• Two Hour Lines In The UK At McDonald's As Drive-Thrus Reopen
  Two Hour Lines In The UK At McDonald’s As Drive-Thrus Reopen
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Wed, 06/03/2020 – 02:45

  McDonald’s has started to reopen 924 drive-through restaurants in the UK and Ireland. The process will take three days, but by the end of the week, about 64% of McDonald’s restaurants will be serving Big Macs to hungry customers.

  Each branch will have a slimmed-down menu and limited operating hours, between 11 am-10 pm until further notice. Reduced operating hours means there is no breakfast food. Dining areas of all restaurants will remain closed to the public. 

  Limited hours and no breakfast have likely caused a stir among some customers, who will also learn this week that a new spending cap of £25 ($31.30) will be applied on all drive-through orders. 

  Limited Menu

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  The reopenings come after several months of closures following strict lockdown orders enforced by the government to flatten the pandemic curve. COVID-19 devastated the UK with 277,738 confirmed cases, and 39,127 deaths, and 25,062 confirmed cases and 1,650 deaths in Ireland, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins (June 2). 

  About 168 McDonald’s drive-thrus opened on Tuesday, along with two dozen locations opened for at-home delivery orders only.

  This week we are reopening Drive Thrus and McDelivery restaurants across the UK and Ireland, tap below to find your nearest reopened restaurant.

  If your local restaurant isn’t on the list yet, don’t worry we’ll be announcing more tomorrow.

  — McDonald’s UK (@McDonaldsUK) June 2, 2020

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  The Daily Mail reports today’s opening was an absolute madhouse for many locations, which saw a flood of people who wanted to get their hands on Big Macs and McNuggets. Some people waited upwards of two hours to get their hands on a burger — with police managing traffic around several places as lines poured onto the streets.  

  After consulting with police, managers at McDonald’s in Newbridge, near Edinburgh, have decided to close the drive thru lane temporarily to traffic amid unprecedented demand today. – Daily Mail

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  Two drive-thru lanes are packed with cars at Livingston’s McDonald’s, which reopened at 11 am with new social distancing measures in place. – Daily Mail

  Over 70 cars are queuing for up to two hours this afternoon to get a McDonalds Drive Thru on the Middlebrook Retail Park in Bolton, Gtr Manchester, with the line snaking around the car park. – Daily Mail

  Marshalls direct the queue of cars waiting to get their McDonald’s fix today in Astley Bridge, Bolton. – Daily Mail

  Drive-thru lanes were packed in Dunstable as McDonald’s reopened at 11 am on Tuesday, but customers can only order up to £25 worth of food at a time. – Daily Mail 

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  Peace and calm were widely seen as McDonald’s reopened some European locations, unlike the US, rioters are burning down shops in a fit of rage. 

  

• Will Italy Be The Next Country To Leave The EU?
  Will Italy Be The Next Country To Leave The EU?
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Wed, 06/03/2020 – 02:00

  Authored by Paul Antonopoulos via InfoBrics,

  On May 27, the political movement Italia Libera submitted a constitutional bill to the Supreme Court of Cassation demanding a referendum for Italy to leave the EU. After years of discussions, the foundation stone was laid for Italians to debate whether they want to remain in the EU or follow the United Kingdom out of the bloc. The draft bill presented by Italia Libera to the Supreme Court of Cassation is entitled “Call for a referendum on the withdrawal of the state from the European Union.”

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  Effectively, Italia Libera has demonstrated that it is possible to follow an institutional path to allow citizens to decide whether they want to remain in the EU or not – and for those who want to leave, now is the best time considering the massive decline in popularity for the bloc after their abandonment of Italy when it was at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. 

  Gian Luca Proietti Toppi, a lawyer involved in the bill, said that it is necessary to reach ordinary Italians and “open their eyes to the harmful effects of participating in a Union without a soul and based only on finance. It is clear that with the filing of the 50,000 signatures necessary to start the parliamentary process of the proposal, a broad debate will open on the opportunity to exit the cage of the EU and the Euro.”

  He continued to explain that “the effects of liberating the old continent from this bureaucratic and oppressive superstructure will certainly be complex to manage. However, Italia Libera, who is the first promoter of the Committee that collected the signatures needed, has already put experts and academics to work to draw up a plan that will secure the savings of Italians and from the debt.”

  Although he did not mention the EU’s abandonment of Italy during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, he did emphasize how the bloc financially exploits Italy, just as it does to all of Mediterranean Europe with the exception of France.

  There are many positive aspects to the EU, most notably the free movement of people and a coordinated effort to fight crime through Europol, but these multilateral agreements can exist without a European Parliament and domineering institutions based in Brussels and Strasbourg. As Toppi explained, Italy imagined the EU to be “a community of peoples and not of bankers.” It is for this reason that they announced the bill on the same day an unprecedented European Union Recovery Fund became official. This fund was only established because of the backlash received due to the bloc’s initial disinterest in assisting already struggling economies of the EU that were being further devastated financially by the pandemic.

  With widespread southern European dissatisfaction with how the EU abandoned its supposed liberal ideals, particularly Germany, in favour of serving inward self-interests, bloc leaders are now playing catch up. President of the European Commission and Angela Merkel’s right-hand man in previous German governments, Ursula Von Der Leyen, and the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, who was also a former member of the Troika of bankers, announced the unprecedented measures to assist Europe through its financial woes. This time they promised real aid that would not completely decimate state structures and entire economies like what happened to Greece, Spain, Portugal, and to a lesser extent Italy, for the entirety of the 2010’s. The Governor of the Bank of Italy expects a 13% drop in GDP in 2020, and for this reason Toppi emphasized that Italy does not need any further indebtedness which will increasingly put Italy in the hands of international speculators.

  However, Italians remember that Lagarde announced on March 13, just as coronavirus was truly beginning to overwhelm hospitals, that the pandemic was an Italian problem only. This was the catalyst that saw ordinary Italians begin to remove EU flags from public display and replace them with Russian and Chinese flags in gratitude to the significant assistance that these two countries gave to Italy when it was abandoned by Brussels and Berlin.

  An “Italexit” would be a bigger blow to the prestige of the EU then Brexit. Italy, as a G20 country, uses the Eurodollar unlike Britain which maintained currency sovereignty and continued to use the pound. Therefore, to prevent the strong possibility that Italy in the coming years could leave the EU, Brussels and Berlin must take note of its political failures and work to design a new community that has respect for national sovereignty and identity, and on the basis of reciprocity. It is not acceptable that Germany remains the dominant country of the EU and effectively rules over the European Commission, the European Central Banks, the European Court of Justice and the European Parliament.

  A Europe free of unscrupulous bankers, self-referential bureaucrats and inadequate politicians is at the forefront of those pushing for their respective countries to exit the EU or call for its reformation. However, for this to be achieved, a major state must lead the charge, and it appears that Italy will take on this mantle and could very well be the first Eurodollar state to leave the EU if drastic reformations are not made. And Italian exit will surely have a domino effect felt all across Europe.

  

• Gordon Chang On China: What We Must Do, & What We Must Not Do
  Gordon Chang On China: What We Must Do, & What We Must Not Do
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Wed, 06/03/2020 – 00:05

  Authored by Gordon Chang via The Gatestone Institute,

  China has attacked America with coronavirus. At this moment, more than 100,000 Americans have been killed. We brace ourselves for the deaths to come.

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  Today, I’ll do two things. First, I’ll talk about the nature of that attack. The second thing, what we must do to protect ourselves.

  First of all, China is not, as many people will tell you, just a competitor. It is an enemy. China is trying to overthrow the international system, and in that process, it is trying to make you subject to modern-day Chinese emperors.

  I know this sounds as if it cannot be true, but we must listen to what Chinese leaders say. When we do that, we realize that to defend the American republic and defend our way of life, we are going to have to decouple from China.

  On May 6, President Donald J. Trump said that China’s attack was worse than Pearl Harbor, worse than the World Trade Center. “There’s never been an attack like this,” he said, and he is right.

  Most critically, Chinese leaders publicly admitted that the novel coronavirus, the pathogen causing COVID-19, could be transmitted from one human to another on January 20.

  Yet doctors in Wuhan, the epicenter, were noticing the contagiousness of this virus no later than the second week in December. Beijing knew a few days after that. If Chinese leaders had said nothing during that five‑week period, that would have been grossly irresponsible.

  What they tried to do, however, was deceive the world into believing that this was not transmissible human-to-human. As a result of that campaign, the World Health Organization (WHO) propagated China’s false narrative, especially with that infamous January 14 tweet:

  “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China.”

  At the same time, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2012, pressured countries not to impose travel restrictions or quarantines on arrivals from China. Again, WHO helped China, this time with its January 10 statement opposing these restrictions.

  What happened was arrivals from China — when Chinese officials knew this virus was human-to human-transmissible — turned what should have been an epidemic contained to China into a global pandemic.

  I don’t know what Xi Jinping, the Chinese ruler, was thinking, but if after having seen what the coronavirus did to cripple China, he decided to cripple other societies to get even, he would have done exactly what in fact he did do.

  That means there is only one inescapable conclusion. This conclusion is that China maliciously spread this virus around the world, sickening people, killing others.

  This is the first time in history that one nation has attacked all the others.

  That is not all. After admitting the human-to-human contagiousness of this disease, Beijing then downplayed it.

  On January 21, the day after formally admitting the disease’s human-to-human transmissibility, Beijing got its propaganda machine in full gear to tell the world that this was less dangerous than SARS.

  SARS is the 2002‑2003 epidemic that according to the World Health Organization infected 8,096 people across the world, killing 744. By then, on January 21, Chinese officials knew it was much worse than SARS.

  According to Der Spiegel, Germany’s intelligence agency, the BND, believes that on January 21 ‑‑ this is the day after China formally admitted human‑to‑human transmissibility of the disease ‑‑ Xi Jinping spoke to Dr. Tedros, the director-general of WHO, and tried to get the organization to hold back information on human‑to‑human transmissibility, as well as to delay declaring a pandemic.

  Now, WHO denies that this phone conversation between Xi and Tedros took place, but it fits known facts. It also fits what the US intelligence community has been saying, according to various reports.

  China’s actions had consequences. Beijing lulled public health officials around the world, including those in the United States, into not taking actions that they otherwise would have adopted.

  Democrats and Chinese communists have criticized President Trump for acting too slowly after he imposed the travel restrictions on China on January 31. If that is true, it is only because people on his coronavirus task force were actually listening to what Beijing was saying and making judgments on what they had heard.

  For instance, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, in her March 31 press briefing said she had seen the data from China and decided that this was no more dangerous than SARS, but realized, after the infections ripped through both Italy and Spain, that she had been deceived by the Chinese. She is not the only one. Dr. Anthony Fauci has also talked in public about how the Chinese misled him.

  We must impose costs on China. We must impose costs because, first of all, what China did was a crime against all of humanity. We must also impose costs because we need to deter China. This is not going to be the last pathogen generated on Chinese soil. We got to make sure the Chinese leaders do not believe that they can maliciously spread another disease.

  This means there is going to be friction between China and the United States as we Americans take steps to protect ourselves in the future. Those steps are going to cause arrogant and belligerent Chinese to move against us.

  We should take a look about how the arrogant and belligerent Chinese indeed view the international system, how they view the world order. You will hear many analysts say that the friction between the United States and China is just another one of these boys-will-be-boys contests in history.

  The notion is that the United States is jealously protecting its position in the international system fits in with Beijing’s narrative that their rise is inevitable and that we are in terminal decline.

  The truth is that the United States is defending more than just its position in the international system. We are defending the international system itself, the system of treaties, conventions, rules, and norms.

  Unfortunately, Xi Jinping, the Chinese ruler, does not believe in that system. He is trying to impose China’s imperial‑era notions of the world. In other words, he believes that everyone around the world must acknowledge Chinese rule.

  In short, Chinese rulers believed that they had the mandate of heaven over tianxia, meaning “all under heaven.” Xi Jinping has used tianxia‑like language for more than a decade. Recently, his pronouncements have become unmistakable.

  For instance, in his 2017 New Year’s message he said, and I quote, “The Chinese have always held that the world is united and all under heaven” — all under heaven — “are one family.”

  If this were not enough, his foreign minister, Wang Yi, in September of 2017 wrote an article in Study Times, the Central Party School’s influential newspaper. Wang Yi wrote that “Xi Jinping thought” ‑‑ “thought” in Communist Party lingo is an important body of ideological work — “made innovations on and transcended the traditional Western theories of international relations for the past 300 years.”

  If you take 2017 and subtract 300 years, you almost get to 1648. Wang, with his time reference of 300 years, was almost certainly pointing to the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648, which established the current international system. That system recognizes the sovereignty of different states.

  Also, when Wang Yi used the word “transcended,” he was saying that Xi Jinping does not believe that there should be sovereign states, or at least no more sovereign states than China itself. The trend of Xi Jinping’s recent comments is that he doesn’t want to live within the international system. He does not even want to adjust it. He wants to overthrow it altogether.

  This means China once again is a revolutionary state. Now, Xi Jinping, of course, has not had the power to compel others to accept this audacious vision of worldwide Chinese rule.

  Nonetheless, in the last few months, he has seen an historic opportunity because the United States has been stricken by the disease that China itself has pushed out beyond its borders.

  What must we do? First, let us talk about what we must not do.

  We must not save Chinese communism again. In the past, American presidents, when China had been stressed, have ridden to the rescue of the Chinese state. In 1972, for instance, Richard Nixon went to a Beijing that had been weakened by more than a half decade of the Cultural Revolution, signaling America’s support for China’s communism. That is how people in China took that visit.

  The second time, 1989, George H. W. Bush sent Brent Scowcroft, his secret emissary, to Deng Xiaoping in the wake of the Tiananmen massacre. Again, America was telling the Chinese, “Don’t worry about American sanctions, don’t worry about what we say in public, we have your back.”

  The third time, 1999, President William Jefferson Clinton signed a trade deal with China – at a time when the Chinese economy, in reality, was contracting. Certainly, China was suffering geopolitical setbacks. That deal was the basis of China’s entry into the World Trade Organization.

  Despite all these saves of Chinese communism, China’s communist leaders have remained hostile. We have seen this hostility, especially since the first week of February of this year when the Global Times, which is a Communist Party newspaper, and the Chinese foreign ministry have engaged in an inflammatory disinformation campaign against the United States in an attempt to tar the US with all sorts of disease‑related sins.

  This campaign culminated, reached a high point — although this campaign is still continuing today — on March 12th when the foreign ministry went on a Twitter storm. As a part of that Twitter storm, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that coronavirus patient zero was in the United States.

  In other words, the disease started here. He also suggested that the US Army carried the disease to Wuhan. We were seeing daily stories about how the United States had been spreading the disease around the world.

  Now, Americans, of course, were taken by surprise by this Twitter storm, but we really should not be — because on May 13 of last year Beijing declared a “people’s war” on the United States. This means the contest with China is existential. There is going to be one survivor. It is going to be either the Peoples’ Republic of China or the United States of America, not both.

  We have just heard about what we should not be doing. We should not be rescuing Chinese communism.

  What should we do? In my call for action, there are eight items.

  First, we need to cut off trade with China. Now, I know a lot of people think we should not do this, or this would be unfortunate.

  Yes, this is unfortunate, but the point is that China’s communism cannot be reformed, so the only way we can protect American society and Americans is to reduce our exposure to China and our great exposure, of course, is trade. In any event, we should not be enriching a hostile state with the proceeds of commerce with the United States.

  This means, of course, that we need to get our factories off Chinese soil, but especially our pharmaceutical factories. China has been threatening to throw the United States into what it calls “a mighty sea of coronavirus,” and it has not been kidding.

  For instance, we know the Chinese have turned around at least one ship carrying personal protective equipment — masks, gowns, gloves — that were on their way to New York hospitals. Moreover, Peter Navarro has said China has even nationalized one American factory in China producing those N‑95 masks.

  China’s leadership always talks about how it is not possible for the US and China to “decouple.” Now, it is possible. Our job is to make it inevitable.

  Second thing that we need to do: The administration is well on the way to making sure federal pension money is not invested in China’s markets. We also need to make sure that state pension money, and money from individuals, is not put into China’s markets. We should not be enriching China with our investments into its equity markets.

  Third thing, we need to make China pay. Now, many people have sued the Chinese central government. There are class‑action suits in the federal district courts in Florida, Texas, and Nevada. Of course, the Chinese Central Government has sovereign immunity, but there are a number of bills in Congress, including one sponsored by Senator Blackburn and Representative Lance Gooden.

  There is also another bill sponsored by Tom Cotton and Dan Crenshaw, and these would strip China of sovereign immunity. I believe Josh Hawley, the Senator from Missouri, also has a bill.

  The State of Missouri, by the way, has sued the Communist Party of China, which is far more important and far richer than the Chinese central government. Guess what? China’s Communist Party does not have sovereign immunity.

  People have also been talking about seizing China’s holdings of US Treasury obligations. According to official records, it holds more than a trillion dollars. In reality, it is probably a bit higher than that because China holds US Treasuries through nominees.

  Of course, China would engage in a vociferous propaganda campaign if we did that. Beijing would say we are repudiating our debt. They would also say we are not responsible members and stewards of the global financial system. They would be wrong, they would be incorrect, but the US might suffer reputational damage.

  That is why I think we should seize Treasuries, but we should be doing this in connection with the holders and issuers of other major currencies. For instance, the Canadian dollar, the British pound, the European Union’s euro, the Swiss franc, the Japanese yen, maybe the Singapore dollar

  When we act with others, this becomes not a China-versus-US issue but an issue of China versus the world. No one country is going to suffer reputational damage.

  Of course, Beijing could nationalize American factories in China, but I’m not so sure they’re going to do that because China would be hurt far more than we would by that.

  Remember that China’s economy is still in a contraction phase and it is still export‑dominated, which means it needs those factories on its soil.

  Fourth, with the possibility of the coronavirus escaping from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, we are now thinking about whether China has a biological weapons program in contravention of its obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention.

  Right now, we have seen all sorts of circumstantial evidence suggesting lab leak, and we have seen all sorts of circumstantial evidence that the Chinese military has been involved in the cleanup.

  The Biological Weapons Convention does not have an inspections regime.

  The item on my action list is that the United States should insist on inspections of China’s labs, and if we cannot get inspections we should withdraw from the Convention. I am not saying that the novel coronavirus was a biological weapon. We really do not know.

  The one thing we do know is that in China’s labs, they have been engineering coronaviruses in the past. They have issued scientific papers on this, and what they are doing is extremely risky.

  Fifth, we should make sure that China does not mess in our elections. China was extremely active in the 2018 midterms. They were concerned about President Trump’s tariffs, and they actually did have an effect in electing Democrats to the House of Representatives.

  We know they are going to do that, or something like that, this time. The New York Times a few weeks ago said they are trying to sow chaos in the American public square by disseminating false rumors.

  Sixth, we need to stop China from using its nationals to systematically gather information on our soil. Unfortunately, we have had a series of American presidents who have, for various reasons, either done nothing about China’s intelligence operations here, or the actions they took were deliberately ineffective.

  We know that China’s diplomats operate on our soil, sometimes spying, other times in a manner inconsistent with the diplomatic status they have. Also, China’s Ministry of State Security agents operate here, freely.

  We need to “rip and replace” all the equipment in our telecom backbone that has been supplied by Huawei Technologies, China’s telecom equipment manufacturer. China has been using that company’s equipment to spy on others. We should have no Huawei equipment in our backbone.

  Also, we should be turfing out even more Chinese journalists. Those “journalists,” we know, work for China’s intelligence services. We have allowed them to stay on our soil for far too long. Secretary of State Pompeo has expelled many of them, and we need to complete the job.

  We have to remember that China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law requires every Chinese citizen and every Chinese entity to spy if demanded, which means that Chinese nationals on our soil can be under a compulsion to engage in intelligence collection.

  Seventh, let’s remove China from our cable networks and our newsstands. We should not be allowing China to exploit the openness of our system to try to end it.

  Eighth, and the last, we have to deter China, which right now is engaging in what people in Beijing call “wolf warrior” diplomacy. For instance, we see Xi Jinping, with these threats to invade Taiwan.

  Since the middle of February, there have been these boat-bumping and other provocative engagements in the South China and East China Seas against almost all of China’s sea neighbors. A Chinese diplomat laid the groundwork for taking over Kazakhstan, in Central Asia, and also China has moved to end the autonomy in Hong Kong.

  China is lashing out, challenging everybody at the same time. This is a Maoist tactic, and it suggests problems inside the Chinese political system. In any event, we know that this is an incredibly dangerous moment for everyone.

  One final note. Pushed by China, the Trump Administration is moving to an historic rupture with the People’s Republic of China. Because of this, we are seeing changes in the five‑decade‑old engagement policy.

  Those changes are absolutely essential for us because, without them, we cannot be self‑reliant.

  *  *  *

  Q: As an attorney, do you feel there is any way to hold China accountable, liable for financial compensation to devastated nations ravaged by their actions?

  If so, as a practical matter, exactly how? Are there US companies that were collaborating with Wuhan labs via research responsible for this corona strain?

  Chang: Great. I should say I haven’t practiced law for two decades, and I’ve given up my bar memberships. I’m more than happy to answer that question, however. First of all, as I mentioned, China does have sovereign immunity.

  Now, a lot of people will tell you, and this is not an unreasonable argument, that sovereign immunity benefits the US more than any other nation. I do believe the fight with China is existential. To me, it’s important that we make China pay.

  As I said, we can avoid this sovereign immunity issue ‑‑ and which would have some blowback for the US ‑‑ if the plaintiffs sue the Communist Party. Because the Communist Party is not sovereign.

  In China, there’s a clear distinction between the party and the state. The state has sovereign immunity like other countries and other states have, but the party does not. We can go after the party.

  By the way, the party actually has more control over China’s enterprises, which means it should be considered to be the owner of those enterprises. So, it has assets to seize.

  We talk about China’s military. Actually, it is not a state army. It is an army of the Communist Party, which means that if we can find a Chinese plane, or a ship, or whatever, that would be subject to a successful suit in US Court because there’s no sovereign immunity and it’s a party army.

  Having said all that, I think where we are going to seize assets will be the Treasuries. We should be working, as mentioned, with our allies and friends so that all countries in the world seize China’s assets. That, I think, will work.

  Q. Are there US companies that were collaborating with Wuhan labs via research responsible for this corona strain?

  Chang: I don’t think so. The Wuhan Institute of Virology was built with French companies, not American, as far as I know. Of course, the issue here is not corporate support but is US government support.

  The US has chipped in, most famously, $3.7 million to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for research on bats. Many people think that the novel coronavirus is derived from a bat. I think part of the reason for the contribution is that the United States thought that experimenting on bat viruses was really too risky to be done in the US, so it decided to let the Chinese do it.

  That is crazy. If it is too dangerous for us to do it, it’s too dangerous for the Chinese to do it, especially because we know that in China’s labs ‑‑ although the Wuhan Institute of Virology has a P4 biosafety lab, that is the highest level of safety standards ‑‑ we know that the Chinese do not adhere to those standards.

  In 2018, State Department teams that visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology came away appalled — actually I should say alarmed — because they saw that Chinese technicians were not adhering to safety standards and protocols.

  Also, we had those China Daily pictures. China Daily is an official state media publication. They tried to convince the world how safe the Wuhan Institute was so they posted these pictures, and those pictures actually documented broken or bent seals on refrigerators, a real safety problem.

  We know that that lab was a walking disaster and something was going to happen. Unfortunately, it looks as if it did. Probably the coronavirus was an accidental lab release.

  Q: How would you advise key US allies?

  Chang: I advise every country to cut their trade relations with China because of the danger China poses.

  The general view I have is that the world just needs to cut relations with China. If it were possible to reform Chinese communism, maybe that would be a worthwhile experiment, but we Americans have tried that for almost a half‑century and it has not worked.

  As a matter of fact, our engagement of China has produced the opposite of what we wanted. We now have a richer and stronger China, more belligerent, more provocative, more aggressive, and much more dangerous. We have got to reverse what was clearly then, and is certainly clearly now, a misguided policy.

  Q: What can we do now to try and protect us from more of these viral attacks?

  Chang: The less trade and travel we have with China, then the better we are going to be. If there is no Chinese traveler, there would be no global pandemic. There would be no infections outside China. What we are going to have to do is to severely restrict travel from China.

  We have to do this at least until we get our hands around this issue. Clearly, we have not been able to manage this. We have this notion, and everybody accepts it, at least implicitly, about globalization, comparative advantage, all of these things that have underpinned our modern world.

  Unfortunately, China does not believe in comparative advantage, it does not believe in being a responsible member of the international community. Unfortunately, the only thing we can do is what many people think is unthinkable, and that is to cut our ties with China.

  We cut our ties until we feel comfortable dealing with China, which in my mind means that the Communist Party no longer rules, that the Chinese people govern themselves, and then we can get along with them. I believe the Chinese people eventually will get this right.

  At least at the moment, until they get it right, we have an obligation to our own citizens to cut those links. Because without those links, we are not going to have the next disease. Remember, China produces, especially in southern China, a lot of disease. Most of the world’s diseases do come from southern China.

  This is not some academic question. Unfortunately, the remedy is severe, but I do not know how else we do this because you just cannot cooperate with China. You have got to cut your links.

  Q: What might be possible in the way of the US government exposing details on high‑ranking members of the CCP’s overseas bank accounts, family dealings, and for instance, how Xi, on a government salary, paid for his daughter’s attendance at Harvard.

  The press has covered some of these things, but that is different from official confirmation and surely greater access to such things as bank records.

  Chang: I think we should just publicize it, and seize the assets of Chinese leaders in the United States. We have the Global Magnitsky Act.

  These guys, even before the coronavirus episode, were engaging in a crime against humanity with the detention of somewhere between 1.3 and 3 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other peoples of Turkic backgrounds in what China calls Xinjiang, the northwestern part of China.

  We know that people were dying in those camps because China has been building crematoria. We know that this is an attempt to eliminate a religion, to eliminate ethnic identity. This is very close to genocide. If it is not genocide, it is as bad as what the Third Reich did before the mass extermination of what, 1941?

  That alone should give us justification for applying the Global Magnitsky Act and just seizing all their assets in this country. As I mentioned, I believe this was a deliberate spread of the coronavirus. More than 100,000 Americans have died. We have the right to do everything we can within our power to protect ourselves and to punish wrongdoers.

  We may not be able to bring Xi Jinping to The Hague. We may not be able to put him in that prison we have in Florence, Colorado, otherwise known as the Supermax. We may not be able to put him in Guantanamo, but we sure can seize his assets.

  Q: Please discuss what we need to do to regain the technology commanding heights, national industrial plan, whole of government, whole of economy, society, Sputnik‑like program.

  Chang: It is a whole-of-society approach. You go back maybe 10 years, China was not considered to be a tech competitor. Right now, it is ahead in crucial technologies such as, for instance, 5G, the fifth generation of wireless communications, and in quantum communications it has at least a half‑decade lead on us.

  This is really stunning because this whole theoretical notion of quantum communications was developed by an American, Albert Einstein. For us, this is just Americans not paying attention.

  It is also, of course, China’s stealing. China steals somewhere between $150 to $600 billion of US intellectual property each year, and now, the FBI is warning that it is trying to steal vaccines and medical‑related information.

  What China has been able to do, and it is more than just that, it has had determined programs to develop technology. For instance, China has its 13th Five‑Year Plan, which is just about finished. It has the Made in China 2025 Initiative, where medicines and medical equipment comprise one of the 10 sectors that China wants to dominate by the year 2025.

  These are, for China, a whole-of-society approach toward developing technology. We really need to do the same thing, and we can do it. President John F. Kennedy went to Rice University and said, “We are going to go to the moon.” That was a time when the Soviets were well ahead of us.

  Through federal programs, through cooperation with business, just through everything, we were able to put the first man on the moon. By the way, no other country has left earth orbit, but the Chinese probably are ahead of us in the race to get back to the moon.

  For us, I think what we are going to have to adopt the whole-of-society approach. The one thing that we should focus on is our universities. We have Chinese students and others taking in ways which are sometimes violative of federal law, sometimes just inconsistent with their status on campus.

  They have been stealing, downloading entire databases, doing all the rest of this. We need to stop that. I know Chinese students, Chinese professors play a large role in our campuses, but they have also been taking US technology. We need to end that.

  For me, it means a renewed approach. One of the ways we can stop this is, we have allowed Chinese diplomats and Ministry of State Security agents to surveil Chinese students on campus. That means Chinese students feel really under a compulsion to do what Beijing wants.

  We are Americans. This is our country. We can get those diplomats out of those campuses, get the Chinese agents off our soil. That is up to us. To me, this is important of course. I’m here because my dad came here as a student in 1945, just before the end of the war.

  I think we have got a long way to go, to solving what I think is actually the most complex issue we face: what do you do with Chinese students on American campuses? There are no easy solutions, but we need to address this in a much more rigorous way than we have been. We must do all of those things, that means we have a whole-of-society approach.

  Q: Pharmaceuticals, how can we best replace the Chinese market? And rare earth strategic elements. Does the US have adequate resources to produce our own? How can we best disconnect from the dependence on the Chinese market?

  Chang: On rare earths, we have rare earths in our country and our allies’ — most notably, Canada and Australia — have a lot of rare earths. What we do not have is the refining capacity. Stuff mined in countries other than China is actually shipped to China to be refined.

  That has occurred because we do not want to suffer the environmental damage caused by refining rare earths, which in the past has really been awful. New technologies, and those that are coming on-stream now, mitigate much of the environmental impact. I think we need to start refining rare earths in North America.

  If not here, then in Canada, which has huge deposits of many of the rare earths. It is a political decision for us to make, that we decide not to be dependent on China.

  With regard to pharmaceuticals, Peter Navarro, President Trump’s trade adviser, has been talking for weeks about an executive order that would require the federal government to not buy pharmaceuticals from China. That EO has yet to be signed.

  I think there is intense fighting at the top of the administration: trade groups and pharmaceutical companies have been fighting that executive order. This is something the President needs to do. It is in his power.

  He can wake up one morning and say to the pharmaceutical companies, “I don’t care what you think. This is a national security issue.” You remember that on July 21, 2017, President Trump signed that executive order on supply chain robustness.

  We know on March 24 of this year he talked about what is now called his American independence agenda, which is Americans making things for Americans.

  Remember, he has the power under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to do a lot of stuff, including getting pharmaceutical companies out of China. It’s up to him. We should be, I hope, putting pressure on the White House to do what should be done because he is getting a lot of pressure on the other side. President Trump can do this.

  Now, one other note. I do not do domestic politics, but I have noticed that there is an election this year. That is probably going to slow down the reaction of the president to many of the initiatives I think should be taken, but nonetheless, this is a really critical one. We cannot allow China to make our pharmaceuticals.

  We should not be relying on any single country to the extent that we are relying on China, but certainly not a hostile regime that threatens to cut off products. Again, this is a question of American political will.

  Q: How do we get other countries to join us in this effort? They are already getting blackmailed by China. If they criticize China, it punishes them over trade. Australia dared to join 100 countries asking for an investigation into coronavirus origin.

  China responded by imposing 80% tariffs on Australian agricultural imports. How can we help other countries to stand up to China?

  Chang: At the World Health Assembly, which just concluded, the resolution for an independent investigation of the origins of the coronavirus actually was sponsored by 144 countries. It passed without objection.

  This is an investigation which China does not want, although China eventually saw the handwriting on the wall and decided not to oppose it. I think we get to this is a couple of ways. One of them is, the intelligence community, our intelligence community, has a lot of information which is going to throw a light on what China actually did, in terms of spreading the coronavirus.

  I know that the intelligence community does not like disclosing a lot of this stuff because it compromises sources and methods. Every once in a while, you get an intelligence issue which is so critical to the future of our country.

  I think that this is one of those where disclosure of information really is important. Once countries know what China did in terms of deliberately spreading this coronavirus, I think it is over for China.

  With regard to Australia, because Australia was the second country to propose this investigation after we did, China has decided to punish Australia more than any other country, especially with those tariffs on barley.

  This is one of those cases where we Americans should start buying Australian barley. We have got to show Beijing that we can out-muscle them. Remember, China looks fearsome because it has had economic growth.

  China right now is in a contraction phase, and it has also got one other huge problem, and that is a lot of its Belt and Road loans to other countries are coming due this year. These countries cannot pay China back, which means China’s debt‑trap diplomacy is trapping not just the debtors, but it’s trapping China itself.

  What we should be doing is making sure these countries do not pay back, because this is one way to starve the beast. There are many different ways to do it, cutting off trade, cutting off investments.

  Those are things we can do, and we can be working with our allies, our friends, and countries that normally are not our friends. They now have an interest in opposing China, so we should be working with them.

  Q: To what extent do you consider Xi’s position as head of the CCP to be precarious? Might concerns about his own vulnerability have anything to do with his renewed aggressiveness?

  Chang: That’s the question I wish I knew the answer to. There are a number of things that can be said. Of course, China’s political system is not transparent. Especially at moments like this, it can be very opaque. I think this is one of those do-or-die moments for Xi Jinping. I mean that literally.

  You have got to remember, Xi has changed the nature of the Chinese political system. Under Hu Jintao, his predecessor, it was collective, which means a Chinese leader really did not get blamed for things that went wrong.

  Also, he did not get that much credit: all decisions were essentially made by consensus, especially at the Politburo Standing Committee, but even in the wider Politburo. The Chinese leader did not worry too much about things going bad.

  Xi Jinping, of course, has taken that consensus system that he inherited at the end of 2012, and he has made it more or less into a one‑person system where he is the one person. Which means, of course, he has the greater accountability that goes along with that great power.

  Xi Jinping, even before the coronavirus, was having a pretty bad year, in 2019, because he had a stumbling economy. He had problems in Hong Kong. He had some pretty unhappy people in China.

  What Xi has done is run roughshod over everybody. As long as he can do that, he is safe. You have got to remember, though: people have not forgotten what Xi Jinping has done to them in terms of taking away their power, putting their family members in jail, all the rest of this.

  They are sort of waiting on the sidelines for an opportunity to strike back. When Xi Jinping stumbles, they will strike back. This is a particularly important time for Xi because what he is trying to do is intimidate the world with this “wolf warrior” diplomacy.

  If he succeeds, he is golden. If he does not succeed, if the world starts to contain China, starts to reduce relations with Beijing, all the rest of it, he is gone. By gone, I mean, he not only loses his position, he also loses perhaps his freedom, his assets, and maybe even his life.

  He has taken what was a consensus-driven system and made it like the Maoist political system of the first years of the People’s Republic. When people lost political struggles, they not only lost power, they sometimes were executed.

  Xi Jinping knows what is at stake right now. There are rumors ‑‑ I don’t know how much weight to give them ‑‑ that he is not going to get a third term as general secretary at the next Communist Party Congress in 2022. I tend to believe them, but I think that has not yet been determined.

  What is interesting is that people in Beijing are talking about that. Which means that it probably is an option for the party to ditch Xi Jinping at the next opportunity. We shall see.

  Q: Can we analyze some of the pharmaceuticals or even vitamins that come in that possibly show pathogens because of their poor oversight and loose regulations?

  Chang: The answer is yes. We have had in the past medicines coming from China that have been adulterated. For instance, in the middle of this decade, maybe even earlier, Heparin, the blood thinner, was adulterated.

  I do not think China would intentionally try to adulterate their vaccines and stuff. Nonetheless, they have had these fake vaccines scandals periodically in China. One not too long ago. We have got to be very concerned.

  China can actually get to a vaccine before anybody else does if for no other reason that they are willing to cut corners. It is important for us to make sure that whatever China comes up with is not only effective but also safe.

  Xi Jinping at the World Health Assembly address that he gave a couple of days ago, said he was going to share the vaccine with the world. I am happy if that is the case, but we have to be concerned that what they come up with is probably going to be ineffective or dangerous.

  The Chinese are not going to test. They are not going to adhere to the same safety protocols that the rest of the world will. We need to be really concerned about what comes out of China in terms of a vaccine.

  

• Already-Obese Average Americans Have Drunk & Eaten Their Way To An Extra 5lbs During Lockdown
  Already-Obese Average Americans Have Drunk & Eaten Their Way To An Extra 5lbs During Lockdown
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 23:45

  Months of coronavirus lockdowns have resulted in the average American body weight to increase by about five extra pounds, a new survey found. 

  With gyms, yoga and spin studios, and recreational facilities closed in most parts of the country; many were forced to “Netflix and quarantine” for several months. 

  The study, commissioned by Naked Nutrition, a firm that sells dietary supplements, surveyed 2,000 Americans and found at least half who said they would never get their pre-corona body back.

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  At least 65% said they had “let themselves go a bit” during the lockdowns. Respondents said it would take several months of intense workouts to revert to their pre-corona weight. 

  About three weeks into the lockdown (in early April), Americans resorted to watching porn, drinking beer, smoking pot, and devouring chocolate to cope with quarantine stress and job loss. 

  The survey found many folks developed unhealthy habits; a third said the consumption of alcohol surged during lockdowns, and more than 50% said their carbohydrate-loading increased. A little more than half (54%) said they increased vegetable intake, and 46% said they increased protein intake. 

  Bloomberg’s Michael McDonough shows an exponential jump in US beer, wine, and spirits consumption during the lockdowns. 

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  Read: ‘We Have To Adjust To New Reality’ – Pandemic Leads To Surge In Americans Drinking At Home

  Nearly 64% of respondents said lockdowns made them unhealthy. Two-thirds of respondents said they turned to an in-home exercise routine to counter weight gain. 

  When it came to exercise, half bought gym equipment for the home. The top five purchases were yoga mats (45%), a stationary bike (41%), chairs (39%), and ankle weights (39%).

  As gyms were forced to close, many went bankrupt, resulting in Americans purchasing Peloton bikes for their home. 

  “The COVID-19 has been a stressful time for many, but maintaining a healthy lifestyle can support a person’s overall health and should remain a priority. This data highlights the importance of finding simple solutions for people to be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle while in isolation,” said Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Lauren Manaker in a statement.

  The study also said 50% of respondents had added dietary supplements to their daily routine, 44% have started eating protein bars, and 43% have added protein powder to their diet.

  Months of lockdowns have made Americans more obese but with mass social unrest across the country, some will clearly burn the excess weight as they run from National Guard troops. 

  

• This Is Not A Revolution. It's A Blueprint For Locking Down The Nation
  This Is Not A Revolution. It’s A Blueprint For Locking Down The Nation
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 23:25

  Authored by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you—pull your beard, flick your face—to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you.”

  – John Lennon

  Brace yourselves.

  There is something being concocted in the dens of power, far beyond the public eye, and it doesn’t bode well for the future of this country.

  Anytime you have an entire nation so mesmerized by political theater and public spectacle that they are oblivious to all else, you’d better beware.

  Anytime you have a government that operates in the shadows, speaks in a language of force, and rules by fiat, you’d better beware.

  And anytime you have a government so far removed from its people as to ensure that they are never seen, heard or heeded by those elected to represent them, you’d better beware.

  What is unfolding before us is not a revolution.

  The looting, the burning, the rioting, the violence: this is an anti-revolution.

  The protesters are playing right into the government’s hands, because the powers-that-be want this. They want an excuse to lockdown the nation and throw the switch to all-out martial law. They want a reason to make the police state stronger.

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  It’s happening faster than we can keep up.

  The Justice Department is deploying federal prison riot teams to various cities. More than half of the nation’s governors are calling on the National Guard to quell civil unrest. Growing numbers of cities, having just barely emerged from a coronavirus lockdown, are once again being locked down, this time in response to the growing upheaval.

  This is how it begins.

  It’s that dystopian 2030 Pentagon training video all over again, which anticipates the need for the government to institute martial law (use armed forces to solve domestic political and social problems) in order to navigate a world bedeviled by “criminal networks,” “substandard infrastructure,” “religious and ethnic tensions,” “impoverishment, slums,” “open landfills, over-burdened sewers,” a “growing mass of unemployed,” and an urban landscape in which the prosperous economic elite must be protected from the impoverishment of the have nots.

  We’re way ahead of schedule.

  The architects of the police state have us exactly where they want us: under their stamping boot, gasping for breath, desperate for freedom, grappling for some semblance of a future that does not resemble the totalitarian prison being erected around us.

  This way lies certain tyranny.

  For just one fleeting moment, “we the people” seemed united in our outrage over this latest killing of an unarmed man by a cop hyped up on his own authority and the power of his uniform.

  That unity didn’t last.

  Indeed, it didn’t take long—no surprise there—for us to quickly become divided again, polarized by the misguided fury and senseless violence of mobs taking to the streets, reeking of madness and mayhem.

  Deliberately or not, the rioters have directed our attention away from the government’s crimes and onto their own.

  This is a distraction.

  Don’t allow yourself to be so distracted.

  Let’s not lose sight of what started all of this in the first place: the U.S. government.

  More than terrorism, more than domestic extremism, more than gun violence and organized crime, the systemic violence being perpetrated by agents of the government constitutes a greater menace to the life, liberty and property of its citizens than any of the so-called dangers from which the government claims to protect us.

  Case in point: George Floyd died at the hands of the American police state.

  The callous, cold-blooded murder of the unarmed, 46-year-old black man by police is nothing new: for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, police knelt on Floyd’s neck while the man pleaded for his life, struggled to breathe, cried out for his dead mother, and finally passed out and died.

  Floyd is yet another victim of a broken system of policing that has placed “we the people” at the mercy of militarized cops who have almost absolute discretion to decide who is a threat, what constitutes resistance, and how harshly they can deal with the citizens they were appointed to “serve and protect.”

  Daily, Americans are being shot, stripped, searched, choked, beaten and tasered by police for little more than daring to frown, smile, question, challenge an order or just exist.

  I’m talking about the growing numbers of unarmed people are who being shot and killed for just standing a certain way, or moving a certain way, or holding something—anything—that police could misinterpret to be a gun, or igniting some trigger-centric fear in a police officer’s mind that has nothing to do with an actual threat to their safety.

  Killed by police for standing in a “shooting stance.” Killed for holding a cell phone. Killed for holding a baseball bat. Killed for opening the front door. Killed for being a child in a car pursued by police. Killed for approaching police while holding a metal spoon. Killed for running in an aggressive manner while holding a tree branch. Killed for crawling around naked. Killed for hunching over in a defensive posture. Killed because a police officer accidentally fired his gun instead of his taser. Killed for wearing dark pants and a basketball jersey. Killed for reaching for his license and registration during a traffic stop. Killed for driving while deaf. Killed for being homeless. Killed for brandishing a shoehorn. Killed for peeing outdoors. Killed for having his car break down on the road. Killed for holding a garden hose.

  Now you can make all kinds of excuses to justify these shootings, and in fact that’s exactly what you’ll hear from politicians, police unions, law enforcement officials and individuals who are more than happy to march in lockstep with the police. However, as these incidents make clear, the only truly compliant, submissive and obedient citizen in a police state is a dead one.

  Sad, isn’t it, how quickly we have gone from a nation of laws—where the least among us had just as much right to be treated with dignity and respect as the next person (in principle, at least)—to a nation of law enforcers (revenue collectors with weapons) who treat us all like suspects and criminals?

  This is not how you keep the peace.

  This is not justice. This is not even law and order.

  This is certainly not freedom. This is the illusion of freedom.

  Unfortunately, we are now being ruled by a government of psychopaths, scoundrels, spies, thugs, thieves, gangsters, ruffians, rapists, extortionists, bounty hunters, battle-ready warriors and cold-blooded killers who communicate using a language of force and oppression.

  The facts speak for themselves.

  We’re being ravaged by a government of ruffians, rapists and killers. It’s not just the police shootings of unarmed citizens that are worrisome. It’s the SWAT team raids gone wrong that are leaving innocent citizens wounded, children terrorized and family pets killed. It’s the roadside strip searches—in some cases, cavity searches of men and women alike carried out in full view of the public—in pursuit of drugs that are never found. It’s the potentially lethal—and unwarranted—use of so-called “nonlethal” weapons such as tasers on children for “mouthing off to a police officer. For trying to run from the principal’s office. For, at the age of 12, getting into a fight with another girl.”

  We’re being held at gunpoint by a government of soldiers—a standing army. While Americans are being made to jump through an increasing number of hoops in order to exercise their Second Amendment right to own a gun, the government is arming its own civilian employees to the hilt with guns, ammunition and military-style equipment, authorizing them to make arrests, and training them in military tactics. Among the agencies being supplied with night-vision equipment, body armor, hollow-point bullets, shotguns, drones, assault rifles and LP gas cannons are the Smithsonian, U.S. Mint, Health and Human Services, IRS, FDA, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Education Department, Energy Department, Bureau of Engraving and Printing and an assortment of public universities. There are now reportedly more bureaucratic (non-military) government civilians armed with high-tech, deadly weapons than U.S. Marines. That doesn’t even begin to touch on the government’s arsenal, the transformation of local police into extensions of the military, and the speed with which the nation could be locked down under martial law depending on the circumstances. Clearly, the government is preparing for war—and a civil war, at that—and “we the people” are the perceived enemy.

  We’re being taken advantage of by a government of scoundrels, idiots and cowards. American satirist H.L. Mencken calculated that “Congress consists of one-third, more or less, scoundrels; two-thirds, more or less, idiots; and three-thirds, more or less, poltroons.” By and large, Americans seem to agree. When you’ve got government representatives who spend a large chunk of their work hours fundraising, being feted by lobbyists, shuffling through a lucrative revolving door between public service and lobbying, and making themselves available to anyone with enough money to secure access to a congressional office, you’re in the clutches of a corrupt oligarchy. Mind you, these same elected officials rarely read the legislation they’re enacting, nor do they seem capable of enacting much legislation that actually helps rather than hinders the plight of the American citizen.

  We’re being locked up by a government of greedy jailers. We have become a carceral state, spending three times more on our prisons than on our schools and imprisoning close to a quarter of the world’s prisoners, despite the fact that crime is at an all-time low and the U.S. makes up only 5% of the world’s population. The rise of overcriminalization and profit-driven private prisons provides even greater incentives for locking up American citizens for such non-violent “crimes” as having an overgrown lawn.  As the Boston Review points out, “America’s contemporary system of policing, courts, imprisonment, and parole … makes money through asset forfeiture, lucrative public contracts from private service providers, and by directly extracting revenue and unpaid labor from populations of color and the poor. In states and municipalities throughout the country, the criminal justice system defrays costs by forcing prisoners and their families to pay for punishment. It also allows private service providers to charge outrageous fees for everyday needs such as telephone calls. As a result people facing even minor criminal charges can easily find themselves trapped in a self-perpetuating cycle of debt, criminalization, and incarceration.”

  We’re being spied on by a government of Peeping Toms. The government, aided by its corporate allies, is watching everything you do, reading everything you write, listening to everything you say, and monitoring everything you spend. Omnipresent surveillance is paving the way for government programs that profile citizens, document their behavior and attempt to predict what they might do in the future, whether it’s what they might buy, what politician they might support, or what kinds of crimes they might commit. The impact of this far-reaching surveillance, according to Psychology Today, is “reduced trust, increased conformity, and even diminished civic participation.” As technology analyst Jillian C. York concludes, “Mass surveillance without due process—whether undertaken by the government of Bahrain, Russia, the US, or anywhere in between—threatens to stifle and smother that dissent, leaving in its wake a populace cowed by fear.”

  We’re being forced to surrender our freedoms—and those of our children—to a government of extortionists, money launderers and professional pirates. The American people have been repeatedly sold a bill of goods about how the government needs more money, more expansive powers, and more secrecy (secret courts, secret budgets, secret military campaigns, secret surveillance) in order to keep us safe. Under the guise of fighting its wars on terror, drugs, domestic extremism, pandemics and civil unrest, the government has spent billions in taxpayer dollars on endless wars that have sown the seeds of blowback, surveillance programs that have subjected all Americans to a surveillance society, and militarized police that have turned communities into warzones.

  We’re being robbed blind by a government of thieves. Americans no longer have any real protection against government agents empowered to seize private property at will. For instance, police agencies under the guise of asset forfeiture laws are taking property based on little more than a suspicion of criminal activity.

  And we’re being forced to live in a perpetual state of emergency. From 9/11 through the COVID-19 lockdowns and now the threat of martial law in the face of growing civil unrest, we have witnessed the rise of an “emergency state” that justifies all manner of government tyranny and power grabs in the so-called name of national security.

  Whatever else it may be—a danger, a menace, a threat—the U.S. government is certainly not looking out for our best interests, nor is it in any way a friend to freedom.

  When the government views itself as superior to the citizenry, when it no longer operates for the benefit of the people, when the people are no longer able to peacefully reform their government, when government officials cease to act like public servants, when elected officials no longer represent the will of the people, when the government routinely violates the rights of the people and perpetrates more violence against the citizenry than the criminal class, when government spending is unaccountable and unaccounted for, when the judiciary act as courts of order rather than justice, and when the government is no longer bound by the laws of the Constitution, then you no longer have a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

  What we have is a government of wolves.

  Our backs are against the proverbial wall.

  The government and its cohorts have conspired to ensure that the only real recourse the American people have to express their displeasure with the government is through voting, which is no real recourse at all.

  The penalties for civil disobedience, whistleblowing and rebellion are severe. If you refuse to pay taxes for government programs you believe to be immoral or illegal, you will go to jail. If you attempt to overthrow the government—or any agency thereof—because you believe it has overstepped its reach, you will go to jail. If you attempt to blow the whistle on government misconduct, there’s a pretty good chance you will go to jail.

  For too long, the American people have obeyed the government’s dictates, no matter now extreme. We have paid its taxes, penalties and fines, no matter how outrageous. We have tolerated its indignities, insults and abuses, no matter how egregious. We have turned a blind eye to its indiscretions and incompetence, no matter how imprudent. We have held our silence in the face of its lawlessness, licentiousness and corruption, no matter how illicit.

  We have suffered.

  How long we will continue to suffer depends on how much we’re willing to give up for the sake of freedom.

  America’s founders provided us with a very specific explanation about the purpose of government and a roadmap for what to do when the government abuses its authority, ignores our objections, and establishes itself as a tyrant.

  We must choose between peaceful slavery (in other words, maintaining the status quo in servitude to the police state) and dangerous freedom. That will mean carving out a path in which we begin to take ownership of our government, starting at the local level, challenging the status quo, and raising hell—nonviolently—whenever a government official steps out of line.

  We can no longer maintain the illusion of freedom.

  As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, we are at our most vulnerable right now.

  

• Idaho Town Taken Over By Armed 'Patriot' Patrols Amid Rumors Antifa Headed There
  Idaho Town Taken Over By Armed ‘Patriot’ Patrols Amid Rumors Antifa Headed There
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 23:05

  Amid rumors of mass protests and riots in the northwest Idaho city of Coeur d’Alene, some locals weren’t having it, and armed themselves to patrol city streets lined with small businesses. 

  It’s a trend giving rise to fears that violent armed clashes between different American factions are imminent. Already videos from cities across the nation have depicted counter-demonstrators taking matters into their own hands as police retreat. 

  “Reports and rumors that groups bent on rioting and violence in Coeur d’Alene brought out men and women with guns on Monday determined to stop them if they arrive,” local Idaho media reported.

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  “Dan Carson was patrolling Sherman Avenue with an AR-12 automatic 12-gauge across his chest, an AR-15 strapped to his back, two 9mm handguns holstered and a .38 special, too,” the report continued.

  Groups of loosely affiliated ‘Proud Boys’ and armed ‘patriots’ began lining the streets of downtown Coeur d’Alene over reports left wing militants and Antifa anarchists were planning to cause mayhem in the area:

  Soon, more armed men, self-described as a loosely formed group of patriots, arrived. They took up posts at corners on both sides of Sherman Avenue.

  Later, they were joined by hundreds of citizens packing rifles, semi-automatic weapons, handguns, and bows and arrows.

  The sidewalks were packed with people walking up and down Sherman Avenue, firearms proudly displayed for all to see.

  They carried guns, had them holstered around their hips and had them strapped across their backs.

  pic.twitter.com/9kMcX8WgMS

  — Maher Kawash (@MaherKXLY) June 2, 2020

  As it turns out, a group of Black Lives Matter protesters did in parts of the city briefly face off with the ‘protect Idaho’ group of armed locals, however, the scene stayed peaceful and without incident, dispersing relatively early into the evening as the police monitored the situation. 

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  Ultimately it appeared that in the downtown area it was only the armed patriot group which was out in force, unopposed. But the armed citizens patrols were in such large numbers they effectively took over the streets.

  Our beautiful home sweet home of North Idaho!! God bless our patriots, law-enforcement, & peaceful protestors (we support you) you are welcome! Those of you who incite violence, to destroy our communities will be met with a force in the likes of which you have never seen! #NIdaho pic.twitter.com/JKyUrLzqSD

  — Laurie Powell (@JaynLaurieP) June 2, 2020

  It’s a scene that’s also played out in places like Texas, where smaller towns and rural areas have vowed to keep rioters far away, also as individual citizens practice ‘open carry’ in states where it’s permissible. 

  Armed citizen warns outsider in live stream (below):

  “I’m telling you… if you guys are thinking about coming to Coeur d’Alene to riot or loot, you better fuckin think again, because we ain’t havin it over here.”

  “Everybody’s out and strapped… getting ready for the so-called invasion.”

  WATCH:

  But the trend suggests it could take a single ‘incident’ to spark a deadly encounter between such armed ‘citizens patrol’ groups and Antifa, BLM, or left-wing militants in locations across the nation.

  Meanwhile, in San Bernardino County, California an armed clash between rival demonstrators nearly erupted:

  As hundreds protest in Upland, tensions are now rising between Trump supporters and George Floyd Activists. Currently police are monitoring the protest. pic.twitter.com/Yql1rgy1g2

  — Romualdo Sanchez (@romualdotv) June 1, 2020

  Given that local and state police can barely handle the growing riots and random destruction as it is, such a scenario would send things escalating to far more violent proportions at flashpoints across the US. 

  During the early momentum of riots taking over Minnesota’s twin cities – ground zero for the initial George Floyd protests that began late last week – local and state police came under intense criticism as they retreated from riot-hit parts of the city, leaving business owners to watch helplessly as their stores and in some cases homes burned the ground.

  This and other scenes of lawlessness have resulted in a growing trend this week of armed ‘citizen patrols’ – adding to a potentially deadly combustible mix amid increasingly chaotic unpredictable scenarios on American city streets.

  

• The Senate Should Focus On What The Flynn Transcripts Do Not Contain… Starting With A Crime
  The Senate Should Focus On What The Flynn Transcripts Do Not Contain… Starting With A Crime
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 22:45

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  Yesterday, the attorney hired by Judge Emmet Sullivan responded on his behalf to defend his controversial orders in the case to invite third parties to argue the merits of the motion to dismiss as well as raising his option to substitute his own criminal charge of perjury against Flynn.  The Justice Department responded with a 45-page filing to a three-judge appeals court panel.

  The attention will now focus on the appearance tomorrow of former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in the Senate.  For me, the most pertinent question is why this investigation continued past December and seemed to become to a search for a crime rather than the investigation of any crime or collusion with Russia.

  “Remember … Ambassador, you’re not talking to a diplomat, you’re talking to a soldier.”

  When President Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn, said those words to then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, he also spoke to American intelligence agents listening in on the call. For three years, congressional Democrats have assured us Flynn’s calls to Kislyak were so disturbing that they set off alarms in the closing days of the Obama administration.

  They were right. The newly released transcripts of Flynn’s calls are deeply disturbing — not for their evidence of criminality or collusion but for the total absence of such evidence. The transcripts, declassified Friday, strongly support new investigations by both the Justice Department and by Congress, starting with next week’s Senate testimony by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

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  It turns out Flynn’s calls are not just predictable but even commendable at points. When the Obama administration hit the Russians with sanctions just before leaving office, the incoming Trump administration sought to avoid a major conflict at the very start of its term. Flynn asked the Russian to focus on “common enemies” in order to seek cooperation in the Middle East. The calls covered a variety of issues, including the sanctions.

  What was not discussed was any quid pro quo or anything untoward or unlawful. Flynn stated what was already known to be Trump policy in seeking a new path with Russia. Flynn did not offer to remove sanctions but, rather, encouraged the Russians to respond in a reciprocal, commensurate manner if they felt they had to respond.

  The calls, and Flynn’s identity, were leaked by as many as nine officials as the Obama administration left office — a serious federal crime, given their classified status. The most chilling aspect of the transcripts, however, is the lack of anything chilling in the calls themselves. Flynn is direct with Kislyak in trying to tone down the rhetoric and avoid retaliatory moves. He told Kislyak, “l am a very practical guy, and it’s about solutions. It’s about very practical solutions that we’re — that we need to come up with here.” Flynn said he understood the Russians might wish to retaliate for the Obama sanctions but encouraged them not to escalate the conflict just as the Trump administration took office.

  Kislyak later spoke with Flynn again and confirmed that Moscow agreed to tone down the conflict in the practical approach laid out by Flynn. The media has focused on Flynn’s later denial of discussing sanctions; the transcripts confirm he did indeed discuss sanctions. However, the Justice Department has not sought to dismiss criminal charges against him because he told the truth but because his statements did not meet a key element of materiality for the crime and were the result of troubling actions by high-ranking officials.

  The real question is why the FBI continued to investigate Flynn in the absence of any crime or evidence of collusion. In December 2016, investigators had found no evidence of any crime by Flynn. They wanted to shut down the investigation; they were overruled by superiors, including FBI special agent Peter Strzok, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Director James Comey. Strzok told the investigators to keep the case alive, and McCabe is described as “cutting off” another high-ranking official who questioned the basis for continuing to investigate Flynn. All three officials were later fired, and all three were later found by career officials to have engaged in serious misconduct as part of the Russia investigation.

  Recently disclosed information revealed that Comey and President Obama discussed using the Logan Act as a pretense for a criminal charge. The Logan Act criminalizes private negotiations with foreign governments; it is widely viewed as unconstitutional and has never been used successfully against any U.S. citizen since the earliest days of the Republic. Its use against the incoming national security adviser would have been absurd. Yet, that unconstitutional crime was the only crime Comey could come up with, long before there was a false statement by Flynn regarding his calls.

  Not until February 2017 did Comey circumvent long-standing protocols and order an interview with Flynn. Comey later bragged that he “probably wouldn’t have … gotten away with it” in other administrations, but he sent “a couple guys over” to question Flynn, who was settling into his new office as national security adviser. We learned recently that Strzok discussed trying to get Flynn to give false or misleading information in that interview, to enable a criminal charge, and that FBI lawyer Lisa Page suggested agents “just casually slip” in a reference to the criminal provision for lying and then get Flynn to slip up on the details.

  Flynn did slip up. While investigators said they were not convinced he intentionally lied, he gave a false statement. Later, special counsel Robert Mueller charged Flynn with that false statement, to pressure him into cooperating; Flynn fought the case into virtual bankruptcy but agreed to plead guilty when Mueller threatened to prosecute his son, too.

  The newly released transcripts reveal the lack of a foundation for that charge. Courts have held that the materiality requirement for such a charge requires that misstatements be linked to the particular “subject of the investigation.” The Justice Department found that the false statement in February 2017 was not material “to any viable counterintelligence investigation — or any investigation, for that matter — initiated by the FBI.” In other words, by that time, these FBI officials had no crime under investigation but were, instead, looking for a crime. The question is: Why?

  So the transcripts confirm there never was a scintilla of criminal conduct or evidence of collusion against Flynn before or during these calls. Indeed, there was no viable criminal investigation to speak of when Comey sent “a couple guys over” to entrap Flynn; they already had the transcripts and the knowledge that Flynn had done nothing wrong. Nevertheless, facing the release of these transcripts, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) bizarrely maintained that “Flynn posed a severe counterintelligence risk” because he could be blackmailed over his false statement.

  Putting aside the lack of prior evidence of criminality, Schiff ignores that there were transcripts to prevent such blackmail. Indeed, in the interview, Flynn indicated he assumed there was a transcript, and leaked media reports indicated that various officials were familiar with the content of the calls. The key to blackmail would have been for the Russians to have information that others did not have.

  Ironically, in his calls with Kislyak, Flynn expressly sought a more frank, honest relationship with Russia. He told Kislyak “we have to stop talking past each other on — so that means that we have to understand exactly what it is that we want to try to achieve, okay?” That is a question that should now be directed at the FBI, to understand what it was trying to achieve by continuing an investigation long after it ran out of crimes to investigate.

  

• Pentagon Says 1,600 Army Troops Have Moved To Joint Base Andrews Outside Washington DC To "Support Civil Authorities"
  Pentagon Says 1,600 Army Troops Have Moved To Joint Base Andrews Outside Washington DC To “Support Civil Authorities”
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 22:30

  One day after Trump warned he may call in the army if the situation in Washington D.C. does not normalize, sparking outrage in liberal circles who called this a de facto preparation for civil war, moments ago Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said that 1,600 active duty troops have moved from Fort Bragg and Fort Drum, to the National Capitol region, “but are not in Washington” – technically they are now located in Joint Base Andrews, which is just on the outskirts of Washington DC).

  We continue to update our post on the bizarre aerial activity over Washington DC tonight. A huge airlift operation is underway, multiple airlifters bringing troops and equipment into Andrews AFB outside of Washington DC right now: https://t.co/uQcquS1OrH

  — Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) June 2, 2020

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  I would then spot other USAF flights from Fort Riley (Kan) & Fort Bragg (NC) also headed to Andrews w/troops activated by the President to quell protests. In the dark of the night.

  Also US Army helicopter over Baltimore’s, peaceful, protests. It had been flying for hours (4/8) pic.twitter.com/ZmFUDdAFWh

  — Dave McHugh 🏀 (@davemchugh) June 3, 2020

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  Video: Elements of 16th Military Police Brigade deployed into Washington DC today.Other troops held in readiness at Andrews Air Force Base & Ft Belvoir incl a paratrooper battalion from 82nd ABD, its supporting helicopters, some surveillance elems of SOF https://t.co/aVIPUPHaEs

  — Mark Urban (@MarkUrban01) June 2, 2020

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  700 #US troops from 82nd airborne div. have been moved from their base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to the outskirts of Washington DC, are now poised at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and Fort Belvoir in Virginia, AP reports. Are armed, have bayonets and have riot gear, pic.twitter.com/WvkSM1SMoh

  — JUANA CARRASCO (@cubavence2019) June 3, 2020

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  The Pentagon also said that the troops are on “heightened alert status but remain under Title X authority and are not participating in defense support to civil authority operations”, at least not yet.

  The full Pentagon statement is below.

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• Two Doctors Explain Why COVID-19 Was Likely Lab Experiment
  Two Doctors Explain Why COVID-19 Was Likely Lab Experiment
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 22:05

  Authored by Jonathan Latham, PhD and Allison Wilson, PhD via Independent Science News  (emphasis ours)

  The Case Is Building That COVID-19 Had a Lab Origin

  If the public has learned a lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic it is that science does not generate certainty. Do homemade face masks work? What is the death rate of COVID-19? How accurate are the tests? How many people have no symptoms? And so on. Practically the lone undisputed assertion made so far is that all the nearest known genetic relatives of its cause, the Sars-CoV-2 virus, are found in horseshoe bats (Zhou et al., 2020). Therefore, the likely viral reservoir was a bat.

  However, most of these ancestor-like bat coronaviruses cannot infect humans (Ge et al., 2013). In consequence, from its beginning, a key question hanging over the pandemic has been: How did a bat RNA virus evolve into a human pathogen that is both virulent and deadly?

  The answer almost universally seized upon is that there was an intermediate species. Some animal, perhaps a snake, perhaps a palm civet, perhaps a pangolin, served as a temporary host. This bridging animal would probably have had an ACE2 cellular receptor (the molecule which allows cellular entry of the virus) intermediate in protein sequence (or at least structure) between the bat and the human one (Wan et al., 2020).

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  In the press and in the scientific literature, scenarios by which this natural zoonotic transfer might have occurred have been endlessly mulled. Most were fuelled by early findings that many of the earliest COVID-19 cases seem to have occurred in and around Wuhan’s Huanan live animal market. [The latest data are that 14 of the 41 earliest cases, including the first, had no connection to the animal market (Huang et al. 2020)].

  Since the two previous coronavirus near-pandemics of SARS (2002-3) and MERS (2012) both probably came from bats and both are thought (but not proven) to have transitioned to humans via intermediate animals (civets and dromedaries respectively), a natural zoonotic pathway is a reasonable first assumption (Andersen et al., 2020).

  The idea, as it applied to the original (2002) SARS outbreak, is that the original bat virus infected a civet. The virus then evolved briefly in this animal species, but not enough to cause a civet pandemic, and then was picked up by a human before it died out in civets. In this first human (patient zero) the virus survived, perhaps only barely, but was passed on, marking the first case of human to human transmission. As it was successively passed on in its first few human hosts the virus rapidly evolved, adapting to better infect its new hosts. After a few such tentative transmissions the pandemic proper began.

  Perhaps this scenario is approximately how the current COVID-19 pandemic began.

  But one other troubling possibility must be dispensed with. It follows from the fact that the epicentre city, Wuhan (pop. 11 million), happens to be the global epicentre of bat coronavirus research (e.g. Hu et al., 2017).

  Prompted by this proximity, various researchers and news media, prominently the Washington Post, and with much more data Newsweek, have drawn up a prima facie case that a laboratory origin is a strong possibility (Zhan et al., 2020; Piplani et al., 2020). That is, one of the two labs in Wuhan that has worked on coronaviruses accidentally let a natural virus escape; or, the lab was genetically engineering (or otherwise manipulating) a Sars-CoV-2-like virus which then escaped.

