Jul 18

Today’s News 18th July 2021

  • Escobar: Russia-China Advance Asian Roadmap For Afghanistan
    Escobar: Russia-China Advance Asian Roadmap For Afghanistan

    Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,

    Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s ‘facilitate, not mediate’ role could be the key to solving the Afghan imbroglio…

    Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pose for a family photo before a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Contact Group on Afghanistan, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry / Sputnik via AFP

    Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting of Foreign Ministers on Wednesday in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, may have been an under-the-radar affair, but it did reveal the contours of the big picture ahead when it comes to Afghanistan.

    So let’s see what Russia and China – the SCO’s heavyweights – have been up to.

    Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi laid out the basic road map to his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Haneef Atmar. While stressing the Chinese foreign policy gold standard – no interference in internal affairs of friendly nations – Wang established three priorities:

    1. Real inter-Afghan negotiations towards national reconciliation and a durable political solution, thus preventing all-out civil war. Beijing is ready to “facilitate” dialogue.

    2. Fighting terror – which means, in practice, al-Qaeda remnants, ISIS-Khorasan and the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Afghanistan should not be a haven for terrorist outfits – again.

    3. The Taliban, for their part, should pledge a clean break with every terrorist outfit.

    Atmar, according to diplomatic sources, fully agreed with Wang. And so did Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin. Atmar even promised to work with Beijing to crack down on ETIM, a Uighur terror group founded in China’s western Xinjiang. Overall, the official Beijing stance is that all negotiations should be “Afghan-owned and Afghan-led.”

    There is no sign yet that the Taliban will enter a power-sharing arrangement with President Ashraf Ghani’s government. Photo: AFP/Wali Sabawoon/NurPhoto

    It was up to Russian presidential envoy Zamir Kabulov to offer a more detailed appraisal of the Dushanbe discussions.

    The main Russian point is that Kabul and the Taliban should try to form a provisional coalition government for the next 2-3 years while they negotiate a permanent agreement. Talk about a Sisyphean task – and that’s an understatement. The Russians know very well that both sides won’t restart negotiations before September.

    Moscow is very precise about the role of the extended troika – Russia, China, Pakistan and the US – in the excruciatingly slow Doha peace process talks: the troika should “facilitate” (also Wang’s terminology), not mediate the proceedings.

    Another very important point is that once “substantive” intra-Afghan negotiations resume, a mechanism should be launched to clear the Taliban of UN Security Council sanctions.

    This will mean the normalization of the Taliban as a political movement. Considering their current diplomatic drive, the Taliban do have their eyes on the ball. So the Russian warning that they should not become a security threat to any of the Central Asian “stans” or there will be “consequences” has been fully understood.

    Four of the five “stans” (Turkmenistan is the exception) are SCO members. By the way, the Taliban have sent a diplomatic mission to Turkmenistan to ease its fears.

    Break for the border

    In Dushanbe, a special meeting of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, established in 2005, for the first time was held at the foreign minister level.

    This shows that the SCO as a whole is engaged in making its “facilitate, not mediate” role the prime mechanism to solve the Afghan drama. It’s always crucial to remember that no fewer than six SCO member-nations are Afghanistan’s neighbors.

    During the main event in Dushanbe – the SCO Foreign Ministers Council – the Russians once again framed Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy as an attempt to deter China and isolate Russia.

    Following recent analyses by President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Russian delegation explained to its SCO counterparts its view counterposing Moscow and Beijing’s effort to develop a polycentric world system based on international law, on the one hand, with the Western concept of the so-called “rules-based world order.”

    The Western approach, they said, puts pressure on countries that pursue independent foreign policy courses, ultimately legitimizing the West’s “neocolonial policy.”

    On the ground

    While the SCO was discussing the drive towards a polycentric world system, the Taliban, on the ground, kept doing what they’ve been doing for the past few weeks: capturing strategic crossroads.

    The Taliban already controlled border crossings with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Turkmenistan. Now they have taken over ultra-strategic Spin Boldak, bordering Balochistan in Pakistan, which in trade terms is even more important than the Torkham border crossing near the Khyber Pass.

    Taliban in Spin Boldak, the very busy commercial border between Afghanistan and Balochistan in Pakistan. Photo: AFP

    According to Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, “the Spin Boldak district in Kandahar province has been cleared of the enemy” – Kabul’s forces – “and the district is now under the control of the mujahideen.” The term “mujahideen” in the Afghan context means indigenous forces fighting foreign invaders or proxies.

    To have an idea of the importance of Spin Boldak for the Taliban economy during their years in power, see the third chapter of a series I published in Asia Times in 2010, here and here. Eleven years ago, I noted that “the Afghan-Pakistan border is still porous, and the Taliban seem to believe they may even get their Talibanistan back.” They believe that now, more than ever.

    Meanwhile, in the northeast, in Badakhshan province, the Taliban are getting closer and closer to the border with Xinjiang – which has led to some hysteria about “terrorism” infiltrating China via the Wakhan corridor.

    The Wakhan corridor in Afghanistan, seen from the Tajik side. Photo: Pepe Escobar, November 2019

    Nonsense. The actual Afghanistan-China border in the Wakhan is roughly 90 kilometers. Beijing can exercise full electronic surveillance on everything that moves.

    I crossed part of the Wakhan on the Tajik side, bordering Afghanistan, during my Central Asian loop in late 2019, and on some stretches of the Pamir Highway I was as close to Xinjiang as 30 kilometers or so through no man’s land. The only people I saw along the geologically spectacular, desolate landscape were a few nomad caravans. The terrain can be even more forbidding than the Hindu Kush.

    If any terror outfits try to get to Xinjiang, they won’t dare cross the Wakhan; they will try to infiltrate via Kyrgyzstan. I met a lot of Uighurs in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital: mostly businessman, legally going back and forth. On the Kyrgyz-Xinjiang border, there was a steady flow of cargo trucks. ETIM was dismissed as a bunch of nutcases.

    What’s way more relevant is that the Ministry of Public Works in Kabul is actually building a 50-kilometer road – for the moment unpaved –  between Badakhshan province and Xinjiang, all the way to the end of the Wakhan corridor. They will call it the Wakhan Route.

    No imperial graveyard ahead

    SCO member Pakistan remains arguably the key to solve the Afghan drama. The Pakistani ISI remains closely linked to every Taliban faction: never forget the Taliban are a creation of legendary General Hamid Gul in the early 1990s.

    At the same time, for any jihadi outfit it’s easier to hide and lie low deep in the Pakistani tribal areas than anywhere else – and they can buy protection, irrespective of what the Taliban are doing in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan and his circle are very much aware of it – as much as Beijing. That will be the ultimate test for the SCO in its anti-terror front.

    China needs an eminently stable Pakistan for all the long-term Belt and Road/China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects and to fulfill its goal of incorporating Afghanistan. Kabul would be bound to benefit not only from increased connectivity and infrastructure development but also from future mineral including rare earth exploration projects.

    Meanwhile, Hindu nationalists would love to outflank Pakistan and extend their influence in Kabul, encouraged by Washington. For the Empire of Chaos, the ideal agenda is – what else? – chaos: disrupting Belt and Road and the Russia-China road map for Eurasian integration, Afghanistan included.

    Added hysteria depicting Russia and China involved in Afghan reconstruction as but a new chapter in the never-ending “graveyard of empires” saga does not even qualify as nonsense. The talks in Dushanbe made clear that the Russia-China strategic partnership approach to Afghanistan is cautiously realistic.

