Today’s News 18th June 2022

• The Engineered Stagflationary Collapse Has Arrived – Here's What Happens Next
  The Engineered Stagflationary Collapse Has Arrived – Here’s What Happens Next

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

  In my 16 years as an alternative economist and political writer I have spent around half that time warning that the ultimate outcome of the Federal Reserve’s stimulus model would be a stagflationary collapse. Not a deflationary collapse, or an inflationary collapse, but a stagflationary collapse. The reasons for this were very specific – Mass debt creation was being countered with MORE debt creation while many central banks have been simultaneously devaluing their currencies through QE measures. On top of that, the US is in the unique position of relying on the world reserve status of the dollar and that status is diminishing.

  

  It was only a matter of time before the to forces of deflation and inflation met in the middle to create stagflation. In my article ‘Infrastructure Bills Do Not Lead To Recovery, Only Increased Federal Control’, published in April of 2021, I stated that:

  “Production of fiat money is not the same as real production within the economy… Trillions of dollars in public works programs might create more jobs, but it will also inflate prices as the dollar goes into decline. So, unless wages are adjusted constantly according to price increases, people will have jobs, but still won’t be able to afford a comfortable standard of living. This leads to stagflation, in which prices continue to rise while wages and consumption stagnate.

  Another Catch-22 to consider is that if inflation becomes rampant, the Federal Reserve may be compelled (or claim they are compelled) to raise interest rates significantly in a short span of time. This means an immediate slowdown in the flow of overnight loans to major banks, an immediate slowdown in loans to large and small businesses, an immediate crash in credit options for consumers, and an overall crash in consumer spending. You might recognize this as the recipe that created the 1981-1982 recession, the third-worst in the 20th century.

  In other words, the choice is stagflation, or deflationary depression.”

  It’s clear today what the Fed has chosen. It’s important to remember that throughout 2020 and 2021 the mainstream media, the central bank and most government officials were telling the public that inflation was “transitory.” Suddenly in the past few months this has changed and now even Janet Yellen has admitted that she was “wrong” on inflation. This is a misdirection, however, because the Fed knows exactly what it is doing and always has. Yellen denied reality, but she knew she was denying reality. In other words, she was not mistaken about the economic crisis, she lied about it.

  As I outlined last December in my article ‘The Fed’s Catch-22 Taper Is A Weapon, Not A Policy Error’:

  ‘First and foremost, no, the Fed is not motivated by profits, at least not primarily. The Fed is able to print wealth at will, they don’t care about profits – They care about power and centralization. Would they sacrifice “the golden goose” of US markets in order to gain more power and full bore globalism? Absolutely. Would central bankers sacrifice the dollar and blow up the Fed as an institution in order to force a global currency system on the masses? There is no doubt; they’ve put the US economy at risk in the past in order to get more centralization.’

  The Fed has known for years that the current path would lead to inflation and then market destruction, and here’s the proof – Fed Chairman Jerome Powell actually warned about this exact outcome in October of 2012:

  “I have concerns about more purchases. As others have pointed out, the dealer community is now assuming close to a $4 trillion balance sheet and purchases through the first quarter of 2014. I admit that is a much stronger reaction than I anticipated, and I am uncomfortable with it for a couple of reasons.First, the question, why stop at $4 trillion? The market in most cases will cheer us for doing more. It will never be enough for the market. Our models will always tell us that we are helping the economy, and I will probably always feel that those benefits are overestimated. And we will be able to tell ourselves that market function is not impaired and that inflation expectations are under control. What is to stop us, other than much faster economic growth, which it is probably not in our power to produce?

  When it is time for us to sell, or even to stop buying, the response could be quite strong; there is every reason to expect a strong response. So there are a couple of ways to look at it. It is about $1.2 trillion in sales; you take 60 months, you get about $20 billion a month. That is a very doable thing, it sounds like, in a market where the norm by the middle of next year is $80 billion a month. Another way to look at it, though, is that it’s not so much the sale, the duration; it’s also unloading our short volatility position.”

  As we all now know, the Fed waited until their balance sheet was far larger and until the economy was MUCH weaker than it was in 2012 to unleash tightening measures. They KNEW the whole time exactly what was going to happen.

  It is no coincidence that the culmination of the Fed’s stimulus bonanza has arrived right after the incredible damage done to the economy and the global supply chain by the covid lockdowns. It is no coincidence that these two events work together to create the perfect stagflationary scenario. And, it’s no coincidence that the only people who benefit from these conditions are proponents of the “Great Reset” ideology at the World Economic Forum and other globalist institutions. This is an engineered collapse that has been in the works for many years.

  The goal is to “reset” the world, to erase what’s left of free market systems, and to establish what they call the “Shared Economy” system. This system is one in which the people who survive the crash will be made utterly dependent on government through Universal Basic Income and one that will restrict all resource usage in the name of “carbon reduction.” According to the WEF, you will own nothing and you will like it.

  The collapse is engineered to create crisis conditions so frightening that they expect the majority of the public to submit to a collectivist hive mind lifestyle with greatly reduced standards. This would be accomplished through UBI, digital currency models, carbon taxation, population reduction, rationing of all commodities and a social credit system. The goal, in other words, is complete control through technocratic authoritarianism.

  All of this is dependent on the exploitation of crisis events to create fear in the population. Now that economic destabilization has arrived, what happens next? Here are my predictions…

  The Fed Will Hike Interest Rates More Than Expected, But Not Enough To Stop Inflation

  Today, we are witnessing the poisonous fruits of a decade-plus of massive fiat money creation and we are now at the stage where the Fed will reveal its true plan. Hiking interest rates fast, or hiking them slow. Fast hikes will mean an almost immediate crash in markets (beyond what we have already seen), slow hikes will mean a drawn out process of price inflation and general uncertainty.

  I believe the Fed will hike more than expected, but not enough to actually slow inflation in necessities. There will be an overall decline in luxury items, recreation commerce and non-essentials, but most other goods will continue to climb in cost. It is to the advantage of globalists to keep the inflation train running for another year or longer.

  In the end, though, the central bank WILL declare that the pace of interest rates is not enough to stop inflation and they will revert to a Volcker-like strategy, pushing rates up so high that the economy simply stops functioning altogether.

  Markets Will Crash And Unemployment Will Abruptly Spike

  Stock markets are utterly dependent on Fed stimulus and easy money through low interest rate loans – This is a fact. Without low rates and QE, corporations cannot engage in stock buybacks. Meaning, the tools for artificially inflating equities are disappearing. We are already seeing the effects of this now with markets dropping 20% or more.

  The Fed will not capitulate. They will continue to hike regardless of the market reaction.

  As far as jobs are concerned, Biden and many mainstream economists constantly applaud the low unemployment rate as proof that the American economy is “strong,” but this is an illusion. Covid stimulus measures temporarily created a dynamic in which businesses needed increased staff to deal with excess retail spending. Now, the covid checks have stopped and Americans have maxed out their credit cards. There is nothing left to keep the system afloat.

  Businesses will start making large job cuts throughout the last half of 2022.

  Price Controls

  I have no doubt that Joe Biden and Democrats will seek to enforce price controls on many goods as inflation continues, and there will be a handful of Republicans that will support the tactic. Price controls actually lead to a reduction in supply because they remove all profits and thus all incentive for manufacturers to keep producing goods. What usually happens at that point is government steps in to nationalize manufacturing, but this will be substandard production and at a much lower yield.

  In the end, supplies are reduced even further and prices go even higher on the black market because no one can get their hands on most goods anyway.

  Rationing

  Yes, rationing at the manufacturing and distribution level is going to happen, so be sure to buy what you need now before it does. Rationing occurs in the wake of price controls or supply chain disruptions, and usually this coincides with a government propaganda campaign against “hoarders.”

  They will hold up a few exaggerated examples of people who buy truckloads of merchandise to scalp prices on the black market. Then, not long after, they will accuse preppers and anyone who bought goods BEFORE the crisis of “hoarding” simply because they planned ahead.

  Rationing is not only about controlling the supply of necessities and thus controlling the population by proxy; it is also about creating an atmosphere of blame and suspicion within the public and getting them to snitch on or attack anyone that is prepared. Prepared people represent a threat to the establishment, so expect to be demonized in the media and organize with other prepared people to protect yourself.

