Nov 05

Today’s News 5th November 2020

  • Watch: "The Coming War On China"
    Watch: “The Coming War On China”

    Tyler Durden

    Thu, 11/05/2020 – 00:00

    Authored by Caitlin Johnstone,

    “The aim of this film is to break a silence: the United States and China may well be on the road to war, and nuclear war is no longer unthinkable,” Pilger says in his 2016 documentary The Coming War on China, which you can watch free on Youtube here or on Vimeo here.

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    “In a few years China has become the world’s second-biggest economic power,” Pilger’s introduction continues.

    “The United States is the world’s biggest military power, with bases and missiles and ships covering every continent and every ocean. China is a threat to this dominance, says Washington. But who is the threat? This film is about shifting power, and great danger.”

    As we’ve been discussing for years now, the relentless quest of the US-centralized empire-like power alliance for total world domination has put it on a collision course with the surging economic powerhouse of China which refuses to be absorbed into the imperial blob. The empire’s continued existence depends upon its ability to undermine China before it grows too powerful or the empire grows too weak to stop its ascent, at which point global hegemony becomes impossible and we are living in a truly multipolar world.

    China has therefore always been the final boss fight in the global campaign of violence and domination by what Pilger calls the “empire which never speaks its name”. And the ramping up of anti-China narrative management by the US government indicates that we are being psychologically primed to accept this world-threatening confrontation, just as Pilger warned in 2016.

    “The danger of confrontation grows by the day,” Pilger says.

    The powerful film breaks down the way the USA has been encircling China with a “noose” of military bases since the Korean War, which all have massive amounts of military firepower, including nuclear firepower, pointed right at China’s cities. Pilger shows the psychopathic toll this has inflicted upon the people who live in the areas where the US war machine has set up shop in the Pacific, including an especially enraging segment on the use of Bikini Atoll natives as human guinea pigs to test the effects of nuclear radiation on people. Also deeply disturbing is the revelation of just how close the US came to launching nuclear warheads at China due to a miscommunication during the Cuban missile crisis.

    The film describes China’s recent history and explains its climb in economic power which led us to this point, and the USA’s generations-long history of provocation and hostility toward its government. It also addresses the silly projection so many westerners harbor that if the US wasn’t bullying and slaughtering the world into compliance, China would take over doing the same.

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    Back in 2016 it was harder for people to see this escalation on the horizon, but now in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic we’re hearing a frantic, disproportionate amount of anti-China sentiment from the Trump administration and its supporters, in the same way we heard Russia hysteria amplified over the last three years by Trump’s enemies. Trump was politically pressured to dangerously escalate cold war tensions with Russia, and he’s now being politically incentivized to pass the blame for his administration’s spectacular failures in addressing this pandemic on to the Chinese government in a way which manufactures support for escalations on that front as well. Two different narratives, same agenda.

    “The new president, Donald Trump, has a problem with China,” Pilger says at the end of the documentary.

    “The urgent question now is will Trump continue with the provocations revealed in this film and take us all to the edge of war?”

    The answer to that question appears to be coalescing. It’s a good time for us all to watch this film.

    *  *  *

    Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics onTwitter, checking out my podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my books Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone and Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge.

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  • These Are The Cities Where People Spend The Highest (Or Lowest) Share Of Their Income On Rent
    These Are The Cities Where People Spend The Highest (Or Lowest) Share Of Their Income On Rent

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 23:40

    Even as apartment rents in Manhattan and San Francisco plunge for the first time in more than 10 years, millions of American millennials, burdened by debt, blinded by poor financial literacy and preoccupied with booking that first post-pandemic vacation still can’t ever imagine owning a home.

    As for what the future holds, many would greet it with a genuine shrug: having children and buying homes is now something people – or, at least, men – do in their 40. As millennials postpone adulthood to focus on paying down their student debt, 30 has become the new 20, and while some might be tempted by the favorable market conditions, signing a lease on that spacious (for New York) Manhattan pad might not be the smartest move, from a fiscal standpoint.

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    Budget-conscious renters looking to take advantage of their newfound ‘WFH’-inspired flexibility might do well to consult this latest study from Hire a Helper, which explores the cities with the highest share of renters’ income going toward rent.

    Across the US, 20% of renters spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. Typically, financial planners say working people should shoot to cover that burden with 30% or less of their income.

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    One of the study’s findings is that cities with larger minority populations tend to see residents paying a higher share of their income in rent.

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    When it comes to the overall rankings, researchers used a ream of Census data to divide cities into three categories, small, medium and large.

    In the ‘Small cities’ category, Miami Beach had the highest rent-to-income ratio, and Woodlands, Texas had the lowest. 

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    In the mid-sized cities category, Springfield Mass. was No. 1, while the cheapest went to Overland Park, Kansas.

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    On the ‘Large Cities’, the top-place finisher for highest rent-to-income ratio was, surprisingly to some, New Orleans, Louisiana, where the median number was 44%.

    In San Francisco, the city with the lowest rent-to-income ratio, that number was just 22%.

    By looking at the median figures from this study, we can gain some insight into how industry can transform property values, and how many in San Francisco who earn more than the median income are still living pretty comfortably, unless they have a veritable mountain of student debt.

    See the rest of the rankings here.

  • An Honest Manifesto For Winning Elections
    An Honest Manifesto For Winning Elections

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 23:20

    Authored by Egon von Greyerz via GoldSwitzerland.com,

    The US election has finally taken place. During the campaign, both candidates have totally avoided the critical issue that will bring the US down in the next four years. The election campaign has been ugly but totally avoided the monumental problem facing the American people.

    Clearly neither of them wanted to tell the voters that he will take over the running of a totally bankrupt country that is likely to collapse economically, financially and morally in the next four years.

    At the end of this article I have set out what would have been the winning election manifesto.

    A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NEVER TELLS THE TRUTH

    Neither Trump, nor Biden has been telling the American people that the US is a totally bankrupt country that has been running deficits for 90 years. (Four small exceptions in the 1940s and 50s. The Clinton surpluses were fake.)

    What an unenviable task to preside over an insolvent nation and be hated by everyone as the country falls into perdition.

    How can anyone be willing to run a nation that needs to borrow half of its budget expenditure. The clear facts are on the table. You cannot erase 90 years of mismanagement.

    The figures tell us the truth. In fiscal 2020 spending was $6.6 trillion and tax revenue $3.4t. So the deficit was a staggering $3.2t. And as history shows us, it can only get worse. The state of the financial system, exacerbated by Covid, guarantees galloping deficits from hereon in.

    US DEBT – MORE THAN $40T IN JAN 2025

    The US federal debt by the time the new president takes over will be at least $28t. This was totally predictable based on a simple extrapolation as in my article from Feb 2018. In the same article I predicted that the debt when the next president takes over in Jan 2025 would be $40t. See graph below. I was probably much too cautious since the way things are going now $40t seems too low.

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    So why hasn’t either candidate told the truth and laid out the facts that the US will need to borrow more than the total tax revenue to pay trillions in Medicare, Social Security, Defence etc.

    DOLLAR HAS FALLEN 98%

    And why is neither candidate telling the people that the consequences of a 90 year deficit policy has led to a 98% fall in the value of the dollar, in real terms, which is against gold.

    Virtually every president in history has boasted about the strong dollar but no one has told the American people that the dollar is hardly worth the paper it is written on. And neither candidate has told the voters that in the next few years, unlimited money printing will be required in a futile attempt to save the US economy and the nation from total destruction.

    Whatever the Keynesians or the MMT crowd say, you can NEVER reach prosperity by printing worthless pieces of paper or pressing a computer button. If these theories were valid, the world could stop working and just print, print and print.

    GOLD TELLS THE TRUTH

    Only gold reflects what is happing to the value of fiat money. But not even gold shows the true situation since the massive amount of paper gold outstanding disguises the true price of gold. But the paper gold market is likely to fail within the next few years as debt explodes and the value of fiat money implodes.

    Because it is the accelerated money printing that will lead to the destruction of the dollar and all paper currencies.

    The current gold price is not even reflecting the money printing and credit creation that we have seen so far. The graph below shows that in relation to US money supply, gold today is as cheap as it was in 1970 when the gold price was $35 or in 2000 when gold was $288.

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    With the expected and required explosion in money supply in the next four years, gold will rise exponentially from here.

    IMPORTANT BUT NOT URGENT

    In his 7 Habits book, Steven Covey told us to focus on the square prioritising matters which are IMPORTANT but NOT URGENT. Sadly most people and especially the politicians and the media focus on the wrong square which says URGENT but NOT IMPORTANT.

    It is in this latter square that today’s instant gratification world spends most of its energy and time. That includes, answering a Text message when you are in an important conversation with someone or always giving a mobile phone incoming call priority over whoever you are with.

    Many business leaders tend to fight short term emergencies instead of planning for the long term strategy and prosperity of the business.

    UK SPENT 3 1/2 YEARS SQUABBLING OVER BREXIT

    Politicians are of course the worst. They seem to go from one crisis to another in their fight for survival. In the UK, the people decided in 2016 to exit the EU. Parliament, big business and the media could not accept the outcome. Nor could the Remainers who lost the vote. Not until Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019 and subsequently won an unassailable majority in Parliament, could Brexit finally be implemented.

