Today’s News 5th February 2022

• Brandon Smith: Leftists Use Mass Censorship Because They Don't Have The Guts To Engage In Fair Debate
  Brandon Smith: Leftists Use Mass Censorship Because They Don’t Have The Guts To Engage In Fair Debate

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  Why is censorship the go-to tactic for leftists?

  Well, if you ask them they won’t deny their love affair with the memory hole. In fact, most leftists will vehemently defend censorship as absolutely moral and for the “greater good.”

  Their position is basically this: We live in a “society”, and some ideas, thoughts and words are “dangerous” and destructive to that society. Therefore, those ideas and words must be eliminated from open discussion so they can protect society from itself.

  

  But who gets to decide which ideas are dangerous and destructive? It’s rather convenient that the political left has anointed themselves the pure and objective arbiters of our culture. Purity within leftist groups is measured by expressions of “empathy” (virtue signaling). They are the thought police because, somehow, they believe they are the most empathetic.

  True empathy is of course impossible to measure in another human being. You could very well be dealing with a narcissist or psychopath that is very good at pretending they care and have a conscience. They might say all the right things and have all the right opinions in public, but in their private lives they are malicious and take pleasure in causing pain in others. Humans are utterly fallible, which is why all systems of freedom seek to decentralize power through checks and balances and avoid mass censorship. All systems that value freedom and peace seek to eliminate the existence of thought police.

  Leftists (and globalists) have sought to circumvent checks and balances as well as free speech protections through a number of tactics. In much of the western world they pay lip service to free speech rights when it is convenient for them, but most European nations and countries like Australia have NO legitimate constitutional measures that restrict governments from easily initiating speech suppression laws whenever they want. The draconian restrictions put in place over covid have proven this beyond a doubt.

  This is what makes the US so unique as a culture, and it is the reason why leftists have pursued other methods to silence dissent.

  In America, the left has partnered with the corporate world and is attempting to use “business rights” as a means to attack and diminish conservative voices. That is to say, they think that if they can harass and pressure a business to deplatform their opposition then this is a technically legal tactic because a business has a right to associate or not associate with whoever they choose. If the power of government cannot be used to muzzle their opponents, then the power or corporations and Big Tech can be just as effective.

  Of course, most Big Tech corporations are NOT private businesses. They rely heavily on government subsidies and tax incentives in order to survive. If Google had to pay for the massive amount of bandwidth that it has used in the past decade they would have gone out of business a while ago, but with federal government incentives Google is given an immense advantage over its competition. In terms of state subsidies companies like Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook rake in billions.

  That’s your tax dollars going into the pockets of the same corporations that claim they have the right to censor you for your political views. If they want to censor the public, then we should take away all the subsidies and the tax dollars; it’s that simple. We can let those companies implode without our money to support them.

  We have seen Big Tech and social media companies silence tens of thousands of conservative’s over the past few years. The whole time these companies and the media have denied that they specifically target people on the political right (which these days means anyone to the right of full bore communism and globalism). This gaslighting has been debunked over and over again. It is undeniable that conservatives are far more likely to be blocked or banned from social media than people who express leftist views.

  Once confronted with the data that proves Big Tech is biased in favor of the left, they switch gears to the same old circular argument: “Well, conservatives are banned more from social media because they are the people always posting dangerous and destructive ideas…” And we’re right back to where we started.

  So let’s just establish some basic facts here before moving forward in order to avoid any misunderstandings about the left…

  FACT 1: Leftists are rabidly pro-censorship. This is not up for debate. As the leftist New York Times argued in 2019, “free speech is killing us,” specifically in reference to conservative speech. They will say conservatives do the same thing and this is simply not true. We are not living in the America of the 1960’s when religious suppression of language was prominent; we are living in the America of the 2020’s where leftists have insinuated their own bizarre cult of Puritanism into US life and are viciously seeking to silence anyone that disagrees with them.

  FACT 2: Leftist censorship almost always aligns with the policies and desires of establishment elites. It is a mistake to assume that corporations are being “bullied” by the left. On the contrary, corporate elites and globalist foundations are the people influencing leftist activists and molding social justice movements to serve establishment interests. Look into the background of any SJW movement and your will find hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and so on.

  Leftists take their marching orders from the corporate elites. Why are leftists so aggressively pro-vax mandate, for example? Because the establishment media told them they must be – When Trump was in office and the media was anti-vax, leftists were mostly anti-vax. When Biden entered the White House the media became militantly pro-vax and so did the vast majority of leftists. They have no individual autonomy and no original thoughts; they are a hive mind waiting around for the establishment to tell them what to think.

  FACT 3: Leftists believe the ends justify the means no matter the consequence, and they view contrary facts and evidence with disdain. You will almost never see a leftist argue on the basis of merit, logic or results. They will ALWAYS argue based on emotional justification, righteous indignation and the projection that anyone that disagrees with them MUST be a terrible or evil person that has malicious intent.

  This is why their go-to attacks are consistently personal; they use accusations of bigotry, racism, sexism, etc. in order to avoid discussions on facts and evidence. Because if facts and evidence are being presented by a “literal Nazi” then all of those facts become null and void and the person can be ignored.

  FACT 4: Leftists believe the mob is the law and all other laws and principles must be subservient to the dictates of the “majority.” Leftists are obsessed with majority rule and obsessed with manufacturing consent by manufacturing a false consensus. In other words, leftists believe that if they can trick or coerce 51% of the population to think the way they do, then they have won and all of their actions are sacrosanct by the virtue of the majority. They actually believe that the other 49% of the population must submit to their dictates because the majority is god.

  In truth, the mob is almost always wrong and the “majority” has a tendency to be the lowest common denominator and the most ignorant within a society.

  If they can’t obtain that precious 51% of the population, then they will try to pretend as if they are the majority anyway. They will use coordinated mob attacks on their opponents to make it appear as if millions of people are against them when the mob is actually only in the hundreds or thousands. Exposure of their true numbers is like Kryptonite to leftists and they would rather disband than admit being in a tiny minority. They will respond by claiming the group “never existed” and is a “figment of conservative paranoia.”

  FACT #5: If leftists could rule at the barrel of a gun, they would. Leftists are absolutely in favor of imprisoning political opponents and anyone that speaks against them, and many of them openly applaud the idea of murdering conservatives because of their ideals. Just look at how they defended the Waukesha mass killing by a BLM activist as “karma” for the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. There is no such thing as a peaceful end game for the political left. The violent direction their ideology is traveling is obvious.

  But what is all the subversion and chicanery meant to accomplish? Why not confront their opponents directly instead of using subterfuge? Because they are afraid. They are terrified of legitimate debate on fair ground based on reality instead of emotional fantasy. They will do anything to avoid direct confrontation because they know they will lose.

  Their common tactics include subversion, bait and switch, ambushes, and always choosing the ground that a confrontation takes place so they can control the debate and shut down their opponents whenever they start losing. This does not mean that I think that every website and platform out there is supposed to exist with no rules and no restrictions; that’s impossible by the simple fact that trolls and saboteurs exist. But leftists don’t engage in case-by-case censorship, they rely on mass censorship and enormous corporate partners to strong arm people. They aren’t interested in an honest disagreement with a respectful platform user, they are interested in silencing everyone that disagree regardless.

  I can’t help but once again use the example of the leftist Jihad against Joe Rogan to illustrate my point. The left hates Rogan because he allows both political sides to have a voice on his show, and his show is bigger than anything the leftists and the mainstream media can hope to achieve. Leftists believe that if they cannot control something, then they must destroy it. An open platform that treats conservatives and their views fairly cannot be allowed to exist, so Rogan becomes a top target of the political left.

  Rogan is targeted over his position on the covid pandemic and the vaccine mandates, but these are merely vehicles that leftists think they can use to rationalize the mass censorship they wanted long before the pandemic was a thing. They believe that the argument that “millions of lives are at risk” supplants all other debate. That is to say, the more people that die from covid, the happier they are because those bodies can be used are fuel to push their ideological cult forward to greater power.

  The interesting thing about covid, however, is that it turns out NOT to be a very effective vehicle for the leftists in terms of using bodies to buy control.

  As we saw when Joe Rogan confronted CNNs top medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his show, the political left is easy to destroy when it comes to debate on the response to covid, and it is a prime example on why leftists usually avoid debate on fair ground. When Rogan contracted covid the leftists were practically dancing in the streets looking forward to his imminent death. These people are so stupid they don’t seem to realize that on average over 99.7% of ALL PEOPLE that contract covid will easily survive it.

  I have now had the virus twice, about two years apart, and survived both times without any treatment and without vaccination. Rogan fared even better than I did, beating back covid in just a few days, most likely because he had access to Ivermectin. The leftists and the media went into a rage after Rogan’s easy recovery. Instead of admitting defeat and admitting that vaccines are not necessary when dealing with covid, they attacked Rogan’s method of treatment, accusing him of spreading medical misinformation and promoting “horse paste” (Ivermectin). To clarify, Rogan is living proof that easy treatment of covid is possible, and this made the left angry enough to spread lies about him and his treatments.

