- The Trilateral Commission: Using Crisis As An Opportunity To Reform
The Trilateral Commission: Using Crisis As An Opportunity To Reform
A couple of years ago I posted an article that gave a brief overview of the Trilateral Commission, quoting directly from numerous former members of the institution and how their overarching goal was for the integration of nation states at the expense of self determination.
It was in the article where I argued that the prevailing model for globalists dating back to at least the First World War has been to use crisis as an opportunity, first by instigating periods of chaos before presenting themselves as the order to the ensuing turmoil. Four of the world’s largest global institutions – The Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the United Nations – were founded on this principle. Without a series of crises there would have been no rationale for them to exist.
A trend over the past few years has been how in the midst of geopolitical conflict global bodies and world leaders have called for the likes of the European Union and the World Trade Organisation to undergo substantial reforms in the wake of a rise in political nationalism and protectionism. The push for reform has been largely justified on the grounds that the international ‘rules based global order‘ – brought to be out of the ruins of World War II – is under threat, and all as a direct consequence of the growth in anti-globalisation movements that are often characterised as ‘populism‘.
So if global institutions want to broaden their level of power through deeper centralisation, where exactly does the Trilateral Commission fit into that? Earlier this month I happened by chance on a blog called ‘Dorset Eye‘, which launched in 2012 and describes itself as ‘an online citizen media magazine in which local, national and international members of the public have their voices heard‘.
One of Dorset Eye’s recent articles focused on the Trilateral Commission, and made reference to a report published by the institution in the summer of 2019 titled, ‘Democracies Under Stress: Recreating the Trilateral Commission to Revitalize Our Democracies to Uphold the Rules-Based International Order‘. Strangely, the brochure in question is not directly accessible from the Trilateral Commission’s website. A search on google for the document produces an authentic and downloadable PDF file, but no actual location for it on the group’s web page. For whatever reason, the Commission has not made this document easily accessible.
Before we look at some of detail contained within the brochure, it should be noted that its publication came two years after the deaths in 2017 of the Trilateral Commission’s two founding members – David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski. It also followed the death of Peter Sutherland, who was the European Chairman of the Commission from 2001 to 2010 and also the former chairman of Goldman Sachs. In particular, with Rockefeller and Brzezinski now deceased, the Trilateral Commission now sees a need to ‘recreate‘ itself and carry on the work of it’s founding father’s.
In the executive summary of the brochure, the Commission remarks how ‘the global order that seemed so invincible at the end of the Cold War is now in doubt‘:
Whether the world proves able to tackle the most urgent problems facing mankind today will in part depend on the ability of advanced democracies to overcome their current malaise and work together as they have in past decades.
A forty-five year old organization, the Trilateral Commission is recreating itself to be a leader and an indispensable resource in this effort.
They talk of ‘rediscovering their roots‘, ‘sharpening‘ their mission, and the need for ‘rejuvenating‘ their membership – all under the pretext of overcoming the challenges of the 21st century and to ‘uphold the rules-based international order.’
One of the main challenges, according to the Commission, is that whilst ‘the drive toward deeper integration and greater globalization seemed irreversible until just a few years ago‘, the ‘unintended consequences of these trends— from inequality to cultural alienation—have fueled new forms of discontent, spurring a rise in populism and nationalism in the most advanced economies and democracies in the world.’
The Commission opens themselves up as a solution by stating that ‘today’s institutions—both global and domestic—seem ill-equipped to face these trends down and ensure the maintenance of the rules-based international order.’
They mention how the rise in populism and nationalism has caused nations around the world to become ‘compromised by internal divisions and governed by institutions that are no longer well-suited to the realities of the day.’
As you would expect, the Commission has a plan for meeting these challenges. Firstly, it will require the democracies of North America, Europe and Asia to be ‘revitalized‘, and for the purging of ‘authoritarian regimes gaining confidence and establishing themselves more firmly on the global stage.’ Secondly, for this ‘democratic renewal‘ to be achievable, it will ‘require new voices and thinking from all segments of these societies.’
One potential avenue for ‘renewal‘ is the adoption at national levels of the UN devised Green New Deal, championed heavily in the United States by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Come the 2024 election, she will be eligible at thirty five years old to run for the presidency.
But seemingly, the Trilateral Commission’s drive to begin reforms is more immediate than four years into the future. Amidst supposed authoritarian regimes and the breakdown of the international order, they believe themselves to be ideally placed to deal with ‘global ills‘:
The Trilateral Commission is well-poised to play a vital role in this revitalization
effort, and seeks to once again become an analytical home for assessing the stresses
on the advanced democracies, offering solutions for dealing with them, and catalyzing cooperation among these countries on global economic, political, and security matters.As noted in the brochure, one of the purposes of creating the Trilateral Commission back in 1973 was to ‘buttress a beleaguered trading order.’ When considering the rise in political protectionism, trade is at the forefront of the discussion. As well as the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU, and the ongoing trade conflict between the U.S. and China, there is now the added element of the Coronavirus which threatens to restrict global supply chains. Taken together, it is a melting pot of developing crises.
Not surprisingly, the Commission considers itself ‘uniquely well-suited to address the many challenges that are common to advanced democracies and to spur greater cooperation across them‘:
It is the only organization to bring all the affected countries together in this trilateral structure, positioning it well to connect experts, institutions, and other entities to diagnose what is straining these democracies and to prescribe steps to shore them up.
By coincidence or otherwise, in detailing how the international structure of the Commission is capable of meeting ‘pressing global problems‘, one of the examples given for this is in dealing with pandemics. Nuclear proliferation, climate change and protectionism are also recognised as problems.
As I have written about previously, the roots of the Commission stem from the field of banking. Founder David Rockefeller used to be the chairman of Chase Manhattan bank, and at one time eight members of the board at Chase were members of Rockefeller’s Commission. A look at the membership list for 2020 shows that the Commission remains largely populated by corporate interests within the banking, oil and media sectors. You will also find as part of the membership former Prime Ministers and members of national parliaments. In the UK one of the most notable examples is Keir Starmer, who is currently running to be the next leader of the Labour Party. Michael Bloomberg, who is running to be the Democrat candidate in the U.S. election, is also a member.
What began as an elitist organisation remains so today given that is remains dominated by the CEO’s, chairmen and representatives of the some of the biggest corporations and political jurisdictions on the planet.
At a special event in 1998 to mark 25 years of the Trilateral Commission, a list of financial supporters from 1973 to 1998 was published to show names such as Exxon Corporation, AT&T Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company, The First National Bank of Chicago, Morgan Stanley & Co and Goldman Sachs. A list for the present day is not readily available.
Putting that to one side, in devising a ‘new, more focused mission‘, the Trilateral Commission has identified a handful of themes in which it plans to return to regularly. One of these is populism. If the Commission are signalling that populism will be a leading theme of theirs going forward, it suggests that the resurgence in nationalism and protectionism still has some way to run. When you read between the lines they are anticipating that the ramifications of populism will see the fracturing of the international based order, and so will require the rejuvenation of global bodies e.g. greater centralisation of powers, to deal with.
Another interesting statement made by the Commission is that they are ‘also identifying issues that can be advanced by its mix of policy and business leaders and do not necessarily require the adoption by national governments to have an impact.’ Tied into the whole narrative of the breakdown of the ‘rules based global order‘ is how national administrations risk becoming impotent in meeting international challenges. This passage may be suggesting that in the future the traditional model of government legislation – often maligned for not being decisive or willing enough to combat issues such as climate change – could be bypassed in favour of global governance. A world where corporate interests in step with reformed global institutions become in effect an international legislature.
This theory is perhaps further reinforced when the Commission states that they will now ‘focus on tending to the strains that compromise the abilities of today’s advanced democracies to collectively tackle global dilemmas.’ It is my belief that without these ‘strains‘, the Commission does not have sufficient grounds to be able to justify advancing their sphere of influence.
The brochure leaves us in no doubt that the Commission is ‘remaking itself‘. One of the ways it wants to do this is through ‘injecting new, innovative prescriptions into the national
debate and governmental process‘ to achieve ‘better domestic and foreign policy
outcomes.’With numerous global media outlets represented on the Commission, along with significant corporate interests, they appear well placed to begin fashioning these ‘prescriptions‘ and directing future public discourse through the mediums of the national press and social media. After all, within the membership are journalists from the UK, Europe and the U.S., a link that makes disseminating information from the Trilateral level down to the general population a much easier task.
This will not be the last example we learn about of global institutions seeking wide scale reforms amidst rising geopolitical instability. The greater level of chaos that is inflicted upon nation states will only strengthen the hand of the Trilateral Commission and others to supersede national sovereignty in favour of globally devised solutions.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 23:10 - The Countries Best And Worst Prepared For An Epidemic
The Countries Best And Worst Prepared For An Epidemic
The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention has stated that another case of the coronavirus has been detected in the United States, pushing the total number of confirmed cases over 60 with 22 outside of the evacuees (and Washington State has announced the first US death from Covid-19) According to tracking by Johns Hopkins University, over 85,000 people have been infected, the vast majority of them in China. The coronavirus has also slowly spread to many other countries with cases reported across the globe.
Even though Chinese authorities have said that they have observed evidence of person-to-person transmission, health officials in Orange and LA counties in the United States have said that the precautions in place should stop any spread of the coronavirus.
As Statista’s Niall McCarthy notes, that raises the question: which countries are the most and least prepared to contain large outbreaks of disease?
In October of last year, the Global Health Security Index was released and it assessed levels of global health security across 195 countries. It specifically analyzed levels of preparation by focusing on whether countries have the proper tools in place to deal with serious disease outbreaks. Countries were scored on a scale of 0 to 100 where 100 is the highest level of preparedness.
You will find more infographics at Statista
The United States was named as the country with the strongest measures in place and it came first with 83.5 out of 100.
