Today’s News 11th January 2022

• Turkmenistan To Close "Gates Of Hell" Gas Fire
  Turkmenistan To Close “Gates Of Hell” Gas Fire

  Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com,

  Turkmenistan’s president has ordered the government to find a way to extinguish a colossal gas fire burning since the 1970s.

  

  Dubbed the “Gates of Hell,” the fire was rumored to be started deliberately in 1971 when a gas-drilling site collapsed into a gas reservoir, and geologists decided to set it on fire to keep the methane from spewing into the atmosphere—in the expectation that the fire would die out on its own in a few weeks.

  It didn’t.

  

  The crater currently measures more than 230 feet by 65 feet and is a major tourist attraction in Turkmenistan, which has proven reserves of 19.5 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, which makes them the world’s fourth-largest.

  Production stood at a little over 60 billion cubic meters annually as of 2019, with half of that exported to China.

  The “Gates of Hell” crater’s official name is the “Shining of Karakum,” but it is also known as the Darvaza Crater, named so after the nearby village. The site is located some 160 miles from the Turken capital Ashgabad.

  

  According to long-time president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the fire is having an adverse impact on the environment and affecting the health of people living in the vicinity, according to a report by the AP citing Turkmen media.

  What’s more, the country, which has ambitious gas export expansion plans, is losing a valuable commodity in the fire “for which we could get significant profits,” Berdymukhamedov said.

  Turkmenistan plans to boost export to destinations including Pakistan, India, Iran, and even Western Europe over the next nine years.

  This would not be the first attempt to put out the fire that has been burning for five decades. One previous attempt failed back in Soviet times. Then, in 2010, Berdymukhamedov again ordered experts to find a way to extinguish the fire, but was unsuccessful as well.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 01/11/2022 – 02:00

• JFK Assassination: What’s In The Newest Batch Of Declassified Documents?
  JFK Assassination: What’s In The Newest Batch Of Declassified Documents?

  Authored by Enrico Trigoso via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Last month, the Biden administration released a batch of classified documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

  The National Archives and Records Administration published the new 1,491 documents, of which 958 are from the CIA.

  That means 9 out of 10 of the total number of documents are still being withheld from declassification.

  “It’s very little and very late,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president’s nephew, told The Epoch Times.

  “There’s only 10 percent of the documents that legally have to be released in that data dump. But even those documents are clearly showing that the CIA lied outright to the Warren Commission about its relationship with Lee Harvey Oswald.”

  

  The 1992 JFK Records Act, signed by Congress into law, mandated that all the documents be released by Oct. 26, 2017.

  However, one person had the power to stop it—the incumbent president.

  When the time for total declassification finally came, President Donald Trump put a six-month delay on the final declassification. Then he put a three-year delay on it.

  Some documents were declassified, however, and by the time President Joe Biden took office, about 15,000 documents were either being withheld or redacted in part.

  

  Jim DiEugenio is a JFK assassination expert and the scriptwriter for the 2021 film “JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass,” an intense film that highlights information that had not previously been made known widely to the public in a clear manner.

  “So you get this situation where 58 years after Kennedy was killed, you still have something like 14,300 pages of classified documents, which I believe is really a kind of defiance of the law,” DiEugenio told The Epoch Times.

  “For a couple of different reasons—one of them being that in the JFK Records Collection Act, it said that if the president chose to keep a document classified, he had to have a written reason.

  “To my knowledge that has not happened yet, either under Biden, or under Trump. And they’ve also made the National Archives a part of this process, which I don’t understand at all because the National Archives is only a repository. In the law, it doesn’t say anything about them being part of the declassification process. It’s between the President and the agencies of government, whether that be the FBI, the CIA, State Department, or whatever.

  “So this is very, very disappointing. In other words, if Biden follows through and declassifies everything next year, that means we’ll have waited 59 years. 59 years—when in fact the Warren Commission says that there is no question that Oswald acted alone.”

  Did Oswald Leave Mexico City by Automobile or by Bus?

  The Warren Commission, appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to report on the assassination of JFK, concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted entirely alone in the assassination, and that he went to Mexico and returned to the United States by bus.

  The newly declassified documents show that the Nov. 26, 1963 CIA summary, which documents Oswald’s activities, was made about seven weeks after he had left Mexico City.

  

  “They have Oswald leaving Mexico City by automobile,” DiEugenio said (pdf).

  “Which is very, very interesting for a lot of different reasons. Number one, Oswald did not have a driver’s license. Secondly, Oswald did not have a car. And third, the Warren Commission, which is going to be issued about 10 months later, they’re going to say that Oswald went down by bus, and that he returned by bus.”

  

  “It denotes that either he went down with somebody else, or there was an impersonator of Oswald down there. So, that changed over time.”

  ‘Was There More Than One Stretcher With a Bullet On It?’

  In the very early days of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Select Committee on Assassinations, there was a meeting between then chief counsel Richard Sprague and some of the representatives on the commission.

  “Sprague said that he had a witness from Parkland Hospital, which is where Kennedy and Connally were taken to after the assassination, who was a nurse,” DiEugenio said.

  “And she said, that as she came out of one of the trauma rooms, there was a stretcher up against the wall near the elevator, and she saw a bullet on it.”

  During this meeting, Sprague wouldn’t tell the others what her name was, or where she was.

  “The Warren Commission would say that there were two stretchers there, not just one, and that the bullet was underneath the mat of the stretcher, and it only emerged after the custodian Darrell Tomlinson pushed it up against the wall.

  “So I thought that was utterly fascinating because it leaves one with the impression that: ‘was there more than one stretcher with a bullet on it?’ And there have been reports that such was the case.”

  Also during the meeting, Sprague told the congressmen that he’s having problems with the credibility of former CIA officer David Phillips.

  “[Sprague] suspects that Phillips is not being completely candid with them about Oswald’s alleged activities in Mexico City,” said DiEugenio.

  “Especially about his calls to the Russian embassy from the Cuban embassy, that he’s found certain discrepancies in the adduced record that the CIA has given him, and in fact, he wants to go down and interview the translators down there. Because he is under the suspicion that there might have been some kind of alteration of the transcripts of Oswald’s alleged conversations with the Russian embassy, because he cannot find the information that Phillips talked about at their first interview in the transcripts that were given to him by the CIA.”

  Edgar Stern Had a CIA Clearance

  The new document dump also reveals that Edgar Stern, the husband of the heiress (Edith Stern) to the Sears Roebuck fortune who was a big backer of Clay Shaw against Jim Garrison, had a CIA clearance (pdf) that was not publically known about before.

  

  New Orleans DA Jim Garrison had accused Clay Shaw of being part of a conspiracy to assassinate JFK.

  “The Sterns would bring reporters to their mansion. They would wine them and dine them, [and] they would push certain angles to attack Garrison. Well, turns out Edgar Stern had a CIA clearance in the 1950s for about three years,” said DiEugenio.

  Clay Shaw’s Former Boss Was Recruiting Lawyers for the CIA

  According to DiEugenio, it is now determined that Clay Shaw’s former boss at the New Orleans International Trade Mart, Lloyd Cobb, was recruiting lawyers for the CIA to place them on a panel of attorneys that possessed special clearance.

  “We knew that Cobb was on the CIA’s cleared attorneys panel in New Orleans. Which was [composed] of certain people that the CIA would choose, and if somebody was in trouble—and there were several people in trouble during the Garrison investigation—they would pick an attorney from this chosen panel to defend this person, and of course the CIA would pay for it,” DiEugenio said.

  

  “It turns out that Cobb was actually one of the people who was contacting other lawyers and evaluating them for the CIA to put on this panel. He wasn’t just a member of it. He was sort of like their agent on this scene in New Orleans conducting these clearance evaluations for who to hire to put on this panel.

  “In other words, here you have Clay Shaw’s former boss at the International Trade Mart, running a panel of lawyers to block and impede Jim Garrison’s investigation. Very, very, interesting if you ask me.”

  CIA Knew That Boxley Was a Staffer for Them

  An alleged investigator who ended up working for Jim Garrison and was apparently unloyal to him turned out to be a former CIA staffer.

  His name was William Wood, his alias—Bill Boxley.

  “In this newest batch of documents, it reveals that the CIA knew that Boxley actually was a staffer for the CIA in the 1950s before he went to work for Jim Garrison,” DiEugenio noted.

  “And if you take a look at Jim Garrison’s book ‘On The Trail the Assassins,’ it turns out that Mr. Wood—alias Bill Boxley—did end up betraying Mr. Garrison. It’s in one of the chapters of his book.”

