- Brandon Smith: Artificial Intelligence – A Secular Look At The Digital Antichrist
Brandon Smith: Artificial Intelligence – A Secular Look At The Digital Antichrist
Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,
Why do globalists have a deep rooted obsession with Artificial Intelligence (AI)? What is it about the fervent quest for an autonomous digitized brain that sends them into fits of ecstasy? Is it all about what AI can do for them and their agenda, or, is there also a darker “occult” element to the concept that is so appealing?
The World Economic Forum, an organization dedicated to the globalist “Great Reset” agenda, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the “Shared Economy,” dedicates a large portion of every annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland to discussion on AI and the expansion of its influence over daily life.
The United Nations holds extensive policy sessions on AI and has been spending a considerable amount of energy to establish “ethics rules” for the development and use of Artificial Intelligence. At the core of the UN’s efforts is the assertion that only the UN is qualified to dictate and control AI technologies; for the good of all mankind, of course. AI governance is slated to go into full effect by 2030 according to the UN’s own white papers (All globalist institutions have set 2030 as the target date for all of their projects).
Another lesser known but substantial organization is the World Government Summit held every year in Dubai. These summits are attended by many national leaders and representatives as well as corporate CEOs and celebrities. The primary subjects of focus at the WGS are usually climate change propaganda, centralization of the global economy, Transhumanism and AI.
Most of the public discussions on AI revolve around positive narratives; we are meant to be convinced on the many great advancements that AI technology will provide. Some of the “advantages” include transhumanist health modifications, computer implants in the body or brain, and even nanobots which may one day be advanced enough to change our very cells. In other words, in order to benefit from AI we must become less human and more machine.
Other supposed benefits require a vast array of new systems (some of them are being built now) that would allow algorithms to monitor every facet of our lives. Globalists often refer to these systems as the “internet of things” – Every appliance you own, the car you drive, every computer, every cell phone, every surveillance camera, every stop light, everything would be centralized into a single AI network within a city, and each city would be connected in a great spider’s web to a national AI database.
The Internet of Things is regularly mentioned in conjunction with climate change governance and carbon restrictions. The purpose is crystal clear – Governments and corporate elites want the ability to monitor every watt of energy you use everyday. This kind of full spectrum information makes it easier to dictate our decisions and our access to goods and services. They would have total control of anyone living within these “Smart Cities.” Your entire life, every second, would be watched and scrutinized.
But how could this be made possible? Millions upon millions of people living day-to-day; that’s a LOT of data to sift through to find anyone not following the rules. This is one of the reasons why the globalists are salivating over AI technologies – It’s the only tool available to collect and delineate mass data collection in real time.
Already, there are efforts to use AI systems to predict crime before it happens (pre-crime). These experiments are rather overhyped as they don’t actually predict specific crimes or identify specific criminals. Rather, they use statistical analysis to predict which areas of a city certain crimes are most likely to occur. You don’t need AI for this, any cop that’s worked in a city long enough can tell you when and where certain crimes are most likely to happen.
Hilariously, AI algorithms have recently been accused of “racial bias” when it comes to the areas they select for predictive crime, because often these areas tend to be in predominantly black neighborhoods and the most predicted criminals tend to be young black men. So, the computers have been accused of racial profiling just as many cops are accused of racial profiling.
Just another classic contradiction of the political left: They love the idea of climate change restrictions, transhumanism, and even AI surveillance when it suits them, but a computer does not care about your feelings and it doesn’t care about social taboos. It only cares about the numbers.
And this is where we get into the greater dangers inherent in AI. Imagine a world micro-managed by a cold dead algorithm that views you as only one of two things: A resource or a threat.
Prediction of pre-crime is nonsense; algorithms monitor habits and patterns and human beings tend to break patterns abruptly. People are affected by crisis events in different ways that are impossible to portend. There are far too many variables and there will never be a system that is able to predict the future, but that’s not going to stop the globalists from trying to force the issue.
AI governance is an inevitability according to globalist institutions – They claim that one day Artificial Intelligence will be used to govern whole societies and dole out punishment based on scientifically efficient models. They act as if this is just the natural path of mankind and one we cannot avoid, but in reality it is a self-fulfilling prophesy. It’s not necessarily meant to happen, it is being engineered to happen.
AI proponents argue that the algorithms cannot act with the same bias that humans do, therefore, they would be the best possible judges of human behavior. Every decision from production to distribution to healthcare to schooling to law and order would be managed by AI as a means to achieve ultimate “equity.”
As noted above, they’ve already run into the road block of statistical probability and the fact that even if AI is left to autonomously make decisions devoid of emotion, millions of people will still see those decisions as biased. And, in some ways they would be right.
The most logical decision is not always the most moral decision. Furthermore, an AI is programmed by its creator and can be engineered to make decisions with the creator’s biases in mind. Who gets to program the AI? Who gets to dictate its coding? Global elitists?
And here is where we get to the more “spiritual” element of the AI issue in relation to the globalists.
A couple years back I wrote an article titled ‘Luciferianism: A Secular Look At A Destructive Globalist Belief System.’ My goal in that piece was to outlined the large amount of evidence that globalists are in fact a kind of cult of organized psychopaths (people without empathy that take joy in destruction for the sake of personal gain). I concluded that globalists do indeed have a religion, and their root belief system according to the evidence is Luciferianism.
Yes, I’m sure there will be naysayers out there that will scoff at this notion, but the facts are undeniable. There is a distinct occult element to globalism, and Luciferianism pops up consistently as the root philosophy. I think I broke this down rather effectively in the article and I won’t rehash all the evidence here; people are welcome to read it if they wish.
I wrote from a secular standpoint because Luciferianism is an inherently destructive ideology even when viewed outside of the lens of Christian belief. Beyond that, there are psychological elements that need to be addressed that Christianity often ignores. Luciferian philosophy is tailor made for narcissistic and sociopathic people. The root of the cult is about “special” human beings that are not hindered by the boundaries of conscience, morals or ethics. Lack of empathy is seen as an advantage to progress and the ultimate goal of Luciferianism is godhood – A person becoming like a god, whether through being worshiped by others, the power of influence or by technological methods of extending life and abilities.
But what does this have to do with AI?
I believe that globalists view AI with such reverence because they think it is a new form of life, or an ultimate form of life – A life that they are creating (as gods create life). And, if you think about it symbolically, this new “life” is actually made in the image of its creators: It has no empathy, no remorse, no guilt, no love. For lack of a better word, it is soulless, much like globalist psychopaths are soulless.
If we are to look at AI in religious terms for a moment – AI is a kind of antithesis to the figure of Christ. Christ represents an all-knowing form of ultimate love and ultimate self sacrifice according to Christian doctrine. I don’t think there is a word for what AI ultimately represents. The only term that seems to fit is “Antichrist”: The all seeing eye. A rulership of a super-intelligence devoid of humanity.
To be clear, I DO NOT believe in end-of-the-world concepts portrayed by those that adhere to more popular interpretations of Revelations. I think the world changes. I think empires rise and fall and this can often be seen as the “end of the world” when it’s really just the end of an epoch. That said, I wholeheartedly believe in the existence of evil; evil being defined as willfully deceitful or destructive actions for purely personal or organizational benefit, such as murder or enslavement. Evil does indeed exist and is an observable element of human life.
There are also traits of humanity that lead to good, that prevent us from self destruction when we listen to them. Conscience, reason, wisdom and often faith can provide a shield against evil actions for the majority of us. If we didn’t have these pillars within our psyches we would have annihilated ourselves long ago. But, there are some who do not have conscience, that do not have empathy and they despise these traits as “limiting.”
AI is being designed by these kinds of people. And maybe they won’t cause the “end of the world” in terms we commonly understand (or in biblical terms), but over time they could take away everything that makes humanity worthy of the world. In a way, this would be an Apocalypse. It would be a living nightmare run by psychopathic people using sociopathic artificial intelligence, actively encouraging and enabling the masses to abandon their human bodies to become digital monstrosities and technological chimera.
If successful, it really would be the ultimate defilement of nature, or of God’s design if that is what you believe in. The pursuit of godhood is not worth it for most of us, but for the globalists it is the dream of an age, and they will do ANYTHING to achieve it.
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Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 23:30 - Does The US Have An Appetite For Third-Party Candidates?
Does The US Have An Appetite For Third-Party Candidates?
Anyone running as a third-party candidate or Independent for federal office in the U.S., let alone the presidency, is certainly facing long odds.
Still, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz details below, generations of Americans have not tired of trying.
This includes Andrew Yang, who announced his new party, Forward, at the end of July and is tipped to launch a presidential campaign as well. The run would be his second after an unsuccessful attempt at the Democratic nomination in 2020. Last year, Yang also dropped out of the New York City mayoral race after six months. According to Axios, the Forward Party is attempting to appear on 15 state-wide ballots in 2022 and expand that to ballots in all 50 states by 2024.