    Taliban negotiators Abdul Latif Mansoor (right), Shahabuddin Delawar (center) and Suhail Shaheen (left) walk to attend a press conference in Moscow on July 9, 2021. Photo: AFP / Dimitar Dilkoff

    It’s all about national reconciliation, economic development and Eurasian integration. Not included are a military component, hubs for an Empire of Bases, foreign interference. Moscow and Beijing also recognize, pragmatically, that fulfilling those dreams will not be possible in an Afghanistan hostage to ethno-sectarianism.

    The Taliban for their part seem to have recognized their own limits, hence their current inter-regional diplomatic drive. They seem to be paying close attention to the inevitable heavyweights – Russia and China – as well as the Central Asian “stans” plus Pakistan and Iran.

    Whether all this interconnection dance will herald the beginning of a post-war Afghanistan as a real functioning state, all we can say is insha Allah.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 23:30

  • The World's Tech Giants, Compared To The Size Of Nations' Economies
    The World’s Tech Giants, Compared To The Size Of Nations’ Economies

    It’s no secret that tech giants have exploded in value over the last few years, but, as Visual Capitalist’s Omri Wallach notes, the scale can be hard to comprehend.

    Through wide-scaling market penetration, smart diversification, and the transformation of products into services, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have reached market capitalizations well above $1.5 trillion.

    To help us better understand these staggering numbers, a recent study at Mackeeper took the market capitalization of multiple tech giants and compared them with the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of countries.

    Editor’s note: While these numbers are interesting to compare, it’s worth noting that they represent different things. Market cap is the total value of shares outstanding in a publicly-traded company and gives an indication of total valuation, and GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced by a country in an entire year.

    Companies vs. Countries: Tech Giants

    If Apple’s market capitalization was equal to a country’s annual GDP, it might just be in the G7.

    At a market cap of more than $2.1 trillion, Apple’s market capitalization is larger than 96% of country GDPs, a list that includes Italy, Brazil, Canada, and Russia.

    In fact, only seven countries in the world have a higher GDP than Apple’s market cap.

    Further back is Microsoft, which would be the 10th richest country in the world if market cap was equivalent to GDP.

    With a market cap of more than $1.9 trillion, Microsoft’s value is larger than the GDP of global powerhouses Brazil, Canada, Russia, and South Korea.

    Though all of the tech giants fared well during the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps none have stood to benefit as much as Amazon.

    With online retail and web services both in high demand, Amazon’s market cap has grown to $1.7 trillion, larger than 92% of country GDPs.

    Other Companies “Bigger” Than Countries

    Tech giants aren’t the only companies that would give countries a run for their money.

    Market cap data as of June 13, 2021

    Saudi Arabia’s state-owned corporation Saudi Aramco also makes the list, boasting a market cap more than double the GDP of its home country.

    China’s tech giant Tencent also has a market cap that towers over many country GDPs, such as those of Switzerland or Poland.

    Until recently, Tencent was also ahead of fellow tech giant Facebook in market cap, but the social network has climbed ahead and almost reached $1 trillion in market capitalization.

    Of course, the biggest caveat to consider with these comparisons is the difference between market cap and GDP numbers.

    A company’s market cap is a proxy of its net worth in the eyes of public markets and changes constantly, while GDP measures the economic output of a country in a given year.

    But companies directly and indirectly affect the economies of countries around the world. With international reach, wealth accumulation, and impact, it’s important to consider just how much wealth and power these companies have.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 23:00

  • Are Justices Kavanaugh & Barrett Feeling The Threat Of Expansion?
    Are Justices Kavanaugh & Barrett Feeling The Threat Of Expansion?

    Via TechnoFog’s “The Reactionary” Substack,

    Law professor (and prolific writer) Josh Blackman has an interesting piece in Newsweek, where he observes that Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch have “warned that Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett lack backbone.”

    He provides as an example the case of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, in which the Court was presented with the question of whether the City of Philadelphia violated the First Amendment after it stopped referring foster children to a Catholic foster care agency after the agency “would not certify same-sex couples to be foster parents due to its religious beliefs about marriage.”

    Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch were ready to overturn Supreme Court arguably incorrect precedent (dating back to 1990) that “the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause tolerates any rule that categorically prohibits or commands specified conduct so long as it does not target religious practice.”

    Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett weren’t willing to take that step. (In its February 2021 decision, the Supreme Court held the City of Philadelphia violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment but the Court did not go far enough for religious freedom advocates.)

    Justice Gorsuch, in his concurring opinion, called out the Court’s lack of courage:

    “Dodging the question today guarantees These cases will keep coming until the Court musters the fortitude to supply an answer.”

    Blackman notes this “personal attack no doubt reflects simmering tensions within the Court.”

    He also observes how Justices Barrett and Kavanaugh (contrary to Thomas and Gorsuch and Alito) argued that California’s singing ban on churches could remain in place during the COVID pandemic. Barrett “thus used her first separate writing on the Court to rule against people of faith.”

    Then there is the case of Barronelle Stutzman, a Christian florist from Washington state who is being punished by the state for declining to create a floral arrangement for a same sex wedding. 

    Three justices –Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch – voted to take her case. She needed just one more justice to vote in her favor in order to get before the Supreme Court. Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett (and Roberts) declined.

    Blackman writes of other cases where Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch alleged “Kavanaugh and Barrett were afraid of public criticism.” Like Blackman, we have previously noted Justice Thomas took aim at the refusal of the Court to act on an issue of “undisputed importance” where the Pennsylvania Supreme Court usurped the state legislature’s authority by changing the state election laws.

    Questions of motive.

    All this leads us to ask about the reasons for Kavanaugh and Barrett’s lack of fortitude.

    It could be that they have aligned themselves with the political leanings of Chief Justice Roberts, who tries to steer the Court away from controversial decisions, even if those decisions would be correct and Constitutional.

    We suspect there might be something else.

    Since 2020, there have been increasing calls to expand the Supreme Court. Then-candidate Biden refused to condemn the expansion, thus revealing his belief that expansion is necessary.

    After the election, Biden issued an Executive Order to form a Commission to report on expanding the Court. The Commission’s membership – majority liberal – make it more likely than not that they will recommend expanding the Court.

    Properly understood, expansion is a threat against “conservatives” on the Court. The message is clear: Watch what you do or there will be changes.

    The Supreme Court is certainly aware of this cloud over its head. Legal writers and professors have observed that the Court, under the direction of Chief Justice Roberts, has seen an uptick in the amount of “unanimous or near-unanimous” decisions. A show to the public that the Court isn’t as divided as some may believe.

    If the threat of expansion has increased the amount of agreement within the Court, it very well may a factor in the cases the Court has declined to consider.

    In other words, it is time we ask whether certain Justices – Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett – are allowing themselves to be held hostage by this threat.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 22:30

  • People Are Now 3-D Printing Lego Guns Following US Gunmaker Halt Of "Block 19" Sales 
    People Are Now 3-D Printing Lego Guns Following US Gunmaker Halt Of “Block 19” Sales 

    We noted days ago how Danish toymaker The Lego Group sent a cease and desist letter to a US gunmaker for selling a Glock handgun kit that resembled Lego blocks. It was also noted that “once the 3D-printing community” develops computer-aided design kits for Lego guns that anyone can print at home, then “there’s no way to stop it.” 

    While Utah-based Culper Precision‘s “Block 19” Lego handgun has been pulled off shelves, we predicted that the 3D-printing community would begin printing their own Lego guns. 

    Come to find out Saturday, that’s precisely what Redditor “chairmanjuan” on “r/guns” has done.

    Called the “MEGA GLOCK,” chairmanjuan posted a picture of what appears to be a Glock 19. They said, “MEGA GLOCK 19X, my 3d printed knockoff of Culper Precision’s BLOCK 19 they got in trouble for. The slide cover only works for RMR cut slides, it screws into the optic mounting holes so it doesn’t fly off into your face.”