The United Kingdom came second with 77.9 followed by the Netherlands with 75.6.
China, which has initiated a series of lockdowns in response to the outbreak, comes 51st with a score of 48.2.
This map shows levels of preparation across the world and Africa’s vulnerability is immediately noticeable. It has struggled with serious diseases in the past and in 2014 a major Ebola outbreak devastated parts of West Africa, killing over 10,000 people.
So far, countries in Africa have only reported 3 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Nevertheless, the continent has some of the weakest countries when it comes to containing disease with Equatorial Guinea (16.2) and Somalia (16.6) the worst scoring countries in the Global Health Security Index.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 22:45 - Trump And The Politics Of Coronavirus
Trump And The Politics Of Coronavirus
Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, ‘n Guns blog,
Normally I agree with Moon of Alabama’s analysis on foreign affairs and certainly geopolitics. But the latest post discussing the political fallout from spread and potential mismanagement of nCOVID-19 is nothing short of fantasy.
I don’t disagree that China, assuming that the numbers they’ve published are any more real than a lot of their economic numbers, has shown remarkable power to stop the spread of the disease.
And they have done so so as to disrupt supply chains all across the world. This week the equity markets finally came to terms with the real world effects of such a disruption, even if the disease itself is, in the end, controllable and the response to it to this point, overblown.
I’m not saying it is one way or the other. I’ve heard every conspiracy theory about this virus you can imagine. It speaks directly to the power of rumor and the ability for people absent good information to make up stories that fit their personal bias.
And in this post B. betrays his in a way that, frankly, highlights just how little he understands America, its culture and the electorate.
Under the U.S. medical system testing will be expensive for the patients. Insurances may not pay for it. Many people will be unable or unwilling to spend money on it. Care for serious cases will also be limited by high prices. This guarantees that the virus will spread further. China was smart enough to guarantee 100% state coverage for testing and all necessary care. The U.S. should follow that principle but is unlikely to do so.
Trump announced that Vice-President Pence, a man who does not believe in science, will lead the response. The libertarian and neo-liberal approach to the problem will further the epidemic’s growth. Only after it becomes really severe will the necessary measures be taken.
His assumptions are ridiculous. People in the U.S. get the annual flu shot, which is demonstrably ineffective, by the millions. The flu shot is subsidized through insurance and government redistribution of wealth via taxes.
If the threat becomes truly real to people in the U.S. they will get tested. The Trump administration will allocate billions to it and the people here, already inculcated over the generations in public health will respond accordingly.
If China was able to test 320,000 people that quickly, and the test is so effective, why is the CDC going it alone developing its own test and not just using China’s?
This is what we pay governments to do, coordinate disaster response, work with other governments, provide basic infrastructure for society.
The dysfunctional medical system in the U.S. isn’t a function of the “libertarian or neo-liberal approach,” which itself is a criticism that doesn’t understand the very real difference between those two schools of thought.
It’s a function of the ever-growing push to socialize medical care (and everything else) in the first place.
The great myth of central planning is that capital can be rationally allocated through the elimination of profit and incentive. And that will just magically produce the right outcomes for society.
Because in the end, the U.S. doesn’t have a libertarian medical system. It has a socialized system so arcane and expensive that is designed to make the argument for more control over public health not less.
But this isn’t B.’s biggest error. His biggest error is in thinking that Donald Trump is some kind of bastion of the free market and in favor of the rational allocation of scarce resources through it.
He’s not. He never has been and he won’t ever be. Trump likes markets he can control and doesn’t believe in open competition. If he did he wouldn’t erect trade barriers and engage in economic strangulation.
So to say that Trump is in trouble because of this virus to this point is nonsensical.
Trump’s reelection chances are sinking as Covid-19 cases rise. The incompetence of his administration will come under new light. The stock markets will continue to tumble and erase the economic gains Trump had claimed. Bernie Sanders’ chances of winning, if he survives the pandemic, will increase as his prime campaign promise -Medicare for all- will become even more acceptable when the problems with the current U.S. healthcare system come under new public scrutiny.
Trump’s re-election chances will rise with this coronavirus. Those who hate him will hate him more, like B. (who is German and doesn’t vote here). Those who love him will rally around him if he leads.
And on this point I agree with Pat Buchanan who also feels like this is an opportunity for Trump to rise above the petty politics of Congress and show leadership and strength, allocating resources at his disposal the same way he did for domestic natural disasters like the recent Hurricanes that pounded the Gulf Coast and Florida.
… the president occupies what Theodore Roosevelt called the “bully pulpit,” the White House. He can use that pulpit daily to command the airwaves and inform, lead, unite and direct the nation during what could be a months-long crisis. And Trump alone has the power to declare a national emergency, should that be needed.
If Trump acts as a leader, urging unity in the struggle to contain the virus and discover a vaccine, the hectoring from the Democratic left, already begun, can come to be seen as unpatriotic.
And this is something he can and will do. I wasn’t crazy about Trump’s presser the other day, blasting the CDC for creating a panic which Trump feels helped drop the stock markets this week.
That’s not leadership. That’s whining. And the biggest threat to Trump’s re-election at this point is Trump, not Bernie Sanders or whomever the Democrats nominate after stealing it from him.
The biggest fear the leftists in the U.S. and Europe have at this point is that Trump and his band of ‘know-nothings’ like Pence actually steer the U.S. through the upcoming crises well.
The CDC is facing a large budget cut so it’s no shock that they would try to blindside Trump to make him look reckless now. But Trump shouldn’t take that bait and move past it.
What if the U.S. healthcare system survives this? What if the doom porn purveyors are all wrong? What if COVID-19 really isn’t that much worse, in the end, than the annual flu?
Trump can and will make easy political work of his opponents trying to hector him for spending cuts by reminding them all that they have done nothing but block his ability to control the border to the country.
If anything this will strengthen Trump’s hand across a number of real issues.
During times of crisis and/or war how often is there a radical change in leadership? Not often. It will take a lot more than a few thousand points off the Dow and some fear-mongering to shift the electoral map of the U.S. far enough for Bernie Sanders to beat him.
Public health crises are not the time to grind political axes. The fact that even the best critics of the U.S. succumb to that tells you the depth to which the failures of Marxism scare them.
Because make no mistake, any failure to contain this virus will come from our having too much faith in the myth of central planning, not in not having enough of it.
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Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 22:20 - Tom Steyer Drops Out After Getting Spanked By Joe Biden In South Carolina
Tom Steyer Drops Out After Getting Spanked By Joe Biden In South Carolina
Update (1035ET): And there it is.
In a tweet confirming his decision to drop out, Steyer reminds the voters who rejected him that he got into this race to “fight for racial, climate and economic justice,” before inviting them to “Join me in doing whatever it takes to beat Mr. Trump.”
Does that mean you’ll support Bernie Sanders financially and with your endorsement if he wins the nomination?
Well…
I got into this race to fight for racial, climate, and economic justice. I will continue that fight, and do everything I can to support the eventual nominee. I thank all of you for your support and love throughout the campaign. Join me in doing whatever it takes to beat Mr. Trump pic.twitter.com/8loWV87cS3
— Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) March 1, 2020
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As the Washington Examiner put it, “After half a year and more than $200 million spent, Tom Steyer finally closed the door on his spectacular failure of a mid-life crisis masquerading as a presidential campaign.”
Nicely done.
We’d also like to note that Robyn Kanner, a web designer who has worked for at least one democratic campaign this election cycle, and is now employed at a political consulting firm, tweeted earlier that “we’re only 72 hours from an overwhelming majority of Presidential candidates dropping out.”
I think we’re only 72 hours out from an overwhelming majority of Presidential candidates dropping out. It’s been a hell of a race. Proud of all the staffers on campaigns. Let’s unite. Let’s beat Trump.
— Robyn Kanner (@robynkanner) March 1, 2020
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Update (2156ET): Still nothing on Steyer’s twitter feed (no slickly produced video? We thought that was your thing?) but Bloomberg has apparently confirmed.
- TOM STEYER ENDS CAMPAIGN FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT – CAMPAIGN SOURCE
Steyer has zero delegates, and despite being on track for a third-place finish Saturday night in SC, he likely won’t pick up any delegates. We suspect the quest for his endorsement won’t be all that fierce among his former rivals.
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Leave it to a comically out-of-touch billionaire to go out on a low note.
After Joe Biden savagely spanked him in front of millions of Americans during the pre-SC debate, then spanked him again in the actual primary, which Biden is projected to win by a surprisingly large margin, billionaire financier Tom Steyer is reportedly dropping out of the Democratic Primary.
I’m told, per a source familiar, that Tom Steyer will be dropping out any minute now
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) March 1, 2020
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There hasn’t been any official word out of the Steyer camp yet; the last thing the ‘candidate’ tweeted was a tweet urging supporters to go out and support the race’s true champion of climate justice, an issue that Biden, Bloomberg and the rest of the Democratic pack brutalized him over his investing record (which of course includes holdings in fossil fuel companies etc…).
It’s a great day to vote for the leader who will take immediate action on climate change, and beat Donald Trump in November.
If you haven’t done it yet, go vote South Carolina! https://t.co/Ngd2zmYRjF
— Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) February 29, 2020
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Steyer is most famous for financing an advertising campaign urging lawmakers to sign his petition to impeach President Trump – he called it the ‘Need to Impeach’ campaign. They eventually did, but we suspect that Steyer’s unyielding support for the issue had little to do with it.
Sayonara, Tom. We’ll miss you, and your dumb tie, too.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 22:15 - Illinois Reports Another "Presumptive" Case Of Coronavirus, Bringing US Total To 24; Washington Declares State Of Emergency After 1st US Death: Live Updates
Illinois Reports Another “Presumptive” Case Of Coronavirus, Bringing US Total To 24; Washington Declares State Of Emergency After 1st US Death: Live Updates
Summary:
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CDC says “no national spread of coronavirus in US”
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Cook County reports “presumtive” coronavirus case
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S.Korea reports another 376 new cases
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Another Chinese doctor dies in Wuhan
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China reports 573 new cases.
