May 12

Today’s News 12th May 2022

  • How Fast Are Countries Burning Through Natural Resources?
    How Fast Are Countries Burning Through Natural Resources?

    This year’s country overshoot dates, released by the think tank Global Footprint Network, reveal a pretty daunting prospect. As Statista’s Anna Fleck details below, not only do they show the extent to which we are over-extracting the planet’s resources, but they also underline the extreme inequalities that exist between countries.

    Statista’s chart shows that Qatar, a relatively small and rich country, comes out on top for burning through resources the fastest. In fact, if the whole planet consumed resources at the pace of Qatar, we would hit our 2022 threshold by February 10.

    Infographic: How Fast are Countries Burning Through Natural Resources? | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    Meanwhile, Indonesia, Jamaica and Benin are three of the handful of countries that have overshoot days in December. The consumption divide seems to be split between richer, industrialized countries and those with a lower-income. 50 countries do not overextend their natural resources and therefore do not have an Earth Overshoot Day.

    While the pandemic saw humanity’s global environmental footprint start to decline, with Earth Overshoot Day for the entire globe taking place later than usual in 2020, on August 22, this seems to have been short lived, as the day fell on July 29 in 2021, the same day as in 2019. The date for 2022 is yet to be announced.

    According to the Global Footprint Network’s methodology report, the findings take into consideration how much land/resources a country has and how much is needed to meet its people’s demand for food, timber, energy production, waste absorption and space for roads.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 05/12/2022 – 02:45

  • Lighting The Gas Under European Feet: How Politicians & Journalists Get Energy So Wrong
    Lighting The Gas Under European Feet: How Politicians & Journalists Get Energy So Wrong

    Authored by Joakim Book via The Mises Institute,

    “We live in a time where few understand how things get made. It is fine to not know where stuff comes from, but it isn’t fine to not know where stuff comes from while dictating to the rest of us how the economy should be run.”

    – Doomberg

    Eighty-five percent of human energy usage comes from burning things. Either plants or trees grown in a geologically recent past or plants or trees (and decomposed animals) from ancient times. Solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc.—all the things that occupy a climate-conscious citizen, activist, or politician’s dreams—are frizzles around the edges.

    Human civilization is powered by combustion; human beings are a fossil fuel–burning civilization. You can take away the civilization part, which seems to be the end goal for some environmentalists, but bar that, you can’t take away the fossil fuel part.

    If we listened only to our energy overlords’ preaching, we would get a very different impression of what the world is like. Wind turbines powering all those electrified vehicles on our roads, solar panels and batteries of immense capacities light and heat our homes. Dirty oil and polluting coal are out; green, clean, and smart machines on the way in.

    Nothing could be further from the truth. Renewables don’t power our societies, they’re not about to any time soon, and the fact that they’re not isn’t a policy choice—or “greedy capitalism” preventing this utopian (dystopian) vision.

    First, some housekeeping: Energy is not the same as electricity. Electricity is a secondary energy source, derived from primary energy sources through a conversion process—combustion or turbines spinning. The 85 percent figure above is for energy use. The bombastic figures in the press about the massive growth and expanse of renewables are for electricity, which is only a subset of all the world’s energy use (some 20 percent). Oil, coal, and gas for transport, heating, fertilizers, and construction dwarf the symbolic solar panels governments paid people to place on their roof.

    Solar panels and wind turbines produce a minor part of the electricity needs, but do nothing to address the larger energy needs. In contrast, fossil fuels are energy-dense, reliable, on-demand sources of either energy or electricity, and we have excelled both at storing and transporting them.

    Dreams of a green revolution, per the energy theorist Vaclav Smil, were always mirages:

    We are a fossil-fueled civilization whose technical and scientific advances, quality of life, and prosperity rest on the combustion of huge quantities of fossil carbon, and we cannot simply walk away from this critical determinant of our fortunes in a few decades, never mind years.

    Instead, suddenly facing an adversary rich in raw materials and fossil fuels, the West’s talking heads doubled down on their green dreams. From behind comfortable newspaper desks, heated and electrified by natural gas, it’s remarkably easy to say things like: “The new reality is that we have to go all the way to universal electrification even faster, powered by 100% renewable energy with green hydrogen filling the gaps” (Andreas Kluth, at Bloomberg).

    For the New Yorker, John Cassidy recently told us that we must “prevent future Putins from trying to hold the world to energy ransom—at least one worthy outcome of the tragedy that is Ukraine.”

    In a powerful speech in the middle of the Russia flurry in March, Isabel Schnabel of the Executive Board at the European Central Bank rallied for renewable power:

    Every solar panel installed, every hydropower plant built and every wind turbine added to the grid are taking us a step closer to energy independence and a greener economy….

    Our dependence on fossil energy sources is not only considered a peril to our planet, it is also increasingly seen as a threat to national security and our values of liberty, freedom and democracy.

    Luckily, Schnabel is in control of nothing less than the Eurozone’s printing press. One-upped by a fellow German, the reality-challenged finance minister Christian Lindner taught us that renewable electricity is “the energy of freedom.”

    What he failed to understand is that renewable electricity generation in Germany requires boatloads and pipe loads of Russian gas, Russian oil, and Russian commodities: the steel and cement to construct their precious wind towers are made from coal, not even counting the extreme heat needed to shape the steel and iron that makes up its body.

     A single wind turbine uses thousands of kilograms of nickel in its shaft and gear, plus some rare earth minerals from some pretty unclean sources. The gigantic structures, hundreds of meters tall and much too clunky to easily transport, are erected and moved there by machines that swallow diesel by the gallon.

    Fossil fuels are machine food, as Alex Epstein is fond of saying, and nothing drinks petrol like the machines that power a thirsty wind energy industry. When renewable sources are added to the electricity grid in large quantities, the cost of electricity goes up, not down, because their fickle reliance on weather requires them to be backstopped by thermal plants that run on coal or natural gas. The more renewables you add, the more natural gas you need.

    Actually, Fossil Fuels Aren’t Optional

    The conclusion from much political and media messaging on climate is the same: burning fossil fuels for energy is a choice, a bad one, and we must choose differently. The moral case against Russia is just a cherry on top.

    “Would you rather rely on Mr. Putin’s Russia?” The Economist asked in a recent cover story on energy security.

    The very same Russia that Bloomberg News described as:

    “a commodities powerhouse, producing and exporting huge amounts of materials the world uses to build cars, transport people and goods, make bread and keep the lights on.”

    But the writers at The Economist insist:

    “As the world weans itself off dirty fuels, it must switch to cleaner energy sources.”

    When we listen to the political overlords in Brussels or Berlin, or the intellectual ones in think tanks, political parties, or at influential media outlets, we get the impression that relying on “Mr. Putin’s Russia” can be done away with—as optional and care-free as picking a different ice cream flavor.

    To hammer home the “renewable revolutions are impossible” point, let’s use the poster child for renewables, Germany. Here is its energy use over the last half century:

    Let me know if you can spot Germany’s revolutionary Energiewende in the early 2010s. With a microscope, I can detect a little bit of wind crowding out some nuclear—while gas keeps growing and coal continues its fifty-five-year decline. What sort of fairytale must one believe to think that the purple and yellow shares—almost invisible at the top—could in any way supplant the others, preferably before next winter when Putin’s withholding of gas would once again be disastrous for Europeans.