  During his debate with Sanjay Gupta, Rogan annihilated CNN’s assertions on Ivermectin and treatment for covid in general. Remember, Gupta is CNN’s top medical correspondent, Rogan is not a doctor at all, yet, Rogan wiped the floor with Gupta because the leftists have no leg to stand on when it comes to covid. When the debate ground is fair and these people have to actually defend their claims based on facts and evidence, they lose every time. They can’t beat Rogan on the facts, so they seek to beat him through censorship.

  Multiple studies have now been released which prove that Ivermectin is a safe and effective treatment for covid, greatly reducing the number of hospitalizations and deaths. But, because leftists and the establishment only want vaccinations (for some reason…), millions of lives have been lost that could have been saved. What this shows is that leftists do not actually care about saving lives, they only care that people submit to their agenda. The covid vaccines are ineffective and unnecessary, but they represent public fealty to leftist authority, and that is all that matters.

  There is even less logical support for the vax mandates, which are designed to force people to accept vaccines through coercion. Leftists claim this is not force because they think force only entails holding a gun to someone’s head (which they would do if they thought they could get away with it). This is not reality. Force also includes taking away people’s rights and removing them from the economy. It includes making people’s lives miserable until they “choose” to comply.

  The biggest leftist lie when it comes to covid and the primary justification for the authoritarianism and censorship is the claim that unvaxxed people are a threat to everyone else, and they have no right to put other people at risk. Again, you will never see a leftist try to defend this moronic claim in a fair debate forum because it cannot be supported. If the vaccines worked, then vaxxed people should have nothing to fear from the unvaxxed. If vaxxed people still have to worry about contracting covid and dying from covid, then the vaccines MUST NOT WORK.

  And this is the reality leftists and the media do not want to talk about. Vaxxed people are just as likely to transmit the virus to others. Vaxxed people are just as likely to contract covid as the unvaxxed. Vaxxed people still end up in ICU and still die from covid, and some state numbers indicate that vaxxed people are more likley to die from covid. As a point of reference, in the state of Massachusetts alone there have been over 262,000 fully vaccinated people who still ended up infected with covid and 1054 deaths according to official numbers. That is an infection fatality rate of 0.4%, which is HIGHER than the national average IFR of 0.27%.

  To summarize, the vaccines are pointless and vax mandates are criminal. Leftists cannot defend either one on scientific or moral grounds. Their only option is to silence anyone who has the guts to talk about the truth. They are weaklings with no reason in their heads, and these are the types of people that always turn to mass censorship as a tool to legitimize their ideology.

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  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 23:40

• A Record Number Of Robots Joined American Workforce In 2021 Amid COVID Labor Crunch
  A Record Number Of Robots Joined American Workforce In 2021 Amid COVID Labor Crunch

  The impending takeover of the American labor market by robots now has a trade group to represent its interests. It’s called the Association for Advancing Automation, or A3, and according to them, 2021 was a boom year for sales: more robots joined the American workforce last year than ever before. And 2022 promises to beat those numbers by a solid margin, as early indications suggest the jobs market saw another COVID-driven contraction during January.

  

  Companies across North America laid out more than $2 billion for almost 40K robots in 2021 as large swaths of the human labor force suddenly became immobilized by COVID and the economy-crushing lockdowns impsed not just in the US but across the globe – wreaking unprecedented supply-chain crushing havoc inside the engine of global trade.

  And with demand, as it happens, surging now more than ever, the increasingly common shortages in stores across the country have made clear: it’s time to bring in the robots.

  And according to A3 data cited by Reuters, companies across North America spent $2 billion for some 40K robots in 2021. Robots went to work in a growing number of industries, expanding well beyond their historic home base in the automotive sector.

  As the sales chief for one robotic “logistics” firm so eloquently put it, humans need food, sleep and well enough to work. For robots, none of this is true.

  “With human labor, what they produce depends on if they’re hungry or are they tired or have they had their coffee,” said Brian Tu, chief revenue officer for DCL Logistics in Fremont, California, which started installing robots on e-commerce fulfillment lines during the pandemic. Robots are dependably fast and do not take breaks.

  Factories and other industrial users ordered 39,708 robots in 2021, 28% more than in 2020, according to the A3. The previous annual record for robot orders was set in 2017, when North American companies ordered 34,904 robots valued at $1.9 billion.

  And there are other signs of robotics’ growing influence on the labor force, such as their increasing use across a broader range of industries.

  As recently as 2016, more than twice as many robots were sold to auto makers as to all other industry sectors combined. But in 2020, other businesses eclipsed automakers as buyers of the advanced machines, and the share of robots going to non-auto companies grew further in 2021.

  The list of industries that have seen the biggest increase in robot usage corresponds with those that have experienced the biggest disruptions from the pandemic: food processing plants, and e-commerce (as demand for packages soared).

  E-commerce is another fast growth sector. At DCL, which has five U.S. fulfillment centers and will soon open a sixth, the lines that have gotten robots can operate with fewer people – yet produce 200% more, according to Tu.

  “We still have employees working around the robots,” he added, “but we can reduce labor by roughly half.”

  But setting aside the question of efficiency, the biggest driver of automation in manufacturing remains necessity amid a paucity of workers.

  “The number one driver for automation is the labor shortage in manufacturing,” said Joe Campbell, a senior manager for applications development at Universal Robots, a unit of Massachusetts-based Teradyne Inc (TER.O), which specializes in cobots. And the pandemic is not the only factor driving the change. Universal estimates 2,000 Baby Boomers are retiring daily in manufacturing, robbing factory floors of veteran expertise.

  As we await the latest NFP jobs number to be released tomorrow, employers had 10.9 million vacant positions, nominally below the record 11.1 million from earlier in 2021. There are now an unprecedented 1.7 open jobs for every unemployed worker, and at least one policymaker at the Federal Reserve – St. Louis Fed President James Bullard – sees the US unemployment rate dropping below 3% this year for the first time since the 1950s.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 23:20

• You Can Buy This 27-Ton FBI Mobile Command Center Truck
  You Can Buy This 27-Ton FBI Mobile Command Center Truck

  Authored by Joseph Trevithik via The Drive (emphasis ours),

  It’s not often that you see specialized vehicles that once belonged to the FBI pop up at a government auction, but if you’re interested and have the money to spare you can put in a bid right now on a custom 27-ton command vehicle that the Bureau has retired. The modified 2005 Freightliner Argosy has been stripped of any sensitive equipment, but still has a huge folding satellite dish at the rear and other distinct features that could help turn it into a unique RV or personal command center.

  

  U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is auctioning off the truck, which is presently in Auburn in Washington State and appears to have last belonged to the FBI’s Seattle Field Office. It’s unclear why the FBI decided to divest this vehicle, but Freightliner stopped selling the Argosy line in North America in 2006 and ended production of these trucks entirely in 2020. This may have made it increasingly costly and complicated to operate and maintain this mobile command center. Of course, the vehicle is also the better part of 20 years old now, so the Bureau may just have decided it was time to upgrade. The FBI has and continues to operate a number of different mobile command vehicles of various sizes and configurations.

  

  

  

  At the time of writing, the top bid for the vehicle is $28,423, but this does not meet an undisclosed reserve price. We don’t know how much it originally cost to acquire this mobile command post, but it’s easy to find listings for second-hand tractor truck models of the Argosy line that are tens of thousands of dollars more expensive than the current top bid on this particular vehicle. It’s not hard to imagine that the FBI paid exponentially more than that to buy and outfit this truck.

  In addition to its 27-ton gross vehicle weight rating, this ex-FBI command vehicle, which is powered by an inline six-cylinder Detroit Diesel Series 60 engine, is 42 feet long and 13 feet, 6 inches high at its tallest. GSA doesn’t say how wide it is at base, but it has two sections in the middle on each side that expand outward to provide more working space when in its deployed configuration. Red and blue emergency lights, as well as white floodlights, are located in various positions around the cab and body. The floodlights would have been valuable for supporting around-the-clock operations, especially in austere locations.

  

  

  

  

  

  The cab has a sleeper compartment for the driver and the “trailer interior has [an] open floor plan,” according to GSA’s listing, which adds that there is “NO bathroom or sink.” Three desks and three sets of chairs are also included in the package.

  

  

  

  GSA says that “all FBI mission critical electronics [were] removed,” but as has already been noted, the truck still has a large satellite dish on top at the rear. There is also an extendable mast behind the cab. A picture, seen below, of an FBI Argosy command vehicle from the Bureau’s own website, which was taken in 2009 and may well be of the vehicle now up for auction, shows what looks to be an additional dish on top of the cab that is no longer present.

  

  Pictures attached to the GSA listing show what looks to be auxiliary power generation systems and battery arrays still on the vehicle. These would have been necessary to support what was a robust and secure communications suite inside the truck while it was in FBI service, as well as power the expanding side sections, external satellite dishes, and extendable mast. The vehicle would have had external power outlets and cable jacks that could have been used to connect it to additional offboard systems when deployed.

  

  

  The pictures available show that the vehicle does have an office-like interior with equipment racks, as well as the aforementioned desks, still in place. There is various wiring that one imagines was previously connected to an array of computers, modems, radios, and other equipment. 

