Jul 29

Today’s News 29th July 2024

  • Fear Is The Mind-Killer: America's Dangerous Obsession With 'Safety'
    Fear Is The Mind-Killer: America’s Dangerous Obsession With ‘Safety’

    Authored by Artis Shepherd via The Mises Institute,

    In modern America, an obsessive fixation on “safety” has given rise to a culture of fear, paralyzing action and warping decision-making across all levels of society. The conditioning begins early, with children trained to be fearful rather than competent in facing challenges or unfamiliar situations. In their formative years, children are inundated with rules and guidelines, ostensibly designed to maintain safety. But this only stunts their adventurous spirit, undercuts the development of real confidence, and provides an excuse to avoid the uncertain striving necessary for growth.

    Corporations and commercial establishments claim “safety is the highest priority” while failing to understand what that statement entails when taken to its logical extreme. If safety is indeed the highest priority, then we should all stay home and slowly decompose.

    Without irony, governments use the safety of the citizenry as a pretext to commit brutal acts of war and strip away natural freedoms at the point of a gun. The same is done to provide cover for merging the state with the economy, to the detriment of most and the benefit of a politically connected few.

    It is evident that the pursuit of safety, with fear as the motivator, prevents one from living a good life — one consisting of productive work driven by the attainment of values through reason and effort, the result of which is true self-esteem.

    Rather than safety, pursue competence. Genuine safety lies in acquiring the skills necessary to deal with life’s challenges, not simply avoiding them.

    Baby Kneepads

    In her book “Free Range Kids,” Lenore Skenazy discusses her decision to let her 9-year-old son ride the New York City subway by himself. By her telling, he was ready, capable and prepared. So she let him do it, and he did. Her son had just accomplished something of which he could be proud and which would be challenging for many adults.

    Unfortunately, the response to Ms. Skenazy’s decision was not one of approbation. National media, so-called parental experts and the frightened masses all learned about the event and condemned it. She was called horrible names and dubbed “America’s Worst Mom” by the U.S. media.

    The people who attacked Ms. Skenazy view the world as a scary place, one where selective observation substitutes for rational thinking — where the risk-reward equation is reduced to a big neon “RISK” sign flashing red. These are the same people who put kneepads on their babies when they learn to crawl.

    Ms. Skenazy highlights the benefits of kids spending time in nature, building skills of self-reliance and eschewing today’s conventional methods of risk avoidance. One gets the sense that children are capable of much more than they’re given credit for. Far from pushing them into danger, allowing children to confront and overcome challenges on their own provides the ultimate safety — a true sense of competence.

    The “Fed Put” and Subversion of the Free Market

    For over a century, the American economy has been subject to the vagaries of central bank control, including the management of “inflation” — poorly defined as the change in the general price level, an absurd abstraction that’s impossible to accurately measure — and the overall stability of the job market. Another stated goal of the Federal Reserve was ensuring the “stability of the banking system.” Despite this, all of the most severe episodes of bank failure in the U.S. occurred on the Fed’s watch, including the Great Depression.

    Since the 1980s, the Federal Reserve has been employing an all-but-explicit program of bailing out the capital markets — the stock market especially — every time there is a significant pullback in prices. Known as the Fed put, this is an especially sickening example of welfare for those of mediocre ability but the right political connections.

    While a desire to control — and enrich a small group at the expense of the majority — is at the heart of the motivations in creating the Federal Reserve, or any central bank, the ostensible reasons have to do with safety. In the rationale of the state and its adherents, Americans need to be kept safe from high price inflation, bank failures and other perceived threats of a free market. By this rationale, people need protection from the consequences of voluntarily exchanging goods and services at market prices, unimpeded by a bureaucracy. Heaven forbid.

    As a result, the central bank and federal government essentially control most of the economy. For single-family homes, 95% of mortgages are ultimately held and guaranteed by federal government agencies. As a profession, medicine has been subsumed by the requirements of government insurance and research funding. Food is regulated to the extent that obtaining a glass of real milk is impossible in many states. The costs of buying an automobile are substantially due to compliance with government regulations. No industry is untouched.

    The Welfare State

    As with the creation of a central bank, the forcible redistribution of capital — from the capable and driven to the incapable and indolent — is an attempt to remove the risk of failure from favored groups. Tellingly, these programs are referred to as “safety nets.”

    What the welfare state accomplishes, however, is the elevation of weakness as a character trait. Rather than allowing the freedom to achieve, the state acts as a mother with Munchausen syndrome by proxy — facilitating the dependency and helplessness of its wards so as to increase its own relevance via the caretaking process. In keeping with its role as the oppressive mother, one result is that fatherhood has become nonexistent, particularly in those groups most reliant on welfare.

    The destruction of the productive spirit is nowhere more obvious than in those reliant on government handouts, who have attempted to trade independence for safety but end up with neither.

    The Warfare State

    Woodrow Wilson’s slogan for entering World War I at the beginning of the 20th century was “making the world safe for democracy.”

    The world, then ostensibly safe for democracy with the entry of the U.S. military, incurred 40 million casualties during that war. That’s before counting the many tens of millions more over the following decades caused by events and regimes, including the Bolshevik Revolution, facilitated by that war. World War II, which would not have happened in the absence of World War I, saw another 75 million deaths, with some estimates north of 100 million.

    The war on terror has only reduced freedoms at home while creating increasingly aggressive enemies elsewhere. The cost is in the trillions, with no material benefit of which to speak.

    The Covid Panic

    Using “public health and safety” as a front, the Trump and Biden regimes, as well as most state governments, implemented one of the most blatant examples of wicked government action in history. People were locked down inside their homes, unable to even enjoy open spaces like parks and beaches. Children were encouraged to gaze into a computer all day instead of going outside or to school. The truly sick, those with cancer and other serious conditions, were discouraged from hospital visits to increase capacity for patients who seemed to have a minor cold virus—one that leaked from a research lab in China.

    That government would gin up a crisis out of nothing is expected. It was the lack of pushback from the public that was astounding. There was almost total mask compliance, even in “conservative” states and counties. Low-status individuals took it upon themselves to push the government’s safety propaganda — the only chance for them to wield authority. When an injection was offered — one whose trials had no control arm, an absolute necessity in scientific studies, and blanket immunity for the manufacturers — people lined up to take it, then bragged about it.

    The Nature of Risk

    In human activity, risk is involved — sometimes a considerable amount. In seeking to manage that risk, one should strive for competence over it, not avoidance of it. This naturally entails confronting fear, especially the fear of failure, and using it for productive gain. The accumulation of skills, confrontation of hurdles and commitment to a process with uncertain outcomes are essential to a life worth living.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 23:20

  • How Capitalism Defeats Racism
    How Capitalism Defeats Racism

    Authored by Wanjiru Njoya via The Mises Institute,

    In her essay “Racism,” Ayn Rand argues that racism – which she describes as “the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism” – is incompatible with capitalism and can only be defeated through capitalism. She defines capitalism as “a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.” She explains that a defense of private property and laissez-faire capitalism is the only way to defeat racism:

    “There is only one antidote to racism: the philosophy of individualism and its politico-economic corollary, laissez-faire capitalism. … It is capitalism that gave mankind its first steps toward freedom and a rational way of life. It is capitalism that broke through national and racial barriers, by means of free trade. It is capitalism that abolished serfdom and slavery in all the civilized countries of the world.”

    Walter Williams adopts a similar view of the role of capitalism in defeating racism. He argues that only in a capitalist system, where economic gains are made through free market exchange and not by seeking political preferences and protections, can minorities make economic progress:

    “Free-market resource allocation, as opposed to allocation on political grounds, is in the interests of minorities and/or less preferred individuals. … The market encompasses a sort of parity nonexistent in the political arena, where one person’s dollar has the same power as anyone else’s.”

    Williams’ point is that a racist seller of course wishes to sell his produce; therefore, he will not reject black buyers as he values their dollars as much as the dollars of white buyers. Most sellers would not consider it worth losing the sale simply to be true to their racist beliefs. Even in the case of a racist seller who is willing to pay a price for his desire not to transact with other races, a point is likely to come where his costs mount to a degree that he no longer considers it worthwhile to continue rejecting sales purely on racist grounds. This explains why even in the segregated states, many whites entered into commercial transactions with blacks. Williams writes:

    “The fact that some blacks were able to earn a comfortable living and indeed become prosperous — in both the antebellum South, in the face of slavery and grossly discriminatory laws, and in the North, where there was at best only weak enforcement of civil rights — gives strong testament to the power of the market as a friend to blacks.”

    Williams defends “free markets and the profit motive” against the charge that they reduce economic opportunities for victims of racism. He argues that on the contrary, even disadvantaged people can enjoy an advantage in free markets, based on the principle that “customers prefer lower prices to higher prices, and businessmen prefer higher profits to lower profits.” For example, a disadvantaged person could choose to work for a lower wage than his competitors in the labor market and thereby avoid both unemployment as well as the need to rely on the charity or largesse of others.

    Williams acknowledges that in the absence of mandatory pricing, some may be charged higher prices than others for the same product based on their race. For example, a landlord may charge a higher rent to black tenants than to white tenants. In this case, we can stipulate that it is unfair for anyone to have to pay a higher rent than someone else based purely on his race. However, we must go further and ask: Unfair compared to what? What are the available alternatives? Williams points out that a black tenant may prefer to pay a higher rent than his white neighbor if the only alternative is to go without housing altogether. While the state can seek to equalize everyone’s rental payments and can even seek to force landlords to rent to all comers regardless of race, the state cannot force people to build or supply housing for rent, nor can the state itself undertake to house the entire population to “protect” them from having to encounter a racist landlord. Even the Soviet Union at the height of its power, when the state owned most of the housing stock and undertook to construct housing for the entire population, could not achieve that.