    Before that, the UK spent 3 1/2 years debating Brexit and nothing else. The fact that the UK economy was quickly deteriorating, the government did not have time to focus on. Nor did the media which tried everything to sabotage Brexit.

    So the UK spent all this time in the wrong square, just squabbling about Brexit as the walls of Jericho were tumbling around them.

    FOUR YEARS OF SABOTAGING TRUMP

    And exactly the same is happening in the biggest economy in the world. Since Trump was elected 4 years ago, the opposition and the media have totally focused on getting him out of office with any kind of dirty tricks including Russian connections and impeachment.

    So for Trump, there have been 4 years of fighting all kinds of imaginary windmills (Don Quijote). These were windmills erected by his enemies to prevent him to deal with the important and urgent matters like a faltering economy that can only survive on printed money and debt.

    But a politician who is elected for 4 years only, must in any case, after the first 18 months, focus on how to buy votes for the coming election. And the people demand instant gratification and not the hardship necessary to put the economy right.

    A DESPERATE PLEA FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

    And that is why neither candidate has ever dared to conduct a serious discussion about the fact that the US is bankrupt. Below is what the winning candidate should have said. But who would vote for a candidate with the following manifesto:

    “Our nation is bankrupt. We cannot make ends meet and we need to eliminate Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security and Defence totally to balance the budget. That will save us $3 trillion which almost covers the 2020 deficit.

    The problem is that we expect a bigger deficit next year. Covid is paralysing major parts of the country and will be very costly. It will also have permanent negative effects. In addition, we expect major problems in the insolvent financial system. This will necessitate the printing of further trillions of dollars or even tens of trillions.

    But as we print these dollars, we get an ever bigger problem. The value of the dollar will fall precipitously and we will need to print and borrow even more. That will create a vicious circle with a lower dollar, bigger deficits and bigger debts plus inflation.

    So these are the facts. I am obviously very sorry to present these to you but I am certain that there can be no other outcome.

    I sincerely hope that you will elect me on this platform. After all, I am the only presidential candidate in history who has told his people the truth and the real state of the nation.

    And please don’t believe the fake promises of the other candidate. A liar doesn’t deserve to be president.

    Finally, I promise to do my best to manage the coming disorderly collapse of the USA to the best of my ability.”

  • Dollar-Based Businesses "Flourish" In Venezuela While The Country Starves
    Dollar-Based Businesses “Flourish” In Venezuela While The Country Starves

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 23:00

    Venezuela has seen nothing short of a full collapse of its economy over the past several years, as the wonderful benefits of both hyperinflation and socialism continue working together.  

    Now, the path forward for socialist leader Nicolas Maduro seems to have turned to dollarization.

    Despite the fact that it is further widening an inequality gap in a country where its citizens barely have access to water, electricity, gasoline and food, Maduro’s embrace of dollar based businesses have also led to a swanky “dollar underground” in Caracas, complete with “a dozen new delivery services bringing to their doors everything from truffle-salmon poke bowls to electronic cigarettes and $50 gluten-free birthday cakes,” according to Bloomberg. 

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    Caracas

    The dollarization over the country has created an alternate universe of luxury businesses even while the country’s economy has shrunk from 65% over the last 5 years. This year, it’s down 20% alone. The options are “endless” for those with dollars in a country where a majority of its citizens don’t have access to basic items, the report notes:

    In southeastern Caracas, there’s Sam Adams Octoberfest at $2.45 a bottle, Spanish Manchego cheese La cueva del abuelo at $12 for 150 grams, a keto seeds bread for $20 and Omaha Steaks, including a one-pound pork tenderloin for $23.

    But even those with dollars are seeing food prices rise in Venezuela, up 23% since March. 

    Business owner Graciela Beroes, who is the general manager of Lits ice cream company, said: “With just the slightest opening in the economy, we’ve seen innovative and creative ways to create during a crisis.”

    Economist Omar Zambrano said: “The government no longer harasses the small private sector and has allowed dollarization to advance. It creates a comfort bubble that reduces the political pressure of having to maintain an economy that can supply the minimum, especially with U.S. sanctions.”

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    The stocked stores in Caracas almost exclusively take dollars. 

    This has helped some businesses boom. One motorcycle delivery service, called Ubii Go, has expanded to 15,000 users in Caracas, growing 30% every month since March. A market in the Las Mercedes neighborhood was stocked with not only with basics, but with expensive “luxury” food items like plant based meats. They only take dollars. 

    Analyst Diego Moya-Ocampos says the dollarization has been “useful” to Maduro: “In a way, it’s an escape valve so the ruling class that’s increasingly surrounded can access luxury goods and services with a certain quality of life to prevent it from starting to think about a way out. It maintains civil and military loyalty.”

    Valentina Aponte, who sells her art in Venezuela for dollars, concluded: “So much is missing in Venezuela, even something as basic as books. In a place where there’s nothing, there’s room to do pretty much anything.”

    Sure, but we can’t help but think the real question will eventually become: what happens when the U.S. dollar turns into the Bolivar?

  • A Biden Administration Would Keep US Forces In Syria To 'Counter Russia'
    A Biden Administration Would Keep US Forces In Syria To ‘Counter Russia’

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 22:40

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    According to a report from the influential London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, a senior Biden advisor met with a group of Syrians to go over what a Biden administration’s Syria policy would look like. The advisor said Biden would keep a US military presence in northeast Syria to counter Russia and keep reconstruction funds from the country unless “meaningful” political reform occurs.

    The US has a small occupation force in northeast Syria to control oil fields, estimated to be around 600 troops. The US soldiers have had confrontations with both Syrian and Russian forces. The advisor said Biden would maintain this military presence because it “is a deterrent to Russian and regime airstrikes.”

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    American forces in Syria, Getty Images

    On the other side of Syria, in the northwest Idlib province, Turkey backs opposition fighters and is preventing the Syrian government from retaking the province. Idlib is mostly controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formally known as al-Nusra Front, or al-Qaeda in Syria.

    “At the same time, Biden’s approach will look for ways to strengthen the Turkish operations in Idlib, which currently protect nearly three million people from Syrian and Russian aggression,” the advisor said. The US is also waging a secretive drone war in Idlib against Hurras al-Din, another al-Qaeda affiliate said to be more radical than HTS. The advisor did not mention this campaign.

    Syria has been struggling to rebuild from a brutal nine-year war. US sanctions that took effect under the Caesar Act over the summer specifically target the country’s energy and construction sectors. The act allows the US to target any individual, regardless of nationality, that is doing business in Syria and discourages Syria’s neighbors from helping in the reconstruction effort.

    The advisor said a Biden administration would “make clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin that there can be no American, or European, support for the reconstruction of Syria unless political reform takes place.”

  • Companies Join Exodus To Suburbs As Cities Transform Into "Ghost Towns" 
    Companies Join Exodus To Suburbs As Cities Transform Into “Ghost Towns” 

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 22:20

    People and companies are leaving American cities in droves. An urban exodus could persist for a couple of years as the virus pandemic and resulting socio-economic implosion has exacerbated quality of life problems – violent crime, homelessness, rising taxes, and high cost of living – those were some of the reasons, even before the pandemic, forcing city dwellers to rural communities.

    We’ve presented enough evidence (see: here & here & here) of city dwellers fleeing for the exits, some of which was due to the virus pandemic unleashing a technological wave of remote working, allowing these folks to work anywhere with an internet connection. 

    So what about firms? Are they also running for the exits?

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    Over the summer, firms in New York’s financial district mulled over the idea of an exit. At least one real estate company has confirmed that big and small companies are shifting to suburbia, reported Bloomberg. 

    IWG Plc, which operates Regus-branded offices in metro areas worldwide, said in a post-pandemic era, “a strong pick-up in demand” for suburban office space versus major cities has been observed. They said deals for downtown New York office spaces have fallen by 30% since the pandemic’s beginning, citing a 40% surge in southern Connecticut activity. 

    IWG notes big and small firms are moving to suburbia. They said, “sales of small offices accommodating one to two people have jumped 19% amid growing demand for working closer to home.”

    Numerous times this summer (see: here & here & here), we’ve highlighted how the once-bustling New York City has transformed into a “ghost town.” And it’s not just New York City. Major metros across the country are experiencing similar outflow trends of people and businesses. This is also happening in Europe as people and companies shift out of densely populated areas. 

    U.K. housebuilder Crest Nicholson Holdings Plc said housing developments in southern England outside of London are experiencing rising demand as a “structural change to the balance of office and home working” is underway. 

    “This shows the current trend of buyers wanting more space — inside and outside of the house,” Bloomberg’s Iwona Hovenko said while referencing the latest Crest Nicholson report. “But it will be interesting if the trend lasts once the pandemic passes. I am a strong believer in London long-term.”

    Escape from cities, no matter if its people or firms, is happening across the Western world. This is terrible news for metro home prices and will also result in slower economic recoveries for cities. 

