Dec 31

Today’s News 31st December 2021

  • CIA Experimented On 100s Of Orphans, Torturing Them To Reveal Psychopathic Traits; Report
    CIA Experimented On 100s Of Orphans, Torturing Them To Reveal Psychopathic Traits; Report

    Authored by Matt Agorist via The Free Thought Project,

    According to a new documentary out of Denmark, which interviewed former victims, the Central Intelligence Agency secretly carried out experiments on 311 orphaned children. The experiments were meant to reveal psychopathic traits and map out the link between schizophrenia and heredity. According to the report, the children were tortured in clear violation of the Nuremberg Code of 1947 that introduced ethical restrictions for experiments on humans.

    Hundreds of Danish orphans were unknowingly used in experiments backed by the CIA, according to Danish Radio, reporting on a new documentary called “The Search for Myself.”

    According to the report, the experiments began in the early 1960s and spanned the course of two decades. They were conducted to investigate the link between heredity and environment in the development of schizophrenia. However, the children were not told what research they were involved in. Not even after the experiments ended. It was also funded in part by a CIA front associated with the MK-Ultra program.

    Eerily, the examinations took place in a basement at the Municipal Hospital in Copenhagen. The director and producer of the documentary, Per Wennick, was actually a victim of the CIA and subjected to these experiments as a child. In the documentary, he recalled being placed in a chair, getting electrodes put on his arms, legs, and chest around the heart and having to listen to loud, shrill noises, which attempted to incite a psychological response.

    “It was very uncomfortable”, Wennick told Danish Radio.

    “And it’s not just my story, it’s the story of many children.”

    By his own admission, he was promised “something funny” before being taken to the hospital.

    “I think this is a violation of my rights as a citizen in this society. I find it so strange that some people should know more about me than I myself have been aware of.”

    According to historian, PhD, and museum inspector at the Danish Welfare Museum, Jacob Knage Rasmussen, this was the only known experiment in Danish history that used children under state care for research — and it was funded by the CIA in violation of the Nuremberg Code.

    “I do not know of similar attempts, neither in Denmark nor in Scandinavia. It is appalling information that contradicts the Nuremberg Code of 1947, which after World War II was to set some ethical restrictions for experiments on humans. Among other things, informed consent was introduced, which today is central to the world of research”, Knage Rasmussen told Danish Radio.

    He emphasized the vulnerability of the group in the custody of the state, who had nobody to complain to.

    According to Danish Radio, the idea to experiment on the vulnerable children came from American psychologist Zarnoff A. Mednick, who was then a professor at the University of Michigan.

    According to Wennick and the National Archives, the research project was co-financed by the US health service. In the first year alone, the project was supported with what today corresponds to DKK 4.6 million ($700,000). It also received funding from the Human Ecology Fund.

    The Human Ecology Fund was a CIA funded operation through the Cornell University College of Human Ecology Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology to support covert research on brainwashing. It was also connected to research under the MK-Ultra program in which social scientists, including anthropologists, were led (mostly unwittingly) to provide input into interrogation techniques still in use today.

    Danish psychiatrist Fini Schulsinger dedicated his doctoral dissertation to the experiments in 1977, titling it, “Studies to shed light on the connection between heredity and environment in psychiatry.”

    While researching for the documentary, Per Wennick managed to locate 36 boxes at the Psychiatric Centre Glostrup in Hvidovre that detailed the CIA’s unscrupulous child experiments. However, when the center got word of the documentary, they began shredding the documents.

    Danish Radio reports that Kent Kristensen, associate professor of Health Law at the University of Southern Denmark, pointed out that the shredding of the documents was illegal.

    “I think it’s a huge failure for the former orphanage children who are interested in the pieces of their own childhood to get a total story made about their own lives. That possibility is deprived of them if you shred the research material,” Knage Rasmussen told Danish Radio.

    Indeed. It also details the CIA’s depravity and violations of the Nuremberg code. If history is any indicator, however, no one will be held responsible for exploiting these children and it will be swept under the rug, likely escaping any scrutiny by the mainstream media.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 23:40

  • The Companies That Defined 2021
    The Companies That Defined 2021

    Attention is an increasingly valuable form of currency in the Information Age.

    In 2021, a handful of companies stood out from the pack, dominating the conversation and influencing society in both positive and negative ways. After vigorous internal debate, here is Visual Capitalist’s list of companies that defined 2021:

    • Robinhood

    • Pfizer

    • Coinbase

    • Tesla

    • TikTok

    • Facebook/Meta

    We looked at a number of metrics to select these companies, including Google search and news volume, performance relative to competitors, industry-specific indicators, and more.

    Many of these are digital companies, and all have massive reach, scale, and influence. Interestingly, many of these companies also faced controversies along with their success, and were caught up in movements that were bigger than themselves.

    With this context in mind, let’s dive in.

    Robinhood

    Robinhood’s eventful year reached its peak when the stock trading app was caught in a frenzy involving retail traders, short sellers, and “meme stonks”. It did not take long for Robinhood to go from hero to villain in this story. As the Gamestop stock shot up past $400, trading was halted and position limits were initiated on the app.

    As well, Robinhood’s stated goal of democratizing finance came under scrutiny due to their pay-for-order-flow business model, where sensitive user trade activity data is sold to the highest bidder who then gets ahead of the trade, otherwise known as “front-running”.

    Despite the controversy, Robinhood’s platform now has over 22 million users, many of whom are younger, first-time investors. While they have key attractions like zero commission trades, they were also accused of gamifying investing with features like confetti shooting across the screen after a trade is made (a feature that was removed after media criticism).

    The company frequently made front page financial news in early 2021, and while the often negative press didn’t get in the way of their IPO—which commenced in late July—it has affected investor sentiment. Since their 52-week high of $70 per share in August, the stock has fallen some 70% towards the $18 range.

    Furthermore, the SEC is rumored to be launching an investigation into them. With these headwinds, investing on Robinhood has probably fared better so far than investing in Robinhood.

    Pfizer

    Perhaps there was no bigger story in 2021 than COVID-19 vaccines.

    Early in the year, the race to secure vaccines was on. Wealthy countries scrambled to buy stock and roll out widespread vaccination programs ahead of spring.

    And the companies that managed to produce efficient vaccines saw the biggest benefits, like pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The company’s COVID-19 vaccine, made in partnership with German firm BioNTech, ended up becoming the world’s most-preferred vaccine to fight the pandemic.

    The company is forecasting revenue of $36 billion from its vaccine this year.

    Competing vaccines from Moderna and AstraZeneca also saw their parent companies rise in both market cap and newsworthiness. All of the involved pharma companies have also faced constant scrutiny, with many countries in the world struggling to secure COVID-19 vaccines, and others dealing with vaccine hesitancy.

    As the pandemic continues with the Omicron variant quickly spreading around the globe, Pfizer and its competitors will continue to be impactful into the new year. The company announced a COVID-19 antiviral pill that is planned to be released in the near future, and more effective vaccines and boosters against other variants are still a hot commodity.

    Coinbase

    2021 was a pivotal year for cryptocurrency. Prices reached new highs, and institutions and retail investors alike poured into the market.

    With its user-friendly app and focus on security, Coinbase was well positioned to benefit from this surge in interest. The exchange started off the year by more than doubling its transacting user base as Bitcoin prices shot to new heights.

    It’s easy to underestimate the influence of the company’s IPO—especially as its share price slid as the crypto market cooled off—but the exchange’s very entry into the public markets was a huge boost in legitimacy for crypto, paving the way for similar companies to IPO in the future.

    Tesla

    Nobody captures attention and creates controversy quite like Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk.

    Most of Tesla’s actions are tied closely to the famous entrepreneur, who’s known for his brazen online presence. Musk’s social media persona is so strong, one tweet can send Tesla’s stock plummeting, like it did last year after Musk told Twitter that “Tesla’s stock is too high imo.”

    While naysayers are quick to criticize Tesla and Musk, the company has some impressive numbers to back up its hype. 2020 was already a ridiculous year for Tesla—its stock surged by nearly 700%, and with a valuation of $630 billion, it became one of the most valuable companies in the world.

    This momentum carried over into 2021. This year, revenue rose each quarter, and in October, the company’s market value surpassed $1 trillion.

    Tesla was also intertwined within other societal narratives over the course of the year. The automaker’s move from California to Texas was part of a larger conversation about the “Bay Area exodus”, as jurisdictions in Texas and Florida looked to steal Silicon Valley’s thunder.

    Musk’s Tesla stock sales generated a lot of buzz in Q4 as well.

    Seemingly in response to criticism over inequality and tax avoidance, Musk ran a Twitter poll to decide whether or not to sell a significant portion of his Tesla holdings. After a majority “yes” vote, the Tesla CEO now appears to have sold off enough stock to hold up his end of the bargain.

    TikTok

    TikTok was already popular in 2020, but this year truly solidified its status as a cultural phenomenon.

    The app topped a billion users in 2021, just five years after its launch in 2016. For context, it took Facebook and Instagram nearly eight years to hit that same milestone.

    What’s so appealing about TikTok? Experts have many theories, but in an interview with Forbes, John Holdridge, GM of Fullscreen, puts its simply: “TikTok’s success can be attributed to how it flips what we think of as social media on its head, while at the same time returning us all to roots of the original appeal–the ability to go viral.”

    TikTok’s short-style video format has become so popular that it’s inspired a slew of copycat apps, especially in regions like India where TikTok is banned.

