Nov 06

Today’s News 6th November 2021

  • Biden Defied The Military Establishment: Is The Kennedy-Nixon Rule Still In Effect?
    Biden Defied The Military Establishment: Is The Kennedy-Nixon Rule Still In Effect?

    Authored by Paul Ryder via Counterpunch.org,

    In a 2020 essay, “Removing a president without an election,” I described attempts to remove five presidents in the middle of a term: Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump.

    Kennedy and Nixon, the two presidents whose terms were cut short, had made the mistake of defying the U.S. military establishment, on Cuba and Vietnam respectively. The other eleven modern presidents subordinated themselves and served their full terms in office unmolested. Even Trump, who hurled vulgar insults at the military, ended up doing what they wanted. Every time he signed an order that was out of line, they talked him out of it, delayed it, changed it, ignored it, or lied to him by saying they had carried it out.

    At the core of the military establishment are the Pentagon, big tech firms and weapons manufacturers led by Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Raytheon, and General Dynamics. Elsewhere in the government, it includes the Congress, Supreme Court, White House, Departments of Energy, State, Treasury, and Homeland Security, CIA, FBI, National Security Agency, and fifteen other intelligence agencies, AID, and the National Endowment for Democracy. Playing supporting roles are big media, foundations, think tanks, universities, consultants, Democratic and Republican parties, and private security services contractors.

    During the 2020 election, the safe bet was that Joe Biden would join the ranks of obedient presidents. His voting record, platform, contributors, advisers, and staff all pointed to it. His foreign policy decisions as president have been largely consistent with this.

    Afghanistan was an exception. Year after year, the military establishment had successfully lobbied the White House to continue the U.S. occupation. George W. Bush didn’t need persuasion, Barack Obama was easily overcome, and while Trump talked about getting out, he didn’t succeed.

    Surprisingly, only months into his presidency, Joe Biden insisted on a full U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, and made it happen.

    This is the first time in a half-century a president has violated the unwritten Kennedy-Nixon Rule. He defied the military establishment on a significant foreign policy matter.

    Under the rule, the establishment should now be moving to remove Biden from office. If so, they are off to a good start.

    In August, Biden found himself under siege from every direction. The New York Times led the way, as Gareth Porter described in “Afghan collapse reveals Beltway media’s loyalty to permanent war state.”

    During the crucial three weeks in August, producers of the five Sunday talk shows — NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, and Fox — scheduled thirty-four appearances by twenty-two U.S. guests to discuss Afghanistan. All were either elected officials who had taken military industry PAC money, consultants or advisors to the military industry, former members of the military, or high administration officials. The result was scathing commentary on Biden’s decision to withdraw (”Afghanistan withdrawal: Sundays with the military industrial complex”,” Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), October 20, 2021).

    Attacks also came from Britain and Europe with a notably personal tone.

    Czech President Milos Zeman called Biden’s decision to pull troops out of Afghanistan “a betrayal” and “cowardice,” adding that “the Americans have lost the prestige of a global leader.”

    Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt said Biden’s “‘America is back’ suggested a golden age in our relations. But it didn’t happen . . . The complete lack of consultations over the withdrawal has left a scar.”

    Bill Clinton’s protégé, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, wrote that Biden acted “in obedience to an imbecilic political slogan about ending ‘the forever wars’.” Then Blair called for a “respectful exchange of different points of view.”

    Oxford-graduate Blair must know “imbecilic” is not a respectful word. It comes from Latin, meaning “too feeble to hold a walking stick.” During the heyday of eugenics, it referred to people with an IQ between 26 and 50. People thus labelled suffered hellish mistreatment. “Imbecilic,” long since abandoned, is the word Blair chose to label Biden.

    In the movies and in real life, just before an assassination the target notices their companions and bodyguards have suddenly vanished. A puzzled look turns to one of doom. That’s how Biden must have felt in August.

    Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Jim Clyburn, Kamala Harris, and Bill Clinton offered perfunctory words of support or said nothing.

    Hillary Clinton had already publicly split with Biden in May. She told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria the consequences of Biden’s decision included “probably civil war,” “a huge refugee outflow,” and “resumption of activities by global terrorist groups, most particularly Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State [ISIS].”

    Barack Obama tried to have it both ways. On April 14, he called Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan “bold leadership.” By August, however, when criticisms were flying and Biden needed help, Obama was silent.

    The least Obama could have done is persuade former high officials in his administration to support Biden’s decision. Instead, a parade of his top officials went on television to attack Biden, including Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense and CIA Director; Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense; John Brennan and David Petraeus, both CIA Directors; Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security; Mike Mullin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; David Axelrod, Senior Advisor; and Ryan Crocker and James Cunningham, both Ambassadors to Afghanistan.

    Biden’s subordinates turned their backs on him as well. At the end of September, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, and Commander of U.S. Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie testified before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. The three assured the committee they could not and would not discuss their conversations with the president. With that formality out of the way, they made it clear they advised Biden not to withdraw, but he did it anyway.

    Not even Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan forcefully spoke up for their boss’ decision. On the Sunday talk shows, “in four of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s seven appearances, and three of National Security Adviser Sullivan’s five appearances, they were only asked process questions, and made no statements in support of the decision to withdraw,” according to the FAIR review cited above.

    The media siege worked. Biden’s job approval rating plunged to 43%, putting him and the Democratic Party in political danger.

    In modern times, there have been seven midterm elections in which the president’s approval was 45% or less. In these elections, the president’s party lost an average of forty House seats. If Biden’s party loses just three seats next year, their House majority will be gone.

    It’s hard to tell whether Biden has other decisions in mind that would defy the military. His statements on Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, and Taiwan have been incoherent at best.

    Where is all this headed?

    The conflict over Afghanistan policy does not reflect a “split in the ruling class.” Every part of the ruling class is united in favoring continued U.S. occupation. Biden is isolated. Only public opinion favors withdrawal. There are no vested interests in peace involved, and no peace movement.

    That is why the U.S. war in Afghanistan may not be over.

    The military establishment may decide the only flaw in its media campaign this year was starting too late. If it had begun in February instead of July, they might have been able impress Biden with how alone he was. By July, however, he was too committed to his position to change.

    With that in mind, the Pentagon is laying the groundwork for reversing Biden’s withdrawal decision. On October 26, Colin Kahl, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We could see ISIS-K generate that capability [to launch an attack, ‘including against the United States’] in somewhere between six or twelve months. . . And for al Qaeda, it would take a year or two to reconstitute that capability.”

    We can expect to see months of dire warnings, incidents, atrocities, false flag attacks, and other pretexts. Then will come a demand for a new U.S. occupation voiced by the same parade of people who flayed Biden in August.

    Is the Kennedy-Nixon Rule still in effect? What about Biden’s defiance?

    When Kennedy and Nixon were removed, the U.S. empire was at its apex. Half a century later, the U.S. military establishment is not what it was. Too much money for too long will rot anything. Eventually it becomes unable to enforce obedience from its presidents, and that day may have arrived.

    If, however, the Kennedy-Nixon Rule is still enforceable, the military establishment will take further steps to remove Biden before the 2024 election. This would create a vacancy for Vice President Kamala Harris to fill. There is nothing in her record to suggest she would defy the military establishment, and the Biden example would serve to remind her who runs Washington.

    There would be another problem. If Donald Trump runs for president in 2024, he might win. Even though the military establishment always got its way with Trump during his first term, it was chaotic and dangerous. They surely don’t want to go through that again and may well be considering their options.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 23:40

  • Visualizing Congestion At America's Busiest Port
    Visualizing Congestion At America’s Busiest Port

    U.S. e-commerce grew by 32.4% in 2020 – the highest annual growth rate in over two decades. Such rapid growth has resulted in many more goods being imported, leaving America’s western ports completely overwhelmed.

    To help you understand the scale of this issue, Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu has visualized the number of containers waiting at sea in relation to the Port of Los Angeles’ daily processing capacity.

    Stuck at Sea

    As of November 2, 2021, the Port of Los Angeles reported that it had 93 vessels waiting in queue. Altogether, these ships have a maximum carrying capacity of roughly 540,000 containers (commonly measured in twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs).

    On the other side of the equation, the port processed 468,059 import containers in September (the most recent data at the time of writing). Because the port does not operate on Sundays, we can conclude that the port can load roughly 18,000 containers each day.

    That capacity seems unlikely to reduce the congestion. Over a two-week timeframe in September, 407,695 containers arrived at the Port of Los Angeles, which averages to around 29,000 containers arriving each day.

    What’s Being Done?

    Solutions are needed to prevent the backlog from causing massive economic harm. In fact, analysts believe that up to $90 billion in trade could be delayed this holiday season.

    In October, the Biden administration announced a deal to expand operations at the Port of Los Angeles, enabling it to run 24/7. The port also announced it will begin charging carriers for every container that sits idle over a grace period. While only temporary, this plan has drawn criticism for its unclear objective.

    “The fee is on the ocean carrier, but the control over when the cargo is to be picked up sits with the cargo recipient. Having the ocean carrier pay more does nothing to encourage the cargo interest to pick up the cargo.” – World Shipping Council

    Regardless of the outcome, more permanent solutions will be required as online shopping continues to gain popularity.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 23:20

  • Towards A Single World Currency
    Towards A Single World Currency

    Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

    Is the move toward central bank digital currencies real? And, if so, is it the first step toward a global reserve currency that will replace the dollar and euro as currencies of choice in reserve positions of major economies?

    Well, yes and no.

    Before I expand on that answer and explain the impact central bank digital currencies will have on the more familiar world of foreign exchange, it’s helpful to say a bit more about what central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are.

    CBDCs are not cryptocurrencies. The CBDCs are digital in form, are recorded on a ledger (maintained by a central bank or Finance Ministry), and the message traffic is encrypted. Still, the resemblance to cryptos ends there.

    The CBDC ledgers do not use blockchain, and CBDCs definitely do not embrace the decentralized issuance model hailed by the crypto crowd. CBDCs will be highly centralized and tightly controlled by central banks.