    At least now, baby boomers in America who own McMansions and rural corporate real estate have a new wave of buyers to sell to. 

  • Michigan USPS Whistleblower Claims Late Ballots Received Backdated Postmarks
    Michigan USPS Whistleblower Claims Late Ballots Received Backdated Postmarks

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 22:00

    A US Postal Service employee from Michigan has reportedly turned whistleblower, telling Project Veritas that his supervisor instructed mail carriers to collect and segregate new ballot envelopes received after the election cutoff so that they could be fraudulently back-dated with a Nov. 3 postmark.

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    Poll workers count absentee ballots for the city of Detroit

    Whistleblower: “We were told to collect any ballots that we find in mailboxes, collection boxes, et cetera, for outgoing mail, at the end of the day, we are supposed to separate them from the standard letter mail, so they can hand-stamp them with yesterday’s date—and put them through the Express Mail system—to get wherever they need to go,” said the whistleblower, adding “For clarification, today is the fourth of November.”

    James O’Keefe: “Hand-stamp them with Nov. 3’s date?”

    Whistleblower: “Yes

    James O’Keefe: “That seems wrong–“

    Whistleblower: “Yeah, that’s why I am coming forward with this information. That is a very shady—in addition to, as far as I am aware, we’re not supposed to be counting ballots that are postmarked after the third of November here in the state of Michigan.“

    The Insider said he was shocked when Barlow Branch morning supervisor Jonathan Clarke told a group of mail carriers how late ballots would be handled.

    …

    The Insider said there was a process set up for the post office workers involved in the bogus postmark scheme. –Project Veritas

    Listen: 

  • Midwestern States Thrive With Fewer Virus Rules As Second Wave Arrives  
    Midwestern States Thrive With Fewer Virus Rules As Second Wave Arrives  

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 21:40

    The debate between opening and closing the economy has been heated between Democrats and Republicans. President Trump has said if a second virus wave strikes, he will not close the economy. On the other hand, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he would close the economy to mitigate the virus spread.

    While the debate to close or leave open the economy rages on between both political parties as record daily caseloads have been seen in the last few days, we shed light on a handful of Republican Midwestern states that have defied implementation of strict coronavirus restrictions, allowing their respective economies to thwart complete economic devastation. 

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    Many of these states, run by Republican governors, have practically no restrictions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Still, the strategy, so far, has paid off with fewer business closures and more hiring shown in the latest unemployment figures, according to AP News. 

    “For now, though, those Midwestern states have a lock atop the unemployment rankings, far below the national average rate for September of 7.9%. Nebraska leads the nation with a 3.5% unemployment rate, followed by South Dakota, Vermont, North Dakota, Iowa, and Missouri,” AP said.

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    However, there’s a tradeoff between keeping the economy open, and limited coronavirus restrictions appear to be running into significant issues. These states are now recording some of the highest surges in new virus cases in the country. 

    Take, for example, North Dakota and South Dakota, are conservative states, have had a Laissez-faire approach to mitigate the virus spread, both are now exhibiting the most cases per capita in the U.S., along with Nebraska and Iowa. 

    Despite surging cases in Midwestern states, their economies have recovered much quicker than New York or major cities in California, which are liberal-run and continue to enforce some of the strictest social distancing rules, crushing SMEs. 

    Midwestern governors were some of the first to ease lockdowns in late spring, supporting SMEs: 

    “I’ve got to believe that if you shut down harder, you’re going to see a more severe impact to your industries and the longer you’re shut down, the harder it’s going to be for those industries to rebound,” Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said. 

    Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, who contracted the virus last month, has promoted the idea of balancing the virus and keeping the economy open. And Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has repeatedly told residents not to let the virus dominate their lives.

    South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has said,” there are consequences to what we’ve seen happen in other states — that shutting down businesses, stopping people’s way of life has some devastating impacts. We’re taking a very balanced approach.”

    Unlike California and New York, Midwestern states are not densely populated and have mostly agriculture and industrial economies, not ones dominated by travel and tourism. 

    “The economy of a rural state has a different structure, so more of the people work in industries that wouldn’t really be disrupted by a need for social distancing like agriculture,” said Eric Thompson, who leads the Bureau of Business Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

    Nathan Kauffman, Omaha branch executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, said business closures in Midwestern states were not as severe as others because they’re are considered essential industries.

    Nebraska’s heavily centric agriculture and food processing economy played a major role in boosting the state’s economic rebound, said Ricketts.

    “The kinds of things that we’re strong in are agriculture, manufacturing, finance and technology. You’ve just got industries that are not going to be as impacted by a pandemic,” Ricketts said.

    AP notes, “despite the low unemployment figures, all of the states now have fewer jobs than before the pandemic hit… Still, many Midwestern business owners and leaders say they appreciate their governors’ lighter touch.” 

    Arik Spencer, president and CEO of the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce, said shutting down large swaths of the economy is not the best strategy for states. He added, every state is undergoing a tricky balancing act of managing its economy and mitigating the spread of the virus. 

    “We hope that with the thoughtful approach of decisionmakers here in North Dakota, we’re poised to recover quickly. But if there were a silver bullet for recovery, every state in the country would be utilizing that right now,” Spencer said.

    As for the U.S., a new wave of restrictions could be nearing as daily virus cases hit record highs. Liberal-run states could be some of the first to reimpose new restrictions, likely triggering a double-dip recession as it appears President Trump’s stimulus might not arrive until early 2021. 

    Midwestern states might get the last laugh as their agriculture and industrial based economies are situated in less populated areas, opposed to many Democratic states with sprawling metropolises that are already reimposing restrictions.  

  • COVID Testing: We've Been Duped
    COVID Testing: We’ve Been Duped

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 21:20

    Authored by A.Castellitto via AmericanThinker.com,

    Lost in this whole pandemic hysteria are some key considerations that when carefully analyzed place the whole COVID-19 narrative in a highly questionable light.  The gatekeepers of information dissimulation are manufacturing consent at an alarming rate, but their fatigue is setting in, and their masks are falling off.  What better, albeit unlikely, source to go for some much needed illumination than the New York Times? 

    During a considerably quieter time, back in 2007, the New York Times featured a very interesting exposé on molecular diagnostic testing — specifically, the inadequacy of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in achieving reliable results.  The most significant concern highlighted in the Times report is how molecular tests, most notably the PCR, are highly sensitive and prone to false positives.  At the center of the controversy was a potential outbreak in a hospital in New Hampshire that proved to be nothing more than “ordinary respiratory diseases like the common cold.”  Unfortunately, the results wrought by the PCR told a different story. 

    Thankfully, a faux epidemic was avoided but not before thousands of workers were furloughed and given antibiotics and ultimately a vaccine, and hospital beds (including some in intensive care) were taken out of commission.  Eight months later, what was thought to be an epidemic was deemed a non-malicious hoax.  The culprit?  According to “epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists … too much faith in a quick and highly sensitive molecular test .. led them astray.”  At the time, such tests were “coming into increasing use” as maybe “the only way to get a quick answer in diagnosing diseases like … SARS, and deciding whether an epidemic is under way.”

    Nevertheless, today, the PCR test is considered the gold standard of molecular diagnostics, most notably in the diagnosis of COVID-19.  However, a closer analysis reveals that the PCR has actually been pretty spotty and that false positives abound.  Thankfully, the New York Times is once again on the case. 

    “Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive; Maybe It Shouldn’t Be,” according to NYT reporter Apoorva Mandavilli.  Essentially, positive results are getting tossed around way too frequently.  Rather, they should probably be reserved for individuals with “greater viral load.”  So how have they’ve been doing it all this time you ask? 

    “The PCR test amplifies genetic matter from the virus in cycles; the fewer cycles required, the greater the amount of virus, or viral load, in the sample . .. the more likely the patient is to be contagious.”

    Unfortunately, the “cycle threshold” has been ramped up.  What happens when it’s ramped up?  Basically, “huge numbers of people who may be carrying relatively insignificant amounts of the virus” are deemed infected.  However, the severity of the infection is never quantified, which essentially amounts to a false positive.  Their level of contagion is essentially nil. 

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    How are they determining the cycle threshold?  If I didn’t suspect that it was based on maximizing the amount of “cases,” I would find the determination pretty arbitrary.  More than a few of the professionals on record for Times report appear pretty perplexed on this vital detail which is essentially driving “clinical diagnostics, for public health and policy decision-making.”  Considering all that’s at stake and everything that hinges on positive vs negative case tallies, it’s outrageous that these tests would be tweaked in a way that would inflate the positive rate totals and percentages.  

    According to one virologist, “any test with a cycle threshold above 35 is too sensitive.”  She went on to to say, “I’m shocked that people would think that 40 could represent a positive.” 

    Personally, I think the science is just about settled on COVID-19.  The conclusion?  We’ve been duped!

  • Mike Bloomberg Blew $100 Million In Florida, Ohio and Texas
    Mike Bloomberg Blew $100 Million In Florida, Ohio and Texas

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 21:00

    While Trump may or may not remain POTUS following what can best be described as ‘malarkey’ in several states, billionaire Mike Bloomberg just blew $100 million trying to flip three states blue, following his exit from the 2020 presidential race.