  CIA Reveals Names of Two Assassins

  In the newest batch of documents, the CIA reveals the real names of the assassins that they had hired under the code names WI Rogue and QJ Win.

  “This had been an assignment that was given to CIA officer William Harvey. He was supposed to go around the world and hire people of disrepute to engage in felonious activities for the Central Intelligence Agency; things like safecracking, breaking and entering,” DiEugenio explained.

  “And it turned out that these guys were actually sent to Congo to assassinate Patrice Lumumba.”

  

  Qj Win was Jose Mankel.

  WI Rogue was David Dato. His real last name was Tzitzichvilli.

  DiEugenio finally noted that most of these documents are not ones that have been previously classified in full, most of these new documents have been redacted before.

  “Now we can more cleanly see what is in them,” he said.

  Full disclosure of the rest of the documents is expected next year.

  “At the end of next year, it’s going to be very, very interesting.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 23:50

• Morgan Stanley Says US Omicron Wave Will Peak In 3 Weeks
  Morgan Stanley Says US Omicron Wave Will Peak In 3 Weeks

  Morgan Stanley has called the top on Omicron, or at least offered a range of when the peak might arrive.

  In their latest note to clients, a team led by equity analyst Matthew Harrison projected that the omicron wave in North America would likely peak within 3-6 weeks, which would place the peak of this wave at a slightly later point than last year’s winter top in new cases identified.

  By using an “established relationship” between the virus’s effective reproduction rate and the number of new case, the bank’s analysts can look at the situation in South Africa, and help postulate what might happen in Europe and the US.

  The case wave reaches a peak when R returns to 1. Currently in South Africa, R is below 1 and lower than last week, reflecting the steep decrease in cases. R is still growing (and thus cases are as well) in the US, UK,and EU, so, according to Morgan Stanley, the peak isn’t in yet.

  The bank used data from South Africa as a basis for its projections for the US and Europe. For example, it took South Africa 4-5 weeks to reach peak cases (mid-Nov to mid-Dec), which is faster than Delta (~9 weeks). And R peaked ~2-3 weeks ahead of the case peak and decreased from ~2 to ~1 in 20 days.

  Assuming a similar trajectory in the US, Morgan Stanley laid out its bull base and bear cases for the omicron wave in the US.

  

  And here’s a comparison of the rate of viral reproduction in the US and South Africa.

  

  The MS team explained that their bull case assumes a peak 1-2 weeks from now, while their bear case would mean the peak might be as many as 8 weeks distant.

  

  The note also included some insights about omicron’s ability to crowd out the competition. Using the strain sequencing data from GISAID, the MS team was able to determine that omicron displaced delta as the dominant strain in under two weeks.

  

  Finally, here’s a comparison of the rate of transmission in various countries this week vs. last.

  

  * * *
  Source: Morgan Stanley

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 23:30

• "Think Twice Before You Vaccinate Your Kids", Dr. Robert Malone Warns Parents On COVID-19 Shots
  “Think Twice Before You Vaccinate Your Kids”, Dr. Robert Malone Warns Parents On COVID-19 Shots

  Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly and Jan Jekielek via The Epoch Times,

  Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist and immunologist who has contributed significantly to the technology of mRNA vaccines, issued a strong caution for those who seek to have their children vaccinated against COVID-19.

  “Think twice before you vaccinate your kids. Because if something bad happens, you can’t go back and say, ‘whoops, I want a do-over,’” Malone told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program in an interview, Part 1 of which premiered on Sunday.

  He also said, “It is clear that parents should think twice about vaccinating their child,” adding that serious adverse events can occur and can be “so severe that it puts your child in the hospital.”

  

  Malone noted that with regard to myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart, “there’s a good chance that if your child takes the vaccine, they won’t be damaged, they won’t show clinical symptoms—[but] they may have subclinical damage.”

  “But the question is, do you want to take that chance with your child? Because if you draw the short straw and your child was damaged, most of these things, if not all of them, are irreversible. There is no way to fix it,” he said.

  “And I get these emails all the time: ‘Doctor, doctor, what can we do? This has happened.’ And that once it’s happened, there’s … you can’t go back you can’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”

  He pointed to information compiled on his website, which includes a list of peer-reviewed studies related to COVID-19 vaccine adverse events in children, the main one being myocarditis. The website also includes a collection of adverse events reports as well as death reports in the pediatric community, submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

  “They’re there as links to the VAERS database, and if you click on them, you can see the actual VAERS report that was filed by a physician saying this is what happened,” Malone said. “And you can make your own decision about whether or not you think that that’s vaccine-related. So all of those data are there.”

  

  A 5-year-old girl looks at her arm after getting a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in New York City on Nov. 8, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

  One page on Malone’s website points to a paper published in the Toxicology Reports journal in which authors noted, using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that normalized data on COVID-19 deaths per capita are “negligible in children,” while deaths after COVID-19 vaccination are “small, but not negligible, in children.”

  “For children the chances of death from COVID-19 are negligible, but the chances of serious damage over their lifetime from the toxic inoculations are not negligible,” the authors wrote in the paper, titled “Why are we vaccinating children against COVID-19?”

  Malone’s latest warning comes after he issued a prepared statement in mid-December 2021 aimed at parents, in which he said that with regard to mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, “a viral gene will be injected into your children’s cells” that “forces your child’s body to make toxic spike proteins.”

  “These proteins often cause permanent damage in children’s critical organs, including their brain and nervous system, their heart and blood vessels, including blood clots, their reproductive system, and this vaccine can trigger fundamental changes to their immune system.”

  Malone is strongly opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates for children. He is the chief science officer and regulatory officer for The Unity Project, a movement seeking to resist COVID-19 vaccine mandates for K–12 children.

  “The Unity Project’s position is one based on the logic of informed consent versus forced vaccination—that mandates should not happen,” Malone told EpochTV.

  “The state should not be forcing itself into the family. The decisions belong at the level of parents not at the level of the state or the school board. School boards and schools and teachers have no right to understand and seek out medical information about their students‚ that’s illegal. And yet, it’s being done all the time. And students are being bullied if they haven’t taken vaccine.”

  Malone is also the president of the International Alliance of Physicians and Medical Scientists—a group of 16,000 professionals who have signed a declaration that says healthy children “shall not be subject to forced vaccination.”

  “Mandates are illegal based on the Nuremberg Code, Helsinki Accord, the Belmont Report,” Malone said.

  “These continued to be unlicensed products, they’re only available through emergency use authorization … These are not licensed products, and they’re being forced on your children, and they have risks. And the media, through its censorship, and Big Tech is blocking your ability to even learn what those risks are. So you can make an informed decision for your children yourself. That is a huge crime in my mind.”

  

  Municipal workers hold placards and shout slogans as they march across Brooklyn Bridge during a protest against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, in New York on Oct. 25, 2021. (Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images)

  Malone said that people can join a “Defeat the Mandates” rally and march in Washington, D.C., scheduled for Jan. 23, to unite against mandatory vaccinations.

  Two mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines are currently available in the United States under emergency use authorization (EUA)—one from Pfizer-BioNTech and the other from Moderna.

  The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, marketed as Comirnaty, is the only one that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for people 16 and older. The approval is only for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses produced in the future, according to FDA documents, while the existing supply of COVID-19 vaccines under Pfizer-BioNTech in the United States continue to be administered under an updated EUA.

  The FDA granted an EUA for Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for those aged 12–15 in May 2021, and for children aged 5–11 in October 2021.

  California in October 2021 became the first state to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for children, followed by Louisiana in December 2021. Both states said they will only enforce the mandate if the FDA fully authorizes the vaccines for children.

  The Pfizer vaccine remains the only jab against COVID-19 available for people aged under 18 in the United States. The FDA in October 2021 delayed a decision on whether to grant Moderna an EUA for its COVID-19 for those aged 12 to 17, saying it needs more time to further review the vaccine’s risk for myocarditis in this population.

  The Epoch Times has reached out to Pfizer-BioNTech and the FDA for comment.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 23:10

• Amidst A Historic Shortage Of Drivers, Debate About Autonomous 18-Wheelers Has Begun
  Amidst A Historic Shortage Of Drivers, Debate About Autonomous 18-Wheelers Has Begun

  While the debate about the safety of self-driving cars rages on between automakers and regulators, another debate is about to begin: can massive self-driving 40 ton 18-wheeler trucks be safe on the roads?

