- Swiss Watch Exports Tumble In July As Pandemic Slump Eases
Swiss Watch Exports Tumble In July As Pandemic Slump Eases
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/21/2020 – 02:45Could the worst be over for the Swiss watch industry?
The Swiss watch industry experienced an unparalleled shock, in the first half of the year, sparked by the virus pandemic resulting in a plunge in watch exports. However, there is some good news, the rate of decline in exports appears to be slowing, which was boosted by Chinese demand, reported Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.
The federation reported Thursday watch exports in July plunged 17% on a year-over-year basis to $1.8 billion. The decline’s rate of change over the month was about 50% less than the prior month.
Shipments to the US were “stable” over the month, but compared to China, demand jumped 59%.
Performance in the main export markets for Swiss watches varied significantly in July. China (+59.1%) posted a second consecutive month of very strong growth, illustrating the early recovery in this market and the gradual resumption of domestic rather than foreign sales. Exports to the United States (-0.6%) were stable compared with July 2019, after three months of extremely poor performance. The situation in Hong Kong (-42.9%) showed no real signs of improving, although the decline was slightly less sharp than in April. Surprisingly, the United Kingdom (+2.5%) showed some signs of recovery ahead of other European markets, which were either stable (Germany -1.1%) or down sharply (Italy -33.6% and France -30.6%). Japan, in fourth place (-32.1%), another country deprived of Chinese tourists, remained clearly in the red. – the federation
The federation said, “less expensive watches saw a more significant fall, while those at the other end of the scale held up better, posting only a third of the decline in comparison. Volumes, in particular, decreased sharply for watches under 200 francs (export price), falling by -41.5% compared with last year. Watches priced at over 3,000 francs saw a dip in the value of 11.1%.”
The Swiss watch industry has been greatly affected by the virus-induced downturn, crushing worldwide consumers (see: “”Second Month Of Quasi-Paralysis” – Swiss Watch Exports Collapse 68% In May”).
With recent data from the US, Europe, and China all pointing to a global economic recovery stalling, it’s likely the overall demand for Swiss watches will remain in a slump for several years.
Even before the virus pandemic, the Swiss watch industry was contending with overall shipments at three-decade lows. Demand for diamonds, jewelry, and timepieces were declining well before 2020.
Smartwatches, such as the Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch, and the Garmin smartwatch, have taken considerable market share from Swiss watchmakers.
Perhaps the Chinese panic buying of fancy Swiss watches in July comes as smart money swaps out fiat for physical assets.
- Why Brennan, Strzok, & DOJ Needed Julian Assange Arrested; And Why UK Officials Obliged…
Why Brennan, Strzok, & DOJ Needed Julian Assange Arrested; And Why UK Officials Obliged…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/21/2020 – 02:00Authored by ‘sundance’ via TheConservativeTreehouse.com,
According to reports in November of 2019, U.S Attorney John Durham and U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr were spending time on a narrowed focus looking carefully at CIA activity in the 2016 presidential election. One recent quote from a media-voice increasingly sympathetic to a political deep-state notes:
“One British official with knowledge of Barr’s wish list presented to London commented that “it is like nothing we have come across before, they are basically asking, in quite robust terms, for help in doing a hatchet job on their own intelligence services””. (Link)
It is interesting that quote came from a British intelligence official, as there appears to be evidence of an extensive CIA operation that likely involved U.K. intelligence services. In addition, and as a direct outcome, there is an aspect to the CIA operation that overlaps with both a U.S. and U.K. need to keep Wikileaks founder Julian Assange under tight control. In this outline we will explain where corrupt U.S. and U.K. interests merge.
To understand the risk that Julian Assange represented to CIA interests, it is important to understand just how extensive the operations of the CIA were in 2016. It is within this network of foreign and domestic operations where FBI Agent Peter Strzok is clearly working as a bridge between the CIA and FBI operations.
By now people are familiar with the construct of CIA operations involving Joseph Mifsud, the Maltese professor now generally admitted/identified as a western intelligence operative who was tasked by the CIA (John Brennan) to run an operation against Trump campaign official George Papadopoulos in both Italy (Rome) and London. {Go Deep}
In a similar fashion the CIA tasked U.S. intelligence asset Stefan Halper to target another Trump campaign official, Carter Page. Under the auspices of being a Cambridge Professor Stefan Halper also targeted General Michael Flynn. Additionally, using assistance from a female FBI agent under the false name Azra Turk, Halper also targeted Papadopoulos.
The initial operations to target Flynn, Papadopoulos and Page were all based overseas. This seemingly makes the CIA exploitation of the assets and the targets much easier.
One of the more interesting aspects to the Durham probe is a possibility of a paper-trail created as a result of the tasking operations. We should watch closely for more evidence of a paper trail as some congressional reps have hinted toward documented evidence (transcripts, recordings, reports) that are exculpatory to the targets (Page & Papadop). HPSCI Ranking Member Devin Nunes has strongly hinted that very specific exculpatory evidence was known to the FBI and yet withheld from the FISA application used against Carter Page that also mentions George Papadopoulos. I digress…
However, there is an aspect to the domestic U.S. operation that also bears the fingerprints of the CIA; only this time due to the restrictive laws on targets inside the U.S. the CIA aspect is less prominent. This is where FBI Agent Peter Strzok working for both agencies starts to become important.
Remember, it’s clear in the text messages Strzok has a working relationship with what he called their “sister agency”, the CIA. Additionally, Brennan has admitted Strzok helped write the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) which outlines the Russia narrative; and it is almost guaranteed the July 31st, 2016, “Electronic Communication” from the CIA to the FBI that originated FBI operation “Crossfire Hurricane” was co-authored from the CIA by Strzok…. and Strzok immediately used that EC to travel to London to debrief intelligence officials around Australian Ambassador to the U.K. Alexander Downer.
In short, Peter Strzok appears to be the very eager, profoundly overzealous James Bond wannabe, who acted as a bridge between the CIA and the FBI. The perfect type of FBI career agent for CIA Director John Brennan to utilize.
Fusion-GPS founder Glenn Simpson hired CIA Open Source analyst Nellie Ohr toward the end of 2015; at appropriately the same time as “FBI Contractors” were identified exploiting the NSA database and extracting information on a specific set of U.S. persons.
It was also Fusion-GPS founder Glenn Simpson who was domestically tasked with a Russian lobbyist named Natalia Veselnitskya. A little reported Russian Deputy Attorney General named Saak Albertovich Karapetyan was working double-agents for the CIA and Kremlin. Karapetyan was directing the foreign operations of Natalia Veselnitskaya, and Glenn Simpson was organizing her inside the U.S.
Glenn Simpson managed Veselnitskaya through the 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr. However, once the CIA/Fusion-GPS operation using Veselnitskaya started to unravel with public reporting… back in Russia Deputy AG Karapetyan fell out of a helicopter to his death (just before it crashed).
Simultaneously timed in late 2015 through mid 2016, there was a domestic FBI operation using a young Russian named Maria Butina tasked to run up against republican presidential candidates. According to Patrick Byrne, Butina’s handler, it was FBI agent Peter Strzok who was giving Byrne the instructions on where to send her. {Go Deep}
All of this context outlines the extent to which the CIA was openly involved in constructing a political operation that settled upon anyone in candidate Donald Trump’s orbit.
International operations directed by the CIA, and domestic operations seemingly directed by Peter Strzok operating with a foot in both agencies. [Strzok gets CIA service coin]
Recap: ♦Mifsud tasked against Papadopoulos (CIA). ♦Halper tasked against Flynn (CIA), Page (CIA), and Papadopoulos (CIA). ♦Azra Turk, pretending to be Halper asst, tasked against Papadopoulos (FBI). ♦Veselnitskaya tasked against Donald Trump Jr (CIA, Fusion-GPS). ♦Butina tasked against Trump, and Donald Trump Jr (FBI).
Additionally, Christopher Steele was a British intelligence officer, hired by Fusion-GPS to assemble and launder fraudulent intelligence information within his dossier. And we cannot forget Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch, who was recruited by Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe to participate in running an operation against the Trump campaign and create the impression of Russian involvement. Deripaska refused to participate.
All of this engagement directly controlled by U.S. intelligence; and all of this intended to give a specific Russia impression. This predicate is presumably what John Durham is currently reviewing.
The key point of all that background is to see how committed the CIA and FBI were to the constructed narrative of Russia interfering with the 2016 election. The CIA, FBI, and by extension the DOJ, put a hell of a lot of work into it. Intelligence community work that Durham is now unraveling.
We also know specifically that John Durham is looking at the construct of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA); and talking to CIA analysts who participated in the construct of the January 2017 report that bolstered the false appearance of Russian interference in the 2016 election. This is important because it ties in to the next part that involves Julian Assange and Wikileaks.
On April 11th, 2019, the Julian Assange indictment was unsealed in the EDVA. From the indictment we discover it was under seal since March 6th, 2018:
On Tuesday April 15th more investigative material was released. Again, note the dates: Grand Jury, *December of 2017* This means FBI investigation prior to….
The FBI investigation took place prior to December 2017, it was coordinated through the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) where Dana Boente was U.S. Attorney at the time. The grand jury indictment was sealed from March of 2018 until after Mueller completed his investigation, April 2019.
Why the delay?
What was the DOJ waiting for?
Here’s where it gets interesting….
The FBI submission to the Grand Jury in December of 2017 was four months after congressman Dana Rohrabacher talked to Julian Assange in August of 2017: “Assange told a U.S. congressman … he can prove the leaked Democratic Party documents … did not come from Russia.”
(August 2017, The Hill Via John Solomon) Julian Assange told a U.S. congressman on Tuesday he can prove the leaked Democratic Party documents he published during last year’s election did not come from Russia and promised additional helpful information about the leaks in the near future.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who is friendly to Russia and chairs an important House subcommittee on Eurasia policy, became the first American congressman to meet with Assange during a three-hour private gathering at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been holed up for years.
Rohrabacher recounted his conversation with Assange to The Hill.
“Our three-hour meeting covered a wide array of issues, including the WikiLeaks exposure of the DNC [Democratic National Committee] emails during last year’s presidential election,” Rohrabacher said, “Julian emphatically stated that the Russians were not involved in the hacking or disclosure of those emails.”
Pressed for more detail on the source of the documents, Rohrabacher said he had information to share privately with President Trump. (read more)
Knowing how much effort the CIA and FBI put into the Russia collusion-conspiracy narrative, it would make sense for the FBI to take keen interest after this August 2017 meeting between Rohrabacher and Assange; and why the FBI would quickly gather specific evidence (related to Wikileaks and Bradley Manning) for a grand jury by December 2017.
Within three months of the grand jury the DOJ generated an indictment and sealed it in March 2018. The EDVA sat on the indictment while the Mueller probe was ongoing.