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US reports first death from Covid-19 (in Washington State)
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Washington declares state of emergency
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US Surgeon General says “stop buying masks”
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Trump blasts media/Dems for ‘hoax’-gate
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South Korea’s Shincheonji Church members found 1557 out of 1900 tested positive for virus
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Germany boosts border controls
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Italy tops 1000 cases (1,128, with 29 possible virus-linked deaths)
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France bans large gatherings
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Update (2200ET): Public health officials in Illinois said Saturday night that they had a new “presumptive case” , what would be the state’s third case of coronavirus since the outbreak began. If confirmed by the CDC, the case would increase the total in the US to 24 (aside from the evacuees, who are all in quarantine right now).
CHICAGO: Cook County, State Health Officials Confirm Coronavirus Case https://t.co/JpHrbm1A9I
— Quoth the Raven (@QTRResearch) March 1, 2020
The case was confirmed in Cook County, the second-largest county in the US, which includes the city of Chicago, where about half of its residents live. All three of the state’s cases now will have been confirmed in Cook County, with the prior two cases being a husband and wife who had recently traveled to Wuhan. It’s unclear whether this is another case of ‘unknown transmission’.
The positive test results must still be confirmed in a CDC lab in Atlanta. Until then, the patient is being hospitalized in isolation and CDC protocols are being implemented, according to NBC News.
Yesterday, Illinois Gov. Jay Pritzker requested that hospitals across the state implement additional testing to improve surveillance for coronavirus.
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Update (2030ET): And here comes the NHC with China’s numbers from Saturday. Mainland China reported 573 new coronavirus cases. Note the ~150 case increase from 427 on Friday. 51,856 are still under “medical observation” across China. In all, there have been 79,824 confirmed cases in mainland China, though most experts believe the true total could be much higher.
Here’s the rest of the NHC press release, translation courtesy of the NHC:
On Feb 29, 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported 573 new cases of confirmed infections, 132 new cases of suspected infections, and 35 deaths (34 in Hubei province and 1 in Henan province). 2,623 patients were released from hospital after being cured. 8,620 people who had had close contact with infected patients were freed from medical observation. Serious cases decreased by 299.
As of 24:00 on Feb 29, the National Health Commission had received 79,824 reports of confirmed cases and 2,870 deaths in 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and in all 41,625 patients had been cured and discharged from hospital. There still remained 35,329 confirmed cases (including 7,365 in serious condition) and 851 suspected cases. So far, 660,716 people have been identified as having had close contact with infected patients. 51,856 are now under medical observation.
On Feb 29, Hubei reported 570 new cases of confirmed infections (including 565 in Wuhan), 64 new cases of suspected infections (including 50 in Wuhan), and 34 deaths (including 26 in Wuhan). 2,292 patients were released from hospital after being cured, including 1,675 in Wuhan.
As of 24:00 on Feb 29, Hubei had reported 66,907 cases of confirmed infections (including 49,122 in Wuhan) and 2,761 deaths (including 2,195 in Wuhan). In all, 31,187 patients had been cured and discharged from hospital, including 19,227 in Wuhan.There still remained 32,959 confirmed cases (including 27,700 in Wuhan), with 7,107 in serious condition (including 6,393 in Wuhan), and 646 suspected cases (including 393 in Wuhan).
As of 24:00 on Feb 29, 144 confirmed infections had been reported in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan province: 95 in Hong Kong (2 had been dead and 33 had been cured and discharged from hospital), 10 in Macao (8 had been cured and discharged from hospital) and 39 in Taiwan (1 had been dead and 9 had been cured and discharged from hospital).
In other news, the Korea Times just reported that a 45-day-old baby has been infected with the virus. Another tragic story – this time out of China: Another doctor has died in Wuhan, making him at least the fourth or fifth to die since the death of Dr. Li Wenliang a month ago.
The doctor’s name was Jiang Xueqing. He was 55.
RIP. Jiang Xueqing, 55, doctor at the Wuhan Central Hospital, died of #COVID19 on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/nEzKfe9DUg
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) March 1, 2020
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Update (2000ET): Yonhap just reported the latest numbers out of South Korea: the country reported another 376 new cases on Saturday, raising the countrywide total to 3,526. Most of the cases reported so far have been concentrated in the city of Daegu, particularly among members of a strange cult-like church that has become entangled in the outbreak.
It doesn’t look like any new deaths were reported – at least not yet.
To review: three new cases of the virus were announced Saturday in Washington State bring the total number of infections in the US to 23, excluding repatriations, according to the CDC. 47 of the evacuees from Wuhan and the Diamond Princess are also being quarantined.
As part of its virus-suppression efforts, South Korea has sent its troops to disinfect the streets of Daegu.
In Mexico, the government hit back at President Trump’s comment Saturday that it might be necessary to close the border to prevent transmission of coronavirus, with the Foreign Ministry reminding the administration that “there are four cases of covid-19 registered in our country and 22 in the U.S.”
Trump said closing the border probably wouldn’t be necessary.
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Update (19120ET): We’re moving into a ‘twilight zone’ of sorts for coronavirus-related news: It’s still early in the morning in Asia, and it’s the middle of the night in Europe.
But, while we have time, we’d just like to point out that Singapore, a city that has been praised as a role model (ignore what the WHO said about China) for outbreak suppression.
But as we reported below, the four new cases reported out of Singapore on Saturday put the total over 100. As the Straits-Times pointed out, eight recent cases have been linked to one e-learning solutions company that might be the center of a new outbreak.
Meanwhile, over in Thailand, health officials reported a new case yesterday that brought its total to 42.
Going forward, it will be a question of whether governments succeed in mimicking Bangkok, or Daegu. Will public health officials succeed in suppressing the outbreak before things get out of hand? Or will we see a flood of videos on social media showing citizens collapsing in the streets?
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Update (1630ET): The BBC reports that in Daegu, South Korea, 1900 Shincheonji Church members have been tested for coronavirus. 1300 had symptoms & 600 did not. Among those 1300 with symptoms, 87.5% were confirmed with the virus . BUT out of the 600 WITHOUT symptoms, 70% were confirmed with coronavirus.
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Update (1530ET): Following the first death of a Coid-19-infected person in the US, Washington state has declared a state of emergency.
King County official Jeff Duchin says that 27 patients and 25 staff members at the long-term care facility in Kirkland, WA are showing symptoms.
Here’s the letter @KIRO7Seattle got from a source.
It’s the notice from @EvergreenHosp sent to patients and families about the #coronavirus death in the Seattle area. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/aNk1snAaGo
— Deedee Sun (@DeedeeKIRO7) February 29, 2020
CDC’s Messonnier stated that “there is not a national spread of the virus in the US,” and adds that US has capacity to test 75,000 people.
CDC erroneously identified the patient as a female in a briefing earlier today with the President and Vice President.
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Update (1515ET): President Trump has finally wrapped up a lengthy press conference that most agreed was more convincing than his previous effort on Wednesday. Trump confirmed that there are now 22 cases in the US outside of the evacuees from Wuhan and the ‘Diamond Princess’.
Read more about it here.
Washington State is expected to hold a press conference of its own at 4 pm ET.
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Update (1350ET): Trump is officially 20 minutes late, and following reports about Trump tightening the border with Mexico, the governor of the northern Mexican state of Coahuila has confirmed what appears to be the country’s fourth case.
Here’s more on the border reports from Reuters.
The administration is also weighing possible restrictions on the entry of travelers from South Korea, Italy and Japan. The White House instructed DHS to draft a range of options about travel restrictions related to those countries.
Yesterday, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, Mexico’s assistant health secretary, confirmed a case in Mexico City and at least one other case in the cartel-dominated region of Sinaloa. He also encouraged Mexicans to hold back on hearty greetings involving kisses and hugs and close contact.
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Update (1325ET): Trump is set to start speaking in a few minutes, but a rash of important virus-related headlines just hit, including a Reuters report that the administration is considering imposing restrictions at the Mexican border as part of its effort to suppress the outbreak.
France just confirmed roughly 30 new cases, raising its total from 73 to north of 100, according to the latest reports.
One more thing: We neglected to mention earlier that Washington State discovered another case of coronavirus, which it announced at press conference late last night: The state’s third coronavirus patient overall had recently traveled to South Korea.
New case of #COVID19 just announced in Snohomish County, WA. School-aged individual. Went to HS before learning of diagnosis, but left before classes started. Currently in home isolation. No travel history. Source of infection still being identified, per health officials
— Meg Tirrell (@megtirrell) February 29, 2020
Also, the CDC has announced a press conference of its own at 3 pm, while Washington State is planning a press conference at 4 pm.
In other words, it’s gonna be a busy Saturday afternoon.
- FRANCE RAISES NUMBER OF CONFIRMED CORONAVIRUS CASES TO 100 – HEAD OF FRENCH PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
- TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CONSIDERING IMPOSING ENTRY RESTRICTIONS AT BORDER WITH MEXICO OVER CORONAVIRUS THREAT – U.S. OFFICIALS
- CDC PRESS CONFERENCE AT 3 PM
While we wait to hear from Trump, who will almost inevitably begin late, here’s a graphic showing the history of pandemics for you to ponder.
Meanwhile, here’s a chart showing the France:
And Italy:
* * *
Update (1310ET): As we wait for President Trump’s latest update, here’s another roundup of updates from across the Middle East and Europe, via Al Jazeera.
- Two more people in the Netherlands have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, increasing the total number of the cases to six, according to health agency RIVM.
- Iraq has detected five new cases of coronavirus, four in Baghdad and one in Babel province, the health ministry said, taking the total number of cases there to 13.