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    According to CNBC, “In the months after Bloomberg dropping out of the Democratic primary, the New York business leader huddled with advisors to plot a spending blitz to help Democratic nominee Joe Biden overtake Trump. It was initially decided that most of a $100 million spend would go toward the pivotal state of Florida. Later he would add Ohio and Texas into the mix.“

    Trump won all three states soundly, however Bloomberg also sought to flip the Senate back to the Democrats, which would have allowed them – along with a potential president Biden – to actually roll back President Trump’s tax cuts, pack the Supreme Court, and carry out the rest of their legislative laundry list.

    Bloomberg has a net worth north of $54 billion and spent $1 billion on his primary run for president, so tossing another $100 million onto that dumpster fire isn’t really going to move the needle.

    Unfortunately for the billionaire news maven and his backers, the $100 million did virtually nothing.

    The respect that Bloomberg had within the party was evident in the buildup to Election Day as he plowed millions into the Sunshine State.

    Democratic leaders were privately becoming more convinced that they were going to defeat Trump there, in part on the basis that Bloomberg was flooding the airwaves with ads, according to people familiar with the matter who declined to be named. They believed that Bloomberg’s messaging machine was enough to push Biden over the edge and flip Florida back to the Democrats after losing there in 2016.

    There were even discussions that some Democratic leaders were going to try to convince Biden to offer Bloomberg a Cabinet post, these people added. Those efforts appear to be no longer in motion and it’s unclear if either Biden or Bloomberg would even entertain the idea. These people declined to be named as the discussions and plans were made in private. –CNBC

    According to data from Advertising Analytics, Bloomberg’s super PAC, Independence USA spent over $36 million in Florida between September and November, along with $6.9 million on ads in Texas and $3.3 million in Ohio. More went towards pro-Biden super PACs such as Priorities USA Action, Hawkfish – his data firm, and Schoel Cooperman Research – a firm founded by Bloomberg’s longtime pollster pal Doug Schoen.

  • Ron Paul: There's No Vaccine For Tyranny
    Ron Paul: There’s No Vaccine For Tyranny

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 20:40

    Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

    The World Health Organization (WHO) recently admitted that lockdowns cause more harm than good. Following this announcement, one would have expected American politicians to immediately end the lockdowns. After all, the WHO ‘s pronouncements are considered infallible, so much so that social media sites silence anyone who dares challenge the great and powerful WHO. Yet, governors, mayors, and other government officials across the country are ignoring the WHO’s anti-lockdown position.

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    Instead of admitting that the lockdowns were a mistake, many in the political class, which includes a disturbing number of medical professionals whose positions and prestige depend on government, claim that we cannot return to normalcy until a coronavirus vaccine is in wide use. This suggests that people among the majority of Americans who do not wish to be vaccinated will remain under lockdown or be forced to be vaccinated against their will.

    The assault on our liberty will not end with deployment and use of a vaccine. Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed, a “public-private partnership” in charge of producing and delivering a coronavirus vaccine, has said that those who receive a vaccine will be monitored by “incredibly precise … tracking systems.” Slaoui has also indicated that tech giants Google and Oracle will help the government keep tabs on the vaccinated individuals. So, the vaccine program will lead to an increase in government surveillance!

    Slaoui is just the latest “expert” to endorse forcing the American people to relinquish their few remaining scraps of privacy to stop coronavirus. Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates have urged development of a digital certificate for those vaccinated for coronavirus. People without the certificate would find their liberty severely restricted.

    Those who think that the new surveillance system will be limited to coronavirus should remember that Social Security numbers were only supposed to be used to administer the Social Security program. They should also consider that the PATRIOT Act’s expansion of warrantless wiretapping was supposed to be limited to stopping terrorists. However, these powers have been used for a wide variety of purposes. Whenever government is given power to abuse our rights for one reason it will inevitably use that power to abuse our rights for other reasons as well.

    Fauci and Gates’ digital certificate could, and likely will, be expanded to include proof individuals have received a variety of other vaccines and medical treatments. The digital certificate could even extend to monitoring a person’s lifestyle choices on the grounds that unhealthy habits make one more susceptible to diseases.

    The digital certificate could also be tied to the REAL ID program to deny individuals who have not been vaccinated the right to travel. It could also be combined with a future mandatory E-Verify system to deny unvaccinated individuals the right to hold a job. Those who consider this “paranoia” should consider Britain is already developing a covid passport.

    Liberty lost in the “war on covid” will not be voluntarily returned when the coronavirus threat ends — assuming the government ever stop moving the goal posts and declares the coronavirus threat is over. Instead, the people must be prepared to take back their liberty from the politicians. Fortunately, we still have the ability to do so by the peaceful means of educating our fellow citizens and pressuring our elected officials to reverse course. We must all do what we can to use these peaceful tools before we are in a “dark winter” of authoritarianism.

  • Goldman Warns "Frenzied" SPAC Bubble May Be Ending
    Goldman Warns “Frenzied” SPAC Bubble May Be Ending

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 20:20

    One of the remarkable stories of 2020, one which has sparked many comparisons to 2007 just before the credit/housing bubble popped, has been the record surge of blank-check, or SPAC, issuance where investors – at a loss what to invest in – hand their money to a marquee investor who promises to find an appropriate investment over a given period of time or refund the money. To quantify the SPAC bubble, a record $61 billion has been raised in initial public offerings by blank-check firms in the first 10 months of the year.

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    The capital raised by 166 SPACs on US exchanges in 2020 is almost seven times that of the 38 blank-check companies at this point last year, according to Bloomberg data. In fact, this year’s $61 billion total is approaching the $72 billion raised in all prior years combined, the data show.

    The SPAC euphoria hit a peak in October, when blank check filings raised a record $17 billion in IPOs, with issuance surpassing $10 billion for the fourth month in a row. And many more are on deck, as dozens of SPACs have filed paperwork with the SEC ahead of public listings. According to Bloomberg, these include Investindustrial Acquisition Corp., which tapped former UBS Group AG chief executive officer Sergio Ermotti as chairman, and Forest Road Acquisition Corp., which counts Martin Luther King III as a director and Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal as a strategic adviser.

    But the good times may be ending: in an interview with Bloomberg, Olympia McNerney, Goldman’s head of U.S. special purpose acquisition companies, described the U.S. SPAC market as being “perhaps too frenzied” and predicted volumes will become more “rational: as fund managers deal with what she described as indigestion.

    “There has been a very meaningful uptick in SPAC issuance and we expect the market to be more selective going forward,” said McNerney.

    One of the reasons why the SPAC euphoria is expected to ease, is that as investors allocate more capital to SPACs, some investors have hit internal limits governing their exposure to blank-check firms.

    But a far more tangible reason why the SPAC froth is likely peaking is also the simplest one: SPACs are no longer a get rich quick scheme, with 60% of October’s listings are trading below their offer price, the data show. The recently launched SPAC ETF whose ticker is appropriately SPAK, peaked one day after its break for trading, before slumping nearly 15% in following weeks.

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    And now that just buying a SPAC is no longer guaranteed to generate a quick profit, investors are starting to get cold feet.

    “Some investors have said they will be much more selective around SPACs for the remainder of this year, but I believe they’ll continue to underwrite SPACs led by high quality and differentiated management teams,” McNerney said.

  • Paul Craig Roberts: Does America Have A Future?
    Paul Craig Roberts: Does America Have A Future?

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 20:00

    Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

    If the election gets close, the presstitutes will call it for Biden as that will be their way of putting Trump on the defensive. By repeating over and over that Biden has won, the presstitutes will position Trump as disputing the outcome and intending to remain in office.

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    If polls are correct that a majority of Democrats intend to vote by mail, the in-person vote of Democrats will be too small to declare a Biden victory. The strategy here will be to keep the outcome open for days while mail-in votes are counted. Some states require the votes to be in by election day (Nov. 3), but others only require a postmark by Nov. 3. In other words, many votes could be mailed today and not arrive for some days.

    By keeping the outcome open, voting-by-mail gives the Democrats time to scheme how to produce the necessary votes, and the presstitutes have time to make propaganda against Trump.

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    There are also the legal teams organized by Democrats to bring challenges, if Trump wins, to vote-counting in states that Trump wins. These challenges are likely to be heard by Democrat judges and until the cases work their way up to the Supreme Court, the issue of who is the president remains open.

    And then there is violence. What is called the left – Antifa and Black Lives Matter – have organized to shut down Washington D.C., blockade the White House, and to unleash riots in a number of cities. The presstitutes will blame the burning and looting on Trump’s refusal to step down. The weak-of-heart among Trump supporters, if any such exist, will respond to the fear that violence generates by abandoning Trump.

    The left, or so-called left, labels Trump a fascist and calls his supporters “fascist white supremacists.” But it is the so-called left—a fake left—that is fascist. Antifa and Black Lives Matter (BLM) are the Nazi Brownshirts of our time. They are conducting their Kristallnachts breaking the windows of white businesses and looting and burning the buildings. It is the Antifa and BLM fascist thugs who are threatening white neighborhoods, and it is these Brownshirted Thugs who are beating Trump supporters just as their fellow Brownshirts beat Jews in 1930s Germany.