Yang’s decision to form a third party was widely condemned as anything from divisive to illusionary, but how far have third-party candidates come in the history of the United States?
Their success has varied widely as has their ability to win electoral college votes.
In the American statewide winner-takes-all system, the latter factor has often depended on whether candidates could mobilize voters regionally. More recent third-party candidates especially have faced this issue.
You will find more infographics at Statista
In 1992, Independent Ross Perot received a whopping 18.9 percent of the popular vote, which translated into a resounding zero votes from electors. Perot won no state and came second in only two, Maine and Utah.
Earlier third-party candidates were somewhat better at garnering electoral college votes when their platforms aligned with regional – read: Southern – issues.
George Wallace of the American Independent party won 13.5 percent of the popular vote and 46 electors (8.6 percent) in 1968 after campaigning against desegregation. He won five states – Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia – as well as one electoral college vote from North Carolina. In 1948, “Dixiecrat” Strom Thurmond had been even more efficient at turning ballots into electors, winning 7.3 percent of the electoral college (39 votes) with a share of the popular vote of just 2.4 percent, as his supporters were concentrated in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina. Officially named the States’ Rights Democratic Party, the “Dixiecrats” also opposed racial integration.
The most successful presidential third-party candidate of the last century was actually Teddy Roosevelt for the Progressive party in 1912. After having completed two presidential terms between 1901 and 1909 for the Republicans, he came second after election winner, Democrat Woodrow Wilson, and won more than 27 percent of the popular vote as well as 88 electors (16.6 percent). In a time before presidential term limits, Roosevelt sought a third term over a feud with his successor, Republican William Howard Taft, and an increasingly likely Democratic victory. However, in 1916, Roosevelt had reconsidered splitting the conservative vote and turned down the Progressive nomination.
The Progressive Party made a reappearance in 1924 when Robert La Follette won almost 17 percent of voters and 13 electors from his home state of Wisconsin – still fewer than the 15 electors Independent Harry F. Byrd earned in 1960 despite not having been on the ballot and having received no votes from the public. 14 unpledged and one unfaithful elector voted for him in yet another protest of desegregation.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 23:00 - Special Ops Veteran Cancels Plans For Sunday Protest At FBI Headquarters After 'Trap' Warnings
Special Ops Veteran Cancels Plans For Sunday Protest At FBI Headquarters After ‘Trap’ Warnings
Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
In the wake of the unexpected fallout sparked by an Aug. 8 media pitch, a military veteran has revised his plans to hold a protest at the FBI headquarters in Washington on Sunday, Aug. 14.
Adam Hardage, veteran and CEO of Remote Health Solutions, calling for a protest at the FBI headquarters in Washington on Aug. 14, 2022. (Courtesy of Adam Hardage) Following the unprecedented raid on the Mar-a-Lago residence of former President Donald Trump, an Aug. 8 media pitch announced that a 20-year military and former Special Ops veteran named Adam Hardage was “calling on fellow veterans and Americans of all walks to join him Sunday 8/14 at the FBI HQ in Washington DC to protest the out of control FBI and its actions against President Trump.”
Adam Hardage, military and Special Operations veteran, pictured here in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Courtesy of Adam Hardage) However, the unexpected fallout that quickly ensued caused Hardage to revise his plans.
It all started with an Aug. 9 report about the proposed protest mentioned in the Aug. 8 media pitch.
Screenshot of the Aug. 8, 2022 media pitch sent out to numerous news outlets regarding a protest proposed at the FBI headquarters in Washington. (With permission from the media relations company) The contact information was included in the media pitch for those who wanted to interview Hardage. While Hardage did receive requests for radio and podcast spots, the media relations company that sent out the media pitch confirmed that The Epoch Times was the only print/web news outlet to actually request and receive an interview with Hardage about his proposed protest.
The Best Laid Plans
There has been much speculation that Jan. 6, 2021 was a setup, a coordinated campaign to use the anger of those who believe the 2020 election was stolen against them in order to take down former President Donald Trump and arrest and incarcerate his supporters, with the goal of ultimately destroying the entire MAGA movement.
As The Epoch Times reported, evidence has emerged that proves protesters were peaceful until Capitol Police began lobbing tear gas and flashbangs into the crowd, shooting them with rubber bullets and spraying them in the face with pepper gel. Experts say a “cadre of provocateurs” then instigated fights, broke through bike rack barricades and encouraged protesters to storm the Capitol. Members of a secret, plainclothes Electronic Surveillance Unit were even embedded into the crowd, recognized to Capitol Police by a special multi-colored bracelet worn on their left wrist, for the express purpose of filming the ensuing confrontations between protesters and law enforcement for the purposes of entrapment.
It wasn’t long before speculation grew that the proposed protest at the FBI headquarters on Aug. 14, 2022 could be staged as a trap to ensnare protesters just like those who attended the protest at the Capitol on Jan. 6. 2021.
‘It’s a Trap’
In response to the Aug. 9 report, chatter on social media and right-wing blogs ranged from support to warnings the proposed protest could be “a trap.” Other comments on social media posts suggest everything from the inevitable win of Trump in 2024 because of the raid to suggestions that the FBI planted evidence at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence. An Aug. 11 report said Trump’s supporters were warning people to “beware of possible FBI agents urging rebellion.”
Another social media post warned of the FBI saying, “We advise individuals taking part in protest activities to remain aware of their immediate surroundings and to report any suspicious activity to local law enforcement.”
Warnings of entrapment were followed by misinformation. The host of one social media video wrongfully attributed a quote from “another concerned veteran,” mentioned at the end of one report, to Hardage, inaccurately insisting Hardage said he wasn’t even planning on attending his own protest.
“I am a 20-year retired navy commander and J6 attendee,” the unnamed “concerned veteran” said in the Aug. 9 story. “I am incensed by the FBI raid on DJT’s home yesterday. I will be protesting an end to the FBI on the busiest intersection in my town of Kingwood, TX in full uniform Saturday.”
Hardage lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.
According to Dave Scarlett, a Marine and pastor of His Glory ministries, the proposed Aug. 14 protest would “most definitely” wind up being another Jan. 6 “trap.”
“If you’re in the Washington, D.C. area, there go your rights,” Scarlett told The Epoch Times. “Do not go into Washington. D.C. If you want a peaceful protest, do it outside of Washington. D.C.
“If you are truly representing the nation, patriots, Christians, and the military in this country, that is not the place to do it,” Scarlett said.
“It’s a trap. Stay out of it. Do not go there,” Scarlett warned. “I have many military intel sources who are former generals and they said exactly that. Do not go into Washington D.C., because it’s a trap.”
‘Overreach and Abuse’
Hardage believes “the raid on Mar-a-Lago was a massive governmental overreach.”
He is not alone.
Even multiple high-profile Democrat politicians and liberal media outlets are calling the raid an unprecedented overreach that will require a lot of explaining.
While he also knows the Mar-a-Lago raid “was intended to scare Americans and to intimidate people,” Hardage believes the only thing it really accomplished was to “energize Trump’s base and the MAGA crowd.”
Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally at the Lorain County Fairgrounds in Wellington, Ohio, on June 26, 2021. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) “I’m excited to see MAGA 2.0, because I think it’s going to be absolutely epic,” Hardage said. “It’s going to make the original Trump Train and Trump Wave look like a snooze fest.”
Scarlett agrees.
“The FBI and tyrants in Washington have overplayed their hand by desecrating the home of the People’s President and the most influential Leader of the Free World—a cowardly act previously only seen in Third-World countries,” Scarlett said in a statement issued after the raid. “They have not just attacked the rightful President, but every freedom-loving American Patriot in this country. This disgusting overreach of power and display of lawlessness will go down in history as the exact moment they sealed their fate. I foresee a fully committed and united MAGA party, the likes of which has never been seen in this great nation. Christians, Patriots, Military, and every freedom-loving citizen will now unite. They have awakened a sleeping giant. We will once again be One Nation Under God, where justice, truth, and light prevails.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Rick Green, Founder of Patriot Academy.
“The FBI raid on President Trump’s home will go down in infamy as the turning point for a generation,” Green told The Epoch Times, adding that “the unknown is whether the turn will be towards complete tyranny or a turn back to liberty and the answer depends on whether we average Americans say enough is enough.”
“The church-going, hard-working, family and community-focused people that make up the backbone of America are not normally the type to protest,” Green said further. “They vote, they donate, they might write a letter of concern. None of that is enough anymore. Saving America from these Marxists will require a civically active, vocal, consistent citizenship and we’re about to find out if enough Americans are up to the challenge.”
