Nov 11

Today’s News 11th November 2020

  • Trump Files Emergency Injunction In Michigan Alleging Fraud; Demands Recounts Over 'Malfunctioning' Dominion Machines
    Trump Files Emergency Injunction In Michigan Alleging Fraud; Demands Recounts Over ‘Malfunctioning’ Dominion Machines

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/11/2020 – 01:43

    The Trump campaign has requested an emergency injunction in a federal lawsuit aimed at preventing the State of Michigan from certifying the results of last week’s election until election officials can certify that only legally cast, on time, and legally observed ballots are included in the count. The campaign is alleging several types of fraud, misconduct, and invalidated ballots based on a number of reasons – including ‘malfunctioning’ vote counting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    The Tuesday night filing in the US District Court for the Western District of Michigan alleges, among other things, that officials prevented GOP challengers from observing the count, scanned “batches of the same ballots multiple times,” illegally accepted and pre-dated late ballots, including from unmonitored drop boxes, and that election workers illegally duplicated ballots,” according to a statement from the campaign. The lawsuit requeusts that the court toss all ballots not observed by a GOP election challenger who has been “allowed to meaningfully observe the process and the handling and counting of the ballot.” 

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Absentee ballot removed for counting at TCF Center in Detroit, Nov. 4 2020 (photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell, Detroit Free Press)

    The complaint includes “more than one hundred credentialed election challengers” who have provided “sworn affidavits” that they were prevented from reviewing the ballot count, or validate the legitimacy of absentee ballots. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is accused in the suit of failing to follow state election code, which allowed “fraud and incompetence to corrupt the conduct of the 2020 general election.”

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    GOP challengers allegedly blocked and intimidated: 

    • Many challengers testified that their ability to view the handling, processing, and  counting of ballots was physically and intentionally blocked by election officials.
    • At least three challengers said they were physically pushed away from counting tables by election officials to a distance that was too far to observe the counting.
    • Republican challengers who left the TCF Center were not allowed to return, while Democrats were, resulting in “many more Democratic challengers allowed to observe the processing and counting of absent voter ballots.”
    • Many challengers testified that they were intimidated, threatened, and harassed by election officials during the ballot processing and counting process.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    GOP election challengers demand to be let into the TCF Center in Detroit on Wednesday, Nov 4 2020

    For reference, here’s a video of people cheering as GOP poll watchers were thrown out of the TCF Center in Detroit as absentee ballots were counted.

    Batches of ballots run through multiple times:

    Multiple GOP challengers attested that “batches of ballots were repeatedly run through the vote tabulation machines,” with one challenger saying she observed “a stack of about fifty ballots being fed multiple times into a ballot scanner counting machine.” Another challenger claims they “observed a station where election workers were working on scanned ballots that had issues that needed to be manually corrected,” adding “I believe some of these workers were changing votes that had been cast for Donald Trump and other Republican candidates.”

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    When challengers did bring up issues with ballots, they were “ignored and disregarded,” according to the complaint, with one claiming that “ballots with votes for Trump were separated from other ballots,” and that when they raised challenges over ballot numbers which didn’t match their envelopes, they were “disregarded and ignored by election officials,” and the “ballots were processed and counted.”

    The filing also claims that ballots which could not be read by a machine were unlawfully duplicated out of the view of challengers, and weren’t conducted by a bipartisan pair of election inspectors.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Faulty tabulation software:

    The suit notes that in Antrim County, Michigan, voting machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems “were at fault” when they erroneously gave over 6,000 Trump votes to former Vice President Joe Biden. The ‘error’ – potentially affecting the same machines used in Wayne County – was blamed by Secretary of State Benson on a county clerk who failed to update certain “media drives.”

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Also noted were Dominion machine errors in Oakland County Michigan, which resulted in a Democrat being wrongly declared the winner of a commissioner’s race by 104 votes – only to have their seat flip back to the rightful Republican candidate after the error was caught.

    “These vote tabulator failures are a mechanical malfunction that, under MCL 168.831-168.839, requires a “special election” in the precincts affected,” reads the filing.

    Back-dated absentee ballots:

    The filing also alleges backdating of ballots, after attorney and GOP challenger Jessica Connarn says she was told by a poll worker told her they were “being told to change the date on ballots to reflect that the ballots were received on an earlier date.”

    Connarn has provided a photograph of a note handed to her by the poll worker as evidence they were instructed to change the date so that absentee ballots received after 8:00 p.m. on Election Day would be counted.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Poll workers count absentee ballots for the city of Detroit at the TCF Center in downtown Detroit on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

    The Trump campaign also says that ballots were deposited in remote, unattended drop boxes which are “essentially equivalent to a polling place where a person can deposit a ballot,” but “there is no validation that the individual deposing a ballot in the box is an individual who is qualified to cast a vote or to lawfully deliver a ballot cast by a lawful voter.” The filing says that according to Michigan law, a remote ballot drop box “must use video monitoring of that drop box to ensure effective monitoring…“

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

    Now we wait to see if over 100 affidavits and Trump Campaign attorney Thor Hearne are able to persuade a Michigan judge to halt certifying Joe Biden winner the state.

  • The War Is Over… GloboCap Triumphs!
    The War Is Over… GloboCap Triumphs!

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/11/2020 – 00:05

    Authored (mostly satirically) by CJ Hopkins via The Consent Factory,

    OK, so, that was not cool. For one terrifying moment there, it actually looked like GloboCap was going to let Russian-Asset Hitler win. Hour after hour on election night, states on the map kept turning red, or pink, or some distinctly non-blue color. Wisconsin … Michigan … Georgia … Florida. It could not be happening, and yet it was. What other explanation was there? The Russians were stealing the election again!

    But, of course, GloboCap was just playing with us. They’re a bunch of practical jokers, those GloboCap guys. Naturally, they couldn’t resist the chance to wind us up just one more time.

    Seriously, though, while I enjoy a good prank, I still have a number of liberal friends, many of whom were on the verge of suffering major heart attacks as they breathlessly waited for the corporate media to confirm that they had successfully voted a literal dictator out of power. (A few of them suffer from IBS or other gastrointestinal disorders, so, in light of the current toilet paper shortage caused by the Return of the Apocalyptic Plague, toying with them like that was especially cruel.)

    But, whatever. That’s water under the bridge. The good news is, the nightmare is over! Literal Hitler and his underground army of Russia-loving white supremacists have been vanquished! Decency has been restored! Globalization has risen from the dead!

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    And, of course, the most important thing is, racism in America is over … again!

    Yes, that’s right, folks, no more racism … kiss all those Confederate monuments goodbye! The Democrats are back in the White House! According to sources, the domestic staff are already down in the West Wing basement looking for that MLK bust that Trump ordered removed and desecrated the moment he was sworn into office. College kids are building pyres of racist and potentially racist books, and paintings, and films, and other degenerate artworks. Jussie Smollet can finally come out of hiding.

    OK, granted, they’re not going to desegregate liberal cities or anything crazy like that, or stop “policing” Black neighborhoods like an occupying army, or stop funding schools with property taxes, but Kamala Harris is Black, mostly, and Grampa Joe will tell us more stories about “Corn Pop,” the razor-wielding public-pool gangster, and other dangerous Black people he hasn’t yet incarcerated, so that should calm down all those BLM folks.

    In the meantime, the official celebrations have begun. Assorted mass-murdering GloboCap luminaries, government leaders, and the corporate media are pumping out hopey-changey propaganda like it was 2008 all over again. Pundits are breaking down and sobbing on television. Liberal mobs are ritualistically stomping Cheetos to the death in the street. Slaphappy hordes of Covidian Cultists are amassing outdoors, masks around their necks, sharing champagne bottles and French-kissing each other, protected from the virus by the Anti-Trump Force Field that saved the BLM protesters last Summer. It’s like V-Day, the fall of the Berlin wall, and the bin Laden assassination all rolled into one!

    All of which is understandable, given the horrors of the last four years, the concentration camps, the wars of aggression, the censorship, the CIA murder squads, the show trials, and all that other dictator stuff. On top of which, there was all that white supremacy, and that anti-Semitism, and that horrible wall that transformed America into an “apartheid state” where people were imprisoned in an open-air ghetto and gratuitously abused and murdered. (Whoops, I think I screwed up my citations … maybe double-check those links.)

    But let’s not dwell on all those horrors right now. There will be plenty of time for all that later, when Donald Trump is hauled into court and tried for his crimes against humanity, like all our previous war-criminal presidents.

    No, this is a time for looking ahead to the Brave New Global-Capitalist Normal, in which everyone will sit at home in their masks surfing the Internet on their toasters with MSNBC playing in the background … well, OK, not absolutely everyone. The affluent will still need to fly around in their private jets and helicopters, and take vacations on their yachts, and, you know, all the usual affluent stuff. But the rest of us won’t have to go anywhere or meet with anyone in person, because our lives will be one never-ending Zoom meeting carefully monitored by official fact-checkers to ensure we’re not being “misinformed” or exposed to “dangerous conspiracy theories” which could potentially lead to the agonized deaths (or the mild-to-moderate flu-like illnesses) of hundreds of millions of innocent people.

    But let’s not count our chickens just yet. As much as you’re probably looking forward to life in the Brave New GloboCap Normal, or the Great Reset, or whatever they end up calling the new pathologized totalitarianism, it isn’t a fait accompli quite yet … not until Russian-Asset Hitler has been thoroughly humiliated and removed from office, and anyone who voted for him, or didn’t believe he was literally Hitler, or a Russian asset, or who otherwise refused to take part in the mindless, corporate-media-generated Anti-Trump Hate-Fest, has been demonized as a “racist,” a “traitor,” an “anti-Semite,” a “conspiracy theorist,” or some other type of “far-right extremist.” That’s probably going to take another couple months.

    I’m pretty certain the plan is still to goad Trump into overreacting and trying to resist his removal from office. And I do not mean just in the courts. No, after all the money, time, and effort that GloboCap has invested over the last four years, they are going to be extremely disappointed if he just slinks away with going full-Hitler and starting a Second Civil War.

    As I’ve been saying, over and over, since he won the election, GloboCap needs to make an example of Trump to put down the widespread populist rebellion against global capitalism and its ideology that started back in 2016. And no, it doesn’t make any difference whether Donald Trump is actually a populist, or whether people realize that it is global capitalism and not “Cultural Marxism” that they are rebelling against.

