- Why Didn't The Constitution Stop This?
Why Didn't The Constitution Stop This?
Authored by Robert Wright via The American Institute for Economic Research,
The genius of the U.S. Constitution is that the Framers, especially James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, saw it as a constraint on bad policymaking.
Given the number of really bad policies that various US governments and officials, from school boards to POTUS, have implemented, especially recently, it is high time to restore weakened or lost Constitutional restraints against arbitrary rule.
Five forces threaten Americans with destruction:
1) nature;
2) foreign powers;
3) the national government;
4) state and local governments;
5) themselves.
The threat from 3, 4, and 5 is double-edged, meaning that Americans can be harmed by the actions of those forces as well as by their inaction.
The national government, for example, can harm Americans by being insufficiently prepared for natural catastrophes and foreign incursions, as with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the 9/11 attacks. It can also harm Americans, though, by doing too much, as with the invasion of Iraq and the way-too-long occupation of Afghanistan. (Relying too much on FEMA instead of states or private initiatives may be another example, but less clear cut than the needless wars.)
The national and state governments are supposed to check each other’s power, so that if one overreaches, the other can thwart it. We usually think about this in terms of “states’ rights” but in fact federalism, as the concept is sometimes called, runs both ways: the states should check the national government when necessary but the national government should also check the power of the states when they overreach, as they sometimes do.
Advocates of states’ rights often cite the Tenth Amendment, which reads in its entirety “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Because the word “expressly” does not occur before “delegated” in the ratified version of the amendment, however, it is among the weakest parts of the Constitution.
Traditionally, though, the states retained primary control of so-called “police powers,” the powers that form the legal basis for the economic lockdowns that have imprisoned most Americans for over a month now. Books have been written about this stuff so obviously I cannot relate all the details and nuances involved but ultimately they matter little in the present case. The key point is that police powers, national, state, or local, do not provide carte blanche to governments. Specifically, the Constitution constrains state police powers in numerous ways.
Importantly, courts see Constitutional rights as tradeoffs between conflicting interests. So while the Constitution says that the national and state governments cannot infringe individual speech rights, they can pass laws that make it illegal for an individual, for example, to falsely yell “fire” in a crowded theater. The notion is that the property and natural rights of the theatergoers trump the free speech rights of the liar.
Similar restrictions apply to the right of assembly. All Americans have the right to assemble with other Americans for any lawful purpose but state police powers, the positive duty of states to protect the physical safety of assemblers and non-assemblers, mean that governments may restrict assemblies through permit systems.
Similar arguments are made to defend the pistol permit systems common in many states. They are bogus but show how far courts go to balance one person’s rights with those of others. If you believe that gun control laws should be followed because they are laws passed by democratically elected representatives you have missed the point of the Constitution, which, again, is to constrain policymakers, to protect individual Americans from the national and state governments and also other Americans.
Just because a majority wants some policy doesn’t mean that that policy is a good idea, after all. I imagine at one point in March 2020 a majority of Americans might have thought it a good idea to deport, tax, infect, or maybe even kill Chinese-Americans in order to make “them” pay for what “they” did to “us.” (I don’t want to link to evidence of that … just look at your social media feeds if you need evidence.) That is a typically ugly human reaction to trauma but one that would have been proven empirically wrong as well as morally bankrupt and economically inane (sunk costs). Thankfully, the Constitution remained strong enough to prevent that horror.
It did not, however, prove strong enough to prevent state governments from taking their police powers too far. They engaged in fancy word play to hide the fact that they acted without a shred of precedent. What they imposed is not a quarantine, which constrains the movement of sick people, nor a cordon sanitaire, which locks people into an afflicted area, nor a protective sequestration, which locks people out of an unafflicted area. Instead, they have implemented partial martial law (military rule essentially) by imprisoning Americans in their own homes without due process of law and stolen their property by shuttering their businesses. (Some recompense has been attempted but of course only bluntly and at a cost to all taxpayers, including those in states that did not shutter most businesses.)
Remember, just because a state has general police powers doesn’t mean it can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, simply because its actions are popular, or passed into law, or urged by some scientist. Imagine, for example, if some executive thought everyone ought to drink bleach, crazy as that seems, and actually mandated it. Would you do it? (Hint: Don’t do it! Even if some guy in a suit or lab coat tells you that you must.) What if some leader believed that the coronavirus is spread primarily by clothing and mandated that we all go naked in public, except for our masks and gloves of course? Or if one thought an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) would solve the problem (and destroy all computers in the process)?
Any promulgation that violates the Constitution, in any way, shape, or form, is null and void. A federal judge has the authority to declare any state law or executive order unconstitutional and demand that it be revoked. Judges generally give governments broad leeway to protect “public health” but the policies must be rational and they must weigh the rights of all involved parties. Historically, many government epidemic responses never got litigated because the crises passed before suits could be brought and because quarantines, cordons, and sequestrations can make rational sense in specific situations. But, again, state governments for some reason have tried to combat the novel coronavirus with novel policies that come with huge negative side effects for everyone — workers, consumers, and taxpayers — and that have and will continue to cause deaths, minimization of which is the ostensible goal of lockdown policies.
Why draconian lockdown rules have not yet been deemed unconstitutional I still do not know, but the fact that a former federal judge who teaches at Harvard apparently does not know the difference between a quarantine and a lockdown might provide a clue.
Another clue might come from the fact that the courts, like the rest of the country, are run by the people most at risk of dying from COVID-19. But at least lawsuits have finally begun to be filed in significant numbers.
Once a federal court (especially SCOTUS, from which there is no appeal) declares a law unconstitutional, as SCOTUS has often done to state laws throughout US history, the political dynamic changes dramatically. States must comply or face that other side of federalism, where the U.S. government has the duty to protect American citizens from their own state governments under the 14th Amendment, one of the Constitution’s strongest.
The national government has intervened before, most dramatically during the Civil War, but as recently as the Civil Rights Movement. In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the National Guard of Arkansas in order to enforce federal court rulings in Little Rock. Arkansas duly passed laws, highly popular laws, mandating the “social distancing” of people with different skin tones, but that did not matter because the federal government has to weigh all the Constitutional rights of all Americans. No matter what.
Similarly, President Lyndon B. Johnson federalized the Alabama National Guard in 1965 to protect peaceful protestors marching from Selma to Montgomery from Alabama state troopers. No joke, look it up.
Federalization of state military forces has plenty of precedent: Trump has already federalized some national guard units to help with coronavirus relief efforts in Washington, California, and New York (not to enforce lockdowns) and to “protect” the southern border, something that every president since Ronald Reagan, including President Barack Obama, has done. Richard Nixon federalized some units too, in 1970 in response to a US postal strike. President George Washington himself led federalized militia troops to put down a federal tax rebellion in western Pennsylvania in 1794.
If National Guard troops refused to follow the President’s orders, things could get ugly very quickly but hopefully matters will not come to that. After all, nobody (yet) wants to drag people from their homes, only to allow those who wish to engage in lawful commercial intercourse to do so, just like those students in Little Rock only wanted an equal education and those marchers simply wanted to exercise their First Amendment rights.
In a sense, then, Trump was right when he claimed that he has the authority to force states to re-open their economies, provided a federal judge declares state lockdowns unconstitutional and state governments refuse to comply with his or her order.
In that scenario, the Constitution itself can be blamed for causing a spike in COVID-19 deaths should one occur after reopening.
We will not be trading off lives for lucre at that point, we will be trading off lives for liberty, just as I argued at the outset of the crisis. Now, let a politician say that we must give up the Constitution to save one life. I dare him or her!
Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/02/2020 – 00:00 - Macau Gaming Revenues Down 97% As Travel Restrictions Take Toll
Macau Gaming Revenues Down 97% As Travel Restrictions Take Toll
April gross gaming revenues at Macau casinos are down a staggering 96.8% year-on-year to MOP$754 million (US$87 million), as tourism to the gambling mecca has virtually disappeared due to travel restrictions barring the entry of all non-residents aside from those from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Meanwhile, China’s Guangdong Province introduced a mandatory 14-day quarantine for anyone returning from Macau, including Guangdong residents, according to Inside Asian Gaming.
An attendant checks the temperature of a tourist at the entrance to the Galaxy Macau casino and hotel For the first four months of 2020, Macau’s GGR is down 68.7% year-on-year to MOP$31.24 billion compared with MOP$99.74 billion over the same period in 2019.