  Be Ready, It Only Gets Worse From Here On

  It might sound like I am predicting success of the Great Reset program, but I actually believe the globalists will fail in the end. That’s not going to stop them from making the attempt. Also, the above scenarios are only predictions for the near term (within the next couple of years). There will be many other problems that stem from these situations.

  Naturally, food riots and other mob actions will become more commonplace, perhaps not this year, but by the end of 2023 they will definitely be a problem. This will coincide with the return of political unrest in the US as leftist factions, encouraged by globalist foundations, demand more government intervention in poverty. At the same time, conservatives will demand less government interference and less tyranny.

  At bottom, the people who are prepared might be called a lot of mean names, but as long as we organize and work together, we will survive. Many unprepared people will NOT survive. Understand that the economic conditions ahead of us are historically destructive; there is no way that serious consequences can be avoided for a large part of the population, if only because they refuse to listen and to take proper steps to protect themselves.

  The denial is over. The crash is here. Time to take action if you have not done so already.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 23:40

• Visualizing The Coming Shift In Global Economic Power (2006-2036)`
  Visualizing The Coming Shift In Global Economic Power (2006-2036)`

  As the post-pandemic recovery chugs along, the global economy is set to see major changes in the coming decades. Most significantly, China is forecast to pass the United States to become the largest economy globally.

  The world’s economic center has long been drifting from Europe and North America over to Asia. This global shift was kickstarted by lowered trade barriers and greater economic freedom, which attracted foreign direct investment (FDI). Another major driving factor was the improvements in infrastructure and communications, and a general increase in economic complexity in the region.

  Visual Capitlaist’s visualization uses data from the 13th edition of World Economic League Table 2022, a forecast published by the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

  

  When Will China Become the Largest Economic Power?

  China is expected to surpass the U.S. by the year 2030. A faster than expected recovery in the U.S. in 2021, and China’s struggles under the “Zero-COVID” policies have delayed the country taking the top spot by about two years.

  China has maintained its positive GDP growth due to the stability provided by domestic demand. This has proven crucial in sustaining the country’s economic growth. China’s fiscal and economic policy had focused on this prior to the pandemic over fears of growing Western trade restrictions.

  India is Primed for the #3 Spot

  India is expected to become the third largest country in terms of GDP with $10.8 trillion projected in 2031.

  Looking back, India had a GDP of just $949 billion in 2006. Fast forward to today and India’s GDP has more than tripled, reaching $3.1 trillion in 2022. Over the next 15 years, it’s expected to triple yet again. What is behind this impressive growth?

  For starters, the country’s economy had a lot more room to improve than other nations. Demographics are also working in the country’s favor. While the median age in many mature economies is shooting up, India has a youthful workforce. In fact, India’s median age is a full 20 years lower than Japan, which is currently the third largest economy.

  Over the last 60 years, the service industry has boomed to around 55% of India’s GDP. Telecommunications, software, and IT generate most of the revenue in this sector. IT alone produces 10% of the country’s GDP. India’s large tech-savvy, English-speaking workforce has proved attractive for international companies like Intel, Google, Meta, Microsoft, IBM, and many others, while the domestic startup scene continues to boom.

  The Indian government is also pursuing “production-linked incentives” (i.e. subsidies) for multinational companies looking to diversify their production away from China. If these incentives prove successful, more of the world’s solar panels and smartphones will be produced within India’s borders.

  How Will the Global Economy Look in 2031?

  By the year 2031, there will be major changes in the global economic power rankings.

  As we said before: China will have become the world’s largest economy in terms of GDP and India will be the world’s third largest economy. Let’s also take a look at the top 10 economies by 2031.

  

   

  Out of the top five economies, three are located in Asia: China, India, and Japan⁠—a clear demonstration of how economic power is shifting towards large population centers in Asia.

   

  Europe will have four countries in the top 10: Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. From South America, only Brazil appears in the top 10.

  Under these projections, Russia sits outside the top 10 in 2031. Of course, it remains to be seen how crushing sanctions and global isolation will affect the economic trajectory of the country.

  Now, the big question. Is it inevitable that China takes the top spot in the global economy as predicted by this forecast? The truth is that nothing is guaranteed. Other projections have modeled reasonable alternative scenarios for China’s economy. A debt crisis, international isolation, or a shrinking population could keep China’s economy in second place for longer than expected.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 23:20

• "A Disarmed Individual Will Be A Subject", Not A Citizen: Lt. Col. Allen West
  “A Disarmed Individual Will Be A Subject”, Not A Citizen: Lt. Col. Allen West

  Authored by Masooma Haq and Steve Lance via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  As new gun control legislation makes its way from the U.S. House to the Senate, where enough Republican senators have indicated they will vote in favor of it, opponents of the bill say these laws already exist and have not—and will not—stop mass shootings.

  

  Instead, what history has shown, Lt. Col. Allen West said, is that these laws will put Americans on the path to losing the right to bear arms, and people becoming subservient to the government and its tyranny.

  West told NTD’s Capitol Report during a recent interview that the Founding Fathers created the Bill of Rights and Second Amendment because “they realized that an armed individual can be a citizen, a disarmed individual will be a subject.”

  With #GunRights reform talks getting heated, how practical are these #regulations in real life, and where are the boundaries? NTD talked to Lt. Col. Allen West to get his perspective.

  Full video: https://t.co/nWvFyQggyJ pic.twitter.com/9vxg1CL7EO

  — NTD News (@news_ntd) June 14, 2022

   

  “Every single instance where the government, totalitarian, tyrannical governments have removed private gun ownership, what did they end up doing? They turn citizens into subjects,” West continued. He noted that Canada’s progressive government has just tightened the buying of firearms and he fears the United States will follow that example.

  The regimes of Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez took away gun rights before clamping down on citizens, taking more of their rights and killing their own citizens, said West.

  One controversial part of the Democrats’ new bill would create a universal background check system, but West said most states already have background check requirements. So, codifying them would not change much except to infringe upon the rights of lawful gun owners.

  Read more here…https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 23:00

• Atlantic City Busts? Casino Union Authorizes Major Strike Next Month
  Atlantic City Busts? Casino Union Authorizes Major Strike Next Month

  Six thousand casino workers in Atlantic City voted in favor of a strike if new contract agreements aren’t reached by the first week of July. 

  Members of Local 54 of the Unite Here, who are bartenders, cocktail servers, hotel housekeepers, and valets, walked into the Atlantic City Convention Center to cast their vote on Wednesday to authorize a strike if they didn’t see higher pay. 

  By late evening, the casino labor union tweeted: “The Votes Are In: Thousands of casino workers cast ballots today and 96% have voted in favor of authorizing the worker negotiation committee to call a strike if an agreement is not reached with Caesars, Harrah’s, Tropicana, and Borgata, by July 1st and Hard Rock by July 3rd!”

  THE VOTES ARE IN: Thousands of casino workers cast ballots today and 96% have voted in favor of authorizing the worker negotiation committee to call a strike if an agreement is not reached with Caesars, Harrah’s, Tropicana, and Borgata, by July 1st and Hard Rock by July 3rd! pic.twitter.com/OZrLsgHeuO

  — UNITE HERE Local 54 (@UHLocal54) June 15, 2022

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

  Local 54 of Unite Here members saw their contracts expire on May 31 and now demand a 38% increase in the minimum wage to $18 per hour amid the highest inflation in four decades. 

  The threat of a strike comes as the summer tourism season is underway and could paralyze parts of the beach and the ocean casino town. 

  “I’m ready, I’m ready for fight. I’m ready for fight because it’s too much,” one casino worker told local news, CBS Philly. “The company don’t want to listen, they don’t want to give nothing to nobody.”

  

  Casino labor union president Bob McDevitt warned: “I caution the industry not to take this lightly. They need to take this seriously … This is a no [expletive] thing.”

  Caesar’s, Harrah’s, and Tropicana have until July 1 to meet the labor union’s demands. Hard Rock has until July 3. 

