Today’s News 4th January 2021

• 2021: The Geopolitics Of Vaccination
  2021: The Geopolitics Of Vaccination

  Authored by Tim Kirby via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

  The biggest overall issue of 2020 by far was the global reaction to Covid-19 and there is a prevailing belief that somehow 2021 will be automatically different because one digit in the year has changed. The world is waiting for this to all be “over”. But, perhaps the big question shouldn’t be when the Coronavirus issue ends but how it ends. This health crisis, just like any other, provides the catalyst for political change and has already left a bureaucratic mark on history. The potentially most interesting (or terrifying depending on your worldview) systemic change brought on by the virus would be the start of some sort of mandatory vaccination for travel. This concept, which was unthought of just a year ago, is being discussed in the Mainstream Media both positively and negatively with some governments already greenlighting the concept verbally. The Overton Window seems to be moving very quickly on this issue. But what will this new form of bureaucracy mean on a grander scale and since numerous different sources are creating a vaccine could a form of “geopolitics” of vaccination arise depending one which is taken?

  

  Image: The vaccine you take could determine your travel future.

  As of now the key form of bureaucracy for international travel is a passport based on citizenship. The proposed idea to only allow vaccinated individuals to travel will essentially create a second passport (regardless of what terminology is ascribed to it) based on an individual’s vaccination record. So, because this new vaccination proof documentation will essentially function as a passport we should first take a look at the geopolitical aspects of passports before we can take a look at the geopolitical aspects of vaccination.

  The Passport Space We Know

  Passports and visa regimes throughout the 20th century became a reflection of national power and created bureaucratic geopolitical spaces of their own. If we look at the “Global Passport Power Rank 2021” then we see that the top nations are not surprisingly in the West. The choice of using the word “power” when describing passports is very relevant. For example, U.S. Citizens can visit Bulgaria and Serbia visa free, while Serbs and Bulgarians must go through the bureaucracy, fees and interviews necessary for the privilege to step on American soil. Although many Bulgarians may feel the U.S. is an ally who saved them from floundering Communism, there are plenty of Serbs alive today who consider Washington to be the murderers of their people and yet they still give Americans 90 days to stay in their nation with zero questions asked. Funny how that works out.

  

  Map: Visa free travel for U.S. citizens reflects where American foreign policy/influence dominates.

  In contrast, and unlike many European nations, the Serbs give eternal ally Russia 30 days for business and/or vacation. Very often traditional allies of a given nation are granted visa free entrance. Speaking of Russia, it is no surprise that many tiny nations that Russia recognizes but America does not (South Ossetia, Abkhazia etc.) allow Russian citizens to enter visa free. Furthermore, as Russia’s influence has grown since its utter defeat in the Cold War its passport has steadily increased in “power”.

  Visas and passports can reflect the strength of a nation or its proximity to power (high level vassal status) when its citizens can go almost everywhere while at the same time blocking lessers from entering their nation.

  In some ways when smaller nations demand visas from more powerful actors this show of bureaucratic force definitely makes a statement and is a form of proof of independence. It is unknown how many people actually want to go to North Korea for a summer holiday but the fact they can and do enforce/deny visas provides some level of protection from carpet baggers, foreign agents and other questionable figures, but most importantly it sends a message to other nations that they have “no right to be here”.

  So we can see that Western passport geopolitical spaces are very broad reaching covering almost the whole globe except for certain uppity hermit nations while in turn rejecting free entry to many poorer/weaker nations. The West’s businessmen and influencers can go out, but no one is coming back so easily in turn. International travel is a symbol of at least middle class status, but what is really key is where those 8 men in the business class seats can and cannot go.

  

  Image: Migrant labour is not only affected by real geography, but often by the geopolitics of passports and visas.

  When it comes to the poor of the world we can see that there is a reason why every London bartender is Polish, and every street sweeper in Moscow is Tajik – they have visa free entry to these respective countries to work as migrant labour. The Tajiks in Moscow would surely prefer to do the same job for U.S. dollars or British pounds, but that is simply not an option as their passports do not allow it. There are simply different migrant worker exploitation spaces available to those with Polish and Tajik citizenship.

  The Vaccination Space That Could Be Coming

  If we are going to live in a world where vaccines are mandatory for travel, who is to say that every nation on Earth is going to acknowledge the validity of every other vaccine. The Mainstream Media makes it seem as though just getting any vaccine with some sort of paperwork to back it up should be good enough, but this is unlikely to be true.

  The BBC has already written about Russia’s Sputnik V Coronavirus vaccine with some skepticism. When we consider the fact that this news giant basically writes the entire cultural narrative of the UK, then it is safe to believe that many of their politicians may choose to not recognize the validity of the Russian vaccine out of fear, spite and/or ignorance.

  In contrast, like it or not, Russian citizens are going to have access to only the Russian made vaccine. You have the option to take it or not, but getting the American type from Pfizer will require effort, patience and a much bigger personal expense. Thus, it is not forbidden per say, but will be very rare for Russian citizens to get a competing foreign vaccine, putting them all into the Sputnik V camp from a bureaucratic perspective. In fact there seems to be almost a vaccination race as nations race to develop and export their vaccine first. Perhaps this is out of national pride or humanitarian interests, but their rush may also be connected with the desire to get as many nations as possible onto your national vaccine. In the same sense that all Russian citizens with a Russian passport are in one big group, then if there will be a vaccination passport then all people who took Sputnik V or Pfizer’s shot would be placed into one similar category for travel. If this is actually happening, then surely the race is on to take as much of this new intangible geopolitical space as possible.

  

  Map: The “geopolitical vaccination space” of Russia’s Sputnik V. Dark green has ordered millions, light green is considering.

  If we follow bureaucratic logic, that “if the Russian vaccine is bad, then no travel to England”, this would also extend to individuals/countries that have predominantly taken the Post Soviet edition of the antivirus injection. What is important to understand is that many of the countries getting Sputnik V are not just small ignorable former Communist nations bordering Russia. These are major economic players like China, India, South Korea, and America’s neighbor to the south Mexico, all of which are all placing orders in the tens of millions.

  If push comes to shove and this concept of travel papers based on vaccination (immunization passports) comes to pass then it is very likely that non-Western versions will “not count” at border crossings. Although with enough time and money one can probably get any type of vaccine anywhere, for the overwhelming majority this could create a new invisible Iron Curtain – the Western Vaccines on one side with the Russian one (with other possible outlier versions) on the other.

  This may sound like a stretch of the imagination but the madness of Russophobic conspiracy theories seems to have no bounds. And most importantly governmental reactions to the Covid-19 Pandemic have been harsh, dubious in effect, and very short sighted. There is a real chance that in 2021 we will see the rise of the geopolitics of vaccination.

  Tyler Durden
  Mon, 01/04/2021 – 02:00

• A Time For New Beginnings And Ending That Which Must End
  A Time For New Beginnings And Ending That Which Must End

  Authored by Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com,

  Janus is an ancient Roman, a composite god who is associated with doorways, beginnings, and transitions. A usually two-faced god, he looks to both the future and the past at the same time, embodying a binary.

  – Source

  If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers.

  – Thomas Pynchon, “Gravity’s Rainbow” (1973)

  Two years ago, also during the month of Janus, I wrote a speculative article on Trump as two faces on the same coin and, specifically, considered the president as the “most interesting man in the world”: an enigmatic “ringleader”, of sorts, who always keeps us guessing between transitional episodes:

  In so many ways, Trump is the perfect foil to usher in a new epoch… a forerunner of sorts before another ringleader takes center stage.

  To be sure, President Trump is like a flip-sided Obama the way he’s branded upon America’s psyche. And, like Obama, he’s a walking, talking, Rorschach test.

  For good? Or bad?

  Either way:  We all have our suspicions and are becoming more certain with each passing day.

  And here we are today, two years later, still wondering.

  In the wake of Russiagate, the Mueller Show, the 2018 Midterms, the Ukraine impeachment debacle, COVID, and, now, a stolen presidential election, it calls to mind the following questions:

  What if the innermost circle of The Borg, or, at least, the mid-level components like the Deep State, Orwellian Media, Dems, Rinos, and punditry, were actually caught off guard by Trump’s 2016 win – simply as a result of underestimating the awareness and will of the American voters who overwhelmed The Borg’s systemic election fraud four years ago?

  What if Trump were real and Spygate, Mueller, Ukrainegate, and Covid, were the means to gaslight the dupes and tie-up the president as much as possible over the previous four years?

  In consideration of Occam’s Razor: What if everything we have seen during Trump’s presidency was merely a natural progression of events?

  Then, what if the same voter fraud occurred in the 2020 Election except, this time, The Borg was caught red-handed?

  Certainly, the Orwellian Media’s anointing of Dementia Joe was, in part, a plan conceived and launched by the “bipartisan” Transition Integrity Project (T.I.P.) under the cover of Covid and using technologies and methodologies defecated straight from the bowels of Langley.

  Everything about November 3, 2020, and the ensuing post-election narrative propagated by the Orwellian Media smacks of desperation by those attempting to pull off the coup. Does it not?

  Or it could be another show: A really, super-big, gigantic, end-of-America-type media event.

  During the holiday break, I listened to attorney Sidney Powell and Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) interviewed by a guest host on the Rush Limbaugh radio program. To hear Powell and Gohmert outline the overt suppression of evidence of fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election was staggering, to say the least. But, that very evening, the nightly news, instead, showed Kamala Harris receiving her Covid vaccine. The “Vice President-Elect”, then, through her mask, and with her trademark nasal whine, implored Americans to follow her lead and get their shots in the arm too.

  What is occurring in America now may seem surreal but it is, indeed, actually happening.

  In early December, President Trump, by his own admission, gave what may have been the most important speech of his lifetime, and it was not given one iota of coverage on my local nightly news. Instead, we were informed on “President-Elect” Joe Biden’s virtual round-table of small business owners who were impacted by the Covid pandemic as well as the number of new Covid cases in the country that day.

  Furthermore, if you go to YouTube and query “Trump’s most important speech december 2, 2020” this is what appears: “Fact-check” videos on Trump’s “baseless voter fraud claims” and “speech riddled with falsehoods”.

  

  Now try this: Search for the word “Plandemic” on the Duck Duck Go search engine, and you will see the website for PlandemicVideo.com appearing at the top of the results.  But if you search the same term on Google, the Plandemic video website does NOT show.  Instead, you will see a Wikipedia link labeling Plandemic as “misinformation” and a science magazine’s website “fact-checking” “unsubstantiated claims and accusations”.

  

  Consider for a moment the kind of power we are witnessing:  The mainstream media, the FBI, the Justice Department, the CIA, Big Tech, The Drudge Report, most of Fox News, and, now, even the American electoral system and Supreme Court… ALL assimilated by The Borg.

  How could this all-inclusive collusion exist?

  What follows will provide some of the answers to that question.

  Catherine Austin Fitts is a former banker turned whistleblower and served as the Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the late nineteen-eighties under Bush the Elder. A few days before Christmas 2020, an interview of Fitts was posted whereby she described five pillars of a Transhumanist Technocracy currently being constructed in plain sight by The Borg.  The five pillars are as follows:

  1.)  Tech engineers building “The Cloud” and Intel communications

  2.) The military installing satellites in space in conjunction with Operation Warp Speed here on earth

  3.) Big Pharma designing vaccines and injection mechanisms

  4.) The Mainstream Media’s ever-spinning propaganda machine

  5.) The Central bankers creating crypto systems designed to enslave the masses

  Fitts claimed these “pillars” are painstakingly being kept separate by the Borg until they can be integrated into our bodies, and our minds, by means of our own blood and DNA – like a trap being sprung at just the right time; and the reason we are not completely caught in the trap yet, is because The Borg has not quite finalized construction of the five pillars.

  In her interview, Fitts described our current circumstances as a war between those who consider mankind as “individuals” with rights divinely ordained and against a High Tech Oligarchy (i.e. The Borg) who views the citizens of the world as cattle and chattel.

  While listening to Fitts speak in the above-linked video, I was reminded of a June 2017 article I wrote entitled “A Digital Noose ‘Round Every Corner”. The article was about our “progressively encroaching electronic enslavement” and in relation to a 2013 book called “The Circle” that was later released as a movie in 2017 featuring the actor Tom Hanks.  In that article, the following was written:

  The elite cynically oppress the proles while telling them it’s for their own good; for their safety, or for the good of Mankind overall.  While, at the same time, they shroud themselves in secrecy and corruption, shielding their own asses, and wallets, with the unadulterated power of an avant-garde, weapons-grade, nation-state working in collusion with multifarious, multi-national corporations.

  Even after American citizens paying full price for products today, or through taking advantage of “free” services offered by U.S. corporations, these companies in turn, demand we “click” to “accept” the “terms” of our surrender; including our Fourth Amendment rights and usually in deference to the proprietorial protection of the corporate entity’s intellectual property rights; and, always without an attorney present.

