Today’s News 27th August 2021

• Which Animals Could You Beat In A Fight?
  Which Animals Could You Beat In A Fight?

  If you’ve ever daydreamed about protecting yourself and your family from a rampant wild animal, you probably concluded your fantasy as the victor.

  If the scenario were to become a reality though, and you had to fight an animal unarmed, what do you think the actual outcome would be?

  A 2021 YouGov survey asked exactly that of British and United States adults and as Statista’s Martin Armstrong shows in the infographic below, some of the respondents were still firmly in fantasy land when considering the scenarios.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  This can be said to a greater extent for people in the United States where, for example, 8 percent said they think they could beat a gorilla.

  A gorilla, with their bare hands.

  Presumably more realistic, almost 70 percent in both countries said they could take a house cat in hand-to-paw combat.

  A rat, likely a tricky customer for most opponents, nevertheless inspired the most confidence with up to 72 percent claiming they would emerge victorious from the ordeal.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/27/2021 – 02:45

• Europe Braces For Tsunami Of Afghan Migrants
  Europe Braces For Tsunami Of Afghan Migrants

  Authored by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,

  The Taliban conquest of Afghanistan is poised to trigger an unprecedented wave of Afghan migration to Europe, which is bracing for the arrival of potentially hundreds of thousands — possibly even millions — of refugees and migrants from the war-torn country.

  

  German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, expressing an ominous sense of foreboding, has estimated that up to five million people will try to leave Afghanistan for Europe. Such migration numbers, if they materialize, would make the previous migration crisis of 2015 — when more than a million people from Africa, Asia and the Middle East made their way to Europe — pale by comparison.

  Since 2015, around 570,000 Afghans — almost exclusively young men — have requested asylum in the European Union, according to EU estimates. In 2020, Afghanistan was the EU’s second-biggest source of asylum applicants after those from Syria.

  Afghan males, many of whom have been especially difficult to assimilate or integrate into European society, have been responsible for hundreds — possibly thousands — of sexual assaults against local European women and girls in recent years. The arrival in Europe of millions more Afghans portends considerable future societal upheaval.

  The 27 member states of the European Union are, as usual, divided on how to prepare for the coming migratory deluge. The leaders of some countries say they have a humanitarian obligation to accept large numbers of Afghan migrants. Others argue that it is time for Islamic countries to shoulder the burden.

  Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, the administrative arm of the European Union, said that the EU has a “moral responsibility” to take in those who are fleeing the Taliban. The leaders of many EU member states disagree.

  In Austria, which in recent years has taken in over 40,000 Afghans (the second highest number in Europe after Germany, which has taken in 148,000 Afghans), Chancellor Sebastian Kurz vowed that his country will not be accepting any more. In an interview with Austrian broadcaster Puls 24, he said that Austria had already made a “disproportionately large contribution” to Afghanistan:

  “I am clearly opposed to us now taking in more people. That will not happen under my chancellorship. Taking in people who then cannot be integrated is a huge problem for us as a country.”

  Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer, in a joint statement with Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, called for Afghans illegally in Austria to be deported to Islamic countries, now that they cannot, according to EU law, be deported back to Afghanistan:

  “If deportations are no longer possible because of the restrictions imposed on us by the European Convention on Human Rights, alternatives must be considered. Deportation centers in the region around Afghanistan would be one possibility. That requires the strength and support of the European Commission.”

  Nehammer, in an interview with the APA news agency, insisted that deportations should be viewed as a security issue rather than as a humanitarian matter:

  “It is easy to call for a general ban on deportations to Afghanistan, while on the other hand ignoring the expected migration movements. Those who need protection must receive it as close as possible to their country of origin.

  “A general ban on deportation is a pull factor for illegal migration and only fuels the inconsiderate and cynical business of smugglers and thus organized crime.

  “As minister of the interior, I am primarily responsible for the people living in Austria. Above all, this means protecting social peace and the welfare state over the long term.”

  Schallenberg added:

  “The crisis in Afghanistan is not unfolding in a vacuum. Conflict and instability in the region will sooner or later spill over to Europe and thus to Austria.”

  An opinion poll published by Österreich 24 showed that nearly three-fourths of respondents back the Austrian government’s hard line Afghan migration. The poll linked the support to a high-profile criminal case in which four Afghans in Vienna drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl who was strangled, lost consciousness and died.

  In Germany, migration from Afghanistan has emerged as a major issue ahead of federal elections scheduled for September 26. Paul Ziemiak, general secretary of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, said that Germany should not adopt the open-door migration policy it pursued in 2015, when Merkel allowed into the country more than a million migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. In an interview with German broadcaster n-tv, he said:

  “It is clear to us that 2015 must not be repeated. We will not be able to solve the Afghanistan issue by migration to Germany.”

  CDU chancellor candidate Armin Laschet has remained silent on the Afghan issue, as has the chancellor candidate for the Social Democrats (SPD) Olaf Scholz. By contrast, the chancellor candidate for the Greens party, Annalena Baerbock, called for Germany to take in well over 50,000 Afghans. “We have to come to terms with this,” she said in an interview with ARD television.

  Meanwhile, Afghan criminals, including rapists and drug traffickers, who previously had been deported to Afghanistan, have now returned to Germany on evacuation flights. Upon arrival in Germany, they immediately submitted new asylum applications. “It is not a completely new scenario that people come to Germany who previously had been deported,” said an interior ministry spokesman.

  In France, President Emmanuel Macron has called for a coordinated European response to prevent mass migration from Afghanistan:

  “The destabilization of Afghanistan will likely increase the flow of irregular migration to Europe…. Europe alone will not be able to assume the consequences of the current situation. We must plan and protect ourselves against large irregular migratory flows that endanger those who are part of them and fuel trafficking of all kinds.”

  Marine Le Pen, who is running neck and neck in the polls with Macron ahead of French presidential elections set for April 2022, said that France should say “no” to massive migration of Afghan refugees. A petition on her party’s website — “Afghanistan: NO to a new migratory highway!” — stated:

  “We are fully aware of the human tragedies and the obvious distress of some of the legitimate refugees. But the right of asylum must not continue to be, as it is now, the Trojan horse of massive, uncontrolled and imposed immigration, of Islamism, and in some cases of terrorism, as was the case with certain jihadists involved in the attacks of November 13, 2015 [date on which a series of coordinated jihadist attacks took place in Paris in which more than 130 people were killed and more than 400 were injured.]

  “The mayors of certain large cities have already announced their intention to welcome refugees. It is in our opinion an obvious risk to their fellow citizens.

  “What matters to us first and foremost is the protection of our compatriots.”

  Meanwhile, five Afghans who were airlifted to France have been placed under counter-terrorism surveillance for suspected ties to the Taliban, according to the French Interior Ministry. One of the men, who worked for the French embassy in Kabul, admitted, under questioning, to have previously managed a Taliban checkpoint. Another 20 Afghans taken to France are being investigated for asylum fraud.

  In Greece, the government, fearing a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis, has erected a 40-km (25-mile) fence and installed a new surveillance system on its border with Turkey to deter Afghan migrants from trying to reach Europe. In recent years, Greece has been a key gateway to Europe for migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

  Public Order Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis said:

  “We cannot wait, passively, for the possible impact. Our borders will remain safe and inviolable.”

  Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarachi, added that the EU needs to send “the right messages” in order to avoid a new migration crisis “which Europe is unable to shoulder.” He stressed: “Our country will not be a gateway to Europe for illegal Afghan migrants.”

  In Italy, Prime Minister Mario Draghi called for the Group of 20 major economies to hold a summit on the situation in Afghanistan. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica noted:

  “The G20, for Draghi, has a strategic value: it is in that forum that one can and must reach a commitment that binds not only the forces of a West that has come out battered from its twenty-year mission in Afghanistan, but also and above all those countries such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey which have interests and influence on the self-proclaimed Islamic state.”

  In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in a statement to Parliament, announced a plan to take in 20,000 Afghan migrants:

  “We must deal with the world as it is, accepting what we have achieved and what we have not achieved….

  “We will not be sending people back to Afghanistan and nor by the way will we be allowing people to come from Afghanistan to this country in an indiscriminate way.

  “We want to be generous, but we must make sure we look after our own security.”

  In Turkey, the government is building a 295-km (180-mile) wall along its border with Iran to prevent a new influx of migrants from Afghanistan. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that a new wave of migration is “inevitable” if Afghanistan and Iran fail to secure their borders. He added that Turkey will not become a “refugee warehouse” for fleeing Afghans:

  “We need to remind our European friends of this fact: Europe — which has become the center of attraction for millions of people — cannot stay out of the Afghan refugee problem by harshly sealing its borders to protect the safety and wellbeing of its citizens. Turkey has no duty, responsibility or obligation to be Europe’s refugee warehouse.”

  Meanwhile, thousands of Afghan migrants are arriving in countries across Europe, including Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia and Sweden, among others.

  Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo (here, here and here) agreed to temporarily shelter hundreds of Afghans who worked with Western peacekeeping military forces and are now threatened by the Taliban.

  Spain said that it would temporarily host up to 4,000 Afghan migrants at two military bases used by the United States.

  Slovenia, which currently holds the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, said that the European Union will not allow a surge in Afghan migration. Prime Minister Janez Janša tweeted:

  “The #EU will not open any European ‘humanitarian’ or migration corridors for #Afghanistan. We will not allow the strategic mistake from 2015 to be repeated. We will only help individuals who helped us during the #NATO Operation. And to the EU members who protect our external border.”

  Meanwhile, dozens of Afghan migrants are trapped along the border between Poland and Belarus. Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s practice of sending migrants across their borders is an act of “hybrid warfare.” Lukashenko is accused of seeking revenge for sanctions the EU imposed over his disputed reelection and a crackdown on dissent.

  Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that although he sympathized with the Afghan migrants, he said that they were “a tool in the hands of Mr. Lukashenko” and that Poland would not succumb to “this type of blackmail.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 08/27/2021 – 02:00

• A "Strategic Apocalypse" In Afghanistan: A Seismic Shift, Years In The Making
  A “Strategic Apocalypse” In Afghanistan: A Seismic Shift, Years In The Making

  Authored by Alastair Crooke via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

  [ZH: written before today’s awful events in Kabul]

  China is more determined to shape the region than many analysts realise…

  

  A huge geo-political event has just occurred in Afghanistan: The implosion of a key western strategy for managing what Mackinder, in the 19th century, called the Asian heartland. That it was accomplished, without fighting, and in few days, is almost unprecedented.

  It has been a shock. Not just one of those ephemeral shocks that is soon forgotten, but a deeply traumatic one. Unlike the psychological impact of 9/11, the western world is treating the experience as mourning for the loss of ‘a loved one’. There have been ministerial tears, chest beating and an entry into the first three stages of grief simultaneously: Firstly, shock and denial (a state of disbelief and numbed feelings); then, pain and guilt (for those allies of ours huddled at Kabul airport), and finally, anger. The fourth stage is already in sight in the U.S.: Depression – as the polls show America already swinging towards deep pessimism about the pandemic, economic and prospects, as well as the course on which the American Republic is set.

  Here we have a clear statement from the editors of The New York Times of who that ‘loved one’ was:

  [The Afghan debacle is] “tragic because the American Dream of being the ‘indispensable nation’ in a world where the values of civil rights, women’s empowerment and religious tolerance rule – proved to be just a dream”.

  Michael Rubin representing the hawkish AEI pronounced an eulogy over ‘the corpse’:

  Biden, Blinken, and Jake Sullivan might craft statements about the mistakes of earlier NATO overreach, “and the need for Washington to focus on its core interests further West. And Pentagon officials and diplomats might contest any lessening of America’s commitment with indignation, yet the reality is NATO is a Dead Man Walking”.

  An earlier piece, reflecting fury at Biden – and the sense of a strategic apocalypse having befallen Washington – is best caught in this agonised cry, again from Michael Rubin:

  “By enabling China to advance its interests in Afghanistan, Biden also enables it to cut-off India and other American allies from Central Asia. Simply put … Biden’s incompetence now risks the entire post-World War II liberal order … God help the United States”.