  

  

  

  It is worth noting that the truck is apparently something of a fixer-upper, which might further support the possibility that the FBI was having trouble maintaining it before deciding to sell it off for good. GSA’s listing describes the vehicle as “operable,” but adds that the “transmission slips” and “doesn’t go into drive always.” There is a “need to shove in the clutch,” too. Oh, and the battery in the truck’s Viper Alarm System key fob has died.

  “Working condition not guaranteed,” GSA stresses.

  

  Still, as long as the costs to get the truck itself running reliably are not prohibitive, it could still be a worthwhile and cost-effective starting place for another law enforcement or emergency management agency, or similar organization, looking to acquire a mobile command vehicle. There are commercial entities, such as large television stations, which often use similarly configured trucks as mobile broadcast vehicles, that might be interested, as well.

  Of course, it provides ample space for conversion into something else should a buyer be interested in doing so, too. Are looking to stand out from the other RVs at the campground? It would certainly be a very different spin on the “van life” concept.

  If you are interested and have the money to try and meet whatever the reserve price on this ex-FBI command truck might be, you can head over to GSA and put your own bid now, but the auction is closing soon!

  Contact the author: joe@thedrive.com

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 23:00

• Only 3.7% Of Global Leaders Are Optimistic About The Future (& They're Almost All Terrified Of 'Climate')
  Only 3.7% Of Global Leaders Are Optimistic About The Future (& They’re Almost All Terrified Of ‘Climate’)

  Since the start of the global pandemic, we’ve been navigating through tumultuous waters, and this year is expected to be as unpredictable as ever.

  In the latest annual edition of the Global Risks Report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), it was found that a majority of global leaders feel worried or concerned about the outlook of the world, and only 3.7% feel optimistic.

  As Visual Capitalist’s Carmen Ang details below, every year, the report identifies the top risks facing the world, as identified by nearly 1,000 surveyed experts and leaders across various disciplines, organizations, and geographies.

  What global risks are leaders and experts most concerned about, and which ones are posing imminent threats?

  

  Let’s dive into the key findings from the report.

  Methodology for WEF’s Global Risk Assessment

  In the survey, respondents were asked to compare 37 different risks, which were broken down into five categories: economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal, and technological.

  To get a sense of which risks were seen as more urgent than others, respondents were asked to identify when they believed these threats would become a serious problem to the world, based on the following timeframes:

  • Short-term threats: 0-2 years

  • Medium-term threats: 2-5 years

  • Long-term threats: 5-10 years

  By categorizing global risks into these time horizons, it helps provide a better idea of the problems that decision makers and governments may have to deal with in the near future, and how these risks may interrelate with one another.

  Short-Term Risks

  When it comes to short-term threats, respondents identified societal risks such as “the erosion of social cohesion” and “livelihood crises” as the most immediate risks to the world.

  

  These societal risks have worsened since the start of COVID-19. And as emerging variants threaten our journey towards normalcy, the pandemic continues to wreak havoc worldwide, with no immediate signs of slowing down.

  According to respondents, one problem triggered by the pandemic is rising inequality, both worldwide and within countries.

  Many developed economies managed to adapt as office workers pivoted to remote and hybrid work, though many industries, such as hospitality, still face significant headwinds. Easy access to vaccines has helped these countries mitigate the worst effects of outbreaks.

  Regions with low access to vaccines have not been so fortunate, and the economic divide could become more apparent as the pandemic stretches on.

  Medium-Term Risks

  A majority of respondents believe we’ll continue to struggle with pandemic-related issues for the next three years. Because of this, the medium-term risks identified by respondents are fairly similar to the short-term risks.

  

  The pressing issues caused by COVID-19 mean that many key governments and decision-makers are struggling to prioritize long-term planning, and no longer have the capacity to help out with global issues. For example, the UK government postponed its foreign aid target until at least 2024. If countries continue to prioritize themselves in an effort to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, the inequality gap could widen even further.

  Respondents also worry about rising debt levels triggering a crisis. The debt-to-GDP ratio globally spiked by 13 percentage points in 2020, a figure that will almost certainly continue to rise in the near future.

  Long-Term Risks

  Respondents identified climate change as the biggest threat to humanity in the next decade.

  

  Climate inaction—essentially business as usual—could lead to a global GDP loss between 4% and 18%, with varying impacts across different regions.

  Experts also pointed out that current decarbonization commitments made at COP26 last year still aren’t enough to slow warming to the 1.5°C goal set in the Paris Climate Agreement, so more action is needed to mitigate environmental risk.

  That said, efforts to curb climate change and solve long-term issues will likely have negative short-term impacts on the global economy and society. So risk mitigation efforts need to be in place as we work to reach net-zero and ultimately slow down climate change.

  Risk Mitigation Efforts

  People’s thoughts on risk mitigation were gauged in the WEF survey. Respondents were asked to identify which risks our world is most equipped to handle, and which ones they believe we’re less prepared for.

  

  “Trade facilitation,” “international crime,” and “weapons of mass destruction” were risks that respondents felt we’ve effectively prepared for. On the flip side, “artificial intelligence” and “cross-border cyberattacks and misinformation” are areas where most respondents think we’re most unprotected against.

  As society becomes increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure, experts predict we will see an uptick in cyber attacks and cybercrime. New AI-enabled technologies that offer ransomware-as-a-service allow anyone to engage in cybercrime—even those without the technical knowledge needed to build malware.

  How Do We Move Forward?

  Based on the findings from this year’s survey, WEF identified five lessons that governments, businesses, and decision-makers should utilize in order to build resilience and prepare for future challenges:

  1. Build a holistic mitigation framework: Rather than focusing on specific risks, it’s helpful to identify the big-picture worst-case scenario and work back from there. Build holistic systems that protect against adverse outcomes.

  2. Consider the entire ecosystem: Examine third-party services and external assets, and analyze the broader ecosystem in which you operate.

  3. Embrace diversity in resilience strategies: Not all strategies will work across the board. Complex problems will require nuanced efforts. Adaptability is key.

  4. Connect resilience efforts with other goals: Many resilience efforts could benefit multiple aspects of society. For instance, efficient supply chains could strengthen communities and contribute to environmental goals.

  5. Think of resilience as a journey, not a destination: Remaining agile and vigilant is vital when building out resilience programs, as these efforts are new and require reflection in order to improve.

  The next few years will be riddled with complex challenges, and our best chance at mitigating these global risks is through increased collaboration and consistent reassessment.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 22:40

• Malone: The Mass Formation Madness Must Stop
  Malone: The Mass Formation Madness Must Stop

  Authored by Dr. Robert Malone,

  My wife, Jill used to work at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park for the research unit called CRES (The Center for Research on Endangered Species) in the late 1980s. She did primary behavior research on mother-infant dyads, both as an intern and later as an employee. In particular, she was involved in behavioral studies involving Lion-tailed macaques, which are an endangered species of monkey from India. The purpose of the research was to find ways to increase the emotional well being of the animals, as some of these monkeys have significant issues breeding in captivity.

  There was one mother named Polly and her infant daughter Dewa which were particularly interesting. Polly would let her infant girl nurse for a while and when she was tired of it, she would pull her off her nipple and literally hold Dewa’s head to the concrete floor for about 30 seconds. Dewa would scream and chitter – with her little arms and legs flaying around. Then Polly would suddenly let her go and the infant would run screaming away from her. It was horrifying to watch.

  

  Jill observed this pair through infancy. She continued to observe as Dewa grew up and had an infant son of her own. One day, when the little boy monkey was quite small, Dewa got tired of the baby nursing. She literally pulled him off and held him firmly to the ground as he squirmed and screamed- just as her mother had done to her.

  The effects of abuse, neglect and harms done to children can and will pass through generations. Often, these long-term effects on the person are unknown until the person is grown up and has children of their own.

  Our children are our future. They must be protected from heavy handed, ineffective policies that marginally protect adults over the well being of our more precious asset. Our children. Let me write it again for emphasis… our children are our future.

  I have written and spoken out about vaccine mandates for children and why they are wrong. Children are rarely at risk of severe disease from COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 and almost all deaths of children have been those with co-morbidities. The vaccines have a high adverse event profile in children that has not been fully analyzed. This is reason enough to not allow mandates, even State government or regional school board mandates. But I have not written as much about masks, school closures, and the selfishness of teacher’s unions, who are more interested in protecting themselves than children.

  Children are at very little risk from COVID-19 severe disease. Most kids in the USA now have natural immunity, many have been vaccinated, and Omicron is nothing more than a cold for the vast majority of children and adults. Even during Delta, children rarely develop severe COVID-19 disease. They have strong, healthy immune systems. This disease is stratified by age and co-morbidities. We all know this by now. Furthermore, neither masks nor vaccines prevent infection, replication or transmission of the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2.

  There is no reason to mask children in schools. There is no reason to mask children in shops, restaurants, parks, after school program, etc. There is no reason for children to have plexiglass shields around them in the class room. There is no reason why we need to deny children exercise programs, sports, after school care and physical education. It is time to end social distancing programs and let kids be kids. Children are social beings. Having normal social interactions with other people, with other children is critical to growing up in a healthy environment. Social isolation of children is not ok. Sports, after school program, childcare, recreational activities and extracurricular activities need to return to normalcy.