As soon as the Mueller probe ended, on April 11th, 2019, a planned and coordinated effort between the U.K. and U.S. was executed; Julian Assange was forcibly arrested and removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and the EDVA indictment was unsealed (link).
As a person who has researched this three year fiasco; including the ridiculously false 2016 Russian hacking/interference narrative: “17 intelligence agencies”, Joint Analysis Report (JAR) needed for Obama’s anti-Russia narrative in December ’16; and then a month later the ridiculously political Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) in January ’17; this timing against Assange is too coincidental.
It doesn’t take a deep researcher to see the aligned Deep State motive to control Julian Assange because the Mueller report was dependent on Russia cybercrimes, and that narrative is contingent on the Russia DNC hack story which Julian Assange disputes.
This is critical. The Weissmann/Mueller report contains claims that Russia hacked the DNC servers as the central element to the Russia interference narrative in the U.S. election. This claim is directly disputed by WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, as outlined during the Dana Rohrabacher interview, and by Julian Assange on-the-record statements.
The predicate for Robert Mueller’s investigation was specifically due to Russian interference in the 2016 election. The fulcrum for this Russia interference claim is the intelligence community assessment; and the only factual evidence claimed within the ICA is that Russia hacked the DNC servers; a claim only made possible by relying on forensic computer analysis from Crowdstrike, a DNC contractor.
The CIA holds a massive conflict of self-interest in upholding the Russian hacking claim. The FBI holds a massive interest in maintaining that claim. All of those foreign countries whose intelligence apparatus participated with Brennan and Strzok also have a vested self-interest in maintaining that Russia hacking and interference narrative.
Julian Assange is the only person with direct knowledge of how Wikileaks gained custody of the DNC emails; and Assange has claimed he has evidence it was not from a hack.
This Russian “hacking” claim is ultimately so important to the CIA, FBI, DOJ, ODNI and U.K intelligence apparatus…. Well, right there is the obvious motive to shut Assange down as soon intelligence officials knew the Mueller report was going to be public.
Now, if we know this, and you know this; and everything is cited and factual… well, then certainly AG Bill Barr knows this.
The $64,000 dollar question is: will they say so publicly?
- "If You're Reading This, You Might Be A Conspiracy Theorist…"
“If You’re Reading This, You Might Be A Conspiracy Theorist…”
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 23:45Authored by John Steppling via Off-Guardian.org,
“…a permanent modern scenario: apocalypse looms…and it doesn’t occur.”
– Susan Sontag, AIDs and its Metaphors
“I should not misuse this opportunity to give you a lecture about, say, logic. I call this a misuse, for to explain a scientific matter to you it would need a course of lectures and not an hour’s paper. Another alternative would have been to give you what’s called a popular scientific lecture, that is a lecture intended to make you believe that you understand a thing which actually you don’t understand, and to gratify what I believe to be one of the lowest desires of modern people, namely the superficial curiosity about the latest discoveries of science. I rejected these alternatives.”
– Ludwig Wittgenstein, A Lecture on Ethics
If you’re reading this, then you’ve probably been called a conspiracy theorist. Also you’ve been derided and shamed for questioning the “science” of the Covid debacle.
The idea of science is now a badly corrupted idea. In a nation, today, (the USA) which in educational terms ranks 25th globally in science skills and reading, and well below that in math; all one hears is a clarion call to science. In reading skills the US placed below Malta, Portugal, and right about the same as Kazakhstan.
But in a nation that no longer reads, and *can* no longer read, it is not surprising that knowledge is absorbed via the new hieroglyphics of gifs (interestingly the creator of gifs wanted it pronounced with a soft g the more to sound like a peanut butter brand) and memes.
So-called ‘response memes’ are the new version of conversation, and most register and communicate (sic) confusion. As beer ad marketers know, the state of your brain after consuming a six pack is pretty much the standard target ideal for advertising. And it relays a message that six pack confusion is actually a good and perhaps even sexy state in which to find oneself.
Education is for those with money, those who can afford the proper foundational skills to get into Harvard, MIT, Cal Tech and the Stanford. For everyone else science is Star Trek.
But I digress. The point is that most Americans imagine that they revere science, and they ridicule anyone they think of as unscientific. But they think of it in cult terms, really. Its a religion of sorts. The only people who don’t are those ‘real’ religious zealots, Dominionist and Charismatic Christians (like Mike Pompeo, Mike Pence, Rick Perry, Betsy DeVos et al) who hold positions of enormous power in the US government under the least scientific president in history.
The Christian right doesn’t like any science, ANY science. But for most of that target demographic (the educated mostly white 30%), the cry is to “trust the science”…even the great Greta says to “trust the science”.
The problem is, science is not neutral, its as politicized as media and news and the pronouncements of celebrities.
In May 2020, The Lancet published an article revisiting the 1957 and 1968 Influenza pandemics.
The 1957 outbreak was not caused by a coronavirus—the first human coronavirus would not be discovered until 1965—but by an influenza virus. However, in 1957, no one could be sure that the virus that had been isolated in Hong Kong was a new pandemic strain or simply a descendant of the previous 1918–19 pandemic influenza virus.
The result was that as the UK’s weekly death count mounted, peaking at about 600 in the week ending Oct 17, 1957, there were few hysterical tabloid newspaper headlines and no calls for social distancing. Instead, the news cycle was dominated by the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik and the aftermath of the fire at the Windscale nuclear reactor in the UK.
By the time this influenza pandemic — known colloquially at the time as “Asian flu” — had concluded the following April, an estimated 20 000 people in the UK and 80 000 citizens in the USA were dead. Worldwide, the pandemic, sparked by a new H2N2 influenza subtype, would result in more than 1 million deaths.
To date, Covid 19 has not reached the million death marker in the US, and yet we are seeing the most draconian lockdowns in modern history, the total suspension of democratic process and a level of hysteria (especially in the U.S. and UK) unprecedented. I wrote about some aspects of this on my blog here, mostly touching on the cultural effects
Allow me to quote The Lancet again.
The subsequent 1968 influenza pandemic — or “Hong Kong flu” or “Mao flu” as some western tabloids dubbed it — would have an even more dramatic impact, killing more than 30 000 individuals in the UK and 100 000 people in the USA, with half the deaths among individuals younger than 65 years — the reverse of COVID-19 deaths in the current pandemic.
Yet, while at the height of the outbreak in December, 1968, The New York Times described the pandemic as “one of the worst in the nation’s history”, there were few school closures and businesses, for the most, continued to operate as normal.
I remember the 68 Hong Kong flu. I was in my last year of high school. The summer after was Woodstock, the ‘summer of love’. Not a lot of social distancing going on. But we are past numbers and statistics having any real meaning. The Covid narrative is now in the realm of allegory.
The media perspective is utterly predictable. Liberal outlets that have the inside track to government are seen to be reinforcing the mainstream story (VOX, Slate, Huff Post, The Guardian and Washington Post). In a recent VOX article the message was only a sociopath would NOT wear a mask and that the ‘science’ was unanimous.
Of course its no such thing. But the message of sites like VOX, or Daily Beast, or Wa Po or the truly reprehensible Guardian, are always going to be to hammer away ‘on message’. The same is true for what passes for moderate news organs like the NY Times, ABC News, The Hill, and BBC. There has been virtually no dissenting opinions expressed in these rags.
All these news outlets are given clear messages by the spin doctors in government, by the White House, and by contacts within the State Department and Pentagon. And by the advertising firms employed by the state (such as Ruder Finn).
“Ad agencies are not in the business of doing science.”
– Dr. Arnold S. Relman (Madison Ave. Has Growing Role In the Business of Drug Research, NY Times 2002)
The WHO, the CDC, and most every other NGO or government agency of any size hires advertising firms. The WHO, which is tied to the United Nations, is a reasonably sinister organization, actually.
Just picking up a random publication from the WHO, on what they call ‘the tobacco epidemic’ and you find on page 33 the following chapter heading “Objective: Effective surveillance, monitoring and evaluation systems in place to monitor tobacco use.”
Reading further and all this is really saying is that the populace of any country is best put under surveillance. It’s for their own good, you see.
But back to the science. Here is a small trip down memory lane…
Institutions of medicine, global and national possess no more integrity than your average NGO (Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières, Oxfam et al). And that means not very much.
To understand the nature of institutional corruption one must understand Imperialism. The institutions of Imperialist nations are going to further Imperialist ideology. (see Antonio Gramsci, ideological hegemony). The US is not in the business of helping Americans.
Modern monopoly forms better reflect that scientific knowledge, and its advanced application to production, are concentrated, ultimately, not in physical objects but in human beings and human interaction with those objects. It is monopoly of the labour power of the most highly educated workers, by both imperialist states and Multi National Corporations, that forms the ultimate and most stable base of imperialist reproduction.
– Sam King (Lenin’s theory of imperialism: a defence of its relevance in the 21st century, MLR)
The idea of super-exploitation needs to be conceptually generalised at the necessary level of abstraction and incorporated in the theory of imperialism. Super-exploitation is a specific condition within the capitalist mode of production […] the hidden common essence defining imperialism.
he working class of the oppressed nations/Third World/Global South is systematically paid below the value of labour power of the working class of the oppressor nations/First World/Global North. This is not because the Southern working class produces less value, but because it is more oppressed and more exploited.
– Andy Higginbottom (Structure and Essence in Capital 1, quoted by John Smith Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century)
The US jobless rate just hit 2.1 million. Officially. Making the total something over forty million. Its much higher in reality. Nobody has work. There is no work and we are at the start of a period of massive evictions, foreclosures, and delinquencies – and the homeless population will soon reach Biblical proportions (in some cities, such as Los Angeles, its already Biblical). Will be simply of a magnitude never before seen.
Hence the authoritarian policing of lockdowns in, for example, New Zealand, suggests something like a practice run. The ruling class in western nations knows full well this is coming. And one wonders if it’s not, in fact, a part of the plan (oh here is where someone says conspiracy theory…probably Louis Proyect).
Yes it’s a fucking conspiracy theory. It is a theory based on evidence, however.
Why are the US and UK and a host of other countries deliberately ensuring a massive depression? Because they care about your health? They are worried we all might catch the flu? Has the US ever demonstrated a concern with your health and well being before?
Remember how many discretionary tax dollars go to health care and how much to defense. Conspiracies do occur. The denial of that fact seems to be a hallmark of the pseudo or false left. Does the suspension of democratic process not cause this soft left any problems at all? Look at Sweden, at Belarus…no lockdown and no problem.
It should be noted that there are a great many terrific doctors in the US. Dedicated and brilliant, often. But they are not the system. The system is run for profit.
With about three-fourths of Americans under lockdown, the unintended consequences will be vast. There has been a notable decrease in the number of heart attack and stroke patients arriving at hospitals, presumably because they are afraid of catching the coronavirus or of not finding a hospital bed.
As the economy spirals downward, we can also expect an increase in mental health crises, domestic violence and suicides. While lockdown supporters say that to have a functioning economy, we must have good public health, the reverse is also true: To have good public health, we must have a functioning economy.
