Today’s News 15th January 2021

• The Destructive Hypocrisy Of The Political Left Is What Caused The Capitol Protest
  The Destructive Hypocrisy Of The Political Left Is What Caused The Capitol Protest

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  I want to start this analysis by first noting that I fully realize the political left is not the root of the problem in the US or the world, they are merely a grotesque symptom of a deeper disease called globalism. That said, the collectivist/totalitarian mindset of globalism is very appealing to these people, and even though they claim to despise the ultra-rich elites that promote globalism, leftists have become unwitting and useful idiots for their agenda.

  

  If you want to learn about what globalists really desire all you have to do is study the statements of the World Economic Forum and their “Great Reset” initiative. They openly admit to plans that would result in the total centralization of money and power along with the destruction of free and independent society.

  But, we cannot talk about the fight against globalist oligarchy without also acknowledging that the political left is the weapon the elites are using to maintain and expand that oligarchy.

  At bottom, extreme leftists do not care about authenticity or honesty. They do not care about logic or rationality. They do not care about being right, they only care about winning. In fact, their hypocrisy is probably not lost on them at all; many of them are well aware that they are hypocritical, biased and illogical and they revel in it. They love double standards and doubling down when they are wrong or caught in a lie. This is what they do, and they do it because they are convinced that they are virtuous in their cause, thus anything goes.

  Remember when leftists spent 4 years claiming that the 2016 election was “stolen by the Russians” despite zero concrete evidence ever found to support the conspiracy theory?

  Now they want any discussion of the 2020 election being stolen removed from the internet.

  Remember when the leftists adamantly supported and defended violence, looting and property destruction by BLM and Antifa all year long?

  Now they admonish conservatives as “insurrectionists” because of a single protest at the capitol that turned violent.

  Remember when leftists wanted to defund the police, many of them publicly calling for violence against officers on social media sites like Twitter?

  Remember when they called for burning down the whole system?

  Well now they are demanding that police and federal officers do their dirty work and arrest any conservatives involved in the protest.

  Weaponized hypocrisy is the philosophy of the zealot. There is no reasoning with a zealot. Diplomacy is wasted on them. Their goal is to destroy anyone that disagrees with them and the ends always justify the means. They are monsters who believe themselves to be heroes.

  Some might consider my statements to be extreme. What does the political left do that is so monstrous? Aren’t they fighting for “social justice” and the rights of “oppressed minorities”? Aren’t they the “underdog” working for “diversity” and a more fair and peaceful world? Well, this is the narrative they like to project, but their actions and rhetoric betray their true identities as narcissistic sociopaths that are willing to sacrifice any person and any value to get what they want.

  What do they want? Power and influence; this is all they want. True “justice” is meaningless to them.

  Look at it this way: If you have to constantly lie in order to convince people of the value of your ideology, then perhaps your ideology has no inherent value.

  Nothing has exposed this fact more than the conservative protests at Capitol Hill – The leftist response has been what I can only describe as weaponized hypocrisy. Meaning, they are pretending to be oblivious to their own roll in creating the anger that conservatives are unleashing, and now they are attempting to gaslight the public into thinking that the raid on congress was somehow “unprovoked” and out of left field.

  Yes, that’s right, the leftists are actually trying to pretend that the Black Lives Matter mass riots and looting that they PROMOTED and defended as “peaceful protests” never happened.

  That is an interesting take, but let’s consider the facts for a moment…

  FACT: BLM and Antifa protesters committed hundreds, perhaps thousands of violent acts and instances of criminal trespass in 2020. No one is buying the gaslight claim that BLM was “mostly peaceful”. Of course, there is an attempt being made by Big Tech to rewrite history. Finding footage of BLM riots is getting harder and harder. Search results on BLM only showcase mainstream news articles lavishing them with praise. Certain people are trying to bury the past and there is blatant bias in favor of the political left.

  I have no doubt that one day soon all evidence of leftist insanity will be redacted from Big Tech platforms, but for now you can still see the truth if you dig deep. Watch these compilations of BLM activity and ask yourself – Is this peaceful protest?

  BLM, the media and numerous Democrats defended the violent actions of rioters and even argued that such measures should continue. Those that did not openly defend BLM remained silent on their criminal actions. Kamala Harris, who is perhaps most famous as a prosecutor for locking up numerous black men in California on trumped up charges and trying to get them executed even when proven innocent, argued that the protests (riots) should continue and “everyone should beware”.

  All of this in light of a nonexistent bogeyman, a fantasy that “systemic racism” exists in America and somehow this ghost of a culprit is behind the failings of every minority regardless of personal integrity, merit or responsibility. No hard evidence of systemic racism has EVER been presented to support the claims of BLM. Every piece of evidence cited has been debunked. Every assertion proven false and every statistic taken out of context.

  BLM hijacks possibly legitimate cases of police brutality (which affects everyone including white people) and twists them into issues of race and “white supremacy”. This is what the political left does with almost everything; they conjure mass outrage from nothing while distracting people from the real problems.

  Juxtapose the BLM’s mass rioting with the protest at Capitol Hill, which was quite tame in comparison. Yet, suddenly the leftists are incensed and act as though they cannot comprehend that kind of aggression. They spent the entire year condoning it, only to now act indignant and flabbergasted when the people rioting are conservatives.

  In the face of a single protest the media and Democratic leaders are condemning conservatives as “terrorists”. Leftists are calling for Big Tech to erase conservatives from all social media platforms and companies like Amazon and Apple are seeking to undermine or destroy conservative websites like Parler. There have also been demands that the government add protesters to the No Fly List, and that people should be “hunted down”.

  Republican leaders that supported the protests are being accused of encouraging “insurrection”. But where was all this rhetoric last year?

  When leftists tried to take over entire swaths of Seattle and Portland and declare them “autonomous zones”, where were the Democrats and their outrage? Where were their calls to prosecute the protesters as terrorists? If there were any, the media certainly did not put a spotlight on them.

  Violence has occurred on both sides, but there is a big difference between the social justice left and the conservative right: Leftists are the only people that have consistently encouraged and condoned mass violence against the innocent. They are the only people that are calling for mass censorship. They are also the only movement that is supported by corporate oligarchs.

  And why is that?

  Leftists, riddle me this – Why are all the evil people on your side? Why is it that your side is supported by all the corrupt corporations you claim to despise? Why does the Ford Foundation and George Soros’ Open Society Foundation pump millions of dollars (THIS IS FACT) into BLM? Why has the Ford Foundation been backstopping the social justice movement for decades? Why are billion dollar Big Tech companies acting as the censorship arm of the social justice movement? Why is every major Hollywood studio regurgitating endless social justice propaganda even when they are losing money on it? Again, I ask, why are all the evil people on your side if your cause is so righteous?

  While leftists build their protests out of fallacies, Conservatives and moderates have every right to be angry, and to be clear, the people at capitol hill were not merely protesting or rioting because of Trump, or the election.

  They are angry over multiple years of leftist criminality that went mostly untouched by law enforcement, the government and the media. They are angry over the pandemic lockdowns enforced most harshly by Democrats in leftist states. They are angry because their businesses and jobs are being destroyed over a virus that is only a threat to 0.26% of the population outside of nursing homes. They are angry because their values and principles are being censored in social media. They are angry that the Democratic Party is adopting hard-left Marxist positions. They are angry because of the “Great Reset” agenda and the open calls to destroy free market capitalism and replace it with a socialist “shared economy” hellscape. There are plenty of reasons…

  The bottom line is this – The difference between leftists and conservatives is stark. Leftists consistently use violence, fear, intimidation, destruction and censorship to get what they want. Conservatives have not. Leftists and their corporate donors want to oppress and control people. Conservatives just want to be free.

  In the face of such zealotry, conservatives and even moderates are going to become violent because frankly, there are few other options. One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. Labels are meaningless, it’s what a person fights for that matters.

  So, when I hear the political left and their screeching about the inhumanity of the Capitol Hill protest, I have to laugh. These people have no concept of what is right and what is wrong; they spit on the very idea of moral compass and conscience. They only seek to win at any cost. Their hypocrisy is unmatched, so why should we care what they think? Let the rebellion continue.

  *  *  *

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 01/15/2021 – 00:00

• Mapping The World’s Largest State-Owned Oil Companies
  Mapping The World’s Largest State-Owned Oil Companies

  Oil is one of the world’s most important natural resources, playing a critical role in everything from transportation fuels to cosmetics.

  For this reason, as Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu details below, many governments choose to nationalize their supply of oil. This gives them a greater degree of control over their oil reserves as well as access to additional revenue streams. In practice, nationalization often involves the creation of a national oil company to oversee the country’s energy operations.

  What are the world’s largest and most influential state-owned oil companies?

  

  State-Owned Oil Companies by Revenue

  National oil companies are a major force in the global energy sector, controlling approximately three-quarters of the Earth’s oil reserves.

  As a result, many have found their place on the Fortune Global 500 list, a ranking of the world’s 500 largest companies by revenue.

  

  China is home to the two largest companies from this list, Sinopec Group and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Both are involved in upstream and downstream oil operations, where upstream refers to exploration and extraction, and downstream refers to refining and distribution.

  It’s worth noting that many of these companies are listed on public stock markets—Sinopec, for example, trades on exchanges located in Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York, and London. Going public can be an effective strategy for these companies as it allows them to raise capital for new projects, while also ensuring their governments maintain control. In the case of Sinopec, 68% of shares are held by the Chinese government.

  Saudi Aramco was the latest national oil company to follow this strategy, putting up 1.5% of its business in a 2019 initial public offering (IPO). At roughly $8.53 per share, Aramco’s IPO raised $25.6 billion, making it one of the world’s largest IPOs in history.

