land-attack cruise missiles, as well as the Korean Anti-Submarine Rocket (K-ASROC), also known as the Red Shark, an anti-submarine weapon that has a homing torpedo as its warhead. We don’t know what the Choi Young‘s exact loadout is on this deployment.

  Officials in Seoul insist that the situation with Iran will be resolved diplomatically, despite the deployment of the warship.

  South Korea is sending a delegation to Iran to negotiate the release of the tanker ahead of a planned visit to Tehran next week.

  Iranian media first reported the seizure of the South Korean tanker Hankuk Chemi on Monday. The ship was carrying about 7,200 tons of chemicals and sailing from Saudi Arabia to the UAE.

  Iranian officials said the ship was seized for violating environmental protocols and polluting the waters of the Gulf, but some suspect it is related to the $7 billion of Iranian funds South Korea has frozen due to US sanctions.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 22:50

• China Makes It Harder For US Spy Satellites To Spot Hypersonic Missiles
  China Makes It Harder For US Spy Satellites To Spot Hypersonic Missiles

  China’s transporter erector launcher (TEL), which carries and fires DF-17 hypersonic missiles, has received a stealth camouflaged cover that makes it more challenging for the US and allies to identify via reconnaissance satellites, according to state-run newspaper Global Times. 

  TEL is a ground-based vehicle with an integrated prime mover (tractor unit) that can carry and elevate a DF-17 into a firing position. 

  The upgraded TEL was spotted in a video celebrating the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force last week and was published initially on the Chinese website 81.cn. 

  According to the video, the camouflaged missile transporter has a hypersonic missile encased inside a shell as it traverses desert terrain. 

  

  Shanghai-based news website eastday.com said the TEL is an upgraded version specifically for hauling DF-17s. 

  The PLA debuted the DF-17 during a military parade in late 2019. At the time, the TEL hauling the DF-17 had no cover and the entire missile was exposed. 

  

  Camouflaged missile transporters come as DF-17s are being fielded at military installations in Southeast China. 

  The missiles have already been deployed in the Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, which are in striking range of Taiwan. 

  

  Beijing’s increased militarization of its southeast coast is very suggestive of preparations for an invasion. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 22:30

• Iran Uses Its Grip On Strait Of Hormuz To Fight Back US-imposed Sanctions
  Iran Uses Its Grip On Strait Of Hormuz To Fight Back US-imposed Sanctions

  Submitted by South Front,

  Iran has found an original way of dealing with sanctions and limitations imposed on it by the so-called “maximum pressure” campaign launched by the Trump administration.

  On January 4, the Navy of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained a South Korea-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz over an alleged environmental pollution issue. The chemical tanker HANKUK CHEMI was inbound to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Ahead of the incident, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations naval authority reported that an “interaction” between Iranian authorities and a merchant vessel in the Strait of Hormuz led the ship to alter its course and proceed into Iranian waters.

  Following the incident, the South Korean Defense Ministry said that it will send its anti-piracy Cheonghae unit, normally based in the Gulf of Aden, along with helicopters to the Persian Gulf. The 302-strong Cheonghae unit operates a 4,500-ton destroyer, a Lynx anti-submarine helicopter and three speed boats.

  The deployment of this unit is a rather a symbolic move than a practical step that should allow to protect South Korea-flagged ships in the region as Iranian forces have an overwhelming dominance there and using its conventional and asymmetric capabilities can even challenge the US military in the event of a limited military confrontation there.

  Two days before the seizure of the tanker, Iran said a South Korean diplomat was due to travel to the country to negotiate over billions of dollars in its assets now frozen in Seoul. The total amount of Iranian money blocked in South Korea is up to $8.5 billion and Tehran declared its readiness to barter its money for deliveries of a variety of goods and commodities, including raw materials, medicine, petrochemicals, auto parts, home appliances.

  Apparently, Iran thinks that South Korea needs some additional motivation to go contrary to the will of its Big Brother and accept the Iranian proposal.

  Another important diplomatic achievement was made by Qatar, which is known as not only a Turkish ally, but also the Gulf monarchy that has constructive relations with Iran. On January 4, Saudi Arabia lifted the 4-year air, sea and land blockade that it together with the UAE, Kuwait, Egypt and Bahrain imposed on Qatar. In June 2017, the blockading countries accused Qatar, among other things, of supporting terrorism and of being too close to Iran. They severed economic and diplomatic ties with Doha and imposed a land, sea and air blockade on it. Qatar rejected all the allegations and refused to comply with a long list of demands announced by the blockading countries. So, now the anti-Qatari coalition is in retreat. The main factors that contributed to this scenario are the following:

  • a deep crisis faced by Saudi Arabia due to the failed intervention in Yemen and its oil war adventure;
  • the UAE-Saudi tensions that reached a new level due to the declining power of the Saudi Kingdom;
  • the growth of the influence of Iran and its popularity among the population of the Middle East due to the public rapprochement of the Gulf monarchies with Israel;
  • the stern stance of Qatar itself that used the blockade to develop alternative alliances and strengthen relations with Turkey, Iran and even Russia to contain the pressure it faced.

  The Israeli-aligned Gulf monarchies will likely try to use the lifting of the blockade to convince Doha to officially join the US-led pro-Israeli coalition. However, even if Qatar does this under the pressure of the United States and with hopes of restoring economic relations with its neighbors, this does not mean that Doha would change its de-facto regional strategy as the previous years already demonstrated that the national-oriented approach is much more useful in times of crises than empty hopes on large revenues from Israeli love.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 22:10

• C-SPAN Reinstates Journalist Steve Scully After He Was Caught Lying About Being Hacked
  C-SPAN Reinstates Journalist Steve Scully After He Was Caught Lying About Being Hacked

  It seems it’s only “cancel culture” when the mob wants to cancel someone on the right.

  We say that because there appears to be no outrage after C-SPAN announced that “never Trumper” Steve Scully would be keeping his job at the network after an embarrassing incident last October where Scully admitted he lied about his Twitter account being hacked. 

  The network wrote on January 5: “Steve Scully, who was placed on administrative leave in mid-October for Twitter-related controversies in conjunction with the second presidential debate, is returning to duty at C-SPAN beginning this week. His initial assignments will be off-air producing for C-SPAN television and resumption of his work on C-SPAN Radio’s ‘Washington Today’ program and ‘The Weekly,’ a podcast/interview program.”

  “We view October’s events as a singular episode in an otherwise successful 30- year C-SPAN career. And while it was appropriate in October for Steve to be immediately relieved of his duties leading our 2020 election coverage, we reiterate our belief that now, having completed a three-month administrative leave, he can continue to contribute to CSPAN’s mission,” C-SPAN wrote in a statement January 5.

  

  C-SPAN had suspended Scully indefinitely after he admitted to lying about his Twitter feed being hacked following an awkward incident in which he appeared to accidentally tweet an intended private message to former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci.

  

  Scully’s suspension came on the day he was set to moderate the now-canceled second presidential debate, which was to be ‘a career highlight for the 30-year C-SPAN veteran’ (and former Biden staffer).

  In October 2020, after Scully tweeted “@Scaramucci should I respond to Trump,” Frank Fahrenkopf, co-chairman for the Commission on Presidential Debates relayed Scully’s lie that his Twitter account was hacked. C-SPAN similarly issued a statement, confidently claiming “Steve Scully did not originate the tweet and believes his account has been hacked.”

  

  CSPAN Comment https://t.co/5gP8l6fAfX

  — Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) October 9, 2020

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  Shortly after Scully’s ‘hack’ lie was peddled across the MSM by prominent voices, former Hillary Clinton staffer Yashar Ali noted that the C-SPAN veteran had previously blamed hacks twice before.

  Tweets from 2012 and 2013 pic.twitter.com/jdeKqq7UEW

  — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 9, 2020

  Following that revelation, Scully apologized for lying. Via AP:

  Scully said that when he saw his tweet had created a controversy, “I falsely claimed that my Twitter account had been hacked.”

  He had been frustrated by Trump’s comments and several weeks of criticism on social media and conservative news outlets about his role as moderator, including attacks directed at his family, he said.

  “These were both errors in judgement for which I am totally responsible for,” Scully said. “I apologize.”

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  He blames conservatives. https://t.co/C6XlDaiB4t

  — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 15, 2020

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  In his “apology,” Scully blames Trump for Scully lying about being hacked.

  It’s a perfect microcosm of Trump Derangement Syndrome: journo who claims Trump is a liar immediately decides that collusion and lying about collusion are the antidode to Trump. https://t.co/8SpcTSv4aM

  — Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 15, 2020

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  Scully acknowledged that he let his C-SPAN colleagues down, along with fellow news professionals and the debate commission.

  “I ask for their forgiveness as I try to move forward in a moment of reflection and disappointment in myself,” he added.

  A play in four acts. pic.twitter.com/8Gm8pPKhvG

  — JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) October 15, 2020

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  C-SPAN at the time said: “He understands that he made a serious mistake,” adding “We were very saddened by this news and do not condone his actions.”

  They left out “we look forward to re-instating him as soon as Joe Biden is elected president”. 

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

  Regardless, it seems like lying is a pre-requisite to be a journalist nowadays anyway. Enjoy your second act, Steve, and good luck keeping those pesky hackers at bay.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 21:50

• Meet The Censored: Mark Crispin Miller
  Meet The Censored: Mark Crispin Miller

  Authored by Matt Taibbi via TK News,

  Mark Crispin Miller, author and longtime New York University professor, has unconventional views. Even work he’s done that’s won mainstream praise is unconventional, upon close examination. If you came of political age during the Iraq war years, you probably remember him for The Bush Dyslexicon, a witty, challenging book that took a deep dive into the speech patterns of George W. Bush.

  .

  Unwrapping the thought processes behind famed “Bushisms” like “The question is, how many hands have I shaked?”, Miller found a metaphor for the broad illogic under American society. However, that book’s central idea — that “we Americans have been tricked out of our democracy by a vast and very smart conspiracy of stupid talkers” — was too rich for some mainstream commentators.

  Crispin Miller argued that when people like Donald Rumsfeld told us that “victory” in Iraq may not come “in a month or a year or even five years,” that in fact even fighting forever might be a “victory, in my view,” the joke was not that this message was garbled by Bush, but rather that it was conveyed clearly by “producers, anchors, editors, journalists, and pundits,” who were “fatally dyslexic in doping out the very spectacle it presents to us.” Presenting madness as sanity required a brokenness of mind that just happened to come of the president’s mouth as laugh lines.

  Since then, Crispin Miller has become known for blogging about official deceptions, and his attentions are often focused in directions that make even hardened skeptics like me nervous. On MarkCrispinMiller.com, he posts headlines like, “The Official Story of 9/11 is Based on a Gigantic Lie” and “‘Rogue’ Chinese virologist presents ‘smoking gun’ evidence that SARS-COV-2 was created in a lab.’” As noted in the interview below, he once suggested a student read Nobody Died at Sandy Hook, a book that inspired a $450,000 defamation award to the parent of a Sandy Hook victim.

  At the same time, his observations about the nature of media in America remain poignant and rare in a country whose citizens are trained to believe that propaganda is something only other people consume. Crispin Miller tries to undo those thinking patterns via a course in propaganda at NYU that, he says, urges them to evaluate material independently, and is what got him in trouble.

  There’s a paradox in the way we consume information in the U.S. Our country does not (yet?) insist that official lies remain accepted as truths forever. Even the U.S. Naval Institute is now allowed to write lengthy tracts about how “high government officials distorted facts and deceived the American public” in the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and it’s accepted that similar lies were told about everything from WMDs to the pretext for the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Even the Zero Dark Thirty account of how we supposedly killed and captured Osama bin Laden was a mess, with then-chief counterterrorism advisor John Brennan saying initially that bin Laden used his wife as a human shield, only to have the government retract the claim shortly after.

  While already-proven deceptions are fair game, the penalties for those who raise the first questions grow higher all the time. The term “conspiracy theorist” is now applied equally to people like Alex Jones and Sy Hersh, whose objections to the story of bin Laden’s capture have been effectively memory-holed, as have his oft-denounced reports on reported chemical attacks in Syria (the subject of numerous recent whistleblower accounts claiming official deception).

  Additionally, the term “conspiracy theory” is now often wrapped in accusations of bigotry. In fact, the spreading of conspiracy theories is understood to be a key element of racist movements. There’s obviously some truth to that, as theories about Jews in media or disease-ridden immigrants are among the most common form of the genre. However, it shouldn’t follow that because racists spread conspiracy theories, all people who investigate conspiracies are racist.

  That faulty syllogism now means that the person who tries to take on an entrenched official story not only risks being called crazy, but a racist, sexist, Assadist, etc. The latter charges, if they stick, lead to an expanding array of consequences, from removal from the Internet to job loss. This effect has heightened during the pandemic, a period when we’ve been encouraged to forget how often conventional wisdom about Covid-19 has shifted:

  This tweet (from March) has just been deleted pic.twitter.com/rs4IMKB7cM

  — Bruno Maçães (@MacaesBruno) December 21, 2020

  Crispin Miller’s recent troubles stem from being a skeptic about mask use. He points out that until 2020, studies were unenthusiastic about their benefits in stopping the transition of respiratory illness, and even the CDC only recently changed its mind on the issue. When he broached the subject in class, a student responded critically on Twitter:

  @nyuniversity: an MCC tenured professor spent an entire class period telling students that wearing masks doesn’t prevent the spread of COVID-19, and that hydroxychloroquine trials were made to fail so more people would be given the vaccine and have their DNA changed. thread 1/

  — Julia Jackson (@julia_jacks) September 21, 2020

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  Criticizing Crispin Miller for sending links to a site that in turn linked to The Charlie Kirk Show, Zero Hedge, Technocracy News, Global Research, “and more,” the student went on to tag the University leadership and wrote, “I hope they take immediate steps to relieve him of these duties.”

  Crispin Miller’s department responded by promising, “We have made this a priority and are discussing next steps.” This in turn led to a now-standard cancelation ritual. A denunciation letter from academic colleagues asked the school to complete a review of Miller’s “intimidating tactics, abuses of authority, aggression and microaggressions, and explicit hate speech, none of which are excused by academic freedom and First Amendment protections.”

  The faculty letter began with complaints about Crispin Miller’s blog, which they said includes “direct mockery and ridicule of trans individuals” and a “characterization of transgender surgery as a eugenic form of sterilization.” They went on, however, to say that no matter how “damaging” these very “visible” views may be to the department, he has a “right to his opinions” that we “must uphold.”

  The signatories then shifted and argued that by mentioning that tweeting student, Crispin Miller moved out of the realm of mere damaging opinion, and into the crime of creating an “unsafe learning environment.” Through this bait-and-switch, the opinions on the blog that colleagues only a few paragraphs before said must be upheld, were now re-entered as part of the argument against him.

  The letter says Crispin Miller through his blog “used his position of authority to intimidate students who choose to wear masks and abide by NYU policy,” which implies but does not exactly say he was telling students not to wear masks. Crispin Miller insists he did not do the latter, and notes that he wears a mask “in discharge of his professional duties.”

  Near the end, the signatories wrote:

  We support the queer, transgender, and non-binary members of the NYU commüñity. We support those in our community who are Black and Indigenous people of color, and immigrants, and who come from marginalized and historically underrepresented communities, particularly those who have been targets of ongoing and systemic racism and violence. We unequivocally condemn white supremacy, anti-trans/nonbinary bias, and any hate speech.

  With this language, protesting faculty moved the Crispin Miller issue from a technical violation of campus mask policy, or even just an accusation of unsound or “non-evidence-based” teaching, and into an argument that positioned him additionally as a defender of white supremacy. This double-whammy construction has become a regular part of the accusatory formula in such cases.

  Crispin Miller responded with a petition to defend his academic freedom that so far has gained over 26,000 signatures, as well as a lawsuit against academic colleagues for libel and defamation, charging among other things that the letter by faculty members, in espousing their liberal credentials, led “any reasonable reader to falsely believe that plaintiff holds regressive views, opposing social equality for insular minority groups and espousing hatred toward them.”