  While a strike is not yet certain, the threats of one are alarming and the entire town is on edge. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 22:40

• Senate Gun Control Talks Hit Snag
  Senate Gun Control Talks Hit Snag

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Negotiations in the Senate on a gun control agreement have hit a roadblock over two issues as a bipartisan group tries to take a framework they recently agreed upon and translate it into a bill.

  

  Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the lead Republican negotiator, told reporters on Capitol Hill on June 15 that he’s “starting to get a little concerned” as the group tries to iron out details, including funding for states that have so-called red flag laws in place.

  The framework includes funding for states and Native American tribes to create and administer laws that make it easier to bar people from owning guns. Nineteen states currently have such laws, which typically center on mental health issues and are known as red flag laws.

  Cornyn said on The First TV on Wednesday that it would be “inappropriate” to incentivize other states to pass similar laws. States that do not have such laws in place, including Texas, should be able to get financial assistance for other programs, according to the Republican. Some states with red flag laws should not get access to the funding because their laws are not in compliance with the Constitution, Cornyn indicated.

  There are also disagreements on another provision, an effort to make sure people convicted of domestic abuse and those subject to domestic abuse restraining orders cannot have guns.

  A law known as the Federal Gun Control Act bars people convicted of domestic violence from owning a gun, but it does not apply in some cases if a person commits the violence against their boyfriend or girlfriend.

  “The other issue has to do with the way that nontraditional relationships are handled in terms of domestic violence and misdemeanors. We’ve got to come up with a good definition of what that actually means,” Cornyn told reporters in Washington.

  Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told reporters that there are more than two issues the bipartisan group of negotiators is working on, including a planned bolstered review for any individuals under 21 who are trying to get a gun.

  Determining which records the FBI can review for those individuals “is obviously a complicated issue,” Murphy said, and negotiators want to “do this in a way that protects sealed juvenile records.”

  Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), another negotiator, said the bipartisan group is “doing great.”

  “We’re working through all the language. Things are good,” she told reporters.

  Senate Majority Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has tapped Murphy to lead negotiations for the party, said on the Senate floor that senators “continue negotiations over the legislative text on the first major gun safety bill to pass the Senate in 30 years.”

  In the wake of many mass shootings, no legislation is passed. “Perhaps this time, hopefully this time, it will be different. Many in this chamber are working right now in hopes that it will be different,” Schumer said, adding that “we’re not over the finish line yet.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 22:20

• China To Invest In Qatar's Giant LNG Project, Leaving Europe In The Lurch
  China To Invest In Qatar’s Giant LNG Project, Leaving Europe In The Lurch

  In a time when a desperate Europe is scrambling for every drop of LNG it can import, Beijing is about to quietly swoop in and take it all away. Reuters reports that Chinese state-owned energy companies are negotiating investments in the expansion of Qatar’s North Field and are ready to close long-term supply contracts, in a move that could leave Europe facing even greater energy hyperinflation.

  

  The North Field is the Qatari portion of the world’s largest offshore gas deposit, which it shares with Iran. Iran’s portion is called South Pars.

  LNG supply has recently become a top priority for large energy consumers due to tight supply and as the European Union seeks to pivot away from Russian pipeline gas. The supply situation is so tight that in order to supply LNG volumes to Europe, U.S. producers had to divert cargos originally destined for Asian buyers.

  As OilPrice reports, Qatar was until recently the world’s largest LNG exporter, but over the last couple of years, it has been dethroned temporarily by Australia, and this year is expected to be overtaken by the United States as additional liquefaction capacity comes online, according to analysts.

  If the Chinese state companies finalize their negotiations with Qatar successfully, this would be the first gas partnership between China and Qatar, Reuters noted in its report, adding that until now, the biggest foreign investors in Qatari gas were international energy corporations.

  For Qatar, the deal would be part of a planned expansion of its gas presence in Asia, while for China, it would provide much-needed diversification away from its current top supplier, Australia, amid strained bilateral relations. It would also give Beijing – and thus Moscow – a right of first refusal on any cargoes headed for Europe.

  The North Field East expansion has a price tag of $30 billion, and earlier this month, Reuters reported, again citing unnamed sources, that the Qataris had picked four partners for the project, including Shell, TotalEnergies, Exxon, and ConocoPhillips.

  Once completed, in 2027, the expansion will boost Qatar’s LNG export capacity by as much as 64 percent, strengthening the country’s position in the international gas market. All four companies are also currently involved in LNG production in Qatar.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 22:00

• Oversight GOP Probes Hunter Biden's "Troubling" Connection With Big-Name Hollywood Lawyer
  Oversight GOP Probes Hunter Biden’s “Troubling” Connection With Big-Name Hollywood Lawyer

  Authored by Gary Bai via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The ranking member of the House’s principal oversight committee has launched a probe into a Hollywood lawyer’s “sudden patronage” of Hunter Biden allegedly involving financial and pro-bono legal support.

  “We are investigating the domestic and international business dealings of President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, to determine whether these activities compromise U.S. national security and President Biden’s ability to lead with impartiality,” Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, wrote to Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris on behalf of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in a letter dated June 14.

  “Your sudden patronage of the President’s son, enormous financial contributions to President Biden, and outsized role you are taking in defending against both congressional and criminal investigations raise serious concerns about whether you are providing in-kind contributions to President Biden’s re-election efforts,” Comer wrote.

  

  Morris is known for negotiating a $550 million licensing deal for the creators of “South Park” and has won a Tony award as a co-producer of the Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon.” His law firm has represented Hollywood celebrities including Chris Rock, Scarlett Johansson, and Matthew McConaughey.

  Comer’s letter came after a New York Times report in early May that alleged that Morris has taken on a “financier, confidant and would-be avenger” for the president’s son. The latter is under federal investigation into his tax payments and alleged foreign deals with entities affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.

  According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, Morris donated $2,800 to Joe Biden’s campaign “Biden for President” in October 2019, and a total of $55,000 in 2020 to the American Bridge 21st Century Political Action Committee, which supported Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. The New York Times reported that these donations occurred before Morris met and developed a relationship with the president’s son.

  

  ‘In-Kind Contribution’

  According to Comer, the oversight committee Republicans are “particularly troubled” in seeing Morris’s alleged role in “attempting to personally shield Hunter Biden from congressional and criminal investigation.”

  The ranking member cited allegations against Hunter Biden in The Times’s report, which said that not only did Morris lend $2 million to Hunter Biden to help him pay off federal tax, but the lawyer also provided counsel to Hunter Biden “as he navigated a paternity and child support lawsuit, and helped him with his art career and a memoir published last year that was partly a response to attacks from former President Donald J. Trump.”

  Comer noted that Morris funded a documentary about Hunter Biden’s life, which the lawmaker said serves to “deflect oversight of Hunter Biden’s numerous foreign business dealings” and “shield President Biden from becoming implicated in them.”

  In addition, Comer said that Morris “convened a team of 30 lawyers and investigators” to discredit the allegations against Hunter Biden and thereby protect the president.

  “Such activities may constitute an ‘in-kind contribution,’ defined by the FEC as ‘goods or services offered free or at less than the usual charge,’ Comer wrote, adding that contributions of this nature “must be properly reported to the FEC.”

  Comer went on to request an array of documents, including agreements between Moris and Hunter Biden regarding the attorney’s $2 million loan, disclosure documents to the FEC for Morris’s “in-kind” contribution to Joe Biden’s campaign, Morris’s communications with the White House, and any records that describe investigations of the Biden family and its associates.

  “We are committed to determining the extent to which Hunter Biden’s business dealings with foreign adversaries compromise American national security and President Biden’s ability to lead the nation without impartiality and providing answers to the American people,” Comer wrote.

  “It is critical that the American people better understand the extent to which your activities implicate federal elections laws and President Biden’s campaign.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 21:40

• Big Crypto Investment Frauds Are Happening Via LinkedIn
  Big Crypto Investment Frauds Are Happening Via LinkedIn

  LinkedIn users are being lured into bogus cryptocurrency investments, with some being swindled out of sums exceeding $1 million, according to a new CNBC report. 

  “It’s a significant threat,” FBI special agent Sean Ragan tells CNBC. “This type of fraudulent activity is significant, and there are many potential victims, and there are many past and current victims.” 