    A prominent German think tank, Agora Energiewende, also thinks it’s perfectly possible. Its projections depend, not just on building and installing more wind energy plants than ever before, but raising that rate of construction by about one-third every year for years on end. To describe those plans as “optimistic” somehow doesn’t cut it:

    The International Energy Agency (IEA), staffed with the same sort of reality-resistant dreamers, produced this wonderful graph that plans for the energy production in a net-zero future (NZE):

    At great expense and inconvenience, the world can indeed increase its use of solar and wind—but remember: they destabilize grids and constitute a vanishingly small portion of world energy needs. To replace what we need, and accommodate growth for the billions globally who scrape by on a minimum of energy, the IEA says we must add solar and wind capacity at a vertiginous rate, never before achieved, at way faster than their own forecasts.

    As Alex Epstein writes in the preface to his future book Fossil Future: a net-zero policy, actually implemented “would certainly be the most significant act of mass murder since the killings of one hundred million people by communist regimes in the twentieth century—and it would likely be far greater.”

    If you believe, as so many politicians, activists, and deluded journalists do, that this is a mere policy decision, you are sadly mistaken. The impossibility of renewables is a technical and physical problem—not an economic, financial, moral, or political problem.

    Gaslighting Europeans

    According to mental health site VeryWellMind, gaslighting is “a form of manipulation that often occurs in abusive relationships. It is a covert type of emotional abuse where the bully or abuser misleads the target, creating a false narrative and making them question their judgments and reality. Ultimately, the victim of gaslighting starts to feel unsure about their perceptions of the world and even wonder if they are losing their sanity.”

    Consider the following combination of expert-led gaslighting: 

    • The entire 2010s and beyond, politicians pooh-poohed nuclear: in words (rallying cries and moral suasion) and actions (strict regulations), they prevented any expansion and shut down capacity.

    • European environmental regulation and climate activists have stopped as much oil and gas extraction as they could. Most countries have banned or otherwise prevented “fracking,” the natural gas extraction method that turned America into an energy exporter.

    • For the last decade and more, climate warriors inside and outside governments have hauled boatloads of cash onto “green” energies—everything from wind and solar to experimental forms of tidal energy.

    • Green electricity sources, because of the unpredictable load that makes them unsuitable for modern civilization, have expanded in consort with natural gas because the dirty secret of the former is that they require rapidly available backup power—for which the latter is the convenient choice.

    • Because all things “carbon” are considered bad, politicians, journalists, and the Greta Thunbergs of the world have done everything in their power to sway more people into putting solar panels on their roofs and electric vehicles in their garages. That strains an already fragile grid by adding more demand and another variable supply: crucially, it requires lots more nickel, palladium, and silver—with Russia among the world’s largest supplier for those key commodities.

    One would suppose that, on the back of the war in Ukraine, the strict Western sanctions on Russia, and energy prices going through the roof, the green-washed politicians and policymakers who rule our lives would offer excuses. Now that the Russian invasion had those very same policymakers cutting commercial ties to that despicable empire-building strongman, and energy prices and access suddenly rose to the forefront of everyone’s mind, we’d expect a bit of humility. Apologies are in order:

    Fellow Europeans, against market prices, physics, and sanity, we pushed you into worse forms of electricity generation and endangered our energy security. Instead of doing what we should have done, we relied more and more on the commodities exported from countries like Russia. For making Europeans more beholden to Putin, we apologize.

    Instead, we got gaslighting on a remarkable scale.

    “Weaning off” Silly

    The world isn’t weaning itself off fossil fuels—it can’t, and it shouldn’t. More importantly, “cleaner energy” aren’t options on a shopping menu, available as inconsequential choices the way consumers may choose Doritos over Pringles or a new toothpaste.

    It’s becoming increasingly clear, to more and more people, that withdrawing from fossil fuels “for environmental reasons” is not a choice. A society and a world of 8 billion people more advanced than that powered by a horse and buggy, cannot do without the explosive power of fossil fuels.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 05/12/2022 – 02:00

  • AG Garland Rules Judges May Consider Criminal Illegal Aliens’ Mental Health When Reviewing Asylum Claims
    AG Garland Rules Judges May Consider Criminal Illegal Aliens’ Mental Health When Reviewing Asylum Claims

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

    The Biden administration has said that judges may take into consideration the mental health of criminal illegal immigrants who have been convicted of “particularly serious crimes” when considering asylum cases.

    Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at a news conference to announce actions to enhance the Biden administration’s environmental justice efforts at the Department of Justice in Washington, on May 5, 2022. (Patrick Semansky/AP Photo)

    Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, illegal immigrants seeking entry into the country would be made ineligible for both asylum and withholding of removal—whereby illegal immigrants remain in the United States after demonstrating that they would likely face persecution in their country of origin due to their race, nationality, religion, or political opinion, among others—if they have been convicted of a “particularly serious crime” and are found to be a danger to the community of the United States.

    However, Attorney General Merrick Garland ruled on May 9 that judges considering such cases may now take into consideration the mental health of these immigrants in their rulings.

    Garland’s decision overturns a 2014 Board of Immigration Appeals ruling, in a case known as “Matter of G-G-S” (pdf), in which “a person’s mental health is not a factor to be considered in a particularly serious crime analysis.”

    That determination rested on two factors, the first one being “whether and to what extent an individual’s mental illness or disorder is relevant to his or her commission of an offense and conviction for a crime are issues best resolved in criminal proceedings by finders of fact,” and the fact that immigration adjudicators “cannot go behind the decisions of the criminal judge and reassess any ruling on criminal culpability.”

    The second factor is that the board concluded that an illegal alien’s “mental condition does not relate to the pivotal issue in a particularly serious crime analysis, which is whether the nature of his convictions he sentence imposed, and the circumstances and underlying facts indicate that he posed a danger to the community.”

    The “Matter of G-G-S” case involved a Mexican man who was convicted in 2004 of assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to two years in prison.

    From an early age, the man suffered from chronic paranoid schizophrenia, according to an interim decision on the case. The immigration judge found that the man’s offense was a “crime of violence aggravated felony,” and further determined that it was a “particularly serious crime,” which barred him from establishing eligibility for withholding of removal.

    However, the man sought to block his deportation by stating that his mental health condition should be a factor in determining whether his offense was a particularly serious crime and claimed that “his mental illness prevented him from solving a complex social situation such as being aggressively challenged by a stranger” and consequently resulted in him being violent.

    Garland in December directed the board to send him the case for review.

    A Border Patrol agent drops a group of illegal immigrants being expelled under Title 42 at the halfway point of the international bridge between the United States and Mexico, in Eagle Pass, Texas, on April 19, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

    On Monday, Garland said that he had determined that “it is appropriate to overrule the Board’s decision in G-G-S-.”

    “In some circumstances, a respondent’s mental health condition may indicate that the respondent does not pose a danger to the community,” he said, citing examples such as where the individual had suffered from “intimate partner violence” and was convicted of assaulting their partner, or where “reliable evidence” showed that the individual’s assault had been motivated by post-traumatic stress disorder.

    “Of course, an individual may pose a danger to the community notwithstanding a mental health condition, and in those cases, the ‘particularly serious crime’ bar to asylum and withholding of removal may apply,” he noted. “But the potential relevance of mental health evidence to the dangerousness inquiry suffices to establish that such evidence should not categorically be disregarded, as G-G-S- held.”

    “Going forward, immigration adjudicators may consider a respondent’s mental health in determining whether a respondent, having been convicted by a final judgment of a particularly serious crime, constitutes a danger to the community of the United States,” he said.

    “The Board’s decision in respondent’s matter is vacated and the case is remanded to the immigration judge for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

    Garland’s decision comes as U.S. Border Patrol agents are preparing for an influx of illegal immigrants attempting to enter the country when the Trump-era Title 42 policy is lifted later this month.