    According to the script, this is the part where Trump refuses to respect “democracy” and has to be forcibly dragged out of office by the Secret Service or elements of the military, ideally “live” on international television. It may not end up playing out that way (Trump is probably not as dumb as I think), but that’s the Act III scenario for GloboCap: the “attempted Trump coup,” then the “perp walk.” They need the public and future generations to perceive him as an “illegitimate president,” a “usurper,” an “intruder,” an “imposter,” an “invader” … which, he is. (Being rich and famous does not make you a member of the GloboCap Power Club.)

    The corporate media are already hard at work manufacturing this version of reality, not only in the content of their “reporting,” but also with the unbridled contempt they are showing for a sitting president. The networks actually cut him off in the middle of his post-election address. The Twitter Corporation is censoring his tweets. What could possibly be more humiliating … and indicative of who is really in charge?

    Meanwhile, the GloboCap propaganda has reached some new post-Orwellian level. After four long years of “RUSSIA HACKED THE ELECTION!” … now, suddenly, “THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ELECTION FRAUD IN THE USA!”

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    That’s right, once again, millions of liberals, like that scene in 1984 where the Party switches official enemies right in the middle of the Hate-Week speech, have been ordered to radically reverse their “reality,” and hysterically deny the existence of the very thing they have been hysterically alleging for four solid years … and they are actually doing it!

    At the same time, the Trumpians have been reduced to repeating, over and over, and over, that “THE MEDIA DOES NOT SELECT THE PRESIDENT,” and “BIDEN IS NOT THE PRESIDENT ELECT,” and other versions of “THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING.”

    I hate to rub salt into anyone’s wounds (particularly those whose faces are currently being stomped on by GloboCap’s enormous boot), but, yes, this is actually happening. Second Civil War or no Second Civil War, this is the end for Donald Trump. As Biden and the corporate media keep telling us, we are looking at a “very dark winter,” on the other side of which a new reality awaits us … a new, pathologized, totalitarian reality.

    Call it the “New Normal,” or whatever you want. Pretend “democracy has triumphed” if you want. Wear your mask. Mask your children. Terrorize them with pictures of “death trucks,” tales of “Russian hackers” and “white supremacist terrorists.”

    Live in fear of an imaginary plague (or perhaps a non-imaginary plague if that “very dark winter” comes to pass). Censor all dissent. Ban all protests. Do not attempt to adjust your telescreen. Click on the link to join the Zoom meeting. Have your password and your identity papers ready. Watch your pronouns. Get down on your knees. It’s GloboCap Fucking Über Alles!

    *  *  *

    If, for whatever inexplicable reason, you appreciate Mr. Hopkins’ work and would like to support it, please go to his Patreon page (where you can contribute as little $1 per month), or send your contribution to his PayPal account, so that maybe he’ll stop coming around our offices trying to hit our staff up for money. Alternatively, you could purchase his satirical dystopian novel, Zone 23, or Volume I and II of his Consent Factory Essays, or any of his subversive stage plays, which won some awards in Great Britain and Australia. If you do not appreciate Mr. Hopkins’ work and would like to write him an abusive email, feel free to contact him directly.

  • In 'Game Changer' US Approves $23 Billion Sale Of F-35 Jets, MQ-9 Drones To UAE
    In ‘Game Changer’ US Approves $23 Billion Sale Of F-35 Jets, MQ-9 Drones To UAE

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 23:45

    In what’s being hailed as a game-changer in the region, the United Arab Emirates will receive up to 50 F-35 advanced stealth fighter jets from the United States.

    The deal also includes 18 battle-ready MQ-9B aerial drones and air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions in a deal worth nearly $24 billion, according to the AP.

    Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Trump administration formally notified Congress on Tuesday following its authorization by the State Department.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting II

    It marks the most concrete major step to have followed the historic normalization of ties between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain known as the Abraham Accords, which was brokered by the White House and finalized on September 15.

    “This is in recognition of our deepening relationship and the UAE’s need for advanced defense capabilities to deter and defend itself against heightened threats from Iran,” Pompeo said in in making the announcement.

    “The UAE’s historic agreement to normalize relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to positively transform the region’s strategic landscape,” Pompeo continued.

    When rumblings of the major F-35 transfer to an Arab state first began late summer into September, a number of Congressional leaders (not to mention Israel itself) worried this could breach the US official policy of Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME). Essentially this says that by law Washington must ensuring Israel has military superiority over its neighbors.

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

    Pompeo addressed both the concern over QME as well as the ‘counter Iran’ angle in his statement. “Our adversaries, especially those in Iran… will stop at nothing to disrupt this shared success,” he stated. 

    “The proposed sale will made the UAE even more capable and interoperable with US partners in a manner fully consistent with America’s longstanding commitment to ensuring Israel’s Qualitiative Military Edge.”

    Meanwhile Amnesty International and other human rights groups are protesting the transfer, given the UAE’s role in executing the war in Yemen, currently considered by the UN to be the biggest humanitarian disaster on the planet.

  • Ex-CIA Chief Under Obama Urges Palace Coup Against Trump So He Doesn't "Declassify Everything"
    Ex-CIA Chief Under Obama Urges Palace Coup Against Trump So He Doesn’t “Declassify Everything”

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 23:30

    Days ago amid the Trump administration’s election challenge turmoil which has resulted in over a dozen lawsuits filed in several battleground states, Donald Trump Jr. urged the president to unleash the nuclear option: “DECLASSIFY EVERYTHING!!!” he wrote in all caps on Twitter. “We can’t let the bad actors get away with it.”

    Others also picked up on the idea: “Here’s something constructive Trump could do before leaving office at noon on January 20: he could order — demand, insist — that all classified intel and other documents related to the origin of the Russia/election investigation be declassified and released to the public forthwith — unredacted,” columnist Sheldon Richman wrote.

    It didn’t take long for this distinct possibility to attract the attention of both the mainstream media and the intelligence establishment which has so long been at odds (or even at ‘war’) with the president. Reacting specifically to the ouster of Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday, ex-CIA spy chief under the Obama administration John Brennan essentially urged a palace coup against Trump prior to January 20th to ensure he doesn’t declassify anything sensitive or too revealing:

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

    In the incredible Monday evening CNN interview, Brennan – himself responsible for stoking the now widely debunked Russiagate claims from the start of the Trump presidency – brazenly urged Vice President Mike Pence to seize power.

    He asserted that despite Biden preparing to transition into the White House on inauguration day, still two months away, at this point Trump is a threat to national security:

    “I’m very concerned what he might do in his remaining 70 days in office,” said Brennan on Monday’s edition of Cuomo Prime Time. “Is he going to take some type of military action? Is he going to release some type of information that could, in fact, threaten our national security interests?”

    Brennan took things even further and added specifics in terms of what the former longtime spy chief wants to see happen: “If Vice President Pence and the cabinet had an ounce of fortitude and spine and patriotism, I think they would seriously consider invoking the 25th Amendment and pushing Donald Trump out because he is just very unpredictable now,” he added.

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

    And referencing what appears to be a post-election purge and exodus following multiple federal agency top officials either being pushed out or resigning since last Thursday even as votes were being tallied, Brennan suggested this is part of a Trump conspiracy to compromise national security. 

    “If Mark Esper has been pushed aside because he is not listening to Donald Trump, carrying out these orders, who knows what his successor, this acting secretary Chris Miller’s going to do if Donald Trump does give some type of order that really is counter to what I think our national security interests need to be,” Brennan said.

    But thankfully few actually in power are likely to listen to John Brennan, given his sour grapes and anger at Trump has clearly long been personal.

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

    After all, who can forget this episode?

    John O. Brennan, the C.I.A. director under President Barack Obama, struck back at President Trump on Thursday for revoking his security clearance, calling the president’s claims of “no collusion” with Russia to influence the 2016 election “hogwash” and arguing that the commander in chief was trying to silence anyone who would dare challenge him.

    So given Brennan is now openly and literally calling for an illegal overthrow of the sitting president of the United States, Trump now appears fully vindicated in having revoked his security clearance in the first place.

  • Biden Not Expected To Change US 'Tough Posture' In South China Sea
    Biden Not Expected To Change US ‘Tough Posture’ In South China Sea

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 23:25

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    One area where a Biden administration is not expected to differ from President Trump’s policies is concerning China’s claims to the South China Sea. While Joe Biden and his cabinet may cool down the rhetoric towards Beijing, experts and analysts believe actual policy will not change.

    Experts told the South China Morning Post that Biden would not soften the US’s stance on the South China Sea, pointing out it was the Obama administration that began challenging Beijing’s claims to the waters.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    US Navy warships file image

    The experts said Biden would likely continue sailing warships near Chinese-claimed islands in the South China Sea, operations known as Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs). FONOPs to challenge Beijing’s claims in the waters started under the Obama administration in 2015, shortly after Chinese President Xi Jinping publicly pledged not to militarize islands and reefs China claimed in the South China Sea.

    During the final presidential debate, Biden bragged about the Obama administration’s tough stance against China’s claims to the South China Sea.

    “When I met with Xi, and when I was still vice president, he said ‘we’re setting up air identification zones in the South China Sea, you can’t fly through them.’ I said, ‘we’re gonna fly through them. We just flew B52/B1 bombers through it. We’re not going to pay attention,'” Biden said at the debate.

    This year has seen a significant uptick in US military activity in the South China Sea. US aircraft carriers have regularly drilled in the disputed waters throughout the year, and a Beijing-based think tank recorded a sharp rise in US military flights in the region.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    The South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI) recorded 67 flights of US reconnaissance aircraft in the South China Sea in July, compared with 49 in June and just 35 in May. In September, the SCSPI recorded 60 US flights in the region.

    Meanwhile there remains huge uncertainty surrounding the Taiwan issue…

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

    In July, the US formally rejected most of China’s claims to the waters. The Trump administration has also sought cooperation from Asian countries to counter China in the region, something a Biden administration will likely continue.