- Azerbaijan shuts its border with Iran after the country confirmed its first case yesterday; two patients have been placed in quarantine after testing positive.
- Lebanon has confirmed three new cases, bringing its total to 7.
- Pakistan has confirmed two new cases, bringing its total to 4.
Over in the US, more colleges are cancelling their study abroad programs: UConn just joined a growing list of schools, which CNN is tracking here.
* * *
Update (1250ET): Minutes after President Trump announced his 130pmET press conference to discuss the latest coronavirus developments, Washington State health officials have reported the first death from the coronavirus in the US.
No details yet, but it’s probably reasonable to suspect that the death is the state’s latest case (remember, it was also home to the first confirmed case in the US, a case that reportedly recovered) of ‘unkown origin’ which it announced last night.
Of course, it’s also possible that this could have been a post-mortem confirmation…meaning it would also constitute a new case.
Washington State health officials are also planning to hold a press conference shortly.
So much for routing all information through the VP’s office…
In Italy, officials confirmed that the number of confirmed cases has passed 1,000. The number of confirmed deaths in the country climbed to 21 on Friday.
The US isn’t the only country struggling with a rash of unexplained cases. The same phenomenon has frustrated public health officials in Japan, Italy and the UK.
The BBC reports that the UK’s 20th case is also believed to be the first person who was infected inside the UK, since they hadn’t traveled abroad recently.
As we wait to learn more, here’s some more information about the latest FDA announcement, courtesy of the NYT’s virus live feed:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Saturday that it was authorizing American laboratories to develop their own coronavirus tests, which should significantly increase the country’s testing capacity.
The effect could be rapid. About 80 labs and private companies have applied for emergency approval for tests they have already created. If they have submitted evidence that the tests work, the labs and companies will be able to use them immediately, rather than wait for the F.D.A. to complete reviews and issue approvals.
“This action today reflects our public health commitment to addressing critical public health needs and rapidly responding and adapting to this dynamic and evolving situation,” the F.D.A.’s commissioner, Stephen M. Hahn, said in a statement.
Experts have been frustrated with the limited availability of coronavirus tests in the U.S., which until now could only be provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Broader testing will enable more rapid detection and isolation of people who have the coronavirus to help contain the spread of disease.
* * *
Update (1235ET): President Trump will hold another press conference to discuss “the latest CoronaVirus developments” at 1:30pm.
* * *
The unceasing 24/7 flood of coronavirus news yielded some disturbing developments last night as public health officials in Oregon and Washington State confirmed the third and fourth coronaviruses of “unknown origin” in the US.
To President Trump’s chagrin, public health officials on the west coast warned that the cases are evidence that community outbreaks have already begun in Northern Cali, Oregon and Washington State. So if you were planning on traveling to the Pacific Northwest any time soon…you might want to reconsider.
In Europe, the Middle East and the Far East, we saw a rash of new cases overnight (including the first case in Qatar) nearly doubled on Friday to along with news of more cancellations of sports games, concerts and public events. France has temporarily banned all public events involving more than 5,000 people. Health Minister Olivier Véran announced the decision after an emergency government meeting on Saturday.
Veran also confirmed 16 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the country’s total taking to 73 since the outbreak began. Two patients have died, a 60-year-old French teacher and an 80-year-old Chinese tourist. On Friday alone, the number of confirmed cases nearly doubled.
Across France, all gatherings of more than 5,000 people in confined spaces will be cancelled.” The same applies to events “in an open environment where people can mix with others from areas where the virus is possibly circulating,” according to France24.
France’s decision follows Switzerland, which announced a similar ban on Friday. In Italy’s three virus-hit northern provinces, schools and universities are preparing to remain shut for a second week.
South Korea reported more than 800 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the biggest jump of any country, and twice the number reported yesterday by Chinese authorities in Hubei. Unsurprisingly, the increase was mostly concentrated in Daegu, the epicenter of the outbreak in South Korea.
But the biggest news Saturday morning was in the US, where the FDA released sweeping new guidelines speeding up hospitals’ ability to test for the virus, appearing to resolve an issue about which public health officials, epidemiologists and labs from NYC to Cali had loudly complained. According to WaPo, some experts are worried that these new measures will still fall short. We suspect we will soon know for certain if the changes were effective, or not.
Read the full briefing below:
Elsewhere in the US, while much of the focus so far has been on the west coast, local media outlets reported on Saturday that a suspected coronavirus patient has been isolated at Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, New Jersey, as the hospital awaits the results of a test, which could take a few days.
The patient has yet to test positive, but is showing suspicious symptoms, the hospital said. It continues to screen all patients who have recently visited hot zones, or who are showing suspicious symptoms.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 22:13 -
- Wealth Of World's Ten Richest Men Now Greater Than GDP Of 85 Poorest Countries
Wealth Of World’s Ten Richest Men Now Greater Than GDP Of 85 Poorest Countries
Bernie Sanders appears on track to clinch the Democratic nomination to the consternation of the DNC, and every American voter who abhors his vision of a ‘Democratic socialist’ society has been reflecting on the successes and failures of capitalism. Of course, over the past ten years, there’s no question that economic inequality has widened, if only because the Federal Reserve and the rest of the central banks embarked on an unprecedented experimented in loose monetary policy.
Now, as LearnBonds pointed out in a recent report, the cumulative wealth of the world’s ten richest people is now larger than the aggregate GDP of 85 impoverished countries.
According to IMF figures for 2019 released back in October, the poorest 85 countries have a combined GDP of $813 billion. For comparison, by LB’s count, the net worth of the world’s 10 wealthiest individuals is $858.1 billion.
In a bar chart, LB offers a few more helpful comparisons:
Here’s another example:There isn’t a single African country that has a higher GDP when compared to the cumulative wealth of the top ten richest people. Nigeria, which has Africa’s highest GDP of $446.543 billion, amounts to about half of the net worth of the top ten wealthiest.
Here’s another fun chart:
Of course, the one thing Bernie Sanders’ supporters always seem to leave out during their tirades about evil billionaires is that most of this wealth isn’t real. It’s not like they have a giant vault filled with dabloons that they can swim in like Scrooge McDuck. Jeff Bezos, for example, holds like 99% of his wealth in Amazon stock. If something were ever to happen to Amazon, like – god forbid – Microsoft overtaking it as the top provider of cloud computing services, Bezos’ net worth will take a huge nosedive.
Millions of savers and retirees would also get hurt as well, as the value of much of their equity index holdings would vanish.
Of course, after this week, perhaps the elitest of the elites’ wealth is a little lower.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 21:55 - "The Public Doesn't Decide The Nominee": DNC Leaders Move To Limit Democratic Choice In The Convention
“The Public Doesn’t Decide The Nominee”: DNC Leaders Move To Limit Democratic Choice In The Convention
As we have been discussing, establishment figures in the Democratic party and the media have been preparing to block any nomination of Bernie Sanders, including using the “superdelegates” to hand the nomination to another candidate. The New York Times reported Thursday that the Democratic establishment was preparing for open warfare over blocking Sanders, even if it shatters the unity of the party.
If Sanders does not receive the necessary votes, they intend to take away the nomination even if he has the most votes in the first round. The key again are the superdelegates who are not elected in the primaries but given votes as elected officials.
On MSNBC, former Obama adviser Anton J. Gunn was particularly blunt. He declared”:
“The party decides its nominee. The public doesn’t really decide the nominee.”
In 2016, many of us objected to the concerted effect of the Democratic establishment and the Democratic National Committee to rig the primary for Hillary Clinton. Later it was revealed that the Clintons have largely taken over the DNC by taking over its debt and the DNC openly harassed and hampered Sanders at every stage. Despite this effort, Sanders came close to beating Clinton, who has never forgiven him for contesting a primary that she literally bought and paid for with the DNC. The simmering rage was still evident in Clinton’s attack on Sanders and suggestion that she might not support him if he were the nominee (a suggestion that she later took back).
Well the supers are back and Sanders may again find that it is the party elite, not the voters, who determine who will be the next nominee. The irony is that the elite hardly has an inspiring record. In 2016, every poll showed that voters did not want an establishment figure so the establishment rigged the process for the ultimate establishment figure. Clinton lost to the most unpopular Republican candidate in history. I remain convinced that Sanders could have won that election, a position recently suggested by Michael Bloomberg.
Yet, the same people that gave us the Clinton nomination will be working their magic again at the Democratic Convention. What is fascinating is that the establishment would prefer to risk the election by alienating the huge young following of Sanders rather than allow Sanders to be the nominee. If they give the nomination to another establishment figures like Biden or a billionaire like Bloomberg, the establishment would enrage millions of Sanders followers who could well stay home in 2020.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 21:30 - After The Market's Week From Hell, Here's A List Of Who Was Puking
After The Market’s Week From Hell, Here’s A List Of Who Was Puking
Over the past 7 days, which came just after the stock market hit an all time high, and which turned out to be the worst week for the S&P since the vomit-inducing days of the 2008 financial crisis, and also saw the fastest 10% correction from a market peak on record…
… we tried to put together the pieces of the “liquidation puzzle” to find out i) just who is selling, whether machines or people or some combination of both, and ii) is there more selling to go?
Of course, as we now know, the answer to ii) was “oh yes” as an entire generation of traders who had never seen a violent market crash recoiled in terror at the relentless selling, which sent the Dow more than 3% lower on 3 distinct occasions.
“A lot of us hadn’t seen this type of crash in our careers,” admitted Justin Wilder, a 31-year-old research analyst at DRW Holdings LLC in Montreal who has never experienced an actual bear market in his career. “There’s definitely some nervousness on the floor, both for the trading and our health” added Justin who was still in high school when Lehman filed for bankruptcy and the S&P lost more than half of its value before the Fed stepped in with QE… and the rest is history.