  Geopolitcal Tensions

  Because state-owned oil companies are directly tied to their governments, they can sometimes get caught in the crosshairs of geopolitical conflicts.

  The disputed presidency of Nicolás Maduro, for example, has resulted in the U.S. imposing sanctions against Venezuela’s government, central bank, and national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The pressure of these sanctions is proving to be particularly damaging, with PDVSA’s daily production in decline since 2016.

  

  In a country for which oil comprises 95% of exports, Venezuela’s economic outlook is becoming increasingly dire. The final straw was drawn in August 2020 when the country’s last remaining oil rig suspended its operations.

  Other national oil companies at the receiving end of American sanctions include Russia’s Rosneft and Iran’s National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). Rosneft was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2020 for facilitating Venezuelan oil exports, while NIOC was targeted for providing financial support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an entity designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

  Climate Pressures

  Like the rest of the fossil fuel industry, state-owned oil companies are highly exposed to the effects of climate change. This suggests that as time passes, many governments will need to find a balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

  Brazil has already found itself in this dilemma as the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has drawn criticism for his dismissive stance on climate change. In June 2020, a group of European investment firms representing $2 trillion in assets threatened to divest from Brazil if it did not do more to protect the Amazon rainforest.

  These types of ultimatums may be an effective solution for driving climate action forward. In December 2020, Brazil’s national oil company, Petrobras, pledged a 25% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. When asked about commitments further into the future, however, the company’s CEO appeared to be less enthusiastic.

  That’s like a fad, to make promises for 2050. It’s like a magical year. On this side of the Atlantic we have a different view of climate change.

                                                                                      — Roberto Castello Branco, CEO, Petrobras

  With its 2030 pledge, Petrobras joins a growing collection of state-owned oil companies that have made public climate commitments. Another example is Malaysia’s Petronas, which in November 2020, announced its intention to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Petronas is wholly owned by the Malaysian government and is the country’s only entry on the Fortune Global 500.

  Challenges Lie Ahead

  Between geopolitical conflicts, environmental concerns, and price fluctuations, state-owned oil companies are likely to face a much tougher environment in the decades to come.

  For Petronas, achieving its 2050 climate commitments will require significant investment in cleaner forms of energy. The company has been involved in numerous solar energy projects across Asia and has stated its interests in hydrogen fuels.

  Elsewhere, China’s national oil companies are dealing with a more near-term threat. In compliance with an executive order issued by the Trump Administration in November 2020, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced it would delist three of China’s state-run telecom companies. Analysts believe oil companies such as Sinopec could be delisted next, due to their ties with the Chinese military.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 23:40

• Restart, Reset, Or Renew? The Strategy Against Iranian Nuclear Ambition
  Restart, Reset, Or Renew? The Strategy Against Iranian Nuclear Ambition

  Authored by Peter Schweizer via The Gatestone Institute,

  President-elect Joe Biden ran on a slogan to “restore the Iran nuclear deal.” For those voters desperate to undo every accomplishment of the Trump administration, which abandoned the deal and imposed sharp sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors, it must have sounded attractive.

  

  But now that Biden will be responsible for American security and not just criticizing Donald Trump, he would do well to slow down and consider alternatives.

  The mullahs in Iran, claiming to be freed from the deal by Trump’s 2018 decision to pull the United States out, have openly accelerated their nuclear research, and recently boasted that they have achieved uranium enrichment levels of 20%. The JCPOA restricted them, on paper at least, to 3.67%. Iran has vastly increased its stockpile of ballistic missiles, a grave concern to other countries in the region, particularly Israel.

  There is little hope that Iran will throttle back its advances in uranium enrichment, new deal or no deal. That genie is partially out of the bottle, and Iran remains a sworn enemy and a vicious threat to its neighbors. Even if the deal negotiated in 2015 by the Obama administration were worth the effort, it is impossible to imagine the Iranians willingly recommitting to enrichment levels they have long since blown past. No one believes in their professed “peaceful use” of nuclear energy. So why does a return to the deal make any sense?

  European foreign policymakers seem to be encouraging exactly such a delusion. Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said last month that the Obama administration-era deal still remains the “best instrument” to resolve any disputes about Iran’s nuclear program. He and his counterparts from Britain, France, China, Russia, and the European Union all declared it would be a positive step away from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s policy of crippling sanctions on the Iranian regime.

  In 1994, in a book called Victory that traced the success of the Reagan administration’s strategy against the Soviet Union. I showed how the combination of an immense military build-up by the United States and its allies combined with sharp economic sanctions against the USSR is what extinguished it from the map. The book is out of print but enjoyed a second life among Pompeo’s subordinates and associates at the State Department and the CIA in 2018. I am still convinced that economic sanctions are the most effective way to effect a safer world and consign the Iranian regime to the same ash heap as the Evil Empire.

  Iran’s economy remains a shambles and indications grow of the regime’s feathery grasp of power. Inflation is more than 40%, according to the Statistical Center of Iran. High unemployment and economic contraction have led to street protests against the regime, and harsh crackdowns on the people by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The country’s infrastructure and banking system continue to crumble, and the regime’s own corruption becomes more obvious as the plight of everyday Iranians worsens. The killing of top terror-funding IRGC official Qasem Soleimani by the US military and Iran’s relatively toothless retaliatory attack on two US bases in Iraq suggest that the regime fears what an escalation of tensions would mean to its own future more than it desires to stab at the “Great Satan.” The regime may finally be on the verge of collapse.

  Incoming National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a CNN interview recently that restoring the US to the JCPOA deal remains the intention of the new Biden administration, though he did predicate it on Iran’s willingness to return to the enrichment limits of the previous deal. Both sides apparently want the other to readopt the agreement’s terms first. Sullivan said nothing specific about whether the US would drop those sanctions as an incentive to Iran’s putting their nuclear program “back in the box,” as he called it. Iran has already rejected this offer, insisting as usual that it is the U.S. that is the “rogue regime.” Iran wants sanctions eliminated as a precondition to deigning to return to the negotiating table.

  Those sanctions are the only leverage the U.S. really has to offer Iran, and Iran’s economy is now at the point where sanctions may finally succeed, just as the Reagan administration was able to do to the USSR in the 1980s. Now is not the time to reduce or remove them in exchange for paper promises born of a campaign slogan, from a regime whose movements suggest it fears its days are numbered.

  The resource crisis faced by the Soviet Union in the 1980s was inherent in the system, but as noted in Victory, the U.S. had a comprehensive and sustained plan to make it a terminal illness. Through covert operations, hidden diplomacy, an intense military buildup, and a series of actions designed to throw sand in the gears of the Soviet economy, American policy destroyed the USSR from its fingertips to its heart. Former Soviet leaders including Mikhail Gorbachev have admitted it with grudging admiration. The only ones who were wrong were those in the liberal foreign policy establishment who pretended it was all just a coincidence.

  Whatever course the new Biden administration chooses to combat Iran’s regional threat must feature the same skill, deep commitment and determination that marked the nine-year campaign to stop the Soviet Union from threatening the rest of the world. No one suspects the aged mullahs of Iran to be any less devoted to fomenting terrorism in the Middle East than the Soviets were of destabilizing Western democracies and emerging nations in Africa or the Middle East. The same commitment that brought down one can defang the other.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 23:20

• Air Force Fires First-Ever Swarming Munitions From Fighter Jet
  Air Force Fires First-Ever Swarming Munitions From Fighter Jet

  The first-ever test flight of swarming munitions fired from a fighter jet recently ended with partial success, according to the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

  On Dec. 15, a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon released two Collaborative Small Diameter Bombs (CSDBs) that were heavily modified with collaborative autonomy payload. 

  

  Both CSDBs were able to identify and locate high-value mock enemy targets but there was a problem. The test wasn’t a complete success. Due to “an improper weapon software load, the collaboration guidance commands were not sent to the weapon navigation system,” AFRL said. 

  “Without the updated target locations, the weapons impacted a fail-safe target location.”

  Chris Ristich from the AFRL said the swarming munitions demonstration, called Golden Horde, “is an important step on the path to Networked Collaborative Weapon systems, adding that the “completion of this first mission sets the stage for further development and transition to the warfighter.”

  The AFRL published a short video of how swarming munitions work. 

  “Networked collaborative weapons share data, interact, develop and execute coordinated actions or behaviors. They use shared data to improve information across an entire group of weapons – sometimes called a swarm – thereby improving the entire swarm’s effectiveness. When each weapon shares measurements of a target’s location, combining this information reduces errors since it creates a more accurate target location for all to reference. Ultimately, this supports the use of lower-cost sub-systems in place of more expensive systems without sacrificing capability,” the description of the video reads. 

  If weaponized drone swarms could one day be classified as a “weapon of mass destruction,” – then maybe swarming munitions fired from fighter jets should be labeled the same. Just imagine if these smart munitions had hypersonic capabilities… 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 23:00

• Facebook Blocking Ron Paul Shows Tech Censorship Is Not About Trump, It's About Suppressing Dissent
  Facebook Blocking Ron Paul Shows Tech Censorship Is Not About Trump, It’s About Suppressing Dissent

  Authored by Matt Agorist via TheFreeThoughtProject.com,

  Dr. Ron Paul who has been a champion of peace and liberty for decades was unceremoniously blocked from his own page on Facebook Monday. Facebook claimed Ron Paul, who has long promoted everyone getting along, civil liberties, police accountability, and ending US wars, was repeatedly going “against our community standards.”