    CBDCs are not new currencies. They are the same currencies you already know (dollars, yuan, euros, yen, sterling) in a new form, using new payment channels. They are a technological advance, but they do not replace existing reserve currencies.

    CBDCs are currently being introduced by major central banks around the world. Countries are at different stages of deployment. China is the furthest along. They have a working prototype of a digital yuan that will be showcased at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022.

    If you’re there and want to buy tickets, meals, souvenirs or pay for hotel rooms, you’ll be expected to pay with the new digital yuan using a mobile phone app or other digital payment channel.

    The European Central Bank has also moved quickly on a CBDC version of the euro. They are not yet at the prototype stage, but they have made material advances and are getting close to that stage. Japan and the U.S. are at the back of the line.

    The Fed has a research and development project underway with MIT to study how a digital dollar might intersect with or even replace the existing dollar payments system (which is already digitized, albeit without a centralized ledger).

    The U.S. is probably several years away from its own CBDC at best.

    So, yes, the move toward central bank digital currencies is real. How does this relate to what is sometimes called The Great Reset? This would be the movement toward a single global reserve currency.

    This movement would be nominally led by the International Monetary Fund acting as a kind of world central bank. Still, the IMF cannot make decisions of this magnitude without U.S. approval. (The U.S. has just enough voting power in the IMF to veto any material decisions it does not like).

    In turn, U.S. approval would require a global consensus among major economies including China, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and other members of the G7 and G20.

    This desire to create true world money would involve the creation of a digital special drawing right (SDR). SDRs are issued by the IMF to member nations and may be issued to other multilateral institutions such as the United Nations.

    In effect, the IMF has a printing press as powerful as the Fed and ECB printing presses and can flood the world with their world money. Displacing the dollar would involve a meeting and agreement similar to the original Bretton Woods agreement of 1944. The agreement could take many forms. Still, the process would conform to what many call The Great Reset.

    This process has been underway since 1969 when the SDR was created. Several issues of SDRs were distributed between 1970 and 1981, then none were issued until 2009 in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. A new issue was distributed earlier this year.

    Global elites see the COVID pandemic and climate alarm as a two-headed Trojan Horse that can be used to foist SDRs on a global population who have suddenly become accustomed to following government orders.

    The recent COP26 meeting of elite climate alarmists and heads of state in Glasgow highlighted the use of central bankers and financial regulation to push the alarmist agenda by cutting off lending and underwriting services to energy companies that don’t promote renewables or that pursue oil and gas exploration (go here to learn all about a coming global climate tax, and also, how you can actually profit from it).

    So, yes, the trend toward a single world currency is real also.

    Still, things don’t happen that quickly in elite circles. Even Bretton Woods took over two years to design and another five years to implement even under the duress of World War II. The transition from sterling to the U.S. dollar as the leading reserve currency took thirty years from 1914 to 1944. As they say, it’s complicated.

    At one level, there is no immediate change. A CBDC dollar is still a dollar. A CBDC euro is still a euro. Absent a new Bretton Woods type fixed-exchange rate regime, these currencies would still fluctuate against each other. Our analyses would continue as before.

    Still, there are three huge changes that could emerge from The Great Reset.

    The first is that a new global currency regime would be an opportunity to devalue all major currencies in order to promote inflation and steal wealth from savers. All currencies cannot devalue against all other currencies at the same time; that’s a mathematical impossibility.

    Yet, all currencies could devalue simultaneously against gold. This could easily drive gold prices to $5,000 per ounce or much higher to achieve the desired inflation. EUR/USD might remain around $1.16, but both EUR and USD would be worth far less when measured by weight of gold. This would be an accelerated version of what happened in stages between 1925 and 1933, between 1971 and 1980, and again between 1999 and 2011.

    The second change would be that CBDCs make it much easier to impose negative interest rates, confiscations, and account freezes on some or all account holders. This can be used for simple policy purposes or as a tool of the total surveillance state. Surveillance of incorrect behavior as defined by the Communist Party is the real driver of the digital yuan more than any aspirations to a yuan reserve currency role.

    The third change would be the widespread issuance of SDRs and their adoption as the sole global reserve currency. A new Bretton Woods could force countries to hold 100% of their reserves in SDRs, and major corporations could be forced to maintain their books in SDRs. This could lead to a fixed-exchange rate regime with a peg based not on gold but on SDRs.

    All of these shifts are now underway. Whether they play out over years or mere months remains to be seen. Exact outcomes are uncertain. What is certain is that I will watch developments closely and keep you ahead of the power curve as the elites continue their push toward digital money, world money, and the end of cash.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 23:00

  • Stronger, Faster, 'Higher'? – Is Weed The New 'Performance-Enhancing' Drug Of Choice For Pro-Athletes
    Stronger, Faster, ‘Higher’? – Is Weed The New ‘Performance-Enhancing’ Drug Of Choice For Pro-Athletes

    The Godfather of cannabis science says people are more motivated and feel better when using marijuana during workouts, according to Daily Beast. 

    “One of the reasons people exercise—whether they realize it or not—is to enhance the production of anandamide,” said Raphael Mechoulam, an Israeli organic chemist often referred to as the Godfather of cannabis science.

    “You exercise, you feel better, and this is because of anandamide.”

    Mechoulam points out that someone working out for more than 30 minutes at 70–80% of maximum heart rate increases concentrations of anandamide in blood plasma. He said anandamide help cause runner’s high. 

    Anandamide’s compound is comparable to cannabinoid that gives marijuana its psychoactive effect. Evolution has given humans anandamide to hunt animals. 

    “There are multiple reward systems that act, from an evolutionary standpoint, to induce behavior,” said David Raichlen, professor of biological sciences at the University of Southern California, who researches the intersection of anandamide, exercise, and evolution. 

    “The two major reward systems are endocannabinoids and endorphins. Both of them are powerful pain-relievers, and so when it comes to exercise, there’s a reward of pain relief, allowing you to move longer distances, consume more calories, survive longer, and pass on your genes. When these pathways enter the brain, there’s a mental health reward, a good feeling.”

    Raichlen believes that a moderate dose of cannabinoids can help people produce anandamide faster than working out for 30 minutes. High levels of anandamide were catalysts for mood enhancement and fear reduction, along with a decrease in fear and anxiety. It has been reported that professional athletes use cannabinoid products as a performance-enhancing drug before training events or games. Others use cannabinoids before workouts. 

    Cannabinoid usage has been widespread among the ultramarathon running community. They usually say the experience is “10 percent physical, 90 percent mental.” The pain-relieving anti-inflammatory factors of cannabinoids allow athletes to almost painlessly participate in sporting events and make them feel more presently connected at the moment. 

    It’s been shown that people who hated exercising tried cannabinoids and soon loved working out. 

    According to Raichlen, our evolutionary reward system makes activities like sleep, eating, and food gratifying. Exercise is also on the list, and cannabinoid usage could be a new performance-enhancing drug before a workout. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 22:40

  • Into The Abyss We Go…
    Into The Abyss We Go…

    Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

    Why won’t our politicians ever listen?  Just two days after voters made it exceedingly clear that they hate mandates, the Biden administration has announced that the nationwide OSHA mandate will go into effect on January 4th.  Are Biden and his minions this dense, or do they just not care what the American people think?  It has been estimated that the new OSHA mandate will cover approximately 80 million Americans, and it could potentially result in millions of highly qualified workers losing their jobs in early 2022.

    What the Biden administration is trying to do is completely unconstitutional, and red states are already challenging it in court.  Many people may not realize it yet, but this is one of the most important turning points in U.S. history.

    From an economic standpoint, this new mandate is going to be absolutely disastrous.  We are already in the midst of the worst worker shortage in all of U.S. history, and we are currently dealing with a supply chain crisis of epic proportions.  Forcing millions of Americans out of their jobs right in the middle of the upcoming winter will take both the worker shortage and the supply chain crisis to entirely new levels.

    But Biden is going to do it anyway.

    On Thursday, we learned that January 4th has been set as the official deadline for compliance with the new OSHA mandate…

    Tens of millions of Americans who work at companies with 100 or more employees will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 or get tested for the virus weekly. The new government rules were issued Thursday.

    The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says companies that fail to comply could face penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation.

    If the company that you work for has 100 or more employees, you are covered by this mandate.

    Needless to say, many employers will be frightened into submission by the extremely high financial penalties.  Those companies that are deemed to be “repeat offenders” could potentially “face a maximum fine of $136,532”…

    Repeat offenders or those found to be willfully noncompliant could face a maximum fine of $136,532. It is not immediately clear what constitutes a repeat offender.

    Of course many businesses across the country have no intention of ever complying with this new mandate.

    Realizing this is the case, the Biden administration will be secretly sending out OSHA spies to conduct surprise inspections…

    OSHA staffers will be doing random inspections to check if businesses are complying and employees could have to pay for their own tests out of pocket. The agency is using emergency orders that usually deal with workers exposed to ‘grave dangers’ to enforce the standards.

    GOP lawmakers responded with fury and said some unvaccinated Americans were being forced to decide between putting food on the table or getting the shot, while retailers said the new rules will put an ‘unnecessary’ burden on businesses before the holiday season.

    It’s official.

    We now live in a dystopian nightmare.

    And many local regimes are also choosing to become increasingly authoritarian.  For example, just check out the new rules for children that will soon be implemented in San Francisco…

    San Francisco will soon require children as young as 5 to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination to enter certain indoor public spaces like restaurants, entertainment venues and sporting events, public health officials said this week.

    The local mandate already requires children and adults over the age of 12 to show proof that they are vaccinated before entering those places. Now, city health officials are planning to extend the health order to children ages 5 to 11, the group newly eligible for the shot.

    America used to be the “land of the free”, but that is clearly not true anymore.

    The months ahead are not going to be pleasant.  As mandates choke the life out of our economy, the ongoing shortages are going to get even worse and prices are going to go a lot higher.

