Aug 30

Today’s News 30th August 2020

  • 'I'm Not Sad That A Fu*king Fascist Died Tonight': Portland Counter-Protesters Celebrate Murder Of Trump Supporter
    ‘I’m Not Sad That A Fu*king Fascist Died Tonight’: Portland Counter-Protesters Celebrate Murder Of Trump Supporter

    Tyler Durden

    Sun, 08/30/2020 – 01:13

    Update: (0300ET): Portland counter-protesters are now celebrating the death:

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    A man was shot in the chest and killed in downtown Portland Saturday night as violence broke out across the city between a participants in a pro-Trump caravan and a counter-protest organized by several opposing groups, including Antifa.

    Police are investigating the incident which occurred at around 8:45 p.m. when officers responded to the sound of gunfire.

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    According to The Oregonian, police found “camouflage gear with infidel and thin blue line patches, which commonly indicate support for law enforcement, while the New York Times reports that he was “wearing a hat with the insignia of Patriot Prayer,” a right-wing group which has had frequent altercations with Antifa over the past several years.

    Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson showed up to the scene of the shooting, and was promptly chased down the street by counter-orotesters. Gibson took refuge in a gas station.

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    Police eventually cleared the scene.

    Earlier in the day, pro-Trump supporters and counter-protesters squared off. At one point, a man reportedly filming the license plates of conservative attendees was beaten. As he falls, you can see his arms fly straight forward in the ‘fencing response,’ suggesting possible brain damage. He was later interviewed speaking coherently, however.

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    As day turned to night, skirmishes continued between the factions.

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  • Is COVID-19 The Trigger For A 'New World Order' Of Economic Stagnation & Social Destruction?
    Is COVID-19 The Trigger For A ‘New World Order’ Of Economic Stagnation & Social Destruction?

    Tyler Durden

    Sun, 08/30/2020 – 00:00

    Authored by Patrick Henningsen via GlobalResearch.ca,

    I can remember them saying that ‘everything changed after 9/11’. It did, but certainly not for the better. I think we can all agree on that.  I remember how everyone surrendered their rights and key aspects of democracy, all in the name of ‘keeping us safe’.

    Back then, world-changing decisions were made in reaction to an exaggerated threat, with sweeping ‘emergency measures’ and laws enacted. Usually, nothing good follows from a government that is making decisions and formulating permanent policy, suspending constitutions and rights – imposing all of this on a population operating from a position of fear. That much we did learn. Some of us did anyway.

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    In January, like a leviathan sprung forth from the titans Oceanus and Ceto in ancient Greece, the global coronavirus pandemic was born. Like 9/11, it was a disruptive event, but this time on a scale unimaginable. Whether or not one believes this was naturally-occurring or a biologically-engineered pathogen (there is every reason to believe it could be), it is beyond argument that this ‘crisis’ is and will be used to advance a multi-pronged globalist agenda, likely to feature more wars between the great powers.

    Modern man is now entering realms of dystopia only imagined before by the likes of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, with more than a hint of Philip K. Dick. What makes all of this difficult for so many is that the sudden transition has been almost instantaneous, leaving people in a near callow state of bewilderment, wondering what just happened to their old life.

    No matter which way this situation goes, it’s almost certain life will never be the same.

    COVID Crisis

    By now we should be familiar with the story: a novel coronavirus, scientifically known as SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19, has made its way across the planet, infecting millions of people and registering over 100,000 deaths (as of the time of writing) across 180 countries. The victims of this outbreak are overwhelming elderly persons over the age of 70 and those in palliative care, most of who have severe and chronic underlying medical conditions.

    Make no mistake about it – this is a disruptive event on a scale the modern world has never seen before. The shock and awe began from the moment the story broke from the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei Province. Global audiences were inundated with images of Chinese authorities putting hundreds of people into biological suits, hosing down the outside of buildings, before quarantining themselves in their apartments. Then began a state-sanctioned medieval-style program that western media and politicians enthusiastically dubbed a “lockdown,” a term aptly borrowed from the prison industrial complex.

    Wuhan was an unforgettable spectacle which really impacted the western psyche, such that when the coronavirus made it to European and North American shores, the public was already conditioned to expect a Chinese-style response from their own governments. Not surprisingly, this is exactly what they got and, in fact, it was what they demanded.

    On 12 March, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called an emergency press conference where he took to the podium, flanked by his two leading science advisors, Sir Patrick Vallace and Chris Whitty, who proceeded to explain the government plan of action which was centred around the commonly known epidemiological concept of “herd immunity.” Their strategy was a familiar one because it has been the orthodoxy in modern epidemiology – allow a virus to go through approximately 60-80% of the population in order to achieve herd immunity, naturally extinguishing the virus in a single season.

    But Johnson made the fatal error of grossly overestimating the death rate at 1% of the total infected, an estimate that would have left the country with some 52 million infected and 500,000 fatalities. Of course, in hindsight, these numbers were pure fiction, but at the time everyone was so enveloped in fear that they believed the ‘experts’. Nonetheless, the herd immunity approach was more or less identical to the ‘no lockdown’ approach taken by European countries Sweden and Iceland, as well as Belarus, Mexico, and Japan. This would entail standard random sample testing nationally and for those exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. The elderly and vulnerable people would be told to self-isolate for a period of time while studies were conducted.

    ‘Plan A’ didn’t last long. On 24 March, Johnson appeared on national TV, this time without his science team, to announce a nationwide lockdown – an effective shutdown of society and most of the country’s economy. The UK was now following fellow NATO member states France, Italy, Spain and others, which had already imposed draconian national lockdowns, including strict new ‘social distancing’ guidelines preventing people from being together.

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    It appeared that Johnson’s sudden 180º degree turn was prompted in part by an alarmist report generated by one of the government ‘expert’ teams at Imperial College London, led by controversial computer modeler Neil Ferguson who was previously responsible for the 2001 ‘Foot and Mouth’ crisis, a debacle which ended in the unnecessary culling of some six million livestock in Britain.

    This time, Ferguson and his team worked their modelling magic to come up with an estimated half a million coronavirus deaths if the government did not implement “very intense social distancing and other interventions now in place.”

    While the figure was completely fictional, the media seized on it, as did government officials, which fuelled fear and panic across Britain’s government-media complex. Frightened and unsure, the public accepted the authoritarian measures, but the government never gave an end date to the quarantine; it was left open-ended at the discretion of the government’s scientific coterie.

    Once that bubble of fear had been sufficiently inflated, a medieval-style lockdown was a fait accompli in numerous countries including Australia and New Zealand. The impact of a full national quarantine is yet unknown, but it’s already becoming clear that it will be nothing short of cataclysmic for those countries who agreed to the voluntary self-destruction of their economies and the indefinite suspension of democracy.

    It’s worth noting this isn’t the first time the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), and Imperial College tried conjuring a global panic over a flu virus. Back in 2005, the “range of deaths,” the UN warned of bird flu virus H5N1, “could be anything between five and 150 million.” Officials even drafted in Imperial’s most reliable doomsayer, Neil Ferguson, to help come up with another completely fictional death toll of 200 million people. His high school level math equation was breathtaking in its over-simplicity:

    “Around 40 million people died in the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak,” said Prof. Ferguson.

    “There are six times more people on the planet now so you could scale it up to around 200 million people probably.”

    That doomsday prediction led to the culling of tens of millions of birds in Southeast Asia, but the pandemic never really materialised. In the end, human fatalities numbered in the hundreds worldwide. It was a non event.

    Similar unremarkable numbers followed the global hype over the H1N1 swine flu in 2009. Thanks to the work of investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the US was caught over-inflating the number of cases – a fraudulent move that had grave implications for government policy and stoking unfounded public fear.

    With COVID-19, the globalist medical industrial complex, led by WHO, hoped to repeat the previous public relations campaigns by hyping the novel coronavirus as the next Spanish Flu. This time they were given an extraordinary opportunity thanks to China which put on an incredible media performance and ‘show of strength’ in the month of January by ‘locking down’ Wuhan – inspiring western and other leaders to try the same big government approach.

    However, the results would turn out economically disastrous for western ‘lockdown’ countries.

    Economic Collapse

    All of this is certain to trigger a protracted global recession marked by at least 12 months of negative growth, with economic and social displacement the likes of which the world has never seen before. The decision by countries like the UK, France, Italy, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US to voluntarily implode their economies and place most of their populations under house arrest will have a lasting impact not only on national economies but also the global economy for years to come.

    In terms of scale, the damage caused to markets and industry has already surpassed the 2008 financial crisis by orders of magnitude, and there’s no end in sight.

    To ‘fight the coronavirus’ governments have imploded their real economies and replaced them with nationalised pools of finance earmarked for each section of the economy. This emergency transformation is the same as a wartime mobilisation of an economy, with a heavy focus on the medical and pharmaceutical industrial complex, the military, and selected corporate partners hand-picked by the state. This hard fusion of state and corporate interests is classic corporatism or fascism. In this brutal and constrained environment, these are some of the only institutions strong enough to remain viable.

    The net effect of immediately putting millions of workers onto government welfare rolls and pushing hundreds of thousands of small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMEs) into bankruptcy will be the largest consolidation and transfer of wealth in modern history. Those with enough capital to ride out the crisis will be able to buy-up companies, and even whole industries, for literally pennies on the dollar. Monopolies like Amazon, Google and telecoms giants will consolidate and solidify their market shares as competitors gradually die off and are swallowed-up in receivership. Formerly independent contractors will now be reliant on government assistance, as will any business qualifying for government ‘relief’ grants and loans. Large corporations will now have governments covering the cost of their payrolls for the duration of the crisis.

    There is no semblance of any discernible sound economic model to describe what is now happening with government printing up record amounts of money to cover the enormous cost of the shutdown. For a wealthy country like the US, the Federal Reserve Bank will simply go into overdrive, creating trillions of dollars to be released through various ‘stimulus plans’ and bailouts. The New York Fed is now pumping trillions of new dollars into banks, with the Fed also issuing ‘bridge’ loans directly to businesses. This never happened before in history. The US is also buying up unprecedented amounts of corporate stock in order to keep Wall Street afloat. With these levels of quantitative easing, there are risks of hyperinflation and other systemic problems. This may be coupled with higher food prices due to supply shortages, and stagnant wages due to a glut in the labour market after the government’s domestic scorched earth economic policies. The end result of all these bailouts (if they ever end) will be exactly as with any war in history: a rapid wholesale transfer of power, control and ownership into centralised government and the central banking cartel.

    For individuals and families, this means your savings are wiped-out, your property collapses in value, and your future prospects are dim, at least in the short to midterm, and you will have no choice but to load up on personal and family debt to survive.

    Before this crisis, we saw the largest wealth gap in modern history since the Gilded Age (1870–1900), with the richest 1% now owning more than half of the world’s wealth. After the first phase of this crisis, that gap may double or even triple. With SMEs wiped out, the only jobs available will be with the government or with a handful of mega-corporations.