  Forcing the issue are companies like J.B. Hunt , Uber’s freight division and FedEx – all of whom are testing autonomous big rigs. The technology, which could be useful now during the current driver shortage, is likely still years away. But that hasn’t stopped the issue from being hotly contested, according to a new Bloomberg report.

  Sterling Anderson, co-founder of Aurora Innovation Inc., sees the obvious benefits: “Human drivers, by our nature, have to eat, sleep and take breaks. What that leads to is enormous underutilization of these trucks and much slower movement of goods.”

  Haven’t these drivers learned anything from Amazon yet? You’re supposed to use the bathroom in your vehicles to save time. 

  While legislation hasn’t been put in place yet, the idea of tractor trailers barreling down highways without drivers has caught the attention of safety advocates. The NHTSA, for example, is quick to point out that 12.6% of all crashes on U.S. roads in 2020 involved a large truck. 

  

  Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, commented: “What we see playing out on roads with some cars claiming to have self-driving capabilities crashing into barriers and people is giving people some pause. We should not be putting test products on the roads.”

  Chase says its “unclear” if self-driving tractor trailers would solve problems related to the nation’s supply chain at this point. 

  But technology companies continue to press on with testing. Waymo’s trucking division has also started to test driverless trucks, helping along efforts by J.B. Hunt. 

  Meanwhile, the industry is currently about 80,000 drivers short of what it needs to meet demand, the report says. Drivers are down 6.8% in 2020, from 2019, The American Trucking Associations said. 

  Ariel Wolf, general counsel to the Self-Driving Coalition, concluded: “It has to be safe, but we have to get these vehicles on the road as swiftly as possible.”

   

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 22:50

• China Dismisses Official Who Speaks Truth About COVID Lockdown
  China Dismisses Official Who Speaks Truth About COVID Lockdown

  Authored by Nicole Hao via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The Chinese regime dismissed an official who posted on social media the real situation in Xi’an under its strict COVID-19 rules.

  

  The facts that the official posted include a 31-year-old man who walked eight days and nights to his hometown because of a lack of income, no public transportation, and fear of quarantine in Xi’an.

  Two other Xi’an migrant workers had the same purpose, with one riding a bike for 10 hours in the icy night, and another swimming across a frozen river.

  However, the official’s post was designated as a rumor, removed from the internet, and censored by the regime.

  “An ordinary official knows the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) rules very well. They don’t dare to say the things which might anger the regime, not to mention the dismissed official is a senior official,” U.S.-based China affair commentator Tang Jingyuan told The Epoch Times on Jan. 8. “Even a self-censored official is dismissed because of an online post, you can imagine how tightly the Chinese regime controls people’s speech.”

  “After studying, we decided to dismiss Song Wentao from the position of deputy director of the Organization Department of the Grass-roots Construction Division,” the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC) announced on Jan. 6.

  The ACFROC is a key organ of the Chinese regime’s United Front Work Department, whose role is influencing elite individuals and organizations inside and outside China to support the regime. Song, as a senior official from ACFROC, used to visit different Chinese cities to check their performance in reintegrating Chinese people who returned from overseas.

  Shaanxi Provincial Network Reporting Center’s notification on Jan. 4 explained the reason for Song’s dismissal.

  “The account Qingfengmingyue Lou posted an article headlined ‘Xi’an people’s sorrows: why some of them fled Xi’an even risked their lives and broke the law’ on WeChat on Jan. 2,” The center announced. “The account is held by Song Wentao.”

  The center claimed that Song’s post collected people’s complaints online, “ignoring all the residents’ efforts against the epidemic.”

  Although the center said what Song posted isn’t true, Xi’an residents and announcements by local police confirmed the cases that Song detailed in his post.

  

  Song detailed the situations of Xi’an residents’ lives under the strict lockdown in his post, such as people not having a solution to buy food and other necessaries, and not being able to visit hospitals.

  “Xi’an residents are worried about death from sickness and hunger, rather than COVID-19,” Song concluded in his post.

  In the post, Song listed three men who fled the city when the regime announced the lockdown, but were detained by police before they could arrive at home in other cities in Shaanxi Province. Xi’an is the capital of northwestern China’s Shaanxi. Due to the lockdown, the regime stopped all public transportation in Xi’an, and people couldn’t get out by train, bus, car, or airplane.

  “Without supplements and GPS, [the 31-year-old man] walked eight days and nights, climbed over the vast mountains, waded through the icy rivers, entered Yangtze River Basin from Yellow River Basin, and crossed the Qinling—the line separated north and south in China,” Song wrote.

  The man Song mentioned is from a rural area in Ankang city in southern Shaanxi, where people eat the food they plant. In Xi’an, the man rented a room in a village close to Xianyang Airport and made a living by selling clothes at a street vendor stand.

  After the city was locked down, the man couldn’t make any money but needed to buy food and pay rent. He decided to go home although there’s no public transportation and checkpoints to prevent people from traveling at every village and township.

  The man left his rented room on Dec. 16 and was detained by police in Ningshan County on Dec. 24, about 75 miles away from the airport. During the eight days, he only took naps in the early afternoons when there’s sunshine. All other times, he kept on walking because it was too cold to sleep.

  Song cried for the medical workers who performed the tests on streets in Xi’an. “After a snow, the wind was big and cold. The medical workers on the streets had to spray disinfection between tests. Almost all their hands were blue because of the cold.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 22:30

• "Trade Of 2022" Surges As China's Most Distressed Property Developers Near Bailout
  “Trade Of 2022” Surges As China’s Most Distressed Property Developers Near Bailout

  On Saturday, we discussed that what may arguably be the trade of the year, one with the most convex, best Upside/Downside opportunities we have encountered in a while, had emerged in China courtesy of the latest panic in Beijing which saw China’s authorities finally realize they need to step in and bail out the imploding property development (and housing) sector.

  Specifically, in the latest gradual easing of financial conditions in the property market, regulators told banks to step up lending to developers after at least two quarters of consecutive declines. At the same time, borrowing by major property firms used to fund mergers and acquisitions will no longer be counted toward the notorious three red lines metrics that limit debt, which as we said, suggested that “a wave of consolidation is about to sweep China which should stabilize the property market at least in the short-term as insolvent firms are absorbed by their viable peers.”

  We didn’t have long to wait because just one day later, on Monday, shares of massively beaten down Shimao Group which we previously said had become a distressed bellwether for financial contagion in the property industry due to its recent investment grade rating and sudden collapse in bond prices…

  

  … soared as much as 14% in Hong Kong – a surge that continued on Tuesday morning – after a report in REDD that state-backed property giant China Vanke was in talks with the developer for asset acquisitions (i.e. a soft nationalization), a move made possible just days earlier by Beijing’s latest directive easing loans for M&A in the space. Incidentally, this took place just as Moody’s and S&P both downgraded Shimao’s credit rating.

  And with a growing likelihood of a white knight bailout, Shimao’s deeply beaten down dollar bonds also climbed after the report, with a note due in July rising 3 cents on the dollar to 47.6 cents after cratering as low as a record 26.6 cents last week.

  Now, of course, none of the above suggests that China’s property sector is fixed; in fact as Bloomberg’s Sofia Horta e Costa writes, Shimao’s unprecedented 19% rally on Monday was more a result of short covering rather than a shift in sentiment, noting that it doesn’t take much for a short squeeze. And since the developer had lost almost 90% of its market value since a record in 2020, betting against the stock was a popular trade among hedge funds, meaning that more than 16% of its free float was sold short as of Friday, according to IHS Markit data, near the highest level since 2012.

  But that’s precisely the reason why the risk/return on Chinese housing is so extremely high: with virtually all bad news priced in, the real convexity is in the explosive move higher that any piece of good news would trigger, whether it be a state-mandated white knight bailout, or even more easing from China which has now clearly ended its experiment with crushing the most important asset in its economy.

  It’s also why we said on Saturday that a pair trade of shorting US homebuilders – especially with the Fed set to hike rates, pushing mortgage rates higher and hitting US homebuilders in the process – and with going long Chinese property developers now that China is officially panicking and soon willing to do anything to support its housing market could be the best trade of 2022.

  Will this be the trade of 2022https://t.co/4rH2QdDUv7 pic.twitter.com/dLZO3p0Npp

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 9, 2022

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

  Sure enough, just one day later, having hit an all time low just this past Friday, the pair trade is already starting to move rapidly higher…

  

  … a move which will only accelerate as the squeezed shorts flee to cover.