– Alex Berezow PhD (Geopolitical Futures, 2020)
Alfred Willener wrote an interesting book in 1970, analysing May 68 in France. He analyses the answers students gave to various questionnaires they responded to. The section regarding science is worth quoting.
‘The scandalous fact is that, for all the means that science has put at our disposal, most people live not much better than in the Middle Ages’. The system benefits from science in the following way: through the atom bomb, through ‘the power of statistical research’, through computers, through the chemical industry being ‘in the hands of the state’, through space research.
‘In the end, you realize’, concludes one reasonably logical reply, ‘that technological progress, which makes economic growth possible, does not satisfy the fundamental needs of man and is used above all to maintain and strengthen the system’.
Lastly, I should like to quote one quite unexpected reply, which forms the extreme point of pessimism: ‘ Everyone is oppressed by science.’
– Alfred Willener (The Action-Image of Society on Cultural Politicization)
I doubt seriously one would get such responses today in any European or North American country. The contemporary indoctrination regards science is acute. And the media abounds in junk science. Click bait science. And this is where most people have their opinions formed for them.
There is a paper put out by one of the founders of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, called The Great Reset. The conclusion of the book reads…
…at a global level, if viewed in terms of the global population affected, the corona crisis is (so far) one of the least deadly pandemics the world has experienced over the last 2000 years.”
In other words, a mortality of .06% is simply not commensurate with the extreme measures the governments of the world (the West in particular) are taking.
There is no question, none, that those measures, the lockdown, the masks, the distancing, and the attending *diseases of despair*, will kill more people by a factor of ten than the virus itself.
This is not even to begin discussing the psychological harm done, in particular to children. And not just harm to children, but severe harm to the most vulnerable.
What is being internalized by children is three fold. One, there is something inherently sick and contagious about ME. Two, everyone MIGHT be a threat to my health. And three, obey authority, because you don’t want to end up like those smelly homeless people were are trying to hard to avoid.
Children take things personally. They tend to blame themselves. Even in the comparative sanity of Norway, where I reside, children are increasingly anxious about the world. How could they not be? All this for a health risk of .06%.
But it is more than just the decimation of the economy in the US and UK. It is a dismantling of the culture. One in three museums closed because of Covid will not re-open. Ever. Where does all that art go?
Just a guess but probably very wealthy collectors will gobble it up at wholesale prices.
The predictable outcome of these lockdowns, certainly in the US, is a guaranteed minimum income. Very minimum. Restrictions on travel, all freedom of movement in fact, will not soon return to normal. Various forms of surveillance and tracking, as well as health certifications, are the goal of the state.
Also, if this pandemic succeeded so well, with so little resistance, why not have another? And there is another aspect to the SWAT mask police, and that is that western society is becoming alarmingly hypochondriacal. Children are kept out of school for runny noses. If all kids with snotty noses were kept out of class, nobody would get an education.
There is a dire future of two or three generations now developing and maturing with very weak immune systems. So that if a natural mutation takes place one day, from a Corona virus or any other, a genuinely serious pandemic could kill tens of millions.
It is not a speculation that there are people who prosper and even benefit during an economic crisis—as smaller business owners struggle, large corporations and banks benefit from huge government subsidies, giving them more power to buy failing small businesses, for example. And it is a fact that many of those people have enormous economic power to shape the policies that can benefit themselves.
It is not a speculation that they would appreciate having strict measures of control against the people by limiting their freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom to travel, or by installing means of surveillance, check points and official certifications for activities that might give freedom to the people beyond the capitalist framework.
It is not a speculation that they would benefit from moving our social interactions to the digital realm, which can commodify our activities as marketable data for the advertising industry, insurance industry and any other moneyed social institutions Including education, political institution, legal institution, and financial institution.
Such matters should be seen within the context of the western history being shaped by unelected capitalists with their enormous networks of social institutions.
– Hiroyuki Hamada (Wrong Kind of Green, April 2020)
The collapse of retail is accelerating. This is emerging as a monopolization of retail. Few shops will remain, in fact, except luxury stores in select gated areas. The rest will be online and probably rudimentary. The culture and the economy are being strip-mined and recreated for a select clientele. The collapse of the economy means the collapse of the bottom 90% or so.
The very richest men and corporations on the planet are making huge profits.
And yet, there are precious few voices of dissent to the master narrative in the US. In Norway, the lockdown was about five weeks. But its a sparsely populated country and one hardly noticed it save for the kids being home and not in school. But schools reopened and the Prime Minister actually made a speech apologizing, in effect, for an *unnecessary* lockdown. She had been frightened.
But now, with a mild uptick in positive cases the country is considering stricter limitations on travel. Why?
There is no uptick in deaths, only in positive test results. The fact remains the virus attacks the aged and the already sick. But this is very telling, I think. The Norwegian government doesn’t want to be seen as disobedient. They don’t want to not follow the grand plan provided by western agencies and experts. Even if they seemingly don’t really believe it.
(The saddest aspect is the voice of Dr. Mads Gilbert, a known advocate for Palestinian rights, who has weighed in on the side of fear. Why? I have no idea. But it is worth noting his predictions from March 2020 were staggeringly wrong.)
But clearly the groupthink pressure is powerful and small nations do not want to be singled out for bucking the *science*. There are economic coercions threatened, tacitly, as well. The pressure to conform is huge and it takes a Herculean effort — both individually and as a nation, to resist. And *experts* seem to have a hard time admitting they were wrong.
The science has been consistently wrong from day one.
As I say, this is now allegory. Or fable. There is nothing reasonable or rational in the lockdown measures of the US and UK and NZ. Or anywhere. And this is not even to touch upon the criminality of the Gates Foundation and Bill Gates buying public influence and visibility. Not trained in any medical discipline, Gates has somehow made himself one of the faces of the pandemic.
And to deconstruct Gates’ language is to find a disturbing quality of authoritarian hubris. Gates utters declarations as if he were God speaking to his flock. All from a man who has done little save steal from his partners and exploit the poor of India and Africa. One of the most striking aspects of this whole last few months has been the enormous and coordinated effort the Gates machine has put into rehabilitating his image.
If you google “Crimes of the Gates Foundation” for example, you will get ten different fact-checkers officially denying any crimes and another half dozen articles ridiculing those who question Gates motives, his profit from vaccines, or even his alignment with eugenicists (depopulation adherents)– all are derided as, yes, conspiracy theorists.
If you dare to question the rushing of an untested vaccine you are called an anti-vaxxer.
My children are vaccinated. I just don’t like the idea of a hurried untested vaccine produced for a virus that needs no vaccine. And one promoted by a creepy millionaire.
But clearly the Gates charm offensive is in overdrive. The pastel cardigan is everywhere. And yet, his favorable rating in recent surveys is around 56%. That is actually not very high given the amount of self-promotion involved. It’s better than Mark Zuckerberg and Joe Biden, though. Gates is not likeable. No amount of spin can change that.
The final factor to note is the Trump effect. Many liberals would literally rather see dead in the street if it meant discrediting Trump. It is no longer quite a zero sum game, though. But overall the hatred of Trump is now at a religious level, too.
And behold, the opposition is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. If you want a window in the black heart of Biden, watch and/or listen to his testimony around the Waco inferno. The inherent sadism and lack of humanity is glaringly apparent.
As for Kamala Harris:
As a San Francisco social worker, I sat on the school district committee that met with families of chronically truant students. Once, when we asked a student why he didn’t go to school, he said there was too much police tape and shootings at his school bus stop.
Harris, as CA Attorney General, was putting parents/caregivers in jail if their child was chronically truant. Also as Attorney General, she denied a DNA test to Kevin Cooper, a very likely innocent man who came within hours of execution in 2004.
– Riva Enteen (Counterpunch Aug. 2020)
These are the servants of capital.
The left should be emphasising the economic aspect of lockdown because it is the working class who are the principal victims of lockdown.”
– Phil Shannon (Lockdown Skeptics, June 2020)
A Downing street tweet today:
We’re putting tougher measures in place to target serious breaches of coronavirus restrictions. Fines for not wearing a face-covering will double for repeat offences, up to £3,200.”
This is a class-based assault. The wealthy will not be fined for not wearing a face-covering on their private beaches, or dinner parties at the yacht club.
- Satellite Image Shows Chinese Submarine Entering 'Top Secret Cave'
Satellite Image Shows Chinese Submarine Entering ‘Top Secret Cave’
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 23:25The first-known and publicly released satellite photo of a Chinese submarine entering Yulin Naval Base in Hainan Island, one of the most important South China Sea military bases, was captured by Planet Labs and released on social media by Radio Free Asia.
Radio Free Asia, a U.S. government-funded broadcasting company, published the image Thursday of what appears to be a Shang-class nuclear-powered attack submarine entering “a not-so-secret, subterranean base at China’s southern Hainan island. Yulin Naval Base is home to subs of China’s South Sea Fleet and provides convenient access to the South China Sea.”
Not much is known about the interior of the underground military base. The Drive raises an important question: Where are all the Chinese submarines? They say the “docks are completely empty. This also seems exceedingly rare based on our monitoring experience.”
We can only speculate and say the subs are either hiding out in the underground base or on patrol following a surge in tensions between the U.S.
As for where all the other submarines are, we have no clue. Tensions are exceedingly high in the region and the U.S. has massively upped its presence there. Meanwhile, Taiwan has gone on elevated alert as China executes war games nearby. While some of those drills could and likely do involve submarines based at Yalin, it’s also possible that others have moved inside the mountain, as well. Why exactly remains unclear. – The Drive
China is preparing itself for South China Sea domination (see: “Are China’s Naval Ambitions A Global Threat?”).
The question remains: Where are China’s nuclear attack subs?
- The CIA Versus The Kennedys
The CIA Versus The Kennedys
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 23:05Authored by Jacob Hornberger via The Future of Freed Foundation,
Former Congressman Ron Paul and his colleague Dan McAdams recently conducted a fascinating interview with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which focused in part on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, who was Kennedy Jr.’s uncle. The interview took place on their program the Ron Paul Liberty Report.
Owing to the many federal records that have been released over the years relating to the Kennedy assassination, especially through the efforts of the Assassination Records Review Board in the 1990s, many Americans are now aware of the war that was being waged between President Kennedy and the CIA throughout his presidency. The details of this war are set forth in FFF’s book JFK’s War with the National Security Establishment: Why Kennedy Was Assassinated by Douglas Horne.
In the interview, Robert Kennedy Jr. revealed a fascinating aspect of this war with which I was unfamiliar. He stated that the deep animosity that the CIA had for the Kennedy family actually stretched back to something the family patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy, did in the 1950s that incurred the wrath of Allen Dulles, the head of the CIA.