    Another Redditor said, “I think anybody oughta be able to do whatever they wanna do. F**k seatbelts, for instance. Cocaine’s bad for you but whatever, go ahead.” The person was referring to the Lego company shooting down Culper Precision’s Block 19.

    Chairmanjuan didn’t release the file for the 3-D printed Lego Glock 19, but we’re assuming someone else will.  

    So what’s The Lego Group going to do now that private citizens are now printing Lego guns at home? Spend hundreds of thousands of dollar, if not more, and send cease and desist letters to everyone who prints these guns? 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 22:00

  • Now They Are Saying That The Republican Party Is The #1 "National Security Threat To The United States Of America"
    Now They Are Saying That The Republican Party Is The #1 “National Security Threat To The United States Of America”

    Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

    When one major political party starts labeling the other major political party as a “national security threat”, that should set off major alarm bells because that means that total tyranny is very near.  Needless to say, Democrats and Republicans have always had bitter words for one another, but when you start calling the other side a “national security threat” that is taking things to an entirely different level.  Al-Qaeda was a “national security threat”, and so we invaded Afghanistan.  ISIS was a “national security threat”, and so we bombed them into oblivion.  The full weight of U.S. power is often used to “neutralize” national security threats, and so when a former Department of Homeland Security official went on MSNBC and said that the Republican Party is now a more serious national security threat than either Al-Qaeda or ISIS, that sent chills down the spines of a whole lot of people…

    Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official, made the comment during a Thursday interview on MSNBC’s “The Reid Out.”

    “I’ve spent my whole career not as a political operative. I’ve never worked on a campaign in my life other than campaigning against Trump. I’m a national security guy. I’ve worked in national security against ISIS, al Qaeda and Russia,” Taylor said.

    “And the No. 1 national security threat I’ve ever seen in my life to this country’s democracy is the party that I’m in — the Republican Party. It is the No. 1 security national security threat to the United States of America,” he said.

    I couldn’t believe that he actually said that.

    In the past, members of the Biden administration have labeled certain political subgroups as national security threats, but now Miles Taylor is saying that the entire Republican Party is the number one national security threat that our nation is facing.

    Just think about what that means.

    When we would capture a member of Al-Qaeda or ISIS, we would ship them off to Guantanamo Bay and torture them for months or even years.

    I always spoke out against such torture, because it was morally wrong.

    And I knew that eventually the same tactics would be used against Americans.

    With each passing day, the U.S. is getting closer and closer to becoming an authoritarian regime.  On Friday, we learned that the Biden administration has been regularly working with social media companies to censor the speech of people that are concerned about the safety of the COVID vaccines…

    President Biden on Friday accused Facebook of “killing people,” just after White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration is “in regular touch” with the platform to ensure correct “narratives” are promoted — elaborating on her Thursday admission that the White House is “flagging problematic posts” for the social media giant to censor.

    Social media companies are private entities, and so they can theoretically argue that they have the right to determine what is allowed to be posted on their platforms.

    But when the federal government colludes with social media companies to censor speech, that is a crystal clear violation of our First Amendment rights.

    As Glenn Greenwald has noted, if you support the Biden administration’s attempts to censor speech on social media platforms, that also makes you an authoritarian…

    In an eight-tweet thread posted Thursday afternoon, Greenwald said this idea that a president’s administration can remove content it deems ‘problematic’ is dangerous.

    ‘If you don’t find it deeply disturbing that the White House is “flagging” internet content that they deem “problematic” to their Facebook allies for removal, then you are definitionally an authoritarian. No other information is needed about you to know that,’ Greenwald tweeted.

    Not only is the Biden administration actively involved in censoring speech, they are also specifically demonizing 12 particular individuals that the Biden administration claims are responsible for “65% of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms”…

    The White House turned up the pressure on Silicon Valley to get a handle on vaccine misinformation Thursday, specifically singling out 12 people one group dubbed the “disinformation dozen,” saying they were responsible for a great deal of misinformation about Covid-19.

    “There’s about 12 people who are producing 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday.

    At this point, freedom of speech is virtually a dead right in the United States of America, and that means that all of our other rights are in danger of being completely stripped away as well.

    Because once freedom of speech is gone, the government will be free to take away the rest of our rights at their leisure.

    Never before in U.S. history have we seen such a massive attempt by one side of the political spectrum to silence the speech of the other side of the political spectrum.

    And ultimately, they won’t just be satisfied with shutting people up.  In fact, there are some activists that are already wishing death upon their political opponents…

    “Let them die,” Fairfax County NAACP First Vice President Michelle Leete said about people against her leftist ideology during a speech to protesters at Luther Jackson Middle School Thursday evening.

    Parents and concerned citizens had gathered in Fairfax, Virginia, prior to a school board meeting to protest Fairfax County Public Schools teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT), while others had come to support CRT and the LGBT agenda in schools. It was the final meeting before the school board’s summer break.

    There is so much hatred on both sides of the political spectrum right now, and that makes me extremely sad.

    As I discuss in my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse”, we are moving into a very troubled chapter in American history, and we are doing so at a time when most people are absolutely filled with rage.

    Everywhere you look, people are extremely angry.  Our nation has become a tinderbox that can literally erupt in flames at any moment, and we have seen quite a few examples of this over the past year.

    We used to be such a civilized country.

    What in the world has happened to us?

    Freedom is such a precious thing.  Previous generations of Americans sacrificed so much to win it for us, and now we are on the verge of losing it for good.

    *  *  *

    It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 21:30

  • Coffee, Tea, Or Soda: What Caffeine Drinks Do Countries Prefer?
    Coffee, Tea, Or Soda: What Caffeine Drinks Do Countries Prefer?

    Coffee, tea, or soft drinks… How do you get your caffeine fix?

    It might be the world’s most widely consumed psychoactive substance, but your preferred caffeine drink of choice might come down to where you live.

    As Visual Capitalist’s Omri Wallach details below, a study into caffeine consumption of 57 countries examined the role it plays in our diets, using the volume sales of caffeine-containing beverages from Euromonitor to see what caffeine source each country prefers.

    The resulting map of caffeine preference shows regional trends, including some surprising standouts.

    Most Purchased Caffeine Drink By Country

    There are many different caffeine drinks for consumers to choose from, from brewed drinks to ready-to-drink vending machine options.

    To simplify tastes, we grouped them into three types:

    • Coffee — Includes fresh brewed coffee, instant coffee, and ready-to-drink coffee.

    • Tea — Includes herbal, black, green, and other teas, as well as ready-to-drink tea.

    • Soft Drinks — Includes colas, other soft drinks, sports drinks, and energy drinks.

    Examining the regional spread shows us some expected caffeine strongholds.

    Tea was the preferred drink of choice for many countries in most of Asia, including China, India, Indonesia, and Japan. But it also showed a strong foothold in Africa, as Kenya is the world’s largest black tea exporter, and in Europe, as Turkey, Ireland, and the UK are the world’s top three tea-consuming countries per capita.

    Coffee was the most preferred caffeine drink in a number of countries in Europe, including all of the Nordic countries. It is also the drink of choice in Canada, South Korea, and Brazil, the latter two being the only countries in Asia and South America to prefer coffee.

    Perhaps most surprising is the global preference for soft drinks. The U.S. and most of Latin America overwhelmingly consumed soft drinks over other caffeine drinks, as did the Philippines, Thailand, and Australia. Even in Europe, some countries that are heavy coffee drinkers like Italy and Switzerland purchased more soft drinks than coffee by narrow margins.

    Coke’s Influence on the Coffee vs Tea vs Soft Drinks Debate

    Though the global map of caffeine preference looks regionally-specific at a glance, there are some notable business influences at play.