  One important way children learn is by mimicry. Facial expressions of friends, teachers, mentors, parents not only are important for speech development, they are important for children to learn emotional norms and behaviors. We do not know what damage we are doing by masking. At this point, long term effects are unknown.

  Furthermore, the COVID-19 unvaccinated children must be treated no differently than any other child. It is not anyone’s business other than the parent’s whether a child is vaccinated for COVID-19 or not. American’s have a fundamental right to privacy and there is no exclusionary clause for people younger than a certain age. Unvaccinated children or unmasked children should not be segregated, shamed or put in special rooms. They should not be excluded from the playground or sports activities. Society, our government, is doing an unprecedented and known amount of damage to the healthy development of our children. This has to stop.

  COVID-19 testing of our school children needs to end. Not only is it a medical procedure that is being forced upon children, often without their permission, it is not needed. It is uncomfortable and more than that, it is a violation of their bodies. This is particularly true when schools and other social institutions are forcing this test upon children because of their vaccination status.

  As the Biden administration doubles down on masks, testing and vaccines for children, people are waking up. The democrats are creating an army of new republicans and independent families, who are currently and will be voting in the future at the midterms.

  

  That’s a 14-percentage point swing from a nine-point Democratic advantage to a five-point GOP edge, and among the largest advantages the GOP has ever held in Gallup polling.

  As we travel around the country, speaking a conferences, churches, summits and rallies, we hear from parents over and over again phrases like this.

  “I used to be a democrat, but now I don’t think I will ever be able to vote for a democrat again.”

  “ I don’t know what I am anymore.”

  “I am questioning everything I use to believe about the democratic party”

  The science is very clear on our children. The data is clear. Children need to be allowed to have normal childhoods. Our parents who are paying attention know this.

  Our children are our most precious assets.

  If you doubt what I am saying, then Listen to their stories.

  And then listen to what a pediatric cardiologist and a pediatric psychiatrist have to say about this.

  What we are doing is wrong. It must stop. Now. The damage already done will last for decades.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 22:20

• World Food Prices Accelerate In January, Set For Record High
  World Food Prices Accelerate In January, Set For Record High

  In the last two years, the price of agricultural products has risen sharply. This is reminiscent of 2007 and 2011, and new highs in food prices could be reached later this year.  

  Food prices continued to accelerate in January. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) Food Price Index (FFPI), a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, averaged 135.7 points last month, up 1.5 points (1.1%) higher than in December. FFPI nears the 2011’s all-time high and could hit soon hit a record high 

  

  Rome-based FAO said the meat index had the most significant monthly jump, up 17.3%. Next was a 4.2% increase in the vegetable oils index (marking an all-time high), the dairy index rose 2.4%, cereals were flat, and sugar was down 3.1%. 

  

  What’s noteworthy is that inflation isn’t hitting everyone equally. Lowest income folks “feel the pinch the most,” Josef Schmidhuber, deputy director for markets and trade at the FAO, told Bloomberg. “High energy costs and high food costs and high necessities — they account for a large part of their overall expenditures.”

  Rising prices of goods and services have rocketed inflation to its highest level in 40 years. The Biden administration has vowed to tackle the inflation monster, but it appears prices for food, energy, and shelter continue to rise ahead of midterms. Inflation is widespread, and it’s hitting the poorest the hardest. 

  Once thought of as “transitory,” persistence inflation raises alarm bells as soaring prices dent household budgets due to a slump in nominal wage growth. Even though supply chain-produced inflation is temporary, it will have long-lasting impacts on households and could even influence the vote in the upcoming midterms. 

  

  The negative correlation of soaring food prices and slumping polling figures for President Biden does not imply causation. Still, one could argue that four-decade high inflation, squeezing most Americans’ pocketbooks, could indicate widespread discontent for one of the most unpopular presidents in a generation. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 22:00

• AI 'Nanny' Being Created By Chinese Scientists To Grow Babies In Robot Wombs
  AI ‘Nanny’ Being Created By Chinese Scientists To Grow Babies In Robot Wombs

  Via TheMindUnleashed.com,

  The artificial intelligence nanny has arrived. Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) may now be used in conjunction to optimize the generation of human life, marking a significant milestone in the science.

  

  Robotics and artificial intelligence can now assist in the development of newborns via the use of algorithms and artificial wombs, which is eerily similar to what we see in the cult classic, The Matrix.

  According to the South China Morning Post, Chinese experts in Suzhou have pioneered the development of the latest technological breakthrough. However, there are concerns about the ethical implications of raising human beings in an artificial environment.

  The discoveries were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Biomedical Engineering by Suzhou-based scientists. The AI nanny, according to the researchers, might aid in the growth of human kids in a “long-term embryo culture device.”

  This artificial womb is a big machine containing compartments for individual fetuses. The infants will be fed as they would be in a real womb if they are in the chamber, which will be filled with an optimized mix of “nutritious fluids.”

  

  Artificial Womb in “The Matrix”

  In what seems sort of eugenics-y, a record of embryo health and “developmental potential” will be kept on file by the software over the duration of the embryo’s development.

  It probably won’t happen any time soon..

  At the moment, the new technology is being utilized to assist in the development of animal embryos that are developing into fetuses in the laboratory. This is due to the fact that the act of experimenting on human embryos older than two weeks is prohibited under international law.

  Additionally, as the SMCP points out, surrogacy is prohibited in China. Because artificial wombs would effectively convert a hospital or laboratory into a mother under Chinese legislation, the technology is unlikely to be deployed in the area anytime soon.

  Having said that, the development of artificial wombs is not a new concept. While this is not a new discovery, bringing the technology into human mass production and mixing it with ranking AI is, and it is a development that is quite dystopian sounding.

  Of course, not everything is a hopeless dystopia..

  Although the thought of artificially developing human infants is a far-fetched one, there are certain advantages to it. In the past, for example, the process of producing kids within people has been a lengthy, drawn-out, and unpleasant process, and this could potentially aid mothers who would like to have children, but are currently unable to, without having to use a human surrogate. After all, the population is about to start shrinking by the billions by the end of the century and fertility rates around the globe are collapsing at a frightening rate. 

  This seems like more of a “when” rather than an “if”..

  When artificial human growth becomes available, it will enable couples who would otherwise be at danger during delivery to have children. Adoption is also an option for thousands of children currently in foster care who may be placed in permanent families.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 21:40

• CCP Builds "Southern Great Wall" To Seal Off Border And Stop COVID
  CCP Builds “Southern Great Wall” To Seal Off Border And Stop COVID

  As the CCP uses COVID as an excuse to ramp up its mass surveillance efforts in ways that many fear will remain in place long after the pandemic has faded, Beijing has started building what some are describing as another “Great Wall” across the southern border.

  According to WSJ, major construction projects have sprung up in the small Chinese city of Ruili, situated in China’s far south near the border with Myanmar. Most of the construction appears focused on reinforcing a border fence equipped with barbed wire, surveillance cameras and sensors. 

  That should keep the COVID out…

  Moving east, a 12-foot-high fence has been erected abruptly over the last year along China’s border with Vietnam. This wall has a very specific purpose: It stops Vietnamese locals from crossing the border into Chinese villages to harvest corn or sell medicinal herbs. It also gives the area the look of a prison, one local hotelier in Vietnam said. 

  Chinese citizens have taken to calling the new border fortifications “the southern Great Wall” while discussing it on Weibo and on other social media apps. But the authorities have been trying to push another name: “the anti-COVID Great Wall”.

  Across the 3,000-mile-long border, the wall is causing serious disruptions to commerce and trade that are angering some of China’s neighbors (not that there’s anything they can do about it).

  

  In an August letter to villagers in border areas of Yunnan province, Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged locals to “safeguard the sacred land” and unite with state workers to create an “impenetrable” border.

  Elsewhere, party officials in Guangxi, another area bordering Vietnam, urged cadres to “race against time, go all out, resolutely win the battle against the pandemic and defend the ‘south gate'” of China.

  Somehow, WSJ’s reporters managed to get their hands on records confirming that China has built or reinforced fencing across 285 miles of the southern border over the last two years. And given the nature of freedom of information laws in China, that picture is likely incomplete.

  Commerce has been disrupted by the border walls, and the CCP’s paranoia about illegal border crossings has led them to press thousands of villagers into service as unpaid border guards doing volunteer shifts in addition to work.

  And the process of getting cargo across the Myanmar border has also been made extremely tedious.

  Trucks from Myanmar must stop at the Chinese border. Their cargoes have to be sanitized and remain on the Myanmar side for 48 hours. Then, robots and cranes move the cargo onto Chinese trucks. Chinese drivers take the goods across the border, where they are sanitized again and held for 24 more hours before they can be cleared for distribution inside China.

  Although at the very least, authorities have started to actually allow cargo to cross the border again, something they didn’t do before.

  “At least now we can restart our business,” said Chen Yunzhong, a 56-year-old businessman who imports fruits to China from Myanmar. “There was a period of time that I thought I had to do something else to make a living.”

