- Escobar: Fauci As Darth Vader Of The COVID Wars
Escobar: Fauci As Darth Vader Of The COVID Wars
Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,
Robert F Kennedy Jr’s The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health should be front-page news in all the news media in the US. Instead, it has been met with the proverbial thundering silence.
Critics seeking to have Kennedy dismissed as a kook trading on a famous name had scored a hit in February, when Instagram permanently deleted his account, allegedly for making false claims about coronavirus and vaccines. Nevertheless, the book, published only a few days ago, is already a certified pop hit on Amazon.
RFK Jr., chairman of the board of and chief legal counsel for Children’s Health Defense, sets out to deconstruct a New Normal, encroaching upon all of us since early 2020. In my early 2021 book Raging Twenties I have termed this force techno-feudalism.
Kennedy describes it as “rising totalitarianism,” complete with “mass propaganda and censorship, the orchestrated promotion of terror, the manipulation of science, the suppression of debate, the vilification of dissent and use of force to prevent protest.”
Focusing on Dr Anthony Fauci as the fulcrum of the biggest story of the 21st century allows RFK Jr to paint a complex canvas of planned militarization and, especially, monetization of medicine, a toxic process managed by Big Pharma, Big Tech and the military/intel complex – and dutifully promoted by mainstream media.
By now everyone knows that the big winners have been Big Finance, Big Pharma, Big Tech and Big Data, with a special niche for Silicon Valley behemoths.
Why Fauci?
RFK Jr. argues that for five decades, he has been essentially a Big Pharma agent, nurturing “a complex web of financial entanglements among pharmaceutical companies and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and its employees that has transformed NIAID into a seamless subsidiary of the pharmaceutical industry. Fauci unabashedly promotes his sweetheart relationship with Pharma as a ‘public-private partnership.’”
Arguably the full contours of this very convoluted story have never before been examined along these lines, extensively documented and with a wealth of links. Fauci may not be a household name outside of the US and especially across the Global South. And yet it’s this global audience that should be particularly interested in his story.
RFK Jr accuses Fauci of having pursued nefarious strategies since the onset of Covid-19 – from falsifying science to suppressing and sabotaging competitive products that bring lower profit margins.
Kennedy’s verdict is stark: “Tony Fauci does not do public health; he is a businessman, who has used his office to enrich his pharmaceutical partners and expand the reach of influence that has made him the most powerful – and despotic – doctor in human history.”
This is a very serious accusation. It’s up to readers to examine the facts of the case and decide whether Fauci is some kind of medical Dr Strangelove.
No Vitamin D?
Pride of place goes to the Fauci-privileged modeling that overestimated Covid deaths by 525%, cooked up by fabricator Neil Ferguson of the Imperial College in London, duly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This is the model, later debunked, that justified lockdown hysteria all across the planet.
Kennedy attributes to Canadian vaccine researcher Dr Jessica Rose the charge that Fauci was at the frontline of erasing the notion of natural immunity even as throughout 2020 the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) admitted that people with healthy immune systems bear minimal risk of dying from Covid.
Dr Pierre Kory, president of Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance, was among those who denounced Fauci’s modus operandi of privileging the development of tech vaccines while allowing no space for repurposed medications effective against Covid: “It is absolutely shocking that he recommended no outpatient care, not even Vitamin D.”
Clinical cardiologist Peter McCullough and his team of frontline doctors tested prophylactic protocols using, for instance, ivermectin – “we had terrific data from medical teams in Bangladesh” – and added other medications such as azithromycin, zinc, Vitamin D and IV Vitamin C. And all this while across Asia there was widespread use of saline nasal lavages.
By July 1, 2020, McCullough and his team submitted their first, ground-breaking protocol to the American Journal of Medicine. It became the most-downloaded paper in the world helping doctors to treat Covid-19.
McCullough complained last year that Fauci has never, to date, published anything on how to treat a Covid patient.” He additionally alleged: “Anyone who tries to publish a new treatment protocol will find themselves airtight blocked by the journals that are all under Fauci’s control.”
It got much worse. McCullough: “The whole medical establishment was trying to shut down early treatment and silence all the doctors who talked about success. A whole generation of doctors just stopped practicing medicine.” (A contrarian view would argue that McCullough got carried away: A million US doctors – the approximate number practicing at any given time – could not all have been in on it.)
The book argues that the reasons there was a lack of original research on how to fight Covid were the dependence of much-vaunted American academics on the billions of dollars granted by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the fact they were terrified of contradicting Fauci.
Frontline Covid specialists Kory and McCullough are quoted as charging that Fauci’s suppression of early treatment and off-patent medication was responsible for up to 80% of deaths attributed to Covid in the US.
How to kill the competition
The book offers a detailed outline of an alleged offensive by Big Pharma to kill hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) – with research mercenaries funded by the Gates-Fauci axis allegedly misinterpreting and misreporting negative results by employing faulty protocols.
Kennedy says that Bill Gates by 2020 virtually controlled the whole WHO apparatus, as the largest funder after the US government (before Trump pulled the US out of the WHO) and used the agency to fully discredit HCQ.
The book also addresses Lancetgate – when the world’s top two scientific journals, The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine published fraudulent studies from a nonexistent database owned by a previously unknown company.
Only a few weeks later both journals – deeply embarrassed and with their hard-earned credibility challenged – withdrew the studies. There was never any explanation as to why they got involved in what could be interpreted as one of the most serious frauds in the history of scientific publishing.
But it all served a purpose. For Big Pharma, says Kennedy, killing HCQ and, later, Ivermectin (IVM) were top priorities. Ivermectin happens to be a low-profit competitor to a Merck product, molnupiravir, which is essentially a copycat but capable of retailing at a profitable $700 per course.
Fauci was quite excited by a promising study of Gilead’s remdesivir – which not only is not effective against Covid but is a de facto deadly poison, at $3,000 for each treatment.
The book suggests that Fauci might have wanted to kill HCQ and IVM because under federal US rules, the FDA’s recognition of both HCQ and IVM would automatically kill remdesivir. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation happens to have a large equity stake in Gilead.
A key point for Kennedy is that vaccines were Big Pharma’s Holy Grail.
He details how what could be construed as a Fauci-Gates alliance put “billions of taxpayer and tax-deducted dollars into developing” an mRNA “platform for vaccines that, in theory, would allow them to quickly produce new ‘boosters’ to combat each ‘escape variant.’”
Vaccines, he writes, “are one of the rare commercial products that multiply profits by failing.… The good news for Pharma was that all of humanity would be permanently dependent on biannual or even triannual booster shots.”
Any similarities with our current “booster” reality are not mere coincidence.
The final summary of Pfizer’s clinical trial data will raise countless eyebrows. The whole process lasted a mere six months. This is the document that Pfizer submitted to the FDA to win approval for its vaccine. It beggars belief that Pfizer won the FDA’s emergency approval despite showing that the vaccine might prevent one (italics mine) Covid death in every 22,000 vaccine recipients.
Peter McCullough: “Because the clinical trial showed that vaccines reduce absolute risk less than 1 percent, those vaccines can’t possibly influence epidemic curves. It’s mathematically impossible.”
The Gates matrix
Bill Gates – Teflon-protected by virtually all Western mainstream media – describes the operational philosophy of his foundation as “philantrocapitalism.” It’s more like strategic self-philantropy, as both the foundation’s capital and his net worth have been ballooning in style ($23 billion just during the 2020 lockdowns).
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – “a nonprofit fighting poverty, disease and inequity around the world” – invests in multinational pharma, food, agriculture, energy, telecom and global tech companies. It exercises considerable de facto control over international health and agricultural agencies as well as mainstream media – as the Columbia Journalism Review showed in August 2020.
Gates, without a graduate degree, not to mention medical school degree (like author Kennedy, it must be noted, whose training was as a lawyer), dispenses wisdom around the world as a health expert. The foundation holds corporate stocks and bonds in Pfizer, Merck, GSK, Novartis and Sanofi, among other giants, and substantial positions in Gilead, AstraZeneca and Moderna.
