Jan 03

Today’s News 3rd January 2021

  • The Great Reset, Part I: Reduced Expectations And Bio-Techno-Feudalism
    The Great Reset, Part I: Reduced Expectations And Bio-Techno-Feudalism

    Authored by Michael Rectenwald via The Mises Institute,

    The Great Reset is on everyone’s mind, whether everyone knows it or not. It is presaged by the measures undertaken by states across the world in response to the covid-19 crisis. (I mean by “crisis” not the so-called pandemic itself, but the responses to a novel virus called SARS-2 and the impact of the responses on social and economic conditions.)

    In his book, COVID-19: The Great Reset, World Economic Forum (WEF) founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab writes that the covid-19 crisis should be regarded as an “opportunity [that can be] seized to make the kind of institutional changes and policy choices that will put economies on the path toward a fairer, greener future.” Although Schwab has been promoting the Great Reset for years, the covid crisis has provided a pretext for finally enacting it. According to Schwab, we should not expect the postcovid world system to return to its previous modes of operation. Rather, alternating between description and prescription, Schwab suggests that changes will be, or should be, enacted across interlocking, interdependent domains to produce a new normal.

    So, just what is the Great Reset and what is the new normal it would establish?

    The Great Reset means reduced incomes and carbon use. But Schwab and the WEF also define the Great Reset in terms of the convergence of economic, monetary, technological, medical, genomic, environmental, military, and governance systems. The Great Reset would involve vast transformations in each of these domains, changes which, according to Schwab, will not only alter our world but also lead us to “question what it means to be human.”

    In terms of economics and monetary policy, the Great Reset would involve a consolidation of wealth, on the one hand, and the likely issuance of universal basic income (UBI) on the other. It might include a shift to a digital currency, including a consolidated centralization of banking and bank accounts, immediate real-time taxation, negative interest rates, and centralized surveillance and control over spending and debt.

    While every aspect of the Great Reset involves technology, the Great Reset specifically entails “the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” or transhumanism, which includes the expansion of genomics, nanotechnology, and robotics and their penetration into human bodies and brains. Of course, the fourth Industrial Revolution involves the redundancy of human labor in increasing sectors, to be replaced by automation. But moreover, Schwab hails the use of nanotechnology and brain scans to predict and preempt human behavior.

    The Great Reset means the issuance of medical passports, soon to be digitized, as well as the transparency of medical records inclusive of medical history, genetic makeup, and disease states. But it could include the implanting of microchips that would read and report on genetic makeup and brain states such that “[e]ven crossing a national border might one day involve a detailed brain scan to assess an individual’s security risk.”

    On the genomic front, the Great Reset includes advances in genetic engineering and the fusion of genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics.

    In military terms, the Great Reset entails the creation of new battle spaces including cyberspaces and the human brain as a battle space.

    In terms of governance, the Great Reset means increasingly centralized, coordinated, and expanded government and “governmentalities,” the convergence of corporations and states, and the digitalization of governmental functions, including, with the use of 5G and predictive algorithms, real-time tracking and surveillance of bodies in space or the “anticipatory governance” of human and systems behavior.

    That being said, “the Great Reset” is but a coordinated propaganda campaign shrouded under a cloak of inevitability. Rather than a mere conspiracy theory, as the New York Times has suggested, the Great Reset is an attempt at a conspiracy, or the “wishful thinking” of socioeconomic planners to have corporate “stakeholders” and governments adopt the desiderata of the WEF.

    In order to sell this package, the WEF mobilizes the warmed-over rhetoric of “economic equality,” “fairness,” “inclusion,” and “a shared destiny,” among other euphemisms. Together, such phrases represent the collectivist, socialist political and ideological component of the envisioned corporate socialism (since economic socialism can never be enacted, it is always only political and ideological).

    I’ll examine the prospects for the Great Reset in future installments. But suffice it to say for now that the WEF envisions a bio-techno-feudalist global order, with socioeconomic planners and corporate “stakeholders” at the helm and the greater part of humanity in their thrall. The mass of humanity, the planners would have it, will live under an economic stasis of reduced expectations, with individual autonomy greatly curtailed if not utterly obliterated. As Mises suggested, such planners are authoritarians who mean to supplant the plans of individual actors with their own, centralized plans.

    If enacted, such plans would fail, but their adoption would nevertheless exact a price.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 23:30

  • Visualizing The US Population By Race
    Visualizing The US Population By Race

    The American population is a unique mosaic of cultures – and almost 40% of people identify as racial or ethnic minorities today.

    In this treemap, Visual Capitalist’s Iman Ghosh uses data for 2019 from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which bases its analysis on the latest American Community Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

    Then we break down the same data on a state-by-state basis.

    Growing Diversity in America

    As of 2019, here is the current distribution of the U.S. population by race:

    • White: 60.1%

    • Hispanic: 18.5%

    • Black: 12.2%

    • Asian: 5.6%

    • Multiple Races: 2.8%

    • American Indian/Alaska Native: 0.7%

    • Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander: 0.2%

    *Note that the U.S. totals do not include Puerto Rico.

    However, these race and ethnicity projections are expected to change over the coming years. By the year 2060, it’s expected that the distribution of Whites as a percentage of total population will fall from 60.1% to 44.3% of Americans.

    Source: U.S. Census Bureau. *Other includes American Indian/Alaska Native (0.7%) and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (0.2%). Both proportions remain unchanged in these projections.

    Interestingly, the proportion of those from multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds will more than double, from 2.3% to 4.9% alongside rising patterns of interracial marriage.

    Over time, the U.S. Census has been vastly expanded to reflect the true diversity that the country holds. In fact, it was only from 1960 onwards that people could select their own race—and only from 2020 can those who chose White or Black provide further information on their roots.

    A State-by-State Breakdown

    Of course, racial diversity in the United States differs widely from region to region.

    In the Northeast—particularly the states Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire—the White population accounts for 90% or more of the total. In contrast, Black populations are highest in the District of Columbia (45%) and several Southern states.

    Note: A dash (-) indicates estimates with relative standard errors greater than 30%, which were not included in the data

    Of all the 50 states, Hawaii is home to the largest share of Asian populations at 39%. It also has one of the most diverse racial breakdowns in the nation overall, including the highest proportion of mixed race individuals.

    Looking to another island, an overwhelming majority (98%) of Puerto Ricans are of Hispanic origins. While it’s not a state, its inhabitants are all considered U.S. citizens.

    Charting the U.S. population by race is crucial for a number of reasons. This information can be used to better understand existing income and wealth gaps, track public health outcomes, and to aid in policy decision-making at higher levels.

    “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”

    – Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the U.S.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 23:00

  • Assange Extradition: Legal Teams Likely Informed Already Of Judge's Decision
    Assange Extradition: Legal Teams Likely Informed Already Of Judge’s Decision

    Authored by Alexander Mercouris via ConsortiumNews.com,

    In accordance with a British magistrate court’s usual procedure, Julian Assange’s Judgment has almost certainly already been written and sent in draft form to the respective teams of lawyers, probably early on Friday evening.

    The lawyers therefore already know what the decision is, as well as the British government and at least the Department of Justice in Washington.

    Under established procedure, Assange’s lawyers are not supposed to tell Assange himself what the decision is so he and his family are probably the only people who are directly involved in his case who don’t yet know its outcome.

    Assange outside British Supreme Court, 2011. Source: acidpolly/Flickr

    The purpose in sending the Judgment in draft form to the lawyers in advance of the Court hearing is to give them an opportunity to check it for factual mistakes.