  Rubin says plainly what Afghanistan was always truly about: Disrupting Central Asia, to weaken Russia and China. Rubin at least spares us the hypocrisy about safeguarding girls’ education (others, who are close to the U.S. military industrial complex, continue the mantra of the need to re-deploy to Afghanistan and for continued war – and consequent weapons sales – in Afghanistan, in part ‘to protect’ women’s rights). Rubin concludes: “Rather than enhance America’s position against China however, Biden has hemorrhaged it”.

  In Britain too, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Tom Tugenhadt, has lamented Biden’s strategic mistake, and the imperative to not give up – but to persevere:

  “This isn’t just about Afghanistan”, he writes, “It’s about us all. We are engaged in a challenge over the way the world works. We’re seeing autocratic powers like China and Russia challenge the rules and break the agreements we’ve made …”.

  Tugenhadt believes that: 

  “We can turn this around. We need to. This is a choice. So far we’re choosing to lose”. Many hawks in Washington acknowledge that this is, of course, impossible. That era is now gone – indeed, what the last days events in Afghanistan represent is a paradigm lost.

  Many are deeply angry at Biden (albeit reflecting mixed agendas), and are bemused too, at how this could have occurred. The explanation however, may be even more disturbing. The writing had long been writ in blood on the wall for Afghanistan – there is a limit to how long a corrupt elite, severed from its roots in its own people, can be sustained by a waning alien culture.

  The urgings from the British PM in a telecon with Biden however, that the latter must preserve “the gains” of the last twenty years in Afghanistan is literally to dream.

  But the deeper story is the one of not just the transformation of the Taliban, but rather, of a seismic shift in geopolitics. Western intelligence agencies were so consumed with ‘counter-terrorism’ that they failed to see the new dynamics at play. Certainly, that might explain the Biden’s administration’s assessment of the long months it would take before the Ghani regime was at risk of falling.

  Many years ago, before the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1979, I was based in Peshawar, Pakistan, near Afghanistan. I was responsible for diplomatic reporting on the war and engagement with Afghan leaders during the Soviet era. I came to know the Taliban, which had recently been forged by Pakistani Intelligence, under Gen. Hamid Gul. They were then: intensely parochial, geographically and politically sectarian, xenophobic, tribal and unbendingly rigid.

  As Pashtuns recidivists, and too, the biggest minority ethnic group in Afghanistan, they would kill other ethnicities wantonly: Shia Hazaras in particular, as apostates, were killed. They detested Ahmad Shah Masood, the ‘lion on Panshir’ and a hero of the resistance to the Soviets, because he was a Tajik. Some of their fundamentalism was fuelled by the radicalised strains of Islam, Deobandism and Wahhabism – exports of Saudi Arabia and Dar al-Islam Howzah in India. But mostly it was ancient tribal lore known as Pashtunwali.

  The Taliban we see today is a far more complex, multi-ethnic, and sophisticated coalition, which is why they have been able, at such breath-taking speed, to topple the western-installed Afghanistan government.

  They talk Afghan political inclusion – and look to Iran, Russia, China and Pakistan for mediation, and to facilitate their place in the ‘Great Game’. They aspire to play a regional role as a pluralist Sunni Islamist government.

  This is why they have given explicit assurances to these key external partners that their rise to power will bring neither a bloodbath of score-settling, nor civil war. They also promise that different religious sects will be respected, and girls and women can and will be educated.

  The sweep of the Taliban to power however, has been years in the making, with key outside actors playing a crucial part in overseeing the metamorphosis. More concretely, as consensus with the Taliban on the future was reached, these external powers – China, Iran, Russia and Pakistan – have brought their Afghan allies (i.e. other Afghan minorities, who are almost as numerous) to the negotiating table alongside the Taliban. The latter’s links with China go back several years. Iran too, has been engaged with the Taliban and other Afghan components, in a similar vein, for at least two decades. Russia and Pakistan engaged jointly, in December 2016.

  As a result of this concerted outreach, the Taliban leadership adjusted to the realpolitik of Central Asia: They see that the SCO represents the coming regional strategic paradigm, which can enable them to come out of their isolation as political ‘untouchables’ and pave a path for them to govern and rebuild Afghanistan, with economic assistance from SCO-member states.

  Civil war remains a risk: We may expect that the CIA will try to stand-up an Afghan counter-insurgency to the new government – the path is not difficult to forecast: acts of violence and assassinations will (and are) being attributed to the “terrorist” Taliban. They will likely be false flag operations. And there is talk too, (mostly in the West) as to whether the Taliban can be ‘trusted’, or will stick to their undertakings.

  It is not, however, just a simple question of ‘trust’. The difference today lies with the external geo-political architecture that has brought this event into being. These external regional partners will tell (and have told) the Taliban that, if they violate their assurances, they will regain their international pariah status: they will be classified as terrorists again, their borders will close, their economy will tank – and the country racked by civil war yet again. In short, the calculus is rooted in self-interest, rather than the presumption of trust.

  China is more determined to shape the region than many analysts realise. It’ is often said that China is purely mercantile, interested only in advancing its economic agenda. Yet China’s Xinjiang province – its Islamist underbelly – shares a border with Afghanistan. This touches on state security, and China therefore will require stability in Afghanistan. It will not tolerate ethnic Turkic insurgents (spurred by the West) moving into or from Afghanistan into Turkmenistan or Xinjiang. The Uighurs are ethnically Turkic. We can expect China to be tough on this point.

  Thus, not only have the U.S. and NATO been forced to exit from the ‘crossroads of Asia’ in desperate disarray, but these developments set the stage for a major evolution of Russia and China’s economic and trade regional corridor plans. They also transform the security of central Asia in respect to Chinese and Russian vulnerabilities there. (The U.S., so far, has been denied an alternative military base in Central Asia, relocating its forces instead to Jordan).

  To be fair, Michael Rubin was ‘half right’ when he said that “Rather than enhance America’s position against China, Biden has hemorrhaged it”, but only half right. Because the missing ‘other half’ is that Washington was outplayed by Russia, China and Iran. Western Intelligence failed utterly to see the new domestic Afghan dynamics – the external actors underwriting the Taliban’s negotiations with the tribes.

  And they still do not see all the external dominoes falling into place around an Afghan pivot, that changes the whole Central Asian calculus.

  Additional pieces to this jigsaw picture of paradigm change have become visible in the wake of the Taliban’s sweep to power: One domino fell even before the ‘Kabul rout’: Iran’s new Administration has strategically re-positioned the country towards prioritising relations other Islamic states, but in partnership with Russia and China.

  The Iranian National Security Council then declined to agree the draft Vienna agreement for a re-launch of JCPOA (the second domino to slip into place).

  During the rout China and Russia (‘co-incidentally’) closed the airspace over northern Afghanistan on account of their joint military exercises taking place to the north of Afghanistan – and, for the first time the two powers exercised under joint military control. This represents the third (and very significant) domino, though one barely noticed by the West.

  Finally, Pakistan strategically re-positioned too, by declining to host any U.S. military presence in its territory.

  And then, yet one last domino: Iran was invited formally to join the SCO (which ultimately would imply Iran joining the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), thus giving the country a fresh economic and trade horizon – absent the lifting of the U.S. siege of its economy.

  So not only have the U.S. and NATO been forced to exit from this new strategic locus, but these parallel developments set the stage for a major evolution of Russia and China’s economic and trade regional corridor plan.

  China will play a key part in this. China and Russia have recognised the Taliban government, and China will likely build a pipeline along the ‘5-nation corridor’, bringing Iranian oil to China, via northern Afghanistan. It will likely then follow on with a north-south corridor, ultimately linking St Petersburg via Afghanistan to Iran’s Chabahar port lying across the strait from Oman.

  For the west, this concatenation of falling dominoes has been near incomprehensible.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 23:30

• DHL Warns Global Supply Chain Disruptions To Persist Next Year
  DHL Warns Global Supply Chain Disruptions To Persist Next Year

  The complex web of seaports, container ships, and trucking companies that move goods worldwide remains deeply tangled. 

  More than 18 months since the virus pandemic forced governments to shut down their economies and, in return, disrupt global supply chains. The emergence of the Delta variant has metastasized into more logistical hell for shippers. 

  Bloomberg spoke with companies on the front line of production and transportation to gather intel of what was happening on the ground. What they discovered was increasing supply chain disruption that will persist through 2022. 

  “We do not expect freight rates to stabilize in the near term,” according to Karsten Michaelis, head of ocean freight at DHL Global Forwarding Asia Pacific.

  “The combination of a year of disruption, lack of containers, port congestions and a shortage of vessels in the right positions is creating a situation where cargo demand far exceeds available capacity.”

  Michaelis said his customers had been given alternative routes and modes of transport to navigate the turmoil. “We have to be prepared that costs will stay at elevated levels and are not expected to go back to pre-Covid levels,” he said. 

  Global container prices are at record highs. 

  

  Michaelis said the seasonal surge for holiday goods has already begun and will keep ocean freight “tight” for the remainder of the year. 

  “Capacity planning for the Christmas season has started much earlier this year because capacity is so tight in ocean freight,” he said. “We are seeing some customers even planning to fly in typical seasonal goods just to make sure they are on stock/in store on time.”

  In a series of shipping notes, titled “California Congestion Nears New High, East Coast Gridlock Worsens” and “US West Coast Port Congestion At Record High Amid Transpacific Trade Route Disruptions,” we outlined congestion at US West and East Coast ports is mounting once more. 

  The latest word from the frontlines is that supply chains disruptions are not waning anytime soon and will pressure consumer prices higher. So much for the Federal Reserve’s “transitory” narrative. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 23:00

• What Can We Learn About COVID Tyranny From Australia And Afghanistan?
  What Can We Learn About COVID Tyranny From Australia And Afghanistan?

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  Despotic people tend to telegraph their future actions like inexperienced fighters tend to telegraph their punches; it’s not as if the intentions of totalitarians are obscured or hard to predict. In some cases they may even believe that they can be as obvious as they wish because they assume no one will ever try to stop them. They’ve been destroying lives for so long they adopt a sense of superiority, as if they are untouchable.

  

  In my extensive study of psychopathy I find that, unfortunately, the primary catalyst for the exploitation and victimization of large populations of people is that many of them can’t wrap their heads around the idea of an organized conspiracy of human monsters. They refuse to acknowledge the existence of the evil right in front of them, so the evil is able to go unopposed for long stretches of time. There is ALWAYS a moment, though, when psychopaths push the wrong people too far. They just can’t help it, and this is when they find themselves on the business end of a noose or the barrel of a gun.

  When it comes to organizations of psychopaths, the same moment also eventually arrives, it just takes longer for the public to comes to grips with the necessity of it.

  In terms of the “Great Reset” agenda, medical tyranny using covid as a rationale is clearly a key ingredient to the future objectives of the power elite. At the beginning of the pandemic lockdowns last year I made several predictions and warnings. I said that the mandates and lockdowns for most people around the world would never go away, and I called this “Wave Theory”; the use of intermittent moments of limited freedom followed by increasingly more aggressive restrictions.

  This cycle is meant to condition the public to the idea that governments are “allowed” to micromanage our daily lives, that this is “normal”, that it is for our own good and that we should enjoy the short moments of liberty or normalcy they so graciously let us to have.

  I have warned consistently that all governments around the world would eventually try to adopt proof of vaccination requirements in order for people to participate in everyday activities such as going to public venues, going to school, shopping in stores or even getting a job. The mainstream media and governments consistently claimed last year that vaccine passports were “not going to happen”, and that the very notion was a conspiracy theory. Now, the vaccines passports are being implemented in numerous countries including some parts of the US and anyone who stands against them is called a “conspiracy theorists”.