The book delves in minute detail into how Gates controls the WHO (the largest direct donor: $604.2 million in 2018-2019, the latest available numbers). Already in 2011 Gates ordered: “All 183 member states, you must make vaccines a central focus of your health systems.” The next year, the World Health Assembly, which sets the WHO agenda, adopted a Global Vaccine Plan designed by – who else? – the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Foundation also controls the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE), the top advisory group to the WHO on vaccines, as well as the crucial GAVI Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization), which is the second-largest donor to the WHO.
GAVI is a Gates “public-private partnership” that essentially corrals bulk sales of vaccines from Big Pharma to poor nations. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, only three month ago, proclaimed that “GAVI is the new NATO”. GAVI’s global HQ is in Geneva. Switzerland has given Gates full diplomatic immunity.
Few in East and West know that it was Gates who in 2017 handpicked the WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus – who brought no medical degree and a quite dodgy background.
Dr Vandana Shiva, India’s leading human rights activist (routinely accused of being merely anti-vax), sums up: “Gates has hijacked the WHO and transformed it into an instrument of personal power that he wields for the cynical purpose of increasing pharmaceutical profits. He has single-handedly destroyed the infrastructure of public health globally. He has privatized our health systems and our food systems to serve his own purposes.”
Gaming pandemics
The book’s Chapter 12, Germ Games, may be arguably its most explosive, as it focuses on the US bioweapons and biosecurity apparatus, with a special mention to Robert Kadlec, who might claim leadership of the – contagious – logic according to which infectious disease poses a national security threat to the US, thus requiring a militarized response.
The book argues that Kadlec, closely linked to spy agencies, Big Pharma, the Pentagon and assorted military contractors, is also linked to Fauci investments in “gain of function” experiments capable of engineering pandemic superbugs.
Fauci strongly denies he’s promoted such experiments. Already in 1998 Kadlec had written an internal strategy paper for the Pentagon – though not for Fauci – promoting the role of pandemic pathogens as stealth weapons leaving no fingerprints.
Since 2005 DARPA, which invented the internet by building the ARPANET in 1969, has funded biological weapons research. DARPA – call it the Pentagon’s angel investor – also developed the GPS, stealth bombers, weather satellites, pilotless drones, and that prodigy of combat, the M16 rifle.
It’s important to remember that in 2017 DARPA funneled $6.5 million through Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance to fund “gain of function” work at the Wuhan lab, on top of gain of function experiments at Fort Detrick. EcoHealth Alliance was the organization through which Kadlec, Fauci and DARPA financed these gain of function experiments.
DARPA also developed the GPS, stealth bombers, weather satellites, pilotless drones, and that prodigy of combat, the M16 rifle. In 2017 DARPA funneled $6.5 million through Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance to fund “gain of function” work at the Wuhan lab, on top of gain of function experiments at Fort Detrick. EcoHealth Alliance was the organization through which Kadlec, Fauci and DARPA financed these gain of function experiments,
Few people know that DARPA also financed the key tech for the Moderna vaccine, starting way back in 2013.
RFK Jr dutifully connects the Germ Games progress, starting with Dark Winter in 2001, which emphasized the Pentagon’s drive towards bioweapon vaccines (the code name was coined by Kadlec); the anthrax attack three weeks after 9/11; Atlantic Storm in 2003 and 2005, focused on the response to a terrorist attack unleashing smallpox; Global Mercury 2003; and Lockstep in 2010, which developed a scenario funded by the Rockefeller Foundation where we find this pearl:
During the pandemic, national leaders around the world flexed their authority and imposed airtight rules and restrictions, from the mandatory wearing of face masks to body-temperature checks at the entries to communal spaces like train stations and supermarkets. Even after the pandemic faded, this more authoritarian control and oversight of citizens and their activities stuck and even intensified. In order to protect themselves from the spread of increasingly global problems – from pandemics and transnational terrorism to environmental crises and rising poverty – leaders around the world took a firmer grip on power.
RFK Jr paints a picture in which, by mid-2017, the Rockefeller Foundation and US intel agencies had all but crowned Bill Gates as the top financier for the intel/military pandemic simulation business.
Enter the MARS (Mountain Associated Respiratory Virus) simulation during the G20 in Germany in 2017. MARS was about a novel respiratory virus that spread out of busy markets in a mountainous border of an unnamed nation that looked very much like China.
It gets curiouser and curiouser when one learns that MARS’s two moderators were very close to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and one of them, David Heymann, sat with the Moderna CEO on the Merieux Foundation USA Board. BioMerieux happens to be the French company that built the Wuhan lab.
Big Pharma kisses Western intel
Afterward came SPARS 2017 at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation happen to be major funders of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. SPARS 2017 gamed a coronavirus pandemic running from 2025 to 2028. As RFK Jr. notes, “the exercise turned out to be an eerily precise predictor of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
By 2018 bioweapons expert Peter Daszak was enthroned as the key connector through whom Fauci, Kadlec, DARPA and USAID – which used to be a CIA cover and now reports to the National Security Council – moved grants to fund gain-of-function research, including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology Biosafety Lab.
Crimson Contagion, overseen by Kadlec after eight months of planning, came in August 2019. Fauci was on board the self-described “functional exercise,” representing the NIH, alongside the CDC’s Robert Redfield and several members of the National Security Council. The war game was held in secret, nationwide. The After-Action Crimson Contagion Report only came out via a FOIA request.
The star of the Gates pandemic show was undoubtedly Event 201 in October 2019, held only 3 weeks before US intel may – or may not – have suspected that Covid-19 was circulating in Wuhan. Event 201 was about a global coronavirus pandemic. RFK Jr. persuasively argues that Event 201 was as close as possible to a “real-time” simulation.
The book’s Germ Games chapter leads the reader to acknowledge what mainstream media have simply refused to report: how the pervasive involvement of US (and UK) intel has a secretive – yet dominating – presence in the whole response to Covid-19.
A very good example is the Wellcome Trust – the UK version of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – which is a spin-off of Big Pharma’s GlaxoSmith Kline. This epitomizes the marriage between Big Pharma and Western intel.
The Wellcome Trust chair, from 2015 to 2020, used to be a former director general of MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller. She was also chair of the Imperial College since 2001. The “English Dr. Fauci,” Neil Ferguson, of the infamous, deadly wrong models that led to all lockdowns, was an epidemiologist working for the Wellcome Trust.
These are only a few of the insights and connections woven through RFK Jr’s book. As a matter of public service, the whole lot should be available for popular scrutiny worldwide. These matters concern the whole planet, especially the Global South.
Nobel laureate Luc Montaigner has noted how, “tragically for humanity, there are many, many untruths emanating from Fauci and his minions.” Even more tragic is what emanates from his masters.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 23:45 - Russian Forces Are Growing…In Russia! Pentagon Awkwardly Downplays Ukraine Invasion Hype
Russian Forces Are Growing…In Russia! Pentagon Awkwardly Downplays Ukraine Invasion Hype
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday urged Western allies in NATO to act fast to “deter” Russian aggression aimed at the country’s east, claiming that a Russian military assault could come “in the blink of an eye”.
“What we are seeing is very serious. Russia has deployed a large military force in regions close to Ukraine’s state border,” he told reporters after weeks of widespread Western media assertions that at least 90,000 Russian troops are mustering near the border. “If Russia decides to undertake a military operation, things will happen in literally the blink of an eye,” the foreign minister added.
Kuleba’s numbers were even higher than common Western press estimates: “Moscow has massed 115,000 troops around Ukraine, on the Crimean peninsula,” he was cited as saying. He also alleged tanks, military vehicles, and electronic warfare systems were also being positioned.
File image: Moskva News Agency.ru But the consistent response from the Kremlin has been to point out it’s free to move its forces anywhere it wants within Russia’s own sovereign borders. Ironically enough no officials in the US or anywhere else have actually disputed the reality that there’s not been any attempt to breach Ukraine’s borders.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby seemed to acknowledged this in statements the same day. He said the Pentagon is monitoring Russian troop movements… within Russia. Kirby described Russian forces as—
…”a continuing concern” and pledged US support for Ukrainian forces, though he downplayed expectations of a direct US military intervention.
“We continue to see movement, we continue to see additions” to their forces near the Ukrainian border, said Kirby.