    The public will not know the outcome until Magistrate Vanessa Baraitser reads out the Judgment in its finalized form, with any factual mistakes corrected, when Court convenes on Monday at 10 am London time. The Judgment should then be published online by the Court Service directly after she has finished.

    In addition to the Judgment – and obviously to the decision whether or not to extradite, which will be set out in the Judgment – the public may learn immediately afterward whether either of the two sets of lawyers intend to appeal. Either side has seven days to appeal the judgment.

    While the intent of allowing both sides to see the Judgment in advance is not to help facilitate an appeal, having the judgement before it is read to the court affords attorneys to a chance to consider whether or not to launch one.

    If It’s a Split Decision

    One possibility that must be considered is that Baraitser may decide to extradite on one indictment and not on the other, for instance, if she rules against extradition on the Espionage Act charges, but decides in favor of extradition on the conspiracy to commit computer intrusion charge (which carries a maximum five year sentence as opposed to 170 on espionage.)

    I think what would happen in that case is that the British authorities would accept Baraitser’s decision and would try to reach an agreement with the DoJ whereby, in return for Assange’s extradition, the U.S. would commit itself to try Assange only on the computer intrusion charges, and not on the Espionage Act charges.

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    The British over the course of the negotiations would tell the U.S. that if the U.S. were not willing to give that commitment then the British would not be able to extradite Assange to the U.S.

    Of course the British (if Assange were extradited to the U.S. on such a basis) would be in no position to compel the U.S. to abide by such a commitment if the U..S were to go back on it once Assange was on U.S. soil.

    Since that has to be a very likely possibility, one would think it would be a point which Assange’s lawyers would make in the appeal they would be bound to make to the High Court against Baraitser’s decision.

    In fact in such a scenario it’s not impossible that both sides would appeal to the High Court:

    1. the U.S. against Baraitser’s decision to refuse to extradite on the basis of the Espionage Act;
    2. Assange’s lawyers against Baraitser’s decision to extradite on the computer intrusion charges.

    It would be a fascinating battle and it would be fascinating to see how it would play out. Logically, the balance ought to tip in Assange’s favor since Baraitser would presumably have rejected extradition on the Espionage Act charges because they were not properly made out and because they were overtly political.

    In light of that, would the High Court be prepared to allow Assange’s extradition on computer intrusion charges to a country which had tried unsuccessfully to bring overtly political charges against him which the lower Court had rejected?

    Nothing is predictable in this case.

    Appeal Scenarios

    In the event that Baraitser decides the case in Assange’s favor, and the U.S. government decides to appeal, there is also the question of whether or not Assange will be released pending the outcome of the appeal, or whether he will continue to be kept in detention in Belmarsh.

    Journalist Glenn Greenwald in his latest article assumes that Assange will remain in detention throughout the appeal process, but that is not certain.

    Since there would be a Court Judgment saying that extradition had been refused, and since Assange is not being held because of any crime committed in the United Kingdom, and as there is no outstanding prison sentence imposed on him by any British Court, one would think that Baraitser in her Judgment would order his immediate release.

    British authorities might take steps to rearrest him (perhaps on still more, new U.S. charges) immediately as the order for his release is made. But it seems certain that Assange’s lawyers would make an prompt application, either to Baraitser or to a High Court judge for Assange’s immediate release, which given a hypothetical decision in his favor,  Baraitser or the High Court judge would probably grant.

    Given Baraitser’s demeanour in court during Assange’s hearing, and given several of the decisions she made, the greater likelihood is that she will rule in favor of U.S. extradition on both indictmments, in which case Assange would almost certainly remain in Belmarsh prison while his legal team appeals.  If she should pursue a split decision there would be a stronger likelihood that Assange would continue in detention until the appeal were decided because the Court would have decided to allow his extradition to the U.S.

    However even in that case Assange’s lawyers would still be in a position to apply for bail on the grounds that the most serious and important part of the case made by the U.S. for his extradition (the Espionage Act charges) had been refused, and that his appeal against the remaining part (the computer intrusion charges) was likely to be successful.  

    The public and Assange himself will know in less than 48 hours.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 22:30

  • "We Don't Need A World Where China Becomes Another US": Beijing Offers Vision For Restored Sino-US Relations Under Biden
    “We Don’t Need A World Where China Becomes Another US”: Beijing Offers Vision For Restored Sino-US Relations Under Biden

    Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi issued some blunt statements on the deteriorated state of China-US relations during a recent wide-ranging interview in state media:

    “We don’t need a world where China becomes another United States. This is neither rational nor feasible. Rather, the United States should try to make itself a better country, and China will surely become its better self,” he said.

    He laid down his vision and some terms by which ties could improve amid the current “unprecedented difficulties” which plummeted sharply during Trump’s final year in office, underscoring that the current US strategy of confrontation and its “new Cold War” attitude is “doomed to fail”. 

    Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, AFP/Getty Images

    He said instead of the world cooperating more deeply to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains that “unilateralism, protectionism and power politics are standing in the way of international cooperation” – in words clearly directed at the US.

    In contrast, Foreign Minister Wang, said China has “spearheaded multilateral cooperation. Unswerving in advocating multilateralism…”.

    At the same time, Wang pointed out Sino-Russian relations have improved vastly over the past year:

    “President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin have had five phone calls and exchanged correspondence on multiple occasions, providing the most important strategic guidance for the steady growth of the bilateral relations. Mutual support between the two peoples.

    Russia was the first country to send medical and other supplies to China, and China was one of the strongest supporters of Russia’s COVID-19 response efforts.

    The two countries have also worked closely on joint epidemic response and development of vaccines and drugs. Growing practical cooperation despite challenges. The two countries have vigorously facilitated economic reopening, safeguarded the functioning of industrial and supply chains, and made steady progress in several major projects.”

    While urging the incoming Biden administration to “return to a sensible approach” on China, the top Chinese diplomat described further:

    “Fundamentally, it all comes down to the serious misconceptions of US policymakers about China. Some see China as the so-called biggest threat and their China policy based on this misperception is simply wrong. What has happened proves that the US attempt to suppress China and start a new Cold War has not just seriously harmed the interests of the two peoples, but also caused severe disruptions to the world. Such a policy will find no support and is doomed to fail.

    China-US relations have come to a new crossroads, and a new window of hope is opening. We hope that the next US administration will return to a sensible approach, resume dialogue with China, restore normalcy to the bilateral relations and restart cooperation.”

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    It was here in the interview that he claimed over and against repeat US charges and probes centered on Chinese intellectual property theft and infiltration of US systems that—

    “China never meddles in the internal affairs of the United States and values peaceful co-existence and mutually beneficial cooperation with the United States,” according to the interview. 

    Chinese state media has lately been boasting of the communist government’s coronavirus response:

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    And below is perhaps the most interesting part of the interview, where Wang offers his vision for a “window of hope”… or how positive relations with Washington can be restored:

    “We know that some in the United States are uneasy about China’s rapid development. However, the best way to keep one’s lead is through constant self-improvement, not by blocking others’ development. We don’t need a world where China becomes another United States. This is neither rational nor feasible. Rather, the United States should try to make itself a better country, and China will surely become its better self.

    We believe that as long as the United States can draw lessons from the past and work with China in the same direction, the two countries are capable of resolving differences through dialogue and expanding converging interests by cooperation. This will allow the two major countries to establish a model of coexistence that benefits both countries and the world, and open up new development prospects in line with the trend of history.”

    But after four years of the Trump administration, China has emerged in US eyes as the new primary political, economic and even military rival of the United States, and further as rivals for global influence.

    Despite the optimism expressed by Wang based on the US presidential transition, it remains that Biden is likely to find himself ‘boxed in’ as a result of Trump’s continuing ratcheting pressure in the form of targeted punitive actions against Chinese companies and officials.  