  Unfortunately, in the US at least, the question of the pandemic’s origin has become a political football; either an opportunity for Sinophobia or a partisan “blame game“.

  But the potential of a catastrophic lab release is not a game and systemic problems of competence and opacity are certainly not limited to China (Lipsitch, 2018). The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is currently constructing a new and expanded national Bio and Agro-defense facility in Manhattan, Kansas. DHS has estimated that the 50-year risk (defined as having an economic impact of $9-50 billion) of a release from its lab at 70%.

  When a National Research Council committee inspected these DHS estimates they concluded “The committee finds that the risks and costs could well be significantly higher than that“.

  A subsequent committee report (NAP, 2012) continued:

  “the committee was instructed to judge the adequacy and validity of the uSSRA [updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment]. The committee has identified serious concerns about (1) the misapplication of methods used to assess risk, (2) the failure to make clear whether and how the evidence used to support risk assessment assumptions had been thoroughly reviewed and adequately evaluated, (3) the limited breadth of literature cited and the misinterpretation of some of the significant supporting literature, (4) the failure to explain the criteria used to select assumptions when supporting literature is conflicting, (5) the failure to consider important risk pathways, and (6) the inadequate treatment of uncertainty. Those deficiencies are not equally problematic, but they occur with sufficient frequency to raise doubts about the adequacy and validity of the risk results presented. In most instances (e.g., operational activities at the NBAF), the identified problems lead to an underestimation of risk; in other instances (e.g., catastrophic natural hazards), the risks may be overestimated. As a result, the committee concludes that the uSSRA is technically inadequate in critical respects and is an insufficient basis on which to judge the risks associated with the proposed NBAF in Manhattan, Kansas.”

  China, meanwhile, having opened its first in Wuhan in 2018, is planning to roll out a national network of BSL-4 labs (Zhiming, 2019). Like many other countries, it is investing significantly in disease surveillance and collection of viruses from wild animal populations and in high-risk recombinant virus research with Potential Pandemic Pathogens (PPPs).

  On May 4th, nations and global philanthropies, meeting in Brussels, committed $7.4 billion to future pandemic preparedness. But the question hanging over all such investments is this: the remit of the Wuhan lab at the centre of the accidental release claims is pandemic preparedness. If the COVID-19 pandemic began there then we need to radically rethink current ideas for pandemic preparation globally. Many researchers already believe we should, for the sake of both safety and effectiveness (Lipsitch and Galvani, 2014; Weiss et al., 2015; Lipsitch, 2018). The worst possible outcome would be for those donated billions to accelerate the arrival of the next pandemic.

  Historical lab releases, a brief history

  An accidental lab release is not merely a theoretical possibility. In 1977 a laboratory in Russia (or possibly China), most likely while developing a flu vaccine, accidentally released the extinct H1N1 influenza virus (Nakajima et al., 1978). H1N1 went on to become a global pandemic virus. A large proportion of the global population became infected. In this case, deaths were few because the population aged over 20 yrs old had historic immunity to the virus. This episode is not widely known because only recently has this conclusion been formally acknowledged in the scientific literature and the virology community has been reluctant to discuss such incidents (Zimmer and Burke, 2009; Wertheim, 2010). Still, laboratory pathogen escapes leading to human and animal deaths (e.g. smallpox in Britain; equine encephalitis in South America) are common enough that they ought to be much better known (summarised in Furmanski, 2014). Only rarely have these broken out into actual pandemics on the scale of H1N1, which, incidentally, broke out again in 2009/2010 as “Swine flu” causing 3,000 or so deaths on that occasion (Duggal et al., 2016).

  Many scientists have warned that experiments with PPPs, like the smallpox and Ebola and influenza viruses, are inherently dangerous and should be subject to strict limits and oversight (Lipsitch and Galvani, 2014; Klotz and Sylvester, 2014). Even in the limited case of SARS-like coronaviruses, since the quelling of the original SARS outbreak in 2003, there have been six documented SARS disease outbreaks originating from research laboratories, including four in China. These outbreaks caused 13 individual infections and one death (Furmanski, 2014). In response to such concerns the US banned certain classes of experiments, called gain of function (GOF) experiments, with PPPs in 2014, but the ban (actually a funding moratoriumactually a funding moratorium) was lifted in 2017.

  For these reasons, and also to ensure the effectiveness of future pandemic preparedness efforts­, it is a matter of vital international importance to establish whether the laboratory escape hypothesis has credible evidence to support it. This must be done regardless of the problem–in the US–of toxic partisan politics and nationalism.

  The COVID-19 Wuhan lab escape thesis

  The essence of the lab escape theory is that Wuhan is the site of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), China’s first and only Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) facility. (BSL-4 is the highest pathogen security level). The WIV, which added a BSL-4 lab only in 2018, has been collecting large numbers of coronaviruses from bat samples ever since the original SARS outbreak of 2002-2003; including collecting more in 2016 (Hu, et al., 2017; Zhou et al., 2018).

  Led by researcher Zheng-Li Shi, WIV scientists have also published experiments in which live bat coronaviruses were introduced into human cells (Hu et al., 2017). Moreover, according to an April 14 article in the Washington Post, US Embassy staff visited the WIV in 2018 and “had grave safety concerns” about biosecurity there. The WIV is just eight miles from the Huanan live animal market that was initially thought to be the site of origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Wuhan is also home to a lab called the Wuhan Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (WCDPC). It is a BSL-2 lab that is just 250 metres away from the Huanan market. Bat coronaviruses have in the past been kept at the Wuhan WCDPC lab.

  Thus the lab escape theory is that researchers from one or both of these labs may have picked up a Sars-CoV-2-like bat coronavirus on one of their many collecting (aka ‘”virus surveillance”) trips. Or, alternatively, a virus they were studying, passaging, engineering, or otherwise manipulating, escaped.

  Scientific assessments of the lab escape theory

  On April 17 the Australian Science Media Centre asked four Australian virologists: “Did COVID-19 come from a lab in Wuhan?“

  Three (Edward Holmes, Nigel McMillan and Hassan Vally) dismissed the lab escape suggestion and Vally simply labeled it, without elaboration, a “conspiracy”.

  The fourth virologist interviewed was Nikolai Petrovsky of Flinders University. Petrovsky first addressed the question of whether the natural zoonosis pathway was viable. He told the Media Centre:

  “no natural virus matching to COVID-19 has been found in nature despite an intensive search to find its origins.”

  That is to say, the idea of an animal intermediate is speculation. Indeed, no credible viral or animal host intermediaries, either in the form of a confirmed animal host or a plausible virus intermediate, has to-date emerged to explain the natural zoonotic transfer of Sars-CoV-2 to humans (e.g. Zhan et al., 2020).

  In addition to Petrovsky’s point, there are two further difficulties with the natural zoonotic transfer thesis (apart from the weak epidemiological association between early cases and the Huanan “wet” market).

  The first is that researchers from the Wuhan lab travelled to caves in Yunnan (1,500 Km away) to find horseshoe bats containing SARS-like coronaviruses. To-date, the closest living relative of Sars-CoV-2 yet found comes from Yunnan (Ge et al., 2016). Why would an outbreak of a bat virus therefore occur in Wuhan?

  Moreover, China has a population of 1.3 billion. If spillover from the wildlife trade was the explanation, then, other things being equal, the probability of a pandemic starting in Wuhan (pop. 11 million) is less than 1%.

  Zheng-Li Shi, the head of bat coronavirus research at WIV, told Scientific American as much:

  “I had never expected this kind of thing to happen in Wuhan, in central China.” Her studies had shown that the southern, subtropical provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan have the greatest risk of coronaviruses jumping to humans from animals—particularly bats, a known reservoir. If coronaviruses were the culprit, she remembers thinking, “Could they have come from our lab?”

  Wuhan, in short, is a rather unlikely epicentre for a natural zoonotic transfer. In contrast, to suspect that Sars-CoV-2 might have come from the WIV is both reasonable and obvious.

  Was Sars-CoV-2 created in a lab?

  In his statement, Petrovsky goes on to describe the kind of experiment that, in principle, if done in a lab, would obtain the same result as the hypothesised natural zoonotic transfer–rapid adaptation of a bat coronavirus to a human host.

  “Take a bat coronavirus that is not infectious to humans, and force its selection by culturing it with cells that express human ACE2 receptor, such cells having been created many years ago to culture SARS coronaviruses and you can force the bat virus to adapt to infect human cells via mutations in its spike protein, which would have the effect of increasing the strength of its binding to human ACE2, and inevitably reducing the strength of its binding to bat ACE2.

  Viruses in prolonged culture will also develop other random mutations that do not affect its function. The result of these experiments is a virus that is highly virulent in humans but is sufficiently different that it no longer resembles the original bat virus. Because the mutations are acquired randomly by selection there is no signature of a human gene jockey, but this is clearly a virus still created by human intervention.”

  In other words, Petrovsky believes that current experimental methods could have led to an altered virus that escaped.

  Passaging, GOF research, and lab escapes

  The experiment mentioned by Petrovsky represents a class of experiments called passaging. Passaging is the placing of a live virus into an animal or cell culture to which it is not adapted and then, before the virus dies out, transferring it to another animal or cell of the same type. Passaging is often done iteratively. The theory is that the virus will rapidly evolve (since viruses have high mutation rates) and become adapted to the new animal or cell type. Passaging a virus, by allowing it to become adapted to its new situation, creates a new pathogen.

  The most famous such experiment was conducted in the lab of Dutch researcher Ron Fouchier. Fouchier took an avian influenza virus (H5N1) that did not infect ferrets (or other mammals) and serially passaged it in ferrets. The intention of the experiment was specifically to evolve a PPP. After ten passages the researchers found that the virus had indeed evolved, to not only infect ferrets but to transmit to others in neighbouring cages (Herfst et al., 2012). They had created an airborne ferret virus, a Potential Pandemic Pathogen, and a storm in the international scientific community.

  The second class of experiments that have frequently been the recipients of criticism are GOF experiments. In GOF research, a novel virus is deliberately created, either by in vitro mutation or by cutting and pasting together two (or more) viruses. The intention of such reconfigurations is to make viruses more infectious by adding new functions such as increased infectivity or pathogenicity. These novel viruses are then experimented on, either in cell cultures or in whole animals. These are the class of experiments banned in the US from 2014 to 2017.

  Some researchers have even combined GOF and passaging experiments by using recombinant viruses in passaging experiments (e.g. Sheahan et al., 2008).

  Such experiments all require recombinant DNA techniques and animal or cell culture experiments. But the very simplest hypothesis of how Sars-CoV-2 might have been caused by research is simply to suppose that a researcher from the WIV or the WCDCP became infected during a collecting expedition and passed their bat virus on to their colleagues or family. The natural virus then evolved, in these early cases, into Sars-CoV-2. For this reason, even collecting trips have their critics. Epidemiologist Richard Ebright called them “the definition of insanity“. Handling animals and samples exposes collectors to multiple pathogens and returning to their labs then brings those pathogens back to densely crowded locations.

  Was the WIV doing experiments that might release PPPs?

  Since 2004, shortly after the original SARS outbreak, researchers from the WIV have been collecting bat coronaviruses in an intensive search for SARS-like pathogens (Li et al., 2005). Since the original collecting trip, many more have been conducted (Ge et al., 2013; Ge et al., 2016; Hu et al., 2017; Zhou et al., 2018).

  Petrovsky does not mention it but Zheng-Li Shi’s group at the WIV has already performed experiments very similar to those he describes, using those collected viruses. In 2013 the Shi lab reported isolating an infectious clone of a bat coronavirus that they called WIV-1 (Ge et al., 2013). WIV-1 was obtained by introducing a bat coronavirus into monkey cells, passaging it, and then testing its infectivity in human (HeLa) cell lines engineered to express the human ACE2 receptor (Ge et al., 2013).

  In 2014, just before the US GOF research ban went into effect, Zheng-Li Shi of WIV co-authored a paper with the lab of Ralph Baric in North Carolina that performed GOF research on bat coronaviruses (Menachery et al., 2015).

  In this particular set of experiments the researchers combined “the spike of bat coronavirus SHC014 in a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV backbone” into a single engineered live virus. The spike was supplied by the Shi lab. They put this bat/human/mouse virus into cultured human airway cells and also into live mice. The researchers observed “notable pathogenesis” in the infected mice (Menachery et al. 2015). The mouse-adapted part of this virus comes from a 2007 experiment in which the Baric lab created a virus called rMA15 through passaging (Roberts et al., 2007). This rMA15 was “highly virulent and lethal” to the mice. According to this paper, mice succumbed to “overwhelming viral infection”.

  In 2017, again with the intent of identifying bat viruses with ACE2 binding capabilities, the Shi lab at WIV reported successfully infecting human (HeLa) cell lines engineered to express the human ACE2 receptor with four different bat coronaviruses. Two of these were lab-made recombinant (chimaeric) bat viruses. Both the wild and the recombinant viruses were briefly passaged in monkey cells (Hu et al., 2017).

  Together, what these papers show is that: 1) The Shi lab collected numerous bat samples with an emphasis on collecting SARS-like coronavirus strains, 2) they cultured live viruses and conducted passaging experiments on them, 3) members of Zheng-Li Shi’s laboratory participated in GOF experiments carried out in North Carolina on bat coronaviruses, 4) the Shi laboratory produced recombinant bat coronaviruses and placed these in human cells and monkey cells. All these experiments were conducted in cells containing human or monkey ACE2 receptors.

  The overarching purpose of such work was to see whether an enhanced pathogen could emerge from the wild by creating one in the lab. (For a very informative technical summary of WIV research into bat coronaviruses and that of their collaborators we recommend this post, written by biotech entrepreneur Yuri Deigin).

  It also seems that the Shi lab at WIV intended to do more of such research. In 2013 and again in 2017 Zheng-Li Shi (with the assistance of a non-profit called the EcoHealth Alliance) obtained a grant from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). The most recent such grant proposed that:

  “host range (i.e. emergence potential) will be tested experimentally using reverse genetics, pseudovirus and receptor binding assays, and virus infection experiments across a range of cell cultures from different species and humanized mice” (NIH project #5R01Al110964-04).

  It is hard to overemphasize that the central logic of this grant was to test the pandemic potential of SARS-related bat coronaviruses by making ones with pandemic potential, either through genetic engineering or passaging, or both.

  Apart from descriptions in their publications we do not yet know exactly which viruses the WIV was experimenting with but it is certainly intriguing that numerous publications since Sars-CoV-2 first appeared have puzzled over the fact that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binds with exceptionally high affinity to the human ACE2 receptor “at least ten times more tightly” than the original SARS (Zhou et al., 2020; Wrapp et al., 2020; Wan et al., 2020; Walls et al., 2020; Letko et al., 2020).

  This affinity is all the more remarkable because of the relative lack of fit in modelling studies of the SARS-CoV-2 spike to other species, including the postulated intermediates like snakes, civets and pangolins (Piplani et al., 2020). In this preprint these modellers concluded “This indicates that SARS-CoV-2 is a highly adapted human pathogen”.

  Given the research and collection history of the Shi lab at WIV it is therefore entirely plausible that a bat SARS-like cornavirus ancestor of Sars-CoV-2 was trained up on the human ACE2 receptor by passaging it in cells expressing that receptor.

  How do viruses escape from high security laboratories?

  Pathogen lab escapes take various forms. According to the US Government Accountability Office, a US defense Department laboratory once “inadvertently sent live Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax, to almost 200 laboratories worldwide over the course of 12 years. The laboratory believed that the samples had been inactivated.” In 2007, Britain experienced a foot and mouth disease outbreak. Its’ origin was a malfunctioning waste disposal system of a BSL-4 laboratory leaking into a stream from which neighbouring cows drank. The disposal system had not been properly maintained (Furmanski, 2014). In 2004 an outbreak of SARS originating from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Beijing, China, began, again, with the inadequate inactivation of a viral sample that was then distributed to non-secure parts of the building (Weiss et al., 2015).

  Writing for the Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists in February 2019, Lynn Klotz concluded that human error was behind most laboratory incidents causing exposures to pathogens in US high security laboratories. While equipment failure was also a factor, of the 749 incidents reported to the US Federal Select Agent Programme between 2009-2015, Klotz concluded that 79% resulted from human error.

  But arguably the biggest worry is incidents that go entirely unreported because escape of the pathogen goes undetected. It is truly alarming that a significant number of pathogen escape events were uncovered only because investigators were in the process of examining a completely different incident (Furmanski, 2014). Such discoveries represent strong evidence that pathogen escapes are under-reported and that important lessons still need to be learned (Weiss et al., 2015).

  The safety record of the WIV

  The final important data point is the biosafety history of the WIV. The WIV was built in 2015 and became a commissioned BSL-4 lab in 2018. According to Josh Rogin of the Washington Post, US embassy officials visited the WIV in 2018. They subsequently warned their superiors in Washington of a “serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory”.

  And according to VOA News, a year before the outbreak, “a security review conducted by a Chinese national team found the lab did not meet national standards in five categories.”

  Credible reports from within China also question lab biosafety and its management. In 2019, Yuan Zhiming, biosecurity specialist at the WIV, cited the “challenges” of biosafety in China. According to Zhiming: “several high-level BSLs have insufficient operational funds for routine yet vital processes” and “Currently, most laboratories lack specialized biosafety managers and engineers.” He recommends that “We should promptly revise the existing regulations, guidelines, norms, and standards of biosafety and biosecurity”. Nevertheless, he also notes that China intends to soon build “5-7” more BSL-4 laboratories (Zhiming, 2019).

  And in February 2020, Scientific American interviewed Zheng-Li Shi. Accompanying the interview was a photograph of her releasing a captured bat. In the photo she is wearing a casual pink unzipped top layer, thin gloves, and no face mask or other protection. Yet this is the same researcher whose talks give “chilling” warnings about the dire risks of human contact with bats.

  All of which tends to confirm the original State Department assessment. As one anonymous “senior administration official” told Rogin:

  “The idea that it was just a totally natural occurrence is circumstantial. The evidence it leaked from a lab is circumstantial. Right now, the ledger on the side of it leaking from the lab is packed with bullet points and there’s almost nothing on the other side.”

  The leading hypothesis is a lab outbreak

  For all these reasons, a lab escape is by far the leading hypothesis to explain the origins of Sars-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic. The sheer proximity of the WIV and WCDCP labs to the outbreak and the nature of their work represents evidence that can hardly be ignored. The long international history of lab escapes and the biosafety concerns from all directions about the labs in Wuhan greatly strengthen the case. Especially since evidence for the alternative hypothesis, in the form of a link to wild animal exposure or the wildlife trade, remains extremely weak, being based primarily on analogy with SARS one (Bell et al,. 2004; Andersen et al., 2020).

  Nevertheless, on April 16th Peter Daszak, who is the President of the EcoHealth Alliance, told Democracy Now! in a lengthy interview that the lab escape thesis was “Pure baloney”. He told listeners:

  “There was no viral isolate in the lab. There was no cultured virus that’s anything related to SARS coronavirus 2. So it’s just not possible.”

  Daszak made very similar claims on CNN’s Sixty Minutes: “There is zero evidence that this virus came out of a lab in China.” Instead, Daszak encouraged viewers to blame “hunting and eating wildlife”.

  Daszak’s certainty is highly problematic on several counts. The closest related known coronaviruses to Sars-CoV-2 are to be found at the WIV so a lot depends on what he means by “related to”. But it is also dishonest in the sense that Daszak must know that culturing in the lab is not the only way that WIV researchers could have caused an outbreak. Third, and this is not Daszak’s fault, the media are asking the right question to the wrong person.

  As alluded to above, Daszak is the named principal investigator on multiple US grants that went to the Shi lab at WIV. He is also a co-author on numerous papers with Zheng-Li Shi, including the 2013 Nature paper announcing the isolation of coronavirus WIV-1 through passaging (Ge et al., 2013). One of his co-authorships is on the collecting paper in which his WIV colleagues placed the four fully functional bat coronaviruses into human cells containing the ACE2 receptor (Hu et al. 2017). That is, Daszak and Shi together are collaborators and co-responsible for most of the published high-risk collecting and experimentation at the WIV.

  An investigation is needed, but who will do it?

  If the Shi lab has anything to hide, it is not only the Chinese Government that will be reluctant to see an impartial investigation proceed. Much of the work was funded by the US taxpayer, channeled there by Peter Daszak and the EcoHealth Alliance. Virtually every credible international organisation that might in principle carry out such an investigation, the WHO, the US CDC, the FAO, the US NIH, including the Gates Foundation, is either an advisor to, or a partner of, the EcoHealth Alliance. If the Sars-CoV-2 outbreak originated from the bat coronavirus work at the WIV then just about every major institution in the global public health community is implicated.

  But to solve many of these questions does not necessarily require an expensive investigation. It would probably be enough to inspect the lab notebooks of WIV researchers. All research scientists keep detailed notes, for intellectual property and other reasons, but especially in BSL-4 labs. As Yuan Zhiming told Nature magazine in an article marking the opening of the facility in Wuhan: “We tell them [staff] the most important thing is that they report what they have or haven’t done.”

  Meticulous lab records plus staff health records and incident reports of accidents and near-accidents are all essential components (or should be) of BSL work. Their main purpose is to enable the tracking of actual incidents. Much speculation could be ended with the public release of that information. But the WIV has not provided it.

  This is puzzling since the Chinese government has a very strong incentive to produce those records. Complete transparency would potentially dispel the gales of blame coming its way; especially on the question of whether Sars-CoV-2 has an engineered or passaged origin. If Zheng-Li Shi and Peter Daszak are correct that nothing similar to Sars-CoV-2 was being studied there, then those notebooks should definitively exonerate the lab from having knowingly made an Actual Pandemic Pathogen.

  Given the simplicity and utility of this step this lack of transparency suggests that there is something to hide. If so, it must be important. But then the question is: What?

  A thorough investigation of the WIV and its bat coronavirus research is an important first step. But the true questions are not the specific mishaps and dissemblings of Drs Shi or Daszak, nor of the WIV, nor even of the Chinese government.

  Rather, the bigger question concerns the current philosophy of pandemic prediction and prevention. Deep enquiries should be made about the overarching wisdom of plucking and counting viruses from the wild and then performing dangerous ‘what if’ recombinant research in high tech but fallible biosafety labs. This is a reductionistic approach, we also note, that has so far failed to predict pandemics and may never do so.

  If this article was useful to you please consider sharing it with your networks.

  Jonathan R. Latham PhD is co-founder and Executive Director of the Bioscience Resource Project and the Editor of Independent Science News. He holds a PhD in Virology and was a postdoctoral research associate in the University of Wisconsin Department of Genetics.

  Allison K. Wilson, PhD is co-founder and Science Director of the the Bioscience Resource Project; Editor of the Bioscience Resource Project website; Assistant Editor of Independent Science News; and a contributor to the Poison Papers project. She holds a BA in Biology from Cornell University, a doctorate in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Indiana University, Bloomington, and was formerly a postdoctoral research associate at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle and the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.

  

• GLJ Research: This Is Shaping Up As One Of The Worst Quarters In Tesla History
  GLJ Research: This Is Shaping Up As One Of The Worst Quarters In Tesla History
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 21:54

  Submitted by Gordon Johnson of GLJ Research

  After rising 449% m/m in China in March following China’s COVID-19 lockdowns ending, TSLA’s sales of cars in China in April fell -34.8% m/m (this came as a disappointment to many TSLA bulls as the competition gained materially on TSLA in the moth of April – link).

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  Aggregate EU Registrations: For the six EU countries that have reported May 2020 registrations, TSLA saw numbers for all cars “sold” fall -13.9% m/m and -67.8% y/y; through the first two months combined of 2Q20 (i.e., 2Q20 QTD) in these six EU countries, registrations are down -22.8% q/q and -67.8% y/y.

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  Aggregate EU EV Market Share: TSLA’s aggregated EU market share fell from 37.2% in 4Q19 to 25.3% in 1Q20.

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  NO + NL + SP Registrations: 2Q20 QTD, TSLA’s market share is down to 3.8%, vs. 7.7% in 1Q20 and 35.6% in 4Q19. Stated differently, TSLA has lost significant market share in the three key EU markets it… once… dominated.

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  NO + NL + SP Registrations (more detailed look): Through the first 63 days of 2Q20, sales in these three countries, combined, are down -34.7% q/q and -68.8% y/y.

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  Model 3 Tracker: Using TroyTeslike’s Model 3 tracker, through the first 63 days of 2Q20, Model 3 configurations are down -87.3% q/q and -86.7% y/y.

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  Model Y Tracker: Using TroyTeslike’s Model Y tracker, through the first 63 days of 2Q20, deliveries are running at 69 cars. By comparison, in the first full month the Model 3 tracker was collecting data on Model 3 sales, it reached 709 cars by quarter’s end. This may be why TSLA, recently, drastically reduced the lead times from when you order a Model Y in the USA to when you get it – i.e., to 4-8 weeks vs. 8-12 weeks prior (link) – this followed the sharp price cuts taken by TSLA last week due to weaker-than-expected demand globally.

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  New York State Data: While the data does not look bad, it’s important to remember that in NY State, registrations lag sales. So the April data below is from sales made in March. This means we won’t see the April/May COVID-19 sales impact in NYS until May/June data is out (i.e., later this week).

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  Colorado, USA: In Colorado, USA, through the 8th week of 2Q20, sales are trending down -22.3% q/q and -76.1% y/y.

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  RORO Boat Data: Looking at days boats loaded for TSLA cars, volumes are down -82.2% q/q and -78.1% y/y. The first boat of 2Q20 was sent to S. Korea; there is another boat that will arrive in Europe with roughly 3-4K cars (by our est.) before the end of 2Q20; finally, there is another RORO boat that is still moored, but we est. will arrive in Asia before the end of 2Q20 (it will be close, however).

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  CONCLUSION: Observing the publicly available data, and also observing a recent initiation on TSLA, in which the headline “Tesla (ticker: TSLA) is on the cusp of replicating its success in the U.S. EV market to potentially larger markets in China and Europe” (link) was published on a number of widely-followed financial media sites, as analysts are forced to revert back to TSLA’s actual fundamentals (which remain publicly available for anyone who wants it) – which include market share losses in both the EU and China – sentiment could be set to shift lower.

  

• Pandemic, Economic Crash, Social Unrest, And Now Four Asteroids?
  Pandemic, Economic Crash, Social Unrest, And Now Four Asteroids?
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 21:45

  This year has been nothing short of astonishing. In the last five months, the US has been inundated with a virus pandemic, triggering an economic crash and 40 million unemployed, and now worsening social unrest in major metros. But what’s happening on the ground might be the least of our worries on Tuesday, as four asteroids are about to pass the planet.

  NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has detected “four near-Earth objects that will fly past” the planet on Tuesday, reported International Business Times.

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  CNEOS’ data showed the first asteroid, identified as 2020 KK7, measures about 108 feet wide and traveling at 34,000 mph, will pass the planet on Tuesday at a distance of 0.00343 astronomical units or approximately 319,000 miles. To put this in perspective, this means the giant space rock will pass Earth at a distance that is about from here to the Moon. 

  The second asteroid to pass Earth is called 2020 KD4. The rock measures about 115 feet wide and is traveling at 12,000 mph, will pass the planet at a distance of about 0.02680 astronomical units or around 2.5 million miles away. 

  The third asteroid to pass Earth is called 2020 KF, which has an estimated diameter of 144 feet, is the largest asteroid to approach the planet, and is traveling at about 24,000 mph. It’s expected to pass the planet at a distance of about 0.03102 astronomical units or 2.9 million miles.

  And the fourth asteroid to pass Earth on Tuesday is called 2020 KJ1, has an estimated diameter of about 105 feet, and is moving at 11,000 mph, will pass the planet at about 0.01403 astronomical units or 1.3 million miles.

  Amid the social-economic collapse of America, political commentator Katie Hopkins’ prayers could be answered… 

  Praying for an asteroid #GeorgeFloydsCriminalRecord

  pic.twitter.com/3FLp4OQUUj

  — Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) May 31, 2020

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• Former Antifa Member Admits Group's Acts Are "Very Definition Of Domestic Terrorism"
  Former Antifa Member Admits Group’s Acts Are “Very Definition Of Domestic Terrorism”
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 21:25

  Authored by Jon Street via Campus Reform,

  Former Antifa member Gabriel Nadales praised President Donald Trump for his tweet saying that he intends to designate Antifa a domestic terror organization after several nights of violent riots and looting in dozens of major American cities. 

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  Nadales, who is an employee of Campus Reform‘s parent organization,  the Leadership Institute, joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business Network on Monday to discuss the recent riots that arose out of protests to the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed while in Minneapolis police custody.

  Nadales was among the first to call for Antifa to be labeled a terror organization in 2019. Trump said at the time he was considering labeling the group a terror organization. Now, it appears the president has made up his mind. 

  “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” Trump tweeted Sunday. 

  Nadales reacted to the news Monday, telling Varney, “Antifa’s acts are the very definition of domestic terrorism.” 

  “If you look at some of the violence, it’s being instigated by anarchists and Antifa activists,” Nadales, the former Antifa member said, “not by the peaceful protesters who are rightfully angered by what happened.”

  WATCH:

  

• 77-Year-Old Retired Police Captain Murdered By Looters
  77-Year-Old Retired Police Captain Murdered By Looters
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 21:05

  A retired St. Louis City police captain was shot and killed overnight trying to stop looters outside a North City pawn shop, according to KMOV4.

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  77-year-old David Dorn was found at approximately 2:30 a.m. Tuesday on the 4100 block of Martin Luther King Dr.

  “He was murdered by looters at a pawnshop. He was the type of brother that would’ve given his life to save them if he had to. Violence is not the answer, whether it’s a citizen or officer,” wrote the St. Louis Ethical Society of Police of Dorn, whose wife is a sergeant with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

  St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden said Dorn was murdered during a looting while “exercising law enforcement training.”

  “David Dorn was a fine captain, many of us young officers looked up to him,” Chief Hayden said.

  Chief Hayden said officers will wear their mourning badges in response to Dorn’s death. –KMOV4

  Graphic:

  “All over some TVs.” 77-year-old St. Louis retired Police Captain David Dorn was shot dead by looters when he tried to get them to stop looting a local pawn shop. pic.twitter.com/Xtvii4HoB1

  — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 2, 2020

  According to the report, Dorn was with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for 38 years before becoming the police chief in Moline Acres. He joined the police academy in November 1969, graduating in May 1970. After his retirement he joined Patrol Support in October 2007. 

  David Dorn was a father, a husband, a grandfather, a brother and a man beloved by so many. His son says he died doing what he loved: protecting his community. https://t.co/lOTFgvNogG @KMOV pic.twitter.com/SAjBhwRhMF

  — Alexis Zotos (@alexiszotos) June 2, 2020

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  Due to his history in law enforcement, Dorn helped out the owners of Lee’s Pawn and Jewelry – checking on it when the alarm would go off, which is what he was doing Tuesday when he was shot and killed.

  Our highest respect to the family of David Dorn, a Great Police Captain from St. Louis, who was viciously shot and killed by despicable looters last night. We honor our police officers, perhaps more than ever before. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/0ouUpoJEQ4

  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2020

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  CrimeStoppers is offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest in the case (866-371-8477).

  Meanwhile, about the only mainstream coverage given to Dorn’s death has come from Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.

  Tucker Carlson On The Violence Against Cops By The Mob

  “For 38 years David Dorn was a police officer in the city of St. Louis. No one ever accused Dorn of racism, he was black. He’s dead now, he was murdered last night by the mob.” pic.twitter.com/hszxwYSn7h

  — The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) June 3, 2020

  Looters murdered David Dorn

  CNN refuses to say his name

  — Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) June 3, 2020

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• This Treasury Official Is Running The Bailout And It's Been Great For His Family…
  This Treasury Official Is Running The Bailout And It’s Been Great For His Family…
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 20:45

  Authored by Justin Elliott, Lydia DePillis and Robert Faturechi via ProPublica.org,

  Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have become the public faces of the $3 trillion federal coronavirus bailout. Behind the scenes, however, the Treasury’s responsibilities have fallen largely to the 42-year-old deputy secretary, Justin Muzinich.

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  A major beneficiary of that bailout so far: Muzinich & Co., the asset manager founded by his father where Justin served as president before joining the administration. He reported owning a stake worth at least $60 million when he entered government in 2017.

  Today, Muzinich retains financial ties to the firm through an opaque transaction in which he transferred his shares in the privately held company to his father. Ethics experts say the arrangement is troubling because his father received the shares for no money up front, and it appears possible that Muzinich can simply get his stake back after leaving government.

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  Justin Muzinich, deputy Treasury secretary, in 2019. (Wolfgang Kumm/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)

  When lockdowns crippled the economy in March, the Treasury and the Fed launched an unprecedented effort to buy up corporate debt to avert a freeze in lending at the exact moment businesses needed to borrow to keep running. That effort has succeeded, at least temporarily, with credit continuing to flow to companies over the last several weeks. This policy also allowed those who were heavily invested in corporate loans to recoup huge losses.

  Muzinich & Co. has long specialized in precisely this market, managing approximately $38 billion of clients’ money, including in riskier instruments known as junk, or high-yield, bonds. Since the Fed and the Treasury’s actions in late March, the bond market has roared back. Muzinich & Co. has reversed billions in losses, according to a review of its holdings, with 28 of the 29 funds tracked by the investor research service Morningstar Direct rising in that period. The firm doesn’t publicly detail all of its holdings, so a precise figure can’t be calculated.

  The Treasury is understaffed, and Muzinich was overseeing two-thirds of the department before the crisis hit. He spent his first year as the Trump administration’s point man on its only major legislative achievement, the landmark $1.9 trillion tax cut that mainly benefited the wealthy and corporations.

  As the markets panicked about the economic impact of the coronavirus, Muzinich’s responsibilities expanded. The Treasury worked with the Fed on the emergency lending programs, and the agency has ultimate power to sign off. Muzinich was personally involved in crafting the programs, including the effort to bail out the junk bond market, The Wall Street Journal reported in April. He communicates with Fed officials daily by phone, email or text, the paper said.

  That effort has many skeptics. The Fed has never bought corporate debt in its more than 100 years of existence, much less that of the indebted and fragile companies that raise money through the sale of junk bonds. Private equity firms, hedge funds and specialty investment firms like Muzinich & Co. dominate the market for junk-rated debt. In effect, the Fed has swooped in to protect the most sophisticated investors from losses on some of their riskiest bets.

  Muzinich & Co. Profited From the Government’s Actions

  Muzinich & Co.’s largest fund, with over $10 billion in assets, jumped in value when the Treasury and the Federal Reserve announced plans to buy bonds

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  Data from Morningstar Direct for the Muzinich Enhanced Yield Short-Term Fund

  Justin Muzinich’s ongoing ties to the family firm present a thicket of potential conflicts of interest, ethics lawyers said. Instead of immediately divesting his stake in the firm when he joined the Trump administration in early 2017, Muzinich retained it until the end of that year. But even then, he did not sell his stake and use the proceeds to buy broad-based securities such as index funds, as is common practice. Instead, he transferred his piece of the company to his father, who owns Muzinich & Co. In exchange, he received what amounts to an IOU — a written agreement in which his father agreed to pay him for the shares, with interest, but with no principal due for nine years.

  “This is something akin to a fake divestiture,” said Kathleen Clark, a law professor and ethics specialist at Washington University in St. Louis.

  “It sure looks like he is simply parking this asset with a relative, and he will likely get it back after he leaves the government.”

  A Treasury spokeswoman declined to say whether Muzinich has pledged not to take back the stake in the family firm once his public service ends. Muzinich “takes his ethics obligations very seriously” and “any suggestion to the contrary is completely baseless,” she said.

  She added the arrangement with his family firm was approved by the Office of Government Ethics and agency ethics lawyers, who recently reexamined the setup given Muzinich’s role in the economic crisis response. They concluded that there is no currently envisaged scenario in which Muzinich would make decisions as a government official that would affect his father’s ability to repay the money he owes under the IOU.

  “Treasury’s career Designated Agency Ethics Official has determined that there is no such conflict of interest, as there are no current or reasonably anticipated matters in which Deputy Secretary Muzinich would participate that would affect the note obligor’s ability or willingness to satisfy its financial obligations under the note,” she said in a statement. (The note obligor is Muzinich’s father.)

  Muzinich & Co. did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

  Muzinich’s relationship with the family firm also creates potential conflicts related to Muzinich & Co.’s clients. The firm makes money by charging investment management fees to several dozen wealthy individuals, insurance companies, pension funds, as well as what filings describe as a “quasi foreign government corporation.” The client list is not public and it’s unclear whether Muzinich would know about clients that came on board since he left. But any large investor has much to gain, or lose, from decisions being made by the Treasury about the bailout policies.

  “The clients of this firm, I imagine, must be thrilled that Muzinich has this vitally important, powerful position with a huge amount of discretion and authority,” Clark said.

  The Treasury spokeswoman declined to answer a question about the firm’s clients.

  Even as Justin Muzinich has presided over bailout policies criticized by some observers, Muzinich & Co. executives have praised the government’s actions in recent briefings for investors. One described the interventions “as providing somewhat of a floor underneath the high yield market.”

  Another Muzinich executive, David Bowen, who manages one of the firm’s high-yield bond portfolios, said during a May 20 webinar, “The Fed has been about as supportive, helpful, accommodative — whatever word you want to use — as anyone could imagine.”

  Untangling the Financial Relationship

  When Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hired Justin Muzinich as counselor in early 2017, in many ways he was selecting a younger version of himself.

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  Justin Muzinich, center left, then a top adviser to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, center, on Capitol Hill on Sept. 12, 2017. (Al Drago/The New York Times/Redux)

  Like Mnuchin, Muzinich grew up in New York City, the son of a wealthy finance executive. Also like his boss, Muzinich spent years collecting a series of elite credentials: He attended Groton and holds degrees from Harvard College, the London School of Economics, Yale Law School and Harvard Business School. He worked at Morgan Stanley and spent a few months at a hedge fund associated with billionaire Steven A. Cohen, followed by a few years at EMS Capital, which invests the money of the wealthy Safra family.

  Colleagues praise Muzinich as hardworking and serious, and Democrats have expressed relief that he isn’t as inflammatory as many other Trump appointees. Powell, the Fed chair, called Muzinich “creative and extremely capable” in a statement to The Wall Street Journal in April.

  In 2010, he joined the family firm and became its president. His father, George, founded the company in 1988, specializing in handling portfolios of American high-yield bonds for European pension funds. The company expanded to offer funds to other institutional investors and wealthy individuals, but it stuck to its focus on corporate credit — particularly the riskier type that pays higher interest rates. Headquartered in New York and London, the firm has eight offices across Europe and one in Singapore.

  “Talking about credit all the time might sound boring, I’m sure it does,” Justin Muzinich said in a 2014 interview, “but that is what makes you good.”

  As he rose in the family business, Muzinich also launched himself into GOP policy circles, advising the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney in 2012 and Jeb Bush in 2016. He owns a $20 million ultramodern beachfront house in the Hamptons and a $4.5 million Park Avenue apartment and commutes from New York City to work in Washington.

  When Muzinich entered the Trump administration, he reported owning stock and stock options in the family firm collectively worth at least $60 million. The true value could be much higher, but disclosure rules don’t require officials to give a specific figure for any asset worth more than $50 million.

  The Treasury’s ethics officers are frequently called on to rule on complex questions, given that the department tends to attract people from careers on Wall Street who have large, complicated financial holdings — from ex-Goldman Sachs Chairman Hank Paulson to banker and Hollywood financier Mnuchin.

  Stakes in individual companies can create conflicts of interest. So incoming Treasury officials typically sell those stocks and invest in broad-based options like mutual funds. Ownership in private investment funds can be particularly thorny because ethics rules treat each of the fund’s investments in specific companies as sources of potential conflicts. Sarah Bloom Raskin, who preceded Muzinich as deputy secretary in the Obama administration, reported holding only a collection of index and mutual funds that either track the whole stock market or a large basket of companies.

  But government ethics officials did not require Muzinich to sell his stake in the family firm through his first year in office as counselor to Mnuchin.

  According to ethics filings, Muzinich said that he did not divest it until December 2017, the month the tax law was signed. (Several months later, in April 2018, Trump nominated him to be deputy secretary.)

  Muzinich did not receive cash for most of his stake in the family firm. Instead, his more recent financial disclosures show that the stake, held in a family trust, was replaced with an opaque asset described as a “receivable from family,” valued at over $50 million.

  Muzinich’s disclosure filings don’t reveal much about this asset at all. They don’t say who the family member is or explain the arrangement. They don’t say how the terms were negotiated, or even if the valuation of the deal was vetted by an independent third party.

  It turns out that Muzinich transferred his stake to his father. But his father didn’t have to pay him right away. According to a Senate Finance Committee memo obtained by ProPublica, Justin received two promissory notes from his father in return for the shares. The notes pay Justin between $1 million and $5 million in interest over a year, at a rate of 2.11%. Moreover, his father does not have to pay any principal on the loan for nine years.

  Neither the financial disclosure forms nor the Senate memo say how long the agreement is supposed to last. Neither addresses the possibility of his getting the shares back after he leaves the government. The Treasury says the transaction is “not reversible” but did not elaborate.

  In other words, Justin still has an ongoing long-term stake in the financial well-being of Muzinich & Co., since his father now owes him more than $50 million. If the company were to plummet in value or even go under, it could cost Justin. Actions the Treasury and the Fed take can either enhance the chances he gets his money back or lower them.

  The Treasury defended the IOU transaction as an appropriate remedy for any conflicts of interest. The agency provided a statement from Elizabeth Horton, an ethics attorney who left the agency in 2019 and who worked with Muzinich on the divestiture from his family business. Horton said that when Muzinich first joined the agency, “the Treasury ethics office correctly advised him that he did not need to divest his holdings in his family business because of the generalized nature of his work on tax reform legislation.” She said that when his duties changed, “I advised Mr. Muzinich that an exchange for a fixed value note was an appropriate way to divest.”

  Horton said that advice was “consistent with practice in previous administrations” — though the Treasury declined to cite similar cases. “Muzinich worked very closely with the ethics office and was extremely attentive to his ethics obligations,” Horton said.

  ProPublica reached out to four ethics officials, including two former Treasury ethics lawyers. None could recall a similar divestment transaction. Three of the four disagreed that it resolved Muzinich’s conflicts, while one said that turning it into an asset with a value that doesn’t fluctuate with future developments should shield him from any allegations of impropriety.

  The deal does not look like an arms-length transaction, said Virginia Canter, who served as a career ethics attorney at Treasury during the George W. Bush administration and is now at the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

  “The terms of the loan suggest something less than a bona fide transaction,” she said. “Once he leaves office, nothing in the arrangement appears to preclude Muzinich from forgiving the debt owed to him by his father so they can amicably agree on returning to Muzinich the interest in the Muzinich family business.”

  As ranking member of the Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden opposed Muzinich’s nomination as deputy secretary because of his role in crafting the tax bill. Although he would have preferred a cash sale of the Muzinich & Co. stock, Wyden said in a statement that in July 2018 Muzinich had agreed to “strengthen his recusal commitments to include matters where his family’s company is a party.”

  That satisfied Wyden at the time, but it is a very narrow restriction. A vast range of issues before the Treasury could affect Muzinich & Co. regardless of whether the firm was directly a party to any of them.

  How Justin Muzinich treated the transaction for tax purposes could reveal whether it was a true and final sale or not.

  Ordinarily, a sale of an asset such as equity in a company would trigger a capital gains tax bill. In Muzinich’s case, that could run into the tens of millions of dollars, even though his father paid him no cash upfront. But there is an exception if the asset in question is merely transferred with a commitment to have it returned, said Steve Rosenthal, a tax law expert at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

  “If you are merely parking or pledging securities, and you are going to get them back, that’s not viewed as a taxable transaction,” he said.

  It is not clear how he reported the transaction to the IRS, and whether he was left with a huge tax bill. The Treasury declined to comment on the tax issues.

  Tax Reform — for Friends and Family

  Through his first year in the administration, even as Muzinich continued to own his stake in the family firm, he met with a wide range of business executives to hash out major tax provisions that would affect them, according to his 2017 calendars that ProPublica obtained after suing the Treasury last year under the Freedom of Information Act. Others were obtained by the watchdog group American Oversight. The Treasury redacted large sections of the calendars, saying that they required consultation with the White House before they could be released.

  One of the most important principles in the federal government ethics rules covers whether an official is dealing with a “particular matter” that would affect a discrete group of people with specific interests or a “general matter” that affects a larger and more diverse group.

  The Treasury spokeswoman said the tax reform bill was to affect a very large and diverse group, so ethics rules did not prevent Muzinich from working on it. He was allowed to keep his equity in the company while working on the tax bill because his “duties did not include particular matters that required divestiture of certain assets.”

  But many industries had specific interests in the tax bill that they lobbied on — industries that may include clients of Muzinich & Co. Insurance companies, for example, featured prominently. Muzinich met with trade groups representing insurers as well as Liberty Mutual, The Hartford, Zurich and Blue Cross Blue Shield. In the final tax bill, property and casualty insurers fared particularly well by dodging new limitations on deductions that applied to other companies.

  Insurance companies invest their premiums in order to increase their profits. In its regulatory filings, Muzinich & Co. reports that 17 of its 89 clients are insurance companies, which have given the firm more than $1.4 billion to invest. Muzinich & Co. did not provide a list of its clients.

  Some of the companies Muzinich & Co. has stakes in also have been lobbying the Treasury on their own behalf. For example, Muzinich & Co. helps its clients invest in business development companies, a type of investment fund that enjoys lower taxes in exchange for providing capital to medium-sized companies. The firm itself owns stock in BDCs, many of them run by private equity companies such as Ares Capital Corporation, which has paid millions of dollars to lobby for looser rules governing the BDC industry.

  Even beyond any overlap with the family firm’s interests, Muzinich’s calendars, which cover the period from February to September of 2017, reflect the administration’s priorities in negotiating the tax deal. Muzinich spent long days in meetings with private equity titans, energy company CEOs and heavy-hitting interest groups like the Business Roundtable and the anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity. His calendar shows no meetings with labor unions or progressive groups.

  Muzinich did meet often with the Treasury’s in-house tax experts but frequently didn’t follow their recommendations. Richard Prisinzano, who served in the agency’s tax analysis office until August 2017, recalled trying to tell Mnuchin and Muzinich that drastically lowering corporate tax rates would likely prompt businesses to transform into C corporations, which often pay lower rates under the new law.

  He argued that such a change would further reduce tax revenues. Muzinich disagreed, Prisinzano said, protesting that businesses wouldn’t change their corporate form just to lower their taxes. “He really pushed back,” Prisinzano recalled. “He said to me, ‘The secretary is a numbers person, and the numbers don’t make sense to him.’”

  “‘I’m a numbers person, and they make perfect sense to me,’” Prisinzano said he responded. “That was not an answer that they liked.”

  In the following two years, many large businesses did indeed convert into C corporations, including private equity giants Ares, Blackstone and KKR. The government hasn’t produced an estimate of how big a hit taxpayers took from these conversions.

  During his confirmation hearing as deputy secretary in July 2018, Democratic senators pressed Muzinich on whether he agreed with the White House that the tax bill would “pay for itself,” despite the dire projections of independent forecasters such as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. “Yes,” Muzinich responded.

  It has not come close, as corporate tax collections plunged and left the national debt at historic levels on the eve of the pandemic.

  Muzinich Takes on the COVID-19 Crisis

  As the economic response to the novel coronavirus consumed Washington in March, Mnuchin turned again to Muzinich to negotiate with Congress over the shape of a bailout intended to sustain companies as they weathered the worst part of the crisis.

  Ultimately, Trump administration officials and lawmakers settled on a package worth more than $2 trillion, divided into aid regimens for different sectors of the economy. While setting general parameters, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act gives the Treasury wide latitude over how the money is to be distributed. It calls for $50 billion in grants and loans for the airline industry, for example, with few rules on who should get what. (In another potential intersection with Muzinich’s Treasury work, Muzinich & Co. started a new business line to loan money to airlines to buy planes in February.)

  Perhaps the greatest power the Treasury now has is the authority to sign off on Fed loan programs funded with CARES Act money. The Fed has said it will leverage that money to lend up to several trillion dollars.

  Among their biggest decisions: Which firms to include in the $600 billion Main Street Lending Program, which will lend directly to mid-sized businesses, and how to structure two programs that will purchase up to $750 billion in corporate bonds.

  The Main Street program, which has yet to launch, changed substantially after it was first announced to sweep in bigger companies and those with heavier debt loads. Offering a glimpse into how the Treasury directly shaped the Fed programs, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told Bloomberg the change was made in part to make sure beleaguered oil companies had access to the program’s favorable terms. Muzinich & Co.’s U.S.-based funds include dozens of energy companies.

  Mnuchin also deputized Muzinich to fix problems that arose during the first round of funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers forgivable loans to small businesses. The government hasn’t said who got money through the program, but Muzinich & Co.’s portfolio includes many companies that are small enough to be eligible.

  The Fed’s bond purchasing programs will go even further to help companies with poorly rated credit.

  On March 23, the Fed and the Treasury announced a sweeping stimulus program that would involve buying hundreds of billions of dollars of investment-grade bonds. Selling bonds is a way for large companies like Boeing or PepsiCo to raise money for new investments, to fund day-to-day operations or to pay back older loans. Companies that are strong and profitable are expected to be able to pay back the borrowed money. Their bonds are deemed “investment grade” and come with lower interest rates. The news of the Fed program on its own heralded a dramatic recovery in the bond market, which in three weeks recovered nearly all of the 13.6% it had lost since the plunge began on March 6, according to one index.

  Then, on April 9, the Fed announced, with the Treasury’s approval, that it would expand its efforts to buy some junk bonds. These carry higher interest rates because the borrowing companies are viewed as riskier and may already be heavily in debt. One index tracking that market segment surged nearly 8% on the news, the most in a decade. This risker category of bonds has expanded dramatically in recent years as companies took on higher debt burdens to do things like acquire competitors and buy back stock. These are the bonds in which Muzinich & Co. has long specialized.

  At the end of 2019, Muzinich & Co. reported it had $2.8 billion of assets under management in its U.S. high-yield bond strategy. A Muzinich fund that focuses specifically on those bonds took significant losses in March, as companies like oilfield services provider Targa Resources and Caesars Entertainment saw the price of their bonds fall 30% and 35% respectively.

  The government’s announcement buoyed Muzinich & Co.’s high-yield holdings along with everyone else’s. The portfolio manager for the firm’s U.S. high-yield offering also praised CARES Act’s tax provisions that would “help high yield companies.”

  In a separate development in May, the Fed expanded another Treasury-backed lending program in a way that could help Muzinich & Co.’s portfolio. The central bank said May 12 it would support “syndicated loans,” another form of corporate debt often in which riskier firms borrow money from multiple lenders. Muzinich & Co. had more than $3 billion in assets under management in U.S. and European syndicated loans at the end of last year.

  The good news for Muzinich & Co. keeps coming. As the firm’s head of investment strategy, Erick Muller, told investors in a May 13 webcast about the junk bond market: “The recovery is pretty spectacular.”

  

• Unprecedented Surge In New CMBS Delinquencies Heralds Commercial Real Estate Disaster
  Unprecedented Surge In New CMBS Delinquencies Heralds Commercial Real Estate Disaster
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 20:25

  One month ago, we thought that the unprecedented implosion in US commercial real estate in the month of April following the near-uniform economic shutdown following the coronavius pandemic, manifesting in the surge in newly delinquent CMBS loans would be one for the ages, even though as we predicted May would likely be worse as a result of the spike in specially services loans. 

  And indeed while April was catastrophic, May was even worse.

  According to the latest remittance data by Trepp, the surge in CMBS delinquencies that most industry watchers were anticipating came through in May. After Trepp’s CMBS Delinquency Rate registered at 2.29% in April, in May the Delinquency Rate logged its largest increase in the history of this metric since 2009. The May reading was 7.15%, a jump of 481 basis points over the April number. Almost 5% of that number is represented by loans in the 30-day delinquent bucket.

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  There was some good news: given that about 8% of loans had missed payments for the April remittance cycle (in the grace period), the fact that delinquencies went up less than 5% has to be viewed as a small “win.” That, or simply the backlog of delinquencies has prevented the proper accounting of all deals.

  Alas, that “win” won’t last, and will be reversed next month, when the delinquency rate will hits double digits as about 7.61% of loans by balance missed the May payment but remained less than 30 days delinquent (i.e., within the grace period).

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  On the other hand, as more forbearances receive approval, some delinquent loans could revert to current status based on expectations of how loan statuses will be reported in servicer data going forward, if reported correctly. For instance, if a loan’s last payment was made in March, it would not show up as 60 days delinquent in June if a forbearance had been granted. Of course, this step merely delayed the inevitable, and once forbearances are exhausted, all those loans which are classified as current will all slide right into the default bucket without passing go.

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  Some other overall statistics:

  The percentage of loans in special servicing rose from 4.39% in April to 6.07% in May. According to May servicer data, 16.2% of all lodging loans were in special servicing, up from 11.4% in April. In addition, 9.3% of retail loans are with the special servicer, up from about 6% the month prior.  The percentage of loans on servicer watchlist in May was 19.9%.

  The Overall Numbers

  • The overall US CMBS delinquency rate climbed 481 basis points in May to 7.15%. The all-time high on this basis was 10.34% registered in July 2012. We expect this number will be surpassed in the June update.
  • The percentage of A/B loans (i.e. loans in “grace period” or “beyond grace” period) was 7.61% in May.
  • Year-to-date, the overall US CMBS delinquency rate is up 449 basis points.
  • The percentage of loans that are seriously delinquent (60+ days delinquent, in foreclosure, REO, or nonperforming balloons) is now 2.17%, up six basis points for the month. (As noted above, the largest increase this month was seen in the 30-day delinquency category; expect the percentages for 60+ day delinquencies to move higher in June.)
  • If defeased loans were taken out of the equation, the overall 30-day delinquency rate would be 7.56%, up 515 basis points from April.
  • One year ago, the US CMBS delinquency rate was 2.66%.
  • Six months ago, the US CMBS delinquency rate was 2.34%

  The CMBS 2.0+ Numbers

  • The CMBS 2.0+ delinquency rate jumped 503 basis points to 6.19% in May. The rate is up 545 basis points year over year.
  • The percentage of CMBS 2.0+ loans that are seriously delinquent is now 1.10%, which is up 12 basis points from April.
  • If defeased loans were taken out of the equation, the overall CMBS 2.0+ delinquency rate would be 6.54%, up 531 basis points for the month.

  The CMBS 1.0 Numbers

  • Note: With CMBS 1.0 loans outstanding dwindling, we plan to retire this statistic beginning in Q3 2020.
  • The CMBS 1.0 delinquency rate rose 110 basis points to 41.74 % in May.
  • The percentage of CMBS 1.0 debt that is seriously delinquent rose 24 basis points to 40.89% last month.
  • If defeased loans were taken out of the equation, the overall CMBS 1.0 delinquency rate would be 47.04%

  Overall Property Type Analysis (CMBS 1.0 and 2.0+) 

  • The industrial delinquency rate climbed 46 basis points to 1.82%
    • The amount of industrial loans categorized as A/B: 2.41% in May
  • The lodging delinquency rate jumped 1642 basis points to 19.13%.
    • The amount of lodging loans categorized as A/B: 14.08% in May
  • The multifamily delinquency rate rose 133 basis points to 3.25%.
    • The amount of multifamily loans categorized as A/B: 2.78% in May
  • The office delinquency rate moved up 48 basis points to 2.40%.
    • The amount of office loans categorized as A/B: 2.72% in May
  • The retail delinquency rate spiked 647 basis points to 10.14%.
    • The amount of retail loans categorized as A/B: 12.53% in May

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• Shocking Evidence Suggests Coordinated Effort To Orchestrate An Uprising Inside The United States
  Shocking Evidence Suggests Coordinated Effort To Orchestrate An Uprising Inside The United States
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 20:22

  Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

  Violence has erupted in major cities all over America yet again today, and we are being told to brace ourselves for more rioting, looting and civil unrest in the days ahead.  The death of George Floyd was a great tragedy, and the vast majority of Americans agree that we do not want to see that sort of police brutality in our nation, and so this should actually be a moment that brings our country together.  But instead, America is being torn apart.  The protests against police brutality have been hijacked by sinister forces, and they are attempting to channel the outrage over George Floyd’s death in a very violent direction.  As you will see below, law enforcement authorities all over the U.S. are telling us that they have identified a highly organized effort to orchestrate violence, and this appears to be happening on a nationwide basis.

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  Let’s start by looking at what is happening in New York.  According to the top terrorism official in the entire city, “certain anarchist groups”  were making preparations for “violent interactions with police” before protests in the city even began…

  On Sunday night, New York’s top terrorism cop, Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller, detailed his office’s analysis and investigation into why the New York City protests have become so violent and damaging at times.

  “No. 1, before the protests began,” Miller said, “organizers of certain anarchist groups set out to raise bail money and people who would be responsible to be raising bail money, they set out to recruit medics and medical teams with gear to deploy in anticipation of violent interactions with police.”

  And once the protests started, these groups used “a complex network of bicycle scouts” to direct rioters to locations where police officers would not be present…

  “And they developed a complex network of bicycle scouts to move ahead of demonstrators in different directions of where police were and where police were not for purposes of being able to direct groups from the larger group to places where they could commit acts of vandalism including the torching of police vehicles and Molotov cocktails where they thought officers would not be.”

  These are not just mindless angry mobs.  They are being directed with a purpose, and that is very alarming.

  In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has publicly acknowledged that there has been “an organized effort” to turn the protests over George Floyd’s death “into something violent” in her city…

  Speaking at an afternoon news conference today with other officials, Lightfoot didn’t say whether the groups are out-of-state left-wing anti-fascist organizations generally known as Antifa, right-wing agitators, local street gangs or something else. She said she’s asked three federal agencies—the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms & Explosives and the U.S. Attorney’s office—for help, with a focus on AFT’s bomb and arson unit.

  “There is no doubt. This was an organized effort last night,” she said. “There were clearly efforts to subvert the peaceful process and make it into something violent.”

  Lightfoot did not really elaborate on why she believes there has been “an organized effort”, but officials in other cities have been willing to give the public more specifics.

  For example, law enforcement authorities in Minnesota have discovered “several caches of flammable materials” that were obviously intended to be used for rioting…

  Earlier Sunday, state officials said several caches of flammable materials were found both in neighborhoods where there have already been fires and “in cars we’ve stopped as recently as this morning,” said John Harrington, state public safety commissioner. Some of the caches look like they may have been planted days ago and some only in the last 24 hours or so, he said.

  Police are also finding stolen vehicles with plates removed that are being used to transport the flammable materials. Looted goods and weapons also have been found in the stolen cars, he said.

  And in several other cities around the nation, law enforcement authorities have found bricks staged at or near protest sites.

  On Sunday, police in Kansas City announced that they had found “stashes of bricks and rocks in & around the Plaza and Westport to be used during a riot”…

  Kansas City police officers found bricks and rocks staged near protest sites around the city, stoking concerns that individuals or groups had pre-planned looting and destruction that hit the city over the weekend, the department said Sunday.

  “We have learned of & discovered stashes of bricks and rocks in & around the Plaza and Westport to be used during a riot,” the department said in a tweet on Sunday.

  And in Baltimore, law enforcement officials were racing to dismantle “mounds of bricks and bottles” that had been staged in downtown Baltimore…

  According to sources, mounds of bricks and bottles have been found in Downtown Baltimore.

  Baltimore Police confirmed they are working with law enforcement partners to sweep the area.

  There are several demonstrations planned for Monday evening. Sources told Fox 45 officers are being briefed on the situation during roll call.

  In New York, a “cache of bricks” just happened to be sitting directly in the path of rioters on Sunday evening…

  Similarly, in New York City, video captured the moment rioters in Manhattan chanced upon a cache of bricks between St. Marks Place and Seventh Street in the East Village on Sunday evening, though no construction site appeared to be nearby.

  Even down in Texas, “a large pile of bricks” was stacked up in front of the courthouse in Dallas and huge stacks of bricks were pre-staged right along a path that protesters would be taking in Frisco.

  I don’t know about you, but I have a very hard time believing that all of this is just a giant coincidence.

  The fact that huge piles of pre-staged bricks are suddenly showing up at protest locations all over America indicates a level of planning and coordination at a very high level.

  Obviously we are dealing with something that is far more complex than just a few thousand angry people letting off some steam.

  With the U.S. economy in deep disarray and with a presidential election coming up in November, anger and frustration are likely to remain at very high levels in the U.S. throughout the summer, and that will give those that are organizing these efforts more opportunities to promote violence.

  Needless to say, the lawlessness that we are witnessing in the streets of our major cities is greatly alarming millions of ordinary Americans, and gun sales are going through the roof…

  Gun sales surged in May as shops reported an uptick in interest and demand as the coronavirus pandemic continued and amid national protests after the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd.

  “Almost, you couldn’t even keep up with it – that’s how crazy it was,” said Joe Hawk, owner of Guns & Roses in New Jersey. “After Memorial Day, it spiked again – it just went crazy again.”

  Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting, a private research firm, estimated that there were more than 1.7 million gun sales in May – an 80% jump from May 2019.

  The thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted on a daily basis is disappearing, and a lot of people believe that a lot more civil unrest is ahead.

  Our nation is more deeply divided than it has ever been in my entire lifetime, and that is not likely to change any time soon.

  So I would very much encourage you to do whatever you need to do to get yourself and your family prepared for what is coming, because America appears to be on the precipice of complete and utter chaos.

  

• Taibbi: Where Did Policing Go Wrong?
  Taibbi: Where Did Policing Go Wrong?
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 20:05

  Authored by Matt Taibbi,

  Crime has been down for decades, but incarceration is still sky-high and brutality cases keep tearing the country apart. Does policing in America need a fundamental re-think?

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  Watching all the terrible news in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, it’s been hard not to think about Eric Garner. The cases have so many similarities. Once again, an unarmed African-American man in his forties has been asphyxiated in broad daylight by a police officer with a history of abuse complaints. He and his fellow officers ignore cries of “I can’t breathe,” and keep subduing their target even after he stops moving, unconcerned that he’s being filmed.

  Five years ago, while sketching the outline for a book about the Garner case called I Can’t Breathe, my editor suggested I take on a larger question.

  Why, he asked, do we even have police? After all, the history of policing in our country, especially as it pertains to minority neighborhoods, has always rested upon dubious justifications. The early American police forces evolved out of slave patrols in the South, and “progressed” to enforce the Black Codes from the Civil War period and beyond, on to Jim Crow through the late sixties if not longer.

  In an explicit way, American policing has almost always been concerned on some level with enforcing racial separatism. Because Jim Crow police were upholding a way of life, the actual laws they were given to enforce were deliberately vague, designed to be easily used as pretexts for controlling the movements of black people. They were charged with punishing “idleness” or “impudence,” and encouraged to enforce a range of vagrancy laws, including such offenses as “rambling without a job” and “leading an idle, profligate, or immoral course of life.”

  I ended up not taking on that question, focusing on the hard-enough question of what had led two young, amped-up policemen to choke the life out of a harmless father and street character like Garner. I was more interested in those police than all police, and part of me – the white part, probably – thought the answer to the question of why we need police at all was at least somewhat self-evident.

  But the Garner story ended up graphically revealing the way modern “Broken Windows” policing had evolved to fit the tactics of those centuries of racial enforcement. I learned that “vagrancy” laws had been replaced in cities like New York with essentially identical offenses like “obstructing pedestrian traffic” and “obstructing government administration.”

  In Staten Island, a borough that to this day remains very segregated – white and black residents alike refer to the Staten Island Expressway that bisects black neighborhoods to the north and white neighborhoods to the south as the “Mason-Dixon line” – the young black men who lived in and around the Tompkinsville area where Garner was killed told stories of being stopped and ticketed whenever they crossed into the wrong neighborhoods.

  The new strategies rely upon extremely high numbers of contacts between police and subject populations, who are stopped for every conceivable minor offense – public intoxication, public urination, riding bicycles the wrong way down a sidewalk, refusing to obey police orders, jumping subway turnstiles, and, in Garner’s case, selling loose cigarettes.

  This idea of high-engagement policing was born in the mind of a Midwestern academic/corrections official named George Kelling. Kelling conducted a number of studies for think tanks like the Police Foundation and eventually co-authored a hugely influential 1982 article in the Atlantic called Broken Windows.

  Kelling in his research found that while people may not actually be safer, they feel safer when there is less visible “disorder” in their neighborhoods, e.g. panhandling, litter, graffiti, etc. Also, research suggested such disorder was incentive to further disorder: as Stanford researcher Philip Zimbardo put it, “If a window in a building is broken and left unrepaired, all of the rest of the windows will soon be broken.”

  “Broken Windows” revolutionized policing, changing it from a business of fighting crime to doing what Kelling described as “order maintenance.” If earlier police theorists like Orlando “O.W.” Wilson hoped to defeat crime by putting officers in squad cars and giving them advanced tools to react more quickly to offenses, the new strategy stressed stopping crime before it got started, by building and maintaining something not defined in law books – “order.”

  Once again, police were charged with enforcing not rules but a way of life, and were asked again to view the law as more of a tool than an end in itself. The famous “Broken Windows” article spoke approvingly of officers in Chicago who read between the lines of the law to chase gang members out of a project: “In the words of one officer, ‘We kick ass.’”

  The Kelling revolution was credited with early successes, like the cleaning up of the New York City subway. Soon the “Broken Windows” strategy (sometimes euphemistically called “community policing”) was the norm in big cities. Mass stops and arrests led to amazing numbers, like Baltimore under Mayor Martin O’Malley arresting 100,000 people in 2004 alone, or the city of Chicago stopping 250,000 people in 2014, a stop rate four times higher than New York in the peak years of “stop-and-frisk.”

