Apr 12

Today’s News 12th April 2021

  • German Government Pitches Plan To Reimpose Harsh Lockdown Measures
    German Government Pitches Plan To Reimpose Harsh Lockdown Measures

    After canceling Germany’s draconian Easter lockdown last month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel “took full responsibility” for her misjudgment. But,now it looks like her government is reverting to the decision that new COVID-19 restrictions need to be put in place, before spiking COVID cases lead to a surfeit of deaths.

    A new proposed plan has been developed to implement nighttime curfews, sweeping business closures and severe limits on public gatherings. These measures, and more, are all part of the German government’s new bill aimed at “standardizing” COVID-19 measures to stop the third wave.

    RT reports that Berlin is currently working on amendments to the national Infection Protection Act, which would reimpose lockdown restrictions and greatly reduce the federal states’ ability to defy the government’s orders, German media that obtained the draft document report.

    The document that is expected to be discussed and potentially approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet on Tuesday will require all federal states where an average seven-day COVID-19 infection rate will rise over 100 per 100K people.

    Such states will no longer be able to find any excuses to avoid imposing the so-called “emergency brake.”

    All states over this threshold infection rate will be bound to introduce a standard set of measures developed by the federal government, should the legislation come into force. Such measures involve a night-time curfew between 2100ET and 0500ET, with exceptions made for medical emergencies, professional activities and for people engaged in caregiving, whether for other people or animals.

    If adopted, the new measures would impact all German federal states. According to the Robert Koch Institute (Germany’s federal agency responsible for disease control and prevention), only three out of 16 federal states have a seven-day incidence rate below 100 per 100K people. In the western state of Saarland, this rate is 98.8, which means it could potentially cross the threshold at any moment. German authorities are seemingly aiming to implement the new rules as soon as possible.

    According to some media reports, Merkel’s federal cabinet and the states’ governments had all assented to the bill.

    The German Bundestag President Wolfgang Schauble also made it clear that the parliament could potentially approve the new bill as early as next week. The legislation would then need to pass through the Bundestag,another house of the German parliament representing the federal states, and can come into force as early as April 19, according to some media reports.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/12/2021 – 02:45

  • Escobar: Russia "Would Really Not Want" Cold War 2.0
    Escobar: Russia “Would Really Not Want” Cold War 2.0

    Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,

    The Triple Yoda, Nikolai Patrushev, hopes cooler heads can avoid sanctions such as the SWIFT ‘nuclear option’…

    The Beltway was always fond of describing the late Andrew Marshall – who identified emerging or future threats for the Pentagon and whose proteges included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz – as Yoda.

    Well, if that’s the case, then Chinese national security supremo Yang Jiechi – who recently made shark fin’s soup out of Tony Blinken in Alaska – is Double Yoda.

    And Nikolai Patrushev – Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation – is Triple Yoda.

    Amid current ice-cold US-Russia relations – plunged into their worst state since the end of the Cold War – Triple Yoda, discreet, diplomatic and always sharp as a dagger, remains a soothing voice of reason, as demonstrated in a stunning interview by Kommersant daily.

    Patrushev, born in 1951, is an army general who worked for KGB counter-intel in Leningrad, during the USSR days. Starting in 1994 he was the head of quite a few FSB departments. From 1999 to 2008 he was the FSB director, and led counter-terror ops in the North Caucasus from 2001 to 2003. Since May 2008 he is Russia’s top security advisor.

    Patrushev rarely talks to the media. Thus the importance, for global public opinion, of highlighting some of his key insights. Let us hope the Beltway will be listening.

    Patrushev clearly states that Russia does not want Cold War 2.0: “We would really not want that.” And he hopes that “common sense will prevail in Washington.”

    Patrushev speaks

    On Biden declaring Putin a “killer”:

    “I would not like to draw parallels, but exactly 75 years ago, in March 1946, Churchill delivered the famous Fulton speech in the presence of President Truman, in which he declared our country, his recent ally in the anti-Hitler coalition, an enemy. This marked the beginning of the Cold War.”

    On Ukraine and Donbass:

    “I am convinced that this is a consequence of serious internal problems in Ukraine, from which the authorities are trying to divert attention in this way. They solve their problems at the expense of Donbass, while capital from the country has been flowing abroad for a long time … and Kiev is selling to foreigners – as they say now, at democratic prices – those remnants of industry that were able to stay afloat.”

    On the first order of business for the US and Russia:

    It’s “the sphere of strategic stability and arms control. There is already a positive example here. It is our common decision to extend the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Arms, which was certainly not easy for the US administration.”

    On possible areas of cooperation:

    “There is a certain potential for joint work on such issues as the fight against international terrorism and extremism … as well as Syria, the Middle East settlement, the nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula, the JCPOA with Iran … It is long overdue to discuss cyber-security issues, especially in view of Russia’s concerns and the accusations that have been brought forward to us for several years now.”

    On contacts with Washington:

    “They continue. At the end of March, I had a telephone conversation with the assistant to the president of the United States for national security, Mr Sullivan .… By the way, it was held in a calm, business-like atmosphere, and we communicated quite thoroughly and constructively.”

    On having no illusions about US apologies:

    “The United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan completely unnecessarily – although they knew perfectly well that the Red Army was starting hostilities against the Japanese grouping in Manchuria; they knew that Tokyo was ready to surrender. And the Japanese, and indeed the whole world, have been told for three quarters of a century that atomic strikes were inevitable … a kind of punishment from above. Remember what Obama said in his speech at the Hiroshima mourning event? ‘Death fell from heaven.’ And he did not want to say that this death fell from an American plane on the orders of the American president.”

    On improvement of relations:

    “Given the unprecedentedly difficult nature of the internal situation in the United States today, the prospects for the further development of relations can hardly be called encouraging.”

    On the US seeing Russia as a “threat,” and whether it is reciprocal:

    “We now see the main threat in a pandemic. For the United States, by the way, it turned out to be the moment of truth. The problems that American politicians were hiding from their fellow citizens became obvious, including by diverting their attention to the legends of ‘aggressive Russia.’”

    On US bio-labs:

    “I suggest that you pay attention to the fact that numbers of biological laboratories under US control are growing by leaps and bounds across the world. And – by a strange coincidence – mainly at the Russian and Chinese borders … Of course, we and our Chinese partners have questions. We are told that there are peaceful sanitary and epidemiological stations near our borders, but for some reason they are more reminiscent of Fort Detrick in Maryland, where Americans have been working in the field of military biology for decades. By the way, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that outbreaks of diseases uncharacteristic of these regions are recorded in the adjacent areas.”

    On US accusations that Russia uses chemical weapons:

    “There is zero evidence, there is no argumentation either; some speculation does not even withstand an elementary test … When chemical incidents occurred in Syria, conclusions were drawn instantly and based on the information of the notorious ‘White Helmets.’ The organization worked so ‘well’ that it sometimes published its reports even before the incidents themselves.”

    On NATO:

    “The question arises: who is holding back whom? Are Washington and Brussels holding back Russia, or is it their task to hold back the development of Germany, France, Italy and other European states? On the whole, NATO can hardly be called a military-political bloc. Remember how in the days of feudalism the vassals were obliged to appear to the master with their armies at his first  request? Only today they still have to buy weapons from the patron, regardless of their financial situation; otherwise questions about their loyalty will arise.”

    On Europe:

    “Engaging with Europe is important. But being together with Europe at any cost is not a fix for Russian geopolitics. Nevertheless we keep the doors open, because we understand perfectly well that there is a momentary situation that Western politicians are guided by, and at the same time there are historical ties that have been developing between Russians and Europeans for centuries.”

    On multipolarity:

    “There are a number of problems in the world today that, in principle, cannot be resolved without normal cooperation between the world’s leading players – Russia, the USA, the EU, China and India.”

    The SWIFT ‘nuclear option’

    Patrushev’s insights are particularly relevant as the Russia-China strategic partnership is solidifying by the minute; Foreign Minister Lavrov, in Pakistan, has called for literally everyone, “including the European Union,” to join Russia’s vision of a Greater Eurasia; and everyone is waiting for a face-off in the Donbass.

    Patrushev’s diplomatic finesse still cannot erase the uneasy feeling in chancelleries across Eurasia about the distinct possibility of an incoming flare-up in the Donbass – with some extremely worrying consequences.

    Dangerous scenarios are being openly discussed in Brussels corridors, especially one that sees the US/NATO combo expecting a de facto partition after a short hot war – with Novorossiya absorbing even Odessa.