Other Millennials were just as incredulous: “With coronavirus, the market has found a reason to correct in a way that I’d never seen before,” Julian Carvajal, a 30-year-old FX trader at TCX Investment Management told Bloomberg.
“It’s been mental, and that’s probably an understatement,” said Rishi Mishra, a 29-year-old research analyst at Futures First, who was definitely in high school when Lehman filed for bankruptcy. “Many of us who weren’t trading during the 2008 crisis see this as one of those days you could tell your grandchildren about.” Well, Rishi, you may want to hold off on the grandchildren stories, especially if the Fed does not step in some 24 hours from now to prevent what may be a historic puke on Monday now that “community-spread” cases have emerged in the US, as well as the first coronavirus death.
But while we now know the answer to ii) what about i)? Courtesy of the latest weekly report from Deutsche Bank’s flow expert Parag Thatte, we now know the answer to that too.
The answer to “who was selling” is, in short, everybody.
But before we get into the details, a quick reminder: we have been warning for the past two months that positioning and pricing in equities was extremely elevated, with most investors “all-in” in many cases with record leverage, and increasingly disconnected from growth indicators. And just in case any of the abovementioned millennial “traders” claim there were no signs a crash was imminent, well… there were, like the market being the most overbought and complacent ever, with every investor all-in as recently as last month:
… only to become even more overbought and even more complacent, with investors even more all-in…
… with record leverage and unprecedented “smart money” concentration in the same handful of stocks:
… and since nothing could dent the relentless Nasdaq ascent, even as Apple cut guidance due to the coronavirus…
… retail investors unleashed a never-before seen buying spree, and not just momentum stocks, but calls of momentum stocks…
… to the point where retail investors’ record levered beta helped them outperform the entire hedge fund class!
… and ushered in the “Profane, Greedy Traders of Reddit” who “Are Shaking Up the Stock Market” even as US consumers just reported the highest median current value of their market investments.
In short, everyone felt invincible, and all thanks to the Fed’s QE4 which injected $600BN in the market and made even a modest drop appear impossible.
Only… it was not meant to last, and in a market that took the express elevator up and the Wile-E Coyote anvil down, especially with short interest at all time lows providing almost no natural buffer to a selloff (as there were almost no shorts covering into the plunge)…
… less than a week after markets hit an all time high, stocks crashed, suffering three 3%+ drops in the past week as algos suddenly realized that not even the Fed can print viral antibodies, resulting in the biggest one-day Dow Jones point drop on record (down 1,191 on “Viral Thursday”), but more importantly, the fastest 10% correction from an all-time Dow Jones high since just a few months before the start of the Great Depression.
* * *
Which brings us back to the original question: who was selling?
We already know that retail investors were steamrolled, with the Goldman Sachs Retail Favorite basket tumbling after returning more than 16% YTD just last week, and is now down for the year (curiously, it is still outperforming the GS Hedge Fund VIP basket which as of this morning is down more than 3% in 2020.)
What about non-retail investors?
Oh, where to start with a historic selloff that has sent equities catching down to all other asset classes?
Well, how about at the top: as Thatte writes, equities positioning has flipped from being extremely overweight (95th percentile) to very underweight (12th percentile). DB’s consolidated positioning metric, which was at the top of its historical range last week (95th percentile) has now fallen very sharply to underweight levels (12th percentile).
Meanwhile, the bank’s cross asset breadth indicator has crashed from a near all time high, to what is basically an all time low.
Worse, the true decline in positioning is likely bigger as some data is available only with a lag: as a result positioning is likely to decline further as momentum signals across all asset classes have now flipped to extreme, and in most cases record risk-off.
A more detailed breakdown of selling classes finds that while discretionary investors were indeed taken to the woodshed, it was systematic investors who were absolutely hammered.
Among them:
Vol control funds equity allocation is down sharply and their selling should start to diminish. Vol control funds have cut exposure to equities from historical maximum last week down to near the bottom of their range (5th percentile), selling $65bn of equities over the last one week.
They can still cut equity exposure further if vol rises but with allocations already low, their sensitivity to incremental selloffs should start to diminish.
CTAs have cut equity exposure to being short but are likely to go further. CTAs were extremely long equities until last week and have now flipped to being slightly short (18th percentile) but their positioning remains above levels seen during prior large selloffs in 2011, 2016 and 2018. Volatility as well as trend signals continue to deteriorate and point to them raising their short positions further.
Risk parity funds’ equity exposure is down from a record high but remains elevated. Risk parity funds are likely to cut exposure further as volatility continues to remain elevated, but they tend to move more gradually compared to other systematic funds.
How about non-retail, non-systematic investors? Here too the selling was widespread, with huge outflows from equity funds this week but more to come. Equity funds have seen outflows of -$28bn since the selloff began last Friday. However, prior inflows since late October had been extremely strong…
… far more than implied by the modest rebound in global growth and we estimate that equity funds would need to see outflows of about -$130bn just to catch down.
Hedge funds, which were perhaps the least euphoric investors into the February meltup thanks to their curiously low beta…
… suffered the least of all investors…
For quants, the pain was widespread, but nowhere more so than the contrarians with value funds cratering to new all time low.
And here is the worst news for Buy-The-Fucking-Dippers: according to Thatte, “in past large selloffs, outflows typically continued for several weeks”… which means that this thing will go on for a long time.
There was some good news: after last week’s rout, stocks are finally realizing that there will be no earnings growth for the second consecutive year, and as a result the S&P is now pricing in negative EPS growth…
… and an ISM plunging to 47.
At the same time the put/call volume has reversed dramatically amid a surge in put buying which – at least from a contrarian standpoint – suggests that the market may finally be at a support level.
Putting this together, it means that unless it is now consensus that a global recession is coming – and as we discussed yesterday, one is certainly likely – the record sell-off may finally be poised to take a break.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 21:05 - 2A Under Fire In CA: Santa Clara Forms Gun Confiscation Team
2A Under Fire In CA: Santa Clara Forms Gun Confiscation Team
Authored by James Fite via LibertyNation.com,
California continues to proudly lead the charge toward a disarmed citizenry. In the latest attack on the Second Amendment, Santa Clara County is forming what they call a “county gun team” – a unit of lawyers, analysts, and prosecutors authorized to seek out and confiscate firearms from those the state feels shouldn’t have them.
Okay, Fine. We’re Coming For Your Guns
Remember when Democrats used to try to mollify armed Americans by saying, “No one’s coming for your guns” with every incremental gun control measure they proposed?
Well, it’s official: They’re coming for the guns – some of them, at least. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. As Liberty Nation’s Graham J. Noble once wrote, “Democrats have never come across a gun restriction they didn’t like.”
The Santa Clara Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve funding for the proposal, which was put forth by board president Cindy Chavez. The team will consist of seven people – three crime analysts, two lawyers, and two prosecutors. They will be tasked with identifying those who have been ordered to surrender their weapons and ensure these dangerous people aren’t still armed. If necessary, they’ll obtain search warrants for local law enforcement to go and take the guns.
Deputy District Attorney Marisa McKeown explained that “the very voluminous California laws on guns mean nothing if we don’t adequately and smartly enforce them.” She is correct, of course. Those who don’t care to follow the old laws aren’t likely to care much about the new ones. That’s why Second Amendment advocates say gun control doesn’t work.
“The law says that there are categories of people who are not allowed to have a gun,” McKeown said. “If you are a domestic abuser with a restraining order, you can’t have a gun. If you are a convicted felon, you can’t have a gun. If you are a repeated, mentally ill offender who is dangerous, you can’t have a gun.”
The List Grows Ever Longer
While the Board dressed the proposal up as simply a way to protect the victims of domestic abuse, consider the words of the deputy DA. Now let’s have a look at the ever-growing list of people who aren’t allowed to own guns in California – by no means did she disclose them all. According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, as of December 10, 2019, the following groups are considered prohibited persons:
-
Those convicted of a felony or certain domestic violence crimes.
-
Those addicted to narcotic drugs.
-
Those convicted of specific crimes (both felony and misdemeanor) involving violence, hate crime offences, or the unlawful misuse of firearms.
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Those convicted of violating state laws regarding safe storage of firearms around minors and prohibited people. This usually results in a ten-year prohibition.
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Anyone who knows they are subject to an outstanding arrest warrant for a firearm-prohibiting offense – not convicted, simply subject to a warrant.
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Those prohibited as a condition of probation.
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Wards of the juvenile courts due to the commission of an offense involving violence, drugs, or firearms. This prohibition remains in effect until age 30.
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Anyone who knows they are subject to a protective order, restraining order, temporary restraining order, or injunction issued by a court pursuant to state law – including extreme risk protection orders, otherwise known as red flag laws.
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Anyone prohibited because of a history of severe mental illness or chronic alcoholism.
This isn’t simply about disarming convicted felons – which is another issue in its own right. The Santa Clara County Gun Team might well be tasked with disarming anyone with a record of mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse, who might be suspected of some crime – violent or otherwise – or even parents who simply didn’t lock up their guns while the kids were home. Will the squad also be used to hunt down any firearms or accessories the state manages to ban in the future? Which groups, exactly, deserve to be stripped of the right to self-defense?
The Costs – In Money, Liberty, And Lives
Santa Clara County already employs one lawyer and a prosecutor who will be on this team. Taxpayers will fork over $427,247 to cover the $215,653 annual salary for the new attorney and the additional prosecutor’s $211,594. Grant money will cover the other expenses, including the remaining three staff member salaries, but the amount was not disclosed.
But what about the human cost? What of the liberty lost when armed citizens are arrested for refusing to surrender their arms – or the lives lost should the encounter turn violent?
The Second Amendment clearly states that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, but let’s not pretend that actually matters in California. The Golden State has so infringed that right that any argument on Second Amendment grounds seems almost pointless. In truth, many other states and even the federal government have as well.