  It starts with an invitation to connect to a phony account. Next, friendly conversation turns to a recommendation to buy Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency on a legitimate platform suggested by the fraudster. After several months of building trust, however, the victim is encouraged to move their assets to a platform controlled by the fraudster.

  Florida benefits manager Mei Mei Soe started with a $400 speculation at crypto.com; later, she was lured to a fraudulent platform. With a goal of amassing enough money to open a business of her own, Soe engaged in a series of transactions using not only her own savings, but also proceeds from bank loans and even personal loans from friends. 

  Several months into her fake friendship, she realized what had happened. “I still remember the day,” Soe says. “Once I realized I had been scammed, I tried to contact him but couldn’t find him anywhere…It hurts.” The damage: $288,000, wiping out her life savings, not to mention the new debt she took on.  

  A support group of victims that meets regularly on Zoom invited CNBC’s Yasmin Khorram to hear their stories. With their five identities shielded to protect themselves from professional and personal embarrassment, the victims acknowledged having lost $189,000, $300,000, $700,000, $1.3 million and $1.6 million.  

  On the eve of CNBC’s report, LinkedIn posted a blog entry highlighting its efforts to combat fraud. The Sunnyvale, California firm says its artificial technology eliminates 99.1% of spam and scams before they reach any users. Separately, LinkedIn says it removed 32 million fake accounts in 2021 alone.

  As for avoiding the scammers who make it through, LinkedIn recommends only connecting with people you know and trust, and being wary of:  

  • People asking for money: “This can include people asking you to send them money, cryptocurrency, or gift cards to receive a loan, prize, or other winnings.”
  • Job postings or recruiters that ask you to pay money to pursue opportunities.  
  • Romantic gestures aimed at persuading you to lower your guard. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 21:20

• Taibbi: The World's Most Taboo Legal Case
  Taibbi: The World’s Most Taboo Legal Case

  Authored by Matt Taibbi via TK News,

  On November 17, 2021, the Women’s Liberation Front, or WoLF, filed a civil rights lawsuit in California that drew almost no coverage.

  A press corps gearing up to be outraged en masse by the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp defamation case had zero interest in a lawsuit filed by far poorer female abuse victims.

  

  Janine Chandler et al vs. California Department of Corrections targeted a new California state law, the “The Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act,” a.k.a. S.B. 132.

  The statute allows any prisoner who self-identifies as a woman — including prisoners with penises who may have stopped taking hormones — into women’s prisons.

  There was nothing TV-friendly about the scenes depicted in the complaint:

  Plaintiff Krystal Gonzalez (“Krystal”) is a female offender currently incarcerated in Central California Women’s Facility. Krystal was sexually assaulted by a man transferred to her unit under S.B. 132. Krystal filed a grievance and requested single-sex housing away from men; the prison’s response to Krystal’s grievance referred to her assault by a “transgender woman with a penis.” Krystal does not believe that women have penises…

  After a week spent denounced for reviewing the Matt Walsh documentary What is a Woman?, and for saying things I think will be boring conventional wisdom within a year, I was ready to never go near trans issues again and move to the impending financial disaster. But accident sucked me back. I’d made a point of pride of not reading a line of commentary about Heard-Depp, but listened to an episode of Blocked and Reported that touched on it after it was over, and learned three things that made me furious and think immediately of Chandler.

  One: the ACLU, in apparent exchange for a pledge of $3.5 million, ghost-wrote Heard’s offending editorial, and in particular a line about her having “felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.”

  Two: Guardian writer Moira Donegan declared, “We are in a moment of virulent antifeminist backlash.”

  Three: Vice proclaimed without irony, “We’ve all failed Amber Heard.” Almost as one, the establishment press declared itself concerned with the suffering of a rich actress.

  However, there’s a gaping loophole in their concern for women, and Chandler sits in the middle of it.

  Let’s talk about “the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out” in the context of this case:

  Subscribers to TK News can read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 21:00

• China Launches 3rd, Most Advanced Aircraft Carrier, Making PLA Navy 'World's Largest Multi-Carrier Force'
  China Launches 3rd, Most Advanced Aircraft Carrier, Making PLA Navy ‘World’s Largest Multi-Carrier Force’

  A major milestone was reached by China’s PLA Navy (PLAN) on Friday as it announced the launch of the country’s third and most advanced aircraft carrier out of Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard.

  The “Fujian” is China’s first ever domestically designed and built catapult aircraft carrier, which includes a high tech electromagnetic catapult-assisted launch system, bringing its navy to the status of being the world’s largest multi-carrier force (although still no match for the US Navy… yet).

  The PLAN currently has some 355 ships, including submarines, and the U.S. estimates the force will grow to 420 ships by 2025 and 460 ships by 2030. Despite having the world’s largest navy numerically, however, the PLAN still has nowhere the near capabilities of the U.S. Navy for now, however, and remains far behind in carriers. –AP

  

  The Associated Press describes of the carrier’s launch ceremony, “The Type 003 carrier christened Fujian left its drydock at a shipyard outside Shanghai in the morning and tied up at a nearby pier, state media reports said.” And further: “State broadcaster CCTV showed assembled navy personnel standing beneath the massive ship as water jets sprayed over its deck and multi-colored streamers flew and colorful smoke was released.”

  The new launch system will allow for jets loaded with more munitions to take-off at faster intervals, and as CNN describes based on state media, “In addition to the launch system, the Fujian is equipped with blocking devices, and a full-load displacement of more than 80,000 tons, Xinhua reported, adding that the ship will carry out mooring tests and navigation tests after the launch.”

  The next step will be for the Fujian to start sea trials, also as a fourth Chinese carrier is under development and next in line for a future launch. Already long in operation are China’s Soviet-era Liaoning as well as the domestically-built Shandong. The latter’s design is based on the Liaoning, which was launched in 1988.

  Over a year ago The South China Morning Post hinted that the fourth still in development carrier could be nuclear-powered, citing an unnamed official who said designers are studying how “to use nuclear power for the fourth carrier.”

  ICYMI – China launched its third aircraft carrier.pic.twitter.com/MeopnAav7U

  — Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) June 17, 2022

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

  The maritime monitoring site Naval News has the following backgrounder on the Fujian:

  …the Type-003 Fujian will further expand and mature the Chinese Navy’s capabilities. It is part of a shift to a true blue water navy, operating in the Pacific and, if called upon, globally. 

  Part of a slogan written on the ship for the launch, visible in satellite imagery, has been translated as “to build a strong and modern navy, and provide strong support for the realization of the Chinese dream of a strong military. To realize the party’s goal of strengthening the army in the new era, and build the people’s army into a world-class army in an all-round way”. Note that in China, the Navy (known as PLAN for People’s Liberation Army Navy) is part of the Army (PLA).

  The Type-003 is comparable in size to the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz and Ford classes. And it’s design is similar in many ways. At the same time, it is an evolution of the first two Chinese Navy (PLAN) carriers.  These were built on Soviet technology.

  The launch comes as China and the US continue disputing the status of the Taiwan Strait, with the Biden administration earlier this week declaring it’s part of “international waters” – a designation which Beijing rejects, and following monthly US warship ‘freedom of navigation’ sail throughs of the strait.

  Recently China’s foreign ministry has stressed that if Taiwan attempt to declare independence, the PLA military would invade in order to ‘protect Chinese sovereignty’ over the island.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 20:40

• Only 28% Of Americans Support Trans Athletes Being Allowed To Compete In Female Sports
  Only 28% Of Americans Support Trans Athletes Being Allowed To Compete In Female Sports

  Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

  A new poll has found that only 28 per cent of Americans support transgender athletes being allowed to compete in female sports tournaments.

  

  The survey, conducted jointly by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland, asked participants whether “transgender women should not be allowed to compete with other women and girls” either in college or professional sports.

  Only 28 per cent of respondents think biological males should be free to compete against women, while 58 per cent said they should be banned from taking part.

  68 per cent of respondents believe that trans athletes “would have a competitive advantage over other girls” in youth sports, with only 33 per cent of respondents thinking they should be permitted to compete.