  Which is not to say this is a risk-free trade: on the contrary, this week will be a major test for China’s real estate sectoras Guangzhou R&F has a $725 million bond coming due on Thursday, plus another $21 million in interest, while Evergrande is seeking to avoid its first default on a yuan bond the same day when bondholders vote on whether to allow the firm to defer payment. However, if recent overtures from Beijing are any indication, China’s authorities have decided that there has been enough pain in the property sector and it is now time to ease the pain.

  If that is the case the only question is not if but when the ratio of Chinese to US housing recover all of the losses observed in the post-Covid era.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 22:10

• Hedge Funds Flood Into Oil As Threat Of Omicron Disruption Recedes
  Hedge Funds Flood Into Oil As Threat Of Omicron Disruption Recedes

  by John Kemp, Reuters senior energy market analyst

  Oil markets attracted a new wave of interest from investors at the end of 2021 and start of 2022, as the threat of widespread economic and aviation disruption from Omicron seemed to recede. 

  Hedge funds and other money managers purchased the equivalent of 31 million barrels in the six most important petroleum-related futures and options contracts in the week to Jan. 4.

  

  Portfolio managers have purchased a total of 102 million barrels in the three most recent weeks, after selling 327 million barrels in the previous 10 weeks (https://tmsnrt.rs/3f5QZ5B).

  In the most recent week, most of the buying came from the creation of new bullish long positions (+27 million barrels) rather than closure of old bearish short ones (-5 million). 

  

  Bullish long positions now outnumber bearish short ones by a ratio of 5.18:1 (in the 67th percentile for all weeks since 2013) up from 3.83:1 (47th percentile) on Dec. 14.

  

  Last week’s buying was broadly based, with purchases in Brent (+19 million barrels), U.S. gasoline (+7 million), U.S. diesel (+4 million) and European gas oil (+3 million), with sales only in NYMEX and ICE WTI (-2 million).

  

  The number of confirmed coronavirus infections per day worldwide has almost quadrupled to 308 per million in the seven days ending on Jan. 10 up from 78 per million on the seven days ending Dec. 14. 

  But the link between confirmed cases, hospitalisations and deaths appears to have weakened, with the result many governments are imposing more limited restrictions on business activity and travel than in previous waves.

  The more limited response to this latest wave of the pandemic has encouraged bulls in their view that the impact on oil consumption will be relatively limited and short duration.

  As the current wave of infections fades in the spring, the continued cyclical upturn in the global economy is expected to result in further growth in oil consumption from the second quarter onwards.

  Coupled with limited production growth from OPEC, its allies, and U.S. shale producers, global petroleum inventories are likely to tighten further by the end of 2022.

  Hedge fund oil buyers are anticipating, accelerating and amplifying the move to an even tighter market by the end of this year.

  In consequence, front-month Brent futures prices have rebounded to within $5 per barrel of their previous cyclical highs in October 2021 and October 2018, and the gap is even closer if inflation is taken into account. 

  Brent’s six-month calendar spread has tightened into a backwardation of around $3.80 per barrel (93rd percentile for all trading days since 1990) up from $1.54 (67th percentile) in the middle of December.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 21:50

• Senate Bill Would Force States To Pair Voter ID With Vaccine Passports
  Senate Bill Would Force States To Pair Voter ID With Vaccine Passports

  As Democratic lawmakers push America towards vaccine passports to participate in society – they’re also pushing to weaken safeguards on voting, under the guise of ‘voting rights,’ a new Senate bill would force states to pair voter ID requirements with vaccine passports.

  

  The legislation is the idea of Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota who says if a state forces people to prove their vaccination status, they should also have to prove who they are when they go to vote.

  Sen. Cramer says he wants to point out the hypocrisy in Democrats who support vaccine passports but oppose voter ID –Fox5

  “It seems just logical that if I had to show Bill Deblasio something that’s personal and private just to have a steak dinner in New York City, the least he should do is require people to prove they are who they say they are before they take on the very important responsibility of voting,” says Cramer.

  Virginia’s newly elected Attorney General Jason Miayes agrees with the idea.

  “The standard should be easy to vote and hard to cheat,” he tells Fox5. “I think we all should have an interest in making sure that we trust our election system and voter ID is a very simple safe way to do that.”

  Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin, meanwhile, says he’ll block vaccine passports altogether.

  According to the report, Cramer acknowledges that trying to tie voter ID to vaccine passports will be difficult, but he hopes it will at least highlight the hypocrisy from the left.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 21:30

• Saturday Night Fight… At The Pharmacy
  Saturday Night Fight… At The Pharmacy

  Via Pierre Kory’s Medical Musings Substack,

  In the Omicron wildfire, with hundreds of thousands ill each day, U.S physicians and patients need their pharmacists support.. but most block access to generic medicines, fearfully and/or willfully.

  

  I am exhausted.. physically and emotionally and morally. Although I am not sure moral exhaustion is “a thing,” the daily witnessing of masses of physicians and pharmacists abandoning their core responsibility of placing the welfare of the patient as their primary consideration.. is beyond wearying. As my friend and COVID expert Dr. Hector Carvallo has long ago said, “it’s time for the lawyers.” It is becoming increasingly critical that the law profession aid the medical profession as it has long ago been led astray by captured federal pharmaceutical agencies. Note that I no longer call them “federal health agencies” as all their actions have been 100% consistent with what a pharmaceutical or vaccine manufacturer would want them to do. To prove that point, I simply ask that, when you read an announcement in corporate media that reports a new decision or action by the federal pharmaceutical agencies (FPA’s for short), simply ask yourself “is that what a pharmaceutical company would do?”

  Perfect example of this exercise was 2 days ago when it was announced that the “FPA” had authorized boosters for 12-17 year old’s against omicron (a generally mild cold in kids), using a vaccine designed for older, fundamentally different variants that have already spectacularly failed at giving protection against omicron given ever-increasing data of “negative efficacy” (i.e. vaccinated people are getting omicron more frequently than the unvaccinated). Yet the FPA “doubles down” with yet another “non-scientific policy” so that Pharma can increase the total market size of those eligible for a vaccine… and who cares if this decision ends up sending more kids to hospital than the disease ever would. Another brutal assault on public health. Another day in the United States of Pharma.

  In the United States of Pharma, individual docs and pharmacists have been led so far astray, forgivably or unforgivably, due to the relentless barrage of dis-information targeted at them by the FPA’s (further supported by relentless, daily propaganda appearing in both major media and medical journals). The resulting proportion of these two professions that have failed to display even a modicum of either critical thinking or moral conviction.. is terrifying. It is also causing lots of problems for patients and physicians (a colleague of mine now differentiates “doctors” from “physicians”, reserving the latter term for those who follow our guiding principles and ethics by always, always, putting the patient’s welfare as their primary goal above all else, even at personal sacrifice).

  What prompted me to write this substack was my most recent failure (and the resulting distress that led to crap sleep last night) over not being able to get a pharmacist to fill my orders in the hours prior to closing of pharmacies for an acutely ill COVID patient that had contacted me reporting high fevers, sore throat, and body aches. I immediately wanted to start him on a short course combination regimen of three, old, safe, cheap generic medications, all with large clinical trials evidence bases showing high efficacy against COVID (ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, fluvoxamine). What is important to note is that, months ago I stopped trying to contact ANY pharmacy unless I KNEW they would fill my scripts for these off-patients medications because unless I knew a pharmacy was “safe”, I ran a high probability of entering an un-affordably time-wasting and ultimately losing argument with some smug, obstinate pharmacist. As a result, we early treatment docs have long since been forced to build lists of “safe haven” pharmacies where we know we can easily get access to these medicines for our patients.

  However, last night, I was inspired to make an attempt on a new, unknown pharmacy on behalf of my new patient as I had just read Steve Kirsch’s substack about my colleague and early COVID-treatment pioneer/expert Dr. Brian Tyson, in which was included the letter written by Dr. Brian Tyson’s attorney (also with the last name Tyson) that was used to “sway” a local pharmacy that had suddenly refused to fill.

  The letter is thorough , deeply well-argued, and informs the pharmacists that they are; 1) violating the civil rights of patients, 2) interfering with a physicians ability to practice medicine and 3) exhibiting behavior that constitutes the unlicensed and negligent practice of medicine. Now, I had argued all these points before in previous “conflicts” with pharmacists, but never all at the same time, and rarely threatening a lawsuit. Duly and newly emboldened.. I made the call.