The argument against this now seems to center on the violation of the right to due process. Under current state laws, this confiscation crew can get search warrants to disarm people who haven’t actually been convicted of anything. But as Herman Cain was always so fond of saying, “the devil is in the details.”
Just as the gun grabbers reinterpreted the Second Amendment by setting their own definition for the word “arms” – or perhaps it was “people” or “infringed,” or some combination – they seem to be the ones deciding just what, exactly, due process means.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 20:40 -
- Bernie Boards Wrong Private Jet In Awkward Senior Moment
Bernie Boards Wrong Private Jet In Awkward Senior Moment
Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders experienced a brain malfunction on Saturday when he accidentally boarded the wrong private jet, according to TMZ.
Photo via TMZ While wrapping up campaign stops in South Carolina and Massachusetts ahead of Super Tuesday, the 78-year-old boarded the wrong gulfstream.
As for this little mix-up here, it’s kinda funny. Bernie’s been flying all over the country for different campaign events — so the guy’s definitely busy and has a preoccupied mind at the moment. Mistakes like this (getting on the wrong Gulfstream) are bound to happen. –TMZ
So long (for now). @BernieSanders and @ewarren are both on their way back to DC. Here they each are boarding flights from the same general aviation area at DSM just 36 minutes apart. pic.twitter.com/iWLYh3cGKb
— Adam Kelsey (@adamkelsey) February 3, 2020
While Sanders has been pictured on multiple commercial flights, he’s taken criticism for flying private jets at all while railing against the elites. Earlier this month, he was pictured boarding a different private jet – while candidate Elizabeth Warren took her own to the same D.C. airport from different locations just 36 minutes apart, according to the report – which notes that they could have simply flown together and saved the planet.
Down in South Carolina, someone alleged he had as many as three Gulfstreams to himself to get somewhere just a couple hours away. Unclear if that’s true, but here’s something to keep in mind.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
It’s a 2 hr drive from Charleston to Myrtle Beach & locals do it all the time – Not @BernieSanders– He & his entourage flew from Charleston to Myrtle Beach in not 1, not 2, but 3 Gulfstream Jets today. It took them 10 minutes to fly. Who is the elitist?? #BernieIsACommunist pic.twitter.com/2CWMXVn4eE
— 🇺🇸CarolinaGirl🇺🇸 (@izzybelle1964) February 27, 2020
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 20:15 - Study Suggests That Moderate Drinkers Live Longer Than Those Who Totally Abstain
Study Suggests That Moderate Drinkers Live Longer Than Those Who Totally Abstain
Authored by Elias Marat via TheMindUnleashed.com,
Enjoying a small bit of booze on a daily basis could actually help boost your life-span to a healthy 90 years of age, researchers have found.
The study, spearheaded by a team of scientists at Maastricht University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, discovered that men and women who indulge in a daily drink are 40 percent more likely to reach their 90th birthday than those who completely abstain.
But before folks get carried away, it is important to note that the benefits of booze are restricted to those who stick to one daily drink, as binge-drinkers are prone to die earlier.
While women can benefit most from drinking wine, men were found to benefit most from such liquors as brandy, gin, and whiskey.
For the study, lead researcher Prof. Piet van den Brandt and his team tracked the drinking habits of over 5,500 people over the span of 20 years. Most of those people tracked by the Dutch team were born in 1914-1918, during the First World War.
The volunteers were surveyed on their drinking habits while they were in their sixties and seventies before researchers monitored how many of them made it to the age of 90.
According to the results published in the journal Age and Ageing, 34 percent of the women and 16 percent of the men reached that age.
However, those who drank between 5 to 10 grams of alcohol per day – the equivalent of a half-pint of beer, a small glass of wine, or a standard shot of liquor – were 40 percent more likely to reach 90 years.
And while drinking up to 15g per day slightly improved volunteers’ chances of reaching 90, any more than that led to premature death.
In his report on the findings, Dr. van den Brandt said:
“We found alcohol intake was positively associated with the probability of reaching 90 years of age in both men and women.
Wine was associated with women reaching 90 but not with men. Instead, intake of gin, brandy and whisky increased their longevity.”
Researchers remain unclear as to why the small daily doses of alcohol are so beneficial.
However, researchers also warned that older people should be aware of how alcohol could potentially interfere with prescription medications. They also noted that the study should not be seen as an endorsement of imbibing alcohol.
Dr. van den Brandt said:
“This should not be used by anyone who does not currently drink alcohol as motivation to start drinking.”
According to the Daily Mail, Lucy Holmes, a director of research and policy at Alcohol Change UK, said:
“This study shows again what all the evidence points to and what the UK’s top doctors tell us – the healthiest choice is to drink 14 units a week or less.
That’s a bottle and a half of wine, or six pints of normal strength lager, spread over three or more days. But if you don’t drink at the moment, this isn’t a reason to start.”
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 19:50 - Joe Biden Wins South Carolina Primary, Trump Says "End Of Bloomberg's Joke Campaign"
Joe Biden Wins South Carolina Primary, Trump Says “End Of Bloomberg’s Joke Campaign”
Biden, who had only earned 15 delegates after the first three states had voted in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, outpaced current front-runner Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders with a projected 60% of the vote to take control of at least 20 of South Carolina’s 54 pledged delegates.
This was the first time in his three presidential runs that he won a state primary or caucus.
Biden was quick to take a victory lap:
Thank you, South Carolina! To all those who have been knocked down, counted out, and left behind — this is your campaign. Together, we will win this nomination and beat Donald Trump.
— Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) March 1, 2020
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Amid a larger than expected African American voter turnout, Biden dominated the initial vote count…
And is forecast to win the primary.
The double-digit win for Biden, along with the likelihood of collecting many or most of the 54 delegates at stake, gives his campaign a much-needed shot in the arm ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries next week.
President Trump was not slow in reacting either:
Sleepy Joe Biden’s victory in the South Carolina Democrat Primary should be the end of Mini Mike Bloomberg’s Joke of a campaign. After the worst debate performance in the history of presidential debates, Mini Mike now has Biden split up his very few voters, taking many away!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2020
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Does this mean the market will rally on Monday?
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 19:23 - 2020 Crash – Complacency Came Before The Fall
2020 Crash – Complacency Came Before The Fall
Authored by Sven Henrich via NorthmanTrader.com,
Complacency came before the fall. All of 2019 market participants ignored the non existent earnings growth. Too strong was the now pavlovian reflex to chase easy central bank money. Too trusting in central banks to again produce a reflation scenario that would make all the troubles go away.
Everything was ignored and markets and stocks were relentless chased higher into some of the highest market valuations ever. Even the coronavirus was ignored. A dip to buy in January they said. AAPL warning? Let’s ignore it and buy AAPL to new all time highs again.
Nothing mattered until it did.
Then markets crashed last week. Perhaps not in percentage terms, but in terms of vertical velocity to the downside it was unmatched in history. The fastest 15% correction off of all time highs ever and by far.
Worse, months of buyers of stocks and markets at high valuations suddenly found themselves trapped as the bottom fell out inside of a few days:
$NYSE, the broader index dropping below the January 2018 highs and closing below the summer 2019 lows now showing an index that has gone nowhere in 2 years and the recent highs being a complete mirage.
The big message: It was not different this time. Bears were right. Full stop.
$DJIA fell all the way to the June 2019 low taking out 9 months of buying:
Don’t anybody tell me everybody sold the top. No, lots of buyers are trapped at much higher prices and are now again dependent on central banks coming to the rescue.
The very central banks that have led them into another liquidity trap. By printing, cutting rates, adding to the balance sheet at a record clip and even producing new record holdings of treasury bills the Fed has created a stock buying frenzy. In denial of its actions and the historic valuations that were created in the process the Fed caused a massive melt up in stocks and markets and now investors have paid the price as the Fed lost control:
Loss of control in print. pic.twitter.com/cQBitPTepG
— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) February 28, 2020
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And now everybody is in hopes that the Fed can print even more to rescue markets once again.
Sure enough on Friday Jay Powell came out and tried to “sooth” markets.
It was oh so predictable:
I KNEW IT!!!!!!!!!https://t.co/HyPicKSCiS
— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) February 28, 2020
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And I called it the week before:
Prediction: If markets drop 10%+ before April the Fed will not end repo or its treasury bills buying program as indicated.
If anything they will increase it and cut rates.Why? Because markets will demand it & this Fed has no backbone whatsoever & his beholden to markets.
— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) February 20, 2020
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And here we are, the market now pricing in a 100% probability of a rate cut by March and Powell sending the signal it will come. Indeed markets are now pricing in nearly 4 rate cuts by early 2021 and there’s chatter about an emergency rate cut coming or global coordinated central bank intervention.
They will react for certain and this reaction may well an drive aggressive counter rally in coming weeks from now extreme oversold conditions in markets.
But the bigger issue now is that central banks are very much at risk of losing final control here, having left themselves vulnerable, intervening always at the first sign of trouble, and now they have precious little ammunition to deal with a real emergency if coronavirus is turning into something much more serious.
Money printing does not start production chains or cause airlines to fly. So the risk of a global recession unfolding is a clear and present danger and then futures rallies would continue to get sold and markets may embark on a multi year bear market. That’s the risk they tried to avoid in 2019.
We can’t know how any of this plays out of course and hopes are the virus will calm down in the next month or two and then this current shock to the system can recover and pent up demand can rescue the economy and markets into the second half. It’s possible, but it may also not be possible depending on the severity. Because frankly, we are watching a historic experiment unfold:
Historic experiment:
Let’s take the longest and slowest recovery business cycle & the most indebted global economy, use cheap money to jam markets to the highest market cap to GDP valuations ever and then shut down the global supply chain and then let’s see what happens. pic.twitter.com/ubXzSeYdox— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) February 28, 2020
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I repeat: Nobody can know how this will play out. However we can let the technicals guide us, the very technicals that told us this rally was unsustainable, that it had massive issues, and that a reversion was coming.