  “With no explanation other than “repeatedly going against our community standards,” Facebook has blocked me from managing my page. Never have we received notice of violating community standards in the past and nowhere is the offending post identified,” Ron Paul tweeted out Monday afternoon.

  The only thing we posted to Facebook today was my weekly “Texas Straight Talk” column, which I have published every week since 1976.

  — Ron Paul (@RonPaul) January 11, 2021

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

  This happens to be the exact same notice the Free Thought Project received at the end of last year. We never once got a warning. We never once published anything false, and we always promote peace and liberty. Coincidentally, despite not supporting Trump and calling out his crimes and the deceptive tactics of Qanon for four years, nearly every single person involved with the Free Thought Project received a 30 day ban on Friday as part of the mass purge of Trump supporters on Twitter and Facebook.

  Dr. Paul’s ban is exceedingly egregious given the fact that he has never once advocated violence, nor did he support the march on the capitol last week. Instead, Paul has been an outspoken proponent for breaking through the two-party paradigm and addressing issues that actually affect our lives like the police state, big government, and the Federal Reserve’s control over the U.S. monetary system.

  Few people in modern history have spawned an awakening of the masses like the former Congressman. Throughout his tenure in Congress, Ron Paul was known as ‘Dr. No’ because he voted on 100% principle. Unlike any of his peers, Ron Paul was often the single ‘no’ vote on many issues. He never voted for wars, or to advance the police state, or to bailout big banks and corporations. He was a true hero to freedom.

  

  One of Ron Paul’s most defining moments of his career was waking people up to the corrupt history of the Federal Reserve and the problems this privately owned central bank causes throughout the world. He even wrote a book about it, while he was still in Congress, titled, End the Fed.

  Since his days in Congress have ended, Dr. Paul has dedicated his life after D.C. to continue spreading the message of liberty. For several years, he has run the Liberty Report which covers the current practices of government corruption along with many other issues.

  Through banning Paul, Facebook is essentially telling the world that it is pro-war, pro-police state, pro-Federal Reserve, and pro-cronyism in general. As he is non-violent, pro-peace, and pro-free speech, Ron Paul poses no threat of inciting violence or armed insurrection. For simply being anti-corrupt establishment, he was banned. This is huge problem.

  It is no secret that Facebook is a leviathan of corruption, censorship, spying, and an outright divide-stoking platform that has been a part of facilitating a massively bicameral society that is ripping apart. Thanks to its algorithms that keep users in their own partisan bubbles, billions of people across the planet who get most of their information from Facebook, have fallen into a bias-confirming slumber and react with anger, and sometimes violence, when presented with factual information that challenges their Facebook-constructed world view.

  It is leading to mass ignorance, the shouting down and eventual censorship of peaceful ideas, and hatred for our fellow man. Social media, and the mainstream media have almost single-handedly fanned the flames of the fire of divide in which we currently find ourselves.

  Even former high-level executives inside Facebook have come forward to attempt to alert the world to technocratic dystopia this social media platform is creating. For years, the Free Thought Project has been screaming this information from the rooftops. Yet it was never bad enough for most people to pay attention. Well, now it is.

  As anyone with half a brain understands, censorship does not stop ideas from spreading. Bad ideas need to be defeated in the public arena of debate. When you ban them, you not only prevent them from being defeated in the public arena, you give credence to those who espouse them. These tech giants know this, which is why the conspiracy theorist in me thinks they are attempting to provoke a horrifying response.

  As we reported this week, three individual, unelected, unaccountable corporate monopolies (Amazon, Google, Apple) colluded to silence political content with which they disagreed. Joe MAGA, who may be on the verge of snapping, whose been unemployed for a year, arguing about ridiculous Qanon theories on Facebook, only to be banned and pushed to Parler, and then banned once more, is thinking to himself right now that the establishment is out to get him and he’s right. Unfortunately, thanks to this attack on anti-establishment voices, thousands of Joe MAGAs are likely googling the ingredients for pipe bombs, right now.

  Just like the war on terror creates more terrorists, censorship is wind in the sails of extremism.

  The reaction to the chaos at the capitol by big tech and the establishment will undoubtedly make things far worse, thereby allowing the feds to roll out even more draconian measures in the name of national security. Most Americans will accept these measures in the name of “keeping them safe,” and freedom will die with nary a whimper.

  By banning Ron Paul they are letting the world know that it’s not just about Trump inciting riots or the raid on the capitol. They are letting the world know that they are who gets to decide what information can be shared online and they do not care about the potential for extremism and despotism these actions create.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 22:40

• UC San Diego Installs COVID Test Kit Vending Machines 
  UC San Diego Installs COVID Test Kit Vending Machines 

  With daily COVID-19 infections getting worse over the last couple of months in Southern California, one university has decided to introduce coronavirus testing vending machines, reported Reuters. 

  Students at the University of California’s San Diego campus were greeted with eleven vending machines over the winter semester packed with do-it-yourself COVID-19 tests. 

  

  School officials told Reuters the vending machines are the first of their kind to be installed on any college campus in the US. 

  There’s nothing special about these vending machines; in fact, they’re conventional vending machines that would typically hold snacks. School officials said these devices drive down the testing costs. 

  School officials said at least 10,000 students live on campus. They are required by school regulations to be tested once a week. 

  Test kits are free and easily accessible from the vending machine with a swipe by a student ID card. The test is simple enough that students cans swab their own noses’ then deposit the sample into a medical bag where it’s then sent to medical labs on campus. 

  

  UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla told Reuters that result turnaround is about 12 to 24 hours. 

  “They’re an amazing innovation – simple, effective, and impactful,” Khosla said, referring to the vending machines. 

  Deployment of the vending machines comes as Southern California has seen an uptick in infections. 

  San Diego County has exceeded 80% of its hospital beds due to a significant increase in virus patients. Simultaneously, and oddly enough, flu cases remain extremely low compared to this time in previous years. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 22:20

• Trump Declassifies 'Foot-High' Stack Of Russiagate, Obamagate Documents; Set For Release Within Days
  Trump Declassifies ‘Foot-High’ Stack Of Russiagate, Obamagate Documents; Set For Release Within Days

  President Trump has declassified and authorized the release of “more than a foot-high stack of documents” related to the Obama administration’s surveillance and espionage committed against the 2016 Trump campaign, as part of a larger campaign to discredit and undermine the incoming US president.

  

  According to journalist and Trump insider John Solomon, the documents would be released as soon as Friday, but no later than Monday.

  “He has delivered in a big way. More than a foot-high stack of documents he has authorized to be released by the FBI and the DOJ. These are the things that the FBI has tried to keep from the public for 4 years. They have amazing, big picture revelations,” Solomon told Fox News’ “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”

  According to Solomon‘s website, Just The News, the release will support claims that the entire Russia narrative was created and leaked to the news media to upstage concerns over Hillary Clinton’s email scandal.

  Watch (via Trending Politics):

  More from John Solomon Reports:

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 22:00

• EV Partnerships Continue To Be Forged As Industry Preps For Mass Adoption
  EV Partnerships Continue To Be Forged As Industry Preps For Mass Adoption

  There is no doubt that the concept of EVs has reached mass adoption within the auto industry. Every auto manufacturer knows that electric vehicles are no longer an option – but will likely be the reality and the future of driving for decades to come.

  As the industry jostles to set itself up for this enormous sea change, partnerships are being forged left and right, while legacy players look for new EV companies to pair with and while both new and old manufacturers seek out OEMs. 

  The latest of these partnerships includes Foxconn pairing with Geely and China’s SAIC pairing with retail giant Alibaba. Foxconn and Geely have set up a 50-50 joint venture to provide OEM production and consulting services for “whole vehicles, parts, intelligent drive systems and electric vehicle industry value chain to automakers,” according to Bloomberg.

  

  SAIC and Alibaba unveiled their first two models this week, which included one SUV and one sedan. “Cars the two companies to churn out together will be equipped with battery that can enable travel range of up to 1,000 kilometers on single charge,” Bloomberg reported Wednesday morning.

  Of course, the most headline-grabbing partnership of the last several months has been Apple’s reported tie-up with Hyundai. We wrote early this week that rumors of Apple and Hyundai working together got another shot in the arm when it was reported that the two companies would announce a partnership deal in March, according to StreetInsider.com.

  The two companies “plan to start production around 2024 in the United States,” the report says. “The first media report that appeared over the weekend in South Korea noted the companies plan to use Kia Motors’ factory in Georgia, or alternatively, build a new factory in the United States.” It is being reported that the partnership has a goal of producing 100,000 vehicles in 2024. 

  Around the same time, we noted that EV company NIO was partnering with NVIDIA to put self-driving “supercomputers” into new sedans. 

  “NIO, a pioneer in China’s premium smart electric vehicle market, and NVIDIA announced today that the automaker has selected the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin™ system-on-a-chip (SoC) for its new generation of electric vehicles, which will offer advanced automated driving capabilities,” a company release on Saturday said.

  

  Literally hours before that, we noted that Chinese tech giant Baidu had also paired with Geely Automotive to make its entrance into the EV market. 

  The tech company is reportedly going to make a standalone electric vehicle company as part of a joint venture with Geely automotive, the report says. Geely will make the hardware, while Baidu will make the software. 

  “Baidu relies heavily on advertising revenue but it has been looking to diversify its business to other areas such as cloud computing and autonomous driving software,” CNBC noted at the time.

  The company has already been testing driverless car software in Beijing. Baidu has its own map app and its own voice assistant technology. 

  Meanwhile, we also noted that the market for EVs in China continues to be ripe. EV sales from January to November of 2020 were up 4.4% this year versus a decline of 7.6% in overall passenger cars during the same period. Chinese auto sales had seen a full V-shaped recovery by October of this year, we noted at the time. 