    Even established companies like Meta have tried to mimic TikTok’s success. In 2020, Instagram launched “reels,” its own short-form video feature where users can create and share 30 second videos. But Instagram reels failed to overtake TikTok’s growth—instead, reels has become a place for users to share and promote their TikTok videos.

    Facebook/Meta

    Facebook frequently finds itself in the news, given its status as the world’s largest social network. In 2021, however, it was for two different reasons.

    The first was the U.S. Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021. In the aftermath of this event, many blamed Facebook for not doing enough to mitigate the negative effects of its platform—mainly polarization, conspiracy theories, and hate speech.

    The controversy reached its peak in September 2021, when internal files leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen were published. These documents exposed Facebook’s internal struggles with combating misinformation, as well as employee dissent.

    Ultimately, Facebook weathered the storm and opted to shed its baggage with a new name. Not only does this help the company disassociate from its previous scandals, it also lines up with Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitions of pioneering the metaverse.

    Following the announcement, “metaverse” exploded overnight and became one of the hottest topics of 2021. The word “Meta” has also become incredibly valuable—Meta (the company) recently completed a $60 million deal to acquire the trademark assets of Meta Financial Group, a regional U.S. bank.

    Honorable Mentions

    While the companies highlighted above were undeniably influential in 2021, any list like this is bound to be subjective and open to debate. Here is a shortlist of other companies that we considered for the Companies that Defined 2021 list:

    Reddit

    The surge in investment that propelled Robinhood and Coinbase to new heights was partially fueled by communities on Reddit. One of the most fascinating moments of the year came when Reddit user u/deepfuckingvalue appeared before the House Committee on Financial Services proclaiming, “I am not a cat” and “I like the stock”.

    On the business front, the “Front Page of the Internet” saw double-digit user growth during the pandemic, and now has a valuation of $10 billion after a hefty round of funding.

    OpenSea

    NFTs had a Cambrian explosion alongside the crypto bull run, with OpenSea emerging as the dominant marketplace this past year. In the second half of 2021, OpenSea made up 95% of NFT trading volume on major marketplaces, and has transacted $1.42B in volume in December so far.

    While it seemed OpenSea was planning an IPO after their CFO Brian Roberts commented how “you’d be foolish not to think about it [OpenSea] going public,” user backlash resulted in Roberts later tweeting that the company is not actively planning an IPO. Whether or not OpenSea does set sail onto the public markets, they’ll soon have some serious competition from Coinbase’s own NFT marketplace currently in the works.

    Netflix

    Despite intense competition from rival streaming platforms, Netflix will finish the year on top once again. The company has a number of impressive tallies in the win column this year.

    First, Squid Game was a cultural phenomenon, quickly becoming the streaming service’s number one show, and also the world’s most Googled TV show of 2021.

    Next, Netflix’s Red Notice is likely the most watched new movie of 2021, logging well over 300 million hours of viewing time. Not bad, considering its tepid score of 36% on Rotten Tomatoes. It remains to be seen whether deep-pocketed competitors like Disney+ are able to dethrone Netflix, but for now, the company is as culturally relevant as ever.

    SpaceX

    The fact that Elon Musk has two companies in this conversation points to why he was named Time’s Most Influential Person for 2021.

    SpaceX has made launching rockets drastically cheaper in recent years, which helps explain its massive reported valuation of $200 billion. The company, which is the top commercial launch provider in the U.S., will round out the year with 31 launches.

    Which companies would you add to this list?

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 23:20

  • Cruise Ships Exposed COVID Fearmongering Deception In 2020 And Expose Vaccine Efficacy Deception Now
    Cruise Ships Exposed COVID Fearmongering Deception In 2020 And Expose Vaccine Efficacy Deception Now

    Authored by Adam Dick via The Ron Paul Institute,

    Back in March of 2020, when the coronavirus fearmongering from politicians and big money media was taking off, an outbreak of coronavirus and several deaths on the Diamond Princess cruise ship was among the examples used to stir up dread of coronavirus among the American populace.

    However, people who looked critically at the Diamond Princess situation realized that it suggested coronavirus did not pose an especially great threat.

    Among those more levelheaded individuals was John P.A. Ioannidis, a Stanford University professor of medicine and professor of epidemiology and population health.

    Looking at the infection and fatality numbers from the Diamond Princess, Ioannidis concluded in a March 17, 2020 Stat News article that the coronavirus case fatality rate in the general population would be no greater than the one percent case fatality rate on the cruise ship and would most likely be much lower, noting that the Diamond Princess had “a largely elderly population, in which the death rate from Covid-19 is much higher.”

    Ioannidis got it right.

    But that did not stop government from shutting down much of the American economy and violating freedom Americans had long assumed secure, all in the name of countering the hyped coronavirus threat.

    Fast forward to December of 2021. We are now well into the phase of gaming the coronavirus panic where governments are applying intense pressure on people to take experimental coronavirus “vaccine” shots. Having already blown way out of proportion the threat from coronavirus, politicians and people in the big money media repeatedly assert the safety and effectiveness of these shots despite the abundant evidence that the shots are far from being either safe or effective.

    Just as the Diamond Princess cruise ship coronavirus outbreak helped expose early on the preposterousness of the fearmongering regarding coronavirus, now outbreaks of coronavirus on cruise ships are helping expose the preposterousness of claims that the experimental coronavirus vaccine shots are effective.

    Meryl Kornfield wrote Saturday at the Washington Post regarding the situation of coronavirus outbreaks on cruise ships whose crews and passengers are required to have taken the shots:

    At least six sailings on Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Carnival and others last week were altered by coronavirus outbreaks as cruise ships prepared for pre-pandemic levels before sailings were paused. Although vessels that have resumed cruising have beefed up coronavirus precautions — requiring vaccinations and testing passengers — the wave of new infections, fueled by the quickly proliferating omicron variant, has knocked the devastated industry and alarmed cruisers.

    As in the early months of the coronavirus scare, considering critically what is happening on cruise ships now provides a means to see past the disinformation. The reality on cruise ships, in March of 2020 and in December of 2021, has provided a strong contrast to, respectively, the hyped danger of coronavirus and the hyped efficacy of the experimental coronavirus vaccine shots.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 23:00

  • Smash And Grab Robbers Steal $1.5 Million From Luxury Palm Beach Hand Bag Shop
    Smash And Grab Robbers Steal $1.5 Million From Luxury Palm Beach Hand Bag Shop

    A tidal wave of “smash-and-grab” robberies are plaguing upscale stores in major US cities, with thieves making off with millions of dollars. The latest incident occurred at a Palm Beach boutique shop that was hit twice in two weeks. 

    According to local news CBS 12, Only Authentics, a high-end designer bag shop, was targeted by thieves, the first on Dec. 14 and the second on Christmas Eve. Approximately $1.5 million of Hermes, Chanel, Kelly and, and Birkin handbags were stolen. 

    Several bags are worth more than six figures each, store owner Virgil Rogers said. 

    “It’s almost like we’re on the wild, wild west here,” he told CBS12 News reporter Andrew Lofholm.

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    After the first break-in, Rogers said he had a special film placed on all storefront windows, making it harder to break through. 

    “We as citizens living on Palm Beach Island especially, we almost live in a bubble, we do, it’s very sad and now it’s come to the homefront and your own home, what’s going on elsewhere,” Rogers said.

    These incidents, called smash and grabs, are well organized and allegedly conducted by criminal gangs who take the loot and resell it online. Luxury retailers from multiple California cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, to Palm Beach, have been ideal targets for robberies because of high merchandise items. 

    Major retailers are fed up with the rash of incidents. They have penned a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to pass legislation that would make it harder for thieves to resell stolen goods on online marketplaces that do very little to verify the identity of sellers.

    “As millions of Americans have undoubtedly seen on the news in recent weeks and months, retail establishments of all kinds have seen a significant uptick in organized crime in communities across the nation,” the letter said. 

    Over a ten-day period in November, smash and grab robberies totaled a whopping $350 million in losses for retailers in Los Angeles. 

    Smash and grabs have also moved from cities to suburbs, and some are worried that criminal gangs could soon target upscale homes. 

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 22:40

  • The COVID Narrative Is Insane & Illogical… And Maybe That's No Accident
    The COVID Narrative Is Insane & Illogical… And Maybe That’s No Accident

    Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

    Maybe forcing people to believe your lies, even after you admit you’re lying, is the purest form of power…

    “Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense.”

    – George Orwell, 1984

    The “Covid pandemic” narrative is insane. That is long-established at this point, we don’t really need to go into how or why here. Read our back catalogue.

    The rules are meaningless and arbitrary, the messaging contradictory, the very premise nonsensical.

    Every day some new insanity is launched out into the world, and while many of us roll our eyes, raise our voices, or just laugh…many more accept it, believe it, allow it to continue.

    Take the situation in Canada right now, where the government has enforced a vaccine mandate on healthcare workers, meaning in British Columbia alone over 3000 hospital staff were on unpaid leave by November 1st.

    How have local governments responded to staff shortages?

    They are asking vaccinated employees who have tested positive for Covid to work.

    Whether or not you believe the test means anything, they notionally do. In the reality they try to sell us every day, testing positive means you are carrying a dangerous disease.

    So they are requesting people allegedly carrying a “deadly virus” work, rather than letting perfectly healthy unvaccinated people simply have their jobs back.

    This is insanity.

    But could anything more perfectly illustrate the priorities of those running the game?

    We already know it’s not about a virus, it’s not about protecting the health service and it’s not about saving lives. Every day the people running the “pandemic” admit as much by their actions, and even their words.