Recent surveys appear to show that the rise of the “civically active” and “vocal” citizenry is already happening.
The Surveys
In the wake of the Jan. 6 protests, the government has done much to use the event against Donald Trump and anyone who supports him. The arrest, incarceration, and abuse of the protesters; the ongoing efforts of the Select Committee to convict Trump of insurrection and render him ineligible to ever run for office again; and the raid on Mar-a-Lago, some, like Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), believe “it’s about vengeance. It’s about intimidation.” Still, the silver lining behind these dark clouds is revealed through a string of recent surveys, which show a simultaneous frustration with growing government overreach, a spike in the number of Americans who believe the nation has a two-tiered justice system and an increase in the number of Americans becoming tangibly involved in civic activism.
An online survey by Daily Mail shows over 70 percent of their readers disapprove of the Mar-a-Lago raid. The Nationwide Issues Survey (pdf) conducted between July 24–28 by the Trafalgar Group with Convention of States Action found that 79 percent of 1,080 likely U.S. voters interviewed believe “there are two tiers of justice: one set of laws for politicians and Washington D.C. insiders vs one set of laws for everyday Americans.”
According to a national survey of general election likely voters conducted by McLaughlin & Associated for Summit Ministries from July 21–25, while 48 percent of American voters say their level of civic engagement has remained the same in recent years, nearly 30 percent said they have gotten more involved in the civic process within the last two years. Of those, 81 percent say they are civically engaged because they believe their activism is making a difference.
The first national survey taken after the FBI raid on Trump at Mar-a-Lago shows 83 percent of Republicans, 72 percent of independents, and 55.2 percent of Democrats are now more likely to vote in the 2022 Midterm Elections as a result of the raid. While only 11.9 percent of Democrats believe Trump’s political enemies are behind the FBI raid on the former president’s private home, 53.9 percent of Independent voters and 76.7 percent of Republican voters believe they are. More striking is that a majority of independents and Republicans believe the raid was unreasonable and that the raid is moving America closer to becoming a police state. Democrats, on the other hand, think such an invasion is completely reasonable.
A Change of Plans
“After the politically-motivated raid on President Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago, I initially called for a rally in the Northern Virginia/DC area,” Hardage told The Epoch Times amid the fallout from the Aug. 9 report. “My intent was to show solidarity and support for freedom, for the U.S. Constitution, and for President Trump. After receiving thousands of online comments and emails from across this nation from veterans on all sides of politics, I have decided to make a change to our plans to peacefully protest the FBI.”
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 22:30 - Brand Loyalty Is Declining For Most Luxury Automakers
Brand Loyalty Is Declining For Most Luxury Automakers
New research conducted by S&P Global Mobility has found that brand loyalty – measured as the percentage of buyers that go back to the same brand for their next vehicle – is falling across the luxury segment.
This infographic from Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu visualized the results of this research, which spans from January 2020 to April 2022.
Brand Loyalty Losers
The following brands have all experienced a drop in brand loyalty over the time period.
For additional context, we’ve also included each brand’s score in the J.D. Power 2022 Initial Quality Study. This is measured based on the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100) in the first 90 days of ownership.
Land Rover experienced the biggest drop in loyalty, despite a better than average PP100 rating. One potential reason is timing—the brand’s premier model, the Range Rover, has been in its fourth generation since 2012. The SUV has become relatively dated, though a new fifth generation was recently revealed for the 2022 model year.
Two Volkswagen Group brands, Audi and Porsche, also fared poorly in terms of loyalty. This is somewhat surprising, as both brands offer a portfolio of both gasoline and electric models. Many competitors, such as Acura, Lexus, and Maserati, have yet to release an EV.
Brand Loyalty Winners
Three brands have managed to buck the trend, as shown below.
We can draw parallels between Tesla and Apple, in that both have incredibly loyal followers.
For instance, between March 2021 to April 2022, 62% of buyers/households who returned to market and previously owned a Model 3 purchased a new Tesla. That’s an impressive statistic, especially when we consider Tesla’s history of build quality issues.
Maserati appears to be in the same boat. The Italian automaker has strengthened its brand loyalty by 4.3 percentage points, despite having the luxury segment’s worst PP100. Perhaps build quality matters less than we think.
Another Factor to Consider
Ongoing supply chain issues could also be contributing to wide-spread declines in loyalty. Rather than waiting several months (or in the case of EVs, years), buyers may switch to a different brand that has cars in stock.
We are still monitoring it week to week, but up to now basically worldwide, we had no issues running production.
– JOERG BURZER, MERCEDES-BENZ
Many automakers have reported that their supply issues are diminishing, though new economic challenges have risen. For example, surging inflation has pushed the price of a new car to record highs. Combined with rising interest rates (cost of borrowing), this could negatively impact the demand for new cars.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 22:00 - Pro-Antifa California Teacher Who Vowed To Turn Students Into 'Revolutionaries' Is Paid To Resign
Pro-Antifa California Teacher Who Vowed To Turn Students Into ‘Revolutionaries’ Is Paid To Resign
Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
A California teacher who bragged about using his position to radicalize students into far-left “revolutionaries” has been given three years of pay by his school district to resign, according to a report.
People hold Antifa flags in a file photo. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images) Gabriel Gipe, a teacher of Advanced Placement government at Inderkum High School, agreed in January to leave his post with a $190,000 payout from the Natomas Unified School District, according to The Sacramento Bee, citing district records.
Gipe, whose annual base salary is about $60,000, received a final paycheck of about $100,000 after taxes were withheld, according to the newspaper.
The teacher drew outrage from the school district community last year after he was featured in a video by undercover news organization Project Veritas.
In the video footage, Gipe says he gave students extra credit for them to attend left-wing events, including counter-protests to the “right-wing rallies.” He also allegedly kept track of his students’ political inclinations to make sure they drifted further left as time went on.
“So, they take an ideology quiz and I put [the results] on the [classroom] wall. Every year, they get further and further left,” he tells the undercover journalist, who was posing as a left-wing sympathizer.
“I’m like, ‘These ideologies are considered extreme, right? Extreme times breed extreme ideologies.’ Right? There is a reason why Generation Z, these kids, are becoming further and further left.”
Gipe says he displayed on his classroom wall an Antifa flag, which he claimed was “meant to make fascists feel uncomfortable.” The video footage also shows a poster of Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong on a wall in the teacher’s classroom.
When asked about his views on the Chinese Communist Party, Gipe says in the video footage that Mao’s Cultural Revolution, which took place after a disastrous economic campaign that triggered mass starvation and famine, provides lessons for how socialism can take root inside the United States.
“You need propaganda of the deed—your economics—and cultural propaganda as well. You need to retrain the way people think,” he says. “We have to hit both fronts. We have to convince people that this [socialism] is what we actually need.”
Later, when a Project Veritas reporter confronted Gipe on the street, the teacher was wearing a T-shirt with a hammer and sickle on the front. Gipe didn’t respond to the reporter’s questions regarding his persuading of students to adopt far-left ideologies.
Following parents’ outrage, the school district placed Gipe on unpaid leave pending an investigation, acknowledging that Gipe’s “educational approach” was “disturbing and [undermined] the public’s trust.”
An administrative judge later ordered that Gipe be put on paid leave as the district’s investigation continued.
The report of the investigation revealed more details about Gipe’s problematic conduct, including replacing typical AP government curriculum with lectures about communism and pinning photos of students who expressed conservative ideas on a wall next to a swastika.
“You used your position of authority with a captive audience of impressionable teenagers to promote your own political ideology, including advocating or teaching communism with the intent to indoctrinate or inculcate in the mind of any pupil a preference for communism,” the district report reads, according to The Sacramento Bee.
In response to a request for additional information, the Natomas Unified School District officials said in a statement that they have put the matter behind them.
“We have put this behind us and have moved forward,” the statement reads. “What’s most important right now is welcoming our students back to the start of a new school year.”
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 21:30 - "I'd Vote For You, If You Had A Penis": Senator Who Lied About Heritage Claims Random People Made Sexist Comments
“I’d Vote For You, If You Had A Penis”: Senator Who Lied About Heritage Claims Random People Made Sexist Comments
Elizabeth Warren, whose career was built on a lie about her heritage, allegedly claimed that people would “come up to her” and tell her that she’d have their vote if only she was equipped with a penis.
“Everyone comes up to me and says, ‘I would vote for you, if you had a penis’,” Warren reportedly told NBC Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali, who wrote about the comment in her new book “Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet,” Politico reports.
The story was greeted with widespread derision on social media. “[Warren] should name a single person that has ever said this to her,” said Washington Free Beacon Executive Editor Brent Scher.