  When such policing became hot in the nineties, as advocates like Bill Bratton became national celebrities (here he is on the cover of Time in 1996 under the headline, “Finally, we’re winning the war against crime. Here’s why”), police departments became infected by a corporate-like mania for “goal-setting” and “deliverables.” There was no numerical way to impress politicians if police just worked cases as they came: to show progress, Bratton believed, one had to order police to produce concrete quantities of stops, searches, arrests.

  Commissioners demanded captains deliver numbers and captains began browbeating lesser officers, who in turn pushed quotas on patrol cops, for reasons that often had nothing to do with crime. As depicted in the The Wire, in the stats revolution, “shit always rolls downhill.” The point was to get lieutenants promoted to captain, to get mayors re-elected, and help provide the rationale for the prison jobs state legislators were bringing home to suburban districts. All of this was greased by the lobbying money of construction firms, prison vendors, even private prison corporations – a great business for all, and all that was needed to keep it going was an endless stream of jailable people.

  This is why, even as rates of both violent crime and property crime have been decreasing steadily since the early nineties, rates of incarceration have been exploding in the other direction. For most of the 20th century the rate of incarceration in America was roughly 110 per 100,000 people. As of last year, the number was 655 per 100,000. Although the numbers have dipped slightly in recent years, down from a high of about 760 per 100,000 in 2013, the quantity of prisoners in America remains absurdly high.

  Such aggressive, military-style policing would be not be tolerated by voters if it were taking place everywhere. It’s popular, and continues to be embraced by politicians in both parties, because it’s only happening in “those” neighborhoods (or, as Mike Bloomberg once put it, “where the crime is”). Even during the Covid-19 crisis, 80% of the summonses for social distancing violations are given out to blacks and Hispanics. Does anyone really think that minorities account for that massive a percentage of those violations? Do they think black people really commit 3.73 times as many marijuana offenses as white people?

  Basically we have two systems of enforcement in America, a minimalist one for people with political clout, and an intrusive one for everyone else. In the same way our army in Vietnam got in trouble when it started searching for ways to quantify the success of its occupation, choosing sociopathic metrics like “body counts” and “truck kills,” modern big-city policing has been corrupted by its lust for summonses, stops, and arrests. It’s made monsters where none needed to exist.

  Because they’re constantly throwing those people against walls, writing them nuisance tickets, and violating their space with humiliating searches (New York in 2010 paid $33 million to a staggering 100,000 people strip-searched after misdemeanor charges), modern cops correctly perceive that they’re hated. As a result, many embrace a “warrior” ethos that teaches them to view themselves as under constant threat.  

  This is why you see so many knees on heads and necks, guns drawn on unarmed motorists, chokeholds by the thousand, and patterns of massive overkill everywhere – 41 shots fired at Amadou Diallo, 50 at Sean Bell, 137 at Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in Cleveland, and homicides over twenty bucks or a loose cigarette.

  Police are trained to behave like occupiers, which is why they increasingly dress like they’ve been sent to clear houses in Mosul and treat random motorists like potential car-bombers – think of poor Philando Castile, shot seven times by a police officer who leaped back firing in panic like he was being attacked by Freddy Krueger, instead of a calm, compliant, educated young man. Officers with histories of abuse complaints like Daniel Pantaleo and Derek Chauvin are kept on the force because senior officers value police who make numbers more than they fear outrage from residents in their districts. The incentives in this system are wrong in every direction.

  The current protests are likely to inspire politicians to think the other way, but it’s probably time to reconsider what we’re trying to accomplish with this kind of policing. In upscale white America drug use is effectively decriminalized, and Terry stops, strip searches, and “quality of life” arrests are unknowns. The country isn’t going to heal as long as everyone else gets a knee in the neck.

  

• Lancet Issues Major Disclaimer On Anti-HCQ Study, As Manufactured Disinformation Foments Hysterics
  Lancet Issues Major Disclaimer On Anti-HCQ Study, As Manufactured Disinformation Foments Hysterics
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 19:45

  The Lancet has issued a major disclaimer regarding a study which prompted the World Health Organization to halt global trials of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an anti-Malaria drug currently being used around the world to treat COVID-19.

  As we noted last week, major data discrepancies have called the entire study into question – though the lead author says it does not change the study’s findings that patients who received HCQ died at higher rates and experienced more cardiac complications than without.

  Until the data has been audited, The Lancet issued the following “expression of concern” regarding the study.

  “Important scientific questions have been raised about data reported in the paper by Mandeep Mehra et al,” reads the “expression of concern” from The Lancet.

  “Although an independent audit of the provenance and validity of the data has been commissioned by the authors not affiliated with Surgisphere and is ongoing, with results expected very shortly, we are issuing an Expression of Concern to alert readers to the fact that serious scientific questions have been brought to our attention. We will update this notice as soon as we have further information.”

  -The Lancet

  Of course, this is yet more evidence of the manufactured disinformation surrounding HCQ that Richard Moss, MD, (via AmericanThinker.com)  exposes below…

  I took hydroxychloroquine for two years.  A long time ago as a visiting cancer surgeon in Asia, in Thailand, Nepal, India, and Bangladesh.  From 1987 to 1990.  Malaria is rife there.  I took it for prophylaxis, 400 milligrams once a week for two years.  Never had any trouble.  It was inexpensive and effective. 

  I started it two weeks before and was supposed to continue it through my stay and four weeks after returning.  But I stopped it after two years.  I was worried about potential side effects of which there are many, as with all drugs right down to Tylenol and aspirin.  These, however, are rare.  At a certain point, I was prepared to take my chances with mosquitoes and plasmodium, and so I stopped. 

  Chloroquine, the precursor of HCQ, was invented by Bayer in 1934.  Hydroxychloroquine was developed during World War II as a safer, synthetic alternative and approved for medical use in the U.S. in 1955. 

  The World Health Organization considers it an essential medicine, among the safest and most effective medicines, a staple of any healthcare system.  In 2017, US doctors prescribed it 5 million times, the 128th most commonly prescribed drug in the country.  There have been hundreds of millions of prescriptions worldwide since its inception.  It is one of the cheapest and best drugs in the world and has saved millions of lives.  Doctors also prescribe it for Lupus and Rheumatoid arthritis patients who may consume it for their lifetimes with few or no ill effects. 

  Then something happened to this wonder drug. 

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  From savior of the multitudes, redeemer and benefactor of hundreds of millions, it transformed into something else: a purveyor of doom, despair, and unspeakable carnage. 

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  It began when President Trump discussed it as a possible treatment for COVID-19 on March 19, 2020.  The gates of hell burst forth on May 18 when Trump casually announced that he was taking it, prescribed by his physician. 

  Attacks on Trump and this otherwise harmless little molecule poured in.  The heretofore respected, commonly used, and highly effective medicinal became a major threat to life, a nefarious and wicked chemical that could alter critical heart rhythms, resulting in sudden cataclysmic death for unsuspecting innocents.  Trump, more than irresponsible, was evil incarnate for daring to even mention it.  While at it, the salivating media trotted out the canard about Trump’s nonrecommendation for injecting Clorox and Lysol or drinking fish-tank cleaner to combat COVID.  It was Charlottesville all over again. 

  Before a nation of non-cardiologists, the media agonized over, of all things, the prolongation of the now infamous “QT interval,” and the risk of sudden cardiac death.  The FDA and NIH piled on, piously demanding randomized, controlled, double-blind studies before physicians prescribed HCQ.  No one mentioned that the risk of cardiac arrest was far higher from watching the Superbowl. Nor did the media declare that HCQ and chloroquine have been used throughout the world for half a century, making them among the most widely prescribed drugs in history with not a single reported case of “arrhythmic death” according to the sainted WHO and the American College of Cardiology.  Or that physicians in the field, on the frontlines, so to speak, based on empirical evidence, have found benefit in treating patients with a variety of agents including HCQ, Zinc, Azithromycin, Quercetin, Elderberry supplements, Vitamins D and C with few if any complications.  Or that while such regimens may not cure, they may help and carry little or no risk. 

  And so, the world was aflame once again with a nonstory driven by the COVID media.  The HCQ divide within the nation is only a continuation of innumerable divides that have surfaced since the pandemic began — and before.  One will know the politics of an individual based on his position on any number of pandemic issues: lockdowns, sheltering in place, face masks, social distancing, “elective surgery,” and “essential businesses.”  The closing of schools and colleges.  Blue states and Red states.  Governor Cuomo or Governor DeSantis.  Nationwide injunctions or federalism.  The WHO and Red China.  Or, pre-pandemic, Brexit, open borders, DACA, and amnesty.  CBD oil, turmeric, and legalizing marijuana.  Russia Collusion, Trump’s taxes, the 25th amendment, Stormy Daniels, the Ukraine non-scandal, and impeachment. Or Obamagate. And now HCQ. 

  HCQ is only another bellwether.  It represents the latest nonevent in a long string of fabricated media nonscandals.  If a nation can be divided over HCQ it can be divided over anything.  It shows neatly, as many of the other non-issues did, whether one embraces the U.S., our history, culture, and constitutional system, or rejects it.  Whether one believes in Americanism or despises it.  It is part of the ongoing civil war, thus far cold, but who knows?  The passions today are no less jarring than they were in 1860.  One would have thought that a man taking a medicine prescribed by his physician, even a President, would be a private matter.  But no.  Not today. 

  We swim in an ocean of manufactured disinformation created by a radical COVID media, our fifth column.  They inflame the nation one way or another based on political whims.  The propaganda arm of the Left, they seek victory at all costs including dismantling the economy, culture, and our governing system.  Is there a curative for the COVID media and their Democrat allies who would destroy a nation to destroy Trump?  He is all that stands between us and them.  Is there an antiviral for this, the communist virus that has infected the nation, metastasized throughout its corpus, and now threatens the republic?

  *  *  *

  Dr. Moss is a practicing Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon, author, and columnist, residing in Jasper, IN.  He has written A Surgeon’s Odyssey and Matilda’s Triumph available on amazon.com.  Find more of his essays at richardmossmd.com. 

  

• The Property Tax Assessment Nationwide RICO Scam
  The Property Tax Assessment Nationwide RICO Scam
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 19:25

  Submitted by George Wuenschel, Missoula, Montana.

  I am a retired California real estate broker living in Montana. I am not an appraiser but I went beyond mere brokerage and was an expert witness for many law firms and have been trusted as an expert on valuation in several cases in state and federal trials. I was active in the support of California’s Prop 13 to limit property tax.

  Recently I have found a serious nationwide injustice in the determination of assessed value for property taxation. There was a time when price and value could, in most cases, be considered synonymous. Those days are long gone.

  There exists a balancing effect between price and financing terms which is precisely determinable mathematically. If an unusually low interest rate is available to a particular home (i.e. seller financing, assumable loan) a buyer can and will pay more for the property.

  Property tax appraisers are required to make a “cash value” appraisal for real estate. They must make adjustments to value for every influence upon price that is not really part of the value of the real estate itself. An example would be a $700K sale price that included a Ferrari in the garage. The home’s cash value is less than its stated sale price. Cash equivalency adjustments must also be made for any influence upon price caused by financing to the extent such financing has a positive or negative annuity value.

  In order to determine the value of favorable financing, it must be contrasted against some other financing package as a benchmark. Tax assessors have always presumed that no cash equivalency adjustments were necessary for financing if the terms a buyer received were substantially the same as those terms quoted by common financial institutions, or “street terms”. That was plausible as long as street terms resulted from free and open competition between borrowers and savers, as it was when real estate taxes were implemented.

  That was the purpose of Fannie Mae. Investors would purchase FNMA bonds and that competitive market influenced interest rates on current loans. Interest rates are now merely set by the same entity that creates money; the Federal Reserve Bank.

  Borrowers are no longer borrowing from savers using banks and marketplaces as an intermediary. The Federal Reserve Bank actually creates the money for borrowers, then the note executed by the borrower, through a circuitous route, eventually winds up on the Fed’s balance sheet as ‘backing’ for the money created. This is the only way that home mortgages could be made available today at 3.5% in a 10% inflationary environment. Consequently, the price of a home is considerably higher than its cash value.

  This artificially-low interest rate loan has a current cash value that adds to the price of every real estate transaction in the US, but that added value doesn’t come from the property itself. It is akin to the Ferrari in the garage. In those rare cases where a buyer actually pays cash for a home, that buyer must compete with borrowing buyers. The seller wants the  financial benefit of getting the highest price, so there is no discount for the cash buyer who declines this contribution to price from the FRB. Consequently, it is the mere availability of an artificially-low interest rate loan that adds to the price paid for real estate, but does not add to its true value. Should anyone doubt this dynamic, just remove the artificially-low interest rate and watch what happens to the price.

  In order to determine the value of an artificially-low interest rate loan, it must be contrasted against a true market-based loan. That requires speculation about what the interest rates would be if based upon free and open competition between borrowers and savers. Since nobody can possibly make such loans in competition with the FRB’s member banks, there is no  lending operations to obtain such figures. All we can determine is the floor or minimum interest rate required just to break even by starting with the real inflation rate that affects the US dollar.

  The well-respected Chapwood index (chapwoodindex.com) and economist John Williams index (shadowstats.com) both show a loss of purchasing power in the US Dollar of about 10% annually. Lenders will always compute a real rate of return (note rate minus inflation). The first 10% interest they receive is really not a profit at all. It only offsets the decline in purchasing power of the dollars the lender has tied up in the loan. Since lenders will be taxed on interest income from nominal dollars, the lender additionally needs to recover those taxes from the interest rate. Then there are loan servicing costs, loan origination costs, and finally, profit.

  There is no way interest rates could be less than 12% today if such rates had to be determined by free and open competition between borrowers and savers unless we expect such lenders to systematically lose wealth in order to make loans. They only way to circumvent that reality is to have the entity that creates money also be the ultimate funding source behind the loans. The injustice here is that appraisers contrast the street interest rate against the actual rate the borrower received resulting in no needed equivalency adjustment to arrive at the cash value of the real estate.

  I contend they should be contrasting that artificially-low rate loan against the rate that would be required if determined from free and open competition between borrowers and savers. Remember, the purpose of the adjustment is to separate the value of the home from the value of extraneous elements of price that do not come from the home itself.

  Why doesn’t a proposed real estate lender’s appraiser make such adjustments? All appraisals have a purpose. The purpose of a proposed lender’s appraisal is to protect their security interest so they don’t get over-extended. They must be confident that, if they need to foreclose, the property will sell for enough to satisfy the lender’s loan. A lender is unconcerned about the components that make up price. They are only concerned about price itself because that is what will protect their loan. But tax appraisers must determine cash value, which is very different than price in this artificial environment. And why do savers and bond purchasers routinely accept less than a 2% risk-adjusted yield on their investments in a 10% inflationary environment? Certainly not in pursuit of profit. They do it to mitigate the losses of staying liquid in cash because its the best that can be done in an artificial environment where the free market and price discovery is totally corrupted.

  For property tax purposes, all real estate is overvalued by 30% to 35% for ad valorem taxation (tax based upon value) because of this valuation scam. About 2/3 of a typical property tax bill is based upon the value of the property while the remaining 1/3 is a tax on the value of an annuity injected into every sale transaction by the Federal Reserve system. All sale transactions become a historic comparable sale used to determine the value of all other homes for tax purposes. Each and every one of those comparable sales reflect an erroneous inflated value unless they are adjusted to cash equivalency – and they are never adjusted.

  One way to understand the need for cash-equivalency adjustments is to consider the effect on price if home mortgage interest rates go negative, as they did in Denmark. A negative interest rate loan is actually an income instrument to the borrower. A negative interest rate loan will eventually amortize to a $0 balance without any payments ever being made. In such a case, the price of the secured real estate should go to infinity because price doesn’t matter. If cash equivalency adjustments were still not made for such financing, the property tax bill must likewise go to infinity. Can rates go negative in the US? Measuring from 12% rates, we have traversed three quarters of that distance. We are already deep into artificially high real estate valuations and very close to infinite valuations.

  Having spoken informally to two lawyers about this matter, including a former US Assistant Prosecutor, they recommended a 42 US Code Section 1983 Civil Rights case. However, there are several prevailing facts that increase the severity of this tax injustice.

  There are multiple government entities involved in the conspiracy: state appraisers, county tax assessors, county tax collectors, county recorder’s office, and sometimes even the state court when they induce a forced tax sale. There is an ever-present threat that if the inflated tax bill isn’t paid, the property will be involuntarily sold out from under the owner. There are government officials operating under the color of doing their job. So why isn’t this a violation of The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 US Code Chapter 96 (RICO)?

  It is RICO, but a nightmare of a case. Nonetheless, I have made a RICO complaint to the US Department of Justice. In my state of Montana, a state appraiser admitted they are not making such cash-equivalency adjustments and the Governor’s office will not respond. Its time for homeowners to get vocal.

  

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• "Unmatched Performance" – German Army Test-Fires New Light Machine Gun
  “Unmatched Performance” – German Army Test-Fires New Light Machine Gun
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 02:45

  As tensions boil between the US and Russia, Germany’s armed forces have recently test-fired a new lightweight, compact machine gun with high firepower. 

  According to Defense Blog, German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) have tested the MG4 A3 light machine gun, manufactured by German firearm company Heckler & Koch. 

  The advanced version of MG4 is expected to replace MG3 machine guns currently in field service with Bundeswehr soldiers. 

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  Three-week test trials were recently completed with soldiers from the 26th Airborne Brigade based in Zweibrücken, a NATO military air base in West Germany. 

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  The machine gun chambers a 5.56×45 mm NATO round and offers a fully automatic shooting opportunity with a rotating bolt gas mechanism. A new paint coating and optical sight upgrades make this model even more lethal. The weapon has less recoil than before and is much lighter, which improves firing accuracy.

  “It provides unmatched performance characteristics: Owing to its low recoil, the shot is readily controllable, giving high target precision. Its great combat effectiveness and range, the optimal rate of fire, and simple handling make it a weapon unlike any other,” Defense Blog said. 

  Germany is not the only country in the process of upgrading service weapons among its armed forces. We’ve noted in the last several years, there’s been a big push by the Trump administration to upgrade service weapons in the US Army. 

  Several months ago, the Pentagon doubled its purchase of a new anti-personnel precision rifle.

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  In January, Special Operation Command granted Sig Sauer with a safety certification for the new MG 338 Machine Gun, 338 Norma Mag Ammunition, and Next Generation Suppressors, which means US Special Forces are about to receive a badass advanced machine gun. 

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  Late last year, Textron Systems’ AAI Corporation delivered their next-generation machine gun to the Army that chambers a telescoped round between 6.5 mm and 6.8 mm and is expected to be the future replacement for the M16 rifle, M4 carbine, and M249 light machine gun.

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  It just so happens countries in the Western world are beefing up their military forces as the global economy plunges into economic depression. Is a military conflict ahead?  

  

• Europe's Non-Hamiltonian Muddle
  Europe’s Non-Hamiltonian Muddle
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 02:00

  Authored by Nouriel Roubini and Brunello Rosa via Project Syndicate,

  Although any joint EU action should be welcomed, the current COVID-19 response plan hardly amounts to a radical break with business as usual. Far from a long-awaited embrace of debt mutualization, the newly proposed European recovery fund risks being both politically unpalatable and economically inadequate.

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  This past week, the European Commission unveiled a plan to help European countries manage the Great Depression-scale shock from COVID-19. Building on a recent Franco-German proposal, the Commission is calling for a €750 billion ($834 billion) recovery fund (€500 billion of which would be distributed as grants, and €250 billion as loans).

  The money issued through this so-called “Next Generation EU” plan will flow through European Union programs, in order to achieve the Commission’s goals, including its green and digital economy agenda. The Commission will raise funds in the market by issuing long-term bonds, and their efforts will be backed by a suggested increase in new taxes, such as those on greenhouse-gas emissions, digital services, and other areas of supranational commerce.

  Though we are among the few commentators who anticipated that the EU would offer a plan much larger than what most market participants and pundits expected, we also would advise European policymakers to remain realistic about what can be achieved at the moment. Celebrations of the EU’s long-awaited “Hamiltonian moment” of debt mutualization are premature.

  As matters stand, the EU is still an incomplete transfer union in which resources (human, physical, financial) so far move from the periphery to the center – which is to say, to the United Kingdom or Germany. Ironically, one of these poles of attraction, the UK, has decided to leave the EU, ostensibly to end the flow of migrants into its economy. With Brexit, which officially occurred on January 31, the EU has already literally begun to disintegrate.

  Optimists believe that, with the UK out, a more cohesive EU can finally emerge. But this prediction seems too rosy. After all, the UK wasn’t so much a hurdle to integration as an excuse for other reluctant member states to avoid closer ties. For example, the UK hasn’t been the one blocking the European Deposit Insurance Scheme, which is needed to complete the eurozone banking union; that honor falls to Germany.

  With the rise of populist parties across Europe, it has long been clear that the next major crisis would constitute an existential threat to the EU. The EU now must demonstrate that it is up to the challenge of completing its integration process. Otherwise, it could confront a “Jeffersonian moment” that returns it to some form of confederation with only limited shared sovereignty.

  Facing the abyss, France and Germany have devised a plan to mitigate the pandemic’s devastating economic fallout. But while their proposal has its merits, Alexander Hamilton would be unsatisfied – and rightly so. For starters, the envisaged bond issuance would not come with a “joint and several guarantee,” and thus would not constitute genuine debt mutualization. Financier George Soros’s proposal for EU perpetual bonds, or Consols, would alleviate this problem, but it would not solve it. And, in any case, if the funds do not become available by this summer, it may already be too late for hard-hit countries such as Italy, Greece, and Spain, which will be facing a dreadful tourist season on top of it all.

  More to the point, the distrust between the EU’s “frugal four” (Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden) and the allegedly “profligate” southern countries (including Italy, Spain, and Greece) remains so deep that it is frankly difficult to imagine any long-term solution being adopted. A recent ruling by Germany’s own constitutional court sent a powerful signal to European institutions about what to expect on the road ahead. Though the decision eventually will be overruled by the European Court of Justice and ignored by the European Central Bank, the ECB nonetheless faces political limits to its actions.

  Germany will either have to offer a partial EU fiscal backstop with its own taxpayers’ money or allow EU institutions to provide a sufficient mutual backstop (starting with the eurozone budget) for the entire monetary union. If the proposed EU recovery fund were capable of revitalizing the eurozone budget – particularly its never-agreed stabilization function – that by itself would represent a significant achievement.

  In signing on to a joint plan with France, Germany presumably realized that it could not simply say “nein” to both a monetary and a fiscal backstop (that is, the budding fiscal and transfer union). Both are needed for the euro to survive. But even with backstops in place, critical questions would remain unresolved, not least the sustainability of Italy’s surging public debt. Italy would have to make massive strides to restore growth and competitiveness now that its comparative advantage in tourism has been so severely compromised.

  Overall, although any common European approach to the COVID-19 crisis is a step in the right direction (and certainly better than no action), there is little reason to expect the EU to break from its long tradition of merely muddling through. If European leaders can prevent an immediate breakdown of the EU and euro projects, they at least will have averted the enormous economic, social, and political costs that would come from further rapid disintegration. But a net response that reflects the old inertia will leave Europe unequipped for the post-COVID world, where other major continental economies – the United States, China, and India – will make the most important geo-strategic and economic decisions.

  

• CJ Hopkins: Mainstream Media Has Been Conditioning You For This Uprising For Four Years
  CJ Hopkins: Mainstream Media Has Been Conditioning You For This Uprising For Four Years
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Tue, 06/02/2020 – 00:10

  Authored by CJ Hokpins via The Consent Factory,

  The Minneapolis Putsch

  Well, it looks like the Resistance’s long-anticipated “Second Civil War” has finally begun … more or less exactly on cue. Rioting has broken out across the nation. People are looting and burning stores and attacking each other in the streets. Robocops are beating, tear-gassing, and shooting people with non-lethal projectiles. State National Guards have been deployed, curfews imposed, “emergencies” declared. Secret Servicemen are fighting back angry hordes attempting to storm the White House. Trump is tweeting from an “underground bunker.” Opportunist social media pundits on both sides of the political spectrum are whipping people up into white-eyed frenzies. Americans are at each other’s throats, divided by identity politics, consumed by rage, hatred, and fear.

  Things couldn’t be going better for the Resistance if they had scripted it themselves.

  Actually, they did kind of script it themselves. Not the murder of poor George Floyd, of course. Racist police have been murdering Black people for as long as there have been racist police. No, the Resistance didn’t manufacture racism. They just spent the majority of the last four years creating and promoting an official narrative which casts most Americans as “white supremacists” who literally elected Hitler president, and who want to turn the country into a racist dictatorship.

  According to this official narrative, which has been relentlessly disseminated by the corporate media, the neoliberal intelligentsia, the culture industry, and countless hysterical, Trump-hating loonies, the Russians put Donald Trump in office with those DNC emails they never hacked and some division-sowing Facebook ads that supposedly hypnotized Black Americans into refusing to come out and vote for Clinton. Putin purportedly ordered this personally, as part of his plot to “destroy democracy.” The plan was always for President Hitler to embolden his white-supremacist followers into launching the “RaHoWa,” or the “Boogaloo,” after which Trump would declare martial law, dissolve the legislature, and pronounce himself Führer. Then they would start rounding up and murdering the Jews, and the Blacks, and Mexicans, and other minorities, according to this twisted liberal fantasy.

  I’ve been covering the roll-out and dissemination of this official narrative since 2016, and have documented much of it in my essays, so I won’t reiterate all that here. Let’s just say, I’m not exaggerating, much. After four years of more or less constant conditioning, millions of Americans believe this fairy tale, despite the fact that there is absolutely zero evidence whatsoever to support it. Which is not exactly a mystery or anything. It would be rather surprising if they didn’t believe it. We’re talking about the most formidable official propaganda machine in the history of official propaganda machines.

  And now the propaganda is paying off. The protesting and rioting that typically follows the murder of an unarmed Black person by the cops has mushroomed into “an international uprising” cheered on by the corporate media, corporations, and the liberal establishment, who don’t normally tend to support such uprisings, but they’ve all had a sudden change of heart, or spiritual or political awakening, and are down for some serious property damage, and looting, and preventative self-defense, if that’s what it takes to bring about justice, and to restore America to the peaceful, prosperous, non-white-supremacist paradise it was until the Russians put Donald Trump in office.

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  In any event, the Resistance media have now dropped their breathless coverage of the non-existent Corona-Holocaust to breathlessly cover the “revolution.” The American police, who just last week were national heroes for risking their lives to beat up, arrest, and generally intimidate mask-less “lockdown violators” are now the fascist foot soldiers of the Trumpian Reich. The Nike corporation produced a commercial urging people to smash the windows of their Nike stores and steal their sneakers. Liberal journalists took to Twitter, calling on rioters to “burn that shit down!” … until the rioters reached their gated community and started burning down their local Starbucks. Hollywood celebrities are masking up and going full-black bloc, and doing legal support. Chelsea Clinton is teaching children about David and the Racist Goliath. John Cusack’s bicycle was attacked by the pigs. I haven’t checked on Rob Reiner yet, but I assume he is assembling Molotov cocktails in the basement of a Resistance safe house somewhere in Hollywood Hills.

  Look, I’m not saying the neoliberal Resistance orchestrated or staged these riots, or “denying the agency” of the folks in the streets. Whatever else is happening out there, a lot of very angry Black people are taking their frustration out on the cops, and on anyone and anything else that represents racism and injustice to them.

  This happens in America from time to time. America is still a racist society. Most African-Americans are descended from slaves. Legal racial discrimination was not abolished until the 1960s, which isn’t that long ago in historical terms. I was born in the segregated American South, with the segregated schools, and all the rest of it. I don’t remember it — I was born in 1961 — but I do remember the years right after it. The South didn’t magically change overnight in July of 1964. Nor did the North’s variety of racism, which, yes, is subtler, but no less racist.

  So I have no illusions about racism in America. But I’m not really talking about racism in America. I’m talking about how racism in America has been cynically instrumentalized, not by the Russians, but by the so-called Resistance, in order to delegitimize Trump and, more importantly, everyone who voted for him, as a bunch of white supremacists and racists.

  Fomenting racial division has been the Resistance’s strategy from the beginning.

  A quote attributed to Joseph Goebbels, “accuse the other side of that which you are guilty,” is particularly apropos in this case. From the moment Trump won the Republican nomination, the corporate media and the rest of the Resistance have been telling us the man is literally Hitler, and that his plan is to foment racial hatred among his “white supremacist base,” and eventually stage some “Reichstag” event, declare martial law and pronounce himself dictator. They’ve been telling us this story over and over, on television, in the liberal press, on social media, in books, movies, and everywhere else they could possibly tell it.

  So, before you go out and join the “uprising,” take a look at the headlines today, turn on CNN or MSNBC, and think about that for just a minute. I don’t mean to spoil the party, but they’ve preparing you for this for the last four years.

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  Not you Black folks. I’m not talking to you. I wouldn’t presume to tell you what to do. I’m talking to white folks like myself, who are cheering on the rioting and looting, and are coming out to “help” you with it, but who will be back home in their gated communities when the ashes have cooled, and the corporate media are gone, and the cops return to “police” your neighborhoods.

  OK, and this is where I have to restate (for the benefit of my partisan readers) that I’m not a fan of Donald Trump, and that I think he’s a narcissistic ass clown, and a glorified con man, and … blah blah blah, because so many people have been so polarized by insane propaganda and mass hysteria that they can’t even read or think anymore, and so just scan whatever articles they encounter to see whose “side” the author is on and then mindlessly celebrate or excoriate it.

  If you’re doing that, let me help you out … whichever side you’re on, I’m not on it.

  I realize that’s extremely difficult for a lot of folks to comprehend these days, which is part of the point I’ve been trying to make. I’ll try again, as plainly as I can.

  America is still a racist country, but America is no more racist today than it was when Barack Obama was president. A lot of American police are brutal, but no more brutal than when Obama was president. America didn’t radically change the day Donald Trump was sworn into office. All that has changed is the official narrative. And it will change back as soon as Trump is gone and the ruling classes have no further use for it.

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  And that will be the end of the War on Populism, and we will switch back to the War on Terror, or maybe the Brave New Pathologized Normal … or whatever Orwellian official narrative the folks at GloboCap have in store for us.

  

• 37% Of Americans Say They Would Give Up Porn For Better Sleep During COVID Crisis
  37% Of Americans Say They Would Give Up Porn For Better Sleep During COVID Crisis
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 23:50

  Perhaps the most widely-discussed psychological phenomenon of the coronavirus crisis is the stress and lack of sleep that have led to, among other consequences, a surfeit of suicides. Millions of Americans have also self-reported experiencing vivid “stress dreams”. Among them is host of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Joe Kernan.

  As brands and marketing strategists parse what this means for consumer attitudes, one recent survey answered by 1,000 American adults during the month of May, more than a month into the lockdown, found that products claiming to help with sleep might soon experience a mini-boom, as millions of Americans struggle to develop the discipline often required to successfully work from home.

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  The study mentioned above asked respondents what they would give up for a year of good sleep; some of the answers might surprise you.

  For example…the survey by SleepStandards found:

  • 37% of Americans would give up sex or porn
  • 41% of Americans would give up social media
  • 40% of Americans would give up alcohol and smoking
  • 39% would give up video games
  • 26% would give up steaming services such as Netflix or Hulu
  • 21.5% would become a vegetarian for a year

  Some key findings from the survey: the premium Americans would be willing to pay for a perfect night’s sleep has risen.

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  Ironically, 41% say they would give up social media, and 26% say they would give up Netflix; many sleep specialists recommend that giving up both activities – at least in the hours before bedtime – actually would help with their sleep.

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  The average American only sleeps 6.6 hours a night…

   

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  …and as productivity continues to stagnate, we suspect products aiming to boost sleep “efficiency” – that is, helping people feel well-rested, despite getting fewer than 7 full hours of sleep – or products that simply promote good sleep hygiene, will soon be all the rage.

  

• Ready For War? Largest Chinese Base Has Full-Scale Model Of Taiwan's Presidential Palace
  Ready For War? Largest Chinese Base Has Full-Scale Model Of Taiwan’s Presidential Palace
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 23:30

  Via AlMasdarNews.com,

  Satellite photos released over the weekend revealed the presence of a full-scale model of the Taiwanese presidential palace at a Chinese military base, The Drive reported.

  In the satellite photos, the images revealed that China’s Zhurihe Combined Tactics Training Base, which is the largest of its kind, has a replica of Taiwan’s presidential palace so that the soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could conduct storming exercises.

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  While conducting urban warfare in mock towns is standard procedure for most militaries, the replica of the Taiwanese presidential palace appears to have a more nationalistic twist, as tensions remain high between Beijing and Taipei.

  The model of the of the presidential palace even has the red and white facade of the building from which Taiwanese President Tsai Ing Wen runs the autonomous island.

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  The front of the mock-up can also be seen very briefly in the below promotional video from 2015 which, according to The War Zone, would have been two years after the structure was built.

  Here’s the prior archived state media footage:

  Since the election of Tsai in 2016, the Taiwanese government has drifted further away from any potential reunification between Taiwan and China.

  This has culminated in strained ties between the two governments, with Taiwan increasing its military capabilities, thanks in large part to the United States.

  Satellite photos recently captured by Planet Labs and republished in The Drive:

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  At the start of 2020, the Taiwanese military carried out a large-scale exercise on island against a potential Chinese invasion force.

  This exercise sent a message to Beijing that Taipei is prepared for a potential war with China, should diplomatic efforts collapse.

  

• Horrific Scene As Car Plows Into Dozens Of Police Amid Rioting In Buffalo, New York
  Horrific Scene As Car Plows Into Dozens Of Police Amid Rioting In Buffalo, New York
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 23:11

  A shocking scene has unfolded Monday night from the streets of Buffalo, New York as police attempted to clear rioters and presumably looters from a city street. 

  Video captured from a protest live feed shows a car plowing into a large group of police and what appear to be state troopers, and SWAT or possibly national guard soldiers.  

  Just happened: a protest in a car run over a group of cops in Buffalo NY…Some of them might be dead

  #BlackLivesMatter #protests2020 pic.twitter.com/UraxbRhMuV

  — Yousef NH (@YousefNH2) June 2, 2020

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

  The group of police are seen initially clearing the street with weapons drawn, and gunshots are heard in the background in an intensifying situation. 

  Suddenly the group of police attempt to jump out of the way as what appears an older model SUV rushes straight into the group. 

  Another angle to the attack shows the car gaining speed as officers realize it’s headed straight for them, most dashing out of the way at the last moment:

  BREAKING: A trooper and an officer were hit by a car that blew through a line of officers at the protest on Bailey Avenue according to PBA President John Evans. They were taken to ECMC. Stay with @SPECNewsBuffalo for updates. #Buffalo pic.twitter.com/odQygo09lH

  — Stephen Marth (@StephenMarth) June 2, 2020

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  At least one officer is directly crushed under the vehicle in the graphic footage, and it appears multiple are down, with others rushing to aid and pull them from the street. 

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  AP has confirmed the video, with White House correspondent Zeke Miller writing, “Video shows SUV plowing into officers at Floyd protest in Buffalo, New York, running over at least 1, then speeding away.”

  The group of clearly rattled police then attempt return fire as the vehicle rushes away from the scene. It’s unclear if the driver was apprehended.

  Though there was no initial confirmation of the horrific and clearly intentional attack on police via Buffalo Police social media accounts, the footage is now going viral.

  The man who took the original video from a nearby balcony, who appears to be Yemeni-American based on the Facebook page hosting the live feed, expresses disbelief in Arabic and utters a prayer. 

  BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Video shows SUV plowing into officers at Floyd protest in Buffalo, New York, running over at least 1, then speeding away.

  — Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) June 2, 2020

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

  The attack happened at the corner of Decker Street and Bailey, across from an Autozone which is partially seen in the video.

  It comes as attacks on police become more brazen and violent nationwide, and as the mayhem spirals out of control – further as President Trump has threatened military deployments to American streets to quell the violence. 

  

• Which Industries Are Suffering The Biggest Job Losses?
  Which Industries Are Suffering The Biggest Job Losses?
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 23:10

  With trader attention turning to Friday’s May jobs report, where consensus expects an 8 million increase in unemployment after April’s record 20 million, we took a closer look at which industries are set to report the biggest job losses.

  To do that, we looked at the weekly initial jobless claims report where many states release claims on an industry level, which as BofA writes, can be used to think about how national payrolls will evolve. While initial claims only reflect outflows, they are still a crucial component for the net job growth trajectory and therefore useful as a leading signal according to BofA’s economists. As a result, collecting and aggregating these data allows to create proxies that provide a read on national conditions.

  To extrapolate the bigger picture, the bank calculates the % change in cumulative initial claims for each industry during the relevant weeks for the April and May jobs reports, apply that to April payroll growth, and then scales to the total NFP forecast of -8.0 million. The exercise suggests that job losses in accommodation & food services-the most pandemic-sensitive sector-could be in the 2.5mn range in May, bringing three month total losses to 9.3mn. Meanwhile, we could see more than 500k job losses in each of the retail trade, healthcare / social assistance, administrative/support services, arts/entertainment/recreation, and public administration sectors. While not scientific, as these remain rough estimates, the table below helps give a sense of the magnitude of the pain that each sector could experience in Friday’s report.

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  In addition to the aggregate level data, the weekly trajectory of these industry claims data are also insightful.

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  For most of the sectors, initial claims follow the broad trend of a peaking in early April followed by a gradual decline. However, initial claims are trending sideways in professional /scientific / technical services and management of companies/enterprises – two of the major sub-sectors of professional/business services. Even worse, initial claims are rising and reaching new highs in the educational services, information, finance / insurance, and public administration sectors. Thus, in several sectors we are not seeing improvement, which according to BofA “argues for more persistent labor pain and a more delayed recovery.”

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  So what will the recovery look like?

  According to BofA’s Alex Lin, as states are gradually re-opening, focus is shifting towards what kind of recovery we can expect. A key question will be how many laid off workers will be rehired? At this stage, consumer expectations remain optimistic- an April 27-May 4 Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that 77% of laid off workers expect to hired back to their old job. However, the reality may prove grimmer given such an uncertain outlook. A vaccine for the virus may still be two years away, and businesses cannot discount the risk of another wave of infections as the economy reopens, which would slow the economy.  Meanwhile, a recent paper by Barrero, Bloom, and Davis argue that 42% of jobs lost will be permanent which would be a concerning outcome.

  

• New Ebola Outbreak Kills Four In West Congo
  New Ebola Outbreak Kills Four In West Congo
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 23:01

  Health officials have confirmed a second Ebola outbreak in Congo, the World Health Organization said Monday, adding yet another health crisis for a country already battling COVID-19 and the world’s largest measles outbreak, according to the AP. Congo also has yet to declare an official end to Ebola in its troubled east, where at least 2,243 people have died since an epidemic began there in August 2018.

  The United Nations Children’s Fund said that five people, including a 15-year-old girl, have died of Ebola in a fresh outbreak of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo; a total of nine cases total have been reported.

  “Four additional people who contracted the virus – all contacts of the deceased and including the child of one of the fatal cases – are being treated in an isolation unit at the Wangata Hospital in Mbandaka,” UNICEF said in a statement. “The deaths occurred between the 18th and 30th of May but they were only confirmed as Ebola-related yesterday.”

  The country’s Health Minister Eteni Longondo confirmed that “There are already four deaths and four suspected cases” who are still alive.

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  Earlier on Monday, embattled WHO Director-General and and Chinese PR spin guru Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted news that six cases had been reported in Mbandaka, in the country’s northwest Equateur province. It’s the country’s 11th outbreak of the potentially deadly virus, which is passed by bodily fluids and has a fatality rate of anywhere between 25% and 90%, depending on the outbreak.

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  The Democratic Republic of Congo has still been struggling to end an outbreak that started in 2018 in the eastern part of the country, in which 3,406 cases have been reported, with 2,243 deaths, according to WHO. There has not been a new case in the past 21 days in that outbreak and since Ebola has a 21-day incubation period, that particular outbreak may be under control but WHO waits for two full incubation periods, or 42 days, to be sure before determining that an outbreak has ended.

  “The announcement comes as a long, difficult and complex Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is in its final phase, while the country also battles COVID-19 and the world’s largest measles outbreak,” WHO said in a statement. The central African country has reported 3,195 cases of coronavirus and 72 deaths. By far the worst epidemic affecting the DRC is measles, which has infected nearly 370,000 people and killed 6,779 since 2019.

  The Ebola virus lives in bats, and WHO says new outbreaks can be expected in the Democratic Republic of Congo. By far the largest epidemic of Ebola was in 2014-2016 in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. More than 28,000 people were infected in that epidemic and more than 11,000 of them died.

  If that wasn’t enough, Covid-19 already has touched 7 of Congo’s 25 provinces, with more than 3,000 confirmed cases and 72 deaths. However, like many African countries Congo has conducted extremely limited testing, and observers fear the true toll may be far higher.

  There’s more: while Ebola and COVID-19 have drawn far more international attention, measles has killed more Congolese than those diseases combined. WHO said there have been 369,520 measles cases and 6,779 deaths since 2019.

  “This quadruple threat could prove lethal for millions of children and their families,” said Anne-Marie Connor, national director in Congo for the aid organization World Vision.

  

• Exposing The Media's "Distraction" Deception
  Exposing The Media’s “Distraction” Deception
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 22:50

  Authored by Tom Bevan via RealClearPolitics.com,

  I’ve been in the news business for over 20 years now, and among the many things I’ve learned about how the media complex operates is this: One of the favorite tricks journalists and politicians use to control the focus of viewers and push the media’s preferred narrative is to label other stories as “distractions.”

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  This is especially true when it comes to President Trump. In the recent past, most mainstream media outlets have been obsessed with the pandemic, and his leadership during this crisis. That is certainly understandable. In some ways, it’s the biggest news story in a generation, with a large death toll and global implications about governmental control over the economy, international relations, and the very idea of life-sustaining social interactions between human beings.

  But it’s not the only story. And this is where the sleight of hand comes in. Among Democrats and many liberal journalists, it is an article of faith that Trump’s handling of the pandemic has been a disaster. Keeping the focus on Trump’s failures has become a priority. In this framework, anything the president does or says that is not related to the pandemic is labeled a “distraction.”

  Nancy Pelosi played this card yesterday, responding to a question about Trump’s proposed crackdown on social media companies.

  “I think it’s just typical President Trump,” said the House speaker.

  “A distraction. More than 100,000 people have died from the coronavirus. This administration has been a failure in terms of what we’re doing testing, tracing, treating and isolating people. The president has been a terrible example of not wearing a mask, and belittling those who do. So anything he does is a distraction from the problem at hand.”

  Just a few weeks ago, any discussion of the troubling Justice Department treatment  of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn was declared a “distraction” by a flurry of reporters and media outlets. CNN has been particularly fond of the “distraction” theme in recent weeks, as you can see from the following headlines:

  “10 things Trump would like to distract you from focusing on” 

  “Trump and right-wing media distract from bad virus news with alternate reality” 

  “Trump goes on wild tweetstorm to distract from Fauci testimony”  

  Notice that when Trump tweets or comments about a subject or story that the media approves of, such as he did with the George Floyd case Thursday, it’s never labeled a distraction. Only stories on subjects in which the press disagrees with the administration earn the “distraction” distinction.  

  If this feels familiar, that’s because it’s been going on since the day Trump took office. From the beginning of his presidency, as the Russia collusion stories began peppering the landscape, journalists and Democrats used the technique to make sure audiences stayed focused on what they believed was the most important story in history: the Trump campaign’s supposed collusion with Vladimir Putin. 

  Over the last three years media outlets have dismissed dozens of presidential statements and initiatives as efforts by Trump to distract the public from the Russia collusion story or special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation, including tweeting about Iran, pulling John Brennan’s security clearance, starting a cold war with China, meeting with Kim Jong-Un, and even slapping tariffs on Mexico.  

  The collusion story turned out to be false. So what exactly was Trump trying to distract you from? The answer is he wasn’t.  

  Donald Trump is, by his very nature, an outrageous, impulsive, torrential news-making machine. He seemingly tweets about every thought that enters his head, from consequential policy pronouncements to strange conspiracy theories and petty schoolyard taunts. But it’s up to you, the citizens and voters, and not the media gatekeepers, to decide what is a “distraction” and what isn’t.  

  

• COVID-19 Exposed The Truth: Laws, Rules, & Regulations Are Futile, Humans Were Born Free
  COVID-19 Exposed The Truth: Laws, Rules, & Regulations Are Futile, Humans Were Born Free
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 22:10

  Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

  The one good thing to come out of the COVID-19 panic is the increasing awareness of the general public.  The scamdemic has exposed the futility of most rules, laws, and regulations, as people have found out they don’t have to obey any ruler or politician because they were born free.

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  Regulations that needlessly restrict liberty, reduce innovation, and reduce Americans’ access to care are being suspended all over the country, and not because politicians woke up and decided to cede some power.  Instead, Americans have decided to disobey the laws into nonexistence. People are finally figuring out that ink on paper cannot control them useless they allow it to.  Since March, Isabelle Morales of Townhall has compiled over500 such examples of regulations that are nothing more than commands to the people the government wants to enslave. These regulations are being suspended in order to provide relief for care providers, hospitals, businesses, and citizens during the coronavirus plandemic.

  Governors and other politicians recognize that the mere enforcement of these rules and laws places a heavy burden on some of the most important markets in the United States. Hence, their suspension is deemed necessary in these times of hardship. Ultimately, none of these regulations should have been created in the first place. Under other circumstances, the effects of these regulations go unnoticed because the strength of the market covers the government’s tracks. –Isabelle Morales of Townhall

  Often, the markets will survive in spite of regulations, however, people are beginning to realize these rules were not created in their best interest, but in the interest of the state. Once people disobey in larger numbers, they will fully awaken to the fact that they’ve been controlled for their entire lives.  The fact that these regulations should have never been created in the first place, is a moot point. What’s important is that people are finally realizing that the government isn’t there to help them and protect them. It’s there to control and manipulate them, with the help of the mainstream media, of course.

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  The only way out of this has always been, and will always be civil disobedience. It doesn’t matter how many rules, laws, or regulations, the government creates or eliminates because free people operate solely on their own morality. Free people already know they have no obligation to obey a command, especially ones that violate their individual God-given human rights.

  

• More Hedge Funds Move To Outsource Trading As COVID-19 Crisis Revives 2-Way Market Swings
  More Hedge Funds Move To Outsource Trading As COVID-19 Crisis Revives 2-Way Market Swings
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 21:50

  Most people who haven’t worked in the financial services industry probably wouldn’t understand the distinction between being a ‘hedge fund analyst’ and a ‘hedge fund trader’. But the two rolls are completely different. And while one of them – the analyst – might benefit from a shift in skill-set preferences and the ongoing retrenchment in sell-side research shops, the other – the trader – is increasingly seeing their jobs outsourced to a handful of major sell-side players who are offering a new service effectively allowing clients (ie counterparties whom these banks are also trading against) to outsource trading operations.

  And according to a Monday report published by Bloomberg, the coronavirus outbrek is reportedly accelerating this shift toward ‘outsourced’ trading roles in the hedge fund world.

  At this point, only the largest hedge funds even bother to build their own in-house operations. Staffing at smaller and boutique shops is typically no frills: limited to only a small team of analysts and maybe some researchers, led by a portfolio manager or two (or more). This is intentional: it allows star PMs to hog those juicy fees.

  But in the age of COVID, even the bigger shops are outsourcing, and smaller firms are expanding their use of these services, as wealthy investors demand that money managers keep one eye on the exit at all times. Recent crashes of retail platforms like Robinhood and Charles Schwab are worrying reminders about what can happen to retail investors when a real market panic gets going.

  Here’s more on the trend from BBG:

  As the pandemic unleashes unprecedented operational risks, asset managers are joining peers who have flocked to these services in recent years to keep up with new technologies and to cut costs — while liquidity gets ever-more fragmented.

  Among the more established names, Outset Global LLP says its client list has grown 45% in the year through April. Tora Trading Services Ltd. says sales increased 105% in the first three months of the year from the prior period, as existing clients expanded usage and new ones signed on. Tourmaline Partners LLC, an outsourcing firm based in Stamford, Connecticut, just clinched a majority investment from a private equity firm that will help expansion plans.

  While smaller firms often outsource all of these responsibilities to their prime brokers, larger firms with in-house operations are increasingly outsourcing more to these upstart shops and established players.

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  At this point, some of you might be wondering: what’s the difference between offering prime brokerage services, and trading services? These trading operations don’t just execute buy and sell orders; the services they offer are often so comprehensive, they can allow clients to “set it and forget it” – leaving specific instructions with traders to execute in Asian or European hours while traders in New York are asleep – or vice versa.

  It’s part of a broader shift in trading that has allowed greater levels of automation to creep into the market. Even if you’re skilled enough to program your own trading algorithms, wouldn’t you sleep better knowing a human was somewhere nearby, keeping one eye on the tape?

  While some smaller funds opt to outsource entirely, many larger managers use such services to supplement their own operations, like buying and selling Asian stocks when their traders in New York are asleep.

  Unlike agency or prime broking, outsourced players conduct relationships with the sell side on behalf of the client and offer more comprehensive services including monitoring exposures and providing market color.

  “It does appear there has been increased interest in outsourced trading,” said Shane Swanson, an analyst at consultancy Greenwich Associates. “That does go hand-in-hand with the explosion in technology we’ve seen across the past 10, 15 years — in particular in how that has been utilized as part of this response to the Covid crisis.”

  He calls the recent turmoil a “proof of concept” for outsourcing for a host of new managers.

  Market analytics firms told BBG that some of the biggest players in this space – Cantor Fitzgerald and Jeffries – have seen their trading businesses expand by more than 45% over the last year.

  Outsourced traders essentially act as a middleman between the buy side and sell side in handling trading flows. Some outsourced trading divisions are run inside bigger financial services firms, like Jefferies Financial Group Inc., while others operate as small, standalone shops. Their pitch to asset managers: Ensuring best execution with an extensive network of brokerages and high-speed technology, which can be expensive for smaller funds to maintain on their own.

  “We’ve seen folks add our outsourced trading team just to be able to say that they have systems in place and a set-up in place should their traders get sick with Covid,” said Bobby Croswell, head of U.S. outsourced trading at Cowen Inc. The firm’s outsourcing revenue more than doubled in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2019.

  Volatility has undoubtedly accelerated this trend, which is widely expected to continue.

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  On the subject of whether this trend is a waste of money, or an overreaction to the recent shock selloff, we suspect all the 20- and 30-something year-old traders running the market these days could probably use a little hand-holding. As far as market stability is concerned, it’s probably not a bad thing.

  In other new, Bloomberg says, stock market participants want a reduction in the world’s longest trading hours, which they say can improve liquidity and industry diversity, according to the results of a London Stock Exchange survey.

  

• Crypto Analyst Releases Stock-To-Flow Model Indicator For Bitcoin Bull Run
  Crypto Analyst Releases Stock-To-Flow Model Indicator For Bitcoin Bull Run
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 21:30

  Authored by Turner Wright via CoinTelegraph.com,

  Updating its popular BTC price model, crypto analyst PlanB predicts the cryptocurrency could see a rally to $100K by 2021.

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  image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

  Crypto analyst PlanB released a key indicator for its stock-to-flow price prediction model which could signal a Bitcoin bull run to $100,000 by 2021 has just begun.

  PlanB confirmed on Twitter on May 31 that the red dot — indicating a price increase — was now present in its stock-to-flow (S2F) model, a price prediction model for Bitcoin (BTC).

  #Bitcoin S2F chart update .. RED DOT RELEASED!!! pic.twitter.com/iNTjbf9b9K

  — PlanB🔴 (@100trillionUSD) May 31, 2020

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  The S2F model treats BTC as a commodity like gold or silver, evaluating the existing supply of the cryptocurrency against the amount mined. 

  Though many have predicted BTC bullish behavior in the wake of the May 11 rewards halving, PlanB’s model marks when a run would occur with a red dot. Under this model, the chart shows a BTC price of $100,000 by the end of 2021. 

  Stock-to-flow model

  Cointelegraph reported in April that PlanB had used its new cross-asset S2F model — S2FX — to predict a BTC price of $288,000 by 2024. Crypto analyst Harold Christopher Burger used the same data to forecast a rally to $1 million by 2025.

  The S2F model does have its detractors. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has expressed some reservations about stock-to-flow, calling it part of the 95% of crypto articles that are “post-hoc rationalized bullshit.”

  As of this writing, BTC is priced in the $9,400s, having fallen 2% in the last 24 hours.

  

• Looting Breaks Out In LA, NYC As Trump Threatens To Call In "1000s Of Heavily-Armed Soldiers"
  Looting Breaks Out In LA, NYC As Trump Threatens To Call In “1000s Of Heavily-Armed Soldiers”
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 21:28

  Protest/Riot/Looting Feed here:

  Summary

  • Trump threatens to mobilize US troops if Governors do not get control

  • Curfews enacted across all major cities

  • Protests/Riots spreading to suburbs

  • Looting has begun in LA/NYC

  *  *  *

  Update (2130ET): Looting has begun in NYC and LA as curfew nears and protests/looting has spread to the suburbs around the nation.

  High-end stores like Bloomingdales, Gucci, Nike Soho, Chanel, Tory Burch, Kate Spade were all vandalized. Best Buy in Union Square and several drug stores were also hit.

  Chaos already by Union Square. Looters pouring in and out of boarded up Zumiez apparel store. Nearby, people are jamming sneakers and clothes into their backpacks. It’s like a shopping spree. #nyc #looting pic.twitter.com/zT9En6Y5DE

  — Shayna Jacobs (@shaynajacobs) June 2, 2020

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  It appears Nike’s virtue-signaling ad failed to stop their store getting looted…

  FIFTH AVE NIKE STORE LOOTED. LAWLESS
  pic.twitter.com/Ql863cSjEc

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) June 2, 2020

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  New York’s luxury shopping area is all boarded up…

  #BREAKING: dystopian scene in heart of boarded up luxury retail district on #MadisonAvenue. Dozens of cops see what they believe to be looting suspects walking around and riding on scooters, but haven’t done anything yet. So cops showing force everywhere to prevent it. #abc7ny pic.twitter.com/jf3QGd2XdT

  — Josh Einiger (@JoshEiniger7) June 2, 2020

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  And some looters actually faced consequences…

  If you want to loot, think again. pic.twitter.com/XZlKBJVeE4

  — Dragi Lrig (@DragiLrig) June 2, 2020

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  This is what police are facing (watch the first few seconds carefully):

  This is what we’re up against. Brutal, cowardly attacks by those who have hijacked peaceful protests during the day, only to turn them into riots at night to push radical anti-cop agendas. pic.twitter.com/7Kzf8Gx86X

  — NYC PBA (@NYCPBA) June 1, 2020

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  The looting and protesting has reached various suburbs including Walnut Creek, CA (around 20 miles from Oakland)…

  George Floyd protest at Walnut Creek takes over the 680 Freeway. pic.twitter.com/CoZceYAQ01

  — Denis Ivan Perez (@dpi_19) June 2, 2020

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  *  *  *

  Update (2100ET): Trump is facing flack from his critics for allegedly deploying militarized police to clear out peaceful demonstrators from a church near the white house so he could hold a photo op with a bible.

  Trump appears to have tear gassed citizens out of a church square so he could do this pic.twitter.com/Zw6fLfOJp5

  — Andy Campbell (@AndyBCampbell) June 1, 2020

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  The bishop the DC Episcopal Church just told WaPo that she’s furious with the White House – apparently the church wasn’t told about that they would be gassing demonstrators. Or, at least that’s what they’re telling the press.

  The Episcopal bishop of DC – who oversees the DC church Trump just stopped at – tells the @washingtonpost she is “outraged” and that neither she nor the rector was asked or told… “that they would be clearing with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop..” 1/3

  — Michelle Boorstein (@mboorstein) June 2, 2020

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  Footage from the scene outside.

  https://t.co/6pinmisRRR

  — Kitty 😷 (@MeowVT) June 1, 2020

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  Trump’s political opponents are jumping on the outrage bandwagon.

  The president is calling out the American military against American citizens.

  He used the military to push out a peaceful protest so he could have a photo op at a church.

  It’s all just a reality TV show for this president.

  Shameful.

  — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 1, 2020

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  To top it off: The top of “The Huffington Post”…

  Now leading @HuffPost https://t.co/GfDCfK3LQ1 pic.twitter.com/3KhtvfEsQZ

  — Andy Campbell (@AndyBCampbell) June 1, 2020

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  But at least the press was there to ask the tough questions.

  Q: “Is that your bible?” Trump: “It’s A bible.” https://t.co/ekESdd5M37

  — Michael S. Derby (@michaelsderby) June 1, 2020

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  Meanwhile, millions of iPhones across NYC just buzzed with the following alert message…

  First time I’ve gotten one of these on my phone. pic.twitter.com/Vh5ynBa5XH

  — Michael S. Derby (@michaelsderby) June 2, 2020\\

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  …awhat looks to be a fourth straight night of violence begins with looting and violence in LA and New York.

  As the sun set, the looting started once again as protests entered their fifth day in NYC, and fourth day of protracted violence and looting.

  Businesses on 5th and Madison avenues were spotted quickly throwing up plywood to prevent looting on Monday night.

  #BREAKING: dystopian scene in heart of boarded up luxury retail district on #MadisonAvenue. Dozens of cops see what they believe to be looting suspects walking around and riding on scooters, but haven’t done anything yet. So cops showing force everywhere to prevent it. #abc7ny pic.twitter.com/jf3QGd2XdT

  — Josh Einiger (@JoshEiniger7) June 2, 2020

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  In a memorable scene, an emotional member of the NYPD brass insisted that “agitators” were taking a “peaceful movement” and destroying it from the inside out. He also took a knee with peaceful demonstrators in brooklyn after they worked to “deescalate a standoff”.

  An emotional ⁦@NYPDChiefofDept⁩ tells ⁦@JoshEiniger7⁩ that it’s time to get the agitators “out of here” – “from California, from all over this country, who are being paid to take this movement, which is a good movement, and turn it into violence.” ⁦@ABC7NY⁩ pic.twitter.com/Zz87dA3UDT

  — Morena Basteiro (@morenabasteiro) June 1, 2020

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  NOW: @NYPDChiefofDept, highest ranking #NYPD member, takes a knee and hugs protest leaders, after they together deescalated a standoff on the verge of losing control. #ABC7NY pic.twitter.com/H4VRymChes

  — Josh Einiger (@JoshEiniger7) June 1, 2020

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  High-end stores like Bloomingdales, Gucci, Nike Soho, Chanel, Tory Burch, Kate Spade were all vandalized. Best Buy in Union Square and several drug stores were also hit.

  Attempted looters clashed with police as vandals smashed into a boutique tea shop in the middle of Rockefeller Center.

  In Hollywood, reporters claimed the LAPD response to what appeared to be “organized” looting was “much quicker” – following excessive press coverage of looting that went virtually unchallenged.

  LAPD response is much quicker to what appears to be ORGANIZED looting in Hollywood today, crowd runs from the Rite Aid on Sunset Blvd when officers pull up. @FOXLA #Hollywood pic.twitter.com/An7fvM9cw3

  — Mario Ramirez (@MarioFOXLA) June 2, 2020

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  Looting in Hollywood Rite Aid at Gower Gulch pic.twitter.com/3qW6H8MGYP

  — randi (@randoodles) June 2, 2020

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  That’s almost ironic, since Hollywood celebrities are the ones donating money to help bail vandals and rioters out of jail indiscriminately with more peaceful demonstrators arrested for civil disobedience. We doubt small business owners in the city have the same level of sympathy after last night.

  In Philly, a radio producer documented a scene at a pro-cop anti-looter “protest” that was on the verge of turning into a vigilante posse, while a crowd of “I can’t breath”-shouting demonstrators formed opposite them. Throwing of projectiles ensued, and several arrests were made.

  pic.twitter.com/y7t7PHewWV

  — Jon Ehrens (@jwehrens) June 1, 2020

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  A Reuters reporter was attacked in DC.

  At 14th & Rhode Island NW in Washington, DC, @Reuters reporter @JonathanLanday attacked (as witnessed by @achkhikvadze of @VOANews Georgian language service). pic.twitter.com/4awKKLwS5F

  — Steve Herman (@W7VOA) June 2, 2020

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  By the looks of it, the agitators are back on the streets and getting ready to push Trump to make good on his threat.

  * * *

  Update (19000ET):  President Trump announced from the White House Rose Garden Monday evening that he planned to mobilize “all available federal resources, civilian and military” to put an end to violent protests across the country, while blaming the outbursts on “professional anarchists, looters, criminals, antifa” whom he described as “domestic terrorists” bringing widespread harm to the nation.

  As expected following remarks from Press Sec McEnany earlier, President Trump insisted during a brief speech that he would send in military personnel to quell violence and looting if governors failed to act. He also insisted that his administration was committed to justice for Floyd and his family, and that Trump’s administration is “an ally” of peaceful protesters.

  “I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers,” Trump said Monday at the White House, clearly seeking to reassure terrified business owners and members of the community in areas hard-hit by the coronavirus and the riots that he would uphold his duty to maintain order.

  Trump insisted his heavy handed response had nothing to do with suppressing the right to peacefully protest.

  “We cannot allow an ‘angry mob” drown out peaceful protesters,” Trump said, describing the looting and attacks on journalists and bystanders as “acts of domestic terrorism”.

  In an implicit reference to New York, Trump said he would send in federal troops if cities failed to deal with any violent uprisings. “If cities refuse…I will deploy the united states military and quickly solve the problem for them,” Trump said.

  “We are ending the riots and lawlessness, that has spread throughout our country. We will end it now,” Trump said.

  He finished his remarks just before a 7pmET curfew took effect in the capital city.

  According to the FT, insiders said Trump aides had debated whether the president should address the nation. Some argued that he needed to try to bring the country together, while others said he would achieve little and would end up looking weak if the violence continued – meaning that Trump likely means what he says. After all, in his mind, his reelection prospects might depend on how “tough” he looks this week.

  * * *

  Update (1815ET): After President Trump announced plans for an impromptu address to the nation, caving to Republican lawmakers and Fox News hosts who had been pushing him to deliver a presidential address to the nation from the Oval Office like his predecessor George HW Bush did after the Rodney King riots.

  Meanwhile, the Pentagon just announced that more troops are on standby ahead of what’s expected to be another night of chaos in DC.

  • PENTAGON: ADDITIONAL FORCES ON ALERT STATUS FOR DC DEPLOYMENT
  • DEFENSE OFFICIAL SAYS FORCES NOT CURRENTLY BEING DEPLOYED TO DC
  • NATIONAL GUARD TO PROTECT MONUMENTS, WHITE HOUSE: PENTAGON
  • PENTAGON: TOTAL OF 600-800 NATIONAL GUARD BEING SENT TO D.C.

  Federal agents from the DEA and other agencies have been deputized, and are reportedly stopping traffic heading into downtown DC.

  There’s been a full activation of @DCNationalGuard.

  — Steve Herman (@W7VOA) June 1, 2020

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  Journalists decried President Trump’s latest calls for an escalation of force in DC.

  Riots are met with force. That’s true for every nation.

  — Cate Long (@cate_long) June 1, 2020

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  In New York, the NYPD just released photos of the suspects who allegedly defaced St Patrick’s Cathedral last night.

  .@NYPDnews releases additional photos of suspects who allegedly defaced #stpatrickscathedral on May 30. pic.twitter.com/9fn3urTFO9

  — Tony Aiello (@AielloTV) June 1, 2020

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  After days of protests, the brother of George Floyd is leading a peaceful vigil in Minneapolis.

  After days of protests, a peaceful vigil in Minneapolis has been led by George Floyd’s brother. @TimArvier9 #9News pic.twitter.com/ogvtKVWfOq

  — Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) June 1, 2020

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  At a rally in Hartford, Conn., police adhered to a ‘community policing’ approach which has grown in popularity across the state in recent years.

  Remarkably different approach to protests by @CT_STATE_POLICE than some other law enforcement agencies. https://t.co/Dd80luczmJ

  — Russell Blair (@RussellBlairCT) June 1, 2020

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  In a report published a few hours ago, the LA Times quotes several small business owners in Santa Monica and elsewhere round LA County who claimed that police didn’t even bother to take on the looters, and instead deliberately focused their militarized weaponry on mostly peaceful protesters, who skirmished with police when provoked.

  “Where are the police? They’re nowhere. There’s not a policeman in sight. It’s just like a free-for-all,” Landy remembered thinking. “It was just shocking. I was outraged.”

  He wasn’t alone. From the Grove shopping mall and Santa Monica’s business district to downtown Long Beach, television beamed live images all weekend of looters breaking into stores and stealing merchandise – often without officers in sight.

  The mass protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody have proved a vexing challenge for law enforcement agencies. They have been encouraging peaceful demonstrations, but in recent days watched them devolve as looters and vandals broke off from the peaceful protesters, stealing and setting fires.

  This probably wouldn’t be a bad time to remind the world that tear gas is actually a chemical weapon that’s banned in warfare under international conventions – but is still somehow used by law enforcement from Venezuela, to Hong Kong, to the US.

  * * *

  Update (1605ET): After raising doubts about its efficacy, NY Gov. Cuomo said Monday afternoon that he would impose an 11pm curfew in NYC effective Monday evening until 5am. Mayor de Blasio announced the news after talking it over with Cuomo.