    Rather, it seems to be about enforcing rules that make little to no sense, requiring conformity at the price of reason, drawing arbitrary lines in the sand and demanding people respect them, making people believe “facts” that are provably untrue.

    But why? Why is the story of Covid irrational and contradictory? Why are we told on the one hand to be afraid, and on the other that there is nothing to be afraid of?

    Why is the “pandemic” so completely insane?

    You could argue that it’s simple happenstance. The by-product of a multi-focused evolving narrative, a story being told by a thousand authors all at once, each concerned with covering their own little patch of agenda. A car with multiple drivers fighting over a single steering wheel.

    There’s probably some truth to that.

    But it’s also true that control, true control, can only be achieved with a lie.

    In clinical psychology one of the diagnostic signs of the psychopath is that they tell elaborate lies, compulsively. Many times they will tell a lie even if the truth would be more beneficial.

    Nobody knows why they do this, but I have a theory, and it applies to the swarming groups of little rat minds running the sewers of power as much as it does any individual monstrosity.

    If you want to control people, you need to lie to them, that’s the only way to guarantee you have power.

    If you are standing in the road, and I yell “look out, there’s a car a coming”, and you move just as a car whips past, I will never know if you moved because I said so, or because there actually was a car.

    If my interest is in making sure you don’t get hurt, this would not matter to me either way.

    But, what if my only true aim is the gratification of watching you do what I say, simply because I said it?

    …well, then I need to scream out a warning of a car that does not exist, and watch you dodge an imaginary threat. Or, indeed, tell you there is no car, and watch you get run over.

    Only by doing this can I see my words mean more to you than perceivable reality, and only then do I know I’m truly in control.

    You can never control people with the truth, because the truth has an existence outside yourself that cannot be altered or directed. It may be the truth itself that controls people, not you.

    You can never force people to obey rules that make sense, because they may be obeying reason, not your force.

    True power lies in making people afraid of something that does not exist, and making them abandon reason in the name of protecting themselves from the invented threat.

    To guarantee you have control, you must make people see things that are not there, make people live in a reality you build around them, and force people to follow arbitrary, contradictory rules that change day by day.

    To truly test their loyalty, their hypnosis, you could even tell them there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore, but they need to follow the rules anyway.

    Maybe that’s the point. Maybe the story isn’t supposed to be believable. Maybe the rules aren’t meant to make sense, they are meant to be obeyed.

    Maybe the more contradictory & illogical the regulations become, the more your compliance is valued.

    Maybe if you can force a person to abandon their judgment in favour of your own, you have total control over their reality.

    We started with an Orwell quote, so let’s end with one too:

    Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.”

    Isn’t that what we’re seeing now? What we’ve been seeing since the beginning?

    People being mind broken into being afraid of something they told isn’t frightening, following rules they are told are not necessary, taking “medicine” they are told does not work.

    Maybe forcing people to believe your lies, even as you admit you are lying, is the purest expression of power.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 22:20

  • Texas Inspects Power Plants Ahead Of Freeze Warning
    Texas Inspects Power Plants Ahead Of Freeze Warning

    A cold snap is headed for Texas after New Year’s Eve. The state’s grid operator conducted inspections of mandatory winterization efforts at power plants to avoid repeating last winter’s devastating blackouts. 

    The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) completed inspections at 300 electric generation units, representing 85% of the megawatt-hours lost during last winter’s storm and 22 transmission station facilities.

    ERCOT is “confident that its electric generation fleet and the grid are winterized and ready to provide power,” said Woody Rickerson, Vice President of Grid Planning and Weatherization.

    “New regulations require all electric generation and transmission owners to make significant winterization improvements and our inspections confirm they are prepared,” Rickerson said.

    The announcement comes as new weather models via Bloomberg show average temperatures across Texas are expected to slide beginning this weekend. 

    In some cases, the minimum temperature will dive below freezing and could strain ERCOT’s power grid as energy demand would increase. 

    In terms of heating degree days, energy demand will skyrocket through the first half of January.  

    ERCOT has already sent out a “freeze warning” email to customers, warning them about the upcoming cold blast. 

    As you are aware, there is a freeze predicted in this area. We ask that you take the following precautions to help reduce the potential for damage to property as well as personal injury. -ERCOT

    For the Lower US 48, meteorologists at private weather forecasting firm BAMWX continue to predict colder weather is set to trend for January. 

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    If colder weather is ahead, natural gas prices could get a lift. Futures linked to Henry Hub show an ascending diagonal support line where support could form. 

    Since Dec. 9, we’ve had the thesis that a cold blast was due to hit the US Lower 48 in January amid a very mild December.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 22:00

  • "Pure Insanity": San Francisco Residents Reflect On Surge In Crime
    “Pure Insanity”: San Francisco Residents Reflect On Surge In Crime

    Authored by Jamie Joseph via The Epoch Times,

    To native San Franciscans, shoplifting and car break-ins are now a normal part of life in a big city.

    Car burglaries occur up to 74 times a day in the city and have increased nearly 200 percent since 2020. Some residents are going to extreme lengths to prevent their car windows from being smashed, like leaving their trunks open and their windows down, according to local reports.

    On a recent Saturday at Alamo Square Park across from the famed Painted Ladies houses, Kira Cush, a lifelong San Francisco resident who’s had her car broken into multiple times, said “it’s just something, especially if you live in this area, you need to be mindful to just not leave anything in your car.”

    “And even then, still, cars will get broken into, but you have to be super vigilant about not leaving stuff out,” she told The Epoch Times.

    Loretta, another local resident who declined to give her last name, said suspects will usually target tourists. After her car was broken into, she placed a residential sticker on her windshield to deter burglars.

    “We’ve had people dump goods, like tourists’ backpacks and stuff in our neighborhood from a smash and grab, because they got whatever they wanted, and they just dumped the rest on the street,” the 21-year resident said.

    Hot spots for car break-ins usually happen near heavily crowded tourist attractions, such as Lombard Street, Pier 39, Golden Gate Park, and Moraga Stairs.

    Cars and tables fill a parking lot next to a restaurant and bay cruise terminal at the Fisherman’s Wharf tourist destination in San Francisco on June 14, 2021. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

    At the Pier 39 parking lot, a resident of 46 years could be seen driving around and yelling at tourists to find another parking location. He told The Epoch Times he decided to take matters into his own hands and visit every morning until noon to warn tourists about the car break-ins.

    “What’s happened over the last 10 months is that this crime has escalated, from hitting cars, to robbing tourists, to robbing locals, to robbing stores. I mean, it’s just gotten rampant, absolutely rampant,” he said.

    The local declined to give his name out of fear he would be identified by suspects.

    “The cops aren’t going to make arrests, and the [district attorney] is not going to prosecute. Then the only way to stop this is to basically have less food for the street sharks to go after. So, you have to warn people, you have to physically warn them not to leave anything in their cars,” he said.

    Large-scale smash-and-grab robberies have also been making national headlines—drawing additional criticism to the city’s progressive criminal reform policies.

    Many store owners in Chinatown have changed their hours and now lock up their shops when the sun goes down. Walgreens hired off-duty cops to guard their stores and closed five of its 53 locations. Retail shops are relying on private security guards to deter shoplifters. A security guard in Oakland was shot and killed while protecting a KRON4 News reporter.

    And San Francisco Mayor London Breed recently announced a local state of emergency in the Tenderloin district to counter the open-air drug market and curtail assaults in the neighborhood.

    Police patrol Union Square in San Francisco on Nov. 30, 2021. Stores have increased security in response to a spike in thefts. (Ethan Swope/Getty Images)

    Crime Wave Controversy

    While brazen thefts at small businesses and retail stores in San Francisco have increased, drawing national headlines since the beginning of this year, some business owners told The Epoch Times they’ve stopped reporting the crimes because when they call the police, “they can’t do anything.”

    Some point to Proposition 47, a seven-year-old initiative that reduced some sentences from felonies to misdemeanors. Under the law, up to $950 can be stolen before it’s considered a felony. Even when arrests are made, they’re not held for long under the state’s zero cash bail policy.

    The California Supreme Court ruled in March that judges must consider a suspect’s financial ability to pay when setting bail prices, which permits the defendants to walk freely until further legal action is taken unless they’re deemed too dangerous.

    And in the wake of new progressive district attorneys across the country vowing to redefine criminal justice, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has taken the bulk of the blame in the eyes of locals who don’t think he’s doing enough to penalize criminals.

    Promising a more equitable justice system, Boudin—who is also facing a potential recall in June 2022—defended Prop. 47 in a SF Gate column on Dec. 21, a few weeks after a string of organized retail gangs committed smash-and-grab robberies across several shopping centers including Union Square and Santana Way.

    “Blaming legal reforms is equally misguided. Rolling back Proposition 47 would not solve the problems we are facing now. California’s felony theft threshold of $950 is still among the lowest in the country—38 states have felony thresholds at or above $1,000—and Texas has a threshold of $2,500,” Boudin wrote.

    “Proposition 47 also passed seven years ago and was followed by a decline in property crimes. Its passage did not prevent prosecutors from being able to hold those who commit organized retail thefts accountable; for example, all the charges in Union Square were still felonies.”

    Even though city stats show there’s been a slight decline in property crimes this year, it’s likely the data does not accurately reflect the real numbers when considering many business owners have stopped reporting crimes, according to a local activist.

    Union Square visitors look at damage to a Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco, Calif., on Nov. 21, 2021. (Danielle Echeverria/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

    “I never used to see the amount of shoplifting that we have today. Never—it is pure insanity. It is awful. It’s off the charts,” San Francisco resident and activist Erica Sandberg told The Epoch Times.