The popular account NumbersMuncher, meanwhile, jokingly pointed out: “So people took the time to go to Warren’s events and spent hours there… only to take the time to tell her they would vote for her ‘if you had a penis’?” –Just the News
Warren notably claimed for years that she was a Native American. After former President Donald Trump offered her $1 million to prove it in July 2019, Warren took a DNA test – she hilariously tried to trot out the results as evidence of her claim…
By the way, @realDonaldTrump: Remember saying on 7/5 that you’d give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry? I remember – and here’s the verdict. Please send the check to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center: https://t.co/I6YQ9hf7Tv pic.twitter.com/J4gBamaeeo
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
…except that due to a math error by the Boston Globe, the test actually showed she could be 1/1024th Native American – resulting in mass ridicule.
Every Time Elizabeth Warren Has Lied About Her Native American Heritage:
(Thread)
1. Elizabeth Warren self-identified as a “Native American” in the The Association of American Law Schools Directory of law professors in every edition printed between 1986 -1995.
— Benny Johnson 🍊 (@bennyjohnson) October 15, 2018
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Five months later Warren apologized to the Cherokee Nation for claiming American Indian heritage.
Maybe she should simply start claiming to have a penis to score more votes, since lying comes so easily to her?
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 21:00 - NARA Responds To Trump's Remarks On Obama's Classified Documents
NARA Responds To Trump’s Remarks On Obama’s Classified Documents
Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times,
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) responded Friday to former President Donald Trump’s statements that former President Barrack Obama took classified records from the White House when his term ended in 2016.
“President Barack Hussein Obama kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified. How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots!” Trump said in a statement on Friday.
Trump repeated his assertion about Obama’s presidential records in a post on Truth Social after the FBI conducted its unprecedented raid of his Florida property to search for classified presidential documents.
NARA released a statement in refute of Trump’s claims, saying they exclusively maintain Obama’s presidential records according to the Presidential Records Act (PRA).
“NARA moved approximately 30 million pages of unclassified records to a NARA facility in the Chicago area where they are maintained exclusively by NARA,” NARA said in a statement.
“Additionally, NARA maintains the classified Obama Presidential records in a NARA facility in the Washington, D.C., area. As required by the PRA, former President Obama has no control over where and how NARA stores the Presidential records of his Administration.”
The Epoch Times contacted Obama’s office for comment.
NARA’s Pursuit of Trump’s Records
It is unclear why an FBI warrant and subsequent raid was needed given Trump’s cooperation with NARA to return presidential documents.
Throughout 2022, NARA has released a series of statements about Trump’s presidential records, starting in January, when it spoke about receiving some “paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump.”
In one of the statements, NARA said Trump’s presidential records “should have been transferred to NARA from the White House at the end of the Trump Administration in January 2021.”
In February, NARA noted that Trump and his representatives had been cooperating with NARA to transfer boxes of records from the Mar-a-Lago property to the National Archives.
NARA official David Ferriero said in February regarding Trump’s records that NARA “pursues the return of records whenever we learn that records have been improperly removed or have not been appropriately transferred to official accounts.”
Five months later, on Aug. 8, the FBI carried out a raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach in search of presidential documents.
After pushback, the Department of Justice asked the court to unseal the warrant, which revealed that Trump is under investigation for alleged violations of 18 USC 2071—concealment, removal, or mutilation; 18 USC 793 of the Espionage Act—gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information; and 18 USC 1519—destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations.
“Number one, it was all declassified,” Trump said in a statement.
“Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted to without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has called on the DOJ to “release the information as to why a warrant was necessary” saying the “DOJ must lay their cards on the table.”
Trump and Republicans have said the raid is an example of the “weaponization of the justice system” against a political opponent of the sitting president who is mulling running against President Joe Biden in 2024.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 20:30 - Masa Is Down $4 Billion On His SoftBank Side Hustle Set Up To Boost His Compensation
Masa Is Down $4 Billion On His SoftBank Side Hustle Set Up To Boost His Compensation
It turns out it isn’t just Softbank that’s getting creamed on its investments, billion head of the company Masayoshi Son is also personally feeling the pain of the poor performance in the technology market. And, on a side note, we may have finally found an “investor” whose acumen rivals Cathie Wood!
He has lost more than $4 billion “on a series of side deals he set up at SoftBank Group Corp. to boost his compensation,” according to a new Bloomberg report.
Son had established personal stakes in many of SoftBank’s ventures over the last few years. The thought process was that when the investments outperformed, it would act as a compensation kicker for Son, who currently draws a salary of about $740,000 per year.
Personally, Son holds a 17.25% interest in a vehicle belonging to SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 for its unlisted holdings, and a 17.25% interest in part of its Latin America fund. He also has a 33% stake in a vehicle SoftBank set up to trade stocks and derivatives.
From these interests, he has racked up losses of $2.1 billion, $205 million and $2 billion, respectively, the report says. The amount Son owes his own company from the Vision Fund 2 and the Latam fund was up about $1.9 billion over the last quarter, the report says.
Marvin Lo, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, said: “It is controversial for a business leader to mix his personal financial interests with corporate responsibilities. But Son explained before that he wanted to use co-investment to provide financial benefits to managers, similar to venture capital firm partners getting a 20% to 30% performance fees, but with a downside too.”
Son has deposited 8.9 million of his own shares as collateral for the Vision Fund 2 and 2.2 million shares as collateral for the LatAm fund.
Meanwhile SoftBank posted a glaring $23.4 billion loss for the June quarter last week.
Son said in a press conference: “We really believed we could do it and we had our heads in the clouds. Of course, the market was bad, there was a war, and there was the coronavirus. We can point to a lot of reasons, but these are all excuses. We have to self-reflect about the fact that if we’d been more selective and had invested more properly, it wouldn’t come to this.”
A SoftBank spokesperson said the money should be called a “net payable” instead of a loss by Son.
Because when it doubt, change the terminology or the definition – just ask the Biden administration!
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 20:00 - Washington, DC Mayor Asks US Military For 90 Days Of Help With Illegal Immigrants
Washington, DC Mayor Asks US Military For 90 Days Of Help With Illegal Immigrants
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser on Aug. 11 renewed her call for U.S. military assistance to deal with the surge of illegal immigrants the nation’s capital has encountered after governors of border states began busing the immigrants to the city.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser attends March for Our Lives 2022 in Washington on June 11, 2022. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for March For Our Lives) The initial request for National Guard assistance from Bowser, a Democrat, was rejected by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a Biden appointee, earlier in August.
Instead of asking for an open-ended deployment, Bowser in the new request asked for 90 days of help, with a proposed reevaluation of the mission on Dec. 1.
If approved, Guard personnel would provide logistical support to the Washington government, helping establish and manage new sites to house and feed the illegal immigrants.
“The Guard is uniquely resourced to provide emergency logistical support,” Bowser wrote.
Bowser also wants the government to make the D.C. Armory or another federal site available as a “respite center” for the aliens, and to treat the immigrants like war refugees, referring to how the Biden administration has supported refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine in recent months.
“We can confirm that the Secretary of Defense received a request from the office of the Mayor of DC, but as this is a pending request, we are not prepared to comment on the specifics of the request at this time. The Secretary takes this request for assistance very seriously. He and his team are working through the details, and will respond to the mayor’s office as soon as a decision has been reached,” a spokesman for Austin told The Epoch Times in an email.
The spokesman said on Aug. 5 that the initial request was rejected because “we have determined providing this support would negatively impact the readiness of the DCNG and have negative effects on the organization and members.”
DCNG stands for D.C. National Guard.
Washington’s mayor cannot deploy the guard, but can ask the federal government to deploy personnel.
Grant Program
Washington Attorney General Karl Racine on Thursday said his office would start offering grants to local groups providing humanitarian assistance to the illegal immigrants, who are being transported to the District of Columbia by Texas and Arizona officials who are fed up with the surge in illegal immigration that has occurred under President Joe Biden.
“The decision by the Governors of Texas and Arizona to bus asylum-seeking migrants to the District is causing a humanitarian crisis. The organizations and individuals who have shouldered the burden of providing basic needs and services—including housing, food, transportation, and legal assistance—are understandably strained and simply cannot be expected to carry this responsibility alone,” Racine, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 19:30 - Potato Shortage Emerges In Idaho As Prices Surge At Supermarkets
Potato Shortage Emerges In Idaho As Prices Surge At Supermarkets
The next food insecurity problem that may impact the way Americans eat could be an emerging potato shortage that began last year when yields were depressed due to a heatwave, according to Boise State Public Radio.
“I’m not sure if you remember last June, but we had some just unbelievably hot temperatures here in Idaho. It did a number on our potato crop,” Jamey Higham, president and CEO of the Idaho Potato Commission, told the Idaho-based media outlet. “And so, our yields were significantly down last year.”