  4:20 Pacific time (pharmacies close there at 6pm).

  Transcript (from memory):

  “Hi, I’d like to call in a prescription for a couple of patients.”

  “OK, what’s the first patients name and date of birth?”

  “Timothy Thomas (not his real name), born Nov. 6th, 1977.”

  (pause, clacking of keyboard)

  “OK, what does he need?”

  (Wait for it)

  “He needs ivermectin, 3 milligram tablets, I want him to take 15 each day as he is a big guy, and for 5 days with a refill. Then he needs, hydroxychloro…

  “Doctor, I am sorry but I cannot fill the ivermectin. The owner has said we are not to fill for COVID, there is no evidence it works.”

  “Listen, I don’t know who the owner is but you are the pharmacist on duty, and I am calling in a prescription to you, not the owner.”

  “I,I, I am sorry but I can’t..”

  I look at the letter, and then start spewing rapid fire arguments at him, “well unfortunately for you, my patient is an executive of a company and their lawyer is prepared to and will send a letter of intent to sue if it has not been filled because you are violating his civil rights, blocking my licensed ability to practice medicine and care for my sick patient, and you are clearly practicing medicine illegally and highly ignorantly. You should at least know what you are doing if you are going to do it without a license man”

  “But I am allowed to refuse doctor.”

  “That is what you think and what you have been told… But, I can promise you, that when you bring your arguments up in court as to why you refused, they will not hold up if any harm comes to my patient by your refusal. They will NOT HOLD UP, but you can try. The lawyer will serve the letter on Monday, I promise you, we are fed up out here and are fighting back, all of my fellow physicians being blocked by pharmacists are now using legal action (OK, so I overstated things a bit), I am sorry you are in the position you are in, but you have no rational or scientific evidence to support a refusal, but if you want to go to court to find out, we can make that happen for you”

  “I..I.. feel intimidated.”

  “Well, I am sorry for that, but you are hurting my patient and my ability to care for them. It is THEY who YOU are intimidating Sir. All you have to do is take my script, fill it, and we don’t have to go on like this. These medications are FDA approved, I am using them off-label based on a large body of evidence and experience in COVID, and off label prescribing is both legal and historically encouraged by the FDA. You are clearly practicing medicine and I promise that will be proven to you in a court of law. Please just fill it and you wont have to hear from me or my patient again.”

  (Pause, silence)

  “I cannot do it, I am not supposed to.”

  “OK then, I will also remind you that you are legally required to provide me your name and license number as we will be pursuing legal action against you.”

  “I am not giving you my name, I am not comfortable with that.”

  “OK, so you think I can’t find it out? Fine, I am also documenting this refusal. Again, I am not interested in a contentious argument, I am asking you simply to fill the prescriptions for two sick patients who need my help, and if you do, you won’t have to hear from me or the patient’s lawyer.”

  He whispers.. “OK, tell me the rest of the prescriptions.”

  I tell him the rest, then say, “my patient will be there by closing time, thank you and I apologize for my tone but I am just trying to do the best for my sick patients.”

  Victory? Yes! Haven’t won one of these in months.. the letter and it’s well articulated legal threats worked! Thanks Steve! Thanks Bryan (and your attorney)!

  I finish telling him the rest of the scripts for my patient and his wife (I also needed to call in medicines for her so she could have some on hand and also begin ivermectin as a prophylactic agent given it ensures an easier course even if she is already or eventually becomes infected).

  I then happily call the patient, tell him to get his wife to pick up the medicines along with the other over-the-counter compounds that have clinical trials supporting their use. And then I go to the couch to literally lay down (insane day of dozens of patient care requests, other zooms and phone calls, maybe 12+ hours on the phone).

  30 minutes later.. patients texts me.. my wife went there and the pharmacist wont fill.

  Now, despite the fact that I co-wrote a document with Executive Director Kelly Bumann of the FLCCC and Unity Project Founder Jeff Hanson, called “Overcoming the Barriers to Access,” which is a document full of sound, pragmatic tactics and dialogue examples offered to patients (and docs) in order to help them navigate such pharmacist obstructions, they typically will not work when it is an hour before closing on a weekend. So, here I am the next morning. Fortunately I was able to get 2 of the medicines filled through another pharmacy, with enough for his wife as she unsurprisingly fell ill overnight (omicron moves fast). Unfortunately, they will have to wait until tomorrow to get the 3rd medicine from a “friendly” or “underground” pharmacy (not really underground but you get the analogy).

  This is what it is like out here trying to fight for patients sick with COVID – widespread delays in care as blocking access to medicines by ignorant/arrogant pharmacists is ubiquitous. The majority of pharmacists (not all!) have simply stopped thinking critically or devoting effort to review the evidence base, instead simply believe what they are told by their Boards (a.k.a. their Ministries of Truth). As if the insane numbers of ill omicron patients to care for is not challenging enough.

  In the words of Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who went after his state’s Pharmacy Board when they tried to scare the states pharmacists away from prescribing ivermectin by sending them threatening letters, “it is shocking that pharmacists are suddenly developing a conscience after spending the last decade handing out opiates like they were M & M’s”. Well said and tragically absurd.

  This newfound conscience influencing such actions is likely further fueled by a sometime resident psychology of pharmacists who may feel “less than” a physician given their limited scope of patient care tasks. Emboldened by a seemingly legal opportunity to assert superiority and control over physicians, many find these too irresistible to resist. Instead, they seem to be clearly “getting off” from pointing out to the “stupid” doctors that the Ministry of Truth has done the research for them and have found that in the name of science, doctors must be stopped from using “ineffective horse de-wormer” to treat COVID. Good times. Just another day in the life of an early COVID treatment expert.

  Let me end with the following disturbing data and observations. Take a look at this chart compiled by the FLCCC data analyst, Juan Chamie.

  

  From the above, it should be noted that prior to our FLCCC ivermectin paper being posted on a pre-print server (Nov 13, 2020) and prior to my testimony in the Senate hearings of Senator Ron Johnson noted above (Dec. 8, 2020), nursing home residents made up about 30% of all COVID deaths in the U.S. (also note that Senator Johnson’s efforts have made him one of the most (if not the most) impactful of the early treatment advocates for COVID in this country.. (and in history?).

  As you can see from above, suddenly, by mid-to-late December 2020, the proportion of dying U.S COVID patients that were residents in nursing homes started to plummet to now around 5-6% of all U.S COVID deaths.. and it has stayed stably low at this level ever since (notice how you never read any more newspaper reports of legions of people dying in nursing homes?). Hmmm. Was it the vaccines? Nope – nursing home resident vaccination rates were equal to or lower than the over 65 non-nursing home population, and the latter continued to make up a large proportion of COVID deaths in the U.S. So, why did nursing homes become such “safe havens” relative to the rest of society after December of 2020?

  I maintain there are two reasons; 1) nursing homes often have their own in-house pharmacy so do have to rely on negotiating with arrogant/ignorant retail pharmacists for access to medications like ivermectin, and 2) nursing home directors across the country learned that ivermectin is highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death, and thus they have widely used it across the U.S to treat COVID outbreaks in nursing homes (here, here, here, and here). Turns out, this practice makes for really good business since dead or hospitalized nursing home residents.. no longer generate income for the nursing home. Once again, all about the Benjamins. Shocker.

  *  *  *

  Subscribe to Pierre Kory’s Medical Musings. Exploring the dysfunction in American medicine & the effects of the captured health agencies’ relentless war on generic drugs.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 21:10

• Dozens Of Hong Kong Top Officials In Quarantine After Embarrassing 'Covid Birthday Bash'
  Dozens Of Hong Kong Top Officials In Quarantine After Embarrassing ‘Covid Birthday Bash’

  Beijing is demanding that officials be swiftly punished for what’s become known as the Hong Kong Covid birthday party scandal, after last week some 200 people including top officials were exposed to the virus at a large indoor bash, which also didn’t have much in the way of ‘social distancing’ given the very tight quarters, with the exception of masks.

  At least 13 high-ranking bureaucrats under the government of Chief Executive Carrie Lam are still in quarantine Monday, and up to a couple dozen officials. And more embarrassing for China is that the birthday party was for a representative of a mainland China agency. Currently HK officials are scrambling to track down the whereabouts of everyone in attendance, given the presence of many individuals who were not on the invitee list: 

  The public health scandal erupted last week after it emerged that 14 officials and 20 lawmakers were among some 200 guests who last Monday attended the 53rd birthday party of Witman Hung Wai-man, a delegate to the national legislature. They were exposed to a coronavirus-infected guest, Celia Wong, 37, a member of the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association’s youth committee.