    Sandberg said one of her friends was also attacked outside of his apartment by someone who tried to stab him.

    “It’s really hard for me to say that this is normal because it’s not normal. But it is increasingly common,” she said.

    According to a retail study from August, about 69 percent of retailers nationwide said they saw an increase in organized retail crime activity over the past year. Some of the potential driving factors include COVID-19 restrictions, policing, changes to sentencing guidelines, and the growth of online marketplaces for criminal activity.

    “Perpetrators are becoming more common in an era where it is easy to evade prosecution,” one retailer noted in the survey.

    Making matters worse, the San Francisco Police Department is significantly understaffed, with patrol units suffering the most, according to Sergeant Richard Cibotti. He told The Epoch Times the department currently loses between 5-10 officers a month to other departments or retirement.

    “A lot of cops have felt like they’ve lost a purpose,” Cibotti said.

    “They’ve gotten the job because they wanted to help people and go out and you know, make arrests and try to improve life in the community. But when they go out, and they make arrests … when the people that they arrest are getting no consequences, it feels like they’ve lost their purpose.”

    He said every day around 7:00 pm, high-end retail stores—like Louis Vuitton—in Union Square close for the evening. There’s also an added police presence to the area until the holiday season is over.

    Pedestrians walk past a Fendi store with boarded up windows near Union Square in San Francisco in Nov. 30, 2021. (Ethan Swope/Getty Images)

    Small Business Owner Speaks Out

    Michael Hsu spent one dismal morning sweeping up broken glass from the entryway of his sneaker and clothing shop, Footprint, located on the corner of Taraval Street and 27th Avenue. However, it was business as usual when his employees came to work that day.

    “We have a smile on our face. We just have to carry on. We can’t close our store. We still have to pay rent. We still have our employees, they still have to eat, so we just carry on like we normally would,” Hsu told The Epoch Times.

    The previous night, a suspect blowtorched the front entryway before clearing the shelves of thousands of dollars in brand-name hoodies, shirts, shoes, and other accessories. No arrests were made, but some of the items were later found. It’s still under investigation with the San Francisco Police Department, Hsu said.

    Later that same day, looters entered the shop and stole more items. It was another hit to Hsu’s morale. He urged his district supervisor, Gordon Mar, to set up a relief fund to help businesses recover from burglaries. Mayor London Breed joined Mar in holding a press conference at Footprint to announce the Storefront Vandalism Relief Grant—a $2,000 program to help small businesses who’ve been victimized by burglaries.

    That was in February. In September, Hsu’s store was hit yet again. This time, surveillance video—bought with funds from the vandalism relief grant—showed that the suspect climbed up the exterior wall’s scaffolding and broke through the window to Hsu’s office. Thousands of dollars in goods were stolen again.

    “Crime is there, and it seems like there’s no consequences,” Hsu said, adding that Prop. 47 sends the wrong message to San Franciscans. “As a new father, I don’t want my kid to know that—we need to teach them the difference between right and wrong, and let them know it’s not okay to take anything, even if it’s $1. It’s not okay, and that’s the message that we really need to be sending out.”

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 21:40

  • "Journalism Is Not Sedition": US & Taiwan Blast China's Crackdown On Hong Kong Free Media
    “Journalism Is Not Sedition”: US & Taiwan Blast China’s Crackdown On Hong Kong Free Media

    Following the widely reported Hong Kong police raid on the independent news outlet Stand News Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued swift condemnation on what’s clearly an ongoing pro-China crackdown against any HK opposition media.

    Blinken called on China’s ruling Communist Party and local HK police to “cease targeting” the city’s “free and independent media and to immediately release those journalists and media executives who have been unjustly detained and charged.”

    Arrest of Stand News acting chief editor Patrick Lam, via Reuters

    He further said that Hong Kong should return to its former status of promoting freedoms that allowed the city to “flourish as a global center for finance, trade, education, and culture,” adding that “journalism is not sedition,” according to Axios. “By silencing independent media, [China’s government] and local authorities undermine Hong Kong’s credibility and viability.  A confident government that is unafraid of the truth embraces a free press.”

    At least 200 police had raided Stand News on Wednesday, arresting at least six editors and journalists, forcing the opposition-sympathetic outlet to cease all publication. Two editors have been charged with “sedition” while others are still being held for questioning.

    On Thursday the Associated Press confirmed that “Two former editors from a Hong Kong online pro-democracy news outlet were charged with sedition and denied bail Thursday, a day after one of the last openly critical voices in the city said it would cease operations following a police raid on its office and seven arrests.”

    The entire company is facing legal action: “According to a charge sheet, national security police filed one count each of conspiracy to publish a seditious publication against Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, former editors at Stand News,” AP details. “Police also said they would prosecute the company for sedition.”

    Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam justified the police raid and the arrests, claiming that “inciting other people… could not be condoned under the guise of news reporting” – to describe the independent news outlet’s supposed actions. 

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    US-backed Taiwan was also quick to issue a message backing the detained news staff, with President Tsai Ing-wen saying that “Taiwan stands with Hong Kong” and against China’s “crackdown on free speech.”

    Her public statement said, “The arrests of Stand News staff and singer Denise Ho are yet another example of the Beijing authorities’ crackdown on free speech in Hong Kong. We in Taiwan regret to see their detention and call on the international community to stand up for freedom & democracy in HK.”

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 21:20

  • Most Americans Don't Trust Teachers, Schools With Children's Gender Identity: Survey
    Most Americans Don’t Trust Teachers, Schools With Children’s Gender Identity: Survey

    Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times,

    A majority of Americans say that male and female are the only two genders, and that schools shouldn’t be allowed to counsel children about gender or sexuality without parents’ consent, according to the results of a survey released Monday.

    The survey was conducted by Rasmussen Reports among 1,000 American adults from Dec. 21 to 22, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at and 95 percent confidence level. It comes amid a social media firestorm sparked by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who was accused of engaging in “hate speech” for insisting that there are only two biologically distinct genders.

    “Transgender activists have accused J.K. Rowling of ‘hate speech’ for saying it, but most Americans agree with the Harry Potter author that there are only two genders,” the report said.

    Rasmussen asked participants whether they agree with the statement, “There are only two genders: male and female.”

    The results show that 75 percent of them agreed with the statement, with 63 percent saying they “strongly” agree.

    Those identifying as Republicans (82 percent) are more likely to strongly agree than Democrats (47 percent) and independent or unaffiliated respondents (60 percent). There are also more black (68 percent) than white respondents (63 percent) or those of other races (55 percent) who strongly agreed that there are only two genders.

    When it comes to the schools and teachers’ role in shaping children’s view on gender, most respondents also said that they don’t want their children counseled by schools on their gender identity without their consent.

    The survey asked whether schools and teachers should be “allowed to counsel students about their sexual and gender identity without parental knowledge or consent.” Overall, 69 percent of respondents said they don’t agree, compared to 19 percent that think it is okay.

    Majorities of all political categories—80 percent of Republicans, 54 percent of Democrats, and 72 percent of independents—are opposed to schools counseling children on gender identity without informing parents.

    The results of the survey echoed the frustration felt by a California mother who recently made national headlines after she tore into the local school board during a meeting, accusing two middle school teachers of “coaching” her gender dysphoric daughter into an LGBTQ club without her knowledge.

    Jessica Konen of Salinas, California, went public with her story after controversy erupted over a leaked audio clip, in which two seventh-grade teachers from Buena Vista Middle School were recorded discussing with other teachers on how to hide from conservative parents that their children are participating in progressive LGBTQ activities.

    “Because we are not official, we have no club rosters. We keep no records,” said one teacher, who is also an LGBTQ club leader.

    “In fact, sometimes we don’t really want to keep records because if parents get upset that their kids are coming? We’re like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe they came?’ You know, we would never want a kid to get in trouble for attending if their parents are upset.”

    Konen told The Epoch Times that near the end of sixth grade, her daughter told her she might be “bisexual.” By the middle of the seventh grade, Konen was called to the school for a meeting, during which a teacher said her daughter was “trans fluid” and would be called by a new name and male pronouns and would be using the unisex restroom at school.

    “You allow these teachers to open their classrooms, teaching predatorial information to a young child, a mindful child that doesn’t even know how to comprehend it all,” Konen said at the Dec. 15 meeting. “How do you not know what’s going on [on] your own campuses? Did you think that no parent would ever come forward? You will not quiet me today. I will stand here today and protect my child along with every other child who has not come forward yet.”

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 21:00

  • NYC Taxi Medallions Have Plunged in Value By 90% In Less Than A Decade
    NYC Taxi Medallions Have Plunged in Value By 90% In Less Than A Decade

    While taxi drivers in New York City may have finally “ridden” out the absolute worst effects of enduring the ridesharing boom and the pandemic at the same time, the road to clearer skies still looks dim. 

    That’s because, as was pointed out by @JBaksht on Twitter this week, taxi medallions have still plunged 90% over the last decade.

    The plunge in medallion value came at the same time that Lyft and Uber began to register hundreds of thousands of daily trips in New York City. Prior to the pandemic, Uber had peaked at over 500,000 trips per day, while Lyft was approaching 200,000 trips per day. 

    Medallions suffered their “death blow” from the pandemic in early 2020, which saw their value plunge to just pennies on the dollar from what they had cost a decade prior. 

    Medallions cost about $300,000 in the early 2000s. By 2010, they had increased in price to almost $1,000,000. But when ridesharing firms entered the market, they crashed to under $100,000, leaving many drivers in financial ruin. 