  I disagree with a lot of things Mark has written over the years, but he’s exactly the kind of person whose teaching style tends to benefit college students: a smart person who thinks for himself and challenges students to do the same. By encouraging the school to sack him over a complaint, Crispin Miller’s colleagues are telling students that it’s faster to eliminate or suppress unpleasant ideas than find successful arguments against them. This feels like the opposite of teaching.

  Katie Halper and I interviewed Mark for Rolling Stone’s Useful Idiots podcast. An abridged transcript of the interview is included below:

  MT: What happened?

  MCM: I’ve been teaching at NYU since 1997. Media studies is my field basically. And one of the courses I’ve taught every year, every semester, really, and sometimes even more than that, is a course on propaganda…

  I began the course, as I always do, by making clear that my approach to the subject of propaganda is not to treat it as some ancient thing where we look at the Nazis, we look at the Bolsheviks, maybe we talk about World War I, maybe we talk about McCarthyism, right?

  We definitely look at those earlier examples, but the focus of the course, the mission of the course is to try to teach students how to recognize it in real-time, make an effort to assess its claims impartially, even if you agree with them, and then see if you can discern the hallmarks of a propaganda drive, because it always comes disguised as news or entertainment or something like that. Figure out who’s behind it, and what its purpose is.

  And I make this abundantly clear, it is a difficult thing to do, intellectually difficult. It can even be socially and psychologically difficult to be skeptical, to that degree. So I said, as I always do, we would naturally focus on some of the things that are going on now. For example, look at the way we’re meeting. We’re meeting via Zoom. This is an eloquent testimony to the success of the whole COVID crisis propaganda. And propaganda does not have to be—

  MT: False?

  MCM: Right. Pejorative… Nefarious, as you said. A campaign to get you to wear your seatbelt in a car, that’s propaganda, but propaganda it is anyway. And so we would want to deal with it. For example, we might want to look at the mask mandates. I would encourage you to look at a body of very interesting scientific studies, eight randomized controlled studies conducted over the last 15 years or so among healthcare professionals of the effectiveness of masks against respiratory viruses, because the consensus of those studies, and those are the most rigorous kind of scientific study, randomized controlled studies. The consensus is that they’re not really effective. I would encourage you to read those…

  I also think you should read more recent studies finding otherwise. And I gave some guidance as to how a layperson can assess the soundness of scientific studies because I mean, I’m not a scientist, right? And they’re not scientists, most of them. I said, for example, there are scientific reviews of these studies. You can find them. In some cases, there’s actual press coverage of very public objections to studies. And you’ll want to look at the universities where these studies were done and see if they have financial arrangements with big pharma companies or get money from the Gates Foundation, because this might suggest some kind of conflict of interest. I said, all this. I want to add, I said pointedly, “I am not telling you not to wear masks.” NYU has a strict rule. I observe the rule. This is an intellectual exercise, or would be, if you did it.

  The following week, or maybe a little later, a student emailed me and asked to join late. And as I always do, I said sure, the more the merrier. And she joined us. And the second day she was there, she had spoken up at one point the first day about Edward Bernays’s book, Propaganda, which we were discussing. The next day, the mask thing came up again. So that little bit resumed. And she didn’t say anything. That was on a Thursday.

  Early the next week, I get a call from my department chair asking me, in a kind of accusatory tone, if I had discouraged them from wearing masks, or did I have them read something that suggested they don’t work? Whatever he asked me, I said, “Well, this is what I said, this is what happened.” And he said, “Oh, well, I’m going to have to tell the Dean’s COVID task force,” or whatever it’s called. I said, “Okay, what’s up?” And he told me that a student had gone on Twitter and demanded that I be fired.

  MT: Do you suspect that there are views that you’ve held previously that your colleagues disagree with, and that this has become a pretext? And if so, what might those things be?

  MCM: First of all, I think my colleagues are sincerely outraged by some of my views or what they think my views are. Now see, if they were in my class, I could actually engage them in a conversation about some of the things they think I said. One of the things they claim in their letter is that on my website I’ve denied Sandy Hook happened. On my site, Markcrispinmiller.com, anyone can do a search on Sandy Hook, and they’ll see that it doesn’t come up once. I don’t mention it.

  What they’re referring to, and what incensed them, apparently, [was] that in a class, in a propaganda class… someone mentioned Sandy Hook, which was the first in the series of school shootings that have been so high profile in this last decade. Columbine was much earlier, and that was very different. I said, “There is some very interesting research on Sandy Hook that is troubling and very challenging, and I dismissed it out of hand until I read it. And I have to say, there’s something to it. And so if you’re interested in this, you might read it.” And I mentioned this book, a collection of essays. That was my denying that Sandy Hook happened.

  So clearly, a student in the class reacted in precisely the way I urged them to try not to act in the class, i.e. just heard me say that about Sandy Hook, and went and told some of my colleagues, “He’s denied Sandy Hook occurred.” And then they all said, “See? Typical. He’s denied Sandy Hook…” So that’s an example of what I take to be their sincere discomfiture with my engaging precisely the sort of subject that most academics and journalists and others are, sort of, trained to avoid, because you get in trouble if you talk about them.

  But the whole course, as your question implies, is about that. We can always easily spot the propaganda that we don’t agree with. You ask any liberal, what’s propaganda? They’ll say, “Oh, Fox. Fox News.” You ask any conservative what’s propaganda? They’ll say, “MSNBC.” They’re both right. Both are propagandistic, but what they can’t see is the propaganda that they agree with because they think it’s just information. They think it’s just the truth.

  MT: Isn’t the academic world struggling with whether the appropriate way to go about teaching is to encourage kids to read everything and discover things for themselves, or to just give them the right texts and tell them to avoid the wrong texts? There’s a school of thought that believes strongly that some things are just aren’t worth reading, versus the traditional notion that a student should read everything, even things that are horrible.

  Katie Halper: Even Mein Kampf…

  MCM: Calling it a school of thought I think is dignifying it because it’s not thought at all. It’s thoughtlessness, the school of thoughtlessness. And it’s not a school, therefore, because you’re not teaching anybody anything except groupthink, and that’s what’s happening. It’s very oppressive.

  It sounds hyperbolic, but it’s like going to school during the Cultural Revolution or Gleichschaltung, which was the Nazi term for streamlining. It’s when they made all the cultural institutions, they Nazified them all. Of course, there was stuff you couldn’t read. It would be a crime to read it or even bring it up, and it’s kind of like that now. Many of the people who’ve been attacked by their colleagues, as I have, tend to be toward the right. Scott Atlas was attacked by the Stanford faculty for working under Trump on health policy, and Alan Dershowitz has been attacked by the Harvard faculty for his legal advice to that effort after the election…

  But as my case shows, you don’t have to be on the right to be attacked this way. I’ve heard from many people, professors at other schools, who’ve had their slings and arrows, had those shots at them, risked getting fired. Some have been fired. And they’re long-time left people, but… the left today is… not the left that I remember, that I have long considered myself part of, which is antiwar, which is about rectifying grotesque income inequality, strengthening the working class, certainly civil rights… Those are, I see them as left issues. Many of them are also libertarian issues. So what the left has now become is a pro-censorship army. It wants censorship, so the left has changed immensely, and I think that I’m sort of a casualty of that.

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  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 21:30

• Trump Supporters Swarm Governor's Mansion In Washington State
  Trump Supporters Swarm Governor’s Mansion In Washington State

  On Wednesday afternoon, supporters of President Trump breached the gates at the Governor’s Mansion in Olympia, Washington. 

  According to local news KING 5, “hundreds of protesters gained access to the property, with flags, signs, and megaphones.” 

  KING 5 reporters were on scene and confirmed Gov. Jay Inslee was home as protesters, some armed, were at his doorstep. 

  The Daily Beast’s Shauna Sowersby said, “protesters are now standing outside of Gov. Jay Inslee’s mansion on the Capitol campus chanting, “open the gates!” Some are banging their flags on the metal gates.” 

  Protestors are now standing outside of Gov. Jay Inslee’s mansion on the Capitol campus chanting, “open the gates!” Some are banging their flags on the metal gates. No word if Inslee is currently here or not. #OlympiaProtest pic.twitter.com/haeR5xR4JH

  — Shauna Sowersby (@Shauna_Sowersby) January 6, 2021

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  Sowersby captured the moment when protesters broke through the security gate and stormed the grounds of Inslee’s mansion. 

  Protestors have breached the gates of the governor’s mansion. #OlympiaProtest pic.twitter.com/RCP6ifF1jn

  — Shauna Sowersby (@Shauna_Sowersby) January 6, 2021

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  Protesters swarmed the front yard of the mansion.

  Protestors now on the lawn of Gov. Inslee’s mansion #olympiaprotest pic.twitter.com/MgwtlLZmst

  — Shauna Sowersby (@Shauna_Sowersby) January 6, 2021

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  They were met by police officers in riot gear at the front door of the home. 

  

  Near Inslee’s mansion, a Fox News reporter shoved a Trump supporter. We assume the Trump supporter will be watching One America News Network from now on.

  Fox News anchor shoves a Trump supporter outside the gates of the governor’s mansion. He then gets shoved by other Trump supporters before being asked to leave. #OlympiaProtest pic.twitter.com/Th7MftWIG1

  — Shauna Sowersby (@Shauna_Sowersby) January 6, 2021

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  The incident at Inslee’s mansion follows a chaotic afternoon at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., when hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the building, gaining access to the Senate floor. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 21:10

• Senate Rejects Ted Cruz's First Objection To Electoral College Certification
  Senate Rejects Ted Cruz’s First Objection To Electoral College Certification

  

  Update (2305ET): The Senate voted down Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) first objection to the Electoral College certification process, lodged against Arizona. While over a dozen senators had pledged to object, just six ended up voting yes following Wednesday’s violence in the U.S. Capitol; Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Roger Marshall (R-KS.) and John Kennedy (R-LA) joined Cruz in objecting according to Axios.

  *  *  *

  Wednesday’s historic protest at the Capitol (described by some far-left outlets like Buzzfeed as a legitimate act of domestic terrorism) is working out for both of America’s establishment political factions, the Nancy Pelosi-led Democrats, and the establishment GOP. Only in the modern bifurcated media environment could Thursday’s protest be described as both a “coup d’etat” and a peaceful, non-violent demonstration (though, to be fair, one woman died after being shot in the chest).

  In reality, however, it was neither. And now that it’s over (instead of setting up an anarchist commune, the pro-Trump protesters mostly dispersed after they felt their point had been made), we’re starting to see how Wednesday’s protest has created a critical opportunity for Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Congressional leadership: it has given them a way out.

  

  Following reports from NBC News that some Republicans were reconsidering their decision to support a challenge to the election, the Hill is reporting that many senior Republicans are “hopeful” their colleagues have changed their minds.

  But we probably won’t know for certain how many lawmakers have changed their minds until the day of the big vote.

  “There’s gonna be probably 30 or 40 more minutes of debate, and one vote,” Rand Paul said. “I just don’t think there’s going to be another objection. I think it’s over at that point.”

  Paul says he expects the Senate will vote on the objection to Arizona’s Electoral College votes on Wednesday evening, but didn’t expect Republican senators to object to the results from Georgia or Pennsylvania as previously planned.Congress has already returned to continue with the debate and votes.

  When the Hill tried to contact them, spokespeople for Sens. Josh Hawley and Kelly Loeffler, who were expected to object to vote tallies in Pennsylvania and Georgia, respectively, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

  Whatever happens, the public will know soon enough. But there’s nothing like a failed “coup” to ratchet up the pressure on an increasingly isolated Trump.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 20:57

• Peter Schiff Exposes America's Dysfunctional Economy
  Peter Schiff Exposes America’s Dysfunctional Economy

  Via SchiffGold.com,

  Peter Schiff appeared on the Lions of Liberty podcast with Marc Clair to look back at the Trump economy and ahead to what the Biden years might bring. Along the way, Peter and Marc talk about the stock market bubble, Peter’s move to Puerto Rico, the looming dollar collapse, and bitcoin.

  The Trump economy will probably be most remembered for the surging stock market. The president constantly pointed to record stock values as a measure of his success. But Peter reminds us that we also had a strong stock market in the last couple of years of the Obama presidency. In fact, Trump ran a campaign attacking that stock market bubble. He promised he was going to fix Main Street by addressing the trade deficit and the budget deficit, rebuilding America’s manufacturing economy, and draining the swamp.

  And none of it happened. Instead, all Trump is doing is pointing to the stock market bubble, which is now bigger than the one he inherited, and claiming a successful presidency based on the stock market. Meanwhile, the budget deficits he’s leaving to Biden are far greater than the ones he inherited from Obama. The trade deficits he’s leaving Biden are much bigger than the ones he inherited from Obama. In fact, the trade deficit with China has never been larger. So, to the extent we were losing on trade before Trump, we’re losing even bigger than ever with Trump — and this is even before COVID.”

  Of course, it wasn’t all bad.

  

  Trump did deliver promised tax cuts. But he also increased spending.

  Trump made government a bigger burden on the economy than it was before. He just changed the way that burden is borne by the public. Instead of paying for government with income taxes, we’re paying for it through inflation. The government is printing more money and taking the purchasing power. I mean, the dollar is just beginning to fall.”

  Ultimately, everything Americans buy will become more expensive thanks to the inflation created to finance the huge expansion of government during the Trump years.

  Of course, Peter doesn’t think things will improve with Biden in the Oval Office. In fact, he said Trump has left the Republican Party in a weak position to act as the opposition to the Biden agenda. And what is that agenda? Grow government more substantially and pay for it with bigger deficits and more money printing.

  Republicans didn’t object to the bigger deficits when Trump policies produced them. They didn’t object to larger deficits when they were cutting taxes on the rich. So, how would they object to bigger deficits for all these social programs that are going to benefit the middle class and the poor? At least that’s the Democratic rhetoric. So, I think it’s going to be difficult for the Republicans to really have the type of roadblocks in front of Biden that they did successfully erect in front of Obama.”

  Peter also noted that the far-left “Bernie Sanders-AOC wing” of the Democratic Party is far more popular than it was when Obama was in office. Even though Biden is a more mainstream Democrat, he will have to make some concessions to the far left for political reasons. Peter said he thinks we may well see a federal $15 an hour minimum wage, implementation of some aspects of the Green New Deal, and perhaps even a move toward student loan forgiveness, “Medicare for All” or a universal basic income.

  Marc followed up with a key question: how can we protect our wealth given what is likely coming down the pike? For one thing, Peter recommends avoiding the US stock market. But he doesn’t suggest keeping your wealth in cash.

  If the choice was between US cash and US stocks, I’d hold my nose and buy US stocks. Because I think at the end of the day, the biggest losers are going to be the people who hold cash. And the worst thing you could do with your cash is buy bonds. So, it’s going to be the bondholders who suffer the most, not the stockholders. But I think that foreign stocks, emerging markets will dramatically outperform the US stock market over the next five to 10 years. In fact, over the next one year.

  And you know, the only way the US or the Federal Reserve, the US government, could prevent the stock market from crashing, which it should do because it’s so overvalued, but the only way to save the stock market is to sacrifice the dollar. And that is what they’re doing. They’re keeping on printing money and keeping rates artificially low to prevent the air from coming out of these bubbles. They don’t want stock prices to crash. They don’t want real estate prices to crash. So instead, the dollar is going to crash.”

  In effect, the real value of stocks and real estate will come down. But you can’t see that when you’re measuring it in dollars because the dollar loses value faster than your stocks.

  If I keep shrinking the value of the dollar, it makes it look like your stock portfolio is growing. But if you then take your stock portfolio and measure it in gold — how many ounces of gold can I afford with the stock portfolio? — that’s where you’ll see the falling value of your stock, or your real estate, or whatever you happen to have.”

  Peter said ultimately, he thinks we will see a major macroeconomic transition as the world moves away from the dollar as the reserve currency.