  

  Subsequently it’s believed that multiple local Chinese officials were exposed to the Covid Omicron variant in the aftermath of the party, sending additional local Chinese deputies to the National People’s Congress into quarantine. At this point no less than 20% of officials in HK’s so-called “patriot’s” political party have been sent into lockdown.

  While only 100 people were supposed to be at the birthday event in question, so far health authorities have traced at least 214 who were actually in attendance. Many have reportedly attempted to dodge contact tracing, given especially the scandal has been all over the pages of regional media. 

  On Monday, The South China Morning Post reported that the Chinese government is demanding answers, putting immense pressure on the pro-mainland HK government as its “credibility” is on the line over the scandal:

  Beijing has asked Hong Kong’s leader to “take swift action” against officials who attended a big birthday party in the midst of an outbreak of Covid-19 cases, the Post has learned.

  Observers echoed the need for a prompt response to resolve the controversy and said any delay could deal a “serious blow to the credibility of governance”. Should a breach of discipline be confirmed, government advisers said suspension, demotion, pay cuts or even dismissal should be considered.

  HONG KONG | MASS QUARANTINE

  More than two dozen Hong Kong politicians and top government officials were ordered into a spartan quarantine facility after they were exposed to suspected COVID-19 cases at a birthday party. https://t.co/I3tHxYmVbU

  — Nikkei Asia (@NikkeiAsia) January 7, 2022

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

  Further the report includes: “Sources also said mainland China officials were piling pressure on Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s government to punish Cathay Pacific, the city’s flagship carrier, especially after Beijing health experts had earlier identified aircrew as a potential risk area in their trip to the city.”

  Lam herself has ordered an investigation after expressing “deep disappointment” over the ordeal, even singling out home affairs chief Caspar Tsui Ying-wai, who is said to have stayed late at the party, for public rebuke.

  After harsh pro-China censorship laws have resulted in the shuttering of several news agencies, independent press outlets which have remained are highlighting that such “ridiculousness would become the norm”…

  As #Hongkongers are banned from dine-in eating after 6pm, top gov officials attended 100-guest birthday party for a mainland Chinese agency rep.

  Without supervision from reliable media like #StandNews we fear this ridiculousness would become the norm.https://t.co/n8f4EuWRQh

  — Hong Kong Liberty 攬炒團隊 (@HKLiberty_Team) January 7, 2022

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

  However, it stopped short of an official apology issued to the public – a populace which has long lived under strict Covid protocols enforced from nearly the beginning of the pandemic. And now HK leadership has its own do as I say not as I do scandal to contend with, such as what recently happened with UK government Christmas parties, which involved top officials flaunting Britain’s own strict Covid rules.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 20:50

• T Cells From Common Colds Cross-Protect Against Infection With COVID-19: Study
  T Cells From Common Colds Cross-Protect Against Infection With COVID-19: Study

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

  A type of cells produced by the body when fighting common cold viruses cross-protect people against infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a study published Monday.

  

  A 3D print of a spike protein of SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—in front of a 3D print of a SARS-CoV-2 virus particle. (Courtesy of NIAID/RML)

  T cells have been recognized as a measure of protection against severe COVID-19 and previous research indicated that recovery from common colds may provide some level of shielding against the virus that causes COVID-19.

  Researchers with Imperial College London found in the new study that the presence of such cells can also prevent infection by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease.

  The scientists assessed 52 contacts of newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases to pinpoint when they were first exposed and determined that people who tested negative for COVID-19 had higher cross-reactive T cell levels. They also took blood samples from the participants within 6 days of exposure.

  “Being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t always result in infection, and we’ve been keen to understand why. We found that high levels of pre-existing T cells, created by the body when infected with other human coronaviruses like the common cold, can protect against COVID-19 infection,” Dr. Rhia Kundu, the lead author, of Imperial’s National Heart & Lung Institute, said in a statement.

  Professor Ajit Lalvani, another author, said the study “provides the clearest evidence to date that T cells induced by common cold coronaviruses play a protective role against SARS-CoV-2 infection,” adding that “these T cells provide protection by attacking proteins within the virus, rather than the spike protein on its surface.”

  The discovery could help scientists develop a new version of the COVID-19 vaccine, the researchers said.

  “The spike protein is under intense immune pressure from vaccine-induced antibody which drives evolution of vaccine escape mutants. In contrast, the internal proteins targeted by the protective T cells we identified mutate much less. Consequently, they are highly conserved between the various SARS-CoV-2 variants, including omicron,” Lalvani said.

  “New vaccines that include these conserved, internal proteins would therefore induce broadly protective T cell responses that should protect against current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants.”

  They also urged people to get a COVID-19 vaccine instead of relying on the protection from cross-reactive T cells.

  The currently available vaccines have proven less effective against the Omicron variant of the CCP virus, including against severe disease. While booster shots restore some of the lost protection, early data signals the boost quickly drops in effectiveness against infection after administration. Whether boosters last for longer periods of time remains unknown.

  The study was published in Nature and was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit and the Medical Research Council.

  Limitations include the small number of participants and the fact that 88 percent were white.

  Dr. Simon Clarke, an associate professor in Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, who was not involved with the study, said that people who have had colds should not assume they are protected against SARS-CoV-2 because many colds are not caused by coronaviruses and further research is needed on the matter.

  “Although this is a relatively small study, it adds to our understanding of how our immune system fights the virus and shows that future vaccines might benefit from targeting components in addition to the spike protein,” he added.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 20:30

• US Treasury Warns Of Frustrating Tax Season Due To IRS Backlogs And 'Longstanding Operational Problems'
  US Treasury Warns Of Frustrating Tax Season Due To IRS Backlogs And ‘Longstanding Operational Problems’

  Existing backlongs and ‘longstanding operational problems’ at the IRS will likely make for a frustrating tax season this year, a Treasury Department official told Politico on Monday.

  

  The agency is still dealing with two years-worth of backlogs in processing returns – and is trying to process approximately 6 million individual returns as of Dec. 23. Typically, the tax collector juggles around 1 million pieces of unopened mail according to the report.

  More than 150 million individual income tax returns typically roll in over the course of a few months.

  Tax returns for 2021 are due April 18 for most individual filers, a few days after the normal April 15 deadline due to a holiday in Washington, D.C., though extensions can be requested. This year’s start and end dates, announced by the IRS on Monday, are more in line with historical norms, which have been upended since 2020 because of the pandemic.

  Last year, the IRS held off the start date to Feb. 12, to give the agency extra time to reprogram operations based on tax law changes passed in late 2020. -Politico

  According to the official, there’s been no internal debate over delaying the filing deadline beyond this April. In 2020 it was extended to July 15, while 2021’s due date was pushed back to May 17. 

  President Biden and Congressional Democrats want to supercharge the IRS to the tune of $80 billion (which is ‘dramatically in excess‘ of what it needs), which would be invested in more agents and technology upgrades, and would beef up enforcement and other agency functions such as customer service. The official blamed Republicans for blocking fresh funding, according to Politico. 

  For one’s best chance at speedy processing, taxpayers should take advantage of filing electronically – which 90% already do. Some 10% of returns are filed on paper, however, and have been caught up in a massive mail backlog that began early on in the pandemic.

  The delays have meant slow refunds and/or incorrect penalities and assessments by the IRS for millions of taxpayers because employees have to physically process each piece of mail that comes in.

  Complicating matters is the fact that the IRS could receive more individual tax returns this year, as child tax payments may push some low-income households past the threshold which would trigger a tax return.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 20:10

• Will Beaten Down Chinese Stocks Be 2022's Best Performers
  Will Beaten Down Chinese Stocks Be 2022’s Best Performers

  By Ye Xie, Bloomberg Markets Live commentator and reporter

  Chinese stocks became the pariah of the investment world last year, with the MSCI China Index losing 23%. But as the new year sees global risky assets falter, the Chinese benchmark has been surprisingly resilient. Recent history shows that winners and losers tend to flip in the new year. While that may be too simplistic of a framework, it still should not be too surprising that MSCI China is performing well in 2022 on expectations of policy easing.