    In fact, we are already being told to brace ourselves for “sticker shock” when we go to buy meat…

    For America’s meateaters, this is a problem. Some cuts have soared 25 percent over the past year, while others are fetching near record prices, making meat one of the biggest contributors to pandemic inflation. And industry experts expect meat to keep gaining through the holidays and beyond.

    “The sticker shock is what we all need to be prepared for,” said Bindiya Vakil, chief executive officer of supply-chain consultant Resilinc. “This is here to stay, at least through the summer of 2022.”

    The good news is that nobody in this country is starving at this point.

    The bad news is that food prices around the world continue to escalate dramatically, and this is pushing millions upon millions of people in poorer countries into hunger.  This week, we learned that global food prices shot up another 3 percent in the month of October…

    A United Nations index tracking staples from wheat to vegetable oils climbed 3% to a fresh decade high in October, threatening even higher grocery bills for households that have already been strained by the pandemic. That could also add to central banks’ inflation worries and risks worsening global hunger that’s at a multiyear high.

    As I have been relentlessly warning, a plethora of factors have combined to create a “perfect storm” for food prices…

    Bad weather hit harvests around the world this year, freight costs soared and labor shortages have roiled the food supply chain from farms to supermarkets. An energy crisis has also proved a headache, forcing vegetable greenhouses to go dark and causing a knock-on risk of bigger fertilizer bills for farmers.

    Many of these factors will continue to intensify in 2022.

    So be thankful for what you have, because in some parts of the world things are already starting to get quite crazy.

    For example, in North Korea citizens are now being encouraged to eat black swan meat due to the “crippling food shortage” in that nation…

    North Korea has started touting the “exceptional” health benefits of consuming black swans after breeding them, while also farming rabbits as the country battles a crippling food shortage, according to state media.

    “Black swan meat is delicious and has medicinal value,” the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in an article published Monday.

    I have been warning that this was coming, and things are only going to get worse from here.

    So I would stock up while you still can, because food prices are only going to go higher.

    If you are one of those that may lose a job in the months ahead, I want you to know that our prayers are with you.

    Don’t give up, and don’t lose hope.

    I know that things are really dark right now, but sometimes the darkest valleys in life are where the light shines the brightest.

    *  *  *

    It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 22:20

  • Seattleites Are Most Anxious People In America, According To Gov Data
    Seattleites Are Most Anxious People In America, According To Gov Data

    The U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, which focuses on households’ socio-economic status, found Seattle is the most anxious metro in the U.S. 

    In the survey, conducted between Sept. 29 and Oct. 11, 54.5% of the adult population across King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, or about 1.8 million people, said they were “nervous, anxious, or on edge” for at least several days last month. Other cities that made it in the top three were Houston and Boston. 

    Source: The Seattle Times

    Here’s the question people were asked:

    Unlike other census data, the Household Pulse Survey is high-frequency data that captures how people feel economically and socially every few weeks. Even though we’re only concentrated on one question, the survey asks many questions about education, employment, food sufficiency, household spending, housing security, and physical and mental health. 

    The data helps officials and lawmakers develop policies to support people impacted by the virus pandemic. The last 18 or so months have been extremely stressful for households. That’s why there is a question about anxiety in the survey.

    Seattle ranked number one or two on the list since summer as it appears the metro area’s adults are experiencing high anxiety symptoms. In other words, Seattle is the most stressed-out city in the country. This could only mean one thing. Anxiety is due to economic hardship, though the survey didn’t ask about the cause of stress. 

    The broader part of the top 15 metros that are the most anxious could be due to soaring inflation, from gasoline to food to shelter, which has crushed sentiment and leaves working poor feeling very uncertain about their economic future. We must note about 20% of Americans had their savings wiped out over the last year, and many are unemployed. 

    This data could be helpful to forecast where social instabilities may break out when spring comes around. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 22:00

  • House Finally Passes Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
    House Finally Passes Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

    Update (2325ET): After weeks of infighting between progressives and Democratic moderates, the House finally passed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, after enough progressives broke ranks with their caucus to push it through.

    To be clear, the only reason it passed was the 13 Republicans who voted for it.

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    As NBC News‘ Sahil Kapur noted in July, the package includes:

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    —$40b bridges
    —$11b safety
    —$39b transit
    —$66b Amtrak/rail
    —$7.5b e-vehicle chargers
    —$5b clean buses
    —$17b ports
    —$25b airports
    —$50b water resilience
    —$55b drinking water
    —$65b broadband
    —$21b enviro remediation
    —$73b power/clean energy

    Now we wait for the Congressional Budget Office to render an opinion on Biden’s social spending package. If it checks out, expect a second vote in a few weeks.

    And while Democrats gave themselves a standing ovation following the vote, needless to say, not everyone was happy:

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    *  *  *

    Update (2150ET): House progressives and moderate House Democrats struck an 11th hour deal Friday night which will clear the way for votes on two massive Democratic spending packages.

    The deal between the Congressional Progressive Caucus, moderate Blue DOg Democrats, and the Congressional Black Caucus, would see the House finally pass the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, along with a promise to vote in the future on Biden’s $1.75 trillion social spending package which House moderates insisted the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) weigh in on first.

    The deal means progressives caved on their demand that both packages receive votes in tandem.

    The detente came after Biden called into an hours-long meeting of House progressives, desperately seeking a way to break the ugly, intraparty stalemate and urging rank-and-file lawmakers to vote for the infrastructure package Friday night. -The Hill

    “The whole day was a clusterf—, right? But beyond that, you know … I thought everyone was working in a very congenial way,” said Progressive Caucus leader Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI). “I mean, rank-and-file members figured out how to get shit done.”

    Well, not quite done…

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    *  *  *

    Update (1535ET): But wait, there’s more!

    According to Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, the infrastructure and Build Back Better must be passed together, and the CPC won’t go along with Pelosi’s plan “if our six colleageus still want to wait for a CBO score, we would agree to give them that time after which point we can vote on both bills together.”

    “As we’ve consistently said, there are dozens of our members who want to vote both bills — the Build Back Better Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — out of the House together,” Jayapal added.

    Yet, as ACG Analytics notes (and with Pelosi having presumably gotten commitments from the Congressional Black Caucus earlier Friday), progressives may have lost their leverage.

    This week´s election results may, however, have accelerated a process that was already beginning: divorcing the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Senate-passed infrastructure bill from the woes of the Reconciliation bill. This week, in a seemingly inexplicable change of position, House Progressives signaled that they were ready to pass the infrastructure bill without “ironclad” assurances of the Reconciliation framework (still being negotiated) being acceptable to all 50 Senators.

    Less than a week ago, the same House Democrats refused to back down from their position, embarrassing President Biden internationally, and buttressing critics of Democrats in Washington, D.C.—Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe included—who argue that the Party is governing in a dysfunctional manner.

    As House Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) put it: “The President says he can get 51 votes for the bill. We are going to trust him…We’re tired of continuing to wait for one or two people.” What a difference 3 days makes.

    In the face of Tuesday night’s election results, moderates are already calling again for passage of infrastructure bill. But if the votes are not yet there for the Reconciliation bill, many Democrats will have to decide whether a morale-improving legislative victory is worth breaking their promise that both bills would move more or less simultaneously.

    Does Pelosi have the votes or not? Will House progressives die on this hill – and be blamed throughout midterms for fracturing the party?

    Stay tuned…

    *  *  *

    Update (1510ET): After a morning of waffling back and forth over whether the House would hold votes on two key pieces of Democratic legislation, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has announced that votes will be held on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework and the Build Back Better Act.

    In a Friday announcement following a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus, Pelosi said that the votes would be held “in order to make progress on the President’s vision,” adding that she will bring the Infrastructure package to a vote first, and “a rule for consideration of the Build Back Better Act” that House progressives threw a tantrum over unless both bills were done in tandem.

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    *  *  *

    Update (1305ET): As he entered Pelosi’s office on Friday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters “I don’t know” over whether there would be any voting today, according to Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman.

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    Meanwhile, the Congressional Black Caucus is pushing Pelosi to hold a vote today.

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    * * *

    House Democrats are, as the New York Times puts it, “scrambling to line up the votes needed to push through a $1.85 trillion social safety net, climate and tax bill,” as moderate Democrats raise concerns over the cost after being “spooked by Tuesday’s electoral drubbing.”

    This comes after Democratic leaders abandoned plans to to vote on Thursday, instead pushing it to Friday, when they also hope to vote on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that House progressives vowed to tank unless they had assurances that the bigger bill would pass in tandem.

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had previously hoped to hold the social safety net vote on Thursday and the infrastructure vote on Friday, however they were unable to find the votes within their own party on Thursday.

    With Republicans united in opposition, Democrats could afford to lose as few as three votes from their side. Among the biggest issues were the cost and economic effects of the social safety net bill.

    A few centrists were also balking at supporting the package — which includes monthly payments to families with children, universal prekindergarten, a four-week paid family and medical leave program, health care subsidies and a broad array of climate change initiatives — before evaluating the fiscal impact of the latest, hastily assembled 2,135-page version of the legislation. -NYT

    “There is certainly a lack of trust among some of the moderates,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) told reporters. “I want to move the ball forward. But I mean, I still want to know, what are the differences?”

    Pelosi, meanwhile, has mounted an ‘intense campaign’ to rally fellow Democrats behind the bill – going from lawmaker to lawmaker to get a sense of how the vote will go.

    “We’re going to pass both bills,” said Pelosi, adding “But in order to do so, we have to have votes for both bills.“

    Hilariously, the Times notes that while House Progressives – nearly 100 strong – have finally “fallen in line” behind both measures despite deep cuts to their agenda, moderates are starting to push back, and are in no rush to cast a vote over concerns that the legislation goes to far to the left.

    “We’re reading through the 2,000 pages that we got last night,” said moderate Dem Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, where Republicans made staggering gains in Tuesday’s off-year election. “There’s still changes being made, so we’re going through those, comparing the two versions line by line, which is the responsibility we have to the people we represent.”

    CBO Score not happening for weeks

    Another complication for House leadership is that a group of moderates have demanded to see a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score for the reconciliation bill. According to Punchbowl News‘ Jake Sherman, that’s not going to happen until Thanksgiving week.