    As is often the case after any war, developed and developing countries are likely to become dependent on credit lines from either the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or from the United States itself which will have plenty of dollars and US Treasury bonds for sale or loan at near zero percent interest rates. Plenty of funny money to go around, mostly for the elites.

    The shutting down of the world’s airlines – along with biosecurity and financial stagnation hitting certain sections of global trade – will severely injure the dominant system of globalisation. This will no doubt encourage already existing regional trading blocs, like ASEAN in Southeast Asia, and the African Union, leveraging their interests to create more regionalised and resilient trading networks. As physical trade and relations are codified regionally, globalisation will increase in the online digital sphere and with international e-commerce, online learning and social networking.

    Now, with massive economic recession, marked by record levels of mass unemployment and debt, the balkanisation of formerly open globalisation routes, combined with a new global veil over scarcity of resources, all under a broad cloak of biological insecurity – the soil is fertile for more dismantling of democracy and a rise in fascist regimes, particularly in the West. The trend was already moving in this direction before the crisis, but now it will only accelerate.

    Historically speaking, the scene is now set for another world war in which the winner sets the agenda for a ‘new world order’ going into the 21st century.

    Full Spectrum Dominance: World War Footing

    Just as in 1914 and the onset of World War I, the year 2020 will be a major pivot point for the early 21st century and should be seen as a tangible prelude to a new world war. There are a number of reasons why this is likely.

    It is true that you can implement more change in two years of war than you can in twenty years of peace. In the case of the corona crisis, that two years was reduced to two months. Presently, events are being framed by western powers as the “global fight against an invisible enemy,” but the corona crisis has created a number of new paradigms some of which are classic precursors for war. The first and most obvious is the fact that virtually overnight, the western countries, especially NATO member states the United States, United Kingdom and France, have effectively mobilised all aspects of their country’s economy and restructured society to reflect both a wartime economy and a state of martial law.

    The western bloc countries are now prepared to bunker down for a long war if need be.

    The threat of a biological agent presents some serious problems for a globally-embedded military as America’s. Already the US had to cancel major NATO drills in Europe, and pull some of its naval fleet into dock because of the coronavirus and fears of infecting large numbers of military personnel. Other countries may have similar issues. In this sense, the disease has severely slowed fighting across the world – one of the more unexpected, albeit welcome, tertiary benefits of the crisis.

    The western powers first obvious choice for instigating either a hot or cold war is China, along with its allies. When US President Donald Trump refers to COVID-19 as “the Chinese virus,” he is signalling to his base and to the war hawks in the Republican Party that the White House is preparing a confrontation. Anti-Chinese rhetoric and media propaganda has increased substantially in the US since the onset of the corona crisis, with many Americans, particularly the right-wing, now blaming the Chinese for releasing this pestilence into the world.

    After a few more months of economic destruction, social malaise and an increasing death toll in the US, the new ranks of unemployed will be demanding a scapegoat for their terrible suffering, at which time a war with China could become more viable for Washington. This could take the form of an on-off, hot-cold war which lasts for 30 or 40 years, and pulls in other major powers using proxy battlegrounds in third party countries.

    For the US empire, one primary objective in confronting China would be to disrupt and possibly derail Beijing’s historic infrastructure and economic development known as the Belt and Road Initiative, designed to link Europe with Asia along various routes over land and sea. If successful, the global centre of gravity would shift away from the US and back towards Eurasia. In the event of a global depression post-corona, the US is geopolitically well-placed to weather the storm as it commands the control of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. China’s Belt and Road would effectively upend Washington’s plans for Fortress America lording it over all global markets during this new tumultuous epoch.

    In some ways, the crisis has disrupted the emergence of a new multipolar world, but the imperative for multipolarism may also be propelled by the economic balkanisation and the fact that the US will continue withdrawing its military assets from stalwart outposts like the Middle East. Any US withdrawal from the world stage will be filled by other emerging powers like Russia, India, Turkey and possibly Japan. Many of these emerging powers require resources and materials, so the scramble to establish trading routes in Africa will be a post-corona feature.

    The corona crisis also provides a convenient cover for the aggressive roll-out of 5G networks around the world. These look to be the backbone of a new global surveillance state able to track and record everything in real-time. Along with millions of masts in towns and cities, the network will also feature an array of new satellites with the potential to flood our atmosphere and communities with even more untested high-frequency radiation.

    One World Health & Medical Martial Law

    The current ‘state of war’ extends internationally with blanket travel restrictions already in place. There looks to be a rapid drive to institute a streamlined global system of mandatory digital tracking and tracing, implemented under the auspices of ‘global health’ and spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO). They are joined by participating governments and the transnational corporations that will roll out these new ‘health surveillance’ systems.

    The real question that remains unanswered is what will happen once all the ‘lockdown’ measures are relaxed, and international air travel opens up again?

    There are already noises coming from governments and organisations about requiring citizens to pass some form of ‘immunity test’ for COVID-19 to be granted freedom of movement within society by carrying an ‘immunity passport’ or digital certificate stored on a microchip or smartphone.

    This dovetails with the rapid drive for a cashless society as a result of the corona scare. Due to corona contagion fears, paper money and coins are being stigmatised as ‘dirty’ with many retail outlets refusing to accept cash. Once this system is adopted domestically, it follows that these same restrictions will be extended to international travellers. Needless to say, this has grave implications for personal liberty and privacy. At present, this juggernaut seems difficult to stop.

    If allowed, this new bio regime will become the de facto governance for the world’s population. Microsoft founder Bill Gates (net worth $97.8 billion) has called for a national vaccine tracking system in the US, funded in part by an estimated $100 million he and his wife Melinda’s Gates Foundation have donated to fight the coronavirus to discover ‘a fix’ as quickly as possible. Gates is already heavily invested in vaccine research, development and production and, with his wife, they are a primary driver in the proliferation of vaccines globally. Gates says he will front the investment for seven new vaccine factories around the globe, and as he told Daily Show host Trevor Noah during an interview on 2 April, “until we get the world vaccinated.”

    Clearly, he has a vision for vaccinating every person on the planet, presumably for the coronavirus, or until the next big ‘outbreak’.

    “The only thing that really lets us go back completely to normal and feel good about sitting in stadiums with lots of other people is to create a vaccine and not just take care of our country but take that vaccine out to the global population,” said Gates.

    From oligarchs like Gates, the transnational pharmaceutical corporations, and the government officials in their pocket, the warning is clear: you will not be permitted to resume ‘normal life’ until you accept the latest vaccine. And do not expect the list of newly required vaccinations to end with the novel coronavirus. Once this first precedent is set, countries dependent on international travel and trade will be forced to adopt the regulatory framework of this new ‘one world health’ security complex. The trail is then blazed for a constant stream of vaccine requirements to ‘fight’ various and sundry outbreaks and ‘biothreats’, be they real, exaggerated or completely fabricated. This could be another disruptive force going forward.

    Combine this with naked authoritarian statements made by other self-appointed corona tsars like Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director of WHO, who recently remarked that members of families may need to be removed from their homes by force. “Most of the transmission actually happening in many countries now, is happening in the household at family level…. In some sense, transmission has been taken off the streets and pushed back into family units. Now, we need to go and look at families to find those people who may be sick and remove them, and isolate them in a safe and dignified manner,” said Ryan.

    The obvious danger here is that this new state-corporate regime will discriminate against and marginalise citizens based on their immunity records, requiring them to take a new vaccine to receive rights and privileges. This would be a complete abrogation of personal liberty and human rights, effectively turning the clock back hundreds of years – all based on what many leading doctors and epidemiologists agree is no more of a significant public health threat, in terms of infections and fatalities, than seasonal influenza.

    A COVID Green New Deal?

    One of the clear main political beneficiaries of a COVID-19 global shutdown has been the climate change lobby.

    By forcibly shutting down millions of businesses and pulling tens of millions of cars off the road and grounding world commercial airlines, the crisis has delivered young Greta Thunberg the evidence she and her supporters need to demonstrate the virtues of a net zero carbon world in a real-life simulation.

    This will also accelerate the adoption of a so-called ‘Green New Deal’ internationally, which may have less to do with saving the environment or ‘changing the climate’, and more to do with the creation of new global financial bubble based on the commodification and financialisation of Earth’s ecosphere. This is essentially a new ‘green-backed’ and fully tradeable monetary credit, bond and derivatives market.

    Greta didn’t appear out of nowhere in 2018. She and her handlers have been tasked with a mission, and now in just three weeks they are very close to realising large pieces of their agenda, which also dovetails with UN Agenda 2030 sustainability goals.

    Who’s Winning: Globalism or Nationalism?

    Another unexpected byproduct of this crisis has been a number of European Union member states kicking Brussels to the curb, either for not reacting fast enough to help, or simply for not releasing enough funds for struggling public institutions and businesses. As a result, countries like Italy and Poland are exerting their nationalist power over Brussels’ relatively weak and ineffectual response to requested assistance from members states.

    At the same time, this new global control grid lends itself towards the implementation of a world government structure to be used to fund an international regime that regulates and adjudicates problems, as well as manage future ‘outbreaks’. In late March, former British PM and Chancellor, Gordon Brown, called for world leaders to create a provisional global government body in order to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and manage the global economic collapse.

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    Screenshot from The Guardian, 26 March 2020

    Whatever geopolitical and social engineering agendas were already in motion before the crisis, you can be sure that the coronavirus has accelerated many of them.

    In terms of power-grabs, this is the embodiment of “never let a good crisis go to waste.”

    Oh, and don’t forget –it’s really all about saving lives. 

  • "She Hasn't Done Her Job": Looting, Riots, & Mayoral Ineptitude Prompt Mass Exodus Of Chicago Residents
    “She Hasn’t Done Her Job”: Looting, Riots, & Mayoral Ineptitude Prompt Mass Exodus Of Chicago Residents

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 23:40

    While mayor Lori Lightfoot continues to try and assure the public that she has everything under control, the exodus from Chicago as a result of the looting and riots is continuing. Citizens of Chicago are literally starting to pour out of the city, citing safety and the Mayor’s ineptitude as their key reasons for leaving. 

    Hilariously, in liberal politicians’ attempt to show the world they don’t need Federal assistance and that they don’t need to rely on President Trump’s help, they are inadvertently likely creating more Trump voters, as residents who seek law and order may find no other choice than to vote Republican come November. 

    And even though residents understand the looting and riots in some cases, they are not waiting around for it to get better on its own, nor are they waiting around for it to make its way to their house, their families or their neighborhoods. 

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    One 30 year old nurse that lives in River North told the Chicago Tribune: “Not to make it all about us; the whole world is suffering. This is a minute factor in all of that, and we totally realize that. We are very lucky to have what we do have. But I do think that I’ve never had to think about my own safety in this way before.”