  

  Recall, we noted in November that NEVs will be 20% of China’s new car sales by 2025. The “new energy” category includes battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Sales will rise as the country’s “NEV industry has improved their technology and competitiveness,” according to a new policy paper reviewed by Reuters. 

  

  In the country’s 5 year plan to 2025, the State Council has pushed for improvements in EV technologies, building more efficient charging and implementing battery swapping networks. The Chinese government will also adopt quotas and incentives to to “guide automakers” (i.e. force them) to make EVs after Federal subsidies end in two years.

  The government is also looking at ways to implement EVs for public uses, commercial use and mass transit. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 21:40

• 25 Organizations Say Victoria Nuland Should Be Rejected
  25 Organizations Say Victoria Nuland Should Be Rejected

  Organization’s statement originally published at https://worldbeyondwar.org/nuland

  Victoria Nuland, former foreign policy adviser to vice president Dick Cheney, should not be nominated for undersecretary of state [for political affairs], and if nominated should be rejected by the Senate.

  

  Nuland played a key role in facilitating a coup in Ukraine that created a civil war costing 10,000 lives and displacing over a million people. She played a key role in arming Ukraine as well. She advocates radically increased military spending, NATO expansion, hostility toward Russia, and efforts to overthrow the Russian government.

  The United States invested $5 billion in shaping Ukrainian politics, including overthrowing a democratically elected president who had refused to join NATO. Then-Assistant Secretary of State Nuland is on video talking about the U.S. investment and on audiotape planning to install Ukraine’s next leader, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who was subsequently installed.

  The Maidan protests, at which Nuland handed out cookies to protesters, were violently escalated by neo-Nazis and by snipers who opened fire on police. When Poland, Germany, and France negotiated a deal for the Maidan demands and an early election, neo-Nazis instead attacked the government and took over. The U.S. State Department immediately recognized the coup government, and Arseniy Yatsenyuk was installed as Prime Minister.

  Nuland has worked with the openly pro-Nazi Svoboda Party in Ukraine. She was long a leading proponent of arming Ukraine. She was also an advocate for removing from office the prosecutor general of Ukraine, whom then-Vice President Joe Biden pushed the president to remove.

  Nuland wrote this past year that “The challenge for the United States in 2021 will be to lead the democracies of the world in crafting a more effective approach to Russia – one that builds on their strengths and puts stress on Putin where he is vulnerable, including among his own citizens.”

  She added:

  “…Moscow should also see that Washington and its allies are taking concrete steps to shore up their security and raise the cost of Russian confrontation and militarization. That includes maintaining robust defense budgets, continuing to modernize U.S. and allied nuclear weapons systems, and deploying new conventional missiles and missile defenses, . . . establish permanent bases along NATO’s eastern border, and increase the pace and visibility of joint training exercises.”

  The United States walked out of the ABM Treaty and later the INF Treaty, began putting missiles into Romania and Poland, expanded NATO to Russia’s border, facilitated a coup in Ukraine, began arming Ukraine, and started holding massive war rehearsal exercises in Eastern Europe. But to read Victoria Nuland’s account, Russia is simply an irrationally evil and aggressive force that must be countered by yet more military spending, bases, and hostility. Some U.S. military officials say this demonizing of Russia is all about weapons profits and bureaucratic power, no more fact-based than the Steele Dossier that was given to the FBI by Victoria Nuland.

  SIGNED BY:

  Alaska Peace Center
  Center for Encounter and Active Non-Violence
  CODEPINK
  Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
  Greater Brunswick PeaceWorks
  Jemez Peacemakers
  Knowdrones.com
  Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights
  Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
  Nukewatch
  Peace Action Maine
  PEACEWORKERS
  Physicians for Social Responsibility – Kansas City
  Progressive Democrats of America
  Peace Fresno
  Peace, Justice, Sustainability NOW!
  The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice
  RootsAction.org
  Veterans For Peace Chapter 001
  Veterans For Peace Chapter 63
  Veterans For Peace Chapter 113
  Veterans For Peace Chapter 115
  Veterans For Peace Chapter 132
  Wage Peace
  World BEYOND War

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 21:20

• Aussie Officials Fume At Google's "Experimental" Blocking Of Several News Media Sites
  Aussie Officials Fume At Google’s “Experimental” Blocking Of Several News Media Sites

  Perhaps surprising American liberals, German Chancellor Merkel and Emmanuel Macron chided Twitter for barring President Trump’s twitter account, accusing silicon valley stalwart of unduly censoring the leader of the free world.

  Well, as it turns out, leaders in Australia are also having their fair share of problems with the American tech giant dictating what can, and can’t, be hosted on their platform. Google is presently under fire for removing some local news content from its search results in Australia as part of an “experiment”.

  However, critics called this a “chilling illustration” of the firm’s power.

  The incident is the latest in an ongoing spat between Google and the Australian government, which is weighing whether to force Facebook to pay local publishers for sharing their content. On Wednesday, Google said it had been “running a few experiments that will each reach about 1% of Google Search users in Australia.”

  The Australian Financial Review, the country’ top business publication, broke the news on Wednesday.

  

  Google sought to play down the significance of some of these shutdowns, insisting that the company conducts experiments like these every year.

  In another statement, Australian publisher Nine Group said “Google is an effective monopoly and by withholding access to such timely, accurate and important information they show clearly how they impact what access Australians have.”

  “At the same time, Google are now demonstrating how easily they can make Australian news providers who fall out of their favor effectively disappear from the internet – a chilling illustration of their extraordinary market power.

  “The digital giants should focus on paying for original content, not blocking it. That’s my message to those digital giants,” said Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

  “We have again introduced legislation that’s now before a Senate committee to put in place a world-leading mandatory code to see those digital giants pay traditional news media businesses a fair sum of money for generating original content.“

  In other words, there will be no more free rides.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 21:00

• BLM Bail Fund Promoted By Kamala Harris Refuses To Share Records Of Criminals Sprung From Jail
  BLM Bail Fund Promoted By Kamala Harris Refuses To Share Records Of Criminals Sprung From Jail

  A fund established to bail out Black Lives Matter protesters – which helped free at least six men accused of domestic violence in two months – is refusing to disclose exactly who they’ve helped spring from jail.

  The Minnnesota Freedom Fund (MFF), which was endorsed by Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris and has raised over $35 million, has bailed out an unknown number of accused thugs, rioters and other criminals. Finding information on exactly who they’ve bailed out has been an arduous task.

  

  Here’s what we do know about the Harris-endorsed bail recipients:

  In August, the fund posted $15,000 bail for the release of Shawn McClinton, a convicted sex offender facing rape charges. According to prosecutors, McClinton raped a woman just weeks after his July release – and was back in custody facing prosecution over alleged rape, kidnapping, strangulation and other charges.

  In September, the Daily Caller pored through court records, and found that the MFF had helped free several men suspected of heinous crimes – including accused child molester Timothy Wayne Columbus, who faces up to 30 years in prison on allegations that he sexually assaulted an eight-year-old girl.

  31-year-old Dexter Boone was arrested on May 2 after allegedly breaking into his son’s mother’s apartment and strangled her in front of her minor children.

  The fund also helped bail out 28-year-old Davlin Devonte Gates, who also allegedly strangled a woman just days after he moved in with her.

  Matt Gaetz is right. For months Democrats encouraged and defended BLM and Antifa violence. Hell, Kamala Harris tweeted out for donations to a bail fund for rioters.
  Thousands of small businesses destroyed, looted, and burned down — Democrats didn’t care.pic.twitter.com/BBepHvZzDP

  — Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) January 13, 2021

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

  Now, for what we don’t know.

  According to Just The News, the MFF has refused to provide information on the men it’s helped bail out.

  Official bail records hard to locate

  Yet a full accounting of the individuals bailed out by the fund last year was not available as of press time. 

  A representative of the Minnesota Freedom Fund told Just the News via email this week that the records of those it has helped bail out “are available via the Hennepin and Ramsey County jail rosters.” The group did not respond to repeated inquiries asking if it kept those records in its own files. 

  The records within the jail rosters, meanwhile, are not easily accessible. 

  Tom Lyden, a reporter with KMSP who originally broke that station’s coverage of the controversies surrounding the bail fund, said that the documentation “is difficult to find and it is not available online.”  

  “You must go through items in the file, which you can only do at a live terminal,” he said. 

  In short, the next Vice President of the United States actively promoted a murky bail fund, which has helped known criminals get back on the streets, and which won’t share details on exactly who they’ve helped. 

  We’re sure they’ll enjoy exposure on multiple big tech platforms and won’t face scrutiny for aiding rioters, thugs and other criminals.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 20:40

• Elon Musk's Chinese Fairy Tale Will Eventually Come To An End
  Elon Musk’s Chinese Fairy Tale Will Eventually Come To An End

  For the better part of the last year, we have speculated in numerous pieces as to how long the cozy relationship between Elon Musk and the Chinese government would last. One thing is for sure: the Chinese ass-kissing tour by Musk has continued in full throttle over the last 12 months, with the Tesla CEO praising China while backhandedly taking swipes at the U.S. with what seems like every chance he gets. 

  And the ass-kissing tour is more than just public relations: Musk needs China, the world’s largest auto market, to continue to be a powerful source of production and sales, if he wants to meet the growing metrics that Wall Street expects of Tesla. In fact, one could argue that Musk needs nothing short of mass adoption in China. 