  • Bill Gross Blasted Music 'Louder Than The Pacific Coast Highway And The Ocean' To Exact Revenge On Neighbor
    Bill Gross Blasted Music ‘Louder Than The Pacific Coast Highway And The Ocean’ To Exact Revenge On Neighbor

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 23:05

    Bill Gross and his neighbor-turned-nemesis, Mark Towfiq, faced off in civil court for the first time this week after a dispute between the two Laguna Beach, Calif., residents exploded into the press.  The proceedings offered the public the first concrete glimpse into the feud between the two extraordinarily wealthy belligerents, and its gensis. As it turns out, the battle that drove Gross to blast Mariachi music and the theme from “Gilligan’s Island” at such intense volumes that it “drowned out the traffic from the nearby Pacific Coast Highway” all started with a multimillion-dollar sculpture purchased by Gross.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Bill Gross

    According to Bloomberg, the statue was a 22-foot-long blown glass sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly, and belonged to Gross. Mark Towfiq, Gross’s neighbor, was annoyed by the statue, and apparently filed a complaint with the city.

    It’s sometimes hard to feel sympathy for the megarich, and the way Towfiq handled this particular problem – by whinging to the town about his billionaire neighbor’s ugly statue – doesn’t reallly do him any favors in the PR department. The complaint infuriated Gross, who immediately responded by frequently blasting loud music from his $32 million home. It started with pop music – rap, hip hop – before escalating to mariachi and finally TV show theme songs.

    The tactics only escalated after Gross received a citation for the alleged violations from the town. Here’s what one town officer said during her testimony.

    Laguna Beach Police Officer Ashley Krotine testified Monday that she arrived at Gross’s home about 9 a.m. on Oct. 22, responding to a complaint about loud music. “When you say there was ‘loud Spanish music,’ was it louder than the ocean?” Jill Basinger, a lawyer for Gross, asked the officer.

    “Yes,” Krotine said.

    “How much louder?” Basinger asked.

    “I couldn’t tell you,” the officer said.

    “Louder than PCH?” Basinger asked.

    “Yes, louder than PCH,” Krotine said.

    Towfiq and his wife are suing Gross for harassment and emotional torment, with Towfiq’s lawyer claiming Gross and his girlfriend, former Tennis pro Amy Schwartz, had inflicted untold psychological damage and made their lives “a living hell”. Of course, Gross counter-sued, also claiming harassment, accusing Towfiq of being a “peeping Tom” who installed security cameras in an effort to sneak peaks at Schwartz when the two are out skinny dipping in their pool.

    “Enough is enough,” Gross said in a court filing. The billionaire says he “should not have to live tormented by the presence of cameras trained” on him because of “one man’s prurient obsessions.”

    Oh, and Gross also noted that “somebody” apparently threw a rock at his sculpture, causing damage that necessitated a $50k repair bill.

    The trial will resume Nov. 16.

  • The Deep State Vs The Deep Country
    The Deep State Vs The Deep Country

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 22:45

    Authored by The Saker,

    I need to begin with the obvious: in spite of all the deep state, propaganda and “deep empire” (transnational) resources being used to declare that “Biden” (i.e. Harris) has won, as of right now nobody knows who got most votes and where.

    I would even suggest that we will never really find out who won, because who won depends on a large number of local laws and regulations and because it will probably never be possible to separate the fake votes from the legal ones.

    Finally, neither side will ever gracefully admit to having lost the contest. So now the country will enter a profound crisis.

    That is the bad news.

    But there is also very good news.

    First, it has now become clear to the entire planet that the US “democracy” is anything but: the USA is an oligarchic plutocracy, plagued with a myriad of antiquated laws and corrupt to the bone. The special “trick” of this US oligarchic plutocracy is that is masquerades as an ochlocracy: there is *pretend* mob rule which serves as the microscopically small fig leaf hiding the real nature of the regime.

    Second, while the Dems did their best to hide this, and they still are, it is now becoming evident that the sheer magnitude of the fraud made it impossible to conceal it. Now if we think of how the AngloZionist Empire has handled equally non-believable nonsense (9/11, Syrian gas attacks, Skripal, Navalnii, etc.) we know what they are going to do next: double down, which will reassure the brainwashed zombies, but will even further infuriate those still capable of critical thought.

    Third, the behavior of the US media in this entire operation is so obviously disgraceful that nobody will ever take them seriously again (at least amongst the thinking people, the zombies glued to the Idiot Tube are beyond any rational arguments anyway). This is particularly important in regards to FoxNews who has shown that it was a pseudo-conservative propaganda outlet which, in reality, is completely committed to the political agenda of Rupert Murdoch and his family.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    At this point in time, it is impossible to predict what will happen next, but the murder of JFK or the 9/11 false flag strongly suggest that the US deep state will win.

    There seems to only be one way for Trump to stay in power and it will probably look similar to this:

    Giuliani, who I was told won over 4’000 lawsuits in his career, is a very tough guy (look at what he did to the mob in NY!) and he must realize that the lawsuits he will file this week will be the most important ones in his career. They will even probably define his legacy. The notion that he would go to the courts with no solid evidence in his files is simply ridiculous. I don’t see any mechanism which can stop Giuliani now, so the ball will now go to the state and federal courts next and, after that, to the Supreme Court. There the situation is hard to predict.

    In theory, Trump probably has enough conservative Justices, especially with Ruth Bader Ginsburg gone and Amy Coney Barrett replacing her. That’s only in theory. In reality, things are much more complex. On one hand, the pressure of the deep state on the Justices will be immense, but on the other hand, once you are a SC Justice you cannot be attacked, at least not legally. Amy Coney Barrett will also face immense pressure to “prove” her “independence” (meaning, if she sides with Giuliani’s side she will be called a Trump shill and even much worse than that!). One thing is certain, any Justice siding with Giuliani will face immense pressures followed by a vicious denigration campaign. Who knows how many Justices would have the courage to face this?

    However, there is also the possibility that any Justice siding with Giuliani’s conclusions will go down in history as yet another “profile in courage”, so I would not completely discard that possibility either.

    [Sidebar: during my student years in the USA I had the chance to meet, and study with, such US officials as Paul Nitze or Admiral Zumwalt and I was always amazed at how candid former US officials were, but only once they retired. USSC Justices are not retired, of course, but, like retired officials, they are beyond the reach of any legal reprisals, and that might strengthen their willingness to honestly follow their conscience and speak their minds]

    Giuliani will certainly fight hard, but looking at the political correlation of forces I can’t see an outcome where Trump would successfully defeat a much stronger opponent. Think about it, the only possible ally for the Trump campaign would be the Supreme Court: the GOP, Congress, the Deep State, the legacy ziomedia, and even members of the Trump Administration (think Bolton or Esper here) all hate him with a passion. And now that Trump appears to be losing, they are not shy about it.

    Still, as the proverb says, we need to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

    That is, obviously, a Harris Administration in control of the Executive.

    So what can we expect from these folks?

    First and foremost, a sustained campaign to completely negate the First and Second Amendments to the Constitution. Considering how truly sacred these two cornerstones of the US Constitution are for millions of US Americans, we can expect a lot of resistance from the “deplorables”, both legal and violent.

    Second, the control of both the Executive and all the major IT giants will mean that free speech will be driven even further underground. This new reality will require a lot of thinking in the development of a strategy to protect the voices which the regime in DC will now openly try to silence.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    [Sidebar: possibly the dumbest mistake made by Trump was not to create his own TV channel. He had the money, he could have found allies, but he simply lacked the intelligence to see the danger. Instead, this narcissistic fool thought that Twitter was the way to bypass the legacy media. Is there a possibility that if he is thrown out of the White House we might finally understand that what the USA now so urgently needs is, at the very least, a free TV channel and at least one free social media option? Maybe, but I am not holding my breath, Trump always had this ability to disappoint…]

    Third, on the international front, we can expect even more hysterical Russia bashing (the Dems all hate Russia with a passion, especially since they have brainwashed themselves for four years that “Putin” had “attacked” the US elections). But there is really nothing the USA can do to Russia, it is way too late for that. So I would expect even more hot air than from the Trump Administration, and probably not much more action, although that is by no means certain, since a braindead nominal President like Biden would not have Trump’s intelligence to understand that a war against Russia, China or Iran would end in a disaster: Dems always start wars to try to convince the public that they are “tough” (Dukakis in his M-1 tank). Now that they not only appears as weak, but also illegitimate and even senile (did you see Biden trying to run to the podium?), they will have to prove their “virility” and send some cruise missiles flying somewhere (that kind of attack is what these cowards always use first).

    As I mentioned in the past, the outcome of this election will not have much of an impact on US foreign policy: first, the US elites more or less all agree on continuing a policy of violent imperialism; but even more crucial is the fact that the Empire is as dead as the Titanic was when it hit the iceberg: not all passengers realized what was taking place, but that did not affect the outcome in the least.

    Furthermore, as those familiar with Hegelian dialectics know, each action eventually results in a reaction and the notion that 70’000’000+ voters will simply accept what is self-evidently a coup against not only Trump, but also the US Constitution itself, is ridiculous. If anything, these people will now come to realize that while the US is facing no real foreign threats at all (except those it created itself), there is most definitely an internal threat, in the sense of the United States Uniformed Services Oath of Office, and that this reality gives them the right, and even duty, to “resist tyranny”.

    You have probably heard Joe Biden declaring that he wants to heal the wounds, restore unity, rule for all US Americans and the like. I don’t think that this is only empty political rhetoric, though that is part of it too. Mostly, I believe that the Dems are terrified because they know for a fact that they stole the election and this is why after four years of the most divisive and irresponsible rhetoric against Trump, “the racist system” and all the rest of the crap, they are now making a 180 (they are experts at that!) and pleading for calm, peace and unity.

    That ain’t going to happen.

    Finally, a word to those who like to say that there is no difference between the Dems and the GOP, that this is all a fake conflict: friends, you are both right and massively wrong. You are right when you say that the DNC and the RNC are like indistinguishable twins. But what you are missing are two crucial things:

    1. Factions inside one party can actually go after each other much harder than against their common enemies. I think of the SS vs the SA in Nazi Germany or the Trotskysts vs the Stalinists in the Soviet Union and during the Spanish Civil war.

    2. But, even more crucially, this is not a contest between the Democrats and the Republicans, it is a contest between a “rejected outsider” and both the DNC and RNC!

    Conclusion: not the RNC vs the DNC but the Deep State vs the deep country

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    A quick look at a map tells the story: this struggle is most one of the deep state vs the deep (real) country. Yeah, I know, Trump is hardly a miner from West Virginia or a farmer in Alabama. But that doesn’t matter one bit.

    What does matter is that the deplorables from the “overfly country” felt that Trump speaks for them and that he is all that stands between them and the (pseudo-) Liberals of CNN, the Antifa/BLM thugs and the destruction of the United States as we all knew them.