Kennedy Jr. stated that his grandfather, Joseph P. Kennedy, had served on a commission that was charged with examining and analyzing CIA covert activities, or “dirty tricks” as Kennedy Jr. put them. As part of that commission, Kennedy Jr stated, Joseph Kennedy (John Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy’s father) had determined that the CIA had done bad things with its regime-change operations that were destroying democracies, such as in Iran and Guatemala.
Consequently, Joseph Kennedy recommended that the CIA’s power to engage in covert activities be terminated and that the CIA be strictly limited to collecting intelligence and empowered to do nothing else.
According to Kennedy Jr.,
“Allen Dulles never forgave him — never forgave my family — for that.”
I wasn’t aware of that fact.
I assumed that the war between President Kennedy and the CIA had begun with the CIA’s invasion at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The additional information added by Kennedy Jr. places things in a much more fascinating and revealing context.
Upon doing a bit of research on the Internet, I found that the commission that Kennedy Jr. must have been referring to was the President’s Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities, which President Eisenhower had established in 1956 through Executive Order 10656. Eisenhower appointed Joseph Kennedy to serve on that commission.
That year was three years after the CIA’s 1953 regime change operation in Iran which destroyed that country’s democratic system. It was two years after the CIA’s regime-change operation in Guatemala that destroyed that country’s democratic system.
Keep in mind that the ostensible reason that the CIA engaged in these regime-change operations was to protect “national security,” which over time has become the most important term in the American political lexicon. Although no one has ever come up with an objective definition for the term, the CIA’s power to address threats to “national security,” including through coups and assassinations, became omnipotent.
Yet, here was Joseph P. Kennedy declaring that the CIA’s power to exercise such powers should be terminated and recommending that the CIA’s power be strictly limited to intelligence gathering.
It is not difficult to imagine how livid CIA Director Dulles and his cohorts must have been at Kennedy. No bureaucrat likes to have his power limited. More important, for Dulles and his cohorts, it would have been clear that if Kennedy got his way, “national security” would be gravely threatened given the Cold War that the United States was engaged in with the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, North Korea, and other communist nations.
Now consider what happened with the Bay of Pigs. The CIA’s plan for a regime-change invasion of Cuba, was conceived under President Eisenhower. Believing that Vice President Nixon would be elected president in 1960, the CIA was quite surprised that Kennedy was elected instead. To ensure that the invasion would go forth anyway, the CIA assured Kennedy that the invasion would succeed without U.S. air support. It was a lie. The CIA assumed that once the invasion was going to go down in defeat at the hands of the communists, Kennedy would have to provide the air support in order to “save face.”
But Kennedy refused to be played by the CIA. When the CIA’s army of Cuban exiles was going down in defeat, the CIA requested the air support, convinced that their plan to manipulate the new president would work. It didn’t. Kennedy refused to provide the air support and the CIA’s invasion went down in defeat.
Now consider what happened after the Bay of Pigs: Knowing that the CIA had played him and double-crossed him, John Kennedy fired Allen Dulles as CIA director, along with his chief deputy, Charles Cabell. He then put his younger brother Bobby Kennedy in charge of monitoring the CIA, which infuriated the CIA.
Now jump ahead to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which Kennedy resolved by promising that the United States would not invade Cuba for a regime-change operation. That necessarily would leave a permanent communist regime in Cuba, something that the CIA steadfastly maintained was a grave threat to “national security”— a much bigger threat, in fact, than the threats supposedly posed by the regimes in Iran in 1953 and Guatemala in 1954.
And then Kennedy did the unforgivable, at least insofar as the CIA was concerned. In his famous Peace Speech at American University in June 1963, he declared an end to the entire Cold War and announced that the United States was going to establish friendly and peaceful relations with the communist world.
Kennedy had thrown the gauntlet down in front of the CIA. It was either going to be his way or the CIA’s way. There was no room for compromise, and both sides knew it.
In the minds of former CIA Director Allen Dulles and the people still at the CIA, what Kennedy was doing was anathema and, even worse, the gravest threat to “national security” the United States had ever faced, a much bigger threat than even that posed by the democratic regimes in Iran and Guatemala. At that point, the CIA’s animosity toward President Kennedy far exceeded the animosity it had borne toward his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, several years before.
- "White Flight Is Real" – Hollywood's Apocalypse Triggers Mass Exodus
“White Flight Is Real” – Hollywood’s Apocalypse Triggers Mass Exodus
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 22:45“White flight is real. The elites and middle classes are leaving. People are taking losses on the sales of their homes to get out,” veteran publicist Ed Lozzi told the Daily Mail while referring to the socio-economic implosion of Los Angeles.
Lozzi said the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area was already “changing before coronavirus brought us to our knees. The homeless problem has been escalating for years, exacerbated by weak politicians making bad decisions.”
“Hollywood has always been the wokest of the woke, so politicians have done nothing to stop people sleeping on the streets. It’s not illegal and the weather’s nice, so they keep coming,” he said, adding that, “there is insufficient housing, inadequate mental health care. Add in Covid and it’s a perfect storm.”
Lozzi remembers the days when Los Angeles “smelled of orange blossoms.” He said today’s scent is urine and feces with once beautiful parks now filled with homeless encampments and carpeted with drug needles.
The metro’s socio-economic implosion is forcing many homeowners in the downtown district to pack their bags and liquidate their homes at whatever the price to flee for suburbia. A combination of the virus pandemic and collapsing society has made the area unlivable for families.
Danny O’Brien, the owner of Watford Moving & Storage, said a mass exodus of folks from Hollywood is underway:
“And a lot of it is to do with politics.”
“August has already set records and we are only halfway through the month.”
“People are getting out in droves. Last week I moved a prominent person in the music industry from a $6.5 million mansion above Sunset Boulevard to Nashville.”
“Liberal politics has destroyed this city,” he said. “The homeless encampments are legal and there’s nothing the police can do. White, affluent middle-class folk are getting out. People don’t feel safe any more.”
At least 66,000 people are sleeping on the streets of Los Angeles, up 12.5% YoY. The wealth gap continues to soar to alarming levels as the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in depressionary unemployment.
The socio-economic implosion of the city has allowed the woke Hollywood crowd to finally realize decades of liberal policies are, in fact, a failure. Now, the same elites who championed liberal policies are abandoning ship and moving to suburbia
Joe Rogan and Elon Musk have been some of the recent high-profile figures to pack their bags and move elsewhere.
A source told the Daily Mail that Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban have homes in Los Angeles and Nashville. The couple has dedicated more time to Nashville since the pandemic began, the source said.
Producer Dana Brunetti, a business partner of Kevin Spacey, and resident of Los Angeles, recently acquired Italian citizenship to escape the US if more riots are seen.
The sudden migration of elites and white people from Los Angeles is similar to what happened in America after the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s when white city dwellers fled to suburbia.
White/elite flight 2.0 is well underway and could last a couple of years.
- How We Could Wind Up Banned From Discussing 'An October Surprise' On Social Media This Election
How We Could Wind Up Banned From Discussing ‘An October Surprise’ On Social Media This Election
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 22:25Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,
In what it calls an effort to make itself “a more reliable source for election-related news and information,” YouTube has announced that it will be removing “content that contains hacked information, the disclosure of which may interfere with democratic processes, such as elections and censuses.”
“For example, videos that contain hacked information about a political candidate shared with the intent to interfere in an election,” adds the Google-owned video sharing platform.
🚨IMPORTANT
YOUTUBE just quietly announced they’ll REMOVE “videos that contain hacked information about a political candidate with the intent to interfere in an election” https://t.co/vum1y5c9ER
Remember how Wikileaks changed the game in 2016? Yeah, that’s not allowed anymore. pic.twitter.com/dzt7WsOHKe
— Memelord (@dailydigger19) August 13, 2020
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This by itself is an alarming assault on human communication and press freedom. If there is authentic information out there about either of the candidates who are up for the most powerful elected position on the planet, the world is entitled to know about it, regardless of how that information was acquired. Monopolistic tech oligarchs have no business barring us from learning about and discussing that information.
Immensely powerful people should not be permitted to have secrets from the public anyway. The amount of power one has should be directly inverse to the amount of secrecy they are permitted to have. If you’re anywhere near the presidency of the United States of America, the secrecy you are entitled to should be zero.
If a hacker is able to get ahold of accurate information about Donald Trump or Joe Biden, that information is ours. We’re entitled to it. Anyone who tries to obstruct our access to that information is stealing from us. It’s absolutely ridiculous that we have a society where people are permitted to both rule over us and keep secrets from us as it is without government-aligned tech plutocrats silencing our attempts to learn what those secrets might be.
Moreover, no Youtube moderator will be in any position to definitively say whether most information that comes out is hacked. They’d only be able to do what the mass media did with the 2016 WikiLeaks drops and cite unproven assertions by opaque intelligence agencies who have a proven track record of lying, assertions which turned out to be far more dubious than most Americans realize. Documents or video could be leaked about a candidate and US intelligence agencies could just declare it a “hack” and have any Youtube videos about it immediately censored.
As Alan MacLeod explains for MintPress News:
“[T]he great majority of leaked information — the lifeblood of investigative journalism — is anonymous. Often, like in the cases of Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning or Reality Winner, whistleblowers face serious consequences if their names become attached to documents exposing government or corporate malfeasance. But without a name to go with a document, the difference between leaked data and hacked data is impossible to define. Thus, powerful people and organizations could claim data was hacked, rather than leaked, and simply block all discussion of the matter on the platform.”
‘Discussion of Wikileaks or any “Hacked Information” Banned Under New YouTube Rules’ | @AlanRMacLeod for @MintPressNews https://t.co/IXt8oFImPy
— Courage Foundation (@couragefound) August 14, 2020
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So this in and of itself is an outrage. But the way things are playing out it could wind up being a lot worse if damning information about a candidate surfaces prior to the November election.
We already know from experience that social media giants tend to follow in each other’s footsteps whenever there’s a significant step in the direction of censorship, like their coordinated cross-platform removals of alternative media outlets, accounts from US-targeted nations, and people who have been labeled “conspiracy theorists”.
So there’s already reason to be concerned that Youtube’s new attack on press freedoms will spread to social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook. Add in the fact that these platforms are openly coordinating with each other and with the US government to silence speech deemed “online meddling” and “election interference” and it looks a lot more likely.
The New York Times published an article on Wednesday titled “Google, Facebook and Others Form Tech Coalition to Secure U.S. Election”, later changed to “Google, Facebook and Others Broaden Group to Secure U.S. Election”.
“Facebook, Google and other major tech companies said on Wednesday that they had added new partners and met with government agencies in their efforts to secure the November election,” NYT reports.
“The group, which is seeking to prevent the kind of online meddling and foreign interference that sullied the 2016 presidential election, previously consisted of some of the large social media firms, including Twitter and Microsoft in addition to Facebook and Google. Among the new participants is the Wikimedia Foundation.”