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 22:00

  • Lockdown Proponent Bill Gates Quietly Funding Plan To Dim The Sun's Rays
    Lockdown Proponent Bill Gates Quietly Funding Plan To Dim The Sun’s Rays

    Submitted by Rusty Weiss of The Mental Recession

    A project conducted by Harvard University scientists and funded largely by Microsoft founder Bill Gates to test sun-dimming technology to cool global warming is quietly moving forward in Sweden.

    We know what you’re thinking – this can’t be real… but it is.

    Reuters reports that the Harvard project “plans to test out a controversial theory that global warming can be stopped by spraying particles into the atmosphere that would reflect the sun’s rays.”

    In Sweden, plans to fly a test balloon next year are already underway.

    The test balloon will not release any particles into the atmosphere, but “could be a step towards an experiment, perhaps in the autumn of 2021 or spring of 2022.”

    Those experiments may see “up to 2 kg of non-toxic calcium carbonate dust” released into the atmosphere.

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    Bill Gates Plan to Dim the Sun is a Bad Idea

    Bill Gates is living proof that just because you once did something very smart to make your mark on the world, it doesn’t necessarily make you a smart person.

    Having the gall to play God by dimming the sun’s rays and thinking it won’t lead to drastic and unpredictable problems makes that case rather obvious.

    Reuters notes the project – called the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx) – is playing with “something with potentially large and hard-to-predict risks, such as shifts in global rain patterns.”

    “There is no merit in this test except to enable the next step,” said Niclas Hällström, director of the Swedish green think-tank WhatNext? said.

    He added, “You can’t test the trigger of a bomb and say ‘This can’t possibly do any harm.’”

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    Gates Says Life After COVID Won’t Return to Normal Until 2022

    Social-engineering fan Bill Gates made news earlier this month when he wanted to figuratively dim the sun on society by suggesting pandemic lockdowns could and should be extended.

    The tech nerd expressed support for shutting down bars and restaurants for up to an additional six months, and indicated lockdowns may continue all the way into 2022.

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    “Certainly, by the summer will be way closer to normal than we are now, but even through early 2022, unless we help other countries get rid of this disease and we get high vaccinations rates in our country, the risk of reintroduction will be there,” Gates warned CNN anchor Jake Tapper.

    Many Americans have shown they aren’t willing to continue with the lockdown charade. We’re not sure how many will be thrilled with Gates being the ruler of the sun either.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 21:30

  • Dramatic Video Shows Unmasked Canadian Cops Bust Illegal Gathering Of Family During New Years
    Dramatic Video Shows Unmasked Canadian Cops Bust Illegal Gathering Of Family During New Years

    Unmasked police busted an illegal family gathering on Dec. 31 in Gatineau, a city in western Quebec, Canada, according to Radio Canada. The shocking incident was caught on camera.

    Service de police de la Ville de Gatineau (SPVG) received an anonymous complaint from a neighbor late Thursday evening. When police arrived at the home on rue le Baron, they discovered the homeowner lied about the number of occupants inside as public health orders in the metro area have placed limits on gatherings. 

    SPVG noticed a number of vehicles parked in the driveway of the home and loud noise coming from inside. They figured there were more than two people inside, despite the homeowner insisting otherwise. 

    Mariane Leduc, head of communications at SPVG, explained the situation went quickly downhill after an “aggressive man” had zero intention of cooperating with the police.

    Mathieu Tessier appears to be the aggressive man in the video, which was filmed from someone inside the home. Tessier was at his sister’s house when police officers without masks yanked him from inside the house and tackled him to the ground. The family alleges police officers used excessive force. 

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    After the incident, Mathieu and his sister were both arrested and then released later that night. Everyone in the home was slapped with $1,500 fines for ignoring public safety health orders against gatherings. 

    SPVG received a total of 30 complaints of illegal assembly in Gatineau on New Years’ night.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 21:00

  • "Symbols… Of Subtle Oppression": Virginia Judge Orders Removal Of Portraits Of White Judges
    “Symbols… Of Subtle Oppression”: Virginia Judge Orders Removal Of Portraits Of White Judges

    Authored by Jonathan Turley,

    Judge David Bernhard is a jurist in Fairfax County (where I reside) has issued a controversial order that the portraits of white judges must be removed from a courtroom because their presence would deny a black defendant a fair trial. In a decision applauded in the Washington Post, Bernhard declared that a fair trial is threatened in “a courtroom gilded with … white individuals peering down on an African American defendant.” 

    The public defender filed a “Motion to Remove Portraiture Overwhelmingly Depicting White Jurists Hanging in Trial Courtroom.” The motion was not opposed by Fairfax County’s recently elected lead prosecutor Steve Descano, who the Washington Post covered as one of a number of liberal prosecutors recently elected around the country.

    Bernhard order explains:

    The low hanging fruit of overt racism is easily identified and picked off to strengthen the tree of society. The more conventional symbols which to some impart tradition, and to others subtle oppression, are less comfortably addressed. The ubiquitous portraits of white judges are such symbols. When they were hung in the more recent past, negative connotations thereof were not a consideration. To the public at large making use of the courthouse, other than some attorneys who might have appeared before the judges portrayed, there is no context to learn about who is depicted. The portraits in sum, are of benefit to only a few insiders who might fondly remember appearing before a particular judge or to a retired judge’s family making to rare visit to the courthouse. To the public seeking justice inside the courtrooms, thus, the sea of portraits of white judges can at best yield indifference, and at worst, logically a lack of confidence that the judiciary is there to preside equally no matter the race of the participants.

    We have previously discussed the removal of academic portraits and even pictures of leading writers like Shakespeare under analogous rationales.

    Judge Bernhard should be credited for seeking to address concerns over racial justice and inequality. However, I disagree with this decision as I have with the removal of academic portraits. We are thankfully achieving greater diversity on our courts and on our faculties.  That is being reflected in such honorary portraits. Yet, the removal of portraits not because of their records but their race is troubling.

    I certainly agree that in the case of Commonwealth v. Shipp, “The Defendant’s constitutional right to a fair jury trial stands paramount.”  The problem is Bernhard’s juxtapositioning of a fair trial with “the countervailing interest of adorning courtrooms with portraits that honor past jurists” who are “overwhelmingly … white individuals.”  I do not agree that the mere fact that the portraits feature white jurists constitutes a message that black people are “of lesser standing.”

    Under Bernhard’s logic, leading jurists who fought slavery and segregation would be removed because of their race.  Thus, Earl Warren, who wrote Brown v. Board of Education, would have to be removed because he was white. 

    The irony is crushing. Warren wrote that:

    “To separate [black children] from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone.”

    Yet, under Judge Bernhard’s approach, Warren’s portrait would have to be removed because his image would create that same “feeling of inferiority” because he happened to be white.

    While Judge Bernhard refers to the portraits as “ornaments,” it is the use of race-based criteria for their removal that is so troubling and, in my view, misguided.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 20:30

  • Full Year-Ahead Calendar: All The Key Events In 2021
    Full Year-Ahead Calendar: All The Key Events In 2021

    Here is a calendar of all the top political, economic and financial events in the new 2021.