    And yes, this is a simplistic view, but it is fundamentally correct one nonetheless.

  • 70% Of Republicans Say Election 'Was Not Free And Fair'
    70% Of Republicans Say Election ‘Was Not Free And Fair’

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 22:25

    A vast majority of Republicans – 70% – believe the 2020 election was not ‘free and fair,’ according to a new poll by Morning Consult.

    Broken down further, 48% of Republicans polled say the election was “definitely” not free and fair, while 22% say it “probably” was not – over twice the percentage of Republicans who thought it wouldn’t be fair when polled just before the election.

    ​

    Morning Consult also found:

    • Republicans are most skeptical of the Pennsylvania results: Just 23 percent of Republican voters say they believe the results in the Keystone State are reliable, and no more than 3 in 10 say the same about the results in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin. Additionally, even for states like Texas and Florida, where Trump is projected to safely win, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the results are reliable. 
    • Overall trust in elections plummets among Republicans: Prior to the election, 68 percent of GOP voters said they had at least some trust in the U.S. election system. Post-election, that dropped to 34 percent. Democratic trust, meanwhile, jumped from 66 percent to 78 percent.

    ​ 

    • Among voters who doubt the 2020 election’s validity, mail-in voting is seen as the main culprit: Nearly 4 in 5 voters who say they don’t believe the election was free and fair cite widespread voter fraud caused by mail-in voting as a reason why. Additionally, 72 percent cite ballot tampering as a reason and 51 percent say the media gave the candidates unequal attention. 

    ​

    • Despite outstanding concerns, most voters don’t expect the results to be overturned: 63 percent of registered voters, including 75 percent of Democrats and 45 percent of Republicans, say it is unlikely that the election results will be overturned.

     
    ​

  • Will The Blockchain Economy Run On Bitcoin, Ethereum, Or Central Bank Digital Currency?
    Will The Blockchain Economy Run On Bitcoin, Ethereum, Or Central Bank Digital Currency?

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 22:05

    By The Fintech Blueprint

    Welcome to the new world.  The symptoms have shifted. What we see prioritized now is different. We welcome the return of respect for expertise, the love of rigor and curiosity, and a pursuit of dignified equity. A lot of calories have gone into this transformation. Our mental map of the territory is remade. Let’s mark things to market so that we are able to walk forward again.

    Yet, underneath it all is still the human swirl of chaos, organized only briefly into flashes of coherence and structure. The virus gorges on the social animal. The sovereign beasts continue to threaten each other with geopolitical, economic, and technological dominance. Markets still reflect financial constructions and schemes decoupled from the experience of the average person. High tech firms continue to build into software their addictive digital nation states. The vectors of change for software and money remain deeply anchored to the fractal of blockchain.

    The election’s end – and perhaps its reminder of the fragility of political governance – has reinforced the value of Bitcoin. When the old world wobbles, the new one seems more safe by comparison. The price of the cryptocurrency rose to over $15,000, breaking again the $250 billion market capitalization barrier. You can compare that $250 billion to the M1 money supply of a number of countries (link here) — Poland, Belgium, or Austria.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Perhaps this was also driven by the much discussed move from PayPal, the payment processor, to finally incorporate Bitcoin into its currency options. PayPal connects to something like 25 million merchants and 350 million users. Reminder that Ant Financial has 80 million merchants and 1.3 billion users — more on that later. We think the PayPal news is interesting and promising, but still in early stages. Allowing the purchase and sale of a commodity using a third party trust company (Paxos) is quite different from using a currency for economic activity. But we are getting there.

    For comparison, Visa today sits at about $420 billion in market capitalization, representing the discounted cash flows of owning a payment network. Its deal with Plaid, the data aggregation company, is on the rocks as the US Department of Justice files an anti-trust lawsuit to prevent the acquisition. Our prior write-up on the deal (link here) agreed with the logic of monopoly as it relates to Visa taking out a black-swan competitor. But we find the concept of blocking this deal on those grounds fairly absurd. A $100 million revenue data aggregation company is many steps away from offering a global payments network.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Let’s think about industry structure for a moment. The card network provides the payments infrastructure in the sense that it allows for money to move around on its network of nodes. Those nodes are financial or economic in nature, and speak in the language of money — banks, card issuers, e-commerce sites, point of sale terminals, regulators, and so on. You can send a little bit of messaging around, but primarily you are sending a financial instrument. And you don’t ask questions about the financial instrument. It simply is sovereign fiat. Value accrues to the network shareholder due to the small rent you take across all transactions.

    Therefore, your incentive as Visa is to maximize the organizational share of all transactions by broadening the network across the world and into every technological sphere. Through scale, your network gets better for participants. You start saying “network of networks” and paying $5B for start-ups. A naturally occurring monopoly, like Facebook and Google.

    PayPal is one layer higher up the stack. It is the check-out experience for a meaningful portion of the Internet. Square is the check-out experience for a meaningful portion of terrestrial small business. And so on. You can talk about payment processing and payment gateways and points of sale until everyone is confused. What’s nice about PayPal, and Stripe, and Square and generally that footprint of modern payments companies, is that they are software-native and have APIs and UIs. They integrate into things, and are part of the modern world. Most still ride the Visa or Marstercard “rails” and all prioritize the financial instrument of sovereign money. Their value accrues from aggregating the consumer or merchant footprint, and giving economic activity a way to flow in novel patterns.

    So what comes next, and how does it relate to the above?

    Central Bank Digital Currencies

    ConsenSys has been on a tear recently announcing 4 different CBDC projects on Ethereum infrastructure. Let’s briefly highlight those:

    The discussion of CBDCs is often a stark reaction to the development of Facebook’s Libra private stablecoin / USD network, and the Chinese deployment and expansion of their national digital currency. The discussion often splits into (1) wholesale CBDCs, which largely reinforce and optimize the role of banking institutions relative to the central bank’s money management authority, (2) retail CBDCs, which would bypass the banks and go directly into the wallets of consumers. The first option is about efficiency and industry cost mutualization. The second is more deeply transformative, and analogizes more closely to owning Bitcoin and using it to transact.

    In many of the projects above, there is a combination of a financial institution, a technology consulting firm, and a blockchain company coming together. ConsenSys brings forward enterprise Ethereum, which is a variant of the open source programmable blockchain optimized for a permissioned deployment with large transaction throughput. Unlike public Ethereum, which just launched the first phase of its scalability upgrade (Eth2), private permissioned networks scale more easily because you do not start with an open adversarial environment. Other examples of such enterprise networks would be IBM and Hyperledger Fabric, or R3 and its Corda technology, as the chassis for digital value transfer and settlement.

    How should we contextualize Ethereum-based CBDCs relative to Bitcoin, Visa, and PayPal?

    First, there is the actual network itself. Much of the current thinking is about the software protocol as the ledger. Where does the information actually live? Who hosts it? Who processes it? In the previous world, data centers and servers run by some firm (e.g., Visa or a cloud-provider like Google / AWS) hold a copy of the information and run software which performs computation about the transactions. In the current world, the blockchain is itself a set of some large number of duplicates of the data set, held by each of the network participants. In the case of programmable blockchains, those network participants are also each executing software programs, which are then synced across the entire system.

    Making sure this network functions and reflects the requirements of a central bank, or other constituents, is a key part of standing up a CBDC. This is, we think, what most industry participants are really thinking about. But it is missing a large part of the story.

    Take China. Its digital yuan has over 20 companies involved in development and launch, with a preferred spot given to the state-run banks (a detailed overview here). The state has been giving out free money to citizens in the form of the new currency to prove the viability of the concept. Yes, there can be discussion about the software architecture, centralization, and trying to combat the dollar. But the part that stood out most to us is a defensive posture towards WeChat and Alipay.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    The digital yuan is the money — when it sits in a wallet on the phone, it is *merely* a financial instrument. When you transfer it around between participants, you are reconciling financial data with the data hosted by the central government. Financial institutions hold accounts at central banks and do this all the time, already. Don’t get us wrong, it is certainly disruptive. You could build taxation directly into consumer transaction flows, or implement universal basic income, or deliver Covid-related distributions with ease.

    Still, it is an instrument.

    The Smart Money Economy

    Let’s come back to Ant Financial. The world’s largest IPO of $34 billion was 870x oversubscribed. Ant is a fantastic story of innovation, global technology and payments progress, and the digital growth of Chinese small business. And yet, the Chinese authorities shut it down and are forcing the company to return money to investors.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Quite the surprise! Perhaps it was Jack Ma, the country’s wealthiest private business man ($50+ billion net work), not sufficiently following the party line about regulation.

    Or, perhaps, as the country tries to launch a national digital money, one must flex against the largest digital storefront in which that money must be used. As a reminder, Ant opened up its platform to many third parties across the banking, wealth management, and insurance industries in order to position itself as an impartial distributor (while taking distribution fees). An example of this open approach would be Western asset manager Vanguard coming in to offer its roboadvisor to the Ant audience. If the Chinese government is trying to close down competition related to its digital yuan, removing stablecoins and other cash equivalents in order to scale out its national solution, having Tencent and Ant under clear instruction becomes paramount.

    This brings us back to Ethereum. Public Ethereum already has a money on it — it is the digital dollar. And there is now $22 billion of it on the Ethereum chain.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    What is interesting about money supply is not the money, but what you can do with it. Bringing back the discussion of the card networks and payment processors, we find that a programmable chain is able to incorporate into its software stack the gateways and business logic that used to sit outside of the network. Instead of adding PayPal on top of Visa, you can run all the software you need onchain — assuming scaling works out of course. This is why the “layer 2” developments for Ethereum, whether as part of Ethereum or adjacent to it, merit continued research and watch.

    Further, the applications with which the money would interact eventually live on the network as well. Today, that primarily points to decentralized finance, crypto art, and various virtual worlds. Over time and with deeper maturity, more commerce can become incorporated into the digital network itself.

    Remember that this happened to the Internet on a 20 year time horizon. The trillion dollar valuations supported by emergent business models — the operating system of the iPhone (30% on all commerce) and the shopping footprint of Amazon (the digital value chain) — give us the necessary patience and proof. Neither commercial path was yet available when people were trying to figure out the protocols to stitch together the Web. And who could have imagined that proprietary media production, like the Amazon exclusive “The Boys”, would be the axis for competition that locks users into a subscription for the walled gardens. You couldn’t even stream an MP3!