In this week’s video I’m focusing on what just happened and why, the damage that has been inflicted, the orchestra of support we witnessed on Friday, and what we may expect going forward including potential for an aggressive counter rally, but also resistance on any moves up given the technical damage that has occurred.
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Please be sure to watch it in HD for clarity. To get notified of future videos feel free to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. For the latest public analysis please visit NorthmanTrader. To subscribe to our market products please visit Services.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 19:00 - Trump Exposes "Dishonest" Media Critics, Insists "We're Super Prepared" To Handle COVID-19 Outbreaks
Trump Exposes “Dishonest” Media Critics, Insists “We’re Super Prepared” To Handle COVID-19 Outbreaks
Update (1430ET): Despite a barrage of aggressive and even “dishonest” questions from reporters during an impromptu press conference held Saturday afternoon and the bombshell announcement of the first death in the US just minutes before it started, President Trump managed to convey a sense that the administration is really on top of things, and that initial reports about missteps and the “muzzling” of CDC officials were misrepresentations that may have been deliberately deceitful.
President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, CDC Director Robert Redfield and infectious disease head Dr. Anthony Fauci and several others delivered statements and took turns answering questions.
Unsurprisingly, the first question, of course, was about Trump’s comment about the virus being a “hoax”, a statement Trump made at a rally in South Carolina that was misquoted and misrepresented by the press. Asked if he thought the outbreak was “hoax”, Trump clarified that he was talking about the Democrats criticism of his administration’s response to the outbreak, not the outbreak itself.
President Trump confirms he was talking about the Democrats
“The hoax is on them” pic.twitter.com/zEu50PW9hB
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) February 29, 2020
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Nevertheless, reporters continued to harp on Trump’s “hoax” comment while hammering him on a range of issues from allegations that DHS workers were exposed to the virus while transporting evacuees, to reports that the administration was “muzzling” the CDC to try and prevent the ‘real scientists’ from breaking with the administration’s optimistic takes on the risk to the public health and economy.
But as it turns out, the ‘real scientists’ actually agree with Trump: While the US needs to take deliberate steps to contain the outbreak, things so far actually haven’t been all that bad!
During one particularly memorable moment, a reporter asked Trump about a WaPo report claiming that Vice President Pence “muzzled” CDC officials like Dr. Fauci, while intimating that the administration was emulating Beijing by trying to prevent ‘bad news’ from getting out.
Fortunately, Dr. Fauci was there to rebut the claim: Which he did, with vigor.
“I have never been muzzled – ever – and I’ve been doing this since the administration of Ronald Reagan. We were set up to go on some shows and when the VP took over…we had to stand down on a couple of shows and resubmitted for clearance, which we immediately got.”
Moving on, at one point, Trump insisted that the US was “super prepared” to deal with the outbreak, while advising that “most Americans” who catch the virus will probably only experience mild flu-like symptoms (not the most reassuring thing he could have said, but hey…).
The doctor, and legendary virus expert, then went on to reiterate that President Trump and the administration did act swiftly to try and contain the spread of the virus, and deserved some credit for doing so.
Anyway, during the opening minutes of the press conference, President Trump confirmed that the US has confirmed 22 cases of COVID-19 outside of the dozens of evacuees from either Wuhan or the ‘Diamond Princess’.
Of the non-evacuee cases, four are very ill, 14 have recovered, and, as we learned just before the press conference started, one woman succumbed to the virus in Washington State. Trump then went on to claim that his administration has taken “the most aggressive action in modern history” to confront an outbreak.
“Since the early stages of the foreign outbreak my administration has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to confront the spread of this disease,” Trump said.
He added that he’s remained in contact with President Xi, and that China has made “tremendous progress.”
“And I wanna say that China seems to be making tremendous progress. And if you read Tim Cook of Apple, you’ll see that they’re back to full operation in China,” Trump said.
As far as we can tell, this isn’t exactly true, the company’s suppliers including Foxconn are still struggling to ramp up production. But most of the Apple stores in China have reopened.
Next up was VP Pence, who announced new restrictions on travel from Iran – an expansion of existing travel restrictions – while increase travel advisories for hot zones in Italy and South Korea to ‘Level 4’. Pence added that he’s spoken to Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee, and that “every American would be proud of what I heard.” Pence credited the governor and his state for being on top of the outbreak in Washington, and declared that Pence’s team has been working “seamlessly” with state and local officials on the ground.
But most importantly, Pence said that the risk to the American public – even those who live nearby where infections have been reported – remains “low.”
“The average American does not need to go out and buy a mask,” Pence said.
But if they feel like buying one anyway, Pence said the US has 40 million masks available today, and that the government has a new contract with 3M to produce 35 million more masks a month. Pence added that if the situation worsens, the administration would increase the availability of these masks.
“Let me assure every American…that this is an ‘all hands on deck’ effort,” Pence said.
Secretary Azar started his statement by offering condolences to the family of the woman who passed away from the virus in Washington State. He also said that the CDC and federal officials will fight the virus by assiduously “identifying and isolating” patients, while tracing their steps and warning everybody who came into contact with the infected persons that they need to be on high alert and report any suspicious symptoms. “This is an evolving situation and we will keep you appraised,” one said.
Supporters and critics alike conceded that the press conference was far more reassuring than what Trump said on Wednesday. And by playing up Dr. Fauci’s role in the response, the administration has skillfully undercut its critics.
Trump not a great press conference but better than last week
Fauci is on the ball
— Quoth the Raven (@QTRResearch) February 29, 2020
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But the real question is: Will the market feel the same?
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Three days after President Trump held his first White House press briefing on the coronavirus threat – where he appointed Vice President Mike Pence to be the administration’s “not-Coronavirus Czar”, before quickly clarifying that it wasn’t a demotion for HHS Secretary Alex Azar (rumored to be near the top of the president’s shit list) – Trump will hold another presser at 1:30 ET to discuss the coronavirus threat.
The presser is being held to discuss “the latest CoronaVirus developments”…
I will be having a 1:30 P.M. Press Conference at the White House to discuss the latest CoronaVirus developments. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 29, 2020
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Earlier this morning, the FDA announced a new plan to speed up testing and loosen restrictions on local labs, a decision that will likely lead to a surge in newly confirmed coronavirus cases as the true scope of the outbreak in the US becomes apparent.
And don’t forget: State public health officials in Oregon, California and Washington State announced new coronavirus cases “of unknown origin” as others complained about restrictive CDC guidelines that slowed states’ ability to test new patients for the virus.
In other words: Trump has some explaining to do.
Watch live below:
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 18:55 - 81% Of South Korean 'End Of Days' Worshippers Test Positive For Coronavirus
81% Of South Korean ‘End Of Days’ Worshippers Test Positive For Coronavirus
Last week we noted an in-depth report by Bloomberg on how a 61-year-old Korean ‘typhoid Mary‘ spread coronavirus throughout her doomsday religious cult after praying with at least a thousand other adherents.
“What made this case so much worse was that this person spent a considerable amount of time in a very crowded area,” said Seoul National University professor of health policy, Kim Chang-yup. “There’s growing fear and resentment among the people right now.”
As a result, over 1,900 members of the Shincheonji Church have been screened for coronavirus, of which 1,551 – or 81%, tested positive according to the BBC‘s Laura Bicker.
Put another way:
Out of a population of 1,900
1,300 were symptomatic
600 asymptomatic420 tested positive but asymptomatic
1,131 tested positive and symptomatic= 1,551 infections out of 1,900 = 81%
— Jay Reynolds (@jaycreynolds) February 29, 2020
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Of note, because the church’s leader (who believes he’s an immortal prophet sent by Jesus Christ) preaches about the end-of-days, followers have been accused of purposefully spreading the disease – however those reports are unconfirmed and there is no evidence to suggest this is occurring.
What is known is that the church held religious gatherings in the Chinese city of Wuhan – the epicenter of the current outbreak.
In short, expect similar results – assuming reports of purposeful infection are false – at similar places of worship around the world.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 18:30 - "Don't Test, Don't Tell!"
“Don’t Test, Don’t Tell!”
Authored by Ben Hunt via EpsilonTheory.com,
I believe that a healthy society should not have only one voice.
– Li Wenliang, Wuhan physician, born October 12, 1986, died February 7, 2020.
Last night, I received a Twitter DM that included screenshots of an email that went out to staff at the UC Davis Medical Center. After checking for authenticity, I posted the screenshots in a tweet of my own.
And that’s when, as the kids would say, it blew up.
I want to highlight a couple of quotes from this email.
Since the patient did not fit the existing CDC criteria for COVID-19, a test was not immediately administered. UC Davis Health does not control the testing process.
The facts here are pretty clear. Patient comes in from another hospital on Wednesday, Feb. 19 – this is one week ago – already intubated and on a ventilator, and the doctors at UC Davis – who have treated other COVID-19 cases – IMMEDIATELY suspect COVID-19.
But the CDC refuses to test for COVID-19.
Why? Because it didn’t fit their “criteria” for testing. They didn’t know for sure that the patient was in mainland China within the past 14 days, and they didn’t know for sure that the patient was in close contact with another confirmed case, so BY DEFINITION this patient can’t possibly have COVID-19. No test for you!
This is “Don’t Test, Don’t Tell” and it is the single most incompetent, corrupt public health policy of my lifetime.
And it’s happening all over the country.
Here, take a look at yesterday’s press conference from Nassau County, Long Island.
WATCH: Nassau County Executive Curran and Health Commissioner Eisenstein provide updates and guidance on #coronavirus.https://t.co/zDcPSePWMM
— Laura Curran (@NassauExecutive) February 26, 2020
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Excruciating. They spend the first five minutes of the presser congratulating each other. Then the update: 83 people are in self-quarantine at home, where they are supposed to “check their temperature” daily. Don’t have a thermometer? Not to worry! The Nassau County Health Commission will provide one for you!