    If that is established as a fact on the ground, a new harsh round of US sanctions will follow. Iron Curtain 2.0 would be in effect; pressure for cancelation of Nord Stream 2 would reach fever pitch; and even the expulsion of Russia from SWIFT would be considered.

    Dmitri Medvedev, currently Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, once called the latter “the nuclear option.” Patrushev was diplomatic enough not to address its volcanic consequences.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/12/2021 – 02:00

  • Watch Live: Protest And Looting Continue Into Night Over Police-Killing Of Man In Minnesota
    Watch Live: Protest And Looting Continue Into Night Over Police-Killing Of Man In Minnesota

    Update (2446ET): Protests erupted earlier today in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, after a police officer shot and killed a man during a traffic stop. Members of the community protested the police killing of the man that soon turned violent. 

    Now riot and looting appear to be underway in the business district of the metro area. 

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    Besides the looting, Unicorn Riot is currently streaming live and has said police have declared another “unlawful assembly.” 

    * * *

    Social unrest is unfolding in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota after a Brooklyn Center police officer shot and killed a driver during a traffic stop Sunday afternoon.

    According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, investigators have arrived at the crime scene. 

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    There’s a significant police presence as community members gathered near the scene following the shooting.

    The gathering was initially peaceful but quickly spiraled out of control into a riot. 

    CrimeWatchMpls tweets, rioters are throwing bricks and other objects at police cars. 

    Rioters are jumping on top of police cars and heard yelling, “f*ck the police.” 

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    Riot police have been called to the scene. 

    Watch the live feed via Unicorn Riot:

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 04/12/2021 – 00:46

  • Will Supremes Unleash Biden Red Flag Gun Raids?
    Will Supremes Unleash Biden Red Flag Gun Raids?

    Authored by James Bovard via JimBovard.com,

    A gun seizure case before the Supreme Court could open the flood-gates to warrantless searches…

    President Joe Biden launched his first attack on the Second Amendment this week, making clear his intent to radically curtail Americans’ legal rights to own firearms. The White House boasted that Biden was nominating a “fierce” advocate of gun control, David Chipman, to be chief of the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agency. Chipman, a former ATF agent, is so dedicated to banning assault weapons that he brazenly lied last year about the 1993 federal assault at Waco, claiming that the Branch Davidians shot down two National Guard helicopters that were assaulting their home. Chipman, a Phillips Exeter Academy graduate who carries a concealed weapon himself, was an ATF case agent at the 1994 trial of the Branch Davidian survivors so he had no excuse for tossing out this anti-gun fairy tale.

    Perhaps the biggest peril that Biden unveiled is his push for a national “red flag” law that would entitle the police to preemptively confiscate the guns of anyone who is accused of being a threat to himself or others. Red flag laws have been notorious for trampling due process and spurring unjustified police raids that have resulted in killing innocent gun owners. It is naïve to expect fair play on gun owners’ rights when the politicians driving such policy are openly seeking pretexts to disarm as many Americans as possible. Biden’s push for a red flag law could become far more perilous to constitutional rights if the Supreme Court upholds a potentially landmark gun seizure case that could gut the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against warrantless searches. The Court heard arguments in this case last month and a decision is expected by June.

    In 2015, after an elderly couple had a heated argument, Edward Caniglia placed an unloaded revolver on the table and taunted his wife: “Why don’t you just shoot me and get me out of my misery?” His wife, Kim, was spooked and left to stay overnight in a hotel. When he didn’t answer a phone call the next morning, she called the police and asked them to check on him.

    Police arrived and browbeat Edward Caniglia into getting get a psychiatric examination at a hospital. He agreed to do so only after police promised not to seize his handguns. The shrinks certified him as sane (at least by prevailing Rhode Island standards) and he returned home to learn the police had confiscated his guns. Both he and his wife requested the guns be returned. Police refused to do so until Caniglia, who had no history of violence or abusing firearms, filed a lawsuit. Caniglia also sued the city of Cranston and police officers for violating his constitutional rights.

    At first glance, his case rested upon solid precedent. The Supreme Court ruled in 1980, “It is a basic principle of Fourth Amendment law that searches and seizures inside a home without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable.”  In 1948, the Supreme Court declared that the sanctity of private homes is “too precious to entrust to the discretion of those whose job is the detection of crime and the arrest of criminals.” But the police and their supporters relied on a vast expansion of a 1973 Supreme Court decision that justified a warrantless “inventory search” of a rent-a-car to seek a police officer’s revolver in the trunk as part of the “community caretaking” exemption to the Fourth Amendment. A federal judge and a federal appeals court, ruling in favor of Rhode Island police, effectively concluded that a private home was “close enough for government work” to a rent-a-car to justify warrantless searches.

    But what about that clarion call 1967 Supreme Court decision that declared, “Wherever a man may be, he is entitled to know that he will remain free from unreasonable searches and seizures.”  Not a problem, according to the first amicus brief that the Biden administration filed with the Supreme Court. According to the Biden administration, the only question in the Rhode Island case was whether the actions of police officers in the case were “objectively reasonable.” Constitutional rights were effectively moot because the Cranston cops were simply dealing with “an impending safety threat through a warrantless seizure of a potentially mentally unstable person and an entry into his residence for the limited purpose of removing firearms.” For the Biden legal team, “confiscating” became “removing” as smoothly as one of Falstaff’s minions turned “stealing” into “conveying.”

    On the same side of the fight, Marc DeSisto, the lawyer representing the Cranston police officers, declared, “The Fourth Amendment has only one test and that is that searches and seizures shall not be unreasonable.” DeSisto was not required to take a literacy test and perhaps was unaware of the Fourth Amendment passage about Americans’ rights to “be secure… against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” DeSisto and the Biden administration presume that warrants are unnecessary, if not irrelevant, any time government officials assert that it is “reasonable” to enter someone’s house without a warrant “to ensure public health and safety.”  And who defines “reasonableness”? The same government officials who violate the Constitution. As Justice Stephen Breyer commented, “If you take a caretaker exception and read that into the word ‘reasonable,’ there’s no stopping. We don’t know how far we’ll go.”

    Lawyer Shay Dvoretzky, who represented Caniglia before the Court, warned,

    “Nearly every criminal violation has public safety implications, so dispensing with the warrant requirement whenever police can point to a health or safety motive would eviscerate the Fourth Amendment. Virtually any criminal situation can also be described in health or safety terms. For any situation involving drugs and alcohol, police could just say they were going into the home in order to make sure that the suspect was okay.”

    As Justice Neil Gorsuch asked, “What does the government do that doesn’t involve health or safety?” Institute for Justice attorney Joshua Windham wrote, “A rule that allows police to burst into your home without a warrant whenever they feel they are acting as ‘community caretakers’ is a threat to everyone’s security.” A brief filed jointly by the American Civil Liberties Union, Cato Institute, and American Conservative Union Foundation warned that upholding the Rhode Island search could “give police free rein to enter the home without probable cause or a warrant” and would be “unwise, unmanageable, and unnecessary, and it opens the door to abusive police conduct.”

    The Biden administration’s animosity to the Second Amendment has raised the stakes for the Rhode Island case. The Second Amendment Law Center, the California Rifle and Pistol Association, and Gun Owners of California warned the Supreme Court that

    “the Fourth Amendment has no ‘gun’ exception… Expansion of the ‘community caretaking’ exception into the home will be used by police in jurisdictions with onerous or constitutionally-questionable firearm restrictions to turn every call to a house into a search for guns under the pretext of ‘helping’ those present.”

    Anyone who doubts whether warrantless “community caretaking” could open an authoritarian Pandora’s box should read the transcript of the Supreme Court hearing. Lawyer DeSisto asserted that the caretaking doctrine would also authorize police raids to enforce mandatory COVID mask requirements if “they can see a lot of people gathered together that are not wearing masks.” Gov. Cuomo is again the bellwether here. In November, Cuomo denounced New York county sheriffs for acting like a “dictator” because they refused to forcibly enter private homes to enforce Cuomo’s mask mandate. Since the start of the Pandemic, Biden has whooped up masks as if they were a silver bullet to slap COVID-19 (regardless that tens of  millions of Americans have been infected with the virus since mask compliance reached over 80 percent in public places). Biden has already mandated wearing masks in National Parks and on federal property. How much further could he go if there is another surge of Covid cases?