  So far, Musk has been able to sidestep some ugly press in China, including out of control Tesla vehicles, forced recalls, constant price cuts and disgruntled customers. So far, Musk is holding it together in China.

  But now Bloomberg is starting to ask a lot of the same questions we have. Namely, “how long can the good times last?”

  

  The piece starts by highlighting the preferential treatment Tesla got in early 2020 when it was one of the first to be get back to production during the early stages of the Covid pandemic.

  In its first week after resuming production, with Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG, and other foreign carmakers still unable to fully reopen, Tesla Shanghai made about 1,000 cars. By March it was up to 3,000 a week, a higher rate than before the shutdown. Around that time, according to people familiar with the conversation, an executive remarked in an internal discussion that Tesla didn’t just have a green light from the government to get back to work—it had a flashing-sirens police escort.

  The feature in Businessweek attributed this to the company’s great relationship with the government. Among other things Tesla has been able to obtain from China have been “tax breaks, cheap loans, permission to wholly own its domestic operations, and assistance constructing a vast facility at astonishing speed,” the report says. 

  And obviously, this support has helped Tesla hit key metrics, like its 2020 deliveries numbers, which was helped along by its new factory in Shanghai. The company said it delivered 180,570 EVs in the fourth quarter, which beat its previous record and Wall Street’s expectations for the quarter, which averaged 174,000. It produced 170,757 vehicles during the same period.

  

  Musk has “done all the right things” for China, too, Bloomberg says, including praising the country and aligning itself with President Xi’s policy goals:

  Musk, who didn’t respond to requests to be interviewed for this story, has effusively endorsed China’s talent pool and its ambitious plans for EVs, remarks that go a long way in a country whose leaders are intensely sensitive to foreign judgments. Tesla’s local unit has also aligned itself explicitly with President Xi Jinping’s economic policy goals and forced China’s vast array of EV manufacturers to up their game, a crucial step in the government’s efforts to dominate the age of electric mobility.

  James McGregor, the chairman for Greater China at government relations firm Apco Worldwide, said: “Under Xi’s economic strategy, foreign companies are going to have pretty good opportunities, but they have to be aware that the ultimate plan is for all the advanced technologies to be Chinese. I hope that Elon is going in there with both eyes open.”

  

  The article also notes that discussions about production in China included “intense scrutiny” over dealings with Chinese suppliers or partners due to concerns about intellectual property and the integrity of supply chains. Additionally, Tesla may have abandoned its concerns about the environment when sourcing OEMs in China, according to three former senior managers:

  Tesla executives, two of the managers say, often didn’t feel they knew enough about the environmental records of some Chinese vendors—for example when it came to graphite, a critical battery component whose mining can cause severe pollution.

  Musk’s ties to China seemed to start in 2017 when Tencent Holdings took a 5% stake in Tesla and Musk announced their would be “an investor and advisor”. 

  As the trade war bubbled in the coming years, “China was looking for headlines to say that U.S. companies still want to come here,” said Kenneth Jarrett, a former U.S. consul general in Shanghai and now a senior adviser at the Albright Stonebridge Group. Tesla knew it could take advantage of this and bargain for a great deal, the report says:

  Musk held out for full control, and in April 2018 he got it. That month the powerful National Development and Reform Commission announced that the 50% foreign ownership cap for automotive businesses would disappear by 2022, with operations devoted entirely to EVs exempted almost immediately. Three months later Tesla sealed an agreement with the Shanghai government for a factory capable of producing 500,000 vehicles a year.

  Musk then started making plans for his factory in Shanghai in 2019. “Several state-backed banks finalized a deal with Tesla for as much as $521 million in construction financing,” and he was off to the races, despite some of the questionable terms of these financings that we noted in April 2020. 

  

  Later in 2019, the minister of transport, Li Xiaopeng, announced all Teslas would be exempt from a 10% purchase tax on new vehicles. Around the same time, Tesla was structuring its business in China to be an “independent division” that reported to U.S. headquarters. By then, “Tesla’s local operation was beginning to look like a domestic entity” and Tom Zhu, a Chinese-born executive, was put in charge of the factory. Zhu soon asked all emails to be written in Chinese and for most departments to report only to him. 

  This also gave more power to Chinese communication rep Grace Tao, who reportedly had a top priority of retaining support from the top of the Chinese state.

  How Musk is scratching the backs of the Chinese state, in addition to repeated praise, remains to be seen. All the while, Tesla has been cutting prices and is now exporting from its Shanghai factory – a sign that domestic demand may not be as robust as expected. 

  Meanwhile, the market for EVs in China continues to expand and evolve. Major players like Alibaba, Baidu, Nio and Geely are now heavily involved in EV production – and are arguably much closer to the Chinese state than Musk is. EV sales from January to November of 2020 were up 4.4% this year versus a decline of 7.6% in overall passenger cars during the same period. Chinese auto sales had seen a full V-shaped recovery by October of this year, we noted at the time. 

  

  Recall, we noted in November that NEVs will be 20% of China’s new car sales by 2025. The “new energy” category includes battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Sales will rise as the country’s “NEV industry has improved their technology and competitiveness,” according to a new policy paper reviewed by Reuters. 

  

  In the country’s 5 year plan to 2025, the State Council has pushed for improvements in EV technologies, building more efficient charging and implementing battery swapping networks. The Chinese government will also adopt quotas and incentives to to “guide automakers” (i.e. force them) to make EVs after Federal subsidies end in two years.

  How much of a role will Tesla play in this expansion – especially when more domestic Chinese names get up and firing?

  Recall, in April 2020, we wrote an article called “Does Elon Musk Risk Becoming A Chinese Asset?”, raising pointed questions about Musk’s cozy relationship with the Chinese government. In August, we noted that “Elon Musk’s distaste for the U.S. appeared to be palpable after Musk said on a podcast that people of China were “smart” and “hard working” while at the same time calling U.S. citizens “entitled” and “complacent”.”

  Finally, just days ago, Musk said that the Chinese Government was “more responsible” to its citizens than the U.S. government. Musk – who had previously said that “China rocks”, said during a new interview that China’s government had been “very responsive” to its people’s needs and happiness and suggested they could be “better” than the U.S., according to Express UK. 

  Musk’s allegiance to China during a time of heightened tensions with the superpower seems to (so far, at least) not have lost him any credibility in the U.S., either. However, with a new administration taking hold in just days, that may change as Musk – a self proclaimed libertarian – may wind up in Democrat crosshairs.

  You can read Bloomberg’s full write-up here. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 20:20

• 2021: If It Wasn't For Bad Luck, We Wouldn't Have No Luck At All
  2021: If It Wasn’t For Bad Luck, We Wouldn’t Have No Luck At All

  Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

  If we have indeed begun a sustained “reversal of fortune”, it might be prudent to consider the possibility we’re only in the first inning of a sustained run of bad luck.

  

  In our self-deluded hubris, we reckon we’ve moved beyond the influence of fortune, a.k.a. Lady Luck: our technologies are so powerful and our monetary policies so godlike that nothing as random as luck could ever crush our limitless expansion.

  Thus does hubris beg for a comeuppance: the greater the hubris, the greater the reversal of fortune, the greater the confidence in our godlike powers, the greater the collapse of our prideful faith in technology and economic policies.

  So we’ve enshrined our hubris-soaked happy story: the virus will naturally weaken, vaccines will conquer the Covid virus in short order, and by opening the monetary spigots and flooding the global economy with trillions in newly created currencies, we’ll unleash the greatest boom in history, because it’s so righteously “green.”

  We seem to have forgotten that to elicit a laugh, tell God your plans. We confused a sustained run of good fortune with godlike powers that are impervious to mere luck.

  Unfortunately for all the true believers in our vaunted technology and human agencies, luck still matters, and after 50+ years of under-appreciated, fabulously good fortune, we’re in the first at-bat of a sustained reversal of fortune, for as noted here many times, the way of the Tao is reversal: good luck doesn’t last forever, nor is it some birthright of technologically advanced civilizations.

  Are we ill-prepared for seven lean years of increasingly bad luck? Absolutely. Whatever technology can’t resolve, trillions in newly issued currency will: either the magic of technology will work miracles, or the magic of limitless free money will work whatever miracles are left after technology wipes up the spot of bother.

  If you wanted to script an unprecedented collapse of faith in the false gods of technology and money-printing, you’d outline exactly what transpired in 2020: a reckless dismissal of the pandemic followed by a monumental financial crash that opened the floodgates of free money, which triggered a massive “recovery” rally in risk assets, driving gamblers’ confidence to new heights of fantasy.

  All hail our new secular gods, the Federal Reserve, the most powerful force in the Universe!

  Then you’d release miraculous vaccines that promised a permanent resolution to the pandemic and a measured return to the carefree pre-pandemic orgy of debt-based consumption. (Never mind the doubts of some experts about the vaccine protocols: Covid-19 Vaccine Protocols Reveal That Trials Are Designed To Succeed (Forbes.com) by William A. Haseltine)

  Then you’d script the opening inning of the tragi-comedy unfolding in 2021: rather than fading as so many were pleased to confidently predict, the Covid virus has made remarkable gains in function, becoming more contagious and more elusive as multiple variants emerge globally.