  You see how that works? If you expose the truth of an authoritarian plot the establishment lies and calls you a “conspiracy theorist”. Once the establishment admits to the plot and you refuse to comply with it those same liars call you a conspiracy theorist AGAIN, as well as a “terrorist.”

  Yes, this was also predicted by myself and others at the beginning of the pandemic. We said that the people that fight against vaccine passport tyranny would be quickly labeled as traitors and terrorists “putting others at risk” because we are too “selfish” to bow down and take the experimental jab or submit to the lockdowns. This is exactly what has happened, with the DHS recently announcing that one of the warning signs of a potential terrorist includes opposition to covid mandates and vaccines.

  I also predicted that the ultimate goal of the covid agenda will be to create domestic travel restrictions and state and city checkpoints, not to mention covid “camps” or prisons for the unvaccinated. In the US the DHS is admitting that they are entertaining the concept of interstate travel limits and a “papers please” system to prevent Americans from moving around freely. The state of New York hinted at covid camps many months ago, but the real plan is being revealed overseas in other Western nations like Australia and New Zealand.

  And here is where we find the telegraphed punches…

  I have specifically examined Australia and New Zealand’s fast track covid tyranny plans a year ago in my article ‘The Totalitarian Future Globalists Want For The Entire World Is Being Revealed’ and I noted that whatever happens in these countries along with certain countries in Europe is going to be tried in the US in the near term. The main difference being that these measures cannot be fast tracked in the same way in the US because Americans are heavily armed and have the ability to bury the establishment six feet under if we organized to do so.

  This is why vaccine passports are still only incremental in the US and are not being pushed in the vast majority of the nation. This is why outside of major cities most Americans completely ignore the mandates and have been doing so for many months.

  In my area I don’t think I have seen more than two people a day wearing a mask anywhere. The sight of it is so bizarre that it stands out almost immediately. I once even witnessed a woman in a mask (an obvious tourist) in line at the grocery store look around herself and realize NO ONE else was wearing one. She suddenly started making weird and very vocal excuses for her mask to all the people in line, claiming that she actually “hates the smell of detergents” and that was why she was wearing it.

  The difference between free rural areas and the dystopian cities is stark.

  Frankly, I don’t care if someone wears a mask or not. It’s a placebo that does nothing to stop the transmission of the virus, but if it makes them feel better then more power to them. The issue is when these scared and pathetic people try to project their delusions onto everyone else. Covid’s median death rate of 0.26% is so small it boggles my mind that so many people in blue states and counties are terrified of it. I don’t think they understand the basic statistics of the situation – 99.7% of the population has little to fear from covid.

  This is the data according to the CDC and dozens of mainstream and independent medical studies, but you will never hear these numbers in the media. They will talk of infection numbers and deaths, but they refuse to put the deaths in perspective with the statistics. Why? Because then the public fear would go away, and the establishment needs to ramp up the fear so that they can continue to take away our freedoms in the name of “safety”.

  I have been hearing a rather naive argument lately that countries like France are putting Americans to shame because they are in the streets protesting the lockdowns and passports. They are saying Americans will “never fight back.” What these people do not understand is that in most of the US there ARE NO LOCKDOWNS and there are no mandates. The government declares them, sure, and we just ignore them. There are only pockets of leftists in certain states and counties that actually follow and enforce these rules. The conservative population is fully ready and prepared to stop the agenda cold when the government actually tries to enforce it, and they will certainly try.

  Here is where we need to understand the horrifying developments in Australia and New Zealand: The lockdowns are now normalized in these places and the governments need no real excuse for them. They simply announce there are a handful of covid cases and that lockdowns must return. Travel is strangled and basic rights and freedoms are nonexistent. The New Zealand Prime Minister’s latest speech on the restrictions says it all:

  The main message here being that social interaction is forbidden. Just stay in your bubble and follow the mandates without question. And, even if you are vaccinated these rules still apply to you. The beauty of the covid restrictions is that they are a perfect excuse for a tyrannical government to block public assembly, which helps prevent the organization of resistance.

  The globalists need the lockdowns to go on forever. In Australia and NZ the assertion is that anyone that breaks them will be targeted for punishment up to and including being locked up in a military run covid camp. These are the same measures that Biden and the globalists within the establishment would like for the US. It’s not conspiracy theory, it’s conspiracy reality.

  This brings me to the Afghanistan situation, and some people might suggest that it has nothing to do with covid tyranny, but bear with me.  Again, it’s a matter again of predicting future events according to telegraphed punches as well as historic examples.

  The question I’m hearing most when it comes to Afghanistan is “how is it possible for a group of tribal cave people to defeat the most advanced military in the world.” I think this conundrum needs to be explored when it comes to covid tyranny because if the epic might of the US military was not enough to hold back the Taliban, how do the globalists plan to enforce covid lockdowns in America?

  Let’s be clear first that there are many people that argue that the US military was “not allowed to win” in Afghanistan. This is a misrepresentation of reality. That fact of the matter is, winning was ALWAYS IMPOSSIBLE in Afghanistan. The establishment knew this 20 years ago when they first sent American troops in. They did not need to sabotage the US mission in Afghanistan, because losing in Afghanistan was inevitable anyway.

  The occupation of an entire nation in order to diminish an large insurgency and impose a cultural shift is an effort that must be accomplished swiftly or not at all. The monetary cost is crippling, the human cost is staggering and the amount of resources needed to maintain subjugation is exponential. The truth is, the longer an occupation goes on without the total elimination of the insurgency, the less likely it is to succeed. The problem is, in order to completely eliminate the insurgency, you would have to wipe out most of the population using tactics that are grotesque; tactics that only inspire MORE insurgency.

  I’ll repeat the message here because I don’t think some people get it: The conspiracy to trap the US in failure was completed 20 years ago the moment we committed to the invasion of Afghanistan. It was all downhill from there and there was no way to win.

  I have also heard it said that it’s impractical to compare an Afghan insurgency to an American rebellion against tyranny because the Taliban is made up of fighters that far superior in ability to any patriots in the US.  In other words, some people think the Taliban are some kind of super soldiers. This is an idiotic take. I think the following video makes my point for me:

  These are not the brightest bulbs in the bunch nor are they unstoppable berserkers. Their training is sub-par and the majority of combat incidents with the Taliban note their habit of not even looking down their sites on their rifles when they shoot. This leads us to a logical query when it comes to the covid gulag the globalist want to transplant to the US – If the low rent fighters of the Taliban can fend off the modern military might of the US, then how in the hell do the globalists expect to control an American insurgency made up of trained combat veterans and experienced civilian shooters using guerrilla tactics?

  Who are they going to get to do this? Who is stupid enough to take the job of demanding papers and enforcing checkpoints and arresting those that don’t comply in predominantly conservative regions with more guns than people and enough ammo to fight at least a couple world wars? I suspect that expensive contractors would be the only answer outside of foreign forces, and even then, I would not want to be in their shoes when the sleeping giant of American rebellion stirs.

  I guess the lesson I am deriving from these examples is that the globalists are going to try to enforce the covid mandate agenda and passport tyranny no matter what. They cannot stop the process which they have set in motion. The events in Australia and NZ show that their addiction to totalitarianism in insatiable and it demands they pursue increasing control regardless of the cost. They are telling us exactly what they are about to do.

  The events in Afghanistan show that such control is nearly impossible to maintain over a population that is armed and that, in the US at least, they will ultimately lose…badly. Even if they use unmitigated terror tactics, they will still lose as long as Americans continue to fight. The laws of attrition always prevail, and technological superiority means nothing. To summarize, the fight is already won, but the struggle has just begun.

  *  *  *

  If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch.  Learn more about it HERE.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 22:30

• Feds Shutter Jail Where Jeffrey Epstein Was Found Dead
  Feds Shutter Jail Where Jeffrey Epstein Was Found Dead

  The Metropolitan Correctional Center, the Manhattan jail where Jeffrey Epstein was infamously found dead after two guards who were supposed to be keeping an eye on him took naps and surfed the Internet (that is, according to the official story), has been shuttered by the DoJ – at least temporarily – while the BOP scrambles to fix up the jail to make it a “safer” environment for inmates.

  According to the NYT, the decision comes just weeks after Deputy AG Lisa O. Monaco visited the jail in order to get a firsthand look at the conditions and its operations. She decided to shut it down “given the ongoing concerns.” Its current population of 233 inmates, most of whom are awaiting trial, will be moved to other accommodations.

  

  Over the years, the jail has played host to other major criminals, including “El Chapo” Guzman, the Mexican drug lord, and John Gotti, the boss of the Gambino crime family.

  A DoJ spokeswoman said Thursday that the department was “committed to ensuring that every facility in the federal prison system is not only safe and secure, but also provides people in custody with the resources and programs they need to make a successful return to society after they have served their time.”

  As part of that effort, the BoP had “assessed steps necessary to improve conditions” at the MCC, and in an effort to address them “as quickly and efficiently as possible,” the department had decided to close the jail “at least temporarily, until those issues have been resolved.”

  Though the BoP didn’t say where the other prisoners would be moved to, potential candidates include other nearby federal lockups, including the Metropolitan Detention Center, or MDC, in Brooklyn, and the federal prison in Otisville, NY.

  David Patton, the “attorney in chief” at Federal Defenders of New York, which represents thousands of indigent defendants in the Five Boroughs, told the NYT that the MCC has been a “longstanding disgrace”.

  “It’s cramped, dark and unsanitary. The building is falling apart. Chronic shortages of medical staff mean that people suffer for long periods of time when they have urgent medical issues.”

  One retiring federal judge also recently complained at the conditions of the two federal lockups.

  In April, Judge Colleen McMahon of Federal District Court in Manhattan, who had just stepped down as chief judge, said during the sentencing of a defendant that “the single thing in the five years that I was chief judge of this court that made me the craziest was my complete and utter inability to do anything meaningful about the conditions at the M.C.C., especially at the M.C.C.,” she said, as well as the M.D.C.

  “There is no excuse for the conditions in those two institutions,” she said, adding that they “are run by morons.”

  Of course, as the judge pointed out, the conditions at the MCC’s sister lockup, the MDC, over in Brooklyn, aren’t much better. The Patton, from the Federal Defenders of NY, said moving the inmates to MDC would “accomplish nothing” in terms of improving the conditions in which they are held.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 22:00

• The Weaponization Of Medicine
  The Weaponization Of Medicine

  Authored by Paul Rosenberg via FreemansPerspective.com,

  Whether or not we can express it clearly, or even perceive it clearly, I think nearly every adult grasps that medicine is being used as a weapon. 

  

  I am not a doctor, but I’ve been surrounded by medical professionals since my youth, beginning with my mom, who was not only an RN, but Head Nurse at two different hospitals. I’ve also been involved with science for a long time.

  I’ll be brief, making just five primary points. But we’ve been losing science and we’ve been losing medicine; that is flatly unacceptable.

  #1: Science is not consensus. 

  Ten, one hundred, or a million people, all draped in lab coats and saying the same thing, does NOT make it so. In fact, it matters not at all. It’s nothing but theater, and it’s anti-science.

  All science is, really, is a process of testing ideas; it is not an organization, it is not based upon authority (it’s inherently anti-authority), and it is very certainly not allied with power. All that matters in science are verifiable results.

  #2: Medicine stands apart from, and above, politics. 

  Medicine is the application of science to the furtherance of human health. Politics is the use of persuasion and power to rule masses of humans. These are fully separate disciplines. To place politics over medicine is to subjugate and degrade medicine: it’s a path backwards into darkness.

  I’ll leave details on this point to working medical practitioners, who can provide them with far greater specificity than I can… provided they’re not too frightened to do so.

  #3: Peer review no longer means much. 

  Again I won’t go into great detail, but peer review has been captured by academic hierarchies and almost fully separated from science proper. It has become a tool of institutional power, wielded by academics who have sold out science for the favors of power and politics.

  At one time, “peer review” referred to the honest replication of experiments. That time is past.

  #4: Medicine and science have nothing to do with social pressure. 