“We’re watching it very closely,” he told reporters, adding: “We don’t envision any US military intervention in this conflict.”
To be sure, if US intelligence actually believed Putin is preparing an “imminent” invasion (as an initial Bloomberg report and some US officials earlier this month claimed), Kirby would now be threatening US military intervention to prevent such an offensive.
But instead Kirby is obviously downplaying the “invasion” scenario, and is reduced to admitting the Pentagon is merely “watching” the “movement” of Russian troops within Russia’s own territory. He with a serious tone told the press pool that Russian troops are growing…in Russia.
Image: AP This is tantamount to if China or Russia called a press conference, only to inform reporters that American troop movements are being monitored within the United States and in the vicinity of US bases on US soil. Moscow days ago slammed what it’s classified as an ongoing ‘disinformation campaign’ coming from Ukraine and Washington, meant to increase the Western pressure on Russia and provide leverage.
Last week Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova issued a searing response to what’s perhaps in reality a ‘non-crisis’. She said, “The hot heads in the Kiev regime, apparently with a feeling of complete impunity, are in favor of a military solution to this internal Ukrainian crisis.”
The Kremlin is now turning the accusation right back, asserting it’s Ukraine that’s pushing for fresh confrontation in Donbass, while attempting to hype tensions to the point that Kiev’s Western backers get drawn in.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 23:25 - Pentagon Orders New Probe into Syria Airstrike That Killed Dozens of Civilians
Pentagon Orders New Probe into Syria Airstrike That Killed Dozens of Civilians
By Isasbel van Brugen of Epoch Times,
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a new investigation into a 2019 airstrike in Syria that led to multiple civilian deaths, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby announced on Monday.
The renewed probe will be led by U.S. Army Forces commander Gen. Michael Garrett within a 90-day deadline. It aims to review “reports of investigation already conducted” while simultaneously conducting “further inquiry into the facts and circumstances” of the U.S. airstrike that killed dozens of women and children, Kirby said.
The news follows an investigation published by The New York Times earlier this month, titled “How the U.S. Hid an Airstrike That Killed Dozens of Civilians in Syria.”
Its report revealed that the March 18, 2019 airstrike on ISIS in Baghouz, Syria, was carried out by a classified American special operations unit, called Task Force 9, which was in charge of ground operations in Syria, and resulted in the deaths of as many as 70 civilians.
There were mostly women and children in the region hit by the strike, the Times reported, noting that the Baghuz strike was one of the largest civilian casualty incidents of the war against the Islamic State, but it has never been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. military.
The investigation also alleged that top officers and civilian officials attempted to downplay these figures.
The probe will cover “civilian casualties that resulted from the incident, compliance with the law of war” and “whether accountability measures would be appropriate,” Kirby said.
Garrett will also be asked to recreate the timeline of the original probe into the incident after it was “stalled and stripped of any mention of the strike,” according to the Times.
It comes after Austin earlier this month said that the U.S. military was “committed” to getting right its transparency about strikes and how they are conducted.
“The American people deserve to know that we take this issue very seriously. And that we are committed to protecting civilians and getting this right both in terms of how we execute missions on their behalf and how we talk about them afterwards,” Austin said at a press briefing on Nov. 17. “And I recognize that and I’m committed to doing this in full partnership with our military leaders.”
Kirby said on Monday that Austin decided to order a new probe after being briefed on the matter by Central Command head Gen. Kenneth McKenzie earlier this month.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 23:05 - US May Impose New Omicron-Inspired Travel Restrictions As More Cases Confirmed In Canada
US May Impose New Omicron-Inspired Travel Restrictions As More Cases Confirmed In Canada
Fewer than 250 confirmed cases of the omicron variant have been recorded worldwide (although epidemiologists fear the number of cases caused by the variant could be much higher). But that isn’t stopping the CDC, led by Rochelle Walensky – the same bureaucrat who admitted two months ago that COVID jabs “can’t prevent transmission” of the virus – from pushing for tighter travel restrictions in an effort to “slow” the new variant’s entry into the US.
President Joe Biden signaled that he would be taking the new variant seriously during a press conference yesterday where he delegated to Dr. Anthony Fauci multiple times. Dr. Fauci has seized the opportunity to bombard Americans with FUD related to the new strain.
Cases of the variant have been confirmed in Canada, and many believe it’s only a matter of time before a case is confirmed in the US (even if the US were to close its borders to non-citizens again tomorrow).
CDC Dir. Walensky: “We don’t know everything we need to know yet about the omicron variant, but we know that vaccination is a safe and effective way to protect yourself from severe illness and complications from all known SARS-CoV-2 variants to date.” https://t.co/SNpGmVWFmu pic.twitter.com/TTHQVLsNHH
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) November 30, 2021
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But instead of taking such drastic action, the CDC is looking at a handful of less intensive measures.
These include narrowing the testing window for travelers heading into the US, while adding quarantine requirements in certain cases, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday on a call with reporters. It’s also expanding surveillance programs at four major airports to test for the omicron variant, and just regular old COVID, from certain international arrivals.
In the meantime, Canada, which has just confirmed another case of the new variant, is reportedly adding Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt to the list of African countries where travelers are banned due to concerns about the new variant, the Toronto Star. The first cases of omicron were reported in travelers from Nigeria.
Walensky added that local health officials across the US are actively looking for the omicron variant. “Right now, there is no evidence of omicron in the United States…the delta variant remains the predominant circulating strain” she added.
She also warned that the CDC is “strengthening” its recommendation that all adults over 18 get their booster shots.
“Everyone ages 18 and older should get a booster shot either when they are 6 months after their initial Pfizer or Moderna series or 2 months after their initial J&J vaccine,” she said.
Assuming the US does impose new travel restrictions, how much longer until Americans who don’t have their boosters are treated as de facto unvaccinated? While those who haven’t had any of their shots are treated like lepers.
Source: NYT
A handful of countries – Israel, Morocco, Japan and South Korea – have closed off foreign travel while European nations shut their borders specifically to travelers from southern Africa. And a US governor has already declared a state of emergency without a single omicron case being confirmed. That all seems to contradict President Biden’s insistence that the new variant is a “cause for concern, not panic”.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 22:45 - Australia Will Not Return To Lockdown In Wake Of Omicron Variant: PM
Australia Will Not Return To Lockdown In Wake Of Omicron Variant: PM
Authored by Brendan Taylor via Insider Paper (emphasis ours),
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has stated that the country will not be placed back into lockdown in response to the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Morrison met with state and territory leaders on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the national response to the new variant of concern.
Prior to the meeting, Morrison stated that the federal, state, and territory governments would be cautious about Omicron, but ruled out a return to strict stay-at-home restrictions, according to the Xinhua news agency.
He said he would use the national cabinet meeting to implore state and territory leaders to keep domestic borders open in the run-up to Christmas.
“We’re not going back to lockdowns. None of us want that,” he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
“What we did last night was protecting against that by having a sensible pause and to keep proceeding with where we are now and to further assess that information so we can move forward with confidence.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Health Minister Greg Hunt said that the federal government’s “overwhelming view” is that the Omicron variant is “manageable.”
Six cases of the new variant had been confirmed in Australia as of Tuesday.
Australia reported more than 1,100 new Covid-19 cases and nine deaths on Tuesday morning, as the country battles the third wave of infections.
The majority of new cases were reported in Victoria, the country’s second-most populous state with Melbourne as its capital city, which reported 918 cases and six deaths.
According to the Health Department, as of Monday, 92.4 percent of Australians aged 16 and up had received one vaccine dose and 87% had received their second dose.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 22:25 - Goldman Partners With Amazon To Launch New Cloud Computing Platform
Goldman Partners With Amazon To Launch New Cloud Computing Platform
Goldman Sachs and Amazon are launching their most ambitious collaboration yet: a new cloud computing service geared toward Wall Street firms to help them with high-frequency trading and other practices.
And all these firms need to do is agree to entrust their entire back-end IT setup to the Vampire Squid to access what Amazon is touting as one of the fastest and most useful back-end systems available to Wall Street firms looking to transition on to the cloud.