    Justice Sandra Sotomayor commented during the hearing, “When we permit police to search and seize without some standard, we run the risk of situations like this [Rhode Island case] repeating themselves.” But many antigun activists view the case as a model, not as a glitch in the legal system. Some court watchers expect a victory for the Biden position; Reuters headlined its report on the hearing, “With the elderly in mind, U.S. Supreme Court wary of limiting police in home entries.” Defenders of the Rhode Island gun seizure insist that government officials need discretion to forcibly protect people against themselves. But consider the experience of New Yorkers under the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo railroaded into law immediately after a 2012 school shooting in Connecticut. Cuomo declared: “People who have mental health issues should not have guns. They could hurt themselves, they could hurt other people.” But tens of millions of Americans visit therapists each year, and “mental health issues” is vague enough for endless political mischief.

    More than 85,000 New Yorkers lost their Second Amendment rights as a result of a “mental health” exclusion clause in the SAFE Act. As columnist Jacob Sullum observed, the “law effectively gives ‘mental health professionals’ the power to disarm people, and they do not even need a judge’s approval.” New York University law professor James Jacobs observed that, “based on as little as a single short emergency room interview,” an individual “need not even be notified that his or her name has been added to a database of persons whose firearms license must be revoked and whose firearms must be surrendered.” Medical professionals and others were already legally obliged to notify police if a patient “made a credible threat” of violence but the provision in the 2013 act was far more expansive.

    If the Supreme Court approves “wellness check” warrantless gun raids, the Biden administration could invoke the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic Statistic Manual (DSM) category 313.81, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, to justify targeting outspoken opponents of the government. After the clash at the Capitol, Biden wasted no time denouncing the January 6 protestors as “domestic terrorists.” Press accounts of the arrests of the protestors breathlessly recounted how many firearms were found in their homes—regardless that those individuals did not tote their AR-15s, shotguns, and Glocks with them when they “unlawfully entered” that “Temple of Democracy,” the U.S. Capitol. Any such crackdown would have legions of cheerleaders in the mainstream media.

    The Biden administration’s support for warrantless “community caretaking” police raids must be viewed in light of previous perverse legal innovations that unleashed tyranny. Going back to the 18th century, British and American judges recognized that “a man’s home is his castle.” But the drug war obliterated that notion with legal doctrines that should have been laughed out of court. Instead, the combined peril of narcotics and flush toilets nullified limits on police power. In a 1995 brief to the Supreme Court, Clinton’s Justice Department stressed that “various indoor plumbing facilities… did not exist” in early America when the “knock-and-announce” rule for searches of homes was adopted. In a 1997 brief to the Supreme Court, the Clinton administration declared that “it is ordinarily reasonable for police officers to dispense with a pre-entry knock and announcement.” The subsequent Supreme Court decision included a few quibbles but effectively sanctified no-knock raids whenever police claimed a “reasonable suspicion” that evidence might be destroyed. The New York Times noted in 2017 that no-knock warrants were routinely granted permitting “the most extreme force in pursuit of the smallest amounts of drugs, since a few grams are more quickly flushed than a few bales.” The Clinton “flush the Fourth” doctrine spurred an explosion of deadly no-knock raids across the nation. A New York Times investigation found that “at least 81 civilians and 13 law enforcement officers died in raids from 2010 through 2016. Scores of others were maimed or wounded.”

    “Government as a damn rascal” was the unwritten premise of the Bill of Rights. The Founding Fathers saw enough depredations by British agents that they recognized the folly of vesting officialdom with absolute power. The Bill of Rights is full of prohibitions (“shall make no law”) precisely because the Founders did not trust politicians to be judge, jury, and executioners on their own “reasonableness.” Nothing that Biden or his appointees have said or done so far justifies exempting them from Thomas Jefferson’s 1799 admonition to “bind those we are obliged to trust with power…from mischief by the chains of the Constitutions.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 04/11/2021 – 23:30

  • "Mega Find" – 5,000 Classic Motorcycles Stashed In Barns 
    “Mega Find” – 5,000 Classic Motorcycles Stashed In Barns 

    The Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing and Treasury’s fiscal stimulus have resulted in the greatest monetary experiment of all time. The result of trillions of dollars pumped into the economy has lifted prices of all assets, everything from the stock market to homes to baseball cards to crypto to classic cars and motorcycles. 

    Last week, readers were one of the first to know about a rare 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder found in an old shipping container in a remote area of Orange County, California. The last time a 550 Spyder of this type went to the auction block, it sold $4.5 million three years ago. 

    As limited antique production cars or other forms of rare vehicles become more valuable (thanks Powell), people have been on a quest across the country searching for the next big find. 

    The latest barn find was reported by Hagerty Classic Cars of a man who stashed thousands of classic motorcycles in 12 barns. 

    “There were so many bikes we had to go back,” Hagerty said. 

    In total, some 5,000 classic motorcycles were found, including “a slew of significant Japanese bikes, over 200 Triumphs, bikes with Wankel engines, you name it,” said the classic car website. 

    Some of the rarest motorcycles in the world found in the barn find, like a Velocette Venom Thruxton, Norton Dominator, Vincent Rapide, Triumph Bonneville, and a factory BSA 650 Road Rocket in a Goldstar frame.

    In March, the Hagerty Market Rating for classic cars in North America registered in the “superheated” territory, a sign that prices are becoming overbought. 

    The latest barn find of thousands of classic motorcycles would make Mike from American Pickers smile.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 04/11/2021 – 23:05

  • How State Legislators Are Working To Reign In The Empire
    How State Legislators Are Working To Reign In The Empire

    Authored by Brian McGlinchey via Stark Realities,

    Fed up after years of relentless National Guard deployments in undeclared wars, state lawmakers across the country are pushing legislation that would prohibit the use of Guard units in combat zones without a formal declaration of war by Congress.

    The bills are being promoted by BringOurTroopsHome.US, a self-described organization of “right-of-center” veterans working to end American involvement in “endless wars” and restore congressional authority over war-making. The libertarian 10th Amendment Center is also backing the cause.

    The proposed laws would require governors to determine the constitutionality of orders that place Guard units on federal active duty; where they’re deemed unconstitutional, the governor is required to take action to prevent the unit from being surrendered to federal control and sent into harm’s way.

    The first “Defend the Guard” bill was conceived and introduced by Air Force veteran and West Virginia state legislator Pat McGeehan. While no state has enacted the law yet, interest is spreading widely, with legislators now pushing the measure in 31 states.

    Conservative Veterans Taking Point

    BringOurTroopsHome.US is led by Dan McKnight, a 13-year veteran of the Marine Corps Reserve, active duty Army and Idaho Army National Guard whose military service ended after he was injured in Afghanistan.

    McKnight and many other veterans leading the drive against the War on Terror are from the right side of the political spectrum. That’s a sharp contrast to the typical antiwar veteran of the Vietnam era, but McKnight says vets from both wars share a common experience.

    Today’s veterans “are coming home and saying the same thing (Vietnam vets did): ‘What was the point of that? What was our mission? We have no mission, we have no definition of success, we have no clear path to victory, we have no idea what victory means and we’re there without a constitutional authority to send us there’,” he says.

    “Every one of us raised our hands and swore an oath to the Constitution…and when it says Congress shall be the only body to declare war, we take that to heart. And when Congress doesn’t do it, we understand bad things can happen: long, endless foreign misadventures,” says McKnight.

    In a 2019 Pew Research poll, 64% of veterans said the war in Iraq wasn’t worth fighting; 58% said the same of Afghanistan. A January Concerned Veterans for America/YouGov poll found two-thirds or more of veterans support full withdrawals from both countries.

    “The right-of-center veterans are now echoing the message of left-of-center veterans, and it’s hard to ignore when veterans from the entire political spectrum are saying the same thing: Enough already—if you want us to go and bleed and die and spend our lives and your treasure in a foreign land, then Congress should put their name on the line before we put our boots on the ground,” McKnight says.

    That’s what the Constitution demands. In an impassioned speech at the West Virginia legislature last month, McGeehan quoted James Madison: “The Constitution supposes what the history of all governments demonstrates, that the executive is the branch of power most interested in war and most prone to it. It has accordingly, with studied care, vested the question of war in the legislature.”

    Deployments’ Steep Toll

    The National Guard has played a major role in America’s post-9/11 militarism: As recently as December, more than 57,000 Guard members were deployed around the world. The federal government’s reliance on the National Guard makes state legislatures an intriguing second front in the drive to curtail the War on Terror. “Defend the Guard” laws also give state lawmakers a rare chance to influence foreign policy—and to impose consequences for the executive branch’s usurpation of war powers.