  Rather than conquering the virus, we’re unable to even keep pace. The variant ravaging Britain was finally identified in late December, and subsequent sequencing of previously collected samples indicates that it emerged (or arrived) in September. In the meantime, this variant (and other mutations with similar characteristics) have spread around the world with business travelers, tourists, etc. One or more of these variants may reduce the efficacy of the much-hyped vaccines. It’s all in this report from the New York Times:

  As Coronavirus Mutates, the World Stumbles Again to Respond (New York Times)

  Everything that was supposed to work smoothly due to our oh-so-advanced technological and administrative prowess in now either in doubt or in shambles. Consider the potential for less than 95% efficacy in the vaccines due to the interactions and mutually reinforcing dynamics of 1) vaccine hesitancy in those who understand the conventional processes of testing vaccines best, i.e. healthcare professionals; 2) the potential for consequential numbers of those who receive the first shot of vaccine failing to come back for the second shot due to unpleasant experiences after the first shot or other conditions such as being overworked, evicted, etc., and 3) variants further reducing the efficacy of the vaccines in unpredictable ways.

  So let’s say the efficacy drops from the promised 95% to 65%. Are you in the 2/3 camp who are protected by the vaccine from serious illness (though you may be a carrier and infect others, a possibility that was not tested by the trials protocols), or are you in the 1/3 camp who for whatever reason is no longer protected by the vaccine?

  Since we’re chasing a fast-mutating virus, there may not be a fast, accurate way to identify who’s fully protected and who isn’t. Since this may be unknowable, everyone will have to continue the behavioral methods of limiting exposure and transmission of the virus. In which case the vaccines will have accomplished very little in terms of returning the world to the pre-pandemic glory days of 2019.

  If we have indeed begun a sustained reversal of fortune, it might be prudent to consider the possibility we’re only in the first inning of a sustained run of back luck. We might want to consider learning a new theme song for 2021, Albert King’s Born Under a Bad Sign (composed by Booker T. Jones and William Bell): “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.”

  The cycles of human history are amenable to a reversal of fortune: please consider historian Peter Turchin’s three indicators of systemic disorder: check, check and check.

  Suppressing discussions about the potentially lavish banquet of consequences set by a reversal of fortune won’t actually change the outcome of the next eight innings, it will only serve to increase the odds of catastrophically consequential decisions being made by those at the top of the hubris-heap.

  

  *  *  *

  If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

  *  *  *

  My recent books:

  A Hacker’s Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet (Kindle $8.95, print $20, audiobook $17.46) Read the first section for free (PDF).

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  The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake $1.29 (Kindle), $8.95 (print); read the first chapters for free (PDF)

  Money and Work Unchained $6.95 (Kindle), $15 (print) Read the first section for free (PDF).

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 20:00

• Watch: US Nuclear Submarine Approaches Iranian Naval Drills, Standoff Ensues
  Watch: US Nuclear Submarine Approaches Iranian Naval Drills, Standoff Ensues

  On Thursday Iran’s state media condemned the action of a “foreign” vessel which it said “intended to approach the naval drill” that Iranian forces are currently conducting in the Gulf of Oman. 

  Later Iranian state media published rare footage of a submarine in the vicinity of the two-day naval exercise, specifically in or near the Strait of Hormuz. The submarine is said to have departed soon after the incident following an Iranian Navy warning.

  Though the US military has declined to comment, the AP is now reporting it appears to have been the USS Georgia nuclear submarine. “Helicopter footage of the exercise released by Iran’s navy showed what resembled an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine, the USS Georgia, which the U.S. Navy last month said had been sent to the Persian Gulf — a rare announcement aimed at underscoring American military might in the region,” according to the AP.

  Footage of the reported “foreign submarine” that entered the #Iran|ian Navy’s exercise area earlier today.

  Cc @CovertShores and other sub folks. pic.twitter.com/167H8r7ap4

  — Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) January 14, 2021

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

  The fact that the US submarine surfaced so near to the Iranian naval drills suggests this was a bit of provocative high-stakes intentional messaging by the Pentagon. 

  Here’s more according to the AP:

  Iran’s navy did not identify the submarine, but warned the boat to steer clear of the area, where missiles were being launched from land units and ships in the gulf and the northern part of the Indian Ocean. When asked for comment on the reported submarine sighting, Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, responded: “We don’t talk about submarine operations.”

  The direct overhead footage was taken from an Iranian military helicopter patrolling the area. It appears to have hovered over the sub as a warning message to leave.

  Indeed it appears to have been a brief but dangerous standoff which could have easily turned into a live-fire incident between the two enemy forces.

  US Navy submarine USS Georgia (SSGN-729) filmed by Iranian forces near Strait of Hormuz, apparently today.

  Am sharing ID as the video is out there and there’s no doubt what/who it is. pic.twitter.com/WPQsue1Zkx

  — H I Sutton (@CovertShores) January 14, 2021

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

  Such a direct encounter between an American submarine and Iran’s military is very rare to say the least, especially given it was caught on film.

  

  Maritime analysis news site Naval News explained of the video:

  The circumstances of the shallow pass are unclear. The submarine is shown at periscope depth. A single DDS (dry deck shelter) is seen on the port side of the casing behind the sail. This hangar can carry SEAL Delivery Vehicles (SDVs) used by the US Navy SEALs.

  The US Navy’s four Ohio Class SSGNs are by far the most heavily armed conventional strike platforms in the world. They can carry a total of 154 Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAM Block-IV) in their missile silos. When added to the torpedo room, this gives a total of 176 full-size weapons. Although the maximum load is reduced when the DDS is fitted.

  A foreign submarine, apparently #American, intended to approach the Iranian Navy drill zone, but it was spotted and warned to leave the area. The war game zone of Iranian Navy covers the Makran coasts in southeast #Iran and the northern areas of the Indian Ocean. pic.twitter.com/8MLwEBa3fa

  — Abas Aslani (@AbasAslani) January 14, 2021

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

  The USS Georgia entered the Persian Gulf area sometime in mid to late December as tensions between the US and Iran rose amid reports that Trump was mulling some type of preemptive action, also at the urging of Israel.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 19:40

• 2017 Redux? DC Descends Into Dystopian Lockdown As Inauguration Day Looms 
  2017 Redux? DC Descends Into Dystopian Lockdown As Inauguration Day Looms 

  Remember what happened after the last inauguration? No, that isn’t excited Trump “domestic terrorists”…

  Peacekeeping During #Trump Inauguration Protests. Watch the full video at on YouTube at https://t.co/U2trXNTk0Q pic.twitter.com/mPHc5RWM8z

  — Free Hugs Project (@FreeHugsProject) January 23, 2017

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

  It appears the authorities are expecting a replay as throughout downtown Washington, DC, roadblocks, metal fences, and National Guard troops are in the process of locking down the area around the Capitol complex ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

  USA Today reports the “entire National Mall in Washington could be shut down, more than a dozen Metro train stations will be closed” next Wednesday. 

  

  The nation’s capital now has 20,000 Guardsmen deployed on and around Capitol grounds. 

  The deployment of Guardsmen has been a continuing story since last weekend. On Sunday, 6,000 troops were expected to arrive in the metro area. One day later, on Monday, Politico’s Lara Seligmandit reported that Gen. Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said the US Department of Defense approved 15,000 troops. The number quickly rose Wednesday to 20,000 as the DoD began ushering in box trucks of assault rifles, ammo, and riot shields to troops as credible threats lingered. 

  

  Politico reported yesterday that Guardsmen were briefed to prepare for extremists attacks, possibly using improvised explosive devices.

  Politico obtained an unclassified intelligence document from the Secret Service that warned at least one right-wing extremist group, Patriot Actions for America, “is organizing and encouraging a violent demonstration” on Jan. 16 at or near Capitol grounds. ‘

  University of Maryland historian Terry Bouton, who follows extremist organizations, said the federal government is preparing for more violence as many Trump supporters believe the election was stolen. 

  “Some people were so angry, screaming with outrage, yet it all seemed so well-organized and orchestrated,” Bouton said, referring to the Capitol raid by Trump supporters last week.

  “If they are using similar kinds of tactics elsewhere, they are going rile up a lot of people who had no plan to engage in violence.”

  Robert Pape, a political science professor and director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago, said the show of force via National Guard presence might deter violent activity next week.

  Pape warned that the inauguration could be the beginning of the resistance movement… like 2017 was?

  “All this might mean plan one is taken off the table, but it doesn’t mean others are taken off the table,” he said.

  “Domestic terrorists have the money and access to materials for chemicals and other types of attacks. And they have time.”

  Just like the guy who blew up his RV in front of an AT&T switch building in Nashville a couple of weeks ago, which makes you think if more serious attacks are being planned for next week. 

  For more clarity on the expanding lockdown of the nation’s capital – here’s a map of all the roadblocks – basically making it virtually impossible to navigate a vehicle around the Capitol or White House. 

  DC Lockdown 

  

  The heavy military presence around the Capitol.

  

  Metal perimeter fence installed around Capitol grounds. 

  

  The area around the Capitol is locked down. 

  High security around Capitol Hill, includes steel barricades and National Guard pic.twitter.com/HiErOUrIKx

  — Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 13, 2021

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  Concrete barriers and metal walls down the street from the Capitol. 

  

  Plenty of roadblocks across the metro area. 

  

  Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines, American, and United Airlines have prohibited passengers this week flying into DC area airports from checking guns or other weapons. However, United said active-duty troops could check weapons. 

  We suspect tighter lockdowns could be coming in the coming days. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 19:20

• Joe Biden Unveils $1.9 Trillion COVID Stimulus Plan
  Joe Biden Unveils $1.9 Trillion COVID Stimulus Plan

  Biden unveiled his 2-step plan of “rescue and recovery” in a 30 minute presentation, which was just as was leaked in advance: a $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal which will encounter immediate Republican opposition due to its big-ticket spending on Democratic priorities including aid to state and local governments, a hike in the minimum wage to $15, and expanded unemployment benefits.