Monopolistic tech companies which collaborate in unison with government agencies to prevent unauthorized narratives from circulating on the internet are conducting state censorship. Own it. pic.twitter.com/mhtuENkeyx
— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) August 13, 2020
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So if information emerges about a candidate in an “October surprise” in a way that can be credibly spun as a “hack” like the 2016 WikiLeaks drops were, it’s entirely likely that we will see some interference in people’s ability to communicate about it on not just one but multiple social media platforms. How much communication interference we’d be subjected to is unknown at this time, but it certainly looks like there are measures in place to at least implement some under certain circumstances.
Imagine if documents or video footage were posted online somewhere and we’d get blocked from sharing its URLs on Facebook or suspended for posting screenshots of it on Twitter. The way iron-fisted censorship practices are already unfolding, it’s a possibility that looks not at all remote.
Anyway, something to be on alert for.
* * *
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- Used Vehicle Prices Explode To All Time Highs After Plunging Just Months Ago
Used Vehicle Prices Explode To All Time Highs After Plunging Just Months Ago
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 22:05When you have the Central Bank back-stopping every industry in the United States, it’s incredible how quickly things can change over the course of less than a quarter.
Less than two months ago we were talking about the unprecedented crash in used car prices that had taken place as a result of the coronavirus pandemic slowing the economy. “Where’s the inflation?” everyone kept asking.
We think we’ve found it. Today, according to new research from Manheim, those prices have exploded to hit new all time highs. The Manheim Used Vehicle Value index climbed to 163.4 in the first 15 days of August from 158.0 in July.
“Prices rose another +3.4% sequentially in the first 15 days of August after rising +5.8% m/m in July,” a new note from J.P. Morgan highlights. It continues: “With the Manheim Index at 163.4 in early August (January 1995 = 100), used prices are now +13.9% higher vs. the then record level in February just prior to the pandemic and are +15.6% y/y.”
J.P. Morgan notes that “Since April, the Manheim Used Vehicle Value index recovered +8.9% m/m in May, +9.0% m/m in June, +5.8% m/m in July, and is now +3.4% m/m in the first 15 days of August. Stronger prices suggest potential gains on sale of off-lease vehicles and higher collateral value, helping reduce loan losses.”
The note predicts that prices should see some respite heading into the fall, as “pent up demand” as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic should subside. Most of this demand has already been satisfied, according to Manheim, and consumers are growing “increasingly frustrated” from the high prices.
It’s worth noting, however, that these same prognosticators were predicting a “sharp drop” in prices heading into the back end of the summer. That obviously didn’t materialize. Additionally, the same note says that consumers could be waiting for a second round of stimulus to purchase a vehicle.
Recall, it was just two months ago that we had put out a note highlighting where used car prices were crashing the most in the U.S.
Back in June, Manheim indicated that wholesale prices dropped as much as 11% in April, but also that this price drop hadn’t fully hit the retail market yet. The report predicted at the time that since “dealers have largely avoided purchasing new inventory in recent weeks, they aren’t in a rush to cut prices as a way to move their existing inventory.”
It also predicted a sharp drop in retail prices in the coming weeks, stating that “a combination of record supply, damaged consumer confidence, and new car incentives will ultimately create a perfect storm causing retail prices to drop sharply in the coming weeks.”
Between January and May, individual U.S. states experienced price drops ranging from 1% to 5%, the report showed.
Those days now seem to be distant memories…
- Pompeo Says Keeping Saudis From Nukes A Top US Priority Amid Reports Of Chinese Help
Pompeo Says Keeping Saudis From Nukes A Top US Priority Amid Reports Of Chinese Help
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 21:45Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com,
Following reports that this is a specific concern of Israel, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he believes it is a “real risk” that Saudi Arabia will get nukes, and that the US views it as a “top priority” to try to prevent the Saudis from getting such arms.
Recent reports, all centering on the Israeli narrative, claim the Saudis are processing yellowcake uranium, and that they are getting secret help from China that could lead to the acquisition of nuclear arms in the future.
Image via Bold Business “We’re trying to take down risk of proliferation all across the world, whether that’s in Iran, Saudi Arabia, or North Korea, or Russia,” Pompeo told the NY Post, taking the unusual step of dropping the Saudi name alongside US enemies and so-called “rogue” regimes.
“We’re certainly working with parties throughout the Middle East, sharing with them our concerns about the Chinese Community Party and the risk that’s created when the Chinese Communist Party shows up with a deal that looks too good to be true,” he added.
This is an unusual place for the administration to be in, as they generally support arming the Saudis to the teeth, and Pompeo has repeatedly gone to bat for the idea that the Saudis need more arms for their “emergency” state. Those are US-made arms, of course.
Israel is quietly raising the alarm with US over a reported deal struck by Saudi Arabia and China to build a facility that will produce yellowcake, which is used to enrich uranium.
h/t @Algemeiner https://t.co/dO6y5pPsFl
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) August 19, 2020
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The concern may be that getting arms from China will change the power structure of the Middle East, with Pompeo emphasizing China’s offer is “too good to be true.”
It’s not clear what China offered, or if they offered anything at all, and Saudi interest in nuclear energy could easily explain away the uranium processing.
- "I Have A Right To Make Sure That My Home Is Secure": Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Defends Ban On Protesters On Her Block
“I Have A Right To Make Sure That My Home Is Secure”: Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Defends Ban On Protesters On Her Block
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 21:25In the aftermath of the George Floyd killing, protests erupted across dozens of cities in California with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets, and despite the raging coronavirus pandemic they were cheered on loudly by the state’s liberal elite with some of the most prominent Hollywood actors taking daily turns to voice their support for the protesters while condemning anyone who did not side with the BLM movement, even when so frequently it devolved into violent rioting and looting of innocent bystanders. All of that abruptly ended, however, when BLM invaded Beverly Hills chanting “eat the rich.” That’s when the police quickly showed up and immediately cleared out all the protesters.
But while such NIMBY hypocrisy has long been a fixture of the ultra-liberal Golden State, nothing compares to what just happened in Chicago whose Mayor Lori Lightfoot – best known for encouraging local BLM protests, going so far as saying that black lives are “more important that downtown corporations” after the unprecedented looting that took place last week – defended the Chicago Police Department’s ban on protesters being able to demonstrate on the block where she lives, telling reporters Thursday that she and her family at times require heightened security because of threats she receives daily.
Yes, Mayor Lori is all about BLM protests… as long as they are literally not in her back yard.
Lightfoot refused to elaborate on the specific threats according to the Chicago Tribune, but said she receives them daily against herself, her wife and her home. Lightfoot also told reporters that comparisons to how the Police Department has protected previous mayors’ homes, such as Rahm Emanuel’s Ravenswood residence, are unfair because “this is a different time like no other.”
“I think that residents of this city, understanding the nature of the threats that we are receiving on a daily basis, on a daily basis, understand I have a right to make sure that my home is secure,” Lightfoot said, failing to grasp the simplest truth that all citizens of “her” devastated city also have a right to make sure that their home is secure although unlike Lightfoot they don’t have the local police to protect them. Because when it comes to outrageous liberal hypocrisy, things get complicated.
Lightfoot and Chicago police Superintendent David Brown were asked at an unrelated news conference about a Tribune report noting police have banned protesters from demonstrating on her block in the Logan Square neighborhood, ordering officers to arrest anyone who refuses to leave. The directive surfaced in a July email from then-Shakespeare District Cmdr. Melvin Roman to officers under his command. It did not distinguish between the peaceful protesters Lightfoot regularly says she supports and those who might intend to be destructive, but ordered that after a warning is given to demonstrators, “It should be locked down.”
Activists and police sources could not cite instances when the city repeatedly locked down her predecessor Emanuel’s block against protesters. The Kenwood block where former President Barack Obama lived with his family when his primary residence was in Chicago was shut down for access only by residents after his election.
But Lightfoot said such comparisons “don’t make any sense,” after Brown referenced the ongoing coronavirus pandemic – which she has repeatedly overriden as a concern when BLM protests are to be held – as well as civil unrest that have flared since the George Floyd killing at the hands of Minneapolis police.
“I’m not going to make any excuses for the fact that, given the threats I have personally received, given the threats to my home and my family, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they’re protected,” Lightfoot said. “I make no apologies whatsoever for that.”
It wasn’t clear if Lightfoot would apologize to all those millions of Chicago residents who – just like her – are trying to avoid threats against their own families by angry, violent looters; looters whose despicable actions Lightfoot has repeatedly turned her eyes away from in hopes of peak virtue signaling.
According to the Chicago Tribune, since the order, and even for a time just prior to its writing, Chicago cops have repeatedly blocked protesters’ access to the block with groups of officers and barricades. Police have often kept protesters contained at the nearby corner of Kimball and Wrightwood avenues, though one standoff between activists and officers last month saw police go as far as bringing in an armored vehicle in case things got out of hand.
Aside from the expanded police presence to block protesters from reaching her home, Lightfoot already receives 24/7 protection from cops including officers stationed at the residence. Worse, the aggressive overpolicing of the self-absorbed hypocrite mayor has often siphoned away resources from the area’s police district, some sources with knowledge of the situation told the Tribune, leading to quiet grumbling.
Both Lightfoot and Brown noted there are laws on the books banning residential protests, but Brown acknowledged the Police Department does not always enforce them. Brown said the city tries to give “wiggle room” for protesters.
Brown also cited instances where peaceful protests have been “hijacked” by agitators as reason for keeping demonstrators off Lightfoot’s block.
“We have seen very peaceful First Amendment protests for the most part but embedded in each of those protests have been very violent people. And they’re embedded. They put up umbrellas. And they come for a fight,” Brown said. “So we have to prepare for what we’ve seen.”
You certainly do, and so do all the other millions of Chicago residents and yet under Lightfoot’s directives it will be a miracle if Chicago has a police force this time next year… besides those cops of course stationed at Lightfoot’s house to protect the (soon to be former) mayor from the protesters she herself has repeatedly egged on.
- Maine Governor Orders Restaurant Staff To Wear COVID-Visors Like Dog-Cones
Maine Governor Orders Restaurant Staff To Wear COVID-Visors Like Dog-Cones
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 21:05Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,
The Governor of Maine has ordered restaurant staff to wear anti-COVID visors upside down so they resemble dog cones in order to direct breath upwards.
Yes, really.
Governor Janet Mills’ decree states that “front-of-house staff in restaurants who choose to wear face shields must now wear them upside down so that they are attached at the collar instead of the forehead, so that their breath is directed up, not down,” reports Maine Public Radio.
Given that air conditioning units can facilitate the spread of coronavirus, Mills’ order looks like another ridiculous and pointless measure.
“As a symbol of submission, forcing us to obliterate our individuality by wearing masks was not explicit enough,” writes Dave Blount. “So they pushed the envelope even further. No one can miss the significance of making people wear dog cones.”