  Then, global corporate monoliths like Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, Amazon, and Facebook, additionally, share our personal information with the NSA, or CIA, or FBI, et al, all for our own protection, and the common good.

  Yet, somehow, elite billionaires like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk regally rise above the fray and escape the daily drudgery of the little peoples.  They preach diversity and open borders from within their gated compounds; and advocate equality while claiming some are more equal than others.

  In reality, the five pillars as described by Fitts could also be considered as circles, not yet closed, and still separated for now, but soon to be conjoined like Olympic Rings.

  

  We’re talking about total control: a system of economic slavery and the end of privacy.  But please understand the “transition” is even more than that – it is an operation to bring about the end of Man in order to give birth to a new, transhumanist, world order. And should the circles be allowed to close, it means there will be those inside, and outside, of the “circle”, or “closed system”, or “corral”, if you prefer.  It means people will need to choose.

  In fact, we are being forced to decide even now.

  

  Just prior to the New Year, the internet was saturated with videos of robots dancing and it was a sobering opportunity to see how the techno-circle/pillar is approaching completion. I’m of the opinion the videos are merely demonstrations of The Borg arrogantly bragging or, rather, they are released onto the net as a means to show off the ingenuously spooky creations. Truly, it has been stunning to see the progressive advancement of these types of machines. Like their creators, they appear alive but have no soul.

  Is this the future we want?

  Most of you reading this likely understands how critical thinking takes effort whereas passive compliance is easier; at least in the near term. Very few people want to contemplate the world as a sinister place. After all, they consider themselves intelligent and of good character and so there is less cognitive dissonance for them to perceive government officials, DARPA, the WHO and CDC as trusted servants and protectors.

  Furthermore, if nice folks can recycle and lower their carbon footprint for the sake of the planet and don a mask to save lives, it feels good to them. It’s their way of looking out for others and showing respect to a just and moral universe. They have food on the table, gas in their vehicles, electricity, running water, heat and air conditioning. Why rock the boat? Why not just go along to get along? Because, they believe, technology can save them and Covid, too, will pass and all things will go back to normal.

  Hope is a beautiful thing, right?

  Now consider these questions: What U.S. president was Operation Warp Speed’s most vociferous cheerleader?  What U.S. president wanted the military to administer the Covid vaccines?

  That’s right.

  Over the past four years, I, personally, enjoyed the presentation of Trump in the same manner I would the ringleader of a circus. Except, in this particular production, the tent has been set aflame by the owners of said circus and no one yet has been, truly, led to safety by the ringleader; nor have the owners of the circus been correctly identified, let alone pursued or prosecuted. But, then again, is that actually the responsibility of the ringleader?

  Perhaps the reason for the showman was only to show us the true size of The Borg.

  But even if Trump is a true swamp-fighter and retains the presidency for a second term through any number of last-minute options and means, how can we know it’s not merely another circus staged by The Borg?

  Since conservative American’s, by and large, wish to mind their own business and be left alone, it could be they are intending to soon become ungovernable in ways the elites will experience as tens-of-millions of tiny cuts. While, at the same time, the incel’s and snowflakes appear to be pacified with an incoming president Biden; at least, for now, at the time of this writing.

  Therefore, if declared martial law was the goal of The Borg, would it be better achieved with Biden as President? Or with Trump reinstalled by his (perceived) conservatively-stacked Supreme Court or state Republican legislatures – or even through more drastic measures taken to end the coup?

  Or… perhaps the easiest pathway for The Borg to close all circles is via the tyrannical lockdown measures as mandated by Presidents Biden or Harris.

  On the alternative internet, there were a few opposing theories regarding the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville. One was that The Borg used an energy weapon from outer space to destroy the AT & T network hub in order to cover up Dominion software fraud in Georgia during the 2020 Presidential Election. The other theory was that Team Trump’s Space Force utilized outer space weaponry to prevent Dominion software fraud in the forthcoming  Georgia senate run-off races.

  Personally, given the seemingly ready-made RV-bombing narrative that ensued in the Orwellian Media, I would be less surprised if it turned out the Nashville network hub was destroyed by The Borg.  Or perhaps it was a lone ranger taking matters into his own hands after all.  Honestly, can anyone truly know what is exactly happening at any given time? Certainly not this American Nobody; hence the speculation.

  But, be assured of this: If team Biden and Harris prevail and are crowned king and queen of The Swamp, The Borg will be coming for your guns faster than Chuck Schumer and Beto O’Rourke racing towards an MSNBC reporter in the wake of a mass shooting event.  And, when that happens, in the words of a commenter on my blog:  “if you feel the need to bury your firearms it might be getting close to time to use them.”

  In the meantime, the average middle-American moonbat has no clue the election was stolen. They honestly believe Biden pulled off the victory in the urban enclaves and that the nation was saved by woke city dwellers in the select counties of a few contested states. And the propaganda spewed by the Orwellian Media provides the plausible deniability necessary for the nation’s court system and body politic to sell the charade of a “legitimate” presidential election.

  Plausible deniability, or, rather, plausible liability, is also how cities, counties, and states have been pressured to lock down under the guise of Covid – even without “mandatory enforcement” in some red (conservative) counties and states. Truly, false premises and plausible deniability go together like lies and fear, tyranny and privation, in warped realities and dystopian societies.

  

  According to legend, Michelangelo was once asked how he sculpted the Statue of David and the ancient artist responded: “But I didn’t. I just chipped away everything that wasn’t David… until there he was.”

  And that’s how truth-seekers can view the near-completed high towers of The Borg: by chipping away at the surrounding walls of deception.  Currently, it is an information war being waged by keyboard warriors, video whistleblowers, and voices over select radio frequencies.  The demarcation lines now divide belief systems and the territories are ideological and, even, spiritual. Yet, the tyrannical encroachment, and its resistance, will progressively manifest in three dimensions as a continuation by other means.

  At this stage, the propaganda machine acts as shock and awe cannonading upon those who stand against deception as they gather around blue campfires dotted over the remaining free internet. Certainly, the resolve within the hearts of heritage Americans remains strong – perhaps even in similar percentages of the population as during the nation’s initial birth pains. But these people must also come to understand that current circumstances are the result of plans put into place decades ago.

  The actual countdown to the End of America began in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve and, just like clockwork, the steady march toward centralization has continued. The Borg has grown powerful, indeed, but it has not completely closed all of its circles yet. Time is running out, however, and perhaps the grandest deception The Borg ever conceived was to cause us to shadowbox against imaginary enemies while they, the true enemy, built their strong towers unabated.

  Of course, the Borg’s latest offensives involve the Monstrously Mutated Strains of Covid® rising like Godzilla on our television screens. And, even if Trump, in Hail Mary fashion, were to retain the presidency…. would you put it past The Borg to conjure up aliens from outer space?

  Just as doorways have always opened in the hallway of history, the choice to walk through them remained ours; and, even now, ignorance is no excuse. Certainly, there has been a “permission” aspect applied; in the same way legend says vampires may not enter a house unless they are first invited. This is why we are usually notified in advance of what will happen. Then, as always, any silence afterward is considered by The Borg as consent:

  Just as the assassination of JFK eventually led to 911, the dawn of Covid has brought about the latest transition. An initiation ritual was performed and a spell was cast.  Now, half the country, and much of the world, are hypnotized and under the hex of a hallucinogenic fever dream.

  In the precepts of Marxism, there is, indeed, a religious aspect to “The Greater Good” complete with its own morality and law. The operating program began centuries ago with Windows® now revealing Gates. In the latter cycles, WW I brought about the League of Nations; WW II delivered the U.N and 911 established the technocracy, while Covid is now in progress of closing the circle on the dead-end road to a new world order.

  

  Soon, the only remaining border will separate those inside from those standing outside. Those remaining outside will have targets on their backs and what remains going forward will be only dreams and nightmares… depending upon where one sleeps or stands; at least until the spell is broken.

  There has been a clarion call for A New Declaration of Independence and as things go kinetic, some of us will likely be taken out first as an example to the rest.  Then, the responsibilities will remain with you, Dear Reader, and the rest.

  Because of their insatiable thirst for power, ignorance of history, arrogant and incorrect assumptions, intolerance for freedom, and contempt for their own heritage, these Tyrants and traitors within seek to conform us to their own will and unachievable Utopian vision. But because of their rejection of the God of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, they can only create a Hell on earth. This is a vision we reject and an agenda with which we cannot and will not comply. Because our abusers will never relent, they must be ended. We understand what this will entail, what will be required of us, and the personal cost we may well have to pay, but Freedom is so dear and our Legacy so worthy, that we are ready for this great undertaking.

  Ultimately, at this late hour, to win the battles on the way to positive fruition, The Establishment must die by millions and millions of cuts. It means some of our problems will need to be accepted while others are solved. Solutions will be prioritized and the deciding factors for each will be chosen by those in the right places and at the right times.

  The underlying aspects for a need to completely control the entire world are greed and fear; both birthed within the blackness of diabolical, narcissistic pride. Yes, The Borg is afraid, hence all of its deception. And it should be made to fear even more. To be sure, The Overlords rightly fear the power of true information as they remain in daily contact with staff, contractors, and employees, in their respective circles and within arm’s reach. Others might fear those out upon the perimeter walls, or in the shadows, or just ahead, or right around the corner.

  The future flickers like shadows on a wall and one can’t help but wonder what the next few days, months, and year(s) will bring.  I am reminded of something I once heard someone say: 

  Worries are prayers for what we don’t want to happen.

  But beneath the rampant materialism and crass commercialism in America today, there are families, friends, and neighbors taking action and doing right by each other – demonstrating kindness, embracing forgiveness, and daily sacrificing to ensure the well-being of those in their homes, communities, and beyond.

  Everyone, sooner or later, will choose their line in the sand, or, rather, what hill they wish to die upon. This is what I meant in my last “inevitability”article about “choosing one’s battles carefully and deliberately” as well as this question:

  For those who understand that battles cannot be won simply by playing defense, a question remains: What can be won?

  I’m talking about setting realistic priorities in the here and now.

  It’s a New Year and a time for new beginnings. Hold on to the good and let go of the dross. But choose now. It is either us or them; and that is the real binary.

  The next few days and weeks will provide many of the answers we have been seeking. And, at some point… whenever… wherever… everyone will either make a stand or they won’t.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 23:45

• Amid Erectile Dysfunction Fears, India Claims COVID Vaccine Is "110% Safe"
  Amid Erectile Dysfunction Fears, India Claims COVID Vaccine Is “110% Safe”

  Experts in India are attempting to quell rumors that two newly-approved vaccines can trigger erectile dysfunction in men, insisting the remedies are more than 100% safe, according to RT News. 

  On Sunday, India formally approved the emergency use of vaccines developed by Oxford–Astra Zeneca and a domestic firm named Bharat Biotech.

  

  India plans to inoculate upwards of 300 million people this year, but rumors are already circulating in the country that the vaccines could cause erectile dysfunction and also be dangerous to health. 

  The head of India’s Samajwadi (Socialist) Party, Ashutosh Sinha, made things worse by saying he was very concerned about the vaccines, indicating they “might contain something which can cause harm.” 

  Sinha said there’s a theory going around that the vaccines could be used to “kill/decrease the population” or cause erectile dysfunction. 

  Vaccine rumors sparked by politicians were so troubling that the country’s Drug Controller, Dr. Venugopal G. Somani, had to come out and reassure the public that vaccines are, in, fact, safe. 

  Somani said the health agency would “never approve anything if there is even the slightest safety concern.”

  He reassured the public that the vaccines are “110 percent safe.” 

  “These vaccines are 110% safe,” says Dr VG Somani, Drug Controller General of India #covidvaccine pic.twitter.com/YulbJf2oZD

  — NDTV (@ndtv) January 3, 2021

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

  Somani’s overly optimistic statement about vaccine safety is undoubtedly a red flag. Saif Khalid, a reporter for Al Jazeera, tweeted:

  “Only in India, the COVID vaccine is 110% safe.” 

  Only in India, the COVID vaccine is 110% safe. https://t.co/6qrbN8VM60

  — Saif Khalid (@msaifkhalid) January 3, 2021

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

  “I’d be skeptical of any regulator that claims it is 110/100 safe. Why? Exaggeration. How can you have 110 out of 100? Scientific bodies should use scientific, not a political language,” Pakistani journalist and talk show host Farrukh K. Pitafi said. 

  The big question is how many Indians are actually going to opt-in for COVID-19 vaccines? 

  On the other side of the world, there’s a significant glitch unfolding in Europe as some hospital staff refuse to take the vaccine because they don’t trust it. 

  We noted weeks ago that vaccine mistrust is growing in the US as hospital workers turn down the vaccine. 