    The proliferation of soft drinks in Latin America is largely due to the power of Coca-Cola. Mexico, the country which preferred soft drinks the most over other drinks, is also the world’s biggest consumer of Coca-Cola per capita. Coca-Cola also reached far beyond the borders of the U.S. where it originated, becoming a staple drink in many parts of Europe, Australia, and Asia.

    This power of brands extends to coffee as well. Many coffee-preferring countries actually leaned more towards instant coffee purchases over freshly brewed coffee, a mark of the lasting influence of Nestlé’s brand of instant coffee, Nescafé.

    But it’s important to note that many countries were not tabulated, and that caffeine purchases don’t differentiate between every single possible caffeine drink. There are many different types of coffees, teas, soft drinks, and even yerba mate for consumers to choose from.

    As a snapshot of global caffeine consumption, it’s a reminder that the world’s most commonly consumed psychoactive stimulant is taken in many different forms. Both throughout history, and in modern times.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 21:00

  • LA County Sheriff Says He Will Not Enforce New Indoor Mask Mandate
    LA County Sheriff Says He Will Not Enforce New Indoor Mask Mandate

    By Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times,

    Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced Friday that he will not enforce a new indoor mask mandate set to be reinstated in the country’s most populous county amid the CCP virus pandemic.

    County health officials decided that the indoor mask mandate would apply regardless of a person’s vaccination status. The mandate, announced on Thursday, takes effect at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday.

    “Forcing the vaccinated and those who already contracted COVID-19 to wear masks indoors is not backed by science and contradicts the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines,” Villanueva said in a statement.

    “The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) has authority to enforce the order, but the underfunded/defunded Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will not expend our limited resources and instead ask for voluntary compliance.

    “We encourage the DPH to work collaboratively with the Board of Supervisors and law enforcement to establish mandates that are both achievable and supported by science.”

    People wear masks as they walk in a shopping district in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles on July 1, 2021. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)

    The CDC announced in May this year that people fully vaccinated against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes the disease COVID-19, no longer have to wear masks indoors.

    An updated guidance on the CDC website as of Friday reads,

    “Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.”

    The LA County Health Department said on Thursday that transmission of the CCP virus was increasing “from Moderate to Substantial,” citing the “trend in daily new cases of COVID-19.”

    In a statement, the department said that it had observed a seven-times increase in new cases since California fully reopened its economy on June 15 by dropping all physical distancing requirements and capacity limits, and relaxed most of its mask requirements.

    “Wearing a mask when indoors reduces the risk of both getting and transmitting the virus. This additional layer of protection can help to slow the spread and does not limit business occupancy and operations,” the department asserted.

    LA County Health Officer Muntu Davis said the new mask mandate will remain in place “until we begin to see improvements in our community transmission of COVID-19.”

    He adds that the health department urges all residents who are eligible to get vaccinated.

    “Although not at 100 [percent], [getting vaccinated] significantly reduces the risk of infection and, for the small number of people that get infected, it reduces the risk of hospitalization and death once you are fully vaccinated against COVID-19,” Davis said.

    The department said in its statement that it is “a great time” to plan on vaccinating children who are 12 and older, and pointed out that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is approved for those aged 12 and older.

    It announced incentives for receiving the vaccine, saying that starting Friday through July 22, people 18 and older can have a chance at winning grand prizes if they get vaccinated at county-run vaccination sites, LA City sites, and St. John’s Well Child and Family Center sites. There are seven packages of tickets to attend the Staples Center to certain performances, it announced.

    Vaccine providers can report any serious adverse effects or vaccination administration errors to VAERS, hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

    Vaccine manufacturers are immune from liability for any adverse reactions to their products unless there’s “willful misconduct” involved.

    The federal government has a Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program that can pay compensation to eligible persons who suffer serious injury from approved vaccines. But the burden of proof has proven a challenging process.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 20:44

  • CDC Scrambles After Rare Case Of Monkeypox Turns Up In Texas
    CDC Scrambles After Rare Case Of Monkeypox Turns Up In Texas

    CDC health officials are now working vigorously to trace contacts of anyone directly exposed to a Dallas resident who recently returned to the US on a trip to Nigeria. The man is now in isolation at a Dallas hospital after testing positive for an extremely rare disease known as Monkeypox – said to be the first ever case of its kind in Texas.

    It’s also the first case seen inside the United States in two decades, with the last significant outbreak in 2003 including 47 reported human cases. The infected person flew into Atlanta international airport on July 8, and then on to Dallas Love Field the next day.

    Illustrative CDC file photo of Monkeypox infected person.

    Dallas health officials have declared there’s “no cause for alarm” given monkeypox has a lower fatality rate than smallpox. The two diseases are similar in that they can cause a severe rash which lasts for about a month. But the rash causing large swollen bumps all over the body appear particularly nasty and painful-looking in the case of Monkeypox.

    However monkeypox may not be as easily spreadable given it’s carried by rodents or other animals and human-to-human transmission is through bodily fluids and respiratory droplets. 

    NBC details further of the rare disease:

    It usually takes seven to 14 days after a person is exposed to the monkeypox virus to develop symptoms, according to the CDC, which begin like many other viruses: fatigue, fever, headache, muscle aches.

    Within a week of symptom onset, an infected person develops a bumpy, raised rash that often spreads to the entire body. The person is considered contagious until those raised bumps have scabbed over and fallen off.

    It’s this lengthy period in which a person may not know they have it which may allow for a rapid undetected outbreak.

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

    According to more details via the AP:

    Monkeypox symptoms typically begin with flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph nodes, then a widespread rash on the face and body, according to the CDC. Most infections last 2-4 weeks. Infections with this strain of monkeypox are fatal in about 1 in 100 people, but the mortality rate can be higher among those with weakened immune systems.

    CDC information on the illness indicates that while the main carrier is still unknown, it’s believed that “African rodents are suspected to play a part in transmission.”

    Via the WHO/Reuters

    Given the rarity of the disease, there’s as yet no treatment despite past attempts to develop a vaccine. CDC officials have expressed that an outbreak is unlikely given current mask mandates and other distancing measures aboard domestic airlines due to the coronavirus pandemic – likely meaning the infected Dallas resident was unlikely to have spread it during the two flights inbound to the US, or at least that’s the hoped-for optimistic scenario.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 20:00

  • Remember Those Texas Democrats Who Fled To DC On A Maskless Plane? Three Have COVID
    Remember Those Texas Democrats Who Fled To DC On A Maskless Plane? Three Have COVID

    Authored by Steve Straub via The Federalist Papers,

    According to a new report several Texas Democrats who fled the state in a private jet, without masks, to avoid having to vote on the state’s election integrity bill have tested positive for Covid-19.

    Via Fox News:

    “Several of the Texas Democrats who fled the state capital to avoid voting on an election integrity bill have tested positive for the coronavirus.

    Three of the 60 Texas House Democrats tested positive for the virus while staying in Washington, D.C., according to Texas House Democratic Caucus leadership.

    One of the members found out about their positive test late on Friday evening but did not have symptoms, officials say. All House members were notified of the positive tests and were all tested themselves immediately.

    The caucus says that the two other members found out about their positive test on Saturday.

    The members who tested positive will be forced to isolate themselves for 10 days.”

    I guess karma really is a bitch.

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

    Maybe next time they’ll stay and do their duty.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 19:30

  • Hospitals Charging Absurd 'Trauma' Fees To Treat Minor Injuries
    Hospitals Charging Absurd ‘Trauma’ Fees To Treat Minor Injuries

    Hospitals across the country have been charging ridiculous ‘trauma alert’ fees for patients requiring minimal treatment.