  “We have to act and we have to act now,” Biden said, ahead of laying out a second, even broader economic recovery plan next month at a joint session of Congress. That initiative will include money for longer-term development goals such as infrastructure and climate change, the transition team said. So even more trillions.

  As Bloomberg summarized it, “Biden’s speech had the flavor of a shorter and more concise State of the Union address, focused of course on the pandemic and economic recovery. He laid out a number of goals and some plans yet basically set broad goals — and asked Congress to foot the big price-tag to achieve them.”

  Biden’s bill – which amounts to $400 billion for Covid-19 management, more than $1 trillion in direct relief spending and $440 billion for communities and businesses – is more than double the $900BN bipartisan bill approved last month, and only slightly below the March 2020 Cares Act. The bigger size, and inclusion of Democratic priorities such as a minimum-wage hike, also means that it will be next to impossible for Republicans to vote for Biden’s proposal.

  This is a problem because as we explained previously, certain key measures such aid to states and money for health care, will likely need 60 votes in the Senate. On the other hand, jobless benefits, stimulus payments and the minimum wage hike, could go through with a simple majority under a special budget tool. Amusingly,  progressives are already saying Biden’s bill isn’t big enough.

  While Biden didn’t mention Trump by name, but he took several swipes at the current administration, especially in terms of the vaccine rollout, which he called a “dismal failure.” That’s tougher language than other officials have been using.

  A brief recap of Biden’s proposal is below:

  • Direct payments of $1,400, on top of the $600 approved in December
  • $400 per week in supplementary unemployment benefits through September
  • $350 billion for state and local governments
  • Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour
  • $130 billion to help schools reopen
  • $160 billion in funding for a national program of vaccination, testing and other coronavirus containment efforts
  • $30 billion for rental and small-landlord support
  • $25 billion for childcare providers
  • Expanded food assistance
  • Expanded child tax credits
  • Expanded medical and family leave

  Of course, since none of the above addresses the primary reason for the destruction of the US middle class, namely the Fed and its moneyprinting abilities, nothing proposed by Biden will have any effect on US society besides a brief sugar high. Once that wears off, the polarization, the wealth and income divide, and the class hatred, will be even worse.

  There were no surprise in what Biden said after all of it was purposefully leaked in advance, and Eminis dropped 10 points, drifting near session lows after the speech.

  

  There is a distinct risk that the recent market euphoria will fade soon once traders realize, that Bide’s use of the phrases “paying their fair share” and “closing loopholes” could spark a tax-hike driven selloff since the stimulus boost is already fully priced in. This, as Bloomberg notes, is a moment “in which the market could pivot to some of the other risks associated with a Blue Wave like taxation or antitrust scrutiny.”

  His full speech is below.

  Here are the main highlights:

  Stimulus Checks

  • The plan includes a central promise of Democrats: boosting direct payments to individuals to $2,000 for most Americans, on top of the $600 that Congress approved in December.
  • The plan would also allow residents who are married to undocumented residents to receive stimulus payments — who were barred in prior rounds.

  Vaccinations, Testing

  • Biden’s plan includes $20 billion to create a national vaccine distribution program that would offer free shots to all U.S. residents regardless of immigration status.
  • The plan calls for creating community vaccination centers and deploying mobile units in hard-to-reach areas. Biden is also calling for $50 billion to ramp up testing efforts, including purchasing rapid-result tests, expanding lab capacity and helping local jurisdictions implement testing regimens.

  State Aid

  • Biden is pushing for $350 billion in funding assistance for state, local and territorial governments plus $20 billion for public transit systems.
  • Democrats for months have pushed for more money to help state and local governments that have faced higher costs and lower tax revenue during the pandemic. States and cities warn they’ll be forced to make deep cuts to public health, safety and education programs without more funding, because they can’t borrow money in the way the federal government can.
  • Many Republicans have chafed at more money for local governments, however, saying it amounts to a bailout for mismanaged government budgets.

  Unemployment Insurance

  • Biden’s plan would extend and expand unemployment benefits that are scheduled to run out in mid-March. The proposal increases a weekly federal benefit to $400 from $300 and extends it through the end of September.
  • It also extends benefits for self-employed individuals and gig workers, and those who have exhausted their regular jobless benefits.

  Minimum Wage

  • Biden is calling to more than double the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour from $7.25, a proposal that could alienate Republicans. In addition, he seeks to end the tipped minimum wage used widely by restaurants and the hospitality industry. At $2.13 an hour, it gives lower minimums to employees that get tips.

  Paid Leave

  • The Biden plan would create a requirement for employers, regardless of size, to offer paid sick leave during the pandemic to workers — a change that the transition team says will extend the benefit to 106 million workers. Parents and family members caring for sick relatives or out-of-school children could receive more than 14 weeks of paid sick and family leave.
  • The plan would provide benefits of up to $1,400 per week and tax credits for employers with fewer than 500 employees to reimburse them for the cost of the leave.

  Tax Credits, Childcare

  • Biden would expand tax credits for low- and middle- income families and make them refundable for 2021. He is proposing to expand the child tax credit to $3,000 from $2,000 for each child 17 and younger. Children under age six would be eligible for $3,600.
  • Biden is also requesting $25 billion for a stabilization fund to help open child-care centers and $15 billion in grants to support essential workers in meeting childcare costs.

  Schools

  • The plan is also calling for $170 billion to help schools to open — something Biden has said would allow many parents, especially women, to rejoin the labor force after they dropped out to care for children learning at home.
  • About $130 billion would go to K-12 schools to help them hire additional staff to reduce class size, modify spaces and purchase resources to help meet students’ academic and mental health needs. The plan would also direct $35 billion to colleges and universities and create a $5 billion fund for governors to direct help to schools most hard-hit by the virus.

  Rental Assistance

  • The proposal would extend the eviction and foreclosure moratorium through September. It would also provide $30 billion to help low-income households who have lost jobs pay rent and utility bills. The plan would also provide $5 billion to states and localities to offer emergency housing for families facing homelessness.

  Small Businesses

  • Biden is proposing to leverage $35 billion in government funds into $175 billion in low-interest loans to finance small businesses. He is also calling for $15 billion in grants for such employers. He is proposing to use laid-off restaurant workers to partner with federal nutrition programs to get those employees working again.

  While the plan may not receive Republicans support, Democrats are firmly on board, with Pelosi and Schumer both saying that the proposal is the “right approach.”

  

  * * *

  It may not be quite $2 trillion as CNN leaked last night, quoting “one lawmaker” in close contact with the Biden team who said it was “taking a shoot for the moon” approach with the package”, but it’s close.

  With less than 4 hours to go until Biden’s 715pm ET speech in Delaware, in which he is expected to unveil his fiscal program, the NYT reports that Biden’s spending package “to combat the coronavirus pandemic and its effects on the economy, with an initial focus on large-scale expansions of the nation’s vaccination program and virus testing capacity” will be $1.9 trillion.

  The first package, which “will cover the pandemic, the economy, health care, education, climate change and other domestic priorities” according to Brian Deese, the incoming director of the National Economic Council who spoke at the Reuters Next conference on Wednesday, will include money to complete $2,000 direct payments to individuals, and aid to small businesses and local and state governments.

  One thing that markets may not like is that contrary to previous expectations that the “stimmy” check will be $2,000, Biden will instead propose additional $1,400 stimulus checks, “topping up the $600 checks that Congress approved in December.” This means roughly one-third less purchasing power to buy out of the money call on stocks trading at all time highs.

  The NYT also notes that the first piece of legislation will include an extension of supplemental federal unemployment benefits, which are set to expire in March for many workers, and more help for renters.

  Plans for the first package also include a significant increase in spending on vaccine deployment, testing and contact tracing, Mr. Deese said, and Mr. Biden will seek enough money to allow most schools to open, in an effort to increase labor force participation.

  “We need to get the schools open,” Mr. Deese said, “so that parents, and particularly women, who are being disproportionately hurt in this economy, can get back to work.”

  Stocks dropped to session lows on news that instead of an $2,000 additional stimmy, the Biden plan will “only” include another $1,400, adding to the previously released $600 from the December $900BN stimulus plan.

  Meanwhile, the fact that Biden is indeed going through with an almost $2 trillion stimulus – contrary to that such an amount could be overly aggressive and be met with resistance even among centrist Democrats – has sent 10Y yields to session highs.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 19:09

• The Intercept Fires Co-Founder Who Publicly Discussed Reality Winner 'F*ck-Up'
  The Intercept Fires Co-Founder Who Publicly Discussed Reality Winner ‘F*ck-Up’

  Laura Poitras, co-founder of The Intercept, was fired from the publication two weeks ago in what she says was retribution for publicly discussing the outlet’s mishandling of a leak by former NSA intelligence officer, Reality Winner.

  

  The firing, outlined in a Thursday open letter, came after Poitras shared her frustrations with the New York Times regarding The Intercept‘s mishandling of the Winner matter, telling them that First Look (The Intercept’s parent company) engaged in “a cover-up and betrayal of core values,” and that the lack of accountability over what happened “promoted a culture of impunity and puts future sources at risk.”

  Winner, 28, mailed top secret classified intelligence to The Intercept on May 9, 2017. Three weeks later,  the outlet contacted a ‘government agency’ to let them know about the documents, and gave the FBI / NSA information which was then used to easily identify her.

  Suspected Intercept reporter gave US government NSA whistleblower Reality Leigh Winner’s post code, printout and her report number: pic.twitter.com/vW4RtQGSO6

  — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 6, 2017

  A Trump-hating radical who wanted to “burn Donald Trump down to the ground,” Winner had dreams of traveling Afghanistan where she would pledge allegiance to the Taliban. The intelligence she leaked suggested that Russia hacked the 2016 US election by accessing voter registration rolls in the US using a phishing operation. The Intercept then published a report on June 5th, 2017 ‘confirming’ that Russia hacked the election, and hours later, the FBI arrested Winner.