    That policy had allowed agents to turn illegal aliens back to Mexico immediately if they were deemed to pose a health threat amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

    But the Biden administration says it believes that an increase in health tools such as vaccinations has helped to combat the spread of the virus and therefore those restrictions will be terminated on May 23.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 23:40

  • MSM Warns Against Homemade Baby Formula As Manufacturer Says 'At Least Two Months' Delay
    MSM Warns Against Homemade Baby Formula As Manufacturer Says ‘At Least Two Months’ Delay

    With 43% of baby formula out of stock across the country due to supply disruptions at the nation’s largest plant, images of empty shelves and desperate mothers have been flooding social media.

    Photo: Fox News

    But don’t try to take matters into your own hands, moms. According to the New York Times, pediatricians “strongly advise” against trying to make baby formula at home.

    Some are rationing food or driving to stores hours away only to find empty shelves. Others are heading online to look up homemade baby formula recipes that use anything from powdered goat’s milk to raw cow’s milk.

    But pediatricians warn that do-it-yourself baby formulas carry significant health risks. -NYT

    “Homemade formula is dangerous for babies,” said Dr. Katie Lockwood, an attending physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Primary Care. “Regular formula is F.D.A.-regulated and held to very high standards, the same way we treat medications. Making it at home is a lot riskier.“

    Steven Abrams, spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, said “The nutrients in homemade formulas are inadequate in terms of the critical components babies need, especially protein and minerals.”

    Photo via The Healthy Home Economist

    Home brew baby formula can also contain “an excess of materials or nutrients, like salt, which a baby’s developing kidneys or liver may be unable to break down.”

    What’s more, babies can suffer from “water intoxication,” – where the “baby might get too much water” if the balance of nutrients and liquids are off, according to Dr. Suzette Oyeku, chief of academic general pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, in New York City.

    What’s their solution? Call your doctor! Go to a charity! Use cow milk in a pinch!

    “The first call any parent or caregiver struggling to track down baby formula should make is to their child’s pediatrician. They may have formula samples on hand, or be able to help connect you with local charities or breast milk banks that can help.”

    In a pinch, babies over six months — with no known allergies — can have pasteurized whole-milk cow’s milk for a brief period of time until parents are able to find formula. While not ideal in large part because it does not provide sufficient iron, it’s preferable to offering them homemade formula or diluting store-bought formula with water, Dr. Abrams said.

    The Abbott Laboratories baby formula plant in Sturgis, Michigan was shuttered by the FDA nearly three months ago after receiving four reports of infants who were hospitalized with bacterial infections after consuming the formula from the facility – two of whom died.

    The company reportedly failed to repair aging drying machines.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAccording to NBC Boston, the FDA announced on Tuesday that it would allow ‘some’ products from the shuttered Abbott facility to be released on a “case-by-case” basis.

    Now, the FDA is saying it will not object “to Abbott Nutrition releasing product to individuals needing urgent, life-sustaining supplies of certain specialty and metabolic formulas on a case-by-case basis.”

    Abbott, meanwhile, says it will take at least two months before baby formula from the plant can return to store shelves. 

    “We understand the situation is urgent – getting Sturgis up and running will help alleviate this shortage,” the company said in a Wednesday statement.

    “Subject to [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] approval, we could restart the site within two weeks,” the statement continues “We would begin production of EleCare, Alimentum and metabolic formulas first and then begin production of Similac and other formulas. From the time we restart the site, it will take six to eight weeks before product is available on shelves.”

    One has to wonder…

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

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 23:20

  • Prepare For More Chinese Capital Controls As Exodus Worsens
    Prepare For More Chinese Capital Controls As Exodus Worsens

    By George Lei, Bloomberg Markets Live commentator and reporter

    Strict capital controls made it impossible for several European companies to send dividends abroad and a Japanese beverage maker could not get paid due to “tougher restrictions on cross-border wire transactions.” This is not Russia in 2022, but China in late 2016 and early 2017, when the yuan plunged toward 7 per dollar.

    Those types of curbs could soon be brought back as part of Beijing’s arsenal to manage currency depreciation, especially in a context similar to 2016-17: Once again, the Fed hikes and capital flees. Besides the headline exchange rate, how much and how quickly money can leave China will become equally, if not more, important.

    Global portfolio managers, foreign businesses and the local rich are either leaving China or bringing much less capital onshore. The nation suffered an unprecedented outflow from bond and stock investors in March and net selling continued into April, according to estimates from the International Institute of Finance.

    Total capital outflows, including errors and omissions, may surge to about $300b this year from $129b in 2021, IIF said in a report last week. While that figure is well below $725b, IIF’s estimate for 2016, Beijing’s options for combating it are much narrower this time around.

    Trade wars, Covid and supply-chain disruptions were not on the minds of foreign executives back then. In 2022, however, 52% of 121 companies polled by the American Chamber of Commerce in China have either cut or delayed investments. With only 1% planning to increase local investment, authorities have a daunting task to boost foreign direct investment as long as China sticks to its Covid Zero strategy.

    Anecdotal evidence suggests the local rich are also on the run. In Singapore, BNP Paribas’ Southeast Asia assets are growing in “single digits” whereas Greater China assets are in “high double digits,” according to Arnaud Tellier, Asia Pacific CEO of the French bank’s wealth management arm. CNBC reported that inquiries at an accounting firm in the city state about setting up family offices have doubled over the past 12 months, mostly from Chinese residents or emigrants.

    Between 2014 and 2016, China’s FX reserves fell by almost $1 trillion as the onshore yuan lost more than 11% versus the dollar. With reserves barely above $3.1 trillion as of April, Beijing can not afford to draw down its dollar stash in a similar way. Raising interest rates is also out of the question given the dire economic situation.

    As my colleague Ye Xie pointed out, the PBOC still has plenty of other tools to cushion any yuan free fall. And Russia’s experience with the ruble should give policy makers more confidence to dust off their playbook for capital controls. Back in 2016, regulators suggested to Deutsche Bank that it remit proceeds from a $3.9 billion stake sale in batches rather than in one go. More companies may soon have to face the same predicament.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 23:00

  • Watch: Beach Houses In Outer Banks Swept Into Ocean 
    Watch: Beach Houses In Outer Banks Swept Into Ocean 

    A wild storm furiously churned over the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Tuesday and resulted in the collapse of two oceanfront homes. One of the collapses was caught on video. 

    The National Park Service tweeted a shocking video of waves crashing ashore in Rodanthe, snapping the wood pilings that held up a single-family beach house as it fell into the ocean and was swept out to sea. 

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

    A beach house at 24235 Ocean Drive in the same area collapsed hours before because of heavy surf. There was no video of the collapse. 

    The National Weather Service at Newport/Morehead said the storm “that been hanging around the last few days makes its closest pass to us tonight before it finally sinks south.”

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

    “Unfortunately, there may be more houses that collapse onto Seashore beaches in the near future,” David Hallac, superintendent, National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, told local news WAVY. 

    How long until climate alarmist Greta Thunberg unleashes a tweetstorm about the Outer Banks? 

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 22:40

  • Soros-Backed Prosecutor Violated Ethics Rules In Pursuit Of Former Governor
    Soros-Backed Prosecutor Violated Ethics Rules In Pursuit Of Former Governor

    By Zachary Stieber of The Epoch Times

    A panel in Missouri on May 10 recommended St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner be found guilty of violating ethics rules while investigating former Gov. Eric Greitens.

    St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner appears at her disciplinary hearing in St. Louis, Mo., on April 11, 2022.

    The Missouri Disciplinary Counsel said Gardner’s misconduct included failing to intervene when former FBI agent William Don Tisaby, who Gardner tapped to help investigate Greitens, falsely claimed that a document filed with the courts was the product of his work when it actually contained findings from Gardner.

    Tisaby also gave false statements during a deposition but Gardner did not correct him even though she was in the room.