  New Yorkers: I’ve spoken with @NYGovCuomo and for everyone’s safety we have decided to implement a citywide curfew in New York City tonight. It will take effect at 11pm and be lifted at 5am tomorrow morning.

  — Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) June 1, 2020

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  During Monday’s COVID presser, Cuomo said that it was possible for a well-intentioned protest movement to be “hijacked” by criminals. “Can you have a legitimate protest movement hijacked? Yes you can,” Gov. Cuomo says. “There is no doubt there are outside groups that come in to disrupt.”

  However, he added “I don’t even believe it’s the protesters. I believe there are people using the protests for their own purpose. There are people who want to sow the seeds of anarchy. Who want to disrupt.”

  Earlier, the SBA, the Sargeants Benevolent Association, one of the NYPD’s most powerful unions, criticized de Blasio for not allowing cops to do their jobs, and called on the mayor to impose a curfew and allow mounted patrols (cops on horseback).

  Around the time that Cuomo announced the news during a radio interview Monday afternoon, the SBA’s twitter account tweeted a message that was quickly taken down by twitter.

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  The governor’s office released a statement on the decision. Read it below:

  IMPORTANT NEWS:

  There will be a citywide curfew in NYC starting at 11pm TONIGHT (6/1), lasting until 5am.

  NYC residents — you must stay home after 11 PM! pic.twitter.com/gZXBvPOmOp

  — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 1, 2020

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  * * *

  Update (1135ET): After Washington DC and NYC bizarrely refused to impose curfews this weekend while nearly 3 dozen other major cities set curfews beginning as early as 4pmET on Sunday, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser is planning to implement a curfew starting tonight at 7pmET (and again tomorrow), while de Blasio tries to save face by saying he’s “strongly considering” a curfew after mobs plunder stores, set fires following day of protests.

  President Trump, meanwhile, reportedly told governors, mayors and law enforcement officials during a video meeting that their response to the unrest was “weak”, and pressured them to allow cops to take more violent measures to contain these crowds during a hastily scheduled phone call to discuss “security measures” Monday morning. Trump also reportedly threatened to “activate” AG Barr if the unrest continues which sounds…more ridiculous than he probably intended.

  Comments reported a few hours after the meeting ended claimed Trump threatened to send the national guard into NYC (which already boasts its own private army, the NYPD).

  * * *

  Update (1100ET): The Global Times is capitalizing on the unrest in the US, and exploiting it for maximum propaganda benefit.

  Before and after photos of the #WhiteHouse. The White House went dark Sunday night, turning off almost all of its external lights, as protesters set fires and protested outside. Some netizens said to @realDonaldTrump: your city is burning, but you turn off the lights and hide? pic.twitter.com/aKlqzPhTKb

  — Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 1, 2020

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  * * *

  Update (1045ET): As NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio surveys the wreckage from last night, and reckons with the PR embarrassment of having his daughter arrested with dozens of other demonstrators, the mayor said some “late evening protests” were not acceptable.

  You mean the demonstrations that happened after your daughter was arrested?

  Or the “demonstrations” like this one?

  WATCH: NYPD deals with looters caught red-handed when they were “seeking justice” inside a #Soho shoe store. This is just one of DOZENS of NYC businesses destroyed overnight. @NYCMayor refused to set a curfew and refused the National Guard. pic.twitter.com/30sNa8wbgR

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 1, 2020

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  Addressing an incident from last night where an NYPD officer drew his gun, and another where two NYPD vehicles “surged” into a crowd of “protesters” blocking the road as they tried to get by, Mayor de Blasio said the cops “shouldn’t have done” what they did (after saying last night that the demonstrators were in the wrong), and also said the cop who drew his gun should have his badge taken, and that the vehicle incident would face an internal inspection.

  * * *

  Following what was either the third or the sixth night (depending on who you read) of chaos to sweep across America following the death of George Floyd a week ago, Americans surveying the wreckage are being met by staggering totals. After tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators, violent anarchists and opportunistic looters commingled for another night of chaos in cities from California to New York, and from Seattle to South Florida.

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  Reports published late Sunday/early Monday revealed that President Trump spent part of Friday in an underground bunker under the White House as secret service fired rubber bullets into crowds of violent and non- violent demonstrators. Over the entire three nights of chaos, at least 4,400 people have been arrested, according to a tally compiled by The Associated Press. Arrests ranged from stealing and blocking highways to breaking the dozens of curfews imposed by cities around the country on Saturday and Sunday as the violence spread, the AP reports.

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  Source: AP

  Curfews were imposed in more than 30 major cities around the U.S., including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. About 5,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen were activated in 15 states and Washington, D.C.

  In Indianapolis, two people were reported dead in bursts of downtown violence this weekend, adding to deaths reported in Detroit and Minneapolis in recent days. In Oakland, two federal agents were shot Friday night; one was killed.

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  One man was shot and killed when police and the National Guard opened fire on a crowd that had reportedly turned violent in Louisville, the city where Breonna Taylor was killed. WaPo reports Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad confirming the Kentucky National Guard and Louisville police were dispatched to the parking lot at Dino’s Food Mart around 12:15 a.m., where a large crowd had gathered, and that as they tried to disperse the crowd, somebody opened fire at an officer.

  Minneapolis and St. Paul were largely spared on Sunday evening following early marches that were largely peaceful. Though there was one high profile incident involving a tanker driving into a crowd of marchers on a highway (the driver of the truck was later arrested), the widespread violence that plagued other areas didn’t materialize. As WaPo reports, the city on Monday morning looked like a “ghost town”.

  But this relative peace came at a high cost, as the national guard moved to forcefully enforce curfews, even going so far as to fire paint cannisters and rubber bullets at people sitting on porches who ignored shouts to “get inside.”

  The gas stations are closed. The grocery stores are dark. And along Hiawatha Avenue in South Minneapolis, one of the only restaurants serving is a McDonald’s, where every inch of the building’s windows are boarded up except for two small holes at the drive-through just big enough to pass along food.

  After nearly a week of unrest in response to the death of George Floyd, city and state officials were optimistic Sunday after a night passed without the dangerous fires, looting and violence that have cut a wide swath of devastation through the heart of this Midwestern city.

  But it came with a new reality: Thousands of National Guard troops and state and city police officers moving to aggressively – and sometimes violently – regain control of the streets, and a lockdown that has residents under curfew and has closed the major highways at night.

  In some neighborhoods, residents stand outside their homes and businesses with guns, fueling a sense of lawlessness, while medical students descend on the scene with supplies to assist those in need, adding to what increasingly feels like a domestic war zone.

  Minnesota’s Democratic governor, who has been criticized for not responding forcefully enough in the beginning. Now, he says, his approach might be remembered as heavy-handed – but he doesn’t care.

  “There will be critiques of me that this is excessive. Why are you keeping forces on the ground?” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said Sunday. It would be “irresponsible” to dial back the state’s response, amid rumors of outside agitators that he and other officials say have come into the city to sow chaos, he said.

  In particular, a video of cops and national guard firing at a woman standing peacefully on her porch went viral, eliciting a torrent of criticism. State police leaders defended it

  Watch “MINNEAPOLIS COPS AND NATIONAL GUARD FIRE PROJECTILE THAT HITS INNOCENT WOMAN STANDING ON HER PORCH” on YouTube https://t.co/PrrktFKDq8 I think I’m not sure but these all white people getting shot at for being on there front porch

  — r (@rburttt) May 31, 2020

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  On Monday, Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement that he had authorized the Kentucky State Police to independently investigate the fatal shooting in Louisville “given the seriousness of the situation.”

  But the man in Louisville wasn’t the only casualty of the unrest. As governors in 26 states called in the National Guard and Secret Service agents again clashed with demonstrators outside the White House, media reported that at least six people had been killed in violence across the US, as gunfire rang out from Detroit to Indianapolis to Chicago to Omaha, notably correlating with the sites of notorious police killings.

  While journalists, pundits, celebrities etc joined together to discuss the importance of ensuring that black voices are heard, it appears that many of the “antifascist” protesters were too busy fighting racism by lighting black communities on fire to listen to a handful of community leaders in Portland, Oregon last night.

  Ron Herndon, the longtime director of the Portland-based Albina Head Start, held a peaceful event Sunday night at his organizations, a staple of black life in the city for years, according to the Oregonian.

  “It appears most of the young folks tearing up the city are younger white people,” he said. “If somehow you think that tearing up (downtown) is going to help black people, you are sadly mistaken. Please don’t think you are doing any of us any favors by tearing stuff up.”

  The “nonpartisan, politically neutral” mainstream press has decided to unilaterally give those looting and provoking violence and destruction a pass. Just because they’re telling you that is the “morally correct” position, doesn’t mean they’re right.

  As officials in California deal with the aftermath on Monday, California state government buildings “in downtown city areas” will be closed Monday, officials said, as authorities worry about the prospect of more violence. And while a brief number of international protests were planned in solidarity, many, including a march in Sydney, Australia, have been canceled due to COVID-19-linked concerns.

  

• Auto Sales Plunge 33% In May, Set For Worst Year Since 2009
  Auto Sales Plunge 33% In May, Set For Worst Year Since 2009
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 21:10

  US auto sales are expected to continue their historic plunge in May, further pressuring an industry that is on the brink of all out collapse due to the pandemic lockdowns, plunging used car prices and suffering from a pre-virus recessionary environment.

  Sales figures for May are expected to fall 33% to just 1.05 million units, according to Cox Automotive and CNBC. Even worse, data from Bank of America indicates that demand for new vehicles could be dropping off a cliff at the same time the industry is getting ready to ramp up production again. 

  The numbers show a sequential improvement from April, but still offer an ominous outlook for the auto industry heading into the second half of 2020. Cox Automotive estimates the pace for U.S. car sales to be about 11.4 million units sold by the end of the year, which would make 2020 the worst year for car sales since 2009. These numbers compare to 17.4 million cars sold in 2019. 

  And it may not be because drivers are staying home anymore. Bank of America data from gas stations shows that drivers are back on the road again. “We estimate that gas consumption (in gallons) was still down about 30% YoY in April, but improved to -14% for the week ending May 23rd (latest available),” the bank wrote in a May 29 note. 

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  May’s numbers are in focus since the month kicks off summer sales season, traditionally the point in the year when dealers try to move inventory to make room for new models. Last weekend, some dealers offered incentives like 0% financing and 84 month financing offers to try and entice buyers into showrooms. 

  Some of the most generous incentives, offered around the time the virus started, are already being roped in as sales dead-cat bounce off their 2020 monthly lows. Auto analysts are blaming a lack of readily available inventory for the drop in sales, which is hilarious since the country is suffering from an unprecedented glut. 

  “At a minimum, selection may become more limited as the desired model may be in stock but not in the consumer’s preferred color or trim, potentially resulting in the consumer delaying purchase, switching brands, or moving into the used-vehicle market,” Cox Automotive explains.

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  Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ executive director of insights, said: “We can safely say that April was the bottom for auto sales during the coronavirus pandemic. There’s still a long road to recovery ahead, but May auto sales are a really encouraging sign for the industry.”

  But experts that are sure the bottom is in are focused on manufacturing without any regard as to whether or not demand is going to pick up. 

  Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division and chief product officer at J.D. Power, said Thursday: “The good news is that in general manufacturing is restarting. Even with our diminished sales pace, we are still in an environment where the industry is selling more vehicles than it produces.”

  With manufacturing picking up, we’ll see how long that lasts. Meanwhile, Bank of America notes that spending in auto parts is ramping up, indicating that OEM demand could be slipping as car owners may be more inclined to fix their current cars instead of buying new ones. 

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  The bank thinks that many Americans spend their stimulus checks on fixing their cars:

  “This data remained weak in the first two weeks of April, but took a sharp uptick in mid-April as stimulus checks began to reach US consumers. This benefit has lingered since mid-April, and auto parts demand now has additional support from increased driving activity as US markets begin to reopen for business. Daily auto parts spending was up approximately 23% YoY on average during the week ending May 23rd (latest available) according to the aggregated card data.”

  The industry is expected to have a lost a total of 1.2 million to 1.6 million total sales as a result of the pandemic. 

  King concluded: “Many of those will be recovered in the future, but some of them will be lost. Many consumers have lost the accountability to purchase a new vehicle or no longer need one because they no longer commuting to work.” 

  We’ll take the “under”…

  

• "To Whom Will We Entrust The Truth Now That It No Longer Exists?"
  “To Whom Will We Entrust The Truth Now That It No Longer Exists?”
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 21:03

  Authored by Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

  “Protests are being manipulated by domestic terrorists and international forces trying to destabilize the nation,” declared Minnesota Governor Waltz, calling out the National Guard. George Floyd’s video raced through social media, and for an instant, America mourned in collective outrage.

  But no sooner had protests begun, then violence started. Waltz said white supremacists and drug cartels were responsible. Many believe that’s true.

  Trump tweeted, “It’s Antifa and the Radical Left.” Others believe that’s true. Some believe both. A few believe none of it.

  There are as many truths today as there are tribes. “Everything we do is focused on creating an environment in which people will have their best chance to keep their job or maybe get a new one,” explained Jerome Powell.

  “Fed policies absolutely don’t add to inequality,” continued the Chairman. And some think that’s true. Many others believe the opposite. And each tribe finds ample supporting studies to support their respective realities, while unemployment claims surpassed 40mm (1-in-4 workers) and the S&P 500 completed a 36% rally from the lows.

  “Mr. President don’t hide behind the Secret Service. Go talk to demonstrators seriously. Negotiate with them, just like you urged Beijing to talk to Hong Kong rioters,” taunted Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief for the Global Times, a Chinese government-controlled paper.

  Some of China’s 1.4bln citizens see a moral equivalent between HK/US protestors, while others just as clearly don’t. And as images of American riots captivated the world, Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, protests erupted, hundreds were arrested.

  China denounced Taiwan’s offer to resettle HK citizens, saying it was seeking to “loot a burning house” and sow discord. “Bringing black, violent forces into Taiwan will bring disaster to Taiwan’s people,” warned Beijing. And as Xi Jinping told his military officers “to step up preparations for armed combat,” some thought this was true.

  * * *

  Anecdote

  “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change,” wrote Mary Shelley in 1818, exploring our humanity through her hideous creation, Frankenstein. And ever since, we’ve leapt from one change to the next, those periods in between marked by an eerie calm that we desperately embrace, mistaking stability for reality.

  “We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally, and we will admit to and own any mistakes we make,” declared Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, tormented by the staggering consequences of his creation. Social media has emerged as the principal battleground for what will surely be the most bitterly contested presidential election in modern American history. And this will likely be followed by a constitutional crisis in a devastatingly divided nation.

  Misunderstanding our own nature, we convinced ourselves the internet would be a force for unambiguous good, connecting humanity to a singular truth, inoculating us from our lies. But instead, our reality splintered into a million dimensions.

  Truth has died, replaced by a widening range of alternative realities, each one as vivid as the next to its inhabitants. So Dorsey is in search of something that no longer lives. His reality is another’s fantasy, as sure as the sky is blue, and those who would defend one, by definition, threaten the other.

  “Internet platforms are not arbiters of truth,” declared Mark Zuckerberg, defending his hideous creature from the villagers, their pitchforks. And no doubt, few would want to inhabit a world where Zuckerberg defined reality.

  “I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other,” warned Frankenstein, Shelley’s eternal monster, alive within us all. And we are left to ponder a paradox as the consequences of this great and sudden change become manifest. To whom will we entrust the truth now that it no longer exists?

  

• What 'Academic' Antifa Wants
  What ‘Academic’ Antifa Wants
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 20:50

  Update (2000ET): Right on cue, as Andy Ngo reports below, the mainstream media joins the #DefendAntifa narrative against Trump’s orders with an op-ed in The Washington Post from none other than Mark Bray:

  On cue, @washingtonpost published a column by #antifa academic Mark Bray to give the perspective (propaganda). Bray used to teach at Dartmouth, whose president repudiated him for advocating political violence. Proceeds from Bray’s antifa handbook were donated to an antifa fund. pic.twitter.com/ilgaNEl3in

  — Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) June 1, 2020

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  *  *  *

  Authored by Alexander Riley via Campus Reform,

  In a fully sane culture, the category ‘Antifa professor’ would be a contradiction in terms. The calling of the college professor entails a deep commitment to the power of facts and arguments to change minds. Antifa, on the other hand, is a loose collection of half-educated malcontents who entirely reject the logic of intellectual debate. They aim not to change the minds but rather to crush the skulls of those with whom they disagree, in the manner of sociopathic criminals throughout human history. 

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  Yet contemporary American higher education has produced a number of ‘Antifa professors’ who are currently holders of academic positions. They are engaged in the paradoxical business of making what they purport is an intellectual case for a thuggishly anti-intellectual movement. They include such figures as Michael “Dead cops are good” Isaacson and George “All I want for Christmas is White Genocide” Ciccariello-Maher. 

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  Among this cast, Mark Bray distinguishes himself as the only one who has produced an Antifa handbook. (As a matter of principle, I will not link to the book–the entire text can be found for free online, should you want a look without having to put any money in Bray’s pocket). He has appeared on “Meet the Press” and been written about in The Chronicle of Higher Education, in both cases with significant coddling.

  I had not paid any attention to him until he was recently invited to speak at Bucknell University, where I teach, by the Humanities Center. This gave me the excuse to look closely at his book on Antifa. I am glad to have done so, for it provides a useful blueprint for the whole movement of “academic Antifa,” and now I have a much firmer sense of just how dangerous that movement is. 

  The task to which the “Antifa professors” have set themselves is the same one the Communist International took up in the 1930s when it advanced the ideological line that essentially all parties and ideologies to the right of Marxism-Leninism were de facto fascist because, like the fascists, they opposed the coming to power of Marxist communist regimes. Clearly, some chicanery is required to make a case that not x=x, that is, non-fascists are fascists, with the goal of justifying treating both groups equally, that is, violently. Here’s how Bray eliminates the boundary between real fascists and assorted individuals and groups he dislikes that show absolutely no discernible connection to fascism:

  “From Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan…to Indiana Jones, nothing seems to delight American moviegoers more than killing Nazis…But would those same moviegoers consider it just as heroic to fight Nazis before… Hitler even took power in 1933? How would America respond to a cinematic depiction of communist…organizations…when they fought the Nazi[s]…in the 1920s and ‘30s? I like to imagine most Americans would sympathize with these militant formations because they know that the story ultimately ends in the gas chambers. So why then are so many Americans allergic to…the prospect of physically confronting fascists and white supremacists…?…Antifa argue that we should always remember that few took seriously the small bands of followers around Mussolini and Hitler when they started their ascent, and therefore we should remain vigilant against any and every manifestation of fascistic politics.” (Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, pp. 170-171, 172)

  Did you get that? Anyone who agrees that the killing of Nazis by soldiers in a war is justified ought to understand “physically confronting fascists and white supremacists,” e.g., at college campuses as an equivalent moral imperative.  What precisely is meant by “physically confronting,” we are not told. Should fascists and white supremacists merely be physically prevented from speaking? Should they be beaten? What if they insist on speaking despite efforts to prevent them from speaking, or defend themselves against Antifa beatings? How much is Antifa morally permitted to amplify “physical confront[ation]” in such cases? All of this is left conveniently unclear by Mr. Bray.

  Something even more crucial is left just as unclear here. How is it to be determined that the individuals Antifa desires to “physically confront” are indeed “fascists and white supremacists”? If they are actual Nazis, wearing swastikas and overtly announcing their violent and racist desires to expel “racial enemies,” the work is easy. But this is an infinitesimally small group, perhaps a few thousand in a country of 320 million (around 0.003%), and Mr. Bray is in no way content to restrict the category nearly so significantly:  

  “[W]e must recognize the relationship between two…registers of anti-fascism: analytical and moral. The analytical…consists of mobilizing historically informed definitions…of fascism to craft anti-fascist strategy [for]…facing ideologically fascist groups…The moral register developed out of the rhetorical power of…calling someone or something fascist…[Here] the anti-fascist lens is applied to phenomena that may not be fascist, technically speaking, but are fascistic. For example, were the Black Panthers wrong to call cops who killed black people with impunity “fascist pigs” if they did not personally hold fascist beliefs or if the American government was not literally fascist? At a Madrid Antifa demonstration, I saw a rainbow flag with the slogan “homophobia is fascism.” Does the existence of non-fascist homophobes invalidate the argument?…[T]he moral register of anti-fascism understands how ‘fascism’ has become a moral signifier that those struggling against a variety of oppressions have utilized to highlight the ferocity of the political foes they have faced and the elements of continuity they share with actual fascism…The challenges of defining fascism make the line between these two registers blurry…a key component of anti-fascism is to organize against both fascist and fascistic politics in solidarity with all those who suffer and struggle” (Antifa, pp. 134, 135)

  And a few pages along, Bray elaborates further:

  “[M]ilitant anti-fascism is but one facet of a larger revolutionary project. Many Antifa groups organize not only against fascism, but aim to combat all forms of oppression such as homophobia, capitalism, patriarchy, and so on. In that way, they see fascism as only the most acute versions of larger systemic threats. When I spoke with members of Pavé Brûlant [Burning Pavement] in Bordeaux, they continually stressed that all major political parties…manifested fascistic traits… It’s surreal to watch liberal pundits lambast anti-fascists for disrupting a fascist speech, when their revolutionary socialist ideology advocates the global expropriation of the capitalist ruling class and the destruction…of all existing states by means of an international popular uprising that most believe will necessitate violent confrontation with state forces. If they are critical of ‘no platforming,’ wait ‘til they hear about class war” (Antifa, pp. 158, 159).

  It is not then only “fascists and white supremacists” who can be legitimately met with Antifa violence. It is also individuals or groups Antifa has defined as “homophobes,” supporters of “patriarchy,” capitalism, and the police, finally, all those who participate in unnamed “variet[ies] of oppression” and thereby oppose “all those who suffer and struggle.” All these categories of potential targets, I remind you, are to be defined and determined by the members of Antifa. Mark Bray does not define them anywhere in his book with any precision at all. 

  Can you imagine why he might abstain from doing this?  

  I can.

  It’s because “academic Antifa” wants the answer to the question “Who is a fascist?” to be “Anyone Antifa says is a fascist, that’s who.”

  Bray’s invocation of the Black Panthers is particularly telling.  We should recall that by the early ’70s, factions of the Panthers were openly calling for armed struggle by blacks against the American government. One offshoot of the Black Panthers, the Black Liberation Army, orchestrated perhaps as many as thirteen carefully planned assassinations of police officers. These are Mark Bray’s ideological heroes and models.   

  One last bit from Bray, just to make crystal clear where the noxious teaching of “academic Antifa”is intended to leave us:

  “Our goal should be that in twenty years those who voted for Trump are too uncomfortable to share that fact in public. We may not always be able to change someone’s beliefs, but we sure as hell can make it politically, socially, economically, and sometimes physically costly to articulate them” (Antifa, p. 206)

  This rather lets the cat completely out of the bag, no? If you exercise your right to vote in a way that does not meet Antifa approval, then you are a legitimate target of criminal violence. The ranks of the “fascistic” have now swollen to around 63 million, which is the number of votes Trump received in 2016.  

  Those “academic Antifa” actively professing such ideas are still, at this point, a small minority in American higher education—though the fraction of the college professoriate they represent could easily be higher than the fraction of the American population that consists of white supremacists and Nazis. There are however many more working in colleges and universities who help give these ideas oxygen—by assigning books like Antifa, by inviting people like Mark Bray to speak on their campuses, by pretending that antifa are about something more sophisticated or noble than the desire for the violent destruction of the American civil sphere. 

  An important step in challenging this drift in the direction of “academic Antifa” is simply to report, accurately and in detail, on what these people say, write, and believe. Virulent ideas should be exposed to clean air and bright light. Among other positive effects, this allows the people who are largely paying the salaries of individuals like Mark Bray and his professorial supporters at Dartmouth and elsewhere, that is, the parents of college students and donors to institutions of higher education, to see precisely how their money is being spent.

  

• Watch: Hundreds Of Handcuffed Perps Lined Up Outside NYC Bookings
  Watch: Hundreds Of Handcuffed Perps Lined Up Outside NYC Bookings
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 20:30

  As Andrew Cuomo delivers his first daily update on the coronavirus situation in his state following the riots we saw across the nation over the weekend, videos of the processing line outside a police precinct in Manhattan on Monday morning show just how many people were arrested in NYC alone, during a weekend where – according to the AP – more than 4,000 were arrested around the country on charges stemming from unlawful assembly to murder.

  Police are likely still arresting individuals based on surveillance footage and other next-level surveillance techniques that the NYPD can bring to bear when it wants to arrest a given subject. Additionally, many of the thousands who were arrested across NYC over the

  The morning after NYPD “Central Booking”. pic.twitter.com/tHPRA7BmmO

  — NYC Scanner (@NYScanner) June 1, 2020

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

  The Twitter account belonging to one of the NYPD’s most powerful unions, the SBA, released an internal arrest report for Mayor de Blasio’s daughter, Chiara, who was booked for “unlawful assembly” and “object throwing” – though only the first charge was initially released to the media. The account slammed the mayor for his decision to not allow cops to use “mounted units” and other tactics, according to TPM.

  But as media pundits continue to spin a narrative where all the unrest can be pinned on “foreign enemies” like Moscow and Beijing, we can’t help but ask: do these look like Russian sleeper agents – or white supremacists – to you?

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  Others joked that the line was longer than the toilet paper line at Costco.

  

• Greenfield: How To Make Your Own Race Riot
  Greenfield: How To Make Your Own Race Riot
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 20:10

  Authored by Daniel Greenfield via Sultan Knish blog,

  The angry rioter is a sacred figure in the progressive pantheon of social justice. But the saint of the looted convenience store is as mythical a figure as the selfless community organizer.

  The race riot isn’t a bubbling stew of outrage out of which wounded souls emerge to cry out for justice. It’s a complicated criminal conspiracy in which the perpetrators rarely suffer any consequences.

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  Here’s how a race riot is actually put together.

  3. Riots aren’t fed by outrage, but by opportunism

  The rioters aren’t outraged, they’re usually bored young men, frustrated and lacking in empathy. Many of them have gang ties or a criminal record stretching back to kindergarten.

  They’re the same people who commit crimes in any other non-outraged context.

  The rest are there to get some attention while providing them with protective coloration. 9 out of 10 people screaming frenziedly while holding up “Black Lives Matter” signs would eagerly scream and hold up “Tiger King 4 President” or “Minneapolis Loves the KKK” signs if it got them positive attention and a shot at being on television.

  Everything else you need to do know about why riots happen out can be read on a thermometer. Weather breaks up a riot faster than appeasement. It’s hard to riot when your teeth are chattering. There’s a reason that riots usually happen in the summer. The same viral video that sets a nation on fire would have been met with shrugs in the winter.

  The riots didn’t happen because of outrage, but because the gathering mobs were told by everyone from CNN right up to their local Democrat politicians that angry protests were expected and would be tolerated. That was as good as throwing a match into a spreading pool of gasoline.

  No one was stealing beauty supplies or starting fires in Walgreens because they were upset about George Floyd They were stealing because they believed that they could get away with it.

  2. The rioters and looters aren’t burning their own community

  A riot has two components. There are the bored and irritated locals who begin swarming streets because they have no jobs, it’s hot outside and there’s nothing good on television. They will loosely agree with whatever issue is on the table, but they aren’t all that worked up about it.

  And then there are the outsiders.

  Before the riot, community organizers, citizen reporters and assorted activists show up to coordinate, spread slogans and justify the coming violence. They want violence far more than the locals do and they taunt police and try to create incidents, but they ofte avoid personally engaging in violence.

  In the early twentieth century the group stirring up riots was usually some arm of the Communist Party. Later a variety of leftist groups, like Antifa, many closely entangled with the Democratic Party took over. Most of the damage is done by looters and rioters from other areas looking for an opportunity to burn and steal. Some locals will tag after them, but they are usually responsible for the worst of the violence. Some of the looters are from out of state, others from different neighborhoods.

  Being outsiders they’re unknown to the police and rarely have to worry about being identified afterwards. And they don’t care about burning down someone else’s community.

  The media usually sticks to its narrative of an outraged community that engages in excesses, especially when it can’t tell apart the locals from the outsiders. Local cops can, but no one in the media listens to them. Arrest records often show that most of those charged in the more violent crimes aren’t locals, but the media remains immune to facts that conflict with a favorite narrative.

  1. Riots are about power, not for the rioters, but for the establishment

  “We must not reprimand our children for outrage when it is the outrage that was put in them by an oppressive system,” Al Sharpton had said, in the aftermath of the murder of a Jewish student by an angry black mob.

  This same rhetoric was used by the inciters of the violence around the country and has been used in similar riots going back generations. Its major theme is that the rioters are free to do whatever they want. They carry no moral responsibility for their actions.

  And what they want is to smash and steal anything they can get their hands on. This isn’t outrage. It’s textbook amoral behavior. The riot doesn’t release anger; it frees the perpetrators of their morality.

  The real purpose of a riot isn’t to benefit the rioters. It’s to benefit those who incite the riot. The rioters and looters react in response to riot-friendly conditions created from above. If you build the political infrastructure for a riot, the rioters and looters will come.

  Sharpton’s riots weren’t about helping anyone except himself. By associating himself with violence, he sold the idea that he was an influential figure in the black community. Whether or not Sharpton was actually popular, his rise to the top of the political establishment became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

  Riots are about perception, not reality. The ringleader tries to keep his hands clean while convincing the establishment that he can turn the violence on or off any time he wants to.

  The last decade of riots are the product of a new generation of Sharptons, ambitious activists feeding hate, of the New Black Panther Party’s obsession with becoming relevant, of the ragged hipster ends of Occupy Wall Street drifting from occupation to occupation, of radical white lefties and groups like Black Lives Matter that exist to suck up funding and sympathy from their white lefty allies.

  It’s an old and cynical game that has been played in and around the Democratic Party for too long.

  The answers to the rioting can’t be found in its streets. The problem didn’t come from there. It came from a corrupt political establishment that lights the fuse for its own power and profit.

  

• India's Electricity Generation Plunges As Worst Economic Downturn In Decades Unfolds 
  India’s Electricity Generation Plunges As Worst Economic Downturn In Decades Unfolds 
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 19:50

  India has announced plans to ease a strict national lockdown even as the spread of COVID-19 shows no signs of abating. Restaurants, hotels, malls, and places of worship could reopen in the near term. Despite reopening plans, India’s economy is rapidly deteriorating, which has led to a significant decline in electricity generation. 

  Even before the two-month lockdown, India’s economy was decelerating and now faces the worst recession in four decades. The country’s economy could contract by at least 5% this fiscal year.  

  Economic paralysis has led to a collapse in electricity generation across the country, plunging 14.3% in May, compared with a 24% decline in April, a new Reuters analysis of government data showed. 

  The report said electricity demand was higher among households, as consumption among industries and commercial places was still widely depressed. Factories account for 50% of India’s annual electricity demand, which suggests operating capacity is still low.

  India’s economic downturn will result in a decline in the country’s electricity demand for the next several years. Global rating and research agency CRISIL recently said it could take upwards of three years for the economy to get back to growth activity seen in 2019. This means India will not see a V-shaped economic recovery, but rather one that is more of a U or L-shaped. 

  CRISIL believes India’s economy will suffer a 10% permanent loss to real GDP thanks to the pandemic-induced downturn. 

  India will need fiscal support from the government this year to counter the recession. If policy support is limited, it means the downturn will increasingly get worse in the back half of 2020. 

  Here’s what a recent UBS note said about India’s troubling situation:  

  “While there is no doubt that India is facing a significant economic shock, the pace of recovery, if any, will be determined by the economic policy choices taken to ensure that the significant secondary impacts (job losses, reduced income levels, corporate defaults, rising NPLs (non-performing loans), rating downgrade, etc.,) can be contained,” UBS said in a report.

  A few months before the virus outbreak spread across the world, we noted in late 2019 that India’s economy was collapsing in a piece titled “India In “Very Deep Crisis,” Witnessing “Death Of Demand,” Warns Former Indian FM.” 

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  It just so happens that the global economy was slowing before the pandemic began — which has allowed governments and central banks to scapegoat the virus and deflect any attention from their failed policies to boost economic growth. 

   

  

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• Luxury Good? Where The "Tampon Tax" Is Highest (& Lowest) In Europe
  Luxury Good? Where The “Tampon Tax” Is Highest (& Lowest) In Europe
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 02:45

  Around the world, women pay high tax rates on period supplies like pads and tampons. These items are included in high sales tax brackets in many countries, ignoring possible reductions permissible for essential items or even declaring them luxuries before the law.

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  In the EU for example, countries have been free to depart from standard sales tax rates since 2007 and apply super discounted tax rates to feminine sanitary products. Still, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz notes, many countries haven’t lowered their tax rates, with Hungary exhibiting the highest rate at 27 percent. Several Scandinavian countries, whether they are EU-members or not, tax at around 25 percent and Greece even raised the so-called “tampon tax” to 23 percent as part of the country’s austerity measures, according to Eurostat and media reports.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  In the past 12 months, three Eastern and Central European countries – Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania – have lowered the “tampon tax” to 5 percent. Germany has also slashed taxes on feminine hygiene products to 7 percent from a high of 19 percent and Luxembourg has even gone as low as a 3 percent tax.

  The UK and Cyprus already had their rate as low as 5 percent by 2018, similar to France, which charges 5.5 percent. Switzerland currently charges 7.7 percent but is looking to reduce that to 2.5 percent. Equally, Spain has been discussing changing the current 10 percent rate to 4 percent. The only country with no sales tax on period supplies in Europe is Ireland.

  

• Why The European Recovery Plan Will Likely Fail
  Why The European Recovery Plan Will Likely Fail
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 02:00

  Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

  The 750 billion euro stimulus plan announced by the European Commission has been greeted by many macroeconomic analysts and investment banks with euphoria. However, we must be cautious. Why? Many would argue that a swift and decisive response to the crisis with an injection of liquidity that avoids a financial collapse and a strong fiscal impulse that cements the recovery are overwhelmingly positive measures. History and experience tell us that, indeed, the risk of disappointment regarding the positive impact on the real economy is not small.

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  The history of stimulus plans in the eurozone should alert us against excessive optimism.

  As you may remember, the European Union launched in July 2009 an ambitious project for growth and employment called the “European Economic Recovery Plan”. A stimulus of 1.5% of GDP to create “millions of jobs in infrastructure, civil works, interconnections, and strategic sectors”. Europe was going to emerge from the crisis stronger than the United States thanks to the Keynesian impulse of public spending. However, 4.5 million jobs were destroyed and the deficit almost doubled while the economy stagnated. This was after the balance sheet of the European Central Bank had doubled between 2001 and 2008. That enormous plan not only did not help the eurozone get out of the crisis stronger, but we can debate whether it prolonged it, as by 2019 there were still signs of evident weakness. The tax rises and obstacles to private activity that accompanied this large package of expenses delayed the recovery, which in any case was slower than comparable economies.

  We must also dismantle the idea that the European Central Bank did not support the economy in the 2008 crisis. Two huge sovereign bond buyback programs with Trichet as president of the ECB, rate cuts from 4.25% to 1% since 2008, and purchases of more than 115 billion euros in sovereign bonds. At the end of 2011, the ECB was the largest holder of Spanish debt, while it was accused of inaction.

  During all this time, the balance of the ECB was greater than that of the Federal Reserve with respect to GDP, and in May 2020 it stands at 44% of GDP compared to 30% in the US.

  Stimuli have never stopped in the eurozone. An additional ECB buyback plan in addition to the TLTRO liquidity programs with Draghi brought sovereign bonds to the lowest yields in history and to the ECB buying almost 20% of the total debt of the main states. This was such an excessive balance sheet expansion plan that, at the end of May 2020, excessive liquidity in the ECB was 2.1 trillion euros. Excessive liquidity was barely 125 billion euro when the so-called 2014 stimulus plan was launched.

  No one can deny that the impact on growth, productivity, and employment of these enormous plans has been more than disappointing. Except for a brief period of euphoria in 2017, downward revisions to eurozone growth have been constant, culminating in the fourth quarter of 2019 with France and Italy in stagnation, Germany on the brink of recession, and a significant slowdown in Spain. The use of the excuses of Brexit and the trade war did not disguise that the economic result of the stimulus was already more than poor.

  We have another important example for caution. The so-called “Juncker Plan” or “Investment Plan for Europe”, considered as the solution to the lack of growth of the European Union, also had an extremely poor result. It mobilized 360 billion euros, many for projects with no real economic return or real effect on growth. Estimates of growth in the euro zone fell sharply, productivity growth stagnated and industrial production fell in December 2019 to the lowest level in years.

  We must also be cautious with the green plans. All of us are in favor of a serious and competitive energy transition, but we cannot forget that a very important part of the European Union’s “green” plan attacks demand via tax increases and protectionist measures such as a border tax on countries that have not signed the Paris Agreement (but not to those who do not comply, those have no risk). This limits the potential for recovery and increases the possibility of an additional trade war.

  We cannot ignore the negative impact on industry and employment of the massive “green” policy plans of the euro area of ​​2004-2018, which caused the countries of the European Union to suffer electricity and natural gas bills for households that are twice as those in the USA, while growth stalled.

  What is the problem with European stimulus plans compared to those of the United States? The first and most important is they come from directed economy central planning. These are plans with a very strong component of political decisions about where and how they are invested. Political planning is an essential part of the largest parts of these stimuli, and as such, they generate poor growth and weak results. Thus, one of the big problems is that sectors that are already suffering from overcapacity are being “stimulated”, or a false demand signal is generated via subsidies, which then generates working capital problems and an alarming increase in the number of zombie companies. According to the Bank of International Settlements, the number of zombie companies in Europe has exploded amid stimulus plans. The past is bailed out and the economy is zombified. 

  Another big problem is that the wrong sectors are stimulated while thousands of small companies that have no access to credit or political favour die. It is not a coincidence that the eurozone destroys more innovative companies or prevents them from growing when regulation forces 80% of the real economy to be financed through the banking channel while in the US it does not reach 30%. Can you imagine an Apple or Netflix growing via bank loans? Impossible.

  Another big problem is the obsession with redistribution. By fiscally penalizing merit and success and sustaining public spending above 40% of GDP at any cost with higher taxes while subsidizing low-productivity sectors, the European Union incurs in a huge malinvestment risk when it rewards the subsidized sectors, or those close to political power while those with high productivity are penalized. It is no coincidence that Europe does not have technological champions. It scares them off by perpetuating the obsolete national champions and penalizing merit remuneration and alternative investment via taxation.

  Nothing we just discussed changes in the newly announced plan package. It is the same, but much larger. And we cannot believe that this time will be different. While they tell us about green plans, the vast majority of the bailouts will go to aluminum and steel, autos, airlines, and refineries. Meanwhile, a huge tax increase in savings and investment may further drown start-ups, investment in research and development, and innovative companies.

  The problem of the European Union has never been a lack of stimuli, but rather an excess of these. The European Union has chained one state stimulus plan after another since its inception. This crisis needed a strong boost to merit, innovation, private capital, and entrepreneurship with supply measures. I am afraid that, again, it has been decided to bail-out everything from the past and let the future die.

  

• Smith: Why The Public Should Rebel Against Forced Vaccinations
  Smith: Why The Public Should Rebel Against Forced Vaccinations
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Mon, 06/01/2020 – 00:00

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com,

  The debate over the morality and practicality of forced vaccinations has been raging for many years, long before the coronavirus ever hit the US population. With the advent of the pandemic the narrative has shifted to one of “necessity”. The media and the majority of governments around the world now act as if mass vaccinations are a given; the “debate is over”, as collectivists like to say when they are tired of having to deal with any logical or factual complaints.

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  In the case of the novel coronavirus there is no vaccine yet; unless of course the virus was engineered or evolved in a lab (as more and more evidence is suggesting), and then perhaps there is one already developed. Typically, vaccines take years to test and produce, and whenever a vaccine is rushed onto the market very bad things tend to happen.

  The vaccine debate often revolves around the issue of safety. Is a particular inoculation safe or poisonous? Does it have long term effects that are dangerous? Does it harm children with highly sensitive and underdeveloped body systems?  These are valid concerns, but ultimately the fight over vaccines has less to do with medical safety or effectiveness and more to do with individual rights vs government demands.

  In other words, the more important questions are:  Should social engineering by governments and elites be allowed? Do people have the right to determine how their bodies are medically augmented or manipulated? Does the “security of the majority” take precedence over the civil liberties of the individual?  And if so, who gets to determine what freedoms will be taken away?

  The Legal Argument

  The purveyors of the forced vaccination philosophy usually make a legal or technical argument first before they appeal to the idea of “the greater good”.  They do this because they know that public perception often assumes (wrongly) that legal authority is the same as moral authority.

  In 1905, the US Supreme Court was presented with Jacobson vs. Massachusetts, a case involving the subject of state enforced smallpox vaccination. The defendant argued on the grounds of the 14th Amendment that his bodily liberty was being violated by the state if he was subjected to arbitrary vaccination without his consent. The state and the Supreme Court felt differently (of course). The Supreme Court ruled against Jacobson on the grounds that his refusal to take the vaccine put other people “at risk”, and that “for the common good” states have certain “police powers” that supersede personal liberties.

  Whenever liberty movement activists argue against forced vaccinations on constitutional grounds, THIS is the counter-argument that the government and statists will make. They will bring up Jacobson vs. Massachusetts and then claim that is the end of the discussion.

  Essentially, the Supreme Court argued that the federal government could not interfere with state imposed forced vaccinations on the grounds of states rights and the 10th Amendment. Most people in the liberty movement will find this rather ironic, as it is bizarre to hear about the federal government defending states rights. But, this support of the 10th Amendment is highly selective.

  First, let’s not forget that the Supreme Court has been wrong many times in the past. In the Dredd Scott case in 1834, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of slavery and the right of states to enforce the institution. They also argued that the 5th Amendment protected slave owners because freeing slaves meant depriving owners of their “property”.

  The Supreme Court’s habit is to defend states rights and the 10th Amendment when people’s individual liberties are being quashed. However, if a case involves states protecting citizens from federal intrusion, the court flips and attacks states rights when they work in favor of individual liberty or self determination.

  The Jacobson  vs. Massachusetts case may be the reason why Trump and the federal government have mostly left the lockdowns and emergency actions to the states.  The legal precedence was already established in 1905 on quarantines and forcing vaccinations through state police powers, so it only follows that the establishment would utilize the states to carry out such measures in the near future.

  The “states vs federal government” debate sets up a false paradigm. There is no separation between state and federal governments when it comes to tyranny – both sides love it, though they pretend to be opposed to each other at times. That is to say, whether it is the federal government violating your constitutional rights or the state government violating your constitutional rights, the Supreme Court is often comfortable with both.

  The truth they don’t want to discuss is that at bottom the Bill of Rights overrules them regardless of federal precedent or the 10th Amendment. The key to the Bill of Rights is that each American citizen has INHERENT LIBERTIES that supersede both federal and state power. These rights are inalienable. They cannot be violated today, and the law cannot be adjusted to violate them tomorrow. These rights and freedoms are ETERNAL.

  The Supreme Court hisses with a forked tongue about the “spirit of the constitution” but ignores the clear and concrete intent as stated by the Founders. Statists argue in favor of the “living document” philosophy when it suits them as a means to change the original meaning and laws put forth in the Bill of Rights because this allows them to violate citizen freedoms under the guise of “legality”. But “legality” is not the same a morality. Legality is meaningless, and the Supreme Court is meaningless if it acts against the constitutional bedrock of the Bill of Rights and individual liberty as they have done numerous times in the past.

  The Moral Argument

  So, if we cannot rely on legality to protect us from state tyranny, what can we rely on? Forced vaccine advocates will say that morality is on their side as well, for if a person does not vaccinate they are putting the rest of society at risk of infection. Therefore, your individual rights must be violated in order to protect the rights of the rest of society. The problem is that Jacobson vs Massachusetts makes no logical argument supporting this assertion, and neither do forced vaccine proponents.

  Look at it this way: How can a person that is not vaccinated “harm” people that are vaccinated? How are they putting those people at risk? If the vaccine actually works, then vaccinated people are safe from infection, aren’t they? So, the only person “at risk” is the person that chose not to vaccinate. This comes down to personal choice, there is no question of “the greater good” or social risk.

  I find it fascinating that the people that argue fervently in favor of forced vaccinations (people like Bill Gates) also tend to be the same people that argue in favor of abortion rights.  So, “my body my choice” is acceptable when it comes to women ending the lives of unborn children, but “my body my choice” is not acceptable when it comes to mass vaccinations even though an unvaccinated person is a threat to no one.

  Some vaccine advocates will then claim that unvaccinated people could be host to “mutations” that threaten herd immunity. The problem is that there is no evidence to support this argument. The vast majority of viruses tend to mutate into LESS deadly or infectious strains, not more deadly. The only mitigating factors would be if a virus was deliberately designed or engineered to mutate in an unnatural manner.

  If a virus is designed to mutate into a vastly different and more deadly strain that can attack vaccinated persons then the vaccine was never useful to begin with, and forced vaccinations are pointless. Once again, if the vaccine is effective then there is simply no basis for the position that an unvaccinated person puts vaccinated people in danger.

  The Conformity Argument

  The next argument by pro-forced vaccination people is to ask “why”? Why do you care if you are vaccinated? What do you have to worry about? Just go along to get along, right…?

  This argument reminds me of a common anti-gun narrative: Why do you need to carry a gun? Why frighten other people? The chances you will need it are slim, right…?

  The most important answer to the gun question is “Because it’s my right to carry and I plan to exercise it. Also, your fear of guns does not take precedence over my constitutional freedoms.” The same goes for forced vaccination: Because it is my right to refuse to have ANY pharmaceutical product injected into my body. Your fears of infection do not matter to my constitutional rights. If you want to take the vaccine then that is your choice. Leave me out of it.

  Arguing about hypothetical threats is a waste of time. I carry a firearm because I have the right to have a means of defense just in case I need it. I refuse vaccinations because I have a right to avoid potential bodily harm just in case I have suspicions of a faulty product.

  And is there reason to be concerned about faulty vaccines? Absolutely. Mass vaccinations programs that were rushed to the public have a track record of harming people’s health.

  With globalists like Bill Gates, an obsessive champion of depopulation at the forefront of the Covid-19 effort, I have no plans to accept any coronavirus vaccine. Bill Gates has funded numerous experimental vaccine trials through the World Health Organization, including Polio vaccination programs.  It was these same programs that led to viral outbreaks of polio in various countries and hundreds of paralyzed children. In fact, the vaccines caused more cases of Polio than the wild-type virus. This if VERIFIED FACT, admitted by the WHO and other mainstream sources, though numerous leftist media outlets continue to deny it.

  At most, the WHO and Gates can claim that the infections were “accidental”. But if this is the case, it would still suggest that vaccines developed by Gates Foundation programs and the WHO should not be trusted.

  In 1976 a swine flu scare enabled the initiation of a government funded mass vaccination program. The vaccine was faulty and was canceled in less than 10 weeks after causing hundreds of cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological condition that leads to temporary paralysis and sometimes death.

  In 2008, Swiss company Novartis tested a Bird Flu vaccine on the homeless and poor population of Poland. The vaccine trial paid participants $2, and they were told the inoculation was for the “normal flu”. According a homeless center in the area at least 21 people died right after they participated in the trial.

  A GlaxoSmithKline executive by the name of Moncef Slaoui was recently tapped by Donald Trump to head up the government’s effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine. This appointment should be highly concerning to the public. Why? Because Glaxo has a dark history in vaccine development, including an incident in Argentina in 2007-2008 when they were fined after a pneumonia vaccine trial allegedly caused the deaths of at least 14 babies. Slaoui was in charge of Glaxo’s vaccine division at the time.

  Statists that argue in favor of forced vaccination will dismiss all of these examples as mere “accidents” that are “rare”. Others will claim that fighting the pandemic is worth the risk of a “few deaths” due to some faulty vaccines. But this does not address the core issue of the battle against forced vaccination programs.  Does a minority of elites in government or even a majority of useful idiots in the general population have the right to declare ownership of your body in the name of an arbitrary “greater good”?  I say no, which is why I will NOT be conforming to any forced vaccine measures and I am willing to take extreme actions to defend myself from them if necessary.

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  As mentioned above, if a vaccine works, then there is no need to force people to take it. It will protect those that want it and the only risk is to those that choose not to use it. Frankly, the people in charge of the vaccine effort are not to be trusted, they have open ideological agendas that are questionable to say the least. Allowing them to dictate what goes into our bodies is akin to slavery at best, and possible mass death at worst.

  *  *  *

  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.

  

• Plastic's Back! COVID Contamination Concerns Crush California's "Green" New Deal
  Plastic’s Back! COVID Contamination Concerns Crush California’s “Green” New Deal
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 23:30

  Disposable plates, silverware, and straws are making a comeback in California. New guidelines issued by the CDC recommend restaurants use plasticware by default as a way to limit the spread of the virus upon reopening. 

  Environmental groups have become infuriated with the new recommendation, as it now means all their hard work to ban plastic straws and push a “Green” New Deal could come to an abrupt end (maybe temporarily) because according to the CDC, throwaway dishes, utensils, napkins, and tablecloths could reduce virus spread.

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  California recycling and clean water groups recently delivered a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, questioning how exactly plasticware diminishes the probabilities of contracting the virus and also accused petrochemical companies of “trying to influence CDC guidelines for reopening food establishments in their favor.”

  “The idea that the CDC recommends that single-use disposable items should be preferred seems a little illogical to me,” Chris Slafter, interim coordinator of Clean Water Action’s ReThink Disposable program, which provides grants to restaurants and advises them on how to transition and replace plasticware to more sustainable products, told Politico. “Someone still has to handle that item before it goes into a customer’s hand.”

  In pre-corona times, California and its green activists led the way in eliminating plastic straws and other petroleum‐based plastics from the restaurant industry as they have long criticized the items eventually end up in the oceans, polluting and killing wildlife. 

  We recently noted that microplastics have also ended up in human stool. 

  Now, in post-corona times, with California’s restaurant industry crashed (according to OpenTable data from late May), eateries that have been opened with carryout only and ones that have just fully reopened, have turned to plasticware over the CDC’s new sanitary guidelines. 

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  Restaurants in other states have also followed the new guidelines with the switch to disposable menus, plates, silverware, etc. 

  However, Stanford University epidemiologist Steven Goodman does not see a difference in plasticware from regular plating, in terms of reducing virus spread, as he notes, there’s still human staff behind the scenes making the food.  

  “It doesn’t sound like there should be a big difference if they’re handled carefully,” Goodman said. “Washing the plates well should get rid of [the virus], and so the only difference could be how they’re handled between the time when they are on the table and in the sink or in the washing machine.”

  Sharokina Shams, the California Restaurant Association’s vice president of public affairs, told Politico in an email response that “many of the current local public health orders (which are a response to the coronavirus pandemic) do put an emphasis on single-use products, and cities have been moving to suspend the ban on plastic bags.”

  “It’s also interesting to note that the number of delivery and takeout orders went up during stay-at-home/shelter-in-place orders. If that becomes a long-term pattern, you may see the demand for single-use products rise,” said Shams. 

  And just like that, who would’ve ever thought California’s green movement would get derailed by a virus. 

  

• The Question Of Evidence When Governments Push Political Narratives
  The Question Of Evidence When Governments Push Political Narratives
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 23:00

  Authored by Kevin Smith via Off-Guardian.org,

  In the last 30 years, there have been many big events which have been questioned. Iraq is the classic example of where a relative few questioning the pretext of that invasion (Weapons of Mass Destruction – WMDs) were insulted and smeared but later vindicated.

  Today, in the background of the risk of world conflict and threat to health and our way of life arising from Covid-19, it’s never been more important to be sceptical and understand evidence.

  Earlier in my career, I used to adjudicate financial disputes between two parties, weigh up the evidence, and decide the most likely scenario.

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  So, in terms of what’s going on in the world, I’m interested in narratives which are open to challenge and the thinking and motives of those in power, the media, and experts behind them. And particularly how the public watching and listening process these messages.

  First, before reading on, watch this clip, which I think is hilarious and vaguely relevant to what I’m going to say:

  For those not familiar with the actors, this was a press conference held by Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat in 2018. Bellingcat is an Atlantic Council-funded online investigative website which has looked into the shooting down of the MH17 passenger plane, alleged chemical attacks in Syria, and the Sergei Skripal incident.

  Graham Phillips, who crashed the event, is an independent UK journalist. He was there to ask Higgins what evidence he had for concluding Russia was responsible for the Skripal incident.

  Someone unfamiliar with the background watching the clip might view Phillips as an amusing but disruptive, perhaps even unhinged, character who should have been escorted away by the police sooner.

  Yet appearances can be deceiving. Those aware of Bellingcat, Higgins, and their highly suspect investigations, will know that the some of the questions Phillips was posing about the evidence for Skripal were pertinent.

  Secondly, many people think they are not qualified to research or question the politics or science behind government decisions.

  I can understand people with busy lives accepting narratives about events in far-away parts of the world. But Covid-19 should really change that given the impact that lockdown may have on our lives for years to come.

  This is what Lord Sumption, former member of the English Supreme Court, said about Covid-19 on BBC Radio 4 recently:

  What I say to them is I am not a scientist but it is the right and duty of every citizen to look and see what the scientists have said and to analyse it for themselves and to draw common sense conclusions.

  We are all perfectly capable of doing that and there’s no particular reason why the scientific nature of the problem should mean we have to resign our liberty into the hands of scientists.

  We all have critical faculties and it’s rather important, in a moment of national panic, that we should maintain them.

  Lord Sumption is right. I often didn’t have expert knowledge of the area I was adjudicating on. It wasn’t necessary as we would rely on expert evidence, typically independent or from two sources. What I did was just weighing up information — an ability most of us have when applying ourselves.

  Evidence comes in many forms: testimony, circumstantial, documents, and research or expert studies.

  Below are some established concepts of assessing evidence as well as some pointers about the reality of today’s global scene that’s relevant when reviewing sharply conflicting narratives.

  HISTORY AND TRACK RECORD

  This is a good initial indicator. Similar to detectives investigating a murder, they will be guided towards a suspect who has a criminal record.

  In the case of Western governments, their advisors, and media, a look at their previous record on a whole range of important issues will show they’ve been wrong.

  However, we should be mindful that just because they’ve always been wrong, that it doesn’t follow they are this time around.

  For example, based on their past track record, we should certainly view governments’ response to Covid-19 with scepticism initially and ask questions. The information which flows from this and other material will make up the main body of evidence.

  ONUS OF PROOF

  Taking Covid-19 as just one example, it amazes me when someone says, “you seem to think lockdown is not necessary, it states on the news that it’s working, so what proof do you have that it isn’t?”

  I probably don’t need to elaborate on this lazy thinking except to say that the onus is on those who assert to prove. So, the duty is on the government to show that lockdown is working by directly reducing infection, and most importantly, is necessary in the big scheme.

  The media is a main channel to communicate such evidence, but statements of “we don’t know” or “it’s too early to tell” or “trust the science”, contradictions, and scare stories have been typical of the entire Covid-19 response.

  Meanwhile, many sceptical experts and independent commentators have brought much to the table in terms of scientific studies and the questioning proportionality of lockdown measures.

  The sceptics as yet have not had the same air-time to put forward their case. But people need to remember that the government has not discharged the onus of proof over Covid-19, and historically, rarely do over other events.

  MOTIVES

  We go back again to our detectives. Who has most to gain from pushing a certain narrative? With Iraq, there were clear agendas in Washington to go to war, so much so that stories appeared in the press of links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. When this nonsense was dismissed, we moved to the threat of WMDs. We went to war out of a determination by Bush and Blair.

  Today, I believe that the UK government is realising their lockdown response was driven by blind panic after receiving incorrect advice on potential mortality rates from their scientists.So, their main motive now is to prevent an angry backlash against the damage caused by lockdown.

  Mixed up in all events from Iraq to Covid-19 are the combined interests of numerous parties such as NATO-funded NGOs and investigative sites such as Bellingcat, career journalists, arms industry lobbies, and big pharma. These vested interests include money, career advancement, power, and ideology.

  For example, in deciding whether to get involved in Syria, selfish interests worked together. This is why one war after another has been a disaster.

  Independent journalists and activists don’t generally have the same motivations and therefore their opposition to their government’s Syria policy is based on the horror of the destruction and threat to world peace.

  Thus, understanding the main players and their motives is crucial to understanding evidence.

  TACTICS

  I recall when adjudicating disputes, the lengths one party would go to, to mislead or pressurise me.

  The government, in pushing the narrative of the day, is no different, and has many tools in its armoury, not least a compliant media.

  Blaming others, dumbing-down debate, and distracting their audience towards less important issues are classic tactics. For example, when the Covid-19 debate should be about whether lockdown is proportional and necessary, the media focus on scare stories, lack of equipment for health service staff, and blaming China.

  The government and media also build a ‘unifying’ theme, encouraging weekly clapping for health workers and constant TV adverts telling us to “stick together to see it through”.

  But the mask slips when dealing with the dissenters. Heavy-handed policing of lockdown and outright censorship of those who question the necessity for lockdown, even extending to the views of respected but non-government experts.

  Twitter mobs sucked into the frenzy of fear and the new ‘unity’ emerge to smear and insult those questioning the government position.

  These tactics have been used prior to every war and during every crisis, only for the narrative to later collapse.

  A sign that these people are wrong is that if their position had merit, they wouldn’t censor and would debate.

  One of their tactics is to label anyone who questions the prevailing narrative as “conspiracy theorists”. Unfortunately, some dissenters, rather than stick to the position that the government has serious questions to answer, go on to speculate and develop theories which can’t be proven. This provides the opportunity for those pushing official narratives to dismiss powerful arguments based on one error or supplementary theory.

  EXPERTS AREN’T ALWAYS RIGHT

  I know from experience that experts are often wrong — possibly due to a bias, an under- or over- emphasis on certain evidence, a method, or an inability to think a little outside of their field. The results can be seen in all professions, for example, in miscarriages of justice and the experts which advised governments on WMDs, chemical weapons use in Syria, and Covid-19.

  As such, the government messages of “trust the experts” should be treated with caution.

  [Especially when they are selective about who qualifies as an “expert”, and ignore prominent figures who disagree – ed.]

  PREJUDICE

  We all have conscious and unconscious prejudices or accepted viewpoints based on peer pressure. One example which comes to mind is among some even in alternative media circles. They say, “Assad is a brutal dictator, but didn’t gas his people”.

  They’ve looked at the evidence to establish the latter, but have unconsciously swallowed the unsubstantiated media propaganda on Assad as a person.

  Peer pressure, pre-determined positions, and ideology are barriers to independent thinking. But just being mindful of these pitfalls when reviewing evidence helps to get to a more open-minded mindset.

  FINAL THOUGHTS

  To those who’ve researched and studied evidence and applied this to global events, it’s apparent that mainstream thinking at all levels doesn’t resemble the reality. Nowadays, a mainstream position on the most important events can be ripped to shreds.

  Covid-19 and lockdown are by far the biggest event which has affected all our lives. Therefore, I’d expect the important questions about the real risks and proportion to gather pace.

  In the meantime, we should spend the time in lockdown looking at the evidence in the round.

  

• As China Fumes Over Trump's "Gross Interference" In Hong Kong, Here Are 6 Things It Can Do In Retaliation
  As China Fumes Over Trump’s “Gross Interference” In Hong Kong, Here Are 6 Things It Can Do In Retaliation
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 22:30

  Following Trump’s Friday announcement of watered-down measures against China and Hong Kong, which included stripping Hong Kong of some of its privileged trade status as a result of Beijing’s crackdown on the island and threatening to kick out select Chinese students but falling well short of a “nuclear option” including sanctions on individuals and institutions and the expulsion of Chinese banks from SWIFT, Hong Kong’s government said actions threatened by President Donald Trump are “unjustified” and repeated that China is within its “legitimate rights” to pursue new national security laws that Beijing says will help quell months of unrest.

  The People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of China’s Communist Party, wrote that the plans outlined by Trump at the White House on Friday were “gross interference” in Beijing’s affairs and were “doomed to fail.” In a second commentary published Sunday on its front page, the newspaper accused the U.S. and Western politicians of “double standards” and “shameless hegemony” for their criticism of the legislation. Meanwhile, China’s ambassador to the U.S. wrote in a Bloomberg Opinion editorial that the central government has the ultimate responsibility for upholding national security in Hong Kong, and that the proposed legislation “will protect law-abiding citizens.”

  And while Trump was widely seen as conserving ammo for future potential escalations, the market stormed higher on Friday amid optimism that the US president does not intend to pursue a more aggressive response over China’s de facto take over of Hong Kong. In fact, officials from Hong Kong wrote in a 949-word statement that they’re “not unduly worried” about the sanctions and trade restrictions proposed by Trump.

  Hong Kong will continue to rely on rule of law, judicial independence, and a free and open trade policy, according to a statement issued Saturday evening local time.

  The proposed legislation “does not give rise to fears of the loss of liberties by its people that will warrant international debate or interference by another country” and such fears are “simply fallacious,” the Hong Kong government said in its statement.

  “We note with deep regret that President Trump and his administration continue to smear and demonize the legitimate rights and duty of our sovereign to safeguard national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region which in turn is aimed at restoring stability to Hong Kong society,” the statement said.

  Cui Tiankai, China’s U.S. ambassador, wrote on Saturday that Hong Kong was “a romantic fusion of the East and the West.”

  “To our regret, such romance is evaporating,” the envoy wrote. The violent actions of protesters against police, citizens and property there there had crossed “a red line” for Beijing, he said. “Hong Kong is in disarray. China’s national security is at risk. That is why the central government has chosen to act.”

  China’s rubber-stamp legislature on Thursday approved a proposal for sweeping new national security laws for Hong Kong, but it could take Chinese officials months to sort out details of laws banning subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign interference.

  Meanwhile, the People’s Daily again underscored that China would be firm in responding to any U.S. moves, without specifying what actions Beijing might take. In Sunday’s commentary it said the proposed legislation is a rightful move to defend China’s sovereignty and compatible with international practice.

  * * *

  So what actions might Chinese policymakers take to deter these shifts in US policy, or in response to them?

  According to Goldman’s economist Alec Philips, Chinese policymakers will take a somewhat reactive stance to US criticisms and demands on trade and other issues, at least publicly, in an effort not to escalate tensions. However, the forcefulness of the response could vary depending on how closely US actions strike at China’s strategic interests, and whether practical retaliation options exist that appear proportional and do not escalate frictions. For trade issues, the 2018-19 playbook of imposing retaliation only after the US has actually changed policy, and even then responding proportionately or slightly less than proportionately, will likely remain in force. Some possible retaliatory actions from Chinese policymakers in trade and other areas could include:

  1. Trade sanctions or tariffs on US exports. This particular Chinese response seems most likely in the event of a phase 1 deal breakdown. This was China’s response of choice during the trade war, although the scale of the response was typically less-than-proportional, reflecting both a desire to limit escalation and the smaller amount of US exports to China. If the trade deal were to break down and the Trump administration increased tariffs on China, expect to see a Chinese response of this type. (In theory, China also could conceivably impose formal or informal constraints on Chinese buying of US goods or “service exports” e.g. limit tourism or the flow of students studying in the US, as we have seen occur with some other regional trading partners in the context of political frictions–e.g. Chinese group tourism fell off sharply in Korea in 2017. However, such a response would have little impact at present given that tourism and international education have collapsed amid COVID-19.) It is doubtful that tariffs would be used as a response to other US actions beyond trade.
  2. Actions against US companies operating in China. US sanctions on Huawei recently expanded to include foreign companies selling a “direct product” of US technology, e.g. semiconductor chips made using US equipment. In response, Chinese policymakers might take actions unfavorable to US firms in China. These could include regulatory measures that complicate or prevent operation of a business. Chinese policymakers originally mooted the concept of an “unreliable entities list” about a year ago in the context of sanctions on Huawei and other Chinese companies; though it is unclear precisely what the consequences of being labeled “unreliable” would imply, presumably it would be very detrimental for sales within China. Retaliating in this way is not without cost: it could undermine policymakers’ efforts to present China as an attractive investment destination. It would also be outside WTO norms and could undermine China’s case for relief in that body.
  3. Export restrictions. Another possible response to US sanctions on particular companies, or other US actions constraining supplies to China, could be restrictions of Chinese exports to the United States. Rare earth minerals have been frequently cited in this context. China is a dominant supplier and substitution using other materials is difficult, so if China were to decide to restrict exports of rare earths to the US the effect could be significant. Indeed, Chinese state media threatened supply restrictions on rare earths following the initial round of sanctions on Huawei last year. That threat has prompted the US government to take measures to develop rare earth production and refining capacity in the United States. Another very sensitive area could be medical equipment and supplies, which are in great demand around the world given the coronavirus crisis, and where the US sources significant amounts from China. But the perception issues around curtailing supplies in this area would be significant, and third countries could potentially re-route such goods to the United States.
  4. Exchange rate depreciation. Chinese policymakers could choose to more readily accept currency depreciation, or even take active steps (such as weaker USDCNY fixings) to encourage it. Currently, the CNY is trading near multi-year lows against the USD but at more moderate levels against the CFETS currency basket…
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     … reflecting broad USD strength. In recent days, policymakers have signaled moderate resistance to further depreciation by setting the daily USDCNY fixing stronger than other factors would imply.
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     Currency weakness might help exports on the margin, but could also intensify capital outflow pressures; although policymakers appear to have quite good control of the capital account following the chastening experience of volatility in 2015-16, their appetite for experimentation in this area is likely limited. We think the chance of an engineered depreciation is very small, though policymakers would likely accept some modest depreciation if tensions continue to intensify, especially if there were a breakdown in the trade deal or a major increase in capital outflow pressures.