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    What is a CBDC really?

    Ant Financial succeeded by aggregating 80 million merchants on a payment rail with an operating system. PayPal succeeded by pulling together 25 million merchants across the Web. Apple succeeded by keeping a share of economic transactions across the mobile applications that it powered. What matters is not just the money, but what people do with it. And what they do with it is creativity, and the free exchange of goods and services.

    The CBDC projects today ask the question of how to move money around. Bitcoin has answered this question, and perhaps an applied architecture like permissioned Ethereum will solve this for national currencies.

    The deeper question is — what does an economy connected to a CBDC look like? What is the shape of merchants and applications that accept digital currency? Where do they perform their economic functions? If we think the venue for computing will increasingly be on blockchains, that suggests that CBDC rails should come not just with pre-installed national money, but also pre-installed applications for the use of that money. A payment rail will only be adopted if it is useful, and if it is applicable to a meaningful portion of human economic activity.

    Would you rather store value, or create it?

  • Vaccine Effectiveness: 90% vs 44%
    Vaccine Effectiveness: 90% vs 44%

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 21:45

    Some traders were confused by the market’s volcanic response to yesterday’s news that Pfizer has a covid vaccine with 90% effectiveness. Well, as DB’s Jim Reid explains today, “it’s easy to see why there is so much excitement over Pfizer’s news yesterday. When we compare the average 10 year effectiveness of the flu vaccine (44%) with vaccines for other diseases it falls well short and expectations were benchmarked around trying to beat this rather than compete with the most successful vaccines.”

    However, the early Pfizer number – which one must take with a ton of salt as it appeared not in a peer reviewed journal but in a corporate press release, and was oddly timed to hit just after the election – puts the vaccine effectiveness up there with that seen for Chickenpox, Mumps, Polio and Whooping Cough, which as Reid notes, is “a long way to go but very encouraging.”

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Or said otherwise, of the 94 cases of covid contracted by participants in the Pfizer study, 86 occurred in the control group. If you tossed a coin 94 times, the chances of getting 86 or more heads is infinitesimally small so its safe to say the vaccine works.

    Of course, Pfizer is just one of many companies rushing to come to market with a working vaccine (whether the population will voluntarily take it is an other matter entirely). However, one thing is certain: as vaccine news permeates over the coming weeks and months the world will move on to discussing how to rebuild the world post covid; in this context any future push by administrations to enforce more mandatory quarantines and shutdowns will not be greeted well by the broader population.

  • What Happens If Puerto Rico Becomes A State?
    What Happens If Puerto Rico Becomes A State?

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 21:25

    Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

    In late 2018, after more than seven fantastic years of living in Chile, I decided to move to Puerto Rico to take advantage of the island’s incredible tax incentives.

    By moving to Puerto Rico, I traded my right to vote in US federal elections for a 4% tax rate. And I’m pretty confident I got the better end of that deal.

    I’ve written about this quite extensively– but stick with me, because there’s a new twist to the story.

    As we’ve covered before, Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States.

    This means that the island falls under the jurisdiction of the US government for certain matters, like immigration and national defense.

    But it operates independently in other matters– like taxes.

    In fact, taxes is probably the most important one: Puerto Rico has its own tax system that’s completely independent from the United States.

    So residents of Puerto Rico can disconnect entirely from the US tax system, as long as their income is generated from Puerto Rican sources.

    This is a critical point: what constitutes Puerto Rican income?

    According to the tax code, this includes dividends paid by a Puerto Rican business, as well as capital gains from certain investments like stocks and bonds.

    So if you live in Puerto Rico and make most of your money from your Puerto Rican business, or you trade stocks, commodities, crypto, etc., then in most cases your income would be considered Puerto Rican in origin.

    If that’s the case, you are generally no longer required to pay US federal taxes on that income. In fact you might not even have to file a federal tax return at all.

    Instead, you would pay Puerto Rican taxes. And that’s where the incentives come in.

    Several years ago the Puerto Rican government established a number of extraordinary tax incentives, specifically targeted at those two cases–

    Traders, whose primary source of income is capital gains from their financial investments, literally pay ZERO tax.

    And entrepreneurs with qualifying businesses are only required to pay a 4% corporate tax rate (plus a tiny municipal rate that’s just a fraction of a percent, depending on which city you live in.)

    Plus, any dividends that your company pays to you are tax free as long as you live in Puerto Rico.

    This is an enormous benefit.

    If you live in the US mainland and operate an LLC, you’d pay, say, a 25% to 40% average tax rate on business income, not counting self-employment tax.

    If you run your business through a corporation, you’d pay 21% corporate profits tax, plus an additional 15% to 20% dividend tax, plus the 3.8% Obamacare surtax, plus state and local tax.

    In Puerto Rico it’s just 4%. Call it 4.5% to account for the local municipal tax. But that’s it. No extra dividend tax. No Obamacare surtax.

    You put more than 95% of your earnings in your pocket.

    This isn’t some obscure loophole or shady tax shelter. It’s the law.

    Section 933 of the United States federal tax code specifically exempts US citizens from federal tax on their Puerto Rican sourced income, as long as they are bona fide Puerto Rico residents .

    (Note that if you have US-sourced income, or income from foreign countries, that income would still be taxable by the IRS. Section 933 only excludes Puerto Rican income from US federal tax.)

    And in Puerto Rico, the incentives are also codified by law.

    In fact, once your tax incentive application is approved, you actually sign a contract with the government and are issued an individual tax decree.

    So even if they change the law later, you’d still be grandfathered in under the old rules, and continue to enjoy your current tax benefits.

    Now, here’s the twist: there are very, very few events that could trigger a problem with your tax incentives. But one of them just became more likely:

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Puerto Rico is currently a US territory. But there’s been a movement for quite some time for Puerto Rico to become a state… similar to how there’s a statehood movement for Washington DC.

    Just like DC, Puerto Rico tends to skew quite liberal politically. So the blue party in the US is very much in favor of Puerto Rico and DC becoming states.

    (I hate breaking down the world into red and blue, but in this case, it’s relevant.)

    It means they would likely pick up 2 more senate seats for each one, nearly guaranteeing the Democrats control of the United States Senate.

    Several months ago, in fact, the House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing DC to become the 51st state. It was killed in the Senate.

    But it shows the movement is real.

    Last week, Puerto Ricans had their own election. And statehood was on the ballot.

    The final tally showed that a majority of Puerto Ricans want to become a state. The Democratic party wants them to become a state.

    And if that happens, the benefits would go away. Sure, your company would still be subject to a 4% tax rate in Puerto Rico. But then you’d have to pay US federal income tax on top of that.

    So statehood pretty much kills the deal.

    But does last week’s vote mean that Puerto Rico will become a state?

    No, not necessarily.

    Statehood would require approval by the US House of Representatives. Then the Senate would have to approve it.

    And in order for that to happen, the Democrats would need to take control of the Senate AND agree to eliminate the filibuster.

    Then the President would need to sign it into law.

    So, it’s possible this could happen, but it’s not especially likely.

    And even if it did happen, there would still be several years of a transition process.

    So, bottom line, the tax incentives in Puerto Rico are still valid and extremely valuable.

    And even if they only exist for another 3-5 years, they’re still definitely worth considering.

    *  *  *

    On another note… We think gold could DOUBLE and silver could increase by up to 5 TIMES in the next few years. That’s why we published a new, 50-page long Ultimate Guide on Gold & Silver that you can download here.

  • NJ Gov. Murphy Urges Spending For Hudson River Tunnel Despite State's Second Credit Downgrade In 2 Years
    NJ Gov. Murphy Urges Spending For Hudson River Tunnel Despite State’s Second Credit Downgrade In 2 Years

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 21:05

    Despite the fact that the MTA and NJ Transit can’t seem to get their acts together with the infrastructure they already have, why should we let that stop us from doling out more cash to them for more projects?

    That seems to be the thought process of first term New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who took to Bloomberg yesterday to tell the world he is “highly optimistic” that a Biden administration would approve funding for a new Hudson River rail tunnel.

    He said the tunnel is more likely to move forward under a Biden administration after the plans failed to materialize under the Trump administration.

    Perhaps offering some insight as to his acumen when it comes to financing such a project, he also said he “expects the Biden administration to flood the U.S. with cash” to fight Covid-19. There was nary a mention of where this magic cash is going to materialize from – though, we can take a guess. Brrr. 

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Meanwhile, Murphy’s state is about to issue $4.28 billion in debt, representing 13% of its fiscal 2021 budget, to deal with a revenue shortfall that saw New Jersey hit with its second credit rating downgrade since Murphy has been in office in 2018. 

    Murphy said: “I’m highly optimistic that will get green-lighted — President-elect Biden knows this project very well. Literally it is shovel-ready. You could envision putting a shovel in the ground, first quarter of next year.”

    Murphy has hinted about imposing new Covid restrictions heading into the winter. Last week, he suggested that Thanksgiving meals on November 26 should be limited to “small groups of family”. Murphy said: “It’s hard for us to find a huge set of outbreaks in schools or restaurants or gyms. It’s really overwhelmingly private settings.”

    He then hilariously concluded: “The big plea is to not let your hair down. That’s exactly what this virus wants us to do, including when you’re at your house with your own family.”

    That’s some rock solid reasoning there, Phil. Thanks.

  • Ten Attorneys General Join Supreme Court Case Against Pennsylvania Mail-In Ballot Deadline
    Ten Attorneys General Join Supreme Court Case Against Pennsylvania Mail-In Ballot Deadline

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 20:45

    As Republicans across the country escalate efforts to investigate credible allegations of fraud during the 2020 election,  a group of ten Republican Attorneys General have filed an ‘amicus brief’ with the US Supreme Court in a case challenging the legality of late mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    AGs from Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas filed in Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Boockvar, which challenges the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s late October decision to allow ballots arriving after Election Day to be counted – despite, as The Federalist  notes – state laws mandating otherwise.

    “Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our Republic and it’s one of the reasons why the United States is the envy of the world,” said Missouri AG Eric Schmitt in a Monday press conference. “We have to ensure that every legal vote cast is counted in that every illegal vote cast is not counted.”

    Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr. already granted the Republican Party of Pennsylvania’s request and temporarily ordered all counties segregate mail-in ballots that arrived after 8 p.m. on Election Day from others, but the lawsuit is still pending petition in the highest court.