  Despite certain government officials’ insistence that there’s absolutely no reason to question the efficacy of the vaccine – the WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan recently said there is “no evidence to be confident shots prevent transmission” and that people who receive the vaccine should continue wearing masks and following all social distancing and travel guidelines.

  In short, as we noted previously, nobody wants to be a guinea pig, and months or years from now developing some sort of illness because of the vaccine. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 23:20

• The Great Reset, Part II: Corporate Socialism
  The Great Reset, Part II: Corporate Socialism

  Authored by Michael Rectenwald via The Mises Institute,

  As I noted in the previous installment, the Great Reset, if its architects have their way, would involve transformations of nearly every aspect of life. Here, I will limit my discussion to the economics of the Great Reset as promoted by the World Economic Forum (WEF), as well as to recent developments that have advanced these plans.

  

  As F.A. Hayek suggested in his introductory essay to Collectivist Economic Planning, socialism can be divided into two aspects: the ends and the means. The socialist means is collectivist planning, while the ends, at least under proletarian socialism, are the collective ownership of the means of production and the “equal” or “equitable” distribution of the end products. Distinguishing between these two aspects in order to set aside the question of the ends and to focus on the means, Hayek suggested that collectivist planning could be marshalled in the service of ends other than those associated with proletarian socialism:

  “An aristocratic dictatorship, for example, may use the same methods to further the interest of some racial or other elite or in the service of some other decidedly anti-equalitarian purpose.”

  Collectivist planning might or might not run into the calculation problem, depending upon whether or not a market in the factors of production is retained. If a market for the factors of production is maintained, then the calculation problem would not strictly apply.

  The collectivist planners of the Great Reset do not aim at eliminating markets for the factors of production. Rather, they mean to drive ownership and control of the most important factors to those enrolled in “stakeholder capitalism.” The productive activities of said stakeholders, meanwhile, would be guided by the directives of a coalition of governments under a unified mission and set of policies, in particular those expounded by the WEF itself.

  While these corporate stakeholders would not necessarily be monopolies per se, the goal of the WEF is to vest as much control over production and distribution in these corporate stakeholders as possible, with the goal of eliminating producers whose products or processes are deemed either unnecessary or inimical to the globalists’ desiderata for “a fairer, greener future.” Naturally, this would involve constraints on production and consumption and likewise an expanded role for governments in order to enforce such constraints—or, as Klaus Schwab has stated in the context of the covid crisis, “the return of big government” – as if government hasn’t been big and growing bigger all the while.

  Schwab and the WEF promote stakeholder capitalism against a supposedly rampant “neoliberalism.” Neoliberalism is a weasel word that stands for whatever leftists deem wrong with the socioeconomic order. It is the common enemy of the Left. Needless to say, neoliberalism—which Schwab loosely defines as “a corpus of ideas and policies that can loosely be defined as favouring competition over solidarity, creative destruction over government intervention and economic growth over social welfare” – is a straw man. Schwab and company erect neoliberalism as the source of our economic woes. But to the extent that “antineoliberalism” has been in play, the governmental favoring of industries and players within industries (or corporatocracy), and not competition, has been the source of what Schwab and his ilk decry. The Great Reset would magnify the effects of corporatocracy.

  Nevertheless, the aims of the WEF are not to plan every aspect of production and thus to direct all individual activity. Rather, the goal is to limit the possibilities for individual activity, including the activity of consumers—by dint of squeezing out industries and producers within industries from the economy. “Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed.”

  As Hayek noted, “when the medieval guild system was at its height, and when restrictions to commerce were most extensive, they were not used as a means actually to direct individual activity.” Likewise, the Great Reset aims not at a strictly collectivist planning of the economy so much as recommends and demands neofeudalistic restrictions that would go further than anything since the medieval period—other than under state socialism itself, that is. In 1935, Hayek noted the extent to which economic restrictions had already led to distortions of the market:

  With our attempts to use the old apparatus of restrictionism as an instrument of almost day-to-day adjustment to change we have probably already gone much further in the direction of central planning of current activity than has ever been attempted before….It is important to realize in any investigation of the possibilities of planning that it is a fallacy to suppose capitalism as it exists to-day is the alternative. We are certainly as far from capitalism in its pure form as we are from any system of central planning. The world of to-day is just interventionist chaos.

  How much further, then, the Great Reset would take us toward the kinds of restrictions imposed under feudalism, including the economic stasis that feudalism entailed!

  I call this neofeudalism “corporate socialism”—not only because the rhetoric to gain adherents derives from socialist ideology (“fairness,” “economic equality,” “collective good,” “shared destiny,” etc.) but also because the reality sought after is de facto monopolistic control of production via the elimination of noncompliant producers—i.e., a tendency toward monopoly over production that is characteristic of socialism. These interventions would not only add to the “interventionist chaos” already in existence but further distort markets to a degree unprecedented outside of centralized socialist planning per se. The elites could attempt to determine, a priori, consumer needs and wants by limiting production to acceptable goods and services. They would also limit production to the kinds amenable to the governments and producers who buy into the program. The added regulations would drive midsized and small producers out of business or into black markets, to the extent that black markets could exist under a digital currency and greater centralized banking. As such, the restrictions and regulations would tend toward a static caste-like system with corporate oligarchs on top, and “actually existing socialism” for the vast majority below. Increasing wealth for the few, “economic equality,” under reduced conditions, including universal basic income, for the rest.

  The Coronavirus Lockdowns, the Riots, and Corporate Socialism

  The covid-19 lockdowns, and to a lesser extent the leftist riots, have been moving us toward corporate socialism. The draconian lockdown measures employed by governors and mayors and the destruction perpetrated by the rioters just so happen to be doing the work that corporate socialists like the WEF want done. In addition to destabilizing the nation-state, these policies and politics are helping to destroy small businesses, thus eliminating competitors.

  As the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) points out, the lockdowns and riots have combined to level a one-two punch that is knocking out millions of small businesses—“the backbone of the American economy”—all across America. FEE reported that

  7.5 million small businesses in America are at risk of closing their doors for good. A more recent survey showed that even with federal loans, close to half of all small business owners say they’ll have to shut down for good. The toll has already been severe. In New York alone, stay-at-home orders have forced the permanent closure of more than 100,000 small businesses.

  Meanwhile, as FEE and others have noted, there is no evidence that the lockdowns have done anything to slow the spread of the virus. Likewise, there is no evidence that Black Lives Matter has done anything to help black lives. If anything, the riotous and murderous campaigns of Black Lives Matter and Antifa have proven that black lives do not matter to Black Lives Matter. In addition to murdering black people, the Black Lives Matter and Antifa rioters have done enormous damage to black businesses and neighborhoods, and thus to black lives.

  As small businesses have been crushed by the combination of draconian lockdowns and riotous lunacy, corporate giants like Amazon have thrived like never before. As BBC noted, at least three of the tech giants—Amazon, Apple, and Facebook—have appreciated massive gains during the lockdowns, gains which were abetted, to a lesser extent, by riots that cost 1 to 2 billion in property damages. During the three months ending in June, Amazon’s “quarterly profit of $5.2bn (£4bn) was the biggest since the company’s start in 1994 and came despite heavy spending on protective gear and other measures due to the virus.” Amazon’s sales rose by 40 percent in the three months ending in June.

  As reported by TechCrunch, Facebook and its WhatsApp and Instagram platforms saw a 15 percent rise in users, which brought revenues to a grand total of $17.74 billion in the first quarter. Facebook’s total users climbed to 3 billion in March, or two-thirds of the world’s internet users, a record. Apple’s revenues soared during the same period, with quarterly earnings rising 11 percent year-on-year to $59.7 billion. “Walmart, the country’s largest grocer, said profits rose 4 percent, to $3.99 billion,” during the first quarter of 2020, as reported by the Washington Post.

  The number of small businesses has been nearly cut in half by the covid-19 lockdowns and the Black Lives Matter/Antifa riots while the corporate giants have consolidated their grip on the economy, as well as their power over individual expression on the internet and beyond. Thus, it would appear that the covid lockdowns, shutdowns, partial closings, as well as the riots are just what the Great Resetters ordered, although I am not hereby suggesting that they did order them. More likely, they have seized the opportunity to cull from the economy the underbrush of small and medium-sized businesses in order to make compliance simpler and more pervasive.

  In the end, the Great Reset is merely a propaganda campaign, not some button that globalist oligarchs can push at will—although the WEF has represented it as just that. Their plans need to be countered with better economic ideas and concerted individual actions. The only reasonable response to the Great Reset project is to defy it, to introduce and promote more competition, and to demand the full reopening of the economy, at whatever peril. If this means that smaller-scale producers and distributors must band together to defy state edicts, then so be it. New business associations, with the aim of foiling the Great Reset, must be formed—before it’s is too late.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 22:55

• And The First Country To Move To A 100% Digital Monetary System Is… Venezuela
  And The First Country To Move To A 100% Digital Monetary System Is… Venezuela

  In our annual look back (and forward) post, we mused that the advent of central bank-supported digital currencies was the top financial story of 2020, buried deep under the landslide of health and political developments from covid to the US presidential election; we also said that the most important narrative of 2021 would be how fast – and where – digital currencies would be rolled out first.

  Yet while we recently speculated that China would be the first major economy to unleash a digital currency, little did we know that the first country to officially make the jump to a “fully digital” economy would be…  Venezuela!?

  

  That’s right: according to Bloomberg, Venezuela’s government is preparing to move to a fully digital economy – whatever that means for the country which several years ago adopted some bizarro crypto currency as the de facto petrocurrency of the state to… perplexing consequences, as hyperinflation in this South American socialist paradise (coming soon to every socialist paradise nears you) has made worthless bolivar notes practically disappear. With the local monetary system having collapsed, the US dollar has operated as an “escape valve” for Venezuela amid U.S. sanctions and collapsing oil revenues, President Nicolas Maduro said in a televised interview with Telesur on Friday. He said 18.6% of all commercial transactions are in dollars, while 77.3% are carried out in bolivars with debit cards. Only 3.4% are paid with bolivar notes.

  “They have a war against our physical currency. We are moving this year to a more profound digital economy, in expansion. I’ve set the goal of an economy that’s 100% digital,” Maduro said, adding that physical money will eventually disappear. Call Venezuela a guniea pig for the same monetary experiment which all other central banks will soon pursue as well.

  Venezuela’s currency has lost 99.999% of its value during three years of hyperinflation, forcing the country to issue higher-denomination notes which however not only become useless in record time, but the mere cost to print them – in some relatively stable currency – quickly surpasses their nominal value. The largest note now in circulation, 50,000 bolivars, is worth about $0.04. The government has prudently delayed plans to issue a 100,000 bolivar bill, which currently would be worth less than $0.10.

  After formerly subsidized fuel prices were increased in June, cash is now only used to ride public transportation, and the Caracas subway routinely stops charging passengers due to cash shortages.

  Meanwhile, since late 2019, local banks – which need some currency in which to transact – have started to offer accounts and financial products in U.S. dollars, but there’s a problem there too as those remain limited since there’s no clearing system in place to allow for digital transactions in U.S. dollars.

  As Bloomberg reports, some banks have had technical meetings with Venezuela’s central bank in an attempt to solve the problem amid high skepticism and caution due to U.S. sanctions. But Maduro vowed to create “payment formats” allowing transactions using savings and checking accounts in U.S. dollars, which is especially bizarre since Venezuela has been technically cut off from SWIFT and so Caracas may have no choice but to become the world’s first fully digital monetary regime.

  It’s also why despite promising to expand the use of the U.S. dollar in the economy, Maduro admitted that a formal dollarization wouldn’t happen. “Venezuela has its currency and we are going to defend it,” he said without a trace of humor.

  And yet, comedy or not, central banks the world over will be closely watching to see just how Venezuela will screw up this experiment of becoming the world’s first fully digital economy, because as we have been warning for a while: digital currencies – under the protective umbrella of the so-called ISO 20022 – are coming to every broke country near you in the next 12-24 months.

  

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 22:30

• Here's How To Prep For 2021
  Here’s How To Prep For 2021

  Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog,

  Remember just a year ago when everyone was pumped about an exciting new decade? It was 2020 and just the sound of it was futuristic and hopeful.

  “This is going to be my year!” people said.

  Unfortunately, I don’t think 2020 was anybody’s year unless your last name starts with B and rhymes with Sneez-os. While you’ll see lots of folks out there blithely saying, “Thank goodness 2020 is over!” I’ve got to say, 2021 isn’t looking great either.

  

  With the economic disaster that is sweeping the country, more lockdown mandates, a new government that is likely to crack down even more, rapidly approved vaccinations we’ll be “strongly encouraged” to receive, and who knows what else in store, if you are a New Year’s resolution type, it’s important to keep these things in mind and set more realistic goals for the year ahead.

  A lot of the old tips for prepping and stockpiling are no longer really workable for many of us. This is true for a multitude of reasons – money is tight, supplies are less abundant and more expensive, and it’s more difficult to access businesses and in-person education.