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    The heavy reliance on the Guard takes a toll on soldiers, families, neighborhoods and states. The intense pace of National Guard deployments was underscored at a recent Defend the Guard hearing in South Dakota: While opposing “Defend the Guard,” the state adjutant general acknowledged that, during the entire Global War on Terrorism to date, the state has had all its troops home for just 42 days.

    McKnight has friends who’ve done a staggering 12 or 13 overseas National Guard deployments. Beyond the risk to life and limb, and the hardships imposed on individuals, families and marriages, he says communities also pay a price.

    Guard members “are police officers, tradesmen, mechanics, schoolteachers, attorneys. (When) they have to leave that job behind, it puts a burden on the community,” says McKnight. Upon their return, Guard members are generally guaranteed the option to reclaim their jobs—but that sometimes means displacing those who filled their positions while they were away, compounding the disruptive effect.

    Deployments also prevent National Guard units from responding to crises at home—their primary reason for existing. For example:

    • When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, thousands of the states’ National Guard soldiers were deployed to Iraq. Mississippi’s 223rd Engineer Battalion returned to repair hurricane damage—but was ordered to leave its equipment in Iraq for use by other units.
    • In 2020, as Oregon endured some of its worst wildfires ever, half the state’s National Guard helicopters were in Afghanistan, including all its CH-47 Chinooks—dual-rotor choppers capable of carrying 26,000-pound payloads and ideal for use in firefighting. The Oregon Guard did what it could with Blackhawk helicopters that have one tenth the lifting power.

    The Empire Strikes Back

    When Defend the Guard measures are introduced in state legislatures, the national security establishment and its allies emerge to defend the status quo—by hook or by crook. In South Dakota, McKnight says, “the military-industrial complex…sent a two-star general to testify…and made all kinds of threats, and insinuated the state would lose their National Guard if they passed this bill, which is simply not true.”

    Weeks ago, Republican Idaho Representative Joe Palmer, who chairs the state’s Transportation & Defense Committee, seemed to resort to underhanded tactics to kill a Defend the Guard bill. He put the measure to an initial procedural vote in the committee, and declared it to have failed by voice vote. Video of the proceedings, however, shows the result of the voice vote to be unclear at best, and McKnight says his group’s post-vote polling of members suggests the measure would have advanced had Palmer taken a recorded vote.

    If Palmer didn’t already know he should play fair with veterans who are trying to prevent fellow citizen-soldiers from dying in unconstitutional wars, he may be learning that lesson now: McKnight says his group facilitated an emergency meeting of the GOP committee in Palmer’s home town, which is now considering a resolution censuring Palmer for his conduct.

    “If you want to play parliamentary tricks and the price of your tricks is the blood of my brothers and sisters who (deploy) over and over again, then we’re going to take some blood of our own, and we’re going to do that the way politicians understand, and that’s with voters in the primary and the general election,” says McKnight.

    Sometimes, the establishment’s machinations are done away from cameras. In a 2015 interview, West Virginia’s McGeehan said he was summoned to a meeting in the Speaker’s office with the commander of the state National Guard. The general said he’d received a call from the Pentagon, threatening that, if Defend the Guard became law, West Virginia bases would find their way onto the list of installations targeted for closure.

    Liz Cheney Intervenes to Thwart Wyoming Bill

    McKnight says “the most offensive opposition that we’ve faced” came from U.S. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney.

    “When we pushed the Defend the Guard bill in Wyoming last year, she or her staff contacted members of the Wyoming legislature and said, ‘If this passes in Wyoming, I will personally see to it that two C-130 aircraft are stripped from Wyoming and sent to Texas’,” says McKnight, who was in Cheyenne to support the bill, along with U.S. Senator Rand Paul.

    Bethany Baldes, Wyoming state director of BringOurTroopsHome.US, was also on hand. She too says lawmakers told her they received calls from Cheney’s office that included threats to send new C-130 cargo planes to Texas. (Cheney’s communications director has not replied to an invitation to comment on this story.)

    The measure failed, 35-22. A statement signed by a group of Wyoming senators opposing the measure seemed to turn logic on its head by claiming the bill “calls into question Wyoming’s support for our soldiers and airmen in the National Guard.” That episode was McKnight’s second jarring encounter with Cheney, whom he describes as a “warmonger heiress of a military-industrial fortune.” Months before, he and other veterans met with Cheney in Washington to urge her to support the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

    “We went into Liz Cheney’s office and we asked her, ‘What conditions must be met on the ground for you to support ending the war in Afghanistan and bringing our troops home?’ And she said, ‘I don’t think I could ever support that position’.”

    Pressing the issue, the veterans asked Cheney how long troops should remain. “She looked us stone-faced in the eye and said, ‘Forever. American troops will be in Afghanistan forever’,” says McKnight. “That’s when we decided it was time to step away from the swamp and work in the states, and force the states to force Congress’s hand.”

    Read more and subscribe at https://starkrealities.substack.com/

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 04/11/2021 – 22:40

  • "Total Chaos" – Unlawful Assembly Declared In Huntington Beach When "White Lives Matter" Clashed With Counter-Protesters 
    “Total Chaos” – Unlawful Assembly Declared In Huntington Beach When “White Lives Matter” Clashed With Counter-Protesters 

    Huntington Beach police declared an unlawful assembly in Downtown Huntington Beach, California, Sunday afternoon following a “White Lives Matter” rally that resulted in social unrest. 

    Hundreds of people gathered in Downtown Huntington Beach for the event, but it appeared counter-protesters (representing Black Lives Matter) also showed up in numbers. Members of various factions clashed, and that was the time when police declared an unlawful assembly at the nearby 5th Street and Walnut Avenue intersection. 

    L.A. Daily News’ Josh Cain documented some of the unrest this afternoon. He called it “total chaos” as “fights broke out” between protesters and counter-protesters. 

    More random fights broke out between protesters and counter-protesters. 

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    KCBS 2’s John Schreiber tweeted a video where it appears all hell broke out between White Lives Matter members and counter-protesters. It also appears police intervened at that point. 

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    So much for President Biden’s call for “unity” as the nation remains deeply divided. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 04/11/2021 – 22:15

  • New York's Fiscal Suicide
    New York’s Fiscal Suicide

    Authored by Daniel Mitchell via The American Institute for Economic Research,

    The state of New York is an economic disaster area.

    • New York is ranked #50 in the Economic Freedom of North America.

    • New York is ranked #48 in the State Business Tax Climate Index.

    • New York is ranked #50 in the Freedom in the 50 States.

    • New York is next-to-last in measures of inbound migration.

    • New York is ranked #50 in the State Soft Tyranny Index.

    The good news is that New York’s politicians seem to be aware of these rankings and are taking steps to change policy.

    The bad news is that they want they apparently want to be in last place in every index, so they’re looking at a giant tax increase.

    The Wall Street Journal opined on the potential tax increase yesterday.

    …lawmakers in Albany should be shouting welcome home. Instead they’re eyeing big new tax increases that would give the state’s temporary refugees to Florida—or wherever—one more reason to stay away for good. …Here are some of the proposals… Impose graduated rates on millionaires, up to 11.85%. …Since New York City has its own income tax, running to 3.88%, the combined rate would be…a bigger bite than even California’s notorious 13.3% top tax, and don’t forget Uncle Sam’s 37% share. …The squeeze is worse when you add the new taxes President Biden wants. A second factor: In 2017 the federal deduction for state and local taxes was capped at $10,000, so New Yorkers will now really feel the pinch. As E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy writes: “The financial incentive for high earners to move themselves and their businesses from New York to states with low or no income taxes has never—ever—been higher than it already is.”

    The potential deal also would increase the state’s capital gains tax and the state’s death tax, adding two more reasons for entrepreneurs and investors to escape.

    Here are some more details from a story in the New York Times by Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Jesse McKinley.

    Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and New York State legislative leaders were nearing a budget agreement on Monday that would make New York City’s millionaires pay the highest personal income taxes in the nation… Under the proposed new tax rate, the city’s top earners could pay between 13.5 percent to 14.8 percent in state and city taxes, when combined with New York City’s top income tax rate of 3.88 percent — more than the top marginal income tax rate of 13.3 percent in California… Raising taxes on the rich in New York has been a top policy priority of the Democratic Party’s left flank… The business community has warned that raising income taxes could prompt millionaires who have left the state during the pandemic and are working remotely to make their move permanent, damaging the state’s tax base. Currently, the top 2 percent of the state’s highest earners pay about half of the state’s income taxes. …The corporate franchise tax rate would also increase to 7.25 percent from 6.5 percent.