    January

    • Friday, January 1: UK & EU — New UK-EU trading relationship set to begin.
    • Friday, January 1: ASEAN — Brunei Darussalam assumes the ASEAN Chairmanship for 2021.
    • Sunday, January 3: USA — New Congress begins.
    • January: Japan — Ordinary Diet session begins.
    • Tuesday, January 5: USA — Runoff elections for Georgia Senate seats. Both Senate elections went to runoff after no candidate received a majority on Election Day in November. If the Democratic candidates win both runoff elections, control of the Senate will switch to the Democratic party, and Vice President-elect Harris will vote to break ties.
    • Wednesday, January 6: USA — Congress counts Electoral College votes for President and Vice President.
    • January / February: United States — Cabinet nomination hearings and confirmation votes. The Senate will hold hearings and confirmation votes for President-elect Biden’s Cabinet and Executive Branch nominees.
    • Wednesday, January 20: USA — President-elect Biden takes office.
    • Thursday, January 21: EU — ECB Governing Council meeting.
    • Wednesday, January 27: USA — FOMC meeting statement.

    February

    • February 1-5: Singapore — MAS report on economic developments in Singapore.
    • Thursday, February 4: UK — BoE MPC meeting (and monetary policy report).
    • Sunday, February 7: Ecuador — General election. Ecuador will vote to elect a new president and fill all the seats in the National Assembly.
    • Sunday, February 14: Spain — Catalan regional elections.
    • Tuesday, February 16: Singapore — Fiscal year 2021 budget.

    March

    • Early March: China — The National People’s Congress. The annual NPC is scheduled to start early March and is likely to last around 2 weeks. A key thing to watch will be Premier Li’s annual government report, which usually include official economic targets for the next year, such as GDP growth, CPI inflation, fiscal deficits and employment (these targets, if available, were set during closed-door policy meetings in the preceding December). The report will also set the broad tone of economic policy direction for the rest of the year. Main government officials will hold press conferences on the sidelines, giving further details on the 14th Five-Year Plan.
    • Wednesday, March 3: UK — Annual budget.
    • Thursday, March 11: EU — ECB Governing Council meeting.
    • Wednesday, March 17: Netherlands — General election.
    • Wednesday, March 17: USA — FOMC meeting statement (and Summary of Economic Projections).
    • Thursday, March 18: UK — BoE MPC meeting.
    • Tuesday, March 23: Israel — Parliamentary elections.
    • March 25-26: EU — European Council meeting.

    April

    • April: USA — Biden Administration likely to release FY2022 Budget proposal. The budget proposal is traditionally sent to Congress the first Monday in February, but at the start of a new administration this typically takes until April or so.
    • April 1 – May 31: ASEAN — 38th semi-annual summit.
    • Wednesday, April 7: South Korea — Municipal elections.
    • Sunday, April 11: Peru — General election. Peruvians will elect a President, two vice presidents, and new members of congress for all 130 congressional seats.
    • Thursday, April 22: EU — ECB Governing Council meeting.
    • Monday, April 26: Chile — Election of Constitutional Convention. Chileans will elect all the members of the convention tasked with drafting a new constitution.
    • Wednesday, April 28: USA — FOMC meeting statement.

    May

    • May: Singapore — World Economic Forum annual meeting.
    • May: Australia — Federal budget released.
    • Thursday, May 6: UK — Parliamentary elections, Scotland.
    • Thursday, May 6: UK — BoE MPC meeting (and monetary policy report).

    June

    • Early June: Italy — Major cities may have mayoral elections (Milan, Roma, Naples, Turin, Bologna).
    • June: Japan — Ordinary Diet session ends.
    • June: France — Regional elections.
    • Sunday, June 6: Mexico — Congressional and gubernatorial election. Mexico will elect new representatives for the lower chamber of congress for all 500 seats. Elections will also be held for 15 state governor offices.
    • Thursday, June 10: EU — ECB Governing Council meeting.
    • Wednesday, June 16: USA — FOMC meeting statement (and Summary of Economic Projections).
    • June 24-25: EU — European Council meeting.
    • Thursday, June 24: — UK: BoE MPC meeting.

    July

    • Thursday, July 22: Japan — Term ends for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly (election in summer).
    • Thursday, July 22: EU — ECB Governing Council meeting.
    • Friday, July 23: Japan — Tokyo Olympic Games begin.
    • Wednesday, July 28: USA — FOMC meeting statement.

    August

    • August: Australia — Earliest date for Federal Election. Election likely to be held sometime between August 2021 and May 2022. Current polling suggests the incumbent Liberal/National Party is likely to be returned to Government, although the opposition Australian Labour Party is yet to release their policy platform.
    • August: South Africa — Local elections.
    • Sunday, August 1: USA — Debt ceiling reinstated. The federal debt limit will be reinstated at its level on that day. If the limit is not already suspended or raised, Treasury will likely be able to draw down its cash balance for several weeks before running out.
    • Thursday, August 5: UK — BoE MPC meeting (and monetary policy report).
    • Saturday, August 21: Malaysia — Sarawak state election.

    September

    • September: Japan — Term ends for LDP President.
    • September: Germany — Federal elections.
    • Thursday, September 9: EU — ECB Governing Council meeting.
    • Monday, September 13: Norway — Parliamentary elections.
    • Sunday, September 19: Russia — Parliamentary elections.
    • Tuesday, September 21: Thailand — Fiscal year 2022 budget.
    • Wednesday, September 22: USA — FOMC meeting statement (and Summary of Economic Projections).
    • Thursday, September 23: UK — BoE MPC meeting.
    • Thursday, September 30: USA — Fiscal year 2021 ends. Deadline for Congress to pass appropriations for fiscal year 2022. Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act authorization also expires, which will likely serve as an informal deadline for Congress to pass an infrastructure program.

    October

    • Saturday, October 9 — Czech Republic — Parliamentary elections.
    • October 14-15: EU — European Council meeting.
    • Thursday, October 21: Japan — Term ends for Lower House Members of Parliament.
    • Sunday, October 24: Argentina — Congressional and municipal election. Argentinians will vote to fill 127 out of 257 seats in the lower chamber of congress as well as 24 out of 72 seats in the Senate.
    • Thursday, October 28: EU — ECB Governing Council meeting.

    November

    • Tuesday, November 2: USA — Election Day. A few states will hold special elections to fill vacancies in the US House of Representatives, and several others will conduct gubernatorial and other state and local elections.
    • Wednesday, November 3: USA — FOMC meeting statement.
    • Thursday, November 4: UK — BoE MPC meeting (and monetary policy report).
    • Sunday, November 21: Chile — General election. Chile will elect a new President, 20 out of the 50 seats in the Senate, and the House of Representatives in its entirety.

    December

    • Wednesday, December 15: USA — FOMC meeting statement (and Summary of Economic Projections).
    • December 16-17: EU — European Council meeting.
    • Thursday, December 16: EU — ECB Governing Council meeting.
    • Thursday, December 16: UK — BoE MPC meeting.

    Source: Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 20:00

  • HHS Overturns Plan To Impose $14,000 Fee On Distilleries That Made Hand Sanitizer
    HHS Overturns Plan To Impose $14,000 Fee On Distilleries That Made Hand Sanitizer

    Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

    Health officials this week overturned fees that were being imposed on distilleries that made hand sanitizer early last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Two different fees, including a $14,000 one, were included in the COVID 19 relief package that was signed into law in March. That package made distilleries that produced hand sanitizer “over-the-counter drug monograph facilities” and forced them to pay fees.

    COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. Distilleries made hand sanitizer because there was a nationwide shortage of the product last year.

    The fees were due on Feb. 12. The Food and Drug Administration alerted distilleries this week that the fees needed to be paid. In a public notice, the administration noted it was authorized to collect fees by the CARES Act.

    However, a Health and Human Services spokesperson said Thursday that the fees are being reversed.

    “Small businesses who stepped up to fight COVID-19 should be applauded by their government, not taxed for doing so,” Brian Harrison, chief of staff for the agency, said in a statement.

    “I’m pleased to announce we have directed FDA to cease enforcement of these arbitrary, surprise user fees. Happy New Year, distilleries, and cheers to you for helping keep us safe!”