  That has a lot of people feeling overwhelmed and even helpless. My inbox is filled with messages from those who want to prepare but feel like there’s just no hope.

  I’m here to tell you that there is hope. We may be down right now, but we aren’t out. We’re only truly defeated if our attitude allows us to stay in that state of mind. When you think you’ve irrevocably lost, you stop looking for wins. And goes against what prepping is all about. I’ve always said that prepping is the ultimate act of optimism. This is a time that will test our resilience and show us what we’re really made of. (Spoiler – we’re made of strong stuff.)

  I’m not going to sugarcoat it. The clock isn’t going to strike midnight leaving us all to sigh in relief and say, “Thank goodness! It’s finally over! GoodBYE 2020!” This isn’t Cinderalla and there are no fairy godmothers or spells to be lifted. 2021 is going to be a challenge in much of the same way 2020 was and probably in ways we haven’t even imagined yet. (I mean, who really expected murder hornets and cannibalistic monkeys?)

  But none of this means that you can’t keep prepping in the year ahead. It just means you may need to be more strategic and prepare in different ways. So do you want to become more prepared in 2021? Are you with me?

  Here are some realistic goals you can set for the year ahead.

  Become more fit.

  Fitness doesn’t have to mean a gym membership or exercise class. In fact, those are both darned near impossible these days. However, there are still ways you can work on your fitness levels that will pay off big if you find yourself in a survival situation.

  • Walking: This is my favorite exercise by far and one I indulge in every single day. It’s accessible to almost everyone and you don’t have to buy any fancy equipment. Here are some tips to help you start a walking program. Don’t want to walk because it’s cold weather or rainy? What kind of weather do you expect when you bug out? Chances are, it will be less than ideal. Here are some of the benefits of training in bad weather.

  • Add some weight: If you already walk a lot or if you need an additional challenge, add a loaded backpack to your daily stroll. You can just keep on adding weight to help yourself become stronger and more fit.

  • Bodyweight exercises: Check out YouTube to find exercises you can do at home using only your own body weight for resistance.

  • Yoga: Also visit YouTube to find yoga videos. A friend of mine swears by a very inexpensive program called DDPYoga, which has workouts for everyone, including those who are bedridden or in a wheelchair.

  • Calisthenics: Go old-school and do some calisthenics like push-ups, jumping jacks, and lunges.

  It really doesn’t matter what form of exercise you choose to do – just do something on a regular basis and continue to push yourself to become more fit.

  Learn skills.

  The sky is really the limit when it comes to learning skills. Many of us find we have a lot more time at home now. Why not put that to good use learning skills that will serve you well in both everyday life and survival situations. YouTube and online courses can be great ways to add to your skillset.

  Here are a few areas in which you could find things you might want to learn:

  • Food preservation

  • Gardening

  • Marksmanship

  • Making ammo

  • Woodworking

  • Sewing/clothesmaking

  • Mending

  • Knitting

  • Fletching

  • Leatherwork

  • Herbalism

  • Foraging

  • Hunting

  • First Aid

  • Medical skills

  • Foreign languages

  • Ham radio

  • Bushcrafting

  Those are just a few ideas to get you started – basically, any skill that helps you defend yourself, produce something, communicate, or preserve something is worth learning.

  Produce more.

  I’ve written time and time again about how we’ve become a nation of consumers instead of a nation of producers. If that hasn’t convinced you, then the empty shelves in stores across the country should reinforce the fact that we are far better off when we can produce the things we require to meet our needs.

  Many of these things will cross over with the skills mentioned above. Being able to produce the food you eat from farm to pantry to table is more important than ever. Being able to acquire our food through hunting or foraging can help those who may not have the space or the security to grow their own.

  Look at the things that you use every day and think about what you can produce yourself. Look at those things and think about how you could repair the items you use now if they were to break. Do you need any special spare parts or tools? If so, order them now because people are waiting months for certain automotive and computer parts. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg if we continue on our current path.

  Not only can producing directly help your family, but it can also put you in a position to barter with others who may be able to produce things you cannot.

  Focus on your small circle.

  It’s easy to be focused on the major events in the news, like the election, the pandemic, what’s happening in the UK, the vaccine, or episodes of civil unrest. I believe it’s extremely important for preppers to keep up with current events. Those of us who suspected early on that there was going to be a lockdown were able to get our supplies well before the rest of the public realized that bad things were headed our way and stripped the shelves bare. But when there’s such a barrage of bad news coming at you constantly it can be easy to lose your way and get lost in the big picture.

  While we want to know what’s going on in the world, we also need to recognize the things we can act upon and control and the things we can’t. We need, as Selco advises so often, to focus on our small circles as things become more difficult. We can teach our family members skills, we can prepare a garden, we can increase the security of our homes, and we can tighten our bonds with our communities, but we can’t necessarily change government mandates or makeover the economy.

  When things feel too big to handle, go small and you will always find some action that you can take.

  Look for happiness.

  This may sound out of place, especially right now when times seem so very dark. But there is always light. There’s always a flower, a snowflake, the laugh of a child, the voice of the person you love, or the dog curled up at your feet. There’s a book you haven’t yet gotten to read or an old favorite you can enjoy again.

  Some days it may be harder to find those moments of happiness than others and that’s perfectly normal in times like these. This is a season of introspection and of deciding what – and who – really matters in our lives.

  Many writers this year, myself included, have written that things will never be the same as they were before the Covid pandemic was used to limit our worlds. I know that my life changed dramatically and did not go in the direction I had planned. I know the same is true for family members and people I love.  It’s enough to make you feel like we have nothing ahead but despair. It’s a fact that mental health issues have been on the uptick as the lockdowns keep us isolated from friends, family, and humanity in general.

  But there is always a glimmer of hope and no matter what, I sincerely believe that the human spirit will prevail. We will always find reasons to laugh (hey, dark humor is still humor, we will find people we love and care for if we are willing to be open to that, and we can always find beauty in the mundane if we know how to seek it.

  Despite the distance this year has put between many of us and the people we love, at least the internet, for all its flaws, helps us to keep in touch and stay just a little bit closer to them. In fact, a neighbor here told me that her family did a Zoom for Christmas and because it was all online, even though they could not be together in person, they got to see cousins and relatives from far away that they hadn’t seen in many years. I believe there’s some grace to be found in that.

  So make one of your goals to seek happiness anywhere you can find it. Because your spirit matters just as much as your physical preparations do. Being with the ones you care for is important, no matter how you do it. Finding a reason to smile will always make any situation more tolerable.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 22:05

• Military Recruiters Worry America's Youth Are Too Fat Or Dumb To Enter Service
  Military Recruiters Worry America’s Youth Are Too Fat Or Dumb To Enter Service

  A recent report in military news site Task & Purpose highlights that military recruitment could soon slump nationwide in large part because America’s youth are too fat or in other cases too dumb to fight.

  Going back a number of years this has been an increasing concern expressed by a growing chorus of both active and retired military leaders. It was also weeks ago expressed in a Dec.17 letter to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller signed by almost 800 retired admirals and generals. 

  They warn that over 70% of young Americans between 17 and 24 can’t make into military ranks because they are “too poorly educated, too overweight, or have a history of crime or substance abuse.”

  

  The bipartisan group that penned the letter is urging the Pentagon to create a strategy to address the growing crisis. “Without coordinated action, these trends pose a significant threat to the future of the all-volunteer force,” the letter said.

  Identifying some of the same trends, Navy Recruiting Command chief Rear Adm. Dennis Velez recently separately told Military.com that making making sure “our children are healthier” is urgently needed to divert a national crisis.

  Certain fitness and weight standards are required to even attempt to enter the armed services, with requirements determined by the particular branch – with the Marine Corps maintaining the strictest entry requirements. 

  Further the head of the Marine Corps recruiting was also quoted as follows:

  Maj. Gen. Jason Bohm, the head of Marine Corps Recruiting Service, said far fewer than 30% of young people are eligible to serve in that branch.

  “If you break it down further into those skill sets, intelligence level, and the physical ability level, those that we’re looking toward bringing into the Marine Corps… quickly decreases to about 7%,” he said.

  “That’s enormously challenging.”

  For years the bipartisan group “Mission: Readiness” has highlighted the lack of health among America’s youth, potentially impacting national security on a long-term basis:

  New Infographic: Unfit to Serve: #Obesity is Impacting National Security https://t.co/02When6NGp via @CDCObesity #health #military pic.twitter.com/mRUPGyah9y

  — Mission: Readiness (@Mission_Ready) May 18, 2017

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

  For the foreseeable future the trend is likely to continue, given how the pandemic related lockdowns and social distancing orders for much of the past year have often resulted in canceled youth sports leagues, a reduction in social outdoor activities, and people generally being shut in their homes for longer periods. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 21:40

• "Baseless Conspiracy Theories" And Our Knowledge Crisis
  “Baseless Conspiracy Theories” And Our Knowledge Crisis

  Authored by Adam Ellwanger via HumanEvents.com,

  The news that the FBI is investigating Hunter Biden on suspicion of money laundering and foreign influence peddling should come as no surprise, given that the New York Post broke the story over two months ago. Of course, when that publication released the incriminating evidence that was saved to a laptop owned by Hunter Biden, the story was immediately censored on social media. Of the few major media outlets that were willing to acknowledge the existence of the story, virtually all of them did so only to emphasize that the reporting was “baseless” nonsense.

  

  When pressed on the matter by President Trump in a debate, Joe Biden boasted that five former heads of the CIA said that the story was “a bunch of garbage.” A couple of days earlier, dozens of former intelligence officials had signed a statement that asserted the news had all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation: “We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement,” the statement read, “just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.”

  Bush administration speechwriter and Atlantic editor David Frum claimed on Twitter that “The story could not have been more obviously fake if it had been wearing dollar-store spectacles and attached plastic mustache.” Weeks after the FBI investigation of Hunter Biden was confirmed, Wikipedia still labels their entry on the matter as a “conspiracy theory.” Thus, in spite of emails, photographs, and video-recorded evidence to the contrary, any claim that the Bidens did anything improper (let alone “wrong” or “illegal”) was deemed “baseless.” 

  And yet here we are, with outlets like Politico and the New York Times reacting to the “newly” confirmed evidence of an investigation as though they had just caught wind of the story. Given their craven, politically-motivated annihilation of the story back in October, one wonders: what other “baseless” claims that pose a threat to the left’s agenda might the media be lying about? The only thing that met with more journalistic skepticism than the Hunter Biden story were the claims that significant ballot fraud marred the presidential election.

  Since November, the most obnoxious interlocutors I have encountered are the ones who claim to be devotees of “evidence-based reasoning” and rational thought—even while they sanctimoniously insist that you concede that “there is no evidence of fraud in this election.” As with Biden’s corruption, no rational person could claim that there is no evidence. First, there has never been a modern American election where there was no fraud, so the question isn’t really whether or not there was fraud, but how much fraud occurred. Secondly, in the case of this election, we have already documented more fraud than has been exposed in any other American presidential election.

  The “evidence-based reasoners” are right about one thing though: there is not yet definitive evidence that Trump actually won the election. But there is enormous evidence that fraudulent means were undertaken to ensure that he did not. Those claiming that allegations of fraud are “baseless” insist that there is no “compelling evidence” of these claims. Of course, “compelling” is a fairly subjective term: we can reasonably disagree what evidence is compelling. Although the word “evidence” might seem more concrete, even the definition of that term now seems up for grabs. This new instability is a troubling indicator of a knowledge crisis that threatens our democracy: in light of the constantly shifting standards for the verification of claims, we can no longer agree on the basic facts of our shared reality. Until we find that agreement, the prospects for any productive democratic deliberation are nil, let alone the prospects for “healing.”

  A MOUNTAIN WITHOUT A “BASE”: CONSIDERING THE EVIDENCE

  Most people understand intuitively that there are different forms of evidence. There is statistical evidence, anecdotal evidence, historical evidence, circumstantial evidence, definitive evidence, and more. Further, there is an overlap between these kinds of evidence. Statistical evidence, for example, can be combined with historical evidence: when a statistical anomaly is detected, that anomaly is that much more compelling if it is anomalous in comparison to other sets of data, both contemporary and from the past.

  

  Rational observers must acknowledge that each of these different forms of evidence vary in terms of how reliable and definitive they are in establishing a truth. Circumstantial evidence alone cannot serve as a sufficient indicator of truth: coincidences happen, and statistically improbable outcomes do, in fact, occur (somebody is winning those Powerball jackpots). But when it accompanies other forms of evidence, circumstantial evidence makes a contested claim more plausible. For example, if eye-witness testimony of ballot manipulation coincides with a historically-anomalous number of mail-in ballots with no selections in down-ballot races (a common indicator of fraud), then charges of misconduct become stronger due to this confluence of circumstantial, historical, and statistical pieces of evidence. 