    The city’s soaring crime has been national news this year and many residents are claiming they “no longer feel safe” in the city’s epicenter, according to the Tribune report. Aldermen say their constituents are leaving the city and real estate agents say they are seeing the same. 

    The “chaotic bouts of destruction in recent months” are the catalyst, the report says.

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    Residents of the Near North Side told a Tribune columnist that they would be moving “as soon as we can get out” and others “expressed fear” of returning downtown. The Near North Side is 70% white and 80% of residents have a college degree. The median household income is $99,732, which is about twice the city’s average. 

    Real estate broker Rafael Murillo says people are moving to the suburbs quicker than planned: “And then you have the pandemic, so people are spending more and more time in their homes. And in the high-rise, it starts to feel more like a cubicle after awhile.”

    Additionally, those who once planned on buying downtown are reconsidering, he said. He said over the last week he has talked to “three or four” sellers who live downtown and want out so they can move to the suburbs. 

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    He commented: “They want to feel safe. They want to be able to come outside their homes and enjoy their neighborhood amenities, whether it’s running at the park, enjoying a nice little dinner, shopping. But with everything going on, there are a lot of residents who are not feeling safe right now.”

    Resident Neil Spun, who has lived in Chicago for more than 30 years, said: “There have been riots before, and looting. It just seems to me now that the city isn’t doing anything about it. I don’t see this getting any better, and so I’d like to leave.”

    Philip Nyden, founding director of the Center for Urban Research and Learning and professor emeritus of sociology at Loyola University Chicago said: “One of the things around the immediate reaction to the looting: there is an undertone of race, I think. People don’t openly say ’those people’ from the South and West sides are coming downtown … (but) in Chicago, the looters shown on television were predominantly young and African American.”

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    He continued: “Streeterville is one of the richest neighborhoods in the city — probably in the metro area. The looting of luxury stores on Oak Street earlier this month sort of freaked some people out. It’s not an image you normally see. And I think they’re reacting to that.”

    He said of the riots: “Folks start saying, ‘Well, we’re gonna go to the affluent neighborhoods and loot, and not wreck our own neighborhoods,’ (although) I don’t know if it was quite that conscious politically.”

    Nyden says he is not yet comparing the exodus to the “white flight” of the 1950s: “A lot of white flight was related to pure racism in many cases, or false fears being fed by realtors, who were doing all sorts of things to rev up fears. I’m not seeing that here.” 

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    Steven P. Levy, president of residential management firm Sudler Property Management wrote a letter to the mayor begging for change. It stated: “From Hyde Park to the Gold Coast to Edgewater, residents across the city are adjusting their daily routines out of fear. They’re avoiding neighborhood walks after 6 p.m. This is not a way to live, and I can’t fault homeowners when they tell me they’re considering leaving Chicago.”

    Charlie Ragusa, a real estate client of Murillo’s, said: “I don’t feel comfortable here in the city anymore. People have the right to get their message out there … whatever it might be. But beyond the protests, we have the violence that’s attached to the protests. Often times, we combine the two of them together, because they pretty much happen at the same time. The violence is overpowering the people who have a message to say.”

    He blames the Mayor: “She hasn’t done her job. Her job is to protect me and protect the city. And I just don’t see that she’s doing it. I can’t go out at nighttime anymore. I’m afraid to. That’s not normal; that’s not the way Americans are supposed to live.”

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    Another resident says she is looking to take her family and move about 50 miles outside of the city. “We’re just looking for more safety,” she said. Both her and her husband support the Black Lives Matter movement, she said, but living downtown it doesn’t matter. 

    Looting had broken our near her home on August 10 and came home from a late night dog walk to see people surrounding her parked car. “The cops were just going past, and people had shopping carts full of (stuff), and all you heard were sirens, glass shattering and shouting. And gunshots. It was just very jarring.”

    She concluded, in peak liberal hypocrisy fashion: “I think people forget that people do live here, too — it’s not just the Guccis and the Jimmy Choo stores. And I completely support it all. You stealing shoes means nothing to me — that doesn’t hurt me at all. It’s just the fact that that brings more crime, and that does endanger me.”

  • Weaponized Drone Swarms Should Be Declared As "WMD" 
    Weaponized Drone Swarms Should Be Declared As “WMD” 

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 23:30

    A new study for the US Air Force argues that a large-scale adversarial drone swarm attack could be classified as a “weapon of mass destruction” (WMD), a term commonly used to describe chemical, biological, or radioactive weapon capable of causing widespread death and destruction, reported Intelligent Aerospace.

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    Zachary Kallenborn, a senior consultant at ABS Group, specializing in drone swarms, WMD terrorism, and WMD warfare, authored the report for the Air Force Center for Strategic Deterrence Studies at Air University Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama where he makes the case that some weaponized drone swarm attacks could be viewed as a WMD:

    “Drone swarms can also serve in traditional WMD roles. They would be highly effective as mass-casualty weapons, especially against soft targets,” writes Kallenborn.

    “They could also be strategic deterrent weapons, though the variety of defenses means nuclear weapons are likely to continue to be more reliable deterrents. Drone swarms could be effective in assassination attempts due to the ability to overwhelm defenses. 

    However, the lack of stealth means they are likely to only appeal to actors unconcerned with (or desire) their role being known. In some circumstances, drone swarms could function as an-access, area-denial weapons.”

    Drone swarming technology, one that is deployed in squadrons, able to autonomously operate in a pack, is the future of warfare on the modern battlefield. 

    Readers may recall, a rudimentary version of swarming technology made global headlines in 2018 after small drones attacked a Russian military base in Syria. 

    Back in 2017, artificial-intelligence researcher Stuart Russell presented a video on “Slaughterbots” to the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. He warned the development of lethal autonomous weapons could easily destabilize society if an attack was seen. 

    It’s only a matter of time before armed, fully autonomous drone swarms are labeled as WMD because of their ability to inflict highly precise damage on hard and soft targets. 

  • 'The Saker' Asks: Will Hillary & The Dems Get The Civil War They Are Trying To Provoke?
    ‘The Saker’ Asks: Will Hillary & The Dems Get The Civil War They Are Trying To Provoke?

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 23:00

    Via TheSaker.is,

    If you have not already seen this, check out this video of Hillary Clinton stating that, quote, “Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances“:

    “Any” means “any”.  That would include the (admittedly hypothetical) case of Trump clearly winning in by landslide.  Again, “any” means “any”.

    The direct implications of that is that the Dems should re-take the White House by any and all means and under any and all circumstances.

    That is also a direct appeal to sabotage the US democracy which, as flawed as it is, is the only rule of law based option currently available to the people of the USA.

    Will that result in a civil war?

    That is rather unlikely, because for a civil war you need to have at least two credible parties which can coordinate attacks and defensive operations on, at least, a regional scale.  I don’t see that in the USA.

    But I don’t see how local/regional violence (at times severe) and political chaos can be avoided.

    We already know that the Dems will never accept a Trump victory.

    We also know that the Trump supporters will claims that the USPS cannot be trusted with mail voting (I totally agree with them, the USPS is one of the worst postal services of any developed country on the planet).

    Then there is the following issue: as police departments are “defunded” and cops are resigning en masse (and I sure can’t blame them!), simple citizens will have to increasingly protect themselves, which many of them can do, but the problem here is that these citizens are then charged while the surviving BLM and/or Antifa thugs walk free, even if they attacked first.

    In some US states (like Florida, thank God for that!), the local Sheriffs will stand by their citizens and the local DAs will not prosecute those who used lethal force to defend themselves against a short list of forcible felonies (including home violations, carjackings, rapes, etc.). 

    Just listen to this selection of FL sheriffs:

    I have been a Florida resident since 18 years now and I can sincerely say that I don’t recommend BLM/Antifa try to loot or riot in Florida, because they will be met with a lot of force and a legal system which strongly favors the law abiding citizen, including in cases of self-defense.

    But in northern states?!

    So far, if I am not mistaken, most of the riots so far have taken place in northern states (Atlanta is in the south, but it is also not truly a “southern city” since it is run by BLM/Antifa sympathizers; the same could be said about Miami, FL, by the way).

    This is probably not a coincidence.  And this has nothing to do with “southern racism” (in my experience southerners are no more racist than northerners), but much more with a culture of self-defense, rooted in the land, which makes southern people much more likely to “circle the wagons” and act together.

    And while I never bought the (rather silly) arguments that “guns protect the people from tyranny” (tyrants typically have trained and professional forces which can make minced meat of any armed civilians!), I do believe that armed citizens can very effectively stop rioting thugs (just remember how the Koreans of L.A. defended themselves and their stores during the L.A. riots).

    Luckily, southern states are much more faithful to the US Constitution than those northern states which have “castrated” the 2nd Amendment “by a thousand (legislative) cuts” (there are, exceptions, of course).

    This is not widely known, but in about 25%-30% or so of cases or armed robbery by thugs, their guns either don’t work, or they are fake.  Their ammo often sucks too (either bad condition, or completely inadequate).  Why?  Because criminals are too stupid and too cheap to invest in quality firearms and training.  As a result, if BLM/Antifa thugs try to storm a residential neighborhood or some small town in the South, they might be “greeted” by a lot of very competent firepower.

    I think that it is pretty clear that the US deep state and the Dem Party are using BLM/Antifa as footsoldiers to create chaos and prepare for even worse violence should Trump win. 

    There are also some signs that the Dem leadership does not want to let the (totally senile) Joe Biden go against Trump in a debate.  Here is an excerpt from a ZeroHedge report:

    “I don’t think that there should be any debates,” Pelosi said on Thursday, one day after President Trump demanded Biden take a drug test before the two square off.

    “I wouldn’t legitimize a conversation with him – nor a debate in terms of the presidency of the United States,” she added. Pelosi said that Trump was “disgraceful” when he ‘stalked‘ Hillary Clinton during the 2016 debate by walking near her, and that he will probably “act in a way that is beneath the dignity of the presidency.”

    The message is clear: we do not recognize Trump as a legitimate opponent and should he win, this will be because of Chinese interference and/or and Russian interference and/or “Republican bullying” (whatever that is supposed to mean). 

    Bottom line: we will under no circumstances accept another defeat.

    Dunno about you, but to me this sounds like sedition.  Here is how Wikipedia defines this concept:

    Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or resistance against, established authority. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws. Seditious words in writing are seditious libel. A seditionist is one who engages in or promotes the interest of sedition.

    I don’t see any evidence that Trump and/or the GOP leadership are guilty of sedition, at least not inside their own country – outside, of course, they are currently the single most subversive force on the planet.  In fact, I would argue that in spite of all the many major differences, Trump is facing a situation not dissimilar to what Lukashenko faces in Belarus.  The biggest difference is that Trump is not backed by Putin.  In fact, he is backed by nobody (besides bone fide nutcases like Jair Bolsonaro and Ivan Duque Marquez or cheap prostitutes like Andrzej Duda or Dalia Grybauskaite).