    There are two things to keep in mind about this looming tax increase.

    That second item is a big reason why so many taxpayers already have escaped New York and moved to states with better tax policy (most notably, Florida).

    And even more will move if tax rates are increased, as expected.

    Indeed, if the left’s dream agenda is adopted, I wouldn’t be surprised if every successful person left New York. In a column for the Wall Street Journal, Mark Kingdon warns about other tax hikes being considered, especially a wealth tax.

    Legislators in Albany are considering two tax bills that could seriously damage the economic well-being and quality of life in New York for many years to come: a wealth tax and a stock transfer tax. …Should New York enact a 2% wealth tax, a wealthy New Yorker could wind up paying a 77% tax on short-term stock market profits. And that’s a conservative estimate: It assumes that stocks return 9% a year. If the return is 4.4% or less, the tax would be more than 100%. …65,000 families pay half of the city’s income taxes, and they won’t stay if the taxes become unreasonable… The trickle of wealthy émigrés out of New York has become a steady stream… It will be a flood if New York enacts a wealth tax with an associated tax on unrealized gains, which would lower, not raise, tax revenues, as those who leave take with them jobs and related services, such as legal and accounting. …The geese who have laid golden eggs for years see what is happening in Albany, and they’ll fly south to avoid being carved up.

    The good news – at least relatively speaking – is that a wealth tax is highly unlikely.

    But that’s a rather small silver lining on a very big dark cloud. The tax increases that will happen are more than enough to make the state even more hostile to private sector growth.

    I’ll close with a few observations.

    There are a few states that can get away with higher-than-average taxes because of special considerations. California, for instance, has climate and scenery. In the case of New York, it can get away with some bad policy because some people think of New York City as a one-of-a-kind place. But there’s a limit to how much those factors can be exploited, as both California and New York are now learning.

    What politicians don’t realize (or don’t care about) is that people look at a range of factors when deciding where to live. This is especially true for successful entrepreneurs, investors, and business owners, who have both resources and knowledge to assess the costs and benefits of different locations. The problem for New York is that it looks bad on almost all policy metrics.

    If the tax increases are enacted, expect to see a significant drop in taxable income as upper-income taxpayers either leave the state or figure out other ways of protecting their income. I don’t know if the state will be on the downward-sloping portion of the Laffer Curve, but it’s safe to assume that revenues over time will fall far short of projections. And it’s very safe to assume that the economic damage will easily offset any revenues that are collected.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 04/11/2021 – 21:50

  • 'That's Not Orwellian, THIS Is Orwellian': Aussies Mulling ID For Access To Facebook, Twitter, Tinder
    ‘That’s Not Orwellian, THIS Is Orwellian’: Aussies Mulling ID For Access To Facebook, Twitter, Tinder

    The Australian government is mulling a proposal which would require citizens to provide at least two forms of identification if they want to use social media, under the guise of ‘battling online bullying and more easily report users to authorities.

    Under the guise of preventing online bullying, the Morrison government’s plan would require ‘100 points of identification’ in order to use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram – and online dating platforms such as Tinder, according to news.com.au. To satisfy the ‘100 points’ requirement, citizens would need to combine ‘Category 1’ methods of identification (birth certificate, passport, citizenship papers) with ‘Category 2’ ID (Valid government-issued license, public employee photo ID, doctor’s note).

    More via news.com.au:

    The recommendation, which has been raised before, is one of 88 recommendations from a parliamentary committee report looking at family, domestic and sexual violence.

    “In order to open or maintain an existing social media account, customers should be required by law to identify themselves to a platform using 100 points of identification, in the same way as a person must provide identification for a mobile phone account, or to buy a mobile SIM card,” the report suggests.

    It goes on to say that social media platforms “must provide those identifying details when requested by the eSafety Commissioner, law enforcement or as directed by the court”.

    In other news, Australia has an eSafety Commissioner.

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    As the report notes, the ID requirement would mean social media giants have even more information on their users.

    Normal people, as expected, are expressing disbelief over the new proposal:

    “Are we turning into North Korea? This is Orwellian,” one user wrote on Twitter after reading the recommendation.

    “I’m a social media manager and I honestly don’t get enough out of social media to justify giving them access to my ID,” another wrote.

    Emily van der Nagal is a lecturer at Monash University in Melbourne. She wrote her PhD thesis on the value of social media anonymity and pseudonymity and said of the recommendation: “Don’t do this.”

    “Hello, it’s me, a social media researcher who has argued time and time again that it’s not a good idea to force people to submit ID to use social media,” she wrote on Twitter.

    “It won’t solve harassment; it will only further harm already vulnerable groups. Don’t do this.”

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 04/11/2021 – 21:25

  • China Blasts US Military Interventions In 'Counter' Human Rights Report
    China Blasts US Military Interventions In ‘Counter’ Human Rights Report

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    In the face of constant attacks by US officials over alleged human rights abuses, China released a report on Friday that blasts the US for its many military interventions that have created humanitarian disasters.

    The report, titled “Severe Humanitarian Disasters Caused by US Aggressive Wars against Foreign Countries,” was released by the China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS), which falls under China’s State Council Information Office.

    Demolished vehicles on the “Highway of Death” during Operation Desert Storm, Wikimedia/US Air Force.

    “The majority of the aggressive wars were launched by the US unilaterally. They resulted in mass casualties and destruction of property and led to appalling humanitarian catastrophes. Such foreign interventions lay bare America’s selfishness and hypocrisy,” the report reads.

    The report said that from the end of World War II to 2001, the US was responsible for 81 percent of the world’s armed conflicts.

    “According to incomplete statistics, from the end of World War II in 1945 to 2001, among the 248 armed conflicts that occurred in 153 regions of the world, 201 were initiated by the United States, accounting for 81 percent of the total number,” the study reads.

    The report examined statistics of seven armed conflicts the US was involved in, from the Korean War to recent intervention in Syria. CSHRS said that besides direct military involvement, the US has also “intervened directly or indirectly in other countries’ affairs by supporting proxy wars, inciting anti-government insurgencies, carrying out assassinations, providing weapons and ammunition, and training anti-government armed forces.”

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    In recent years, US officials have turned up the rhetoric against China, and the Biden administration has been especially hostile.

    Beijing has maintained a more diplomatic tone, but since in-person talks between the two countries’ top diplomats in Alaska turned hostile last month, China seems more willing to call out Washington’s hypocrisy.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 04/11/2021 – 21:00

  • Manhattan Bargain Hunters Scoop Up Apartments In Discount Frenzy
    Manhattan Bargain Hunters Scoop Up Apartments In Discount Frenzy

    For the last several months, bargain hunters have been rushing to sign leases in Manhattan as swelling apartment inventory has pressured prices. Landlords are more desperate than ever to attract new tenants, offering record concessions to fill vacant apartments. 

    Appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate released a new report Thursday indicating apartment contracts for March soared 89% over the same period last year to 4,986. Record discounts and cheap rents, along with seasonal spring trends, are attracting bargain hunters. The report said last month’s leasing total was the largest in a decade since records began. 

    The surge in bargain hunters first began in early January. Ever since, new tenants have been swarming the borough, taking advantage of record incentives and heavily discounted rental rates. 

    Manhattan apartment hunters received an average of 6.8% off the original list price, the second-highest in markdowns since the pandemic began, the report said,

    Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, said even older listings, ones that have been on the market for an extended time, are starting to gain interest. But with apartment listings spending at least 100 days on average on the market, the longest time since early 2009, oversupplied conditions will continue to exert downward pressure on rent prices. 

    Source: Bloomberg 

    The report said there were 19,633 vacant apartments listed as of March. A month before, there were more than 24,000. The apartment vacancy rate was around 11.25% last month. 

    After concessions are factored in, the median rent for Manhattan apartments was $2,975 – up about 4.6% from February, for the most significant month-over-month increase in a year. But since last March, rents are down 14%, 

    Miller warned: “With inventory still being so elevated, I don’t see rents posting noticeable gains in the near future. There’s still too much out there.”

    In a past report, Miller said the latest rebound should not be viewed as an “imminent recovery.”

    It remains to be seen if the latest wave of bargain hunters can soak up supply in the borough – if not – then rents will stay cheap – after all, there’s been a permanent shift of people from the city to suburbs due to remote working. 