  Once “medicine” and “science” are mixed with social pressure, they are no longer science or medicine.

  At that point they are instruments of thuggery, and nothing more.

  #5: If you don’t read multiple scientific papers, especially from rebels and cast-outs, you simply don’t know. 

  You can pretend you know, of course, and you can be sure that agents of the status quo will provide you with passable reasons to repeat their slogans, but you won’t actually know.

  What you see on TV is propaganda. What you see on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is pre-censored. If you want to really know, you’ll have to find the scientific papers that address your question… and you’ll need papers that are rejected by televised authorities. If you don’t, all you’ll have are pre-censored conclusions, the underlying facts of which may or may not be reliable.

  At this point, if you don’t include “conspiracy theory” research, you’re more or less stuck with Orwell’s Ministry of Truth. Sad but mostly true.

  The Problem Is Emotional Weakness

  The problem underlying all of this is not intellectual strength, it’s emotional strength. It’s not that people are stupid, it’s that they haven’t the strength to face unauthorized truth:

  • Having been trained in submission to authority, to then speak against an authority is terrifying. And so people find ways to ignore truth (which has no backing but itself) and to sanctify authority, which is backed by everything from shame to guns.

  • The fear of appearing stupid – of being publicly exposed as stupid – can be overwhelming. And with “important” people tearing up anyone not in lockstep with them, defiance seems too expensive.

  • Power being wrong calls too much into question. If the high and mighty can be publicly wrong, repeatedly and adamantly, what can’t be called into question? And if everything can be questioned, one must face the world alone.

  • Once people act upon fear, they can either turn against it and admit their error, or they can defend their errors at length. And if the people who thrive on those fears maintain a stream of frights and slogans… anyone on “the other side” becomes a heretic, to be hunted down and forced to submit.

  None of these things have any connection to truth, only to power and intimidation. And that is anti-science, no matter how much it masquerades as science.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 21:30

• Reporter Urges Aussies To Get Vaccinated Despite Suffering Rare Heart Inflammation Caused By Pfizer Jab
  Reporter Urges Aussies To Get Vaccinated Despite Suffering Rare Heart Inflammation Caused By Pfizer Jab

  An Australian TV reporter is suffering from one of the exceedingly rare (according to the CDC) side effects attributed to mRNA COVID jabs produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Denham Hitchcock, a reporter with Seven News, is suffering from a heart condition called pericarditis, which has been linked to the mRNA jabs – the FDA has even included a warning about the side effects with the Pfizer jab, which only just received full approval from the agency on Monday.

  

  For those who aren’t familiar with it, pericarditis involves inflammation of a sac-like tissue that surrounds the heart and holds it in place and helps it function. Hitchcock claims the condition was caused by his first shot of the Pfizer vaccine, and called on the government to “keep your damn promise” on opening up the world.

  But despite experiencing the severe side effect, the investigative journalist is still recommending that all Australians to get the vaccine so Australia can reopen its internal (and external) borders.

  “I’ve battled over whether to send this post from hospital or not. But decided after 27 years of being a journalist who’s primary goal is to discover the truth – it would be hypocritical not to,” he wrote on Instagram. I’m NOT anti-vax. But I’m really not pro-vax either. I’m pro-choice – and pro-information to make that choice. Probably a little late to hospital – but here I am – diagnosed with pericarditis – or inflammation of the heart due to the Pfizer vaccine.”

  Hitchcock made the post from his hospital bed in Gold Coast University Hospital on Thursday morning, roughly 25 days after he received his first shot.

  He said at first he was experiencing a racing heart, pins and needles, and dizziness, but continued on thinking they were normal side effects.

  Even after three weeks, he is still suffering from severe symptoms, including sharp chest pain, chills, and the dizziness, which have become extreme. Hitchcock  said in a post that this condition hasn’t gotten enough attention.

  “‘Since being here I’ve contacted health professionals I know in Sydney and while It’s rare – it’s certainly not isolated,” he said. “One hospital has had well over a dozen cases like me.”

  Pericarditis and myocarditis have been observed in an extremely small number of people after they receiving mRNA vaccines, of which Pfizer is one, according to data from the CDC that we have shared in the past.

  After experiencing “acute chest pain” a group of soldiers were found to have exhibited the reaction, which we first reported on weeks ago.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 21:00

• Ruling Class Increasingly Calls Upon The Private Sector To Make Lives Of The "Unvaccinated" Difficult
  Ruling Class Increasingly Calls Upon The Private Sector To Make Lives Of The “Unvaccinated” Difficult

  Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

  Is anyone sick of being ruled and owned yet? The ruling class is not letting up and increasingly calling upon businesses in the private sector to help them roll out the permanent slave state.

  

  They aren’t even trying to hide the fact that they want to own us, our bodies, and our minds at this point. Gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe is just one of the tyrants calling on businesses to mandate Covid-19 vaccines after promoting efforts to make the lives of those who are unvaccinated more “difficult.” Joe Biden has already tried this play right out of the slave owner’s handbook:

  The Ruling Class Urges Businesses To Mandate COVID Vaccines For Employment

  It’s like these rulers know they cannot do this alone.  The slaves have to help them and sadly, all too many are all too ready to help make this planet a permanent prison. This only gets worse though as more people start to figure out what’s really going on.

  McAuliffe called on “every Virginia employer” this week to mandate Covid-19 vaccines among all “eligible employees,” according to a report by RT.  

  “I have long said that the best way to defeat this deadly virus, keep our students in school and keep Virginia’s economy strong is by getting every eligible Virginian vaccinated as quickly as possible,” McAuliffe said in a public statement announcement, which followed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially approving their first Covid-19 vaccine, a Pfizer-BioNTech two-dose vaccine, on Monday. –RT

  So now, private businesses are going to do the bidding of the state making sure some slaves get at least a little control over some of the other slaves.

  It’s still insanity to think that any business is still around after mandating people get injected with an experimental gene therapy drug that the manufacturers of face no liability whatsoever even if that drug kills them. Who owns you if you have no say as to what goes in your body? The ruling class has admitted they can’t force these shots on people…yet, but they can make their lives as slaves a living hell.

  “Make it hard for people to get on planes or go to movie theaters,” he said at a Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Las Vegas.  Acknowledging that you can’t “force” vaccines by law, McAuliffe – recently endorsed by anti-Trump ‘Republican’ Bill Kristol – called on private businesses to be the ones to punish those who refuse to get inoculated. –RT

  But when have the rulers, who make the law ever cared about following it anyway? Laws are for the slaves, not those who own slaves.

  “We can’t force them. We’re not going door to door, but you make life difficult,” he said. 

  “If you’re going to come to the HIMSS conference, you got to be vaccinated.”

  This Twitter user summed it up perfectly:

  The cruelty is the point. https://t.co/5sjyADjxtu

  — Karol Markowicz (@karol) August 24, 2021

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

  They want us to know they think they own us and many are still too far entrenched in the left vs. right paradigm lie to see it. It’s the ruling class against everyone else. Time to wake up and apply the critical thinking we have been honing for the past year and a half. This is only the beginning in many ways.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 20:30

• 24 Year Old Rape Victim In India Lights Herself On Fire After Alleging She Was Harassed By Police
  24 Year Old Rape Victim In India Lights Herself On Fire After Alleging She Was Harassed By Police

  A 24 year old Indian woman who alleged she was harassed by police “at the behest of an MP she had accused of rape” died this week after setting herself on fire. 

  The incident has caught the eye of the country, renewing criticism of how women are treated in India, according to a BBC report. 

  The woman did a Facebook live event on August 16 before her and a male friend poured gas on themselves and lit themselves on fire. They were both taken to the hospital with severe burns and both eventually died. 

  They had both traveled from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh to the capital, Delhi, to try and raise attention to their cause.

  The woman had formerly accused an MP from the regional Bahujan Samaj Party of raping her at her home. She filed a police report against him in May 2019 and he denied the accusation. He was subsequently arrested, however, and has been in jail for the past two years.

  

  The MP’s brother then struck back, filing a police report accusing the woman of fabricating the report. The report notes that “shoddy implementation of laws, especially in cases where the accused are influential men with money or political power, mean many victims fail to find justice.”

  In her livestream, she accused the MP of using his influence to harass her for speaking out. 

  She said in the video: “We have reached the destination they wanted us at. They made efforts for the past year and a half to push us to this point.”

  Her friend adds: “The authorities have been forcing us since November 2020 to die. We want all of you, the citizens of Uttar Pradesh and the country, to hear this. The step we are going to take is painful and frightening. We are also a little scared, but this fear is meaningless.”

  The BBC notes that at times on the video “her voice breaks or he chokes and their desperation is heartbreaking”. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 20:05

• New Report Finds US Has Spent Over $2.3 Trillion On Afghanistan War
  New Report Finds US Has Spent Over $2.3 Trillion On Afghanistan War

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  Brown University’s Costs of War project released an updated report Wednesday on US spending for the war in Afghanistan. The report found that since the 2001 invasion, Washington has sunk over $2.3 trillion into the war.

  The spending includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and is broken down into five categories. The biggest chunk is the Defense Department’s budget for the war, which is just over $1 trillion. The State Department’s war budget adds another $60 billion. War-related Increases to the Pentagon budget account for $433 billion.

  Estimated interest payments on war borrowing accounts for $532 billion, and spending on care for veterans of the war adds up to $233 billion. Costs of War did not account for future interest payments or future spending on lifelong care for veterans, so the total will still increase even after the US completes its military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

  

  Costs of War released its last Afghanistan update in April 2021. At the time, the project estimated the war cost $2.26 trillion. The project also tracks casualties of the war. As of April, Costs of War estimates up to 241,000 people were killed in the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

  Out of the 241,000 people killed, 71,344 were civilians, including 47,245 in Afghanistan and 24,099 in Pakistan. The numbers do not account for indirect deaths due to conditions caused by the war, like loss of access to food, disease, or infrastructure damage.

  The Taliban take over of Afghanistan and the swift collapse of the US-backed government shows that the massive amount of spending was for nothing, except to line the pockets of US defense contractors.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 19:40

• China Slams "Tool Of United States" Canada After Huawei CFO Hits 1000th Day Of "Unreasonable Detention"
  China Slams “Tool Of United States” Canada After Huawei CFO Hits 1000th Day Of “Unreasonable Detention”

  Just days after China upheld the death sentence for a Canadian national while sentencing another to a lengthy prison term, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry again complained that Canada is subjecting Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou (the daughter of the company’s billionaire founder) to “unreasonable detention” as Thursday marks her 1000th day in custody in British Columbia as she continues to wait for the results of her extradition hearing (the DoJ is demanding she be handed over to the US for prosecution related to alleged violations of international sanctions against Iran).

  Meng has been under house arrest for most of this period, leaving her and her family to bear the costs of her incarceration. 

  

  According to RT, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin noted the unfortunate anniversary in remarks to reporters and reiterated Beijing’s demand that the US drop the case against Meng (something President Trump memorably suggesting could be used as a bargaining chip during contentious trade negotiations with China.

  He also slammed Canada for doing the US’s dirty work, and asked that Canada stop being an accomplish to the political persecution of a Chinese citizen. Put another way, Wang slammed Canada for acting like the US’s b*tch. “Canada is nothing but a tool for the United States to exploit, suppress dissidents, and seek personal gain. There is no fairness and legitimacy,” he said.

  He continued, asking rhetorically “does the Canadian side still have a view of right and wrong” now that Meng’s “unreasonable detention” has reached its 1000th, day?

  The spokesman again claimed that the US’s primary motive for arresting Meng was to deliberately suppress Chinese companies and “retain American hegemony in the technology space.”

  He continued by saying that Beijing will never give in to any forms of political coercion or abuse of justice, adding that the Chinese people are firm believers in upholding the rule of law and are not afraid of other countries.

  Meng, who owns a swanky home in Vancouver, was detained in December 2018 after arriving at the Vancouver Airport while on her way to Mexico City. Last week, a two-and-a-half-year legal process leading up to the official extradition hearing came to an end, leaving Meng’s fate in the hands of a Canadian judge. .