    There are no “Trump white supremacists” rioting in the streets, looting and burning businesses, and conducting a Kristallnacht against Democrats.

    Who will win?

    As disillusioned and as skeptical of insouciant Americans as I am, I see no indication of a Democrat win. The feminists, the university professors, whore media, and indoctrinated young will vote for Biden and for a “female of color” who hates white people. In general, Americans with university degrees are unreliable. But the working class knows better, and these “Trump Deplorables,” as designated by Hillary Clinton, will vote for Trump. They know who is on their side.

    Trump’s campaign events were overwhelmingly attended. Hardly anyone turned out for Biden’s and not even effete liberals wanted to hear Kamala. Judging by the attendance at campaign rallies, there is no possible way that Biden is ahead by 10 points as the polls say. Either the pollsters are setting up to steal the election from Trump by reporting that he could not have won as he was 10 points behind or Trump supporters withheld from pollsters their support for Trump.

    This election is critical. Four years ago Trump, a non-establishment candidate, took the nomination from the Republican Establishment and then defeated the Establishment candidate of the Democrats. The Establishment has rarely lost in American politics. The Establishment will not be happy to lose a second time to Trump.

    But after Trump what?

    America has lost its educated youth. They have been indoctrinated in their education that America is racist, sexist, imperialist, oppressive, and evil. The anti-American, anti-white New York Times teaches our youth that America was evil in 1619, 157 years prior to the creation of the US with the Declaration of Independence. In a few years when my and Trump’s generation passes, who remains to stand for America? The numbers are diminished and the country with them. How many years before the anti-American, anti-white Kamalas prevail?

    If Trump wins, can he secure America’s future from the anti-Americans amongs us?

  • World's Largest Iceberg On Collision Path With South Georgia
    World’s Largest Iceberg On Collision Path With South Georgia

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 19:40

    The world’s largest iceberg, nearly the size of a small country, is headed towards the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, according to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

    Known as A68a, the massive iceberg broke off the Larsen C ice shelf in the northwest part of the Weddell Sea, along the Antarctic Peninsula’s east coast. 

    Comparing A68a’s Size Too Small Islands 

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    BAS warned A68a has the potential to collide with South Georgia, an island in the southern Atlantic Ocean that belongs to the British Overseas territories. They said there’s a strong possibility the berg “could disrupt the local wildlife that forages in the food-rich ocean.”

    A68a’s Path 

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    A-68a broke off the Larsen C ice shelf in July 2017 and is about the same size as South Georgia, measuring 93 miles long and 30 miles wide and has since drifted 870 miles north through “iceberg alley” and is about 310 miles from the island. 

    A68a Approaching South Georgia 

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    BAS remote-sensing and mapping specialist Dr. Peter Fretwell said satellite imagery suggests A68a could be on a direct path for South Georgia: 

    “Whether it grounds and gets stuck or drifts past the island is in the balance,” Fretwell said. “The currents should take it on what looks like a strange loop around the south end of South Georgia, before then spinning it along the edge of the continental shelf and back off to the northwest. But it’s very difficult to say precisely what will happen.”

    BAS Remote Sensing Manager Andrew Fleming said the idea that the berg “is in one large piece is actually remarkable, particularly given the huge fractures you see running through it in the radar imagery.”

    “I’d fully expected it to have broken apart by now. If it spins around South Georgia and heads on northwards, it should start breaking up. It will very quickly get into warmer waters, and wave action especially will start killing it off,” Fleming said. 

    It’s only a matter of time before Greta Thunberg and her gang of social media climate change trolls point at the massive iceberg, suggesting it has to do with climate change. 

  • "Meeting In A Storm": FOMC Preview
    “Meeting In A Storm”: FOMC Preview

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 19:20

    By Philip Marey of Rabobank

    You’re fired!

    • The FOMC meeting on November 4-5 will take place in a volatile environment, just after Election Day, while the country is dealing with another resurgence of Covid-19. What’s more, we are still waiting for an extension of the fiscal stimulus.

    • The election outcome could determine whether the Fed will have to provide more monetary policy accommodation to offset any shortfall in fiscal policy support to the economic recovery.

    • For Fed Chairman Powell there is more at stake than fiscal stimulus in this election week. After all, his first term as Chair expires on 5 February 2022.

    Meeting in a storm

    The next meeting of the FOMC is on November 4-5, just after Election Day (November 3), however it appears that Trump is now contesting the election results which show Biden in the lead across most battleground states. This means that the Fed will meet in a volatile environment. In addition to the elections, the country is dealing with another resurgence of Covid-19. What’s more, we are still waiting for an extension of the fiscal stimulus that expired at the end of July. Still, the FOMC may not be inclined to take any action before the election uncertainty subsides, unless there is some kind of market panic. Instead, in his press conference Powell is likely to stress again the importance of additional fiscal stimulus, and of getting Covid-19 under control. There will be no update of the economic projections.

    Fiscal policy dependencies

    The minutes of the September meeting showed that the economic outlook (and thus the FOMC projections) assumed additional fiscal support and that if future fiscal support was significantly smaller or arrived later than expected the FOMC thought the pace of the recovery could be slower than anticipated. Participants viewed fiscal support from the CARES Act as having been very important in bolstering the financial situations of millions of families, and a number of participants judged that the absence of further support would exacerbate economic hardship in minority and lower-income communities. District contacts indicated that fiscal policy had helped support small businesses, while federal aid payments had helped support farm incomes.

    This means that the election outcome could determine whether the Fed will have to provide more monetary policy accommodation to offset any shortfall in fiscal policy support to the economic recovery. Until Tuesday, it was generally accepted that a Biden victory in combination with a Blue Wave in Congress would lead to a large fiscal policy package in the first quarter of 2021, followed by expansive fiscal policy during Biden’s first term. This would have been welcomed by the FOMC and allow the central bank to keep its monetary policy stance unchanged for now. In contrast, it now appears that we will get a “Divided Government” (the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives are not controlled by the same arty) and we are likely to see gridlock at least until the midterm elections of 2022. This would mean only limited and delayed fiscal stimulus, possibly only after the economic data start to deteriorate severely. If fiscal stimulus proves insufficient to keep the economic recovery going, the Fed will be forced to provide additional monetary policy accommodation. However, the Fed has little ammunition left.

    Yield curve control

    Given the Fed’s aversion to negative policy rates, a faltering economic recovery and insufficient fiscal stimulus could push the Fed into yield curve control. By capping rates for a sustained period some additional monetary stimulus could be provided to aggregate demand.However, given how low longer-term rates are already, this will provide only modest support to the recovery. Alternatively, yield curve control could come into play if a large fiscal stimulus pushes up longer-term rates so fast and so high that they become a threat to the economic recovery. In this case the Fed may want to cap longer-term rates to maintain the current dose of monetary policy accommodation.

    Asset purchases

    In addition to capping rates, the FOMC has the possibility to increase its asset purchases to provide monetary stimulus. In fact, much of the Fed’s plans regarding asset purchases has yet to be cleared up. From the minutes of the September meeting it was clear that the FOMC talked a lot about forward guidance on rates and very little on forward guidance on asset purchases. Some participants noted that in future meetings it would be appropriate to further assess and communicate how the asset purchase program could best support the achievement of the Committee’s maximum-employment and price-stability goals.

    Another one term Chair?

    For Fed Chairman Powell there is more at stake than fiscal stimulus in this election week. After all, his first term as Chair expires on 5 February 2022. While President Trump has become less critical of Powell after he cut rates to zero, he has a habit of replacing officials. For a President Biden the precedent of one term Chair Yellen will make it easier to change the Fed’s leadership after only four years. Keep in mind that Powell is a Republican, but more importantly there is likely to be pressure from the left to make the Fed more ‘socially activist’. In recent years the Fed appeared more concerned about limiting the downside risk of stock investors than about fostering income growth for ordinary Americans. While the ‘flexible average inflation targeting’ strategy (FAIT) that has been adopted recently is a step in the right direction, the wide dispersion of views regarding its implementation in the September statement suggests that we are heading for a chaotic exit strategy from the zero lower bound. And more importantly, it raises doubts about whether the FOMC will be able to resist the temptation to start hiking if inflation starts to pick up. Anyway, FAIT may not go far enough for the left wing of the Democratic Party. So Biden may replace Powell by a left-leaning economist who is eager to reshape the Fed’s strategy more radically.