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    As The Hill notes,

    The demands from a handful of centrist lawmakers for a full Congressional Budget Office analysis of the social spending package is jeopardizing House Democratic leaders’ plans to hold a vote Friday on the legislation. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) acknowledged that a CBO score on the bill — which spans more than 2,000 pages — would not be ready on Friday.

    Meanwhile, moderate Democrats in swing districts are now worried that Republicans will use the progressive provisions in the bill – such as a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegals – as a cudgel in next year’s midterm elections.

    “We want it as strong as possible,” said Rep. Adriano Espillat (D-NY), who has been in discussion with other Democrats on the immigration aspects of the package. “Whether I’m up or down on this, we want to see some things in writing.”

    Both the social safety net bill and the infrastructure legislation, which carry a majority of Mr. Biden’s economic agenda, have been in limbo for weeks as Democrats tussled over the details. Centrist holdouts, led by Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, demanded that the social safety net measure be scaled back to about half the $3.5 trillion that leaders had initially proposed.

    While the Senate approved the $1 trillion infrastructure bill in August, the measure has stalled as progressives have repeatedly refused to supply their votes for it until there is agreement on the other bill. -NYT

    Given the brewing infighting between House moderates and progressives, we’re guessing no vote today. That said, if House moderates are able to influence the legislation into a less partisan, less divisive package, it could mean that Senate moderates Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) would be on board.

     

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 21:51

  • Luongo: Expect Democrats To Not Learn The Real Lessons From Virginia's Elections
    Luongo: Expect Democrats To Not Learn The Real Lessons From Virginia’s Elections

    Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, ‘n Guns blog,

    Just one year out from the great win which brought us the First Fungal President, Democrats got shellacked by voters.

    Virginia, presumed permanently flipped blue, revolted, turning the top of the state government as Republican as possible.

    And all we have been subjected to in the past few days has been the hilarious sight of Democrats lighting their hair on fire decrying the black daughter of a Jamaican immigrant as the new face of white nationalism.

    Watching them strut around last November, it was obvious to me the Democrats would take all the wrong lessons from their ‘revolution’ against the demon Trump.

    And they are about to do it again in 2021.

    They took the worst coattails in history as a sign from the gods in Davos to remake the U.S. into the bastard step-son of a sclerotic and dysfunctional European Union, with all the capital destruction, ritualistic humiliations and artless propaganda that implies.

    But a funny thing happened on the way to the Politburo. They they mistook fatigue with the sitting President as affirmation of the most radical parts of their agenda.

    You would think they would have learned their lesson after 2010’s blow out? But, as Dexter White pointed out recently, with commies, dumb ideas never die, they are just put off until the next legislative session.

    A Donut Hole Inside a Donut Hole

    And the reason is these people don’t set policy. They implement it. The policy is the goal and until the heads of the bureaucracy which creates it are burned out, they will keep growing back to try again.

    There is no real discussion about the final product. The argument is only over how best to present it. Last year I called it MOPP – Management of Perspective Politics .

    And if there’s been one great political lesson for all the worldly Millennials now organizing for the mid-terms in 2021 it is this: no one ever went broke underestimating the truculence of American voters. After all, it’s how y’all tell yourselves you swept the board last year.

    That said, however, I do truly believe there is a fundamental hole at the center of the Democrats’ (and Davos’) strategy.

    In short, the Democrats don’t stand for anything but rather are simply another victims support group.

    That’s where the hole in their minds resides, when you then try to stand for something, in this case global communism run by Eurocrats from Brussels, you have no clear messaging as to what you want to achieve, other than, “burn the heretics at the stake!”. And that doesn’t really play well without looking completely insane to everyone who isn’t a “purple-haired cat lady on a cocktail of antidepressants ranting about white supremacy.”

    … The Progressives thought they had this locked up because DNC leadership was given their marching orders from Davos which was their agenda all along. All each group had to do was virtue signal to their aggrieved supporters and the two factions would Straussian Two-Step (Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis) their way to victory….

    But, in reality they have nothing locked up because most of the country doesn’t dye their hair purple before setting it on fire for like on Tik-Tok.

    Maladjusted Development

    And when you implement policy at the local level which is abhorrent to most people’s basic humanity, eventually they do something about it. This time it was the Loudon County school board and Attorney General Merrick Garland’s trying to brand parents as “domestic terrorists” that sealed their fate on Tuesday.

    We have these quaint ideas in most of this country that local government officials work for us, not the other way around. We should be forgiven if we have become inured to the corruption at the center of our political world – D.C.

    But when the policy trickles down to the schools you pay truly outrageous taxes to send your kids to, that’s when the old adage that ‘all politics is local’ becomes real again.

    They mistook their “win” in 2020 as a mandate to go all-in on the crazy. And it backfired on them badly on Tuesday.

    But don’t think for a second that Obama and Davos weren’t the ones pushing this to its crisis point. But, they’re so consumed with implementing their coup from the top down they missed the chaos they unleashed at the local level.

    These people just think that if they make laws they create reality.

    They live in an echo chamber so small that they think the pain in their neck is not from having their heads up their asses.

    No wonder they couldn’t understand why “Let’s Go Brandon” is so friggin’ funny.

    Chaos Rearing

    I believe when they put these plans on the white board that they could control the Critical Race Theory and White Supremacy narrative.

    But they really can’t.

    Because, chaos is chaos for a reason. It, by definition, cannot be controlled. When you foster it in people to the maximum through 24/7 anxiety pimping on social media they begin to act, well, chaotically.

    They do dumb shit like organize a school field trip to a gay bar or strip club, have tranny-stripper reading hour with five-year old kids and create university professors who talk openly during interviews of killing all the white folk.

    Years ago Judge Andrew Napolitano called the camera “the new gun.” In 2021 this isn’t a trenchant observation or anything but it bears remembering because we not only capture each other saying and doing the private parts out loud, people willingly turn it on themselves and are shocked (shocked, I say) when there are consequences for it.

    Hello Newton? The Dems want your laws back.

    And the results are what happened in the 2021 local elections.

    Like it or not, Democrats, actions have consequences. Effects follow causes. And redefining terms doesn’t negate little things like math and biology.

    Speshul Edjkashum

    Because of their fundamental defects not only in character but cognitive function we will now be treated to the best show on earth in 2022: watching the Democrats double down on the exact strategy that lost them these races in 2021.

    Those who have never learned their lessons are now a three-headed hydra of bad ideas getting ready to go even further left.

    Our fungal president came back from Glasgow early, presumably because he got lost at the photo op, to double down on his executive order on vaccine mandates and weekly testing for COVID-9/11.

    Nasty Nancy still thinks there’s wiggle room to force President Manchin to the bargaining table over the infrastructure bill. I wonder when he’s going to get a Secret Service detail?

    The Jimmy Dores, Lizzie Slapahos, Sanderistas and Old Turks are already screeching that they lost because they betrayed their base.

    What base?

    The Karens being thrown off of airplanes because we’re all so thoroughly sick of their hysteria? The only thing based in the following video is the pilot.

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    Pandering to this demographic and their children will be the end of the party. If they lurch left and double down on the socialism it will prove the adults have left the planning room. I give it better than even odds because that’s literally all they have left.

    Right on cue, crisis actor extraordinaire Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fulfills her destiny to breathe fire on the ashes on both Terry McAuliffe and the party she was sent to D.C. to destroy.

    “Plus, on the election front, I actually think we have good news as well. I know that Virginia was a huge bummer. And honestly, if anything, I think that the results show the limits of trying to run a fully 100% super moderated campaign that does not excite, speak to or energize a progressive base,”

    Teachable Moment in History…

    The battle-hardened are sitting in the room today doing triage for the primaries. They know it’s spiraling out of control. Pelosi is desperate to pass any version of the spending bills just to have something to show for the entire session.

    But these bills were supposed to be passed before this election debacle. COP26 was supposed to be a triumph for Davos. Biden was sidelined completely. He isn’t going to make it another six months in office.

    Manchin can’t cave if he wants to retain his seat. Removing him only makes things worse with a Republican Governor in West Virginia.

    They are moving the pieces into place to get rid of Biden but there’s no one in the room capable of taking the reins of the country. Forget Harris, if anything Obama and company are already moving against her.

    I told you in August that Davos has other plans for Biden’s successor. Biden was Obama’s choice to be replaced when convenient. I’m still betting on him placing a loyal and politically-inert Janet Yellen in his place.

    Getting rid of Biden now does nothing to salve these wounds, it only compounds them since Biden was Obama’s pick, not Hillary’s. If anyone had any illusions of her power within the party, dispel them now. Terry McAuliffe is finally gone. John Durham is tightening the RussiaGate noose around her neck. Even though Obama is implicated heavily in that, since he controls the party now, expect nothing to blow back on him.

    The Democrats had no momentum coming into these elections and now the knives are coming out of the woodwork. Once the tempo is gone, politically, it’s nearly impossible to get it back. Building it back better by denying Critical Race Theory and firing all the COVID-9/11 heroes over the clot-shot isn’t a winning strategy.

    I expect Obama to allow the party to give the Progressives their head, it’s the fastest way to destroy the country and accelerate us towards the ultimate act of political vandalism. That said don’t underestimate the Republicans’ ability to stand in the fire of the Democrats’ self-immolation.

    They never seem to learn anything either.

    What has looked a three-headed hydra constantly regenerating bad ideas no matter how many times we try to kill them, is now about to turn into something closer to the Moe, Larry and Curly doing an impression of the giant from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

    Such is the benefit of a failing education system. Hoisted on their own petard, even.

    *  *  *

    Join my Patreon if you like learning things

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    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 21:40

  • 4% Of Americans Say They Have Quit Their Jobs Thanks To Their Crypto Gains
    4% Of Americans Say They Have Quit Their Jobs Thanks To Their Crypto Gains

    Billionaire Mark Cuban just shared some insight into why so many Americans are quitting their (typically low-paying) jobs, and as it turns out, wealth tied to gains in the cryptocurrency market has a lot to do with it.