  Whether he will take China’s threats into account in his judgment remains to be seen, but most believe it’s likely Meng’s extradition will be approved, leaving her to be handed over to the US, where she very likely will be imprisoned without bail due to her status as a flight risk.

  Of course, if she can somehow make it to a Chinese consulate, or embassy, she would be home free.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 19:15

• Tropical Storm Ida Could Rapidly Strengthen Into "Major Hurricane"
  Tropical Storm Ida Could Rapidly Strengthen Into “Major Hurricane”

  Update (1908ET): Tropical Depression Nine has strengthened into Tropical Storm Ida late Thursday afternoon and is expected to become a major hurricane once it reaches the US Gulf Coast late weekend or Monday, according to the National Hurricane Service (NHC). 

  Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft flew into the storm late afternoon and determined “that the depression has strengthened to Tropical Storm Ida,” NHC said. As of the 1720 ET update, the storm has maximum sustained winds of around 40 mph. 

  520 PM EDT Update: Air Force hurricane hunters find depression has strengthened into Tropical Storm #Ida. https://t.co/4LIsgbp8uT pic.twitter.com/WkPVKhOmKd

  — National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 26, 2021

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

  In a 1700 ET update, NHC said: “portions of the northern Gulf coast, especially along the coast of Louisiana,” could be swamped with “life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds, and heavy rainfall” when the storm makes landfall some time late Sunday or Monday. 

  

  Ahead of the storm, energy companies are evacuating their workers from oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Bristol Group has been using helicopters for the last few days to retrieve workers from natgas platforms.

  Statistically speaking, we should remind readers that the busiest part of the Atlantic hurricane season is already underway, as the tropics are awakening. 

  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasters recently bumped up their forecast to 21 named storms this season. 

  * * * 

  AccuWeather forecasters released a weather note Thursday about a tropical disturbance in the Caribbean Sea that has strengthened into Tropical Depression Nine and could become a major hurricane, possibly striking the US Gulf Coast Sunday/Monday. 

  The forecasters warned the storm could strike parts of the central Gulf Coast as a major hurricane (Category 3 or stronger) on Sunday evening or Monday. 

  We published a weather note on Wednesday outlining the same system to strengthen and landfall risks from Texas to Louisiana next week. 

  Fox 8 Meteorologist Zack Fradella told residents of South Louisiana to prepare for a major hurricane:

  “We have seen this before. Expect a Cat 3 at the very least,” he tweeted.

  On Thursday morning, the depression was moving at 13 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, and was approximately 115 miles south-southwest of Negril, Jamaica. The storm is expected to rapidly strengthen over the coming days when it takes a path over the central Gulf of Mexico. 

  “The sooner the system strengthens, the more likely it is to take a northwesterly track into the central Gulf of Mexico, rather than a westward track across Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and into the southwestern Gulf,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Rob Miller explained.

  AccuWeather forecasters say the cone of uncertainty points to landfall from Texas to Louisiana to Mississippi and even Alabama. Across these areas are petroleum assets on land and offshore. 

  

  Meteorologist Phil Klotzbach from Colorado State University tweeted Tropical Depression 9 is similar to Hurricane Michael in 2018 and Hurricane Laura in 2020, both slammed US Gulf Coast states. 

  Tropical Depression 9 has formed in the western Caribbean. The next name on the National #Hurricane Center’s list for the 2021 Atlantic season is Ida. The long-term (1991-2020) average 9th Atlantic named storm formation date is 15 September. pic.twitter.com/jm1CeA0Bhk

  — Philip Klotzbach (@philklotzbach) August 26, 2021

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

  The next named storms of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season will be Ida, Julian, and Kate. Readers should continue to monitor the storm through the weekend for updates on the landfall area. 

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 19:08

• Florida Surpasses 10,000 Monoclonal Antibody Treatments
  Florida Surpasses 10,000 Monoclonal Antibody Treatments

  Authored by Jannis Falkenstern via The Epoch Times,

  The state of Florida has administrered more than 10,000 doses of the monoclonal antibodies treatment at state-sponsored sites since since Florida began rolling out the program two weeks ago, the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) told The Epoch Times.

  

  Demand for the treatment is high and is expected to go higher as word gets out and new sites are continuing to open throughout the state, Christina Pushaw, the governor’s press secretary, said.

  The 10,000 doses administered at state-sponsored sites do not include treatment administrered at infusion centers at clinics and hospitals around the state.

  Baptist Health South Florida’s Dr. Oscar Hernandez says he refers five to six patients for the treatment every day.

  “The state is doing their part,” Hernandez said. “Doctors need to be more proactive in recommending the monoclonals to high-risk patients who test positive for COVID-19.”

  He said people need to know their options after they test positive for COVID-19. He recommends a fact sheet be distributed to patients at drive-through testing sites.

  COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

  Fauci Touts Effectiveness of Monoclonal Antibodies

  Tuesday, the White House Chief Medical Adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci touted the effectiveness of Monoclonal Antibodies. He estimatesd that the treatment could reduce hospitalization by up to 85 percent. Fauci encouraged anyone with suppressed immune systems as well as other mitigating factors take advantage of the treatment.

  “Bottom line is this is a very effective intervention for COVID-19. It is underutilized, and we recommend strongly that we utilize this to its fullest,” Fauci said at the press conference on Tuesday.

  Flagler County Health Department Administrator, Bob Snyder received his COVID-19 vaccine in January 2021, but because of an underlying health condition contracted COVID-19 about six weeks ago.

  Initially, he did not know what was wrong because the symptoms were so mild, he thought he was just “run down” from his busy work life.

  “It was sunny and 95 degrees and I’m freezing,” Snyder said. “I thought to myself, I’ve got to go to bed.”

  Snyder said it occurred to him that he may be one of the breakout cases he had read about and went to the local pharmacy and bought an in-home COVID-19 test. It was positive. That prompted Snyder to call a colleague who is a doctor. The doctor had two words for him: Monoclonal Antibodies.

  “I went to my local emergency room, and they gave me the Monoclonals by IV,” he said.

  “Within 24 hours I was 50 percent back to normal and by 72 hours I was 100 percent back.”

  Florida Resident Feels Blessed to Have Access to Treatment

  Broward County resident Renee Post sends her 70-year-old mother to a skilled nursing facility during the day while she works. The facility tested residents for COVID-19 every 36 hours.

  “I was picking my mother up from the skilled nursing facility and they wouldn’t let us leave until after my mother tested negative for COVID,” Post said.

  “Then the nurse came running out to my car and told us we couldn’t leave because my mom had tested positive for COVID.”

  Post said she recalled seeing a news report on the monoclonal antibodies and knew what she needed to do.

  “I had her transported to Broward Health and they were well organized and took her right away and in two hours she walked out,” she said.

  Post said that her mother had the “sniffles” the next day but otherwise you could not tell she had even been sick. Post said her mother is obese and suffers from a “myriad of health problems.”

  “She would have been another statistic if I had not taken her and known about the monoclonals,” she said.

  “I feel so blessed to have had access to this treatment for her and I know if we had waited, we would’ve had a different outcome.”

  Post said her mother was unvaccinated because her mother had a urinary tract infection and other underlying conditions.

  Post said she works primarily from home but has coworkers internationally who have been affected by the virus.

  “I see what it [the virus] can do,” she said. “I have lost 22 co-workers in India.”

  If she were to contract COVID-19, Post said she will seek the treatment for herself because she sees “what a miracle” the treatment is.

  This week DeSantis is opening more treatment sites, inckuding one at The Villages, a retirement community in central Florida.

  Pushaw, the governor’s press secretary, said of the 10,000 treatment landmark: “If even 50 percent of those people were saved from needing hospitalization, that is 5,000 patients who would otherwise have been hospitalized—a huge number, almost a third of our total COVID hospital census… This rollout is definitely saving lives.”

  The monoclonal antibodies can prevent hospitalization or death in high-risk patients with COVID-19 and is widely available in Florida. Individuals 12 years and older, who are high-risk and have contracted or been exposed to COVID-19, are eligible for this treatment. Treatment is free and vaccination status does not matter.

  Similarly in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott set up sites around the state beginning November 2020 and used Bamlanivimab, the Eli Lilly & Company monoclonal antibody therapy. It was the first to garner FDA approval followed by Regeneron.

  When former President Donald Trump made a full recovery from COVID-19 after using monoclonals, he instructed the federal government to buy hundreds of thousands of doses of the two monoclonal treatment drugs and allocate supplies to the states, which would in turn determine distribution to hospitals and healthcare facilities. The doses were allocated to states and U.S. territories based on their share of hospitalized and infected patients.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 18:50

• SoftBank Hires Former Mossad Director As Vision Fund Looks To Expand Investment In Israeli Cybersecurity Names
  SoftBank Hires Former Mossad Director As Vision Fund Looks To Expand Investment In Israeli Cybersecurity Names

  As SoftBank’s Vision Fund considers investing further in Israel’s cybersecurity startups, the investment bank has hired a former Mossad Chief to help as an advisor.

  SoftBank hired Yossi Cohen, former director of the Mossad, as an advisor, Nikkei reported this week. The bank is “counting on Cohen’s extensive connections cultivated through his years leading the intelligence agency to identify promising technology companies”.

  Many of Israel’s new cybersecurity startups have ties to former military members.

  

  The turn toward Israel comes after many holdings in Chinese listed companies for the Vision Fund have plunged amidst a historic regulatory crackdown by the Chinese Communist Party.  

  The Tokyo based SoftBank also hopes to leverage Cohen’s experience in the Middle East as it seeks out more investors. 

  The fund has already started investing in Israel, investing in IoT startup Wiliot, who makes sensor tags that ” run on radio frequency energy from their surroundings instead of batteries”. The product has already been shipped for use in sectors like pharmaceuticals and retail logistics, the report notes.

  Another company to garner investment from the Vision Fund is AnyVision, which develops AI based facial recognition technology. 

  Wiliot raised $200 million from SoftBank and AnyVision raised $235 million.

  

  The Vision Fund has also considered buying an investment in eToro when it goes public on the NASDAQ this year via SPAC. 

  The fund is coming off of a major $4 billion paper loss on its investment in Chinese ride sharing company Didi after the Chinese government opened regulatory probes into the name just days after its U.S. listed initial public offering. 

  Israel has become a hotbed of new startup cybersecurity companies launched by former military members. The country’s dive into auto technology, with companies like Mobileye, has also spurred investment from automakers.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 18:30

• "Who Watches The Watchmen?" Infowars Case Raises Difficult Question For Both The Biden Admin & The Media
  “Who Watches The Watchmen?” Infowars Case Raises Difficult Question For Both The Biden Admin & The Media

  Authored by Jonathan Turley,

  “Who watches the watchmen”?

  

  That question from a federal judge this week came in a confrontation with the Justice Department over its targeting or charging journalists.

  At issue is the prosecution of a controversial host of a far-right website called Infowars.

  Owen Shroyer was charged with trespass and disorderly conduct during the Jan. 6th riot.

  

  However, Shroyer claims to have been present as a journalist while the Justice Department insists that he is an activist. When U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui asked for the basis of that distinction, the Biden Administration refused. The conflict exposes the problem with new regulations protecting journalists without clearly defining who is a journalist.

  Recently, news reports of the Biden Administration targeting journalists in criminal investigations led to congressional hearings and a new policy that Attorney General Merrick Garland promised would protect the journalists in the future. I testified before the House Judiciary Committee on how this was just the latest in such controversies extending from the Clinton to the Biden Administrations. As I wrote on these pages at the time, the most glaring flaw is the continued failure to define who is a journalist. Without such a definition, the new reform is as worthless as the long litany of prior reforms.