    The risk of suffering unfairness in a free market must therefore be weighed against the hazards of marching down the path to communism in a misguided attempt to create “fair” conditions for everyone. In an argument echoed by Thomas Sowell in “The Quest for Cosmic Justice,” Williams argues that sound economic policy cannot be derived from a utopian desire to promote fairness for everyone: For example, it may be “unfair” that anyone works for less than $20 an hour, but it does not follow that working for that sum should be prohibited. Nor is it “unfair” to work for less than someone else is prepared to work for. Minimum wage legislation may seem “fair” as it guarantees that nobody earns below the set wage, but it raises the overall level of unemployment, which leaves the most disadvantaged out of work altogether. As Williams puts it, the real minimum wage is zero. His view is that “economic theory as such cannot answer questions of fairness. However economic theory can predict the effects of not permitting some people to charge lower prices for what they sell and higher prices for what they buy. … They will be worse off than otherwise would be the case.”

    Williams argues that the reduction in economic opportunities, as seen for example in unemployment rates, is not due to free market exchange but to “policies, regulations, and restrictions emanating from federal, state, and local governments” as well as “the power of vested groups to use, as a means to greater wealth, the coercive powers of government to stifle market competition.” He shows that interventions designed to eradicate “racism” often leave people worse off. The solution lies in promoting capitalism, which in turn creates opportunities for economic advancement.

    Williams’ analysis shows the importance of understanding economic theory as a prerequisite to understanding economic events. The economic progress among the disadvantaged races that he documents is not attributable to the policies, regulations and restrictions that people consider to be the source and guarantee of prosperity but is instead attributable to voluntary exchange. Robert Higgs, who has also documented prosperity and progress among black people in the U.S., reminds us that it is to human endeavor that we owe economic progress and not to the state:

    “In any event, society’s positive, productive forces always resided within the people themselves. All the genuine peace, cooperation, production, and order the society enjoyed sprang from them. So the state was never a solution to a problem the people could not solve for themselves, but itself a problem masquerading as the only solution to problems whose real solutions already lay close at hand, if they existed at all.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 22:10

  • Thailand Sets Off Chaos In Domestic Auto Market By Subsidizing Chinese EVs
    Thailand Sets Off Chaos In Domestic Auto Market By Subsidizing Chinese EVs

    It isn’t just in Europe and the U.S. where the EV industry is seeing jolting effects of Chinese EVs entering their respective markets.

    It looks like the industry in Thailand has accidentally also set off chaos in their home market by offering subsidies to Chinese EV makers, a move that Nikkei Asia reports is “wreaking havoc” in Thailand. 

    The unintended consequences of EV subsidies have also affected supply chains, with at least a dozen parts producers shutting down as subsidized Chinese EV makers avoid buying from most of them.

    Since the Thai government introduced the EV subsidy scheme in 2022, 185,029 EVs have been imported. However, new EV registrations stand at 86,043, indicating an oversupply of around 90,000 vehicles.

    EVAT President Krisda Utamote, noting more Chinese EV makers are now investing in Thai production, said: “We are experiencing an EV oversupply as plenty of EVs imported from China over the past two years [remain in dealer] inventories.”

    The EV subsidy program, initiated in 2022 under the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement, aimed to make EVs more affordable by offering up to 150,000 baht ($4,130) per vehicle and eliminating tariffs on Chinese imports, provided the manufacturers produce an equivalent number in Thailand. Manufacturing was required to begin this year.

    Nikkei Asia reports that BYD, China’s largest EV maker, aggressively cut the price of its Atto model by 37%, while Neta reduced its V-II model price by 9%. When fully operational, Chinese EV makers in Thailand will have the capacity to produce about 750,000 vehicles annually.

    These subsidies have impacted the Thai automotive sector, which employs over 750,000 workers and contributes 11% to the GDP. The automotive sector is the fourth-largest economic contributor, following tourism (18%), retail (16%), and ahead of agriculture (8.6%).

    Sales of fossil fuel vehicles have declined since the subsidies, significantly affecting Japanese automakers who produce 90% of these vehicles in Thailand. Additionally, economic weaknesses have led consumers to cut back on expensive purchases, with vehicle sales in the first five months of the year down 23% from the same period in 2023, the lowest in a decade, according to the article. 

    Recall, we have extensively covered how the EU is attempting to tariff their way out of oversupply problems and what the Union sees as a price distortions as a result of China’s contributions to the industry. 

    As we noted earlier this summer, SAIC is being hit with a 38.1% tariff and BYD is being hit with a 17.4% tariff, the report says. Geely Auto will face a 20% tariff and all tariffs are on top of the EU’s existing 10% tariff. 

    EV-makers that cooperated with the probe but weren’t in the three-company sample will face an additional 21% duty, while uncooperative ones will incur the full 38.1%. European brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Renault, which export China-assembled EVs, will also face extra tariffs, according to Caixin.

    China’s Ministry of Commerce criticized the decision, stating the EU ignored facts, WTO rules, and objections from China and EU member states. Beijing vowed to protect Chinese companies’ rights.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 21:35

  • Pandemic 2.0: FDA To Grant Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) For mRNA Bird-Flu Shots (Just Like What Happened With COVID)
    Pandemic 2.0: FDA To Grant Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) For mRNA Bird-Flu Shots (Just Like What Happened With COVID)

    Authored by Ethan Huff via NaturalNews.com,

    The medical establishment is teeing up for the launch of another “pandemic,” this one centering around H5N8 Influenza, also known as avian influenza or bird flu.

    The American Medical Association (AMA) made a few changes this past week to its Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) system, described as “the leading medical terminology code set for describing health care procedures and services.” One change is the creation of a new CPT code for H5N8 Influenza virus “vaccine” candidates that “receive emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).”

    You may recall that during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) “pandemic,” the FDA granted EUA to the lineup of injections unleashed through Operation Warp Speed. Now, for the first time since COVID, the medical establishment is readying itself for what appears to be the next scamdemic: bird flu.

    To ensure that health care systems across the United States are up to date with the codes in their electronic systems, the AMA is updating its CPT system right away “in advance for the potential FDA authorization,” which appears imminent.

    “The new CPT code is a vital preparatory step in response to the potential danger to humans from a highly infectious avian influenza disease,” commented AMA President Dr. Bruce A. Scott, M.D.

    “A CPT code that clinically distinguishes the avian influenza vaccine allows for data-driven tracking, reporting, and analysis that supports planning, preparedness, and allocation of vaccines in case a public health response is needed for avian flu prevention.”

    If Trump wins, a bird flu “pandemic” is likely

    Attorney Tom Renz commented on the development after Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom (OAMF) – Ohio is the state where Renz is based – warned that bird flu is more than likely the next scamdemic coming down the pike.

    “I expect the next pandemic after Donald Trump gets back into office unless he finds a way to shut it down,” Renz wrote. “That said – can you imagine another plandemic with a Kamala Harris president? No way.”

    OAMF noted that the AMA’s CPT codes cover both adults and children who will be expected to take not just a “first” bird flu shot but also “each additional vaccine,” this referring to so-called boosters.

    “Mandates will come,” OAMF warned.

    Ohio could become the first state in America to pass protective legislation for conscientious and religious objections to adult vaccination, the group further revealed, which is good news for everyone who lives there – but what about the rest of the country?

    “This is just further confirmation that the next control pandemic is in route,” OAMF said. “We’re all focused on the election, but we need to pay attention to what they’re doing in the dark!”

    Renz also had a few things to say to Elon Musk and the other controllers of X concerning the apparent censorship still taking place on the social media platform.

    “Why is it that the pics on this threat keep being hidden and the thread does not appear in any searches for mRNA or elsewhere?” Renz asked after observing what he believed to be shadow-banning and other censorship actions occurring on his thread about all this.

    “Obviously it is being discussed and trending but – much like many other items on my feed – the pics are continually suppressed and the post cannot be found in a search. I never get a response and simply do not understand why this keeps happening on a free speech-based platform. Elon Musk is pushing for free speech – is the staff @X listening?”

    It looks as though bird flu is scheduled to be the next COVID.

    Learn more at Plague.info.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 21:00

  • Teen Allegedly Derailed BNSF Freight Train For "Insane" YouTube Footage
    Teen Allegedly Derailed BNSF Freight Train For “Insane” YouTube Footage

    Nearly every American teen has access to a smartphone or tablet and actively uses multiple social media platforms, including TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. In recent years, the number of social media challenges has skyrocketed and become increasingly dangerous, such as the “Tide pod challenge” and “Benadryl challenge.” Some teens are engaging in risky stunts and even orchestrating events in the real world that pose significant risks to themselves and others—all to get the clicks. 

    A 17-year-old Nebraska teenager has been slapped with two felony counts of criminal mischief after he was accused of derailing a BNSF Railway freight train while filming the incident for a YouTube video. 

    Here’s more from NBC News:

    The 17-year-old was charged in Lancaster County Juvenile Court on Wednesday, but prosecutors have filed a motion to have the case transferred to adult court.

    An investigator with BNSF Railway said in court documents that the teenager alerted authorities to the derailment and asked the investigator who arrived what caused the crash.

    He is accused of tampering with a rail and causing two locomotives and five loaded BNSF cars to jump the rails in Bennet on April 21.

    Under the YouTube account “Capitol City Rail Productions,” the teen uploaded this five-minute video titled “Loaded BNSF Arbor COLLIDES and DERAILS in Bennet, NE! MOST INSANE VIDEO I’VE EVER TAKEN!” 

    It’s evident that the title’s wording was crafted in a way to drive clicks on social media.

    “Join us as we delve into the dramatic events that unfolded when a falsely set switch altered the course of destiny. Unbeknownst to the crew of the loaded arbor coal train, a parked deflective coal car lay in wait on the wrong track, setting the stage for disaster,” the description in the video read. 

    The derailment caused approximately $350,000 in damages after the freight train smashed into an empty coal car, causing two locomotives and five loaded BNSF cars to derail. 

    The teen has denied trespassing on the tracks and tampering with the switch. However, investigators wrote in court documents that he knew where the switch was. They also noted a padlock that was supposed to be on the switch was missing. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 20:25

  • Canada's "Worst Decline In 40 Years"
    Canada’s “Worst Decline In 40 Years”

    Authored by Peter St.Onge via The Brownstone Institute,

    Canada’s standard of living is on track for its worst decline in 40 years, according to a new study by Canada’s Fraser Institute. 