The new product – the result of a two-year collaboration with Amazon – will allow buy-side and sell-side firms to access all of Goldman’s tools for quickly analyzing market data while enabling clients to set up high-speed trading strategies. Instead of simply relying on Goldman for prime brokerage services, hedge funds could soon outsource most of their IT setup to Wall Street’s most powerful investment bank, with a critical assist from Amazon.
CNBC said the collaboration is in line with Goldman’s attempt to use technology to better serve clients of the firm’s markets division.
“Clients of the firm will get access to our decades of experience and data aggregation that should enable them to enhance their business decisions, both from a speed and efficiency perspective,” Solomon told CNBC last week in a phone interview. “We think that adds to our position as a leader in the marketplace.”
The new service, called GS Financial Cloud for Data with Amazon Web Services, will purportedly allow buy side firms to save time by allowing developers to focus on what matters – making sure trades are filed and filled as quickly as possible, rather than wasting time wrangling data sets and leaning on a patchwork of legacy software to analyze said data. It will also “lower the barriers to entry” for firms to use advanced quantitative trading techniques, Goldman said.
To be sure, using Goldman’s IT platform will also help the Vampire Squid monitor the activities of clients, granting Goldman the transparency to avoid any overlevered time bombs like Archegos.
The industry is struggling to keep up with the rising technological demands of the latest investment techniques, according to Goldman co-chief CIO Marco Argenti.
Argenti added that “if this existed, we would have used it…but we had to build it for ourselves. All you need to do is assemble the interface and integrate it with your application and then everything else is kind of taken care of for you.”
Amazon and Goldman unveiled the new product at the AWS: Invent Conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday. But this isn’t the start of the relationship between Goldman and Amazon. The two company’s have been collaborating for more than a decade. Goldman leaned on Amazon to help build the back end of Goldman’s “Marcus” consumer finance business, along with its Apple Card, which was released a few years after Marcus.
Adam Selipsky, who rejoined Amazon as head of AWS earlier this year, said the idea for a collaboration with Goldman arose from conversations with other financial services customers.
“We have a lot of customers who ask us to help them do what Amazon did with AWS,” Selipsky said in a phone interview. “When we started talking about Goldman’s capabilities around data and around analytics in the financial services realm, the ideas just sprang up pretty rapidly about collaborating together.”
Goldman CEO David Solomon said the new offering will “enhance the experience” of Goldman’s institutional clients and that “the way we get paid for that is we get more of their wallet share because the overall experience and services we provide gives us more mindshare, more opportunities to trade with them, to finance them and do things like that,” Solomon said.
It’s only the latest major cloud deal involving a Wall Street player as firms with complicated trading operations look to the cloud to solve their problems.
Hey look at that. Another cloud deal.
CME – Google
Nasdaq – Amazon
Goldman – Amazon https://t.co/FAUlOKQM6D— Patrick Rooney (@patrickrooney) November 30, 2021
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Put another way: once Goldman is running the buy side’s back end, firms will effectively be forced to trade with Goldman (not to mention the treasure drove of data and information that Goldman might glean from the arrangement). Nothing’s free on Wall Street.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 22:05 - Judge Blocks Biden’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate For Federal Contractors
Judge Blocks Biden’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate For Federal Contractors
By Zachary Stieber of Epoch Times
A judge on Tuesday blocked President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors, finding that Biden likely lacks the authority to force them to get vaccinated.
“This is not a case about whether vaccines are effective. They are. Nor is this a case about whether the government, at some level, and in some circumstances, can require citizens to obtain vaccines. It can,” U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove, a George W. Bush nominee, wrote in the 29-page order.
“The question presented here is narrow. Can the president use congressionally delegated authority to manage the federal procurement of goods and services to impose vaccines on the employees of federal contractors and subcontractors? In all likelihood, the answer to that question is no,” he said.
The judge granted a request for a preliminary injunction by the attorneys general of Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“This is not about vaccines, it’s about the mandates,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, said in a statement.
“The judge’s opinion clearly states that and it has been our position all along that the president cannot impose these mandates on the people.”
Biden signed an executive order on Sept. 9 that led several weeks later to the White House requiring contractors force all their workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine unless the worker is entitled to an exception.
Contractors who did not comply with the order, originally set with a Dec. 8 deadline, were poised to lose the government’s business.
The states charged that the vaccine mandate was both illegal and unconstitutional, in part because it was imposed with little regard to “important aspects surrounding the mandate, including but not limited to economic impacts, cost to States, cost to citizens, labor-force and supply-chain disruptions, the current risks of COVID-19, and basic distinctions among workers such as those with natural immunity to COVID-19 and those who work remotely or with limited in-person contacts, among other aspects.”
The government disagreed, arguing that the president does have authority to regulate contractors under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act because. Courts have ruled the president can pursue “efficient and economic” procurement, which he was in the order, lawyers asserted.
Van Tatenhove sided with the states.
Defendants, he said, failed to point to a single instance when the services act was used “to promulgate such a wide and sweeping public health regulation as mandatory vaccination for all federal contractors and subcontractors.” He also expressed concern that the mandate “intrudes on an area that is traditionally reserved to the States,” citing the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution.
A preliminary injunction means the mandate is blocked for now in the three states, with the possibility of becoming a permanent block or eventually being allowed to take effect.
A preliminary injunction has already been entered against the Biden administration’s health care worker vaccine mandate and a similar mandate for private businesses.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 21:45 - Lumber Prices Soar As British Columbia Floods Curb Shipments
Lumber Prices Soar As British Columbia Floods Curb Shipments
Lumber prices surged to June highs as Canada’s largest forestry company curbed shipments due to supply chain disruptions after severe flooding in British Columbia.
West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. said weekly lumber shipments from Canada’s westernmost province fell approximately 25%-30% in the second half of November following floods. Pulp shipments to the port of Vancouver were down 20%.
“While West Fraser is utilizing alternative transportation routes and methods to the extent they are available to continue servicing customers, the magnitude and duration of the impact from current weather events remains uncertain.
Therefore, West Fraser has reduced operating schedules at multiple western Canadian locations and will continue to make such adjustments as necessary in order to manage inventory levels, raw material supplies and our integrated fibre supply chain.
At the current time, it is not possible to estimate when full transportation services will resume or when the backlogs resulting from the interruptions will be cleared,” the company said in a statement.
Uncertainty about lumber supply spooked lumber futures trading in Chicago on Tuesday, up nearly 4% to $824.50 per 1,000 board feet, the highest price since late June. Prices have jumped 30% in the last two weeks.
Around Nov. 14, an atmospheric river dumped torrential rains across southern parts of British Columbia. A series of floods severely damaged infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and train tracks. Moving lumber from sawmills to ports generally occurs on trucks and or trains. With infrastructure damaged, as shown below, it appears West Fraser has been partially choked off in accessing ports.
Greg Kuta, the founder of Westline Capital Strategies Inc., which specializes in lumber trading, told Bloomberg that “there’s no point in producing more than you can ship right now, especially knowing lumber is at the bottom of the pecking order with rail car allocation.”
There’s no timetable on when West Fraser’s supply chain will go back to normal. Fixing bridges and roads is not an overnight process. It could take weeks, if not months, to resolve the logistical nightmare that some blame on climate change, and others point to La Nina. As for now, a bullish thesis could be developing for lumber as supply woes mount.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 21:25 - The Perfect Con Job
The Perfect Con Job
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via DailyReckoning.com,
One of the most famous examples of smart people being sucked into a bubble and losing a packet as a result is Isaac Newton’s forays in and out of the 1720 South Sea Bubble that is estimated to have sucked in 80–90% of the entire pool of investors in England.
Some have claimed that Newton did not buy early in 1711, sell in April 1720 for a nice profit and then sink the majority of his substantial fortune in the bubble as it peaked in summer, then suffering heavy losses as the bubble popped in September, but evidence supports this chain of events.
Newton “bought the dip” on the way up and then added to his position as the mania rolled over, making his final fatal purchase as a “buy the dip” just before the “last chance to exit” spike — which is precisely the point the current bubble has finally reached, when everyone is all in and “buying the dip” to increase the profits that everyone agrees are essentially guaranteed because the Fed.