  Each individual piece of evidence cannot be understood independently from the larger body of evidence: indicators that might be insignificant on their own might nevertheless contribute to a compelling portrait of evidence in aggregate. The irrational rush to entirely dismiss the possibility of any election fraud is enabled by an adamantine unwillingness to see the forest among so many trees. No recent American presidential election has come anywhere close to the number of process and tallying anomalies that have been reported in 2020. This discrepancy itself serves as an anecdotal indicator that justifies suspicion toward the results. With that in mind, it is worth reconsidering the claims of fraud in this election. 

  We have seen security footage of poll watchers being asked to leave in Georgia, after which the remaining officials pull containers of ballots out from under a table and begin counting after others were told counting would stop for the night. Another video shows a surreptitious hand-off of what looks to be a flash drive among poll workers.  No one can claim that this is not an unusual circumstance to occur in a battleground state late in the night of a presidential election. In most criminal cases, video recordings are generally considered a highly compelling form of evidence.

  Yet now, the media and Biden supporters tell us the videos are “missing context” and prove “nothing.” To an extent, that is correct: those ballots could be legal and there are rational, possible explanations for the actions captured on video. But no one has offered such an explanation that they can substantiate. Instead, the burden of evidence seems to be placed on only one side of the dispute. 

  If the video isn’t proof of procedural violations or fraud, then, what evidence would be required to prove that claim? It seems those who claim the allegations are “baseless” would require video footage that not only catches these poll workers in the act, but that would also show them verbally describing their actions and their malicious intent. Or, perhaps it would convince the skeptics if using the video we could definitively ascertain exactly which ballots were in those boxes, examine them, and prove that they were cast by ineligible voters or that they were inadmissible on other grounds. The problem is that these forms of “compelling” evidence are entirely implausible in themselves. 

  Typically, people don’t record themselves talking about committing a felony as they commit the crime. As for identifying which were the ballots in question, the progressive erosion of any safeguards or record-keeping on the chain of custody in the process of manual vote-counting ensures that any viable reconstruction of how the final tally was reached is impossible. Without required secrecy envelopes for ballots, with signatures not required or ignored, with mailed ballots allowed to be counted when arriving after the day of the election, with observers removed from the process, and with no other way to determine the chain of custody for mail-in ballots, the very means of producing “compelling evidence” of fraud have been systematically annihilated by the procedural changes for elections across the country.

  These changes have been accumulating for a decade or more, but the pandemic was used to justify a flood of sweeping changes in the months before the election—modifications that “conventional wisdom” says plainly advantage Democratic candidates in battleground states, as late-arriving mail-in ballots tend to skew toward Democratic candidates.

  Given that the “compelling evidence” that would convince those who insist these fraud allegations are “baseless” is basically impossible to produce, we are left with circumstantial indicators of the crime. Beyond Georgia, there is a mountain of other forms of evidence from multiple battleground states—anomalous statistical evidence, comparative historical evidence, evidence in sworn testimony from witnesses to the fraud, and anecdotal evidence. Many of these pieces of evidence are compelling on their own, and yet, even taken cumulatively, we are told the claims that there was any malfeasance in the election is a “baseless conspiracy theory.”

  These are the contours of what has become a knowledge crisis in American discourse. The elites of our society pretend that President Trump’s “lies” have undermined public trust in the media, and they claim that our radical incredulity is a threat to democracy. This is more gaslighting. The media itself has created this crisis. What counts as knowledge, news, evidence, and proof are now totally dependent on the usefulness of reality in advancing the objectives of the cultural left. When a certain fact is useless for that project, its status as fact is either denied, mocked, or ignored.

  NEWS REPORTING AND THE CULTIVATION OF UNCERTAINTY

  Traditionally, journalism has been motivated by a burning curiosity among the reporters who pursue the news. Today, they demonize the curiosity of those with whom they disagree in order to avoid the difficult task of explaining how the accusations are “baseless” in spite of so many indicators of fraud. Thus, unverified opposition research in the form of the Steele dossier can circulate on the news as if it is unquestionably true and serve as sufficient evidence to open an FBI investigation, but physical evidence of Biden family corruption is immediately (without any further investigation) dismissed as so plainly fraudulent that news related to the topic will not even be allowed to circulate. 

  

  We are told to “trust the science” on the effectiveness of wearing masks, even as cultural elites systematically ignore biological realities when it comes to activist claims regarding transgenderism. Catastrophic, anthropogenic climate change is enshrined as “settled science,” even as the abortion lobby continues to deny the life of a fetus with a heartbeat, reducing it to a “clump of cells.” When it comes to the climate, scientific reality is supposed to be the primary determinant of public policy; in regard to abortion, scientific reality is reduced to merely one more “perspective” which makes no particular demand on policy-making.

  Fantastical accusations that Brett Kavanaugh was a serial rapist justified a thousand columns and a circus masquerading as a confirmation process. Meanwhile, much better-corroborated allegations that Joe Biden digitally penetrated a woman against her will are studiously ignored or attacked. In the former case (where the accusations decreased the prospects of a conservative appointment to the bench), the mere existence of an accusation was proof of misconduct. In the latter (where the accusations might stymie the prospects of a Democratic presidential candidate), the accusations were found to be lacking the requisite evidence for serious consideration.

  Journalists lectured the nation about the vulnerability of the American voting system to interference in 2016, only to insist, four years later, that any assertions related to domestic election interference are patently ridiculous. (All this, to say nothing of the fact that the media’s unending effort to manufacture and influence public opinion is a form of domestic election interference in itself.) And yet the field of journalism continues to celebrate itself for being uncompromising defenders of truth.

  These manipulations have cost the country enormously. The very institution that Americans have historically relied on to seek and convey the facts about political life has become a non-stop psy-op aimed at advancing a particular ideology. And, when that objective requires distortion or ignorance of reality, most journalists are perfectly happy to comply.

  Ultimately, people no longer know what to believe, which means that they also don’t know what not to believe. Only when our shared notion of reality is in radical flux could theories as ludicrous as Pizzagate and QAnon take hold. And while the cultural left maintains that these sorts of conspiracies are a threat to their interests, the truth is the opposite. The left benefits from this sort of fantastical reasoning; it provides support for their refrain that their opponents are cognitively damaged. Further, it undermines any conservative claims to truth that oppose the left’s account of reality: hyping the most outlandish theories on the right justifies the mocking dismissal of even well-supported, plausible assertions. 

  The media’s efforts to curate the information available to the public would be easy to circumvent, if those efforts were undertaken by the media alone. But the mass media is only one branch of a much more expansive coalition of powerful actors working to implement a reimagining of public life in the western world. This project is advanced through a coordinated effort by the elite segment of our societies—people in the media, the technology industry, academia, public education, government, Hollywood and the culture industry, and corporate boardrooms.

  In short, the public’s confusion regarding what is true is the product of a purposeful effort by the great institutional powers of our society. When uncertainty, skepticism, and disbelief reign, there are fewer “true believers.” The resolute commitment of true believers to a cause is a prerequisite for any successful revolution. Thus, the pervasive uncertainty of many Americans works to diminish the prospects for organized, grassroots resistance to the elite consolidation of power in this nation.

  THE FALSE EQUIVALENCE OF EVIDENCE, PROOF, AND TRUTH

  In the media’s gaslighting about the (il)legitimacy of Election 2020, we can discern one of their most inventive ploys for cultivating this knowledge crisis: the false conflation of evidence, proof, and truth. These are three discrete concepts, but they are increasingly treated as one by the major media outlets. For example, there can be substantial evidence for a claim that is nevertheless unproven; then, there exist truths for which there is neither evidence nor proof. Even more torturous is the fact that there are some things that are proven (with evidence), that are nevertheless false. But the left recognizes none of these distinctions. They falsely maintain that there is “no evidence” for claims of election fraud, when what they mean is that there is no proof that fraud produced a false outcome.

  Needless to say, the erroneous conflation of these concepts is used to undermine claims of truth that are undesirable for the left’s agenda. Their conflation is also used to advance “proofs” for claims that the left would like to be true, despite the fact that they actually only have circumstantial evidence. 

  Consider how Russian Collusion circulated for years as a “proven” truth, even though there existed only the barest, biased indications of its possibility.

  
  Consider how one woman’s uncorroborated assertion that she was pinned to a bed 30 years ago by a future Supreme Court nominee—on a date and in a place that she could not recall—was sufficient to upend the entire Constitutionally-mandated process for confirming a justice to the highest court. Similar examples of this rhetorical misdirection by the left are legion.

  Our knowledge crisis is a deliberately manufactured means to undermine public confidence in a shared sense of what is real, as a means to minimize the prospect of organized opposition to the new order that our elites are working to install. This crisis demands that each of us rely on our own perceptions—perhaps more than we ever have. 

  Doing so takes courage, especially given that saying what you saw (when it undermines the Narrative), ensures you are denigrated as a sub-rational lunatic who traffics in “baseless conspiracy theories.” Let the talking heads talk. But the concerns about the legitimacy of this election are anything but baseless. Evidence abounds. They are counting that our cowardice and shame will be sufficient to make us deny those facts. If we will not testify to that evidence openly, then it might as well not exist. We cannot be cowards and we can’t be ashamed. Speak—and speak in the knowledge that the only baseless claim is the one that says it is “baseless” to assert the truth that this election can never be construed as free and fair.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 21:15

• Cuomo Creates New COVID Vaccination Obstacles To Help Fight Racism
  Cuomo Creates New COVID Vaccination Obstacles To Help Fight Racism

  Gov Andrew Cuomo’s push to make New York’s vaccination effort truly stand out is at risk of backfiring spectacularly, as new rules imposed by the governor create risks that are already slowing down the process.

  The governor is issuing an executive order making it a crime for health-care providers to “intentionally disregard prioritization” while also making “eligibility certification by recipients a mandatory part of the vaccination process.”

  If you wanted to make sure that rapidly expiring vaccines distributed in 10-dose vials end up in the trash, this is how you’d do it pic.twitter.com/kBt5JqDmlD

  — Mason 🏃‍♂️✂️𐃏 (@webdevMason) January 2, 2021

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

  Here’s more from the governor in his own words.

  COVID showed that racism is a public health crisis, too.

  Until the vaccine is available in the South Bronx, and the East Side of Buffalo, and Wyandanch, and South Jamaica, and Edgerton and East Utica, our health care deserts, our job is not done. pic.twitter.com/oOkErcyVpN

  — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) January 3, 2021

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

  Should a clinic administer the vaccine to somebody before their turn, they could face a fine of up to $1MM.

  The reasoning behind the executive order appears to be preventing a “black market” for vaccines, or otherwise tying the system to wealth

  Instead, Cuomo is creating another obstacle to swift distribution of vaccines, which could risk more of them possibly spoiling. He has also prioritized addicts in state rehabs for vaccination.

  At this point, distributing vaccines to people out of turn hasn’t emerged as a problem. Instead, 3 weeks into the most ambitious vaccination campaign in modern US history, far fewer people than expected are being immunized against the virus as the process moves slower than officials had projected and has been beset by confusion and disorganization in many states. Of the more than 12 million doses of vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech that have been shipped, fewer than 3MM have been administered, per data from the CDC. As of Sunday, the state of NY has doled out roughly 1/3rd of the nearly 775K doses that have been distributed.

  While reporting delays have been blamed, other issues have emerged, like news of several shipments of vaccine doses spoiling on its way to hospitals in Texas.

  The Orwellian nature of Cuomo’s reign just went to ’11’ on the Spinal Tap amplifier of conspiracy-theory-turned-fact as SaraACarter’s Ben Wilson reports that a proposed bill in the state of New York would allow for the “removal and detention” of people who are carriers or come into contact with any virus that, in the opinion of the Governor, “may pose an imminent and significant threat.” The Governor can detain people based on merely a “reasonably specific description.”

  Bill A416 gives the governor the right to – after determining in his/her opinion that the virus is a threat – ”order the removal and/or the detention of such a person or group of such persons by issuing a single order.”

  A clear issue with the legislation is that it allows for the detention of anyone since one would not have to be sick but merely deemed to have been in contact with someone who contracted said virus – all, of course, is determined by the governor and his/her opinion.

  This is a bill up for consideration in New York State in regards to COVID-19.

  Read every word of this and tell me what you think of it: pic.twitter.com/mCkwgwPemJ

  — Dr. David Samadi, MD (@drdavidsamadi) January 2, 2021

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

  “Upon determining by clear and convincing evidence that the health of others is or may be endangered by a case, contact or carrier, or suspected case, contact or carrier of a contagious disease that, in the opinion of the governor, after consultation with the commissioner, may pose an imminent and significant threat to the public health resulting in severe morbidity or high mortality, the governor or his or her dele-gee, including, but not limited to the commissioner or the heads of local health departments, may order the removal and/or detention of such a person or of a group of such persons,” reads the bill.