Gov Janet Mills says – servers must now wear face shields upside down so that their breath is directed up, not down. Yes she wants you to wear a dog cone… peak insanity. I wish this was a joke.. its real 😆 #facecovering #faceshield pic.twitter.com/cnyojzTd3c
— Dr Sherri Tenpenny (@BusyDrT) August 19, 2020
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Last week, the CDC announced that masks with valves, which millions of people around the world have been wearing for months, do “not prevent the person wearing the mask from transmitting COVID-19 to others.”
As we highlighted earlier, Sweden’s top expert on the coronavirus, Anders Tengell, warned that encouraging people to wear face masks is “very dangerous” because it gives a false sense of security but does not effectively stem the spread of the virus.
As we explain in the video below, the issue of masks has become both a logistical and political minefield.
* * *
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- Virtue Reversal: Goodyear Bends The Knee After Trump Sparks Boycott
Virtue Reversal: Goodyear Bends The Knee After Trump Sparks Boycott
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 20:55After a ham-handed attempt at damage control with a non-apology over biased “diversity” training sparked outrage from President Trump – which in turn sparked a boycott by conservatives, Goodyear CEO Rich Kramer issued a direct apology on Thursday.
“To be clear, Goodyear does not endorse any political organization, party or candidate,” reads Kramer’s statement, which adds that the company “strongly supports our law enforcement partners and deeply appreciates all they do to put their lives on the line each and every day for their communities.”
“We have clarified our policy to make it clear associates can express support for law enforcement through apparel at Goodyear facilities,” which means – no MAGA hats, but presumably means ‘Blue Lives Matter’ and ‘All Lives Matter’ attire is now acceptable.
(Cue BLM boycott)..
A message from Rich Kramer: By now, you are aware of a visual from our Topeka factory that has been circulating in the media. I want to personally clear the record on what you are seeing and hearing. pic.twitter.com/UqqFeFQn6t
— Goodyear (@goodyear) August 20, 2020
On Wednesday, President Trump tweeted “Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES” after a leaked photo of an external firm’s ‘diversity training’ slide appeared to show that the company considers “Blue Lives Matter,” “All Lives Matter” and “MAGA” attire “unacceptable,” while at the same time encouraging “Black Lives Matter” and “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride (LGBT)” attire.
Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES – They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2020
Real consequences for @goodyear’s actions pic.twitter.com/roRkC35JgK
— Rob O’Donnell (@odonnell_r) August 20, 2020
Cancel all the things!
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- Watch Live: DNC Night 4 – "The Speech Joe Biden Has Been Preparing For His Entire Life"
Watch Live: DNC Night 4 – “The Speech Joe Biden Has Been Preparing For His Entire Life”
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 20:45Here it is, the ‘Big One’.
You have made it through Bernie’s “Trump is bad” speech, Michelle’s “Trump is bad” speech, Bill’s “Trump is bad” speech, Chuck’s “Trump is bad” speech, Nancy’s “Trump is bad” speech, AOC’s “Bernie is great” speech, Pelosi’s “Trump is bad” speech, Obama’s “Trump is bad” speech, and finally, Kamala’s “Trump is bad” speech; and now you get the payoff – Joe Biden delivers his “Trump is bad” speech.
Tonight’s festivities begin with Cory Booker, followed by Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom, Andrew Yang, Mike Bloomberg, and (drum roll please), a late addition – none other than reclusive Hunter Biden.
Watch Live here (prime-time stream starts around 2100ET):
Luckily, we are saved as Matt Taibbi has created an Official Drinking Game, “The Speech Joe Biden Has Been Preparing For His Entire Life” Edition especially for tonight to ease the pain for you and your cats.
The DNC drinking game Monday night was so painful (and Tuesday was worse), that I’ve decided to shorten the game tonight to cover Joe Biden’s acceptance speech only.
I watched Biden speak probably a half-dozen times during the primary campaign, and perhaps a half-dozen times before. He has definite tendencies, and his stump speech hits the same six or seven notes every time, but convention addresses are different. Every line, every word, will be scripted. There shouldn’t be ad-libs, freak-outs at hecklers, etc.
Guessing what an unscripted Joe Biden will do at any given moment is pretty interesting. Here we’re basically trying to guess what Biden and his handlers have decided to put on a teleprompter.
Drink EVERY TIME:
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Biden says, “Folks.”
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Biden says, “The United States of America.” Double-shots for any multiple-America construction, e.g. “The best America is an America where Americans believe in the American dream.”
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Biden says, “Middle-class.”
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Biden says, “Get up!” as in, “Folks, you’ve got to get up! This is the United States of America!”
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Biden says, “You guys.”
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Biden says, “Barack” or references the “Obama-Biden administration.”
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Biden says, “Soul of America.”
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Biden points out a surprising percentage of something, e.g. “Look, folks, seventy-four percent of venture capital goes to four cities.”
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Biden says, “My Mom used to say” or mentions one of his father’s relatable jobs, e.g. “He sold a hell of a lot of cars!”
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Biden makes a self-deprecating joke about his age or his tendency to say puzzling things.
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Biden finishes a section of his speech with a rhetorical flourish, and he sounds angry, and you can’t tell why, because he’s talking about something non-angering.
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Biden tells a story about a rewarding interaction with an ordinary person, as in, “I walk over to the guy up in the bucket. And there’s seven guys around him, all with hard hats on. I yelled up and said, ‘Hey, man, thanks!’”
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Biden references a job you’ve never heard of, as in “Why is a sandwich maker being forced to sign a non-compete clause?”
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Biden says “systemic.”
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Biden tells us there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.
Drink the FIRST TIME only:
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Biden begins a sentence with, “Look.”
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Biden mentions Scranton.
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Biden says something that sounds sort of inappropriate.
You may FINISH THE BOTTLE or QUIT if Biden combines any four of the above in one sentence, e.g. “Look, folks, we’ve got to get up if we’re going to be the kind of America we know America can be.”
“Malarkey,” as always, is an automatic drink.
Again, apologies to Substack subscribers. Back to grownup content soon.
Biden will be speaking sometime after 9 p.m. I will be live-streaming with Katie Halper…
Take small sips and hydrate. Good luck, America!
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- The Global Elite Have Far More Control Over Us Than Most People Would Dare To Imagine
The Global Elite Have Far More Control Over Us Than Most People Would Dare To Imagine
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 20:25Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,
No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, you probably agree that the global elite have too much power and influence.
It has been said that “money is power”, and today that seems to be more true than ever. Those at the very, very top of the pyramid dictate the rules of the game for the rest of us, and there isn’t too much that the rest of us can do about it. When we talk about how the global elite dominate our lives, the focus tends to be on how they influence national governments, but the truth is that is one of the areas where the global elite have the least control. I know that may sound strange, but I believe that things will become clearer by the end of this article.
I would submit that corporations are the primary vehicle that the elite use to control our lives. In fact, many global corporations are now larger and more powerful than most national governments, and collectively the network of global corporations that dominates the planet is far larger and far more powerful than any single national government.
A number of years ago, a remarkable study was conducted that closely examined the interconnecting relationships of major corporations all over the world. That study discovered that a network of 1,318 enormous companies dominated the global economy, and it also found that 147 colossal corporations at the core of that web formed a “super-entity” that controlled 40 percent of the entire network…
Each of the 1318 had ties to two or more other companies, and on average they were connected to 20. What’s more, although they represented 20 per cent of global operating revenues, the 1318 appeared to collectively own through their shares the majority of the world’s large blue chip and manufacturing firms – the “real” economy – representing a further 60 per cent of global revenues.
When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found much of it tracked back to a “super-entity” of 147 even more tightly knit companies – all of their ownership was held by other members of the super-entity – that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network. “In effect, less than 1 per cent of the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire network,” says Glattfelder. Most were financial institutions. The top 20 included Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The Goldman Sachs Group.
Of course at the very top are the ultra-wealthy individuals that own and control the gigantic corporations that make up the “super-entity”.
This is why our major corporations all seem to have the same values. At the very top their ownerships are all interlinked, and so trying to fundamentally change the culture of these massive institutions is nearly impossible.
Many have promoted the idea of refusing to economically engage this monster, but that has become nearly impossible. Over the years, we have seen so many promising companies get gobbled up by this “super-entity”, and in many instances the customers of these companies don’t even realize that they are now owned by someone else.
Because they have such a huge share of the market, the global elite essentially dictate what gets produced, what gets sold and what gets bought.
And if you need a loan to buy a home or to make some other major purchase, you normally have to go through one of their financial institutions.
But of course it doesn’t stop there. Politicians love to talk about “job creation”, but the truth is that it is our major corporations that really hold the keys over who works where.
When I was much younger, I made it very clear who I was and what I believed on my resume. What a big mistake that was. If you want to get hired by the elite, it has to look like you share their values and that you will be a good little cog in the machine.
And the elite ensure that they will have an endless supply of “good little cogs” by completely and utterly dominating our system of higher education. Colleges and universities that have done as the elite have wished have been absolutely showered with money, while others have been allowed to go by the wayside.
At this point, a “college education” will pretty much look the same no matter where you go, and that is extremely unfortunate.
Once we leave school, the elite continue to control what we think through their ownership of nearly all of the major media and entertainment companies. Today, more than 90 percent of the “news” and “entertainment” that we get through our televisions is produced by their colossal media empires, and the average American spends approximately five hours a day in front of a television.
If you allow anyone to feed propaganda into your mind for five hours a day, that is going to have an enormous impact on how you view the world.
You can try flipping over to a different channel than you normally watch, but that won’t change much.
Have you ever wondered why the news always sounds the same no matter which channel you are watching?
Needless to say, that doesn’t happen by accident.
In the early years, the Internet allowed alternative voices to compete with the giant media empires, but now that is rapidly changing. Because giant corporations now control so much of the Internet, those corporations can silence dissenting voices by “deplatforming” them. One by one, bright lights are going out all over the Internet, and eventually the only voices that will be left will be corporate-approved voices.
The Constitution that governs our land is supposed to guarantee freedom of speech. But the corporations that completely dominate our lives now control most of the online “public squares”, and they have made it abundantly clear that they are going to dictate what can be said and what cannot be said.
So you can still go out in your backyard and say whatever you want, but at this point “freedom of speech” is dead in this country for all practical purposes.
Are you starting to understand the power that they have?
President Trump cannot control what you say, but the major corporations do it every day.
And unlike our politicians, we cannot get rid of the corporations at the voting booth.
No matter what happens in November, the global elite are going to continue to dominate our society, but if we stay on the road that they are leading us down our future is going to be exceedingly bleak.
Voices such as mine will continue to try to wake people up, but when the other side has almost unlimited resources it is a very tough battle to fight.
However, we can never give up, because as long as the corporations owned by the global elite completely dominate our society we will never truly be free.