  Shroyer was arrested on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds. Prosecutors also alleged that he violated an agreement not to engage in such conduct after he was removed from a 2019 impeachment hearing for heckling a Democratic lawmaker. Shroyer was openly advocating for the protest and the underlying view that the election was stolen. He marched with a crowd toward the Capitol shouting, “We aren’t going to accept it!” However, he insists that he entered the Capitol to report on the events for Infowars.

  Under the Justice Department guidelines, the attorney general must approve the investigation or charging of a member of the news media with a crime. That led Judge Faruqui to ask the obvious question of whether the guidelines were followed or whether the Biden Administration simply refused to recognize Shroyer’s claim of journalistic status. The judge noted that “The events of January 6th were an attack on the foundation of our democracy. But this does not relieve the Department of Justice from following its own guidelines, written to preserve the very same democracy.”

  The Justice Department however simply defied the court and said the regulations were “scrupulously followed,” but refused to explain how the guidelines were satisfied. John Crabb, head of the Criminal Division of the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C., wrote “[s]uch inquiries could risk impeding frank and thoughtful internal deliberations within the Department about how best to ensure compliance with these enhanced protections for Members of the News Media.”

  Faruqi was not satisfied by such refusals and noted “the Department of Justice appears to believe that it is the sole enforcer of its regulations. That leaves the court to wonder who watches the watchmen.”

  The court’s inquiry highlighted the fact that the earlier pledge is worthless without some ability to review such decisions and, most importantly, some definition of those protected by it.

  It is not just the Justice Department that is discomforted by the question. The media itself is equally uneasy. As with the status of Julian Assange, the media would prefer not to address the distinction between Shroyer and other advocates in the media.

  Newspapers like the New York Times have rallied around journalists like Nikole Hanna-Jones who have declared “all journalism is advocacy.”  She is now going to teach journalism at Howard University and other academics are encouraging the abandonment of traditional views of objectively and neutrality in the media. Stanford journalism professor, Ted Glasser, insisted that journalism needed to “free itself from this notion of objectivity to develop a sense of social justice.” He rejected the notion that the journalism is based on objectivity and said that he views “journalists as activists because journalism at its best — and indeed history at its best — is all about morality.”  Thus, “journalists need to be overt and candid advocates for social justice, and it’s hard to do that under the constraints of objectivity.”

  Once you discard objectivity, the rest is easy. Schroyer was an “overt and candid advocate” but he was not deemed an “advocate for social justice.”  Thus, advocacy on sites like Infowars or Fox News is not real journalism, because it is false or “disinformation” while advocacy on sites like the Daily Kos or CNN is based on truth.

  Reporters not only now define what is true but can actively protest against those with opposing views. Recently, National Public Radio made it official and said that, for the first time, its journalists will be allowed to actively participate in protests. However, NPR will pick the causes that journalists can openly join. The rule allows reporters to become protesters for causes that support “the freedom and dignity of human beings, the rights of a free and independent press, the right to thrive in society without facing discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, disability, or religion.” Two examples of worthy causes offered by NPR are Black Lives Matter protests and Gay pride protests.  It is doubtful that NPR would view pro-life or pro-police protests to fit that vague definition. Like the Justice Department, it reserves to itself to state which causes are worthy and which are unworthy.

  Advocacy in the media is now rampant. Indeed, the White House regularly promotes the views of media figures like MSNBC’s Joy Reid and the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin who have been long criticized for their blind advocacy of pro-Democratic and anti-Republican causes. They would likely be protected under the Justice Department rules. Even when they are proven false in their assertions, they are treated as media advocates for the truth.

  Advocacy reporting is the new touchstone of the journalistically woke . . . unless, that advocacy is for conservative causes or groups. I do not agree with Shroyer any more than I agree with Reid. However, they are both engaged in what is now celebrated as advocacy journalism. It is bad enough to witness the demise of traditional journalism but the Shroyer case may foreshadow an even worse future where only certain forms of advocacy will be allowed. As with NPR, what is being advocated will determine who is still a journalist. That will bring the movement of advocacy journalism to its inevitable end, leaving only advocacy in the wake of journalism.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 18:10

• Biden Delivers Surreal Press Conference, Vows To Hunt Down Isis, Blames Trump
  Biden Delivers Surreal Press Conference, Vows To Hunt Down Isis, Blames Trump

  President Biden on Thursday vowed to “hunt down” the terrorists responsible for a spate of deadly bombings at the Kabul airport which left 12 US servicemembers dead and 15 wounded.

  

  “Know this; We will not forgive. We will not forget. We. will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said.

  In a surreal press conference that included bible quotes, a moment of silence, and blaming President Trump, Biden said he was open to sending US forces back into Afghanistan to assist with the withdrawal.

  “Whatever they need, if they need additional force, I will grant it,” he said, adding that the US military can target ISIS-K without “large scale military operations.”

  BIDEN: “To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: we will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.” pic.twitter.com/hVICiOBpN0

  — Benny (@bennyjohnson) August 26, 2021

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  Biden said he was in near ‘constant’ communication with military commanders via letter, and that he’d asked them to draw up plans to retaliate against the terrorist group (via carrier pigeon?).

  Of note, after reading his speech on the teleprompter, Biden said out loud “The first person I was instructed to call upon…” before taking questions.

  NOW – Biden: “The first person I was instructed to call on…”pic.twitter.com/eQszACiBLL

  — Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) August 26, 2021

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

  “They gave me a list here. The first person I was instructed to call on…”

  Amazing. And everyone goes along with this.

  — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 26, 2021

  Trump also said he ‘bears responsibility for all that’s happened,’ before turning around and blaming Trump for the deal he ‘inherited.’ 

  JOE: “I bear responsibility for all that’s happened”

  *** Blames Trump moments later ***

  — Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) August 26, 2021

  He then gave Trump credit for the only reason there was relative peace in Afghanistan until now.

  Biden just admitted that the only reason there was relative peace in Afghanistan before he came along was because of President Trump.

  I’m sure that wasn’t on the teleprompter. pic.twitter.com/NEa35RfEbO

  — Amy Tarkanian (@MrsT106) August 26, 2021

  Then, towards the end of the presser, Biden said “I have another meeting, for real” – implying other ‘meetings’ haven’t been?

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

  “Yes I do” stand by decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan, Biden says.

  He cuts reporters short saying, “I have another meeting, for real.” pic.twitter.com/muiMtBkuDI

  — Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) August 26, 2021

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

  Watch the full press conference below:

  *  *  *

  *BIDEN: AMERICA WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED

  *BIDEN SAYS U.S. WILL HUNT DOWN THOSE BEHIND KABUL ATTACKS

  *BIDEN: ORDERS PLANS TO ATTACK ISIS LEADERSHIP, FACILITIES

  Watch: President Biden speaks following a series of deadly bombings outside of the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, in what the Washington Free Beacon notes is the deadliest day in Afghanistan for US troops in six years.

  *  *  *

  Summary:

  • New blasts rock Kabul
  • ISIS claims responsibility
  • Third explosion rocks Kabul
  • At least 11 US Marines, Navy Medic dead; Death toll exceeds 70
  • New threat reported at North Gate of airport
  • US officials report multiple US, civilian casualties
  • Suicide bomb explodes at Kabul airport gate, second explosion reported as car bomb
  • Taliban warned of potential terrorist threat
  • US State Dept warned Americans to “leave immediately” due to imminent threat

  Update (1546ET): A “very strong” new blast has been reported in Kabul – which the Taliban reports were due to US forces inside the Kabul airport ‘destroying their belongings.’

  BREAKING: Taliban spokesperson: “Several explosions were heard in Kabul in the evening. The blasts were carried out by US forces inside Kabul airport to destroy their belongings. Kabul residents are not worried.”

  — Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) August 26, 2021

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  Another big blast just reported in #Kabul, this one “very strong” says person who heard it. #Afghanistan #Kabulairport

  — Nawied Jabarkhyl (@NawiedJabarkhyl) August 26, 2021

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  Friends in Kabul hotels, elsewhere are reporting that the blast just heard shook their buildings.

  — Farrukh K. Pitafi (@FarrukhKPitafi) August 26, 2021

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

  Just felt the shockwave of very large explosion in Kabul. The whole house shook. #Afghanistan.

  — Marcus Yam 文火 (@yamphoto) August 26, 2021

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  Journalist Saad Mohseni reports that the most recent blast was a controlled detonation by the US military.

  last blast was a controlled detonation by the US military https://t.co/Yxy416ZJTN

  — Saad Mohseni (@saadmohseni) August 26, 2021

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  Former President Trump has responded in a statement, and sends his ‘deepest condolences to the families of our brilliant and brave Service Members…’ along with Melania.

  BREAKING: Former President Trump has issued a statement on the attacks in Kabul before Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/ox2EzQ4RDL

  — Benny (@bennyjohnson) August 26, 2021

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  *  *  *

  Update (1530ET): ISIS has officially climaed responsibility for the Kabul bombings, according to NBC News’ Evan Kohlmann.

  ISIS: “The attacker was able to reach a distance of no less than five meters from the American forces, who were supervising the procedures for collecting documents from hundreds of translators and contractors in preparation for their evacuation from the country.”

  — Evan Kohlmann (@IntelTweet) August 26, 2021

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

  The ISIS statement accused the Taliban of being “in a partnership” with the U.S. military to evacuate “spies” and boasted that its bomber “managed to penetrate all the security measures imposed by the American forces and the Taliban militia in the capital Kabul.”

  — Evan Kohlmann (@IntelTweet) August 26, 2021

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

  *  *  *

  *12 SERVICE MEMBERS KILLED AND 15 WERE INJURED: MCKENZIE

  *U.S. CONTINUING TO EXECUTE THE MISSION, MCKENZIE SAYS

  *ISIS-K Responsible for Kabul Airport Attack, Marine Corps Gen. McKenzie Says

  *CENTCOM CHIEF MCKENZIE SAYS U.S. PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR KABUL ATTACKS

  * * *

  Update (1433ET):

  At least eleven Marines and a Navy medic are among the dead following Thursday’s deadly blasts outside of the Kabul international airport in Afghanistan, according to Fox News‘ Edward Lawrence. The death toll exceeds 70 as of this update.

  FOX News has learned that the death toll of US Marines has risen to 10 in the suicide attack at the gate of the airport in Kabul. #Afghanistan #Marines

  — Edward Lawrence (@EdwardLawrence) August 26, 2021

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  Meanwhile, two new explosions have just been reported per Al Arabiya, bringing the total number to five.

  Two new explosions just now in #Kabul. https://t.co/8CpXtJ6cLJ

  — The Intel Crab (@IntelCrab) August 26, 2021

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  *  *  *

  Update (1346ET):

  According to ABC News’ James Gordon Meek, there is a new threat of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) at the North Gate of the Kabul airport.

  *** URGENT *** — New threat of VBIED at North Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) in Kabul, US official inside the airport complex tells @ABC following complex IED attack at Abbey gate earlier today.

  — James Gordon Meek (@meekwire) August 26, 2021

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  *  *  *

  Update (1342ET): The Wall Street Journal is reporting that four US Marines are among the dozens killed in Thursday’s attack at the Kabul airport.

  The U.S. ambassador in Kabul has told staff there that four U.S. Marines were killed in an explosion at the city’s airport and three wounded, a U.S. official with knowledge of the briefing said. Two explosions ripped through crowds of Afghans trying to enter the airport on Thursday.

  At least three U.S. troops were injured, a U.S. official said. Witnesses reported multiple fatalities among the Afghans, many of whom were trying to enter the airport because they had assisted U.S.-led coalition efforts and feared persecution by the Taliban. -WSJ

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

  

  The Pentagon is confirming that ‘a number’ of US service members were killed and injured.

  Statement on this morning’s attack at #HKIA: pic.twitter.com/Qb1DIAJQJU

  — John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) August 26, 2021

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  The US State Department will not be holding a briefing today.

  *  *  *

  Update (1246ET): At least 43 have been killed and 130 injured in Thursday’s dual blasts near the Kabul airport. According to NYT reporter Fahim Abed, 60% of the wounded are in critical condition.