  To take it even further, the bill allows for detention of people based on a “description,” meaning a specification by name is not necessary for Governor Cuomo to send his people in and swoop up any poor soul who was within a distance of any virus.

  Read the bill that will allow New York to detain problematic state residents during a “health emergency.” A416 Via: @nysenate: https://t.co/D86b5VGRgM

  — Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) January 3, 2021

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

  “Identifying such persons either by name or by a reasonably specific description of the individuals or group being detained. such person or group of persons shall be detained in a medical facility or other appropriate facility or premises designated by the governor,” the bill says.

  Whether the state of New York will grant Governor Cuomo and his future successors the right to arbitrarily kidnap anyone that potentially came into contact with a virus will be seen in the coming months.

  But what else should we expect from a governor who sent thousands of COVID-19 positive patients back to long-term care homes, directly contributing to his state’s massive death toll?

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 20:50

• Trump Sues Georgia Secretary Of State Raffensperger Over Leaked Phone Call
  Trump Sues Georgia Secretary Of State Raffensperger Over Leaked Phone Call

  President Trump has filed two lawsuits against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger over a leaked phone call obtained and published by the Washington Post on Sunday, in which Trump badgered the Georgia official over election fraud.

  

  “President @realDonaldTrump has filed two lawsuits – federal and state – against @GaSecofState,” tweeted Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer.

  President @realDonaldTrump has filed two lawsuits – federal and state – against @GaSecofState. The telephone conference call @GaSecofState secretly recorded was a “confidential settlement discussion” of that litigation, which is still pending.

  — David Shafer (@DavidShafer) January 3, 2021

  At one point in the call, which took place just days before the state’s January 5 Senate runoffs, Trump reportedly tells Raffensperger “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” referring to Biden’s win by 11,779 votes.

  We’re guessing, but who knows, Trump was suggesting that in a state plagued with widespread accusations of voter fraud, including claims that batches of 100% Biden ballots were processed while Trump ballots were tossed or destroyed, that Raffensperger could simply ‘find’ enough uncounted Trump ballots to overcome the fraud.

  Shafer then accused the Post of misrepresenting the phone call by “heavily editing” it to omit a portion where it was allegedly made clear the discussion was for the purposes of settling litigation, and therefore confidential under federal and state law, to which The Post‘s Amy Gardner replied, “This is false. We published the entirety of the call, from start to finish.”

  This is false. We published the entirety of the call, from start to finish. There is no mention of it being a confidential settlement meeting. None. https://t.co/1Q9btWZmep

  — Amy Gardner (@AmyEGardner) January 4, 2021

  On Sunday morning, Trump confirmed that he and Raffensperger had spoken, tweeting “He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the “ballots under table” scam, ballot destruction, out of state “voters”, dead voters, and more. He has no clue!”

  I spoke to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger yesterday about Fulton County and voter fraud in Georgia. He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the “ballots under table” scam, ballot destruction, out of state “voters”, dead voters, and more. He has no clue!

  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2021

  Raffensperger responded, tweeting “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out.”

  Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out https://t.co/ViYjTSeRcC

  — GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (@GaSecofState) January 3, 2021

  More via Fox5 Atlanta:

  In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Raffensperger confirmed that the phone call took place on Saturday, and added that he told the president that he would have to turn to other states to find enough voter irregularities to overturn the 2020 presidential race, because there was not enough in the state of Georgia to do so.

  Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller, on Sunday, tweeted that the “full recording will show that @GaSecofState is still a hack, @realDonaldTrump is spot-on in his criticisms of the terrible job Raffensperger did, all of the officials running Georgia’s elections are trash, and @POTUS  won the state. #MAGA” 

  And the full recording will show that @GaSecofState is still a hack, @realDonaldTrump is spot-on in his criticisms of the terrible job Raffensperger did, all of the officials running Georgia’s elections are trash, and @POTUS won the state. #MAGA https://t.co/uqdRTdqUhf

  — Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) January 3, 2021 

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

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 20:25

• Republicans, Democrats, & A New 3rd Party
  Republicans, Democrats, & A New 3rd Party

  Authored by Martin Armstrong via ArmstrongEconomics.com,

  The Republican Party will not “split” apart like the Democrats…

  

  The Democratic split is different. That is a party of highly diverse beliefs. You have the middle-of-the-road Democrats who want Pelosi gone. She represents to them the radical California contingent – as the call it. There are members in the Democratic Party who would toast if California split and say good riddance. There is the Communist contingent intermixed with the Socialists hiding within the Democrats. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) which is a socialist and labor-oriented party with a diverse range of ideas but it is the Socialist Party of America (SPA) renamed and incorporated in the Democrats much like the Tea Party was inside the Republicans. Then you have various ethnic groups, women’s groups, and the LGBT or GLBT which stands for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups. All of these groups share only a common bond of hating Republicans. Beyond that, they disagree on just about everything else from the environment to taxation.

  In the case of the Republicans, there are really the elements of the Tea Party which are anti-corruption/establishment and the core of the GOP being the traditional country-club establishment. There are not so many diverse groups as there are in the Democrats. We are not looking at the Republicans “splitting” as is the case in the Democrats.

  What the Republicans fail to recognize is that Trump has even beaten Obama as the most admired president in the Gallup Polls. He expanded the party and they got the largest share of black and Hispanic votes in history.

  Trump did more for the middle class and the working man than any other president. He expanded the economy and black unemployment reached its lowest in history.

  

  “Trumpism”, if you want to call it that, did not begin with Trump. It really began with the Tea Party most recently which forced Speaker John Boehner out because he could not deliver the Republican vote. This “Trumpism” will not end with being driven out of office.

  This has been a major coup but by the Democrats, Republicans, and the Deep State. They all wanted a non-politician out.

  

  I wrote back in 2017: “There is a very REAL plot to overthrow Trump led by the political establishment and aided by the mainstream press.” All I heard from my sources was that they thought Trump won because the media focused on him ignoring all other Republicans in an attempt to pave the way for Hillary. They never expected Trump to win and that set in motion the media hatred of Trump for they believe he was their mistake – CNN especially. Right now, not even Fox News supports Trump. They too are making a very serious mistake. Go back to 2017 and you will find Lindsey Graham smashing his phone and disliked Trump immensely. Then he started to warm up to Trump.

  This “Trumpism” is not entirely confined to the Republican Party. It offers something of tremendous value to the growing level of discontent that the Democrats and world leaders look down on as “populism”. The lesson Republicans have failed to grasp is that the people did not vote for Trump because he is such a tremendous guy. They voted for Trump in 2016 because they hated everyone else in Washington. Both the Democrats and Republicans are fools. They think getting rid of Trump will get everything back to normal – I won’t tell on you and you don’t tell on me, and we all get rich!

  But Trump had tremendous support outside the USA for the very same reason. They saw him as standing against their own corrupt governments. It is an anti-establishment sentiment and Trump just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

  The political class, worldwide, saw Trump as a threat and recognized that “populism” was growing and how to stop it was debated at the World Economic Forum with the result to end voting because the people are too stupid.

  The overthrow of Trump will only solidify that “Trumpism” which is growing within the nation and the world. The appeal of socialism always presented by Democrats, liberals, progressives, is far less than the view that Washington is just too corrupt. The Gallup Poll of 2 years ago had Congress still above car salesmen. In the new December 17, 2020 poll, Congress is now officially the worst career in ethics and trustworthiness.

  
   

  They defeated Trump with corruption, but they confirmed they are the worst people on the planet. I reported back in 2019 that 35% of Americans believe the government is the problem according to a Gallup Poll. What they have done to Trump and as soon as the people realize that what the Democrats will do is nothing that they promised, this number will test the 50% level.

  One of the reasons the conservative Democrats want Pelosi gone is they view that she had disgraced the nation when she tore up Trump’s State of the Union speech. Even the Gallup Poll shows that the respect for those in the House is the lowest. Senators are more respected than a Congressman…

  

  The Democrats succeeded in getting votes not for a policy, but by getting people to hate Trump as a person. It may have been a brilliant strategy, but they did not attack the reason people voted for Trump from the start. Trumpism is a philosophy that is not really nationalism, but America first. It is something more like a group that sees themselves as disenfranchised for they are not the influential rich bankers nor the left-wing socialists who expect the government to take care of them like Santa Claus. They are the silent majority that politicians have lied to and look down upon for a very long time.

  Trumpism is not really new. It has been a growing philosophy of distrust and discontent which over the course of years has manifested a bipartisan populist undercurrent that stretches back through Pat Buchanan, Ross Perot, Barry Goldwater, George Wallace, Huey Long, William Jennings Bryan, and even Andrew Jackson – the people against the establishment. The London FT did a piece on “populism” and how all the politicians were frightened that they could be thrown out after Trump won in 2016.

  As the FT said, populism “horrified” the global political elite because they feared losing power! They hate democracy for why should these uneducated stupid people be able to vote them out of office – God forbid!

  John Kerry has come out against “populism” which is Trumpism. Kerry is 100% on board with DAVOS and Agenda 2030.

  “Normal was a crisis; normal wasn’t working,” said former US secretary of state John Kerry in his opening remarks.

  “We must not think of it in terms of pushing a button and going back to the way things were. We’re a long way off from being able to go back to any kind of normal.”

  The responsibility will lie with governments, the “great convener”, Kerry said.

  “Forces and pressures that were pushing us into crisis over the social contract are now exacerbated,” he said. “The world is coming apart, dangerously, in terms of global institutions and leadership.”

  “What we never did was adequately address the social contract, the franchisement of human beings around the world, to be able to participate in things they can see with their smartphones everywhere but can’t participate in.”

  Explaining that the United States of America is currently “gridlocked”, Kerry said: “This is a big moment. The World Economic Forum – the CEO capacity of the Forum – is really going to have to play a front and centre role in refining the Great Reset to deal with climate change and inequity – all of which is being laid bare as a consequence of COVID-19.”

  (fwd to 0:30):

  They think they defeated Trump, and they will steer the Great Unwashed morons (us) to the promised land where they eliminate the right to vote so never again do they have to risk their careers with a non-politician in charge.

  There are rumblings that among this despised group of populists who were stupid enough to vote for Trump, are the overwhelming truckers who the Democrats hate because they contribute to Global Warming driving their trucks around instead of delivering things on bicycles or by horse and buggy. The truckers are very pissed off on all levels and they deeply resent Washington and the endless corruption. The talk is that they are considering a strike for a month or so which will bring all food deliveries to a halt and most other things right down to new cars. The image of truckers among the Democrats is dirty, disgusting, uneducated, racist good old boys.

  

  A Biden victory may end up as a Pyrrhic Victory. They may stall his Agenda 2030 being put in place by John Kerry probably to his own dismay. Their idea of ending fossil fuels and meat production is just off the wall. The radical left sees it as their object to force the rest of society to comply with their demands. This is so against the idea of a free democratic society it will only provoke internal war.

  

  They are already surrounding Biden with people are for the swamp as usual. And as for the claims that Trump pardon criminals, let us put that record straight. Those people were prosecuted ONLY because they supported Trump. McCain, Hillary, and Biden all took money from foreign governments, and never is anyone prosecuted. They were all political prosecutions under selective prosecution which is part of the entire corruption game.

  

  The Republican Party will not “split” apart like the Democrats. The factions are just black and white as opposed to the multicolored Democrats of many factions. But the populist element which once supported the Republicans will move to a new 3rd Party. In this, we will see even conservative Democrats join its ranks. What both parties forget is that “populism” is We the People – not the aristocratic political class.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 20:00

• "The White House" – Homeless Woman Shows Off Skid Row Mansion 
  “The White House” – Homeless Woman Shows Off Skid Row Mansion 

  Homelessness is a humanitarian crisis in liberal-run Los Angeles, with more than 40,000 people living on the streets. Sections of the metro area have been transformed into a third world country, with dangerous open-air drug areas, streets littered with human feces, diseases, and homeless encampments.

  For years readers have read our frequent reporting about the horrible conditions of those living on Skid Row, a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, known for an abundance of homeless encampments. 

  However, YouTube user, NoPauseTv, stumbled upon a tent called the “White House” that houses a homeless lady who is living the high life.

  

  The man holding the camera tours the luxurious tent, saying this “looks better than half of my homies houses.” 

  The White House is equipped with hardwood floors, a generator, a solar panel, toilet, microwave, other appliances, a walk-in closet, and a jacuzzi. 

  The homeless woman said she worked in the fashion industry, alleging that at one point, she was designing shoes for Stacy Adams Shoe Company. 

  There was no mention of how the lady ended up on the streets in one of the most luxurious tents on Skid Row. But this outlines the wealth inequality crisis that has exploded since the virus pandemic as the middle class collapses even further into financial devastation. 

  Due to the surge of homelessness in Los Angeles, the city government decided to build “tiny home” shelters. 