Boise State Public Radio pointed out that last year’s potato crop cycle should last through August, though the lack of the starchy vegetable has already presented consumers with higher prices at the supermarket.
“There is not a gap. There are just less potatoes being shipped right now than there normally are this time of year because of the shorter supply that we started the season with,” said Higham.
He said Idaho produced the most potatoes in the county last year, and what happens to crop yields in the state will influence prices across the country.
“As the fresh market goes, the grocery stores – your Albertsons, Walmart, WinCo, that stuff – it is not just Idaho that’s having high prices right now. It’s the other states as well.”
Higham expects potato prices to remain high through the rest of the year.
“I don’t anticipate these prices staying high long term. And once harvest gets underway, it’ll get back down into a better spot. But I do expect prices to be strong all year this year.”
The local media outlet noted: “But it is still rather bizarre to be in Idaho of all places, and there’s a shortage of potatoes.”
… and all this means is more pressure on consumers’ pocketbooks who’ve seen grocery inflation hit the highest levels since 1979.
Another shortage that could potentially emerge is beer as northern Mexico runs out of water. If you didn’t know, Mexico is responsible for 76% of all the beer imported by the US last year (most of it’s produced in the northern part of the country).
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 19:00 - NJ Vows To Fight NYC Congestion Pricing Proposal
NJ Vows To Fight NYC Congestion Pricing Proposal
By Larry Higgs of Mass Transit Mag
New Jersey’s reaction to New York’s congestion pricing plan to charge tolls to drive south of 60th Street in Manhattan was predictable – the proposed tolls are too high and public officials vowed to fight it.
An environmental assessment on the plan released Wednesday by the MTA came with seven toll scenarios, including one that gives drivers using the George Washington Bridge, and Lincoln and Holland tunnels credit for those tolls toward the peak period congestion pricing fee of $23 for non-commercial passenger vehicles.
A base plan would charge $9 with no credit given for Hudson or East River tolls for non-commercial passenger vehicles.
Congestion pricing could cost New Jersey workers who commute by car at least an extra $5,000 annually, said Ron Simoncini, Executive Director of the Fair Congestion Pricing Alliance.
“New Jersey commuters are sitting ducks for whatever New York wants to do,” he said. “No way New Jerseyans can spend an extra 7% to 12% of their income to get back and forth to New York.”
Many of those affected commuters don’t have an alternative to driving, he said.
“if you could bring them all in on mass transit, it would be another thing. But there is no alternative for most of these people,” Simoncini said. “They’re trapped.”
Congestion pricing, now in its third iteration, accomplishes several goals: to reduce traffic and gridlock, cut air pollution and provide at least $1 billion annually in additional revenue for major MTA bus, subway and commuter rail projects, the study determined.
But that doesn’t help Jersey drivers, Simoncini said. The law that created congestion price sends all revenue to the MTA, despite calls for sharing funding with NJ Transit and PATH to compensate for added riders that could switch from cars to those systems.
“The New Jersey auto commuter bears the cost,” he said. “So New Jersey auto commuters pay for New York commuters to get to work.”
A spokesman for Gov. Phil Murphy , who is out of the country, reiterated a comment he made to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg about commuters not receiving credit for GWB tolls toward the congestion pricing toll.
“While the environmental assessment is under review by New Jersey state agencies and comments will be submitted where necessary and appropriate, the Murphy Administration will not support a double tax of New Jerseyans that provides no direct relief for our state’s commuters,” said Bailey Lawrence, a governor’s spokesman.
U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., called the toll proposals “worse than we expected.”
“In every scenario, Jersey drivers will end up paying thousands of dollars more on top of the tolls they already pay to go over the George Washington Bridge on their way to work in New York,” he said. “In every single scenario, Jersey commuters get hosed.”
The release of the massive Congestion pricing environmental analysis Wednesday starts the clock on a public comment period that ends on Sept. 9 and includes six virtual on line public hearings from Aug. 25 to 31. A schedule and sign up instruction are on the MTA congestion pricing website at https://new.mta.info/project/CBDTP.
“I plan to take part in the public virtual hearings and encourage all Jersey drivers to join and let their voices be heard in response to the Congestion Tax,” Gottheimer said.
Simoncini said he plans to speak at all six hearings.
The National Motorists Association urged the Federal Highway Administration to take the No Action Alternative and not implement congestion pricing, said Steve Carrellas, NMA New Jersey policy director.
“The calculated costs of time and money of congestion to businesses, commuters, and residents are some of the supposed justifications for the program,“ he said.
What drivers prefer are the broader benefits that driving or sharing a vehicle provides over public transit – “that has its own growing problems and contributions to lost time and money,” he said.
The anger wasn’t confined to New Jersey. Officials in Rockland County, New York and other west of the Hudson river communities also blasted the plan for similar reasons – no benefit to their commuters, said a trio of public officials at a press conference in Nanuet Wednesday.
Assemblyman Mike Lawler of Pearl River, Rockland County Executive Ed Day and MTA Board Member Frank Borelli all sounded like honorary New Jerseyans.
“We’re already getting the short-end of the stick with regards to services and funding, so it is patently absurd that the cost of maintaining and improving New York City’s transit system is being placed on Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess County residents,” said Lawler, who introduced a bill in the New York legislature to repeal congestion pricing.
Gottheimer echoed a sentiment mentioned by the New York officials, questioning the financial management of the MTA and the $15 billion received in federal COVID aid.
“The MTA should take a hard look in the mirror and improve their failing systems that are costing them millions,” he said.
One solution is to act on the “Stay in Jersey” concept, Simoncini said. Gottheimer proposed it in May to provide tax incentives to attract New York businesses to open satellite offices in New Jersey and to encourage Jersey commuters to work from home as long as they can, to avoid commuting costs.
On Tuesday, three Bergen County state legislators said they plan to introduce bills offering $15 million in tax credits through the state Economic Development Authority to New York business that open facilities in New Jersey.
State Senator Joe Lagana, and Assemblymembers Chris Tully and Lisa Swain, D-Bergen, referred to congestion price at a Fair Lawn press conference Tuesday, announcing the proposed legislation.
“Scaling back our environmental footprint and cutting commuting costs and travel time are objectives we proudly support,” Tully said. “New Jersey residents should not be picking up the tab for New York’s failure to invest in their own infrastructure.”
By incentivizing New York based employers to open remote offices in New Jersey and attracting new business along with them, “our “Stay in Jersey” legislation will significantly reduce traffic congestion and air pollution without financially targeting in-state commuters,” he said.
Supporters of congestion pricing said the plan would have a neutral effect on most Jersey drivers.
The Regional Plan Association said the benefits are an estimated 20% decrease in traffic and “significant time savings” for everyone driving into the Manhattan, said Brian Fritsch, an RPA spokesman.
“Having even tolls for all drivers into Manhattan, including credits for the GWB, RFK, and Henry Hudson (bridges) is the right approach to reduce toll shopping and its related congestion,” he said. “Drivers (traveling) through the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels would see a relatively small change in fees while those that currently use free crossings would see a bigger increase.”
“Less than roughly 3% of N.J. workers commuting to the Manhattan central business district get there by car,” said Liam Blank, Tri-State Transportation Campaign policy manager, citing an analysis by the group.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 18:30 - Wokepox: The WHO Is Asking For The Public's Help In Re-Naming Monkeypox
Wokepox: The WHO Is Asking For The Public’s Help In Re-Naming Monkeypox
Further proving that the World Health Organization is misguided at best, useless at worst, the agency is out asking “for the public’s help” in…not combating monkeypox…but re-naming it.
At least we know the agency has its priorities in order…
The WHO was out this past week asking for new names for monkeypox “part of an ongoing effort to discourage harmful misconceptions associated with the current name,” according to Bloomberg.
“WHO is holding an open consultation for a new disease name for monkeypox. Anyone wishing to propose new names can do so,” the agency said in an actual statement that was drafted up by someone who could have been allocating their energy to actually fighting the virus.
We’re calling on @WHO to act immediately to rename the “monkeypox” virus. We have a growing concern for the potentially stigmatizing effects that the messaging around the “monkeypox” virus can have on vulnerable communities. Read our letter: https://t.co/hC6L8o60TH pic.twitter.com/G8CQ9ueaMJ
— Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD (@NYCHealthCommr) July 26, 2022
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
And the excellent use of resources doesn’t stop there. The WHO has also set up an online portal for people to submit ideas. The renaming of the virus follows “demands from international scientists” and “public health officials” who have claimed that the current name encourages a harmful stigma.
The same web programmers that have set up the online naming portal have also apparently decided to leave the name “MONKEYPOX” scattered across the WHO’s website:
And if you think the name is bad, wait until you actually get the virus.