    We noted back in November that drivers had finally “won one” after they secured help in slashing the balances they owed on their medallions. But this small respite belies a decade ridden with plunging business, years of hard work saving for medallions wiped away, driver suicides and an all-out upending of a business that once had a strong moat.

    Drivers did get relief last month when a deal between New York City’s municipal government, a private equity firm that had become the single largest taxi medallion creditor, and an advocacy group that spoke for thousands of taxi drivers resulted in slashing loan balances for drivers. Some loans were as high as $500,000 and are now just $170,000, which allows drivers to make reasonable and far more manageable payments every month.

    Recall, in January of this year, we wrote that medallion lenders had started to demand payments after suspending collections for several months during the worst of the pandemic. Recalling that the collapse in medallion prices began before the outbreak – in January, NYC launched a city task force which proposed a $500 million bailout for drivers’ loans. This was followed by a February threat by NY State Attorney General Letitia A. James, to sue the city for $810 million to compensate drivers.

    After the pandemic hit, efforts to help NYC cab drivers – over 90% of whom are immigrants, evaporated.

    In 2013, yellow cabs made nearly half a million trips a day. In 2020, that number dropped to 50 – 60 thousand. But the yellow cab industry was already hemorrhaging trips pre-pandemic.

    As unregulated vehicles for hire flooded the streets, investment-backed platforms such as Uber and Lyft undercut fares, able to absorb the loss. As riders flocked to these cheaper and more accessible taxis, yellow cabdrivers were left in the dust. –CNN

    While our euphoric and completely nonsensical public markets continue to subsidize cash burning ridesharing companies, we have to admit that it’s nice to see NYC’s taxi drivers finally win one...it’s been a long road.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 20:40

  • Transportation Vs Destination: Maxwell's Conviction Leaves Glaring Questions Over The Lack Of Prosecutions
    Transportation Vs Destination: Maxwell’s Conviction Leaves Glaring Questions Over The Lack Of Prosecutions

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    The conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell for five out of six criminal charges was heralded by many as bringing some justice for the girls abused through her actions. Indeed, the Southern District of New York correctly called the underlying conduct as “one of the worst crimes imaginable – facilitating and participating in the sexual abuse of children.” However, that statement only begged the question of why none of the men listed on flights of the “Lolita Express” or on the guest lists of these parties have been prosecuted. That list includes former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump as well as Prince Andrew and an assortment of billionaires. It is not clear if these men committed criminal acts but it is also not clear that they have been formally questioned by the FBI.

    As I discussed last night, this criminal enterprise was allegedly not only to bring girls and women to Epstein but to his powerful friends. Without pursuing those alleged “johns,” the Maxwell prosecution seems like arresting a getaway driver but letting the bank robbers escape.

    The pictures of men on these trips are now well-known.  They do not in themselves establish criminal conduct. For example, the pictures of Clinton getting a message from a 22-year-old woman is not illegal and she later described him as a “perfect gentleman.”

    However, Clinton has been accused of misleading the public on his number of flights with Epstein.  The media has reported at least 26 flights with Epstein. Being a repeated guest with an infamous child molester raises obvious concerns. It is certainly enough to warrant questioning by the FBI.

    Then there is Prince Andrew who has been pursued for questioning. Much of the litigation, however, has come from civil litigation. Prince Andrew recently put forward a novel defense in one such case.

    Yet, there is a concern that the Justice Department has previously worked to scuttle rather than to pursue the underlying wrongdoing, including a disgraceful plea agreement. I was an early and vocal critic of that deal with Epstein. Despite a strong case for prosecution, Epstein’s lawyers were able to secure a ridiculous deal with prosecutors. He was accused of abusing more than forty minor girls (with many between the ages of 13 and 17).  Epstein pleaded guilty to a Florida state charge of felony solicitation of underage girls in 2008 and served a 13-month jail sentence.  Epstein was facing a 53-page indictment that could have resulted in life in prison. However, he got the 13 month deal. Moreover, to my lasting surprise, former Miami U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta was inexplicably made labor secretary under Trump.  He later resigned.

    While the FBI aggressively (and correctly) pursued Maxwell, there is no evidence of such a concerted effort to investigate the men who may have been involved in sex trafficking. Given the all-out effort on Ashley Biden’s diary, it would be good to see an equal effort on Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators.

    If Epstein allegedly transported women and girls to his island for visits with himself and these men, there is ample reason to interview them. It is not clear if Maxwell has further evidence to offer, but this is the time to produce it. While she is not practically looking at 65 years, she can easily receive a sentence around 15 years even as a first offender. That sentence could be reduced with cooperation credit. What is not clear is how focused the SDNY is on developing cases that focus not just on the “transportation” but the destination of these flights.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 20:20

  • Israel Mulls 'Herd Immunity' Covid Strategy As Global 'Pox Party' Pivot Continues
    Israel Mulls ‘Herd Immunity’ Covid Strategy As Global ‘Pox Party’ Pivot Continues

    Last week South Africa became the first country to dial back COVID-19 restrictions after it became clear that the Omicron variant was far more mild than other strains, and that it had peaked much sooner than expected. 

    On Christmas Eve, the government announced that contacts of Covid-positive cases will no longer need to test or self-isolate if they aren’t showing symptoms, while those who develop mild symptoms will be required to isolate for eight days, and anyone with severe symptoms will need to isolate for 10 days

    Let us remind you that South Africa is roughly 75% unvaccinated.

    Three days later, the US CDC made major changes to their Covid isolation mandates – including cutting quarantine from 10 days to 5 days (plus 5 days of masking), and eliminating PCR tests from it’s end-of-isolation guidelines. And they swear it isn’t because of test-kit shortages and/or their decision not to distribute rapid tests to Americans before the holidays.

    Tell us you want everyone to get Covid without telling us you want everyone to get Covid.

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    As a related aside, informed Zero Hedge reader Doug R. notes regarding the CDC’s ‘substantial’ revision in Omicron cases – where they now say it jumped from 3% infectivity to 58.6% of all cases over the course of two weeks (revised down from an even more implausible 73% they first reported): “Sorry, still not buying it. This still implies a level of infectivity that is hard to believe. My guess is the real starting point was it was already in the range of 10%-20% market share, and the CDC completely missed it. In part because it is so mild, but in larger part because they failed at their job of detecting and tracking. Because they are bad at what they do.”

    And now, Israel is mulling a new ‘herd immunity’ policy amid a second day of spiking cases.

    According to the Times of Israel:

    Israel recorded almost 3,000 new coronavirus cases for the second day in a row, according to data released Wednesday, as the infection rate continued to climb and senior Health Ministry officials were reportedly weighing a switch to a policy of reaching herd immunity through mass infection.

    …

    For the first time, most Omicron infections were recorded in the community, not in people who recently returned from abroad or those they came in contact with, indicating the true figures are likely much higher than the official ones.

    …

    In light of the lack of immediate rise in serious illness, Channel 12 news reported Tuesday evening that senior officials in the Health Ministry have recently raised the option of switching to a “mass infection model.”

    The plan would mirror Sweden’s policy in the early stage of the pandemic – which essentially meant doing nothing to restrict the spread for people who aren’t in at-risk groups. Israeli officials estimate that within two weeks, Omicron will account for 90% of Covid-19 cases across the country.

    Back to Doug R., he poses the following thought exercise: “If Omicron was the original virus, and behaving this way, how would society have reacted?  My guess, very differently to how it is reacting now.  No global freakout, lockdowns, and NO treatment with vaccinations.  It wouldn’t be necessary.  But we are now where we are, which provokes an incredibly strong and odd reaction to something that appears so mild, and may be a free vaccine.”

    Maybe policymakers are finally catching on? Their corporate media wing seems to have gotten the memo.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 20:00

  • Biden Admin Urges Supreme Court To Let It End "Remain In Mexico" Program
    Biden Admin Urges Supreme Court To Let It End “Remain In Mexico” Program

    Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

    Department of Justice lawyers late Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to hear a case involving the “Remain in Mexico” program.

    The policy was started during the Trump administration and forces many asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims are heard.

    The Biden administration ended it but was ordered by a judge over the summer to relaunch it. The judge said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas didn’t adequately consider the benefits of the program, which included deterring some would-be illegal immigrants from entering the United States.

    Mayorkas came up with a new memorandum in October attempting to end the program again, but an appeals court upheld the judge’s ruling, asserting the memo didn’t affect the ongoing case because it “simply reaffirmed the termination decision that the states had been challenging all along.”

    Biden administration lawyers in the filing Wednesday told the Supreme Court that decision was made in error. The administration wants the nation’s top court to hear arguments from both sides and rule on the matter.

    “The court of appeals’ decision has enormous legal and practical consequences, and there are compelling reasons for the court to review it promptly,” they wrote in a 45-page writ of certiorari.

    One argument put forth—that the lower courts “improperly dictated the exercise of the executive’s statutory discretion.”

    “By requiring the executive to engage in ongoing negotiations with a foreign sovereign over the contours of a border-wide immigration program, the lower courts effected a major and ‘unwarranted judicial interference in the conduct of foreign policy’ and executive prerogative,” the Biden administration said.

    “Remain in Mexico” relies upon the Mexican government agreeing to allow the United States to move asylum seekers into Mexico.

    After months of negotiations, the two countries reached a compromise on Dec. 2 to reboot the program.