    The study compared the three worst periods of decline in Canada in the last 40 years – the 1989 recession, the 2008 global financial crisis, and this post-pandemic era. 

    They found that, unlike the previous recessions, Canada is not recovering this time. Something broke. 

    In fact, according to the Financial Post, since 2019 Canada’s had the worst growth out of 50 developed economies. Inflation-adjusted Canadian wages have been flat since 2016.

    So, yes, something broke.

    And it’s nowhere near over: Canada’s per-person real GDP is still falling and with a looming US recession – the US is 75% of Canada’s exports – Canada could crash again before it ever recovered.

    Trudeau’s Canada in Decline

    In previous videos, I’ve talked about the disaster that is Justin Trudeau’s Canada. In short, incomes are West Virginia-level, house prices are at the Los Angeles level, and Canadian taxes are halfway to the Soviet Union. 

    It’s not rare for a middle-class family in Canada to pay half their income in taxes. 

    Meanwhile, since the pandemic, Canada’s official food inflation is up 25%, and energy is up 30% – partly thanks to a carbon tax. 

    And keep in mind sales tax in most Canadian provinces is 13 to 15 percent on everything you buy. 

    While Canadians post TikToks about trying to stretch a loaf of rye bread through the week or selling off their possessions to afford groceries, the cost of living is hitting harder with time. 

    Canadian bankruptcy filings jumped 40% last year, while CIBC reports nearly half of Canadians have zero emergency savings. 

    According to StatsCan Canada’s violent crime rate is up 40% since 2014. 

    An Ipsos poll found 7 in 10 Canadians agree that “Canada is broken” – rising to 8 in 10 of those between age 18 and 34. 

    Angus found fully 42% of Canadians are considering moving to another country.

    What Changed

    This is all a shock because it happened so fast – it’s night and day from the last crisis in 2008, which Canada weathered much better than America. 

    What changed? Justin Trudeau. Specifically, his campaign to convert Canada from a mixed economy like the US into a government-dominated economy like the sick men of the European Union.

    Under Trudeau, business investment has plunged by a third. While government spending nearly doubled to almost half of GDP. 

    Government workers in Canada are growing almost four times faster than the private sector, and one in three Canadians now work for the government, raking in 30% more in salary and benefits than the taxpayers they lord over. Another 1.7 million Canadians – roughly 1 in 10 households – are on welfare.

    Of course, that makes it very difficult to win an election in Canada on a small-government platform: You’re up against the government-provided livelihoods of 40% of voters. Meaning you’ve got to win, what, 80% of everybody else.

    What’s Next

    Near-term things will get worse because Canadians are stuck with Trudeau through the next election in 2025.

    Conservative Pierre Poilievre is ahead in the polls for now, but Canada’s government-funded media is doing everything they can to destroy him so the lead’s already narrowing.

    That means more inflation, more decline, more mass migration, and rising crime in what was once a paradise.

    Republished from the author’s Substack

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 19:50

  • The Biden-Harris $40 Billion High Speed Internet Plan Connected Nobody
    The Biden-Harris $40 Billion High Speed Internet Plan Connected Nobody

    Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

    Might I suggest it’s time for some fact checks? Let’s start with a fact check on the White House Internet program “Fact Sheet”.

    White House Fact Sheet

    Let’s discuss the June 26, 2023 White House Fact Sheet: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces Over $40 Billion to Connect Everyone in America to Affordable, Reliable, High-Speed Internet

    High-speed internet is no longer a luxury – it is necessary for Americans to do their jobs, to participate equally in school, access health care, and to stay connected with family and friends. Yet, more than 8.5 million households and small businesses are in areas where there is no high-speed internet infrastructure, and millions more struggle with limited or unreliable internet options. Just like Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Act brought electricity to nearly every home and farm in America, President Biden and Vice President Harris are delivering on their historic commitment to connect everyone in America to reliable, affordable high-speed internet by the end of the decade.

    Fact Check on the Fact Sheet

    Please note FCC commissioner hits Biden admin for $42 billion in unspent high speed internet funds

    The senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is blaming the Biden administration for a lack of high-speed internet projects that were approved under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, comparing the situation to the dearth of electric vehicle charging stations that were also supposed to be built with the funds.

    “There’s no question that the 2021 law put some process in place, but the Biden administration decided to layer on top of that a Byzantine additional set of hoops that states have to go through before the administration will approve them to actually get these funds and start completing the builds,” Carr told FOX Business in an interview.

    Carr acknowledged that some high-speed internet projects have connected people during the Biden administration, but he said none of them have been funded by the $42.5 billion allocation from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program from the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which was the administration’s signature broadband initiative.

    Where Would We Be?

    I am sure glad Biden put Kamala Harris in charge of the border and also delivery of high speed internment because otherwise where would we be?

    As long as I am asking questions, might I suggest it’s time for more fact checks on “Biden-Harris” Fact Sheet announcements?

    But hey, let’s step back and give credit is due. In this case, the “Biden-Harris” plan delivered nothing but amazingly cost nothing!

    No money has been spent because $42.5 billion has been bogged down in the “Biden-Harris” bureaucracy.

    How can you possibly beat that? This is arguably the biggest success story of the entire “Biden-Harris” term.

    No doubt I have piqued someone’s curiosity here, perhaps many people.

    Do I have any volunteers to fact check all of the “Biden-Harris” fact sheets?

    It’s a daunting task, but democracy undoubtedly depends on it.

    “All Hell Breaks Loose”

    On the economic front, please consider “All Hell Breaks Loose” In the Next Few Months as Recession Bites

    Uhhh… Thank You… Thank you very much.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 18:40

  • After Failed 1984-Style Censorship-Crusade, Paris Olympics Forced To Apologize For Woke Opening Ceremony
    After Failed 1984-Style Censorship-Crusade, Paris Olympics Forced To Apologize For Woke Opening Ceremony

    On Saturday, the organizers of the Paris Olympics scrambled to pressure social media platforms, such as X, to censor users who mocked and criticized Friday night’s shocking Opening Ceremony. The event, which featured drag queens, nudity, and scenes deemed highly disrespectful to Christians, sparked outrage worldwide. When the International Olympic Committee’s social media 1984-style censorship efforts failed (read: here), the committee had no choice but to apologize for the drag queen parody of Jesus’ Last Supper on Sunday morning. 

    Here’s what shocked the world on Friday night during the Opening Ceremony: 

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    “There was never an intention to show disrespect to a religious group,” a Paris 2024 spokeswoman said, quoted by The Wall Street Journal. 

    The spokeswoman continued, “If people have taken any offense, we are, of course, really sorry.”

    Denial of intent… 

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    Never intended to offend anyone?

    What were the organizers thinking when they recreated the Biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his apostles with drag queens, a transgender model, and a naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine, Dionysus?

    And this… 

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    “We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that,” the artistic director Thomas Jolly told reporters. 

    Everyone except the Christians…

    The woke mind virus is a phenomenon spreading like cancer across the Western world, infecting the youngest generations through public schools and activist corporations funding non-profits, as well as leftist politicians, who intend to install a new religion of woke. It’s only natural for a competing religion to mock and attack the status quo, that being Christians, and that’s exactly what occurred at the Games by the new religion rooted in Marxism.

    Remember, the Olympics’ planning phase takes years and tens of millions of dollars. For the Games spokesperson to now desperately claim that this opening performance was a big misunderstanding – insults the intelligence of the world, which was watching and left in disbelief. Even the French…

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    So what about the mega-corporations who sponsored the Games? Where are their statements denouncing this absurdity?  

    We assume boycotts are coming to these brands. 

    Google Search trends for ‘boycott Olympics’ soared globally. 

    Coming… 

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    The backlash this weekend makes it very clear: the majority of folks just want to watch sports without having the woke religion forced upon them. Keep politics and social issues out of sports, please.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 18:11

  • For 25 Minutes, Secret Service In Command Center Never Notified Trump's Detail
    For 25 Minutes, Secret Service In Command Center Never Notified Trump’s Detail

    While members of the Secret Service in a Butler, Pennsylvania command center were notified that an individual later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks was acting suspiciously before he tried to assassinate Donald Trump, members of the former president’s secret service detail were not informed of the threat, according to the Washington Post.

    Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump is rushed off stage during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    Members of former president Donald Trump’s Secret Service detail and his top advisers have privately questioned why they were not informed that local police were tracking a suspicious person before that person opened fire on Trump at his July 13 rally in western Pennsylvania, according to people with direct knowledge of the concerns.

    Approximately 20 to 25 minutes before Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at the former president, local countersnipers noticed him behaving strangely and sent his photograph to a command center staffed by state troopers and Secret Service agents, the head of Pennsylvania State Police told a congressional committee Tuesday.

    According to three sources, members of Trump’s Secret Service detail have complained to confidants and others inside the agency that they were never made aware of the warning, and they had no idea that local countersnipers eventually lost track of Crooks – or that a local police officer who was hoisted onto the roof of the building saw Crooks perched there with a gun. 

    Trump was on stage a full eight minutes – roughly 20 minutes after Crooks was spotted and reported – before shots rang out, wounding Trump, critically wounding two others, and killing one rallygoer.

    “Nobody mentioned it. Nobody said there was a problem,” Trump told Fox News in an interview last Monday. “They could’ve said, ‘Let’s wait for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, five minutes, something. Nobody said — I think that was a mistake.”

    Meanwhile, the Secret Service, which initially lied about denying Trump additional security requests, is not talking.

    “As it relates to communications at the rally, the Secret Service is committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure that never happens again,” said spox Anthony Guglielmi, the guy who lied about the denied security.

    Trump’s team has been at odds with Secret Service headquarters over various requests that the agency denied, including more magnetometers at events, more countersnipers at some events and other specialty teams at other events, The Post has reported. The Secret Service and Trump’s team also repeatedly clashed over security and logistics at the Republican National Convention earlier this month.

    The Butler, Pa., shooting is also emblematic of what some Secret Service critics say are chronic communication problems that have dogged the agency and contributed to serious security lapses. -WaPo

    Yes, just a breakdown in communication. Nothing nefarious.