Empty casinos
As IAG notes in a separate Friday report, Macau casinos are virtual ghost towns – with the MGM Macau seeing the most foot traffic for the third week in a row out of 11 properties surveyed.
On average, each gaming floor had around five players (37%) on tables and nine players (63%) on slots. MGM Macau was by far the busiest with 23 players at the tables and eight on slots, while The Venetian Macao came in second best with eight at the tables and 15 on slots. Once again, Sands Cotai Central was quietest with only a single slots player. –Inside Asian Gaming
Macau has had 45 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 3,792 suspected cases, 37 recoveries, and zero deaths.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 23:40 - There Is No Exit From COVID-19, Only Containment
There Is No Exit From COVID-19, Only Containment
Authored by M.K.Bhadrakumar via The Indian Punchline blog,
From this point, the buck stops with the Modi government, as the country trudges along the Covid highway. The political move to tap into the residual spirit of Indian federalism in our highly polarised polity helped so far, as the central government could inject into its decisions a look of national consensus. Whereas, the central government took all major decisions and most minor decisions.
However, the physical or material conditions vary from state to state while on the other hand, the time is approaching for the central government to make a thorny decision — when or how to restart the economy that was shut down almost overnight.
Clearly, an economy of India’s size won’t start back up simply because the government so decided. The refrain is that the restart will be gradual. But the devil lies in the details. Under what circumstances will businesses be allowed to reopen? It seems certain regions and businesses / industries may be put on a fast track. The MSME sector, which employs 12 crore workers need special attention.
However, defining a yardstick will be difficult because the economy is a complex web of supply chains and interlocking pieces with a dynamics of their own. In an interview with the BBC Radio last week, the owner of Mahindra & Mahindra said he just couldn’t see any possibility of his company becoming operational before May 2021, since, amongst other things, it doesn’t make sense to make cars without the numerous suppliers and sales outlets first reviving and, importantly, until consumer confidence revives.
Clearly, epidemiologists’ recommendations or the government’s decisions will not be the last word. If a manufacturer in Chennai depends on a part made in Ahmedabad, for example, where the virus is still spreading, a government fiat to start production becomes meaningless. Simply put, it is going to take much longer to thaw the economy than it took to freeze it.
Then, there is the co-relation between a phased reopening of the economy and public health benchmarks. The best that can be said about the lockdown is that it probably slowed down the spread of the virus. But we’re chasing a chimera here. The authenticity of the figures available is in serious doubt. No one is to blame because tracking the coronavirus is difficult in such abnormal conditions of lockout.
Today’s New York Times reported that the coronavirus death toll in the US is actually far higher than reported. The FT also came out with a stunning report today that Britain’s actual death toll could be plausibly in the region of 41000, as against hospital death data that show 17,337 people having died.
The plain truth is that there is no “exit strategy” possible out of the lockdown in the absence of a vaccine or a proven therapy.
“We will have to learn to live with the virus,” French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe put it starkly on April 28, while outlining his plan to start reopening the country at the National Assembly in Paris, until a vaccine or effective treatment is available.
This stark reality ought to leave with the Indian states a free hand to develop their own road maps and decide either to persist in lockdown or pull themselves out in different ways and at different speed. What cannot be overlooked is that all this is taking place under the threat of a second global wave or outbreak — a disaster scenario.
Epidemics come in waves. In the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, the first wave was nothing in comparison with the virulent second wave, which left a horrific trail. No doubt, this is a Catch-22 situation — whether suppressing the virus further to stall a repeat outbreak or the lifting of restrictions quicker to limit the economic fallout should take precedence. The biggest risk is that you open too fast, too broadly.
The warning from Germany on lockdown easing conveys a sombre message. Only a week since the easing began in Germany with the reopening of shops (with all conceivable precautions put in place with characteristic Teutonic efficiency and thoroughness), it appears that Berlin may have to re-tighten its lockdown because the virus is spreading too fast.
The virus reproduction rate – measuring how many the average person with Covid-19 infects – increased to 1.0. (Any value above 1.0 is seen as leading to exponential increase in infections.) Chancellor Angela Merkel is on record that a rise to 1.2 ( of the so-called “RE number”) could mean hospitals reach a crisis point in July: “If we get to 1.2 people, so everyone is infecting 20 per cent more, out of five people one infects two and the rest one, then we will reach the limit of our healthcare system in July”.
Remember, this is one of the richest countries in the world — and a social democracy with a well developed healthcare system. It is a worrying sign. Surely, there are many variables swirling in the ether, and epidemiology is a complex business.
The bottom line is that with no vaccine or cure insight, the government will have to decide how many deaths would be acceptable to restore a shattered economy. If the “RE” number lifts after an easing of restrictions on 3rd May and we’re forced to back-pedal, the economic damage will be amplified, leave aside the potential to demoralise the public’s resolve.
Mass testing of asymptomatic people appears to be the defining measure of success globally in tackling the virus, but in India, we lack the infrastructure for it. Time and testing are key and the longer a quarantine can be extended the better, and the more testing made available, the easier it would be to properly calibrate a reopening and respond to any new outbreak. No doubt, waiting until comprehensive testing provides a better map of where the infection has spread.
Devi Sridhar, the chair of global public health at Edinburgh Medical School and director of the Global Health Governance program, recently tweeted on the three options open. Sridhar wrote:
“There are few short-term options.
1: Let the virus go and thousands die.
2: Lockdown and release cycles which will destroy economy and society.
3: Aggressive test, trace, isolate strategy supported with soft physical distancing.”
Having said that, the horrifying twin-reality still remains to be that an end to lockdown will by no means represent a return to normality, and, equally, a second, far more destructive wave is virtually an unavoidable possibility, notwithstanding the infection-reducing social distancing as a “new normal” in our daily life.
Under the circumstances, while dampening public expectations may not be the best option in politics, public morale is best sustained on the basis of transparent, realistic communication. This is a long haul. Make no mistake that in the absence of a safe and effective vaccine and/or a safe and effective drug to eliminate the COVID-19 infection once it has occurred, our narrative narrows down to a containment strategy attuned to Indian conditions, quintessentially – which, by no means, becomes an exit strategy.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 23:20 - New Coronavirus Study Claims Outbreak Will Last Longer Than 2 Years As 2/3rds Of Humanity Infected
New Coronavirus Study Claims Outbreak Will Last Longer Than 2 Years As 2/3rds Of Humanity Infected
It’s been a while since we saw a study projecting an extremely dire endgame for the coronavirus outbreak.
Yet, as the battle over whether to reopen immediately or wait a few more weeks becomes almost universally-partisan, a non-peer-reviewed study out of the midwest projected that the virus could kick around for another 2 years, and that the outbreak won’t subside until more than 60% of the global population is immune, Bloomberg reports.
According to the research from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, the coronavirus pandemic is likely to last as long as two years and won’t be controlled until about two-thirds of the world’s population is immune.
The report was written by CIDRAP director Michael Osterholm and medical director Kristen Moore, Tulane University public health historian John Barry, and Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch, whose name has appeared on other important coronavirus research and commentary.
Furthermore, because so many of those infected by the virus are asymptomatic or mostly asymptomatic, lockdowns and other aggressive measures might not be enough to stamp it out completely. This ‘invisibility’ is what makes SARS-CoV-2 such a challenging virus to contain.
This might help explain why Sweden’s approach has been so popular, while offering perhaps the best argument yet for why states might as well reopen. According to the researchers, the virus will likely keep on coming in waves perhaps until the end of 2022, or even longer, as drug companies scramble to develop a vaccine, or a cure.
Because of its ability to spread from person to person without the presence of symptoms, the virus will likely be much harder to control than the flu. The virus is deadlier than the flu, too – and certain mutated strains have been found to be significantly more virulent.
According to the report, people might actually be at their most infectious before symptoms even start to appear.
“Risk communication messaging from government officials should incorporate the concept that this pandemic will not be over soon,” they said, “and that people need to be prepared for possible periodic resurgences of disease over the next two years.”
That’s the last thing equity traders probably want to hear on Friday.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 23:00 - Oregon County Says "No Whites Allowed"
Oregon County Says "No Whites Allowed"
Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,
Are you ready for this week’s absurdity? Here’s our Friday roll-up of the most ridiculous stories from around the world that are threats to your liberty, your finances, and your prosperity… and on occasion, poetic justice.