    HHS lawyers found that the fees were issued in a manner that has the force and effect of a legislative rule, which only the HHS secretary has the authority to issue.

    The Distilled Spirits Council had reacted to the fees with surprise, issuing a press released urging the Food and Drug Administration to waive them for hundreds of distillers who helped by making hand sanitizer amid the pandemic.

    “This incredibly frustrating news comes as a complete shock to the more than 800 distilleries across the country that came to the aid of their local communities and first responders. This unexpected fee serves to punish already struggling distilleries who jumped in at a time of need to do the right thing,” said Distilled Spirits Council President and CEO Chris Swonger in a statement.

    “Everyone was totally blindsided by FDA’s announcement,” added Phil McDaniel, CEO of St. Augustine Distillery.

    In a statement after the rollback of the fees, Swonger said the move “is such a relief to hundreds of distillers.”

    “We want to thank HHS leadership for quickly intervening and protecting distillers from these unwarranted fees,” he said.

    “Distillers were proud to help make hand sanitizer for their communities and first responders during their time of need.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 19:30

  • Iran Claims "Israeli Agent Provocateurs" Are Plotting Attacks On US Forces In Iraq
    Iran Claims “Israeli Agent Provocateurs” Are Plotting Attacks On US Forces In Iraq

    Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the January 3rd, 2020 killing of popular Iranian IRGC Gen. Qassem Soleimani, ahead of which US forces in the region, particularly Iraq, have been on high alert.

    Iran has over the past days accused both Israel and the United States of seeking to provoke a “pretext for war” during the last weeks of the Trump presidency, before Biden enters office and seeks rapprochement centered on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) nuclear deal. 

    On Saturday Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif again leveled the charge of the Islamic Republic’s enemies seeking to stage provocations in order to give Trump a “fake casus belli”. This time more specifics were offered, with Zarif claiming Israel is seeking to do this through “Israeli agent-provocateurs” – citing unspecified intelligence in a message on Twitter. 

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

    FM Zarif claimed “new intelligence from Iraq” shows that “Israeli agent-provocateurs are plotting attacks against Americans – putting an outgoing Trump in a bind with a fake casus belli.”

    He then added a direct threat and warning, tagging Trump in the tweet: “Be careful of a trap… Any fireworks will backfire badly, particularly against your same BFFs” – the latter being a reference to close ally Israel and perhaps the Saudis as well.

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

    Days prior the US flew two nuclear-capable B-52 bombers over the Persian Gulf in a strong deterrence message to Tehran’s leaders. Zarif slammed the move and had for the first time referenced a “plot” to “fabricate” a pretext for war.

    It appears Iran thinks this will take the form of more attacks on the US Embassy in Baghdad, or perhaps against bases with a strong American presence in other parts of Iraq.

    Both sides are poised with fingers on the trigger in anticipation of a provocation by the other side in an intensifying standoff which could very easily escalate into the very conflict both hope to avoid. 

    Via Bloomberg

    However, there’s little doubt that some elements among both Israel’s leadership and the US national security establishment would like to see enough escalation for the US to respond with force on some level, which would certainly further hinder any future Biden efforts toward restoring the nuclear deal with Iran.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 19:00

  • How One Bad Oil Bet Sparked A Global Trading Disaster
    How One Bad Oil Bet Sparked A Global Trading Disaster

    Authored by Haley Zaremba via OilPrice.com,

    By now we are all keenly aware of the near-devastating impact that the novel coronavirus has had on oil markets and the fossil fuel industry around the world. (If this is news to you, what rock do you live under and is there room for one more?) But while a lot of the narrative here in the West has been about the historic oil price crash in what some are now referring to as Black April, the oil trading catastrophe actually started much earlier and can largely be traced back to the bad bet of just one man, Singapore’s commodities tycoon Lim Oon Kuin. 

    The story of the oil market instability that ripped through Asia starting in China is not so much one of struggling oil companies, but a story of banking – that unsexy, behind-the-scenes sector that all too often gets none of the headlines and all of the control. It started way back in January, when most of us were just starting to gain some awareness of a strange and scary illness devastating the Chinese city of Wuhan.

    Lim Oon Kuin, sitting in his office 2,000 miles away in SIngapore, watched as this news unfolded and made a decision. He decided that China would gain control of this epidemic before it turned into a pandemic and began stockpiling fuel, quietly adding to his already vast reserves. It should come as no surprise that that bet didn’t work out. 

    As the coronavirus spread around the world and tanked global crude demand, as well as oil prices, a chain reaction of defaulted loans, was set off in Singapore that is still reverberating in global markets today.

    “Banks tried to recover loans from Lim’s company, Hin Leong Trading Pte, triggering one of the biggest scandals in the oil industry this century,” Bloomberg reported about the bad deal that has left a permanent mark on oil trading.

    “Lim’s empire collapsed, owing $3.5 billion to 23 banks, and the fallout from the debacle is still reverberating into 2021, shaking out large tracts of the vast and often opaque $4 trillion global oil-trading industry.”

    While this may sound like an outright, unmitigated disaster, as with most financial meltdowns, there are winners as well as losers here.

    The losers, as always, are the little guys:

    “hundreds of small trading firms, many of them employing only a handful of people, who will find it expensive, if not impossible, to meet the increased demands for information from banks that have become wary of lending them money.”

    This is to say that the big guys like Trafigura Group and Vitol SA will be gaining business lost by their small competitors, shoring up their oligopoly on trading. They not only benefit from increased confidence from finance companies who have become increasingly risk averse in this environment, they also have the capital to adapt to increased operational costs.

    And, as usual, less developed countries will bear the brunt of the economic fallout from this sea change. As banks become more risk averse, re-prioritize their business models, and scale down, it’s going to impact small companies in small economies the most just while they are struggling with all of the other economic hardships related to this pandemic. In this case, the big banks truly were too big to fail. The same can’t be said for the little guys.

    This is true, of course, for many market sectors, not just commodities trading. Across the world we’re seeing a sweeping consolidation as big companies are able to weather the financial storm of the COVID-19 pandemic and the little ones are folding. Look no further than the main street of your own town: as mom and pop restaurants struggle to make a sale, lines are down the block at the McDonald’s drive thru. As local shops shut down, Amazon becomes ever more of the globalized goliath it already was. 

    More than anything, however, the story of Lim Oon Kuin and his bad oil bet is an object lesson in the butterfly effect and outsized might of the all-too opaque trading sector. His will never be a household name, but the impact of his oil gamble will continue to be felt around the world for years to come. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 18:30

  • America's Hospitals To Publish The Secret Prices On More Than 300 Medical Procedures For 1st Time
    America’s Hospitals To Publish The Secret Prices On More Than 300 Medical Procedures For 1st Time

    President Trump’s health-care policy ambitions didn’t receive much attention from the mainstream media, but as we head into the new year, some of his market-based reforms are starting to become reality.

    One of the most important is a directive requiring the nation’s biggest hospital chains to publish the rates they’ve agreed to charge various insurers. As WSJ explains, after a failed attempt at an appeal, the major hospital operators are saying they will comply with the new rules and make their prices public starting on Friday.

    Suddenly, America’s hospital operators, a $1.2 trillion industry comprising some 6% of the country’s economy, will be subjected to more transparency than they’ve seen in decades. And the Trump Administration policy wonks he pushed the idea are hoping that good ol’ fashioned market dynamics will kick in, and help lower prices across the board.

    Per WSJ, the nation’s largest hospital chains, including publicly traded giants HCA Healthcare, Universal Health Services and Community Health Systems, and national nonprofit chains CommonSpirit Health and Ascension, are planing to comply with new requirements to post pricing. Tenet Healthcare declined to comment.