  The dollar is going to collapse and that is going to turn the world upside down, because now Americans can’t live beyond their means anymore. Americans can only consume if they produce. Americans can only borrow if they save. And our dysfunctional economy is so screwed up now from all these years of having the benefit of being the issuer of the reserve currency that we’re no longer going to be able to function in a different world where we have to pull our own weight.”

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 20:50

• Israeli Airstrikes Rock Damascus At Moment All Eyes Are On US Capitol
  Israeli Airstrikes Rock Damascus At Moment All Eyes Are On US Capitol

  At a moment international media and political leaders are focused on watching the mayhem unfolding on Capitol Hill, Israel has again attacked Syria, hitting southern Damascus with a series of airstrikes Wednesday night. 

  This is the third such Israeli attack in three weeks, during which Syrian air defenses were active and said to have intercepted some of the inbound missiles. 

  

  State-run SANA said the strikes were launched from the direction Golan Heights region, and that many missiles were successfully intercepted.

  According to The Jerusalem Post: 

  An alleged Israeli airstrike targeted locations in southern Syria as explosions were heard in the skies over Damascus on Wednesday night, according to Syrian state media SANA.The strikes were launched from the Golan Heights, a Syrian military source told SANA, claiming that most of the incoming missiles were intercepted by Syrian air defenses.

  While it’s likely that Israel already had the targets in mind – given also such attacks have become almost “routine” – it appears the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) intentionally conducted the operation at a moment the world’s eyes are fixated on watching events unfold in Washington D.C.

  Syrian air defense activated during reported Israeli airstrikes in southern #Syria. #Israel pic.twitter.com/d7mKShEQxR

  — Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) January 6, 2021

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

  Casualties are as yet unknown, with the extent of damage further unconfirmed. During a prior Christmas Eve attack on the Syrian countryside there were multiple casualties reported. 

  Israel has long claimed its attacks are primarily against Iranian troop positions and weapons smuggling operations connected to Hezbollah.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 20:30

• South Carolina Legislation Looks To Ban Mandatory Vaccines
  South Carolina Legislation Looks To Ban Mandatory Vaccines

  Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

  Lawmakers in South Carolina have pre-filed a bill proposing a ban on mandatory coronavirus vaccines.

  

  WCNC News reports that four state reps. have proposed the legislation to ensure that people may opt out of vaccination and not be discriminated against for doing so.

  The proposal states that those refusing the vaccine would not face “adverse employment action” or any form of societal restrictions for doing so.

  The legislation will also state that vaccines “may be provided only to those individuals who agree to vaccination.”

  Currently in the state it is legal for employers to mandate vaccinations. This legislation would overturn that.

  The proposed bill, which has been referred to the Committee on Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs, is being sponsored by one Democratic representative, and three Republicans. They are Reps. Steven Long, R-Spartanburg, Leola Robinson, D-Greenville, Mike Burns, R-Greenville, and Sandy McGarry, R-Lancaster.

  Rep. Burns told reporters “We want people to be able to go to their jobs, go to schools, go about their business, and not be mandated to do something that they feel is not in the best interest health-wise for themselves.”

  “There should be no negative consequences for those opting out of the vaccine,” Rep. Burns added.

  Representative Stephen Long said that the legislation was proposed following concerns from multiple constituents that “vaccine cards” could be introduced, effectively segregating society.

  “Taking a vaccine should be a personal, private choice, and requiring ‘vaccine cards’ to board planes, attend school, etc is a very dangerous idea,” Rep. Long urged.

  “I encourage everyone to speak with a physician about the benefits and risks of taking a vaccine, but it should never be mandatory,” Long added.

  The proposal could progress through to committee next week, according to reports.

  There has been much hype around potential ‘COVID passports’, especially concerning the fact that employers are currently allowed to mandate vaccination in many states.

  Last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases stated that mandatory vaccinations are still ‘on the table’, and that he is “sure” that institutions such as hospitals and schools will mandate all who work there to be vaccinated.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 20:10

• Hank Paulson Returns To Wall Street To Run 'Climate-Focused' PE Fund
  Hank Paulson Returns To Wall Street To Run ‘Climate-Focused’ PE Fund

  Since overseeing the near-destruction of the global financial system, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has kept a low profile, appearing in public every now and then to laugh in the face of worsening economic inequality – “We made it wider!” – or bemoan the deteriorating US-China bilateral relationship.

  But from here on out, the public might be seeing and hearing more from the septaugenarian who once ran Goldman Sachs, before he was tapped to run the Treasury Department by President George W Bush.

  As NYT editor and CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin reported on Wednesday, Paulson has been tapped by – of all people – U2 frontman Bono to lead a new climate-focused investment fund at private equity firm TPG Capital. The 74-year-old will now return to the private sector for the first time since leaving Goldman in 2006.

  Here’s more from the NYT:

  This past fall, Henry M. Paulson Jr., the former Treasury secretary, got a call from Paul David Hewson, better known as Bono. The musician-activist-investor had an idea and “an ask”: Bono, who helped found TPG’s $5 billion Rise funds focused on “impact investing,” told Mr. Paulson that the investment firm wanted to create an even bigger platform to focus exclusively on combating climate change — and he wanted Mr. Paulson to run it.

  Mr. Paulson, who has spent the last 12 years since leaving his post at the Treasury away from the private sector running his nonprofit institute and working on climate change initiatives, demurred.

  “He told me, ‘My dance card is full,’” Bono said of the call. “I thought he’d be amazing,” Bono added, but said he’d been warned by Mr. Paulson’s associates, “There’s just no way.”

  This week, after months of calls and meetings that followed with Jon Winkelried, TPG’s co-chief executive – Mr. Paulson’s friend and former colleague when he ran Goldman Sachs – Mr. Paulson will become the executive chairman of a new global fund, TPG Rise Climate.

  But why tap Paulson for such a role? As it turns out, the former Treasury Secretary has dedicated himself to combating climate change via various nonprofits over the past decade or so. Paulson and TPG co-founder Jim Coulter said their goal with the fund is to “to make investments in climate that are as profitable as any other kind of investment.”

  

  Paulson plans to dedicate roughly 50% of his time to this new role. Right now, he’s focused on meeting with power players around the world to try and drum up some investment for the fund. But given all the hype around ESG investing, we suspect Paulson won’t have much trouble recruiting investors.

  Unsurprisingly, when prodded to offer up an example of a successful ESG investment, Paulson pointed to Tesla. But unless Paulson plans on dumping the fund’s money in OTM $TSLA calls, he will need to find some other ESG-focused companies who are still in the early stages of running their business.

  The early returns from TPG’s existing Rise funds — $2 billion of which are in climate-related investments — appear to suggest that socially responsible investing can be just as profitable as other approaches. Mr. Coulter said that with the reduction in the cost of solar energy — for example, bringing it to parity with the cost of building a new gas plant in some places in the United States — the opportunity to make attractive new investments has fundamentally changed. He said he was seeing similar opportunities in electric vehicles and the energy grid that powers them, in agriculture and in consumer packaged goods.

  In the public markets, investors are throwing money at companies like Tesla and others that have positive environmental, social and governance models. However, there is not enough of a pipeline of climate-focused businesses ready to go public, Mr. Paulson said: “We need more high-quality investment opportunities from private equity investments that have the potential to become scalable public companies.”

  Asked by Sorkin to explain why he thought Paulson would be best suited to lead such a fund, Bono explained that his years of work combating global poverty and AIDS have taught him that sometimes you need “the unusual suspects” to come in and do things differently.

  Bono said of his new partnership with Mr. Paulson, “My work on global poverty and then the AIDS fight taught me that we don’t just need the usual suspects, we need some ‘unusual suspects,’ if you like, and some unexpected partnerships in the conversation as well.”

  And just like that, Paulson has become the most important ESG investor in the world. Now, all he needs to do is hire Greta Thunberg as chief analyst.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 19:50

• Medical Errors And The Cult Of Expertise In The Age Of COVID
  Medical Errors And The Cult Of Expertise In The Age Of COVID

  Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

  Ever since the covid panic began in February of this year, medical personnel such as doctors and nurses have been treated to a level of hero worship generally reserved for the government’s soldiers and cops. We were told they were heroically slaving away to treat covid victims. And although many of these nurses were apparently spending their time choreographing TikTok videos and dancing in hospital hallways, we were assured by government officials and their obedient allies in the media that medical staffers are the new model for self-sacrifice and civic virtue. 

  

  Yet in the two decades leading up to 2020, researchers were repeatedly alarmed by the extent to which medical errors were a persistent problem in American clinics and hospitals. Beginning at least as early as 1999, an increasing number of studies suggested that perhaps nearly a hundred thousand patients per year were dying due to medical errors.

  Numerous articles appeared in mass media outlets suggesting that medical training was insufficient, that systems devised by hospitals were error prone, and that malpractice was not as rare as doctors would have us believe. 

  Not surprisingly, politics also intervened. Many outlets took the apparent prevalence of medical errors to prove that more government regulation and government funding were necessary. Others noted problems in how government agencies count deaths. 

  But then the covid panic happened. Not surprisingly, concerns over medical competence have receded into the background, and medical personnel have instead been treated to a status of near apotheosis, with the opinion of every run-of-the-mill nurse or physician on everything from racism to “essential businesses” being of the utmost gravity. 

  Moreover, with a focus on the maximization of counting covid deaths, it is likely we’ll see fewer deaths due to medical errors in official counts. And lobbying groups devoted to representing doctors and nurses are likely to use the current political situation to their own advantage. As has long been the case with police and soldiers, the medical profession is pressing the “never question us, we’re experts” line. The actual record, however, suggests the level of “expertise” ought to receive more scrutiny. 

  How Many Deaths Are Caused by Medical Errors? 

  After years of growing discussion on the topic, Johns Hopkins University in 2016 released a study concluding that “medical errors” were the third leading cause of death:

  Analyzing medical death rate data over an eight-year period, Johns Hopkins patient safety experts have calculated that more than 250,000 deaths per year are due to medical error in the U.S. Their figure, published May 3 in The BMJ, surpasses the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) third leading cause of death — respiratory disease, which kills close to 150,000 people per year.

  A death caused by a medical error is defined as a death caused by poorly skilled staff, errors in judgment, a preventable adverse effect, or systemic problems such as computer malfunctions or mix-ups over medication.

  The Hopkins study concluded that the methods of reporting deaths in the United States are inadequate to account for the full role of medical errors. 

  The Hopkins statistic was widely reported in the media, such as in this 2018 article at MSNBC. MSNBC even notes that other studies have reported medical errors as the cause of over four hundred thousand deaths per year. 

  Closer to 100,000 per Year?

  Since then, some researchers have expressed dismay and disbelief over the notion that deaths caused by medical errors could be so numerous. For example, researcher and medical doctor David Gorski insists that many who believe the Hopkins number of 250,000 are no better than “quacks.”

  Gorski suggests that only fifty-two hundred deaths per year result from medical errors. But in this Gorski relies on a very narrow definition of medical errors as the overwhelming and obvious cause of death. He nonetheless admits that more than 108,000 deaths per year are cases in which “adverse effects of medical treatment” (i.e., medical errors) are “contributory.”

  Gorski’s number of fifty-two hundred is likely little more than wishful thinking. While 250,000 may be on the high end, it’s unlikely medical errors are nearly as rare as Gorski hopes.

  In this study published in 2020 at the National Institutes of Health, for example, the authors take for granted that “[m]edical errors in hospitals and clinics result in approximately 100,000 people dying each year.”

  And it is also widely assumed, as noted in this study by the Washington Medical Commission that “Medical errors remain vastly underreported.” After all, medical personnel are often reluctant to report errors so as to avoid potential legal problems or sanctions from supervisors.

  But while some doctors insist they’re being unfairly targeted, others have been sounding the alarm for years. Today, a commonly accepted number is between one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand deaths per year.

  These are not small numbers. A total of one hundred thousand medical-error deaths makes medical errors among the top cause of deaths. If the current covid-19 pandemic plays out like previous pandemics, the total number of deaths will be much lower in 2021 than 2020’s official total of approximately 350,000. But deaths due to medical errors will continue to number around a hundred thousand year after year after year. 

  Covid and Medical Errors

  Gorski slams the practice in which cases where medical errors were only contributing factors in deaths are potentially counted as deaths due to medical errors. The debate has long been over how much medical errors must contribute to death before they are reasonably counted as the cause of death.

  In 2020, however, look for the final tally to show that counting medical errors has been swept aside in the mortality documentation in favor of attributing more deaths to covid-19.

  After all, it is now common practice to count any death in which covid-19 was a contributing factor as a death due to covid. That is, anyone who dies “with covid” is reported to be a death caused by covid.

  A nurse gave a covid patient the wrong medication, which led to a severe adverse reaction? That’s a covid death. A doctor mixed up two covid patients and administered inappropriate treatment to both? That’s two covid deaths right there.

  In other words, unless steps are taken to ensure accurate recording somewhere, if covid deaths are being overreported, we can expect medical-error deaths to be underreported.

  Seizing a Political Advantage

  Meanwhile, trying to take advantage of the current goodwill showered on medical personnel, many medical professionals are seeking additional legal protections from malpractice suits. Reuters reports:

  State chapters of the powerful American Medical Association and other groups representing healthcare providers have been pressing governors for legal cover….More than half a dozen emergency room doctors and nurses told Reuters they are concerned about liability as they anticipate rationing care or performing unfamiliar jobs due to staff and equipment shortages caused by the outbreak.

  Yet, there is no reason to assume covid treatments will make doctors and nurses easy targets. States already have standards in place which require plaintiffs to show that medical personnel “negligently deviated from the reasonable standard of care.” The fact that a doctor made a mistake is not enough to make a malpractice lawsuit successful.

  Thus, some attorneys who represent victims of medical error and negligence worry that covid will be used as an excuse to further shield healthcare workers from legitimate lawsuits:

  Joe Belluck, a New York lawyer who brings medical malpractice cases, said he’s concerned the coronavirus crisis could be used to enact a wish list of changes sought by doctors, hospitals and the medical industry to curb unrelated lawsuits.

  Given the way that medical personnel have been treated by media and government personnel in the age of covid-19, it’s not hard to see how this current state of hero worship could be employed to ram through legislation favored by longtime rent-seeking special interest groups like the AMA.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 19:30

• Iran Showcases Suicide Drones During Large-Scale UAV Combat Exercise
  Iran Showcases Suicide Drones During Large-Scale UAV Combat Exercise

  Iran is conducting two day large-scale drone exercises in Semnan province and in coastal waters which started Tuesday, involving hundreds of domestic built UAVs, and notably including suicide drones. 

  According to the Iranian Army chief overseeing the combat exercises, Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi, naval drones will fly from warships in the country’s southern waters, while suicide UAVs will additionally conduct long-range sorties.

  

  Underscoring the nature of the exercise as a ‘show of strength’ at a moment US forces are in the region, including the USS Nimitz carrier strike group which days ago was called back to its Mideast area of operation after it was initially pulled out, Mousavi emphasized that “the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the able and most powerful countries in the field of drone production.”

  State media described that it was the first exercise of its kind in terms of extent and the variety of drones deployed for the combat simulations.

  “UAV combat operations including air interception and destruction of aerial targets using air-to-air missiles, destruction of ground targets using bombs and pinpoint missiles, as well as widespread use of suicide drones, are among the measures that will be carried out in the operational part of this exercise,” Adm. Mousavi described further.

  The commander added, “The flight of naval drones from a vessel in southern waters of the country, long-range flight of pinpointing suicide drones to destroy vital targets in the depths of enemy’s soil will be one of the drone combat exercise plans.”

  Some footage from this week’s #Iran Artesh drone exercise, featuring the Arash suicide drone. The Arash was last seen during a November 2020 IRIAF drill. pic.twitter.com/jicZKkaSYb

  — Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) January 6, 2021

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

  Official footage showed what are commonly called Kamikaze drones crashing into targets to deliver munitions after previously circling above. These deadly advanced drone types were recently deployed by Azerbaijan during the recent Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

  On Sunday the Pentagon reversed its decision to remove the USS Nimitz carrier from the Gulf region, reportedly after President Trump intervened to rescind prior orders that it would return to the US. Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said in a statement: “Due to recent threats issued by Iranian leaders against President Trump and other government officials, I have ordered the USS Nimitz to halt its routine redeployment.”