  • US Sets New Record By Reporting 100k COVID-19 Cases In A Day: Live Updates
    US Sets New Record By Reporting 100k COVID-19 Cases In A Day: Live Updates

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 19:17

    Summary:

    • US daily cases top 100k Wednesday
    • UK daily deaths near 500
    • NYC hospitals climb
    • Denmark discovers new strain
    • Barry Sternlicht on how COVID impacted US election
    • Global daily cases decline
    • Germany’s “R” rate declines back below “1”
    • BoJo set to push through more restrictions
    • Hungary minister sickened
    • Bulgaria tops 4k COVID cases
    • South Korea confirms another 118 cases
    • Indonesia reports 3,356

    * * *

    Update (1900ET): As the world waits with baited breath on the final results from the US election, which remains, unfortunately, a chaotic mess, with the vote far too close to call, the US has notched yet another COVID-19 record. For the first time since the outbreak began, the US recorded more than 100,000 new cases in a single day, according to a tally from the Washington Post. 

    The US is the first country in the world to see this many new cases in a single day, though the daily numbers of new cases can vary, sometimes significantly, between different data providers.

    The Washington Post reported that Wednesday was the first time any country reported 100k cases in a single day, and also warned that more than a dozen US states, including Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Oklahoma, Montana, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana and West Virginia, on Wednesday reported record numbers of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Nationwide, the US has counted more than 9,445,000.

    Since February, the US has suffered more than 235k deaths.

    * * *

    Update (1220ET): As we head into the afternoon, we feel it’s worth resurfacing this interview clip involving Barry Sternlicht and CNBC host Joe Kernan, who discussed the role that COVID played in the election.

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    Sternlicht said the turnout shows Americans are “over that”. “We’re done, we want to get back to work”, he said, before calling the virus a giant flu that’s mostly impacting the elderly.

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    In NYC, the total number of people admitted to hospitals with COVID-19-like symptoms jumped to 114 on Nov. 2, a 37% increase over the prior day, which triggered deep concern among the city’s health officials.

    British health authorities reported 492 additional deaths from the virus within 28 days of a positive test on Wednesday, the highest daily increase since its second surge in the disease. Meanwhile, MPs on Wednesday approved new measures to control the spread of the disease in England, but Yvonne Doyle, medical director of Public Health England, said those restrictions will take some time to have an impact.

    Finally, Denmark has found a new strain of the virus following an outbreak in the country’s mink population that led to a mutation of the virus that might hamper efforts to develop a vaccine, according to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who said “there is a risk that the effect of a future vaccine will be weakened or, in a worst case scenario, be undermined,” during a virtual press briefing on Wednesday. Her government has passed on the information to the World Health Organization, and now plans to cull Denmark’s entire mink population. According to Kopenhagen Fur, an auction house owned by Denmark’s mink breeders, 16 million animals are raised each year.

    * * *

    Once again, the number of new cases reported globally declined in the 24 hours to Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins and Bloomberg. But while the rate of spread in Germany dropped back below 1 on Wednesday morning, most of its European neighbors, including the UK, Italy, Sweden, Hungary and the Netherlands have all moved to impose new restrictions this week.

    On Wednesday, Bloomberg drew attention to hospitalizations in the US, where Florida is in the lead with 16% of beds filled by COVID-19 patients.

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    Source: Bloomberg

    The biggest story on Wednesday morning was the drop in Germany’s “R” rate, which fell below 1 for the first time since Oct. 30 as the country recorded 7,533 new cases in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning, a decline from more than 17k a day earlier.

    In the UK, Boris Johnson is set to push fresh coronavirus lockdown rules through Parliament on Wednesday as he faces down rebels in his own party. The new rules will take effect at midnight, enforcing the closing of pubs, gyms and non-essential shops in England, and restricting social contact between households. The prime minister announced the month-long measures on Saturday after data showed the pandemic exceeding the worst-case projections of his scientific advisers.

    Yesterday, the FDA warned about inaccuracies tied to rapid antigen tests like the Abbott Labs test approved for emergency use, saying that the test has been shown to produce ‘incorrect’ positive results.

    Here’s more news from overnight and Wednesday morning:

    India reported 46,253 new cases, in line with a slowdown in daily infections over the past three weeks. The country reached a peak of more than 97,000 daily cases in mid-September, putting it on track to overtake the U.S., but with the slower rate of new Indian cases and resurgent numbers in America, that now looks unlikely for some time. Still, India has just kicked off its festival season — culminating in Diwali on Nov. 14 — and large-scale celebratory events planned across the country could re-ignite the spread of infection (Source: Bloomberg).

    New cases in Bulgaria jumped to a record 4,041 with the number of daily deaths rising to 63. The Balkan country’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who is recovering at home from the virus himself, has said that the government isn’t planning a nationwide lockdown for now but vowed to raise the wages of medical workers (Source: Bloomberg).

    Australia showed more signs of recovery, with household spending surging by a record 6.5% last quarter, led by cafes and clothing and footwear stores as Covid-19 restrictions in much of the country were unwound. The growth was partly restrained by a 4.2% decline in Victoria state, which only released its capital Melbourne from lockdown last week (Source: Bloomberg).

    Hungary’s foreign minister has tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Thailand, according to AP. Peter Szijjarto and his delegation had just come from Cambodia, where he met with Prime Minister Hun Sen and other officials on Tuesday. The minister and the Cambodian leader were pictured together maskless. Cambodian officials say the delegation members all tested negative prior to their departure (Source: Nikkei).

    Indonesia reports 3,356 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, taking its total number of cases to 421,731, data from the country’s COVID-19 task force shows. There are 113 more deaths, taking total fatalities to 14,259. As of Wednesday, 353,282 people had recovered from the virus in Indonesia, the data showed (Source: Nikkei).

    South Korea confirms 118 new coronavirus cases, up from 75 a day ago. The country’s total infections have reached 26,925, with 474 deaths (Source: Nikkei).

  • Oregon Becomes First State To Decriminalize Cocaine, Heroin, & Meth; Legalizes Shrooms
    Oregon Becomes First State To Decriminalize Cocaine, Heroin, & Meth; Legalizes Shrooms

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 19:00

    While the results of the Presidential race drag on, one ballot initiative on election day has been made crystal clear: Oregon has become the first state to decriminalize small amounts of hard drugs, including cocaine, heroin and meth. 

    The “Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act” seeks to decriminalize drug usage and instead focus on a health care approach. The bill reads:

    “People suffering from addiction are more effectively treated with health care services than with criminal punishments. A health care approach includes a health assessment to figure out the needs of people who are suffering from addiction, and it includes connecting them to the services they need.”

    The ballot measure passed 59% to 41% on election day, according to Fox News. 

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    Those who are caught with hard drugs would now have the option of paying a $100 fine or attending new addiction recovery centers, paid for with taxes from retail marijuana sales.

    “It’s going to be huge,” Haven Wheelock, a drug counselor for Portland nonprofit Outside In, told VICE.

     “It’s going to allow people to get the services they need without fear of arrest. It’s going to change how people who don’t use drugs think about drug use. It’s going to allow us to move into a health-based system and hopefully be a model for other places. We have an opportunity to show the rest of the country this is how it should be.”

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    Under the new measure, possession of less than 1 gram of heroin or meth, 2 grams of cocaine, 12 grams of psilocybin, 40 doses of LSD, oxycodone or methadone and 1 gram of MDMA is decriminalized. 

    Countries like Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland have already implemented similar measures. In Portugal, the change saw “no surge” in new drug use. In fact, drug deaths fell while the number of people in the country treated for addiction rose 20% between 2001 and 2008. Then, the number stabilized. 

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    The U.N. Chief Executives Board for Coordination announced in 2019 that it would also “promote alternatives to conviction and punishment in appropriate cases, including the decriminalization of drug possession for personal use” in order to “address prison overcrowding and overincarceration by people accused of drug crimes.”

    The new proposed measure in Oregon had the backing of “the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians,” according to ABC.

    The groups contend that: “Punishing people for drug use and addiction is costly and hasn’t worked. More drug treatment, not punishment, is a better approach.” 

    Arguing against the initiative were 24 district attorneys, who claimed the measure “recklessly decriminalizes possession of the most dangerous types of drugs (and) will lead to an increase in acceptability of dangerous drugs.”

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    Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt argued last week in support of the bill, saying: “Misguided drug laws have created deep disparities in the justice system. Arresting people with addictions is a cruel punishment because it slaps them with a lifelong criminal record that can ruin lives.”

    Jimmy Jones, executive director of Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action, a group that helps the homeless, concluded:

     “Every time that this happens, not only does that individual enter the criminal justice system but it makes it very difficult for us, on the back end, to house any of these folks because a lot of landlords won’t touch people with recent criminal history.”

    Additionally, voters also made history by legalizing psilocybin or “magic” mushrooms by approving Measure 109 – the Psilocybin Mushroom Services Program Initiative – by 55.88 percent.

    Under the measure, the state will become the first in the country legalize the use of the psychedelic fungus in controlled doses within the framework of a regulated system overseen by licensed clinicians and therapists.

  • Biden Launches Presidential 'Transition Team', Trump Asks SCOTUS To Intervene
    Biden Launches Presidential ‘Transition Team’, Trump Asks SCOTUS To Intervene

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 18:59

    Update (1820ET): President Trump is still reportedly up by hundreds of thousands of votes in PA, but as more absentee ballots are opened his lead appears to be shrinking. With Biden winning some key calls in Michigan and Nevada (calls that, notably, don’t reflect final vote tallies), his campaign has decided to launch its transition team website, adopting what one might call a “fake it ’till you make it” approach to the presidency. 