  Various #Kabul hospitals data show 43 killed & 130 injured in today’s #KabulAirport attack. Over 50 are critical.

  The death toll may rise.

  To understand the scale of the final number of casualties, see the picture. This is how pack the gates get these days.#Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/fBR1AsYym1

  — Bashir Ahmad Gwakh (@bashirgwakh) August 26, 2021

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  At least 40 dead bodies and 120 wounded transferred to Kabul hospitals, with 60% of wounded in the critical condition. All those killed and wounded are in critical condition.

  — Fahim Abed (@fahimabed) August 26, 2021

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  Taliban Spokesperson:

  “[We] strongly condemns the bombing of civilians in Kabul, which took place in an area where US forces are responsible for security … [We are] paying close attention to the security and protection of its people, and evil circles will be strictly stopped. https://t.co/4xEP65Hnjz

  — Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) August 26, 2021

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  *  *  *

  Update (1145ET):

  According to Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, 52 people have been wounded in both explosions.

  TOLO NEWS: “Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that 52 people had been wounded in two explosions near Kabul airport. He added that the blast also caused casualties, but exact figures are not available.” https://t.co/aw2t46g8a0

  — Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) August 26, 2021

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  US officials believe ‘ISIS-K’ was behind the attack.

  *  *  *

  NEW: Source briefed on the situation in Kabul tells me “hundreds of ISIS-K in the vicinity, attacks likely to continue”

  — Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) August 26, 2021

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  Update (1102ET):

  According to Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby, there have been multiple US and civilian casualties. Kirby also confirmed the second explosion:

  “We can confirm that the explosion at the Abbey Gate was the result of a complex attack that resulted in a number of US & civilian casualties. We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate. We will continue to update.”

  We can confirm that the explosion at the Abbey Gate was the result of a complex attack that resulted in a number of US & civilian casualties. We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate. We will continue to update.

  — John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) August 26, 2021

  According to reports, the Kabul ER says they’re treating more than 30 people, while six died en route to the hospital.

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

  NEW: Video footage shows the immediate aftermath of an explosion near Kabul airport in Afghanistan, with the sound of gunfire heard in the background. pic.twitter.com/rKALbfig2E

  — Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) August 26, 2021

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  NEW: Sky News reporting first explosion near Kabul airport believed to be the work of a suicide bomber; second explosion was a car bomb.

  — Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) August 26, 2021

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  Map of reported bombing site at Kabul Airport pic.twitter.com/0kmk28dflC

  — Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) August 26, 2021

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  Reminder:

  Remember: every example of violence Donald Trump decries has happened on his watch. Under his leadership. During his presidency.

  — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 28, 2020

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  *  *  *

  Update (1040ET): According to Politico, ISIS is responsible for the blast outside the Kabul airport, which set off a firefight at Abbey Gate – where some 5,000 Afghans and possibly some Americans sought access to the airport.

  An ISIS suicide bomber was responsible for the explosion, a U.S. official and a person familiar with the situation told POLITICO.

  The attack occurred just outside Abbey gate, where U.S. personnel until recently welcomed American citizens to board evacuation flights, according to four sources with knowledge of the situation.

  The news comes just hours after defense officials began warning about an increased terrorist threat from the Islamic State’s branch in Afghanistan. Defense officials briefed lawmakers on Tuesday about the new threat targeting airport gates and military commercial aircraft evacuating people from Kabul, POLITICO first reported.

  An ISIS suicide bomber was responsible for the explosion outside the Kabul airport, per a U.S. official and a source.

  This comes just hours after officials began warning about an increased ISIS threat in Afghanistan. https://t.co/WcwyOqOQLL

  — POLITICO (@politico) August 26, 2021

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  US officials have described the suicide bombing as a “complex attack.”

  https://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=6269604567001&w=466&h=263Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

  Graphic:

  #GRAPHIC: Horrific aftermath following terror attack at the Kabul airport. pic.twitter.com/EYm7lN4Hdg

  — Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) August 26, 2021

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jshttps://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=6269604567001&w=466&h=263Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

  *  *  *

  Update (1031ET): Fox News is reporting a second explosion in Kabul near the airport, by a hotel where Americans were gathering for rescue operations.

  FoxNews is now reporting a second explosion at Kabul airport. pic.twitter.com/FszzzZ4cq0

  — For America (@ForAmerica) August 26, 2021

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  Sky News is reporting the death toll at 13, which includes children.

  Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporting the Kabul airport explosion happened in an area where as many as 2,000 people were gathered. https://t.co/OTZDPoBHB9

  — Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) August 26, 2021

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  Sources who spoke with a Sky News correspondent in Afghanistan said the explosion took place near a checkpoint used by British and American forces to screen visa holders and refugees attempting to gain access to Kabul airport.

  — Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) August 26, 2021

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  *  *  *

  Update (1022ET): Bloomberg reports that at least three US troops have been injured, per US officials.

  Meanwhile, the UK government has issued a statement, writing “We are working urgently to establish what has happened and its impact on the ongoing evacuation effort.”

  #UK government statement on #Kabul incident: pic.twitter.com/guIbHXbhl2

  — Barzan Sadiq (@BarzanSadiq) August 26, 2021

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  Meanwhile, the US State Department has issued a warning to Americans not to travel to the airport, “and avoid airport gates at this time.”

  Security alert from US Embassy Kabul pic.twitter.com/asgLkugLj0

  — Dion Nissenbaum (@DionNissenbaum) August 26, 2021

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  *  *  *

  Update (1010ET): According to reports from Reuters, there have been at least three casualties in the explosion which appears to have happened near Baron Hotel across from Kabul airport (the hotel is largely by Brits). WSJ reporter Dion Nussenbaum adds that Marines have been injured but details remain scant.

  US sources say US Marines have been injured in the Kabul explosion, but details are still scant.

  — Dion Nissenbaum (@DionNissenbaum) August 26, 2021

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

  https://t.co/CTqxwBpIYn this image is circulating social media and news accounts, it is old and is not related to todays incident. pic.twitter.com/2zQCdk9TIQ

  — Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) August 26, 2021

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  And here is ABC News’ Martha Raddatz with the painfully obvious:

  “This is truly a nightmare scenario,” @MarthaRaddatz says amid explosion outside Kabul airport.

  LIVE UPDATES: https://t.co/7t8TzSjR42 pic.twitter.com/HRjAn1sVBn

  — ABC News (@ABC) August 26, 2021

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  And the moment of the explosion:

  

  * * *

  Update (0945ET): It appears, for once, the intelligence agencies were right (or Taliban warnings that is). The Pentagon has just confirmed…

  We can confirm an explosion outside Kabul airport. Casualties are unclear at this time. We will provide additional details when we can.

  — John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) August 26, 2021

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  …that there has been a large explosion at Abbey Gate at the Kabul Airport.

  JUST IN: Sources tell @laraseligman, @alexbward and me that there has been a large explosion at Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport.

  — Daniel Lippman (@dlippman) August 26, 2021

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  Local reports also note gunfire is being heard around the airport. Some purported images of the aftermath have been shown on social media (not confirmed)…

  

  

  U.S. official tells Reuters that initial report is that the explosion outside Kabul airport was caused by a suicide bombing.

  

  A heavily injured person outside #Kabul airport. #Tragedy pic.twitter.com/UGN6beoT2Z

  — Barzan Sadiq (@BarzanSadiq) August 26, 2021

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  Who could have seen this coming?

  Explosions to follow https://t.co/EzHAION72h

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 24, 2021

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  Of course, we assume President Biden has a ‘contingency plan’ for this.

  *  *  *

  Update (0745ET): A spokesman for the Taliban has just revealed to the Russian press that the Taliban warned the west about the supposedly “imminent” ISIS threat lurking outside the Kabul airport.

  Here’s more from RT, the outlet that broke the story.

  Zabihullah Mujahid, who holds the office of Information Minister in the Taliban-installed government in Afghanistan, told the Russian media that his organization was the source of the information. The threat was not specific, he said in an interview, but the plan was to provoke chaos and violence at the airport and hurt the Taliban’s reputation.

  “Over the last 20 years we have learned things and changed,” the official said in the interview. “We want to prove that we are not what anti-Taliban propaganda has portrayed us to be. We want to show that to the world.”

  So, we’re just taking the Taliban at their word now? Sounds reasonable enough…

  * * *

  Once again, the US, UK and France are warning that ISIS might carry out an attack – perhaps a suicide bombing – at the Kabul airport to target crowds of departing westerners, and have thus halted evacuations once again on Thursday. This is particularly troubling news for more than 1,000 Americans who have yet to be evacuated, as well as the thousands of Afghans with special immigrant visas who will likely be left behind to face the wrath of the Taliban.

  According to the NYT, several European nations announced on Thursday that they planned to halt their evacuations from Kabul airport following reports of the ISIS threat, despite the looming Aug. 31 deadline (which the Taliban have insisted must be met or the west will face “consequences). President Biden has reportedly been briefed on the matter.

  

  Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark all said they would no longer be able to facilitate airlifts from the Hamid Karzai International Airport, which continues to be surrounded by crowds of thousands of desperate Afghans (and foreigners) struggling to get through. The US embassy warned Americans on Wednesday to “leave immediately,” and stay away from the airport.

  The UK and Australia issued similar warnings, with Australians describing an “ongoing and very high threat of terrorist attack”.

  The warnings came as the last of the estimated 1.5K Americans and countless other foreigners still in Afghanistan scramble to board the last flights out of the country before the US withdrawal is officially complete on Aug. 31. Thousands of Afghan nationals are camped outside the perimeter of the airport in desperate attempts to escape on the last flights out, some with the special visas allowing them to leave.

  Then again, we can’t help but wonder: is this “threat” actually credible? Or merely an excuse for Biden & Co. when they inevitably fail to get everybody out in time.

  A senior U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about confidential assessments, told the NYT that the US is monitoring a “specific” and “credible” ISIS threat. Apparently, ISIS has carried out dozens of attacks in Afghanistan in recent years (and a regional ISIS leader was one of the few prisoners executed by the Taliban following their takeover).

  British armed forces minister James Heappey told the BBC radio that intelligence of a suicide bombing by ISIS had become “much firmer” since the weekend.

  “I can’t stress the desperation of the situation enough. The threat is credible, it is imminent, it is lethal. We wouldn’t be saying this if we weren’t genuinely concerned about offering Islamic State a target that is just unimaginable,” Heappey said.

  Australia also issued a warning for people to stay away from the airport while Belgium ended its evacuation operations because of the danger of attack. The Dutch government also issued a warning and said it expected to carry out its last evacuation flight on Thursday, leaving behind some who are eligible to travel to the Netherlands.

  But despite the warnings, a Western diplomat in Kabul told Reuters that the areas outside the airport gates remained “incredibly crowded”.

  Even the Taliban are reportedly worried about the prospect of an ISIS attack.

  “Our guards are also risking their lives at Kabul airport, they face a threat too from the Islamic State group,” said a Taliban official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

  Civil aviation official Ahmedullah Rafiqzai told Reuters that people continued to crowd around the gates despite the attack warnings because “[p]eople don’t want to move, it’s their determination to leave this country that they are not scared to even die.”

  An attack would put the remaining western forces in Afghanistan in a difficult position, since they’re not exactly prepared to attack or defend anything, or anyone.

  “Western forces, under no circumstances, want to be in a position to launch an offensive or a defensive attack against anyone,” the diplomat added.

  11 days have passed since the Taliban swept into Kabul, and in that time, the US and its allies have mounted one of the biggest air evacuations in history, bringing out more than 88K people, including 19K on Tuesday alone, out of the country. The American military says planes are taking off roughly every 39 minutes on average.

  And as the evacuation winds down, western reporters have continued to report on rumors out of Panjshir, a mountainous district not far from Kabul where the last remnants of Taliban opposition have gathered. The Taliban claim their fighters are working on getting the situation under control, but on Thursday, the Huffington Post published a story about the “National Resistance Front” – a group made up of former Afghan National forces hiding out in the mountains.