“No whites allowed” safe space for employees of Oregon county
Do you know what’s been missing from the government’s response to coronavirus?
You might think– ‘more testing kits’, or ‘honest information’.
Nope. According to at least one county in the US state of Oregon, the biggest issue right now is establishing “safe spaces” where no white people are allowed.
This is how Multnomah County, Oregon is rewarding its employees who are working during the pandemic: the county government announced that one of their departments will host “a grounding space for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) employees to share, heal, connect, and get grounded in a space that is not dominated by whiteness.”
The safe-space was announced in a daily report to county employees fighting coronavirus.
When asked, a county spokesperson assured the public that it is perfectly legal to discriminate against their white employees.
She explained, “The space excludes no one. It is based on shared lived experience not identity. The same way our employee resource groups for veterans, parents, and people with a disability are based on life experience and not identity. All are welcome here.”
Except white people.
Try to wrap your mind around that double-speak.
Click here to read the full story.
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Police testing “Pandemic Drones”
Connecticut police will be testing a new “pandemic drone.”
It is so named because the drone is “equipped with a specialized sensor and vision systems that can display fever/temperature, heart and respiratory rates, as well as detect people sneezing and coughing in crowds, and wherever groups of people may work or congregate.”
The company that builds the drones announced the partnership with police.
“The technology can accurately detect infectious conditions from a distance of 190 feet as well as measure social distancing for proactive public safety practices.”
If you already think the government expansion of power and surveillance has gone too far, just wait until Robocop gets involved.
Click here for the full story.
* * *
Shocking: China loves the World Health Organization
We have been talking about the World Health Organization a lot over the past couple weeks.
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First, a WHO official said they will have to seperate families to stop coronavirus.
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Then the WHO advocated banning alcohol during the lockdown to save lives.
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We also highlighted the timeline of WHO failures as the virus spread globally.
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The WHO once made a brutal murderer– former Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe– one of its GOODWILL ambassadors.
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Youtube is helping this corrupt and incompetent organization by banning any content which contradicts the WHO’s narrative.
Now, China decided to send an extra $30 million to the World Health Organization after the US announced a temporary funding freeze due to its missteps.
A Chinese official said the gift to WHO “reflects the support and trust of the Chinese government and people for the WHO”.
Just in case you needed another reason NOT to trust the World Health Organization.
Click here for the full story.
* * *
Congressional Budget Office sees a $3.7 trillion deficit this year alone
Tax revenue is drying up from a locked-down economy, at the same time spending is massively ballooning,
Over the past years we’ve asked rhetorically: if the US runs trillion dollar deficits during the best of times, what happens during the tough times?
Now that the world has hit the tough times, and the answer to that question is no surprise:The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this year’s budget deficit will be $3.7 trillion.
That means the government will spend $3.7 trillion dollars more than they take in from taxes.
To put that number in context, $3.7 trillion constitutes almost 20% of the entire US economy.
Click here for the full story.
* * *
And to continue learning how to ensure you thrive no matter what happens next in the world, I encourage you to download our free Perfect Plan B Guide.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 22:40 -
- China Revives Centuries-Old Social Distancing Hat For Students
China Revives Centuries-Old Social Distancing Hat For Students
Students in eastern China wore social distancing hats as they returned to school following the coronavirus outbreak.
Images and videos have surfaced on popular Chinese social media platforms of students wearing self-made airplane winged hats on their heads and face masks in a classroom.
Will this work? To enforce #socialdistancing measures, a primary school in Hangzhou lets first graders wear DIY hats that are 1m in width so that these children can remember to keep their distance from each other on the first day of class. https://t.co/PuWotroUcN pic.twitter.com/pX9z7IAxGc
— The Paper 澎湃新闻 (@thepapercn) April 26, 2020
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“The longest ever winter vacation for Hangzhou’s elementary students ended this week, as first to third grades returned to the classroom. One school in the city, Yangzheng Primary School, gave its students an early assignment: fashion their own homemade “one-meter hats,” to remind the youngsters to stay a meter apart at all times,” reported RT News.
Social distancing hats were only to be taken off during lunchtime, local media said. While walking through doorways and narrow hallways, students had to navigate carefully. These hats have become mandatory in Hangzhou for all students.
About two hours north up the coast, Shanghai welcomed back middle and high school students. Schools across China have reopened in the last several weeks. Wuhan, the hardest-hit area in China, reopened earlier this month.
It seems like social distancing hats have been around for centuries. Possible revival?
the real original inventor of social distancing was Zhao Kuangyin, founding emperor of the Song dynasty, who made his officials wear these long ass helicopter blade hats so they couldn’t whisper to each other during state meetings pic.twitter.com/5Zm000ojlq
— Xiran Jay Zhao is not a COWard (@XiranJayZhao) April 24, 2020
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Someone has made a social distancing hat with lasers.
American educators are studying how China is reopening schools amid the threats of another coronavirus wave. Social distancing hats are likely coming to the US when schools open.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 22:20 - Why Michael Flynn Was Set Up
Why Michael Flynn Was Set Up
Authored by Roger Simon via The Epoch Times,
The more we learn about the evils done to Michael Flynn, and they increase day by day, the more the FBI comes to resemble the KGB.
Or is it the earlier version, the NKVD, whose leader Lavrentiy Beria famously declared “Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime.”
James Comey – the head of the FBI during this period of extraordinary moral turpitude – never said anything anywhere near that pithy or memorable but he did Beria one better. He, with Peter Strzok, whose feckless emails to his paramour continue to amaze, and various other bit players – some revealed others yet to be revealed – of this sorry saga, didn’t just find a crime, they invented one.
In all fairness, the Soviets, pre and post-Beria, often did the same, putting the darkness in “Darkness at Noon” with forced confessions as in the Metro-Vickers Affair (1933) when innocent Brits took the hit for the failure of Stalin’s “Five-Year Plan.”
What was really going on with what was essentially the “forced confession” of Michael Flynn?
Attorney Andrew C. McCarthy said on Tucker Carlson Thursday night that Flynn wasn’t the target. It was Trump. Flynn was just a “seasoned intelligence professional” (McCarthy’s words) who had to be implicated and put out of the way in order to reach the president, the real bull’s eye.
That’s likely true, but it’s also likely that wasn’t the only reason. Flynn was by himself a target.
During the transition, it is said Obama gave Trump two pieces of advice on whom he considered to be the current greatest threats to the United States, so the new president could be forearmed—Kim Jong-un and Michael Flynn.
Michael Flynn? (I’d add several exclamation points and question marks, but it’s tacky.). Why would he be of anywhere near that importance to be put in the same conversation as the nuclear-armed dictator of North Korea?
The answer, I believe, is a four letter word: Iran.
The Iran Deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA) was, with the Affordable Care Act, one of the twin pillars of Obama’s presidency on which he wanted to base his legacy.
I’m not going into here the many theories of why, beyond that legacy, Obama was so attached to the JCPOA, but, by the time Trump was elected, it was already under heavy criticism due to the Islamic Republic’s violent activities in the Syrian civil war and elsewhere, arming Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and other proxies with moneys that came via America and—naive as it now sounds—were supposed to be for the improvement of the lives of the Iranian people.
Flynn was known to have been one of the most adamant opponents of the Iran Deal within the Obama administration in the first place and, with his military record as a three-star general plus aforementioned intelligence expertise, perhaps the most powerful one.
So bringing down Flynn was a two-for, striking a blow at the new president while hopefully helping to preserve the Iran Deal. The second part didn’t work, but the first did… for a while.
It’s therefore not totally surprising—what is these days?—that the newly-revealed documents have “SCO “ (Special Counsels Office) scrawled on them, among other incriminating notes indicating a “setup” was in the cards for Flynn.
That means these statements exculpating Trump’s newly-appointed National Security Adviser went to Mueller’s office where someone (Mueller? Weissman?) ignored them and continued with what Trump has colloquially, and I think too loosely, branded a “hoax.” It was far more than that. It was a form of defenestration.
When we look for the Mr. Big in all this, as we are tempted to do as—we can be more confident now— more rolls out, we should not settle for James Comey, as culpable as he may be. This bizarre character who self-identified on Twitter as the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr is not the end to the story.