Not Even a Genius Can See a Bubble
Isaac Newton was a very smart man. Newton was not just smart and wealthy, but he was financially sophisticated and a very successful investor who favored financial instruments such as bonds over land.
He was the ultimate experienced, savvy investor who would not be bamboozled by specious math.
The problem is, alas, smart people are still humans, and humans run with the herd when the herd is minting money.
The Herd Is in for a Rude Awakening
Absurdly farfetched claims are gussied up with “mathiness” and narratives that are powerfully simplistic, with just enough common-sense credibility to enliven the excessive greed that lies dormant but ready in every human heart.
Despite Newton’s tremendous intelligence and experience, he fell victim to the bubble along with the vast herd of credulous greedy punters.
Newton died a wealthy man in 1727, so his bubble misadventure did not ruin him, though it did lop a huge chunk off his net worth.
Many in the herd, then and now, won’t be as fortunate. In fact, right now they’re being set up for a massive fall. And the financially intelligent could make fortunes as a result.
Let me explain…
An Opportunity to Scoop up Mega-Millions
An extraordinary opportunity to scoop up mega-millions in profits has arisen, and grabbing all this free money makes perfect financial sense. Now the question is: Will those who have the means to grab the dough have the guts to do so?
Here’s the opportunity:
Retail punters (those who attempt to make fast profits from an investment regardless of its underlying fundamentals) have gone wild for call options, churning $2.6 trillion in mostly short-term calls — bets on gains now, not later.
This expansion of retail options exposure is unprecedented not just in its volume but in its concentration in short-term bets (options that expire in a few days) and in mega-cap tech companies that are commanding rich premiums for options.
The options market is like every other market only more so.
The price of an option — a bet that a stock, ETF or index will go up or down before the option expires — is sensitive to the volatility of the underlying equity, the demand of other punters for options and the premium being demanded for time:
The further out the expiration date, the higher the cost of the option.
Anyone with 100 shares of the underlying equity can write/originate an option. Each option controls 100 shares, so a call option that is listed at $1 costs the buyer of the call $100.
This is very sweet leverage if the market goes your way. You get all the gains of the 100 shares for a cost considerably less than buying the 100 shares outright. No wonder retail punters are going crazy for this cheap leverage to maximize gains in “can’t lose” trades.
There’s a Catch
But options have one funny trait: They can expire worthless and the punter loses the entire bet.
Each option has an expiration date and a strike price — the price of the underlying equity that’s the pivot point for the bet.
Calls gain value if the equity’s price moves above the strike price and puts gain value if the equity’s price falls below the strike price.
The entity that sold the option gets to keep the money if it expires without any value. Here’s an example:
Let’s say you have 100 shares of Engulf & Devour and you sell me a call for $500 at a strike price of $100. If Engulf & Devour closes below $100 at expiration, you keep the $500 as pure profit and I lose the entire bet.
Now, it would be extraordinarily profitable to sell a huge number of calls — bets on a move higher — and then pull the rug out by crashing the market just as all those options expire. It would be criminally foolish not to crash the market and scoop up all that free money.
Here’s what makes the opportunity so extraordinary…
All Bulls, No Bears
The options universe is extremely lopsided. Bearish bets have dried up as the market has melted higher month after month; short bets are at record lows and the put-call ratio reflects the same capitulation of bears and bulls’ supreme confidence in near-term gains.
This means a crash will cost very little in terms of puts gaining value because there are so few puts out there to reap enormous gains as the vast majority of call options will expire worthless, leaving those who wrote the calls immensely wealthier.
In previous eras with lower retail option volume and a less lopsided options market, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble to flash-crash the market to scoop up retail calls. But a trillion here and a trillion there and pretty soon you’re talking real money.
Buyers of “can’t lose” calls may be unaware that the tail can wag the dog. Mega-cap tech companies appear invulnerable to declines, but they are now the 800-pound gorillas in all the indexes (Dow 30, S&P 500, Nasdaq) and a boatload of ETFs.
So triggering a mass sell-off in an index play such as SPY will trigger a sell-off in all the components of that index, including the invulnerable mega-cap tech names.
Mass Exodus
The opportunity here is amplified by the dominance of computer trading algorithms. Once a crash begins, the algos will trend-follow and liquidate exposure to lower risk. This sets up a self-reinforcing chain of selling as every drop triggers more sell programs.
Volumes are so low that it won’t take that big of a leveraged sell order to start the rug-pull.
Add up the extraordinary size of retail options bets, the lopsided bullish bias in calls and the short duration of the calls and you have an unprecedented opportunity to scoop mega-millions of dollars by doing a rug-pull of the market via selling leveraged index instruments.
Retail call buyers are basically begging the big players to take their money via a flash crash, and the players would be insanely incompetent not to take the money lying on the table.
The Perfect Con
It has all the moving parts of a perfect con:
Convince the retail punters that they can’t lose by buying calls, jack up the premium they’re paying to own that beautiful leverage for a few days or weeks, lead them on with little rallies, “proving” they can’t lose and encouraging them to buy more high-priced calls, crush volatility to show the futility of buying puts and persuade the punters they have no need for any hedge, as the market can only loft higher because the Fed, etc.
Then bang, pull the rug out and crash the market limit down for a few days.
It’s a gorgeous setup, literally picture-perfect. It makes perfect financial sense to crash the market and no sense to reward the retail options marks by pushing it higher.
Let’s see who gets to be the Road Runner and who ends up as Wile E. Coyote.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 21:05 - NY Man Robs Woman At Knifepoint, Released Without Bail And Promptly Finds Another Female Victim
NY Man Robs Woman At Knifepoint, Released Without Bail And Promptly Finds Another Female Victim
A man in New York City was arrested for allegedly robbing a woman at knifepoint in a Nov. 22 subway attack. Hours later he was released on bail by Judge James Clynes, a Democrat.
Prosecutors asked for Augustin Garcia to be held on a $15,000 bail after he was arrested for robbery last week, but he was released without bail and was arrested for theft just hours later. (NYPD) After a good night’s sleep in his own bed, 63-year-old Augustin Garcia stole an iPhone from another woman on the subway the next morning, according to Fox News.
He now faces charges of petty larceny, grand larceny, robbery, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal trespassing.
He allegedly stole a woman’s purse on the afternoon of Nov. 22 and ran onto a train, then “displayed a knife and told her to stay back” when she pursued him, according to a criminal complaint.
After he was arrested, prosecutors requested a $15,000 cash bail or a $45,000 bond, but Judge James Clynes let him go on supervised release just after midnight on Nov. 23, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told Fox News.
Garcia was arrested again about seven hours later for allegedly stealing from the second victim and prosecutors upped the request to a $20,000 cash bail or a $60,000 bond, but Judge Valentina Morales ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation.
“My brother is a sick person,” said Jose Garcia, Augustin’s brother, in a comment to the NY Post, adding that Augustin used to be “sharp as a weasel” when he was working as a supervisor at at welding company. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia around 35 years ago.
“When he goes to the hospital and is committed there, sometimes for a month or two, he sometimes doesn’t get the treatment completely, and they release him. And once they release him, the problem comes back again,” Garcia continued.
Augustin was arrested the day before the first robbery for allegedly stealing a 12-pack of beer from a Bronx bodega – and reportedly bragged to the cops that he knew he’d be released.
“I know I’m getting out, he said, adding “I have no record.”
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 20:45 - US Officials Confirm Israel Behind Cyberattack On Iranian Gas Stations
US Officials Confirm Israel Behind Cyberattack On Iranian Gas Stations
Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,
Citing unnamed US military officials, The New York Times reported Saturday that Israel was responsible for a recent cyberattack against civilian infrastructure in Iran that targeted gas stations.
The report said Israel was behind an October 26th hack of Iran’s fuel distribution system that caused gas pumps to stop working across the country. Gas pumps displayed a digital message telling customers to blame the problem on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran provides a certain amount of subsidized fuel to each citizen for a discounted price, and the report said it took the Oil Ministry two weeks to get the system back up and running. The idea was to get Iranians angry at the government and to create unrest, but it never materialized.