    Within a week, hospitals will disclose prices for 300 common procedures.

    This is how the system has worked for years: Hospital pricing is negotiated confidentially between hospitals and the employer groups and insurance companies that pay for care.

    Many criticized this system for obscuring market rates and helping drive up the cost of health insurance premiums paid by employers and workers. Rising hospital prices accounted for about one-fifth of the nation’s health spending growth over the last 50 years.

    While groups like the American Hospital Association insist that their members have responsibly shared price information related to health-care premiums and medical bills, others insist that they were long left in the dark about the potentially wide disparities charged among hospitals for the same services.

    Hilariously, the AHA has claimed that the publishing of prices would “confuse” patients. Now that the issue has been settled, the organization’s general counsel tells WSJ: “The AHA continues to believe that the disclosure of privately negotiated rates does nothing to help patients understand what they will actually pay for treatment and will create widespread confusion for them.”

    A wave of consolidation in the hospital space has reportedly caused price growth to accelerate, as the more dominant players exert their newfound market and pricing power.

    Economists who spoke with WSJ said it’s not clear how this transparency will impact the market.

    Michael McWilliams, a Harvard University professor of health-care policy, argues that the transparency won’t do much to change pricing: “So we should not believe that we can fix health-care markets simply by providing more information to consumers. There are many reasons why health-care markets do not function well.”

    But for better or worse, we will learn soon enough.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 18:00

  • 2021: Welcome To Post-Persuasion America
    2021: Welcome To Post-Persuasion America

    Authored by Jeff Deist via The Mises Institute,

    Welcome to 2021 in post-persuasion America!  

    I first heard this term used by Steve Bannon, architect of the surprising 2016 Trump campaign, in a PBS Frontline documentary titled “America’s Great Divide.” Speaking way back in the pre-Covid days of early 2020, Bannon asserted the information age makes us less curious and willing to consider worldviews unlike our own. We have access to virtually all of humanity’s accumulated knowledge and history on devices in our pockets, but the sheer information overload causes us to dig in rather than open up.

    Anyone who wants to change their mind can find a whole universe of alternative viewpoints online, but very few people do (especially beyond a certain age). For Bannon this meant the Trump campaign, and politics generally, was about mobilization rather than persuasion.

    Because we can always find media sources which confirm our perspective and biases – and dismiss those which don’t – the notion of politics by argument or consensus is almost entirely lost. And no matter what our political or cultural perspective, there is someone creating content tailored to suit us as stratified consumers. Thus liberals, conservatives, and people of every other ideological stripe live in vastly different digital media worlds, even when they live in close physical proximity.

    This overwhelming amount of curated and segregated white noise comes at us every day, from 24 hour news to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Idiotic platforms like TikTok and Discord vie with video games for the attention of our children.All of it leaves us numb and exhausted. Our attention spans suffer. We slowly lose our aptitude for deep thinking and serious reading. We attempt to replace wisdom and understanding with data and facts.

    But because information is so abundant and readily available, it becomes worth less and less. Information is cheap, literally.

    For our grandparents, knowledge was analog and came with a price. Gatekeepers, in the form of media, universities, libraries, and bookstores, acted as editors and filters. Walter Cronkite, the most trusted propagandist in America, delivered one version of the news every night. The local newspaper did the same every morning. Even just 30 years ago it was often no easy task, and no small cost, to obtain books and literature not easily found in local or university libraries. 

    If someone today wants to read Austrian economics, for example, (a particular boogeyman of Bannon), they can do so at virtually no cost other than time. They don’t even need to leave home. Their smart phone in their palm holds a lifetime of reading and learning in just this one discipline. No physical books, no college, no tuition, and no librarian required.  

    So why don’t more people do so? The short answer is: most people are beyond persuasion. 

    This does not mean we should surrender to the forces of economic illiteracy, or give up trying to win hearts and minds for political liberty. On the contrary, we should redouble our efforts to cultivate anyone interested in civil society, real economics, markets, property, and peace—especially those under 30. But this is not a numbers game. We should focus on those who can be reached, not some mythical majority.  Our task is to reach some people narrowly and deeply, not a majority of people superficially. We stand in contrast to the white noise, and opposed to the superficiality and anti-intellectualism of our age. Mobilizing the few is far more important and far more effective than foolishly trying to persuade the many. 

    HL Mencken was right about believing in liberty, but not believing in it enough to force it upon anyone. Just as we oppose foreign interventionism, we should stop trying to remake those US cities and states which are beyond help. We need to recognize that tens of millions of Americans are likely beyond persuasion in the direction of sensible political or economic views. Millions more are committed socialists who would readily agree to nationalize whole industries and radically redistribute property. By definition these are unreasonable views, so how does one use persuasion where reason is lacking?

    Post-persuasion America requires us to think about how to separate and unyoke ourselves politically from DC. Our immediate future lies in hard federalism, which dovetails with the soft secession which is happening already as millions of Americans vote with their feet. Mobilization and separation, not persuasion, is the way forward.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 17:30

  • Seven Arrested After Philadelphia Federal Buildings Defaced With Antifa-Related Graffiti
    Seven Arrested After Philadelphia Federal Buildings Defaced With Antifa-Related Graffiti

    Seven people were arrested after a group of “about 50 people, all dressed in black” defaced and vandalized several Federal buildings in Center City Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve.

    The large group was spotted by officers at the Robert Nix Federal building on the 900 block of Market Street, about 5 blocks away from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, where windows had been smashed in, according to ABC Philadelphia. 

    Police witnessed a 25 year old man throwing a brick through windows before fleeing the scene on foot with another 24 year old man and two 23 year old women. They were all eventually arrested and damage to the building was estimated to be about $3,000 – which we’re going to guess that collectively, between the four of them, they don’t have enough money to make good on.

    The same group of vandals also left “Antifa-related” graffiti at the Federal Detention Center at 7th and Arch streets, near the Ben Franklin Bridge. 

    Later in the evening, three other people were arrested, including a 25 year old man and two women, aged 22 and 26. Officials said the man was carrying what was likely a molotov cocktail and that the group “had more plans” for the evening. The man had a glass jar with a fuse going into a bottle that had “a strong flammable odor”. He also had plastic container with white powder labeled “Fire Starter.”

    Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Mike Cram said: “During a search, they recovered Molotov cocktails and some other devices which have not been identified.”

    But our take is that the real crime was a couple of nerds in their 20’s “drawlin” just to impress the women they were with. We’re sure that after the Philadelphia PD lets them out of their holding cells, it’ll be back to Xbox, Cheez-Doodles and Mountain Dew in mom’s basement – while, of course, romanticizing the story about the one day they “fought for freedom” they’ll no doubt be telling for years. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 17:00

  • Police Keep Secret List Of Kids With Bad Grades Labelling Them "Potential Criminals"
    Police Keep Secret List Of Kids With Bad Grades Labelling Them “Potential Criminals”

    Authored by Matt Agorist via The Free Thought Project,

    In the ostensible land of the free, we are told that all people are presumed innocent until proven guilty by their peers. To those who’ve been paying attention however, we know that “innocent until proven guilty” is a farce into today’s police state. If you doubt this assertion, you need only look at the data to see that a whopping 74% of people in jails across the country – have not been convicted of a crime. 

    While it is true that many of these folks are awaiting trial for crimes they did commit, there are innocent people behind bars for the sole reason that they cannot afford bail. A free country — who claims to protect the rights of citizens — should not be keeping hundreds of thousands of presumed innocent people in cages, yet this is the status quo.