  

  Poitras, a 2012 MacArthur “genius” grant recipient who transitioned from The Intercept to sister organization Field of Vision, ” came to prominence for her 2013 Pulitzer-winning work with Glenn Greenwald bringing to light the blockbuster disclosures of National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden,” according to the Washington Post, which added that she’s always had an issue with how things went down, and the lack of accountability.

  “First Look Media and The Intercept were founded upon Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing and the investigative journalism that Glenn Greenwald and I all risked our lives to bring to the public, exposing the National Security Agency’s illegal global mass surveillance programs,” Poitras wrote in her Thursday open letter.

  First Look Media’s decision to fire me after I raised concerns about source protection and accountability – rather than to demote or seek the resignation of anyone responsible for the journalistic malpractice, cover-up, and retaliation – speaks to the priorities of The Intercept’s Editor-in-Chief Betsy Reed and First Look Media’s CEO Michael Bloom.

  Journalists make mistakes, sometimes with serious consequences. What is alarming about this case is the multitude of mistakes, the egregious disregard for source protection, and the mishandling of an internal review that ended with a cover-up. It goes without saying that no one should participate in an investigation into themselves, yet this is what happened at The Intercept. Editor-in-Chief Betsy Reed, who oversaw the reporting on Winner’s NSA leak, took an active behind-the-scenes role in the investigation, assigned staff who reported directly to her to gather facts, and, when the facts pointed to editorial failures, Reed removed the staff person from the investigation. –Laura Poitras

  As explained by former co-founder Glenn Greenwald, who left The Intercept in October, he and Laura spent months demanding an accounting over what happened with the Reality Winner ‘fuck-up.’

  

  Many people (including myself & Laura) spent months demanding that accounting. Their original excuse was they didn’t want to help DOJ in its prosecution. But that prosecution has been over for 2 1/2 years. Where is that accounting? Provide the transparency you demand of others.

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 14, 2021

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  Here’s Laura Poitras’ post-firing letter, with a focus on the key role of the top Intercept editors – Betsy Reed and Roger Hodge – in the Reality Winner debacle.https://t.co/gKppuD0uXr

  I explained what happen in my article announcing my resignation.https://t.co/dZrlYGfEBf pic.twitter.com/Pyfp5GPC74

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 14, 2021

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  First Look reportedly conducted two internal reviews of the Reality Winner case, neither of which has been made public. However, in a 2017 statement, The Intercept’s Betsy Reed concluded that “our practices fell short of the standards to which we hold ourselves for minimizing the risks of source exposure when handling anonymously provided materials.”

  Reed says that Poitras’s claim of no accountability is wrong, noting that “there were two separate reviews, which were comprehensive and conducted by lawyers with a duty to remain independent and impartial. They both concluded that the errors we made in our handling of the story reflected institutional weaknesses, for which I took responsibility as the editor in chief.”

  That said, nobody involved in the Winner controversy was fired or demoted for burning their source to a crisp.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 19:00

• "Domestic Terrorist?" – Leftist BLM Activist Who Stormed Capitol On Jan. 6 Arrested, Charged
  “Domestic Terrorist?” – Leftist BLM Activist Who Stormed Capitol On Jan. 6 Arrested, Charged

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

  The Black Lives Matter activist who was seen storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was arrested and charged, the Department of Justice said Thursday.

  

  A newly released court filing says John Earle Sullivan, 26, told FBI agents last week that he was at the Capitol when the breach happened. He said he entered through a window that had been broken out. He also said he was present when Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was shot dead by a U.S. Capitol Police officer as she tried to climb into the House Speaker’s Lobby through a window.

  Sullivan showed agents some of the footage he captured inside the building, which he and others entered illegally.

  Videos showed Sullivan and others breaking through a barricade, with the Utah man shouting:

   “There are so many people. Let’s go. This [Expletive] is ours! [Expletive] yeah. We accomplished this [expletive]. We did this together. [Expletive] yeah! We are all a part of this history. Let’s burn this [Expletive] down.”

  

  h/t @Cernovich

  He was later heard encouraging protesters to climb a wall to get to an entrance to the Capitol and was seen entering the building.

  During one conversation with others while inside, Sullivan said, “We gotta get this [expletive] burned.” At other times, he said, among other things, “it’s our house [expletive]” and “we are getting this [expletive].”

  Sullivan told U.S. Capitol Police officers to stand down so that they wouldn’t get hurt, according to the court filing (pdf). He joined the crowd trying to open doors to another part of the Capitol, telling people “Hey guys, I have a knife” and asking them to let him get to the front. He did not make it to the doors. He later tried to get the officers guarding the Speaker’s Lobby to go home, telling them: “Bro, I’ve seen people out there get hurt.”

  

  A group of protesters enter the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

  Sullivan spoke to a slew of media outlets after the breach, including CNN and ABC.

  

  h/t @Cernovich

  He told The Epoch Times that he took steps to blend in with the crowd so he didn’t “get beat up.” He said he’s known in the activist community as being a member of the far-left, anarcho-communist group Antifa. He denied being a member of the network.

  He told The Epoch Times he knew of plans to storm the Capitol and that he saw them on “undergrounds chats and things like that.”

  He posted information about the plans on his social media, but didn’t inform the law enforcement. “I’m not a snitch,” he said.

  Sullivan has posted in support of Black Lives Matter. He leads a group called Insurgence USA, which says it was founded in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man, in police custody in Minneapolis last year.

  “The lack of care for the human life was unacceptable so we set out to end police brutality. We then set out to empower and uplifting black and indigenous voices,” the group’s website states.

  Sullivan was charged with rioting and criminal mischief in Provo, Utah, based on his activities around a protest last year in which a person was shot and injured.

  BLM inc. threatening to “rip the president out of the White House”

  They say they won’t wait until the next election.

  They’re openly calling for a revolution.

  This is domestic terrorism on full display, out in the open. They don’t even try to hide it. pic.twitter.com/OyhNSzBEwu

  — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 29, 2020

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  Sullivan was charged this week with unlawful entry, disorderly conduct, and attempted obstruction of law enforcement.

  

  h/t @Cernovich

  He faces jail time if convicted.

  *  *  *

  ZH: Which leaves us with three questions:

  1) Does this mean CNN gave a platform to a domestic terrorist?

  2) Did Trump incite this man to commit insurrection too?

  3) If he was aware of riotous plans “on underground chats” before Trump’s speech, does that mean Trump did not incite “domestic terrorism”?

  We won’t hold our breath for the treasonous answers.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 18:40

• NYC Tenants Owe More Than $2 Billion In Unpaid Rent As Cuomo Extends Eviction Moratorium
  NYC Tenants Owe More Than $2 Billion In Unpaid Rent As Cuomo Extends Eviction Moratorium

  New shocking figures produced by a New York area landlord trade group, the Community Housing Improvement Program, finds half of all New York City apartment tenants are behind on rent to the combined tune of over $1 billion as the US begins to approach one year since the coronavirus pandemic hit America.

  The group surveyed landlords who oversee up to half of the city’s total rental apartments in order to assess the impact of coronavirus closures, historic unemployment, and resulting limited government assistance. “Tallying responses from landlords, the group estimated that as many as 185,000 households living in these apartments are more than two months behind on rent, with an average debt of more than $6,000,” The Wall Street Journal summarized of the findings.

  

  Seeking to safeguard tenants during mandated lockdowns, state lawmakers have rushed to pass emergency regulations which bar evictions as well as foreclosures and negative credit ratings on small property owners. Governor Cuomo has extended the eviction moratorium all the way to May of this year, with the possibility it could be extended further.

  Meanwhile, building owners and landlords have been left holding the bag – after all, who would pay rent at this point with all the “protections” and no negative repercussions? Thus stories like the following will only continue to multiply:

  A landlord in Harlem is reportedly is facing his own eviction after tenants in a building he owns refuse to pay rent.  

  Family for David Howson, 88, told the NY Post that he relies on the rental income from the 10-unit building he owns at 9 West 129th St. to pay for his co-op apartment in Inwood. 

  The Community Housing Improvement Program assessed merely half of the city’s landlords, which suggests we’re more likely looking at over $2 billion of debt from missed rent payments.

  The WSJ report continues: “Jay Martin, executive director of CHIP, said rent debt from the rest of New York’s apartment inventory is probably the same or greater, meaning the total debt New York City renters are carrying is likely more than $2 billion.”

  

  Landlords aren’t necessarily or simply proposing that there be no protections for tenants whatsoever, but they are livid that as local and state anti-eviction laws stand, there’s nothing that requires “proof” of pandemic-related hardship. The COVID relief package from December allocated to New York up to $1.3 billion for rental assistance, but it’s unclear the degree to which the bulk of that will actually reach unpaid landlords.

  A recent statement from the Rent Stabilization Association points precisely to this problem:

  “With no requirement of proof that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected their income, and no income limitation to qualify for eviction protection, a tenant whose household income went from a half-million dollars to $250,000 would qualify for eviction protection by declaring that their income has been ‘significantly reduced,’” president of the organization Joseph Strasburg said.

  So again, with the short-sighted rush to apply a quick fix band aid, which has proven no “fix” at all, who at this point would even pay the rent that’s owed? In the end it has sent all of New York housing to the brink of disaster – tenants, landlords, and potentially the banks that hold the property notes alike.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 01/14/2021 – 18:20

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