  But the biggest benefit of all is that, for years, Beijing has been trying to tame China’s border with Myanmar because it’s a hot spot for smuggling and drug trafficking.

  Now, COVID has provided them the opportunity to make it happen. As one academic quoted by WSJ put it: “COVID might be the official justification that China is giving for building the buffer zone now,” he said. “But that intention started long before and will govern things long after the pandemic ends.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 21:20

• War Mania Leads White House To Condemn US Senator As Russian Propagandist
  War Mania Leads White House To Condemn US Senator As Russian Propagandist

  Authored by Joe Lauria via Consortium News,

  The extent to which the White House will not tolerate any dissent against its war messaging on Russia was revealed when President Joe Biden’s press secretary on Wednesday condemned a sitting member of the United States Senate as a Russian propagandist for simply questioning the drive to war over Ukraine. 

  Jen Psaki accused Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of “parroting Russian talking points” for sending a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken questioning the drive for war. “Well, if you are just digesting Russian misinformation and parroting Russian talking points, you are not aligned with long-standing, bipartisan American values,” Psaki told reporters at a regular White House briefing.   

  

  Those values are “to stand up for the sovereignty of countries like Ukraine … their right to choose their own alliances and also to stand against very clearly the efforts — or attempts, or potential attempts — by any country to invade and take territory of another country,” she said.

  Psaki added: “That applies to Senator Hawley, but it also applies to others who may be parroting the talking points of Russian propagandist leaders.”  The word “others” is ominous. It can be taken to mean any other member of the U.S. Congress, U.S. independent media or ordinary Americans. 

  Such vilification is designed to take agency away from American elected officials, journalists or private citizens — who are schooled in the American world view and not Russia’s — to think for themselves, examine evidence and come to their own conclusion. 

  Smearing government critics as agents of a foreign power is the oldest trick in the book. Anti-Vietnam War protestors were labelled apologists for Hanoi and critics of the 2003 invasion of Iraq as Saddam stooges.

  Hawley’s letter to Blinken was actually hawkish in tone, talking about Russian ‘threats’ — hardly a Moscow “talking point.” He wrote: 

  “The United States has an interest in maintaining Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. And we should urgently deliver to Ukraine assistance it needs to defend itself against Russia’s military buildup and other threats. Our interest is not so strong, however, as to justify committing the United States to go to war with Russia over Ukraine’s fate. Rather, we must aid Ukraine in a manner that aligns with the American interests at stake and preserves our ability to deny Chinese hegemony in the Indo-Pacific.”

  Hawley asked Blinken for “clarity about the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine’s prospective membership in NATO,” which to remain “viable” must have European members  “increase defense spending above two percent of GDP … especially as the United States shifts resources” elsewhere in the world. 

  

  The U.S. is facing some degree of resistance to war from France, Germany and even Ukraine itself. Germany refuses to send arms to Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron is talking to Vladimir Putin and wants to include Russia in a new European security arrangement, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says there’s no imminent invasion. The U.S. can hardly use the undiplomatic language of accusing all three of “parroting Russian talking points.”

  The White House putdown of Hawley shows how the administration is shutting down debate on the issue most deserving of it in a so-called democracy, namely the question of peace or war. That the White House target is a member of the Senate, which is constitutionally charged with declaring war, is even more alarming. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 21:00

• GoFundMe 'Steals' $9 Million From Canada's "Freedom Convoy" Truckers Under Pressure From Trudeau
  GoFundMe ‘Steals’ $9 Million From Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” Truckers Under Pressure From Trudeau

  Despite initially refusing to cave to pressure from Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and his allies, GoFundMe announced late Friday evening that it had decided not to disburse any more money to the “Freedom Convoy” and its supporters gathered in Coutts, Alberta and Ottawa. Users will now need to request a refund of their donation, or risk the possibility that the company will instead reroute it to an “approved” charity.

  

  As Rebel News Editor-in-Chief Ezra Levant reported in a tweet, GoFundMe has decided to take – or some might say steal – the roughly CAD$9 million that was supposed to be used to pay for supplies like gas, food and other necessities for the truckers and instead dole that money out to charities of the company’s choosing, unless donors fill out a request form.

  Why the company has decided on this policy, instead of instating automatic refunds for donors, isn’t clear. But as Levant joked, “what a windfall” for Black Lives Matter, Greenpeace and Planned Parenthood.”

  At the request of Trudeau, @GoFundMe has just stolen $9,000,000 from the truckers. Rather than automatically refunding it to the donors, they say they’re going to give it to groups of their own choosing. What a windfall for Black Lives Matter, Greenpeace and Planned Parenthood! pic.twitter.com/prEwLnypfe

  — Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) February 4, 2022

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

  GoFundMe claimed that the fundraiser is in violation of “Term 8” of its terms of service clause, and also explained that it often works with local authorities to “make sure we have a detailed understanding…of facts on the ground.”

  The decision was made in order to ensure GoFundMe “remains a trusted platform”.

  Others wondered how any of this is legal.

  How is this legal? https://t.co/2O3sKAOZmL

  — Benny (@bennyjohnson) February 5, 2022

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

  The Ottawa police, meanwhile, insist that demonstrators in the city are acting “unlawfully”. Several have been arrested (mostly for charges that may seem serious but actually aren’t) for making threatening statements on social media and for other issues.

  Ottawa Police have also warned that they will be collecting as much digital and financial information as they can from both the truckers and anybody who donates to support them. In a threatening statement, the police implied that supporters of the Freedom Convoy could face prosecution just for donating.

  Enhanced intelligence operations and investigations: National, provincial and local intelligence agencies have increased efforts to identify and target protestors who are funding/supporting/enabling unlawful and harmful activity by protestors. /11

  — Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) February 4, 2022

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

  Investigative evidence-gathering teams are collecting financial, digital, vehicle registration, driver identification, insurance status, and other related evidence that will be used in criminal prosecutions. /12

  — Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) February 4, 2022

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  At this point, there’s really nothing else for users to do but request their refund (so that GoFundMe doesn’t simply take their money) and never donate to another fundraiser on the platform again.

  Readers can find the link below:

  Here is the link for where you can request your full refund from GoFundMehttps://t.co/Cs5qbRIHzz

  — Cory Morgan (@CoryBMorgan) February 4, 2022

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

  After all, there are plenty other crowdraising platforms out there.

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 20:40

• Fauci Says He’s Mystified By Lagging Vaccine Booster Rates
  Fauci Says He’s Mystified By Lagging Vaccine Booster Rates

  Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  White House COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci said he is confused as to why booster rates are lagging and said he doesn’t “have an easy explanation” for the phenomenon.

  

  When asked by a reporter on Wednesday about why fully vaccinated individuals aren’t getting as many boosters, Fauci noted that “about half” of all eligible Americans have received booster doses so far. Fauci made the remarks alongside COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients at a White House briefing.

  “Why would people who had enough understanding of the risk to go ahead and get the primary series—why we don’t have more getting the booster,” Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, said in response. “I don’t have an easy explanation for that.”

  Fauci said that he believes that federal health data suggests that it is “stunningly obvious” that vaccinated people should get a booster dose.

  “So, the only thing that we can do is to continue to come out with the data and to make sure the American public appreciates why it is so important for optimal protection to get boosted,” he said.

  Fauci’s comments come as several recent studies have shown that natural immunity, or the immunity achieved by prior COVID-19 infection, provides effective and lasting protection. One preprint study published in Italy in late January suggested that natural immunity lasts about 18 months.

  “At 18 months, 97 percent participants tested positive for anti-NCP, hinting towards the persistence of infection-induced immunity even for the vaccinated individuals,” researchers wrote in a study posted to the Medrxiv website, referring to nucleocapsid, a type of protein within Covid-19.

  Meanwhile, other studies have suggested that the Omicron variant may spread more quickly among fully vaccinated populations. In early January, Danish researchers, in a survey of some 12,000 households, found that unvaccinated people are as susceptible as those who are vaccinated.

  At the same time, some U.S. cities have indicated they may start to end certain COVID-19 restrictions such as vaccine passports or indoor mask mandates. Some countries are planning—or have already done—the same.

  “No one can know what will happen next December. But we promised the citizens of Denmark that we will only have restrictions if they are truly necessary and we’ll lift them as soon as we can,” Denmark Health Minister Magnus Heunicke told CNN Monday. “That’s what’s happening right now.”

  Several weeks ago, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that COVID-19-related restrictions like masking and vaccine mandates would end in England.

  And this week, officials in Israel, one of the first countries to implement a COVID-19 pass, said the country’s “green pass” would expire this week.

  “To continue the green pass in the same way can create false assurances,” Nadav Davidovitch, who serves as an expert in the prime minister’s government, told reporters, according to the AFP news agency.

  Passports and other mandates are “not reducing infections in closed spaces like theatres. It needs to be used mainly for high-risk places like hospitals, elderly care homes, or events when you are eating and singing and dancing,” he added.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 20:20

• US Coordinated With Russia Ahead Of Raid Targeting ISIS Leader
  US Coordinated With Russia Ahead Of Raid Targeting ISIS Leader

  A CNN report says the United States and Russia coordinated on some level during this week’s US special forces raid on a compound in Idlib near the Turkish border which ended in the death of the head of ISIS. 