We are looking at a Netflix series with a plot that gets increasingly complicated. It goes past Comey and into the intelligence agencies and the State Department—a real life version of “Scandal” with, I regret to tell show runner Shonda Rhymes, the liberals and progressives almost always the villains.
When it reaches Brennan and Obama, it may not even end there. Maybe even John Durham doesn’t know. (Kidding. I hope.)
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 22:00 - "Gone In 60 Seconds" – 19 Children In North Carolina Steal 46 Cars From Dealerships
"Gone In 60 Seconds" – 19 Children In North Carolina Steal 46 Cars From Dealerships
Crime has increased during every recession since the 1950s. As people lose their jobs, they sometimes resort to theft and robbery to compensate for lost income. As a depression unfolds across America, a group of 19 kids, ages 19 to 16, have been accused by law enforcement for stealing over a million dollars in vehicles from dealerships under the cover of the pandemic.
The thefts began on March 17, and occurred across numerous auto dealerships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, reported WXII NBC.
Winston-Salem Police said 18 break-ins were reported at dealerships in the region, along with two in Kernersville.
In total, 46 vehicles were stolen, worth about $1.14 million. Police said all but three were recovered.
It appears these kids were just shy of the 50 mark, something that movies buffs would know if they’ve seen the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds,” where Nicolas Cage had to steal 50 luxury cars in one night to save his brother from a crime lord. Now there were no reports suggesting the kids were working for an organized crime organization, that would take the cars and part them out or load them up in sea containers for overseas clients.
But there’s something that is troubling to us. How the heck did they kids get a hold of the technology, remember, most cars today need key fobs or laser cut keys – to start these vehicles?
Police have been denied custody orders from the Forsyth County Department of Juvenile Justice for the children. They said one adult was arrested, 19, Mekeal Binns, was charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle, and remains in Forsyth County Detention Center.
Here are some of the dealerships the kids targeted:
- Flow Honda, 2600 Peters Creek Parkway
- Flow Lexus, 801 Jonestown Road
- Enterprise Rentals, 3080 University Parkway
- Parkway Ford, 3150 University Parkway
- Flow Audi, 465 Silas Creek Parkway
- Modern Infinity, 1500 Peters Creek Parkway
- Bob King Kia, 1725 Link Road
- Modern Toyota, 3178 Peters Creek Parkway
- Volvo, 701 Peters Creek Parkway
- Parkway Ford, 2104 Peters Creek Parkway
- Flow Subaru, 425 Silas Creek Parkway
- Flow Chevrolet, S. Stratford Road
Map of dealerships that saw thefts Authorities have asked the dealerships to better secure cars during the virus lockdowns. Looting was also seen in South Carolina in early April during statewide stay-at-home orders.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 21:40 - Johnstone: The Way Liberals Smear Tara Reade Is Everything Rape Survivors Fear
Johnstone: The Way Liberals Smear Tara Reade Is Everything Rape Survivors Fear
Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,
Former Georgia state congresswoman and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who is on the Joe Biden running mate short list and making no secret of her desire for the job, said on CNN Tuesday night that she did not believe rape allegations against Biden to be credible.
“The New York Times did a deep investigation and they found that the accusation was not credible. I believe Joe Biden,” Abrams said when pressed on further corroborating evidence that Biden’s accuser Tara Reade had been talking about a sexual assault by the then-senator way back in the nineties.
CNN’s Don Lemon pressed Abrams on the contradiction between her earlier “believe women” rhetoric about conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser, to which Abrams responded that Kavanaugh’s accuser was not given a fair hearing but Tara Reade was. Past tense. Over and done with now.
Lemon did not ask why Abrams considers The New York Times the official arbiter of who was and was not raped. He did not challenge her false assertion that The New York Times concluded Reade’s accusation was “not credible”. He did not point out that the investigation by the The New York Times took place prior to the emergence of the corroborating evidence in question. Abrams was allowed to coolly insert a false, baseless narrative into public consciousness and move on.
It’s gonna be a long six months.
— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) April 29, 2020
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In reality, The New York Times is not the authority on who has and has not been sexually assaulted. That’s not a thing.
In reality, The New York Times did not conclude that Reade’s accusation is not credible, only that they “found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable” (which they later quietly edited down to “found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden” at the instruction of the Biden campaign, a very blatant act of journalistic malpractice).
In reality, The New York Times has smeared Reade with a scandalous hit piece dismissing her allegations because she has written approvingly of Russian president Vladimir Putin, implying that either:
(A) Reade is a Russian agent fabricating the allegations to help Trump, or
(B) that it’s okay to rape women if they disagree with beltway consensus foreign policy.
In reality, two new corroborating pieces of evidence have been added to the growing pile since The New York Times published its “investigation” into Reade’s allegations: footage of Reade’s mother anonymously calling in to Larry King Live in 1993 during Reade’s last month of employment with Biden saying that her daughter was considering going to the press with a very serious allegation against a very prominent senator, and a former neighbor saying that Reade had told her about the sexual assault in the mid-nineties.
I have never been in the “always believe all women” camp; it’s a narrative that’s too easy to manipulate once you get enough people believing it. But at this point there are basically only two possibilities: either:
(A) Tara Reade was going around lying to her closest confidants in the 1990s with the very long-term goal of one day thwarting Biden’s third presidential bid decades later, or
(B) a powerful man sexually assaulted a woman. One of these, in my opinion, is a lot more probable than the other.
Reach out to me directly and ask ?
I am not an ” imperfect victim”. I was lifelong Democratic supporter single mom that put myself through law school and I was raped by Joe Biden, my former boss, a Democrat.
There are no excuses for institutionalized rape culture. Thank you. https://t.co/hOQTxAzfa5— taratweets ( Alexandra Tara Reade) (@ReadeAlexandra) April 28, 2020
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I’ve been avoiding writing much about Tara Reade, for a lot of reasons. Firstly I’m a survivor of multiple rapes and it brings up a lot of ouch for me, especially since whenever I write about rape as a problem I always get a deluge of highly triggered men (and sometimes one or two highly traumatized women) calling me a man-hater and saying all kinds of nasty things to me. Secondly I’ve been trying not to spend too much time on the details of an election we all know is fake anyway between two establishment candidates we already know are deeply depraved.
But mostly I avoid the subject because it’s just so goddamn gross. It’s gross to watch liberals going around pretending they believe that Handsy Uncle Hair Sniffer would never dream of shoving his fingers into a woman without her consent. It’s gross watching the language of leftism being borrowed to defend pure, relentless victim smearing. It’s gross watching people who’ve built their political identities around pretending to care about women try to spin these allegations as Reade being dishonest for partisan reasons, when in reality that’s exactly what they themselves are doing.
Due to my experiences with and sensitivity to the subject matter, going through this stuff feels kind of like getting punched in the privates over and over again. There are smears everywhere, from the establishment narrative managers to their brainwashed rank-and-file herd.
Yesterday some “KHive” asshole told me that Reade is mentally ill and talking about her experience will probably drive her to suicide, citing a baseless smear by McResistance pundit Sally Albright as his evidence. There’s a Twitter thread with thousands of shares going around right now where some liberal combed through all Reade’s old tweets highlighting typos she made and claiming they show Reade tweeting “in a Russian accent”.
It’s really, really gross.
And it hurts.
And there are definitely a whole lot of rape survivors experiencing the same thing about this story right now.
going through all of Tara Reade’s tweets finding spelling and grammar errors in order to prove she’s a Russian agent
the democrats are not ok the democrats are UNWELL pic.twitter.com/dq4r32Dqkd
— june (@shoe0nhead) April 29, 2020
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This is exactly the nightmare scenario that sexual assault survivors imagine when they contemplate coming forward. It’s why so many of them don’t. Especially when their attacker is powerful.
Nobody wants to have their name dragged through the mud by widely esteemed mainstream news media outlets. Nobody wants to have their entire past and entire social media history dug through to find anything that can be spun in the most negative light possible. Nobody wants to be told over and over again that they’re a liar, that they’re crazy, that they’re confused, all because they know they were sexually assaulted and said so. Nobody wants what can easily be the most traumatic experience of their life turned into a weapon to bludgeon them with before jeering crowds of millions all around the country.
And that sucks.