    …

    The attorneys’ hope is that by filing as “friends of the Court” and demonstrating a “strong interest” in the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s potential decision that SCOTUS may be more willing to take up the case. –The Federalist

    “The actions taken by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court are one of the most breathtaking abuses of judicial authority that I’ve seen in my four-plus years as attorney general,” said Oklahoma AG Mike Hunter.

    Plaintiffs argue that the PA Supreme Court exceeded its authority and violated the Constitution’s Election Clauses which give state legislatures, not the courts, the power and “unique role” to decide various election procedures.

    “Our system of federalism relies on separation of powers to preserve liberty at every level of government, and the separation of powers in the Election Clauses is no exception to this principle,” reads the amicus brief.

    They also believe the decision handed down by the Pennsylvania Court expanded the potential for voter fraud. This decision, the attorneys general argue, may have affected the weight of votes in states outside of Pennsylvania which is in direct violation of previous Court rulings stating that every vote must be “fairly counted without its being distorted by fraudulently cast votes.”

    “Regardless of the election’s outcome, only legal ballots should be counted,” the brief continues, citing Anderson v. United States from 1974. –The Federalist

    “We as attorneys general and we, as the chief legal officers of our state have a responsibility to address that kind of judicial abuse of authority because of the precedent that that decision represents can affect the outcome of elections, not only in Pennsylvania but national elections,” said Oklahoma AG Hunter.

    Things are heating up when it comes to investigating the integrity of the election. On Monday, Attorney General William Barr authorized DOJ officials to open inquiries into potential irregularities – a move which led to the swift departure of the agency’s top voter fraud investigator, Richard Pilger.

    Shortly after meeting with Barr on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered a floor speech asserting that President Trump is “100% within his rights” to challenge the results of the election.

    Democrats – who have notably changed their language from ‘there was no election fraud’ to ‘there was no widespread election fraud’ are now asserting that the DOJ may be trying to change the results of the election by investigating.

    Former Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, is acting like the election is settled. In addition to insisting Trump concede, Biden is expected to name a chief of staff as early as this week.

  • Bank of Japan Will Pay Banks To Consolidate, Fire Workers
    Bank of Japan Will Pay Banks To Consolidate, Fire Workers

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 20:45

    After more than half a decade of disastrous monetary policy which not only failed to stimulate inflation, boost exports or crush the yen, but has brought Japan’s banks to near collapse, in August we reported that the Bank of Japan came up with an “ingenious” new plan to flood the system with liquidity: it is paying banks hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to boost lending, a move analysts say was aimed at easing the side-effects of its negative interest rate policy.

    And while record bank lending in the summer months suggested the BOJ’s plan is working – a very rare success of late in its losing battle to revive the economy – it was also a sign that policymakers’ focus is now more on supporting banks, rather than keeping rates low, according to Reuters.

    To be sure, the literal wall of money printed by the BOJ in recent years has kept a lid on bankruptcies and job losses as the economy tips into a deep recession, although it has also meant that banks can not survive without continued life support from the central bank. And the prolonged battle with COVID-19 has only added strains on regional banks.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Needless to say, the local bankers were delighted with this latest indirect transfer from taxpayers to the top 1%: “This is one of the most effective policy moves the BOJ has made in recent years,” said Takehiro Noguchi, senior economist at Mizuho Research who personally stands to benefit from this “effective policy move.” We found his second comment far more illuminating:

    “The BOJ will likely continue to take steps to alleviate the side-effect of its monetary easing… The BOJ thinks negative interest rates is something it should not have done.”

    Fast forward 3 months when the validity of that statement was confirmed overnight when the Bank of Japan unveiled on Tuesday yet another scheme allowing banks to circumvent te catastrophic NIRP policy, one aimed at incentivizing regional bank to consolidate and help revitalize regional economies, the latest move which hints at growing concern over the health of the country’s banking system.

    In the latest reversal of the country’s NIRP policy, Kuroda established over 7 years ago, the central bank said it will introduce a special deposit facility under which it will pay – not collect – 0.1% interest on current account balances held by regional lenders that meet certain criteria. Of course, in Japan interest rates are mostly flat or negative, and is one of the main reasons why Japan’s banking system, like that of the EU, has been on the verge of collapse for nearly a decade.

    “The business environment surrounding regional financial institutions is becoming more severe due to the impact from the coronavirus pandemic, structural factors like dwindling population and continued low interest rates,” the BOJ admitted.

    As a result, “the BOJ decided to create a system that assists financial institutions in making efforts to underpin their regional economies.”

    And that system effectively reverses the central bank’s negative rate policy.

    Under the three-year scheme lasting until March 2023, regional lenders that opt for mergers or business integration will be remunerated, the BOJ said in a statement. Regional banks that also improve their financial health – which ironically was sapped by the BOJ’s previous idiotic policies – such as by cutting operating costs, i.e., firing workers, will also be applicable for the scheme, the central bank said.

    The move reflects a growing concern, shared even by some BOJ policymakers, over the rising cost and diminishing returns of its ultra-loose monetary policy.

    Under a policy dubbed yield curve control (YCC), the BOJ guides short-term rates at -0.1% and long-term yields at zero as part of efforts to revitalize the economy. The policy, however, has added to strains for regional banks as it makes net interest income virtually impossible.

    Japan’s new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has loosely pulled an Amadeus, and said there were “too many regional banks” in Japan, signalling his desire for some weak lenders to consider mergers or consolidation. Even before the BOJ’s latest move, some regional banks had already started the groundwork for consolidation.

    Bottom line: the central banks is now aggressively encouraging banks to become too big to fail, and to reward them it will allow them to skirt the provisions of Japan’s negative rate policy which, we remind readers, was launched precisely to help banks and boost Japan’s economy. Instead both find themselves on the edge of collapse.

  • "I Did Not Recant": USPS Whistleblower Stands By Backdated Ballot Claim
    “I Did Not Recant”: USPS Whistleblower Stands By Backdated Ballot Claim

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 20:25

    On Tuesday evening, the Washington Post wrote that USPS whistleblower Richard Hopkins ‘admitted to fabricating’ allegations of voter fraud, when he claimed in a Project Veritas video that he overheard a postmaster in Erie, Pennsylvania instructing postal workers to collect and backdate ballots received after election day.

    Citing “people who spoke on the condition of anonymity,” the Post now says that Hopkins – a Marine combat veteran – “signed an affidavit recanting his claims.“

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Hopkins, however, says he did not recant.

    In a Tuesday night interview with Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe, Hopkins says he was intimidated and coerced by federal investigators with the USPS Inspector General’s office.

    “They were grilling the hell out of me,” says Hopkins, adding “I feel like I just got played.”

    Hours after the Post‘s claim, O’Keefe tweeted a recording of Hopkins’ interview with IG employee Russel Strasser.

    “I am trying to twist you a little bit, believe it or not, because in that – your mind will kick in,” said Strasser.

    “Okay,” says Hopkins.

    “We like to control our mind,” Strasser continues. “And when we do that, we can convince ourselves of a memory. But when you’re under a little bit of stress, which is what I’m doing to you purposely, your mind can be a little bit clearer and we’re going to do a different exerciser too, to make your mind a little bit clearer. So, but this is all on purpose.”

    “Roger,” replies Hopkins.

    “I am not scaring you. But I am scaring you,” he continued.

    At the end of the interview with O’Keefe, Hopkins says that he stands by his original claim. Meanwhile, O’Keefe says there is more coming tomorrow on this.

    Watch:

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAttorney and conservative commentator Mike Cernovich suggested the Strasser was employing ‘an interrogation technique where the federal agent tries to use stress tactics to implant a false memory into the interview subject.’

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

    Earlier in the evening, Veritas posted a video of Hopkins explicitly saying “I do not recant.”

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

    Hopkins, meanwhile, has been placed on administrative leave without pay.

    O’Keefe said in a Tuesday night email “We are going to release such concrete evidence exposing your lies that you will all have eggs on your faces,” adding “Stay tuned, these people have no clue what’s coming their way.”

  • "Shredding The Fabric Of Our Democracy": Biden Aide Signals Push For Greater Internet Censorship
    “Shredding The Fabric Of Our Democracy”: Biden Aide Signals Push For Greater Internet Censorship

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 20:05

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    We have been discussing the calls for top Democrats for increased private censorship on social media and the Internet.  President-elect Joe Biden has himself called for such censorship, including blocking President Donald Trump’s criticism of mail-in voting. Now, shortly after the election, one of Biden’s top aides is ramping up calls for a crackdown on Facebook for allowing Facebook users to read views that he considers misleading — users who signed up to hear from these individuals. 

    Bill Russo, a deputy communications director on Biden’s campaign press team, tweeted late Monday that Facebook “is shredding the fabric of our democracy” by allowing such views to be shared freely.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Russo tweeted that “If you thought disinformation on Facebook was a problem during our election, just wait until you see how it is shredding the fabric of our democracy in the days after.” Russo objected to the fact that, unlike Twitter, Facebook did not move against statements that he and the campaign viewed as “misleading.” He concluded. “We pleaded with Facebook for over a year to be serious about these problems. They have not. Our democracy is on the line. We need answers.”

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

    For those of us in the free speech community, these threats are chilling. We saw incredible abuses before the election in Twitter barring access to a true story in the New York Post about Hunter Biden and his alleged global influence peddling scheme. Notably, no one in the Biden camp (including Biden himself) thought that it was a threat to our democracy to have Twitter block the story (while later admitting that it was a mistake).

    I have previously objected to such regulation of speech. What is most disturbing is how liberals have embraced censorship and even declared that “China was right” on Internet controls. Many Democrats have fallen back on the false narrative that the First Amendment does not regulate private companies so this is not an attack on free speech. Free speech is a human right that is not solely based or exclusively defined by the First Amendment.  Censorship by Internet companies is a “Little Brother” threat long discussed by free speech advocates.  Some may willingly embrace corporate speech controls but it is still a denial of free speech.

    This is why I recently described myself as an Internet Originalist:

    The alternative is “internet originalism” — no censorship. If social media companies returned to their original roles, there would be no slippery slope of political bias or opportunism; they would assume the same status as telephone companies. We do not need companies to protect us from harmful or “misleading” thoughts. The solution to bad speech is more speech, not approved speech.

    If Pelosi demanded that Verizon or Sprint interrupt calls to stop people saying false or misleading things, the public would be outraged. Twitter serves the same communicative function between consenting parties; it simply allows thousands of people to participate in such digital exchanges. Those people do not sign up to exchange thoughts only to have Dorsey or some other internet overlord monitor their conversations and “protect” them from errant or harmful thoughts.