It’s unclear if the cyberattack was as disruptive as the Times report said, as Israel is known for using leaks to the media to exaggerate the power it has inside Iran. The report also cited unnamed Israeli officials who claimed Iranians hacked an Israeli dating site and a medical facility in response. The officials said the hackers posted the personal details of millions of Israelis to social media.
Israel is often suspected of carrying out cyberattacks against Iran on top of its frequent attacks against Iran’s civilian nuclear program. But the US usually keeps quiet on these operations.
The acknowledgment by US officials came just before the US and Iran resumed negotiations to revive the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, and could have been an attempt to increase the pressure ahead of the talks.
Israel & Iran up cyberattacks against each other. A recent cyberattack on Iran’s fuel distribution system paralyzed 4,300 gas stations & took 12 days restored. Days later a cyberattacks in Israel hit a medical facility & popular LGBTQ dating site. https://t.co/u6APXgOfRH
— Kylie Atwood (@kylieatwood) November 28, 2021
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
When the Biden administration started its first round of talks with Iran back in April, Israel carried out a covert attack against Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. By not condemning the attack, the US gave it a tacit endorsement. Quietly backing Israel’s operations against Iran appears to be a negotiations tactic for the Biden administration.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 20:25 - Leaked Video Shows Moment F-35 Jet Rolled Off UK Carrier In Mediterranean
Leaked Video Shows Moment F-35 Jet Rolled Off UK Carrier In Mediterranean
New video has emerged, possibly the result of a military leak, of a British fighter jet crash that occurred less than two weeks ago off the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean.
A Nov.17 press release put out by the UK Defence Ministry had stated, “A British F35 pilot from HMS Queen Elizabeth ejected during routine flying operations in the Mediterranean this morning.” The pilot was described as in safe condition and is back on the ship after the major incident, but further details were scant. But new video has been featured by Business Insider after apparently leaked footage from aboard the carrier was posted to social media. A UK military analyst posted the new footage:
Well thank God he is still with us! That’s all I can say. pic.twitter.com/YtL6f0BFAm
— Seb H (@sebh1981) November 29, 2021
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The Royal Navy video looks to be security footage from the crash. It was initially unknown whether the advanced fighter jet had crashed while in flight, or if it had rolled off the carrier, with the footage now confirming the latter scenario.
The private analyst who posted the footage online said it was sourced to a Royal Navy WhatsApp group, with Business Insider describing the scene as follows:
The video shows the plane losing speed as it climbs the runway, so much so that it immediately drops instead of taking off. The pilot’s parachute is visible as he ejects, and smoke billows around the ramp and sea.
The BBC’s report added that the MoD confirmed that the pilot survived and was rescued. The MoD also told the BBC that an investigation was still underway as crews are still trying to recover parts of the high-technology, sensitive parts of the plane.
The UK military has since said it was “aware” of the now public video but didn’t give comment. It simply stated that “It is too soon to comment on the potential causes of this incident.”
One former Royal Navy officer was cited in British media as explaining, “Given how close the aircraft ditched to the bow, and the speed of the ship on launch, the likelihood of it hitting the bow of the ship (under the waterline) would be quite high.”
The short clip shows the jet taking off at a dangerously slow speed, and then appearing to power down just as it reached the end of the runway, which caused it to plunge into the sea below. The pilot ejected at the moment the F-35’s nose began going overboard. The military hasn’t confirmed if there was damage to the carrier due to the accident.
What take-off is supposed to look like: F-35B Lightning II takeoff from HMS Queen Elizabeth, via Royal Navy. The crashed jet was part of a contingent of nearly a dozen F-35s aboard. The F-35 that went down was an estimated 135 million dollars, and had cutting-edge stealth technology and radar. Depending on what the investigation returns, the mishap could prove hugely embarrassing, especially if it wasn’t pilot error but something wrong with the plane’s advanced systems.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 20:05 - Retailers Open Pop-Up Container Yards To Bypass Savannah Port Jams
Retailers Open Pop-Up Container Yards To Bypass Savannah Port Jams
By Eric Kulisch of American Shipper,
Overflow lots set up by large retailers this month as temporary staging areas for imported containers have helped bring down congestion levels at the Port of Savannah, and Georgia officials expect further efficiency gains with this week’s opening of two more port-sponsored pop-up sites.
The Georgia Ports Authority, in partnership with the Norfolk Southern, will start accepting loaded containers on Monday at the freight railroad’s nearby Dillon Yard and later this week will begin routing shipping units to a general aviation airport in Statesboro, located about 60 miles west of Savannah, Chief Operating Officer Ed McCarthy told FreightWaves.
Moving containers to off-port properties is part of the recently announced South Atlantic Supply Chain Relief Program designed to reclaim space at the Garden City Terminal, where container crowding is making it difficult for vessels to unload and for stacking equipment and trucks to maneuver. In October, Savannah handled an all-time record of 504,350 twenty-foot equivalent units for a single month, an increase of 8.7% over October 2020. The volume surpassed the GPA’s previous record of 498,000 TEUs set in March.
Port officials began testing the Dillon Yard and Statesboro locations last week after renting top loaders for stacking and truck transfers, installing computer lines in order to track containers entering the gate with radio frequency identification, and laying extra pavement at the rail facility, McCarthy said.
Four or five more pop-up container facilities are scheduled to open around Georgia by mid-December and the port authority is talking with freight railroad CSX about an auxiliary storage site in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the COO said in an interview.
The sites are mini-versions of inland ports where containers are brought to strategically located sites by intermodal rail, shortening the distance trucks have to travel to collect imports or drop off exports and reducing traffic in and around busy seaports. The concept essentially brings the seaport closer to manufacturing, agriculture and population centers.
The GPA currently operates a large inland intermodal rail terminal in Murray County, Georgia, as well as an inland dry bulk facility. Construction on a second inland rail link for containerized cargo in northeast Georgia is scheduled to begin in April and be completed by mid- to late 2024, spokesman Robert Morris said. South Carolina also operates two inland ports, Virginia has one in the northwestern part of the state and the Port of Long Beach in California recently launched an effort to quickly flow cargo to Utah for distribution by converting truck traffic to rail.
Several users of the Port of Savannah this month have opened pop-up yards of their own where they can directly flow import containers to avoid waiting for longshoremen to sort through shipping units for their cargo and then retrieve them when space opens at one of their distribution centers. Each of the private spillover yards can accommodate 2,000 to 3,000 containers.
“We’re starting to see some of our customer base do their own pop-ups. They’re contracting with some folks who have capabilities in the Savannah region and … taking their long-term destiny in their own hands,” McCarthy said in an interview.
The Rocky Mount intermodal facility being discussed with CSX will probably be used as an alternative storage location for empty containers. It could be running by early December, the COO said. Whether containers are diverted from other locations or whether empties are loaded up in Savannah and sent there remains to be determined.
The Biden administration, which is focused on alleviating a nationwide supply chain crisis that is creating product shortages and contributing to inflation, helped fund the GPA’s emergency storage yards by reallocating $8 million in federal funds. Additional flexibility recently granted by the Department of Transportation allows port authorities to redirect cost savings from previous projects funded by port infrastructure grants toward mitigating truck, rail and terminal delays that are preventing the swift evacuation of containers from ports.
White House port envoy John Porcari, the liaison between industry and the White House Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, said the government is looking to create more inland ports.
“We’re encouraging other ports to do the same [thing as Savannah.] I think you’ll see a generation of projects in the short term around the country that will help maximize the existing on-dock capacity through interior pop-up sites,” Porcari said on Bloomberg’s “Odd Lots” podcast last week.
“The fundamental issue is that the docks themselves are such valuable pieces of real estate that you don’t want the containers dwelling there a second longer than you have to. You want to get them to the interior or back on ships to their target markets overseas,” he said.
Better Fluidity
Improvements in rail handling, a dip in import volumes in line with seasonal patterns and the customer pop-up yards have combined to improve cargo flow and reduce the number of ships waiting for a berth at the Port of Savannah, McCarthy said.
The port authority released an operations update last week showing the average dwell time for a container moving by rail after vessel unloading is two days, and that the average resting time within the terminal for import and export containers is about eight days, down from 11 and 10 days, respectively. The backlog of empty containers remains a problem, with boxes lingering an average of 17.8 days.