It sucks because if we’re to build a healthy world we’re going to have to get rid of all the people who shouldn’t be in power, and the very first lot we should eliminate are the ones who abuse their power to assault the sexuality of other human beings. If you use your power to rape people, you will with absolute certainty use it to do other unconscionable things as well, so eliminating those who do so is the first step toward health. That’s step one, and we can’t even get there, because blind partisan hackery turns pussyhat-wearing liberals into a bunch of snarling male supremacists.
I was 19 the first time I was raped. The last time I was 39. I never reported my attackers, for reasons the specifics of which I’m not interested in explaining or defending, but let’s just say that there are many messages you get sent by society telling you that if you report your rapist you are ruining a man’s life, destroying his family, career and future over one “mistake”. That it’s better just to suck it up because you’re strong and you can handle it.
You are taught that if you report your rape, you will be treated like the criminal, and the “investigation” that will take place will not put its spotlight on the accused, but on you, the accuser. You will have to defend your life choices and your character when you’re in the process of attempting to recover from a deeply harmful assault. You are taught that if you report these things that it’s you that will be shunned and shamed by members of your own tribe. And if the person is powerful, then you also know that this will likely end your career.
All these things are happening to Tara Reade right now. None of that has changed. Millions of young girls are being sent that message, once again, all across America, on screens large and small. They are being shown that if you accuse someone who has power over you of rape, you will be demonized and attacked, even by people who say they care about you, about a profoundly sensitive matter involving the most traumatic thing you’ve ever experienced.
And the thing is, that message is not a false message. You absolutely can be made the subject of vicious attacks if you accuse the wrong person of raping you. Attacks which press all your most painful buttons. Attacks which will try to convince you that you are insane. Attacks which will try to drive you insane.
And that sucks.
And I don’t know what can be done about it.
* * *
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Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 21:20 - Newsom "Put Politics Over Data" With Beach Closure Order, Newport Mayor Says
Newsom "Put Politics Over Data" With Beach Closure Order, Newport Mayor Says
Update: It’s not just Newport Beach…
Huntington Beach, CA is going offfff right now. Damn pic.twitter.com/CGfHtcKh31
— Yellow Red Sparks 🌕 (@yellowredsparks) May 1, 2020
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* * *
Authored by Ivan Pentchoukov via The Epoch Times,
A mayor in California’s Newport Beach has accused Gov. Gavin Newsom of placing politics over data with the decision to close the beaches in Orange County.
Mayor Will O’Neill pointed to data showing that every beach community in Los Angeles County – where the beaches have been closed for a month – had higher rates of infection than Orange County’s open beach communities.
“Without speaking to a single local official in Newport Beach, Governor Newsom has put politics over data, and substituted his will for our judgment from 428 miles away in Sacramento,” O’Neill wrote on Twitter.
“Los Angeles County closed their beaches over a month ago and data now shows that every single Los Angeles County beach community has a higher per capita COVID infection rate than Orange County’s open beach communities.”
“Any restriction that invokes health and safety to shut down freedom of movement needs to be grounded in data to show that such activities are direct threats to health and safety. That showing was not made today. OC’s forty-two miles of beaches can and should be safely opened,” O’Neill added.
Newsom ordered all beaches in Orange County to be closed on April 30, explaining that “we’re guided by health.”
“We’re guided by your health and the health of others,” Newsom said.
Newport Beach City Council earlier this week voted to reject an ordinance that would have closed beaches for the next three weekends.
There were over 1,000 emails sent to city officials expressing views on the matter before the vote, including 664 asking for beaches to stay open and 391 wanting them closed.
The council asked city workers to ramp up enforcement of social distancing measures, which include people staying six feet from individuals they don’t live with. More police officers and lifeguards will be on the beaches in the coming days, the city said in a press release.
“The vast majority of the beach visitors this weekend were practicing social distancing, but many were not,” the city said in its statement.
According to statistics shared during the council meeting, some 90,000 people went to beaches over the past weekend.
San Clemente, where some beaches are also open, delayed taking action on a similar proposal. The city announced beaches were reopening on April 25.
Crowds gathered on the beaches on April 25 and 26 as temperatures soared and many beaches nearby remained closed, including Los Angeles County beaches and most in San Diego County.
Newsom, a Democrat, reacted to photographs showing throngs enjoying the sand, calling them “an example of what not to see” and “what not to do” if state residents want to continue making progress against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
“The reality is we are just a few weeks away, not months away, from making measurable and meaningful changes to our stay-at-home order,” the governor said, referring to his harsh mandate that has largely kept people confined in their homes since mid-March.
“This virus doesn’t take the weekends off. This virus doesn’t go home because it’s a beautiful sunny day around our coasts,” he added.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 21:00 - What You Need To Know About Govt. Grants, Loans, & Forbearance To Survive The Pandemic Economy
What You Need To Know About Govt. Grants, Loans, & Forbearance To Survive The Pandemic Economy
Authored by Diane Kennedy via The Organic Prepper blog,
We learned a lot from the 2008-2009 Great Recession. As a CPA and real estate investor, I learned that sometimes there was absolutely nothing you can do to save a bad deal. I learned that people often hang on to an old way of life much too long, putting their future in jeopardy. I learned that some people never recover, emotionally, from a financial loss while others bounce back, stronger than ever.
It might be too early to make your walk-away plan, but it’s never too soon to look at your options. Where are you right now?
Your goal right now is to look at how you can have more money coming in and less money going out. There are some government programs and lender programs to help. Remember, though, that these are only temporary fixes. But as a taxpayer, you may be eligible to get this money and it may help you survive the pandemic financially.
(Editor’s Note: I’m well aware that many people have no interest whatsoever in taking help from the government. This being said, you may be eligible for certain programs that have recently been introduced. This money may help you survive if you’ve lost your job or lost income due to the pandemic. Nobody is twisting your arm and forcing you to take this money but if you are struggling to survive financially, here’s what you need to know about these temporary fixes. ~ Daisy)
As we move into a new economy, you’re most likely going to need new strategies. For now, let’s get you through the next couple of months. Then, look at what’s next for you and your family.
Let’s start with the money that comes into your household. Cash flow in.
The Government Economic Stimulus Payment
The economic stimulus payments have begun to be distributed, but it’s an uneven roll-out.
If the IRS doesn’t have your direct deposit information, they’re going to mail a check to the address you used on the last tax return you filed. But it could take a while. They’ve estimated it will take 5 weeks to get all of the checks mailed that they know about.
If you want your payment faster, go to the irs.gov portal. If you haven’t filed 2018 or 2019 because the amount of taxable income you had was under the income threshold ($12,200) click on the “non-filer” button. If you have filed 2018 or 2019 and the IRS doesn’t have your direct deposit information, click on “Get My Money.” This is also the portal you’ll use to find out the status of your payment.
If they can’t find your record, it could be because they think you weren’t due a payment, because you have SSI (social security disability), VA benefits, or because of some glitch in their system. Just keep checking back at irs.gov.
The stimulus payments are not a lot and, at this point, it’s just a one-time thing. But it is something.
Pandemic Unemployment Insurance (PUI)
A more interesting program is the Pandemic Unemployment Insurance (PUI) addition to regular unemployment. Under PUI there are some important changes:
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The waiting period for unemployment is gone,
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The federal government will give you an additional $600 per week on top of what the state gives you.
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The additional $600/week will last from 3/29/2020 -7/25/2020,
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Self-employed persons and people who didn’t work the minimum amount that is normally required for unemployment will qualify,
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General unemployment insurance payments will last for 39 weeks.
The states are responsible for making this happen and most of them have not done so yet. It doesn’t mean you won’t get the money. It just means you have to wait a little longer.
Reduce the cash going out
Now, let’s look at what you can do to reduce the cash going out of your house.
The most common forms of debt payments in the American household are home mortgage, car payments, and credit card payments. There are some options to reduce or delay some of your current payments.
It doesn’t mean less debt. In fact, it usually means more debt because of additional interest costs, But at least you don’t have to pay right now.
Mortgage payments
The term for not paying your mortgage is forbearance. That means your mortgage payments are not currently due. Currently, government-backed loans are mandatory 3-12 months forbearance periods.
If you have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac backed loan, the lender is required to give you several options for paying back the missed payments. This is important! The last thing you want is to skip 3 months of payments through forbearance, and then find out the lender is going to collect all 4 payments in the next month or start foreclosure right away.