  So how soon will it be when Americans quit their jobs, hope for more helicopter money from the government, and move into luxurious tents and tiny homes? 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 19:30

• Rethinking 2020: What's Overlooked And What's Overhyped
  Rethinking 2020: What’s Overlooked And What’s Overhyped

  Authored by Damien Ma and Houze Song via MacroPolo.org,

  In this exceptional year, much of our collective attention span was spent on the pandemic, the US election, geopolitical tensions, and social media paroxysms. When it came to US-China in particular, there simply wasn’t enough “China” as the bilateral dynamic was regularly filtered through the prism of the pandemic and the US election.

  

  Focusing on the daily rigamarole obscured subtler, and ultimately more consequential, developments. Stepping back at the end of 2020, we want to highlight two overlooked and two overhyped trends that, in our judgment, will matter greatly to China’s political economy and for how it adjusts to a dramatically changed external environment.

  Overlooked

  1. Closing the Curtain on the GDP Obsession Era

  Provinces Consecutively Not Meeting GDP Target Have Skyrocketed

  

  Note: Shows provinces that have failed to meet growth target for consecutive years.
  Source: Wind and MacroPolo.

  The signs have been there, but it wasn’t until 2020 that the writing clearly appeared on the wall: GDP growth will no longer hold sway over China’s development.

  The number of provinces that have repeatedly failed to meet national growth targets has already surged, with no apparent political consequences. Xi Jinping had also signaled in April 2020 that Beijing is willing to accept regional growth divergences. That likely foreshadowed what was to come in the 14th Five-Year Plan in November 2020, which was accompanied by Xi’s unprecedented explanation of why it didn’t include a specific growth target.

  Although some observers have noted this shift on GDP, its significance may be underappreciated. It is tantamount to simultaneously reshaping political incentives, changing the investment-driven model, and redirecting focus toward de-risking and reforming the economy. In short, the Xi administration has been unexpectedly tolerant of austerity—a precondition for ramming through very difficult structural reforms that are essentially growth negative in the near term.

  2. Decoupling Is Everywhere Except in Reality

  If a single word were chosen to define US-China in 2020, “decoupling” would be a good candidate. Bandied about with abandon, the term has created the perception that these highly complex supplier networks were being severed in real time. What has been overlooked is just how little meaningful decoupling actually happened.

  A Fraction of Foreign Businesses Planning to Leave China

  

  Note: The 96% result for Japanese companies include those that plan to diversify, adopt risk mitigation plans, or simply aren’t sure. The 4% are those specifically stating they plan to leave China. All are drawn from 2020 corporate surveys.
  Source: US-China Business Council; European Chamber of Commerce; and Tokyo Shoko Research.

  Foreign businesses are just one gauge of decoupling, but they are particularly important leading indicators of shifts in supply chain ecosystems. In 2020, the respective portions of US (87%) and European (89%) businesses indicating no intention to leave China are as high or even higher than they’ve been in recent years. And despite the Japanese government creating a fund to help re-shore its manufacturers, only 4% of Japanese businesses said they’re definitively leaving China.

  Pandemic disruptions certainly weighed heavily on firms’ decisions, likely delaying drastic changes or planned investment. It is also true that many companies want to diversify beyond China—some already have—to hedge against risk. Nonetheless, what has actually happened on the decoupling front appears disproportionately modest relative to the attention heaped on it. 

  Overhyped 

  1. China Slams Door on The World

  Whether it is “Made in China 2025” or “social credit,” any official neologism emanating from Beijing now gets spotlighted, scrutinized, and sometimes hyped. The latest offering of “dual circulation” is no exception, with many interpreting it as China’s pivot toward withdrawal from the world.

  Foreign Holdings of Chinese Financial Assets Have Risen Significantly ($ billion)

  

  Source: Wind.

  Yet when it comes to capital markets, China has gone in precisely the opposite direction, further linking itself to global capital. Although market openings began around 2018 and capital inflows rose steadily since, it wasn’t until 2020 that foreign capital inflows saw a notable spike. Moreover, the inking of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal and the potential conclusion of an EU-China investment treaty hardly suggest a Beijing that is closing its doors on the world.

  To be sure, technology is an area in which China does want to reduce dependence on imports. But even there it would be unrealistic to assume that China will achieve anything close to total indigenization.   

  2. BRI Is Down but Not Out

  China’s overseas lending plummeted in 2019, leading some to prognosticate the death knell of the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI). Yet China’s overseas lending has risen in 2020, though it has not returned to the heights seen in 2017 and 2018.

  Chinese Overseas Lending Has Been Rebounding ($ billion)

  

  Source: Wind.

  This makes sense as fierce internal debate and external pressure likely pushed Beijing to make necessary adjustments and curtail some of its ambitions for the BRI project. But gone it is not, since Beijing rarely throws out the baby with the bathwater, particularly for a signature initiative that has Xi’s imprimatur.

  The 2019 lending collapse can be partly explained by the political upheaval at the China Development Bank (CDB), a major financier of BRI projects, when its former president was arrested on corruption charges. As a result, the CDB’s total assets only increased by 2% in 2019. But the policy bank is actively lending again, having recently committed more than $80 billion to projects under RCEP, some of which can surely be rebranded as BRI projects.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 19:00

• Baltimore Cop Slammed Man On Crutches Into Pavement For Improperly Wearing Mask
  Baltimore Cop Slammed Man On Crutches Into Pavement For Improperly Wearing Mask

  The Covid ‘rules enforcement’ craziness continues, and as things like mask wearing becomes the new norm with no end in sight, now entering a year out from when the pandemic began to hit Western countries, such incidents are like only to grow.

  The latest in the US comes out of Baltimore, where a police officer has been indicted for assault on a man inside a grocery store who was merely wearing his mask “improperly” according to local media reports.

  

  What’s more is the man was on crutches. Baltimore detective Andre Maurice Pringle has been indicted by a grand jury for second degree (misdemeanor) assault and misconduct after last April he shoved 25-year old Brandon Walker to the ground. 

  Walker is said to have entered the grocery store with a face mask on top of his head, instead of covering his mouth and notes. 

  When Officer Pringle was called by store management to intervene, things escalated. Here’s how prosecutors described the ordeal which led to Walker’s head getting slammed to the ground:

  Walker, who was using a crutch and had a cast on his right foot, refused to pull the mask down over his mouth and nose, according to the release and indictment. A store manager called Pringle, who was working in the store, for assistance.

  “Officer Pringle, who was in full BPD uniform at the time, approached Walker and advised him that he had to leave the store,” prosecutors said. “The two began walking towards the exit. Walker was yelling and cursing at Officer Pringle as they continued towards the automated entry/exit doors.”

  Once in the vestibule, Walker stopped and “glared” at Pringle, prosecutors said. The officer allegedly grabbed Walker by his jacket, shoved him outside, and then slammed him to the ground face-first causing Walker to hit his head on the pavement.

  There doesn’t appear to have been video released in connection with the officer’s assault on the store patron, but it was still egregious enough to convene a grand jury over. Of course, there’s likely dozens or hundreds of similar such instances of harsh and out of control ‘Covid-enforcers’ which will never see a courtroom, much less public attention. 

  Detective Andre Pringle, a 23-year veteran of the force, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for the misdemeanor assault charge.https://t.co/GsWUesjG6P

  — TribLIVE.com (@TribLIVE) December 31, 2020

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

  “The contact which started with the shove and continued through the arrest resulted in intentional, harmful, offensive, and unwanted touching by Officer Pringle,” a prosecutor’s press release statement said. “The physical assaults were not accidental, consented to, nor legally justified.”

  The officer has been suspended with pay and if convicted on the assault charge could face a maximum penalty of up to ten years in prison.

  Meanwhile, in Canada…

  POLICE RAID CANADIAN HOME FOR HAVING ILLEGAL GATHERING OF 6 PEOPLEpic.twitter.com/FNdDWfTSKL

  — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) January 2, 2021

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

  Amazingly the victim who got his head smashed into the pavement for simply not wearing a mask properly was initially charged with trespassing and resisting arrest; however, those charges have since been dropped. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 18:30

• Ethereum Tops $1000, Outpacing Bitcoin As Crypto 'Crosses The Chasm'
  Ethereum Tops $1000, Outpacing Bitcoin As Crypto ‘Crosses The Chasm’

  Update (1800): Less than 8 hours after breaking above $800, and just an hour after surging beyond $900, Ethereum has broken back above the $1000 mark for the first time since Feb 2018 ($1001 was the day’s high so far).

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  After breaking $600 for the first time since May 2018 in November 2020, it broke $700 for the first time since that same month in 2018 on Dec. 27, 2020, and has now notched $800, $900, & $1,000 in the same morning.

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  The recent scream higher in ETH has erased all of the last three weeks’ relative outperformance of Bitcoin…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  In the context of the ever-widening “Overton Window” of acceptable policy positions related to government deficits, spending, taxation and monetary policy – allowing previously radical ideas to flow into the mainstream – Teddy Fusaro writes at CoinDesk that it is unsurprising that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have also crossed their own chasm in 2020. 

  Commentators often miss the connection but as other norms and institutions evolve into their future digital, mobile and virtual shape, so, too, are norms around banking, financial services and investing. The interrelationships between decentralized systems like Bitcoin and Ethereum and these dynamics are too often misunderstood or underappreciated.   

  In the pantheon of business literature that describes America’s Silicon Valley, Geoffrey Moore’s “Crossing the Chasm” is perhaps the most frequently referenced work on how new technologies achieve adoption.

  According to Moore, each disruptive technology must go through five stages of adoption: starting with tinkering “innovators” who first try new technologies, through the “early adopters,” to the “early majority” and “late majority” – the two biggest groups – and finally, to the “laggards.”

  

  It is striking how regularly and routinely this roadmap has played out in technology after technology. The most critical stage of Moore’s framework for these journeys is what he terms “the chasm.” The chasm yawns between the “early adopters and the “early majority” because there is a step-function difference between the demands of these two cohorts. This is often where new technologies go to die. 

  Bitcoin and crypto may not have been ready to jump across the chasm yet, but the long year of 2020 that propelled the world across the Rubicon pushed cryptocurrency across its adoption “chasm.” 

  Read more here…

  *  *  *

  While Bitcoin has been stealing the headlines, it was Ethereum’s turn overnight as the number 2 crypto spiked back above $900 for the first time since Feb 2018…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Ethereum still has over $400 to go to reach its record highs…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Bitcoin also pushed higher overnight, nearing $35,000, after correcting sharply to around $30,300 yesterday. But, within 24 hours, BTC has bounced back from $30,300 to as high as $34,778, a 14% rebound…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  Ethereum’s surge began as the BTC/ETH ratio topped 43x once again, and erased all the recent outperformance, back to 37x…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  CoinTelegraph’s Joseph Young asks, What triggered the Bitcoin and Ethereum rally?

  When the price of Bitcoin surpassed $33,000 on Jan. 2, some whales and high-net-worth investors warned that a 150 BTC sell order could retrace the market.

  A pseudonymous Bitcoin trader known as “i.am.nomad” wrote:

  “A 150 btc market sell would retrace this whole thing. lmao the higher price goes, the more retail gets prices out, the lower bid support will be.”

  Within hours he pinpointed the risk of a Bitcoin correction due to thin order books, BTC sharply pulled back.

  However, Bitcoin recovered quickly after the initial drop, rallying to a new record-high within 24 hours.

  The main catalysts behind Bitcoin’s rally have been the institutional accumulation of BTC on Coinbase and the short squeeze on Binance Futures.

  Throughout the past three days, Bitcoin has been trading much higher on Coinbase than on other major exchanges, as Cointelegraph reported.

  This means that aggressive buyers on Coinbase were continuously accumulating BTC despite the premium.

  

  Bitcoin surpasses past $34K with average trader returns at highs. Source: Santiment

  In the meantime, many traders on Binance Futures were shorting BTC, possibly expecting Bitcoin to top out at around $30,000. When Coinbase buyers continued to push BTC upwards, a short squeeze occurred. Analysts at Santiment explained:

  “For those expecting a #Bitcoin correction to kick off 2021, the $34,000 #AllTimeHigh achieved 10 mins ago is showing how painful it’s been being a $BTC bear the past 10 months. Avg. trader returns haven’t been this high across the board since June 2019.”

  Ether price rallied off of Bitcoin’s strong technical momentum. ETH/USD rose past $800 for the first time since early May 2018, demonstrating renewed momentum after stagnating throughout December.

  A pseudonymous cryptocurrency trader known as “Mayne” said on Jan. 2 before the Ether rally that ETH is likely heading to $800. He said:

  “ETH thesis still on track, daily close thru $620 we’d head to $800. I built a large long position in December and assuming $ETHBTC can hold a higher low, I think it’ll play out nicely. I should have had more BTC long exposure vs ETH in December, hoping ETH outperform for Jan.”

  What happens next?