    Russo’s comments mirror the comments of other Democrats who are seeking greater censorship. Indeed, in the recent Senate hearing on Twitter’s suppression of the Biden story, Democratic senators ignored the admissions of Big Tech CEOs that they were wrong to bar the story and, instead, insisted that the CEOs pledge to substantially increase such censorship. Senator Jacky Rosen warned the CEOS that “you are not doing enough” to prevent “disinformation, conspiracy theories and hate speech on your platforms.”

    Again, as someone raised in a deeply liberal and Democratic family in Chicago, I do not know when the Democratic party became the party for censorship. However, limiting free speech is now a rallying cry for Democratic members and activists alike. At risk is the single greatest invention for free speech since the printing press.  Russo’s comments reaffirms that the Biden Administration will continue this assault against Internet free speech.  What is most unnerving is that Russo is denouncing such free speech as “shredding the fabric of our democracy.” There was a time when free speech was the very right that we fought to protect in our democratic system.  It was one of the defining principles of our Constitution system. It is now being treated as a threat to that system.

  • Illinois, Utah & Montana Break COVID-19 Records As US Death Toll Nears 240k: Live Updates
    Illinois, Utah & Montana Break COVID-19 Records As US Death Toll Nears 240k: Live Updates

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 19:52

    Summary:

    • Illinois, Utah and Montana break COVID records
    • Illinois fifth state to top 500k cases
    • Maryland enters “red zone” COVID restrictions
    • Spain daily cases jump 30%
    • Dr. Fauci says Pfizer vaccine EUA one week away
    • Italy reports 35k+ new cases
    • US cases top 100k for 6th day
    • Hospitalizations match April records
    • Pfizer vaccine to be offered at below-market rates
    • Global cases near 51 million
    • New study shows COVID patients could be at higher risk of mental-health issues
    • Denmark warns of mink farms’ threat to human health

    * * *

    Update (1930ET): Utah, Illinois and Montana all broke records on Tuesday as the US topped 10.2 million cases and deaths exceeded 239,000. Illinois reported its highest number of daily cases with 12,623 infections, along with 79 more deaths. It has also become the fifth state to surpass 500,000 cases, per JHU, with 511,183 confirmed. Of course, as we noted earlier, with case numbers soaring, some are arguing that the state might already be well on its way toward herd immunity.

    Montana announced 1,101 new Covid-19 cases Tuesday, a new record high for the state, meanwhile, Utah, which imposed new emergency measures over the weekend, recorded a new high for its 7-day average.

    * * *

    Update (1700ET): Maryland Gov Larry Hogan has just confirmed that the state has returned to ‘red zone’ status – the strictest COVID-19 settings available – as the state’s ‘case rate’  (the number of infections per 100k) has climbed.

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

    The state has confirmed just over 150k total cases, but its positivity rate, which is supposed to show whether higher case numbers are due to virus spread instead of just more testing, is now 5.24%.

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

    Watch Hogan’s live update below:

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

    * * *

    Update (1255ET): Following in the footsteps of Italy, Spain just recorded 7,552 virus cases over the last day, up significantly from 4,441 on Monday, enough to send a surge of anxiety through the Spanish government, which has so far been relatively happy with the results from the country’s most recent lockdown.

    * * *

    Update (1215ET): After the US reported a new record number of daily cases yesterday, squeaking above Saturday’s record as new cases remain stubbornly above 100k a day earlier, Italy on Tuesday reported another 35k+ new COVID-19 cases, just days after the government tightened COVID-19 restrictions by elevating six regions to code “orange”, among other restrictions.

    Meanwhile, Dr. Fauci, speaking with the press, said that he expects the emergency use approval from the FDA for Pfizer’s vaccine to arrive “in a week or so”. At this point in the process, the good doctor anticipates few problems. He also confirmed that he attended a recent White House coronavirus task force meeting.

    * * *

    The trajectory, and potential, of COVID-19 vaccine projects remained the biggest COVID-19 story of the day on Tuesday following Monday morning’s blockbuster Pfizer announcement (which was scooped by WSJ) about its vaccine candidate being 90% effective, as hopes for improved COVID-19 treatments were stoked again last night by news of the FDA’s emergency-use approval for Eli Lilly’s antibody therapy, Bamlanivimab.

    The rush of optimistic news post-election, combined with the jubilant media reaction, prompted President Trump to speculate about the timing of the rollout.

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

    But circling back to the numbers, the situation in the US is growing even more dire. Bloomberg reported Tuesday morning that the US appears on track to hit a record number of new COVID-19 hospitalizations, thanks largely to Texas – particularly the border city of El Paso – and the Midwest.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    El Paso alone has more people hospitalized with COVID-19 than 29 US states, according to local officials. After the latest increase, the present nationwide number for hospitalizations was 56,768, a number that is presently rising at about 1,321 cases a day over the past week.

    That pace puts the US on track to top its April 15 record of 59,940.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Source: mSightly

    Positivity rates, that is, the percentage of those tested daily who come back positive, has been climbing across the country, but the numbers across the Midwest have really soared over the past couple of weeks.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Source: mSightly

    Bloomberg has produced a helpful chart showing the breakdown of COVID-19 hospitalizations that clearly illustrates the trends in Texas, the Midwest and elsewhere.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Source: Bloomberg

    Measuring by hospitalizations per million residents, South Dakota and Illinois take the lead.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    To be sure, Bloomberg pointed out that the situation still isn’t as dire as the springtime outbreak in New York and New Jersey. Back in April, hospitalization data wasn’t yet available for every state so it can be difficult to compare. But health-care officials stressed that hospitalizations are indeed worse than at any time since April.

    Out of Brazil, we got some less-than-welcome news for China’s leading vaccine, throwing the Chinese effort into stark relief with the western projects.

    Speaking on CNBC Tuesday morning, Alex Azar, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, said that the White House task force is “absolutely” in discussions to potentially deploy field hospitals and other resources to the Midwest and Texas, in areas where the hospital system truly is at risk of being strained.

    Meanwhile, in the US, the number of new cases has topped 100k per day for the last six days, while in Europe, deaths are following case numbers higher, a trend that is currently vexing national authorities.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Source: JPM

    Here’s some more news from Tuesday morning and overnight:

    US cases +105,142 (prev. +93,811) and deaths +490 (prev. +1,072), while hospitalizations rose to nearly 59k patients (Source: newswires).

    BioNTech Chief Strategy Officer says the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will likely be priced well below typical market rates, with different prices for different locations. Italy will get 13.6% of the first 200mln doses of the  vaccine made available to Europe, possible by January. Germany looks to sign a final agreement shortly for up to 100mn doses. (Newswires).

    UK Health Minister Hancock says it will take some time for a vaccine to be rolled out; central expectation for the bulk of the deployment of a vaccine is H1-2021; does not know when we will hear on the Oxford University/AstraZeneca.

    New study shows that COVID-19 patients more likely to suffer long-term psychiatric issues (Source: Bloomberg).

    Mink farms threaten human health and will likely continue to do so in the pandemic, according to Denmark’s top epidemiologist, who said the industry represents “far too high” a risk to human health and safety (Source: Bloomberg).

  • Communist Party Expands Crackdown On China's Tech Billionaires After Spoiling Ant Financial IPO
    Communist Party Expands Crackdown On China’s Tech Billionaires After Spoiling Ant Financial IPO

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 19:45

    Jack Ma might be China’s richest man (for now, at least), but in the span of a week, Beijing’s decision to postpone the planned IPO/spinoff of Alibaba’s Ant Financial unit offering in Shanghai, preceded, according to reports, by onerous new regulatory measures (which, analysts say, could cut the company’s value in half) has brought Ma to heel.

    What could Ma, whose membership in the Communist Party is a matter of public record, have possibly done to provoke such a painful rebuke? He had the audacity to criticize China’s financial regulations during an appearance at a high-profile industry conference in October. Ma’s comments didn’t make waves at the time, but nothing escapes the CCP.

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    Following a year where China has delivered perhaps its biggest repudiation yet to international hopes for economic and political liberalization (the Hong Kong natsec law and brutal COVID lockdowns are probably the two most vivid examples), it appears President Xi and the Politburo are launching a full-on campaign to rein in the power of China’s tech/fintech billionaires (a group that also includes Tencent founder Pony Ma).

    Why? Because, as we first explained the other day, Beijing has probably long been uncomfortable with the growing global power, influence and visibility of China’s private-economy billionaires. Ma’s insouciance, likely seen as an act of profound disrespect, however obtuse, was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back.  So, we were hardly surprised Tuesday morning when Bloomberg reported that the crackdown on China’s fintech giants appears to be expanding, rattling China’s domestic equity market, as the new “regulations” Beijing promised earlier this month have finally been unveiled.

    One Beijing-based lawyer told the foreign press that this is nothing short of a “watershed moment” for China’s tech industry, the world’s biggest, after the US.

    Xi Jinping’s Communist Party is stepping up efforts to rein in some of China’s most powerful companies, jolting investors and dealing a blow to the country’s richest entrepreneurs.

    Beijing on Tuesday unveiled regulations to root out monopolistic practices in the internet industry, seeking to curtail the growing influence of corporations like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. The rules, which sent both stocks tumbling and sparked a wider selloff in Chinese equities, landed about a week after new restrictions on the finance sector that triggered the shock suspension of Ant Group Co.’s $35 billion initial public offering.

    While Xi’s government has been steadily tightening its grip on the world’s second-largest economy, it has until recently taken a relatively hands off approach toward businesses that dominate China’s burgeoning internet, e-commerce and digital finance industries. Authorities are concerned the companies have become too powerful, according to Ma Chen, a Beijing-based partner at Han Kun Law Offices.

    “This is a watershed moment,” said Ma, who specializes in antitrust.

    Beijing has, not entirely unreasonably, couched its new regulations as intended to break up a private-market monopoly, a narrative that will imagine would be much easier for the public to accept.

    China’s antitrust watchdog is seeking feedback on a raft of regulations that establish a framework for curbing anti-competitive behavior such as colluding on sharing sensitive consumer data, alliances that squeeze out smaller rivals and subsidizing services at below cost to eliminate competitors. They may also require companies that operate a so-called Variable Interest Entity – a vehicle through which virtually every major Chinese internet company attracts foreign investment and lists overseas – to apply for specific operating approval.