  Washington is now likely closely monitoring Iran’s drone activities in and near the Persian Gulf, and will likely view the two-day exercises as a potential provocation, particularly if any drones circle near US vessels.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 19:10

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• This Is Why The New Mutant COVID Strain That Is Ravaging South Africa Has Scientists Extremely Worried…
  This Is Why The New Mutant COVID Strain That Is Ravaging South Africa Has Scientists Extremely Worried…

  Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

  Over the past couple of weeks, the new coronavirus strain known as “Super COVID” has been racing through the UK and making headlines all over the globe, but scientists insist that the new mutant COVID strain in South Africa is potentially much more dangerous.

  

  Just like “Super COVID” in the UK, there is evidence that the South African strain spreads faster, and South Africa’s health minister has warned that there is “anecdotal evidence” of a “larger proportion of younger patients with no co-morbidities presenting with critical illness”.  But the biggest reason why health authorities are so concerned about this particular strain is because it has mutated so dramatically that the current vaccines that have been developed may not work against it.  The following comes from a Reuters article entitled “UK scientists worry vaccines may not protect against S.African coronavirus variant”…

  UK scientists expressed concern on Monday that COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out in Britain may not be able to protect against a new variant of the coronavirus that emerged in South Africa and has spread internationally.

  Both Britain and South Africa have detected new, more transmissible variants of the COVID-19-causing virus in recent weeks that have driven a surge in cases. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday he was now very worried about the variant identified in South Africa.

  Even though the UK is the epicenter of the “Super COVID” outbreak, the British are so alarmed by the South African strain that they have banned all flights from South Africa.  In an interview with the BBC, Hancock admitted that he is “incredibly worried” about what is happening in South Africa right now…

  “I’m incredibly worried about the South African variant, and that’s why we took the action that we did to restrict all flights from South Africa,” he told the BBC’s “Today” program.

  “This is a very, very significant problem … and it’s even more of a problem than the U.K. new variant.”

  As the Daily Mail recently explained, the vaccines that have already been developed are designed to get the body to identify COVID’s “spike protein”, and if this does not happen they will not work properly…

  Covid vaccines – including the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford University/AstraZeneca jabs currently being rolled out across Britain – work by training the body to spot the virus’s spike protein.

  If the spike mutates so much that it becomes unrecognizable then it could render vaccines useless or make them less potent.

  Scientists are telling us that the new mutant strain in South Africa has a total of eight changes to the spike protein, and Dr. John Bell of Oxford University is calling them “pretty substantial changes”…

  Dr. John Bell of Oxford University said Sunday the variant identified in South Africa was worrisome in this regard, however.

  “They both have multiple, different mutations in them, so they’re not a single mutation,” he told Times Radio. “And the mutations associated with the South African form are really pretty substantial changes in the structure of the (virus’ spike) protein.”

  At this moment, we do not know if the current vaccines will be rendered useless by this new mutant strain or not.

  But it is being reported that early tests have shown that at least one of the mutations appears to have made the virus more resistant to antibodies…

  One, called E484K, is particularly alarming, Dr Richard Lessells, an infectious-disease specialist at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, told the Wall Street Journal.

  When he and his team tested antibodies from donated plasma or lab made ones against that mutated bit of the virus variant, the immune cells were less effective.

  Of course much more testing needs to be done, and those tests are being conducted right now.

  According to a top official in the UK, scientists may be able to come to some sort of a conclusion in a couple of weeks…

  Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, said in response to a question from POLITICO on December 30 that this work can take 12 to 14 days, and that it may be a couple of weeks before scientists can give “a solid steer” on whether the vaccines will be effective on new variants.

  So it may be a while before we know for sure if the current vaccines will be effective against this frightening new mutant strain in South Africa or not.

  But what we do know is that this new strain is rapidly becoming dominant in large portions of South Africa…

  The variant, 501.V2, is more infectious than the original COVID-19 virus and has rapidly become dominant in South Africa’s coastal areas. It is expected that the variant will quickly become dominant inland in Johannesburg, the country’s largest city, and the surrounding Gauteng province, he said.

  If it is becoming dominant there, there is a good chance that it will become dominant as it spreads elsewhere as well.

  In recent days, two cases of the South African strain have been confirmed in the UK, and there have also been cases detected in Finland, Switzerland and Australia.

  Then on Monday, a case popped up in Austria…

  On Monday, Austria announced that it had discovered one case of the South African mutation in a 30-year-old woman who returned from a trip on Dec. 6.

  And officials in Japan just announced that a case has been identified in their country…

  Japan on Monday detected a coronavirus variant found in South Africa, the government said, the first such discovery in a nation that has already identified more than a dozen cases of another variant that is spreading rapidly in Britain.

  So it appears that the cat is already out of the bag.

  A whole host of nations have already put travel restrictions in place to try to keep this deadly new strain from spreading more widely.

  But so far the U.S. is not among them.  In fact, testing is not even required for people traveling to the U.S. from South Africa.

  Just like we have seen with “Super COVID”, it is probably just a matter of time before the South African strain spreads all over the planet.

  And if the current vaccines will not work against it, that will put scientists back to square one in fighting this pandemic.

  Of course there are tens of millions of people in the United States that will never take any COVID vaccine under any circumstances.  Many are deeply concerned about the potential long-term effects of these experimental mRNA vaccines, and there is still so much that we do not know about them.

  These are such troubled times, and the “perfect storm” that started in 2020 is only going to get worse in 2021.

  Scientists thought that the new vaccines would give them the upper hand in dealing with this pandemic, but that may not be the case after all.

  And as COVID continues to mutate, it is inevitable that there will be even more surprises for our health authorities in the months ahead…

  *  *  *

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

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 02:00

• Catastrophe Is All Around Us
  Catastrophe Is All Around Us

  Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The American Institute for Economic Research,

  As a naturally optimistic person, it vexes me that the word catastrophe has echoed in my mind since early March 2020. It’s the word the great smallpox eradicator Donald Henderson used in his 2006 prediction of the consequences of lockdown, a word that wasn’t around then. His masterful article addressed the idea of travel restrictions, forced human separation, business and school closings, mask mandates, limits on public gatherings, quarantines, and the entire litany of brutality to which we’ve been subjected for nearly a year, all summed up in the word lockdown. 

  

  Dr. Henderson warned against it all. This is not how you deal with disease, he said; at a minimum society needs to function so that medical professionals can do their work. Diseases are managed one person at a time, not with grand central plans. That was the old wisdom in any case. Under the influence of vainglorious modelers, ideological resetters, and politicians hoping to make names for themselves, most of the world tried the lockdown experiment anyway. 

  Here we are nearly a year since I wrote my first article warning that governments presumed themselves to possess the quarantine power. They could use it if they wanted to. I didn’t expect they would. I wrote this piece as a “for your information” public service just to let people know how terrible governments could be. 

  I had no idea that quarantines would be only the beginning. At this point we know what we did not know then. They are capable – by they I mean even governments in presumably civilized countries with functioning democracies – of the unthinkable, and they are capable of persisting in the unthinkable for an appalling amount of time. 

  Now the lockdowns are our life in the US, unless you are lucky enough to live in Florida, Georgia, South Dakota, South Carolina, and perhaps a few other places. Here in these outposts of what we used to call civilization, life seems normal. Our readers in these states don’t even think about the virus much, and they read my articles and find them overwrought, like I’m describing life on another planet. 

  The US seems to have two economies, one open and one closed. You see the difference on social media: people at the beach, malls, living life more or less normally. Meanwhile, in the lockdown states, businesses are shuttered, people are demoralized, fights over masks are breaking out in stores, the arts are wrecked, and multitudes are still cowering in their homes. The unemployment differences between the two reveal exactly what’s going on. 

  We are experiencing what is a migratory demographic shift that could compare to 19th century legend. From what is being reported by U-Haul and other moving companies, people are fleeing from closed to open. Reports United Van Lines: “Among the top inbound states were South Carolina (64%), Oregon (63%), South Dakota (62%) and Arizona (62%), while New York (67%), Illinois (67%), Connecticut (63%) and California (59%) were among the states experiencing the largest exoduses.” And this all happened since the summer when it became unbearably obvious that the bastards were not going to stop tormenting their people. 

  Moving, however, is not a panacea. Normal life seems to be breaking down. The government mails are running 2 to 3 weeks behind. Companies can’t even close their books because the tempo of life has dragged to a crawl. Tech support takes many hours on hold. Accountability for failure to deliver on services seems to be evaporating. Groceries experience sporadic shortages in unpredictable ways. We no longer know the rules and yet fear breaking them. 

  Health care is not functioning normally, with non-Covid patients hurled out too soon while positive tests land you in ICU whether you need it or not. (My own 81-year-old mother was hospitalized with a serious condition and then thrown out because she didn’t test positive for SARS-CoV-2). Vaccine administration has been mostly chaos because society is not functioning normally. Weddings and funerals are still out. We are being socialized to treat everyone, including ourselves, as nothing but pathogenic disease vectors. 

  The hatred and threats of violence in online venues are out of control. Society has never been more angry or divided in my lived experience. Tech giants are still censoring dissent, trying to force everyone to believe the pronouncements from the World Health Organization even though they change week to week, as if they are working hard to realize Orwell’s vision of the future. The blue check marks and people with access daily advocate trampling on the rights of those who can’t live their lives online. 

  The mainstream media that most people once trusted continues to pretend as if this catastrophe is a result of the pandemic rather than the pandemic response. Just look at the number of headlines that begin “Pandemic Has Caused….” and then fill in the blank with any one of the many terrible things happening now: a third of restaurants bankrupt, opioid deaths, alcoholism, suicide ideation, female unemployment, demoralized and abused children missing a whole year of schooling, loved ones separated by borders, murder rates soaring, vaccinations missed, cancer screenings forgone, and so on. It’s all the pandemic, they say. 

  Why won’t the media name the lockdowns as the culprit? It’s not just denialism. The implication is that we had no choice but to shatter life as we know it. Lockdown is just what one does in a pandemic. It’s utterly not. Nothing like this has ever taken place, never in history. This remains an egregious attack on fundamental rights, liberties, and the rule of law. The results are all around us. That the news media refuses to name the reason feels like gaslighting, except that we know they are lying, they know they are lying, and they know that we know they are lying. It’s just an unwritten rule in journalism now: never name the lockdowns (unless you bury it in the 13th paragraph of an otherwise boring article). 

  And even after a full year, the public remains mostly deeply ignorant of the age/health gradient of Covid-19 fatalities, even though we’ve known this since February of last year! According to the CDC – even conceding the accuracy of testing and exigencies of fatality classification – it’s 99.997% for 0-19 years, 99.98% for 20-49 years, 99.5% for 50-69 years, and 94.6% for 70+ years. It’s nursing homes that have been a main vector for disease outcomes. The threat to school-age kids approaches zero. The more information we get the more normalized the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen seems, a respiratory and flu-like illness we have seen become pandemic before it became endemic just like another dozen times in the last hundred years. We didn’t shut down society, and, for that reason, we managed them just fine. 

  Is it that numbers like the above are just too abstract to mean anything to people? More likely, the numbers mean something but that meaning is overwhelmed by the nonstop panic porn one sees on the media each day. People can no longer distinguish these various terms that media pundits throw around to signal how terrible this disease is: outbreaks, cases, outcomes, deaths, spread, infection rates, hospitalizations – it’s just a huge and blurry blizzard of terrible. 

  Citing a bit of reality-based data cannot make a dent in the pathological Munchausen Syndrome that has been unleashed. Primal fear has swamped rationality for the better part of 10 months. So people douse themselves in sanitizer for fear of the enemy they cannot see, and presume everyone else is trying to infect them. They put up with attacks on their rights under the belief that it is for their own good. 

  The fiscal and monetary policy response has been equally egregious, all premised on the idea that money printing and spending – it all goes together these days – can possibly be a substitute for private investment and actual people buying and selling things. That combined with continued protectionist measures in the last days of the Trump administration make for the worst combination of policy malpractice in generations, or perhaps ever. The pain of recovery will be monstrous. 

  Many of us spend a good part of our days poring over the latest research, which reveals their terrible toll of the lockdowns, the inescapable horror that it is the lockdowns not the pandemic that has done this. It shows the absence of any relationship between lockdowns and lives saved. It shows that a significant number of excess deaths are due not to disease but to drug overdoses, depression, and suicide. It shows the tremendous problems with PCR testing, the nondriver of “asymptomatic transmission,” the incredible proliferation of disease misclassification, and the absurdity of the idea that political solutions can intimidate and arrest a virus. 

  We do all this research every day, and then turn on the TV to find the nation’s top medical spokesman (a certain Dr. Fauci of fame and fortune) knows nothing and cares nothing for any of the research. He is a performance artist who just likes being on TV, being fawned over while he advocates the permanent overthrow of our rights and liberties. And yet even his colleagues and others in the profession, who know his long-running racket very well, dare not call him out for fear of losing grant money, being ostracized within their institutions, and trolled on Twitter. He is a scary man with the power to make or break careers, so rather than take the risk, others just shake their heads and turn the channel.

  Sheer cowardice explains most of the dearth of dissent. It’s easy to forget how cravenly careerist people become when they are afraid. Most people would rather lie or be silent than risk facing disapproval of friends and colleagues. Cancel culture makes this worse. Doctors who dare talk about natural immunities or the talisman of masks and distancing find themselves investigated by medical boards. Academics who speak out are accused of encouraging superspreaders, blasted by colleagues including students. It’s way beyond witch hunts at this point. As a result, you can easily get the impression that everyone agrees with the desperate need to dismantle civilization as we know it. 

  None of this is sustainable. When it was “14 days to flatten the curve,” I feared for the future of investment, public confidence in government, lost revenue for small and medium-sized businesses, and their permanent shock that would come from the realization that government can and will do something this horrible. Another two weeks went by and we were writing furiously to warn the world of the deadly consequences of this course. April 13 came and AIER released the most strongly worded editorial then in print: we need complete liberation now. The Wall Street Journal followed and said the same two days later. 

  In those days, the prevailing theory of the virus was that you cannot stop it but you can slow it down. Tall or short, the area of the curve is the same. Why prolong the pain? The talking point at the time was to preserve hospital capacity. But over time, this plausible idea mutated into a full suppressionist agenda. Slow the spread became stop the spread. It was a small step until the “experts” defaulted to a medieval view of disease: run away! Actually, that’s too flattering: it was a gradeschool view of cooties that became the new and thoroughly fake science. 

  Then we arrived at the current moment in which professional virus fighters, having failed miserably to suppress the virus, have turned against the public, blaming those who do not comply with complete enthusiasm. Fauci says some version of this daily on TV: if everyone would just comply, we won’t have to lock down anymore. Unless morale improves, the beatings will continue. 

  After two weeks, there was still time to undo major parts of the damage of lockdowns. After 10 months, not so much. There will be loss of life for many years to come plus population-wide psychological, social, and economic damage. The catastrophe has not been averted. It is far worse than any of us could ever have imagined at this time last year. The world has shifted and drastically, and the pain and suffering are unspeakable. Our governments are the pathogens that have done this to us. They were aided and abetted by fake news, fake experts, fake intellectuals, fake science, and a fake view of life. 

  At this late date, we’ve lost confidence in most of what we used to trust and think was normal. Despair is taking over. Many of those who were willing to fight in the spring and summer have given up, tired of writing, tired of protesting, tired of yelling. The attempt to demotivate the opposition is working. This is a huge error. 