    Biden’s team has been planning for months for the possibility that the Trump administration won’t cooperate with his aides, and deliberately try to stonewall him, breaking years of tradition when it comes to presidential transfer of power.

    “The crises facing the country are severe—from a pandemic to an economic recession, climate change to racial injustice—and the transition team will continue preparing at full speed so that the Biden-Harris Administration can hit the ground running on Day One,” a transition official said, echoing a statement on the transition team’s newly launched website.

    As officials prepare to count votes for a third day, Fox News is calling Trump ahead in Georgia, while the NYT is saying that Biden may have squeaked ahead after appearing to take Michigan, Wisconsin (two of the three “blue wall” states) along with Nevada. Still, the final vote tallies aren’t yet in, and as we saw with Arizona, early calls risk embarrassing reversals later on.

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    Sourcce: WaPo

    Now that Trump has asked SCOTUS to intervene in PA, Axios has come forward with a deep dive into Trump’s court push, saying the Supreme Court is unlikely to decide this election, even as Trump’s team unloads with the lawsuits.

    Text courtesy of Axios…

    * * *

    The big picture: The Trump campaign has filed multiple lawsuits in the hours since the president declared that “we will be going to the Supreme Court.”

    But election-law experts say it’s still a long shot that the justices will decide the next president.

    What they’re saying: Experts say they simply don’t see strong vehicles emerging for a Bush v. Gore sequel — with the important caveat that it’s too early to reach any firm conclusions while votes are still being counted.

    Where it stands: In Pennsylvania, the biggest controversy is the state’s decision to count mail-in ballots that were mailed by Nov. 3, but arrived later.

    A challenge to that extension is already pending at the Supreme Court and in a legal filing Wednesday the Trump campaign sought to participate in that case. Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien told reporters Wednesday afternoon that they are “declaring a victory in Pennsylvania” and “have a high degree of certainty the margin won’t be close.”

    Between the lines: Four conservative Supreme Court justices have already expressed deep misgivings about extended ballot deadlines, and could take up a challenge to Pennsylvania’s extension at any time. But that’s only likely to happen, experts said, if those late-arriving votes are the tipping point in Pennsylvania — and if Pennsylvania is the tipping point nationwide.

    While the overall number of mail-in ballots this year is huge, the number of late-arriving mail-in ballots is believed to be pretty small, and that’s where the controversy is. If Biden wins the state without those ballots, then a lawsuit over them wouldn’t change the outcome.

    And depending on outcomes in Arizona and Nevada, Biden might not need Pennsylvania at all, making protracted litigation there even less meaningful.

    In Wisconsin, the Trump campaign has already said it intends to seek a recount.

    Wisconsin conducted a recount after the 2016 election; it ended up only changing 131 votes.

    There could be more than that this time because mail ballots have more opportunities for error than in-person voting.

    But finding enough irregularities to overcome a 20,000-vote deficit would be a hard road.

    In Michigan, the campaign is suing for access to vote-counting operations, and to stop the counting until then. It has filed a similar suit in Pennsylvania.

    Filing a lawsuit is no guarantee that it’ll win, that it’ll find anything scandalous if it gets that access, or that anything it does find would change the outcome in the state. The bottom line: As more votes are counted and potentially recounted, it’s possible that a controversy over a razor-thin margin in a tipping-point state will be powerful enough to propel the election all the way to the Supreme Court. But that doesn’t mean it’s likely.

    Source: Axios

    * * *

    Update (1805ET):  It looks like investors worst fears about the election’s results being subjected to a lengthy court battle may soon come to pass. The AP and NYT and others have just called Michigan and Nevada for Joe Biden. This comes on top of Wisconsin, which was called for Biden

    Trump won both states four years ago, and his campaign has already filed lawsuits demanding a recount in one, and a halt to counting new votes in the other.

    The Trump Campaign has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the PA vote count to stop late arriving ballots from being counted. The SCOTUS has responded to the request by asking Democrats and their lawyers to deliver a response by 1700ET tomorrow.

    PA Gov Tom Wolf has denounced Trump’s lawsuit as “simply wrong” and insisted that the lengthy vote count was a positive sign.

    Wolf added that PA will fight against all efforts to throw out any absentee votes.

    * * *

    Update (1725ET): In one hilarious clips circulating on Twitter, a Trump supporter interruped a br=nreinf

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    And here we go.

    * * *

    Update (1700ET):Nevada officials now say that more results will be released this afternoon out of increased interest in the state’s results, according to Las Vegas CBS affiliate 8 News, which means the state should have an updated count shortly, which could provide far more insight into the state of the race.

    Arizona Secretary of the State has just confirmed that the state has 100,000s of uncounted ballots, but President Trump is chiming in once again to say that “we have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes.

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    The posts have already been hit with disclaimers from Twitter, as Trump declares Michigan and PA.

    Tweets from conservative media platforms were also censord, despite the fact tht

    * * *

    Update (1615ET): Ironically, given all the hysterics raised about the possibility of President Trump refusing to concede, Joe Biden has effectively done just that, saying “I’m not here to declare that I’ve won, but I’m here to report that after the count is finished, I believe we will be the winners. After a long night of counting, it appears that we’ve won enough votes to win the presidency.”

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    While Biden insisted this wasn’t a victory speech, one Bloomberg reporter couldn’t help but point out that “this sure feels like a victory speech”

    Michigan, meanwhile, has been called for Biden by Bloomberg, though it remains a “heavy tossup” according to others, including Real Clear Politics, who have yet to make their call.

    Electoral College vote count update: Biden 264, Trump 214.

    Finally, David Shafer is tweeting about some potential Democratic skulduggery in certain parts of Georgia, where GOP monitors were sent home, then Dems continued counting ballots.

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    Meanwhile, in PA, hundreds of Dems have surrounded the building where votes are being counted.

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    Could we soon be in store for another “Brooks Brothers” riot?

    Though Twitter has mostly ignored complaints of Democratic malfeasance, it has affixed new labels to tweets from family members of the president others for violating its policies around elections misinformation.

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    * * *

    UPDATE (1600ET):The Trump Campaign has officially declared victory in Pennsylvania, widely seen as a must-win state for the campaign, while Wisconsin and Michigan are now facing lawsuits to stop the ballot counting.

    “We also demand to review those ballots which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access,” campaign manager Bill Stepien said in an emailed statement about the Michigan suit. Trump’s campaign has filed lawsuits in both Pennsylvania and Michigan, trying to contest the vote counts that have been trending towards Democrat Joe Biden.

    In Arizona, more than 400k votes remain to be counted, a wide enough margin That president Trump believed could be large enough to hand him a victory.

    So far, the state has seen Biden 2,680,665 49.8% (+1.2) Trump 2,616,170 48.6% Jorgensen 58,972, Hawkins 13,333 0.3% 5,380,071 votes counted. Estimated >95% in Via @DecisionDeskHQ. That means the spread in Michigan is >1%, probably means no recount.

    As President Trump’s campaign on Wednesday said, they’re assembling an all-star legal team to file challenges to election irregularities in several battleground states, according to John Solomon, starting with a Court of Claims lawsuit in Michigan. Among the lawyers the president is activating include his private attorney Jay Sekulow, who will help campaign lawyers with matters before the Supreme Court as well as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, officials said. Sidney Powell, the lawyer for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, may also be called upon, officials said.

    * * *

    Update (1445ET): ABC News has removed Arizona from the ‘Biden’ column on its interactive map, prompting many observers to proclaim that the state is ‘back in play’.

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    Meanwhile, Bloomberg senior White House correspondent Jennifer Jacobs claims that Trump’s biggest supporterd are “fired up”, and they have a strategy to slog all the way back to victory.

    * * *

    Update (1345ET): The State of Maine has officially been called for Sen. Susan Collins, who fended off a difficult challenge from Democrat Sara Gideon, a well-financed challenger who drew money from big-time Dem donors from all over the country. With Collins seat safe for GOP, the only major uncalled Senate race iis Thom Tillis.

    The news comes as Biden prepares to make another statement after Wisconsin called the vote for him.

    Over in Michigan, the Trump Campaign is filing a lawsuit to try and immediately halt the counting of ballots.

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    In other news, CNN has reportedly been told by the PA registrar of voters that more than 1 million ballots remain to be counted.

    Notably, news about the lawsuit, and Biden’s victory in Wisconsin

    * * *

    Update (1330ET); Susan Collins of Maine has once again triumphed over Democratic challenger, as the moderate Republican, who has broken ranks with her party on several major issues since Trump took office.

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    Susan Collins says Sara Gideon called her to concede the race, Collins told reporters on Wednesday. Her victory is the latest win for the GOP, moving Congress closer to a tight margin between the Dems and GOP in the House.

    * * *

    Update 1250ET: President Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien has issued a statement confirming they will demand a recount in Wisconsin:

    “Despite ridiculous public polling used as a voter suppression tactic, Wisconsin has been a razor thin race as we always knew that it would be. There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results. The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so.”