    Also on Monday, then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle deflected when asked by House lawmakers why the Secret Service didn’t immediately delay Trump’s speech when local police reported a suspicious person – telling the committee that such reports are commonplace.

    “At a number of our protected sites, there are suspicious individuals that are identified all the time,” she said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that they constitute a threat.”

    Cheatle – who resigned last week, admitted that the Secret Service was notified of a suspicious person at the Butler, PA rally “somewhere between two and five times,” and she didn’t know when Trump’s security detail was notified.

    Turns out, they weren’t.

     

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 18:05

  • Obama Instigated Anti-Biden Coup With '25th Amendment' Threat; Sy Hersh Reports
    Obama Instigated Anti-Biden Coup With ’25th Amendment’ Threat; Sy Hersh Reports

    Authored by ‘Sundance’ via TheConservativeTreehouse.com,

    In popular lingo young people simply say, “that tracks.”  It’s a quick way of saying, new information makes sense with pre-existing information.

    Investigative journalist Seymour Hersch writes on his substack [SEE HERE], an article outlying how his sources in Washington DC and the White House have confirmed to him that former President Barack Obama was the impetus to push Joe Biden out of the 2024 presidential race.

    Seymour Hersh says President Obama was “deeply involved” with the alleged coup and called Joe Biden after his “incident” in Las Vegas, which, from all outward appearances, looks like a major slip and fall – with a significant hit to the head.

    “I went over [reports] this week with a senior official in Washington who helped me fashion an account of a White House in complete disarray,” Hersh said.

    “Obama called Biden after breakfast [on July 20] and said, ‘Here’s the deal. We have Kamala’s approval to invoke the 25th Amendment,’” a senior Washington official told Hersh. Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries were reportedly directly involved.

    Obama’s plan was to not to immediately endorse Kamala, but it was clear that she would “get the nod.” “[Obama] had an agenda and he wanted to seek it through to the end, and he wanted to have control over who would be elected.” (Hersch article encapsulated)

    Not only does this outline track with every datapoint known about events leading up to the Biden announcement, it also aligns with the entire background of the Obama team operating inside the Biden administration.  Team Obama have always been in control.  Heck, the Obamas never even left Washington DC after their term in office.

    The bigger understanding is in the final quote cited. 

    “[Team Obama] had an agenda and he wanted to seek it through to the end, and he wanted to have control over who would be elected.”  This is the part where people forget the risk to Team Obama that has never gone away.

    The Obama “fundamental change” was a construct of malicious intent.  Much of it fraught with unlawful activity only possible by weaponizing the various agencies and bureaus of the U.S. government.  Going all the way back to 2007 through 2017, that decade is filled with unlawful action by Barack Obama and the people behind him.  This is the core of their ongoing need for control, likely for a generation or more.

    President Obama and his likeminded ideological foot-soldiers weaponized the federal system of government.  In every action from the moment he left office, Obama’s team have been working one long continuum of control in order to keep all of their prior activity hidden. 

    The need for Kamala ‘brat’ Harris is simply another step in this long process to hide the activity.

    The NSA Database was weaponized to conduct political surveillance.

    The Dept of Justice was weaponized to target their political opposition.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation was weaponized to act as the police investigative units for those targets.

    The Dept of Homeland Security was weaponized to control the evidence and information about their political targeting and surveillance.

    The IRS was weaponized against Obama’s political opposition.

    The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was weaponized to allow the targeting radar to sweep internally against American citizens under the guise of national security and domestic terror threats.

    The Central Intelligence Agency was weaponized allowing and permitting their “foreign surveillance” mandate to merge with the DHS internal surveillance mandate, while simultaneously the CIA conducted overseas political operations against the interests of sovereign countries.  All of their activity in ideological alignment.

    The Defense Department was purged of patriotism, intentionally weakened through diversity equity and inclusion, and then boiled down to a flag corps of general willing to go along with the policy of Obama.

    Main Justice through the National Security Division used FARA violations to target anyone who was determined a threat to the fundamental change, and Main Justice began wholesale Lawfare operations against Donald Trump and any entity who would dare align with him.

    Hundreds of millions, likely billions, were funneled through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, The Green New Deal, The Inflation Reduction Act, and various legislative expenditures to foreign governments; those funds went directly into the bank accounts of Democrat donors and political activist groups.

    And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, the part the awakened American public can look into and see for themselves. Underneath the waterline, there’s tens of thousands of vested interests, inside and outside of Washington DC, operating to maintain the fundamental change that Obama created.  However, their defenses are weak and shallow, fraught with vulnerability and the endless need to avoid sunlight.

    All of that scheming, rot, corruption and unlawful activity makes them vulnerable.  The need for control is a reaction to fear.  The ‘fundamental change’ group are fraught with fear.  That is why they consider the current political landscape as a zero-sum contest.

    It tracks, it all tracks.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 17:30

  • US 'Watching Closely' Venezuela Election After Maduro Warned Of 'Bloodbath' If He Loses
    US ‘Watching Closely’ Venezuela Election After Maduro Warned Of ‘Bloodbath’ If He Loses

    President Nicolas Maduro alarmed and riled his enemies as well as Washington and its allies by declaring just ahead of Sunday’s elections: “If you don’t want Venezuela to fall into a bloodbath, into a fratricidal civil war, due to the fascists, let’s ensure the greatest success and greatest victory in the electoral history of our people.”

    Many pundits are taking this as a warning that he’ll refuse to give up power in the unlikely event he loses his bid for six more years in office, which would be his third term. While there are eight names total on the ballot as Venezuelans wait in long lines to vote Sunday, 74-year old opposition candidate and former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia is considered the only real contender who has a chance of defeating Maduro.

    González is basically the surrogate candidate for María Corina Machado, who has organized the opposition and has become wildly popular, even recently gaining name recognition abroad and in US media.

    Edmundo González Urrutia and Nicolás Maduro vote on Sunday.

    Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) have ruled over the central American country since 2013, after he took over following the death of his mentor, far-left icon Hugo Chavez.

    Millions of desperate citizens have already left their country in search of work and opportunities abroad amid a crushed economy and rampant accusations of corruption against Maduro government officials. Millions more may leave if his power is extended for another term.

    Polls have seen massive queues since they opened at 6am, but already there are reports of barriers in pro-opposition areas and stories of black-clad, masked men blocking voting stations, as The New York Times has alleged. “The destiny of Venezuela depends on our victory,” Maduro has proclaimed at campaign rallies, while decrying efforts of a hidden imperialist foreign hand to thwart his aims, as well as longtime US-led sanctions.

    Both the United States and Brazil have issued messages of “we’re watching closely”:

    Asked in a press briefing whether Maduro was likely to rig Sunday’s vote, John Kirby, White House national security spokesperson, said it was difficult to know how the situation would play out but that the U.S. wanted “to make it clear to Mr. Maduro that we’re watching, we’re watching closely.”

    Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has also urged Maduro to respect the results, telling international news agencies that he was “scared” by the Venezuelan’s recent remarks, Reuters reported.

    Brazil’s president added that Maduro “needs to learn that when you win, you stay; when you lose, you leave.”

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    Some analysts expect some degree of unrest and violence to break out no matter who emerges victorious, with either side set to contest.

    “On the basis of their own exit polls, the opposition will probably declare victory and push for regime change, ushering in a period of heightened political tension and uncertainty ahead of the inauguration,” Andre Masuko, a research analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit, stated to CNBC.

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    “However, we do not expect the Maduro regime to be overthrown. His strict control over the country’s institutions, including the security forces, the judiciary and the electoral national council (CNE), will be instrumental in helping him to stay in power,” he underscored.

    One big unpredictable scenario of huge consequence is whether the US would throw its support behind any opposition allegations claims of widespread election abuse and fraud.

    Meanwhile, the usual Neocon suspects in Congress are alleging a ‘stolen’ national election before the ballots are even in…

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    Washington weighing in too forcefully would set the stage for another anti-opposition crackdown by Maduro government security services.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 15:45

  • Bitcoin Breaks Through
    Bitcoin Breaks Through

    Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

    Almost everybody in the Bitcoin world is already going to be aware of the headlines former President Donald Trump made last night at the Bitcoin 2024 conference.

    At Bitcoin 2024, Trump pledged that if re-elected, his administration would retain all federal Bitcoin holdings, establishing a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile.” He highlighted that the federal government currently possesses nearly 210,000 bitcoins, about 1% of the total supply, mostly seized from cybercriminals. Trump promised that his administration would never sell this Bitcoin, adhering to the fundamental Bitcoin principle of holding.

    Additionally, he vowed to fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler on his first day in office, criticizing Gensler’s stringent regulations that many believe have hindered innovation in the crypto industry.

    Anyway you slice it, last night was a flurry of positive Bitcoin-related headlines hitting the wire as soon as Trump took the stage and began speaking to the crowd of crypto enthusiasts. The idea of bitcoin as a reserve asset has always been the holy grail for maximalists and Trump’s speech sent the idea of a bitcoin “standard” to supersonic speeds.

    And while there’s been plenty of speculation online about Trump’s motives, with some saying he’s simply fishing for votes from wherever he can get them, it doesn’t matter at this point: the game theory snowball of a Bitcoin “standard” has officially started rolling down the hill.

    Photo: New York Times

    This pro-Bitcoin psychology and reserve asset game theory, and what it could do for the world of Bitcoin regardless of whether or not Trump is elected, cannot be understated.

    The Bitcoin community has now, for the first time, seen a former and potential US president endorse the cryptocurrency as a strategic reserve asset for the country. This is multiple times more consequential than Wall Street listing Bitcoin ETFs, in my opinion, because it accelerates Bitcoin’s adoption regardless of whether or not Trump is elected our next president. The idea that the United States could potentially make Bitcoin part of a monetary standard has officially been launched into the orbit of the country’s economic zeitgeist.

    For comparison, when I started to warm up to the idea of Bitcoin about 6 months ago, I speculated that Middle Eastern money would be the next, after El Salvador, to put Bitcoin on a sovereign balance sheet. From there, I speculated such a move could unleash a tsunami of game theory, with multiple other countries scrambling to catch up across the world, not unlike the way Democrats — the party of Elizabeth “Ban Crypto” Warren — are now scrambling to play catch-up and modify their position stance on crypto.