    The fees, which can be upwards of $50,000 per patient, are billed when a hospital’s top surgical specialists are summoned – typically for the most severely injured patients.

    One such case, found within court filings from a 2017 trial, revealed that a 30-year-old man who arrived at a Modesto, California hospital for shoulder and back pain following a car accident was billed $44,914 by Sutter Health Memorial Medical Center, which included a $8,928 “trauma alert” fee. The man went home in less than three hours, according to CNN.

    “Some hospitals are using it as a revenue generator,” said registered nurse and medical claims consultant, Tami Rockholt, who appeared as an expert witness in the Sutter Health trial.

    “It’s being taken advantage of,” she continued, adding that such cases are “way more numerous” in recent years. “If someone is not going to bleed out, or their heart is not going to stop, or they’re not going to quit breathing in the next 30 minutes, they probably do not need a trauma team.”

    Tens of thousands of times a year, hospitals charge enormously expensive trauma alert fees for injuries so minor the patient is never admitted.
     
    In Florida alone, where the number of trauma centers has exploded, hospitals charged such fees more than 13,000 times in 2019 even though the patient went home the same day, according to a KHN analysis of state data provided by Etienne Pracht, an economist at the University of South Florida. Those cases accounted for more than a quarter of all the state’s trauma team activations that year and were more than double the number of similar cases in 2014, according to an all-payer database of hospital claims kept by Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration. -CNN

    The underlying justification for the fees is that trauma centers should be able to recoup the cost of having a crack squad of doctors and nurses assembled when an ambulance crew reports an incoming patient who needs trauma care – even if said squad never actually swings into action. 

    “We do see quite a bit of non-appropriate trauma charges — more than you’d see five years ago,” according to Pat Palmer, co-founder of Beacon Healthcare Costs Illuminated, which analyzes thousands of bills for insurers and patients. Palmer says that recently “we saw a trauma activation fee where the patient walked into the ER” and walked out shortly thereafter.

    Between 2012 and 2020, Florida trauma activation team cases without an admission rose from 22% to 27% – with one facility, Broward Health Medical Center counting 1,285 trauma activation cases with no admission – nearly the same number of patients who were admitted without a trauma fee.

    “Trauma alerts are activated by EMS [first responders with emergency medical services], not hospitals, and we respond accordingly when EMS activates a trauma alert from the field” not hospitals, said Broward Health spokesperson, Jennifer Smith.

    According to standards published by the Florida Department of Health, hospitals can declare an “in-hospital trauma alert” for “patients not identified as a trauma alert.”

    Not all hospitals appear to be taking advantage. At Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, it’s “very rare” not to admit a trauma alert patient. Last year, around 5% (42 out of 828 cases) were non-admitted trauma alert patients, according to Dr. Michael McGonical, the center’s director who runs The Trauma Pro blog.

    “If you’re charging an activation fee for all these people who go home, ultimately that’s going to be a red flag,” he said.

    That said, while hospitals may bill trauma fees, insurance companies are drawing lines.

    Reimbursement for trauma activations is complicated. Insurers don’t always pay a hospital’s trauma fee. Under rules established by Medicare and a committee of insurers and health care providers, emergency departments must give 30 minutes of critical care after a trauma alert to be paid for activating the team. For inpatients, the trauma team fee is sometimes folded into other charges, billing consultants say.
     
    But, on the whole, the increase in the size and frequency of trauma team activation fees, including those for non-admitted patients, has helped turn trauma operations, often formerly a financial drain, into profit centers. In recent years, hundreds of hospitals have sought trauma center designation, which is necessary to bill a trauma activation fee. -CNN
    “There must have been a consultant that ran around the country and said, ‘Hey hospitals, why don’t you start charging this, because you can,” said Marc Chapman, founder of Chapman Consulting, which challenges large hospital bills for auto insurers and other payers. “In many of those cases, the patients are never admitted.“

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 19:00

  • Many Indians Depend On Gold To Stay Afloat During Pandemic
    Many Indians Depend On Gold To Stay Afloat During Pandemic

    Via SchiffGold.com,

    Gold has served as a lifeline for Indians pummeled by the economic storm caused by the government response to the coronavirus pandemic.

    The Indian government’s response to the first wave of COVID-19 ravaged the economy. As a result, many banks were reluctant to extend credit due to fear of defaults. In this tight lending environment, many Indians used their stashes of gold to secure loans. As Indians battle the second wave of COVID-19, many Indians have now turned to selling their gold outright in order to make ends meet.

    When coronavirus gripped the world, Paul Fernandes initially took out a loan using gold as collateral to pay for his children’s education after he lost his job on a cruise ship. Now he’s turned to selling gold jewelry to meet expenses. He told Bloomberg selling gold keeps him from taking on more debt.

    “Selling my jewelry means I am not obligated to pay someone back along with an additional interest on that,” he said.

    The second wave of COVID-19 has made a bad situation worse. For many Indians, particularly in rural areas, their investment in gold and gold jewelry is the only thing keeping them afloat.

    “You already had a financial problem last year and you got out of that problem through gold loans. Now again, you are having financial problems this year with a potentially third wave on the way, which can again mean lockdowns and job losses,” a consultant at London-based Metals Focus told Bloomberg.

    “We can expect distress sales in a big way in August and September when the third wave could actually set in.”

    The pandemic (and the government’s response) has pushed millions of Indians into poverty or bankruptcy. Selling gold jewelry is the last resort. As Bloomberg put it, “People in rural areas rely on gold in times of need as it can be easily liquidated.”

    In southern India, the country’s biggest per-capita gold consumer, about 25% more of old gold than usual has been sold to jewelers this year, according to Bloomberg.

    Gold jewelry in India is different from the US. It’s more than fashion. Indians generally buy 24-karat gold jewelry as opposed to the 14 or 18-karat jewelry found in the US. Indians consider their gold jewelry part of their savings.

    And for many Indians, gold is a lifesaver, providing liquidity that they otherwise wouldn’t have.

    Indians traditionally buy and hold gold. Collectively, Indian households own an estimated 25,000 tons of gold and that number may be higher given the large black market in the country. The yellow metal is interwoven into the country’s marriage ceremonies and cultural rites. Indians also value gold as a store of wealth, especially in poor rural regions. Two-thirds of India’s gold demand comes from these areas, where the vast majority of people live outside the official tax system.

    Gold is not just a luxury in India. Even poor people buy gold in the Asian nation. According to an ICE 360 survey in 2018, one in every two households in India purchased gold within the last five years. Overall, 87% of households in the country own some amount of the yellow metal. Even households at the lowest income levels in India own some gold. According to the survey, more than 75% of families in the bottom 10% had managed to buy gold.

    Gold was also a major source of liquidity in 2016 when the Indian government launched a demonetization scheme. In November of that year, the Indian government declared that 1,000 and 500 rupee notes would no longer be valid. They gave the public just four hours notice. The 1,000 and 500 rupee notes made up 86 % of the currency in circulation in the country. With a single pronouncement, the Indian government made virtually all of the cash in India valueless. Many Indians have thwarted a government policy to bring the underground economy out of the shadows by converting their “black money” into gold.

    Indians understand that gold tends to store value, and that in the end, gold is money. If they have gold, they know they will be able to get the goods and services they need – even in the event of an economic meltdown. And while westerners may not embrace the cultural and religious aspects of the Indian love affair with gold, the economic reasons for their devotion to the yellow metal are every bit as applicable in places like the US.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 18:30

  • "This Is Worrying Me Quite A Bit": mRNA Vaccine Inventor Shares Viral Thread Showing COVID Surge In Most-Vaxxed Countries
    “This Is Worrying Me Quite A Bit”: mRNA Vaccine Inventor Shares Viral Thread Showing COVID Surge In Most-Vaxxed Countries

    Dr. Robert Malone, a pioneer in the field of mRNA vaccines, shared a viral Twitter thread on Friday which lays out a disturbing trend; the most-vaccinated countries in the world are experiencing  a surge in COVID-19 cases, while the least-vaccinated countries are not.