  The global risk markets’ poor start to the year extended on Monday. Whenever real yields shoot up as quickly as they have, it tends to ripple through markets. Yet, the Move index of bond volatility failed to increase, suggesting that investors see limited upside for yields from here. Meanwhile, if we look at the cyclical/defensives ratio, it’s been moving higher with yields, signaling the markets have upgraded their growth outlook. That view may be reinforced by encouraging signs that the omicron infection has possibly peaked in places such as New York. All together, the probability of a deeper global market correction seems low.

  

  While U.S. investors are grappling with tighter monetary policy, the drumbeat of easing in China is getting louder. Last week, a senior government official reminded us that ensuring growth stability is not only an economic issue, but also a political one ahead of the power reshuffling later this year. On Monday, a cabinet meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang vowed to accelerate investment in key projects and boost domestic consumption. Meanwhile, media reports that officials in Guangdong province are encouraging state-owned enterprises to acquire struggling developers led to a rally in property stocks.

  It remains to be seen what appetite Beijing has for stimulus, especially regarding its policies on the housing market. But the prospect of easing is one of the necessary conditions for the Chinese equity market to perform well.

  In recent years, MSCI China has been either one of the best or worst performers in global assets, as shown in this table below compiled by Morgan Stanley. When it sat at the bottom, it tended to come back with a roar the following year, and vice versa. For instance, the MSCI China Index’s 19% loss in 2018 was followed by 24% gain in 2019. And going long 2020’s loser (REITs) and short its winner (MSCI China) would have been a terrific trade last year.

  
  Source: Morgan Stanley

  Morgan Stanley’s analysts think it’s too early to call the bottom on Chinese stocks because the downward revision to earnings estimates is not finished yet. And the ranking is not adjusted for the assets’ volatility. So it’s not surprising that high-beta assets such as Chinese stocks tend to be either the best or worst.

  Still, the MSCI China managed to limit its decline this year to 0.7%, outperforming the 2% decline in the S&P 500. It’s a promising start.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 19:50

• New York Port Hit With Rare Vessel Congestion Amid COVID-Induced Labor Shortage
  New York Port Hit With Rare Vessel Congestion Amid COVID-Induced Labor Shortage

  President Biden’s cunning plan to clear congestion from the nation’s top ports failed at the end of 2021 and continues to underwhelm in the new year. 

  New data from Bloomberg shows a rare bottleneck has materialized at the New York area’s port terminals, the busiest on the East Coast, due to labor shortage fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

  “We have seen a spike in the number of labor going out into quarantine,” Port Authority Director Sam Ruda said. The average wait time for a container ship is about 4.75 days in the final week of 2021, compared with an average of 1.6 days for the entire year. 

  

  The developing backlog is a labor issue as port workers stay home due to the rapid spread of the Omicron virus. 

  Running at full capacity since the virus pandemic began in early 2020, the port handled 27% more cargo in November 2021 than it did in November 2019. So any disruption to labor has made it susceptible to a backlog. 

  “We’ve essentially had five years of cargo growth in the space of 18, 20 months or so,” he said.

  Ruda said the number of vessels sitting off port was approximately 12 to 13 to start the new year and down to 9 this past Wednesday. By Friday, ships at anchor increased to 11. 

  “On an order of magnitude, it does seem quite small, but it does have our attention,” he said.

  

  Meanwhile, at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, on the West Coast, responsible for 40% of all shipping containers entering the U.S., congestion is at a record high of three weeks. 

  President Biden’s plan to alleviate port congestion is not working. Vessels are avoiding the mess on the West Coast and are opting for other less crowded ports. The shipping crisis continues to spread. 

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 19:30

• Rep. Jordan Indicates He Won't Cooperate With Jan. 6 Committee As It Is Not "Fair-Minded And Objective"
  Rep. Jordan Indicates He Won’t Cooperate With Jan. 6 Committee As It Is Not “Fair-Minded And Objective”

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

  Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) appeared to suggest on Sunday that he will not voluntarily cooperate with the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol breach, calling the request “unprecedented and inappropriate.”

  

  The nine-member committee investigating the origins of the breach, which is almost entirely comprised of Democrats, has subpoenaed a number of people as part of its investigation, including former President Donald Trump national security adviser Mike Flynn, his former adviser Stephen Bannon, and his former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

  In a letter to committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) dated Jan. 9, Jordan cited several reasons as to why he feels that he does not need to cooperate with the panel’s request, including that he has “no relevant information” that would assist them in their investigation or in “advancing any legitimate legislative purpose.”

  However, Jordan stopped short of stating that he would not cooperate with the committee.

  “The American people are tired of Democrats’ nonstop investigations and partisan witch hunts,” Jordan began his letter. “Your letter of December 22, 2021, unfortunately, continues this Democrat obsession. It amounts to an unprecedented and inappropriate demand to examine the basis for a colleague’s decision on a particular matter pending before the House of Representatives.”

  “This request is far outside the bounds of any legitimate inquiry, violates core Constitutional principles, and would serve to further erode legislative norms,” Jordan continued.

  The Ohio Republican then went on to cite a number of reasons as to why he feels he does not need to cooperate with the investigation, which has so far appeared to focus on individuals who previously served in the Trump administration, including those who were no longer in the White House during the Jan. 6 breach.

  Jordan wrote that he “cannot speak to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s failure” to ensure the Capitol building had adequate security in advance of the breach and that he has nothing to add to the “bipartisan, comprehensive findings of the Senate investigative committees or to those issued by federal inspectors general.”

  The congressman said he was performing “official duties” as a lawmaker at the time the Capitol building was breached.

  

  

  Jordan also noted that even if he had information to share with the House committee, “the actions and statements of Democrats in the House of Representatives show that you are not conducting a fair-minded and objective inquiry.”

  Thompson sent a letter to Jordan in December making a formal request on behalf of the committee for Jordan to testify (pdf).

  “We write to seek your voluntary cooperation in advancing our investigation,” the letter began. “We understand that you had at least one and possibly multiple communications with President Trump on January 6th. We would like to discuss each such communication with you in detail.”

  The letter also goes on to assert that “despite the urgent requests that the President speak and instruct the rioters to leave, President Trump did not make such a statement for multiple hours as rioters attacked police and invaded and occupied the Capitol.”

  Lawmakers have accused the former president of encouraging violence at the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, a claim Trump vehemently denies.

  His last Facebook post called for “everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful” and non-violent and to respect law and order. The former president has also repeatedly insisted that he offered to bring in the National Guard ahead of the Jan. 6 demonstration, but that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) denied the request.

  The Epoch Times has contacted Thompson for comment.

  Jordan is the second congressman to be asked to cooperate with the partisan House committee’s investigation into the events, after Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who said in December said that he does not intend to accept the committee’s requests, calling the committee “illegitimate.”

  Earlier this month, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell sued the House select committee in an effort to stop telecommunications company Verizon from sharing his information with the panel.

  It came after the committee issued Verizon a subpoena for all of his records of communication on a cellphone he regularly used for the period between Nov. 1, 2020 and Jan. 31, 2021.

  The committee is yet to find substantial evidence that high-ranking GOP officials participated in or had any prior knowledge of the events of Jan. 6.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 19:10

• Australian Police Tear-Gas Angry Crowd Of Djokovic Supporters
  Australian Police Tear-Gas Angry Crowd Of Djokovic Supporters

  Police in Australia pepper-sprayed a mob of supporters of tennis champion Novak Djokovic on Monday evening in Melbourne after the crowd began blocking car traffic and standing on a vehicle they thought carried Djokovic. The uproar took place outside Djokovic’s lawyer’s office.

  As we reported earlier, Djokovic was freed from Australian detention on Monday by a judge who ruled the government had made a mistake canceling his visa. He is planning on staying in Australia to try and compete in the Australian Open in Melbourne next week, where he will be angling to clinch his 21st Grand Slam title, which would put him ahead of Roger Federer for most wins.

  

  Djokovic tried to enter the country last week to start practicing early for the tournament, but border force agents detained him and forced him into a migrant detention facility, something that was not taken well by his fans. 

  While the Australian government tried to slander Djokovic as a public health threat (as if his presence would make any difference in a country where COVID cases are surging despite all measures to try and slow the spread), some have speculated that Djokovic’s detention was due to the fact that his exemption was given because he had been infected in December 2021. The Australian government doesn’t want to appear to give legitimacy to the notion that natural infection breeds immunity (even though natural infection is likely better).

  The scene was captured on social media.