These options they are now told they have to offer are:
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A loan extension so that the missed payments are added to the end of the mortgage
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A loan modification so that the monthly mortgage payments are reduced
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A repayment plan so that the forborne amount is spread out over several months’ time
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A full lump sum repayment
For more information on these new rules, go to this article.
If you’re not sure what type of loan you have, you can contact Fannie or Freddie directly to see if your loan qualifies.
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Fannie Mae. 1-800-2FANNIE (8am to 8pm EST) KnowYourOptions.com/loanlookup › …
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Freddie Mac. 1-800-FREDDIE (8am to 8pm EST) FreddieMac.com/mymortgage ›
Please note these rules only apply to government-backed mortgages. Private mortgages don’t have these required options and may demand payment in full after the forbearance period ends.
Car payments
Do you have a car payment that you can’t make? A number of car loan companies and leasing companies have programs in place to delay or extend the term of your contract.
Check in at https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/coronavirus-payment-relief to see if your lender is offering such a deal. Communication is always best in cases like this. Here’s an article about talking to creditors.
Credit cards
Many credit card companies are coming forward with forbearance programs as well. They may allow you to put off making a payment, make a smaller payment, reduce your interest rate or eliminate late fees. Some credit card issuers have also agreed to not report the late payments to credit bureaus. That means your credit score wouldn’t be impacted, at least not by this.
You can find out more information on these programs at https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/credit-card-forbearance-programs-bills
What happens next?
Now that you’ve got the next few months at least settled down, the question is, now what?
First – don’t depend on the government, but be prepared to get the money they’re offering. The new coronavirus economic stimulus and tax acts have created a whole new group of grants, loans, and tax breaks. We call these CoronaTax.
Congress has given us four CoronaTax bills. The first one dealt mainly with funding for important health agencies. The gold is in the next two bills.
From the book, CoronaTax: Free Money! New Opportunities!, the purpose of these next two bills is:
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Keeping you employed (if you currently have a job),
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Keeping your employees working (assuming you have a business)
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If you can’t work now (or your business can’t), getting you some income fast,
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Providing sick & paid leave for your employees, with the government’s help, and
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Giving businesses special tax breaks. (source)
Get your family stable financially. Then learn about what’s possible for the next step. Form a strategy and implement perspective.
We’ve got a new economy coming. Be prepared with knowledge, strategies, and action.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 20:40 -
- "The Last Ship": US Navy Keeping COVID-19 "Clean" Carrier Out At Sea Indefinitely
"The Last Ship": US Navy Keeping COVID-19 "Clean" Carrier Out At Sea Indefinitely
The US Navy is keeping warships with crew deemed “clean” — that is, completely free of coronavirus cases — deployed for an additional length of time with no port calls and no deployment end date amid a worsening crisis aboard other ships, as Reuters reports:
On any given day, the U.S. aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman can be found off the Atlantic coast of the United States, probably somewhere between Virginia and Florida. Its crew would love to come home to their families. But they can’t. They’re just too valuable right now.
That’s because the Truman is a “clean” ship, free from the coronavirus thanks to a longer-than-expected deployment at sea that started in November. The deployment has kept its battle-ready 4,500 crew out of reach of a pandemic that is wreaking havoc elsewhere in the Navy.
The Norfolk, Va-based Harry S. Truman in Atlantic Ocean. US Navy image At this point at least four US Navy aircraft carriers — the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the USS Ronald Reagan, the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Nimitz — have reported cases of coronavirus, crimping their operations. Most notably the Roosevelt had over a month ago been diverted from its original mission in the West Pacific, and now has 1,102 sailors that have tested positive for COVID-19.
Reuters further reports US officials have confirmed more than two dozen warships now have crew with coronavirus infections while at port.
And this week the guided-missile USS Kidd which arrived in San Diego Tuesday at least 78 active cases out of a 330-person crew, or about 25% of total personnel on board, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune.
We noted last month that Chinese state media appeared gleeful that US carriers and battle ships are seeing operations increasingly hampered by COVID-19, with the PLA Navy recently boasting it’s own missions are “not impacted”.
Guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100) arrives in San Diego, April 28, 2020. U.S. Navy Photo “This is a really weird situation for us,” USS Truman ship commander Captain Kavon Hakimzadeh told Reuters in a phone interview. Anxiety is growing among the crew over what’s essentially become an ‘indefinite’ deployment with uncertainty over when they’ll return to port, as their families at home and on shore navigate local lockdown orders, given the Navy has put no date on the ship’s return.
“The crew members interviewed said they understood why the Truman needed to remain offshore to ensure combat readiness,” Reuters continues. “The virus ripped through another carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, infecting more than 1,100 sailors.”
And further, “Being so close to home is a constant reminder for sailors of the strain on their families in the United States, where in just months coronavirus-related deaths have reached at least 62,800, surpassing the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War.”
If this bizarre scenario of a whole crew stuck indefinitely adrift at sea due to a pandemic devastating civilization on land sounds familiar, the report includes this somewhat eerie reminder from Hollywood:
In a world awash with dark Hollywood dramas, one television show that’s been popular among the Truman crew is “The Last Ship.” It imagined a U.S. Navy destroyer that was at sea, in radio silence, when a deadly pandemic devastated the world.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Kevin Dublynn said one of his shipmates had mentioned it to him.
“He felt like, ‘Oh, man. This is just like ‘The Last Ship’ show,’” Dublynn said. “I was like, ‘No, it’s not,’” adding the Navy had plenty of ships.
Steven Kane, the TV show’s co-creator and executive producer, said the 2014-2018 TNT drama explored how ill-intentioned people could exploit a pandemic and how easily a virus could wipe out a ship.
An outbreak wipes out civilization on land while a “last ship” is at sea:
No doubt there are other “clean” Navy ships out there, so it’s very likely the number of ‘indefinite’ deployments at sea will grow.
This as America’s rivals look on closely, especially China and Russia, eager to see just how severely operations and military readiness will be impacted across the Navy and Department of Defense.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 20:20 - Venezuela's Gold Vaults Empty As Iran Takes Bullion For Oil Services Rendered
Venezuela's Gold Vaults Empty As Iran Takes Bullion For Oil Services Rendered
With cash levels dwindling and its once mighty oil sector on its knees and needing help desperately, OilPrice.com’s Tsvetana Paraskova reports that Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Venezuela is paying Iran in gold for help with Venezuela’s crumbling oil industry, U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams said at a conversation with Washington-based think tank Hudson Institute this week.
Venezuela’s oil output is at record lows…
And, its cash reserves are at record lows
And since, over the past few weeks, Iran has been sending more and more planes to Venezuela, Abrams said that “our guess is that they are being paid in gold,” he said.
“Those planes that are coming in from Iran that are bringing things for the oil industry are returning with the payments for those things: gold,” Abrams said.
In April alone, Venezuela loaded 9 tons of gold, worth around US$500 million, on airplanes for Iran, in exchange for Iranian help for repairing Venezuela’s crumbling refineries, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg this week.
We suspect Venezuela’s gold vaults are running extremely dry. At last count, in August 2019, it was around 100 tons…
But that was before Maduro started to dramatically increase his sales of Venezuelan Gold around the world.
[ZH: It makes perfect sense for Iran to demand payment in gold since even the official Bolivar is utterly worthless. For a sense of just how gold is supposed to behave in a hyperinflationary environment, we note that in January 2010, a Venezuelan could by an ounce of gold for 1000 so-called “Strong”-Bolivars.
Today, that same ounce of yellow metal costs your average Venezuelan 300 billion “strong”-Bolivars (which were devalued by 1000:1 in March 2018) or 300 million ‘new’- Bolivars…]
On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also mentioned the Iranian-Venezuelan cooperation, saying, “We are deeply concerned about Iran’s destabilizing behavior in Venezuela- over the last few days, Iranian aircraft have transferred unknown support to the regime.”
“Over the last few days, multiple aircraft belonging to Mahan Air have transferred unknown support to the Maduro regime. Birds of a feather. This is the same terrorist airline that Iran uses to move weapons and fighters around the Middle East. These flights must stop, and countries should do their part to deny overflights, just as many have already denied landing rights to this sanctioned airline,” Secretary Pompeo said at a press conference earlier this week.