    On top of that, a county in the battleground state of Michigan is reviewing the Election Day vote count after the clerk “became aware of apparently skewed results.”

    Antrim County Clerk Sheryl Guy learned of the skewed results in unofficial tabulations, the county said in a statement.

    Since then, her office has been reviewing the results “and the multiple redundancies to search out any possible discrepancies.”

    “By this afternoon, we expect to have a clear answer and a clear plan of action addressing any issue,” Guy said in a statement. “Until then, we are asking all interested parties to bear with us while we get to the bottom of this.”

    State Rep. Triston Cole, a Republican, told a local radio station that the results were suspect.

    “There is no way that we flipped from 62 percent Trump in 2016 to upside-down this time around,” he said.

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    Additionally, Mark Levin is enraged by what is occurring right in front of our eyes…

    1. I thought about waiting until my radio show to state this, but it must be said now:

    All night and this morning, the media are playing with the electoral map and their declarations of who won what states, and in virtually every case it assists the Biden campaign.

    2. North Carolina, Georgia, Alaska should all be called now for President Trump.  There was no legitimate reason to call Arizona early for Biden with so much of the vote out.  There was no reason to sit on Florida and Ohio for hours when those outcomes were quite clear.

    3. The purpose is to make it appear that the President is not close to the 270 electoral vote number to win the presidency and to make it appear that the President was never going to be re-elected.

    4. And you can see all the delays through the night and beyond, waiting for mail-in votes — Philadelphia, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Detroit, etc.  This is followed by commentators telling us that there’s nothing unusual about all of this.  Delays in counting votes happens all the time

    5. Really, we’ve experienced this before?  In all these states?  Nonsense.  Meanwhile, the Democrats have been litigating in states for months to change existing election laws to help Biden and the Democrats.

    6. They set in place the mail-in voting chaos, some states literally a few months ago.

    This will not end well, or peacefully, unless full transparency is granted.

    Meanwhile, Fox News’s decision desk is reportedly “leaning towards” calling Nevada for Biden, as more votes trickle in, which could be a disaster for Trump.

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    To be sure, tens of thousands of votes still haven’t been counted ACROSS EUREEEE9EE.

    *  *  *

    Update (1145ET): Wisconsin has officially been called for Joe Biden.

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    Meanwhile, Arizona, which Fox News called for Biden last night, might be back in play.

    * * *

    Now that the ‘Blue Wave’ has been thwarted, and Democrats look to return in the next Congress with an even weaker hand in the House, (not to mention smaller-than-expected gains in the Senate), both team Biden and the Trump Campaign are claiming victory, as Americans wait for the final vote tallies from a handful of swing states that could once again decide the election.

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    Biden has reportedly managed to ‘flip’ Arizona, and while Wisconsin and Michigan are currently leaning Democratic, North Carolina, Georgia and PA (perhaps the most important state of them all) are still leaning red.

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    As both sides lawyer up, here’s the current state of play in the US, along with a rundown of when Americans and the rest of the world can expect the final results, depending on a number of scenarios.

    Pennsylvania:

    Pennsylvania was long expected to be under scrutiny in a close race, with both campaigns aggressively courting voters in the final days before the election.

    Trump led Biden by about 657,000 votes as of 9 a.m., but there were at least 1.4 million uncounted mail-in and absentee ballots that will determine the outcome, according to the Department of State.

    The department reported almost 1.1 million mail ballots were counted statewide, with 77% for Biden and 22% for Trump. By contrast, there were 3.9 million votes cast on Election Day, with 66% for Trump and 33% for Biden.

    Pennsylvania has tallied 44% of mail-in ballots across the commonwealth, according to a department dashboard. The outstanding ballots are expected to favor Biden because Democrats dominated the requests. Of the 2.55 million ballots reported returned as of Tuesday, registered Democrats accounted for 65% and Republicans 24%, data show.

    In Philadelphia, the commonwealth’s most populous county where 76% of registered voters are Democrats, 141,523 of an expected 350,000 to 400,000 mail-in ballots have been reported counted as the processing and counting continues. Allegheny County, the second most-populous, is reporting about half of its almost 350,000 mail-in ballots counted, according to the dashboard. Bottom Line: Philadelphia is expected to report additional mail-in votes on Wednesday morning. State officials say a final result should be ready “within days.”

    Wisconsin:

    Biden had a small lead in Wisconsin, which has 10 electoral votes, after several metropolitan areas submitted their absentee ballot counts early Wednesday morning, overturning the lead that Trump had maintained since the polls closed at 8 p.m. By late in the morning, the Biden campaign was calling it for Joe after state officials said all votes had been counted.

    Although Biden was ahead by almost 21,000 votes as of 8:40 a.m. local time, no major network had yet called the state. With the two candidates within a percentage point of each other, the loser when the final precinct’s numbers are in has the right to request a recount. Meanwhile, the state’s election commission said that clerks will be randomly selecting 5% of reporting units for voting-equipment audits. The process for official certification of results doesn’t start until Nov. 10.

    Bottom Line: Biden is penciling in a win, but the state is still in play as of late Wednesday morning.

    Michigan

    Michigan — a state Trump narrowly won in 2016 — expects to complete most of its ballot counting by the end of the day, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told CNN Wednesday morning.

    Ballots from Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Warren and Sterling Heights were still being recorded. The state likely won’t have final results until later in the day because Detroit is the largest precinct and had a record turnout this year, with a large swath of absentee ballots that take longer to count than in-person votes.

    Benson, who has scheduled an update on the counting process later Wednesday morning, did say that other Michigan counties will be reporting in the coming hours, which could give election watchers an idea of where the state is headed. Biden started pulling ahead Wednesday morning as more absentee ballots were tabulated.

    Benson said that 3.3 million absentee ballots have been received and are being tabulated and another 2 million to 2.5 million voted at the polls Tuesday.

    “We’ll know much more in the hours to come and we’ll have a much more complete picture of Michigan later today,” she said.

    Bottom Line: State election officials said Wednesday morning that an ‘unofficial’ result should be known by Wednesday evening.

    Georgia

    All but one of Georgia’s counties had completely reported vote totals as of Wednesday morning. But in Fulton County, which includes most of the Democratic stronghold of Atlanta, only about 77% of the estimated vote has been counted.

    Fulton, the largest county in Georgia, suffered a setback earlier Tuesday in counting mail-in ballots, after a water leak forced officials to stop tallying and tens of thousands of ballots were left uncounted.

    Trump led Biden by about 102,000 votes on Wednesday morning, though the remaining ballots are likely to break heavily for Biden. As of late Wednesday morning, 200k votes were left to be counted.

    Bottom Line: Georgia expects all votes to be counted by the end of the day.

    North Carolina

    North Carolina’s race was tight on Wednesday morning, with Trump leading by about 77,000 votes.

    About 62% of the state’s voters cast ballots before Election Day. More registered Democrats voted early than Republicans, but one-third of the electorate is unaffiliated with either major party.

    The state Board of Elections said that 100% of precincts have reported Election Day votes, but that the state still had to count about 25% of the total ballots cast, or roughly 1.9 million votes.

    Democrats took some solace in Governor Roy Cooper winning re-election, but it’s not clear if that’s a signal Biden can flip the traditionally Republican state.

    Bottom Line: The state has as long as nine days to count mail-in ballots sent before Election Day.

    Nevada

    A final count in Nevada isn’t expected for several days as it awaits ballots mailed as late as Election Day to arrive, though it isn’t clear how many people waited that long to vote. With about 82% of votes counted, Biden was holding a lead of less than one percentage point.

    “Clerks have until Nov. 10 to receive mail ballots and until Nov. 12 to count them,” said Jennifer Russell, a spokeswoman for Nevada’s secretary of state. Bottom Line: The state began posting partial results late Tuesday, with Biden holding a slim lead over Trump. That count, which included early and Election Day voting, will continue to trickle in on Tuesday.

  • Detroit Ballot-Counters Board Up Windows, Block Republican Poll-Watchers
    Detroit Ballot-Counters Board Up Windows, Block Republican Poll-Watchers

    Tyler Durden

    Wed, 11/04/2020 – 18:40

    Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

    Windows are being boarded up at a Detroit absentee ballot counting center as poll watchers complain about a lack of transparency.

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    “The scene at Detroit’s absentee ballot counting center is growing more heated. The windows now being covered up. Allegations of violations. Sec. of State says she welcomes challenges,” tweeted Fox News’ Matt Finn.

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    The Secretary of State responded by claiming the process had been “bipartisan, transparent and open” from the beginning.

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    Sadly, some of the poll-checkers had already found numerous errors…

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    Poll watchers claim that there are an unfair number of Democrats to Republicans and that the process is not transparent.

    Trump supporters are furious at an alarming number of mail in ballot drops changing the results of closely fought swing states.

    The Biden campaign’s prediction that Trump may appear to be winning on the night but that mail in ballots would change the result over the following days appears to be coming true.

    The Trump campaign has already signaled its intent to demand recounts and challenge the outcome up to the Supreme Court.

    *  *  *

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