The improved performance is helping personnel work vessels faster and reduce Savannah’s cargo backlog. The number of ships at anchor in the Atlantic Ocean declined to 15 as of Monday morning from 22 two weeks ago, Morris said. There were 24 container vessels at anchor in mid-October. Total containers on the terminal also declined 13% and are down 16% from the peak of 85,000, according to the update.
McCarthy said there are about 225,000 TEUs currently on the water, a 10% to 12% reduction from early November that indicates “we are over the hump of the peak season.”
Last week, ocean carrier CMA CGM said its Liberty Bridge service from northern Europe to the U.S. East Coast would temporarily skip Savannah due to the congestion. According to the revised schedule, seven stops between late December and early February will be omitted. Shippers can send Savannah cargo to the Port of Charleston, South Carolina, until then, it said.
The GPA also noted that providers have increased the supply of chassis, the wheeled frames on which containers rest when pulled by truck, and are increasingly able to repair more chassis to help meet demand for cargo deliveries.
Mason Rail Terminal expansion. (Source: Georgia Ports Authority) The Port of Savannah increased its near-dock rail capacity by 30% with the commissioning two weeks ago of a second set of nine tracks at the Mason Mega Rail Terminal. The port moved 550,000 containers by rail last year and now has more than 2 million TEUs of capacity with an eye toward future growth. The ability to discharge cargo from a vessel and ship it out by train in less than two days is best in class for the U.S., McCarthy noted.
A huge new container yard will come online in phases starting in December and culminate with about 820,000 TEUs of additional capacity by March. The project includes rubber-tired gantry cranes for sorting, stacking and transferring containers.
Construction of another berth is underway and scheduled to be complete in 2023.
Meanwhile, the federal dredging project to deepen the Savannah River to 47 feet (54 feet at high tide) is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022. It has already allowed vessels with deeper drafts to enter the port, McCarthy said. The deepening translates to about 200 extra loaded containers per foot and a total of 1,000 per vessel when the project is finished.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 19:45 - Michael Flynn Reportedly Calls QAnon A 'CIA Disinformation Campaign'
Michael Flynn Reportedly Calls QAnon A ‘CIA Disinformation Campaign’
Former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn reportedly believes that ‘QAnon’ is actually a ‘disinformation campaign created by the CIA,’ despite having heavily endorsed the movement.
In a private telephone conversation with pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood which has not been independently verified, Flynn – according to Wood, dismissed QAnon as ‘total nonsense,’ the Daily Mail reports.
Wood posted the conversation to his Telegram channel on Saturday. Exactly when the call took place is unclear, however it referenced a Hal Turner article published Nov. 2.
“I think it’s a disinformation campaign. I think it’s a disinformation campaign that the CIA created. That’s what I believe,” the man said to be Flynn said on the recording. “Now, I don’t know that for a fact, but that’s what I think it is.”
Later in the call, the same man can be heard stating how the conspiracy movement was ‘total nonsense’ calling it a ‘disinformation campaign created by the left’.
‘I think it’s a disinformation campaign. There’s actually a very interesting article today out that was sent to me — I’ll send it to you — about how the QAnon movement has failed and all that. But I find it total nonsense, and I think it’s a disinformation campaign created by the left,’ he said. –Daily Mail
Listen:
vIdEo pRoDuCtIoN iS mY pAsSiOn pic.twitter.com/7ErBpus3kn
— Jan Bobrowicz (@janbobrowicz) November 28, 2021
While it’s possible the man heard in the recording is not Flynn, the retired Army General hasn’t denied it when reached for comment by other outlets.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 19:25 - Bitcoin Version Of "Giving Tuesday" Returns With 10 Times As Many Nonprofits
Bitcoin Version Of “Giving Tuesday” Returns With 10 Times As Many Nonprofits
Authored by ‘NAMCIOS’ via BitcoinMagazine.com,
Crypto Giving Tuesday returns this year to connect bitcoin donors with over 1,000 nonprofits from various sectors.
Philanthropy platform The Giving Block is launching the Crypto Giving Tuesday initiative on Tuesday, November 30, according to a statement sent to Bitcoin Magazine. The campaign will take place on the same day as the world’s most prominent day of global generosity, Giving Tuesday, to connect bitcoin donors with nonprofits across various sectors.
The Giving Block facilitates nonprofit organizations’ experience in receiving donations in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Philanthropic investors can browse and contribute to the cause they identify more with by sending direct bitcoin donations rather than converting the desired amount to fiat currency and donating that instead. Donors can avoid capital gains taxes from the sale of cryptocurrency and enable a bigger donation to reach the nonprofit, a win-win for both parties.
“People can avoid giving proceeds to the IRS by donating that money directly…to charity,” the statement said.
“For example, if an investor chooses to donate based on assets they have recouped, takes $10,000 in Bitcoin and cashes out to donate, they will get the write-off, but pay capital gains tax on the $10K (as much as 20%). If the same investor donates the $10K in Bitcoin directly to a nonprofit, they still get the write-off, but there’s zero tax to be paid.”
There are currently over 700 nonprofit organizations on The Giving Block’s platform, and the company expects over 1,000 organizations to participate in the campaign this year, almost ten times more than in 2020.
Crypto Giving Tuesday can also serve as an inexpensive pilot program for nonprofits interested in accepting bitcoin donations. If they have a successful campaign, they can present their results to their leadership to push the Bitcoin agenda more easily. And for those worried about their precious bitcoin stack, they can enforce a virtuous cycle while purchasing back the same amount of BTC instantly after donating, which is also tax efficient.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 19:05 - FDA Advisory Committee Narrowly Votes To Approve Merck's COVID 'Miracle Drug'
FDA Advisory Committee Narrowly Votes To Approve Merck’s COVID ‘Miracle Drug’
During a week that has seen a new COVID variant emerge and suddenly throw the efficacy of American vaccines and remedies into question, the FDA’s outside advisors have only narrowly approved of Merck’s molnupiravir, opening the door for the agency to approve the drug for use among high-risk patients only.
The Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee, as the panel is known, voted 13 to 10 in support of the FDA approving the drug, which was first introduced to the public a couple of months ago with “blockbuster” experimental results from a very limited trial that, according to some critics, glossed over safety risks presented by the drug.
By granting its blessing to the drug, the committee will allow Merck to start selling it widely in the US by the end of the year.
As far as omicron is concerned, Merck plans to study whether molnupiravir is effective against the new variant panic of the moment. The company is working to collect samples of the new strain to do so. Nick Kartsonis, who oversees Merck’s vaccine clinical research, confirmed as much to the panel.
“We expect, based on what we know about the Omicron variant, that molnupiravir would be effective against this particular variant,” he said.
Evaluating molnupiravir against omicron, Kartsonis said, will take longer than assessing COVID-19 antibody drugs because Merck needs to collect a broader set of data covering the entire genome of the virus, rather than select pieces.
As we have explained, molnupiravir targets the machinery the virus uses to replicate, rather than the spike protein, the structure that helps the virus infiltrate cells. Omicron has mutations to the spike protein, which researchers say could help it evade protections provided by vaccines and drugs trained to target the virus’s spike protein.
Just last week, the company said that a final analysis had found the drug to be about 30% effective at reducing the risk of hospitalization and death in high-risk people, lower than the 50% efficacy first announced in October after a preliminary look at the data.
While the FDA isn’t obligated to follow the ADAC’s recommendation, it typically does.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 18:45 - CNN Suspends Chris Cuomo 'Indefinitely'
CNN Suspends Chris Cuomo ‘Indefinitely’
Update (1835ET): CNN has suspended Chris Cuomo indefinitely following the release of new documents this week that reveal he leveraged media sources to help dig up dirt on his brother’s accusers.
“The New York Attorney General’s office released transcripts and exhibits Monday that shed new light on Chris Cuomo’s involvements in his brother’s defense. The documents, which we were not privy to before their public release, raise serious questions,” the network said in a Tuesday statement. “When Chris admitted to us that he had offered advice to his brother’s staff, he broke our rules and we acknowledged that publicly. But we also appreciated the unique position he was in and understood his need to put family first and job second. However, these documents point to a greater level of involvement in his brother’s efforts than we previously knew. As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation.“
* * *
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,
CNN is reviewing material released Monday that showed host Chris Cuomo was not truthful to viewers when he told them in August that he did not speak to fellow media members about the scandal that engulfed his brother Andrew Cuomo.