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    As Cuban – who has previously said that he’s “more of an eth guy” – pointed out in a tweet (citing an article published a few days ago by Civic Science) that, according to at least one survey, 4% of Americans shave quit their job over the last year due to “financial freedom earned by investing in cryptocurrency” and another 7% say they know somebody who has.

    Source: Civic Science

    While these single-digit number might not seem like much at first glance, as Cuban points out, there’s an important piece of context here: most of these people quitting their jobs aren’t bitcoin millionaires. In fact, it’s just the opposite: most of those quitting their jobs are in “the lowest income brackets”. In other words, they will be back to work some day. Whether demand for work returns gradually, or all at once, will be a key question for markets and the economy going forward.

    Put another way: one factor driving the worker shortage is the fact that millions of workers who aren’t used to having extra money in the bank have suddenly found themselves with tens of thousands of dollars (at least on paper). Some may have cashed out and sold their crypto to the legion of institutional buyers now rotating into the market (thanks to offerings like BITO). Others might be borrowing against it, or selling a little at a time.

    But one factor that’s clear is that the money raised by many of these investors isn’t exactly life-changing. While it may have been enough for some to retire permanently, most are using it as another form of asset diversification, not a source of income. At some point, if crypto prices fall, or if they at the very least don’t keep rising in perpetuity

    This data implies that while investing in crypto may have provided life-changing levels of income for some, the wealthier owners of crypto use it more as another form of asset diversification rather than source of income.

    Those in lower-income brackets mostly aren’t used to having so much money, and since job openings (especially for lower-paying jobs) are so plentiful – and most in lower income brackets are so used to living paycheck to paycheck (or having little in savings) – they’re essentially seizing the opportunity to take some time off from work while they pivot to the play the role of amateur crypto speculators, like many Americans did with tech stocks back in the 1990s.

    And now that retirees and more institutional investors can buy into the crypto market via BITO, wealthier investors are

    What’s more, for many people, it appears that trading crypto has acted as a kind of gateway drug to trading stocks,  the record highs in stocks, particularly the surge in so-called “meme stocks”.

    Finally, younger investors have more of a tendency to see cryptocurrency as a long-term investment…

    …and they’re also more likely to see crypto wealth as a pathway to becoming wealthier than their parents were.

     

    The American economy is of course complex, and not everybody sitting at home instead of working is sitting on a cushion of crypto wealth. The federal government and the states have handed out enough stimulus money that this labor shortage really shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody. That many (mostly younger) people turned around, took that money and bet it on crypto shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

    If anything, this data is just the latest reminder that in the age of “the everything bubble”, everything in the world of markets and the economy truly is connected.

    Though, of course, if you ask Jerome Powell, he’ll tell you the labor market shortages are due to workers’ fears of COVID.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 21:20

  • Here's Why US Supply Chain Problems Will Only Get Worse
    Here’s Why US Supply Chain Problems Will Only Get Worse

    Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

    It is an economic rule which free market philosophers like Adam Smith have tried to explain to governments and monopolists for centuries:

    Less liberty and more centralization equals less production and less overall wealth.

    Governments and central banks have sought to circumvent this rule by printing money from thin air, thinking that they can create wealth while at the same time suffocating public financial interactions and trade with authoritarianism. This, of course, only leads to inflation or stagflation, and thus wealth is never actually created, it is projected like a hologram in order to trick the masses into thinking that all is well – until everything breaks, that is.

    Inflationary policies inevitably lead to speculation

    To be sure, capital is concentrated under this system into the hands of a select few, but the currency itself is devalued swiftly and buying power is truncated. Speculative assets and many commodities start to see a burst of activity as the inflation grows out of control.

    Some of these assets will implode eventually, especially those that offer no intrinsic value or utility, that were only ever purchased in the hopes of passing them on to a greater fool. Others will explode even higher. Essentially, bizarre bubbles in various sectors are in reality a warning of the inflationary crisis to come.

    Exhibit A: Rare Whisky Icon 100 Index near its all-time highs.

    Exhibit B: The billion-dollar ecosystem of cartoon apes

    There are mainstream economists out there arguing that monetary policy decisions and authoritarian mandates have no real world consequences. The inflation is “transitory”, they claim. The public will “adapt” to the new normal and submit to the controls for their own good. Central bank stimulus will defuse all crisis events in the meantime and helicopter money will placate the citizenry. Throw the public a few scraps from the table and they will shut up and happily nibble.

    These academic policy-makers and unelected bureaucrats refuse to see these speculative bubbles as what they actually are: Desperate moves to avoid inflation. No one wants to hold dollars when they can watch their purchasing power being destroyed daily, so they seek something, anything else. Eventually, most of these illusory safe-havens will collapse into worthlessness (how much will your Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT be worth next year?)

    As I have been saying for many years now, an economic crash in the U.S. simply cannot be avoided, and it can only be hidden from public view for a limited time. And that limit is expiring fast.

    Well, guess what? The crash is here now right in front of us and it is becoming obvious even to people who barely pay attention.

    The “Everything Shortage” is the beginning of the end

    For a while now preparedness advocates like myself have been warning about the incessant bottlenecks and weaknesses within the U.S. supply chain, a system highly dependent on “just in time” freight. It has been saddening to see our warnings go unheeded for so long. Now, the circle of idiocy is nearing completion and large elements of U.S. supply and trade are trapped, waiting on a handful of U.S. ports and a crippled freight network to process billions of tons in product before it can reach wholesalers and retailers.

    And, it’s only going to get worse because the causes are not being addressed.

    There are a number of reasons for the breaking supply chain, and it would not be fair to place all blame on a single culprit. However, the “perfect storm” we are witnessing is perhaps not as coincidental as it might appear. At the very least, government officials and corporate elites have known about the fragility of our supply chain for quite some time and have done nothing to remedy the situation.

    Here are the primary time bombs within the supply chain as I see them…

    A shortage of port workers

    Labor shortages have been a cancer within our economy for the past 18 months and the ports are no exception. Covid mandates and lockdowns have stifled business operations including those at “essential” services. In particular, it was the Covid unemployment benefits and welfare checks that caused the bulk of our existing problems by paying workers far more to stay home than they would make on the job.

    While federal covid checks have technically “ended”, some benefits are ongoing and state covid “benefit enhancements” are flowing through various channels such as SNAP. This is on top of regular state unemployment checks. So, even though federal programs have been slowing down, state programs continue which means many more months of labor shortages to come. There are numerous people out there that have not worked a job in over year despite the fact that job openings are ample. In May it was estimated that 30% of the unemployed representing around 9.2 million workers had been jobless for at least 12 months. And why not? Why work when the government pays you to do nothing.

    Port worker shortages are ongoing due to a loss of employees at the beginning of the pandemic lockdowns that still has not been remedied. It is important to note that the states with the worst port congestion are the states with the most Covid restrictions (blue states). So much so that red states are taking on extra port traffic to mitigate the congestion in places like California and New York, but they can only do so much.

    Truck driver shortages

    As with the port workers, trucker shortages are rampant. The industry estimates 80,000 to 100,000 truck drivers need to be hired immediately just to stave off the current backlog of containers at ports. At least 13 cross-country shipments need to be completed for each truck driver working today in the U.S. This means that at the current speed of freight deliveries they will never catch up to the backlog.

    Trucks carry about 60% if all goods to retailers across the U.S., not to mention raw materials to manufacturers. If the trucking system shuts down, the economy shuts down.

    Vaccine mandates

    Now we are getting closer to the root cause of our supply chain dilemma. Biden’s vaccine mandates and the Covid mandates in general have been the primary trigger for the worker shortages. This goes for port workers as well as truck drivers.

    Vaccine mandates are forcing workers in important infrastructure positions to make a choice – Stay at work and take a vaccine with no long term testing to prove its safety, or, refuse and look for work elsewhere. Many are choosing the latter.

    The brink of disaster

    It is important to understand that in most of these industries a loss of only 10% of the workforce would lead to disaster. Right now, many ports and companies are looking at a worker loss of 30% or more. This would cause the supply chain to grind almost to a halt, and there’s nothing Biden or state government can do about it because most of these jobs are skilled labor requiring years of training and experience. There is no pool of skilled workers waiting in the wings to take these jobs. There is no contingent of national guardsmen qualified to fill them. There is no group of qualified foreign workers they can ship into the country to take up the slack who can also speak English well enough to function. There’s no one.

    They might be able to patch together a facsimile of the former supply chain, but it will be a joke in comparison. Biden’s mandates can and likely will cripple U.S. freight and the economy overall, and maybe this is deliberate. Biden’s handlers and cabinet are the true policy writers, and they know full well what the damage will be as the vaccine mandates take effect and millions of workers refuse to comply. Either they don’t care, or, they hope to make hay with the ensuing chaos while blaming the vaccine refuseniks.

    I suspect they did not think there would be so much opposition in America to the mandates, so Plan B is to spin the narrative to their advantage by crashing the system a little early. Resistance to the vaccine passports is necessary to saving our republic in the long term, but it’s important to realize that we, the unvaccinated, will be painted as the villains in the short term just for quitting our jobs or being fired for non-compliance.

    The inevitable dollar devaluation and stagflation

    The bigger problem which almost no one in the mainstream is talking about is the effect of money creation and price inflation on the supply chain. For one, helicopter money through Covid checks has caused a flood of demand for overseas goods, which dilutes the buying power of the dollar because now there are more and more dollars chasing less and less available goods. The goods are becoming more valuable to foreign manufacturers than the dollars Americans are trying to trade for them.

    Stimulus measures in the U.S. have the peculiar benefit of shifting inflationary damage offshore for a time, because the dollar is the world reserve currency (for now). Banks and corporations around the globe continue to hold dollars in reserve for future trade, but this could change quickly.

    The Federal Reserve and the government have created at least $6 trillion in new money in the span of a mere 18 months according to official estimates. Foreign holders of dollars are losing buying power the longer they continue to keep these reserves. It’s only a matter of time before they begin to liquidate on a large scale. As this happens, all those dollars held overseas will come flooding back into the U.S. and with them comes crushing price bubbles.