The U.S. has stepped up pressure on the Maduro regime in recent months, the latest being ordering U.S. supermajor Chevron to wind down its Venezuelan operations by the end of the year. Halliburton has also said it will suspend most of its operations in Venezuela, after Washington tightened the noose around Caracas by banning U.S. oil companies operating in the country from drilling for oil, transporting it, or providing any equipment for use in Venezuela.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 20:00 - Gundlach Stunned To Learn Fed Hasn't Purchased A Single Corporate Bond Yet
Gundlach Stunned To Learn Fed Hasn't Purchased A Single Corporate Bond Yet
Yesterday, when discussing the Fed’s latest $6.66 trillion balance sheet, we said that more than one month after the Fed announced its backstop for investment grade bonds and ETFs (followed shortly after by an expansion into fallen angel junk bonds), “what is most interesting is that so far the Fed has not yet purchased a single corporate bond, whether investment grade of fallen angel junk. In other words, without lifting a finger, the Fed’s “whatever it takes” jawboning managed to inject trillions “in value” in countless debt and credit products.”
Today, none other than the bond king Jeff Gundlach made this discovery, tweeting that “the Fed has not actually bought any Corporate Bonds via the shell company set up to circumvent the restrictions of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Must be the most effective jawboning success in Fed history if that is true.”
I am told the Fed has not actually bought any Corporate Bonds via the shell company set up to circumvent the restrictions of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Must be the most effective jawboning success in Fed history if that is true.
— Jeffrey Gundlach (@TruthGundlach) May 1, 2020
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He’s right: the Fed – or rather Blackrock which is doing the Fed’s bidding in the open market as part of operation Covid bailout- has indeed not purchased a single bond, whether IG or HY.
And why should the Fed get its hands dirty and enter the corporate bond market if all it takes is a promise that it could enter the market. There is just one problem: if the lack of purchases comes as a surprise to Gundlach, what about the rest of the market, where the majority of investors appear rather confident that they are merely flipping bonds to the Fed when in reality they are just trading among each other in piece of paper that are already massively overvalued as we discussed last weekend in “Unprecedented Pace Of Corporate Debt Issuance Has Crippled Corporate Fundamentals“, and where as Morgan Stanley pointed out, leverage is already exploding even as bond prices soar!
However, now that the Fed’s unwillingness to enter the market is a “thing”, it may leave Powell with no other choice than to start buying.
In fact, as Bank of America writes today in “A Note To Fed” – a report apparently meant to precipitate the Fed’s decision to get off the fence and to start waving it in “a lot of investors (including non-credit ones) have bought IG corporate bonds the past two months on the expectation they can sell to you. So would be helpful if you soon began buying broadly and in size.”
The problem, if the Fed does not start “buying broadly and in size” is that the bond market may soon suffer from a very painful indigestion of the record IG bond issuance that has taken place in the past two months, first profiled here.
And, as BofA updates, new investment grade issuance reached another monthly record of $296.6bn in April following a $261.4bn tally in March – significantly above the previous record of $175.5bn from January 2017 – bringing the YTD cumulative to $807.1bn, the fastest start to the year ever and 82% ahead of the pace in 2019.
Some more details on what all this new debt is being put to use for:
Refinancing-related issuance remains high at $100.6bn, including $52.4bn going towards commercial paper and credit revolver repayments. In addition we estimate $104.1bn of COVID-19 liquidity-related issuance from banks and companies that drew credit lines or mentioned liquidity in the use of proceeds language, and $58.6bn of frontloaded issuance for M&A, share buybacks, dividends, and capex (some deals fit multiple categories). New issue performance improved in April. With $59.4bn of redemptions in April, net issuance totaled $237.2bn when defined as gross issuance minus maturities, calls, tenders and open market repurchases.
Use of funds notwithstanding, the bigger issue is that so far the record supply glut has only been made possible due to the seemingly endless IG demand that has enabled this unprecedented issuance flood. However, if investors start asking when and how they will be able to flip all this massively overpriced paper to the dumbest, price-indiscriminate buyer in the room – i.e., the Fed – first the demand and then the supply could collapse.
Which begs the question: while Mario Draghi managed to get away for years with merely vowing to do “whatever it takes” to restore confidence in the euro, will Powell be able to repeat the ECB veteran’s record and cause another massive bond bubble a la what Boeing has managed to do in just a few short weeks with its latest $25BN bond issuance…
… without lifting a finger, and instead let his successor deal with the even bigger debt crisis that is guaranteed to follow as the average IG credit metric is now smack in the middle of what was one junk bond territory?
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 19:59 - Maryland Deploys National Guard To Protect Covid Tests From Feds
Maryland Deploys National Guard To Protect Covid Tests From Feds
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan told the Washington Post in a live interview on Thursday that thousands of COVID-19 tests obtained by the state from South Korea are protected in a secret location by the National Gaurd.
“The National Guard and the State Police are both guarding these tests at an undisclosed location,” Hogan said.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan “There had been reports of, for example in Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker told the story of his planeload …with masks was basically confiscated by the federal government,” he said, adding that, “it was a little bit of a concern” knowing the federal government would attempt to seize the tests.
Maryland @GovLarryHogan on whether he was concerned that the federal government would seize the tests the state procured from South Korea. He says the tests are being guarded by the National Guard at an undisclosed location. https://t.co/uGcUi6U5rL pic.twitter.com/15BhHmLzql
— Washington Post Live (@postlive) April 30, 2020
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“We spent about 22 days and nights dealing with this whole transaction with Korea. We dealt with the Korean Embassy, folks at the State Department … and our scientists on both sides trying to, you know, figure out these tests,” Hogan said, noting that the purchase of the tests was also in coordination with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“And then at the last moment, I think 24 hours before, we got the sign-off from the FDA and Border and Customs, to try to make sure that we landed this plane safely,” he continued.
According to Hogan, the plane was instructed to land at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport rather than airports in Washington because it would be harder for the federal government to seize the tests:
“We landed it there with a large contingent of Maryland National Guard and Maryland State Police, because this was an enormously valuable payload. It was like Fort Knox to us, because it’s going to save the lives of thousands of our citizens,””he said.
Hogan said National Guard troops are currently protecting the tests at an undisclosed location. “These things are being distributed; they’re [National Guard] helping us distribute the tests,” he said. We showed in March how the National Guard was deployed across the Baltimore Metropolitan Area as cases and deaths continued to soar in the state.
Baltimore City COVID-19 Dashboard It was noted in the interview that Maryland received upwards of 500,000 tests from South Korea. It was reported last month that China continues to flood the world with defective medical equipment. Washington state purchased thousands of tests from China, which some turned out to be “contaminated.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 19:40 - Get Russian…
Get Russian…
Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,
Dissent is Russian, or haven’t you heard?
Dissent is Russian.
Peace activism is Russian.
Exposing war crimes is Russian.
Inconveniencing Democrats is Russian.
Tara Reade? Russian.
Julian Assange? Russian.
Jill Stein? Russian.
Tulsi Gabbard? Russian.
Russia? You bet your sweet ass that’s Russian.
Conspiracy theories are Russian.
Alternative media are Russian.
It’s Russian to ask questions.
It’s Russian to reveal objective facts.
It’s Russian to tell the truth.
Truth is Russian in an empire of lies.
If truth is Russian, I don’t want to be Australian.
If truth is Russian, you can call me Svetlana.
If truth is Russian, then I will ascend to the clouds by climbing a Tolstoy novel, kicking my feet out in front of me with my bum low to the ground balancing a bottle of vodka atop a fur hat whilst shouting “Stallone was the bad guy in Rocky IV” until my voice is hoarse.
If truth is Russian, then let’s all get Russian.
Get as Russian as possible.
Get aggressively Russian.
Get offensively Russian.
Get Russianly Russian.
Get so Russian it hurts.
Get so Russian they write Palmer Report articles about you.
Get so Russian that Rachel Maddow spits your name like it’s poison.
Get so Russian that Putin calls you and says tone it down.
Get so Russian that Khabib Nurmagomedov has nightmares about fighting you.
Camus said “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely Russian that your very existence is an act of rebellion,” or something like that.
So get Russian, baby.
Fold your arms and get low on the dance floor.
Get low, shorty,
get low, low, low.
Get low,
get low,
and get Russian…
* * *
Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics onTwitter, checking out my podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my books Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone and Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge.
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Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 19:20 - Kroger Begins Limiting Purchases On Ground Beef And Pork In Some Stores
Kroger Begins Limiting Purchases On Ground Beef And Pork In Some Stores
From bank run to bacon run.