    “This is worrying me quite a bit,” tweeted Malone, embedding the lengthy thread authored by Twitter user @holmenkollin (Corona Realism) via the ‘thread reader’ app.

    Here’s what has Malone worried: 

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

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

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

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

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

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 18:00

  • "Let Them Die": Fairfax PTA & NAACP Officer Calls For The Death Of Those Who Oppose CRT
    “Let Them Die”: Fairfax PTA & NAACP Officer Calls For The Death Of Those Who Oppose CRT

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    As many on this blog are aware, I have long been an advocate of public education and we feel deeply fortunate to have sent all four of our kids to public schools in Alexandria and McLean in Fairfax County.  I still have one child in the Fairfax system. I was therefore shocked like many Fairfax parents to see the videotape of Michelle Leete, Vice President of Training at the Virginia PTA, Vice President of Communications for the Fairfax County PTA and First Vice President of the Fairfax County NAACP as she called for those who oppose critical race theory and identity divisions in school to “die.”

    What was even more unnerving is the applause from other parents to her “let them die” declaration.

    The video was taken by a Fairfax parent, Asra Nomani, whose son recently graduated from Fairfax County Public Schools and helps run the watchdog group Parents Defending Education. The speech was reportedly held at a counter-protest a meeting billed as “STOP CRT RALLY.”

    Leete railed against those objecting to the identity-based lesson plans. Notably, Leete fell back on the same shaming that accused parents of hating everything and everyone because they do not want this material to be taught to their children.  Keep in mind that this would encompass the majority of parents according to recent polls.

    “So let’s meet and remain steadfast in speaking truth, tearing down double standards, and refuting double talk. Let’s not allow any double downing on lies. Let’s prepare our children for a world they deserve. Let’s deny this off-key band of people that are anti-education, anti-teacher, anti-equity, anti-history, anti-racial reckoning, anti-opportunities, anti-help people, anti-diversity, anti-platform, anti-science, anti-change agent, anti-social justice, anti-healthcare, anti-worker, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-children, anti-healthcare, anti-worker, anti-environment, anti-admissions policy change, anti-inclusion, anti-live-and-let live people. Let them die.” 

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

    The unhinged attack on parents opposing these lessons is all-too-familiar in our age of rage. It is not enough to disagree on what is appropriate for our schools, you have to paint the other side as bizarrely opposing the environment, workers, “help people,” inclusion, healthcare, LGBTQ, and of course children.Fairfax has become a major battleground over CRT and race-based programs.  That debate has reached out Thomas Jefferson High Schoo, ranked No. 1 among all public high schools nationwide by U.S. News & World Report.

    TJ is a source of pride for the county as an elite school that offers advanced courses for our best students. However, as with other jurisdictions where meritocracy  and standardized testing have been declared racist, school officials have moved to drop actual grades and scores as the critical qualifications for entry in order to increase African American participation.

    The race-blind entrance exam was successful in picking the best students in the county and the school serves as a wonderful goal for students who need advanced school work. So the school board went to a “holistic” approach to increase diversity. The primary racial group targeted by the board was Asian students. The result was that this year Asian-Americans admitted to TJ dropped to 54% this year from 73% last year. These students were no longer admitted entirely on their academic achievement on tests and scores. Their race was the motivating factor in changing the entry requirements.

    In some ways, Fairfax is still better than many jurisdictions that are eliminating elite schools and advanced courses because of the race of the students in those programs.

    It is incredibly sad to see this type of reckless rhetoric in our school district. Many of us came to Fairfax because it has always been viewed as a district that put academic excellence as the highest priority. We have found the schools in McLean to be terrific and the teachers to be incredibly supportive. I hate to see that long-successful approach swamped by the unrestrained rage and divisions of our contemporary politics.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 17:30

  • U.S.-Backed Tech Restores Internet To More Than 1 Million Cubans Amid Uprisings Against Gov't 
    U.S.-Backed Tech Restores Internet To More Than 1 Million Cubans Amid Uprisings Against Gov’t 

    Readers may recall after Arab Spring a decade ago. There was intense debate over the role social media platforms had on the uprisings. With summer uprisings in Cuba, the communist government has discovered ways to cut the internet off to millions of residents, so organized protesting on social media is near impossible. 

    Let’s take a step back to early last week when reports of the Cuban regime used China-made technology systems to block internet and cell phone service to prevent pictures and videos of what was happening on the ground published online near impossible for the outside world to see. The regime also blocked popular social media channels that would make organized protesting impossible. 

    Remember, a decade ago, during Arab Spring, Facebook and Twitter were critical for organizers to orchestrate uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Bahrain.

    The Biden administration is finding ways to provide anti-censorship tools to Cubans to access social media during the blackouts. 

    According to Bloomberg, the U.S. government supports a censorship circumvention tool designed to unblock content in Cuba and is powered by a company called Psiphon Inc. 

    As of Thursday, Psiphon tweeted, “1.389 Million daily unique users accessed the open web from Cuba through the Psiphon network. Internet is ON; circumvention tools ARE working.”

    Psiphon uses proxy servers that disguise internet traffic so Cuban authorities cannot tell if people are accessing social media platforms. The Toronto-based nonprofit has received money from the U.S. government. Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn tweeted Saturday that the proxy service is working well:

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

    The Biden administration has been strategizing on other ways to provide the people of Cuba with internet access. 

    “They have cut off access to the internet. We are considering whether we have the technological ability to reinstate that access,” President Biden said on Friday.

    Biden commented after Florida Governor Ron Desantis told the president the federal government should restore internet on the island located in the northern Caribbean Sea. 

    Desantis said there’s a technology that would allow the U.S. to broadcast internet access into Cuba remotely. 

    “Technology exists to provide Internet access into Cuba remotely, using the innovation of American enterprise and the diverse industries here,” the governor wrote. He said this reminds him of the Cold War when the U.S. funded radio stations to broadcast information into the Soviet Union. 

    “Similar to the American efforts to broadcast radio into the Soviet Union during the Cold War in Europe, the federal government has a history of supporting the dissemination of information into Cuba for the Cuban people through Radio & Televisión Martí, located in Miami,” he said.

    DeSantis has urged Cuba’s military to “live in the history books” by overthrowing the communist government. 

    Meanwhile, Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has attacked the U.S. for their blatant and “shameful” attempts to “fracture” his country by triggering the largest anti-government protests in three decades. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 07/17/2021 – 17:00

  • Another Dangerous Heat Wave Returns To Northwest This Weekend 
    Another Dangerous Heat Wave Returns To Northwest This Weekend 

    The Pacific Northwest and the central Rockies and especially in south-central Canada, are experiencing the next round of heat this weekend. 

    This new round of scorching temperatures began on Saturday. It will continue through early next week, will bring above-average temperatures to the Pacific Northwest region, the central Rockies, and South-central Canada. The epicenter of the heat wave will be in Montana, where parts of the state will be 20 to 25 degrees or more above historical averages. 

    The Western US has been plagued with four heat waves this year. An extremely hot spring/beginning to summer has resulted in megadroughts, water shortages, and wildfires. 

    “A major concern on Sunday and Monday is the prospect of dry thunderstorms, from the Sierra Nevada mountain range northward through much of northern Nevada, eastern Idaho, and central Montana. These storms could unleash cloud-to-ground lightning that ignites new blazes,” Washington Post said. 