“The thousands of pages of additional transcripts and exhibits that were released today by the NY Attorney General deserve a thorough review and consideration,” CNN said in a statement.
“We will be having conversations and seeking additional clarity about their significance as they relate to CNN over the next several days,” the news outlet added.
Speaking on his show earlier this year, Chris Cuomo claimed that he “never made calls to the press about my brother’s situation.”
But the newly released material showed Chris Cuomo tapped sources, including some inside rival outlets, to try to ascertain if more women were coming forward to accuse his brother of sexual misconduct.
In one case, Chris Cuomo was tasked by Melissa DeRosa, at the time a top aide to Andrew Cuomo, with gathering “intel” about a looming story by New Yorker reporter Ronan Farrow.
Chris Cuomo was successful, telling DeRosa in a text message on March 15 that Farrow’s story “not ready for tomorrow.”
In another message, Chris Cuomo appeared to signal that he spoke directly with Farrow.
He also checked into rumored stories by other outlets, including Politico.
Other texts showed the CNN host drafted entire statements he hoped the New York gubernatorial office would release and attribute to Andrew Cuomo, who was governor at the time.
Chris Cuomo has not responded to requests for comment.
He told investigators during a deposition that he did not try to affect any reports.
“If I had tried to influence any of the reporting at CNN or anywhere else, I guarantee you, you people would know, and so would a lot of others,” he said.
“So the idea of one reporter calling another to find out about what’s coming down the pipe is completely business-as-usual.”
Experts have told The Epoch Times that Chris Cuomo’s behavior violates journalism standards and questioned CNN’s lack of transparency regarding the situation.
It is unethical for a journalist to use their position, contacts, and influence to help a family member or friend involved in an investigation by law enforcement,” Rebecca Aguilar, president of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), said in an email.
“The SPJ Code of Ethics clarifies the rules: Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived, minimize harm and be accountable and transparent,” she added.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 18:35 - Los Angeles Now Enforcing Vaccine Mandates For Indoor Businesses
Los Angeles Now Enforcing Vaccine Mandates For Indoor Businesses
Authored by Li Hai via The Epoch Times,
The City of Los Angeles has started enforcement of its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for indoor businesses.
The mandate, also named SafePassLA, requires all people eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, including kids 12 and above, to show photo ID and proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 when entering indoor restaurants, gyms, entertainment facilities, personal care establishments, and some city buildings.
From Monday, inspectors from the Department of Building and Safety, and authorized agents, started enforcing the ordinance.
Business owners who violate the mandate will receive a warning for the first violation, a $1,000 fine for a second violation, and a $2,000 fine for a third violation. Fines are capped at $5,000 for four or more violations.
The city said the measure would help stop the spread of COVID-19, a disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, or the novel coronavirus.
The mandate comes from an ordinance (pdf) which was adopted by the city in October. The ordinance became effective on Nov. 8.
The mandate allows for medical or religious exemptions.
“A patron must provide the covered location with a verbal self-attestation to qualify for the exemption,” the city said on its website. The patrons should be directed to use an outdoor area.
“If an outdoor area is not available, the patron may be permitted to use an indoor area by providing proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours before entry and photo identification.”
The mandate doesn’t apply to business employees.
Patrons are required to wear masks when they’re not actively eating or drinking, even they’re fully vaccinated. The city said that’s because the mandate does not modify any health orders issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Some business owners have expressed concerned that the mandate will affect their businesses.
Restaurateurs in New York City told The Epoch Times last month that business went down 40 to 60 percent due to the city’s vaccine mandate. New York City enacted a similar requirement in August and started enforcing the rule on Sept. 13.
Milbet Del Cid, owner of Amalia’s, a Guatemalan restaurant in Los Angeles, told Los Angeles Times that criticism poured in on social media earlier this month when she alerted her clients that she would soon be asking them to show proof of vaccination.
“If you’re obligated to ask,” one customer wrote in response, “then we won’t eat there anymore, so there.”
Beginning Nov. 4, Los Angeles County, where the City of Los Angeles is located, also issued a similar but less expansive mandate, mainly focused on adult-oriented businesses providing alcohol.
The city is also requiring proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID test within 72 hours to participate in outdoor events with 5,000 more people. This is stricter than the county mandate, which applies to outdoor events with 10,000 or more people.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 18:25 - Jussie Smollett's Defense: Osundario Brothers 'Sophisticated' Criminals Who Set Him Up
Jussie Smollett’s Defense: Osundario Brothers ‘Sophisticated’ Criminals Who Set Him Up
Jussie Smollett says two Nigerian-born brothers – one of whom was his personal trainer, lover, and alleged drug dealer – are “sophisticated” criminals who set him up. The 39-year-old actor is accused of lying to police about being the victim of a racist and homophobic assault. The class-4 felony carries a sentence of up to three years in prison, however experts cited by Fox News think he would most likely face probation and perhaps community service.
Smollett trial: in opening, Smollett’s attorney is telling jury that Smollett is a victim. The Osundairo brothers are “sophisticated” criminals that did not like Jussie.
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) November 30, 2021
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The brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundario, claim Smollett paid them $3,500 to stage an infamous hate-crime hoax on January 29, 2019 – when the former “Empire” star claimed he was attacked around 2 a.m. by two white men who recognized him from the show shouted racist and homophobic slurs, doused him in a bleach-like liquid, hung a rope around his neck, and yelled “This is MAGA country.“
The MSM uncritically reported the ‘hate crime,’ without questioning obvious holes in the story – such as why two Trump supporters were hanging out in Chicago at 2am in the freezing cold. Then-Senator Kamala Harris called it a “modern day lynching.”
Smollett was indicted twice following a six-month special counsel investigation.
According to Smollett’s attorney, there was “an elephant in this room – assumptions,” as the Daily Wire reports.
Fox News‘ Matt Fin reports that the prosecution focused on arguing that Smollett had faked his own hate crime, including the fact that Smollett had initially refused to turn over his cell phone when investigators requested it – which the prosecutor said may have been to avoid investigators discovering that he had contacted one of the Osundario brothers.
Smollett trial: prosecutor is repeatedly calling Smollett’s incident a “fake hate crime.” Really using the word fake a lot in front of jury.
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) November 30, 2021
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Prosecutor says Smollett didn’t want CPD to see communication with one of the Osundairo brothers
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) November 30, 2021
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In November of 2019, Smollett filed a lawsuit against the brothers for ‘concocting the whole thing.’
Smollett – whose sisters worked for President Obama, was originally slapped with a 16-count indictment for lying to the police, however the Cook County State Attorney’s office suddenly dropped the charges after Michelle Obama’s former Chief of Staff, Tina Tchen, pressured Chicago’s top prosecutor, Kim Foxx, to transfer the case to the FBI. When that wasn’t done, Foxx’s office decided not to pursue the case.
Explaining their decision to drop the case, Foxx’s office said: “After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollet’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition & appropriate resolution.”
As Fox News reports, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani thinks the prosecution has a good case.
“The prosecution is strong because of corroborating, independent evidence that is consistent with Smollett making a false police report,” she said, adding “What type of explanation can Smollett’s attorney have to justify him contacting the brothers?”
According to experts, Smollett will probably get a slap on the wrist.
“Smollett is facing 6 counts of essentially minor class 4 felonies that carry a maximum sentence of three years in State prison,” said Los Angeles-based criminal defense attorney Silva Megerditchian, adding “The judge will consider that Smollett has no history of any arrests nor convictions — and thus will likely give him a probationary sentence. Keeping that in mind, however, this was a case that got national attention, and stirred a lot of anger that Smollett would stage this kind of grotesque racial attack. As well, the City of Chicago spent a lot of money investigating these false charges. Thus, I would not be surprised if the Judge imposes some kind of sentence, considering the nation is watching.”
(h/t Daily Wire)
Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/30/2021 – 18:05
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