  5. Large-scale sales of US asset holdings. At times of friction, the notion that China might sell its large holdings in US government securities as retaliation for trade actions surfaces in media commentary. (The latest Treasury International Capital data show Chinese holdings of $1.08 trn in US Treasuries as of the end of March, which are almost entirely from the official sector as China holds roughly $3 trn in FX reserves; in addition, agency holdings are on the order of $200bn and there could be additional assets held via custodians in other countries). For their part, US policymakers seem to have briefly entertained, but quickly discarded, the idea of trying to extract payment for damages related to the coronavirus from China’s holdings of Treasury debt. Here Goldman views disruptive actions by either the US or China in this area as unlikely. Abrupt large sales of Treasury securities or other US assets could tighten financial conditions well beyond the United States, so would appear an unattractive approach for Chinese policymakers for both political and economic reasons. However, a gradual reduction of US securities in the portfolios of SAFE and CIC is certainly a possibility-as overall reserve assets have been essentially flat, and the portfolio appears overweight US assets relative to trade weights. In fact, Chinese holdings of US debt have been unchanged for years, and while China is not dumping its TSY holdings, it certainly isn’t adding to them. Chinese policymakers might also choose to reduce the duration of their government securities holdings, which at least on the margin would push up long-term interest rates. Having said that, even a meaningful re-weighting of Chinese official assets out of US securities (say 5% of China’s total reserve assets per year or $150bn) would be small in comparison to the recent ramp-up in asset purchases by the Federal Reserve.
  6. Change in stance on geopolitical issues of concern to the United States. President Trump has in the past linked trade policy to foreign policy in his comments, for example in the case of China’s cooperation in managing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. For example, in December 2018 he explained “I have been soft on China because the only thing more important to me than trade is war…If they’re helping me with North Korea, I can look at trade a little bit differently, at least for a period of time. And that’s what I’ve been doing. ” More generally, Chinese policymakers could choose to be more, or less, helpful in regard to geopolitical issues of interest to the United States as US policies towards China change. This sort of cooperation would presumably be evident to the intelligence community and senior US policymakers, but not necessarily to markets or the general public.

  

• Stocks Dancing On Deck For Titanic U.S.-China Clash
  Stocks Dancing On Deck For Titanic U.S.-China Clash
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 22:00

  Authored by Bloomberg macro commentator Garfield Reynolds

  Complexity is causing global investors to underprice the danger from U.S.-China confrontations over Hong Kong. Far from being just a regional issue, the world’s two largest economies are sliding toward a more markets-negative showdown than anything we saw in the first three years of Donald Trump’s presidency.

  Global stocks are trading as though this round of tensions will be resolved in a similar fashion to the 2018-19 trade conflict. Even though that caused plenty of damage to the world economy, there were limits to the field of battle. And as the phase-one trade accord showed, a fudged resolution was possible. The market reactions were obvious despite the confusing ebb and flow of the underlying story – more tariffs meant lower stocks and yields, fewer tariffs the reverse. The yuan predictably weakened sharply when the tariff threat escalated in May/June 2018 and again in the summer of 2019.

  This year’s geopolitical cage-match has the potential to develop into a winner-takes-all affair, as the superpowers spiral into a Thucydides trap.

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  The always-difficult task of pricing in the risk of an extreme outcome is further complicated by the backdrop of extraordinary stimulus and Covid-19. That may explain why, beyond H.K. assets, it’s only the yuan which seems to be showing a sustained reaction.

  Trump’s mild China comments on Friday spurred a rebound in risk assets, but the longer-term outlook remains skewed to the downside, as witnessed by fresh rhetoric over the weekend.

  There’s a real threat of the global economy splitting into competing camps, raising costs and cutting productivity across industries as companies are forced to diversify and duplicate supply chains while they balance politics and profits.

  China accounted for almost a quarter of world economic growth this century and is central to sustained global rebound from the pandemic. Australia, Vietnam and South Korea stand out as Asian stock markets whose outperformance in May only makes them all the more vulnerable to a U.S.-China fallout.

  • AUD/USD and the S&P/ASX 200 are surging now as Australia flattens its Covid-19 curve, but their longer-term outlook is clouded by disputes with the nation’s biggest trading partner.
  • The Kospi is almost 40% above its March low, even as South Korean data remain dire. The U.S. and China account for ~40% of the country’s trade, and many of its semiconductor shipments to China go via Hong Kong.

  U.S. equities will also be in the firing line. Some of the Chinese companies targeted by listing rules were key drivers for the Nasdaq’s recent surge. Wall Street banks may miss out on billions, while companies like Apple, Intel, Nvidia have strong China exposure. Nvidia gets more than half its revenue from Greater China; Apple’s supply chain is dependent on suppliers based in China, South Korea and Taiwan.

  On a positive note, European assets will gain extra allure. The potentially game- changing moves toward fiscal unity on the continent are an attractive contrast to Washington and Beijing’s shift toward geopolitical confrontation.

  Perhaps recent moves by both sides are just posturing and the story will fade away soon but the signs aren’t good. In just the past two weeks, China has shown an increased willingness to challenge the U.S., Australia, India and others on a diverse array of issues. On the U.S. side, China-bashing has bipartisan support in the context of November’s election.

  The market impact to the latest iteration of U.S-China tensions is far more complex to analyze than the damage from the trade war. Investors are wrong to mistake that for meaning it will be less damaging.

  

• "We're All Suspects Now": A Look Inside The NSA's New "Contact Chaining" Tool
  “We’re All Suspects Now”: A Look Inside The NSA’s New “Contact Chaining” Tool
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 22:00

  Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man

  New book explores NSA’s “contact chaining” tool

  What happened:

  We all know Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA collects and stores massive databases of information on Americans’ phone call and text metadata.

  But then what? Most people think it sits on ice until and unless an alphabet agency like the FBI, CIA, or DHS wants to dig through it.

  In reality, it is processed into a detailed map of your social contacts, constantly updating with new data.

  Everytime you make a phone call or send a text, a new piece of data enters the government’s hands, and they update the map of your social contacts.

  A new book explores the “contact chaining” tool, which is an essential second piece of the collection and storage of mass metadata.

  What this means:

  This tool allows the NSA to play “six degrees of separation” to connect you to almost anyone.

  They call it “contact chaining,” as in, determining who you are linked to. They know better than us who is in our inner circle, who are our casual contacts, and who is a friend of a friend.

  This is so much broader than the government seeing when you sent a text. They can map out your entire social life.

  And as coronavirus “contact tracing” comes into effect, it would be wise to remember just how dangerous it is for the government to have such detailed information on all Americans.

  Everyone is being investigated, before they are ever suspected of committing a crime. We’re all suspects now.

  * * *

  Ohio judge blocks state from enforcing lockdowns against gyms

  What happened:

  A week before the Ohio lockdown order was lifted, two dozen gyms that sued the state won the first round of the lawsuit.

  A judge placed a preliminary injunction against the state, saying police and officials cannot enforce the lockdown orders against the gyms. Gyms could reopen, without threat of legal consequences.

  The judge said government officials relied on faulty legal reasoning to say they had the authority to close down every gym in the state for two months.

  The government’s powers to quarantine and isolate applies to individual instances. It cannot be used as a wide net to encompass every business and individual across the state, regardless of their coronavirus status.

  What this means:

  The governor said he didn’t “think it’s a big deal” since gyms were set to reopen less than a week after the ruling anyway.

  That is tone deaf, as many politicians are at this point.

  They have destroyed countless businesses with their authoritarian orders. So it is a big deal when courts strike them down.

  Maybe governments won’t be able to overreach so far next time.

  * * *

  Judge rules FBI can’t even look at your phone’s lock screen without a warrant

  What happened:

  When police arrest a suspect, they inventory personal items like a cell phone.

  During the process of powering down a phone, it is reasonable for law enforcement to see the phone’s screen.

  That had already happened in this case.

  But then an FBI agent went to the evidence locker, took out the suspect’s phone, and powered it on. The specific purpose was to gather evidence from the phone’s lock screen– the display that shows up before entering a passcode to access the phone.

  But the FBI agent did not bother asking a judge for a warrant. And that made it an illegal search under the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, according to a judge.

  The evidence was thrown out.

  What this means:

  When we are so used to the government doing whatever it wants, and not facing any consequences, little victories like these are encouraging.

  There is a reason the Constitution attempted to restrict law enforcement and government powers when it came to the rights of the accused.

  Otherwise, it is far too easy for the government to go digging around for a crime, without ever suspecting one in the first place.

  And with the number of petty laws and victimless crimes out there, we are all guilty of something

  

• The FAAMGs Are Up 15% In 2020; The Remaining 495 S&P Stocks Are Down 8%
  The FAAMGs Are Up 15% In 2020; The Remaining 495 S&P Stocks Are Down 8%
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 21:33

  One month ago, Goldman triggered a selloff in growth and momentum stocks, when it pointed out that  the five largest S&P 500 stocks, the FAAMGS (or MSFT, AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, FB) have risen to account for 20% of index market cap, representing the highest concentration on record…

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  … resulting in the lowest market breadth since the tech bubble…

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  … and warning that “narrow market breadth is always resolved the same way” as “narrow rallies lead to large drawdowns as the handful of market leaders ultimately fail to generate enough fundamental earnings strength to justify elevated valuations and investor crowding. In these cases, the market leaders “catch down” to weaker peers.”

  In short, as we wrote – somewhat jokingly – in April that “The Market Is Now Just 5 Stocks“, that’s precisely what has happened, with investors flooding into the buyback-funded momentum of the largest tech names …

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  … and creating the biggest “hedge fund/mutual fund/retail/momentum hotel” ever assembled in the FAAMGs. And here is an update to one of the most amazing statistics of 2020 from Goldman: YTD the 5 biggest stocks are up 15% while the remaining 495 S&P500 companies are lower by a collective 8%, with the overall S&P400 index is down 5% YTD (compare to four weeks ago here).

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  Here are Goldman’s comments on this bifurcation in the market:

  The return of the S&P 500 index overstates the performance of the typical stock. The equity capitalization-weighted S&P 500 index has rebounded by 35% from its low and now trades just 11% below its all-time high. The index return since the start of the year is -6%.

  The average stock has returned -13% YTD. The equal-weighted S&P 500 index trades 15% below the record high and has lagged the cap-weighted index by 650 bp this year.

  The stellar return of the five largest stocks in the S&P 500 — MSFT, AMZN, AAPL, GOOGL, and FB — is the primary explanation for the large difference between the cap-weighted index and the average stock.

  While the FAAMGs may grow further, there is a hard limit on just how much bigger they can get:

  At 20%, the current aggregate index weight of the five stocks with the largest market caps is the highest in history, exceeding the previous peak of 18% at the apex of the Tech Bubble in March 2000. However, we are approaching the practical maximum concentration of 25% given most long-only portfolio managers have diversification requirements and individual stock position limitations of roughly 5%.

  Incidentally, this historic bifurcation of the “market” into two sets of stocks is also why Goldman is skeptical about further upside:

  Broader participation in the rally will be needed in order for the aggregate S&P 500 index to climb meaningfully higher. Goldman Sachs equity research analysts currently forecast just 1% upside for the cap-weighted group of the five stocks. The modest upside for the largest stocks means the remaining 495 constituents will need to rally to lift the aggregate index.

  Luckily, there is nothing like a weekend of nationwide looting and violence to spark a broad-based market rally and push the policy tool formerly known as the S&P500 back to all time highs to convince everyone that nothing is fucked here.

  

• As China PMI Disappoints, Another Major Problem Emerges
  As China PMI Disappoints, Another Major Problem Emerges
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 21:30

  Overnight, China’s NBS reported that in May, manufacturing PMI signaled a continued recovery in factory activity, albeit at a slower pace than in April and below expectations (50.6, exp.51.0, down from 50.8). Sub-indexes in the manufacturing surveys suggest export order sub-index remained weak and employment deteriorated further.

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  Of note, the manufacturing employment sub-index weakened to 49.4 from 50.2, implying continued deterioration in the labor market. On the other hand, inventory indicators suggested a destocking trend, with raw material inventories declining to 47.3 from 48.2, and the finished goods inventory sub-index declined to 47.3 from 49.3 in April.

  Yet even as China’s factories are starting to hum again, a new problem is emerging as executives are now worried that the rebound could falter on weak demand both at home but especially abroad, something we warned about some time ago when we warned that China’s push to produce at all costs will eventually backfire.

  Justin Yu, a sales manager at Zhejiang-based Pinghu Mijia Child Product that makes toy scooters sold for American retailers, is among those seeing their order book improve from the depths of the coronavirus lockdown, but remain well below normal.

  Quoted by Bloomberg, Yu said that “we are seeing more orders coming in this month as we get closer to our normal peak season,” Yu said. “But our orders are still 40-50% lower than last year.” The factory’s production capacity is running at about 70% to 80%, and Yu is making to order to avoid any build up in stock.

  The disconnect between China’s recovering production and still dormant demand had shown up in data revealing a rise in inventories and once again contradicting the official PMI numbers which as noted above, show that to be easing. China’s fake data aside, the worry remains that sustained overproduction will lead China’s factories to keep cutting prices, compounding global deflationary headwinds and worsening trade tensions, before they eventually cut back on production and therefore even more jobs.

  “The supply normalization has already outpaced demand recovery,” said Yao Wei, China economist at Societe Generale SA. “In other words, the recovery so far is a deflationary recovery.”

  Which is another way of saying it is not a recovery at all, and the US, whose economy remains largely shut is not helping.

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  So given the weak export outlook, manufacturers such as Fujian Strait Textile Technology are switching their business models to target the home market, according to Bloomberg. It used to sell 60% of its products to Europe and the U.S. before the coronavirus crisis wiped out those sales. Now, Dong Liu, the company’s vice president, is looking for opportunities at home.

  “Our company executives have started to visit the local market to make more potential clients know about us,” he said. “Since May 26, we have been producing 24 hours everyday at full capacity. All the inventory has already been sold and we’re rushing to make goods.”

  Alas, the domestic-focused strategy also has numerous drawbacks: while China’s consumers are largely free to resume their regular lives as fresh virus cases slow to a trickle, they too aren’t spending like they used to (almost as if they also don’t believe Beijing’s solemn vows that everything is back to normal): retail sales slid 7.5% in April, more than the projected 6% drop. Restaurant and catering receipts slumped by 31.1% from a year earlier, after a 46.8% collapse in March.

  “Although demand conditions are improving on the margin, they will still take a long time to recover to where they were before the virus crisis. Investment is picking up, domestic consumption improving and external demand is less bad than it was” said Chang Shu, analyst at Bloomberg Economics. The question, of course, is how much time.

  In Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, Melissa Shu, an export manager for an LED car lighting factory, said although orders are steadily improving, there’s no sense of urgency from her clients and the outlook remains uncertain. “We’re just making goods slowly,” Shu said. “We are worried about the coming months.”

  * * *

  As Bloomberg speculates, some producers may be hoping for a real-life enactment of Say’s law, a part of economic theory which suggests that ultimately supply will create its own demand, as long as prices and wages are flexible, although in China where every datapoint is manipulated and fake, nobody really knows what the current state of the economy is.  Various real-time indicators continue to pain a mixed picture.

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  Another scenario proposed by UBS is that industry self-corrects adversely. The bank’s chief China Economist Wang Tao points to strong steel production during the depths of the coronavirus lockdown, even when demand was weak. Higher inventories means that even as demand recovers, steel production won’t show much of a pick up. And once producers know that orders are falling, they will adjust output.

  “I do not think supply will outstrip demand for long – once inventories build up, or producers know orders are falling, production will come down as well,” she said.

  Should unemployment continue rising, that could trigger a very messy feedback loop. Premier Li Keqiang in a press conference on Thursday highlighted job creation as a critical priority for the government. The urgency to create jobs may mean there’s even less likelihood of a shake up of state owned companies in the heavy industrial sectors that have historically fueled excess production. It also means that even more ghost cities may be coming.

  The disconnect is already clear in data points that show, for example, stronger coal consumption by power plants and rising blast furnace operating rates by steel mills, while at the same time gauges for property and car sales are improving more slowly. That combination, according to Bloomberg, will drag on China’s growth over the coming months, according to economists at Citigroup.

  The problem for China’s industrial sector is that it really needs both local and global demand to be strong. If both are weak, and only the government is “injecting” support, it’s a dire outlook. But if local demand recovers and global demand doesn’t, there are still problems.

  The best summary of China’s “big problem” came from Viktor Shvets, head of Asian strategy at Macquarie Commodities and Global Markets: “At the end of the day, China’s economy is driven by demand and right now there is no demand,”

  A scenario where manufacturers capacity originally dedicated to the export market is retooled to produce for the home market instead would still lead to overproduction. Then the supply-demand mismatch would end up adding to deflationary pressures and a pose fresh headwinds to economic growth, according to Bo Zhuang, chief China economist at research firm TS Lombard.

  For now, China’s factory owners are hoping that won’t happen but their optimism is waning fast.

  Grace Gao, an export manager at Shandong Pangu Industrial that makes tools like hammers and axes – around 60% of their goods go to Europe – is seeing orders come in as her clients get up and running again. But even as things pick up, Gao remains hesitant to call a full recovery. “Our clients are facing unprecedented problems,” she said. “It’s still hard to estimate when we’ll get back on our feet.”

  

• Where Is Ghislane Maxwell Now?
  Where Is Ghislane Maxwell Now?
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 21:00

  Authored by Gabrielle Bruney via Esquire.com,

  Jeffrey Epstein is dead, but the accused pedophile financier is still surrounded by multiple mysteries. The source of his vast wealth still isn’t entirely known, nor have rumors that he may have trafficked women and girls to some of the world’s most powerful men been resolved. But one of the biggest lingering unknowns in the story is the status of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime companion, who’s been alleged by Epstein survivors to have recruited young women and girls into the multimillionaire’s circle and participated in their abuse.

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  Maxwell has denied all accusations of being involved in abuse, and she’s never faced criminal charges. But it’s hard to know much more than that when it comes to her recent years, because no one knows exactly where she is.

  “I’ve heard she’s in Brazil, I’ve heard she’s in France, I’ve heard she’s in California,” Lisa Bryant, director of the Netflix docuseries Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, told Esquire.

  “Who knows where she is, really?”

  Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?

  Maxwell is the youngest of Elisabeth and Robert Maxwell’s nine children, and was born in France in 1961. The family lived in an English mansion, and her father was the founder of a media empire and served in Parliament. Maxwell attended one of the UK’s most exclusive boarding schools and then Oxford University. As members of British high society, Maxwell mingled with some of the nation’s most celebrated families, and became friends with Prince Andrew.

  Her father died in 1991, after falling off his yacht and drowning. It’s been speculated that his death may have been a suicide, as on the day he died he was due to meet with the Bank of England over the matter of his being in default on millions in loans. After his death, the British media dubbed him the “crook of the century,” when it was revealed that he’d taken hundreds of millions of pounds from his employees pension funds. Maxwell told one news outlet after her father’s death that she felt he was murdered.

  She moved to the United States the year of her father’s death, and soon met Jeffrey Epstein. The relationship marked a second reversal of fortunes for Maxwell, whose family lost much of its wealth after her father’s death. In 2000, she moved into a $4.95 million Manhattan townhouse purchased “by an anonymous limited liability company, with an address that matches the office of J. Epstein & Co. Representing the buyer was Darren Indyke, Mr. Epstein’s longtime lawyer.” She was his companion for years, managing his households and introducing him to her society friends

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  Maxwell and her father in 1984.

  According to a lawsuit she filed this year in hopes of winning funds from the late financier’s estate, “While under Epstein’s employ, Maxwell was responsible for managing Epstein’s properties located in New York, Paris, Florida, New Mexico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

  “During the course of their relationship, including while Maxwell was in Epstein’s employ,” the lawsuit reads, “Epstein promised Maxwell that he would support her financially. Epstein made these promises to Maxwell repeatedly, both in writing and in conversation.”

  However, a 2003 Vanity Fair profile of Epstein denied that Maxwell was an employee.

  After Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, the two appeared to end their public association. In 2009, accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed a civil suit against Epstein accusing him and Maxwell of grooming her into their alleged sex trafficking ring. However, Maxwell remained a fixture in New York society until around 2015. In 2012, she founded an environmental nonprofit called The TerraMar project, which folded in late 2019.

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  Epstein with Maxwell in 1995

  Has she been charged with any crimes?

  Though multiple survivors have alleged that Maxwell participated in Epstein’s alleged crimes, she’s never been criminally charged. One thing that could stymie potential efforts to level charges against Maxwell is the infamous 2008 plea deal that Epstein struck with the US Attorney for Miami, Alexander Acosta, which found him serving just 13 months in prison after initially facing charges that could have garnered him a life sentence. Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich producer Joe Berlinger described the deal to Esquire as “unprecedented, unheard of sweetheart deal” that “included a non-prosecution agreement for named and unnamed co-conspirators.”

  In April, an appeals court upheld the 2007 deal, writing in its opinion that the decision was “not a result we like, but it’s the result we think the law requires.”

  Maxwell is currently suing Epstein’s estate for money for her legal fees, and for the price of private security, alleging that her “prior employment relationship” with Epstein has caused to her be subjected to death threats.

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  Maxwell at a 2016 event.

  Where is Ghislaine Maxwell now?

  Though once a fixture of the global high-society, Maxwell has been spotted rarely in recent years. Last summer, she was photographed at a Los Angeles In-N-Out Burger, though the authenticity of the photo has been disputed. Her New York townhouse was sold in 2016.

  This month, it was reported that lawyers for accusers seeking to file a civil suit against Maxwell have been unable to locate her. According to ABC news, one alleged victim’s “legal team dispatched process servers to five addresses previously connected to Maxwell, including a multi-million dollar brownstone on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, an apartment building in Miami Beach and Epstein’s mansion on Palm Beach Island.”

  Maxwell is also contending with other civil lawsuits filed by alleged survivors. Just this month, she won the right to delay her questioning in a suit filed by Annie Farmer, the sister of fellow Epstein accuser Maria Farmer, on the grounds that her testimony could be used against her in a current criminal investigation. But with the FBI allegedly investigating Maxwell, her story could be far from over.

  

• "The Dollar Is Out Of Stock Everywhere": Hong Kong Money Exchangers Turn Away Clients Amid Run On US Dollars
  “The Dollar Is Out Of Stock Everywhere”: Hong Kong Money Exchangers Turn Away Clients Amid Run On US Dollars
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 20:30

  Even before protests over a controversial extradition bill sparked the tumultuous pro-democracy movement that swept across Hong Kong last year, the notion that the city’s freedoms were under threat, and that China would soon move to curtail them, had been gestating since the 2014 Umbrella Movement. Last Spring, before the movement began in earnest, Kyle Bass published a paper entitled “the Quiet Panic” about how Hong Kong was a ticking time bomb. A few months later, it exploded.

  Over the past 16 months, expats haven’t been the only ones fleeing Hong Kong. Virtually everyone who can afford to move has at least considered the possibility of selling their once extremely valuable Hong Kong real estate and fleeing elsewhere, perhaps to New Zealand, or Australia, or Malaysia – or Taiwan, which is currently drawing up plans to welcome expats.

  As we reported on Friday, as more prepare to move before China tightens its grip, Sing Tao, Hong Kong’s second-largest Chinese-language newspaper observed that Hong Kong residents have been exchanging more of their HKD holdings into foreign currencies at banks and money exchange counters on Thursday.

  It got so bad that according to a follow up report from the SCMP on Saturday, the rush for US dollars forced money exchangers in Hong Kong to turn away hundreds of customers after running out of the currency amid fears the United States could end the city’s preferential trading status.

  According to money exchange store owners, demand for the US currency surged this week after China’s legislature endorsed a resolution for its top legislative body to craft a tailor-made national security law for Hong Kong which would criminalize acts and activities of secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference.

  In kneejerk response, HK residents – fearing the Hong Kong dollar could be unpegged from its US counterpart – rushed to convert their local currency into something they view as more stable: the US dollar.

  Long lines promptly formed at money changers in a number of Kowloon districts including Tsim Sha Tsui and Sham Shui Po on Friday, as residents waited for shop operators to replenish their US dollar supply. Eric Wong Wai-lam, who runs Rich Bird Currency Exchange in Sham Shui Po, was forced to turn away 600 customers who wanted to convert their local banknotes to the US currency.

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  “There will be no US dollars for exchange until next Tuesday or Wednesday,” he told customers, adding that his shop could only serve those who had previously placed an order. He explained that demand for the US currency had increased 10-fold this week, with more customers looking to switch large sums – hundreds of thousands or even millions of Hong Kong dollars – at a time.

  “The US dollar is out of stock everywhere. We’ve offered every last bit of our supplies to our customers,” Wong said adding that residents also sought alternatives such as the pound, Euro and Australian dollar. “People will take anything you have,” he said.

  As the SCMP further details, civil servant Mike Ma had hoped to change HK$35,000 (US$4,514) into US dollars, but had to make do with £1,000 (US$1,237) and NT$20,000 (US$666) instead. The 35-year-old British National (Overseas) passport holder said he had been keeping foreign banknotes since Hong Kong was gripped by anti-government protests last year, but had visited exchange stores more often this week because of uncertainties over the city’s economic future.

  Kevin Chan, operator of an online shopping site, bought US$3,000 on Friday, saying he had been doing so from time to time since the social unrest broke out. “It’s like buying insurance,” the 31-year-old said.

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  Chan said panic buying of the US dollar reflected how Hong Kong had found itself in the middle of a political tug of war between the world’s two superpowers. “[China and the United States] are bluffing now. You don’t know what stakes they will raise next. Hong Kong is in a passive position. It’s just a pawn to both sides,” Chan said.

  “I’m not confident about the current situation, same as many others. In case the US dollar peg is reset, buying the US dollar beforehand gives me more confidence.”

  The Hong Kong currency has been linked to the US dollar since 1983 and any change in the peg does not require approval from the US government. The Hong Kong government determines which currency the local dollar is pegged to. The currency is kept pegged in the range of HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 to the US dollar.

  Eddie Yue Wai-man, chief executive of the local central bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said earlier this week the peg would remain the bedrock of the city’s financial system, with foreign reserves of more than US$440 billion. And while the city had yet to show any noticeable sign of fund outflows from the Hong Kong dollar or banking system, the market is starting to crack. Though spot HKD has been trading toward the strong end of its band as the Fed slashes rates to zero amid growing speculation the US central bank may soon follow through with negative rates, Kyle Bass’s bet against the currency peg, which critics once slammed as absurd and unlikely to pay off, is becoming increasingly popular as a trade as derivatives markets price in growing expectations for depreciation.

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  Even Hong Kong’s largest banks, HSBC, saw a small handful of its automated teller machines run out of US dollars, but was working to replenish them. The bank has 39 locations that offer foreign currency, but not all distribute US dollars. Customers can withdraw up to HK$80,000 per day per bank card.

  “HSBC has sufficient supply of banknotes and is committed to supporting its customers and the smooth operation of the financial system in Hong Kong,” a HSBC spokeswoman said.

  

• Pompeo: China Is Intent Upon The Destruction Of Western Ideas, Western Democracies, And Western Values
  Pompeo: China Is Intent Upon The Destruction Of Western Ideas, Western Democracies, And Western Values
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 20:13

  Looking at the Yuan, Bloomberg’s macro commentators Mark Cranfield correctly writes that “any downside extension for USD/CNH after President Trump left the phase one trade deal untouched will be short lived. There is enough uncertainty over the U.S.-China relationship to maintain an underlying bid for the dollar.”

  Cranfield is right, if for another reason: while Trump may have left the Phase 1 trade deal in place for now, at this point this is purely theater, for the simple reason that China is woefully behind on its signed contractual commitments to import a set quantity of US agircultural, energy, and manufacturing exports.

  As Goldman writes over the weekend, “there is a clear risk—if not a likelihood—that US exports to China will fall short of the Phase 1 deal.” So far, the Administration appears to be taking a wait-and-see approach to this and could continue to do so for a while, since the export targets were intended to be met over a 1-2 year timeframe, and the deal was only signed four months ago. But if Trump decides that China has not met its commitments under the Phase 1 trade deal – which it clearly hasn’t – he would take the initial step of taking the tariff rate on Tranche 4A back to 15%, according to Goldman.

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  As a result, while ignoring Trump headlines looks to be the right strategy in the short term for traders, Cranfield notes that this “may change when the U.S. election race gets into prime time.” So while record highs for USD/CNH may have been delayed after last week’s all tim ehigh, “they are still the path of least resistance in the weeks ahead”, according to the Bloomberg commentator.

  And just to give the yuan selling a kickstart higher, here is Mike Pompeo on Fox News, pouring some more gasoline on the raging dumpster fire that is US-China relations, saying that “this is a Chinese Communist Party that has come to view itself as intent upon the destruction of Western ideas, Western democracies, and Western values. It puts Americans at risk, whether it’s stealing American intellectual property or destroying jobs here in the U.S.”

  This is a Chinese Communist Party that has come to view itself as intent upon the destruction of Western ideas, Western democracies, and Western values. It puts Americans at risk, whether it’s stealing American intellectual property or destroying jobs here in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/89JlUuARro

  — Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 31, 2020

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  Hardly the stuff one hears if de-escalation is just around the corner.

  

• Schlichter: This Election Is Republicans Versus China
  Schlichter: This Election Is Republicans Versus China
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 20:00

  Authored by Kurt Schlichter, op-ed via Townhall.com,

  It’s pretty clear who the commie bastards known for their shoddy lab practices and their weird fetish for gnawing on pangolins badly want to win in November, and it’s not Trump and the Republicans. The Chinese communists want their money’s worth, and they will go all-in for the Democrats who find the chance to hurt Trump at the same time they hurt America too delicious to pass up. Plus, the Dems heartily approve of what Mao’s Pals are doing to freedom-loving Hong Kongers, seeing it as a template for what they would love to do to freedom-loving us. 

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  We need to understand and accept that a vote for anyone with a “D” is a vote for Xi.

  Now, some people who are stupid and/or liars will whine that this is mean and unfair and totally unlike the last four years of accusations about Trump and his folks being the pet of Vladimir Putin whose treason has perpetually had the walls closing in whilst the Grand Marshal of the Supreme Court was poised to frog-march them all to a C-130, next stop Gitmo. And it is totally unlike the Obamagate/Russiagate thing, in that with the Obamagate/Russiagate thing was a manifest lie and the accusation that the CCP is holding the pink slip of the Donkey Party in its bat soup-moistened hands is true.

  Let’s look at Joe Biden for a moment, though it will have to be on video since the Geppettos holding his strings are not letting him out of his Delaware dungeon unless a miracle happens and he becomes a real boy.

  This is the guy that went publicly incontinent when the Great Wall Gang was shipping Typhoid Mulans over here and Trump cut off that insanity. Travel bans were racist, you know, until they weren’t. And this guy wants to be president, when he remembers he is running for president, though his priority was not saving American lives but not vexing Beijing. This guy is so far in the Red Menace’s pocket that he’s risking lint poisoning.

  They channel the digital Dem, asking, “Come on man, is it too much to want a president who takes America’s side?

  Well, to the Democrats, the answer is a responding, “Yes, and don’t assume my gender.”

  Now, Biden always sides with the PRC because, like the elite whose Guccis he slurps, he’s totally comfortable with the Chinese supplanting the USA as the world’s preeminent nation – that’ll show those flag-waving flyover rubes who’s not boss! The totally-not-senile politician opposed Trump’s tariffs and his attempts to level the playing field, and Hi-Bidder Biden would sign agreements to lock in the former Deliverance trade model. His response to the People’s Liberation Army arms build-up that threatens our Pacific Fleet would be, “Hey man, I believe in building-up arms! I work out and I am strong and I can do more push-ups than you, fat!”

  Here’s the other thing. Remember all that idiotic babble about the Russki kompromat of Trump? That somewhere, Putin had this video library of Trump water-sporting with Muscovite rent girls? Well, we all know Joe’s pride n’ joy Hoover went to China and did a big-bucks deal, probably because he’s such a super-achiever who got where he is on his own talents and not at all drafting after his daddy. So, what else do you think he did when he was there? Explored the Great Wall? Marveled at the Forbidden City? Cavorted with every skeeze the ChiCom intel guys could throuple him up with on video?

  Did it happen? You want to bet it didn’t? We know the guy got booted from the Navy for dope. We know he got zillions from some Ukrainian oligarch. We know he was accused of forgetting his crack pipe in a rental car. We know he impregnated a stripper. We know he was voted “Least Likely to be the Centerfold of Good Judgment Monthly.”

  What are the chances the Chinese Gestapo didn’t try to honey-trap the guy who’s the Winnie the Pooh of hookers n’ blow? What do you think they probably caught him doing on Candid Commie Camera? It’d be like a home movie from Memorial Day weekend in Lake Havasu on Bob Crane’s houseboat.

  But Biden’s not the only guy in hock to the reds. There’s Diane Feinstein, whose Chinese mole chauffer for the better part of two decades was starring in “Driving Senator Oblivious.” And you got the always accommodating Kamala Harris carrying enough water for the reds to top the Three Gorges Dam. Her latest ploy to please her powerful political patrons is to echo the commie agitprop designed to distract from the country’s criminally negligent (or worse) behavior in connection with the bat biter disease by offering a bill to declare calling it the “Wuhan Flu” to be RACISM!

  And there’s Martha McSally’s opponent in the Arizona Senate race who’s a Chinese Communist Party dream come true. Even the media, and you know how it sucks, is reporting that Mark ChiCom Kelly has investments in Chinese tech. He supports Joe Biden and Joe’s policies, which we have seen are Xi’s policies. When Nancy Pelosi tried to pass a $3 trillion “pandemic relief” bill that gave dough to illegals and pot purveyors, did you see him complain that it ignored American defense and contained no spending to put American workers back to work building the equipment we need to oppose his party’s pals? Nah. His focus is on disarming Americans. Not surprisingly, ChiCom Kelly shares the Chinese Communist Party’s position on the Second Amendment – he’s against it.

  “But but but but he was in the Navy and he was an astronaaaaaauuuuuutttt!” 

  Okay, that does not make it better. It makes it much, much worse.

  The fact is that the Democratic Party has a recent hatred of Trump but a long tradition of hating the United States. Its goal for the last half-century has been to supervise the decline of America as a world power, and the fact that the Chinese communists take good care of their friends makes it easier. There is zero doubt that the Chinese government is already all-in on a Biden puppet presidency and that it backs Senate candidates like ChiCom Kelly because it knows it can rely on them to place Xi’s interests ahead of America’s.

  They’ll deny it, of course. But here’s the hard and indisputable truth: This November, you can vote for the Republican Party, or you can vote Chinese Communist Party under another name.

  *  *  *

  Join Townhall VIP  and pre-order my new Regnery book, The 21 Biggest Lies about Donald Trump (and You!), then check out my hit conservative novels People’s Republic, Indian Country, Wildfire and especially Collapse, where the ChiComs side with the libs. Wait, that makes it nonfiction. Also, Townhall VIP members should get my podcast “Unredacted” every Monday and my free podcast “Fighting Words” on Wednesdays to reach peak awesome!

  

• NYC Mayor De Blasio's Daughter Arrested At Protest; Fire Next To White House; California Hit With Looting, Violence
  NYC Mayor De Blasio’s Daughter Arrested At Protest; Fire Next To White House; California Hit With Looting, Violence
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 19:39

  Update (2150ET): The daughter of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Chiara de Blasio, was arrested at a Saturday night protest in Manhattan, according to the New York Post.

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  Chiara de Blasio, 25, was taken into custody around 10:30 p.m. after cops declared an unlawful assembly at 12th Street and Broadway in Lower Manhattan, the sources said.

  “That was a real hotspot, police cars were getting burned there, people were throwing and yelling, fighting with cops. There were thousands of people in that area at that time,” the source said.

  She gave 181 East End Avenue as her address, otherwise known as Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s Upper East Side residence. –New York Post

  The very next day, de Blasio warned that “Change is coming in this city.”

  NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio: “Change is coming in this city.” pic.twitter.com/SDfFEgtx5u

  — The Hill (@thehill) May 31, 2020

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

  Meanwhile, a fire has broken out near the White House:

  Breaking: A fire has been started outside of the White House pic.twitter.com/u5iJdjbXyJ

  — Daniel Uhlfelder (@DWUhlfelderLaw) June 1, 2020

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

  *  *  *

  Update (2100ET): Tensions continued to flare in Los Angeles, where a police SUV was filmed ramming through a blockade of protesters – nearly running over one in the process.

  Omg. It’s happening. pic.twitter.com/ynNwkT7Crs

  — Sophia Lee 소현 (@SophiaLeeHyun) May 31, 2020

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

  Elsewhere in Los Angeles:

  Law enforcers blocking off the highway. pic.twitter.com/N8j9PiCmDJ

  — Sophia Lee 소현 (@SophiaLeeHyun) May 31, 2020

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

  Businesses are boarding up their windows in preparation for another possibly chaotic night. pic.twitter.com/LJuctv1DBk

  — Sophia Lee 소현 (@SophiaLeeHyun) May 31, 2020

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

  500 miles to the north in the East Bay, residents of upscale Walnut Creek have been advised to avoid Broadway Plaza.

  Since they’re so vague here’s a glimpse. https://t.co/cx4SsloewO https://t.co/UBY1MKqo1K

  — Roxie Joyce (@RoxieCorleone) June 1, 2020

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

  Looting st the Vans and Urban Outfitters in downtown Walnut Creek. @EastBayTimes pic.twitter.com/JX3f5c3h4u

  — Jose Carlos Fajardo (@jcfphotog) June 1, 2020

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

  Breaking into the Macy’s in Walnut Creek. pic.twitter.com/h7mvsQjmj1

  — Jose Carlos Fajardo (@jcfphotog) June 1, 2020

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

  *  *  *

  Update (1950ET): The driver in the Minneapolis incident has been arrested.

  DPS: Driver of truck that drove into mass of protest marchers on I-35W has been arrested, and received minor injuries. It doesn’t appear any protesters were hit by the truck. | https://t.co/DagxLlPuA7 pic.twitter.com/xHcLuWZ3Vj

  — WCCO – CBS Minnesota (@WCCO) May 31, 2020

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

  * * *

  Update (1911ET): A little over an hour has passed since Philadelphia’s 6pmET curfew went into effect – because nothing says “deescalation” like a daytime curfew – Sunday night’s “demonstrations” are already devolving into sickening violence on par with what we saw last night.

  Around 1pm local time, looting broke out at a strip mall in Santa Monica and elsewhere across LA, while the situation in West Philadelphia worsened, with the rioters and looters spreading – while peaceful demonstrators continued their demonstrations in some cases offering a convenient cover for the criminality of looters – in LA, Philly and elsewhere.

  The situation is getting so bad, Santa Monica just moved its curfew to 4pm – 30 minutes ago – because of the looting. LA County moved its curfew to 6pm local time. Tampa Florida announced a curfew starting at 7pmET (45 minutes ago).

  One notable scene in Santa Monica showed looters attacking an Amazon van and running off with packages.

  BREAKING: Amazon vans looted in California pic.twitter.com/rovyLznohK

  — Breaking News Global (@BreakingNAlerts) May 31, 2020

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

  Why are the drivers even out after Amazon asked them to turn back? Could it have something to do with the company’s plans to end COVID hazard pay?

  A report from California officials claimed the situation in Santa Monica was “deteriorating rapidly”, and that “police have been called in from other parts of California to assist.”

  More looting going on in West Philly with nobody coming in to stop them. Some exasperated locals wondered whether the elected Democrats in the city would use force to protect small businesses, as videos showed several big box stores, including a family dollar, being looted.

  FAMILY DOLLAR LOOTED IN PHILLY
  pic.twitter.com/bFj8Xhkbdt

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 31, 2020

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

  Protests broke out across New York City, with groups in Manhattan and Brooklyn. One notable scene that emerged on social media: vandals attacked St. Patrick’s Cathedral in midtown, one of the most sacred Catholic Churches in the world.

  If you’re upset about this wait till you hear what the priests have been doing to children https://t.co/jV9DIQirQW

  — Joshua Topolsky (@joshuatopolsky) May 31, 2020

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

  Though, notably, protests in brownstone brooklyn, home to mostly white yuppies and trust fund babies who live on hand outs from their parents (leaving them plenty of free time to protest), remained mostly peaceful, at least during the early hours, with only small pockets of vandalism and violence across the city.

  WILLIAMSBURG BROOKLYN pic.twitter.com/8BfCkIeRKj

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 31, 2020

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

  Video from Chicago showed looters packing cars with stolen goods.

  LOOTERS PACK CARS WITH GOODS IN CHICAGO
  pic.twitter.com/rOGvgO9kUS

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 31, 2020

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

  One looter traveled all the way from Indiana to Santa Monica to join in the looting.

  LOOTER TRAVELED FROM INDIANA TO SANTA MONICA TO STEALpic.twitter.com/rtHsDzfRiu

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 31, 2020

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

  LOOTERS PACKING STOLEN GOODS INTO CAR IN SANTA MONICA pic.twitter.com/s6YLLeMoK7

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 31, 2020

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

  Intermingled with familiar images of nonviolent demonstrators were clips of looting and unprovoked cruelty, like this gang of street hooligans setting a homeless man’s belongings on fire in Austin, Texas.

  Rioters burn a homeless person’s belongings.

  Reportedly from Austin, Texas. pic.twitter.com/jgxm35XbSF

  — Orwell & Goode (@OrwellNGoode) May 31, 2020

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

  Twitter users flew into hysterics over this video of a tanker truck “plowing” into a crowd of protesters. Except nobody was seriously injured – at least not according to initial reports – and a closer examination merely shows the driver approaching a crowd, then stopping, before being mobbed by “peaceful demonstrators”.

  BREAKING: Tanker truck plows into crowd of demonstrators on Minneapolis highway. Protesters scrambled as truck battled toward them. pic.twitter.com/Q5cTF9AGB2

  — David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) May 31, 2020

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

  Minnesota had reportedly closed its highways an hour before the incident took place, but vehicles were still apparently trying to make their way through amid crowds of pedestrians – an extremely dangerous mix.

  Here’s an eyewitness who says the man driving the tanker truck that drove into a crowd of people in Minneapolis bridge appeared agitated and appeared to be trying to drive on but was stormed by protesters who had been demonstrating peacefully.
  KSTP-TV pic.twitter.com/pDmjjQGefm

  — David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) May 31, 2020

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

  Once again, violence erupted outside the White House, where tear gas was liberally shared.

  VIOLENCE ERUPTED OUTSIDE THE WHITE HOUSEpic.twitter.com/JSPDnpiOP6

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 31, 2020

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

  TEAR GAS LIBERALLY SHARED BY SECRET SERVICE OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSEpic.twitter.com/94srhrPP7N

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 31, 2020

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

  Meanwhile, more market analysts are questioning whether the market can simply shrug off all of this carnage.

  Agree, but the Fed is a helluva drug

  — Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) May 31, 2020

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

  * * *

  As America braces for a third night of “protests”, governors and mayors across the country are calling in the national guard, imposing curfews and taking other more aggressive measures to stop a third night of chaos and destruction that’s virtually guaranteed to rattle investors in the US – and possibly around the world – when markets open in a few hours.

  Already, crowds have returned to downtown Philadelphia where the situation was already starting to spin out of control on Sunday afternoon. The city experienced the same type of mass violence – looting, rioting, skirmishes between black-clad anarchists and the police, and, of course, molotov cocktails – last night as the violence spread from Minneapolis to more cities across the country.

  Ahead of what’s shaping up to be a second night of violence in the city of brotherly love (soon to be renamed the city of brotherly muggings), police have released an update on the number of arrests made last night, as well as details of injuries sustained by police officers.

  Arrest Update: From 1200PM, Sat, May 30th until 1200PM, Sunday, May 31st :
  (138) curfews (11) CVNs
  (4) Assault on police
  (3) Firearm Violations
  (4) Theft
  (48) Looting/Burglary

  — Philadelphia Police (@PhillyPolice) May 31, 2020

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

  Fifteen police officers were injured last night, with one officer admitted to the hospital with a broken arm broken ribs after he was struck by an SUV.

  Only a few hours have passed since several “peaceful” protests commenced down town, and already looters are tearing up Kensington Avenue.

  Looters robbing Looters. Kensington. #riots2020 #philly @CBSNews @CBSPhilly pic.twitter.com/BoyYfiMOFI

  — manuelsmith (@manuelsmith) May 31, 2020

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

  And it’s only getting worse.

  And still more looting. Kensington Avenue. #riots2020 #philly @CBSNews @CBSPhilly pic.twitter.com/6TC7WeeW9G

  — manuelsmith (@manuelsmith) May 31, 2020

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

  Police have begun to respond to “select break in incidents” according to a reporter covering the unrest.

  Day two. A large @PhillyPolice response along Kensington and Aramingo Avenues as they respond to select break-in and looting incidents. #protests2020 #Philly @CBSPhilly @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/UQ9EFEz9oD

  — manuelsmith (@manuelsmith) May 31, 2020

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

  In parts of the city, the looting hasn’t stopped, as looters returned in the morning and afternoon as battles with police escalated.

  LOOTING CONTINUES: Looting continued this morning in Center City Philadelphia and has now moved into the city’s Kensington and Port Richmond neighborhoods.

  MORE: https://t.co/5yfQFokxpW https://t.co/jAEDiA3RX6

  — FOX 29 (@FOX29philly) May 31, 2020

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

  With eagle eyes of @PhillyPolice helicopter, officers arrive as Modell’s Aramingo Avenue being looted. Large crowd runs out back of store after police arrive in both front and at back of store. @ppddavebonk @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/YPYAzJ0Ra3

  — Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) May 31, 2020

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

  As a peaceful demonstration moved toward city hall, a tense exchanged erupted as locals confronted two “professional” protesters who were urging the crowd to “take it further” – ie escalate violence against the police – in retribution for George Floyd.

  During the peaceful protest 2 protestors on the side are calling for people to “take it further”

  In a tense exchange the crowd shut them down “this is not your protest” “you’re not from philly”

  Worth noting a qpoc stepped in to keep things from escalating @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/Hgbu7FSOj7

  — Miguel Martinez-Valle (@MiguelMValle) May 31, 2020

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

  To be sure, not all of the demonstrations in the Greater Philly area were violent: Some marches on Sunday afternoon remained largely peaceful, like in Atlantic City…

  More from the Boardwalk in Atlantic City pic.twitter.com/xzhC2glR1K

  — Amy S. Rosenberg (@amysrosenberg) May 31, 2020

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

  …where police shut down traffic, preventing outsiders, who reportedly cause most of the trouble, from entering.

  Police have shut down traffic into Atlantic City. pic.twitter.com/lDkN8botV6

  — Amy S. Rosenberg (@amysrosenberg) May 31, 2020

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

  Protestors will gathered at 1 pm on Sunday in front of City Hall for a peace rally advocating for justice and a change to policies that provoke police brutality. A march from the Ben Franklin Bridge to the Liberty Bell at 5th and Markets Street also started around noon, according to local media reports.

  But by mid-afternoon the situation had already turned violent. In response to the riots and violence, Mayor Kenney and Commissioner Outlaw addressed citizens Sunday afternoon, announcing a mandatory, city-wide curfew set to resume at 8pm Sunday, and last until 6am.

  “The peaceful protests earlier were touching showings of our collective grief. The anger being displayed now cannot continue. Please have respect and dignity for each other and return home,” Kenney stated.

  However, as the looting and violence intensified in the afternoon (in Philadelphia at least, it never really stopped) the city moved the curfew up to 6pm.

  BREAKING: Philadelphia has moved up the citywide curfew to 6 p.m. Sunday. It will last through 6 a.m. Monday. https://t.co/ftKCH2dz0x pic.twitter.com/bsEg0R7rz2

  — NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) May 31, 2020

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

  In addition, all retail stores have been ordered to close immediately. Many that haven’t even reopened from COVID yet started to board up windows “as a precaution”.

  We saw Cuba Libre and other 2nd St businesses in Old City are boarding up windows and doors as a precaution tonight. Keep in mind some of these places plan to reopen next week after the #Covid hiatus. @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/2eqWqscJev

  — Brandon Hudson (@BHudTV) May 31, 2020

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

  As the violence begins not just in Philly but in Pittsburg and in other cities around PA and the rest of the country, the state police said they were calling troopers from the surrounding area to converge on the cities.

  For instance, neighboring Troops around Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg are sending a sufficient amount of troopers to assist in those specific municipalities.

  — PA State Police (@PAStatePolice) May 31, 2020

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

  PA Gov. Tom Wolf signed a disaster emergency declaration Saturday authorizing the adjutant general of the state National Guard and the Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner to activate personnel to help cities.

  Philly police have already released their first arrest update.

  Arrest Updates beginning today, 5/31 12:01PM: (2) CVN, (6) Looting/Burglary

  — Philadelphia Police (@PhillyPolice) May 31, 2020

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

  During Sunday’s briefing, Kenney and other city officials praised the volunteers who came out Sunday morning to help clean up the damage. “I hope that the story of May 30-31 isn’t about what happened last night but about what happened this morning,” Managing Director Brian Abernathy said.

  To try and prevent a repeat of Saturday’s violence, Outlaw said much of Center City “from South (street) to Vine (street), from river to river’ — from the Schuylkill River to the Delaware River, and including the Ben Franklin Bridge — would be blocked off, affecting roads, bridges and expressway entrances and exits as well as the city’s transit agency, according to the AP.

  While local officials in the US have blamed foreign influence for instigating the violence, it looks like the protests are spreading around the world, to the US embassies in London and Berlin, and beyond.

  This is huge.

  London marching for George Floyd outside of the US embassy right now.

  Incredible scenes. #protests2020 pic.twitter.com/8XstqCRSKj

  — Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) May 31, 2020

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

  In Chicago, national Guard troops have been deployed to help the police try and restore order to the chaotic scene, as the city’s progressive mayor Lori Lightfoot pleaded with “protesters” for calm.

  Though many of the rioters, looters and protesters have worn masks, as the country braces for another night of chaos, it should be interesting to see how the infection/hospitalization numbers out of some states change in the coming days and weeks, especially considering that LA County reported some record numbers on Sunday.

   

  

• NBA Star JR Smith Expresses His Disappointment At "Motherf**king White Boy" Damaging His Truck
  NBA Star JR Smith Expresses His Disappointment At “Motherf**king White Boy” Damaging His Truck
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 19:34

  Every rioting liberal muppet has a plan until someone punches them in the face…

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  …and that bastardization of Mike Tyson’s infamous quote could not apply any better to NBA star JR Smith and the young white dude who decided – for now apparent reason – to damage a truck parked in a residential area in LA.

  As TMZ Sports reports, the 6’6″, 225-pounder unleashed a barrage of violent kicks on the man – landing several times in the head.  When the guy finally stands up on his feet, Smith delivered a final punishing overhand right to the guy’s noggin.

  NBA player JR Smith just smashed and beat up a rioter who broke his car window #protests2020 #SantaMonica #JRSmith

  pic.twitter.com/7BSnMRFLFC

  — Sheeraz Raza (@SheerazRaza) May 31, 2020

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

  After the event, Smith explained the attack in an emotionally charged video – saying:

  “One of these motherfu**king white boys didn’t know where he was going and broke my f**king window in my truck.”

  “I chased him down and whooped his ass,” Smith said.

  “He didn’t know whose window he broke and he got his ass whooped.”

  JR Smith’s response to the video out there of him beating someone up bc they broke his car window (via @TNHTalk) pic.twitter.com/LIiyTzO7Fr

  — Alex B. (@KnicksCentral) May 31, 2020

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

  Notably, Smith says the incident was not fueled by race or hatred – it was simply revenge for messing with his truck.

  We have one awkward question – as much right as Mr. Smith had to punish this mindlessly-violent idiot for damaging his property… we wonder what the reaction among the media and intelligentsia on Twitter would have been if a 6’6″, 225lb white guy was kicking the crap out of skinny young black dude who damaged his car (or store?).

  

• Citi Warns "Markets Are Way Ahead Of Reality", Urges Clients To Raise As Much Money As They Can Before The Next Crash
  Citi Warns “Markets Are Way Ahead Of Reality”, Urges Clients To Raise As Much Money As They Can Before The Next Crash
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 19:30

  If the 35% surge in the S&P in the past two months seems too good to be true as even hard-core optimists like JPM’s Marko Kolanovic now admits, announcing that he is “dialing down” his optimism while Goldman sees little upside for stocks from here…

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  … it’s probably because it is, as the latest Wall Street professional to join the chorus of naysayers and skeptics including such luminaries as David Tepper and Stanley Druckenmiller, claims.

  In an interview with the Financial Times, Manolo Falco, Citigroup’s co-head of investment banking said that financial markets were “way ahead of reality” with tougher times to come, and is warning corporate clients that they should raise as much money as they could before the pandemic’s true cost is factored in by investors.

  “We definitely feel that the markets are way ahead of reality. We really are telling every client to tap the market if they can because we think the pricing now couldn’t get any better,” Falco said, adding that “as the second quarter comes along and we start seeing the pain, and the collateral effects of that, we think this is going to be much tougher than it looks.”

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  

  His comments came at the end of a week when stock markets largely rallied even as relations between the US and China just hit rock bottom, as riots were about to break out across the US which now has more than 40 million unemployed, and as millions of businesses around the world remained shut and economies lurched towards their worst recessions in memory.

  “Markets are pricing a V [shaped recovery], everyone’s coming back to work, and this is going to be fine,” Mr Falco said. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy quite frankly” said the investment banking icon who just made Robinhood’s shitlist.

  Investors’ optimism led investment grade companies to raise a record $1 trillion of debt in the first five months of the year, putting investment banks such as Citi on course for a surge in debt capital markets revenues in the second quarter of the year compared with 2019.

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  Citi is not the only bank to take advantage of the bond issuance feast, which has been explicitly backstopped by the Fed which as we learned last week has been busy buying up over a dozen ETFs.

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  Last week senior bankers predicted another strong quarter for trading. This was especially true at JPMorgan Chase, whose investment bank boss Daniel Pinto said trading revenues in the second quarter could be up as much as 50% compared with a year earlier.

  Falco was more circumspect on the prospect of a wave of activist investment in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis. Low asset prices can tempt activist investors to buy into companies on the cheap and then look for ways to make them more profitable, often by cutting costs and jobs, but mostly issuing more debt (although with corporate leverage now at even record-er levels than just 2 months ago it is unclear just who has the capacity for even more debt).

  “You gotta be careful though because an activist can become very quickly a focus of governments if they really step in too hard at a time when people, what they want is to protect employment and to actually get things going in the economy,” Falco said. “We’ve got to be careful because in some cases . . . maybe those [investments] are at the wrong time and could create a lot of anger.”

  We doubt that: in fact, if activist investors step up and end up causing millions more to be fired, it will simply mean that the government’s free handouts will have to be extended even further, Congress will have to pass even more stimulus bills, and the Fed will have to monetize even more debt bringing us that much closer to the period of runaway inflation so eagerly sought by the Federal Reserve.

  In other words, more layoffs mean win, win, wins for everyone, except those who still believe in working hard and saving, of course.

  

• Buybacks Are Back: Here's Who Is Repurchasing The Most Stocks
  Buybacks Are Back: Here’s Who Is Repurchasing The Most Stocks
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 19:25

  On Friday, Citi rekindled a mystery, or as we called it – a conundrum – that plagued markets for much of 2019: how was it possible that stocks have been rising (shaprly) even as outflows from equity funds have soared?

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  

  Citi’s explanation was simple: according to strategist Robert Buckland, the 31% global equity rally since March lows has probably been driven by short covering, given the $120b outflows the asset class suffered over the period.

  Perhaps too simple, because while one of the concerns in recent weeks has been that companies have tapered stock buybacks, that’s not exactly true as the following table of recent buyback announcements indicates.

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  And while most sectors have indeed frozen buybacks, one group of companies stands out: we’ll let readers spot it.

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  Which is why to Citi’s assumption that it is all short covering, we will just add that the $65 billion in tech buybacks did not hurt. Oh, and incidentally, it just may explain the dramatic divergence between tech and everyone else.

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  

• "It's A Setup": Mysterious Brick Piles Appear Throughout Major Protest Cities
  “It’s A Setup”: Mysterious Brick Piles Appear Throughout Major Protest Cities
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sun, 05/31/2020 – 19:15

  Mysterious pallets of bricks have been filmed throughout major riot hotspots across the country, in what appears to be more evidence that organized groups are using the George Floyd protests to incite chaos and terrorism throughout the US.

  Nc Fayetteville it real pic.twitter.com/WJTdhrOVdW

  — Dolo (@64hunblock) May 31, 2020

  “Yo, we got bricks. We got bricks!”—#Rioters in Manhattan chanced upon a cache in the street equipped with bricks and a shovel at 10:01 p.m. on Second Ave between St. Marks Pl. and Seventh St. pic.twitter.com/dYB7vHdYqL

  — Kevin R Hogan (@KRHogan_NTD) May 31, 2020

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  Still think these riots are fluid? Still think they weren’t coordinated ? Who the heck left pallets of bricks throughout different cities Across the Nation on sidewalks? #Riot2020 pic.twitter.com/afJa0oDHlD

  — 𝐉.𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏 (@JInfanteGroup) May 31, 2020

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

  Where did the bricks come from? Who delivered them? And are any official investigations underway?

  So who’s donating the pallets of bricks to these riot ravaged areas? Surely there’s surveillance footage, and surely they arent being brought in by hand. Start checking camera footage, run license plates. pic.twitter.com/QFHgwHVz0f

  — Jerome Russell (@JeromeRussell5) May 31, 2020

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  I still have not heard from one mayor or governor stating they will open an investigation into what organization is placing pallets of bricks in cities used for the sole purpose of destruction.

  — Kambree (@KamVTV) May 31, 2020

  Need more evidence of an operation? What’s this:

  ANTIFA is a virtually all-white terror organization of cowards who pay minorities to commit their terrorism for them.

  This is demonstrated perfectly in the video below.

  ANTIFA are the scum of the earth and every one of their members should be in jailpic.twitter.com/s3nyNBvK1x

  — Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 31, 2020

  And who’s this guy?

  Here is video of the guy at Auto Zone in Minneapolis who broke out all of the windows. This is weird…pic.twitter.com/4mJHqmQrhh

  — Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) May 28, 2020

  Meanwhile:

  Black Lives Matter activist *shocked* to find pasty white ANTIFA members infiltrating their cause and committing crimes in the name of their movement.

  She calls the cowards out & ANTIFA yell at her!

  “They’re gonna blame black people for that,” activist says, “You ain’t black!” pic.twitter.com/q1RzrI04hO

  — Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 31, 2020

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  Perhaps President Trump’s decision to designate Antifa a terrorist organization will yield some answers.

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

  

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• As The World Burns…
  As The World Burns…
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 23:30

  Authored by Chris Martenson via PeakProsperity.com,

  Personal safety & security are quickly becoming more important in this era of growing social rage

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  Decades of unfairness are now boiling over in the United States in the form of protests, riots, burning buildings and violence.

  Minneapolis is on fire – literally – and the unrest has spread to numerous other major cities.

  Last year (2019) The Yellow Vest protesters in France dealt with enormous amount of police violence and intimidation as they put life and limb on the line to try and wrest better economic and living conditions for themselves.

  The people of Hong Kong are back out in force again now that the Coronavirus threat has abated, seeking greater autonomy and control over their own lives. Last year (2019) Chileans also protested, seeking better wages and living conditions.

  While the specific demands of each of these movements are unique, they all share common causes.

  Our analysis at Peak Prosperity is this: the days of constant exponential growth on a finite planet are drawing to a close. All of the systems that govern the sharing of resources among humans – political, economic and especially financial – are designed to concentrate, not share, wealth.

  Taken together, we have an economic pie that is no longer growing but is subject to a set of laws and financial predation that guarantee the wealthy get more than their fair share of what remains.

  This leads to increasingly visible, palpable unfairness.

  Primates hate that:

  In today’s world, it’s grapes for the elites and cucumbers for the rest of us (if we’re even that lucky).

  That’s been the model for a long time, but lately it’s been both accelerating and exposed for all to see.

  Team Elite™ is busy gorging on grapes. It has granted itself $trillions of freshly printed dollars from the US Federal Reserve in order to prop up ‘their fair share of things’ like bonds, stocks, and derivatives.

  That leads to these sorts of jarring headline juxtapositions:

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  (Source and source)

  Without any question whatsoever, the Federal Reserve has been printing up money like crazy and stuffing it into every crevice of the US financial markets in a bid to…well, drive up financial asset prices.

  They’ve been extremely tone deaf the entire way while pretending that their aim isn’t to make the rich richer, or deliver fatter profits to banks. Of course, both of those things are indeed happening as a direct result of the Fed’s policies and anybody with eyes can see that — yet the media refuses to acknowledge this.

  Really, it’s extremely easy to identify. Here’s what ‘grapes for the wealthy!’ looks like — see that $3 trillion spike since April?

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  All of that printing leads to some stocks now being at their priciest ratio to earnings ever:

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  That means that those holding them are being rewarded like never before. And don’t forget that the richest 10% of Americans own over 84% of all stocks

  We also see the same price-goosing with bonds. Corporate bonds are now once again approaching historically low yields which means, in the see-saw language of bonds, they are almost as pricey as they’ve ever been. In history:

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  Who received the benefits of that gigantic cluster of grapes that the Fed has lavished upon the bond markets?

  Well, the owners of all those bonds of course, and the major corporations now able to borrow at rock bottom costs even as small and medium sized enterprises are being wiped out.

  As I often say, the Fed doesn’t actually create wealth, it redistributes wealth.  While doing that it is both directly and indirectly picking winners and losers.

  The above chart of corporate bond yields says the Fed is picking large corporations and the wealthy elite  over small companies and Main Street folks.

  Of course, there are no grapes quite as sweet as the ‘special interest’ varietals that are served to only the wealthiest of real estate investors:

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  The only thing that could make this worse would be for some White House official to condescendingly insult all us regular people by referring to us in non-human terms.

  Oops:

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  (Source)

  I have dozens more such examples. But I trust you get the point: the vast unfairness of the US system is now exposed for all to see. And that inequity has become even more predatory in our hour of need during the Covid-19 pandemic. Which is why social frustration and angst are now in the process of boiling over.

  The reason why is as old as civilization itself, showing up ever since the first group of humans organized themselves into a cultural pyramid:

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  People often ask me why I shake my angry monkey-fist at the Federal Reserve so often. It’s because of the above quote. I’m the sort that prefers to avoid unnecessary pain and suffering. The Federal Reserve seems to be institutionally ignorant of the above fatal ailment.

  What the Fed is doing is wholly unnecessary and manifestly unfair. It will lead to tears yet, regrettably, it is completely avoidable. Grapes for Wall Street, and cucumbers (or worse) for everyone else. It’s just how they’re wired. They literally cannot help themselves,. So things are certain to get worse before they get better.

  It All Boils Over

  The institutional failures of the Federal Reserve aside, there are also the obvious failures of management (I can’t bring myself to call them ‘leadership’ anymore) at our major health institutions, politicians who are far quicker to the rescue of major corporations than constituents, politicized and even falsified ‘science’ coming from formerly respected institutions, the list goes on and on.

  Every one of these breaches of public trust undermines our collective safety and security. Beyond some incalculable level the foundation gives way.

  The lowest level of management in this story are the police. For decades many police departments have been heavily militarized and trained often by Israelis who’ve done a remarkable job embedding the mindset of occupying forces into US policing.

  Toss in some unresolved racial biases and animosity, civil asset forfeiture, no-knock raids for petty reasons that routinely result in innocent lives being violently taken, and you’ve got a tinder pile waiting for a spark.

  George Floyd was that spark. A particularly callous officer with a long string of unpunished claims of excessive force and violence lodged against him, knelt on George’s neck until he was dead while 3 other officers stood by and casually watched.  Against the backdrop outlined above, this was one flagrant abuse too many.

  Editorially, the person now being vetted as a possible VP for the Biden campaign, Amy Klobuchar was the prosecutor in Minneapolis for many years who could have delivered justice to the lower classes. Let’s check her record:

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  Sadly, this is a record that can be found in hundreds of other cities. It’s neither an uncommon nor a defensible record. As a reminder, in the aftermath of the Michael Brown killing and riots in Ferguson MO (2014) the justice department came in and discovered that in a city of 20,000 mostly poor people there were 16,000 outstanding arrest warrants.  Think about that for a second.

  Many for infractions like ‘impeding pedestrian flow’ (a.k.a. standing on the sidewalk). The humans were little more that ATM livestock for the police and court machinery to exploit.

  And so, with the killing of George Floyd, Minneapolis exploded.

  There’s More Unrest On The Way. Get Prepared.

  Welcome everyone to these turbulent times.

  We all want to live in a just, fair, and safe world. Some people are born into peaceful times. Others aren’t so lucky. History goes through its turnings.

  Well, here we are, smack in the middle of a whopper of a fourth turning. So let’s make the most of it.

  I take the safety and security of myself and the people around me very seriously. Because it’s my responsibility I train, and I plan, and I think things through.

  My home is in a town I judge to be very safe, and I’m not the fearful sort, so I really have to push myself to prioritize the other steps. Which I am doing because it has to be done.

  The calm days are over. There’s a new future coming, one that promises to be a lot more interesting as the old Chinese saying goes.

  I wish I believed that the worst of the social unrest was behind us. I don’t. Given the actions of the Fed and Plutarch’s quote, and the total lack of any pushback from the media on these matters, I am anticipating grapes for the elites and worse-than-cucumbers for everyone else for many years to come.