The outbreak now stands at more than 31,000 cases since May, with the most coming from the U.S. The virus has been disproportionately spread by men who have sex with men, Bloomberg noted.
The virus was discovered in 1958 before “best practices” for naming diseases and viruses were adopted.
We’ll open up the submitting just to get everyone started. How about the “Poo Flu”?
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 18:00 - Why Labor Productivity Has Collapsed
Why Labor Productivity Has Collapsed
Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,
Recession. Raging consumer price inflation. A Presidential administration that seeks to confuse and obfuscate what’s really going on. These are the realities facing American workers in the dog days of August circa 2022.
For example, this week the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index results for July. According to the government number crunchers, the CPI decelerated from an annualized rate of 9.1 percent reported for June to an annualized rate of 8.5 percent in July.
Gas prices fell 7.7 percent from one month ago. But are still up 44 percent over one year ago. Food prices rose 1.1 percent on the month and are up 10.9 percent over the past 12 months. Rents also rose 0.7 percent in July.
President Biden, a man who alternates between being a world class liar and a world class moron, took the opportunity to tell an untruth the American people:
“I just want to say a number: zero. Today, we received news that our economy had 0 percent inflation in the month of July – 0 percent. Here’s what that means: while the price of some things go up – went up last month, the price of other things went down by the same amount. The result?: Zero inflation last month.”
With Biden, you’re never certain if he believes his own lies. Thus, we’ll make it real clear for the big guy just how the numbers work.
Price is the numerical value. Inflation is the first derivative. The monthly increase/decrease in inflation is the second derivative. The second derivative was reported as zero. But inflation itself is still off the charts.
In this respect, should you be happy that your money is only eroding at an annual rate of 8.5 percent instead of 9.1 percent? Does this mean the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes are working? Is the much anticipated pivot within sight?
These questions are important. But if you really care about wealth and prosperity there are much more important questions to be asking. Here’s why…
Money, Production, and Consumption
Money acts as a claim that its owner has to a certain portion of all market goods and services. It is, in essence, the means by which all market goods and services are distributed among people. The more money one has, the greater claims to goods and services they possess.
However, the creation of greater quantities of money by central planners does not magically increase the quantity of goods and services. The addition of new, freshly created money does not readily get matched by a corresponding increase in production.
New production may be stimulated by artificial increases to the money supply. But it is only to address false demand created by the resulting price distortions. These price distortions lead to excess production to meet the false demand. This excess production ultimately leads to supply gluts and economic pain.
Similarly, new, freshly created money does not increase people’s claims to goods and services. It does not increase how much they can consume. Rather, it dilutes each individual monetary unit, which is then expressed in rising prices.
The genesis of consumer price inflation can be found in money supply inflation. Money supply inflation is the direct act of central planners. The inflation of the money supply comes first. Consumer prices then follow.
Most academic economists naively believe that lack of money is the source of economic stagnation. They advocate credit creation and money printing as a means to increase consumption. These policies generally lead to higher debt levels and higher asset and consumer prices.
Why price is important…
Why Price is Important
The primary regulator for how money is spent is price. The price of goods and services is what attracts or repels money. Generally, if two goods have equivalent utility and quality, money will be attracted to the lower cost item and repelled by the higher cost item.
Price also conveys information. Rising prices signal to business owners to increase production. Falling prices signal to reduce production.
When central planners monkey with the quantity of money in circulation they monkey with the price of goods and services. Moreover, when they monkey with the price of credit – the rate of interest – they disfigure the entire economy.
Artificially low interest rates stimulate false demand up and down the supply chain. In addition, pumping fabricated credit into financial markets for decades on end pushes the economy to a perilous and unstable state.
Wealth disparities become ever more extreme, as financial assets, which are largely owned by the wealthy, become inflated. Governments – federal, state, and local – use the cheap credit to become bigger, and more interventionist. Consumer price inflation then takes hold.
The Fed’s attempts to smooth out the peaks and valleys of the business cycle have actually magnified them. The consequences to workers, savers, and retirees alike are remarkably harmful.
Eventually the damage is too great for even the Fed to ignore and they must reverse course. After letting credit run wild for over a decade, and making everyone dependent upon it, the Fed then reels it back. This tightening of credit markets has the effect of pulling the rug out from under financial markets and the economy.
Right now, for example, the Fed is operating within the rug yank phase of its monetary policy. As the Fed simultaneously raises the federal funds rate and reduces its balance sheet, credit markets are slipping and tripping all over themselves.
Yet all these money games are based on a flawed understanding of how the world and the economy works…
Why Labor Productivity Has Collapsed
The prerequisite for more consumption is not more money. It’s more production. The faster and more goods and services the economy produces, the faster and more each individual can consume. Production determines consumption.
This is a critical point. And it’s one the President failed to mention this week. Just one day prior to this week’s CPI report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its second quarter labor productivity report. The results were about as bad as they could possibly be.
In short, labor productivity decreased 4.6 percent in the second quarter of 2022. Output decreased 2.1 percent while hours worked increased 2.6 percent. This marked the sharpest decline in labor productivity since 1948 – roughly 74 years ago.
What this means is that people are working more and producing less. They are, in essence, working in reverse. Hence, there will be less goods and services to consume, which will further drive consumer price inflation.
Why has labor productivity collapsed?
This, no doubt, is an important question. It is especially important if you care about wealth and prosperity.
The push for productive activity is provided by the mental and physical ability of workers to produce new goods and services with the least expenditure of energy and material possible. That is to say, to produce more at a lower cost. The ability to cheapen production leads to economic growth.
Alas, labor productivity has collapsed. The reasons range far and wide. But they all come back to a few critical things. Over regulation, over taxation, money printing, credit market manipulation, and, in summary, a near total intervention of economic and business life by a grossly out of control state.
Remember, production determines consumption. Production has collapsed. An extended period of economic decline will follow.
* * *
The Biden administration is doing everything it can to ruin your life. Quite frankly, it’s maddening. But I’m not going to stand by and let a bunch of evil clowns in Washington destroy everything I’ve worked so hard for. For this reason, I’ve dedicated the past 6-months to researching and identifying simple, practical steps everyday Americans can take to protect their wealth and financial privacy. The findings of my work are documented in the Financial First Aid Kit. If you’d like to find out more about this important and unique publication, and how to acquire a copy, stop by here today!
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 17:30 - Ken Griffin Deploys More Than $1 Billion On Florida Real Estate After Leaving Chicago
Ken Griffin Deploys More Than $1 Billion On Florida Real Estate After Leaving Chicago
How finished with Chicago – and how optimistic on Florida – is Citadel’s Ken Griffin? He’s $1 billion sure.
Griffin has already spent over $1 billion on real estate recently, but CNBC noted on Friday that he was putting even more cash to work in Florida.
CNBC was on location in Florida noting two properties – one for $75 million and another for $100 million. He spent about $175 million on 5 acres on Star Island near Miami Beach.
Meanwhile, Citadel has spent over $600 million on a new vacant lot in Florida, the report says, where it is going to be placing its new headquarters. It’ll also be building apartments and temporary office space.
He’s also spent $450 million “just on land” to build a new home north of Palm Beach. CNBC noted that the land is bigger than Mar-A-Lago.
Altogether, Griffin and Citadel have spent more than $1 billion on Florida real estate. Griffin has said he likes to buy “iconic” and “rare” properties that his family can live in for years. He also told CNBC they are going to break ground in late 2023/early 2024. CNBC says the location and the new headquarters could turn into a “competitive advantage” for hiring new talent.
“He’s really doubling down” on Florida, one CNBC contributor said.
Recall, we noted when Griffin decided to move from Chicago to Miami.
In a letter to employees sent earlier this summer, Griffin said he had personally moved to Florida and that his market-making business, Citadel Securities, would also transfer. He wrote he views Florida as a better corporate environment and though he didn’t specifically cite crime as a factor, company officials said it was a consideration, the WSJ reported. Which reminds us: where is the Netflix special on inner city black-on-black crime in general, and Chicago’s weekly murder spree in particular? Oh, it’s not there… what a shocker.
The relocation will affect both hedge fund Citadel and Citadel Securities, the market making business, firm spokesman Zia Ahmed said Thursday according to Bloomberg, and marks the first step in a multi-year process that will involve the firm building a new office in Miami, which will serve as its global headquarters, and where a few hundred people will be based as soon as next year.
“Chicago will continue to be important to the future of Citadel, as many of our colleagues have deep ties to Illinois,” Griffin wrote, before explaining that the ties will not be that deep. “Over the past year, however, many of our Chicago teams have asked to relocate to Miami, New York and our other offices around the world.”