    Wildfire statistics in California, through July 11, show a dramatic increase over the prior year, which may suggest a dangerous fire season is ahead. 

    Tens of millions of people could experience temperatures topping 100 degrees across the Pacific Northwest, the central Rockies, and south-central Canada. The heat wave will intensify Sunday and continue through Tuesday. 

    Steve Bowen, head of catastrophe insight at Aon, told Axios that “much of the West is a tinderbox right now and if dry lightning or human actions lead to even more fires, the potential for explosive growth is seriously concerning.” 

      Tyler Durden
      Sat, 07/17/2021 – 16:30

    • Japan-South Korea Diplomatic Scandal Erupts Over Moon 'Masturbating' Comment
      Japan-South Korea Diplomatic Scandal Erupts Over Moon ‘Masturbating’ Comment

      A huge diplomatic row has erupted after a senior Japanese diplomat made crude remarks about South Korean President Moon Jae-in “masturbating” to a South Korean TV channel, intending it as a metaphor for lack of motivation to dialogue between the two countries which have of late had “very difficult” relations.

      The diplomat at first was unnamed, but the comments went viral in regional media, fueling outrage. AFP gave the following details of what was said: 

      A senior Japanese diplomat had reportedly ridiculed Mr Moon’s desire to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, describing the South Korean leader as “masturbating with himself”.

       South Korean President Moon Jae-in, via Reuters

      The scandal immediately resulted in South Korea angrily summoning the Japanese envoy, demanding an apology as well as concreate action to punish the senior diplomat.

      Apparently the offending reference about Moon was made more than once:

      The diplomat, who was not identified, added in the same interview with South Korean cable network JTBC that Mr Moon was in a “tug of war only with himself” since Japan has “no space to pay attention to Seoul-Tokyo relations” at the moment.

      The comments were divulged on air Friday by South Korean cable TV broadcaster JTBC, with the news anchor introducing the incident by saying the high ranking diplomat’s words were “difficult to put into words”. 

      The crass reference was in response to recent attempts of President Moon Jae-in to hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga during the Olympic Games in Tokyo – games which have been beset with immense challenges over a surge in coronavirus cases in Japan’s capital. 

      South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, right, via AP

      The Japanese side on Saturday issued an apology but also somewhat of a deflection, saying the offending diplomat has been “sternly warned” – while also identifying him for the first time:

      Following JTBC’s report, the Japanese ambassador said it was his deputy Hirohisa Soma who had spoken the “highly inappropriate” words, though he did not confirm exactly what was said.

      “While it is true that such terms were used during the conversation it was not directed at President Moon,” Ambassador Koichi Aiboshi said in a statement.

      “I have sternly warned Deputy Chief Soma,” Japan’s ambassador added. But Seoul is calling for more, with Vice-Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun demanding punitive action so that relations won’t spiral further downward.

      Tyler Durden
      Sat, 07/17/2021 – 16:00

    • Facebook Responds With Facts After Biden Proclaims Big Tech Is "Killing People" By Not Censoring Speech
      Facebook Responds With Facts After Biden Proclaims Big Tech Is “Killing People” By Not Censoring Speech

      Update (1530ET): Facebook responded to President Joe Biden’s claim that  the technology giant is “killing people.”

      “We will not be distracted by accusations which aren’t supported by the facts. The fact is that more than 2 billion people have viewed authoritative information about COVID-19 and vaccines on Facebook, which is more than any other place on the internet,” Facebook spokesman Kevin McAlister told news outlets.

      “More than 3.3 million Americans have also used our vaccine finder tool to find out where and how to get a vaccine. The facts show that Facebook is helping save lives. Period,” he added.

      Google and Twitter have not responded to requests for comment.

      *  *  *

      As Jonathan Turley detailed earlier, President Joe Biden slammed Big Tech companies this week for “killing people” by failing to engage in even greater censorship of free speech on issues related to the pandemic. It was a surprising condemnation of companies who have been loyal allies of Biden, including killing stories embarrassing to his family like the Hunter Biden laptop scandal before the election. It also has censored stories questioning his victory in 2020. Nevertheless, Biden denounced the range of uncensored free speech as the cause of death for many — the ultimate anti-free speech trope for those seeking to convince people to embrace their own censorship.

      Biden was asked by a reporter what his message was to “platforms like Facebook” on the subject of “COVID misinformation.” He responded:

      “They’re killing people. The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and they’re killing people.”

      This comes as these companies have been criticized for censoring debates over the origin or treatment of Covid-19.

      For a year, Big Tech has been censoring those who wanted to discuss the origins of pandemic.  It was not until Biden admitted that the virus may have originated in the Wuhan lab that social media suddenly changed its position. Facebook only recently announced that people on its platform will be able to discuss the origins of Covid-19 after censoring any such discussion.

      The White House recently admitted that it was flagging “misinformation” for censorship by companies like Facebook. Moreover, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has called for people to be banned from all social media if any one company bans them.

      Biden is accusing these companies of actually killing people for refusing even more extensive censorship of speech. The statement equates free speech with death itself.

      We have seen this type of reckless rhetoric in other areas where disagreement with a policy or proposal is treated as de facto racism or hate speech. That was the case recently with the NAACP official who denounced those of opposing what is commonly referred to as critical race theory lessons as haters of a long litany of groups from the disabled to children to “help people.” This was followed by the chilling words “Let them die.”

      Rather than seek to convince the skeptical, Biden wants to silent them and use these companies to control what is read and discussed about the pandemic. What is chilling is the degree to which reporters and academics have supported the massive censorship system in the United States. However, that system is clearly not (to use Sen. Blumenthal’s words) “robust enough” for Biden who wants these companies to carry out a more complete censorship of opposing views.

      I do not fault those who want to convince citizens to take the vaccinations. I have had the vaccinations as has my family. However, this is part of an overall push for greater censorship and speech controls. Governments always claim noble purposes as the basis for limiting speech or other rights. It is the very danger Louis Brandeis once described in his dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928):

      Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.

      Tyler Durden
      Sat, 07/17/2021 – 15:30

    • "Mansion Shortage" – Palm Beach Luxury Home Supply Hits Record Low 
      “Mansion Shortage” – Palm Beach Luxury Home Supply Hits Record Low 

      Migration to Florida has been supercharged during the coronavirus pandemic as remote working, fewer taxes, less violence, cheaper living, and minimal virus restrictions enticed people from big Northeast metro areas to the Sunshine State. 

      The great migration to Florida, some figures have at around 900 people per day, are moving to the state from the Tri-state area, have bought up all the luxury single-family homes in Palm Beach, triggering a “mansion shortage,” according to CNBC, citing a Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel real estate report. 

      The ultra-rich Palm Beach community saw the average single-family home hit $11.7 million in the second quarter, up 38% from a year earlier. Real estate brokers say there’s a steady flow of hedge fund managers, private equity chiefs, and other financial elites moving from New York and New Jersey. 

      “This is a whole reset of the market,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel, the appraisal firm. “We’re now seeing $50 million transactions on almost a weekly basis. That’s a big change. And it appears to be sustainable.”

      The report showed Palm Beach price-per-square-foot is on par with Manhattan’s of around $1,500. 

      The number of sales of single-family homes for the quarter soared 90% over the prior year’s. There’s only about a one-month supply of homes for sale in Palm Beach, a record low, according to the Miller Samuel. At the end of the quarter, there were only about 25 homes listed. 

      Brokers contribute the mansion shortage to the “Palm Beach boom” as herds of wealthy people flee Northeast states for sunshine. 

      We’ve noted in the past that multiple Wall Street firms, such as Tiger Global Management and Goldman Sachs, have purchased office space in South Florida. Some are stating this could be the beginning of “Wall Street South.” 