Who are the 83 in self-quarantine? Why, they’re everyone that Homeland Security says should be in self-quarantine, based on “current guidelines” of someone who was in mainland China within the past 14 days.
Has it been 15 days since your mainland China visit?
Have you been to Northern Italy in past 14 days?
Have you been to Iran in past 14 days?
Have you been to South Korea in past 14 days?
Well, no self-quarantine for you! You’re fine!
And here’s the kicker. Not only is there ZERO tracking or monitoring of anyone who has been swimming in the coronavirus stew of South Korea, Northern Italy and Iran, but let’s say that you have in fact been to one of those areas recently and now you’re feeling sick. You go to the doctor and you tell her the whole story. Both of you suspect it might be COVID-19. You’re trying to do the right thing here. You call the county health authority. You call the state health authority. You call the CDC. And then you learn the awful truth of Don’t Test, Don’t Tell.
It’s not that testing is not available…It’s that testing is not ALLOWED.
I’m not panicked. I am perfectly calm.
But I am really, really pissed off.
Because here’s the other quote from the UC Davis email that I’d like you to pay close attention to:
When the patient arrived [Wednesday], the patient had already been intubated, was on a ventilator, and given droplet protection orders because of an undiagnosed and suspected viral condition. … On Sunday, the CDC ordered COVID-19 testing of the patient and the patient was put on airborne precautions and strict contact precautions.
Translation: for four days, every healthcare professional treating this patient at UC Davis was exposed to airborne transmission of COVID-19. And so was every healthcare professional at the hospital before UC Davis. Because the CDC refused to test this patient for COVID-19 in a timely manner, the doctors and nurses and technicians caring for this patient were put at risk.
Sure enough:
We are asking a small number of employees to stay home and monitor their temperature.
This is the part of the story that we must yell at the top of our lungs.
Don’t Test, Don’t Tell is not just hiding the true extent of COVID-19 cases in the United States.
Don’t Test, Don’t Tell is not just perpetuating the politically corrupt “Yay, Containment!” narrative of this White House.
Don’t Test, Don’t Tell is endangering the lives of our doctors and nurses.
Just like in China.
Just like in Wuhan.
A city falls when its healthcare system is overwhelmed. A city falls when its national government fails to prepare and support its doctors and nurses. A city falls when its government is more concerned with maintaining some bullshit narrative of “Yay, Calm and Competent Control!” than in doing what is politically embarrassing but socially necessary.
That’s EXACTLY what happened in Wuhan. More than 30% of doctors and nurses in Wuhan themselves fell victim to COVID-19, so that the healthcare system stopped being a source of healing, but became a source of infection. At which point the Chinese government effectively abandoned the city, shut it off from the rest of the country, placed more than 9 million people under house arrest, and allowed the disease to essentially burn itself out.
And so Wuhan fell.
The disaster that befell the citizens of Wuhan and so many other cities throughout China is not primarily a virus. The disaster is having a political regime that cares more about maintaining a self-serving narrative of control than it cares about saving the lives of its citizens.
We must prevent that from happening here. From happening anywhere. Yes, containment has failed. But that does NOT mean the war is lost. We can absolutely do better – SO MUCH BETTER – for our citizens than China did for theirs.
The CDC’s Don’t Test, Don’t Tell policy came crashing down last night. So did Trump’s “buh, buh the flu” and “Yay, Containment!” narratives.
Now let’s get to work preparing for the fight to come.
Not in panic. Not in fear. But with resolve, sacrifice and righteous anger for those who would use us instrumentally for their own political ends.
Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can’t lose.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 18:00 - Iran Blasts US Offer To Help Fight Coronavirus As "Political-Psychological Game"
Iran Blasts US Offer To Help Fight Coronavirus As “Political-Psychological Game”
Washington momentarily put aside the fact that it’s essentially at war with Iran and in a very rare moment actually offered to “help” Iran combat the rapidly spreading and deadly coronavirus according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday.
“We have made offers to the Islamic Republic of Iran to help, and we’ve made it clear to others around the world and in the region that assistance, humanitarian assistance to push back against the coronavirus in Iran is something the United States of America fully supports,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo clarified after the hearing to reporters that the offer of support was made “to the Iranian people” and “formally conveyed to Iran through the government of Switzerland,” The Hill reported.
Despite Iran’s official death toll now standing at multiple dozens, rising to 43 as of Saturday morning, with a total number of infected at 593 (though the true numbers of infected are believed to be in the thousands or possibly tens of thousands), the Islamic Republic’s leaders promptly mocked Pompeo’s claim to have extended a hand of “support”.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousav on Friday slammed America’s offer as “ridiculous,” according to the Mehr news agency.
“The claim to help Iran in dealing with corona from a country who with their economic terrorism has created widespread pressure for the people of Iran and even closed the paths for buying medicine and medical equipment, is a ridiculous claim and a political-psychological game,” Mousavi said.
Meanwhile, a number of reports have analyzed the impact of US sanctions on Iran’s coronavirus crisis – the hardest hit country outside of China – and concluded the US administration’s punitive attempt to devastate the Iranian economy is a contributing factor to Covid-19’s rapid spread there. The National Interest reported that the White House has responded to this criticism by opening up humanitarian avenues.
Image source: AP “The Trump administration is partially reversing course on economic sanctions that have slowed down Iran from importing coronavirus test kits as the country faces down the most deadly COVID-19 outbreak outside of East Asia,” according to the report.
Iranian leaders have blamed Washington for the worsening crisis, given the limited ability to import virus testing kits and equipment and medicines.
“The U.S. Treasury announced on Thursday morning that it was lifting some terrorism-related sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran, which re-opens a channel for humanitarian trade that had been closed since September 2019,” The National Interest said further.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 17:30 - Meanwhile At A Costco In Brooklyn, The Hoarding Begins
Meanwhile At A Costco In Brooklyn, The Hoarding Begins
The same long lines that we’ve seen in China, Japan, South Korea, and across the world as people panic buy food and health supplies have started in the US.
On Saturday, the US Surgeon General urged people to “stop buying masks,” saying on Twitter that they’re not effective in preventing the general public from catching coronavirus.
Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!
They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!
https://t.co/UxZRwxxKL9— U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) February 29, 2020
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Despite the CDC telling everyone to calm down, alleged video of long lines pouring out of a Costco store in Brooklyn, New York, surfaced on YouTube Saturday afternoon.
This angle shows hundreds of people lined up outside of the Brooklyn Costco today in the freezing cold for a chance to load up on supplies amid virus fears.
@WFANTrades
Costco.
In Brooklyn.
8:58 this morning.
It opens at 9.
As if the damn apocalypse will be upon us by this afternoon.
😵😵 pic.twitter.com/ut9Nblv8eV— Sitesh Shah (@SSWfan) February 29, 2020
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This comes days after we reported Hawaiians raced to Sam’s Club and Costco to panic buy food and health supplies as virus fears surge.
And as we noted earlier today: “The great panic of 2020 is underway” as Americans are now stocking up on supplies as a pandemic could be imminent.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 17:00 - Did China Close First Lab To Sequence Covid-19 Out Of Fear It Would Lose Bat Soup Narrative?
Did China Close First Lab To Sequence Covid-19 Out Of Fear It Would Lose Bat Soup Narrative?
The question we all should be asking: Why was the first medical research lab, located in Shanghai, to sequence the whole genome of Covid-19 and publicly share the data shut down?
The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center & School of Public Health at Fudan University was the first lab in the world to sequence the whole genome of the virus on Jan 11. Then, the Shanghai Health Commission, one day later, on Jan 12, shuttered the lab for “rectification.”
“The center was not given any specific reasons why the laboratory was closed for rectification. [We have submitted] four reports [asking for permission] to reopen, but we have not received any replies,” a source from the lab told the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
The source said it wasn’t clear if the closure of the Level 3 biosafety facility was a direct result of the lab publishing virus sequence data on virological.org, an open-access virus discussion forum, and GenBank, an open-access data repository.
The release of the genome data on the public domain allowed researchers to develop a new test kit to diagnose the virus. By Feb 3, the lab’s Professor Zhang Yongzhen, who was responsible for the sequencing, found his data published in Nature.
“It was not about any individual’s achievements. It’s about having biological test kits ready in the face of a previously unknown respiratory disease, especially when a large part of the population [was] moving [across the country] during the Lunar New Year holidays,” said the source.
The source warned that the closure of the lab slowed down scientists and their research when they should have been developing new tools and vaccines to manage the virus outbreak, but for some reason, and it’s still unknown, the government immediately closed the lab after the genome sequence was published in the public domain.
“There have been applications from research institutes and universities to try drugs and compare the effects of different treatment and the development of vaccines, but [all these will have] to be turned down. Closing down the laboratory also affects the studying of the virus,” the source added.
China’s lack of transparency since the outbreak began late last year is a significant concern. The likely reason behind the lab’s closure early last month was pressure by the Chinese government on Shanghai Health Commission to prevent the spread of scientific data to the international community that would likely debunk the official narrative that the virus came from a food market in Wuhan, China. But as we noted last week, it’s too late, and the Global Times had to admit that a “New Chinese study indicates novel coronavirus did not originate in the Huanan seafood market.”
Even China has had to question its official narrative; the NY Post published an article which sounds very familiar to ours: “Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab” in which the author writes “the evidence points to SARS-CoV-2 research being carried out at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
As to why China pressured Shanghai to close the lab that first sequenced the virus and published it on open-access sites for the world’s scientific community to observe is that it attempted to limit information about the virus so its official narrative wouldn’t be debunked; oops too late.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/29/2020 – 16:40
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