Griffin, 53, said just last month that he was reaching a tipping point with Chicago. The hedge fund and market maker, both of which he founded, combined employ more than 1,000 people in the city and pay hundreds of millions in taxes to liberal mecca that will now find itself in even more dire financial straits.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 17:00 - Former FBI Assistant Director Says 'Handful In Leadership' Are Politicizing Bureau, Following Mar-a-Lago Raid
Former FBI Assistant Director Says ‘Handful In Leadership’ Are Politicizing Bureau, Following Mar-a-Lago Raid
Authored by Scott Wheeler via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Years of investigations have led to claims by Republicans of partisan political power plays at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice.
Former FBI Assistant Director for Intelligence Kevin R. Brock testifies before the Senate Homeland Security Committee about the Crossfire Hurricane investigation in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill Dec. 3, 2020 in Washington (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) A raid on former President Donald Trump’s home on Aug. 8 has sharpened the nation’s focus on what many Republicans have been raising alarms about for years—the politicization of the Justice Department (DOJ) and its law enforcement arm, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Republican U.S. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa has been demanding answers about alleged politicization well before the raid.
“Unfortunately, a growing number of Americans have lost confidence in the bureau based on its inconsistent handling of politically sensitive investigations, its lack of cooperation with legitimate congressional oversight inquiries, and its failure to hold its own people accountable for their misconduct,” Grassley told The Epoch Times.
Late in July, Grassley sent a searing letter (pdf) to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray that stated that if allegations the senator has received from FBI whistleblowers are true, “The Justice Department and the FBI are–and have been—institutionally corrupted to their very core”.
But not all agree. In an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times, former Assistant Director for Intelligence of the FBI Kevin Brock said Grassley’s statement didn’t “fit the facts” and that “it is dangerous to plant seeds in the minds of the American people that the FBI is corrupt.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers a statement at the Department of Justice in Washington on Aug. 11, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Partisanship at the Top
While Brock said that Grassley’s claims about the FBI went too far, he is also highly critical of the actions of what he refers to as a “handful in leadership” who he said are politicizing the bureau and doing damage to its image.
In response to the raid on former Trump’s residence at Mar-A-Lago, Brock told Epoch Times: “The use of armed agents to execute an invasive search warrant does not match up with the relatively low-level offense—for anyone—let alone a former and possible future president. Most Americans recognize this extraordinary search for what it is: an attempt by one political party that temporarily controls the DOJ to eliminate an adversary from the other party.”
When asked how the FBI and DOJ could become politicized, Brock said, “When justice is captured by the Democrat Party, it seeks to find criminality on the right,” while “Republicans have less of an appetite” to reciprocate.
At a press briefing about the raid on Aug. 11, Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed that he had approved the search warrant and further stated, that the DOJ had filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida to unseal the search warrant that was executed. Garland added that the department did not take the decision to seek a search warrant lightly.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a hearing before Senate Judiciary Committee at Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Aug. 4, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Similar Cases Involving Democrats
The raid at Trump’s home in search of classified documents reveals what some consider a clear example of that which Grassley and Brock are referring—a heavy Democrat Party influence at the DOJ. To some, the raid at Trump’s quarters is reminiscent of a similar case.
In 2015, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton came under FBI investigation for concealing classified information on an unauthorized email server she kept at her home. During that investigation, Clinton deleted emails that were under subpoena. The FBI, which was in charge of the investigation of Clinton, did not conduct raids at any time and allowed Clinton and her attorneys to negotiate what evidence Clinton would turn over to the bureau and dictate the terms in which Clinton would be interviewed.
Just prior to the conclusion of that investigation labeled “Midyear Exam,” then-Attorney General Lorretta Lynch announced, after it had been revealed that former president Bill Clinton had met with her in secret, that she had appointed a “career prosecutor” to make the decision as to whether Hillary Clinton would be charged with a crime.
The Epoch Times has learned that the career prosecutor who made that decision was Richard Scott, then Deputy Chief of Counterintelligence, who had previously been an associate at the law firm of Williams and Connelly, the same firm that was representing Hillary Clinton in the matter. In 2018 former FBI attorney Lisa Page testified to the House Judiciary Committee that the FBI was inclined to prosecute Clinton for “gross negligence” in handling classified information on her private email server.
Former FBI Director James Comey. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst) “Separately, you know, we had multiple conversations with the Justice Department about bringing a gross negligence charge,” Page told the committee in July 2018. Page went on to testify that it was Richard Scott who made the decision not to charge Clinton with a crime. Scott left the DOJ in 2018 and could not be reached for comment.
About the same time the DOJ decided not to pursue charges against Clinton, the now infamous “Crossfire Hurricane” probe was being opened against then-candidate Trump. While the predicate for that investigation has been debunked, the claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin preferred Trump over Clinton is frequently referenced as fact by Democrats and some in the news media. Former Assistant FBI Director Brock disagrees with that conclusion, citing eight years of Obama and four years of Secretary of State Clinton’s appeasement of Putin.
“If Putin preferred Trump over Clinton he’s a bigger idiot than anyone thought,” Brock said, referring to a list of things the Obama Administration did to appease Putin and Russia. The list included Clinton’s “reset” with Russia, withdrawing missile defense systems from strategic allies Poland and Czech Republic, the return of ten Russian spies in 2010 before the FBI could interrogate the sleeper cell, and being conciliatory following Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea.
Brock says “it is in the face of all that it is beyond the scope of imagination” that Putin would have preferred Trump.
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 16:30 - US Postal Service Implementing "Temporary" Price Hikes For The Holiday Season
US Postal Service Implementing “Temporary” Price Hikes For The Holiday Season
Not even the U.S. Postal Service is immune to the effects of inflation.
The consistently under-funded and mis-managed government-run service filed a notice of a “temporary” price hike for this year’s holiday season.
We’d be willing to bet whatever we can get our hands on that this “temporary” hike very quickly becomes a “permanent” hike.
The Postal Service said the hikes were approved by its board of governors and are now pending review by the Postal Regulatory Commission, according to a write-up by CNBC.
The adjustment is “similar to past years”, the agency said. Sure, except CPI wasn’t coming in at 8.5% at any point in “past years”. The agency claims it will help it remain competitive during the holiday season.
The plan would be for the changes to go into effect October 2, 2022 and remain in place until January 22, 2023.
Price increases will be commensurate with package weights and distance of delivery. Commercial priority mail packages will see $0.75 hikes in prices, while heavy long distance deliveries could see increases of up to $6.50, the report says.
The hikes also come shortly after the agency announced its intention to buy 25,000 electric delivery vehicles.
In justifying its reasoning the constantly cash-hemmhoraging agency said it “relies on postage, product and service sales” to fund operations.
Yeah, that and the Fed’s cash printer.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 16:00 - Long Term Returns Are Unsustainable
Long Term Returns Are Unsustainable
Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,
Long-term returns are unsustainable.
I realize that is a bold statement that flies in the face of mainstream analysis. How often have you seen the following chart presented by an advisor suggesting if you had invested 120 years ago, you would have obtained a 10% annualized return?
It is a true statement that over the very long term, stocks have returned roughly 6% from capital appreciation and 4% from dividends on a nominal basis. However, since inflation has averaged approximately 2.3% over the same period, real returns are closer to 8% annually on average.
The chart below shows the average annual inflation-adjusted total returns (dividends included) since 1928. I used the total return data from Aswath Damodaran, a Stern School of Business professor at New York University. The chart shows that from 1928 to 2021, the market returned 8.48% after inflation. However, notice that after the financial crisis in 2008, returns jumped by an average of four percentage points for the various periods.
After more than a decade, many investors have become complacent in expecting elevated rates of return from the financial markets. However, can those expectations continue to get met in the future?
The Fed Did It
It is likely no surprise that the surge in returns following the “Financial Crisis” resulted from the Fed’s repeated monetary interventions and zero interest rate policy.
As discussed, those actions and fiscal interventions from the government created the most significant financial bubble in history.
(Usually, when charting long-term stock market prices, I would use a log-scale to minimize the impact of large numbers on the whole. However, in this instance, such is not appropriate as we examine the historical deviations from the underlying growth trend.)
The fiscal policies implemented post the pandemic-driven economic shutdown created a surge in demand that further exacerbated an already extended market. As shown, those fiscal interventions led to an unprecedented surge in earnings.
Here is the problem. As shown below, the surge in the M2 money supply is now over. Without further stimulus, earnings must eventually revert to economically sustainable levels.
While the media often states that “stocks are not the economy,” it is economic activity that creates corporate revenues and earnings. As such, stocks can not indefinitely grow faster than the economy over long periods.
The Relationship Between The Economy And Earnings
When stocks deviate from the underlying economy, the eventual resolution is lower stock prices. Over time, there is a close relationship between the economy, earnings, and asset prices. For example, the chart below compares the three from 1947 through 2021.