  However, the poll found that a plurality of 40 per cent thought that greater social acceptance of transgenders was “good” for society, while 25 per cent held the opposite view. 35 per cent don’t think it matters either way.

  As we highlighted last month, top doctors told the New York Times that transgender swimmer Lia Thomas still has an unfair advantage over biological females despite the athlete having undergone testosterone suppressing therapy.

  Female athletes who have questioned whether Thomas has an unfair advantage have been branded “transphobic.”

  Another person who is clearly biologically a man was allowed to easily win a prominent women’s surfing competition in Australia.

  A bill to ban biological men for competing against women was first introduced by Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida in January 2021, but the GOP has had trouble moving it forward.

  *  *  *

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

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 20:20

• Biden Signals To Own Officials & Zelensky: Dial Back The "Winning" Rhetoric As Russian Gains Now Evident
  Biden Signals To Own Officials & Zelensky: Dial Back The “Winning” Rhetoric As Russian Gains Now Evident

  A bombshell investigative report in NBC has revealed President Biden sought to clamp down on the ratcheted Ukraine war rhetoric of his own top officials on fears their words would make escalation with Russia inevitable, and would set false expectations among allies.

  In particular questions and concerns were raised within the administration following the late April trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Kiev, where they met with President Zelensky. Their statements at the time asserted official US positions of wanting to see Ukraine forces “winning” against the Russians. It was especially Austin’s words during a press conference which seemed to mark a strategic shift in US planning, portending Washington escalation in support of Ukrainian forces. “We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine,” the Pentagon chief said at the time.

  But in a phone call Biden questioned the statements, calling his own officials to account, after he was reportedly angered upon learning about rhetoric centered on ‘winning’ against the Russians. 

  

  “Biden thought the secretaries had gone too far, according to multiple administration officials familiar with the call,” NBC reports. “On the previously unreported conference call, as Austin flew to Germany and Blinken to Washington, the president expressed concern that the comments could set unrealistic expectations and increase the risk of the U.S. getting into a direct conflict with Russia. He told them to tone it down, said the officials.”

  “Biden was not happy when Blinken and Austin talked about winning in Ukraine,” one of them said. “He was not happy with the rhetoric.”

  However, the response by Blinken and Austin was to say their statements had been “misconstrued,” according to officials cited in the report. Still, NBC’s sources underscore, Biden expressed “displeasure” given the potential for the false expectations set, and further, as NBC writes, that “the war would ultimately head in the direction it is now in two months later: a protracted conflict in which Russia continues to make small and steady advances.”

  Now almost four months into the invasion, it’s become increasingly acknowledged that Russia has made significant gains across Ukraine’s east and south, now poised to solidify control over the whole of Donbas, and with Ukrainian forces constantly complaining about lack of enough weapons and ammo. The fall of the last Ukrainian holdout in Luhansk province, the city of Severodonetsk, is looking imminent.

  With the tide of the war now shifted, following the early optimism and perhaps exaggerated headlines based on some early Ukrainian successes, Washington is reportedly signaling also to the Zelensky administration that it’s time to tone down the ‘victory’ rhetoric. The Thursday NBC investigative report comes days after the Ukrainian leader reiterated prior vows of “no concessions” on territory for the sake of peace – with Zelensky’s foreign minister and others even saying they would not so much as acknowledge Crimea as in Russian possession for the sake of a ceasefire. These positions have actually somewhat shifted since March, however, as at varying points during the course of the war some Ukraine officials have suggested being at least “open” to the idea.

  At the time of the Austin-Blinken trip to Kiev, CNN and others called the ‘weaken Russia’ remarks a complete “strategy shift”, but now the Biden White House appears to be distancing itself from this prior provocative rhetoric…

  Austin’s assertion that US wants to ‘weaken’ Russia underlines Biden strategy shift

  w/ ⁦@NatashaBertrand⁩ ⁦@kylieatwood⁩ ⁦@MarquardtA⁩ https://t.co/8exTQ2P9Kv

  — Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) April 26, 2022

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

  But it looks as if the tune is changing fast from among Kiev’s Western backers, even as unprecedented weapons packages and transfers continue to get approved. The NBC report notes US officials are quietly pushing a very different line than what’s represented in public:

  U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that the trajectory of the war in Ukraine is untenable and are quietly discussing whether President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should temper his hard-line public position that no territory will ever be ceded to Russia as part of an agreement to end the war, according to seven current U.S. officials, former U.S. officials and European officials.

  Officials were even quoted as saying they want Zelensky to “dial it back a little bit” when it comes to the hardline on ‘no compromise’.

  However, one admin official was still quoted as saying, “We are not pressuring them to make concessions, as some Europeans are. We would never ask them to cede territory.” This means that “We are planning for a long war. We intend to prepare the American people for that, and we are prepared to ask Congress for more money.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 20:00

• US Secretly Reviews & Approves Many Israeli Airstrikes In Syria
  US Secretly Reviews & Approves Many Israeli Airstrikes In Syria

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Israel has been secretly coordinating with the US on many of its airstrikes in Syria, and senior officials at US Central Command have reviewed and approved many plans in recent years.

  Israel frequently bombs Syria and frames the operations as strikes against Iran or Hezbollah, although the air raids often kill Syrian government troops and members of Iraq’s Shia militias. The latest Israeli airstrikes on Syria disabled the Damascus International Airport, marking a significant escalation in the air campaign.

  

  Current and former officials told the Journal that the main focus of the coordination is on airstrikes that pass near al-Tanf garrison, a US military base in southern Syria near the border with Jordan. The officials said that the “vast majority” of the strikes passing through that area had been approved by the US.

  The Israelis started flying airstrikes near al-Tanf in 2017 to avoid Syrian air defenses. The officials said that Israel notifies CENTCOM of its plans ahead of time. The command conducts a review of the operation and also notifies the secretary of defense and joint chiefs chairman. Israel has also notified Russian forces at the Khmeimim Air Base in western Syria of planned strikes.

  The report said that the US doesn’t review all Israeli operations inside Syria, and doesn’t help Israel pick its targets. A significant number of Israeli airstrikes in the country don’t pass al-Tanf, including the strike on Damascus Airport.

  The US has about 1,000 troops stationed in eastern Syria. On paper, the presence is about supporting the Kurdish-led SDF against ISIS, but the occupation is also about putting pressure on Damascus. The US maintains crippling economic sanctions on Syria, preventing the country from rebuilding after over 10 years of war.

  The Journal report is the first time that the close US-Israeli coordination on airstrikes in Syria has been reported. But the US has always tacitly endorsed the operations as it never condemns them.

  

  In 2019, Brett McGurk, the top Middle East official on President Biden’s National Security Council, penned an op-ed where he outlined his ideal Syria policy after resigning from the Trump administration over unfulfilled plans to withdraw from the country. In the article, McGurk said the US should support Israeli airstrikes in Syria.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 19:40

• Treasure Hunters Accuse FBI Of Stealing Tons Of Civil War Gold
  Treasure Hunters Accuse FBI Of Stealing Tons Of Civil War Gold

  A father-son team of treasure hunters has accused the FBI of stealing a cache of gold hidden in a Pennsylvania cave, after the agency applied for a warrant in 2018 to seize it – telling a federal judge they feared the state might take the gold for itself.

  

  The gold, which the FBI said was “stolen during the Civil War,” is estimated at “one or more tons.” According to the agency it belongs to the US government. A geophysical survey of the area commissioned by the FBI, however, suggested an object with a mass of up to 9 tons and a density consistent with gold was buried at the site.

  The father-son team, Dennis and Kem Parada of Finders Keepers think the FBI actually found the gold and are lying about it.

  Notably, their attorney says the agency either lied to a federal judge about having video of its secretive 2018 dig for the gold, or illegally destroyed the video to prevent them from gaining access to it, new filings allege. The pair led agents to the remote woodland site in hopes of getting a finder’s fee, however the FBI insists they recovered nothing of value, according to AL.com.

  

  According to a 155-year-old legend, around the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, the Union Army sent a shipment of gold from Wheeling, WV to Philadelphia – which never made it to its destination. The shipment was rumored to have between 26 and 52 gold bars in it, each weighing 50 lbs, valuing the cache at up to $70 million US.