    “Each of those statements was false, and respondent knew the statements were false,” the panel said.

    Gardner has said she was not sure at the time what to do in response to Tisaby lying but now acknowledges she should have addressed the matter by telling Tisaby to tell the truth.

    Tisaby pleaded guilty in March to a tampering with evidence charge.

    Giving the proper evidence to defendants is “one of the most basic responsibilities of a prosecutor,” the panel said.

    On the other hand, the charges against Greitens, for allegedly taking a seminude picture of a woman who did not give permission, were eventually dropped, so a wrongful conviction did not happen, panelists noted. They also said that Gardner does not have a criminal history and that the dispute over the disclosure and production of documents “was more an issue of negligence than intentional non-disclosure,” which means that conduct did not rise to the level of “a potential breach of public trust.”

    The panel is recommending Gardner be publicly reprimanded, but no further punishment be given.

    The Missouri Supreme Court will review the panel’s recommendation and decide whether to issue a reprimand. Gardner’s office and re-election campaign, and Greitens, did not respond to requests for comment.

    Gardner is a Democrat who received major backing from billionaire George Soros while Greitens is a Republican who resigned from office and is now running for a U.S. Senate seat.

    The panel findings stemmed from an April hearing in which Gardner admitted she violated rules but described the violations as “mistakes.” She reached a preliminary agreement then with the panel to avoid criminal charges.

    Grand jurors in Tisaby’s case recently said in a letter that Gardner’s conduct “was not inadvertent nor inconsequential but was calculated deceit and/or outright incompetence; neither of which is acceptable behavior for a person holding this public office.” They said they were disappointed with the agreement.

    Greitens told The Epoch Times in an email after the hearing that the agreement “reaffirms what we have known all along—Soros funded prosecutor Kim Gardner conducted a political witch hunt.”

    “From hiring former FBI agent William Tisaby, who just plead[ed] guilty to evidence tampering, to lying and engaging in a coverup to conceal her misconduct, Gardner is the worst type of public official, corrupt and crooked,” he added.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 22:20

  • First Cracks: Hong Kong Intervenes To Prop Up Local Currency For First Time Since 2019
    First Cracks: Hong Kong Intervenes To Prop Up Local Currency For First Time Since 2019

    Things are starting to crack.

    Two days after we reported that the Chinese yuan had cratered (just days after we warned that China will soon devalue) in what appears to be a concurrent devaluation alongside the plunging yen…

    … a move that was of extreme importance for markets, yet which few financial commentators were discussing, on Wednesday the surging US dollar forced Hong Kong to intervene and defend its currency for the first time since 2019, putting further upward pressure on interest rates in an economy already reeling from strict pandemic border controls and a shaky property market.

    Capital outflows fueled by rising interest rates in the US and continued modest easing in China, sent the Hong Kong dollar to the weak end of its 7.75-to-7.85 per greenback trading range late Wednesday.

    And with the barrier in danger of breach, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority – the local central bank – bought about HK$1.59 billion to prop up the currency, which was still trading at the weak end on Thursday morning local time.

    The testing of the band’s limit on Wednesday came around the same time as faster-than-expected US inflation data sent the greenback briefly up and Treasury yields surging. While gauges of the US dollar and longer-maturity Treasury yields subsequently retreated, Hong Kong’s currency continues to hover right near the band’s edge.

    While the HKMA may have prevented the breach of the peg for now, further intervention will drain liquidity from Hong Kong’s financial system, slamming local assets and driving up borrowing costs at a time when the local economy is contracting under the weight of some of the world’s strictest Covid-containment controls. Rising interest rates also pose a threat to Hong Kong’s property market, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. saying earlier this year that home prices in the world’s least affordable market may slump 20% by 2025.

    While some commentators have called on Hong Kong to abandon its dollar peg, there’s little sign that authorities plan to change a system that has survived multiple speculative attacks since 1983 and helped turn the city into one of the world’s most important financial centers.

    This time may be different, however, as selling of the local dollar has only intensified in recent months as the increasingly hawkish Fed boosted the US dollar, while pandemic restrictions in both China and the former British colony have damped local growth outlook, and forced authorities to keep rates and and consider how to ease further.

    The Hong Kong dollar has weakened about 0.7% this year, far less thatn the Chinese yuan, with some of the declines coming as Fed rate hikes widened the funding rate gap between the US and the special administrative region, prompting traders to borrow the currency in the interbank market and sell it versus the higher-yielding greenback, Bloomberg reported. Making yield differential defense increasingly difficult, the premium of the three-month US interbank rate, known as Libor, over Hong Kong’s equivalent, Hibor, expanded to the widest since 2019 in April.

    The Hong Kong dollar will remain under pressure as US yields climb on rate-hike bets, said Samuel Tse, an economist at DBS Bank Ltd. in Hong Kong.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 22:00

  • Acting NIH Director Admits Appearance Of Conflict Of Interest In Secret Royalty Payments To Fauci, Scientists
    Acting NIH Director Admits Appearance Of Conflict Of Interest In Secret Royalty Payments To Fauci, Scientists

    Authored by Mark Tapscott via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Undisclosed royalty payments estimated at $350 million from pharmaceutical and other firms to Dr. Anthony Fauci and hundreds of National Institutes for Health (NIH) scientists do present “an appearance of a conflict of interest,” according to the agency’s acting director.

    Acting Director of National Institutes of Health Lawrence Tabak testifies during a hearing before the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies of House Appropriations Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill May 11, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

    Dr. Lawrence Tabak, who took over as NIH Director following the December 2021 resignation of the agency’s long-time leader, Dr. Francis Collins, told a House Appropriations Committee subcommittee that federal law allows the royalty payments but he conceded they don’t look ethical.

    Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) told Tabak that “right now, I think the NIH has a credibility problem and this only feeds into this, and I’m only just learning about this. People in my district say ‘well, so-and-so has a financial interest, or they don’t like Ivermectin because they aren’t benefitting from that royalty …

    “You may have very sound scientific reasons for recommending a medicine or not, but the idea that people get a financial benefit from certain research that’s been done and grants that were awarded, that is to me the height of the appearance of a conflict of interest.”

    In response, Tabak said NIH does not endorse particular medicines, but rather “we support the science that validates whether an invention is or is not efficacious, we don’t say this is good or this is bad … I certainly can understand that it might seem as a conflict of interest.”

    Moolenaar seemed taken aback by Tabak’s response and, while pointing to Fauci, who was also testifying, said “truthfully, I would say you’ve had leaders of NIH saying certain medicines are not good.”

    Tabak said such statements by NIH are based on clinical trials that are supported by the agency.

    Puzzled, Moolenaar then asked Tabak, “but if the agency is awarding who is the beneficiary of the grant, who is doing the trial, and there is somehow finances involved, that there is a financial benefit that could be accrued if someone’s patent or invention is considered validated, do you not see that as a conflict or at least the appearance of a conflict of interest?”

    After conceding that there is an appearance of a conflict of interest, Tabak suggested to Moolenaar that “maybe this is the sort of thing that we can work together on so that we can explain to you the firewalls that we do have, because they are substantial and significant.”

    Moolenaar’s reference to Fauci was in regard to his telling the Associated Press in a 2005 article that first brought the NIH royalties issues into the headlines that he had donated his royalties to charity.

    But the issue faded from the headlines after 2005, and is only now getting renewed attention as a result of revelations first reported on May 9 by The Epoch Times that documents obtained in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by a nonprofit government watchdog show an estimated $350 million in undisclosed royalty payments from pharmaceutical and other private firms to top NIH executives, as well as to hundreds of the agency’s health scientists and researchers.

    The $350 million in royalty payments were made between 2010 and 2020, according to Open the Books, the nonprofit that took the NIH to court when it refused to acknowledge the group’s FOIA request for documents.