    I do see overwhelming evidence that the Clinton Gang & the US deep state & (pseudo-) “liberal” “elites” are all guilty of sedition.  As a result of this egging on of rioting thugs, things happen which would have been quite unthinkable just a year ago.

    For example: a US Senator and his wife almost got lynched by a mob just outside the White House.  Is that even possible?  Yes it is, see for yourself:

    Friends, this is not Afghanistan or the Central African Republic.  And a senator is one of the highest possible offices any man or woman can achieve.  Yet in this country capital city, right outside the White House, cops were unable to protect a senator from a mob.

    Yet this is how the mainstream media presented this:  “Protesters confront Rand Paul outside White House after Republican convention“. 

    Since when are criminal thugs who attempt to lynch a senator and his wife called “protesters”?!  And does “confront” not suggest that Senator Paul somehow deserved to be “confronted”.

    Can you imagine what the media would have said if this had happened to a black senator?

    Does this kind of mainstream “reporting” not show that this country’s political system is collapsing?

    Conclusion

    I don’t see a civil war happening in the US.  But I do think that this country can, and probably will, break-up into different zones so to speak.  In some regions, law and order will be maintained, by force is needed, while in others something new will appear: what the French call “des zones de non-droit“, meaning “areas of lawlessness” in which law enforcement will be absent (either because the political leaders will refuse to engage them, or because they will simply have to withdraw under fire).  Typically, such zones have a parallel “black” economy which can make the gangs which control such zones very wealthy (think of Russia in the 1990s).  Eventually, a lot of people will flee from such zones and seek refuge in the safer areas of the country (this process has already begun in New York).

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    Right now, there are a little over two months before the election, and I think that it is safe to say that the situation will deteriorate even faster and much worse.  By November 2nd the country will be “ready” (so to speak) for a massive explosion of violence followed by months of chaos.

    Many will probably vote Trump just because they will (mistakenly) believe that he is the only politician who will stand against what the Dems promise to unleash against the majority of “deplorables” who want to keep their country and traditions.  

    At the core, the conflict we are now witnessing is a conflict about identity, something which most people deeply care about.  Sooner or later, there will be push-back against the Dems attempt to turn the USA into some kind of obese transgender liberal Wakanda run by crooks, freaks and thugs.

    The Dems won’t get their civil war – but they will suffer the blowback for their attempts to destroy the United States.

  • Late-Night Binge-Watching Lowers Sperm Count, Study Finds
    Late-Night Binge-Watching Lowers Sperm Count, Study Finds

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 22:30

    Readers may recall we noted sperm counts in Western men had slumped nearly 60% over the decades. Though researchers have not been precise of what is causing the decline, some have suggested there’s a link with the use of electronics.

    “The last several decades have been characterized by the widespread usage of digital devices, especially smartphones. At the same time, there have been reports of male fertility decline. This study aimed to assess the relationship between evening exposure to the light-emitting screens of digital media devices and sperm quality,” said Amit Green, Ph.D., head of research and development at the Sleep and Fatigue Institute at the Assuta Medical Center in Tel-Aviv, Israel, who led the study titled “Light Emitted from Media Devices at Night is Associated with Decline in Sperm Quality.” 

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    Preliminary results showed men who use light-emitting media devices in the evening and or right before bed experienced a more significant decline in sperm quality:

    “Smartphone and tablet use in the evening and after bedtime was correlated with a decline in sperm quality. Furthermore, smartphone use in the evening, tablet use after bedtime, and television use in the evening were all correlated with the decline of sperm concentration,” Green said. 

    “The results of this study revealed a link between evening and post-bedtime exposure to light-emitting digital media screens and sperm quality. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report these types of correlations between sperm quality and exposure time to SWL emitted from digital media, especially smartphones and tablets, in the evening and after bedtime,” he said. 

    For this study, researchers used semen samples from 116 men between the ages of 21 and 59. Participants were also asked about their electronic use and sleep habits. 

    Green also noted a relationship between sperm quality and sleeping habits. Men who slept longer had higher sperm counts, as opposed to men who had sleep disorders. 

    So here’s the big issue and why it matters for the next economic expansion: declining sperm quality and population growth slowdown, or in some countries, reversal, will directly affect GDP growth. 

    The Western world is plagued with a declining, aging, and heavily indebted population with zero interest rates, along with monetary drag, which will result in less future consumption, and force overcapacity to be cleared 

    So if men want to ‘make the Western world great again’ – put down the iPhone or tablet at night, your nation’s survivability depends on healthy sperm. 

  • How To Survive When You're The Target Of An Angry Mob
    How To Survive When You’re The Target Of An Angry Mob

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 22:00

    Authored by Terry Trahan via The Organic Prepper blog,

    I’m sure you’ve seen the video below by now.

    Political activists/bullies, encroaching on people’s space to make their point, and, more importantly here, trying to intimidate the people into giving up their freedom to give the rioters their way.

    The first thing I want to say about this is it is a difficult situation. Especially the more middle class you are, or the more formal the setting you are in.

    The first difficulty is overcoming your upbringing and being able to shift gears out of the dining mindset into the confrontation/defense mindset.

    As I wrote about earlier, mindset is your friend here. You are just there to do the job at hand.

    Doing the job, however, requires a few things to find the proper response.

    You really need to be able to read the crowd, both the other diners and the thugs demanding your obeisance to their worldview. Can you count on help from others in the diner crowd? Maybe, but “hope” is not a plan, and you cannot count on it. The most important read you can do is on the thugs/activists.

    You need to assess, rapidly, their dedication to their cause. Look for obvious clues to how violent they might be:

    • Are there any weapons visible?

    • Are they patterned in a way that provides you a more clear route to exfiltrate?

    You need to be able to do this unobtrusively, quickly, and be able to process the information to make a plan of action.

    There are a few basic courses of action you can take.

    The first is to sit there and take it. This may sound glib, but it is not. If your threat assessment determined that they are just going to yell and scream, you can just wait it out. Obviously, threat assessment must be ongoing, because it can change at the drop of a hat.

    Always be looking for routes of escape, and don’t limit yourself to the obvious ones. If it gets bad enough, people make wonderful objects to break windows or drywall to make an emergency exit with.

    Sitting there and taking it was the course of action the lady in the video chose, and in this case, it worked.

    The next thing you can do is to get up and make your way inside the establishment and use that changed environment to get to the exit and leave. Unfortunately, you need to stay aware of the crowd you are escaping from. A mob is very susceptible to prey drive.

    As my friend Rory Miller says, they can and will escalate to violence for several reasons, including to prove they belong to the group, and you are an outsider.

    Using your cell phone to call the police is an option but seems to be a low return option at this point. Due to the civil unrest/riots everywhere, they may not have resources available to help you.

    What if none of these options work? Move to “desperate options”

    The next options are for when your threat assessment determines that it has the potential for violence, or it is now, actively, becoming violent. Beware, these options are hard and dark.

    Aggressive Escape is the first “desperate option” we will cover. Using this option, violence comes first but is not the main point of the exercise. Basically, what you are doing is picking one of the opposing crowd, and attacking them violently to make a hole you can get through.

    If you hurt one of the crowd, you need to make your escape as fast as you can, as the thugs will try to get payback on you for the damage and pain you have caused. If possible, use a weapon. If you do not have one on you, a restaurant is chock-full of useful tools. A water glass driven into an eye socket or the bridge of the nose. A dinner plate, edge first to the throat, or salt/pepper shakers to the temples, candles into the eyeballs.

    I’m sure you get the picture.

    The crowd has turned into a violent mob, what NOW?

    Next, we get to the most serious scenario. Your threat assessment has determined violence is imminent or the crowd is becoming a violent mob. This is the time to become very matter of fact and know what job you need to do.

    In my classes, I simply call these things ‘maiming’, and it is only for very serious situations. This is where you begin taking people apart. We have all heard the jokes about throat punching… This is what it is for. Steak knives, gouging eyes, ripping noses, fish hooking, vile things made to make your attackers back up so you can keep making your way to escape.

    There is no way to make this nice, and I want to reiterate, this is for the worst-case scenario, and it can be nasty. This is where you only do things if your life is truly in danger, and you are doing this to escape and get your people to safety.

    I’d like to close this by addressing things and questions that have come up in classes or emails.

    What about stun guns?

    I think they are worthless. My friends and I would play tag with them when we were younger. The only thing they are good for, in my opinion, is to make a quick hole to get through in a crowd. They are not a good choice.

    What about pepper spray?

    Pepper spray should be thought of as an eye jab in a can, a quick distraction to either escape or launch a stronger attack with a better weapon. It is a bonus that you can beat people with the can when it is empty. If you are going to use it to make an escape opening, please use 15% or better, and spray it either directly in to the face of one person, and make sure they get all of it, or, spray in a wide ‘S’ pattern too get more people.

    Bear spray or pepper grenades are awesome, but I don’t think even I would be carrying those to a nice dinner downtown.

    Is a gun the ultimate solution?

    Well, maybe. It depends. That would be a giant can of worms to discuss here. Suffice to say that during a mob encounter, there are some things you need to think about and practice. Be prepared for serious legal ramifications in our current climate.

    Mob violence is becoming more of a normal feature of modern life in the US.

    Unfortunately, the dynamics of crowd violence and mob mentality make dealing with or planning for this type of encounter difficult at best. There are no good options, and you must be able to switch tactics on the fly.

    As always, awareness is your best friend and primary warning system.

    Stay safe.

  • Kenosha Or Kosovo? Shocking Images Reveal Destruction After Race Riots Leave Buildings In Ruins
    Kenosha Or Kosovo? Shocking Images Reveal Destruction After Race Riots Leave Buildings In Ruins

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 21:30

    Harrowing scenes of destruction have emerged from Kenosha, where several nights of BLM riots have left the Wisconsin town looking like it’s been through war.

    Entire buildings have been reduced to rubble, businesses have been destroyed, and parking lots full of burnt-out cars are all that’s left in some parts of the town, after riots over the shooting of 29-year-old black suspect Jacob Blake only came to a halt after President Trump sent the National Guard to restore order.

    Josh Glancy, Washington Bureau Chief of the Sunday Times documented some of the aftermath, which locals believe was caused largely by “out of towners.”

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    Glancey closes by noting: As we were talking, a young man came to ask the owner where the nearest post box was. “There used to be two across the street,” he replied. “But they both just got burnt.”

    Meanwhile, the Kenosha News obtained aerial images from photographer Sean Krajacic.