  After Finders Keepers began pressing the government for information about the dig, the FBI initially said it could produce 17 relevant video files. Then, without explanation, the FBI reduced that number to four. Last week, under court order, the agency finally revealed what it said were the contents of those four videos — and it turns out all had been provided to the FBI by Finders Keepers co-owner Dennis Parada himself, weeks before the dig, at a time when he was offering his evidence for buried treasure. -AL

  The treasure hunters say they have evidence that the FBI indeed shot video of the dig, and are asking for sanctions against the agency.

  

  On Friday, the Paradas entered a hidden trail camera photo into the court record, which appears to show an FBI agent in front of a video camera at the hillside dig site. Other agents can be seen in the background.

  The photo “suggests either the FBI has falsely claimed to have no other responsive videotapes or the FBI illegally destroyed responsive videotapes in an effort to circumvent the FOIA’s disclosure requirements,” wrote Anne Weismann, who represents Finders Keepers in its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the government.

  Weismann has asked a judge to order the DOJ to pay a portion of the duo’s legal fees to compensate for the legal shenanigans, and “covering up the results of its excavation … that highly advanced scientific technology indicated contained multiple tons of gold.”

  The government’s initial court-ordered release of documents last month included a geophysical survey commissioned by the FBI that suggested an object with a mass of up to 9 tons and a density consistent with gold was buried at the site. The FBI used the consultant’s work to obtain a warrant to seize any gold found at the site at Dent’s Run, about 135 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh, where legend says an 1863 shipment of Union gold was either lost or stolen on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.

  The agency has adamantly denied it found anything. The treasure hunters say the FBI has consistently stonewalled. -AL

  “For the FBI to now say it has no videotapes of the dig strains credulity and takes this whole affair to the next level,” said Warren Getler, who has worked closely with Finders Keepers. “We have incontrovertible photographic evidence of them videotaping the dig and interviewing their operational leader at the site. It raises a lot of serious questions.”

  

  Finders Keepers also wants to depose three FBI officials, Jacob Archer of the FBI’s art crime team in Philadelphia, who oversaw the dig; the unidentified videographer shown in the trail-cam still; and Michael Seidel, the FBI section chief for records dissemination.

  “We want to answer two questions. Did the FBI create videotapes during the excavation? The picture certainly seems to answer that question. And if so, what happened to those videotapes? It seems to me these are the people best situated to have that information,” said Weismann in a Monday interview.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 19:20

• Leaked Audio: Americans' Private TikTok Data Accessed From China
  Leaked Audio: Americans’ Private TikTok Data Accessed From China

  Leaked audio from 80 internal TikTok meetings reveal that private data from Americans has been repeatedly accessed from China, according to a new report from BuzzFeed, which described the practice as “exactly the type of behavior that inspired former president Donald Trump to threaten to ban the app in the United States.”

  

  Trump notably issued an Executive Order which warned that TikTok’s “data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.”

  And then Biden, whose son Hunter dealt with CCP-linked individuals on a regular basis (even sharing office space), revoked the ban…

  Reminder, Brandon revoked Trump’s TikTok ban.@TheLastRefuge2 https://t.co/lVS32xlNjP

  — Ben Tallmadge /Boycott CCP (@BenTallmadge01) June 17, 2022

   According to the report, TikTok employees said that Chinese engineers for parent company ByteDance could access nonpublic US user data from at least September 2021 through January, and that their ability to access the data was ‘farther reaching than previously known.’

  In September, one TikTok director said that a Chinese engineer was a “Master Admin” who “has access to everything.”

  Later that month, a member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety department allegedly said that “everything is seen in China.“

  The risk, of course, includes espionage:

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

  Lawmakers’ fear that the Chinese government will be able to get its hands on American data through ByteDance is rooted in the reality that Chinese companies are subject to the whims of the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party, which has been cracking down on its homegrown tech giants over the last year. The risk is that the government could force ByteDance to collect and turn over information as a form of “data espionage.”

  There is, however, another concern: that the soft power of the Chinese government could impact how ByteDance executives direct their American counterparts to adjust the levers of TikTok’s powerful “For You” algorithm, which recommends videos to its more than 1 billion users. Sen. Ted Cruz, for instance, has called TikTok “a Trojan horse the Chinese Communist Party can use to influence what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think.” –BuzzFeed

  When asked, a TikTok spokesperson, Maureen Shanahan, gave a vague answer.

  “We know we’re among the most scrutinized platforms from a security standpoint, and we aim to remove any doubt about the security of US user data,” she told BuzzFeed. “That’s why we hire experts in their fields, continually work to validate our security standards, and bring in reputable, independent third parties to test our defenses.”

  One day before the BuzzFeed article hit TikTok appeared to panic, publishing a blog post to announce that the company had changed the “default storage location of US user data” and that as of today, “100% of US user traffic is being routed to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. We still use our US and Singapore data centers for backup, but as we continue our work we expect to delete US users’ private data from our own data centers and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the US.”

  Let’s dig a little deeper though, courtesy of Ben Tallmadge (@BenTallmadge01), who notes in a Friday Twitter thread that TikTok cut their lobbying budget by 80% after Biden lifted the Trump ban.

  

  Meanwhile, TikTok has served as a revolving door for Washington DC insiders, including a former senior adviser to Nancy Pelosi and James Clyburn, the former Deputy Staff Director of the House Energy & Commerce Committee during the Obama years, a former Kevin McCarthy staffer, and a former staff director for the Senate, among others.

  But hey, no more mean tweets.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 18:40

• Top FBI Agent "Violated Bureau Policy" By Having "Unauthorized Contacts" With Journalists, Accepting Free Tickets To Dinner Events
  Top FBI Agent “Violated Bureau Policy” By Having “Unauthorized Contacts” With Journalists, Accepting Free Tickets To Dinner Events

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

  A top agent in the FBI violated the agency’s policy by having “unauthorized contacts” with reporters, according to a Department of Justice report.

  

  The partially-redacted report (pdf), which was obtained by Free Beacon through the Freedom of Information Act, states that now-retired agent Michael Steinbach broke numerous bureau rules when he met with and communicated with reporters between 2014 and 2016 “in violation of the Public Affairs (PA) manual” and the FBI media relations policy guide.

  Steinbach served as an executive assistant director at the FBI’s national security branch during the same time the bureau was investigating alleged ties between former President Donald Trump and Russia and Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state. He retired in February 2017.

  DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s office said the investigation into Steinbach was initiated “upon the receipt of records from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Insider Threat Unit,” alleging the agent had been having numerous extensive and unsupervised contacts with media “between January and November 2016.”

  The DOJ watchdog said it “found indications that Steinbach received items of value from members of the media [REDACTED].”

  “Steinbach had hundreds of contacts with the media for several years as Assistant Director for the Counterterrorism Division starting in June 2014 and then after his promotion to EAD of NSB in February 2016,” Horowitz’s office said in the report. “The media contact included social engagements outside of FBI Headquarters, without any coordination from the Office of Public Affairs, involving drinks, lunches, and dinners.”

  Horowitz’s office said it found “no indication that the FBI agent had a pre-existing personal relationship with any of the media members and his social engagements were not authorized by the Office of Public Affairs (OPA).”

  However, the report also noted that the OIG was “unable to determine who paid for the drinks or meals during these social engagements.”

  

  The DOJ watchdog found that Steinbach “violated” a code in the federal regulations, the DOJ ethics handbook, and the FBI ethics policy guide “when he accepted tickets from members of the media to two black-tie dinner events, one valued at $225 and the other valued at $300, without prior authorization.”

  Steinbach accepted free tickets to the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner in 2015 and the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in 2016, according to the report. On both occasions, he attended as a guest of reporters who “covered the FBI as part of their job responsibilities.”

  The DOJ watchdog “identified seven members of the media with whom Steinbach was in regular contact, and an additional 21 reporters with whom Steinbach had limited contact, during the time period from 2014 through February 2017,” and a review of his FBI emails and text messages found ongoing communication between him and the seven media members.