    Collins received 14 payments, Fauci received 23 payments and his deputy, Clifford Lane, received eight payments, according to Open the Books.

    Adam Andrzejewski, the founder and president of Open the Books, told The Epoch Times Wednesday that NIH continues to withhold important information about the royalty payments, including the names of particular payers and the specific amounts to individuals at NIH.

    “With tens of billions of dollars in grant-making at NIH and tens of millions of royalty dollars from third-party payors flowing back into the agency each year, NIH needs to come clean with the American people and open the books. We need to be able to follow the money,” Andrzejewski said.

    “We believe transparency will revolutionize U.S. public policy. There is no better example of this than the third-party (think pharmaceutical companies) payments to NIH scientists. Every single outside payment to a government scientist could be a conflict of interest,” he added.

    The Moolenaar-Tabak exchange took place during a hearing on the Biden administration’s 2023 budget request.

    Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.), who is also a surgeon, told The Epoch Times that “it’s no secret that the agency needs reform. Their many issues were exacerbated and highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Providing the public with transparent access to how the NIH is spending taxpayer dollars and reaching their decisions is a basic responsibility, and they must be held accountable. Now more than ever, we must commit to reforming our federal health agencies and restoring America’s trust in public health.”

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 21:40

  • Garland Perjury? FBI Whistleblowers Say Parents Investigated With Counterterrorism "Threat Tag"
    Garland Perjury? FBI Whistleblowers Say Parents Investigated With Counterterrorism “Threat Tag”

    An FBI whistleblower has revealed that ‘dozens’ of investigations into parents voicing their opposition to topics ranging from Critical Race Theory to mask mandates were investigated using a “threat tag” created by the agency’s counterterrorism division – directly contradicting Attorney General Merrick Garland’s 2021 testimony denying that the Department of Justice had been weaponized.

    According to a letter from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mike Johnson (R-LA), “We now have evidence that contrary to your testimony, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has labeled at least dozens of investigations into parents with a threat tag created by the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division to assess and track investigations related to school boards.

    The letter cites an October 4th memo issued by Garland announcing a concentrated effort to target any threats of violence, intimidation, and harassment by parents toward school personnel.

    “We have learned from brave whistleblowers that the FBI has opened investigations with the EDUOFFICIALS threat tag in almost every region of the country,” adding “The information we have received shows how, as a direct result of your directive, federal law enforcement is using counterterrorism resources to investigate protected First Amendment activity.”

    Three examples were provided, including at least one member of “Moms for Liberty,” a nonprofit dedicated to helping parents fight for conservative values in the classroom.

    “This whistleblower information is startling,” the letter continues. “You have subjected these moms and dads to the opening of an FBI investigation about them, the establishment of an FBI case file that includes their political views, and the application of a “threat tag” to their names as a direct result of their fundamental constitutional right to speak and advocate for their children.”

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    “This information is evidence of how the Biden Administration is using federal law enforcement, including counterterrorism resources, to investigate concerned parents for protected First Amendment activity.”

    Reactions to the whistleblower revelations has been harsh:

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    The letter is similar to a November, 2001 memo from Jordan to Garland

    A ‘protected disclosure’:

    In mid-November, House Judiciary Committee Republicans sent a letter to Garland after an FBI whistleblower came forward with “a protected disclosure” – claiming that “the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division had been compiling and categorizing threat assessments related to parents, including a document directing FBI personnel to use a specific “threat tag” to track potential investigations.”

    “This disclosure provides specific evidence that federal law enforcement operationalized counterterrorism tools at the behest of a left-wing special interest group against concerned parents,” the letter continues.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 21:20

  • Efforts To Codify Roe vs Wade Fail In The Senate
    Efforts To Codify Roe vs Wade Fail In The Senate

    By Joseph Lord of The Epoch Times

    The Senate voted on May 11 to filibuster the Democratic-sponsored Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would have codified the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion ruling into federal law as the Supreme Court appears intent on striking down the precedent.

    The 51–49 procedural cloture motion vote was mostly party-line, with all Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) voting against the measure. The measure failed as expected because Democrats didn’t meet the 60-vote filibuster threshold needed to advance the legislation in the upper chamber.

    According to a draft opinion leaked to Politico and published on May 2—written by Justice Samuel Alito and confirmed as genuine by the court—a majority of the justices have agreed preliminarily to overturn Roe v. Wade.

    The court hasn’t yet issued a final opinion.

    Under the 1973 standard, states are prohibited from imposing restrictions on abortion in the first trimester, during which SCOTUS ruled that the mother’s right to privacy outweighed state interest in protecting life. The move effectively overturned existing abortion laws in more than two dozen states, and since then, pro-life advocates have fought to return the power to regulate abortion to the states.

    Democrats decided immediately after the draft was leaked to try again on the WHPA, which the Senate failed to advance in February. A different version of the legislation was passed by the House of Representatives in September 2021 in a party-line vote, with Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), a pro-life Catholic, being the only Democrat to oppose it.

    That legislation stated that abortion services are a constitutional right, as decided by SCOTUS in Roe v. Wade and that access to abortion “has been obstructed across the United States in various ways,” including by state laws.

    It also stated that health care providers would be able to carry out abortions with virtually no limitations or requirements, a provision aimed at preempting new state laws, as well as superseding some current state laws restricting the procedure.

    With the threat of Roe being repealed looming, Democrats tried to soften the language of the measure from its earlier form. However, given the composition of the Senate, it was never likely to pass.

    In a speech prior to the vote on the legislation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made an impassioned plea for its passage.

    “Women’s rights face their greatest threat in half a century,” Schumer said. “The legislation before this chamber is straightforward. It would codify what Americans already believe: that the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion belongs to women, not elected politicians.”

    Prior to the vote, Manchin explained his reasoning for defecting from his party and voting against the legislation. The WHPA goes well beyond the bounds of Roe v. Wade, he said.

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    “We’re gonna be voting on a piece of legislation which I will not vote for today,” he told reporters. “I would vote for a Roe v. Wade codification if it was today, I was hopeful for that. But I found out yesterday in caucus that wasn’t gonna be.”

    Manchin is one of only two Democrats in the Senate who have expressed some pro-life sentiments. The other, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), announced earlier this week that he would support the WHPA, and voted with his party for the measure.

    “This week, I will again vote yes to advance debate on the Women’s Health Protection Act and I will support the bill if there is a vote on final passage in the future,” Casey said in a statement.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 21:00

  • China Warns Away US Warship After Large-Scale PLA Drills Near Taiwan
    China Warns Away US Warship After Large-Scale PLA Drills Near Taiwan

    China’s military said Wednesday that it issued a formal warning to a US warship that passed through the Taiwan Strait soon after large-scale Chinese PLA military drills wound down in waters surrounding Taiwan.

    The US Navy’s 7th Fleet confirmed the guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal sailed through the contested strait on Tuesday in a “routine” transit and in “accordance with international law”. But China suggested the US is intent on staging “drama” to provoke “trouble” in connection with its military exercises – according to its statement.

    USS Port Royal, Image: US Navy

    The PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command charged that Washington is now increasing the frequency of “such dramas” and is intent on stirring up “trouble, sending the wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces and deliberately intensifying tensions across the Taiwan Strait,” as cited in Reuters.

    After closely monitoring the US vessel, the Chinese command said it “warned” it away while stating that its troops “maintain high alert at all times, resolutely counteract all threats and provocations, and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

    The US in 2021 sent a navy ship through the strait roughly on a monthly basis, which Beijing each time shadowed and protested – a pattern which has continued thus far in 2022.