In an ominous confirmation of the just published article “Why The Meat Shortages Are Going To Be Much Worse Than Most Americans Are Anticipating“, the slowdown at meat processing plants from the coronavirus outbreak has led to a wave of panic-shopping at supermarkets, and some grocery stores are now imposing limits on meat purchases.
In a Friday email, supermarket chain Kroger said that it has put “purchase limits” on ground beef and fresh pork at some of its stores following growing concerns over meat shortages due to coronavirus-induced supply disruptions. Other large grocers say they expect to be out of stock on different types of cuts soon.
The world’s biggest meat companies, including Smithfield Foods, Cargill, Conagra, JBS and Tyson Foods have halted operations at about 20 slaughterhouses and processing plants in North America as workers fall ill, stoking global fears of a meat shortage.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union estimated on April 28 that 20 meatpacking and food processing workers have died so far, and just today at least 180 workers tested positive for the virus at a Tyson plant in Washington. The union said last week the closures have resulted in a 25% reduction in pork slaughter capacity and a 10 percent reduction in beef slaughter, the Epoch Times reported.
Earlier this week, President Trump signed an executive order compelling meat plants to stay open during the crisis, which however was met with stiff resistance by labor unions, due to the lack of proper health standards at the plants.
Adding to the challenge, meat sales are up around 40% on recent weeks, according to data from grocery industry trade group FMI. “The demand for product also makes it difficult to keep the store shelves stocked as they were at pre-pandemic levels,” said a group spokesperson.
While grocers don’t expect meat shortages – yet – they say they are adjusting to the spike in demand and the difficulties securing supply, similar to McDonalds which said on Thursday it had started to ration meet amid supply chain “concerns.”
“We feel good about our ability to maintain a broad assortment of meat and seafood for our customers because we purchase protein from a diverse network of suppliers,” said a Kroger representative. “There is plenty of protein in the supply chain. However, some processors are experiencing challenges.”
A spokesperson for Wegman’s said, “we may not have every product cut or variety available for the next few weeks,” but the company does not anticipate any shortages. We’ll check back in a few weeks to see if the shortages have begun.
The slowdown is also hitting smaller chains: New York City grocery chain Morton Williams’ co-owner Avi Kaner said the “most severe shortages have been with packaged cold cuts,” because consumers want pre-packaged items right now instead of meat from the deli counter. “Beef prices have increased the most, followed less so by pork and poultry.”
Worker cleans an empty display for eggs inside a Ralphs supermarket in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 15, 2020 At Karns Food in Pennsylvania, the chain has put limits on ground beef and some fresh chicken. “We do anticipate periodic out of stocks and higher prices in the coming weeks,” said Andrea Karns, a representative of Karns Food in Pennsylvania.
While meat may be harder to find, Karns is using the shortage as an opportunity to expand its seafood selection, including fresh lobsters from Maine and Maryland crabs. Now if only the vast majority of America’s population which hasn’t worked in over a month could afford lobsters and crabs…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 19:10 - Biden Bumbles Over Tara Reade Answers During Tense MSNBC Interview
Biden Bumbles Over Tara Reade Answers During Tense MSNBC Interview
Joe Biden’s personnel records from his days in the Senate have come under the microscope after former staffer Tara Reade says she filed a formal sexual assault complaint against him – an allegation he officially denied on Friday.
Biden, who graduated from the University of Delaware and served as Delaware’s senator, transferred the records to the university in 2011 – which announced a change to their expected unsealing shortly before Biden announced his bid for the White House. Meanwhile, Biden has refused to allow a search of the roughly 1,875 boxes of documents and 415 gigabytes of electronic records, as detailed yesterday by Jonathan Turley.
Biden’s excuse? That the records could expose unrelated things he’s said or done which could be ‘taken out of context’ and used against him before the November election.
On Friday, however, Biden stammered through an awkward MSNBC interview in which host Mika Brzezinski pressed him on whether he would allow a narrow search for records only pertaining to Tara Reade.
Brzezinski: Personnel records aside, are you certain there was nothing about Tara Reade in those records – and if so, why not approve a search of her name in those records?
Biden: Approve a search of her name?
Brzezinski: Yes, and reveal anything that might be related to Tara Reade in the University of Delaware records?
Biden: There is nothing. They wouldn’t… They’re not there. And I, I, I… you know, I don’t understand the point you’re trying to make! There are no personnel records by definition.
…
Brzezinski: I’m just talking about her name, not anybody else in those records – a search for that. [awkward silence] Why not do a search for Tara Reade’s name in the University of Delaware records.
Biden: Look, I mean, who does that search?
Brzezinski: Perhaps the University of Delaware?
Watch (University of Delaware question starts at 55 seconds):
I don’t know what’s in Biden’s University of Delaware papers but he really doesn’t want people seeing them.
He won’t even agree to a search of documents just with Tara Reade’s name on them. pic.twitter.com/oavzsdRax2
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 1, 2020
Turley weighs in:
Biden should have no objection to a search of any reference to any complaint by anyone housed at Delaware. It is like a witness insisting that he is perfectly happy with a search of his farm but then becoming angry when asked if he would allow a search of his house…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 1, 2020
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Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 18:55 - SUVs Are Being Parked In The Middle Of The Ocean As Auto Inventory Crisis Deepens
SUVs Are Being Parked In The Middle Of The Ocean As Auto Inventory Crisis Deepens
What happens when you have an auto glut that simply won’t go away? What do you do with all of those unsold cars? It’s a question we first explored way back in 2014 in an article called “Where the World’s Unsold Cars Go to Die”. In that piece, we highlighted images from around the world of various places unsold cars were being stored.
Back then, we could have never predicted that a pandemic would be the black swan that would have caused the next historic buildup of auto inventory. But now, with ports at capacity, tankers carrying automobiles – at least those tanker that aren’t carrying oil – are being told to stay out at sea.
Such was the case on April 24 when a cargo of 2,000 Nissan SUVs was approaching the port of Los Angeles. They were told to drop anchor about a mile from the port and remain there. The port was full and the glut is indicative of just how the industry has collapsed in the U.S.
John Felitto, a senior vice president for the U.S. unit of Norwegian shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen told Bloomberg: “Dealers aren’t really accepting cars and fleet sales are down because rental-car and fleet operators aren’t taking delivery either. This is different from anything we’ve seen before. Everyone is full to the brim.”
Though the Nissan shipment was eventually received 5 days later, Kipling Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California said: “It is very abnormal for a container ship, a car carrier or a cruise ship not to go right to the berth, discharge and be on their way.”
The Long Beach terminal south of LA is capable of storing several thousand vehicles. Cars usually spend a short amount of time there before being relocated to lots 5 to 8 miles away. Then, they’re sent to dealers.
But the collapse in sales last month caused a backlog buildup. Ships had to divert to other ports and others had to wait to discharge cargo. The Port of Hueneme needed to find space for an additional 6,000 surplus cars. Kristin Decas, the port’s director and chief executive officer said: “You can’t stack cars. We even looked at using the Ventura County Fairgrounds.”
Toyota has gone as far as to lease additional space at a sports venue in California. Hyundai also found additional space and has said that its West Coast inventories were “elevated”.
Nissan spokesman Chris Keeffe said: “The company is optimizing the flow of the vehicles and positioning them closer to dealers for quick availability when the market recovers and customers return to showrooms.”
Demand for cars and trucks in the U.S. is expected to drop 27% to 12.5 million vehicles this year, according to Bloomberg. Recall, we wrote just yesterday that Edmunds shared those sentiments: April is slated to be the worst month on record for U.S. auto sales.
Edmunds forecasts that just 633,260 new cars and trucks will be sold in the U.S. for an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 7.7 million. This reflects a 52.5% decrease in sales from April 2019, and a 36.6% decrease from March 2020.
Edmunds analysts note that this would be the lowest-volume sales month on record; the second worst month for sales in the past 30 years was January of 2009, when 655,000 vehicles were sold.
“April auto sales took the biggest hit we’ve seen in decades,” said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ executive director of insights.
“These bleak figures aren’t just because consumers are holding back on their purchases — fleet sales are seeing an even more dramatic drop as daily rental business has dried up. Like many other industries, the entire automotive sector is struggling as the coronavirus crisis continues to cripple the economy.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/01/2020 – 18:45
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