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    President Trump couldn’t have asked for a better campaign advertisement.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsMeanwhile, Trump will be in Kenosha on Tuesday…

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    Will they cart Biden out of his basement to do the same? We would note that Trump visited flood-ravaged Baton Rouge when he was a candidate in 2016 following Louisiana’s worst natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

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  • Doug Casey On Whether It's Possible To Find Freedom In An Unfree World
    Doug Casey On Whether It’s Possible To Find Freedom In An Unfree World

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 21:00

    Via InternationalMan.com,

    International Man: Statism has become a new religion.

    A growing number of people are interested in using the State’s power to tell others how to live. They are also voting themselves freebies at the expense of others.

    It’s clear that those who want to be left alone won’t be. Is it possible to find freedom in an unfree place?

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    Doug Casey: Back in 1973, my old friend Harry Browne wrote a really fantastic book called How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World, where he dealt with exactly that question.

    Remember, that was almost 50 years ago now—a lifetime.

    The book was timely, even though the world was much freer then than it is now. We now have vastly more financial and travel controls, however—many new penalties for saying, or even appearing to think, the “wrong” things. You’re now monitored in many more ways.

    Harry’s book is brilliant and actually more important to read now than it was then. His answers to how you find freedom in an unfree world are useful and relevant.

    But the fact is that you can run but you can’t hide.

    That’s because the world has been infected by a virus. I don’t mean the ridiculous COVID virus. I mean the virus of statism and collectivism.

    There’s really nowhere you can go to be safe from it – only some places that are better than others.

    For instance, the so-called Five Eyes countries – the US, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. They were once the major bastions of Western Civilization, the only civilization – ever – that held personal freedom as an ideal. But now they’re the very ones leading the route downhill.

    It’s a real problem for freedom lovers. We’re a smaller and smaller minority. Most people, however, prefer a strong leader promising the illusion of safety and security. Nothing has changed since the days of Rome. It devolved from a yeoman republic to a multicultural empire with onerous taxes in order to pay for bread and circuses to keep the capite censi under control.

    In the latter days of the empire, many of its citizens attempted to escape, to live among the barbarians – even while the barbarians were taking over the empire itself. Pretty much the same thing is happening now in the West in general and the US in particular.

    The best thing you can do to defend yourself—at least while it’s still possible—is to become rich enough to insulate yourself from the State. Rich enough so that even if they steal a lot from you—and they will— you still have enough. Enough to absorb the hit, keep moving, and live life as you’d like.

    Let me go off on a bit of a tangent here, and look at things from the viewpoint of class. That’s perhaps appropriate in a world where neo-Marxism is being promoted everywhere. I see classes according to how they align relative to the three most important, most basic verbs in any language—be, do, and have.

    If you’re lower class—which is to say have a lower class mentality— you just accept what you’re given. The lower classes are defined by psychological demoralization, apathy, and hopelessness. At best, they just think about having stuff—cars, houses, food, mates—but don’t even succeed at that very well because of their values. I doubt, however, that anybody now reading this fits into that category. Historically, they’re by far the largest group, and their numbers are now growing rapidly.

    I increasingly wonder if the US even has much of an upper class any more. Being upper class is all about values, primarily being something. Money, power, and prestige don’t make someone upper class—they’re consequences of upper-class values unless you win the lottery or have great athletic, entertainment, or sometimes even business ability. Then you can masquerade for a while. But those things tend to corrupt. It’s easy to descend and become effete, entitled. Ineffectual and stagnant.

    The fact is, most of us are middle class. Historically, the middle class is what America is all about; it made America unique. The work ethic, striving, and improving, doing. The middle class is being destroyed by inflation and taxes, which make it hard to save and build capital, and regulations, which make it hard to produce, to do. I’m afraid that ground between the millstones of taxes and inflation—as Lenin said—huge numbers of the middle class are descending into the ranks of the lower—the proletariat.

    The three classes are natural enough. But since the invention of mass democracy, since it was turned into a worldwide secular religion around the time of World War One, there’s arisen another class—the political class. Anyone can join it. They were always there but nowhere near as hugely important or virulent. I can’t think of a single verb to define them—all the possibilities are unflattering, though. They hate the middle class, though, because its members are, by definition, productive and independent.

    Anyway, these are just a few thoughts. Maybe I’ll expand on them in the future.

    To get back to the original question, what you should do is become rich so you can insulate yourself to the best degree that you can from the ongoing crisis. It will eventually pass, and you can reposition yourself – if you’ve maintained some capital.

    Money is far from everything, of course. It’s just a tool. But tools are helpful …

    International Man: Western Civilization seems to be going downhill economically, politically, and culturally at a rapid pace. The trajectory looks grim.

    However, much of the rest of the world outside of the West has their own problems. What
    can freedom-loving people do not only survive but thrive in the years ahead?

    Doug Casey: Once again, I’ve said this for many years, and it’s truer now than it’s ever been.

    The financial and economic problems in the world are serious and accelerating. But as we go deeper into the Greater Depression, your biggest risks aren’t financial or economic. They’re political.

    The only way to solve that problem from a practical point of view is to diversify politically the way you would diversify financially.

    That means you should have a crib in a second or third country—as well as businesses and financial assets in others besides your home country. That’s the only thing that you can do at this point. You can vote if it makes you feel good. But, as Stalin said, it’s not who votes that counts—it’s who counts the votes. Becoming a political activist is degrading and pointless. This coming election will be largely about cheating by both sides, IMO.

    The political classes everywhere are using the current COVID hysteria to cement themselves in place, and very few of the sheeple are resisting. To the contrary, they welcome it, because they think drastic actions make them safe. A degenerating society values safety above all.

    It’s true everywhere, though, even in increasingly primitive places like South Africa—in fact, almost all of Africa. India is totally locked down as is most of South America. These places don’t have enough capital stored to enable an enforced vacation of several years. And that’s what we may be looking at.

    It’s happening almost all over the world. The people that are being hurt the most, needless to say, are the people living hand to mouth. They’re going to be hurt even worse as all these governments destroy their national currencies—because poor people can only save the local national currency.

    When their pitiful paper currency savings are wiped out, then they’re really in trouble. Will they get violent, or just roll up into a ball and die? Good question.

    In the 21st century, East Asia, China, Vietnam, Korea are the best places to be. This is also true of Russia and Eastern Europe, notwithstanding the fact that China is going to have a financial collapse and may very well wind up divided into five or six smaller countries.

    We’re looking at worldwide chaos in the making. I was always half kidding when answering the question, “How bad do you think the Greater Depression will be?” and I’d say, “Even worse than I think it’s going to be.” But now, it’s no joke.

    International Man: Almost every government and country in the world is going in the wrong direction from a personal freedom standpoint.

    Are there any options for like-minded individuals to come together if there is no perfect country or place?

    Doug Casey: Everybody should read Neal Stephenson’s book, The Diamond Age.

    The ideas that he developed, essentially of nation-states falling apart and being replaced with phyles, was very prescient.

    Humans are social animals; we like to hang out with other people.

    This is especially true with people that are like us. In other words, people that believe in the same things, that have the same values, and have the same outlook on the world.

    It’s actually crazy to try to put diverse, disparate people together into the same political entity. That’s because, inevitably, any and all of the groups in that artificial political entity are going to try to get control of the apparatus of the State to benefit themselves and punish the others. Politics always results in a war of all against all.

    I think Stephenson’s novel was quite correct. People will increasingly find that their real countrymen are people with whom they share values and ideas—or whatever happens to be important to them. Not a national passport. That’s just government ID, like a driver’s license.

    Within that context, here in the US, Libertarians tried to put together a community, I think called the Free State Movement, centering around Keene, New Hampshire. I haven’t been there. So, I don’t know if it’s in any way successful or not, or whether the Libertarians are looked upon as some type of a weird religious cult by the locals. I don’t think it’s had any real effect on anything.

    Worse, if the wrong guys get in power, the thing could backfire.

    It might facilitate one-stop-shopping to find potential enemies of the State. If seriously dangerous political class types take over, as is likely in November if Biden wins the election, there’s no telling what might happen.

    Of course, I tried to put something together in an obscure but very pleasant part of Argentina, La Estancia de Cafayate.

    It’s been an artistic success, and it’s a great place to live. We’ve got a lot of great people living there—very enjoyable, mellow, easy-to-get-along-with company. But we attracted our share of antisocial and dogmatic nutcases. Just because someone is a political Libertarian doesn’t necessarily mean he has any other virtues. And he may be psychologically unbalanced in the bargain.

    Psychology and character are the real problems. Shangri-la doesn’t exist. And it won’t until the vast majority of humans are more like Harry Browne, Ron Paul, or Lao-Tzu, and less like AOC, Pelosi, or Obama. I guess my best suggestion at this point is to look at a small town, whether you’re in the US or elsewhere, one that has a frontier culture, where people are independent-minded.

    I suspect most of the people reading this now are what we’d call gamma rats.

    They’re not like alpha rats, which want to boss everybody else around, taking the best mates and best territory. And beat up the beta rats, who are the vast majority of the population.

    The gamma rats also tend to get the best possessions and so forth, but they don’t beat up the beta rats nor let themselves be beat up by the alpha rats. The trouble is that, in laboratory experiments, scientists found that gamma rats are only a very small portion of the population. Among humans, we’re an equally small portion of the population.

    International Man: Let’s discuss some potential bright spots.

    What role do you think the advancement of technology will play in empowering the individual?

    Doug Casey: From Day One, technology has been the friend of the average man, and hugely beneficial. Except the effect comes in two stages. The first is usually only good for the ruling political class and bad for the average guy.

    Let’s go to Stanley Kubrick’s movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Remember the scene where the hominids gathered around the watering hole, and the one hominid comes up with the idea of using a bone as a weapon to beat up the other group?

    That was early technology. The first guy that gets technology uses it to dominate. But then after a while, it’s monkey see, monkey do. The technology spreads from the inventor or the first utilizer to the population in general, and things equalize.

    It’s been that way for hundreds of thousands of years.

    It was true with gunpowder. The first people that got gunpowder ran the State; they used it to keep the peasants at bay. But when it got into the hands of the peasants, they were able to use firearms to take out armored knights, which they couldn’t do before. The tables were turned.

    That same was true with writing, and then the printing press. At first, they were hoarded by the political classes and priesthoods, who used them to maintain their power. The same with the computer. In the old days of ENIAC and the IBM 360, only a government or a giant corporation could afford them, and they could use them to keep track of all the little people. Now, everybody has a massively powerful laptop or cellphone. Hackers can counterattack.

    I go into that theme in some detail in Assassin, the third novel in the High Ground septet. It will be released in September—lots of political implications. I urge readers who are interested to get Speculator and Drug Lord now, so as not to fall behind. Speculator is especially relevant because of what’s about to happen with gold stocks.

    In other words, technology eventually turns the tables to the advantage of the average guy, even though it’s always used to suppress the average guy in the beginning.