Since 1947, earnings per share have grown at 7.72%, while the economy has expanded by 6.35% annually. That close relationship in growth rates is logical given the significant role that consumer spending has in the GDP equation.
The slight difference is due to periods where earnings can grow faster than the economy when coming out of recession. However, while nominal stock prices have averaged 9.35% (including dividends), reversions to actual economic growth eventually occur. Such is because corporate earnings are a function of consumptive spending, corporate investments, imports, and exports.
The market disconnect from underlying economic activity is due to psychology. As noted above, such has been the case over the last decade, as successive rounds of monetary interventions led investors to believe “this time is different.”
Unfortunately, it never is.
Stocks Or The Economy, Which Is Right?
While not precise, there is a correlation between economic activity and the rise and fall of equity prices. For example, in 2000 and again in 2008, earnings contracted by 54% and 88%, respectively, as economic growth declined. Such was despite calls of never-ending earnings growth before both previous contractions.
(Chart below are annual data through 2021)
As earnings disappointed, stock prices adjusted by nearly 50% to realign valuations with weaker than expected current earnings and slower future earnings growth. So while the stock market is once again detached from reality, looking at past earnings contractions suggests it won’t be the case for long.
The relationship becomes more evident when looking at the annual change in stock prices relative to the yearly GDP change.
Again, since stock prices get driven by the “psychology” of market participants, there can be periods when markets disconnect from fundamentals.
However, most important to investors is that fundamentals never play “catch up” to stock prices.
“The conclusion is clear: this is not sustainable. The market has outperformed historical returns by a wide margin since 2009. Much of this outsized performance came in the 2017 – 2021 period when returns were 2x higher than long-term historical average.” – Kailash Concepts
The market risk of overly optimistic earnings estimates is high, as are the long-term above-trend returns.
Mean Reversions Are The Biggest Risk
Earlier this year, Jeremy Grantham made headlines with his market outlook titled “Let The Wild Rumpus Begin.” The crux of the article gets summed up in the following paragraph.
“All 2-sigma equity bubbles in developed countries have broken back to trend. But before they did, a handful went on to become superbubbles of 3-sigma or greater: in the U.S. in 1929 and 2000 and in Japan in 1989. There were also superbubbles in housing in the U.S. in 2006 and Japan in 1989. All five of these superbubbles corrected all the way back to trend with much greater and longer pain than average.
Today in the U.S. we are in the fourth superbubble of the last hundred years.”
As noted above, the deviation from long-term growth trends is unsustainable. Such was caused by repeated financial interventions by the Federal Reserve. Therefore, unless the Federal Reverse is committed to a never-ending program of zero interest rates and quantitative easing, the eventual reversion of returns to their long-term means is inevitable.
Such will solely result in profit margins and earnings returning to levels that align with actual economic activity. As Jeremy Grantham once noted:
“Profit margins are probably the most mean-reverting series in finance. And if profit margins do not mean-revert, then something has gone badly wrong with capitalism. If high profits do not attract competition, there is something wrong with the system, and it is not functioning properly.” – Jeremy Grantham
Many things can go wrong in the months ahead.
While investors cling to the “hope” the Fed has everything under control, there is a reasonable chance they don’t.
The next decade could be a disappointment to overly optimistic expectations.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 15:30 - "Tijuana Under Attack!": Sudden Eruption Of Cartel Violence Leaves Cars Burned Across Border City
“Tijuana Under Attack!”: Sudden Eruption Of Cartel Violence Leaves Cars Burned Across Border City
The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana has requested all American government employees to shelter in place until further notice after cartel violence erupted in parts of northern Mexico.
The violence began in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican city on the Rio Grande, just south of El Paso, Texas, with a prison battle between two rival cartels that left eleven people dead — then the chaos spread outside into the streets of the city, according to the Times of San Diego.
By the weekend, the violence moved west, warranting the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana to advise Americans to shelter in place after a sudden eruption of violence.
“The U.S. Consulate General Tijuana is aware of reports of multiple vehicle fires, roadblocks and heavy police activity in Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada and Tecate,” the consulate said. “U.S. government employees have been instructed to shelter in place until further notice.”
1/2 The U.S. Consulate General Tijuana is aware of reports of multiple vehicle fires, roadblocks, and heavy police activity in Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada, and Tecate. U.S. government employees have been instructed to shelter in place until further notice. pic.twitter.com/oghBX1P7qX
— U.S. Consulate Tijuana (@ConsuladoUSATJ) August 13, 2022
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San Deigo County Vice Chair Nora Vargas warned all “binational residents to be cautious and follow the recommendations from government officials and avoid unnecessary travel to allow authorities to do their work and maintain safety. My thoughts are with those impacted by the incidents.”
Here’s footage of the chaos spreading through Tijuana as cartels duke it out.
Narco attack on the U.S. border. The cartels carried out simultaneous attacks in Tijuana, Mexicali, and Tecate. pic.twitter.com/q3YVj9Dqn4
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) August 13, 2022
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Please be careful if any of you are in Tijuana! The Jalisco Cartel has sent a message to not be out in the streets after 10pm !! pic.twitter.com/gd245mu7uG
— b:-) (@queentrizz) August 13, 2022
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LATEST IN MEXICO: 🇲🇽 Residents of Tecate, Tijuana, Playas de Rosarito, Mexicali, and Ensenada are sharing videos of burnt vehicles in the street.
The U.S. Consulate to Tijuana has confirmed the attacks. pic.twitter.com/K46LtytBc5
— WeThePeopleFreedomWorld (@wepeoplefreedom) August 13, 2022
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‘Public transport units are burning simultaneously in Tijuana, Mexicali and Tecate. Armed and hooded men are taking off drivers and passengers to set the vehicles on fire. Baja California’ https://t.co/qGOa93eWLZ pic.twitter.com/a9xtNSvIDC
— www.anoncandanga.com (@anon_candanga) August 13, 2022
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Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada, and Tecate are under seige in Mexico. Many vehicles are being set on fire, stores being set on fire, roadblocks, etc… This is the beginning of War! More updates soon as they come in. Please pray for Mexico and what they are experiencing. pic.twitter.com/jvImLKPuBA
— AmySutton (@TeamAmerica2020) August 13, 2022
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Tijuana is burning!
It was so hard to get home tonight… stay home! pic.twitter.com/Zaq6AhpKhQ— Idk (@ohaldair) August 13, 2022
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Surreal, I have never seen a Friday without traffic while entering Mexico from the U.S. This is today’s reality due to yesterday’s cartel violence in Ciudad Juárez. Also, right now, Tijuana is experiencing similar violence. #ArdeLaFrontera pic.twitter.com/WTYHiZ6T8U
— J. Omar Ornelas (@fotornelas) August 13, 2022
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Tijuana under attack! All of Mexicali, Tecate and Rosarito areas are under high alert! The US border has been shut. pic.twitter.com/GuVgijVvTi
— Tell the Truth (@DontLetItRide) August 13, 2022
The San Diego Union-Tribune noted parts of Tijuana have gone into lockdown.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 15:00 - Small Businesses' Big Message For The Markets
Small Businesses’ Big Message For The Markets
Authored by Jesse Felder via TheFelderReport.com,
Back in December, I wrote,
“Considering the fact that the majority of investors are still betting on a transitory outcome, there could be some fireworks in the asset markets should they eventually be forced into an inflationary epiphany. Furthermore, what may exacerbate those fireworks, particularly in the stock market, is an earnings recession amid the most extreme valuations in history.”
And that actually sounds like a pretty fair assessment of 2022 so far even though these trends continue to unfold.
The data that led me to the conclusion that inflation would surprise on the upside and corporate earnings would surprise on the downside this year was provided by the NFIB survey of Small Business Economic Trends. Back in December, the number of business owners planning on raising prices had been soaring for some time, indicating inflation would follow. That indicator peaked a while back, suggesting inflation could plateau or over reverse to some degree which we began to see in the July CPI report released today.
What may be precipitating this relative moderation in price pressures, however, is a slowdown in demand as indicated by falling optimism (and sales expectations) in the survey.
At the same time, compensation plans remain elevated due to a persistently tight labor market. The result is that the recent reversal in the growth of profit margins is likely only getting started.
In fact, this indicator suggests the decline in corporate profitability as a result of stagflationary pressures over the next few quarters could be historically deep.
So while equity investors may be correct in their assessment of the cyclical trend in inflation, they may not want to celebrate it in such ebullient fashion.
Because any moderation in inflationary pressures is unlikely to be driven by the sort of benign economic factors that would support equity prices.
On the contrary, the risk of the current slowdown in the economy, which has enabled inflationary pressures to abate even to a small degree, evolving into a full-blown recession ahead appears significant.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/13/2022 – 14:30
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