    Too late, losers.

    If you would have told me months ago that one of the two major United States presidential candidates and a former president would be the first to assure the world they would place Bitcoin on the sovereign balance sheet of the most powerful nation in the world, I would have been assured the rest of the world would follow.

    That is exactly the case that is unfolding.

    And, by removing the red tape in the world of Bitcoin, not only would the Trump administration send adoption of the asset to stratospheric levels, it would also be the first tacit public acknowledgment that the fiscal crisis unfolding in the United States is not sustainable and must be dealt with via means other than printing dollars.

    🔥 50% OFF FOR LIFE: Zero Hedge readers take 50% off a Fringe Finance annual subscription for life by using this link: ZH50

    In other words, holding a bitcoin reserve would represent an attempt at a strategic move to sound money, regardless of whether or not Bitcoin itself stands the test of time.

    Yesterday not only marked a momentous occasion for Bitcoin, it marked a momentous occasion for everybody on the Austrian side of the economic aisle who has been waiting for a politician to begin to make serious concessions that the fiscal trajectory the country and the dollar are on is not sustainable. It was a limited hangout of sorts – a passive admission that eventually, the country is going to need a solution to its monetary problem that is outside the Keynesian pattern of simply printing more fiat.

    And so even if you are first and foremost an advocate for gold or silver, like I am, it’s easy to see last night’s comments by President Trump as not just a victory for Bitcoin but a victory for economic common sense.

    Just think about this: two major presidential candidates in the United States, both Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, have now publicly come out and supported Bitcoin. That, in and of itself, is enormous.

    Even more consequential is the fact that the pro-regulation Orwellian juggernaut known as the Democratic Party, which can never seem to have enough oversight or control on how people live their lives, including saving and spending their money, has begun to realize they are fighting a losing battle.

    This was evident last night when headlines started to cross the wire around the time of Trump’s speech that multiple Democrats were urging Kamala Harris to walk back her stance on being anti-crypto. This is a monstrous pivot, especially given that party cornerstone Senator Elizabeth Warren has been the most outspoken critic of crypto over the last few years. The pivot is too little too late in my opinion — Democrats are already playing second fiddle with crypto adoption.

    In other words, the oft-touted adage that “you don’t change Bitcoin, Bitcoin changes you” seems to have once again rung true. History appears to have shown that eventually, people fall in line behind Bitcoin as long as it remains what the people want. Trump’s foresight to be first to figure out that it’s not worth fighting crypto advocates, but rather joining them, could wind up being one of the most consequential decisions that will determine the outcome of the 2024 election.

    What’s a better argument for a populist campaign than offering populist ways to save, store and preserve your wealth?

    As I wrote earlier this year in my first article about Bitcoin, Bitcoin will work if the people decide they want it to. It’s one of the few instruments that I’ve seen over the years capable of returning some power to the people in the world of economics. And despite Harris flip-flopping and scrambling to right her position on the issue, not unlike what she is doing with issues like banning fracking, having the freedom to choose how you want to store your wealth – even if it turns out to not be effective – is congruent with freedom and personal liberty. And freedom and personal liberty are far more aligned with the Republican party right now than the party that advocated for us to wear masks while outside at the beach, three years into Covid.

    If Trump was smart, he would continue tapping into the independent and libertarian base in the country by announcing that, if elected, he would make RFK Jr. his Bitcoin czar. In my exclusive interview with RFK, Jr. several weeks ago, he told me he was exploring ideas similar to Trump’s:

    “One of the issues that we’re toying with now is a Treasury bill that is based at least partially—maybe starting at one percent and increasing it—on a hard currency. On base currencies, like maybe a basket of currencies that include platinum, gold, silver, and Bitcoin. You know, my uncle tried to do something like this just before he died with the silver certificate and the gold certificate, to give Americans a hedge against inflation.

    “And there are lots of ways we can do that. We’re talking about making, for example, Bitcoin available and stopping the war against Bitcoin so that middle-class people, working-class people who want to hedge against inflation can do that. They don’t have to rely on fiat currency.”

    “And that will insert a discipline into the printing of money. If Americans have a choice, it will inject a discipline into the printing of money that we do not have right now.”

    Perhaps Trump could also take on Michael Saylor as an advisor. Saylor said to me in my exclusive interview with him that Bitcoin adoption would be inevitable due to “the inefficiency of central government or central banking planners”. He appears to be right so far: the people are driving Trump toward Bitcoin, not the other way around, and when the people want something, elected officials have no choice to but to conspire to make it happen.

    And so while the price of Bitcoin dipped last night after Trump’s speech, this was likely only a classic “sell the news” event after a week leading up to Trump’s speech where people were bidding up the price.

    The launch of Bitcoin ETFs this year was a major shot in the arm for the adoption of the digital asset and one of the reasons I began to strongly reconsider my position on Bitcoin. As sad as it is, if Wall Street gets behind an idea, it has a way of finding adoption, even if it eventually also peters out or collapses in value down the road.

    Similarly, when the United States as a country gets behind an idea, it also has a way of creating aftershocks worldwide. My contention is that if Bitcoin makes it for the long haul, the world could potentially look back at Trump’s comments this weekend as an inflection point in American history, American monetary policy and potentially the day even more doubt in Bitcoin’s long-term sustainability died.

    —

    As a quick disclaimer and reminder, I still believe there is significant risk in owning Bitcoin. Bitcoin is an unprecedented monetary experiment and it is extraordinarily volatile. I keep only a portion of my net worth that I am OK with losing in Bitcoin and consider the bet to be speculative in nature.

    Personally, I perfer apps like Swan for buying Bitcoin on a recurring basis, which, in my opinion, is important to help alleviate the volatile swings in the asset. Anyone that wishes to use my referral link at Swan will get $10 in free Bitcoin to start.

    —

    Now read:

     

    QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. This post represents my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a Creative Commons license with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. These positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice and at any point I can be long, short or neutral on any position. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 15:10

  • French Bishops Blast Olympic "Mockery Of Christianity" While MSM Hails "Unprecedented Display Of Inclusivity"
    French Bishops Blast Olympic “Mockery Of Christianity” While MSM Hails “Unprecedented Display Of Inclusivity”

    The French Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church has blasted the Olympic Games’ opening ceremony for its excesses and provocations which sought to make a mockery of Christianity.

    The French bishops expressed their thoughts “to Christians worldwide who were hurt by the excess, and provocation of certain scenes.” As we detailed previously, it included at least ten men in drag performing a reenactment of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” – along with many other sexualized scenes that included a man with his testicles exposed and hanging out of his outfit.

    Via AP

    “The opening ceremony… included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deeply deplore,” the statement continued.

    “We think of all Christians worldwide who were hurt by the excess and provocation of certain scenes,” the French bishops continued. “We hope they understand that the Olympic celebration extends far beyond the ideological biases of a few artists.”

    Still, The Associated Press and other mainstream outlets hailed the segment as an “unprecedented display of inclusivity” despite an overwhelmingly negative reaction which come even from secular quarters. 

    Several X accounts that posted videos and/or screenshots about the absurdities of the Olympics’ opening ceremonies have been hit with Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaints. Additionally the Opening Ceremony highlights has been removed from the Olympics’ official YouTube page, as we detailed earlier. 

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    Even elements of the European Left condemned it, including far-left French politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

    * * *

    The following is a translation of and commentary on Mélenchon’s words by Arnaud Bertrand…

    Mélenchon on the Olympics opening ceremony, which really goes to show that the criticisms of it aren’t “far-right” as many are arguing, they’re just common sense:

    “I didn’t appreciate the mockery of the Christian Last Supper, the final meal of Christ and his disciples, which is foundational to Sunday worship. Of course, I’m not getting into the criticism of ‘blasphemy.’ That doesn’t concern everyone.

    But I ask: what’s the point of risking offending believers? Even when one is anticlerical! We were speaking to the world that evening. Among the billion Christians in the world, how many good and honest people are there for whom faith provides help in living and knowing how to participate in everyone’s life, without bothering anyone?”

    It’s the exact same point I was making yesterday: the whole point of the Olympics is to bring the world together, and this was perhaps the most needlessly divisive opening ceremony in history, because so shocking and tasteless to so many.

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    It spoke to an extremely tiny group of people. I actually think many even in the LGBT community found it completely ridiculous. Being secular doesn’t mean hating on religion. It means a separation of state and religion but it doesn’t imply insult of religion and their believers… In fact many profoundly secular states ban insults to religion…

    I admit that France does have a history of being irreverent to religion, but it is unwise to sacralize this as a core part of our identity as this show attempted to do, especially in the context of an event meant to bring the world together. These types of provocations belong in fringe publications like Charlie-Hebdo, not a ceremony like this.

    *   *   *

    A response from a US bishop… 

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 14:35

  • "Adult Swim": Four Reasons Why We Have Not Seen The Summer Lows Yet…
    “Adult Swim”: Four Reasons Why We Have Not Seen The Summer Lows Yet…

    By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

    Baby Pool Closed for “Maintenance”

    Anyone who ever got that notice from a town or community pool knows exactly what happened. It feels like some of that has gone on in our markets of late, ensuring that this is an “adult swim.” For those who have had their vacations disrupted or are about to experience that as market volatility continues, we feel your pain!

    The Nasdaq 100 has had some wild swings, and the S&P 500 broke a long string of trading days without dropping 2%. Stocks ended the week strong on Friday and we got to continue to examine de-grossing, rotations, and de-risking. Last weekend we delved into these subjects in Know When to Fold ‘Em and we refined our views on Thursday morning in A Lot Going On.

    Here we are, once again attempting to navigate through what is likely going to be another “interesting” week to say the least. But, before diving into the week ahead, we saw lots of evidence of rotation/de-grossing:

    • The Nasdaq 100 was down 2.6% while the Russell 2000 gained 3.5%.

    • The S&P 500 was down 0.8% while the equal weight version was up 0.8%.

    • Energy, which we like as our favorite hedge against geopolitical risk, was mixed (XLE was down a smidge, while OIH was up 1.6%).