    It was technology that liberated the masses to overturn whatever the current political class might have been at the time. It has nothing to do with democracy, which is just a sop to make the peasants believe they’re in charge. If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let you do it.

    It’s a trend that’s going to continue. But it can be years, or even decades, before a new technology finally gets into the hands of the average guy. Then the political class wants to regulate it.

    The powers-that-be treat all technologies as dangerous. Like guns, they want to keep these things out of the hands of the average guy, basically to keep the peasants from defending themselves.

    But the cat always gets out of the bag in the long run. It’s a reason for long-term optimism. That said, there’s always a chance of a genuine Dark Age if the old order collapses seriously enough.

    International Man: Most people are familiar with large, centralized tech companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, etc.

    But we’ve also seen the development of decentralized technologies that empower the individual, such as encryption and the 3D printing of guns. One key example of this is bitcoin, which is a decentralized form of money.

    What promise do you think decentralized technologies have for wresting power out of the hands of the State, and what are the implications?

    Doug Casey: The mistake that people make with things like Facebook – a giant, amoral, and duplicitous corporation – is thinking that just because billions of people use it, it must be harmless. “Oh, it must be kind of decentralized and democratic because it lets everybody communicate with one another.”

    Giant media corporations like Facebook and Google are dangerous because they can actually form people’s view of reality itself. Much more than newspapers or even TV could. The average person’s understanding of the world, what’s happening, and what other people think is no longer a product of talking to his neighbors or even looking out the window. Their opinions and emotions are now formed by looking at their little screens. That makes them very easy to manipulate.

    The situation will get worse with Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality—somebody will program and control what goes into these things. Maybe subtly, or maybe very overtly. The situation is greatly aggravated by the COVID hysteria in many ways.

    The solution to the danger, however, is not to regulate them. That would be totally counterproductive. Regulation just means giving even more power to the State—which is innately vastly more dangerous than any corporation. At least corporations have to provide a worthwhile service to stay in business…

    What we really need is not just one Facebook where everybody goes, and can therefore be easily monitored. What we need is 10,000 Facebooks, so the power devolves to everybody and anybody.

    The problem will resolve itself in the long run, though. Giant corporations become dysfunctional. Apart from that, they’re subject to the second Law of Thermodynamics as anything else. It’s one of the few laws I believe in.

    That’s true, politically speaking as well. The world would have been much better off if Bismarck had not united about three hundred minor principalities and kingdoms in Germany in 1871. The world and the Germans would have been much better off in every possible way if they’d stayed three hundred fairly small, not powerful principalities.

    Same in Italy, with Garibaldi. Today they’d be much better off if there were still scores of little duchies and counties. The same with India, which would be much better off if their hundreds of kingdoms hadn’t been forcibly united by the British. It’s true everywhere.

    I hope, and actually expect, that places like Germany, Italy, and certainly India will once again devolve into smaller units. The way the Soviet Union broke up into fifteen, and Yugoslavia broke up into six, and Czechoslovakia split into two. The US, which has evolved into a multicultural domestic empire, should—and likely will—split up as well.

    *  *  *

    As these trends continue to accelerate, what you do right now can mean the difference between coming out ahead or suffering crippling losses. That’s exactly why bestselling author Doug Casey and his team just released a free report with all the details on how to survive the crisis ahead. It will help you understand what is unfolding right before our eyes and what you should do so you don’t get caught in the crosshairs. Click here to download the PDF now.

  • Most COVID-19 Deaths In Palm Beach County Can't Be Attributed To Coronavirus Alone, Medical Records Reveal
    Most COVID-19 Deaths In Palm Beach County Can’t Be Attributed To Coronavirus Alone, Medical Records Reveal

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 20:30

    An analysis of deaths in Palm Beach County medical records late last month revealed that “most” of the county’s Covid-19 deaths cannot be attributed to Covid-19 alone. 

    Many of the deaths “involved comorbidity like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, dementia, and more,” according to an I-Team investigation by CBS 12. 

    The investigation spanned 658 of the county’s “Covid deaths”. Investigators found that of the 658 cases, just 86 listed “Covid-19 pneumonia” without contributing causes as the reason for death. 3 were listed as “COVID-19 respiratory infection” without contributing causes. 

    94 cases were listed as a “combination of COVID-19 infection, pneumonia, and respiratory infection/failure”.

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    All of the other deaths involved comorbidities, the data found. In 116 cases, the death involved three or more “serious health conditions in addition to a Covid-19 infection”. One woman, who was 94 years old and had “Type 2 Diabetes, Atrial Fibrillation, and Congestive Heart Failure” had her cause of death listed as “Accute Respiratory Failure and COVID-19 pneumonia”.

    Another record showed a 72 year old man who died from Sepsis and a urinary tract infection had Covid-19 listed as a “contributory cause.” 92 cases showed that Covid-19 was a contributor, but not the primary cause of death. 

    Dr. Terry Adirim, a Senior Associate Dean at the Florida Atlantic University College of Medicine commented: “The fact that it skews older and people with co-morbid conditions — that’s not surprising.”

    Yet, she still advises young people not to ignore the data: “The more you are exposed the more likely you are to have serious illness, the more likely you are to die. And if you have been infected, even if you are younger, you are going to bring it home and bring it into your community as well.”

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    She continued: “I would not recommend feeling so good about getting it. We don’t have a vaccine, it’s a novel virus, and yes we are doing better treating it and yes it tends to affect people with comorbid conditions, but it’s like playing Russian roulette. It’s very likely you’re not going to shoot yourself, and it’s not likely you’ll get seriously ill and die [from COVID] but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”

    “It’s much more likely that we are under-counting COVID deaths,” she said without offering up direct evidence, “and that’s something that we see in pandemics.”

    Investigators also found 8 erroneous deaths layered in the county’s tally. The average age of deaths in Palm Beach was 77.3 years old.

  • UAE And Israel Plan To Create Intelligence Bases On Yemen’s Socotra Island
    UAE And Israel Plan To Create Intelligence Bases On Yemen’s Socotra Island

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 20:00

    By South Front,

    Israel and the United Arab Emirates are going to create a military intelligence-gathering infrastructure on Yemen’s Socotra Island, according to Arab and French sources.

    The 3,650km^2 island, located south of the Yemeni mainland in the Indian Ocean, overlooks the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The straight is a sea route chokepoint between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea. Most exports of oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf that transit the Suez Canal or the SUMED Pipeline pass through both the Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz.

    Since the start of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, the UAE, formally a Saudi ally, and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, a Yemeni separatist movement that is formally allied with the Saudi-backed government in Aden, have established control over most of Socotra Island. For years, the UAE has been seeking to annex the island due to its strategic location. The collapse of the Yemeni statehood due to the years-long instability and the foreign intervention paved a way for more direct actions. The creation of a military infrastructure there is a logical step in this strategy.

    According to reports, a delegation of Israeli and UAE officers recently visited the island and examined several locations for establishing the planned intelligence facilities. Earlier in August, the UAE and Israel with assistance from the United States reached a historical peace agreement relaunching diplomatic, economic and even military cooperation between the states on the highest level. The security and military cooperation in the Bab al-Mandab Strait was among the expected goals.

    Arab and Iranian media allege that in 2016 Israel started building an intelligence-gathering base at the top of Mount Ambassaira, south of the Eritrean capital of Asmara. The base, according to reports, is designed to monitor the conflict in Yemen, as well as the naval situation in the region, including movements of Iranian naval forces.

    The UAE, thanks to its support to the Southern Transitional Council, has already changed the balance of power in southern Yemen to its favor. If, additionally to this, Abu Dhabi succeeds in turning the Socotra Island into its outpost, the UAE will have all chances to shift the balance of power to its own favor even further.

    The Emirati leadership has been slowly but steadily taking an upper hand in the diplomatic, military and economic competition with the Saudi Kingdom, which has so far suffered most of negative consequences, including direct strikes on its territory, from the conflict with Yemen’s Houthis. The peace agreement and security, military cooperation with Israel will also contribute to this scenario.

    The tactical UAE-Israeli-US alliance has all chances to compete with the expanding Iranian influence in the region. Saudi Arabia, which for years was the key US ally against Iran, has been left outside of this plan. And this is very bad news for the Kingdom, which is passing through a deep economic and political crisis complicated by the barely successful invasion of Yemen.

  • Amazon Orders 1,800 EV Delivery Vans From Mercedes, Commits To Go Carbon-Neutral By 2039
    Amazon Orders 1,800 EV Delivery Vans From Mercedes, Commits To Go Carbon-Neutral By 2039

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 19:30

    When Amazon made its decision to introduce hundreds of new electric vans to its delivery fleet, Tesla’s name didn’t appear to be part of the discussion. Rather, the online behemoth ordered 1,800 electric delivery vans from Mercedes-Benz, marking the biggest order of its kind to date.

    Mercedes announced the order on Friday and announced it would “join a climate initiative established by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. By signing up to The Climate Pledge,” according to Reuters. The pledge pins Mercedes to going completely carbon neutral by 2039. 

    The transport sector and shipping/delivery remains one of the biggest contributors of carbon emissions on the planet. 

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    Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said: “We need continued innovation and partnership from auto manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz to decarbonize the transportation sector and tackle the climate crisis. Amazon is adding 1,800 electric delivery vehicles from Mercedes-Benz as part of our journey to build the most sustainable transportation fleet in the world, and we will be moving fast to get these vans on the road this year.”

    The order is Amazon’s biggest in Europe and compliments a contract it signed last year with Rivian for 100,000 delivery vans by 2030. The order consists of 1,200 large eSprinter vans and about 600 medium-sized eVito vehicles. Delivery is slated to begin next year. 

    Lucien Mathieu, an e-mobility and transport analyst concluded: “Amazon’s pledge shows there’s important demand for e-vehicles from delivery fleets.”

  • US Cases Stabilize As California Set To Become 1st State To Pass 700k COVID-19 Cases: Live Updates
    US Cases Stabilize As California Set To Become 1st State To Pass 700k COVID-19 Cases: Live Updates

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 19:16

    Summary:

    • US cases broadly stable Saturday
    • India set to challenge Brazil for No. 2 worst outbreak, will reopen underground trains
    • UK health minister warns about lockdowns
    • Indonesia sees record numbers for 3rd day
    • US cases climb DoD on Friday
    • California imposes new restrictions on evictions
    • Victoria reports fewest new cases since July 4
    • India’s new cases slow slightly from record pace

    * * *

    Update (1900ET): The Sun Belt saw broadly stable numbers for cases, deaths and hospitalizations on Friday, as Texas reported 4,732 new cases, or +0.8%, to 606,530, which is less than the 0.9% average increase over the previous week. Deaths climbed by 154 to 12,420.

    California reported 4,981 new virus cases, the lowest daily count since Aug. 4, a level that was below the 14-day average of 5,725. There have been 693,839 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the state, while deaths climbed by 144 to 12,834.