    I believe incredibly high shipping prices are in part a representation of dollar devaluation. If I am right, then shipping and container prices will remain relatively high compared to pre-pandemic and pre-stimulus levels even as retail demand falls. The falling dollar might not be immediately visible to the public or markets, but the supply chain burdens and price spikes will be punishing American consumers from now on.

    Sheltering from the stagflation storm

    The solutions are rather straightforward, but with far reaching social implications and a loss of power for the establishment, which is why they will never happen peacefully:

    • End the covid mandates

    • Incentivize manufacturing on U.S. soil

    • End the Federal Reserve

    • Return the U.S. to the gold standard

    The powers that be clearly benefit from economic disaster in the U.S., so applying any practical fix would be contrary to their agenda. The more economically destitute a population becomes, the more desperate they are. The more desperate they are, the more they tend to submit to control on the promise that they will be secure in the necessities of life. A hungry citizen is a compliant citizen. And a broken supply chain is a great way to inspire such fear.

    This requires actions outside of the system to insulate local and state economies. If the goal is economic instability through supply chain disruption, then Americans will have to create their own supply chains closer to home. This means local production and manufacturing of goods, localized trade systems, alternative currencies (backed by commodities) or physical gold and silver and resource management outside of federal regulations. In other words, complete decentralization is the answer to the conundrum of government imposed chaos.

    *  *  *

    After 8 long years of ultra-loose monetary policy from the Federal Reserve, it’s no secret that inflation is primed to soar. If your IRA or 401(k) is exposed to this threat, it’s critical to act now! That’s why thousands of Americans are moving their retirement into a Gold IRA. Learn how you can too with a free info kit on gold from Birch Gold Group. It reveals the little-known IRS Tax Law to move your IRA or 401(k) into gold. Click here to get your free Info Kit on Gold.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 21:00

  • China Mocks Biden's "Powerlessness" & "Hypocrisy" After Climate Summit Apology
    China Mocks Biden’s “Powerlessness” & “Hypocrisy” After Climate Summit Apology

    President Xi Jinping’s absence from both the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow and the G20 in Rome has drawn biting criticism from Western leaders, and in particular President Joe Biden – who lashed out against Xi in a direct attack Tuesday, calling his refusal to attend “a big mistake”. Biden had told reporters “we showed up” (though the prior day he was caught on video sleeping during opening speeches), while lambasting China and Russia as “They didn’t show up … It is a gigantic issue and they just walked away,” according to the president.

    Beijing had quickly responded by highlighting the fact that COP26’s organizers rebuffed China’s request for Xi to have the option of addressing the conference via live telecast. Instead Xi merely sent a written statement. And China state media has gone further, later in the week mocking Biden as “powerless” while highlighting that Biden had apologized before summit participants for Trump previously pulling out of the Paris Accord.

    State-run English language Global Times mockingly called out the “noble” apology as in reality exposing the deep disunity of American politics, leading to a permanent state of gridlock as well as constant flip-flopping on the world stage.

    The report said the Chinese public “cannot wait until 2024 when the Republican Party, or even Donald Trump himself, apologizes for Biden’s apology.” 

    Global Times included the following commentary focused on the constant “discord” in the US:

    Most people believe this was hardly an apology, but a slap in the face of his predecessor, a move to pin all the blame on Trump. This is not about how sorry Biden is. He was making a show and bringing US political infighting to the global arena. 

    And then there was this commentary in the publication highlighting a seeming pattern of humiliating Biden apologies to world leaders: 

    “Biden’s remarks remind me of the scene when Democratic lawmakers got down on their knees for George Floyd, whose death sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as Biden’s face-to-face apology to France for the US’ ‘clumsy’ Australian submarine deal,” Xu Liang, an associate professor at the School of International Relations of the Beijing International Studies University, told Global Times.

    Those cases show that the declining US is trapped in a predicament where the best option is to apologize. If the US still has teeth, it will definitely not become that humble, Xu said. 

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    Ironically the GT piece to some degree provides confirmation of former president Trump’s own scathing attack on Biden’s appearance in Glasgow. Trump noted that world leaders are “laughing” at Biden, seeing in him weakness and inability to stand up to US rivals. 

    “We have never been thought of so poorly as we are right now, including the fact that the leaders of foreign countries, all of whom are at the top of their game, are laughing at Biden as he makes the rounds in Europe. So low and so bad for America. There has never been a time like it,” Trump said in a statement immediately on the heels of Biden’s apology over the Paris agreement.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 20:40

  • "The Fed Is Our Master And 'We The People', Its Puppet" Argues Jekyll Author
    “The Fed Is Our Master And ‘We The People’, Its Puppet” Argues Jekyll Author

    Submitted By Daniela Cambone via Stansberry Research. 

    The Federal Reserve has become so powerful over the years that its intended roles have entirely reversed and gone haywire, according to G. Edward Griffin, author of the book, many claim a financial bible – The Creature from Jekyll Island.

    In a rare and exclusive interview, Griffin joined anchor Daniela Cambone on Stansberry Research to discuss the true nature of the Federal Reserve and its place in American society, foreshadowing a world without the institution as we know it. 

    As Cambone points out, the controversial yet influential voice Griffin promulgates would be argued as necessary, among former Congressman Ron Paul and Robert Kiyosaki.

    Griffin presents a stark reality that dives into the Fed’s foundational structure and how its practices are that of a “banking cartel.” 

    On the surface, one might find it extreme to say that a private institution working in cohesion with the government is playing the role of “masters” to citizens. Griffin presents his argument accurately by pointing out how Chairman Powell and the Federal Reserve swiftly implemented economic policies contributing to the greatest wealth transfer in human history.

    “The government doesn’t control the banks; the banks control the government,” he says to round out this servant-master metaphor. 

    In a world where central bank digital currencies will inevitably be the new form of money, Griffin warns, people could lose control of their money because the banks could “just throw a switch and shut you out of your account if they don’t like you.”

    He then says it’s crucial to hold “marketable assets” outside of what the banking cartel cannot control, such as valuable physical objects – to the likes of precious metals, noting that gold is only one of the few safe places to hide. 

    Click the play button below to listen to Cambone’s interview with G. Edward Griffin. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 20:20

  • Unvaccinated Troops Now Threatened With Losing All Their Veterans Benefits
    Unvaccinated Troops Now Threatened With Losing All Their Veterans Benefits

    We detailed Thursday that many thousands of active duty Air Force personnel have still remained unvaccinated even after the Tuesday deadline has come and gone for the Air Force’s mandate to receive both Covid jabs, which was the earliest set deadline among US military branches.

    Already some branches like the Navy and Marines have clarified that members who refuse the mandate will be relieved of duty and separated from the service. After Tuesday’s deadline at least 8,500 active-duty members of the Air Force and Space Force are in non-compliance and now risk being kicked out. However, there’s no indication as of yet that commanders have booted anyone at this early point.

    But now the Department of Defense (DoD) taking its threat of punitive action a big step further, saying unvaccinated service members could see their veterans’ benefits taken away. This would be based on personnel receiving other-than-honorable discharge, which will reportedly be determined by a base’s local command.

    The Post-9/11 GI Bill allows education benefits to be transferred to a spouse and immediate family.

    The Pentagon is saying such a drastic penalty, which would result in individual veterans potentially losing everything from education benefits such as the GI Bill, to eligibility for a veterans home lone, is necessary as lack of vaccination impacts “readiness”. 

    A new report in the Military Times quotes Gil Cisneros, Department of Defense (DoD) undersecretary for personnel, who told Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, “We see the vaccines as a readiness issue. Any discharge decision is up to the individual service as to how they proceed with that.”

    The report describes that “Individuals with honorable discharges will be eligible for things like GI Bill benefits, VA home loans and transition assistance programs. Individuals with other-than-honorable discharges are still guaranteed mental health care services through VA, but may be blocked from most other benefits.”

    An honorable discharge would guarantee all of these benefits, while anything less throws them into doubt in terms of eligibility. Other branches have their deadlines for all personnel to get vaccinated coming in the next weeks. 

    As for the Air Force, what might happen next is a mass expulsion of non-vaxxed service members. There was no word on what career fields the un-vaxxed were in. If some are pilots, especially ones operating stealth jets and bombers, the overreaching vaxx mandate could much more directly jeopardize America’s readiness for war. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 20:00

  • "You've Been Judged" – Musk Tweets After Bezos' Blue Origin Loses Appeal Over NASA Moon Lander Deal
    “You’ve Been Judged” – Musk Tweets After Bezos’ Blue Origin Loses Appeal Over NASA Moon Lander Deal

    A federal judge rejected billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin’s lawsuit against NASA’s decision to award another billionaire, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, with a lucrative lunar lander contract. 

    Bezos and Musk, the two wealthiest people on Earth, want their companies to be the first to return astronauts to the moon by the mid-part of this decade. But it seems NASA only has room for one billionaire. 

    Judge Richard Hertling of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington sided with NASA to continue working with SpaceX after a months-long legal battle after Blue Origin sued NASA in August. The suit argued that NASA would be better served by funding SpaceX and Blue Origin to develop spacecraft capable of landing on the lunar surface.

    After the ruling, NASA released a statement that said work with SpaceX will resume in a matter of days. 

    “There will be forthcoming opportunities for companies to partner with NASA in establishing a long-term human presence at the Moon under the agency’s Artemis program,” the agency added.

    Bezos conceded on Twitter, expressing this is “not the decision we wanted, but we respect the court’s judgment, and wish full success for NASA and SpaceX on the contract.”

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    In July, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) agreed with NASA to choose only one company to produce the lunar lander, rejecting Blue Origin’s protest.

    In a tweet replying to CNBC’s headline of the ruling, Musk posted a meme from the 2012 dystopic movie “Dredd,” saying “You’ve been judged!” 

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    NASA partnered with SpaceX in April with a sole contract to produce the lunar lander. The contract is worth $2.9 billion, and the spacecraft will be powered by Starship to deliver astronauts to the lunar surface for NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions.