    • The 2s vs 10s spread on the Treasury side of things got as low as -14 and ended the week less inverted than when it started. For now, we will put this on the rotation/de-grossing side of the ledger and expect it to continue.

    Questions remain about how much de-risking has occurred?

    • Sure, QQQ has had some outflows of late, but it actually had inflows last week, while IWM (Russell 2000 ETF) had another week of strong inflows – which feels more like a rotation than de-risking.

    • When I look at the “frothier” end of things, I see little evidence of de-risking. TQQQ (a triple leveraged Nasdaq 100 ETF) had inflows, and SQQQ (3x inverse Nasdaq 100) had outflows. That looks like risk is being added. Similarly, NVDL (1.5x NVDA) had inflows. NVDS (-1.5x NVDA) had outflows, but it is tiny. I truly don’t understand the need for single stock ETFs (call me old fashioned), but those flows give some sense of the underlying tone out there. While I don’t understand why they exist, NVDL at $4.2 billion of AUM with an expense ratio of 1.15% is on a roughly $50,000,000 annual fee run-rate, which is pretty darn impressive for the creators!

    What really “seals the deal” for me on my view that we are not done de-risking (but likely will be) is the view of the Fed.

    • We’ve gone from being “out there” for saying that the Fed should cut in July, to being a more or less consensus view that the Fed should be cutting, but won’t cut until September.

    • According to Bloomberg’s WIRP function, based on futures contracts, the market is now pricing in 1.13 cuts at the September meeting and 3.4 cuts by the end of the January meeting. We’ve been in the camp that the Fed is late to the easing cycle, the real rates are too high, the economy is slowing, and inflation pressures have abated, but the market may be getting ahead of itself again. The current pricing is just a bit more aggressive than our view (from having been more conservative), which leads us to wonder if the Fed isn’t already priced in? Or, and this is becoming our base case, the Fed will have to ease at this pace or faster, only because economic conditions won’t support anything resembling tight monetary policy.

    With a lack of fear (even VIX has scaled back), some aggressive fund flows, and conviction that the Fed is going to announce the start of rate cuts driving this market, there still seems to be far more downside risk than upside risk.

    Maybe the weakest hands have played out their de-grossing strategy and the rotation that remains (which still makes sense to us) will happen in an “overall rising” market. The data could support that.

    We have four reasons to expect that we have not seen the summer lows yet:

    1. The Fed is fully priced in.

    2. The jobs data this week will be extremely disappointing. But not so disappointing that the Fed can pivot to “full-on dovish” given the Fed’s fears of an inflation resurgence. The pendulum swinging from no landing, to soft landing, to a possible bumpy landing could be the catalyst for more downside risk, especially since the Fed will likely feel the need to be restrained for the coming months.

    3. Earning and AI. There is no longer an automatic 5% pop in your stock price just for saying “AI” on your earnings call (I’m being facetious, but….). What is the cost of AI? The price to implement AI has soared. How good is the AI you are getting? The best analogy, that I have heard on many fronts, is that the “large language models” are like reading a really good newspaper or magazine. The articles on subjects that you know little about make a lot of sense. However, you find a lot of issues with the articles about your area of expertise. Yes, LLMs are only one part of AI. Even in that subset, there are different ones, and some have very specific training to overcome that rather generic analogy of reading articles. Will today’s models (or more accurately, the perception of what the cost benefit analysis will yield in a couple years) be able to justify today’s current valuations? Given positioning and some of what we have seen in some recent earnings, that might prove difficult and be a catalyst for de-risking.

    4. Politics and Geopolitical Risks.

    Political first. There is a real risk that as both parties start campaigning on their policies, the market will get nervous about where we are headed on the deficit and inflation. How we get the bigger deficit and inflation risks posed by each parties’ policies will be different, but I think the risks are similar and currently not being priced in. This is why we expect to see less inversion and even “normal” yield curves as term premium gets put back into the market.

    Geopolitical. On Thursday we published a SITREP as Chinese AND Russian Bombers were Intercepted Off the Alaskan Coast. While intercepting bombers is “normal,” this was the first time (that we are aware of) that planes from these two countries took off from the same base and operated together near North America.

    This comes on the heels of our monthly Around the World piece, published on Wednesday. It is longer than usual, as there is so much going on. The Geopolitical Intelligence Group provides an updated assessment on the War in Gaza and the risk of escalation with Hezbollah. Next, it addresses what might change and what is likely to remain the same following Iran’s election of a reformist president. Next, it identifies how Russia is enhancing its partnerships to support its war in Ukraine and some problems that are coming up in discussions about what any sort of peace might look like. Finally, we address the Increased Tensions with China in the South China Sea! While for most people, Taiwan is the main area of concern, but there is also an increased concern about China’s intentions regarding some “disputed” reefs with the Philippines. “Disputed” is in quotes, as the international courts have ruled in favor of the Philippines, so away from China’s view, there is little to dispute.

    This seems like a good time to update our Geopolitical Risk vs Perception Heatmap, last published in June.

    While the events of July 19th were not CYBER related, we have inched up the risk of a real cyber threat.

    We’ve reduced the risk of a trade war as it seems that China is content to wait until after the election to respond to our most recent round of tariffs against them. While the real risk is reduced, the perception of risk has declined almost as fast, leaving this as a potential problem for markets.

    While nothing has specifically happened with Russia, current signals, messages, and chatter warrant increasing the risk of some activity on their part, which helps support commodities.

    Far and away is the risk of some “wildcard” event. The potential opportunities for a geopolitical event somewhere around the globe seem to be on the rise. We currently have a President who is not running for re-election, parties that seem as happy to attack and divide to win as they are to win on policies alone, and an entire media industry geared towards elections at the expense of reporting on the rest of the world. Maybe Russian and Chinese planes flying together near Alaska is all that we will get? Or maybe that is a snippet of our enemies/adversaries/competitors (take your pick) trying to analyze how much they can get away with?

    Bottom Line

    The Fed is not enough to “end the risk of de-risking.” The rotation trades should continue to work (though the move has already been quite extreme), but look for it to occur in a falling market. Look for some form of “not so good” landing to make its way back into the lexicon in the coming weeks.

    • Energy remains a favorite sector.

    • For banks (both KRE and KBE have been doing very well) the risk is that we get data indicating stretched consumers and unrealized problems in some segments of commercial real estate (such as office space in some specific cities). That could put some pressure on banks. The outlook is good, unless the data starts coming in worse than our already mildly bearish view, which isn’t our base case, but it seems more likely than surprising to the upside.

    • Credit. If we are correct and equities face more pressure, it will translate into some pressure on spreads, but nothing to be too concerned about as equities are far more about valuations in certain areas and positioning rather than overall economic concerns that would directly affect the creditworthiness of most borrowers. However, it would be helpful if the calendar slowed, giving everyone a little time to tuck away the recent issues. Finally, if we get a scenario that puts banks under any pressure (not our view, but something to think about for the first time in a while), that would impact credit spreads more materially.

    The worst might be behind us in risk assets, but the view here is that we have more trouble to come and August, often a “trend-following month,” will follow the trend of choppiness and losses for stocks.

    Good luck and for those of you who swim as poorly as I do, put on the water wings, because the adult swim is likely going to continue!

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 14:00

  • Meteorologists Watching New "Area Of Disturbed Weather" In Atlantic Basin After Lull In Activity 
    Meteorologists Watching New “Area Of Disturbed Weather” In Atlantic Basin After Lull In Activity 

    July has been a super quiet month in what has been expected to be a very active hurricane season, but that could all soon change with a new disturbance developing in the Atlantic Basin. 

    The National Hurricane Center reported a tropical development over the central tropical Atlantic Ocean. It is expected to interact with an approaching tropical wave early next week.

    Here’s more from NHC’s latest report:

    “Near the Leeward Islands and Greater Antilles: An area of disturbed weather over the central tropical Atlantic Ocean is expected to interact with an approaching tropical wave during the next several days. Environmental conditions are forecast to become conducive for some development in a day or two, and a tropical depression could form around midweek while the system is near or over the northern Leeward Islands, Greater Antilles, or the southwestern Atlantic Ocean.”

    Formation odds:

    • Formation chance through 48 hours was low or near 0 percent.

    • Formation chance through 7 days was medium or 40 percent

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    “Overnight 00z ensembles here on weathernerds. GFS still only has a few. EURO more aggressive and more east. Nothing expected to form until near the islands. NHC remains at 40% chance,” Mike’s Weather Page wrote on X. 

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    AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva noted that the hurricane season will soon be entering the point where more “systems take hold and organize into tropical depressions, storms, and even hurricanes under the right conditions.” 

    July brought a lull in tropical development, which will likely change as August quickly approaches. Plan those East Coast and Gulf Coast trips accordingly.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 13:25

  • German Publisher Stops All Printing Of JD Vance's Book Hillbilly Elegy
    German Publisher Stops All Printing Of JD Vance’s Book Hillbilly Elegy

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    JD Vance is a marked man. After accepting the nomination for vice president, Vance has been the subject of endless media attacks. Recently, Vice President Kamala Harris even questioned his “loyalty” to the country despite his serving as a Marine in the Iraq War. Yet, one of the most chilling attacks came from Germany where the publishing house Ullstein Buchverlage has stopped printing the sold-out German translation of Hillbilly Elegy, his 2016 autobiography.

    As we have discussed previously in this country, it is the modern left’s equivalent of book burning. After all, why burn books when you can simply prevent their being printed under blacklisting campaigns?

    In this country, we have seen the left successfully force book bans for writers and even justices who espouse opposing viewpoints.  We have seen actual calls for book burning recently (here and here).

    Ullstein is facing a high demand for Vance’s best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy, but has refused to print more copies due to his political viewpoints (unrelated to the book).

    First published in 2016 and made into a movie in 2020, the book returned to the top position on The New York Times‘ bestseller list after Trump chose Vance as his running mate.

    HarperCollins is rushing to print more books to meet the demand.

    Some in the United States are already balking at the selling of any book by Vance. Seven Stories Press wrote, “Seven Stories Press is extremely thrilled to have never published JD Vance.”