    Over in Europe, police in Berlin scuffled with far-right protesters demanding an end to Germany’s COVID restrictions. and made about 200 arrests after tens of thousands of people rallied (mostly peacefully). Smaller protests were reported in London and Paris.

    Arizona reported 629 cases Saturday, a 0.3% rise, in line with the the average daily increase from the prior week. The state’s total now stands 201,287.

    The state reported 29 deaths, for a total of 5,007. The number of fatalities was fewer than the 49 the previous day.

    Florida cases climbed by just 0.5% on Saturday to 619,003, in line with the average daily increase of the previous week. Deaths among Florida residents reached 10,957, an increase of 148, and higher than the 89 reported during the prior day.

    New York saw hospitalizations drop to a record 458, the smallest number since March 16. Saturday also marks 22 days of testing positivity rate under 1%.

    Globally, at least 24.8 million people have had the virus, and 16 million have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University, while more than 839,000 people have died.

    India’s government announced plans to reopen its underground train system in New Delhi despite the fact that it’s rapidly catching up to Brazil in terms of number of total cases. The train network will reopen in a phased reopening starting Sept. 7.

    * * *

    Coronavirus cases climbed in both Europe – where France reported a new post-lockdown record of new cases – and the US yesterday, prompting renewed fears of a second wave. Police in Berlin broke up a march against Germany’s coronavirus restrictions on Saturday because the thousands of demonstrators mostly refused to wear masks and adhere to social distancing rules.

    After French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that while he doesn’t want to impose new lockdown restrictions, he would if he felt there was no better alternative, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned in an interview that Britons may face “very extensive” local lockdowns should a feared second wave emerge in the winter.

    Hancock added that he’s operating under the assumption that a vaccine will be widely available “some time next year”. Until then, the government will have to rely on three “lines of defense” to stop the spread of the coronavirus: social distancing, testing and tracing and local lockdowns.

    Meanwhile, the US added 47,860 virus cases Friday, bringing the total to 5,913,913, as more cases were reported at schools around the country. As President Trump demanded that college football return ASAP, the University of Alabama, a football powerhouse, reported more than 1,000 cases since classes began.

    With California on the cusp of becoming the first US state to pass the 700,000 confirmed cases mark, Gov Gavin Newsom said late Friday that the state would impose new rules protecting small business owners from eviction.

    Landlords in the state won’t be allowed to evict renters before Jan. 31, 2021, at the earliest, as long as partial payments and certain declarations are made. Meanwhile, landlords will be protected from foreclosure by the banks (though we suspect Wells Fargo will still find a way).

    Earlier in the day, Newsom unveiled new economic guidance that will allow industries and counties more flexibility around reopening.

    Victoria, the epicenter of the pandemic in Australia, reported 94 new infections for Friday, its lowest reading since July 4, as the outbreak in the region finally abates.

    The state’s health department also reported Saturday via Twitter that there were 18 deaths from the disease. The second-largest state has been under strict lockdown restrictions to combat the virus, and the central bank estimates the effective isolation is set to push the national unemployment rate up to 10% later this year.

    The country’s largest state, New South Wales, reported 14 new cases, eight of which were linked to an emerging cluster centered on a Sydney gym.

    While cases in the US climbed on Friday, Brazil saw case numbers continue to decline. Brazil reported 43,412 cases, fewer than the 44,235 from the prior day, for a total of 3,804,804. Another 855 deaths were reported, a drop from the 984 reported the day before. Brazil’s death toll has now reached 119,504.

    For the third straight day, Indonesia on Saturday reported a record jump in new coronavirus infections, with 3,308 new cases taking Indonesia’s tally of infections to 169,195, while 92 new deaths pushed its death toll to 7,261.

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    After notching a string of its own records, including the most new cases reported in a single-day by any country on earth, India reported 76,472 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, slightly below its record numbers from the past couple of days.

    In Nearby Malaysia, the government extended its pandemic-inspired restrictions, including a ban on foreign tourists, until the end of the year.

    India has reported a total of 3.46 million cases during the pandemic, a tally that places it behind the US and Brazil in terms of total cases. However, India has reported more cases over the past 2 weeks than both the US and Brazil, making its outbreak the worst active outbreak in the world.

  • How Extremes Become More Extreme, Triggering Collapse
    How Extremes Become More Extreme, Triggering Collapse

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 19:00

    Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

    The extremes are not visible to the vast majority of participants, and so they are exposed to high levels of risk they don’t see or understand.

    The question “Is the weather becoming more extreme?” opens up endless debates because our perceptions may differ from actual measurements since we’re prone to recency bias, where what happened recently looms much larger than events of a decade or century ago.

    In the realm of economics and markets, our perceptions of extremes are backed up with data: based on the ratio of stock valuations to GDP and corporate sales (not profits, because profits are easily gamed) to GDP, the stock market has never been as over-valued as it is today.

    The rally in global stocks off the March lows is the steepest such rally ever. The unemployment rate is equally extreme, as is the Federal Reserve’s money-printing: $3 trillion has been created out of thin air since February 26 as the Fed’s balance sheet rose from $4 trillion to $7 trillion.

    Financial/market extremes are becoming more extreme.

    The disruptive social and political consequences of systemic unfairness and extreme wealth inequality are still unfolding, as are the global consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Setting aside the specifics, can we discern systemic dynamics that could make extremes become more extreme?

    Feedback loops are one such dynamic. Somewhat counter-intuitively, when feedback arises to moderate the intensity of a trend, that’s negative feedback. When feedback intensifies the trend, it’s positive feedback.

    Why is this counter-intuitive? If a bad trend is moderated by negative feedback, that’s good (positive). If a bad trend gathers momentum due to positive feedback, that’s bad (negative).

    When an insect population explodes higher due to ideal conditions, birds and other predators feast on the over-supply, reducing the infestation. This negative feedback moderates the damage inflicted by the infestation.

    If a rapidly expanding insect horde has few predators and its range and mobility increase with every generation, allowing it to find new food sources, this positive feedback enables a vast expansion in each generation–exactly what’s we’re witnessing with locusts.

    Positive feedback leads to runaway systems, i.e. run to failure where the system accelerates until it collapses.

    If the system is isolated, then the damage is contained. But if the system is interconnected with others, then its failure could trigger the collapse of other systems, either as a direct (first-order) effect or as an indirect (second-order) effect.

    In other words, in highly inter-connected systems, one failure can trigger a domino effect that can become non-linear once second-order effects manifest.

    For example, consider the direct effects of the pandemic on small Main Street businesses. Surveys have found that around 40% of small business owners are planning to close permanently. The reasons were not surveyed, but the obvious reason is the owners don’t see a 100% return of their revenues as likely, and so it’s prudent to staunch the losses by closing now rather than risk catastrophic losses by re-opening.

    The first-order effect of urban disorder is the destruction of some small businesses. This may push indecisive owners into closing for good, or considering moving to a safer locale outside the city.

    The second-order effect is the re-assessment of business owners on the likelihood of further disorder in the future. If that seems probable, or even possible, the uncertainty that creates could cause customers to avoid downtown areas, even if no further disorder occurs. The uncertainty alone will diminish commerce that was already crushed by the pandemic.

    There is another class of dynamics I call hidden extremes because the long-term trend appears benign even as it reaches breaking points with the potential to collapse the system.

    Cost is my ongoing example. The costs of operating a small business have been rising far faster than official inflation or incomes for years. Rent, utilities, licensing fees, taxes, wages, labor overhead, insurance–virtually every category of expense has climbed inexorably for years.

    These increases in fixed costs (costs that are unrelated the number of customers served) have pushed many small businesses closer to the edge of insolvency. To compensate,owners have cut employee hours and shouldered more of the day-to-day work themselves. But there is a limit on this kind of workaround; the owner can only work so many hours a day, and every additional hour increases the odds of burnout, a complete collapse of the owner’s ability to continue over-working.

    I call this the Rising Wedge Model of Breakdown: costs ratchet higher effortlessly, but reducing costs encounters extreme resistance.

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    In other words, a consequential percentage of small businesses were at their extreme limit in the rising wedge even before the pandemic. Now the wedge has broken as their revenues falling by even a modest percentage is enough to trigger losses they cannot sustain.

    Another dynamic that can make extremes even more extreme is the Pareto Distribution, a.k.a. the 80/20 Rule: the vital 20% wields outsized influence over the 80%, and the 20% of the 20% (4%) exerts outsized influence over 80% of the 80% (64%).

    Just as 80% of sales come from the top 20% of sales staff and the top 20% of households end up with 80% of the wealth, the top 4% can wield non-linear influence over the 64% if they gain the power to enforce a positive feedback loop to increase their power at the expense of the 64%.

    While we hope the best 4% will gain this influence, history suggests that the worst 4% (sociopaths, etc.) are highly motivated to seek power in a vacuum or when the opportunity presents itself.

    The 64% tend to hope for the best even as the 4% tighten their grip on the economy and social order. This is the totalitarian feedback loop illustrated by the rise of the Nazis in Germany and the Communists in Russia.

    But the 4% need not wield direct power; it is enough that they threaten or disrupt the certainty of the 64%.

    For example, if the movement to de-fund police departments triggers mass resignations of police officers, the 4% criminal element will quickly increase their predation on the 64%, who will then lose the presumption of relative safety required to conduct commerce.

    Again, uncertainty becomes a self-reinforcing feedback that disrupts the economy and the social order, because people make different decisions when they lack certainty in outcomes and the future.

    In other words, the actual crime rate need not increase by much to trigger a complete recalculation of risk and uncertainty that could then trigger a mass exodus from city centers by small businesses and the top 20% of households with the most to lose and the most mobility.

    Once these sectors abandon the city, the economy and social order collapse to levels that no one thought possible. Again, the point here is effects everyone thinks are linear quickly become non-linear: thus a 10% increase in crime doesn’t cause a linear 10% reduction in commerce, it triggers a 50% decline in commerce which then unleashes a second wave of decline as the loss of 50% of small businesses reduces the attractiveness and safety of the hollowed-out neighborhood.

    In my analysis, costs for small businesses and urban residents were already at extremes that were hidden or accepted as “normal.” What few understood was how pushing costs into the top of the rising wedge made the entire system vulnerable to non-linear breakdown. This breakdown is what I see unfolding in the economy and the social order.

    Extremes will become more extreme because the positive feedback loops of the Pareto Distribution are overwhelming the moderating negative feedback loops of resilience (i.e. buffers), certainty and institutional trust/credibility.

    The financial system is extremely vulnerable to disruption and collapse for the same reasons: the extremes are not visible to the vast majority of participants, and so they are exposed to high levels of risk they don’t see or understand.

    *  *  *

    My recent books:

    Will You Be Richer or Poorer?: Profit, Power, and AI in a Traumatized World ($13)
    (Kindle $6.95, print $11.95) Read the first section for free (PDF).

    Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic ($6.95 (Kindle), $12 (print), $13.08 ( audiobook): Read the first section for free (PDF).

    The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake $1.29 (Kindle), $8.95 (print); read the first chapters for free (PDF)

    Money and Work Unchained $6.95 (Kindle), $15 (print) Read the first section for free (PDF).

    If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

  • Trump Gains In Post-Convention Poll As Biden Support Slips
    Trump Gains In Post-Convention Poll As Biden Support Slips

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 18:30

    President Trump received a healthy boost in support following the Republican National Convention, while enthusiasm former VP Joe Biden has slipped, according to a new poll by Morning Consult.

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    President Donald Trump needed a convention bounce — and he got one, emerging from the Republican National Convention with an improved standing against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, fueled by gains among white voters and those in the suburbs, though he still trails the former vice president nationwide.

    A new Morning Consult poll conducted Friday that asked 4,035 likely voters which candidate they would pick found Biden leading Trump by 6 percentage points, 50 percent to 44 percent. It marked a 4-point improvement from his standing heading into the convention on Aug. 23, when Biden led 52 percent to 42 percent. Friday’s poll had a 2-point margin of error, compared with a 1-point margin of error for responses gathered among 4,810 likely voters on Aug. 23. –Morning Consult

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    Keep in mind, nearly 12% of Trump supporters won’t admit to supporting the president (though many argue that figure is much higher), while just 5.4% of Democrats won’t reveal their preferences.

    What’s interesting is that Biden received virtually no boost after the Democratic National Convention, while Trump’s numbers improved after the RNC. What’s more, fewer people tuned in to watch the Republican event.

    The poll results come after a convention that was less watched than the Democratic National Convention a week before. According to The New York Times, an average of 19.4 million people watched the Republican gathering each night on live TV, compared to 21.6 million who watched the DNC; Trump’s acceptance speech was viewed live by 23.8 million, less than Biden’s 24.6 million the week before.

    What’s more, Biden’s lead among suburban voters was nearly cut in half after the RNC – from 14 points (54 percent to 40 percent) to 8 points (50 percent to 42 percent).

    Meanwhile, a far more dramatic race is reflected in Real Clear Politics‘ betting average between Trump and Biden, using data from oddsmakers Betfair, Bovada, Bwin, Matchbook, Smarkets and SpreadEx.

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    Perhaps pollsters will stop oversampling Democrats this time around to give the false impression Biden is hugely popular, as they did with Hillary Clinton in 2016. Then again, it might be a catch-22 if they dare to reflect actual support for Trump, or lack of faith in Biden.

  • Schiff, Pelosi Livid After Intel Community Ditches 'Manipulated' Election Briefings For Written Updates
    Schiff, Pelosi Livid After Intel Community Ditches ‘Manipulated’ Election Briefings For Written Updates

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 18:00

    House Democrats are livid after the Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, announced that US intel agencies would be pulling the plug on in-person congressional briefings on election security, and will instead be providing written updates ahead of November.

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    In a verbal notification to the House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ratcliffe argued that the process will prevent the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, according to The Hill.

    Ratcliffe followed up with Friday letters addressed to top House and Senate lawmakers in which he emphasized that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) plans to continue Congressional oversight efforts.

    “The ODNI will primarily meet its obligation to keep Congress fully and currently informed leading into the Presidential election through written finished intelligence products,” read the letters, which were obtained by The Hill.

    “I believe this approach helps ensure, to the maximum extent possible, that the information ODNI provides the Congress in support of your oversight responsibilities on elections security, foreign malign influence, and election interference is not misunderstood nor politicized. It will also better protect our sources and methods and most sensitive intelligence from additional unauthorized disclosures or misuse.”

    Democrats are not happy

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Adam Schiff railed against the move, suggesting that it would help conceal public knowledge of foreign interference in US politics.

    “This is a shocking abdication of its lawful responsibility to keep the Congress currently informed, and a betrayal of the public’s right to know how foreign powers are trying to subvert our democracy. This intelligence belongs to the American people, not the agencies which are its custodian,” reads a joint statement.

    Pelosi and Schiff threatened that they will “consider the full range of tools available to the House to compel compliance” if the ODNI does not resume briefings, claiming it is a “shameful” attempt by the Trump administration to “withhold election-related information from Congress and the American people at the precise moment that greater transparency and accountability is required.”

    CNN first reported the shift from in-person briefings to written updates.

    The announcement comes after William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, released a statement detailing election security threats. –The Hill

    Former acting Director of National Intelligence, Richard Grenell, welcomed the move – tweeting on Saturday: “Career intelligence officials came to me to say they didn’t want to brief the Hill because the partial information leaks and manipulation of their words were detrimental to their careers,” adding “This is a very good reform.“

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  • 84% Of CFOs Say Stocks Are Overvalued
    84% Of CFOs Say Stocks Are Overvalued

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 17:30

    It’s not just Wall Street fund managers who, as the latest BofA fund manager survey  revealed, view stocks (along with bonds and gold) to be the most overvalued on record.

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    Corporate finance chiefs – those whose actions ultimately set the price of their public equity – agree, and in the latest quarterly survey conducted by Deloitte LLP, about 84% of CFOs said equities are too expensive, the second-highest level in the decade since the accounting and consulting firm began collecting the data. Only 2% of respondents said U.S. stocks look cheap (probably the CFOs of the gigacaps who continue to repurchase their stock hand over fist).

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    Some 155 CFOs across North America, most of whom work at companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, participated in the survey which spanned Aug. 3 to Aug. 7. Since then, the S&P 500 is up another 3.8%.

    Of course, the CFOs are spot on, because at 27 times forward earnings, the S&P 500’s price-earnings ratio is just fractions below its all time high.

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    As Bloomberg notes, “the data provide further insight into the views of corporate management, particularly the finance departments responsible for capital expenditures.” 

    While skeptical on stocks, the CFOs did grow slightly more optimistic on the economy, albeit from record lows as the U.S. began recovering from the depths of the Covid-caused recession. In the most recent report, 7% of respondents rated current economic conditions in North America as good, up from just 1% in the prior survey period. However, only 43% said they expect better economic conditions in a year – down 15 percentage points.

    “Economic expectations were improved from really historic lows in the 2Q survey, but more cautious,” Steve Gallucci, Deloitte’s U.S. leader of the CFO Program, said by phone. “Most CFOs felt like it was going to take a lot longer to get their operating capacity back up to pre-pandemic levels.”

    Yet just as the BofA Fund Manager survey reveals the sheer force of FOMO across Wall Street, where despite accepting a market that has never been more overvalued, most are rushing back into the stock market and the majority have recently changed their mind from “it’s a bear market rally” to “it’s a bull market”…

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    … we wonder just what the point of the CFO survey is: after all, as we laid out recently there has been a tidal wave of companies who in recent weeks have announced plans to resume stock buybacks, and certainly favor buybacks over dividends due to the immediate upside impact they have on the stock price and the resulting favorable impact on equity-linked comp plans.

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    One thing is clear: if the vast majority of CFOs thought stocks were overvalued, they would be selling equity not buying stock back. Then again, with their own compensation on the line, and with relentless demand for bonds from both investors and the Fed, why not sell some bonds and use the proceeds to buy back some more stock, assuring even more equity levitation and also assuring that next month even more CFOs will find stocks to be overvalued.

  • NPR Claims That Calling A Riot A "Riot" Is Racist
    NPR Claims That Calling A Riot A “Riot” Is Racist

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 17:05

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

    NPR published an article claiming that calling a riot a “riot” is offensive because it’s “rooted in racism.”

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    Yes, really.

    The article was written by Jonathan Levinson for Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Portland NPR affiliate.

    Portland has experienced 93 days of continuous rioting – last night was the first time in that entire period that the city has not seen unrest – but according to Levinson, merely calling a spade a spade is a racist dog whistle.

    Levinson’s argument for this position is vague to the point of being non-existent. He appears upset that police are able to declare a riot and use crowd control measures to disperse violent BLM mobs.

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    His only point appears to be that because crowd control measures were also used in the 60s during the civil rights era, this means that using them today is racist, despite the fact that the clear majority of BLM protesters in Portland are white.

    The media now seems to be taking three different approaches to the riots.

    Claim that they are largely “peaceful,” as both CNN and CBS News did this week.

    Claim that the riots aren’t even happening at all or are minimal, as CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers did.

    Or as NPR has done, simply declare that anyone who dares use the words “riot” to describe the mayhem that has plagued American cities for the past 3 months is a despicable racist.

    Unfortunately for Democrats, the polls suggest that all three of these methods aren’t working because the unrest is turning voters away from Joe Biden in droves.

    *  *  *

    In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. I need you to sign up for my free newsletter here. Also, I urgently need your financial support here.

  • NYC Landlords Wage War Against Remote Working
    NYC Landlords Wage War Against Remote Working

    Tyler Durden

    Sat, 08/29/2020 – 16:40

    New York City’s biggest landlords have a major dilemma; that is, companies like Citigroup, JP Morgan, Google, Twitter, and Facebook all encouraged their employees to work remotely from home, which will result in a slower economic recovery. 

    Jeff Blau, chief executive officer of Related Cos., was on Bloomberg Television Thursday talking about the dire situation, and the campaign he is waging, along with other top landlords to convince companies that their employees should return to offices to avoid damaging the local economy. 

    “If you go to the business districts, Midtown, it’s deserted,” Blau said “If employers tell their employees that they don’t need to come back, they’re going decide to hang out at their parents’ or in the Hamptons and phone it in. Ultimately, businesses are not going to be able to survive that.”

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    Blau said big banks are bringing a new wave of recruits into the city this fall that will require them to work in offices. He said he’s spoken with top firms in the town, asking them to return their workforce to offices. 

    “You can’t run a business on Zoom,” he said. 

    Earlier this month, former hedge fund manager James Altucher told Fox Business that New York City is dead:

    “We have something like 30 to 50 percent of the restaurants in New York City are probably already out of business, and they’re not coming back,” Altucher said.  

    He said many offices in Midtown Manhattan are open but mostly empty as remote working has allowed employees to abandon the city for suburbia. 

    “This completely damages not only the economic eco-system of New York City…but what happens to your tax base when all of your workers can now live anywhere they want to in the country?” asked the fund manager. 

    Altucher warned the situation is “only going to get worse” – as Wall Street firms are now considering a mass exodus.

    When firms break their lease, or let ones expire, and or shrink their corporate footprint, rental income for landlords like Blau will see declines, and if their portfolio of buildings is highly leveraged, it could result in, as we explain in “Stunning Surge In New CMBS Delinquencies Heralds Commercial Real Estate Disaster,” the coming commercial real estate bust. 

    Blau and other landlords are waging war against remote working. The big question: Will they succeed? 

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