  “The United States coordinated with Russia to deconflict airspace to conduct the raid that killed the ISIS leader in northwest Syria, according to a US defense official familiar,” CNN wrote. Separately, Russian media on Friday is reporting that “America’s successful mission to kill the leader of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) was coordinated with Russia, with Moscow being warned in advance.”

  

  Given the operation was highly classified and reportedly long in planning, this amounts to the Pentagon engaging in high level intelligence sharing with the Russian military in Syria. The two sides have long had a ‘military-to-military’ hotline to avoid engaging in inadvertent conflict. 

  The overnight Thursday operation reportedly involved multiple helicopters and fighter jets circling airspace above Idlib for some two hours or more. It’s also an area where Russian and Syrian government fighter planes are also active. According to CNN, however, the Pentagon did not divulge specifics of the operation ahead of time. 

  Biden had on Thursday morning hailed a ‘successful’ mission which “removed a major terrorist threat” – in reference to the killing of ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, who is believed to have taken al-Baghdadi’s place as head of the Islamic State.

  In total 13 people people reportedly died, and a US Blackhawk helicopter went down in an emergency landing (subsequently destroyed by US operatives), during the daring overnight raid on the terror leader’s hideout.

  .@brett_mcgurk confirms U.S. Special Operations Forces obtained “a lot of information” from the raided ISIS compound that will “lead to other leads” in the war on terror. pic.twitter.com/S1HC2qnhxK

  — Hallie Jackson Reports (@HallieOnMSNBC) February 3, 2022

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  The operation was said to have been “months” in planning, and reports say defense planners and the administration knew it would be a high risk, dangerous raid in the middle of a residential area with women and children present.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 20:00

• Saudi Aramco's Record-Breaking $50 Billion Foreign Listing Is Back On: WSJ
  Saudi Aramco’s Record-Breaking $50 Billion Foreign Listing Is Back On: WSJ

  Nearly two years have passed since Saudi Arabia – having been shunned by the West in the wake of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi – finally abandoned its hopes for an international IPO in New York, London or perhaps even Hong Kong in favor of a much smaller listing on the Saudi Tadawal. 

  Aramco’s Tadawul debut coincided with an internecine price war within OPEC+, which – along with pressure from President Trump were keeping prices high – had helped to keep crude and natty gas prices low for years, until the arrival of COVID. Fast forward to today, and prices of WTI and Brent crude are trading at levels unseen in more than a decade, potentially precipitating a series of energy crises across Europe.

  

  And so, WSJ reported Friday morning that after months of radio silence, Aramco’s management has decided to revive its plans for a foreign listing at a time when global stock exchanges – not only in the US – are desperate to make up for all the business they have lost out of China.

  Management wants to sell up to $50 billion in shares (roughly 2.5% of the company) perhaps in London or Singapore, while also raising some of the money in a secondary offering in Riyadh.

  Aramco remains the world’s largest oil and gas company – and one of the world’s most valuable companies, by any metric – and the $50 billion offering would be the largest single slug of stock sold anywhere, ever.

  But of course, all of this is still in the “planning stage”, which means who knows if it will ever happen – or if the Saudis will back out again (or perhaps be derailed by another international human rights scandal).

  The listing of shares would be by far the largest in the history of capital markets and could prove difficult to pull off. The company set the previous record for the world’s largest initial public offering in 2019 when it raised $29.4 billion on the Tadawul, or the Saudi stock exchange.

  The stake-sale effort is still in the planning stage, and could still be delayed or changed, the people said. Riyadh has floated several different plans over the years aimed at raising funds via Aramco, some of which have ultimately faltered or been abandoned.

  Originally, Aramco had set out to list 5% of the company, but only managed to sell 1.5% in its domestic markets – and it only accomplished that much because MbS resorted to a series of carrots and sticks to entice Saudi businessmen to invest. He even reportedly threatened to jail and torture Saudi businessmen like he had done during his infamous 2017 purge if they failed to kick in enough.

  Since that deal fell apart, the company has sold bonds to international investors and even sold a stake in one of its pipelines to BlackRock.

  agreed to sell a 49% stake in its natural-gas pipeline business to a consortium led by BlackRock.

  Oil and gas prices have surged as Russia has cut supplies of natural gas to Europe amid a dust-up with the West over Ukraine.

  Since being named heir apparent, MbS has been trying to diversify the Saudi economy so the kingdom doesn’t become dangerously dependent on its fossil fuels business. WSJ added that many believe MbS is simply trying to sell shares and diversify before it’s too late.

  Some of the people close to the company said it is trying to cash in while investors still have an appetite for oil-related assets in a rapidly decarbonizing world. Distaste toward oil assets is growing as more investors factor in environmental criteria that determine how they allocate their funds. Aramco is the world’s fourth most-profitable public company after Apple Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

  The bigger question: while MbS has been able to strong-arm domestic investors in the past, $50 billion is a big number at a time when renewables are all the rage. Are there enough potential buyers to justify all those shares?

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 19:40

• Watch: Huge Beef Breaks Out Over Steak Shortage At Golden Corral
  Watch: Huge Beef Breaks Out Over Steak Shortage At Golden Corral

  A Friday night fight erupted at a Golden Corral restaurant in Pennsylvania when dozens of customers fought over steak, according to local CBS affiliate KYW. 

  One former employee told KYW that a fight broke out between 40 people after one customer became mental when the buffet ran out of steak. 

  “There were two parties in line waiting for steak. Somebody had cut in front and then started being picky and finicky about the steaks and taking too long, and then, somebody else spoke up and said something I guess the other party didn’t like. Then, it just looks like it turned into an all-out brawl,” former employee Dylan Becker said.

  

  A viral video circulating on social media shows the chaos of customers punching and screaming at each other over steak. 

  “The social media videos depict the chaos of the scene at the time, and most individuals were gone upon police arrival,” Sgt. Glenn Vandegrift from the Bensalem Township Police Department said. “Thankfully, there were no serious injuries resulting from the fight that we are aware of. Only a few, minor injuries were sustained.”

  “All I wanted was some steak,” one person is heard saying in the video.

  The brawl is one of the first documented incidents where meat shortages resulted in a public fight among ‘hangry’ consumers. Americans will have to get used to third-world conditions as US cattle herds decline and shortages push beef prices to record highs. 

  Meanwhile, the misguided Biden administration is approaching the meat crisis entirely wrong, blaming greedy meat processors for meatflation. But the fact is, there’s a lot more to the story than the White House is willing to admit. From declining herds, labor shortages, soaring shipping costs, snarled supply chains, and rising commodity costs, many of these inputs are increasing costs than greedy meat processors. 

  Long story short, hangry Americans will do anything for cheap meat in today’s inflationary world, even if it means fighting for the last piece of meat in a massive WWE-style brawl at a buffet. 

  Come on, America, you can do better. Just go to your local farm and purchase a quarter cow and have beef for a year rather than resort to a buffet. But then, again, some consumers are like goldfish. Their mental capacity is only limited to days out — so becoming a prepper is seen as “fringe.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 19:20

• Is COVID Still A "National Emergency"? Biden Must Soon Decide…
  Is COVID Still A “National Emergency”? Biden Must Soon Decide…

  Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics.com,

  The omicron variant may be nearing its peak in some states, but across the country it’s produced a dizzying array of conflicting signals on whether the nation should remain under a COVID national emergency or move on to an endemic “new normal.”

  

  Comedian Bill Maher’s “I don’t want to live in your mask-paranoid world anymore” monologue went viral last week, just days after the Atlantic, the standard-bearer journal for the liberal intelligentsia, ran a story headlined: “COVID Parenting Has Passed the Point of Absurdity.” Accompanying the article was a black-and-white photo of a woman frozen in a more desperate and primal state of panic than the subject of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.”

  Omicron, for most people without co-morbidities, produces much milder symptoms than do the coronavirus’s previous variants, but it’s far more infectious, racing through schools, shutting down classrooms and forcing parents to consult their district’s ever-shifting COVID “decision trees” on a seemingly daily basis.

  “When will the emergency end?” Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a mother of seven, asked during the Supreme Court’s recent vaccine mandate hearing.

  It’s a question on most people’s minds.

  As the country and the world enter the third year of the pandemic, many states have moved past the worst of the omicron outbreak, but in other parts of the U.S. the tally is still rising – fueling more questions about whether people are being hospitalized and dying with COVID or because of it.

  There has been no consistent national reaction, leading to even more confusion about whether omicron is the beginning of the end of COVID or just another in an endless series of variants, each with its own dangers and, possibly, silver linings.

  San Francisco last week announced that it will soon replace its indoor mask mandate with a kind of honor-rule system that allows added freedom if someone is fully vaccinated and boosted, although there’s no real verification system. On the other side of the country, however, New York state’s mask mandate is back in effect after an appeals court judge issued a stay on a lower court ruling that struck it down.

  Meanwhile, some school boards in Virginia are in court fighting an executive order by new Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin that allows parents to opt their children out of local school mask mandates.