- Pompeo Blasts European Allies As "Siding With Ayatollahs" After Rejecting Iran 'Snapback Sanctions'
Pompeo Blasts European Allies As “Siding With Ayatollahs” After Rejecting Iran ‘Snapback Sanctions’
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 20:05Apparently still reeling from last week’s United Nations Security Council vote where the door was forever shut on the US bid to indefinitely extend the UN arms embargo on Iran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Thursday remarks blasted Washington’s European allies at a moment he’s attempting to trigger “snapback sanctions”.
In a news conference from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), he charged that Germany, France and the UK are hypocritical in supposedly expressing private support for the US position, while at the UN they publicly “chose to side with Ayatollahs” against the controversial procedure to uphold the punitive action rooted in the JCPOA.
It should be recalled in last Friday’s initial vote which triggered what many see as but more Washington desperation while Europe largely stands by the terms of the Obama-era nuclear deal, only the tiny Dominican Republic voted “yes” to extend the weapons embargo alongside the US. What’s more, Europe is now vehemently opposing Pompeo’s controversial procedure to reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran.
Pompeo at UN headquarters in New York, via AFP/Getty Images. He’s specifically responding to the latest actions of Britain, France and Germany, all who say—
The US did not have the legal right to trigger the so-called “snapback” of sanctions because it withdrew from the Iranian nuclear accord in 2018.
Ironically, Pompeo is claiming authority to initiate a procedure which is ultimately based on the US still being a participant in the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) with Iran, but obviously the Trump administration withdrew in May 2018.
Pompeo lashed out in response late Thursday, saying:
“No country but US has the courage and conviction to put forward a resolution. Instead, they chose to side with ayatollahs.”
“The United States will never allow the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism to freely buy and sell planes, tanks, missiles and other kinds of conventional weapons,” Pompeo asserted in New York. “We will never allow the Islamic Republic of Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” he emphasized during the UNSC address.
The process to re-impose sanctions on Iran begins. Today I hand-delivered a letter to @UN Security Council President Dian Triansyah Djani to formally notify the Council of something we all know too well—Iran’s failure to meet its commitments under the terrible nuclear deal. pic.twitter.com/MltLupj7lg
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) August 20, 2020
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He did however, praise the Arab Gulf nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for being firm in calling for the extension of a weapons ban in a formal joint statement.
Meanwhile, Iran is boasting of two new longer range missiles on Thursday – one named after the IRGC Quds Force chief killed this year by US drone strike:
Pompeo at UN today to request snapback sanctions on Iran.
Majority of Security Council dispute U.S. has legal ground.Meanwhile, Iran unveils a ballistic missile named after Gen. Sulaimani & a cruise missile named after Abu Muhandes. pic.twitter.com/7qB1SnnsBw
— Farnaz Fassihi (@farnazfassihi) August 20, 2020
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He further vowed that the US will do absolutely everything to ensure to enforce sanctions on Iran if they are violated, especially weapons, even on American allies.
It should be noted that both China and Russia have also called out Washington for being in no legal position whatsoever to renew Iran sanctions related to the JCPOA. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov slammed Washington’s latest push as “absurd.”
And China had this to say through its foreign ministry spokesman: “We have repeatedly said that the US has already withdrawn from the JCPOA and therefore has no right to request the restoration of the UN sanctions regime against Iran.”
The reality remains that with the US formally withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear deal, it’s in a much more difficult position to force its will on the diplomatic front, which is why it’s reverted to increasingly confrontational and aggressive unilateral sanctions enforcement and threats, even lately going so far as seizing fuel-laden Iranian ships on the high seas.
- Steve Bannon Pleads Not Guilty To Fraud Charges, Freed On $5 Million Bail
Steve Bannon Pleads Not Guilty To Fraud Charges, Freed On $5 Million Bail
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 19:55Update (1620ET): Bannon pleaded not guilty this afternoon at a brief presentment before U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan, and was freed on $5 million bond which restricts his traveling. Bannon was arrested this morning on a Chinese billionaire’s yacht, and charged with fraud over a $25 million campaign to crowdfund a wall on the US southern border.
Three other executives of the We Build the Wall charity were also charged Thursday with plotting to defraud the donors and launder their money into their own pockets. Bannon; U.S. Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage; venture capitalist Andy Badolato; and Timothy Shea each face conspiracy counts that could carry a maximum 40-year sentence.
“To induce donors to donate to the campaign, Kolfage and Bannon — each of whom, as detailed herein, exerted significant control over We Build the Wall — repeatedly and falsely assured the public that Kolfage would ‘not take a penny in salary or compensation’ and that ‘100% of the funds raised … will be used in the execution of our mission and purpose’ because, as Bannon publicly stated, ‘we’re a volunteer organization,’” according to the indictment filed in the Southern District of New York.
“Those representations were false,” it continues.
According to Courthouse News, acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said the men defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors in this scheme, with the founder treating himself to a boat, Range Rover and a salary on the pretense that every penny the charity raised would be spent on construction.
“While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle,” said Strauss, who assumed the position of U.S. attorney earlier this summer after her predecessor Geoffrey Berman’s unexplained and unexpected ouster.
Officials from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement arm of the politically embattled U.S. Postal Service, reportedly arrested Bannon on a 150-foot yacht off the Eastern coast of Connecticut owned by Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui.
* * *
Update (1430ET): Guo Wengui has released a statement on Bannon’s arrest. The former top White House advisor was aboard Guo’s yacht at the time of the arrest, according to media reports.
* * *
Update (1300ET): The Hartford Courant just reported that Steve Bannon was arrested by – who else? – agents of the Postal Service while aboard a $28 million yacht owned by exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui.
Hartford Courant reports Bannon was on the Lady May when he was arrested: https://t.co/3fJFL2CFMb
Free Beacon reported in 2017 that Guo Wengui owns a yacht by that name: https://t.co/cJkllWVouU
— Betsy Woodruff Swan (@woodruffbets) August 20, 2020
Here’s more from the Courant’s Ed Mahoney:
Stephen K. Bannon, former top advisor to President Donald Trump, was arrested while on a yacht off Westbrook early Thursday, law enforcement sources said.
Bannon was arrested by inspectors from the U.S. Postal Service while cruising Long Island Sound near Westbrook in a $28 million mega yacht called Lady May.
The yacht was seen anchored off West Beach in Westbrook early Thursday, local residents said.
A company that both Guo and Bannon have ties to is reportedly being investigated by the FBI, though the fact that the two business partners were spending time together isn’t very scandalous all by itself.
* * *
Update (1150ET): In his first comments on Bannon’s arrest, President Trump recalled that he didn’t support the “We Build The Wall” project at the time, and added that he thought it looked like “showboating”. “This is a job for the government, not private people,” he said.
Trump even tweeted his objections in July, as questions about the nonprofit and its work were being raised by watchdog groups and the press.
I disagreed with doing this very small (tiny) section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by ads. It was only done to make me look bad, and perhsps it now doesn’t even work. Should have been built like rest of Wall, 500 plus miles. https://t.co/L8RUPCAhqc
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2020
However, he added that Bannon’s arrest “was a very bad thing”.
“I didn’t like that project, I thought it was being done for showboating regions,” Trump said.
When pressed about reporters about the “lawlessness” in Trump’s administration (because “it’s not just Steve Bannon – it’s Michael Flynn, it’s Roger Stone…”) Trump shot back that there was plenty of “lawlessness” in the Obama Administration.
“They spied on my campaign,” he said.
Meanwhile, Scaramucci, who was Bannon’s arch-nemesis during Mooch’s 11 days in the White House, couldn’t help himself.
I tried to tell you guys about Steve Bannon
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) August 20, 2020
And neither could Paul Krugman.
I’m sure a zillion people have made this point, but given the evil Bannon has wrought, this is like getting Al Capone on tax evasion https://t.co/yqTjrfAE8p
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) August 20, 2020
We suspect even Jared Kushner, who has no presence on social media and rarely speaks to the press (except recently after the UAE-Israel deal) probably cracked a smile when he heard the news), since the former chief strategist reportedly made several high-profile enemies within Trump’s circle during his time in the West Wing.
* * *
Update (1115ET): Beijing is already celebrating Bannon’s arrest.
Steve Bannon is among American political elite that Chinese people detest. But the Chinese previously thought he was at least a staunch American patriot. Now, Chinese will despise even more people like Bannon who advocate starting a new cold war against China.
— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) August 20, 2020
Another detail about Bannon’s arrest has slipped out. According to a local TV news station, Bannon was reportedly arrested Thursday while aboard a boat in Westbrook, Conn. The boat is not Bannon’s, the law enforcement source told NBC New York. The boat was reportedly 150 feet long, making it a pretty large yacht.
NEW: Steve Bannon was taken into custody while aboard a 150-foot yacht off the coast of Westbrook, CT in the Long Island Sound, according to three law enforcement officials.
via @PeteWilliamsNBC
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) August 20, 2020
* * *
Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon has been arrested and indicted by the Manhattan US attorney for defrauding people in an online fundraising scheme.
The arrest is tied to the “We Build The Wall” online fundraising scheme which invited Americans to donate to a campaign to build the wall with private funds. Bannon was arrested alongside Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea, all four of whom were involved in the online fundraising project (we reported on the fundraiser back in 2018). Prosecutors allege that after promising not to use “one cent” of the money raised in the GoFundMe page and other fundraising venues to pay themselves, the men – particularly Kolfage, the public face of the endeavor – broke this promise. In particular, Kolfage used much of the money to finance a “lavish lifestyle,” according to prosecutors (more information can be found in the press release below).
According to the indictment, which was unsealed in Manhattan Federal Court on Thursday, Bannon and the three men willfully conned donors with their promise to build the wall with private money. Per the indictment, Bannon once described WBTW as a “volunteer organization”. Eventually “hundreds of thousands of dollars” were siphoned from the campaign, money supplied by donors, including some in the Southern District. Bannon allegedly collected more than $1 million even though little of the wall was ever built.
Feds say Bannon is in federal custody, and Fox News flashed video of the Bannon “perp walk” shortly after news of his arrest hit. According to the AP, a call to the office of Bannon’s lawyer wasn’t answered Thursday morning, while a spokeswoman for Bannon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Facing charges of 2 counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering and to commit wire fraud. Both of those charges carry a 20 year sentence.
Notably, this is a separate issue from the FBI investigation into a media venture involving Bannon, an exiled Chinese businessman, and the son of Morgan Stanley’s co-founder.
The arrest comes just hours before Joe Biden is set to accept the Democratic nomination. Bannon was indicted by Audrey Strauss, the successor (and former deputy head) to Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney in Manhattan who was messily pushed out by Bill Barr a few weeks ago.
While these charges are the culmination of a separate investigation from the one that was leaked to the WSJ yesterday (and which we mentioned above), it’s seems to be part of the same wave of charges and aspersions being cast upon the former White House chief strategist. Aside from the investigation revealed yesterday, there have been multiple leaks about a “previously unpublicized” letter sent by the Senate Intel Committee to the DoJ asking that Bannon be investigated for allegedly lying in his testimony to the Committee. The letter, which was delivered to the DoJ last July when Richard Burr was still committee chairman, was a “bipartisan” effort.