  Which means it’s time for you to more seriously consider your approach to personal security, especially if you live in or near a city. I certainly am.

  As a true mark of the turning, a growing number of my friends who would never have considered owning a gun before are now thinking about doing so. All sorts of formerly ‘hard’ decisions suddenly become up for grabs when folks start feeling more physically vulnerable.

  But personal security is far more than ‘owning a gun.’ It’s a mindset as well as a behavior set. And above all, it’s about avoiding trouble in the first place.

  It includes taking sensible steps to protect your home from being an easy target for crime. It means having a plan and well-practiced skills in place to keep yourself and your loved ones safe from violence. It means aligning with neighbors to watch each others’ backs. It means practicing with whatever tools or systems you adopt so that they are second nature to you if you ever have to use them.

  For those without extensive experience and training (which I assume is just about everyone reading this), the best presentation I’ve ever seen covering the practical essentials you need to know to maximize your odds of staying safe is this video from Peak Prosperity member Tom C., a 19-year veteran inner city police sergeant, given at our most recent annual seminar:

  Here’s a brief 3-minute clip from it in which Tom is fielding Q&A on the audience’s top concerns:

  Tom’s full seminar presentation is 48 minutes long and addresses key safety & security issues including how to reduce your threat risk profile, situational awareness, what to do (both mindset and actions) if in danger, how to create “layers” of defenses, as well as good home security options. Peak Prosperity’s premium members can watch it in full here.

  Not a premium member yet? Enroll now to get access to the video.

  

• The Road To Recovery: Which Economies Are Reopening?
  The Road To Recovery: Which Economies Are Reopening?
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 23:00

  COVID-19 has brought the world to a halt – but, as Visual Capitalist’s Iman Ghosh details below, after months of uncertainty, it seems that the situation is slowly taking a turn for the better.

  Today’s chart measures the extent to which 41 major economies are reopening, by plotting two metrics for each country: the mobility rate and the COVID-19 recovery rate:

  1. Mobility Index
     This refers to the change in activity around workplaces, subtracting activity around residences, measured as a percentage deviation from the baseline.

  2. COVID-19 Recovery Rate
     The number of recovered cases in a country is measured as the percentage of total cases.

  Data for the first measure comes from Google’s COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports, which relies on aggregated, anonymous location history data from individuals. Note that China does not show up in the graphic as the government bans Google services.

  COVID-19 recovery rates rely on values from CoronaTracker, using aggregated information from multiple global and governmental databases such as WHO and CDC.

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  Reopening Economies, One Step at a Time

  In general, the higher the mobility rate, the more economic activity this signifies. In most cases, mobility rate also correlates with a higher rate of recovered people in the population.

  Here’s how these countries fare based on the above metrics.

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  Mobility data as of May 21, 2020 (Latest available). COVID-19 case data as of May 29, 2020.

  In the main scatterplot visualization, we’ve taken things a step further, assigning these countries into four distinct quadrants:

  1. High Mobility, High Recovery

  High recovery rates are resulting in lifted restrictions for countries in this quadrant, and people are steadily returning to work.

  New Zealand has earned praise for its early and effective pandemic response, allowing it to curtail the total number of cases. This has resulted in a 98% recovery rate, the highest of all countries. After almost 50 days of lockdown, the government is recommending a flexible four-day work week to boost the economy back up.

  2. High Mobility, Low Recovery

  Despite low COVID-19 related recoveries, mobility rates of countries in this quadrant remain higher than average. Some countries have loosened lockdown measures, while others did not have strict measures in place to begin with.

  Brazil is an interesting case study to consider here. After deferring lockdown decisions to state and local levels, the country is now averaging the highest number of daily cases out of any country. On May 28th, for example, the country had 24,151 new cases and 1,067 new deaths.

  3. Low Mobility, High Recovery

  Countries in this quadrant are playing it safe, and holding off on reopening their economies until the population has fully recovered.

  Italy, the once-epicenter for the crisis in Europe is understandably wary of cases rising back up to critical levels. As a result, it has opted to keep its activity to a minimum to try and boost the 65% recovery rate, even as it slowly emerges from over 10 weeks of lockdown.

  4. Low Mobility, Low Recovery

  Last but not least, people in these countries are cautiously remaining indoors as their governments continue to work on crisis response.

  With a low 0.05% recovery rate, the United Kingdom has no immediate plans to reopen. A two-week lag time in reporting discharged patients from NHS services may also be contributing to this low number. Although new cases are leveling off, the country has the highest coronavirus-caused death toll across Europe.

  The U.S. also sits in this quadrant with over 1.7 million cases and counting. Recently, some states have opted to ease restrictions on social and business activity, which could potentially result in case numbers climbing back up.

  Over in Sweden, a controversial herd immunity strategy meant that the country continued business as usual amid the rest of Europe’s heightened regulations. Sweden’s COVID-19 recovery rate sits at only 13.9%, and the country’s -93% mobility rate implies that people have been taking their own precautions.

  COVID-19’s Impact on the Future

  It’s important to note that a “second wave” of new cases could upend plans to reopen economies. As countries reckon with these competing risks of health and economic activity, there is no clear answer around the right path to take.

  COVID-19 is a catalyst for an entirely different future, but interestingly, it’s one that has been in the works for a while.

  Without being melodramatic, COVID-19 is like the last nail in the coffin of globalization…The 2008-2009 crisis gave globalization a big hit, as did Brexit, as did the U.S.-China trade war, but COVID is taking it to a new level.

  – Carmen Reinhart, incoming Chief Economist for the World Bank

  Will there be any chance of returning to “normal” as we know it?

  

• The Mysterious Missing Link – Anti-Malaria Drug & Zinc
  The Mysterious Missing Link – Anti-Malaria Drug & Zinc
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 22:30

  Authored by Joseph Berry via The Conservative Woman blog,

  Mystery surrounds why an anti-malaria drug is not being tested as a Covid-19 treatment in combination with zinc, which doctors say is crucial for efficacy.

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  As we reported recently, President Trump revealed he was taking hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) alongside zinc after reports that many doctors are doing the same to help ward off Covid-19. 

  Criticism of the President rose sharply after a non-randomised study published in the Lancet said that HCQ provided no benefit to hospitalised Covid-19 patients while being linked to increased deaths. 

  What the mainstream media did not point out is that the Lancet study failed to test HCQ with zinc. Other experts have found zinc to be vital for efficacy in this context.

  Zinc, available as an over-the-counter supplement, has long been seen as an immune-system booster that helps develop immune cells, or antibodies, and can strengthen the body’s response to a virus.

  American infectious disease specialist Joseph Rahimian explained that, in relation to Covid-19, zinc ‘does the heavy lifting and is the primary substance attacking the pathogen’. HCQ is said to work as a delivery systemfor zinc in fighting coronavirus.

  Ironically, the Lancet study came out at the same time as it was reported that India’s premier health body had expanded use of HCQ as a preventive for key workers following three studies showing positive results. 

  Conflicting reports and political axe-grinding have thickened the fog of war on this, but we know a number of things:

  1. HCQ has been around for decades and is a ‘safe’ treatment for malaria and other conditions including lupus and arthritis (as the BBC has acknowledged). 

  2. Many doctors (and India) use HCQ as a preventive measure, as President Trump is now doing. A survey of doctors by a leading American physician staffing firm found that 65 per cent would give HCQ to their own family as a prevention or treatment. The UK is now conducting trials into whether HCQ can help prevent Covid-19. Results are not expected before the end of the year, although there will be results sooner from similar trials in the US.

  3. International experience suggests HCQ can be effective in tackling Covid. Reports from France, Italy and Spain point to positive results from the use of HCQ, while a number of other countries are seeing success including Turkey, Costa Rica, Algeria, Belgium and Bahrain. This month a Shanghai-based doctor reported that, in China, a combination of zinc, hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin ‘has been able to save coronavirus patients’. 

  4. Many prominent Americans are taking HCQ to treat Covid-19 (and recovering) even as opponents attack President Trump for following the lead of many doctors. Hall of Fame rock star David Bryan, best known as the keyboardist for Bon Jovi, tested positive and was treated with HCQ, among other things. By late April, he was said to have recovered. Former Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar has now admitted her husband was treated with HCQ after he contracted coronavirus. After his rapid recovery, Senator Klobuchar said (through gritted teeth): ‘I believe he did briefly take that drug.’

  Sadly it doesn’t seem to be the priority of most mainstream journalists, and some in the scientific community, to report the facts on HCQ in a responsible manner. As political commentator Scott Adams recently pointed out, the corporate news (CNN, Fox News etc) has no credibility when it comes to reporting on pharmaceuticals. In this context, this may be partly due to politics, but it is also a result of their financial stake in drug advertising.

  With regard to reporting of the Lancet’s finding about increased deaths, Adams asked whether this should be seen as a surprise ‘given that we know the HCQ can have some heart issues with people who already have heart issues. Do [elderly people who are dying from coronavirus] have strong hearts? Probably not’.

  He added:

   ‘What they don’t do on CNN is mention that if you don’t test it with the zinc [then] I’m not sure that you’ve really tested the thing that has the most promise. Where is that [test]?’

  He has a point. A number of doctors say zinc is essential.

  California emergency physician Dr Anthony Cardillo said during a local television interview:

  ‘[HCQ] really only works in conjunction with zinc. Every patient I have prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within eight to twelve hours they were basically symptom-free and so clinically I am seeing a resolution.’

  This frontline experience was backed up by a study by the New York University Grossman School of Medicine published this month. It found that those receiving the triple-drug combination (HCQ, with azithromycin and, crucially, zinc) ‘were 44 per cent less likely to die, compared with the double-drug combination (i.e. without zinc)’.

  As the study notes:

  ‘This study provides the first in vivo evidence that zinc sulfate in combination with hydroxychloroquine may play a role in therapeutic management for Covid-19.’

  The above makes the question of why zinc was not used in the Lancet study more baffling. And why don’t the media note that the combination of zinc and HCQ is crucial?

  As Scott Adams put it:

  ‘When they say the President is taking this drug that is killing people . . . it is not true. It is basically a lie . . . Both Fox News and CNN are doing something is completely illegitimate . . . I don’t know any reason you would do that other than to mislead.’

  Sadly, with a Presidential election approaching, it’s doubtful whether the barrage of fake news over this treatment will be replaced by professional reporting. We can only hope that the truth – whatever it may be – will win out in the end.

  

• Here Are All The NYC Restaurants That Have Permanently Closed During The Coronavirus Crisis
  Here Are All The NYC Restaurants That Have Permanently Closed During The Coronavirus Crisis
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 22:00

  In a world where hotels and restaurants already face a dismal future, a new study has found that nearly two-thirds of publicly traded restaurants are at risk of bankruptcy as the Covid-19 pandemic batters the industry. The odds of failure are even higher for small companies and restaurants that specialize in dine-in, consulting firm Aaron Allen & Associates said in an analysis. It identified Bloomin’ Brands, Potbelly and Chili’s owner Brinker International Inc. among those at greater risk according to Bloomberg.

  “It’s really the full-service model that’s in the biggest danger,” principal Aaron Allen said. “Some of those that are in casual dining – a lot of those had already been bleeding cash, bleeding locations.”

  And while Americans are starting to tentatively venture out again, and restaurants are seeing a modest rebound from rock bottom according to OpenTable data…

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  … the dining recovery may be slow with unemployment on the rise, cautious spending and also ongoing concerns about health and safety. This leaves the restaurant industry – already upended by broad stay-at-home orders that led to sharp declines in restaurant sales – facing a bleak future. 

  One of the biggest challenges restaurants face, according to the study, is convincing Americans that it’s safe to dine in. TGI Friday’s is taking unusual steps to lure customers in, including renting party tents to expand dining space to parking lots. “When people are eating outside they feel much safer,” CEO Ray Blanchette said in an interview. Some of their stores in southern states already have patios, he said.

  The difference between the restaurants that survive and those that don’t may come down to which can make customers feel most comfortable, according to Katherine Miller, vice president of impact at the James Beard Foundation.

  “People are going to return to places that they trust first,” she said in an email. “Mostly trust to keep them safe.”

  Unfortunately, for the following landmark New York City restaurant, it’s too late, as a sizable group has been forced to shutter permanently as the industry contends with colossal losses to the tune of billions of dollars. Among those that have closed are decades-old neighborhood stalwarts like Keith McNally’s Lucky Strike, along with some newer establishments like Randall’s Barbecue on the Lower East Side.

  According to Eater, this may just be the beginning of permanent closures, however, as rent and utility payments continue to mount in the coming months. There’s also no word yet from the state or city governments on when restaurants will be able to reopen, and what that return will look like. In April, a survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association predicted that 4 percent of New York’s roughly 25,000 restaurants had permanently closed after the start of the pandemic, and predicted that another 7 percent would close this month.

  Below is a list of the permanent restaurant closures in NYC so far as catalogued by Eater.

  May 29

  Midtown: The Copacabana — an iconic New York City nightclub whose stage has seen the likes of Harry Belafonte, the Supremes, and Carmen Miranda — permanently closed this month after an 80-year run in multiple locations. A staffer at the nightclub attributed the closure to the novel coronavirus shutdown, adding that the venue planned to return next year at a new unspecified location.

  Times Square: Manhattan’s luxe new hotel the Times Square Edition, which temporarily closed in light of the pandemic, is set to permanently close this August, just one year after its hyped-up Manhattan debut. The hotel is home to several restaurant and bar options helmed by chef John Fraser, including its ninth-floor Terrace Restaurant and the Outdoor Gardens, an all-day American brasserie. The flagship fine-dining restaurant 701West notably received three-stars in the New York Times. The hotel was a partnership between hotelier Ian Schrager and Marriott International Inc.

  Tribeca: Vietnamese fast-casual restaurant Vietspot has permanently closed just two years after opening in the neighborhood. Owner Sophie Nguyen tells Tribeca Citizen that she hopes to fully reopen the FiDi outpost of the restaurant — which is also the original location — when the current restrictions on dining-in are lifted. For now, that outpost is open for delivery and takeout.

  West Village: Japanese grilling destination Takashi has left the West Village after more than a decade in the neighborhood. The novel coronavirus shutdown dealt the tabletop grilling spot “a particularly deft blow,” according to a letter posted to the restaurant’s website by owner Saheem Al. Given the restaurant’s focus on interactive, family-style meals, a pivot to delivery or takeout didn’t make sense, Ali wrote, while the restaurant was too small to make a comeback with dine-in service at reduced capacity.

  West Village: Blenheim, an upscale farm-to-table restaurant in the West Village, appears to have permanently closed without announcement, according to tipsters who described the space as “cleared out entirely.” In its six-year run, the restaurant was known for its “grown-to-order” produce, which comes from two farms in the Catskills also owned by the restaurant. At the time of writing, the owners have not posted a closing announcement to their website or social media page.

  May 22

  Tribeca: Manhattan mini-chain Schnippers has permanently closed its Tribeca outpost, according to local publication Tribeca Citizen. The Schnippers brothers opened the burger restaurant in 2016; the duo had founded and operated Hale and Hearty soups until 2006, when they sold the company. Three other Schnippers remain, in Times Square, Midtown, and the Financial District.

  Upper West Side: Charming French restaurant Bistro Cassis announced that it would close after more than 15 years of business. The Upper West Side bistro remained open for takeout and delivery service through the first two months of the coronavirus pandemic, serving its popular French onion soup, rack of lamb, and steak frites to locals in the neighborhood. Despite an outpouring of support from customers online, though, the restaurant shared that its last day would be May 11.

  Upper West Side: Upper West Side’s counter-service kosher spot Effy’s has permanently closed according to an announcement from the restaurant’s owners. The seven-year-old restaurant was beloved in the neighborhood for its breakfast and brunches, which highlighted Mediterranean and Israeli dishes. Although the owners did not cite a reason for closing, a chalkboard sign in front of the restaurant last week did share hopes to serve diners again at another location in the city.

  May 15

  Chelsea: Boston-based tapas restaurant Toro NYC will not be reopening following the coronavirus pandemic. The restaurant — an expansion of the successful, original Toro restaurant operated by JK Food Group — posted a message to its Facebook and Instagram accounts in March, announcing that its “staff will not have a restaurant home to come back to when this pandemic ends.”

  East Village: Michelin-starred sushi omakase spot Jewel Bako has closed its doors for good, EV Grieve reports. The restaurant — “one of the most enjoyable places to enjoy sushi in the city,” according to New York Magazine — posted a sign to its door earlier this week advertising an “open house sale” with kitchen appliances, supplies, and wine for sale. The team’s nearby chef counter Restaurant Ukiyo has closed as well, the owners confirm to Eater.

  Flatbush: The Brooklyn location of Wolf and Lamb Steakhouse has closed as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic, owner Zalman Wuensch announced over Facebook. “After nearly a decade serving the Brooklyn Kosher community, we are sad to announce that due to issues related to the corona crisis, Wolf and Lamb is sad to be closing our Brooklyn location,” Wuensch said. The steakhouse’s midtown Manhattan location is temporarily closed but plans to reopen when it is safe to do so.

  Fort Greene: After more than six years in the neighborhood, Fort Greene’s Greene Grape Annex has permanently closed. The airy cafe — known for its naturally-lit dining room, late-night hours, and many, many planter boxes — closed due to the coronavirus pause, says owner Amy Bennett in an email to her staff. “I look forward to a time where things are back to (a new) normal and the kind of neighborhood social interaction that Annex fostered comes back,” she says. The Greene Grape Annex is survived by the nearby Green Grape Provisions grocery store and Greene Grape Wine and Spirits, where some of the cafe’s staff will be rehired.

  Greenpoint: Cherry Point, an English-inspired farm-to-table restaurant, shuttered after four years due to the coronavirus shutdown. The bistro was best known for its selection of meats, which earned it a loving two-star review from Times critic Pete Wells last year. Owner Vince Mazeau says he fought to keep the restaurant open so that his staff could continue earning money, but in March, the weight of upcoming rent payments became too much. Mazeau arranged an agreement with his landlord to postpone rent payments while he sought out a lease takeover.

  Hudson Square: The huge flagship store of chocolatier Jacques Torres has decided not to renew its lease, a decision made before the coronavirus crisis. Jacques Torres first debuted this Hudson Square storefront back in 2004, when the mass-market chocolate company was still in its infancy. The company’s well-liked chocolates, chocolate chip cookies, and ultra-rich hot chocolate can still be purchased online and at its six other locations.

  Park Slope: The Brooklyn location of Soho’s popular Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken appears to have permanently closed. A real estate sign in the restaurant’s window lists that the storefront is available for lease, according to a tipster in the neighborhood, while the store’s Open Table page lists the spot as permanently closed.

  Upper East Side: After a successful two decades in the neighborhood, Upper East Side favorite Beyoglu has permanently closed. A sign posted on the Turkish restaurant’s door says that the owners were unable to pay to extend their lease as a result of the coronavirus shutdown. Known for its doner kebab, hummus, and traditional Turkish fare, Beyoglu was particularly popular during warmer months with its outdoor seating that stretched around the corner.

  Washington Heights: Popular Irish pub Coogan’s has closed after more than 30 years in Washington Heights. The owners of the restaurant had received a temporary rent moratorium from their landlord but were unable to pay the cost of the leases on their restaurant equipment, according to the New York Times. The neighborhood stalwart was able to avoid closing once before, back in January 2018, when more than 14,000 people signed a petition to save the restaurant from rising rent prices.

  May 8

  Columbus Circle: Two luxury cocktail bars from famed Chicago-based restaurant group Alinea permanently closed on April 15. Despite Alinea’s popularity in Chicago, the Aviary and the Office were received with mixed reviews during their two-year tenures in the Mandarin Oriental hotel at Columbus Circle. Alinea co-founder and restaurateur Nick Kokonas confirmed that the bars were already scheduled to shut down on April 15, a decision made before the COVID-19 crisis.

  East Village: Nearly 100-year-old East Village shop Gem Spa shut down permanently after a tumultuous year. The iconic shop, reportedly the birthplace of the egg cream and long a fixture in NYC’s punk rock and art scenes, had landlord issues and lost its lottery and cigarette license in August, something that represented more than 80 percent of revenue. A robust social media campaign and apparel sales celebrating the shop’s history, though popular, ultimately were not enough to keep it going due to COVID-19’s impact.

  Financial District: One of Lower Manhattan’s oldest bars, the Paris Cafe, has permanently closed after more than a century in the Financial District. The pub was 147 years old, and was almost destroyed during Hurricane Sandy, according to Tribeca Citizen. On March 6, owner Pete O’Connell posted on Facebook that he had no option but to close the Paris Cafe. “Through no fault of anyone but the outbreak of this virus, we are unable to forge a way forward that makes economic sense,” he said.

  Forest Hills: The Irish Cottage, a popular local restaurant that’s been around for 60 years, announced it would be close on May 7. Run by the McNulty family, the restaurant prided itself on Irish tradition and being an active part of the community by hosting fundraisers and live music. Kathleen McNulty, who ran the business since 1986, died in April due to complications from COVID-19; her sons made the decision to close, saying that takeout would not sustain the business.

  Greenwich Village: After 36 years and many accolades, fine dining trailblazer Gotham Bar & Grill has permanently closed. The Greenwich Village institution, which received one Michelin star and three stars from Pete Wells, permanently closed on March 13, at a time when many restaurants were just beginning to announce temporary closures. A spokesperson said it was due to the virus, though a source at the restaurant said that was only part of the reasoning.

  Lower East Side: Well-liked barbecue joint Randall’s served its last pastrami and brisket on April 3, owner and pitmaster Jared Male posted on Instagram. Shortly after opening in August 2018, Eater critic Robert Sietsema stopped in for a visit, where he had some memorable pastrami and brisket.

  Rego Park: Irish pub and restaurant Woodhaven House opted to close permanently due to the “devastating” financial impact of the crisis. The restaurant, known for its live music and cozy, wood-laden space, had been in the neighborhood for 16 years.

  Soho: Neighborhood institution Lucky Strike closed for good on April 15, following more than 30 years in Soho. The French-American bistro from Keith McNally landed on Grand Street in 1989, well before better-known hangouts like Balthazar and Pastis. Despite its popularity, though, McNally shared in a 2016 interview that Lucky Strike didn’t make “any money,” which is at least part of the reason the bistro closed. The crisis, McNally said, made it difficult for the restaurant to work financially.

  Soho: One of New York City’s earliest craft cocktail bar destinations, Pegu Club, has permanently closed after close to 15 years in Soho. Owner Audrey Saunders shared that the bar’s lease was set to expire in October, and though she planned to keep the bar open until then, the coronavirus shutdown “has taken every bit of the life we had out of us.”

  West Village: Daddy-O, the popular West Village dive bar known as hangout spot for local chefs, permanently closed on April 30 after more than 20 years. The bar is responsible for several of the entries on Eater NY’s list of hard-to-find foods in NYC, including Western New York specialties like the “garbage plate,” but it was largely beloved for its vibe as a neighborhood bar.

  Williamsburg: After a 16-year run in Williamsburg and Nolita, Ithaca-based coffee roaster Gimme Coffee permanently closed its two New York City storefronts due to the economic impact of the virus. The coffee roaster’s Williamsburg outpost, which opened in 2003, was among the first third-wave coffee shops in the city, setting the stage for a boom in espresso drinking and indie coffee culture over the next decade.

  

• Watch Live: Riots Erupt From Coast To Coast; Curfews Imposed; Stores Looted; D.C. Activates National Guard
  Watch Live: Riots Erupt From Coast To Coast; Curfews Imposed; Stores Looted; D.C. Activates National Guard
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 21:52

  Here’s a live stream of multiple riots across the country:  

  Summary:

  • Peaceful protests quickly turn violent across major US cities 
  • US cities announce curfews after protests turn violent 
  • Protests unfold across from White House 
  • Seven states now activating National Guard troops 

  Protests in major US cities 

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  * * *

  Update (22:10ET): The military police has arrived at the White House…

  Trump, in Marine One, just did a flyover of the protest area outside the White House. pic.twitter.com/yjPZ0a6Pc3

  — Yasin Ozturk (@yasinozturkusa) May 31, 2020

  … as crowds of protesters gather.

  SCNENES NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE
  pic.twitter.com/wmA3P1XoRb

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 31, 2020

  … and as rioters charge the Police after a reported explosion:

  Developing from near the White House. pic.twitter.com/dcCNQmTfPd

  — Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 31, 2020

  … and the DC National Guard has been activated:

  BREAKING: U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy activates D.C. National Guard to help maintain order near the White House pic.twitter.com/Jkaicv9rhB

  — BNO News (@BNONews) May 31, 2020

  …as Military Police from the National Guard are now lined up in front of the White House

  NOW: Military Police from the National Guard are now lined up in front of the White House complex in Washington D.C.

  — David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) May 31, 2020

  The president does not appear too nervous, tweeting moments ago that he has activated the National Guard in Minneapolis “to do the job that the Democrat Mayor couldn’t do. Should have been used 2 days ago & there would not have been damage & Police Headquarters would not have been taken over & ruined.”

  The National Guard has been released in Minneapolis to do the job that the Democrat Mayor couldn’t do. Should have been used 2 days ago & there would not have been damage & Police Headquarters would not have been taken over & ruined. Great job by the National Guard. No games!

  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2020

  Meanwhile, NYC is going from bad to worse to downright “Joker.”

  Chaos in Union Square NYC. More police moving in. Heading Several cars exploding. Helicopters overhead. pic.twitter.com/Vh0qb8q4Sz

  — Gabriel Elizondo (@elizondogabriel) May 31, 2020

  Dozens of firefighters all over Union Square putting out car fires pic.twitter.com/NBQBxAVSVB

  — Gabriel Elizondo (@elizondogabriel) May 31, 2020

  Union Square #GeorgeFlyod pic.twitter.com/yTyoWUkMOt

  — NYC Scanner (@NYScanner) May 31, 2020

  And, just like in Chicago, the island is starting to barricade itself: the Manhattan Bridge is now shut down:

  The Manhattan Bridge was temporarily shut down tonight as protestors crossed from Brooklyn. Some are now gathered at Barclays Center. Live at 11 @NBCNewYork #NYCPROTEST #brooklyn pic.twitter.com/inwvbgNLIi

  — Adam Harding (@HardingReports) May 31, 2020

  * * *

  Update (22:00 ET): Curfews are being imposed across the nation in response to the riots:

  • Minneapolis
  • Atlanta
  • Denver
  • Philadelphia
  • Pittsburgh
  • Seattle
  • Cleveland
  • Columbus
  • Portland
  • Miami
  • Milwaukee
  • Rochester, NY

  CURFEW IN EFFECT: Until further notice, a curfew between the hours of 9PM and 6AM is now in effect in the City of Chicago. Please stay safe. pic.twitter.com/14GcaGs2N3

  — Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) May 31, 2020

  #BREAKING Mayor Garcetti expands curfew to all of Los Angeles, in effect from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. as violence erupts during #GeorgeFloyd protests https://t.co/LVc1yz6FIp

  — ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) May 31, 2020

  LA too:

  • L.A. EXTENDS CURFEW TO ENTIRE CITY FROM 8 P.M. TO 5:30 A.M.

  And here’s why:

  • PROTESTERS BREACH BARRICADE ON RODEO DRIVE BEVERLY HILLS, ATTEMPTING TO BREAK INTO THE GUCCI STORE – CBSLA
  • THE NORDSTROM STORE IN THE GROVE SHOPPING MALL IN LA BEING LOOTED – CBSLA
  • NOW LOOTING THE APPLE STORE IN THE GROVE SHOPPING MALL
  • RIOTERS SET BEVERLY HILLS PD VEHICLE ON FIRE – CBSLA

  * * *

  Update (21:53 ET): A police officer in Jacksonville has been stabbed during a protest. According to WTSP, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said a protester stabbed one of his deputies in the neck and “many people have been arrested” in protests downtown Saturday. Authorities are warning the public to stay away from the downtown area as a protest continues against police brutality.

  Earlier, police officers – seemingly terrified to fight back – were attacked and dragged through the streets of Chicago.

  CHAOS: Police officers dragged through the street in Chicago

  pic.twitter.com/DV8r8qHPyg

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 30, 2020

  And in Salt Lake City, a man yelling  “all lives matter” was overpowered after pointing hunting bow at protesters.

  NEW: Man yelling “all lives matter” is overpowered after pointing hunting bow at protesters in Salt Lake City pic.twitter.com/r0zSzfljar

  — BNO News (@BNONews) May 31, 2020

  * * *

  Update (21:40 ET): New York is rapidly falling to the rioting mob, with scenes taken straight out of the joker, as cop cars get barricaded by protesters, and while some make their way out…

  Watch to the end pic.twitter.com/VtCP6NV1XT

  — James Hamblin (@jameshamblin) May 31, 2020

  … others aren’t so lucky.

  Another NYPD vehicle taken down in Union Square pic.twitter.com/fWrHkFEQDE

  — Jessica Cunnington (@JessicaNews12) May 31, 2020

  Meanwhile the confrontations between police and protesters are getting all too real:

  Tense moments from right near #UnionSquare – as there was a face off before creating a line. An @NYPDnews officer shoved me while telling me to get back and shoved another independent photographer with a baton. pic.twitter.com/ybH5F7rxQH

  — Jessica Cunnington (@JessicaNews12) May 31, 2020

  The scenes are simply surreal:

  Another NYPD vehicle taken down in Union Square pic.twitter.com/fWrHkFEQDE

  — Jessica Cunnington (@JessicaNews12) May 31, 2020

  Man dragged down and arrested after crowd started running. pic.twitter.com/uVIHADSlKW

  — Jessica Cunnington (@JessicaNews12) May 31, 2020

  Officers from @NYPD44Pct in the #Bronx just arrived in that van here in #UnionSquare pic.twitter.com/6frfbNAqQj

  — Jessica Cunnington (@JessicaNews12) May 31, 2020

  Over in the city of brotherly mugging, things are deteriorating fast too with a cop car on fire, as the Apple store gets looted:

  COP CAR ON FIRE, APPLE STORE LOOTED IN PHILLY
  pic.twitter.com/g4Zsi5ySku

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 31, 2020

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  A Nike story in Chicago just got rid of some excess inventory:

  Nike store on Michigan Ave. looted in Chicago pic.twitter.com/hXMsM7FE2z

  — Outkick the Coverage (@Outkick) May 31, 2020

  * * *

  Update (20:19 ET): Absolutely stunning video emerges from Seattle this evening of a protester commandeering an AR-15 from a police car. Judging by the clip, the weapon had a loaded magazine and holographic sights. 

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  Then, an unidentified man with an AR-15 comes up to the rifle-wielding protester and quickly snatches it out of his hand. 

  Crazy! Guy finds what looks like AR-15 in busted up police cruiser and gets gun pulled on him immediately. #seattleprotest pic.twitter.com/fXAvB9Wkzo

  — Jason Lynch (@206Lynch) May 30, 2020

  Chaos is unfolding across the country – this is history – unprecedented – and will continue for the coming days. 

  CHAOS: Police officers dragged through the street in Chicago

  pic.twitter.com/DV8r8qHPyg

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 30, 2020

  * * * 

  Update (19:52 ET): National Guard convoy spotted rolling into Washington, D.C. as social unrest continues to worsen. 

  Just another day in the capital of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/xzecDIpqro

  — Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) May 30, 2020

  National Guard arrives to DC Washington for cool down the riots,
  and hey western media its not Hong Kong ☺️ @zhang_heqing @zlj517 @libijian2 pic.twitter.com/apzR9krp5L

  — Abdul Rehman (@AbdulMaan) May 30, 2020

  * * * 

  Update (18:18 ET): It’s Saturday evening, and social unrest unfolds across America as the country quickly descends into chaos. Many of today’s protests started peacefully but have suddenly turned violent.

  Let’s start in Philadelphia, where multiple cars are on fire. 

  This is the scene in Center City Philadelphia

  pic.twitter.com/yhFTIwpgHk

  — GrantB911 (@GrantB911) May 30, 2020

  Protesters torch a Starbucks at Dilworth Park outside City Hall. 

  .@Starbucks is burning at Dilworth Park outside of City Hall. It’s done. #phillyprotest @CBSPhilly @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/hc88OXMsSm

  — manuelsmith (@manuelsmith) May 30, 2020

  Meanwhile, in Dallas, a mob has attacked a line of cop cars.

  HAPPENING NOW IN DALLAS:

  Multiple occupied squad cars being damaged by rioters.

  Protesters who disagree with the violence being shouted down.

  Cops have begun to use tear gas & have called in the paddy wagon.

  pic.twitter.com/LCnu0CFWB6

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 30, 2020

  Heavily armed Dallas Police shoot tear gas into the crowd. 

  #dallaspd advance on the #DallasProtest crowd, shoot tear gas, and aimed it in my direction. It was shot behind me in my IG live stream. pic.twitter.com/EWPwfk3Zni

  — steven (@stevanzetti) May 30, 2020

  A massive crowd assembles in downtown Miami.

  Protesters in downtown Miami cross Biscayne Boulevard from outside Bayside to NE 3rd Street. #MiamiProtest #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/5e36Ft2PSo

  — Martin Vassolo (@martindvassolo) May 30, 2020

  Protesters shut down a highway in Miami. 

  Protests in honor of #GeorgeFloyd in #Miami are peaceful but traffic has been disrupted! #MiamiProtest 📽: @nbc6 pic.twitter.com/7KvwJ6iaPd

  — 103.5 The BEAT (@1035TheBEAT) May 30, 2020

  VOA’s Steve Herman tweeted, “demonstration turns violent” in Chicago. 

  Chicago demonstration turns violent: https://t.co/KdnPvRHkMN pic.twitter.com/MHeRRhme6L

  — Steve Herman (@W7VOA) May 30, 2020

  Protesters and police clash in Chicago. 

  Violence has erupted in Chicago. Witnessing firsthand multiple officers swing their batons at a protester. #chicagoprotest #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #trumptower pic.twitter.com/tCullA8Qe0

  — tripio bless this beat 🇵🇸✊🏾✊🏿 (@officialtripio) May 30, 2020

  In the Fairfax district of Los Angeles, a huge crowd gathers in the streets. 

  At least four separate groups, including at the Pan Pacific Park near The Grove, have taken to the streets of Central L.A. on Saturday afternoon https://t.co/4CEtKhwZCr pic.twitter.com/Ich7wTjc86

  — KTLA (@KTLA) May 30, 2020

  Police car lit on fire in downtown Los Angeles. 

  WATCH LIVE: Police vehicles are on fire, as protests continue in the LA area. https://t.co/sdJnPr4jDD pic.twitter.com/Er28ThjWVp

  — NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) May 30, 2020

  Protesters turn violent at the White House. 

  Currently at the White House pic.twitter.com/6DTRbFAqo6

  — FreeZerohedge (@freezerohedge) May 30, 2020

  Protesters swarm highway in San Diego. 

  Massive crowds forming in NYC. 

  Right now, #NYC ##protests #BlackLivesMatter #unionsquare to #soho #JusticeForGeorgeFlyod pic.twitter.com/SYngRMWyFT

  — dina regine (@dinaregine) May 30, 2020

  Chaos in Times Square. 

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  Police fire tear gas at protesters in Seattle.  

  Explosions in downtown Seattle go off https://t.co/DCDRQOsQj8

  — Ronnie Estoque (@RonnieEstoque) May 30, 2020

  Massive crowd develops in Cleveland, Ohio. 

  A look of the size of the crowd at the #Cleveland #protest pic.twitter.com/Z2N4HcWxas

  — Jiovanni Lieggi (@lieggiji) May 30, 2020

  One shocked Twitter user said: “Protestors have arrived in BeverlyHills. I’d never thought I’d see a protest in Beverly Hills. Wow. I hope this stays this peaceful.”

  Protestors have arrived in #BeverlyHills. I’d never thought I’d see a protest in Beverly Hills. Wow. I hope this stays this peaceful. #RodeoDrive #BLACK_LIVES_MATTER pic.twitter.com/m2cuDmfc5M

  — Remington Lee (@HeyItsRemi) May 30, 2020

  New reports indicate Colorado National Guard activates after buildings in Denver were damaged with explosives and rioters armed with rifles.  

  COLORADO GOVERNOR ACTIVATES NATIONAL GUARD AFTER BUILDINGS IN DENVER WERE DAMAGED WITH EXPLOSIVES AND MANY RIOTERS WERE ARMED WITH RIFLES – FOX NEWS

  — FXHedge (@Fxhedgers) May 30, 2020

  None of this is surprising considering the country has just experienced an economic collapse with 40 million people unemployed. Social unrest will likely get worse before it gets better. Riots could continue into next week. It’s only a matter of time before National Guard troops are called up around the country. 

  Watch Riots Across America Live 

  * * *

  Update (13:35ET): Daily Mail reports the Pentagon has told active-duty military police to be ready to deploy to Minneapolis, a move that would hopefully squash the continued social unrest. The last time the military was sent into a US metro area to disperse large crowds was during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. 

  “As unrest spread across dozens of American cities on Friday, the Pentagon took the rare step of ordering the Army to put several active-duty US military police units on the ready to deploy to Minneapolis, where the police killing of George Floyd sparked the widespread protests.

  “Soldiers from Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York have been ordered to be ready to deploy within four hours if called, according to three people with direct knowledge of the orders. 

  “Soldiers in Fort Carson, in Colorado, and Fort Riley in Kansas have been told to be ready within 24 hours. 

  “The people did not want their names used because they were not authorized to discuss the preparations.” – Daily Mail 

  Fox News reported that protests could be seen in more than 50 cities on Saturday evening. 

  * * * 

  Update (12:50ET):  Several videos surfaced online of protesters (on Friday night) in Oakland stealing cars from dealerships. 

  BRA NIGGAS LOOTED A CAR OUT OF HONDA OAKLAND 💀 pic.twitter.com/yD1ynumAuY

  — Jelly3200 (@Jelly3200) May 30, 2020

  In one instance, protesters torched exotic sports cars at a Mercedes dealership. 

  NIGGAS DID THE BENZ DEALERSHIP IN OAKLAND TOO 🔥😱 pic.twitter.com/3mMwz0PRWn

  — Jelly3200 (@Jelly3200) May 30, 2020

  * * *

  Update (11:19 ET): Prepare for a night of hell, as per Fox News’ report that 50 cities could see protests on Saturday night. 

  PROTESTS EXPECTED IN 50+ U.S CITIES TONIGHT – FOX NEWS second wave coming

  — FXHedge (@Fxhedgers) May 30, 2020

  * * *

  Minnesota Governor Tim Walz summed-up the current chaos erupting nationwide perfectly:

  “This is absolutely no longer about George Floyd or addressing inequities anymore. This is an organized attack designed to destabilize civil society.”

  Protests raged overnight in dozens of U.S. cities, including Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., New York City, Atlanta, Houston, and several large metro areas on the West Coast. 

  Protests or social unrest was seen in these major metros on Friday night: 

  • Houston & Fort Worth, TX
  • NYC
  • Chicago, IL
  • Atlanta, GA
  • Washington D.C.
  • Detroit, MI
  • Fort Wayne, IN
  • Kansas City, MO
  • Des Moines, IA
  • Vegas, NV
  • Charlotte, NC
  • San Jose, CA
  • Boston, MA
  • Memphis, TN
  • Columbus, OH
  • Denver, CO
  • Cincinnati, OH
  • Portland, ME
  • Louisville, KY

  Starting in Minneapolis, where unrest continued into the fourth night following the death of George Floyd, a man who was killed by Minneapolis Police on Monday, had Minnesota National Guard Adjutant General Jon Jensen and Governor Tim Walz announce the request for 1,000 more soldiers from the National Guard as widespread rioting and looting continued. 

  “This is the largest civilian deployment in Minnesota history that we have out there today, and quite candidly right now, we do not have the numbers,” Walz said Saturday morning.” We cannot arrest people when we are trying to hold ground because of the sheer size, the dynamics, and wanton violence.”

  Jensen expects by Saturday evening, up to 1,700 soldiers will be “ready to go.” On Friday night, assault rifle-wielding soldiers were spotted on the streets within the ranks of local police. 

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  A fleet of armored Humvees lined the street “on Chicago Ave in between Lake St. and 31st as firefighters battle raging fires 8 blocks from where George Floyd was killed,” tweeted Unicorn Riot. 

  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  

  Protesters appeared to have torched a Wells Fargo bank. 

  Wells Fargo by the 5th Precinct in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/otu1Q7IqbK

  — Tony Webster (@webster) May 30, 2020

  Building structure(s) are still on fire on Saturday morning. 

  This is the area around the 5th Precinct pic.twitter.com/BnGo3YUxTx

  — Tony Webster (@webster) May 30, 2020

  The view from my apartment is getting intense. Stay safe #Minneapolis.

  LynLake Speedway (I believe) is on fire. Uptown, Lake & Aldrich. pic.twitter.com/XA75GYhlrz

  — CodyGriz (@CodyGriz) May 30, 2020

  Check cashing stores (pictured here) and pawn shops burning all over town. pic.twitter.com/e8BQpPBvc0

  — Tony Webster (@webster) May 30, 2020

  Chaos and destruction continue into the weekend.  

  O’Reilly Auto Parts right now in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/531cNWMhnX

  — Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) May 30, 2020

  What appears to be an Auto Zone on fire right now in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/l4IdRfyjt9

  — Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) May 30, 2020

  Live in Downtown Minneapolis right now: pic.twitter.com/kbcWrKL9bK

  — Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) May 30, 2020

  Scenes last night from Interstate 35W, a major highway system in the U.S. that passes through downtown Minneapolis, where protesters broke into a moving UPS truck and stole packages.

  Protestors getting into the back of a UPS truck as it goes by on 35W @KSTP pic.twitter.com/hmVUpJ82vo

  — Callan Gray (@CallanGrayNews) May 30, 2020

  In response to Washington, D.C. protests on Friday evening, President Trump thanked the Secret Service on Saturday morning for protecting the White house.

  “Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action,” President Trump tweeted. 

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  Meanwhile, the Treasury Department in DC was breached by rioters, who spray-painted the building. According to CNN, some of the protesters were stopped by US Secret Service but eventually let go.

  At least one protestor spray painted graffiti on the bank building. pic.twitter.com/GSglZWAI18

  — Clarence Williams (@nu1wcf) May 29, 2020

  Down in Atlanta, CNN’s headquarters were attacked by protesters on Friday evening. 

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  <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

  

  Several stunning images of the unrest in Atlanta last night.

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  An angry mob lit NYPD Police vans on fire last night:  

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  #Breaking Protesters set #NYPD van on fire. @NY1 @RonLeeReporting captured this video in Fort Green, #Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/cefEVet9gO

  — Dean Meminger (@DeanMeminger) May 30, 2020

  Rioting in Brooklyn overnight. 

  Rioters pushing the lines in Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/8hcyjsyTwO

  — Rob O’Donnell (@odonnell_r) May 30, 2020

  From Houston to Phoenix to Portland, police forces have reported widespread social unrest. 

  Our officers made nearly 200 arrests of those who participated in unlawful assemblies throughout the day & night. Most will be charged with obstructing a roadway.

  4 of our officers suffered minor injuries & 8 police vehicles were damaged.

  Updates will be posted here. #hounews

  — Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 30, 2020

  Property throughout the downtown Phoenix area has been vandalized as some demonstrators engage in criminal behavior, breaking windows and doors to municipal and private business and destroy cars parked along the street.

  — Phoenix Police (@PhoenixPolice) May 30, 2020

  Two arrests have been made related to this evenings riot. Another arrest was made around 3:30 p.m. yesterday afternoon related to the demonstration near the Justice Center. Details will be provided in a press release when more information becomes available.

  — Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) May 30, 2020

  As things spiral out of control, two Federal Protective Service officers suffered gunshot wounds in Oakland, California, last night, leaving one of them dead. 

  Oakland was crazy in the overnight, one protester stole a skid loader tractor and drove it down the street. 

  Earlier in #Oakland : Rioters use a mini bulldozer during the riots in that citypic.twitter.com/Dym89pcTaw

  — Shark NewsWires (@SharkNewsWires) May 30, 2020

  Protesters clashed with police in Oakland. 

  Meanwhile, the protest / riot in Oakland CA has gotten out of control…large crowd, flames, smoke…reaching critical mass. pic.twitter.com/eW5kMVur8k

  — ZeroHedge (@govttrader) May 30, 2020

  Protesters looting a car dealership in Oakland. 

  Part 1 of 2 Oakland 🚗 #GeorgeFloyd #Oakland #bayarea #california #protests #riots #TheSavageRoom #Savage pic.twitter.com/bRer6HWtgF

  — The Savage Room (@The_SavageRoom) May 30, 2020

  Several years ago, US Northern Command “rehearsed non-lethal riot control tactics” at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona. Perhaps preparation for widespread social unrest across the country. The government has known this day was coming… 

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  President Trump signed an executive order in late March that allows the Pentagon to mobilize up to a million troops to combat the coronavirus outbreak in the country. The order could now be directed at social unrest. It’s only a matter of time before more state governors activate National Guard troops like Minnesota did early this week. 

  We were the first to note Friday, the federal government flew a military drone above Minneapolis to spy on protesters.   

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  A perfect storm develops: 40 million unemployed, economy crashed, record polarization and wealth inequality at extremes, the country is quickly descending into chaos into the summer months. So what happens when the government stops unleashing helicopter money for people who recently lost their jobs?

  

• Trump Blasts "Outdated Group Of G7 Countries" – Postpones Summit After Merkel Rebuff, Will Invite Russia Back In
  Trump Blasts "Outdated Group Of G7 Countries" – Postpones Summit After Merkel Rebuff, Will Invite Russia Back In
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 21:35

  Update: In a stunning change after President Trump initially pushed G7 leaders to go ahead with an in-person meeting at the White House and Camp David as early as June for the sake of “normalization”, promptly rebuffed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel – who indicated Saturday she would not attend while citing the still raging pandemic – the president told reporters aboard Air Force One later in the day that he’ll postpone till September.

  But the real shocker, and unprecedented, is what came after in his comments upon return from Cape Canaveral to Washington: he blasted the Group of Seven meeting format as a “very outdated group of countries” and expressed that he plans to invite four additional non-member nations, mostly notably Russia.

  “I’m postponing it because I don’t feel that as a G7 it properly represents what’s going on in the world,” Trump said. In addition to the usual seven of the US, Italy, Japan, Canada, France, Germany, and United Kingdom, Trump said he’ll include for the first time Australia, Russia, South Korea and India.

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  Needless to say, both America’s allies and national security state hawks are going to flip, given especially the sensitivity of the Ukraine issue. Recall that what was once the G8 became the G7 after in 2014 Russia was kicked out over the Crimea annexation amid the war in eastern Ukraine.

  It’s a hugely unexpected pivot at a moment of multiple domestic and global crises, but maybe some level of a “distraction” over this tumultuous weekend across multiple US cities is precisely the point.

  * * *

  After President Trump for the first time last week pushed for an in-person G7 summit, which is at this moment still officially on the schedule as a videoconference meeting in late June due to the pandemic (it was originally planned for Camp David), Germany says Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected the change in plan, saying she won’t be in attendance.

  This after Trump extended concrete plans to hold the gathering — which includes heads of the US, Italy, Japan, Canada, France, Germany, United Kingdom, also European Union leaders — “primarily at the White House” but also possibly parts in Camp David in Maryland as well.

  “As of today, considering the overall pandemic situation, she cannot agree to her personal participation, to a journey to Washington,” Merkel’s spokesman said, which followed a Friday night report in Politico. “She will of course continue to monitor the development of the pandemic.”

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  “The federal chancellor thanks President Trump for his invitation to the G7 summit,” the spokesman added.

  It’s clear from the statement citing pandemic fears that the German leader thinks it too early to gather in person. Trump pushed it as a hopeful sign of “normalization”.

  The president tweeted on May 20, “It would be a great sign to all — normalization!” — explaining that a rescheduled in-person summit would be a sign of the retreat and defeat of the virus, and economic recovery.

  The White House viewed a normal summit gathering as a “show of strength” to the world as economies in the West slowly open back up, however, such a key G7 country as Germany giving a firm ‘no’ will likely put a crimp in the plans.

  Now that our Country is “Transitioning back to Greatness”, I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, D.C., at the legendary Camp David. The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all – normalization!

  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020

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  Other countries have issued vaguely positive responses but more likely are remaining on the fence, likely to take cues from first-movers like Germany. 

  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “agreed on the importance of convening the G7 in person in the near future” according to a Friday White House statement, while Canada’s Trudeau said he’d entertain it as long as safety was prioritized, and France’s Macron said he was “willing to go to Camp David if the health conditions allow”.

  

• America: One Screen, Two Movies, Three Times The Trouble
  America: One Screen, Two Movies, Three Times The Trouble
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 21:30

  Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, ‘n Guns blog,

  Scott Adams has a perfect phrase to describe our political divide.

  “One screen, two movies.”

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  What he means is that two people see the same event and process it in completely opposite ways, depending on their perspective.

  That perspective is made up of a whole host of things – current state of mind, personal experience, personality traits, body chemistry, etc.

  Take that one step further and incorporate human survival traits like in-group/out-group bias and the potential for self-reinforcing feedback loops of anxiety to explode into unbridgeable divisions within society become very likely.

  None of what I just described is novel. It shouldn’t even need to be explained at this point. But, we’re living in such a state of heightened anxiety it is easy to lose sight of the basics.

  I’ve been writing this blog now for more than three years. I have to remind myself of things I wrote previously that I’ve forgotten about in the day-to-day grind chronicling the devolution of our society into madness.

  Because all of us, including me, are exhibiting signs of real madness when confronted with the monstrous events we perceive playing out on our movie screens.

  There is an information war occurring that is aimed at creating hair trigger reactions to events to advance particular political agendas. It doesn’t matter what the issue of the day is. Today it’s the burning down of Minneapolis over police brutality.

  The footage of George Floyd being murdered is enough to trigger most any decent person into a near-murderous rage.

  And, as Scott pointed out in his commentary on this, no one is arguing the murder of George Floyd was anything other than just that, murder. Whites, blacks, browns, men, womyn, cis, xe, he, vegan, capitalist.

  So, why is this a race issue? Why are our media and our political class cheering on the destruction of a U.S. city and fanning the flames higher, excusing the destruction to promote a false race war?

  Because that’s what they want to see and get a critical mass of people to also see it that way.

  We’re all outraged by underlying incident. There aren’t two movies here.

  Unfortunately, the way we express this outrage is based on where we are at the moment we view it.

  If we are in deep state of anxiety, where the left-brain has suppressed the right because survival instincts kick in, then we default to the easiest, quickest explanation. For those on the left, fed a toxic mix of identity politics and Communism, police brutality is the perfect metaphor for systemic racism and cultural division.

  Paralyze the police and undermine the fabric of the society. But it isn’t like the police haven’t been a growing problem in this country for decades.

  Since the Clinton Crime Bill of the 1990’s cops have been consistently militarized to the point of inhumanity.

  Police officers today look nothing like my dad as NYPD in the 1970’s when societal unrest there was as bad if not worse then what’s happening in Minneapolis today.

  And I remember watching the Rodney King riots in LA with him and he saying then the problem in policing is the men have no life experience, no skin yet in the game, i.e. family.

  His generation of police are gone. Even the ones that came behind him are leaving the scene (dad would have been 92 this year). My dad didn’t live to see the Clinton Crime Bill but he would have been against it.

  Because with the subsequent wars and the federal money their loyalty was politicized, the degradation of their relationship to their community eroded to where it is now. Do you seek out police interactions today or fear them?

  What movie is playing in your head? Because I know which one is playing in mine. Hence, you know, Gold Goats ‘n Guns.

  Both of these trends have accelerated as we grind through this Fourth Turning. Endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have police forces, already militarized, staffed with guys who have combat experience, that see the job through that lens. Screening for mental instability is faulty at best so mistakes are going to happen.

  Tyranny is guaranteed alongside the corruption and the need for all men to regain a lost sense of potency in a world sinking into depravity.

  And those jobs need to be filled especially as the wealth is drained from the lower and middle classes through ruinous taxation, regulation and endless money printing.

  But, we’re supposed to be divided along race lines because of a white cop choking out a black man? And this is an excuse to burn down a city and instigate riots all over the country?

  There isn’t any connection between these things and reality. Everyone is being played for a chump here.

  Cops and protesters banging heads while bankers sit at home drinking wine with their newly printed Federal Reserve dollars. Same as it ever was.

  — Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) May 30, 2020

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  The sad truth is, as President Trump pointed out and Twitter censored, George Floyd is irrelevant now. This has taken on a life of its own. It’s about chaos and much larger issues than the incident which spawned it.

  What’s happening in Minnesota was a coordinated attack.

  Who is setting up pallets of bricks around the country for rioting? This is too organized. WTH? I bet people paid to do so show up first and get the party started.

  pic.twitter.com/iwwSpbNLud

  — ᗰᵉˡ 🌷 (@mel_faith1) May 30, 2020

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  What’s your reaction to this screen? What movie are you seeing here?

  My movie says this is the next stage of the operation to oust Trump from power. The Coronapocalypse movie is mostly over but it’s had its intended effect of dividing us even further.

  Now Antifa-style mask-wearing has been thoroughly normalized. Now the person in the CVS standing next to you can be a threat to your community.

  Too paranoid a movie for you?

  I’m sorry but image systems matter. That’s the whole point of putting movies on the screen in the first place.

  Jack Dorsey and Twitter are daring Trump to regulate or shut down the platform with their censoring his tweets. CNN and MSNBC know their sit-down ratings are abysmal. Their real ratings exist on social media.

  In that sense they are no more legitimate news than people with iPhones posting thoughts on Instagram and Twitter.

  The movie they are selling is Trump is to blame regardless of what happens, just like in Charlottesville. If he brings in the National Guard to mow down black people in the streets and get any number of Twitter Moments to further confuse what you’re watching.

  If Trump does nothing he loses Conservatives who believe in law and order, fairness and all of that. If he over-commits he’s got Kent State times ten on his hands.

  While my movie says this is definitely an operation designed to inflict maximal political damage on Trump the sub-text of my movie screams about what is truly wrong with America.

  That this is a power struggle for the next century by evil people manipulating desperate and cynical ones into acts of violence and hatred which is falsely directed by a script pre-written to keep us angry, fearful and divided.

  And until we all back away from the screens and see that script for what it is, this will escalate until a lot more than just Minneapolis is burning.

  *  *  *

  Join My Patreon if you want help seeing the scripts behind the movies. Install the Brave Browser if you want to starve Google from making bad movies.

  

• US Army Deploys "Elite Trainers" To Help Colombia After Cocaine Production Triples
  US Army Deploys "Elite Trainers" To Help Colombia After Cocaine Production Triples
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 21:00

  It’s a shame that we’re all likely going to be social distancing this Christmas, otherwise certain investment banks sound like they could be setting up for one hell of a holiday party.

  In fact, a party that’s three times as better as its been in recent years. 

  That’s because the U.S. is deploying “an elite group of military trainers” to Colombia to help the country’s counter-narcotics offensive deal with raging cocaine production in the country. Production of cocaine has “more than tripled” within the last few years, according to Bloomberg. 

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  The U.S. has assisted Colombian forces for years, but this marks the first time the U.S. has sent members of its Security Force Assistance Brigade. The troops will be in Colombia to provide training and won’t take part in combat. The deployment is also an attempt to put pressure on Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. 

  In another move many thought was to put pressure on Maduro, President Trump had said back in April that he was adding a naval presence in the Caribbean to help fight the drug cartels. 

  Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America said: “The intended audience for this training deployment is probably in Caracas.”

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  Meanwhile, the increased amount of cocaine output coming out of Colombia has led the President to cut the country off from certain support, aid and loans. According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, potential cocaine production fell 1.4% last year, but only after reaching a record of 900 tons in 2017.  

  U.S. Southern Command said: “In Colombia, the team will work with host units in areas designated by the Colombian government as ‘priority areas’ where they will focus on logistics, services and intelligence capabilities.”

  The deployment is expected to last about four months and will be specific to drug producing regions.

  

• Minneapolis Riots Are Reminder That Police Don't Protect You Or Your Property
  Minneapolis Riots Are Reminder That Police Don't Protect You Or Your Property
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 20:30

  Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

  Looting and arson have followed what began as peaceful protests in response to the apparent killing of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin, a now-former member of the Minneapolis Police Department.

  But whatever was the spark that set off the current round of rioting in the Twin Cities area, it is clear that most property owners and residents will have to fend for themselves where riots have taken place. In other words, any unfortunate shopkeeper or resident who finds himself in the path of the rioters ought to just assume that police won’t be around to provide any protection from the mob.

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  For example, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports:

  The police station on E. Lake Street has been the epicenter of protests this week… Nearby, Minnehaha Lake Wine & Spirits, the target of looters the night before, also was set ablaze. …On Wednesday night, a man was fatally shot and crowds looted and burned buildings on E. Lake Street late into the night.

  Earlier in the day, in St. Paul, looters broke windows, stormed through battered-down doors and snatched clothes, phones, shoes and other merchandise from shops along University Avenue near the intersection of Pascal Street. Officers formed a barricade in front of Target. But police were absent a block away at T.J. Maxx, where looters smashed down the door and fled with heaps of clothing piled on shopping carts.

  Many business owners who now face destruction at the hands of rioters can scarcely afford it:

  Many of the shops destroyed along this stretch of E. Lake Street are immigrant-owned businesses — many of which were already struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. “Now it’s worse,” said Roberto Hernandez, who stood guard outside his nutrition store for five hours to fend off looters. (emphasis added)

  Another man, who was working to open a sports bar in the area later this year, saw his bar destroyed. Needless to say, with only a few exceptions, the police weren’t around to “protect and serve.”

  Admittedly, in cases like this week’s riots, the police are heavily outnumbered and unable to provide any sort of general protection from rioters. Even if individual officers were engaging in heroic behavior to turn rioters away from potential victims, there would be little they could do to confront all offenders.

  But heroics or not, the outcome for victims is the same: they must rely on self defense, formal private security, or private armed volunteers likely to be labeled as “vigilantes.”

  A failure to protect taxpaying citizens from violence and crime in a wide variety of situations is standard operating procedure for police departments which are under no legal obligation to protect anyone, and where “officer safety” is the number-one priority. The lesson to be learned here is that the alleged “social contract” between citizens and the state is a one-way street: you pay taxes for police “services,” and the police may or may not give you anything in return.

  Police Are Not Obligated to Provide Protection

  It is now a well-established legal principle in the United States that police officers and police departments are not legally responsible to refusing to intervene in cases where private citizens are in imminent danger or even in the process of being victimized.

  The US Supreme Court has made it clear that law enforcement agencies are not required to provide protection to the citizens who are forced to pay for police services, year in and year out.

  In cases of civil unrest, of course, be prepared to receive approximately nothing from police in terms of protecting property, or life and limb.

  During the 2014 riots that followed the police killing of Michael Brown, for example, shopkeepers were forced to hire private security, and many had to rely on armed volunteers for protection from looters. “There’s no police,” one Ferguson shopkeeper told FoxNews at the time. “We trusted the police to keep it peaceful; they didn’t do their job.”

  More famously, shopkeepers during the Los Angeles riots defended their shops with private firearms:

  “Where are the police? Where are the police?” [shopkeeper Chang] Lee whispered over and over from his rooftop perch. Lee would not see law enforcement for three days — only fellow Korean-Americans, who would be photographed by news agencies looking like armed militia…

  Officer Safety Comes First

  During the Columbine school shootings in Colorado in 1999, the Sheriff department’s “first responders” formed a perimeter outside the building and refused to enter because the situation was deemed too risky for law enforcement. Meanwhile, children were being slaughtered inside.

  Nearly twenty years later, law enforcement officers at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida cowered behind vehicles while students were murdered inside the school.

  But even in cases where police are willing to enter the premises and attempt to subdue violent criminals, the victim may find law enforcement officers to be of little help. According to 2008 data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, police response times to violent-crime-related calls exceeded 11 minutes one-third of the time. Things were no better twelve years earlier in 1996, when a similar survey was conducted. Now, twelve years after 2008, there’s no reason to assume anything has improved.

  11 minutes is a long time to wait when dealing with a violent criminal.

  Moreover, when police do arrive, don’t expect a competent response. The cases of Atatania Jefferson and Botham Jean provide some helpful reminders.

  According to multiple accounts of the Jefferson case, a neighbor of Jefferson called police to “check up” on Jefferson whom the neighbor feared Jefferson might be in danger. Jefferson was soon shot dead in her own living room by law enforcement. The shooter — a now-former cop named Aaron Dean — entered Jefferson’s private property unannounced in the middle of the night. He peered into Jefferson’s windows, and within seconds, the officer had shot Jefferson dead. Jefferson had been playing video games with her nephew.

  A year earlier, former police officer Amber Guyger was sentenced to ten years in prison for unlawfully shooting Botham Jean in his own apartment. At the time, Guyger was a police officer returning home from work. She illegally entered the wrong apartment and promptly shot Jean — the unit’s lawful resident — dead.

  And, of course, there is the case of Justine Damond, who called the Minneapolis Police Department to report a possible sexual assault near her home. When police arrived, they shot Damond dead, for no known reason other than hysterical fear on the part of police.

  Those who proactively attempt to defend themselves fare little better. In 2018, Colorado resident Richard Black used a firearm to defend his grandson against an intruder. Unfortunately, someone called the police. When officers arrived, they opened fire on Black, even though was only a threat to the criminal intruder. 

  The lesson to be learned from all this is that it is foolhardy, to say the least, to rely on law enforcement officers to intervene to provide “safety” when troubles arise.

  After all, experience has shown police are thoroughly unmotivated when it comes to preventing, or even investigating true violent crime. Confronting violent criminals is dangerous and costly. Thus, police departments are geared much more around encouraging harassment of petty offenders (such as George Floyd) and going after small-time drug offenders while confiscating property under asset forfeiture laws.

  This provides revenue to pad agency budgets while prioritizing the targeting of easy marks, rather than violent offenders. In the United States, more than half of serious crimes are never solved.

  And yet, though it all, we hear again and again the myth that law enforcement agencies will provide protection, retrieve stolen property, and keep the peace. Many people in Minneapolis are now experiencing the reality.

  

• Used Car Prices Offer Brief Respite After Plunging Below Forecasts Last Month
  Used Car Prices Offer Brief Respite After Plunging Below Forecasts Last Month
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 20:00

  Over the last few months we detailed how used car prices were set to cripple what little interest in new cars remains, how dealers are scrambling to desperately offer incentives and how ships full of vehicles are being turned away at port cities due to a lack of space and inventory glut.

  Today, it’s looking like the market is seeing a much needed respite, even though it may be temporary.

  Used car prices are bouncing back from last month’s low and approaching forecasts that were made prior to the pandemic. In fact, J.D. Power’s weekly wholesale auction price index is now only down 1.9% from where it was expected prior to the virus.

  Car auctions around the country were shutting down last month and many in the industry had warned about the potential for prices to collapse as a result, according to Bloomberg. We had pointed out worries about used car pricing weeks ago, noting the pressure that a drop in pricing could put on manufacturers and rental car companies.

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  In fact, since then, Hertz filed for bankruptcy, while desperately trying to unload some of its rental car inventory.

  As we reported previously, earlier last week Hertz dumped a bunch of Corvette Z06s on to the used car market in what experts said was a great deal for buyers. And more used car deals are starting to roll out on Hertz’s website after the company’s bankruptcy filing announcement. As caught by Jalopnik, here’s a 2020 BMW 740i for $52,949 and only 8,595 miles on the odometer, more than $10K below Blue Book value for cars in the same area.

  We also pointed out how GM, Ford and others were set to lose billions as a result of a crash in used car prices. Mid-month April data from Manheim showed that the used vehicle value index had fallen 11.8% for the first 15 days of April, a decline on a record setting pace, according to Bloomberg. 

   

  Auto companies had only been expecting a 5% to 7% drop in used car prices. We also reported weeks ago that GM was only bracing for a 4% drop in prices and that a further drop could put extreme financial stress on the company.

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  For example, Joel Levington, a credit analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence said last month: “GM assumed a 4% decline in residual values this year. If the 10% drop Manheim has seen recently persists, depreciation expense could counter the $1.9 billion that GM Financial earned in pretax profit last year.”

  Whether or not the respite in prices is temporary and permanent likely depends on how long the country can stay open again. With more legs in showrooms and business as usual at used car auctions, the market may continue to see a bid (albeit a stressed one, due to the financial shape of the U.S. consumer). 

  However, if the virus begins to spread again and the country is again placed on lockdown, automakers and used car sellers could be heading for Round 2 of the very same hellish scenario they first experienced in April. 

  

• A Closer Look At Taxpayer-Funded COVID Contractors Reveals Inexperience, Fraud, & A Weapons Dealer
  A Closer Look At Taxpayer-Funded COVID Contractors Reveals Inexperience, Fraud, & A Weapons Dealer
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 19:30

  Via ProPublica.org,

  The Trump administration has promised at least $1.8 billion to 345 first-time contractors, often without competitive bidding or thorough vetting of their backgrounds.

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  A firm set up by a former telemarketer who once settled federal fraud charges for $2.7 million. A vodka distributor accused in a pending lawsuit of overstating its projected sales. An aspiring weapons dealer operating out of a single-family home.

  These three privately held companies are part of the new medical supply chain, offered a total of almost $74 million by the federal government to find and rapidly deliver vital protective equipment and COVID-19 testing supplies across the U.S. While there’s no evidence that they obtained their deals through political connections, none of the three had to bid against competing firms. One has already lost its contract for lack of performance; it’s unclear if the other two can fulfill their orders on time, or at all.