    But this fresh Tuesday sail-through is perhaps being perceived by Beijing as very intentional timing on the part of Washington, given PLA forces just wrapped up a major drill in surrounding Taiwan waters. A Chinese military analyst has been quoted in international publications as calling it a “rehearsal of possible real action.”

    One Western military publication described of these latest exercises aimed at Taiwan:

    On Monday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced its Eastern Theater Command organized maritime, aerial, conventional missile and other forces around Taiwan and carried out drills around the island from Friday to Sunday.

    The Eastern Theater Command earlier called the drills part of efforts “to test and improve the joint operations capability of multiple services and arms.” Once Russia’s war in Ukraine started in late February, Western officials raised the alarm that China could try the same thing against much smaller and weaker Taiwan, which Beijing has long claimed as its own.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 20:40

  • Seniors Sacrifice Health And Comfort As Inflation Lowers Standard Of Living
    Seniors Sacrifice Health And Comfort As Inflation Lowers Standard Of Living

    Authored by Beth Brelje via The Epoch Times,

    In response to inflation, the prizes at Bingo have changed in recent weeks at the Millersville Senior Center in Millersville, Pennsylvania.

    Ria Foltz, 86; Christine Kuss, 71; and Tom Schultz, 85, get ready to play Bingo at the Millersville Senior Center in Millersville, Penn., on May 9, 2022. (Beth Brelje/ The Epoch Times)

    Instead of fun little trinkets, winning bingo players now choose between cleaning supplies, laundry items or snacks, depending on the theme of the week, Senior Center Director Starr Brubaker told The Epoch Times.

    Dryer sheets and spray bottles of detergent are practical items that help defray the growing cost of living. Seniors there say they are happy to win such prizes because they are feeling inflation in all areas of their lives, and they are worried that they won’t have enough money to get by in the future.

    One senior at the center said her husband is at retirement age, but he is not retiring yet because they fear it will be difficult to keep up with inflation.

    Seniors gather at the Millersville Senior Center in Lancaster County on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays for fellowship, exercise, and recreation, such as crafting and friendly games of pinochle. They also share provided meals administered by the county. There are similar programs across the nation.

    Some who qualify get additional food to take home. After a game of Bingo on Monday, some received a monthly fresh food supplement: a bag with baby carrots, a green pepper, an orange, two apples, bananas, and two potatoes. The food helps their monthly income last longer.

    Some are making tough decisions about what they can and cannot afford, including food choices and medicines.

    “It would be harder for some of us, if not for the senior center,” Christine Kuss, 71, told The Epoch Times, indicating that some would not have enough to eat. “Rent is getting higher. I gave up on my $400 a month medication.”

    Kuss should take a blood thinner, but the cost of her medications has put her in the Medicare donut hole, a coverage gap that is triggered when prescription costs hit a certain amount for the year. Without coverage, affording all of her medicine is simply out of reach.

    Lillian Pacheco, 67, retired in March and says she is already in the Medicare donut hole this year. She spends much of her time searching for better health coverage. Pacheco told The Epoch Times that she has diabetes, and every three months, her medications adds up to $360.

    Linda Butt, 74, says she tries to save money by looking for deals like grocery stores that offer gas incentives. She uses coupons as much as possible. Recently she found a good price on kitty litter and bought two bags. But one of her medications recently went up to $500 a month. She used to pay around $900 a month combined, for all medications, and it is now closer to $1,500 a month.

    “I’m seriously thinking of giving up medication and letting diabetes take over,” Butt said. “I realize everything is going up, but they are sure not thinking about us seniors.”

    While younger people may have the ability to take on a second job or find a better paying job to make ends meet, senior citizens live on a fixed monthly income that will remain essentially the same. A senior aged 82 may have retired in 2000 and the monthly income that covered costs back then does not go as far anymore.

    When asked where they feel inflation pressures the most, many Millersville Senior Center patrons— drivers and non-drivers alike— mentioned the cost of gas.

    “My daughter takes me around,” Fred Busswood, 89, told The Epoch Times, and when she does, he notices what she is paying for a gallon of gas. Busswood does not recall seeing gas prices this high before.

    Kuss used to drive to the senior center.

    “Those of us who are close walk now, to help with the gas prices,” Kuss said.

    Another senior said she has given up recreation and traveling. Her once weekly trips to a park in her town now happen just once a month because she can’t afford the cost of gas to get there.

    ‘The Country Is Not Being Managed Right’

    The seniors don’t expect relief.

    “Once it goes up, it won’t go down,” Jack Gardner, 76, told The Epoch Times. “The country is not being managed right. We’ve got gas reserves we’re not using.” He believes some who are raising prices may be using inflation talk as an excuse to keep their prices higher than necessary.

    “Food, water, electric—everything has gone up,” Tom Schultz, 85, told The Epoch Times. “Whatever [increase] you got in Social Security, you may as well forget it.”

    A Cost of Living Adjustment increased the Social Security benefit that seniors receive by 5.9 percent in January—the largest increase in 30 years. But seniors say that increase was eaten up by inflation and an increase in the cost of Medicare Part B health insurance.

    In 2021, the average Social Security benefit was $1,565, according to the Social Security Administration. A 5.9 percent increase added $92 a month to that average amount. But at the same time, the Medicare Part B monthly payment was increased from $148.50 a month in 2021 to $170.10 a month in 2022, an increase of $21.60. That means an average net Social Security income increase of $70.40 a month—not enough to keep up with increasing costs.

    Jerry Cunningham, 79, says his quarterly water bill has doubled, from $31 to $64 a quarter, and the electric company has sent mail warning of a rate hike.

    Some seniors say they have changed their eating habits or given up pleasure snacks. One reported a local discount store, where she used to get snacks on the cheap, has increased the cost of coffee from $7.99 to $12.99. And the cost of nuts has climbed out of reach too.

    Another says she is wearing extra sweaters and has her heat turned way down because she does not want to fill her fuel oil tank again this year.

    As he listened to his senior center mates share their stories, Busswood said he started to realize how much people were hurting and felt it was good to understand each other in this way.

    Several seniors mentioned a local hamburger joint that is now charging $10 for a plain burger plus $1 for each topping, such as lettuce, tomato, or cheese. It didn’t sound like they would be going there anytime soon.

    Schultz doesn’t hold out a lot of hope for an economic fix, but he has some ideas.

    “Tell Washington to give me a call,” he said.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 20:20

  • The Growing List Of US Companies Laying People Off
    The Growing List Of US Companies Laying People Off

    As the economy continues to grind to a halt and inflation continues to run rampant, U.S. businesses are starting to realize the obvious – that they are stretched too thin financially – and are starting to cut unnecessary fat from their respective organizations.

    So much for “building back better”…

    In fact, layoffs are now “sweeping across American businesses,” according to a new report from Insider, who recently ran down a list of the U.S. companies that have begun hacking away at their respective labor forces. 

    In addition to the names you’d expect to be on the list, like Peloton (has laid off 2,800 people) and Netflix, there were also some lesser known and private company names that are making material layoffs. ‘

    Better has been laying off 4,000 people from “late 2021” and “through the first several months of 2022”. CEO Vishal Garg reportedly told employees during a Zoom meeting that the company, “lost $100 million last quarter,” which he said, “was my mistake.”

    He didn’t lay himself off, however, to the best of our understanding. 

    Weight loss app Noom has recently laid off hundreds of coaches as part of a total of laying off 495 people, the report says. Noom appeared to already be stretched thin, with coaches reportedly responsible for “giving advice to hundreds of users at any given time.”

    Thrasio, which is a company that created the Amazon aggregator market, has laid off 20% of its staff, the report says. A memo sent to employees blamed the layoffs on the company’s “hypergrowth” model of acquisitions. A memo sent to employees said: “At times we have been acquiring a new company almost every week and running hard to build the infrastructure to support this growth.”