    If the Supreme Court doesn’t step in, the policy will stay in place unless Mexican officials stop cooperating or Congress approves funding to detain all the illegal immigrants that enter the United States, Biden administration lawyers said.

    U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump nominee, found in August that federal law mandates immigration officers detain all illegal aliens unless there is no doubt that they are entitled to be admitted into the country.

    Without “Remain in Mexico,” the government is “forced to release and parole aliens into the United States because defendants simply do not have the resources to detain aliens as mandated by statute,” he said.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 19:40

  • Xi'an Paralyzes By Panic As Millions Struggle To Buy Groceries
    Xi’an Paralyzes By Panic As Millions Struggle To Buy Groceries

    As the lockdown in Xi’an continues through its second week, 13M residents are getting a taste of what life was like for the millions in Wuhan who suffered through that city’s 70+ day lockdown back in the spring of 2020.

    Xi’an has counted more than 1,000 cases, with none confirmed to be omicron (China has found some omicron cases in Shanghai and the southern part of the country). As a result, the city has been on total lockdown – with people only allowed to leave once every few days to buy essential goods like groceries.

    According to a report in the Caixin business journal, many are struggling to buy groceries as city life grinds to a halt.

    Residents in the capital of Shaanxi province have been told since Monday to stay at home unless they need to be out for nucleic acid testing. The city, home to almost 13 million residents, went into lockdown Dec. 23, with movement of the people curtailed and risk areas sealed, amid a growing delta outbreak traced to a Dec. 4 flight from Pakistan. The city has recorded a total number of 1,137 locally confirmed cases between Dec. 9 and Dec. 29.

    Desperate residents have taken to social media to complain about online food orders – a last resort for many – that have gone undelivered. Local authorities since Tuesday night started mobilizing districts to deliver free food to residents in sealed areas, but a large number of people still face difficulties in procuring daily necessities.

    Meanwhile, residents are also affected by disruptions in health services. Chen Wei’s wife, who is four months pregnant, felt abdominal pain on Saturday, but their community didn’t have designated vehicles for medical purposes, so they had to improvise and find their own treatment: “But now it’s not possible to get approval to go out at all,” Chen told Caixin.

    Authorities say the outbreak in Xi’an is still in the “rapid development” stage.

    At a press conference Wednesday, He Qinghua, a senior official with the National Health Commission, said the local outbreak is still in a rapid development stage, with linked cases reported in other cities in Shaanxi and elsewhere outside the province. That means Xi’an is still unlikely to lift the lockdown anytime soon.

    Caixin’s report painted a picture of a city in chaos.

    Li, the resident of the urban village, reported the shortage of supplies to the city’s hotlines, but no feedback was received. On Friday, rice and eggs in the village supermarket were quickly sold out. And with a further tightening of the disease control measures, all shops in the village were closed on Sunday.

    Another Xi’an resident said the city does not have a shortage of supplies, but it lacks enough delivery workers.

    Meanwhile, there’s also information asymmetry in the city. “I heard that some supermarkets in the community cannot get their vegetables sold, while residents don’t know how to buy them,” he said.

    Residents with chronic health issues are facing a serious problem: many have lost practically all access to care as resources are diverted to dealing with the COVID outbreak. Many hospitals in the city have stopped accepting new or transferred patients, creating serious bottlenecks to care.

    Stringent epidemic control measures have disrupted health services across the city, affecting many local patients, including kidney disease patients who urgently need treatment.

    Chen, who lives in Xi’an’s Weiyang district, on Saturday called his resident community’s management office, hoping to take his wife to the hospital for an examination. But the office said they are not authorized to give permission, and Chen’s attempts to contact his community and disease control authorities to get approval were in vain.

    Another patient with cancer told Caixin that she has had her treatment delayed for several days, after the hospital she attends suspended its outpatient services on Dec. 16.

    “It hurts and I cannot sleep at night, so I can only bite my quilt. I feel it cannot be delayed any longer,” she told Caixin. Prior to the lockdown, local authorities had assured tumor patients would be able to get treatment; however, even patients who are not in sealed areas have been cut off from treatment, she said.

    For what it’s worth, the Global Times reported that the real problem isn’t shortages of food supplies, but a difficulty in the “last mile” delivery that’s supposed to bring food products to customers placing orders. In response, officials from Xixian New District said at a press conference on Thursday that they are actively coordinating the supply chain, and that they have also set up 1,603 WeChat groups, covering 195 communities, to supply more than 30 kinds of food and medicine for local residents.

    Although there have been reports that some hospitals are resuming service for patients who make an appointment.

    The outbreak has also impacted some college students who are in the middle of exams. Some have borne the expense of living in hotels while the process is disrupted.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 19:20

  • COVID & Corrupt Federal Statistics
    COVID & Corrupt Federal Statistics

    Authored by James Bovard,

    Federal agencies don’t count what politicians don’t want to know. President Biden and other Democrats continuously invoke “science and data” to sanctify all their Covid-19 mandates and policies, but the same shenanigans and willful omissions have characterized Covid data.

    During his update on his Winter Covid Campaign on Tuesday, President Biden declared, “Almost everyone who has died from COVID-19 in the past many months has been unvaccinated.” This was true from the start of the pandemic in early 2020, until the vaccines’ efficacy began failing badly in recent months. Oregon officially classifies roughly a quarter of its Covid fatalities since August as “vaccine breakthrough deaths.” In Illinois, roughly 30 percent of Covid fatalities have occurred among fully vaccinated individuals. According to the Vermont Department of Health, “Half of the [Covid] deaths in August were breakthrough cases. Almost three-quarters of them in September were,” as well, according to Burlington, Vermont TV station WCAX.

    The Biden administration guaranteed that the vast majority of “breakthrough” infections would not be counted when the Centers for Disease Control in May ceased keeping track of “breakthrough” infections unless they resulted in hospitalization or death. Ignoring that data permitted Biden to go on CNN in July and make the ludicrously false assertion: “You’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.” But federal data on fully vaxxed Covid fatalities is far flimsier and less reliable than the numbers compiled by some states. Honestly recognizing the limits of vaccines could be fatal to Biden’s push for compulsory vaccinations.

    The same policymakers who claim to be guided by data have little or no idea how many Americans have been hit by Covid. According to the CDC, there have been 51,115,304 Covid cases in America. But a different CDC web page estimates that there had been 146.6 million Covid infections in the US as of October 2, 2021. That CDC analysis estimated that only one in four Covid infections have been reported, which would mean that based on the latest official case numbers, more than 200 million Americans have contracted Covid. For Biden and his fellow policymakers, a potential error of 150 million Covid infections is “close enough for government work.” Relying on the lower number is convenient for policymakers who want to continue ignoring the natural immunity acquired by 199 million Americans who survived Covid infections.

    Deceptive federal Covid data is not an anomaly. The same charades permeate the official data guiding both domestic and foreign policies.

    Federal education policy has perennially been exempt from the fraud penalties that the Federal Trade Commission inflicts on private corporations. The No Child Left Behind Act, passed in 2002, promised that federal mandates would make all students proficient in reading and math by the year 2014. Almost half the states responded to the law’s perverse incentives by “dumbing down” academic standards, lowering passing scores on tests to avoid harsh federal sanctions. It was obvious within the first year that the law was backfiring, but the feds covered up the catastrophe to permit President George W. Bush and other politicians to continue lying about saving America’s children.

    Food stamps have been one of the most popular ways for politicians to prove their love of downtrodden Americans. Liberals perennially claim that the food stamp program has a fraud rate of only one percent. But that is based solely on the number of violators who get caught, and federal rules discourage states (which administer the program) from vigorously pursuing violators. New Mexico Human Services Secretary Sidonie Squier complained in 2013 that the biggest fraud issue in her state was recipients selling their food-stamp Electronic Benefit (EBT) Cards and claiming that they were lost or stolen. Roughly 70 percent of all the EBT cards issued in New Mexico in 2012 were replacement cards. Squier told Albuquerque’s KOB-TV, “We know that there are some people who lose them four, six, or eight times, and it’s pretty suspicious, but you can’t do anything about it based on the federal rules. They want people to have the cards — they want the cards replaced.”

    The Peace Corps, one of the most sainted federal agencies, is also guilty of perennially covering up deadly risks to its recruits. The Peace Corps has long acted as if its volunteers’ good intentions are body armor that shield them against all perils. But its basic model – sending inexperienced young college graduates to live and work alone in many of the world’s most dangerous nations – is failing mightily. The Peace Corps routinely buries evidence of rapes suffered by its volunteers. Michael O’Neill, the Peace Corps’ security director from 1995 to 2002, commented, “Nobody wanted to talk about security [for volunteers]. It suppresses the recruitment numbers.” After a 29-year-old volunteer was gang-raped in Bangladesh, Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tx) condemned the agency’s reaction: “For political reasons, the Peace Corps did everything it could to ignore and cover up the dastardly deed, blaming the crime on the victim.” A 2021 USA Today investigation found that the agency continues suppressing evidence even though almost half of the female Peace Corps recruits “who finished service in 2019 were sexually assaulted in some way.” But this horrendous failure rarely shows up in the agency’s endless press release victory proclamations.

    Federal statistics cannot raise the dead, but they can make troublesome corpses vanish. The Obama administration vastly increased drone killings of terrorist suspects in many nations and claimed that almost all the victims were bad guys. A Salon analysis, summarizing an NBC News report, noted, “Even while admitting that the identities of many killed by drones were not known, the CIA documents asserted that all those dead were enemy combatants. The logic is twisted: If we kill you, then you were an enemy combatant.” Daniel Hale, a former Air Force intelligence analyst, leaked information revealing that nearly 90% of people who were killed in drone strikes were not the intended targets. Biden’s Justice Department responded by coercing Hale into pleading guilty to “retention and transmission of national security information.”

    Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the media has portrayed federal officials like Tony Fauci as America’s “best and brightest.” But Washington is full of Towers of Paternalist Babel built on statistical quicksand. Bureaucracies conspire against admitting their failures, and politicians often rig reporting requirements to hide the damage their laws inflict. Anyone who has blind faith in federal data is unfit to judge public policy in the real world.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 19:00

  • Revisiting 2021's Themes
    Revisiting 2021’s Themes

    Goldman Sachs has unleashed its annual ‘themes of the year’ crossword, but before we dive into that, the following six quotes seemed to sum things up rather well:

    “The volatility in individual stocks driven by casino-like trading is a by-product of a culture of extreme risk-taking… But today’s investors also don’t necessarily understand the amount of risk that they’re taking.”

    – Arthur Levitt, Former Chair, US Securities and Exchange Commission

    “All major commodity bull markets and inflationary episodes have been invariably tied to re-distributional, or populist, policies that have reduced income and wealth inequality.”

    – Jeff Currie, GS Global Head of Commodities Research

    “A core group of crypto people see this as – and I quote from the Blue Brothers here – “a mission from god”… They will never sell. And because of that, bitcoin and ether can’t go to zero.”

    – Michael Novogratz, Co-Founder and CEO, Galaxy Digital Holdings

    “The pandemic compressed about 20 years of change into 20 weeks, marking the biggest shift in the way people work since WWII.”

    – Erik Brynjolfsson, Professor, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI

    “Europe has seldom missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity over the last decade.”

    – Timothy Garton Ash, Professor, University of Oxford

    “The Fed’s delayed and slow reaction to inflationary pressures has unfortunately increased the probability that it will have to slam on the brakes by raising rates very quickly after tapering and at a more aggressive pace than it would have if it started to tighten policy earlier.”

    – Mohamed A. El-Erian, President, Queens’ College, Cambridge University

    Now, get to scribbling:

    *  *  *

    Across:

    6. Nicholas Bloom, Professor of Economics at Stanford University, finds that about _______ of all working days were spent working from home during the height of the pandemic (Issue 100).

    7. Christian Mueller-Glissmann, GS Senior Multi-Asset Strategist, has found that _______ portfolios often suffer during or after periods of high and rising inflation (Issue 97).

    12. In the process of going public, a SPAC sells units consisting of a common share and a fractional _______ , with each whole _______ allowing an investor to purchase one common share (Issue 95).

    13.  According to George Magnus, Associate at the China Center, Oxford University, President Xi Jinping’s personal agenda is to revamp the party-centered China model to put _______ back into the phrase ” _______ with Chinese characteristics” (Issue 101).

    15. Mohamed A. El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, argues that survey-based inflation _______ are not well anchored, as both short and long-term _______ have risen lately (Issue 103).

    17. The _______ Inflation Targeting framework was adopted by the Fed at the 2020 Jackson Hole Symposium (Issue 97).

    18. Enrico Moretti, Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, argues that pandemic-related shifts in work are unlikely to cause a permanent shift in the economic _______ of the US (Issue 100).

    19. David Brady, Professor of Political Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, argues that the Senate tends to be more _______ than the House, and this more _______ tendency is apparent in the historic pattern of failed legislation (Issue 99).

    21. _______ are the building blocks of technology, and are central inputs in many everyday devices (Issue 103).

    24. Jeff Currie, GS Global Head of Commodities Research, argues that a _______ tax/price is the most efficient way to solve climate change (Issue 104).

    25. In order to be approved to receive funds from the EU Recovery Fund, EU member states must commit to spending a minimum of 20% of expenditures on _______ (Issue 102).

    26. Dean Baker, Co-Founder of the Center for Economic Policy Research, believes that there has been a permanent shift in thinking about the role of _______ policy in supporting the economy (Issue 99).

    27. Political _______ in the US has increased over the past several decades as both the Democratic and Republican parties have become more ideological (Issue 99).

    28. A Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) takes a company public through a _______ (Issue 95).

    30. Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics at NYU’s Stern School of Business, doesn’t believe that cryptocurrencies are _______ , because cryptocurrencies have no income or utility that can be used to determine their fundamental value (Issue 98).

    Down:

    1. According to Michele Della Vigna, GS Head of Energy Industry Research, capital markets are driving de-carbonization through a _______ in the cost of capital between high and low carbon investments (Issue 104).

    2. Jan Hatzius, GS Head of GIR and Chief Economist, doesn’t find the discussion of _______ very illuminating in the context of one-off spending increases, because _______ are a longer-run concept (Issue 97).

    3. According to Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Commission, _______ is the biggest obstacle to further EU integration (Issue 102).

    4. Michael Klausner, Professor of Business and Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, believes that the shareholder _______ inherent in the structure of SPACs has made them a bad deal for post-merger investors (Issue 95).

    5. A wage-price _______ occurs when wage increases lead to prices increases, which in turn lead to further wage increases (Issue 103).

    8. Many Decentralized Finance (DeFi) applications currently live on this network (Issue 98).

    9. Michael Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital Holdings, believes that _______ adoption and the macro factors behind it are a mega bull trend (Issue 98).

    10. A-Shares, which are RMB-traded shares of China-based companies, represent the _______ of China’s equity market (Issue 101).

    11. A change of the _______ Treaty is required for a permanent change of EU fiscal rules (Issue 102).

    14. David Li, Professor at Tsinghua University, notes that China still has significant work to do to catch up with other countries in _______ technologies, like high-quality electronic components (Issue 101).

    16. Erik Brynjolfsson, Professor at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, believes that despite the big jump in _______ over the course of the pandemic, the opportunities that technologies like AI and machine learning offer mean that we’re not even close to seeing peak _______ (Issue 100).

    20. Evidence suggests that the volume and impact of _______ trading has grown a lot since the advent of widespread commission-free trading (Issue 96).

    22. A short  _______ occurs when the price of a heavily-shorted security moves sharply higher, forcing short-sellers to buy it back in order to cover their position (Issue 96).

    23. Arthur Levitt, former chair of the SEC, and Owen Lamont, Associate Director of Multi-Asset Research for Wellington Management’s Quantitative Investment Group, believe that despite a perception that short-sellers create volatility, they actually play a vital role in _______ discovery (Issue 96).

    29. Chris James, Founder and Executive Chairman of Engine No. 1, has found a clear linkage between _______ criteria and a company’s ability to create value over the long term (Issue 104).

    *  *  *

    Good luck

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    You can find the solution here (don’t cheat).

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 18:40

  • NDAA Blocking Biden From Closing Gitmo
    NDAA Blocking Biden From Closing Gitmo

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that President Biden signed on Monday includes amendments that block him from taking steps to close the notorious prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

    The bill extends amendments that were in previous NDAA’s that block the White House from using funds to transfer or release Gitmo detainees into the US or other countries. The bill also blocks the use of funds to close the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay altogether.

    Via Rolling Stone

    After signing the bill, Biden released a statement denouncing the restrictions. “Unfortunately, section 1032 of the Act continues to bar the use of funds to transfer Guantánamo Bay detainees to the custody or effective control of certain foreign countries, and section 1033 of the Act bars the use of funds to transfer Guantánamo Bay detainees into the United States unless certain conditions are met,” the statement said.

    Biden said the provisions “unduly impair the ability of the executive branch to determine when and where to prosecute Guantánamo Bay detainees and where to send them upon release.” Despite his objections, Biden still signed the massive $777.7 billion NDAA that authorized about $25 billion more than he requested from Congress.

    Biden has pledged to close Gitmo, but the same promise was also made by President Obama. There are currently 39 detainees in the prison, and only 11 have been formally charged with crimes. Gitmo costs about $540 million to operate each year, meaning the US government spends over $13 million for each prisoner.

    In July, Biden transferred former detainee Abdul Latif Nasser to his home country of Morrocco. Nasser was held since 2002 on no charges and was cleared for release five years ago. Like other Gitmo inmates, Nasser faced torture and other abuses during his time at the US military prison.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 18:20

  • Have Regulators Really Defused The Year-End $230 Trillion LIBOR Derivative Time-Bomb?
    Have Regulators Really Defused The Year-End $230 Trillion LIBOR Derivative Time-Bomb?

    Years ago, we predicted that the Fed’s commitment to phase out Libor, the interest rate set by committee (not market forces) that had come to undergird trillions of dollars in loans and securities around the world, would ultimately prove unsuccessful.

    Now, as the FT points out, it appears we were correct.

    Libor won’t be phased out completely by the start of next year. While technically speaking no new securities can be bechmarked to Libor, there’s still the matter of the $230 trillion in existing contracts that rely on the benchmark. And the rates that undergird these contracts will continue to be published.

    Still, plenty of other Libor rates won’t. Only the most popular will survive, according to the FT. So in a way, next month does mark the moment when “four years of arduous preparation to live without it goes into effect.”

    “It’s one of the biggest transitions in financial markets in decades,” said Dixit Joshi, group treasurer of Deutsche Bank.

    “This is a milestone for the regulators since the great financial crisis about lessons learned.”

    But it’s not a complete break, which is what the world was promised in the wake of the scandals that inspired the decision.

    Much lower in its story on the impending Libor deadline, the FT concedes that, in order to make the transition “work”, America’s financial regulators had to help build a workaround whereby futures markets based on the US dollar LIbor would need to be allowed to continue on until mid-2023, something we noted a year ago.