    Ullstein published the German translation of Hillbilly Elegy in 2017 and held the rights to reprints.

    The company cited Vance’s allegiance with Trump and his politics as the reason in a statement to German media:

    “At the time of its publication, the book made a valuable contribution to understanding the drifting apart of US society…In the meantime, he is officially acting alongside him and advocating an aggressively demagogic, exclusionary policy.”

    German author Gerd Buurmann posted a mocking response that we should be happy that Ullstein had just thrown Vance’s book out of its catalogue and not into the fire – a reference to the notorious Nazi book burnings of the 1930s.

    Other Germans have raised the same objections and referenced the painful history of book bans and burnings in Germany under the Nazis.

    German readers want to read the book, which Ullstein acknowledged is one of the most influential works of this generation. However, because the company disagrees with his political viewpoints, it moved to block others from reading the book.

    We have seen similar campaigns leading to the banning or burning of books by figures like JK Rowling because of her opposition to some transgender policies. The left now protests any programs on Rowling’s work and opposes the selling of her enormously popular Harry Potter series or even video games based on the series. When authors have defended her right to be published, they have also been subjected to cancel campaigns.

    Yet, Ullstein’s decision is particularly chilling as a publishing house. Again, we have seen editors at publishing houses sign petitions to bar books by conservative figures like Justice Amy Coney Barrett from being published.

    In 1933, thousands of books by Jewish and leftist writers were burned throughout Germany. Publishing houses further banned the printing of these books. The books were announced as corrupting the minds of German citizens. Many books were banned or burned on the basis of the authors being Jewish or known socialists or anarchists.

    Now the left has developed a taste for censorship and blacklisting. Editors and publishing houses are blacklisting those with conservative or libertarian views as forms of dangerous viewpoints or disinformation.

    Ullstein will, of course, not stop people from reading the work of JD Vance. While it may make it more difficult for Germans to find copies, ideas like water have a way of finding their way out. Blacklisting and censorship have not succeeded in killing a single idea. What it does is reveal the true character and values of those who want to prevent others from hearing opposing viewpoints.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 12:50

  • Lithium Battery Fire Sparks Traffic Mayhem Across California Desert
    Lithium Battery Fire Sparks Traffic Mayhem Across California Desert

    Some X users have described the traffic chaos near Baker, California, on the northbound lanes of I-15 as ‘carmageddon.’ This followed road closures on Friday that extended well into the weekend due to an overturned truck carrying lithium-ion batteries that ignited on fire. 

    As of early Sunday, the California Highway Patrol wrote on X, “I-15 N/B at Harvard Rd remains closed,” adding, “Crews are currently grading the dirt around the trailer housing the hazardous material. Heavy-duty equipment is on scene, and efforts to move the trailer will continue once deemed safe for the crews.” 

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    “A crisis situation is unfolding in the California desert. Thousands of people headed to Las Vegas have been stuck on the I-40 for many hours, running out of gas and water. This is all due to the lithium battery truck fire that closed down I-15 yesterday,” X user Las Vegas Locally wrote on X late Saturday afternoon. 

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    Drivers caught in the massive traffic backup were furious. 

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    “A different sort of energy crisis, also caused by alternative energy (a lithium battery fire),” X user Josh Young wrote. 

    The dangers of the ‘green’ energy transition are not being disclosed to the American people by radical leftists in the White House. There is limited transparency and unaccountability.

    Let’s not forget that lithium-ion batteries contain a lot of energy and can spontaneously enter into a ‘thermal runaway,‘ in other words…

    See here: 

    Though caused by a traffic accident rather than occurring spontaneously, the latest battery fire in the California desert highlights a major issue: firefighting crews nationwide are unprepared for EV fires.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 12:15

  • One Man Found The Infamous "Carpet Trails" In Florida That Lead To Enormous Homeless Encampments Way Back In The Woods
    One Man Found The Infamous “Carpet Trails” In Florida That Lead To Enormous Homeless Encampments Way Back In The Woods

    Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

    If you are still able to afford a decent home, you should consider yourself to be incredibly blessed, because vast numbers of Americans do not have a permanent place to live at this point.  Homelessness in the United States is at the highest level ever recorded, and it has been growing at the fastest pace ever recorded.  The homeless encampments that have been popping up all over our major cities have been making lots of headlines in recent years, but many of the homeless live and die in very isolated places far from public view.  What I am about to share with you should deeply sadden all of us.

    Way back in the woods in southwest Florida, trails that have been made out of discarded carpets lead to absolutely enormous homeless encampments where hordes of homeless people have made homes for themselves.

    One man was able to find these infamous “carpet trails”, and he posted footage of them on his YouTube channel…

    Coastal areas of southern Florida are very popular among the homeless because the nights never get too cold even during the winter.

    But there are plenty of other hazards, and just trying to stay alive can be a real struggle.

    Of course the west coast is dealing with an even greater crisis.

    In Portland, homeless encampments have taken over vast stretches of the city and nobody seems to have any solutions.

    KATU recently visited one of the most notorious homeless encampments, and they discovered that it has gotten even bigger since the last time they visited it…

    This is what a collapsing society looks like.

    Poverty and hunger are spreading like wildfire, and the deplorable conditions in many of our core urban areas are being openly mocked all over the globe.

    In fact, in China they are actually “producing documentaries on the collapse of American cities”…

    The Chinese are now producing documentaries on the collapse of American cities. What this showcases is the grim aftermath of decades of deindustrialization, disastrous progressive policies, and an opioid crisis—ironically fueled by China.

    “Chinese are making documentaries about ultra-extreme poverty and decaying cities since they don’t exist in China anymore,” X user S.L. Kanthan wrote in a recent post, accompanied by a short clip from the documentary highlighting the implosion of Oakland, California.

    Since the video was narrated in Chinese, X user TranslateMom translated some of the captions, which said, “Everywhere is garbage … People don’t live in places. There are wanderers everywhere.”

    One of the primary reasons why so many people are forced to live in the streets is because housing has become ridiculously unaffordable.

    If you can believe it, there are now 237 U.S. cities where “buyers will find a price tag of $1 million or more on the typical starter home”…

    A million-dollar price tag no longer means lavish and luxurious living. In more than 200 U.S. cities, buyers will find a price tag of $1 million or more on the typical starter home, a new Zillow® analysis finds.

    The typical “starter home” — defined for this analysis as being among those in the lowest third of home values in a given region — is worth at least $1 million in 237 cities, the highest number of cities ever. Five years ago, there were only 84 such cities.

    That is nuts!

    Who can afford to pay a million bucks for a “starter home”?

    This is what rampant inflation has done to us.

    It has absolutely eviscerated our standard of living, and ordinary Americans such as you and I are feeling a tremendous amount of pain right now.

    According to Zillow, California, New York and New Jersey are the states that have the most cities where a typical “starter home” costs at least a million dollars…

    Exactly half of all states have at least one city with a typical starter home worth $1 million or more. There are 117 such cities in California, well ahead of New York (31) and New Jersey (21), which have the second- and third-highest numbers. Florida and Massachusetts round out the top five with 11 each.

    Among metropolitan areas, the New York City metro, which includes parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, has the most cities with million-dollar starter homes at 48. The San Francisco metro has the next highest count at 44, followed by Los Angeles (35), San Jose (15), and Miami and Seattle, each with eight. Irvine, with a population of more than 300,000, is the biggest city with $1 million starter homes.

    Of course California is also being overwhelmed by homeless encampments right now too.

    Progressive policies have resulted in a chronic shortage of affordable housing, and that isn’t going to change any time soon.

    Sadly, conditions are only going to get worse all over the nation because our economic momentum is rapidly taking us in the wrong direction.

    For example, we just learned that credit card delinquency rates have risen to the highest level ever recorded…

    A growing number of Americans are falling behind on their monthly credit card payments as they continue to battle high inflation and interest rates.

    New data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia shows that credit card delinquency rates in the first quarter of 2024 rose to the highest level since 2012, when the Fed began tracking the data. All stages of credit card delinquency — 30, 60 and 90 days past due — rose during the first three months of the year.

    And another major retailer just went bankrupt and is closing lots of stores…

    Home goods retailer Conn’s HomePlus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday and announced plans to close at least 70 locations across 13 states.

    On its website, Conn’s says it will close 18 locations in Florida, nine in Texas and seven in Arizona. Other states that will see stores close include Virginia, Colorado, Mississippi and Oklahoma, among others.

    Everywhere you look, there is suffering.

    But for the moment, those at the very top of the economic food chain are still thriving.

    In fact, the wealthiest one percent have actually gotten 42 trillion dollars wealthier during the past decade…

    The world’s richest one percent increased their fortunes by a total of $42 trillion over the past decade, Oxfam said Thursday, ahead of a G20 summit in Brazil where taxing the super-rich tops the agenda.

    Despite this windfall, taxes on the rich had plummeted to “historic lows”, the NGO added, warning of “obscene levels” of inequality with the rest of the world “left to scrap for crumbs”.

    A day of reckoning is coming for them too.

    In fact, a day of reckoning is rapidly approaching for the entire planet.

    Our system is fundamentally flawed, and decades of really bad decisions have brought us to a breaking point.

    So please don’t look down on those that have lost their homes and have no place to live, because lots more people will be joining them soon.

    *  *  *

    Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 11:40

  • Trump Promises To Make USA The "Bitcoin Super-Power Of The World"; Democrats Panic U-Turn On Anti-Crypto Crusade
    Trump Promises To Make USA The “Bitcoin Super-Power Of The World”; Democrats Panic U-Turn On Anti-Crypto Crusade

    In a spirited keynote address, Former President Trump promised to make USA the “bitcoin super-power of the world,” ensuring that cryptocurrency is “mined, minted, and made in the USA.”

    “We have to talk about Bitcoin. Our country is blessed with the extraordinary talent and genius in this room.

    This spirit built America and will help us make it great again.

    I admire what the Bitcoin community has achieved. In just 15 years, Bitcoin has gone from an idea to the 9th most valuable asset in the world.

    It’s already bigger than ExxonMobil and soon it will surpass the market cap of silver.