    Robinhood has also joined the party, laying off more than 300 people, the report says. Their layoffs come after the company’s staff grew from just 700 people to 3,800 people during 2020 and 2021, when the app saw an explosion of users thanks to the pandemic and its associated free government handout cash.

    Wells Fargo is also making layoffs in its mortgage-related positions. A spokesperson for the company said to Insider: “We are carrying out displacements in a transparent and thoughtful manner and providing assistance, such as severance and career counseling. Additionally, we are committed to retaining as many employees as possible and will do everything we can to help them identify other opportunities within Wells Fargo.”

    Pot company Canopy Growth is also laying off employees, with 250 people expected to get the axe. Canopy Growth CEO David Klein said the layoffs were “to ensure the size and scale of our operations reflect current market realities and will support the long-term sustainability of our company.”

    Celebrity video app Cameo is laying off 87 people, its CEO also confirmed. Last Wednesday he commented: “Today has been a brutal day at the office. I made the painful decision to let go of 87 beloved members of the Cameo Fameo.”

    And we have a feeling the list is just getting started…

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 20:00

  • Biden Disinformation Czar Demands Power To Edit Other People's Tweets
    Biden Disinformation Czar Demands Power To Edit Other People’s Tweets

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

    In a newly released video clip, Biden disinformation czar Nina Jankowicz demands that “trustworthy verified people” like her be given the power to edit other people’s tweets, making Twitter more like Wikipedia.

    Yes, really.

    Asserting that she was “eligible for it because I’m verified,” Jankowicz then bemoaned the fact there are people on Twitter with different opinions to her who also have the blue tick but “shouldn’t be verified” because they’re “not trustworthy.”

    “So verified people can essentially start to edit Twitter the same sort of way that Wikipedia is so they can add context to certain tweets,” said Jankowicz.

    She then provided the example, which she claimed was non-political, of President Trump tweeting about voter fraud.

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    “Someone could add context from one of the 60 lawsuits that went through the court or something that an election official in one of the states said, perhaps your own Secretary of State and his news conferences, something like that,” said Jankowicz.

    “Adding context so that people have a fuller picture rather than just an individual claim on a tweet,” she added.

    Of course, Twitter already slaps warning labels on such tweets, but now Jankowicz wants approved regime propagandists to be empowered to insert their narrative on an individual basis.

    Also note how two of the other participants in the conversation were wearing face masks, despite it being a remote Zoom call.

    As we previously highlighted, Jankowicz was handed the role of overseeing Biden’s ‘Ministry of Truth’ despite revealing that free speech makes her “shudder” while also promoting the lie that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation.

    Jankowicz also ludicrously cited Christopher Steele as an expert on disinformation. Steele was the author of the infamous Clinton campaign-funded Trump ‘peegate’ dossier’ that turned out to be an actual product of disinformation.

    But yeah, a person with a proven track record of pushing disinformation and hyper-partisanship should totally be given the power to edit tweets she disagrees with.

    *  *  *

    Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

    In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. I need you to sign up for my free newsletter here. Support my sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Get early access, exclusive content and behinds the scenes stuff by following me on Locals.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 19:53

  • The Sky Is Not Falling: Why The Bitcoin Price Doesn't Matter
    The Sky Is Not Falling: Why The Bitcoin Price Doesn’t Matter

    Authored by Nico Antuna Cooper via BitcoinMagazine.com,

    The recent bitcoin price action demonstrates that it’s time for a more grown-up culture of building, development and adoption around Bitcoin.

    “Bear markets are the best time to be alive and in the sector. It’s depressing for those that don’t know what they’re doing, it’s awesome for those that have a longer-term view.”

    – Simon Dixon

    The difference between Bitcoin and everything else is that the price of bitcoin doesn’t matter. Over the long term the price of bitcoin has gone up, yes, but the value proposition of bitcoin as hard, non-confiscatable and truly decentralized money is really what matters. Not the price hype and not the pump. This is why traders and speculators have lost interest in Bitcoin, and continue to flock to the newest pumping decentralized finance (DeFi) or non-fungible token (NFT) project at the drop of a hat. This loss of interest from the speculators is viewed by many as a negative development for Bitcoin, but it is actually a very positive one. What we are seeing now represented in the lower bitcoin price is the value of its actual functional utility and the absence of retail speculation capital that was there before. This article will describe why that’s a good thing.

    Since its inception, misguided analysts have described Bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme dependent on continued artificial speculation pumping into the space. As anybody with experience can tell you, speculators are shiny-object chasers by nature and pull out of any position the minute something shinier comes along. Well, the bitcoin “bear market” has arrived and all the speculators are gone. They got bored and took their toys home with them. Even with them gone, bitcoin is still valued at far higher than its 2020 and 2021 lows and is increasing adoption on an institutional (and sovereign) level. This adoption represents real value.

    The stock market sugar rush caused by Federal Reserve Board money printing and negative real interest rates is ending, and the roller coaster is now going down from the top. This has had an impact not only on bitcoin, but on the stock market and the other altcoins as well. Put simply, everything is going down and after the chaos subsides we will see what assets, stocks and projects actually offer tangible, objective value. That’s what investment was always supposed to be about. Despite the confused dichotomy between “growth stocks” and “value stocks,” investing is by definition supposed to be about your long-term belief in the value of something, not in its short-term growth projections. Retail investors have struggled to comprehend this because of the get-rich-quick, everyone’s-a-genius market culture of the past few years. Indeed, if an asset like bitcoin isn’t constantly appreciating on a double- or triple-digit basis, then it’s a “failing” asset to these people. The market is on its head. As a result, the meme-stock crowd is out of bitcoin now, just like they are out of the stock market as a whole. Turns out the memers had paper hands all along.

    This article by Bloomberg, titled “Day Trader Army Loses All The Money It Made In Meme-Stock Era,” details how many of the new traders that entered the space have “never seen a market that wasn’t supported by the Fed.” Retail traders lost all the gains they made in the Dogecoin, AMC and GameStop rallies, and are exactly back at square one.

    Source: Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg

    The entire market is falling right now and we need to rethink what a “good investment” is. Like the above chart from Morgan Stanley shows, the overall movements of retail trading have canceled out to zero since January 2020 despite their temporarily outsized gains in 2021. If we compare today’s bitcoin price to the January 2020 price, we still see a gain of 331% for bitcoin, outdoing the S&P 500’s return by a large margin and beating the overall retail trading profit of absolutely nothing by a margin of infinity. Do we need any more proof that HODLing is a superior strategy?

    Source: Coindesk. January 1, 2020, BTC price: $7,175.50. May 9, 2022, BTC price: $30,943

    Yes, bitcoin is down from its all-time high by half, but factoring in the incredible market distortions caused by unprecedented money printing, memestock manipulations and post-COVID-19 interest rates since early 2020, bitcoin still blows anything else out of the water. We just need to zoom out to a more “honest” market window in order to see this. Everybody is acting like the sky is falling, but again, that is only because most retail investors only entered the market in 2020 or 2021 and have never seen a market that wasn’t supported by the Fed.

    There is a culture in the Bitcoin community these days of “low (i.e., long-term) time preference,” which fundamentally counters the Ponzi scheme-minded speculators that need quick gains all of the time. High (short-term) time preference fuels the perpetual “passive income” lie that newbies always fall for. In contrast, the “modest” two-year gain of 331% in bitcoin is more than enough for HODLers that have been buying since before the feeding frenzy of the past two years. Long-term time preference works for bitcoin because its fundamental value proposition has held true since its inception, and it will continue to hold true in the future for those who wait. Those who cannot wait are washed out by the market over a long enough time period in any market, just like we have seen with the 0% net gain for novice retail traders that pull in and out too much. The gains caused by hype, stimulus and cultural madness were fleeting, but the gains in Bitcoin utility and adoption have been real all along.