  What, then, is the path to the future? We can stay on the present catastrophic course or we can reverse it. The sooner governments wise up and stop hurting everyone like this the sooner the healing can begin. It will take years, decades, but a version of the rule of medicine from the ancient days pertains: first stop doing harm. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 01/06/2021 – 00:05

• Assange "Free To Return Home" If Released By UK, Says Australian PM
  Assange “Free To Return Home” If Released By UK, Says Australian PM

  Australia remains a key nation among the so-called “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing alliance comprised also of Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States – which is why the Tuesday statement of Prime Minister Scott Morrison on WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange is so significant. 

  Morrison said that Assange is “free to return home” to Australia once legal challenges against him are resolved. This came a day after a UK judged blocked the US extradition request, citing the extreme health risk he would face in America’s federal supermax prison system.

  The US is set to appeal the ruling. The next immediate step is Assange’s bail hearing where his legal team will seek his temporarily release from London’s Belmarsh prison, set for Wednesday.

  

  “Assange’s lawyers will request that he be temporarily released from the maximum-security Belmarsh prison, in southeast London, during a hearing at the Westminster Magistrates Court in the capital that will begin at 10:00 GMT,” Al Jazeera writes.

  Morrison told a local Australian broadcaster Tuesday, “Well, the justice system is making its way and we’re not a party to that. And like any Australian, they’re offered consular support and should, you know, the appeal fail, obviously he would be able to return to Australia like any other Australian.”

  “So, yes, it’s just a straightforward process of the legal system in the UK working its way through,” he added. But in Assange’s case the chances are high that Washington would cook up new charges which could be used to press Australia to extradite him assuming he did ever risk making his way back to Australia, where he’s a citizen. It’s extremely unlikely that he would ever travel to another “Five Eyes” country regardless of such “assurances”, short of all US charges being dropped.

  Previously Morrison has been on record as saying he won’t intervene to help Assange in anyway while the US was pursuing him on espionage related charges. “Assange must face the music like any other Australian in hot water overseas,” he once said.

  Currently Australian opposition politicians are pushing Canberra to bring pressure on the Trump administration to drop all charges, as The Guardian details: 

  The Australian government is facing calls from its own Coalition backbench and the opposition Labor party to press the Trump administration to end the pursuit of Julian Assange after a British court ruled out the WikiLeaks co-founder’s extradition to the United States.

  With the US government signaling it plans to appeal the court’s ruling, the Coalition backbencher George Christensen and the South Australian independent senator Rex Patrick were among Assange supporters who saw a presidential pardon from Donald Trump as the best way to bring an end to the saga.

  There have also been US domestic calls among Trump’s own base for a pardon. But with the London court now ruling not to extradite, the pressure has perhaps been taken off Trump a bit to pursue what in his mind might be a politically costly decision, despite pardon for whistleblowers like Assange and Snowden remaining popular among the US public.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 23:45

• Los Angeles County Is Riskiest Area In The US: FEMA
  Los Angeles County Is Riskiest Area In The US: FEMA

  Authored by Isabel van Brugen via The Epoch Times,

  Los Angeles County has been named as the riskiest county in the United States, according to a new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) index that examines 18 types of natural disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes, floods, volcanoes and tsunamis.

  

  Of the more than 3,000 U.S. counties surveyed, Los Angeles County ranked highest in FEMA’s National Risk Index, which looks at how often natural disasters strike, how many people and how much property are in harm’s way, how socially vulnerable the population is, and how well the region is able to recover.

  

  The index also lists three counties in the New York City area—Bronx, New York County (Manhattan), and Kings County (Brooklyn)—in the top 10 riskiest U.S. counties, as well as Miami, Philadelphia, Dallas, St. Louis, and Riverside and San Bernardino counties in California.

  In contrast, FEMA has named Loudoun County, a Washington, D.C. outer suburb, as having the lowest risk of any county. Three other Washington suburban counties rank among the lowest risks for larger counties, along with suburban Boston, Long Island, suburban Detroit and Pittsburgh.

  FEMA’s Mike Grimm said that although the ranking may seem “counterintuitive,” the degree of risk isn’t based solely on the frequency of natural disasters but it also considers how devastating the toll would be on a region.

  Therefore, two New York City counties, Philadelphia, St Louis, and Hudson county in New Jersey have been named among FEMA’s top five most dangerous counties for tornadoes. Meanwhile, Oklahoma county in Oklahoma, which has been struck by more than 120 tornadoes in the past seven decades, has been placed in 120th place on the list.

  A tornado in the top five would be “a low frequency, potentially high-consequence event because there’s a lot of property exposure in that area,” University of South Carolina Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute’s director, Susan Cutter, told The Associated Press.

  “Therefore, a small tornado can create a large dollar loss.”

  While Oklahoma is twice as likely to be struck by tornadoes than New York City, New York has higher damage potential due to the higher population and property value.

  “It’s that risk perception that it won’t happen to me,“ Grimm said.

  “Just because I haven’t seen it in my lifetime doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”

  A list of tips published on FEMA’s website urges Americans to take steps to prepare for potential natural disasters.

  It includes creating an emergency plan, an emergency kit, keeping pantries stocked, learning about disaster planning within the community, signing up for emergency alerts, checking insurance policies, taking personal inventories, protecting valuables, planning for pets, and growing emergency funds to budget for possible natural disasters.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 23:25

• China Arrests US Lawyer During "Massive Crackdown" In Hong Kong
  China Arrests US Lawyer During “Massive Crackdown” In Hong Kong

  Update 11:00pm ET: In what would be a shocking development, Bloomberg reports that during its “massive crackdown” purging countless local activists and politicians, the Hong Kong police – i.e. China – has arrested American Lawyer, John Clancey, using as a pretext the National Security Law, which everyone warned China would use as strawman to crack down on Hong Kong citizens and activists. Well, it now appears that the emboldened Beijing – which is delighted by the ascent of pro-China pushover Joe Biden to the White House  – is also using that law to arrest American citizens.

  • H.K. ARRESTS AMERICAN LAWYER JOHN CLANCEY, COLLEAGUE SAYS
  • CLANCEY ARRESTED UNDER NATIONAL SECURITY LAW: COLLEAGUE

  In response, Biden’s nominee for Secretary of State Anthony Blinken sent out a harshly worded tweet, warning China that the “Biden-Harris administration will stand with the people of Hong Kong and against Beijing’s crackdown on democracy.”

  The sweeping arrests of pro-democracy demonstrators are an assault on those bravely advocating for universal rights. The Biden-Harris administration will stand with the people of Hong Kong and against Beijing’s crackdown on democracy. https://t.co/nSj8dr3OEg

  — Antony Blinken (@ABlinken) January 6, 2021

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  We eagerly await to see just what the Blinken Biden administration will do, besides tweeting angrily in China’s general direction, to secure release of an American citizen unjustly arrested by Chinese proxies in Hong Kong.

  *  *  *

  Earlier: “Massive Crackdown”: Hong Kong Police Arrest Dozens Of Politicians & Activists

  2021 is less than a week old and already Beijing is ramping up its efforts to suppress what’s left of the pro-democracy opposition in Hong Kong. Right now, China hawks are preoccupied right now by a number of issues: the disappearance of Jack Ma (note: CNBC claims the Alibaba founder is just “laying low”), Beijing’s refusal to allow international investigators inside the Wuhan Institue of Virology and, finally, the CCP’s abusive treatment of China’s Uyghur Muslim minority.

  Now, less than two months after the last 19 members of the HK LegCo’s pro-democracy opposition quit en masse over Beijing’s demands that they swear a loyalty oath to uphold the new national security law and the supremacy of the CCP, Hong Kong police have rounded up dozens of pro-democracy activists. The arrests – described by western journalists as a “massive crackdown” – essentially confirm what many feared: all pro-democracy activists who haven’t escaped Hong Kong will likely face arrest and imprisonment.

  According to various media reports, police are rounding up dozens of pro-democracy politicians and activists.

  Massive crackdown underway in Hong Kong.

  — Jillian Kay Melchior (@JillianKayM) January 6, 2021

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  With at least two student leaders – including Joshua Wong – already heading to prison, Wednesday’s arrests mark the biggest crackdown under the new national security law, according to the NYT, one former opposition lawmaker was participating in a live video chat when he got the knock at the door.

  A twitter account run by Wong’s supporters claimed that his house was raided during the sweep with the arrests.

  #BREAKING Police also raided Joshua’s home for allegedly violating the national security law this morning as he took part in the primary election last year. 50+ democratic activists were arrested.

  — Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) January 6, 2021

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  Another six former LegCo members were among those who were arrested.

  The alleged offenses also underscored government officials’ efforts to weaken any meaningful opposition in the city’s political institutions. Among those arrested were at least six former Legislative Council members, a number of district councilors — a hyperlocal elected position dominated by pro-democracy figures — and several activists. They included figures who had called for aggressive confrontation with the authorities and those who had supported more moderate tactics.

  According to social media pages belonging to some of those arrested, the activists were accused of trying to “subvert state power”. The charges were tied to their participation in the informal LegCo vote held over the summer.

  An informal primary election for the LegCo held in July delivered an uncomfortably large margin of victory to the pro-Democracy candidates. It’s widely believed this vote deeply bothered Beijing, possibly prompting it to accelerate its crackdown on HK, which once functioned as a that once functioned as an autonomous city state. With its political independence now in tatters, any pro-democracy activists who haven’t already left the city will probably be on the next train or plane out – unless they’re detained first.

  But an even bigger question: With Beijing’s crackdowns growing increasingly brazen, how will American institutions like the NBA continue to justify doing business in China?

  *HONG KONG EX-LAWMAKERS ARRESTED UNDER NATIONAL SECURITY LAW

  Beijing will have to double its payments to the NBA to keep this under wraps

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 5, 2021

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 23:18

• Marines Step Up Training For China With Island Exercises Off Japan's Mainland
  Marines Step Up Training For China With Island Exercises Off Japan’s Mainland

  Given ongoing US tensions with Beijing especially in the South China Sea region, the United States Marines are increasingly returning to the branch’s original mission of amphibious warfare reminiscent of the island campaigns of WWII in the Pacific.

  It’s being reported this week that this is precisely the type of training being conducted in islands of the Japanese mainland. “The Marine Corps is stepping up training in Japan for island-based conflict in the Western Pacific, putting it at the leading edge of a pivot by the US to face the military challenge from China,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

  

  The report details that a new emphasis on small-scale, rapid deployments will make US troops and positions harder to locate. This is very different from the post 9/11 ‘war on terror’ environment which saw massive deployments and large-scale occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

  The report quoted  Lt. Col. Neil Berry, commander of the third battalion-Eighth Marine Regiment, based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. as saying, “We’re trying to get away from tents, from computer screens, because, 1.) it’s very stationary and, 2.), it has a huge electromagnetic signature.”

  The WSJ detailed further what the island training looks like in practice:

  At one of a series of recent exercises, a few dozen Marines faded into long grass after touching down in two CH-47 Chinook helicopters, followed by Japanese soldiers arriving in two Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Their simulated mission: avoiding detection and recapturing a port on an island inside the range of much of the enemy’s missiles and artillery.

  The report added: “The exercise reflected a new emphasis on small, dispersed troop units and command centers, which are intended to be harder to locate and destroy.”

  Thus in addition to simulating the type of small militarized island environment as exists among contested island-chains in the South China Sea (also built up through the PLA’s series of man-made islands), the Marine Corps is preparing to evade detection by China’s advanced radar and technological capabilities. 

  Over the past year especially, the US has stepped up both aerial patrols and US Navy sail throughs of the region, also near and through the disputed Taiwan Strait, in “freedom of navigation” exercised aimed at signaling Beijing. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 23:05

• Epidemiologist Says Influenza Cases Are Being Counted As COVID-19
  Epidemiologist Says Influenza Cases Are Being Counted As COVID-19

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

  Top epidemiologist Knut Wittkowski says that the massive drop in influenza cases can be attributed to the fact that many are being falsely counted as COVID-19 cases.

  

  Wittkowski, former Head of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design at Rockefeller University, cautioned that, “Influenza has been renamed COVID-19 in large part.”

  According to CDC figures, the cumulative positive influenza test rate from late September into the week of December 19th was just 0.2%, compared to 8.7% from a year before.

  According to Wittkowski, this is because many flu infections are being incorrectly labeled as coronavirus cases.

  “There may be quite a number of influenza cases included in the ‘presumed COVID-19’ category of people who have COVID-19 symptoms (which Influenza symptoms can be mistaken for), but are not tested for SARS RNA,” Wittkowski told Just the News.

  Those patients may “also may have some SARS RNA sitting in their nose while being infected with Influenza, in which case the influenza would be ‘confirmed’ to be COVID-19,” he added.

  

  Wittkowski challenges the notion that masks and social distancing have resulted in a drop in flu cases, asserting that flu and COVID-19 viruses are “more similar than people want to acknowledge.”

  “People know everybody is wearing masks and distancing, and so people want to come up with things that are good about it,” he said.

  In places like California and Pennsylvania where mask wearing is most common, COVID-19 cases have continued to skyrocket.

  As Just the News notes, “Data indicate that more than nine out of every 10 Americans in most states are wearing masks in public regularly; those numbers have been above 80% since the early fall. Yet average positive COVID-19 tests have multiplied by nearly seven times since the spring peak.”

  *  *  *

  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
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 22:45

• Chinese Soldiers Outfitted With Digital Combat Device That Has "Self-Destruction Mode"
  Chinese Soldiers Outfitted With Digital Combat Device That Has “Self-Destruction Mode”

  New Delhi Television has revealed that Chinese soldiers in the Tibet Military Region will soon be equipped with new digital systems embedded in their combat gear. 

  Chinese soldiers will be outfitted with satellite antennas on the helmets, new night-vision goggles, and a digital control terminal on the arm. They will also receive advanced body armor, a new navigation device, personal radio, camera module, audio converter, information processing, and power supply module. 

  

  While the upgrades sound nothing out of the ordinary, there was mention that the new combat gear would be outfitted with “self-destruction mode.” 

  More importantly, this system is equipped with a self-destruction device. If a soldier is seriously injured but does not want to be captured, activating the self-destruction device will not only maintain the dignity of the soldier, but the enemy will not be able to obtain any information about this system. The Lu media report bluntly wrote, “Another self-destructive method is in the battalion-level command post. If the commander finds on the screen that the individual soldier is farther away from other troops, but the order cannot be contacted. If you’re a soldier, it will also initiate self-destruction.” -NDTV 

  There was mention that self-destruction mode could even be triggered remotely by the commander, allowing the soldier to “maintain military dignity” and prevent information leakage.

  Many netizens were outraged that soldiers would be outfitted with exploding bombs that could be donated by superiors. Some netizens said: “Isn’t this stuff a human bomb?”

  Netizens also said: “This is too ruthless. Keep away from the team and be detonated by the commander. This is a typical control technique for future operations. They are afraid of soldiers running away, pretending to be dead, and rebelling.”

  Another netizen said: “In the past, the Communist Army asked each soldier to keep a grenade for himself. Before he was captured, it sounded and died with the enemy. It was also called ‘Glorious Bomb'”.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 22:25

• Vietnamese Woman Dubbed Early "Super Spreader" Starts Her Own Line Of Hygiene And Self-Care Products
  Vietnamese Woman Dubbed Early “Super Spreader” Starts Her Own Line Of Hygiene And Self-Care Products

  “Every challenge is an opportunity in disguise,” the old saying goes. For Vietnamese heiress and jet-setter Nga Nguyen, her recent “challenge” was being dubbed a Covid super-spreader after she caught the virus in March 2020 during fashion week in Europe. 

  Her subsequent travel habits, as she spread the virus across the world, made international news while she was recovering – with many outlets dubbing her as a “super spreader” and vilifying her.

  So she did what anyone would do on the precipice of a global pandemic with the media constantly at your door: she started her own line of hygiene and self-care products. 

  “I was at the hospital but I wasn’t on a ventilator and I was conscious. I was blessed to get very good treatment and I was very impressed by all the sanitising products that they used, and that made me think that I should use my personal experience to start a line,” she told the South China Morning Post. 

  She named her line N.G.A., which stands for Never Go Alone, and partnered with a friend based in California to create formulas and scents online. She also has two other team members: one based in Nigeria and another based in Milan. She hired British design studio Layer to design her packaging. 