    The moon only has room for one billionaire, and that is Musk at the moment. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 19:40

  • US Orders American Citizens Out Of Ethiopia "As Soon As Possible"
    US Orders American Citizens Out Of Ethiopia “As Soon As Possible”

    The US State Department is now urging all Americans in Ethiopia to leave the war-torn country “as soon as possible”. This after the US Embassy in Addis Ababa previously posted a “do not travel” advisory to its official website and began making preparations of its own to evacuate non-essential staff.

    At the start of this week, the Ethiopian government went so far as to tell residents of the capital city of some 5 million people to start arming themselves as rebel Tigrayan fighters began a march southward from their northern enclave, with plans to overthrow the government under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

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    In recent days rebel commanders have claimed to be holding positions just outside the capital, after previously overrunning government positions in the town of Kemissie, some 200 miles to the northeast. A six month state of emergency, or what essentially gives authorities martial law powers over the civilian populace, went into effect on Wednesday. On the same day PM Abiy vowed that “Ethiopia will not collapse. Ethiopia will prosper.”

    “Ethiopia will forever exist with her honor by defeating all who test her through the blood and bones of her children,” he added, after days prior saying the rebels will be buried “with our blood”. 

    The rebel coalition led by Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been in an intense war that’s included government airpower being used on the Tigray region, looks to be growing and poised to soon enter the capital. A new AFP report also strongly suggests increasing United States political involvement in support of the anti-government fighters:

    Nine rebel groups battling Ethiopia’s government will “collaborate and join forces” Friday, they said in a statement announcing the alliance, which comes as fears grow of Tigrayan fighters advancing on the capital.

    The alliance, due to be signed in Washington later on Friday, includes the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been locked in a year-long war against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.

    So now it appears Washington is playing host to an early seed form version of an “exile opposition government” – akin to what happened with Syria starting a decade ago.

    “We… are pleased to announce the establishment of the United Front of Ethiopian Federalist and Confederalist forces,” said Admassu Tsegaye, representative of Agew Democratic Movement, during a signing ceremony held in Washington. “This front is composed of forces fighting against the genocidal regime in Ethiopia.”

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    At the same time US officials have increasingly denounced war crimes attributed to Ethiopian government forces. President Biden himself early this week slammed the Ethiopian government’s “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” and cut the country from a key US trade program, the African Growth and Opportunity Act – which gave it duty-free access to US goods. The move is seen as paving the way for further and more far-reaching sanctions, which would likely target top Ethiopian officials who are overseeing the war.

    On Wednesday the US Embassy described the following preparations being made in the instance of war entering the Ethiopian capital: “The (State) Department authorized the voluntary departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and family members of emergency and non-emergency employees from Ethiopia due to armed conflict, civil unrest, and possible supply shortages.”

    Via AFP

    “The government of Ethiopia has previously restricted or shut down internet, cellular data, and phone services during and after civil unrest,” the US Embassy said. Thursday marked the one-year point since fierce clashes erupted between breakaway Tigrayan forces and the national army.

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 19:20

  • Watch: MSNBC Attacks Virginia's First Black Lt. Gov As "White Supremacist"
    Watch: MSNBC Attacks Virginia’s First Black Lt. Gov As “White Supremacist”

    Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

    MSNBC continued to slander Virginia’s first black Lt. Governor Thursday, declaring her to be a “ventriloquist” for white supremacists.

    After her victory on Tuesday, Winsome Sears called out MSNBC host Joy Reid, challenging the host to a debate and demanding a halt to the use of race baiting rhetoric without allowing recourse.

    Reid has continued to attack Winsome, however, bringing on a leftist Professor who boldly proclaimed that “To have a black face speaking on behalf of a white supremacist legacy is nothing new.”

    Michael Eric Dyson further described Sears as “a black mouth moving but a white idea running on the runway of the tongue of a figure who justifies and legitimates the white supremacist practices.”

    Watch:

    As one might imagine, this discussion prompted some serious backlash on social media:

    Sears is fighting back against the slanderous claims, declaring in her victory speech and subsequent interviews that “I’m destroying all of the narratives about race.”

    “I wish Joy Reid would invite me on her show. Let’s see if she’s woman enough to do that. I’d go in a heartbeat and we’d have a real discussion without Joy speaking about me behind my back, if you will,” Sears urged on Wednesday.

    “She talks about white supremacy. Does she know that I ran against a white supremacist? I mean, Joy, come on, get your facts straight and then come talk to me,” Sears further emphasised.

    Sears explained that Democrats’ obsession with race “just continues to divide us,” adding that “Unfortunately, politicians are using it as a tool, because of the things that have happened to us historically, to advance, I would think, their nefarious purposes.”

    Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

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    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 19:00

  • Navy Fires Commander Of Nuclear Sub That Hit Underwater Mountain In South China Sea
    Navy Fires Commander Of Nuclear Sub That Hit Underwater Mountain In South China Sea

    China is still demanding answers regarding an Oct.2 incident wherein a US nuclear attack submarine was damaged in the South China Sea after an “underwater collision”. Beijing hasn’t let go of the issue, citing the potential for dangerous nuclear leakage, and Washington’s “lack of transparency and responsibility” over the incident which injured 11 sailors aboard. 

    But more details have been revealed this week after on Wednesday the Navy announced the firing of the captain and to other leaders of the USS Connecticut. The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet cited that the commanders have been relieved “due to loss of confidence”.

    USS Connecticut (SSN 22), US Navy image

    “Connecticut commanding officer Cmdr. Cameron Aljilani, executive officer Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Cashin and Chief of the Boat Cory Rodgers were removed from their positions at the direction of U.S. 7th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Karl Thomas,” the Navy identified.

    The action was taken “due to loss of confidence. Thomas determined sound judgement, prudent decision-making, and adherence to required procedures in navigation planning, watch team execution and risk management could have prevented the incident,” according to the statement.

    The submarine had struck an “uncharted seamount” – or essentially an underwater mountain – in a precise location that has not been made public (another key piece of information the Chinese are seeking).

    There was enough damage, also given it was a rare and major accident, to immediately cause the submarine to cease its deployment and head to Guam for urgent repairs under the Naval Sea Systems Command. The submarine will next head to Bremerton, Washington where it can undergo final and more extensive repairs. 

    According to the naval monitoring site USNI News: 

    The Navy has not released damage information for Connecticut but sources have confirmed to USNI News that the forward section of the submarine was struck, damaging the ballast tanks. The damage to the tanks forced the submarine to transit for a week on the surface to Guam.

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    Meanwhile China’s Foreign Ministry has again this week blasted the US military for not releasing crucial details of the accident. An official statement by its spokesman said Washington “has yet to give clear answers to questions like the intention of the operation, the exact location of the incident, whether it lies in the exclusive economic zone or territorial sea of any country, and whether the collision led to a nuclear leak or polluted the marine environment, all causing great concern and doubt.”

    “We once again urge the U.S. to give a detailed description of the incident and fully address regional countries’ concern and doubt,” spokesman Wang Wenbin added in the remarks. There is apparently enough for both the US and China to be worried about, given that – as journalist and geopolitical commentator Dave DeCamp has pointed out – “The US recently deployed a spy plane designed to detect radioactive debris to the South China Sea, a signal that Washington the accident was severe enough for the US to think it released nuclear materials.”

    Recently a report in The South China Morning Post underscored the heightened American submarine presence in disputed waters near China, counting a known deployed US nuclear sub presence to the South China Sea no less than 11 times this year. 

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 18:40

  • Florida Court Reinstates Governor's Ban On Masking Mandates In Schools
    Florida Court Reinstates Governor’s Ban On Masking Mandates In Schools

    Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times,

    In Florida’s ongoing battle over masking mandates in schools, the First District Court of Appeal (DCA) overruled the decision of a Leon County circuit court judge on Wednesday, reinstating the governor’s ban on forced masking in schools. Some Leon County parents are cheering the ruling as a big win for parents’ rights and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

    The Masking Battle

    In August, Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled that DeSantis exceeded his authority in banning forced masking in public schools.

    In September, the First DCA overruled Cooper.

    But the following week, Cooper ruled that his order to prevent the state from enforcing school mask mandates should take immediate effect.

    On Oct. 27 (pdf), the First DCA again overruled Cooper and emphasized three reasons why his ruling was wrong.

    To begin, the First DCA ruled that the case never should have gone to trial because the plaintiffs did not have standing. The plaintiffs, a group of parents and students, could not sue to protect the institutional authority of local school districts and the Florida Department of Health.

    “Those entities alone must advance their own institutional rights,” the First DCA wrote.

    Second, the plaintiffs were not harmed by DeSantis’ order because the order took no action against them. In fact, all the governor did was direct other state agencies to protect parental rights.

    Third, the plaintiffs’ claim of receiving injury because they were exposed to COVID-19 by unmasked students was not “concrete” or “palpable” enough to warrant judicial intervention in public health policy.

    Most notable was how the First DCA admonished Cooper for inventing his own legal theory to ultimately rule against the governor’s school mask policy by saying DeSantis somehow violated the Parents’ Bill of Rights by giving parents more rights.

    “While the Parents’ Bill of Rights undoubtedly played a role in the governor’s issuance of the executive order—and was even pleaded as an affirmative defense—the [Plaintiffs] never sought relief in their complaint based on an alleged violation of the Parents’ Bill of Rights,” the First DCA wrote. “They certainly never requested an injunction against a state administrative actor proceeding in some way in contravention of the Parents’ Bill of Rights.”

    Similar court battles are playing out in other Florida counties. While the full appeal in the Leon County case is still pending, Christina Pushaw, executive press secretary for DeSantis said “the preliminary ruling shows that the Plaintiffs have little chance of saving the trial court’s ruling, so this is a win for Governor DeSantis and parents’ rights in Florida!”

    “Florida now has the lowest COVID-19 case rate in the entire country,” Pushaw told The Epoch Times. “Infections statewide have declined more than 90 percent since schools in Florida opened. The rate of decline was the same for districts that had mask mandates and districts that followed state law by allowing parents to choose whether their kids wore masks or not.”