  At least 1,000 displaced people are currently hiding in the area. But it’s not clear how many soldiers are there to actually fight the Taliban, which already has 75K fighters.

  The resistance is reportedly being led by Ahmad Massoud, son of the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, the famous guerrilla commander who helped fight off the Soviets.

  Massoud is so brazen, he published an op-ed in the Washington Post last week calling for aid to the mujahideen resisting the Taliban.

  Of course, Americans of a certain age likely remember how well arming the last two rounds of anti-government resistance fighters worked out for the US.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 17:54

• Beijing Claims Its Plans To "Redistribute Wealth" Won't Involve "Killing The Rich"
  Beijing Claims Its Plans To “Redistribute Wealth” Won’t Involve “Killing The Rich”

  Earlier this month, luxury goods stocks tumbled on reports that President Xi planned to shift the focus of a wide-ranging government crackdown on the economy and China’s wealthiest businessmen (like Jack Ma, who briefly disappeared after criticizing China’s regulations for allegedly “stifling innovation”). Instead of cracking down on a different industry, like video games, or private educational products, President Xi and the rest of the CCP’s most-senior leaders said they were planning a good ol’ fashioned “redistribution of wealth” to help “expand the middle class” and get rid of all these pesky billionaires (all of whom succeeded with at least the tacit support of the CCP).

  

  Investors anxiously waiting for more details on the CCP’s plans received another hint on Thursday, when Caixin, a Chinese state-controlled business media outlet, reported that President Xi had “stressed that common prosperity is an essential requirement of socialism” and called for “its advancement” while also “pursuing high-quality development” during the Aug. 17 meeting of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs.

  Caixin also explained how the CCP is already implementing President Xi’s vision for a more egalitarian (financially speaking, at least) society. The recent changes are related to school districts, after-school tutoring, property tax pilot programs and an expansion of anti-trust enforcement and other measures to tackle “reckless capitalism”.

  But for investors worried about the future of China’s economy should President Xi reverse course and adopt more of the failed policies of Chairman Mao Zedong, another Chinese CCP official declared Thursday that this new drive for “common prosperity” doesn’t mean “killing the rich to help the poor” (like the Communists tried to do during the Cultural Revolution).

  China must also “guard against falling into the trap of welfarism,” said Han Wenxiu, an economic regulator-bureaucrat.

  Those who “get rich first” should help those behind, but hard work should be encouraged, he said.

  “We cannot wait for help, rely on others for help, or beg for help. We cannot support layabouts.”

  As Reuters explains (for the socialism-loving Millennials and Zoomers who have no memory of the Communist era), market-economy-based reforms enacted by China four decades ago helped unleashed China’s massive economic capacity and enabled the accumulation of vast personal wealth, with hundreds of billionaires minted in the still avowedly socialist country, deepening inequality, especially between urban and rural areas, but lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty at the same time.

  Because of the rapid growth, China is facing a wealth inequality crisis not unlike the problems of inequality plaguing the US and Europe.

  The high cost of urban living has contributed to a sharp slowdown in births, prompting China this year to allow families to have up to three children instead of two. Still, slowing economic growth and cutthroat competition have also prompted some young urbanites to embrace a passive attitude known as “lying flat”.

  One economist from a European investment bank said corporations would likely take a bigger role as China continues its push for greater equality.

  “More big corporations are going to set up social responsibility funds if they have yet to do so, and the size of donations from them should increase,” Iris Pang, chief economist for Greater China at ING, said in a note this week.

  “Corporates need to take bigger steps to enhance their corporate governance and social responsibility. They need to work to get ahead of the regulators.”

  Certain provinces have also set goals for improving the average annual income for all residents by 2025.

  Circling back to the Caixin report cited above, the lengthy text seeks to explain the “common prosperity” rooted in China’s “top-level design and guiding policies and runs through the country’s economic development trajectory.”

  

  After the Aug. 17 meeting, the CCP leadership decided to take a hands-off approach, leaving each area to decide its own path relevant to its specific conditions.

  It also explained away how China’s focus on efficiency has been a boon for its economy – but now needs to be brought back into balance.

  Looking back at recent history, we can see a change of focus between efficiency and fairness. The absolute fairness in China before 1978 resulted in low efficiency and underdevelopment. Afterward, during the reform and opening up period, efficiency became the priority and a key theme of the time, with due consideration given to fairness. Efficiency relies on incentives. Those who make the pie bigger will get a larger share. The outcome we see today is 40 years of the remarkable economic boom that made China the second-largest economy in the world and its per-capita income has reached the level of upper middle-income countries.

  However, during this process, rural-urban, regional and industrial gaps widened. The Gini coefficient also hit a record high.

  Five factors have contributed to these increased disparities.

  1. Systemic restrictions on the factor market — land, labor, etc. — have led to price distortion for production factors.

  2. The development strategy that favored East China at the beginning of China’s reform and opening-up caused uneven regional capital allocation.

  3. The GDP growth targets and tax-sharing system compelled local authorities to prioritize economic growth over people’s livelihood and capital over labor.

  4. A flawed tax policy limited the effect of income redistribution.

  5. An imperfect financial market failed to provide different income groups with equal access to credit.

  An exploration of the conditions driving inequality quickly reveals that urban populations simply have more economic opportunity.

  

  To correct this, it’s critical to deepen the reform of the income distribution system and correctly handle the relationship between efficiency and equity.

  These changes will start in southeastern China, which is sort of like China’s Atlantic Coast (in the sense that it’s where a large portion of the country’s wealth is concentrated).

  

  Beijing will encourage local authorities to to impose a consumption tax, and other measures, to siphon off more income from the wealthiest residents in the area and use that money to finance more services for more residents.

  Sounds like a ‘worker’s paradise’ to us…

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 17:51

• Labor Shortages: "We May Be Closer To The Brick Wall Than Anticipated"
  Labor Shortages: “We May Be Closer To The Brick Wall Than Anticipated”

  By Philip Marey, senior US strategist at Rabobank

  Labor shortages: temporary or permanent?

  Summary 

  • While Republicans and Democrats are pointing to different causes for the temporary labor shortages, the empirical evidence suggests that both unemployment benefits and child care considerations are playing a role. However, these temporary effects should fade during the course of September.

  • More importantly, a permanent labor shortage is caused by retirement. This means that we should not expect a recovery of the participation rate to pre-COVID levels.

  • As the temporary labor shortages disappear and the permanent labor shortages become visible, the Fed may find there is less slack in the labor market than anticipated. Consequently, the Fed may have to make an additional upward shift in the dot plot in the coming months.

  Introduction

  Although employment is still well below pre-COVID levels (about 5.7 million in July, Figure 1), employers are having a difficult time filling their vacancies. The ratio of unemployed persons to job openings, a measure of labor market looseness, fell to 0.94 in June, comparable to levels in 2018 (Figure 2), when the Fed accelerated the hiking cycle to four hikes in one year, because it mistakenly saw high inflation around the corner This paradox, a shortfall in employment and an apparent labor shortage, has been attributed to a number of factors causing a temporary labor shortage. Three main causes are often being mentioned: the enhanced federal unemployment benefits from the American Rescue Plan, fear of COVID, and lack of child care.

  

  View from the right: Unemployment benefits

  Obviously the first cause is most often mentioned by Republicans, so it should come as no surprise that many red states are withdrawing from the enhanced federal unemployment benefits program. At present, almost half of the states has removed the $300 weekly enhancement. The argument is that due to these enhanced benefits it is more attractive to be unemployed than to accept, or stay in, a job. However, a static comparison between wages and unemployment benefits in a specific month can be misleading. The decision to accept or leave a job requires a longer-term horizon, especially in a depressed labor market. Expected future cashflows as well as the probability of getting a job offer in the future will have to be considered. This may explain why several empirical studies (Bartik et al. 2020, Scott & Finamor, 2020 and Petrosky-Nadeau, 2020) on the $600 unemployment benefit from the CARES Act fail to find any significant impact of enhanced unemployment benefits on job losses or rehiring. A more recent study (Petrosky-Nadeau & Valletta, 2021) does find a “small but likely noticeable” effect: 1 out of 7 job offers would be rejected because of the $300 enhanced unemployment benefits in 2021. On balance, the empirical evidence suggests that the current program of $300 enhanced benefits does make a modest contribution to the labor shortage, but it does not seem to be the only factor. What’s more, this effect should disappear once the benefits expire after September 6. Nevertheless, for states with relatively low unemployment rates it does make sense to opt out of the enhanced federal benefits program.

  View from the left: COVID and child care

  As we shift to the left side of the political spectrum, fear of COVID and lack of child care are increasingly given as explanations for the current labor bottlenecks. As we have pointed out earlier, the Democrats want to make the child tax credit enhancements in the American Rescue Plan permanent. However, their claim seems to be supported by the data. First of all, up to a third of the US workforce has children aged 14 or younger in the household (Dingel et al. 2020). This means that the reopening of schools and daycare centers could be an important bottleneck for labor supply. Especially, the participation of women in the labor market could be severely affected. In fact, there is empirical evidence (Lofton et al., 2020) that the labor supply of mothers was less depressed in states that reported less disruption to schooling. Meanwhile, it appears that businesses are reopening at a faster pace than schools. By the end of this past school year, only 53% of schools had fully reopened for in-person instruction (Ferren, 2021).

  Taking the views from the right and the left together, there is empirical evidence there is a temporary labor shortage caused by the phase of the COVID crisis and fiscal policy. Consequently, once COVID subsides, schools have reopened and enhanced federal benefits have expired, labor supply is likely to rebound and we should be back to an overall looser labor market, apart from scarcity in certain specific occupations.

  Structural decline in participation?

  However, while part of the decline in labor participation (Figure 3) can be explained by child care considerations, fear of COVID and enhanced unemployment benefits, there is also a more permanent factor reducing participation: retirement. According to calculations made by the Dallas Fed (Kaplan et al. 2021) a few months ago, in addition to 4.1 million joining the unemployed since February 2020 there were 4.4 million not currently actively looking for work: 1.3 million because of caregiving and 2.6 million because of retirement. The caregivers may largely return when schools reopen, but how many retirees will return to the labor market? After all, it appears that many already delayed retirement during the tight labor market of 2018-2019. These figures suggest that retirement is playing a larger role than child care, which also means that the permanent decline in participation may be larger than many are now thinking.

  

  False sense of slack

  This also means that adjusting unemployment rates for lost participation is misleading. For example, Powell (February 10, 2021) has been referring to an alternative unemployment rate – based on the pre-COVID19 participation rate – being much higher than the official unemployment rate. This measure would suggest that there is still a lot of slack in the labor market. However, if a substantial fraction of the labor force outflow is not going to come back, slack is actually much smaller than suggested by a fixed participation unemployment rate. Looking at this measure will give the FOMC a false sense of slack that could cause the Committee to react too slowly to a tightening labor market.

  Conclusion

  Next month should be crucial for the labor market as temporary labor shortages are expected to disappear, and more permanent labor shortages will become visible.

  For the Fed a temporary labor shortage means that upcoming monetary policy decisions – such as giving signals about tapering – will have to be made in a noisy environment where data are being distorted. We called this the “data fog” in Early Warning Signal in a Noisy Environment. Employment growth is temporarily slowed down, but should accelerate once the causes of the temporary labor shortage fade.

  However, once we come out of the data fog, we may be closer to the brick wall than anticipated. If there is also a permanent component to the decline in labor participation, then slack in the labor market is smaller than suggested by the downdraft in the employment level (Figure 1). For the FOMC, the smaller the shortfall in employment the earlier they may want to hike. The higher-than-expected inflation readings in recent months have already led to an upward shift in the dot plot, indicating that the FOMC now expects to hike twice in 2023, instead of waiting until 2024. If more of the “temporary” labor shortage turns out to be permanent, the FOMC may be forced to shift its first hike to 2022.

  Tyler Durden
  Thu, 08/26/2021 – 17:30

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