    As a result, the US dollar Libor rates will continue to be published until that point (and potentially beyond mid-2023, once regulators devise some new excuse for keeping it alive for even longer).

    According to one expert quoted by the FT, most people never even believed regulators would make it this far which is…not exactly a vote of confidence.

    “If you’d asked anyone at the end of 2017 if this was going to happen by the end of 2021, they’d have laughed at you,” said Sarah Boyce of the UK’s Association of Corporate Treasurers.

    Now it seems the skeptics have been partially vindicated.

    That scepticism has been partially vindicated. Even as the year began, contracts worth $265tn were still attached to Libor. Embedding an alternative for US dollar Libor has been particularly tricky because it was a new rate. To ease the burden, UK and US authorities have allowed US dollar Libor for existing contracts to continue until mid-2023, although new business is barred after December. The FCA also allowed “synthetic” versions of sterling and yen Libor for a year to wean more stubborn contracts off the rate. Even so, daily publication of 24 Libor rates will go after December.

    US regulators decided to create a whole new rate to try and wean people off of Libor, and still they’ve been met with only limited success. The new rate is called “Sofr” – the “Secured Overnight Financing Rate”. According to data from the government, the latest Sofr overnight rate is close to even with its Libor equivalent.

    At the end of the day, forcing lenders to stop using Libor will be like “enforcing prohibition.” Parties will keep on using Libor until the very last second, until continuing on is no longer an option.

    “Telling people to stop using Libor is like reimposing prohibition. People will keep drinking right up until the last moment,” said Mark Cabana, head of US rates strategy at Bank of America.

    And regulators are warning now that this time, they’re for real.

    “Market participants have all the tools they need to meet this deadline. The responsibility is on market participants to take the action needed to prepare for a world with no new Libor,” said Tom Wipf, a senior executive at Morgan Stanley, who chairs the industry body to lead the shift from US dollar Libor.

    Even so, the market accepts change is coming. At CME Group, the world’s largest futures market, open positions in Sofr-linked futures outstripped Libor-linked futures for the first time in December.

    Prosecutors first accused banks of more or less openly rigging Libor in their own favor to benefit their trading books back in 2012.

    Even if regulators succeed at getting rid of Libor, pretty soon, a whole decade will have passed since the discovery of the ‘scandals’ that inspired regulators to go after Libor. Soon, people will forget why they even bothered to try to dump Libor in the first place. One critic described the transition as akin to “open heart surgery” for the financial system. And it’s going to be difficult to keep justifying something so taxing.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 18:00

  • Schiffty Character – Never Let Reality Get In The Way Of Political Goals
    Schiffty Character – Never Let Reality Get In The Way Of Political Goals

    Authored by Dominick Sansome via TheAmericanConservative.com,

    Earlier this month, Representative Adam Schiff was reported to have doctored a text message between former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Republican representative Jim Jordan in the ongoing investigations of the House January 6 Committee. This report should hardly come as a surprise.

    On the House floor, Schiff was confronted by Republican Congressman Jim Comer for peddling the “Russia hoax.” He responded by launching into a tirade of circumstantial evidence that was supposed to prove Trump-Russia collusion. Given Schiff’s most recent ethically questionable choice in the January 6 Commission, it is worth recounting his central role in the collusion investigations.

    Schiff was one of the main proponents of the collusion theory from day one.

    Throughout the 45th president’s tenure, the congressman continuously assured the Trump-deranged media that there was “plenty of evidence” of collusion with Russia hiding “in plain sight”, and that the proof was “more than circumstantial.” Despite substantial evidence to the contrary, he also continued to maintain the legitimacy of the legally abominable FBI application for surveillance warrants on then-Trump aide Carter Paige, one of the main premises justifying the subsequent Mueller investigation.

    Schiff was undeterred when House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes released a memo in 2018 that detailed this corrupt FISA process. Nunes, a Republican congressman also from California, presented damning proof that the entire application was largely predicated on the now-debunked dossier by Christopher Steele—in reality, a political operation funded by the Clinton campaign through research firm Fusion GPS. Nunes’ memo was immediately denounced by the entire Democrat establishment as false, and Schiff subsequently responded with a memo of his own. The latter purported to document the errors of its Republican-derived counterpart.

    Naturally, the Schiff memo was the story that stuck for the zealots of the Russia collusion cult in Washington and their media enablers; this, despite the fact that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz would go on to confirm the veracity of the very claims on which Schiff was attempting to cast doubt. The Wall Street Journal previously documented the exact falsehoods in the Schiff memo and the inspector general’s refutations here.

    When Schiff was called out by Comer on the House floor, the former launched into a series of “Are you aware?” questions that were ostensibly meant to maintain support for the Trump-Russia thesis (outside of the Steele Dossier). Yet Schiff’s statements are still based on, to use his own words, mere “circumstantial evidence.” It is worth considering Schiff’s reasoning behind each claim:

    “Are you aware that the president’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, met with an agent of Russian intelligence and provided Russian intelligence with internal campaign polling data, as well as strategic insights about their intelligence in key battleground states?”

    The “agent of Russian intelligence” to whom Schiff is referring here is Manafort’s longtime Ukrainian business associate Konstantin Kilimnik. According to the Washington Times, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s final report on Russian election interference—a more than 900 page report of which Kilimnik and Manafort are central focuses—states that Kilimnik was “a Russian intelligence officer.” Manafort’s lawyer responded to the accusation by claiming that there are classified documents that would, if released, prove this to be false; however, if Kilimnik is indeed a Russian asset as stated by the Senate report, then he “may have been connected to the GRU [Russian state intelligence service]” responsible for hacking into the DNC in 2016.

    In the second part of his statement, Schiff refers to Manafort’s providing polling data to Russian intelligence (Kilimnik, on the presumption that he is a Russian agent). The Mueller report had already cast doubt on this being connected to “Russian interference,” however, as the meeting in which this transaction took place is purported to have happened only after the reports of a Russian cyber attack had already been released by the U.S. media. Collusion would thereby be assumed only on the evidence that Manafort had an ongoing relationship with Kilimnik, and must have subsequently known about the latter’s speculative ties with the GRU and its attempt to influence the U.S. election. Circumstantial indeed.

    “Are you aware that while the Trump campaign chairman was providing internal polling data, that Kremlin intelligence was leading a clandestine social media campaign to elect Donald Trump?”

    In 2020, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report defending a 2017 intelligence community assessment that there was “unprecedented Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.” The report finds that the essential task of the Russian interference was to sow discord in the United States, primarily through social media posts and advertisements that were aimed at denigrating Hillary Clinton and undermining trust in U.S. democracy.

    This is in part contrary to the 2018 House Intelligence Committee report, which found that the intelligence community’s assessment on “Putin’s strategic intentions” were insufficient. When viewing the various posts, advertisements, and accounts (examples available for download from the House Report here) attributed to Russian intelligence agents, it is evident that there was a clear intention to sow discord; however, the sheer number of social justice posts related to racial equality and police brutality seem to suggest that the Russian influencers may have sought social tension as the goal in itself, rather than a means to get Trump in particular elected.

    Regardless, Schiff’s two statements together allude to the notion that Manafort was giving polling data in battleground states to Kilimnik, ostensibly all in an attempt to then have Russian hackers specifically target voters in politically purple areas.

    “I am aware of President Trump’s son meeting secretly in Trump Tower New York with a Russian delegation with the purpose of receiving dirt on Hillary Clinton, which the Russian delegation represented was part of the Russian government’s effort to help elect Donald Trump in 2016.… And when asked about that secret meeting, both the president and his son lied about it.”

    Donald Trump Jr. did indeed meet with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. The meeting is reported to have been short and fruitless, with then-candidate Trump having had no knowledge of it. Although this is not illegal, it is ethically questionable, even given the fact that politics is indeed a dirty game; however, it also incidentally sheds light on another strange development in the Trump-Russia saga. Veselnitskaya is documented as having met with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson just hours before the Trump Tower meeting, and then again after. Recall that Fusion GPS is the Clinton-financed firm responsible for compiling the Steele Dossier, seeking to tie Trump to Russia. While Trump Jr. meeting with Veselnitskaya under the pretenses of getting dirt on a political opponent may not be considered honorable (even though that was the very mechanism working against Trump at that exact moment), the surrounding circumstances raise just as many, if not more, questions about Clinton corruption as they do Trump collusion.

    Although not mentioned by Schiff in this specific instance, also consider his maintaining the guilt of Trump’s National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. In another supposed tie between Trump and Russia, Flynn was caught in a carefully set perjury trap arranged by James Comey’s FBI. Comey actually bragged in an open forum about his taking advantage of the hectic Trump transition—which unelected bureaucratic forces and Obama holdovers mobilized to make as difficult as possible—to get agents into the White House and attempt to interrogate various officials, of whom Flynn was foremost.

    Schiff is not unique in his views among the Democratic Party or its political allies in relation to the Russia narrative, and no one can question the congressman’s determination in investigating corruption stories related to Trump—regardless of how scant or shoddy the hard evidence that the allegations are based on may be. It is important, however, to consider the circumstances he presents in support of his ongoing belief in collusion, as it is telling of how the congressman treats evidence that is politically inexpedient to his predetermined conclusions.

    This is relevant given his central position on the House January 6 Committee, and may have very real consequences for the fate of the American citizen’s upon whom the latter’s deliberations are focused.

    Tyler Durden
    Thu, 12/30/2021 – 17:40

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