Read the DoJ press release explaining the charges below:
Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Philip R. Bartlett, Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the United States Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”), announced the unsealing of an indictment charging BRIAN KOLFAGE, STEPHEN BANNON, ANDREW BADOLATO, and TIMOTHY SHEA for their roles in defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign known as “We Build the Wall” that raised more than $25 million. The defendants were arrested this morning. KOLFAGE will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hope T. Cannon in the Northern District of Florida. BANNON will be presented today in the Southern District of New York. BADOLATO will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Wilson in the Middle District of Florida. SHEA will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kristen L. Mix in the District of Colorado. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York.
Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, the defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction. While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle. We thank the USPIS for their partnership in investigating this case, and we remain dedicated to rooting out and prosecuting fraud wherever we find it.”
Inspector-in-Charge Philip R. Bartlett said: “The defendants allegedly engaged in fraud when they misrepresented the true use of donated funds. As alleged, not only did they lie to donors, they schemed to hide their misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations and cover up their crimes, showing no regard for the law or the truth. This case should serve as a warning to other fraudsters that no one is above the law, not even a disabled war veteran or a millionaire political strategist.”
According to the Indictment[1] unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
Starting in approximately December 2018, BRIAN KOLFAGE, STEPHEN BANNON, ANDREW BADOLATO, and TIMOTHY SHEA, and others, orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors, including donors in the Southern District of New York, in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign ultimately known as “We Build The Wall” that raised more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States. In particular, to induce donors to donate to the campaign, KOLFAGE repeatedly and falsely assured the public that he would “not take a penny in salary or compensation” and that “100% of the funds raised . . . will be used in the execution of our mission and purpose” because, as BANNON publicly stated, “we’re a volunteer organization.”
Those representations were false. In truth, KOLFAGE, BANNON, BADOLATO, and SHEA received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds from We Build the Wall, which they each used in a manner inconsistent with the organization’s public representations. In particular, KOLFAGE covertly took for his personal use more than $350,000 in funds that donors had given to We Build the Wall, while BANNON, through a non-profit organization under his control (“Non-Profit-1”), received over $1 million from We Build the Wall, at least some of which BANNON used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in BANNON’s personal expenses. To conceal the payments to KOLFAGE from We Build the Wall, KOLFAGE, BANNON, BADOLATO, and SHEA devised a scheme to route those payments from We Build the Wall to KOLFAGE indirectly through Non-Profit-1 and a shell company under SHEA’s control, among other avenues. They did so by using fake invoices and sham “vendor” arrangements, among other ways, to ensure, as KOLFAGE noted in a text message to BADOLATO, that his pay arrangement remained “confidential” and kept on a “need to know” basis.
Read the indictment below:
u.s. v. Brian Kolfage Stephen Bannon Et Al. Indictment 20-Cr-412 0 by Zerohedge on Scribd
As TV commentators chew over what this means for the election, and whether the removal of Berman had anything to do with the Bannon case (even though Berman was handling a case involving Trump’s finances that hit much closer to home for Trump). Though Trump fired Bannon six months into his administration, speculation about whether Trump might step in to help his old friend will likely intensify, even though the case likely won’t have run its course before the start of the next presidential term. What’s more, as Jonathan Turley notes, Bannon is just the latest Trump world figure to be prosecuted under Bill Barr.
Clearly the charges against Bannon suggest that the investigations have continyed in an independent fashion, despite all the warnings from Trump and Barr’s critics. Just like how Trump’s SCOTUS picks were supposed to destroy abortion rights.
And if Bannon is being prosecuted for allegedly helping others exploit GoFundMe donations, will we see similar prosecutions of figures on the political left?
Of course, the notion that Kolfage (the real target of the probe, though Bannon’s name is atop the marquee) & company defrauded unsuspecting rubes is undercut slightly by the fact that the GoFundMe page and “We Build The Wall” were almost immediately attacked by nonprofits like Charity Watch, and conservative media outlets like the Daily Caller, as having little to no accountability, just like plenty of other charities that legally operate in the US.
- 'Morality Pill' A Cure For The Pandemic?
‘Morality Pill’ A Cure For The Pandemic?
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 19:45Authored by Eric Utter via AmericanThinker.com,
Western Michigan University ethics professor Parker Crutchfield recently had an essay published in The Conversation in which he said psychoactive medications might be the most effective way to fight the spread of COVID-19.
He stated:
To me, it seems the problem of coronavirus defectors could be solved by moral enhancement: like receiving a vaccine to beef up your immune system, people could take a substance to boost their cooperative, pro-social behavior. Could a psychoactive pill be the solution to the pandemic?
He reiterated the idea later in the essay, saying:
I believe society may be better off, both in the short term as well as the long, by boosting not the body’s ability to fight off disease but the brain’s ability to cooperate with others. What if researchers developed and delivered a moral enhancer rather than an immunity enhancer?
Yes, that is precisely what we need most.
A “morality pill.” What could go wrong with a government mandating the usage of a “morality enhancing” drug to make its citizens more “cooperative” and compliant? Forcing people to comply with whatever the state mandates — by way of mind-altering drugs — sounds like a great idea! People would never again take their masks off, never leave their abodes, always strictly comply with all social-distancing laws and regulations. Follow Big Brother’s rules, and we can eliminate the coronavirus. And free will, freedom, acts of conscience, and our souls. Perhaps it would be best if we turned to God as our moral enhancer rather than science.
The Nazis would have loved the idea of a pill to make the Jews more malleable and compliant. It would have made the Holocaust easier.
I’m sure China will run with Crutchfield’s idea. It already grades its citizens on their social behavior and acquiescence to the government’s wishes. Maybe everyone could get a perfect score!
But let’s not be xenophobic. Can you imagine if today’s Democratic Party had morality pills to dispense? If they controlled all three branches of the federal government as they control most of America’s big cities, do you truly doubt they’d push the pills as the best possible way to “flatten the curve”? Look at the actions of some of the country’s Democratic governors and mayors. They have already mandated the use of face masks (even outdoors), arrested people for paddle-boarding or sunbathing, told people they cannot leave their homes for long stretches of time, and banned weddings and funeral attendance. I wouldn’t put it past them to demand we all wear tweed jackets and clown shoes while mandating the taking of our daily morality pills.
I can almost hear Big Brother (Nancy Pelosi?) saying, “And remember, citizens: vote a straight Democratic ticket this coming election. It’s the right thing to do.”
- San Francisco Bay Area Has The Worst Air Quality In The World As Wildfires Rage
San Francisco Bay Area Has The Worst Air Quality In The World As Wildfires Rage
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 19:25Amid a record-breaking heatwave, air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area was the worst in the world, as smoke from wildfires blows over the region.
As ABC7 reports, more than 10,800 lightning strikes started 367 new fires according to CAL FIRE division chief Jeremy Rahn.
“Over the past 72 hours, California has experienced a historic lightning siege.”
Three major wildfire complexes in the East Bay, North Bay and southern Peninsula continue to blow smoky air over nearly the entire region.
“It’s going to get worse in a lot of areas,” said ABC7 News Meteorologist Mike Nicco Thursday.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed warned residents:
“The best thing you can do is avoid exposure to outdoor air by staying indoors with the windows and doors closed.”
And ironically, the ‘lockdown’ is being suggested as California Governor Gavin Newsom urges residnts to turn off A?C units to preserve electricity and the state also deals with rolling blackoust.
Seems like another good reason to start considering joining the ‘mass exodus’.
- Australians Are Hoarding Cash As Businesses Go Cashless
Australians Are Hoarding Cash As Businesses Go Cashless
Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2020 – 19:05Authored by Sophia Jiang via The Epoch Times,
Australians are hoarding cash but using cashless transactions more than ever thanks to the effects of the CCP virus, two new reports have found.
The reports from electronic payment company Square shows that cash gave way to cards in daily transactions over the first half of the year while Australia’s central banking institution the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)revealed that the demand for banknotes had increased by 11 billion since February.
More Businesses Turn to Cashless
Square’s report (pdf) showed that over one in three Australian businesses— an estimated 36 percent—were effectively cashless during the lock-down peak in April, compared to seven percent pre-pandemic in January. Square defined cashless as accepting 95% or more transactions through debit or credit cards.
Data analysis also showed that cash payments declined by more than half between January and April, down from 35 percent to 15 percent of all transactions. But the payments levelled out in June to 18 percent.
Square also noted some variances between states and industries.
The ACT saw the most substantial cash payments plummeting, from 42 percent of transactions in January to 14 percent in April. By June, 35.6 percent of businesses in the territory has turned cashless, over three times that of January at 9.8 percent.
In Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, cash payments also declined by more than half during the period from January to April, with the ratio of cashless businesses more than doubling to above 20 percent by June.
By contrast, the Northern Territory remained the most committed to paying by cash, with cashless businesses ratio edging up only by 0.9 percent during the period from January to June, from 14.5 percent to 15.4 percent.
Professor Steve Worthington from Swinburne University Business School attributed the decline in cash payments to both safety concerns and the drop in the number of available ATMs. Adding that he believed the pandemic is only accelerating the digital shift that has been gaining momentum over the recent years.
“For consumers, fears over social distancing and a preference to minimise contact with physical currency are likely to be top of mind,” he told Square’s blog.
“What’s more, with banks closing branches, reducing operating hours and fewer ATMs available, there’s less cash in circulation. Combining that with the fact that many businesses favour digital payments for speed and security, there’s less incentive now for any of us to carry cash.”
Latest figures from the self-regulatory payments body, the Australian Payments Network shows that the number of ATMs fell from 27,870 to 25,720—a drop of 2150—during the June quarter.
Higher Demand for Cash
Despite the increase in cashless transactions, The Reserve Bank has seen a rise in demand for banknotes in recent months, mainly by individuals with substantial deposit balances.
In his August 14 speech to House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, RBA governor Philip Lowe noted keeping extra cash was some Australian’s responses to the pandemic.
“While COVID-19 has accelerated the shift to electronic payments, there has, paradoxically, also been record demand for banknotes,” he said.
“Some people seem to be wanting to keep some extra money at home. The result has been that the stock of banknotes on issue has increased from $83 billion in February to $94 billion today.”
The elevated demand reflects concerns over financial stability amid the pandemic-induced economic recession.
RBA has revealed in its Financial Stability Review report [pdf ] in April that over-the-counter withdrawals of cash from banks increased sharply over the second half of March as some customers with considerable balances sought to hold precautionary funds.
“This included a small number of customers making very large withdrawals (more than $100,000, and in some cases into the millions of dollars),” the report said.
RBA is confident that the Australian financial system will navigate the crisis because of the high capital levels and strong liquidity position of banks, as well as their high profitability and excellent asset performance.
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