    That’s a big deal.”

    He went on with some big promises:

    “I pledge the day I take office the weaponization against Bitcoin ends.”

    “On day one, I will fire Gary Gensler and appoint a new SEC Chairman.”

    “I will immediately shutdown Operation Chokepoint 2.0“

    Trump also confirmed that he will appoint a crypto advisory council with “regulations written by industry-loving people within 100 days.”

    Trump also confirmed that “there will never be a CBDC” while he is president.

    “Those who say that bitcoin is a threat to the dollar have it exactly backwards, the danger to our financial future comes from Washington DC not crypto.”

    Additionally, the former president pointing out that

    “Bitcoiners understand inflation better than anyone. You all understood it first.”

    Promising to ‘drill, baby, drill’, Trump notes that with low energy costs the USA will become the undisputed bitcoin mining center of the world.

    Finally, Trump dropped the big guns:

    “The policy of the Trump administration will be to keep 100% of all that it currently holds as the core of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile,” and confirmed his promise to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht to time-served.

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    Watch the full keynote address at Bitcoin 2024 here:

    Bitcoin price has risen significantly in the last 24 hours in anticipation of Trump’s speech…

    Notably, the Democrats appear to be worried that crypto could be a vote-change for many people (and are pushing back against the Warren/Gensler attacks). A number of Democratic congressmembers have penned a letter to the DNC pushing for change…

    Over 52 million Americans have embraced digital assets, seeing them as a means to democratize finance, spur innovation, and create new economic opportunities.

    According to recent polls. 19% of voters have bought crypto, 19% self-identified as Democrats, 18% as Republicans, and 24% of crypto-owning voters are independents.

    Data shows that digital assets are being adopted at higher rates among Gen Z, Black and Latino Americans, and immigrant communities key constituencies of the Democratic party compared to traditional financial products. These technologies are revolutionizing opportunities for these communities, reflecting their transformative potential.

    From an electoral standpoint, crypto and blockchain technologies have an outsized impact in ensuring victories up and down the ballot. Crypto is at the top of voters’ minds in swing states, and a balanced approach to crypto that spurs innovation while protecting consumers is a net positive for policymakers and candidates.

    Over 20% of voters in key battleground states identified crypto as a major issue in the 2024 election, and it is critical that our party presents a persuasive case to crypto voters while ensuring that consumers benefit from thoughtful and appropriate regulation.

    The current financial system has left Americans behind.

    According to recent surveys, 4 in 5 voters agree with the statement, “The current financial system favors elites over regular people.” Digital assets and blockchain technology are not merely financial instruments but represent a revolutionary shift that can enhance transparency, reduce fraud, and create a more inclusive financial system.

    We believe this technology is non-partisan, and the Democratic Party should also champion these innovations to help reaffirm the U.S.’s position as the leader in the global digital economy.

    They then make four suggestions that the DNC should back off the attacks on crypto:

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    Who could have seen this coming?

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    In the sixteen months since, we have seen a seismic shift in attitudes towards crypto from both Independents and Republicans; while Democrats continue to demonize the sovereign currency.

    Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised the role Bitcoin could play in improving the US economy and the American way of life as he spoke to an audience at the Bitcoin 2024 conference on July 26. He promised to sign a number of executive orders on his first day in office to begin the process.

    Kennedy would sign an order requiring the US Justice Department and US Marshalls to transfer the 204,000 Bitcoin held by the US to the Federal Reserve to be held as a “strategic asset,” he said.

    Furthermore, Kennedy said he would also order the Treasury Department to purchase 500 Bitcoin daily until the reserve reaches at least four million BTC.

    The United States would attain “a position of dominance no other country will be able to usurp” and its Bitcoin reserve would eventually reach a value of “hundreds of trillions of dollars,” he promised.

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    In addition, CoinTelegraph’s Derek Andersen reports that Kennedy would order the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to treat all transactions between Bitcoin and the US dollar as nonreportable and nontaxable. He would also order the IRS to treat Bitcoin as eligible for exchange into real property under the 1031 Exchange program, which provides incentives for real estate investment.

    “Transactional freedom [is] as important as freedom of expression in the 1st Amendment,” Kennedy said, and Bitcoin can provide that freedom and help restore the United States economy to its condition before President Richard Nixon took the US dollar off the gold standard to fund the Vietnam war. Kennedy added:

    “Fiat currency was invented to fund war. […] If the world was on a BTC standard, there would be no more war because you can’t print Bitcoin.”

    “I understand that tomorrow President Trump may announce his plan to build a Bitcoin Fort Knox and authorize the US government to buy a million Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset,” Kennedy told the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville on Friday, a day before Trump was scheduled to speak at the same event.

    “And I applaud that announcement.”

    However, most notable is the shift seen by former President Trump from his initial comments in 2019..

    “I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated cryptoassets can facilitate unlawful behaviour, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”

    Thankfully, as Mark Shut and Lee Bratcher detail below, via BitcoinMagazine.com, the official position of the Republican Party has changed dramatically since President Donald J Trump condemned the emerging crypto industry in those uncompromising terms back in 2019.

    Earlier this month, the Republican National Committee adopted an ambitious platform to promote innovation in the US’ digital assets industry and protect the rights of bitcoin holders.

    For one, the official platform pledges that the Republicans will “defend the right to mine bitcoin.”

    This represents a much-needed departure from the policies of the incumbent administration.

    In February this year, the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued an “emergency” survey to bitcoin mining companies, demanding highly sensitive information such as the specifications of the machines being used, the specific locations of their mining operations, and contractual information relating to their commercial energy partners. The EIA not only demanded all of this information but pledged to publish even the most commercially sensitive bits of it.

    This initiative represented an unprecedented intrusion into the activities of Bitcoin miners and a massive assault on the crypto industry. It prompted organizations such as the Texas Blockchain Council to launch legal proceedings to try and protect the rights of the crypto industry against federal outreach. The Republicans’ pledge to “defend the right to mine bitcoin” is therefore very welcome.

    There are other encouraging pledges that the Republicans have made.

    The GOP has said they will “ensure every American has the right to self-custody their digital assets and transact free from government surveillance and control.”

    They have also come out strongly against the idea of a CBDC.

    “Republicans will end Democrats’ unlawful and un-American crypto crackdown and oppose the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency,” the party has said.

    Of course, all of this is highly encouraging for digital asset industry advocates. But it still begs the question.

    What caused President Trump to change his mind and start embracing the massive potential of digital assets and decentralized finance?

    How has this pro-digital asset agenda vaulted into the limelight of Presidential politics?

    If there is one man who has contributed more than anybody else to changing Republicans’ mind on crypto, it is Vivek Ramaswamy.

    The former Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur is clearly having increasing amounts of influence on the GOP inner circle. At the Republican Convention this month, Donald Trump Jr joked that he would like Ramaswamy to be his running mate in 2036. Indeed, ever since his presidential bid last year, it is clear that he has been one of the leading voices at the upper echelons of the Republicans guiding the party in a more pro-crypto direction.

    Ramaswamy made waves in GOP circles when, at the North American Blockchain Summit in Texas last year, he released a detailed and comprehensive plan for the US crypto space.

    What did he pledge to do? Perhaps the most eye-catching measure was his promise to fire most of the employees at the bloated Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and order the rest to stop trying to bully the crypto industry. Importantly, Ramaswamy defines many cryptocurrencies like bitcoin as commodities that are therefore not under the jurisdiction of the SEC.

    “I think it’s nothing short of embarrassing that Gary Gensler, the current leader of the SEC, in front of Congress could not even say whether Ethereum counted as a regulated security or not,” Ramaswamy said during one of the Republican debates last year. “This is just another example of the administrative state gone too far.”

    Ramaswamy has been a vocal advocate for innovation in the crypto space and the use of decentralized digital currencies as a tool for financial freedom. He has argued that the right to code should be a right protected by the First Amendment, protecting developers from the overreaches of federal agencies.

    He has also said that consumers should have a right to possess self-hosted digital wallets beyond the grasp of the government. This has now been explicitly adopted by the Republicans for their 2024 election campaign, showing the practical influence Ramaswamy is having on Republican policy.

    It is not just Ramaswamy who has been positively influencing Republican policy. Back in May last year, Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, brought into force a law banning any potential CBDC being used in the state. The regulation “prohibits the use of a federally adopted CBDC by excluding it from the definition of money within Florida’s Uniform Commercial Code.”

    Efforts like this have been essential in making the Republican leadership aware of the dangers associated with CBDCs and prompting them to pledge action.

    But arguably the most important impactful of Ramaswamy’s crypto activism is to persuade the broader Republican Party that supporting crypto innovation is in line with their political philosophy and natural instincts.

    He has powerfully argued that the current federal assault on the crypto industry is “an embodiment of our national decline” in the way it represents an attack on innovation and entrepreneurship, two values the Republicans have always claimed to hold dear.

    Ramaswamy has similarly noted that Bitcoin mining is “a frontier in American innovation” in the same tradition as American heroes such as Thomas Jefferson – who Ramaswamy thinks “would have been a Bitcoin miner.” This rhetoric seems to have worked in convincing President Trump and Republican leaders that they should indeed be the pro-bitcoin party.

    Another key emerging figure in the Republican party who is of a similar mind on digital assets as Vivek is Trump’s recent VP pick, J.D. Vance. Senator Vance is vocal about his support for bitcoin and digital assets and has a background in tech venture capital. He is young and he understands the importance of courting younger votes.

    So, what will “four more years” of President Trump mean for the US digital asset industry?

    Let’s end as we started, with another quote from the President – one that shows, thanks to the efforts of Vivek Ramaswamy, Senator Vance and others, just how much the Republican stance on crypto has changed over the last few years.

    “I will end Joe Biden’s war on crypto. We will ensure that the future of crypto and the future of Bitcoin will be made in America.”

    “If Trump is elected, the U.S. will have to add Bitcoin as a reserve, because it is digital gold,” said Arseniy Grusha, chief executive officer of data-center firm Dataprana, who attended the conference. “The earlier they do that, the better it will be for the United States.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 07/28/2024 – 11:11

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