  An analysis of his emails, phone calls, and text messages found that Steinbach had “communicated at least 66 times in 2014, 381 times in 2015, and 160 times in 2016” with one reporter. He communicated with another media member at least 105 times in 2016, according to the report.

  Steinbach retired in February 2017 and declined an interview with the OIG, according to the report. Prosecution against him was also declined by the DOJ.

  Steinbach also “had at least 27 in-person meetings with seven media members outside of FBI Headquarters between April 2014 and the date of his retirement,” the report states.

  The former FBI agent was interviewed by the FBI in July 2017 on a “separate matter” but his communication with the media members was discussed, according to the report. During that interview, Steinbach “stated that he was authorized … to provide non-case related information to the media as background” and that he was frequently contacted by members of the media who were “relentless” in inquiring about a variety of national security issues.

  During that interview, he “related that his general response to media inquiries was to direct reporters to OPA,” according to the report.

  Steinbach is one of several officials who worked under ex-FBI director James Comey, who was removed from the bureau by President Donald Trump in 2017.

  This is not the first time a member of the FBI has accepted free gifts from members of the media.

  According to a report obtained by the Daily Caller in 2019, the former assistant director of FBI public affairs, Michael Kortan — who also worked for the bureau during investigations into Clinton and Trump-Russia — accepted gifts, including game tickets from reporters working at various outlets.

  The FBI told the Epoch Times: “The FBI expects all our employees to adhere to the highest standards of honesty and integrity and when one of our own fails to adhere to these standards, we take those allegations very seriously. As noted in the report, in 2016, the FBI referred this former employee’s activities to the DOJ Office of the Inspector General for an investigation. To be clear, the former employee was in violation of our media policy then, just as he would be now, and his conduct was completely unacceptable.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 18:20

• "Let's Go Bran-Dow" – Industrial Stocks Slump To Worst Streak Ever
  “Let’s Go Bran-Dow” – Industrial Stocks Slump To Worst Streak Ever

  US equities are down 10 of the last 11 weeks – the first time since 1970.

  

  But, The Dow has now had 11 down weeks out of the last 12. This has never happened before… (in Nov 1929, The Dow fell for 10 of 11 weeks)…

  

  Which perhaps fits as US macro data is collapsing at an unprecedented pace (with UMich sentiment at record lows)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Remember, there are 12 more rate-hikes priced in from here… good luck America.

  JPM head of trading desk, Elan Luger “I think we are past inflation at this point. The only thing confirmed yesterday is that the Fed will to do whatever it takes to get inflation back to target. If that means slowing the economy to a halt and crashing the stock market, so be it”

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 17, 2022

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

  The US equity markets suffered their worst week since the government locked down the US economy due to COVID in March 2020.

  In fact, since the hotter-than-expected CPI print (and UMich) last Friday, Small Caps are down a stunning 10%, S&P and Nasdaq down 8% and the Dow down 7%

  

  Energy stocks have been hammered since CPI last week (with this week’s losses the worst since March 2020) while Staples have held in as the prettiest horse in the glue factory…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  And here’s some more context for this slump in stocks (courtesy of Saxo’s Peter Garnry)…

  

  While the stock market is still higher since Nov 2020’s election date, the S&P 500 is now down since President Biden took office…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The equity put-call volume ratio has shifted up to its highest since April 2020…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Of particular note, given the rising put volumes, XLE (Energy SPDR) Put volumes literally exploded this week, to their highest since June 2008 – which happens to be right before WTI’s peak in July 2008 at $145)…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Also of note, Bloomberg’s SMART Money Flow Indicator has been surging higher into this selloff in stocks (are they primed for a big squeeze?)

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Credit markets continued their collapse this week with HYG (HY Corporate Bond ETF) tumbling to its lowest level since The Fed started panic-buying HY debt in March 2020…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Treasury yields were up by a surprisingly uniform 5-7bps this week, but since last Friday’s CPI, the curve is notably flatter with 2Y up over 30bps and 30Y up around 10bps…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  This smashed the yield curve (2s30s) down to cycle lows, briefly re-inverting once again…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The 10Y Yield stalled twice at around the 3.50% level this week

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Japanese bond markets were making headlines this week as traders bet they could ‘Soros’ The BoJ’s yield curve control limit and bet on a break at this week’s BoJ meeting. For now they haven’t and the bets have eased offf but as the chart shows, futures are still trading well beyond the 25bps limit…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  European bonds were also at the center of chaos as The ECB was forced to address ‘fragmentation’…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The dollar rallied on the week after finding support at pre-CPI lows…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Yen plunged by the most since March 2020 after trying to protect the yield curve…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Worst week for bitcoin (down 30%) since March 2020, but Ethereum was down worse, losing 35% this week alone!

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Amid crises at several crypto lenders, Ethereum (which formed the backbone of some of the contracts involved in these transactions), has been monkeyhammered (down to $1050 at the lows) and has broken out to the downside relative to Bitcoin…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Also note that on a weekly basis, Bitcoin has never been this oversold…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Commodities are all lower on the week amid recession and monetary-policy-tightening fears. We again use the anchor pre-CPI to show the full extent of the fear with crude and copper clubbed like baby seals and PMs actually holding in around unchanged from those pre-CPI levels…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  XOP – the oil & gas exploration ETF – tumbled into a bear market this week. It was the worst week for broad energy stocks since March 2020

  

  Worst week for WTI since April (Biden SPR Release)

  

  Worst week for wholesale gasoline since March 2020

  

  Despite the tumble in crude and gasoline, the 3-2-1 crack spread remains very elevated – incentivizing refiners (if only they had the capacity) to produce as much ‘product’ as possible…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Finally, as we detailed previously, TINA is dead (in Europe and the US) as US Treasuries now offer an ‘alternative’. In fact, as the chart below shows, bonds are at their ‘cheapest’ relative to stocks since Feb 2011…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  But, in the interest of being fair and balanced, we note that market breadth is about as bad as it has ever been – and historically has prompted a rebound…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Of course, there is one big difference between all of those examples and the current one… The Fed balance sheet is shrinking (agreed it also did that in 2018/19 before Powell panicked) and The Fed is hiking rates dramatically (far more aggressive that from 2016-2019) as financial conditions are tightening at their fastest pace since the Lehman collapse…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  How much more pain is Powell willing to inflict?

  Perhaps that is why our ‘adjusted’ Misery Index is at its worst level since Jimmy Carter was president…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Let’s Go BranDow?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 18:11

• Biden Briefed As US Says 3rd American, A Retired Marine Officer, Missing In Ukraine
  Biden Briefed As US Says 3rd American, A Retired Marine Officer, Missing In Ukraine

  “I have been briefed. We don’t know where they are,” President Biden told reporters at the White House Friday of two Americans who had been fighting Russian forces on behalf of Ukraine. The State Department starting Thursday identified Alexander John-Robert Drueke, 39, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, from Hartselle, Alabama as currently “missing” from the battlefield, after Russian social media reports said they were captured by pro-Kremlin forces. But now there’s a third reported missing in the war-torn country.

  “I want to reiterate: Americans should not be going to Ukraine now,” Biden emphasized, despite early in the war some Western officials and US allies, particularly the UK, appeared to actually encourage Westerners joining Ukraine’s volunteer foreign legion. “They should not be going to Ukraine.”

  

  Admin officials say they are continuing to closely monitor the situation. If their capture by the Russian army is confirmed, it would mark the first known instance that American volunteers have been taken into custody by Russia, raising the stakes and tensions significantly between Washington and Moscow.

  It was also revealed Friday that a third American fighter, a highly decorated Marine veteran, could be missing on the Ukrainian battlefield, possibly also taken into Russian custody:

  State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Thursday that the Biden administration is aware of a third American possibly missing in Ukraine. CNN subsequently identified that American as Grady Kurpasi, a veteran of the U.S. Marines, citing his wife.

  Among the thousands of foreign fighters, most from the West, who have traveled to Ukraine to fight on its behalf, at least hundreds are believed to be US citizens.

  CNN has these details on the third American, a career retired military officer, as follows:

  A third American whom the State Department has identified as missing in action in Ukraine is a US Marine veteran, Grady Kurpasi, his wife confirmed to CNN.