  

  Nguyen prattled on: “Before this happened to me, I never focused on hygiene products – they were always an afterthought. You obviously have wipes in the kitchen and stuff like that but I wanted to turn hygiene products into something beautiful that you celebrate. Most sanitisers are sticky and don’t feel good on your skin and you have to wash your hands afterwards. I wanted to create something like a perfume but that also disinfects.”

  She continued: “I was always struggling to find my own entrepreneurial project. I’ve always loved fashion but I didn’t feel I was good at designing and then I had so much time without travelling and even though I felt weak physically, mentally I was very alive and had all these ideas.”

  “The pandemic has taught us about self-awareness and well-being. Taking care of yourself is the new normal because in three years there could be another virus, so you have to improve your hygiene and protect yourself and wear a mask,” she said.

  She also peppered in the requisite “saving the world” comments – in case there’s any ESG self-care SPACs looking for a company: “You can never please everyone. I’m doing this because I want to help other people and I plan to add philanthropic elements into the project going forward.”

  She concluded: “You think of the darkest moments and live with more purpose, also because you know who your real friends are. I wake up every day and I walk 10,000 steps before 10am and I created a routine for me that’s very effective in order to prepare for the new normal.”

  We were able to capture never before seen footage of her interview for those that would like to hear more about the details:

   

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 22:05

• Investing Legend Turns Apocalyptic: Bursting Of This "Great, Epic Bubble" Will Be "Most Important Investing Event Of Your Lives"
  Investing Legend Turns Apocalyptic: Bursting Of This “Great, Epic Bubble” Will Be “Most Important Investing Event Of Your Lives”

  Authored by Jeremy Grantham via GMO,

  Waiting For The Last Dance – The Hazards of Asset Allocation In A Late-stage Major Bubble

  Executive Summary

  The long, long bull market since 2009 has finally matured into a fully-fledged epic bubble. Featuring extreme overvaluation, explosive price increases, frenzied issuance, and hysterically speculative investor behavior, I believe this event will be recorded as one of the great bubbles of financial history, right along with the South Sea bubble, 1929, and 2000.

  These great bubbles are where fortunes are made and lost – and where investors truly prove their mettle. For positioning a portfolio to avoid the worst pain of a major bubble breaking is likely the most difficult part. Every career incentive in the industry and every fault of individual human psychology will work toward sucking investors in.

  But this bubble will burst in due time, no matter how hard the Fed tries to support it, with consequent damaging effects on the economy and on portfolios. Make no mistake – for the majority of investors today, this could very well be the most important event of your investing lives. Speaking as an old student and historian of markets, it is intellectually exciting and terrifying at the same time. It is a privilege to ride through a market like this one more time.

  

  *  *  *

  “The one reality that you can never change is that a higher-priced asset will produce a lower return than a lower-priced asset. You can’t have your cake and eat it. You can enjoy it now, or you can enjoy it steadily in the distant future, but not both – and the price we pay for having this market go higher and higher is a lower 10-year return from the peak.”

  Most of the time, perhaps three-quarters of the time, major asset classes are reasonably priced relative to one another. The correct response is to make modest bets on those assets that measure as being cheaper and hope that the measurements are correct. With reasonable skill at evaluating assets the valuation-based allocator can expect to survive these phases intact with some small outperformance. “Small” because the opportunities themselves are small. If you wanted to be unfriendly you could say that asset allocation in this phase is unlikely to be very important. It would certainly help in these periods if the manager could also add value in the implementation, from the effective selection of countries, sectors, industries, and individual securities as well as major asset classes.

  The real trouble with asset allocation, though, is in the remaining times when asset prices move far away from fair value. This is not so bad in bear markets because important bear markets tend to be short and brutal. The initial response of clients is usually to be shocked into inaction during which phase the manager has time to reposition both portfolio and arguments to retain the business. The real problem is in major bull markets that last for years. Long, slow-burning bull markets can spend many years above fair value and even two, three, or four years far above. These events can easily outlast the patience of most clients. And when price rises are very rapid, typically toward the end of a bull market, impatience is followed by anxiety and envy. As I like to say, there is nothing more supremely irritating than watching your neighbors get rich.

  How are clients to tell the difference between extreme market behavior and a manager who has lost his way? The usual evidence of talent is past success, but the long cycles of the market are few and far between. Winning two out of two events or three out of three is not as convincing as a larger sample size would be. Even worse the earlier major market breaks are already long gone: 2008, 2000, or 1989 in Japan are practically in the history books. Most of the players will have changed. Certainly, the satisfaction felt by others who eventually won long ago is no solace for current pain experienced by you personally. A simpler way of saying this may be that if Keynes really had said, “The market can stay irrational longer than the investor can stay solvent,” he would have been right.

  I am long retired from the job of portfolio management but I am happy to give my opinion here: it is highly probable that we are in a major bubble event in the U.S. market, of the type we typically have every several decades and last had in the late 1990s. It will very probably end badly, although nothing is certain. I will also tell you my definition of success for a bear market call. It is simply that sooner or later there will come a time when an investor is pleased to have been out of the market. That is to say, he will have saved money by being out, and also have reduced risk or volatility on the round trip. This definition of success absolutely does not include precise timing. (Predicting when a bubble breaks is not about valuation. All prior bubble markets have been extremely overvalued, as is this one. Overvaluation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for their bursting.) Calling the week, month, or quarter of the top is all but impossible.

  I came fairly close to calling one bull market peak in 2008 and nailed a bear market low in early 2009 when I wrote “Reinvesting When Terrified.” That’s far more luck than I could hope for even over a 50-year career. Far more typically, I was three years too early in the Japan bubble. We at GMO got entirely out of Japan in 1987, when it was over 40% of the EAFE benchmark and selling at over 40x earnings, against a previous all-time high of 25x. It seemed prudent to exit at the time, but for three years we underperformed painfully as the Japanese market went to 65x earnings on its way to becoming over 60% of the benchmark! But we also stayed completely out for three years after the top and ultimately made good money on the round trip.

  Similarly, in late 1997, as the S&P 500 passed its previous 1929 peak of 21x earnings, we rapidly sold down our discretionary U.S. equity positions then watched in horror as the market went to 35x on rising earnings. We lost half our Asset Allocation book of business but in the ensuing decline we much more than made up our losses.

  Believe me, I know these are old stories. But they are directly relevant. For this current market event is indeed the same old story.

  This summer, I said it was likely that we were in the later stages of a bubble, with some doubt created by the unique features of the COVID crash. The single most dependable feature of the late stages of the great bubbles of history has been really crazy investor behavior, especially on the part of individuals. For the first 10 years of this bull market, which is the longest in history, we lacked such wild speculation. But now we have it. In record amounts. My colleagues Ben Inker and John Pease have written about some of these examples of mania in the most recent GMO Quarterly Letter, including Hertz, Kodak, Nikola, and, especially, Tesla. As a Model 3 owner, my personal favorite Tesla tidbit is that its market cap, now over $600 billion, amounts to over $1.25 million per car sold each year versus $9,000 per car for GM. What has 1929 got to equal that? Any of these tidbits could perhaps be dismissed as isolated cases (trust me: they are not), but big-picture metrics look even worse.

  The “Buffett indicator,” total stock market capitalization to GDP, broke through its all-time-high 2000 record. In 2020, there were 480 IPOs (including an incredible 248 SPACs2) – more new listings than the 406 IPOs in 2000. There are 150 non-micro-cap companies (that is, with market capitalization of over $250 million) that have more than tripled in the year, which is over 3 times as many as any year in the previous decade. The volume of small retail purchases, of less than 10 contracts, of call options on U.S. equities has increased 8-fold compared to 2019, and 2019 was already well above long-run average. Perhaps most troubling of all: Nobel laureate and long-time bear Robert Shiller – who correctly and bravely called the 2000 and 2007 bubbles and who is one of the very few economists I respect – is hedging his bets this time, recently making the point that his legendary CAPE asset-pricing indicator (which suggests stocks are nearly as overpriced as at the 2000 bubble peak) shows less impressive overvaluation when compared to bonds. Bonds, however, are even more spectacularly expensive by historical comparison than stocks. Oh my!

  So, I am not at all surprised that since the summer the market has advanced at an accelerating rate and with increasing speculative excesses. It is precisely what you should expect from a late-stage bubble: an accelerating, nearly vertical stage of unknowable length – but typically short. Even if it is short, this stage at the end of a bubble is shockingly painful and full of career risk for bears.

  I am doubling down, because as prices move further away from trend, at accelerating speed and with growing speculative fervor, of course my confidence as a market historian increases that this is indeed the late stage of a bubble. A bubble that is beginning to look like a real humdinger.

  The strangest feature of this bull market is how unlike every previous great bubble it is in one respect. Previous bubbles have combined accommodative monetary conditions with economic conditions that are perceived at the time, rightly or wrongly, as near perfect, which perfection is extrapolated into the indefinite future. The state of economic excellence of any previous bubble of course did not last long, but if it could have lasted, then the market would justifiably have sold at a huge multiple of book. But today’s wounded economy is totally different: only partly recovered, possibly facing a double-dip, probably facing a slowdown, and certainly facing a very high degree of uncertainty. Yet the market is much higher today than it was last fall when the economy looked fine and unemployment was at a historic low. Today the P/E ratio of the market is in the top few percent of the historical range and the economy is in the worst few percent. This is completely without precedent and may even be a better measure of speculative intensity than any SPAC.

  This time, more than in any previous bubble, investors are relying on accommodative monetary conditions and zero real rates extrapolated indefinitely. This has in theory a similar effect to assuming peak economic performance forever: it can be used to justify much lower yields on all assets and therefore correspondingly higher asset prices. But neither perfect economic conditions nor perfect financial conditions can last forever, and there’s the rub.

  All bubbles end with near universal acceptance that the current one will not end yet…because. Because in 1929 the economy had clicked into “a permanently high plateau”; because Greenspan’s Fed in 2000 was predicting an enduring improvement in productivity and was pledging its loyalty (or moral hazard) to the stock market; because Bernanke believed in 2006 that “U.S. house prices merely reflect a strong U.S. economy” as he perpetuated the moral hazard: if you win you’re on your own, but if you lose you can count on our support. Yellen, and now Powell, maintained this approach. All three of Powell’s predecessors claimed that the asset prices they helped inflate in turn aided the economy through the wealth effect. Which effect we all admit is real. But all three avoided claiming credit for the ensuing market breaks that inevitably followed: the equity bust of 2000 and the housing bust of 2008, each replete with the accompanying anti-wealth effect that came when we least needed it, exaggerating the already guaranteed weakness in the economy. This game surely is the ultimate deal with the devil.

  Now once again the high prices this time will hold because…interest rates will be kept around nil forever, in the ultimate statement of moral hazard – the asymmetrical market risk we have come to know and depend on. The mantra of late 2020 was that engineered low rates can prevent a decline in asset prices. Forever! But of course, it was a fallacy in 2000 and it is a fallacy now. In the end, moral hazard did not stop the Tech bubble decline, with the NASDAQ falling 82%. Yes, 82%! Nor, in 2008, did it stop U.S. housing prices declining all the way back to trend and below – which in turn guaranteed first, a shocking loss of over eight trillion dollars of perceived value in housing; second, an ensuing weakness in the economy; and third, a broad rise in risk premia and a broad decline in global asset prices (see Exhibit 1). All the promises were in the end worth nothing, except for one; the Fed did what it could to pick up the pieces and help the markets get into stride for the next round of enhanced prices and ensuing decline. And here we are again, waiting for the last dance and, eventually, for the music to stop.

  EXHIBIT 1: BUBBLES – GREAT WHILE THEY LAST

  

  Housing bubble as of 11/30/2011, Tech bubble as of 2/28/2003
  Source: S&P 500 (Tech bubble); National Association of Realtors, U.S. Census Bureau (Housing bubble)

  Nothing in investing perfectly repeats. Certainly not investment bubbles. Each form of irrational exuberance is different; we are just looking for what you might call spiritual similarities. Even now, I know that this market can soar upwards for a few more weeks or even months – it feels like we could be anywhere between July 1999 and February 2000. Which is to say it is entitled to break any day, having checked all the boxes, but could keep roaring upwards for a few months longer. My best guess as to the longest this bubble might survive is the late spring or early summer, coinciding with the broad rollout of the COVID vaccine. At that moment, the most pressing issue facing the world economy will have been solved. Market participants will breathe a sigh of relief, look around, and immediately realize that the economy is still in poor shape, stimulus will shortly be cut back with the end of the COVID crisis, and valuations are absurd. “Buy the rumor, sell the news.” But remember that timing the bursting of bubbles has a long history of disappointment.

  Even with hindsight, it is seldom easy to point to the pin that burst the bubble. The main reason for this lack of clarity is that the great bull markets did not break when they were presented with a major unexpected negative. Those events, like the portfolio insurance fiasco of 1987, tend to give sharp down legs and quick recoveries. They are in the larger scheme of things unique and technical and are not part of the ebb and flow of the great bubbles. The great bull markets typically turn down when the market conditions are very favorable, just subtly less favorable than they were yesterday. And that is why they are always missed.

  Either way, the market is now checking off all the touchy-feely characteristics of a major bubble. The most impressive features are the intensity and enthusiasm of bulls, the breadth of coverage of stocks and the market, and, above all, the rising hostility toward bears. In 1929, to be a bear was to risk physical attack and guarantee character assassination. For us, 1999 was the only experience we have had of clients reacting as if we were deliberately and maliciously depriving them of gains. In comparison, 2008 was nothing. But in the last few months the hostile tone has been rapidly ratcheting up. The irony for bears though is that it’s exactly what we want to hear. It’s a classic precursor of the ultimate break; together with stocks rising, not for their fundamentals, but simply because they are rising.

  Another more measurable feature of a late-stage bull, from the South Sea bubble to the Tech bubble of 1999, has been an acceleration of the final leg, which in recent cases has been over 60% in the last 21 months to the peak, a rate well over twice the normal rate of bull market ascents. This time, the U.S. indices have advanced from +69% for the S&P 500 to +100% for the Russell 2000 in just 9 months. Not bad! And there may still be more climbing to come. But it has already met this necessary test of a late-stage bubble.

  It is a privilege as a market historian to experience a major stock bubble once again. Japan in 1989, the 2000 Tech bubble, the 2008 housing and mortgage crisis, and now the current bubble – these are the four most significant and gripping investment events of my life. Most of the time in more normal markets you show up for work and do your job. Ho hum. And then, once in a long while, the market spirals away from fair value and reality. Fortunes are made and lost in a hurry and investment advisors have a rare chance to really justify their existence. But, as usual, there is no free lunch. These opportunities to be useful come loaded with career risk.

  So, here we are again. I expect once again for my bubble call to meet my modest definition of success: at some future date, whenever that may be, it will have paid for you to have ducked from midsummer of 2020. But few professional or individual investors will have been able to have ducked. The combination of timing uncertainty and rapidly accelerating regret on the part of clients means that the career and business risk of fighting the bubble is too great for large commercial enterprises. They can never put their full weight behind bearish advice even if the P/E goes to 65x as it did in Japan. The nearest any of these giant institutions have ever come to offering fully bearish advice in a bubble was UBS in 1999, whose position was nearly identical to ours at GMO. That is to say, somewhere between brave and foolhardy. Luckily for us though, they changed their tack and converted to a fully invested growth stock recommendation at UBS Brinson and its subsidiary, Phillips & Drew, in February 2000, just before the market peak. This took out the 800-pound gorilla that would otherwise have taken most of the rewards for stubborn contrariness. So, don’t wait for the Goldmans and Morgan Stanleys to become bearish: it can never happen. For them it is a horribly non-commercial bet. Perhaps it is for anyone. Profitable and risk-reducing for the clients, yes, but commercially impractical for advisors. Their best policy is clear and simple: always be extremely bullish. It is good for business and intellectually undemanding. It is appealing to most investors who much prefer optimism to realistic appraisal, as witnessed so vividly with COVID. And when it all ends, you will as a persistent bull have overwhelming company. This is why you have always had bullish advice in a bubble and always will.