      Tyler Durden
      Sun, 04/11/2021 – 20:35

    1. Goldman:"Don't Fight The Fed" – The Fed Wants Higher Inflation, And It Will Get It
      Goldman:”Don’t Fight The Fed” – The Fed Wants Higher Inflation, And It Will Get It

      Summarizing investor sentiment in his Weekly Kickstart note, Goldman’s David Kostin writes that three macro issues dominated investor discussions about the US equity market since the start of the year: rates, inflation, and taxes.

      Not surprisingly, interest rates have been the most important of these topics. In a rising interest rate environment, short duration outperforms long duration in both fixed income and equities and sure enough, of all Goldman thematic baskets, duration has been the best long-short trade, posting a +25% return since the start of 2021

      A sector-neutral portfolio of short duration stocks (GSTHSDUR) has climbed by +24% YTD compared with a -1% return for a long duration portfolio (GSTHLDUR). As Exhibit 1 shows, duration has been a major contributor to alpha generation.

      Looking ahead, Goldman expects more of the same: a static fed funds rate at the zero lower bound (until 2024 according to the Fed) combined with a continued rise in both real rates and breakeven inflation means a steeper yield curve. Meanwhile, amid expectations of historic economic overheating, Goldman predicts that GDP growth will peak in the current quarter at 10.5% and nominal rates may rise by another 15 bps to 1.8%. As such, short duration stocks should continue to outperform, which also means more weakness for tech names. However, according to Kostin, “some clients argue Treasury yields peaked at 1.75% at the end of March, and secular-growth Tech stocks will now outperform once again.” To be sure, that’s precisely what we have seen recently (read “Did The “Value Rotation” Just Die Again: Some Market Thoughts From Goldman“).

      Kostin then takes us to the depths of financial market folklore and repeats what may be the single biggest cliche in all of finance: “Don’t fight the Fed” is a quip investors have learned to ignore at their peril.” 

      Why is this relevant? Because as Goldman notes next, “what the central bank wants is usually what it gets, sooner or later. A year ago, the Fed’s forceful intervention to backstop the money market sent both companies and fund managers a clear message about its willingness to provide liquidity. The Fed set a floor beneath equities and sparked the 80% rally that has lifted the S&P 500 to an all-time high.” (yes, that’s Goldman admitting the Fed is now in the stock market manipulation business, a claim which not long ago was made by the occasional “tinfoil-wearing” website such as this one, for which it got much abuse).

      As a result, Goldman warns that the S&P has rallied 9% YTD and now trades at our mid-year 2021 target of 4100. Our year-end and 12-month target implies a gain of 5% (7% with dividends).”

      That said, stocks could go far higher, especially short duration stocks. After all, as Kostin repeats, “the Fed wants higher inflation. It has rejected pre-emptive tightening and instead under average inflation targeting wants core PCE inflation to average 2% over time. Core PCE averaged 1.45% year/year during the first two months of 2021. Although inflation readings are likely to be elevated during the next few months –peaking in April at 2.3% –it is likely to be transitory, and below 2.0% on a sustainable basis until 2023, according to the forecasts of our economics team.”

      How do publicly-traded stocks fit into the inflation picture? According to Goldman (and Morgan Stanley) It is all about margins.

      Picking up on the latest warning by MS chief equity strategist Michael Wilson who last week spooked clients with his chart showing the collapse in the ISM index due to the surge in Prices Paid…

      … Kostin notes that the Producer Price Index (PPI) segmented by stage of processing shows that raw materials inflation (year/year) equaled 9.3% in March 2021, the prices of intermediate goods rose by 4.0%, although finished goods inflation equaled only 1.3%.

      Based on his recent conversations with managements, firms are experiencing higher input costs stemming from supply chain disruptions, rising commodity prices, and increased labor costs. To be sure, increasingly more firms are defending margins by passing the higher costs along to their end market customers. KMB recently announced that effective in late June it will lift the net selling price of the majority of its North American consumer products in the “mid-to-high single digits.” But in the case of US auto manufacturers, the solid end demand environment that has allowed companies to cut incentives on limited inventory has been offset by margin headwinds related to production challenges, most notably the lack of semiconductors. Other cost pressures include higher shipping costs and manufacturing expenses related to factory downtime.

      And so with margins squeezed, it’s will be all about the ability to pass through cost increases. Notably, this would be a reversal to the trend observed in the past year: as Goldman notes, firms with high pricing power sharply lagged during the past year and the huge valuation premium previously accorded these stocks has disappeared. That’s because firms with low pricing power have historically outperformed when S&P 500 profit margins expand, but that period is coming to an end as rising inflation will restrict some firms from boosting margins while firms with pricing power will benefit.

      To find suitable investment candidates, Goldman screens for high and low pricing power stocks in the Russell 1000 based on the level and variability of each stock’s gross profit margins. The chart below lists 55 stocks with high pricing power.

      Tyler Durden
      Sun, 04/11/2021 – 20:10

    2. 40% Of Marines Refuse COVID-19 Vaccine
      40% Of Marines Refuse COVID-19 Vaccine

      Just under 40 percent of US Marines are refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine, according to data obtained by CNN.

      According to the report, 38.9% of Marines – with an average age of 25, putting them at roughly 0.18% risk of death, are refusing to take the jab – which doesn’t prevent one from getting COVID-19, falling ill, or transmitting it. Who could have guessed that extraordinarily fit people with a minimal chance of death don’t want to inject the most rushed vaccine in history.

      “The Navy and Marine Corps are providing substantial educational information broadly, and working with commands to ensure Marines, Sailors, and beneficiaries have accurate information regarding the safety and efficacy of the vaccines to encourage individuals to get immunized,” said Marines spokesman, Capt. Andrew Wood, in a statement to The Hill, adding “We continue to make the vaccine available to Marines, Sailors, civilians, contractors and authorized beneficiaries based on the prioritization schedule listed in the [Department of Defense] population schema.”

      According to the data, approximately 75,500 marines have been vaccinated, while 48,000 have declined. The overall acceptance rate is 61.1%. The figures include active-duty, reserves, and the Individual Mobilization Augmentee Marines, according to the CNN report.

      The rate of declined vaccines was as high as 57% at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

      Due to the vaccine’s emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the military can’t force service members to get vaccinated.

      Tyler Durden
      Sun, 04/11/2021 – 19:45

    3. Biden's Latest Scheme To Fix Border Crisis: Paying Would-Be Illegals To Stay Home
      Biden’s Latest Scheme To Fix Border Crisis: Paying Would-Be Illegals To Stay Home

      Authored by Monica Showalter via AmericanThinker.com,

      As the border crisis gets bigger and bigger, the Biden administration is running out of ideas. 

      Latest weather balloon to be floated around is the possibility of U.S. taxpayer checks to pay would-be illegals in Central America to stay home.

      According to a report from Reuters:

      WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States is considering a conditional cash transfer program to help address economic woes that lead migrants from certain Central American countries to trek north, as well as sending COVID-19 vaccines to those countries, a senior White House official told Reuters on Friday.

      The potential program would be targeted at people in the Northern Triangle region of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Roberta Jacobson, the White House’s southern border coordinator, told Reuters in an interview, without saying who exactly would receive cash.

      Kind of a stimulus check incentive plan for foreign nationals on the promise that they’ll not break into our country illegally, but instead live in their homelands for awhile, maybe as long as the cash lasts? It’s a typical liberal idea of throwing cash at a problem instead of solving it.

      After all, it would be just as easy to enforce U.S. immigration law, and who knows, make a treaty with the nations whose nationals are so eager to leave as well as the transit country Mexico. Who knows? They might even encourage people to use the existing legal process for immigration into the U.S, but that’s not how the Biden administration “thinks.” Too Trumpy, as it happens. Better to throw cash at the problem instead.

      After all, in the family of Hunter Biden, who can’t be bought off?

      In Central America, how many people want to emigrate? Well, to take one indicator, a 2018 Gallup poll found that 42 million, or 27% of the entire Latin American population would like to move permanently to the U.S.

      The Central American countries of the “northern triangle,” which is the source of the border surge, boasts about 16.6 million people in Guatemala, 6.4 million in El Salvador, and 9.7 million in Honduras, for a grand total of 32.7 million people. By extraction from those numbers, about 8.2 million would like to emigrate permanently, though the number in that particular region is probably higher. Here are a couple of complicating factors. At least 10% of the Salvadoran population is already in the states, many living here illegally. It’s unknown if they are counted in the World Bank numbers cited above or counted in the U.S. population, where they already get congressional represention, virtually all of it from Democrats. Some 18% of its national income comes from remittances, which suggests the percentage could be even higher.