    Detractors have been criticizing Bitcoin for needing meme-stock speculators to make it work, but now that the meme-stock speculators are gone, the detractors are criticizing Bitcoin for the speculators not being there. This is simply illogical, and proof that Bitcoin is not actually a Ponzi scheme. The same can not be said for other cryptocurrencies. Ponzi schemes by definition cannot exist for decades and the honesty in current bitcoin price attests to the honesty of its fundamental value proposition. Yes, it goes down sometimes. This is an indicator of health and transparency. Something that just goes up and up and up forever? That’s a Ponzi scheme and the bottom will always fall out eventually.

    No one’s singing “Pump It Up” anymore, and despite how fun and euphoric the 2021 rally was for a while, the space is really better off without the memers around. It’s time for a more grown-up culture of development and adoption around Bitcoin, and time for a more grown-up price conversation as well.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 19:40

  • 90-Year Old Catholic Cardinal Arrested In Hong Kong Under China's National Security Law
    90-Year Old Catholic Cardinal Arrested In Hong Kong Under China’s National Security Law

    Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun (also, Joseph Zen), a highly visible and outspoken pro-democracy activist and the former Catholic bishop of Hong Kong, has been arrested by HK authorities, local media is reporting Wednesday.

    The 90-year old church hierarch, who had been Hong Kong’s Catholic bishop starting in 2002 before stepping down in 2009, has been a consistent supporter of anti-mainland activists, even recently organizing a relief fund to help detained protesters pay their legal fees. He was arrested alongside  former opposition lawmaker Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee and singer, actress, and activist Denise Ho Wan-sze.

    Cardinal Joseph Zen leading mass while visiting New York City. CNS photo

    Hong Kong authorities allege they were “colluding with foreign forces” – a very generalized charge which invokes the controversial pro-China so-called national security law which took effect in June 2020 – following well over a year of fierce anti-Beijing protests taking over Hong Kong streets and universities.

    The law broadly covers “terrorism, subversion, secession and collusion with foreign forces” – and activists and international critics have said it is now routinely used as blanket pro-China enforcement to snuff out all non-approved speech and protests, even including news content and film.

    The elderly bishop Zen has been detained reportedly related to his work in establishing and operating what’s called the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund – which offers the aforementioned monetary and legal assistance to jailed Hong Kong dissidents.

    The South China Morning Post details, “The three, who were detained on Wednesday, were among five trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which was set up to offer financial assistance to those involved in anti-government protests in 2019 and which came under the intense scrutiny of authorities over the past year.” This is possibly the latest in a growing body of evidence that the national security law is being applied retroactively.

    “A fourth trustee, former adjunct associate professor Hui Po Keung, was arrested by national security police on Tuesday as he was about to catch a flight to Germany, a source said,” the SCMP report indicated further.

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    There are reports that the fund had actually been officially disbanded last year following an order from the national security police for it to hand over details of its operations. It’s possible the fund went underground after that point, and continued quietly assisting jailed activists.

    Cardinal Zen has enjoyed great popularity and support not only locally but in the Catholic community worldwide…

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    The Vatican has meanwhile been relatively silent on China’s well-documented interference and crackdown in Hong Kong, according to the US-based Catholic News Agency:

    Before the [national security] law’s implementation, many Catholics, including Zen, warned that it could be used to silence the Church in Hong Kong.

    Zen’s arrest will pose a dilemma for the Vatican, which has shied away from public criticism of the crackdown in Hong Kong.

    Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s equivalent of a foreign minister, said in June 2021 that he was not convinced that speaking out on the situation in Hong Kong would make a difference.

    But perhaps seeing a high-ranking cardinal behind bars will finally elicit a strong statement from the Vatican, which semi-frequently weighs in on controversial global affairs. …But we won’t hold our breath.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 19:20

  • Watch: US Intel Chief Acts Dumbfounded When Senator Warns Of "Poking The Bear" In Ukraine
    Watch: US Intel Chief Acts Dumbfounded When Senator Warns Of “Poking The Bear” In Ukraine

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) warned Tuesday that the US is risking war with Russia by “poking the bear” in Ukraine. Tuberville made the comments during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier.

    Tuberville told Haines and Berrier the US is risking escalating the war by bragging about intelligence sharing with Ukraine. In recent weeks, US officials claimed to the media that US intelligence has helped Ukrainian forces shoot down a plane carrying Russian troops, kill Russian generals, and sink a Russian warship.

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    “You know, we’re kind of poking the bear here… We’re bragging about it. Even President Biden said today, ‘Wait a minute. We got to cut back on this,’” Tuberville said. Biden reportedly told senior US officials that the leaks to the media on intelligence-sharing must stop.

    Tuberville warned the US is also risking provoking Moscow by sending high-level officials to Kyiv. “We do not want to take that step forward to where we get a lot of our men and women involved in this. It looks like to me that we’re taking way too many chances of sending people over there for a photo op,” he said.

    The senator said he favored supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia but warned there was no turning back if things escalated into a direct conflict between Washington and Moscow. “There’s a point of no return here if we cross that line,” he said.

    While the US has sent billions in arms to Ukraine, restarted training Ukrainian troops, and expanded intelligence sharing, US officials still deny the idea that Washington is engaged in a proxy war against Moscow. When pressed by Tuberville, Haines said that Russia believes it’s fighting a war against both Ukraine and the West.

    “Russia has historically believed that they are in a conflict, in effect, with NATO and the United States on a variety of issues,” Haines said. When asked directly if Russia believes it’s fighting the US, Haines said, “In a sense, their perception.”

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    During the hearing, Berrier and Haines described the war in Ukraine as a “stalemate” and said Russian President Vladimir Putin was preparing for a long-term conflict. Haines said over the next few months, the war could “see us moving along a more unpredictable and potentially escalatory trajectory.”

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 05/11/2022 – 19:00

  • Is A Wheat Crisis Developing In China As Farmers Cut Crops Early?
    Is A Wheat Crisis Developing In China As Farmers Cut Crops Early?

    As global food prices remain at record highs and war wages in Europe between two of the world’s largest grain suppliers, troubling videos from China show farmers slashing winter wheat production ahead of harvest times, adding even more uncertainty about food security. 

    Bloomberg reports China’s agriculture ministry is very concerned about the matter. The ministry is investigating if there’s illegal destruction of wheat crops. 

    The ministry said this comes three weeks before harvests, adding the crop was subjected to devastating floods late last year. There’s also concern that soggy field conditions in southern China due to abnormal rainfall could affect farmers’ ability to harvest. 

    An analyst at Melbourne-based Thomas Elder Markets, Andrew Whitelaw, said it’s not surprising that farmers are cutting their wheat early for hay as this may be a better return on their money because of poor crop conditions. 

    “If China has a poor crop this season, then they will likely have to continue with a strong import program … there are “already question marks around China’s food security ambitions,” Whitelaw said, adding that the country has ramped up wheat imports this year. 

    Here are some videos of Chinese trucks loaded up with unripened wheat that will be used as animal feed instead flour for human consumption. 

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    The situation in China adds to wheat production concerns in Ukraine, Russia’s unlikeness to ship the crop to “unfriendly” countries, India’s threats of wheat export bans due to severe weather, and planting issues in the US Northern Plains and Canada because of wet conditions. As a result of all of these issues that may tighten global food markets even further, US wheat futures hit a 14-year high on Monday.

      Tyler Durden
      Wed, 05/11/2022 – 18:40

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