  However, for any manager willing to take on that career risk – or more likely for the individual investor – requiring that you get the timing right is overreach. If the hurdle for calling a bubble is set too high, so that you must call the top precisely, you will never try. And that condemns you to ride over the cliff every cycle, along with the great majority of investors and managers.

  What to Do?

  As often happens at bubbly peaks like 1929, 2000, and the Nifty Fifty of 1972 (a second-tier bubble in the company of champions), today’s market features extreme disparities in value by asset class, sector, and company. Those at the very cheap end include traditional value stocks all over the world, relative to growth stocks. Value stocks have had their worst-ever relative decade ending December 2019, followed by the worst-ever year in 2020, with spreads between Growth and Value performance averaging between 20 and 30 percentage points for the single year! Similarly, Emerging Market equities are at 1 of their 3, more or less co-equal, relative lows against the U.S. of the last 50 years. Not surprisingly, we believe it is in the overlap of these two ideas, Value and Emerging, that your relative bets should go, along with the greatest avoidance of U.S. Growth stocks that your career and business risk will allow.

  Good luck!

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 21:55

• China's New Defense Law Gives Military More Control Of War Powers
  China’s New Defense Law Gives Military More Control Of War Powers

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  A new amendment to China’s defense law gives more control of the military to Beijing’s Central Military Commission (CMC), a defense body that oversees the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and is chaired by President Xi Jinping.

  The amendment came into effect on January 1st and weakened the role of China’s State Council, the country’s cabinet, in formulating military policy. According to The South China Morning Post, the new legislation adds “disruption” and “development interests” as grounds for the deployment of troops.

  

  Since CMC’s leadership is made up of China’s military brass, the new amendment gives more control of war powers to the PLA. Zeng Zhiping, a military law expert and former PLA colonel, explained to the Post how the new amendment works.

  “The CMC is now formally in charge of making national defense policy and principles, while the State Council becomes a mere implementing agency to provide support to the military,” Zeng said.

  And further according to South China Morning Post:

  The legislation also specifically stresses the need to build a nationwide coordination mechanism for the mobilization of state-owned and private enterprises to take part in research into new defense technologies covering conventional weapons, as well as the non-traditional domains of cybersecurity, space and electromagnetics.

  He compared the new policy to other countries that have more civilian control over their militaries. “Even in the US, the civilian-led defense ministry plays a more important role than their military top brass, the joint chiefs of staff,” he said.

  The new law could allow China’s PLA to deploy more quickly to confront the US, whose warships are frequently sailing in waters near China’s coast. In 2020, the US stepped up its military presence in the region by increasing US Navy transits of the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. US military surveillance flights have also increased in the region.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 21:25

• Is China About To Devalue The Yuan: Local Banks Start Dumping Yuan
  Is China About To Devalue The Yuan: Local Banks Start Dumping Yuan

  In our market wrap note yesterday, we said that the Chinese Yuan surged to its strongest against the dollar since June 2018, rising above 6.50, and was now “at a critical level that has prompted volatility-inducing devaluations in the past.”

  

  This was only the latest time in the past few weeks we have speculated that the recent surge in the dollar has put Beijing in the very unpleasant position of being forced to decide just how it will let some steam out of the soaring yuan, which is rapidly becoming a lead deflationary anchor dragging down the broader Chinese economy.

  We didn’t have long to wait to get a very clear signal that Beijing is now actively contemplating a devaluation. In fact, it took just a few hours for China’s yuan to abruptly erase its overnight advance in a move early on Tuesday, when big state banks were seen suddenly dumping the yuan for the first time in years.

  The yuan erased a gain of about 0.5% within an hour in late morning trade, and was at 6.4577 per dollar as of 2:21 p.m. in Shanghai. As Bloomberg first reported, the move came as a few big Chinese state banks actively offloaded the currency against the greenback after the yuan hit 6.43. Bloomberg was also kind enough to provide a translation for the cheap seats: “while the lenders could be taking profits on long-yuan positions, they could also be acting on behalf of the authorities to rein in the appreciation.”

  

  For those who are confused about the significant of what just happened, all Chinese banks are effectively state-owned entities (SOEs), and everything they do is with the explicit preapproval of Beijing, which knows very well that the entire global community is scouring its market for signals such as this. This is important because Chinese banks always start intervening in FX when Beijing is seeking to telegraph to the world that it is now displeased with the strength of its currency, and any further gains will not be tolerated.

  In other words, a sighting such as this, is usually a clear and present signal that a far more aggressive devaluation is imminent.

  To be sure, while the recent plunge in the dollar has sent most emerging-market currencies higher recently, the yuan has also been bolstered by China’s fundamentals. The country’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic has been solid, and China is attracting strong capital inflows chasing the yuan’s wide yield premium over the rest of the world. The currency is now trading near a two-year high. Which however, is not at all what Beijing wants as it is scrambling to extend its export trade-driven rebound: after all, the stronger the yuan, the less competitive the country’s products on the global trade arena.

  Pointing out the obvious, Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior emerging-markets strategist at Credit Agricole CIB said that “the pace of gains has been unsustainable and probably unacceptable to policy makers,” adding that he “wouldn’t be surprised if this correction was driven by agent banks buying the dollar.”

  Translation: this is a mini state-mandated FX intervention. And if the yuan continues to rise – read, the dollar continues to tumble – then the mini intervention will mutate into a maxi devaluation.

  That said, Beijing doesn’t have to go all August 2015 on the yuan, as China has several other tools at its disposal which increase in order of severity – starting with weaker fixings and ending with relaxation of capital curbs (and allowing bitcoin to trade again) – if it wishes to slow the rally. Just late last year, the authorities made it cheaper for traders to bet against the currency and allowed onshore investors to buy more overseas assets. That move, however, did not have much impact against a US currency that has been sliding at a spectacular fashion.

  As such, this is Beijing’s official warning to the Fed: stop what you are doing, or the trade war will rapidly transform into a currency war as well.

  Which is paradoxical, because looking ahead, the yuan will likely be supported by a potentially more stable relationship between Beijing and Washington under Joe Biden’s staunchly pro-China administration. Liu Li-gang, chief China economist at Citigroup Inc., said he expects the Chinese currency to appreciate to 6 per dollar by end-2021, a level unseen since 1993. Needless to say, Beijing will not be happy if Liu is right.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 21:05

• Save The Date! January 6th Is America's "Rendezvous With History"
  Save The Date! January 6th Is America’s “Rendezvous With History”

  Authored by Ben Garrison via GrrrGraphics.com,

  Wednesday, January 6 is a red letter day. I’m sure many have the date circled on their new calendars. Probably in red ink. Soon it could be circled in fire. 

  

  It’s a protest day for many Trump supporters. They’ll be in Washington D.C. to help the president in his quest for justice. The election was blatantly stolen by the Democrat Socialists. The evidence is overwhelming, but the corporate media, the courts, and many in Congress are content to be led by a corrupt and demented swamp and basement-dwelling pedophile, China Joe Biden.

  The big question is, will Vice President Mike Pence come through for Trump and challenge the electoral votes in key states? Will he stop the steal? We will all soon know, but I have my doubts. If Pence sides with Biden, then he’ll go down in history as the second Benedict Arnold. Trump should then initiate the Insurrection Act and arrest them all for attempting a coup. After all, they were aided by China and other foreign operatives. Trump should hand Pence a second envelope that says, “You’re Fired.” I hope I’m wrong about Pence, but I have my doubts about him. If he proves me wrong and sides with the president, I’ll be delighted.

  January 6th can be a turning point in US history. It can be the day when patriots take not just a stand, but real action against the globalists who want a ‘great reset,’ which means America will live under a totalitarian system similar to communist China.

  We don’t want a ’new normal’ that’s being forced upon us by tyrants. We want the regular constitutional normal. We The People want our Republic back.

  Make America Great Again!

  *  *  *

  Join us on SubscribeStar- a great way to support cartoons with a monthly donation- Free Speech alternative to Patreon click to view!

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 20:45

• What Is Behind Saudi's Shocking Decision To Cut 1MM Bpd In Oil Output Today? Goldman Explains
  What Is Behind Saudi’s Shocking Decision To Cut 1MM Bpd In Oil Output Today? Goldman Explains

  The first monthly OPEC+ meeting to decide on the group’s production ended with an unexpected, in fact shocking two-month agreement:

  1. Saudi announced an unexpected and unilateral production cut of 1 mb/d in February and March,
  2. Russia and Kazakhstan will instead increase output modestly to meet seasonal needs while
  3. other producers will remain at their January levels.

  Of the three, the Saudi decision to cut production by 1 million barrels came as a shock to the market, sending oil sharply higher.

  What has behind it? As Goldman’s commodity strategist Damien Courvalin explains, despite this bullish supply agreement, Saudi’s decision “likely reflects signs of weakening demand as lockdowns return, with our updated 1Q21 balance actually weaker than previously.”

  That said, Saudi’s action and the prospect for a tight market in 2Q21, as the rebound in demand stresses the ability to restart production, will likely support prices in coming weeks, leading Goldman to reiterate its bullish oil view. As a result, the bank continues to recommend a long Dec-21 Brent trade (currently trading at $52/bbl vs. its $65/bbl forecast) and expect sustained backwardation and lower implied volatility. Courvalin also notes that “fundamentals do matter, but we see the recent recovery in refining margins and product cracks as premature and the best way to express the expected weakness in near-term oil demand.”

  

  Here are more details from the Goldman note:

  The most significant decision was Saudi’s pre-emptive measure to reduce output in the face of renewed lockdowns with OPEC+ production now expected below our prior forecast by 1.45 mb/d in February and 1.85 mb/d in March. Saudi’s decision surprised as global demand beat expectations in December on shallower and shorter EU lockdowns and resilient jet demand. Further, by allowing Russia to increase production, Saudi undermined its efforts since April to have every producer implement similar cuts, with the Kingdom solely taking a fiscal hit. Finally, by lifting prices to their highest levels since last March, Saudis risk extending the ongoing recovery in shale production, as WTI spot prices now at $50/bbl can allow for higher activity and positive free cash flows (although such a response would likely take time to materialize with producers cautious of further OPEC surprises).

  This, according to Courvalin, leaves a large expected slowdown in global oil demand as the most rational explanation for Saudi’s cut, likely signaled through its term contract to Asian consumers where infections are rising quickly (Korea, Japan, South-East Asia).

  Meanwhile, Goldman’s high-frequency indicator of oil demand (or lack thereof) suggests that the return of more aggressive lockdowns is already weighing on demand, and the bank is reflecting these headwinds in its balance, taking down January and February oil demand to 92.5 mb/d from an upward revised December demand level of 93.5 mb/d.

  

  Separately, and from a geopolitical perspective, the transition to a likely less supportive US administration may also have led Saudi to adopt a more supportive stance towards other Middle East producers, as illustrated in both today’s unilateral cut and restoration of ties with Qatar.

  As a result of today’s announcement, Goldman’s updated Q1 2021 balance is weaker than previously although, with prospects for a tighter market in 2Q21 as the Saudi announcement hints. This new OPEC+ path and the bank’s demand downgrade lead the bank to forecast a 1Q21 0.25 mb/d surplus vs. a commensurate deficit previously (only half offset by a tighter December). Importantly, OPEC+ March production level will still be low just as global demand starts rebounding sharply driven by warmer weather and rising vaccinations. This points to the group potentially struggling to ramp-up output quickly enough, with estimates currently reflecting a 1.3 mb/d deficit in April-July despite OPEC+ increasing production by 4 mb/d, a historically tall order.

  

  On net, Goldman believes today’s outcome will help support prices in the face of demand risks given Saudi’s commitment to balance the market, and the potential for Saudi to cut more – now that they have tipped their hand – than demand actually disappoints, risks of a tighter 2Q21 balance and a growing consensus bullish outlook for crude fundamentals later this year.

  Finally, for those asking, Goldman’s own year-end Brent forecast of $65/bbl is well above market forwards and consensus expectations.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 20:25

• Leaked Documents Reveal Chinese Regime’s Orders to Steal Foreign Technologies
  Leaked Documents Reveal Chinese Regime’s Orders to Steal Foreign Technologies

  By Alex Wu of the Epoch Times

  A series of leaked government documents recently obtained by The Epoch Times reveal that Chinese authorities have funded projects that are aimed at obtaining foreign advanced technologies through partnerships with international research institutions. Public records show that China’s Ministry of Science and Technology is behind the efforts.

  Budget for ‘Transferring’ Foreign Technologies

  Hebei International Talent Exchange Association (also known as International Technology Transfer Center) was established in 1988 in Hebei Province. It has more than 200 international technical projects and more than 300 foreign experts, covering more than ten fields, including artificial intelligence (AI), information communication, biology, medical, and health.

  The organization issued a report, “Hebei Provincial Budget Project Performance Evaluation Form” on Nov. 17, in which it explicitly states that the group aims to “introduce foreign advanced technology … and realize technology transfer [to China].”

  To achieve that goal, the document specified that the organization would expand cooperation channels with at least 50 international organizations; set up a minimum of four international scientific and technological cooperation activities; maintain at least 50 foreign technology projects; obtain at least five cooperation intention agreements; and target 60 to 80 foreign technical experts for recruitment.

  

  The report laid out a 1 million yuan (about $153,000) budget for the association to recruit talent from overseas and fund the projects they would set up in Hebei. It also projected a profit of 10 million yuan (about $1.53 million) that could be achieved by “transferring” foreign advanced technology to Chinese companies in Hebei.

  The purpose of transferring foreign technology was mentioned in another report that was issued at the same time, titled, “Plan for the Use of Special Subsidy Funds for the Construction of Hebei International Science and Technology Cooperation Base.” The foreign technology would upgrade Hebei’s technology, improve products, and boost international competitiveness, the report said.

  U.S.-based China affairs commentator Li Linyi told The Epoch Times that the initiative is a lucrative scheme and a blatant plan to steal advanced technology and intellectual property from other countries to benefit the Chinese regime.

  According to public records, Hebei International Talent Exchange Association operates under the state-run China Association for International Exchange of Personnel (CAIEP). CAIEP is directly managed by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, an agency under the Chinese regime’s Ministry of Science and Technology.

  Higher Education Institutions Are Required to ‘Transfer’ Foreign Technology

  Hebei education authorities have also set requirements and goals for obtaining foreign technologies through its “2020 Work Plan of the International Technology Transfer Center of Hebei University of Technology,” issued in 2019. The Epoch Times obtained a copy of this document.

  Some of the instructions include establishing an international technology transfer center website; “vigorously introducing” international high-tech talents, high-level management teams and advanced technology resources; “all-round” strengthening of international cooperation and technology transfer; and “improving various working systems in the international technology transfer work.”

  The Hebei University of Engineering, for example, has set up partnerships with international schools to develop high-end scientific and technological projects, as outlined in its report, “Hebei International Joint Center Base Defense,” issued on Nov. 21 this year.

  

  Under the section “Cooperative Units and Research Teams” of the document, the university partnered with Le Mans Université and Université Paris-Saclay in France, University College London in England, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

  The document noted that University College London is the world’s top science and technology university, ranking among the top 10 universities in the world; and Professor P. Picart at Le Mans Université is an authoritative expert on digital holographic display.

  Sounding the Alarm

  In October this year, at the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s Fifth Plenary Session, Party leader Xi Jinping emphasized “independent science and technology” and “strengthening basic research and focusing on original innovation” in his speech.

  Analysts observed that Xi’s remarks are a response to the growing criticism from the international community regarding the CCP’s theft of intellectual property and technology from Western countries, especially the United States.

  On Dec. 9, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a speech at Georgia Institute of Technology, in which he called out the CCP’s stealing of intellectual property and technologies from other countries. He stated, “Much of the high-end industrial base inside of China is based on stolen technology, or technology purchased from other nations. It’s not home-grown.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 20:05

• Amazon Buys 11 Boeing 767s From Delta, WestJet To Expand Amazon Air
  Amazon Buys 11 Boeing 767s From Delta, WestJet To Expand Amazon Air

  The world’s biggest online retailing monopoly, Amazon, announced on Tuesday that it is expanding its presence in the air freight logistics sector with the purchase of eleven Boeing 767-300 aircraft, which includes seven aircraft from Delta and four aircraft from WestJet. The new aircrafts will join the Prime Air network by 2022.

  The four aircraft purchased from WestJet in March are currently undergoing passenger to cargo conversion and will join Amazon Air’s network in 2021. The seven aircraft from Delta will enter Amazon’s air cargo network in 2022.

  The purchase price for the 11 Boeing’s remains undisclosed; Amazon said it will rely on third-party carriers to operate the new aircraft.

  

  The full press release is below:

  Today, Amazon announced its first-ever purchase of eleven Boeing 767-300 aircraft, expanding its fleet to continue to serve customers. The purchases include seven aircraft from Delta and four aircraft from WestJet, which will join the network by 2022. Amazon Air’s fleet expansion comes at a time when customers are relying on fast, free shipping more than ever.

  “Our goal is to continue delivering for customers across the U.S. in the way that they expect from Amazon, and purchasing our own aircraft is a natural next step toward that goal,” said Sarah Rhoads, Vice President of Amazon Global Air. “Having a mix of both leased and owned aircraft in our growing fleet allows us to better manage our operations, which in turn helps us to keep pace in meeting our customer promises.”

  Amazon Air plays a central role in delivering for customers by transporting items across longer distances in shorter timeframes. The four aircraft purchased from WestJet in March are currently undergoing passenger to cargo conversion and will join Amazon Air’s network in 2021, and the seven aircraft from Delta will enter Amazon’s air cargo network in 2022. These fleet additions will ensure added capacity in Amazon Air’s network for years to come. The company will continue to rely on third-party carriers to operate these new aircraft.

  Amazon Air continues to expand globally to meet the needs of its growing customer base, while investing in jobs and sustainable solutions to power its network. Last year, Amazon launched its first-ever air hub at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany and new regional air operations at Lakeland Linder International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Richmond International Airport, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, Kahului Airport, Kona International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and Louis Armstrong International Airport. This summer, Amazon Air announced its purchase of six million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel and has already invested in leading-edge electric ground service equipment and solar rooftop panels planned at some facilities. Since Amazon Air’s launch in 2016, Amazon has invested hundreds of millions of dollars and created thousands of new jobs at Amazon Air locations across the U.S.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 19:45

• The Frogs Will Boil Themselves
  The Frogs Will Boil Themselves

  Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

  There’s a well-known old fable that describes a frog being boiled alive. It states that if a frog is dropped in boiling water, it will hop out. But if it’s placed in lukewarm water, it will be comfortable. Then, if the heat is turned up slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be boiled to death.

  In political terms, this translates into a slow increase, say, the slow rise of taxation or the gradual removal of freedoms.

  

  But there’s another way to boil the electorate of a country: have them become willing participants in their own demise.

  This method is a common practice in many countries, particularly the US. Americans have repeatedly been conned into begging for their second amendment rights to be diminished.

  The method is to make use of the media to shine a light on the horrific murder of innocents through the use of firearms.

  In recent years, this effort has been ramped up through regular senseless massacres of people, particularly children, in public places, such as schools and movie theatres.

  Whether or not these incidents are actually created by the ruling elite is a moot point. What matters is that their proliferation has been extremely effective in providing the media will the fodder to repeatedly ask, “When is the Government going to make the possession of guns illegal so that the killing will stop?”

  Many citizens are wary of such suggestions, but countless others quickly take the bait and demand that the Government “do something.”

  Eventually, this becomes a point of pride for many citizens — a badge of righteousness — for standing up for those who have been victims.

  Through such efforts, the US constitution has slowly lost its ability to serve as a limitation to Government power. A proliferation of laws that redefine what the Constitution means has, over time, eviscerated the Constitution.

  Not surprisingly, those who support this effort are largely liberal, which creates a backlash from those who are conservative and vehemently oppose any erosion of the Constitution.

  Those who are liberal may reinforce their beliefs by watching propaganda networks on television and regularly pump up the dangers of the Constitution. Likewise, conservatives have their propaganda network, which can be counted on to reinforce their views.

  Whichever side Americans take on such issues, they would be wise to keep an eye out for what may be the next development in this wrangle.

  Those who dutifully watch the liberal “news” networks may soon see pundits despairing that the failings of the aging Constitution must be dealt with. It must be updated if it is to serve changing needs. After all, the Founding Fathers cannot be blamed that they didn’t foresee the existence of AK-47s. Surely, it falls to the present administration to “correct” the failings of the well-intentioned old document.

  Conservatives, of course, are likely to be more cautious, but what we may see is for the pundits on their favoured network to express frustration that the Left is seeking to erode traditional values and must, at some point be stopped, or the country will be destroyed. There can be no question that the Founding Fathers were correct — that unless the Constitution and its amendments are not clarified once and for all as to what they were meant to express, American liberty is at stake.

  Americans, like citizens of most countries, love a good battle between good and evil. Every four years, a massive three-ring circus is staged in which the political leader is decided and both sports teams – Democrats and Republicans – go all out in seeking a victory on the playing field.

  However, in most cases, neither candidate is trustworthy or qualified for the job, but this is of no importance. The essence of the battle is not to select a wise and capable leader but to win.

  Similarly, once the populace has been wound up on both sides to believe that only a pitched battle can “re-establish the Constitution” or “modernise the Constitution,” the battle shall be met.

  At present, this eventuality may seem mere speculation. But then, the media campaign has not yet begun.

  At present, all that exists is pundits in the media bemoaning the injustice of the present situation.

  What is needed is the prediction of pundits that, whatever side an individual takes on the issue, his side is sure to win.

  On the liberal side, social warriors must come out daily in the media with demands for change and the certainty of success once the battle has begun. On the conservative side, pundits need to guarantee that the battle will be won once and for all, but that the situation is in dire need of immediate attention, or all may be lost.

  The result will not be immediate, but, with repetition, eventually, the American people on both sides of the fence may well not only suggest, but demand that the matter be sorted.

  At that point, the Government may announce that a Constitutional Review will be undertaken. It would not matter that most of those making the demand are the pundits on the media networks. What would be presented would be that “a majority of Americans demand that the review take place as soon as possible.”

  Although at the time, the propaganda may imply that the review will be focused on one part of the Constitution, such as the Second Amendment, Americans will soon discover that the entire document is up for grabs. Under the terms of the review, all facets of the Constitution may be questioned.

  Then what would the outcome be?

  Each side will hope that their elected representatives will emerge as the heroes, but that is not how politics works.

  In truth, elected leaders do not seek to serve the public but to dominate them. Invariably, their recommendations for change will be whatever transfers greater power to themselves.

  Both Democratic and Republican members will argue forcefully for the rights of the American citizen. However, in the end, a “compromise” shall be made — one in which the rights of the populace are diminished and the Government has new powers to allow it to bypass the electorate in the future.

  If this does occur, the public will, in effect, “boil themselves.” They will have demanded that the Government act, and, when the dust has settled, each side will claim some sort of victory but will fail to understand that they have brought about their own loss of rights.

  It is hoped that, when the day comes that a Constitutional Review is proposed, Americans refuse to take the bait.

  *  *  *

  Economically, politically, and socially, the United States seems to be headed down a path that’s not only inconsistent with the founding principles of the country, but accelerating quickly toward boundless decay. In the years ahead, there will likely be much less stability of any kind. That’s exactly why New York Times bestselling author Doug Casey and his team just released an urgent new report titled Doug Casey’s Top 7 Predictions for the Raging 2020s. Click here to download the free PDF now.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 19:25

• Here's How The FBI Tracked Down Ghislaine Maxwell
  Here’s How The FBI Tracked Down Ghislaine Maxwell

  Former Jeffrey Epstein ‘madam’ Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on July 2, following a raid on her secluded mansion in New Hampshire – despite going to great lengths to conceal her whereabouts.

  

  According to a new court document revealed by the Daily Beast, however, the FBI was able to track down the accused child sex-trafficker using a “stingray” device to track down her mobile phone.

  Before the feds busted Ghislaine Maxwell, they tracked her to a New Hampshire hideaway using her cellphone data, according to a newly unsealed court filing.

  The British socialite and accused accomplice of sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein had opened a mobile account under the name “G Max” and used it to communicate with phones belonging to her rumored husband Scott Borgerson, her sister Isabel, and one of her lawyers, Laura Menninger, the document states. -Daily Beast

  The filing – an affidavit in support of a search warrant application, was filed by the FBI on July 1, 2020, the day before Maxwell was arrested at her Bradford mansion. She stands accused of grooming three girls as young as 14-years-old for Epstein in the mid-1990s as part of an international sex-trafficking operation that lasted for years. Maxwell faces trial this summer.

  The affidavit also reveals an earlier attempt to locate Maxwell based on a New York search warrant to retrieve historical cell site data for the disgraced socialite’s cellphone account within one mile of her location, however in their application for the new warrant, the DOJ says they couldn’t locate her in New Hampshire.

  “The FBI does not know Maxwell’s current location and accordingly requires the information sought in this application in order to locate and arrest Maxwell,” reads the filing.

  The New Hampshire warrant allowed the FBI to “use an investigative device or devices capable of broadcasting signals that will be received by” Maxwell’s phone “or receiving signals from nearby cellular devices,” including Maxwell’s device.”

  “Such a device may function in some respects like a cellular tower, except that it will not be connected to the cellular network and cannot be used by a cell phone to communicate with others,” the affidavit states, adding that the device would not intercept her phone’s calls, texts, and other electronic communications and data.

  These details seem to indicate that the FBI used a “stingray” device, also known as an “IMSI catcher,” to nab Maxwell. The portable equipment, which can fit inside a briefcase, simulates a cell tower and forces mobile phones in the immediate vicinity to connect to it instead of the actual tower. Once it connects, the stingray captures the phone’s exact location and the registered user’s identifying information. –Daily Beast

  According to the affidavit, Maxwell shares a joint bank account with her husband, tech CEO Scott Borgerson, and that her Amazon account sent him “multiple packages within approximately the last year.”

  Given that it’s common knowledge that anyone’s cell phone can be tracked if a government is motivated enough, we suspect Maxwell simply thought she was untouchable.

  In seeking release on bail – which has since been denied – Maxwell indicated that she had a net worth of approximately $22.5 million, all of which she was willing to pledge for her release.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 19:15

• Human Rights Group Exposes China's Network Of Secret Political Prisons Where 2 Canadians Are Being Held
  Human Rights Group Exposes China’s Network Of Secret Political Prisons Where 2 Canadians Are Being Held

  Following some rumblings late last week in the FT, which noted that Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire and Alibaba co-founder (and former Chairman) who recently had a disastrous falling out with the CCP, had apparently been fired from his own show, the western media apparently only just noticed on Sunday night that Ma hasn’t been seen publicly in 2 months.

  The story immediately sparked speculation about Ma’s whereabouts – speculation that was exacerbated by the defeating silence from Beijing (the CCP essentially ignored the story while China’s subservient media and its army of censors went to work).

  

  On Twitter, reporters likened the apparent kidnapping of Ma (presumably by CCP thugs, as many assumed he might already be living in a reeducation camp, or one of China’s many ‘secret prisons’) to the US federal government ordering the sudden arrest of Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg (on dubious charges).

  But in the pages of the FT, the paper’s reporters pointed out that Ma’s disappearance isn’t really that revolutionary, and that Beijing has been using the CCP’s rule over the law to detain not just domestic dissidents, but foreigners as well. Beijing has ramped up these tactics over the last 2 years, since two Canadians – diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor – were arrested in late 2018 on national security related charges. Accused of spying, the men were confined to secret prisons, where they were subjected to torture, denied contact with family and Canadian diplomatic officials.

  It’s widely believed the two men were detained in retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, himself a prominent businessman. However, while Meng has spent most of this time on house arrest, Spavor and Kovrig have been treated abominably.

  As the world waits to learn the fate of the two Canadians, for the first time, the FT has published details about the program under which Spavor, Kovrig and tens of thousands of others have been detained across mainland China. The information was reportedly provided by Swedish human-rights group Safeguard Defenders.

  Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and entrepreneur Michael Spavor are among almost 30,000 people who have been held in the facilities from 2013-19, according to Safeguard Defenders, a human rights group co-founded by Swedish citizen Peter Dahlin, who was himself held in a secret prison.

  Activists and former diplomats are urging the international community to maintain an assertive approach to Beijing, arguing that quiet diplomacy has proven ineffective. The Canadians were detained in December 2018 following the arrest in Vancouver of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei and daughter of the telecom group’s founder. Ms Meng was held after the US issued an extradition request over alleged violations of sanctions against Iran and has been living under house arrest since 2018.

  Huawei has asserted that she is innocent of the charges. Mr Kovrig and Mr Spavor have spent six months in secret prisons under a programme started in 2013 known as “residential surveillance at a designated location” and were only allowed to meet consular officials once during that time.

  While the program described by Safeguard Defenders reportedly began in 2013, China has a long history of detaining foreign nationals, sometimes for its own ends, and sometimes in retaliation. The nationalities of those detained include Brits and Aussies, among others.

  “It’s been nearly 50 years since I was held, and 50 years later we’re having the same thing again,” said Anthony Grey, a British journalist who was held under house arrest for two years from 1967. Mr Grey was one of a dozen UK nationals detained following the arrest of a group of Chinese journalists in Hong Kong, who were alleged to have violated emergency regulations during violent protests and riots in the city, then under British rule.

  Mr Grey was released after several of the Chinese journalists had served their jail sentences. China has also arrested citizens of Australia, with which it has had fraught relations in recent years. Most recently, Beijing detained Cheng Lei, a journalist who worked for Chinese state television, in August, after Australian intelligence staff raided the homes of Chinese journalists in the country. Individuals detained on national security suspicions are typically held under RSDL for up to six months.

  Safeguard Defenders says about 400 people were taken into detention in 2013, the first year the programme was launched, increasing to more than 6,000 in 2019. It says detainees are abused psychologically and tortured, with tactics including keeping lights on in cells continuously and sleep deprivation.

  Data provided by the group shows how China’s secret prison population has soared in recent years.

  

  One issue with China’s secret prison system is that laws in China are essentially whatever the CCP says they are at any given time.

  People can be held for months while authorities investigate them.

  Chinese police can detain people for long periods without evidence outside of the RSDL system. In 2013, corporate investigators Peter Humphrey, a UK citizen, and his Chinese-born American wife Yu Yingzeng were held for almost two years, while police tried to force them to confess to a variety of crimes. They denied all allegations.

  “We have a new rising power which is acting as a bully, and is building up an inventory of prisoners who become bargaining chips in its negotiations with countries on almost anything,” said Mr Humphrey. China’s supporters see its actions as commensurate with other countries’.

  Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei, believes the charges against his daughter are politically motivated and has recommended the book The American Trap by Frédéric Pierucci, a French former executive at power group Alstom, about his jailing on extraterritorial corruption charges in the US when General Electric was trying to take over part of the French company. Mr Pierucci has alleged that Washington uses extraterritorial laws to attack countries competing with US strategic industries.

  Another group interviewed by the FT highlighted the risks associated with Beijing’s increasingly aggressive stance toward detentions and leveraging them for political purposes.

  Charlie Parton, a former British diplomat and now at RUSI, a security think-tank, spearheaded the #FreeChinaHostages campaign, urging people to send Christmas cards to the detainees to Chinese embassies worldwide. “One aim is to show the world the nature of the beast. Despite propounding ideas of win-win and shared humanity, the Chinese Communist party is an unpleasant organisation,” he said.

  But with COVID-19 ravaging its economy, the EU is brushing all this aside, and embracing a new trade deal with China that many have warned will make the bloc subservient to Beijing.

   

   

   

   

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/05/2021 – 19:05