    A recent report from the Tampa Bay Times shows just how determined the American police state is to guarantee an assembly line of otherwise entirely innocent people to continue this process. Police in Florida are targeting children in an attempt to label them as criminals at a young age — despite the children being entirely innocent.

    The Pasco sheriff’s office has a secret list of students it believes could “fall into a life of crime” based on ridiculous standards like their grades.

    By these standards, people like Thomas Edison, one of the most successful inventors in human history, could’ve been labeled a criminal after he was kicked out of school at age 12 for being poor at math and unable to concentrate.

    Steven Spielburg, the famous movie producer, may have been labelled a criminal as well after he temporarily dropped out of high school only to return to be put in a “special ed” class.

    Kids often make poor choices when they are younger and these choices should never put them on some police watch list or criminal database. This is nothing short of “pre-crime” tactics that ultimately lead to segregation of dystopian societies based on ratings from the state.

    Nevertheless, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office uses data from the Pasco County Schools district and the state Department of Children and Families to compile this very list from middle and high schools who they think will turn out to be criminals.

    According to the Tampa Bay Times, the sheriff’s office defended the tactics and said its data-sharing practices with the school district goes back 20 years and are intended to keeping school campuses safe. Only a juvenile intelligence analyst and the school resource officers have access to the information, it said.

    The department says they use this information to help troubled kids, but the parents of these kids have no idea that police are surveilling their children to potentially label them as future criminals.

    “These programs, in conjunction with the School District’s Early Warning System, provides recommendations to community or school based programs or resources, and mentorship to those who have experienced adverse childhood experiences, something academically proven to lead the possibility of increased victimization, mental health concerns and other aspects,” a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.

    School officials explained that they didn’t even realize this child surveillance was happening.

    School District Superintendent Kurt Browning and the principals of two high schools told the newspaper they were unaware the sheriff’s office was using school data to identify kids who might become criminals.

    “We have an agreement with the Sheriff’s Office,” Browning said in a statement. “That relationship has been strengthened in the wake of the tragedy at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, and that includes processes for a two-way sharing of information that could save lives and result in timely interventions with students who are at risk.”

    The program, called the Early Warning System tracks students’ grades, attendance and behavior. If a student was a victim of abuse or witnessed abuse, this increases their chances of police labelling them a criminal.

    What qualifies for an “at risk” designation could be anything from getting a “D” on a report card to missing school more than three times in a quarter, according to the program’s manual. Other factors include witnessing domestic violence, having a parent in prison and being the victim of abuse or neglect.

    The sheriff’s office then compiles this information — combined with grades and other data sets — and puts it into a system that scores children in 16 categories. The unwitting children are then each assigned a label: On Track, At Risk, Off-Track or Critical.

    Hundreds of children are on this list.

    The sheriff’s office denies that the list is used to label kids as criminals, and claims it is instead used to identify kids at risk for victimization, truancy, self-harm and substance abuse. As the Times reports, however, future criminal behavior is the only designation on the list and the office had a hard time proving anything else:

    But the intelligence manual — an 82-page document that school resource officers and other deputies are required to read — doesn’t mention those other risks. Instead, in five separate places, it describes efforts to pinpoint kids who are likely to become criminals.

    The office could not provide any documents instructing school resource officers to interpret the list another way.

    The idea of cops spying on children in an effort to predict future criminal behavior is chilling. Thankfully, the Tampa Bay Times’ report has shed some much needed light on the practice.

    “Can you imagine having your kid in that county and they might be on a list that says they may become a criminal?’ Linnette Attai, a consultant works with student privacy laws, told the Times. “And you have no way of finding out if they are on that list? This is a district that is sending millions of dollars to the sheriff of Pasco County to target its students as criminals.”

    Indeed, this is worse than minority report.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 16:30

  • Iran's President Rouhani Accused Of Threatening Trump With Assassination
    Iran’s President Rouhani Accused Of Threatening Trump With Assassination

    Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is being accused of threatening President Trump with assassination in a speech he gave this past week ahead of the one-year anniversary of the killing of popular Iranian General Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3rd, 2020 in Baghdad.

    It all appears to be based on a mistranslation from the Farsi of Rouhani’s words while he addressed a cabinet session on Wednesday. In a widely shared article The Washington Times quoted the Iranian president as saying, “Trump will soon be dead.” The report claimed that this was a clear death threat, also given Rouhani made a comparison to the Saddam Hussein’s demise. 

    But Iran’s leaders are now slamming this as but more “anti-Iran bigotry” designed to escalate tensions as a pretext for preemptive military action against the Islamic Republic. Tehran has called The Washington Times report a deliberate mistranslation based in “fake news”. 

    “Cowardice in assassinating foreign leaders is a US-Israeli trademark; NOT Iranian,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzade tweeted Friday evening, strenuously denying all accusations of an Iranian plot to target the US president. 

    “@WashTimes should know better than to publish #FakeNews & spread anti-Iran bigotry -even though it has featured PAID content by the outlaw MeK terrorist cult,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman added. “Your readers deserve better!”

    This “misunderstanding” comes after past weeks of Iran’s civilian and military leadership vowing future “vengeance” for the assassination of Gen. Soleimani, who headed the elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). 

    Here’s how Iranian media presented (presumably correctly) Rouhani’s words translated into English: 

    Addressing a cabinet session on Wednesday, Rouhani said: “I said it once, and I repeat it, Trump was like Saddam. Saddam imposed eight years of war against us and he was overthrown, and Trump imposed three years of economic war against us and he will be overthrown in the next few weeks, not just from office but from [political] life.”

    “One of the effects of the stupid and disgraceful act of assassinating Martyr Soleimani was that Trumpism ended, and in a few days, this murder’s mandate is drawing to an end and he will go down into the dustbin of history,” Rouhani added.

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

    This isn’t the first time that a mistranslation of the words of Iran’s leadership had led to increased tensions. 

    In a 2005 speech then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad famously declared Iran’s goal was to “wipe Israel off the map”. However, this has since been subject of fierce debate and was largely debunked: 

    Arash Norouzi of the Mossadegh Project noted in 2007 that Ahmadinejad “never… uttered the words ‘map,’ ‘wipe out,’ or even ‘Israel'” in his statement.  Rather, he argued, the translation should have been that “this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.”  (Both The Washington Post and The Atlantic came up with similarly variant translations.)

    This is a key difference, Mr. Norouzi argued, because Ahmadinejad used the “vanish from the page of time” idiom elsewhere in his speech: when describing the governments of the Shah of Iran, the Soviet Union, and Saddam Hussein.  While war and revolution were involved in the three regimes’ collapse, none of them, Norouzi argued, were “wiped off the map.”  Rather, they underwent regime change.  This suggests in turn, he said, that Ahmadinejad was calling for regime change in Israel, not nuclear genocide.  Juan Cole, another critic of the speech’s translation, compared Ahmadinejad’s statement to Reagan-era calls for the end of the Soviet Union.

    Critics of the mistranslation also point out the former president had been referencing Zionism as a political movement as well.

    The “wipe Israel of the map” words have been used endlessly by hawks arguing for preemptive action against Iran to prevent their achieving nuclear weapons capabilities. 

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 16:00

  • Fauci Says Mandatory COVID Vaccines Are "On The Table", Especially For Travel, School
    Fauci Says Mandatory COVID Vaccines Are “On The Table”, Especially For Travel, School

    Anthony Fauci is being broadly slammed after admitting to the New York Times that he publicly lowballed his estimate of the Covid-19 herd immunity threshold, but, as Holman Jenkins writes in WSJ, it’s ludicrously late in the day to discover that “messaging” has been going on.