  The last time Heeson Kim and other close friends heard from Kurpasi was between April 23 and 24, George Heath, a family friend of Kurpasi’s told CNN. Kurpasi served in the US Marine Corps for 20 years, retiring in November 2021. He chose to volunteer alongside Ukrainians in Ukraine but initially did not envision himself fighting on the frontlines of the war, Heath said.

  NOW – Biden: “Americans should not be going to Ukraine.”pic.twitter.com/Rsu9SgZTZs

  — Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) June 17, 2022

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

  “Kurpasi arrived in Ukraine on March 7 and made it to Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on March 21, Heath said. Kurpasi and other members of the foreign legion were tasked to man an observation post at the end of April near Kherson, around the time Kurpasi stopped communicating with his wife and friends back in the US, Heath said,” the report describes. But it qualifies, “It is not clear if Kurpasi was a member of the foreign legion, but he was a volunteer fighting alongside Ukrainians, Heath said.”

  Little has been confirmed of the three Americans’ fate or whereabouts, with the Kremlin on Thursday having acknowledged the reports but without confirming it has them in custody.

  

  The State Department’s Price said in a briefing on Thursday: “There are many individuals in this country who are well-intentioned and who want to do everything they can to help the people of Ukraine.”

  “Of course, we all understand that. There are avenues and ways to channel that energy, to channel those efforts in ways that are constructive and ultimately helpful for the people of Ukraine, and you can find many of those on our website,” he added.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 18:00

• Deflationary Tsunami On Deck: A "Tidal Wave" Of Discounts And Crashing Prices
  Deflationary Tsunami On Deck: A “Tidal Wave” Of Discounts And Crashing Prices

  Three weeks ago, we showed readers what happens when the infamous “Bullwhip effect” reversal takes place by presenting the unprecedented surge in the “Inventory to Sales” ratio for a broad range of US retailers covering the furniture, home furnishings and appliances, building materials and garden equipment, and a category known as “other general merchandise,” which includes Walmart and Target. Since then, this ratio has only gotten even more extended, and as shown below it is now at the highest level since the bursting of the dot com bubble!

  

  What does this mean for retailers and the price of goods? Three weeks ago we said “Think: widespread inventory liquidations” and added…

  To be sure, not every product will see its price cut: commodities, whose bullwhip effect take much longer to manifest itself, usually lasting several years in either direction, are only just starting to see their price cycle higher. However, other products – like those carried by the Walmarts and Targets of the world – are about to see a deflationary plunge the likes of which we have not seen since the global financial crisis as retailers commence a voluntary destocking wave the likes of which have not been seen in over a decade.

  Today both Wall Street and the mainstream media have caught up, with both predicting unprecedented deflationary price cuts in the coming weeks.

  We start with Morgan Stanley’s bearish strategist Michael Wilson, who in his latest bearish weekly note (available to pro subs) focused on shrinking margins in general, and on retailer discounting in particular, and wrote that while there is a modest pick up in over sales, the far more concerning issue is that “inventory across the sector is up about 30% YOY and sales growth is up about 0% YOY translating to approximately 30% YOY of excess inventory” and while mark down/margin pressure did not hit in 1Q it should hit June/July. Indeed, “store checks show that aggressive discounting has already started as of the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Discounting pressure could accelerate through July.”  And since more retailers are now discounting, “companies are having to offer even bigger discounts to compel consumers to buy, and it is a race to the bottom in margins in order to clear through inventory.”

  It gets much worse, however, because courtesy of the delayed nature of the bullwhip effect, Morgan Stanley thinks it will be some time before retailers can cut back on forward inventory orders! Companies are no longer in a position to order 6 months in advance because of delays in the supply chain, and are currently working with about an 8 month lead time. Shockingly, this means decisions today to cut forward orders could begin to eliminate the inventory problem in 1Q23, but not likely before then.

  As a result, Wilson concludes, “we are likely to see a tidal wave of discounts that carry us through December because 2022 inventory orders have already been placed.“

  It’s not just Wall Street finally catching up, however: overnight the WSJ also writes that “Big discounts are coming” as “stores have too much stuff.“

  Echoing everything we have written in the past two months, the Journal alerts its readers that Target, Walmart and Macy’s announced recently that they are starting to receive large shipments of outdoor furniture, loungewear and electronics (and if Morgan Stanley is correct and lead times are indeed 8 months they will keep receiving these into 2023!) everyone wanted, but couldn’t find, during the pandemic.

  The problem for retailers is a windfall for those in the market for sweatpants or couches or pretty much anything else, as prices are expected to start dropping around July 4, analysts say when the deflationary retail tsunami is unleashed in full force.

  “There are going to be discounts like you’ve never seen before,” says Mickey Chadha, a Moody’s Investors Service analyst who tracks the retail industry.

  Retailer discounts are part of an effort to get shoppers interested in buying things again as Americans shift their spending to services such as concerts, eating out, and travel they missed out on during the pandemic. Deep discounts are expected on oversize couches, appliances and patio furniture that are more expensive for companies to store in their warehouses, analysts say. In fact, in everything this has some component of consumer goods demand to it.

  Look to e-retailers that specialize in larger goods like furniture to lower their prices, says Chirag Modi, who oversees supply chain execution and warehousing at consulting firm Blue Yonder.

  And if your drawers aren’t already bursting with work-from-home loungewear, stores will try hard to get you to take it off their shelves. “It might be a good time to buy sweatpants. They’re certainly going to be on sale this summer,” says Dan Wallace-Brewster, who directs marketing at e-commerce software company Scalefast. Office wear might not be discounted, he says.

  Some retailers, like Target, have already announced they’re planning big discounts. Others with robust warehouse capacity, like Walmart, may be more likely to hold on to their excess inventory, analysts say.

  Chadha said that retailers who sell their own lines of clothing and décor, like Gap, could be especially inclined to mark down their inventory, because they can’t pass the cost onto anyone else. Companies that carry other brands, like Macy’s, can potentially pass some of the surplus back to the producers.

  Consumer electronics are another category ripe for overstock discounts, Mr. Wallace-Brewster says, because the chip shortage is showing signs of abating. Items such as TVs and laptops are about to see major price cuts.

  Gwen Baer says she now wishes she had waited before splurging on a $3,000 couch for her new home that took six months to arrive in 2020. The 30-year-old Atlanta digital-media strategist plans to watch for sales at Target, West Elm and other retailers to finish outfitting her house, which she and her fiancé purchased in August 2020.     

  Her fiancé, Thomas Li, hopes to buy a new TV to replace the 10-year-old one in their bedroom. He’s hoping the sales mean lower prices on OLED screens.

  “The stores are really making lemonade out of some lemons,” Ms. Baer says.

  If you miss the wave of sales coming in a few weeks fear not: sales will likely continue well into back-to-school season and beyond. Modi says he is waiting until Thanksgiving to buy furniture for his own home renovation, and regrets already preordering kitchen cabinets. “I’m hedging my bets I’ll be able to get better deals in the fall,” Modi says adding that inventory surpluses are unlikely to affect the price of home staples and food. Discount retailers like TJ Maxx and Ross that specialize in surplus goods may not have great sales.

  Bigger metro areas may be poised for higher discounts than their rural counterparts, according to Modi, since they ordered based on demand at the height of the pandemic—which was higher in areas that are more population-dense.

  Not everything is set for a deflationary crash: don’t expect luxury items to see price cuts. If anything, luxury prices for things like handbags and shoes are poised to keep climbing, said Oliver Chen, a retail analyst for Cowen: “Demand is so strong, and it’s a supply-constrained industry, generally, so quite the opposite rebalancing is happening.”

  And while inflation is likely to persist in the ultra high, the implication for broader inflation is clear: most prices that make up the core CPI basket are about to fall off a cliff in weeks if not days, with upcoming core CPI prints set to plunge, which means that the only thing that will remain red hot is headline inflation, i.e., food and energy prices, the same prices which the Fed has traditionally ignored. It remains to be seen if it will do so this time around, or if – realizing that the US is entering a recession – it will resume easing even in the face of $5 gas prices…

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 06/17/2022 – 17:22

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