      Here’s another complicating factor — would these illegals already in the states get Biden stay-home stimulus checks as well, on top of the stimulus checks they are already getting from states such as California and, soon, New York?

      And here’s yet another complicating factor: Would the stay-home money be more, or less, than the state handouts? It would seem that if Biden is serious about keeping illegals home, he’d have to top the $20,000 or whatever it is that generous states such as New York are offering courtesy of the taxpayers to the illegals.

      And would illegals be free to collect checks from all sources — first, the state stimulus checks, and then the Biden stimulus checks to stay home? Who’d check? The U.S. can’t even cross-check voter databases, you can bet they aren’t going to be able to cross-check with a foreign database. How could they prove one way or another where someone is actually living, particularly with families stretched across both the homeland and the states, plus some maybe in Mexico?

      And how would they prevent the cartels and MS-13 and other gangs from shaking down the would-be illegal migrants being paid by Uncle Sam to stay home? Any time the cartels, gangs, or human smugglers so much as hear about someone getting a remittance check or a paltry amount of cash from any source, it’s kidnap and blackmail time. Rest assured, once the stimulus checks are shaken down and in the hands of cartels, the would-be migrants will be on the road to the states again.

      So many problems with this it’s indescribable. Yet it’s typical of Biden, who has been wrong on every foreign policy issue.

      It signals a U.S. foreign policy on the border issues in disarray.

      Let’s recap some of the problems.

      Biden’s named point person for the border negotiations, Roberta Jacobsen, a professional diplomat, has suddenly announced her resignation last week. Adios, Joe, she’s bailing by the end of April.

      Her job itself, negotiating with Central American northern triangle countries was undercut from the start by Joe Biden’s bone-to-the-left cancellation of President Trump’s stay-in-Mexico treaty for the majority of migrants who make meritless asylum claims, and the treaties he signed with Central American countries to keep residents home in exchange for $260 million in foreign aid. That’s now money flushed down the toilet.

      She was reduced to offering them lectures on democracy and transparency as the big tool for keeping migrants home. I wrote about that here. She (and her team) were also reduced to asking Mexico to bail Joe Biden’s chestnuts out of the fire on the border surge, to stop the human waves so Joe wouldn’t have to, after Biden abrogated the agreement signed with Trump to just that in exchange for continued and enhanced trade. Joe expected Mexico to give him what he wanted by halting migrants for nothing at all, just ‘because.’ Worse still, Mexico openly blamed Biden for his own stupidity, incentivizing huge amounts of child migration, and expecting Mexico to stop it for him, understanding very well what was going on with this clown. American Thinker contributor Silvio Canto wrote about that sorry picture here. 

      Here’s another problem: Biden undercut her position as the top border negotiator by then naming Kamala Harris as the border negotiator. Who the heck would pay attention to her in Central America when they’ve just learned that the ‘it’ person is Harris? 

      More spectacular still, Harris is AWOL, now 18 days in with no statement or evidence of paying any attention to the emergency migrant surge at the border. She was last seen focusing on getting her vice presidential mansion decorated and making headline about “getting a snack” in Chicago. Rest assured, none of that helped Jacobson, who bolted.

      Ahead of her exit. she told Reuters this:

      “We’re looking at all of the productive options to address both the economic reasons people may be migrating, as well as the protection and security reasons,” Jacobson said.

      She did not provide a detailed explanation of how a cash transfer program would work.

      “The one thing I can promise you is the U.S. government isn’t going to be handing out money or checks to people,” Jacobson said.

      It’s not clear from the Reuters account whether she said that before or after the news of her resignation, but if it came before, and I suspect it did, it kind of suggests that maybe her declaration that the U.S. government would not being handing out cash or checks “to people” might just have been a firing offense because Joe does want to hand out cash to make border surgers go away.  

      It just goes to show how bereft of ideas the Biden administration is now that the costs of the current border surge — $60 million a week, or about $24,000 per illegal for housing, food, transport, time spent locating “relatives” in the U.S., vetting, hiring of personnel, renting of space, et al — are going through the roof. 

      Joe inherited a good stabilizing set of treaties from President Trump and he threw them away. He’s now got a useless fool heading up the effort to resolve crisis that has since followed. His professional diplomats are fleeing. Now he’s hoping that throwing money at the problem of his own making is going to do the trick.

      File under ‘pathetic.’

      Tyler Durden
      Sun, 04/11/2021 – 19:20

    4. "Nuclear Terrorism": Iran Confirms "Sabotage" After Natanz Atomic Site Blackout, Vows Retaliation
      “Nuclear Terrorism”: Iran Confirms “Sabotage” After Natanz Atomic Site Blackout, Vows Retaliation

      We detailed earlier on Sunday that what appears to have been a cyberattack has disabled the power grid of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Naturally all eyes are on Israel as a likely culprit, which Israeli media itself has been at the forefront of speculating and asserting.

      Providing some confirmation that it wasn’t just “an accident” as was initially suggested, Iran’s top atomic official has followed by blaming an act of “nuclear terrorism” in statements later in the day.

      Chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, further called it sabotage akin to the June 2020 attack on Natanz which resulted in a devastating fire which temporarily crippled the site which is key to Iran’s uranium enrichment process. In fact it was only on Saturday that Iran unveiled that it had new advanced centrifuges at the site.

      The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi, via AP.

      “Condemning this despicable move, the Islamic Republic of Iran emphasizes the need for the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] to deal with this nuclear terrorism,” state media quoted Salehi as saying.

      He further vowed retaliation: “Iran reserves the right to take action against the perpetrators,” he said.

      It follows on the heels of The Jerusalem Post report Sunday which asserted bluntly “…it seems that the so-called accident was caused by a cyber attack, possibly by Israel.”

      “Natanz has in the past been targeted by Israeli cyber operations, according to foreign reports. In 2010, the Stuxnet virus attacked the facility in a joint operation with the United States, destroying over 1,000 centrifuges,” the JPost report added.

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      No injuries or nuclear breaches or leaks have been reported as part of Sunday’s incident, which was likely aimed at derailing current JCPOA talks in Vienna.

      Tyler Durden
      Sun, 04/11/2021 – 18:55

    5. The Number Of Billionaires In America Has Absolutely Exploded During The Pandemic
      The Number Of Billionaires In America Has Absolutely Exploded During The Pandemic

      Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

      For the wealthy and the ultra-wealthy, happy days are here again.  Even though we have just been through one of the most difficult 12 months in our history, the number of billionaires has increased dramatically during this pandemic.  That seems rather odd, but there is no denying that the rich have gotten even richer during this crisis. 

      In fact, Forbes revealed this week that the number of billionaires has risen by about 30 percent over the past year…

      The number of newly minted and reissued billionaires soared last year, Forbes reported Tuesday in its annual ranking, a staggering accumulation of personal wealth that stands in sharp contrast with the widespread economic struggles unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic.

      The number of billionaires on Forbes’ 35th annual ranking swelled by 660 to 2,755 — a roughly 30 percent jump from a year ago — and 493 of them are first-timers. Seven of eight are richer than they were before the pandemic. Forbes calculates net worth by using stock prices and exchange rates from March 5.

      Of course thanks to the reckless policies of our leaders, a billion dollars does not go nearly as far as it once did.

      But still, a billion dollars is a whole lot of money.

      Needless to say, the biggest reason why the number of billionaires has exploded is because we have been witnessing one of the greatest stock market rallies in history.

      A year ago, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was sitting at about 23,000.

      Today, it is above 33,000, and some analysts expect it to shoot quite a bit higher throughout the rest of 2021.

      Stock prices have never been more detached from economic reality as they have been over the past 12 months, and they have only risen so high because of unprecedented intervention by the Federal Reserve and because of extremely wild spending by the federal government.

      Many have warned that the party will inevitably come to a crashing end at some point, but it hasn’t happened yet.

      So for now, the market optimists look like champions.

      And now that Joe Biden is in the White House, the corporate media is telling us that we are on the verge of a grand new era of American prosperity.  The corporate media insists that the pandemic will soon be behind us thanks to the vaccines, and the talking heads on television envision a return to the good old days very quickly.

      In fact, Barron’s is already declaring that the “U.S. economy might be stronger than it’s ever been”.