    Official lying about things large and small has been a staple of COVID politics: the letters to college students threatening them with arrest if they don’t quarantine, the interstate travel “bans” that were never enforced, the death counts that swept up anybody who died of any cause while infected with COVID.

    Only lately has this reality snuck into public rhetoric as leaders in New York, Massachusetts and elsewhere started admitting that their moves are more about “signaling” than any practical effect.

    And now, as The Western Journal’s Kipp Jones reports, Fauci is perhaps up to his “signaling” best once again, saying in an interview that the COVID-19 vaccines becoming mandatory in some cases is “on the table” with regard to international travel, or even in some localities to allow a return to in-person learning at schools.

    Speaking to Newsweek in an interview that was published on Friday, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases spoke on the potential for so-called immunity passports, stating, “Anything is on the table. Anything is possible, of course.”

    Fauci, who presumed president-elect Joe Biden announced last month would serve as the chief medical adviser in a Biden administration, Forbes reported, signaled he would help to form policy for which cases vaccines might become mandatory. But he doesn’t foresee the federal government mandating the vaccines broadly.

    “It’s not up to me to make a decision. But these are all things that will be discussed [under the Biden administration],” he told Newsweek.

    Fauci stated with regard to national health matters “we almost never mandate things federally.”

    “I’m not sure [the COVID vaccine is] going to be mandatory from a central government standpoint, like federal government mandates,” he said.

    “But there are going to be individual institutions that I’m sure are going to mandate it.”

    “For example, influenza and Hepatitis B vaccines are mandated at many hospitals. Here at the NIH [National Institutes of Health], I would not be allowed to see patients if I didn’t get vaccinated every year with flu and get vaccinated once with Hepatitis [B]. I have to get certified every year … if I didn’t, I couldn’t see patients,” he said.

    As far as mandatory vaccinations for schools go, Fauci said he foresees those decisions being made “at the state level and city level.”

    “A citywide school system might require it in some cities but not other cities. And that’s what I mean by things not being done centrally but locally,” he added.

    He also speculated some countries might make proof of a vaccine required prior to travel. Israel, for example, will issue the so-called immunity passports to citizens traveling abroad. Those passports could allow those who have them to avoid COVID testing upon arrival at their destinations.

    The U.S. could issue similar immunization passports under a Biden administration and potentially at the recommendation of Fauci.

    Also, with regard to confusing information about the vaccines which might require those inoculated to remain socially distant and masked, Fauci said that is because it is not yet known if being vaccinated can prevent people from passing along the coronavirus to others.

    “We do not know if the vaccines that prevent clinical disease also prevent infection. They very well might, but we have not proven that yet,” he told Newsweek.

    “That’s the reason why I keep saying that even though you get vaccinated, we should not eliminate, at all, public health measures like wearing masks because we don’t know yet what the effect [of the vaccine] is on transmissibility.”

    On the subject of the unknowns about both the coronavirus and now the vaccine, Fauci said “We don’t know what we don’t know.”

    A day before his Newsweek interview, Fauci predicted a return to “normality” by the fall of this year during an interview on MSNBC.

    “If we do it correctly, hopefully, as we get into the end of the summer, the beginning of the fall of 2021, we can start to approach some degree of normality,” he said.

    However, we return to Jenkins’ WSJ op-ed for the reality of a return to normality. At year-end, pundits everywhere sermonized over the lessons of the pandemic: the need to change our relationship with nature, the need for more disease surveillance, etc.

    Most of it won’t matter in the least when natural selection throws up another disease with the properties of Covid-19. The virus wasn’t just transmitted easily; crucially, its effects were mild enough that for billions of humans the cost of quashing it outweighed the personal benefit.

    This rock-bottom truth our uninsightful media spent much of 2020 trying not to understand. Worse, it tried to make this truth go away by frightening or morally bullying people into behaviors at odds with perceived self-interest.

    This proved to be the dead end it usually does. We need to smarten up. Limited social distancing to protect the most vulnerable is the only kind likely to prove sustainable over time.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 15:30

  • Portland Mayor Turns On Antifa, Vows To Battle 'Lawlessness And Anarchy'
    Portland Mayor Turns On Antifa, Vows To Battle ‘Lawlessness And Anarchy’

    In July, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler thought he was in control. As BLM protests raged across the country in response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who died while in police custody in late May, Wheeler decided to mingle with protesters – a mix of BLM activists and Antifa.

    Yet, instead of a rockstar crowd-surfing moment or whatever fantasy he envisioned, Wheeler was mocked as he gagged on tear gas, until he was forced to flee.

    Two weeks later, Wheeler had changed his tone – calling protesters who attempted to burn down a police station with people inside “attempted murderers,” as the city saw its most violent month in decades – which came after the Portland City Council slashed the police budget as part of an early July push to defund the police. The move forced the city to make drastic cuts to its Gun Violence Reduction Team as lawless anarchists destroyed property throughout the city.

    The loss “forced us into a position where we have to really look at what resources we can bring to bear, absent that structure that we had with the Gun Violence Reduction Team,” said Police Chief Chuck Lovell in August.

    In December, Portland police were attacked in broad daylight after Antifa erected a new ‘autonomous zone.’ Police were seen being struck by fists, fists, and even bricks hurled through the air “in broad daylight,” as the AP described further that “The violence happened in broad daylight.”

    Now, (and with the 2020 election in the rearview mirror) Wheeler has had enough in the wake of a New Year’s Eve riot.

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    In a New Year’s press conference, the Portland Mayor admits that efforts to compromise with Antifa have failed, and he’s now committing to pushing back – with his limited police force.

    “My good faith efforts at de-escalation have been met with ongoing violence, and even scorn, from radical Antifa and anarchists,” said Wheeler.

    “It will be necessary to use additional tools, and to push the limits of the tools we already have, to bring the criminal destruction and violence to an end,” he added. “Lawlessness and anarchy come at great expense, and with great risk to the future of our community. It’s time to push back harder against those who are set on destroying our community, and to take more risks in fighting lawlessness.”

    “I condemn anyone who engages in violence or criminal destruction no matter what their ideology.”

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    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 15:05

  • Facebook Shuts Down Page For GOP Senate Campaigns Just Before Georgia Runoffs
    Facebook Shuts Down Page For GOP Senate Campaigns Just Before Georgia Runoffs

    Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

    Facebook shut down a fundraising page for Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) just days before voters head to the polls to decide between the Republicans and their Democratic challengers.

    The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) runs the Georgia Battleground Fund, a joint fundraising committee for the NRSC and the campaigns for Loeffler and Perdue.

    According to a screenshot from the committee, Facebook alerted them that the page for the fund was disabled “for policy violation.”

    The page allegedly violated a policy against unacceptable business practices.

    “We don’t allow ads that promote products, services, schemes, or offers using deceptive or misleading practices, including those meant to mislead or scam people out of money or personal information,” the alert said.

    “Big Tech is at it again,” the NRSC said in a statement.

    “This is unacceptable with only four days to Election Day.”

    A Facebook spokesperson told news outlets that what happened was a mistake.

    “An automated error caused this ad account to be disabled,” the spokesperson said.

    “The account has since been restored.”

    The Jan. 5 runoff elections could determine which party controls the Senate.

    Republicans hold a 50-48 edge in the upper chamber in the next Congress. If Democrats win both runoffs and the White House, they’d control the Senate by virtue of the tiebreaking vote the vice president, acting as the president of the Senate, can cast.

    Democrats maintained a majority in the House of Representatives, though their edge got slimmer.

    Loeffler is being challenged by pastor Raphael Warnock while Perdue is facing filmmaker Jon Ossoff.

    Tyler Durden
    Sat, 01/02/2021 – 14:40

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