  After courts struck down the federal vaccine mandate for companies with more than 100 employees, President Biden subsequently rescinded the executive order. Now Starbucks, Boeing and Delta are rehiring employees fired for refusing to get the jab. Yet, other big companies are voluntarily keeping the requirement in place even as it hurts their businesses in the middle of a labor shortage.

  In a particularly worrisome sign for the depleted health care field, nurses – who still must be vaccinated or face firing – are increasingly being allowed to stay on the job if they are COVID-positive but have mild symptoms or none at all.

  As more people get COVID, there’s more natural immunity throughout the population, although just how much each variant provides is hard to know. Coronavirus antibodies generated by omicron infection last at least six months in 88% of cases, according to experts, but after that period the protection rate drops to 74%. Beyond that, it’s hard to predict.

  It’s a disjointed patchwork of conflicting health policies and local responses, reflecting the lack of national consensus about just how disruptive the pathogen should still be.

  While calls are intensifying to transition the country into treating COVID as an endemic disease – a state where its presence is constant but predictable and manageable – the Biden administration’s top experts warn it’s too soon.

  “When you have over 2,000 deaths, 150,000 hospitalizations, and you have people getting infected to the tune of somewhere around 700,000 a day, we’re not there yet,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said last week.

  Fauci, the national COVID icon reviled on the right while beloved on the left, then unveiled a worst-case scenario prediction for 2022: that there could be a new variant that evades vaccines and natural immunity. “I hope that’s not the case,” he said flatly.

  Other health officials and political figures are striking a more hopeful note.

  President Biden last week said the U.S. hasn’t yet reached its “new normal,” but added, “We’re moving toward a time when COVID-19 won’t disrupt our daily lives, when COVID-19 won’t be a crisis but something to protect against and treat.”

  Cynical conservatives argue that Biden, whose flagging poll numbers are hurting Democratic prospects in November’s midterms, is shifting his rhetoric only in an attempt to convey a sense of control and calm ahead of those elections – even though omicron is still making that shift difficult if not impossible for many Americans.

  

  When Biden took office, his plan to stop the virus relied heavily on increasing vaccinations, safely reopening schools, and pushing stimulus bills to help states and local officials battle the pandemic. But Biden and his top officials didn’t (and possibly couldn’t) anticipate omicron and the desperate need for testing that the rapid-spreader would spur. Critics and supporters alike argue the administration’s laser focus on vaccinations, including forcing people to get shots through mandates, came at the expense of producing and distributing more tests and therapeutics.

  “They frankly focused on the vaccine – the vaccine did not end up being as extinguishing as we had hoped … and so they went ahead and added the booster,” Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told RealClearPolitics.

  “In emergencies, the issue isn’t whether you made a decision that turns out not to be the ideal one; the issue is how you recover – and this administration has recovered well.”

  But others argue just the opposite – that Biden waited far too long to pivot to more testing, and that the tests the administration is providing every American for free will only reach most people after the omicron peak has subsided.

  “The Biden administration has failed its COVID test,” declares a recent headline in the Guardian, a left-leaning British newspaper.

  In Europe, where the omicron surges have peaked ahead of the U.S., officials are more optimistic and appear more determined to move on and learn to live with COVID and any variants it spawns. The top European regional official at the World Health Organization recently   that “omicron offers plausible hope for stabilization and normalization.”

  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a week ago announced an easing of coronavirus restrictions in England amid growing calls from inside and outside of his party for him to resign over his repeated violation of the rules.

  Denmark, meanwhile, has announced plans to scrap all of its coronavirus restrictions and reclassify COVID-19 as a disease that no longer poses a threat to society despite infections remaining at record-high levels.

  

  In the next month, Biden must decide whether to extend the national emergency status, which expires at the end of February. It’s a big decision with both practical and symbolic consequences. The emergency declaration, coupled with the public health emergency pronouncement issued by the Department of Health & Human Services, gives the federal government several critical tools to remove legal barriers and regulatory red tape, including the manufacturing of personal protective equipment by sources not yet completely reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration. It also allows HHS to use funding and authority under the Defense Production Act to improve onshore and near-shore production of vital resources. Additionally, it gives Federal Emergency Management Agency the ability to dispense PPE from the strategic national stockpile.

  When it comes to health care providers, the emergency declarations authorize a long list of waivers from federal requirements – including expanding the type of health care professionals who can offer telehealth services billable under Medicare and Medicaid. It also allows hospitals and long-term care facilities to screen patients at locations offsite to prevent the spread of COVID.

  The American Hospital Association earlier this month called on the federal government to renew both emergencies to ensure continued support for heavily burdened hospitals.

  “The emergency declarations have proven critical in equipping hospitals and health systems with the tools and resources necessary to manage the recent COVID-19 surges and ensure high-quality care in this unprecedented environment,” the AHA wrote. “In their absence, the challenges of the pandemic will be exponentially more difficult to overcome.”

  In mid-January, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra extended his department’s public health emergency, continuing the declaration for another 90 days. This is the eighth time it has been extended since Becerra’s predecessor, Alex Azar, first announced it in January 2020.

  But the White House hasn’t said whether it will extend the broader national emergency. A White House aide initially said he would look into the matter but didn’t respond to several follow-up questions from RCP.

  Benjamin suggested Biden could follow HHS’s lead and provide just a 90-day extension instead of the year-long one he issued last year.

  In addition to its practical impact on health care across the country, Biden’s decision will inevitably be politicized. Critics are likely to characterize any move to extend the emergency as proof that Biden didn’t shut down the virus as promised during his 2020 campaign – and to remind voters that the number of deaths during the first year of his presidency were similar to or only slightly less than the first year of the pandemic under Trump, despite having the vaccine in place.

  Critics seized on Biden’s comments to U.S. governors in early January that there is “no federal solution” to the disease. Afterward, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and others tried to explain that Biden meant the federal government cannot solve the pandemic alone without working in partnership with governors and leaders at the local level.

  But that explanation only poured fuel on the fire. Bobby Jindal, the two-term former governor of Louisiana, penned an op-ed for the Washington Examiner arguing that the milder omicron strain should spur a transition to endemic status.

  “Emergency order expiration dates are looming,” he wrote. “… Policymakers need to relinquish emergency powers at the end of the surge and plot a sustainable path forward.”

  Jindal quoted Dr. Monica Gandhi, a University of California, San Francisco infectious disease expert, who months ago predicted that COVID-19 would become endemic, like the flu, always circulating with seasonal peaks. The transition should occur when disease severity decreased and the immunity from vaccines and prior infections increased, she reasoned.

  “We are amid that transition,” Jindal argued in his op-ed.

  Four front-line health care providers also with UCSF agree. Last week they sent an online petition to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, all public school superintendents, and every county public health officer in the state, calling for a pivot in language that recognizes the virus as an “endemic.” This pivot, they argued, should coincide with an end to remaining restrictions, “particularly as they apply to children.”

  The change.org petition had more than 30,000 signatures by Sunday evening. “We are particularly concerned about the toll that our state policies continue to have on children and teens,” the doctors wrote. “We are writing to ask California officials to acknowledge the endemic nature of COVID-19 after the omicron surge and immediately shift our public dialogue toward defining a path for removing all remaining COVID-19 restrictions in public schools.”

  In addition to promising to shut down COVID, the Biden administration pledged to let scientists and public health experts drive its pandemic strategy. But omicron has produced such differing opinions among health experts and scientists that it’s scrambled the plan to have consistent and authoritative public policies, according to some health experts.

  Lindsay F. Wiley, a health law professor at UCLA, said recent missteps by the CDC have once again damaged public trust and reinforced public perception that the administration’s guidance is “pretty chaotic.”

  “There’s confusion after the CDC changes its guidance, and [it] has not always provided a robust explanation or justification for that change,” she told RCP, noting the back-and-forth on mask guidance and more recent changes governing isolation and quarantine that at first did not incorporate any kind of testing.

  But, “the national emergency [declaration] is a much different framework than most people assume,” Wiley added, “so [it’s] still playing an important role and is still an appropriate measure in my opinion.”

  Benjamin agreed, although he recommends Biden extend it for only a few months at a time, instead of continuing the declaration for a full year. Potential new variants are developing, and though Benjamin said they thus far don’t seem too worrisome, he warned of unpredictable twists and turns ahead.

  He described three possible future COVID scenarios. The worst-case one, as Fauci outlined, would involve the development of an extremely infectious and lethal variant similar to delta. Another possibility is more seasonal outbreaks of COVID, as with the flu. And the third, he said, are spats of reoccurring lethal outbreaks in different states, which would require resources being moved around to put those fires out.

  “We’re still tracking other new variants that are developing day by day,” he said. “We don’t think that there are problems, but this is going to be an issue for a while.”

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 19:00

• Apple Maps And Google Maps Blur Tim Cook's House After He Wins Restraining Order Against Stalker
  Apple Maps And Google Maps Blur Tim Cook’s House After He Wins Restraining Order Against Stalker

  Apple Maps doesn’t seem to mind showing the whole world your neighborhood and your house, but when it comes to the privacy of CEO Tim Cook – well, that’s a whole ‘nother issue.