  Absolute mayhem by Novak Djokovic’s lawyer’s office on Collins Street. A car leaving the office is completely surrounded by people cheering “free Nole” pic.twitter.com/H3mAsEHSdX

  — Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) January 10, 2022

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  The Australian government is still reportedly weighing whether to “deport” Djokovic ahead of the tournament (which begins Jan. 17). While it’s been said the decision won’t arrive today, it may arrive in the coming days.

  Novak Djokovic will be a free man tonight

  Govt wont make decision to deport him tonight per @Gallo_Ways

  Immigration Minister had 4h to cancel before he was freed from detention

  Decision to cancel can still be made but will be tomorrow or in days afterhttps://t.co/cSKqKELJ4O

  — Paul Sakkal (@paulsakkal) January 10, 2022

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  Given the intensity of the crowd response at Djokovic’s lawyer’s office, one twitter user joked that the Australian government would be foolish to try re-arresting him for a deportation.

  Outside Novak Djokovic lawyers office earlier this evening.

  I don’t recommend rearresting him.

  I have a Serbian uncle, and from experience, they’re a lovely, loving lot until they’re not.

  pic.twitter.com/w5aYixtUkW

  — Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) January 10, 2022

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  This was earlier as it left Novak’s lawyers’ office. @9NewsMelb @9NewsAUS pic.twitter.com/tKKpEuYyCi

  — Adam Hegarty (@ajhegarty9) January 10, 2022

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  But if the recent past is any guide, well, they have made stupider decisions.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 18:50

• It's Time To Drop The Hysteria And Learn To Live With COVID
  It’s Time To Drop The Hysteria And Learn To Live With COVID

  Authored by Bruce Pardy via The Epoch Times,

  For most people, Omicron is a highly contagious cold. Lots will catch it, and most will get sniffles and a sore throat. Yes, even with Omicron, as with the flu, some people will get seriously ill, and a few will die. Masking, social distancing, capacity limits, lockdowns, curfews, and “vaccines” are not stopping the spread. People who dodge Omicron this time will face the next variant, or the one after that. Like other respiratory viruses in circulation, COVID-19 is here to stay.

  Therefore, COVID is done. Either mild Omicron is the end of COVID madness, or there is no off-ramp.

  The panic-demic must finish or we will be doing this forever.

  

  For the past 23 months, the real pandemic has not been COVID but anxiety. According to Mattias Desmet, professor of clinical psychology at Ghent University in Belgium, the COVID crisis is a product of “mass formation,” a collective psychosis that can occur when a significant portion of the population develops an irrational fixation on an external cause. Mass formation is most likely to occur, Desmet says, when a critical mass of people suffers from a lack of social bonds, a lack of meaning in their lives, free-floating anxiety that has no specific source or cause, and free-floating frustration and aggression not directed at a particular target.

  The virus may have made people anxious, but it was more the other way around. Those already afraid, disconnected, and adrift in their lives were more susceptible to media messaging that portrayed COVID as a bigger threat than it really was. The virus offered an external phenomenon on which to focus their distress. It gave purpose to fear. Masks, lockdowns, social distancing, and vaccine mandates provided the illusion of control and a justification for imposing the burden of their anxiety on others. For some, hiding behind masks, staying home, working online, and being isolated gave respite from social interactions that they found uncomfortable anyway.

  COVID is a righteous platform from which to rage against non-conformists. COVID cranks cheer when small businesses are shut, workers dismissed, university students ousted, and schools closed, all to assuage their anxiety. The country was never “in this together.” As Aldous Huxley wrote, “The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior ‘righteous indignation’ — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.”

  COVIDians who feel threatened by the end of the cause for which they have lived these past two years will clamour for more and harsher restrictions. In Canada, the game is still on. Quebec imposed new curfews. Ontario throttled down on widespread testing but then lurched back into partial lockdown and closed its schools again. Booster campaigns are in full swing and “the pandemic of the unvaccinated” rhetoric continues. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau even suggested during last fall’s election campaign that the unvaxxed are racists and misogynists who should not be tolerated.

  And yet, signs of the Great Backtrack are slowly emerging.

  In the United States, the CDC has put the kybosh on PCR tests, while the Biden administration has admitted that there is no federal solution to COVID. In some states, stadiums are still full, and there are no masking requirements or vaccine mandates. Perceptive pundits, formerly in solidarity with the COVID regime, are delicately heading for the exit, trying not to be the last one in the room when the music stops.

  In some jurisdictions such as Ontario, the vaccinated have been catching Omicron at a higher rate per capita than the unvaxxed. For those who judge themselves to be at low risk from the virus, why expose yourself to disputed side effects from a therapy not yet fully tested? People should have the right to make their own medical choices. After being suspended, dismissed, ousted, banished, and demonized, the unvaccinated have defended that right the hard way. They are not likely to give it up now.

  COVID rules, say some apostles, protect the right to be kept safe from respiratory viruses. But no such right exists. If it did, lockdowns would be the established practice against colds, flu, and the many other respiratory viruses in circulation.

  Society would have come to a screeching halt long before now. Viruses are part of human existence. If you’re sick, stay home. Remember when we used to just say that? People who are susceptible to COVID, even to Omicron, should keep themselves safe as best they can. The rest of humanity must get on with their lives.

  As a health crisis, COVID is over. The hysteria, however, will be more stubborn.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 18:30

• Icy Start To Russia-NATO Talks As US Calls Moscow's Central Demand "A Non-Starter"
  Icy Start To Russia-NATO Talks As US Calls Moscow’s Central Demand “A Non-Starter”

  As expected, after eight ours of talks between the US-NATO side and Russia in Geneva on Monday, there were no breakthroughs; instead, the opposite with the American delegation reportedly deeming Moscow’s request of no further eastward NATO expansion as a “nonstarter”.

  The Associated Press cited the US side as “firmly rejecting the demands as a nonstarter” which led to each side digging into their positions. Later, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed “no progress” was made but still asserted that “We have no intention to invade Ukraine.”

  Leading the US representatives was Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who on a positive note said that it involved a “frank and forthright discussion” which led to “a better understanding of each other and each other’s priorities and concerns.”

  

  Yet she further described it didn’t progress much past hearing the other side’s position laid out. “It was not what you would call a negotiation,” she told reporters. “We’re not to a point where we’re ready to set down texts and begin to go back and forth.”

  But her words signaled to Moscow that the door is essentially shut on gaining legal guarantees that NATO will not pursue any further eastward expansion, with Ukraine and Georgia being central to the Russian demands (as the Russians also want prior verbal pledges regarding the two countries’ path to NATO membership rescinded). 

  Apparently Washington is in a position where it’s willing to come to the table with Russia, but doesn’t want to be seen as having NATO policy direction dictated by Moscow. Here’s what Sherman said on this: 

  “We were firm, however, on pushing back on security proposals that are simply nonstarters for the United States,” Sherman said, adding “we will not allow anyone” to shut NATO’s “open-door policy” that extends to countries seeking entry in the alliance.

  She said Washington “will not forgo bilateral cooperation with sovereign states that wish to work with the United States. And, we will not make decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine, about Europe without Europe or about NATO without NATO.”

  Additionally Sherman said, “If Russia stays at the table and takes concrete steps to deescalate tensions, we believe we can achieve progress.” She also reaffirmed the “costs” of any potential Russian offensive into Ukraine: “Those costs will include financial sanctions, and it’s been reported those sanctions will include key financial institutions, export controls that target industries; enhancements of NATO force posture on ally territory; and increased security assistance to Ukraine.”

  Russia has warned that some form of military response to the US stationing advanced weapons in Europe could be possible in the future.

  Happy new year everyone, etc. https://t.co/MYimA5SdSm

  — Bryan MacDonald (@27khv) January 10, 2022

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  Despite the Russians still vowing there won’t be the “expected” Ukraine invasion that Western press and officials have been greatly hyping over the last two months, the scenario is sill very dangerous, given the potential for an arms race and proliferation of missiles in Eastern Europe.

  On this point, the Russian side stated the following:

  “If now NATO proceeds towards deployment of capabilities that are being developed very rapidly in the US, and will possibly be introduced somewhere in Europe, it would require a military response on the Russian part, that is a decision to counter this threat through means at our discretion,” Ryabkov, speaking in English. “That will inevitably, unavoidably damage security of the U.S. and its European allies.”

  Ryabkov was further quoted after Monday’s meeting in Russian media as saying the Americans are “playing with fire” – and that “We are calling on the US to demonstrate a maximum of responsibility at this moment. Risks related to a possible increase of confrontation shouldn’t be underestimated.”

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/10/2022 – 18:10

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