      Tyler Durden
      Sat, 07/17/2021 – 15:00

    • Ask The Cubans: Can Communism Mean Anything Other Than A Two-Tier Society?
      Ask The Cubans: Can Communism Mean Anything Other Than A Two-Tier Society?

      Authored by Mark Jeftovic via BombThrower.com,

      When Dictatorships Collapse, They Fail Fast

      Both the Biden administration in the US and Trudeau here in Canada were slow off the blocks to rally behind the Cuban people who are fighting for their freedom and an end to Communist dictatorship in Cuba. Had they been BLM protestors or Antifa I’m sure they would have been there in solidarity immediately. But because the people of Cuba want to go in the opposite direction that the US and Canada seem to be headed, what we got instead was COVID-shaming from the corporate media and hedging, half-assed platitudes from Western governments.

      The textbook definition of Communism is supposed mean a classless society, one in which everybody is treated the same, even to the point where beyond having equal access to opportunity, we arrive at equality of outcome.

      Nevermind that, as Kristian Niemietz enumerated in his Socialism: The Failed Idea That Never Dies, equality hasn’t happened in any self-described communist or socialist regime, either now or in the past. The Cubans have experienced this viscerally for over 60 years and they’ve had enough of it.

      They know that communism means a bifurcation of society into two tiers. A small overlord class to whom all the privilege and wealth accrues, and the larger underclass. Equality only exists in this latter pool of serfs in that they are all equally impoverished and subjugated. That’s equality of outcome.

      Simon Mikhailovich, am emigre from the Soviet Union was on George Gammon’s Rebel Capitalist Show  and he described what it was like in the closing years of the USSR:

      “By the time the 70’s came, The Soviet Union had gotten into stagnation, and so the economy started stagnating. Nothing was going anywhere. People had the same jobs, the same salaries, and lived in the same apartments. It took 12 years to get a phone line and you had to know somebody. It became more and more difficult to get decent food. If you wanted it you had to go to the farmers market where very few people could afford it.

      In the meantime the elites and the party oligarchs here, whatever you want to call it, they have their own transportation system, their own system of sanitoriums and resorts. Their own cars in trains. Any of that sounds familiar to you?

      There are restaurants where they could get in and other people couldn’t get in. And normal people, even middle class people, had no access to any of that, and of course working class people? Forget it. So as the inequality started growing at that level (I’m not comparing it necessarily directly to the United States), but  by this time inequality started growing, the government propaganda intensified, because of the inability to explain coherently why there’s no meat in the stores while every five year plan was always over fulfilled and everything was better than expected and every number was better than anybody could’ve hoped for.”

      When Gammon asked him how the government was able to explain the cognitive dissonance at such as mass level, Mikhailovich replied with one word: “Propaganda”.

      Despite the documented fact that this is where socialism invariably leads, every time, collectivism’s star is ascendent. Call it Democratic Socialism, Cultural Marxism or even its palatable sounding dog whistles like Stakeholder Capitalism, the masses are being gaslit and propagandized into a state where they yearn for subjugation.

      They crave for it. They’ll vote for it. They’ll demand it.

      In a recent interview on Macro Voices, Victor Shvets was describing why, with the cost of capital headed for zero and being stuck there permanently, we’re departing an era of capitalism and headed into one of global collectivism. The conversation was supposed to be your standard issue inflation-or-deflation debate. Instead Shvet came right out and said it: we’re headed for a period of, for lack of a better descriptor, global communism.

      “The question of whether we need freedom in order to be wealthy, prosperous and innovative,  over the last 500 years the answer was absolutely yes, but is it still the answer as we go forward?”

      He thinks not, and he drew a  through-line from Karl Marx, to Keynesian Bliss all the way into Fully Automated Luxury Communism, saying in essence,

      “ Capital markets will be nationalized because it will be too dangerous to be left in private hands. At the end of this process, there are no capital markets, because everything is either infinite or zero, you’re either worth everything, or you’re worth nothing”

      I ordered Shvets book, called fittingly enough “The Great Rupture”, and it hasn’t arrived yet, so I don’t know if he’s advocating for this or just prognosticating it (although the subtitle is “Do we need to be FREE?“). I too have been predicting a similar outcome while wishing (hoping) I’m completely wrong about it. This is The Great Bifurcation scenario from my Jackpot Chronicles series.

      Where I possibly differ from Shvets is he seemed to think this would become a ubiquitous state for everyone. But I think it plays out the way it always does: A two tier society with hyper-cronyism on top and communism on the bottom. Only this time, if it succeeds, it could happen globally. Everywhere.

      No more middle class, and the lower class thinks they’re saving the world from climate change and evil capitalists when all they’ve really done is abrogated their own rights, traded their property for debt and consigned themselves to never-ending  servitude. Meanwhile the elites will rule from their private jets and super-yachts. Pontificating about carbon footprints and wealth inequality.

      But the Great Bifurcation isn’t inevitable.

      It’s only one of the four scenarios posited in a post-pandemic world but the worrisome aspect is that the globalists appear to be preferring this outcome. The defining characteristic of the zeitgeist is a largely manufactured narrative that for the good of the collective, everybody else has to ratchet down their living standards and forfeit their civil liberties.

      Another possibility is The Great Reject.

      This is the idea that with COVID, lockdowns, the New Normal and The Great Reset; tectonic shifts that would have otherwise taken decades or more to play out have been pulled forward too fast. That the people trying to ram it through, the Davos crew, the global elites,  the Brahmin woke and the technocrats, have all overplayed their hands and set off a backlash.

      I am beginning to see signs that this scenario is unfolding.

      That may seem counter-intuitive, with government overreach and post-pandemic mission creep seemingly in overdrive.

      But this moment in time seems reminiscent  of how Mikhailovich further describes the end of not one, but two totalitarian regimes in Russia within the same century.

      He relates to us the words of Georgy Lvov who, headed the provisional government in 1917 before the Bolshevik coup. In a 1964 interview when Lvov was in his 80’s, he described how an 800-year old regime empire fell and teaches  those who care to listen just how fast a seemingly unassailable power structure can turn to dust, almost overnight:

      “The crisis started in the fall of [19]16. The Tsar was deposed in February of 17, so five months before it happened, nobody realized it. Not only did nobody realize it, the consensus was for exactly the opposite, The consensus was that the Tsar’s administration was clamping down on civil liberties and the dark road of repression was ahead. Civil liberties were constrained and the Tsar was going to take over, and would clamp down even more. The Deep State in todays language, was in complete control and clamping down.

      For context, the tradition that fell apart was in power for 800 years leading up to that moment, and the Romanov Dynasty was in power for 300 years.

      And then the whole thing came down in 72 hours.”

      After 800 years, from one Friday to Sunday night. It was all over.

      We’re headed for something very different than the prior neo-Liberal era and we don’t know exactly what that is.  The best we can do is to try to position for it in against a backdrop of  a world where everything will be digital and centralized, albeit increasingly unstable, volatile and ultimately unsustainable. We see decentralization in the crypto-economy  and anti-fiat like gold as the inoculants against late stage globalism and insurance for whatever comes next.

      There may be a last ditch head fake into collectivism and socialism that could last a generation, perhaps even two. But as happens with all centrally planned systems in general and collectivist regimes specifically, they ultimately fail.

      The Cubans may even leapfrog this phase as they may be exiting their Communist experiment now, just as the rest of us seem to be intent on entering one.

      *  *  *

      To receive future posts in your mailbox join the free Bombthrower mailing list, follow me on Twitter, or use the current weakness in cryptos to take advantage of my Crypto Capitalist Portfolio trial offer.

      Tyler Durden
      Sat, 07/17/2021 – 14:30

    Digest powered by RSS Digest