  Ethereum has another major catalyst on the horizon as the CME futures exchange plans to launch ETH futures in February.

  Considering the high level of institutional demand for Bitcoin since the first quarter of 2020, the demand could also boost Ether upon the listing.

  

  Google searches for “Bitcoin.” Source: Google Trends

  Meanwhile, Bitcoin remains on an upward trajectory of price discovery, hitting new record highs on a daily basis. With a purported supply shortage and an institutional buying frenzy now spilling over into retail, the rally may still have a lot more room to run with $35,000 likely being the next psychological level to break. 

  As Cointelegraph reported, six-figure predictions have become increasingly common in recent months, particularly as the rally has broken new all-time highs.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 18:02

• Let's Talk About "Super-COVID" And Other Mutations
  Let’s Talk About “Super-COVID” And Other Mutations

  Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog,

  There have been a lot of scary headlines out there about new strains of Covid and even “super-Covid.” This is causing a lot of people to freak out because they’re thinking, “Holy cow, is this thing getting even worse?”

  

  Keep in mind I am not a virologist or a medical professional. Neither are the politicians taking advantage of this crisis, the folks pimping Big Pharma drugs, or the journalists writing breathless headlines. I’m just another writer out there reading stuff and trying to figure this out, the same as everyone else.

  Viruses mutate

  “Mutation” is a scary word. It brings to mind every sci-fi nightmare brought to life on the big screen of some lab-born creature that gets totally out of control. It makes you think of rats so big you could saddle them and ride them. Crazy, terrifying stuff.

  But viruses mutate. It’s the nature of a virus.

  To survive: unlike plants, animals and other organisms, the only way a virus can reproduce is through a host cell, which it does by attaching its surface proteins to the cell’s membrane and injecting its genetic material into the cell. This genetic material, either DNA or RNA, then carries with it the instructions to the cell’s machinery to make more viruses. These new viruses then leave the cell and spread to other parts of the host organism.

  But host organisms are not passive observers to this process, and over time a human’s or pig’s immune system can learn from these encounters and develop strategies to prevent reinfection. The next time the same virus comes to a host cell, it may find that it is no longer able to attach to the cell’s surface membrane. So to survive, viruses must adapt or evolve, changing its surface proteins enough to trick the host cell into allowing it to attach. (source)

  So while the headlines are scary – and meant to be – it’s perfectly natural that this virus has changed.

  This isn’t always a bad thing.

  All mutations aren’t “bad” mutations. The fact that a virus mutates doesn’t mean that the virus is “worse.” I know when a virus mutates in a movie or book, it’s always the bane of humanity but in reality a mutation isn’t always a bad thing.

  What about this Super-Covid business?

  Again – it’s a mutation – a change, but not necessarily more deadly.

  A preliminary study published May 5 at bioRxiv.org, for instance, found a mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 spike, a protein on the outside of the coronavirus that allows it to break into cells. This new variant is now found more often in places like Europe and the United States than the original form of the coronavirus. That may mean the change makes the virus more transmissible, the authors concluded. But the study lacked laboratory experiments to support the claim.

  Other explanations could also explain the pattern. The SARS-CoV-2 variant with the mutation could have ended up in certain regions thanks to random chance — a person infected with a virus that had the new mutation just happened to hop on a plane — and might have nothing to do with the virus itself. The study didn’t provide enough evidence to distinguish among the possibilities.

  “What I think has been potentially confusing to people is that we’re watching this very normal process of [viral] transmission and mutation happen in real time,” says Louise Moncla, an evolutionary epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “And there’s this real desire to understand whether these mutations have any functional difference.” (source)

  The evolution of a virus can have many different results – it can change the symptoms, it can make it more contagious, it can make it more deadly, or it can make it milder in order to affect more hosts. Just the fact that the virus mutated is not a death knell. It’s normal.

  What about “Super-Covid?”

  The new strain that the media has nicknamed “Super Covid” may not be as scary as it sounds. What researchers have discovered so far is that it’s more contagious than the former less-than-super Covid – although they’re not absolutely positive this is true. (Emphasis mine)

  After initial caution last week, scientists are becoming more convinced that the VUI-202012/01 variant of coronavirus is more transmissible. On Monday, experts from the U.K.’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) told journalists that the group now has “high confidence” that the strain has a transmission advantage compared with other variants. This compares with the “moderate confidence” that the committee said it had in a meeting on Dec. 18.

  That might seem obvious given how quickly the strain appears to be spreading, but it can be hard to exclude other explanations such as a super-spreader event giving the variant a boost — particularly since scientists don’t know what might be making the viral strain more infectious. However, scientists from NERVTAG said that looking at the genetic data of the virus alongside the epidemiological situation had convinced them of its higher rate of transmission. They noted that the strain was able to keep spreading during the November lockdown in England, even while rates of infections for non-variant coronavirus fell. (source)

  The new variant was first discovered in the UK, so more research on it has been done there than anywhere else. According to UK Minister of Health Matt Hancock, there’s no evidence to suggest this mutation is deadlier than the one with which we’ve been dealing.

  Addressing the House of Commons, Hancock said scientists had pinpointed more than a thousand cases involving the new variant that “may be associated with the faster spread” in regions including London.

  “There is currently nothing to suggest that this variant is more likely to cause serious disease and the latest clinical advice is that it is highly unlikely that this mutation would fail to respond to a vaccine,” he told MPs. (source)

  It’s even possible that the higher transmissibility could be a positive thing. Sometimes mutations like this make the disease less virulent and if that were the case – we don’t know if it is or not – then we’d be closer to seeing the virus burn out naturally as more people develop T-cell immunity from having had the virus (or having been exposed and fought it off.)

  Having a robust cellular immunity for at least for six months after even mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, is good news.

  “This data is reassuring,” lead study author Paul Moss, from the University of Birmingham, told a Science Media Centre briefing. As in any other study, further research is recommended to show whether or not such level of immunity can fight off re-infection, or how long the protection lasts. “We need to have much larger population studies to show that,” Moss told journalists. (source)

  This is how a virus “burns out.”

  There’s a lot we don’t know.

  I’ve had Covid (even though 50% of the comments on my article about it said I didn’t) and it was a miserable experience. Bloodwork afterward showed I have antibodies against the virus for now, which provides me with some natural protection – for how long, nobody seems to know.

  From a preparedness standpoint, there’s nothing you need to be doing differently now than you were doing before. Remember that there are all sorts of knock-on effects (personal economy, mental health, supply chain issues, medical freedom) we should be preparing for and the emergence of new strains has not changed any of that.

  Focus on what you can control, not on media-driven hysteria.

  The new strain is something with a lot of unknowns, but the few things we currently do know point to it not being a major escalation of our situation. If more people get it and get a milder case, then it stands to reason that more people will have some natural immunity.

  Again – we don’t know this for sure – but don’t let the headlines about “super-covid” and mutations freak you out. Nobody really knows if this will be worse, and the current evidence isn’t pointing to anything apocalyptic.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 18:00

• Israel Delivers Second Iron Dome Missile Battery To US Army  
  Israel Delivers Second Iron Dome Missile Battery To US Army  

  This weekend, the Israel Ministry of Defense delivered the second of two Iron Dome anti-air missile defense systems to the U.S. Army. 

  Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Israel National News that “the delivery of the Iron Dome to the U.S. Army once again demonstrates the close relations between the Israel Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense.” 

  Gantz continued: “I am confident that the system will assist the U.S. Army in protecting American troops from ballistic and airborne threats as well as from developing threats in the areas where U.S. troops are deployed on various missions.”

  Watch: Israel Deliveries Iron Dome To U.S. Army

  Israel National News said the Iron Domes “will be employed in defense of U.S. troops against a variety of ballistic and aerial threats.” There was no mention of where the new missile defense system would be deployed. 

  How The Iron Dome Works

  

  In August 2019, the U.S. signed a landmark deal with Israel to procure two Iron Dome systems. 

  Co-developed by Raytheon and Israeli defense firm Rafael, the system has been touted by Israeli leaders as the most advanced short to mid-range interceptor in the world with a proven track record of shooting down Hamas rockets from Gaza.

  Iron Dome In Action 

  

  Tel Aviv announced the Iron Dome’s kill rate was around 86% when in May 2019, about 700 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip over a few days. 

  The Iron Dome success rate is so high that even Saudi Arabia has been a buyer of the missile defense system. 

  The question now: Where is the U.S. Army going to deploy its new Iron Dome system?

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 17:30

• Pelosi Secures 4th Term As Speaker, Democrats Break Quarantine To Vote
  Pelosi Secures 4th Term As Speaker, Democrats Break Quarantine To Vote

  In a dramatic 216-209 vote, Nancy Pelosi secured her fourth term as Speaker (which she vowed would also be her last).

  

  In order to secure the narrower than expected victory, reporter John Bresnehan pointed out that at least three members broke COVID quarantine to attend swearing-in ceremonies and the all-important speakership election Sunday, and in addition to those three, as Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle reports, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-FL), attended the vote to back Pelosi after testing positive for the deadly virus just six days ago.

  “3 members who are still in COVID quarantine will be allowed to cast a today, per a statement from Brian Monohan. 2 Dems, 1 R. They will cast vote in special area in House gallery. This shows stakes of today’s Speaker vote. Members were not named in statement.

  Rodney Davis, top Republican on the House Administration Cmte, is very upset about this “Popemobile” built in the House Gallery for quarantined members.

  He says the “only reason this is happening is because Speaker Pelosi needs to be re-elected speaker.” “It’s shameful.”

  Davis says Monahan won’t tell him who members in quarantine are but says they’ve had negative tests.

  “It’s horseshit. You can quote me on that.”

  A senior GOP congressional aide ripped Pelosi, calling the decision to bring these coronavirus risks into the House solely to secure a second term as Speaker a “speakership election super spreader event.”

  And so, as Congress gets back to the people’s business, first up is the “gender neutral”-zation of speech on the floor:

  According to Pelosi, the Democrats’ House rule changes will “honor all gender identities” by “changing pronouns and familial relationships… to be gender-neutral.”

  Terms like “father” and “mother” would be replaced by “parent.” “Brother” and “sister” would be axed in favor of “sibling.” Under these rules, House members would be required to refer to their “husband” or “wife” as their “spouse” or their son(s) and daughter(s) as child(ren).

  Pelosi has yet to set any kind of example for following the rules she would demand of others.

  This is her Twitter bio as of the authoring of this very post. Notice any gender-specific terms?

  

  Both “mother” and “grandmother” would be verboten under Pelosi’s new rules for the House.

  Finally, as a reminder, before Pelosi was re-elected as Speaker in 2018, House Democrats and Pelosi agreed to term limits for the top three Democratic leaders in the House, which Pelosi agreed would stop her from another run at speaker in 2022, Roll Call reported.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 17:09

• Sen. Gohmert Says Republicans Need To Match Antifa, BLM Violence After Court Quashes Electoral Suit
  Sen. Gohmert Says Republicans Need To Match Antifa, BLM Violence After Court Quashes Electoral Suit

  Senator Louie Gohmert (R-TX) suggested that Republicans should be ‘as violent as Antifa and BLM‘ after US District Judge Jeremy Kernodle tossed out his lawsuit which argued that Vice President Mike Pence has the authority to unilaterally overturn the 2020 election results based on widespread claims of fraud in several states, according to Bloomberg.

  

  “If the bottom line is, the court is saying, ‘We’re not going to touch this. You have no remedy’ — basically, in effect, the ruling would be that you gotta go the streets and be as violent as Antifa and BLM,” Gohmert told Newsmax in a Friday night interview.

  Hilariously, Bloomberg describes Antifa as “a loosely-aligned movement that opposes fascism.”

  On Thursday, Kernodle ruled that Gohmert hadn’t sufficiently argued that he suffered an injury by any action by Pence, and therefore had no legal standing to sue. The judge didn’t consider the merits of the case in his decision.

  “Congressman Gohmert’s alleged injury requires a series of hypothetical — but by no means certain — events,” wrote Kernodle – a 2018 Trump appointee, adding “Plaintiffs presuppose what the Vice President will do on January 6” and “which electoral votes the Vice President will count or reject from contested states.”

  Gohmert argued that Pence has the power to hand Trump a second term by simply rejecting swing states’ slates of Democratic electors, and instead choosing competing GOP electors when the Senate and House meet jointly to open and count certificates of electoral votes on Jan. 6. Election experts have said such a finding would create a major conflict of interest. -Bloomberg

  Gohmert filed a notice of appeal late Friday, which was promptly dismissed Saturday morning.

  Pence, who constitutionally presides over the Senate, will oversee the counting of Electoral College votes on January 6. In a Thursday filing via the Justice Department, Pence urged the judge to reject Gohmert’s suit, arguing that the Texas congressman should have sued the US Senate or House of Representatives if he disagreed with the way Electoral College votes are counted.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 01/03/2021 – 17:00

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