      And CNN is trying to convince us that “America’s economy could be heading for a golden era of growth”.

      Really?

      If the U.S. economy is actually improving, then why are new claims for unemployment benefits going up?…

      The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, according to the Labor Department.

      Data released Thursday showed 744,000 Americans filed first-time jobless claims in the week ended April 3. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting 680,000 filings. The previous week’s total was revised higher by 9,000 to 728,000.

      If economic conditions were getting better, that number should be going the other way.

      Even I didn’t expect a number this bad.

      Prior to 2020, the all-time record high for new unemployment claims in a single week was 695,000.  That record was established in October 1982, and it stood all the way until the COVID pandemic hit the U.S. early last year.

      Sadly, we have been above 695,000 almost every single week since then.

      The numbers compiled by the states tell us that nearly three-quarters of a million Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week.  That is an absolutely catastrophic number.  Nobody should be talking about a “golden era of growth” or claiming that the “economy might be stronger than it’s ever been” until we get that number back down to pre-pandemic levels.

      And right now, we are at a level that is about three times as high as pre-pandemic levels.

      Look, the truth is that anyone that tells you that unemployment is low in the United States is lying to you.

      According to John Williams of shadowstats.com, if honest numbers were being used the unemployment rate in the United States would be 25.7 percent right now.

      That is the sort of number that we would expect to see during an economic depression, and the truth is that we are in an economic depression.

      Over the past year, more than 70 million new claims for unemployment benefits have been filed, and approximately 4 million U.S. businesses have gone out of existence permanently.

      But don’t worry, the stock market is hovering near all-time record highs and the corporate media is telling you that everything is going to be wonderful now that Joe Biden is in control.

      Come on man!

      You can’t really believe that stuff that they are shoveling.

      With each passing day, more Americans are losing their jobs, more Americans are falling out of the middle class, and the cost of living just keeps going up even higher.

      In fact, we just learned that global food prices have now gone up for 10 months in a row…

      The global food-price rally that’s stoking inflation worries and hitting consumers around the world shows little sign of slowing.

      Even with grain prices taking a breather on good crop prospects, a United Nations gauge of global food costs rose for a 10th month in March to the highest since 2014. Last month’s advance was driven by a surge in vegetable oils amid stronger demand and tight inventories, according to Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior economist at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

      I am going to continue to watch global food prices very carefully, because I believe that it will be a very important trend in the months and years ahead.

      But for now, the good news is that at least economic conditions are relatively stable.

      Yes, things are not nearly as good as they were before the pandemic, but at least they are not getting a whole lot worse.

      So even though things are not great, we should enjoy this period of relative stability while we still can, because it definitely will not last.

      *  *  *

      Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

      Tyler Durden
      Sun, 04/11/2021 – 18:30

    6. "Far Left Antifa Extremists" Set Fire To Portland ICE Building 
      “Far Left Antifa Extremists” Set Fire To Portland ICE Building 

      In Portland, Oregon, rioters set fire to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building late Saturday night. 

      “The Portland ICE facility is currently on fire,” journalist Grace Morgan tweeted, accompanied by a video showing the front entrance of the building in flames. 

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      Morgan said about “100 black bloc demonstrators” gathered in front of the ICE building shortly before midnight. 

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      BlazeTV’s field reporter Elijah Schaffer showed rioters setting part of the ICE building on fire. 

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      Clips posted by Morgan also show the fire. 

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      Police and federal agents eventually arrived on the scene to secure the building. 

      Footage posted by Post Millennial editor-at-large Andy Ngo tweeted: 

      “Watch the moment federal officers rushed out to respond after antifa set the @ICEgov facility on fire last night. Antifa barricaded the front of the facility to trap people inside while the building was on fire.” 

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      The mob chanted, “Every city, every town, burn the precinct to the ground!”

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      The fire was eventually extinguished while federal agents and police guarded the perimeter of the building. Federal agents deployed crowd-controlling measures to repel the protesters. They fired pepper bombs and other non-lethal munitions. 

      “Police and protesters have formed a line across the road, facing off, in front of the ICE building in the South Waterfront district of Portland, Oregon,” journalist Chris Landis reported on Twitter.

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      … and this is not the first time Antifa terrorists attacked an ICE building in Portland. In late January, dozens of protesters hurled projectiles and mortar explosives at federal police officers. 

      Simultaneously, Multnomah County, the county that houses Portland, requested the federal government to ban agents from using tear gas against rioters. So while Antifa rioters attack federal buildings – how in the hell will they be able to defend their buildings as their arsenal of non-lethal weapons is being depleted?  

      This whole movement to defund police is pushing America deeper into a violent mess that could one day be equivalent to a third-world country unless law and order are immediately restored. 

      Tyler Durden
      Sun, 04/11/2021 – 18:05

    7. Excess Liquidity In The Eurozone Has Doubled To €4 Trillion In One Year: What Are The Costs
      Excess Liquidity In The Eurozone Has Doubled To €4 Trillion In One Year: What Are The Costs

      By Soniya Sadeesh, credit strategist at Deutsche Bank

      Excess liquidity in the Eurozone breached €4TN this week, having been around €2TN a year ago. It will continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace going forward, as purchase programmes are ongoing (assuming a tapering of PEPP) and with much less of a contribution expected from TLTROs.

      Today’s chart considers the cost of this liquidity to the banking system in aggregate. A simple metric considers the liquidity charged at deposit rate versus the amount earned via the TLTRO (assuming the lending benchmark is met and subdepo pricing is attained).

      When tiering was introduced in 2019, the cost of the excess liquidity (ie, that charged at the deposit rate) roughly halved. In early 2020 it rose again as lockdowns necessitated interventions, and thereafter the upgraded TLTRO3 terms have resulted in a net boost for the banking system. The window in which banks can earn -1% currently ends in June 2022, and the effect, given the rise in excess liquidity, is stark.

      The simple exercise also illustrates why the ECB is likely to have to revisit the TLTRO3 terms as the end of the special rate window approaches. An extension (potentially at less favourable terms) is a plausible outcome, but so is a rise in the tiering multiplier. Whilst ECB has doubled down on the TLTRO, it’s worth noting the SNB and BoJ have both over time adjusted the exemption thresholds to alleviate the cost of negative rates (and overnight rates have moved higher over time).

      The impact of either option on the front end differs, and will depend on calibration. The market is currently pricing around 3bps of cuts, where the trough is in the reds; this could also partially reflect the risks of a trend lower in the fixings as excess liquidity continues to grow. However, as can be seen, a 10bp cut to the deposit rate contributes substantially to the net cost, and will likely have to be accompanied by other mitigating measures that could also reduce its pass through.

      Tyler Durden
      Sun, 04/11/2021 – 17:40

    8. China Passenger Vehicle Sales Scorch Higher By 69% In Q1
      China Passenger Vehicle Sales Scorch Higher By 69% In Q1

      Auto sales in China have scorched back past pre-pandemic levels, with passenger vehicle sales increasing 69% year over year to 5.09 million from January to March 2021. 

      The China Passenger Car Association released numbers on Friday, indicating that sales are back to levels they were at two years ago, despite still being far below the country’s record set in March 2018. 

      The demand for electric vehicles was “red hot”, according to The Wall Street Journal. The country sold 437,000 electric vehicle units during the quarter, marking about 8% of the country’s market share. EVs remain in high demand in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

      SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co., one of GM’s local joint ventures; Tesla; and BYD Co. combined to for 55% of the EV market in March. U.S.-listed Chinese EV startups Li Auto Inc., Nio Inc. and XPeng Inc. combined for sales of just 46,000 cars.

      China is expected to head back toward its sales record by 2024, analysts note, as recent weak performance of the country’s stock market has zapped citizens’ purchasing power.

      And while domestic automakers – particularly those focused on EVs – have had no trouble getting caught back up in China, the country has been a “tough place” for U.S. auto makers like General Motors. GM sold just 780,200 vehicles in the first quarter, which marks its worst Q1 in China since 2012. 

      GM sold only 64,800 Chevy branded vehicles, compared to the 170,000 Chevy vehicles it sold during the same period in 2015. 

      Ford sold 153,822 vehicles during the quarter, which is up from the 136,279 vehicles it sold two years ago. It also sold more than twice as many cars as Q1 2016, which was its best year in China. 

      And of course, there’s Tesla, who sold 69,820 vehicles in Q1, marking more than 33% of the company’s global Model 3 and Model Y sales. 

      Tyler Durden
      Sun, 04/11/2021 – 17:15

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