  The company’s Maps app has erected a giant digital wall in Palo Alto, where Tim Cook lives in a “modern, four-bedroom condo,” according to Cult of Mac. Google Maps has also followed suit.  

  

  The change took place after Apple was granted a temporary restraining order against an alleged stalker, the report says. The stalker claimed to be Cook’s wife (who wants to tell her?), had threatened Apple’s boss and was also caught trespassing on his property. 

  Court documents filed in Santa Clara County show “a temporary restraining order against an alleged stalker [that] contained copies of emails sent to Cook,” which included his home address. 

  

  His stalker once wrote to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Tim Cook on Twitter: “I notify you both unfollow each other. I can smell, see, and feel both of you. Tim Cook is my bed man. My husband, my twins’ daddy. Stop doing that shit!”

  Google offered a similar service to Billie Eilish’s primary residence after she was also granted a TRO last year due to a stalker that kept showing up at her home. 

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 18:40

• Anti-Defamation League Changes Definition Of Racism After Backlash
  Anti-Defamation League Changes Definition Of Racism After Backlash

  Authored by Brad Jones via The Epoch Times,

  The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has again changed its definition of racism amidst public backlash, after the organization’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, criticized then accepted the apology of television personality Whoopi Goldberg for making racially insensitive and inaccurate remarks on “The View.”

  On Feb. 2, the organization Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CFER) and 20 other civil rights groups sent a letter to the ADL raising alarm over its definition of racism.

  

  In July 2020, the ADL redefined racism as the “marginalization and/or oppression of people of color based on a socially constructed racial hierarchy that privileges white people.”

  In a press release, CFER called that definition of racism “absurd and narrow-minded” with roots in critical race theory.

  “The far left is waging a culture war by redefining and engineering fundamental concepts that we use daily, including racism, along political and ideological lines,” said Frank Xu, president of CFER.

  “As a society, we must be on high alert and push back.”

  The ADL’s redefinition of racism came into the media spotlight when Goldberg said on the television show “The View” on Jan. 31 that the Holocaust was “not about race.” Greenblatt quickly condemned her remarks on Twitter and appeared in a segment on the show the next day.

  ABC has suspended Goldberg from the show for two weeks.

  

  Whoopi Goldberg attends the world premiere of “Nobody’s Fool” in New York on Oct. 28, 2018. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP Photo)

  In the Feb. 2 letter, CFER and the co-signing partner groups claim ADL’s attempt to redefine what constitutes racism is a “deeply offensive, illiberal, and un-American ploy to ascribe guilt and innocence to individuals on the basis of their race.”

  The groups represented in the letter suggested ADL adopt a definition similar to its former definition of racism: “the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics.”

  The same day the letter was issued, ADL revised the definition of racism on its website to a new “interim” definition.

  “Racism (interim definition): Racism occurs when individuals or institutions show more favorable evaluation or treatment of an individual or group based on race or ethnicity. (Prof. Robert Livingston, The Conversation).”

  ADL did not respond to specific inquiries about the change, but instead deferred to an article written by the organization’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt: “Getting it Right in Defining Racism.”

  The article cites the interim definition as what Professor Robert Livingston of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University calls his “simple definition.”

  ADL, Greenblatt wrote, is trying to adapt to the times, “but we certainly don’t always get it right.”

  “As a case study, take ADL’s definition of racism. A few years ago, ADL updated our definition to reflect that racism in the United States manifests in broader and systemic ways and to explicitly acknowledge the targeting of people of color—among many others—by the white supremacist extremism we have tracked for decades. While this is true, this new frame narrowed the meaning in other ways. And, by being so narrow, the resulting definition was incomplete, rendering it ineffective and therefore unacceptable. It’s true, it’s just not the whole truth.”

  

  Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, places a stone on the Star of David for Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 31, 2018. (Allen G. Breed/AP Photo)

  Greenblatt explained that the redefinition alienated many people, including many in the Jewish community.

  “In all honesty, as I re-read it this past week, it struck me that it didn’t even speak to my own family’s experience with the racism they experienced as Jews from the Middle East,” Greenblatt wrote.

  Greenblatt claims in the article that ADL doesn’t get involved in partisanship or politics but remains focused on what is right and wrong. The group plans to conduct a review on how it develops all its definitions and open the discussion to the public.

  “This moment offers an opportunity to experiment and learn. And so, we are going to open ourselves to comments on our new definition of racism from the public,” he wrote.

  “We are going to invite feedback at adl.org/comments, a new page we have developed specifically to take ideas in a productive fashion and move beyond the mindless trolling on social media.”

  Wenyuan Wu, CFER’s executive director, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 3, that ADL has veered to the “far left” in its political ideology since the summer of 2020.

  Redefining racism was a “political move,” that nobody has challenged until recently, she said.

  “It’s an encouraging development that the ADL, as a reputable and respected civil rights organization, has changed its course on redefining racism by seeking public input. We wholeheartedly welcome open-minded and sincere dialogues with its leadership on how we can collectively advance core civil rights issues such as equality,” she said.

  “At least they have not completely lost their mind on this,” Wu added.

  The groups backing CFER include: the Alliance to Protect Children, America Strong, A Time to Stand, California Policy Center, Center of the American Experiment, Chinese American Citizens Alliance Greater New York, Coalition for TJ, Fair Education Santa Barbara, Free Black Thought, For Kids & Country, I Choose Love Campaign, Moms for Liberty, National Association of Scholars, National Society for the Advancement of Black Americans, No Left Turn in Education, Protect Our Kids, San Diego Asian Americans for Equality, Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation, Stop Critical Race Theory, and TOC Foundation.

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 18:20

• Kim Literally Gallops Off Into Sunset In Latest N.Korea Propaganda Video
  Kim Literally Gallops Off Into Sunset In Latest N.Korea Propaganda Video

  Mystery solved? Is this why Kim Jong Un has been rapidly slimming up? A new North Korean propaganda video shows him galloping swiftly through a forest on a white horse, and ends with the dictator gazing wistfully out toward a sunset while trotting on a beach. For much of the past year there’s been rampant speculation about his health, as Kim has made appearances while getting thinner and thinner. A CBS News report describes of the new footage:

  The propaganda film makes coded reference to the country’s “worst-ever hardships” in 2021, showing footage of Kim carefully making his way down stairs as a narrator describes how his “body has been completely withered away” by hard work.

  Kim Jong Un rides white horse in new North Korea propaganda videohttps://t.co/2cEVgku5gv pic.twitter.com/CElgFGcvT8

  — AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 4, 2022

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

  Among the “worse-ever hardships” has been a reported severe food crisis in the country. The clip above, which is taken from a longer documentary, appears an attempt to show Kim as strong and in control, in solidarity with the people. 

  According to The Hill, the broader film admits the ongoing crisis: 

  A North Korea state media documentary admitted there is a “food crisis” occurring in the country. The two-hour film, called “The Great Year of Victory 2021,” showed North Korean President Kim Jong Un discussing the food shortage, an uncommon admission by the leader, The Washington Post reported. 

  “What is urgently needed in stabilizing the people’s livelihood is to relieve the tension created by the food supply,” Kim said in the movie that aired on Tuesday.

  The country, already in extreme isolation and technically still in a state of war with the south, has been hit by an extended self-imposed border shutdown to keep out the pandemic – impacting trade and the food supply – and also the availability of international aid.

  Everything including badly needed farming equipment has been blocked, exacerbating a crisis also caused by harsher than usual monsoon seasons and flooding of the past couple years.

  

  One analyst at the North Korea Studies at the Sejong Institute, Cheong Seong-chang, described to AFP the symbolism behind the white horse scene: “The horse-riding scenes, in particular, seem to have been produced to show off his health at home and abroad.” He added, “It shows his strong determination and motivation for the new year.”

  Or then there’s some alternate explanations going around…

  And then he eats it https://t.co/BM0uIvZCiu

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 4, 2022

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

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 18:00

• Peloton Shares Surge On Late-Friday-Night 'Anonymous' Report Of 'Suitors' Including Amazon
  Peloton Shares Surge On Late-Friday-Night ‘Anonymous’ Report Of ‘Suitors’ Including Amazon

  After a week of utter chaos in the US equity markets, with unprecedented intraday swings in market caps of the largest companies in history, The Wall Street Journal decided that 1710ET was the perfect time to drop a report, sourcing ‘a person familiar with the matter’ that beleaguered bike-maker Peloton is drawing interest from multiple potential suitors including Amazon.

  

  As WSJ reports, according to people familiar with the matter, Amazon has been speaking to advisers about a potential deal.

  And in what can only be assumed is an effort to promote a bidding war for this cash-burning cow, the ‘people familiar with the matter’ also said that other potential suitors are circling (but that no deal is imminent and there may not be one at all).

  Given the total lack of liquidity in markets – especially so at 1710ET on a Friday – PTON shares exploded over 30% higher in after-hours trading, erasing the losses triggered by a report in January from CNBC that the company faces layoffs and production halts.

  

  Interesting that this ‘source’ would appear shortly after reports that an activist shareholder is calling for the CEO to be fired and the company to be sold.

  Color us skeptical… how long until the AMZN denial….

  Tyler Durden
  Fri, 02/04/2022 – 17:40

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