  They are among about 345 first-time federal contractors promised at least $1.8 billion in deals by the Trump administration since March, representing about 13% of total government spending on pandemic-related contracts of $13.8 billion, a ProPublica analysis of federal procurement data found. Like the three companies, many of the new contractors have no experience acquiring medical products.

  Some of them, including the ex-telemarketer’s company and another firm established by a former White House aide, formed only days or weeks before landing multimillion-dollar government contracts. The U.S. government’s reliance on them, with what appears to be scant vetting of their credentials, represents a major gamble whose outcome could affect how many Americans are infected by the coronavirus and how quickly the U.S. economy recovers.

  “We’re putting schedule above quality, to some extent, in this time of great need,” said Trevor Brown, a professor of public management at Ohio State University. “There’s just so much pressure to get PPE into the field, I’m not surprised there’s a relaxing of focus on the quality of the product.”

  Track Federal Government Coronavirus Contracts

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  Coronavirus Contracts: Tracking Federal Purchases to Fight the Pandemic

  The federal government is spending billions of dollars to combat the coronavirus, and spending shows no sign of slowing down. Explore who the U.S. is buying from, what it’s buying and how much it’s paying.

  The U.S. health care system and federal agencies were woefully unprepared for the pandemic. As novel coronavirus infections surged in March, hospitals quickly ran short of N95 respirator masks, gowns and other protective gear for front-line workers. The National Strategic Stockpile became depleted within weeks, and every level of government has struggled to restock.

  Scrambling to cope with an unprecedented public health crisis, several federal agencies limited their vetting process to checking that companies and their owners were not officially barred from receiving government contracts. The agencies also have bypassed competitive bidding on many purchases, as is allowed under federal law when there is an “unusual and compelling urgency.”

  This strategy appears to have boosted less established firms; ProPublica’s analysis found that 51% of the deals with first-time contractors were without competition, compared with 32% of pandemic-related contracts overall. For example, at the White House’s directive, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded more than $60 million in contracts for test swabs and sample containers to be distributed to states and Native American tribes — all without competitive bidding.

  The large-scale reliance on no-bid contracts is worrisome because it increases the risks of price gouging, fraud and faulty products, said Steve Kelman, a former administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy.

  “Even if you’re allowed to do that, even if you need to act quickly, I would not just go to one company and say, ‘Sell it to us,’” said Kelman, now a Harvard University professor of public administration.

  Agencies often award the deals without proof that the desired inventory exists. Payment is contingent on performance; if a vendor doesn’t deliver, the government walks away. Under the terms of their deals, companies may even be required to pay the difference if they fail to provide supplies and the government has to use a more expensive contractor. With the coronavirus continuing to sicken tens of thousands of people daily and keeping tens of millions out of work, the most important costs may be in time lost, increased cases and economic stagnation, if delays in getting supplies where they’re needed lead to more infections and prolonged quarantines.

  On April 20, the Department of Veterans Affairs granted a $14.5 million contract for N95 masks to Bayhill Defense, which formed in 2017 and lists a house in Pittsburgh in government filings. (The firm also has warehouse space in a Pittsburgh suburb, according to its website.) The company, which has a federal firearm license, says on its website that it sells “defense industry products,” including ammunition, assault rifles, grenade launchers, rocket systems, mortars and anti-aircraft guns, “to be provided to the United States and other friendly nations.” It has never received a contract from the Department of Defense, according to federal procurement data.

  Bayhill Defense agreed to provide the masks in 10 days, but it never delivered any, and the VA canceled the contract this month without paying the company. Reached by phone, Andrew Taglianetti, the company’s president, declined to explain how Bayhill Defense secured the deal or why it failed.

  “It’s all good,” Taglianetti said.

  During crisis and war, the federal government has often turned to new contractors selling specialty products or promising to deliver quickly. While these arrangements can be beneficial for agencies and vendors, they also have a troubled history.

  After the U.S. invaded Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, fighting lasted years longer than the Pentagon had planned. It needed food and other basic supplies faster than its existing contractors could provide, said Charles Tiefer, a law professor at the University of Baltimore and expert on government purchasing. Military officials hired businesses in the region, particularly Kuwaiti trading companies. The deals were rife with corruption and several ended in criminal prosecutions, Tiefer said.

  Similarly, when Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of the Gulf Coast, fraud and waste in procurement plagued the federal response, Tiefer said. “Government contracting is at its worst when it doesn’t have time and it has to take on an emergency.”

  The owner of one first-time contractor examined by ProPublica, Fillakit LLC, has repeatedly faced fraud allegations. Beginning on May 7, FEMA gave three deals totaling $10.5 million to Fillakit, which had incorporated in Florida just seven days before, according to government records. Under the terms of the contracts, Fillakit is supposed to supply FEMA with swabs as well as containers for uncontaminated samples.

  Fillakit’s incorporation documents list an address in a business park north of Houston, and a St. Petersburg, Florida, lawyer as its agent. They provide no information about the company’s ownership.

  However, the cellphone number for Fillakit in the federal contract data belongs to Paul Wexler, a businessman repeatedly accused of fraudulent practices over the past two decades. Wexler’s background is primarily in law and real estate, not medical supplies.

  In 2012, the Federal Trade Commission accused Wexler and his telemarketing firm of illegal robocalling, making unauthorized charges to consumers’ bank accounts and falsely claiming to be a nonprofit organization. Wexler’s firm allegedly misrepresented itself as a credit counseling service for several years, charging customers for work it did not do, according to court records.

  Wexler denied the charges but settled the case a year later. The settlement banned him from offering debt relief services — but not from being a federal contractor — and imposed a $2.7 million judgment.

  Wexler confirmed to ProPublica that he owns Fillakit, but he declined to answer other questions about the company or his background. “I’d love to help you, I can’t right now,” he said. “We’re doing so much right now, the volume that we’re doing, I’ve got hundreds of people and I just don’t have time to do this.”

  Wexler said Fillakit is preparing to send the swabs and containers to FEMA. “We’re just pumping them out as fast as we can for them, so I’ve really got to stay on point here,” he said.

  In a written statement last Friday, FEMA said it has paid Fillakit $381,000 for one delivery of swabs and containers. The company has less than six weeks to provide the remaining $10.1 million worth of test supplies.

  Before telemarketing, Wexler was a lawyer and real estate developer building custom homes in Colorado. He declared bankruptcy in 2003. Afterward, court records show, several banks and business associates accused him of financial misconduct.

  Geoffrey Phillips loaned Wexler’s development company $75,000 in 2002. It used a home as collateral for the loan, but the property actually belonged to Wexler and his wife, according to court records. Wexler’s company didn’t repay the debt, and Wexler listed the home as his personal residence in his bankruptcy filing, protecting it from seizure. Phillips sued, accusing Wexler of fraud. Phillips won the lawsuit and the bankruptcy judge removed the home from protection.

  In an interview, Phillips said he was baffled that FEMA would approve Wexler’s deal. “Don’t you think the government would check him thoroughly before they gave him a contract?” Phillips said. “Unbelievable.”

  Under federal procurement law, only the history of Wexler’s company is relevant, not his personal track record, said Brown, the Ohio State professor. “The contract officer can’t go back and use the information on his prior behavior for another company as evidence in decision-making.”

  FEMA said that it did not evaluate Wexler’s past business practices, only those of his fledgling company. “FEMA reviewed Fillakit’s quote and their contractor assurance statement. Nothing was found that would render this company ineligible for award,” the agency said.

  In addition to newly formed companies, well-established firms in other industries have moved into medical supplies and secured their first government contracts without competition.

  The VA gave a $14.7 million contract for masks to Aunt Flow, an Ohio-based seller of tampons and other menstrual products for dispensers in women’s bathrooms. When orders for its products slowed during the pandemic, the company converted its own manufacturing facilities in China to produce surgical masks, and it began selling them to existing clients as well as federal agencies. Then, it tried to capitalize on its manufacturing relationships in China to bring in a shipment of the heavier-duty N95 masks for veterans hospitals.

  But as the supplies were being loaded on a plane, the Chinese government ordered all of the manufacturer’s masks diverted for domestic use, said Claire Coder, the company’s CEO. She said she immediately called the VA to inform it that the company couldn’t fulfill the deal, and the money was never paid.

  Medea Inc., a California-based liquor company, also got a federal contract to supply surgical masks. This month, FEMA awarded a $48.8 million deal to Medea, which is a boutique vodka brand best known for decorating its bottles with colorful LED displays. Its marketing videos feature former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal.

  A New Jersey finance firm is suing Medea in federal court, alleging it committed fraud during sales negotiations by falsely claiming Costco and Kroger had agreed to stock the brand nationwide. Medea has denied the allegations in court filings. A pending lawsuit is not normally grounds to deny a federal contract.

  Medea has high-level political ties in California. Terry McGann, a member of Medea’s board and its former chief executive, is a former registered state lobbyist. McGann’s wife, Marie Moretti, led a state agency that coordinated volunteer efforts across California before working as Medea’s first chief financial officer. She’s now its chief marketing officer. McGann said political influence did not help the liquor distributor secure the contract, and he referred all other questions to the company. Medea executives, including Moretti, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

  FEMA did not answer a question about whether Medea has begun delivering masks, which are due by June 1. Asked about the company’s qualifications, a FEMA spokesperson wrote that the liquor company was chosen “based on meeting the evaluation factors for award specified in the solicitation.”

  

• Less Than Half Of Americans Plan To Get COVID Vaccine: AP Poll
  Less Than Half Of Americans Plan To Get COVID Vaccine: AP Poll
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 19:00

  A week ago we took note of the results of a Reuters/Ipsos survey which found 25% of Americans have no interest in taking a coronavirus vaccine. Those prior findings also confirmed a trend that the majority of Americans said they would need to review additional research on the vaccine to determine if it was safe, suggesting the majority would stay home as opposed to health officials’ hoped-for expectation the majority would inundate local clinics to gain ‘immunity’ via a new inoculation. 

  This as President Trump’s much touted but perhaps dubious Operation Warp Speed program has the ambitious aim of producing 300 million doses of a vaccine by January, a goal that we and others have pointed out is widely unrealistic. Naturally most Americans might have intense doubts and anxiety over injecting a substance into their bodies which was “rushed” or fast-tracked to market, obviously without the normative lengthy research and trial process. 

  A new Associated Press poll out this week confirms the public skepticism. It found that only 49% of 1,056 Americans surveyed would intend to get the vaccine.

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  On the other side 20% said they would noted get inoculated at all and another 31% are unsure. The survey was conduced in the middle of this month.

  The AP described the number of those apparently planning to reject a vaccine is “surprisingly low considering the effort going into the global race” for the key preventative measure. 

  “The unexpected looms large and that’s why I think for any of these vaccines, we’re going to need a large safety database to provide the reassurance,” Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told AP.

  Americans interviewed in association with the new poll precisely echoed concerns over safety given the speed at which it would be rolled out:

  Among Americans who say they wouldn’t get vaccinated, 7 in 10 worry about safety.

  “I am not an anti-vaxxer,” said Melanie Dries, 56, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. But, “to get a COVID-19 vaccine within a year or two … causes me to fear that it won’t be widely tested as to side effects.”

  Interestingly, the results are parallel to the numbers of people who said they planned to get a seasonal flu shot (52% according to a 2019 National Foundation for Infectious Diseases poll).

  * * *

  Here’s a quick breakdown of the latest AP poll numbers: 

  • 67% percent of those over 60 plan to get the vaccine 
  • 40% of those under 60 would
  • 56% of whites say they’ll get the vaccine 
  • Only 25% of blacks and 37% of Hispanics say they’ll get it 
  • 62% of Democrats say they will get it 
  • Only 43% of Republicans say they plan to

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• Chinese Cheating Rampant In US College Applications, And In Classrooms
  Chinese Cheating Rampant In US College Applications, And In Classrooms
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 18:30

  Authored by Eduardo Neret via Campus Reform,

  Fake transcripts and essays, falsified letters of recommendation and test scores, paid consultants, and fake passports and IDs. These are just some of the many methods that Chinese nationals have reportedly used to gain acceptance into U.S. colleges and universities.

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  What once might have been a few isolated incidents has now turned into a vast, international money-making industry.

  Hiu Kit David Chong, an admissions official at the University of Southern California (USC), pleaded guilty in April to wire fraud in and helping Chinese students defraud their college applications. According to the Department of Justice, Chong admitted to making $40,000 from clients over the years by providing “false college transcripts with inflated grades,” “fraudulent personal statements,” and “phony letters of recommendation” for the applications of his Chinese clients. 

  He also offered to provide surrogate test takers for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam for international students.

  Chong was not the only person offering such services. In fact, according to a 2012 report by Time Magazine, a “huge industry of education agents” has emerged to appeal to the increasing number of Chinese nationals who want to study abroad at U.S. universities.

  Zinch China, a consultancy firm, found that 80 percent of Chinese students use agents to apply to U.S. colleges, with even more engaging in cheating. The company approximated that 90 percent of recommendation letters and 70 percent of college essays submitted by Chinese students are fraudulent. Additionally, 50 percent of previous grade transcripts are also fake. Ten percent lied about academic or extracurricular achievements, and 30 percent lied about financial aid information.

  Surveys indicate Chinese families see a U.S. education as a luxury that can provide future financial benefits, which drives the “whatever it takes” culture surrounding the application process and the fraud committed to achieve it. Zinch China also noted the competition among college consultants and the pressure from parents also contributed to cheating.

  “Cheating is pervasive in China, driven by hyper-competitive parents and aggressive agents,” Tom Melcher, the chairman of Zinch China said.

  While Chinese students have existed in the U.S. for decades, there has been increased growth over the last ten years. According to the Power of International Education, the number of Chinese foreign students in the U.S. as of 2019 was 369,548, which was more than the next three nations, India, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia, combined. Chinese students represent approximately one-third of all international students, and their presence has grown by 56.68 percent since the 2012-2013 academic year.

  Peggy Blumenthal, senior counselor to the president of the Institute of International Education, says colleges began to more heavily recruit Chinese international students after the Great Recession when college enrollment was on the decline. Agents can cost anywhere from thousands of dollars, or even up to $40,000 according to the Beijing Overseas Study Service Association. Foreign Policy even discovered a family that paid $90,000 to an agent.

  In one example from 2015, CNN reported on a Chinese student named Jessica Zhang from Jiangsu Province. Zhang’s family paid $4,500 to three different consultants, who filled out her application and wrote her essay and recommendation letter. Zhang even had her visa arranged by the consultants and said she hired them because the process would’ve been “too much hassle” on her own.

  The international college consultant business is only worsened by the commissions that agents receive from U.S. colleges and universities for enrolling students. While federal laws prevent higher education institutions from paying to recruit domestic students, there is no law to prevent them from paying commissions to recruit international students.

  Some companies even help students cheat on the SAT. Because of security issues with the College Board over the last few years, which owns the SAT, some overseas companies have obtained the answer keys to the test.

  According to Reuters, since 2014, the College Board has delayed the release of scores from Asia six times and canceled exams two separate times—all because exam material had been made available. Surprisingly, the College Board later restricted testing and increased security in other Asian countries like South Korea, where some test leaks occurred, but took no such action in China.

  One such student who received an answer key from his Shanghai-based tutoring company bragged about getting a perfect score on one section of the SAT, since he knew the answers to approximately half of the questions in advance.

  “The reality is for international students, particularly in Asia, there’s a worry about whether the application is authentic, whether the essay is authentic, whether the person who shows up at your door is the same person who applied,” Joyce E. Smith, chief executive of the National Association for College Admission Counseling told Reuters.

  Unfortunately for U.S. colleges and universities, which have struggled to monitor and identify the fraud, reports seem to suggest that cheating only continues once many of these students are on campus or in the U.S.

  Schools like the University of Arizona, Ohio State University, and the University of Iowa have experienced cheating scandals involving Chinese students. An analysis by the Wall Street Journal found that records of cheating for international students at more than a “dozen large” U.S. public universities were five times greater than that of American students. At some universities, the reported cases of cheating among international students were eight times higher than domestic students.

  In one egregious example, the University of Iowa estimated in 2016 that dozens of their Chinese students enrolled in a service that Reuters reported would complete a lot of the work needed to obtain a university degree, including completing assignments and taking exams.

  According to three Chinese suspects who spoke to the outlet, the companies that helped the students cheat were Chinese-run.

  Reuters also uncovered similar Chinese cheating services offered to students at Penn State University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Washington. The companies also offered a money-back guarantee to students who did not get As in their classes.

  The “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal in 2019 even involved cases of cheating and visa fraud. The federal government arrested Liu Cai, a Chinese student who attended UCLA, and four other California residents of Chinese descent for using fake passports to impersonate Chinese nationals to take the TOEFL exam, which is required to obtain a student visa.

  Some professors have tried to address the cases of academic dishonesty and lack of effort in the classroom, but have faced challenges in doing so.

  At UC-Santa Barbara, art professor Kip Fulbeck, who himself is of Chinese descent, faced backlash in 2018 after writing a set of class expectations in Chinese for the Chinese international students. According to the L.A. Times, Fulbeck became frustrated with students sleeping or being distracted by their phones in class, as well as those who left the class and did not come back. Fulbeck began to realize that a significant number of students engaging in such behavior were Chinese international students.

  Fulbeck later met with UC Santa Barbara’s Vice-Chancellor and some aggrieved students, but ultimately blamed the school for failing to deal with the increasing number of Chinese students and educating them on American classroom and education standards. He was also not the only professor aware of the rampant cheating among Chinese students.

  Paul Spickard, a history professor at UC-Santa Barbara and member of the faculty admissions committee, told the L.A. Times that at a meeting, faculty were told that Chinese students account for one-third of all plagiarism cases on campus, despite only comprising 6 percent of the entire student population. Spickard caught one Chinese student’s plagiarism after the student used old British English colloquialisms and citations that were over 50 years old.

  Richard Ross, another art professor at the university, told the L.A. Times that he even resigned over the growing cheating problem.

  “My role turned from educator to enforcer, and I didn’t want to do it anymore,” Ross said.

  

• Live Nuclear Testing Could Resume In 'Months' At Nevada Site If Approved
  Live Nuclear Testing Could Resume In 'Months' At Nevada Site If Approved
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 18:00

  Late last week the Trump administration raised eyebrows among the American public and around the world when it was revealed it is actually considering conducting a nuclear test for the first time in 28 years, ultimately as a ‘message’ to Russia and China. It was discussed two weeks ago (May 15) at a “deputies meeting” of senior national security officials at the White House.

  Though apparently shelved for the time being a senior official told The Washington Post the idea of a US test is “very much an ongoing conversation.” But assuming the administration is actually ready to pull the trigger on such a test, how long would it take to get to the point of conducting the nuclear blast from the time the order is given? 

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  A Pentagon official told Defense Daily this week that it would take only a matter of months to ready a nuclear-explosive test, even though the last one was all the way back in 1992, upon the end of the Cold War. Though the official noted such a rapid rollout would include “minimal diagnostics”. 

  Likely any potential future US nuclear test would take place at highly secure national testing grounds in Nevada: 

  Previous heads of the agency’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have talked “about a very quick test with limited diagnostics, though certainly diagnostics, within months,” said Drew Walter, who is performing the duties of deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear matters. “A fuller test, fully diagnostic, and lots of data, all the bells and whistles, so to speak, might be measured in years. But ultimately, if the President directed because of a technical issue or a geopolitical issue, a system to go test, I think it would happen relatively rapidly.”

  Walter also said that he believes the NNSA has a borehole at the Nevada National Security Site that would be suitable for such a rapid test.

  In terms of any hot geopolitical issues which might provide impetus for “rapid” pursuit of a new test, recall Washington has of late charged both Russia and China with ‘illegally’ conducting low-yield nuclear tests, which both countries have denied.

  Oh great – they’ve already got a spot picked out for a nuclear test. Make no mistake, the Trump administration could absolutely do this https://t.co/lmHWSGIWKR

  — John Carl Baker (@johncarlbaker) May 27, 2020

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  In Beijing’s case it’s believed China’s military is able to conceal such provocative tests at an elaborate underground testing facility, though Chinese officials have vehemently denied this.

  Currently the Nevada National Security Site is undergoing a major upgrade to its underground complex where it’s believed future American nuke tests would be conducted. 

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  Meanwhile, it remains that one of the biggest geo-strategic obstacles to the US conducting a test is that analysts believe it would free up Russia and China to conduct their own tests, given if Washington abandoned its strictly observed nuclear test moratorium, others would have reason and justification to follow suit in abandoning prohibitions and international obligations. 

  * * *

  

• Why The Assumption That High Unemployment Benefit Will Keep Workers From Returning To The Labor Market Is Deeply Flawed
  Why The Assumption That High Unemployment Benefit Will Keep Workers From Returning To The Labor Market Is Deeply Flawed
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 17:30

  Submitted by Jessica Rabe of DataTrek Research

  “Contacts cited challenges in bringing employees back to work, including… generous unemployment insurance benefits.” That’s the topic getting the most attention from the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book out Wednesday. There’s more to the story, however:

  • As we noted yesterday in our review of the report, the extra $600/week unemployment insurance stimulus ends on July 31st, so that should help employers persuade workers to get back on payroll.

  • Business owners who received a PPP loan must eventually offer to rehire those they laid off. If a worker rejects the offer, the employer must often report the employee to the state unemployment office thus making the worker ineligible to keep receiving unemployment insurance benefits.

  • The PPP loan only covers up to eight weeks of wages, rent and other expenses. Given that business shutdowns started in mid-March, the window for many businesses to ask workers if they want their job back is narrowing.

  In the end, however, the most important driver of whether furloughed workers quickly return to their jobs may come down to competition in the labor force. Let’s not forget that US unemployment is +/- 20% right now, and not everyone is collecting enhanced UI. Far from it, in fact. Employers can reasonably expect to have many job applicants in the coming months.

  That leverage only works if there are people searching for work right now, so we looked at Google search volumes for a variety of COVID Crisis-affected service sector jobs to see if that was the case:

  #1: A comparison of Google searches for “retail job”, “restaurant job”, “hotel job” and “bar job” over the last year.

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  Our take:

  • Searches collapsed in mid-March as businesses in the retail and leisure and hospitality sectors closed. Interest has picked up to about half of normal levels over the last month as more US states reopen their economies.

  • The top three states searching for each query: “retail job”: Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas. “Restaurant job”: New Hampshire, Utah, Rhode Island. “Bar job”: Wisconsin, Missouri, Pennsylvania. “Hotel job”: Hawaii, Iowa, Oklahoma.

  • Most of those states have started reopening their economies, some even already allowing dine-in or outdoor dining at restaurants over the course of May. The two exceptions: Pennsylvania will allow outdoor dining statewide soon on June 5th, while restaurants in Hawaii can reopen on June 1st.

  Bottom line: demand for service sector jobs is increasing right now, so currently furloughed/laid off workers face potential competition from others who would take a job today. If called to return to work, they will have to consider the very real possibility that if they decline or try to defer their job will not be there later. Also consider that tens of thousands of retail/leisure/hospitality workers are unemployed and may not have unemployment insurance; this will only increase demand for service sector jobs in the months to come.

  #2: A comparison of Google searches for “Walmart job”, “Amazon job” and “Essential job” over the last year.

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  Our take:

  • Searches for “Walmart/Amazon/essential job” all spiked in mid-March when businesses closed, highlighting the brief period in which those were the only kinds of jobs available to apply for.
  • Interest has since dissipated as states allow establishments to reopen and the labor market resets to greater normalcy.

  Bottom line: Amazon and Walmart could see more interest again as the extra unemployment insurance money gets phased out next month since many of those positions are full time and offer benefits. Many small businesses will likely cut people’s hours to part-time as already shown in the latest Beige Book: “some employers noted that while they didn’t lay off staff, they did reduce the number of hours they worked.”

  By contrast, Amazon just announced that the company plans to offer permanent jobs to as many as 70% of those it hired temporarily to meet demand during the COVID-19 Crisis. This full-time work includes health insurance and retirement plans.

  In sum, the assumption that high unemployment payments will keep workers from returning to the labor market is deeply flawed; there is and will be too much competition for jobs to make this a lasting issue. The Beige Book shows it is happening to some degree, but employers – especially those who took federal assistance – can only hold off on offering people their jobs back for so long. Even though some workers may refuse employment, there are clearly many Americans actively seeking jobs in retail and leisure and hospitality again as they become available in reopened states.

  Sources:

  Fed Beige Book: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/BeigeBook_20200527.pdf

  Amazon announcement: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-amazon-com-workers-idUSKBN2341FD

  

• "Far-Left Or Anarchists" – Intelligence Reports ID Rioting Protesters; Mostly Locals Arrested
  "Far-Left Or Anarchists" – Intelligence Reports ID Rioting Protesters; Mostly Locals Arrested
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 17:14

  Update (1705ET): Despite claims by Democratic officials from Minneapolis that “white supremacists” or “foreign actors” are responsible for the violent riots seen across the nation, USAToday reports that Adam Leggat, a former British Army counterterrorism officer who now works as a security consultant specializing in crowd management for the Densus Group, said intelligence reports from his colleagues indicate most of the hard-core protesters in Minneapolis are far-left or anarchists, and that far-right groups have not yet made a significant appearance.

  “The real hard-core guys, this is their job: They’re involved in this struggle, they need protests on the street to give them cover to move in.”

  Additionally, Leggat said looting is typically done by locals – usually people with no criminal record who just get caught up in the moment. And despite claims otherwise by officials, records show most arrested are locals…

  KARE 11 Investigates: Records show arrests so far are mostly in-state https://t.co/5O7WdpQeAJ via @KARE11 @b_stahl

  — A.J. Lagoe (@AJInvestigates) May 30, 2020

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  Of the 45 people arrested for rioting, unlawful assembly, stolen property, burglary or robbery on May 29 and May 30 so far, 38 had Minnesota addresses, according to publicly available jail records reviewed by FOX 9. Only six had out-of-state address, and one person didn’t have address information listed.

  Don’t believe us? A searchable jail roster is available online.

  So why would officials lie? (Gov. Tim Walz said Saturday morning that as many as 80 percent of the people were outsiders.)

  Because the narrative breaks wide open if this is just locals losing their shit… and in fact many Minneapolis residents appear to be growing weary of the violence and destruction, while still supporting peaceful protests. Clearing rubble from a burned-out Walgreens on Saturday, Daniel Braun, 34, said he was sad to see the damage to his neighborhood.

  “There’s civil rights and then there’s burning things down,” said Braun, an attorney.

  “During the day, everything is peaceful. It’s only at night when things happen. Once night falls, please, go home. When it’s dark out and you’re there, you’re not making anything better.”

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  *  *  *

  Update (1440ET): After blaming “outsiders” for instigating the riots that have left swaths of Minneapolis in ruins, the city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, is now also blaming “foreign actors”…

  Governor Walz, at our request and in partnership with our city and @MayorCarter Carter, has just fully mobilized the Minnesota National Guard. MPD and our fire department will be assisting tonight as part of this operation.

  — Mayor Jacob Frey (@MayorFrey) May 30, 2020

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  …while warning that the nat’l guard has been “fully mobilized”.

  Of course! Nobody would be looting if it weren’t for the KGB, duh.

  * * *

  Update (1200ET): Perhaps confirming his reasoning for maintaining his Twitter feed (to counter the ‘fake news’ media), President Trump has tweeted in response to the blame-scaping occurring below:

  It’s ANTIFA and the Radical Left. Don’t lay the blame on others!

  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2020

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  *  *  *

  There is a delicate tightrope of a path to tread here as politicians, officials, media are forced to admit that these “protests” are now “riots” and while the death of George Flynn at the hands of an over-zealous cop to say the least was egregious, the rioting, looting, and shooting across the nation last night is hard for even the most ardent member of the ‘Resistance’ to defend.

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  So, what they need is a narrative-shifting bump, to get back to the “it’s racism and it’s Trump’s fault” narrative that Biden began yesterday.

  And cue this morning’s Minneapolis, St.Pauls, Minnesote officials press conference this morning to set up the pretense…

  First, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz summed-up the current chaos erupting nationwide perfectly:

  “These are outsiders… This is absolutely no longer about George Floyd or addressing inequities anymore. This is an organized attack designed to destabilize civil society.”

  Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: “Let’s be very clear. The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd. It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities.” https://t.co/a9S9a49kht pic.twitter.com/ZnTEXcmeeu

  — CNN (@CNN) May 30, 2020

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  Then Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey confirmed that the people who are coming to Minneapolis to protest are not residents and are “coming in largely from outside the city.”

  Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey: “This is about violence, and we need to make sure that it stops. We’re in the middle of a pandemic right now. We have two crises that are sandwiched on top of one another.” https://t.co/E7wxiopvRT pic.twitter.com/RVQ4lTZoYj

  — CNN (@CNN) May 30, 2020

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  “Our Minneapolis residents are scared and rightfully so. We’ve seen longterm institutional businesses overridden. We’ve seen community institutions set on fire. And I want to be very, very clear. The people that are doing this are not Minneapolis residents,” he said at a news briefing on Saturday. He said the protests earlier this week that were mostly peaceful and were largely attended by those who lived in the city, but “the dynamic has changed.”

  “Gradually that shift was made and we saw more and more people coming from outside of the city. We saw more and more people looking to cause violence in our communities, and I have to say, it is not acceptable,” Frey said. “This is no longer about verbal expression. This is about violence and we need to make sure that it stops,” he added. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said everyone who was arrested in his city last night was from outside the state. “What we are seeing right now is a group of people who are not from here,” he said.

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  And then finally, Minneapolis Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington once again confirmed that narrative:

  “…I’m not seeing peaceful demonstrations. And I am not seeing, frankly, any empathy or any heart for Mr. Floyd”

  “We have assembled the largest civil policing authority in the history of Minnesota,” Minneapolis Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington says.

  “…I’m not seeing peaceful demonstrations. And I am not seeing, frankly, any empathy or any heart for Mr. Floyd” pic.twitter.com/4rdPw9twKP

  — CNN (@CNN) May 30, 2020

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  And added that last night we saw a change in the temperament and the approach:

  “…they are what I call rioters…they are not demonstrating for a case, they are not protesting injustice, they were simply bent on destruction.”

  So the question is – who are “they”? These rioters that suddenly appeared out of nowhere to instill anarchy in the peace-loving people of Minneapolis (and 35 other cities around the nation)? Harrington appears to have an answer – it’s a white supremacist terror cell…

  “…as we have made arrests, we have done contract-tracing similar to our covid response… who are they associated with? what platforms are they advocating for? …and we have seen things like white supremacy… part of an organized criminal organization and we are looking at whether this is an organized cell of terror.“

  Minnesota public safety commissioner says white nationalists are organizing and coming to the state for violence and destruction. In other words, white supremacists are following Trump’s lead. pic.twitter.com/VkzipiOQYJ

  — Biden_Brigade (@biden_brigade) May 30, 2020

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  Which also backed up what the Minnesota AG said: “Yes there are infiltrators…They are white & probably white supremacists…”

  👀
  Framing the narrative…
  “Yes there are infiltrators.
  They are white & probably white supremacists….”
  Says the democrat AG photographed promoting ANTIFA…..

  THESE PEOPLE ARE SICK@realDonaldTrump #QAnon pic.twitter.com/mOLkj44XJm

  — 🇺🇸🇺🇸 Miguelifornia ⭐⭐⭐ (@michaelbeatty3) May 30, 2020

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  So, there it is folks. Despite scenes of 1000s of black folks looting stores and firebombing police precincts, this is white supremacists’ fault… probably using Facebook to brainwash otherwise-peaceful Americans who just wanted to go about their day (and definitely not antifa! Don’t you dare suggest that, because that would be racist… just asking an awkward question though – how likely is it that a group of young white nationalists would burn a precinct to the ground?).

  

• US Slams Iran-Venezuela "Distraction" As 4th Tanker Docks Without Incident
  US Slams Iran-Venezuela "Distraction" As 4th Tanker Docks Without Incident
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 17:00

  The US has slammed what it’s dubbed the “distraction” of five Iranian fuel tankers delivering gasoline to Maduro’s Venezuela, after four total tankers have successfully reached the sanctions-hit country, with a fifth soon to follow.

  A US State Department spokesman downplayed the whole ordeal, which included large Venezuelan military escorts of warships and fighter alongside the tankers for the final 200 miles to the coast, as an orchestrated distraction which will not stop Washington from continuing to “press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy.”

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  For days prior to the cross-Atlantic transport, the Trump administration said it was weighing a response, while Caracas complained last week to the UN of “the threat of imminent use of military force by the United States against Iranian vessels carrying Venezuelan-directed gasoline.”

  At least two of the tankers, the first couple to arrive, are now docked and discharging their fuel, while the fifth vessel, the Clavel, is still crossing the Atlantic Ocean, headed toward the Caribbean. Their safe arrival sparked national celebrations in both ‘rogue’ countries Iran and Venezuela. 

  Iran had previously warned that any US attempt at intercepting its fuel tankers “would have serious repercussions for the Trump administration ahead of the November elections” — suggesting the return of a tit-for-tat tanker war scenario such as played out in the gulf last summer.

  The Iranian flag was raised over downtown Caracas this week:

  For Iran to send oil and gas tankers to Venezuela and both countries under US economic sanctions, and that the payment in gold be in place of the dollar,this means that a new economic system has been formed and that dispensing with the dollar is imminent. Iranian flag near Chavez pic.twitter.com/WxccufRjkg

  — Zaid Arafat (@Zaid88337958) May 23, 2020

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  But apparently a potential US-Iran-Venezuela crisis in the Caribbean has been averted. Indeed the White House is now facing multiple crises and doesn’t appear in the mood to indulge in any “distraction” in ‘America’s backyard’ waters at this crucial time.

  Venezuelan jets escort Iranian oil tankers carrying fuel for Venezuela, which is suffering a fuel shortage, despite having huge oil reserves. President Maduro thanked Iran, depicting their two countries as “revolutionary peoples who will never kneel down before [US] imperialism.” pic.twitter.com/KeBxuuXnoF

  — Mike (@Doranimated) May 26, 2020

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  Not only are tensions with China at boiling point, especially now wrangling over the Hong Kong issue, but the corona-crisis is continuing, now with Minnesota race riots and entire city blocks in American on fire — and a White House battle over ‘Twitter censorship’ to boot.

  

• Pew: Democrats Represent 41 Of 44 Districts With Highest COVID-19 Death Tolls
  Pew: Democrats Represent 41 Of 44 Districts With Highest COVID-19 Death Tolls
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 16:30

  Authored by Sharyl Attkisson,

  Pew Research Center is out with an analysis of coronavirus deaths. It shows they are overwhelmingly concentrated in Congressional districts represented by Democrats.

  Democrats represent 41 of 44 districts with the highest number of Covid-19 deaths.

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  This lopsided distribution could help explain a partisan divide in the views regarding whether a national shutdown was the right move, and whether it’s time to end it.

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  From Pew:

  The coronavirus outbreak has taken the lives of nearly 100,000 Americans. Yet since the start of the outbreak, the death toll has been concentrated in a just a few places – mostly large metropolitan areas, especially the New York City area.

  The places hit hardest by the coronavirus outbreak – which have relatively large shares of ethnic and racial minorities and residents living in densely populated urban and suburban areas – are almost all represented by congressional Democrats.

  A new Pew Research Center analysis of data on official reports of COVID-19 deaths, collected by the John Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, finds that, as of last week, nearly a quarter of all the deaths in the United States attributed to the coronavirus have been in just 12 congressional districts – all located in New York City and represented by Democrats in Congress. Of the more than 92,000 Americans who had died of COVID-19 as of May 20 (the date that the data in this analysis was collected), nearly 75,000 were in Democratic congressional districts.

  Of the 44 hardest-hit congressional districts – the top 10% in terms of deaths – 41 are represented by Democrats, while three are represented by Republicans. These include the New York-area districts, as well as those in the Boston, Detroit and New Orleans metropolitan areas. The average death toll in each of these hardest-hit districts was 1,122 as of May 20.

  The next 100 hardest-hit districts, which represent the remainder of the top third of districts, with an average of 270 deaths, also are disproportionately represented by Democrats: 75 are represented by Democrats, 25 by Republicans.

  About two-thirds (68%) of the 44 least affected districts – the bottom 10%, with an average 13 deaths in each district – are represented by Republicans in Congress.

  Note: Pew finds there are differences in death rates in terms of race but not poverty level.

  Read more here:  Coronavirus death toll is heavily concentrated in Democratic congressional districts

  *  *  *

  Order “Slanted: How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism” by Sharyl Attkisson at Harper Collins, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, IndieBound, Bookshop!

  

• "The Largest Ever Physical Transfer Of Gold"
  "The Largest Ever Physical Transfer Of Gold"
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Sat, 05/30/2020 – 16:00

  Two months ago, when the market was in a state of near-total chaos as a result of a sudden collapse in global supply chains due to the hasty coronavirus lockdowns, one market that saw unprecedented turmoil was that of physical gold.

  As we pointed out in late March, due to a sudden breakdown in physical gold supply as the world’s top gold refiners, those located in the southern Swiss town of Ticino, namely Valcambi, Pamp and Argor-Heraeus, suddenly stopped producing gold, the  result was a record divergence in the price of spot gold vs gold futures contracts…

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  … with gold futures decoupling and trading far above spot prices.

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  The resulting record divergence in gold futures vs spot (in some way analogous to what happened to the price of the prompt WTI contract in April, when the May WTI contract traded as low as ($40) as traders were willing to pay buyers to store oil in a world where there was suddenly no space for the physical commodity), unleashed a flood of physical gold into the US as a record scramble by traders rushing to take advantage of this arbitrage opportunity by shipping bullion to New York sparked what Bloomberg said “may be one of the largest ever physical transfers of the metal.“

  “The flows into New York are unprecedented,” Allan Finn, the global commodities director at logistics and security provider Malca-Amit told Bloomberg as his company’s teams in New York have been working 24 hours a day to cope with unprecedented demand for physical gold while navigating lockdowns, flight disruptions and social distancing.

  Since late March, no less than 550 tons of gold – worth $30 billion at today’s price and roughly equal to global mine output in the period – have been added to Comex warehouse stockpiles; hundreds of tons of that was imported. On its own that amount of gold would represent the 11th largest sovereign holding, larger than the ECB’s official 504.8 tons of gold.

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  Traditionally, while tens of billions of dollars of gold change hands every day in financial markets, a much smaller amount tends to physically move between vaults in trading hubs like London, Zurich and New York. But that has not been the case in the past two months: it all started to change as the Covid-19 crisis affected the supply chain. As Bloomberg explains what we first highlighted two months ago:

  “when planes were grounded and Swiss refineries closed in late March, traders were worried they wouldn’t be able to get gold to New York in time to deliver against futures contracts. That caused futures, which typically trade in lockstep with the London spot price, to soar to a premium of as much as $70 an ounce.

  That created an opportunity for enterprising traders: buy gold somewhere in the world at the spot price, sell futures, and benefit from the difference by shipping the metal to New York.”

  The scale of the trade has been revealed in exchange reports, import and export data and comments from some of the leading precious metals shipping and vaulting companies. It all came to a head on Thursday, when traders declared their intent to deliver a record 2.8 million ounces of gold against the June Comex contract, the largest daily delivery notice in exchange data going back to 1994.

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  The bulk of this gold came from Switzerland, as Swiss gold exports to the US surged, reaching 111.7 tons in April, the highest on record. Already in March gold imports topped $3 billion, according to the Census Bureau, the highest in at least a decade.

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  To meet the unprecedented demand for physical gold, refineries as far away as Australia have ramped up output of kilobars – the form typically delivered on the Comex – to ship to New York.

  For Brink’s Managing Director Mark Woolley, the spike in demand to ship gold to New York has been unlike anything he’s seen in 20 years in the market.

  “The amount of metal that we’ve successfully moved into New York is pretty significant,” he said Thursday on a webinar hosted by the London Bullion Market Association. “It’s probably not far off the total amount of metal that’s been mined in this period.”

  As discussed previously, the CME Group which owns Comex, responded to the unprecedented market dislocation and the sudden lack of physical gold in New York by introducing a new contract allowing the delivery of 400-ounce bars, the type traded in London. Still, “other changes need to be at least considered,” according to LBMA Chairman Paul Fisher.

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  With investor demand for physical off the charts, the enormous movement of gold has been a blessing for logistics companies but also a curse: not only have passenger flights – on which shipments are typically transported – been grounded, but New York City, where many Comex warehouses are located (recall JPM’s giant gold vault just happened to be located right next to the NY Fed’s), has also been a hotspot for the virus.

  To deal with flows, Loomis International U.K. opened up additional vault capacity. Malca-Amit considered using airports in Boston and Philadelphia, but hasn’t needed to yet, Finn said.

  That said, while large volumes and virus-related restrictions at vaults and airports caused some delivery delays, much of the spike in the premium for futures contracts in March – which left banks such as HSBC suffering hundreds of millions in losses – was driven by perception rather than reality, Finn said.

  “My own personal opinion is that any assessment on the inability to get gold in was ill-informed at the time and was made on assumptions rather than fact,” he said.

  Still, the bonanza for precious metals shippers may last a while. As we pointed out last week, large deliveries have seen June Comex futures drop to a discount to spot prices this week, but later dated futures are still at a premium. In fact, according to BofA, in a world in which central banks are flooding markets will trillions in freshly printed fiat and faith in the monetary system is quietly shrinking one day at a time, the one asset the “smart money” wants – as it dumps stocks – is, you guessed it, gold.

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  In fact, a simple correlation between the flood in the global money supply and the price of gold suggests the yellow metal has about $1000 of upside.

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  Meanwhile, as investor interest in other precious metals picked up, futures for silver and platinum have also traded at premiums to spot: “The guys in New York have done a great job,” said Brian Hayward, head of Loomis International U.K.

  “We’re seeing a lot of silver head that way right now” Hayward said in what may be very good news for fans of silver, which recently hit record lows against gold…

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  … a move which may very soon reverse violently.

  

Digest powered by RSS Digest

• Coronavirus Propaganda Mimics War Propaganda
  Coronavirus Propaganda Mimics War Propaganda
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 23:50

  Authored by Jeff Deist via The Mises Institute,

  In the period leading up to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration and its media accomplices waged a relentless propaganda campaign to win political support for what turned out to be one of the most disastrous foreign policy mistakes in American history.

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  Nearly two decades later, with perhaps a million dead Iraqis and thousands of dead American soldiers, we are still paying for that mistake. 

  Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, were key players behind the propaganda—which we can define as purposeful use of information and misinformation to manipulate public opinion in favor of state action. Iraq and its president Saddam Hussein were the ostensible focus, but their greater goal was to make the case for a broader and open-ended “War on Terror.”  ​

  So they created a narrative using a mélange of half-truths, faintly plausible fabrications, and outright lies:

  • Iraq and the nefarious Saddam Hussein were “behind,” i.e., backing, the Saudi terrorists responsible for 9-11 attacks on the US;

  • Hussein and his government were stockpiling yellowcake uranium in an effort to develop nuclear capability;

  • Hussein was connected with al-Qaeda 

  • Iran was lurking in the background as a state sponsor of terrorism, coordinating and facilitating attacks against the US in coordination with Hamas;

  • Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and other terror groups were working against the US across the Middle East in some kind of murky but coordinated effort;

  • We have to “fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here”;

  • The Iraqis would welcome our troops as liberators.

  And so forth.

  But the propaganda “worked” in the most meaningful sense: Congress voted nearly 3–1 in favor of military action against Iraq, and Gallup showed 72 percent of Americans supporting the invasion as it commenced in 2003. Media outlets across the spectrum such as the Washington Post cheered the war. National Review dutifully did its part, labeling Pat Buchanan, Ron Paul, Justin Raimondo, Lew Rockwell, and other outspoken opponents of the invasion as “unpatriotic conservatives.”

  Tragically, the American people never placed the burden of proof squarely with the war cheerleaders to justify their absolutely crazed effort to remake the Middle East. In hindsight, this is obvious, but at the time propaganda did its job. Disinformation is part and parcel of the fog of war.

  What will hindsight make clear about our reaction to COVID-19 propaganda? Will we regret shutting down the economy as much as we ought to regret invading Iraq?

  The cast of characters is different, of course: Trump, desperately seeking “wartime president” status; Dr. Anthony Fauci; epidemiologist Neil Ferguson; state governors such as Cuomo, Whitmer, and Newsom; and a host of media acolytes just itching to force a new normal down our throats. Like the Iraq War architects, they use COVID-19 as justification to advance a preexisting agenda, namely, greater state control over our lives and our economy. Yet because too many Americans remain stubbornly attached to the old normal, a propaganda campaign is required.

  So we are faced with a blizzard of new “facts” almost every day, most of which turn out to be only mildly true, extremely dubious, or plainly false:

  • The virus aerosolizes and floats around, so we all need to be six feet apart (But why not twenty feet? Why not one mile?);

  • The virus lives on surfaces everywhere, for days;

  • Asymptomatic people can spread it unknowingly;

  • Antibodies may or may not develop naturally;

  • People may become infected more than once;

  • Young healthy people are at great risk not only themselves, but also pose a risk to their elderly family members;

  • Thin, permeable paper masks somehow prevent microscopic viral spores from being inhaled or exhaled toward others;

  • People are safer inside;

  • The rate of new infected “cases” in the first few weeks of the virus reaching America would continue or even grow exponentially; 

  • Social distancing and quarantines do indeed “save” lives;

  • Testing is key (But what if an individual visits a crowded grocery an hour after testing negative?);

  • A second wave of infections is nigh; and 

  • Our personal and work lives cannot continue without a vaccine, which, by the way, may be two years away.

  Again, much of this is not true and not even intended to be true—but rather to influence public behavior and opinions. And again, the overwhelming burden of proof should lie squarely with those advocating a lockdown of society, who would risk a modern Great Depression in response to a simple virus.

  How much damage will the lockdown cause? Economics aside, the sheer toll of this self-inflicted wound will be a matter for historians to document. That toll includes all the things Americans would have done without the shutdown in their personal and professional lives, representing a diminution of life itself. Can that be measured, or distilled into numerical terms? Probably not, but this group of researchers and academics argues that we have already suffered more than one million “lost years of life” due to the ravages of unemployment, missed healthcare, and general malaise.

  By the same token, how do we measure the blood and treasure lost in Iraq? How much PTSD will soldiers suffer? How many billions of dollars in future VA medical care will be required? How many children will grow up without fathers? And how many millions of lives are forever shattered in that cobbled-together political artifice in the Middle East?

  Propaganda kills, but it also works. Politicians of all stripes will benefit from the coronavirus; the American people will suffer. Perversely, one of the worst COVID propagandists—the aforementioned  Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York—yesterday rang the bell as the New York Stock Exchange reopened to floor trading. He now admits that the models were wrong and that his lockdown did nothing to prevent the Empire State from suffering the highest per capita deaths from COVID. Like the architects of the Iraq War, he belongs on a criminal docket. But thanks to propaganda, he is hailed as presidential.

  

• World's Largest All-Electric Passenger Aircraft Makes Maiden Flight
  World’s Largest All-Electric Passenger Aircraft Makes Maiden Flight
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 23:30

  The world’s largest all-electric-powered utility aircraft conducted its maiden flight on Thursday, reported Flight Global. 

  The electric-powered Cessna 208B Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna Aircraft Company, has been traditionally used for flight training to recreation, commuter airlines to VIP transport, cargo carriers, humanitarian missions, and Special Forces operations. 

  Flight Global said propulsion company Magnix and AeroTEC, an engineering and flight test specialist, swapped out the plane’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop engine with an all-electric propulsion system, that can produce 750hp. After the successful test flight, the plane is now considered the largest all-electric passenger aircraft ever to fly.

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  Magnix and AeroTEC believe economically-feasible all-electric commercial flights are just around the corner and could transform regional commuting. Electric planes have been limited for many years because of lagging battery technology — however, that has all changed. 

  Magnix chief executive Roei Ganzarski said the plane is called “eCaravan” and took off from Grant County International airport, located in the central business district of Moses Lake in Grant County, Washington, on Thursday. He said the plane circled the airfield for 30 minutes before landing. The test pilot described the maiden flight as “flawless.” 

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  Ganzarski said the successful test flight was a significant milestone for the aviation industry. 

  Watch: Electric-powered Cessna Grand Caravan makes maiden flight on May 28 

  The current configuration of eCaravan has passenger capacity between 4-5 with a flight range of 100 miles. Ganzarski said the plane is the process of receiving FAA certificates by 4Q21. He said by then, battery technology should advance some more, and it would mean increased range or large seating capacity to at least nine. 

  He said the eCaravan is designed for low-cost travel between cities, and eventually, be able to travel up to 500 miles that would be used for regional flights. A 100-mile flight cost about $6 in electric, opposed to a conventional Cessna 208B using jet fuel, would cost a few hundred dollars with today’s fuel rates. 

  Ganzarski said the plane’s batteries need about 30-40 minutes of charging before a 30-minute flight. 

  He said, “there is way more interest at this point than we anticipated,” while referring to potential customers. 

  Ganzarski’s plane is not the only one in the race for all-electric flight. We noted, Eviation Aircraft unveiled an electric plane at the Paris Airshow last year. 

  

• This Is A Full Societal Breakdown
  This Is A Full Societal Breakdown
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 23:10

  Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,

  This week’s standard refrain was one of pessimism.  The quick return to economic health mantra that was popular not long ago has disappeared faster than you can say lickety-split.  But there was one notable outlier this week.  In fact, one leading economist stepped forward with assurances that renewed prosperity lays just ahead.

  On Wednesday, Nobel prize economist Paul Krugman looked up from his liquidity trap graphs long enough to tell Noah Smith at Bloomberg that the 1979-82 economic slump “would suggest fast recovery once the virus is contained.  I don’t see the case for a multiyear depression.”

  This sounds great and all.  A fast recovery would end a lot of financial pain and suffering.  Still, we seem to think the damage that’s been done by the government lockdown will have long-term consequences.

  The glorious ascent of the concave parabola of government spending and debt won’t go away.  The budget deficit has grown by leaps and bounds – nearly $3 trillion – over the last four months.  The national debt – currently over $25.6 trillion – has overtaken the economy.

  What’s more, the deficit spending’s being financed by Fed credit that’s created out of thin air.  Again, there will be lasting consequences for this type of depravity.

  Presently, the economy and financial system is in grave trouble.  This is not a cyclical depression, despite what Krugman says.  This is a full societal breakdown.  And the authorities can’t stop it.

  Not since Nero clipped coins in 64 A.D. and fiddled as Rome burned has there been such an intolerable collection of lowlifes in imperial office.  No plans are off limit: Mass surveillance.  Permanent wars.  Market intervention.  Trade wars.  Greater government control.  You name it.

  Yet these tired solutions are the source of the problems…

  Solutions and Fixes

  The authorities may not be able to stop the depression.  But they can try; it’s in their interest to do so.  Their efforts, however, will serve to make a greater mess of things.

  You see, the economy can and will recover from the mounting depression.  Though it may take a decade or more to do so.  Moreover, the intensity and duration of the depression is dependent on the level of government mismanagement.  Thus far, the mismanagement has been remarkable.

  The lockdown may have helped flatten the curve.  But what did it really solve?  The virus is still on the loose.  People are still getting infected.  Yet, thanks to the lockdown, the economy has also been destroyed.

  From one solution precipitated a new problem.  And the fix to that problem caused another problem.  And on and on…

  Economists at the University of Chicago estimate that more than two-thirds of the workers on unemployment insurance are making more in jobless benefits than they did at work.  Some are even hauling in two to three times as much.

  Weekly unemployment payments of $600 granted by CARES Act have been a great boon for many unemployed workers.  These weekly payments also provide a government incentive not to work.  This, in effect, delays economic recovery.

  The government’s solution to the consequences of the government’s lockdown has become part of the problem.  But not to worry.  The government stands ready with a new solution to fix the problem of its making.

  Take Senator Rob Portman, for instance.  He’s proposing a $450 weekly ‘return-to-work bonus.’  The purpose of the proposal is to incentivize people to return to work by giving them free money.  Larry Kudlow thinks Portman has a good idea.  According to Kudlow, this is something the White House is “looking at very carefully.”

  What else are the White House and the central planners looking at?  What other messes will their solutions make?  Several come to mind…

  This is a Full Societal Breakdown

  Unlike the Great Depression, where there were mass bank failures and a collapse in the money supply, the Fed is engaging in mass money printing.  The Fed’s balance sheet was at $4 trillion when Fed Chair Jay Powell rung in the New Year.  Now it’s over $7 trillion…and is headed to $10 trillion by the end of the year.

  These dollar debasement policies produce an endless assortment of economic distortions.  As money loses value, there can be a wide range of outcomes.  Prices change and fluctuate in strange and unpredictable ways depending on people’s mass psychology.

  Will financial assets inflate like they did following the 2008-09 bailouts?  Or, because free money is being delivered to the people, will consumer prices inflate?  Will all the free money produce an economic boom?  Or will the economy stall as inflation rises in a stagflationary quagmire?

  The fact that this is all happening in an election year ups the ante.  As the campaign trail heats up, followed by debates, advertisements, and party conventions, proposed solutions to the economic problem will range from the extreme to the absurd.  You won’t hear mention of freedom, liberty, honest money, and small government…unless you go here.

  But it will be quite a delight to observe, if only the outcomes weren’t so destructive.  Here’s a preview of what’s to come…

  Two hominids, panting at the watering hole, calling each other names, tweeting insults, squawking and shrieking over who gets to divvy up and dole out the peanuts.  One wants to transfer wealth from the rich via payments to the poor.  The other wants to rebuild the nation’s crumbly airports and bridges using money from somewhere.

  Yet the people, following several months of lockdown, don’t want to hear it.  As the weather heats up, and the economy cools down, tensions will combust.  Riots in Minnesota have flared up riots in Los Angeles.  But you ain’t seen nothing yet…

  This is a full societal breakdown.  Racial injustice may be today’s rage.  But there’s plenty of other injustices for people to go mad over.  By the dogdays of August, no doubt, when the weekly $600 unemployment checks program has expired, riots will come to a Target near you.

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  After that, things will really get ugly.

  

• Here's What Each State Is Binge-Watching During The COVID-19 Lockdown
  Here’s What Each State Is Binge-Watching During The COVID-19 Lockdown
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 22:50

  With months of government-enforced lockdowns starting to come to an end, Americans have found themselves watching hours and hours of “comfort food” TV during the COVID-19 outbreak.

  CableTV.com recently conducted a survey of nearly 7,000 housebound viewers and found that they’re spending a lot of time with old friends – capital “F” Friends, to be exact.

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  “Friends,” is a clear winner, with 11 states currently binging on the New York City-based show.

  Eleven states, all in blue, have more than one show that their residents are binging continuously.

  Among the most recent shows, Netflix’s “Tiger King,” “The Midnight Gospel,” and “#BlackAF,” make the popular cut.

  Read more here…

  

• Paul Craig Roberts Questions The Campaign Against HCQ
  Paul Craig Roberts Questions The Campaign Against HCQ
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 22:30

  Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

  The Covid-19 pandemic has brought out many disturbing features of our society. Misinformation, or perhaps more accurately, disinformation, abounds in the service of agendas ranging from those who interpret the virus as a useful ploy for the construction of a police state, to Big Pharma and its allies who are moving us toward mass vaccinations, to the narcissistic views of those who would sacrifice the elderly and ill rather than to be inconvenienced by being denied access to bars and beaches.  Every aspect of the pandemic, including Trump’s own use of HCQ, is being used against the President of the United States.

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  At a time when accurate information is essential, the waters are instead muddied by disinformation in the service of political, ideological, and profit agendas.  The irresponsibility of those putting their self-interests first is extraordinary.  It indicates that the social bond between people that made America a country has been dissolved by greed, multiculturalism, and Identity Politics.  America has become a country without a common interest. It is a narcissistic state.

  This article is limited to the campaign against HCQ.  HCQ—hydroxychloroquine—has been in use for 65 years for the prevention or treatment of malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.  It is officially labeled a safe drug.  Many doctors treating Covid patients have found and reported HCQ, when used early enough together with zinc and the antibiotic azithromycin to be an effective and safe treatment.

  I have reported and made available many of the reports of HCQ’s efficacy and safety.  See for example:

  • https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/04/11/professor-didier-raoult-releases-the-results-of-a-new-hydroxychloroquine-treatment-study-on-1061-patients/

  • https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/04/11/the-cure-that-works-is-opposed-by-fauci-and-cnn-and-big-pharma/ 

  • https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/80-patients-staff-members-come-coronavirus-texas-nursing-home-hydroxychloroquine-treatment-saves-1-patient/

  • https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/04/10/dogmatic-medical-orthodoxy-attempts-to-discredit-effective-covid-19-treatment/

  • https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/05/06/why-was-an-effective-cure-for-covid-19-withheld/ 

  Despite 65 years of safe use, HCQ is alleged to be dangerous and to cause heart attacks.  Its use is officially approved only for “adolescent and adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19.” Generally, by the time a patient is hospitalized the virus has progressed to a later stage in which treatment is less successful.  Studies of HCQ’s effectiveness, such as the VA one and apparently the more recent one reported in The Lancet, are limited to later stage hospitalized patients and seem to exclude the essential zinc component of the HCQ treatment.  In other words, the studies seem to be designed to exclude from official approval the treatment that doctors have found most effective. It is not easy for a layperson to know what the studies actually say as the media report the studies in an anti-Trump manner.  For the media, what is most important is criticism of Trump, not the effectiveness of a treatment.

  In contrast, the untested investigational antiviral drug, Remdesivir, which has no record of safe use and is extraordinarily expensive compared to HCQ, has been given the same clearence for use. The media is not interested in the effectiveness and safety, or lack of, of this new and untested drug. Trump isn’t taking it, and it is a potential profit-maker for Big Pharma. If Remdesivir fails, the failure will be used to dispose of the hope for cures and to focus on vaccination.

  It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that HCQ/zinc is being sidelined in order to clear the way for a profitable vaccine and a vaccination mandate.  

  But the vaccines are not panning out.

  The Moderna vax touted by Bill Gates and Dr. Fauci caused severe illnesses in one-fifth of the test recipients. 

  The other fast-tracked vaccine developed by the Oxford Vaccine Group proved ineffective. The vaccine produced insufficient antibodies to prevent Covid-19 infection. 

  …

  A few years ago the British medical journal, The Lancet, published a paper touting the safety of HCQ.  But this was before HCQ with zinc was found effective if used earlier enough against Covid-19.  Covid-19 turned HCQ’s effectiveness into a big problem for Big Pharma’s big profits.  

  The solution was another study by medical professionals some of whom have ties to Big Pharma and none of whom, apparently, are involved in the treatment of Covid patients.  The study lumps together people in different stages of the disease and undergoing different treatments. It touts its large sample, but many of the patients in the sample received treatment too late after the virus had reached their heart and other vital organs.  Most likely the people who died from heart failure died as a result of the virus, not from HCQ.  

  To be effective treatment has to stop the virus early. Waiting until the patient must be hospitalized has given the virus too much of a head start. Every doctor, and there are many, who reports success with the HCQ treatment stresses early treatment.  President Trump used a two-week treatment with HCQ as a prophylactic as he was constantly coming into contact with people who tested positive for the virus.  Many medical professionals who are treating Covid patients also use HCQ as a prophylactic.

  The Lancet study was a rush job as it was essential for Big Pharma to prevent the spread of the HCQ treatment and awareness of its safety and effectiveness. The study’s authors completed the data collection around the middle of April and the study was published on May 22.  As soon as it appeared, it was used to close down the World Health Organization’s clinical  trial of hydoxychloroquine in coronavirus patients citing safety concerns. Most likely, the trial was aborted in order to  prevent an official agency from finding out that HCQ worked.

  The media, of course, used the suspended trial to cast more doubt on Trump’s judgment for recommending and using the treatment, the implication being that Trump had put himself at more risk from a heart attack than from the virus itself. 

  The Daily Mail, which is often somewhat skeptical of official reports, even misreported French virologist Didier Raoult’s report ) of his success with treating 1,061 patients with HCQ/AZ as consisting of only a small sample of 30 patients. A small sample is considered to be inconclusive. Thus 1,061 people became 30.

  The Lancet study claims a high mortality from HCQ treatment, reporting a death rate ranging from 5.1% to 13.8%.  In response to a journalist when asked about this claim, Didier Raoult said that he and has colleagues have followed 4,000 of their patients so far.  They have had 36 deaths and none from heart problems for a death rate of 0.009%.  According to The Lancet study, he should have between 204 and 552  patients dead from heart problems.  He has zero.  Raoult had more than 10,000 cardiograms analysed by rythmologists (a special kind of cardiologist) searching for any sign of heart problems.  

  NIH’s Dr. Fauci denies that Raoult’s hard evidence is evidence.  On May 27 Fauci said, without showing shame of his ignorance or his lie, that there’s no evidence that shows the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine is effective at treating COVID-19.

  Perhaps what Fauci means is that no study undertaken by NIH or another Big Pharma friendly official body has been done and that only such studies constitute evidence.

  When hard evidence such as Raoult’s is suppressed and misreported while “studies” doctored to produce a predetermined conclusion that serves Big Pharma profits are rushed into publication, we know that money has pushed ethics out of medical research.  A number of concerned people have been telling us this for some time.  We are past due to listen to them.

  Private medicine is profit driven, which makes it susceptible to fraud.  In long ago days fraud was restrained by the moral character of doctors and the respect for truth of researchers.  These restraints, never perfect, have eroded as greed turned everything, integrity itself, into a commodity that is bought and sold.

  The intent is to bury HCQ as a low cost effective treatment and to put in its place a high cost alternative whether effective or not, and to supplement this enhancement of profits with mass vaccination which might do us more harm than the virus itself.  Big Pharma could care less.  The only value it knows is profit.

  This intent has garnered the support of the French, Belgium and Italian governments. Using The Lancet study and WHO’s termination of its HCQ trial as the excuse, the French government revoked its decree authorizing HCQ treatment. Belgium’s health ministry issued a warning against the use of HCQ except in registered clinical trials. Italy’s health agency wants HCQ’s use banned outside of clinical trials and suspended authorization to use HCQ as a Covid-19 treatment.

  Does this mean that Raoult and his team who by treating Covid patients with HCQ have achieved the remarkable low death rate of 0.009% are prohibited from using the proven cure to save lives? Will Raoult and his team be imprisoned if they continue to save lives? What about the people who will die from the three government’s prevention of a safe and effective treatment? Will France, Belgium, and Italy accept responsibility for these lost lives?

  I can’t avoid wondering if the revolving door between Big Pharma and the NIH and CDC which corrupts US public health decisions also operates in France, Belgium and Italy. Are European health officials elevating themselves by climbing over the dead bodies of their victims?

  

• Hong Kongers Scramble To Swap Their Currency For US Dollars As 'Special Status' Threatened
  Hong Kongers Scramble To Swap Their Currency For US Dollars As ‘Special Status’ Threatened
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 22:10

  Even before protests over a controversial extradition bill sparked the tumultuous pro-democracy movement that swept across Hong Kong last year, the notion that the city’s freedoms were under threat, and that China would soon move to curtail them, had been gestating since the 2014 Umbrella Movement. Last Spring, before the movement began in earnest, Kyle Bass published a paper entitled “the Quiet Panic” about how Hong Kong was a ticking time bomb. A few months later, it exploded.

  Over the past 16 months, expats haven’t been the only ones fleeing Hong Kong. Virtually everyone who can afford to move has at least considered the possibility of selling their once extremely valuable Hong Kong real estate and fleeing elsewhere, perhaps to New Zealand, or Australia, or Malaysia – or Taiwan, which is currently drawing up plans to welcome expats.

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  As more prepare to move before China tightens its grip, Bloomberg reported Friday that Hong Kong residents have been exchanging more of their HKD holdings into foreign currencies at banks and money exchange counters on Thursday, according to Sing Tao, Hong Kong’s second-largest Chinese-language newspaper. According to BBG, the paper didn’t cite a source for the data, but it’s not exactly difficult to believe.

  On Thursday, Beijing’s Politburo Standing Committee officially wove a new National Security law into Hong Kong’s constitution, taking advantage of a loophole requiring Hong Kong to always have a national security law on its books. Many have decried the move as a crossing of the Rubicon – that Beijing no longer cares about placating its western “allies” as it cracks down on freedoms in territories it claims.

  The FX activity was driven by concerns about US sanctions, and the possibility that the US will immediately move to revoke Hong Kong’s “special status”, which allows it more favorable trade treatment and other advantages over mainland China. US Secretary of State Pompeo warned that he had recommended to Congress that HK is no longer independent from Beijing.

  Some popular money exchange shops in Tsim Sha Tsui, Central and Wan Chai areas even ran out of USD on Thursday evening, forcing some people to trade their dollar-pegged HKD for GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD and NZD instead.

  Though spot HKD is trading toward the strong end of its band Friday as the dollar weakens against the euro and several other major rivals, Kyle Bass’s bet against the currency peg, which critics once slammed as absurd and unlikely to pay off, is becoming increasingly popular as a trade as derivatives markets price in growing expectations for depreciation.

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  Meanwhile, HK executive Carrie Lam (known to her many detractors as “Piglet”, a reference to the character from “Winnie the Pooh”, published a notice in almost all Chinese-language papers in the city calling on citizens “not to fear” the national security law, insisting it would only target a “small minority” of “criminals”.

  Carrie Lam to fellow citizens of Hong Kong, minus readers of Apple Daily: Fear not, national security laws will only target a small minority of criminal acts and activities, as well as the foreign interference that has stirred up unrest.@natashakhanhkhttps://t.co/o9YfuLWNsp

  — Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) May 29, 2020

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  We imagine this trend isn’t over yet. Let’s hope Hong Kong has enough foreign reserves to stave off a wider banking crisis.