    According to the New York Times interactive map, COVID-19 cases in California as of Nov. 4 are nearly three times the rate in Florida per capita. Michigan has about five times Florida’s per capita COVID case rate.

    The map for Leon County, Florida, shows a 49 percent drop in the number of hospitalizations in a 14-day average between Aug. 6 and Nov. 4, with a test positivity rate of only five percent.

    However, while Orange and Duval Counties imposed more stringent, long-term mask mandates, their numbers are similar, suggesting that masks had little if any effect on the numbers.

    “There is no evidence to support the argument that forced-masking in schools had any impact on COVID case rates, pediatric or overall,” Pushaw said further.

    Parents Celebrate

    “Of course we’re on the way out of the COVID wave,” Priscilla West, a Leon County mom, told The Epoch Times.

    “Florida’s leadership understood all along that protecting the elderly was the top priority. For everyone else, this thing needed to run its course. Schools never should’ve been closed. Kids never should’ve been masked. Whether or not you believed masks did any good, healthy kids suffer a mild COVID illness. Their young bodies will never be better able to fight it than they are right now. Then they emerge with robust, lasting immunity, which is protective for society as a whole. Children shouldn’t be subjected to experimentation with this new mRNA technology. Schools have no business pushing medical therapies on people’s Minor children.”

    Another Leon County mom, LaDonna Wagers, told The Epoch Times:

    “I have attended and spoke at many Leon County school board meetings this fall. Despite our citing many studies that show masks have no significant effect on virus transmission and actually do more harm than good, the Leon County School board is more interested in ‘feel good’ mask mandates and virtue signaling than science and parental rights. The board also used the National School Board Association and Merrick Garland calling parents who speak out at school board meetings ‘domestic terrorists’ to now have parents who attend these meetings in Leon County go through a security check before entering the building. This will not intimidate us or stop us from continuing to speak out and stand up for our God-given rights of liberty and freedom!”

    Sharyn Kerwin, a Leon County mother with two children in the Leon County school system, says she is “thankful for a governor who leads with science and not with fear.

    “DeSantis has stood boldly and remained steadfast on his mission to protect the elderly and those at highest risk of serious outcomes from COVID infection while also demanding that we protect Americans’ God-given freedoms which are protected by our constitution,” Kerwin told The Epoch Times.

    “Parents have a right to decide what’s best for their child’s medical and mental health. DeSantis knows this and our legislators supported this by passing the Parental Bill of Rights into law. I will never stop fighting for my children and my God-given authority to make decisions that are in their best interest!

    Nathan Newell, a father with four children in the Leon County school system, told The Epoch Times: “With all the scientific evidence available that shows the average mask is not effective, it is a shame school boards and governors are playing politics with our children’s well-being.”

    Brandi Andrews, a Leon County mother with two children in the Leon County School System, told The Epoch Times: “It has been very troubling to watch our local school board defy the governor and parents’ rights. The CDC recently confirming Florida now has the lowest COVID rates per capita in the United States goes to show masks don’t work being our state has a ban on masks/vaccines thanks to our great governor. I hope our school board will see the light since we finally don’t have to mask our children up for school every day and the COVID positive numbers have remained at bay.”

    Stephanie Henningsen of Leon County told The Epoch Times that parents “knew, as soon as local school officials imposed their illegal mask mandate upon students, they would ultimately try and claim the victory when the virus numbers inevitably bottomed out.

    “The thing is, numbers were already beginning to decline at the time they dictated their mandate and when one compared the data among schools that were unmasked compared to Leon County schools there was no significant difference in positive case percentages. The mandate was baseless and more about control and cashing in on the Biden reimbursement promise which ended up backfiring.

    “The forced masking of children is a form of child abuse and an overreach of local and state governments. Every parent should have a choice on what they deem healthy or not for their children; it’s their God-given right. Teachers and County School Boards should stay within the lanes of the authority they have, focusing on what is within their job description: educating children in regards to math, science, English, and history.”

    Ashley Crosby told The Epoch Times that the Leon County superintendent and members of the school board “have dedicated a ridiculous amount of time, effort, energy, and local tax paying dollars to act as tyrannical dictators over the matter of masking children, which is completely outside of their jurisdiction.”

    “Too many children have suffered mentally, emotionally, and educationally at the hands of these people. It’s a shame that rather than being passionate about assisting these children overcome the setbacks that occurred in the school system in the last year, they have rabidly and passionately pursued any means necessary to not let parents have a choice on whether they want their child to wear a mask or not. The health and well-being of the children should be left up to each individual family, and it has been a blessing to have our Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, understand the significant difference in the role of teacher/school boards and parents, defending parents’ rights to make their own informed decisions.”

    Leon County mom Denee Williams told The Epoch Times that many of the parents who have been attending school board meetings for months expected Cooper to come back with a biased ruling. However they also knew the ruling would not stand because the law, and DeSantis, is on their side.

    “We were pleased to see that the First Circuit Court ruled in favor of parental rights,” Williams said.

    “Governor DeSantis has consistently stood as a barrier between liberal politicians who would strip Florida parents of their rights to make the best medical decisions for their families. Parents know best and we do not appreciate these liberal leaders attempting to take decisions out of our hands as if they know better.”

    Williams further said she is not surprised to know Florida has the lowest COVID-19 rate per capita in the United States.

    “Our numbers are low because our great governor has made common-sense decisions and refused to be bullied and also refused to make fear-based decisions,” she explained.

    “He is using the data available and making common-sense decisions and not caving to the liberal narrative that we should all stop living out of fear of this virus. Florida is open and thriving. I look around the country at these blue states and I think how thankful I am to live here in this great state.”

    Who Gets Credit

    While some media try to downplay the governor’s role in the plummeting COVID-19 numbers, and others try to credit the fall in numbers to masking and vaccines, some Leon County parents attribute Florida’s COVID-19 success entirely to DeSantis.

    Crosby said her children attend a private, Christian school in Leon County and that the school board voted to allow parents to have a choice on whether or not they wanted to mask children. Thus far, Crosby said the overwhelming majority of children are unmasked, with “maybe one in 50” wearing a mask. “No teachers wear masks, and we have had a fantastic school year with no major outbreaks or problems,” Crosby said. “So in regards to Democrats or School Boards claiming low case numbers are due to masking, it’s simply not true. They have no science or evidence to prove that, and our school has done no masking since the beginning of August and we have had a normal year with no hiccups.”

    Williams said “hearing some Democrats try to claim credit that the falling COVID numbers are due to a handful of counties in Florida defying Governor DeSantis’ Executive Order and requiring masks on our students is short-sighted. First, the vast majority of counties did not force masks on their students and the numbers still fell in those counties as well. Second, many children who were forced into masks at school did not wear them outside of school at sporting events or to hang with friends. The claim that forced masking did the trick is a false narrative that I believe most people see right through. It’s laughable, honestly.”

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 18:20

  • Pfizer Shares Surge After Release Of 'Miracle' COVID Pill That Is 89% Effective At Preventing Hospitalization
    Pfizer Shares Surge After Release Of ‘Miracle’ COVID Pill That Is 89% Effective At Preventing Hospitalization

    Thursday was a rough day for Moderna shares after the company released revenue figures and FY guidance that deeply disappointed Wall Street expectations (potentially destroying the reputation of financier Steve Weiss, arguably Moderna’s biggest promoter on Wall Street, in the process). But on Friday, Pfizer – Moderna’s biggest rival – rubbed Moderna’s nose in it by announcing a revolutionary new oral COVID antiviral similar to the Merck ‘miracle pill’ that won approval from UK regulators yesterday.

    The news sent Pfizer’s stock surging, while Moderna and Merck shares tumbled, during premarket trade. Pfizer shares were trading up 11%+:

    The key takeaway from the Pfizer announcement is this: Pfizer said studies showed its COVID-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk patients by 89%. That’s even higher than the 50% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths shown by the Merck pill. Again, like Merck, Pfizer said that it was no longer taking new patients in a clinical trial of the treatment “due to the overwhelming efficacy” of the drug, which it now plans to submit its findings to the FDA for emergency authorization (just like Merck is doing). Yesterday, Merck won approval for its new COVID antiviral, molnupiravir, from regulators in the UK, and it’s pushing to wrack up as many EUAs as possible from regulators from all over.

    Pfizer is already planning to seek approval emergency approval from the US government because, according to the numbers, its drug is even more effective than molnuiravir. According to the headline numbers, Pfizer’s new antiviral is even more effective than the rival pill from Merck. Pfizer’s pill, which will be sold under the brand name Paxlovid, cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% when taken within three days after symptoms emerge (the number for Merck’s drug was it needed to be taken within 5 days of infection).

    “The results are really beyond our wildest dreams,” said Annaliesa Anderson, a Pfizer executive who led the drug’s development. She expressed hope that Paxlovid “can have a big impact on helping all our lives go back to normal again and seeing the end of the pandemic.”

    It’s expected the new drug will be made available in the US at least but in limited quantities at first.

    Criticisms have also been made about the cost of molnupiravir, and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla already affirmed on CNBC that a course of the drug will cost insurers or customers around $700 (though the firm says it intends to sell the drug at a “discounted” prices to “poorer countries”.

    Per the NYT:

    The U.S. government has been in negotiations with Pfizer for enough pills for 1.7 million courses of treatment, with an additional option for 3.3 million, according to a senior administration official. That is about the same quantity that the United States has ordered from Merck. The government expects to pay about $700 per treatment course for both drugs, the official said.

    Both the Pfizer and Merck pills are both geared toward patients regarded as high-risk, including those above the age of 60 or with conditions like obesity that make them more susceptible to severe consequences from COVID.

    But while experts again touted the drug’s safety profile, several scientists have spoken out about potential safety risks tied to molnupiravir, the Merck drug.

    Another important question: what does this mean now for President Biden’s increasingly coercive vaccine mandate?

    Tyler Durden
    Fri, 11/05/2021 – 18:11

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