    The latest proposal follows heightened scrutiny of technology companies worldwide, as regulators investigate the extent to which internet giants from Facebook Inc. to Alphabet Inc.’s Google can leverage their dominance. Consumers in China – home to some of the world’s largest corporations from e-commerce giant Alibaba to WeChat-operator Tencent – have in recent years protested against the gradual erosion of their privacy via technology from facial recognition to big data analysis.

    Notably, as BBG reminds us, the crackdown isn’t completely out of the blue: It began last year with an investigation into Tencent’s music arm and its exclusive agreements with publishers.

    “There seems to be a broader China government sentiment that internet platforms are becoming too powerful,” said Hoi Tak Leung, a Hong Kong-based lawyer specializing in Chinese internet companies at Ashurst LLP. “This would be consistent with worldwide developments as well.”

    These latest new rules – according to the government, anyway – build upon a new Anti-Monopoly Law passed in January, which included broad language allowing the state wide latitude to target Internet companies, an issue that’s also playing out in the US.

    Ironically mirroring the Trump Administration’s drive to hold the biggest American tech firms accountable for allegedly monopolistic practices, Beijing’s crackdown, which is expected to have the biggest impact on Tencent (which owns the ubiquitous payments app WeChat) and Alibaba, could also create new opportunities by giving smaller Chinese tech firms more space to compete.

    Alibaba and Tencent now dominate e-commerce and gaming, but are also key backers of leaders in adjacent businesses such as Wang Xing’s Meituan and car-hailing leader Didi. They’ve together invested billions of dollars in hundreds of up-and-coming mobile and internet companies, gaining kingmaker status in the world’s largest smartphone and internet arena by users. Companies like ByteDance and Tencent-rival NetEase Corp., controlled by William Ding, that have risen to prominence without backing from either of the pair are viewed as rare exceptions. In other areas, Robin Li’s Baidu Inc. dominates online search.

    “The Party is faced with the conflicting desires to empower domestic tech companies to be internationally competitive, while keeping their market activities firmly under control at home,” said Kendra Schaefer, head of digital research at the Trivium China consultancy in Beijing. “The horizontal spread of Chinese big tech makes anti-monopoly regulation that much more urgent for Chinese regulators.”

    Han Kun Law’s Ma said the specific regulation pertaining to VIEs requiring approval should be of concern to much of the industry as well. The model has never been formally endorsed by Beijing but has been used by tech titans such as Alibaba to list their shares overseas. Under the structure, Chinese corporations transfer profits to an offshore entity with shares that foreign investors can then own. Pioneered by Sina Corp. and its investment bankers during a 2000 initial public offering, the VIE framework rests on shaky legal ground and foreign investors have been nervous about their bets unwinding overnight.

    “It will not only have a huge impact on Alibaba but also all the companies that use a platform business model and a VIE structure,” Ma said.

    Anybody who doesn’t immediately recognize the irony in the notion that the CCP is merely trying to make its markets fair and competitive for the “little guy” probably doesn’t truly understand the nature of the relationship between the Party, and the Chinese economy. Fundamentally, before everything else, it’s about control, not fairness.

  • Election 2020: Choking On The Political Red And Blue Pills
    Election 2020: Choking On The Political Red And Blue Pills

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 11/10/2020 – 19:25

    Authored by Wendy McElroy via The Mises Institute,

    Presidential election 2020 is the same as every other, except in the ways it isn’t. Allow me to expand on this…

    <!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

    What is the same?

    The purpose of all elections is to allow a band of people called the state to legitimize their claim of control over everyone and everything within a given jurisdiction. In his book The Rise and Fall of Society, the Old Right libertarian Frank Chodorov defines the state as “a number of people who, having somehow got hold of it,” use “the machinery of coercion to the end that they might pursue their version of happiness without respect to the discipline of the market place” (italics added).

    The two somehows of getting and holding political power are to use institutionalized violence or to convince people to respect state authority. Statists usually pursue some combination of both. Violence is rarely preferred, however, because it can backlash into a resistance that threatens state power. It is far better for the state if people oppress themselves through willing obedience. It is even better if they express enthusiasm for their own oppression. Thus politicians and the media applaud the rah-rah attitude of cheering crowds who characterize elections. Thus voting is deified as the voice of “the people,” a fundamental right, and the best way to change society.

    The situation is the opposite of what the state claims. The anarchist author Albert Jay Nock divided power into two categories: social and state. Social power is the freedom individuals exercise over their lives; when people gather for mutual benefit and when a society forms, this is also social power. State power is the control government exercises over individuals and society; it preys upon them—through taxation, for example—to enrich itself. An inverse and antagonistic relationship exists between the two types of power, with the state expanding only at the expense of society and vice versa. Freedom does not and cannot come from elections that strengthen the state’s perceived legitimacy; freedom depends on weakening this authority, preferably down to zero.

    The popular celebration of the “right” to vote puzzled Nock and Chodorov. In his book Out of Step, Chodorov writes,

    Why should a self-respecting citizen endorse an institution grounded in thievery? For that is what one does when one votes….Perhaps the silliest argument, and yet the one invariably advanced…is that “we must choose the lesser of two evils”. Under what compulsion are we to make such a choice? Why not pass up both of them?

    The answer: people do so because they believe elections and the state are necessary evils. Despite the presence of far more effective strategies—education and agorism are only two—people see no other effective alternatives for social change or stability.

    So far in the analysis, election 2020 is the same as every other election; only circumstances like voter turnout are unusual.

    What is different?

    The state’s mask of legitimacy is slipping. Election 2020 is rife with Republican cries of “Fraud!” As early as April, Trump was ringing alarm bells about the mail-in ballots demanded by Democrats, calling them “horrible” and “corrupt,” with “tremendous potential for voter fraud.” Democrats counterattacked by accusing Republicans of destroying democracy by delegitimizing the election.

    The Democrats are correct about Republicans damaging democracy but wrong about their glorification of mob rule and blind to their own role in the political carnage. Like the state, democracy is accepted only in the minds of people who believe in the system. A flood of news stories about electoral abuse have shaken this faith, whether or not the stories are true; discarded ballots, dishonest counts, lack of oversight, slack verification, ballot harvesting, and voter suppression have caused lawsuits and protests to erupt across America.

    But is election 2020 any more rigged than some past ones? A 2016 article in the Daily Signal, “Rigged Election? Past Presidential Contests Sowed Doubt and Nearly Led to Violence,” lists five presidential races that are viewed as having been won through fraud. And the problem is not confined to the Oval Office. A recent article, “Don’t Forget LBJ’s Election Theft,” by Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation, recounted the incredible corruption of Lyndon B. Johnson’s senatorial race. Nevertheless, the iniquities of this election seem to be unusually widespread and transparent.

    Several factors undoubtedly contribute to the more conspicuous abuse.

    • Many on the left and in the media passionately hate Trump, whom they view as a woman-bashing, homophobic racist. Racism is the worst sin in our culture, which leaves Trump haters free to shed all pretense of fairness toward him. For his part, Trump stokes the fire through caustic tweets and comments.

    • Some campaign veterans on the left may have sensed the Democrats’ weakness: Biden is a terrible candidate who is mentally deteriorating, hides in his basement, and cannot draw a crowd. To these Democrats, cheating may seem necessary.

    • Others on the left probably believed the polls, which made them cocky and careless. They shouldn’t have been. Journalist Glenn Greenwald states concisely in two tweets, “You have an incumbent President with a massive recession, an unemployment, rent and foreclosure crisis, and an out-of-control pandemic, and this is what the Democrats are able to do with it… Assuming that Biden ekes out a victory, that the Democrats managed to *lose* seats in the House with everything going on might be the most shocking and pathetic part of what happened.”

    • Trump vows to dismantle the deep state. Whether he is sincere or capable of doing so is debatable. There is no question, however, that he has exposed some formidable deep state enemies and wants them punished. The accused, like former director of national intelligence James Clapper, want blood, and they do not play by the rules.

    • A Trump administration would pursue the Hunter Biden–Burisma scandal, which is making other prominent figures very nervous. A Biden administration would make it go away.

    • The political storm reflects what is happening on the streets and in the culture. Constant protests and riots seem to fill the streets with tension and crime. In the last two decades, a take-no-prisoners culture of moral outrage has spilled from campuses into the mainstream, using tactics of intimidation, rage, and violent confrontation.

    • Identity politics is a surging political approach. It defines human beings by secondary characteristics like race and pits different groups into nonnegotiable conflict that blocks the possibility of civil discussion or action.

    Election 2020 did not provide a clear winner. The contest de facto continues through lawsuits and court decisions. Here this election could be different from most others, although, again, not unprecedented. If a tie or disputed ballots prevent both candidates from reaching 270 electoral votes, then the House will decide who will be president.

    Chad Pergram, the congressional correspondent for Fox News, explains, “Congress must approve certificates of election from all 50 states.” The “crucial date is December 14, dictated by an obscure, 1887 law…The Electoral Count Act dictates that states choose electors no more than 41 days after the election. This is partly why the Supreme Court rushed to complete Bush v. Gore on December 12, 2000. The decision halted the count of ballots in Florida, handing the presidency to George W. Bush.” Legal challenges to state elections may result in the same for Trump.

    If Congress cannot certify the electoral college votes, Pergram describes the next steps. “If Congress determines there’s a stalemate, the 12th Amendment directs the House to elect the President. This is called a ‘contingent election.’” A delegate from each state casts one ballot. The process would probably advantage Trump, as Republicans have fewer representatives but they cover more states.

    “At this point,” Pergram writes, “we expect House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…presuming she is re-elected,…and Vice President Pence, in his capacity as President of the Senate, to co-preside over the Joint Session. Pence’s term doesn’t expire until January 20. And, the 12th Amendment…mandates that ‘the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall be counted’.” Unfortunately, this wording raises another difficulty over which constitutional scholars have debated for years; it does not specify how the votes are to be counted. Pergram points to yet another possible obstacle. “The 12th Amendment also says ‘the person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be President’. But Congress must agree to all of this. And remember, Pence is the one running the show at this stage.”

    In short, an incredible mess might well be followed by another incredible mess—one that could set a constitutional precedent. Nonvoters should feel pleased and proud to have played no part in the ugly fiasco of presidential election 2020. “A curse on both your houses” is the sound libertarian position.

Digest powered by RSS Digest