  

• Nationwide Chaos: NYPD Precinct Attacked, CNN Vandalized, Treasury Breached As Mayors Beg For Calm
  Nationwide Chaos: NYPD Precinct Attacked, CNN Vandalized, Treasury Breached As Mayors Beg For Calm
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 21:53

  Update (2315ET): Rioters made quick work of the CNN logo outside the building, covering it with graffiti and standing on it, as if declaring victory over fake news.

  CNN being vandalized in Atlanta pic.twitter.com/CPlZkyhtUC

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) May 30, 2020

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  In Atlanta, vandals broke into the College Football Hall of Fame where they stole memorabilia.

  #BREAKING New images into @Fox5Atlanta show vandals breaking the windows of the College Football Hall of Fame and stealing items from the Downtown #Atlanta location. #fox5atl #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/n0VHSEqoea

  — FOX 5 Atlanta (@FOX5Atlanta) May 30, 2020

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  #BREAKING: College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta has been destroyed & looted

  pic.twitter.com/JO7Gi0kBIU

  — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 30, 2020

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  #BREAKING: Several fires have been set in downtown Atlanta: https://t.co/pcc4NclNk6 pic.twitter.com/xqS04yTHQi

  — WSB-TV (@wsbtv) May 30, 2020

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  More shots from Atlanta tonight pic.twitter.com/TmUmW5nXxZ

  — kieron (@kieroncg) May 30, 2020

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  Meanwhile, the Treasury Department in DC was breached by rioters, who spray painted the building. According to CNN, some of the protesters were stopped by US Secret Service but eventually let go.

  TREASURY DEPARTMENT IN DC BREACHED BY RIOTERS

  — intelwave ⚓️ (@inteldotwav) May 30, 2020

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  Trying their best to calm things down were New York Mayor Bill de Blasop, who tweeted “We have a long night ahead of us in Brooklyn. Our sole focus is deescalating this situation and getting people home safe. There will be a full review of what happened tonight. We don’t ever want to see another night like this.”

  Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms admonished the protesters – telling them “You are disgracing our city, you are disgracing the life of George Floyd”

  Atlanta Mayor Bottoms condemns rioters in fiery speech: “You are disgracing our city, you are disgracing the life of George Floyd” pic.twitter.com/QPCVkG0JIO

  — BNO News (@BNONews) May 30, 2020

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  Maybe the protesters just need to listen to Killer Mike:

  Drop everything and watch Killer Mike’s speech in Atlanta tonight. I don’t agree with him on all of his politics, but that doesn’t matter tonight. He’s 100% right about how to handle protesting and how to change the system… and it isn’t burning your city to the ground. pic.twitter.com/VzDNMTM0wH

  — Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) May 30, 2020

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  *  *  *

  ‘With ongoing social unrest in Minneapolis, protests are unfolding across major US cities on Friday evening. From Washington, D.C. to New York City to Atlanta to Ohio to Los Angeles to San Jose, tens of thousands of people are marching on the street demanding justice for George Floyd, the man who was killed by Minneapolis Police on Monday.

  Starting in Atlanta, protesters have attacking CNN’s headquarters. 

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  The Atlanta protests quickly turned violent:

  “What didn’t happen in time to prepare… for angry, empassioned folks that were going to be protesting… we have to be better prepared.” – @JamesAGagliano to @AC360 #CNN pic.twitter.com/EHN8PTP9JW

  — Alice Stewart (@alicetweet) May 30, 2020

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  CNN’s Fernando Alfonso reports the social unrest outside of his newsroom. 

  Police cars getting literally destroyed in Atlanta outside the CNN Center pic.twitter.com/x5zRxZVQpb

  — Fernando Alfonso III (@fernalfonso) May 29, 2020

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  Protesters are now setting Atlanta Police Department (APD) vehicles on fire. 

  Portions of the CNN Center in Atlanta have been outright destroyed even as police in riot gear defend the building

  “Protesters” and “demonstrators” destroy portions of CNN Center in Atlanta, torch cars, toss incendiary device into phalanx of police in riot gear defending building and employees.

  Violent rioters endangering lives.

  APD needs full turnout, augmentation from State Patrol & Feds. pic.twitter.com/RJrT0C0yI6

  — James A. Gagliano (@JamesAGagliano) May 30, 2020

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  BREAKING: APD squad car is now on fire as the protest turns increasingly violent. #Atlanta #GeorgeFloydprotest | Slideshow: https://t.co/McOhwPwtjr pic.twitter.com/234qxYiaht

  — CBS46 (@cbs46) May 30, 2020

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  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets several pictures of the chaos and destruction unfolding in downtown Atlanta.  

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  “Black Lives Matter” signs were spotted in Atlanta. 

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   It’s getting wild in Atlanta tonight 

  Downtown Atlanta tonightpic.twitter.com/ozMpcNsZ6K

  — Courtney Holland 🇺🇸 (@hollandcourtney) May 30, 2020

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  In Washington, D.C., hundreds of protesters, if not thousands, have assembled outside of the White House. 

  The protest then headed to in front of the White House. A protester was taken by the USSS in front of Pennsylvania Ave into an adjacent federal building. Unclear what he did.A couple men then splintered off from the group and spray painted “F*ck Trump” on the building. @cbsnews pic.twitter.com/OVwPu0PF6X

  — Fin Gomez (@finnygo) May 29, 2020

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  #GeorgeFloyd Protest just outside of the White House. pic.twitter.com/SeZiRfiXT5

  — Fin Gomez (@finnygo) May 29, 2020

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  A protester climbed the fence of a federal building and spray-painted “Fuck Trump.” 

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  Here’s the video:

  At least one protestor spray painted graffiti on the bank building. pic.twitter.com/GSglZWAI18

  — Clarence Williams (@nu1wcf) May 29, 2020

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  Secret Service clashes with protesters

  WATCH: Secret Service tackles protester as fights break out in front of the White House at a #GeorgeFloydMurder protest in Washington, DC. pic.twitter.com/2P9parhFwX

  — Trump’s Failing AMERICA right NOW! 👎 (@IndictPOTUS45) May 29, 2020

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  Hundreds, maybe even thousands, are marching the streets towards the White House this evening. 

  DC Protest now heading to the White House pic.twitter.com/nnVnFr9uod

  — Deb 🧻 🆘 (@debramayberry) May 29, 2020

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  Headed for the White House pic.twitter.com/Sw0m5bueZa

  — Jamie Catherwood (@jfc_3_) May 29, 2020

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  #NOW: On the fourth day of nationwide protests after the death of George Floyd, hundreds are setting out from DC’s U Street for a march toward the White House.

  Their starting chant: “No justice, no peace.” Later, it’s “Derek Chauvin, third degree—fuck that, it’s first degree.” pic.twitter.com/dNpZ2S75B1

  — Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) May 29, 2020

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  Protesters continue to clash with Secret Service in front of the White House. 

  People have managed to toss over the temporary barricades, they’re being pushed back by the Secret Service. More police arriving. Heating up fast outside the White House’s north lawn. pic.twitter.com/jaXKmjV0R9

  — Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) May 29, 2020

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  More folks headed to the White House. 

  The hundreds still with this protest are marching away from the White House eastbound for the Capitol building. Pennsylvania Avenue is shut down for blocks but cars watching them pass are honking in support.

  Out ahead are the Trump Hotel and the Justice Dept. pic.twitter.com/5dhkugYKUs

  — Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) May 30, 2020

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  According to VOA’s Steve Herman, “the White House is on lockdown, with many reporters stuck inside,” due to demonstrations outside.

  Media at the @WhiteHouse instructed to remain inside: https://t.co/6nOnzypFN7

  — Steve Herman (@W7VOA) May 29, 2020

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  In New York City, thousands hit the streets in Manhattan to protest police brutality. 

  A friend just sent this to me, crowds arriving right now to protest outside Barclays Center. pic.twitter.com/lHSb9VFm3e

  — Mariya Abedi (@msabedi) May 29, 2020

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  NYPD protecting the entrance of the Barclays Center earlier today. 

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  UPDATE: Police and protesters clashed outside the Barclays Center a short time ago. Several violent arrests were posted to social media. Other videos showed pepper spray being used. (Video courtesy Jessica Roff) pic.twitter.com/9YPcGyoZA6

  — Spectrum News NY1 (@NY1) May 30, 2020

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  The protest goes from peaceful to violent quickly in NYC.

  New York City protest pic.twitter.com/grzxcjckgb

  — maria viti (@selfdeclaredref) May 29, 2020

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  A lot just popped off at the protest for George Floyd at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Pepper spray, batons, and several arrests https://t.co/gkdtu4ZUVb pic.twitter.com/HX953IWtPq via @j0ncampbell #NewYork

  — Protests Map (@MapProtests) May 29, 2020

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  As night falls, rioters have attacked and overrun the 88th precinct in Brooklyn, resulting in a level 3 mobilization, which requires all special units respond and four cars from every command in the city to location. The 84th precincts is under siege, as well. Also, Brooklyn North.

  NYPD van by Fort Green Park set ablaze just now.

  Level 3 mobilization to 88 Pct.

  10-13 call (Officer down) at 84 Pct. pic.twitter.com/As3wvUsQuK

  — James A. Gagliano (@JamesAGagliano) May 30, 2020

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  The situation in the Big Apple is quickly turning from bad to worse, with unconfirmed reports that officers have been shot:

  Reports of another NYPD 10-13 (Radio call of “Officer down”).

  Also another RMP (Police van) engulfed in flames.

  — James A. Gagliano (@JamesAGagliano) May 30, 2020

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  Police vans were lit on fire by the angry mob:

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  #Breaking Protesters set #NYPD van on fire. @NY1 @RonLeeReporting captured this video in Fort Green, #Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/cefEVet9gO

  — Dean Meminger (@DeanMeminger) May 30, 2020

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  The situation in Brooklyn is critical:

  Rioters pushing the lines in Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/8hcyjsyTwO

  — Rob O’Donnell (@odonnell_r) May 30, 2020

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  One Twiter user tweets a list of cities where protests have been seen on Friday evening. 

  • Louisville, KY
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Atlanta, GA
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Evansville, IN
  • Columbia, SC Charlotte
  • NC Memphis, TN
  • Tampa Bay, FL
  • Columbus, OH
  • New York City
  • Phoenix, AZ
  • Omaha, NE
  • St. Louis, MO
  • Ferguson, MO
  • Houston, TX

  In Houston, protesters clash with police. 

  When the crowd started to clash with officers in Downtown Houston. @FOX26Houston pic.twitter.com/TKcY7Ju54o

  — Natasha Geigel (@NatashaFox26) May 29, 2020

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  Protesters “temporarily shut down the northbound lanes of 288 going into downtown Houston Friday afternoon,” tweeted Houston Chronicles’ Mark Mulligan. 

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  Protesters unleash hell on a Houston Police car.

  Downtown Houston right now #GeorgeLloyd pic.twitter.com/hb66xyARw5

  — TITANSHOMER (@TitansHomer) May 30, 2020

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  One Twitter user says “snipers” are “on buildings” in Houston. 

  DO NOT IGNORE ‼️‼️‼️

  IF YOU ARE AT THE HOUSTON PROTEST PLEASE BE CAREFUL THERE ARE SNIPERS ON BUILDINGS pic.twitter.com/C0AoXJMwUv

  — ACAB! #blacklivesmatter (@wizonv) May 29, 2020

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  On the West Coast, protests in downtown Los Angeles have begun. 

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  In San Jose, protesters are shutting down 101 Highway.

  #BREAKING: Demonstrators protesting death of George Floyd block Highway 101 in San Jose. https://t.co/4BYSOAhrDm pic.twitter.com/WYeYiD6iMg

  — Kristofer Noceda (@krisnoceda) May 29, 2020

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  Nationwide protests are likely to get worse through the weekend. It’s only a matter of time before more governors deploy the Nation Guard to restore order. America is quickly descending into chaos. 

  Watch Protests Live:

  Live: George Floyd Death Protests Around The U.S. | NBC News

  George Floyd death: Protests continue for 4th straight day in Minneapolis | LIVE

  

• Three Ways Lockdowns Are Costing Human Lives
  Three Ways Lockdowns Are Costing Human Lives
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 21:50

  Authored by Kladji Bregu via The Mises Institute,

  The conversation about the lockdowns when the COVID-19 crises started was centered on saving lives at the cost of the economy. This makes sense since many of those making decisions were epidemiologists and we cannot expect them to fully understand the impact of lockdowns on the economy and human lives. The problem is even many economists argued the same and completely ignored the harm that would be created by the lockdowns.

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  These economists have fallen prey to what Frédéric Bastiat called the “unseen” consequences of a policy. Frédéric Bastiat argued that an “act, a habit, an institution, a law, gives birth not only to an effect but to a series of effects. Of these effects, the first only is immediate; it manifests itself simultaneously with its cause — it is seen. The others unfold in succession — they are not seen: it is well for us, if they are foreseen.” Applied to lockdowns this means that it is easier to see the deaths caused by COVID-19 than to see the deaths caused by lockdowns. In what follows I provide three arguments on how the economic lockdowns are costing us human lives and will continue to do so long after they end.

  Deaths of Despair

  A recent study finds that we could have up to 75,000 more deaths of despair over the next 10 years. Deaths of despair refer to suicides and deaths from abuse of alcohol and drugs. The study argues that these deaths will primarily be caused by increased unemployment, fear, and isolation. Unemployment is the main factor and the analysis is based on the projected unemployment rate between 2020 and 2029. The authors estimate that in the best case scenario (lowest unemployment) we will have about 28,000 more people die because of deaths of despair and in the worst-case scenario (highest unemployment) we could have up to 154,000 more people die. Given that a recent study that shows unemployment will remain high for a prolonged period of time we can expect the number to be higher than 75,000.

  This is not the only study that argues unemployment is directly related to deaths of despair. Consider for instance a NBER study found an increase of 3.6 percent on opioid death rate for each one percent increase in unemployment. Based on this, we could see another 29,000 more deaths because of opioids annually. One may argue that these are only predictions, but sadly the indications we have so far show support for these studies. For instance, a doctor in Bay Area, California told a local ABC7 reporter “I mean, we’ve seen a year’s worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks.” This is not one isolated case, Washington Examiner has reported recently that “More people died of suicide in a single Tennessee county last week than of the coronavirus across the entire state, according to one local official.” Hence, the lockdowns either directly through isolation or indirectly through unemployment are costing us many human lives.

  Deaths Because of a Lack of Preventive Care

  In a recent interview for Fox News, Dr. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, argued that now “the cure is bigger than the disease at this point.” He argued that in the U.S. every month 150,000 people are diagnosed with cancer, but the numbers are now much lower. Unfortunately this will lead to higher death rates for this group of people. Add to this the people who are not receiving their chemotherapy as they should and we start to see a clearer picture of how the lockdowns are harming the human lives of those with who have cancer. These are only two examples but if we consider the many more preventive care visits that are not happening it becomes clear that we will see increased deaths because of a lack of preventive care.

  This has become such a big concern for doctors so that many of them are speaking out against this and hopefully we will see a policy response soon. As it is reported in this Forbes article at least 600 doctors around the country are calling for an end to lockdowns and their reasoning is in line with that of Dr. Scott. As Dr. Marilyn Singleton argued “Ending the lockdowns are not about Wall Street or disregard for people’s lives; it about saving lives.”  

  Deaths Because of Hanger and Malnourishment  

  When the lockdowns started many argued that it was worth giving up some economic growth in order to save lives. Unfortunately these people miss the point that economic growth is what saves millions of lives around the globe every single year. We know that as economic conditions get worse many people around the world struggle to meet their basic nutritional needs and this leads to more deaths. In the New York Times,  Abdi Latif Dahir argues that in 2020, 265 million people will find themselves in acute hunger and that will be nearly double the year before. To put this in perspective let us consider that poverty had declined since 1998. But one may ask isn’t the economic downturn because of the COVID-19 crisis? As Ryan McMaken has noted, in previous similar pandemics we did not have the economic downturn we are experiencing now, so the answer is no this is because of the economic lockdowns not the COVID-19 pandemic.

  What is more, this is not a problem that only poor countries will face. Even though poor countries will be hit the most, we are seeing the consequences here in the U.S already. Consider for instance that “according to a survey that found 37% of unemployed Americans ran out of food in the past month and 46% said they worried about running out.” While deaths directly caused by hunger may not be high in the U.S. we must keep in mind that malnourishment also harms our health and leads to more deaths in the long run.

  Conclusion

  The careful and concerned reader may argue that it may be true lockdowns cost human lives but so does COVID-19 so we had to implement the lockdowns. This is a good point and it is not the purpose of this article to diminish the danger COVID-19 poses to certain groups of people in our society or diminish the value of the hundreds of thousands of lives that have been lost. The point of the article is that we must consider the tradeoffs carefully since both COVID-19 and lockdowns both cost us human lives. So, the answer is not as simple as it is sometimes presented by officials who are so eager to shut everything down.

  If we do not correctly take into account the opportunity cost, in terms of lives that can be lost from lockdowns, then we will most likely continue to make bad decisions in the future. We need to look for alternatives and instead of locking down the whole economy we should protect those who are the most vulnerable. But, even when we consider this solution, we should keep in mind that centralized solutions hardly ever work for such complex issues and large countries like the U.S.

  

• 'Trump Supporters Targeted' – Gunshot Fired Into Arizona RNC Field Office 
  ‘Trump Supporters Targeted’ – Gunshot Fired Into Arizona RNC Field Office 
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 21:30

  A Republican National Committee (RNC) official tells Fox News that someone fired a gun into the RNC office in Mohave County, Arizona on Thursday evening. 

  The official said the incident occurred at the Mohave County Republican Office in Bullhead City, Arizona, around 7 pm on Thursday. At the time, there were five volunteers gathered inside when the bullet shattered a window near the entrance. 

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  There were no injuries, but the official said the bullet’s trajectory came “extremely proximity” to where volunteers were working. The official described the incident as a very “scary situation,” and said local law enforcement is investigating the matter along with possible motives. 

  “Last night, another group of President Donald Trump supporters appeared to be targeted when a gunshot was fired into a clearly-marked local Republican office while they were inside hosting an event,” Trump Victory spokesman Rick Gorka told Fox News. “Thankfully, no one was hurt.”

  He added: “This pattern of violence against our volunteers is sickening.”

  The incident occurred during the same time of continuing social unrest in Minneapolis (which, at the time, was in the third night), following the death of George Floyd, who was killed by police on Monday. 

  This week, America has become more divided than ever, something we explained in a recent piece titled “”Land Of The Free?” – The Polarizing Politics Of A Pandemic Exposed.” 

  On social media, the riots in Minneapolis have clearly drawn a division between Right and Left of political groups. 

  

• CDC Admits COVID-19 Antibody Tests Are Wrong Half The Time & Virus Isn't That Deadly
  CDC Admits COVID-19 Antibody Tests Are Wrong Half The Time & Virus Isn’t That Deadly
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 21:10

  Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

  The mainstream media is ignoring the fact that the CDC has admitted the death rate for COVID-19 is actually lower than the flu. This is happening as the media admits that the antibody tests are wrong 50% of the time!

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  The scamdemic fear-mongering is ongoing and the propaganda is getting worse daily, even as their OWN DATA shows otherwise. Instead of giving the public the facts, the media continues to push for an extended lockdown, freedom trampling regulations, mass surveillance, and our permanent enslavement for their political overlords.

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  The CDC just came out with a report that should be earth-shattering to the narrative of the political class, yet it will go into the thick pile of vital data and information about the virus that is not getting out to the public. For the first time, the CDC has attempted to offer a real estimate of the overall death rate for COVID-19, and under its most likely scenario, the number is 0.26 percent.

  Until now, we have been ridiculed for thinking the death rate was that low, as opposed to the 3.4 percent estimate of the World Health Organization, which helped drive the panic and the lockdowns. Now the CDC is agreeing to the lower rate in plain ink.

  Plus, ultimately we might find out that the IFR is even lower because numerous studies and hard counts of confined populations have shown a much higher percentage of asymptomatic cases. Simply adjusting for a 50 percent asymptomatic rate would drop their fatality rate to 0.2 percent – exactly the rate of fatality Dr. John Ionnidis of Stanford University projected.

  More importantly, as I mentioned before, the overall death rate is meaningless because the numbers are so lopsided. Given that at least half of the deaths were in nursing homes, a back-of-the-envelope estimate would show that the infection fatality rate for non-nursing home residents would only be 0.1 percent or 1 in 1,000. And that includes people of all ages and all health statuses outside of nursing homes. Since nearly all of the deaths are those with comorbidities.  -The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity

  This is something most people have known relatively early on, as the government continued to inflate the numbers and call every death a COVID-19 casualty so they could commit economic terrorism on the entire planet. And those antibody tests the ruling class wants us all to take before can even think about coming off house arrest? Those are only right half the time.  How did CNN spin this into more fear porn and propaganda? Check it out:

  “Serologic test results should not be used to make decisions about returning persons to the workplace.”

  Health officials or health care providers who are using antibody tests need to use the most accurate test they can find and might need to test people twice, the CDC said in the new guidance. –CNN

  So, you can’t be free, which is your birthright, because their tests are inaccurate. It’s actually quite shocking people are even agreeing to these tests in the first place, all to pad the numbers for this scamdemic that has been little more than a hoax since day one. This has become so blatantly ridiculous that it’s actually hard to believe there’s anyone out there still supporting the government and their puppets in the mainstream media. They want you to still be afraid.  They need you in fear.  Do not comply.

  

• Gang Of Monkeys Attacks Lab Assistant, Escapes With Coronavirus Test Samples
  Gang Of Monkeys Attacks Lab Assistant, Escapes With Coronavirus Test Samples
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 20:56

  A gang of monkeys in Delhi, India assaulted a laboratory assistant and escaped with coronavirus test samples from three patients, according to Sky News, citing local media.

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  The incident happened near Meerut Medical College. According to the report, one of the monkeys was later spotted in a tree chewing one of the sample collection kits, the Times of India reported – which noted that the patients required new tests.

  It is the latest example of the highly intelligent, red-faced rhesus macaques taking advantage of India’s nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus.

  While they have proved an increasing problem in urban areas of the country in recent years, lockdown measures in the last two months have emboldened the monkeys.

  Reports have shown them congregating in parts of Delhi normally crowded with humans. –Sky

  In March we noted that rival monkey gangs in Thailand – driven by starvation due to a lack of visitors amid the pandemic – have been roving the streets looking for food.

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  The ferocity of the animals shocked even locals, who are used to seeing the monkeys on a daily basis. One onlooker who captured video of the monkeys said: “They looked more like wild dogs than monkeys. They went crazy for the single piece of food. I’ve never seen them this aggressive,” according to the Daily Mail.

  Hundreds of hungry monkeys swarm across Thai street as ‘rival gangs’ fight over food after tourists who normally feed them stay away because of coronavirus https://t.co/lQZ0sOzwDF pic.twitter.com/8TgrCTBrQ8

  — Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 12, 2020

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

  According to the Sky report, people have been advised not to feed monkeys during the pandemic over fears that doing so could cause the disease to mutate and infect primates. If that happened, it could have a devastating impact.

  “The point is, we have very little understanding of the virus, and it is better to limit our interactions with wildlife till there is more research done on its effects on non-human primates and other animal species,” a senior biologist from the Tamil Nadu Forest Department previously told The Hindu.

  “Very often they snatch food from people as they are walking, and sometimes they even tear files and documents by climbing in through the windows,” said Home Ministry employee Ragni Sharma in 2018.

  

• All Of The World's Money & Markets In One Visualization
  All Of The World’s Money & Markets In One Visualization
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 20:50

  In the current economic circumstances, there are some pretty large numbers being thrown around by both governments and the financial media.

  The U.S. budget deficit this year, for example, is projected to hit $3.8 trillion, which would be more than double the previous record set during the financial crisis ($1.41 trillion in FY2009). Meanwhile, the Fed has announced “open-ended” asset-buying programs to support the economy, which will add even more to its current $7 trillion balance sheet.

  Given the scale of these new numbers –  here’s how Visual Capitalist’s Jeff Desjardins relates them back to the more conventional numbers and figures that we may be more familiar with?

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  Introducing the $100 Billion Square

  In the above data visualization, we even the playing field by using a common denominator to put the world’s money and markets all on the same scale and canvas.

  Each black square on the chart is worth $100 billion, and is not a number to be trifled with:

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  In fact, the entire annual GDP of Cuba could fit in one square ($97 billion), and the Greek economy would be roughly two squares ($203 billion).

  Alternatively, if you’re contrasting this unit to numbers found within Corporate America, there are useful comparisons there as well. For example, the annual revenues of Wells Fargo ($103.9 billion) would just exceed one square, while Facebook’s would squeeze in with room to spare ($70.7 billion).

  Billions, Trillions, or Quadrillions?

  Here’s our full list, which sums up all of the world’s money and markets, from the smallest to the biggest, along with sources used:

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  Derivatives top the list, estimated at $1 quadrillion or more in notional value according to a variety of unofficial sources.

  However, it’s worth mentioning that because of their non-tangible nature, the value of financial derivatives are measured in two very different ways. Notional value represents the position or obligation of the contract (i.e. a call to buy 100 shares at the price of $50 per share), while gross market value measures the price of the derivative security itself (i.e. $1.00 per call option, multiplied by 100 shares).

  It’s a subtle difference that manifests itself in a big way numerically.

  

• 33 Examples Of Twitter's Anti-Conservative Bias
  33 Examples Of Twitter’s Anti-Conservative Bias
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 20:30

  Via NewsBusters.org,

  President Donald Trump is right that social media companies have been targeting conservatives. Twitter, in particular, has been engaging in a relentless attack on the American political process by censoring conservatives.

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  Now that has escalated to fact-checking the president nearly five months from a presidential election. 

  The Media Research Center released a report in 2018, which found that Twitter led in censoring the right. That hasn’t changed. Project Veritas caught Twitter with hidden camera interviews admitting the process of shadow banning — which means content is hidden from users without the poster ever knowing it. One engineer admitted that accounts were flagged as bots simply by searching for words such as “America” and “God.” Twitter’s rules have been influenced by liberal think tanks like the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Since then, Twitter has gotten worse. 

  Here are some examples:

  What Twitter Has Done to Trump:

  1. Fact-checking Trump’s tweets

  A tweet from the president that discussed mail-in ballots was labeled as an “unsubstantiated claim” by Twitter. When Trump tweeted, “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent,” a bright blue sentence was added by the social media platform at the bottom of the tweet. The link said, “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.” The label led to a Twitter Events page, which said, “Trump makes unsubstantiated claim that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud.”

  The statement continued, “These claims are unsubstantiated, according to CNN, Washington Post and others. Experts say mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter fraud.”

  “From their bogus ‘fact check’ of @realDonaldTrump to their ‘head of site integrity’ displaying his clear hatred towards Republicans, Twitter’s blatant bias has gone too far,” tweeted Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel. She linked to The New York Times article headlined “Error and Fraud at Issue as Absentee Voting Rises.”

  2. Censorship of pro-Life Team Trump videos

  Twitter’s warning and interstitial, or filter, used to keep viewers from unknowingly seeing inappropriate videos was applied to a Trump campaign pro-life promo. Following Trump’s speech at the March for Life, his pro-life campaign video appeared to have been given an erroneous label/restriction by Twitter. The label was removed soon after Twitter admitted the error.

  3. No enforcement of policy for Democrats

  The bias against Trump has become so egregious that even The Hill and The Washington Post are calling it out. “According to emails reviewed by The Hill, the Trump campaign flagged new content on Twitter that it said had been deceptively edited,” The Hill’s Jonathan Easly wrote March 16. One video in question was shared by Mike Bloomberg’s former senior adviser Tim O’Brien and featured audio clips of Trump’s words spliced together and taken out of context, set to a rising graph showing “Confirmed Coronavirus Cases in US.” Former Vice President Joe Biden tweeted a video with similar language.

  Even The Post‘s video editor for The Fact Checker Meg Kelly wrote that Trump “never says that the virus itself is a hoax, and although the Biden camp included the word ‘their,’ the edit does not make clear to whom or what Trump is referring.”

  4. Labeling simple photos of Trump as “sensitive content”

  NASCAR star Hailie Deegan posed for a picture with President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16. After she posted it to Twitter, some of her followers noted that the photo was covered by Twitter’s “sensitive content” filter. Memer and influencer Carpe Donktum (known for his memes that have been retweeted by Trump) tweeted a screenshot of Deegan’s post as it appeared on his feed.

  5. Removing Trump’s Twitter account

  President Trump’s personal Twitter account had disappeared in 2017 and was nowhere to be found until it was restored 11 minutes later. The account reappeared without explanation until Twitter’s official electoral and government relations account provided a bizarre explanation that it was “due to human error by a Twitter employee.”

  How Twitter Has Treated Other Conservatives:

  6. Preventing a pro-life election ad

  Before Twitter banned all political ads, it blocked a campaign ad by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) for addressing the “sale” of aborted baby parts in the name of research. While she was allowed to tweet the ad, Twitter prohibited her from paying to promote the ad to a larger audience.

  In the ad, Rep. Blackburn announced that she was running for U.S. Senate. To appeal to her conservative constituents, she cited her work fighting abortion.

  7. Senator Mitch McConnell’s campaign video

  It should come as no surprise that the official campaign Twitter account for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was suspended for sharing a video of the violent threats being made against the senator. Multiple people on Twitter were also suspended for sharing that video, including the Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra. Twitter eventually overturned this decision but only after numerous complaints.

  8. Candace Owens censored

  Conservative commentator Candace Owens had her Twitter account suspended for encouraging Americans to defy stay-at-home rules. A Twitter spokesperson said that Owens’s tweet response to Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home policies encouraging the citizens of Michigan to “stand up” against Whitmer “violated the platform’s COVID-19 misinformation policy, ‘specifically around heightened-risk health claims,’” reported The Hill. Owens’s tweet encouraged Michiganders to “Open your businesses” and “[g]o to work.”

  9. Trump’s attorney censored

  Trump’s attorney Rudy Guiliani’s tweet said, “Hydroxychloroquine has been shown to have a 100% effective rate treating COVID-19. Yet Democrat [Michigan Governor] Gretchen Whitmer is threatening doctors who prescribe it. If Trump is for something- Democrats are against it. They’re okay with people dying if it means opposing Trump.” His tweet was in response to Whitmer, who challenged Trump in a press conference on March 26, 2020.

  10. Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk censored

  Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk tweeted a similar sentiment. He said, “Fact: Hydroxychloroquine has been shown to have a 100% effective rate treating COVID-19[.] Yet Democrat Gretchen Whitmer is threatening doctors who prescribe it[.] If Trump is for something—Democrats are against it[.] They’re ok with people dying if it means opposing Trump[.] SICK!”

  A Twitter spokesperson confirmed that both Guiliani’s and Kirk’s accounts were temporarily locked for violations of the Twitter rules in reference to COVID-19.

  11. Fox News host Laura Ingraham censored

  Fox News host Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) tweeted: “Lenox Hill in New York among many hospitals already using Hydroxychloroquine with very promising results. One patient was described as ‘Lazarus’ who was seriously ill from Covid-19, already released.” After the liberal media demanded the tweet’s removal, a Twitter spokesperson explained that the tweet was removed due to a violation of its new policy regarding tweeting about COVID-19.

  12. Conservative journalist censored

  New York Post journalist Jon Levine announced via tweet on the morning of March 8 that “Twitter locked me out of my account last night over some of the Carlos Maza reporting,” before adding that the platform later took back the decision. “A rep for the company tells me that their action against me was ‘an error.’” But then Levine was suspended again almost immediately afterward, for the same tweets made about the former Vox reporter.

  13. Conservative actor and Trump supporter censored

  Actor James Woods, noted for his conservative Twitter account, was locked out of Twitter more than once. Most recently he was suspended for sharing a picture of former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum. Woods had initially tweeted, “Just remember, this could have been Florida’s governor in the midst of the #WuhanCoronaVirus pandemic. Make sure you vote #Republican in November like your life depends on it. Because it does. #Trump2020Landslide.”

  14. Conservative sites locked out

  LifeSiteNews has been locked out of Twitter for “violating” its “rules” after tweeting an article about Jonathan “Jessica” Yaniv, a transgender activist who recently complained that gynecologists wouldn’t see Yaniv as a patient, despite having male genitals.

  15. Another site banned for “platform manipulation” violations

  The ZeroHedge founder reportedly, under the pseudonym Tyler Durden, asked, “Is This The Man Behind The Global Coronavirus Pandemic?” and theorized about the coronavirus’s true origins. ZeroHedge was then suspended from Twitter. Forbes claimed that a spokesperson from Twitter indicated that “ZeroHedge was removed for violating its platform manipulation policy, which the social media giant describes as ‘using Twitter to engage in bulk, aggressive or deceptive activity that misleads others and/or disrupts their experience.’” However, The Daily Mail cited a resurfaced research paper from the South China University of Technology, which may lend some credence to ZeroHedge’s initial reporting.

  ZeroHedge founder “Durden” said that he was suspended from Twitter after Buzzfeed claimed that his blog had doxed a Chinese scientist whom Durden argues was a “public figure.”

  16. Failure to enforce consistently

  Citing instances that “violate our abusive behavior policy,” Twitter Safety announced that “Today, we permanently suspended Alex Jones and InfoWars from Twitter and Periscope.” Not only was it enough to take down those accounts, but also, Twitter threatened to “take action” on “other accounts potentially associated with Alex Jones or InfoWars” if those accounts were “utilized in an attempt to circumvent their ban.”

  Meanwhile, comedian Kathy Griffin recently tweeted about assassinating the president, saying, “Syringe with nothing but air inside it would do the trick. F— TRUMP.” Griffin also famously held up a bloody head that resembled Trump. She’s still on the platform.

  17. Criticism of Bernie Sanders is “sensitive content”

  A video posted by MRCTV, an arm of the Media Research Center, was censored as “sensitive content” by Twitter on Feb. 24. “You may recall way back in 1961 they invaded Cuba, and everybody was totally convinced that Castro was the worst guy in the world,” said Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), at the beginning of the video. The clip was from an interview in the 1980s where Sanders defended Castro. It was contrasted with a news clip from CBS that showed people in the streets celebrating after Fidel Castro died in 2016.

  18. 113 prominent conservatives censored between 2015-2019

  Between 2015 and 2019, there have been at least 113 different cases of conservative, pro-Trump or anti-establishment figures on Twitter being punished for expressing their views, many of them well-known in their fields. Notable people have been suspended, banned, blocked from advertising, shadowbanned, and censored. While Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified in Congress in September that “Twitter does not use political ideology to make decisions,” the evidence points in the opposite direction.

  How Twitter Defends the Left:

  19. Protecting Joe Biden

  A meme, made to look like a fake ad from former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign, showed the candidate smiling with a beam of light coming from his chest. A statement that says, “His brain? No. His heart,” sits to the left of the person. Trump’s director of communications Tim Murtaugh allegedly tweeted the image, saying, “Is this fake? Can’t trust Twitter, but this would seem to be the Biden campaign leaning in on the fact that ol’ Joe has lost his fastball.”

  Murtaugh’s tweet was removed, said tech magazine The Verge. At least 20 other accounts were allegedly suspended or had tweets allegedly removed, including actress and congressional candidate Mindy Robinson.

  20. Promoting liberal values

  Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has been consistent in his left-wing political positions. “Dorsey, the billionaire CEO of Twitter and mobile-payment company Square, is giving $5 million to Humanity Forward” in order to “build the case for a universal basic income [UBI],” Rolling Stone reported.

  Dorsey appeared on the May 21 episode of former presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s “Yang Speaks” podcast where he explained the idea of UBI is “long overdue” and that now “the only way we can change policy is by experimenting and showing case studies of why this works.”

  21. Protecting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

  An account that parodied Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was suspended on May 6. The user, named Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Press Release, was “permanently suspended” because it was too similar to the congressional representative’s account. According to the Washington Examiner, the man running the account, Michael Morrison, received an email explaining his permanent suspension and ominously saying, “This account will not be reinstated.” Dorsey has expressed his support for the young Democratic Socialist in Congress previously.

  22. Working with Planned Parenthood

  David Daleiden, the undercover journalist for the Center for Medical Progress, reported that the organization had 19 tweets blocked on Twitter, at the advice of Planned Parenthood. The tweets that were blocked reported on the public testimony of Planned Parenthood in court proceedings. Planned Parenthood’s attorneys told Twitter that the Center was live-streaming the hearing. Twitter reinstated the tweets after the appeal explained that Planned Parenthood had falsely described the tweets as a “live-stream.”

  23. Preventing discussion about transgender ideology

  Twitter made it a rule that “misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals” was prohibited on its platform in 2018. Several people, including journalist Meghan Murphy, were banned, suspended, or blocked from the platform for statements like “Women aren’t men.” Dr. Ray Blanchard, who helped write the official psychological position on transgender identity, was temporarily blocked on May 12 for voicing his professional beliefs.

  24. Protecting former Rep. Katie Hill

  The Daily Mail took a story that Red State’s Jennifer Van Laar first broke about Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) and ran it with a link in the story that led to graphic images of the politician with one of her staffers. Twitter then allegedly blocked the Daily Mail’s story, claiming, according to the Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra, that “this link may be unsafe.”

  25. Protecting liberal journalists from “Learn to code”

  New York Post reporter Jon Levine alleged that some users were banned from Twitter for mocking recently laid-off journalists from liberal outlets Buzzfeed and HuffPost. Left-wing journalists once told working-class Americans to “learn to code” and adapt to a globalized economy. But now the shoe appears to be on the other foot, as some users tweeted the phrase “learn to code” at journalists who recently lost their jobs. The phrase was a response to journalists who told unemployed coal miners to switch their careers to tech, but journalists didn’t like it when it was used back on them. Some users reported a Twitter claim that users were banned for tweeting this phrase at journalists under the terms of service rules against “targeted harassment,” according to KnowYourMeme.

  What Twitter Has Failed to Enforce:

  26. Violence and doxxing from Antifa

  Smash Racism DC, a branch of Antifa, attacked Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s house, reportedly threatened his wife, and doxed Carlson and his family on Twitter on November 8.

  Twitter did not listen to Fox News’ call for the doxxing tweets to be removed immediately. While the original Twitter posts no longer exist, the National Review’s Jack Crowe managed to document their contents. “Tucker Carlson has been spewing nonstop hate and lies about the migrant caravan. He also has close ties to white supremacists,” one tweet said. “Activists protested tonight at Carlson’s Washington DC area home. You can’t hide from those you hurt, Tucker.#KnockKnockTucker”

  “Racist scumbag, leave town,” another tweet exclaimed.

  27. Calls for violence against children

  A fake news story falsely accused Covington Catholic High School students of harassing a Native American activist. It outraged the internet since the video was later shown to edit out much of the encounter. The story was later corrected by some outlets, but the damage had been done. Twitter did not take down many of the threats or calls for violence against the students.

  28. Chinese propaganda and misinformation

  Twitter restrictions based on its COVID-19 rules haven’t been handled in a consistent manner. The Chinese Embassy in France uploaded an absurd, lego-based propaganda video on April 30. The Ambassade de Chine en France’s video “Once Upon a Virus…” featured numerous demonstrably untrue myths, acting as if the Chinese communist government and World Health Organization (“WHO”) have both been forthcoming about the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  It wasn’t fact-checked or removed.

  The video featured a back and forth dialogue between several lego figurines and gave a false chronology of what happened from month to month. A masked lego figurine representing the Chinese regime as a responsible leader amidst the coronavirus appeared to be the foil to the ignorant and irresponsible Statue of Liberty LEGO figurine that represented America. The Statue of Liberty figurine’s flaming torch curiously resembled Trump’s signature hairstyle.

  29. Terrorist recruiter’s video

  A video, tweeted out by a pro-Palestine account, depicted a terrorist shooting up an Israeli shopping mall. The cartoon depicted a young man watching a security guard at an Israeli mall. The flag of Israel was perched atop the building. Disguised as a security guard, the young man sits on a bench across from the Israeli mall and waits. He then walks up, kills the security guard with his own club, and runs into the mall, shooting at shoppers. The video then ends with a focus on Arabic script, which in English translates to “The Intifada is continuing.”

  30. Anti-Hong Kong protester propaganda

  Pinboard, the social bookmarking website run by developer Maciej Cegłowski, captured ads on Twitter from China Xinhua News which called for “a brake to be put on the blatant violence” in Hong Kong. The Twitter account for Pinboard noted “Xinhua, the agency buying these tweets, has literally referred to the Hong Kong protesters as ‘cockroaches.’”

  31. Noted anti-Semite Rev. Louis Farrakhan

  Noted anti-Semite Rev. Louis Farrakhan is still on Twitter and not fact-checked. Reclaim The Net observed that Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, was “temporarily kicked off of Twitter.” He was also “temporarily restricted” from Twitter from Jan. 3 up until mid-January, when his account was completely booted. Shortly thereafter, however, his account was reinstated, and a Twitter spokesperson reportedly told Reclaim The Net that “The account was caught by our spam filter in error and has been reinstated.”

  32. China’s accusations against the U.S. go unchecked

  Twitter allegedly censored ZeroHedge for theorizing about the origin of the coronavirus, citing Twitter’s Platform Manipulation policy, but since allowed what Buzzfeed called “Conspiracy Theories That The Coronavirus Didn’t Originate In China” to remain online. Spokesperson & Deputy Director General, Information Department, Foreign Ministry of China Lijian Zhao tweeted a piece headlined “COVID-19: Further Evidence that the Virus Originated in the US” at 9:02 p.m. on March 12. Later that day he speculated, “It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.”

  Twitter’s Investment in Leftist Ideology:

  33. Twitter partners with academics who called RNC speeches “hate”

  Twitter announced it was on a mission to rid its platform of “intolerance” and “incivility.” However, Twitter conveniently chose to partner with “third parties” that were incredibly skewed to the left.

  That group included three openly liberal “experts.” Dr. Patricia Rossini tweeted out from her account back in 2016: “summarizing tonight: hate hate hate WALL hate hate hate LGBTQ hate hate hate BAN IMMIGRATION hate hate hate LAW&ORDER #RNCinCLE.” She also praised former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for an interview she did, saying “I’m stunned by this interview with @HillaryClinton and her very straightforward evaluation of Trump’s presidency.”

  

• Baby Boomers Panic Hoard "Covid Campers" To Escape Big Cities As Second Wave Threats Emerge
  Baby Boomers Panic Hoard “Covid Campers” To Escape Big Cities As Second Wave Threats Emerge
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 20:10

  Americans are packing their bags, purchasing motor homes, and fleeing large cities as fears of a second coronavirus wave emerge. 

  Bloomberg reports floor traffic at Mike Regan’s two RV dealerships near Austin, Texas, jumped 30% compared with last May. 

  “Cooped-up Americans desperate to get out after months of lockdowns are dreaming of doing something—anything—that resembles a vacation. But a majority of them worry a second wave of the coronavirus is coming, and think politicians have pushed too fast to reopen. Unsurprisingly, when it comes to getting out of Dodge, the close-quarters of an airline cabin are a no-go,” said Bloomberg. 

  Regan said, “the minute the campgrounds opened on May 1, and the governor turned everyone loose, our business went through the roof.” He said sales at his Crestview dealerships slumped 50% in April, though expected to be significantly higher this month.

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  RV sales have been widely used as a recession marker (which is something we noted in August 2019): collapsing sales is the start of the downturn, and improving sales could suggest a trough and or upturn. However, as the economy dives into depression, not seen since the 1930s, RV sales are set to rise as the pandemic has frightened people away from crowded cities.

  Not mentioned in the report, another reason for increased RV sales could be due to 38 million people have lost their jobs in the last several months, some may not be able to make rent payments or afford their homes, have started to explore other options for cheaper living accommodations. 

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  Richard Curtin, a researcher at the University of Michigan who follows the RV industry, said the latest surge in RV buying shows consumers are still intact despite a “coronavirus recession.” However, he did not breakdown the sales in terms of demographics, which is likely to show baby boomers are the largest buyers – as the downturn has crushed millennials.

  Regan said many of the buyers in May were considered the first time, and their motives for purchasing were due to the ongoing pandemic.  

  Mike Rhoades, 73, of Kyle, Texas, is one of those first time RV buyers who would typically be on a cruise ship, but the pandemic has severely altered his way of life. He purchased a $30,000 trailer and is planning a several week trip along the Texas Gulf Coast.  

  Camping World Holdings Inc., think of it as a giant toy shop for baby boomers, said RV sales in the first-quarter beat analyst projections. The company shifted much of its sales online during lockdowns.  

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  Thor Motor Coach CEO Bob Martin said first-time buyers are buying entry-level and mid-range RVs. 

  “Every dealer that I talk to is just blown away by the reaction of people that have never even thought about an RV,” Martin said. “A lot of people are really going to look more at this lifestyle.”

  

• Snyder: A Society On The Brink Of Complete And Utter Chaos
  Snyder: A Society On The Brink Of Complete And Utter Chaos
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 19:50

  Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

  It is heartbreaking to watch the violence that is taking place on the streets of Minneapolis.  I have quite a few relatives that live in the Twin Cities area, and I have been there many times.  In the old days it always felt so peaceful, but not anymore.  The tragic death of George Floyd has unleashed a massive wave of anger, and the riots have made headlines all over the globe.  Originally, many had anticipated that Thursday night would not be as violent as Wednesday night was, but that was not a safe assumption to make.  Around 10 o’clock, protesters stormed into the Minneapolis Police Department’s 3rd Precinct building and set it on fire…

  Minneapolis is in the midst of a third night of unrest in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, with protesters taking over the police department’s 3rd Precinct building late Thursday night.

  The break-in happened at about 10 p.m., with helicopter footage showing a large fire burning near the main entrance.

  Police released a statement, saying in part, “in the interest of the safety of our personnel, the Minneapolis Police Department evacuated the 3rd Precinct of its staff. Protesters forcibly entered the building and have ignited several fires.”

  As the building burned, fireworks were being shot into the sky in celebration.

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  Of course the violence that we witnessed the previous evening was quite alarming as well.  By the end of the night, rioters had torched and looted a number of prominent retail stores…

  Shocking images Thursday morning showed the widespread destruction left overnight after stores including Wendy’s, Target, Walmart and Autozone were looted and some even set on fire.

  Mayor Frey pleaded for calm ahead of more expected protests this evening telling residents ‘we cannot let tragedy beget more tragedy.’

  Videos also showed what was reported to be an apartment building entirely engulfed by flames as rioters stood and watched and the fire department was nowhere to be seen.

  I don’t think that any of us will ever forget watching a Target store being looted, and at this point Target has decided to close all of their locations in the entire state “until further notice”.

  Overall, more than 50 buildings were burned down on Wednesday night, and one protester boldly declared that “the whole city can burn down”…

  “The whole city can burn down. They should all be out here protesting, not just people who care about black lives. Everybody. Burn it down. Make them pay. Maybe then they’ll understand,” one protester, Elicia S.—she declined to give her full last name—told The Daily Beast late Wednesday.

  “I read somewhere that you’re never gonna care until it hits your front door. We are here now, knocking in the front door,” demonstrator Becky Mathews added.

  Sadly, it isn’t just the rioters that are out of control.

  When George Floyd was arrested, it wasn’t for committing a violent crime.  He was accused of “allegedly trying to pay at a local deli with a counterfeit $20 bill”, and surveillance video from the scene does not support police claims that he resisted arrest.

  Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for eight entire minutes, and video of the moment when Floyd finally lost consciousness is absolutely horrifying.

  Of course this is far from an isolated incident.  According to the Los Angeles Times, approximately one out of every 1000 African-American males will die at the hands of our police…

  About 1 in 1,000 black men and boys in America can expect to die at the hands of police, according to a new analysis of deaths involving law enforcement officers. That makes them 2.5 times more likely than white men and boys to die during an encounter with cops.

  Look, I have friends that are current or former police officers, and I am so thankful for the good men and women that work so hard to protect all of us day in and day out.

  But the truth is that there are a lot of really bad apples out there, and troubling incidents are happening with increasing frequency all over the nation.

  For example, a young mother named Sara Walton Brady was recently arrested by the police in Idaho for simply taking her children to play in the park.  The following comes directly from a message that she sent to me, and she said that I could share it with all of you…

  On April 21, 2020 I saw a video on Facebook by other moms about a playdate at Kleiner Park scheduled for the afternoon. That video showed people at the park and the tape ripped down from the play structures. I decided to go with my two middle children and showed up about an hour late.

  I was only there 5-10 minutes when three officers from the Meridian Police Department arrived; one Sgt. And two officers. The Sgt., who I now know is Sgt. Fiscus, came marching onto the playground ordering all of the children and moms off of the bark and playground area while brusquely explaining that the city of Meridian the parks and they were closed by the order of the governor and the mayor.

  This obviously upset several of the moms there, including myself. I attempted to ask questions to the Sgt. About what authority he had to remove people from the park. During this attempted dialogue he continued to tell people that the playground area was closed and people needed to leave. However, he continually directed people to a concentrated area on the grass, which would have been a violation of the Idaho governor’s order of being closer than 6 feet. None of this made sense to me as I saw multiple other people recreating in the park – walking, fishing, and even people playing a game of basketball. It also didn’t make sense to me why we could be closer together on the grass and it was okay to violate that portion of this new found rule, but not on the park where the kids and the adults were much more spread out.

  As I continued to ask these questions the situation became more heated and eventually the officer told me I had five seconds to leave the park or he was going to arrest me. The officer then proceeded to count down to me, as I often do to my children when they are not listening. I told him “Fine! Arrest me for being in a park! Do it!” While turning around to his threat.

  I was placed inside the back of a very hot patrol car and left there for several minutes at which time I was eventually booked into jail for a misdemeanor trespassing charge. I was also accused of tearing the tape down on the playground that was had been placed there previously. I did not tear down any tape as it was down when I arrived. I was told that children had ripped it down.

  .Multiple other people were on the bark while I was arrested yet no one else was charged with trespassing, cited, or arrested I was also told that after I was transported to the jail that several people went back onto the bark (after tearing more tape down) and began playing on the playground and bark as the police watched. None of this was addressed by the police.

  My case has now been conflicted to the State of Idaho. This is very concerning to me that they have not dismissed the case and they have unlimited resources to make an example of me. It’s also concerning to me that while people are losing their jobs and businesses’ that the State would use hard earned taxpayer money to waste on a mom who was at a park with her kids and try to make an example of me.

  Please help me raise funds for legal fees to fight the State of Idaho. I am told that it could cost anywhere from $30,000-$50,000. You can go to supportsarabrady.com.

  Sincerely,
  Sara Walton Brady

  I was friends with Sara Walton Brady long before this incident occurred, and I can tell you that she is a rock solid citizen.

  In fact, Idaho would not be in the giant mess that it is today if a lot more patriots like her lived in the state.

  Unfortunately, the truth is that the whole country is a giant mess, and what we have witnessed so far is just the beginning.

  Our entire society is on the brink of a complete and utter meltdown, and I expect that the upcoming election will bring tensions that have been simmering all over the nation to a boiling point.

  There is a reason why so many people are looking to move out of our major cities right now.  America is literally in the process of coming apart at the seams, and there will be a lot more rioting, looting and civil unrest in the days ahead.

  

• 'Nothing Improper, And FBI Knew It': Flynn Transcripts Released
  ‘Nothing Improper, And FBI Knew It’: Flynn Transcripts Released
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 19:30

  Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released the transcripts between then-incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kisliak, which revealed that Flynn asked Russia to take “reciprocal” against sanctions levied by the Obama administration over interference in the 2016 US election.

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  “I ask Russia to do is to not, if anything, I know you have to have some sort of action, to only make it reciprocal; don’t go any further than you have to because I don’t want us to get into something that have to escalate tit-for-tat,” Flynn told Kisyak.

  12/23/16 – Flynn relays his goals about the Russia/US relationship.

  Flynn: “We will not achieve stability in the Middle East without working with each other against this radical Islamist crowd.”

  It was never about collusion. pic.twitter.com/xN3twZYa6H

  — Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) May 29, 2020

  Despite clear evidence to the contrary, Former FBI agent Peter Strzok used that conversation as a basis to continue his investigation into whether Flynn was a potential Russian agent, according to recently unsealed court documents. The agency used the call as leverage to try to get the retired general to admit to a violation of the Logan Act – an obscure old law nearly a quarter-century old which prohibits private citizens from interfering in diplomacy (which, as it turns out, is standard practice among members of transitioning administrations).

  FBI agent Joe Pientka, who interviewed Flynn with agent Strzok, wrote in his interview notes that he did not believe Flynn was lying to them during the interview – while other recently unsealed notes revealed that the FBI considered a perjury trap against Flynn to “get him fired.”

  If there was a preexisting improper relationship between the Trump campaign and Russia, @GenFlynn would never have needed an official call with Kislyak to prevent the disaster the Obama admin was creating.

  It’s common sense if you’re an honest broker.

  — John ‘Murder Hornet’ Cardillo (@johncardillo) May 29, 2020

  ‘Scandal beyond Measure’: @TomFitton says transcripts of the Flynn – Kislyak calls further prove General Flynn’s innocence and the deep state’s deception. #AmericaFirst #MAGA #Dobbs pic.twitter.com/99qggR1uDp

  — Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) May 29, 2020

  After the FBI’s malfeasance came to light, the DOJ moved to drop the case against Flynn – which US District Judge Emmet Sullivan has refused to do – instead asking a retired federal judge, John Gleeson, to provide legal arguments as to whether Sullivan should hold Flynn in criminal contempt for pleading guilty to FBI agents – which he now says he did not do.

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  Following the release of the transcripts, Sen. Grassley said in a statement: “Lt. General Flynn, his legal team, the judge and the American people can now see with their own eyes – for the first time – that all of the innuendo about Lt. General Flynn this whole time was totally bunk. There was nothing improper about his call, and the FBI knew it.“

  The transcripts show that Flynn was acting in his country’s best interests, and his only crime was bruising the fragile ego of the Obama team and their pathetic foreign policy https://t.co/P3nuifreUI

  — Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) May 29, 2020

  Earlier Friday, DNI John Ratcliffe declassified the transcripts and released them to Congress. See below:

  

• As Minneapolis Burns, Armed Citizens Deter Rioters & Looters Without Firing A Shot
  As Minneapolis Burns, Armed Citizens Deter Rioters & Looters Without Firing A Shot
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 19:10

  Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog,

  The only thing between several businesses and a bunch of people rioting is a couple of unnamed armed citizens.

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  As all hell breaks loose in Minneapolis over the lack of action taken against a police officer who killed a citizen on video, some self-titled “free Americans” helped store owners protect their property. They heard that the store owners had boarded up windows and were standing guard with machetes, and they went to help.

  But if you think the men were there because they disagreed with the protests, you’d be incorrect. In a statement to Max Nesterak, a reporter for the Minnesota Reformer, the men said:

  “Basically you see the records that cops keep,” one man told Nesterak in a now-viral video posted to Twitter. “And cops are a lot less likely to try and tread on people’s rights when there’s other armed Americans with them. So I figured it’s about damn time that some heavily armed rednecks stood with fellow citizens.”

  “It turns out these guys are out here with machetes and shattered windows trying to keep looters out of the businesses ’cause cops can’t get in here,” one man said. “So I figured before there were cops, there were just Americans, so here we are.”

  “Bottom line, justice for Floyd and I hope they stop looting at some point. If there were more of us we could go stop them from looting, but it’s just us four,” said the man on the right.

  “We definitely don’t agree with the looting, but we agree with the cause of the protests,” the other man said. (source)

  Watch the interview here:

  These two men say they support the protests but not the riots and are helping protect a tobacco store owner from looting
  pic.twitter.com/PDn2Jd8iEB

  — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 28, 2020

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  As of today, the good Samaritans are still unidentified.

  This isn’t the first time armed citizens protected businesses during times of unrest.

  This is not the first time that armed citizens have protected property during riots.

  During the Ferguson riots in 2015, St. Louis Ink Tattoo Studio and County Guns remained unscathed as businesses around them burned or were looted, due to the protection of armed citizens.

  After hearing of the roving bands of looters, Mike Gutierrez knew he had to protect his tattoo shop. He brought a posse with him, including Adam Weinstein, owner of County Guns, who was acutely worried about criminals getting their hands on his merchandise.

  “We didn’t want them coming in here and then running around with a bunch of free guns,” Weinstein told Daily RFT when we arrive at the store around 12:30 a.m. this morning. Weinstein was outfitted with an assault rifle, pistol and tactical vest. Gutierrez cradled his own rifle in his hands. (source)

  And who can forget the videos of Korean-American store owners in Los Angeles protecting their businesses with a variety of firearms as angry mobs besieged the area during the LA Riots of 1992?

  This should serve as a reminder of why citizens need guns

  After the on-camera death of George Floyd, it was a given that unrest would ensue, particularly when the police officer who killed him and the three who stood by and prevented citizens from coming to Floyd’s aid were merely fired and not arrested.

  If you’re faced with an angry mob, you’re going to want as much force equalization as possible. In all the cases above, no armed citizens shot anyone. Their presence and willingness to defend their property served as a sufficient deterrent, as is often the case. In nearly every situation, people rioting are going to choose targets that aren’t likely to kill them. And this doesn’t just hold true for civil unrest – a gun in the hands of a determined person has deterred countless crimes – and I speak from experience.

  You can’t count on the police to save you during times like this – they’re busy and likely couldn’t get through the crowds anyway. You’re completely on your own. And at some point during prolonged turmoil, the police and military will finally throw their hands up in the air, give up, and go home to protect their own families,

  The only person you can rely on to protect your family is yourself.

  The only person you can truly rely on during scenarios like this is yourself.

  While I’m always going to recommend first to not be there during times of unrest, if you are there and you missed the window to leave during a riot, you’re the only game in town when it comes to the safety of your home, your livelihood, and your loved ones.

  Take a long hard look at the threats you face during civil unrest. Wherever you live, whatever your situation, you need to plan as though 911 does not exist. Whether riots are occurring in the streets or not, in the seconds during which the lives of your family hang in the balance, you are completely on your own.

  Sometimes the mob just wants to set your home or business on fire. But In other situations, it won’t stop with the destruction of your property. You may have to defend your home. And for this, you must be armed. No amount of hand-to-hand self-defense training will deter an angry mob but staring down the barrel of your firearm just might. Here’s more information about being prepared to survive civil unrest.

  Being willing to protect your family is not an endorsement of police brutality. I know that I am personally disgusted by the action that set off this entire chain of events. However, when the angry crowds are on your street, it’s no longer about the initial incident. People aren’t thinking rationally when it has escalated this far.

  Being armed is a matter of survival in situations where the normal rules of society have completely broken down.

  I’m sure I’ll receive another barrage of email wishing me and my children dead by our own guns. Blah, blah, blah. It always amazes me how people who swear vehemently that they’re against violence can send me those letters that fervently and creatively hope for our gruesome murders.

  Watching the effectiveness of firearms in the hands of people like the ones mentioned in this article to deter violence – not commit more of it – makes me even more determined to remain prepared to protect myself and my family.

  What about you?

  

• Chicago's Eurodollar Open Outcry Pits Are Fighting For Their Lives To Remain Open Post-Pandemic
  Chicago’s Eurodollar Open Outcry Pits Are Fighting For Their Lives To Remain Open Post-Pandemic
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 18:50

  The CME eurodollar trading pit – long been facing the threat of extinction as Skynet takes over trading – could finally be facing a perfect storm of headwinds in the coronavirus pandemic.

  The pits are arguably the worst place on the face of the Earth to be during a global pandemic is which being spread by droplets. Traders crowd shoulder to shoulder and scream at the top of their lungs, often breathing and sweating on one another, to execute trades. 

  But in the Eurodollar options pit, traders seem to think they’ll eventually be back, according to Bloomberg. Traders there feel like they can perform better than algorithms and have an advantage on the floor that computers don’t have.

  CME member Pete Kosanovich said: “When it gets busy, there is still a buzz, you can feel things happening. When you hear stuff happen in other pits, it’s a lot like being at Augusta and hearing the ‘Tiger roar.’ If you hear something happen in Treasury options, you can get ready for something to happen in eurodollar options.”

  The floor closed abruptly on March 13 alongside of other trading floor operators, like ICE and CBOE. 

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  Others, who favor electronic trading, think the time is right to finally do away with floor trading. Christian Hauff, CEO of Quantitative Brokers, which sells trading algorithms for U.S. Treasury securities and Treasury futures said: “This is the opportunity to not look back but move forward as an industry.”

  Those in the pit argue that the nature of the product keeps open outcriers in the game. The futures debuted in 1981 as a way to speculate on interest rates paid on dollar deposits overseas. They are the most traded interest rate derivative as of last year, with a daily average volume of about 2.7 million contracts in 2019. 

  In the pit, trades are often structured as spreads, straddles or butterflies – which traders argue gives humans an advantage, due to the large number of possible trade combinations. Kosanovich, for example, has brokered trades with as many as 16 legs. He says he has seen trades with as many as 24. 

  He said: “It seems like it should be easy to trade these complicated multi-legged strategies, but it’s just not. Brokers’ fiduciary responsibility as members is to get the best price for the end user.”

  Before the shut down, the pit accounted for about half of the daily average volume in eurodollar options. But re-opening – given the physical demands of open outcry trading – is going to be tough. This means that the fate of the pit, perhaps for the long-term, is going to fall to the CME Group. Executives have said they wanted to re-open three weeks after the state lifts its stay-at-home order.

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  Market makers and floor brokers would have to sign a waiver to acknowledge they are working at their own risk. CME Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy said on an April earnings call that keeping the floor open doesn’t cost much and that he intended to abide by the rules that as long as the floor was more than 30% of trading volume, he’d keep it open. 

  The question of whether or not people will have adapted to electronic trading by the time CME re-opens the pit remains to be seen. 

  Thomas Fitch, founder and CEO of RVAssets, which supplies trading algorithms for eurodollar and Treasury options, said: “Nobody was prepared to go to 100% electronic, but the market did it with no problem whatsoever.” 

  Chicago-based futures and options broker Albert Marquez concluded: “Under normal conditions, I would expect that most end-users would want the pit back. It’s far more efficient and markets are tighter. That being said, it’s not exactly the best time for eurodollar options with rates where they are.”

  

• "It Felt Like An Earthquake": SpaceX Prototype Starship Blows Up In Massive Explosion Day Ahead Of Manned Launch
  “It Felt Like An Earthquake”: SpaceX Prototype Starship Blows Up In Massive Explosion Day Ahead Of Manned Launch
  
  Tyler Durden
  
  Fri, 05/29/2020 – 18:28

  In a horribly spectacular failure with the added bad timing of coming almost exactly 24 hours ahead of SpaceX and NASA’s rescheduled attempt to make history by launching two astronauts into Earth’s orbit as part of work on the Commercial Crew program, set for 3:22 pm ET Saturday weather permitting, the Raptor engine in SpaceX’s Starship SN4 prototype blew up on its test stand in Boca Chica, Texas.

  “SpaceX just experienced the biggest explosion yet at its Texas site, where it’s testing prototypes for a Mars rocket,” The Atlantic’s Marina Koren reported Friday afternoon.

  “A resident who lives nearby — just 2 miles away — said it felt like an earthquake,” she added. Koren noted that at this point it doesn’t appear anyone in the surrounding community was hurt in the massive blast which shook the area for miles. 

  Elon, your rocket just blew up. pic.twitter.com/EZAVN4cVCd

  — Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) May 29, 2020

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  The explosion, which involved a bright fireball ripping high into the air with rocket debris flying, occurred about two minutes after the engine test fire run had been completed.

  It happened at 1:49 central time, and set off a flurry of commentary over the safety of tomorrow’s launch with humans carried to space. 

  How anyone can lack confidence in Tesla con man Elon Musk, is beyond me… Wikipedia says he is an «aircraft engineer», (like Elizabeth Holmes is a doctor) ffs, if you can’t trust Elon or the internet, then who can you really trust?$TSLAQ?pic.twitter.com/sw8nJ8CbtR SN4
  CC @NASA

  — Thomas Hansen (@tweetmyinbox) May 29, 2020

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  The test at first appeared successful but then it ruptured in a spectacular fiery explosion.

  TechCrunch brings us some of the following details of the prototype explosion as follows: 

  This was a test in the development of Starship, a new spacecraft that SpaceX has been developing in Boca Chica. Eventually, the company hopes to use it to replace its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket, but Starship is still very early in its development phase, whereas those vehicles are flight-proven, multiple times over.

  SpaceX had just secured FAA approval to fly its Starship prototype for short, suborbital test flights. The goal was to fly this SN4 prototype for short distances following static fire testing, but that clearly won’t be possible now, as the vehicle appears to have been completely destroyed in the explosion following Friday’s test…

  Prior stress tests of Starship prototypes have ended in similar disaster as well, but this one comes at a moment national attention has been glued to the NASA-SpaceX partnership given the manned Crew Dragon launch Saturday, though weather is still not looking ideal at this point.

  When you realize your wallet was on the rocket pic.twitter.com/p2DdhubJoS

  — Harrison (@harriweinreb) May 29, 2020

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  Though a prototype and not the same rocket that will be used tomorrow, it can’t be at all comforting to be a SpaceX/NASA astronaut scheduled for lift off tomorrow, as many have already observed. 

  Imagine being a SpaceX/NASA astronaut that’s scheduled for lift off tomorrow and watching this happen today. That’s gotta be a different kind of anxiety.

  (this is a prototype rocket and not the one in use tomorrow, but still 🥴) pic.twitter.com/bdmROuNETN

  — Pablo Escobarner (blue check) (@PabloEscobarner) May 29, 2020

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  It no doubt takes the anxiety over tomorrow’s launch to a different kind of level.

  * * *

  Post-explosion live feed: